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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Roland Cashel, 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: Roland Cashel
+       Volume I (of II)
+
+Author: Charles James Lever
+
+Illustrator: Phiz.
+
+Release Date: August 19, 2010 [EBook #33468]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROLAND CASHEL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+ROLAND CASHEL
+
+By Charles James Lever.
+
+With Illustrations By Phiz,
+
+In Two Volumes. Vol. I.
+
+Boston: Little, Brown, And Company. 1907.
+
+
+
+To G. P. B. JAMES, Esq.
+
+Dear James,--You, once upon a time, dedicated to me a tale of deep and
+thrilling interest Let me now inscribe to you this volume on the plea
+of that classic authority who, in the interchange of armour, "gave Brass
+for Gold."
+
+It is, however, far less to repay the obligation of a debt by giving you
+a "Roland"--not for your "Oliver," but your "Stepmother"--than for the
+pleasure of recording one "Fact" in a bulky tome of Fiction, that I now
+write your name at the head of this page,--that fact being, the warm
+memory I cherish of all our pleasant hours of intercourse, and the
+sincere value I place upon the honor of your friendship.
+
+Yours, in all esteem and affection,
+
+CHARLES LEVER.
+
+Palazzo Ximenes, Florence, Oct 20, 1849.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+I first thought of this story--I should say I planned it, if the
+expression were not misleading--when living at the Lake of Como. There,
+in a lovely little villa--the "Cima"--on the border of the lake, with
+that glorious blending of Alpine scenery and garden-like luxuriance
+around me, and little or none of interruption or intercourse, I had
+abundant time to make acquaintance with my characters and follow
+them into innumerable situations, and through adventures far more
+extraordinary and exciting than I dared afterwards to recount.
+
+I do not know how it may be with other story-tellers, but I have to own
+for myself that the personages of a novel gain over at times a degree
+of interest very little inferior to that inspired by living and real
+people, and that this is especially the case when I have found myself in
+some secluded spot and seeing little of the world. To such an ascendancy
+has this deception attained, that more than once I have found myself
+trying to explain why this person should have done that, and by what
+impulse that other was led into something else. In fact, I have
+found that there are conditions of the mind in which purely imaginary
+creations assume the characters of actual people, and act positively as
+though they were independent of the will that invented them.
+
+Of the strange manner in which imagination can thus assume the mastery,
+and for a while at least have command over the mind, I cannot give a
+stronger instance within my own experience than the mode in which this
+story was first conceived.
+
+When I began I intended that the action should be carried on in the
+land where the tale opened. The scene on every side of me had shed its
+influence, the air was weighty with the perfume of the lime and the
+orange. To days of dazzling brilliancy there succeeded nights of
+tropical splendor; with stars of almost preternatural magnitude
+streaking the calm lake with long lines of light. To people a scene
+like this with the sort of characters that might befit it, was rather a
+matter of necessity with me than choice, and it was then that Maritaņa
+revealed herself to me with a charm of loveliness I have never been able
+to repicture. It was there I bethought me of those passionate natures
+in which climate and soil and vegetation reproduce themselves, glowing,
+ardent, and voluptuous as they are. It was there my fancy loved to stray
+among the changeful incidents of lives of wild adventure and wilder
+passion; and to imagine the strange discords that could be evoked
+between the traits of a land that recalled Paradise and the natures that
+were only angelic in the fall.
+
+I cannot trust to my memory to remind me of the sort of tale I meaned to
+write. I know there was to have been a perfect avalanche of adventure on
+land and on sea. I know that through a stormy period of daily peril and
+excitement, the traits of the Northern temperament in Roland himself
+were to have asserted their superiority over his more impulsive
+comrades; I know he was to have won that girl's love against a rivalry
+that set life in the issue; and I have a vague impression of how such a
+character might come by action and experience to develop such traits as
+make men the rulers of their fellows.
+
+Several of the situations occur to me, but not a single clew to the
+story. There are even now scenes before me of prairie life and lonely
+rides in passes of the Pampas; of homes where the civilized man had
+never seen a brother nor heard a native tongue. It is in vain I endeavor
+to recall anything like a connected narrative. All that I can well
+remember is the great hold the characters had taken in my mind; how they
+peopled the landscape around me, and followed me wherever I went.
+
+This was in autumn. As winter drew nigh we moved into an Italian
+city, much frequented by foreigners, and especially the resort of our
+countrymen. The new life of this place and the interest they excited,
+so totally unlike all that I had left at my little villa, effected a
+complete revolution in my thoughts, utterly routing the belief I had
+indulged in as to the characters of my story, and the incidents in which
+they displayed themselves. Up to this all my efforts had been, as it
+were, to refresh my mind as to a variety of events and people I had once
+known, and to try if I could not recall certain situations which had
+interested me. Now the spell was broken, all the charm of the illusion
+gone, and I awoke to the dreary consciousness of my creatures being mere
+shadows, and their actions as unreal as themselves.
+
+There is a sort of intellectual bankruptcy in such awakenings; and
+I know of few things so discouraging as this sudden revulsion from
+dream-land to the cold _terra firma_ of unadorned fact.
+
+There was little in the city we now lived in to harmonize with
+"romance." It was, in fact, all that realism could accomplish with the
+aids of every taste and passion of modern society. That this life of
+present-day dissipation should be enacted in scenes where every palace
+and every street, every monument, and indeed every name recalled a
+glorious past, may not impossibly have heightened the enjoyment of the
+drama, but most unquestionably it vulgarized the actors.
+
+Instead of the Orinoco and its lands of feathery palms, I had now
+before me the Arno and its gay crowds of loungers, the endless tide of
+equipages, and the strong pulse-beat of an existence that even, in the
+highways of life, denotes passion and emotion.
+
+What I had of a plan was lost to me from that hour. I was again in the
+whirlpool of active existence, and the world around me was deep--triple
+deep--in all cases of loving and hating, and plotting and gambling, of
+intriguing, countermining, and betraying, as very polite people would
+know how to do: occupations to watch, which inspire an intensity of
+interest unknown in any other condition of existence.
+
+Out of these impressions thus enforced came all the characters of my
+story. Not one was a portrait, though in each and all were traits taken
+from life. If I suffered myself on one single occasion to amass too many
+of the characteristics of an individual into a sketch, it was in
+the picture of the beau of Drumcondera; but there I was drawing from
+recollection and not able to correct, as I should otherwise have done,
+what might seem too close adherence to a model. I have been told that in
+the character of Linton I have exaggerated wickedness beyond all belief.
+I am sorry to reply that I made but a faint copy of him who suggested
+that personage, and who lives and walks the stage of life as I write.
+One or two persons--not more--who know him whose traits furnished the
+picture, are well aware that I have neither overdrawn my sketch, nor
+exaggerated my drawing.
+
+The Kennyfeck young ladies--I am anxious to say--are not from life, nor
+is Lady Kilgoff, though I have heard surmises to the contrary.
+
+These are all the explanations and excuses that occur to me I have
+to make of this story. Its graver faults are not within the pale of
+apology; and for these I only ask indulgence,--the same indulgence that
+has never been denied me.
+
+CHARLES LEVER.
+
+Trieste, 1872.
+
+
+
+
+
+ROLAND CASHEL.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. DON PEDRO'S GUESTS.
+
+     And thus they lived ye merrie yeare,
+     For they were a jollie crewe
+     Of pleasante laddes that knewe no feare,
+     And--as little of honestie too.
+
+                           Ballade of Capt. Pike.
+
+
+Our tale opens on a gorgeous night of Midsummer, at an era so little
+remote that to name the precise year could have no interest for the
+reader, and in a region which seemed to combine all that is delightful
+in climate with whatever is luxuriant and splendid in vegetation. It
+was upon the bank of a small river, a tributary of the Oronoco, not
+very distant from the picturesque city of Barcelonetta, that a
+beautiful villa stood, the elegance of whose architecture and the lavish
+magnificence of whose decorations were alike evidence that neither taste
+nor wealth were wanting to its proprietor.
+
+In this land, where Nature had been so prodigal of her gifts, the
+luxurious appointments of this princely abode seemed to partake of the
+character of a fairy palace; and the admixture of objects of high art,
+the treasures of Italian galleries and Spanish collections, with the
+more vivid realities of the scene, favored this illusion. The fortunate
+owner of this paradise was a certain Pedro Rica, who, for something like
+fourteen years, had been a resident of Columbia. A widower, with an
+only child, then an infant of scarce a year old, he had arrived in that
+country, seeking, as he said, by new scenes and new associations, to
+erase, so far as might be, the painful memory of his late bereavement.
+
+While he gave it to be understood that he was a Spaniard by birth, some
+averred that he was a Mexican; others, that he was a Texan; and one or
+two alleged that he was an American of the States,--an assumption that
+the ease and fluency of his English went far to corroborate. Of whatever
+nation he came, certain it is that a mystery hung over both his native
+land and his history; and as he showed little disposition to enlighten
+the world on these subjects, as is usual in such cases, his neighbors
+took their revenge by inventing a hundred stories about him, each one
+only worse than the other. At one time it was said that his wealth was
+acquired by piracy; at another, that he absconded from a Texan city,
+with a large sum belonging to the government; forgery, breach of trust,
+were among the commonest allegations; and the most charitable only
+averred that he made his money in the slave-trade.
