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diff --git a/old/33082-h.htm.2021-01-25 b/old/33082-h.htm.2021-01-25 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..80a9233 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/33082-h.htm.2021-01-25 @@ -0,0 +1,24260 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Jack Hinton, by Charles James Lever + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Jack Hinton, by Charles James Lever + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Jack Hinton + The Guardsman + +Author: Charles James Lever + +Illustrator: Phiz. + +Release Date: July 5, 2010 [EBook #33082] +Last Updated: February 28, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JACK HINTON *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + +<p> +<br /><br /> +</p> +<h1> +JACK HINTON, +</h1> +<h2> +THE GUARDSMAN. +</h2> +<p> +<br /><br /> +</p> +<h2> +By Charles James Lever +</h2> +<p> +<br /><br /> +</p> +<h3> +With Illustrations by Phiz. +</h3> +<p> +<br /><br /> +</p> +<h4> +LONDON: <br /><br /> CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. <br /><br /> 1857. +</h4> +<p> +<br /> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/portrait.jpg" alt="portrait" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +<br /> <br /> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" alt="frontispiece" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +<br /> <br /> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/titlepage2.jpg" alt="titlepage2" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +<br /> <br /> <br /> +</p> +<hr /> +<p> +<br /> <br /> +</p> +<blockquote> +<p class="toc"> +<big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> +</p> +<p> +<br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE. </a><br /><br /> <a +href="#link2H_4_0002"> <b>JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN</b> </a><br /><br /> +<a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a> A FAMILY PARTY <br /><br /> +<a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a> THE IRISH PACKET +<br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a> THE +CASTLE <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a> THE +BREAKFAST <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a> THE +REVIEW IN THE PHOENIX <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. +</a> THE SHAM BATTLE <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0007"> +CHAPTER VII. </a> THE ROONEYS <br /><br /> <a +href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. </a> THE VISIT <br /><br /> +<a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. </a> THE BALL <br /><br /> +<a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. </a> A FINALE TO AN +EVENING <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. </a> A +NEGOTIATION <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII. </a> A +WAGER <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII. </a> A +NIGHT OF TROUBLE <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV. </a> THE +PARTING <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV. </a> THE +LETTER FROM HOME <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI. </a> A +MORNING IN TOWN <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII. </a> AN +EVENING IN TOWN <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XVIII. </a> A +CONFIDENCE <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIX. </a> THE +CANAL-BOAT <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0020"> CHAPTER XX. </a> SHANNON +HARBOUR <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0021"> CHAPTER XXI. </a> LOUGHREA +<br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0022"> CHAPTER XXII. </a> A +MOONLIGHT CANTER <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0023"> CHAPTER XXIII. </a> MAJOR +MAHON AND HIS QUARTERS <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0024"> CHAPTER XXIV. +</a> THE DEVIL'S GRIP <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0025"> +CHAPTER XXV. </a> THE STEEPLECHASE <br /><br /> <a +href="#link2HCH0026"> CHAPTER XXVI. </a> THE DINNER-PARTY AT +MOUNT BROWN <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0027"> CHAPTER XXVII. </a> THE +RACE BALL <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0028"> CHAPTER XXVIII. </a> THE +INN FIRE <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0029"> CHAPTER XXIX. </a> THE +DUEL <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0030"> CHAPTER XXX. </a> A +COUNTRY DOCTOR <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0031"> CHAPTER XXXI. </a> THE +LETTER-BAG <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0032"> CHAPTER XXXII. </a> BOB +MAHON AND THE WIDOW <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0033"> CHAPTER XXXIII. +</a> THE PRIEST'S GIG <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0034"> +CHAPTER XXXIV. </a> THE MOUNTAIN PASS <br /><br /> <a +href="#link2HCH0035"> CHAPTER XXXV. </a> THE JOURNEY <br /><br /> +<a href="#link2HCH0036"> CHAPTER XXXVI. </a> MURRANAKILTY +<br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0037"> CHAPTER XXXVII. </a> SIR +SIMON <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0038"> CHAPTER XXXVIII. </a> ST. +SENAN'S WELL <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0039"> CHAPTER XXXIX. </a> AN +UNLOOKED-FOR MEETING <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0040"> CHAPTER XL. +</a> THE PRIEST'S KITCHEN <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0041"> +CHAPTER XLI. </a> TIPPERARY JOE <br /><br /> <a +href="#link2HCH0042"> CHAPTER XLII. </a> THE HIGHROAD <br /><br /> +<a href="#link2HCH0043"> CHAPTER XLIII. </a> THE ASSIZE TOWN +<br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0044"> CHAPTER XLIV. </a> THE +BAD DINNER <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0045"> CHAPTER XLV. </a> THE +RETURN <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0046"> CHAPTER XLVI. </a> FAREWELL +TO IRELAND <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0047"> CHAPTER XLVII. </a> LONDON +<br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0048"> CHAPTER XLVIII. </a> AN +UNHAPPY DISCLOSURE <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0049"> CHAPTER XLIX. +</a> THE HORSE GUARDS <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0050"> +CHAPTER L. </a> THE RETREAT FROM BURGOS <br /><br /> <a +href="#link2HCH0051"> CHAPTER LI. </a> A MISHAP <br /><br /> <a +href="#link2HCH0052"> CHAPTER LII. </a> THE MARCH <br /><br /> +<a href="#link2HCH0053"> CHAPTER LIII. </a> VITTORIA <br /><br /> +<a href="#link2HCH0054"> CHAPTER LIV. </a> THE RETREAT <br /><br /> +<a href="#link2HCH0055"> CHAPTER LV. </a> THE FOUR-IN-HAND +<br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0056"> CHAPTER LVI. </a> ST. +DENIS <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0057"> CHAPTER LVII. </a> PARIS +IN 1814 <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0058"> CHAPTER LVIII. </a> THE +RONI FÊTE <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0059"> CHAPTER LIX. </a> FRESCATI'S +<br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0060"> CHAPTER LX. </a> DISCLOSURES +<br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0061"> CHAPTER LXI. </a> NEW +ARRIVALS <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0062"> CHAPTER LXII. </a> CONCLUSION +<br /><br /> +</p> +</blockquote> +<p> +<br /> <br /> +</p> +<hr /> +<p> +<br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +PREFACE. +</h2> +<p> +Very few words of preface will suffice to the volume now presented to my +readers. My intention was to depict, in the early experiences of a young +Englishman in Ireland, some of the almost inevitable mistakes incidental +to such a character. I had so often myself listened to so many absurd and +exaggerated opinions on Irish character, formed on the very slightest +acquaintance with the country, and by persons, too, who, with all the +advantages long intimacy might confer, would still have been totally +inadequate to the task of a rightful appreciation, that I deemed the +subject one where a little “reprisal” might be justifiable. +</p> +<p> +Scarcely, however, had I entered upon my story, than I strayed from the +path I had determined on, and, with very little reference to my original +intention, suffered Jack Hinton to “take his chance amongst the natives,” +and with far too much occupation on his hands to give time for reflecting +over their peculiarities, or recording their singular traits, I threw him +into the society of the capital, under the vice-royalty of a celebrated +Duke, all whose wayward eccentricities were less marked than the manly +generosity and genuine honesty of his character. I introduced him into a +set where, whatever purely English readers may opine, I have wonderfully +little exaggerated; and I led him down to the West to meet adventures +which every newspaper, some twenty-five years ago, would show were by no +means extravagant or strange. +</p> +<p> +As for the characters of the story, there is not one for which I did not +take a “real sitter;” at the same time, I have never heard one single +correct guess as to the types that afforded them. To Mrs. Paul Rooney, +Father Tom Loftus, Bob Mahon, O'Grady, Tipperary Joe, and even Corny +himself, I have scarcely added a touch which nature has not given them, +while assuredly I have failed to impart many a fine and delicate tint far +above the “reach of—'<i>my</i>—art,” and which might have +presented them in stronger light and shadow than I have dared to attempt. +Had I desired to caricature English ignorance as to Ireland in the person +of my Guardsman, nothing would have been easier; but I preferred merely +exposing him to such errors as might throw into stronger relief the +peculiarities of Irishmen, and, while offering something to laugh at, give +no offence to either. The volume amused me while I was writing it,—less, +perhaps, by what I recorded, than what I abstained from inditing; at all +events, it was the work of some of the pleasantest hours of my life, and +if it can ever impart to any of my readers a portion of the amusement some +of the real characters afforded myself, it will not be all a failure. That +it may succeed so far is the hope of the reader's +</p> +<p> +Very devoted servant, +</p> +<p> +CHARLES LEVER. +</p> +<p> +Casa Capponi, Florence, March, 1857. +</p> +<p> +<br /> <br /> +</p> +<hr /> +<p> +<br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h1> +JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN +</h1> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER I. A FAMILY PARTY +</h2> +<p> +It was on a dark and starless night in February, 181—, as the last +carriage of a dinner-party had driven from the door of a large house in +St. James's-square, when a party drew closer around the drawing-room fire, +apparently bent upon that easy and familiar chit-chat the presence of +company interdicts. +</p> +<p> +One of these was a large and fine-looking man of about five-and-forty, +who, dressed in the full uniform of a general officer, wore besides the +ribbon of the Bath; he leaned negligently upon the chimney-piece, and, +with his back towards the fire, seemed to follow the current of his own +reflections: this was my Father. +</p> +<p> +Beside him, but almost concealed in the deep recess of a well-cushioned +arm-chair, sat, or rather lay, a graceful figure, who with an air of +languid repose was shading her fine complexion as well from the glare of +the fire as from the trying brilliancy of an Argand lamp upon the +mantelpiece. Her rich dress, resplendent with jewels, while it strangely +contrasted with the careless ease of her attitude, also showed that she +had bestowed a more than common attention that day upon her toilette: +this, fair reader, was my Mother. +</p> +<p> +Opposite to her, and disposed in a position of rather studied +gracefulness, lounged a tall, thin, fashionable-looking man, with a dark +olive complexion, and a short black moustache. He wore in the button-hole +of his blue coat the ribbon of St. Louis. The Count de Grammont, for such +he was, was an <i>émigré</i> noble, who, attached to the fortunes of the +Bourbons, had resided for some years in London, and who, in the double +capacity of adviser of my father and admirer of my lady-mother, obtained a +considerable share of influence in the family and a seat at its councils. +</p> +<p> +At a little distance from the rest, and apparently engaged with her +embroidery, sat a very beautiful girl, whose dark hair and long lashes +deepened the seeming paleness of features a Greek sculptor might have +copied. While nothing could be more perfect than the calm loveliness of +her face and the delicate pencilling of her slightly-arched eyebrows, an +accurate observer could detect that her tremulous lip occasionally curled +with a passing expression of half scorn, as from time to time she turned +her eyes towards each speaker in turn, while she herself maintained a +perfect silence. My cousin, Lady Julia Egerton, had indeed but that one +fault: shall I venture to call by so harsh a name that spirit of gentle +malice which loved to look for the ludicrous features of everything around +her, and inclined her to indulge what the French call the “<i>esprit +moqueur</i>” even on occasions where her own feelings were interested? +</p> +<p> +The last figure of the group was a stripling of some nineteen years, who, +in the uniform of the Guards, was endeavouring to seem perfectly easy and +unconcerned, while it was evident that his sword-knot divided his +attention with some secret thoughts that rendered him anxious and excited: +this was Myself! +</p> +<p> +A silence of some moments was at length broken by my mother, who, with a +kind of sigh Miss O'Neill was fond of, turned towards the Count, and said, +</p> +<p> +“Do confess, Count, we were all most stupid to-day. Never did a dinner go +off so heavily. But it's always the penalty one pays for a royal Duke. <i>A +propos</i>, General, what did he say of Jack's appointment?” +</p> +<p> +“Nothing could be more kind, nothing more generous than his Royal +Highness. The very first thing he did in the room was to place this +despatch in my hands. This, Jack,” said my father, turning to me, “this is +your appointment as an extra aide-de-camp.” +</p> +<p> +“Very proper indeed,” interposed my mother; “I am very happy to think +you'll be about the Court. Windsor, to be sure, is stupid.” +</p> +<p> +“He is not likely to see much of it,” said my father, dryly. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, you think he'll be in town then?” +</p> +<p> +“Why, not exactly that either.” +</p> +<p> +“Then what can you mean?” said she, with more of animation than before. +</p> +<p> +“Simply, that his appointment is on the staff in Ireland.” +</p> +<p> +“In Ireland!” repeated my mother, with a tragic start. “In Ireland!” +</p> +<p> +“In Ireland!” said Lady Julia, in a low, soft voice. +</p> +<p> +“<i>En Irlande!</i>” echoed the Count, with a look of well got up horror, +as he elevated his eyebrows to the very top of his forehead; while I +myself, to whom the communication was as sudden and as unexpected, assumed +a kind of soldier-like indifference, as though to say, “What matters it to +me? what do I care for the rigours of climate? the snows of the Caucasus, +or the suns of Bengal, are quite alike; even Ireland, if his Majesty's +service require it.” +</p> +<p> +“Ireland!” repeated my mother once more; “I really never heard anything so +very shocking. But, my dear Jack, you can't think of it. Surely, General, +you had presence of mind to decline.” +</p> +<p> +“To accept, and to thank most gratefully his Royal Highness for such a +mark of his favour, for this I had quite presence of mind,” said my +father, somewhat haughtily. +</p> +<p> +“And you really will go, Jack?” +</p> +<p> +“Most decidedly,” said I, as I put on a kind of Godefroy de Bouillon look, +and strutted about the room. +</p> +<p> +“And pray what can induce you to such a step?” +</p> +<p> +“<i>Oui, que diable allait-il faire dans cette galère?</i>'” said the +Count. +</p> +<p> +“By Jove!” cried my father, hastily, “you are intolerable; you wished your +boy to be a Guardsman in opposition to my desire for a regiment on +service. You would have him an aide-de-camp: now he is both one and the +other. In Heaven's name, what think ye of getting him made a lady of the +bedchamber? for it's the only appointment I am aware of——” +</p> +<p> +“You are too absurd, General,” said my mother, pettishly. “Count, pray +touch the bell; that fire is so very hot, and I really was quite +unprepared for this piece of news.” +</p> +<p> +“And you, Julia,” said I, leaning over the back of my cousin's chair, +“what do you say to all this?” +</p> +<p> +“I've just been thinking what a pity it is I should have wasted all my +skill and my worsted on this foolish rug, while I could have been +embroidering a gay banner for our young knight bound for the wars. '<i>Partant +pour la Syrie</i>,'” hummed she, half pensively, while I could see a +struggling effort to suppress a laugh. I turned indignantly away, and +walked towards the fire, where the Count was expending his consolations on +my mother. +</p> +<p> +“After all, <i>Miladi</i>, it is not so bad as you think in the provinces; +I once spent three weeks in Brittany, very pleasantly indeed: <i>oui, +pardieu</i>, it's quite true. To be sure, we had Perlet, and Mademoiselle +Mars, and got up the <i>Précieuse Ridicules</i> as well as in Paris.” +</p> +<p> +The application of this very apposite fact to Ireland was clearly +satisfactory to my mother, who smiled benignly at the speaker, while my +father turned upon him a look of the most indescribable import. +</p> +<p> +“Jack, my boy!” said he, taking me by the arm, “were I your age, and had +no immediate prospect of active service, I should prefer Ireland to any +country in the world. I have plenty of old friends on the staff there. The +Duke himself was my schoolfellow——” +</p> +<p> +“I hope he will be properly attentive,” interrupted my mother. “Dear Jack, +remind me to-morrow to write to Lady Mary.” +</p> +<p> +“Don't mistake the country you are going to,” continued my father; “you +will find many things very different from what you are leaving; and, above +all, be not over ready to resent, as an injury, what may merely be +intended as a joke: your brother officers will always guide you on these +points.” +</p> +<p> +“And above all things,” said my mother, with great earnestness, “do not +adopt that odious fashion of wearing their hair. I've seen members of both +Houses, and particularly that little man they talk so much of, Mr. +Grattan, I believe they call him——” +</p> +<p> +“Make your mind perfectly easy on that head, my lady,” said my father, +dryly, “your son is not particularly likely to resemble Henry Grattan.” +</p> +<p> +My cousin Julia alone seemed to relish the tone of sarcasm he spoke in, +for she actually bestowed on him a look of almost grateful acknowledgment. +</p> +<p> +“The carriage, my lady,” said the servant. And at the same moment my +mother, possibly not sorry to cut short the discussion, rose from her +chair. +</p> +<p> +“Do you intend to look in at the Duchess's, General?” +</p> +<p> +“For half an hour,” replied my father; “after that I have my letters to +write. Jack, you know, leaves us to-morrow.” +</p> +<p> +“'Tis really very provoking,” said my mother, turning at the same time a +look towards the Count. +</p> +<p> +“<i>A vos ordres, Madame</i>,” said he, bowing with an air of most +deferential politeness, while he presented his arm for her acceptance. +</p> +<p> +“Good night, then,” cried I, as the party left the room; “I have so much +to do and to think of, I shan't join you.” I turned to look for Lady +Julia, but she was gone, when and how I knew not; so I sat down at the +fire to ruminate alone over my present position, and my prospects for the +future. +</p> +<hr /> +<hr /> +<hr /> +<p> +These few and imperfect passages may put the reader in possession of some, +at least, of the circumstances which accompanied my outset in life; and if +they be not sufficiently explicit, I can only say, that he knows fully as +much of me as at the period in question I did of myself. +</p> +<p> +At Eton, I had been what is called rather a smart boy, but incorrigibly +idle; at Sandhurst, I showed more ability, and more disinclination to +learn. By the favour of a royal Duke (who had been my godfather), my +commission in a marching regiment was exchanged for a lieutenancy in the +Guards; and at the time I write of I had been some six months in the +service, which I spent in all the whirl and excitement of London society. +My father, who, besides being a distinguished officer, was one of the most +popular men among the clubs, my mother, a London beauty of some twenty +years' standing, were claims sufficient to ensure me no common share of +attention, while I added to the number what, in my own estimation at least +were, certain very decided advantages of a purely personal nature. +</p> +<p> +To obviate, as far as might be, the evil results of such a career, my +father secretly asked for the appointment on the staff of the noble Duke +then Viceroy of Ireland, in preference to what my mother contemplated—my +being attached to the royal household. To remove me alike from the +enervating influence of a mother's vanity, and the extravagant profusion +and voluptuous abandonment of London habits, this was his object. He +calculated, too, that by new ties, new associations, and new objects of +ambition, I should be better prepared, and more desirous of that career of +real service to which in his heart he destined me. These were his notions, +at least; the result must be gleaned from my story. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER II. THE IRISH PACKET +</h2> +<p> +A few nights after the conversation I have briefly alluded to, and pretty +much about the same hour, I aroused myself from the depression of nearly +thirty hours' sea-sickness, on hearing that at length we were in the bay +of Dublin. Hitherto I had never left the precincts of the narrow den +denominated my berth; but now I made my way eagerly on deck, anxious to +catch a glimpse, however faint, of that bold coast I had more than once +heard compared with, or even preferred to, Naples. The night, however, was +falling fast, and, worse still, a perfect down-pour of rain was falling +with it; the sea ran high, and swept the little craft from stem to stern; +the spars bent like whips, and our single topsail strained and stretched +as though at every fresh plunge it would part company with us altogether. +No trace or outline of the coast could I detect on any side; a deep red +light appearing and disappearing at intervals, as we rode upon or sank +beneath the trough of the sea, was all that my eye could perceive: this +the dripping helmsman briefly informed me was the “Kish,” but, as he +seemed little disposed for conversation, I was left to my unassisted +ingenuity to make out whether it represented any point of the capital we +were approaching or not. +</p> +<p> +The storm of wind and rain increasing at each moment, drove me once more +back to the cabin, where, short as had been the period of my absence, the +scene had undergone a most important change. Up to this moment my +sufferings and my seclusion gave me little leisure or opportunity to +observe my fellow travellers. The stray and scattered fragments of +conversation that reached me, rather puzzled than enlightened me. Of the +topics which I innocently supposed occupied all human attention, not a +word was dropped; Carlton House was not once mentioned; the St. Leger and +the Oaks not even alluded to; whether the Prince's breakfast was to come +off at Knights-bridge or Progmore, no one seemed to know, or even care; +nor was a hint dropped as to the fashion of the new bearskins the Guards +were to sport at the review on Hounslow. The price of pigs, however, in +Ballinasloe, they were perfect in. Of a late row in Kil—something, +where one half of the population had massacred the other, they knew +everything, even to the names of the defunct. A few of the better dressed +chatted over country matters, from which I could glean that game and +gentry were growing gradually scarcer; but a red-nosed, fat old gentleman, +in rusty black and high boots, talked down the others by an eloquent +account of the mawling that he, a certain Father Tom Loftus, had given the +Reverend Paul Strong, at a late controversial meeting in the Rotunda. +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0001" id="linkimage-0001"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0044.jpg" alt="2-0044" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +Through all this “bald, disjointed chat,” unceasing demands were made for +bottled porter, “matarials,” or spirits and wather, of which, were I to +judge from the frequency of the requests, the consumption must have been +awful. +</p> +<p> +There would seem something in the very attitude of lying down that induces +reflection, and, thus stretched at full length in my berth, I could not +help ruminating upon the land I was approaching, in a spirit which, I +confess, accorded much more with my mother's prejudices than my father's +convictions. From the few chance phrases dropped around me, it appeared +that even the peaceful pursuits of a country market, or the cheerful +sports of the field, were followed up in a spirit of recklessness and +devilment; so that many a head that left home without a care, went back +with a crack in it. But to return once more to the cabin. It must be borne +in mind that some thirty odd years ago the passage between Liverpool and +Dublin was not, as at present, the rapid flight of a dozen hours, from +shore to shore; where, on one evening, you left the thundering din of +waggons, and the iron crank of cranes and windlasses, to wake the next +morning with the rich brogue of Paddy floating softly around you. Far from +it! the thing was then a voyage. You took a solemn leave of your friends, +you tore yourself from the embraces of your family, and, with a tear in +your eye and a hamper on your arm, you betook yourself to the pier to +watch, with an anxious and a beating heart, every step of the three hours' +proceeding that heralded your departure. In those days there was some +honour in being a traveller, and the man who had crossed the Channel a +couple of times became a kind of Captain Cook among his acquaintances. +</p> +<p> +The most singular feature of the whole, however, and the one to which I am +now about to allude, proceeded from the fact that the steward in those +days, instead of the extensive resources of the present period, had little +to offer you, save some bad brandy and a biscuit, and each traveller had +to look to his various wants with an accuracy and foresight that required +both tact and habit. The mere demands of hunger and thirst were not only +to be considered in the abstract, but a point of far greater difficulty, +the probable length of the voyage, was to be taken into consideration; so +that you bought your beefsteaks with your eye upon the barometer, and laid +in your mutton by the age of the moon. While thus the agency of the season +was made to react upon your stomach, in a manner doubtless highly +conducive to the interests of science, your part became one of the most +critical nicety. +</p> +<p> +Scarcely were you afloat, and on the high seas, when your appetite was +made to depend on the aspect of the weather. Did the wind blow fresh and +fair, you eat away with a careless ease and a happy conscience, highly +beneficial to your digestion. With a glance through the skylight at the +blue heaven, with a sly look at the prosperous dog-vane, you helped +yourself to the liver wing, and took an extra glass of your sherry. Let +the breeze fall, however, let a calm come on, or, worse still, a trampling +noise on deck, and a certain rickety motion of the craft betoken a change +of wind, the knife and fork fell listlessly from your hand, the unlifted +cutlet was consigned to your plate, the very spoonful of gravy you had +devoured in imagination was dropped upon the dish, and you replaced the +cork in your bottle, with the sad sigh of a man who felt that, instead of +his income, he has been living on the principal of his fortune. +</p> +<p> +Happily, there is a reverse to the medal, and this it was to which now my +attention was directed. The trip as occasionally happened, was a rapid +one; and while under the miserable impression that a fourth part of the +journey had not been accomplished, we were blessed with the tidings of +land. Scarcely was the word uttered, when it flew from mouth to mouth; and +I thought I could trace the elated look of proud and happy hearts, as home +drew near. What was my surprise, however, to see the enthusiasm take +another and very different channel. With one accord a general rush was +made upon the hampers of prog. Baskets were burst open on every side. +Sandwiches and sausages, porter bottles, cold punch, chickens, and hard +eggs, were strewn about with a careless and reckless profusion; none semed +too sick or too sore for this general epidemic of feasting. Old gentlemen +sat up in their beds and bawled for beef; children of tender years +brandished a drumstick. Individuals who but a short half-hour before +seemed to have made a hearty meal, testified by the ravenous exploits of +their appetites to their former forbearance and abstemiousness. Even the +cautious little man in the brown spencer, who wrapped up the remnant of +his breakfast in the <i>Times</i>, now opened his whole store, and seemed +bent upon a day of rejoicing. Never was such a scene of riotous noise and +tumultuous mirth. Those who scowled at each other till now, hob-nobbed +across the table; and simpering old maids cracked merry thoughts with gay +bachelors, without even a passing fear for the result. “Thank Heaven,” +said I, aloud, “that I see all this with my sense and my intellects clear +about me.” Had I suddenly awoke to such a prospect from the disturbed +slumber of sickness» the chances were ten to one I had jumped overboard, +and swam for my life. In fact, it could convey but one image to the mind, +such as we read of, when some infuriated and reckless men, despairing of +safety, without a hope left, resolve upon closing life in the mad orgies +of drunken abandonment. +</p> +<p> +Here were the meek, the tranquil, the humble-minded, the solitary, the +seasick, all suddenly converted into riotous and roystering feasters. The +lips that scarcely moved, now blew the froth from a porter cup with the +blast of a Boreas: and even the small urchin in the green face and nankeen +jacket, bolted hard eggs with the dexterity of a clown in a pantomime. The +end of all things (eatable) had certainly come. Chickens were dismembered +like felons, and even jokes and witticisms were bandied upon the victuals. +“What, if even yet,” thought I, “the wind should change!” The idea was a +malicious one, too horrible to indulge in. At this moment the noise and +turmoil on deck apprised me that our voyage was near its termination. +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0002" id="linkimage-0002"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0049.jpg" alt="2-0049" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +The night, as I have said, was dark and stormy. It rained too—as it +knows only how to rain in Ireland. There was that steady persistence, that +persevering monotony of down-pour, which, not satisfied with wetting you +to the skin, seems bent upon converting your very blood into water. The +wind swept in long and moaning gusts along the bleak pier, which, late and +inclement as it was, seemed crowded with people. Scarcely was a rope +thrown ashore, when we were boarded on every side, by the rigging, on the +shrouds, over the bulwarks, from the anchor to the taffrail; the whole +population of the island seemed to flock in upon us; while sounds of +welcome and recognition resounded on all sides— +</p> +<p> +“How are you, Mister Maguire?” “Is the mistress with you?” “Is that you, +Mr. Tierney?” “How are you, ma'am?” “And yourself, Tim?” “Beautiful, glory +be to God!” “A great passage, entirely, ma'am.” “Nothing but rain since I +seen you.” “Take the trunks up to Mrs. Tun-stall; and, Tim, darling, +oysters and punch for four.” +</p> +<p> +“Great mercy!” said I, “eating again!” +</p> +<p> +“Morrisson, your honour,” said a ragged ruffian, nudging me by the elbow. +</p> +<p> +“Reilly, sir; isn't it? It's me, sir—the Club. I'm the man always +drives your honour.” +</p> +<p> +“Arrah, howld your prate,” said a deep voice, “the gentleman hasn't time +to bless himself.” +</p> +<p> +“It's me, sir; Owen Daly, that has the black horse.” +</p> +<p> +“More by token, with a spavin,” whispered another; while a roar of +laughter followed the joke. +</p> +<p> +“A car, sir—take you up in five minutes.” +</p> +<p> +“A chaise, your honour—do the thing dacently.” +</p> +<p> +Now, whether my hesitation at this moment was set down by the crowd of my +solicitors to some doubt of my solvency or not, I cannot say; but true it +is, their tone of obsequious entreaty gradually changed into one of rather +caustic criticism. +</p> +<p> +“Maybe it's a gossoon you'd like to carry the little trunk.” +</p> +<p> +“Let him alone; it's only a carpet-bag; he'll carry it himself.” +</p> +<p> +“Don't you see the gentleman would rather walk; and as the night is fine, +'tis pleasanter—and—cheaper.” +</p> +<p> +“Take you for a fipp'ny bit and a glass of sparits,” said a gruff voice in +my ear. +</p> +<p> +By this time I had collected my luggage together, whose imposing +appearance seemed once more to testify in my favour, particularly the case +of my cocked-hat, which to my ready-witted acquaintances proclaimed me a +military man. A general rush was accordingly made upon my luggage; and +while one man armed himself with a portmanteau, another laid hands on a +trunk, a third a carpet-bag, a fourth a gun-case, and so on until I found +myself keeping watch and ward over my epaulet-case and my umbrella, the +sole remnant of my effects. At the same moment a burst of laughter and a +half shout broke from the crowd, and a huge, powerful fellow jumped on the +deck, and, seizing me by the arm, cried out, +</p> +<p> +“Come along now, Captain, it's all right. This way—this way, sir.” +</p> +<p> +“But why am I to go with you?” said I, vainly struggling to escape his +grasp. +</p> +<p> +“Why is it?” said he, with a chuckling laugh; “reason enough—didn't +we toss up for ye, and didn't I win ye.” +</p> +<p> +“Win me!” +</p> +<p> +“Ay; just that same.” +</p> +<p> +By this time I found myself beside a car, upon which all my luggage was +already placed. +</p> +<p> +“Get up, now,” said he. +</p> +<p> +“It's a beautiful car, and a dhry cushion,” added a voice near, to the +manifest mirth of the bystanders. +</p> +<p> +Delighted to escape my tormentors, I sprang up opposite to him, while a +cheer, mad and wild enough for a tribe of Iroquois, yelled behind us. Away +We rattled over the pavement, without lamp or lantern to guide our path, +while the sea dashed its foam across our faces, and the rain beat in +torrents upon our backs. +</p> +<p> +“Where to, Captain?” inquired my companion, as he plied his whip without +ceasing. +</p> +<p> +“The Castle; you know where that is?” +</p> +<p> +“Faix I ought,” was the reply. “Ain't I there at the levees. But howld +fast, your honour; the road isn't good; and there is a hole somewhere +hereabouts.” +</p> +<p> +“A hole! For Heaven's sake, take care. Do you know where it is?” +</p> +<p> +“Begorra! you're in it,” was the answer; and, as he spoke, the horse went +down head foremost, the car after him; away flew the driver on one side, +while I myself was shot some half-dozen yards on the other, a perfect +avalanche of trunks, boxes, and portmanteaus rattling about my doomed +head. A crashing shower of kicks, the noise of the flying splinters, and +the imprecations of the carman, were the last sounds I heard, as a heavy +imperial full of books struck me on the head, and laid me prostrate. +</p> +<p> +Through my half-consciousness, I could still feel the rain as it fell in +sheets; the heavy plash of the sea sounded in my ears; but, somehow, a +feeling like sleepiness crept over me, and I became insensible. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER III. THE CASTLE +</h2> +<p> +When I next came to my senses, I found myself lying upon a sofa in a large +room, of which I appeared the only occupant. A confused and misty +recollection of my accident, some scattered fragments of my voyage, and a +rather aching sensation in my head, were the only impressions of which I +was well conscious. The last evening I spent at home was full in my +memory, and I could not help thinking over my poor mother's direful +anticipations in my vain endeavours to penetrate what I felt had been a +misfortune of some kind or other. The mystery was, however, too deep for +my faculties; and so, in despair of unravelling the past, I set myself to +work to decipher the present. The room, I have already said, was large; +and the ceiling, richly stuccoed and ornamented, spoke of a day whose +architecture was of a grand and massive character. The furniture, now old +and time-worn, had once been handsome, even magnificent—rich +curtains of heavy brocaded silk, with deep gold fringes, gorgeously carved +and gilded chairs, in the taste of Louis XV.; marble consoles stood +between the windows, and a mirror of gigantic proportions occupied the +chimney-breast. Years and neglect had not only done their worst, but it +was evident that the hand of devastation had also been at work. The +marbles were cracked; few of the chairs were available for use; the +massive lustre, intended to shine with a resplendent glare of fifty +wax-lights, was now made a resting-place for chakos, bearskins, and +foraging caps; an ominous-looking star in the looking-glass bore witness +to the bullet of a pistol; and the very Cupids carved upon the frame, who +once were wont to smile blandly at each other, were now disfigured with +cork moustaches, and one of them even carried a short pipe in his mouth. +Swords, sashes, and sabretasches, spurs and shot-belts, with guns, +fishing-tackle, and tandem whips, were hung here and there upon the walls, +which themselves presented the strangest spectacle of all, there not being +a portion of them unoccupied by caricature sketches, executed in every +imaginable species of taste, style, and colouring. Here was a field-day in +the Park, in which it was easy to see the prominent figures were +portraits: there an enormous nose, surmounted by a grenadier cap, was +passing in review some trembling and terrified soldiers. In another, a +commander of the forces was seen galloping down the lines, holding on by +the pommel of the saddle. Over the sofa I occupied, a levee at the Castle +was displayed, in which, if the company were not villanously libelled, the +Viceroy had little reason to be proud of his guests. There were also +dinners at the Lodge; guards relieved by wine puncheons dressed up like +field-officers; the whole accompanied by doggrel verses explanatory of the +views. +</p> +<p> +The owner of this singular chamber had, however, not merely devoted his +walls to the purposes of an album, but he had also made them perform the +part of a memorandum-book. Here were the “meets” of the Kildare and the +Dubber for the month of March; there, the turn of duty for the garrison of +Dublin, interspersed with such fragments as the following:—“Mem. To +dine at Mat Kean's on Tuesday, 4th.—Not to pay Hennesy till he +settles about the handicap.—To ask Courtenay—for Fanny Burke's +fan; the same Fanny has pretty legs of her own.—To tell Holmes to +have nothing to do with Lanty Moore's niece, in regard to a reason!—Five +to two on Giles's two-year-old, if Tom likes. N.B. The mare is a roarer.—A +heavenly day; what fun they must have!—may the devil fire Tom +O'Flaherty, or I would not be here now.” These and a hundred other similar +passages figured on every side, leaving me in a state of considerable +mystification, not as to the character of my host, of which I could guess +something, but as to the nature of his abode, which I could not imagine to +be a barrack-room. +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0003" id="linkimage-0003"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0053.jpg" alt="2-0053" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +As I lay thus pondering, the door cautiously opened, and a figure +appeared, which, as I had abundant leisure to examine it, and as the +individual is one who occasionally turns up in the course of my history, I +may as well take the present opportunity of presenting to my reader. The +man who entered, scarcely more than four feet and a half high, might be +about sixty years of age. His head, enormously disproportioned to the rest +of his figure, presented a number of flat surfaces, as though nature had +originally destined it for a crystal. Upon one of these planes the eyes +were set; and although as far apart as possible, yet upon such terms of +distance were they, that they never, even by an accident, looked in the +same direction. The nose was short and snubby; the nostrils wide and +expanded, as if the feature had been pitched against the face in a moment +of ill-temper, and flattened by the force. As for the mouth, it looked +like the malicious gash of a blunt instrument, jagged, ragged, and uneven. +It had not even the common-place advantage of being parallel to the +horizon, but ran in an oblique direction from right to left, enclosed +between a parenthesis of the crankiest wrinkles that ever human cheek were +creased by. The head would have been bald but for a scanty wig, +technically called a “jasy,” which, shrunk by time, now merely occupied +the apex of the scalp, where it moved about with every action of the +forehead and eyebrows, and was thus made to minister to the expression of +a hundred emotions that other men's wigs know nothing about. Truly, it was +the strangest peruke that ever covered a human cranium. I do not believe +that another like it ever existed. It had nothing in common with other +wigs. It was like its owner, perfectly <i>sui generis</i>. It had not the +easy flow and wavy curl of the old beau. It had not the methodical +precision and rectilinear propriety of the elderly gentleman. It was not +full, like a lawyer's, nor horse-shoed, like a bishop's. No. It was a +cross-grained, ill-tempered, ill-conditioned old scratch, that looked like +nothing under heaven save the husk of a hedgehog. +</p> +<p> +The dress of this strange figure was a suit of very gorgeous light brown +livery, with orange facings, a green plush waistcoat and shorts, frogged, +flapped, and embroidered most lavishly with gold lace, silk stockings, +with shoes, whose enormous buckles covered nearly the entire foot, and +rivalled, in their paste brilliancy, the piercing brightness of the +wearer's eye. Having closed the door carefully behind him, he walked +towards the chimney, with a certain air of solemn and imposing dignity +that very nearly overcame all my efforts at seriousness; his outstretched +and expanded hands, his averted toes and waddling gait, giving him a most +distressing resemblance to the spread eagle of Prussia, had that +respectable bird been pleased to take a promenade in a showy livery. +Having snuffed the candles, and helped himself to a pinch of snuff from a +gold box on the mantelpiece, he stuck his arms, nearly to the elbows, in +the ample pockets of his coat, and with his head a little elevated, and +his under-lip slightly protruded, seemed to meditate upon the mutability +of human affairs, and the vanity of all worldly pursuits. +</p> +<p> +I coughed a couple of times to attract his attention, and, having +succeeded in catching his eye, I begged, in my blandest imaginable voice, +to know where I was. +</p> +<p> +“Where are ye, is it?” said he, repeating my question in a tone of the +most sharp and querulous intonation, to which not even his brogue could +lend one touch of softness,—“where are ye? and where would you like +to be? or where would any one be that was disgracing himself, or +blackguarding about the streets till he got his head cut and his clothes +torn, but in Master Phil's room: devil other company it's used to. Well, +well! It is more like a watchhouse nor a gentleman's parlour, this same +room. It's little his father, the Jidge”—here he crossed himself +piously—“it is little he thought the company his son would be +keeping; but it is no matter. I gave him warning last Tuesday, and with +the blessin' o' God——” +</p> +<p> +The remainder of this speech was lost in a low muttering grumble, which I +afterwards learnt was his usual manner of closing an oration. A few broken +and indistinct phrases being only audible, such as—“Sarve you right”—“Fifty +years in the family”—“Slaving like a negur”—“Oh, the Turks! +the haythins!” +</p> +<p> +Having waited what I deemed a reasonable time for his honest indignation +to evaporate, I made another effort to ascertain who my host might be. +</p> +<p> +“Would you favour me,” said I, in a tone still more insinuating, “with the +name of——” +</p> +<p> +“It's my name, ye want? Oh, sorrow bit I am ashamed of it! Little as you +think of me, Cornelius Delany is as good a warrant for family as many a +one of the dirty spalpeens about the Coort, that haven't a civiler word in +their mouth than Cross Corny! Bad luck to them for that same.” +</p> +<p> +This honest admission as to the world's opinion of Mister Delany's +character was so far satisfactory as it enabled me to see with whom I had +to deal; and, although for a moment or two it was a severe struggle to +prevent myself bursting into laughter, I fortunately obtained the mastery, +and once more returned to the charge. +</p> +<p> +“And now, Mister Delany, can you inform me how I came here? I remember +something of an accident on my landing; but when, where, and how, I am +totally ignorant.” +</p> +<p> +“An accident!” said he, turning up his eyes; “an accident, indeed! that's +what they always call it when they wring off the rappers, or bate the +watch: ye came here in a hackney-coach, with the police, as many a one +came before you.” +</p> +<p> +“But where am I?” said I, impatiently. +</p> +<p> +“In Dublin Castle; bad luck to it for a riotous, disorderly place.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, well,” said I, half angrily, “I want to know whose room is this?” +</p> +<p> +“Captain O'Grady's. What have you to say agin the room? Maybe you're used +to worse. There now, that's what you got for that. I'm laving the place +next week, but that's no rayson——” +</p> +<p> +Here he went off, <i>diminuendo</i>, again, with a few flying imprecations +upon several things and persons unknown. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Delany now dived for a few seconds into a small pantry at the end of +the room, from which he emerged with a tray between his hands, and two +decanters under his arms. +</p> +<p> +“Draw the little table this way,” he cried, “more towards the fire, for, +av coorse, you're fresh and fastin'; there now, take the sherry from under +my arm—the other's port: that was a ham, till Captain Mills cut it +away, as ye see—there's a veal pie, and here's a cold grouse—and, +maybe, you've eat worse before now—and will again, plaze God.” +</p> +<p> +I assured him of the truth of his observation in a most conciliating tone. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, the devil fear ye,” was the reply, while he murmured somewhat lower, +“the half of yees isn't used to meat twice in the week.” +</p> +<p> +“Capital fare this, Mr. Delany,” said I, as, half famished with long +fasting, I helped myself a second time. +</p> +<p> +“You're eating as if you liked it,” said he, with a shrug of his +shoulders. +</p> +<p> +“Upon my word,” said I, after throwing down a bumper of sherry, “that's a +very pleasant glass of wine; and, on the whole, I should say, there are +worse places than this in the world.” +</p> +<p> +A look of unutterable contempt—whether at me for my discovery, or at +the opinion itself, I can't say—was the sole reply of my friend; +who, at the same moment, presuming I had sufficient opportunities for the +judgment I pronounced, replaced the decanters upon the tray, and +disappeared with the whole in the most grave and solemn manner. +</p> +<p> +Repressing a very great inclination to laughter, I sat still; and a +silence of a few moments ensued, when Mr. Delany walked towards the +window, and, drawing aside the curtains, looked out. All was in darkness +save on the opposite side of the court-yard, where a blaze of light fell +upon the pavement from over the half shutters of an apparently spacious +apartment. “Ay, ay, there you go; hip, hip, hurrah! you waste more liquor +every night than would float a lighter; that's all you're good for. Bad +luck to your Grace—making fun of the people, laughing and singing as +if the potatoes wasn't two shillings a stone.” +</p> +<p> +“What's going on there?” said I. +</p> +<p> +“The ould work, nather more nor less. The Lord-Liftinnant, and the +bishops, and the jidges, and all the privy councillors roaring drunk. +Listen to them. May I never, if it isn't the Dean's voice I hear—the +ould beast; he is singing 'The Night before Larry was stretched.'” +</p> +<p> +“That's a good fellow, Corny—Mr. Delany I mean—do open the +window for a little, and let's hear them.” +</p> +<p> +“It's a blessed night you'd have the window open to listen to a set of +drunken devils: but here's Master Phil; I know his step well It's long +before his father that's gone would come tearing up the stairs that way as +if the bailiffs was after him; rack and ruin, sorrow else, av I never got +a place—the haythins! the Turks!” +</p> +<p> +Mr. Delany, who, probably from motives of delicacy, wished to spare his +master the pain of an interview, made his exit by one door as he came in +at the other. I had barely time to see that the person before me was in +every respect the very opposite of his follower, when he called out in a +rich, mellow voice, +</p> +<p> +“All right again, I hope, Mr. Hinton; it's the first moment I could get +away; we had a dinner of the Privy Council, and some of them are rather +late sitters; you're not hurt, I trust?” +</p> +<p> +“A little bruised or so, nothing more; but pray, how did I fall into such +kind hands?” +</p> +<p> +“Oh! the watchmen, it seems, could read, and, as your trunks were +addressed to the Castle, they concluded you ought to go there also. You +have despatches, haven't you?” +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” said I, producing the packet; “when must they be delivered?” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, at once. Do you think you could make a little change in your dress, +and manage to come over? his Grace always likes it better; there's no +stiffness, no formality whatever; most of the dinner-party have gone home; +there are only a few of the government people, the Duke's friends, +remaining, and, besides, he's always kind and good-natured.” +</p> +<p> +“I'll see what I can do,” replied I, as I rose from the sofa; “I put +myself into your hands altogether.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, come along,” said he; “you'll find everything ready in this room. I +hope that old villain has left hot water. Corny! Corny, I say! Confound +him, he's gone to bed, I suppose.” +</p> +<p> +Having no particular desire for Mr. Delany's attentions, I prevailed on +his master not to disturb him, and proceeded to make my toilette as well +as I was able. +</p> +<p> +“Didn't that stupid scoundrel come near you at all?” cried O'Grady. +</p> +<p> +“Oh yes, we have had a long interview; but, somehow, I fear I did not +succeed in gaining his good graces.” +</p> +<p> +“The worst-tempered old villain in Europe.” +</p> +<p> +“Somewhat of a character, I take it.” +</p> +<p> +“A crab-tree planted in a lime-kiln, cranky and cross-grained; but he is a +legacy, almost the only one my father left me. I've done my best to part +with him every day for the last twelve years, but he sticks to me like a +poor relation, giving me warning every night of his life, and every +morning kicking up such a row in the house that every one is persuaded I +am beating him to a jelly before turning him out to starve in the +streets.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, the haythins! the Turks!” said I, slyly. +</p> +<p> +“Confound it!” cried he, “the old devil has been opening upon you already; +and Jet, with all that, I don't know how I should get on without Corny; +his gibes, his jeers, his everlasting ill-temper, his crankiness that +never sleeps, seem to agree with me: the fact is, one enjoys the world +from all its contrasts. The olive is a poor thing in itself, but it +certainly improves the smack of your Burgundy. In this way Corny Delany +does me good service. Come, by Jove, you have not been long dressing. This +way: now follow' me.” So saying, Captain O'Grady led the way down the +stairs to the colonnade, following which to the opposite side of the +quadrangle we arrived at a brilliantly lighted hall, where several +servants in full-dress liveries were in waiting. Passing hastily through +this, we mounted a handsome staircase, and, traversing several +ante-chambers, at length arrived at one whose contiguity to the +dinner-room I could guess at from the loud sound of many voices. “Wait one +moment here,” said my companion, “until I speak to his Grace.” He +disappeared as he spoke, but before a minute had elapsed he was again +beside me. “Come this way; it's all right,” said he. The next moment I +found myself in the dinner-room. +</p> +<p> +The scene before me was altogether so different from what I had expected, +that for a moment or two I could scarce do aught else than stand still to +survey it. At a table which had been laid for about forty persons, +scarcely more than a dozen were now present. Collected together at one end +of the board, the whole party were roaring with laughter at some story of +a strange, melancholy-looking man, whose whining voice added indescribable +ridicule to the drollery of his narrative. Grey-headed general officers, +grave-looking divines, lynx-eyed lawyers, had all given way under the +irresistible impulse, and the very table shook with laughter. +</p> +<p> +“Mr. Hinton, your Excellency,” said O'Grady for the third time, while the +Duke wiped his eye with his napkin, and, pushing his chair a little back +from the table, motioned me to approach. +</p> +<p> +“Ah, Hinton, glad to see you; how is your father?—a very old friend +of mine, indeed; and Lady Charlotte—well, I hope? O'Grady tells me +you've had an accident—something slight, I trust. So these are the +despatches.” Here he broke the seal of the envelope, and ran his eye over +the contents. “There, that's your concern.” So saying, he pitched a letter +across the table to a shrewd-looking personage in a horse-shoe wig. “They +won't do it, Dean, and we must wait. Ah!—so they don't like my new +commissioners; but, Hinton, my boy, sit down. O'Grady, have you room +there? A glass of wine with you.” +</p> +<p> +“Nothing the worse of your mishap, sir?” said the melancholy-looking man +who sat opposite to me. +</p> +<p> +I replied by briefly relating my accident. +</p> +<p> +“Strange enough,” said he, in a compassionate tone, “your head should have +suffered; your countrymen generally fall upon their legs in Ireland.” This +was said with a sly look at the Viceroy, who, deep in his despatches, paid +no attention to the allusion. +</p> +<p> +“A very singular thing, I must confess,” said the Duke, laying down the +paper. “This is the fourth time the bearer of despatches has met with an +accident. If they don't run foul of a rock in the Channel, they are sure +to have a delay on the pier.” +</p> +<p> +“It is so natural, my Lord,” said the gloomy man, “that the carriers +should stop at the Pigeon-house.” +</p> +<p> +“Do be quiet, Curran,” cried the Duke, “and pass round the decanter. +They'll not take the duty off claret, it seems.” +</p> +<p> +“And Day, my Lord, won't put the claret on duty; he has kept the wine at +his elbow for the last half-hour. Upon my soul, your Grace ought to knight +him.” +</p> +<p> +“Not even his Excellency's habits,” said a sharp, clever-looking man, +“would excuse his converting Day into Knight.” +</p> +<p> +Amid a shower of smart, caustic, and witty sayings, droll stories, retort +and repartee, the wine circulated freely from hand to hand; the presence +of the Duke adding fresh impulse to the sallies of fun and merriment +around him. Anecdotes of the army, the bench, and the bar, poured in +unceasingly, accompanied by running commentaries of the hearers, who never +let slip an opportunity for a jest or a rejoinder. To me, the most +singular feature of all this was, that no one seemed too old or too +dignified, too high in station, or too venerable from office, to join in +this headlong current of conviviality. Austere churchmen, erudite +chief-justices, profound politicians, privy councillors, military officers +of high rank and standing, were here all mixed up together into one +strange medley, apparently bent on throwing an air of ridicule over the +graver business of life, and laughing alike at themselves and the world. +Nothing was too grave for a jest, nothing too solemn for a sarcasm. All +the soldier's experience of men and manners, all the lawyer's acuteness of +perception and readiness of wit, all the politician's practised tact and +habitual subtlety, were brought to bear upon the common topics of the day +with such promptitude, and such power, that one knew not whether to be +more struck by the mass of information they possessed, or by that strange +fatality which could make men, so great and so gifted, satisfied to jest +where they might be called on to judge. +</p> +<p> +Play and politics, wine and women, debts and duels, were discussed, not +only with an absence of all restraint, but with a deep knowledge of the +world and a profound insight into the heart, which often imparted to the +careless and random speech the sharpness of the most cutting sarcasm. +Personalities, too, were rife; no one spared his neighbour, for he did not +expect mercy for himself; and the luckless wight who tripped in his +narrative, or stumbled in his story, was assailed on every side, until +some happy expedient of his own, or some new victim being discovered, the +attack would take another direction, and leave him once more at liberty. I +feel how sadly inadequate I am to render even the faintest testimony to +the talents of those, any one of whom, in after life, would have been +considered to have made the fortune of a dinner-party, and who now were +met together, not in the careless ease and lounging indifference of +relaxation, but in the open arena where wit met wit, and where even the +most brilliant talker, the happiest relater, the quickest in sarcasm, and +the readiest in reply, felt he had need of all his weapons to defend and +protect him. This was a <i>mêlée</i> tournament, where each man rode down +his neighbour, with no other reason for attack than detecting a rent in +his armour. Even the Viceroy himself, who, as judge of the lists, might be +supposed to enjoy an immunity, was not safe here, and many an arrow, +apparently shot at an adversary, was sent quivering into his corslet. +</p> +<p> +As I watched, with all the intense excitement of one to whom such a +display was perfectly new, I could not help feeling how fortunate it was +that the grave avocations and the venerable pursuits of the greater number +of the party should prevent this firework of wit from bursting into the +blaze of open animosity. I hinted as much to my neighbour, O'Grady, who at +once broke into a fit of laughter at my ignorance; and I now learnt to my +amazement that the Common Pleas had winged the Exchequer, that the +Attorney-General had pinked the Bolls, and, stranger than all, that the +Provost of the University himself had planted his man in the Phoenix. +</p> +<p> +“It is just as well for us,” continued he, in a whisper, “that the +churchmen can't go out; for the Dean, yonder, can snuff a candle at twenty +paces, and is rather a hot-tempered fellow to boot. But come, now, his +Grace is about to rise. We have a field-day to-morrow in the Park, and +break up somewhat earlier in consequence.” +</p> +<p> +As it was now near two o'clock, I could see nothing to cavil at as to the +earliness of the hour, although, I freely confess, tired and exhausted as +I felt, I could not contemplate the moment of separation without a sad +foreboding that I ne'er should look upon the like again. The party rose at +this moment, and the Duke, shaking hands cordially with each person as he +passed down, wished us all a good night. I followed with O'Grady and some +others of the household, but when I reached the ante-chamber, mv new +friend volunteered his services to see me to my quarters. +</p> +<p> +On traversing the lower castle-yard, we mounted an old-fashioned and +rickety stair, which conducted to a gloomy, ill-lighted corridor. I was +too much fatigued, however, to be critical at the moment, and so, having +thanked O'Grady for all his kindness, I threw off my clothes hastily, and, +before my head was well upon the pillow, was sound asleep. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER IV. THE BREAKFAST +</h2> +<p> +There are few persons so unreflective as not to give way to a little +self-examination on waking for the first time in a strange place. The very +objects about are so many appeals to your ingenuity or to your memory, +that you cannot fail asking yourself how you became acquainted with them: +the present is thus made the herald of the past, and it is difficult, when +unravelling the tangled web of doubt that assails you, not to think over +the path by which you have been travelling. +</p> +<p> +As for me, scarcely were my eyes opened to the light, I had barely thrown +one glance around my cold and comfortless chamber, when thoughts of home +came rushing to my mind. The warm earnestness of my father, the timid +dreads of my poor mother, rose up before me, as I felt myself, for the +first time, alone in the world. The elevating sense of heroism, that more +or less blends with every young man's dreams of life, gilds our first +journey from our father's roof. There is a feeling of freedom in being the +arbiter of one's actions, to go where you will and when you will. Till +that moment the world has been a comparative blank; the trammels of school +or the ties of tutorship have bound and restrained you. You have been +living, as it were, within the rules of court—certain petty +privileges permitted, certain small liberties allowed; but now you come +forth disenchanted, disenthralled, emancipated, free to come as to go—a +man in all the plenitude of his volition; and, better still, a man without +the heavy, depressing weight of responsibility that makes manhood less a +blessing than a burden. The first burst of life is indeed a glorious +thing; youth, health, hope, and confidence have each a force and vigour +they lose in after years: life is then a splendid river, and we are +swimming with the stream—no adverse waves to weary, no billows to +buffet us, we hold on our course rejoicing. +</p> +<p> +The sun was peering between the curtains of my window, and playing in +fitful flashes on the old oak floor, as I lay thus ruminating and dreaming +over the fature. How many a resolve did I then make for my guidance—how +many an intention did I form—how many a groundwork of principle did +I lay down, with all the confidence of youth! I fashioned to myself a +world after my own notions; in which I conjured up certain imaginary +difficulties, all of which were surmounted by my admirable tact and +consummate cleverness. I remembered how, at both Eton and Sandhurst, the +Irish boy was generally made the subject of some jest or quiz, at one time +for his accent, at another for his blunders. As a Guardsman, short as had +been my experience of the service, I could plainly see that a certain +indefinable tone of superiority was ever asserted towards our friends +across the sea. A wide-sweeping prejudice, whose limits were neither +founded in reason, justice, or common sense, had thrown a certain air of +undervaluing import over every one and every thing from that country. Not +only were its faults and its follies heavily visited, but those accidental +and trifling blemishes—those slight and scarce perceptible +deviations from the arbitrary standard of fashion—were deemed the +strong characteristics of the nation, and condemned accordingly; while the +slightest use of any exaggeration in speech—the commonest employment +of a figure or a metaphor—the casual introduction of an anecdote or +a repartee, were all heavily censured, and pronounced “so very Irish!” Let +some fortune-hunter carry off an heiress—let a lady trip over her +train at the drawing-room—let a minister blunder in his mission—let +a powder-magazine explode and blow up one-half of the surrounding +population, there was but one expression to qualify all—“How Irish! +how very Irish!” The adjective had become one of depreciation; and an +Irish lord, an Irish member, an Irish estate, and an Irish diamond, were +held pretty much in the same estimation. +</p> +<p> +Reared in the very hot-bed, the forcing-house, of such exaggerated +prejudice, while imbibing a very sufficient contempt for everything in +that country, I obtained proportionably absurd notions of all that was +Irish. Our principles may come from our fathers; our prejudices certainly +descend from the female branch. Now, my mother, notwithstanding the +example of the Prince Regent himself, whose chosen associates were Irish, +was most thoroughly exclusive on this point. She would admit that a native +of that country could be invited to an evening party under extreme and +urgent circumstances—that some brilliant orator, whose eloquence was +at once the dread and the delight of the House—that some gifted +poet, whose verses came home to the heart alike of prince and peasant—that +the painter, whose canvas might stand unblushingly amid the greatest +triumphs of art—could be asked to lionise for those cold and callous +votaries of fashion, across the lake of whose stagnant nature no breath of +feeling stirred, esteeming it the while, that in her card of invitation he +was reaping the proudest proof of his success; but that such could be made +acquaintances or companions, could be regarded in the light of equals or +intimates, the thing never entered into her imagination, and she would as +soon have made a confidant of the King of Kongo as a gentleman from +Connaught. +</p> +<p> +Less for the purposes of dwelling upon my lady-mother's “Hibernian +horrors,” than of showing the school in which I was trained, I have made +this somewhat lengthened <i>exposé</i>. It may, however, convey to my +reader some faint impression of the feelings which animated me at the +outset of my career in Ireland. +</p> +<p> +I have already mentioned the delight I experienced with the society at the +Viceroy's table. So much brilliancy, so much wit, so much of +conversational power, until that moment I had no conception of. Now, +however, while reflecting on it, I was actually astonished to find how far +the whole scene contributed to the support of my ancient prejudices. I +well knew that a party of the highest functionaries—bishops and +law-officers of the crown—would not have conducted themselves in the +same manner in England. I stopped not to inquire whether it was more the +wit or the will that was wanting; I did not dwell upon the fact that the +meeting was a purely convivial one, to which I was admitted by the +kindness and condescension of the Duke; but, so easily will a warped and +bigoted impression find food for its indulgence, I only saw in the meeting +an additional evidence of my early convictions. How far my theorising on +this point might have led me—whether eventually I should have come +to the conclusion that the Irish nation were lying in the darkest +blindness of barbarism, while, by a special intervention of Providence, I, +was about to be erected into a species of double revolving light—it +is difficult to say, when a tap at the door suddenly aroused me from my +musings. +</p> +<p> +“Are ye awake, yet?” said a harsh, husky voice, like a bear in bronchitis, +which I had no difficulty in pronouncing to be Corny's. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, come in,” cried I; “what hour is it?” +</p> +<p> +“Somewhere after ten,” replied he, sulkily; “you're the first I ever heerd +ask the clock, in the eight years I have lived here. Are ye ready for your +morning?” +</p> +<p> +“My what?” said I, with some surprise. +</p> +<p> +“Didn't I say it, plain enough? Is it the brogue that bothers you?” +</p> +<p> +As he said this with a most sarcastic grin he poured, from a large jug he +held in one hand, a brimming goblet full of some white compound, and +handed it over to me. Preferring at once to explore, rather than to +question the intractable Corny, I put it to my lips, and found it to be +capital milk punch, concocted with great skill, and seasoned with what +O'Grady afterwards called “a notion of nutmeg.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh! devil fear you, that he'll like it. Sorrow one of you ever left as +much in the jug as 'ud make a foot-bath for a flea.” +</p> +<p> +“They don't treat you over well, then, Corny,” said I, purposely opening +the sorest wound of his nature. +</p> +<p> +“Trate me well! faix, them that 'ud come here for good tratement, would go +to the devil for divarsion. There's Master Phil himself, that I used to +bate, when he was a child, many's the time, when his father, rest his +sowl, was up at the coorts—ay, strapped him, till he hadn't a spot +that wasn't sore an him—and look at him now; oh, wirra! you'd think +I never took a ha'porth of pains with him. Ugh!—the haythins!—the +Turks!” +</p> +<p> +“This is all very bad, Corny; hand me those boots.” +</p> +<p> +“And thim's boots!” said he, with a contemptuous expression on his face +that would have struck horror to the heart of Hoby. “Well, well.” Here he +looked up as though the profligacy and degeneracy of the age were +transgressing all bounds. “When you're ready, come over to the master's, +for he's waiting breakfast for you. A beautiful hour for breakfast, it is! +Many's the day his father sintenced a whole dockful before the same time!” +</p> +<p> +With the comforting reflection that the world went better in his youth, +Corny drained the few remaining drops of the jug, and, muttering the while +something that did not sound exactly like a blessing, waddled out of the +room with a gait of the most imposing gravity. +</p> +<p> +I had very little difficulty in finding my friend's quarters; for, as his +door lay open, and as he himself was carolling away, at the very top of +his lungs, some popular melody of the day, I speedily found myself beyond +the threshold. +</p> +<p> +“Ah! Hinton, my hearty, how goes it? your headpiece nothing the worse, I +hope, for either the car or the claret? By-the-by, capital claret that is! +you've nothing like it in England.” +</p> +<p> +I could scarce help a smile at the remark, as he proceeded, +</p> +<p> +“But come, my boy, sit down; help yourself to a cutlet, and make yourself +quite at home in Mount O'Grady.” +</p> +<p> +“Mount O'Grady!” repeated I. “Ha! in allusion, I suppose, to these +confounded two flights one has to climb up to you.” +</p> +<p> +“Nothing of the kind; the name has a very different origin. Tea or coffee? +there's the tap! Now, my boy, the fact is, we O'Gradys were once upon a +time very great folk in our way; lived in an uncouth old barrack, with +battlements and a keep, upon the Shannon, where we ravaged the country for +miles round, and did as much mischief, and committed as much pillage upon +the peaceable inhabitants, as any respectable old family in the province. +Time, however, wagged on; luck changed; your countrymen came pouring in +upon us with new-fangled notions of reading, writing, and road-making; +police and petty sessions, and a thousand other vexatious contrivances +followed, to worry and puzzle the heads of simple country gentlemen; so +that, at last, instead of taking to the hill-side for our mutton, we were +reduced to keep a market-cart, and employ a thieving rogue in Dublin to +supply us with poor claret, instead of making a trip over to Galway, where +a smuggling craft brought us our liquor, with a bouquet fresh from +Bordeaux. But the worst wasn't come; for you see, a litigious spirit grew +up in the country, and a kind of vindictive habit of pursuing you for your +debts. Now, we always contrived, somehow or other, to have rather a +confused way of managing our exchequer. No tenant on the property ever +precisely knew what he owed; and, as we possessed no record of what he +paid, our income was rather obtained after the maimer of levying a +tribute, than receiving a legal debt. Meanwhile, we pushed our credit like +a new colony: whenever a loan was to be, obtained, it was little we cared +for ten, twelve, or even fifteen per cent.; and as we kept a jolly house, +a good cook, good claret, and had the best pack of beagles in the country, +he'd have been a hardy creditor who'd have ventured to push us to +extremities. Even sheep, however, they say, get courage when they flock +together, and so this contemptible herd of tailors, tithe-proctors, +butchers, barristers, and bootmakers, took heart of grace, and laid siege +to us in all form. My grandfather, Phil,—for I was called after him,—who +always spent his money like a gentleman, had no notion of figuring in the +Four Courts; but he sent Tom Darcy, his cousin, up to town, to call out as +many of the plaintiffs as would fight, and to threaten the remainder that, +if they did not withdraw their suits, they'd have more need of the surgeon +than the attorney-general; for they shouldn't have a whole bone in their +body by Michaelmas-day. Another cutlet, Hinton? But I am tiring you with +all these family matters.” +</p> +<p> +“Not at all; go on, I beg of you. I want to hear how your grandfather got +out of his difficulties.” +</p> +<p> +“Faith, I wish you could! it would be equally pleasant news to myself; +but, unfortunately, his beautiful plan only made bad worse, for they began +fresh actions. Some, for provocation to fight a duel; others, for threats +of assault and battery; and the short of it was, as my grandfather +wouldn't enter a defence, they obtained their verdicts, and got judgment, +with all the costs.” +</p> +<p> +“The devil they did! That must have pushed him hard.” +</p> +<p> +“So it did; indeed it got the better of his temper, and he that was one of +the heartiest, pleasantest fellows in the province, became, in a manner, +morose and silent; and, instead of surrendering possession, peaceably and +quietly, he went down to the gate, and took a sitting shot at the +sub-sheriff, who was there in a tax-cart.” +</p> +<p> +“Bless my soul! Did he kill him?” +</p> +<p> +“No; he only ruffled his feathers, and broke his thigh; but it was bad +enough, for he had to go over to France till it blew over. Well, it was +either vexation or the climate, or, maybe, the weak wines, or, perhaps, +all three, undermined his constitution, but he died at eighty-four—the +only one of the family ever cut off early, except such as were shot, or +the like.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, but your father—” +</p> +<p> +“I am coming to him. My grandfather sent for him from school when he was +dying, and he made him swear he would be a lawyer. 'Morris will be a thorn +in their flesh, yet,' said he; 'and look to it, my boy,' he cried, 'I +leave you a Chancery suit that has nearly broke eight families and the +hearts of two chancellors;—see that you keep it goings—sell +every stick on the estate—put all the beggars in the barony on the +property—beg, borrow, and steal them—plough up all the +grazing-land; and I'll tell you a better trick than all——' +Here a fit of coughing interrupted the pious old gentleman, and, when it +was over, so was he!” +</p> +<p> +“Dead!” said I. +</p> +<p> +“As a door-nail! Well, my father was dutiful; he kept the suit moving till +he got called to the Bar! Once there, he gave it all his spare moments; +and when there was nothing doing in the Common Pleas or King's Bench, he +was sure to come down with a new bill, or a declaration, before the +Master, or a writ of error, or a point of law for a jury, till at last, +when no case was ready to come on, the sitting judge would call out, 'Let +us hear O'Grady/ in appeal, or in error, or whatever it was. But, to make +my story short, my father became a first-rate lawyer, by the practice of +his own suit—rose to a silk-gown—was made solicitor and +attorney-general—afterwards, chief-justice——” +</p> +<p> +“And the suit?” +</p> +<p> +“Oh! the suit survived him, and became my property; but, somehow, I didn't +succeed in the management quite as well as my father; and I found that my +estate cost me somewhere about fifteen hundred a year—not to mention +more oaths than fifty years of purgatory could pay off. This was a high +premium to pay for figuring every term on the list of trials, so I raised +a thousand pounds on my commission, gave it to Nick M'Namara, to take the +property off my hands, and as my father's last injunction was, 'Never rest +till you sleep in Mount O'Grady,'—why, I just baptised my present +abode by that name, and here I live with the easy conscience of a dutiful +and affectionate child that took the shortest and speediest way of +fulfilling his father's testament.” +</p> +<p> +“By Jove! a most singular narrative. I shouldn't like to have parted with +the old place, however.” +</p> +<p> +“Faith, I don't know! I never was much there. It was a rackety, +tumble-down old concern, with rattling windows, rooks, and rats, pretty +much like this; and, what between my duns and Corny Delany, I very often +think I am back there again. There wasn't as good a room as this in the +whole house, not to speak of the pictures. Isn't that likeness of Darcy +capital? You saw him last night. He sat next Curran. Come, I've no curaçoa +to offer you, but try this usquebaugh.” +</p> +<p> +“By-the-by, that Corny is a strange character. I rather think, if I were +you, I should have let him go with the property.” +</p> +<p> +“Let him go! Egad, that's not so easy as you think. Nothing but death will +ever part us.” +</p> +<p> +“I really cannot comprehend how you endure him; he'd drive me mad.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, he very often pushes me a little hard or so; and, if it wasn't +that, by deep study and minute attention, I have at length got some +insight into the weak parts of his nature, I frankly confess I couldn't +endure it much longer.” +</p> +<p> +“And, pray, what may these amiable traits be?” +</p> +<p> +“You will scarcely guess” +</p> +<p> +“Love of money, perhaps?” +</p> +<p> +“No.” +</p> +<p> +“Attachment to your family, then?” +</p> +<p> +“Not that either.” +</p> +<p> +“I give it up.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, the truth is, Corny is a most pious Catholic. The Church has +unbounded influence and control over all his actions. Secondly, he is a +devout believer in ghosts, particularly my grandfather's, which, I must +confess, I have personated two or three times myself, when his temper had +nearly tortured me into a brain fever; so that between purgatory and +apparitions, fears here and hereafter, I keep him pretty busy. There's a +friend of mine, a priest, one Father Tom Loftus——” +</p> +<p> +“I've heard that name before, somewhere.” +</p> +<p> +“Scarcely, I think; I'm not aware that he was ever in England; but he's a +glorious fellow; I'll make you known to him, one of these days; and when +you have seen a little more of Ireland, I am certain you'll like him. But +I'm forgetting; it must be late; we have a field-day, you know, in the +Park.” +</p> +<p> +“What am I to do for a mount? I've brought no horses with me.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, I've arranged all that. See, there are the nags already. That dark +chesnut I destine for you; and, come along, we have no time to lose; there +go the carriages, and here comes our worthy colleague and fellow +aide-de-camp. Do you know him?” +</p> +<p> +“Who is it, pray?” +</p> +<p> +“Lord Dudley de Vere, the most confounded puppy, and the emptiest ass— +But here he is.” +</p> +<p> +“De Vere, my friend Mr. Hinton—one of ours.” +</p> +<p> +His Lordship raised his delicate-looking eyebrows as high as he was able, +letting fall his glass at the same moment from the corner of his eye; and +while he adjusted his stock at the glass, lisped out, +</p> +<p> +“Ah—yes—very happy. In the Guards, I think. Know Douglas, +don't you?” +</p> +<p> +“Yes, very slightly.” +</p> +<p> +“When did you come—to-day?” +</p> +<p> +“No; last night.” +</p> +<p> +“Must have got a buffeting; blew very fresh. You don't happen to know the +odds on the Oaks?” +</p> +<p> +“Hecate, they say, is falling. I rather heard a good account of the mare.” +</p> +<p> +“Indeed,” said he, while his cold, inanimate features brightened up with a +momentary flush of excitement. “Take you five to two, or give you the +odds, you don't name the winner on the double event.” +</p> +<p> +A look from O'Grady decided me at once on declining the proffered wager; +and his Lordship once more returned to the mirror and his self-admiration. +</p> +<p> +“I say, O'Grady, do come here for a minute. What the deuce can that be?” +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0004" id="linkimage-0004"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0074.jpg" alt="2-0074" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +Here an immoderate fit of laughter from his Lordship brought us both to +the window. The figure to which his attention was directed was certainly +not a little remarkable. Mounted upon an animal of the smallest possible +dimensions, sat, or rather stood, the figure of a tall, gaunt, raw-boned +looking man, in a livery of the gaudiest blue and yellow, his hat +garnished with silver lace, while long tags of the same material were +festooned gracefully from his shoulder to his breast; his feet nearly +touched the ground, and gave him rather the appearance of one progressing +with a pony between his legs, than of a figure on horseback; he carried +under one arm a leather pocket, like a despatch bag; and, as he sauntered +slowly about, with his eyes directed hither and thither, seemed like some +one in search of an unknown locality. +</p> +<p> +The roar of laughter which issued from our window drew his attention to +that quarter, and he immediately touched his hat, while a look of pleased +recognition played across his countenance. “Holloa, Tim!” cried O'Grady, +“what's in the wind now?” +</p> +<p> +Tim's answer was inaudible, but inserting his hand into the leathern +con-veniency already mentioned, he drew forth a card of most portentous +dimensions. By this time Corny's voice could be heard joining the +conversation. +</p> +<p> +“Arrah, give it here, and don't be making a baste of yourself. Isn't the +very battle-axe Guards laughing at you? I'm sure I wonder how a Christian +would make a merry-andrew of himself by wearing such clothes; you're more +like a play-actor nor a respectable servant.” +</p> +<p> +With these words he snatched rather than accepted the proffered card; and +Tim, with another flourish of his hat, and a singularly droll grin, meant +to convey his appreciation of Cross Corny, plunged the spurs till his legs +met under the belly of the little animal, and cantered out of the +court-yard amid the laughter of the bystanders, in which even the +sentinels on duty could not refrain from participating. +</p> +<p> +“What the devil can it be?” cried Lord Dudley; “he evidently knows you, +O'Grady.” +</p> +<p> +“And you, too, my Lord; his master has helped you to a cool hundred or two +more than once before now.” +</p> +<p> +“Eh—what—you don't say so! Not our worthy friend Paul—eh? +Why, confound it, I never should have known Timothy in that dress.” +</p> +<p> +“No,” said O'Grady, slyly; “I acknowledge it is not exactly his costume +when he serves a latitat.” +</p> +<p> +“Ha, ha!” cried the other, trying to laugh at the joke, which he felt too +deeply; “I thought I knew the pony, though. Old three-and-fourpence; his +infernal canter always sounds in my ears like the jargon of a bill of +costs.” +</p> +<p> +“Here comes Corny,” said O'Grady. “What have you got there?” +</p> +<p> +“There, 'tis for you,” replied he, throwing, with an air of the most +profound disdain, a large card upon the table; while, as he left the room, +he muttered some very sagacious reflections about the horrors of low +company—his father the Jidge—the best in the land—riotous, +disorderly life; the whole concluding with an imprecation upon heathens +and Turks, with which he managed to accomplish his exit. +</p> +<p> +“Capital, by Jove!” said Lord Dudley, as he surveyed the card with his +glass. +</p> +<p> +“'Mr. and Mrs. Paul Rooney presents'—the devil they does—'presents +their compliments, and requests the honour of Captain O'Grady's company at +dinner on Friday, the 8th, at half-past seven o'clock.'” +</p> +<p> +“How good! glorious, by Jove! eh, O'Grady? You are a sure ticket there—<i>l'ami +de la maison!</i>” +</p> +<p> +O'Grady's cheek became red at these words; and a flashing expression in +his eyes told how deeply he felt them. He turned sharply round, his lip +quivering with passion; then, checking himself suddenly, he burst into an +affected laugh, +</p> +<p> +“You'll go too, wont you?” +</p> +<p> +“I? No, faith, they caught me once; but then the fact was, a protest and +an invitation were both served on me together. I couldn't accept one, so I +did the other.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, I must confess,” said O'Grady, in a firm, resolute tone, “there may +be many more fashionable people than our friends; but I, for one, scruple +not to say I have received many kindnesses from them, and am deeply, +sincerely grateful.” +</p> +<p> +“As far as doing a bit of paper now and then, when one is hard up,” said +Lord Dudley, “why, perhaps, I'm somewhat of your mind; but if one must +take the discount out in dinners, it's an infernal bore.” +</p> +<p> +“And yet,” said O'Grady, maliciously, “I've seen your Lordship tax your +powers to play the agreeable at these same dinners; and I think your +memory betrays you in supposing you have only been there once. I myself +have met you at least four times.” +</p> +<p> +“Only shows how devilish hard up I must have been,” was the cool reply; +“but now, as the governor begins to behave better, I think I'll cut Paul.” +</p> +<p> +“I'm certain you will,” said O'Grady, with an emphasis that could not be +mistaken. “But come, Hinton, we had better be moving; there's some stir at +the portico yonder, I suppose they're coming.” +</p> +<p> +At this moment the tramp of cavalry announced the arrival of the guard of +honour; the drums beat, the troops stood to arms, and we had barely time +to mount our horses, when the viceregal party took their places in the +carriages, and we all set out for the Phoenix. +</p> +<p> +“Confess, Hinton, it is worth while being a soldier to be in Ireland.” +This was O'Grady's observation as we rode down Parliament-street, beside +the carriage of the Viceroy. It was the first occasion of a field-day +since the arrival of his Excellency, and all Dublin was on the tiptoe of +expectation at the prospect. Handkerchiefs were waved from the windows; +streamers and banners floated from the house-tops; patriotic devices and +allegoric representations of Erin sitting at a plentiful board, opposite +an elderly gentleman with a ducal coronet, met us at every turn of the +way. The streets were literally crammed with people. The band played +Patrick's-day; the mob shouted, his Grace bowed; and down to Phil O'Grady +himself, who winked at the pretty girls as he passed, there did not seem +an unoccupied man in the whole procession. On we went, following the line +of the quays, threading our way through a bare-legged, ragged population, +bawling themselves hoarse with energetic desires for prosperity to +Ireland. “Yes,” thought I, as I looked upon the worn, dilapidated houses, +the faded and bygone equipages, the tarnished finery of better days—“yes, +my father was right, these people are very different from their +neighbours; their very prosperity has an air quite peculiar to itself.” +Everything attested a state of poverty, a lack of trade, a want of comfort +and of cleanliness; but still there was but one expression prevalent in +the mass—that of unbounded good humour and gaiety. With a philosophy +quite his own, poor Paddy seemed to feel a reflected pleasure from the +supposed happiness of those around him, the fine clothes, the gorgeous +equipages, the prancing chargers, the flowing plumes—all, in fact, +that forms the appliances of wealth—constituting in his mind a kind +of paradise on earth. He thought their possessors at least ought to be +happy, and, like a good-hearted fellow, he was glad of it for their sakes. +</p> +<p> +There had been in the early part of the day an abortive effort at a +procession. The Lord Mayor and the Sheriffs, in their state liveries, had +gone forth with a proud following of their fellow-citizens; but a +manouvre, which hitherto has been supposed exclusively the province of the +navy, was here employed with unbounded success; and the hackney coachmen, +by “cutting the line” in several places, had completely disorganised the +procession, which now presented the singular spectacle of an aldermanic +functionary with emblazoned panels and bedizened horses, followed by a +string of rackety jaunting-cars, or a noddy with its fourteen insides. +Horsemen there were, too, in abundance. Were I to judge from the spectacle +before me, I should say that the Irish were the most equestrian people of +the globe; and at what a pace they went! Caring little or nothing for the +foot-passengers, they only drew rein when their blown steeds were unable +to go further, and then dashed onwards like a charge, amid a shower of +oaths, curses, and imprecations, half drowned in the laughter that burst +on every side. Deputations there were also from various branches of trade, +entreating their Graces to wear and to patronise the manufacture of the +country, and to conform in many respects to its habits and customs: by all +of which, in my then ignorance, I could only understand the vehement +desire of the population that the viceregal court should go about in a +state of nature, and limit their diet to poteen and potatoes. +</p> +<p> +“Fine sight this, Hinton! Isn't it cheering?” said O'Grady, as his eye +beamed with pleasure and delight. +</p> +<p> +“Why, yes,” said I, hesitatingly; “but don't you think if they wore shoes——” +</p> +<p> +“Shoes!” repeated he, contemptuously, “they'd never suffer such +restrictions on their liberties. Look at them! they are the fellows to +make soldiers of! The only fear of half-rations with them would be the +risk of indigestion.” +</p> +<p> +On we went, a strange and motley mass, the only grave faces being a few of +those who sat in gilded coaches, with embroidered hammercloths, while +every half-naked figure that flitted past had a countenance of reckless +jollity and fun. But the same discrepancy that pervaded the people and the +procession was visible even in their dwellings, and the meanest hovels +stood side by side with the public and private edifices of elegance and +beauty. +</p> +<p> +“This, certainly,” thought I, “is a strange land.” A reflection I had +reason to recur to more than once in my after experience of Ireland. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER V. THE REVIEW IN THE PHOENIX +</h2> +<p> +Winding along the quays, we crossed an old and dilapidated bridge; and +after traversing some narrow and ruinous-looking streets, we entered the +Park, and at length reached the Fifteen Acres. +</p> +<p> +The carriages were drawn up in a line; his Grace's led horses were ordered +up, and staff-officers galloped right and left to announce the orders for +the troops to stand to arms. +</p> +<p> +As the Duke descended from his carriage he caught my eye, and turning +suddenly towards the Duchess, said, “Let me present Mr. Hinton to your +Grace.” +</p> +<p> +While I was making my bows and acknowledgments, his Grace put his hand +upon my arm. +</p> +<p> +“You know Lady Killimore, Hinton? Never mind, it's of no consequence. You +see her carriage yonder—they have made some blunder in the road, and +the dragoons, it seems, wont let them pass. Just canter down and rescue +them.” +</p> +<p> +“Do, pray, Mr. Hinton,” added the Duchess. “Poor Lady Killimore is so very +nervous she'll be terrified to death if they make any fuss. Her carriage +can come up quite close; there is plenty of room.” +</p> +<p> +“Now, do it well,” whispered O'Grady: “there is a pretty girl in the case; +it's your first mission; acquit yourself with credit.” +</p> +<p> +An infernal brass band playing “Rule Britannia” within ten paces of me, +the buzz of voices, the crowd, the novelty of the situation, the +excitement of the moment, all conspired to addle and confuse me; so that +when I put spurs to my horse and struck out into a gallop, I had no very +precise idea of what I was to do, and not the slightest upon earth of +where I was to do it. +</p> +<p> +A pretty girl in a carriage beset by dragoons was to be looked for—Lady +Kil—somebody's equipage—— “Oh! I have it; there they +are,” said I, as a yellow barouche, with four steaming posters, caught my +eye in a far part of the field. From the number of dragoons that +surrounded the carriage, no less than their violent gestures, I could +perceive that an altercation had taken place; pressing my horse to the top +of his speed, I flew across the plain, and arrived flushed, heated, and +breathless beside the carriage. +</p> +<p> +A large and strikingly handsome woman in a bonnet and plumes of the most +gaudy and showy character, was standing upon the front seat, and carrying +on an active, and, as it seemed, acrimonious controversy with the sergeant +of the horse police. +</p> +<p> +“You must go back—can't help it, ma'am—nothing but the members +of the household can pass this way.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh dear! where's Captain O'Grady?—sure it's not possible I could be +treated this way. Paul, take that man's name, and mind you have him +dismissed in the morning. Where are you, Paul? Ah! he's gone. It is the +way with him always; and there you sit, Bob Dwyer, and you are no more +good than a stick of sealing-wax!” Here a suppressed titter of laughter +from the back of the carriage induced me to turn my eyes in that +direction, and I beheld one of the most beautiful girls I ever looked at, +holding her handkerchief to her month to conceal her laughter. Her dark +eyes flashed, and her features sparkled, while a blush, at being so +discovered, if possible, added to her beauty. +</p> +<p> +“All right,” said I to myself, as taking off my hat I bowed to the very +mane of my horse. +</p> +<p> +“If your Ladyship will kindly permit me,” said I, “his Grace has sent me +to show you the way.” +</p> +<p> +The dragoons fell back as I spoke; the horse police looked awfully +frightened; while the lady whose late eloquence manifested little of fear +or trepidation, threw herself back in the carriage, and, covering her face +with a handkerchief, sobbed violently. +</p> +<p> +“Ah, the Duchess said she was nervous. Poor Lady Kil——” +</p> +<p> +“Speak to me, Louisa dear. Who is it? Is it Mr. Wellesley Pole? Is it——” +</p> +<p> +I did not wait for a further supposition, but in a most insinuating voice, +added, +</p> +<p> +“Mr. Hinton, my lady, extra aide-de-camp on his Excellency's staff. The +Duchess feared you would be nervous, and hopes you'll get as close to her +as possible.” +</p> +<p> +“Where's Paul?” said the lady, once more recovering her animation. “If +this is a hoax, young gentleman——” +</p> +<p> +“Madam,” said I, bowing stiffly, “I am really at a loss to understand your +meaning.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, forgive me, Mr. Hilton.” +</p> +<p> +“Hinton, my Lady.” +</p> +<p> +“Yes, Hinton,” said she. “I am a beast to mistrust you, and you so young +and so artless; the sweetest blue eyes I ever looked at.” +</p> +<p> +This was said in a whisper to her young friend, whose mirth now threatened +to burst forth. +</p> +<p> +“And was it really his Royal Highness that sent you?” +</p> +<p> +“His Grace, my lady, I assure you, despatched me to your aid. He saw your +carriage through his glass, and, guessing what had occurred, directed me +to ride over and accompany your Ladyship to the viceregal stand.” +</p> +<p> +Poor Lady Kil——'s nervousness again seized her, and, with a +faint cry for the ever-absent Paul, she went off into rather smart +hysterics. During this paroxysm I could not help feeling somewhat annoyed +at the young lady's conduct, who, instead of evincing the slightest +sympathy for her mother, held her head down, and seemed to shake with +laughter. By this time, however, the postilions were again under way, and, +after ten minutes' sharp trotting, we entered the grand stand, with whips +cracking, ribbons fluttering, and I myself caracoling beside the carriage +with an air of triumphant success. +</p> +<p> +A large dusky travelling carriage had meanwhile occupied the place the +Duchess designed for her friend. The only thing to do, therefore, was, to +place them as conveniently as I could, and hasten back to inform her Grace +of the success of my mission. As I approached her carriage I was saluted +by a burst of laughter from the staff, in which the Duke himself joined +most extravagantly; while O'Grady, with his hands on his sides, threatened +to fall from the saddle. +</p> +<p> +“What the deuce is the matter?” thought I; “I didn't bungle it?” +</p> +<p> +“Tell her Grace,” said the Duke, with his hand upon his mouth, unable to +finish the sentence with laughter. +</p> +<p> +I saw something was wrong, and that I was in some infernal scrape, still, +resolved to go through with it, I drew near, and said, +</p> +<p> +“I am happy to inform your Grace that Lady Kil——” +</p> +<p> +“Is here,” said the Duchess, bowing haughtily, as she turned towards a +spiteful-looking dowager beside her. +</p> +<p> +Here was a mess! So, bowing and backing, I dropped through the crowd to +where my companions still stood convulsed with merriment. +</p> +<p> +“What, in the devil's name, is it?” said I to O'Grady “Whom have I been +escorting this half-hour?” +</p> +<p> +“You've immortalised yourself,” said O'Grady, with a roar of laughter. +“Your bill at twelve months for five hundred pounds is as good this moment +as bank paper.” +</p> +<p> +“What is it?” said I, losing all patience. “Who is she?” +</p> +<p> +“Mrs. Paul Rooney, my boy, the gem of attorneys' wives, the glory of +Stephen's-green, with a villa at Bray, a box at the theatre, champagne +suppers every night in the week, dinners promiscuously, and lunch <i>à +discrétion</i>: there's glory for you. You may laugh at a latitat, sneer +at the King's Bench, and snap your fingers at any process-server from here +to Kilmainham!” +</p> +<p> +“May the devil fly away with her!” said I, wiping my forehead with passion +and excitement. +</p> +<p> +“The Heavens forbid!” said O'Grady, piously. “Our exchequer may be guilty +of many an extravagance, but it could not permit such a flight as that. It +is evident, Hinton, that you did not see the pretty girl beside her in the +carriage.” +</p> +<p> +“Yes, yes, I saw her,” said I, biting my lip with impatience, “and she +seemed evidently enjoying the infernal blunder I was committing. And Mrs. +Paul—oh, confound her! I can never endure the sight of her again!” +</p> +<p> +“My dear young friend,” replied O'Grady, with an affected seriousness, “I +see that already the prejudices of your very silly countrymen have worked +their effect upon you. Had not Lord Dudley de Vere given you such a +picture of the Rooney family, you would probably be much more lenient in +your judgment: besides, after all, the error was yours, not hers. You told +her that the Duke had sent you; you told her the Duchess wished her +carriage beside her own.” +</p> +<p> +“You take a singular mode,” said I, pettishly, “to bring a man back to a +good temper, by showing him that he has no one to blame for his +misfortunes but himself. Confound them! look how they are all laughing +about us. Indeed, from the little I've seen, it is the only thing they +appear to do in this country.” +</p> +<p> +At a signal from the Duke, O'Grady put spurs to his horse and cantered +down the line, leaving me to such reflections as I could form, beneath the +gaze of some forty persons, who could not turn to look without laughing at +me. +</p> +<p> +“This is pleasant,” thought I; “this is really a happy <i>début</i>: that +I, whose unimpeachable accuracy of manner and address should have won for +me, at the Prince's levee, the approbation of the first gentleman of +Europe, should here, among these semi-civilised savages, become an object +of ridicule and laughter. My father told me they were very different; and +my mother———” I had not patience to think of the +frightful effects my absurd situation might produce upon her nerves. “Lady +Julia, too—ah! there's the rub—my beautiful cousin, who, in +the slightest solecism of London manners, could find matter for sarcasm +and raillery. What would she think of me now? And this it is they +persuaded me to prefer to active service! What wound to a man's flesh +could equal one to his feelings? I would rather be condoled with than +scoffed at any day; and see! by Jove, they're laughing still. I would +wager a fifty that I furnish the dinner conversation for every table in +the capital this day.” +</p> +<p> +The vine twig shows not more ingenuity, as it traverses some rocky crag in +search of the cool stream, at once its luxury and its life, than does our +injured self-love, in seeking for consolation from the inevitable +casualties of fate, and the irresistible strokes of fortune! Thus I found +comfort in the thought that the ridicule attached to me rather proceeded +from the low standard of manners and habits about me than from anything +positively absurd in my position; and, in my warped and biassed +imagination, I actually preferred the insolent insipidity of Lord Dudley +de Vere to the hearty raciness and laughter-loving spirit of Phil O'Grady. +</p> +<p> +My reflections were now cut short by the order for the staff to mount, +and, following the current of my present feelings, I drew near to Lord +Dudley, in whose emptiness and inanity I felt a degree of security from +sarcasm, that I could by no means be so confident of in O'Grady's company. +</p> +<p> +Amid the thunder of cannon, the deafening roll of drums, the tramp of +cavalry, and the measured footfall of the infantry columns, these thoughts +rapidly gave way to others, and I soon forgot myself in the scene around +me. The sight, indeed, was an inspiriting one; for, although but the +mockery of glorious war, to my unpractised eye the deception was +delightful: the bracing air, the bright sky, the scenery itself, lent +their aid, and, in the brilliant panorama before me, I soon regained my +light-heartedness, and felt happy as before. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER VI. THE SHAM BATTLE +</h2> +<p> +I have mentioned in my last chapter how very rapidly I forgot my troubles +in the excitement of the scene around me. Indeed, they must have been much +more important, much deeper woes, to have occupied any place in a head so +addled and confused as mine was. The manoeuvres of the day included a sham +battle; and scarcely had his Excellency passed down the line, when +preparations for the engagement began. The heavy artillery was seen to +limber up, and move slowly across the field, accompanied by a strong +detachment of cavalry; columns of infantry were marched hither and thither +with the most pressing and eager haste; orderly dragoons and +staff-officers galloped to and fro like madmen; red-faced plethoric little +colonels bawled out the word of command till one feared they might burst a +bloodvessel; and already two companies of light infantry might be seen +stealing cautiously along the skirts of the wood, with the apparently +insidious design of attacking a brigade of guns. As for me, I was at one +moment employed carrying despatches to Sir Charles Asgill, at another +conveying intelligence to Lord Harrington; these, be it known, being the +rival commanders, whose powers of strategy were now to be tested before +the assembled and discriminating citizens of Dublin. Not to speak of the +eminent personal hazard of a service which required me constantly to ride +between the lines of contending armies, the fatigue alone had nigh killed +me. Scarcely did I appear, breathless, at head-quarters on my return from +one mission, when I was despatched on another. Tired and panting, I more +than once bungled my directions, and communicated to Sir Charles the +secret intentions of his Lordship, while with a laudable impartiality I +disarranged the former's plans by a total misconception of the orders. +Fatigue, noise, chagrin, and incessant worry had so completely turned my +head, that I became perfectly incapable of the commonest exercises of +reason. Some of the artillery I ordered into a hollow, where I was told to +station a party of riflemen. Three squadrons of cavalry I desired to +charge up a hill, which the 71st Highlanders were to have scrambled up if +they were able. Light dragoons I posted in situations so beset with +brushwood and firs, that all movement became impossible; and, in a word, +when the signal-gun announced the commencement of the action, my mistakes +had introduced such a new feature into tactics, that neither party knew +what his adversary was at, nor, indeed, had any accurate notion of which +were his own troops. The Duke, who had watched with the most eager +satisfaction the whole of my proceedings, sat laughing upon his horse till +the very tears coursed down his cheeks; and, as all the staff were more or +less participators in the secret, I found myself once more the centre of a +grinning audience, perfectly convulsed at my exploits. Meanwhile, the guns +thundered, the cavalry charged, the infantry poured in a rattling roar of +small arms; while the luckless commanders, unable to discover any +semblance of a plan, and still worse, not knowing where one half of their +forces were concealed, dared not adventure upon a movement, and preferred +trusting to the smoke of the battle as a cover for their blunders. The +fusilade, therefore, was hotly sustained; all the heavy pieces were +brought to the front; and while the spectators were anxiously looking for +the manoeuvres of a fight, the ammunition was waxing low, and the day +wearing apace. Dissatisfaction at length began to show itself on every +side; and the Duke assuming, as well as he was able, somewhat of a +disappointed look, the unhappy generals made a final effort to retrieve +their mishaps, and aides-de-camp were despatched through all the highways +and byways, to bring up whoever they could find as quickly as possible. +Now then began such a scene as few even of the oldest campaigners ever +witnessed the equal of. From every dell and hollow, from every brake and +thicket, burst forth some party or other, who up to this moment believed +themselves lying in ambush. Horse, foot, and dragoons, artillery, sappers, +light infantry, and grenadiers, rushed forward wherever chance or their +bewildered officers led them. Here might be seen one half of a regiment +blazing away at a stray company of their own people, running like devils +for shelter; here some squadrons of horse, who, indignant at their +fruitless charges and unmeaning movements, now doggedly dismounted, were +standing right before a brigade of twelve-pounders, thundering mercilessly +amongst them. Never was witnessed such a scene of riot, confusion, and +disorder. Colonels lost their regiments, regiments their colonels. The +Fusiliers captured the band of the Royal Irish, and made them play through +the heat of the engagement. Those who at first expressed <i>enmui</i> and +fatigue at the sameness and monotony of the scene, were now gratified to +the utmost by its life, bustle, and animation. Elderly citizens in drab +shorts and buff waistcoats explained to their listening wives and urchins +the plans and intentions of the rival heroes, pronouncing the whole thing +the while the very best field-day that ever was seen in the Phoenix. +</p> +<p> +In the midst of all this confusion, a new element of discord suddenly +displayed itself. That loyal corps, the Cork militia, who were ordered up +to attack close to where the Duke and his staff were standing, deemed that +no better moment could be chosen to exhibit their attachment to church and +state than when marching on to glory, struck up, with all the discord of +their band, the redoubted air of “Protestant Boys.” A cheer burst from the +ranks as the loyal strains filled the air; but scarcely had the loud burst +subsided, when the Louth militia advanced with a quick step, their fifes +playing “Vinegar-hill.” +</p> +<p> +For a moment or two the rivalry created a perfect roar of laughter; but +this very soon gave way, as the two regiments, instead of drawing up at a +reasonable distance for the interchange of an amicable blank cartridge, +rushed down upon each other with the fury of madmen. So sudden, so +impetuous was the encounter, all effort to prevent it was impracticable. +Muskets were clubbed or bayonets fixed, and in a moment really serious +battle was engaged; the musicians on each side encouraging their party, as +they racked their brains for party-tunes of the most bitter and taunting +character; while cries of “Down with King William I.” “To hell with the +Pope?” rose alternately from either side. +</p> +<p> +How far this spirit might have extended, it is difficult to say, when the +Duke gave orders for some squadrons of cavalry to charge down upon them, +and separate the contending forces. This order was fortunately in time; +for scarcely was it issued, when a west country yeomanry corps came +galloping up to the assistance of the brave Louth. +</p> +<p> +“Here we are, boys!” cried Mike Westropp, their colonel—“here we +are! lave the way! lave the way for us! and we'll ride down the murthering +Orange villains, every man of them!” +</p> +<p> +The Louth fell back, and the yeomen came forward at a charge; Westropp +standing high in his stirrups, and flourishing his sabre above his head. +It was just then that a heavy brigade of artillery, unconscious of the hot +work going forward, was ordered to open their fire upon the Louth militia. +One of the guns, by some accident, contained an undue proportion of +wadding, and to this casual circumstance may, in a great degree, be +attributed the happy issue of what threatened to be a serious disturbance; +for, as Westropp advanced, cheering and encouraging his men, he received +this wadding slap in his face. Down he tumbled at once, rolling over and +over with the shock; while, believing that he had got his death-wound, he +bellowed out, +</p> +<p> +“Oh! blessed Virgin! there's threason in the camp! hit in the face by a +four-pounder, by Jove! Oh! Duke darling! Oh! your Grace! Oh! holy Joseph, +look at this! Oh! bad luck to the arthillery, for spoiling a fair fight! +Peter”—this was the major of the regiment—“Peter Darcy, gallop +into town and lodge informations against the brigade of guns. I'll be dead +before you come back.” +</p> +<p> +A perfect burst of laughter broke from the opposing ranks, and while his +friends crowded round the discomfited leader, the rival bands united in a +roar of merriment that for a moment caused a suspension of hostilities. +For a moment, I say; for scarcely had the gallant Westropp been conveyed +to the rear, when once more the bands struck up their irritating strains, +and preparations for a still more deadly encounter were made on every +side. The matter now assumed so serious an aspect, that the Duke was +obliged himself to interfere, and order both parties off the ground; the +Cork deploying towards the lodge, while the brave Louth marched off with +banners flying and drums beating in the direction of Knockmaroon. +</p> +<p> +These movements were conducted with a serio-comic solemnity of the most +ludicrous kind; and although the respect for viceregal authority was +great, and the military devotion of each party strong, yet neither one nor +the other was sufficient to prevent the more violent on both sides from +occasionally turning, as they went, to give expression to some taunting +allusion or some galling sarcasm, well calculated, did the opportunity +permit, to renew the conflict. +</p> +<p> +A hearty burst of laughter from the Duke indicated pretty clearly how he +regarded the matter; and, however the grave and significant looks of +others might seem to imply that there was more in the circumstance than +mere food for mirth, he shook his sides merrily; and, as his bright eye +glistened with satisfaction, and his cheek glowed, he could not help +whispering his regret that his station compelled him to check the very +best joke he ever witnessed in his life. +</p> +<p> +“This is hot work, Sir Charles,” said he, wiping his forehead as he spoke; +“and, as it is now past three o'clock, and we have a privy council at +four, I fear I must leave you.” +</p> +<p> +“The troops will move past in marching order,” replied Sir Charles, +pompously: “will your Grace receive the salute at this point?” +</p> +<p> +“Wherever you like, Sir Charles; wherever you like. Would to Heaven that +some good Samaritan could afford me a little brandy-and-water from his +canteen. I say, Hinton, they seem at luncheon yonder in that carriage: do +you think your diplomacy could negotiate a glass of sherry for me?” +</p> +<p> +“If you'll permit me, my Lord, I'll try,” said I, as, disengaging myself +from the crowd, I set off in the direction he pointed. +</p> +<p> +As I drew near the carriage—from which the horses had been taken—drawn +up beside a clump of beech-trees for the sake of shelter—I was not +long in perceiving that it was the same equipage I had so gallantly +rescued in the morning from the sabres of the horse police. Had I +entertained any fears for the effects of the nervous shock upon the tender +sensibilities of Mrs. Paul Rooney, the scene before me must completely +have dispelled my uneasiness. Never did a merrier peal of laughter ring +from female lungs than hers as I rode forward. Seated in the back of the +carriage, the front cushion of which served as a kind of table, sat the +lady in question. One hand, resting upon her knee, held a formidable +carving-fork, on the summit of which vibrated the short leg of a chicken; +in the other she grasped a silver vessel, which, were I to predicate from +the froth, I fear I should pronounce to be porter. A luncheon on the most +liberal scale, displayed, in all the confusion and disorder inseparable +from such a situation, a veal-pie, cold lamb, tongue, chickens, and +sandwiches; drinking vessels of every shape and material; a smelling +bottle full of mustard, and a newspaper paragraph full of salt. Abundant +as were the viands, the guests were not wanting: crowds of infantry +officers, flushed with victory or undismayed by defeat, hob-nobbed from +the rumble to the box; the steps, the springs, the very splinter-bar had +its occupant; and, truly, a merrier party, or a more convivial, it were +difficult to conceive. +</p> +<p> +So environed was Mrs. Rooney by her friends, that I was enabled to observe +them some time, myself unseen. +</p> +<p> +“Captain Mitchell, another wing? Well, the least taste in life of the +breast? Bob Dwyer, will ye never have done drawing that cork?” +</p> +<p> +Now this I must aver was an unjust reproach, inasmuch as to my own certain +knowledge he had accomplished three feats of that nature in about as many +minutes; and, had the aforesaid Bob been reared from his infancy in +drawing corks, instead of declarations, his practice could not have been +more expert. Pop, pop, they went; ghig, glug, glug, flowed the bubbling +liquor, as sherry, shrub, cold punch, and bottled porter succeeded each +other in rapid order. Simpering ensigns, with elevated eyebrows, +insinuated nonsense, soft, vapid, and unmeaning as their own brains, as +they helped themselves to ham or dived into the pasty; while a young +dragoon, who seemed to devote his attention to Mrs. Rodney's companion, +amused himself by constant endeavours to stroke down a growing moustache, +whose downy whiteness resembled nothing that I know of save the ill-omened +fur one sees on an antiquated apple-pie. +</p> +<p> +As I looked on every side to catch a glance at him whom I should suppose +to Mr. Rooney, I was myself detected by the watchful eye of Bob Dwyer, +who, at that moment having his mouth full of three hard eggs, was nearly +asphyxiated in his endeavours to telegraph my approach to Mrs. Paul. +</p> +<p> +“The edge-du-cong, by the mortial!” said he, sputtering out the words, as +his bloodshot eyes nearly bolted out of his head. +</p> +<p> +Had I been a Bengal tiger, my advent might have caused less alarm. The +officers not knowing if the Duke himself were coming, wiped their lips, +resumed their caps and chakos, and sprang to the ground in dismay and +confusion: as Mrs. Rooney herself, with an adroitness an Indian juggler +might have envied, plunged the fork, drumstick and all, into the recesses +of her muff; while with a back hand she decanted the XX upon a bald major +of infantry, who was brushing the crumbs from his facings. One individual +alone seemed to relish and enjoy the discomfiture of the others: this was +the young lady whom I before remarked, and whose whole air and appearance +seemed strangely at variance with everything around her. She gave free +current to her mirth; while Mrs. Paul, now suddenly restored to a sense of +her nervous constitution, fell back in her carriage, and appeared bent +upon a scene. +</p> +<p> +“You caught us enjoying ourselves, Mr. Stilton?” +</p> +<p> +“Hinton, if you'll allow me, madam.” +</p> +<p> +“Ay, to be sure—Mr. Hinton. Taking a little snack, which I am sure +you'd be the better for after the fatigues of the day.” +</p> +<p> +“Eh, au au! a devilish good luncheon,” chimed in a pale sub, the first who +ventured to pluck up his courage. +</p> +<p> +“Would a sandwich tempt you, with a glass of champagne?” said Mrs. Paul, +with the blandest of smiles. +</p> +<p> +“I can recommend the lamb, sir,” said a voice behind. +</p> +<p> +“Begad, I'll vouch for the porter,” said the Major. “I only hope it is a +good cosmetic.” +</p> +<p> +“It is a beautiful thing for the hair,” said Mrs. Rooney, half venturing +upon a joke. +</p> +<p> +“No more on that head, ma'am,” said the little Major, bowing pompously. +</p> +<p> +By this time, thanks to the assiduous attentions of Bob Dwyer, I was +presented with a plate, which, had I been an anaconda instead of an +aide-decamp, might have satisfied my appetite. A place was made for me in +the carriage; and the faithful Bob, converting the skirt of his principal +blue into a glass-cloth, polished a wine-glass for my private use. +</p> +<p> +“Let me introduce my young friend, Mr. Hinton,” said Mrs. Paul, with a +graceful wave of her jewelled hand towards her companion. “Miss Louisa +Bellew, only daughter of Sir Simon Bellew, of ———” what +the place was I could not well hear, but it sounded confoundedly like +Killhiman-smotherum—“a beautiful place in the county Mayo. Bob, is +it punch you are giving?” +</p> +<p> +“Most excellent, I assure you, Mrs. Rooney.” +</p> +<p> +“And how is the Duke, sir? I hope his Grace enjoys good health. He is a +darling of a man.” +</p> +<p> +By-the-by, it is perfectly absurd the sympathy your third or fourth-rate +people feel in the health and habits of those above them in station, +pleased as they are to learn the most common-place and worthless trifles +concerning them, and happy when, by any chance, some accidental similitude +would seem to exist even between their misfortunes. +</p> +<p> +“And the dear Duchess,” resumed Mrs. Rooney, “she's troubled with the +nerves like myself. Ah! Mr. Hinton, what an affliction it is to have a +sensitive nature; that's what I often say to my sweet young friend here. +It's better for her to be the gay, giddy, thoughtless, happy thing she is, +than——” Here the lady sighed, wiped her eyes, flourished her +cambric, and tried to look like Agnes in the “Bleeding Nun.” “But here +they come. You don't know Mr. Rooney? Allow me to introduce him to you.” +</p> +<p> +As she spoke, O'Grady cantered up to the carriage, accompanied by a short, +pursy, round-faced little man, who, with his hat set knowingly on one +side, and his top-boots scarce reaching to the middle of the leg, bestrode +a sharp, strong-boned hackney, with cropped ears and short tail. He +carried in his hand a hunting-whip, and seemed, by his seat in the saddle +and the easy finger upon the bridle, no indifferent horseman. +</p> +<p> +“Mr. Rooney,” said the lady, drawing herself up with a certain austerity +of manner, “I wish you to make the acquaintance of Mr. Hinton, the +aide-de-camp to his Grace.” +</p> +<p> +Mr. Rooney lifted his hat straight above his head, and replaced it a +little more obliquely than before over his right eye. +</p> +<p> +“Delighted, upon my honour—faith, quite charmed—hope you got +something to eat—there never was such a murthering hot day—Bob +Dwyer, open a bottle of port—the Captain is famished.” +</p> +<p> +“I say, Hinton,” called out O'Grady, “you forgot the Duke, it seems; he +told me you'd gone in search of some sherry, or something of the kind; but +I can readily conceive how easily a man may forget himself in such a +position as yours.” +</p> +<p> +Here Mrs. Paul dropped her head in deep confusion, Miss Bellew looked +saucy, and I, for the first time remembering what brought me there, was +perfectly overwhelmed with shame at my carelessness. +</p> +<p> +“Never mind, boy, don't fret about it, his Grace is the most forgiving man +in the world; and when he knows where you were——” +</p> +<p> +“Ah, Captain!” sighed Mrs. Rooney. +</p> +<p> +“Master Phil, it's yourself can do it,” murmured Paul, who perfectly +appreciated O'Grady's powers of “blarney,” when exercised on the +susceptible temperament of his fair spouse. +</p> +<p> +“I'll take a sandwich,” continued the Captain. “Do you know, Mrs. Rooney, +I've been riding about this half-hour to catch my young friend, and +introduce him to you; and here I find him comfortably installed, without +my aid or assistance. The fact is, these English fellows have a nattering, +insinuating way of their own there's no coming up to. Isn't that so, Miss +Bellew?” +</p> +<p> +“Very likely,” said the young lady, who now spoke for the first time; “but +it is so very well concealed that I for one could never detect it.” +</p> +<p> +This speech, uttered with a certain pert and saucy air, nettled mc for the +moment; but as no reply occurred to me, I could only look at the speaker a +tacit acknowledgment of her sarcasm; while I remembered, for the first +time, that, although seated opposite my very attractive neighbour, I had +hitherto not addressed to her a single phrase of even common-place +attention. +</p> +<p> +“I suppose you put up in the Castle, sir?” said Mr. Rooney. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, two doors lower down than Mount O'Grady,” replied the Captain for +me. “But come, Hinton, the carriages are moving, we must get back as quick +as we can. Good-by, Paul Adieu, Mrs. Rooney, Miss Bellew, good morning.” +</p> +<p> +It was just at the moment when I had summoned up my courage to address +Miss Bellew, that O'Grady called me away: there was nothing for it, +however, but to make my adieus; while, extricating myself from the <i>débris</i> +of the luncheon, I once more mounted my horse, and joined the viceregal +party as they drove from the ground. +</p> +<p> +“I'm delighted you know the Rooneys,” said O'Grady, as we drove along; +“they are by far the best fun going. Paul good, but his wife superb!” +</p> +<p> +“And the young lady?” said I. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, a different kind of thing altogether. By-the-by, Hinton, you took my +hint, I hope, about your English manner?” +</p> +<p> +“Eh—why—how—what did you mean?” +</p> +<p> +“Simply, my boy, that your Coppermine-river kind of courtesy may be a +devilish fine thing in Hyde Park or St. James's, but will never do with us +poor people here. Put more warmth into it, man. Dash the lemonade with a +little maraschino; you'll feel twice as comfortable yourself, and the +girls like you all the better. You take the suggestion in good part, I'm +sure.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, of course,” said I, somewhat stung that I should get a lesson in +manner where I had meant to be a model for imitation; “if they like that +kind of thing, I must only conform.” +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER VII. THE ROONEYS. +</h2> +<p> +I cannot proceed further in this my veracious history without dwelling a +little longer upon the characters of the two interesting individuals I +have already presented to my readers as Mr. and Mrs. Rooney. +</p> +<p> +Paul Rooney, attorney-at-law, 42, Stephen's-green, north, was about as +well known in his native city of Dublin as Nelson's Pillar. His +reputation, unlimited by the adventitious circumstances of class, spread +over the whole surface of society; and, from the chancellor down to the +carman, his claims were confessed. +</p> +<p> +It is possible that, in many other cities of the world, Mr. Rooney might +have been regarded as a common-place, every-day personage, well to do in +the world, and of a free-and-easy character, which, if it left little for +reproach, left still less for remark: but in Ireland, whether it was the +climate or the people, the potteen or the potatoes, I cannot say, but +certainly he “came out,” as the painters call it, in a breadth of colour +quite surprising. +</p> +<p> +The changeful character of the skies has, they tell us, a remarkable +influence in fashioning the ever-varying features of Irish temperament; +and, certainly, the inconstant climate of Dublin had much merit if it +produced in Mr. Rooney the versatile nature he rejoiced in. +</p> +<p> +About ten o'clock, on every morning during term, might be seen a shrewd, +cunning-looking, sly little fellow, who, with pursed-up lips and slightly +elevated nose, wended his way towards the Four Courts, followed by a +ragged urchin with a well-filled bag of purple stuff. His black coat, drab +shorts, and gaiters, had a plain and business-like cut; and the short, +square tie of his white cravat had a quaint resemblance to a flourish on a +deed; the self-satisfied look, the assured step, the easy roll of the head—all +bespoke one with whom the world was thriving; and it did not need the +additional evidence of a certain habit he had of jingling his silver in +his breeches-pocket as he went, to assure you that Rooney was a warm +fellow, and had no want of cash. +</p> +<p> +Were you to trace his steps for the three or four hours that ensued, you +would see him bustling through the crowded hall of the Four Courts—now, +whispering some important point to a leading barrister, while he held +another by the gown lest he should escape him; now, he might be remarked +seated in a niche between the pillars, explaining some knotty difficulty +to a western client, whose flushed cheek and flashing eye too plainly +indicated his impatience of legal strategy, and how much more pleased he +would feel to redress his wrongs in his own fashion; now brow-beating, now +cajoling, now encouraging, now condoling, he edged his way through the +bewigged and dusty throng, not stopping to reply to the hundred +salutations he met with, save by a knowing wink, which was the only +civility he did not put down at three-and-fourpence. If his knowledge of +law was little, his knowledge of human nature—at least of such of it +as Ireland exhibits—was great; and no case of any importance could +come before a jury, where Paul's advice and opinion were not deemed of +considerable importance. No man better knew all the wiles and twists, all +the dark nooks and recesses of Irish character. No man more quickly could +ferret out a hoarded secret; no one so soon detect an attempted +imposition. His was the secret <i>police</i> of law: he read a witness as +he would a deed, and detected a flaw in him to the full as easily. +</p> +<p> +As he sat near the leading counsel in a cause, he seemed a kind of middle +term between the lawyer and the jury. Marking by some slight but +significant gesture every point of the former, to the latter he impressed +upon their minds every favourable feature of his client's cause; and +twelve deaf men might have followed the pleadings in a cause through the +agency of Paul's gesticulations. The consequence of these varied gifts +was, business flowed in upon him from every side, and few members of the +bar were in the receipt of one-half his income. +</p> +<p> +Scarcely, however, did the courts rise, when Paul, shaking from his +shoulders the learned dust of the Exchequer, would dive into a small +apartment which, in an obscure house in Mass-lane, he dignified by the +name of his study. Short and few as were his moments of seclusion, they +sufficed to effect in his entire man a complete and total change. The +shrewd little attorney, that went in with a <i>nisi prius</i> grin, came +out a round, pleasant-looking fellow, with a green coat of jockey cut, a +buff waistcoat, white cords, and tops; his hat set jauntily on one side, +his spotted neckcloth knotted in bang-up mode,—in fact, his figure +the <i>beau idéal</i> of a west-country squire taking a canter among his +covers before the opening of the hunting. +</p> +<p> +His grey eyes, expanded to twice their former size, looked the very soul +of merriment; his nether lip, slightly dropped, quivered with the last +joke it uttered. Even his voice partook of the change, and was now a rich, +full, mellow Clare accent, which, with the recitative of his country, +seemed to Italianise his English. While such was Paul, his <i>accessoires</i>—as +the French would call them—were in admirable keeping: a dark chesnut +cob, a perfect model of strength and symmetry, would be led up and down by +a groom, also mounted upon a strong hackney, whose flat rib and short +pastern showed his old Irish breeding; the well-fitting saddle, the +well-balanced stirrup, the plain but powerful snaffle, all looked like the +appendages of one whose jockeyism was no assumed feature; and, indeed, you +had only to see Mr. Rooney in his seat, to confess that he was to the full +as much at home there as in the Court of Chancery. +</p> +<p> +From this to the hour of a late dinner, the Phoenix Park became his +resort. There, surrounded by a gay and laughing crowd, Paul cantered +along, amusing his hearers with the last <i>mot</i> from the King's Bench, +or some stray bit of humour or fun from a case on circuit. His +conversation, however, principally ran on other topics: the Curragh +Meeting, the Loughrea Steeple-chase, the Meath Cup, or Lord Boyne's +Handicap; with these he was thoroughly familiar. He knew the odds of every +race, could apportion the weights, describe the ground, and, better than +all, make rather a good guess at the winner. In addition to these gifts, +he was the best judge of a horse in Ireland; always well mounted, and +never without at least two hackneys in his stable, able to trot their +fifteen Irish miles within the hour. Such qualities as these might be +supposed popular ones in a country proverbially given to sporting; but Mr. +Rooney had other and very superior powers of attraction,—he was the +Amphitryou of Dublin. It was no figurative expression to say that he kept +open house. <i>Déjeuners</i>, dinners, routs, and balls followed each +other in endless succession. His cook was French, his claret was Sneyd's; +he imported his own sherry and Madeira, both of which he nursed with a +care and affection truly parental. His venison and black-cock came from +Scotland; every Holyhead packet had its consignment of Welsh mutton; and, +in a word, whatever wealth could purchase, and a taste, nurtured as his +had been by the counsel of many who frequented his table, could procure, +such he possessed in abundance, his greatest ambition being to outshine in +splendour, and surpass in magnificence, all the other dinner-givers of the +day, filling his house with the great and titled of the land, who +ministered to his vanity with singular good-nature, while they sipped his +claret, and sat over his Burgundy. His was indeed a pleasant house. The <i>bons +vivants</i> liked it for its excellent fare, the perfection of its wines, +the certainty of finding the first rarity of the season before its +existence was heard of at other tables; the lounger liked it for its ease +and informality; the humorist, for the amusing features of its host and +hostess; and not a few were attracted by the gracefulness and surpassing +loveliness of one who, by some strange fatality of fortune, seemed to have +been dropped down into the midst of this singular <i>ménage</i>. +</p> +<p> +Of Mr. Rooney, I have only further to say that, hospitable as a prince, he +was never so happy as at the head of his table; for, although his natural +sharpness could not but convince him of the footing which he occupied +among his high and distinguished guests, yet he knew well there are few +such levellers of rank as riches, and he had read in his youth that even +the lofty Jove himself was accessible by the odour of a hecatomb. +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Rooney—or, as she wrote herself upon her card, Mrs. Paul Rooney +(there seemed something distinctive in the prenom.)—was a being of a +very different order. Perfectly unconscious of the ridicule that attaches +to vulgar profusion, she believed herself the great source of attraction +of her crowded staircase and besieged drawing-room. True it was, she was a +large and very handsome woman. Her deep, dark, brown eyes, and brilliant +complexion, would have been beautiful, had not her mouth somewhat marred +their effect, by that coarse expression which high living and a voluptuous +life is sure to impress upon those not born to be great. There is no doubt +of it, the mouth is your thorough-bred feature. You will meet eyes as +softly beaming, as brightly speaking, among the lofty cliffs of the wild +Tyrol, or in the deep valleys of the far west; I have seen, too, a brow as +fairly pencilled, a nose no Grecian statue could surpass, a skin whose +tint was fair and transparent as the downy rose-leaf, amid the humble +peasants of a poor and barren land; but never have I seen the mouth whose +clean-cut lip and chiselled arch betokened birth. No; that feature would +seem the prerogative of the highly born; fashioned to the expression of +high and holy thoughts; moulded to the utterance of ennobling sentiment, +or proud desire. Its every lineament tells of birth and blood. +</p> +<p> +Now, Mrs. Rooney's mouth was a large and handsome one, her teeth white and +regular withal, and, when at rest, there was nothing to find fault with; +but let her speak—was it her accent?—was it the awful +provincialism of her native city?—was it that strange habit of +contortion any <i>patois</i> is sure to impress upon the speaker?—I +cannot tell, but certainly it lent to features of very considerable +attraction a vulgarising character of expression. +</p> +<p> +It was truly provoking to see so handsome a person mar every effect of her +beauty by some extravagant display. Dramatising every trivial incident in +life, she rolled her eyes, looked horror-struck or happy, sweet or +sarcastic, lofty or languishing, all in one minute. There was an eternal +play of feature of one kind or other; there was no rest, no repose. Her +arms—and they were round, and fair, and well-fashioned—were +also enlisted in the service; and to a distant observer Mrs. Rooney's +animated conversation appeared like a priest performing mass. +</p> +<p> +And that beautiful head, whose fair and classic proportions were balanced +so equally upon her white and swelling throat, how tantalising to know it +full of low and petty ambitions, of vulgar tastes, of contemptible +rivalries, of insignificant triumph. To see her, amid the voluptuous +splendour and profusion of her gorgeous house, resplendent with jewellery, +glistening in all the blaze of emeralds and rubies; to watch how the +poisonous venom of innate vulgarity had so tainted that fair and beautiful +form, rendering her an object of ridicule who should have been a thing to +worship. It was too bad; and, as she sat at dinner, her plump but taper +fingers grasping a champagne glass, she seemed like a Madonna enacting the +part of Moll Flagon. +</p> +<p> +Now, Mrs. Paul's manner had as many discrepancies as her features. She was +by nature a good, kind, merry, coarse personage, who loved a joke not the +less if it were broad as well as long. Wealth, however, and its attendant +evils, suggested the propriety of a very different line; and catching up +as she did at every opportunity that presented itself such of the airs and +graces as she believed to be the distinctive traits of high life, she +figured about in these cast-off attractions, like a waiting-maid in the +abandoned finery of her mistress. +</p> +<p> +As she progressed in fortune, she “tried back” for a family, and +discovered that she was an O'Toole by birth, and consequently of Irish +blood-royal; a certain O'Toole being king of a nameless tract, in an +unknown year, somewhere about the time of Cromwell, who, Mrs. Rooney had +heard, came over with the Romans. +</p> +<p> +“Ah, yes, my dear,” as she would say when, softened by sherry and sorrow, +she would lay her hand upon your arm—“ah, yes, if every one had +their own, it isn't married to an attorney I'd be, but living in regal +splendour in the halls of my ancestors. Well, well!” Here she would throw +up her eyes with a mixed expression of grief and confidence in Heaven, +that if she hadn't got her own, in this world, Oliver Cromwell, at least, +was paying off, in the other, his foul wrongs to the royal house of +O'Toole. +</p> +<p> +I have only one person more to speak of ere I conclude my rather prolix +account of the family. Miss Louisa Bellew was the daughter of an Irish +baronet, who put the keystone upon his ruin by his honest opposition to +the passing of the Union. His large estates, loaded with debt and +encumbered by mortgage, had been for half a century a kind of battle-field +for legal warfare at every assizes. Through the medium of his difficulties +he became acquainted with Mr. Rooney, whose craft and subtlety had rescued +him from more than one difficulty, and whose good-natured assistance had +done still more important service by loans upon his property. +</p> +<p> +At Mr. Rooney's suggestion, Miss Bellew was invited to pass her winter +with them in Dublin. This proposition which, in the palmier days of the +baronet's fortune, would in all probability never have been made, and +would certainly never have been accepted, was now entertained with some +consideration, and finally acceded to, on prudential motives. Rooney had +lent him large sums; he had never been a pressing, on the contrary, he was +a lenient creditor; possessing great power over the property, he had used +it sparingly, even delicately, and showed himself upon more than one +occasion not only a shrewd adviser, but a warm friend. “'Tis true,” +thought Sir Simon, “they are vulgar people, of coarse tastes and low +habits, and those with whom they associate laugh at, though they live upon +them; yet, after all, to refuse this invitation may be taken in ill part; +a few months will do the whole thing. Louisa, although young, has tact and +cleverness enough to see the difficulties of her position; besides, poor +child, the gaiety and life of a city will be a relief to her, after the +dreary and monotonous existence she has passed with me.” +</p> +<p> +This latter reason he plausibly represented to himself as a strong one for +complying with what his altered fortunes and ruined prospects seemed to +render no longer a matter of choice. +</p> +<p> +To the Rooneys, indeed, Miss Bellew's visit was a matter of some +consequence; it was like the recognition of some petty state by one of the +great powers of Europe. It was an acknowledgment of a social existence, an +evidence to the world not only that there was such a thing as the kingdom +of Rooney, but also that it was worth while to enter into negotiation with +it, and even accredit an ambassador to its court. +</p> +<p> +Little did that fair and lovely girl think, as with tearful eyes she +turned again and again to embrace her father, as the hour arrived, when +for the first time in her life she was to leave her home, little did she +dream of the circumstances under which her visit was to be paid. Less a +guest than a hostage, she was about to quit the home of her infancy, +where, notwithstanding the inroads of poverty, a certain air of its once +greatness still lingered; the broad and swelling lands, that stretched +away with wood and coppice, far as the eye could reach—the woodland +walks—the ancient house itself, with its discordant pile, +accumulated at different times by different masters—all told of +power and supremacy in the land of her fathers. The lonely solitude of +those walls, peopled alone by the grim-visaged portraits of long-buried +ancestors, were now to be exchanged for the noise and bustle, the glitter +and the glare of second-rate city life; profusion and extravagance, where +she had seen but thrift and forbearance; the gossip, the scandal, the +tittle-tattle of society, with its envies, its jealousies, its petty +rivalries, and its rancours, were to supply those quiet evenings beside +the winter hearth, when reading aloud some old and valued volume she +learned to prize the treasures of our earlier writers under the guiding +taste of one whose scholarship was of no mean order, and whose cultivated +mind was imbued with all the tenderness and simplicity of a refined and +gentle nature. +</p> +<p> +When fortune smiled, when youth and wealth, an ancient name and a high +position, all concurred to elevate him, Sir Simon Bellew was courteous +almost to humility; but when the cloud of misfortune lowered over his +house, when difficulties thickened around him, and every effort to rescue +seemed only to plunge him deeper, then the deep-rooted pride of the man +shone forth: and he who in happier days was forgiving even to a fault, +became now scrupulous about every petty observance, exacting testimonies +of respect from all around him, and assuming an almost tyranny of manner +totally foreign to his tastes, his feelings, and his nature; like some +mighty oak of the forest, riven and scathed by lightning, its branches +leafless and its roots laid bare, still standing erect, it stretches its +sapless limbs proudly towards heaven, so stood he, reft of nearly all, yet +still presenting to the adverse wind of fortune his bold, unshaken front. +</p> +<p> +Alas and alas! poverty has no heavier evil in its train than its power of +perverting the fairest gifts of our nature from their true channel,—making +the bright sides of our character dark, gloomy, and repulsive. Thus the +high-souled pride that in our better days sustains and keeps us far above +the reach of sordid thoughts and unworthy actions, becomes, in the darker +hour of our destiny, a misanthropic selfishness, in which we wrap +ourselves as in a mantle. The caresses of friendship, the warm affections +of domestic love, cannot penetrate through this; even sympathy becomes +suspect, and then commences that terrible struggle against the world, +whose only termination is a broken heart. +</p> +<p> +Notwithstanding, then, all Mr. Rooney's address in conveying the +invitation in question, it was not without a severe struggle that Sir +Simon resolved on its acceptance; and when at last he did accede, it was +with so many stipulations, so many express conditions, that, thad they +been complied with <i>de facto</i>, as they were acknowledged by promise, +Miss Bellew would, in all probability, have spent her winter in the +retirement of her own chamber in Stephen's-green, without seeing more of +the capital and its inhabitants than a view from her window presented. +Paul, it is true, agreed to everything; for, although, to use his own +language, the codicil revoked the entire body of the testament, he +determined in his own mind to break the will. “Once in Dublin,” thought +he, “the fascinations of society, the pleasures of the world, with such a +guide as Mrs. Rooney”—and here let me mention, that for his wife's +tact and social cleverness Paul had the most heartfelt admiration—“with +advantages like these, she will soon forget the humdrum life of Kilmorran +Castle, and become reconciled to a splendour and magnificence unsurpassed +by even the viceregal court.” +</p> +<p> +Here, then, let me conclude this account of the Rooneys, while I resume +the thread of my own narrative. Although I feel for and am ashamed of the +prolixity in which I have indulged, yet, as I speak of real people, well +known at the period of which I write, and as they may to a certain extent +convey an impression of the tone of one class in the society of that day, +I could not bring myself to omit their mention, nor even dismiss them more +briefly. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER VIII. THE VISIT +</h2> +<p> +I have already recorded the first twenty-four hours of my life in Ireland; +and, if there was enough in them to satisfy me that the country was unlike +in many respects that which I had left, there was also some show of reason +to convince me that, if I did not conform to the habits and tastes of +those around me, I should incur a far greater chance of being laughed at +by them than be myself amused by their eccentricities. The most remarkable +feature that struck me was the easy, even cordial manner with which +acquaintance was made. Every one met you as if he had in some measure been +prepared for the introduction; a tone of intimacy sprang up at once; your +tastes were hinted, your wishes guessed at, with an unaffected kindness +that made you forget the suddenness of the intimacy: so that, when at last +you parted with your dear friend of some half an hour's acquaintance, you +could not help wondering at the confidences you had made, the avowals you +had spoken, and the lengths to which you had gone in close alliance with +one you had never seen before, and might possibly never meet again. +Strange enough as this was with men, it was still more singular when it +extended to the gentler sex. Accustomed as I had been all my life to the +rigid observances of etiquette in female society, nothing surprised me so +much as the rapid steps by which Irish ladies passed from acquaintance to +intimacy, from intimacy to friendship. The unsuspecting kindliness of +woman's nature has certainly no more genial soil than in the heart of +Erin's daughters. There is besides, too, a winning softness in their +manner towards the stranger of another land that imparts to their +hospitable reception a tone of courteous warmth I have never seen in any +other country. +</p> +<p> +The freedom of manner I have here alluded to, however delightful it may +render the hours of one separated from home, family, and friends, is yet +not devoid of its inconveniences. How many an undisciplined and uninformed +youth has misconstrued its meaning and mistaken its import How often have +I seen the raw subaltern elated with imaginary success—flushed with +a fancied victory—where, in reality, he had met with nothing save +the kind looks and the kind words in which the every-day courtesies of +life are couched, and by which, what, in less favoured lands, are the cold +and chilling observances of ceremony, are here the easy and familiar +intercourse of those who wish to know each other. +</p> +<p> +The coxcomb who fancies that he can number as many triumphs as he has +passed hours in Dublin, is like one who, estimating the rich production of +a southern clime by their exotic value in his own colder regions, +dignifies by the name of luxury what are in reality but the every-day +productions of the soil: so he believes peculiarly addressed to himself +the cordial warmth and friendly greeting which make the social atmosphere +around him. +</p> +<p> +If I myself fell deeply into this error, and if my punishment was a heavy +one, let my history prove a beacon to all who follow in my steps; for +Dublin is still a garrison city, and I have been told that lips as +tempting and eyes as bright are to be met there as heretofore. Now to my +story. +</p> +<p> +Life in Dublin, at the time I write of, was about as gay a thing as a man +can well fancy. Less debarred than in other countries from partaking of +the lighter enjoyments of life, the members of the learned professions +mixed much in society; bringing with them stores of anecdote and +information unattainable from other sources, they made what elsewhere +would have proved the routine of intercourse a season of intellectual +enjoyment. Thus, the politician, the churchman, the barrister, and the +military man, shaken as they were together in dose intimacy, lost +individually many of the prejudices of their caste, and learned to +converse with a wider and more extended knowledge of the world. While this +was so, another element, peculiarly characteristic of the country, had its +share in modelling social life—that innate tendency to drollery, +that bent to laugh with every one and at everything, so eminently Irish, +was now in the ascendant. From the Viceroy downwards, the island was on +the broad grin. Every day furnished its share, its quota of merriment. +Epigrams, good stories, repartees, and practical jokes rained in showers +over the land. A privy council was a <i>conversazione</i> of laughing +bishops and droll chief-justices. Every trial at the bar, every dinner at +the court, every drawing-room, afforded a theme for some ready-witted +absurdity; and all the graver business of life was carried on amid this +current of unceasing fun and untiring drollery, just as we see the serious +catastrophe of a modern opera assisted by the crash of an orchestral +accompaniment. +</p> +<p> +With materials like these society was made up; and into this I plunged +with all the pleasurable delight of one who, if he could not appreciate +the sharpness, was at least dazzled by the brilliancy of the wit that +flashed around him. My duties as aide-de-camp were few, and never +interfered with my liberty: while in my double capacity of military man +and <i>attaché</i> to the court, I was invited everywhere, and treated +with marked courtesy and kindness. Thus passed my life pleasantly along, +when a few mornings after the events I have mentioned, I was sitting at my +breakfast, conning over my invitations for the week, and meditating a +letter, home, in which I should describe my mode of life with as much +reserve as might render the record of my doings a safe disclosure for the +delicate nerves of my lady-mother. In order to accomplish this latter task +with success, I scribbled with some notes a sheet of paper that lay before +me. “Among other particularly nice people, my dear mother,” wrote I, +“there are the Rooneys. Mr. Rooney—a member of the Irish bar, of +high standing and great reputation—is a most agreeable and +accomplished person. How much I should like to present him to you.” I had +got thus far, when a husky, asthmatic cough, and a muttered curse on the +height of my domicile, apprised me that some one was at my door. At the +same moment a heavy single knock, that nearly stove in the panel, left no +doubt upon my mind. +</p> +<p> +“Are ye at home, or is it sleeping ye are? May I never, if it's much else +the half of ye's fit for. Ugh, blessed hour! three flights of stairs, with +a twist in them instead of a landing. Ye see he's not in the place. I +tould you that before I came up. But if s always the same thing. Corny, +run here; Corny, fly there; get me this, take that. Bad luck to them! One +would think they badgered me for bare divarsion, the haythins, the Turks!” +</p> +<p> +A fit of coughing, that almost convinced me that Corny had given his last +curse, followed this burst of eloquence, just as I appeared at the door. +</p> +<p> +“What's the matter, Corny?” +</p> +<p> +“The matter?—ugh, ain't I coughing my soul out with a wheezing and +whistling in my chest like a creel of chickens. Here's Mr. Rooney wanting +to see ye; and faith,” as he added in an under tone, “if s not long you +wor in making his acquaintance. That's his room,” added he, with a jerk of +his thumb. “Now lave the way if you plase, and let me got a howld of the +banisters.” +</p> +<p> +With these words Corny began his descent, while I, apologising to Mr. +Rooney for not having sooner perceived kirn, bowed him into the room with +all proper ceremony. +</p> +<p> +“A thousand apologies, Mr. Hinton, for the unseasonable hour of my visit, +but business——” +</p> +<p> +“Pray not a word,” said I; “always delighted to see you. Mrs. Rooney is +well, I hope?” +</p> +<p> +“Charming, upon my honour. But, as I was saying, I could not well come +later; there is a case in the King's Bench—Rex <i>versus</i> Ryves—a +heavy record, and I want to catch the counsel to assure him that all's +safe. God knows, it has cost me an anxious night. Everything depended on +one witness, an obstinate beast that wouldn't listen to reason. We got +hold of him last night; got three doctors to certify he was out of his +mind; and, at this moment, with his head shaved, and a grey suit on him, +he is the noisiest inmate in Glassnevin madhouse.” +</p> +<p> +“Was not this a very bold, a very dangerous expedient?” +</p> +<p> +“So it was. He fought like a devil, and his outrageous conduct has its +reward, for they put him on low diet and handcuffs the moment he went in. +But excuse me, if I make a hurried visit. Mrs. Rooney requests that—that—but +where the devil did I put it?” +</p> +<p> +Here Mr. Rooney felt his coat-pockets, dived into those of his waistcoat, +patted himself all over, then looked into his hat, then round the room, on +the floor, and even outside the door upon the lobby. +</p> +<p> +“Sure it is not possible I've lost it.” +</p> +<p> +“Nothing of consequence, I hope?” said I. +</p> +<p> +“What a head I have,” replied he, with a knowing grin, while at the same +moment throwing up the sash of my window, he thrust out the head in +question, and gave a loud shrill whistle. +</p> +<p> +Scarcely was the casement closed when a ragged urchin appeared at the +door, carrying on his back the ominous stuff-bag containing the record of +Mr. Rooney's rogueries. +</p> +<p> +“Give me the bag, Tim,” quoth he; at the same moment he plunged his hand +deep among the tape-tied parcels, and extricated a piece of square +pasteboard, which, having straightened and flattened upon his knee, he +presented to me with a graceful bow, adding, jocosely, “an ambassador +without his credentials would never do.” +</p> +<p> +It was an invitation to dinner at Mr. Rooney's for the memorable Friday +for which my friend O'Grady had already received his card. +</p> +<p> +“Nothing will give me more pleasure——” +</p> +<p> +“No, will it though? how very good of you! a small cosy party—Harry +Burgh, Bowes Daley, Barrington, the judges, and a few more. There now, no +ceremony, I beg of you. Come along, Joe. Good morning, Mr. Hinton: not a +step further.” +</p> +<p> +So saying, Mr. Rooney backed and shuffled himself out of my room, and, +followed by his faithful attendant, hurried down stairs, muttering a +series of self-gratulations, as he went, on the successful result of his +mission. Scarcely had he gone, when I heard the rapid stride of another +visitor, who, mounting four steps at a time, came along chanting, at the +top of his voice, +</p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +“My two back teeth I will bequeath +To the Reverend Michael Palmer; +His wife has a tongue that'll match them well, +She's a devil of a scold, God d—n her!” +</pre> +<p> +“How goes it, Jack my hearty?” cried he, as he sprang into the room, +flinging his sabre into the corner, and hurling his foraging cap upon the +sofa. +</p> +<p> +“You have been away, O'Grady? What became of you for the last two days?” +</p> +<p> +“Down at the Curragh, taking a look at the nags for the Spring Meeting. +Dined with the bar at Naas; had a great night with them; made old Moore +gloriously tipsy, and sent him into court the next morning with the +overture to Mother Goose in his bag instead of his brief. Since daybreak I +have been trying a new horse in the Park, screwing him over all the +fences, and rushing him at the double rails in the pathway, to see if he +can't cross the country.” +</p> +<p> +“Why the hunting season is nearly over.” +</p> +<p> +“Quite true; but it is the Loughrea Steeple-chase I am thinking of. I have +promised to name a horse, and I only remembered last night that I had but +twenty-four hours to do it. The time was short, but by good fortune I +heard of this grey on my way up to town.” +</p> +<p> +“And you think he'll do?” +</p> +<p> +“He has a good chance, if one can only keep on his back; but what between +bolting, plunging, and rushing through his fences, he is not a beast for a +timid elderly gentleman. After all, one must have something: the whole +world will be there; the Rooneys are going; and that pretty little girl +with them. By-the-by, Jack, what do you think of Miss Bellew?” +</p> +<p> +“I can scarcely tell you; I only saw her for a moment, and then that +Hibernian hippopotamus, Mrs. Paul, so completely overshadowed her, there +was no getting a look at her.” +</p> +<p> +“Devilish pretty girl, that she is; and one day or other, they say, will +have an immense fortune. Old Rooney always shakes his head when the idea +is thrown out, which only convinces me the more of her chance.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, then, Master Phil, why don't you do something in that quarter?” +</p> +<p> +“Well, so I should; but somehow, most unaccountably, you'll say, I don't +think I made any impression. To be sure, I never went vigorously to work: +I couldn't get over my scruples of making up to a girl who may have a +large fortune, while I myself am so confoundedly out at the elbows; the +thing would look badly, to say the least of it; and so, when I did think I +was making a little running, I only 'held in' the faster, and at length +gave up the race. <i>You</i> are the man, Hinton. <i>Your</i> chances, I +should say—” +</p> +<p> +“Ah, I don't know.” +</p> +<p> +Just at this moment the door opened, and Lord Dudley de Vere entered, +dressed in coloured clothes, cut in the most foppish style of the day, and +with his hands stuck negligently behind in his coat-pockets. He threw +himself affectedly into a chair, and eyed us both without speaking. +</p> +<p> +“I say, messieurs, Rooney or not Rooney? that's the question. Do we accept +this invitation for Friday?” +</p> +<p> +“I do, for one,” said I, somewhat haughtily. +</p> +<p> +“Can't be, my boy,” said O'Grady; “the thing is most unlucky: they have a +dinner at court that same day; our names are all on the list; and thus we +lose the Rooneys, which, from all I hear, is a very serious loss indeed. +Daley, Barrington, Harry Martin, and half a dozen others, the first +fellows of the day, are all to be there.” +</p> +<p> +“What a deal they will talk,” yawned out Lord Dudley. “I feel rather happy +to have escaped it. There's no saying a word to the woman beside you, as +long as those confounded fellows keep up a roaring fire of what they think +wit. What an idea! to be sure; there is not a man among them that can tell +you the odds upon the Derby, nor what year there was a dead heat for the +St. Léger. That little girl the Rooneys have got is very pretty, I must +confess; but I see what they are at: won't do, though. Ha! O'Grady, you +know what I mean?” +</p> +<p> +“Faith, I am very stupid this morning; can't say that I do.” +</p> +<p> +“Not see it! It is a hollow thing; but perhaps you are in the scheme too. +There, you needn't look angry; I only meant it in joke—ha! ha! ha! I +say, Hinton, do you take care of yourself: Englishers have no chance here; +and when they find it won't do with <i>me</i>, they'll take you in +training.” +</p> +<p> +“Anything for a <i>pis-aller</i>” said O'Grady, sarcastically; “but let us +not forget there is a levee to-day, and it is already past twelve +o'clock.” +</p> +<p> +“Ha! to be sure, a horrid bore.” +</p> +<p> +So saying, Lord Dudley lounged one more round the room, looked at himself +in the glass, nodded familiarly to his own image, and took his leave. +O'Grady soon followed; while I set about my change of dress with all the +speed the time required. +</p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +[Transcriber's note: The remainder of this file digitized +from a different print copy which uses single quotation +marks for all quotes.] +</pre> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER IX. THE BALL +</h2> +<p> +As the day of Mr. Rooney's grand entertainment drew near, our +disappointment increased tenfold at our inability to be present. The only +topic discussed in Dublin was the number of the guests, the splendour and +magnificence of the dinner, which was to be followed by a ball, at which +above eight hundred guests were expected. The band of the Fermanagh +militia, at that time the most celebrated in Ireland, was brought up +expressly for the occasion. All that the city could number of rank, +wealth, and beauty had received invitations, and scarcely a single apology +had been returned. +</p> +<p> +'Is there no possible way.' said I, as I chatted with O'Grady on the +morning of the event; 'is there no chance of our getting away in time to +see something of the ball at least?' +</p> +<p> +'None whatever,' replied he despondingly; 'as ill-luck would have it, it's +a command-night at the theatre. The duke has disappointed so often, that +he is sure to go now, and for the same reason he 'll sit the whole thing +out. By that time it will be half-past twelve, we shan't get back here +before one; then comes supper; and—— in fact, you know enough +of the habits of this place now to guess that after that there is very +little use of thinking of going anywhere.' +</p> +<p> +'It is devilish provoking,' said I. +</p> +<p> +'That it is: and you don't know the worst of it. I 've got rather a heavy +book on the Loughrea race, and shall want a few hundreds in a week or so; +and, as nothing renders my friend Paul so sulky as not eating his dinners, +it is five-and-twenty per cent, at least out of my pocket, from this +confounded <i>contretemps</i>. There goes De Vere. I say, Dudley, whom +have we at dinner to-day?' +</p> +<p> +'Harrington and the Asgills, and that set,' replied he, with an insolent +shrug of his shoulder. +</p> +<p> +'More of it, by Jove,' said O'Grady, biting his lip. 'One must be as +particular before these people as a young sub. at a regimental mess. +There's not a button of your coat, not a loop of your aiguillette, not a +twist of your sword-knot, little Charley won't note down; and as there is +no orderly-book in the drawing-room, he will whisper to his grace before +coffee.' +</p> +<p> +'Whatabore!' +</p> +<p> +'Ay, and to think that all that time we might have been up to the very +chin in fun. The Rooneys to-day will outdo even themselves. They've got +half-a-dozen new lords on trial; all the judges; a live bishop; and, +better than all, every pretty woman in the capital. I've a devil of a mind +to get suddenly ill, and slip off to Paul's for the dessert.' +</p> +<p> +'No, no, that's out of the question; we must only put up with our +misfortunes as well as we can. As for me, the dinner here is, I think, the +worst part of the matter.' +</p> +<p> +'I estimate my losses at a very different rate. First, there is the three +hundred, which I should certainly have had from Paul, and which now +becomes a very crooked contingency. Then there's the dinner and two +bottles—I speak moderately—of such burgundy as nobody has but +himself. These are the positive <i>bonâ fide</i> losses: then, what do you +say to my chance of picking up some lovely girl, with a stray thirty +thousand, and the good taste to look out for a proper fellow to spend it +with? Seriously, Jack, I must think of something of that kind one of these +days. It's wrong to lose time; for, by waiting, one's chances diminish, +while becoming more difficult to please. So you see what a heavy blow this +is to me: not to mention my little gains at short-whist, which in the +half-hour before supper I may fairly set down as a fifty.' +</p> +<p> +'Yours is a very complicated calculation; for, except the dinner, and I +suppose we shall have as good a one here, I have not been able to see +anything but problematic loss or profit.' +</p> +<p> +'Of course you haven't: your English education is based upon grounds far +too positive for that; but we mere Irish get a habit of looking at the +possible as probable, and the probable as most likely. I don't think we +build castles more than our neighbours, but we certainly go live in them +earlier; and if we do, now and then, get a chill for our pains, why we +generally have another building ready to receive us elsewhere for change +of air.' +</p> +<p> +'This is, I confess, somewhat strange philosophy.' +</p> +<p> +'To be sure it is, my boy; for it is of pure native manufacture. Every +other people I ever heard of deduce their happiness from their advantages +and prosperity. As we have very little of one or the other, we extract +some fun out of our misfortunes; and, what between laughing occasionally +at ourselves, and sometimes at our neighbours, we push along through life +right merrily after all. So now, then, to apply my theory: let us see what +we can do to make the best of this disappointment. Shall I make love to +Lady Asgill? Shall I quiz Sir Charles about the review? Or can you suggest +anything in the way of a little extemporaneous devilry, to console us for +our disappointment? But, come along, my boy, we'll take a canter; I want +to show you Moddiridderoo. He improves every day in his training; but they +tell me there is only one man can sit him across a country, a fellow I +don't much fancy, by-the-bye; but the turf, like poverty, leads us to form +somewhat strange acquaintances. Meanwhile, my boy, here come the nags; and +now for the park till dinner.' +</p> +<p> +During our ride O'Grady informed me that the individual to whom he so +slightly alluded was a Mr. Ulick Burke, a cousin of Miss Bellew. This +individual, who by family and connections was a gentleman, had contrived +by his life and habits to disqualify himself from any title to the +appellation in a very considerable degree. Having squandered the entire of +his patrimony on the turf, he had followed the apparently immutable law on +such occasions, and ended by becoming a hawk, where he had begun as a +pigeon. For many years past he had lived by the exercise of those most +disreputable sources, his own wits. Present at every racecourse in the +kingdom, and provided with that undercurrent of information obtainable +from jockeys and stable-men, he understood all the intrigue, all the low +cunning of the course: he knew when to back the favourite, when to give, +when to take the odds; and, if upon any occasion he was seen to lay +heavily against a well-known horse, the presumption became a strong one, +that he was either 'wrong' or withdrawn. But his qualifications ended not +here; for he was also that singular anomaly in our social condition—a +gentleman-rider, ready upon any occasion to get into the saddle for any +one that engaged his services; a flat race, or a steeplechase, all the +same to him. His neck was his livelihood, and to support, he must risk it. +A racing-jacket, a pair of leathers and tops, a heavy-handled whip, and a +shot-belt, were his stock-in-trade, and he travelled through the world a +species of sporting Dalgetty, minus the probity which made the latter firm +to his engagements, so long as they lasted. At least, report denied the +quality to Mr. Burke; and those who knew him well scrupled not to say that +fifty pounds had exactly twice as many arguments in its favour as +five-and-twenty. +</p> +<p> +So much then in brief concerning a character to whom I shall hereafter +have occasion to recur; and now to my own narrative. +</p> +<p> +O'Grady's anticipations as to the Castle dinner were not in the least +exaggerated; nothing could possibly be more stiff or tiresome; the +entertainment being given as a kind of <i>ex officio</i> civility, to the +commander-of-the-forces and his staff, the conversation was purely +professional, and never ranged beyond the discussion of military topics, +or such as bore in any way upon the army. Happily, however, its duration +was short. We dined at six, and by half-past eight we found ourselves at +the foot of the grand staircase of the theatre in Crow Street, with Mr. +Jones in the full dignity of his managerial costume waiting to receive us. +</p> +<p> +'A little late, I fear, Mr. Jones,' said his grace with a courteous smile. +'What have we got?' +</p> +<p> +'Your Excellency selected the <i>Inconstant</i>, said the obsequious +manager; while a lady of the party darted her eyes suddenly towards the +duke, and with a tone of marked sarcastic import, exclaimed— +</p> +<p> +'How characteristic!' +</p> +<p> +'And the after-piece, what is it?' said the duchess, as she fussed her way +upstairs. +</p> +<p> +'<i>Timour the Tartar</i>, your grace.' +</p> +<p> +The next moment the thundering applause of the audience informed us that +their Excellencies had taken their places. Cheer after cheer resounded +through the building, and the massive lustre itself shook under the +deafening acclamations of the audience. The scene was truly a brilliant +one. The boxes presented a perfect blaze of wealth and beauty; nearly +every person in the pit was in full dress; to the very ceiling itself the +house was crammed. The progress of the piece was interrupted, while the +band struck up 'God Save the King,' and, as I looked upon the brilliant +dress-circle, I could not but think that O'Grady had been guilty of some +exaggeration when he said that Mrs. Rooney's ball was to monopolise that +evening the youth and the beauty of the capital The National Anthem over, +'Patrick's Day' was called for loudly from every side, and the whole house +beat time to the strains of their native melody, with an energy that +showed it came as fully home to their hearts as the air that preceded it. +For ten minutes at least the noise and uproar continued; and, although his +grace bowed repeatedly, there seemed no prospect to an end of the tumult, +when a voice from the gallery called out, 'Don't make a stranger of +yourself, my lord; take a chair and sit down.' A roar of laughter, +increased as the duke accepted the suggestion, shook the house; and poor +Talbot, who all this time was kneeling beside Miss Walstein's chair, was +permitted to continue his ardent tale of love, and take up the thread of +his devotion where he had left it twenty minutes before. +</p> +<p> +While O'Grady, who sat in the back of the box, seemed absorbed in his +chagrin and disappointment, I myself became interested in the play, which +was admirably performed; and Lord Dudley, leaning affectedly against a +pillar, with his back towards the stage, scanned the house with his vapid, +unmeaning look, as though to say they were unworthy of such attention at +his hands. +</p> +<p> +The comedy was at length over, and her grace, with the ladies of her +suite, retired, leaving only the Asgills and some members of the household +in the box with his Excellency. He apparently was much entertained by the +performance, and seemed most resolutely bent on staying to the last. +Before the first act, however, of the after-piece was over, many of the +benches in the dress-circle became deserted, and the house altogether +seemed considerably thinner. +</p> +<p> +'I say, O'Grady,' said he, 'what are these good people about? There seems +to be a general move among them. Is there anything going on?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, your grace,' said Phil, whose impatience now could scarcely be +restrained, 'they are going to a great ball in Stephen's Green; the most +splendid thing Dublin has witnessed these fifty years.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah, indeed! Where is it? Who gives it?' 'Mr. Rooney, sir, a very +well-known attorney, and a great character in the town.' +</p> +<p> +'How good! And he does the thing well?' 'He flatters himself that he +rivals your grace.' 'Better still! But who has he? What are his people?' +'Every one; there is nothing too high, nothing too handsome, nothing too +distinguished for him. His house, like the Holyhead packet, is open to all +comers, and the consequence is, his parties are by far the pleasantest +thing going. One has such strange rencontres, sees such odd people, hears +such droll things; for, besides having everything like a character in the +city, the very gravest of Mr. Rooney's guests seems to feel his house as a +place to relax and unbend in. Thus, I should not be the least surprised to +see the Chief-Justice and the Attorney-General playing small plays, nor +the Bishop of Cork dancing Sir Roger de Coverley.' +</p> +<p> +'Glorious fun, by Jove! But why are you not there, lads? Ah, I see; on +duty. I wish you had told me. But come, it is not too late yet. Has Hinton +got a card?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, your grace.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, then, don't let me detain you any longer. I see you are both +impatient; and 'faith, if I must confess it, I half envy you; and mind and +give me a full report of the proceedings to-morrow morning.' +</p> +<p> +'How I wish your grace could only witness it yourself!' +</p> +<p> +'Eh? Is it so very good, then?' +</p> +<p> +'Nothing ever was like it; for, although the company is admirable, the +host and hostess are matchless.' +</p> +<p> +'Egad! you've quite excited my curiosity. I say, O'Grady, would they know +me, think ye? Have you no uncle or country cousin about my weight and +build?' +</p> +<p> +'Ah, my lord, that is out of the question; you are too well known to +assume an incognito. But still, if you wish to see it for a few minutes, +nothing could be easier than just to walk through the rooms and come away. +The crowd will be such, the thing is quite practicable, done in that way.' +</p> +<p> +'By Jove, I don't know; but if I thought—— To be sure, as you +say, for five minutes or so one might get through. Come, here goes; order +up the carriages. Now mind, O'Grady, I am under your management. Do the +thing as quietly as you can.' +</p> +<p> +Elated at the success of his scheme, Phil scarcely waited for his grace to +conclude, but sprang down the box-lobby to give the necessary orders, and +was back again in an instant. +</p> +<p> +'Don't you think I had better take this star off?' +</p> +<p> +'Oh no, my lord, it will not be necessary. By timing the thing well, we'll +contrive to get your grace into the midst of the crowd without attracting +observation. Once there, the rest is easy enough.' +</p> +<p> +Many minutes had not elapsed ere we reached the corner of Grafton Street. +Here we became entangled with the line of carriages, which extended more +than half-way round Stephen's Green, and, late as was the hour, were still +thronging and pressing onwards towards the scene of festivity. O'Grady, +who contrived entirely to engross his grace's attention by many bits of +the gossip and small-talk of the day, did not permit him to remark that +the viceregal liveries and the guard of honour that accompanied us enabled +us to cut the line of carriages, and taking precedence of all others, +arrive at the door at once. Indeed, so occupied was the duke with some +story at the moment, that he was half provoked as the door was flung open, +and the clattering clash of the steps interrupted the conversation. +</p> +<p> +'Here we are, my lord,' said Phil. +</p> +<p> +'Well, get out, O'Grady. Lead on. Don't forget it is my first visit here; +and you, I fancy, know the map of the country.' +</p> +<p> +The hall in which we found ourselves, brilliantly lighted and thronged +with servants, presented a scene of the most strange confusion and tumult; +for, such was the eagerness of the guests to get forward, many persons +were separated from their friends: turbaned old ladies called in cracked +voices for their sons to rescue them, and desolate daughters seized +distractedly the arm nearest them, and implored succour with an accent as +agonising as though on the eve of shipwreck. Mothers screamed, fathers +swore, footmen laughed, and high above all came the measured tramp of the +dancers overhead, while fiddles, French horns, and dulcimers scraped and +blew their worst, as if purposely to increase the inextricable and +maddening confusion that prevailed. +</p> +<p> +'Sir Peter and Lady Macfarlane!' screamed the servant at the top of the +stairs. +</p> +<p> +'Counsellor and Mrs. Blake!' +</p> +<p> +'Captain O'Ryan of the Rifles!' +</p> +<p> +'Lord Dumboy——-' +</p> +<p> +'Dunboyne, you villain!' +</p> +<p> +'Ay, Lord Dunboyne and five ladies!' +</p> +<p> +Such were the announcements that preceded us as we wended our way slowly +on, while I could distinguish Mr. Rooney's voice receiving and welcoming +his guests, for which purpose he used a formula, in part derived from the +practice of an auction-room. +</p> +<p> +'Walk in, ladies and gentlemen, walk in. Whist, tea, dancing, negus, and +blind-hookey—delighted to see you—walk in'; and so, <i>da capo</i>, +only varying the ritual when a lord or a baronet necessitated a change of +title. +</p> +<p> +'You're quite right, O'Grady; I wouldn't have lost this for a great deal,' +whispered the duke. +</p> +<p> +'Now, my lord, permit me,' said Phil. 'Hinton and I will engage Mr. Rooney +in conversation, while your grace can pass on and mix with the crowd.' +</p> +<p> +'Walk in, walk in, ladies and—— Ah! how are you, Captain? This +is kind of you—— Mr. Hinton, your humble servant—— +Whist, dancing, blind-hookey, and negus—walk in—and, Captain +Phil,' added he in a whisper, 'a bit of supper by-and-by below-stairs.' +</p> +<p> +'I must tell you an excellent thing, Rooney, before I forget it,' said +O'Grady, turning the host's attention away from the door as he spoke, and +inventing some imaginary secret for the occasion; while I followed his +grace, who now was so inextricably jammed up in the dense mob that any +recognition of him would have been very difficult, if not actually +impossible. +</p> +<p> +For some time I could perceive that the duke's attention was devoted to +the conversation about him. Some half-dozen ladies were carrying on a very +active and almost acrimonious controversy on the subject of dress; not, +however, with any artistic pretension of regulating costume or colour, not +discussing the rejection of an old or the adoption of a new mode, but with +a much more practical spirit of inquiry they were appraising and valuing +each other's finery, in the most sincere and simple way imaginable. +</p> +<p> +'Seven-and-sixpence a yard, my dear; you 'll never get it less, I assure +you.' 'That's elegant lace, Mrs. Mahony; was it run, ma'am?' Mrs. Mahony +bridled at the suggestion, and replied that, though neither her lace nor +her diamonds were Irish—— 'Six breadths, ma'am, always in the +skirt,' said a fat, little, dumpy woman, holding up her satin petticoat in +evidence. +</p> +<p> +'I say, Hinton,' whispered the duke, 'I hope they won't end by an +examination of us. But what the deuce is going on here?' +</p> +<p> +This remark was caused by a very singular movement in the room. The crowd +which had succeeded to the dancers, and filled the large drawing-room from +end to end, now fell back to either wall, leaving a space of about a yard +wide down the entire centre of the room, as though some performance was +about to be enacted or some procession to march there. +</p> +<p> +'What can it be?' said the duke; 'some foolery of O'Grady's, depend upon +it; for look at him up there talking to the band.' +</p> +<p> +As he spoke, the musicians struck up the grand march in <i>Blue Beard</i>, +and Mrs. Paul Rooney appeared in the open space, in all the plenitude of +her charms—a perfect blaze of rouge, red feathers, and rubies—marching +in solemn state. She moved along in time to the music, followed by Paul, +whose cunning eyes twinkled with more than a common shrewdness, as he +peered here and there through the crowd. They came straight towards where +we were standing; and while a whispered murmur ran through the room, the +various persons around us drew back, leaving the duke and myself +completely isolated. Before his grace could recover his concealment, Mrs. +Rooney stood before him. The music suddenly ceased; while the lady, +disposing her petticoats as though the object were to conceal all the +company behind her, curtsied down to the very floor. +</p> +<p> +'Ah, your grace,' uttered in an accent of the most melting tenderness, +were the only words she could speak, as she bestowed a look of still more +speaking softness. 'Ah, did I ever hope to see the day when your Highness +would honour——' +</p> +<p> +'My dear madam,' said the duke, taking her hand with great courtesy, 'pray +don't overwhelm me with obligations. A very natural, I hope a very +pardonable desire, to witness hospitality I have heard so much of, has led +me to intrude thus uninvited upon you. Will you allow me to make Mr. +Rooney's acquaintance?' +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Rooney moved gracefully to one side, waving her hand with the air of +a magician about to summons an attorney from the earth, when suddenly a +change came over his grace's features; and, as he covered his mouth with +his handkerchief, it was with the greatest difficulty he refrained from an +open burst of laughter. The figure before him was certainly not calculated +to suggest gravity. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Paul Rooney for the first time in his life found himself the host of a +viceroy, and, amid the fumes of his wine and the excitement of the scene, +entertained some very confused notion of certain ceremonies observable on +such occasions. He had read of curious observances in the East, and +strange forms of etiquette in China, and probably, had the Khan of Tartary +dropped in on the evening in question, his memory would have supplied him +with some hints for his reception; but, with the representative of +Britannic Majesty, before whom he was so completely overpowered, he could +not think of, nor decide upon anything. A very misty impression flitted +through his mind, that people occasionally knelt before a Lord Lieutenant; +but whether they did so at certain moments, or as a general practice, for +the life of him he could not tell. While, therefore, the dread of omitting +a customary etiquette weighed with him on the one hand, the fear of +ridicule actuated him on the other; and thus he advanced into the presence +with bent knees and a supplicating look eagerly turned towards the duke, +ready at any moment to drop down or stand upright before him as the +circumstances might warrant. +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0005" id="linkimage-0005"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0128.jpg" alt="2-0128" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +Entering at once into the spirit of the scene, the duke bowed with the +most formal courtesy, while he vouchsafed to Mr. Rooney some few +expressions of compliment. At the same time, drawing Mrs. Rooney's arm +within his own, he led her down the room, with a grace and dignity of +manner no one was more master of than himself. As for Paul, apparently +unable to stand upright under the increasing load of favours that fortune +was showering upon his head, he looked over his shoulder at Mrs. Rooney, +as she marched off in triumph, with the same exuberant triumph Young used +to throw into Othello, as he passionately exclaims— +</p> +<p> +'Excellent wench I perdition catch my soul, but I do love thee!' +</p> +<p> +Not but that, at the very moment in question, the object of it was most +ungratefully oblivious of Mr. Rooney and his affection. +</p> +<p> +Had Mrs. Paul Rooney been asked on the morning after her ball, what was +her most accurate notion of Elysian bliss, she probably would have +answered—leaning upon a viceroy's arm in her own ball-room, under +the envious stare and jealous gaze of eight hundred assembled guests. Her +flushed look, her flashing eye, the trembling hand with which she waved +her fan, the proud imperious step, all spoke of triumph. In fact, such was +the halo of reverence, such the reflected brightness the representative of +monarchy then bore, she felt it a prouder honour to be thus escorted, than +if the Emperor of all the Russias had deigned to grace her mansion with +his presence. How she loved to run over every imaginable title she +conceived applicable to his rank, 'Your Royal Highness,' 'Your Grace,' +'Your noble Lordship,' varying and combining them like a a child who runs +his erring fingers over the keys of a pianoforte, and is delighted with +the efforts of his skill. +</p> +<p> +While this kingly scene was thus enacting, the ballroom resumed its former +life and vivacity. This indeed was owing to O'Grady. No sooner had his +scheme succeeded of delivering up the duke into the hands of the Rooneys, +than he set about restoring such a degree of turmoil, tumult, noise, and +merriment, as, while it should amuse his grace, would rescue him from the +annoyance of being stared at by many who never had walked the boards with +a live viceroy. +</p> +<p> +'Isn't it gloriously done, Hinton?' he whispered in my ear as he passed. +'Now lend me your aid, my boy, to keep the whole thing moving. Get a +partner as quick as you can, and let us try if we can't do the honours of +the house, while the master and mistress are basking in the sunshine of +royal favour.' +</p> +<p> +As he spoke, the band struck up 'Haste to the Wedding!' The dancers +assumed their places—Phil himself flying hither and thither, +arranging, directing, ordering, countermanding, providing partners for +persons he had never seen before, and introducing individuals of whose +very names he was ignorant. +</p> +<p> +'Push along, Hinton,' said he; 'only set them going. Speak to every one—half +the men in the room answer to the name of “Bob,” and all the young ladies +are “Miss Magees.” Then go it, my boy; this is a great night for Ireland!' +</p> +<p> +This happy land, indeed, which, like a vast powder-magazine, only wants +but the smallest spark to ignite it, is always prepared for an explosion +of fun. No sooner than did O'Grady, taking out the fattest woman in the +room, proceed to lead her down the middle to the liveliest imaginable +country-dance, than at once the contagious spirit flew through the room, +and dancers pressed in from every side. Champagne served round in +abundance, added to the excitement; and, as eight-and-thirty couple made +the floor vibrate beneath them, such a scene of noise, laughter, uproar, +and merriment ensued, as it were difficult to conceive or describe. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER X. A FINALE TO AN EVENING +</h2> +<p> +A ball, like a battle, has its critical moment: that one short and subtle +point, on which its trembling fate would seem to hesitate, ere it incline +to this side or that. In both, such is the time for generalship to display +itself—and of this my friend O'Grady seemed well aware; for, calling +up his reserve for an attack in force, he ordered strong negus for the +band; and ere many minutes, the increased vigour of the instruments +attested that the order had been attended to. +</p> +<p> +'Right and left!' 'Hands across!' 'Here we are!' 'This way, Peter!' 'Ah! +Captain, you 're a droll crayture!' 'Move along, alderman!' 'That negus is +mighty strong!' 'The Lord grant the house is——-' +</p> +<p> +Such and such like phrases broke around me, as, under the orders of the +irresistible Phil, I shuffled down the middle with a dumpy little +school-girl, with red hair and red shoes; which, added to her capering +motion, gave her a most unhappy resemblance to a cork fairy. +</p> +<p> +'You are a trump, Jack,' said Phil. 'Never give in. I never was in such +spirits in my life. Two bottles of champagne under my belt, and a cheque +for three hundred Paul has just given me without a scrape of my pen; it +might have been five if I had only had presence of mind.' +</p> +<p> +'Where is Miss Bellew all this time?' inquired I. +</p> +<p> +'I only saw her a moment; she looks saucy, and won't dance.' +</p> +<p> +My pride, somewhat stimulated by a fact which I could not help +interpreting in Miss Bellew's favour, I went through the rooms in search +of her, and at length discovered her in a boudoir, where a whist-party +were assembled. She was sitting upon a sofa, beside a tall, +venerable-looking old man, to whom she was listening with a semblance of +the greatest attention as I entered. I had some time to observe her, and +could not help feeling struck how much handsomer she was than I had +formerly supposed. Her figure, slightly above the middle size, and most +graceful in all its proportions, was, perhaps, a little too much disposed +to embonpoint; the character of her features, however, seemed to suit, if +not actually to require as much. Her eyes of deep blue, set well beneath +her brow, had a look of intensity in them that evidenced thought; but the +other features relieved by their graceful softness this strong expression, +and a nose short and slightly, very slightly <i>retroussé</i>, with a +mouth, the very perfection of eloquent and winning softness, made ample +amends to those who prefer charms purely feminine to beauty of a severer +character. Her hair, too, was of that deep auburn through which a golden +light seems for ever playing; and this, contrary to the taste of the day, +she wore simply braided upon her temple and cheeks, marking the oval +contour of her face, and displaying, by this graceful coquetry, the +perfect chiselling of her features. Let me add to this, that her voice was +low and soft in all its tones; and, if the provincialism with which she +spoke did at first offend my ear, I learned afterwards to think that the +breathing intonations of the west lent a charm of their own to all she +said, deepening the pathos of a simple story, or heightening the drollery +of a merry one. Yes, laugh if you will, ye high-bred and high-born +denizens of a richer sphere, whose ears, attuned to the rhythm of +Metastasio, softly borne on the strains of Donizetti, can scarce pardon +the intrusion of your native tongue in the everyday concerns of life—smile +if it so please ye; but from the lips of a lovely woman, a little, <i>a +very little</i> of the brogue is most seductive. Whether the subject be +grave or gay, whether mirth or melancholy be the mood, like the varnish +upon a picture, it brings out all the colour into strong effect, +brightening the lights, and deepening the shadows; and then, somehow, +there is an air of <i>naïveté</i>, a tone of simplicity about it, that +appeals equally to your heart as your hearing. +</p> +<p> +Seeing that the conversation in which she was engaged seemed to engross +her entire attention, I was about to retire without addressing her, when +suddenly she turned round and her eyes met mine. I accordingly came +forward, and, after a few of the commonplace civilities of the moment, +asked her to dance. +</p> +<p> +'Pray, excuse me, Mr. Hinton; I have declined already several times. I +have been fortunate enough to meet with a very old and dear friend of my +father——' +</p> +<p> +'Who is much too attached to his daughter to permit her to waste an entire +evening upon him. No, sir, if you will allow me, I will resign Miss Bellew +to your care.' +</p> +<p> +She said something in a low voice, to which he muttered in reply. The only +words which I could catch—'No, no; very different, indeed; this is a +most proper person'—seemed, as they were accompanied by a smile of +much kindness, in some way to concern me; and the next moment Miss Bellew +took my arm and accompanied me to the ball-room. +</p> +<p> +As I passed the sofa where the duke and Mrs. Rooney were still seated, his +grace nodded familiarly to me, with a gesture of approval; while Mrs. Paul +clasped both her hands before her with a movement of ecstasy, and seemed +about to bestow upon us a maternal blessing. Fearful of incurring a scene, +Miss Bellew hastened on, and, as her arm trembled within mine, I could +perceive how deeply the ridicule of her friend's position wounded her own +pride. +</p> +<p> +Meanwhile, I could just catch the tones of Mrs. Rooney's voice, explaining +to the duke Miss Bellow's pedigree. 'One of the oldest families of the +land, your grace; came over with Romulus and Remus; and, if it were not +for Oliver Cromwell and the Danes——' The confounded fiddles +lost the rest, and I was left in the dark, to guess what these strange +allies had inflicted upon the Bellew family. +</p> +<p> +The dancing now began, and only between the intervals of the cotillon had +I an opportunity of conversing with my partner. Few and brief as these +occasions were, I was delighted to find in her a tone and manner quite +different from anything I had ever met before. Although having seen +scarcely anything of the world, her knowledge of character seemed an +instinct, and her quick appreciation of the ludicrous features of many of +the company was accompanied by a naïve expression, and at the same time a +witty terseness of phrase, that showed me how much real intelligence lay +beneath that laughing look. Unlike my fair cousin, Lady Julia, her +raillery never wounded: hers were the fanciful combinations which a vivid +and sparkling imagination conjures up, but never the barbed and bitter +arrows of sarcasm. Catching up in a second any passing absurdity, she +could laugh at the scene, yet seem to spare the actor. Julia, on the +contrary, with what the French call <i>l'esprit moqueur</i>, never felt +that her wit had hit its mark till she saw her victim writhing and +quivering beneath her. +</p> +<p> +There is always something in being the partner of the belle of a +ball-room. The little bit of envy and jealousy, whose limit is to be the +duration of a waltz or quadrille, has somehow its feeling of pleasure. +There is the reflective flattery in the thought of a fancied preference, +that raises one in his own esteem; and, as the muttered compliments and +half-spoken praises of the bystanders fall upon your ears, you seem to +feel that you are a kind of shareholder in the company, and ought to +retire from business with your portion of the profits. Such, I know, were +some of my feelings at the period in question; and, as I pulled up my +stock and adjusted my sash, I looked upon the crowd about me with a sense +of considerable self-satisfaction, and began really for the first time to +enjoy myself. +</p> +<p> +Scarcely was the dance concluded, when a general movement was perceptible +towards the door, and the word 'supper,' repeated from voice to voice, +announced that the merriest hour in Irish life had sounded. Delighted to +have Miss Bellew for my companion, I edged my way into the mass, and was +borne along on the current. +</p> +<p> +The view from the top of the staircase was sufficiently amusing: a waving +mass of feathers of every shape and hue, a crowd of spangled turbans, bald +and powdered heads, seemed wedged inextricably together, swaying backwards +and forwards with one impulse, as the crowd at the door of the supper-room +advanced or receded. The crash of plates and knives, the jingling of +glasses, the popping of champagne corks, told that the attack had begun, +had not even the eager faces of those nearer the door indicated as much. +<i>Nulli oculi retrorsum</i>, seemed the motto of the day, save when some +anxious mother would turn a backward and uneasy glance towards the +staircase, where her daughter, preferring a lieutenant to a lobster, was +listening with elated look to his tale of love and glory. 'Eliza, my dear, +sit next me.'—'Anna, my love, come down here.' These brief commands, +significantly as they were uttered, would be lost to those for whom +intended, and only served to amuse the bystanders, and awaken them to a +quicker perception of the passing flirtation. Some philosopher has gravely +remarked, that the critical moments of our life are the transitions from +one stage or state of our existence to another; and that our fate for the +future depends in a great measure upon those hours in which we emerge from +infancy to boyhood, from boyhood to manhood, from manhood to maturer +years. Perhaps the arguments of time might be applied to place, and we +might thus be enabled to show how a staircase is the most dangerous +portion of a building. I speak not here of the insecurity of the +architecture, nor, indeed, of any staircase whose well-tempered light +shines down at noonday through the perfumed foliage of a conservatory; but +of the same place, a blaze of lamplight, about two in the morning, +crowded, crammed, and creaking by an anxious and elated throng pressing +towards a supper-room. Whether it is the supper or the squeeze, the odour +of balmy lips, or the savoury smell of roast ducks—whether it be the +approach to silk tresses, or <i>sillery mousseux</i>—whatever the +provocation, I cannot explain it; but the fact remains: one is +tremendously given in such a place, at such a time, to the most barefaced +and palpable flirtation. So strongly do I feel on this point, that, were I +a lawgiver, I would never award damages for a breach of contract, where +the promise was made on a staircase. +</p> +<p> +As for me, my acquaintance with Miss Bellew was not of more than an hour's +standing. During that time we had contrived to discuss the ball-room, its +guests, its lights, its decorations, the music, the dancers—in a +word, all the commonplaces of an evening party; thence we wandered on to +Dublin, society in general, to Ireland, and Irish habits, and Irish +tastes; quizzed each other a little about our respective peculiarities, +and had just begun to discuss the distinctive features which characterise +the softer emotions in the two nations, when the announcement of supper +brought us on the staircase. <i>À propos</i>, or <i>mal à propos</i>', +this turn of our conversation, let the reader decide by what I have +already stated; so it was, however, and in a little nook of the landing I +found myself with my fair companion's arm pressed closely to my side, +engaged in a warm controversy on the trite subject of English coldness of +manner. Advocating my country, I deemed that no more fitting defence could +be entered, than by evidencing in myself the utter absence of the +frigidity imputed. Champagne did something for me; Louisa's bright eyes +assisted; but the staircase, the confounded staircase, crowned all. In +fact, the undisguised openness of Miss Bellew's manner, the fearless +simplicity with which she had ventured upon topics a hardened coquette +would not dare to touch upon, led me into the common error of imputing to +flirtation what was only due to the untarnished freshness of happy +girlhood. +</p> +<p> +Finding my advances well received, I began to feel not a little proud of +my success, and disposed to plume myself upon the charm of my eloquence, +when, as I concluded a high-flown and inflated phrase of sentimental +absurdity, she suddenly turned round, fixed her bright eyes upon me, and +burst out into a fit of laughter. +</p> +<p> +'There, there! pray don't try that! No one but an Irishman ever succeeds +in blarney. It is our national dish, and can never be seasoned by a +stranger.' +</p> +<p> +This pull-up, for such it most effectually was, completely unmanned me. I +tried to stammer out an explanation, endeavoured to laugh, coughed, +blundered, and broke down; while, merciless in her triumph, she only +laughed the more, and seemed to enjoy my confusion. +</p> +<p> +With such a failure hanging over me, I felt happy when we reached the +supper-room; and the crash, din, and confusion about us once more broke in +upon our conversation. It requires far less nerve for the dismounted +jockey, whose gay jacket has been rolled in the mud of a racecourse, +resuming his saddle, to ride in amid the jeers and scoffs of ten thousand +spectators, than for the gallant who has blundered in the full tide of a +flirtation, to recover his lost position, and sustain the current of his +courtship. The sarcasm of our sex is severe enough, Heaven knows; but no +raillery, no ridicule, cuts half so sharp or half so deep as the bright +twinkle of a pretty girl's eye, when, detecting some exhibition of +dramatised passion, some false glitter of pinchbeck sentiment, she +exchanges her look of gratified attention for the merry mockery of a +hearty laugh. No tact, no <i>savoir faire</i>, no knowledge of the world, +no old soldierism that ever I heard of, was proof against this. To go back +is bad; to stand still, worse; to go on, impossible. +</p> +<p> +The best—for I believe it is the only thing to do—is to turn +approver on your own misdeeds, and join in the laughter against yourself. +Now this requires no common self-mastery, and an <i>aplomb</i> few young +gentlemen under twenty possess—hence both my failure and its +punishment. +</p> +<p> +That staircase which, but a moment before, I wished might be as long as a +journey to Jerusalem, I now escaped from with thankfulness. Concealing my +discomfiture as well as I was able, I bustled about, and finally secured a +place for my companion at one of the side-tables. We were too far from the +head of the table, but the clear ringing of his grace's laughter informed +me of his vicinity; and, as I saw Miss Bellew shrank from approaching that +part of the room, I surrendered my curiosity to the far more grateful task +of cultivating her acquaintance. +</p> +<p> +All the ardour of my attentions—and I had resumed them with nearly +as much warmth, although less risk of discomfiture, for I began to feel +what before I had only professed—all the preoccupation of my mind, +could not prevent my hearing high above the crash and clatter of the +tables the rich roundness of Mrs. Rooney's brogue, as she recounted to the +duke some interesting trait of the O'Toole family, or adverted to some +classical era in Irish history, when, possibly, Mecænas was mayor of Cork, +or Diogenes an alderman of Skinner's Alley. +</p> +<p> +'Ah, my dear!—the Lord forgive me! I mean your grace.' +</p> +<p> +'I shall never forgive you, Mrs. Rooney, if you change the epithet.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah, your grace's worship, them was fine times; and the husband of an +O'Toole, in them days, spent more of his time harrying the country with +his troops at his back, than driving about in an old gig full of writs and +latitats, with a process-server behind him.' +</p> +<p> +Had Mr. Rooney, who at that moment was carving a hare in total ignorance +of his wife's sarcasm, only heard the speech, the chances are ten to one +he would have figured in a steel breastplate and an iron head-piece before +the week was over. I was unable to hear more of the conversation, +notwithstanding my great wish to do so, as a movement of those next the +door implied that a large instalment of the guests who had not supped +would wait no longer, but were about to make what Mr. Rooney called a +forcible entry on a summary process, and eject the tenant in possession. +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0006" id="linkimage-0006"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/1-0092.jpg" alt="1-0092" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +We accordingly rose, and all (save the party around the viceroy) along +with us, once more to visit the ball-room, where already dancing had +begun. While I was eagerly endeavouring to persuade Miss Bellew that there +was no cause or just impediment to prevent her dancing the next set with +me, Lord Dudley de Vere lounged affectedly forward, and mumbled out some +broken indistinct phrases, in which the word da-ance was alone audible. +Miss Bellew coloured slightly, turned her eyes towards me, curtsied, took +his arm, and the next moment was lost amid the crowd. +</p> +<p> +I am not aware of any readier method of forming a notion of perpetual +motion than watching the performance of Sir Roger de Coverley at an +evening party in Dublin. It seems to be a point of honour never to give +in; and thus the same complicated figures, the same mystic movements that +you see in the beginning, continue to succeed each other in a never-ending +series. You endeavour in vain to detect the plan, to unravel the tangled +web of this strange ceremony; but somehow it would seem as if the whole +thing was completely discretionary with the dancers, there being only one +point of agreement among them, which is, whenever blown out of breath, to +join in a vigorous hands-round; and, the motion being confined to a +shuffling of the feet, and a shaking of the elbows, little fatigue is +incurred. To this succeeds a capering forward movement of a gentleman, +which seemingly magnetises an opposite lady to a similar exhibition; then, +after seizing each other rapturously by the hands, they separate to run +the gauntlet in and out down the whole line of dancers, to meet at the +bottom, when, apparently reconciled, they once more embrace. What follows, +the devil himself may tell. As for me, I heard only laughing, tittering, +now and then a slight scream, and a cry of 'Behave, Mr. Murphy!' etc.; but +the movements themselves were conic sections to me, and I closed my eyes +as I sat alone in my corner, and courted sleep as a short oblivion to the +scene. Unfortunately I succeeded; for, wild and singular as the gestures, +the looks, and the voices were before, they now became to my dreaming +senses something too terrible. I thought myself in the centre of some +hobgoblin orgie, where demons, male and female, were performing their +fantastic antics around me, grinning hideously, and uttering cries of +menacing import. Tarn O'Shanter's vision was a respectable tea-party of +Glasgow matrons compared to my imaginings; for so distorted were the +pictures of my brain, that the leader of the band, a peaceable-looking old +man in shorts and spectacles, seemed to me like a grim-visaged imp, who +flourished his tail across the strings of his instrument in lieu of a bow. +</p> +<p> +I must confess that the dancers, without any wish on my part to detract +from their efforts, had not the entire merit of this transmutation. +Fatigue, for the hour was late, chagrin at being robbed of my partner, +added to the heat and the crowd, had all their share in the mystification. +Besides, if I must confess it, Mr. Rooney's champagne was strong. My +friend O'Grady, however, seemed but little of my opinion; for, like the +master-spirit of the scene, he seemed to direct every movement and dictate +every change—no touch of fatigue, no semblance of exhaustion about +him. On the contrary, as the hour grew later, and the pale grey of morning +began to mingle with the glare of wax-lights, the vigour of his +performance only increased, and several new steps were displayed, which, +like a prudent general, he seemed to have kept in reserve for the end of +the engagement. And what a sad thing is a ball as it draws towards the +close! What an emblem of life at a similar period! +</p> +<p> +How much freshness has faded! how much of beauty has passed away! how many +illusions are dissipated! how many dreams the lamplight and chalk floors +have called into life fly like spirits with the first beam of sunlight! +The eye of proud bearing is humbled now; the cheek, whose downy softness +no painter could have copied, looks pale, and wan, and haggard; the +beaming looks, the graceful bearing, the elastic step, where are they? +Only to be found where youth—bright, joyous, and elastic +youth-unites itself to beauty. +</p> +<p> +Such were my thoughts as the dancers flew past, and many whom I had +remarked at the beginning of the evening as handsome and attractive, +seemed now without a trace of either—when suddenly Louisa Bellew +came by, her step as light, her every gesture as graceful, her cheek as +blooming, and her liquid eye as deeply beaming as when first I saw her. +The excitement of the dance had slightly flushed her face, and heightened +the expression its ever-varying emotions lent it. +</p> +<p> +Handsome as I before had thought her, there was a look of pride about her +now that made her lovely to my eyes. As I continued to gaze after her, I +did not perceive for some time that the guests were rapidly taking their +leave, and already the rooms were greatly thinned. Every moment now, +however, bore evidence of the fact: the unceasing roll of carriages to the +door, the clank of the steps, the reiterated cry to drive on, followed by +the call for the next carriage, all betokened departure. Now and then, +too, some cloaked and hooded figure would appear at the door of the +drawing-room, peering anxiously about for a daughter, a sister, or a +friend who still lingered in the dance, averring it 'was impossible to go, +that she was engaged for another set.' The disconsolate gestures, the +impatient menaces of the shawled spectres—for, in truth, they seemed +like creatures of another world come back to look upon the life they left—are +of no avail: the seductions of the 'major' are stronger than the frowns of +mamma, and though a rowing may come in the morning, she is resolved to +have a reel at night. +</p> +<p> +An increased noise and tumult below-stairs at the same moment informed me +that the supper-party were at length about to separate. I started up at +once, wishing to see Miss Bellew again ere I took my leave, when O'Grady +seized me by the arm and hurried me away. +</p> +<p> +'Come along, Hinton! Not a moment to lose; the duke is going.' +</p> +<p> +'Wait an instant,' said I, 'I wish to speak to——' +</p> +<p> +'Another time, my dear fellow; another time. The duke is delighted with +the Rooneys, and we are going to have Paul knighted!' +</p> +<p> +With these words he dragged me along, dashing down the stairs like a +madman. As we reached the door of the dining-room we found his grace, who, +with one hand on Lord Dudley's shoulder, was endeavouring to steady +himself by the other. +</p> +<p> +'I say, O'Grady, is that you? Very powerful Burgundy this—— It +'s not possible it can be morning!' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, your grace—half-past seven o'clock.' +</p> +<p> +'Indeed, upon my word, your friends are very charming people. What did you +say about knighting some one? Oh, I remember: Mr. Rooney, wasn't it? Of +course, nothing could be better!' +</p> +<p> +'Come, Hinton, have you got a sword?' said O'Grady; 'I 've mislaid mine +somehow. There, that 'll do. Let us try and find Paul now.' +</p> +<p> +Into the supper-room we rushed; but what a change was there! The brilliant +tables, resplendent with gold plate, candelabras, and flowers, were now +despoiled and dismantled. On the floor, among broken glasses, cracked +decanters, pyramids of jelly, and pagodas of blancmange, lay scattered in +every attitude the sleeping figures of the late guests. Mrs. Rooney alone +maintained her position, seated in a large chair, her eyes closed, a smile +of Elysian happiness playing upon her lips. Her right arm hung gracefully +over the side of the chair, where lately his grace had kissed her hand at +parting. Overcome, in all probability, by the more than human happiness of +such a moment, she had sunk into slumber, and was murmuring in her dreams +such short and broken phrases as the following:—'Ah, happy day!—What +will Mrs. Tait say?—The lord mayor, indeed!—Oh, my poor head! +I hope it won't be turned.—Holy Agatha, pray for us! your grace, +pray for us I—Isn't he a beautiful man? Hasn't he the darling white +teeth?' +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0007" id="linkimage-0007"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0144.jpg" alt="2-0144" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +'Where's Paul?' said O'Grady; 'where's Paul, Mrs. Rooney?' as he jogged +her rather rudely by the arm. +</p> +<p> +'Ah, who cares for Paul?' said she, still sleeping; 'don't be bothering me +about the like of him.' +</p> +<p> +'Egad! this is conjugal, at any rate,' said Phil +</p> +<p> +'I have him!' cried I; 'here he is!' as I stumbled over a short, thick +figure, who was propped up in a corner of the room. There he sat, his head +sunk upon his bosom, his hands listlessly resting on the floor. A large +jug stood beside him, in the concoction of whose contents he appeared to +have spent the last moments of his waking state. We shook him, and called +him by his name, but to no purpose; and, as we lifted up his head, we +burst out a-laughing at the droll expression of his face; for he had +fallen asleep in the act of squeezing a lemon in his teeth, the half of +which not only remained there still, but imparted to his features the +twisted and contorted expression that act suggests. +</p> +<p> +'Are you coming, O'Grady?' now cried the duke impatiently. +</p> +<p> +'Yes, my lord,' cried Phil, as he rushed towards the door. 'This is too +bad, Hinton: that confounded fellow could not possibly be moved. I'll try +and carry him.' As he spoke, he hurried back towards the sleeping figure +of Mr. Rooney, while I made towards the duke. +</p> +<p> +As Lord Dudley had gone to order up the carriages, his grace was standing +alone at the foot of the stairs, leaning his back against the banisters, +his eyes opening and shutting alternately as his head nodded every now and +then forward, overcome by sleep and the wine he had drunk. Exactly in +front of him, but crouching in the attitude of an Indian monster, sat +Corny Delany. To keep himself from the cold, he had wrapped himself up in +his master's cloak, and the only part of his face perceptible was the +little wrinkled forehead, and the malicious-looking fiery eyes beneath it, +firmly fixed on the duke's countenance. +</p> +<p> +'Give me your sword,' said his grace, turning to me, in a tone half +sleeping, half commanding; 'give me your sword, sir!' +</p> +<p> +Drawing it from the scabbard, I presented it respectfully. +</p> +<p> +'Stand a little on one side, Hinton. Where is he? Ah! quite right. Kneel +down, sir; kneel down, I say!' These words, addressed to Corny, produced +no other movement in him than a slight change in his attitude, to enable +him to extend his expanded hand above his eyes, and take a clearer view of +the duke. +</p> +<p> +'Does he hear me, Hinton? Do you hear me, sir?' +</p> +<p> +'Do you hear his grace?' said I, endeavouring with a sharp kick of my foot +to assist his perceptions. +</p> +<p> +'To be sure I hear him,' said Corny; 'why wouldn't I hear him?' +</p> +<p> +'Kneel down, then,' said I. +</p> +<p> +'Devil a bit of me'll kneel down. Don't I know what he's after well +enough? <i>Ach na bocklish!</i> Sorrow else he ever does nor make fun of +people.' +</p> +<p> +'Kneel down, sir!' said his grace, in an accent there was no refusing to +obey. 'What is your name?' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, murther! Oh, heavenly Joseph!' cried Corny, as I hurled him down upon +his knees, 'that I 'd ever live to see the day!' +</p> +<p> +'What is his d——d name?' said the duke passionately. +</p> +<p> +'Corny, your grace—Corny Delany.' +</p> +<p> +'There, that'll do,' as with a hearty slap of the sword, not on his +shoulder, but on his bullet head, he cried out, 'Rise, Sir Corny Delany!' +</p> +<p> +'Och, the devil a one of me will ever get up out of this same spot. Oh, +wirra, wirra! how will I ever show myself again after this disgrace?' +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0008" id="linkimage-0008"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0148.jpg" alt="2-0148" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +Leaving Corny to his lamentations, the duke walked towards the door. Here +above a hundred people were now assembled, their curiosity excited in no +small degree by a picket of light dragoons, who occupied the middle of the +street, and were lying upon the ground, or leaning on their saddles, in +all the wearied attitudes of a night-watch. In fact, the duke had +forgotten to dismiss his guard of honour, who had accompanied him to the +theatre, and thus had spent the dark hours of the night keeping watch and +ward over the proud dwelling of the Rooneys. A dark frown settled on the +duke's features as he perceived the mistake, and muttered between his +teeth, 'How they will talk of this in England!' The next moment, bursting +into a hearty fit of laughter, he stepped into the carriage, and amid a +loud cheer from the mob, by whom he was recognised, drove rapidly away. +</p> +<p> +Seated beside his grace, I saw nothing more of O'Grady, whose efforts to +ennoble the worthy attorney only exposed him to the risk of a black eye; +for no sooner did Paul perceive that he was undergoing rough treatment +than he immediately resisted, and gave open battle. +</p> +<p> +O'Grady accordingly left him, to seek his home on foot, followed by Corny, +whose cries and heart-rending exclamations induced a considerable crowd of +well-disposed citizens to accompany them to the Castle gate. And thus +ended the great Rooney ball. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XI. A NEGOTIATION +</h2> +<p> +From what I have already stated, it may be inferred that my acquaintance +with the Rooneys was begun under favourable auspices. Indeed, from the +evening of the ball the house was open to me at all hours; and, as the +hour of luncheon was known to every lounger about town, by dropping in +about three o'clock one was sure to hear all the chit-chat and gossip of +the day. All the dinners and duels of the capital, all its rows and +runaway matches, were there discussed, while future parties of pleasure +were planned and decided on, the Rooney equipages, horses, servants, and +cellar being looked upon as common property, the appropriation of which +was to be determined on by a vote of the majority. +</p> +<p> +At all these domestic parliaments O'Grady played a prominent part. He was +the speaker and the whipper-in; he led for both the government and the +opposition; in fact, since the ever-memorable visit of the viceroy his +power in the house was absolute. How completely they obeyed, and how +implicitly they followed him, may be guessed, when I say that he even +persuaded Mrs. Rooney herself not only to abstain from all triumph on the +subject of their illustrious guest, but actually to maintain a kind of +diplomatic silence on the subject; so that many simple-minded people began +to suspect his grace had never been there at all, and that poor Mrs. +Rooney, having detected the imposition, prudently held her tongue and said +nothing about the matter. As this influence might strike my reader as +somewhat difficult in its exercise, and also as it presents a fair +specimen of my friend's ingenuity, I cannot forbear mentioning the secret +of its success. +</p> +<p> +When the duke awoke late in the afternoon that followed Mrs. Rooney's +ball, his first impression was one bordering on irritation with O'Grady. +His quick-sightedness enabled him at once to see how completely he had +fallen into the trap of his worthy aide-de-camp; and although he had +confessedly spent a very pleasant evening, and laughed a great deal, now +that all was over, he would have preferred if the whole affair could be +quietly consigned to oblivion, or only remembered as a good joke for after +dinner. The scandal and the éclat it must cause in the capital annoyed him +considerably; and he knew that before a day passed over, the incident of +the guard of honour lying in bivouac around their horses would furnish +matter for every caricature-shop in Dublin. Ordering O'Grady to his +presence, and with a severity of manner in a great degree assumed, he +directed him to remedy, as far as might be, the consequences of this +blunder, and either contrive to give a totally different version of the +occurrence, or else by originating some new subject of scandal to eclipse +the memory of this unfortunate evening. +</p> +<p> +O'Grady promised and pledged himself to everything; vowed that he would +give such a turn to the affair that nobody would ever believe a word of +the story; assured the duke (God forgive him!) that however ridiculous the +Rooneys at night, by day they were models of discretion; and at length +took his leave to put his scheme into execution, heartily glad to discover +that his grace had forgotten all about Corny and the knighthood, the +recollection of which might have been attended with very grave results to +himself. +</p> +<p> +So much for his interview with the duke. Now for his diplomacy with Mrs. +Rooney! +</p> +<p> +It was about five o'clock on the following day when O'Grady cantered up to +the door. Giving his horse to his groom, he dashed boldly upstairs, passed +through the ante-chamber and the drawing-room, and tapping gently at the +door of a little boudoir, opened it at the same moment and presented +himself before Mrs. Paul. +</p> +<p> +That amiable lady, reclining <i>à la</i> Princess OToole, was gracefully +disposed on a small sofa, regarding with fixed attention a little plaster +bust of his grace, which, with considerable taste and propriety, was +dressed in a blue coat and bright buttons, with a star on the breast, a +bit of sky-blue satin representing the ribbon of the Bath. Nothing was +forgotten; and a faint attempt was even made to represent the colouring of +the viceregal nose, which I am bound to confess was not flattered in the +model. +</p> +<p> +'Ah, Captain, is it you?' said Mrs. Paul, with a kind of languishing +condescension very different from her ordinary reception of a Castle +aide-de-camp. 'How is his grace this evening?' +</p> +<p> +Drawing his chair beside her, Phil proceeded to reply to her questions and +assure her that whatever her admiration for the duke, the feeling was +perfectly mutual. 'Egad,' said he, 'the thing may turn out very ill for me +when the duchess finds out that it was all my doing. Speaking in +confidence to you, my dear Mrs. Paul, I may confess that although without +exception she is the most kind, amiable, excellent soul breathing, yet she +has one fault. We all have our faults.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah!' sighed Mrs. Rooney, as she threw down her eyes as though to say, +'That's very true, but you will not catch me telling what mine is.' +</p> +<p> +'As I was observing, there never was a more estimable being save in this +one respect—— You guess it? I see you do.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah, the creature, she drinks!' +</p> +<p> +The captain found it not a little difficult to repress a burst of laughter +at Mrs. Rooney's suggestion. He did so, however, and proceeded: 'No, my +dear madam, you mistake. Jealousy is her failing; and when I tell you +this, and when I add, that unhappily for her the events of last night may +only afford but too much cause, you will comprehend the embarrassment of +my present position.' +</p> +<p> +Having said this, he walked up and down the room for several minutes as if +sunk in meditation, while he left Mrs. Rooney to ruminate over an +announcement, the bare possibility of which was ecstasy itself. To be the +rival of a peeress; that peeress a duchess; that duchess the lady of the +viceroy! These were high thoughts indeed. What would Mrs. Riley say now? +How would the Maloneys look? Wouldn't Father Glynn be proud to meet her at +the door of Liffey Street Chapel in full pontificals as she drove up, who +knows but with a guard of honour beside her? Running on in this way, she +had actually got so far as to be discussing with herself what was to be +done with Paul—not that her allegiance was shaken towards that +excellent individual—not a single unworthy thought crossed her mind—far +from it. Poor Mrs. Rooney was purity herself; she merely dreamed of those +outward manifestations of the viceroy's preference, which were to procure +for her consideration in the world, a position in society, and those +attentions from the hands of the great and the titled, which she esteemed +at higher price than the real gifts of health, wealth, and beauty, so +bounteously bestowed upon her by Providence. +</p> +<p> +She had come then to that difficult point in her mind as to what was to be +done with Paul; what peculiar course of training could he be submitted to, +to make him more presentable in the world; how were they to break him off +whisky-and-water and small jokes? Ah,' she was thinking, 'it's very hard +to make a real gentleman out of such materials as grog and drab gaiters,' +when suddenly O'Grady, wiping his forehead with his handkerchief, and then +flourishing it theatrically in the air, exclaimed— +</p> +<p> +'Yes, Mrs. Rooney, everything depends on you. His grace's visit—I +have just been with him talking the whole thing over—must be kept a +profound secret. If it ever reach the ears of the duchess we are ruined +and undone.' +</p> +<p> +Here was a total overthrow to all Mrs. Paul's speculations; here was a +beautiful castle uprooted from its very foundation. All her triumph, all +her vaunted superiority over her city acquaintances was vanishing like a +mirage before her! What was the use of his coming after all? What was the +good of it, if not to be spoken of, if not talked over at tea, written of +in notes, discussed at dinner, and displayed in the morning papers? +Already was her brow contracted, and a slight flush of her cheek showed +the wily captain that resistance was in preparation. +</p> +<p> +'I know, my dear Mrs. Paul, how gratifying it would be for even the +highest of the land to speak of his grace's condescension in such terms as +you might speak; but then, after all, how very fleeting such a triumph! +Many would shrug their shoulders, and not believe the story. Some of those +who believed would endeavour to account for it as a joke: one of those odd +wild fancies the duke is ever so fond of'—here she reddened deeply. +'In fact, the malevolence and the envy of the world will give a thousand +turns to the circumstance. Besides that, after all, they would seem to +have some reason on their side; for the publicity of the affair must for +ever prevent a repetition of the visit; whereas, on the other side, by a +little discretion, by guarding our own secret'—here Phil looked +knowingly in her eyes, as though to say they had one—'not only will +the duke be delighted to continue his intimacy, but from the absence of +all mention of the matter, all display on the subject, the world will be +ten times more disposed to give credence to the fact than if it were +paragraphed in every newspaper in the kingdom.' +</p> +<p> +This was hitting the nail on the head with a vengeance. Here was a +picture, here a vision of happiness! Only to think of the duke dropping +in, as a body might say, to take his bit of dinner, or his dish of tea in +the evening, just in a quiet, homely, family way! She thought she saw him +sitting with his feet on the fender, talking about the king and the queen, +and the rest of the royal family, just as he would of herself and Paul; +and her eyes involuntarily turned towards the little bust, and two round +full tears of pure joy trickled slowly down her cheeks. +</p> +<p> +Yielding at length to these and similar arguments, Mrs. Rooney gave in her +adhesion, and a treaty was arranged and agreed upon between the high +contracting parties, which ran somewhat to this effect:— +</p> +<p> +In the first place, for the enjoyment of certain advantages to be +hereafter more fully set forth, the lady was bound to maintain in all +large companies, balls, dinners, drums, and déjeuners, a rigid silence +regarding the duke's visit to her house, never speaking of, nor alluding +to it, in any manner whatever, and, in fact, conducting herself in all +respects as if such a thing had never taken place. +</p> +<p> +Secondly, she was forbidden from making any direct inquiries in public +respecting the health of the duke or the duchess, or exercising any overt +act of personal interest in these exalted individuals. +</p> +<p> +Thirdly, so long as Mrs. Rooney strictly maintained the terms of the +covenant, nothing in the foregoing was to preclude her from certain other +privileges—namely, blushing deeply when the duke's name was +mentioned, throwing down her eyes, gently clasping her hands, and even +occasionally proceeding to a sigh; neither was she interdicted from +regarding any portion of her domicile as particularly sacred in +consequence of its viceregal associations. A certain arm-chair might be +selected for peculiar honours, and preserved inviolate, etc. +</p> +<p> +And lastly, nevertheless, notwithstanding that in all large assemblies +Mrs. Rooney was to conduct herself with the reserve and restrictions +aforesaid, yet in small <i>réunions de famille</i>—this O'Grady +purposely inserted in French, for, as Mrs. Paul could not confess her +ignorance of that language, the interpretation must rest with himself—she +was to enjoy a perfect liberty of detailing his grace's advent, entering +into all its details, discussing, explaining, expatiating, inquiring with +a most minute particularity concerning his health and habits, and, in a +word, conducting herself in all respects, to use her own expressive +phrase, 'as if they were thick since they were babies.' +</p> +<p> +Armed with this precious document, formally signed and sealed by both +parties, O'Grady took his leave of Mrs. Rooney—not, indeed, in his +usual free-and-easy manner, but with the respectful and decorous reserve +of one addressing a favourite near the throne. Nothing could be more +perfect than Phil's profound obeisance, except perhaps the queenly +demeanour of Mrs. Rooney herself; for, with the ready tact of a woman, she +caught up in a moment the altered phase of her position, and in the +reflective light of O'Grady's manner she learned to appreciate her own +brilliancy. +</p> +<p> +'From this day forward,' muttered O'Grady, as he closed the door behind +him and hurried downstairs—'from this day forward she 'll be greater +than ever. Heaven help the lady mayoress that ventures to shake hands with +her, and the attorney's wife will be a bold woman that asks her to a +tea-party henceforth!' +</p> +<p> +With these words he threw himself upon his horse and cantered off towards +the park to inform the duke that all was happily concluded, and amuse him +with a sight of the great Rooney treaty, which he well knew would throw +the viceroy into convulsions of laughter. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XII. A WAGER +</h2> +<p> +In a few weeks after the events I have mentioned, the duke left Ireland to +resume his parliamentary duties in the House of Lords, where some measure +of considerable importance was at that time under discussion. Into the +hands of the lords justices, therefore, the government <i>ad interim</i> +was delivered; while upon Mrs. Paul Rooney devolved the more pleasing task +of becoming the leader of fashion, the head and fountain of all the +gaieties and amusements of the capital. Indeed, O'Grady half hinted that +his grace relied upon her to supply his loss, which manifestation of his +esteem, so perfectly in accordance with her own wishes, she did not long +hesitate to profit by. +</p> +<p> +Had a stranger, on his first arrival in Dublin, passed along that part of +Stephen's Green in which the 'Hotel Rooney,' as it was familiarly called, +was situated, he could not have avoided being struck, not only with the +appearance of the house itself, but with that of the strange and +incongruous assembly of all ranks and conditions of men that lounged about +its door. The house, large and spacious, with its windows of plate-glass, +its Venetian blinds, its gaudily gilt and painted balcony, and its massive +brass knocker, betrayed a certain air of pretension, standing as it did +among the more sombre-looking mansions where the real rank of the country +resided. Clean windows and a bright knocker, however—distinctive +features as they were in the metropolis of those days—would not have +arrested the attention of the passing traveller to the extent I have +supposed, but that there were other signs and sights than these. +</p> +<p> +At the open hall door, to which you ascended by a flight of granite steps, +lounged some half-dozen servants in powdered heads and gaudy liveries—the +venerable porter in his leather chair, the ruddy coachman in his +full-bottomed wig, tall footmen with bouquets in their button-holes, were +here to be seen reading the morning papers, or leisurely strolling to the +steps to take a look at the weather, and cast a supercilious glance at the +insignificant tide of population that flowed on beneath them; a lazy and +an idle race, they toiled not, neither did they spin, and I sincerely +trust that Solomon's costume bore no resemblance to theirs. +</p> +<p> +More immediately in front of the house stood a mixed society of idlers, +beggars, horseboys, and grooms, assembled there from motives of curiosity +or gain. Indeed, the rich odour of savoury viands that issued from the +open kitchen windows and ascended through the area to the nostrils of +those without, might in its appetising steam have brought the dew upon the +lips of greater gourmands than they were. All that French cookery could +suggest to impart variety to the separate meals of breakfast, luncheon, +dinner, and supper, here went forward unceasingly; and the beggars who +thronged around the bars, and were fed with the crumbs from the rich man's +table, became by degrees so habituated to the delicacies and refinements +of good living, that they would have turned up their noses with contempt +at the humble and more homely fare of the respectable shopkeeper. Truly, +it was a strange picture to see these poor and ragged men as they sat in +groups upon the steps and on the bare flagway, exposed to every wind of +heaven, the drifting rain soaking through their frail and threadbare +garments, yet criticising, with practical acumen, the savoury food before +them. Consommés, ragouts, pâtés, potages, jellies, with an infinity of +that smaller grapeshot of epicurism with which fine tables are filled, all +here met a fair and a candid appreciation. +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0009" id="linkimage-0009"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0159.jpg" alt="2-0159" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +A little farther off, and towards the middle of the street, stood another +order of beings, who, with separate and peculiar privileges, maintained +themselves as a class apart; these were the horseboys, half-naked urchins, +whose ages varied from eight to fourteen, but whose looks of mingled +cunning and drollery would defy any guess as to their time of life, who +here sported in all the wild, untrammelled liberty of African savages. The +only art they practised was to lead up and down the horses of the various +visitors whom the many attractions of the Hotel Rooney brought daily to +the house. And here you saw the proud and pampered steed, with fiery eye +and swelling nostrils, led about by this ambulating mass of rags and +poverty, whose bright eye wandered ever from his own tattered habiliments +to the gorgeous trappings and gold embroidery of the sleek charger beside +him. In the midst of these, such as were not yet employed, amused +themselves by cutting summersets, standing on their heads, walking +crab-fashion, and other classical performances, which form the little +distractions of life for this strange sect. +</p> +<p> +Jaunting-cars there were too, whose numerous fastenings of rope and +cordage looked as though they were taken to pieces every night and put +together in the morning; while the horse, a care-worn and +misanthropic-looking beast, would turn his head sideways over the shaft to +give a glance of compassionating scorn at the follies and vanities of a +world he was sick of. Not so the driver: equally low in condition, and +fully as ragged in coat, the droll spirit that made his birthright was, +with him, a lamp that neither poverty nor penury could quench. Ever ready +with his joke, never backward with his repartee, prepared to comfort you +by assurances of the strength of his car and the goodness of his horse, +while his own laughing look gave the lie to his very words, he would +persuade you that with him alone there was safety, while it was a risk of +life and limb to travel with his rivals. +</p> +<p> +These formed the ordinary <i>dramatis persono</i>, while every now and +then some flashy equipage, with armorial bearings and showy liveries, +would scatter the crowd right and left, set the led horses lashing among +the bystanders, and even break up the decorous conviviality of a +dinner-party gracefully disposed upon the flags. Curricles, tandems, +tilburies, and dennets were constantly arriving and departing. Members of +Daly's with their green coats and buff waistcoats, whiskered dragoons and +plumed aides-de-camp, were all mixed up together, while on the open +balcony an indiscriminate herd of loungers telegraphed the conversation +from the drawing-room to the street, and thus all the <i>bons mots</i>, +all the jests, all the witticisms that went forward within doors, found +also a laughing auditory without; for it is a remarkable feature of this +singular country, that there is no turn of expression whose raillery is +too delicate, no repartee whose keenness is too fine, for the appreciation +of the poorest and meanest creature that walks the street. Poor Paddy, if +the more substantial favours of fortune be not your lot, nature has linked +you by a strong sympathy with tastes, habits, and usages which, by some +singular intuition, you seem thoroughly to comprehend. One cannot dwell +long among them without feeling this, and witnessing how generally, how +almost universally, poverty of condition and wealth of intellect go hand +in hand together; and, as it is only over the bleak and barren surface of +some fern-clad heath the wildfire flashes through the gloom of night, so +it would seem the more brilliant firework of fancy would need a soil of +poverty and privation to produce it. +</p> +<p> +But, at length, to come back, the Rooneys now were installed as the great +people of the capital. Many of the <i>ancien régime</i>, who held out +sturdily before, and who looked upon the worthy attorney in the light of a +usurper, now gave in their allegiance, and regarded him as the true +monarch. What his great prototype effected by terror, he brought about by +turtle; and, if Napoleon consolidated his empire and propped his throne by +the bayonets of the grand army, so did Mr. Rooney establish his claims to +power by the more satisfactory arguments which, appealing not only to the +head, but to the stomach, convince while they conciliate. You might +criticise his courtesy, but you could not condemn his claret. You might +dislike his manners, but you could not deny yourself his mutton. Besides, +after all, matters took pretty much the same turn in Paris as in Dublin; +public opinion ran strong in both cases. The mass of the world consists of +those who receive benefits, and he who confers them deserves to be +respected. We certainly thought so; and among those of darker hue who +frequented Mr. Rooney's table, three red-coats might daily be seen, whose +unchanged places, added to their indescribable air of at-homeishness, +bespoke them as the friends of the family. +</p> +<p> +O'Grady, at Mrs. Rooney's right hand, did the honours of the soup; Lord +Dudley, at the other end of the table, supported Mr. Rooney, while to my +lot Miss Bellew fell. But, as our places at table never changed, there was +nothing marked in my thus every day finding myself beside her, and +resuming my place on our return to the drawing-room. To me, I confess, she +formed the great attraction of the house. Less imbued than my friend +O'Grady with the spirit of fun, I could not have gone on from day to day +to amuse myself with the eccentricities of the Rooneys, while I could not, +on the other hand, have followed Lord Dudley's lead, and continued to +receive the hospitalities of a house while I sneered at the pretensions of +its owner. +</p> +<p> +Under any circumstances Louisa Bellew might be considered a very charming +person; but, contrasted with those by whom she was surrounded, her +attractions were very great. Indeed, her youth, her light-heartedness, and +the buoyancy of her spirit, concealed to a great degree the sorrow it cost +her to be associated with her present hosts; for, although they were kind +to her, and she felt and acknowledged their kindness, yet the humiliating +sense of a position which exposed her to the insolent familiarity of the +idle, the dissipated, or the underbred visitors of the house, gradually +impressed itself upon her manner, and tempered her mild and graceful +nature with a certain air of hauteur and distance. A circumstance, slight +in itself, but sufficiently indicative of this, took place some weeks +after what I have mentioned. +</p> +<p> +Lord Dudley de Vere, who, from his rank and condition, was looked upon as +a kind of privileged person in the Rooney family, sitting rather later +than usual after dinner, and having drunk a great deal of wine, offered a +wager that, on his appearance in the drawing-room, not only would he +propose for, but be accepted by, any unmarried lady in the room. The +puppyism and coxcombry of such a wager might have been pardoned, were it +not that the character of the individual, when sober, was in perfect +accordance with this drunken boast. The bet, which was for three hundred +guineas, was at once taken up; and one of the party running hastily up to +the drawing-room, obtained the names of the ladies there, which, being +written on slips of paper, were thrown into a hat, thus leaving chance to +decide upon whom the happy lot was to fall. +</p> +<p> +'Mark ye, Upton,' cried Lord Dudley, as he prepared to draw forth his +prize—'mark ye, I didn't say I 'd marry her.' +</p> +<p> +'No, no,' resounded from different parts of the room; 'we understand you +perfectly.' +</p> +<p> +'My bet,' continued he, 'is this: I have booked it.' With these words he +opened a small memorandum-book and read forth the following paragraph:—'Three +hundred with Upton that I don't ask and be accepted by any girl in Paul's +drawing-room this evening, after tea; the choice to be decided by lottery. +Isn't that it?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, yes, quite right, perfectly correct,' said several persons round the +table. 'Come, my lord, here is the hat.' +</p> +<p> +'Shake them up well, Upton.' +</p> +<p> +'So here goes,' said Herbert, as affectedly tucking up the sleeve of his +coat, he inserted two fingers and drew forth a small piece of paper +carefully folded in two. 'I say, gentlemen, this is your affair; it +doesn't concern me.' With these words he threw it carelessly on the table, +and resuming his seat, leisurely filled his glass, and sipped his wine. +</p> +<p> +'Come, read it, Blake; read it up! Who is she?' +</p> +<p> +'Gently, lads, gently; patience for one moment. How are we to know if the +wager be lost or won? Is the lady herself to declare it?' +</p> +<p> +'Why, if you like it; it is perfectly the same to me.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, then,' rejoined Blake, 'it is—Miss Bellew!' +</p> +<p> +No sooner was the name read aloud, than, instead of the roar of laughter +which it was expected would follow the announcement, a kind of awkward and +constrained silence settled on the party. Mr. Rooney himself, who felt +shocked beyond measure at this result, had been so long habituated to +regard himself as nothing at the head of his own table, accepting, not +dictating, its laws, that, much as he may have wished to do so, did not +dare to interfere to stay any further proceedings. But many of those +around the table who knew Sir Simon Bellew, and felt how unsuitable and +inadmissible such a jest as this would be, if practised upon <i>his</i> +daughter, whispered among themselves a hope thai the wager would be +abandoned, and never thought of more by either party. +</p> +<p> +'Yes, yes,' said Upton, who was an officer in a dragoon regiment, and +although of a high family and well connected, was yet very limited in his +means. 'Yes, yes, I quite agree. This foolery might be very good fun with +some young ladies we know, but with Miss Bellew the circumstances are +quite different; and, for <i>my</i> part, I withdraw from the bet.' +</p> +<p> +'Eh—aw! Pass down the claret, if you please. You withdraw from the +bet, then? That means you may pay me three hundred guineas; for d—n +me, if I do! No, no; I am not so young as that. I haven't lost fifteen +thousand on the Derby without gaining some little insight into these +matters. Every bet is a p. p., if not stated to be the reverse. I leave it +to any gentleman in the room.' +</p> +<p> +'Come, come, De Vere,' said one, 'listen to reason, my boy!' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, Dudley,' cried another, 'only think over the thing. You must see——' +</p> +<p> +'I only wish to see a cheque for three hundred. And I 'll not be done,' +</p> +<p> +'Sir!' said Upton, springing from his chair, as the blood mounted to his +face and temples, 'did you mean that expression to apply to me?' +</p> +<p> +'Sit down, Mr. Upton, for the love of Heaven! Sit down; do, sir; his +lordship never meant it at all. See, now, I'll pay the money myself. Give +me a pen and ink. I'll give you a cheque on the bank this minute. What the +devil signifies a trifle like that!' stammered out poor Paul, as he wiped +his forehead with his napkin, and looked the very picture of terror. 'Yes, +my lord and gentlemen of the jury, we agree to pay the whole costs of this +suit.' +</p> +<p> +A perfect roar of laughter interrupted the worthy attorney, and as it ran +from one end of the table to the other, seemed to promise a happier issue +to this unpleasant discussion. +</p> +<p> +'There, now,' said honest Paul, 'the Lord be praised, it is all settled! +So let us have another cooper up, and then we 'll join the ladies.' +</p> +<p> +'Then I understand it thus,' said Lord Dudley: 'you pay the money for Mr. +Upton, and I may erase the bet from my book?' +</p> +<p> +'No, sir!' cried Upton passionately. 'I pay my own wagers; and if you +still insist——' +</p> +<p> +'No, no, no!' cried several voices; while, at the same time, to put an end +at once to any further dispute, the party suddenly rose to repair to the +drawing-room. +</p> +<p> +On passing through the hall, chance, or perhaps design, on Lord Dudley's +part, brought him beside Upton. 'I wish you to understand, once more,' +said he, in a low whisper, 'that I consider this bet to hold.' +</p> +<p> +'Be it so,' was the brief reply, and they separated. +</p> +<p> +O'Grady and myself, having dined that day in the country, only arrived in +the Rooneys' drawing-room as the dinner-party was entering it. Contrary to +their wont, there was less of loud talking, less of uproarious and +boisterous mirth, as they came up the stairs, than usual O'Grady remarked +this to me afterwards. At the time, however, I paid but little attention +to it. The fact was, my thoughts were principally running in another +channel Certain innuendoes of Lord Dudley de Vere, certain broad hints he +had ventured upon even before Mrs. Rooney, had left upon my mind a kind of +vague, undecided impression that, somehow or other, I was regarded as +their dupe. Miss Bellow's manner was certainly more cordial, more kind to +me than to any of the others who visited the house. The Rooneys themselves +omitted nothing to humour my caprices, and indulge my fancies, affording +me, at all times, opportunities of being alone with Louisa, joining in her +walks, and accompanying her on horseback. Could there be anything in all +this? Was this the quarter in which the mine was to explode? This painful +doubt hanging upon my mind I entered the drawing-room. +</p> +<p> +The drawing-room of 42 Stephen's Green had often afforded me an amusing +study. Its strange confusion of ranks and classes; its <i>mélange</i> of +lordly loungers and city beauties; the discordant tone of conversation, +where each person discussed the very thing he knew least of; the blooming +daughters of a lady mayoress talking 'fashion and the musical glasses'; +while the witless scion of a noble house was endeavouring to pass himself +as a sayer of good things. These now, however, afforded me neither +interest nor pleasure; bent solely upon one thought, eager alone to +ascertain how far Louisa Bellow's manner towards me was the fruit of +artifice, or the offspring of an artless and unsuspecting mind, I left +O'Grady to entertain a whole circle of turbaned ladies, while I directed +my course towards the little boudoir where Louisa usually sat. +</p> +<p> +In a house where laxity of etiquette and a freedom of manner prevailed to +the extent I have mentioned, Miss Bellow's more cautious and reserved +demeanour was anything but popular; and, as there was no lack of beauty, +men found it more suitable to their lounging and indolent habits to engage +those in conversation who were less <i>exigeante</i> in their demands for +amusement, and were equally merry themselves, as mercifully disposed when +the mirth became not only easy but free. +</p> +<p> +Miss Bellew, therefore, was permitted to indulge many of her tastes +unmolested; and as one of these was to work at embroidery in the small +room in question, few persons intruded themselves upon her—and even +they but for a short time, as if merely paying their required homage to a +member of the family. +</p> +<p> +As I approached the door of the boudoir, my surprise was not a little to +hear Lord Dudley de Vere's voice, the tones of which, though evidently +subdued by design, had a clear distinctness that made them perfectly +audible where I stood. +</p> +<p> +'Eh! you can't mean it, though. 'Pon my soul, it is too bad! You know I +shall lose my money if you persist.' +</p> +<p> +'I trust Lord Dudley de Vere is too much of a gentleman to make my +unprotected position in this house the subject of an insolent wager. I'm +sure nothing in my manner could ever have given encouragement to such a +liberty.' +</p> +<p> +'There, now, I knew you didn't understand it. The whole thing was a +chance; the odds were at least eighteen to one against you—ha, ha! I +mean in your favour. Devilish good mistake that of mine. They were all +shaken up in a hat. You see there was no collusion—could be none.' +</p> +<p> +'My lord, this impertinence becomes past enduring; and if you persist——' +</p> +<p> +'Well, then, why not enter into the joke? It'll be a devilish expensive +one to me if you don't; that I promise you. What a confounded fool I was +not to draw out when Upton wished it! D—n it! I ought to have known +there is no trusting to a woman.' As he said this, he walked twice or +thrice hurriedly to and fro, muttering as he went, with ill-suppressed +passion: 'Laughed at, d—n me! that I shall be, all over the kingdom. +To lose the money is bad enough; but the ridicule of the thing, that's the +devil! Stay, Miss Bellew, stop one minute; I have another proposition to +make. Begad, I see nothing else for it. This, you know, was all a humbug—mere +joke, nothing more. Now, I can't stand the way I shall be quizzed about it +at all. So, here goes! hang me, if I don't make the proposition in real +earnest! There, now, say yes at once, and we 'll see if I can't turn the +laugh against them.' +</p> +<p> +There was a pause for an instant, and then Miss Bellew spoke. I would have +given worlds to have seen her at that moment; but the tone of her voice, +firm and unshaken, sank deep into my heart. +</p> +<p> +'My lord,' said she, 'this must now cease; but, as your lordship is fond +of a wager, I have one for your acceptance. The sum shall be your own +choosing. Whatever it be, I stake it freely, that, as I walk from this +room, the first gentleman I meet—you like a chance, my lord, and you +shall have one—will chastise you before the world for your unworthy, +unmanly insult to a weak and unoffending girl.' +</p> +<p> +As she spoke, she sprang from the room, her eyes flashing with indignant +fire, while her cheek, pale as death, and her heaving bosom, attested how +deep was her passion. As she turned the corner of the door, her eyes met +mine. In an instant the truth flashed upon her mind. She knew I had +overheard all that passed. She gasped painfully for breath; her lips moved +with scarce a sound; a violent trembling shook her from head to foot, and +she fell fainting to the ground. +</p> +<p> +I followed her with my eyes as they bore her from the room; and then, +without a thought for anything around me, I hurriedly left the room, +dashed downstairs, and hastened to my quarters in the Castle. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XIII. A NIGHT OF TROUBLE +</h2> +<p> +Until the moment when I reached the room and threw myself into a chair, my +course respecting Lord Dudley de Vere seemed to present not a single +difficulty. The appeal so unconsciously made to me by Miss Bellew, not +less than my own ardent inclination, decided me on calling him out. No +sooner, however, did calm reflection succeed to the passionate excitement +of the moment, than at once I perceived the nicety of my position. Under +what possible pretext could I avow myself as her champion, not as of her +own choosing? for I knew perfectly well that the words she uttered were +merely intended as a menace, without the slightest idea of being acted on. +To suffer her name, therefore, to transpire in the affair would be to +compromise her in the face of the world. Again, the confusion and terror +she evinced when she beheld me at the door proved to me that, perhaps of +all others, I was the last person she would have wished to have been a +witness to the interview. +</p> +<p> +What was to be done? The very difficulty of the affair only made my +determination to go through with it the stronger. I have already said my +inclination also prompted me to this course. Lord Dudley's manner to me, +without being such as I could make a plea for resenting, had ever been of +a supercilious and almost offensive character. If there be anything which +more deeply than another wounds our self-esteem, it is the assumed +superiority of those whom we heartily despise. More than once he ventured +upon hinting at the plans of the Rooneys respecting me, suggesting that +their civilities only concealed a deeper object; and all this he did with +a tone of half insolence that irritated me ten times more than an open +affront. Often and often had I promised myself that a day of retribution +must come. Again and again did I lay this comfort to my heart—that, +one time or other, his habitual prudence would desert him; that his +transgression would exceed the narrow line that separates an impertinent +freedom from an insult, and then—— Now this time had come at +last. Such a chance might not again present itself, and must not be thrown +away. +</p> +<p> +My reasonings had come to this point, when a tremendous knocking at my +door, and a loud shout of 'Jack! Jack Hinton!' announced O'Grady. This was +fortunate. He was the only man whom I knew well enough to consult in such +a matter; and of all others, he was the one on whose advice and counsel I +could place implicit reliance. +</p> +<p> +'What the deuce is all this, my dear Hinton?' said he, as he grasped my +hand in both of his. 'I was playing whist with the tabbies when it +occurred, and saw nothing of the whole matter. She fainted, didn't she? +What the deuce could you have said or done?' +</p> +<p> +'Could I have said or done! What do you mean, O'Grady?' +</p> +<p> +'Come, come, be frank with me; what was it? If you are in a scrape, I am +not the man to leave you in it.' +</p> +<p> +'First of all,' said I, assuming with all my might a forced and simulated +composure, 'first of all, tell me what you heard in the drawing-room.' +</p> +<p> +'What I heard? Egad, it was plain enough. In the beginning, a young lady +came souse down upon the floor; screams and smelling-bottles followed; a +general running hither and thither, in which confusion, by-the-bye, our +adversaries contrived to manage a new deal, though I had four by honours +in my hand. Old Miss Macan upset my markers, drank my negus, and then +fainted off herself, with a face like an apothecary's rose.' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, yes; but,' said I impatiently, 'what of Miss Bellew?' +</p> +<p> +'What of her! that you must know best. You know, of course, what occurred +between you.' +</p> +<p> +'My dear O'Grady,' said I, with passionate eagerness, 'do be explicit. +What did they say in the drawing-room? What turn has been given to this +affair?' +</p> +<p> +''Faith, I can't tell you; I am as much in the dark as my neighbours. +After the lady was carried out and you ran away, they all began talking it +over. Some said you had been proposing an elopement: others said you +hadn't. The Rileys swore you had asked to have your picture back again; +and old Mrs. Ram, who had planted herself behind a curtain to overhear +all, forgot, it seems, that the window was open, and caught such a cold in +her head, and such a deafness, that she heard nothing. She says, however, +that your conduct was abominable; and in fact, my dear Hinton, the whole +thing is a puzzle to us all.' +</p> +<p> +'And Lord Dudley de Vere,' said I, 'did he offer no explanation?' +</p> +<p> +'Oh yes, something pretty much in his usual style; pulled up his stock, +ran his fingers through his hair, and muttered some indistinct phrases +about lovers' quarrels.' +</p> +<p> +'Capital!' exclaimed I with delight; 'nothing could be better, nothing +more fortunate than this! Now, O'Grady, listen to my version of the +matter, and then tell me how to proceed in it.' +</p> +<p> +I here detailed to my friend every circumstance that had occurred from the +moment of my entering to my departure from the drawing-room. 'As to the +wager,' said I, 'what it was when made, and with whom, I know not.' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, yes; I know all that,' interrupted O'Grady; 'I have the whole thing +perfectly before me. Now let us see what is to be done: and first of all, +allow me to ring the bell for some sherry and water—that's the head +and front of a consultation.' +</p> +<p> +When O'Grady had mixed his glass, sipped, corrected, and sipped again, he +beat the bars of the grate a few moments contemplatively with the poker, +and then turning to me, gravely said: 'We must parade him, Jack, that's +certain. Now for the how. Our friend Dudley is not much given to fighting, +and it will be rather difficult to obtain his consent. Indeed, if it had +not been for the insinuation he threw out, after you had left the room, I +don't well see how you could push him to it.' +</p> +<p> +'Why, my dear O'Grady, wasn't there quite cause enough?' +</p> +<p> +'Plenty, no doubt, my dear Jack, as far as feeling goes; but there are +innumerable cases in this life which, like breaches of trust in law, +escape with slight punishment. Not but that, when you owe a man a grudge, +you have it always in your power to make him sensible of it; and among +gentlemen there is the same intuitive perception of a contemplated +collision as you see at a dinner-party, when one fellow puts his hand on a +decanter; his friend at the end of the table smiles, and cries, “With +pleasure my boy!” There is one thing, however, in your favour.' +</p> +<p> +'What is that?' said I eagerly. +</p> +<p> +'Why, he has lost his wager; that's pretty clear; and, as that won't +improve his temper, it's possible—mind, I don't say more, but it's +possible he may feel better disposed to turn his irritation into valour; a +much more common process in metaphysical chemistry than the world wots of. +Under these circumstances the best thing to do, as it strikes me, is to +try the cause, as our friend Paul would say, on the general issue; that +is, to wait on Herbert; tell him we wish to have a meeting; that, after +what has passed—that 's a sweet phrase isn't it? and has got more +gentlemen carried home on a door than any other I know—that after +what has passed, the thing is unavoidable, and the sooner it comes off the +better. He can't help referring me to a friend, and he can scarcely find +any one that won't see the thing with our eyes. It's quite clear Miss +Bellow's name must be kept out of the matter; and now, my boy, if you +agree with me, leave the whole affair in my hands, tumble into bed, and go +to sleep as fast as you can.' +</p> +<p> +'I leave it all to you, Phil,' said I, shaking his hand warmly, 'and to +prove my obedience, I'll be in bed in ten minutes.' +</p> +<p> +O'Grady finished the decanter of sherry, buttoned up his coat, and +slapping his boots with his cane, sauntered downstairs, whistling an Irish +quick step as he went. +</p> +<p> +When I had half accomplished my undressing, I sat down before the fire, +and, unconsciously to myself, fell into a train of musing about my present +condition. I was very young; knew little of the world: the very character +of my education had been so much under the eye and direction of my mother, +that my knowledge was even less than that of the generality of young men +of my own time of life. It is not surprising, then, if the events which my +new career hurried so rapidly one upon another, in some measure confused +me. Of duelling I had, of course, heard repeatedly, and had learned to +look upon the necessity of it as more or less imperative upon every man in +the outset of his career. Such was, in a great measure, the tone of the +day; and the man who attained a certain period of life, without having had +at least one affair of honour, was rather suspected of using a degree of +prudent caution in his conduct with the world than of following the +popular maxim of the period, which said, 'Be always ready with the +pistol.' +</p> +<p> +The affair with Lord De Vere, therefore, I looked upon rather as a lucky +hit; I might as well make my début with him as with any other. So much, +then, for the prejudice of the period. Now, for my private feelings on the +subject, they were, I confess, anything but satisfactory. Without at all +entering into any anticipation I might have felt as to the final result, I +could not avoid feeling ashamed of myself for my total ignorance about the +whole matter; not only, as I have said, had I never seen a duel, but I +never had fired a pistol twice in my life. I was naturally a nervous +fellow, and the very idea of firing at a word, would, I knew, render me +more so. My dread that the peculiarity of my constitution might be +construed into want of courage, increased my irritability; while I felt +that my endeavour to acquit myself with all the etiquette and punctilio of +the occasion would inevitably lead me to the commission of some mistake or +blunder. +</p> +<p> +And then, as to my friends at home, what would my father say? His notions +on the subject I knew were very rigid, and only admitted the necessity of +an appeal to arms as the very last resort. What account could I give him, +sufficiently satisfactory, of my reasons for going out? How would my +mother feel, with all her aristocratic prejudices, when she heard of the +society where the affair originated, when some glowing description of the +Rooneys should reach her? and this some kind friend or other was certain +to undertake. And, worse than all, Lady Julia, my high-born cousin, whose +beauty and sarcasm had inspired me with a mixture of admiration and dread—how +should I ever bear the satirical turn she would give the whole affair? Her +malice would be increased by the fact that a young and pretty girl was +mixed up in it; for somehow, I must confess, a kind of half-flirtation had +always subsisted between my cousin and me. Her beauty, her wit, her +fascinating manner, rendered me at times over head and ears in love with +her; while, at others, the indifference of her manner towards me, or, +still worse, the ridicule to which she exposed me, would break the spell +and dissipate the enchantment. +</p> +<p> +Thoughts like these were far from assuring me, and contributed but little +towards that confidence in myself I stood so much in need of. And, again, +what if I were to fall? As this thought settled on my mind, I resolved to +write home. Not to my father, however: I felt a kind of constraint about +unburdening myself to him at such a moment. My mother was equally out of +the question; in fact, a letter to her could only be an apologetic +narrative of my life in Ireland—softening down what she would call +the atrocities of my associates, and giving a kind of Rembrandt tint to +the Rooneys, which might conceal the more vivid colouring of their +vulgarity. At such a moment I had no heart for this: such trifling would +ill suit me now. To Lady Julia, then, I determined to write: she knew me +well. Besides, I felt that, when I was no more, the kindliness of her +nature would prevail, and she would remember me but as the little lover +that brought her bouquets from the conservatory; who wrote letters to her +from Eton; who wore her picture round his neck at Sandhurst, and, +by-the-bye, that picture I had still in my possession: this was the time +to restore it. I opened my writing-desk and took it out. It was a strange +love-gift, painted when she was barely ten years old. It represented a +very lovely child, with blue eyes, and a singular regularity of feature, +like a Grecian statue. The intensity of look that after years developed +more fully, and the slight curl of the lip that betrayed the incipient +spirit of mockery, were both there; still was she very beautiful I placed +the miniature before me and fixed my eyes upon it. Carried away by the +illusion of the moment, I burst into a rhapsody of proffered affection, +while I vindicated myself against any imputation my intimacy with Miss +Bellew might give rise to. As I proceeded, however, I discovered that my +pleading scarce established my innocence even to myself; so I turned away, +and once more sat down moodily before the fire. +</p> +<p> +The Castle clock struck two. I started up, somewhat ashamed of myself at +not having complied with O'Grady's advice, and at once threw myself on my +bed, and fell sound asleep. Some confused impression upon my mind of a +threatened calamity gave a gloomy character to all my dreams, and more +than once I awoke with a sudden start and looked about me. The flickering +and uncertain glare of the dying embers threw strange goblin shapes upon +the wall and on the old oak floor. The window-curtains waved mournfully to +and fro, as the sighing night wind pierced the openings of the worn +casements, adding, by some unknown sympathy, to my gloom and depression; +and although I quickly rallied myself from these foolish fancies, and +again sank into slumber, it was always again to wake with the same +unpleasant impressions, and with the same sights and sounds about me. +Towards morning, however, I fell into a deep, unbroken sleep, from which I +was awakened by the noise of some one rudely drawing my curtains. I looked +up, as I rubbed my eyes: it was Corny Delany, who, with a mahogany box +under his arm, and a little bag in his hand, stood eyeing me with a look, +in which his habitual ill-temper was dashed with a slight mixture of scorn +and pity. +</p> +<p> +'So you are awake at last!' said he; ''faith, and you sleep sound, and'—this +he muttered between his teeth—'and maybe it's sounder you'll sleep +to-morrow night! The Captain bid me call you at seven o'clock, and it's +near eight now. That blaguard of a servant of yours wouldn't get up to +open the door till I made a cry of fire outside, and puffed a few +mouthfuls of smoke through the keyhole!' +</p> +<p> +'Well done, Corny! But where's the Captain?' 'Where is he? Sorrow one o'me +knows! Maybe at the watch-house, maybe in George's Street barrack, maybe +in the streets, maybe—— Och, troth! there's many a place he +might be, and good enough for him any of them. Them's the tools, well +oiled; I put flints in them.' +</p> +<p> +'And what have you got in the bag, Corny?' +</p> +<p> +'Maybe you'll see time enough. It's the lint, the sticking-plaster and the +bandages, and the turn-an'-twist.' This, be it known, was the Delany for +tourniquet. 'And, 'faith, it's a queer use to put the same bag to; his +honour the judge had it made to carry his notes in. Ugh, ugh, ugh! a +bloody little bag it always was! Many's the time I seen the poor craytures +in the dock have to hould on by the spikes, when they'd see him put his +hands in it! It's not lucky, the same bag! Will you have some +brandy-and-water, and a bit of dry toast? It's what the Captain always +gives them the first time they go out. When they're used to it, a cup of +chocolate with a spoonful of whisky is a fine thing for the hand.' +</p> +<p> +I could scarce restrain a smile at the notion of dieting a man for a duel, +though, I confess, there seemed something excessively bloodthirsty about +it. However, resolved to give Corny a favourable impression of my +coolness, I said, 'Let me have the chocolate and a couple of eggs.' +</p> +<p> +He gave a grin a demon might have envied, as he muttered to himself, 'He +wants to try and die game, ugh, ugh!' With these words he waddled out of +the room to prepare my breakfast, his alacrity certainly increased by the +circumstance in which he was employed. +</p> +<p> +No sooner was I alone than I opened the pistol-case to examine the +weapons. They were, doubtless, good ones; but a ruder, more ill-fashioned, +clumsy pair it would be impossible to conceive. The stock, which extended +nearly to the end of the barrel, was notched with grooves for the fingers +to fit in, the whole terminating in an uncouth knob, inlaid with small +pieces of silver, which at first I imagined were purely ornamental On +looking closer, however, I perceived that each of them contained a name +and a date, with an ominous phrase beneath, which ran thus: 'Killed!'or +thus: 'Wounded!' +</p> +<p> +'Egad,' thought I, 'they are certainly the coolest people in the world in +this island, and have the strangest notions withal of cheering a man's +courage!' +</p> +<p> +It was growing late, meanwhile; so that without further loss of time I +sprang out of bed, and set about dressing, huddling my papers and Julia's +portrait into my writing-desk. I threw into the fire a few letters, and +was looking about my room lest anything should have escaped me, when +suddenly the quick movement of horses' feet on the pavement beneath drew +me to the window. As I looked out, I could just catch a glimpse of +O'Grady's figure as he sprang from a high tandem; I then heard his foot as +he mounted the stairs, and the next moment he was knocking at my door. +'Holloa!' cried he, 'by Jove, I have had a night of it! Help me off with +the coat, Jack, and order breakfast, with any number of mutton-chops you +please; I never felt so voracious in my life. Early rising must be a bad +thing for the health, if it makes a man's appetite so painful.' +</p> +<p> +While I was giving my necessary directions, O'Grady stirred up the fire, +drew his chair close to it, and planting his feet upon the fender, and +expanding his hands before the blaze, called out— +</p> +<p> +'Yes, yes, quite right—cold ham and a devilled drumstick by all +means; the mulled claret must have nothing but cloves and a slice of +pine-apple in it; and, mind, don't let them fry the kidneys in champagne; +they are fifty times better in moselle: we'll have the champagne <i>au +naturel</i>, There, now, shut the door; there's a confounded current of +air comes up that cold staircase. So, come over, my boy; let me give you +all the news, and to begin:— +</p> +<p> +'After I parted with you, I went over to De Vere's quarters, and heard +that he had just changed his clothes and driven over to Clare Street. I +followed immediately; but, as ill-luck would have it, he left that just +five minutes before, with Watson of the Fifth, who lives in one of the +hotels near. This, you know, looked like business; and, as they told me +they were to be back in half an hour, I cut into a rubber of whist with +Darcy and the rest of them, where, what between losing heavily, and +waiting for those fellows, I never got up till half-past four; when I did, +it was minus Paul's cheque, all the loose cash about me, and a bill for +one hundred and thirty to Vaughan. Pleasant, all that wasn't it? Monk, who +took my place, told me that Herbert and Watson were gone out together to +the park, where I should certainly find them. Off, then, I set for the +Phoenix, and, just as I was entering the gate of the Lodge, a chaise +covered with portmanteaus and hat-boxes drove past me. I had just time to +catch a glimpse of De Vere's face as the light fell suddenly upon it; I +turned as quickly as possible, and gave chase down Barrack Street. We +flew, he leading, and I endeavouring to keep up; but my poor hack was so +done up, between waiting at the club and the sharp drive, that I found we +couldn't keep up the pace. Fortunately, however, a string of coal-cars +blocked up Essex Bridge, upon which my friend came to a check, and I also. +I jumped out immediately, and running forward, just got up in the nick, as +they were once more about to move forward, “Ah, Dudley,” cried I, “I 've +had a sharp run for it, but by good fortune have found you at last” I wish +you had seen his face as I said these words; he leaned forward in the +carriage, so as completely to prevent Watson, who was with him, +overhearing what passed? +</p> +<p> +“May I ask,” said he, endeavouring to get up a little of his habitual +coolness; “may I ask, what so very pressing has sent you in pursuit of +me?” +</p> +<p> +'“Nothing which should cause your present uneasiness,” replied I, in a +tone and a look he could not mistake. +</p> +<p> +'“Eh—aw! don't take you exactly; anything gone wrong?” +</p> +<p> +'“You 've a capital memory, my lord, when it suits you; pray call it to +your aid for a few moments, and it will save us both a deal of trouble. My +business with you is on the part of Mr. Hinton, and I have to request you +will, at once, refer me to a friend.” +</p> +<p> +'“Eh! you want to fight? Is that it? I say, Watson, they want to make a +quarrel out of that foolish affair I told you of.” +</p> +<p> +'“Is Major Watson your friend on this occasion, my lord?” +</p> +<p> +'“No; oh no; that is, I didn't say—— I told Watson how they +walked into me for three hundred at Rooney's. Must confess I deserved it +richly for dining among such a set of fellows; and, as I have paid the +money and cut the whole concern, I don't see what more's expected of me.” +</p> +<p> +'“We have very little expectation, my lord, but a slight hope, that you'll +not disgrace the cloth you wear and the profession you follow.” +</p> +<p> +'“I say, Watson, do you think I ought to take notice of these words?” +</p> +<p> +'“Would your lordship like them stronger?” +</p> +<p> +'“One moment, if you please, Captain O'Grady,” said Major Watson, as, +opening the door of the chaise, he sprang out. “Lord Dudley de Vere has +detailed to me, and of course correctly, the whole of his last night's +proceedings. He has expressed himself as ready and anxious to apologise to +your friend for any offence he may have given him—in fact, that +their families are in some way connected, and any falling out would be a +very unhappy thing between them; and, last of all, Lord Dudley has +resigned his appointment as aide-de-camp, and resolved on leaving Ireland; +in two hours more he will sail from this. So I trust, that under every +circumstance, you will see the propriety of not pressing the affair any +further.” +</p> +<p> +'“With the apology——” +</p> +<p> +'“That» of course,” said Watson. +</p> +<p> +'“I say,” cried Herbert, “we shall be late at the Pigeon-house; it's +half-past seven.” +</p> +<p> +'Watson whispered a few words into his ear; he was silent for a second, +and a slight crimson flush settled on his cheek. +</p> +<p> +“'It won't do for me if they talk of this afterwards; but tell him—I +mean Hinton—that I am sorry; that is, I wish him to forgive——” +</p> +<p> +'“There, there,” said I impatiently, “drive on! that is quite enough!” +</p> +<p> +'The next moment the chaise was out of sight, and I leaned against the +balustrade of the bridge, with a sick feeling at my heart I never felt +before. Vaughan came by at the moment with his tandem, so I made him turn +about and set me down; and here I am, my boy, now that my qualmishness has +passed off, ready to eat you out of house and home, if the means would +only present themselves.' +</p> +<p> +Here ended O'Gradys narrative, and as breakfast very shortly after made +its appearance, our conversation dropped into broken, disjointed +sentences; the burden of which, on his part, was that, although no man +would deserve more gratitude from the household and the garrison generally +than myself for being the means of exporting Lord De Vere, yet that under +every view of the case all effort should be made to prevent publicity, and +stop the current of scandal such an event was calculated to give rise to +in the city. +</p> +<p> +'No fear of that, I hope,' said I. +</p> +<p> +'Every fear, my dear boy. We live in a village here: every man hears his +friend's watch tick, and every lady knows what her neighbour paid for her +paste diamonds. However, be comforted! your reputation will scarcely +stretch across the Channel; and one's notoriety must have strong claims +before it pass the custom-house at Liverpool.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, that is something; but hang it, O'Grady, I wish I had had a shot at +him.' +</p> +<p> +'Of course you do: nothing more natural, and at the same time, if you care +for the lady, nothing more <i>mal à propos</i>. Do what you will, her name +will be mixed up in the matter; but had it gone further she must have been +deeply compromised between you. You are too young, Jack, to understand +much of this; but take my word for it—fight about your sister, your +aunt, your maternal grandmother, if you like, but never for the girl you +are about to marry. It involves a false position to both her and yourself. +And now that I am giving advice, just give me another cutlet. I say, +Corny, any hot potatoes?' +</p> +<p> +'Thim was hot awhile ago,' said Corny, without taking his hands from his +pockets. +</p> +<p> +'Well, it is pleasant to know even that. Put that pistol-case back again. +Ah! there goes Vaughan; I want a word with him.' +</p> +<p> +So saying, he sprang up, and hastened downstairs. +</p> +<p> +'What did he say I was to do with the pistols?' said Corny, as he polished +the case with the ample cuff of his coat. +</p> +<p> +'You are to put them by: we shan't want them this morning.' +</p> +<p> +'And there is to be no devil after all,' said he with a most fiendish +grin. 'Ugh, ugh! didn't I know it? Ye's come from the wrong side of the +water for that. It's little powder ye blaze, for all your talking.' +</p> +<p> +Taking out one of the pistols as he spoke, he examined the lock for a few +minutes patiently, and then muttered to himself: 'Wasn't I right to put in +the ould flints? The devil a more ye 'd he doing I guessed nor making a +flash in the pan!' +</p> +<p> +It was rather difficult, even with every allowance for Mr. Delany's +temper, to submit to his insolence patiently. After all, there was nothing +better to be done; for Corny was even greater in reply than attack, and +any rejoinder on my part would unquestionably have made me fare the worse. +Endeavouring, therefore, to hum a tune, I strolled to the window and +looked out; while the imperturbable Corny, opening the opposite sash, +squibbed off both pistols previous to replacing them in the box. +</p> +<p> +I cannot say what it was in the gesture and the action of this little +fiend; but somehow the air of absurdity thus thrown over our quarrel by +this ludicrous termination hurt me deeply; and Corny's face as he snapped +the trigger was a direct insult. All my self-respect, all my self-approval +gave way in a moment, and I could think of nothing but cross Corny's +commentary on my courage. +</p> +<p> +'Yes,' said I, half aloud, 'it is a confounded country! If for nothing +else, that every class and condition of man thinks himself capable to +pronounce upon his neighbour. Hard drink and duelling are the national +pénates; and Heaven help him who does not adopt the religion of the land! +My English servant would as soon have thought of criticising a chorus of +Euripides as my conduct; and yet this little wretch not only does so, but +does it to my face, superadding a sneer upon my country!' +</p> +<p> +This, like many other of my early reflections on Ireland, had its grain of +truth and its bushel of fallacy; and before I quitted the land I learned +to make the distinction. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XIV. THE PARTING +</h2> +<p> +From motives of delicacy towards Miss Bellew I did not call that day at +the Rooneys. For many months such an omission on my part had never +occurred. Accordingly, when O'Grady returned at night to the Castle, he +laughingly told me that the house was in half-mourning. Paul sat moodily +over his wine, scarce lifting his head, and looking what he himself called +nonsuited. Mrs. Paul, whose grief was always in the active mood, sobbed, +hiccupped, gulped, and waved her arms as if she had lost a near relative. +Miss Bellew did not appear at all, and Phil discovered that she had +written home that morning, requesting her father to send for her without +loss of time. +</p> +<p> +'The affair, as you see,' continued O'Grady, 'has turned out ill for all +parties. Dudley has lost his post, you your mistress, and I my money—a +pretty good illustration how much mischief a mere fool can at any moment +make in society.' +</p> +<p> +It was about four o'clock in the afternoon when I mounted my horse to ride +over to Stephen's Green. As I passed slowly along Dame Street my attention +was called to a large placard, which, in front of a house opposite the +lower Castle gate, had attracted a considerable crowd around it. I was +spared the necessity of stopping to read by the hoarse shout of a ragged +ruffian who elbowed his way through the mob, carrying on one arm a mass of +printed handbills; the other hand he held beside his mouth to aid the +energy of his declamation. 'Here's the full and true account,' cried he, +'of the bloody and me-lan-chc-ly duel that tuk place yesterday morning in +the Phaynix Park, between Lord Dudley de Vere and Mr. Hinton, two +edge-du-congs to his Grace the Lord Liftinint, wid all the particulars, +for one ha'penny.' +</p> +<p> +'Here's the whole correspondence between the Castle bucks,' shouted a +rival publisher—the Colburn to this Bentley—'wid a beautiful +new song to an old tune— +</p> +<p> +“Bang it up, bang it up, to the lady in the Green.”' +</p> +<p> +'Give me one, if you please,' said a motherly-looking woman, in a grey +cloak. +</p> +<p> +'No, ma'am, a penny,' responded the vendor. 'The bloody fight for a +halfpenny! What!' said he; 'would you have an Irish melody and the picture +of an illigint female for a copper?' +</p> +<p> +'Sing us the song, Peter,' called out another. +</p> +<p> +'This is too bad!' said I passionately, as, driving the spurs into my +horse, I dashed through the ragged mob, upsetting and overturning all +before me. Not, however, before I was recognised; and, as I cantered down +the street, a shout of derision, and a hailstorm of offensive epithets +followed me. +</p> +<p> +It was, I confess, some time before I recovered my equanimity enough to +think of my visit. For myself, individually, I cared little or nothing; +but who could tell in what form these things might reach my friends in +England?—how garbled! how exaggerated! how totally perverted! And +then, too, Miss Bellew! It was evident that she was alluded to. I trembled +to think that her name, polluted by the lips of such wretches as these, +should be cried through the dark alleys and purlieus of the capital; a +scoff and a mockery among the very outcasts of vice. +</p> +<p> +As I turned the corner of Grafton Street a showy carriage with four grey +horses passed me by. I knew it was the Rooney equipage, and although for a +moment I was chagrined that the object of my visit was defeated, on second +thoughts I satisfied myself that, perhaps, it was quite as well; so I rode +on to leave my card. On reaching the door, from which already some +visitors were turning away, I discovered that I had forgotten my +ticket-case; so I dismounted to write my name in the visiting-book; for +this observance among great people Mrs. Rooney had borrowed, to the +manifest horror and dismay of many respectable citizens. +</p> +<p> +'A note for you, sir,' said the butler, in his most silvery accent, as he +placed a small sealed billet in my hand. +</p> +<p> +I opened it hastily. It contained but two lines: +</p> +<p> +'Miss Bellew requests Mr. Hinton will kindly favour her with a few +moments' conversation at an early opportunity.' +</p> +<p> +'Is Miss Bellew at home?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, sir,' said the servant, who stood waiting to precede me upstairs, +and announce me. +</p> +<p> +'Mr. Hinton,' said the man; and the words echoed in the empty +drawing-room, as he closed the door behind me. The next moment I heard the +rustle of a silk dress, and Miss Bellew came out of the boudoir and walked +towards me. Contrary to her usual habit—which was to hold out her +hand to me—she now came timidly, hesitatingly forward, her eyes +downcast, and her whole air and appearance indicating, not only the traces +of sorrow, but of physical suffering. +</p> +<p> +'Mr. Hinton,' said she, in a voice every accent of which vibrated on my +heart, 'I have taken the liberty to ask a few moments' interview with you; +for, although it is not only probable, but almost certain, we shall not +meet again, yet I wish to explain certain portions of my conduct, and, +indeed, to make them the reason of a favour I have to ask at your hands.' +</p> +<p> +'Permit me to interrupt you for a moment,' said I. 