+
+It is but fair to say that the sole foundation for these various rumors
+lay in the stern distance of his manner, and the cold, almost repulsive,
+austerity with which he declined all acquaintance with the neighborhood.
+These traits, added to the voluptuous splendor of a retinue and a style
+of living infinitely above all around, gradually estranged from him
+the few who attempted to form an intimacy, and left him to live--as
+it seemed he preferred--a life of solitary magnificence; an object of
+affected pity to many, but of real envy to all.
+
+As his daughter grew up, he was accustomed to visit the sea-coast each
+summer for some weeks, and from these absences he now usually returned
+with one or two acquaintances, for the most part officers of the
+Columbian navy, with whom he had formed an intimacy at the seaside. Such
+acquaintanceship seemed to increase from year to year, till at last
+each autumn saw the "Villa de las Noches Entretenidas," "of the pleasant
+nights" crowded with guests, whose wild orgies were in strange contrast
+to the former stillness and quietude within those walls.
+
+A more motley and discordant assemblage it would be hard to conceive,
+consisting as they did of adventurers from every land of Europe,--the
+wild and reckless outcast of every clime and country, the beggared
+speculator, the ruined gambler, the duellist with blood upon his hand,
+the defaulter with shame upon his forehead; all that good morals reject,
+and the law pursues, mingled with others whose faults went no further
+than waste or improvidence, or the more venial sin that they came poor
+into the world, and were stamped "Adventurers" from the cradle.
+
+A service that never exercised too nice a scrutiny into the habits of
+its followers, and whose buccaneer life had all the freedom of piracy,
+with the assumption of a recognized class, offered no mean attraction
+to the lover of enterprise; and certainly, if the standard of morals was
+low, that of daring, reckless adventure was the very opposite.
+
+Amid this pleasant company we must now ask pardon for introducing our
+reader, with this saving assurance, that he shall not have long to
+commune with such companionship. It was, as we have said, a summer's
+night. A sky all glittering with stars spread its dark blue canopy over
+a scene where, amid the banana, the manioc, and the plantain, flowers of
+every bright hue were blooming, and fountains gushing; while, through an
+atmosphere tremulous with the song of the mocking-bird, fire-flies were
+glancing and glittering.
+
+In the deep piazza before the villa was now assembled a numerous party
+of men disposed in every attitude of lounging, ease, and abandonment;
+they seemed, though perhaps after very different estimates, to be
+enjoying the delicious balm and freshness of the night air. They were of
+various ages; and although the greater number showed by their dress that
+they belonged to the naval service, other signs, not less distinctive,
+pronounced that they were drawn from classes of life as varied as they
+were numerous; while, here and there, a caballero might be seen attired
+in the picturesque costume of the Caraccas, his many colored scarf and
+plumed hat aiding, in no inconsiderable degree, the picturesque effect
+of a scene Salvator might have painted.
+
+Not only beneath the piazza itself, but on the marble steps, and even
+beneath them again, on the close-shaven turf, the party lay, sated as it
+were with splendor, and recruiting strength for new dissipations. Some
+sat talking in low and whispering voices, as if unwilling, even by a
+sound, to break the stilly calm. Others, in perfect silence, seemed to
+drink in the soothing influence of that tranquil moment, or smoked
+the cigarettos in dreamy indolence; while at intervals, from the leafy
+groves, a merry laugh, or the tinkling of a guitar, would mingle with
+the bubbling murmur of the fountains, making the very stillness yet more
+still as they ceased. Behind the piazza, and opening by several large
+windows upon it, could be seen a splendid saloon, resplendent with
+wax-lights, and still displaying on the loaded table the remnants of
+a sumptuous repast, amid which vessels of gold and vases of flowers
+appeared. Here, yet lingered two or three guests,--spirits who set no
+store on an entertainment if it did not degenerate into debauch.
+
+A broad alley, flanked by tall hedges of the prickly pear, led from the
+villa to a little mound, on which a chestnut-tree stood, the patriarch
+of the wood; a splendid tree it was, and worthy of a better destiny than
+it now fulfilled, as, lighted up by several lanterns suspended from
+the branches, it spread its shade over a large table where a party were
+playing at "Monte."
+
+Even without the suggestive aid of the large heaps of gold beside each
+player, and piled in the middle of the table, the grave and steadfast
+faces of some, the excited look of others, and the painful intensity of
+interest in all, showed that the play was high. Still, although such was
+the case, and while the players were men whose hot blood and reckless
+lives did but little dispose them to put the curb upon their tempers,
+not a word was spoken aloud; nor did a gesture or a look betray the
+terrible vacillations of hope and fear the changeful fortune of the game
+engendered. Standing near the table, but not mingling in the play, stood
+Don Pedro himself, his sallow and melancholy features fixed upon the
+game, with an expression that might mean sorrow or deep anxiety, it were
+difficult to say which.
+
+Beside him, at a small table littered with papers and writing
+materials, sat his steward, or intendant, a German named Geizheimer,
+a beetle-browed, white-cheeked, thick-lipped fellow, whose aquiline
+features and guttural accents told that lending money at enormous
+interest was no uncongenial occupation. Such was his present, and indeed
+almost his only duty; for, while Don Pedro seldom or never played,
+gaming was the invariable occupation of the guests, whose means to
+support it were freely supplied by the steward; the borrowers either
+passing a simple note for repayment, or, when the sum was a heavy one,
+mortgaging their share in the next prize they should capture. Other
+contracts, it was rumored, were occasionally resorted to, but of such we
+shall speak anon.
+
+At a short distance from the table, but sufficiently near to observe the
+game, stood one on whom nothing short of the passion of play could
+have prevented every eye being bent. But so it was; she stood alone and
+unmarked, while all the interest was concentrated upon the game. Dressed
+in a white tunic, or chemise, fastened round the waist by a gold girdle,
+stood Maritaņa Rica, her large and lustrous black eyes eagerly turned to
+where two youths were standing intensely occupied by the play. Her neck,
+arms, and shoulders were bare, in Mexican fashion, and even the mantilla
+she wore over her head was less as a protection than as a necessary
+accompaniment of a costume which certainly is of the simplest kind.
+Except the chemise, she had no other garment, save a jupe of thin
+lama-wool, beautifully embroidered and studded with precious stones;
+this terminated below the middle of the leg, displaying an ankle and
+foot no Grecian statue ever surpassed in beauty.
+
+If the deep brown of her skin almost conveyed the reproach--and such
+it is--of Indian blood, a passing glance at the delicate outline of her
+features, and, in particular, of her mouth, at once contradicted the
+suspicion. The lips were beautifully arched, and, although plump and
+rounded, had none of the fulness of the degraded race. These were now
+slightly parted, displaying teeth of surprising whiteness, and imparting
+in the whole expression a character of speaking animation. Although not
+yet sixteen, her figure had all the graceful development of womanhood,
+without having entirely lost a certain air of fawn-like elasticity,
+which, from time to time, her gestures of impatience displayed.
+
+The two young men on whom her interest seemed fixed, were playing in
+partnership, and, in their highly wrought passion, never once looked up
+from the board. One, somewhat taller and older by a few years, appeared
+to exercise the guidance of their play; and it was easy to see, in the
+swollen and knotted veins of his forehead, in the clinched hands, and
+in the tremulous lip, the passionate nature of a confirmed gambler. The
+younger, whose dress of green velvet, slashed and braided in Mexican
+taste, and whose wide-leaved sombrero was decorated with a long sash
+of light blue silk, whose deep gold fringe hung upon his shoulder, was
+evidently one less enamoured of play, and more than once busied himself
+in arranging the details of his costume, of which he seemed somewhat
+vain. It was in one of these moments that his eyes met those of Maritaņa
+fixed steadfastly upon him, and, fascinated by her unmoved stare, he
+felt his cheek grow hot, and, whether from a sense of shame or a
+still more tender motive, the blush spread over his face and forehead.
+Maritaņa looked steadily, almost sternly, at him, and then, with a
+slight toss of her head, so slight that none save he who had watched her
+intently could read its scornful import, she turned away. The youth
+did not wait a moment, but, slipping from his place, followed along the
+alley he had seen her take.
+
+He who remained, unconscious of his friend's departure, continued to
+mutter about the chances of the game, and speculate on the amount he
+would dare to hazard. "She is against us every time, Roland!" said he,
+in a low, half-whispering voice. "Fortune will not smile, woo her how
+we may! Speak, _amigo mio_, shall we risk all?" As he spoke, he began
+counting the piles of glittering gold before him, but his hand trembled,
+and the pieces clung to his moist fingers, so that he was too late for
+the deal.
+
+"Sixteen hundred," muttered he to himself. "Ten--twenty--thirty."
+
+"The bank loses!" cried the croupier, announcing the game.
+
+"Loses!" screamed the young man, in an accent whose piercing agony
+startled the whole board,--"loses! because it was the only time I had
+no wager. See, Roland, see how true it is; there is a curse upon us."
+He seized the arm of the person at his side, and clinched it with a
+convulsive energy as he spoke.
+
+"_Saperlote!_ my young friend; you 'll never change luck by tearing
+my old uniform," growled out a rugged-looking German skipper, who,
+commanding a small privateer, affected the rank and style of a naval
+officer.
+
+"Oh, is it you, Hans?" said the youth, carelessly; "I thought it had
+been one of our own fellows. Only think the bank should lose, because I
+made no stake; see now, watch this. Halt!" cried he to the dealer, in
+a voice that at once arrested his hand. "You give one no time, sir,
+to decide upon his game," said he, with a savage irascibility, which
+continued bad luck had carried to the highest pitch. "Players who risk
+their two or three crowns may not object; but, if a man desires to make
+a heavy stake; it is but common courtesy to wait a moment. A
+thousand doubloons, the red queen--fifteen hundred," added he,
+quickly,--"fifteen, and thirty-five--or eight." So saying, he pushed
+with both hands the great heap of gold pieces into the middle of the
+table; and then, with eyes bloodshot and glaring, he watched each card
+that fell from the banker's fingers. When the first row of cards were
+dealt, all was in his favor, and, as the banker took up the second pack,
+a long-suppressed sigh broke from the gambler's bosom. It seemed, at
+length, as if fortune had grown weary of persecuting him.
+
+"Come, Enrique," said a handsomely dressed and fine-looking man, who
+stood opposite to him, "luck has turned at last; there is nothing but
+the queen of spades against you!"
+
+As if by some magic spell he had called the card, the words were not out
+when it dropped upon the table. A cry of mingled amazement and horror
+burst from the players, whose natures would seem to recognize some
+superstitious influence in such marked casualties. As for Enrique, he
+stood perfectly still and silent; a horrible smile, the ghastly evidence
+of an hysterical effort, sat upon his rigid features, and at length two
+or three heavy drops of blood trickled from his nostril and fell upon
+his shirt.
+
+"Where's Roland?" said he, in a faint whisper, to a young man behind
+him.
+
+"I saw him with Maritaņa, walking towards the three fountains."
+
+Enrique's pallid cheek grew scarlet, and, rudely pushing his way through
+the crowd, he disappeared from view.
+
+"There goes a man in a good humor to board a prize," said one of
+the bystanders, coolly, and the play proceeded without a moment's
+interruption.
+
+With his broad-leaved hat drawn down upon his brows, and his head sunk
+upon his bosom, he traversed the winding walks with the step of one who
+knew their every turning; at last he reached a lonely and unfrequented
+part of the garden, where the path, leading for some distance along the
+margin of a small lake, suddenly turned off towards a flower terrace,
+the midst of which "the three fountains" stood.
+
+Instead of taking the shortest way to the spot, Enrique left the walk
+and entered a grove of trees, through whose thick shade be proceeded
+silently and cautiously. The air was calm and motionless, and none
+save one who had received the education of a prairie hunter could have
+followed that track so noiselessly. By degrees the wood became open, and
+his progress more circumspect, when he suddenly halted.
+
+Directly in front of him, not twenty paces from where he stood, was the
+terrace, over which, in the stilly night air, the fountain threw a
+light spray-like shower, rustling, as it fell upon the leaves, with a
+murmuring sound. Lower down, was a little basin surrounded by a border
+of white marble, and beside this two figures were now standing, whom,
+by the clear starlight, he could easily recognize to be Roland and
+Maritaņa.
+
+The former, with folded arms, and head bent down as if in thought,
+leaned against a tree, while Maritaņa stood beside the fountain,
+moving her foot to and fro in the clear water, and, as though entirely
+engrossed by her childish pastime, never bestowed a look upon her
+companion. At last she ceased suddenly, and turning abruptly round, so
+as to stand full in front of him, said, "Well, senhor, am I to hope
+our pleasant interview is ended, or am I still to hear more of your
+complaints,--those gentle remonstrances which sound, to my ears at
+least, more wearisome than words of downright anger?"
+
+"You have not heard me patiently," said the youth, advancing towards
+her, while the slightly shaken tones of his voice contrasted strangely
+with the assured and haughty accents in which he spoke.
+
+"Patiently!" echoed she, with a scornful laugh. "And where was this same
+goodly gift to be learned? Among the pleasant company we have quitted,
+senhor? whose friendships of a night are celebrated by a brawl on
+the morrow! From the most exemplary crew of the 'Esmeralda,' and, in
+particular, the worthy lieutenant, Don Roland da Castel, who, if report
+speaks truly, husbands the virtue so rigidly that he cannot spare the
+smallest portion to expend upon his friends?"
+
+"If my thrift had extended to other matters," said the youth, bitterly,
+"mayhap I should not have to listen to language like this?"
+
+"What say you, sir?" cried the girl, passionately, as she stamped upon
+the ground with a gesture of violent anger. "Do you affect to say that
+it matters to me whether you stood there as loaded with gold as on the
+morning you brought back that Mexican prize, and played the hero with
+such martial modesty; or as poor--as poor--as bad luck at cards can
+make you? If I loved you, I 'd have as little care for one event as the
+other!"
+
+"You certainly thought more favorably of me then than now, Maritaņa!"
+said Roland, diffidently.
+
+"I know not why you say so!"
+
+"At least you accepted my hand in betrothal--"
+
+"Stay!" cried she, impetuously. "Did I not tell you then, before the
+assembled witnesses--before my father--what a mockery this same ceremony
+was; that its whole aim and object was to take advantage of that
+disgraceful law that can make an unmarried girl a widow, to inherit
+the fortune of one she never would have accepted as her husband. Speak,
+sir!--and say, did I not tell you this, and more too, that such a bridal
+ceremony brought little fortune to the bridegroom; for that already
+I had been thrice a widowed bride? Nay, more, you heard me swear as
+solemnly, that while I regarded the act as one of deep profanation,
+I felt in nowise bound by it. It is idle, then, to speak of our
+betrothal!"
+
+"It is true, Maritaņa, you said all this; although, perhaps, you had not
+now remembered it, had not some other succeeded to that place in your
+regard--"
+
+"There, there!" cried she, stopping him impatiently. "I will not listen
+again to the bead-roll of your jealousies. People must have loved very
+little, or too much, to endure that kind of torture. Besides, why tell
+me of these things? You are, they say, a most accomplished hunter, and
+can answer me,--if, when in chase of an antelope, a jaguar joins the
+sport, you do not turn upon him at once, the worthier and nobler enemy,
+and thus, as it were, protect what had been your prey."
+
+The youth seemed stung to the quick by this pitiless sarcasm; and,
+although he made no reply, his hands, convulsively clutched, bespoke
+the torrent of agitation within him. "You are right, Maritaņa!" said be,
+after a pause. "It is idle to talk of our betrothal,--I release you."
+
+"Release _me!_" said she, laughing contemptuously; "this is a task I
+always perform for myself, senhor, and by the shortest method, as
+thus." As she spoke, she struggled to tear from her finger a ring which
+resisted all her efforts. At last, by a violent wrench, she succeeded,
+and holding it up for a second, till the large diamond glittered like
+a star, she threw it into the still fountain at her feet "There, _amigo
+mio_, I release you,--never was freedom more willingly accorded!"
+
+"Never was there a slave more weary of his servitude!" said the youth,
+bitterly. "If Don Pedro Rica but tear his accursed bond, I should feel
+myself my own again."
+
+"He will scarce refuse you, sir, if the rumor be correct that says
+you have lost eleven thousand doubloons at play. The wealthy conqueror
+stands on very different ground from _the_ ruined gambler. Go to him
+at once! Ask back the paper! Tell him you have neither a heart nor a
+fortune to bestow upon his daughter! That, as a gambler, fettered by the
+lust for play, you have lost all soul for those hazardous enterprises
+that win a girl's love and a father's consent."
+
+She waited for a moment, that he might reply; and then, impatient,
+perhaps, at his silence, added, "I did not think, senhor, you esteemed
+yourself so rich a prize! Be of good cheer, however! They who are less
+cognizant of your deserts will be more eager to secure them."
+
+With these slighting words she turned away. Roland advanced as if to
+follow her, but with a contemptuous gesture of the hand she waved him
+back, and he stood like one spell-bound, gazing after her, till she
+disappeared in the dark distance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. A CHALLENGE--AND HOW IT ENDED.
+
+     La Diche viene quando no se aguarda.
+
+     --Spanish Proverb.
+
+     (Good lack comes when it is not looked for.)
+
+
+Roland looked for some minutes in the direction by which Maritaņa had
+gone, and then, with a sudden start, as if of some newly taken resolve,
+took the path towards the villa. He had not gone far when, at the turn
+of the way, he came in front of Enrique, who, with hasty steps, was
+advancing towards him.
+
+"Lost, everything lost!" exclaimed the latter, with a mournful gesture
+of his hands.
+
+"All gone!" cried Roland.
+
+"Every crown in the world!"
+
+"Be it so; there is an end of gambling, at least!"
+
+"You bear your losses nobly, senhor!" said Enrique, sneeringly; "and,
+before a fitting audience, might claim the merit of an accomplished
+gamester. I am, however, most unworthy to witness such fine philosophy.
+I recognize in beggary nothing but disgrace!"
+
+"Bear it, then, and the whole load, too!" said Roland, sneeringly. "To
+your solicitations only I yielded in taking my place at that accursed
+table. I had neither a passion for play, nor the lust for money-getting;
+you thought to teach me both, and, peradventure, you have made me
+despise them more than ever."
+
+"What a moralist!" cried Enrique, laughing insolently, "who discovers
+that he has cared neither for his mistress nor his money till he has
+lost both."
+
+"What do you mean?" said Roland, trembling with passion.
+
+"I never speak in riddles," was the cool reply.
+
+"This, then, is meant as insult," said Roland, approaching closer,
+and speaking in a still lower voice; "or is it merely the passion of a
+disappointed gambler?"