'It is evident how +painful the matter you would speak of is to you; you have no need of +explanation, least of all to me. By accident, I overheard that which, +however high my esteem for Miss Bellew before, could but elevate her in my +eyes. Pass then at once, I beseech you, to what you call a favour; there +is no service you can seek for——' +</p> +<p> +'I thank you,' replied she, in a voice scarcely articulate; 'you have, +indeed, spared me much in not asking me to speak of what it is misery +enough to remember. But it is not the first time my unprotected position +in this house has exposed me to outrage: though assuredly it shall be the +last.' The tone of indignation she spoke in supplied her with energy, as +she hurriedly continued: 'Already, Mr. Hinton, persons have dared to build +a scandal upon the frail foundation of this insolent wager. Your name has +been mixed up with it in such a way that no possible intercourse could +exist between us without being construed into evidence of a falsehood; +therefore, I have made up my mind to ask you to discontinue your visits +here, for the few days I may yet remain. I have already written home; the +answer may arrive the day after to-morrow; and, while I feel that I but +ill repay the hospitality and kindness I have received, and have met with, +in closing the door to a most valued guest, I am assured you will +understand and approve my motives, and not refuse me my request.' +</p> +<p> +Delighted at the prospect of being in some way engaged in a service, I had +listened with a throbbing heart, up to the moment she concluded. Nothing +could so completely overthrow all my hopes as these last few words. Seeing +my silence and my confusion—for I knew not what to say —she +added, in a slightly tremulous voice— +</p> +<p> +'I am sorry, Mr. Hinton, that my little knowledge of the world should have +led me into this indiscretion. I perceive from your manner that I have +asked a sacrifice you are unwilling to make. I ought to have known that +habits have their influence, as well as inclinations; and that this house, +being the resort of your friends——' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, how much, how cruelly you have mistaken me! Not on this account, not +for such reasons as you suppose did I hesitate in my reply; far from it. +Indeed, the very cause which made me a frequent visitor of this house, is +that which now renders me unable to answer you.' A slight flush upon her +cheek and a tremulous motion of her lip, prevented my adding more. 'Fear +not, Miss Bellew,' said I, 'fear not from me; however different the +feeling that would prompt it, no speech of mine shall cause you pain to +listen to, however the buried thought may rack my own bosom. You shall +have your request; good-bye.' +</p> +<p> +'Nay, nay, not so,' said she, as she raised her handkerchief to her eyes, +and gave a soft but sickly smile; 'you mustn't go without my thanking you +for all your kindness. It may so chance that one day or other you will +visit the wild west; if so, pray don't forget that my father, of whom you +have heard me speak so much, would be but too happy to thank one who has +been so kind to his daughter. And, if that day should come'—here a +slight gleam of animation shot across her features—' I beseech you +not to think, from what you will see of me there, that I have forgotten +all your good teaching, and all your lessons about London manners, though +I sadly fear that neither my dress nor deportment will testify in my +favour; and so, good-bye.' +</p> +<p> +She drew her glove from her hand as she spoke. I raised the taper fingers, +respectfully, to my lips, and, without venturing another look, muttered +'good-bye,' and left the room. +</p> +<p> +As step by step I loitered on the stairs, I struggled with myself against +the rising temptation to hurry back to her presence, and tell her that, +although hitherto the fancied security of meeting her every day had made +me a stranger to my own emotions, the hour of parting had dispelled the +illusion; the thought of separation had unveiled the depth of my heart, +and told me that I loved her. Was this true? +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XV. THE LETTER FROM HOME +</h2> +<p> +Feigning illness to O'Grady as the reason of my not going to the Rooneys, +I kept my quarters for several days, during which time it required all my +resolution to enable me to keep my promise; and scarcely an hour of the +day went over without my feeling tempted to mount my horse and try if, +perchance, I could not catch even a passing look at her once more. Miss +Bellew was the first woman who had ever treated me as a man; this, in +itself, had a strong hold on my feelings; for after all, what flattery is +there so artful as that which invests us with a character to which we feel +in our hearts our pretension is doubtful? Why has college life, why has +the army, such a claim upon our gratitude at our outset in the world? Is +it not the acknowledgment of our manhood? And for the same reason the man +who first accepts our bill, and the woman who first receives our +addresses, have an unqualified right to our regard for evermore. +</p> +<p> +It is the sense of what we seem to others that moulds and fashions us +through life; and how many a character that seems graven in letters of +adamant took its type, after all, from some chance or casual circumstance, +some passing remark, some hazarded expression! We begin by simulating a +part, and we end by dovetailing it into our nature; thence the change +which a first passion works in every young mind. The ambition to be loved +and the desire to win affection teach us those ways of pleasing, which, +whether real or affected, become part and parcel of ourselves. Little know +we that in the passion we believe to be the most disinterested how much of +pure egoism is mixed up; and well is it for us that such is the case. The +imaginary standard we set up before ourselves is a goal to strive for, an +object of high hope before us; and few, if any, of our bolder enterprises +in after-life have not their birth in the cradle of first love. The +accolade, that in olden days by its magic touch converted the humble +squire into the spurred and belted knight, had no such charm as the first +beam from a bright eye, when, falling upon the hidden depths of our heart, +it has shown us a mine of rich thoughts, of dazzling hopes, of bright +desires. This indeed is a change; and who is there, having felt it, has +not walked forth a prouder and a nobler spirit? +</p> +<p> +Thoughts like these came rushing on my mind as I reflected on my passion +for Louisa Bellew; and as I walked my room my heart bounded with elation, +and my step grew firm in its tread, for I felt that already a new +influence was beaming on me, a new light was shining upon my path in life. +Musing thus, I paid but little attention to my servant who had just left a +letter upon my table; my eye, at length, glanced at the address, which I +perceived was in my mother's handwriting. I opened it somewhat carelessly, +for somehow my dear mother's letters had gradually decreased in their +interest as my anti-Irish prejudices grew weaker by time; her exclusively +English notions I could no longer respond to so freely as before; and as I +knew the injustice of some of her opinions, I felt proportionably dispose +to mistrust the truth of many others. +</p> +<p> +The letter, as usual, was crossed and recrossed; for nothing, after all, +was so thorough a criterion of fashion as a penurious avoidance of +postage, and in consequence scarcely a portion of the paper was uncovered +by ink. The detail of balls and dinners, the gossip of the town, the +rumoured changes in the ministry—who was to come in and who to go +out; whether Lord Arthur got a regiment, or Lady Mary a son—had all +become comparatively uninteresting to me. What we know and what we live +in, is the world to us; and the arrival of a new bear is as much a matter +of interest in the prairies of the far west as the first night of a new +ballet in the circles of Paris. In all probability, therefore, after +satisfying myself that my friends were well, I should have been undutiful +enough to put my mother's letter to bed in a card-rack without any very +immediate intention of disturbing its slumbers, when suddenly the word +'Rooney' attracted my eye, and at once awakened my curiosity. How the name +of these people should have come to my mother's aristocratic ears I could +not conceive; for although I had myself begun a letter about them, yet, on +second thoughts, I deemed it better to consign it to destruction than risk +a discovery, by no means necessary. +</p> +<p> +I now sat patiently down before the fire, resolved to spell over the +letter from beginning to end, and suffer nothing to escape me. All her +letters, like the preamble of a deed, began with a certain formula—-a +species of lamentation over her wretched health; the difficulty of her +case, which, consisting in the absence of all symptoms, had puzzled the +Faculty for years long; the inclemency of the weather, which by some +fatality of fortune was sure to be rainy when Dr. Y——— +said it ought to be fine, and oppressively hot when he assured her she +required a bracing element; besides, it was evident the medical men +mistook her case, and what chance had she, with Providence and the College +of Physicians against her! Then every one was unkind—nobody believed +her sick, or thought her valuable life in danger, although from four +o'clock in the afternoon to the same hour the next morning she was +continually before their eyes, driving in the park, visiting, dining, and +even dancing, too; in fact, exerting herself in every imaginable shape and +form for the sake of an ungrateful world that had nothing but hollow +civilities to show her, instead of tears for her sufferings. Skimming my +eye rapidly over this, I came at length to the well-known paragraph which +always concluded this exordium, and which I could have repeated by heart—the +purport of it being simply a prophetic menace of what would be the state, +and what the feelings, of various persons unknown, when at her demise they +discovered how unjustly, how ungenerously, how cruelly, they had once or +twice complimented her upon her health and looks, during her lifetime. The +undying remorse of those unfeeling wretches, among whom it was very plain +my father was numbered, was expatiated upon with much force and Christian +charity; for as certain joint-stock companies contrive in their +advertisements to give an apparent stability to their firm, by quoting +some well-known Coutts or Drummond as their banker, so my poor mother, by +simply introducing the word 'Providence' into all her worldly +transactions, thought she was discharging the most rigid of Christian +duties, and securing a happy retreat for herself when that day should +arrive when neither rouge nor false hair would supply the deficiencies of +youth, and death should unlock the jaw the dentist had furnished. +</p> +<p> +After this came the column of court gossip, the last pun of the prince, +and a <i>mot</i> of Mr. Canning. 'We hope,' continued she, 'poor Somerset +will go to Madrid as ambassador: to refuse him would be a great cruelty, +as he has been ordered by his medical men to try a southerly climate.' +Hum; ah!—'Lady Jane to replace Miss Barclay with the Landgravine.' +Very stupid all this. But come, here we have it, the writing too changes +as if a different spirit had dictated it. +</p> +<p> +'<i>Two o'clock</i>. I've just returned from the Grevilles, seriously ill +from the effect of the news that has reached me. Wretched boy! what have +you done? What frightful career of imprudence have you entered upon? Write +to me at once; for although I shall take immediate steps for your recall, +I shall be in a fever of impatience till you tell me all about it. Poor +dear Lord Dudley de Vere, how I love him for the way he speaks of you! for +although, evidently, your conduct to him has been something very gross, +yet his language respecting you is marked not only by forbearance, but by +kindness. Indeed, he attributes the spirit you have manifested to the +instigation of another member of the staff, whose name, with his habitual +delicacy, we could not prevail upon him to disclose. His account of that +wretched country is distressing indeed; the frightful state of society, +the barbarism of the natives, and the frequency of bloodshed. I shall not +close my eyes to-night thinking of you; though he has endeavoured to +reassure me, by telling us, that as the Castle is a strong place, and a +considerable military force always there, you are in comparative safety. +But, my dear child, who are these frightful Rooneys, with the odious house +where all this gambling and ruin goes forward? How feelingly poor Lord +Dudley spoke of the trials young men are exposed to! His parents have +indeed a treasure in him. Rooney appears to be a money-lender, a usurer—most +probably a Jew. His wretched wife, what can she be? And that designing +minx, niece, daughter, or whatever this Miss Belloo—what a shocking +name!—may be? To think you should have fallen among such people! +Lord George's debts are, they say, very considerable, all owing, as he +assures me, to his unfortunate acquaintance with this Rooney, with whom he +appears to have had bill transactions for some time past. If your +difficulties were only on the score of money I should think little of it; +but a quarrelsome, rancorous spirit, a taste for low company, and vulgar +associates, and a tendency to drink—these, indeed, are very shocking +features, and calculated to inflict much misery on your parents. +</p> +<p> +'However, let us, as far as possible, endeavour to repair the mishap. I +write by this post to this Mr. Rooney, requesting him to send in his +account to your father, and that in future any dinners, or wine, you may +have at his house will not be paid for, as you are under age. I shall also +let him know that the obscurity of his rank in life, and the benighted +state of the country he lives in, shall prove no safeguard to him from our +vigilance; and as the chancellor dines with us to-morrow, I think of +asking him if he couldn't be punished some way. Transportation, they tell +me, has already nearly got rid of the gypsies. As for yourself, make your +arrangements to return immediately; for, although your father knows +nothing about it, I intend to ask Sir Henry Gordon to call on the Duke of +York, and contrive an exchange for you. How I hate this secret adviser of +yours! how I detest the Rooneys! how I abhor the Irish! You have only to +come back with long hair, and the frightful accent, to break the heart of +your affectionate but afflicted mother. +</p> +<p> +'Your cousin Julia desires her regards. I must say she has not shown a due +respect to my feelings since the arrival of this sad intelligence; it is +only this minute she has finished a caricature of you making love to a +wild Irish girl with wings. This is not only cruel towards me, but an +unbecoming sarcasm towards a wretched people, to whom the visitations of +Providence should not be made matters of reproach.' +</p> +<p> +Thus concluded this famous epistle, at which, notwithstanding that every +line offended me deeply, I could not refrain from bursting into laughter. +My opinion of Lord Dudley had certainly not been of the highest; but yet +was I totally unprepared for the apparent depth of villainy his character +possessed. But I knew not, then, how strong an alloy of cunning exists in +every fool; and how, almost invariably, a narrow intellect and a +malevolent disposition are associated in the same individual. +</p> +<p> +There is no prejudice more popular, nor is there any which is better worth +refuting, than that which attributes to folly certain good qualities of +heart, as a kind of compensation for the deficiency in those of the head. +Now, although there are of course instances to the contrary, yet will the +fact be found generally true, that mediocrity of mind has its influence in +producing a mischievous disposition. Unable to carry on any lengthened +chain of reasoning, the man of narrow intellect looks for some immediate +result; and in his anxiety to attain his object, forgetful of the value of +both character and credit, he is prepared to sacrifice the whole game of +life, provided he secure but the odd trick. Besides, the very +insufficiency of his resources leads him out of himself for his enjoyments +and his occupations. Watching, therefore, the game of life, he gradually +acquires a certain low and underhand cunning, which, being mistaken by +himself for ability, he omits no occasion to display; and hence begins the +petty warfare of malice he wages against the world with all the spiteful +ingenuity and malevolence of a monkey. +</p> +<p> +I could trace through all my mother's letter the dexterity with which Lord +Dudley avoided committing himself respecting me, while his delicacy +regarding O'Grady's name was equally conspicuous to a certain extent. He +might have been excused if he bore no good-will to one or other of us; but +what could palliate his ingratitude to the Rooneys? What could gloss over +the base return he made them for all their hospitalities and attention? +for nothing was more clear than that the light in which he represented +them to my mother made them appear as low and intriguing adventurers. +</p> +<p> +This was all bad enough; but what should I say of the threatened letter to +them? In what a position would it place <i>me</i>, before those who had +been uniformly kind and good-natured towards me! The very thought of this +nearly drove me to distraction, and I confess it was in no dutiful mood I +crushed up the epistle in my hand, and walked my room in an agony of shame +and vexation. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XVI. A MORNING IN TOWN +</h2> +<p> +The morning after the receipt of the letter, the contents of which I have +in part made known to the reader, O'Grady called on me to accompany him +into the city. +</p> +<p> +'I am on a borrowing expedition, Jack,' cried he; 'and there's nothing +like having a new face with one. Cavendish, Hopeton, and the rest of them, +are so well known, it's of no use having them. But you, my boy, you 're +fresh; your smooth chin does not look like a protested bill, and you've +got a <i>dégagé</i>, careless manner, a kind of unsuspicious look about +you, a man never has, after a bailiff has given him an epaulette of five +dirty fingers.' +</p> +<p> +'But, Phil,' said I, 'if you really want money——' +</p> +<p> +'My very excellent young friend,' interrupted he, in a kind of sermon +voice, 'don't finish it, I beseech you; that is the very last thing in the +way of exchequer a gentleman is ever driven to—borrowing from a +friend. Heaven forbid! But even supposing the case that one's friend has +money, why, the presumption is, that he must have borrowed it himself; so +that you are sponging upon his ingenuity, not his income. Besides, why +riddle one's own ships, while there is an enemy before us to fight? Please +to remember the money-lenders, the usurers, the stockbroking knaves at +fifty per cent, that the world is glutted with; these are the true game +for a sporting gentleman, who would rather harpoon a shark any day, than +spear a salmon.' +</p> +<p> +'But what's become of Paul? Is he not available.' +</p> +<p> +'Don't you know what has happened there? But I was forgetting you 've kept +the house this week past. In the first place, La Belle Louise has gone +home, Paul has taken his departure for the circuit, and Mrs. Paul, after +three days' sharp hysterics, has left town for her villa, near Bray—old +Harvey finding it doubtless more convenient to visit her there, with +twenty guineas for his fee, than to receive one for his call at Stephen's +Green.' +</p> +<p> +'And what is supposed to be the cause of all this?' said I, scarce able to +conceal my agitation. +</p> +<p> +'The report goes,' replied he, 'that some bank has broke in Calcutta or +the Caucasus, or somewhere, or that some gold-mine in Peru, in which Paul +had a share, has all turned out to be only plated goods; for it was on the +receipt of a letter, on the very morning of Paul's departure, that she +took so dangerously ill; and as Paul, in his confusion, brought the +attorney, instead of the surgeon-general, the case became alarming, and +they gave her so much ether and sal-volatile that it required the united +strength of the family to keep her from ascending like a balloon. However, +the worst of it all is, the house is shut, the windows closed, and where +lately on the door-steps a pair of yellow plush breeches figured bright +and splendent as the glorious sun, a dusky-looking planet in threadbare +black now informs you that the family are from home, and not expected back +for the summer.' +</p> +<p> +'Perhaps I can explain the mystery,' said I, as a blush of shame burned on +my cheek. Read this.' +</p> +<p> +So saying, I handed O'Grady the letter, doubled down at the part where +Lord Dudley's mention of the Rooneys began. Grieved as I felt thus to +expose the absurd folly of my mother's conduct, yet I felt the necessity +of having at least one friend to advise with, and that, to render his +counsel of any value, a perfect candour on my part was equally imperative. +</p> +<p> +While his eye glanced over the lines, I walked towards the window, +expecting at each moment some open burst of indignation would escape him—some +outbreak of passionate warmth, at the cold-blooded ingratitude and +malevolence of one whom previously we had regarded but as a fool. Not so; +on the contrary, he read the letter to the end with an unchanged +countenance, folded it up with great composure, and then turning his back +to the fire, he burst out into a fit of the most immoderate laughter. +</p> +<p> +'Look ye, Jack,' cried he, in a voice almost suffocated with the emotion, +'I am a poor man, have scarcely a guinea I can call my own, yet I 'd have +given the best hack in my stable to have seen the Rooneys reading that +letter. There, there! don't talk to me, boy, about villainy, ingratitude, +and so forth. The fun of it, man, covers all the rest. Only to think of +Mr. Paul Rooney, the Amphytrion of viceroys, chancellors, bishops, +major-generals, and lord mayors, asked for his bill—to score up all +your champagne and your curacoa, your turtle, your devilled kidneys; all +the heavy brigade of your grand dinners, and all the light infantry of +luncheons, breakfasts, grilled bones, and sandwiches! The Lord forgive +your mother for putting it in his head! <i>My</i> chalk would be a fearful +one, not to speak of the ugly item of “cash advanced.” Oh, it 'll kill me, +I know that! Don't look so serious, man; you may live fifty years, and +never have so good a joke to laugh at. Tell me, Jack, do you think your +mother has kept a copy of the letter? I would give my right eye for it. +What a fearful temper Paul will be in, on circuit! and as to Mrs. Rooney, +it will go hard with her but she cuts the whole aristocracy for at least a +week. There never was anything like it. To hint at transporting the +Princess O'Toole, whose ancestor was here in the time of Moses. Ah, Jack, +how little respect your mother appears to have for an old family! She +evidently has no classical associations to hallow her memory withal.' +</p> +<p> +'I confess,' said I, somewhat tartly, 'had I anticipated the spirit with +which you have taken up this matter, I doubt whether I should have shown +you the letter.' +</p> +<p> +'And if you had not,' replied he, 'I 'd not have forgiven you till the day +of my death. Next to a legacy, a good laugh is the best thing I know; +indeed, sometimes it is better, for you can't be choused out of it by your +lawyer.' +</p> +<p> +'Laughing is a very excellent practice, no doubt, but I looked for some +advice——-' +</p> +<p> +'Advice! to be sure, my boy; and so you shall have it. Only give me a good +training canter of a hearty laugh, and you 'll see what running I' ll +make, when it comes to sound discretion afterwards. The fun of a man's +temperament is like the froth on your champagne; while it gives a zest to +the liquor of life by its lightness and its sparkle, it neither detracts +from the flavour nor the strength of the beverage. At the same time, when +I begin to froth up, don't expect me to sober down before twenty-four +hours. So take your hat, come along into town, and thank your stars that +you have been able to delight the heart of a man who's trying to get a +bill discounted. Now hear me, Jack,' said he, as we descended the stairs; +'if you expect me to conduct myself with becoming gravity and decorum, you +had better avoid any mention of the Rooneys for the rest of the day. And +now to business!' +</p> +<p> +As we proceeded down Dame Street my friend scientifically explained to me +the various modes there were of obtaining money on loan. +</p> +<p> +'I don't speak,' said he, 'of those cases where a man has landed security, +or property of one kind or other, or even expectations, because all these +are easy—the mere rule of three in financial arithmetic What I mean +are the decimal fractions of a man's difficulties, when, with as many +writs against him as would make a carpet for his bedroom, he can still go +out with an empty pocket in the morning and come back with it furnished at +night. And now to begin. The maxims of the sporting world are singularly +applicable to the practice before us. You're told that before you enter a +preserve your first duty is to see that your gun is properly loaded—all +the better if it be a double-barrelled one. Now, look here'—as he +spoke he drew from his sabretache five bills for one hundred pounds each; +'you see I am similarly prepared. The game may get up at any moment, and +not find me at half-cock; and although I only go out for a single bird—that +is, but one hundred, yet, if by good-luck I flush a covey, you see I am +ready for them all. The doctrine of chances shows us that five to one is +better than an even bet; so, by scattering these five bills in different +directions, the odds are exactly so many in my favour that I raise a +hundred somewhere.' 'And now,' said I, 'where does the game lie?' 'I'm +coming to that, Jack. Your rich preserves are all about the neighbourhood +of Clare Street, Park Street, Merrion Street, and that direction. With +them, alas! I have nothing to do. My broad acres have long since taken +wings to themselves; and I fear a mortgage upon Mount O'Grady, as it at +present exists, would be a poor remedy for an empty pocket. The rich +money-lenders despise poor devils like me; they love not contingencies; +and, as Macbeth says, “They have no speculation in their eyes.” For them, +my dear Jack, you must have messuages and tenements, and outhouses, +townlands, and turbaries; corn, cattle, and cottages; pigs, potatoes, and +peasantry. They love to let their eyes range over a rich and swelling +scene of woodland and prairie; for they are the landscape-gardeners of +usury—they are the Hobbimas and Berghems of the law. +</p> +<p> +'Others again, of smaller range and humbler practice, there are, to whom, +upon occasion, you assign your grandfather's plate and the pictures of +your grand-aunts for certain monied conveniences you stand in need of. +These are a kind of Brobdingnag pawnbrokers, who have fine houses, the +furniture of which is everlastingly changing, each creditor sending his +representative, like a minister to a foreign court; with them, also, I +have nothing to do. The family have had so little to eat for the last two +generations that they trouble themselves but slightly on the score of +silver dishes; and as to pictures, I possess but one in the world—a +portrait of my father in his wig and robes. This, independent of other +reasons, I couldn't part with, as it is one of the only means I possess of +controlling Corny when his temper becomes more than usually untractable. +Upon these occasions, I hang up the “jidge” over the chimney-piece, and +the talisman has never failed yet. +</p> +<p> +'Now, Jack, my constituency live about fleet Street, and those small, +obscure, dingy-looking passages that branch from it on either side. Here +live a class of men who, having begun life as our servants or valets, are +in perfect possession of all our habits of life, our wants, and our +necessities. Having amassed enough by retail robbery of us while in our +service, to establish some petty tavern, or some low livery-stable, they +end by cheating us wholesale, for the loan of our own money, at their rate +of interest. Well aware that, however deferred, we must pay eventually, +they are satisfied—good, easy souls!—to renew and renew bills, +whose current percentage varies from five-and-twenty to forty. And even, +notwithstanding all this, Jack, they are difficult devils to deal with, +any appearance of being hard up, any show of being out-at-elbows, +rendering a negotiation as difficult as the assurance of a condemned ship +for a China voyage. No, my boy; though your house be besieged by duns, +though in every passenger you see a bailiff, and never nap after dinner +without dreaming of the Marshalsea, yet still, the very moment you cross +the precincts of their dwelling, you must put your care where your cash +ought to be—in your pocket. You must wear the easy smile of a happy +conscience, and talk of your want of a few hundreds as though it were a +question of a pinch of snuff, or a glass of brandy-and-water, while you +agree to the exorbitant demands they exact, with the careless indifference +of one to whom money is no object, rather than with the despair of a +wretch who looks for no benefit in life save in the act for insolvent +debtors. This you 'll say is a great bore, and so I once thought too; now, +however, I have got somewhat used to it, and sometimes don't actually +dislike the fun. Why, man, I have been at it for three months at a time. I +remember when I never blew my nose without pulling out a writ along with +my pocket-handkerchief, and I never was in better spirits in all my life. +But here we are. This is Bill Fagan's, a well-known drysalter; you'll have +to wait for me in the front parlour for a moment while I negotiate with +Billy.' +</p> +<p> +Elbowing our way through a squalid and miserable-looking throng of people +that filled the narrow hall of a house in fleet Street, we forced on till +we reached an inner door in which a sliding panel permitted those within +to communicate with others on the outside. Tapping at this with his cane, +O'Grady called out something which I could not catch, the panel at once +flew back, a red carbuncled face appeared at the opening, the owner of +which, with a grin of very peculiar signification, exclaimed—' Ah, +it's yourself, Captain? Walk in, sir.' With these words the door was +opened, and we were admitted into the inner hall. This was also crowded, +but with a different class from what I had seen without. These were +apparently men in business, shopkeepers and traders, who, reduced by some +momentary pressure, to effect a loan, were content to prop up their +tottering credit by sapping the very core of their prosperity. Unlike the +others, on whom habitual poverty and daily misery had stamped its heavy +impress, and whose faces too, inured to suffering, betrayed no shame at +being seen—these, on the contrary, looked downward or aside; seemed +impatient, fretful, and peevish, and indicated in a hundred ways how +unused they were to exigencies of this nature, muttering to themselves in +angry mood at being detained, and feigning a resolution to depart at every +moment. O'Grady, after a conference of a few moments with the rubicund +Cerberus I have mentioned, beckoned to me to follow him. We proceeded +accordingly up a narrow creaking stair, into a kind of front drawing-room, +in which about a dozen persons were seated, or listlessly lounging in +every imaginable attitude—some on chairs, some on the window-sills, +some on the tables, and one even on the mantel-piece, with his legs +gracefully dangling in front of the fire. Perfectly distinct from the +other two classes I have mentioned, these were all young men whose dress, +look, and bearing bespoke them of rank and condition. Chatting away gaily, +laughing, joking, and telling good stories, they seemed but little to care +for the circumstances which brought them there; and, while they quizzed +one another about their various debts and difficulties, seemed to think +want of money as about the very best joke a gentleman could laugh at. By +all of these O'Grady was welcomed with a burst of applause, as they +eagerly pressed forward to shake hands with him. +</p> +<p> +'I say, O'Grady,' cried one, 'we muster strong this morning. I hope +Fagan's bank will stand the run on it. What 's your figure?' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, a couple of hundred,' said Phil carelessly; 'I have got rather a +heavy book on the steeplechase.' +</p> +<p> +'So I hear,' said another; 'and they say Ulick Burke won't ride for you. +He knows no one can sit the horse but himself; and Maher, the story goes, +has given him a hundred and fifty to leave you in the lurch!' +</p> +<p> +'How good!' said Phil, smiling; for although this intelligence came upon +him thus suddenly, he never evinced the slightest surprise nor the most +trifling irritation. +</p> +<p> +'You'll pay forfeit, of course, Phil,' said the gentleman on the chimney. +</p> +<p> +'I fancy not.' +</p> +<p> +'Then will you take two fifties to one, against your horse?' +</p> +<p> +'Will you give it?' was the cool reply. 'Yes.' +</p> +<p> +'And I—and I also,' said different voices round the room. +</p> +<p> +'Agreed, gentlemen, with all of you. So, if you please, we 'll book this. +Jack, have you got a pencil?' +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0010" id="linkimage-0010"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0202.jpg" alt="2-0202" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +As I drew forth my pocket-book I could not help whispering to O'Grady that +there seemed something like a coalition among his opponents. Before I +could conclude, the red face appeared at the door. O'Grady hastily +muttered, 'Wait for me here,' and left the room. +</p> +<p> +During his absence I had abundant time to study those about me. Indeed, a +perfect sameness in their characters as in their pursuits rendered it an +easy process; for as with unguarded frankness they spoke of their several +difficulties, their stories presented one uniform feature-reckless +expenditure and wasteful extravagance, with limited means and encumbered +fortunes. They had passed through every phase of borrowing, every mode of +raising money, and were now reduced to the last rung of the ladder of +expediency, to become the prey of the usurer, who meted out to them a few +more months of extravagance at the cost of many a future year of sorrow +and repining. +</p> +<p> +I was beginning to grow impatient as the door gently opened, and I saw my +friend, as he emerged from the back drawing-room. Without losing a +moment's time I joined him. We descended the stairs together, and walked +out into the street. +</p> +<p> +'Are you fond of pickled herrings, Jack?' said O'Grady, as he took my arm. +</p> +<p> +'Pickled herrings! Why, what do you mean?' +</p> +<p> +'Probably,' resumed he, in the same dry tone of voice, 'you prefer ash +bark, or asafetida?' +</p> +<p> +'Why, I can't say.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah, my boy, you 're difficult to please, then. What do you say to whale +oil and Welsh wigs?' +</p> +<p> +'Confound me if I understand you!' +</p> +<p> +'Nothing more easy after all, for of each of these commodities I 'm now a +possessor to the amount of some two hundred and twenty pounds. You look +surprised, but such is the nature of our transactions here; and for my +bill of five hundred, payable in six months, I have become a general +merchant to the extent I've told you, not to mention paying eighty more +for a certain gig and horse, popularly known in this city as the discount +dennet. This,' continued he with a sigh, 'is about the tenth time I've +been the owner of that vile conveyance; for you must know whenever Fagan +advances a good round sum he always insists upon something of this kind +forming part of it, and thus, according to the figure of your loan, you +may drive from his door in anything, from a wheel-barrow to a stage-coach. +As for the discount dennet, it is as well known as the black-cart that +conveys the prisoners to Newgate, and the reputation of him who travels in +either is pretty much on a par. From the crank of the rusty springs, to +the limping amble of the malicious old black beast in the shafts, the +whole thing has a look of beggary about it. Every jingle of the ragged +harness seems to whisper in your ear, “Fifty per cent.”; and drive which +way you will, it is impossible to get free of the notion that you're not +trotting along the road to ruin. To have been seen in it once is as though +you had figured in the pillory, and the very fact of its being in your +possession is a blow of a battering-ram to your credit for ever!' +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0011" id="linkimage-0011"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0206.jpg" alt="2-0206" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +'But why venture into it? If you must have it, let it be like the pickled +herrings and the paving-stones—so much of pure loss.' +</p> +<p> +'The fact is, Jack, it is generally passed off on a young hand, the first +time he raises money. He knows little of the town, less of its secret +practices, and not until he has furnished a hearty laugh to all his +acquaintances does he discover the blunder he has committed. Besides, +sometimes you're hard up for something to carry you about. +</p> +<p> +I remember once keeping it an entire winter, and as I painted Latitat a +good piebald, and had his legs whitewashed every morning, few recognised +him, except such as had paid for their acquaintance. After this account, +probably, you'll not like to drive with me; but as I am going to Loughrea +for the races, I 've determined to take the dennet down, and try if I +can't find a purchaser among the country gentlemen. And now let's think of +dinner. What do you say to a cutlet at the club, and perhaps we shall +strike out something there to finish our evening?' +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XVII. AN EVENING IN TOWN +</h2> +<p> +We dined at the club-house, and sat chatting over our wine till near ten +o'clock. The events of the morning were our principal topics; for although +I longed myself to turn the conversation to the Rooneys, I was deterred +from doing so by the fear of another outbreak of O'Grady's mirth. +Meanwhile the time rolled on, and rapidly too, for my companion, with an +earnestness of manner and a force of expression I little knew he +possessed, detailed to me many anecdotes of his own early career. From +these I could glean that while O'Grady suffered himself to be borne along +the current of dissipation and excess, yet in his heart he hated the life +he led, and, when a moment of reflection came, felt sorrow for the past, +and but little hope for the future. +</p> +<p> +'Yes, Jack,' said he, on concluding a narrative of continual family +misfortune, 'there would seem a destiny in things; and if we look about us +in the world we cannot fail to see that families, like individuals, have +their budding spring of youth and hope, their manhood of pride and power, +and their old age of feebleness and decay. As for myself, I am about the +last branch of an old tree, and all my endeavour has been, to seem green +and cheerful to the last. My debts have hung about my neck all through +life; the extravagances of my early years have sat like a millstone upon +me; and I who began the world with a heart brimful of hope, and a soul +bounding with ambition, have lingered on my path like a truant schoolboy. +And here I am, at the age of three-and-thirty, without having realised a +single promise of my boyhood, the poorest of all imaginable things—a +gentleman without fortune, a soldier without service, a man of energy +without hope.' +</p> +<p> +'But why, Phil,' said I, 'how comes it that you never went out to the +Peninsula?' +</p> +<p> +'Alas, my boy! from year to year I have gone on expecting my gazette to a +regiment on service. Too poor to purchase, too proud to solicit, I have +waited in anxious expectancy from some of those with whom, high as was +their station, I've lived on terms of intimacy and friendship, that notice +they extended to others less known than I was; but somehow the temperament +that would seem to constitute my happiness, has proved my bane, and those +qualities which have made me a boon companion, have left me a beggar. +Handed over from one viceroy to another, like a state trumpeter or a butt +of sherry, I have been left to linger out my best years a kind of +court-jester; my only reward being, the hour of merriment over, that they +who laughed with, should laugh at me.' +</p> +<p> +There was a tone of almost ferocity in the way he spoke these words; while +the trembling lip, the flashing eye, and the swollen veins of his temple +betrayed that the very bitterest of all human emotions—self-scorn—was +racking his heart within him. +</p> +<p> +For some time we were both silent. Had I even known what to say at such a +moment, there was that comfortless expression about his face, that look of +riveted despair, which would have rendered any effort on my part to +console him a vain and presumptuous folly. +</p> +<p> +'But come, Jack,' said he, filling his glass and pushing over the decanter +to me, 'I have learned to put little faith in patrons; and although the +information has been long in acquiring, still it has come at last, and I +am determined to profit by it. I am now endeavouring to raise a little +money to pay off the most pressing of my creditors, and have made an +application to the Horse Guards to be appointed to any regiment on +service, wherever it may be. If both these succeed, and it is necessary +both should, then, Jack, I 'll try a new path, and even though it lead to +nothing, yet, at least, it will be a more manly one to follow. And if I am +to linger on to that period of life when to look back is nearly all that's +left us—why, then, the retrospect will be less dashed with shame +than with such a career as this is. Meanwhile, my boy, the decanter is +with you, so fill your glass; I 'll join you presently.' +</p> +<p> +As he spoke, O'Grady sprang up and walked to the other end of the room, +where a party of some half-dozen persons were engaged in putting on +greatcoats, and buttoning up previous to departure. In an instant I could +hear his voice high above the rest—that cheerful ringing tone that +seemed the very tocsin of a happy heart—while at some observation he +made, the whole party around him were convulsed with laughter. In the +midst of all this he drew one of them aside, and conversing eagerly with +him for a few seconds, pointed to me as he spoke. +</p> +<p> +'Thank you, my lord, thank you,' said he, as he turned away. 'I'll be +answerable for my friend. Now, Hinton,' whispered he, as he leaned his +hand upon my shoulder and bent over me, 'we 're in luck to-night, at all +events, for I have just got permission to bring you with me where I am to +spend the evening. It's no small favour if you knew but all; so finish +your wine, for my friends there are moving already.' +</p> +<p> +All my endeavours to ascertain where we were going, or to whose house, +were in vain; the only thing I could learn was, that my admission was a +prodigious favour—while to satisfy my scruples about dress he +informed me that no change of costume was necessary. +</p> +<p> +'I perceive,' said O'Grady, as he drew the curtain and looked out into the +street, 'the night is fine and starlight; so what say you if we walk? I +must tell you, however, our place of rendezvous is somewhat distant.' +</p> +<p> +Agreeing to the proposition with pleasure, I took his arm, and we sallied +forth together. Our way led at first through a most crowded and frequented +part of the capital We traversed Dame Street, passed by the Castle, and +ascended a steep street beyond it; after this we took a turning to the +left, and entered a part of the city, to me at least, utterly unknown. For +about half an hour we continued to wander on, now to the right, now to the +left, the streets becoming gradually narrower, less frequented, and less +lighted; the shops were all closed, and few persons stirred in the remote +thoroughfares. +</p> +<p> +'I fear I must have made a mistake,' said O'Grady, endeavouring to take a +short cut; 'but here comes a watchman. I say, is this Kevin Street?' +</p> +<p> +'No, sir; the second turning to your right brings you into it.' +</p> +<p> +'Kevin Street!' said I, repeating the name half aloud to myself. +</p> +<p> +'Yes, Jack, so it is called; but all your ingenuity will prove too little +in discovering whither you are going. So come along; leave time to tell +you what guessing never will.' +</p> +<p> +By this time we arrived at the street in question, when very soon after +O'Grady called out— +</p> +<p> +'All right—here we are!' +</p> +<p> +With these words he knocked three times in a peculiar manner at the door +of a large and gloomy-looking house. An ill-trimmed lamp threw a faint and +nickering light upon the old and ruined building, and I could trace here +and there, through all the wreck of time, some remnants of a better day. +The windows now, however, were broken in several places, those on the +lower storey being defended on the outside by a strong iron railing; not a +gleam of light shone through any one of them, but a darkness unrelieved, +save by the yellow gleam of the street lamp, enveloped the entire +building. O'Gradys summons was twice repeated ere there seemed any chance +of its being replied to, when, at last, the step of a heavy foot +descending the stairs announced the approach of some one. While I +continued my survey of the house O'Grady never spoke, and, perceiving that +he made a mystery of our visit, I resolved to ask no further questions, +but patiently await the result; my impression, however, was, that the +place was the resort either of thieves or of some illegal association, of +which more than one, at that time, were known to have their meetings in +the capital. While I was thus occupied in my conjectures, and wondering +within myself how O'Grady had become acquainted with his friends, the door +opened, and a diminutive, mean-looking old man, shading the candle with +his hand, stood at the entrance. +</p> +<p> +'Good-evening, Mickey,' cried O'Grady, as he brushed by him into the hall. +'Are they come?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, Captain,' said the little man, as, snuffing the long wick with his +fingers, he held the light up to O'Grady's face. 'Yes, Captain, about +fifteen.' +</p> +<p> +'This gentleman's with me—come along, Jack—he is my friend, +Mickey.' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, I can't do it by no means, Mister Phil,' said the dwarf, opposing +himself as a barrier to my entrance. 'You know what they said the last +night'—here he strained himself on his toes, and, as O'Grady stooped +down, whispered some words I couldn't catch, while he continued aloud—'and +you know after that, Captain, I daren't do it.' +</p> +<p> +'I tell you, you old fool, I've arranged it all; so get along there, and +show us the light up these confounded stairs. I suppose they never mended +the hole on the lobby?' +</p> +<p> +'Troth they didn't,' growled the dwarf; 'and it would be chaper for them +nor breaking their shins every night.' +</p> +<p> +I followed O'Grady up the stairs, which creaked and bent beneath us at +every step; the hand-rail, broken in many places, swung to and fro with +every motion of the stair, and the walls, covered with green, and damp +mould, looked the very picture of misery and decay. Still grumbling at the +breach of order incurred by my admission, the old man shuffled along, +wheezing, coughing, and cursing between times, till at length we reached +the landing-place, where the hole of which I heard them speak permitted a +view of the hall beneath. Stepping across this, we entered a large room +lighted by a lamp upon the chimney-piece; around the walls were hung a +variety of what appeared to be cloaks of a lightish drab colour, while +over each hung a small skull-cap of yellow leather. +</p> +<p> +'Don't you hear the knocking below, Mickey? There's some one at the door,' +said O'Grady. +</p> +<p> +The little man left the room, and as we were now alone, I expected some +explanation from my friend as to the place we were in, and the people who +frequented it. Not so, however. Phil merely detached one of the cloaks +from its peg, and proceeded to invest himself in its folds; he placed the +skull-cap on his head, after which, covering the whole with a hood, he +fastened the garment around his waist with a girdle of rope, and stood +before me the perfect picture of a monk of St. Benedict, as we see them +represented in old pictures—the only irregularity of costume being, +that instead of a rosary, the string from his girdle supported a corkscrew +and a horn spoon of most portentous proportions. +</p> +<p> +'Come, my son,' said he reverently, 'indue thy garment.' So saying, he +proceeded to clothe me in a similar manner, after which he took a patient +survey of me for a few seconds. 'You 'll do very well; wear the hood well +forward; and mark me, Jack, I 've but one direction to give you—never +speak a word, not a syllable, so long as you remain in the house; if +spoken to, cross your arms thus upon your breast, and bow your head in +this manner. Try that—perfectly—you have your lesson; now +don't forget it.' +</p> +<p> +O'Grady now, with his arms crossed upon his bosom, and his head bent +slightly forward, walked slowly forth, with a solemn gravity well +befitting his costume. Imitating him as well as I was able, I followed him +up the stairs. On reaching the second landing, he tapped twice with his +knuckles at a low door, whose pointed arch and iron grating were made to +represent the postern of a convent. +</p> +<p> +'<i>Benedicite</i>,' said Phil, in a low voice. +</p> +<p> +'<i>Et tu quoque, frater</i>,' responded some one from within, and the +door was opened. +</p> +<p> +Saluting a venerable-looking figure, who, with a long grey beard, bowed +devoutly as we passed, we entered an apartment, where, so sudden was the +change from what I had hitherto seen, I could scarcely trust my eyes. A +comfortable, well-carpeted room, with curtained windows, cushioned chairs, +and, not least inviting of all, a blazing fire of wood upon the hearth, +were objects I was little prepared for; but I had little time to note +them, my attention being directed with more curiosity to the living +occupants of this strange dwelling. Some fifteen or sixteen persons, +costumed like ourselves, either walked up and down engaged in +conversation, or sat in little groups around the fire. Card-tables there +were in different parts of the room, but one only was occupied. At this a +party of reverend fathers were busily occupied at whist. In the corner +next the fire, seated in a large chair of carved oak, was a figure, whose +air and bearing bespoke authority; the only difference in his costume from +the others being a large embroidered corkscrew, which he wore on his left +shoulder. +</p> +<p> +'Holy Prior, your blessing,' said Phil, bowing obsequiously before him. +</p> +<p> +'You have it, my son: much good may it do you,' responded the superior, in +a voice which, somehow or other, seemed not perfectly new to me. +</p> +<p> +While O'Grady engaged in a whispered conversation with the prior, I turned +my eyes towards a large-framed paper which hung above the chimney. It ran +thus:— +</p> +<p> +'Rules and regulations to be observed in the monastery of the venerable +and pious brothers, the Monks of the Screw.' +</p> +<p> +Conceiving it scarcely delicate in a stranger to read over the regulations +of a society of which he was not a member, I was turning away, when +O'Grady, seizing me by the arm, whispered, 'Remember your lesson'; then +added aloud, 'Holy Father, this is the lay brother of whom I spoke.' +</p> +<p> +The prior bowed formally, and extended his hands towards me with a gesture +of benediction— +</p> +<p> +'<i>Accipe benedictionem</i>——-' +</p> +<p> +'Supper, by the Lord Harry!' cried a jolly voice behind me, and at the +same moment a general movement was made by the whole party. +</p> +<p> +The prior now didn't wait to conclude his oration, but tucking up his +garments, put himself at the head of the procession which had formed, two +and two, in order of march. At the same moment, two fiddles from the +supper-room, after a slight prelude, struck up the anthem of the order, +which was the popular melody of, 'The Night before Larry was stretched!' +</p> +<p> +Marching in measured tread, we entered the supper-room, when, once having +made the circuit of the table, at a flourish of the fiddles we assumed our +places, the superior seating himself at the head in a chair of state, +slightly elevated above the rest. A short Latin grace, which I was +unfortunate enough not to catch, being said, the work of eating began; +and, certainly, whatever might have been the feats of the friars of old, +when the bell summoned them to the refectory, their humble followers, the +Monks of the Screw, did them no discredit. A profusion of dishes covered +the table; and although the entire service was of wood, and the whole +'equipage' of the most plain and simple description, yet the cookery was +admirable, and the wines perfection itself. +</p> +<p> +While the supper proceeded, scarcely a word was spoken. By the skilful +exercise of signs, with which they all seemed familiar, roast ducks, +lobsters, veal-pies, and jellies flew from hand to hand; the decanters +also paraded up and down the table with an alacrity and despatch I had +seldom seen equalled. Still, the pious brethren maintained a taciturn +demeanour that would have done credit to La Trappe itself. As for me, my +astonishment and curiosity increased every moment. What could they be? +What could they mean? There was something too farcical about it all to +suppose that any political society or any dangerous association could be +concealed under such a garb; and if mere conviviality and good fellowship +were meant, their unbroken silence and grave demeanour struck me as a most +singular mode of promoting either. +</p> +<p> +Supper at length concluded, the dishes were removed by two humble brethren +of the order, dressed in a species of grey serge; after which, marching to +a solemn tune, another monk appeared, bearing a huge earthenware bowl, +brimful of steaming punch—at least so the odour and the floating +lemons bespoke it. Each brother was now provided with a small, +quaint-looking pipkin, after which the domestics withdrew, leaving us in +silence as before. For about a second or two this continued, when suddenly +the fiddles gave a loud twang, and each monk, springing to his legs, threw +hack his cowl, and, bowing to the superior, reseated himself. So sudden +was the action, so unexpected the effect, for a moment or two I believed +it a dream. What was my surprise, what my amazement, that this den of +thieves, this hoard of burglars, this secret council of rebels, was +nothing more or less than an assemblage of nearly all the first men of the +day in Ireland! And as my eye ran rapidly over the party, here I could see +the Chief Baron, with a venerable dignitary of St. Patrick's on his right; +there was the Attorney-General; there the Provost of Trinity College; +lower down, with his skull-cap set jauntily on one side, was Wellesley +Pole, the secretary of state; Yelverton, Day, Plunket, Parsons, Toler; in +a word, all those whose names were a guarantee for everything that was +brilliant, witty, and amusing, were there; while, conspicuous among the +rest, the prior himself was no other than John Philpot Curran! Scarcely +was my rapid survey of the party completed, when the superior, filling his +pipkin from the ample bowl before him, rose to give the health of the +order. Alas me! that time should have so sapped my memory! I can but give +my impression of what I heard. +</p> +<p> +The speech, which lasted about ten minutes, was a kind of burlesque on +speeches from the throne, describing in formal phrase the prosperous state +of their institution, its amicable foreign relations, the flourishing +condition of its finances—brother Yelverton having paid in the +two-and-sixpence he owed for above two years—concluding all with the +hope that by a rigid economy, part of which consisted in limiting John +Toler to ten pipkins, they would soon be enabled to carry into effect the +proposed works on the frontier, and expend the sum of four shillings and +nine-pence in the repair of the lobby. Winding up all with a glowing +eulogium on monastic institutions in general, he concluded with +recommending to their special devotion and unanimous cheers 'the Monks of +the Screw.' Never, certainly, did men compensate for their previous +silence better than the worthy brethren in question. Cheering with an +energy I never heard the like of, each man finished his pipkin with just +voice enough left to call for the song of the order. +</p> +<p> +Motioning with his hand to the fiddlers to begin, the prior cleared his +throat, and, to the same simple but touching melody they had marched in to +supper, sang the following chant:— +</p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +GOOD-LUCK TO THE FRIARS OF OLD + +'Of all trades that flourished of old, +Before men knew reading and writing, +The friars' was best I am told, +If one wasn't much given to fighting; +For, rent free, you lived at your ease— +You had neither to work nor to labour— +You might eat of whatever you please, +For the prog was supplied by your neighbour. +Oh, good-luck to the friars of old! + +'Your dress was convenient and cheap— +A loose robe like this I am wearing: +It was pleasant to eat in or sleep, +And never much given to tearing. +Not tightened nor squeezed in the least— +How of modern days you might shame us! +With a small bit of cord round your waist— +With what vigour you'd chant the oremus! +Oh, good-luck to the friars of old! + +'What miracles then, too, you made! +The fame to this hour is lasting; +But the strangest of all, it is said, +You grew mighty fat upon fasting! +And though strictly forbid to touch wine, +How the fact all your glory enhances! +You well knew the taste of the vine— +Some miraculous gift of St. Francis! +Oh, good-luck to the friars of old! + +'To trace an example so meek, +And repress all our carnal desires, +We mount two pair stairs every week, +And put on the garment of friars; +And our order itself it is old— +The oldest between me and you, sir; +For King David, they say, was enrolled, +And a capital Monk of the Screw, sir. +So, good-luck to the friars of old!' +</pre> +<p> +The song over, and another cheer given to the brethren of the Screw, the +pipkins were replenished, and the conversation, so long pent up, burst +forth in all its plenitude. Nothing but fun, nothing but wit, nothing but +merriment, was heard on either side. Here were not only all the bright +spirits of the day, but they were met by appointment; they came prepared +for the combat, armed for the fight; and, certainly, never was such a +joust of wit and brilliancy. Good stories rained around; jests, repartees, +and epigrams flew like lightning; and one had but time to catch some +sparkling gem as it glittered, ere another and another succeeded. +</p> +<p> +But even already I grow impatient with myself while I speak of these +things. How poor, how vapid, and how meagre is the effort to recall the +wit that set the table in a roar! Not only is memory wanting, but how can +one convey the incessant roll of fun, the hailstorm of pleasantry, that +rattled about our ears; each good thing that was uttered ever suggesting +something still better; the brightest fancy and the most glowing +imagination stimulated to their utmost exercise; while powers of voice, of +look, and of mimicry unequalled, lent all their aid to the scene. +</p> +<p> +While I sat entranced and delighted with all I saw and all I heard, I had +not remarked that O'Grady had been addressing the chair for some time +previous. +</p> +<p> +'Reverend brother,' replied the prior, 'the prayer of thy petition is +inadmissible. The fourth rule of our faith says, <i>de confessione:</i> No +subject, mirthful, witty, or jocose, known to, or by, any member of the +order, shall be withheld from the brotherhood under a penalty of the +heaviest kind. And it goes on to say, that whether the jest involve your +father or your mother, your wife, your sister, or the aunt from whom you +expect a legacy, no exception can be made. What you then look for is +clearly impossible; make a clean breast of it, and begin.' +</p> +<p> +This being a question of order, a silence was soon established, when, what +was my horror to find that Phil O'Grady began the whole narrative of my +mother's letter on the subject of the Rooneys! Not limiting himself, +however, to the meagre document in question, but colouring the story with +all the force of his imagination, he displayed to the brethren the +ludicrous extremes of character personated by the London fine lady and the +Dublin attorney's wife. Shocked as I was at first, he had not proceeded +far, when I was forced to join the laughter. The whole table pounced upon +the story. The Rooneys were well known to them all; and the idea of poor +Paul, who dispensed his hospitalities with a princely hand, having his +mansion degraded to the character of a chop-house, almost convulsed them +with laughter. +</p> +<p> +'I am going over to London next week,' said Parsons, 'with old Lambert; +and if I thought I should meet this Lady Charlotte Hinton, I'd certainly +contrive to have him presented to her as Mr. Paul Rooney.' +</p> +<p> +This observation created a diversion in favour of my lady-mother, to which +I had the satisfaction of listening without the power to check. +</p> +<p> +'She has,' said Dawson, 'most admirable and original views about Ireland; +and were it only for the fact of calling on the Rooneys for their bill, +she deserves our gratitude. I humbly move, therefore, that we drink to the +health of our worthy sister, Lady Charlotte Hinton.' +</p> +<p> +The next moment found me hip-hipping, in derision, to my mother's health, +the only consolation being that I was escaping unnoticed and unknown. +</p> +<p> +'Well, Barrington, the duke was delighted with the corps; nothing could be +more soldierlike than their appearance, as they marched past.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah, the attorneys', isn't it—the Devil's Own, as Curran calls +them?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, and remarkably well they looked. I say, Parsons, you heard what poor +Rooney said when Sir Charles Asgill read aloud the general order +complimenting them: “May I beg, Sir Charles,” said he, “to ask if the +document in your hand be an attested copy?”' +</p> +<p> +'Capital, 'faith! By-the-bye, what's the reason, can any one tell me, Paul +has never invited me to dine for the last two years?' +</p> +<p> +'Indeed!' said Curran; 'then your chance is a bad one, for the statute of +limitations is clearly against you.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah, Kellar, the Rooneys have cut all their low acquaintances, and your +prospects look very gloomy. You know what took place between Paul and Lord +Manners?' +</p> +<p> +'No, Barrington; let's hear it, by all means!' +</p> +<p> +'Paul had met him at Kinnegad, where both had stopped to change horses. “A +glass of sherry, my lord?” quoth Paul, with a most insinuating look. +</p> +<p> +'“No, sir, thank you,” was the distant reply. +</p> +<p> +'“A bowl of gravy, then, my lord?” rejoined he. '“Pray, excuse me,” more +coldly than before. +</p> +<p> +'“Maybe a chop and a crisped potato would tempt your lordship?” +</p> +<p> +'“Neither, sir, I assure you.” +</p> +<p> +'“Nor a glass of egg-flip?” repeated Paul, in an accent bordering on +despair. +</p> +<p> +'“Nor even the egg-flip,” rejoined his lordship, in the most pompous +manner. +</p> +<p> +'“Then, my lord,” said Paul, drawing himself up to his full height, and +looking him firmly in the face, “I've only to say, the 'onus' is now on +you.” With which he stalked out of the room, leaving the chancellor to his +own reflections.' +</p> +<p> +'Brethren, the saint!' cried out the prior, as he rose from the chair. +</p> +<p> +'The saint! the saint!'re-echoed from lip to lip; and at the same moment +the door opened, and a monk appeared, bearing a silver image of St. +Patrick, about a foot and a half high, which he deposited in the middle of +the table with the utmost reverence. All the monks rose, filling their +pipkins, while the junior of the order, a fat little monk with spectacles, +began the following ditty, in which all the rest joined, with every energy +of voice and manner:— +</p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +I + +'When St. Patrick our order created, +And called us the Monks of the Screw, +Good rules he revealed to our abbot +To guide us in what we should do. + +II + +'But first he replenished his fountain +With liquor the best in the sky, +And he swore by the word of his saintship +That fountain should never run dry. + +III + +'My children, be chaste, till you 're tempted; +While sober, be wise and discreet; +And humble your bodies with fasting +Whene'er you 've nothing to eat. + +IV + +'Then be not a glass in the convent, +Except on a festival, found; +And this rule to enforce, I ordain it +A festival all the year round.' +</pre> +<p> +A hip, hip, hurrah! that made the very saint totter on his legs, shook the +room; and once more the reverend fathers reseated themselves to resume +their labours. +</p> +<p> +Again the conversation flowed cm in its broader channel; and scarcely was +the laughter caused by one anecdote at an end when another succeeded, the +strangest feature of all this being that he who related the story was, in +almost every instance, less the source of amusement to the party than they +who, listening to the recital, threw a hundred varied lights upon it, +making even the tamest imaginable adventure the origin of innumerable +ludicrous situations and absurd fancies. Besides all this, there were +characteristic differences in the powers of the party, which deprived the +display of any trace or appearance of sameness: the epigrammatic terseness +and nicety of Curran; the jovial good-humour and mellow raciness of +Lawrence Parsons; the happy facility of converting all before him into a +pun or a repartee, so eminently possessed by Toler; and, perhaps more +striking than all, the caustic irony and piercing sarcasm of Plunket's wit—relieved +and displayed one another, each man's talent having only so much of +rivalry as to excite opposition and give interest to the combat, yet never +by any accident originating a particle of animosity, or even eliciting a +shade of passing irritation. +</p> +<p> +With what pleasure could I continue to recount the stories, the songs, the +sayings, I listened to! With what satisfaction do I yet look back upon +that brilliant scene, nearly all the actors in which have since risen to +high rank and eminence in the country! How often, too, in their bright +career, when I have heard the warm praise of the world bestowed upon their +triumphs and their successes, has my memory carried me back to that +glorious night, when with hearts untrammelled by care, high in hope, and +higher in ambition, these bright spirits sported in all the wanton +exuberance of their genius, scattering with profusion the rich ore of +their talent, careless of the depths to which the mine should be shafted +hereafter! Yes, it is true there were giants in those days. However much +one may be disposed to look upon the eulogist of the past, as one whose +fancy is more ardent than his memory is tenacious, yet with respect to +this, there is no denial of the fact, that great convivial gifts, great +conversational power, no longer exist as they did some thirty or forty +years ago. I speak more particularly of the country where I passed my +youth—of Ireland. And who that remembers those names I have +mentioned; who that can recall the fascination, and charm, which almost +every dinner-party of the day could boast; who that can bring to mind the +brilliancy of Curran, the impetuous power of Plunket, or the elegance of +manner and classical perfection of wit that made Burke the Cicero of his +nation; who, I say, with all these things before his memory, can venture +to compare the society of that period with the present? No, no; the grey +hairs that mingle with our brown may convict us of being a prejudiced +witness, but we would call into court every one whose testimony is +available, and confidently await the verdict. +</p> +<p> +'And so they ran away!' said the prior, turning towards a tall, +gaunt-looking monk, who with a hollow voice and solemn manner was +recording the singular disappearance of the militia regiment he commanded +on the morning they were to embark for England. 'The story we heard,' +resumed the prior, 'was, that when drawn up in the Fifteen Acres, one of +the light company caught sight of a hare, and flung his musket at it; that +the grenadiers followed the example, and that then the whole battalion +broke loose, with a loud yell, and set off in pursuit——' +</p> +<p> +'No, sir,' said the gaunt man, waving his hand to suppress the laughter +around him. 'They were assembled on the lighthouse wall, as it might be +here, and we told them off by tallies as they marched on board, not +perceiving, however, that as fast as they entered the packet on one side +they left it on the opposite, there being two jolly-boats in waiting to +receive them; and as it was dusk at the time, the scheme was undetected, +until the corporal of a flank company shouted out to them to wait for him, +that being his boat. At this time we had fifty men of our four hundred and +eighty.' +</p> +<p> +'Ay, ay, holy father,' cried the prior, as he helped himself to a devilled +bone, 'your fellows were like the grilled bone before me—when they +were mustered, they would not wait to be peppered? +</p> +<p> +This sally produced a roar of laughter, not the less hearty that the +grim-visaged hero it was addressed to never relaxed a muscle of his face. +</p> +<p> +It was now late, and what between the noise, the wine, and the laughter, +my faculties were none of the clearest. Without having drunk much, I felt +all the intoxication of liquor, and a whirlwind of confusion in my ideas, +that almost resembled madness. To this state one part of their proceedings +in a great measure contributed; for every now and then, on some signal +from the prior, the whole party would take hands and dance round the table +to the measure of an Irish jig, wilder and even more eccentric than their +own orgies. Indeed, I think this religious exercise finished me; for after +the third time of its performance, the whole scene became a confused and +disturbed mass, and amid the crash of voices, the ringing of laughter, the +tramping of feet, I sank into something which, if not sleep, was at least +unconsciousness; and thus is a wet sponge drawn over the immediately +succeeding portion of my history. +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0012" id="linkimage-0012"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0224.jpg" alt="2-0224" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +Some faint recollection I have of terrifying old Corny by my costume; but +what the circumstances, or how they happened, I cannot remember. I can +only call to mind one act in vindication of my wisdom—I went to bed. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XVIII. A CONFIDENCE +</h2> +<p> +I slept late on the morning after my introduction to the Monks of the +Screw, and probably should have continued to indulge still longer, had not +O'Grady awoke me. +</p> +<p> +'Come, Jack,' he cried, 'this is the third time I have been here to-day. I +can't have mercy on you any longer; so rub your eyes, and try if you can't +wake sufficiently to listen to me. I have just received my appointment as +captain in the Forty-first, with an order to repair immediately to Chatham +to join the regiment, which is under orders for foreign service.' +</p> +<p> +'And when do you go, Phil?' +</p> +<p> +'To-night at eight o'clock. A private note from a friend at the Horse +Guards tells me not to lose a moment; and as I shall have to wait on the +duke to thank him for his great kindness to me, I have no time to spare.' +</p> +<p> +This news so stunned me that for a moment or two I couldn't reply. O'Grady +perceived it, and, patting me gaily on the shoulder, said— +</p> +<p> +'Yes, Jack, I am sorry we are to separate. But as for me, no other course +was open; and as to you, with all your independence from fortune, and with +all your family influence to push your promotion, the time is not very +distant when you will begin to feel the life you are leading vapid and +tiresome. You will long for an excitement more vigorous and more healthy +in its character; and then, my boy, my dearest hope is that we may be +thrown once more together.' +</p> +<p> +Had my friend been able at the moment to have looked into the secret +recesses of my heart and read there my inmost thoughts, he could not more +perfectly have depicted my feelings, nor pictured the impressions that, at +the very moment he spoke, were agitating my mind. The time he alluded to +had indeed arrived. The hour had come when I wished to be a soldier in +more than the mere garb; but with that wish came linked another even +stronger still; and this was, that, before I went on service, I should +once more see Louisa Bellew, explain to her the nature and extent of my +attachment to her, and obtain, if possible, some pledge on her part that, +with the distinction I hoped to acquire, I should look to the possession +of her love as my reward and my recompense. Young as I was, I felt ashamed +at avowing to O'Grady the rapid progress of my passion. I had not courage +to confess upon what slight encouragement I built my hopes, and at the +same time was abashed at being compelled to listen tamely to his prophecy, +when the very thoughts that flashed across me would have indicated my +resolve. +</p> +<p> +While I thus maintained an awkward silence, he once more resumed— +</p> +<p> +'Meanwhile, Jack, you can serve me, and I shall make no apologies for +enlisting you. You've heard me speak of this great Loughrea steeplechase: +now, somehow or other, with my usual prudence, I have gone on adding wager +to wager, until at last I find myself with a book of some eight hundred +pounds—to lose which at a moment like this, I need not say, would +almost ruin all my plans. To be free of the transaction, I this morning +offered to pay half forfeit, and they refused me. Yes, Hinton, they knew +every man of them the position I stood in. They saw that not only my +prospects but my honour was engaged; that before a week I should be far +away, without any power to control, without any means to observe them. +They knew well that, thus circumstanced, I must lose; and that if I lost, +I must sell my commission, and leave the army beggared in character and in +fortune.' +</p> +<p> +'And now, my dear friend,' said I, interrupting, 'how happens it that you +bet with men of this stamp? I understood you it was a friendly match, got +up at a dinnerparty.' +</p> +<p> +'Even so, Jack. The dinner was in my own rooms, the claret mine, the men +my <i>friends</i>. You may smile, but so the world is pleased to call +those with whom from day to day we associate, with no other bond of union +than the similarity of a pursuit which has nothing more reprehensible in +it than the character of the intimacies it engenders. Yes, Hinton, these +are my sporting friends, sipping my wine while they plot my ruin. +Conviviality with them is not the happy abandonment to good fellowship and +enjoyment, but the season of cold and studied calculation—the hour +when, unexcited themselves, they trade upon the unguarded and unwary +feelings of others. They know how imperative is the code of honour as +regards a bet, and they make a virtue to themselves in the unflinching +firmness of their exaction, as a cruel judge would seek applause for the +stern justice with which he condemns a felon. It is usual, however, to +accept half forfeit in circumstances like these of mine: the condition did +not happen to be inserted, and they rejected my offer.' +</p> +<p> +'Is this possible,' said I, 'and that these men call themselves your +friends?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, Jack; a betting-book is like Shylock's bond, and the holder of one +pretty much about as merciful as the worthy Israelite. But come, come! it +is but boyish weakness in one like me to complain of these things; nor, +indeed, would I speak of them now, but with the hope that my words may +prove a warning to you, while they serve to explain the service I look for +from you, and give you some insight into the character of those with whom +you 'll have to deal.' +</p> +<p> +'Only tell me,' said I, 'only explain, my dear O'Grady, what I can do, and +how; it is needless for me to say I 'm ready.' +</p> +<p> +'I thought as much. Now listen to me. When I made this unlucky match it +was, as I have said, over a dinnerparty, when, excited by wine and carried +away by the enthusiasm of the moment, I made a proposition which, with a +calmer head, I should never have ventured. For a second or two it was not +accepted, and Mr. Burke, of whom you 've heard me speak, called out from +the end of the table, “A sporting offer, by Jove! and I'll ride for you +myself.” This I knew was to give me one of the first horsemen in Ireland; +so, while filling my glass and nodding to him, accepted his offer, I cried +out, “Two to one against any horse named at this moment!” The words were +not spoken when I was taken up, at both sides of the table; and as I +leaned across to borrow a pencil from a friend, I saw that a smile was +curling every lip, and that Burke himself endeavoured with his wine-glass +to conceal the expression of his face. I needed no stronger proof that the +whole match had been a preconcerted scheme between the parties, and that I +had fallen into a snare laid purposely to entrap me. It was too late, +however, to retract; I booked my bets, drank my wine, congeed my friends, +went to bed, and woke the next morning to feel myself a dupe. +</p> +<p> +'But come, Jack; at this rate I shall never have done. The match was +booked, the ground chosen, Mr. Burke to be my jockey, and, in fact, +everything arranged, when, what was my surprise, my indignation, to find +that the horse I destined for the race (at the time in possession of a +friend) was bought up for five hundred and sent off to England! This +disclosed to me how completely I was entrapped. Nothing remained for me +then but to purchase one which offered at the moment! and this one, I 've +told you already, has the pleasant reputation of being the most wicked +devil and the hardest to ride in the whole west; in fact, except Burke +himself, nobody would mount him on a road, and as to crossing a country +with him, even <i>he</i>, they say, has no fancy for it. In any case, he +made it the ground of a demand which I could not refuse—that, in the +event of my winning, he was to claim a third of the stakes. At length the +horse is put in training, improves every hour, and matters seem to be +taking a favourable turn. In the midst of this, however, the report +reaches me, as you heard yourself yesterday morning, that Burke will not +ride. However I affected to discredit it at the moment, I had great +difficulty to preserve the appearance of calm. This morning settles the +question by this letter:— +</p> +<p> +'“Red House, Wednesday Morning.” +</p> +<p> +'“Dear Sir,—A friendly hint has just reached me that I am to be +arrested on the morning of the Loughrea race for a trifle of a hundred and +eighteen pounds and some odd shillings. If it suits your convenience to +pay the money, or enter into bail for the amount, I'll be very happy to +ride your horse; for, although I don't care for a double ditch, I've no +fancy to take the wall of the county jail, even on the back of as good a +horse as Moddiridderoo.—Yours truly, Ulick Burke.”' +</p> +<p> +'Well,' said I, as, after some difficulty, I spelled through this +ill-written and dirty epistle, 'and what do you mean to do here?' +</p> +<p> +'If you ask me,' said Phil, 'what I 'd like to do, I tell you fairly it +would be to horsewhip my friend Mr. Burke as a preliminary, pay the +stakes, withdraw my horse, and cut the whole concern; but my present +position is, unhappily, opposed to each of these steps. In the first +place, a rencontre with Burke would do me infinite disservice at the Horse +Guards, and as to the payment of eight hundred pounds, I don't think I +could raise the money, unless some one would advance five hundred of it +for a mortgage on Corny Delany. But to be serious, Jack—and, as time +passes, I must be serious—I believe the best way on this occasion is +to give Burke the money (for as to the bill, that's an invention); yet as +I must start to-night for England, and the affair will require some +management, I must put the whole matter into your hands, with full +instructions how to act.' +</p> +<p> +'I am quite ready and willing,' said I; 'only give me the <i>carte du pay</i>.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, then, my boy, you'll go down to Loughrea for me the day before the +race, establish yourself as quietly as you can in the hotel, and, as the +riders must be named on the day before the running, contrive to see Mr. +Burke, and inform him that his demand will be complied with. Have no +delicacy with him—-it is a mere money question; and although by the +courtesy of the turf he is a gentleman, yet there is no occasion to treat +him with more of ceremony than is due to yourself in your negotiation. +This letter contains the sum he mentions. In addition to that, I have +inclosed a bank cheque for whatever you like to give him; only remember +one thing, Hinton—<i>he</i> must ride, and <i>I</i> must win.' +</p> +<p> +All the calmness with which O'Grady had hitherto spoken deserted him at +this moment; his face became scarlet, his brow was bent, and his lip +quivered with passion, while, as he walked the room with hurried steps he +muttered between his teeth— +</p> +<p> +'Yes, though it cost my last shilling, I'll win the race! They thought to +ruin me; the scheme was deeply laid and well planned too, but they shall +fail. No, Hinton,' resumed he in a louder tone—'no, Hinton; believe +me, poor man that I am, this is not with me a question of so many pounds: +it is the wounded <i>amour propre</i> of a man who, all through his life, +held out the right hand of fellowship to those very men who now conspire +to be his ruin. And such, my dear boy, such, for the most part, are the +dealings of the turf. I do not mean to say that men of high honour and +unblemished integrity are not foremost in the encouragement of a sport +which, from its bold and manly character, is essentially an English one; +but this I would assert, that probity, truth, and honour are the gifts of +but a very small number of those who make a traffic of the turf, and are, +what the world calls, “racing men.” And oh how very hard the struggle, how +nice the difficulty, of him who makes these men his daily companions, to +avoid the many artifices which the etiquette of the racecourse permits, +but which the feelings of a gentleman would reject as unfair and unworthy! +How contaminating that laxity of principle that admits of every stratagem, +every trick, as legitimate, with the sole proviso that it be successful! +And what a position is it that admits of no alternative save being the +dupe or the blackleg! How hard for the young fellow entering upon life +with all the ardour, all the unsuspecting freshness of youth about him, to +stop short at one without passing on to the other stage! How difficult, +with offended pride and wounded self-love, to find himself the mere tool +of sharpers! How very difficult to check the indignant spirit, that +whispers retaliation by the very arts by which he has been cheated! Is not +such a trial as this too much for any boy of twenty? and is it not to be +feared that, in the estimation he sees those held in whose blackguardism +is their pre-eminence, a perverted ambition to be what is called a sharp +fellow may sap and undermine every honourable feeling of the heart, break +down the barriers of rigid truth and scrupulous fidelity, teaching him to +exult at what formerly he had blushed, and to recognise no folly so +contemptible as that of him who believes the word of another? Such a +career as this has many a one pursued, abandoning bit by bit every grace, +every virtue, and every charm of his character, that, at the end, he +should come forth a “sporting gentleman.”' +</p> +<p> +He paused for a few seconds, and then, turning towards me, added, in a +voice tremulous from emotion, 'And yet, my boy, to men like this I would +now expose you! No, no, Jack; I' ll not do it. I care not what turn the +thing may take; I 'll not embitter my life with this reflection.' He +seized the letter, and crushing it in his hand, walked towards the window. +</p> +<p> +'Come, come, O'Grady,' said I, 'this is not fair; you first draw a strong +picture of these men, and then you deem me weak enough to fall into their +snares. That would hardly say much for my judgment and good sense; +besides, you have stimulated my curiosity, and I shall be sadly +disappointed if I'm not to see them.' +</p> +<p> +'Be it so, Jack!' said he with a sigh. 'I shall give you a couple of +letters to some friends of mine down there; and I know but one recompense +you'll have for all the trouble and annoyance of this business—your +pretty friend, Miss Bellew, is on a visit in the neighbourhood, and is +certain to be at the race.' +</p> +<p> +Had O'Grady looked at me while he spoke he would have seen how deeply this +intelligence affected me, while I myself could with difficulty restrain +the increased interest I now felt in all about the matter, questioning him +on every particular, inquiring into a hundred minute points, and, in fact, +displaying an ardour on the subject that nothing short of my friend's +preoccupation could have failed in detecting the source of. My mind now +fixed on one object, I could scarcely follow him in his directions as to +travelling down, secrecy, etc. +</p> +<p> +I heard something about the canal-boat, and some confused impression was +on my mind about a cross-road and a jaunting-car; but the prospect of +meeting Louisa, the hope of again being in her society, rendered me +indifferent to all else; and as I thrust the letters he gave me into my +coat-pocket, and promised an implicit observance of all his directions, I +should have been sorely puzzled had he asked me to repeat them. +</p> +<p> +'Now,' continued O'Grady, at the end of about half-an-hour's rapid +speaking, 'I believe I've put you in possession of all the bearings of +this case. You understand, I hope, the kind of men you have to deal with, +and I trust Mr. Ulick Burke is thoroughly known to you by this time?' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, perfectly,' said I, half mechanically. +</p> +<p> +'Well, then, my boy, I believe I had better say good-bye. Something tells +me we shall meet ere long; meanwhile, Jack, you have my best wishes.' He +paused for a moment and turned away his head, evidently affected, then +added, 'You'll write to me soon, of course; and as that old fool Corny +follows me in a week——' +</p> +<p> +'And is Corny going abroad?' +</p> +<p> +'Ay, confound him! like the old man in Sindbad, there 's no getting him +off one's shoulders. Besides, he has a kind of superstition that he ought +to close the eyes of the last of the family; and as he has frankly +confessed to me this morning he knows I am in that predicament, he esteems +it a point of duty to accompany me. Poor fellow, with all his faults, I +can't help feeling attached to him; and were I to leave him behind me, +what would become of him? No, Jack, I am fully sensible of all the +inconvenience, all the ridicule of this step, but, 'faith, I prefer both +to the embittering reflection I should have did I desert him.' +</p> +<p> +'Why does he remain after you, Phil? He 'll never find his way to London.' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, trust him! What with scolding, cursing, and abusing every one he +meets, he'll attract notice enough on the road never to be forgotten, or +left behind. But the fact is, it is his own proposition; and Corny has +asked for a few days' leave of absence, for the first time for +seven-and-twenty years!' +</p> +<p> +'And what the deuce can that be for?' +</p> +<p> +'You 'd never guess if you tried until to-morrow—to see his mother.' +</p> +<p> +'Corny's mother! Corny Delany's mother!' +</p> +<p> +'Just so—his mother. Ah, Hinton! you still have much to learn about +us all here. And now, before we part, let me instruct you on this point; +not that I pretend to have a reason for it, nor do I know that there is +any, but somehow I'll venture to say that whenever you meet with a little +cross-grained, ill-conditioned, ill-thriven old fellow, with a face as if +carved in the knot of a crab-tree, the odds are about fifteen to one that +the little wretch has a mother alive. Whether it is that the tenacity of +life among such people is greater, or whether Nature has any peculiar +objects of her own in view in the matter, I can't say, but trust me for +the fact. And now, I believe, I have run myself close to time; so once +more, Jack, good-bye, and God bless you!' +</p> +<p> +He hurried from the room as he spoke, but, as the door was closing, I saw +that his lip trembled and his cheek was pale; while I leaned against the +window-shutter and looked after him with a heavy and oppressed heart, for +he was my first friend in the world. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XIX. THE CANAL-BOAT +</h2> +<p> +In obedience to O'Grady's directions, of which, fortunately for me, he +left a memorandum in writing, I started from Portobello in the canal-boat +on the afternoon of the day after his departure. The day was dark and +lowering, with occasional showers of cold and sleety rain. However, the +casual glance I took of the gloomy cell, denominated cabin, deterred me +from seeking shelter there, and buttoned up in my greatcoat and with my +travelling-cap drawn firmly over my eyes, I walked the deck for several +hours, my own thoughts affording me sufficient occupation; and even had +the opportunity presented itself, I should not have desired any other. On +this score, however, there was no temptation; and as I looked at my +fellow-passengers, there was nothing either in their voice, air, or +appearance to induce me to care for any closer intimacy. +</p> +<p> +The majority of them were stout, plain-looking countryfolk, with coats of +brown or grey frieze, leather gaiters, and thick shoes, returning, as I +could guess from some chance expressions they dropped, from the Dublin +market, whither they had proceeded with certain droves of bullocks, +wethers, and hoggets, the qualities of which formed the staple of +conversation. There were also some lady passengers—one a rather +good-looking woman, with a certain air of half gentility about her, which +enabled her at times to display to her companion her profound contempt for +the rest of the company. This companion was a poor subdued-looking girl of +about eighteen or twenty years, who scarcely ventured to raise her haggard +eyes, and spoke with an accent painful from agitation; her depressed look +and her humble manner did not conceal, however, a certain air of composed +and quiet dignity, which spoke of happier days. A host of ill-bred, noisy, +and unmannerly children accompanied them; and I soon discovered that the +mother was the wife of the great shopkeeper in Loughrea, and her pale +companion a governess she had just procured in Dublin, to initiate the +promising offspring in the accomplished acquirements of French, Italian, +music, and painting. Their only acquaintance on board seemed to be a +jolly-looking man who, although intimate with every one, seemed somehow +not to suffer in the grand lady's esteem from the familiarities he +dispensed on all sides. He was a short, florid-looking little fellow, with +a round bullet head, the features of which seemed at first sight so +incongruous that it was difficult to decide on their prevailing +expression; his large grey eyes, which rolled and twinkled with fun, +caught a character of severity from his heavy overhanging eyebrows, and +there was a stern determination in his compressed lips that every moment +gave way to some burst of jocular good-humour, as he accosted one or other +of his friends. His voice, however, was the most remarkable thing about +him; for while at one moment he would declaim in the full round tone of a +person accustomed to speak in public, in the next he would drop down into +an easy and familiar accent, to which the mellowness of his brogue +imparted a raciness quite peculiar. His dress was a suit of rusty black, +with leather breeches of the same colour, and high boots. This costume, +which pronounced him a priest, might also, had I known more of the +country, have explained the secrets of that universal understanding he +maintained with all on board. He knew every one's business, whither they +were going, where they had been, what success had attended them in the +market, how much the black heifer brought, what the pigs were sold for; he +asked why Tim didn't come to his duties, and if Molly's child was well of +the measles; he had a word too for the shopkeeper's wife, but that was +said in a whisper; and then producing a copper snuff-box, about the size +of a saucer, he presented it to me with a graceful bow, saying— +</p> +<p> +'This is not the first time I have had the honour of being your +fellow-traveller, Captain. We came over from Liverpool together.' +</p> +<p> +I now remembered that this was the same priest whose controversial powers +had kept me awake for nearly half the night, and whose convivial ones +filled up the remainder. I was delighted, however, to renew my +acquaintance, and we soon cemented an intimacy, which ended in his +proposing that we should sit together at dinner, to which I at once +assented. +</p> +<p> +'Dacent people, dacent people, Captain; but <i>bastes</i>, after all, in +the ways of the world—none of the <i>usage de société</i>, as we +used to say at St. Omer's. No, no; <i>feræ naturæ</i>, devil a more. But +here comes the dinner; the ould story—leg of mutton and turnips, +boiled chickens and ham, a cod and potatoes! By the Mass, they would boil +one's father if they had him on board,' while he added in a whisper—'by +rason they can't roast! So now, will you move down, if you please?' +</p> +<p> +'After your reverence, if you'll permit. <i>Arma cedant togæ</i>.' +</p> +<p> +'Thrue for you, my son, <i>sacerdotes priores</i>; and though I am only a +priest——' +</p> +<p> +'More's the pity,' said I, interrupting. +</p> +<p> +'You're right,' said he, with a slight pinch of my arm, 'whether you are +joking or not.' +</p> +<p> +The dinner was not a very appetising one, nor indeed the company over +seductive, so that I disappeared with the cloth, glad to find myself once +more in the open air, with the deck to myself; for my fellow-travellers +had, one and all, begun a very vigorous attack upon sundry jugs of hot +water and crucibles full of whisky, the fumes of which, added to the heat, +the smoke, and other disagreeables, made me right happy to escape. +</p> +<p> +As the evening wore late, the noise and uproar grew louder and more +vociferous, and, had not frequent bursts of laughter proclaimed the spirit +of the conviviality, I should have been tempted to believe the party were +engaged in deadly strife. Sometimes a single narrator would seem to hold +the company in attentive silence; then a general chorus of the whole would +break in, with shouts of merriment, knocking of knuckles on the table, +stamping of feet, and other signs of approbation and applause. As this had +now continued for some time, and it was already verging towards midnight, +I began to grow impatient; for as sleep stole over my eyelids, I was +desirous of some little quiet, to indulge myself in a nap. Blessings on my +innocent delusion! the gentlemen below-stairs had as much notion of +swimming as sleeping. Of this a rapid glance through a little window, at +the extremity of the cabin, soon satisfied me. As well as the steamed and +heated glass would permit my seeing, the scene was a strange one. +</p> +<p> +About forty persons were seated around a narrow table, so closely packed +that any attitude but the bolt upright was impracticable. There they were, +of every age and sex; some asleep with Welsh wigs and red +pocket-handkerchiefs screening their heads from cold, and their ears as +well as might be from uproar; some were endeavouring to read by the light +of mutton candles, with wicks like a light infantry feather, with a nob at +the head; others, with their heads bent down together, were confidentially +exchanging the secrets of the last market; while here and there were +scattered about little convivial knots of jolly souls, whose noisy fun and +loud laughter indicated but slight respect for their drowsy neighbours. +</p> +<p> +The group, however, which attracted most of my attention was one near the +fire at the end. This consisted of his reverence Father Tom, a stout, +burly-looking old farmer opposite him, the austere lady from Loughrea, and +a little dried-up, potted-herring of a man, who, with a light-brown coat +and standing collar, sat up perpendicularly on his seat and looked about +him with an eye as lively and an accent as sharp as though it were only +noonday. This little personage, who came from that Irish Pennsylvania +called Moate, was endeavouring to maintain a controversy with the worthy +priest, who, in addition to his polemics, was deep in a game of spoiled +five with the farmer, and carrying on besides another species of warfare +with his fair neighbour. The diversity of all these occupations might +possibly have been overmuch for him, were it not for the aid of a +suspicious-looking little kettle that sat hissing and rocking on the hob, +with a look of pert satisfaction that convinced me its contents were +something stronger than water. +</p> +<p> +Perceiving a small space yet unoccupied in the party, I made my way +thither by the stair near it, and soon had the satisfaction to find myself +safely installed, without attracting any other notice from the party than +a proud stare from the lady, as she removed a little farther from beside +the priest. +</p> +<p> +As to his reverence, far too deeply interested in his immediate pursuits +to pay any attention to me, he had quite enough on his hands with his +three antagonists, none of whom did he ever for a moment permit to edge in +even a word. Conducting his varied warfare with the skill of a general, +who made the artillery, the infantry, and the cavalry of mutual aid and +assistance to one another, he continued to keep the church, the courtship, +and the cards all moving together, in a manner perfectly miraculous—the +vehemence with which he thumped down a trump upon the table serving as a +point in his argument, while the energy of the action permitted a squeeze +of the lady's hand with the other. +</p> +<p> +'There ye go, six of spades! Play a spade, av ye have one, Mr. Larkins—— +For a set of shrivelled-up craytures, with nothing but thee and thou for a +creed to deny the real ould ancient faith, that Saint Peter and—— +The ace of diamonds! <i>that</i> tickled you under the short ribs——- +Not you, Mrs. Carney; for a sore time you have of it, and an angel of a +woman ye are; and the husband that could be cruel to you, and take—— +The odd trick out of you, Mr. Larkins—— +</p> +<p> +No, no, I deny it—<i>nego in omnibus, Domine</i>. What does Origen +say? The rock, says he, is Peter; and if you translate the passage without—— +Another kettleful, if you please. I go for the ten, Misther Larkins. +Trumps! another—another—hurroo! By the tower of Clonmacnoise, +I'll beggar the bank to-night. <i>Malhereux au jeux, heureux en amour</i>, +as we used to say formerly. God forgive us!' +</p> +<p> +Whether it was the French, or the look that accompanied it, I cannot aver, +but certainly the lady blushed and looked down. In vain did the poor +Quaker essay a word of explanation. In vain did Mrs. Carney herself try to +escape from the awkward inferences some of his allusions seemed to lead +to. Even the old farmer saw his tricks confiscated, and his games +estreated, without a chance of recovery; for, like Coeur de Lion with his +iron mace, the good priest laid about him, smashing, slaying, and +upsetting all before him, and never giving his adversaries a moment to +recover from one blow, ere he dealt another at their heads. +</p> +<p> +'To be sure, Mrs. Carney, and why not? It's as mild as mother's milk. +Come, ould square-toes, take a thimbleful of it, and maybe it'll lead you +to a better understanding. I play the five fingers, Mr. Larkins. There +goes Jack, my jewel! Play to that—the trick is mine. Don't be +laughing; I've a bit of fat in the heel of my fist for you yet. There now, +what are you looking at? Don't you see the cards? Troth, you 're as bad as +the Quaker; you won't believe your own eyes—— And ye see, +ma'am'—here he whispered something in the lady's ear for a few +seconds, adding as he concluded—'and thim, Mrs. Carney, thim's the +rights of the Church. Friends, indeed! ye call yourselves friends! Faix, +ye're the least social friends I ever forgathered with, even if the bare +look of you wasn't an antidote to all kinds of amusements—— +Cut, Mr. Larkins—— And it's purgatory ye don't like? Ye know +what Father O'Leary said, “Some of ye may go farther and fare worse,” not +to speak of what a place heaven would be, with the likes of you in it—— +Av it was Mrs. Carney, indeed. Yes, Mary, your own beautiful self, that's +fit to be an angel any day, and discoorse with angels—— Howld, +av you please, I've a club for that—— Don't you see what +nonsense you're talking—the little kettle is laughing at you—— +What's that you 're mumbling about my time of life? Show me the man +that'll carry twelve tumblers with me; show me the man that'll cross a +country; show me the man that 'll—— Never mind, Mrs. Carney—— +Time of life, indeed! Faix, I'll give you a song.' +</p> +<p> +With these words, the priest pushed the cards aside, replenished the +glasses, and began the following melody to an air much resembling 'Sir +Roger de Coverley':— +</p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +'To-morrow I 'll just be three-score; +May never worse fortune betide me +Than to have a hot tumbler before, +And a beautiful crayture beside me! +If this world 's a stage, as they say, +And that men are the actors, I 'm certain, +In the after-piece I 'd like to play, +And be there at the fall of the curtain. +Whack! fol lol. +</pre> +<p> +'No, no, Mrs. Carney, I'll take the vestment on it, nothing of the kind—the +allusion is most discreet; but there is more. +</p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +'For the pleasures of youth are a flam; +To try them again, pray excuse me; +I 'd rather be priest that I am, +With the rights of the Church to amuse me. +Sure, there's naught like a jolly old age, +And the patriarchs knew this, it said is; +For though they looked sober and sage, +'Faith, they had their own fun with the ladies! +Whack! fol lol. +</pre> +<p> +'Come now, Captain, you are a man that knows his humanities; 'I be judged +by you.' +</p> +<p> +'I protest,' said I laughingly, 'I'd rather pronounce on your punch than +your polemics.' +</p> +<p> +'No, would you though?' said the priest, with a joyous twinkle in his eye, +that showed which controversy had more attraction for him. 'Faix, then, +you shall have a fair trial. Beach me that glass, Mr. Larkins; and if it +isn't sweet enough, maybe Mrs. Carney would stir it for you with her +finger. There, now, we'll be comfortable and social, and have no more +bother about creeds, nor councils; for although it is only child's play +for me to demolish a hundred like you, I'd rather be merciful, and leave +you, like Alexander the coppersmith, to get the reward of your works.' +</p> +<p> +Whether it was the polite attention bestowed upon me by his reverence, or +that the magical word 'Captain,' so generic for all things military in +Ireland, had its effect, or that any purely personal reasons were the +cause, I cannot aver; but, certainly, Mrs. Carney's manner became +wonderfully softened. She smiled at me slyly when the priest wasn't +looking, and vouchsafed an inquiry as to whether I had ever served in the +Roscommon yeomanry. +</p> +<p> +The kettle once more sent forth its fragrant steam, the glasses were +filled, the vanquished Quaker had extinguished both himself and his +argument beneath his broad beaver; and Father Tom, with a glance of +pleasure at the party, pronounced our arrangements perfect, and suggested +a round game, by way of passing the time. +</p> +<p> +'We are now,' said he, 'on the long level for eighteen miles; there's +neither a lock nor a town to disturb us. Give Mrs. Carney the cards.' +</p> +<p> +The proposition was met with hearty approval; and thus did I, Lieutenant +Hinton, of the Grenadier Guards, extra aide-de-camp to the viceroy, +discover myself at four in the morning engaged at a game of loo, whose +pecuniary limits were fourpence, but whose boundaries as to joke and broad +humour were wide as the great Atlantic. Day broke, and I found myself +richer by some tumblers of the very strongest whisky punch, a confounded +headache, and two-and-eightpence in bad copper jingling in my pocket. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XX. SHANNON HARBOUR +</h2> +<p> +Little does he know who voyages in a canal-boat, dragged along some three +miles and a half per hour, ignominiously at the tails of two ambling +hackneys, what pride, pomp, and circumstance await him at the first town +he enters. Seated on the deck, watching with a Dutchman's apathy the sedgy +banks, whose tall naggers bow their heads beneath the ripple that eddies +from the bow—now lifting his eyes from earth to sky, with nothing to +interest, nothing to attract him, turning from the gaze of the long dreary +tract of bog and moorland, to look upon his fellow-travellers, whose +features are perhaps neither more striking nor more pleasing—the +monotonous jog of the postillion before, the impassive placidity of the +helmsman behind; the lazy smoke that seems to lack energy to issue from +the little chimney; the brown and leaden look of all around—have +something dreamy and sleep-compelling, almost impossible to resist. And, +already, as the voyager droops his head, and lets fall his eyelids, a +confused and misty sense of some everlasting journey, toilsome, tedious, +and slow, creeps over his besotted faculties; when suddenly the loud bray +of the horn breaks upon his ears—the sound is re-echoed from a +distance—the far-off tinkle of a bell is borne along the water, and +he sees before him, as if conjured up by some magician's wand, the roofs +and chimneys of a little village. Meanwhile the excitement about him +increases: the deck is lumbered with hampers and boxes, and parcels—the +note of departure to many a cloaked and frieze-coated passenger has rung; +for, strange as it may seem, in that little assemblage of mud hovels, with +their dunghills and duck-pools around them, with its one-slated house and +its square chapel, there are people who live there; and, stranger still, +some of those who have left it, and seen other places, are going back +there again, to drag on life as before. But the plot is thickening: the +large brass bell at the stern of the boat is thundering away with its +clanging sound; the banks are crowded with people; and as if to favour the +melodramatic magic of the scene, the track-rope is cast off, the weary +posters trot away towards their stable, and the stately barge floats on to +its destined haven without the aid of any visible influence. He who +watches the look of proud, important bearing that beams upon 'the +captain's' face at a moment like this, may philosophise upon the charms of +that power which man wields above his fellow-men. Such, at least, were +some of my reflections; and I could not help muttering to myself, if a man +like this feel pride of station, what a glorious service must be the navy! +</p> +<p> +Watching with interest <i>the</i> nautical skill with which, having +fastened a rope to the stern, the boat was swung round, with her head in +the direction from whence she came, intimating thereby the monotonous +character of her avocations, I did not perceive that one by one the +passengers were taking their departure. +</p> +<p> +'Good-bye, Captain,' cried Father Tom, as he extended his ample hand to +me; 'we'll meet again in Loughrea. I'm going on Mrs. Carney's car, or I'd +be delighted to join you in a conveyance; but you'll easily get one at the +hotel.' +</p> +<p> +I had barely time to thank the good father for his kind advice, when I +perceived him adjusting various duodecimo Carneys in the well of the car, +and then having carefully included himself in the frieze coat that wrapped +Mrs. Carney, he gave the word to drive on. +</p> +<p> +As the day following was the time appointed for naming the horses and the +riders, I had no reason for haste. Loughrea, from what I had heard, was a +commonplace country town, in which, as in all similar places every +new-comer was canvassed with a prying and searching curiosity. I resolved, +therefore, to stop where I was; not, indeed, that the scenery possessed +any attractions. A prospect more bleak, more desolate, and more barren, it +would be impossible to' conceive—a wide river with low and reedy +banks, moving sluggishly on its yellow current, between broad tracts of +bog or callow meadow-land; no trace of cultivation, not even a tree was to +be seen. +</p> +<p> +Such is Shannon Harbour. No matter, thought I, the hotel at least looks +well. This consolatory reflection of mine was elicited by the prospect of +a large stone building of some storeys high, whose granite portico and +wide steps stood in strange contrast to the miserable mud hovels that +flanked it on either side. It was a strange thought to have placed such a +building in such a situation. I dismissed the ungrateful notion, as I +remembered my own position, and how happy I felt to accept its +hospitality. +</p> +<p> +A solitary jaunting-car stood on the canal side—the poorest specimen +of its class I had ever seen. The car—a few boards cobbled up by +some country carpenter—seemed to threaten disunion even with the +coughing of the wretched beast that wheezed between its shafts; while the +driver, an emaciated creature of any age from sixteen to sixty, sat +shivering upon the seat, striking from time to time with his whip at the +flies that played about the animal's ears, as though anticipating their +prey. +</p> +<p> +'Banagher, yer honour? Loughrea, sir? Bowl ye over in an hour and a half. +Is it Portumna, sir?' +</p> +<p> +'No, my good friend,' replied I, 'I stop at the hotel.' +</p> +<p> +Had I proposed to take a sail down the Shannon on my portmanteau, I don't +think the astonishment could have been greater. The bystanders, and they +were numerous enough by this time, looked from one to the other with +expressions of mingled surprise and dread; and indeed had I, like some +sturdy knight-errant of old, announced my determination to pass the night +in a haunted chamber, more unequivocal evidences of their admiration and +fear could not have been evoked. +</p> +<p> +'In the hotel!' said one. +</p> +<p> +'He is going to stop at the hotel!' cried another. +</p> +<p> +'Blessed hour!' said a third, 'wonders will never cease!' +</p> +<p> +Short as had been my residence in Ireland, it had at least taught me one +lesson—never to be surprised at anything I met with. So many views +of life peculiar to the land met me at every turn, so many strange +prejudices, so many singular notions, that were I to apply my previous +knowledge of the world, such as it was, to my guidance here, I should be +like a man endeavouring to sound the depths of the sea with an instrument +intended to ascertain the distance of a star. Leaving, therefore, to time +the explanation of the mysterious astonishment around me, I gathered +together my baggage, and left the boat. +</p> +<p> +The first impressions of a traveller are not uncommonly his best. The +finer and more distinctive features of a land require deep study and long +acquaintance, but the broader traits of nationality are caught in an +instant, or not caught at all Familiarity destroys them, and it is only at +first blush that we learn to appreciate them with force. Who that has +landed at Calais, at Rotterdam, or at Leghorn, has not felt this? The +Flemish peasant, with her long-eared cap and heavy sabots—the dark +Italian, basking his swarthy features in the sun, are striking objects +when we first look on them; but days and weeks roll on, the wider +characteristics of human nature swallow up the smaller and more narrow +features of nationality, and in a short time we forget that the things +which have surprised us at first are not what we have been used to from +our infancy. +</p> +<p> +Gifted with but slender powers of observation, such as they were, this was +to me always a moment of their exercise. How often in the rural districts +of my own country had the air of cheery comfort and healthy contentment +spoken to my heart; how frequently, in the manufacturing ones, had the din +of hammers, the black smoke, or the lurid flame of furnaces, turned my +thoughts to those great sources of our national wealth, and made me look +on every dark and swarthy face that passed as on one who ministered to his +country's weal! But now I was to view a new and very different scene. +Scarcely had I put foot on shore when the whole population of the village +thronged around me. What are these, thought I? What art do they practise? +what trade do they profess? Alas! their wan looks, their tattered +garments, their outstretched hands, and imploring voices, gave the answer—they +were all beggars! It was not as if the old, the decrepit, the sickly, or +the feeble, had fallen on the charity of their fellow-men in their hour of +need; but here were all—all—the old man and the infant, the +husband and the wife, the aged grandfather and the tottering grandchild, +the white locks of youth, the whiter hairs of age—pale, pallid, and +sickly—trembling between starvation and suspense, watching with the +hectic eye of fever every gesture of him on whom their momentary hope was +fixed; canvassing, in muttered tones, every step of his proceeding, and +hazarding a doubt upon its bearing oh their own fate. +</p> +<p> +'Oh, the heavens be your bed, noble gentleman! look at me! The Lord reward +you for the little sixpence that you have in your fingers there! I 'm the +mother of ten of them.' +</p> +<p> +'Billy Cronin, yer honour; I'm dark since I was nine years old.' +</p> +<p> +'I'm the ouldest man in the town-land,' said an old fellow with a white +beard, and a blanket strapped round him. +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0013" id="linkimage-0013"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0248.jpg" alt="2-0248" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +While bursting through the crowd came a strange, odd-looking figure, in a +huntsman's coat and cap, but both so patched and tattered, it was +difficult to detect their colour. 'Here's Joe, your honour,' cried he, +putting his hand to his mouth at the same moment. 'Tally-ho! ye ho! ye +yo!' he shouted, with a mellow cadence I never heard surpassed. 'Yow! yow! +yow!' he cried, imitating the barking of dogs, and then uttering a long, +low wail, like the bay of a hound, he shouted out, 'Hark away t hark +away!' and at the same moment pranced into the thickest of the crowd, +upsetting men, women, and children as he went—the curses of some, +the cries of others, and the laughter of nearly all ringing through the +motley mass, making their misery look still more frightful. +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0014" id="linkimage-0014"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0252.jpg" alt="2-0252" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +Throwing what silver I had about me amongst them, I made my way towards +the hotel—not alone, however, but heading a procession of my ragged +friends, who, with loud praises of my liberality, testified their +gratitude by bearing me company. Arrived at the porch, I took my luggage +from the carrier, and entered the house. Unlike any other hotel I had ever +seen, there was neither stir nor bustle, no burly landlord, no buxom +landlady, no dapper waiter with napkin on his arm, no pert-looking +chambermaid with a bedroom candlestick. A large hall, dirty and +unfurnished, led into a kind of bar, upon whose unpainted shelves a few +straggling bottles were ranged together, with some pewter measures and +tobacco-pipes; while the walls were covered with placards, setting forth +the regulations for the Grand Canal Hotel, with a list, copious and +abundant, of all the good things to be found therein, with the prices +annexed; and a pressing entreaty to the traveller, should he not feel +satisfied with his reception, to mention it in a 'book kept for that +purpose by the landlord.' I cast my eye along the bill of fare so +ostentatiously put forth—I read of rump-steaks and roast-fowls, of +red rounds and sirloins, and I turned from the spot resolved to explore +farther. The room opposite was large and spacious, and probably destined +for the coffee-room, but it also was empty; it had neither chair nor +table, and save a pictorial representation of a canal-boat, drawn by some +native artist with a burnt stick upon the wall, it had no decoration. +Having amused myself with the <i>Lady Caher</i>—such was the vessel +called—I again set forth on my voyage of discovery, and bent my +steps towards the kitchen. Alas! my success was no better there. The +goodly grate, before which should have stood some of that luscious fare of +which I had been reading, was cold and deserted; in one corner, it was +true, three sods of earth, scarce lighted, supported an antiquated kettle, +whose twisted spout was turned up with a misanthropic curl at the misery +of its existence. I ascended the stairs, my footsteps echoed along the +silent corridor, but still no trace of human habitant could I see, and I +began to believe that even the landlord had departed with the larder. +</p> +<p> +At this moment the low murmur of voices caught my ear. I listened, and +could distinctly catch the sound of persons talking together at the end of +the corridor. Following along this, I came to a door, at which, having +knocked twice with my knuckles, I waited for the invitation to enter. +Either indisposed to admit me, or not having heard my summons, they did +not reply; so turning the handle gently, I opened the door, and entered +the room unobserved. For some minutes I profited but little by this step; +the apartment, a small one, was literally full of smoke, and it was only +when I had wiped the tears from my eyes three times that I at length began +to recognise the objects before me. +</p> +<p> +Seated upon two low stools, beside a miserable fire of green wood, that +smoked, not blazed, upon the hearth, were a man and a woman. Between them +a small and rickety table supported a tea equipage of the humblest +description, and a plate of fish whose odour pronounced them red herrings. +Of the man I could see but little, as his back was turned toward me; but +had it been otherwise, I could scarcely have withdrawn my looks from the +figure of his companion. Never had my eyes fallen on an object so strange +and so unearthly. She was an old woman, so old, indeed, as to have +numbered nearly a hundred years; her head, uncovered by cap, or quoif, +displayed a mass of white hair that hung down her back and shoulders, and +even partly across her face, not sufficiently, however, to conceal two +dark orbits, within which her dimmed eyes faintly glimmered; her nose was +thin and pointed, and projecting to the very mouth, which, drawn backwards +at the angles by the tense muscles, wore an expression of hideous +laughter. Over her coarse dress of some country stuff she wore, for +warmth, the cast-off coat of a soldier, giving to her uncouth figure the +semblance of an aged baboon at a village-show. Her voice, broken with +coughing, was a low, feeble treble, that seemed to issue from passages +where lingering life had left scarce a trace of vitality; and yet she +talked on, without ceasing, and moved her skinny fingers among the +tea-cups and knives upon the table, with a fidgety restlessness, as though +in search of something. +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0015" id="linkimage-0015"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0252.jpg" alt="2-0252" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +'There, acushla, don't smoke; don't now! Sure it is the ruin of your +complexion. I never see boys take to tobacco this way when I was young.' +</p> +<p> +'Whisht, mother, and don't be bothering me,' was the cranky reply, given +in a voice which, strange to say, was not quite unknown to me. +</p> +<p> +'Ay, ay,' said the old crone; 'always the same, never mindin' a word I +say; and maybe in a few years I won't be to the fore to look after you and +watch you.' +</p> +<p> +Here the painful thought of leaving a world, so full of its seductions and +sweets, seemed too much for her feelings, and she began to cry. Her +companion, however, appeared but little affected, but puffed away his pipe +at his ease, waiting with patience till the paroxysm was past. +</p> +<p> +'There, now,' said the old lady, brightening up, 'take away the +tay-things, and you may go and take a run on the common; but mind you +don't be pelting Jack Moore's goose; and take care of Bryan's sow, she is +as wicked as the devil now that she has boneens after her. D'ye hear me, +darlin', or is it sick you are? Och, wirra! wirra! What's the matter with +you, Corny <i>mabouchal?</i>' +</p> +<p> +'Corny!' exclaimed I, forgetful of my incognito. +</p> +<p> +'Ay, Corny, nayther more nor less than Corny himself,' said that redoubted +personage, as, rising to his legs, he deposited his pipe upon the table, +thrust his hands into his pockets, and seemed prepared to give battle. +</p> +<p> +'Oh, Corney,' said I, 'I am delighted to find you here. Perhaps you can +assist me. I thought this was an hotel.' +</p> +<p> +'And why wouldn't you think it an hotel? hasn't it a bar and a +coffee-room? Isn't the regulations of the house printed, and stuck up on +all the walls? Ay, that's what the directors did—put the price on +everything, as if one was going to cheat the people. And signs on it, look +at the place now! Ugh! the Haythins! the Turks!' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, indeed, Corny, look at the place now,' glad to have an opportunity +to chime in with my friend's opinions. +</p> +<p> +'Well, and look at it,' replied he, bristling up; 'and what have you to +say agin it? Isn't it the Grand Canal Hotel?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes; but,' said I conciliatingly, 'an hotel ought at least to have a +landlord, or a landlady.' +</p> +<p> +'And what do you call my mother there?' said he, with indignant energy. +</p> +<p> +'Don't bate Corny, sir! don't strike the child!' screamed the old woman, +in an accent of heart-rending terror. 'Sure he doesn't know what he is +saying.' +</p> +<p> +'He is telling me it isn't the Grand Canal Hotel, mother,' shouted Corny +in the old lady's ears, while at the same moment he burst into a fit of +the most discordant laughter. By some strange sympathy the old woman +joined in, and I myself, unable to resist the ludicrous effect of a scene +which still had touched my feelings, gave way also, and thus we all three +laughed on for several minutes. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly recovering himself in the midst of his cachin-nations, Corny +turned briskly round, fixed his fiery eyes upon me, and said— +</p> +<p> +'And did you come all the way from town to laugh at my mother and me?' +</p> +<p> +I hastened to exonerate myself from such a charge, and in a few words +informed him of the object of my journey, whither I was going, and under +what painful delusion I laboured, in supposing the internal arrangements +of the Grand Canal Hotel bore any relation to its imposing exterior. +</p> +<p> +'I thought I could have dined here?' +</p> +<p> +'No, you can't,' was the reply, 'av ye're not fond of herrins.' +</p> +<p> +'And had a bed too?' +</p> +<p> +'Nor that either, av ye don't like straw.' +</p> +<p> +'And has your mother nothing better than that?' said I, pointing to the +miserable plate of fish. +</p> +<p> +'Whisht, I tell you, and don't be putting the like in her head: sometimes +she hears as well as you or me.' Here he dropped his voice to a whisper. +'Herrins is so cheap that we always make her believe it's Lent—this +is nine years now she's fasting.' Here a fit of laughing at the success of +this innocent ruse again broke from Corny, in which, as before, his mother +joined. +</p> +<p> +'Then what am I to do,' asked I, 'if I can get nothing to eat here? Is +there no other house in the village?' +</p> +<p> +'No, devil a one.' +</p> +<p> +'How far is it to Loughrea?' +</p> +<p> +'Fourteen miles and a bit.' +</p> +<p> +'I can get a car, I suppose?' +</p> +<p> +'Ay, if Mary Doolan's boy is not gone back.' +</p> +<p> +The old woman, whose eyes were impatiently fixed upon me during this +colloquy, but who heard not a word of what was going forward, now broke in— +</p> +<p> +'Why doesn't he pay the bill and go away? Devil a farthing I'll take off +it. Sure, av ye were a raal gentleman ye'd be givin' a fippenny-bit to the +gossoon there, that sarved you. Never mind, Corny dear, I'll buy a bag of +marbles for you at Banagher.' +</p> +<p> +Fearful of once more giving way to unseasonable mirth I rushed from the +room and hurried downstairs; the crowd that had so lately accompanied me +was now scattered, each to his several home. The only one who lingered +near the door was the poor idiot (for such he was) that wore the +huntsman's dress. +</p> +<p> +'Is the Loughrea car gone, Joe?' said I, for I remembered his name. +</p> +<p> +'She is, yer honour, she's away.' +</p> +<p> +'Is there any means of getting over to-night?' +</p> +<p> +'Barrin' walkin', there's none.' +</p> +<p> +'Ay; but,' said I, 'were I even disposed for that, I have got my luggage.' +</p> +<p> +'Is it heavy?' said Joe. +</p> +<p> +'This portmanteau and the carpet-bag you see there.' +</p> +<p> +'I'll carry them,' was the brief reply. +</p> +<p> +'You 'll not be able, my poor fellow,' said I. +</p> +<p> +'Ay, and you on the top of them.' +</p> +<p> +'You don't know how heavy I am,' said I laughingly. +</p> +<p> +'Begorra, I wish you was heavier.' +</p> +<p> +'And why so, Joe?' +</p> +<p> +'Because one that was so good to the poor is worth his weight in goold any +day.' +</p> +<p> +I do not pretend to say whether it was the flattery, or the promise these +words gave me of an agreeable companion <i>en route</i>; but, certain it +is, I at once closed with his proposal, and, with a ceremonious bow to the +Grand Canal Hotel, took my departure, and set out for Loughrea. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XXI. LOUGHREA +</h2> +<p> +With the innate courtesy of his country, my humble companion endeavoured +to lighten the road by song and story. There was not a blackened gable, +not a ruined tower, not even a well we passed, without its legend. The +very mountains themselves, that reared their mighty peaks towards the +clouds, had their tale of superstitious horror; and, though these stories +were simple in themselves, there was something in the association of the +scene, something in the warm fervour of his enthusiasm that touched and +thrilled my heart. +</p> +<p> +Like a lamp, whose fitful glare flickers through the gloomy vault of some +rocky cavern, too feeble to illumine it, but yet calling up wild and +goblin shapes on every side, and peopling space with flickering spectres, +so did the small modicum of intellect this poor fellow possessed enable +him to look at life with strange, distorted views. Accustomed to pass his +days in the open air—the fields, the flowers, the streams, his +companions—he had a sympathy in the eddying current that flowed on +beneath—in the white cloud that rolled above him. Happy—for he +had no care—he journeyed about from one county to another. In the +hunting season he would be seen lounging about a kennel, making or +renewing his intimacy with the dogs, who knew and loved him; then he was +always ready to carry a drag, to stop an earth, or do a hundred other of +those minor services that are ever wanted. Many who lived far from a +post-town knew the comfort of falling in with poor 'Tipperary Joe.' for +such was he called. Not more fleet of foot than honest in heart, +oftentimes was a letter intrusted to his keeping that with any other +messenger would have excited feelings of anxiety. His was an April-day +temperament—ever varying, ever changing. One moment would he tell, +with quivering lip and broken voice, some story of wild and thrilling +interest; the next, breaking suddenly off, he would burst out into some +joyous rant, generally ending in a loud 'tally-ho,' in which all his +enthusiasm would shine forth, and in his glistening eye and flushed cheek +one could mark the pleasure that stirred his heart He knew every one, not +only in this, but in the surrounding counties; and they stood severally +classed in his estimation by their benevolence to the poor, and their +prowess in the hunting-field. These, with him, were the two great +qualities of mankind. The kind man, and the bold rider, made his +beau-ideal of all that was excellent, and it was strange to watch with +what ingenuity he could support his theory. +</p> +<p> +'There's Burton Pearse—that's the darling of a man! +</p> +<p> +It's he that's good to the poor, and takes his walls flying. It isn't a +lock of bacon or a bag of meal he cares for—be-gorra, it's not that, +nor a double ditch would ever stop him. Hurroo! I think I'm looking at him +throwing up his whip-hand this way, going over a gate and calling out to +the servant, “Make Joe go in for his dinner, and give him half-a-crown”—devil +a less! And then there's Mr. Power of Kilfane—maybe your honour +knows him? Down in Kilkenny, there. He's another of them—one of the +right sort. I wish you see him facing a leap—a little up in his +stirrups, just to look over and see the ground, and then—hoo! he's +across and away. A beautiful place he has of it, and an elegant pack of +dogs, fourteen hunters in the stable, and as pleasant a kitchen as ever I +broke my fast in. The cook's a mighty nice woman—a trifle fat, or +so; but a good sowl, and a raal warrant for an Irish stew.' 'And Mr. Ulick +Burke, Joe, do you know him?' 'Is it blazing Burke? Faix, I do know him! I +was as near him as I am to you when he shot Matt Callanan at the mills. +“There, now,” says he, when he put a ball in his hip, and lamed him for +life, “you were always fond of your trade, and I'll make you a hopper.” +And sure enough, this is the way he goes ever since.' +</p> +<p> +'He is a good horseman, they tell me, Joe?' 'The best in Ireland; for +following the dogs, flat race, or steeplechase, show me his equal. Och! +it's himself has the seat in a saddle. Mighty short he rides with his +knees up, this way, and his toes out. Not so purty to look at, till you +are used to it; but watch him fingering his baste—feeling his mouth +with the snaffle—never tormenting, but just letting him know who is +on his back. It 's raal pleasure to look at him; and then to see him +taking a little canter before he sets off, with his hand low, and just +tickling the flanks with his spurs, to larn the temper of the horse. May I +never! if it isn't a heavenly sight!' 'You like Mr. Burke, then, I see, +Joe?' 'Like him! Who wouldn't like him a-horseback? Isn't he the moral of +a rider, that knows his baste better than I know my Hail Mary? But see him +afoot, he's the greatest divil from here to Croaghpatrick—nothing +civiller in his mouth than a curse and a “bloody end” to ye! Och! it's +himself hates the poor, and they hate him; the beggars run away from him +as if he was the police; and the blind man that sits on Banagher Bridge +takes up his bags, and runs for the bare life the minit he hears the trot +of his horse. Isn't it a wonder how he rides so bowld with all the curses +over him? Faix, myself wouldn't cross that little stream there, if I was +like him. Well, well, he'll have a hard reckoning at last. He's killed +five men already, and wounded a great many more; but they say he won't be +able to go on much further, for when he kills another the divil's to come +for him. The Lord be about us! by rason he never let's any one kill more +nor six.' +</p> +<p> +Thus chatting away, the road passed over; and as the sun was setting we +came in sight of the town, now not above a mile distant. +</p> +<p> +'That's Loughrea you see there—it's a mighty fine place,' said Joe. +'There's slate houses, and a market and a barrack; but you 'll stop a few +days in the town?' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, certainly; I wish to see this race.' +</p> +<p> +'That will be the fine race. It is a great country entirely—every +kind of fence, gates, ditches, and stone walls, as thick as they can lie. +I'll show you all the course, for I know it well, and tell you the names +of all the gentlemen, and the names of their horses, and their servants; +and I'll bring you where you 'll see the whole race, from beginning to +end, without stirring an inch. Are you going to bet any money?' +</p> +<p> +'I believe not, Joe; but I'm greatly interested for a friend.' +</p> +<p> +'And who is he?' +</p> +<p> +'Captain O'Grady.' +</p> +<p> +'Master Phil! Tare-an'-ages! are you a friend of Master Phil's? Arrah, why +didn't you tell me that before? Why didn't you mintion his name to me? +Och! isn't myself proud this evening to be with a friend of the Captain's. +See now, what's your name?' +</p> +<p> +'Hinton,' said I. +</p> +<p> +'Ay, but your Christian name?' +</p> +<p> +'They who know me best call me Jack Hinton.' +</p> +<p> +'Musha! but I'd like to call you Jack Hinton just for this once. Now, will +you do one thing for me?' +</p> +<p> +'To be sure, Joe; what is it?' +</p> +<p> +'Make them give me a half-pint to drink your health and the Captain's; +for, faix, you must be the right sort, or he wouldn't keep company with +you. It's just like yesterday to me the day I met him, down at Bishop's +Loch. The hounds came to a check, and a hailstorm came on, and all the +gentlemen went into a little shebeen house for shelter. I was standing +outside, as it may be here, when Master Phil saw me. “Come in, Joe,” says +he; “you 're the best company, and the pleasantest fellow over a mug of +egg-nip.” And may I never! if he didn't make me sit down fornint him at a +little table, and drink two quarts of as beautiful flip as ever I tasted. +And Master Phil has a horse here, ye tell me—what's his name?' +</p> +<p> +'That, Joe, I am afraid I can't pronounce for you; it's rather beyond my +English tongue; but I know that his colour's grey, and that he has one +cropped ear.' +</p> +<p> +'That's Moddiridderoo!' shouted Joe, as throwing my portmanteau to the +ground, he seated himself leisurely on it, and seemed lost in meditation. +</p> +<p> +'Begorra,' said he at length, 'he chose a good-tempered one, when he was +about it! there never was such a horse foaled in them parts. Ye heard what +he did to Mr. Shea, the man that bred him? He threw him over a wall, and +then jumped after him; and if it wasn't that his guardian-angel made his +leather breeches so strong, he'd have ate him up entirely! Sure, there's +no one can ride him barrin' the man I was talkin' of.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, Joe, I believe Mr. Burke is to ride him.' +</p> +<p> +'Musha! but I am sorry for it!' +</p> +<p> +'And why so? You seem to think highly of his horsemanship.' +</p> +<p> +'There's no mistaken that, ay it was fair; but then, you see, he has as +many tricks in him as the devil. Sometimes he 'll break his stirrup +leather, or he 'll come in a pound too heavy, or he'll slip the snaffle +out of the mouth; for he doesn't care for his neck. Once I see him stake +his baste, and bring him in dead lame.' +</p> +<p> +Here ended our conversation; for by this time we entered the town, and +proceeded to Mrs. Doolan's. The house was full, or the apartments bespoke; +and I was turning away in disappointment, when I accidentally overheard +the landlady mention the two rooms ordered by Captain O'Grady. A little +explanation ensued, and I discovered, to my delight, that these were +destined for me by my friend, who had written sometime before to secure +them. A few minutes more saw me comfortably installed in the little inn, +whose unpretending exterior and cheerful comfort within doors were the +direct antithesis to the solemn humbug I had left at Shannon Harbour. +</p> +<p> +Under Joe's auspices—for he had established himself as my own man—tea +and rashers made their appearance. My clothes were unpacked and put by; +and as he placed my dressing-gown and slippers in readiness before the +fire, I could not help observing the servant-like alacrity of his manner, +perfect in everything, save in his habit of singing to himself as he went, +which I can't say, however, that I disliked, and certainly never dreamed +of checking. Having written a few lines to Mr. Burke, expressing my desire +for a few minutes' interview the following morning, I despatched the note, +and prepared for bed. +</p> +<p> +I had often listened with apathy to the wise saws of people who, never +having felt either hunger or fatigue, are so fond of pronouncing a glowing +eulogium on such luxuries, when the period of their gratification has +arrived; but, I confess, as I lay down that night in bed, and drew the +clothes around me, I began to believe that they had underrated the +pleasures they spoke of. The house clock ticked pleasantly in the room +without; the cheerful turf-fire threw its mild red light across the room; +the sounds from the street were those of happy voices and merry laughter, +and when I ceased to hear them I had fallen into a sound and peaceful +sleep. +</p> +<p> +It was after about a dozen efforts, in which I had gone through all the +usual formula on such occasions—rubbing my eyes, stretching, and +even pinching myself—before I could awake on the following morning. +I felt somewhat stiffened from the unaccustomed exertions of the day +before, but, somehow, my spirits were unusually high, and my heart in its +very lightest mood. I looked about me through the little room, where all +was order, neatness, and propriety. My clothes carefully brushed and +folded, my boots resplendent in their blacking, stood basking before the +fire; even my hat, placed gently on one side, with my gloves carefully +flattened, were laid out in true valet fashion. The door into my little +sitting-room lay open, and I could mark the neat and comfortable +preparations for my breakfast, while at a little distance from the table, +and in an attitude of patient attention, stood poor Joe himself, who, with +a napkin across his arm, was quietly waiting the moment of my awaking. +</p> +<p> +I know not if my reader will have any sympathy with the confession; but I +own I have always felt a higher degree of satisfaction from the unbought +and homely courtesy chance has thrown in my way, than from the more +practised and dearly-paid-for attentions of the most disciplined +household. There is something nattering in the personal devotion which +seems to spring from pure good-will, that insensibly raises one in his own +esteem. In some such reflection as this was I lost, when the door of my +outer room was opened, and a voice inquired if Mr. Hinton stopped there. +</p> +<p> +'Yes, sir,' replied Joe; 'he is in bed and asleep.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah! it is you, Joe?' replied the other. 'So you are turned footman, I +see. If the master be like the man, it ought to be a shrewd +establishment.' +</p> +<p> +'No,' replied Joe carelessly; 'he's not very like anything down in these +parts, for he appears to be a gentleman.' +</p> +<p> +'Tell him I am here, and be d——d to you,' was the indignant +reply, as the speaker threw himself into his chair and stirred the fire +with his foot. +</p> +<p> +Suspecting at once who my visitor was, I motioned to Joe to leave the +room, and proceeded to dress myself with all despatch. During the +operation, however, my friend without manifested several symptoms of +impatience: now walking the room with rapid strides, as he whistled a +quick step; now beating the bars of the grate with a poker, and +occasionally performing that popular war-dance, 'The Devil's Tattoo,' with +his knuckles upon the table. At length his endurance seemed pushed to its +limit, and he knocked sharply at the door, calling out at the same moment— +</p> +<p> +'I say, sir, time's up, if you please.' +</p> +<p> +The next moment I was before him. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Ulick Burke—for I need not say it was he—was a +well-looking man, of about eight-and-twenty or thirty years of age. +Although his height was below the middle size, he was powerfully and +strongly made; his features would have been handsome, were it not for a +certain expression of vulgar suspicion that played about the eyes, giving +him a sidelong look when he spoke; this, and the loss of two front teeth +from a fall, disfigured a face originally pleasing. His whiskers were +large, bushy, and meeting beneath his chin. As to his dress, it was in +character with his calling—a green coat cut round in jockey fashion, +over which he wore a white 'bang-up,' as it was called, in one pocket of +which was carelessly thrust a lash-whip; a belcher handkerchief, knotted +loosely about his neck, buckskin breeches, reaching far down upon the leg, +and top-boots completed his costume. I had almost forgotten a hat, perhaps +the most characteristic thing of all. This, which once had been white, was +now, by stress of time and weather, of a dirty drab colour, its crown +dinged in several places, and the leaf jagged and broken, bespoke the hard +usage to which it was subjected. While speaking, he held it firmly +clutched in his ungloved hand, and from time to time struck it against his +thigh, with an energy of manner that seemed habitual His manner was a +mixture of timid embarrassment and vulgar assurance, feeling his way, as +it were, with one, while he forgot himself with the other. With certain +remnants of the class he originally belonged to, he had associated the low +habitudes and slang phraseology of his daily associates, making it +difficult for one, at first sight, to discover to which order he belonged. +In the language of his companions, Click Burke 'could be a gentleman when +he pleased it.' +</p> +<p> +How often have we heard this phrase, and with what a fatal mistake is it +generally applied! He who can be a gentleman when he pleases, never +pleases to be anything else. Circumstances may, and do, every day in life, +throw men of cultivated minds and refined habits into the society of their +inferiors; but while, with the tact and readiness that is their especial +prerogative, they make themselves welcome among those with whom they have +few, if any, sympathies in common, yet never by any accident do they +derogate from that high standard that makes them gentlemen. So, on the +other hand, the man of vulgar tastes and coarse propensities may simulate, +if he be able, the outward habitudes of society, speaking with practised +intonation and bowing with well-studied grace; yet is he no more a +gentleman in his thought or feeling than is the tinselled actor, who +struts the board, the monarch his costume would bespeak him. This being +the 'gentleman when he likes' is but the mere performance of the +character. It has all the smell of the orange-peel and the footlights +about it, and never can be mistaken by any one who knows the world. +</p> +<p> +But to come back to Mr. Burke. Having eyed me for a second or two, with a +look of mingled distrust and impertinence, he unfolded my note, which he +held beneath his fingers, and said— +</p> +<p> +'I received this from you last night, Mr. ———' +</p> +<p> +'Hinton,' said I, assisting him. +</p> +<p> +'Mr. Hinton,' repeated he slowly. +</p> +<p> +'Won't you be seated?' said I, pointing to a chair, and taking one myself. +</p> +<p> +He nodded familiarly, and placing himself on the window-sill, with one +foot upon a chair, resumed— +</p> +<p> +'It's about O'Gradys business I suppose you've come down here. The Captain +has treated me very ill.' +</p> +<p> +'You are quite right,' said I coolly, 'in guessing the object of my visit; +but I must also let you know, that in any observations you make concerning +Captain O'Grady, they are made to a friend, who will no more permit his +name to be slightingly treated than his own.' +</p> +<p> +'Of course,' pronounced with a smile of the most insulting coolness, was +the only reply. 'That, however, is not the matter in hand: <i>your friend</i>, +the Captain, never condescended to answer my letter.' +</p> +<p> +'He only received it a few days ago.' +</p> +<p> +'Why isn't he here himself? Is a gentleman-rider to be treated like a +common jockey that's paid for his race?' +</p> +<p> +I confess the distinction was too subtle for me, but I said nothing in +reply. +</p> +<p> +'I don't even know where the horse is, nor if he is here at all. Will you +call that handsome treatment Mr. Hinton?' +</p> +<p> +'One thing I am quite sure of, Mr. Burke—Captain O'Grady is +incapable of anything unworthy or unbecoming a gentleman; the haste of his +departure for foreign service may have prevented him observing certain +matters of etiquette towards you, but he has commissioned me to accept +your terms. The horse is here, or will be here to-night; and I trust +nothing will interrupt the good understanding that has hitherto subsisted +between you.' +</p> +<p> +'And will he take up the writ?' 'He will,' said I firmly. +</p> +<p> +'He must have a heavy book on the race.' 'Nearly a thousand pounds.' +</p> +<p> +'I'm sorry for it for his sake,' was the cool reply, 'for he'll lose his +money.' +</p> +<p> +'Indeed!' said I; 'I understand that you thought well of his horse, and +that with your riding——' +</p> +<p> +'Ay; but I won't ride for him.' +</p> +<p> +'You won't ride!—not on your own terms?' +</p> +<p> +'No; not even on my own terms. Don't be putting yourself into a passion, +Mr. Hinton—you've come down to a country where that never does any +good; we settle all our little matters here in a social, pleasant way of +our own. But, I repeat it, I won't ride for your friend; so you may +withdraw his horse as soon as you like; except,' added he, with a most +contemptuous sneer, 'you have a fancy for riding him yourself.' +</p> +<p> +Resolving that whatever course I should follow I would at least keep my +temper for the present, I assumed as much calmness as I could command, and +said— +</p> +<p> +'And what is there against O'Gradys horse?' +</p> +<p> +'A chestnut mare of Tom Molloy's, that can beat him over any country. The +rest are withdrawn; so that I'll have a “ride over” for my pains.' +</p> +<p> +'Then you ride for Mr. Molloy?' said I. +</p> +<p> +'You've guessed it,' replied he with a wink, as throwing his hat +carelessly on one side of his head he gave me an insolent nod and lounged +out of the room. +</p> +<p> +I need not say that my breakfast appetite was not improved by Mr. Burke's +visit; in fact, never was a man more embarrassed than I was. Independent +of the loss of his money, I knew how poor Phil would suffer from the +duplicity of the transaction; and in my sorrow for his sake I could not +help accusing myself of ill-management in the matter. Had I been more +conciliating or more blunt—had I bullied, or bid higher, perhaps a +different result might have followed. Alas! in all my calculations, I knew +little or nothing of him with whom I had to deal. Puzzled and perplexed, +uncertain how to act—now resolving on one course, now deciding on +the opposite, I paced my little room for above an hour, the only +conviction I could come to being the unhappy choice that poor O'Grady had +made when he selected me for his negotiator. +</p> +<p> +The town clock struck twelve. I remembered suddenly that was the hour when +the arrangements for the race were to be ratified; and without a thought +of what course I should pursue, what plan I should adopt, I took my hat +and sallied forth. +</p> +<p> +The main street of the little town was crowded with people, most of them +of that class which, in Irish phrase, goes by the appellation of squireen—a +species of human lurcher, without any of the good properties of either +class from which it derives its origin, but abounding in the bad traits of +both. They lounged along, followed by pointers and wire-haired greyhounds, +their hands stuck in their coat-pockets, and their hats set well back on +their heads. Following in the train of this respectable cortege, I reached +the market-house, upon the steps of which several 'sporting gentlemen' of +a higher order were assembled. Elbowing my way with some difficulty +through these, I mounted a dirty and sandy stair to a large room, usually +employed by the magistrates for their weekly sessions; here, at a long +table, sat the race committee, an imposing display of books, pens, and +papers before them. A short little man, with a powdered head, and a +certain wheezing chuckle when he spoke that voluntarily suggested the +thought of apoplexy, seemed to be the president of the meeting. +</p> +<p> +The room was so crowded with persons of every class that I could with +difficulty catch what was going forward. I looked anxiously round to see +if I could not recognise some friend or acquaintance, but every face was +strange to me. The only one I had ever seen before was Mr. Burke himself, +who with his back to the fire was edifying a select circle of his friends +by what I discovered, from the laughter of his auditory, was a narrative +of his visit to myself. The recital must have owed something to his +ingenuity in telling, for indeed the gentlemen seemed convulsed with +mirth; and when Mr. Burke concluded, it was plain to see that he stood +several feet higher in the estimation of hie acquaintances. +</p> +<p> +'Silence!' wheezed the little man with the white head: 'it is a quarter +past twelve o'clock, and I'll not wait any longer.' +</p> +<p> +'Read the list, Maurice,' cried some one. 'As it is only “a walk over,” +you needn't lose any time.' +</p> +<p> +'Here, then, No. 1—Captain Fortescue's Tramp.' 'Withdrawn,' said a +voice in the crowd. 'No. 2—Harry Studdard's Devil-may-care.' +</p> +<p> +'Paid forfeit,' cried another. +</p> +<p> +'No. 3—Sir George O'Brien's Billy-the-bowl.' 'Gone home again,' was +the answer. 'No. 4—Tom Molloy's Cathleen.' +</p> +<p> +'All right!' shouted Mr. Burke, from the fireplace» 'Who rides?' asked the +president. +</p> +<p> +'Ulick!' repeated half-a-dozen voices together. +</p> +<p> +'Eleven stone eight,' said the little man. +</p> +<p> +'And a pound for the martingale,' chimed in Mr. Burke. +</p> +<p> +'Well, I believe that's all. No; there's another horse-Captain O'Grady's +Moddiridderoo.' +</p> +<p> +'Scratch him out with the rest,' said Mr. Burke. +</p> +<p> +'No!' said I, from the back of the room. +</p> +<p> +The word seemed electric; every eye was turned towards the quarter where I +stood; and as I moved forward towards the table the crowd receded to +permit my passage. +</p> +<p> +'Are you on the part of Mr. O'Grady, sir?' said the little man, with a +polite smile. +</p> +<p> +I bowed an affirmative. +</p> +<p> +'He does not withdraw his horse, then?' said he. +</p> +<p> +'No,' said I again. +</p> +<p> +'But you are aware, sir, that Mr. Burke is going to ride for my friend, +Mr. Molloy, here. Are you prepared with another gentleman?' +</p> +<p> +I nodded shortly.' +</p> +<p> +'His name, may I ask?' continued he. 'Mr. Hinton.' +</p> +<p> +By this time Mr. Burke, attracted by the colloquy, had approached the +table, and, stooping down, whispered some words in the president's ear. +</p> +<p> +'You will forgive me, I'm sure,' said the latter, addressing me, 'if I +ask, as the name is unknown to me, if this be a gentleman-rider?' +</p> +<p> +The blood rushed to my face and temples. I knew at once from whom this +insult proceeded. It was no time, however, to notice it, so I simply +replied— +</p> +<p> +'Mr. Hinton is an officer of the Guards, an aide-de-camp to the Lord +Lieutenant, and I beg leave respectfully to present him to you.' +</p> +<p> +The obsequious civility exhibited by the party as I pronounced these few +words were an ample <i>amende</i> for what I had suffered a few minutes +before. Meanwhile, Mr. Burke had resumed his place at the fire, once more +surrounded by his admiring satellites. +</p> +<p> +Being accommodated with a chair at the table, I proceeded to read over and +sign the usual papers, by which I bound myself to abide by the regulations +of the course, and conform in all things to the decision of the stewards. +Scarcely had I concluded, when Mr. Burke called out— +</p> +<p> +'Who'll take eight to one on the race?' +</p> +<p> +Not a word was spoken in reply. +</p> +<p> +'Who'll take fifty to five?' cried he again. +</p> +<p> +'I will,' said a voice from the door. +</p> +<p> +'Who is that takes my bet? What is his name?' 'Tom Loftus, P.P. of +Murranakilty.' +</p> +<p> +'A better fellow nor an honester couldn't do it, said the president. +</p> +<p> +'Book your bet, sir,' said Mr. Burke; 'or if it is equally convenient for +you, you can pay it at present.' +</p> +<p> +'I never make a memorandum of such trifles,' said the priest; 'but I'll +stake the money in some decent man's hands.' +</p> +<p> +A roar of laughter followed the priest's proposition, than which nothing +could be less to Mr. Burke's taste. This time, however, he was in funds; +and while the good father disengaged his five-pound note from the folds of +a black leather pocket-book as large as a portfolio, his antagonist threw +a fifty on the table, with an air of swaggering importance. I turned now +to shake hands with my friend; but to my surprise and astonishment he gave +me a look of cold and impressive import, that showed me at once he did not +wish to be recognised, and the next moment left the room. My business +there was also concluded, and having promised to be forthcoming the +following day at two o'clock, I bowed to the chairman and withdrew. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XXII. A MOONLIGHT CANTER +</h2> +<p> +I was not quite satisfied with the good priest for his having cut me, no +matter what his reasons. I was not overmuch pleased with the tone of the +whole meeting itself, and certainly I was very little satisfied with the +part I had myself taken therein; for as cooler judgment succeeded to hot +excitement, I perceived in what a mesh of difficulties I had involved +myself, and how a momentary flush of passionate indignation had carried me +away beyond the bounds of reason and sense, to undertake what but half an +hour previously I should have shrunk from with shame, and the very thought +of which now filled me with apprehension and dread—not indeed as to +the consequences to myself, physically considered, for most willingly +would I have compounded for a fractured limb, or even two, to escape the +ridicule I was almost certain of incurring. This it was which I could not +bear, and my <i>amore propre</i> recoiled from the thought of being a +laughing-stock to the underbred and ill-born horde that would assemble to +witness me. +</p> +<p> +When I arrived at the inn poor Joe was there awaiting me; he had been down +to see the horse, which for precaution's sake was kept at a mill a little +distance from the town, and of whose heart and condition he spoke in +glowing terms. +</p> +<p> +'Och! he is a raal beauty—a little thick in fat about the crest, but +they say he always trains fleshy, and his legs are as clean as a whistle. +Sorra bit, but it will give Mr. Ulick as much as he can do to ride him +to-morrow. I know by the way he turns his eyes round to you in the stable +he's in the devil's temper.' +</p> +<p> +'But it is not Mr. Burke, Joe—I am going to ride him.' +</p> +<p> +'You are going to do it! You! Oh! by the powers! Mr. Ulick wasn't far out +when he said the master was as mad as the man. “Tell me your company,” +says the old proverb; and you see there it is. What comes of it? If you +lie down with dogs, you'll get up with fleas; and that's the fruits of +travelling with a fool.' +</p> +<p> +I was in no temper for badinage at the moment, and replied to the poor +fellow in a somewhat harsher tone than I should have used; and as he left +the room without speaking, I felt ashamed and angry with myself for thus +banishing the only one that seemed to feel an interest in my fortunes. +</p> +<p> +I sat down to my dinner discontented and unhappy. But a few hours +previous, and I awoke high in heart and hope; and now without any adverse +stroke of fortune, without any of those casualties of fate which come on +us unlooked for and unthought of, but simply by the un-guided exercise of +a passionate temperament, I found myself surrounded by embarrassments and +environed by difficulties, without one friend to counsel or advise me. +</p> +<p> +Yes—I could not conceal it from myself—my determination to +ride the steeplechase was the mere outbreak of passion. The taunting +insolence of Burke had stung me to adopt a course which I had neither +previously considered, nor, if suggested by another, could ever have +consented to. True, I was what could be called a good horseman. In the two +seasons I had spent in Leicestershire, on a visit to a relative, I had +acquitted myself with credit and character; but a light weight splendidly +mounted on a trained hunter, over his accustomed country, has no parallel +with the same individual upon a horse he has never crossed, over a country +he has never seen. These and a hundred similar considerations came rushing +on me now when it was too late. However, the thing was done, and there +being no possible way of undoing it, there was but one road, the +straightforward, to follow in the case. Alas! half of our philosophy in +difficulties consists in shutting our eyes firmly against consequences, +and, <i>tête baissée</i>, rushing headlong at the future. Though few may +be found willing to admit that the bull in the china-shop is the model of +their prudence, I freely own it was mine, and that I made up my mind to +ride the horse with the unspeakable name as long as he would permit me to +ride him, at everything, over everything, or through everything before me. +This conclusion at length come to, I began to feel more easy in my mind. +Like the felon that feels there is no chance of a reprieve, I could look +my fate more steadily in the face. +</p> +<p> +I had no great appetite for my dinner, but I sat over an excellent bottle +of port, sipping and sipping, each glass I swallowed lending a rose tint +to the future. The second bottle had just been placed on the table before +me, when O'Gradys groom came in to receive his instructions. He had heard +nothing of my resolution to ride, and certainly looked aghast when I +announced it to him. By this time, however, I had combated my own fears, +and I was not going to permit his to terrify me. Affecting the easy +nonchalance of that excellent type Mr. Ulick Burke, I thrust my hands into +my coat-pockets, and standing with my back to the fire, began questioning +him about the horse. Confound it! there's no man so hard to humbug as an +Irishman, but if he be a groom, I pronounce the thing impossible. The +fellow saw through me in a moment; and as he sipped the glass of wine I +had filled out for him, he approached me confidentially, while he said in +a low tone— +</p> +<p> +'Did you say you 'd ride him?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, to be sure I did.' +</p> +<p> +'You did! well, well! there's no helping it, since you said it. There's +only one thing to be done'—he looked cautiously about the room, lest +any one should overhear him. 'There's but one thing I know of—-let +him throw you at the first leap. Mind me now, just leave it to himself; +hell give you no trouble in life; and all you have to do is to choose the +soft side. It's not your fault after that, you know, for I needn't tell +you he won't be caught before night.' +</p> +<p> +I could not help laughing at this new receipt for riding a steeplechase, +although I confess it did not raise my courage regarding the task before +me. +</p> +<p> +'But what does he do?' said I—'this infernal beast; what trick has +he?' +</p> +<p> +'It isn't one, but a hundred that he has. First of all, it isn't so easy +to get on his back, for he is as handy with his hind foot as a fiddler; +and if you are not mighty quick in mounting, he 'll strike you down with +it. Then, when you are up, maybe he won't move at all, but stand with his +forelegs out, his head down, and his eyes turned back just like a picture, +hitting his flanks between times with his long tail You may coax him, pet +him, and pat him—'faith, you might as well be tickling a milestone; +for it's laughing at you he 'll be all the time. Maybe at last you 'll get +tired, and touch him with the spur. Hurroo! begorra, you 'll get it then!' +</p> +<p> +'Why—what happens then?' +</p> +<p> +'What happens, is it? Maybe it's your neck is broke, or your thigh, or +your collar-bone at least. He 'll give you a straight plunge up in the +air, about ten feet high, throw his head forward till he either pulls the +reins out of your hands or lifts you out of the saddle, and at the same +moment he'll give you a blow with his hind-quarters in the small of the +back. Och, murther!' said he, placing both hands upon his loins, and +writhing as he spoke, 'it'll be six weeks to-morrow since he made one of +them buck-leaps with me, and I never walked straight since. But that is +not all.' +</p> +<p> +'Come, come,' said I impatiently, 'this is all nonsense; he only wants a +man with a little pluck to bully him out of all this.' +</p> +<p> +As I said these valorous words I own that to my own heart I didn't exactly +correspond to the person I described; but as the bottle of port was now +finished, I set forth with my companion to pay my first visit to this +redoubted animal. +</p> +<p> +The mill where the stable lay was about a mile from the town; but the +night was a fine moonlight one, with not an air of wind stirring, and the +walk delightful When we reached the little stream that turned the mill, +over which a plank was thrown as a bridge, we perceived that a country lad +was walking a pair of saddle-horses backwards and forwards near the spot. +The suspicion of some trickery, some tampering with the horse, at once +crossed me; and I hinted as much to the groom. +</p> +<p> +'No, no,' said he, laughing, 'make your mind easy about that. Mr. Ulick +Burke knows the horse well, and he'll leave it all to himself.' +</p> +<p> +The allusion was a pleasant one; but I said nothing, and walked on. +</p> +<p> +Having procured a lantern at the mill, the groom preceded me to the little +outhouse, which acted as stable. He opened the door cautiously, and peeped +in. +</p> +<p> +'He's lying down,' said he to me in a whisper, and at the same moment +taking the candle from the lantern, he held it up to permit my obtaining a +better view. 'Don't be afeard,' continued he, 'he 'll not stir now, the +thief of the earth! When once he's down that way, he lies as peaceable as +a lamb.' +</p> +<p> +As well as I could observe him, he was a magnificent horse—a little +too heavy perhaps about the crest and forehand, but then so strong behind, +such powerful muscle about the haunches, that his balance was well +preserved. As I stood contemplating him in silence, I felt the breath of +some one behind me. I turned suddenly around; it was Father Tom Loftus +himself. There was the worthy priest, mopping his forehead with a huge +pocket-handkerchief and blowing like a rhinoceros. +</p> +<p> +'Ugh!' said he at length, 'I have been running up and down the roads this +half-hour after you, and there's not a puff left in me.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah, father! I hoped to have seen you at the inn.' 'Whisht! I darn't. I +thought I'd do it better my own way; but, see now, we've no time to lose. +I knew as well as yourself you never intended to ride this race. No +matter; don't say a word, but listen to me. I know the horse better than +any one in these parts; and it isn't impossible, if you can keep the +saddle over the first two or three fences, that you may win. I say, if you +can—for 'faith it's not in a “swing-swong” you'll be! But, come now, +the course was marked out this evening. Burke was over it before dinner; +and, with a blessing, we will be before supper. I've got a couple of hacks +here that'll take us over every bit of it; and perhaps it is not too much +to say you might have a worse guide.' +</p> +<p> +''Faith, your reverence,' chimed in the groom, 'he'd find it hard to have +a better.' +</p> +<p> +Thanking the kind priest for his good-natured solicitude, I followed him +out upon the road, where the two horses were waiting us. +</p> +<p> +'There, now,' said he, 'get up; the stirrups are about your length. He +looks a little low in flesh, but you'll not complain of him when he's +under you.' +</p> +<p> +The next moment we were both in the saddle. Taking a narrow path that led +off from the highroad, we entered a large tilled field; keeping along the +headlands of which, we came to a low stone wall, through a gap of which we +passed, and came out upon an extensive piece, of grassland, that gently +sloped away from where we were standing to a little stream at its base, an +arm of that which supplied the mill. +</p> +<p> +'Here, now,' said the priest, 'a little to the left yonder is the start. +You come down this hill; you take the water there, and you keep along by +Freney's house, where you see the trees there. There's only a small stone +wall and a clay ditch between this and that; afterwards you turn off to +the right. But, come now, are you ready? We'll explore a bit.' +</p> +<p> +As he spoke, the good priest, putting spurs to his hackney, dashed on +before me, and motioning me to follow, cantered down the slope. Taking the +little mill-stream at a fly, he turned in his saddle to watch my +performance. +</p> +<p> +'Neat! mighty neat!' cried he, encouraging me. 'Keep your hand a little +low. The next is a wall——' +</p> +<p> +Scarcely had he spoke when we both came together at a stone-fence, about +three feet high. This time I was a little in advance, as my horse was +fresher, and took it first. +</p> +<p> +'Oh, the devil a better!' said Father Tom. 'Burke himself couldn't beat +that! Here, now: keep this way out of the deep ground, and rush him at the +double ditch there.' +</p> +<p> +Resolved on securing his good opinion, I gripped my saddle firmly with my +knees, and rode at the fence. Over we went in capital style; but lighting +on the top of a rotten ditch, the ground gave way, and my horse's hind +legs slipped backwards into the gripe. Being at full stretch, the poor +animal had no power to recover himself, so that, disengaging his forelegs, +I pulled him down into the hollow, and then with a vigorous dash of the +spur and a bold lift carried him clean over it into the field. +</p> +<p> +'Look, now!' said the priest; 'that pleases me better than all you did +before. Presence of mind—that's the real gift for a horseman when +he's in a scrape; but, mind me, it was your own fault, for here's the way +to take the fence.' So saying, he made a slight semicircle in the field, +and then, as he headed his horse towards the leap, rushed him at it +furiously, and came over like the bound of a stag. +</p> +<p> +'Now,' said Father Tom, pointing with his whip as he spoke, 'we have a +beautiful bit of galloping-ground before us; and if you ever reach this +far, and I don't see why you shouldn't, here's where you ought to make +play. Listen to me now,' said he, dropping his voice: 'Tom Molloy s mare +isn't thoroughbred, though they think she is. She has got a bad drop in +her. Now, the horse is all right, clean bred, sire and dam, by reason he +'ll be able to go through the dirt when the mare can't; so that all you +'ve to do, if, as I said before, you get this far, is to keep straight +down to the two thorn-bushes—there, you see them yonder. Burke won't +be able to take that line, but must keep upon the headlands, and go all +round yonder; look, now, you see the difference—so that before he +can get over that wide ditch you'll be across it, and making for the stone +wall After that, by the powers, if you don't win, I, can't help you!' +</p> +<p> +'Where does the course turn after, father?' said I. +</p> +<p> +'Oh! a beautiful line of flat country, intersprinkled with walls, ditches, +and maybe a hedge or two; but all fair, and only one rasping fence—the +last of all. After that, you have a clean gallop of about a quarter of a +mile, over as nice a sod as ever you cantered.' +</p> +<p> +'And that last fence, what is it like?' +</p> +<p> +''Faith, it is a rasper! It's a wide gully, where there was a <i>boreen</i> +once, and they say it is every inch of sixteen feet—that'll make it +close upon twenty when you clear the clay on both sides. The grey horse, +I'm told, has a way of jumping in and jumping out of these narrow roads; +but take my advice, and go it in a fly. And now, Captain, what between the +running, and the riding, and the talking altogether, I am as dry as a +limekiln; so what do you say if we turn back to town, and have a bit of +supper together? There's a kind of a cousin of mine, one Bob Mahon, a +Major in the Roscommon, and he has got a grouse-pie, and something hot to +dilute it with, waiting for us.' +</p> +<p> +'Nothing will give me more pleasure, father; and there's only one thing +more—indeed I had nearly forgotten it altogether——'' +</p> +<p> +'What's that?' said the priest, with surprise. +</p> +<p> +'Not having any intention to ride, I left town without any racing +equipment; breeches and boots I have, but as to a cap and a jacket——' +</p> +<p> +'I 've provided for both,' said Father Tom. 'You saw the little man with a +white head that sat at the head of the table—Tom Dillon of Mount +Brown; you know him?' +</p> +<p> +'I am not acquainted with him.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, he knows you; that's all the same. His son, that's just gone to +Gibraltar with his regiment, was about your size, and he had a new cap and +jacket made for this very race, and of course they are lying there and +doing nothing. So I sent over a little gossoon with a note, and I don't +doubt but they are all at the inn this moment.' +</p> +<p> +'By Jove, father!' said I, 'you are a real friend, and a most thoughtful +one, too.' +</p> +<p> +'Maybe I'll do better than that for you,' said he, with a sly wink of his +eye, that somehow suggested to my mind that he knew more of and took a +deeper interest in me than I had reason to believe. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0023" id="link2HCH0023"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XXIII. MAJOR MAHON AND HIS QUARTERS +</h2> +<p> +The Major's quarters were fixed in one of the best houses in the town, in +the comfortable back-parlour of which was now displayed a little table +laid for three persons. A devilled lobster, the grouse-pie already +mentioned, some fried ham, and crisped potatoes were the viands; but each +was admirable in its kind, and with the assistance of an excellent bowl of +hot punch and the friendly welcome of the host, left nothing to be +desired. +</p> +<p> +Major Bob Mahon was a short, thickset little man, with round blue eyes, a +turned-up nose, and a full under lip, which he had a habit of protruding +with an air of no mean pretension; a short crop of curly black hair +covered a head as round as a billiard-ball. These traits, with a certain +peculiar smack of his mouth, by which he occasionally testified the +approval of his own eloquence, were the most remarkable things about him. +His great ambition was to be thought a military man; but somehow his +pretensions in this respect smacked much more of the militia than the +line. Indeed, he possessed a kind of adroit way of asserting the +superiority of the former to the latter, averring that they who fought <i>pro +arts et focis</i>—the Major was fond of Latin—stood on far +higher ground than the travelled mercenaries who only warred for pay. This +peculiarity, and an absurd attachment to practical jokes, the result of +which had frequently through life involved him in lawsuits, damages, +compensations, and even duels, formed the great staple of his character—of +all which the good priest informed me most fully on our way to the house. +</p> +<p> +'Captain Hinton, I believe,' said the Major, as he held out his hand in +welcome. +</p> +<p> +'Mr. Hinton,' said I, bowing. +</p> +<p> +'Ay, yes; Father Tom, there, doesn't know much about these matters. What +regiment, pray?' +</p> +<p> +'The Grenadier Guards.' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, a very good corps—mighty respectable corps; not that, between +ourselves, I think overmuch of the regulars; between you and me, I never +knew foreign travel do good to man or beast. What do they bring back with +them, I'd like to know?—French cookery and Italian licentiousness. +No, no; give me the native troops! You were a boy at the time, but maybe +you have heard how they behaved in the west, when Hoche landed. Egad! if +it wasn't for the militia the country was sacked. I commanded a company of +the Roscommon at the time. I remember well we laid siege to a windmill, +held by a desperate fellow, the miller—a resolute character, Mr. +Hinton; he had two guns in the place with him.' +</p> +<p> +'I wish to the Lord he had shot you with one of them, and we 'd have been +spared this long story!' said the priest. +</p> +<p> +'I opened a parallel——' +</p> +<p> +'Maybe you 'd open the pie?' said the priest, as he drew his chair, and +sat down to the table. 'Perhaps you forget, Bob, we have had a sharp ride +of it this evening?' +</p> +<p> +'Upon my conscience, so I did,' replied the Major good-humouredly. 'So let +us have a bit of supper now, Mr. Hinton, and I'll finish my story +by-and-by.' +</p> +<p> +'The Heavens forbid!' piously ejaculated the priest, as he helped himself +to a very considerable portion of the lobster. +</p> +<p> +'Is this a fast, Father Loftus?' said I slyly. +</p> +<p> +'No, my son, but we'll make it one. That reminds me of what happened to me +going up in the boat. It was a Friday, and the dinner, as you may suppose, +was not over-good; but there was a beautiful cut of fried salmon just +before me—about a pound and a half, maybe two pounds; this I slipped +quietly on my plate, observing to the company, in this way, “Ladies and +gentlemen, this is a fast day with me”—when a big fellow, with red +whiskers, stooped across the table, cut my bit of fish in two halves, +calling out as he carried off one, “Bad scran to ye! d'ye think nobody has +a soul to be saved but yourself?”' +</p> +<p> +'Ah, they're a pious people, are the Irish!' said the Major solemnly, 'and +you'll remark that when you see more of them. And now, Captain, how do you +like us here?' +</p> +<p> +'Exceedingly,' said I, with warmth. 'I have had every reason to be greatly +pleased with Ireland.' +</p> +<p> +'That's right! and I'm glad of it! though, to be sure, you have not seen +us in our holiday garb. Ah, if you were here before the Union; if you saw +Dublin as I remember it—and Tom there remembers it—“that was a +pleasant place.” It was not trusting to balls and parties, to dinners and +routs, but to all kinds of fun and devilment besides. All the members of +Parliament used to be skylarking about the city, playing tricks on one +another, and humbugging the Castle people. And, to be sure, the Castle was +not the grave, stupid place it is now—they were convivial, jovial +fellows——' +</p> +<p> +'Come, come, Major,' interrupted I; 'you are really unjust—the +present court is not the heavy——' +</p> +<p> +'Sure, I know what it is well enough. Hasn't the duke all the privy +council and the bishops as often to dinner as the garrison and the bar? +Isn't he obliged to go to his own apartment when they want to make a night +of it, and sing a good chorus? Don't tell me! Sure, even as late as Lord +Westmorland's time it was another thing—pleasant and happy times +they were, and the country will never be the same till we have them back +again!' +</p> +<p> +Being somewhat curious to ascertain in what particular our degeneracy +consisted—for in my ignorance of better, I had hitherto supposed the +present regime about as gay a thing as need be—I gradually led the +Major on to talk of those happier days when Ireland kept all its fun for +home consumption, and never exported even its surplus produce. +</p> +<p> +'It was better in every respect,' responded the Major. 'Hadn't we all the +patronage amongst us? There's Jonah, there—Harrington, I mean; well, +he and I could make anything, from a tide-waiter to a master in Chancery. +It's little trouble small debts gave us then; a pipe of sherry never cost +me more than a storekeeper in the ordnance, and I kept my horses at livery +for three years with a washwoman to Kilmainham Hospital And as for fun—look +at the Castle now! Don't I remember the times when we used to rob the +coaches coming from the drawing-rooms; and pretty girls they were inside +of them.' +</p> +<p> +'For shame, for shame!' cried Father Tom, with a sly look in the corner of +his eye that by no means bespoke a suitable degree of horror at such +unwarrantable proceedings. +</p> +<p> +'Well, if it was a shame it was no sin,' responded the Major; 'for we +never took anything more costly than kisses. Ah, dear me! them was the +times! And, to be sure, every now and then we got a pull-up from the Lady +lieutenant, and were obliged to behave ourselves for a week or two +together. One thing she never could endure was a habit we had of leaving +the Castle before they themselves left the ball-room. I'm not going to +defend it—it was not very polite, I confess; but somehow or other +there was always something going on we couldn't afford to lose—maybe +a supper at the barrack, or a snug party at Daly's, or a bit of fun +elsewhere. Her Excellency, however, got angry about it, and we got a quiet +hint to reform our manners. This, I need not tell you, was a hopeless +course; so we hit on an expedient that answered to the full as well. It +was by our names being called out, as the carriages drove up, that our +delinquency became known. So Matt Fortescue suggested that we should adopt +some feigned nomenclature, which would totally defy every attempt at +discovery; the idea was excellent, and we traded on it for many a day with +complete success. One night, however, from some cause or other, the +carriages were late in arriving, and we were all obliged to accompany the +court into the supper-room. Angry enough we were; but still there was no +help for it; and so, “smiling through tears,” as the poet says, in we +went. Scarcely, however, had we taken our places when a servant called out +something from the head of the stairs; another re-echoed it at the +ante-chamber, and a third at the supper-room shouted out, “Oliver +Cromwell's carriage stops the way!” The roar of laughter the announcement +caused shook the very room; but it had scarcely subsided when there was +another call for “Brian Boru's coach,” quickly followed by “Guy Fawkes” +and “Paddy O'Rafferty's jingle,” which latter personage was no other than +the Dean of Cork. I need not tell you that we kept our secret, and joined +in the universal opinion of the whole room, “that the household was +shamefully disguised in drink”; and indeed there was no end to the +mistakes that night, for every now and then some character in heathen or +modern history would turn up among the announcements; and as the laughter +burst forth, the servants would grow ashamed for a while, and refuse to +call any carriage where the style and title was a little out of the +common. Ah, Mr. Hinton, if you had lived in those days! Well, well, no +matter—here's a glass to their memory, anyway. It is the first time +you 've been in these parts, and I suppose you haven't seen much of the +country?' +</p> +<p> +'Very little indeed,' replied I; 'and even that much only by moonlight.' +</p> +<p> +'I'm afraid,' said Father Tom, half pensively, 'that many of your +countrymen take little else than a “dark view” of us.' +</p> +<p> +'See now,' said the Major, slapping his hand on the table with energy, +'the English know as much about Pat as Pat knows of purgatory—no +offence to you, Mr. Hinton. I could tell you a story of a circumstance +that once happened to myself.' +</p> +<p> +No, no, Bob,' said the priest; 'it is bad taste to tell a story <i>en +petit comité</i>. I'll leave it to the Captain.' +</p> +<p> +'If I am to be the judge,' said I laughingly, 'I decide for the story.' +</p> +<p> +'Let's have it, then,' said the priest. 'Come, Bob, a fresh brew, and +begin your tale.' +</p> +<p> +'You are a sensual creature, Father Tom,' said the Major, 'and prefer +drink to intellectual discussion; not but that you may have both here at +the same time. But in honour of my friend beside me, I'll not bear malice, +but give you the story; and let me tell you, it is not every day in the +week a man hears a tale with a moral to it, particularly down in this part +of the country.' +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0024" id="link2HCH0024"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XXIV. THE DEVIL'S GRIP +</h2> +<p> +'The way of it was this. There was a little estate of mine in the county +of Waterford that I used now and then to visit in the shooting season. In +fact, except for that, there was very little inducement to go there; it +was a bleak, ugly part of the country, a bad market-town near it, and not +a neighbour within twelve miles. Well, I went over there—it was, as +well as I remember, December two years. Never was there such weather; it +rained from morning till night, and blew and rained from night till +morning; the slates were flying about on every side, and we used to keep +fellows up all night, that in case the chimneys were blown away we 'd know +where to find them in the morning. This was the pleasant weather I +selected for my visit to the “Devil's Grip”—that was the name of the +town-land where the house stood; and no bad name either, for, 'faith, if +he hadn't his paw on it, it might have gone in law,-like the rest of the +property. However, down I went there, and only remembered on the evening +of my arrival that I had ordered my gamekeeper to poison the mountain, to +get rid of the poachers; so that, instead of shooting, which, as I said +before, was all you could do in the place, there I was, with three brace +of dogs, two guns, and powder enough to blow up a church, walking a big +dining-parlour, all alone by myself, as melancholy as may be. +</p> +<p> +'You may judge how happy I was, looking out upon the bleak country-side, +with nothing to amuse me except when now and then the roof of some cabin +or other would turn upside down, like an umbrella, or watching an old +windmill that had gone clean mad, and went round at such a pace that +nobody dare go near it. All this was poor comfort. However, I got out of +temper with the place; and so I sat down and wrote a long advertisement +for the English papers, describing the Devil's Grip as a little +terrestrial paradise, in the midst of picturesque scenery, a delightful +neighbourhood, and an Arcadian peasantry, the whole to be parted with—-a +dead bargain—as the owner was about to leave the country. I didn't +add that he had some thought of blowing his brains out with sheer disgust +of his family residence. I wound up the whole with a paragraph to the +effect that if not disposed of within the month, the proprietor would +break it up into small farms. I said this because I intended to remain so +long there; and, although I knew no purchaser would treat after he saw the +premises, yet still some one might be fool enough to come over and look at +them, and even that would help me to pass the Christmas. My calculation +turned out correct; for before a week was over, a letter reached me, +stating that a Mr. Green, of No. 196 High Holborn, would pay me a visit as +soon as the weather moderated and permitted him to travel If he waits for +that, thought I, he 'll not find me here; and if it blows as hard for the +next week, he 'll not find the house either; so I mixed another tumbler of +punch, and hummed myself to sleep with the “Battle of Ross.” +</p> +<p> +'It was about four or five evenings after I received this letter that old +Dan M'Cormick—a kind of butler I have, a handy fellow; he was a +steward for ten years in the Holyhead packet—burst into the room +about ten o'clock, when I was disputing with myself whether I took six +tumblers or seven—I said one, the decanter said the other. +</p> +<p> +'“It's blowing terrible, Mr. Bob,” said Dan. +</p> +<p> +'“Let it blow! What else has it to do?” +</p> +<p> +'“The trees is tumbling about as if they was drunk; there won't be one +left before morn.” +</p> +<p> +'“They're right,” says I, “to leave that, for the soil was never kind for +planting.” +</p> +<p> +'“Two of the chimneys is down,” says he. +</p> +<p> +'“Devil mend them!” said I, “they were always smoking.” +</p> +<p> +'“And the hall door,” cried he, “is blown flat into the hall.” +</p> +<p> +'“It's little I care,” said I; “if it couldn't keep out the sheriff it may +let in the storm, if it pleases.” +</p> +<p> +'“Murther! murther!” said he, wringing his hands, “I wish we were at say! +It's a cruel thing to have one's life perilled this way.” +</p> +<p> +'While we were talking, a gossoon burst into the room with the news that +the Milford packet had just gone ashore somewhere below the Hook Tower, +adding, as is always the case on such occasions, that they were all +drowned. +</p> +<p> +'I jumped up at this, put on my shooting-shoes, buttoned up my frieze +coat, and followed by Dan, took a short cut over the hills towards +Passage, where I now found the packet had been driven in. Before we had +gone half a mile I heard the voices of some country-people coming up the +road towards me; but it was so dark you couldn't see your hand. +</p> +<p> +'“Who's there?” said I. +</p> +<p> +'“Tim Molloy, your honour,” was the answer. +</p> +<p> +'“What's the matter, Tim?” said I. “Is there anything wrong?” +</p> +<p> +'“Nothing, sir, glory be to God—it's only the corpse of the +gentleman that was drowned there below.” +</p> +<p> +'“I ain't dead, I tell you; I'm only faint,” called out a shrill voice. +</p> +<p> +'“He says he's better,” said Tim; “and maybe it's only the salt water +that's in him; and, faix, when we found him, there was no more spark in +him than in a wet sod.” +</p> +<p> +'Well, the short of it was, we brought him up to the house, rubbed him +with gunpowder before the fire, gave him about half a pint of burnt +spirits, and put him to bed, he being just able to tell me, as he was +dropping asleep, that he was my friend from No. 196 High Holborn. +</p> +<p> +'The next morning I sent up Dan to ask how he was, and he came down with +the news that he was fast asleep. “The best thing he could do,” said I; +and I began to think over what a mighty load it would be upon my +conscience if the decent man had been drowned. “For, maybe, after all,” +thought I, “he is in earnest, maybe he wished to buy a beautiful place +like that I have described in the papers”; and so I began to relent, and +wonder with myself how I could make the country pleasant for him during +his stay. “It'll not be a day or two at farthest, particularly after he +sees the place. Ay, there's the rub—the poor devil will find out +then that I have been hoaxing him.” This kept fretting me all day; and I +was continually sending up word to know if he was awake, and the answer +always was—still sleeping. +</p> +<p> +'Well, about four o'clock, as it was growing dark, Oakley of the Fifth and +two of his brother officers came bowling up to the door, on their way to +Carrick. Here was a piece of luck! So we got dinner ready for the party, +brought a good store of claret at one side of the fireplace, and a +plentiful stock of bog-fir at the other, and resolved to make a night of +it; and just as I was describing to my friends the arrival of my guest +above-stairs, who should enter the room but himself. He was a round little +fellow, about my size, with a short, quick, business-like way about him. +Indeed, he was a kind of a drysalter, or something of that nature, in +London, had made a large fortune, and wished to turn country gentleman. I +had only time to learn these few particulars, and to inform him that he +was at that moment in the mansion he had come to visit, when dinner was +announced. +</p> +<p> +'Down we sat; and, 'faith, a jollier party rarely met f together. Poor Mr. +Green knew but little of Ireland; but we certainly tried to enlighten him; +and he drank in wonders with his wine at such a rate that by eleven +o'clock he was carried to his room pretty much in the same state as on his +arrival the night before, the only difference being, it was Sneyd, not +saltwater, this time that filled him. +</p> +<p> +'“I like the cockney,” said Oakley; “that fellow's good fun. I say, Bob, +bring him over with you to-morrow to dinner. We halt at Carrick till the +detachment comes up.” +</p> +<p> +'“Could you call it breakfast?” said I. “There's a thought just strikes +me: we'll be over in Carrick with you about six o'clock; well have our +breakfast, whatever you like to give us, and dine with you about eleven or +twelve afterwards.” +</p> +<p> +'Oakley liked the project well; and before we parted the whole thing was +arranged for the next day. +</p> +<p> +'Towards four o'clock in the afternoon of the following day Mr. Green was +informed by Daniel that, as we had made an engagement to take an early +breakfast some miles off, he ought to be up and stirring; at the same time +a pair of candles were brought into the room, hot water for shaving, etc; +and the astonished cockney, who looked at his watch, perceived that it was +but four. +</p> +<p> +'“These are very early people,” thought he. “However, the habits of the +country must be complied with.” So saying, he proceeded with his toilette, +and at last reached the drawing-room, just as my drag dashed up to the +door—the lamps fixed and shining, and everything in readiness for +departure. +</p> +<p> +'“We''ll have a little shooting, Mr. Green,” said I. “After breakfast, +we'll see what my friend's preserves offer. I suppose you're a good shot?” +</p> +<p> +“'I can't say much for my performance; but I'm passionately fond of it.” +</p> +<p> +'“Well,” added I, “I believe I can answer for it, you 'll have a good day +here.” +</p> +<p> +'So chatting, we rolled along, the darkness gradually thickening round us, +and the way becoming more gloomy and deserted. +</p> +<p> +'“It's strange,” says Mr. Green, after a while; “it's strange, how very +dark it grows before sunrise; for I perceive it's much blacker now than +when we set out.” +</p> +<p> +'“Every climate has its peculiarities,” said I; “and now that we 're used +to this, we like it better than any other. But see there, yonder, where +you observe the light in the valley—that's Carrick. My friend's +house is a little at the side of the town. I hope you 've a good appetite +for breakfast.” +</p> +<p> +'“Trust me, I never felt so hungry in my life.” +</p> +<p> +'“Ah, here they come!” said Oakley, as he stood with a lantern in his hand +at the barrack-gate; “here they are! Good-morning, Mr. Green. Bob, how +goes it? Heavenly morning!” +</p> +<p> +'“Delightful indeed,” said poor Green, though evidently not knowing why. +</p> +<p> +'“Come along, boys, now,” said Oakley; “we've a great deal before us; +though I am afraid, Mr. Green, you will think little of our Irish sporting +after your English preserves. However, I have kept a few brace of +pheasants, very much at your service, in a snug clover-field near the +house. So now to breakfast.” +</p> +<p> +'There were about half a dozen of the Fifth at that time in the barrack, +who all entered heart and hand into the scheme, and with them we sat down +to a capital meal, which, if it was not for a big tea-pot and an urn that +figured in the middle of the table, might very well have been called +dinner. Poor Mr. Green, who for old prejudice' sake began with his congo +and a muffin, soon afterwards, and by an easy transition, glided into soup +and fish, and went the pace with the rest of us. The claret began to +circulate briskly, and after a couple of hours the whisky made its +appearance. The Englishman, whose attention was never suffered to flag +with singular anecdotes of a country, whose eccentricities he already +began to appreciate, enjoyed himself to the utmost. He laughed, he drank, +he even proposed to sing; and with one hand on Oakley's shoulder, and the +other on mine, he registered a vow to purchase an estate and spend the +rest of his days in Ireland. It was now about eleven o'clock, when I +proposed that we should have a couple of hours at the woodcocks before +luncheon. +</p> +<p> +'“Ah, yes,” said Green, rubbing his hands, “let us not forget the +shooting. I 'm passionately fond of sport.” +</p> +<p> +'It took some time to caparison ourselves for the field. Shot-bags, +flasks, and powder-horns were distributed about, while three brace of dogs +caracoled round the room, and increased the uproar. We now sallied forth. +It was a dark and starless night—the wind still Mowing a hurricane +from the north-east, and not a thing to be seen two yards from where you +stood. +</p> +<p> +'“Glorious weather!” said Oakley. +</p> +<p> +'“A delicious morning!” cried another. “When those clouds blow over we +shall have no rain.” +</p> +<p> +'“That's a fine line of country, Mr. Green,” said I. +</p> +<p> +'“Eh? what? a fine what? I can see nothing—it's pitch dark.” +</p> +<p> +'“Ah, I forgot,” said I. “How stupid we were, Oakley, not to remember that +Mr. Green was not used to our climate! We can see everything, you know; +but come along, you'll get better by-and-by.” +</p> +<p> +'With this we hurried him down a lane, through a hedge, and into a +ploughed field; while on every side of him pop, pop went the guns, +accompanied by exclamations of enthusiastic pleasure and delight. +</p> +<p> +'“There they go—mark! That's yours, Tom! Well done—cock +pheasant* by Jove! Here, Mr. Green! this way, Mr. Green! that dog is +pointing—there, there! don't you see there?” said I, almost lifting +the gun to his shoulder, while poor Mr. Green, almost in a panic of +excitement and trepidation, pulled both triggers, and nearly fell back +with the recoil. +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0016" id="linkimage-0016"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0292.jpg" alt="2-0292" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +'“Splendid shot, begad!—killed both,” said Oakley. “Ah, Mr. Green, +we have no chance with you. Give him another gun at once.” +</p> +<p> +'“I should like a little brandy,” said Mr. Green, “for my feet are wet.” +</p> +<p> +'I gave him my flask, which he emptied at a pull; while, at the same time, +animated with fresh vigour, he tramped manfully forward, without fear or +dread. The firing still continued hotly around us; and as Mr. Green +discharged his piece whenever he was bid, we calculated that in about an +hour and a half he had fired above a hundred and fifty times. Wearied and +fatigued by his exertions, at length he sat down upon a bank, while one of +the gamekeepers covered the ground about him with ducks, hens, and +turkey-cooks, as the spoils of his exertions. +</p> +<p> +'At Oakley's proposal we now agreed to go back to luncheon, which I need +not tell you was a hot supper, followed by mulled claret and more punch. +Here the cockney came out still better than before. His character as a +sportsman raised him in his own esteem, and he sang “The Poacher” for two +hours, until he fell fast asleep on the carpet. He was then conveyed to +bed, where, as on the former day, he slept till late in the afternoon. +</p> +<p> +'Meanwhile, I had arranged another breakfast-party at Ross, where we +arrived about seven o'clock in the evening—and so on for the rest of +the week, occasionally varying the amusement by hunting, fishing, or +coursing. +</p> +<p> +'At last poor Mr. Green, when called on one morning to dress, sent down +Dan with his compliments that he wished to speak to me. I went to him at +once, and found him sitting up in his bed. +</p> +<p> +'“Ah, Mr. Manon,” said he, “this will never do; it's a pleasant life, no +doubt, but I never could go On with it. Will you tell me one thing—do +you never see the sun here?” +</p> +<p> +'“Oh, bless you! yes,” said I; “repeatedly. He was out for two hours on +last Patrick's Day, and we have him now and then, promiscuously!” +</p> +<p> +'“How very strange, how very remarkable,” said he, with a sigh, “that we +in England should know so little of all this! But, to tell you the truth, +I don't think I ever could get used to Lapland—it's Ireland I mean; +I beg your pardon for the mistake. And now, may I ask you another question—Is +this the way you always live?” +</p> +<p> +'“Why, pretty much in this fashion; during the hazy season we go about to +one another's houses, as you see; and one gets so accustomed to the +darkness——” +</p> +<p> +'“Ah, now, don't tell me that! I know I never could—it's no use my +trying it. I 'm used to the daylight; I have seen it, man and boy, for +about fifty years, and I never could grope about this way. Not but that I +am very grateful to you for all your hospitality; but I had rather go +home.” +</p> +<p> +'“You'll wait for morning, at all events,” said I; “you will not leave the +house in the dead of the night?” +</p> +<p> +'“Oh, indeed, for the matter of that, it doesn't signify much; night and +day is much about the same thing in this country.” +</p> +<p> +'And so he grew obstinate, and notwithstanding all I could say, insisted +on his departure; and the same evening he sailed from the quay of +Waterford, wishing me every health and happiness, while he added, with a +voice of trembling earnestness— +</p> +<p> +'“Yes, Mr. Mahon, pardon me if I am wrong, but I wish to heaven <i>you had +a little more light in Ireland!</i>”' +</p> +<p> +I am unable to say how far the good things of Major Mahon's table seasoned +the story I have just related; but I confess I laughed at it loud and +long, a testimony on my part which delighted the Major's heart; for, like +all anecdote-mongers, he was not indifferent to flattery. +</p> +<p> +'The moral particularly pleases me,' said I. +</p> +<p> +'Ah, but the whole thing's true as I am here. Whisht! there's somebody at +the door. Come in, whoever you are.' +</p> +<p> +At these words the door cautiously opened, and a boy of about twelve years +of age entered. He carried a bundle under one arm, and held a letter in +his hand. +</p> +<p> +'Oh, here it is,' said Father Tom. 'Come here, Patsey, my boy, here's the +penny I promised you. There, now, don't make a bad use of your money.' +</p> +<p> +The little fellow's eyes brightened, and with a happy smile and a pull of +his forelock for a bow, left the room delighted. +</p> +<p> +'Twelve miles—ay, and long miles too—in less than three hours! +Not bad travelling, Captain, for a bit of a gossoon like that.' +</p> +<p> +'And for a penny!' said I, almost startled with surprise. +</p> +<p> +'To be sure,' said the priest, as he cut the cord of the package, and +opened it on the table. 'Here we are! as nate a jacket as ever I set my +eyes on, green and white, with a cap of the same.' So saying, he unfolded +the racing-costume, which, by the desire of both parties, I was obliged +immediately to try on. 'There, now,' resumed he; 'turn about; it fits you +like your skin.' +</p> +<p> +'It looks devilish well, upon my word,' said the Major. 'Put on the cap; +and see too, he has sent a whip—that was very thoughtful of Dillon. +But what's this letter here? for you, I think, Mr. Hinton.' +</p> +<p> +The letter was in a lady's hand; I broke the seal and read as follows:— +</p> +<p> +'Mount Brown, Wednesday Evening.' +</p> +<p> +'Dear Sir,—My uncle Dillon requests that you will give us the +pleasure of your company to dinner to-morrow at six o'clock. I have taken +the liberty to tell him that as we are old acquaintances you will perhaps +kindly overlook his not having visited you to-day; and I shall feel happy +if, by accepting the invitation, you will sustain my credit on this +occasion. +</p> +<p> +'He desires me to add that the racing-jacket, etc, are most perfectly at +your service, as well as any articles of horse-gear you may be in want of.—-Believe +me, dear sir, truly yours, Louisa Bellow.' +</p> +<p> +A thrill of pleasure ran through me as I read these lines; and, +notwithstanding my efforts to conceal my emotion from my companions, they +but too plainly saw the excitement I felt. +</p> +<p> +'Something agreeable there! You don't look, Mr. Hinton, as if that were a +latitat or a bill of costs you were reading.' +</p> +<p> +'Not exactly,' said I, laughing. 'It is an invitation to dinner from Mount +Brown—wherever that may be.' +</p> +<p> +'The best house in the county,' said the Major; 'and a good fellow he is, +Hugh Dillon. When is it for?' +</p> +<p> +'To-morrow at six.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, if he has not asked me to meet you, I 'll invite myself, and we 'll +go over together.' +</p> +<p> +'Agreed,' said I. 'But how shall I send back the answer?' +</p> +<p> +The Major promised to send his servant over with the reply, which I penned +at once. +</p> +<p> +'Just tell Hugh,' said the Major, 'that I'll join you.' +</p> +<p> +I blushed, stammered, and looked confused. 'I am not writing to Mr. +Dillon,' said I, 'for the invitation came through a lady of the family, +Miss Bellew—his niece, I believe.' +</p> +<p> +'Whew!' said the Major, with a long whistle. 'Is it there we are! Oh, by +the powers, Mr. Hinton! that's not fair—to come down here not only +to win our money in a steeplechase, but to want to carry off the belle of +our county besides. That 'll never do.' +</p> +<p> +'She doesn't belong to you at all,' said Father Tom; 'she is a parishioner +of mine, and so were her father and grandfather before her. And moreover +than that, she is the prettiest girl, and the best too, in the county she +lives in—and that's no small praise, for it's Galway I'm talking of. +And now here's a bumper to her, and who 'll refuse it?' +</p> +<p> +'Not I, certainly.' +</p> +<p> +'Nor I,' said the Major, as we drank to her health with all the honours. +</p> +<p> +'Now for another jug,' quoth the Major, as he moved towards the fireplace +in search of the kettle. +</p> +<p> +'After that toast, not another drop,' said I resolutely. +</p> +<p> +'Well said!' chimed in the priest; 'may I never, if that wasn't very +Irish!' +</p> +<p> +Firmly resisting all the Major's solicitations to resume my place at the +table, I wished both my friends goodnight; and having accepted Bob Mahon's +offer of a seat in his tax-cart to the race, I shook their hands warmly, +and took my leave. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0025" id="link2HCH0025"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XXV. THE STEEPLECHASE +</h2> +<p> +I did not awake till past noon the next day, and had only completed my +dressing when Major Mahon made his appearance. Having pronounced my +costume accurate, and suggested that instead of carrying my racing-cap in +my hat I should tie the string round my neck and let it hang down in +front, he assisted me on with my greatcoat, in which, notwithstanding that +the season was summer, and the day a hot one, he buttoned me up to the +chin and down to the knees. +</p> +<p> +'There, now,' said he, 'you look mighty like the thing. Where's your whip? +We have no time to lose, so jump into the tax-cart, and let us be off.' +</p> +<p> +As my reader may remember, the race-ground lay about a mile from the town; +but the road thither, unlike the peaceful quiet of the preceding night, +was now thronged with people on foot and horseback. Vehicles, too, of +every description were there—barouches and landaus, hack-chaises, +buggies, and jaunting-cars, whiskys, noddies, and, in fact, every species +of conveyance pronounced capable of rolling upon its wheels, was put into +requisition. Nor was the turn-out of cavalry of a character less mixed. +Horses of every shape and colour—some fat from grass; others lean, +like anatomical specimens; old and young; the rich and the poor; the +high-sheriff of the county, with his flashy four-in-hand; the mendicant on +his crutches—all pressed eagerly forward. And as I surveyed the +motley mass I felt what pleasure I could take in the scene, were I not +engaged as a principal performer. +</p> +<p> +On reaching the course we found it already occupied by numerous brilliant +equipages, and a strong cavalcade of horsemen; of these the greater number +were well mounted, and amused themselves and the bystanders by leaping the +various fences around—a species of pastime which occasionally +afforded food for laughter, many a soiled coat and broken hat attesting +the colour and consistence of the clayey ground. There were also +refreshment-booths, stalls for gaming on a humble scale, tables laid out +with beer, hard eggs, and gingerbread—in a word, all the ordinary +and extraordinary preparations which accompany any great assemblage of +people whose object is amusement. +</p> +<p> +A temporary railing of wood, rudely and hastily put together, inclosed a +little space reserved as a weighing-stand; here the stewards of the course +were assembled, along with 'the dons' of the country; and into this +privileged sanctum was I introduced by the Major, in due form. All eyes +were turned on me as I entered; and whether from the guardianship of him +who acted as my chaperon, or that the costume of my coat and overalls had +propitiated their favour, I cannot say; but somehow I felt that there was +more courtesy in their looks, and an air of greater civility in their +bearing, than I had remarked the preceding day at the Town-hall. True, +these were, for the most part, men of better stamp—the real gentry +of the country—who, devotedly attached to field-sports, had come, +not as betting characters, but to witness a race. Several of them took off +their hats as I approached, and saluted me with politeness. While +returning their courtesy, I felt my arm gently touched, and on looking +around perceived Mr. Dillon, of Mount Brown, who, with a look of most +cordial greeting, and an outstretched hand, presented himself before me. +</p> +<p> +'You 'll dine with us, Mr. Hinton, I hope?' said he. 'No apology, pray. +You shall not lose the hall, for my girls insist on going to it, so that +we can all come in together. There, now, that is settled. Will you permit +me to introduce you to a few of my friends? Here's Mr. Barry Connolly +wishes much to know you. You 'll pardon me, Mr. Hinton, but your name is +so familiar to me through my niece, I forget that we are not old +acquaintances.' +</p> +<p> +So saying, the little man took my arm and led me about through the crowd, +introducing me right and left. Of the names, the rank, and the residences +of my new friends, I knew as much as I did of the domestic arrangements of +the King of Congo; but one thing I can vouch for—more unbounded +civility and hospitable attention never did man receive. One gentleman +begged me to spend a few days with him at his shooting-lodge in the +mountains—another wanted to make up a coursing-party for me—a +third volunteered to mount me if I'd come down in the hunting season; one +and all gave me most positive assurance that if I remained in the country +I should neither lack bed nor board for many a day to come. +</p> +<p> +But a few days before, and in my ignorance I had set down this same class +as rude, underbred, and uncivilised; and had I left the country on the +preceding evening, I should have carried away my prejudices with me. The +bare imitation of his better that the squireen presents was the source of +this blunder; the spurious currency had, by its false glitter, +deteriorated the sterling coin in my esteem; but now I could detect the +counterfeit from the genuine metal. +</p> +<p> +'The ladies are on this side,' said Mr. Dillon. 'Shall we make our bow to +them?' +</p> +<p> +'You'll not have time, Dillon,' said a friend who overheard his remark: +'here come the horses.' +</p> +<p> +As he spoke, a distant cheer rose from the bottom of the hill, which, +gradually taken up by those nearer, grew louder and louder, till it filled +the very air. +</p> +<p> +'What is it?' said I eagerly. +</p> +<p> +'It's Jug of Punch,' said a person beside me. 'The mare was bred in the +neighbourhood, and excites a great interest among the country-people.' +</p> +<p> +The crowd now fell back rapidly, and Mr. Burke, seated in a high tandem, +dashed up to the weighing-stand, and, giving the reins to his servant, +sprang to the ground. His costume was a loose coat of coarse drab cloth, +beset on every side by pockets of various shapes and dimensions; long +gaiters of the same material incased his legs, and the memorable white +hat, set most rakishly on his head, completed his equipment. +</p> +<p> +Scarcely had he put foot to the ground when he was surrounded by a number +of his obsequious followers; but, paying little or no attention to their +proffered civilities, he brushed rudely through them, and walked straight +up to where I was standing. There was an air of swaggering insolence in +his manner which could not be mistaken; and I could mark that, in the +sidelong glance he threw about him, he intended that our colloquy should +be for the public ear. Nodding familiarly, while he touched his hat with +one finger, he addressed me. +</p> +<p> +'Good-morning, sir; I am happy to have met you so soon. There is a report +that we are to have no race: may I ask you if there be any ground for it?' +</p> +<p> +'Not so far as I am concerned,' replied I, in a tone of quiet +indifference. +</p> +<p> +'At least,' resumed he, 'there would seem some colour for the rumour. Your +horse is not here—I understand he has not left the stable—and +your groom is among the crowd below. I only asked the question, as it +affects my betting-book; there are doubtless here many gentlemen among +your friends who would wish to back you.' +</p> +<p> +This was said with an air of sneering mockery so palpable as to call forth +an approving titter from the throng of satellites at his back. +</p> +<p> +Without deigning any reply to his observation, I whispered a few words to +the Major, who at once, taking a horse from a farmer, threw himself into +the saddle and cantered off to the mill. +</p> +<p> +'In fifteen minutes the time will be up,' said Mr. Burke, producing his +watch. 'Isn't that so, Dillon? You are the judge here.' +</p> +<p> +'Perfectly correct,' replied the little man, with a hasty confused manner +that showed me in what awe he stood of his redoubted relative. +</p> +<p> +'Then in that time I shall call on you to give the word to start; for I +believe the conditions require me to ride over the course, with or without +a competitor.' +</p> +<p> +So saying, Mr Burke proceeded leisurely to unbutton his greatcoat, which, +with the assistance of his friends, he drew off. Two sedulous familiars +were meanwhile unbuttoning his gaiters, and in a few seconds he stood +forth what even my most prejudiced judgment could not deny—the very +beau-ideal of a gentleman-rider. His jacket, of black and yellow, bore the +stains of more than one race; but his whole carriage, not less than his +costume, looked like one who felt every inch the jockey. His mare was led +within the ropes to be saddled—a proceeding conducted under his own +eye, and every step of which he watched with critical nicety. This done, +he sat down upon a bench, and, with watch in hand, seemed to count the +minutes as they flew past. +</p> +<p> +'Here we are! here we are! all right, Hinton!' shouted the Major, as he +galloped up the hill. 'Jump into the scale, my lad; your saddle is beside +you. Don't lose a moment.' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, off with your coat,' said another, 'and jump in!' +</p> +<p> +Divesting myself of my outer garments with a speed not second to that of +Mr. Burke, I took my saddle under my arm, and seated myself in the scale. +The groom fortunately had left nothing undone, and my saddle being leaded +to the required weight, the operation took not a minute. +</p> +<p> +'Saddle now as quickly as you can,' whispered Dillon; 'for Burke, being +overweight, won't get into the scale.' +</p> +<p> +While he was yet speaking, the gallant grey was led in, covered with +clothing from head to tail. +</p> +<p> +'All was quite right,' said Mahon, in a low whisper—'your horse +won't bear a crowd, and the groom kept him stabled to the last moment. You +are in luck besides,' continued he: 'they say he is in a good temper this +morning—and, indeed, he walked up from the mill as gently as a +lamb.' +</p> +<p> +'Mount, gentlemen!' cried Mr. Dillon, as, with watch in hand, he ascended +a little platform in front of the weighing-stand. +</p> +<p> +I had but time to throw one glance at my horse when the Major gave me his +hand to lift me into the saddle. +</p> +<p> +'After you, sir,' said Mr. Burke, with a mock politeness, as he drew back +to permit me to pass out first. +</p> +<p> +I touched my horse gently with the snaffle, but he stood stock-still; I +essayed again, but with no better success. The place was too crowded to +permit of any attempt to bully him, so I once more tried gentle means. It +was of no use—he stood rooted to the ground. Before I could +determine what next to do, Mahon sprang forward and took him by the head, +when the animal walked quietly forward without a show of restiveness. +</p> +<p> +'He's a droll devil,' said the groom, 'and in one of his odd humours this +morning, for that's what I never saw him do before.' +</p> +<p> +I could see as I passed out that this little scene, short as it was, had +not impressed the bystanders with any exalted notion of my horsemanship; +for although there was nothing actually to condemn, my first step did not +seem to augur well. Having led me forth before the stand, the Major +pointed with his finger to the line of country before me, and was +repeating the priest's injunctions, when Mr. Burke rode up to my side, +and, with a smile of very peculiar meaning, said— +</p> +<p> +'Are you ready <i>now</i>, sir?' +</p> +<p> +I nodded assent. The Major let go the bridle. +</p> +<p> +'We are all ready, Dillon!' cried Burke, turning in his saddle. +</p> +<p> +'All ready!' repeated Dillon; 'then away!' +</p> +<p> +As he spoke, the hell rang, and off we went. +</p> +<p> +For about thirty yards we cantered side by side—the grey horse +keeping stroke with the other, and not betraying the slightest evidence of +bad temper. Whatever my own surprise, the amazement of Burke was beyond +all bounds. He turned completely round in his saddle to look, and I could +see, in the workings of his features, the distrustful expression of one +who suspected he had been duped. Meanwhile, the cheers of the vast +multitude pealed high on every side; and, as the thought flashed across me +that I might still acquit myself with credit, my courage rose, and I +gripped my saddle with double energy. +</p> +<p> +At the foot of the slope there was, as I have already mentioned, a small +fence; towards this we were now approaching at the easy sling of a +hand-gallop, when suddenly Burke's features—which I watched from +time to time with intense anxiety—changed their expression of doubt +and suspicion for a look of triumphant malice. Putting spurs to his horse, +he sprang a couple of lengths in advance, and rode madly at the fence; the +grey stretched out to follow, and already was I preparing for the leap, +when Burke, who had now reached the fence, suddenly swerved his horse +round, and, affecting to baulk, cantered back towards the hill. The +manoeuvre was perfectly successful. My horse, who up to that moment was +going on well, threw his forelegs far out, and came to a dead stop. In an +instant the trick was palpable to my senses; and, in the heat of my +passion, I dashed in both spurs, and endeavoured to lift him by the rein. +Scarcely had I done so, when, as if the very ground beneath had jerked us +upwards, he sprang into the air, dashing his head forward between the +forelegs, and throwing up his haunches behind, till I thought we should +come clean over in the somersault. I kept my seat, however; and thinking +that boldness alone could do at such a moment, I only waited till he +reached the ground, when I again drove the spurs up to the rowels in his +flanks. With a snort of passion he bounded madly up, and pawing the air +for some moments with his forelegs, lit upon the earth, panting with rage, +and trembling in every limb. +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0017" id="linkimage-0017"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0306.jpg" alt="2-0306" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +The shouts which now filled my ears seemed but like mockery and derision; +and stung almost to madness, I fixed myself in my seat, pulled my cap upon +my brows, and with clenched teeth gathered up the reins to renew the +conflict. There was a pause now for a few seconds; both horse and man +seemed to feel that there was a deadly strife before them, and each seemed +to collect his energy for the blow. The moment came; and driving in the +spurs with all my force, I struck him with the whip between the ears. With +something like a yell, the savage animal sprang into the air, writhing his +body like a fish. Bound after bound he made, as though goaded on to +madness; and, at length, after several fruitless efforts to unseat me, he +dashed straight upwards, struck out with his forelegs, poised for a second +or two, and then with a crash fell back upon me, rolling me to the ground, +bruised, stunned, and senseless. +</p> +<p> +How long this state lasted I cannot tell; but when half consciousness +returned to me, I found myself standing in the field, my head reeling with +the shock, my clothes torn and ragged. My horse was standing beside me, +with some one at his head; while another, whose voice I thought I could +recognise, called out— +</p> +<p> +'Get up, man, get up! you 'll do the thing well yet. There, don't lose +time.' +</p> +<p> +'No, no,' said another voice, 'it's a shame; the poor fellow is half +killed already—and there, don't you see Burke's at the second +fence?' +</p> +<p> +Thus much I heard, amid the confusion around me; but more I know not. The +next moment I was in the saddle, with only sense enough left to feel +reckless to desperation. I cried out to leave the way, and turned towards +the fence. +</p> +<p> +A tremendous cut of a whip fell upon the horse's quarter from some one +behind, and, like a shell from a mortar, he leaped wildly out. With one +fly he cleared the fence, dashed across the field, and, before I was firm +in my seat, was over the second ditch. Burke had barely time to look round +him ere I had passed. He knew that the horse was away with me, but he also +knew his bottom, and that, if I could but keep my saddle, the chances were +now in my favour. +</p> +<p> +Then commenced a terrible struggle. In advance of him, about four lengths, +I took everything before me, my horse flying straight as an arrow. I dared +not turn my head, but I could mark that Burke was making every effort to +get before me. We were now approaching a tall hedge, beyond which lay the +deep ground of which the priest had already spoken. So long as the fences +presented nothing of height, the tremendous pace I was going was all in my +favour; but now there was fully five feet of a hedge standing before me. +Unable to collect himself, my horse came with his full force against it, +and chesting the tangled branches, fell head-foremost into the field. +Springing to my legs unhurt, I lifted him at once; but ere I could +remount, Burke came bounding over the hedge, and lit safely beside me. +With a grin of malice he turned one look towards me, and dashed on. +</p> +<p> +For some seconds my horse was so stunned he could scarcely move, and as I +pressed him forward the heavy action of his shoulder and his drooping head +almost filled me with despair. By degrees, however, he warmed up and got +into his stride. Before me, and nearly a hundred yards in advance, rode +Burke, still keeping up his pace, but skirting the headlands to my right. +I saw now the force of the priest's remark, that were I to take a straight +line through the deep ground the race was still in my favour. But dare I +do so with a horse so dead beat as mine was? The thought was quick as +lightning; it was my only chance to win, and I resolved to take it. +Plunging into the soft and marshy ground before me, I fixed my eye upon +the blue flag which marked the course. At this moment Burke turned and saw +me, and I could perceive that he immediately slackened his pace. Yes, +thought I, he thinks I am pounded; but it is not come to that yet. In +fact, my horse was improving at every stride, and although the ground was +trying, his breeding began to tell, and I could feel that he had plenty of +running still in him. Affecting, however, to lift him at every stroke, and +seeming to labour to help him through, I induced Burke to hold in, until I +gradually crept up to the fence before he was within several lengths of +it. The grey no sooner caught sight of the wall than he pricked up his +ears and rushed towards it; with a vigorous lift I popped him over, +without touching a stone. Burke followed in splendid style, and in an +instant was alongside of me. +</p> +<p> +Now began the race in right earnest. The cunning of his craft could avail +him little here, except as regarded the superior management of his own +horse; so Burke, abandoning every ruse, rode manfully on. As for me, my +courage rose at every moment; and so far from feeling any fear, I only +wished that the fences were larger; and like a gambler who would ruin his +adversary at one throw, I would have taken a precipice if he pledged +himself to follow. For some fields we rode within a few yards of each +other, side by side, each man lifting his horse at the same moment to his +leap, and alighting with the same shock beyond it. Already our heads were +turned homewards, and I could mark on the distant hill the far-off crowds +whose echoing shouts came floating towards us. But one fence of any +consequence remained; that was the large gripe that formed the last of the +race. We had cleared a low stone wall, and now entered the field that led +to the great leap. It was evident that Burke's horse, both from being +spared the shocks that mine had met with, and from his better riding, was +the fresher of the two; we had neither of us, however, much to boast of on +that score, and perhaps at a calmer moment would have little fancied +facing such a leap as that before us. It was evident that the first over +must win; and as each man measured the other's stride, the intense anxiety +of the moment nearly rose to madness. +</p> +<p> +From the instant of entering the field I had marked out with my eye where +I meant to take the leap. Burke had evidently done this also; and we now +slightly diverged, each to his allotted spot. The pace was awful. All +thought of danger lost, or forgotten, we came nearer and nearer with +knitted brow and clenched lip—I, the first. Already I was on the +side; with a loud cry and a cut of my whip I rose my horse to it. The +noble beast sprang forward, but his strength was spent, and he fell +downwards on his head. Recovering him without losing my seat, I scrambled +up the opposite bank and looked round. Burke, who had pressed the pace so +hotly before, had only done so to blow my horse and break him down at his +leap; and I saw him now approaching the fence with his mare fully in hand, +and her haunches well under her. Unable to move forward, save at a walk, I +turned in my saddle to watch him. He came boldly to the brink of the +fence; his hand was up prepared to strike; already the mare was collecting +herself for the effort, when from the bottom of the gripe a figure sprang +wildly up, and as the horse rose into the air, he jumped at the bridle, +pulling down both the horse and the rider with a crash upon him, a loud +cry of agony rising amid the struggle. +</p> +<p> +As they disappeared from my sight I felt like one in a trance. All +thoughts, however, were lost in the desire to win; and collecting my +energies for a last struggle, I lifted the gallant grey with both hands, +and by dint of spurring and shaking, pressed him to a canter, and rode in, +the winner, amid the deafening cheers and cries of thousands. +</p> +<p> +'Keep back! keep back!' cried Mahon, restraining with his whip the crowd +that bore down upon me. 'Hinton, take care that no one touches your horse; +ride inside, take off your saddle and get into the scale.' +</p> +<p> +Moving onwards like one in a dream, I mechanically obeyed the direction, +while the cries and shouts around me grew each moment louder and wilder. +</p> +<p> +'Here he comes! here he comes!' shouted several voices; and Burke galloped +up, and without drawing rein rode into the weighing-stand. +</p> +<p> +'Foul play!' roared he in a tone hoarse with passion. 'I protest against +the race! Holloa, sir!' he shouted, turning towards me. +</p> +<p> +'There, there!' said Mahon, as he hurried me along towards the scale, 'you +have nothing to do with him.' And at the same moment a number of others +pressed eagerly forward to shake my hand and wish me joy. +</p> +<p> +'Look here, Dillon,' cried the Major, 'mark the weight—twelve stone +two, and two pounds over, if he wanted it. There, now,' whispered he, in a +voice which though not meant for my hearing I could distinctly catch—'there, +now, Dillon, take him into your carriage and get him off the ground as +fast as you can.' +</p> +<p> +Just at this instant Burke, who had been talking with loud voice and +violent gesticulation, burst through the crowd, and stood before us. +</p> +<p> +'Do you say, Dillon, that I have lost this race?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, yes, to be sure!' cried out full twenty voices. +</p> +<p> +'My question was not addressed to you, sirs,' said he, boiling with +passion; 'I ask the judge of this course, have I lost?' +</p> +<p> +'My dear Ulick——' said Dillon, in a voice scarce audible from +agitation. +</p> +<p> +'No cursed palaver with me,' said he, interrupting. 'Lost or won, sir—one +word.' +</p> +<p> +'Lost, of course,' replied Dillon, with more of firmness than I believed +him capable. +</p> +<p> +'Well, sir,' said Burke, as he turned towards me, his teeth clenched with +passion, 'it may be some alloy to your triumph to know that your +accomplice has smashed his thigh-bone in your service; and yet I can tell +you you have not come to the end of this matter.' +</p> +<p> +Before I could reply, Burke's friends tore him from the spot and hurried +him to a carriage; while I, still more than ever puzzled by the words I +had heard, looked from one to the other of those around for an +explanation. +</p> +<p> +'Never mind, Hinton,' said Mahon, as, half breathless with running, he +rushed up and seized me by the hand. 'The poor fellow was discharging a +double debt in his own rude way—gratitude on your score, vengeance +on his own.' +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0018" id="linkimage-0018"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0312.jpg" alt="2-0312" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +'Tally-ho, tally-ho!—hark, there—stole away!' shouted a wild +cry from without, and at the same instant four countrymen came forward, +carrying a door between them, on which was stretched the pale and mangled +figure of Tipperary Joe. 'A drink of water—spirits—tay—anything, +for the love of the Virgin! I'm famished, and I want to drink Captain +Phil's health. Ah, darling!' said he, as he turned his filmy eyes up +towards me, 'didn't I do it beautifully; didn't I pay him off for this?' +With these words he pointed to a blue welt that stretched across his face, +from the mouth to the ear. 'He gave me that yesterday for saying long life +and success to you!' +</p> +<p> +'Oh! this is too horrible,' said I, gasping for breath. 'My poor fellow! +and I who had treated you so harshly!' I took his hand in mine, but it was +cold and clammy; his features were sunken too—he had fainted. +</p> +<p> +'Come, Hinton,' said the Major, 'we can do no good here; let us move down +to the inn at once, and see after this poor boy.' +</p> +<p> +'You are coming with us, Mr. Hinton?' cried Dillon. +</p> +<p> +'Not now, not now,' said I, while my throat was swelling with repressed +emotion. Without suffering me to say more, Mahon almost lifted me into the +tax-cart, and putting his horse to the gallop, dashed towards the town, +the cheers of the people following us as we went; for, to their wild sense +of justice, Joe was a genuine martyr, and I shared in the glory of his +self-devotion. +</p> +<p> +The whole way towards Loughrea, Mahon continued to talk; but not a word +could I catch. My thoughts were fixed on the poor fellow who had suffered +for my sake; and I would have given all I possessed in the world to have +lost the race, and seen him safe and sound before me. +</p> +<p> +'There, there!' said the Major, as he shook me by the arm; 'don't take it +to heart this way. You know little of Ireland, that's plain; that poor +fellow will be prouder for the feeling you have shown towards him this +night than many a king upon his throne. To have served a gentleman, to +have put him under an obligation—<i>that</i> has a charm you can't +estimate the extent of. Beware, only beware of one thing—do not by +any offer of money destroy the illusion; do what you like for him, but +take care of that.' +</p> +<p> +We now reached the little inn; and Mahon—for I was incapable of all +thought or exertion—got a room in readiness for Joe, and summoning +the doctor of the place, provided everything for his care and +accommodation. +</p> +<p> +'Now, Hinton,' said he, as he burst into my room, 'all's right. Joe is +comfortable in bed; the fracture turns out not to be a bad one. So rouse +yourself, for Dillon's carriage with all its ladies is waiting these ten +minutes.' +</p> +<p> +'No, no!' cried I; 'I can't go to this dinner-party! I'll not quit——' +</p> +<p> +'Nonsense, man!' said he, interrupting me; 'you can only do harm here; the +doctor says he must be left quite quiet» and alone. Besides, Dillon has +behaved so well to-day—so stoutly for <i>him</i>, that you mustn't +forget it. There, now, where are your clothes? I'll pack them for you.' +</p> +<p> +I started up to obey him, but a giddiness came over me, and I sank into my +chair, weak and sick. +</p> +<p> +'This will never do,' said Mahon; 'I had better tell them I'll drive you +over myself. And now, just lie down for an hour or two, and keep quiet.' +</p> +<p> +This advice I felt was good; and thanking my kind friend with a squeeze of +the hand, for I could not speak, I threw myself upon my bed, and strange +enough, while such contending emotions disturbed my brain, fell asleep +almost immediately. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0026" id="link2HCH0026"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XXVI. THE DINNER-PARTY AT MOUNT BROWN +</h2> +<p> +I awoke refreshed after half-an-hour's doze, and then every circumstance +of the whole day was clear and palpable before me. I remembered each +minute particular, and could bring to my mind all the details of the race +itself, notwithstanding the excitement they had passed in, and the +rapidity with which they succeeded one another. +</p> +<p> +My first thought was to visit poor Joe; and creeping stealthily to his +room, I opened the door. The poor fellow was fast asleep. His features had +already become coloured with fever, and a red hectic spot on either cheek +told that the work of mischief had begun; yet still his sleep was +tranquil, and a half smile curled; his bloodless lips. On his bed his old +hunting-cap was placed, a bow of white and green ribbons—the colours +I wore—fastened gaudily in the front; upon this, doubtless, he had +been gazing to the last moment of his waking. I now stole noiselessly +back, and began a letter to O'Grady, whose anxiety as to the result would, +I knew, be considerable. +</p> +<p> +It was not without pride, I confess, that I narrated the events of the +day; yet when I came to that part of my letter in which Joe was to be +mentioned, I could not avoid a sense of shame in acknowledging the cruel +contrast between <i>my</i> conduct and <i>his</i> gratitude. I did not +attempt to theorise upon what he had done, for I felt that O'Grady's +better knowledge of his countrymen would teach him to sound the depths of +a motive, the surface of which I could but skim. I told him frankly that +the more I saw of Ireland the less I found I knew about it; so much of +sterling good seemed blended with unsettled notions and unfixed opinions; +such warmth of heart, such frank cordiality, with such traits of suspicion +and distrust, that I could make nothing of them. Either, thought I, these +people are born to present the anomaly of all that is most opposite and +contradictory in human nature, or else the fairest gifts that ever graced +manhood have been perverted and abused by mismanagement and misguidance. +</p> +<p> +I had just finished my letter when Bob Mahon drove up, his honest face +radiant with smiles and good-humour. +</p> +<p> +'Well, Hinton,' cried he, 'the whole thing is properly settled. The money +is paid over; and if you are writing to O'Grady, you may mention that he +can draw on the Limerick bank, at sight if he pleases. There's time +enough, however, for all this; so get up beside me. We've only half an +hour to do our five miles, and dress for dinner.' +</p> +<p> +I took my place beside the Major; and as we flew fast through the air, the +cool breeze and his enlivening conversation rallied and refreshed me. Such +was our pace that we had ten minutes to spare, as we entered a dark avenue +of tall beech-trees, and a few seconds after arrived at the door of a +large old-fashioned-looking manor-house, on the steps of which stood Hugh +Dillon himself, in all the plenitude of a white waistcoat and black-silk +tights. While he hurried me to a dressing-room, he overwhelmed me with +felicitations on the result of the day. +</p> +<p> +'You'll think it strange, Mr. Hinton,' said he, 'that I should +congratulate you, knowing that Mr. Burke is a kind of relation of mine; +but I have heard so much of your kindness to my niece Louisa, that I +cannot but rejoice in your success.' +</p> +<p> +'I should rather,' said I, 'for many reasons, had it been more +legitimately obtained; and, indeed, were I not acting for another, I doubt +how far I should feel justified in considering myself a winner.' +</p> +<p> +'My dear sir,' interrupted Dillon, 'the laws of racing are imperative in +the matter; besides, had you waived your right, all who backed you must +have lost their money.' +</p> +<p> +'For that matter,' said I, laughing, 'the number of my supporters was +tolerably limited.' +</p> +<p> +'No matter for that; and even if you had not a single bet upon you, +Ulick's conduct, in the beginning, deserved little favour at your hands.' +</p> +<p> +'I confess,' said I, 'that there you have touched on the saving clause to +my feeling of shame. Had Mr. Burke conducted himself in a different spirit +towards my friend and myself, I should feel sorely puzzled this minute.' +</p> +<p> +'Quite right, quite right,' said Dillon; 'and now try if you can't make as +much haste with your toilette as you did over the clover-field.' +</p> +<p> +Within a quarter of an hour I made my appearance in the drawing-room, now +crowded with company, the faces of many among whom I remembered having +seen in the morning. Mr. Dillon was a widower, but his daughters—three +fine, tall, handsome-looking girls—did the honours. While I was +making my bows to them, Miss Bellew came forward, and with an eye bright +with pleasure held out her hand towards me. +</p> +<p> +'I told you, Mr. Hinton, we should meet in the west. Have I been as good a +prophetess in saying that you would like it?' +</p> +<p> +'If it afforded me but this one minute,' said I, in a half-whisper. +</p> +<p> +'Dinner!' said the servant, and at the same moment that scene of pleasant +confusion ensued that preludes the formal descent of a party to the +dining-room. +</p> +<p> +The host had gracefully tucked a large lady under his arm, beside whose +towering proportions he looked pretty much like what architects call 'a +lean-to,' superadded to a great building. He turned his eye towards me to +go and do likewise, with a significant glance at a heaving mass of bugles +and ostrich feathers that sat panting on a sofa. I parried the stroke, +however, by drawing Miss Bellow's arm within mine, while I resigned the +post of honour to my little friend the Major. +</p> +<p> +The dinner passed off like all other dinners. There was the same routine +of eating and drinking, and pretty much the same ritual of table-talk. As +a kind of commentary on the superiority of natural gifts over the affected +and imitated graces of society, I could not help remarking that those +things which figured on the table of homely origin were actually +luxurious, while the exotic resources of the cookery were, in every +instance, miserable failures. Thus the fish was excellent, and the mutton +perfect, while the <i>fricandeau</i> was atrocious, and the <i>petits +pâtés</i> execrable. +</p> +<p> +Should my taste be criticised, that with a lovely girl beside me, for whom +I already felt a strong attachment, I could thus set myself to criticise +the cookery, in lieu of any other more agreeable occupation, let my +apology be, that my reflection was an apropos, called forth by comparing +Louisa Bellew with her cousins the Dillons. I have said they were handsome +girls; they were more—they were beautiful. They had all that fine +pencilling of the eyebrow, that deep, square orbit, so characteristically +Irish, which gives an expression to the eye, whatever be its colour, of +inexpressible softness; their voices too, albeit the accent was +provincial, were soft and musical, and their manners quiet and ladylike—yet, +somehow, they stood immeasurably apart from her. +</p> +<p> +I have already ventured on one illustration from the cookery, may I take +another from the cellar? How often in wines of the same vintage, of even +the same cask, do we find one bottle whose bouquet is more aromatic, whose +flavour is richer, whose colour is more purely brilliant! There seems to +be no reason why this should be so, nor is the secret appreciable to our +senses; however, the fact is incontestable. So among women. You meet some +half-dozen in an evening party, equally beautiful, equally lovely; yet +will there be found one among the number towards whom, without any +assignable cause, more eyes are turned, and more looks bent; around whose +chair more men are found to linger, and in whose slightest word some +cunning charm seems ever mingled. Why is this so? I confess I cannot tell +you; but trust me for the fact. If, however, it will satisfy you that I +adduce an illustration—Louisa Bellew was one of these. With all the +advantages of a cultivated mind, she possessed that fearlessness that only +girls really innocent of worldly trickery and deceit ever have; and thus, +while her conversation ranged far beyond the limits the cold ordeal of +fashion would prescribe to a London beauty, the artless enthusiasm of her +manner was absolutely captivating. +</p> +<p> +In Dublin the most marked feature about her was an air of lofty pride and +hauteur, by which, in the mixed society of Rooney's house, was she alone +enabled to repel the obtrusive and impertinent attentions it was the habit +of the place to practise. Surrounded by those who resorted there for a +lounge, it was a matter of no common difficulty for her, a young and timid +girl, to assert her own position, and exact the respect that was her due. +Here, however, in her uncle's house, it was quite different. Relieved from +all performance of a part, she was natural, graceful, and easy; and her +spirits, untrammelled by the dread of misconstruction, took their own free +and happy flight without fear and without reproach. +</p> +<p> +When we returned to the drawing-room, seated beside her, I entered into an +explanation of all my proceedings since my arrival in the country, and had +the satisfaction to perceive that not only did she approve of everything I +had done, but, assuming a warmer interest than I could credit in my +fortunes, she counselled me respecting the future. Supposing that my +success might induce me to further trials of my horseman ship, she +cautioned me about being drawn into any matches or wagers. +</p> +<p> +'My cousin Ulick,' said she, 'is one of those who rarely let a prey escape +them. I speak frankly to you, for I know I may do so; therefore, I would +beseech you to take care of him, and, above all things, do not come into +collision with him. I have told you, Mr. Hinton, that I wish you to know +my father. For this object, it is essential you should have no +misunderstanding with my cousin; for although his whole conduct through +life has been such as to grieve and afflict him, yet the feeling for his +only sister's child has sustained him against all the rumours and reports +that have reached him, and even against his own convictions.' +</p> +<p> +'You have, indeed,' said I, 'suggested a strong reason for keeping well +with your cousin. My heart is not only bent on being known to your father, +but, if I dare hope it, on being liked by him also.' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, yes,' said she quickly, blushing while she spoke, 'I am sure he'll +like you—and I know you'll like him. Our house, perhaps I should +tell you, is not a gay one. We lead a secluded and retired life; and this +has had its effect upon my poor father, giving a semblance of discontent—only +a semblance, though—to a nature mild, manly, and benevolent.' +</p> +<p> +She paused an instant, and, as if fearing that she had been led away to +speak of things she should not have touched upon, added with a more lively +tone— +</p> +<p> +'Still, we may contrive to amuse you. You shall have plenty of fishing and +coursing, the best shooting in the west, and, as for scenery, I'll answer +for it you are not disappointed.' +</p> +<p> +While we chatted thus, the time rolled on, and at last the clock on the +mantel-piece apprised us that it was time to set out for the ball. This, +as it may be believed, was anything but a promise of pleasure to me. With +Louisa Bellew beside me, talking in a tone of confidential intimacy she +had never ventured on before, I would have given worlds to have remained +where I was. However, the thing was impossible; 'the ball! the ball!' +passed from lip to lip, and already the carriages were assembled before +the door, and cloaks, hoods, and mantles were distributed on all sides. +</p> +<p> +Resolving, at all events, to secure Miss Bellew as my fellow-traveller, I +took her arm to lead her downstairs. +</p> +<p> +'Holloa, Hinton!' cried the Major, 'you 're coming with me, ain't you?' +</p> +<p> +I got up a tremendous fit of coughing, as I stammered out an apology about +night-air, etc. +</p> +<p> +'Ah, true, my poor fellow,' said the simple-hearted Bob; 'you must take +care of yourself—this has been a severe day's work for you.' +</p> +<p> +'With such a heavy cold,' said Louisa, laughing, as her bright eyes +sparkled with fun, 'perhaps you 'll take a seat in our carriage.' +</p> +<p> +I pressed her arm gently and murmured my assent, assisted her in, and +placed myself beside her. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0027" id="link2HCH0027"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XXVII. THE RACE BALL +</h2> +<p> +Fast as had been the pace in the Major's tax-cart, it seemed to me as +though the miles flew much more quickly by as I returned to the town. How, +indeed, they passed I cannot well say; but, from the instant that I +quitted Mr. Dillon's house to that of my arrival in Loughrea, there seemed +to be but one brief, delightful moment. I have already said that Miss +Bellew's manner was quite changed; and, as I assisted her from the +carriage, I could not but mark the flashing brilliancy of her eye and the +sparkling animation of her features, lending, as they did, an added +loveliness to her beauty. +</p> +<p> +'Am I to dance with you, Mr. Hinton?' said she laughingly, as I led her up +the stairs. 'If so, pray be civil enough to ask me at once—otherwise, +I must accept the first partner that offers himself.' +</p> +<p> +'How very stupid I have been! Will you, pray, let me have the honour?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, yes—you shall have the honour; but, now that I think of it, +you mustn't ask me a second time. We countryfolk are very prudish about +these things; and, as you are the lion of the party, I should get into a +sad scrape were I to appear to monopolise you.' +</p> +<p> +'But you surely will have compassion on me,' said I, in a tone of affected +bashfulness. 'You know I am a stranger here—neither known to nor by +any one save you.' +</p> +<p> +'<i>Ah</i>, <i>trêve de modestie!</i>' said she coquettishly. 'My cousins +will be quite delighted; and indeed, you owe them some <i>amende</i> +already.' +</p> +<p> +'As how?' said I. 'What have I done?' +</p> +<p> +'Rather, what have you left undone? I'll tell you. You have not come to +the ball in your fine uniform, with your aiguillette and your showy +feathers, and all the pride, pomp, and circumstance of your dignity as +aide-de-camp. Learn, that in the west we love the infantry, doat on the +dragoons, but we adore the staff. Now, a child would find it as difficult +to recognise a plump gentleman without a star on his breast as a king, as +we western ladies would to believe in the military features of a person +habited in quiet black. You should, at least, have some symbol of your +calling. A little bit of moustache like a Frenchman, a foreign order at +your button-hole, your arm in a sling—from a wound, as it were—even +a pair of brass spurs would redeem you. Poor Mary here won't believe that +you wear a great sword, and are the most warlike-looking person imaginable +on occasions.' +</p> +<p> +'Dearest Louisa, how silly you are!' said her cousin, blushing deeply. +'Pray, Mr. Hinton, what do you think of the rooms?' +</p> +<p> +This question happily recalled me to myself, for up to that very moment, +forgetful of everything save my fair companion, I had not noticed our +entrance into the ballroom, around which we were promenading with alow +steps. I now looked up, and discovered that we were in the Town-hall, the +great room of which building was generally reserved for occasions like the +present. Nothing could be more simple than the decorations of the +apartment. The walls, which were whitewashed, were tastefully ornamented +with strings and wreaths of flowers suspended between the iron +chandeliers, while over the chimney-piece were displayed the colours of +the marching regiment then quartered in the town. Indeed, to do them +justice, the garrison were the main contributors to the pleasure of the +evening. By <i>them</i> were the garlands so gracefully disposed; by <i>them</i> +were the rat-holes and other dangerous crevices in the floor caulked with +oakum; <i>their</i> band was now blowing 'God Save the King' and 'Rule +Britannia' alternately for the last hour, and <i>their</i> officers, in +all the splendour of scarlet, were parading the room, breaking the men's +hearts with envy and the women's with admiration. +</p> +<p> +O'Grady was quite right—it is worth while being a soldier in +Ireland; and, if such be the case in the capital, how much more true is it +in Connaught? Would that some minute anatomist of human feeling could +demonstrate that delicate fibre in an Irishwoman's heart that vibrates so +responsively to everything in the army-list! In this happy land you need +no nitrous oxide to promote the high spirits of your party; I had rather +have a sub. in a marching regiment than a whole gasometer full of it. How +often have I watched the sleepy eye of languid loveliness brighten up—how +often have I seen features almost plain in their character assume a kind +of beauty, as some red-coat drew near! Don't tell me of your insurrection +acts, of your nightly outrages, your outbreaks, and your burnings, as a +reason for keeping a large military force in Ireland—nothing of the +kind. A very different object, indeed, is the reason—Ireland is +garrisoned to please the ladies. The War Office is the most gallant of +public bodies; and, with a true appreciation of the daughters of the west, +it inundates the land with red-coats. +</p> +<p> +These observations were forced upon me as I looked about the room, and saw +on every side how completely the gallant Seventy-something had cut out the +country gentry. Poor fellows! you are great people at the assizes—you +are strong men at a road-sessions—but you're mighty small folk +indeed before your wives and daughters when looked at to the music of +'Paddy Carey,' and by the light of two hundred and fifty mutton-candles. +</p> +<p> +The country-dance was at length formed, and poor Mr. Harkin, the master of +the ceremonies and Coryphaeus-in-ordinary of Loughrea, had, by dint of +scarce less fatigue than I experienced in my steeplechase, by running +hither and thither, imploring, beseeching, wheedling, coaxing, and even +cursing, at length succeeded in assembling sixty-four souls in a double +file upon the floor. Poor fellow! never was there a more disorderly force. +Nobody would keep his own place, but was always trying to get above his +neighbour. In vain did he tell the men to stand at their own side. Alas! +they thought that side their own where the ladies were also. Then the band +added to his miseries; for scarcely had he told them to play 'The Wind +that shakes the Barley,' when some changed it to 'The Priest in his +Boots,' and afterwards to 'The Dead March in Saul.' These were heavy +afflictions; for be it known that he could not give way, as other men +would in such circumstances, to a good outbreak of passion—for Mr. +Harkin was a public functionary, who, like all other functionaries, had a +character to sustain before the world. When kings are angry, we are told +by Shakespeare, Schiller, and others, they rant it in good royal style. +Now, when a dancing-master is excited by passion, he never loses sight of +the unities. If he flies down the floor to chide the little fat man that +is talking loudly, he contrives to do it with a step, a spring, and a hop, +to the time of one, two, three. Is there a confusion in the figure, he +advances to rectify it with a <i>chassé</i> rigadoon. Does Mr. Somebody +turn his toes too much out, or is Miss So-and-so holding her petticoats +too high, he fugles the correction in his own person—first imitating +the deformity he would expose, and then displaying the perfection he would +point to. +</p> +<p> +On the evening in question, this gentleman afforded me by far the most of +the amusement of the ball. Nearly half the company had been in time of +yore his pupils, or were actually so at the very moment; so that, +independent of his cares as conductor of the festivities, he had also the +<i>amour propre</i> of one who saw his own triumphs reflected in the +success of his disciples. +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0019" id="linkimage-0019"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0325.jpg" alt="2-0325" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +At last the dances were arranged. A certain kind of order was established +in the party; and Mr. Harkin, standing in the fifth position, with all his +fingers expanded, gave three symbolic claps of his hand, and cried out, +'Begin!' Away went the band at once, and down the middle I flew with my +partner, to the measure of a quick country-dance that no human legs could +keep time to. Two others quickly followed, more succeeding them like wave +after wave. Nothing was too fat, nothing too short, nothing too long, to +dance. There they were, as ill-paired as though, instead of treading a +merry measure, they had been linked in the very bonds of matrimony—old +and young, the dwarf and the brobdingnag, the plump and the lean, each +laughing at the eccentricities of his neighbour, and happily indifferent +to the mirth he himself afforded. By-the-bye, what a glorious thing it +would be if we could carry out this principle of self-esteem into all our +reciprocity-treaties, and, while we enjoyed what we derive from others, be +unconscious of the loss we sustained ourselves! +</p> +<p> +Unlike our English performance, the dance here was as free-and-easy a +thing as needs be. Down the middle you went, holding, mayhap squeezing +your partner's hand, laughing, joking, flirting, venturing occasionally on +many a bolder flight than at other times you could have dared; for there +was no time for the lady to be angry, as she tripped along to 'The Hare in +the Corn'; and besides, but little wisdom could be expected from a man +while performing more antics than Punch in a pantomime. With all this, +there was a running fire of questions, replies, and recognitions, from +every one you passed— +</p> +<p> +'That's it, Captain: push along! begad, you're doing it well!'— +'Don't forget to-morrow!'—'Hands round!'—'Hasn't she a leg of +her own!'—'Keep it up!'—'This way I—turn, Miss Malone!'—'You'll +come to breakfast!'—'How are ye, Joe?' etc. +</p> +<p> +Scarcely was the set concluded, when Miss Bellew was engaged by another +partner; while I, at her suggestion, invited her cousin Mary to become +mine. The ball-room was now crowded with people; the mirth and fun grew +fast and furious. The country-dance occupied the whole length of the room; +and round the walls were disposed tables for whist or loo, where the +elders amused themselves with as much pleasure, and not less noise. +</p> +<p> +I fear that I gave my fair partner but a poor impression of an +aide-de-camp's gallantry—answering at random, speaking vaguely and +without coherence, my eyes fixed on Miss Bellew, delighted when by chance +I could catch a look from her, and fretful and impatient when she smiled +at some remark of her partner. In fact, love has as many stages as a +fever; and I was in that acute period of the malady when the feeling of +devotion, growing every moment stronger, is checkered by a doubt lest the +object of your affections should really be indifferent to you—thus +suggesting all the torturing agonies of jealousy to your distracted mind. +At such times as these a man can scarcely be very agreeable even to the +girl he loves; but he is a confounded bore to a chance acquaintance. So, +indeed, did poor Mary Dillon seem to think; and as, at the conclusion of +the dance, I resigned her hand to a lieutenant somebody, with pink cheeks, +black eyebrows, and a most martial air, I saw she looked upon her escape +as a direct mercy from Providence. +</p> +<p> +Just at this moment, Mr. Dillon, who had only been waiting for the +propitious moment to pounce upon me, seized me by the arm, and led me down +the room. There was a charming woman dying to know me in one corner; the +best cock-shooting in Ireland wished to make my acquaintance in another; +thirty thousand pounds, and a nice little property in Leitrim, was sighing +for me near the fire; and three old ladies, the <i>gros bonnets</i> of the +land, had kept the fourth place at the whist table vacant for <i>my</i> +sake, and were at length growing impatient at my absence. +</p> +<p> +<i>Non sunt mea verba</i>, good reader. Such was Mr. Dillon's +representation to me, as he hurried me along, presenting me as he went to +every one we met—a ceremony in which I soon learned to perform my +part respectably, by merely repeating a formula I had adopted for my +guidance: 'Delighted to know you, Mr. Burke!' or, 'Charmed to make your +acquaintance, Mrs. French!' for, as nine-tenths of the men were called by +the one, and nearly all the ladies by the other appellation, I seldom +blundered in my addresses. +</p> +<p> +The evening wore on, but the vigour of the party seemed unabated. The +fatigues of fashionable life seemed to be as little known in Ireland as +its apathy and its ennui Poor, benighted people! you appear to enjoy +society, not as a refuge for your own weariness, not as an escape-valve +for your own vapours, but really as a source of pleasurable emotions—an +occasion for drawing closer the bonds of intimacy, for being agreeable to +your friends, and for making yourselves happy. Alas! you have much to +learn in this respect; you know not yet how preferable is the languid look +of <i>blasé</i> beauty to the brilliant eye and glowing cheek of happy +girlhood; you know not how superior is the cutting sarcasm, the whispered +equivoque, to the kind welcome and the affectionate greeting; and while +enjoying the pleasure of meeting your friends, you absolutely forget to be +critical upon their characters or their costume! +</p> +<p> +What a pity it is that good-nature is underbred, and good-feeling is +vulgarity; for, after all, while I contrasted the tone of everything +around me with the supercilious cant and unimpassioned coldness of London +manners, I could not but confess to myself that the difference was great +and the interval enormous. To which side my own heart inclined, it needed +not my affection for Louisa Bellew to tell me; yes, I had seen enough of +life to learn how far are the real gifts of worth and excellence +preferable to the adventitious polish of high society. While these +thoughts rushed through my mind, another flashed across it. What if my +lady-mother were here! What if my proud cousin! How would her dark eyes +brighten as some absurd or ludicrous feature of the company would suggest +its <i>mot</i> of malice or its speech of sarcasm! how would their air, +their carriage, their deportment, appear in <i>her</i> sight! I could +picture to myself the cold scorn of her manner towards the men, the +insulting courtesy of her demeanour to the women; the affected <i>naïveté</i> +with which she would question them as to their everyday habits, and +habitudes, their usages and their wants, as though she were inquiring into +the manners and customs of South Sea Islanders! I could imagine the +ineffable scorn with which she would receive what were meant to be kind +and polite attentions; and I could fashion to myself her look, her manner, +and her voice when escaping, as she would call it, from her <i>Nuit parmi +les sauvages</i>, she would caricature every trait, every feature of the +party, converting into food for laughter their frank and hospitable +bearing, and making their very warmth of heart the groundwork of a +sarcasm. +</p> +<p> +The ball continued with unabated vigour, and as, in obedience to Miss +Bellew's request, I could not again ask her to dance, I myself felt little +inclination to seek for another partner. The practice of the place seemed, +however, as imperatively to exclude idleness as the discipline of a +man-of-war. If you were not dancing you ought to be playing cards, making +love, drinking negus, or exchanging good stories with some motherly, fat, +old lady, too heavy for a reel, too stupid for loo. In this dilemma I cut +into a round game, which I remember often to have seen at Rooney's, +technically called 'speculation.' A few minutes before, and I was fancying +to myself what my mother would think of all this; and now, as I drew my +chair to the table, I muttered a prayer to my own heart that she might +never hear of my doings. How strange it is that we would much rather be +detected in some overt act of vice than caught in any ludicrous situation +or absurd position! I could look my friends and family steadily enough in +the face while standing amid all the blacklegs of Epsom and the swindlers +of Ascot, exchanging with them the courtesies of life, and talking on +terms of easy and familiar intercourse; yet would I rather have been seen +with the veriest pickpocket in fashionable life, than seated amid that +respectable and irreproachable party who shook their sides with laughter +around the card-table! +</p> +<p> +Truly, it was a merry game, and well suited for a novice, as it required +no teaching. Each person had his three cards dealt him, one of which was +displayed to the company in rotation. Did this happen to be a knave or +some other equally reproachful character, the owner was mulcted to the sum +of fivepence; and he must indeed have had a miser's heart who could regret +a penalty so provocative of mirth. Often as the event took place, the fun +never seemed to grow old; and from the exuberance of the delight, and the +unceasing flow of the laughter, I began to wonder within myself if these +same cards had not some secret and symbolic meaning unknown to the +neophyte. But the drollery did not end here: you might sell your luck and +put up your hand to auction. This led to innumerable droll allusions and +dry jokes, and, in fact, if ever a game was contrived to make one's sides +ache, this was it. +</p> +<p> +A few sedate and sober people there were, who, with bent brow and +pursed-up lip, watched the whole proceeding. They were the secret police +of the card-table; it was in vain to attempt to conceal your luckless +knave from their prying eyes; with the glance of a tax-collector they +pounced upon the defaulter, and made him pay. Barely or never smiling +themselves, they really felt all the eagerness, all the excitement of +gambling; and I question if, after all, their hard looks and stern +features were not the best fun of the whole. +</p> +<p> +After about two hours had been thus occupied, during which I had won the +esteem and affection of several elderly ladies by the equanimity and +high-mindedness with which I bore up against the loss of two whole baskets +of counters, amounting to the sum of four-and-sixpence, I felt my shoulder +gently touched, and at the same moment Bob Mahon whispered in my ear—'The +Dillons are going, and he wants to speak a word with you; so give me your +cards, and slip away.' +</p> +<p> +Resigning my place to the Major, whose advent was received with evident +signs of dissatisfaction, inasmuch as he was a shrewd player, I hurried +through the room to find out Dillon. +</p> +<p> +'Ah, here he is!' said Miss Bellew to her uncle, while she pointed to me. +'How provoking to go away so early—isn't it, Mr. Hinton?' +</p> +<p> +'You, doubtless, feel it so,' said I, with something of pique in my +manner; 'your evening has been so agreeably passed.' +</p> +<p> +'And yours, too, if I am to judge from the laughter of your card-table. I +am sure I never heard so noisy a party. Well, Mary, does he consent?' +</p> +<p> +'No; papa is still obstinate, and the carriage is ordered. He says we +shall have so much gaiety this week that we must go home early to-night.' +</p> +<p> +'There! there! now be good girls; get on your muffling, and let us be off. +Ah, Mr. Hinton!—the very man I wanted. Will you do us the very great +favour of coming over for a few days to Mount Brown? We shall have the +partridge-shooting after to-morrow, and I think I can show you some sport. +May I send in for you in the morning? What hour will suit you? You will +not refuse me, I trust?' +</p> +<p> +'I need not say, my dear sir, how obliged I feel for and with what +pleasure I should accept your kind invitation; but the truth is, I've come +away without leave of absence. The duke may return any day, and I shall be +in a sad scrape.' +</p> +<p> +'Do you think a few days——' +</p> +<p> +A look from Louisa Bellew, at this moment, came most powerfully in aid of +her uncle's eloquence. I hesitated, and looked uncertain how to answer. +</p> +<p> +'There, girls! now is your time. He is half persuaded to do a kind thing; +do try and convince him the whole way. Come, Mary! Fanny! Louisa!' +</p> +<p> +A second look from Miss Bellew decided the matter; and as a flush of +pleasure coloured my cheek, I shook Dillon warmly by the hand, and +promised to accept his invitation. +</p> +<p> +'That is like a really good fellow,' said the little man, with a face +sparkling with pleasure. 'Now, what say you, if we drive over for you +about two o'clock? The girls are coming in to make some purchases, and we +shall all drive out together.' +</p> +<p> +This arrangement, so very palatable to me, was agreed upon, and I now took +Miss Bellow's arm to lead her to the carriage. On descending to the hall a +delay of a few minutes ensued, as the number of vehicles prevented the +carriage coming up. The weather appeared to have changed; and it was now +raining heavily, and blowing a perfect storm. +</p> +<p> +As the fitful gusts of wind howled along the dark corridors of the old +building, dashing the rain upon our faces even where we stood, I drew my +fair companion closer to my side, and held her cloak more firmly round +her. What a moment was that! Her arm rested on mine; her very tresses were +blown each moment across my cheek. I know not what I said, but I felt that +in the tones of my voice they were the utterings of my heart that fell +from my lips. I had not remembered that Mr. Dillon had already placed his +daughters in the carriage, and was calling to us loudly to follow. +</p> +<p> +'No, no, I pray you not!' said Louisa, in reply to I know not what. 'Don't +you hear my uncle?' +</p> +<p> +In her anxiety to press forward she had slightly disengaged her arm from +mine as she spoke. At this instant a man rushed forward, and catching her +hand, drew it rudely within his arm, calling out as he did so— +</p> +<p> +'Never fear, Louisa! you shall not be insulted while your cousin is here +to protect you.' +</p> +<p> +She sprang round to reply: 'You are mistaken, Ulick! It is Mr. Hinton!' +She could say no more, for he lifted her into the carriage, and, closing +the door with a loud bang, desired the coachman to drive on. +</p> +<p> +Stupefied with amazement, I stood quite motionless. My first impulse was +to strike him to the ground; for although a younger and a weaker man, I +felt within me at the moment the strength to do it. My next thought was of +Louisa's warning not to quarrel with her cousin. The struggle was indeed a +severe one, but I gained the victory over my passion. Unable, however, to +quit the spot, I stood with my arms folded, and my eyes riveted upon him. +He returned my stare, and with a sneer of insufferable insolence passed me +by and walked upstairs. Not a word was spoken on either side; but there +are moments in one's life in which a look or passing glance rivets an +undying hate. Such a one did we exchange and nothing that the tongue could +speak could compass that secret instinct by which we ratified our enmity. +</p> +<p> +With slow, uncertain steps I mounted the stairs. Some strange fascination +led me, as it were, to dog his steps; and although in my heart I prayed +that no collision should ever come between us, yet I could not resist the +headlong impulse to follow and to watch him. Like that unexplained +temptation that leads the gazer over some lofty precipice to move on, step +by step, yet nearer to the brink, conscious of his danger, yet unable to +recede; so did I track this man from place to place, following him as he +passed from one group to the other of his friends, till at length he +seated himself at a table, around which a number of persons were engaged +in noisy and boisterous conversation. He filled a tumbler to the brim with +wine, and drinking it off at a draught, refilled again. +</p> +<p> +'You are thirsty, Ulick,' said some one. +</p> +<p> +'Thirsty! On fire, by G——! You'll not believe me when I tell +you—I can't do it; no, by Heaven! there is nothing in the way of +provocation——' +</p> +<p> +As he said thus much, some lady passing near induced him to drop his +voice, and the remainder of the sentence was inaudible to me. Hitherto I +had been standing beside his chair; I now moved round to the opposite side +of the table, and, with my arms folded and my eyes firmly fixed, stood +straight before him. For an instant or two he did not remark me, as he +continued to speak with his head bent downwards. Suddenly lifting up his +eyes, he started—pushed his chair slightly back from the table— +</p> +<p> +'And look! see!' cried he, as with outstretched finger he pointed toward +me—'see! if he isn't there again!' +</p> +<p> +Then suddenly changing the tone of his voice to one of affected softness, +he continued, addressing me— +</p> +<p> +'I have been explaining, sir, as well as my poor powers will permit, the +excessive pains I have taken to persuade you to prove yourself a +gentleman. One half the trouble you have put me to would have told an +Irish gentleman what was looked for at his hands; you appear, however, to +be the best-tempered fellows in the world at your side of the Channel. +Come now, boys! if any man likes a bet, I'll wager ten guineas that even +this won't ruffle his amiable nature. Pass the sherry here, Godfrey! Is +that a clean glass beside you?' +</p> +<p> +So saying, he took the decanter, and, leisurely filling the glass, stood +up as if to present it, but when he attained the erect position, he looked +at me fixedly for a second, and then dashed the wine in my face. A roar of +laughter burst around me, but I saw and heard no more. The moment before, +and my head was cool, my senses clear, my faculties unclouded; but now, as +if derangement had fallen upon me, I could see nothing but looks of +mockery and scorn, and hear nothing save the discordant laugh and the +jarring accent of derision. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0028" id="link2HCH0028"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XXVIII. THE INN FIRE +</h2> +<p> +How I escaped from that room, and by what means I found myself in the +street, I know not. My first impulse was to tear off my cravat, that I +might breathe more freely; still a sense of suffocation oppressed me, and +I felt stunned and stupefied. +</p> +<p> +'Come along, Hinton—rouse yourself, my boy! See, your coat is +drenched with rain,' said a friendly voice behind me; while, grasping me +forcibly by the arm, the Major led me forward. +</p> +<p> +'What have I done?' cried I, struggling to get free. 'Tell me—oh, +tell me, have I done wrong? Have I committed any dreadful thing? There is +an aching pain here—here in my forehead, as though——- I +dare not speak my shame.' +</p> +<p> +'Nothing of the kind, my boy,' said Mahon: 'you've conducted yourself +admirably. Matt Keane saw it all, and he says he never witnessed anything +finer; and he's no bad judge, let me tell you. So, there now, be +satisfied, and take off your wet clothes.' +</p> +<p> +There was something imperative in the tone in which he spoke; besides, the +Major was one of those people who somehow or other always contrive to have +their own way in the world; so that I yielded at once, feeling, too, that +any opposition would only defer my chance of an explanation. +</p> +<p> +While I was thus occupied in my inner room, I could overhear my friend +without engaged in the preparation of a little supper, mingling an +occasional soliloquy with the simmering of the grilled bone that browned +upon the fire—the clink of glasses and plates, and all the evidences +of punch-making, breaking every now and then amid such reflections as +these:— +</p> +<p> +'A mighty ugly business! nothing for it but meeting him. Poor lad, they'll +say we murdered him among us! Och, he's far too young for Galway. Holloa, +Hinton, are you ready? Now you look something reasonable; and when we've +eaten a bit, well talk this matter over coolly and sensibly. And to make +your mind easy, I may tell you at once, I have arranged a meeting for you +with Burke at five to-morrow morning.' +</p> +<p> +I grasped his hand convulsively within mine, as a gleam of savage +satisfaction shot through me. +</p> +<p> +'Yes, yes,' said he, as if replying to my look, 'it's all as it ought to +be. Even his own friends are indignant at his conduct; and indeed I may +say it's the first time a stranger has met with such in our country.' +</p> +<p> +'I can well believe it,' Major,' said I; 'for, unless from the individual +in question, I have met with nothing but kindness and good feeling amongst +you. He indeed would seem an exception to his countrymen.' +</p> +<p> +'Therefore the sooner you shoot him the better. But I wish I could Father +Tom.' +</p> +<p> +'<i>Adest, domine</i>,' cried the priest, at the same moment, as he +entered the room, throwing his wet greatcoat into a corner and giving +himself a shake a Newfoundland dog might have envied. 'Isn't this pretty +work, Bob?' said he, turning to his cousin with a look of indignant +reproach: 'he is not twenty-four hours in the town, and you've got him +into a fight already! And sure it's my own fault that ever brought you +together. <i>Nec fortunam nec gratiam habes</i>—no indeed, you have +neither luck nor grace. <i>Mauvaise tête</i>, as the French say—-always +in trouble. Arrah, don't be talking to me at all, at all! reach me over +the spirits. Sorra better I ever saw you!—disturbing me out of my +virtuous dreams at two in the morning. True enough, <i>dic mihi societatem +tuam</i>; but little I thought he'd be getting you shot before you left +the place.' +</p> +<p> +I endeavoured to pacify the good priest as well as I was able; the Major +too made every explanation; but what between his being called out of bed, +his anger at getting wet, and his cousin's well-known character for +affairs of this nature, it was not before he had swallowed his second +tumbler of punch that he would 'listen to rayson.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, well, if it is so, God's will be done,' said he with a sigh. '<i>Un +bon coup d'épee</i>, as we used to say formerly, is beautiful treatment +for bad blood; but maybe you're going to fight with pistols? Oh, murther, +them's dreadful things!' +</p> +<p> +'I begin to suspect,' said the Major slyly, 'that Father Tom's afraid if +you shoot Ulick he'll never get that fifty pounds he won. <i>Hinc illo +lacrymo</i>—eh, Tom?' +</p> +<p> +'Ah, the spalpeen,' said the priest, with a deep groan, 'didn't he do me +out of that money already?' +</p> +<p> +'How so, father?' said I, scarce able to repress my laughter at the +expression of his face. +</p> +<p> +'I was coming down the main street yesterday evening with Doctor Plunkett, +the bishop, beside me, discoursing a little theology, and looking as pious +and respectable as may be, when that villain Burke came running out of a +shop, and pulling out his pocket-book, cried— +</p> +<p> +'“Wait a bit, Father Tom, you know I'm a little in your debt about that +race; and as you're a sporting character, it's only fair to book up at +once.” +</p> +<p> +'“What is this I hear, Father Loftus?” says the bishop. +</p> +<p> +'“Oh, my lord,” say I, “he's a <i>jocosus puer</i>—a humbugging +bla-guard; a <i>farceur</i>, your reverence, and that's the way he is +always cutting his jokes upon the people.” +</p> +<p> +“'And so he does not owe you this money?” said the bishop, looking mighty +hard at us both. +</p> +<p> +'“Not a farthing of it, my lord.” +</p> +<p> +'“That's comfortable, anyhow,” says Burke, putting up his pocket-book; +“and 'faith, my lord,” said he with a wink, “I wish I had a loan of you +for an hour or two every settling day, for troth you 're a trump!” And +with that he went off laughing, till ye'd have thought he'd split his +sides—and I am sure I wish he had.' +</p> +<p> +I don't think Mr. Burke himself could have laughed louder or longer at his +scheme than did we in hearing it, The priest at length joined in the +mirth, and I could perceive, as the punch made more inroads upon him and +the evening wore on, that his holy horror of duelling was gradually +melting away before the warmth of his Hibernian propensities, like a wet +sponge passed across the surface of a dark picture, bringing forth from +the gloom many a figure and feature indistinct before, and displaying +touches of light not hitherto appreciable, so whisky seems to exercise +some strange power of displaying its votaries in all their breadth of +character, divesting them of the adventitious clothes in which position or +profession has invested them. Thus a tipsy Irishman stands forth in the +exuberance of his nationality, <i>Hibernicis Hibernior</i>. Forgetting all +his moral declamation on duelling, oblivious of his late indignation +against his cousin, he rubbed his hands pleasantly, and related story +after story of his own early experiences, some of them not a little +amusing. +</p> +<p> +The Major, however, seemed not fully to enjoy the priest's anecdotical +powers, but sipped his glass with a grave and sententious air. 'Very true, +Tom,' said he at length, breaking silence; 'you have seen a fair share of +these things for a man of your cloth. But where's the man living—show +him to me, I say—that has had my experience, either as principal or +second? Haven't I had my four men out in the same morning?' +</p> +<p> +'Why, I confess,' said I meekly, 'that does seem an extravagant +allowance.' +</p> +<p> +'Clear waste, downright profusion, <i>du luxe, mon cher</i>, nothing +else,' observed Father Tom. +</p> +<p> +Meanwhile, the Major rolled his eyes fearfully at me, and fidgeted in his +chair with impatience to be asked for his story; and as I myself had some +curiosity on the subject, I begged him to relate it. +</p> +<p> +'Tom, here, doesn't like a story at supper,' said the Major pompously; +for, perceiving our attitude of attention, he resolved on being a little +tyrannical before telling it. +</p> +<p> +The priest made immediate submission; and, slyly hinting that his +objection only lay against stories he had been hearing for the last thirty +years, said he could listen to the narration in question with much +pleasure. +</p> +<p> +'You shall have it, then,' said the Major, as he squared himself in his +chair, and thus began:— +</p> +<p> +'You have never been in Castle Connel, Hinton? Well, there is a wide bleak +line of country there, that stretches away to the westward, with nothing +but large round-backed mountains, low boggy swamps, with here and there a +miserable mud hovel, surrounded by, maybe, half an acre of lumpers, or bad +oats; a few small streams struggle through this on their way to the +Shannon, but they are brown and dirty as the soil they traverse; and the +very fish that swim in them are brown and smutty also. +</p> +<p> +'In the very heart of this wild country, I took it into my head to build a +house. A strange notion it was, for there was no neighbourhood and no +sporting; but, somehow, I had taken a dislike to mixed society some time +before that, and I found it convenient to live somewhat in retirement; so +that, if the partridges were not in abundance about me, neither were the +process-servers; and the truth was, I kept a much sharper look-out for the +sub-sheriff than I did for the snipe. +</p> +<p> +'Of course, as I was over head and ears in debt, my notion was to build +something very considerable and imposing; and, to be sure, I had a fine +portico, and a flight of steps leading up to it; and there were ten +windows in front, and a grand balustrade at the top; and 'faith, taking it +all in all, the building was so strong, the walls so thick, the windows so +narrow, and the stones so black, that my cousin Darcy Mahon called it +Newgate; and not a bad name either—and the devil another it ever +went by. And even that same had its advantages; for when the creditors +used to read that at the top of my letters, they'd say, “Poor devil! he +has enough on his hands: there's no use troubling him any more.” Well, big +as Newgate looked from without, it had not much accommodation when you got +inside. There was, 'tis true, a fine hall, all flagged; and, out of it, +you entered what ought to have been the dinner-room, thirty-eight feet by +seven-and-twenty, but which was used for herding sheep in winter. On the +right hand, there was a cosy little breakfast-room, just about the size of +this we are in. At the back of the hall, but concealed by a pair of +folding-doors, there was a grand staircase of old Irish oak, that ought to +have led up to a great suite of bedrooms, but it only conducted to one—a +little crib I had for myself. The remainder were never plastered nor +floored; and, indeed, in one of them, that was over the big drawing-room, +the joists were never laid—which was all the better, for it was +there we used to keep our hay and straw. Now, at the time I mention, the +harvest was not brought in, and instead of its being full, as it used to +be, it was mighty low; so that, when you opened the door above the stairs, +instead of finding the hay up beside you, it was about fourteen feet down +beneath you. +</p> +<p> +'I can't help boring you with all these details; first, because they are +essential to my story; and next, because, being a young man, and a +foreigner to boot, it may lead you to a little better understanding of +some of our national customs. Of all the partialities we Irish have, after +lush and the ladies, I believe our ruling passion is to build a big house, +spend every shilling we have, or that we have not, as the case may be, in +getting it half finished, and then live in a corner of it, “just for +grandeur,” as a body may say. It's a droll notion, after all; but show me +the county in Ireland that hasn't at least six specimens of what I +mention. +</p> +<p> +'Newgate was a beautiful one; and although the she lived in the parlour, +and the cows were kept in the blue drawing-room, Darby Whaley slept in the +boudoir, and two bull-dogs and a buck goat kept house in the library—'faith, +upon the outside it looked very imposing; and not one that saw it, from +the highroad to Ennis—and you could see it for twelve miles in every +direction—didn't say, “That Mahon must be a snug fellow: look what a +beautiful place he has of it there!” Little they knew that it was safer to +go up the “Reeks” than my grand staircase, and it was like rope-dancing to +pass from one room to the other. +</p> +<p> +'Well, it was about four o'clock in the afternoon of a dark lowering day +in December that I was treading homewards in no very good-humour; for +except a brace and a half of snipe, and a grey plover, I had met with +nothing the whole day. The night was falling fast; so I began to hurry on +as quickly as I could, when I heard a loud shout behind me, and a voice +called out— +</p> +<p> +'“It's Bob Mahon, boys! By the Hill of Scariff, we are in luck!” +</p> +<p> +'I turned about, and what should I see but a parcel of fellows in red +coats—they were the Blazers. There was Dan Lambert, Tom Burke, Harry +Eyre, Joe M'Mahon, and the rest of them—fourteen souls in all. They +had come down to draw a cover of Stephen Blake's about ten miles from me; +but, in the strange mountain country, they lost the dogs, they lost their +way and their temper; in truth, to all appearance, they lost everything +but their appetites. Their horses were dead beat too, and they looked as +miserable a crew as ever you set eyes on. +</p> +<p> +'“Isn't it lucky, Bob, that we found you at home?” said Lambert. +</p> +<p> +'“They told us you were away,” says Burke. +</p> +<p> +'“Some said that you were grown so pious that you never went out except on +Sundays,” added old Harry, with a grin. +</p> +<p> +'“Begad,” said I, “as to the luck, I won't say much for it; for here's all +I can give you for your dinner”; and so I pulled out the four birds and +shook them at them; “and as to the piety, troth, maybe you'd like to keep +a fast with as devoted a son of the Church as myself.” +</p> +<p> +'“But isn't that Newgate up there?” said one. +</p> +<p> +'“That same.” +</p> +<p> +'“And you don't mean to say that such a house as that hasn't a good larder +and a fine cellar?” +</p> +<p> +'“You're right,” said I; “and they're both full at this very moment—the +one with seed-potatoes, and the other with Whitehaven coals.” +</p> +<p> +'“Have you got any bacon?” said M'Mahon. +</p> +<p> +'“Oh yes!” said I, “there's bacon.” +</p> +<p> +'“And eggs?” said another. +</p> +<p> +'“For the matter of that, you might swim in batter.” +</p> +<p> +'“Come, come,” said Dan Lambert, “we 're not so badly off after all.” +</p> +<p> +'“Is there whisky?” cried Eyre. +</p> +<p> +'“Sixty-three gallons, that never paid the king sixpence!” +</p> +<p> +'As I said this, they gave three cheers you'd have heard a mile off. +</p> +<p> +'After about twenty minutes' walking, we got up to the house, and when +poor Darby opened the door, I thought he 'd faint; for, you see, the red +coats made him think it was the army, coming to take me away; and he was +for running off to raise the country, when I caught him by the neck. +</p> +<p> +'“It's the Blazers, ye old fool!” said I, “The gentlemen are come to dine +here.” +</p> +<p> +'“Hurroo!” said he, clapping his hands on his knees—“there must be +great distress entirely, down about Nenagh, and them parts, or they'd +never think of coming up here for a bit to eat.” +</p> +<p> +'“Which way lie the stables, Bob?” said Burke. +</p> +<p> +'“Leave all that to Darby,” said I; for ye see he had only to whistle and +bring up as many people as he liked. And so he did too; and as there was +room for a cavalry regiment, the horses were soon bedded down and +comfortable; and in ten minutes' time we were all sitting pleasantly round +a big fire, waiting for the rashers and eggs. +</p> +<p> +'“Now, if you'd like to wash your hands before dinner, Lambert, come along +with me.” +</p> +<p> +'“By all means,” said he. +</p> +<p> +'The others were standing up too; but I observed that as the house was +large, and the ways of it unknown to them, it was better to wait till I'd +come back for them. +</p> +<p> +'“This was a real piece of good-luck, Bob,” said Dan, as he followed me +upstairs. “Capital quarters we've fallen into; and what a snug bedroom ye +have here.” +</p> +<p> +'“Yes,” said I carelessly; “it's one of the small rooms. There are eight +like this, and five large ones, plainly furnished, as you see; but for the +present, you know——” +</p> +<p> +'“Oh, begad! I wish for nothing better. Let me sleep here—the other +fellows may care for your four-posters with satin hangings.” +</p> +<p> +'“Well,” said I, “if you are really not joking, I may tell you that the +room is one of the warmest in the house”—and this was telling no +lie. +</p> +<p> +'“Here I 'll sleep,” said he, rubbing his hands with satisfaction, and +giving the bed a most affectionate look. “And now let us join the rest.” +</p> +<p> +'When I brought Dan down, I took up Burke, and after him M'Mahon, and so +on to the last; but every time I entered the parlour, I found them all +bestowing immense praises on my house, and each fellow ready to bet he had +got the best bedroom. +</p> +<p> +'Dinner soon made its appearance; for if the cookery was not very perfect, +it was at least wonderfully expeditious. There were two men cutting +rashers, two more frying them in the pan, and another did nothing but +break the eggs, Darby running from the parlour to the kitchen and back +again, as hard as he could trot. +</p> +<p> +'Do you know, now, that many a time since, when I have been giving +venison, and Burgundy and claret enough to swim a lifeboat in, I often +thought it was a cruel waste of money; for the fellows weren't half as +pleasant as they were that evening on bacon and whisky! +</p> +<p> +'I've a theory on that subject, Hinton, I'll talk to you more about +another time; I'll only observe now, that I'm sure we all overfeed our +company. I've tried both plans; and my honest experience is, that as far +as regards conviviality, fun, and good-fellowship, it is a great mistake +to provide too well for your guests. There is something heroic in eating +your mutton-chop, or your leg of a turkey, among jolly fellows; there is a +kind of reflective flattering about it that tells you you have been +invited for your drollery, and not for your digestion; and that your jokes +and not your flattery have been your recommendation. Lord bless you! I 've +laughed more over red-herrings and poteen than I ever expect to do again +over turtle and toquay. +</p> +<p> +'My guests were, to do them justice, a good illustration of my theory. A +pleasanter and a merrier party never sat down together. We had good songs, +good stories, plenty of laughing, and plenty of drink; until at last poor +Darby became so overpowered, by the fumes of the hot water I suppose, that +he was obliged to be carried up to bed, and so we were compelled to boil +the kettle in the parlour. This, I think, precipitated matters; for, by +some mistake, they put punch into it instead of water, and the more you +tried to weaken the liquor, it was only the more tipsy you were getting. +</p> +<p> +'About two o'clock, five of the party were under the table, three more +were nodding backwards and forwards like insane pendulums, and the rest +were mighty noisy, and now and then rather disposed to be quarrelsome. +</p> +<p> +'“Bob,” said Lambert to me, in a whisper, “if it's the same thing to you, +I'll slip away and get into bed.” +</p> +<p> +'“Of course, if you won't take anything more. Just make yourself at home; +and as you don't know the way here, follow me.” +</p> +<p> +'“I 'm afraid,” said he, “I 'd not find my way alone.” +</p> +<p> +'“I think,” said I, “it's very likely. But come along!” +</p> +<p> +'I walked upstairs before him; but instead of turning to the left, I went +the other way, till I came to the door of the large room that I have told +you already was over the big drawing-room. Just as I put my hand on the +lock, I contrived to blow out the candle, as if it was the wind. +</p> +<p> +'“What a draught there is here,” said I; “but just step in, and I'll go +for a light.” +</p> +<p> +'He did as he was bid; but instead of finding himself on my beautiful +little carpet, down he went fourteen feet into the hay at the bottom. I +looked down after him for a minute or two, and then called out— +</p> +<p> +“'As I am doing the honours of Newgate, the least I could do was to show +you the drop. Good-night, Dan! but let me advise you to get a little +farther from the door, as there are more coming.” +</p> +<p> +'Well, sir, when they missed Dan and me out of the room, two or three more +stood up, and declared for bed also. The first I took up was Ffrench, of +Green Park; for indeed he wasn't a cute fellow at the best of times; and +if it wasn't that the hay was so low, he'd never have guessed it was not a +feather-bed till he woke in the morning. Well, down he went. Then came +Eyre; then Joe M'Mahon—two-and-twenty stone—no less! Lord pity +them!—this was a great shock entirely! But when I opened the door +for Tom Burke, upon my conscience you'd think it was Pandemonium they had +down there. They were fighting like devils, and roaring with all their +might. +</p> +<p> +'“Good-night, Tom,” said I, pushing Burke forward. “It's the cows you hear +underneath.” +</p> +<p> +'“Cows!” said he. “If they 're cows, begad they must have got at that +sixty-three gallons of poteen you talked of; for they're all drunk.” +</p> +<p> +'With that, he snatched the candle out of my hand and looked down into the +pit. Never was such a sight seen before or since. Dan was pitching into +poor Ffrench, who, thinking he had an enemy before him, was hitting out +manfully at an old turf-creel, that rocked and creaked at every blow, as +he called out— +</p> +<p> +'“I'll smash you! I'll ding your ribs for you, you' infernal scoundrel!” +</p> +<p> +'Eyre was struggling in the hay, thinking he was swimming for his life; +and poor Joe M'Mahon was patting him on the head, and saying, “Poor +fellow! good dog!” for he thought it was Towzer, the bull-terrier, that +was prowling round the calves of his legs. +</p> +<p> +'“If they don't get tired, there will not be a man of them alive by +morning!” said Tom, as he closed the door. “And now, if you 'll allow me +to sleep on the carpet, I'll take it as a favour.” +</p> +<p> +'By this time they were all quiet in the parlour; so I lent Tom a couple +of blankets and a bolster, and having locked my door, went to bed with an +easy mind and a quiet conscience. To be sure, now and then a cry would +burst forth, as if they were killing somebody below-stairs, but I soon +fell asleep and heard no more of them. +</p> +<p> +'By daybreak next morning they made their escape; and when I was trying to +awake at half-past ten, I found Colonel M'Morris, of the Mayo, with a +message from the whole four. +</p> +<p> +'“A bad business this, Captain Mahon,” said he; “my friends have been +shockingly treated.” +</p> +<p> +'“It's mighty hard,” said I, “to want to shoot me because I hadn't +fourteen feather-beds in the house.” +</p> +<p> +'“They will be the laugh of the whole country, sir.” +</p> +<p> +'“Troth!” said I, “if the country is not in very low spirits, I think they +will.” +</p> +<p> +'“There's not a man of them can see!—their eyes are actually closed +up!” +</p> +<p> +'“The Lord be praised!” said I. “It's not likely they'll hit me.” +</p> +<p> +'But to make a short story of it—out we went. Tom Burke was my +friend. I could scarce hold my pistol with laughing; for such faces no man +ever looked at. But for self-preservation's sake, I thought it best to hit +one of them; so I just pinked Ffrench a little under the skirt of the +coat. '“Come, Lambert!” said the Colonel, “it's your turn now.” +</p> +<p> +'“Wasn't that Lambert,” said I, “that I hit?” +</p> +<p> +'“No,” said he, “that was Ffrench.” +</p> +<p> +'“Begad, I'm sorry for it. Ffrench, my dear fellow, excuse me; for you see +you're all so like each other about the eyes this morning——” +</p> +<p> +'With this there was a roar of laughing from them all, in which, I assure +you, Lambert took not a very prominent part; for somehow he didn't fancy +my polite inquiries after him. And so we all shook hands, and left the +ground as good friends as ever—though to this hour the name of +Newgate brings less pleasant recollections to their minds than if their +fathers had been hanged at its prototype.' +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0029" id="link2HCH0029"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XXIX. THE DUEL +</h2> +<p> +When morning broke, I started up and opened the window. It was one of +those bright and beauteous daybreaks which would seem to be the +compensation a northern climate possesses for its want of the azure sky of +noon and the silvery moonlight of night, the gifts of happier climes. The +pink hue of the sky was gradually replacing the paler tints, like a deep +blush mantling the cheek of beauty; the lark was singing high in heaven, +and the deep note of the blackbird came mellowed from the leafy grove; the +cattle were still at rest, and seemed half unwilling to break the tranquil +stillness of the scene, as they lay breathing the balmy odours from the +wild flowers that grew around them. Such was the picture that lay on one +side of me. On the other was the long street of a little town, on which +yet the shadows of night were sleeping; the windows were closed; not a +smoke-wreath rose from any chimney, but all was still and peaceful. +</p> +<p> +In my little parlour I found the good priest and the Major fast asleep in +their chairs, pretty much in the same attitudes I had left them in some +hours before. The fire had died away; the square decanter of whisky was +emptied to its last drop, and the kettle lay pensively on one side, like +some shipwrecked craft high and dry upon the shore. I looked at my watch; +it was but four o'clock. Our meeting was appointed for half-past five; so +I crept noiselessly back to my room, not sorry to have half an hour to +myself of undisturbed reflection. When I had finished my dressing, I threw +up the sash and sprang out into the garden. It was a wild, uncultivated +spot; but still there was something of beauty in those old trees whose +rich blossoms scented the air, while the rank weeds of many a gay and +gaudy hue shot up luxuriantly about their trunks, the pink marsh-mallow +and the taper foxglove mingling their colours with the sprayey meadowsweet +and the wild sweet-brier. There was an air of solitude in the neglect +around me that seemed to suit the habit of my soul; and I strolled along +from one walk to another, lost in my own thoughts. +</p> +<p> +There were many things at a moment like that I would fain have written, +fain have said; but so it is, in the wealth of our emotions we can give +nothing, and I could not bring myself to write to my friends even to say +farewell Although I felt that in every stage of this proceeding I had +nothing to reproach myself with, this duel being thrust on me by one who +had singled me out for his hatred, yet I saw as its result nothing but the +wreck of all my hopes. Already had <i>she</i> intimated how strong was her +father's attachment to his nephew, and with an expressive fear cautioned +me against any collision with him. How vain are all our efforts, how +fruitless are all our endeavours, to struggle against the current of our +fate. We may stem for a short time the full tide of fortune, we may breast +with courage high and spirit fierce the rough billows as they break upon +us, but we are certain to succumb in the end. With some men failure is a +question of fear; some want the persevering courage to drag on amid trials +and difficulties; and some are deficient in the temper which, subduing our +actions to a law, governs and presides over every moment of our lives, +rendering us, even in our periods of excitement and irritation, amenable +to the guidance of our reason. This was my case; and I felt that +notwithstanding all my wishes to avoid a quarrel with Burke, yet in my +heart a lurking spirit urged me to seek him out and offer him defiance. +</p> +<p> +While these thoughts were passing through my mind, I suddenly heard a +voice which somehow seemed half familiar to my ear. I listened; it came +from a room of which the window was partly open. I now remembered that +poor Joe lay in that part of the house, and the next moment I knew it to +be his. Placing a ladder against the wall, I crept quietly up till I could +peep into the room. The poor fellow was alone, sitting up in his bed, with +his hunting-cap on, an old whip in his hand, which he flourished from time +to time with no small energy; his cheek was flushed, and his eye, +prominent and flashing, denoted the access of high fever. It was evident +that his faculties, clouded as they were even in their happiest moments, +were now under the wilder influence of delirium. He was speaking rapidly +to himself in a quick undertone, calling the dogs by name, caressing this +one, scolding that; and then, bursting forth into a loud tally-ho, his +face glowed with an ecstatic pleasure, and he broke forth into a rude +chant, the words of which I have never forgotten, for as he sang them in a +voice of wild and touching sweetness, they seemed the very outpourings of +his poor simple heart:— +</p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +'I never yet owned a horse or hound, +I never was lord of a foot of ground; +Yet few are richer, I will be bound, +Than me of a hunting morning. + +'I 'm far better off nor him that pays, +For though I 've no money, I live at my aise, +With hunting and shooting whenever I plase, +And a tally-high-ho in the morning. + +'As I go on foot, I don't lose my sate, +As I take the gaps, I don't break a gate; +And if I'm not first, why I'm seldom late, +With my tally-high-ho in the morning. + +'And there's not a man, be he high or low, +In the parts down here, or wherever you go, +That doesn't like poor Tipperary Joe, +With his tally-high-ho in the morning.' +</pre> +<p> +A loud view-holloa followed this wild chant; and then the poor fellow, as +if exhausted by his efforts, sank back in the bed muttering to himself in +a low broken voice, but with a look so happy, and a smile so tranquil, he +seemed more a thing to envy than one to commiserate and pity. +</p> +<p> +'I say, Hinton!' shouted the Major from the window of my bedroom, 'what +the deuce are you doing up that ladder there? Not serenading Mrs. Doolan, +I hope. Are you aware it is five o'clock?' +</p> +<p> +I descended with all haste, and joining my friend, took his arm, and set +out towards the rendezvous. +</p> +<p> +'I didn't order the horses,' said Mahon, 'for the rumour of such a thing +as this always gets abroad through one's servants.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah, yes,' said I; 'and then you have the police.' +</p> +<p> +'The police!' repeated he, laughing—'not a bit of it, my boy; don't +forget you're in glorious old Ireland, where no one ever thinks of +spoiling a fair fight. It is possible the magistrate might issue his +warrant if you would not come up to time, but for anything else——' +</p> +<p> +'Well,' said I, 'that certainly does afford me another glimpse of your +habits. How far have we to go, Major?' +</p> +<p> +'You remember the grass-field below the sunk fence, to the left of the +mill?' +</p> +<p> +'Where the stream runs?' +</p> +<p> +'Exactly; that's the spot. It was old Pigott chose it, and no man is a +better judge of these things. By-the-bye, it is very lucky that Burke +should have pitched upon a gentleman for his friend—I mean a real +gentleman, for there are plenty of his acquaintances who under that name +would rob the mail.' +</p> +<p> +Thus chatting as we went, Mahon informed me that Pigott was an old +half-pay Colonel, whose principal occupation for thirteen years had been +what the French would call 'to assist' at affairs of honour. Even the +Major himself looked up to him as a last appeal in a disputed or a +difficult point; and many a reserved case was kept for his opinion, with +the same ceremonious observance as a knotty point of law for the +consideration of the twelve judges. Crossing the little rivulet near the +mill, we held on by a small bypath which brought us over the +starting-ground of the steeplechase, by the scene of part of my preceding +day's exploits. While I was examining with some curiosity the ground cut +up and trod by the horses' feet, and looking at the spot where we had +taken the fence, the sharp sound of two pistol-shots quickly aroused me, +and I eagerly asked what it was. +</p> +<p> +'Snapping the pistols,' said Mahon. 'Ah, by-the-bye, all this kind of +thing is new to you. Never mind; put a careless, half-indifferent kind of +face on the matter. Do you take snuff? It doesn't signify; put your hands +in your pockets, and hum “Tatter Jack Walsh!”' +</p> +<p> +As I supposed there was no specific charm in the melody he alluded to, nor +if there had been, had I any time to acquire it, I consoled myself by +observing the first part of his direction, and strolled after him into the +field with a nonchalance only perhaps a little too perfect. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Burke and his friends, to the number of about a dozen persons, were +already assembled; and were one to judge from their loud talking and +hearty laughter as we came forward, it would seem difficult to believe the +occasion that brought them there was that of mortal combat. So, at least, +I thought. Not so, however, the Major; for with a hop, step, and a jump, +performed by about the shortest pair of legs in the barony, he sprang into +the midst of the party, with some droll observation on the benefits of +early rising which once more called forth their merriment. Seating myself +on a large moss-covered stone, I waited patiently for the preliminaries to +be settled. As I threw my eye among the group, I perceived that Burke was +not there; but on turning my head, I remarked two men walking arm-in-arm +on the opposite side of the hedge. As they paced to and fro, I could see, +by the violence of his gesticulations and the energy of his manner, that +one was Burke. It seemed as though his companion was endeavouring to +reason with and dissuade him from some course of proceeding he appeared +bent on following; but there was a savage earnestness in his manner that +would not admit of persuasion; and at last, as if wearied and vexed by his +friend's importunities, he broke rudely from him, and springing over the +fence, called out— +</p> +<p> +'Pigott, are you aware it is past six?' Then pulling out his watch, he +added, 'I must be at Ballinasloe by eleven o'clock.' +</p> +<p> +'If you speak another word, sir,' said the old Colonel, with an air of +offended dignity, 'I leave the ground. Major Mahon, a word, if you +please.' +</p> +<p> +They walked apart from the rest for a few seconds; and then the Colonel, +throwing his glove upon the grass, proceeded to step off the ground with a +military precision and formality that I am sure at any other time would +have highly amused me. +</p> +<p> +After a slight demur from the Major, to which I could perceive the Colonel +readily yielded, a walking-stick was stuck at either end of the measured +distance; while the two seconds, placing themselves beside them, looked at +each other with very great satisfaction, and mutually agreed it was a +sweet spot. +</p> +<p> +'Would you like to look at these?' said Pigott, taking up the pistols from +where they lay on the grass. +</p> +<p> +'Ah, I know them well,' replied the Major, laughing; 'these were poor Tom +Casey's, and a better fellow, and a handier with his iron, never snapped a +trigger. These are ours, Colonel'; presenting, as he spoke, two +splendid-looking Mortimers, in all the brilliancy of their maiden +freshness. A look of contempt from the Colonel, and a most expressive +shrug of his shoulders, was his reply. +</p> +<p> +'Begad, I think so,' said Mahon, as if appreciating the gesture; 'I had +rather have that old tool with the cracked stock—not but this is a +very sweet instrument, and elegantly balanced in the hand.' +</p> +<p> +'We are ready now,' said Pigott; 'bring up your man, Major.' +</p> +<p> +As I started up to obey the summons, a slight bustle near attracted me. +Two or three of Burke's friends were endeavouring as it were to pacify and +subdue him; but his passion knew no bounds, and as he broke from them, he +said in a voice perfectly audible where I stood— +</p> +<p> +'Won't I, by G——! then I'll tell you, if I don't shoot him——-' +</p> +<p> +'Sir,' said the Colonel, turning on him a look of passionate indignation, +'if it were not that you were here to answer the appeal of wounded honour, +I'd leave you to your fate this moment; as it is, another such expression +as that you 've used, and I abandon you on the spot.' +</p> +<p> +Doggedly and without speaking, Burke drew his hat far down upon his eyes, +and took the place marked out for him. +</p> +<p> +'Mr. Hinton,' said the Colonel, as he touched his hat with most courteous +politeness, 'will you have the goodness to stand there?' +</p> +<p> +Mahon, meanwhile, handed each man his pistol, and whispering in my ear, +'Aim low,' retired. +</p> +<p> +'The word, gentlemen,' said the Colonel, 'will be, “One, two, three.” Mr. +Hinton, pray observe, I beg of you, you 'll not reserve your fire after I +say “three.”' With his eyes fixed upon us he walked back about ten paces. +'Are you ready? Are you both ready?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, yes,' said Burke impatiently. +</p> +<p> +'Yes,'said I. +</p> +<p> +'One, two, three.' +</p> +<p> +I lifted my pistol at the second word, and as the last dropped from the +Colonel's lips one loud report rang through the air, and both pistols went +off together. A quick sharp pang shot through my cheek as though it had +been seared by a hot instrument. I put up my hand, but the ball had only +touched the flesh, and a few drops of blood were all the damage. Not so +Burke; my ball had entered above the hip, and already his trousers were +stained with blood, and notwithstanding his endeavours he could not stand +up straight. +</p> +<p> +'Is he hit, Pigott?' cried he, in a voice harsh from agony. 'Is he hit, I +say?' +</p> +<p> +'Only grazed,' said I tranquilly, as I wiped the stain from my face. +</p> +<p> +'Another pistol, quick! Do you hear me, Pigott?' +</p> +<p> +'We are not the arbiters in this case,' replied the Colonel coolly. 'Major +Mahon, is your friend satisfied?' +</p> +<p> +'Perfectly satisfied on our own account,' said the Major; 'but if the +gentleman desires another shot——' +</p> +<p> +'I do, I do!' screamed Burke, as, writhing with pain, he pressed both +hands to his side, from which the blood, now gushing in torrents, formed a +pool about his feet. 'Be quick there, Pigott! I am getting faint.' He +staggered forward as he spoke, his face pale and his lips parted; then +suddenly clutching his pistol by the barrel, he fixed his eyes steadily on +me, while with a curse he hurled the weapon at my head, and fell senseless +to the earth. His aim was true; for straight between the eyes the weapon +struck me, and felled me to the ground. Although stunned for the moment, I +could hear the cry of horror and indignant shame that broke from the +bystanders; but the next instant a dreamy confusion came over me, and I +became unconscious of what was passing around. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0030" id="link2HCH0030"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XXX. A COUNTRY DOCTOR +</h2> +<p> +Should my reader feel any interest concerning that portion of my history +which immediately followed the events of my last chapter, I believe I must +refer him to Mrs. Doolan, the amiable hostess of the Bonaveen Arms. She +could probably satisfy any curious inquiry as to the confusion produced in +her establishment by the lively sallies of Tipperary Joe in one quarter, +and the more riotous madness of myself in another. The fact is, good +reader, my head was an English one; and although its contents were +gradually acclimating themselves to the habits of the country, the +external shell had not assumed that proper thickness and due power of +resistance which Irish heads would appear to be gifted with. In plain +words, the injury had brought on delirium. +</p> +<p> +It was somewhere in the third week after this unlucky morning that I found +myself lying in my bed with a wet cloth upon my temples, while over my +whole frame was spread that depressing sense of great debility more +difficult to bear than acute bodily suffering. Although unable to speak, I +could distinctly hear the conversation about me, and recognise the voices +of both Father Tom and the Major as they conversed with a third party, +whom I afterwards learned was the Galen of Loughrea. +</p> +<p> +Dr. Mopin, surgeon of the Roscommon militia, had been for forty years the +terror of the sick of the surrounding country; for, independent of a +naturally harsh and disagreeable manner, he had a certain slangy and +sneering way of addressing his patients that was perfectly shocking. +Amusing himself the while at their expense, by suggesting the various +unhappy and miserable consequences that might follow on their illness, he +appeared to take a diabolical pleasure in the terror he was capable of +eliciting. There was something almost amusing in the infernal ingenuity he +had acquired in this species of torture. There was no stage of your +illness, no phase of your constitution, no character or condition of your +malady, that was not the immediate forerunner of one or more afflicting +calamities. Were you getting weaker, it was the way they always died out; +did you gain strength, it was a rally before death; were you despondent, +it was the best for you to know your state; were you sanguine, he would +rebuke your good spirits and suggest the propriety of a priest. However, +with all these qualifications people put up with him; and as he had a +certain kind of rude skill, and never stuck at a bold method, he obtained +the best practice of the country and a widespread reputation. +</p> +<p> +'Well,' said Father Tom, in a low voice—'well, Doctor, what do you +think of him this evening?' +</p> +<p> +'What do I think of him? Just what I thought before—congestion of +the membranes. This is the low stage he is in now; I wouldn't be surprised +if he'd get a little better in a few days, and then go off like the rest +of them.' +</p> +<p> +'Go off! eh? Now you don't mean——' +</p> +<p> +'Don't I? Maybe not. The ould story—coma, convulsions, and death.' +</p> +<p> +'Damn the fellow!' said the Major, in a muttered voice, 'I feel as if I +was in a well. But I say, Doctor, what are we to do?' +</p> +<p> +'Anything you plase. They say his family is mighty respectable, and have +plenty of money. I hope so; for here am I coming three times a day, and +maybe when he dies it will be a mourning ring they'll be sending me +instead of my fee. He was a dissipated chap I am sure: look at the circles +under his eyes!' +</p> +<p> +'Ay, ay,' said the priest, 'but they only came since his illness.' +</p> +<p> +'So much the worse,' added the invincible Doctor; 'that's always a symptom +that the base of the brain is attacked.' +</p> +<p> +'And what happens then?' said the Major. +</p> +<p> +'Oh, he might recover. I knew a man once get over it, and he is alive now, +and in Swift's Hospital.' +</p> +<p> +'Mad?' said the priest. +</p> +<p> +'Mad as a March hare,' grinned the Doctor; 'he thinks himself the +post-office clock, and chimes all the hours and half-hours day and night.' +</p> +<p> +'The heavens be about us!' said Father Tom, crossing himself piously. 'I +had rather be dead than that.' +</p> +<p> +'When did you see Burke?' inquired the Major, wishing to change the +conversation. +</p> +<p> +'About an hour ago; he is going fast.' +</p> +<p> +'Why, I thought he was better,' said Father Tom; 'they told me he ate a +bit of chicken, and took a little wine and water.' +</p> +<p> +'Ay, so he did; I bid them give him whatever he liked, as his time was so +short. So, after all, maybe it is as well for this young chap here not to +get over it.' +</p> +<p> +'How so?' said the Major. 'What do you mean by that?' +</p> +<p> +'Just that it is as good to die of a brain fever as be hanged; and it +won't shock the family.' +</p> +<p> +'I 'd break his neck,' muttered Bob Mahon, 'if there was another doctor +within forty miles.' +</p> +<p> +Of all his patients, Tipperary Joe was the only one of whom the Doctor +spoke without disparagement. Whether that the poor fellow's indifference +to his powers of terrorising had awed or conciliated him, I know not; but +he expressed himself favourably regarding his case, and his prospects of +recovery. +</p> +<p> +'Them chaps always recover,' drawled out the Doctor in a dolorous cadence. +</p> +<p> +'Is it true,' said the Major, with a malicious grin—'is it true that +he changed all the splints and bandages to the sound leg, and that you +didn't discover the mistake for a week afterwards? Mary Doolan told me.' +</p> +<p> +'Mrs. Doolan,' said the Doctor, 'ought to be thinking of her own +misfortunes; and with an acute inflammation of the pericardium, she might +be making her sowl.' +</p> +<p> +'She ill?—that fine, fat, comfortable-looking woman!' +</p> +<p> +'Ay, just so; they're always fat, and have a sleepy look about the eyes, +just like yourself. Do you ever bleed at the nose?' +</p> +<p> +'Never without a blow on it. Come, come, I know you well, Doctor; you +shall not terrify me.' +</p> +<p> +'You're right not to fret; for it will take you off suddenly, with a +giddiness in your head, and a rolling in your eyes, and a choking feeling +about your throat——' +</p> +<p> +'Stop, and be d——d to you!' said the Major, as he cleared his +voice a couple of times, and loosed the tie of his cravat. 'This room is +oppressively hot.' +</p> +<p> +'I protest to God,' said Father Tom, 'my heart is in my mouth, and there +isn't a bone in my body that's not aching.' +</p> +<p> +'I don't wonder,' chimed in the Doctor; 'you are another of them, and you +are a surprising man to go on so long. Sure, it is two years ago I warned +your niece that when she saw you fall down she must open a vein in your +neck, if it was only with a carving-knife.' +</p> +<p> +'The saints in heaven forbid!' said the priest, cutting the sign of the +cross in the air; 'it's maybe the jugular she'd cut!' +</p> +<p> +'No,' drawled out the Doctor, 'she needn't go so deep; and if her hand +doesn't shake, there won't be much danger. Good-evening to you both.' +</p> +<p> +So saying, with his knees bent, and his hands crossed under the skirts of +his coat, he sneaked out of the room; while the others, overcome, with +fear, shame, and dismay, sat silently, looking misery itself, at each side +of the table. +</p> +<p> +'That fellow would kill a regiment,' said the Major at length. 'Come, Tom, +let's have a little punch; I 've a kind of a trembling over me.' +</p> +<p> +'Not a drop of anything stronger than water will cross my lips this +blessed night. Do you know, Bob, I think this place doesn't agree with me? +I wish I was back in Murranakilty: the mountain air, and regular habits of +life, that's the thing for me.' +</p> +<p> +'We are none of us abstemious enough,' said the Major; 'and then we +bachelors—to be sure you have your niece.' +</p> +<p> +'Whisht!' said the priest, 'how do you know who is listening? I vow to God +I am quite alarmed at his telling that to Mary; some night or other, if I +take a little too much, she'll maybe try her anatomy upon me!' +</p> +<p> +This unhappy reflection seemed to weigh upon the good priest's mind, and +set him a-mumbling certain Latin offices between his teeth for a quarter +of an hour. +</p> +<p> +'I wish,' said the Major, 'Hinton was able to read his letters, for here +is a whole bundle of them—some from England, some from the Castle, +and some marked “On His Majesty's service.”' +</p> +<p> +'I'll wait another week anyhow for him,' said the priest. 'To go back to +Dublin in the state he is now would be the ruin of him, after the shake he +has got. The dissipation, the dining-out, and all the devilment would +destroy him entirely; but a few weeks' peace and quietness up at +Murranakilty will make him as sound as a bell.' +</p> +<p> +'You are right, Tom, you are right,' said the Major; 'the poor fellow +mustn't be lost for the want of a little care; and now that Dillon has +gone, there is no one here to look after him. Let us go down and see if +the post is in; I think a walk would do us good.' +</p> +<p> +Assenting to this proposition, the priest bent over me mournfully for a +moment, shook his head, and having muttered a blessing, walked out of the +room with the Major, leaving me in silence to think over all I had +overheard. +</p> +<p> +Whether it was that youth suggested the hope, or that I more quickly +imbibed an appreciation of the Doctor's character from being the looker-on +at the game, I am not exactly sure; but certainly I felt little depressed +by his gloomy forebodings respecting me, and greatly lightened at my heart +by the good news of poor Tipperary Joe. +</p> +<p> +Of all the circumstances which attended my illness, the one that most +impressed me was the warm, affectionate solicitude of my two friends, the +priest and his cousin. There was something of kindness and good feeling in +their care of me that spoke rather of a long friendship than of the weaker +ties of chance and passing acquaintance. Again I thought of home; and +while I asked myself if the events which beset my path in Ireland could +possibly have happened to me there, I could not but acknowledge that if +they had so, I could scarcely have hoped to suddenly conjure up such +faithful and benevolent friends, with no other claim, nor other +recommendation, save that of being a stranger. +</p> +<p> +The casual observation concerning my letters had, by stimulating my +curiosity, awakened my dormant energy; and by a great effort I stretched +out my hand to the little bell beside my bed, and rang it. The summons was +answered by the barelegged girl who acted as waiter in the inn. When she +had sufficiently recovered from her astonishment to comprehend my request, +I persuaded her to place a candle beside me; and having given me the +packet of letters that lay on the chimney-piece, I desired her on no +account to admit any one, but say that I had fallen into a sound sleep, +and should not be disturbed. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0031" id="link2HCH0031"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XXXI. THE LETTER-BAG +</h2> +<p> +The package of letters was a large one, of all sizes. From all quarters +they came—some from home; some from my brother officers of the +Guards; some from the Castle; and even one from O'Grady. +</p> +<p> +The first I opened was a short note from Horton, the private secretary to +the viceroy. This informed me that Major Mahon had written a statement to +the duke of all the circumstances attending my duel; and that his grace +had not only expressed himself highly satisfied with my conduct, but had +ordered a very polite reply to be addressed to the Major, thanking him for +his great kindness, and saying with what pleasure he found that a member +of his staff had fallen into such good hands. +</p> +<p> +'His grace desires me to add,' continued the writer, 'that you need only +consult your own health and convenience with respect to your return to +duty; and, in fact, your leave of absence is perfectly discretionary.' +</p> +<p> +My mind relieved of a weighty load by the contents of this letter, I +recovered my strength already so far that I sat up in bed to peruse the +others. My next was from my father; it ran thus:— +</p> +<p> +'Dear Jack,—Your friend Major Mahon, to whom I write by this post, +will deliver this letter to you when he deems fit. He has been most +good-natured in conveying to me a narrative of your late doings; and I +cannot express how grateful we all are to him for the truly friendly part +he has taken towards you. After the strictest scrutiny, for I confess to +you I feared lest the Major's might be too partial an account, I rejoice +to say that your conduct meets with my entire approbation. An older and a +wiser head might, it is possible, have avoided some of the difficulties +you have met with; but this I will add, that once in trouble, no one could +have shown better temper or a more befitting spirit than you did. While I +say this, my dear Jack, understand me clearly that I speak of you as a +young, inexperienced man, thrown, at his very outset of life, not only +among strangers, but in a country where, as I remarked to you at first, +everything was different from those in your own. You have now shown +yourself equal to any circumstances in which you may be placed. I +therefore not only expect that you will meet with fewer embarrassments in +future, but that, should they arise, I shall have the satisfaction of +finding your character and your habits will be as much your safeguard +against insult as your readiness to resent any will be sure and certain. +</p> +<p> +'I have seen the duke several times, and he expresses himself as much +pleased with you. From what he mentions, I can collect that you are well +satisfied with Ireland, and therefore I do not wish to remove you from it. +At the same time, bear in mind, that by active service alone can you ever +attain to, or merit, rank in the army; and that hitherto you have only +been a soldier by name.' +</p> +<p> +After some further words of advice respecting the future, and some few +details of family matters, he concluded by entrusting to my mother the +mention of what she herself professed to think lay more in her peculiar +province. +</p> +<p> +As usual, her letter opened with some meteorological observations upon the +climate of England for the preceding six weeks; then followed a journal of +her own health, whose increasing delicacy, and the imperative necessity of +being near Doctor Y———, rendered a journey to Ireland +too dangerous to think of. +</p> +<p> +'Yes, my dearest boy,' wrote she, 'nothing but this would keep me from you +a moment; however, I am much relieved at learning that you are now rapidly +recovering, and hope soon to hear of your return to Dublin. It is a very +dreadful thing to think of, but perhaps, upon the whole, it is better that +you did kill this Mr. Burke. De Grammont tells me that a <i>mauvaise tête</i> +like that must be shot sooner or later. It makes me nervous to dwell on +this odious topic, so that I shall pass on to something else. +</p> +<p> +'The horrid little man that brought your letters, and who calls himself a +servant of Captain O'Grady, insisted on seeing me yesterday. I never was +more shocked in my life. From what he says, I gather that he may be looked +on as rather a favourable specimen of the natives. They must indeed be a +very frightful people; and although he assured me he would do me no +injury, I made Thomas stay in the room the entire time, and told Chubbs to +give the alarm to the police if he heard the slightest noise. The +creature, however did nothing, and I have quite recovered from my fear +already. +</p> +<p> +'What a picture, my dear boy, did he present to me of your conduct and +habits! Your intimacy with that odious family I mentioned in my last seems +the root of all your misfortunes. Why will such people thrust themselves +forward? What do they mean by inviting you to their frightful parties? +Have they not their own peculiar horrors?—not but I must confess +that they are more excusable than you; and I cannot conceive how you could +so soon have forgotten the lessons instilled into you from your earliest +years. As your poor dear grandfather, the admiral, used to say, a vulgar +acquaintance is a shifting sand; you can never tell where you won't meet +it—always at the most inopportune moment; and then, if you remark, +your underbred people are never content with a quiet recognition, but they +must always indulge in a detestable cordiality there is no escaping from. +Oh, John, John! when at ten years of age you made the banker's son at +Northampton hold your stirrup as you mounted your pony, I never thought I +should have this reproach to make you. +</p> +<p> +'The little fiend who calls himself Corny something, also mentions your +continued familiarity with the young woman I spoke of before. What her +intentions are is perfectly clear; and should she accomplish her object +your position in society and future fortune might possibly procure her +large damages; but pause, my dear boy, before you go any further. I do not +speak of the moral features of the case, for you are of an age to judge of +them yourself; but think, I beseech you, of the difficulties it will throw +around your path in life, and the obstacles it will oppose to your +success. There is poor Lord Henry Effingham; and since that foolish +business with the clergyman's wife or daughter, where somebody went mad, +and some one else drowned or shot himself, they have never given him any +appointment whatever. The world is a frightful and unforgiving thing, as +poor Lord Henry knows; therefore beware! +</p> +<p> +'The more I think of it, the more strongly do I feel the force of my first +impressions respecting Ireland; and were it not that we so constantly hear +of battles and bloodshed in the Peninsula, I should even prefer your being +there. There would seem to be an unhappy destiny over everything belonging +to me. My poor dear father, the admiral, had a life of hardship, almost +unrewarded. For eleven years he commanded a guardship in the Nore; many a +night have I seen him, when I was a little girl, come home dripping with +wet, and perfectly insensible from the stimulants he was obliged to resort +to, and be carried in that state to his bed; and after all this he didn't +get his blue ribbon till he was near sixty. +</p> +<p> +'De Vere is constantly with us, and is, I remark, attentive to your cousin +Julia. This is not of so much consequence, as I hear that her Chancery +suit is taking an unhappy turn; should it be otherwise, your interests +will, of course, be looked to. De Vere is most amusing, and has a great +deal of wit; but for him and the Count we should be quite dreary, as the +season is over, and we can't leave town for at least three weeks. [The +epistle concluded with a general summing up of its contents, and an +affectionate entreaty to bear in mind her caution regarding the Rooneys.] +Once more, my dear boy, remember that vulgar people are a part of our +trials in this life. As that delightful man, the Dean of St. George's, +says, they are snares for our feet; and their subservient admiration of us +is a dangerous and a subtle temptation. Read this letter again, and +believe me, my dearest John, your affectionate and unhappy mother, +</p> +<p> +'Charlotte Hinton.' +</p> +<p> +I shall not perform so undutiful a task as to play the critic on my +excellent mother's letter. There were, it is true, many new views of life +presented to me by its perusal, and I should feel sadly puzzled were I to +say at which I was more amused or shocked—at the strictness of her +manners, or the laxity of her morals; but I confess that the part which +most outraged me of all was the eulogy on Lord Dudley de Vere's +conversational gifts. But a few short months before, and it is possible I +should not only have credited but concurred in the opinion; brief, +however, as had been the interval, it had shown me much of life; it had +brought me into acquaintance, and even intimacy, with some of the +brightest spirits of the day; it had taught me to discriminate between the +unmeaning jargon of conventional gossip and the charm of a society where +force of reasoning, warmth of eloquence, and brilliancy of wit contested +for the palm; it had made me feel that the intellectual gifts reserved in +other countries for the personal advancement of their owner by their +public and ostentatious display, can be made the ornament and the delight +of the convivial board, the elegant accompaniment to the hours of happy +intercourse, and the strongest bond of social union. So gradually had this +change of opinion crept over me that I did not recognise in myself the +conversion; and indeed had it not been for my mother's observations on +Lord Dudley, I could not have credited how far my convictions had gone +round. I could now understand the measurement by which Irishmen were +estimated in the London world. I could see that if such a character as De +Vere had a reputation for ability, how totally impossible it was for those +who appreciated him to prize the great and varied gifts of such men as +Grattan and Curran, and many more. +</p> +<p> +Lost in such thoughts, I forgot for some moments that O'Grady's letter lay +open before me. It was dated Chatham, and written the night before he +sailed. The first few lines showed me that he knew nothing of my duel, +having only received my own letter with an account of the steeplechase. He +wrote in high spirits. The Commander-in-chief had been most kind to him, +appointing him to a vacant Majority—not, as he anticipated, in the +Forty-first, but in the Ninth light Dragoons. +</p> +<p> +'I am anxiously looking out for Corny,' said he, 'and a great letter-bag +from Ireland—the only bit of news from which, except your own, is +that the Rooneys have gone into deep mourning, themselves and their whole +house. Various rumours are afloat as to whether any money speculations of +Paul's may have suggested the propriety of retrenchment, or whether there +may not have been a death in the royal family of OToole. Look to this for +me, Hinton; for even in Canada I shall preserve the memory of that capital +house, its excellent <i>cuisine</i>, its charming hostess. Cultivate them, +my dear Jack, for your sake and for mine. One Rembrandt is as good as a +gallery; so sit down before them, and make a study of the family.' +</p> +<p> +The letter concluded as it began, by hearty thanks for the service I had +rendered him, begging me to accept of Moddiridderoo as a souvenir of his +friendship. And in a postscript, to write which the letter had evidently +been reopened, was a warning to me against any chance collision with Ulick +Burke. +</p> +<p> +'Not, my dear boy, because he is a dead shot—although that same is +something—but that a quarrel with him could scarcely be reputable in +its commencement, and must be bad whatever the result.' +</p> +<p> +After some further cautioning on this matter, the justice of which was +tolerably evident from my own experience, O'Grady concluded with a hurried +postscript:— +</p> +<p> +'Corny has not yet arrived, and we have received our orders for +embarkation within twenty-four hours. I begin half to despair of his being +here in time. Should this be the case, will you, my dear Hinton, look +after the old villain for me, at least until I write to you again on the +subject?' +</p> +<p> +While I was yet pondering on these last few lines, I perceived that a card +had fallen from my father's letter. I took it up, and what was my +astonishment to find that it contained a correct likeness of Corny Delany, +drawn with a pen, underneath which was written, in my cousin Julia's hand, +the following few lines:— +</p> +<p> +'The dear old thing has waited three days, and I think I have at length +caught something like him. Dear Jack, if the master be only equal to the +man, we shall never forgive you for not letting us see him.—Yours, +Julia.' +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0020" id="linkimage-0020"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0367.jpg" alt="2-0367" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +This, of course, explained the secret of Corny's delay—my cousin, +with her habitual wilfulness, preferring the indulgence of a caprice to +anything resembling a duty; and I now had little doubt upon my mind that +O'Grady's fears were well founded, and that he had been obliged to sail +without his follower. +</p> +<p> +The exertion it cost me to read my letters, and the excitement produced by +their perusal, fatigued and exhausted me, and as I sank back upon my +pillow I closed my eyes and fell sound asleep, not to wake until late on +the following day. But strange enough, when I did so, it was with a head +clear and faculties collected, my mind refreshed by rest unbroken by a +single dream; and so restored did I feel, that, save in the debility from +long confinement to bed, I was unconscious of any sense of malady. +</p> +<p> +From this hour my recovery dated. Advancing every day with rapid steps, my +strength increased; and before a week elapsed, I so far regained my lost +health that I could move about my chamber, and even lay plans for my +departure. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0032" id="link2HCH0032"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XXXII. BOB MAHON AND THE WIDOW +</h2> +<p> +It was about eight or ten days after the events I have mentioned, when +Father Tom Loftus, whose care and attention to me had been unceasing +throughout, came in to inform me that all the preparations for our journey +were properly made, and that by the following morning at sunrise we should +be on the road. +</p> +<p> +I confess that I looked forward to my departure with anxiety. The dreary +monotony of each day, spent either in perambulating my little room or in a +short walk up and down before the inn door, had done more to depress and +dispirit me than even the previous illness. The good priest, it is true, +came often to see me; but then there were hours spent quite alone, without +the solace of a book or the sight of even a newspaper. I knew the face of +every man, woman, and child in the village; I could tell their haunts, +their habits, and their occupations. Even the very hours of the tedious +day were marked in my mind by various little incidents, that seemed to +recur with unbroken precision; and if when the pale apothecary disappeared +from over the half-door of his shop I knew that he was engaged at his one +o'clock dinner, so the clink of the old ladies' pattens, as they passed to +an evening tea, told me that the day was waning, when the town-clock +should strike seven. There was nothing to break the monotonous jog-trot of +daily life save the appearance of a few raw subalterns, who, from some +cause or other, less noticed than others of the regiment by the +neighbouring gentry, strolled about the town, quizzing and laughing at the +humble townsfolk, and endeavouring, by looks of most questionable +gallantry, to impress the female population with a sense of their merits. +</p> +<p> +After all, mankind is pretty much the same in every country and every age—some +men ambitioning the credit of virtues the very garb of which they know +not; others, and a large class too, seeking for the reputation of vices +the world palliates with the appellation of 'fashionable.' We laugh at the +old courtier of Louis xiv.'s time, who in the flattery of the age he lived +in preferred being called a <i>scélérat</i>, an <i>infâme scélérat</i>, +that by the excesses <i>he</i> professed the vicious habits of the +sovereign might seem less striking; and yet we see the very same thing +under our own eyes every day we live. +</p> +<p> +But to return. There was nothing to delay me longer at Loughrea. Poor Joe +was so nearly recovered that in a few days more it was hoped he might +leave his bed. He was in kind hands, however, and I had taken every +precaution that he should want for nothing in my absence. I listened, +then, with pleasure to Father Tom's detail of all his preparations; and +although I knew not whither we were going, nor how long the journey was +likely to prove, yet I looked forward to it with pleasure, and only longed +for the hour of setting out. +</p> +<p> +As the evening drew near, I looked anxiously out for the good father's +arrival. He had promised to come in early with Major Mahon, whom I had not +seen for the two days previous—the Major being deeply engaged in +consultations with his lawyer regarding an approaching trial at the +assizes. Although I could gather from his manner, as well as from the +priest's, that something of moment impended, yet as neither of them more +than alluded to the circumstance, I knew nothing of what was going +forward. +</p> +<p> +It was eight o'clock when Father Tom made his appearance. He came alone, +and by his flurried look and excited manner I saw there was something +wrong. +</p> +<p> +'What is it, father?' said I. 'Where is the Major?' +</p> +<p> +'Och, confound him! they have taken him at last,' said he, wiping his +forehead with agitation. +</p> +<p> +'Taken him!' said I. 'Why, was he hiding?' +</p> +<p> +'Hiding! to be sure he was hiding, and masquerading and disguising +himself! But, 'faith, those Clare fellows, there's no coming up to them; +they have such practice in their own county, they would take the devil +himself if there was a writ out against him. And, to be sure, it was a +clever trick they played old Bob.' +</p> +<p> +Here the good priest took such a fit of laughing that he was obliged to +wipe his eyes. +</p> +<p> +'May I never,' said he, 'if it wasn't a good turn they played him, after +what he did himself!' +</p> +<p> +'Come, father, let's hear it.' +</p> +<p> +'This was the way of it. Maybe you never remarked—of course you +didn't, for you were only up there a couple of times—that opposite +Bob's lodgings there was a mighty sweet-looking crayture, a widow-woman; +she was dressed in very discreet black, and had a sorrowful look about her +that somehow or other, I think, made her even more interesting. +</p> +<p> +'“I'd like to know that widow,” said Bob; “for now that the fellows have a +warrant against me, I could spend my days so pleasantly over there, +comforting and consoling her.” +</p> +<p> +'“Whisht,” said I, “don't you see that she is in grief?” +</p> +<p> +'“Not so much in grief,” said he, “but she lets down two beautiful braids +of her brown hair under her widow's cap; and whenever you see that, Father +Tom, take my word for it, the game's not up.” +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0021" id="linkimage-0021"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0373.jpg" alt="2-0373" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +'I believe there was some reason in what he said, for the last time I went +up to see him he had the window open, and he was playing “Planxty Kelly” +with all his might on an old fiddle; and the widow would come now and then +to the window to draw the little muslin curtain, or she would open it to +give a halfpenny to the beggars, or she would hold out her hand to see if +it was raining—and a beautiful lily-white hand it was; but all the +time, you see, it was only exchanging looks they were. Bob was a little +ashamed when he saw me in the room, but he soon recovered. +</p> +<p> +'“A very charming woman that Mrs. Moriarty is,” said he, closing the +window. “It 's a cruel pity that her fortune is all in the Grand Canal—I +mean Canal debentures. But indeed it comes pretty much to the same thing.” +</p> +<p> +'And so he went on raving about the widow; for by this time he knew all +about her. Her maiden name was Cassidy, and her father a distiller; and, +in fact, Bob was quite delighted with his beautiful neighbour. At last I +bid him good-bye, promising to call for him at eight o'clock to come over +here to you; for you see there was a backdoor to the house that led into a +small alley, by which Mahon used to make his escape in the evening. He was +sitting, it seems, at his window, looking out for the widow, who for some +cause or other hadn't made her appearance the entire of the day. There he +sat with his hand on his heart, and a heavenly smile upon him for a good +hour, sipping a little whisky-and-water between times, to keep up his +courage. +</p> +<p> +'“She must be out,” said Bob to himself. “She 's gone to pass the day +somewhere. I hope she doesn't know any of these impudent vagabonds up at +the barracks. Maybe, after all, it's sick she is.” +</p> +<p> +'While he was ruminating this way, who should he see turn the corner but +the widow herself. There she was, coming along in deep weeds, with her +maid after her—a fine slashing-looking figure, rather taller than +her though, and lustier every way; but it was the first time he saw her in +the streets. As she got near to her door, Bob stood up to make a polite +bow. Just as he did so, the widow slipped her foot, and fell down on the +flags with a loud scream. The maid ran up, endeavouring to assist her, but +she couldn't stir; and as she placed her hand on her leg, Bob perceived at +once she had sprained her ankle. Without waiting for his hat, he sprang +downstairs, and rushed across the street. '“Mrs. Moriarty, my angel!” said +Bob, putting his arm round her waist. “Won't you permit me to assist you?” +</p> +<p> +'She clasped his hand with fervent gratitude, while the maid, putting her +hand into her reticule, seemed fumbling for a handkerchief. +</p> +<p> +'“I am a stranger to you, ma'am,” said Bob; “but if Major Mahon, of the +Roscommon——” +</p> +<p> +'“The very man we want!” said the maid, pulling a writ out of the +reticule; for a devil a thing else they were but two bailiffs from Ennis. +</p> +<p> +'“The very man we want!” said the bailiffs. +</p> +<p> +'“I am caught!” said Bob. +</p> +<p> +'“The devil a doubt of it!” +</p> +<p> +'At the same moment the window opened overhead, and the beautiful widow +looked out to see what was the matter. +</p> +<p> +'“Good-evening to you, ma'am,” says Bob; “and I 'd like to pay my respects +if I wasn't particularly engaged to these ladies here.” And with that he +gave an arm to each of them and led them down the street, as if it was his +mother and sister.' +</p> +<p> +'The poor Major!' said I. 'And where is he now?'' On his way to Ennis in a +post-chaise; for it seems the ladies had a hundred pounds for their +capture. Ah, poor Bob! But there is no use fretting; besides it would be +sympathy thrown away, for he 'll give them the slip before long. And now, +Captain, are you ready for the road? I have got a peremptory letter from +the bishop, and must be back in Murranakilty as soon as I can.' +</p> +<p> +'My dear father, I am at your disposal I believe we can do no more for +poor Joe; and as to Mr. Burke—and, by-the-bye, how is he?' +</p> +<p> +'Getting better, they say. But I believe you've spoiled a very lucrative +source of his income. He was the best jumper in the west of Ireland; and +they tell me you've lamed him for life. He is down at Milltown, or Kilkee, +or somewhere on the coast; but sure well have time enough to talk of these +things as we go along. I'll be with you by seven o'clock. We must start +early, and get to Portumna before night.' +</p> +<p> +Having promised implicit obedience to the worthy priest's directions, be +they what they might, I pledged myself to make up my luggage in the +smallest possible space, and have breakfast ready for him before starting. +After a few other observations and some suggestions as to the kind of +equipment he deemed suitable to the road, he took his leave, and I sat +down alone to a little quiet reckoning with myself as to the past, the +present, and the future. +</p> +<p> +From my short experience of Ireland, the only thing approaching to an +abstract principle I could attain to was the utter vanity, the perfect +impossibility, of any man's determining on a given line of action or the +steady pursuit of any one enterprise. No; the inevitable course of fate +seems to have chosen this happy island to exhibit its phenomena. Whether +your days be passed in love or war, or your evenings in drink or devotion, +not yours be the glory; for there would seem to be a kind of headlong +influence at work, impelling you ever forward. Acquaintances grow up, +ripen, and even bear fruit before in other lands their roots would have +caught the earth; by them your tastes are regulated, your habits +controlled, your actions fashioned. You may not, it is true, lisp in the +<i>patois</i> of blarney; you may weed your phraseology of its tropes and +figures; but trust me, that if you live in Ireland, if you like the people +(and who does not?), and if you are liked by them (and who would not be?), +then do I say you will find yourself, without knowing or perceiving it, +going the pace with the natives—courtship, fun, frolic, and +devilment filling up every hour of your day, and no inconsiderable portion +of your night also. One grand feature of the country seemed to me, that, +no matter what particular extravagance you were addicted to, no matter +what strange or absurd passion to do or seem something remarkable, you +were certain of always finding some one to sympathise with if not actually +to follow you. Nothing is too strange, nothing too ridiculous, nothing too +convivial, nothing too daring for Paddy. With one intuitive bound he +springs into your confidence and enters into your plans. Only be open with +him, conceal nothing, and he's yours heart and hand; ready to endorse your +bill, to carry off a young lady, or carry a message; to burn a house for a +joke, or jeopardy his neck for mere pastime; to go to the world's end to +serve you, and on his return shoot you afterwards out of downright +good-nature. +</p> +<p> +As for myself, I might have lived in England to the age of Methuselah, and +yet never have seen as much of life as in the few months spent in Ireland. +Society in other lands seems a kind of free-masonry, where for lack of +every real or important secret men substitute signs and passwords, as if +to throw the charm of mystery where, after all, nothing lies concealed; +but in Ireland, where national character runs in a deep or hidden channel, +with cross currents and backwater ever turning and winding—where all +the incongruous and discordant elements of what is best and worst seem +blended together—there, social intercourse is free, cordial, warm, +and benevolent. Men come together disposed to like one another; and what +an Irishman is disposed to, he usually has a way of effecting. My brief +career had not been without its troubles; but who would not have incurred +such, or as many more, to have evoked such kind interest and such warm +friendship? From Phil O'Grady, my first, to Father Tom, my last friend, I +had met with nothing but almost brotherly affection; and yet I could not +help acknowledging to myself, that, but six short months before, I would +have recoiled from the friendship of the one and the acquaintance of the +other, as something to lower and degrade me. Not only would the outward +observances of their manner have deterred me, but in their very warm and +earnest proffers of good-nature, I would have seen cause for suspecting +and avoiding them. Thank Heaven! I now knew better, and felt deeper. How +this revolution became effected in me I am not myself aware. Perhaps—I +only say perhaps—Miss Bellew had a share in effecting it. +</p> +<p> +Such were some of my thoughts as I betook myself to bed, and soon after to +sleep. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0033" id="link2HCH0033"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XXXIII. THE PRIEST'S GIG +</h2> +<p> +I am by no means certain that the prejudices of my English education were +sufficiently overcome to prevent my feeling a kind of tingling shame as I +took my place beside Father Tom Loftus in his gig. Early as it was, there +were still some people about; and I cast a hurried glance around to see if +our equipage was not as much a matter of amusement to them as of +affliction to me. +</p> +<p> +When Father Tom first spoke of his 'dennet,' I innocently pictured to +myself something resembling the indigenous productions of Loughrea. 'A +little heavy or so,' thought I; 'strong for country roads; mayhap somewhat +clumsy in the springs, and not over-refined about the shafts.' Heaven help +my ignorance! I never fancied a vehicle whose component parts were two +stout poles, surmounting a pair of low wheels, high above which was +suspended, on two lofty C springs, the body of an ancient buggy—the +lining of a bright scarlet, a little faded and dimmed by time, bordered by +a lace of the most gaudy pattern; a flaming coat-of-arms, with splendid +blazonry and magnificent quarterings, ornamented each panel of this +strange-looking tub, into which, for default of steps, you mounted by a +ladder. +</p> +<p> +'Eh, father,' said I, 'what have we here? This is surely not the——' +</p> +<p> +'Ay, Captain,' said the good priest, as a smile of proud satisfaction +curled his lip, 'that's “the convaniency”; and a pleasanter and an easier +never did man sit in. A little heavy, to be sure; but then one can always +walk up the hills; and if they're very stiff ones entirely, why it's only +throwing out the ballast.' +</p> +<p> +'The ballast! What do you mean?' +</p> +<p> +'Just them,' said he, pointing with his whip to some three or four huge +pieces of limestone rock that lay in the bottom of the gig; 'there's +seven, maybe eight, stone weight, every pound of it.' +</p> +<p> +'And for heaven's sake,' said I, 'why do you carry that mass of rubbish +along with you?' +</p> +<p> +'I'll just tell you then. The road has holes in it you could bury your +father in; and when the convaniency gets into one of them, she has a way +of springing up into the air, that, if you 're not watching, is sure to +pitch you out—maybe into the bog at the side, maybe on the beast's +back. I was once actually thrown into a public-house window, where there +was a great deal of fun going on, and the bishop came by before I +extricated myself. I assure you I had hard work to explain it to his +satisfaction.' There was a lurking drollery in his eye, as he said these +last few words, that left me to the full as much puzzled about the +accident as his worthy diocesan. 'But look at the springs,' he continued; +'there's metal for you! And do you mind the shape of the body? It's for +all the world like the ancient <i>curriculus</i>. And look at Bathershin +himself—the ould varmint! Sure, he's classical too! Hasn't he a +Roman nose; and ain't I a Roman myself? So get up, Captain—<i>ascendite +ad currum</i>; get into the shay. And now for the <i>doch-aiv-dhurrss</i>—the +stirrup-cup, Mrs. Doolan: that's the darlin'. Ah, there's nothing like it! +</p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +“Sit mihi lagena, Ad summum plena.” +</pre> +<p> +Here, Captain, take a pull—beautiful milk-punch!' +</p> +<p> +Draining the goblet to the bottom, which I confess was no unpleasant task, +I pledged my kind hostess, who, curtsying deeply refilled the vessel for +Father Tom. +</p> +<p> +'That's it, Mary; froth it up, acushla! Hand it here, my darlin'—my +blessing on ye.' +</p> +<p> +As he spoke, the worthy father deposited the reins at his feet, and lifted +the cup with both hands to his mouth; when suddenly the little window over +the inn door was burst open, and a loud tally-ho was shouted out, in +accents the wildest I ever listened to. I had barely time to catch the +merry features of poor Tipperary Joe, when the priest's horse, more +accustomed to the hunting-field than the highroad, caught up the welcome +sound, gave a wild toss of his head, cocked up his tail, and, with a +hearty bang of both hind legs against the front of the chariot, set off +down the street as if the devil were after him. Feeling himself at +liberty, as well as favoured by the ground, which was all down hill, the +pace was really terrific. It was some time before I could gather up the +reins, as Father Tom, jug and all, had been thrown at the first shock on +his knees to the bottom of the convaniency, where, half suffocated by +fright and the milk-punch that went wrong with him, he bellowed and +coughed with all his might. +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0022" id="linkimage-0022"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0380.jpg" alt="2-0380" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +'Howld him tight I—ugh, ugh, ugh!—not too hard; don't chuck +him for the love of—ugh, ugh, ugh!—the reins is rotten and the +traces no better—ugh, ugh, ugh! Bad luck to the villains, why didn't +they catch his head? And the <i>stultus execrabilis!</i>—the damned +fool! how he yelled!' +</p> +<p> +Almost fainting with laughter, I pulled my best at the old horse, not, +however, neglecting the priest's caution about the frailty of the harness. +This, however, was not the only difficulty I had to contend with; for the +curriculus, participating in the galloping action of the horse, swung +upwards and downwards, backwards and forwards, and from one side to the +other—all at once too—in a manner so perfectly addling that it +was not before we reached the first turnpike that I succeeded in arresting +our progress. Here a short halt was necessary for the priest to recover +himself, and to examine whether either his bones or any portion of the +harness had given way. Both had happily been found proof against mishaps, +and drew from the reverend father strong encomiums upon their merits; and +after a brief delay we resumed our road, but at a much more orderly and +becoming pace than before. +</p> +<p> +Once more <i>en route</i>, I bethought me it was high time to inquire +about the direction we were to travel, and the probable length of our +journey; for I confess I was sadly ignorant as to the geography of the +land we were travelling, and the only point I attempted to keep in view +was the number of miles we were distant from the capital The priest's +reply was, however, anything but instructive to me, consisting merely of a +long catalogue of names, in which the syllables 'kill,' 'whack,' 'nock,' +'shock,' and 'bally' jostled and elbowed one another in the rudest fashion +imaginable—the only intelligible portion of his description being, +that a blue mountain scarcely perceptible in the horizon lay about +half-way between us and Murranakilty. +</p> +<p> +My attention was not, however, permitted to dwell on these matters; for my +companion had already begun a narrative of the events which had occurred +during my illness. The Dillons, I found, had left for Dublin soon after my +mishap. Louisa Bellew returned to her father; and Mr. Burke, whose wound +had turned out a more serious affair than was at first supposed, was still +confined to his bed, and a lameness for life anticipated as the inevitable +result of the injury. +</p> +<p> +'Sir Simon, for once in his life,' said the priest, 'has taken a correct +view of his nephew's character, and has, now that all danger to life is +past, written him a severe letter, reflecting on his conduct. Poor Sir +Simon! his life has been one tissue of trial and disappointment +throughout. Every buttress that supported his venerable house giving way, +one by one, the ruin seems to threaten total downfall, ere the old man +exchanges the home of his fathers for his last narrow rest beside them in +the churchyard. Betrayed on every hand, wronged and ruined, he seems +merely to linger on in life—like the stern-timbers of some mighty +wreck, that marks the spot where once the goodly vessel perished, and are +now the beacon of the quicksand to others. You know the sad story, of +course, that I alluded to——' +</p> +<p> +'No; I am completely ignorant of the family history,' said I. +</p> +<p> +The priest blushed deeply, as his dark eyebrows met in a heavy frown; then +turning hastily towards me, he said, in a voice whose thick, low utterance +bespoke his agitation— +</p> +<p> +'Do not ask me, I beseech you, to speak further of what, had I been more +collected, I had never alluded to! An unhappy duel, the consequence of a +still more unhappy event, has blasted every hope in life for my poor +friend. I thought—that is, I feared lest the story might have +reached you. As I find this is not so, you will spare my recurring to that +the bare recollection of which comes like a dark cloud over the happiest +day of my existence. Promise me this, or I shall not forgive myself.' +</p> +<p> +I readily gave the pledge he required; and we pursued our road—not, +however, as before, but each sunk in his own reflections, silent, +reserved, and thoughtful. +</p> +<p> +'In about four days,' said Father Tom, at last breaking the silence, +'perhaps five, we'll be drawing near Murranakilty. He then proceeded, at +more length, to inform me of the various counties through which we were to +pass, detailing with great accuracy the several seats we should see, the +remarkable places, the ruined churches, the old castles, and even the very +fox-covers that lay on our route. And although my ignorance was but little +enlightened by the catalogue of hard names that fell as glibly from his +tongue as Italian from a Roman, yet I was both entertained and pleased +with the many stories he told—some of them legends of bygone days, +some of them the more touching and truth-dealing records of what had +happened in his own time. Could I have borrowed any portion of his +narrative power, were I able to present in his strong but simple language +any of the curious scenes he mentioned, I should perhaps venture on +relating to my reader one of his stories; but when I think how much of the +interest depended on his quaint and homely but ever-forcible manner, as, +pointing with his whip to some ruined house with blackened walls and +fallen chimneys, he told some narrative of rapine and of murder, I feel +how much the force of reality added power to a story that in repetition +might be weak and ineffective. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0034" id="link2HCH0034"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XXXIV. THE MOUNTAIN PASS +</h2> +<p> +On the whole, the journey was to me a delightful one, and certainly not +the least pleasant portion of my life in Ireland. Endowed—partly +from his individual gifts, partly from the nature of his sacred functions—with +influence over all the humble ranks in life, the good priest jogged along +with the assurance of a hearty welcome wherever he pleased to halt—the +only look of disappointment being when he declined some proffered +civility, or refused an invitation to delay his journey. The chariot was +well known in every town and village, and scarcely was the rumble of its +wheels heard coming up the 'street' when the population might be seen +assembling in little groups and knots, to have a word with 'the father,' +to get his blessing, to catch his eye, or even obtain a nod from him. He +knew every one and everything, and with a tact which is believed to be the +prerogative of royalty, he never miscalled a name nor mistook an event. +Inquiring after them, for soul and body, he entered with real interest +into all their hopes and plans, their fears and anticipations, and talked +away about pigs, penances, purgatory, and potatoes in a way that showed +his information on any of these matters to be of no mean or common order. +</p> +<p> +By degrees our way left the more travelled highroad, and took by a +mountain tract through a wild, romantic line of country beside the +Shannon. No villages now presented themselves, and indeed but little trace +of any habitation whatever; large misshapen mountains, whose granite sides +were scarce concealed by the dark fern, the only vegetation that clothed +them, rose around and about us. In the valleys some strips of bog might be +seen, with little hillocks of newly-cut turf, the only semblance of man's +work the eye could rest on. Tillage there was none. A dreary silence, too, +reigned throughout. I listened in vain for the bleating of a lamb or the +solitary tinkle of a sheep-bell; but no—save the cawing of the rooks +or the mournful cry of the plover, I could hear nothing. Now and then, it +is true, the heavy flapping of a strong wing would point the course of a +heron soaring towards the river; but his low flight even spoke of +solitude, and showed he feared not man in his wild and dreamy mountains. +At intervals we could see the Shannon winding along, far, far down below +us, and I could mark the islands in the bay of Scariff, with their ruined +churches and one solitary tower; but no sail floated on the surface, nor +did an oar break the sluggish current of the stream. It was, indeed, a +dreary scene, and somehow my companion's manner seemed coloured by its +influence; for scarcely had we entered the little valley that led to this +mountain track than he became silent and thoughtful, absorbed in +reflection, and when he spoke, either doing so at random or in a vague and +almost incohérent way that showed his ideas were wandering. +</p> +<p> +I remarked that as we stopped at a little forge shortly after daybreak, +the smith had taken the priest aside and whispered to him a few words, at +which he seemed strangely moved; and as they spoke together for some +moments in an undertone, I perceived by the man's manner and gesture, as +well as by the agitation of the good father himself, that something of +importance was being told. Without waiting to finish the little repair to +the carriage which had caused our halt, he remounted hastily, and +beckoning me to take my place, drove on at a pace that spoke of haste and +eagerness. I confess that my curiosity to know the reason was great; but +as I could not with propriety ask, nor did my companion seem disposed to +give the information, I soon relapsed into a silence unbroken as his own, +and we travelled along for some miles without speaking. Now and then the +priest would make an effort to relieve the weariness of the way by some +remark upon the scenery, or some allusion to the wild grandeur of the +pass; but it was plain he spoke only from constraint, and that his mind +was occupied on other and very different thoughts. +</p> +<p> +It was now wearing late, and yet no trace of any house or habitation could +I see, where to rest for the night. Not wishing, however, to interrupt the +current of my friend's thoughts I maintained my silence, straining my eyes +on every side—from the dark mountains that towered above me, to the +narrow gloomy valley that lay several hundred feet beneath our track—but +all in vain. The stillness was unbroken, and not a roof, not even a +smoke-wreath, could be seen far as the view extended. The road by which we +travelled was scarped from the side of a mountain, and for some miles +pursued a gradually descending course. On suddenly turning the angle of a +rocky wall that skirted us for above a mile, we came in sight of a long +reach of the Shannon upon which the sun was now setting in all its golden +lustre. The distant shore of Munster, rich in tillage and pasture-land, +was lit up too with cornfield and green meadow, leafy wood and blue +mountain, all glowing in their brightest hue. It was a vivid and a +gorgeous picture, and I could have looked on it long with pleasure, when +suddenly I felt my arm grasped by a strong finger. I turned round, and the +priest, relaxing his hold, pointed down into the dark valley below us, as +he said in a low and agitated voice— +</p> +<p> +'You see the light? It is there—there.' +</p> +<p> +Quickening our pace by every effort, we began rapidly to descend the +mountain by a zigzag road, whose windings soon lost us the view I have +mentioned, and left nothing but the wild and barren mountains around us. +Tired as our poor horse was, the priest pressed him forward; and +regardless of the broken and rugged way he seemed to think of nothing but +his haste, muttering between his teeth with a low but rapid articulation, +while his face grew flushed and pale at intervals, and his eye had all the +lustrous glare and restless look of fever. I endeavoured, as well as I was +able, to occupy my mind with other thoughts; but with that invincible +fascination that turns us ever to the side we try to shun, I found myself +again and again gazing on my companion's countenance. Every moment now his +agitation increased; his lips were firmly closed, his brow contracted, his +cheek flattened and quivering with a nervous spasm, while his hand +trembled violently as he wiped the big drops of sweat that rolled from his +forehead. +</p> +<p> +At last we reached the level, where a better road presented itself before +us, and enabled us so to increase our speed that we were rapidly coming up +with the light, which, as the evening closed in, seemed larger and +brighter than before. It was now that hour when the twilight seems fading +into night—a grey and sombre darkness colouring every object, but +yet marking grass and rock, pathway and river, with some seeming of their +noonday hues, so that as we came along I could make out the roof and walls +of a mud cabin built against the very mountainside, in the gable of which +the light was shining. A rapid, a momentary thought flashed across my mind +as to what dreary and solitary man could fix his dwelling-place in such a +spot as this, when in an instant the priest suddenly pulled up the horse, +and, stretching out one hand with a gesture of listening, whispered— +</p> +<p> +'Hark! Did you not hear that?' +</p> +<p> +As he spoke, a cry, wild and fearful, rose through the gloomy valley—at +first in one prolonged and swelling note; then broken as if by sobs, it +altered, sank, and rose again wilder and madder, till the echoes, catching +up the direful sounds, answered and repeated them as though a chorus of +unearthly spirits were calling to one another through the air. +</p> +<p> +'O God! too late—too late!' said the priest, as he bowed his face +upon his knees, and his strong frame shook in agony. 'O Father of Mercy!' +he cried, as he lifted his eyes, bloodshot and tearful, toward heaven, +'forgive me this; and if unshriven before Thee—' +</p> +<p> +Another cry, more frantic than before, here burst upon us, and the priest, +muttering with rapid utterance, appeared lost in prayer. But at him I +looked no longer, for straight before us on the road, and in front of the +little cabin, now not above thirty paces from us, knelt the figure of a +woman, whom, were it not for the fearful sounds we had heard, one could +scarcely believe a thing of life. Her age was not more than thirty years; +she was pale as death; not a tinge, not a ray of colour streaked her +bloodless cheek; her black hair, long and wild, fell upon her back and +shoulders, straggling and disordered; while her hands were clasped, as she +held her stiffened arms straight before her. Her dress bespoke the meanest +poverty, and her sunken cheek and drawn-in lips betokened famine and +starvation. As I gazed on her almost breathless with awe and dread, the +priest leaped out, and hurrying forward, cried out to her in Irish; but +she heard him not, she saw him not—dead to every sense, she remained +still and motionless. No feature trembled, no limb was shaken; she knelt +before us like an image of stone; and then, as if by some spell that +worked within her, once more gave forth the heart-rending cry we heard at +first. Now low and plaintive, like the sighing night-wind, it rose fuller +and fuller, pausing and continuing at intervals; and then breaking into +short and fitful efforts, it grew wilder and stronger, till at last with +one outbreak, like the overflowing of a heart of misery, it ceased +abruptly. +</p> +<p> +The priest bent over her and spoke to her; he called her by her name, and +shook her several times—but all in vain. Her spirit, if indeed +present with her body, had lost all sympathy with things of earth. +</p> +<p> +'God help her!' said he; 'God comfort her! This is sore affliction.' +</p> +<p> +As he spoke he walked towards the little cabin, the door of which now +stood open. All was still and silent within its walls. Unused to see the +dwellings of the poor in Ireland, my eye ranged over the bare walls, the +damp and earthen floor, the few and miserable pieces of furniture, when +suddenly my attention was called to another and a sadder spectacle. In one +corner of the hovel, stretched upon a bed whose poverty might have made it +unworthy of a dog to lie in, lay the figure of a large and +powerfully-built man, stone dead. His eyes were dosed, his chin bound up +with a white cloth, and a sheet, torn and ragged, was stretched above his +cold limbs, while on either side of him two candles were burning. His +features, though rigid and stiffened, were manly and even handsome—the +bold character of the face heightened in effect by his beard and +moustache, which appeared to have been let grow for some time previous, +and whose black and waving curl looked darker from the pallor around it. +</p> +<p> +Some lines there were about the mouth that looked like harshness and +severity, but the struggle of departing life might have caused them. +</p> +<p> +Gently withdrawing the sheet that covered him, the priest placed his hand +upon the man's heart. It was evident to me, from the father's manner, that +he still believed the man living; and as he rolled back the covering, he +felt for his hand. Suddenly starting, he fell back for an instant; and as +he moved his fingers backwards and forwards, I saw that they were covered +with blood. I drew near, and now perceived that the dead man's chest was +laid open by a wound of several inches in extent. The ribs had been cut +across, and some portion of the heart or lung seemed to protrude. At the +slightest touch of the body, the blood gushed forth anew, and ran in +streams upon him. His right hand, too, was cut across the entire palm, the +thumb nearly severed at the joint. This appeared to have been rudely bound +together; but it was evident, from the nature and the size of the other +wound, that he could not have survived it many hours. +</p> +<p> +As I looked in horror at the frightful spectacle before me, my foot struck +at something beneath the bed. I stooped down to examine, and found it was +a carbine, such as dragoons usually carry. It was broken at the stock and +bruised in many places, but still seemed not unserviceable. Part of the +butt-end was also stained with blood. The clothes of the dead man, clotted +and matted with gore, were also there, adding by their terrible testimony +to the dreadful fear that haunted me. Yes, everything confirmed it—murder +had been there. +</p> +<p> +A low, muttering sound near made me turn my head, and I saw the priest +kneeling beside the bed, engaged in prayer. His head was bare, and he wore +a kind of scarf of blue silk, and the small case that contained the last +rites of his Church was placed at his feet. Apparently lost to all around, +save the figure of the man that lay dead before him, he muttered with +ceaseless rapidity prayer after prayer—stopping ever and anon to +place his hand on the cold heart, or to listen with his ear upon the livid +lips; and then resuming with greater eagerness, while the big drops rolled +from his forehead, and the agonising torture he felt convulsed his entire +frame. +</p> +<p> +'O God!' he exclaimed, after a prayer of some minutes, in which his +features worked like one in a fit of epilepsy—'O God, is it then too +late?' +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0023" id="linkimage-0023"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0392.jpg" alt="2-0392" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +He started to his feet as he spoke, and bending over the corpse, with +hands clasped above his head, he poured forth a whole torrent of words in +Irish, swaying his body backwards and forwards, as his voice, becoming +broken by emotion, now sank into a whisper, or broke into a discordant +shout. 'Shaun, Shaun!' cried he, as, stooping down to the ground; he +snatched up the little crucifix and held it before the dead man's face; at +the same time he shook him violently by the shoulder, and cried, in +accents I can never forget, some words aloud, among which alone I could +recognise one word, 'Thea'—the Irish word for God. He shook the man +till his head rocked heavily from side to side, and the blood oozed from +the opening wound, and stained the ragged covering of the bed. +</p> +<p> +At this instant the priest stopped suddenly, and fell upon his knees, +while with a low, faint sigh he who seemed dead lifted his eyes and looked +around him; his hands grasped the sides of the bed, and, with a strength +that seemed supernatural, he raised himself to a sitting posture. His lips +were parted and moved, but without a sound, and his filmy eyes turned +slowly in their sockets from one object to another, till at length they +fell upon the little crucifix that had dropped from the priest's hand upon +the bed. In an instant the corpse-like features seemed inspired with life; +a gleam of brightness shot from his eyes; the head nodded forward a couple +of times, and I thought I heard a discordant, broken sound issue from the +open mouth; but a moment after the head dropped upon the chest, and the +hands relaxed, and he fell back with a crash, never to move more. +</p> +<p> +Overcome with horror, I staggered to the door and sank upon a little bench +in front of the cabin. The cool air of the night soon brought me to +myself, and while in my confused state I wondered if the whole might not +be some dreadful dream, my eyes once more fell upon the figure of the +woman, who still knelt in the attitude we had first seen her. Her hands +were clasped before her, and from time to time her wild cry rose into the +air and woke the echoes of that silent valley. A faint moonlight lay in +broken patches around her, and mingled its beams with the red glare of the +little candles within, as their light fell upon her marble features. From +the cabin I could hear the sounds of the priest's voice, as he continued +to pray without ceasing. +</p> +<p> +As the hours rolled on, nothing changed; and when, prompted by curiosity, +I looked within the hovel, I saw the priest still kneeling beside the bed, +his face pale and sunk and haggard, as though months of sickness and +suffering had passed over him. I dared not speak; I dared not disturb him; +and I sat down near the door in silence. +</p> +<p> +It is one of the strange anomalies of our nature that the feelings which +rend our hearts with agony have a tendency, by their continuance, to lull +us into slumber. The watcher by the bedside of his dying friend, the felon +in his cell but a few hours before death, sleep—and sleep soundly. +The bitterness of grief would seem to blunt sensation, and the mind, like +the body, can only sustain a certain amount of burden, after which it +succumbs and yields. So I found it amid this scene of horror and anguish, +with everything to excite that can operate upon the mind—the woman +stricken motionless and senseless by grief; the dead man, as it were, +recalled to life by the words that were to herald him into life +everlasting; the old man, whom I had known but as a gay companion, +displayed now before my eyes in all the workings of his feeling heart, +called up by the afflictions of one world and the terrors of another—and +this in a wild and dreary valley, far from man's dwelling. Yet amid all +this, and more than all, the harassing conviction that some deed of blood, +some dark hour of crime, had been here at work, perhaps to be concealed +for ever, and go unavenged save of Heaven—with this around and about +me, I slept. How long I know not; but when I woke, the mist of morning +hung in the valley, or rolled in masses of cloudlike vapour along the +mountain-side. In an instant the whole scene of the previous night was +before me, and the priest still knelt beside the bed and prayed. I looked +for the woman, but she was gone. +</p> +<p> +The noise of wheels, at some distance, could now be heard on the +mountain-road; and as I walked stealthily from the door, I could see three +figures descending the pass, followed by a car and horse. As they came +along, I marked that beneath the straw on the car something protruded +itself on either side, and this, I soon saw, was a coffin. As the men +approached the angle of the road they halted, and seemed to converse in an +eager and anxious manner, when suddenly one of them broke from the others, +and springing to the top of a low wall that skirted the road, continued to +look steadily at the house for some minutes together. The thought flashed +on me at the moment that perhaps my being a stranger to them might have +caused their hesitation; so I waved my hat a couple of times above my +head. Upon this they resumed their march, and in a few minutes more were +standing beside me. One of them, who was an old man with hard, +weather-beaten features, addressed me, first in Irish, but correcting +himself, at once asked, in a low, steady voice— +</p> +<p> +'Was the priest in time? Did he get the rites?' +</p> +<p> +I nodded in reply; when he muttered, as if to himself—'God's will be +done! Shaun didn't tell of Hogan——' +</p> +<p> +'Whisht, father! whisht!' said one of the younger men as he laid his hand +upon the old man's arm, while he added something in Irish, gesticulating +with energy as he spoke. +</p> +<p> +'Is Mary come back, sir?' said the third, as he touched his hat to me +respectfully. +</p> +<p> +'The woman—his wife?' said I. 'I have not seen her to-day.' +</p> +<p> +'She was up with us, at Kiltimmon, at two o'clock this morning, but +wouldn't wait for us. She wanted to get back at once, poor crayture! She +bears it well, and has a stout heart. 'Faith, maybe before long she 'll +make some others faint in their hearts that have stricken hers this +night.' +</p> +<p> +'Was she calm, then?' said I. +</p> +<p> +'As you are this minute; and sure enough she helped me, with her own +hands, to put the horse in the car, for you see I couldn't lift the shaft +with my one arm.' +</p> +<p> +I now saw that his arm was bound up, and buttoned within the bosom of his +greatcoat. +</p> +<p> +The priest now joined us, and spoke for several minutes in Irish; and +although ignorant of all he said, I could mark in the tone of his voice, +his look, his manner, and his gesture that his words were those of rebuke +and reprobation. The old man heard him in silence, but without any +evidence of feeling. The others, on the contrary, seemed deeply affected; +and the younger of the two, whose arm was broken, seemed greatly moved, +and the tears rolled down his hardy cheeks. +</p> +<p> +These signs of emotion were evidently displeasing to the old man, whose +nature was of a sterner and more cruel mould; and as he turned away from +the father's admonition he moved past me, muttering, as he went— +</p> +<p> +'Isn't it all fair? Blood for blood; and sure they dhruv him to it.' +</p> +<p> +After a few words from the priest, two of the party took their spades from +the car, and began digging the grave; while Father Loftus, leading the +other aside, talked to him for some time. +</p> +<p> +'Begorra,' said the old man, as he shovelled the earth to either side, +'Father Tom isn't like himself, at all, at all. He used to have pity and +the kind word for the poor when they were turned out on the world to +starve, without as much as a sheaf of straw to lie upon, or potatoes +enough for the children to eat.' +</p> +<p> +'Whisht, father! or the priest will hear ye,' said the younger one, +looking cautiously around. +</p> +<p> +'Sorrow bit o' me cares if he does! it's thruth I'm telling. You are not +long in these parts, sir, av I may make so bowld?' +</p> +<p> +'No,' said I, 'I'm quite a stranger.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, anyhow, ye may understand that this isn't a fine soil for a +potato-garden; and yet the devil a other poor Shaun had since they turned +him out on the road last Michaelmas Day, himself and his wife and the +little gossoon—the only one they had, too—with a fever and +ague upon him. The poor child, however, didn't feel it long, for he died +in ten days after. Well, well! the way of God there's no saying against +it. But, sure, if the little boy didn't die Shaun was off to America; for +he tuk his passage, and got a sea-chest of a friend, and was all ready to +go. But you see, when the child died, he could not bring himself to leave +the grave; and there he used to go and spend half of his days fixing it, +and settling the sods about it, and wouldn't take a day's work from any of +the neighbours. And at last he went off one night, and we never knew what +was become of him, till a pedlar brought word that he and Mary was living +in the Cluan Beg, away from everybody, without a friend to say “God save +you!” It's deep enough now, Mickey; there's nobody will turn him out of +this. And so, sir, he might have lived for many a year; but when he heerd +that the boys was up, and going to settle a reckoning with Mr. Tarleton——' +</p> +<p> +'Come, you,' cried the priest, who joined us at the moment, and who I +could perceive was evidently displeased at the old man's communicativeness—'come, +you, the sooner you all get back the better. We must look after Mary, too; +for God knows where she is wandering. And now let us put the poor boy in +the earth.' +</p> +<p> +With slow and sullen steps the old man entered the house, followed by the +others. I did not accompany them, but stood beside the grave, my mind full +of all I heard. In a few minutes they returned, carrying the coffin, one +corner of which was borne by the priest himself. Their heads were bare, +and their features were pale and care-worn. They placed the body in the +grave, and gazed down after it for some seconds. The priest spoke a few +words in a low, broken voice, the very sounds of which, though their +meaning was unknown to me, sank deep into my heart. He whispered for an +instant to one of the young men, who went into the cabin and speedily +returned, carrying with him some of the clothes of the deceased and the +old carbine that lay beneath the bed. +</p> +<p> +'Throw them in the grave, Mickey—throw them in,' said the priest. +'Where's his coat?' +</p> +<p> +'It isn't there, sir,' said the man. 'That's everything that has a mark of +blood upon it.' +</p> +<p> +'Give me that gun,' cried the priest; and at the same moment he took the +carbine by the end of the barrel, and by one stroke of his strong foot +snapped it at the breech. 'My curse be on you!' said he, as he kicked the +fragments into the grave; 'there was peace and happiness in the land +before men knew ye, and owned ye! Ah, Hugh,' said he, turning his eyes +fiercely on the old man, 'I never said ye hadn't griefs and trials, and +sore ones too, some of them; but God help you, if you think that an easy +conscience and a happy home can be bought by murder.' The old man started +at the words, and as his dark brow lowered and his lip trembled, I drew +near to the priest, fearful lest an attack might be made on him. 'Ay, +murder, boys! that's the word, and no less. Don't tell me about righting +yourselves, and blood for blood, and all that. There's a curse upon the +land where these things happen, and the earth is not lucky that is +moistened with the blood of God's creatures.' +</p> +<p> +'Cover him up! cover him up!' said the old man, shovelling in the earth so +as to drown the priest's words, 'and let us be going. We ought to be back +by six o'clock, unless,' added he with a sarcastic bitterness that made +him look like a fiend—'unless your reverence is going to set the +police on our track.' +</p> +<p> +'God forgive you, Hugh, and turn your heart,' said the priest, as he shook +his outstretched hands at the old man. As the father spoke these words he +took me by the arm, and led me within the house. I could feel his hand +tremble as it leaned upon me, and the big tears rolled down his cheeks in +silence. +</p> +<p> +We sat down in the little cabin, but neither of us spoke. After some time +we heard the noise of the cartwheels and the sound of voices, which grew +fainter and fainter as they passed up the glen, and at length all became +still. +</p> +<p> +'And the poor wife,' said I, 'what, think you, has become of her?' +</p> +<p> +'Gone home to her people, most likely,' answered the priest. 'Her +misfortunes will make her a home in every cabin. None so poor, none so +wretched, as not to succour and shelter her. But let us hence.' +</p> +<p> +We walked forth from the hovel, and the priest closing the door after him +fastened it with a padlock that he had found within, and then, placing the +key upon the door-sill, he turned to depart; but suddenly stopping, he +took my hand in both of his, and said, in a voice of touching earnestness— +</p> +<p> +'This has been a sad scene. Would to God you had not witnessed it! Would +to God, rather, that it might not have occurred! But promise me, on the +faith of a man of honour and the word of a gentleman, that what you have +seen this night you will reveal to no man, until I have passed away +myself, and stand before that judgment to which we all are coming.' +</p> +<p> +'I promise you faithfully,' said I. 'And now let us leave a spot that has +thrown a gloom upon my heart which a long life will never obliterate.' +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0035" id="link2HCH0035"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XXXV. THE JOURNEY +</h2> +<p> +As we issued from the glen the country became more open; patches of +cultivation presented themselves, and an air of comfort and condition +superior to what we had hitherto seen was observable in the dwellings of +the country-people. The road lead through a broad valley bounded on one +side by a chain of lofty mountains, and on the other separated by the +Shannon from the swelling hills of Munster. Deeply engaged in our +thoughts, we travelled along for some miles without speaking. The scene we +had witnessed was of that kind that seemed to forbid our recurrence to it, +save in our own gloomy reflections. We had not gone far when the noise of +horsemen on the road behind us induced us to turn our heads. They came +along at a sharp trot, and we could soon perceive that although the two or +three foremost were civilians, they who followed were dragoons. I thought +I saw the priest change colour as the clank of the accoutrements struck +upon his ear. I had, however, but little time for the observation, as the +party soon overtook us. +</p> +<p> +'You are early on the road, gentlemen,' said a strong, powerfully-built +man, who, mounted upon a grey horse of great bone and action, rode close +up beside us. +</p> +<p> +'Ah, Sir Thomas, is it you?' said the priest, affecting at once his former +easy and indifferent manner. 'I'd rather see the hounds at your back than +those beagles of King George there. Is there anything wrong in the +country?' +</p> +<p> +'Let me ask you another question,' said the knight in answer. 'How long +have you been in it, and where did you pass the night, not to hear of what +has occurred?' +</p> +<p> +''Faith, a home question,' said the priest, summoning up a hearty laugh to +conceal his emotion; 'but if the truth must out, we came round by the +priory at Glenduff, as my friend here being an Englishman—may I beg +to present him to you? Mr. Hinton, Sir Thomas Garland—he heard +wonders of the monks' way of living up there, and I wished to let him +judge for himself.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah, that accounts for it,' said the tall man to himself. 'We have had a +sad affair of it, Father Tom. Poor Tarleton has been murdered.' +</p> +<p> +'Murdered!' said the priest, with an expression of horror in his +countenance I could scarcely believe feigned. +</p> +<p> +'Yes, murdered! The house was attacked a little after midnight. The party +must have been a large one, for while they forced in the hall door, the +haggard and the stables were seen in a blaze. Poor George had just retired +to bed, a little later than usual; for his sons had returned a few hours +before from Dublin, where they had been to attend their college +examination. The villains, however, knew the house well, and made straight +for his room. He got up in an instant, and seizing a sabre that hung +beside his bed, defended himself, with the courage of desperation, against +them all. The scuffle and the noise soon brought his sons to the spot, +who, although mere boys, behaved in the most gallant manner. Overpowered +at last by numbers, and covered with wounds, they dragged poor Tarleton +downstairs, shouting out as they went, “Bring him down to Freney's! Let +the bloody villain see the black walls and the cold hearth he has made, +before he dies!” It was their intention to murder him on the spot where, a +few weeks before, a distress for rent had been executed against some of +his tenants. He grasped the banisters with a despairing clutch, while +fixing his eyes upon his servant, who had lived with him for some years +past, he called out to him in his agony to save him; but the fellow came +deliberately forward and held the flame of a candle beneath the dying +man's fingers, until he relaxed his hold and fell back among his +murderers. Yes, yes, father, Henry Tarleton saw it with his own eyes, for +while his brother was stretched senseless on the floor, he was struggling +with the others at the head of the staircase; and, strange enough too, +they never hurt the boys, but when they had wreaked their vengeance on the +father, bound them back to back, and left them.' +</p> +<p> +'Can you identify any of them?' said the priest, with intense emotion in +his voice and manner. +</p> +<p> +'Scarcely, I fear; their faces were blackened, and they wore shirts over +their coats. Henry thinks he could swear to two or three of the number; +but our best chance of discovery lies in the fact that several of them +were badly wounded, and one in particular, whom he saw cut down by his +father's sabre, was carried downstairs by his comrades, bathed in blood.' +</p> +<p> +'He didn't recognise him?' said the priest eagerly. +</p> +<p> +'No; but here comes the poor boy, so I'll wish you good-morning.' +</p> +<p> +He put spurs to his horse as he spoke and dashed forward, followed by the +dragoons; while at the same moment, on the opposite side of the road, a +young man—pale, with his dress disordered, his arm in a sling—rode +by. He never turned a look aside; his filmy eye was fixed, as it were, on +some far-off object, and he seemed scarce to guide his horse as he +galloped onward over the rugged road. +</p> +<p> +The priest relaxed his pace to permit the crowd of horsemen to pass on, +while his countenance once more assumed its drooping and despondent look, +and he relapsed into his former silence. +</p> +<p> +'You see that high mountain to the left there?' said he after a long +pause. 'Well, our road lies around the foot of it; and, please God, by +to-morrow evening we 'll be some five-and-twenty miles on the other side, +in the heart of my own wild country, with the big mountains behind you, +and the great blue Atlantic rearing its frothing waves at your feet.' He +stopped for an instant, and then grasping my arm with his strong hand, +continued in a low, distinct voice: 'Never speak to me nor question me +about what we saw last night, and try only to remember it as a dream. And +now let me tell you how I intend to amuse you in the far west.' +</p> +<p> +Here the priest began a spirited and interesting description of the +scenery and the people—their habits, their superstitions, and their +pastimes. He sustained the interest of his account with legend and story, +now grave, now gay—sometimes recalling a trait from the older +history of the land; sometimes detailing an incident of the fair or the +market, but always by his wonderful knowledge of the peasantry, their +modes of thinking and reasoning, and by his imitation of their figurative +and forcible expressions, able to carry me with him, whether he took the +mountain's side for his path, sat beside some cotter's turf-fire, or +skimmed along the surface of the summer sea in the frail bark of an Achill +fisherman. I learned from him that in the wild region where he lived there +were above fifteen thousand persons, scarce one of whom could speak or +understand a word of English. Of these he was not only the priest, but the +ruler and judge. Before him all their disputes were settled, all their +differences reconciled. His word, in the strongest sense of the phrase, +was law—not indeed to be enforced by bayonets and policemen, by +constables and sheriffs' officers, but which in its moral force demanded +obedience, and would have made him who resisted it an outcast among his +fellows. +</p> +<p> +'We are poor,' said the priest, 'but we are happy. Crime is unknown among +us, and the blood of man has not been shed in strife for fifty years +within the barony. When will ye learn this in England? When will ye know +that these people may be led, but never driven; that they may be +persuaded, but never compelled? When will ye condescend to bend so far the +prerogative of your birth, your riches, and your rank, as to reason with +the poor and humble peasant that looks up to you for protection? Alas! my +young friend, were you to ask me what is the great source of misery of +this unhappy land, I should tell you the superior intelligence of its +people. I see a smile, but hear me out. Unlike the peasantry of other +countries, they are not content. Their characters are mistaken, their +traits misconstrued—-partly from indifference, partly from +prejudice, and in a great measure because it is the fashion to recognise +in the tiller of the soil a mere drudge, with scarce more intelligence +than the cattle in his plough or the oxen in his team. But here you really +have a people quick, sharp-sighted, and intelligent, able to scan your +motives with ten times the accuracy you can guess at theirs; suspicious, +because their credulity has been abused; revengeful, because their wild +nature knows no other vindicator than their own right arm; lawless, for +they look upon your institutions as the sources of their misery and the +instruments of your tyranny towards them; reckless, for they have nothing +to lose; indolent, for they have nothing to gain. Without an effort to win +their confidence or secure their good-will, you overwhelm them with your +institutions, cumbrous, complicated, and unsuitable; and while you neglect +or despise all appeal to their feelings or affections, you place your +faith in your soldiery or a special commission. Heaven help you! you may +thin them off by the gallows and transportation, but the root of the evil +is as far from you as ever. You do not know them, you will not know them. +More prone to punish than prevent, you are satisfied with the working of +the law, and not shocked with the accumulation of crime; and when, broken +by poverty and paralysed by famine, a gloomy desolation spreads over the +land, you meet in terms of congratulation to talk over tranquilised +Ireland.' +</p> +<p> +In this strain did the good priest continue to develop his views +concerning his country—the pivot of his argument being, that, to a +people so essentially different in every respect, English institutions and +English laws were inadequate and unsuitable. Sometimes I could not only +but agree with him. At others I could but dimly perceive his meaning and +dissent from the very little I could catch. +</p> +<p> +Enough of this, however. In a biography so flimsy as mine, politics would +play but an unseemly part; and even were it otherwise, my opportunities +were too few and my own incapacity too great to make my opinions of any +value on a subject so complicated and so vast. Still, the topic served to +shorten the road, and when towards evening we found ourselves in the +comfortable parlour of the little inn at Ballyhocsousth,* so far had we +both regained our spirits that once more the priest's jovial good-humour +irradiated his happy countenance; and I myself, hourly improving in health +and strength, felt already the bracing influence of the mountain air, and +that strong sense of liberty never more thoroughly appreciated than when +regaining vigour after the sufferings of a sick-bed. +</p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +* Town of the Fight of Flails. +</pre> +<p> +We were seated by an open window, looking out upon the landscape. It was +past sunset, and the tall shadows of the mountains were meeting across the +lake, like spirits who waited for the night-hour to interchange their +embraces. A thin pale crescent of a new moon marked the blue sky, but did +not dim the lustre of the thousand stars that glittered round it. All was +hushed and still, save the deep note of the rail, or the measured plash of +oars heard from a long distance. The rich meadows that sloped down to the +water sent up their delicious odours in the balmy air, and there stole +over the senses a kind of calm and peaceful pleasure as such a scene at +such an hour can alone impart. +</p> +<p> +'This is beautiful—this is very beautiful, father,' said I. +</p> +<p> +'So it is, sir,' said the priest. 'Let no Irishman wander for scenery; he +has as much right to go travel in search of wit and good fellowship. We +don't want for blessings; all we need is, to know how to enjoy them. And, +believe me, there is a plentiful feast on the table if gentlemen would +only pass down the dishes. And, now, that reminds me: what are you +drinking—negus? I wouldn't wish it to my greatest enemy. But, to be +sure, I am always forgetting you are not one of ourselves. There, reach me +over that square decanter. It wouldn't have been so full now if we had had +poor Bob here—poor fellow! But one thing is certain—-wherever +he is, he is happy. I believe I never told you how he got into his present +scrape.' +</p> +<p> +'No, father; and that's precisely the very thing I wish to ask you.' +</p> +<p> +'You shall hear it, and it isn't a bad story in its way. But don't you +think the night-air is a little too much for you? Shall we close the +window?' +</p> +<p> +'If it depend on me, father, pray leave it open.' +</p> +<p> +'Ha, ha! I was forgetting again,' said the old fellow, laughing roguishly—'<i>Stella +sunt amantium oculi</i>, as Pharis says. There now, don't be blushing, but +listen to me. +</p> +<p> +'It was somewhere about last November that Bob got a quiet hint from some +one at Daly's that the sooner he got out of Dublin the more conducive it +would be to his personal freedom, as various writs were flying about the +capital after him. He took the hint, and set off the same night, and +reached his beautiful château of Newgate without let or molestation—which +having victualled for the winter, he could, if necessary, sustain in it a +reasonable siege against any force the law was likely to bring up. The +house had an abundant supply of arms. There were guns that figured in '41, +pikes that had done good service a little later, swords of every shape, +from the two-handed weapon of the twelfth century to a Roman pattern made +out of a scythe by a smith in the neighbourhood; but the grand terror of +the country was an old four-pounder of Cromwell's time, that the Major had +mounted on the roof, and whose effects, if only proportionately injurious +to the enemy to the results nearer home, must indeed have been a +formidable engine, for the only time it was fired—I believe to +celebrate Bob's birthday—it knocked down a chimney with the recoil, +blew the gardener and another man about ten feet into the air, and hurled +Bob himself through a skylight into the housekeeper's room. No matter for +that; it had a great effect in raising the confidence of the +country-people, some of whom verily believed that the ball was rolling for +a week after. +</p> +<p> +'Bob, I say, victualled the fortress; but he did more, for he assembled +all the tenants, and in a short but pithy speech told them the state of +his affairs, explaining with considerable eloquence what a misfortune it +would be for them if by any chance they were to lose him for a landlord. +</p> +<p> +'“See, now, boys,” said he, “there's no knowing what misfortune wouldn't +happen ye; they'd put a receiver on the property—a spalpeen with +bailiffs and constables after him—that would be making you pay up +the rent, and 'faith I wouldn't say but maybe he 'd ask you for the +arrears.” +</p> +<p> +'“Oh, murther, murther! did any one ever hear the like!” the people cried +on every side; and Bob, like a clever orator, continued to picture forth +additional miseries and misfortunes to them if such a calamitous event +were to happen, explaining at the same time the contemptible nature of the +persecution practised against him. +</p> +<p> +'“No, boys,” cried he, “there isn't a man among them all that has the +courage to come down and ask for his money, face to face; but they set up +a pair of fellows they call John Doe and Richard Roe—there's names +for you! Did you ever hear of a gentleman in the country with names like +that? But that's not the worst of it, for you see even these two chaps +can't be found. It's truth I'm telling you, and some people go so far as +to say that there is no such people at all, and it's only a way they have +to worry and annoy country gentlemen with what they call a fiction of the +law; and my own notion is, that the law is nothing but lies and fiction +from beginning to end.” +</p> +<p> +'A very loud cheer from Bob's audience proclaimed how perfectly they +coincided in his opinion; and a keg of whisky being brought into the lawn, +each man drained a glass to his health, uttering at the same time a +determination with respect to the law-officers of the crown that boded but +little happiness to them when they made a tour in the neighbourhood. +</p> +<p> +'In about a week after this there was a grand drawing-home: that's, you +understand, what we call in Ireland bringing in the harvest. And sure +enough, the farmyard presented a very comely sight, with ricks of hay, and +stacks of corn and oats and barley, and outhouses full of potatoes, and in +fact everything the country produces, besides cows and horses, sheep, +pigs, goats, and even turkeys; for most of the tenants paid their rents in +kind, and as Bob was an easy landlord, very few came without a little +present—a game-cock, a jackass, a ram, or some amusing beast or +other. Well, the next day—it was a fine dry day with a light frost, +and as the bog was hard, Bob sent them all away to bring in the turf. Why, +then, but it is a beautiful sight, Captain, and I wish you saw it—maybe +two or three hundred cars all going as fast as they can pelt, on a fine +bright day, with a blue sky and a sharp air, the boys standing up in the +kishes driving without rein or halter, always at a gallop—for all +the world like Ajax, Ulysses, and the rest of them that we read of; and +the girls, as pretty craytures as ever you threw an eye upon, with their +short red petticoats, and their hair plaited and fastened up at the back +of their heads: on my conscience the Trojan women was nothing to them! +</p> +<p> +'But to come back. Bob Mahon was coming home from the bog about five +o'clock in the evening, cantering along on a little dun pony he had, +thinking of nothing at all, except maybe the elegant rick of turf that he +'d be bringing home in the morning, when what did he see before him but a +troop of dragoons, and at their head old Basset, the sub-sheriff, and +another fellow whose face he had often seen in the Four Courts of Dublin. +“By the mortial,” said Bob, “I am done for!” for he saw in a moment that +Basset had waited until all the country-people were employed at a +distance, to come over and take him. However, he was no ways discouraged, +but brushing his way through the dragoons, he rode up beside Basset's gig, +and taking a long pistol out of the holster, he began to examine the +priming as cool as may be. +</p> +<p> +“'How are you, Nick Basset?” said Bob; “and where are you going this +evening?” +</p> +<p> +'“How are you, Major?” said Basset, with his eye all the while upon the +pistol. “It is an unpleasant business, a mighty unpleasant business to me, +Major Bob,” says he; “but the truth is, there is an execution against you, +and my friend here, Mr. Hennessy—Mr. Hennessy, Major Mahon—asked +me to come over with him, because as I knew you——” +</p> +<p> +'“Well, well,” said Bob, interrupting him. “Have you a writ against me? Is +it me you want?” +</p> +<p> +'“Nothing of the kind, Major Mahon. God forbid we 'd touch a hair of your +head. It's just a kind of a capias, as I may say, nothing more.” +</p> +<p> +'“And why did you bring the dragoons with you?” said Bob, looking at him +mighty hard. +</p> +<p> +'Basset looked very sheepish, and didn't know what to say; but Mahon soon +relieved him—- +</p> +<p> +'“Never mind, Nick, never mind; you can't help your trade. But how would +you look if I was to raise the country on ye?” +</p> +<p> +'“You wouldn't do the like, Major; but surely, if you did, the troops——” +</p> +<p> +'“The troops!” said Bob; “God help you! we'd be twenty, ay, thirty to one. +See now, if I give a whistle, this minute——” +</p> +<p> +'“Don't distress yourself, Major,” said Basset, “for the decent people are +a good six miles off at the bog, and couldn't hear you if you whistled +ever so loud.” +</p> +<p> +'The moment he said this Bob saw that the old rogue was up to him, and he +began to wonder within himself what was best to be done. +</p> +<p> +'“See now, Nick,” said he, “it isn't like a friend to bring up all these +red-coats here upon me, before my tenantry, disgracing me in the face of +my people. Send them back to the town, and go up yourself with Mr. +Hennessy there, and do whatever you have to do.” +</p> +<p> +'“No, no!” screamed Hennessy, “I'll never part with the soldiers!” +</p> +<p> +'“Very well,” said Bob, “take your own way, and see what will come of it.” +</p> +<p> +'He put spurs to his pony as he said this, and was just striking into the +gallop when Nick called out— +</p> +<p> +'“Wait a bit, Major! wait a bit! If we leave the dragoons where we are +now, will you give us your word of honour not to hurt or molest us in the +discharge of our duty, nor let any one else do so?” +</p> +<p> +'“I will,” said Bob, “now that you talk reasonably; I'll treat you well.” +</p> +<p> +'After a little parley it was settled that part of the dragoons were to +wait on the road, and the rest of them in the lawn before the house, while +Nick and his friend were to go through the ceremony of seizing Bob's +effects, and make an inventory of everything they could find. +</p> +<p> +'“A mere matter of form, Major Mahon,” said he. “We 'll make it as short +as possible, and leave a couple of men in possession; and as I know the +affair will be arranged in a few days——” +</p> +<p> +'“Of course,” says Bob, laughing; “nothing easier. So come along now and +let me show you the way.” +</p> +<p> +'When they reached the house, Bob ordered up dinner at once, and behaved +as politely as possible, telling them it was early, and they would have +plenty of time for everything in the evening. But whether it was that they +had no appetite just then, or that they were not over-easy in their minds +about Bob himself, they declined everything, and began to set about their +work. To it they went with pen and ink, putting down all the chairs and +tables, the cracked china, the fire-irons, and at last Bob left them +counting over about twenty pairs of old top-boots that stood along the +wall of his dressing-room. +</p> +<p> +'“Ned,” said Bob to his own man, “get two big padlocks and put them on the +door of the hayloft as fast as you can.” +</p> +<p> +'“Sure it is empty, sir,” said Ned. “Barrin' the rats, there's nothing in +it.” +</p> +<p> +'“Don't I know that as well as you?” said Bob; “but can't you do as you +are bid? And when you've done it, take the pony and gallop over to the +bog, and tell the people to throw the turf out of their carts and gallop +up here as fast as they can.” +</p> +<p> +'He'd scarcely said it when Nick called out, “Now, Major, for the +farmyard, if you please.” And so taking Hennessy's arm, Bob walked out, +followed by the two big bailiffs, that never left them for a moment. To be +sure it was a great sight when they got outside, and saw all the ricks and +stacks as thick as they could stand; and so they began counting and +putting them down on paper, and the devil a thing they forgot, not even +the boneens and the bantams; and at last Nick fixed his eye upon the +little door into the loft, upon which now two great big padlocks were +hanging. +</p> +<p> +'“I suppose it 's oats you have up there, Major?” said he. +</p> +<p> +'“No, indeed,” said Bob, looking a little confused. +</p> +<p> +'“Maybe seed-potatoes?” said Hennessy. +</p> +<p> +'“Nor it neither,” said he. +</p> +<p> +'“Barley, it's likely?” cried Nick; “it is a fine dry loft.” +</p> +<p> +'“No,” said Bob, “it is empty.” +</p> +<p> +'And with that he endeavoured to turn them away and get them back into the +house; but old Basset turned back, and fixing his eye upon the door, shook +his head for a couple of minutes. +</p> +<p> +'“Well,” said he, “for an empty loft it has the finest pair of padlocks I +ever looked at. Would there be any objection, Major, to our taking a peep +into it?” +</p> +<p> +'“None,” said Bob; “but I haven't a ladder that long in the place.” +</p> +<p> +'“I think this might reach,” said Hennessy, as he touched one with his +foot that lay close along the wall, partly covered with straw. +</p> +<p> +'“Just the thing,” said Nick; while poor Bob hung down his head and said +nothing. With that they raised the ladder and placed it against the door. +</p> +<p> +'“Might I trouble you for the key, Major Mahon?” said Hennessy. +</p> +<p> +'“I believe it is mislaid,” said Bob, in a kind of sulky way, at which +they both grinned at each other, as much as to say, “We have him now.” +</p> +<p> +'“You ''ll not take it amiss then, Major, if we break the door?” said +Nick. +</p> +<p> +'“You may break it and be hanged!” said Bob, as he stuck his hands into +his pockets and walked away. +</p> +<p> +'“This will do,” cried one of the bailiffs, taking up a big stone as he +mounted the ladder, followed by Nick, Hennessy, and the other. +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0024" id="linkimage-0024"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0413.jpg" alt="2-0413" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +'It took some time to smash the locks, for they were both strong ones, and +all the while Nick and his friend were talking together in great glee; but +poor Bob stood by himself against a hayrick, looking as melancholy as +might be. At last the locks gave way, and down went the door with a bang. +The bailiffs stepped in, and then Nick and the other followed. It took +them a couple of minutes to satisfy themselves that the loft was quite +empty; but when they came back again to the door, what was their surprise +to discover that Bob was carrying away the ladder upon his shoulders to a +distant part of the yard. +</p> +<p> +'“Holloa, Major!” cried Basset, “don't forget us up here!” +</p> +<p> +'“Devil a fear of that,” said Bob; “few that know you ever forget you.” +</p> +<p> +'“We are quite satisfied, sir,” said Hennessy; “what you said was +perfectly correct.” +</p> +<p> +'“And why didn't you believe it before, Mr. Hennessy? You see what you +have brought upon yourself.” +</p> +<p> +'“You are not going to leave us up here, sir,” cried Hennessy; “will you +venture upon false imprisonment?” +</p> +<p> +“'I'd venture on more than that, if it were needful; but see now, when you +get back, don't be pretending that I didn't offer to treat you well, +little as you deserved it, I asked you to dinner, and would have given you +your skinful of wine afterwards; but you preferred your own dirty calling, +and so take the consequences.” +</p> +<p> +'While he was speaking a great cheer was heard, and all the country-people +came galloping into the yard with their turf cars. +</p> +<p> +'“Be alive now, my boys!” cried Bob. “How many cars have you?” +</p> +<p> +'“Seventy, sir, here; but there is more coming.” +</p> +<p> +'“That'll do,” said he; “so now set to work and carry away all the oats +and the wheat, the hay, barley, and potatoes. Let some of you take the +calves and the pigs, and drive the bullocks over the mountain to Mr. +Bodkin's. Don't leave a turkey behind you, boys, and make haste; for these +gentlemen have so many engagements I can scarcely prevail on them to pass +more than a day or two amongst us.” +</p> +<p> +'Bob pointed as he spoke to the four figures that stood trembling at the +hayloft door. A loud cheer, and a roar of laughter to the full as loud, +answered his speech; and at the same moment to it they went, loading their +cars with the harvest or the live-stock as fast as they could. To be sure, +such a scene was never witnessed—the sheep bleating, pigs grunting, +fowls cackling, men and women all running here and there laughing like +mad, and Nick Basset himself swearing like a trooper the whole time that +he'd have them all hanged at the next assizes. Would you believe, the +harvest it took nearly three weeks to bring home was carried away that +night and scattered all over the country at different farms, where it +never could be traced; all the cattle too were taken away, and before +sunrise there wasn't as much as a sheep or a lamb left to bleat on the +lawn. +</p> +<p> +'The next day Bob set out on a visit to a friend at some distance, leaving +directions with his people to liberate the gentlemen in the hayloft in the +course of the afternoon. The story made a great noise in the country; but +before people were tired laughing at it an action was entered against Bob +for false imprisonment, and heavy damages awarded against him. So that you +may see there was a kind of poetic justice in the manner of his capture, +for after all it was only trick for trick.' +</p> +<p> +The worthy priest now paused to mix another tumbler, which, when he had +stirred and tasted and stirred again, he pushed gently before him on the +table, and seemed lost in reverie. +</p> +<p> +'Yes,' said he half aloud, 'it is a droll country we live in; and there's +not one of us doesn't waste more ingenuity and display more cunning in +getting rid of his fortune than the cleverest fellows elsewhere evince in +accumulating theirs. But you are looking a little pale, I think; these +late hours won't suit you, so I 'll just send you to bed.' +</p> +<p> +I felt the whole force of my kind friend's advice, and yielding obedience +at once, I shook him by the hand and wished him good-night. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0036" id="link2HCH0036"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XXXVI. MURRANAKILTY +</h2> +<p> +If my kind reader is not already tired of the mountain-road and the wild +west, may I ask him—dare I say her?—to accompany me a little +farther, while I present another picture of its life? +</p> +<p> +You see that bold mountain, jagged and rugged in outline, like the spine +of some gigantic beast, that runs far out into the Atlantic, and ends in a +bold, abrupt headland, against which the waves, from the very coast of +Labrador, are beating without one intervening rock to break their force? +Carry your eye along its base, to where you can mark a little clump of +alder and beech, with here and there a taper poplar interspersed, and see +if you cannot detect the gable of a long, low, thatched house, that lies +almost buried in the foliage. Before the door a little patch of green +stretches down to the shore, where a sandy beach, glowing in all the +richness of a morning sun, glitters with many a shell and brilliant +pebble. That, then, is Murranakilty. +</p> +<p> +But approach, I beg you, a little nearer. Let me suppose that you have +traced the winding of that little bay, crossing the wooden bridge over the +bright trout stream, as it hastens on to mingle its waters with the ocean; +you have climbed over the rude stile, and stopped for an instant to look +into the holy well, in whose glassy surface the little wooden crucifix +above is dimly shadowed, and at length you stand upon the lawn before the +cottage. What a glorious scene is now before you! On the opposite side of +the bay, the mountain, whose summit is lost among the clouds, seems as it +were cleft by some earthquake force; and through its narrow gorge you can +trace the blue water of the sea passing in, while each side of the valley +is clothed with wood. The oak of a hundred years, here sheltered from the +rude wind of the Atlantic, spreads its luxuriant arms, while the frothy +waves are breaking at its feet. High, however, above their tops you may +mark the irregular outline of a large building, with battlements and +towers and massive walls, and one tall and loopholed turret, that rises +high into the air, and around whose summit the noisy rooks are circling in +their flight. That is Kilmorran Castle, the residence of Sir Simon Bellew. +There, for centuries past, his ancestors were born and died; there, in the +midst of that wild and desolate grandeur, the haughty descendants of an +ancient house lived on from youth to age, surrounded by all the +observances of feudal state, and lording it far and near, for many a mile, +with a sway and power that would seem to have long since passed away. +</p> +<p> +You carry your eye seaward, and I perceive your attention is fixed upon +the small schooner that lies anchored in the offing; her topsail is in the +clews, and flaps lazily against the mast, as she rolls and pitches in the +breaking surge. The rake of her low masts and the long boom that stretches +out far beyond her taffrail have, you deem it, a somewhat suspicious look; +and you are right. She is <i>La Belle Louise</i>, a smuggling craft from +Dieppe, whose crew, half French, half Irish, would fight her to the +gunwale, and sink with but never surrender her. You hear the plash of +oars, and there now you can mark the eight-oared gig springing to the +stroke, as it shoots from the shore and heads out to sea. Sir Simon loves +claret, and like a true old Irish gentleman he drinks it from the wood; +there may, therefore, be some reason why those wild-looking red-caps have +pulled in shore. +</p> +<p> +But now I'll ask you to turn to an humbler scene, and look within that +room where the window, opened to the ground, is bordered by blossoming +honeysuckle. It is the priest's parlour. At a little breakfast-table, +whose spotless cloth and neat but simple equipage has a look of propriety +and comfort, is seated one whose gorgeous dressing-gown and lounging +attitude seem strangely at variance with the humble objects around him. He +seems endeavouring to read a newspaper, which ever and anon he lays down +beside him, and turns his eyes in the direction of the fire; for although +it is July, yet a keen freshness of the morning air makes the blazing turf +by no means objectionable. He looks towards the fire, perhaps you would +say, lost in his own thoughts and musings; but no, truth must out, and his +attention is occupied in a very different way. Kneeling before the fire is +a young and lovely country-girl, engaged in toasting a muffin for the +priest's breakfast. Her features are flushed, partly with shame, partly +with heat; and as now and then she throws back her long hair from her face +with an impatient toss of her head, she steals a glance at the stranger +from a pair of eyes so deeply blue that at first you were unjust enough to +think them black. +</p> +<p> +Her dress is a low bodice, and a short skirt of that brilliant dye the +Irish peasant of the west seems to possess the secret for. The jupe is +short, I say; and so much the better for you, as it displays a pair of +legs which, bare of shoe or stocking, are perfect in their symmetry—the +rounded instep and the swelling ankle chiselled as cleanly as a statue of +Canova. +</p> +<p> +And now, my good reader, having shown you all this, let me proceed with my +narrative. +</p> +<p> +'And sure now, sir, wouldn't it be better for you, and you sickly, to be +eating your breakfast, and not be waiting for Father Tom? Maybe he +wouldn't come in this hour yet.' +</p> +<p> +'No, thank you, Mary; I had rather wait. I hope you are not so tired of my +company that you want an excuse to get away?' +</p> +<p> +'Ah, be aisy now, if you plaze, sir! It's myself that's proud to be +talking to you.' And as she spoke she turned a pair of blue eyes upon me +with such a look that I could not help thinking if the gentlemen of the +west be exposed to such, their blood is not as hot as is reputed. I +suppose I looked as much; for she blushed deeply, and calling out, 'Here's +Father Tom!' sprang to her legs and hurried from the room. +</p> +<p> +'Where are you scampering that way?' cried the good priest, as he passed +her in the hall. 'Ah, Captain, Captain! behave yourself!' +</p> +<p> +'I protest, father——' cried I. +</p> +<p> +'To be sure you do! Why wouldn't you protest? But see now, it was your +business brought me out this morning. Hand me over the eggs; I am as +hungry as a hawk. The devil is in that girl—they are as hard as +bullets! I see how it was, plain enough. It's little she was thinking of +the same eggs. Well, well! this is an ungrateful world; and only think of +me, all I was doing for you.' +</p> +<p> +'My dear father, you are quite wrong——' +</p> +<p> +'No matter. Another slice of bacon. And, after all, who knows if I have +the worst of it? Do you know, now, that Miss Bellew has about the softest +cheek——' +</p> +<p> +'What the devil do you mean?' said I, reddening. 'Why, just that I was +saluting her <i>à la Française</i> this morning; and I never saw her look +handsomer in my life. It was scarce seven o'clock when I was over at +Kilmorran, but, early as it was, I caught her making breakfast for me; +and, father and priest that I am, I couldn't help feeling in love with +her. It was a beautiful sight just to watch her light step and graceful +figure moving about the parlour—now opening the window to let in the +fresh air of the morning; now arranging a bouquet of moss-roses; now +busying herself among the breakfast things, and all the while stealing a +glance at Sir Simon, to see if he were pleased with what she was doing. +He'll be over here by-and-by, to call on you; and, indeed, it is an +attention he seldom pays any one, for latterly, poor fellow, he is not +over satisfied with the world—and if the truth were told, he has not +had too much cause to be so.' +</p> +<p> +'You mentioned to him, then, that I was here?' 'To be sure I did; and the +doing so cost me a scalded finger; for Miss Louisa, who was pouring out my +tea at the moment, gave a jerk with her hand, and spilled the boiling +water all over me.—Bad cess to you, Mary, but you've spoiled the +toast this morning! half of it never saw the fire, and the other half is +as black as my boot.—But, as I was saying, Sir Simon knows all about +you, and is coming over to ask us to dine there—though I offered to +give the invitation myself, and accept it first; but he is very +punctilious about these things, and wouldn't hear of anything but doing it +in the regular way.' +</p> +<p> +'Did he allude to Mr. Ulick Burke's affair?' +</p> +<p> +'Not a word. And even when I wished to touch on it for the sake of a +little explanation, he adroitly turned the subject, and spoke of something +else. But it is drawing late, and I have some people to see this morning; +so come along now into my little library here, and I'll leave you for a +while to amuse yourself.' +</p> +<p> +The priest led me, as he spoke, into a small room, whose walls were +covered with books from the floor to the ceiling; even the very door by +which we entered had its shelves, like the rest, so that when once inside +you could see no trace of it. A single window looked seaward, towards the +wide Atlantic, and presented a view of many miles of coast, indented with +headland and promontory. Beneath, upon the placid sea, was a whole fleet +of fishing-boats, the crews of which were busily engaged in collecting the +sea-weed to manure the land. The sight was both curious and picturesque. +The light boats, tossing on the heavy swell, were crowded with figures +whose attitude evinced all the eagerness of a chase. Sometimes an amicable +contest would arise between two parties, as their boat-hooks were fixed in +the same mass of tangled weed. Sometimes two rival crews would be seen +stretching upon their oars, as they headed out to sea in search of a new +prize. The merry voices and the loud laughter, however, that rose above +all other sounds, told that good-humour and goodwill never deserted them +in all the ardour of the contest. +</p> +<p> +Long after the priest left me, I continued to watch them. At last I set +myself to explore the good father's shelves, which I found, for the most +part, were filled with portly tomes of divinity and polemics—huge +folio copies of Saint Augustine, Origen, Eusebius, and others; innumerable +volumes of learned tractates on disputed points in theology—none of +which possessed any interest for me. In one corner, however, beside the +fire, whose convenience to the habitual seat of Father Tom argued that +they were not least in favour with his reverence, was an admirable +collection of the French dramatists—Molière, Beaumarchais, Racine, +and several more. These were a real treat; and seating myself beside the +window, I prepared, for about the twentieth time in my life, to read <i>La +Folle Journée</i>. +</p> +<p> +I had scarcely got to the end of the second act, when the door was gently +opened, and Mary made her appearance—not in the deshabille of the +morning, however, but with a trim cotton gown, and smart shoes and +stockings; her hair, too, was neatly dressed, in the country fashion. Yet +still I was more than half disposed to think she looked even better in her +morning costume. +</p> +<p> +The critical scrutiny of my glance had evidently disconcerted her, and +made her, for the moment, forget the object of her coming. She looked down +and blushed; she fiddled with the corner of her apron, and at last, +recollecting herself, she dropped a little curtsy, and, opening the door +wide, announced Sir Simon Bellew. +</p> +<p> +'Mr. Hinton, I believe,' said Sir Simon, with a slight smile, as he bowed +himself into the apartment; 'will you allow me to introduce myself—Sir +Simon Bellew.' +</p> +<p> +The baronet was a tall, thin, meagre-looking old man, somewhat stooped by +age, but preserving, both in look and gesture, not only the remains of +good looks, but the evident traces of one habituated to the world. His +dress was very plain; but the scrupulous exactitude of his powdered cue, +and the massive gold-headed cane he carried, showed he had not abandoned +those marks of his position so distinctive of rank in those days. He wore, +also, large and handsome buckles in his shoes; but in every other +particular his costume was simplicity itself. Conversing with an ease +which evinced his acquaintance with all the forms of society, he touched +shortly upon my former acquaintance with his daughter, and acknowledged in +terms slight, but suitable, how she had spoken of me. His manner was, +however, less marked by everything I had deemed to be Irish than that of +any other person I had met with in the country; for while he expressed his +pleasure at my visit to the west, and invited me to pass some days at his +house, his manner of doing so had nothing whatever of the warmth and <i>empressement</i> +I had so often seen. In fact, save a slight difference in accent, it was +as English as need be. +</p> +<p> +Whether I felt disappointed at this, or whether I had myself adopted the +habite and prejudices of the land, I am unable to say, but certainly I +felt chilled and repulsed; and although our interview scarce lasted twenty +minutes, I was delighted when he rose to take his leave, and say, +good-morning. +</p> +<p> +'You are good enough, then, to promise you 'll dine with us to-morrow, Mr. +Hinton. I need scarcely remark that I can have no party to meet you, for +this wild neighbourhood has denied us that; but as I am aware that your +visit to the west is less for society than scenery, perhaps I may assure +you you will not be disappointed. So now, <i>au revoir</i>.' Sir Simon +bowed deeply as he spoke, and, with a wave of his hat that would have done +honour to the court of Louis xv., he took his leave and departed. +</p> +<p> +I followed him with my eye, as mounted on his old gray pony, he ambled +quietly down the little path that led to the shore. Albeit an old man, his +seat was firm, and not without a certain air of self-possession and ease; +and as he returned the salutations of the passing country-people, he did +so with the quiet dignity of one who felt he conveyed an honour even in +the recognition. There was something singular in the contrast of that +venerable figure with the wild grandeur of the scene; and as I gazed after +him, it set me thinking on the strange vicissitudes of life that must have +made such as he pass his days in the dreary solitude of these mountains. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0037" id="link2HCH0037"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XXXVII. SIR SIMON +</h2> +<p> +My journey had so far fatigued me that I wasn't sorry to have a day of +rest; and as Father Tom spent the greater part of it from home, I was left +to myself and my own reflections. The situation in which I found myself +was singular enough—the guest of a man whose acquaintance I had made +by chance, and who, knowing as little of me as I did of him, yet showed by +many an act of kindness, not less than by many a chance observation, a +deep interest in myself and my fortunes. Here, then, I was—far from +the sphere of my duties, neglecting the career I had adopted, and +suffering days, weeks, to pass over without bestowing a thought upon my +soldier life. +</p> +<p> +Following on this train of thought, I could not help acknowledging to +myself that my attachment to Miss Bellew was the cause of my journey, and +the real reason of my wandering. However sanguine may be the heart when +touched by the first passion, the doubts that will now and then shoot +across it are painful and poignant; and now, in the calmness of my +judgment, I could not but see the innumerable obstacles my family would +raise to all my hopes. I well knew my father's predilection for a +campaigning life, and that nothing would compensate him for the defeat of +this expectation. I had but too many proofs of my mother's aristocratic +prejudices to suppose that she ever could acknowledge as her +daughter-in-law one whose pretensions to rank, although higher than her +own, were yet neither trumpeted by the world nor blazoned by fashion. And +lastly, changed as I was myself since my arrival in Ireland, there was yet +enough of the Englishman left in me to see how unsuited was Louisa Bellew, +in many respects, to be launched forth in the torrent of London life, +while yet her experience of the world was so narrow and limited. Still, I +loved her. The very artless simplicity of her manner, the untutored +freshness of her mind, had taught me to know that even great personal +attractions may be the second excellence of a woman. And besides, I was +just at that time of life when ambition is least natural. One deems it +more heroic to renounce all that is daring in enterprise, all that is +great in promise, merely to be loved. My mind was therefore made up. The +present opportunity was a good one to see her frequently and learn +thoroughly to know her tastes and her dispositions. Should I succeed in +gaining her affections, however opposed my family might prove at first, I +calculated on their fondness for me as an only son, and knew that in +regard to fortune I should be independent enough to marry whom I pleased. +</p> +<p> +In speculations such as these the time passed over; and although I waited +with impatience for the hour of our visit to Kilmorran Castle, still, as +the time drew near, many a passing doubt would flit across me—how +far I had mistaken the promptings of my own affection for any return of my +love. True it was, that more than once Louisa's look and manner testified +I was not indifferent to her; still, when I remembered that I had ever +seen her surrounded by persons she was anxious to avoid, a suspicion +crossed me that perhaps I owed the little preference she showed me less to +any qualities I possessed than to my own unobtrusiveness. These were +galling and unpleasant reflections; and whither they might have led me I +know not, when the priest tapped with his knuckles at my window, and +called out— +</p> +<p> +'Captain, we shall be late if you don't hurry a bit; and I had rather be +behind time with his gracious Majesty himself than with old Sir Simon.' +</p> +<p> +I opened the window at once, and jumped out into the lawn. +</p> +<p> +'My dear father, I've been ready this half-hour, but fell into a dreamy +fit and forgot everything. Are we to walk it?' +</p> +<p> +'No, no; the distance is much greater than you think. Small as the bay +looks, it is a good three miles from this to Kilmorran; but here comes +your old friend the curriculus.' +</p> +<p> +I once more mounted to my old seat, and the priest, guiding the horse down +to the beach, selected the strand, from which the waves had just receded, +as the hardest road, and pressed on at a pace that showed his desire to be +punctual. +</p> +<p> +'Get along there. Nabocklish! How lazy the devil is! 'Faith, we'll be +late, do our best. Captain, darling, put your watch back a quarter of an +hour, and I'll stand to it that we are both by Dublin time.' +</p> +<p> +'Is he, then, so very particular/ said I, 'as all that comes to?' +</p> +<p> +'Particular, is it? 'Faith he is. Why, man, there is as much ringing of +bells before dinner in that house as if every room in it was crammed with +company. And the old butler will be there, all in black, and his hair +powdered, and beautiful silk stockings on his legs, every day in the week, +although, maybe, it is a brace of snipe will be all that is on the table. +Take the whip for a while, and lay into that baste—my heart is broke +flogging him.' +</p> +<p> +Had Sir Simon only watched the good priest's exertions for the preceding +quarter of an hour, he certainly would have had a hard heart if he had +criticised his punctuality. Shouting one moment, cursing the next, +thrashing away with his whip, and betimes striding over the splash-board +to give a kick with his foot, he undoubtedly spared nothing in either +voice or gesture. +</p> +<p> +'There, glory be to God!' cried he at last, as he turned sharp from the +shady road into a narrow avenue of tall lime-trees; 'take the reins, +Captain, till I wipe my face. Blessed hour, look at the state I am in! +Lift him to it, and don't spare him. May I never, if that isn't the last +bell, and he only gives five minutes after that!' +</p> +<p> +Although I certainly should have preferred that Father Tom had continued +his functions as charioteer now that we were approaching the house, common +humanity, however, compelled me to spare him, and I flogged and chucked +the old beast with all my might up the rising ground towards the house. I +had but just time to see that the building before us was a large embattled +structure, which, although irregular and occasionally incongruous in +detail, was yet a fine specimen of the castellated Gothic of the +seventeenth century. Massive square towers flanked the angles, themselves +surmounted by smaller turrets, that shot up into the air high above the +dark woods around them. The whole was surrounded by a fosse, now dry, and +overgrown with weeds; but the terrace, which lay between this and the +castle, was laid out as a flower-garden, with a degree of taste and beauty +that to my mind at least bespoke the fostering hand of Louisa Bellew. Upon +this the windows of a large drawing-room opened, at one of which I could +mark the tall and stately figure of Sir Simon, as he stood, watch in hand, +awaiting our arrival. I confess, it was not without a sense of shame that +I continued my flagellations at the moment. Under any circumstances, our +turn-out was not quite unexceptionable; but when I thought of my own +position, and of the good priest who sat beside me mopping his head and +face with a huge red cotton handkerchief, I cursed my stars for the absurd +exposure. Just at this instant the skirt of a white robe passed one of the +windows, and I thought—I hope it was but a thought—I heard a +sound of laughter. +</p> +<p> +'There, that will do. Phoebus himself couldn't do it better. I wouldn't +wish my worst enemy to be in a pair of shafts before you.' +</p> +<p> +Muttering a curse on the confounded beast, I pulled short up and sprang +out. +</p> +<p> +'Not late, Nicholas, I hope?' said the priest to a tall, thin old butler, +who bore a most absurd resemblance to his master. +</p> +<p> +'Your reverence has a minute and a half yet; but the soup's on the table.' +As he spoke, he drew from his pocket a small bit of looking-glass, in a +wooden frame, and with a pocket-comb arranged his hair in a most orderly +and decorous manner; which being done, he turned gravely round and said, +'Are ye ready, now, gentlemen?' +</p> +<p> +The priest nodded, and forward we went. Passing through a suite of rooms +whose furniture, however handsome once, was now worm-eaten and injured by +time, we at length reached the door of the drawing-room, when the butler, +after throwing one more glance at us to assure himself that we were in +presentable array, flung the door wide open, and announced, with the voice +of a king-at-arms— +</p> +<p> +'The Reverend Father Loftus, and Mr. Hinton.' +</p> +<p> +'Serve!' said Sir Simon, with a wave of his hand. While, advancing towards +us, he received us with most polished courtesy. 'You are most welcome to +Kilmorran, Mr. Hinton. I need not present my daughter.' +</p> +<p> +He turned towards the priest, and the same moment I held Miss Bellow's +hand in mine. Dressed in white, and with her hair plainly braided on her +cheek, I thought she looked handsomer than I had ever seen her. There was +an air of assured calmness in her manner that sat well upon her lovely +features, as, with a tone of winning sweetness, she seconded the words of +her father, and welcomed me to Kilmorran. +</p> +<p> +The first step in the knowledge of the female heart is to know how to +interpret any constraint or reserve of manner on the part of the woman you +are in love with. Your mere novice is never more tempted to despair than +at the precise moment his hopes should grow stronger; nor is he ever so +sanguine as when the prospect is gloomy before him. The quick perceptions +of even a very young girl enable her to perceive when she is loved; and +however disposed she may feel towards the individual, a certain mixture of +womanly pride and coquetry will teach her a kind of reserve towards him. +Now, there was a slight dash of this constrained tone through Miss +Bellow's manner to me; and little experience as I had had in such matters, +I knew enough to augur favourably from it. While doing the honours of her +house, a passing timidity would seem every now and then to check her +advances, and I could remark how carefully she avoided any allusion, +however slight, to our past acquaintance. +</p> +<p> +The austerity of Sir Simon's manner at his first visit, as well as the +remarks of my friend the priest, had led me to suspect that our +dinner-party would prove cold, formal, and uncomfortable; indeed, the +baronet's constrained and measured courtesy in the drawing-room gave me +but little encouragement to expect anything better. Most agreeable, +therefore, was my disappointment to find that before the soup was removed +he had thawed considerably. The stern wrinkles of his haughty face +relaxed, and a bland and good-humoured smile had usurped the place of his +former fixed and determined look. Doing the honours of his table with the +most perfect tact, he contrived, while almost monopolising the +conversation, to appear the least obtrusive amongst us; his remarks being +ever accompanied by some appeal to his daughter, the priest, or myself, +seemed to link us in the interest of all he said, and make his very +listeners deem themselves entertaining and agreeable. Unfortunately, I can +present but a very meagre picture of this happy gift; but I remember well +how insensibly my prejudices gave way, one by one, as I listened to his +anecdotes, and heard him recount, with admirable humour, many a story of +his early career. To be sure, it may be said that my criticism was not +likely to be severe while seated beside his beautiful daughter, whose +cheek glowed with pleasure, and whose bright eye glistened with added +lustre as she remarked the impression her father's agree-ability was +making on his guests. Such may, I doubt not, have increased the delight I +felt; but Sir Simon's own claims were still indisputable. +</p> +<p> +I know not how far I shall meet my reader's concurrence in the remark, but +it appears to me that conversational talent, like wine, requires age to +make it mellow. The racy flavour that smacks of long knowledge of life, +the reflective tone that deepens without darkening the picture, the +freedom from exaggeration either in praise or censure, are not the gifts +of young men, usually; and certainly they do season the intercourse of +older ones, greatly to its advantage. There is, moreover, a pleasant +flattery in listening to the narratives of those who were mixing with the +busy world—its intrigues, its battles, and its byplay—while we +were but boys. How we like to hear of the social everyday life of those +great men of a bygone day, whose names have become already historical; +what a charm does it lend to reminiscence, when the names of Burke, +Sheridan, Grattan, and Curran start up amid memories of youthful pleasure; +and how we treasure every passing word that is transmitted to us, and how +much, in spite of all the glorious successes of their after days, do we +picture them to ourselves, from some slight or shadowy trait of their +school or college life! +</p> +<p> +Sir Simon Bellow's conversation abounded in features of this kind. His +career had begun and continued for a long time in the brightest period of +Ireland's history—when wealth and genius were rife in the land, and +when the joyous traits of Irish character were elicited in all their force +by prosperity and happiness. It was then shone forth in all their +brilliancy the great spirits whose flashing wit and glittering fancy have +cast a sunlight over their native country that even now, in the twilight +of the past, continues to illumine it. Alas! they have had no heritors to +their fame; they have left no successors behind them. +</p> +<p> +I have said that Miss Bellew listened with delight to all her father's +stores of amusement—happy to see him once more aroused to the +exertion of his abilities, and pleased to watch how successfully his +manner had won over us. With what added loveliness she looked up to him as +he narrated some circumstances of his political career, where his +importance with his party was briefly alluded to; and how proudly her +features glowed, as some passing sentiment of high and simple patriotism +would break from him! At such moments, the resemblance between them both +became remarkably striking, and I deemed her even more beautiful than when +her face wore its habitual calm and peaceful expression. +</p> +<p> +Father Loftus himself seemed also to have undergone a change—no +longer indulging in his accustomed free-and-easy manner, seasoning his +conversation with droll allusions and sly jokes. He now appeared a shrewd, +intelligent reasoner, a well-informed man of the world, and at times +evidenced traits of reading and scholarship I was nowise prepared for. But +how vain is it for one of any other country to fathom one half the depth +of Irish character, or say what part is inapplicable to an Irishman! My +own conviction is that we are all mistaken in our estimate of them; that +the gay and reckless spirit, the wild fun, and frantic, impetuous +devilment are their least remarkable features, and in fact only the +outside emblem of the stirring nature within. Like the lightning that +flashes over the thunder-cloud, but neither influences the breaking of the +storm nor points to its course, so have I seen the jest break from lips +pale with hunger, and heard the laugh come free and mellow when the heart +was breaking in misery. But what a mockery of mirth! +</p> +<p> +When we retired to the drawing-room, Sir Simon, who had something to +communicate to Father Tom, took him apart into one of the deep window +recesses, and I was left for the first time alone beside Miss Bellew. +There was something of awkwardness in the situation; for as neither of us +could allude to the past without evoking recollections we both shunned to +touch on, we knew not well of what to speak. The window lay open to the +ground, displaying before us a garden in all the richness of fruit and +blossom; the clustering honeysuckle and the dog-rose hung in masses of +flower across the casement, and the graceful hyacinth and the deep +carnation were bending to the night-air, scented with the odour of many a +flower. I looked wistfully without. Miss Bellew caught my glance; a slight +hesitation followed, and then, as if assuming more courage, she said— +</p> +<p> +'Are you fond of a garden? Would you like a walk?' +</p> +<p> +The haste with which I caught at the proposal half disconcerted her; but, +with a slight smile, she stepped out into the walk. +</p> +<p> +How I do like a large, old-fashioned garden with its venerable +fruit-trees, its shady alleys, its overgrown and tangled beds, in which +the very luxuriance sets all effort of art at defiance, and where rank +growth speaks of wild-ness rather than culture! I like those grassy walks, +where the footstep falls unheard; those shady thickets of nut-trees, which +the blackbird haunts in security, and where the thrush sings undisturbed. +What a sense of quiet home-happiness there breathes in the leafy darkness +of the spot, and how meet for reverie and reflection does it seem! +</p> +<p> +As I sauntered along beside my companion, these thoughts crowded on me. +Neither spoke; but her arm was in mine, our footsteps moved in unison, our +eyes followed the same objects, and I felt as though our hearts beat +responsively. On turning from one of the darker walks we suddenly came +upon an elevated spot, from which, through an opening in the wood, the +coast came into view, broken into many a rocky promontory, and dotted with +small islands. The sea was calm and waveless, and stretched away towards +the horizon in one mass of unbroken blue, where it blended with the sky. +An exclamation of 'How beautiful!' broke from me at once; and as I turned +towards Louisa, I perceived that her eyes sparkled with pleasure, and a +half blush was mantling her cheek. +</p> +<p> +'You are not, then, disappointed with the west?' said she, with animation. +</p> +<p> +'No, no! I did not look for anything like this; nor,' added I, in a lower +tone, while the words trembled on my lips, 'did I hope to enjoy it thus.' +</p> +<p> +She seemed slightly confused, but with woman's readiness to turn the +meaning of my speech, added— +</p> +<p> +'Your recovery from illness doubtless gives a heightened pleasure to +everything like this. The dark hour of sickness is often needed to teach +us to feel strongly as we ought the beauty of the fair world we live in.' +</p> +<p> +'It may be so; but still I find that every sorrow leaves a scar upon the +heart, and he who has mourned much loses the zest for happiness.' +</p> +<p> +'Or, rather, his views of it are different. I speak, happily for me, in +ignorance; yet it seems as though every trial in life was a preparation +for some higher scale of blissful enjoyment; and that as our +understandings mature in power, so do our hearts in goodness—chastening +at each ordeal of life, till at last the final sorrow, death, bids us +prepare for the eternity where there is no longer grief, and where the +weary are at rest.' +</p> +<p> +'Is not your view of life rather derived from the happy experience of this +quiet spot than suited for the collisions of the world, where, as men grow +older, their consciences grow more seared, their hearts less open?' +</p> +<p> +'Perhaps; but is not my philosophy a good one that fits me for my station? +My life has been cast here; I have no wish to leave it. I hope I never +shall.' +</p> +<p> +'Never! Surely, you would like to see other countries,—to travel?' +</p> +<p> +'No, no! All the brilliant pleasures you can picture for me would never +requite the fears I must suffer lest these objects should grow less dear +to me when I came back to them. The Tyrol is doubtless grander in its wild +magnificence; but can it ever come home to my heart with so many +affections and memories as these bold cliffs I have gazed on in my +infancy; or should I benefit in happiness if it did? Can your Swiss +peasant, be his costume ever so picturesque, interest me one half as much +as yonder poor fisherman, who is carrying up his little child in his arms +from the beach? I know him, his home, his hearth; I have seen his grateful +smile for some small benefit, and heard his words of thankfulness. And +think you not that such recollections as these are all mingled in every +glance I throw around me, and that every sunlit spot of landscape shines +not more brightly in my heart for its human associations? These may be +narrow prejudices—I see you smile at me.' +</p> +<p> +'No, no! Trust me, I do not undervalue your reasons.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, here comes Father Loftus, and he shall be judge between us. We were +discussing the advantages of contrasting our home with other countries——' +</p> +<p> +'Ahem! A very difficult point,' said the priest, interrupting her, and +drawing himself up with a great air of judicial importance. '<i>Ubi bene, +ibi patria</i>—which may be rendered, “There's potatoes everywhere.” +Not that I incline to the doctrine myself. Ireland is the only enjoyable +country I know of. <i>Utamur creatura, dum possumus</i>—that means +“a moderate use of creature comforts,” Miss Louisa. But, troth, I'm so +heated with an argument I had with Sir Simon, that I'm no ways competent—— +Did I tell you he was waiting for his tea?' +</p> +<p> +'No, indeed you did not,' said Miss Bellew, giving vent to a laugh she had +been struggling against for the last few minutes; and which I did not at +the moment know was caused by her perceiving the priest's air of chagrin +and discontent, the evident proofs of his being worsted by the old +baronet, whose chief pleasure in life was to worry the father into a +discussion, and either confuse or confute him. 'My father seems in such +good spirits to-night! Don't you think so?' said she roguishly, looking +over at the priest. +</p> +<p> +'Never saw him better; quite lively and animated, and'—dropping his +voice to a whisper—-'as obstinate as ever.' +</p> +<p> +As we entered the house we found Sir Simon walking leisurely up and down +the drawing-room, with his hands behind his back, his face radiant with +smiles, and his eye gleaming with conscious triumph towards the corner +where the priest stood tumbling over some books to conceal his sense of +defeat. In a few minutes after we were seated round the tea-table; the +little cloud was dispelled, and a happier party it was difficult to +imagine. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0038" id="link2HCH0038"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XXXVIII. ST. SENAN'S WELL +</h2> +<p> +How shall I trace this, the happiest period of my life, when days and +weeks rolled on and left no trace behind, save in that delicious calm that +stole over my senses gradually and imperceptibly! Each morning saw me on +my way to Castle Bellew. The mountain path that led up from the little +strand was well worn by my footsteps; I knew its every turn and winding; +scarcely a dog-rose bloomed along the way with which I had not grown +familiar. And how each object spoke to my heart! For I was happy. The +clouds that moved above, the rippling tide that flowed beneath, the sunny +shore, the shady thicket, were all to me as though I had known them from +boyhood. For so it is, in our glad moments we cling to all things that +surround us; and giving to external Nature the high colouring of our own +hearts, we feel how beautiful is this world. +</p> +<p> +Yet was my mind not all tranquil; for often, as I hastened on, some +passing thought would shoot across me. Where is this to end? Can I hope +ever to overcome the deep-rooted prejudices of my family, and induce them +to receive amongst them as my wife the beautiful and artless daughter of +the wild west? Or could I dare to expose her, on whom all my affections +were centred, to the callous criticism of my fine lady-mother, and her +fashionable friends in London? What right had I to stake Louisa's +happiness on such a chance—to take her from all the objects endeared +to her by taste, by time, by long-hallowed associations, and place her +amid those among whom the very charm of her untarnished nature would have +made her their inferior? Is it that trait of rebellious spirit that would +seem to leaven every portion of our nature which makes our love strongest +when some powerful barrier has been opposed to our hopes and wishes; or is +it, rather, that in the difficulties and trials of life we discover those +deeper resources of our hearts, that under happier auspices had lain +dormant and unknown? I scarcely know; but true it is, after such +reflections as these I ever hurried on the faster to meet Louisa, more +resolutely bent than ever, in weal or woe, to link my fortune with her +own. +</p> +<p> +Though I returned each night to the priest's cottage, my days were +entirely spent at Castle Bellew. How well do I remember every little +incident that marked their tranquil course! The small breakfast-parlour, +with its old Tudor window looking out upon the flower-garden—how +often have I paced it, impatient for her coming; turning ever and anon to +the opening door, where the old butler, with the invariable habitude of +his kind, continually appeared with some portion of the breakfast +equipage! How I started, as some distant door would shut or open, some +far-off footstep sound upon the stair, and wonder within myself why she +felt not some of this impatient longing! And when at last, tortured with +anxiety and disappointment, I had turned away towards the window, the +gentle step, the rustling dress, and, more than all, the indescribable +something that tells us we are near those we love, bespoke her coming—oh, +the transport of that moment! With what a fervid glow of pleasure I sprang +to meet her, to touch her hand, to look upon her! How rapidly, too, I +endeavoured to speak my few words of greeting, lest her father's coming +might interfere with even this short-lived period of happiness; and, after +all, how little meaning were in the words themselves, save in the tone I +spoke them! +</p> +<p> +Then followed our rambles through the large but neglected garden, where +the rich blossoming fruit-tree scented the air, loaded with all the +fragrance of many a wild flower. Now strolling onwards, silent, but full +of thought, we trod some dark and shaded alley; now we entered upon some +open glade, where a view of the far-off mountains would break upon us, or +where some chance vista showed the deep-blue sunny sea swelling with +sullen roar against the rocky coast. How often, at such times as these, +have I asked myself if I could look for greater happiness than thus to +ramble on, turning from the stupendous majesty of Nature to look into her +eyes whose glance met mine so full of tender meaning, while words would +pass between us, few and low-voiced, but all so thrilling; their very +accents spoke of love! +</p> +<p> +Yet, amid all this, some agonising doubt would shoot across me that my +affection was not returned. The very frankness of her nature made me fear; +and when we parted at night, and I held my homeward way towards the +priest's cottage, I would stop from time to time, conning over every word +she spoke, calling to mind each trivial circumstance; and if by accident +some passing word of jest» some look of raillery, recurred to my memory, +how have the warm tears rushed to my eyes, as with my heart full to +bursting I muttered to myself, 'She loves me not!' These fears would then +give way to hope, as in my mind's eye she stood before me, all beaming in +smiles. And amid these alternate emotions, I trod my lonely path, longing +for the morrow when we should meet again, when I vowed within my heart to +end my life of doubt by asking if she loved me. But with that morrow came +the same spell of happiness that lulled me; and like the gambler who had +set his life upon the die, and durst not throw, so did I turn with +trembling fear from tempting the chance that might in a moment dispel the +bright dream of my existence, and leave life bleak and barren to me for +ever. +</p> +<p> +The month of August was drawing to a close, as we sauntered one fine +evening towards the sea-shore. There was a little path which wound round +the side of a bold crag, partly by steps, partly by a kind of sloping way, +defended at the sides by a rude wooden railing, which led down upon the +beach exactly at the spot where a well of clear spring-water sprang up, +and tracked its tiny stream into the blue ocean. This little spring, which +was always covered by the sea at high-water, was restored, on the tide +ebbing, to its former purity, and bubbled away as before; and from this +cause it had obtained from the simple peasantry the reputation of being +miraculous, and was believed to possess innumerable properties of healing +and consoling. +</p> +<p> +I had often heard of it but never visited it before; and thither we now +bent our steps, more intent upon catching the glorious sunset that was +glowing on the Atlantic than of testing the virtues of St. Senan's Well, +for so was it called. The evening, an autumnal one, was calm and still; +not a leaf stirred; the very birds were hushed; and there was all that +solemn silence that sometimes threatens the outbreak of a storm. As we +descended the crag, however, the deep booming of the sea broke upon us, +and between the foliage of the oak-trees we could mark the heavy rolling +of the mighty tide, as wave after wave swelled on, and then was dashed in +foam and spray upon the shore. There was something peculiarly grand and +almost supernatural in the heavy swell of the great sea, rearing its white +crest afar and thundering along the weather-beaten rocks, when everything +else was calm and unmoved around; the deep and solemn roar, echoing from +many a rocky cavern, rose amid the crashing spray that sent up a thin veil +of mist, through which the setting sun was reflected in many a bright +rainbow. It was indeed a glorious sight, and we stopped for several +minutes gazing on it; when suddenly Louisa, letting go my arm, exclaimed, +as she pointed downwards— +</p> +<p> +'See, see the swell beneath that large black rock yonder! The tide is +making fast; we must get quickly down if you wish to test St. Senan's +power.' +</p> +<p> +I had no time left me to ask what peculiar virtues the saint dispensed +through the mediation of his well, when she broke from my side and hurried +down the steep descent. In a moment we had reached the shore, upon which +already the tide was fast encroaching, and had marked with its dark stain +the yellow sand within a few feet of the well. As we drew nearer, I +perceived the figure of an old woman hent with age, who seemed busily +occupied sprinkling the water of the spring over something that, as I came +closer, seemed like a sailor's jacket. She was repeating some words +rapidly to herself; but on hearing our approach, she quickly collected her +bundle together under her remnant of a cloak, and sat waiting our approach +in silence. +</p> +<p> +'It's Molly Ban!' said Louisa suddenly, and growing pale as she spoke. +'Give her something, if you have any money, I beseech you.' +</p> +<p> +There was no opportunity for inquiring further about her now, for the old +woman slowly rose from the stone by the aid of a stick, and stood +confronting us. Her figure was singularly short, scarce four feet in +height; but her head was enormously large, and her features, which were +almost terrific in ugliness, were swarthy as a gypsy's. A man's hat was +fastened upon her head by a red kerchief which was knotted beneath her +chin; a short cloak of faded scarlet, like what the peasantry of the west +usually wear, covered her shoulders, beneath which a patched and +many-coloured petticoat appeared, that reached to the middle of her legs, +which, as well as her feet, were completely naked, giving the old woman a +look of wildness and poverty which I cannot attempt to convey. The most +singular part of her costume, however, was a rude collar she wore round +her neck of sea-shells, among which, here and there, I could detect some +bits of painted and gilded carving, like fragments of a wreck. This +strange apparition now stood opposite me, her dark eyes fixed steadily on +my companion, to whom, unlike the people of the country, she never made +the slightest reverence, or showed any semblance of respect. +</p> +<p> +'And was it to spy after me, Miss Loo, ye brought down yer sweetheart to +the well this evening?' said the hag, in a harsh, grating voice, that +seemed the very last effort of some suppressed passion. +</p> +<p> +Louisa's arm grasped mine, and I could feel it tremble with agitation as +she whispered in my ear— +</p> +<p> +'Give her money quickly; I know her.' +</p> +<p> +'And is your father going to send me back to jail because the cattle's got +the rot amongst them? Ha, ha, ha!' said she, breaking into a wild, +discordant laugh. 'There will be more mourning than for that at Castle +Bellew before long.' +</p> +<p> +Louisa leaned against me, faint and almost falling, while drawing out my +purse hastily I held forth my hand full of silver. The old hag clutched at +it eagerly, and as her dark eyes flashed fire, she thrust the money into a +pocket at her side, and again broke out into a horrid laugh. +</p> +<p> +'So, you're beginnin' to know me, are ye? Ye won't mock Molly Ban now, eh? +No, 'faith, nor Mary Lafferty either, that turned me from the door and +shut it agin me. Where 'll her pride be to-morrow night, when they bring +in her husband a corpse to her? Look at that!' +</p> +<p> +With these words she threw her cloak on one side, and showed the blue +jacket of a fisherman which I had seen her sprinkling with the water as we +came up. +</p> +<p> +'The blue water will be his winding-sheet this night, calm as it is now.' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, Molly dear, don't speak this way!' +</p> +<p> +'Molly dear!' echoed the beldame, in an accent of biting derision. 'Who +ever heerd one of your name call me that? Or are ye come for a charm for +that young man beside you? See, now! the sun's just gone; in a minit more +the sea 'll be in, and it'll be too late. Here, come near me! kneel down +there! kneel down, I say! or is it only my curse ye mind?' +</p> +<p> +'She's mad, poor thing,' said I, in my companion's ear. 'Let her have her +way; do as she bids you.' +</p> +<p> +Sinking with terror, pale as death, and trembling all over, Louisa bent +one knee upon the little rock beside the well, while the old hag took her +fair hand within her own skinny fingers and plunged it rudely in the well. +</p> +<p> +'There, drink,' said the old woman, offering me the fair palm, through +which the clear water was running rapidly, while she chanted rather than +spoke the rude rhyme that follows— +</p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +'By the setting sun, +The flowing sea, +The waters that run, +I swear to thee +That my faith shall be true, at this moment now, +In weal or in woe, wherever or how: +So help me, Saint Senan, to keep my vow!' +</pre> +<p> +The last words had scarcely been uttered when Louisa, who apparently had +been too much overcome by terror to hear one word the hag had muttered, +sprang up from the stone, her face and neck covered with a deep blush, her +lip trembling with agitation, while her eyes were fixedly directed towards +the old woman with an expression of haughty anger. +</p> +<p> +'Ay, ye may look as proud as ye like. It's little I mind ye, in love or in +hate. Ye are well humbled enough now. And as for you,' said she, turning +towards me a look of scornful pity—'you, I wish ye joy of your fair +sweetheart; let her only keep her troth like her own mother, and ye'll +have a happy heart to sit at your fireside with.' +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0025" id="linkimage-0025"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/2-0442.jpg" alt="2-0442" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +The blood fled from Louisa's cheek as these words were uttered; a deadly +paleness spread over her features; her lips were bloodless and parted; and +her hands firmly clenched together and pressed against her side, bespoke +the agony of the moment. It lasted not longer; for she fell back fainting +and insensible into my arms. I bathed her face and temples from the well; +I called upon her, rubbed her hands within my own, and endeavoured by +every means to arouse her; but in vain. I turned to beg for aid from the +woman, but she was gone. I again endeavoured to awake Louisa from her +stupor, but she lay cold, rigid, and motionless; her features had +stiffened like a corpse, and showed no touch of life. I shouted aloud for +aid; but, alas! we were far from all human habitations, and the wild cries +of the curlew were the only sounds that met my ear, or the deep rushing of +the sea, as it broke nearer and nearer to where I stood. A sudden pang of +horror shot across me as I looked around and below, and saw no chance of +aid from any quarter. Already the sun was below the horizon, and the grey +twilight gave but gloomy indications all around. The sea, too, was coming +fast; the foam had reached us, and even now the salt tide had mingled its +water with the little spring. No more time was to be lost. A projecting +point of rock intervened between us and the little path by which we had +descended to the beach; over this the spray was now splashing, and its +base was only to be seen at intervals between the advancing or retiring +wave. A low, wailing sound, like distant wind, was creeping over the +water, which from time to time was curled along the round-backed wave with +all the threatening aspect of a coming storm; the sea-birds wheeled round +in circles, waking the echoes with their wild notes, and the heavy swell +of the breaking sea roared through many a rocky cavern with a sad and +mournful melody. I threw one last look above, where the tall beetling +cliff was lost in the gloom of coming night, another on the broad bleak +ocean, and then, catching up my companion in my arms, set forward. +</p> +<p> +For the first few moments I felt not my burden. My beating heart throbbed +proudly, and as I pressed her to my bosom, how I nerved myself for any +coming danger by the thought that all the world to me lay in my arms! +Every step, however, brought me farther out; the sea, which at first +washed only to my ankles, now reached my knees; my step became unsteady, +and when for an instant I turned one look on her who lay still and +insensible within my grasp, I felt my head reel and my sight wander as I +again looked out on the dark water that rolled around us. We were now near +the rocky point which, once passed, placed us in safely; and to reach this +I summoned up every effort. Around this the waves had worn a deeper track, +and against its side they heat and lashed themselves to foam, which boiled +in broad sheets around. A loud cheer from some one on the cliff above us +turned my glance upwards, and I could see lights moving backwards and +forwards through the darkness; before I could reply to the voice, however, +a large wave came mantling near, gathering force as it approached, and +swelling its gigantic mass so as to shut out all besides. I fixed myself +firmly to resist the shock, and slightly bending, opposed my shoulder to +the mighty roll of water that now towered like a wall above us. On it +came, till its dark crest frowned above our heads; for a second or two it +seemed to pause, as the white curl tipped its breaking edge, and then, +with a roll like thunder, broke over us. For an instant I held my footing; +at length, however, my step tottered; I felt myself lifted up, and then +hurled headlong beneath the swollen volume of water that closed above my +head. Stunned, but not senseless, I grasped my burden closer to my heart, +and struggled to regain my footing. The wave passed inwards as I rose to +my feet, and a sea of boiling foam hissed around me. Beyond, all was dim +and indistinct; a brooding darkness stretched towards the sea, and +landward the tall cliffs were wrapped in deep shadow, except when the +light that I had seen flitted from place to place, like the dancing +wildfire. A loud cheer from on high made me suppose that we were +perceived; but my attention was turned away by a low, moaning sound that +came floating over the water; and as I looked, I could see that the black +surface swelled upwards, as if by some mighty force beneath, and rose +towering into the air. The wave that now approached us was much greater +than the former one, and came thundering on as if impatient for its prey. +My fear was of being carried out to sea, and I looked hastily around for +some rocky point to hold on by; but in vain. The very sands beneath me +seemed moving and shifting; the voice of thunder was in my ears; my senses +reeled, and the thought of death by drowning, with all its agony, came +over me. +</p> +<p> +'Oh, my father! my poor father!' said a low, plaintive voice beside my +cheek; and the next instant the blood rushed warm to my heart. My courage +rallied; my arm grew nerved and strong; my footsteps seemed to grasp the +very ground, and with a bold and daring spirit I waited for the coming +shock. On it came, a mighty flood, sweeping high above us as we struggled +in the midst. The blue water moved on, unbroken; for a moment or two I +felt we were borne along with a whirlwind speed; then suddenly we touched +the strand—but only for a second, for the returning wave came +thundering back, and carried us along with it. My senses now began to +wander; the dark and gloomy sea stretched around us; the stars seemed to +flit to and fro; the roar of water and the sounds of human voices were +mingled in my ears; my strength, too, was failing me, and I buffeted the +waves with scarcely consciousness. Just at that moment, when, all dread of +danger past, the gloomy indifference to life was fast succeeding, I saw a +bright gleam of light flying rapidly across the water; the shouts of +voices reached me also, but the words I heard not. Now falling beneath, +now rising above the foamy surface, I struggled on, with only strength to +press home closer to my bosom the form of her my heart was filled by, when +of a sudden I felt my arm rudely grasped on either side. A rope, too, was +thrown around my waist, and I was hurried inwards towards the shore amid +cries of 'All safe! all safe! not too fast, there!' A dreary +indistinctness of what followed even still haunts my mind. A huge +wood-fire upon the beach, the figures of the fishermen, the country-people +passing hither and thither, the tumult of voices, and a rude chair in +which lay a pale, half-fainting form. The rest I know not. +</p> +<p> +It was dark—so dark I could not see the persons that moved beside +me. As we passed along the grassy turf in silence, I held a soft hand in +mine, and a fair cheek rested on my shoulder, while masses of long and +dripping hair fell on my neck and bosom. Carried by two stout +peasant-fishermen in a chair, Louisa Bellew, faint but conscious of the +danger past, was borne homeward. I walked beside her, my heart too full +for words. A loud, wild cheer burst suddenly forth, and a bright gleam of +light aroused me from my trance of happiness. The steps were crowded with +people, the large hall so full we scarce could force our way. The door of +the parlour was now thrown open, and there sat the pale, gaunt figure of +Sir Simon Bellew—his eyes staring wildly, and his lips parted; his +hands resting on each arm of his chair—motionless. +</p> +<p> +Bursting from those that carried her, Louisa sprang towards her father +with a cry; but ere she reached his arms he had fallen from his seat to +his knees, and with his hands clasped above his head, and upturned eyes, +poured forth a prayer to God. Sinking to his side, she twined her hands +with his; and as if moved by the magic of the scene, the crowd fell to +their knees, and joined in the thanksgiving. It was a moment of deep and +touching feeling to hear the slow, scarce articulate words of that old +man, who turned from the sight of her his heart treasured to thank the +great Father of Mercy, who had not left him childless in his age—to +mark the low sobs of those around, as they strove to stifle them, while +tears coursed down the hard and weather-beaten cheeks of humble poverty, +as they muttered to themselves their heartfelt thanks for her +preservation. There was a pause; the old man turned his eyes upon his +child, and, like a dammed-up torrent breaking forth, the warm tears gushed +out, and with a cry of 'My own—my only one!' he fell upon her neck +and wept. +</p> +<p> +I could hear no more. Springing to my feet, I dashed through the hall, and +resisting every effort to detain me, rushed down the steps and gained the +lawn. Once there alone, I sank down upon the sward, and poured forth my +heart in tears of happiness. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0039" id="link2HCH0039"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XXXIX. AN UNLOOKED-FOR MEETING +</h2> +<p> +I made many ineffectual efforts to awake on the morning after my +adventure. Fatigue and exhaustion, which seem always heaviest when +incurred by danger, had completely worn me out, and scarcely had I +succeeded in opening my eyes and muttering some broken words, ere again I +dropped off to sleep, soundly, and without a dream. It was late in the +afternoon when at length I sat up in my bed and looked about me. A gentle +hand suddenly fell upon my shoulder, and a low voice, which I at once +recognised as Father Tom's, whispered— +</p> +<p> +'There now, my dear fellow, lie down again. You must not stir for a couple +of hours yet.' +</p> +<p> +I looked at him fixedly for a moment, and, as I clasped his hand in mine, +asked— +</p> +<p> +'How is she, father?' +</p> +<p> +Scarcely were these words spoken when I felt a burning blush upon my +cheek. It was the confidence of long months that found vent in one second—the +pent-up secret of my heart that burst from me unconsciously, and I hid my +face upon the pillow, and felt as though I had betrayed her. +</p> +<p> +'Well—quite well,' said the old man, as he pressed my hand forcibly +in his own. 'But let us not speak now. You must take more rest, and then +have your arm looked to. I believe you have forgotten all about it.' +</p> +<p> +'My arm!' repeated I, in some surprise; while, turning down the clothes, I +perceived that my right arm was sorely bruised, and swollen to an immense +size. 'The rocks have done this,' muttered I. 'And she, father—what +of her, for heaven's sake?' +</p> +<p> +'Be calm, or I must leave you,' said the priest 'I said before that she +was well. Poor boy!' +</p> +<p> +There was something so touching in the tone of the last words that without +my knowing why, I felt a kind of creeping fear pass across me, and a dread +of some unknown evil steal over me. +</p> +<p> +'Father,' said I, springing up, and grasping him with both my hands, while +the pain of my wounded arm shot through my very heart, 'you are an honest +man, and you are a man of God: you would not tell me a lie. Is she well?' +The big drop fell from my brow as I spoke. +</p> +<p> +He clasped his hands fervently together as he replied, in a voice +tremulous with agitation, 'I have not told you a lie!' He turned away as +he spoke, and I lay down in my bed with a mind relieved, but not at rest. +</p> +<p> +Alas, how hard it is to be happy! The casualties of this world come on +like waves, one succeeding the other. We may escape the heavy roll of the +mighty ocean, and be wrecked in the still, smooth waters of the landlocked +bay. We dread the storm and the hurricane, and we forget how many have +perished within sight of shore. But yet a secret fear is ever present with +us when danger hovers near; and this sense of some impending evil it was +which now darkened me, and whispered me to be prepared. +</p> +<p> +I lay for some time sunk in my reflections, and when I looked up, the +priest was gone. A letter had fallen on the floor, as if by accident» and +I rose to place it on my table, when, to my surprise, I found it addressed +to myself. It was marked 'On His Majesty's service,' and ran thus:— +</p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +'Dublin Castle. + +'Sir,—I have received his Excellency's +orders to inform you that unless you, on receipt of the +present letter, at once return to your duty as a member of +the staff, your name will be erased from the list, and the +vacancy immediately filled up.—I have the honour to be, +etc., + +'Henry Horton.' +</pre> +<p> +What could have caused the great alteration in his Excellency's feelings +that this order evinced I could not conceive, and I felt hurt and +indignant at the tone of a letter which came on me so completely by +surprise. I knew, however, how much my father looked to my strict +obedience to every call of duty, and resolved that, come what would, I +should at once resume my position on the duke's staff. +</p> +<p> +These were but momentary reflections. My thoughts recurred at once to +where my heart was dwelling—-with her whose very image lived within +me. Try how I would, I could think of no pleasure in which she took not +part, imagine no scheme of life in which she was not concerned. Ambition +had lost its charm; the path of glory I had longed to tread, I felt now as +nothing beside that heather walk which led me towards her; and if I were +to have chosen between the most brilliant career high station, influence, +and fortune could bestow, and the lowly condition of a dweller in these +wild mountain solitudes, I felt that not a moment of hesitation or doubt +would mark my decision. There was a kind of heroism in the relinquishing +all the blandishments of fortune, all the seductions of the brilliant +world, for one whose peaceful and humble life strayed not beyond the +limits of these rugged mountains; and this had its charm. There were times +when I loved to ask myself whether Louisa Bellew would not, even amid all +the splendour and display of London life, be as much admired and courted +as the most acknowledged of beauty's daughters: now I turned rather to the +thought of how far happier and better it was to know that a nature so +unhackneyed, a heart so rich in its own emotions, was never to be exposed +to the callous collision of society and all the hardened hypocrisy of the +world. My own lot, too, how many more chances of happiness did it not +present as I looked at the few weeks of the past, and thought of whole +years thus gliding away, loving and beloved! +</p> +<p> +A kind of stir, and the sound of voices beneath my window, broke my +musings, and I rose and looked out. It proceeded from the young girl and +the country lad who formed the priest's household. They were talking +together before the door, and pointing in the direction of the highroad, +where a cloud of dust had marked the passage of some carriage—an +event rare enough to attract attention in these wild districts. +</p> +<p> +'And did his reverence say that the Captain was to be kept in bed till he +came back?' +</p> +<p> +'Ah, then, sure, he knew well enough,' said Mary, 'that the young man +would be up and off to the castle the moment he was able to walk—ay, +and maybe before it too. Troth, Patsey, it's what I'm thinking—there's +nobody knows how to coort like a raal gentleman.' +</p> +<p> +'Och, botheration!' said Patsey, with an offended toss of his head, and a +look of half malice. +</p> +<p> +'Faix, you may look how you like, but it's truth I'm telling ye. They know +how to do it. It isn't winking at a body, nor putting their great rough +arms round their neck; but it's a quiet, mannerly, dacent way they have, +and soothering voice, and a look under their eyes, as much as to say, +“Maybe ye wouldn't, now?”' +</p> +<p> +'Troth, Mary,' said Patsey sharply, 'it strikes me that you know more of +their ways than is just convenient—eh, do you understand me now?' +</p> +<p> +'Well, and if I do,' replied Mary, 'there's no one can be evenin' it to +you, for I'm sure it wasn't you taught me!' +</p> +<p> +'Ye want to provoke me,' said the young man, rising, and evidently more +annoyed than he felt disposed to confess; 'but, faix, I'll keep my temper. +It's not after spaking to his reverence, and buying a cow and a dresser, +that I 'm going to break it off.' +</p> +<p> +'Heigh-ho!' said Mary, as she adjusted a curl that was most coquettishly +half falling across her eyes; 'sure there's many a slip betune the cup and +the lip, as the poor dear young gentleman will find out when he wakes.' +</p> +<p> +A cold fear ran through me as I heard these words, and the presentiment of +some mishap, that for a few moments I had been forgetting, now came back +in double force. I set about dressing myself in all haste, and, +notwithstanding that my wounded arm interfered with me at each instant, +succeeded at last in my undertaking. I looked at my watch; it was already +six o'clock in the afternoon, and the large mountains were throwing their +great shadows over the yellow strand. Collecting from what I had heard +from the priest's servants that it was their intention to detain me in the +house, I locked my door on leaving the room, and stole noiselessly down +the stairs, crossed the little garden, and passing through the beech +hedge, soon found myself upon the mountain path. My pace quickened as I +breasted the hillside, my eyes firmly fixed upon the tall towers of the +old castle, as they stood proudly topping the dense foliage of the +oak-trees. Like some mariner who gazes on the long-wished-f or beacon that +tells of home and friends, so I bent my steadfast looks to that one +object, and conjured up many a picture to myself of the scene that might +be at that moment enacting there. Now I imagined the old man seated, +silent and motionless, beside the bed where his daughter, overcome with +weakness and exhaustion, still slept, her pale face scarce coloured by a +pinkish flush that marked the last trace of feverish excitement; now I +thought of her as if still seated in her own drawing-room, at the little +window that faced seaward, looking perhaps upon the very spot that marked +our last night's adventure, and, mayhap, blushing at the memory. +</p> +<p> +As I came near the park I turned from the regular approach to a small +path, which, opening by a wicket, led to a little flower-garden beside the +drawing-room. I had not walked many paces when the sound of some one +sobbing caught my ear. I stopped to listen, and could distinctly hear the +low broken voice of grief quite near me. My mind was in that excited state +when every breeze that rustled, every leaf that stirred, thrilled through +my heart; the same dread of something, I knew not what, that agitated me +as I awoke came fresh upon me, and a cold tremor crept over me. The next +moment I sprang forward, and as I turned the angle of the walk beheld—with +what relief of heart!—that the cries proceeded from a little child, +who, seated in the grass, was weeping bitterly. It was a boy of scarce +five years old that Louisa used to employ about the garden—rather to +amuse the little fellow, to whom she had taken a liking, than for the sake +of services which at the best were scarcely harmless. +</p> +<p> +'Well, Billy,' said I, 'what has happened to you, my boy? Have you fallen +and hurt yourself?' +</p> +<p> +'Na,' was the only reply; and sinking his head between his knees, he +sobbed more bitterly than ever. +</p> +<p> +'Has Miss Loo been angry with you, then?' +</p> +<p> +'Na, na,' was the only answer, as he poured forth a flood of tears. +</p> +<p> +'Come, come, my little man, what is it? Tell me, and perhaps we can set it +all to rights.' +</p> +<p> +'Gone! gone away for ever!' cried the child, as a burst of pent-up agony +broke from him; and he cried as though his very heart would break. +</p> +<p> +Again the terrible foreboding crossed my mind, and without waiting to ask +another question I rushed forward, cleared the little fence of the +flower-garden at a spring and stood within a few yards of the window. It +lay open as usual; the large china vase of moss-roses that she had plucked +the evening before stood on the little table beside it. I stopped for an +instant to breathe; the beating of my heart was so painful that I pressed +my hand upon my side. At that instant I had given my life to have heard +Louisa's voice; but for one single word I had bartered my heart's blood. +But all was as hushed and still as midnight. I thought I did hear +something like a sigh; yes, and now I could distinctly hear the rustling +sound of some one as if turning in a chair. Sir Simon Bellew, for some +cause, or other, I knew never came into that room. I listened again: yes, +and now too I could see the shadow of a figure on the floor. I sprang +forward to the window and cried out, 'Louisa!' The next instant I was in +the room, and my eyes fell upon the figure of—Ulick Burke! Seated in +a deep arm-chair, his leg resting on a low stool, he was reclining at +half-length, his face pale as death, and his very lips blanched; but there +rested on the mouth the same curl of insolent mockery that marked it when +first we met. +</p> +<p> +'Disappointed, I fear, sir,' said he, in a tone which, however weakened by +sickness, had lost nothing of its sneering bitterness. +</p> +<p> +'I confess, sir,' said I confusedly, 'that this is a pleasure I had not +anticipated.' +</p> +<p> +'Nor I either, sir,' replied he, with a dark frown. 'Had I been able to +ring the bell before, the letter that lies there should have been sent to +you, and might have spared both of us this “pleasure,” as you are good +enough to call it.' +</p> +<p> +'A letter for me?' said I eagerly; then half ashamed at my own emotion, +and not indifferent to the sickly and apparently dying form before me, I +hesitated, and added, 'I trust that you are recovering from the effects of +your wound.' +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0026" id="linkimage-0026"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/3-0008.jpg" alt="3-0008" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +'Damn the wound, sir; don't speak to me about it! You never came here for +that, I suppose? Take your letter, sir!' A purple flush here coloured his +features, as though some pang of agonising pain had shot through him, and +his livid lip quivered with passion. 'Take your letter, sir!' and he threw +it towards me as he spoke. +</p> +<p> +I stood amazed and thunderstruck at this sudden outbreak of anger, and for +a second or two could not recover myself to speak. 'You mistake me,' said +I. +</p> +<p> +'Mistake you? No, confound me! I don't mistake you; I know you well and +thoroughly! But you mistake me, ay, and damnably too, if you suppose that +because I 'm crippled here this insolence shall pass unpunished! Who but a +coward, sir, would come thus to taunt a man like me? Yes, sir, a coward! I +spoke it—I said it! Would you like to hear it over again? Or if you +don't like it, the remedy is near you—nearer than you think. There +are two pistols in that case, both loaded with ball; take your choice, and +your own distance; and here, where we are, let us finish this quarrel! +For, mark me!' and here his brow darkened, till the veins, swelled and +knotted in his forehead, looked like indigo—'mark me, the account +shall be closed one day or other!' +</p> +<p> +I saw at once that he had lashed his fury up to an ungovernable pitch, and +that to speak to him was only to increase his passion; so I stooped down +without saying a word, and took up the letter that lay at my feet. +</p> +<p> +'I am waiting your reply, sir,' said he, with a low voice, subdued by an +inward effort into a seeming quietness of tone. +</p> +<p> +'You cannot imagine,' said I mildly, 'that I could accept of such a +challenge as this, nor fight with a man who cannot leave his chair?' +</p> +<p> +'And who has made me so, sir? Who has made me a paralytic thing for life? +But if that be all, give me your arm, and help me through that window; +place me against that yew-tree, yonder. I can stand well enough. You +won't?—you refuse me this? Oh, coward! coward! You grow pale and red +again! Let your white lip mutter, and your nails eat into your hands with +passion! Your heart is craven, and you know it!' +</p> +<p> +Shall I dare to own it? For an instant or two my resolution tottered, and +involuntarily my eyes turned to the pistol-case upon the table beside me. +He caught the look, and in a tone of triumphant exultation cried out— +</p> +<p> +'Bravo, bravo! What! you hesitate again? Oh, that this should not be +before the world—in some open and public place—that men should +not look on and see us here!' +</p> +<p> +'I leave you, sir,' said I sternly—'thankful, for <i>your</i> sake +at least, that this is not before the world.' +</p> +<p> +'Stop, sir! stop!' cried he, hoarse with rage. 'Ring that bell!' I +hesitated, and he called out again, 'Ring that bell, sir!' +</p> +<p> +I approached the chimney, and did as he desired. The butler immediately +made his appearance. +</p> +<p> +'Nicholas,' cried the sick man, 'bring in the servants—bring them in +here; you hear me well. I want to show them something they have never +seen. Go!' +</p> +<p> +The man disappeared at once, and as I met the scowling look of hate that +fixed its glare upon me, once more I felt myself to waver. The struggle +was but momentary. I sprang to the window, and leaped into the garden. A +loud curse broke from Burke as I did so; a cry of disappointed wrath, like +the yell of a famished wolf, followed. The next moment I was beyond the +reach of his insolence and his invective. +</p> +<p> +The passionate excitement of the moment over, my first determination was +to gain the approach, and return to the house by the hall door; my next, +to break the seal of the letter which I held in my hand, and see if its +contents might not throw some light upon the events which somehow I felt +were thickening around me, but of whose nature and import I knew nothing. +</p> +<p> +The address was written in a stiff, old-fashioned hand; but the large seal +bore the arms of the Bellew family, and left no doubt upon my mind that it +had come from Sir Simon. I opened it with a trembling and throbbing heart, +and read as follows:— +</p> +<p> +'My dear Sir,—The event of last night has called back upon a failing +and broken memory the darkest hour of a long and blighted life, and made +the old man, whose steadfast gaze looked onward to the tomb, turn once +backward to behold the deepest affliction of his days—misfortune, +crime, remorse. I cannot even now, while already the very shadow of death +is on me, recount the sad story I allude to; enough for the object I have +in view if I say, that, where I once owed the life of one I held dearest +in the world, the hand that saved lived to steal, and the voice that +blessed me was perjured and forsworn. Since that hour I have never +received a service of a fellow-mortal, until the hour when you rescued my +child. And oh! loving her as I do, wrapped up as my soul is in her image, +I could have borne better to see her cold and dripping corpse laid down +beside me than to behold her, as I have done, in your arms. You must never +meet more. The dreadful anticipation of long-suffering years is creeping +stronger and stronger upon me; and I feel in my inmost heart that I am +reserved for another and a last bereavement ere I die. +</p> +<p> +'We shall have left before this letter reaches you. You may perhaps hear +the place of our refuge, for such it is; but I trust that to your feelings +as a gentleman and a man of honour I can appeal, in the certain confidence +that you will not abuse my faith—you will not follow us. +</p> +<p> +'I know not what I have written, nor dare I read it again. Already my +tears have dimmed my eyes, and are falling on the paper; so let me bid you +farewell—an eternal fare well. My nephew has arrived here. I have +not seen him, nor shall I; but he will forward this letter to you after +our departure.—Yours, S. Bellew.' +</p> +<p> +The first stunning feeling past, I looked round me to see if it were not +some horrid dream, and the whole events but the frightful deception of a +sleeping fancy. But bit by bit the entire truth broke upon me; the full +tide of sorrow rushed in upon my heart. The letter I could not comprehend +further than that some deep affliction had been recalled by my late +adventure. But then, the words of the hag—the brief, half-uttered +intimations of the priest—came to my memory. 'Her mother,' said I—'what +of her mother?' I remembered Louisa had never mentioned or even alluded to +her; and now a thousand suspicions crossed my mind, which all gave way +before my own sense of bereavement and the desolation and desertion I +felt, in my own heart. I threw myself upon the ground where she walked so +often beside me, and burst into tears. But a few brief hours, and how +surrounded by visions of happiness and lovet Now, bereft of everything, +what charm had life for me! How valueless, how worthless did all seem! The +evening sun I loved to gaze on, the bright flowers, the waving grass, the +low murmur of the breaking surf that stole like music over the happy +sense, were now but gloomy things or discordant sounds. The very high and +holy thoughts that used to stir within me were changed to fierce and +wrathful passions or the low drooping of despair. It was night, still and +starry night, when I arose and wended my way towards the priest's cottage. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0040" id="link2HCH0040"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XL. THE PRIEST'S KITCHEN +</h2> +<p> +The candles were burning brightly, and the cheerful bog-fire was blazing +on the hearth, as I drew near the window of the priest's cottage; but yet +there was no one in the room. The little tea-kettle was hissing on the +hob, and the room had all that careful look of watchful attention bestowed +upon it that showed, the zeal of his little household. +</p> +<p> +Uncertain how I should meet him, how far explain the affliction that had +fallen on me, I walked for some time up and down before the door; at +length I wandered to the back of the house, and passing the little stable, +I remarked that the pony was absent. The priest had not returned perhaps +since morning; perhaps he had gone some distance off—in all +likelihood accompanied the Bellews; again the few words he had spoken that +morning recurred to me, and I pondered in silence over their meaning. As I +thus mused, a strong flood of mellow light attracted me as it fell in a +broad stream across the little paved court, and I now saw that it came +from the kitchen. I drew near the window in silence, and looked in. Before +the large turf-fire were seated three persons; two of them, who sat in the +shining light, I at once recognised as the servants; but the third was +concealed in the shadow of the chimney, and I could only trace the outline +of his figure against the blaze. I was not long, however, in doubt as to +his identity. +</p> +<p> +'Seemingly, then, you're a great traveller,' said Patsey, the priest's +man, addressing the unknown. +</p> +<p> +A long whiff of smoke, patiently emitted, and a polite wave of the hand in +assent was the reply. +</p> +<p> +'And how far did you come to-day, av I might be so bould?' said Mary. +</p> +<p> +'From the cross of Kiltermon, beyond Gurtmore, my darlin'; and sure it is +a real pleasure and a delight to come so far to see as pretty a crayture +as yourself.' Here Patsey looked a little put out, and Mary gave a half +smile of encouragement. 'For,' continued the other, breaking into a song— +</p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +'Though I love a fox in a cover to find, +When the clouds is low, with a sou'west wind, +Faix, a pretty girl is more to my mind +Than the tally-high-ho of a morning.' +</pre> +<p> +I need scarcely say that the finale of this rude verse was given in a way +that only Tipperary Joe could accomplish, as he continued— +</p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +'And just show me one with an instep high, +A saucy look, and a roguish eye, +Who 'd smile ten times for once she 'd sigh, +And I'm her slave till morning.' +</pre> +<p> +'And that's yoursel', devil a less—ye ho, ye ho, tally-ho! I hope +the family isn't in bed?' +</p> +<p> +'Troth, seemingly,' said Patsey, in a tone of evident pique, 'it would +distress you little av they were; you seem mighty well accustomed to +making yourself at home.' +</p> +<p> +'And why wouldn't the young man?' said Mary, apparently well pleased to +encourage a little jealousy on the part of her lover, 'and no harm +neither. And ye do be always with the hounds, sir?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, miss, that's what I be doing. But I wonder what's keeping the +Captain; I've a letter here for him that I know ought to have no delay. I +run all the way for fourteen miles over Mey'nacurraghew mountain to be +here quick with him.' +</p> +<p> +I opened the door as I heard this, and entered the kitchen. +</p> +<p> +'Hurroo! by the mortial,' cried Joe, with one of his wild shouts, 'it 's +himself! Arrah, darlin', how is every bit in your skin?' +</p> +<p> +'Well, Joe, my poor fellow, I am delighted to see you safe and sound once +more. Many a day have I reproached myself for the way you suffered for my +sake, and for the manner I left you.' +</p> +<p> +'There's only one thing you have any rayson to grieve over,' said the poor +fellow, as the tears started to his eyes, and rolled in heavy drops down +his cheeks, 'and here it is.' +</p> +<p> +As he spoke, he drew from his bosom a little green-silk purse, half filled +with gold. +</p> +<p> +'Ah, Captain, jewel, why wouldn't you let a poor fellow taste happiness +his own way? Is it because I had no shoes on me that I hadn't any pride in +my heart? And is it because I wasn't rich that you wouldn't let me be a +friend to you, just to myself alone? Oh, little as we know of grand people +and their ways, troth, they don't see our hearts half as plain. See, now I +'d rather you 'd have come up to the bed that morning and left me your +curse—ay, devil a less—than that purse of money; and it +wouldn't do me as much harm.' +</p> +<p> +He dropped his head as he spoke, and his arms fell listlessly to his side, +while he stood mute and sorrow-struck before me. +</p> +<p> +'Come, Joe,' said I, holding out my hand to him—'come, Joe, forgive +me. If I didn't know better, remember we were only new acquaintance at +that time: from this hour we are more.' +</p> +<p> +The words seemed to act like a spell upon him; he stood proudly up, and +his eyes flashed with their wildest glare, while, seizing my hand, he +pressed it to his lips, and called out— +</p> +<p> +'While there's a drop in my heart, darlin'——' +</p> +<p> +'You have a letter for me,' said I, glad to turn the channel of both our +thoughts. 'Where did you get it?' +</p> +<p> +'At the Curragh, sir, no less. I was standing beside the staff, among all +the grand generals and the quality, near the Lord Liftinint, and I heard +one of the officers say, “If I knew where to write to him, I'd certainly +do so; but he has never written to any of us since his duel.” “Ah,” said +another, “Binton's an odd fellow that way.” The minit I heard the name, I +up and said to him, “Write the letter, and I'll bring it, and bring you an +answer besides, av ye want it.” +</p> +<p> +'“And who the devil are you?” said he. +</p> +<p> +'“Troth,” said I, “there's more on this race knows me nor yourself, fine +as ye are.” And they all began laughing at this, for the officer grew +mighty red in the face, and was angry; and what he was going to say it's +hard to tell, for just then Lord Clonmel called out— +</p> +<p> +'“Sure, it's Tipperary Joe himself; begad, every one knows him. Here, Joe, +I owe you half-a-crown since last meeting at the lough.” +</p> +<p> +'“Faix, you do,” says I, “and ten shillings to the back of it for Lanty +Cassan's mare that I hired to bring you home when you staked the horse; +you never paid it since.” And then there was another laugh; but the end of +all was, he writ a bit of a note where he was on horseback, with a pencil, +and here it is.' +</p> +<p> +So saying, he produced a small crumpled piece of paper, in which I could +with some difficulty trace the following lines:— +</p> +<p> +'Dear Jack,—If the fool who bears this ever arrives with it, come +back at once. Your friends in England have been worrying the duke to +command your return to duty; and there are stories afloat about your +western doings that your presence here can alone contradict.—Yours, +J. Horton.' +</p> +<p> +It needed not a second for me to make up my mind as to my future course, +and I said— +</p> +<p> +'How can I reach Limerick the shortest way?' 'I know a short cut,' said +Joe, 'and if we could get a pony I'd bring you over the mountain before +to-morrow evening.' +</p> +<p> +'And you,' said I—'how are you to go?' 'On my feet, to be sure; how +else would I go?' Despatching Joe, in company with Patsey, in search of a +pony to carry me over the mountain, I walked into the little parlour which +I was now about to take my leave of for ever. +</p> +<p> +It was only then when I threw myself upon a seat, alone and in solitude, +that I felt the full force of all my sorrow—the blight that had +fallen on my dearest hopes, and the blank, bleak prospect of life before +me. Sir Simon Bellew's letter I read over once more; but now the mystery +it contained had lost all interest for me, and I had only thoughts for my +own affliction. Suddenly, a deep burning spot glowed on my cheek as I +remembered my interview with Ulick Burke, and I sprang to my legs, and for +a second or two felt undecided whether I would not give him the +opportunity he so longed for. It was but a second, and my better reason +came back, and I blushed even deeper with shame than I had done with +passion. +</p> +<p> +Calming myself with a mighty effort, I endeavoured to pen a few lines to +my worthy and kind friend, Father Loftus. I dared not tell him the real +cause of my departure, though indeed I guessed from his absence that he +had accompanied the Bellews, and but simply spoke of my return to duty as +imperative, and my regret that after such proofs of his friendship I could +not shake his hand at parting. The continued flurry of my feelings +doubtless made this a very confused and inexplicit document; but I could +do no better. In fact, the conviction I had long been labouring under, but +never could thoroughly appreciate, broke on me at the moment. It was this: +the sudden vicissitudes of everyday life in Ireland are sadly unsuited to +our English natures and habits of thought and action. These changes from +grave to gay, these outbreaks of high-souled enthusiasm followed by dark, +reflective traits of brooding thought, these noble impulses of good, these +events of more than tragic horror, demand a changeful, even a forgetful +temperament to bear them; and while the Irishman rises or falls with every +emergency of his fate, with us impressions are eating deeper and deeper +into our hearts, and we become sad and thoughtful, and prematurely old. +Thus at least did I feel, and it seemed to me as though very many years +had passed over me since I left my father's house. +</p> +<p> +The tramp of feet and the sounds of speaking and laughter outside +interrupted my musings, and I heard my friend Joe carolling at the top of +his voice— +</p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +'Sir Pat bestrode a high-bred steed, +And the huntsman one that was broken-kneed, +And Father Pitz had a wiry weed +With his tally-high-ho in the morning.' +</pre> +<p> +''Faith, and you're a great beast entirely; and one might dance a jig on +your back, and leave room for the piper besides.' +</p> +<p> +I opened the window, and in the bright moonlight beheld the party leading +up a short, rugged-looking pony, whose breadth of beam and square +proportions fully justified all Joe's encomiums. +</p> +<p> +'Have you bought this pony for me, Joe?' cried I. 'No, sir, only borrowed +him. He'll take you up to Wheley's mills, where we'll get Andy's mare +to-morrow morning.' +</p> +<p> +'Borrowed him?' 'Yes.' +</p> +<p> +'Where 's his owner?' +</p> +<p> +'He 's in bed, where he ought to be. I tould him through the door who it +was for, and that he needn't get up, as I 'd find the ways of the place +myself; and ye see so I did.' +</p> +<p> +'Told him who it was for! Why, he never heard of me in his life.' +</p> +<p> +'Devil may care; sure you're the priest's friend, and who has a better +warrant for everything in the place? Don't you know the song— +</p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +“And Father Fitz had no cows nor sheep, +And the devil a hen or pig to keep; +But a pleasanter house to dine or sleep +You 'd never find till morning.” + +“For Molly, says he, if the fowls be few, +I 've only one counsel to give to you: +There's hens hard by—go kill for two, +For I 've a friend till morning.” +</pre> +<p> +By the Rock of Cashel, it 'ud be a hard case av the priest was to want. +Look how the ould saddle fits him! faix, ye 'd think he was made for it!' +</p> +<p> +I am not quite sure that I felt all Joe's enthusiasm for the beast's +perfections; nor did the old yeomanry 'demi-pique,' with its brass +mountings and holsters, increase my admiration. Too happy, however, to +leave a spot where all my recollections were now turned to gloom and +despondence, I packed my few traps, and was soon ready for the road. +</p> +<p> +It was not without a gulping feeling in my throat, and a kind of +suffocating oppression at my heart, that I turned from the little room +where in happier times I had spent so many pleasant hours, and bidding a +last good-bye to the priest's household, told them to say to Father Tom +how sad I felt at leaving before he returned. This done, I mounted the +little pony, and escorted by Joe, who held the bridle, descended the hill, +and soon found myself by the little rivulet that murmured along the steep +glen through which our path was lying. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0041" id="link2HCH0041"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XLI. TIPPERARY JOE +</h2> +<p> +I have already passingly alluded to Joe's conversational powers; and +certainly they were exercised on this occasion with a more than common +ability. Either taking my silence as a suggestion for him to speak, or +perhaps, and more probably, perceiving that some deep depression was over +me, the kind-hearted fellow poured forth his stores of song and legend +without ceasing. Now amusing me by his wild and fitful snatches of old +ballads, now narrating in his simple but touching eloquence some bygone +story of thrilling interest, the long hours of the night passed over, and +at daybreak we found ourselves descending the mountain towards a large and +cultivated valley, in which I could faintly distinguish in the misty +distance the little mill where our relay was to be found. +</p> +<p> +I stopped for a few minutes to gaze upon the scene before me. It was one +of those peaceful landscapes of rural beauty which beam more of soothing +influence upon the sorrow-struck heart than the softest voice of +consolation. Unlike the works of man, they speak directly to our souls +while they appeal to our reason; and the truth comes forced upon us, that +we alone must not repine. A broad and richly cultivated valley was bounded +by mountains whose sides were clothed with deep wood; a stream, whose +wayward course watered every portion of the plain, was seen now flowing +among the grassy meadows, now peeping from the alders that lined the +banks. The heavy mist of morning was rolling lazily up the mountain-side; +and beneath its grey mantle the rich green of pasture and meadow land was +breaking forth, dotted with cattle and sheep. As I looked, Joe knelt down +and placed his ear upon the ground, and seemed for some minutes absorbed +in listening. Then suddenly springing up, he cried out— +</p> +<p> +'The mill isn't going to-day! I wonder what's the matter. I hope Andy +isn't sick.' +</p> +<p> +A shade of sorrow came over his wild features as he muttered between his +teeth the verse of some old song, of which I could but catch the last two +lines— +</p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +'And when friends are crying around the dying, +Who wouldn't wish he had lived alone!' +</pre> +<p> +'Ay,' cried he aloud, as his eye glistened with an unnatural lustre, +'better be poor Tipperary Joe, without house or home, father or mother, +sister or friend, and when the time comes, run to earth, without a wet eye +after him.' +</p> +<p> +'Come, come, Joe, you have many a friend! and when you count them over, +don't forget me in the reckoning.' +</p> +<p> +'Whisht, whisht!' he whispered in a low voice, as if fearful of being +overheard, 'don't say that; them's dangerous words.' +</p> +<p> +I turned towards him with astonishment, and perceived that his whole +countenance had undergone a striking change. The gay and laughing look was +gone; the bright colour had left his cheek, and a cold, ghastly paleness +was spread over his features; and as he cast a hurried and stealthy look +around him, I could mark that some secret fear was working within him. +</p> +<p> +'What is it, Joe?' said I; 'what's the matter? Are you ill?' +</p> +<p> +'No,' said he, in a tone scarce audible—'no, but you frightened me +just now when you called me your friend.' +</p> +<p> +'How could that frighten you, my poor fellow?' +</p> +<p> +'I 'll tell you. That's what they called my father; they said he was +friendly with the gentlemen, and sign's on it.' He paused, and his eye +became rooted to the ground as if on some object there from which he could +not turn his gaze. 'Yes, I mind it well; we were sitting by the fire in +the guard-room all alone by ourselves—the troops was away, I don't +know where—when we heard the tramp of men marching, but not regular, +but coming as if they didn't care how, and horses and carts rattling and +rumbling among them. +</p> +<p> +'“Thim's the boys,” says my father. “Give me that ould cockade there, till +I stick it in my cap; and reach me over the fiddle, till I rise a tune for +them.” +</p> +<p> +'I mind little more till we was marching at the head of them through the +town, down towards the new college that was building—it's Maynooth, +I'm speaking about—and then we turned to the left, my father +scraping away all the time every tune he thought they 'd like; and if now +and then by mistake he 'd play anything that did not plaze them, they'd +damn and blast him with the dreadfullest curses, and stick a pike into +him, till the blood would come running down his back; and then my father +would cry out— +</p> +<p> +'“I'll tell my friends on you for this—divil a lie in it, but I +will” +</p> +<p> +'At last we came to the duke's wall, and then my father sat down on the +roadside, and cried out that he wouldn't go a step farther, for I was +crying away with sore feet at the pace we were going, and asking every +moment to be let sit down to rest myself. +</p> +<p> +'“Look at the child,” said he, “his feet's all bleeding.” +</p> +<p> +'“Ye have only a little farther to go,” says one of them that had crossed +belts on and a green sash about him. +</p> +<p> +'“The divil resave another step,” says my father. +</p> +<p> +'“Tell Billy to play us 'The Parmer's Daughter' before he goes,” says one +in the crowd. +</p> +<p> +'“I 'd rather hear 'The Little Bowld Fox,'” says another. +</p> +<p> +'“No, no, 'Baltiorum! Baltiorum!'” says many more behind. +</p> +<p> +'“Ye shall have them all,” says my father, “and that'll plaze ye.” +</p> +<p> +'And so he set to, and played the three tunes as beautiful as ever ye +heard; and when he was done, the man with the belts ups and says to him— +</p> +<p> +'“Ye're a fine hand, Billy, and it's a pity to lose you, and your friends +will be sorry for you,” and he said this with a grin; “but take the spade +there and dig a hole, for we must be jogging, it's nigh day.” +</p> +<p> +'Well, my father, though he was tired enough, took the spade, and began +digging as they told him; for he thought to himself, “The boys is going to +hide the pikes and the carbines before they go home.” Well, when he worked +half an hour, he threw off his coat, and set to again; and at last he grew +tired and sat down on the side of the big hole, and called out— +</p> +<p> +'“Isn't it big enough now, boys?” +</p> +<p> +'“No,” says the captain, “nor half.” +</p> +<p> +'So my father set to once more, and worked away with all his might; and +they all stood by, talking and laughing with one another. +</p> +<p> +'“Will it do now?” says my father; “for sure enough I'm clean beat.” +</p> +<p> +'“Maybe it might,” says one of them; “lie down, and see if it's the +length.” +</p> +<p> +'“Well, is it that it's for?” says my father; “faix, I never guessed it +was a grave.” And so he took off his cap and lay down his full length in +the hole. +</p> +<p> +'“That's all right,” says the others, and began with spades and shovels to +cover him up. At first he laughed away as hearty as the rest; but when the +mould grew heavy on him he began to screech out to let him up; and then +his voice grew weaker and fainter, and they waited a little; then they +worked harder, and then came a groan, and all was still; and they patted +the sods over him and heaped them up. And then they took me and put me in +the middle of them, and one called out, “March!” I thought I saw the green +sod moving on the top of the grave as we walked away, and heard a voice +half choking calling out, “There, boys, there!” and then a laugh. But sure +I often hear the same still, when there's nobody near me, and I do be +looking on the ground by myself.' +</p> +<p> +'Great God!' cried I, 'is this true?' +</p> +<p> +'True as you 're there,' replied he. 'I was ten years of age when it +happened, and I never knew how time went since, nor how long it is ago; +only it was in the year of the great troubles here, when the soldiers and +the country-people never could be cruel enough to one another; and +whatever one did to-day, the others would try to beat it out to-morrow. +But it's truth every word of it; and the place is called “Billy the fool's +grave” to this hour. I go there once a year to see it myself.' +</p> +<p> +This frightful story—told, too, with all the simple power of truth—thrilled +through me with horror long after the impression seemed to have faded away +from him who told it; and though he still continued to speak on, I heard +nothing; nor did I mark our progress, until I found myself beside the +little stream which conducted to the mill. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0042" id="link2HCH0042"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XLII. THE HIGHROAD +</h2> +<p> +Joe was right; the mill was not at work, for 'Andy' had been summoned to +Ennis, where the assizes were then going forward. The mare which had +formed part of our calculations was also absent; and we sat down in the +little porch to hold a council of war as to our future proceedings. After +canvassing the question for some time, Joe left me for a few minutes, and +returned with the information that the highroad to Ennis lay only a couple +of miles distant, and that a stage-coach would pass there in about two +hours, by which I could reach the town that evening. It was therefore +decided that he should return with the pony to Murranakilty; while I, +having procured a gossoon to carry my baggage, made the best of my way +towards the Ennis road. +</p> +<p> +Joe soon found me an urchin to succeed him as my guide and companion; and +with an affectionate leave-taking, and a faithful promise to meet me +sometime and somewhere, we parted. +</p> +<p> +So long as I had journeyed along beside my poor, half-witted follower, the +strange and fickle features of his wandering intellect had somehow +interrupted the channels of my own feelings, and left me no room for +reflection on my changed fortunes. Now, however, my thoughts returned to +the past with all the force of some dammed-up current, and my blighted +hopes threw a dark and sombre shadow over all my features. What cared I +what became of me? Why did I hasten hither and thither? These were my +first reflections. If life had lost its charm, so had misfortune lost its +terror. There seemed something frivolous and contemptible in the return to +those duties which in all the buoyant exhilaration of my former life had +ever seemed unfitting and unmanly. No! rather let me seek for some +employment on active service. The soldier's career I once longed for, to +taste its glorious enthusiasm—that I wished for now, to enjoy its +ceaseless movement and exertion. +</p> +<p> +As I thought over all I had seen and gone through since my arrival in +Ireland—its varied scenes of mirth and woe; its reckless pleasures, +its wilder despair—I believed that I had acquired a far deeper +insight into my own heart in proportion as I looked more into those of +others. A not unfrequent error this. The outstretched page of human nature +that I had been gazing on had shown me the passions and feelings of other +men laid bare before me, while my own heart was dark, enshrined, and +unvisited within me. I believed that life had no longer anything to tie me +to it—and I was not then twenty! Had I counted double as many years, +I had had more reason for the belief, and more difficulty to think so. +</p> +<p> +Sometimes I endeavoured to console myself by thinking of all the obstacles +that under the happiest circumstances must have opposed themselves to my +union with Louisa Bellew. My mother's pride alone seemed an insurmountable +one. But then I thought of what a noble part had lain before me, to prefer +the object of my love—the prize of my own winning—to all the +caresses of fortune, all the seductions of the world. Sir Simon Bellew, +too—what could he mean? The secret he alluded to, what was it? Alas! +what mattered it? My doom was sealed, my fate decided; I had no care how. +</p> +<p> +Such were my thoughts as I journeyed along the path that conducted towards +the highroad; while my little guide—barelegged and barefooted, +trotted on merrily before me—who, with none of this world's goods, +had no room in his heart for sorrow or repining. +</p> +<p> +We at last reached the road, which, dusty and deserted, skirted the side +of a bleak mountain for miles—not a house to be seen; not a +traveller, nor scarce a wheel-track, to mark the course of any one having +passed there. I had not followed it for more than half an hour when I +heard the tramp of horses and the roll which announced the approach of an +equipage. A vast cloud of dust, through which a pair of leaders were alone +visible, appeared at a distance. I seated myself at the roadside to await +its coming, my little gossoon beside me, evidently not sorry to have +reached a resting-place; and once more my thoughts returned to their +well-worn channel, and my head sank on my bosom. I forgot where I was, +when suddenly the prancing of a pair of horses close to me aroused me from +my stupor, and a postillion called out to me in no very subdued accent— +</p> +<p> +'Will ye hook on that trace there, avick, av ye 're not asleep?' +</p> +<p> +Whether it was my look of astonishment at the tone and the nature of the +request, or delay in acceding to it, I know not; but a hearty curse from +the fellow on the wheelers perfectly awakened me, and I replied by +something not exactly calculated to appease the heat of the discussion. +</p> +<p> +'Begorra,' said he of the leaders, 'it's always the way with your shabby +genteels!' and he swung himself down from the saddle to perform the +required service himself. +</p> +<p> +During this operation I took the opportunity of looking at the carriage, +which was a large and handsome barouche, surrounded by all the +appurtenances of travel—cap-cases, imperials, etc.; a fat-looking, +lazy footman was nodding sleepily on the box, and a well-tanned +lady's-maid was reading a novel in the rumble. Within I saw the figure of +a lady, whose magnificent style of dress but little accorded with the +unfrequented road she was traversing and the wild inhabitants so thinly +scattered through it. As I looked, she turned round suddenly; and, before +I could recognise her, she called out my name. The voice in an instant +reassured me: it was Mrs. Paul Rooney herself! +</p> +<p> +'Stop!' cried she, with a wave of her jewelled hand. 'Michael, get down. +Only think of meeting you here, Captain!' +</p> +<p> +I stammered out some explanation about a cross-cut over the mountain to +catch the stage, and my desire to reach Ennis; while the unhappy +termination of our intimacy, and my mother's impertinent letter kept ever +uppermost in my mind, and made me confused and uneasy. Mrs. Paul, however, +had evidently no participation in such feelings, but welcomed me with her +wonted cordiality, and shook my hand with a warmth that proved, if she had +not forgotten, she had certainly forgiven, the whole affair. +</p> +<p> +'And so you are going to Ennis!' said she, as I assumed the place beside +her in the barouche, while Michael was busily engaged in fastening on my +luggage behind—the two movements seeming to be as naturally +performed as though the amiable lady had been in the habit of taking up +walking gentlemen with a portmanteau every day of her life. 'Well, how +fortunate! I'm going there too. Pole [so she now designated her excellent +spouse, it being the English for Paul] has some little business with the +chief-justice—two murder cases, and a forcible abduction—and I +promised to take him up on my return from Milltown, where I have been +spending a few weeks. After that we return to our little place near Bray, +where I hope you 'll come and spend a few weeks with us.' +</p> +<p> +'This great pleasure I fear I must deny myself,' said I, 'for I have +already outstayed my leave, and have unfortunately somehow incurred the +displeasure of his Excellency; and unless'—here I dropped my voice, +and stole a half-timid look at the lady under my eyelashes—'some one +with influence over his grace shall interfere on my behalf, I begin to +fear lest I may find myself in a sad scrape.' +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Paul blushing, turned away her head; and while pressing my hand +softly in her own, she murmured— +</p> +<p> +'Don't fret about it; it won't signify.' +</p> +<p> +I could scarce repress a smile at the success of my bit of flattery, for +as such alone I intended it, when she turned towards me, and, as if +desirous to change the topic, said— +</p> +<p> +'Well, we heard of all your doings—your steeplechase and your duel +and your wound, and all that; but what became of you afterwards?' +</p> +<p> +'Oh,' said I hesitatingly, 'I was fortunate enough to make a most +agreeable acquaintance, and with him I have been spending a few weeks on +the coast—Father Tom Loftus.' +</p> +<p> +'Father Tom!' said Mrs. Rooney with a laugh—'the pleasantest +crayture in Ireland! There isn't the like of him. Did he sing you the +“Priest's Supper?”' The lady blushed as she said these words, as if +carried away by a momentary excitement to speak of matters not exactly +suitable; and then drawing herself up, she continued in a more measured +tone: 'You know, Captain, one meets such strange people in this world.' +</p> +<p> +'To be sure, Mrs. Rooney,' said I encouragingly; 'and to one like +yourself, who can appreciate character, Father Loftus is indeed a gem.' +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Rooney, however, only smiled her assent, and again changed the course +of the conversation. +</p> +<p> +'You met the Bellews, I suppose, when down in the west?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes,' stammered I; 'I saw a good deal of Sir Simon when in that country.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah, the poor man!' said she with real feeling, 'what an unhappy lot his +has been!' +</p> +<p> +Supposing that she alluded to his embarrassment as to fortune, the +difficulties which pressed upon him from money causes, I merely muttered +my assent. +</p> +<p> +'But I suppose,' continued she, 'you have heard the whole story, though +the unhappy event occurred when you were a mere child.' +</p> +<p> +'I am not aware to what you allude,' said I eagerly, while a suspicion +shot across my mind that the secret of Sir Simon Bellow's letter was at +length to be cleared up. +</p> +<p> +'Ah,' said Mrs. Rooney with a sigh, 'I mean poor dear Lady Bellow's affair—when +she went away with a major of dragoons; and to be sure an elegant young +man he was, they said. Pole was on the inquest, and I heard him say he was +the handsomest man he ever saw in his life.' +</p> +<p> +'He died suddenly, then?' +</p> +<p> +'He was shot by Sir Simon in a duel the very day-week after the +elopement.' +</p> +<p> +'And she?' said I. +</p> +<p> +'Poor thing! she died of a consumption, or some say a broken heart, the +same summer.' +</p> +<p> +'That is a sad story, indeed,' said I musingly; 'and I no longer wonder +that the poor old man should be such as he is.' +</p> +<p> +'No, indeed; but then he was very much blamed after all, for he never had +that Jerningham out of the house.' +</p> +<p> +'Horace Jerningham!' cried I, as a cold sickening fear crept over me. +</p> +<p> +'Oh, yes, that was his name. He was the Honourable Horace Jerningham, the +younger son of some very high family in England; and, indeed, the elder +brother has died since, and they say the title has become extinct.' +</p> +<p> +It is needless for me to attempt any description of the feelings that +agitated my heart, when I say that Horace Jerningham was the brother of my +own mother. I remembered when a child to have heard something of a +dreadful duel, when all the family went into deep mourning, and my +mother's health suffered so severely that her life was at one time feared +for; but that fate should have ever thrown me into intimacy with those +upon whom this grievous injury was inflicted, and by whom death and +mourning were brought upon my house, was a sad and overwhelming affliction +that rendered me stunned and speechless. How came it then, thought I, that +my mother never recognised the name of her brother's antagonist when +speaking of Miss Bellew in her letter to me? Before I had time to revolve +this doubt in my mind Mrs. Rooney had explained it. +</p> +<p> +'And this was the beginning of all his misfortunes. The friends of the +poor young man were people of great influence, and set every engine to +work to ruin Sir Simon, or, as he then was, Mr. Simon Barrington. At last +they got him outlawed; and it was only the very year he came to the title +and estates of his uncle that the outlawry was taken off, and he was once +more enabled to return to Ireland. However, they had their revenge if they +wished for it; for what between recklessness and bad company, he took to +gambling when abroad, contracted immense debts, and came into his fortune +little better than a beggar. Since then the world has seen little of him, +and indeed he owes it but little favour. Under Pole's management the +property is now rapidly improving; but the old man cares little for this, +and all I believe he wishes for is to have health enough to go over to the +Continent and place his daughter in a convent before he dies.' +</p> +<p> +Little did she guess how every word sank deep into my heart. Every +sentence of the past was throwing its shadow over all my future, and the +utter wreck of my hopes seemed now inevitable. +</p> +<p> +While thus I sat brooding over my gloomiest thoughts, Mrs. Rooney, +evidently affected by the subject, maintained a perfect silence. At last, +however, she seemed to have summed up the whole case in her mind, as +turning to me confidentially, with her hand pressed upon my arm, she added +in a true moralising cadence, very different from that she had employed +when her feelings were really engaged— +</p> +<p> +'And that's what always comes of it when a gallant, gay Lutherian gets +admission into a family.' +</p> +<p> +Shall I confess, that, notwithstanding the deep sorrow of my heart, I +could scarce repress an outbreak of laughter at these words! We now +chatted away on a variety of subjects, till the concourse of people +pressing onwards to the town, the more thickly populated country, and the +distant view of chimneys apprised us we were approaching Ennis. +Notwithstanding all my wishes to get on as fast as might be, I found it +impossible to resist an invitation to dine that day with the Rooneys, who +had engaged a small select party at the Head Inn, where Mrs. Rooney's +apartments were already awaiting her. +</p> +<p> +It was dusk when we arrived, and I could only perceive that the gloomy and +narrow streets were densely crowded with country-people, who conversed +together in groups. Here and there a knot of legal folk were congregated, +chatting in a louder tone; and before the court-house stood the carriage +of the chief-justice, with a guard of honour of the county yeomanry, whose +unsoldierlike attitudes and droll equipments were strongly provocative of +laughter. The postillions, who had with true tact reserved a 'trot for the +town,' whipped and spurred with all their might; and as we drove through +the thronged streets a changed impression fled abroad that we were the +bearers of a reprieve, and a hearty cheer from the mob followed us to our +arrival at the inn door—a compliment which Mrs. Paul, in nowise +attributing to anything save her own peculiar charms and deserts, most +graciously acknowledged by a smile and a wave of her hand, accompanied by +an unlimited order for small beer—which act of grace was, I think, +even more popular than their first impression concerning us. +</p> +<p> +'Ah, Captain,' said the lady, with a compassionate smile, as I handed her +out of the carriage, 'they are so attached to the aristocracy!' +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0043" id="link2HCH0043"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XLIII. THE ASSIZE TOWN +</h2> +<p> +When I had dressed, I found that I had above an hour to spare before +dinner; so taking my hat I strolled out into the town. The streets were +even more crowded now than before. The groups of country-people were +larger, and as they conversed together in their native tongue, with all +the violent gesticulation and energetic passion of their nature, an +inexperienced spectator might well have supposed them engaged in active +strife. Now and then a kind of movement, a species of suppressed murmur +from the court-house, would turn every eye in that direction; and then +every voice was hushed, not a man moved. It was evident that some trial of +the deepest interest was going forward, and on inquiry I learned that it +was a murder case, in which six men were concerned. I heard also that the +only evidence against them was from one of their own party, who had +turned, as the lawyers term it, 'approver.' I knew well that no +circumstance was more calculated than this to call forth all that is best +and worst in Irish character, and thought, as I walked along through the +dense crowd, I could trace in the features around me the several emotions +by which they were moved. +</p> +<p> +Here was an old grey-headed man leaning on a staff, his lack-lustre eyes +gazing in wonder at some speaker who narrated a portion of the trial, his +face all eagerness, and his hands tremulous with anxiety; but I felt I +could read the deep sorrow of his heart as he listened to the deed of +blood, and wondered how men would risk their tenure of a life which in a +few days more, perhaps, he himself was to leave for ever. Here beside him +was a tall and powerfully-built countryman, his hat drawn upon his eyes, +that peered forth from their shadow dark, lustrous, and almost wild in +their expression; his face, tanned by season and exposure, was haggard and +care-worn, and in his firmly-clenched lips and fast-locked jaw you could +read the resolute purpose of one who could listen to nothing save the +promptings of the spirit of vengeance, and his determination that blood +should have blood. Some there were whose passionate tones and violent +gestures showed that all their sympathy for the prisoners was merged in +the absorbing feeling of detestation for the informer; and you could mark +in such groups as these that more women were mingled, whose bloodshot eyes +and convulsed features made them appear the very demons of strife itself. +But the most painful sight of all was the children who were assembled +around every knot of speakers, their eyes staring and their ears eagerly +drinking in each word that dropped; no trace of childhood's happy +carelessness was there, no sign of that light-hearted youth that knows no +lasting sorrow. No: theirs were the rigid features of intense passion, in +which fear, suspicion, craft, but above all, the thirst for revenge, were +writ. There were some whose clenched hand and darkened brow betokened the +gloomy purpose of their hearts; there were others whose outpoured wrath +heaped curses on him who had betrayed his fellows. There was grief, +violent, wild, and frantic; there was mute and speechless suffering; but +not a tear did I see, not even on the cheek of childhood or of woman. No! +their seared and withered sorrow no dew of tears had ever watered; like a +blighting simoon the spirit of revenge had passed over them, and scorched +and scathed all the verdant charities of life. The law which in other +lands is looked to for protection and security, was regarded by them as an +instrument of tyranny; they neither understood its spirit nor trusted its +decisions; and when its blow fell upon them, they bent their heads in +mournful submission, to raise them when opportunity offered in wild and +stern defiance. Its denunciations came to them sudden and severe; they +deemed the course of justice wayward and capricious, the only feature of +certainty in its operation being that its victim was ever the poor man. +The passionate elements of their wild natures seemed but ill-adapted to +the slow-sustained current of legal investigation; they looked upon all +the details of evidence as the signs of vindictive malice, and thought +that trickery and deceit were brought in arms against them. Hence each +face among the thousands there bore the traces of that hardened, dogged +suffering that tells us that the heart is rather steeled with the desire +to avenge than bowed to weep over the doomed. +</p> +<p> +Before the court-house a detachment of soldiers was drawn up under arms, +their unmoved features and fixed attitudes presenting a strange contrast +to the excited expressions and changeful gestures of those about them. The +crowd at this part was thickest, and I could perceive in their eager looks +and mute expressions that something more than common had attracted their +attention. My own interest was, however, directed in another quarter; for +through the open window of the court-house I could hear the words of a +speaker, whom I soon recognised as the counsel for the prisoners +addressing the jury. My foraging-cap passed me at once through the ranks, +and after some little crushing I succeeded in gaining admission to the +body of the court. +</p> +<p> +Such was the crowd within, I could see nothing but the heads of a +closely-wedged mass of people, save at the distant part of the court the +judges, and to their right the figure of the pleader, whose back was +turned towards me. +</p> +<p> +Little as I heard of the speech, I was overwhelmed with surprise at what I +did hear. Touching on the evidence of the 'approver' but slightly, the +advocate dwelt with a terrific force upon the degraded character of a man +who could trade upon the blood of his former friends and associates. +Scarce stopping to canvass how the testimony bore home upon the prisoners, +he burst forth into an impassioned appeal to the hearts of the jury on +faith betrayed and vows forsworn, and pictured forth the man who could +thus surrender his fellows to the scaffold as a monster whose evidence no +man could trust, no jury confide in; and when he had thus heightened the +colouring of his description by every power of an eloquence that made the +very building ring, he turned suddenly towards the informer himself, as, +pale, wan, and conscience-stricken, he cowered beneath the lightning +glance from an eye that seemed to pierce his secret soul within him, and +apostrophising his virtues, he directed every glance upon the miserable +wretch that writhed beneath his sarcasm. This seemed, indeed, the speakers +forte. Never did I hear anything so tremendous as the irony with which he +described the credit due to one who had so often been sworn and forsworn—'who +took an oath of allegiance to his king, and an oath of fealty to his +fellows, and now is here this day with a third oath, by which, in the +blood of his victim, he is to ratify his perjury to both, and secure +himself an honourable independence.' The caustic satire verged once—only +once—on something that produced a laugh, when the orator suddenly +stopped:— +</p> +<p> +'I find, my lord, I have raised a smile. God knows, never did I feel less +merriment. Let me not be condemned. Let not the laugh be mistaken. Few are +those events that are produced by folly and vice that fire the hearts with +indignation, but something in them will shake the sides with laughter. So, +when the two famous moralists of old beheld the sad spectacle of Life, the +one burst into laughter, the other melted into tears. They were each of +them right, and equally right. But these laughs are the bitter, rueful +laughs of honest indignation, or they are the laughs of hectic melancholy +and despair. But look there, and tell me where is your laughter now!' +</p> +<p> +With these words he turned fully round and pointed his finger to the dock, +where the six prisoners side by side leaned their haggard, deathlike faces +upon the rail, and gazed with stupid wonder at the scene before them. Four +of the number did not even know the language, but seemed by the instinct +of their position to feel the nature of the appeal their advocate was +making, and turned their eyes around the court as if in search of some one +look of pity or encouragement that should bring comfort to their hearts. +</p> +<p> +The whole thing was too dreadful to bear longer, so I forced my way +through the crowd, and at last reached the steps in front of the building. +But here a new object of horror presented itself, and one which to this +hour I cannot chase from before me. In the open space between the line +formed by the soldiers and the court knelt a woman, whose tattered +garments scarce covered a figure emaciated nearly to starvation; her +cheeks, almost blue with famine, were pinched inwards, and her hands, +which she held clasped with outstretched arms before her, were like the +skinny claws of some wild animal. As she neither spoke nor stirred, there +was no effort made to remove her; and there she knelt, her eyes, bloodshot +and staring, bent upon the door of the building. A vague fear took +possession of me. Somewhere I had seen that face before. I drew near, and +as a cold thrill ran through my blood, I remembered where. She was the +wife of the man by whose bedside I had watched in the mountains. A half +dread of being recognised by her kept me back for a moment; then came the +better feeling that perhaps I might be able to serve her, and I walked +towards her. But though she turned her eyes towards me as I approached, +her look had no intelligence in it, and I could plainly see that reason +had fled, and left nothing save the poor suffering form behind it. I +endeavoured to attract her attention, but all in vain. At last I tried by +gentle force to induce her to leave the place; but a piercing shriek, like +one whose tones had long dwelt in my heart, broke from her, with a look of +such unutterable anguish, that I was obliged to desist and leave her. The +crowd made way for me as I passed out, and I could see in their looks and +demeanour the expression of grateful acknowledgment for even this show of +feeling on my part; while some muttered as I went by, 'God reward ye,' +'the Lord be good to ye,' as though at that moment they had nothing in +their hearts save thoughts of kindness and words of blessing. +</p> +<p> +I reached my room, and sat down a sadder, perhaps a wiser man; and yet I +know not this. It would need a clearer head than mine to trace all the +varying and discordant elements of character I had witnessed to their true +source; to sift the evil from the good; to know what to cherish, what to +repress, whereon to build hope or what to fear. Such was this country +once! Has it changed since? +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0044" id="link2HCH0044"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XLIV. THE BAD DINNER +</h2> +<p> +At nine o'clock the jury retired, and a little afterwards the front +drawing-room of the Head Inn was becoming every moment more crowded, as +the door opened to admit the several members of the bar, invited to +partake of Mrs. Rooney's hospitalities. Mrs. Rooney's, I say; for the +etiquette of the circuit forbidding the attorney to entertain the +dignitaries of the craft, Paul was only present at his own table on +sufferance, and sought out the least obtrusive place he could find among +the juniors and side-dishes. +</p> +<p> +No one who could have seen the gay, laughing, merry mob of shrewd, +cunning-looking men that chatted away there would have imagined them a few +moments previously engaged in a question where the lives of four of their +fellow-men hung in the balance, and where at the very moment the +deliberation was continuing that should, perhaps, sentence them to death +upon the scaffold. +</p> +<p> +The instincts of a profession are narrow and humiliating things to +witness. The surgeon who sees but in the suffering agony of his patient +the occasional displacement of certain anatomical details is little better +than a savage; the lawyer who watches the passions of hope and fear, +distrust, dread, and suspicion, only to take advantage of them in his +case, is far worse than a savage. I confess, on looking at these men, I +could never divest myself of the impression that the hired and paid-for +passion of the advocate, the subtlety that is engaged special, the wit +that is briefed, the impetuous rush of indignant eloquence that is bottled +up from town to town in circuit, and like soda-water grows weaker at every +corking, make but a poor <i>ensemble</i> of qualities for the class who, +<i>par excellence</i>, stand at the head of professional life. +</p> +<p> +One there was, indeed, whose haggard eye and blanched cheek showed no +semblance of forgetting the scene in which so lately he had been an actor. +This was the lawyer who had defended the prisoners. He sat in a window, +resting his head upon his hand—fatigue, exhaustion, but more than +all, intense feeling, portrayed in every lineament of his pale face. +</p> +<p> +'Ah,' said the gay, jovial-looking attorney-general, slapping him +familiarly on the shoulder—'ah, my dear fellow; not tired, I hope. +The court was tremendously hot; but come, rally a bit: we shall want you. +Bennet and O'Grady have disappointed us, it seems; but you are a host in +yourself.' +</p> +<p> +'Maybe so,' replied the other faintly, and scarce lifting his eyes; 'but +you can't depend on my elevation.' +</p> +<p> +The ease and readiness of the reply, as well as the tones of the voice, +struck me; and I perceived that it was no other than the prior of the +Monks of the Screw who had spoken. Mrs. Rooney made her appearance at the +moment, and my attention was soon taken away by the announcement of +dinner. +</p> +<p> +One of the judges arrived in time to offer his arm, and I could not help +feeling amused at the mock-solemnity of the procession, as we moved along. +The judge, I may observe, was a young man, lately promoted, and one whose +bright eye and bold, dashing expression bore many more traces of the outer +bar than it smacked of the dull gravity of the bench. He took the end of +the table beside Mrs. Paul, and the others soon seated themselves +promiscuously along the table. +</p> +<p> +There is a species of gladiatorial exhibition in lawyers' society which is +certainly very amusing. No one speaks without the foreknowledge that he is +to be caught up, punned up, or ridiculed, as the case may be. The whole +conversation is therefore a hailstorm of short stories, quips, and +retorts, intermingled with details of successful bar-stratagems, and +practical jokes played off upon juries. With less restraint than at a +military mess, there is a strong professional feeling of deference for the +seniors, and much more tact and knowledge of the world to unite them. +While thus the whole conversation ran on topics of the circuit, I was +amazed at Mrs. Rooney's perfect intimacy with all the niceties of a law +joke, or the fun of a <i>nisi prius</i> story. She knew the chief +peculiarities of the several persons alluded to, and laughed loud and long +at the good things she listened to. The judge alone, above all others, had +the lady's ear. His bold but handsome features, his rich commanding voice +(nothing the worse that it was mellowed by a little brogue), his graceful +action and manly presence, stamped him as one well suited to be successful +wherever good looks, ready tact, and consummate conversational powers have +a field for their display. His stories were few, but always pertinent and +well told; and frequently the last joke at the table was capped by him, +when no one else could have ventured to try it, while the rich roll of his +laugh was a guarantee for mirth that never failed. +</p> +<p> +It was just when my attention was drawn off by Mrs. Booney to some +circumstance of our former intimacy, that a hearty burst of laughing from +the end of the table told that something unusually absurd was being +related. +</p> +<p> +'Yes, sir,' said a shrewd-looking, thin old fellow in spectacles, 'we +capitulated, on condition of leaving the garrison with all the honours of +war; and, 'faith, the sheriff was only too glad to comply.' +</p> +<p> +'Bob Mahon is certainly a bold fellow, and never hard pushed, whatever you +may do with him.' +</p> +<p> +'Bob Mahon!' said I: 'what of him?' +</p> +<p> +'Keatley has just been telling how he held the jail of Ennis for four +weeks against the sheriff. The jailer was an old tenant of his, and +readily came into his plans. They were victualled for a long siege, and as +the place was strong they had nothing to fear. When the garrison was +summoned to surrender, they put a charge of No. 4 into the sub-sheriff, +that made him move to the rear; and as the prisoners were all coming from +the assizes, they were obliged to let him have his own terms if he 'd only +consent to come out. So they gave him twelve hours' law, and a clear run +for it? and he's away.' +</p> +<p> +This was indeed a very quick realisation of Father Tom's prediction, and I +joined in the mirth the story elicited—not the less readily that I +was well acquainted with the principal actor in it. +</p> +<p> +While the laughter still continued, the door opened, and a young barrister +stole into the room and whispered a few words into the ear of the counsel +for the prisoners. He leaned back in his chair, and pushed his wine-glass +hurriedly before him. +</p> +<p> +'What, Collinson!' cried the attorney-general, 'have they agreed?' 'Yes, +sir—a verdict of guilty.' +</p> +<p> +'Of course; the evidence was too home for a doubt,' said he, filling his +glass from the decanter. +</p> +<p> +A sharp glance from the dark eye of the opposite counsel was the only +reply, as he rose and left the room. +</p> +<p> +'Our friend has taken a more than common interest in this case,' was the +cool observation of the last speaker; 'but there was no getting over +Hanlon's testimony.' Here he entered into some detail of the trial, while +the buzz and confusion of voices became greater than ever. I took this +opportunity of making my escape, and joined Mrs. Rooney, who a short time +before had retired to the drawing-room. +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Paul had contrived, even in the short space since her arrival, to +have converted the drawing-room into a semblance of something like an +apartment in a private house—books, prints, and flowers, judiciously +disposed, as well as an open pianoforte, giving it an air of comfort and +propriety far different from its ordinary seeming. She was practising +Moore's newly-published song of, 'My from this world, dear Bessy, with +me,' as I entered. +</p> +<p> +'Pray, continue, my dear Mrs. Rooney,' said I: 'I will take it as the +greatest possible favour——' +</p> +<p> +'Ah,' said Mrs..Paul, throwing up her eyes in the most languishing ecstasy—'ah, +you have a soul, I know you have!' +</p> +<p> +Protesting that I had strong reasons to believe so, I renewed my entreaty. +</p> +<p> +'Yes,' said she, musing, and in a Siddons tone of soliloquy, 'yes, the +poet is right— +</p> +<p> +“Music hath charms to <i>smooth</i> the savage <i>beast</i>.” +</p> +<p> +But I really can't sing the melodies—they are too much for me. The +allusion to former times, when King O'Toole and the rest of the royal +family—— Ah, you are aware, I believe, that family reasons——' +</p> +<p> +Here she pressed her embroidered handkerchief to her eyes with one hand, +while she pressed mine convulsively with the other. +</p> +<p> +'Yes, yes,' said I hurriedly, while a strong temptation to laugh outright +seized me; 'I have heard that your descent——' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, my dear; if it wasn't for the Danes, and the cruel battle of the +Boyne, there's no saying where I might not be seated now.' +</p> +<p> +She leaned on the piano as she spoke, and seemed overpowered with sorrow. +At this instant the door opened, and the judge made his appearance. +</p> +<p> +'A thousand pardons for the indiscretion,' said he, stepping back as he +saw me sitting with the lady's hand in mine. I sprang up, confused and +ashamed, and rushing past him hurried downstairs. +</p> +<p> +I knew how soon my adventure, for such it would grow into, would be the +standing jest of the bar mess; and not feeling disposed to be present at +their mirth, I ordered a chaise, and before half an hour elapsed was on my +road to Dublin. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0045" id="link2HCH0045"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XLV. THE RETURN +</h2> +<p> +We never experience to the full how far sorrow has made its inroad upon us +until we come back, after absence, to the places where we have once been +happy, and find them lone and tenantless. While we recognise each old +familiar object, we see no longer those who gave them all their value in +our eyes; every inanimate thing about speaks to our senses, but where are +they who were wont to speak to our hearts? The solitary chamber is then, +indeed, but the body of all our pleasure, from which the soul has departed +for ever. +</p> +<p> +These feelings were mine as I paced the old well-worn stairs, and entered +my quarters in the Castle. No more I heard the merry laugh of my friend +O'Grady, nor his quick step upon the stair. The life, the stir, the bustle +of the place itself seemed to have all fled; the court echoed only to the +measured tread of the grenadier, who marched backwards and forwards beside +the flagstaff in the centre of the open space. No cavalcade of joyous +riders, no prancing horses led about by grooms, no showy and splendid +equipages; all was still, sad, and neglected-looking. The dust whirled +about in circling eddies, as the cold wind of an autumnal day moaned +through the arched passages and gloomy corridors of the old building. A +care-worn official, or some slatternly inferior of the household, would +perhaps pass from time to time; but except such as these, nothing stirred. +The closed shutters and drawn-down blinds showed that the viceroy was +absent and I found myself the only occupant of the building. +</p> +<p> +It requires the critical eye of the observant resident of great cities to +mark the changes which season and fashion effect in their appearance. To +one unaccustomed to their phases it seems strange to hear, 'How empty the +town is! how very few people are in London!'—while the heavy tide of +population pours incessantly around him, and his ear is deafened with the +ceaseless roll of equipage. But in such a city as Dublin the alteration is +manifest to the least observant. But little frequented by the country +gentry, and never except for the few months when the court is there; still +less visited by foreigners; deserted by the professional classes, at least +such of them as are independent enough to absent themselves—the +streets are actually empty. The occupations of trade, the bustle of +commerce, that through every season continue their onward course in the +great trading cities such as Liverpool, Hamburg, Frankfort, and Bourdeaux, +scarce exist here; and save that the tattered garments of mendicancy, and +the craving cries of hunger are ever before you, you might fall into a +drowsy reverie as you walked, and dream yourself in Palmyra. +</p> +<p> +I had strolled about for above an hour, in the moody frame of mind my own +reflections and the surrounding objects were well calculated to suggest, +when, meeting by accident a subaltern with whom I was slightly acquainted, +I heard that the court had that morning left the Lodge in the Park for +Kilkenny, where the theatricals of that pleasant city were going forward—a +few members of the household alone remaining, who were to follow in a day +or two. +</p> +<p> +For some days previous I had made up my mind not to remain in Ireland. +Every tie that bound me to the country was broken. I had no heart to set +about forming new friendships while the wounds of former ones were still +fresh and bleeding; and I longed for change of scene and active +occupation, that I might have no time to reflect or look back. +</p> +<p> +Resolving to tender my resignation on the duke's staff without any further +loss of time, I set out at once for the Park. I arrived there in the very +nick of time; the carriages were at the entrance, waiting for the private +secretary of his grace and two of the aides-de-camp, who were eating a +hurried luncheon before starting. One of the aides-de-camp I knew but +slightly, the other was a perfect stranger to me; but the secretary, +Horton, was an intimate acquaintance. He jumped up from his chair as my +name was announced, and a deep blush covered his face as he advanced to +meet me. +</p> +<p> +'My dear Hinton, how unfortunate! Why weren't you here yesterday? It's too +late now.' +</p> +<p> +'Too late for what? I don't comprehend you.' +</p> +<p> +'Why, my dear fellow,' said he, drawing his arm within mine, and leading +me towards a window, as he dropped his voice to a whisper, 'I believe you +heard from me that his grace was provoked at your continued absence, and +expected at least that you would have written to ask an extension of your +leave. I don't know how it was, but it seemed to me that the duchess came +back from England with some crotchet in her head, about something she +heard in London. In any case, they ordered me to write.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, well,' said I impatiently; 'I guess it all. I have got my +dismissal. Isn't that the whole of it?' +</p> +<p> +He nodded twice, without speaking. +</p> +<p> +'It only anticipates my own wishes,' said I coolly, 'as this note may +satisfy you.' I placed the letter I had written for the purpose of my +resignation in his hand, and continued: 'I am quite convinced in my own +mind that his grace, whose kindness towards me has never varied, would +never have dreamed of this step on such slight grounds as my absence. No, +no; the thing lies deeper. At any other time I should certainly have +wished to trace this matter to its source; now, however, chiming as it +does with my own plans, and caring little how fortune intends to treat me, +I'll submit in silence.' +</p> +<p> +'And take no notice of the affair further?' +</p> +<p> +'Such is my determination,' said I resolutely. +</p> +<p> +'In that case,' said Horton, 'I may tell you that some story of a lady had +reached the duchess, when in London—some girl that it was reported +you endeavoured to seduce, and had actually followed for that purpose to +the west of Ireland. There, there! don't take the matter up that way, for +heaven's sake! My dear fellow, hear me out!' But I could hear no more; the +rushing blood that crowded on my brain stunned and stupefied me, and it +took several minutes before I became sufficiently collected to ask him to +go on. +</p> +<p> +'I heard the thing so confusedly,' said he, 'that I cannot attempt +anything like connection in relating it. But the story goes that your duel +in Loughrea did not originate about the steeplechase at all, but in a +quarrel about this girl, with her brother or her cousin, who, having +discovered your intentions regarding her, you wished to get rid of, as a +preliminary. No one but a fool could credit such a thing.' +</p> +<p> +'None but such could have invented it,' said I, as my thoughts at once +recurred to Lord Dudley de Vere. +</p> +<p> +'The duke, however, spoke to General Hinton——' +</p> +<p> +'To my father! And how did he——' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, behaved as only he could have done: “Stop, my lord!” said he; “I'll +spare you any further relation of this matter. If it be true, my son is +unworthy of remaining on your staff. If it be false, I'll not permit him +to hold an appointment where his reputation has been assailed without +affording him an opportunity of defence.” High words ensued, and the end +was that if you appeared before to-day, you were to hear the charge and +have an opportunity for reply. If not, your dismissal was to be made out, +and another appointed in your place. Now that I have told you what I feel +the indiscretion of my ever having spoken of, promise me, my dear Hinton, +that you will take no step in the matter. The intrigue is altogether +beneath you, and your character demands no defence on your part.' +</p> +<p> +'I almost suspect I know the person,' said I gloomily. +</p> +<p> +'No, no; I'm certain you can't. It is some woman's story; some piece of +tea-table gossip, depend on it—in any case, quite unworthy of caring +about.' +</p> +<p> +'At all events, I am too indifferent at this moment to feel otherwise +about anything,' said I. 'So, good-bye; Horton. My regards to all our +fellows; good-bye!' +</p> +<p> +'Good-bye, my boy,' said he, warmly shaking my hand. 'But, stop a moment, +I have got some letters for you; they arrived only a few days since.' +</p> +<p> +He took a packet from a drawer as he spoke, and once more bidding him +adieu, I set out on my return to the Castle. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0046" id="link2HCH0046"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XLVI. FAREWELL TO IRELAND +</h2> +<p> +My first care on reaching my quarters was to make preparations for my +departure by the packet of the same evening; my next was to sit down and +read over my letters. As I turned them over, I remarked that there were +none from my father or Lady Charlotte; there was, however, one in Julia's +hand, and also a note from O'Grady. The others were the mere commonplace +correspondence of everyday acquaintances, which I merely threw my eyes +carelessly over ere I consigned them to the fire. My fair cousin's +possessed—I cannot explain why—a most unusual degree of +interest for me; and throwing myself back in my chair, I gave myself up to +its perusal. +</p> +<p> +The epistle opened by a half-satirical account of the London season then +nearly drawing to its close, in which various characters and incidents I +have not placed before my readers, but all well known to me, were touched +with that quiet, subdued raillery she excelled in. The flirtations, the +jiltings, the matches that were on or off, the rumoured duels, debts, and +difficulties of every one we were acquainted with, were told with a most +amusing smartness—all showing, young as she was, how thoroughly the +wear and tear of fashionable life had invested her with the intricate +knowledge of character, and the perfect acquaintance with all the +intrigues and byplay of the world. 'How unlike Louisa Bellew!' said I, as +I laid down the letter after reading a description of a manoeuvring mamma +and obedient daughter to secure the prize of the season, with a peerage +and some twenty thousand pounds per annum. It was true they were the vices +and the follies of the age which she ridiculed; but why should she have +ever known them? Ought she to have been conversant with such a state of +society as would expose them? Were it not better, like Louisa Bellew, to +have passed her days amid the simple, unexciting scenes of secluded life, +than to have purchased all the brilliancy of her wit and the dazzle of her +genius at the price of true womanly delicacy and refinement? While I asked +and answered myself these questions to the satisfaction of my own heart, I +could not dismiss the thought, that amid such scenes as London presented, +with such associates as fashion necessitated, the unprotected simplicity +of Miss Bellew's character would expose her to much both of raillery and +coldness; and I felt that she would be nearly as misplaced among the proud +daughters of haughty England as my fair cousin in the unfashionable +freedom of Dublin life. +</p> +<p> +I confess, as I read on, that old associations came crowding upon me. The +sparkling brilliancy of Julia's style reminded me of the charms of her +conversational powers, aided by all the loveliness of her beauty, and all +that witchery which your true belle of fashion knows how, so successfully, +to spread around her; and it was with a flush of burning shame on my cheek +I acknowledged to myself how much her letter interested me. As I +continued, I saw O'Grady*s name, and to my astonishment found the +following:— +</p> +<p> +'Lady Charlotte came back from the duke's ball greatly pleased with a +certain Major of dragoons, who, among his other excellent qualities, turns +out to be a friend of yours. This estimable person, whose name is O'Grady, +has done much to dissipate her ladyship's prejudices regarding Irishmen—the +repose of his manner, and the quiet, unassuming, well-bred tone of his +address being all so opposed to her preconceived notions of his +countrymen. He dines here twice or thrice a week, and as he is to sail +soon, may happily preserve the bloom of his reputation to the last. My +estimate of him is somewhat different. I think him a bold <i>effronté</i> +kind of person, esteeming himself very highly, and thinking little of +other people. He has, however, a delightful old thing, his servant Corny, +whom I am never tired of, and shall really miss much when he leaves us. +</p> +<p> +'Now as to yourself, dear cousin, what mean all the secret hints and sly +looks and doubtful speeches about you here! The mysteries of Udolpho are +plain reading compared to your doings. Her ladyship never speaks of you +but as “that poor boy,” accompanying the epithet with the sigh with which +one speaks of a shipwreck. Sir George calls you John, which shows he is +not quite satisfied about you; and, in fact, I begin to suspect you must +have become a United Irishman, with “a lady in the case.” Yet even this +would scarcely demand one half the reserve and caution with which you are +mentioned. Am I indiscreet in saying that I don't think De Vere likes you? +The Major, however, certainly does; and his presence has banished the +lordling, for which, really, I owe him gratitude.' +</p> +<p> +The letter concluded by saying that my mother had desired her to write in +her place, as she was suffering from one of her nervous headaches, which +only permitted her to go to the exhibition at Somerset House; my father, +too, was at Woolwich on some military business, and had no time for +anything save to promise to write soon; and that she herself, being +disappointed by the milliner in a new bonnet, dedicated the morning to me, +with a most praiseworthy degree of self-denial and benevolence. I read the +signature some half-dozen times over, and wondered what meaning in her own +heart she ascribed to the words, 'Yours, Julia.' +</p> +<p> +'Now for O'Grady,' said I, breaking the seal of the Major's envelope. +</p> +<p> +'My dear Jack,—I was sitting on a hencoop, now pondering on my +fortunes, now turning to con over the only book on board—a very +erudite work on naval tactics, with directions how “to moor a ship in the +Downs”—when a gun came booming over the sea, and a frigate with +certain enigmatical colours flying at her main-top compelled the old +troop-ship we were in to back her topsails and lie to. (We were then +steering straight for Madeira, in latitude———, longitude +the same—our intention being, with the aid of Providence, to reach +Quebec at some remote period of the summer, to join our service companies +in Canada.) Having obeyed the orders of H.M.S. <i>Blast</i>, to wait until +she overtook us—a measure that nearly cost us two of our masts and +the cook's galley, we not being accustomed to stand still, it seemed—a +boat came alongside with the smallest bit of a midshipman I ever looked at +sitting in the stern-sheets, with orders for us to face about, left +shoulder forward, and march back to England, where, having taken in the +second battalion of the Twenty-eighth, we were to start for Lisbon. +</p> +<p> +'I need not tell you what pleasure the announcement afforded us, delighted +as we were to exchange tomahawks and bowie-knives for civilised warfare, +even against more formidable foes. Behold us then in full sail back to old +England, which we reached within a fortnight—only to touch, however, +for the Twenty-eighth were most impatiently expecting us; and having +dedicated three days to taking in water and additional stores, and once +more going through the horrible scene of leave-taking between soldiers and +their wives, we sailed again. I have little inclination to give you the +detail, which newspapers would beat me hollow in, of our march, or where +we first came up with the French. A smart affair took place at daybreak, +in which your humble servant, to use the appropriate phrase, +“distinguished” himself—egad! I had almost said “extinguished”; for +I was shot through the side, losing part of that conjugal portion of the +human anatomy called a rib, and sustaining several other minor damages, +that made me appear to the regimental doctor a very unserviceable craft +for his Majesty's service. The result was, I was sent back with that +plaster for a man's vanity, though not for his wounds, a despatch-letter +to the Horse Guards, and an official account of the action. As nothing has +occurred since in the Peninsula to eclipse my performance, I continue to +star it here with immense success, and am quite convinced that with a +little more loss I might have made an excellent match out of the affair. +</p> +<p> +'Now to the pleasant part of my epistle. Your father found me out a few +evenings since at an evening party at the Duke of York's, and presented me +to your lady-mother, who was most gracious in her reception of me; an +invitation to dinner the next day followed, and since, I have spent almost +every day at your house. Your father, my dear Jack, is a glorious fellow, +a soldier in every great feature of the character; you never can have a +finer object of your imitation, and your best friend cannot wish you to be +more than his equal. Lady Charlotte is the most fascinating person I ever +met; her abilities are first-rate, and her powers of pleasing exceed all +that ever I fancied even of London fashionables. How you could have left +such a house I can scarcely conceive, knowing as I do something of your +taste for comfort and voluptuous ease. Besides, <i>la cousine</i>, Lady +Julia—Jack, Jack, what a close fellow you are I and how very lovely +she is! she certainly has not her equal even here. I scarcely know her, +for somehow she rather affects hauteur with my cloth, and rarely deigns +any notice of the red-coats so plentifully sprinkled along your father's +dinner-table. Her kindness to Corny, who has been domesticated at your +house for the last five weeks, I can never forget; and even he can't, it +would appear, conjure up any complaint against her. What a testimony to +her goodness! +</p> +<p> +'This life, however, cannot last for ever; and as I have now recovered so +far as to mount a horse once more, I have applied for a regimental +appointment. Your father most kindly interests himself for me, and before +the week is over I may be gazetted. That fellow De Vere was very intimate +here when I arrived; since he has seen me, however, his visits have become +gradually less frequent, and now have almost ceased altogether. This, <i>entre +nous</i>, does not seem to have met completely with Lady Julia's approval, +and I think she may have attributed to me a circumstance in which +certainly I was not an active cause. However happy I may feel at being +instrumental in a breach of intimacy between her and one so very unworthy +of her, even as a common acquaintance, I will ask you, Jack, when +opportunity offers, to put the matter in its true light; for although I +may, in all likelihood, never meet her again, I should be sorry to leave +with her a more unfavourable impression of me than I really deserve.' +</p> +<p> +Here the letter broke off; but lower down on the paper were the following +lines, written in evident haste, and with a different ink:— +</p> +<p> +'We sail to-night. Oporto is our destination. Corny is to remain behind, +and I must ask of you to look to him on his arrival in Dublin. Lady Julia +likes De Vere, and you know him too well to permit of such a fatal +misfortune. I am, I find, meddling in what really I have no right to touch +upon; this is, however, <i>de vous à moi</i>. God bless you.