+
+"And if it were, _amigo mio_," retorted the other, "what more fitting
+stake to set against the anger of a rejected lover?"
+
+"Be it so!" cried Roland, fiercely; "you never caught up a man more
+disposed to indulge your humor. Shall it be now?"
+
+"Could not so much courage keep warm till daylight?" said Enrique,
+calmly. "Below the fountains there is a very quiet spot."
+
+"At sunrise?"
+
+"At sunrise," echoed Enrique, bowing with affected courtesy, till the
+streamers from his hat touched the ground.
+
+"Now for my worthy father-in-law elect," said Roland; "and to see him
+before he may hear of this business, or I may find it difficult to
+obtain my divorce." When the youth arrived at the villa, the party were
+assembled at supper. The great saloon, crowded with guests and hurrying
+menials, was a scene of joyous but reckless conviviality, the loud
+laughter and the louder voices of the company striking on Roland's ear
+with a grating discordance he had never experienced before. The sounds
+of that festivity he had been wont to recognize as the pleasant evidence
+of free and high-souled enjoyment, now jarred heavily on his senses, and
+he wondered within himself how long he had lived in such companionship.
+
+Well knowing that the supper-party would not remain long at table, while
+high play continued to have its hold upon the guests, he strolled into
+one of the shady alleys, watching from time to time for the breaking up
+of the entertainment At last some two or three arose, and, preceded by
+servants with lighted flambeaux, took the way towards the gaming-table.
+They were speedily followed by others, so that in a brief space--except
+by the usual group of hard-drinking souls, who ventured upon no stake
+save that of health--the room was deserted.
+
+He looked eagerly for Don Pedro, but could not see him, as it was
+occasionally his practice to retire to his library long before his
+guests sought their repose. Roland made a circuit of the villa, and
+soon came to the door of this apartment, which led into a small
+flower-garden. Tapping gently here, he received a summons to enter, and
+found himself before Don Pedro, who, seated before a table, appeared
+deeply immersed in matters of business.
+
+Roland did not need the cold and almost stern reception of his host to
+make him feel his intrusion very painfully; and he hastened to express
+his extreme regret that he should be compelled by any circumstances
+to trespass on leisure so evidently destined for privacy. "But a few
+moments' patient hearing," continued he, "will show that, to me at
+least, the object of this visit did not admit of delay."
+
+"Be seated, senhor; and, if I may ask it without incivility, be brief,
+for I have weighty matters before me."
+
+"I will endeavor to be so," said Roland, civilly, and resumed: "This
+evening, Don Pedro, has seen the last of twenty-eight thousand Spanish
+dollars, which, five weeks since, I carried here along with me. They
+were my share, as commander of the 'Esmeralda,' when she captured
+a Mexican bark, in May last. They were won with hard blows and some
+danger; they were squandered in disgrace at the gaming-table."
+
+"Forgive me," said Don Pedro: "you can scarcely adhere to your pledge
+of brevity if you permit yourself to be led away by moralizing; just say
+how this event concerns me, and wherefore the present visit."
+
+Roland became red with anger and shame, and when he resumed it was in
+a voice tremulous with ill-suppressed passion. "I did not come here
+for your sympathy, senhor. If the circumstance I have mentioned had no
+relation to yourself, you had not seen me here. I say that I have now
+lost all that I was possessed of in the world."
+
+"Again I must interrupt you, Senhor Roland, by saying that these are
+details for Geizheimer, not for me. He, as you well know, transacts
+all matters of money, and if you desire a loan, or are in want of any
+immediate assistance, I 'm sure you 'll find him in every way disposed
+to meet your wishes."
+
+"Thanks, senhor, but I am not inclined for such aid. I will neither
+mortgage my blood nor my courage, nor promise three hundred per cent for
+the means of a night at the gambling-table."
+
+"Then pray, sir, how am I to understand your visit? Is it intended for
+the sake of retailing to me your want of fortune at play, and charging
+me with the results of your want of skill or luck?"
+
+"Far from it, senhor. It is simply to make known that I am ruined; that
+I have nothing left me in the world; and that, as one whose fortune has
+deserted him, I have come to ask back that bond by which I accepted your
+daughter's hand in betrothal."
+
+A burst of laughter from Don Pedro here stopped the speaker, who, with
+flushed cheek and glaring eyeballs, stared at this sudden outbreak. "Do
+you know for what you ask me, senhor?" said Rica, smiling insolently.
+
+"Yes, I ask for what you never could think to enforce,--to make me, a
+beggar, the husband of your daughter."
+
+"Most true; I never thought of such an alliance. I believe you were told
+that Columbian law gives these contracts the force of a legal claim,
+in the event of survivorship; and you flattered yourself, perhaps too
+hastily, that other ties more binding still might grow from it. If
+Fortune was as fickle with you here as at the card-table, the fault is
+not in me."
+
+"But of what avail is it now?" said Roland, passionately. "If I died
+to-morrow, there is not sufficient substance left to buy a suit of
+mourning for my poor widow."
+
+"She could, perhaps, dispense with outward grief," said Pedro,
+sneeringly.
+
+"I say again," cried Roland, with increased agitation, "this bond is
+not worth the paper it is written on. I leave the service; I sail into
+another latitude, and it is invalid,--a mere mockery!"
+
+"Not so fast, sir," said Pedro, slowly: "there is a redeeming clause,
+by which you, on paying seventy thousand doubloons, are released of your
+contract, with my concurrence. Mark that well,--with my concurrence it
+must be. Now, I have the opinion of learned counsel, in countries where
+mayhap your adventurous fancy has already carried you, that this clause
+embraces the option which side of the contract I should desire to
+enforce."
+
+"Such may be your law here; I can have little doubt that any infamy may
+pass for justice in this favored region," said Roland; "but I 'll never
+believe that so base a judgment could be uttered where civilization
+prevails. At all events, I 'll try the case. I now tell you frankly,
+that, tomorrow, I mean to resign my rank and commission in this service;
+I mean to quit this country, with no intention ever to revisit it. If
+you still choose to retain a contract whose illegality needs no stronger
+proof than that it affects to bind one party only, I 'll not waste
+further time by thinking of it."
+
+"I will keep it, senhor," interrupted Pedro, calmly. "I knew a youth,
+once, who had as humble an opinion of his fortunes as you have now; and
+yet he died,--not in this service, indeed, but in these seas,--and his
+fortune well requited the trouble of its claimant."
+
+"I have no right to trespass longer on you, sir," said Roland, bowing.
+"I wish I could thank you for all your hospitality to me with a more
+fitting courtesy; I must confess myself your debtor without hope of
+repayment."
+
+"Have you signified to Don Gomez Noronja your intention to resign?"
+
+"I shall do it within half an hour."
+
+"You forget that your resignation must be accepted by the Minister; that
+no peremptory permission can be accorded by a captain in commission,
+save under a guarantee of ten thousand crowns for a captain, and seven
+for a lieutenant, the sum to be estreated if the individual quit the
+service without leave. This, at least, is law you cannot dispute."
+
+Roland hung down his head, thunderstruck by an announcement which,
+at one swoop, dashed away all his hopes. As he stood silent and
+overwhelmed, Don Pedro continued, "You see, sir, that the service
+knows how to value its officers, even when they set little store by the
+service. Knowing that young men are fickle and fanciful, with caprices
+that carry them faster than sound judgment, they have made the enactment
+I speak of. And, even were you to give the preliminary notice, where
+will you be when the time expires? In what parallel south of Cape Horn?
+Among the islands of the Southern Pacific; perhaps upon the coast of
+Africa? No, no; take my advice: do not abandon your career; it is one
+in which you have already won distinction. Losses at play are easily
+repaired in these seas. Our navy--"
+
+"Is nothing better than a system of piracy!" broke in Roland, savagely.
+"So long as, in ignorance of its real character, I walked beneath your
+flag, the heaviest crime which could be imputed to me was but the folly
+of a rash-brained boy. I feel that I know better now; I'll serve under
+it no more."
+
+"Dangerous words, these, senhor, if reported in the quarter where they
+would be noticed."
+
+Roland turned an indignant glance at him as he uttered this threat,
+and with an expression so full of passion that Rica, for a few seconds,
+seemed to feel that he had gone too far. "I did but suggest caution,
+senhor," said he, timidly.
+
+"Take care that you practise as well as preach the habit," muttered
+Roland, "or you'll find that you have exploded your own mine."
+
+This, which he uttered as he left the room, was in reality nothing more
+than a vague menace; but it was understood in a very different sense by
+Pedro, who stood pale and trembling with agitation, gazing at the door
+by which the youth departed. At last he moved forward, and opening
+it, called out, "Senhor Roland! Roland, come back! Let me speak to you
+again." But already he was far beyond hearing, as with all his speed he
+hastened down the alley.
+
+Don Pedro's resolves were soon formed; he rang his bell at once, and,
+summoning a servant, asked if Don Gomez Noronja was still at table?
+
+"He has retired to his room, senhor," was the reply.
+
+A few momenta after, Rica entered the chamber of his guest, where he
+remained in close conversation till nigh daybreak. As he reached his own
+apartment the sound of horses' feet and carriage wheels was heard upon
+the gravel, and, throwing up the window, Rica called out,--
+
+"Is that Don Enrique?"
+
+"Yes, senhor, taking French leave, as you would call it. A bad return
+for a Spanish welcome; but duty leaves no alternative."
+
+"Are you for the coast, then?"
+
+"With all speed. Our captain received important despatches in the night
+We shall be afloat before forty hours. Adios!"
+
+The farewell was cordially re-echoed by Rica, who closed the window,
+muttering to himself, "So! all will go well at last."
+
+While Enrique was making all the speed towards the seashore a light
+calčche and four horses could accomplish, Roland was pacing with
+impatient steps the little plot of grass where so soon he expected to
+find himself in deadly conflict with his enemy.
+
+Never was a man's mind more suited to the purpose for which he waited.
+Dejected, insulted, and ruined in one night, he had little to live for,
+and felt far less eager to be revenged of his adversary, than to rid
+himself of a hated existence. It was to no purpose that he could say,
+and say truly, that he had never cared for any of these things, of which
+he now saw himself stripped. His liking for Maritaņa had never gone
+beyond great admiration for her beauty, and a certain spiteful pleasure
+in exciting those bursts of passion over which she exercised not the
+slightest control. It was caprice, not love; the delight of a schoolboy
+in the power to torment, without the wish to retain. His self-love,
+then, it was, was wounded on finding that she, with whose temper he had
+sported, could turn so terribly upon himself. The same feeling was
+outraged by Enrique, who seemed to know and exult over his defeat. These
+sources of bitterness, being all aggravated by the insulting manner of
+Don Pedro, made up a mass of indignant and angry feelings which warred
+and goaded him almost to madness.
+
+The long-expected dawn broke slowly, and although, a few moments after
+sunrise, the whole sky became of a rich rose color, these few moments
+seemed like an age to the impatient thoughts of him who thirsted for his
+vengeance.
+
+He walked hastily up and down the space, waiting now and again to
+listen, and then, disappointed, resumed his path, with some gesture of
+impatience. At last he heard footsteps approaching. They came nearer and
+nearer; and now he could hear the branches of the trees bend and crack,
+as some one forced a passage through them. A swelling feeling about the
+heart bespoke the anxiety with which he listened, when a figure
+appeared which even at a glance he knew to be not Enrique's. As the man
+approached be took off his hat respectfully and presented a letter.
+
+"From Don Enrique?" said Roland, and then, tearing open the paper, he
+read,--
+
+     Amigo Mio,--Not mine the fault that I do not stand before
+     you now instead of these few lines; but Noronja has
+     received news of these Chilian fellows, and sent me to get
+     the craft ready for sea at once. We shall meet, then, in a
+     few hours; and, if so, let it be as comrades. The service
+     and our own rules forbid a duel so long as we are afloat and
+     on duty. Whatever be your humor when next we touch shore
+     again, rely upon finding me ready to meet it, either as an
+     enemy or as
+
+     Your friend,
+
+     Enrique da Cordova.
+
+A single exclamation of disappointment broke from Roland, but the moment
+after all former anger was gone. The old spirit of comrade-affection
+began to seek its accustomed channels, and he left the spot, happy to
+think how different had been his feeling than if he were quitting it
+with the blood of his shipmate on his hands.
+
+Although he now saw that his continuance in the service for the present
+was inevitable, he had fully made up his mind to leave it, and, with it,
+habits of life whose low excesses had now become intolerable. So long as
+the spirit of adventure and daring sustained him, so long the respite of
+a few months' shore life was a season of pleasure and delight; but as by
+degrees the real character of his associates became clearer, and he saw
+in them men who cared for enterprise no further than for its gain, and
+calculated each hazardous exploit by its profit, he felt that he was
+now following the career of a bravo who hires out his arm and sells
+his courage. This revolted every sentiment of his mind, and, come what
+would, he resolved to abandon it. In these day-dreams of a new existence
+the memory of two years passed in the Pampas constantly mingled, and he
+could not help contrasting the happy and healthful contentment of the
+simple hunter with the voluptuous but cankered pleasures of the wealthy
+buccaneer. Once more beneath the wooded shades of the tall banana, he
+thought how free and peaceful his days would glide by, free from the
+rude conflicts he now witnessed, and the miserable jealousies of these
+ill-assorted companionships. For some hours he wandered, revolving
+thoughts like these; and at length turned his steps towards the villa,
+determined, so long as his captain remained, that he would take up his
+quarters at Barcelonetta, nor in future accept of the hospitality of Don
+Rica's house. With this intention he was returning to arrange for the
+removal of his luggage, when his attention was excited by the loud
+cracking of whips, and the shrill cries that accompanied the sounds of
+"The post! the post!"
+
+In a moment every window of the villa was thrown open, and beads, in
+every species of night-gear, and every stage of sleepy astonishment,
+thrust out; for the post, be it observed, was but a monthly phenomenon,
+and the arrival of letters was very often the signal for a total
+break-up of the whole household.
+
+The long wagon, drawn by four black mules, and driven by a fellow whose
+wide-tasselled sombrero and long moustaches seemed to savor more of
+the character of a melodrama than real life, stopped before the chief
+entrance of the villa, and was immediately surrounded by the guests,
+whose hurried wardrobe could only be excused in so mild a climate.
+
+"Anything for me, Truxillo?" cried one, holding up a dollar temptingly
+between finger and thumb.
+
+"Where are my cigarettes?"
+
+"And my mantle?"
+
+"And my gun?"
+
+"And the senhora's embroidered slippers?" cried a maid, as she ransacked
+every corner where the packages lay.
+
+The driver, however, paid little attention to these various demands,
+but, loosening the bridles of his beasts, he proceeded to wash their
+mouths with some water fetched from the fountain, coolly telling the
+applicants that they might help themselves, only to spare something for
+the people of Barcelonetta, for he knew there was a letter or two for
+that place.
+
+"What have we here?" cried one of the guests, as a mass of something
+enveloped in a horse-sheet lay rolled up in the foot of the calčche,
+where the driver sat.
+
+"Ah, par Dios!" cried the man, laughing, "I had nearly forgotten that
+fellow. He is asleep, poor devil! He nearly died of cold in the night!"
+
+"Who is he--what is he?"
+
+"A traveller from beyond San Luis in search of Don Pedro."
+
+"Of me?" said Don Pedro, whose agitation became, in spite of all his
+efforts, visible to every one; at the same instant that, pulling back
+the cloak rudely, he gazed at the sleeping stranger,--"I never saw him
+before."
+
+"Come, awake--stir up, senhor!" said the driver, poking the passenger
+very unceremoniously with his whip. "We are arrived; this is the Villa
+de las Noches Entretenidas; here is Don Pedro himself!"
+
+"The Lord be praised!" said a short, round-faced little man, who, with a
+nightcap drawn over his ears, and a huge cravat enveloping his chin, now
+struggled to look around him. "At last!" sighed he; "I 'm sure I almost
+gave up all hope of it." These words were spoken in English; but even
+that evidence was not necessary to show that the little plump figure in
+drab gaiters and shorts was not a Spaniard.
+
+"Are you Don Peter, sir,--are you really Don Peter?" said he, rubbing
+his eyes, and looking hurriedly around to assure himself he was not
+dreaming.
+
+"What is your business with me--or have you any?" said Rica, in a voice
+barely above a whisper.
+
+"Have I!--Did I come six thousand miles in search of you? Oh, dear! oh,
+dear! I can scarcely think it all over, even now. But still there may be
+nothing done if he isn't here."
+
+"What do you mean?" said Rica, impatiently.
+
+"Mr. Roland Cashel; Roland Cashel, Esq., I should call him now, sir."
+
+"That 's my name!" said the youth, forcing his way through the crowd,
+and standing in front of the traveller.
+
+The little man put his hand into a breast-pocket, and drew out a little
+book, opening which he began to read, comparing the detail, as he went
+on, with the object before him:--
+
+"Six foot and an inch in height, at least, olive-brown complexion, dark
+eyes and hair, straight nose, short upper lip, frowns slightly when he
+speaks;--just talk a little, will you?"
+
+Cashel could not help smiling at the request; when the other added,
+"Shows his teeth greatly when he laughs."
+
+"Am I a runaway negro from New Orleans that you have taken my portrait
+so accurately, sir?"
+
+"Got that at Demerara," said the little man, putting up the book, "and
+must say it was very near indeed!"
+
+"I have been at Demerara," said Cashel, hoping by the admission to
+obtain some further insight into the traveller's intentions.
+
+"I know that," said the little man. "I tracked you thence to St Kitts,
+then to Antigua. I lost you there, but I got up the scent again in
+Honduras, but only for a short time, and had to try Demerara again;
+then I dodged down the coast by Pernambuco, but lost you entirely in
+June,--some damned Indian expedition, I believe. But I met a fellow
+at New Orleans who had seen you at St. Louis, and so I tracked away
+south--"
+
+"And, in one word, having found me, what was the cause of so much
+solicitude, sir?" said Cashel, who felt by no means comfortable at such
+a hot and unwearied pursuit.
+
+"This can all be better said in the house," interposed Don Rica, who,
+relieved of any uneasiness on his own account, had suddenly resumed his
+habitual quiet demeanor.
+
+"So I 'm thinking too!" said the traveller; "but let me first land my
+portmanteau; all the papers are there. I have not lost sight of it since
+I started."
+
+The parcels were carefully removed under his own inspection, and,
+accompanied by Don Pedro Rica and Roland, the little man entered the
+villa.