—Yours +ever, Phil o'Grady.' +</p> +<p> +'Poor Phil!' said I, as I laid down the letter; 'in his heart he believes +himself disinterested in all this, but I see plainly he is in love with +her himself.' Alas! I cannot conceive a heavier affliction to befall the +man without fortune than to be thrown among those whose prospects render +an alliance impossible, and to bestow his affections on an object +perfectly beyond his reach of attainment. Many a proud heart has been torn +in the struggle between its own promptings and the dread of the +imputation, which the world so hastily confers, of 'fortune-hunting'; many +a haughty spirit has quailed beneath this fear, and stifled in his bosom +the thought that made his life a blessed dream. My poor friend, how little +will she that has stolen away your peace think of your sorrows! +</p> +<p> +A gentle tap at my door aroused me from my musings. I opened it, and saw, +to my surprise, my old companion Tipperary Joe. He was covered with dust, +heated, and travel-stained, and leaned against the door-post to rest +himself. +</p> +<p> +'So,' cried he, when he had recovered his breath, 'I'm in time to see you +once more before you go! I run all the way from Carlow, since twelve +o'clock last night.' +</p> +<p> +'Come in, my poor boy, and sit down. Here's a glass of wine; 'twill +refresh you. We 'll get something for you to eat presently.' +</p> +<p> +'No, I couldn't eat now. My throat is full, and my heart is up here. And +so you are going away—going for good and all, never to come back +again?' +</p> +<p> +'Who can say so much as that, Joe? I should, at least, be very sorry to +think so.' +</p> +<p> +'And would you, now? And will you really think of ould Ireland when you +'re away? Hurroo! by the mortial, there's no place like it for fun, +divilment, and divarsion. But, musha, musha! I'm forgettin', and it's +gettin' dark. May I go with you to the packet?' +</p> +<p> +'To be sure, my poor boy; and I believe we have not many minutes to +spare.' +</p> +<p> +I despatched Joe for a car while I threw a last look around my room. Sad +things, these last looks, whether bestowed on the living or the dead, the +lifelike or the inanimate! There is a feeling that resembles death in the +last glance we are ever to bestow on a loved object. The girl you have +treasured in your secret heart, as she passes by on her wedding-day, it +may be happy and blissful, lifts up her laughing eyes, the symbol of her +own light heart, and leaves in that look darkness and desolation to you +for ever. The boy your father-spirit has clung to, like the very light of +your existence, waves his hand from the quarterdeck, as the gigantic ship +bends over to the breeze; the wind is playing through the locks your hand +so oftentimes has smoothed; the tears have dimmed his eyes, for, mark t he +moves his fingers over them—and this is a last look. My sorrow had +no touch of these. My eye ranged over the humble furniture of my little +chamber, while memories of the past came crowding on me—hopes that I +had lived to see blighted, daydreams dissipated, heartfelt wishes thwarted +and scattered. I stood thus for some minutes, when Joe again joined me. +</p> +<p> +Poor fellow! his wayward and capricious flights, now grave, now gay, were +but the mockery of that sympathy my heart required. Still did he heal the +sadness of the moment. We need the voice, the look, the accent of +affection when we are leaving the spot where we have once been happy. It +will not do to part from the objects that have made our home, without the +connecting link of human friendship. The hearth, the roof-tree, the +mountain, and the rivulet are not so eloquent as the once syllabled +'Good-bye,' come it from ever so humble a voice. +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0027" id="linkimage-0027"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/3-0055.jpg" alt="3-0055" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +The bustle and excitement of the scene beside the packet seemed to afford +Joe the most lively gratification; and, like the genius of confusion, he +was to be seen flitting from place to place, assisting one, impeding +another, while snatches of his wild songs broke from him every moment. I +had but time to press his hand, when he was hurried ashore amongst the +crowd; and the instant after the vessel sheered off from the pier, and got +under way. The poor boy stood upon a block of granite, waving his cap over +his head. He tried a faint cheer, but it was scarcely audible; another, it +too failed. He looked wildly around him on the strange, unknown faces, as +if a scene of desolation had fallen on him, burst into a torrent of tears, +and fled wildly from the spot. And thus I took my leave of Ireland. +</p> +<p> +At this period of my narrative I owe it to my reader—I owe it to +myself—to apologise for the mention of incidents, places, and people +that have no other bearing on my story than in the impression they made +upon me while yet young. When I arrived in Ireland I knew scarcely +anything of the world. My opportunities had shown me life only through the +coloured gloss of certain fashionable prejudices; but of the real +character, motives, and habitual modes of acting and thinking of others, +still more of myself, I was in total ignorance. The rapidly succeeding +incidents of Irish life—their interest, variety, and novelty—all +attracted and excited me; and without ever stopping to reflect upon +causes, I found myself becoming acquainted with facts. That the changeful +pictures of existence so profusely scattered through the land should have +made their impression upon me is natural enough; and because I have found +it easier and pleasanter to tell my reader the machinery of this change in +me than to embody that change itself, is the reason why I have presented +before him tableaux of life under so many different circumstances, and +when, frequently, they had no direct relation to the current of my own +fate and the story of my own fortunes. It is enough of myself to say, +that, though scarcely older in time, I had grown so in thought and +feeling. If I felt, on the one hand, how little my high connections and +the position in fashionable life which my family occupied availed me, I +learned, on the other, to know that friends, and stanch ones, could be +made at once, on the emergency of a moment, without the imposing ceremony +of introduction and the diplomatic interchange of visits. And now to my +story. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0047" id="link2HCH0047"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XLVII. LONDON +</h2> +<p> +It was late when I arrived in London and drove up to my father's house. +The circumstances under which I had left Ireland weighed more heavily on +me as I drew near home, and as I reflected over the questions I should be +asked and the explanations I should be expected to afford; and I half +dreaded lest my father should disapprove of my conduct before I had an +opportunity of showing him how little I had been to blame throughout. The +noise and din of the carriages, the oaths and exclamations of the +coachmen, and the uproar of the streets turned my attention from these +thoughts, and I asked what was the meaning of the crowd. +</p> +<p> +'A great ball, sir, at Lady Charlotte Hinton's.' +</p> +<p> +This was a surprise, and not of the pleasantest. I had wished that my +first meeting with my father at least should have been alone and in +quietness, where I could fairly have told him every important event of my +late life, and explained wherefore I so ardently desired immediate +employment on active service and a total change in that career which +weighed so heavily on my spirits. The carriage drew up at the instant, and +I found myself once more at home. +</p> +<p> +What a feeling does that simple word convey to his ears who knows the real +blessing of a home—that shelter from the world, its jealousies and +its envies, its turmoils and its disappointments; where, like some +landlocked bay, the still, calm waters sleep in silence, while the storm +and hurricane are roaring without; where glad faces and bright looks +abound; where each happiness is reflected back from every heart and ten +times multiplied, and every sorrow comes softened by consolation and words +of comfort! And how little like this is the abode of the great leader of +fashion; how many of the fairest gifts of humanity are turned back by the +glare of a hundred wax-lights, and the glitter of gilded lackeys; and how +few of the charities of life find entrance where the splendour and luxury +of voluptuous habits have stifled natural feeling, and made even sympathy +unfashionable! +</p> +<p> +It was not without difficulty I could persuade the servants, who were all +strangers to me, that the travel-stained, dusty individual before them was +the son of the celebrated and fashionable Lady Charlotte Hinton, and at +length reach my room to dress. +</p> +<p> +It was near midnight. The rooms were filled as I entered the drawing-room. +For a few moments I could not help feeling strongly the full influence of +the splendid scene before me. The undoubted evidences of rank and wealth +that meet the eye on every side in London life are very striking. The +splendour of the women's dress, their own beauty, a certain air of haughty +bearing peculiarly English, a kind of conscious superiority to the rest of +the world mark them; and in their easy, unembarrassed, steady glance you +read the proud spirit of Albion's 'haughty dames.' This alone was very +different from the laughing spirit of Erin's daughters, their <i>espiègle</i> +looks and smiling lips. The men, too, were so dissimilar—their +reserved and stately carriage, their low voices, and deferential but +composed manner contrasting strongly with Irish volubility, quickness, and +gesticulation. I stood unnoticed and alone for some time, quietly +observant of the scene before me; and as I heard name after name +announced, many of them the greatest and the highest in the land, there +was no semblance of excitement as they entered, no looks of admiring +wonder as they passed on and mingled with the crowd. This showed me I was +in a mighty city, where the chief spirits that ruled the age moved daily +before the public eye; and again I thought of Dublin, where some +third-rate notoriety would have been hailed with almost acclamation, and +lionised to the 'top of his bent.' +</p> +<p> +I could remember but few of those around, and even they had either +forgotten me altogether, or, having no recollection of my absence, saluted +me with the easy nonchalance of one who is seen every evening of his life. +</p> +<p> +'How are you, Hinton?' said one, with something more of warmth than the +rest. 'I have not met you for some weeks past.' +</p> +<p> +'No,' said I, smiling. 'I have been nearly a year from home.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah, indeed! In Spain?' +</p> +<p> +'No, in Ireland.' +</p> +<p> +'In Ireland? How odd!' +</p> +<p> +'Who has been in Ireland?' said a low, plaintive voice. Turning round as +she spoke, my lady-mother stood before me. 'I should like to hear +something—— But, dear me, this must be John!' and she held out +her jewelled hand towards me. +</p> +<p> +'My dear mother, I am so happy to see you look so very well——' +</p> +<p> +'No, no, my dear,' said she, sighing, 'don't speak of that. When did you +arrive? I beg your Royal Highness's pardon, I hope you have not forgotten +your protege, my son.' +</p> +<p> +I bowed reverently as a large, full, handsome man, with bald head and a +most commanding expression, drew himself up before me. +</p> +<p> +'No, madam, I have not forgotten him, I assure you!' was the reply, as he +returned my salute with marked coldness, and passed on. +</p> +<p> +Before Lady Charlotte could express her surprise at such an unlooked-for +mark of displeasure, my father, who had just heard of my arrival, came up. +</p> +<p> +'Jack, my dear fellow, I am glad to see you. How large you have grown, +boy, and how brown!' +</p> +<p> +The warm welcome of his manly voice, the affectionate grasp of his strong +hand, rallied me at once, and I cared little for the looks of king or +kaiser at that moment. He drew his arm within mine, and led me through the +rooms to a small boudoir, where a party at cards were the only occupants. +</p> +<p> +'Here we shall be tolerably alone for a little while, at least,' said he; +'and now, my lad, tell me everything about you.* +</p> +<p> +In less than half an hour I ran over the principal events of my life in +Ireland, omitting only those in which Miss Bellew bore a part. On this +account my rupture with Lord de Vere was only imperfectly alluded to; and +I could perceive that my father's brow became contracted, and his look +assumed a severer expression at this part of my narrative. +</p> +<p> +'You have not been very explicit, Jack, about this business; and this it +is which I am really uneasy about. I have never known you do a mean or a +shabby thing; I will never suspect you of one. So, now, let me clearly +understand the ground of this quarrel.' +</p> +<p> +There was a tone of command in his voice as he said this which decided me +at once, and without further hesitation I resolved on laying everything +before him. Still, I knew not how to begin; the mention of Louisa's name +alone staggered me, and for a second or two I stammered and looked +confused. +</p> +<p> +Unlike his wonted manner, my father looked impatient, almost angry. At +last, when seeing that my agitation only increased upon me, and that my +difficulty grew each moment greater, he looked me sternly in the face, and +with a voice full of meaning, said— +</p> +<p> +'Tell me everything! I cannot bear to doubt you. Was this a play +transaction?' +</p> +<p> +'A play transaction! No, sir, nothing like it.' +</p> +<p> +'Was there not a bet—some disputed wager—-mixed up in it?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, there was a wager, sir; but——' +</p> +<p> +Before I could conclude, my father pressed his hand against his eyes, and +a faint sigh broke from him. +</p> +<p> +'But hear me out, sir. The wager was none of mine.' In a few moments I ran +over the whole circumstances of De Vere's bet, his conduct to Miss Bellew, +and my own subsequent proceedings; but when I came to the mention of +O'Grady's name, he stopped me suddenly, and said— +</p> +<p> +'Major O'Grady, however, did not approve of your conduct in the affair.' +</p> +<p> +'O'Grady! He was my friend all through it!' +</p> +<p> +My father remained silent for a few minutes, and then in a low voice added— +</p> +<p> +'There has been misrepresentation here.' +</p> +<p> +The words were not well spoken when Lord Dudley de Vere, with my cousin +Lady Julia on his arm, came up. The easy nonchalance of his manner, the +tone of quiet indifference he assumed, were well known to me; but I was in +nowise prepared for the look of insufferable, patronising impertinence he +had now put on. +</p> +<p> +My cousin, more beautiful far than ever I had seen her, took off my +attention from him, however, and I turned with a feeling of half pride, +half wonder, to pay my respects to her. Dressed in the most perfect taste +of the fashion, her handsome features wore the assured and tranquil +expression which conscious beauty gives. And here let no inexperienced +observer rashly condemn the placid loveliness of the queen of beauty, the +sanctioned belle of fashionable life. It is, indeed, very different from +the artless loveliness of innocent girlhood; but its claim is not less +incontestable. The features, like the faculties, can be cultivated; and +when no unnatural effort suggests the expression, who shall say that the +mind habitually exercised in society of the highest and most gifted circle +will not impart a more elevated character to the look than when the +unobtrusive career of everyday life flows on calm and unruffled, steeping +the soul in a dreary monotony, and calling for no effort save of the +commonest kind. +</p> +<p> +Julia's was indeed splendid beauty. The lustrous brilliancy of her +dark-blue eyes was shaded by long, black lashes; the contour of her cheeks +was perfect; her full short lips were slightly, so slightly curled, you +knew not if it were no more smile than sarcasm; the low tones of her voice +were rich and musical, and her carriage and demeanour possessed all the +graceful elegance which is only met with in the society of great cities. +Her manner was most frank and cordial; she held out her hand to me at +once, and looked really glad to see me. After a few brief words of +recognition, she turned towards De Vere— +</p> +<p> +'I shall ask you to excuse me, my lord, this set. It is so long since I +have seen my cousin.' +</p> +<p> +He bowed negligently, muttered something carelessly about the next waltz, +and with a familiar nod to me, lounged away. O'Grady's caution about this +man's attentions to Julia at once came to my mind, and the easy tone of +his manner towards her alarmed me; but I had no time for reflection, as +she took my arm and sauntered down the room. +</p> +<p> +'And so, <i>mon cher</i> cousin, you have been leading a very wild life of +it—fighting duels, riding steeplechases, breaking your own bones and +ladies' hearts, in a manner exceedingly Irish?' said Julia with a smile, +into which not a particle of her habitual raillery entered. +</p> +<p> +'From your letters I can learn, Julia, that a very strange account of my +doings must have reached my friends here. Except from yourself, I have met +with scarcely anything but cold looks since my arrival.' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, never mind that; people will talk, you know. For my part, Jack, I +never will believe you anything but what I have always known you. The +heaviest charge I have heard against you is that of trifling with a poor +girl's affections; and as I know that the people who spread these rumours +generally don't know at which side either the trifling or the affection +resides, why, I think little about it.' +</p> +<p> +'And has this been said of me?' +</p> +<p> +'To be sure it has, and ten times as much. As to your gambling sins, there +is no end to their enormity. A certain Mr. Rooney, I think the name is, a +noted play-man——' +</p> +<p> +'How absurd, Julia! Mr. Rooney never played in his life; nor have I, +except in the casual way every one does in a drawing-room.' +</p> +<p> +<i>'N'importe</i>—you are a lady-killer and a gambler. Now as to +count number three—for being a jockey.' +</p> +<p> +'My dear Julia, if you had seen my steeplechase you 'd acquit me of that.' +</p> +<p> +'Indeed, I did hear,' said she roguishly, 'that you acquitted yourself +admirably; but still you won. And then we come to the great offence—your +quarrelsome habits. We heard, it is true, that you behaved, as it is +called, very honourably, etc; but really duelling is so detestable——' +</p> +<p> +'Come, come, fair cousin, let us talk of something besides my +delinquencies. What do you think of my friend O'Grady?' +</p> +<p> +I said this suddenly, by way of reprisal; but to my utter discomfiture she +replied with perfect calmness— +</p> +<p> +'I rather was amused with him at first. He is very odd, very unlike other +people; but Lady Charlotte took him up so, and we had so much of him here, +I grew somewhat tired of him. He was, however, very fond of you; and you +know that made up for much with us all.' +</p> +<p> +There was a tone of sweetness and almost of deep interest in these last +few words that made my heart thrill, and unconsciously I pressed her arm +closer to my side, and felt the touch returned. Just at the instant my +father came forward accompanied by another, who I soon perceived was the +royal duke that had received me so coldly a few minutes before. His frank, +manly face was now all smiles, and his bright eye glanced from my fair +cousin to myself with a quick, meaning expression. +</p> +<p> +'Another time, General, will do quite as well, I say, Mr. Hinton, call on +me to-morrow morning about ten, will you? I have something to say to you.' +</p> +<p> +I bowed deeply in reply, and he passed on. +</p> +<p> +'And let me see you after breakfast,' said Julia, in a half-whisper, as +she turned towards De Vere, who now came forward to claim her for the +waltz. +</p> +<p> +My father, too, mixed with the crowd, and I felt myself alone and a +stranger in what should have been my home. A kind of cold thrill came over +me as I thought how unlike was my welcome to what it would have been in +Ireland; for although I felt that in my father's manner towards me there +was no want of affection or kindness, yet somehow I missed the exuberant +warmth and ready cordiality I had latterly been used to, and soon turned +away, sad and disappointed, to seek my own room. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0048" id="link2HCH0048"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XLVIII. AN UNHAPPY DISCLOSURE +</h2> +<p> +'What!' cried I, as I awoke the next morning, and looked with amazement at +the figure which waddled across the room with a hoot in either hand—'what! +not Corny Delany, surely?' +</p> +<p> +'Ugh! that same,' said he, with a cranky croak. 'I don't wonder ye don't +know me; hardship's telling on me every day.' +</p> +<p> +Now really, in vindication of my father's household, in which Sir Corny +had been domesticated for the last two months, I must observe that the +alteration in his appearance was not exactly such as to justify his +remark; on the contrary, he had grown fatter and more ruddy, and looked in +far better case than I had ever seen him. His face, however, most +perseveringly preserved its habitual sour and crabbed expression, rather +increased, than otherwise, by his improved condition. +</p> +<p> +'So, Corny, you are not comfortable here, I find?' +</p> +<p> +'Comfortable! The ways of this place would kill the Danes! Nothing but +ringing bells from morning till night; carriages drivin' like wind up to +the door, and bang, bang away at the rapper; then more ringing to let them +out again; and bells for breakfast and for luncheon and the hall dinner; +and then the sight of vitals that's wasted—meat and fish and fowl +and vegetables without end. Ugh! the Haythins, the Turks! eating and +drinking as if the world was all their own.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, apparently they take good care of you in that respect' +</p> +<p> +'Devil a bit of care; here it's every man for himself. But I'll give +warning on Saturday; sorrow one o' me 'll be kilt for the like of them.' +</p> +<p> +'You prefer Ireland, then, Corny?' +</p> +<p> +'Who said I did?' said he snappishly; 'isn't it as bad there? Ugh, ugh! +the Captain won't rest aisy in his grave after the way he treated me—leaving +me here alone and dissolate in this place, amongst strangers!' +</p> +<p> +'Well, you must confess the country is not so bad.' +</p> +<p> +'And why would I confess it? What's in it that I don't mislike? Is it the +heap of houses and the smoke and the devil's noise that's always going on +that I'd like? Why isn't it peaceful and quiet like Dublin?' +</p> +<p> +And as I conversed further with him, I found that all his dislikes +proceeded from the discrepancy he everywhere discovered from what he had +been accustomed to in Ireland, and which, without liking, he still +preferred to our Saxon observances—the few things he saw worthy of +praise being borrowed or stolen from his own side of the Channel And in +this his ingenuity was striking, insomuch that the very trees in Woburn +Park owed their goodness to the owner having been once a Lord Lieutenant +in Ireland, where, as Corny expressed it, 'devil thank him to have fine +trees! hadn't he the pick of the Fhaynix?' +</p> +<p> +I knew that candour formed a most prominent feature in Mr. Delany's +character, and consequently had little difficulty in ascertaining his +opinion of every member of my family; indeed, to do him justice, no one +ever required less of what is called pumping. His judgment on things and +people flowed from him without effort or restraint, so that ere half an +hour elapsed he had expatiated on my mothers pride and vanity, +apostrophised my father's hastiness and determination, and was quite +prepared to enter upon a critical examination of my cousin Julia's +failings, concerning whom, to my astonishment, he was not half so lenient +as I expected. +</p> +<p> +'Arrah, isn't she like the rest of them, coorting one day with Captain +Phil, and another with the young lord there, and then laughing at them +both with the ould duke that comes here to dinner! She thinks I don't be +minding her; but didn't I see her taking myself off one day on paper—making +a drawing of me, as if I was a haste! Mayhe there's worse nor me,' said +the little man, looking down upon his crooked shins and large knee-joints +with singular complacency; 'and mayhe she'd get one of them yet.' À harsh +cackle, the substitute for a laugh, closed this speech. +</p> +<p> +'Breakfast on the table, sir,' said a servant, tapping gently at the door. +</p> +<p> +'I'll engage it is, and will be till two o'clock, when they'll be calling +out for luncheon,' said Corny, turning up the whites of his eyes, as +though the profligate waste of the house was a sin he wished to wash his +hands of. 'That wasn't the way at his honour the Jidge's; he'd never taste +a bit from morning till night; and many a man he 'd send to his long +account in the meantime. Ugh! I wish I was back there.' +</p> +<p> +'I have spent many happy days in Ireland, too,' said I, scarce following +him in more than the general meaning of his speech. +</p> +<p> +A fit of coughing from Corny interrupted his reply, but as he left the +room I could hear his muttered meditations, something in this strain: +'Happy days, indeed! A dacent life you led! tramping about the country +with a fool, horse-riding and fighting! Ugh!' +</p> +<p> +I found my cousin in the breakfast-room alone; my father had already gone +out; and as Lady Charlotte never left her room before three or four +o'clock, I willingly took the opportunity of our <i>tête-à-tête</i> to +inquire into the cause of the singular reception I had met with, and to +seek an explanation, if so might be, of the viceroy's change towards me +since his visit to England. +</p> +<p> +Julia entered frankly and freely into the whole matter, with the details +of which, though evidently not trusting me to the full, she was somehow +perfectly conversant. +</p> +<p> +'My dear John,' said she, 'your whole conduct in Ireland has been much +mistaken——' +</p> +<p> +'Calumniated, apparently, were the better word, Julia,' said I hastily. +</p> +<p> +'Nay, hear me out. It is so easy, when people have no peculiar reasons to +vindicate another, to misconstrue, perhaps condemn. It is so much the way +of the world to look at things in their worst light, that I am sure you +will see no particular ingenuity was required to make your career in +Dublin appear a wild one, and your life in the country still more so. Now +you are growing impatient; you are getting angry; so I shall stop.' +</p> +<p> +'No, no, Julia; a thousand pardons if a passing shade of indignation did +show itself in my face. Pray go on.' +</p> +<p> +'Well then, when a young gentleman, whose exclusive leanings were even a +little quizzed here—there, no impatience!—condescends at one +spring to frequent third-rate people's houses; falls in love with a niece, +or daughter, or a something there; plays high among riotous associates; +makes rash wagers; and fights with his friends, who endeavour to rescue +him——' +</p> +<p> +'Thank you, Julia—a thousand thanks, sweet cousin! The whole +narrative and its author are palpably before me.' +</p> +<p> +A deep blush covered her cheek as I rose hastily from my chair. +</p> +<p> +'John, dear John, sit down again,' said she, 'I have only been in jest all +this time. You surely do not suppose me silly enough to credit one word of +all this?' +</p> +<p> +'It must have been told you, however,' said I, fixing my eyes on her as I +spoke. +</p> +<p> +The redness of her cheek grew deeper, and her confusion increased to a +painful extent, as, taking my hand in hers, she said in a low, soft voice— +</p> +<p> +'I have been very, very foolish; but you will promise me never to remember—at +least never to act upon—the——' +</p> +<p> +The words became fainter and fainter as she spoke, and at last died away +inaudibly; and suddenly there shot across my mind the passage in O'Grady's +letter. The doubt once suggested, gained strength at every moment: she +loved De Vere. I will not attempt to convey the conflicting storm of +passion this thought stirred up within me. +</p> +<p> +I turned towards her. Her head was thrown gently back, and her deep-blue +lustrous eyes were fixed on me as if waiting my reply. A tear rolled +heavily along her cheek; it was the first I ever saw her shed. Pressing +her hand to my lips, I muttered the words, 'Trust me, Julia,' and left the +room. 'Sir George wishes to see you, sir, in his own room,' said a +servant, as I stood stunned and overcome by the discovery I had made of my +cousin's affection. I had no time given me for further reflection as I +followed the man to my father's room. +</p> +<p> +'Sit down, Jack,' said my father, as he turned the key in the door. 'I +wish to talk to you alone here. I have been with the duke this morning; a +little explanation has satisfied him that your conduct was perfectly +irreproachable in Ireland. He writes by this post to the viceroy to make +the whole thing clear, and indeed he offered to reinstate you at once—which +I refused, however. Now to something graver still, my boy, and which I +wish I could spare you; but it cannot be.' +</p> +<p> +As he spoke these words he leaned his head in both his hands, and was +silent. A confused, imperfect sense of some impending bad news almost +stupefied me, and I waited without speaking. When my father lifted up his +head his face was pale and care-worn, and an expression such as long +illness leaves had usurped the strong and manly character of his +countenance. +</p> +<p> +'Come, my boy, I must not keep you longer in suspense. Fortune has dealt +hardly with me since we parted. Jack, I am a beggar!' +</p> +<p> +A convulsive gulp and a rattling sound in the throat followed the words, +and for a second or two his fixed looks and purple colour made me fear a +fit was approaching. But in a few minutes he recovered his calmness, and +proceeded, still with a broken and tremulous voice, to relate the +circumstances of his altered fortune. +</p> +<p> +It appeared that many British officers of high rank had involved +themselves deeply in a loan to the Spanish Government, under the faith of +speedy repayment. The varying chances of the Peninsular struggle had given +this loan all the character of a gambling speculation, the skill in which +consisted in the anticipation of the result of the war we were then +engaged in. My father's sanguine hopes of ultimate success induced him to +enter deeply into the speculation, from which, having once engaged, there +was no retreat. Thousand after thousand followed, to secure the sum +already advanced; and at last, hard pressed by the increasing demands for +money, and confident that the first turn of fortune would lead to +repayment, he had made use of the greater part of my cousin Julia's +fortune, whose guardian he was, and in whose hands this trust-money had +been left My cousin would come of age in about four months, at which time +she would be eighteen; and then, if the money were not forthcoming, the +consequences were utter ruin, with the terrific blow of blasted character +and reputation. +</p> +<p> +There was a sum of ten thousand pounds settled on me by my grandfather, +which I at once offered to place at his disposal. +</p> +<p> +'Alas, my poor fellow! I have advanced already upwards of thirty thousand +of Julia's fortune! No, no, Jack, I have thought much over the matter; +there is but one way of escaping from this difficulty. By disposing of +these bonds at considerable loss, I shall be enabled to pay Julia's money. +This will leave us little better than above actual want; still, it must be +done. I shall solicit a command abroad; they'll not refuse me, I know. +Lady Charlotte must retire to Bath, or some quiet place, which in my +absence will appear less remarkable. Strict economy and time will do much. +And as to yourself, I know that having once learned what you have to look +to I shall have no cause of complaint on your score; the duke has promised +to take care of you. And now my heart is lighter than it has been for some +months past.' +</p> +<p> +Before my father had ceased speaking the shock of his news had gradually +subsided with me, and I was fully intent on the details by which he hoped +to escape his embarrassments. My mother was my first thought. Lady +Charlotte, I knew, could never encounter her changed condition; she was +certain to sink under the very shock of it. My father, however, supposed +that she need not be told its full extent; that, by management, the +circumstances should be gradually made known to her; and he hoped, too, +that her interest in her husband and son, both absent from her, would +withdraw her thoughts in great measure from the routine of fashionable +life, and fix them in a channel more homely and domestic. +</p> +<p> +'Besides,' added he, with more animation of voice, 'they may offer me some +military appointment in the colonies, where she could accompany me; and +this will prevent an exposure. And, after all, Jack, there is nothing else +for it.' As he said this he fixed his eyes on me, as though rather asking +than answering the question. +</p> +<p> +Not knowing what to reply, I was silent. +</p> +<p> +'You were fond of Julia, as a boy,' said he carelessly. +</p> +<p> +The blood rushed to my cheek, as I answered, 'Yes, sir; but—but——' +</p> +<p> +'But you have outgrown that?' added he, with a smile. +</p> +<p> +'Not so much, sir, as that she has forgotten me. In fact, I believe we are +excellent cousins.' +</p> +<p> +'And it is not now, my dear boy, I would endeavour to make you more to +each other. What is not a union of inclination shall never be one of +sordid interest. Besides, Jack, why should we not take the field together? +The very thought of it makes me feel young enough!' +</p> +<p> +I saw his lip quiver as he spoke; and unable to bear more, I wrung his +hand warmly, and hurried away. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0049" id="link2HCH0049"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER XLIX. THE HORSE GUARDS +</h2> +<p> +I will not say that my reverse of fortune did not depress me; indeed, the +first blow fell heavily; but that once past, a number of opposing motives +rallied my courage and nerved my heart. My father, I knew, relied on me in +this crisis to support his own strength. I had learned to care less for +extravagant habits and expensive tastes, by living among those who +accorded them little sympathy and less respect. Besides, if my changed +career excluded me from the race of fashion, it opened the brilliant path +of a soldier's life before me; and now every hour seemed an age, until I +should find myself among the gallant fellows who were winning their +laurels in the battlefields of the Peninsula. +</p> +<p> +According to the duke's appointment of the preceding evening I found +myself, at ten o'clock punctually, awaiting my turn to be introduced, in +the ante-chamber of the Horse Guards. The room was crowded with officers +in full dress. Some old white-haired generals of division had been coming +daily for years past to solicit commands, their fitness for which lay only +in their own doting imaginations; some, broken by sickness and crippled +with wounds, were seeking colonial appointments they never could live to +reach; hale and stout men in the prime of life were there also, entreating +exchanges which should accommodate their wives and daughters, who +preferred Bath or Cheltenham to the banks of the Tagus or the snows of +Canada. Among these, however, were many fine soldierlike fellows, whose +only request was to be sent where hard knocks were going, careless of the +climate and regardless of the cause. Another class were thinly sprinkled +around—young officers of the staff, many of them delicate, +effeminate-looking figures, herding scrupulously together, and never +condescending, by word or look, to acknowledge their brethren about them. +In this knot De Vere was conspicuous by the loud tone of his voice and the +continued titter of his unmeaning laugh. I have already mentioned the +consummate ease with which he could apparently forget all unpleasant +recollections, and accost the man whom he should have blushed to meet. Now +he exhibited this power in perfection; saluting me across the room with a +familiar motion of his hand, he called out— +</p> +<p> +'Ah, Hinton, you here, too? Sick of Ireland; I knew it would come to that. +Looking for something near town?' +</p> +<p> +A cold negative, and a colder bow, was my only answer. +</p> +<p> +Nothing abashed by this—indeed, to all seeming, quite indifferent to +it» he continued— +</p> +<p> +'Bad style of thing, Dublin; couldn't stand those con-founded talkers, +with their old jokes from circuit. <i>You</i> were horribly bored, too; I +saw it.' +</p> +<p> +'I beg, my lord,' said I, in a tone of seriousness, the best exchange I +could assume for the deep annoyance I felt—'I beg that you will not +include me in your opinions respecting Ireland; I opine we differ +materially in our impressions on that country, and perhaps not without +reason too. These latter words I spoke with marked emphasis, and fixing my +eyes steadily on him. +</p> +<p> +'Very possibly,' lisped he, as coolly as before. 'I left it without +regret; you apparently ought to be there still! Ha, ha, ha! he has it +there, I think.' +</p> +<p> +The blood mounted to my face and temples as I heard these words, and +stepping close up beside him, I said slowly and distinctly— +</p> +<p> +'I thought, sir, that one lesson might have taught you with whom these +liberties were practicable.' +</p> +<p> +As I said thus much the door opened, and his grace the Duke of York +appeared. Abashed at having so far forgotten where I was, I stood +motionless and crimson for shame. Lord Dudley, on the contrary, bowed +reverently to his Royal Highness, without the slightest evidence of +discomposure or irritation, his easy smile curling his lip. +</p> +<p> +The duke turned from one to the other of us without speaking, his dark +eyes piercing, as it were, into our very hearts. 'Lord Dudley de Vere,' +said he at length, 'I have signed your appointment. Mr. Hinton, I am sorry +to find that the voice I have heard more than once within the last five +minutes, in an angry tone, was yours. Take care, sir, that this +forgetfulness does not grow upon you. The colonel of the Twenty-seventh is +not the person to overlook it, I promise you.' +</p> +<p> +'If your Royal Highness——' +</p> +<p> +'I must entreat you to spare me any explanations. You are gazetted to the +Twenty-seventh. I hope you will hold yourself in readiness for immediate +embarkation. Where's the detachment, Sir Howard?' +</p> +<p> +'At Chatham, your Royal Highness,' replied an old officer behind the +duke's shoulder. At the same moment his grace passed through the room, +conversing as he went with different persons about him. +</p> +<p> +As I turned away, I met Lord Dudley's eyes. They were riveted on me with +an expression of triumphant malice I had never seen in them before, and I +hurried homeward with a heart crushed and wounded. +</p> +<p> +I have but one reason for the mention of this trivial incident. It is to +show how often the studied courtesy, the well-practised deception, that +the fashion of the world teaches, will prevail over the heartfelt, honest +indignation which deep feeling evinces; and what a vast superiority the +very affectation of temper confers, in the judgment of others who stand by +the game of life and care nothing for the players at either side. Let no +one suspect me of lauding the mockery of virtue in what I say here. I +would merely impress on the young man who can feel for the deep sorrow and +abasement I suffered the importance of the attainment of that +self-command, of that restraint over any outbreak of passion, when the +very semblance of it insures respect and admiration. +</p> +<p> +It is very difficult to witness with indifference the preference of those +we have once loved for some other person; still more so, when that other +chances to be one we dislike. The breach of affection seems then tinctured +with a kind of betrayal; we call to mind how once we swayed the temper and +ruled the thoughts of her who now has thrown off her allegiance; we feel, +perhaps for the first time too, how forgotten are all our lessons, how +dead is all our wonted influence; we remember when the least word, the +slightest action, bent beneath our will; when our smile was happiness and +our very sadness a reproof; and now we see ourselves unminded and +neglected, and no more liberty to advise, no more power to control, than +the merest stranger of the passing hour. What a wound to our self-love! +</p> +<p> +That my cousin Julia loved De Vere, O'Grady's suspicions had already +warned me; the little I had seen of her since my return strengthened the +impression, while his confident manner and assured tone confirmed my worst +fears. In my heart I knew how utterly unworthy he was of such a girl; but +then, if he had already won her affections, my knowledge came too late. +Besides, the changed circumstances of my own fortune, which must soon +become known, would render my interference suspicious, and consequently of +no value; and, after all, if I determined on such a course, what +allegation could I bring against him which he could not explain away as +the mere levity of the young officer associating among those he looked +down upon and despised? +</p> +<p> +Such were some of my reflections as I slowly returned homewards from the +Horse Guards. As I arrived, a travelling-carriage stood at the door; +boxes, imperials, and cap-cases littered the hall and steps; servants were +hurrying back and forward, and Mademoiselle Clémence, my mother's maid, +with a poodle under one arm and a macaw's cage in the other, was adding to +the confusion by directions in a composite language that would have +astonished Babel itself. +</p> +<p> +'What means all this?' said I. 'Is Lady Charlotte leaving town?' +</p> +<p> +'Miladi va partir——' +</p> +<p> +'Her ladyship's going to Hastings, sir,' said the butler, interrupting. +'Dr. T——-has been here this morning and recommends an +immediate change of air for her ladyship.' +</p> +<p> +'Is Sir George in the house?' +</p> +<p> +'No, sir, he's just gone out with the doctor.' +</p> +<p> +Ah, thought I, this then is a concerted measure to induce my mother to +leave town. 'Is Lady Julia at home?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, sir, in the drawing-room.' +</p> +<p> +'Whose horse is that with the groom?' 'Lord Dudley de Vere's, sir; he's +upstairs.' Already had I turned to go to the drawing-room, when I heard +these words. Suddenly, a faint, half-sick feeling came over me, and I +hastened upstairs to my own room, actually dreading to meet any one as I +went. The blank future before me never seemed so cheerless as at that +moment—separated, without a chance of ever meeting, from the only +one I ever really loved; tortured by my doubts of her feeling for me (for +even now what would I not have given to know she loved me!) my worldly +prospects ruined; without a home; my cousin Julia, the only one who +retained either an interest in me or seemed to care for me, about to give +her hand to the man I hated and despised. 'How soon, and I shall be alone +in the world!' thought I; and already the cold selfishness of isolation +presented itself to my mind. +</p> +<p> +A gentle tap came to the door. I opened it; it was a message from Lady +Charlotte, requesting to see me in her room. As I passed the door of the +drawing-room I heard Lady Julia and Lord de Vere talking and laughing +together. He was, as usual, 'so amusing,' as my mother's letter called him—doubtless, +relating my hasty and intemperate conduct at the Horse Guards. For an +instant I stopped irresolute as to whether I should not break suddenly in, +and disconcert his lordship's practical coolness by a disclosure: my +better reason prevented me, and I passed on. Lady Charlotte was seated in +a deep arm-chair, inspecting the packing of various articles of toilette +and jewelry which were going on around her, her cheek somewhat flushed +from even this small excitement. +</p> +<p> +'Ah, dearest John, how d'ye do? Find a chair somewhere, and sit down by +me; you see what confusion we 're in. Dr. Y—— found there was +not an hour to spare; the heart he suspects to be sympathetically engaged—don't +put that Chantilly veil there, I shall never get at it—and he +advises Hastings for the present. He's coming with us, however—I'll +wear that ring, Clémence—and I must insist at his looking at you. +You are very pale to-day, and dark under the eyes; have you any pain in +the side?' +</p> +<p> +'None whatever, my dear mother; I'm quite well.' +</p> +<p> +'Pain is, however, a late symptom; my attack began with an—a sense +of—it was rather—— Has Bundal not sent back that +bracelet? How very provoking! Could you call there, dear John?—that +tiresome man never minds the servants—it's just on your way to the +club, or the Horse Guards, or somewhere.' +</p> +<p> +I could scarce help a smile, as I promised not to forget the commission. +</p> +<p> +'And now, my dear, how did his grace receive you? You saw him this +morning?' +</p> +<p> +'My interview was quite satisfactory on the main point. I am appointed to +the Twenty-seventh.' +</p> +<p> +'Why not on the staff, dear John? You surely don't mean to leave England! +Having been abroad already—in Ireland I mean—it's very hard to +expect you to go so soon again. Lady Jane Colthurst's son has never been +farther from her than Knightsbridge; and I'm sure I don't see why we are +to be treated worse than she is.' +</p> +<p> +'But my own wish——' +</p> +<p> +'Your own wish, my dear, could never be to give me uneasiness, which I +assure you you did very considerably while in Ireland. The horrid people +you made acquaintance with—my health, I'm certain, could never +sustain a repetition of the shock I experienced then.' +</p> +<p> +My mother leaned back and closed her eyes, as if some very dreadful +circumstance was passing across her memory; and I, half ashamed of the +position to which she would condemn me, was silent. +</p> +<p> +'There, that aigrette will do very well there, I'm sure. I don't know why +you are putting in all these things; I shall never want them again, in all +likelihood.' +</p> +<p> +The depressed tone in which these words were spoken did not affect me +much; for I knew well, from long habit, how my mother loved to dwell on +the possibility of that event, the bare suggestion of which, from another, +she couldn't have endured. +</p> +<p> +Just at this moment Julia entered in her travelling dress, a shawl thrown +negligently across her shoulders. +</p> +<p> +'I hope I have not delayed you. John, are we to have your company too?' +</p> +<p> +'No, my dear,' said my mother languidly, 'he's going to leave us. Some +foolish notion of active service——' +</p> +<p> +'Indeed!' said Julia, not waiting for the conclusion of the speech—'indeed!' +She drew near me, and as she did so her colour became heightened, and her +dark eyes grew darker and more meaning. 'You never told me this!' +</p> +<p> +'I only knew it about an hour ago myself,' replied I coolly; 'and when I +was about to communicate my news to you I found you were engaged with a +visitor—Lord de Vere, I think.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah, yes, very true; he was here,' she said quickly; and then perceiving +that my eyes were fixed upon her, she turned her head hastily, and in +evident confusion. +</p> +<p> +'Dear me, is it so late?' said my mother with a sigh. 'I have some calls +to make yet. Don't you think, John, you could take them off my hands? It's +only to drop a card at Lady Blair's; and you could ask if Caroline 's +better—though, poor thing, she can't be, of course; Dr. Y—— +says her malady is exactly my own. And then if you are passing Long's, +tell Sir Charles that our whist-party is put off—perhaps Grammont +has told him already. You may mention to Saunders that I shall not want +the horses till I return; and say I detest greys, they are so like city +people's equipages; and wait an instant'—here her ladyship took a +small ivory memorandum tablet from the table, and began reading from it a +list of commissions, some of them most ludicrously absurd. In the midst of +the catalogue my father entered hastily with his watch in his hand. +</p> +<p> +'You'll be dreadfully late on the road, Charlotte; and you forget Y—— +must be back here early to-morrow.' +</p> +<p> +'So I had forgotten it,' said she with some animation; 'but we're quite +ready now. Clémence has done everything, I think. Come, John, give me your +arm, my dear: Julia always takes this side. Are you certain it won't rain, +Sir George?' +</p> +<p> +'I really cannot be positive,' said my father, smiling. +</p> +<p> +'I'm sure there's thunder in the air,' rejoined my mother; 'my nerves +would never bear a storm.' +</p> +<p> +Some dreadful catastrophe in the West Indies, where an earthquake had +swallowed up a whole population, occurred to her memory at the instant, +and the possibility of something similar occurring between Seven Oaks and +Tunbridge seemed to engross her entire attention. By this time we reached +the hall, where the servants, drawn up in double file, stood in respectful +silence. My mother's eyes were, however, directed upon a figure which +occupied the place next the door, and whose costume certainly was +strangely at variance with the accurate liveries about him. An old white +greatcoat with some twenty capes reaching nearly to the ground (for the +garment had been originally destined for a much larger person), a glazed +hat fastened down with a handkerchief passed over it and tied under the +chin, and a black-thorn stick with a little bundle at the end of it were +his most remarkable equipments. +</p> +<p> +'What is it? What can it be doing there?' said my mother, in a Siddons +tone of voice. +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0028" id="linkimage-0028"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/3-0081.jpg" alt="3-0081" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +'What is it? Corny Delany, no less,' croaked out the little man in the +crankiest tone of his harsh voice. 'It's what remains of me, at laste!' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, yes,' said Julia, bursting into a laugh, 'Corny's coming as my +bodyguard. He'll sit in the rumble with Thomas.' +</p> +<p> +'What a shocking figure it is!' said my mother, surveying him through her +glass. +</p> +<p> +'Time doesn't improve either of us,' said Corny, with the grin of a demon. +Happily the observation was only heard by myself. 'Is it in silk stockings +I'd be trapesing about the roads all night, with the rheumatiz in the +small of my back! Ugh! the Haythina!' +</p> +<p> +My mother was at length seated in the carriage, with Julia beside her—the +hundred and one petty annoyances to make travelling uncomfortable, by way +of rendering it supportable, around her; Corny had mounted to his place +beside Thomas, who regarded him with a look of as profound contempt as a +sleek, well-fed pointer would confer upon some mangy mongrel of the +roadside; a hurried good-bye from my mother, a quick, short glance from +Julia, a whisper lost in the crash of the wheels—and they were gone. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0050" id="link2HCH0050"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER L. THE RETREAT FROM BURGOS +</h2> +<p> +Few men have gone through life without passing through certain periods +which, although not marked by positive misfortune, were yet so impressed +by gloom and despondence that their very retrospect is saddening. Happy it +is for us that in after days our memory is but little retentive of these. +We remember the shadows that darkened over the landscape, but we forget in +great part their cause and their duration, and perhaps even sometimes are +disposed to smile at the sources of grief to which long habit of the world +and its ways would have made us callous. +</p> +<p> +I was almost alone in the world—bereft of fortune, separated +irrevocably from the woman I loved, and by whom I had reason to think my +affection was returned. In that home to which I should have looked for +fondness I found only gloom and misfortune—my mother grown +insensible to everything save some frivolous narrative of her own health; +my father, once high-spirited and freehearted, care-worn, depressed, and +broken; my cousin, my early playfellow, half sweetheart and half sister, +bestowing her heart and affections on one so unworthy of her. All lost to +me—and at a time, too, when the heart is too weak and tender to +stand alone, but must cling to something, or it sinks upon the earth, +crushed and trodden upon. +</p> +<p> +I looked back upon my past life, and thought over the happy hours I had +spent in the wild west, roaming through its deep valleys and over its +heath-clad mountains. I thought of her my companion through many a long +summer day by the rocky shore, against which the white waves were ever +beating, watching the sea-birds careering full many a fathom deep below +us, their shrill cries mixing with the wilder plash of the ever-restless +sea—and how we dreamed away those hours, now half in sadness, now in +bright hope of long years to come, and found ourselves thus wandering hand +in hand, loved and loving; and then I looked out upon the bleak world +before me, without an object to win, without a goal to strive at. +</p> +<p> +'Come, Jack,' said my father, laying his hand on my shoulder, and +startling me out of my reverie, 'one piece of good fortune we have had. +The duke has given me the command at Chatham; some hint of my altered +circumstances, it seems, had reached him, and without my applying, he most +kindly sent for me and told me of my appointment. You must join the +service companies of the Twenty-seventh by to-morrow; they are under +sailing-orders, and no time is to be lost. I told his grace that for all +your soft looks and smooth chin there was no lack of spirit in your heart; +and you must take an eagle, Jack, if you would keep up my credit.' +</p> +<p> +Laughingly spoken as these few words were, they somehow struck upon a +chord that had long lain silent in my heart, and as suddenly awoke in me +the burning desire for distinction, and the ambitious thirst of military +glory. +</p> +<p> +The next evening at sunset the transport weighed anchor and stood out to +sea. A slight breeze off shore and an ebb-tide carried us gently away from +land; and as night was falling I stood alone, leaning on the bulwarks, and +looking fixedly on the faint shadows of the tall chalk-cliffs, my father's +last words, 'You must take an eagle, Jack!' still ringing in my ears, and +sinking deeply into my heart. +</p> +<p> +Had my accidents by flood and field been more numerous and remarkable than +they were, the recently-told adventures of my friend Charles O'Malley +would prevent my giving them to the public. The subaltern of a marching +regiment—a crack corps, it is true—I saw merely the ordinary +detail of a campaigning life; and although my desire to distinguish myself +rose each day higher, the greatest extent of my renown went no further +than the admiration of my comrades that one so delicately nurtured and +brought up should bear so cheerfully and well the roughings of a soldier's +life; and my sobriquet of 'Jack Hinton, the Guardsman,' was earned among +the stormy scenes and blood-stained fields of the Peninsula. +</p> +<p> +My first experiences of military life were indeed but little encouraging. +I joined the army in the disastrous retreat from Burgos. What a shock to +all my cherished notions of a campaign! How sadly different to my ideas of +the pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war! I remember well we +first came up with the retiring forces on the morning of the 4th of +November. The day broke heavily; masses of dark and weighty clouds drifted +across the sky. The ground was soaked with rain, and a cold, chilling wind +swept across the bleak plain, and moaned dismally in the dark pine-woods. +Our party, which consisted of drafts from the Fiftieth, Twenty-seventh, +and Seventy-first regiments, were stationed in a few miserable hovels on +the side of the highroad from Madrid to Labeyos. By a mistake of the way +we had missed a body of troops on the preceding day, and were now halted +here in expectation of joining some of the corps retiring on the +Portuguese frontier. Soon after daybreak a low rumbling sound, at first +supposed to be the noise of distant cannonading, attracted our attention; +but some stragglers coming up soon after, informed us that it proceeded +from tumbrels and ammunition-waggons of Sir Lowry Cole's brigade, then on +the march. The news was scarcely communicated, when the head of a column +appeared topping the hill. +</p> +<p> +As they came nearer, we remarked that the men did not keep their ranks, +but strayed across the road from side to side; some carried their muskets +by the sling, others on the shoulder; some leaned on their companions, as +though faint and sick; and many there were whose savage looks and bloated +features denoted drunkenness. The uniforms were torn and ragged; several +of the men had no shoes, and some even had lost their caps and shakos, and +wore handkerchiefs bound round their heads. Among these the officers were +almost undistinguishable; fatigue, hardship, and privation had levelled +them with the men, and discipline scarcely remained in that disorganised +mass. On they came, their eyes bent only on the long vista of road that +lay before them. Some, silent and sad, trudged on side by side; others, +maddened by drink or wild with the excitement of fever, uttered frightful +and horrible ravings. Some flourished their bayonets, and threatened all +within their reach; and denunciations of their officers and open avowals +of desertion were heard on every side as they went. The bugle sounded a +halt as the column reached the little hamlet where we were stationed; and +in a few seconds the road and the fields at either side were covered with +the figures of the men, who threw themselves down on the spot where they +stood, in every posture that weariness and exhaustion could suggest. +</p> +<p> +All the information we could collect was that this force formed part of +the rear-guard of the army; that the French under Marshal Soult were hotly +in pursuit, having already driven in the cavalry outposts, and more than +once throwing their skirmishers amongst our fellows. In a few minutes the +bugle again sounded to resume the march; and however little disposed to +yield to the dictates of discipline, yet old habit, stronger than even +lawless insubordination, prevailed; the men rose, and falling in with some +semblance of order, continued their way. Nothing struck me more in that +motley mass of ragged uniform and patched clothing than the ferocious, +almost savage, expression of the soldiers as they marched past our better +equipped and better disciplined party. Their dark scowl betokened deadly +hate; and I could see the young men of our detachment quail beneath the +insulting ruffianism of their gaze. Every now and then some one or other +would throw down his pack or knapsack to the ground, and with an oath +asseverate his resolve to carry it no longer. Some even declared they +would abandon their muskets; and more than one sat down by the wayside, +preferring death or imprisonment from the enemy to the horrors and +severities of that dreadful march. +</p> +<p> +The Highland regiments and the Guards alone preserved their former +discipline; the latter, indeed, had only lately joined the army, having +landed at Corunna a few weeks previously, and were perfect in every +species of equipment. Joining myself to a group of their officers, I +followed in the march, and was enabled to learn some tidings of my friend +O'Grady, who, I was glad to hear, was only a few miles in advance of us, +with his regiment. +</p> +<p> +Towards three o'clock we entered a dark pine-wood, through which the route +continued for several miles. Here the march became extremely difficult, +from the deep clayey soil, the worn and cut-up road, and more than all the +torrents of rain that swept along the narrow gorge, and threw a darkness +almost like night over everything. We plodded on gloomily and scarcely +speaking, when suddenly the galloping of horses was heard in the rear, and +we were joined by Sir Edward Paget, who, with a single aide-de-camp, rode +up to our division. After a few hurried questions to the officer in +command, he wheeled his horse round, and rode back towards the next +column, which, from some accidental delay, was yet two miles in the rear. +The sound of the horse's hoofs was still ringing along the causeway, when +a loud shout, followed by the sharp reports of pistol-firing, mingled with +the voice. In an instant all was as still as before, and save the crashing +of the pine-branches and the beating rain, no other sound was heard. +</p> +<p> +Our conjectures as to the cause of the firing were just making, when an +orderly dragoon, bareheaded and wounded, came up at the top of his horse's +speed. The few hurried words he spoke in a half-whisper to our commanding +officer were soon reported through the lines. Sir Edward Paget, our second +in command, had been taken prisoner, carried away by a party of French +cavalry, who were daring enough to dash in between the columns, which in +no other retreat had they ventured to approach. The temerity of our enemy, +added to our own dispirited and defenceless condition, was the only thing +wanting to complete our gloom and depression, and the march was now +resumed in the dogged sullenness of despair. +</p> +<p> +Day followed day, and all the miseries of our state but increased with +time, till on the morning of the 17th the town of Ciudad Rodrigo came in +view, and the rumour spread that stores of all kinds would be served out +to the famished troops. +</p> +<p> +By insubordination and intemperance we had lost seven thousand men since +the day the retreat from Burgos began, and although neither harassed by +night marches nor excessive journeys, losing neither guns, ammunition, nor +standards, yet was the memorable document addressed by Wellington to the +officers commanding divisions but too justly merited, concluding in these +words:— +</p> +<p> +'The discipline of every army, after a long and active campaign, becomes +in some degree relaxed; but I am concerned to observe that the army under +my command has fallen off in this respect to a greater degree than any +army with which I have ever been, or of which I have ever read.' +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0051" id="link2HCH0051"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER LI. A MISHAP +</h2> +<p> +If I began my career as a soldier at one of the gloomiest periods of our +Peninsular struggle, I certainly was soon destined to witness one of the +most brilliant achievements of our arms in the opening of the campaign of +1813. +</p> +<p> +On the 22nd of May the march began—that forward movement, for the +hour of whose coming many a heart had throbbed, and many a bosom beat +high. From Ciudad Rodrigo to the frontier our way led through the scenes +of former glory; and if the veterans of the army exulted at once again +beholding the battlefields where victory had crowned their arms, the new +soldiers glowed with ambition to emulate their fame. As for myself, short +as the period had been since I quitted England, I felt that my character +had undergone a very great change; the wandering fancies of the boy had +sobered down into the more fixed, determined passions of the man. The more +I thought of the inglorious indolence of my former life, the stronger was +now my desire to deserve a higher reputation than that of a mere lounger +about a court, the military accompaniment of a pageant. Happily for me, I +knew not at the time how few opportunities for distinction are afforded by +the humble position of a subaltern; how seldom occasions arise where, amid +the mass around him, his name can win praise or honour. I knew not this; +and my reverie by day, my dream by night, presented but one image—that +of some bold, successful deed, by which I should be honourably known and +proudly mentioned, or my death be that of a brave soldier in the field of +glory. +</p> +<p> +It may be remembered by my reader that in the celebrated march by which +Wellington opened that campaign whose result was the expulsion of the +French armies from the Peninsula, the British left, under the command of +Graham, was always in advance of the main body. Their route traversed the +wild and dreary passes of the Tras-os-Montes, a vast expanse of country, +with scarcely a road to be met with, and but few inhabitants; the solitary +glens and gloomy valleys, whose echoes had waked to no other sounds save +those of the wild heron or the eagle, were now to resound with the +thundering roll of artillery waggons, the clanking crash of cavalry +columns, or the monotonous din of the infantry battalions, as from sunrise +to sunset they poured along—now scaling the rugged height of some +bold mountain, now disappearing among the wooded depths of some dark +ravine. +</p> +<p> +Owing to a temporary appointment on the staff, I was continually passing +and repassing between this portion of the army and the force under the +immediate command of Lord Wellington. Starting at daybreak, I have set off +alone through these wild untravelled tracts, where mountains rose in +solemn grandeur, their dark sides wooded with the gloomy cork-tree, or +rent by some hissing torrent whose splash was the only sound that broke +the universal silence—now dashing on with speed across the grassy +plain, now toiling along on foot, the bridle on my arm—I have seen +the sun go down and never heard a human voice, nor seen the footsteps of a +fellow-man; and yet what charms had those lonely hours for me, and what a +crowd of blissful thoughts and happy images they yet bring back to me! The +dark glen, the frowning precipice, the clear rivulet gurgling on amid the +mossy stones, the long and tangled weeds that hung in festoons down some +rocky cliff, through whose fissured sides the water fell in heavy drops +into a little basin at its foot—all spoke to me of the happiest +hours of my life, when, loved and loving, I wandered on the livelong day. +How often, as the day was falling, have I sat down to rest beneath some +tall beech, gazing on the glorious expanse of mountain and valley, hill +and plain, and winding river—all beneath me; and how, as I looked, +have my thoughts wandered away from those to many a far-off mile; and then +what doubts and hopes would crowd upon met Was I forgotten? Had time and +distance wiped away all memory of me? Was I as one she had never seen, or +was she still to me as when we parted? In such moments as these how often +have I recurred to our last meeting at the holy well—and still, I +own it, some vague feeling of superstition has spoken hope to my heart, +when reason alone had bid me despair. +</p> +<p> +It was at the close of a sultry day—the first of June; I shall not +readily forget it—that, overcome by fatigue, I threw myself down +beneath the shelter of a grove of acacias, and, tethering my horse with +his bridle, fell into one of my accustomed reveries. The heat of the day, +the drowsy hum of the summer insects, the very monotonous champ of my +horse, feeding beside me—all conspired to make me sleepy, and I fell +into a heavy slumber. My dreams, like my last-waking thoughts, were of +home; but, strangely enough, the scenes through which I had been +travelling, the officers with whom I was intimate, the wild guerilla +chiefs who from time to time crossed my path or shared my bivouac, were +mixed up with objects and persons many a mile away, making that odd and +incongruous collection which we so often experience in sleep. A kind of +low, unbroken sound, like the tramp of cavalry over grass, awoke me; but +still, such was my drowsiness that I was again about to relapse into +sleep, when the sound of a manly voice, singing at the foot of the rock +beneath me, fully aroused me. I started up, and, peeping cautiously over +the head of the cliff, beheld to my surprise and terror a party of French +soldiers stretched upon the greensward around a fire. It was the first +time I had ever seen the imperial troops, and notwithstanding the danger +of my position, I felt a most unaccountable longing to creep nearer and +watch their proceedings. The sounds I had heard at first became at this +moment more audible; and on looking down the glen I perceived a party of +about twenty dragoons cantering up the valley. They were dressed in the +uniform of the Chasseur Légers, and in their light-blue jackets and +silvered helmets had a most striking and picturesque effect. +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0029" id="linkimage-0029"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/3-0092.jpg" alt="3-0092" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +My astonishment at their appearance was not diminished by the figure who +rode gaily along at their head. She was a young and pretty-looking girl, +dressed in a blue frock and jean trousers; a light foraging-cap, with the +number of the regiment worked in silver on the front, and a small canteen +suspended from one shoulder by a black belt completed her equipment. Her +hair, of a glossy black, was braided richly at either side of her face, +and a couple of bows of light blue attested a degree of coquetry the rest +of her costume gave no evidence of. She rode <i>en cavalier</i>; and the +easy attitude in which she sat, and her steady hand on the bridle, denoted +that the regimental riding-school had contributed to her accomplishments. +I had heard before of the Vivandières of the French army, but was in +nowise prepared for the really pretty figure and costume I now beheld. +</p> +<p> +As the riding-party approached, the others sprang to their feet, and +drawing up in line performed a mock salute, which the young lady returned +with perfect gravity; and then, carelessly throwing her bridle to the one +nearest, she dismounted. In a few moments the horses were picketed; the +packs were scattered about the grass; cooking utensils, provisions, and +wine were distributed; and, amid a perfect din of merry voices and +laughter, the preparations for dinner were commenced. Mademoiselle's part, +on the whole, amused me not a little. Not engaging in any of the various +occupations about her, she seated herself on a pile of cavalry cloaks at a +little distance from the rest, and taking out a much-worn and +well-thumbed-looking volume from the pocket of her coat, she began to read +to herself with the most perfect unconcern of all that was going on about +her. Meanwhile the operations of the <i>cuisine</i> were conducted with a +despatch and dexterity that only French soldiers ever attain to; and, +shall I confess it, the rich odour that steamed upwards from the +well-seasoned <i>potage</i>, the savoury smell of the roast kid, albeit +partaking of onions, and the brown breasts of certain <i>poulets</i> made +me wish heartily that for half an hour or so I could have changed my +allegiance, converted myself into a <i>soldat de la garde</i>, and led +Mademoiselle in to dinner. +</p> +<p> +At length the party beneath had arranged their meal upon the grass; and +the corporal, with an air of no inconsiderable pretension, took +Mademoiselle's hand to conduct her to the place of honour at the head of +the feast—calling out as he did, 'Place, Messieurs, place pour +Madame la Duchesse de—de——' +</p> +<p> +'N'importe quoi,' said another; 'the Emperor has many a battle to win yet, +and many a kingdom and a duchy to give away. As for myself, I count upon +the <i>bâton</i> of a marshal before the campaign closes.' +</p> +<p> +'Have done, I beg you, with such folly, and help me to some of that <i>salmi</i>,' +said the lady, with a much more practical look about her than her +expression a few moments before denoted. +</p> +<p> +The feast now progressed with all the clatter which little ceremony, +hearty appetites, and good-fellowship produce. The wine went round freely, +and the <i>qui propos</i>, if I might judge from their mirth, were not +wanting; for I could but catch here and there a stray word or so of the +conversation. +</p> +<p> +All this time my own position was far from agreeable. Independent of the +fact of being a spectator of a good dinner and a jolly party while +famishing with hunger and thirst, my chance of escape depended either on +the party moving forward, or being so insensible from the effects of their +carouse that I might steal away unobserved. While I balanced with myself +which of these alternatives was more likely, an accident decided the +question. My horse, who up to this moment was grazing close beside me, +hearing one of the troop-horses neigh in the valley beneath, pricked up +his ears, plunged upwards, broke the bridle with which I had fastened him, +and cantered gaily down into the midst of the picketed animals. In an +instant every man sprang to his legs; some rushed to their holsters and +drew forth their pistols; others caught up their sabres from the grass; +and the young lady herself tightened her girth and sprang into her saddle +with the alacrity of one accustomed to moments of danger. All was silence +now for a couple of minutes, except the slight noise of the troopers +engaged in bridling their horses and fixing on their packs, when a loud +voice called out, '<i>Voilà!</i>; and the same instant every eye in the +party was directed to my shako, which hung on a branch of a tree above me, +and which up to this moment I had forgotten. Before I could determine on +any line of escape, three of the number had rushed up the rock, and with +drawn sabres commanded me to surrender myself their prisoner. There was no +choice; I flung down my sword with an air of sulky resignation, and +complied. My despatches, of which they soon rifled me, sufficiently +explained the cause of my journey, and allayed any apprehensions they +might have felt as to a surprise party. A few brief questions were all +they put to me; and then, conducting me down the cliff to the scene of +their bivouac, they proceeded to examine my holsters and the flaps of my +saddle for any papers which I might have concealed in these places. +</p> +<p> +'Eh, bien! mon colonel,' said the leader of the party, as he drew himself +up before me, and carried his hand to his cap in a salute as respectful +and orderly as though I were his officer, 'what say you to a little supper +ere we move forward?' +</p> +<p> +'There's the bill of fare.' said another, laughing, as he pointed to the +remnant of roast fowls and stewed kid that covered the grass. +</p> +<p> +I was too young a soldier to comport myself at the moment with that +philosophic resignation to circumstances which the changeful fortunes of +war so forcibly instil, and I merely answered by a brief refusal, while +half unconsciously I threw my eyes around to see if no chance of escape +presented itself. +</p> +<p> +'No, no,' cried the corporal, who at once read my look and its meaning; +'don't try <i>that</i>, or you reduce me to the extremity of trying <i>this</i>,' +patting, as he spoke, the butt of his carbine with an air of easy +determination there was no mistaking. +</p> +<p> +'Let me rather recommend Monsieur le Capitaine to try this,' said the +Vivandière, who, unperceived by me, was all this while grilling the half +of a <i>poulet</i> over the embers. +</p> +<p> +There was something in the kindness of the act, coupled as it was with an +air of graceful courtesy, that touched me; so, smothering all my regretful +thoughts at my mishap, I summoned up my best bow and my best French to +acknowledge the civility, and the moment after was seated on the grass +beside Mademoiselle Annette, discussing my supper with the appetite of a +man whose sorrows were far inferior to his hunger. +</p> +<p> +As the moon rose, the party, who evidently had been waiting for some +others they expected, made preparations for continuing their journey, the +first of which consisted in changing the corporal's pack and equipments to +the back of my English thoroughbred, his own meagre and raw-boned +quadruped being destined for me. Up to this instant the thought of escape +had never left my mind. I knew I could calculate on the speed of my horse; +I had had some trials of his endurance, and the only thing was to obtain +such a start as might carry me out of bullet range at once, and all was +safe. Now this last hope deserted me, as I beheld the miserable hack to +which I was condemned; and yet, poignant as this feeling was—shall I +confess it?—it was inferior in its pain to the sensation I +experienced as I saw the rude French soldier, with clumsy jack-boots and +heavy hand, curvetting about upon my mettlesome charger, and exhibiting +his paces for the amusement of his companions. +</p> +<p> +The order was now given to mount, and I took my place in the middle file—the +dragoons on either side of me having unslung their carbines, and given me +laughingly to understand that I was to be made a riddle of if I attempted +an escape. +</p> +<p> +The long months of captivity that followed have, somehow, I cannot at all +explain why, left no such deep impression on my mind as the simple events +of that night. I remember it still like a thing of yesterday. We travelled +along the crest of a mountain, the valley lying in deep, dark shadow +beneath; the moon shone brightly out upon the grey granite rocks beside +us; our pace was sometimes pushed to a fast trot, and then relaxed to a +walk, the better, as it appeared to me, to indulge the conversational +tastes of my escort than for any other reason. Their spirits never flagged +for a moment; some jest or story was ever going forward—some +anecdote of the campaign, or some love adventure, of which the narrator +was the hero, commented on by all in turn with a degree of sharp wit and +ready repartee that greatly surprised me. In all these narratives +Mademoiselle played a prominent part, being invariably referred to for any +explanation which the difficulties of female character seemed to require, +her opinion on such points being always regarded as conclusive. At times, +too, they would break forth into some rude hussar song, some regular +specimen of camp lyric poetry, each verse being sung by a different +individual, and chorussed by the whole party in common. I have said that +these trifling details have left a deep impression behind them. Stranger +still, one of those wild strains haunts my memory yet; and strikingly +illustrative as it is, not only of those songs in general but of that +peculiar mixture of levity and pathos, of reckless heartlessness and deep +feeling so eminently French, I cannot help giving it to my reader. It +represents the last love-letter of a soldier to his mistress, and runs +thus:— +</p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +LE DERNIER ADIEU DU SOLDAT + +I + +'Rose, l'intention d'la présente +Est de t' informer d'ma santé. +L'armée française est triomphante, +Et moi j'ai l'bras gauche emporté. +Nous avons eu d'grands avantages; +La mitraille m'a brisé les os, +Nous avons pris arm's et baggages; +Pour ma part j'ai deux bals dans l'dos. + +II + +'J' suis à l'hôpital d'où je pense +Partir bientôt pour chez les morts. +J' t'envois dix francs qu' celui qui me panse +M'a donnés pour avoir mon corps. +Je me suis dit puisq'il faut que je file, +Et que ma Rose perd son épouseur, +Ça fait que je mourrai plus tranquille +D'savoir que j'lui laiss' ma valeur. + +III + +'Lorsque j'ai quitté ma vieil l'mère, +Elle s'expirait sensiblement; +A rarrivée d'ma lettre j'espère +Qu'ell' sera morte entièrement; +Car si la pauvre femme est guérite +Elle est si bonne qu'elle est dans le cas +De s' faire mourir de mort subite +A la nouvelle de mon trépas. + +IV + +'Je te recommand' bien, ma p'tit' Rose, +Mon bon chien; ne l'abandonn' pas; +Surtout ne lui dis pas la chose +Qui fait qu'il ne me reverra pas— +Lui qu' je suis sûr se fait une fête +De me voir rev'nir caporal; +Il va pleurer comme une bête, +En apprenant mon sort fatal. + +V + +'Quoiqu' ça c'est quelqu' chose qui m'enrage +D'être fait mourir loin du pays— +Au moins quand on meurt au village, +On peut dire bonsoir aux amis, +On a sa place derrière l'église +On a son nom sur un' croix de bois, +Et puis on espèr' qu' la payse +Viendra pour prière quelque fois. + +VI + +'Adieu, Rose I adieu! du courage! +A nous r'voir il n' faut plus songer; +Car au régiment où je m'engage +On ne vous accorde pas de congé. +Via tout qui tourne =! j' n'y vois goutte! +Ah, c'est fini! j' sens que j' m'en vas; +J' viens de recevoir ma feuill' de route; +Adieu t Rose, adieu! n' m'oubli' pas.' +</pre> +<p> +Fatigue and weariness, that seemed never to weigh upon my companions, more +than once pressed heavily on me. As I awoke from a short and fitful +slumber the same song continued; for having begun it, somehow it appeared +to possess such a charm for them they could not cease singing, and the +</p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +'Adieu! Rose, adieu! n' m'oubli' pas,' +</pre> +<p> +kept ringing through my ears till daybreak. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0052" id="link2HCH0052"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER LII. THE MARCH +</h2> +<p> +Such, with little variety, was the history of each day and night of our +march—the days usually passed in some place of security and +concealment, while a reconnaissance would be made by some three or four of +the party; and, as night fell, the route was continued. +</p> +<p> +One incident alone broke the monotony of the journey. On the fourth night +we left the mountain and descended into a large open plain, taking for our +guide the course of a river which seemed familiar to my companions. The +night was dark; heavy masses of cloud concealed the moon, and not a star +was visible; the atmosphere was close and oppressive, and there reigned +around a kind of unnatural stillness, unbroken by the flow of the sluggish +river which moved on beside us. Our pace had been a rapid one for some +time; and contrary to their wont the dragoons neither indulged in their +gay songs nor merry stories, but kept together with more of military +precision than they had hitherto assumed. I conjectured from this that we +were probably approaching the French lines; and on questioning the +corporal, was told that such was the case. +</p> +<p> +A little after midnight we halted for a few moments to refresh the horses. +Each man dismounted, and stood with his hand upon the bridle; and I could +not but mark how the awful silence of the hour seemed to prey upon their +spirits as they spoke together in low and broken whispers, as if fearful +to interrupt the deep sleep of Nature. It was just then that every eye was +directed to a bright star that burst out above the horizon, and seemed to +expand gradually into a large mass of great brilliancy, and again to +diminish to a mere speck—which it remained for some time, and then +disappeared entirely. We continued gazing on the dark spot where this +phenomenon had appeared, endeavouring by a hundred conjectures to explain +it. Wearied at length with watching, we were about to continue our +journey, when suddenly from the quarter from where the star had shone a +rocket shot up into the dark sky and broke into ten thousand brilliant +fragments, which seemed to hang suspended on high in the weight of the +dense atmosphere. Another followed, and another; then, after a pause of +some minutes, a blue rocket was seen to mount into the air, and explode +with a report which even at the distance we stood was audible. Scarcely +had its last fragments disappeared in the darkness when a low rumbling +noise, like the booming of distant thunder, seemed to creep along the +ground. Then came a rattling volley, as if of small-arms; and at last the +whole horizon burst into a red glare, which forked up from earth to sky +with a crash that seemed to shake the very ground beneath us. Masses of +dark, misshapen rock sprang into the blazing sky; millions upon millions +of sparks glittered through the air; and a cry, like the last expiring +wail of a drowning crew, rose above all other sounds—and all was +still. The flame was gone; the gloomy darkness had returned; not a sound +was heard; but in that brief moment four hundred of the French army met +their graves beneath the castle of Burgos, which in their hurried retreat +they had blown up, without apprising the troops who were actually marching +beneath its very walls. +</p> +<p> +Our route was now resumed in silence; even the levity of the French +soldiers had received a check; and scarcely a word passed as we rode on +through the gloomy darkness, anxiously looking for daybreak, to learn +something of the country about us. +</p> +<p> +Towards sunrise we found ourselves at the entrance of a mountain pass +traversed by the Ebro, which in some places almost filled the valley, and +left merely a narrow path between its waters and the dark cliffs that +frowned above. Here we proceeded—sometimes in single file; now +tracing the signs of the retreating force which had just preceded us, now +lost in astonishment at the prodigious strength of the position thus +abandoned. But even these feelings gave way before a stronger one—our +admiration of the exquisite beauty of the scenery. Glen after glen was +seen opening as we advanced into this wide valley, each bearing its +tributary stream to the mighty Ebro—the clear waters reflecting the +broken crags, the waving foliage, and the bright verdure that beamed +around, as orange-trees, laurels, and olives bent over the current, or +shot up in taper spires towards the clear blue sky. How many a sheltered +nook we passed, with an involuntary longing to rest and linger among +scenes so full of romantic beauty! But already the din of the retreating +column was borne towards us on the breeze, the heavy, monotonous roll of +large guns and caissons; while now and then we thought we could catch the +swell of martial music blending through the other sounds. But soon we came +up with waggons carrying the wounded and sick, who, having joined by +another road, had fallen to the rear of the march. From them we learned +that the King of Spain, Joseph himself, was with the advanced guard, and +that the destination of the forces was Vittoria, where a junction with the +<i>corps darmée</i> of the other generals being effected, it was decided +on giving battle to the Anglo-Spanish army. +</p> +<p> +As we advanced, our progress became slower and more difficult; close +columns of infantry blocked up the road, or dense masses of cavalry, with +several hundred led horses and baggage mules, prevented all chance of +getting forward. Gradually, however, the valley widened, the mountain +became less steep; and by evening we reached a large plain, closed towards +the north-east by lofty mountains, which I learned were the Pyrenees, and +beheld in the far distance the tall spires of the city of Vittoria. +Several roads crossed the plain towards the city, all of which were now +crowded with troops—some pressing on in the direction of the town, +others taking up their position and throwing up hasty embankments and +stockades. Meanwhile the loaded waggons, with the spoil of the rich +convents and the royal treasure, were seen wending their slow way beneath +the walls of Vittoria on the road to Bayonne, escorted by a strong cavalry +force, whose bright helmets and breastplates pronounced them Cuirassiers +de la Garde. The animation and excitement of the whole scene was truly +intense, and as I rode along beside the corporal, I listened with +eagerness to his account of the various regiments as they passed hither +and thither and took up their positions on the wide plain. +</p> +<p> +'There, look yonder,' said he, 'where that dark mass is defiling beside +the pine wood! See how they break into parties; watch them, how they +scatter along the low bank beside the stream under shelter of the +brushwood. There were eight hundred men in that battalion: where are they +now? All concealed—they are the tirailleurs of the army; and see on +that low mound above them where the flag is flying—the guns are +about to occupy that height. I was right, you see; there they come, six, +seven, eight pieces of heavy metal. <i>Sacrebleu!</i> that must be a place +of some consequence.' +</p> +<p> +'What are the troops yonder with the red tufts in their caps, and scarlet +trousers?' +</p> +<p> +'<i>Ah, parbleu!</i> your countrymen will soon know to their cost: they +are the Infanterie de la Garde. There's not a man in the column you are +looking at who is not <i>decoré</i>.' +</p> +<p> +'Look at this side, monsieur! See the Chasseurs à Cheval,' said Annette, +putting her hand on my arm, while her bright eyes glanced proudly at the +glittering column which advanced by a road near us—coming along at a +sharp trot, their equipment clattering, their horses highly conditioned, +and the splendid uniform of light blue and silver giving them a most +martial air. +</p> +<p> +'Bah!' said the corporal contemptuously, 'these are the dragoons to my +taste.' So saying, he pointed to a dark column of heavy cavalry, who led +their horses slowly along by a narrow causeway; the long black horse-hair +trailed from their dark helmets with something of a gloomy aspect, to +which their flowing cloaks of deep blue added. +</p> +<p> +'The Cuirassiers de Milhauds. But look—look yonder! <i>Tonnerre de +ciel!</i> see that!' +</p> +<p> +The object to which my attention was now directed was a park of artillery +that covered the whole line of road from the Miranda pass to the very +walls of Vittoria. +</p> +<p> +'Two hundred, at least,' exclaimed he, after counting some twenty or +thirty of the foremost. '<i>Ventre bleu!</i> what chance have you before +the batteries of the Guard?' +</p> +<p> +As he spoke, the drums beat across the wide plain; a continuous dull roll +murmured along the ground. It ceased; the trumpets brayed forth a call; a +clanging crash followed, and I saw that the muskets were brought to the +shoulder, as the bayonets glanced in the sun and the sharp sabres +glittered along the squadrons. For a second or two all was still, and then +the whole air was rent with a loud cry of '<i>Vive le Roi!</i>' while a +mounted party rode slowly from the left, and entering one of the gates of +the city disappeared from our sight. Night was now beginning to fail, as +we wended our way slowly along towards the walls of Vittoria—it +being the corporal's intention to deliver his prisoner into the hands of +the <i>état major</i> of Marshal Jourdan. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0053" id="link2HCH0053"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER LIII. VITTORIA +</h2> +<p> +What a contrast to the scene without the walls did the city of Vittoria +present! Scarcely had we left behind us the measured tread of moving +battalions, the dark columns of winding cavalry, when we entered streets +brilliantly lighted. Gorgeous and showy equipages turned everywhere; music +resounded on all sides; servants in splendid liveries made way for ladies +in all the elegance of evening dress, enjoying the delicious coolness of a +southern climate at sunset; groups of officers in full uniform chatted +with their fair friends from the balconies of the large majestic houses; +the sounds of gaiety and mirth were heard from every open lattice, and the +chink of the castanet and the proud step of the fandango echoed around us. +</p> +<p> +Women, dressed in all the perfection of Parisian coquetry, loitered along +the streets, wondering at the strange sights the Spanish city afforded—themselves +scarcely less objects of wonder to the dark-eyed senoras, who, with +close-drawn mantillas, peered cautiously around them to see the strangers. +Young French officers swaggered boastfully about with the air of +conquerors, while now and then some tall and swarthy Spaniard might be +seen lowering with gloomy frown from under the broad shadow of his +sombrero, as if doubting the evidence of his own senses at seeing his +native city in the occupation of the usurper. +</p> +<p> +In the open plazas, too, the soldiers were picketed, and stood in parties +around their fires, or lay stretched on the rich tapestries they had +carried away as spoils from the southern provinces. Cups and goblets of +the rarest handiwork and of the most costly materials were strewn about +them. The vessels of the churches; the rich cloths of gold embroidery that +had decorated the altars; pictures, the <i>chefs-d'oeuvre</i> of the first +masters—all were there, in one confused heap, among baskets of +fruit, wine-skins, ancient armour, and modern weapons. From time to time +some brilliant staff would pass, usually accompanied by ladies, who seemed +strangely mixed up with all the military display of the scene. +</p> +<p> +My guide, after conversing for a few moments with a <i>sous-officier</i> +of his regiment, turned from the Plaza into a narrow street, the +termination to which was formed by a large building now brilliantly lit +up. As we approached, I perceived that two sentries were on guard at the +narrow gate, and a large banner, with the imperial 'N' in the centre, +waved heavily over the entrance. 'This is <i>le quartier général,</i> said +the corporal, dropping his voice respectfully, as we drew near. At the +same instant a young officer, whose long plume bespoke him as an +aide-de-camp, pushed past us; but, turning hastily round, said something I +could not catch to the corporal. 'Bien, mon lieutenant,' said the latter, +carrying his hand to his shako. 'Follow me, monsieur,' said the officer, +addressing me, and the next moment I found myself in a large and richly +furnished room, when having motioned me to be seated, he left me. +</p> +<p> +My meditations, such as they were, were not suffered to be long, for in a +few seconds the aide-de-camp made his appearance, and with a low bow +requested me to accompany him. +</p> +<p> +'The general will receive you at once,' said he. +</p> +<p> +I eagerly asked his name. +</p> +<p> +'Le Général Oudinot.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah, the Marshal?' +</p> +<p> +'No; his brother. I perceive you are a young soldier; so let me give you a +hint. Don't mind his manner; “c'est un brave homme” at bottom, but'—the +loud burst of laughter from a room at the end of the corridor drowned the +conclusion of his speech, and before I had time for another question the +door opened, and I was introduced. +</p> +<p> +In a small but richly furnished chamber sat four officers round a table +covered with a magnificent display of silver cups and plate, and upon +which a dessert was spread, with flasks of French and Spanish wine, and a +salver holding cigars; a book, apparently an orderly book, was before +them, from which one of the party was reading as I came in. As the +aide-de-camp announced me they all looked up, and the general, for I knew +him at once, fixing his eyes steadily on me, desired me to approach. +</p> +<p> +As I obeyed his not very courteous order, I had time to perceive that the +figure before me was that of a stout, square-built man of about fifty-five +or sixty. His head was bald; his eyebrows, of a bushy grey, were large and +meeting. A moustache of the same grizzly appearance shaded his lip, and +served to conceal two projecting teeth, which, when he spoke, displayed +themselves like boar's tusks, giving a peculiarly savage expression to his +dark and swarthy countenance. The loose sleeve of his coat denoted that he +had lost his left arm high up; but whenever excited, I could see that the +short stump of the amputated limb jerked convulsively in a manner it was +painful to look at. +</p> +<p> +'What, a deserter! a spy! Eh, what is it, Alphonse?' +</p> +<p> +The aide-de-camp, blushing, whispered some few words rapidly, and the +general resumed— +</p> +<p> +'Ha! Be seated, monsieur.' The officers of the imperial army know how to +treat their prisoners; though, <i>pardieu</i>, they can't teach their +enemies the lesson! You have floating prisons, they tell me, in England, +where my poor countrymen die of disease and starvation. <i>Sacré Dieu!</i> +what cruelty!' +</p> +<p> +'You have been misinformed, General. The nation I belong to is uniformly +humane to all whom chance of war has made its prisoners, and never forgets +that the officers of an army are gentlemen.' +</p> +<p> +'Ha! what do you mean?' said he, becoming dark with passion, as he half +rose from his seat; then, stopping suddenly short, he continued in a voice +of suppressed anger, 'Where are your troops? What number of men has your +Villainton got with him?' +</p> +<p> +'Of course,' said I, smiling, 'you do not expect me to answer such +questions.' +</p> +<p> +'Do you refuse it?' said he, with a grim smile. +</p> +<p> +'I do distinctly refuse,' was my answer. +</p> +<p> +'What rank do you hold in your service?' +</p> +<p> +'I am but a subaltern.' +</p> +<p> +'<i>Tenez!</i>' said another of the party, who for some time past had been +leisurely conning over the despatches which had been taken from me, 'You +are called “capitaine” here, monsieur.' +</p> +<p> +'Ha! ha! What say you to that?' cried the general exultingly. 'Read it, +Chamont.' +</p> +<p> +'“The despatches which Captain Airey will deliver——” +</p> +<p> +Is it not so?' said he, handing me the paper. +</p> +<p> +'Yes,' said I coolly; 'he is the senior aide-de-camp; but being employed +on General Graham's staff, now occupied in the pursuit of your army——' +</p> +<p> +'<i>Mille tonnerres!</i> Young man, you have chosen an unsuitable place to +cut your jokes!' +</p> +<p> +'Sa Majesté le Roi,' said an aide-de-camp, entering hastily, and throwing +the door open to its full extent; and scarcely had the party time to rise +when the Emperor's brother appeared. +</p> +<p> +Of the middle size, pale, and with a thoughtful, expressive countenance, +Joseph Bonaparte's appearance was much in his favour. His forehead was +lofty and expansive, his eye large and full, and the sweet smile which +seemed the gift of every member of the family he possessed in perfection. +After a few words with General Oudinot, whose rough manner and coarse +bearing suffered no change by his presence, he turned towards me, and with +much mildness of voice and courtesy of demeanour inquired if I were +wounded. On hearing that I was not, he expressed a hope that my captivity +would be of brief duration, as exchanges were already in progress. +'Meanwhile,' said he, 'you shall have as little to complain of as +possible.' +</p> +<p> +As he concluded these few but to me most comforting words, I received a +hint from the aide-de-camp to withdraw, which I did, into an adjoining +room. The same aide-de-camp by whom I had hitherto been accompanied now +joined me, and, slapping me familiarly on the shoulder, cried out— +</p> +<p> +'<i>Eh, bien!</i> I hope now you are satisfied. Joseph is a fine, generous +fellow, and will take care not to forget his promise to you. Meanwhile, +come and take a share of my supper.' +</p> +<p> +He opened a door in the wainscot as he spoke, and introduced me into a +perfectly-fitted-up little boudoir, where a supper had been laid out for +him. Another cover was soon provided for me, and in a few minutes we were +seated at table, chatting away about the war and the opposing armies, as +though instead of partisans we had merely been lookers-on at the great +game before us. My companion, though but a year or two older than myself, +held the grade of colonel, every step to which he won at the point of his +sword; he was strikingly handsome, and his figure, though slight, +powerfully knit. As the champagne passed back and forward between us, +confidences became interchanged, and before midnight sounded I found my +companion quite familiar with the name of Louisa Bellew, while to my equal +astonishment I was on terms of perfect intimacy with a certain lovely +marquise of the Chaussée d'Antin. The tinkle of a sharp bell suddenly +called the aide-de-camp to his legs; so drinking off a large goblet of +cold water, and taking up his chapeau, he left the room. +</p> +<p> +I now threw myself back into my chair, and, tossing off a bumper of +champagne, began to reason myself into the belief that there were worse +things even than imprisonment among the French. Flitting thoughts of the +past, vague dreams of the future, confused images of the present, were all +dancing through my brain, when the door again opened, and I heard my +companion's footsteps behind me. +</p> +<p> +'Do you know, Alphonse,' said I, without turning in my chair, 'I have been +seriously thinking of making my escape? It is quite clear that a battle is +not far off; and, by Jove! if I only have the good fortune to meet with +your <i>chef d état major</i>, that savage old Oudinot, I'll pledge myself +to clear off scores with him.' +</p> +<p> +A half chuckle of laughter behind induced me to continue:— +</p> +<p> +'That old fellow certainly must have risen from the ranks—not a +touch of breeding about him. I'm certain his Majesty rated him soundly for +his treatment of me, when I came away. I saw his old moustaches bristling +up; he knew he was in for it.' +</p> +<p> +A louder laugh than at first, but in somewhat of a different cadence, +induced me to torn my head, when what was my horror to see before me, not +my new friend the aide-de-camp, but General Oudinot himself, who all this +time had been listening to my polite observations regarding his future +welfare! There was a savage exultation in his look as his eye met mine, +and for a second or two he seemed to enjoy my confusion too much to permit +him to break silence. At last he said— +</p> +<p> +'Are you on parole, sir?' +</p> +<p> +'No,' I briefly replied, 'nor shall I be.' +</p> +<p> +'What, have I heard you aright? Do you refuse your parole?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes; I shall not pledge myself against attempting my escape the very +first opportunity that offers.' +</p> +<p> +'Indeed,' said he slowly, 'indeed! What is to become of poor General +Oudinot if such a casualty take place? But come, sir, I have his Majesty's +orders to accept your parole; if you refuse it, you are then at <i>my</i> +disposal. I have received no other instructions about you. Yes or no—I +ask you for the last time.' +</p> +<p> +'No! distinctly no!' +</p> +<p> +'C'est bien; holla, garde! numéro dix et onze.' +</p> +<p> +Two soldiers of the grenadiers, with fixed bayonets, appeared at the door; +a few hurried words were spoken, the only part of which I could catch was +the word <i>cachot</i> I was at once ordered to rise; a soldier walked on +either side of me, and I was in this way conducted through the city to the +prison of the gendarmerie, where for the night I was to remain, with +orders to forward me the next morning at daybreak, with some Spanish +prisoners, on the road to Bayonne. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0054" id="link2HCH0054"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER LIV. THE RETREAT +</h2> +<p> +My cell, for such it was, although dignified with the appellation of +chamber, looked out by a small window upon a narrow street, the opposite +side to which was formed by the wall of a churchyard pertaining to a +convent. As day broke, I eagerly took my place at the casement to watch +what was going on without; but except some bareheaded figure of a monk +gliding along between the dark yew avenues, or some female in deep +mourning passing to her morning's devotions beside the grave of a +relative, I could see nothing. A deep silence seemed to brood over the +city, so lately the scene of festivity and mirth. Towards four o'clock, +however, I could hear the distant roll of drums, which gradually extended +from the extreme right to the left of the plain before the town; then I +heard the heavy monotonous tramp of marching, broken occasionally by the +clank of the brass bands of the cavalry, or the deep sullen thunder of the +artillery waggons as they moved along over the paved roads. The sounds +came gradually nearer; the trumpets too joined the clamour with the shrill +reveille, and soon the streets towards the front of the prison re-echoed +with the unceasing clatter of troops moving forward. I could hear the +voices of the officers calling to the men to move up; heard more than once +the names of particular regiments, as some distinguished corps were +passing. The music of the bands was quick and inspiriting; and as some +popular air was struck up, the men would break forth suddenly into the +words, and the rough-voiced chorus rang through the narrow streets, and +fell heavily on my own heart as I lay there a prisoner. Hour after hour +did this continue, yet the silence behind remained as unbroken as ever; +the lonely churchyard, with its dark walks and sad-looking trees, was +still and deserted. By degrees the din in front diminished; regiments +passed now only at intervals, and their pace, increased to a run, left no +time for the bands; the cavalry, too, trotted rapidly by, and at last all +was still as in the gloomy street before me. +</p> +<p> +It was now eight o'clock, and no summons had yet come to me, although I +had heard myself the order for our marching on the Bayonne road by +sunrise. The prison was still as the grave; not a step could I hear; not a +bolt nor a hinge creaked. I looked to the window, but the strong iron +grating that defended it left no prospect of escape; the door was even +stronger, and there was no chimney. The thought occurred to me that the +party had forgotten me, and had gone away with the other prisoners. This +thought somehow had its consolation; but the notion of being left to +starve came suddenly across me, and I hastened to the window to try and +make myself known to some chance passer-by. +</p> +<p> +Just then the loud boom of a gun struck upon my ear; another followed, +louder still; and then a long heavy crashing noise, which rose and fell as +the wind bore it, told me that the work of death had begun. The sound of +the large guns, which at first came only at intervals, now swelled into +one loud continuous roar, that drowned all other noise. The strong frames +of the windows shook, and the very ground beneath my feet seemed to +tremble with the dreadful concussion of the artillery; sometimes the din +would die away for a few seconds, and then, as the wind freshened, it +would swell into a thunder so loud as to make me think the battle was +close to where I stood. Hour after hour did this continue; and now, +although the little street beside me was thronged with many an anxious +group, I no longer thought of questioning them. My whole soul was wrapped +up in the one thought—that of the dreadful engagement; and as I +listened, my mind was carrying on with itself some fancied picture of the +fight, with no other guide to my imaginings than the distant clangour of +the battle. Now I thought that the French were advancing, that their +battery of guns had opened; and I could imagine the dark mass that moved +on, their tall shakos and black belts peering amidst the smoke that lay +densely in the field. On they poured, thousand after thousand; ay, there +goes the fusilade—the platoons are firing. But now they halt; the +crash of fixing bayonets is heard; a cheer breaks forth; the cloud is +rent; the thick smoke is severed as if by a lightning flash; the red-coats +have dashed through at the charge; the enemy waits not; the line wavers +and breaks; down come the cavalry, like an eagle on the swoop! But again +the dread artillery opens; the French form beneath the lines, and the +fight is renewed. +</p> +<p> +The fever of my mind was at its height. I paced my room with hurried +steps, and springing to the narrow casement, held my ear to the wall to +listen. Forgetting where I was, I called out as though at the head of my +company, with the wild yell of the battle around me, and the foe before +me. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly the crowd beneath the window broke; the crash of cavalry +equipments resounded through the street, and the head of a squadron of +cuirassiers came up at a trot, followed by a train of baggage-waggons, +with six horses to each; the drivers whipped and spurred their cattle, and +all betokened haste. From the strength of the guard and the appearance of +the waggons, I conjectured that they were the treasures of the army—an +opinion in which I was strengthened by the word 'Bayonne' chalked in large +letters on a chest thrown on the top of a carriage. Some open waggons +followed, in which the invalids of the army lay, a pale and sickly mass; +their lack-lustre eyes gazed heavily around with a stupid wonder, like men +musing in a dream. Even they, however, had arms given them, such was the +dread of falling into the hands of the guerilla bands who infested the +mountain passes, and who never gave quarter even to the wounded and the +dying. +</p> +<p> +The long file at length passed, but only to make way for a still longer +procession of Spanish prisoners, who, bound wrist to wrist, marched +between two files of mounted gendarmes. The greater number of these were +mountaineers, guerillas of the south, condemned to the galleys for life, +their bronzed faces and stalwart figures a striking contrast to their pale +and emaciated companions, the inhabitants of the towns, who could scarce +drag their weary limbs along, and seemed at every step ready to sink +between misery and privation. The ribald jests and coarse language of the +soldiers were always addressed to these, there seeming to be a kind of +respect for the bolder guerillas even in the hour of their captivity. The +tramp of led horses, the roll of waggons, the cracking of whips, mingled +with the oaths of muleteers and the fainter cries of the sick, now filled +the air, and only occasionally did the loud cannonade rise above them. +From every window faces appeared, turned with excited eagerness towards +the dense crowds; and though I could perceive that inquiries as to the +fate of the day were constantly made and answered, my ignorance of Spanish +prevented my understanding what was said. +</p> +<p> +The noise in front of the prison, where the thoroughfare was wider and +larger, far exceeded that around me; and at last I could hear the steps of +persons marching overhead, and ascending and descending the stairs. Doors +clapped and slammed on every side; when, suddenly, the door of my own cell +was shaken violently, and a voice cried out in French, 'Try this; I passed +twice without perceiving it.' The next moment the lock turned, and my room +was filled with dragoons, their uniforms splashed and dirty, and evidently +bearing the marks of a long and severe march. +</p> +<p> +'Are you the Guerilla Guiposcoa de Condeiga?' said one of the party, +accosting me, as I stood wrapped up in my cloak. +</p> +<p> +'No; I am an English officer.' +</p> +<p> +'Show your epaulettes, then,' said another, who knew that Spanish officers +never wore such. +</p> +<p> +I opened my cloak, when the sight of my red uniform at once satisfied +them. At this instant a clamour of voices without was heard, and several +persons called out, 'We have him! here he is!' The crowd around me rushed +forth at the sound; and following among them I reached the street, now +jammed up with horse and foot, waggons, tumbrels, and caissons—some +endeavouring to hasten forward towards the road to Bayonne; others as +eagerly turned towards the plain of Vittoria, where the deafening roll of +artillery showed the fight was at its fiercest. The dragoons issued forth, +dragging a man amongst them whose enormous stature and broad chest towered +above the others, but who apparently made not the slightest resistance as +they hurried him forward, shouting, as they went, '<i>A la grand' place!—à +la place!</i>' +</p> +<p> +It was the celebrated Guerilla Guiposcoa, who had distinguished himself by +acts of heroic daring, and sometimes by savage cruelty towards the French, +and who had fallen into their hands that morning. Anxious to catch a +glance at one of whom I had heard so often, I pressed forward among the +rest, and soon found myself in the motley crowd of soldiers and +townspeople that hurried towards the Plaza. +</p> +<p> +Scarcely had I entered the square when the movement of the multitude was +arrested, and a low whispering murmur succeeded to the deafening shouts of +vengeance and loud cries of death I had heard before; then came the deep +roll of a muffled drum. I made a strong effort to press forward, and at +length reached the rear of a line of dismounted dragoons who stood leaning +on their carbines, their eyes steadily bent on a figure some twenty paces +in front. He was leisurely employed in divesting himself of some of his +clothes, which, as he took off, he piled in a little heap beside him; his +broad guerilla hat, his dark cloak, his sheep's-wool jacket slashed with +gold, fell one by one from his hand, and his broad manly chest at last lay +bare, heaving with manifest pride and emotion, as he turned his dark eyes +calmly around him. Nothing was now heard in that vast crowd save when some +low, broken sob of grief would burst from the close-drawn mantillas of the +women, as they offered up their heartfelt prayers for the soul of the +patriot. +</p> +<p> +A low parapet wall, surmounted by an iron railing, closed in this part of +the Plaza, and separated it from a deep and rapid river that flowed +beneath—a branch of the Ebro. Beyond, the wide plain of Vittoria +stretched away towards the Pyrenees; and two leagues distant the scene of +the battle was discernible, from the heavy mass of cloud that lowered +overhead, and the deep booming of the guns that seemed to make the air +tremulous. +</p> +<p> +The Spaniard turned his calm look towards the battlefield, and for an +instant his dark eye flashed back upon his foes with an expression of +triumphant daring, which seemed as it were to say, 'I am avenged already!' +A cry of impatience burst from the crowd of soldiers, and the crash of +their firelocks threatened that they would not wait longer for his blood. +But the guerilla's manner changed at once, and holding up a small ebony +crucifix before him, he seemed to ask a moment's respite for a short +prayer. +</p> +<p> +The stillness showed his request was complied with; he turned his back +towards the crowd, and placing the crucifix on the low parapet, he bent +down on both his knees, and seemed lost in his devotions. As he rose I +thought I could perceive that he threw a glance, rapid as lightning, over +the wall towards the river that flowed beneath. He now turned fully round; +and unfastening the girdle of many a gay colour that he wore round his +waist, he threw it carelessly on his left arm; and then, baring his breast +to the full, knelt slowly down, and with his arms wide apart called out in +Spanish, 'Here is my life! come, take it!' The words were scarcely +uttered, when the carbines clanked as they brought them to the shoulder; +the sergeant of the company called out the words, '<i>Donnez!</i>' a pause—'<i>Feu!</i>' +The fusilade rang out, and as my eyes pierced the smoke I could see that +the guerilla had fallen to the earth, his arms crossed upon his bosom. +</p> +<p> +A shriek wild and terrific burst from the crowd. The blue smoke slowly +rose, and I perceived the French sergeant standing over the body of the +guerilla, which lay covered with blood upon the turf. A kind of convulsive +spasm seemed to twitch the limbs, upon which the Frenchman drew his sabre. +The rattle of the steel scabbard rang through my heart; the bright weapon +glanced as he raised it above his head. At the same instant the guerilla +chief sprang to his legs; he tottered as he did so, for I could see that +his left arm hung powerless at his side, but his right held a long +poniard. He threw himself upon the Frenchman's bosom; a yell followed, and +the same moment the guerilla sprang over the battlements, and with a loud +splash dropped into the river beneath. The water had scarce covered his +body, as the Frenchman fell a corpse upon the ground. +</p> +<p> +A perfect roar of madness and rage burst from the French soldiers, as, +rushing to the parapet, a hundred balls swept the surface of the river; +but the tall reeds of the bank had already concealed the bold guerilla, +whose left arm had received the fire of the soldiers, who now saw the +meaning of that quick movement by which he had thrown his girdle around +it. The incident was but the work of a few brief moments; nor was there +longer time to think on it, for suddenly a squadron of cavalry swept past +at the full speed of their horses, calling out the words, 'Place there! +Make way there in front! The ambulance! the ambulance!' +</p> +<p> +A low groan of horror rose around; the quick retreat of the wounded +betokened that the battle was going against the French; the words 'beaten +and retreat' reechoed through the crowd; and as the dark suspicion crept +amid the moving mass, the first waggon of the wounded slowly turned the +angle of the square, a white flag hanging above it. I caught but one +glance of the sad convoy; but never shall I forget that spectacle of blood +and agony. Torn and mangled, they lay an indiscriminate heap—their +faces blackened with powder, their bodies shattered with wounds. High +above the other sounds their piercing cries rent the air, with mingled +blasphemies and insane ravings. Meanwhile the drivers seemed only anxious +to get forward, as, deaf to every prayer and entreaty, they whipped their +horses and called out to the crowd to make way. +</p> +<p> +Escape was now open; but where could I go? My uniform exposed me to +immediate detection; should I endeavour to conceal myself, discovery would +be my death. The vast tide of people that poured along the streets was a +current too strong to stem, and I hesitated what course to follow. My +doubts were soon resolved for me; an officer of General Oudinot's staff, +who had seen me the previous night, rode up close to where I stood, and +then turning to his orderly, spoke a few hurried words. The moment after, +two heavy dragoons, in green uniform and brass helmets, came up, one at +either side of me; without a second's delay one of them unfastened a coil +of small rope that hung at his saddle-bow, which with the assistance of +the other was passed over my right wrist and drawn tight. In this way, +secured like a malefactor, I was ordered forward. In vain I remonstrated; +in vain I told them I was a British officer; to no purpose did I reiterate +that hitherto I had made no effort to escape. It is not in the hour of +defeat that a Frenchman can behave either with humanity or justice. A +volley of <i>sacrés</i> was the only answer I received, and nothing was +left me but to yield. +</p> +<p> +Meanwhile the tumult and confusion of the town was increasing every +minute. Heavy waggons inscribed in large letters, 'Domaine extérieure de +sa Majesté l'Empereur,' containing the jewels and treasures of Madrid, +passed by, drawn by eight and sometimes ten horses, and accompanied by +strong cavalry detachments. Infantry regiments, blackened with smoke and +gunpowder, newly arrived from the field, hurried past to take up positions +on the Bayonne road to protect the retreat; then came the nearer din and +crash of the artillery as the French army were falling back upon the town. +</p> +<p> +Scarcely had we issued from the walls of the city when the whole scene of +flight and ruin was presented to our eyes. The country for miles round was +one moving mass of fugitives; cannon, waggons, tumbrels, wounded soldiers, +horsemen, and even splendid equipages were all mixed up together on the +Pampeluna road, which lay to our right. The march was there intercepted by +an overturned waggon; the horses were plunging, and the cries of wounded +men could be heard even where we were. The fields at each side of the way +were soon spread over by the crowd, eager to press on. Guns were now +abandoned and thrown into ditches and ravines; the men broke their +muskets, and threw the fragments on the roadside, and vast magazines of +powder were exploded here and there through the plain. +</p> +<p> +But my attention was soon drawn to objects more immediately beside me. The +Bayonne road, which we now reached, was the last hope of the retiring +army. To maintain this line of retreat strong detachments of infantry, +supported by heavy guns, were stationed at every eminence commanding the +position; but the swooping torrent of the retreat had left little time for +these to form, many of whom were borne along with the flying army. +Discipline gave way on every side; the men sprang upon the waggons, +refusing to march; the treasures were broken open and thrown upon the +road. Frequently the baggage-guard interchanged shots and sabre-cuts with +the infuriated soldiers, who only thought of escape; and the ladies, who +but yesterday were the objects of every care and solicitude, were hurried +along amid that rude multitude—some on foot, others glad to be +allowed to take a place in the ambulance among the wounded, their dresses +blood-stained and torn, adding to the horror and misery of the scene. +</p> +<p> +Such was the prospect before us. Behind, a dark mass hovered as if even +yet withstanding the attack of the enemy, whose guns thundered clearer and +clearer every moment. Still the long line of wounded came on—some in +wide open carts, others stretched upon the gun-carriages, mangled and +bleeding. Among these my attention was drawn to one whose head having +fallen over the edge of the cart was endangered by every roll of the heavy +wheel that grazed his very skull. There was a halt, and I seized the +moment to assist the poor fellow as he lay thus in peril. His helmet had +fallen back, and was merely retained by the brass chain beneath his chin; +his temples were actually cleft open by a sabre-cut, and I could see that +he had also received some shot-wounds in the side, where he pressed his +hands, the blood welling up between the fingers. As I lifted the head to +place it within the cart, the eyes opened and turned fully upon me. A +faint smile of gratitude curled his lip; I bent over him, and to my horror +recognised in the mangled and shattered form before me the gallant fellow +with whom the very night before I had formed almost a friendship. The word +'cold,' muttered between his teeth, was the only answer I could catch as I +called him by his name. The order to march rang out from the head of the +convoy, and I had barely time to unfasten my cloak and throw it over him +ere the waggon moved on. I never saw him after. +</p> +<p> +A squadron of cavalry now galloped past, reckless of all before them; the +traces of their artillery were cut, and the men, mounting the horses, +deserted the guns, and rode for their lives. In the midst of the flying +mass a splendid equipage flew past, its six horses lashed to madness by +the postillions; a straggling guard of honour galloped at either side, and +a grand <i>écuyer</i> in scarlet, who rode in front, called out +incessantly, 'Place, place, pour sa Majesté!' But all to no purpose; the +road, blocked up by broken waggons, dense crowds of horse and foot, dead +and dying, soon became impassable. An effort to pass a heavily-loaded +waggon entangled the coach; the axle was caught by the huge waggon; the +horses plunged when they felt the restraint, and the next moment the royal +carriage was hurled over on its side, and fell with a crash into the +ravine at the roadside. While the officers of his staff dismounted to +rescue the fallen monarch, a ribald burst of laughter rose from the crowd, +and a pioneer actually gave the butt of his carbine to assist the king as, +covered with mud, he scrambled up the ditch. I had but an instant to look +upon his pale countenance, which even since the night before seemed to +have grown many years older, ere I was myself dragged forward among the +crowd. +</p> +<p> +Darkness now added its horror to the scene of riot and confusion. The +incessant cries of the fugitives told that the English cavalry were upon +them; the artillery came closer and closer, and the black sky was +traversed by many a line of fire, as the shells poured down upon the +routed army. The English guns, regardless of roads, dashed down on the +terrified masses, raining balls and howitzer-shells on every side. Already +the cheers of my gallant countrymen were within my hearing, and amid all +the misery and danger around me my heart rose proudly at the glorious +victory they had gained. +</p> +<p> +Meanwhile my escort, whose feeling towards me became more brutal as their +defeat was more perceptible, urged me forward with many an oath and +imprecation. Leaving the main road, we took the fields, already crowded +with the infantry. At last, as the charges of the English came closer, my +escort seemed to hesitate upon being any longer burdened by me, and one, +after interchanging some angry words with his companion, rode off, leaving +me to the care of him who passed the cord round my wrist. For a second or +two this fellow seemed to waver whether he might not dispose of me more +briefly, and once he half withdrew his pistol from the holster, and turned +round in his saddle to regard me more steadily. A better feeling, however, +gained the mastery; the hope, too, of promotion, could he bring in an +officer his prisoner, had doubtless its share in his decision. He ordered +me to jump up behind him, and, dashing spurs into his troop-horse, rode +forward. +</p> +<p> +I have, perhaps, lingered too long in my recollections of this eventful +night; it was, however, the last striking incident which preceded a long +captivity. On the third day of the retreat I was joined to a band of +Spanish prisoners marching towards Bayonne. Of the glorious victory which +rescued the Peninsula from the dominion of the French, and drove their +beaten armies beyond the Pyrenees, or of the great current of events which +followed the battle of Vittoria, I do not purpose to speak. Neither will I +trouble my reader with a narrative of hardship and suffering; it is enough +to mention that my refusal to give my parole subjected me in all cases to +every indignity. Wearied out at length, however, I accepted this only +chance of rendering life endurable; and on reaching Bayonne I gave my word +not to attempt my escape, and was accordingly separated from my companions +in misfortune, and once more treated as a gentleman. +</p> +<p> +The refusal to accept 'parole,' I learned afterwards, was invariably +construed by the French authorities of the day into a direct avowal not +only to attempt escape by any means that might present themselves, but was +also deemed a rejection of the hospitality of the country, which placed +the recusant beyond the pale of its courtesy. No sooner had I complied +with this necessity—for such it was—than I experienced the +greatest kindness and politeness in every quarter. Through every village +in the south, the house of the most respectable inhabitant was always +opened to me; and with a delicacy it would be difficult to match +elsewhere, although the events of the Spanish war were the subjects of +general interest wherever we passed, not a word was spoken nor a hint +dropped before the 'prisoner' which could in the slightest degree offend +his nationality or hurt his susceptibility as an enemy. +</p> +<hr /> +<p> +I shall now beg of my reader to pass over with me a long interval of time, +during which my life presented nothing of interest or incident, and +accompany me to the environs of St. Omer, where, in the commencement of +the year 1814 I found myself domesticated as a prisoner of war on parole. +During the long period that had elapsed since the battle of Vittoria, I +had but once heard from home. Matters there were pretty much as I had left +them. My father had removed to a colonial appointment, whence he +transmitted the rich revenues of his office to my mother, whose habitual +economy enabled her to dispense hospitality at Bath, much in the same kind +of way as she had formerly done at London. My lovely cousin—in the +full possession of her beauty and a large fortune—had refused some +half-dozen brilliant proposals, and was reported to have an unswerving +attachment to some near relative—which happy individual, my mother +suggested, was myself. Of the Bellews, I learned from the newspapers that +Sir Simon was dead; and Miss Bellew, having recovered most of the great +estates of her family through the instrumentality of a clever attorney +(whom I guessed to be my friend Paul), was now the great belle and fortune +of Dublin. I had frequently written home, and once or twice to the Rooneys +and the Major, but never received any answer; so that at last I began to +think myself forgotten by every one, and dreamed away my life in a state +almost of apathy—dead to the exciting events of the campaign, which, +even in the seclusion where I lived, were from time to time reported. The +brilliant march of our victorious troops through the Pyrenees and the +south of France, Nivelle, Orthez, and Toulouse, I read of as people read +of long past events. Life to me appeared to have run out; and my thoughts +turned ever backward to the bright morning of my career in Ireland—my +early burst of manhood, my first and only passion. +</p> +<p> +The old royalist seigneur upon whom I was billeted could evidently make +nothing of the stolid indifference with which I heard him and his +antiquated spouse discuss the glorious prospect of a restoration of the +Bourbons: even the hope of liberty was dying away within me. One +ever-present thought had damped all ardour and all ambition—I had +done nothing as a soldier; my career had ended as it begun; and, while +others had risen to fame and honour, <i>my</i> name had won nothing of +distinction and repute. Instead of anxiously looking forward to a meeting +with Louisa Bellew, I dreaded the very thoughts of it. My mother's +fashionable <i>morgue</i> and indifference I should now feel as a sarcasm +on my own failure; and as to my cousin Julia, the idea alone of her +raillery was insufferable. The only plan I could devise for the future +was, as soon as I should recover my liberty, to exchange into some +regiment in the East Indies, and never to return to England. +</p> +<p> +It was, then, with some surprise and not much sympathy that I beheld my +venerable host appear one morning at breakfast with a large white cockade +in the breast of his frock-coat, and a huge white lily in a wineglass +before him. His elated manner and joyous looks were all so many riddles to +me; while the roll of drums in the peaceful little town, the ringing of +bells, and the shouts of the inhabitants were all too much even for apathy +like mine. +</p> +<p> +'What is the <i>tintamarre</i> about?' said I pettishly, as I saw the old +gentleman fidget from the table to the window and then back again, rubbing +his hands, admiring his cockade, and smelling at the lily, alternatively. +</p> +<p> +'Tintamarre!' said he indignantly, 'savez-vous, monsieur? Ce n'est pas le +mot, celui-là. We are restored, sir! we have regained our rightful throne! +we are no longer exiles!' +</p> +<p> +'Yes!' said the old lady, bursting into the room, and throwing herself +into her husband's arms, and then into mine, in a rapture of enthusiasm—'yes, +brave young man! to you and your victorious companions in arms we owe the +happiness of this moment. We are restored!' +</p> +<p> +'Yes! restored! restored!' echoed the old gentleman, throwing open the +window, and shouting as though he would have burst a blood-vessel; while +the mob without, catching up the cry, yelled it louder than ever. +</p> +<p> +'These people must be all deranged,' thought I, unable to conjecture at +the moment the reasons for such extravagant joy. Meanwhile, the room +became crowded with townspeople in holiday costume, all wearing the white +cockade, and exchanging with one another the warmest felicitations at the +happy event. +</p> +<p> +I now soon learned that the Allies were in the possession of Paris, that +Napoleon had abdicated, and the immediate return of Louis xviii. was +already decided upon. The trumpets of a cavalry regiment on the march were +soon added to the uproar without, accompanied by cries of 'The English! +The brave English!' I rushed to the door, and to my astonishment beheld +above the heads of the crowd the tall caps of a British dragoon regiment +towering aloft. Their band struck up as they approached; and what a +sensation did my heart experience as I heard the well-remembered air of +'Garryowen' resound through the little streets of a French village! +</p> +<p> +'An Irish regiment!' said I, half aloud. +</p> +<p> +The word was caught by a bystander, who immediately communicated it to the +crowd, adding, by way of explanation, 'Les Irlandois! oui, ces sont les +Cossaques d'Angleterre.' +</p> +<p> +I could not help laughing at the interpretation, when suddenly my own name +was called out loudly by some person from the ranks. I started at the +sound, and forcing my way through the crowd I looked eagerly on every +side, my heart beating with anxiety lest some deception might have misled +me. +</p> +<p> +'Hinton! Jack Hinton!' cried the voice again. At the head of the regiment +rode three officers, whose looks were bent steadily on me, while they +seemed to enjoy my surprise and confusion. The oldest of the party, who +rode between the two others, was a large swarthy-looking man, with a long +drooping moustache, at that time rarely worn by officers of our army. His +left arm he wore in a sling; but his right was held in a certain easy, +jaunty manner I could not soon forget. A burst of laughter broke from him +at length, as he called out—' Come, Jack, you must remember me!' +'What!' cried I,' O'Grady! Is it possible?' 'Even so, my boy,' said he, as +throwing his reins on his wrist he grasped my hand and shook it with all +his heart. 'I knew you were here, and I exerted all my interest to get +quartered near you. This is my regiment—eh?—not fellows to be +ashamed of, Jack? But come along with us; we mustn't part company now.' +</p> +<p> +Amid the wildest cries of rejoicing and frantic demonstrations of +gratitude from the crowd, the regiment moved on to the little square of +the village. Here the billets were speedily arranged; the men betook +themselves to their quarters, the officers broke into small parties, and +O'Grady and myself retired to the inn, where, having dined <i>tête-à-tête</i>, +we began the interchange of our various adventures since we parted. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0055" id="link2HCH0055"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER LV. THE FOUR-IN-HAND +</h2> +<p> +My old friend, save in the deeper brown upon his cheek and some scars from +French sabres, was nothing altered from the hour in which we parted; the +same bold, generous temperament, the same blending of recklessness and +deep feeling, the wild spirit of adventure, and the gentle tenderness of a +child were all mixed up in his complex nature, for he was every inch an +Irishman. While the breast of his uniform glittered with many a cross and +decoration, he scarcely ever alluded to his own feats in the campaign; nor +did he more than passingly mention the actions where his own conduct had +been most conspicuous. Indeed, there was a reserve in his whole manner +while speaking of the Peninsular battles which I soon discovered proceeded +from delicacy towards me, knowing how little I had seen of service owing +to my imprisonment, and fearing lest in the detail of the glorious career +of our armies he might be inflicting fresh wounds on one whose fortune +forbade him to share in it. He often asked me about my father, and seemed +to feel deeply the kindness he had received from him when in London. Of my +mother, too, he sometimes spoke, but never even alluded to Lady Julia; and +when once I spoke of her as the protector of Corny, he fidgeted for a +second or two, seemed uneasy and uncomfortable, and gave me the impression +that he felt sorry to be reduced to accept a favour for his servant, where +he himself had been treated with coldness and distance. +</p> +<p> +Apart from this—and it was a topic we mutually avoided—O'Grady's +spirits were as high as ever. Mixing much with the officers of his corps, +he was actually beloved by them. He joined in all their schemes of +pleasure and amusement with the zest of his own buoyant nature; and the +youngest cornet in the regiment felt himself the Colonel's inferior in the +gaiety of the mess as much as at the head of the squadrons. +</p> +<p> +At the end of a few days I received from Paris the papers necessary to +relieve me from the restraint of my parole, and was concerting with +O'Grady the steps necessary to be taken to resume my rank in the service, +when an incident occurred which altered all our plans for the moment, and, +by one of those strange casualties which so often occur in life, gave a +new current to my own fate for ever. +</p> +<p> +I should mention here, that, amid all the rejoicings which ushered in the +restoration, amid all the flattery by which the allied armies were +received, one portion of the royalists maintained a dogged, ungenial +spirit towards the men by whom their cause was rendered victorious, and +never forgave them the honour of reviving a dynasty to which they +themselves had contributed nothing. These were the old <i>militaires</i> +of Louis xviii.—the men who, too proud or too good-for-nothing to +accept service under the Emperor, had lain dormant during the glorious +career of the French armies, and who now, in their hour of defeat and +adversity, started into life as the representatives of the military genius +of the country. These men, I say, hated the English with a vindictive +animosity which the old Napoleonists could not equal. Without the generous +rivalry of an open foe, they felt themselves humbled by comparison with +the soldiers whose weather-beaten faces and shattered limbs bore token of +a hundred battles, and for the very cause, too, for which they themselves +were the most interested. This ungenerous spirit found vent for itself in +a thousand petty annoyances, which were practised upon our troops in every +town and village of the north of France; and every officer whose billet +consigned him to the house of a royalist soldier would gladly have +exchanged his quarters for the companionship of the most inveterate +follower of Napoleon. To an instance of what I have mentioned was owing +the incident which I am about to relate. +</p> +<p> +To relieve the ennui of a French village, the officers of the Eighteenth +had, with wonderful expenditure of skill and labour, succeeded in getting +up a four-in-hand drag, which, to the astonishment and wonder of the +natives, was seen daily wending its course through the devious alleys and +narrow streets of the little town, the roof covered with dashing dragoons, +whose laughing faces and loud-sounding bugles were all deemed so many +direct insults by the ill-conditioned section I have mentioned. The +unequivocal evidences of dislike they exhibited to this dashing 'turn-out' +formed, I believe, one of its great attractions to the Eighteenth, who +never omitted an occasion, whatever the state of the weather, to issue +forth every day, with all the noise and uproar they could muster. +</p> +<p> +At last, however, the old <i>commissaire de police</i>, whose indignation +at the proceeding knew no bounds, devised an admirable expedient for +annoying our fellows—one which, supported as it was by the law of +the country, there was no possibility of evading. This was to demand the +passport of every officer who passed the <i>barrière</i>, thus +necessitating him to get down from the roof of the coach, present his +papers, and have them carefully conned and scrutinised, their <i>visés</i> +looked into, and all sorts of questions propounded. +</p> +<p> +When it is understood that the only drive led through one or other of +these barriers, it may be imagined how provoking and vexatious such a +course of proceeding became. Representations were made to the mayor ever +and anon, explaining that the passports once produced no further +inconvenience should be incurred; but all to no purpose. Any one who knows +France will acknowledge how totally inadequate a common-sense argument is +in the decision of a question before a government functionary. The mayor, +too, was a royalist, and the matter was decided against us. +</p> +<p> +Argument and reason having failed, the gallant Eighteenth came to the +resolution to try force; and accordingly it was decided that next morning +we should charge the <i>barrière</i> in full gallop, as it was rightly +conjectured that no French employé would feel disposed to encounter the +rush of a four-in-hand, even with the law on his side. To render the <i>coup +de main</i> more brilliant, and perhaps, too, to give an air of +plausibility to the infraction, four dashing thoroughbred light chestnuts—two +of the number having never felt a collar in their lives—were +harnessed for the occasion. A strong force of the wildest spirits of the +regiment took their places on the roof; and amid a cheer that actually +made the street ring, and a tantarara from the trumpets, the equipage +dashed through the town, the leaders bounding with the swingle-bars every +moment over their backs. Away we went, the populace flying in terror on +every side, and every eye turned towards the <i>barrière</i>, where the +dignified official stood, in the calm repose of his station, as if daring +us to transgress his frontier. Already had he stepped forward with his +accustomed question. The words, 'Messieurs, je vous demande,' had just +escaped his lips, when he had barely time to spring into his den as the +furious leaders tore past, the pavement crashing beneath their hoofs, and +shouts of laughter mingling with the uproar. +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0030" id="linkimage-0030"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/3-0132.jpg" alt="3-0132" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +Having driven for a league or so at a slow pace, to breathe our cattle, we +turned homewards, rejoicing in the success of our scheme, which had fully +satisfied our expectations. What was our chagrin, however, as we neared +the <i>barrière</i>, to discover that a strong force of mounted gendarmes +stopped the way, their drawn sabres giving us plainly to understand the +fate that awaited our horses if we persisted in our plan! What was to be +done? To force a passage under the circumstances was only to give an +opportunity to the gendarmerie they were long anxious for, to cut our +whole equipage in pieces. To yield was the only alternative; but what an +alternative!