+
+There could be no greater contrast than that between the calm and
+placid bearing Don Pedro had now assumed, and the agitated and anxious
+appearance which Cashel exhibited. The very last interview he had
+sustained in that same spot still dwelt upon his mind; and when he
+declined Don Pedro's polite request to be seated, and stood with folded
+arms before the table, which the traveller had now covered with his
+papers, a prisoner awaiting the words of his judgment could not have
+endured a more intense feeling of anxiety.
+
+"'Roland Cashel, born in York, a. d. 18--, son of Godfrey Cashel and
+Sarah, his wife,'" read the little man; then murmured to himself,
+"Certificate of baptism, signed by Joshua Gorgeous, Prebendary of the
+Cathedral; all right, so far. Now we come to the wanderings. Your father
+was quartered at Port-au-Prince, in the year 18--, I believe?"
+
+"He was. I was then nine years old," said Cashel.
+
+"Quite correct; he died there, I understand?"
+
+Cashel assented by a nod.
+
+"Upon which event you joined, or was supposed to join, the 'Brown Peg,'
+a sloop in the African trade, wrecked off Fernando Po same winter?"
+
+"Yes; she was scuttled by the second mate, in a mutiny. But what has
+all this secret history of me to mean? Did you come here, sir, to glean
+particulars to write my life and adventures?"
+
+"I crave your pardon most humbly, Mr. Cashel," said the little man, in
+a perfect agony of humiliation. "I was only recapitulating a
+few collateral circumstances, by way of proof. I was, so to say,
+testing--that is, I was--"
+
+"Satisfying yourself as to this gentleman's identity," added Don Pedro.
+
+"Exactly so, sir; the very words upon the tip of my tongue,--satisfying
+myself that you were the individual alluded to here"--as he spoke,
+he drew forth a copy of the "Times" newspaper, whose well-worn and
+much-thumbed edges bespoke frequent reference--"in this advertisement,"
+said he, handing the paper to Don Pedro, who at once read aloud,--
+
+     "Reward of Ģ500.--Any person giving such information as may
+     lead to the discovery of a young gentleman named Roland
+     Cashel, who served for some years on board of various
+     merchant vessels in the Levant, the African, and the West
+     India trade, and was seen in New Orleans in the autumn of
+     18--, will receive the above reward. He was last heard of in
+     Mexico, but it is believed that he has since entered the
+     Chilian or Columbian service. He is well known in the
+     Spanish Main, and in many of the cities on the coast, as the
+     Caballero."
+
+Cashel's face was one burning surface of scarlet as he heard the words
+of an advertisement which, in his ideas, at once associated him with
+runaway negroes and escaped felons; and it was with something like
+suffocation that he restrained his temper as he asked why, and by whose
+authority, he was thus described?
+
+The little man looked amazed and confounded at a question which, it
+would seem, he believed his information had long since anticipated.
+
+"Mr. Cashel wishes to know the object of this inquiry,--who sent you
+hither, in fact," said Don Rica, beginning himself to lose patience at
+the slowness of the stranger's apprehension.
+
+"Mr. Kennyfeck, of Dublin, the law agent, sent me."
+
+"Upon what grounds,--with what purpose?"
+
+"To tell him that the suit is gained; that he is now the rightful owner
+of the whole of the Godfrey and Godfrey Browne estates, and lands of Ben
+Currig, Tulough Callaghan, Knock Swinery, Kildallooran, Tullimeoran,
+Ballycanderigan, with all the manorial rights, privileges, and
+perquisites appertaining to,--in a word, sir, for I see your impatience,
+to something, a mere trifle, under seventeen thousand per annum, not to
+speak of a sum, at present not exactly known, in bank, besides foreign
+bonds and securities to a large amount."
+
+While Mr. Simms recited this, with the practised volubility of one who
+had often gone over the same catalogue before, Cashel stood amazed, and
+almost stupefied, unable to grasp in his mind the full extent of his
+good fortune, but catching, here and there, glimpses of the truth, in
+the few circumstances of family history alluded to. Not so, Don Rica;
+neither confusion nor hesitation troubled the free working of his acute
+faculties, but he sat still, patiently watching the effect of this
+intelligence on the youth before him. At length, perceiving that he did
+not speak, he himself turned towards the stranger, and said,--
+
+"You are, doubtless, a man of the world, sir, and need no apologies for
+my remarking that good news demands a scrutiny not less searching than
+its opposite. As the _friend_ of Senhor Cashel,"--here he turned a
+glance beneath his heavy brows at the youth, who, however, seemed not
+to notice the word,--"as his friend, I repeat, deeply interested in
+whatever affects him, I may, perhaps, be permitted to ask the details of
+this very remarkable event."
+
+"If you mean the trial, sir,--or rather the trials, for there were three
+at bar, not to mention a suit in equity and a bill of discovery--"
+
+"No, I should be sorry to trespass so far upon you," interrupted Rica.
+"What I meant was something in the shape of an assurance,--something
+like satisfactory proof that this narrative, so agreeable to believe,
+should have all the foundation we wish it."
+
+"Nothing easier," said Mr. Simms, producing an enormous black leather
+pocket-book from the breast of his coat, and opening it leisurely on
+the table before him. "Here are, I fancy, documents quite sufficient to
+answer all your inquiries. This is the memorandum of the verdict taken
+at Bath, with the note of the Attorney-General, and the point reserved,
+in which motion for a new trial was made."
+
+"What is this?" asked Cashel, now speaking for the first time, as he
+took up a small book of strange shape, and looked curiously at it.
+
+"Check-book of the bank of Fordyce and Grange, Lombard Street," replied
+Simms; "and here, the authority by which you are at liberty to draw on
+the firm for the balance already in their hands, amounting to--let me
+see "--here he rapidly set down certain figures on the corner of a
+piece of paper, and with the speed of lightning performed a sum in
+arithmetic--"the sum of one hundred and twenty-three thousand pounds
+seven and elevenpence, errors excepted."
+
+"This sum is mine!" cried Cashel, as his eyes flashed fire, and his dark
+cheek grew darker with excitement.
+
+"It is only a moiety of your funded property," said Simms. "Castellan
+and Biggen, the notaries, certify to a much larger amount in the Three
+per Cents."
+
+"And I am at liberty to draw at once for whatever amount I require?"
+
+"Within that sum, certainly. Though, if you desire more, I 'm sure they
+'ll not refuse your order."
+
+"Leave us for a moment, sir," said Cashel, in an accent whose trembling
+eagerness bespoke the agitation he labored under. "I have something of
+importance to tell this gentleman."
+
+"If you will step this way, sir," said Don Rica, politely. "I have
+ordered some refreshment in this room, and I believe you will find it
+awaiting you."
+
+Mr. Simms gladly accepted the offered hospitality, and retired. The door
+was not well closed, when Don Rica Advanced with extended hands towards
+Cashel, and said:
+
+"With all my heart I give you joy; such good fortune as this may,
+indeed, obliterate every little cloud that has passed between us, and
+make us once more the friends we have ever been."
+
+Cashel crossed his arms on his breast, and coldly replied, "I thank you.
+But a few hours back, and one-half as much kindness would have made a
+child of me in feeling. Now it serves only to arouse my indignation and
+my Anger."
+
+"Are you indeed so unjust, so ungenerous as this!" exclaimed Rica, in a
+tone whose anguish seemed wrung from the very heart.
+
+"Unjust,--ungenerous! how?" cried Cashel, passionately.
+
+"Both, sir," said Rica, in a voice of almost commanding severity.
+"Unjust to suppose that in thwarting your last resolve to leave a
+service in which you have already won fame and honor, I was not your
+best and truest friend; that in offering every opposition in my power to
+such a hot-headed resolution, I was not consulting your best interests;
+ungenerous to imagine that I could feel any other sentiment than delight
+at your altered fortunes, I, who gave you all that was dearest and
+nearest to me on earth, my child,--my Maritaņa."
+
+Had it not been for the passionate emotion of the last few words,
+Cashel's anger would have suggested a reply not less indignant than his
+question; but the sight of the hard, the stern, the unflinching Pedro
+Rica, as he now stood,--his face covered by his hands, while his strong
+chest heaved and throbbed with convulsive energy,--this was more than
+he felt prepared to look on. It was then only by a great effort he could
+say, "You seem to forget, Senhor Rica, how differently you interpreted
+this same contract but a few hours ago. You told me then--I think I hear
+the words still ringing in my ears--that you never thought of such an
+alliance; that your calculation took a less flattering estimate of my
+relationship."
+
+"I spoke in anger, Roland,--anger caused by your passionate resolve.
+Remember, too, that I preferred holding you to your contract, in
+preference to allowing you to redeem it by paying the penalty."
+
+"Easy alternative," said Cashel, with a scornful laugh; "you scarcely
+expected a beggar, a ruined gambler, could pay seventy thousand
+doubloons. But times are changed, sir. I am rich now,--rich enough to
+double the sum you stipulated for. Although I well know the contract is
+not worth the pen that wrote it, I am willing to recognize it, at least
+so far as the forfeit is concerned."
+
+"My poor child, my darling Maritaņa," said Pedro, but in a voice barely
+audible. The words seemed the feeble utterance of a breaking heart.
+
+"Sorrow not for her, senhor," said Cashel, hastily. "She has no griefs
+herself on such a score. It is but a few hours since she told me so."
+
+Don Pedro was silent; but a mournful shake of the head and a still more
+mournful smile seemed to intimate his dissent.