—to be laughed at by the whole town on the very day of +our victory! +</p> +<p> +'I have it!' said O'Grady, who sat on the box beside the driver—'I +have it, lads! Pull up when they tell you, and do as they direct.' +</p> +<p> +With some difficulty the four dashing nags were reined in as we came up to +the <i>barrière</i>; and the commissaire, bursting with passion, appeared +at the door of the lodge, and directed us to get down. +</p> +<p> +'Your passports will avail little on the present occasion,' said he +insolently, as we produced our papers. 'Your carriage and horses are +confiscated. St. Omer has now privilege as a fortified town. The +fortresses of France enforce a penalty of forty thousand francs——' +</p> +<p> +A burst of laughter from the bystanders at our rueful faces prevented us +hearing the remainder of the explanation. Meanwhile, to our horror and +disgust, some half-dozen gendarmes, with their long caps and heavy boots, +were crawling up the sides of the drag, and taking their seats upon the +top. Some crept into the interior, and showed their grinning faces at the +windows; others mounted into the rumble; and two more aspiring spirits +ascended to the box, by one of whom O'Grady was rudely ordered to get +down, a summons enforced by the commissaire himself in a tone of +considerable insolence. O'Grady's face for a minute or two seemed working +with a secret impulse of fun and devilment which I could not account for +at such a moment, as he asked, in a voice of much humility— +</p> +<p> +'Does Monsieur the Commissaire require me to come down?' +</p> +<p> +'Instantly,' roared the Frenchman, whose passion was now boiling over. +</p> +<p> +'In that case, gentlemen, take charge of the team.' So saying, he handed +the reins to the passive gendarmes, who took them, without well knowing +why. 'I have only a piece of advice,' continued Phil, as he slowly +descended the side—'keep a steady hand on the near-side leader, and +don't let the bar strike her; and now, good-bye.' +</p> +<p> +He flourished his four-in-hand whip as he spoke, and with one tremendous +cut came down on the team, from leader to wheeler, accompanying the stroke +with a yell there was no mistaking. The heavy carriage bounded from the +earth as the infuriated cattle broke away at full gallop. A narrow street +and a sharp angle lay straight in front; but few of those on the drag +waited for the turn, as at every step some bearskin shako shot into the +air, followed by a tall figure, whose heavy boots seemed ill-adapted for +flying in. The corporal himself had abandoned the reins, and held on +manfully by the rail of the box. On every side they fell, in every +attitude of distress. But already the leaders had reached the corner; +round went the swingle-bars, the wheelers followed, the coach rocked to +one side, sprang clean off the pavement, came down with a crash, and then +fell right over, while the maddened horses, breaking away, dashed through +the town, the harness in fragments behind them, and the pavement flying at +every step. +</p> +<p> +The immediate consequences of this affair were some severe bruises, and no +small discouragement to the gendarmerie of St. Omer; the remoter ones, an +appeal from the municipal authorities to the Commander-in-chief, by whom +the matter was referred for examination to the Adjutant-General. O'Grady +was accordingly summoned to Paris to explain, if he could, his conduct in +the matter. The order for his appearance there came down at once, and I, +having nothing to detain me at St. Omer, resolved to accompany my friend +for a few days at least, before I returned to England. Our arrangements +were easily made; and the same night we received the Adjutant-General's +letter we started by post for Paris. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0056" id="link2HCH0056"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER LVI. ST. DENIS +</h2> +<p> +We were both suddenly awakened from a sound sleep in the <i>calèche</i> by +the loud cracking of the postillion's whip, the sounds of street noises, +and the increased rattle of the wheels over the unequal pavement. We +started up just as, turning round in his saddle and pointing with his long +whip to either side of him, the fellow called out— +</p> +<p> +'Paris, Messieurs, Paris! This is Faubourg St. Denis; there before you +lies the Rue St. Denis. <i>Sacristi!</i> the streets are as crowded as at +noonday.' +</p> +<p> +By this time we had rubbed the sleep from our eyelids and looked about us, +and truly the scene before us was one to excite all our astonishment. The +Quartier St. Denis was then in the occupation of the Austrian troops, who +were not only billeted in the houses, but bivouacked in the open streets—their +horses picketed in long files along the <i>pavé</i>, the men asleep around +their watch-fires, or burnishing arms and accoutrements beside them. The +white-clad cuirassier from the Danube, the active and sinewy Hungarian, +the tall and swarthy Croat were all there, mixed up among groups of +peasant girls coming in to market with fowls and eggs. Carts of forage and +waggons full of all manner of provisions were surrounded by groups of +soldiers and country-people, trading amicably with one another as though +the circumstances which had brought them together were among the ordinary +events of commerce. +</p> +<p> +Threading our way slowly through these, we came upon the Jager encampment, +their dark-green uniform and brown carbines giving that air of <i>sombre</i> +to their appearance so striking after the steel-clad cuirassier and the +bright helmets of the dragoons. Farther on, around a fountain, were a body +of dismounted dragoons, their tall colbacks and scarlet trousers +bespeaking them Polish lancers; their small but beautifully formed white +horses pawed the ground, and splashed the water round them, till the dust +and foam rose high above them. But the strangest of all were the tall, +gigantic figures, who, stretched alongside of their horses, slept in the +very middle of the wide street. Lifting their heads lazily for a moment, +they gazed on us as we passed, and then lay down again to sleep. Their red +beards hung in masses far down upon their breasts, and their loose +trousers of a reddish dye but half concealed boots of undressed skin. +Their tall lances were piled around them; but these were not wanting to +prove that the savage, fierce-looking figures before us were the Cossacks +of the Don, thus come for many a hundred mile to avenge the slaughter of +Borodino and the burning of Moscow. As we penetrated farther into the +city, the mixture of nation and costume became still more remarkable. The +erect and soldierlike figure of the Prussian; the loose, wild-eyed Tartar; +the brown-clad Russian, with russet beard and curved sabre; the stalwart +Highlander, with nodding plume and waving tartan; the Bashkir, with naked +scimitar; the gorgeous hussar of Hungary; the tall and manly form of the +English guardsman—all passed and repassed before us, adding, by the +babel of discordant sound, to the wild confusion of the scene. +</p> +<p> +It was a strange sight to see the savage soldier from the steppes of +Russia, the dark-eyed, heavy-browed Gallician, the yellow-haired Saxon, +the rude native of the Caucasus, who had thus given themselves a +rendezvous in the very heart of European civilisation, wandering about—now +stopping to admire some magnificent palace, now gazing with greedy wonder +at the rich display of some jeweller, or the costly and splendid dresses +which were exhibited in the shop windows; while here and there were +gathered groups of men whose looks of undisguised hate and malignity were +bent unceasingly upon the moving mass. Their <i>bourgeois</i> dress could +not conceal that they were the old soldiers of the Empire—the men of +Wagram, of Austerlitz, of Jena, and of Wilna—who now witnessed +within their own capital the awful retribution of their own triumphant +aggressions. +</p> +<p> +As the morning advanced the crowds increased, and as we approached the +Place du Carrousel, regiments poured in from every street to the morning +parade. Among these the Russian <i>garde</i>—the <i>Bonnets d'or</i>—were +conspicuous for the splendour of their costume and the soldierlike +precision of their movements, the clash of their brass cymbals and the +wild strains of their martial music adding indescribably to their singular +appearance. As the infantry drew up in line, we stopped to regard them, +when from the Place Louis Quinze the clear notes of a military band rang +out a quick step, and the Twenty-eighth British marched in to the air of +'The Young May Moon.' O'Grady's excitement could endure no longer. He +jumped up in the <i>calèche</i>, and, waving his hat above his head, gave +a cheer that rang through the long corridor beneath the Louvre. The Irish +regiment caught up the cry, and a yell as wild as ever rose above the din +of battle shook the air. A Cossack picket then cantering up suddenly +halted, and, leaning down upon their horses' manes, seemed to listen; then +dashing spurs into their horses' flanks they made the circuit of the Place +at full gallop, while their 'Hurra!' burst forth with all the wild +vehemence of their savage nature. +</p> +<p> +'We shall get into some precious scrape with all this,' said O'Grady, as, +overcome with laughing, he fell back into the <i>calèche</i>. +</p> +<p> +Such was my own opinion; so telling the postillion to turn short into the +next street we hurried away unperceived, and drove with all the speed we +could muster for the Rue St. Honoré. The Hôtel de la Paix fortunately had +room for us; and ordering our breakfasts we adjourned to dress, each +resolving to make the most of his few hours at Paris. +</p> +<p> +I had just reached the breakfast-room, and was conning over the morning +papers, when O'Grady entered in full uniform, his face radiant with +pleasure, and the same easy, jaunty swagger in his walk as on the first +day I met him. +</p> +<p> +'When do you expect to have your audience, Phil?' said I. +</p> +<p> +'I have had it, my boy. It's all over, finished, completed. Never was +anything so successful I talked over the old Adjutant in such a strain, +that, instead of dreaming about a court-martial on us, the worthy man is +seriously bent on our obtaining compensation for the loss of the drag. He +looked somewhat serious as I entered; but when once I made him laugh, the +game was my own. I wish you had seen him wiping his dear old eyes as I +described the covey of gendarmes taking the air. However, the main point +is, the regiment is to be moved up to Paris, the commissaire is to receive +a reprimand, our claim for some ten thousand francs is to be considered, +and I am to dine with the Adjutant to-day and tell the story after +dinner.' +</p> +<p> +'Do you know, Phil, I have a theory that an Irishman never begins to +prosper but just at the moment that any one else would surely be ruined.' +</p> +<p> +'Don't make a theory of it, Jack, for it may turn out unlucky. But the +practice is pretty much what you represent it. Fortune never treats people +so well as when they don't care a fig about her. She's exactly like a lady +patroness—confoundedly impertinent if you'll bear it, but all smiles +if you won't. Have you ever met Tom Burke—“Burke of Ours,” as they +call him, I believe, in half the regiments in the service?' +</p> +<p> +'No, never.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, the loss is yours. Tom's a fine fellow in his way; and if you could +get him to tell you his story—or rather one of his stories, for his +life is a succession of them—perhaps you would find that this same +theory of yours has some foundation. Well pick him up one of these days, +and I'll introduce you. But now, Jack, I have a piece of news for you. +What do you think of it, my lad?—Lady Charlotte Hinton 's at Paris.' +</p> +<p> +'My mother here? Is it possible?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes. Her ladyship resides No. 4 Place Vendôme, opposite the Hôtel de +Londres. There's accuracy for you.' +</p> +<p> +'And who is with her? My father?' +</p> +<p> +'No. The General is expected in a few days. Lady Julia, I believe, is her +only companion.' +</p> +<p> +There was a kind of reserve suddenly in O'Grady's manner as he mentioned +this name, which made us both pause for a few seconds. At length he broke +the awkwardness of the silence by saying, in his usual laughing way— +</p> +<p> +'I contrived to pick up all the gossip of Paris in half an hour. The town +is full of English—and such English too! The Cossacks are civilised +people, of quiet, retiring habits, compared to them. I verily believe the +French are more frightened by our conviviality than ever they were by the +bayonets of the Allies. I'm dying to hear your lady-mother's account of +everything here.' +</p> +<p> +'What say you, then, if you come along with me? I 'm becoming very +impatient to see my people once more. Julia will, I 'm certain, be very +amusing.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah, and I have a debt of gratitude in that quarter,' said O'Grady +hesitatingly. 'Lady Julia was so very kind as to extend her protection to +that old villain Corny. I cannot for the life of me understand how she +endured him.' +</p> +<p> +'As to that,' said I, 'Julia has a taste for character; and not even the +Chevalier Delany's eccentricity would pain her. So let's forward.' +</p> +<p> +'Did I tell you that De Vere is here?' said O'Grady. +</p> +<p> +'No; not with my friends, I trust?' +</p> +<p> +'On the contrary, I ascertained that he does not visit at Lady +Charlotte's. He is attached to Lord Cathcart's embassy; he's very little +in society, and rarely to be seen but at the salon, where he plays +tremendously high, loses every night, but reappears each day with a +replenished pocket. But I intend to know the secret of all this, and of +many other matters, ere long. So now let us proceed.' +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0057" id="link2HCH0057"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER LVII. PARIS IN 1814 +</h2> +<p> +If the strange medley of every nation and costume which we beheld on +entering Paris surprised us, how much greater was our astonishment when, +having finished a hurried breakfast, we issued forth into the crowded +streets! Here were assembled, among the soldiers of every country, +visitors from all parts of Europe, attracted by the novel spectacle thus +presented to them, and eager to participate in the pleasures of a capital +whose rejoicings, so far from being checked by the sad reverse of fortune, +were now at the highest pitch; and the city much more resembled the gay +resort of an elated people than a town occupied by the troops of +conquering enemies. The old soldier of the Empire alone grieved in the +midst of this general joy; with the downfall of Napoleon died his every +hope. The spirit of conquest, by which for so many years the army had been +intoxicated, was annihilated by the one line that signed the treaty of +Fontainebleau. Thus among the gay and laughing groups that hurried onward +might now and then be seen some veteran of the Old Guard scowling with +contemptuous look upon that fickle populace, as eager to celebrate the +downfall as ever they had been to greet the glory of their nation. +</p> +<p> +Nothing more strikingly marked the incongruous host that filled the city +than the different guards of honour which were mounted at the several +hotels where officers and generals of distinction resided. At this time +the regulation was not established which prevailed somewhat later, and +gave to the different armies of the Allies the duty of mounting all the +guards in rotation. Thus at one door might be seen the tall cuirassier of +Austria, his white cloak falling in heavy folds over the flank and +haunches of his coal-black horse, looking like some Templar of old; at +another the plumed bonnet of a Highlander fluttered in the breeze, as some +hardy mountaineer paced to and fro, his grey eye and stern look unmoved by +the eager and prying gaze of the crowd that stopped to look upon so +strange and singular a costume. Here was the impatient schimmel of some +Hungarian hussar pawing the ground with restless eagerness, as his gay +dolman slashed with gold glittered in the sun. The Jager from Bohemia, the +deadly marksman with the long rifle, the savage Tartar of the Ukraine +devouring his meal on his guard, and turning his dark suspicious eye +around him, lest every passer-by might mean some treachery—all +denoted that some representative of their country dwelt within; while +every now and then the clank of a musket would be heard, as a heavy <i>porte +cochere</i> opened to permit the passage of an equipage, as strange and as +characteristic as the guard himself. Here would issue the heavy waggon of +some German prince, with emblazoned panels and scarlet hammer-doth, the +horses as fat and lethargic as the smoking and moustached figure they were +drawing; there was a low drosky of a Russian, three horses abreast, their +harness tinkling with brass bells as the spirited animals plunged and +curvetted along. The quiet and elegant-looking phaeton of English build, +with its perfection of appointment, rolled along with its deep woody sound +beside the quaint, old-fashioned <i>calèche</i> of Northern Germany, above +whose cumbrous side-panels only the heads of the passengers were visible. +Nor were the horsemen less dissimilar; the stately Prussian, with his heel +<i>à plomb</i> beneath his elbow; the Cossack, with short stirrups, +crouched upon his horse's mane; the English horse artilleryman powdering +along with massive accoutrements and gigantic steed; the Polish light +cavalry soldier, standing high in his stirrups, and turning his restless +eye on every side—all were subjects for our curiosity and wonder. +</p> +<p> +The novelty of the spectacle seemed, however, to have greatly worn off for +the Parisians, who rarely noticed the strange and uncouth figures that +every moment passed before their eyes, and now talked away as +unconcernedly amid the scene of tumult and confusion as though nothing new +or remarkable was going on about them—their very indifference and +insouciance one of the strangest sights we witnessed. +</p> +<p> +Our progress, which at the first was a slow one, ceased entirely at the +corner of the palace, where a considerable crowd was now collected. +Although we asked of the bystanders, no one could tell what was going +forward; but the incessant roars of laughter showed that something droll +or ridiculous had occurred. O'Grady, whose taste in such matters would +suffer no denial, elbowed his way through the mob, I following as well as +I was able. When we reached the first rank of the spectators, we certainly +needed no explanation of the circumstances to make us join in the mirth +about us. +</p> +<p> +It was a single combat of a very remarkable description. A tall Cossack, +with a long red beard now waving wildly on every side, was endeavouring to +recover his mutcka cap from a little decrepit old fellow, from whom he had +stolen a basket of eggs. The eggs were all broken on the ground; and the +little man danced among them like an infuriated fiend, flourishing a stick +all the while in the most fearful fashion. The Cossack, whose hand at +every moment sought the naked knife that was stuck in his girdle, was +obliged to relinquish his weapon by the groans of the mob, who +unequivocally showed that they would not permit foul play, and being thus +unarmed, could make nothing of an adversary whose contemptible appearance +caused all the ridicule of the scene. Meanwhile the little fellow, his +clothes in rags, and his head surmounted by a red Cossack mutcka, capered +about like nothing human, uttering the most frightful sounds of rage and +passion; at length, in a paroxysm of fury, he dealt the tall Cossack a rap +on the temples which made him reel again. Scarcely had the blow descended, +when, stung by the insult and the jeers of the mob, the enraged savage +grasped his knife; with one spring he pounced upon the little man; but as +he did so a strong hand from behind seized him by the collar, and with one +tremendous jerk hurled him back upon the crowd, where he fell stunned and +senseless. +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0031" id="linkimage-0031"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/3-0143.jpg" alt="3-0143" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +I had only time to perceive that it was O'Grady who had come to the +rescue, when the little old fellow, turning fully round, looked up in his +protector's face, and, without evincing any emotion of surprise or wonder +or even of gratitude, croaked out— +</p> +<p> +'And it's standin' looking on ye wor all the time, and I fighting my sowle +out! Ugh! bad luck to service! Look at my coat and small-clothes! Ay, you +might laugh, ye grinning bastes as ye are—and a basket of fresh eggs +in smithereens, and this Friday!' +</p> +<p> +The convulsions of laughter which this apparition and the speech excited +prevented our hearing more. The mob, too, without understanding a word, +were fully sensible of the absurdity of the scene, and a perfect chorus of +laughter rang through the street. +</p> +<p> +'And my elegant beaver, see it now!' said Corny—for we hope our +reader recognises him—as he endeavoured to empty the batter from his +head-piece, and restore it to shape. 'Ugh! the Haythins! the Turks! see +now, Master Phil, it's warning I'm giving you this minit—here, where +I stand. May the divil—— Ah, if ye dare, ye eternal robber!' +This elegant exordium was directed to the poor Cossack, who, having +regained his feet, was skulking away from the field, throwing as he went a +lingering look at his red cap, which Mr. Delany still wore as a spoil of +his victory. +</p> +<p> +We now made our way through the crowd, followed by Corny, whose angry +looks on every side elicited peals of laughter; and thus accompanied we +approached the massive <i>porte cochère</i> of a large hotel in the Place +Vendôme, where a Swiss, in full costume of porter, informed us that Lady +Charlotte Hinton resided. While I endeavoured to pass on, he interposed +his burly person, informing me, in very short phrase, that her ladyship +did not receive before four o'clock. +</p> +<p> +'Arrah, hould your prate!' cried Corny; sure it's the woman's son you're +talking to. Two pair of stairs to your left hand, and the first door in +the passage. Look at the crowd there, the lazy craytures! that has nothing +better to do than follow a respectable man. Be off! bad luck to yez! ye +ought to be crying over the disgrace ye're in. Be the light that shines! +but you desarved it well.' +</p> +<p> +Leaving Corny to his oration before the mob, of which, happily for the +safety of his own skin, they did not comprehend one word, I took the +direction he mentioned, and soon found out the door, on which a visiting +card with my mother's name was fastened. +</p> +<p> +We were now introduced into a large and splendidly furnished saloon, with +all that lightness and elegance of decoration which in a foreign apartment +is the compensation—a poor one sometimes—for the more +comfortable look of our English houses. The room was empty, but the +morning papers and all the new publications of the day were scattered +about with profusion. Consigning my friend for a short time to these, I +followed the <i>femme de chambre</i>, who had already brought in my card +to my mother, to her ladyship's dressing-room. The door was opened +noiselessly by the maid, who whispered my name. A gentle 'Let him come in' +followed, and I entered. +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0032" id="linkimage-0032"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/3-0147.jpg" alt="3-0147" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +My mother was seated before a glass, under the hands of a coiffeur, and +dared not turn her head. As I approached she reached me her hand, however, +which having kissed dutifully, I drew my chair, and sat down beside her. +'My dear boy!' said she, as her eyes turned towards me, and a tear fell +from the lid and trickled down her cheek. In spite of the unnatural +coldness of such a meeting, the words, the accents, and the look that +accompanied them came home to my heart, and I was glad to hide my emotion +by again pressing my lips to her hand. Having kindly informed me that the +ceremony she was then submitting to was imperative, inasmuch as if she had +not M. Dejoncourt then, she could not have him at all—that his time +was so filled up, every moment of it, from eight in the morning till +eleven at night, that the Emperor Alexander himself couldn't obtain his +services, if he wished for them—she proceeded to give me some +details of my father, by which I could learn that the change in his +circumstances had never been made known to her, and that she had gone on +since we last met in her old career of extravagance and expense, the +indulgence of which, and the cares of her ever-declining health, having +given her abundant occupation. +</p> +<p> +As I looked at her beautiful features and delicately fair complexion, upon +which time had scarcely laid a touch, I sighed to think at what a +frightful sacrifice of feeling, of duty, and of happiness, too, such +loveliness had been purchased. If the fine pencilling of that brow had +never known a wrinkle, the heart had never throbbed to one high or holy +thought; if the smile sat easily on the lip, it was the habitual garb of +fashionable captivation, and not the indication of one kind thought or one +affectionate feeling. I felt shocked, too, that I could thus criticise my +mother; but in truth for a minute or two I forgot she was such. +</p> +<p> +'And Julia,' said I, at length—'what of her?' +</p> +<p> +'Very handsome indeed—strikingly so. Beulwitz, the emperor's +aide-de-camp, admires her immensely. I am sincerely glad that you are +come, dear John. You know Julia's fortune has all been saved: but of that +another time. The first point now is to secure you a ticket for this ball; +and how to do it, I'm sure I know not.' +</p> +<p> +'My dear mother, believe me I have not the slightest desire——' +</p> +<p> +'How very unkind you are to think we could separate from you after such an +absence! Besides, Julia would be seriously offended, and I think with +cause. But the ticket—let's consider about that. Dejoncourt, is it +true that the Princesse de Nassau was refused a card for the ball?' +</p> +<p> +'Oui, miladi. The King of Prussia has sent her one of his, and is to take +her; and Madame la Duchesse de St. Bieve was so angry at being left out +that she tried to get up an alarm of conspiracy in the <i>faubourg</i>, to +prevent the sovereigns from going.' +</p> +<p> +'But they will go, surely—won't they?' +</p> +<p> +'Ah, to be sure. <i>Pardieu</i>, they would say to-morrow that they had +been omitted too, if they didn't appear.' +</p> +<p> +'What are we to do?' said her ladyship with energy. 'Grammont can be of no +use here; for unfortunately these people are not French.' +</p> +<p> +'What then,' said I, 'is it some of the crowned heads who are the +entertainers?' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, no! Indeed, I don't know who they are; nor do I know any one who +does. The only fact of importance is that this is their third <i>fête</i>—the +first two were the most brilliant things ever given in Paris; that the +Emperor of Russia always dances there; that the King of Prussia makes his +whist-party; that Blucher takes the head of one of the supper-tables; and, +in a word, Talleyrand himself has employed more diplomacy to secure an +extra ticket than he has often dispensed in carving out a new monarchy.' +</p> +<p> +My mother handed me a splendidly embossed card, as she spoke, upon which, +in letters of pale burnished gold, were inscribed the following words: +'Madame de Roni, née Cassidy de Kilmainham, prie honneur,' etc. A burst of +laughter at the absurdity of the title stopped my reading further. +</p> +<p> +'She's an Italian, possibly,' said my mother. +</p> +<p> +'I should think not,' I replied; 'the “née Cassidy de Kilmainham” smacks +of something nearer home. What think you of Ireland?' +</p> +<p> +'Ireland! Are these people Irish?' said she, starting with horror at the +thought. 'I trust, my dear John, you would not think it proper to jest on +such a subject.' +</p> +<p> +'My dear mother, I never heard of them before; the only thing that strikes +me is the name. “Cassidy” is assuredly more Milesian than Roman.' +</p> +<p> +'But she has birth—that's certain,' replied my mother proudly. +</p> +<p> +Not caring to argue the point, which after all resolved itself into the +question that the lady was the child of somebody, and that somebody was +called 'Cassidy,' I began to meditate on the singularity of such a phase +in life as the entertainers of sovereigns, kaisers, kings, princes, +archdukes, and ambassadors being a person utterly unknown. +</p> +<p> +'But here's Grammont,' said my mother, as a gentle tap was heard at the +door and the Count entered—the only change in his appearance since +last I saw him being the addition of another cordon to his blue coat, and +a certain springiness in his walk, which I afterwards remarked as common +among all the returned <i>émigrés</i> at the restoration. +</p> +<p> +'Que diable faut il faire,' said the Count, entering, 'with this Madame de +Roni? She refuses all the world. Ah, Jack, <i>mon cher</i>, how do you do?—safe +and sound from all the perils of these terrible French, who cut you all to +pieces in the Peninsula? But only think, <i>miladi</i>, no card for la +Duchesse de Tavenne; Madame de Givry left out! <i>Sapristi!</i> I hope +there is nothing against <i>ce pauvre</i> Roi de Prusse.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, and here is John,' said my mother; 'what are we to do about him?' +</p> +<p> +My renewed disclaimer of any wish in the matter was cut short by a look of +reproof, and I waited the whole discussion with patience. +</p> +<p> +'Never was there such a difficulty,' said the Count, musing. 'There is +certainly nothing to be done through the worthy husband of Madame. +Dejoncourt and two or three more gave him a <i>diner en gourmand</i> at +Very's, to seduce him; and after his fifth flask of champagne he frankly +confessed he was sorry he could not return their civilities as he wished. +I 'll entertain you here, and have Blucher and Platon, Fouché, and any one +else you like to meet you. I'll introduce you to old Prussia and the Czar +whenever you please; you shall have permission to shoot at Fontainebleau +any day you mention; but as to Madame de Roni, she is devilish exclusive. +I really cannot manage that for you.' +</p> +<p> +'I wish you could prevail on yourself to be serious,' said my mother, in +nowise pleased with the jocular spirit the Count's anecdote had excited. +'But here is Julia—what does she advise?' +</p> +<p> +As my mother spoke, the door opened, and my cousin appeared. Her figure +had more of the roundness of womanhood, and her face, though paler, was +fuller, and its expression had assumed a more decided character than when +I last saw her. Her winning smile and her graceful carriage were all +unchanged; and her low soft voice never struck me as more fascinating than +when she held out her hand and said— +</p> +<p> +'My dear cousin, how happy it makes me to see you again!' +</p> +<p> +Her dark-blue eyes were tearful as she spoke, and her lip—that +haughty lip—trembled. A strange wild thrill crept through my heart +as I pressed her hand within both of mine—a vague feeling which I +dared not suffer to dwell in my mind, and yet feared lest when it should +depart that I had lost my chance of happiness. Yes, there are times when a +man without the admixture of any coxcombry in the feeling, without a +particle of vanity—nay, with a deep sense of his own un worthiness—can +ask himself, 'Does this woman like me?' And at such moments, if his own +heart give not the ready answer, it were far better that he sought not the +reply from his reason. +</p> +<p> +It was only when my mother asked, for the second time, what was to be done +about John's ticket, that Julia seemed aware of the question—a +slight, a very slight, curving of her lip showing the while the sense she +entertained of such an inquiry after long years of separation; and at +last, as if unable to repress the indignation of the moment, she said +abruptly— +</p> +<p> +'But, of course, as we shall not think of going tonight——' +</p> +<p> +'We not go! Eh, <i>pardieu!</i> why not?' said the Count. +</p> +<p> +'The Colonel below-stairs begs to say that he will call somewhat later,' +said the <i>femme de chambre</i> at this juncture. +</p> +<p> +'The Colonel! Whom does she mean?' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, my friend O'Grady. Poor fellow! I have been forgetting him all this +while. So allow me to join him, and well wait for your appearance in the +drawing-room.' +</p> +<p> +'I remember him perfectly,' said my mother—'an agreeable person, I +think. So take Julia and the Count with you, and I'll follow as soon as I +can.' +</p> +<p> +Julia blushed deeply, and as suddenly grew pale again as my mother spoke. +I knew that she had always treated my friend with hauteur and reserve, +without any assignable reason, and had long determined that when an +opportunity arose I would endeavour to get rid of the unjust impression +she had somehow conceived of my warmest, truest friend. This was not, +however, the time for explanations; and I merely said, as I offered my arm— +</p> +<p> +'Poor O'Grady has been badly wounded; but I think he's now getting on +favourably.' +</p> +<p> +She said something in reply, but the words were lost in the noise of +descending the stairs. Just as we reached the landing I caught a glimpse +of my friend issuing from the <i>porte cochère</i>, and only in time to +call him by his name— +</p> +<p> +'Holloa, Phil! Don't go away.' +</p> +<p> +As he turned back towards the drawing-room, he cried out— +</p> +<p> +'It's only this instant, Jack, I remembered how very awkward it was of me +to come here with you at this hour. You have, of course, so much to say +and hear after your absence—' +</p> +<p> +The sight of my fair cousin cut short his speech, as she stood near the +door with her hand out to receive him. As O'Grady took her taper fingers +within his own, there was an air of cold distance in his manner that +actually offended me. Bowing deeply, he said a few brief words in a tone +of gravity and stiffness quite unusual with him; and then, turning to +Grammont, he shook the Count's hand with a warmth and cordiality most +markedly different. I only dared to glance at Julia; but as I did so I +could mark an expression of haughty displeasure that settled on her brow, +while her heightened colour made her turn away towards the window. +</p> +<p> +I was myself so much annoyed by the manner in which O'Grady had received +advances which I had never seen made to any one before, that I was silent. +Even Grammont saw the awkwardness of all parties so much in need of his +intervention that he at once opened the whole negotiation of the ball to +O'Grady, describing with a Frenchman's volubility and sarcasm the +stratagems and devices which were employed to obtain invitations, the +triumph of the successful, the despairing malice of the unfortunate—heightening +his narrative by the mystery of the fair hostess, who, herself unknown and +unheard of till now, was at this moment at the pinnacle of fashion, +dictating the laws and distributing the honours of the beau monde to the +greatest sovereigns of Europe. +</p> +<p> +'She is very beautiful, no doubt?' asked O'Grady. +</p> +<p> +'Oui, pas mal,' said Grammont, with that all-explaining shrug of the +shoulders by which a foreigner conveys so much. +</p> +<p> +'Very rich, perhaps?' +</p> +<p> +'Millionaire!' said the Frenchman, in a tone of exultation that bespoke +his full acquiescence in that surmise at least. +</p> +<p> +'And her rank?' +</p> +<p> +'Ah, I don't read riddles. All I know is, her house is the best thing at +Paris; she has secured old Cambaceres' <i>chef de cuisine</i>; has bought +up the groom of the chambers of the ex-Emperor; keeps an <i>estafette</i> +going on the Strasbourg road for <i>pâtés de foie gras</i>; and is on such +terms with the sovereigns that she has their private bands to play at all +her parties. Que voulez-vous?' +</p> +<p> +'Nothing more, indeed!' said O'Grady, laughing. 'Such admirable supremacy +in the world of <i>bon ton</i> it would be rank heresy to question +further, and I no longer wonder at the active canvass for her +invitations.' +</p> +<p> +'Oui, parbleu!' said the Frenchman gaily. 'If Monsieur the Comte d'Artois +does not exert himself, people will be more proud of a ticket to these +balls than of the Croix de St. Louis. For my own part, I think of wearing +mine over the cordon.' +</p> +<p> +As he spoke, he flourished his card of invitation in the air, and +displayed it in his bosom. +</p> +<p> +'Madame de Roni, née Cassidy de Kilmainham,' said O'Grady, bursting into a +perfect roar of laughter. 'This is glorious, Jack! Did you see this?' +</p> +<p> +'See! eh? to be sure; and what then?' +</p> +<p> +But O'Gradys mirth had burst all bounds, and he sat back in an arm-chair +laughing immoderately. To all our questions he could give no other reply +than renewed bursts of merriment, which, however enjoyed by himself, were +very provoking to us. +</p> +<p> +'He knows her,' whispered Grammont in my ear; 'be assured he knows +Madame.' +</p> +<p> +'Jack, where shall we meet in half an hour?' said Phil at length, jumping +up and wiping his eyes. +</p> +<p> +'Here, if you like,' said I. 'I shall not leave this till you return.' +</p> +<p> +'Be it so,' said he; and then with a bow to my cousin and an easy nod to +Grammont, O'Grady took his hat and departed. +</p> +<p> +Grammont now looked at his watch, and remembering some half-dozen very +important appointments, took his leave also, leaving me once more, after +so long an interval, <i>tête-à-tête</i> with Julia. +</p> +<p> +There were so many things to talk over since we had met, so many +reminiscences which each moment called up, that I never thought of the +hours as they ran over; and it was only by Lady Charlotte's appearance in +the drawing-room that we were apprised it was already past four o'clock, +and that the tide of her morning visitors would now set in, and break up +all hopes of continuing our colloquy. +</p> +<p> +'Where is your friend?' said my mother, as she carried her eyes languidly +round the spacious apartment. +</p> +<p> +'Gone some hours ago; but he promised to take me up here. We shall see him +soon, I suspect.' +</p> +<p> +'Colonel O'Grady,' said a servant; and my cousin had just time to leave +the room by one door as he entered by another. +</p> +<p> +Advancing to my mother with a manner of respectful ease which he possessed +in perfection, O'Grady contrived in a few brief words to resume the ground +he had formerly occupied in her acquaintance, throwing out as he went an +occasional compliment to her looks, so naturally and unaffectedly done as +not to need acknowledgment or reply, but yet with sufficient <i>empressement</i> +to show interest. +</p> +<p> +'I have heard since my arrival that you were interested about this ball, +and took the opportunity to secure you some tickets, which, though late, +some of your friends may care for.' +</p> +<p> +He presented my mother as he spoke with several blank cards of invitation, +who, as she took them, could not conceal her astonishment nor repress the +look of curiosity, which she could scarcely repel in words, as to how he +had accomplished a task the highest people in Paris had failed in. I saw +what was passing in her mind, and immediately said— +</p> +<p> +'My mother would like to know your secret about these same cards, O'Grady; +for they have been a perfect subject of contention here for the last three +weeks.' +</p> +<p> +'Her ladyship must excuse me—at least for the present—if I +have one secret I cannot communicate to her,' said O'Grady, smiling. 'Let +me only assure her that no one shall know it before she herself does.' +</p> +<p> +'And there is a secret?' said Lady Charlotte eagerly. +</p> +<p> +'Yes, there is a secret,' replied O'Grady, with a most ludicrous gravity +of tone. +</p> +<p> +'Well, at least we have profited by it, and so we may wait in patience. +Your friend Colonel O'Grady will give us the pleasure of his company at +dinner, I hope,' continued my mother, with her most winning smile. +</p> +<p> +O'Grady declined, having already accepted the invitation of the +Adjutant-General, but begged he might be permitted to join our party at +the ball—which being graciously acceded to by my mother, we both +made our bows, and sauntered out to see more of the sights of Paris. +</p> +<p> +'Come, Phil,' said I, when we were once more alone, 'what is the secret? +Who is Madame de Roni?' +</p> +<p> +'Not even to you, Jack,' was his answer, and we walked on in silence. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0058" id="link2HCH0058"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER LVIII THE RONI FÊTE +</h2> +<p> +There is no epidemic more catching than excitement. The fussy manner and +feverish bustle of the people about you are sure, after a time, to +communicate themselves to you—the very irritation they create being +what the physicians call a predisposing cause. I became an illustration in +point, as the hour of this ball drew nigh. At first I could not but wonder +how in the midst of such stupendous events as were then taking place—in +the heart of a city garrisoned by an enemy, with everything that could +wound national pride and offend national honour—even French levity +could raise itself to the enjoyment of fashionable frivolity; but by +degrees the continual recurrence of the subject familiarised my mind to +it» wearing off my first and more natural impressions, and at last I +began, like my neighbours, not only to listen with patience, but even to +join in the various discussions with animation and interest. +</p> +<p> +No sooner had the report gained currency that Lady Charlotte was in +possession of blank invitations, than our hotel was besieged by half Paris—the +unfortunate endeavouring, by every species of flattery and every +imaginable stratagem, to obtain tickets; the lucky ones all anxious to +find out the mystery of her ladyship's success, which at first seemed +almost incredible. The various surmises, guesses, hints, allusions, and +subterfuges which followed one another in rapid succession, as this motley +mob of fashionables came and went, and went and came again, amused me +considerably—the more so, perhaps, as the occasion called into full +play all my cousin Julia's powers of flippant raillery and sarcasm, both +of which she exercised without scruple, but never within range of +discovery by any of her victims. +</p> +<p> +Everything gave way to the convenience of this splendid <i>fête</i>. The +eight o'clock dinner was anticipated by full two hours; no other subject +of conversation was ever broached by the company; and at nine the +carriages were ordered to the door, it being wisely calculated that if we +reached our destination at eleven we should esteem ourselves fortunate. +</p> +<p> +How often, as the dashing equipage whirls past to some scene of pleasure, +where beauty and rank and riches await the sated votary of fashion, will +the glare of the carriage-lamps fall upon the gloomy footway, where, wet +and weary, some melancholy figure steals along with downcast head and +plodding step, his thoughts turned ever to some accustomed scene of +wretchedness, where want and misery, disease, neglect, decay, all herd +together, and not even hope can enter! The poor man, startled, looks up; +the rich one, lolling back upon his easy cushion, casts a downward glance; +their eyes meet—it is but a second; there is no sympathy between +them—the course of one lies north, the other south. Thus at each +moment did my sad heart turn away from all the splendour of the +preparation about me, to wonder with myself how even for an instant I +could forget my own path in life, which, opening with every prospect of +happiness, yet now offered not a hope for the future. Between these two +alternate states the hours crept on. As I sat beside Julia in the +carriage, I could not but mark that something weighed also on her spirits. +More silent than usual, she replied, when spoken to, with effort; and more +than once returned wrong answers to my mother, who talked away unceasingly +of the ball and the guests. +</p> +<p> +It was near midnight when we drove into the large archway of the Hôtel de +Rohan, where Madame de Roni held her court. Brilliantly lighted with lamps +of various colours, the very equipages were made a part of the spectacle, +as they shone in bright and changeful hues, reflected from gorgeous +housings, gilded trappings, and costly liveries. A large, dark-coloured +travelling-carriage, with a single pair of horses, stood in the corner of +the court, the only thing to distinguish it being two mounted light +dragoons who waited beside it, and a chasseur in green and gold uniform +who stood at the door. This simple equipage belonged to the King of +Prussia. Around on every side were splendidly appointed carriages, +glittering with emblazonry and gilding, from which, as the guests +descended and entered the marble vestibule, names of European celebrity +were called out and repeated from voice to voiqe along the lofty +corridors. Le Prince de Schwartzenberg, Count Pozzo di Borgo, Le Duc de +Dal-berg, Milord Cathcart, Le Comte de Nesselrode, Monsieur Talleyrand de +Perigord, with others equally noble and exalted, followed in rapid +succession. +</p> +<p> +Our turn came at last; and as we reached the hall we found O'Grady waiting +for our arrival. +</p> +<p> +'There 's no use in attempting to get forward for some time,' said he; 'so +follow me, and I'll secure you a more comfortable place to wait in.' +</p> +<p> +As he spoke he passed through the hall, and, whispering a few words to a +servant, a door was opened in the wainscot, admitting us to a small and +neatly-fitted-up library, where a good fire and some easy-chairs awaited +us. +</p> +<p> +'I see your surprise,' said O'Grady, as my mother looked about her with +astonishment at his perfect acquaintance with the whole locality; 'but I +can't explain—it's part of my secret. Meanwhile, Jack, I have +another for your ear,' said he, in a low whisper, as he drew me aside into +a corner. 'I have made a very singular discovery, Jack, to-day, and I have +a notion it may lead to more. I met, by accident, at the +Adjutant-General's table, the brother of a French officer whose life I +saved at Nivelle; he remembered my name in a moment, and we became sworn +friends. I accepted his offer of a seat in his carriage to this ball, and +on the way he informed me that he was the chief of the secret police of +Paris, whose business it is to watch all the doings of the regular police +and report upon them to Fouché, whose spies are in every salon and at +every dinner-table in the capital I have no time at present to repeat any +of the extraordinary stories he told me of this horrible system; but just +as we entered the courtyard of this hotel, our carriage was jammed up in +the line and detained for some minutes. Guillemain suddenly let down the +glass, and gave a low, peculiar whistle, which, if I had not been paying +considerable attention to everything about him, might have escaped my +notice. In about a minute after a man, with a hat slouched over his face, +and a large cravat covering his mouth, approached the carriage. They +conversed together for some time, and I could perceive that the new-comer +spoke his French in a broken manner and with a foreign accent. By a slight +movement of the horses one of the lamps threw the light full upon this +man's face; I fixed my eyes rapidly on him, and recognised—whom, +think you? But you'd never guess: no other than your old antagonist, Ulick +Burke!' +</p> +<p> +'Ulick Burke! You must have been mistaken.' +</p> +<p> +'No, no. I knew him at once; the light rested on him for full five +minutes, and I had time enough to scan every feature of his face. I could +swear to the man now. He left us at last, and I watched him till he +disappeared among the crowd of servants that filled the courtyard.' +</p> +<p> +'“That's one of your people,” said I carelessly, as Guillemain drew up the +glass, and sat back in the carriage. +</p> +<p> +'“Yes, and a thorough scoundrel he is—capable of anything.” +</p> +<p> +'“He's not French,” said I, with the same indifference of manner I had +feigned at first. +</p> +<p> +'Guillemain started as I spoke; and I half feared I had destroyed all by +venturing too much. At length, after a short pause, he replied: “You're +right, he's not French; but we have them of all nations—Poles, +Swedes, Germans, Italians, Greeks. That fellow is English.” +</p> +<p> +'“Say Irish, rather,” said I, determining to risk all, to know all. +</p> +<p> +'“You know him, then?” said Guillemain hurriedly; “where did you see +Fitzgerald?” +</p> +<p> +'“Fitzgerald!” said I, repeating the name after him; and then affecting +disappointment, added, “That's not the name.” +</p> +<p> +'“Ha! I knew you were mistaken,” said Guillemain, with animation; “the +fellow told me he defies recognition; and I certainly have tried him often +among his countrymen, and he has never been detected. And yet he knows the +English thoroughly and intimately. It was through him that I first found +out these very people we are going to.” +</p> +<p> +'Here, Jack, he entered upon a long account of our worthy hosts, who with +great wealth, great pretensions, and as great vulgarity came to Paris some +weeks ago in that mighty flood of all sorts of people that flocked here +since the peace. Their desire to be ranked among the fashionable +entertainers of the day was soon reported to the minister of police, who, +after considering how far such a house might be useful, where persons of +all shades of political opinion might meet—friends of the Bourbons, +Jacobites, Napoleonists, the men of '88, and the admirers of the old <i>régime</i>—measures +were accordingly taken that their invitations should go out to the first +persons in Paris, and, more still, should be accepted by them. +</p> +<p> +'While these worthy people are therefore distributing their hospitalities +with all the good faith imaginable, their hotel is nothing more nor less +than a <i>cabinet de police</i>, where Fouché and his agents are +unravelling the intrigues of Paris, or weaving fresh ones for their own +objects.' +</p> +<p> +'Infamous system! But how comes it, Phil, that they have never discovered +their anomalous position?' +</p> +<p> +'What a question, Jack! Vulgar pretension is a triple shield that no eye +can pierce; and as you know the parties——' +</p> +<p> +'Know them! no, I never heard of them before.' 'What, Jack! Is your memory +so short-lived? And yet there was a pretty girl in the house who might +have rested longer in your memory.' +</p> +<p> +The announcement of Lady Charlotte and my cousin's names by the servant at +the foot of the stairs broke up our conference; and we had only time to +join our party as we fell into that closely-wedged phalanx that wound its +slow length up the spacious staircase. O'Grady's last words had excited my +curiosity to the highest pitch; but as he preceded me with my mother on +his arm, I was unable to ask for an explanation. +</p> +<p> +At last we reached the ante-chamber, from which a vista of salons suddenly +broke upon the view; and although anticipating much, I had formed no +conception whatever of the splendour of the scene before me. More +brilliant than noonday itself, the room was a blaze of wax-lights; the +ceilings of fretted gold and blue enamel glittered like a gorgeous +firmament; the walls were covered with pictures in costly frames of +Venetian taste. But the decorations, magnificent and princely as they +were, were as nothing to that splendid crowd of jewelled dames and +glittering nobles, of all that was distinguished in beauty, in rank, in +military glory, or in the great contest of political life. Here were the +greatest names of Europe—the kings and princes of the earth, the +leaders of mighty armies, the generals of a hundred battles; here was the +collective greatness of the world, all that can influence mankind—hereditary +rank, military power, stupendous intellect, beauty, wealth—mixing in +the vast vortex of fashionable dissipation, and plunging into all the +excesses of voluptuous pleasure. The band of the Imperial Guard stationed +near the staircase were playing with all the delicious softness of their +national instrument—the Russian horn—a favourite mazurka of +the emperor as we entered, and a partial silence reigned among the hundred +listeners. +</p> +<p> +O'Grady conveyed my mother through the crowd to a seat, where, having +placed my cousin beside her, he once more came near me. +</p> +<p> +'Jack,' whispered he, 'come a little this way.' He drew aside a curtain as +he spoke, and we entered a boudoir, where a buffet of refreshments was +placed. Here the scene was ludicrous in the extreme, from the incongruous +mixture-of persons of so many nations and languages who were chatting away +and hobnobbing to one another in all the dismembered phrases of every +tongue in Europe; loud laughter, however, poured from one corner of the +room, whither O'Grady directed his steps, still holding my arm. A group of +Cossack officers in full scarlet costume, their loose trousers slashed +with gold embroidery and thrust into wide boots of yellow leather, stood +in a circle round a person whom we could not yet perceive, but who, we +were enabled to discover, was exercising his powers of amusement for this +semi-savage audience, whose wild shouts of laughter broke forth at every +moment. We made our way at length through the crowd, and my eyes at last +fell upon the figure within. I stared; I rubbed my eyes; I actually began +to doubt my very senses, when suddenly turning his joyous face beaming +with good-humour towards me, he held forth his hand and called out, +'Captain, my darling, the top of the morning to you. This beats Stephen's +Green, doesn't it?' +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0033" id="linkimage-0033"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/3-0164.jpg" alt="3-0164" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +'Mr. Paul Rooney!' said I. +</p> +<p> +'No, no! Monsieur de Roni, if you please,' said he, again breaking out +into a fit of laughing. 'Lord help you, man, I've been christened since I +came abroad. Let me present you to my friends.' Here Paul poked a tall +Cossack in the ribs to attract his attention, and then pointing to me, +said: 'This is Captain Hinton; his name's a poser—a cross between +chincough and a house-key. Eh, old fellow?' +</p> +<p> +A Tartar grin was the reply to this very intelligible speech; but a bumper +of champagne made everything comprehensible between them. Mr. Rooney's +hilarity soon showed me that he had not forgotten his native habits, and +was steadily bent upon drinking glass for glass with his company, even +though they only came in detachments. With Bashkir chiefs, Pomeranian +barons, Rhine graaf s, and Polish counts he seemed as intimate as though +he had passed as much of his time in the Caucasus as the Four Courts, and +was as familiar with the banks of the Don as ever he had been with those +of the Dodder. +</p> +<p> +'And is it really our old friend Mrs. Paul who entertains this host of +czars and princes?' +</p> +<p> +'Is it really only now that you've guessed it?' said O'Grady, as he +carried me away with him through the salon. 'But I see Lady Charlotte is +amongst her friends, and your cousin is dancing; so now let's make the +most of our time. I say, Jack, your lady-mother scarcely supposes that her +host is the same person she once called on for his bill. By Jove, what a +discovery it would be to her! and the little girl she had such a horror of +is now the belle of Paris. You remember Louisa Bellew, don't you? Seven +thousand a year, my boy, and beauty worth double the money. But there she +is, and how handsome!' +</p> +<p> +As he spoke, a lady passed us leaning on her partner's arm, her head +turned slightly over her shoulder. I caught but one glance, and as I did +so, the rushing torrent of blood that mounted to my face made my very +brain grow dizzy. I knew not where I stood. I sprang forward to speak to +her, and then became rooted to the ground. It was she, indeed, as +beautiful as ever; her pale face wore the very look I had last seen the +night I saved her from the flood. +</p> +<p> +'Did you observe her companion?' said O'Grady, who fortunately had not +noticed my confusion. 'It was De Vere. I knew he was here; and I suspect I +see his plans.' +</p> +<p> +'De Vere!' said I, starting. 'De Vere with Miss Bellew! Are you certain?' +</p> +<p> +'Quite certain; I seldom mistake a face, and his I can't forget. But +here's Guillemain. I'll join you in a moment.' +</p> +<p> +So saying, O'Grady left my side, and I saw him take the arm of a small man +in black, who was standing at a doorway. The rush of sensations that +crowded on me as I stood there alone made me forget the time, and I knew +not that O'Grady had been above half an hour away when he again came to my +side. +</p> +<p> +'How the plot thickens, Hinton!' said he, in a low whisper. 'Only think, +the villain Burke has actually made the hand and fortune of that lovely +girl the price of obtaining secret information from De Vere of the +proceedings of the British embassy. Guillemain did not confess this to me; +but he spoke in such a way, that, with my knowledge of all the parties, I +made out the clue.' +</p> +<p> +'Burke! but what influence has he over her?' +</p> +<p> +'None over her, but much over the Rooneys, whom, independent of threats +about exposing their real condition in life, he has persuaded that such a +marriage for their ward secures them in fashionable society for ever. This +with Paul would do nothing; but Madame de Roni, as you know, sets a high +price on such a treasure. Besides, he is in possession of some family +secret about her mother, which he uses as a means of intimidation to Paul, +who would rather die than hurt Miss Bellew's feelings. Now, Jack, De Vere +only wants intellect to be as great a scoundrel as Master Ulick, so we +must rescue this poor girl, come what will.' +</p> +<p> +'We must and we will,' said I, with a tone of eagerness that made O'Grady +start. +</p> +<p> +'Not a moment is to be lost,' said he, after a brief pause. 'I 'll try +what can be done with Guillemain.' +</p> +<p> +An opening of the crowd as he spoke compelled us to fall back, and as we +did so I could perceive that an avenue was made along the room. +</p> +<p> +'One of the sovereigns,' whispered O'Grady. +</p> +<p> +I leaned forward, and perceived two aides-de-camp in green uniform, who +were retreating step by step slowly before some persons farther back. +</p> +<p> +'The Emperor of Russia,' whispered a voice near me; and the same instant I +saw the tall and fine-looking figure of Alexander, his broad massive +forehead, and frank manly face turning from side to side as he +acknowledged the salutations of the room. On his arm he supported a lady, +whose nodding plumes waved in concert with every inclination of the Czar +himself. Curious to see what royal personage shared thus with him the +homage of the assembly, I stooped to catch a glance. The lady turned—our +eyes met; a slight flush coloured her cheek as she quickly moved her head +away. It was Mrs. Paul Rooney herself! Yes, she whom I had once seen with +an effort subdue her pride of station when led in to dinner by some Irish +attorney-general, or some going judge of assize, now leaned on the arm of +an emperor, and divided with him the honours of the moment! +</p> +<p> +While O'Grady sought out his new friend, the minister of police, I went in +search of my mother and Lady Julia, whom I found surrounded by a knot of +their own acquaintances, actively engaged in surmises as to the lady of +the house—her rank, fortune, and pretensions. For some time I could +not but feel amused at the absurd assertions of many of the party, who +affected to know all about Madame de Roni and her secret mission at Paris. +</p> +<p> +'My dear John,' said my mother in a whisper, 'you must find out all about +her. Your friend, the Colonel, is evidently in the secret. Pray, now, +don't forget it. But really you seem in a dream. There's Beulwitz paying +Julia all the attention imaginable the entire evening, and you 've never +gone near her. Apropos, have you seen this ward of Madame de Roni? She is +very pretty, and they speak of her as a very suitable person.' (This +phrase was a kind of cant with my mother and her set, which expressed in +brief that a lady was enormously rich and a very desirable match for a man +with nothing.) 'I forget her name.' +</p> +<p> +'Miss Bellew, perhaps,' said I, trembling lest any recollection of ever +having heard it before should cross her mind. +</p> +<p> +'Yes, that's the name; somehow it seems familiar to me. Do you know her +yet, for my friend Lady Middleton knows every one, and will introduce +you?' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, I have the pleasure of being acquainted with her already,' said I, +turning away to hide my confusion. +</p> +<p> +'That's quite proper,' said her ladyship encouragingly. 'But here she +comes; I think you must introduce me, John.' +</p> +<p> +As my mother spoke, Louisa Bellew came up, leaning on a lady's arm. A +moment's hesitation on my part would have only augmented the embarrassment +which increased at every instant; so I stepped forward and pronounced her +name. No sooner had the words 'Miss Bellew' escaped my lips than she +turned round; her large full eyes were fixed upon me doubtingly for a +second, and her face grew deep scarlet, and then as suddenly pale again. +She made an effort to speak, but could not; a tottering weakness seemed to +creep over her frame, and as she pressed her companion's arm closely I +heard her mutter—'Oh, pray move on!' +</p> +<p> +'Lady Charlotte Hinton—'Miss Bellew,' said the lady at her side, who +had paid no attention whatever to Louisa's agitated manner. +</p> +<p> +My mother smiled in her sweetest manner, while Miss Bellow's +acknowledgments were made with the most distant coldness. +</p> +<p> +'My son had deemed himself fortunate enough to be known to you,' said Lady +Charlotte. +</p> +<p> +Miss Bellew became pale as death; her very lips were bloodless, as with a +voice tremulous with emotion, she replied— +</p> +<p> +'We were acquainted once, madam; but——' +</p> +<p> +What was to be the remainder of the speech I know not, for as the crowd +moved on she passed with it, leaving me like one whose senses were +forsaking him one by one. I could only hear my mother say, 'How very +impertinent!' and then my brain became a chaos. A kind of wild reckless +feeling, the savage longing that in moments of dark passion stirs within a +man for some act of cruelty, some deed of vengeance, ran through my +breast. I had been spurned, despised, disowned by her of whom through many +a weary month my heart alone was full. I hurried away from the spot, my +brain on fire. I saw nothing, I heeded nothing, of the bright looks and +laughing faces that passed me; scornful pity and contempt for one so low +as I was seemed to prevail in every face I looked at. A strange impulse to +seek out Lord Dudley de Vere was uppermost in my mind; and as I turned on +every side to find him, I felt my arm grasped tightly, and heard O'Grady's +voice in my ear— +</p> +<p> +'Be calm, Jack, for heaven's sake! Your disturbed looks make every one +stare at you.' +</p> +<p> +He drew me along with him through the crowd, and at length reached a +card-room, where, except the players, no one was present. +</p> +<p> +'Come, my dear boy, I saw what has annoyed you.' +</p> +<p> +'You saw it!' said I, my eyeballs straining as I spoke. +</p> +<p> +'Yes, yes; and what signifies it? So very handsome a girl, and the +expectation of a large fortune, must always have followers. But you know +Lady Julia well enough——' +</p> +<p> +'Lady Julia!' repeated I, in amazement. +</p> +<p> +'Yes. I say you know her well enough to believe that Beulwitz is not +exactly the person——' +</p> +<p> +A burst of laughter at his mistake broke from me at the moment; but so +wild and discordant was it that O'Grady misconstrued its meaning, and went +at some length to assure me that my cousin's affection for me was beyond +my suspicion. +</p> +<p> +Stunned by my own overwhelming sorrow, I felt no inclination to undeceive +him, and let him persist in his error without even a word of reply. +</p> +<p> +'Rouse yourself, Jack,' said he, at length. 'This depression is unworthy +of you, had you even cause for grief. There's many a heart heavier than +your own, my boy, where the lip is smiling this minute.' +</p> +<p> +There was a tone of deep affliction in the cadence of his voice as these +words fell from him, and he turned away his head as he spoke. Then +rallying in an instant, he added— +</p> +<p> +'Do you know, our dear friend Mrs. Paul has scarcely ventured to +acknowledge me to-night, and I feel a kind of devilish spirit of vengeance +working within me in consequence. To out me! I that trained her infant +mind to greatness; that actually smuggled for her a contraband viceroy, +and brought him alive into her dominions! What dire ingratitude! Come, +what say you to champagne?' +</p> +<p> +He poured me out a large glassful as he spoke, and, filling his own, +called out, laughing— +</p> +<p> +'Here, I give you a toast—“La Vendetta!” eh, Jack? Corsican +vengeance on all who maltreat us!' +</p> +<p> +Glass after glass followed; and I felt my brain, instead of being excited, +grow calmer, steadier; a firm and determined resolution usurped the +flitting thoughts and wandering fancies of before. +</p> +<p> +'They're moving towards the supper-room,' said O'Grady, who for some time +past had talked away, without my paying any attention to what he said. +</p> +<p> +As we descended the stairs, I heard my mother's carriage announced, and +could just see her and my cousin handed to it by some Austrian officers as +we entered the supper-room. +</p> +<p> +The incessant crash and din of the enormous banquet-ing-room, its crowd +and heat, its gorgeous table-equipage and splendid guests, were scarce +noticed by me as I followed O'Grady half mechanically towards the end of +the room. For some time I remained stupidly unconscious of all around; and +it was only after a very considerable time that I descried that +immediately in front of where we stood Mrs. Paul Rooney was seated—the +Emperor of Russia on her right, the King of Prussia on her left hand; +Swartzenburg, Blucher, Talleyrand, Nesselrode, and many others equally +distinguished occupying places along the board. Her jocund laugh and merry +voice, indeed, first attracted my attention. +</p> +<p> +'By Jove! she does it admirably,' said O'Grady, who for full five minutes +had been most critically employed scrutinising Mrs. Paul's manner. 'Do you +remark the tact with which she graduates her attentions to the emperor and +the king? And look at the hauteur of her bearing to old Blucher! But, +hush! what's coming?' +</p> +<p> +A kind of suppressed murmur buzzed along the crowded room, which, +subsiding into a dead silence, the Emperor Alexander rose, and addressing +the guests in a few but well-chosen words in English, informed them he had +received permission from their amiable and captivating hostess to propose +a toast, and he took the opportunity with unqualified delight to give the +health of 'the Prince Regent.' A perfect thunder of applause acknowledged +this piece of gracious courtesy, and a 'hip! hip! hurrah!' which +astonished the foreigners, shook the very roof. While the deafening shouts +rose on every side, Mrs. Paul wrote a line with her pencil hastily on her +card, and turning round gave it to a Cossack aide-de-camp of the emperor +to deliver into Mr. Rooney's hands. Either from the excitement of the +moment or his imperfect acquaintance with English, the unlucky Cossack +turned for an explanation towards the first British officer near him, who +happened to be O'Grady. +</p> +<p> +'What does this mean?' said he in French. +</p> +<p> +'Ah,' said Phil, looking at it, 'this is intended for that gentleman at +the foot of the table. You see him yonder—he's laughing now. Come +along, I'll pilot you towards him.' +</p> +<p> +Suspecting that O'Grady's politeness had some deeper motive than mere +civility, I leaned over his shoulder and asked the reason of it. +</p> +<p> +'Look here,' said he, showing me the card as he spoke, on which was +written the following words: 'Make the band play “God Save the King “; the +emperor wishes it.' +</p> +<p> +'Come with us, Jack,' whispered O'Grady; 'we had better keep near the +door.' +</p> +<p> +I followed them through the dense crowd, who were still cheering with all +their might, and at last reached the end of the table, where Paul himself +was amusing a select party of Tartar chiefs, Prussian colonels, Irish +captains, and Hungarian nobles. +</p> +<p> +'Look here,' said Phil, showing me the card, which in his passage down the +room he had contrived to alter, by rubbing out the first part and +interpolating a passage of his own; making the whole run thus— +</p> +<p> +'Sing the “Cruiskeen Lawn”; the emperor wishes it.' +</p> +<p> +I had scarcely time to thrust my handkerchief to my mouth and prevent an +outbreak of laughter, when I saw the Cossack officer present the card to +Paul with a deep bow. Mr. Rooney read it—surveyed the bearer; read +it again—rubbed his eyes, drew over a branch of wax-candles to +inspect it better, and then, directing a look to the opposite extremity of +the table, exchanged glances with his spouse, as if interrogating her +intentions once more. A quick, sharp nod from Mrs. Paul decided the +question thus tacitly asked; and Paul, clearing off a tumbler of sherry, +muttered to himself, 'What the devil put the “Cruiskeen Lawn” into his +Majesty's head I can't think; but I suppose there's no refusing.* +</p> +<p> +A very spirited tapping with the handle of his knife was now heard to mix +with the other convivial sounds, and soon indeed to overtop them, as Paul, +anxious to fulfil a royal behest, cleared his throat a couple of times, +and called out, 'I'll do the best I can, your Majesty'; and at once struck +up— +</p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +'Let the farmer praise his grounds, +Let the huntsman praise his hounds, +And talk of the deeds they had done; +But I more blest than they——' +</pre> +<p> +Here Paul quavered, and at last the pent-up mirth of the whole room could +endure no more, but burst forth into one continuous shout of laughter, in +which kings, dukes, ambassadors, and field-marshals joined as loudly as +their neighbours. To hear the song was utterly impossible; and though from +Mr. Paul's expanded cheeks and violent gesticulation it was evident he was +in full chant, nothing could be heard save the scream of laughing which +shook the building—an emotion certainly not the less difficult to +repress, as Mrs. Paul, shaking her hand at him with passionate energy, +called out— +</p> +<p> +'Oh, the baste! he thinks he's on circuit this minit!' As for myself, half +choking and with sore sides, I never recovered till I reached the street, +when O'Grady dragged me along, saying as he did so— +</p> +<p> +'We must reach home at once. Nothing but a strong alibi will save my +character.' +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0059" id="link2HCH0059"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER LIX. FRESCATI'S +</h2> +<p> +I was not sorry when I heard the following morning that my mother would +not appear before dinner-hour. I dreaded the chance of any allusion to +Miss Bellow's name requiring explanation on my part; and the more so, as I +myself was utterly lost in conjectures as to the reason of her singular +reception of me. +</p> +<p> +Julia, too, appeared more out of spirits than usual She pleaded fatigue; +but I could see that something lay heavily on her mind. She conversed with +evident effort, and seemed to have a difficulty in recalling her faculties +to the ordinary topics of the day. A thought struck me that perhaps De +Vere's conduct might have given cause for her depression; and gradually I +drew the conversation to the mention of his name, when I soon became +undeceived on this point. She told me with perfect unconcern how my father +had tracked out the whole line of his duplicity and calumny regarding me, +and had followed the matter up by a representation to the duke at the head +of the army, who immediately commanded his retirement from the Guards. +Later on, his family influence had obtained his appointment as <i>attaché</i> +to the embassy at Paris; but since their first rupture he had discontinued +his visits, and now had ceased to be acknowledged by them when they met. +</p> +<p> +My cousin's melancholy not being then attributable to anything connected +with De Vere, I set myself to work to ascertain whence it proceeded; and +suddenly the thought struck me that perhaps my mother's surmise might have +some foundation, and that Julia, feeling an affection for me, might have +been hurt at my evident want of attention towards her since we met. +</p> +<p> +I have already begged of my reader to separate such suspicions from the +coxcombry of the lady-killer, who deems every girl he meets his victim. If +I did for a moment imagine that my cousin liked me, I did so with a +stronger sense of my own unworthiness to merit her love than if I myself +had sought her affection. I had felt her superiority to myself too early +in life to outlive the memory of it as we grew older. The former feeling +of dread which I entertained of Julia's sarcasm still lived within me, and +I felt keenly that she who knew the weaknesses of the boy was little +likely to forget them in reflecting over the failures of the man; and +thus, if she did care for me, I well knew that her affection must be +checkered by too many doubts and uncertainties to give it that character +of abiding love which alone could bring happiness. I perceived clearly +enough that she disliked O'Grady. Was it, then, that, being interested for +me, she was grieved at my great intimacy with one she herself did not +admire, and who evidently treated her with marked coldness and reserve? +</p> +<p> +Harassed with these suspicions, and annoyed that those I had hoped would +regard each other as friends avoided every opportunity of intimacy, I +strolled forth to walk alone, my mind brooding over dark and disagreeable +images, and my brain full of plans all based upon disappointed hopes and +blighted expectations. To my mother's invitation to dinner for that day +O'Grady had returned an apology; he was engaged to his friend M. +Guillemain, with whom he was also to pass the morning; so that I was +absolutely without a companion. +</p> +<p> +When first I issued from the Place Vendôme, I resolved at all hazards to +wait on the Rooneys, at once to see Miss Bellew, and seek an explanation, +if possible, for her manner towards me. As I hastened on towards the +Chaussée, however, I began to reflect on the impropriety of such a course, +after the evident refusal she had given to any renewal of acquaintance. 'I +did know Mr. Hinton,' were the words she used—words which, +considering all that had passed between us, never could have been spoken +lightly or without reason. A hundred vague conjectures as to the different +ways in which my character and motives might have been slandered to her +occupied me as I sauntered along. De Vere and Burke were both my enemies, +and I had little doubt that with them originated the calumny from which I +now was suffering; and as I turned over in my thoughts all the former +passages of our hatred, I felt how gladly they would embrace the +opportunity of wounding me where the injury would prove the keenest. +</p> +<p> +Without knowing it, I had actually reached the street where the Rooneys +lived, and was within a few paces of their house. Strangely enough, the +same scene I had so often smiled at before their house in Dublin was now +enacting here—the great difference being, that instead of the +lounging subs, of marching regiments, the swaggering cornets of dragoons, +the overdressed and underbred crowds of would-be fashionables who then +congregated before the windows or curvetted beneath the balcony, were now +the generals of every foreign service, field-marshals glittering with +orders, powdered diplomatists, cordoned political writers, savants from +every country in Europe, and idlers whose <i>bons mots</i> and smart +sayings were the delight of every dinner-table in the capital; all happy +to have some neutral ground where the outposts of politics might be +surveyed without compromise or danger, and where, amid the excellences of +the table and the pleasures of society, intrigues could be fathomed or +invented under the auspices of that excellent attorney's wife, who deemed +herself meanwhile the great attraction of her courtly visitors and titled +guests. +</p> +<p> +As I drew near the house I scarcely ventured to look towards the balcony, +in which a number of well-dressed persons were now standing chatting +together. One voice I soon recognised, and its every accent cut my very +heart as I listened. It was Lord Dudley de Vere, talking in his usual tone +of loud assumption. I could hear the same vacant laugh which had so often +offended me; and I actually dreaded lest some chance allusion to myself +might reach me where I stood. There must be something intensely powerful +in the influence of the human voice, when its very cadence alone can +elevate to rapture or sting to madness. Who has not felt the ecstasy of +some one brief word from 'lips beloved,' after long years of absence; and +who has not experienced the tumultuous conflict of angry passions that +rise unbidden at the mere sound of speaking from those we like not? My +heart burned within me as I thought of her who doubtless was then among +that gay throng, and for whose amusement those powers of his lordship's +wit were in all likelihood called forth; and I turned away in anger and in +sorrow. +</p> +<p> +As the day wore on I could not face towards home. I felt I dare not meet +the searching questions my mother was certain to ask me; nor could I +endure the thought of mixing with a crowd of strangers, when my own +spirits were hourly sinking. I dined alone at a small <i>café</i> in the +Palais Royal, and sat moodily over my wine till past eleven o'clock. The +stillness of the room startled me at length, and I looked up and found the +tables deserted; a sleepy waiter lounged lazily on a bench, and the +un-trimmed candles and disordered look of everything indicated that no +other guests were then expected. +</p> +<p> +'Where have they gone to?' said I, curious to know what so suddenly had +taken the crowd away. +</p> +<p> +'To Frescati's, monsieur,' said the waiter; 'the salon is filling fast by +this time.' +</p> +<p> +A strange feeling of dislike to being alone had taken hold on me, and +having inquired the way to the Rue Richelieu from the servant, I issued +forth. +</p> +<p> +What a contrast to the dark and gloomy streets of Paris, with their +irregular pavement, was the brilliantly lighted vestibule, with its marble +pillars and spacious stair rising gracefully beyond it, which met my eyes +as I entered Frescati's! Mingling with the crowd of persons who pressed +their way along, I reached a large antechamber where several servants in +rich liveries received the hats and canes of the visitors who thronged +eagerly forward, their merry voices and gay laughter resounding through +the arched roof. +</p> +<p> +As the wide doors were thrown open noiselessly, I was quite unprepared for +the splendour of the scene. Here were not only officers of rank in all the +gala of their brilliant uniforms, and civilians in full dress, shining in +stars and decorations, but ladies also, with that perfection of toilette +only known to Parisian women, their graceful figures scattered through the +groups, or promenading slowly up and down, conversing in a low tone; while +servants passed to and fro with champagne and fruit-ices on massive silver +salvers, their noiseless gesture and quiet demeanour in perfect keeping +with the hushed and tranquil look of all around. As I drew closer to the +table I could mark that the stillness was even more remarkable; not a +voice was heard but of the croupier of the table, as with ceaseless +monotony he repeated: 'Faites le jeu, messieurs! Le jeu est fait. Noir +perd, et couleur gagne. +</p> +<p> +Rouge perd, et la couleur——' The rattle of the rake and the +chink of the gold followed, a low muttered 'Sacre!' being the only sound +that mingled with them. +</p> +<p> +But I could mark, that, although the etiquette of ruin demanded this +unbroken silence, passion worked in every feature there. On one side was +an old man, his filmy eyes shaded by his hand from the strong glare of +wax-lights, peering with eagerness and tremulous from age and excitement +as the cards fell from the banker's hands, his blanched lips muttering +each word after the croupier, and his wasted cheek quivering as the +chances inclined against him. Here was a bold and manly face, flushed and +heated, whose bloodshot eye ranged quickly over the board, while every now +and then some effort to seem calm and smile would cross the features, and +in its working show the dreadful struggle that was maintained within. And +then again a beautiful girl, her dark eye dilated almost to a look of wild +insanity, her lips parted, her cheeks marked with patches of white and +red, and her fair hands clenched, while her bosom heaved and fell as +though some pent-up agony was eating at her very heart. +</p> +<p> +At the end of the table was a vacant chair, beside which an officer in a +Prussian uniform was standing, while before him was a small brass-clasped +box. Curious to know what this meant, I turned to see to which of those +about me I might venture to address a question, when suddenly my curiosity +became satisfied without inquiry. A loud voice talking German with a rough +accent, the heavy tramp of a cavalry boot clanking with large spurs, +announced the approach of some one who cared little for the conventional +silence of the rooms; and as the crowd opened I saw an old man in blue +uniform, covered with stars, elbow his way towards the chair. His eyebrows +of shaggy grey almost concealed his eyes as effectually as his heavy +moustache did his mouth. He walked lame, and leaned on a stick, which, as +he took his place in the chair, he placed unceremoniously on the table +before him. The box, which was opened the moment he sat down, he now drew +towards him, and plunging his hand into it drew forth a handful of +napoleons, and, without waiting to count, he threw on the table, uttering +in a thick guttural voice the one word 'Rouge.' The impassive coldness of +the croupier as he pronounced his habitual exordium seemed to move the old +man's impatience, as he rattled his fingers hurriedly among the gold and +muttered some broken words of German between his teeth. The enormous sum +he betted drew every eye towards his part of the table—of all which +he seemed totally regardless, as he raked in his winnings, or frowned with +a heavy lowering look as often as fortune turned against him. Marshal +Blucher—for it was he—was an impassioned gambler, and needed +not the excitement of the champagne, which he drank eagerly from time to +time, to stimulate his passion for play. +</p> +<p> +As I turned from the <i>rouge et noir</i> table, I remarked that every now +and then some person left the room by a small door, which, concealed by a +mirror, had escaped my attention when I entered. On inquiry I found that +this passage led to a secret part of the establishment, which only a +certain set of players frequented, and where the tables were kept open +during the entire day and night. Curious to see the interior of this den +of greater iniquity, I presented myself at it, and on opening found myself +in a narrow corridor, where a servant demanded my billet. Having informed +him that I was merely there from motives of curiosity, I offered him a +napoleon, which speedily satisfied his scruples. He conducted me to the +end of the gallery, where, touching a spring, the door opened, and I found +myself in a room considerably smaller than the salon, and, with the +exception of being less brilliantly lighted, equally splendid in its +decorations. Around on all sides were small partitions, like the cells in +a London coffee-house, where tables were provided for parties to sup at. +These were now unoccupied, the greater attraction of high play having +drawn every one around the table, where the same monotonous sounds of the +croupier's voice, the same patter of the cards, and the same clinking of +the gold continued unceasingly. The silence of the salon was as nothing to +the stillness that reigned here. Not a voice save the banker's was ever +heard; each player placed his money on the red or black square of the +table without speaking, and the massive rouleaus were passed backwards and +forwards with no other sound save the noise of the rake. I remarked, too, +that the stakes seemed far heavier; crumpled rolls of <i>billets de banque</i> +were often thrown down, and from the muffled murmur of the banker I could +hear such sums as 'seven thousand francs,' 'ten thousand francs,' called +out. +</p> +<p> +It was some time before I could approach near enough to see the play; at +last I edged my way to the front, and obtained a place behind the +croupier's chair, where a good view of the table was presented to me. The +different nations, with their different costumes, tongues, and expressions +so strangely congregated, were a study that might have amused me for a +long time, had not a chance word of English spoken close by me drawn off +my attention. +</p> +<p> +Immediately in front, but with their backs towards me, sat two persons, +who seemed, as was often the habit, to play in concert. A large heap of +gold and notes lay before them, and several cards, marked with pin-holes +to chronicle the run of the game, were scattered about. Unable to see +their faces, I was struck by one singular but decisive mark of their +difference in condition and rank. The hands of one were fair and delicate +almost as a woman's—the blue veins circling clearly through them, +and rings of great price and brilliancy glittering on the fingers; those +of the other were coarse, brown-stained, and ill cared for—the +sinewy fingers and strong bony knuckles denoting one accustomed to +laborious exertions. It was strange that two persons, evidently so wide +apart in their walks in life, should be thus associated; and feeling a +greater interest from the chance phrase of English one of them had +dropped, I watched them closely. By degrees I could mark that their +difference in dress was no less conspicuous; for although the more humble +was well and even fashionably attired, he had not the same distinctive +marks which characterised his companion as a person of class and +condition. While I looked, the pile of gold before them had gradually +melted down to some few pieces; and as they bent down their heads over the +cards, and concerted as to their play, it was clear that by their less +frequent ventures they were becoming more cautious. +</p> +<p> +'No, no I' said he, who seemed to be the superior, 'I'll not risk it.' +</p> +<p> +'I say yes, yes!' muttered the other, in a deeper voice; 'the <i>rouge</i> +can't go on for ever: it has passed eleven times.' +</p> +<p> +'I know,' said the former bitterly; 'and I have lost seventeen thousand +francs.' +</p> +<p> +'<i>You</i> have lost!' retorted the other savagely, but in the same low +tone; 'why not <i>we?</i> Am <i>I</i> for nothing in all this?' +</p> +<p> +'Come, come, Ulick, don't be in a passion!' +</p> +<p> +The name and the tone of the speaker startled me. I leaned forward; my +very head reeled as I looked. It was Lord Dudley de Vere and Ulick Burke. +The rush of passionate excitement that ran through me for a minute or two, +to be thus thrown beside the two only enemies I had ever had, unnerved me +so far that I could not collect myself. To call them forth at once, and +charge them with their baseness towards me; to dare them openly, and +denounce them before that crowded assembly—was my first rapid +thought. But from this wild thrill of anger I was soon turned, as Burke's +voice, elevated to a tone of passion, called out— +</p> +<p> +'Hold! I am going to bet!' +</p> +<p> +The banker stopped; the cards still rested in his hands. +</p> +<p> +'I say, sir, I will do it,' said Burke, turning to De Vere, whose cheek +was now pale as death, and whose disordered and haggard air was increased +by his having torn off his cravat and opened the collar of his shirt. '<i>I</i> +say I will; do <i>you</i> gainsay me?' continued he, laying on the words +an accent of such contemptuous insolence that even De Vere's eye fired at +it. 'Vingt mille francs, noir,' said Burke, placing his last billet on the +table; and the words were scarce spoken when the banker cried out— +</p> +<p> +'Noir perd et passe.' +</p> +<p> +A horrible curse broke from Burke as he fixed his staring eyeballs on the +outspread cards, and counted over the numbers to himself. +</p> +<p> +'You see, Burke,' said De Vere. +</p> +<p> +'Don't speak to me, now, damn you!' said the other, with clenched teeth. +</p> +<p> +De Vere pushed back his chair, and rising, moved through the crowd towards +an open window. Burke sat with his head buried between his hands for some +seconds, and then starting up at the banker s call, cried out— +</p> +<p> +'Dix mille, noir!' +</p> +<p> +A kind of half-suppressed laugh ran round the table at seeing that he had +no funds while he still offered to bet. He threw his eyes upon the board, +and then as quickly turned them on the players. One by one his dark look +was bent on them, as if to search out some victim for his hate; but all +were hushed. Many as reckless as himself were there, many as utterly +ruined, but not one so lost to hope. +</p> +<p> +'Who laughed?' said he in French, while the thick veins of his forehead +stood out like cordage; and then, as none answered to his challenge, he +rose slowly, still scowling with the malignity of a demon. +</p> +<p> +'May I have your seat, monsieur?' said a dapper little Frenchman, with a +smile and a bow, as Burke moved away. +</p> +<p> +'Yes, take it,' said he, as lifting the strong chair with one hand he +dashed it upon the floor, smashing it to pieces with a crash that shook +the room. +</p> +<p> +The crowd, which made way for him to pass out, as speedily closed again +around the table, where the work of ruin still went forward. Not a passing +glance was turned from the board to look after the beggared gambler. +</p> +<p> +The horrible indifference the players had shown to the sufferings of this +wretched man so thoroughly disgusted me that I could no longer bear even +to look on the game. The passion of play had shown itself to me now in all +its most repulsive form, and I turned with abhorrence from the table. +</p> +<p> +My mind agitated by a number of emotions, and my heart now swelling with +triumphant vengeance, now filled with pity for the sake of him who had +ruined my fortunes for ever, I sat in one of the small boxes I have +mentioned, which, dimly lighted, had not yet been sought by any of the +players to sup in. A closely drawn curtain separated the little place I +occupied from the adjoining one, where from time to time I heard the clink +of glasses and the noise of champagne corks. At first I supposed that some +other solitary individual had established himself there to enjoy his +winnings or brood over his losses, when at last I could hear the low +muttering of voices, which ere long I recognised as belonging to Burke and +De Vere. +</p> +<p> +Burke, who evidently from his tone and manner possessed the mastery over +his companion, no longer employed the insulting accents I had witnessed at +the table; on the contrary, he condescended to flatter—affected to +be delighted with De Vere's wit and sharpness, and more than once +insinuated that with such an associate he cared little what tricks fortune +played them, as, to use his own phrase, 'they were sure to come round.' +</p> +<p> +De Vere's voice, which I could only hear at rare intervals, told that he +had drunk deeply, and that between wine and his losses a kind of reckless +desperation had seized him, which gave to his manner and words a semblance +of boldness which his real character lacked completely. +</p> +<p> +When I knew that Burke and De Vere were the persons near me, I rose to +leave the spot; the fear of playing the eavesdropper forbade my remaining. +But as I stood up, the mention of my name, uttered in a tone of vengeance +by Burke, startled me, and I listened. +</p> +<p> +'Yes,' said he, striking his hand upon the table, and confirming his +assertion with a horrible oath. 'Yes; for him and through him my uncle +left me a beggar. But already I have had my revenge; though it shan't end +there.' +</p> +<p> +'You don't mean to have him out again? Confound him, he's a devilish good +shot; winged you already—eh?' +</p> +<p> +Burke, unmindful of the interruption, continued— +</p> +<p> +'It was I that told my uncle how this fellow was the nephew of the man who +seduced his own wife. I worked upon the old man so that he left house and +home, and wandered through the country, till mental irritation, acting on +a broken frame, became fever, and then death.' +</p> +<p> +'Died—eh? Glorious nephew you are, by Jove! What next?' +</p> +<p> +'I'll tell you. I forged a letter in his handwriting to Louisa, written as +if on his death-bed, commanding as his last prayer that she should never +see Hinton again; or if by any accident they should meet, that she should +not recognise him nor know him.' +</p> +<p> +'Devilish clever, that; egad, a better martingale than that you invented a +while ago. I say, pass the wine! red fourteen times—wasn't it +fourteen?—and if it had not been for your cursed obstinacy I'd have +backed the red. See, fifty naps! one hundred, four, eight, sixteen, +thirty-four, or six—which is it? Oh, confounded stupidity!' +</p> +<p> +'Come, come, Dudley! better luck another time. Louisa's eyes must have +been too kindly bent on you, or you 'd have been more fortunate.' +</p> +<p> +'Eh, you think she likes me?—Capital champagne that!—I always +thought she did from the first. That's what I call walking inside of +Hinton. How he'll look! Ha! ha! ha!' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, how he'll look!' echoed Burke, endeavouring to join the laugh. 'But +now one thing is yet wanting.' +</p> +<p> +'You mean those despatches,' replied De Vere suddenly. 'You always come +back to that. Well, once for all, I say no!' +</p> +<p> +'Just hear me, Dudley! Nothing is easier; nothing incurs less risk.' +</p> +<p> +'Less risk! what do you mean? No risk for me to steal the papers of the +embassy, and give them to you to hand over to that scoundrel at the head +of the secret police? Devilish green I may be, but not so green as that, +Master Burke!' +</p> +<p> +'Guillemain will give us forty thousand francs. Forty thousand! with half +that, and your luck, De Vere, we'll break every bank in Paris. I know you +don't wish to marry Louisa.' +</p> +<p> +'No; hang it, that's always the wind-up. Keep that for the last throw, eh?—There's +heavy play there; see how silent they are.' +</p> +<p> +'Ay; and with forty thousand francs we might join them,' said Burke, as if +musing; 'and so safely it may be done.' +</p> +<p> +'I say no!' replied De Vere resolutely. +</p> +<p> +'What do you fear? Is it me?' +</p> +<p> +'No, not you! I believe you are true enough. Your own neck will be in the +rope too; so you'll say nothing. But I won't do it!—pass the +champagne!—there's something so devilish blackguard in stealing a +man's papers.' +</p> +<p> +Burke started, as if the tones of his companion's voice had stung him like +an adder. +</p> +<p> +'Have you thought over your present condition?' said Burke firmly. 'You +have not a guinea left; your debts in Paris alone, to my knowledge, are +above forty thousand francs!' +</p> +<p> +'I'll never pay a franc of them—damned swindlers and Jew +money-lenders!' was the cool reply. +</p> +<p> +'Might not some scrupulous moralist hint there was something blackguard in +that?' said Burke, with slow and distinct articulation. +</p> +<p> +'What!' replied De Vere; 'do you come here to tutor me—a low-bred +horse-jockey, a spy? Take off your hands, sir, or I'll alarm the room; let +loose my collar!' +</p> +<p> +'Come, come, my lord, we 're both in fault,' said Burke, smothering his +passion with a terrible effort; 'we of all men must not quarrel. Play is +to us the air we breathe, the light we live in. Give me your hand.' +</p> +<p> +'Allow me to draw on my glove first,' said De Vere, in a tone of +incomparable insolence. +</p> +<p> +'Champagne here!' said Burke to the waiter as he passed, and for some +minutes neither spoke. +</p> +<p> +The clock chimed a quarter to two, and Burke started to his feet. +</p> +<p> +'I must be going,' said he hastily; 'I should have been at the Porte St. +Martin by half-past one.' +</p> +<p> +'Salute the Jacobite Club, <i>de ma part</i>,' said De Vere, with an +insulting laugh, 'and tell them to cut everybody's throat in Paris save +old Lafitte's; he has promised to do a bill for me in the morning.' +</p> +<p> +'You 'll not need his kindness so soon,' replied Burke, 'if you are +willing to take my advice. Forty thousand francs——' +</p> +<p> +'Would he make it sixty, think you?' +</p> +<p> +'Sixty!' said Burke, with animation; 'I'm not sure, but shall I say for +sixty you 'll do it?' +</p> +<p> +'No, I don't mean that; I was only anxious to know if these confounded +rigmaroles I have to copy sometimes could possibly interest any one to +that amount.' +</p> +<p> +Burke tried to laugh, but the hollow chuckle sounded like the gulping of a +smothering man. +</p> +<p> +'Laugh out!' said De Vere, whose voice became more and more indistinct as +his courage became stronger; 'that muttering is so devilish like a spy, a +rascally, low-bred——' +</p> +<p> +A heavy blow, a half-uttered cry, followed, and De Vere fell with a crash +to the floor, his face and temples bathed with blood, while Burke, +springing to the door, darted downstairs and gained the street before +pursuit was thought of. A few of the less interested about the table +assisted me to raise the fallen man, from whose nose and mouth the blood +flowed freely. He was perfectly senseless, and evinced scarcely a sign of +life as we carried him downstairs and placed him in a carriage. +</p> +<p> +'Where to?' said the coachman, as I stood beside the door. +</p> +<p> +'I hesitated for a second, and then said, 'No. 4 Place Vendôme.' +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0060" id="link2HCH0060"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER LX. DISCLOSURES +</h2> +<p> +I have more than once heard physicians remark the singular immunity a +fool's skull seems to possess from the evil effects of injury—as if +Nature, when denying a governing faculty, had, in kind compensation, +imparted a triple thickness to the head thus exposed. It is well known how +among the educated and thinking classes many maladies are fatal which are +comparatively innocuous among those whose hands alone are called on to +labour. A very ingenious theory might be spun from this fact, to the +manifest self-gratulation of foxhunters, sailors, gentlemen who assault +the new police, tithe-proctors, and others. For the present I have no +further use for the remark than as it bore upon the head-piece of Lord +Dudley de Vere, whose admirable developments had received little or no +damage from the rude assault of his companion. When he awoke the next +morning, he was only aware that something unusual had occurred; and +gradually by 'trying back' in his sensations, he remembered every particle +that took place—had the clearest recollection of the 'run upon red'; +knew the number of bottles of champagne he had partaken of; and was only +puzzled by one thing—what could possibly have suggested the courage +with which he confronted Burke, and the hardihood that led to insulting +him. As to any awkwardness at being brought home to the house of the +person he had himself so ill-treated, he never felt anything approaching +to it; the extent of his reasoning on this point only went to his +satisfaction that 'some one' took care of him, and that he was not left to +lie on the floor of the salon. +</p> +<p> +This admirable philosophy of De Vere served in a great measure to relieve +me from the constraint I felt in presenting myself before him, and soon +put me perfectly at my ease in our interview. After learning, that, except +some headaching sensations, the only inconvenience he experienced was an +unconquerable thirst, I touched lightly on the cause of his misfortune; +when, what was my astonishment to discern that he not only did not +entertain a particle of ill-will towards the man who had so brutally +ill-treated him, but actually grew warm in his panegyric of Burkes +consummate skill and address at play—such qualities in his +estimation being well worthy to cover any small blemishes of villainy his +character might suffer under. +</p> +<p> +'I say, don't you think Burke a devilish sharp fellow? He's up to +everything, and so cool, so confoundedly cool! Not last night, though; no, +by Jove! he lost temper completely. I shall be marked with that knock, eh? +Damn me, it was too bad; he must apologise for it. You know he was drunk, +and somehow he was all wrong the whole evening; he wouldn't let me back +the “rouge,” and such a run—you saw that, I suppose?' +</p> +<p> +I assented with a nod, for I still hesitated how far I should communicate +to him my knowledge of Burke's villainy towards myself. +</p> +<p> +'By-the-bye, it's rather awkward my being here; you know your people have +cut me. Don't you think I might get a cab to bring me over to the Rue +d'Alger?' +</p> +<p> +There was something which touched me in the simplicity of this remark, and +I proceeded to assure him that any former impressions of my friends would +not be remembered against him at that moment. +</p> +<p> +'Oh, that I'm sure of; no one ever thinks it worth while to bear malice +against a poor devil like me. But if I'd have backed the red——' +</p> +<p> +'Colonel O'Grady is in the drawing-room,' said a servant in a low voice to +me at this instant; and leaving Lord Dudley to speculate on the +contingencies of his having 'backed the red,' I joined my friend, whom I +had not seen on the previous day. We were alone, and in ten minutes I +explained to him the entire discovery I had fallen upon, concealing only +my affection for Louisa Bellew, which I could not bring myself even to +allude to. +</p> +<p> +'I see,' said Phil, when I concluded—'I see you are half disposed to +forgive De Vere all his rascality. Now, what a different estimate we take +of men! Perhaps—I can't say—it is because I am an Irishman, +but I lean to the bold-faced villain Burke; the miserable, contemptible +weakness of the one is far more intolerable to me than the ruffian +effrontery of the other. Don't forget the lesson I gave you many a year +ago: a fool is always a blackguard. Now, if that fellow could see his +companion this minute, there is not a circumstance he has noticed here +that he would not retail if it bore to your disadvantage. Untouched by +your kindness to him, he would sell you—ay, to the very man you +saved him from! But, after all, what have we to do with him? Our first +point is to rescue this poor girl's name from being ever mixed with his; +anything further is, of course, out of the question. The Rooneys are going +back: I saw Paul this morning. “The Cruiskeen Lawn” has been their ruin. +All the Irish officers who had taken Madame de Roni for an illustrious +stranger have found out the true scent; and so many distinguished persons +are involved in the ridicule of their parties that the old <i>chef de +police</i>, my friend, has sent them a private order to leave Paris in a +week. Paul is in raptures at it. He has spent eighteen thousand in two +months; detests the place; is dying to be back in Dublin; and swears that +except one Cossack officer he hasn't met a pleasant fellow since he came +abroad.' +</p> +<p> +'And Mrs. Paul?' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, the old story. I put Guilemain up to it, and he has hinted that the +Empress of Russia has heard of the Czar's attentions; that there's the +devil to pay in St. Petersburg; and that if she doesn't manage to steal +out of Paris slyly, some confounded boyard or other will slip a sack over +her head and carry her off to Tobolsk. +</p> +<p> +<i>Elizabeth and the Exiles</i> has formed part of her reading, and Madame +de Roni will dream every night of the knout till she reaches her dear +native land.—But now to business. I, too, have made my discoveries +since we met. De Vere's high play has been a matter of surprise to all who +know him. I have found out his secret—he plays with forged <i>billets +de banque</i>.' +</p> +<p> +'And has the wretched fellow gone so far as this?' +</p> +<p> +'He doesn't know it; he believes that the money is the proceeds of bills +he has given to Burke, who affects to get them discounted. See here—here +are a handful of their notes. Guillemain knows all, and retains the secret +as a hold over Burke, whose honesty to himself he already suspects. If he +catch him tripping——' +</p> +<p> +'Then——' +</p> +<p> +'Why, then, the galleys for life. Such is the system; a villain with them +is worthless if his life isn't at their disposal Satan's bond completely—all, +all. But show me De Vere's room, and leave me alone with him for half an +hour. Let us then meet at my hotel, and concert future measures.' +</p> +<p> +Having left O'Grady with De Vere, I walked out upon the boulevards, my +head full of the extraordinary facts so suddenly thronging one upon the +other. A dash of hope, that for many a day had not visited me, was now +mingled through all my meditations, and I began to think that there was +yet a chance of happiness for me. +</p> +<p> +I had not gone many paces when an arm was thrust into mine, and a hearty +chuckling laugh at the surprise rang in my ear. I turned: it was Mr. Paul +Booney, taking his morning's promenade of Paris, and now on his way home +with an enormous bouquet for Madame, which she had taught him to present +to her each day on her appearing in the drawing-room. +</p> +<p> +'Ah, Captain, the very man I wanted! We haven't had a moment to ourselves +since your arrival. You must come and take a bit of dinner with us to-day—thank +Heaven, we've no company! I have a leg of pork, smuggled into the house as +if it was a bale of goods from Alexandria; nobody knows of it but myself +and Tim.' +</p> +<p> +'Tim! why, have you brought Tim to Paris?' +</p> +<p> +'Hush!' said he in a low, cautious voice; 'I 'd be ruined entirely if +Madame was to find him out. Tim is dressed like a Tartar, and stands in +the hall; and Mrs. Rooney believes that he never heard of a civil bill in +his life. But here we are.' +</p> +<p> +So saying, he opened a small wicket with a latchkey, and led me into a +large and well-trimmed garden, across which we walked at a rapid pace, +Paul speculating from the closed shutters of his wife's room that he +needed not have hurried home so fast. +</p> +<p> +'She's not down yet—one o'clock as I'm a sinner! Come along and sit +down in the library; I'll join you presently.' +</p> +<p> +Scarcely had Paul left the room when I began to think over the awkwardness +of my position should I meet Miss Bellew. What course to follow under the +circumstances I knew not; when just at the moment the door opened, and she +entered. Not perceiving me, as I stood in a deep window-recess, she drew a +chair to the fire and sat down. I hardly ventured to breathe. I felt like +one who had no right to obtrude himself there, and had become, as it were, +a spy upon her. A long-drawn breath burst from me; she started up. I moved +slightly forward, and stood before her. She leaned her hand upon the arm +of the chair for support; her cheek grew deadly pale, and a tremulous +quiver shook her lip. +</p> +<p> +'Mr. Hinton,' she began; and then as if the very sound of her voice had +terrified her, she paused. 'Mr. Hinton,' resumed she, 'I am sure—nay, +I know—if you were aware of the reasons of my conduct towards you, +you would not only acquit me of all blame, but spare me the pain of our +ever meeting again.' +</p> +<p> +'I know them—I do know them,' said I passionately. 'I have been +slandered.' +</p> +<p> +'No, you do not, cannot know what I mean,' interrupted she. 'It is a +secret between my own heart and one who is now no more.' +</p> +<p> +The last words fell from her one by one, while a single tear rolled from +her eyelid and trickled along her cheek. +</p> +<p> +'Yes, yes, Louisa; I do know it—I know all. A chance has told me how +your dear father's name has been used to banish me for ever from your +sight; how a forgery of his handwriting——' +</p> +<p> +'What! who could have told you what my father's last note contained?' +</p> +<p> +'He who wrote it confessed it in my hearing—Ulick Burke. Nay, I can +even repeat the words' But as I spoke, a violent trembling seized her; her +lips became bloodless; she tottered, and sank upon the chair. I had only +time to spring forward and catch her in my arms, and her head fell heavily +back, and dropped on my shoulder. +</p> +<p> +I cannot, if I would, repeat the words which in all the warm eloquence of +affection I spoke. I could mark by her heightened colour that the +life-blood again coursed freely in her veins, and could see that she heard +me. I told her how through every hardship and suffering, in all the sorrow +of disappointed ambition, in the long hours of captivity, my heart had +ever turned to her; and then, when we did meet, to see her changed! +</p> +<p> +'But you do not blame—you cannot blame me if I believed——' +</p> +<p> +'No, if you tell me now that but for this falsehood you have not altered; +that your heart is still as much my own as I once thought it.' +</p> +<p> +A faint smile played on her lips as her eyes were turned upon me; while +her voice muttered— +</p> +<p> +'And do you still love me?' +</p> +<p> +I pressed her hand to my lips in rapture, when suddenly the door opened +and Paul Rooney rushed in. +</p> +<p> +'Another candidate for the leg of—— Eh! what's this?' said he, +as I rose and advanced to meet him; while Louisa, blushing deeply, buried +her head in her hand, and then starting up, left the room. +</p> +<p> +'Captain, Captain,' said Paul gravely, 'what does this mean? Do you +suppose that because there is some difference in our rank in life, that +you are privileged to insult one who is under my protection? Is it because +you are the Guardsman and I the attorney that you have dared to take a +liberty here which in your own walk you couldn't venture on?' +</p> +<p> +'My dear Mr. Rooney, you mistake me sadly.' +</p> +<p> +'If I do not mistake you, I'll put a hole in your body as sure as my +name's Paul,' was the quick reply. +</p> +<p> +'You do, then, and wrong me to boot. I have been long and ardently +attached to Miss Bellew. From the hour I met her at your house I loved +her. It is the first time we have met since our long separation: I +determined it should not be lost. I 've asked her to be my wife.' +</p> +<p> +'You have! And what does she say?' +</p> +<p> +'She has consented.' +</p> +<p> +'Rum-ti-iddity, iddity!' said Paul, snapping his fingers, and capering +about the room like a man deranged. 'Give me your hand, my buck! I 'd +rather draw the settlements, so help me, than I 'd see the warrant to make +me Master of the Rolls. Who 'd say there isn't luck in a leg of pork? +She's a darling girl; and beautiful as she is, her looks isn't the best of +her—an angel as sure as I am here! And look here'—here he +dropped his voice—'seven thousand a year, that may be made nine! +Hennessy's farm is out of lease in October; and the Cluangoff estate is +let at ten shillings an acre. Hurroo! maybe I won't be drunk to-night; and +bad luck to the Cossack, Tartar, Bohemian, or any other blackguard I'll +let into the house this day or night! Sworn, my lord.' +</p> +<p> +After some little discussion, it was arranged that if Louisa would give +her consent to the arrangement, the marriage should take place before the +Rooneys left Paris. Meanwhile, Paul agreed with me in keeping the whole +matter a perfect secret from everybody, Mrs. Rooney herself included. Our +arrangements were scarcely completed when O'Grady appeared. Having waited +for me some time at his hotel, he had set out in search of me. +</p> +<p> +'I'm your man to-day, Paul,' said he. 'You got my note, I suppose?' +</p> +<p> +'All right,' said Mr. Rooney, whose double secret of the marriage and the +leg of pork seemed almost too much for him to bear. +</p> +<p> +'I suppose I may tell Phil,' said I in a whisper. +</p> +<p> +'No one else,' said Paul, as we left the house, and I took O'Grady's arm +down the street. +</p> +<p> +'Well, I have frightened De Vere to some purpose,' said O'Grady. 'He has +made a full confession about Burke, who was even a deeper villain than we +supposed. What do you think? He has been the spy of the Bonapartist +faction all this time, and selling old Guillemain as regularly as the +others. To indulge his passion for play, he received the pay of four +different parties, whom he pitted against one another exactly as he saw +proper. Consummate clever scoundrel!—he had to deal with men whose +whole lives are passed in the very practice of every chicanery and deceit, +and yet he has jockied them all. What a sad thing to think that such +abilities and knowledge of mankind should be prostituted to the lowest and +most debasing uses; and that the sole tendency of such talent should be to +dishonour and disgrace its possessor! Some of his manufactured despatches +were masterpieces of cleverness.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, where is he now? Still in Paris?' +</p> +<p> +'No. The moment he had so far forgotten himself as to strike De Vere, he +forged a passport and returned to London, carrying with him hosts of +papers of the French authorities, which to our Foreign Office will be very +acceptable. De Vere meanwhile feels quite at his ease. He was always +afraid of his companion, yet can't forgive him his last indignity. +</p> +<p> +'No! A blow!' +</p> +<p> +'Not at all; you mistake. His regrets have a different origin. It is for +not backing the “rouge” that he is inexorable towards him. Besides, he is +under the impression that all these confessions he has been making +establish for him a kind of moral insolvency act, by which he is to come +forth irresponsible for the past, and quite ready to contract new debts +for the future. At this moment his greatest point of doubt consists in +whether he should marry your cousin, Lady Julia, or Miss Bellew; for, in +his own phrase, “he must do something that way to come round.”' +</p> +<p> +'Impudent scoundrel!' +</p> +<p> +'Fact, I assure you; and so easy, so unaffected, so free from +embarrassment of any kind is he, that I'm really quite a convert to this +modern school of good manners, when associating with even such as Burke +conveys no feeling of shame or discomfort. More than could be said some +forty years ago, I fancy.' +</p> +<p> +It was the hour of my mother's morning reception, and we found the +drawing-room crowded with loungers and fashionable idlers, discussing the +news of the day, and above all the Roni <i>fête</i>, the extraordinary +finale to which gave rise to a hundred conjectures—some asserting +that Monsieur de Roni's song was a violent pasquinade against the Emperor +Alexander; others, equally well informed, alleging it was the concerted +signal for a general massacre of the Allies, which was to have begun at +the same moment in the Rue Montmartre. She is a Bonapartist, a Legitimist, +a Neapolitan, an Anversoise,' contended one after another—my only +fear being that some one would enlighten the party by saying she was the +wife of an Irish attorney. All agreed, however, she was <i>bien mauvais +ton</i>; that her <i>fête</i> was, with all its magnificence, anything but +select; her supper superb, but too crowded by half; and, in fact, that +Madame Roni had enjoyed the pleasure of ruining herself to very little +other purpose than that of being generally ridiculed and laughed at. +</p> +<p> +'And this niece, or ward, or whatever it is—who can tell anything of +her?' said my mother. +</p> +<p> +'Ah, <i>pardieu!</i> she's very handsome,' said Grammont, with a malicious +smile. +</p> +<p> +'Perfect,' said another; 'quite perfect; but a little, a very little too +graceful Don't you think so?' +</p> +<p> +'Why what do you mean?' said Lady Charlotte, as her eyes sparkled with +animation at the thought of a secret. +</p> +<p> +'Nothing,' replied the last speaker carelessly; 'except that one always +detects the <i>danseuse</i>. She was thinner when I saw her at Naples.' +</p> +<p> +I whispered one word—but one—in his ear, and his face became +purple with shame and confusion. +</p> +<p> +'Eh, what is it?' said my mother eagerly. 'John knows something of her +too. John, dearest, let us hear it?' +</p> +<p> +'I am in your ladyship's debt as regards one secret,' said O'Grady, +interrupting; 'perhaps I may be permitted to pay it on this occasion. The +lady in question is the daughter of an Irish baronet, the descendant of a +family as old as any of those who now hear me. That baronet would have +been a peer of the realm had he consented to vote once—but once—with +the minister, on a question where his conscience told him to oppose him. +His refusal was repaid by neglect; others were promoted to rank and +honours before him; but the frown of a minister could neither take away +the esteem of his country nor his own self-respect. He is now dead; but +his daughter is the worthy inheritor of his virtues and his name. Perhaps +I might interest the present company as much in her favour by adding, she +possesses something like eight thousand per annum.' +</p> +<p> +'Two hundred thousand <i>livres de rente!</i> said Grammont, smacking his +lips with astonishment, 'and perfectly insensible to the tone of mockery +in which O'Grady's last words were spoken. +</p> +<p> +'And you are sure of all this?' said my mother. +</p> +<p> +O'Grady bowed deeply, but without speaking, while his features assumed an +expression of severe determination I had never witnessed before. I could +not help remarking, that, amid the dismay such an announcement created in +that gossiping and calumnious assembly, my cousin Julia's eyes shone with +an added lustre, and her whole face beamed with a look of proud and +exalted beauty. +</p> +<p> +This was now the time to tell O'Grady my secret; and drawing him towards a +window, I said— +</p> +<p> +'Phil, I can wait no longer—you must hear it. I'm going to be +married.' +</p> +<p> +The words had not left my lips, when O'Grady started back, his face as +pale as death, and his whole frame trembling with eagerness. By a violent +effort, however, he rallied; and as he clutched my arm with his fingers, +he said— +</p> +<p> +'I must be going; these good people have made me forget an appointment. +Make my respectful homage to her ladyship—and the bride. I shall see +you before I leave.' +</p> +<p> +'Leave! Why, where are you thinking of going?' +</p> +<p> +'To India.' +</p> +<p> +'To India!' said Julia, starting round as he spoke. +</p> +<p> +'To India!' said I, in amazement. +</p> +<p> +He nodded, and turning quickly round, left the room. +</p> +<p> +I hastened after him with all my speed, and dashing downstairs was making +for the <i>porte cochère</i>, when a shadow beside the doorway caught my +eye. I stopped. It was O'Grady; he was leaning against the wall, his head +buried in his hands. A horrible doubt shot through my heart. I dared not +dwell upon it; but rushing towards him, I called him by his name. He +turned quickly round, while a fierce, wild look glistened in his eyes. +</p> +<p> +'Not now, Hinton, not now!' said he, motioning me away with his hand; and +then, as a cold shudder passed over him, he drew his hand across his face, +and added in a lower tone, 'I never thought to have betrayed myself thus. +Good-bye, my dear fellow, good-bye! It were better we shouldn't meet +again.' +</p> +<p> +'My dearest, best friend! I never dreamed that the brightest hour of my +life was to throw this gloom over your heart.' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, Jack,' said he, in a voice low and broken, 'from the first hour I +saw her I loved her. The cold manner she maintained towards me at your +father's house——' +</p> +<p> +'In my father's house! What do you mean?' +</p> +<p> +'When in London, I speak of—when I joined first—your cousin—' +</p> +<p> +'My cousin!' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, Lady Julia. Are you so impatient to call her wife that you will not +remember her as cousin?' +</p> +<p> +'Call her wife! My dear boy, you're raving. It's Louisa Bellew!' +</p> +<p> +'What! Is it Miss Bellew you are to marry?' +</p> +<p> +'To be sure——' +</p> +<p> +But I could not finish the sentence, as O'Grady fell upon my shoulder, and +his strong frame was convulsed with emotion. +</p> +<p> +In an instant, however, I tore myself away; and calling out, 'Wait for me, +O'Grady!' I rushed upstairs, peeped hastily into the drawing-room, and +then hurrying along the corridor opened a door at the end. The blinds of +the windows were down, and the room so dark that I could scarcely perceive +if any one were there had not my steps been guided by a low sob which I +heard issue from the end of the sofa. +</p> +<p> +'Julia,' said I, rushing forward—'Julia, my dearest cousin! this is +no time to deceive ourselves. He loves you—loved you from the first +hour he met you. Let me have but one word. Can he, dare he hope that you +are not indifferent to him? Let him but see you, but speak to you. Believe +me, you have bent a heart as proud and haughty as your own; and you will +have broken it if you refuse him. There, dearest girl—— +Thanks! my heart's thanks for that!' +</p> +<p> +The slightest pressure of her taper fingers sent a thrill through me, as I +sprang up and dashed down the stairs. In an instant I had seized O'Grady's +arm, and the next moment whispered in his ear— +</p> +<p> +'You 've won her!' +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0061" id="link2HCH0061"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER LXI. NEW ARRIVALS +</h2> +<p> +Mr. Paul Rooney's secret was destined to be inviolable as regarded his leg +of pork; for Madame de Roni, either from chagrin or fatigue, did not leave +her room the entire day. Miss Bellew declined joining us; and we sat down, +a party of three, each wrapped up in his own happiness in a degree far too +great to render us either social or conversational It is true the wine +circulated briskly, and we nodded pleasantly now and then to one another; +but all our efforts to talk led to so many blunders and cross answers that +we scarcely ventured on more than a chance phrase or a good-humoured +smile. There were certainly several barriers in the way of our complete +happiness, in the innumerable prejudices of my lady-mother, who would be +equally averse to O'Grady's project as to my own; but now was not the time +to speculate on these, and we wrapped ourselves up in the glorious +anticipation of our success, and cared little for such sources of +opposition as might now arise. Meanwhile, Paul entered into a long and +doubtless very accurate statement of the Bellew property, to which, I +confess, I paid little attention, save when the name of Louisa occurred, +which momentarily aroused me from my dreaminess. All the wily stratagems +by which he had gained his points with Galway juries, all the cunning +devices by which he had circumvented opposing lawyers and obtained +verdicts in almost hopeless cases, however I might have relished another +time, I only now listened to without interest, or heard without +understanding. +</p> +<p> +Towards ten o'clock I received more than one hint from O'Grady that we had +promised to take tea at the Place Vendôme; while I myself was manoeuvring +to find out, if we were to adjourn for coffee, what prospect there might +be of seeing Louisa Bellew in the drawing-room. +</p> +<p> +It was in that dusky twilight we sat, a time which seems so suited to the +quiet enjoyment of one's claret with a small and chosen party; where +intimacy prevails sufficiently to make conversation more a thing of choice +than necessity; where each man can follow out his own path in thought and +only let his neighbour have a peep here and there into his dreamings, when +some vista opens, or some bold prospect stretches away. Next to the +blazing fire of a winter's hearth, this is the pleasantest thing I know +of. Thus was it, when the door opened, and a dusky outline of a figure +appeared at the entrance. +</p> +<p> +'Is Master Phil here?' said a cranky voice there was no mistaking as Mr. +Delany's. +</p> +<p> +'Yes, Corny. What's wrong? Anything new?' +</p> +<p> +'Where's the Captain?' said he in the same tone. +</p> +<p> +'I 'm here, Corny,' said L +</p> +<p> +'Well, there's them looking for you without,' said he, 'that'll maybe +surprise you, pleasant as ye are now.' +</p> +<p> +A detestable effort at a laugh here brought on a fit of coughing that +lasted a couple of minutes. +</p> +<p> +'Who is it?' said I. 'Where are they?' +</p> +<p> +A significant gesture with his thumb over his shoulder was the only reply +to my question, while he barked out, 'Don't you see me coughing the inside +out o' me?' +</p> +<p> +I started up, and without attending to Paul's suggestion to bring my +friends in, or to O'Grady's advice to be cautious if it were Burke, +hurried outside, where a servant of the house was in waiting to conduct +me. +</p> +<p> +'Two gentlemen in the drawing-room, sir,' said he, as he preceded me down +the corridor. +</p> +<p> +The next instant the door opened, and I saw my father, accompanied by +another person, who being wrapped up in travelling equipment, I could not +recognise. +</p> +<p> +'My dear father I' said I, rushing towards him, when suddenly I stopped +short, as I perceived that instead of the affectionate welcome I looked +for he had crossed his hands behind his back, and fixed on me a look of +stern displeasure. +</p> +<p> +'What does this mean?' said I, in amazement; 'it was not thus I expected——' +</p> +<p> +'It was not thus I hoped to have received my son,' said he resolutely, +'after a long and eventful separation. But this is too painful to endure +longer. Answer me, and with the same truth I have always found in you—is +there a young lady in this house called Miss Bellew?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, sir,' said I, and a cold perspiration broke over me, and I could +scarcely support myself. +</p> +<p> +'Did you make her acquaintance in Ireland?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, sir.' +</p> +<p> +'Did you at that time use every effort to win her affections, and give her +to understand that she had yours?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, sir,' said I more faintly than before, for already some horrible +doubt was creeping on my mind. +</p> +<p> +'And have you now, sir,' continued he, in a voice elevated to a higher +pitch—'have you now, sir, when a prospect of a richer alliance +presents itself, dishonoured yourself and my name, by deserting the girl +whose affections you have so gained?' +</p> +<p> +'No, sir! that is untrue.' +</p> +<p> +'Stop, young man! I have one at hand this moment who may compel you to +retract your words as shamefully as you have boldly said them. Do you know +this gentleman?' +</p> +<p> +'Father Loft us!' said I, starting back with astonishment, as the good +priest unfolded a huge comforter from his throat, and stood forth. +</p> +<p> +'Yes, indeed! no other,' said he, in a voice of great sadness; 'and sorry +I am to see you this way.' +</p> +<p> +'You, surely, my dear friend,' said I—'you cannot believe thus +harshly of me?' +</p> +<p> +'If it wasn't for your handwriting, I'd not have believed the Pope of +Rome,' was his reply, as he wiped his eyes. 'But there it is.' +</p> +<p> +So saying, he handed to me, with trembling fingers, a letter, bearing the +Paris postmark. +</p> +<p> +I tore it open, and found it was written in my own name, and addressed to +Father Loftus, informing him of my deep regret that, having discovered the +unhappy circumstance of her mother's conduct, I was obliged to relinquish +all thoughts of an alliance with Miss Bellow's family, whose connection +with my own had been so productive of heavy misfortune. This also +contained an open note, to be handed by the priest to Miss Bellew, in +which I was made formally to renounce her hand, for reasons in the +possession of Father Loftus. +</p> +<p> +In a second the truth flashed across me from whom this plot proceeded; and +scarcely permitting myself time to read the letter through, I called out— +</p> +<p> +'This is a forgery! I never wrote it, never saw it before!' +</p> +<p> +'What!' said my father, starting round, and fixing his eye on the priest. +</p> +<p> +'You never wrote it?' echoed Father Tom. 'Do you say so? Is that your word +as a gentleman?' +</p> +<p> +'It is,' said I firmly. 'This day, this very day, I have asked Miss Bellew +to be my wife, and she has consented.' +</p> +<p> +Before my father could seize my hand, the good priest had thrown his arms +round my neck and given me an embrace a bear might have envied. The scene +that followed I cannot describe. My poor father, quite overpowered, sat +down upon a chair, holding my hand within both his; while Father Tom +bustled about the room, looking into all the glass and china ornaments for +something to drink, as his mouth, he said, was like a lime-burner's hat. +The honest fellow, it appeared, on receiving the letters signed with my +name, left his home the same night and travelled with all speed to London, +where he found my father just on the eve of leaving for Paris. Very little +persuasion was necessary to induce him to continue his journey farther. On +their arrival at Paris they had gone to O'Grady's hotel, where, securing +Corny*s services, they lost not a moment in tracking me out in the manner +I have mentioned. +</p> +<p> +O'Grady's surprise was little inferior to my own, as I introduced General +Hinton and Father Loftus. But as to Mr. Rooney, he actually believed the +whole to be a dream; and even when candles were brought, and he had taken +a patient survey of the priest, he was far from crediting that my parent +was not performed by deputy, till my father's tact and manner convinced +him of his mistake. +</p> +<p> +While the priest was recounting some circumstances of his journey, I took +occasion to tell my father of O'Grady's intentions regarding Julia, which +with all the warmth of his nature he at once responded to; and touching +his glass gaily with Phil's, merely added, 'With my best wishes.' Poor +O'Grady caught up the meaning at once, and grasped his hand with +enthusiasm, while the tears started to his eyes. +</p> +<p> +It would lead me too far, and perhaps where the goodnature of my reader +might not follow me, were I to speak more of that happy evening. It is +enough to say that Father Loftus won every moment on my father, who also +was delighted with the hearty racinees of honest Paul. Their stores of +pleasantry and fun, so new to him, were poured forth with profusion; and a +party every member of which was more disposed to like one another and be +pleased, never met together. +</p> +<p> +I myself, however, was not without my feeling of impatience to reach the +drawing-room, which I took the first favourable opportunity of effecting—only +then perceiving that O'Grady had anticipated me, having stolen away some +time before. +</p> +<p> +<a name="link2HCH0062" id="link2HCH0062"> +<!-- H2 anchor --> </a> +</p> +<div style="height: 4em;"> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<h2> +CHAPTER LXII. CONCLUSION +</h2> +<p> +It would be even more wearisome to my reader than the fact was worrying to +myself, were I to recount the steps by which my father communicated to +Lady Charlotte the intended marriages, and finally obtained her consent to +both. Fortunately, for some time previous she had been getting tired of +Paris, and was soon brought to suppose that these little family +arrangements were as much 'got up' to afford her an agreeable surprise and +a healthful stimulant to her weak nerves as for any other cause whatever.' +</p> +<p> +With Mrs. Rooney, on the other hand, there was considerable difficulty. +The holy alliance she had contracted with the sovereigns had suggested so +much of grandeur to her expectations that she dreamed of nothing but +archdukes and counts of the empire, and was at first quite inexorable at +the bare idea of the <i>mésalliance</i> that awaited her ward. A chance +decided what resisted every species of argument. Corny Delany, who had +been sent with a note to Mr. Rooney, happened to be waiting in the hall +while Mrs. Rooney passed out to her carriage escorted by the 'Tartar' of +whom we have already made mention. Mrs. Rooney was communicating her +orders to her bearded attendant by a code of signals on her fingers, when +Corny, who watched the proceeding with increasing impatience, exclaimed— +</p> +<p> +'Arrah, can't you tell the man what you want? Sure, though you have him +dressed like a wild baste, he doesn't forget English.' +</p> +<p> +<a name="linkimage-0034" id="linkimage-0034"> +<!-- IMG --></a> +</p> +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/3-0208.jpg" alt="3-0208" width="100%" /><br /> +</div> +<p> +It is a Tartar!' said Mrs. Rooney, with a contemptuous sneer at Corny and +a forbidding wave of her hand ordaining silence. +</p> +<p> +'A Tarther! Oh, blessed Timothy! there's a name for one that comes of +dacent people! He's a county Oarlow man, and well known he is in the same +parts. Many a writ he served—eh, Tim?' +</p> +<p> +'Tim!' said Mrs. Rooney, in horror, as she beheld her wild-looking friend +grin from ear to ear, with a most fearful significance of what he heard. +</p> +<p> +'It wasn't my fault, ma'am, at all,' said the Tartar, with a very Dublin +accent in the words; 'it was the master made me.' +</p> +<p> +What further explanation Tim might have afforded it is difficult to say, +for Mrs. Rooney's nerves had received too severe and too sudden a shock. A +horrible fear lest all the kingly and royal personages by whom she had +been for some weeks surrounded might only turn out to be Garlow men, or +something as unsubstantial, beset her; a dreadful unbelief of everything +and everybody seized upon her, and quite overcome, she fainted. O'Grady, +who happened to come up at the instant, learned the whole secret at once, +and with his wonted readiness resolved to profit by it. Mrs. Paul returned +to the drawing-room, and ere half an hour was fully persuaded that as +General Hinton was about to depart for Ireland as Commander of the Forces, +the alliance was on the whole not so deplorable as she had feared. +</p> +<p> +To reconcile so many conflicting interests, to conciliate so many totally +opposite characters, was a work I should completely have failed in without +O'Grady's assistance. He, however, entered upon it <i>con amore</i>; and +under his auspices, not only did Lady Charlotte receive the visits of +Father Tom Loftus, but Mr. Paul became actually a favourite with my cousin +Julia; and, finally, the grand catastrophe of the drama was accomplished, +and my lady-mother proceeded in all state to wait on Mrs. Rooney herself, +who, whatever her previous pretensions, was so awed by the condescension +of her ladyship's manner that she actually struck her colours at the first +broadside. +</p> +<p> +Weddings are stupid things in reality, but on paper they are detestable. +Not even the <i>Morning Post</i> can give them a touch of interest. I +shall not, then, trouble my reader with any narrative of white satin and +orange-flowers, bouquets, breakfasts, and Bishop Luscombe; neither shall I +entertain him with the article in the French <i>Feuilleton</i> as to which +of the two brides was the more strictly beautiful, and which more lovely. +</p> +<p> +Having introduced my reader to certain acquaintances—some of them +rather equivocal ones, I confess—I ought perhaps to add a word of +their future fortunes. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Ulick Burke escaped to America, where, by the exercise of his +abilities and natural sharpness, he accumulated a large fortune, and +distinguished by his anti-English prejudices, became a leading member of +Congress. +</p> +<p> +Of Lord Dudley de Vere I only know that he has lived long enough, if not +to benefit by experience, to take advantage of Lord Brougham's change in +the law of imprisonment for debt. I saw his name in a late number of the +<i>Times</i>, with a debt of some fifteen thousand annexed to it, against +which his available property was eleven pounds odd shillings. +</p> +<p> +Father Loftus sleeps in Murranakilty. No stone marks his resting-place; +but not a peasant's foot, for many a mile round, has not pressed the +little pathway that leads to his grave, to offer up a prayer for a good +man and a friend to the poor. +</p> +<p> +Tipperary Joe is still to be met on the Kilkenny road. His old red coat, +now nearly russet colour, is torn and ragged; the top-boots have given +place to bare legs, as well tanned as their predecessors; but his merry +voice and cheerful 'Tally-ho!' are still as rich as of yore, and his +heart, poor fellow! as light as ever it was. +</p> +<p> +Corny Delany is the amiable proprietor of a hotel in the neighbourhood of +Castlebar, where his habitual courtesy and amenity are as conspicuous as +of yore. He has requested me to take this opportunity of recommending his +establishment to the 'Haythins and Turks' that yearly perform tours in his +vicinity. +</p> +<p> +The Rooneys live, and are as hospitable as ever. I dare not venture to +give their address, lest you should take advantage of the information. +</p> +<p> +O'Grady and his wife are now at Malta. +</p> +<p> +Jack Hinton and his are, as they have every right to be— +</p> +<p> +Your very grateful and obedient Servants. +</p> +<p> +My dear Friends,—You must often have witnessed, in the half-hour +which preludes departure from a dinner-party, the species of quiet bustle +leave-taking produces. The low-voiced announcement of Mr. Somebody's +carriage, the whispered good-night, the bow, the slide, the half-pressed +finger—and he is gone. Another and another succeed him, and the few +who linger on turn ever towards the opening door, and while they affect to +seem at ease, are cursing their coachman and wondering at the delay. +</p> +<p> +The position of the host on such an occasion is precisely that of the +author at the close of a volume. The same doubts are his whether the +entertainment he has provided has pleased his guests; whether the persons +he has introduced to one another are mutually satisfied. And, finally, the +same solitude which visits him who 'treads alone some banquet-hall +deserted' settles down upon the weary writer who watches one by one the +spirits he has conjured up depart for ever, and, worse still, sees the tie +snapped that for so long a period has bound him to his readers; and while +they have turned to other and newer sources of amusement, he is left to +brood over the time when they walked together, and his voice was heard +amongst them. +</p> +<p> +Like all who look back, he sees how much better he could have done were he +again to live over the past. He regrets many an opportunity of interesting +you lost for ever, many an occasion to amuse you which may never occur +again. It is thus that somehow—insensibly, I believe—a kind of +sadness creeps over one at the end of a volume; misgivings as to success +mingle with sorrows for the loss of our accustomed studies; and, +altogether, the author is little to be envied, who, having enjoyed your +sympathy and good wishes for twelve months, finds himself at last at the +close of the year at the limit of your kindness, and obliged to say +'Good-bye,' even though it condemns him to solitude. +</p> +<p> +I did wish, before parting with you at this season, to justify myself +before you for certain things which my critics have laid to my charge; but +on second thoughts I have deemed it better to say nothing, lest by my +defence against manslaughter a new indictment should be framed, and +convict me of murder. +</p> +<p> +Such is the simple truth. The faults, the very great faults, of my book I +am as well aware of as I feel myself unable to correct them. But in +justice to my monitors I must say, that they have less often taken me up +when tripping than when I stood erect upon good and firm ground. Yet let +me be grateful for all their kindness, which for critics is certainly +long-lived; and that I may still continue for a season to enjoy their +countenance and yours is the most sincere desire of your very devoted +servant, +</p> +<p> +Harry Lorrequer. +</p> +<p> +P.S.—A bashful friend desires an introduction to you. May I present +Tom Burke, of Ours? H. L. +</p> +<p> +THE END <br /> <br /> +</p> +<hr /> +<p> +<br /> <br /> +</p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Jack Hinton, by Charles James Lever + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JACK HINTON *** + +***** This file should be named 33082-h.htm or 33082-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/0/8/33082/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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