+
+"I tell you, sir, that your own scorn of my alliance was inferior to
+hers!" cried Cashel, in a voice of deep exasperation. "She even went so
+far as to say that she was a party to the contract only on the condition
+of its utter worthlessness. Do not, then, let me hear of regrets for
+_her_."
+
+"And you believe this?"
+
+"I believe what I have myself witnessed."
+
+"What, then, if you be a witness to the very opposite? What if your ears
+reveal to you the evidence as strongly against, as now you deem it in
+favor of, your opinion?"
+
+"I do not catch your meaning."
+
+"I would say, what if from Maritaņa's own lips you heard an avowal of her
+affection, would you conceive yourself at liberty to redeem a contract
+to which you were only one party, and by mere money--I care not how
+large you call the sum--to reject the heart you have made your own?"
+
+"No, no, this cannot be," cried Cashel, struggling in a conflict of
+uncertainty and fear.
+
+"I know my daughter, sir," said Pedro, with an air of pride he well knew
+when and how to assume.
+
+"If I but thought so," muttered Cashel to himself; and low as the words
+were, Rica heard them.
+
+"I ask you for nothing short of your own conviction,--the conviction of
+your own ears and eyes. You shall, if you please, remain concealed in
+her apartment while I question her on the subject of this attachment. If
+you ever supposed me base enough to coerce her judgment, you know _her_
+too well to believe it to be possible. But I will not insult myself by
+either supposition. I offer you this test of what I have said: accept
+it if you will, and with this condition, that you shall then be free to
+tear this contract, if you like, but never believe that I can barter the
+acknowledged affection of my child, and take money for her misery."
+
+Cashel was moved by the truth-like energy of the words he heard; the
+very aspect of emotion in one he had never seen save calm, cold, and
+self-possessed, had its influence on him, and he replied, "I consent."
+So faintly, however, were the words uttered that he was obliged to
+repeat them ere they reached Don Pedro's ears.
+
+"I will come for you after supper this evening," said Rica. "Let me find
+you in the arbor at the end of the 'hacienda.' Till then, _adios_." So
+saying, he motioned to Cashel to follow the stranger. Roland obeyed the
+suggestion, and they parted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. MR. SIMMS ON LIFE AT THE VILLA
+
+     He told them of men that cared not a d--n
+     For the law or the new police,
+     And had very few scruples for killing a lamb,
+     If they fancied they wanted the fleece.
+
+     Sir Peter's Lament
+
+
+When Roland Cashel rejoined Mr. Simms, he found that worthy individual
+solacing himself for the privations of prairie travel, by such a
+breakfast as only Don Pedro's larder would produce. Surrounded by
+various dishes whose appetizing qualities might have suffered some
+impairment from a more accurate knowledge of their contents,--sucking
+monkeys and young squirrels among the number,--he tasted and sipped, and
+sipped again, till between the seductions of sangaree and Curaįoa punch,
+he had produced that pleasing frame of mind when even a less gorgeous
+scene than the windows of the villa displayed before him would have
+appeared delightful. Whether poor Mr. Simms's excess--and such we are
+compelled to confess it was--could be excused on the score of long
+fasting, or the consciousness that he had a right to some indulgence in
+the hour of victory, he assuredly revelled in the fullest enjoyment of
+this luxurious banquet, and, as Cashel entered the room, had reached the
+delicious dreamland of misty consciousness, where his late adventures
+and his former life became most pleasingly commingled, and jaguars,
+alligators, gambusinos, and rancheros, danced through his brain in
+company with Barons of the Exchequer and Masters in Chancery.
+
+Elevated by the scenes of danger he had passed through,--some real, the
+far greater number imaginary,--into the dignity of a hero, he preferred
+rather to discuss prairie life and scenes in the Havannah, to dwelling
+on the topics so nearly interesting to Cashel. Nor was Roland a very
+patient listener to digressions, which, at every moment, left the
+high-road, and wandered into every absurd by-path of personal history.
+
+"I always thought, sir," said Simms, "and used to say it everywhere,
+too, what a splendid change for you this piece of good fortune would be,
+springing at a bound, as a body might say, from a powder-monkey into the
+wealth of a peer of the realm; but, egad, when I see the glorious life
+you lead hereabouts, such grog, such tipple, capital house, magnificent
+country, and, if I may pronounce from the view beneath my window, no
+lack of company, too! I begin to feel doubts about it."
+
+If Cashel was scarcely pleased at the allusions to himself in this
+speech, he speedily forgave them in his amusement at the commentary
+Simms passed on life at the villa; but yet would willingly have turned
+from either theme to that most engrossing one,--the circumstances of
+his altered fortune. Simms, however, was above such grovelling subjects;
+and, as he sat, glass in hand, gazing out upon the garden, where
+strolling parties came and went, and loitering groups lingered in the
+shade, he really fancied the scene a perfect paradise.
+
+"Very hard to leave this, you'll find it!" exclaimed Simms. "I can well
+imagine life here must be rare fun. How jolly they do seem down there!"
+said he, with a half-longing look at the strange figures, who now and
+then favored him with a salute or a gesture of the hand, as they passed.
+
+"Come, let us join them," said Cashel, who, despairing of recalling him
+to the wished-for topic, was fain to consent to indulge the stranger's
+humor.
+
+"All naval men?" asked Simms, as they issued forth into the lawn.
+
+"Most of them are sailors!" said Cashel, equivocating.
+
+"That's a fine-looking old fellow beneath the beech-tree, with the long
+Turkish pipe in his mouth. He's captain of a seventy-four, I take it."
+
+"He's a Greek merchantman," whispered Cashel; "don't look so hard at
+him, for he observes you, and is somewhat irascible in temper, if stared
+at."
+
+"Indeed! I should n't have thought--"
+
+"No matter, do as I tell you; he stabbed a travelling artist the other
+day, who fancied he was a fine study, and wished to make a drawing of
+his head."
+
+Simms's jaw dropped suddenly, and a sickly faintness stole over him,
+that even all his late potations could not supply courage enough to hear
+such a story unmoved.
+
+"And who is he, sir, yonder?" asked he, as a youth, with no other
+clothing than a shirt and trousers, was fencing against a tree,
+practising, by bounds and springs, every imaginable species of attack
+and assault.
+
+"A young Spaniard from the Basque," said Cashel, coolly; "he has a duel
+to-morrow with some fellow in Barcelonetta, and he 's getting his wrist
+into play." Then calling out, he said, "Ah, José, you mean to let blood,
+I see!"
+
+"He's only a student," said the youth, with an insolent toss of his
+head. "But who have we here?"
+
+"A friend and countryman of mine, Mr. Simms," said Cashel, introducing
+the little man, who performed a whole circuit round the young Spaniard
+in salutations.
+
+"Come to join us?" asked the youth, surveying him with cool
+impertinence. "What in the devil's name hast thou done that thou
+shouldst leave the Old World at thy time of life? Virtuous living or
+hypocrisy ought to have become a habit with thee ere now, old boy, eh?"
+
+"He's only on a visit," said Cashel, laughing; "he can return to good
+society, not like all of us here."
+
+"Would you infer from that, sir--"
+
+"Keep your temper, José," said Cashel, with an indescribable assumption
+of insolent superiority; "or, if you cannot, keep your courage for the
+students, whose broils best suit you."
+
+"You presume somewhat too far on your skill with the rapier, Senhor
+Cashel," said the other, but in a voice far less elevated than before.
+
+"You can test the presumption at any moment," said Cashel, insolently;
+"now, if you like it."
+
+"Oh, Mr. Cashel! oh, Mr. Roland! for mercy's sake, don't!" exclaimed
+Simms.
+
+"Never fear," interposed Cashel; "that excellent young man has better
+principles than you fancy, and never neglects, though he sometimes
+forgets, himself."
+
+So saying, he leisurely passed his arm beneath Simms's, and led him
+forward.
+
+"Good day, Senhor Cashel," said a tall and well-dressed man, who made
+his salutations with a certain air of distinction that induced Simms to
+inquire who and what he was.
+
+"A general in the service of one of the minor States of Germany," said
+Cashel; "a man of great professional skill, and, it is said, of great
+personal bravery."
+
+"And in what capacity is he here?"
+
+"A refugee. His sentence to be shot was commuted to imprisonment for
+life. He made his escape from Spandau, and came here."
+
+"What was his crime?"
+
+"Treachery,--the very basest one can well conceive; he commanded the
+fort of Bergstein, which the French attacked on their advance in the
+second Austrian campaign. The assailants had no heavy artillery, nor
+any material for escalade; but they had money, and gold proved a
+better battering-train than lead. Plittersdorf--that's the general's
+name--fired over their heads till he had expended all his ammunition,
+and then surrendered, with the garrison, as prisoners of war. The
+French, however, exchanged him afterwards, and he very nearly paid the
+penalty of his false faith."
+
+"And now is he shunned,--do people avoid him?"
+
+"How should they? How many here are privileged to look down on a
+traitor? Is it the runaway merchant, the defaulting bank clerk, the
+filching commissary, that can say shame to one whose crime stands higher
+in the scale of offence? The best we can know of any one here is, that
+his rascality took an aspiring turn; and yet there are some fellows
+one would not like to think ill of. Here comes one such; and as I have
+something like business to treat of with him, I 'll ask you to wait for
+me, on this bench, till I join you."
+
+Without waiting for any reply, Cashel hastened forward, and taking off
+his hat, saluted a sallow-looking man of some eight-and-forty or fifty
+years of age, who, in a loose morning-gown, and with a book in his hand,
+was strolling along in one of the alleys.
+
+"Ha, lieutenant," said the other, as, lifting up his eyes, he recognized
+Cashel,--"making the most of these short hours of pleasure, eh? You 've
+heard the news, I suppose; we shall be soon afloat again."
+
+"So I've heard, captain!" replied Cashel; "but I believe we have taken
+our last cruise together."
+
+"How so, lad? _You_ look well, and in spirits; and as for myself, I
+never felt in better humor than to try a bout with our friends on the
+western coast."
+
+"You have no friend, captain, can better like to hear you say so; and as
+for me, the chances of fortune have changed. I have discovered that I
+need neither risk head nor limbs for gold; a worthy man has arrived here
+to-day with tidings that I am the owner of a large estate, and more
+money than I shall well know how to squander, and so--"
+
+"And so you 'll leave us for the land where men have learned that art?
+Quite right, Cashel. At your age a man can accustom himself to any and
+everything; at mine--a little later--at mine, for instance, the task is
+harder. I remember myself, some years ago, fancying that I should enjoy
+prodigiously that life of voluptuous civilization they possess in
+the Old World, where men's wants are met ere they are well felt, and
+hundreds--ay, thousands--are toiling and thinking to minister to the
+rich man's pleasures. It so chanced that I took a prize a few weeks
+after; she was a Portuguese barque with specie, broad doubloons and gold
+bars for the mint at Lisbon, and so I threw up my command and went
+over to France and to Paris. The first dash was glorious; all was
+new, glittering, and splendid; every sense steeped in a voluptuous
+entrancement; thought was out of the question, and one only could wonder
+at the barbarism that before seemed to represent life, and sorrow for
+years lost and wasted in grosser enjoyment. Then came a reaction, at
+first slight, but each day stronger; the headache of the debauch,
+the doubt of your mistress's fidelity, your friend's truth, your own
+enduring good fortune,--all these lie in wait together, and spring out
+on you in some gloomy hour, like Malays boarding a vessel at night, and
+crowding down from maintop and mizen! There is no withstanding; you must
+strike or fly. I took the last alternative, and, leaving my splendid
+quarters one morning at daybreak, hastened to Havre. Not a thought of
+regret crossed me; so quiet a life seemed to sap my very courage, and
+prey upon my vitals; that same night I swung once more in a hammock,
+with the rushing water beside my ear, and never again tried those
+dissipations that pall from their very excess; for, after all, no
+pleasure is lasting which is not dashed with the sense of danger."
+
+While he was yet speaking, a female figure, closely veiled, passed close
+to where they stood, and, without attracting any notice, slipped into
+Cashel's hand a slip of paper. Few as the words it contained were, they
+seemed to excite his very deepest emotion, and it was with a faltering
+voice he asked the captain by what step he could most speedily obtain
+his release from the service?
+
+A tiresome statement of official forms was the answer; but Roland's
+impatience did not hear it out, as he said,--
+
+"And is there no other way,--by gold, for instance?"
+
+A cold shrug of the shoulders met this sally, and the captain said,--
+
+"To corrupt the officials of the Government is called treason by our
+laws, and is punishable by death, just like desertion." \
+
+"Therefore is desertion the better course, as it involves none but one,"
+said Cashel, laughing, as he turned away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. THE KENNYFECK HOUSEHOLD
+
+     Man, being reasonable, must dine out;
+     The best of life is but a dinner-party.
+
+     Amphytrion, Canto IV.
+
+
+It was about half-past six of an autumn evening, just as the gray
+twilight was darkening into the gloom that precedes night, that a
+servant, dressed in the most decorous black, drew down the window-blinds
+of a large and splendidly furnished drawing-room of a house in Merrion
+Square, Dublin.
+
+Having arranged certain portly deep-cushioned chairs into the orderly
+disorder that invites social groupings, and having disposed various
+other articles of furniture according to those notions of domestic
+landscape so popular at the present day, he stirred the fire and
+withdrew,--all these motions being performed with the noiseless decorum
+of a church.
+
+A glance at the apartment, even by the fitful light of the coal-fire,
+showed that it was richly, even magnificently, furnished. The
+looking-glasses were immense in size, and framed with all that the most
+lavish art of the carver could display. The hangings were costly Lyons
+silk, the sofas, tables, and cabinets were all exquisite specimens of
+modern skill and elegance, while the carpet almost rose above the foot
+in the delicate softness of its velvet pile. A harp, a grand pianoforte,
+and several richly-bound and gilded volumes strewed about gave evidence
+of tastes above the mere voluptuous enjoyment of ease, and in one window
+stood an embroidery-frame, with its unfinished labor, from which the
+threads depended in that fashion, that showed it had lately occupied the
+fair hands of the artist.
+
+This very enviable apartment belonged to Mr. Mountjoy Kennyfeck, the
+leading solicitor of Dublin, a man who, for something more than thirty
+years, had stood at the head of his walk in the capital, and was reputed
+to be one of its most respected and richest citizens. Mrs. Mountjoy
+Kennyfeck--neither for our own nor our reader's convenience dare we omit
+the "prénom"--was of a western family considerably above that of her
+liege lord and master in matter of genealogy, but whose quarterings had
+so far survived the family acres that she was fain to accept the hand
+of a wealthy attorney, after having for some years been the belle of her
+county, and the admired beauty of Castle balls and drawing-rooms.
+
+It had been at first, indeed, a very hard struggle for the O'Haras to
+adopt the style and title of Kennyfeck, and poor Matilda was pitied in
+all the moods and tenses for exchanging the riotous feudalism of Mayo
+for the decorous quietude and wealthy _insouciance_ of a Dublin mansion;
+and the various scions of the house did not scruple to express very
+unqualified opinions on the subject of her fall; but Time--that heals
+so much--Time and Mr. Kennyfeck's claret, of which they all drank
+most liberally during the visits to town, assuaged the rancor of these
+prejudices, and "Matty," it was hinted, might have done worse; while
+some hardy spirit averred that "Kennyfeck, though not one of ourselves,
+has a great deal of the gentleman about him, notwithstanding."
+
+A word of Mr. Kennyfeck himself, and even a word will almost suffice. He
+was a very tall, pompous-looking personage, with a retiring forehead
+and a large prominent nose; he wore a profusion of powder, and always
+dressed in the most scrupulous black; he spoke little, and that slowly;
+he laughed never. It was not that he was melancholy or depressed; it
+seemed rather that his nature had been fashioned in conformity with the
+onerous responsibilities of his pursuit, and that he would have deemed
+any exhibition of mirthful emotion unseemly and unbecoming one who, so
+to say, was a kind of high priest in the temple of equity. Next to the
+Chancellor's he venerated the decisions of Mrs. Kennyfeck; after Mrs.
+Kennyfeck came the Master of the Rolls. This was his brief and simple
+faith, and it is astonishing in what simple rules of guidance men amass
+vast fortunes, and obtain the highest suffrages of civic honor and
+respect!
+
+Mr. Kennyfeck's family consisted of two daughters: the eldest had been a
+beauty for some years, and, even at the period our tale opens, had lost
+few of her attractions. She was tall, dark-haired, and dark-eyed, with
+an air of what in the Irish capital is called "decided fashion" about
+her, but in less competent circles might have been called almost
+effrontery. She looked strangers very steadily in the face, spoke with a
+voice full, firm, and unabashed,--no matter what the subject, or who the
+audience,--and gave her opinions on people and events with a careless
+indifference to consequences that many mistook for high genius
+rebellious against control.
+
+Olivia, three years younger than her sister, had just come out; and
+whether that her beauty--and she was very handsome--required a different
+style, or that she saw more clearly "the mistake" in Miss Kennyfeck's
+manner, but she took a path perfectly her own. She was tenderness
+itself; a delicacy too susceptible for this work-a-day world pervaded
+all she said and did,--a retiring sensitiveness that she knew, as she
+plaintively said, would never "let her be loved," overlaid her nature,
+and made her the victim of her own feelings. Her sketches, everlasting
+Madonnas dissolved in tears; her music, the most mournful of the
+melodies; her reading, the most disastrously ending of modern
+poems,--all accorded with this tone, which, after all, scarcely
+consorted well with a very blooming cheek, bright hazel eyes, and an air
+and carriage that showed a full consciousness of her captivations, and
+no small reliance on her capacity to exercise them.
+
+A brief interval after the servant left the room, the door opened, and
+Mrs. Kennyfeck entered. She was dressed for dinner, and if not exactly
+attired for the reception of a large company, exhibited, in various
+details of her costume, unequivocal signs of more than common care. A
+massive diamond brooch fastened the front of her dark velvet dress, and
+on her fingers several rings of great value glittered. Miss Kennyfeck,
+too, who followed her, was, though simply, most becomingly dressed; the
+light and floating material of her robe contrasting well with the more
+stately folds of the matronly costume of her mother.
+
+"I am surprised they are not here before this," said Mrs. Kennyfeck,
+lying back in the deep recess of a luxurious chair, and placing a screen
+between herself and the fire. "Your father said positively on the 5th,
+and as the weather has been most favorable, I cannot understand the
+delay. The packets arrive at four, I think?"
+
+"Yes, at four, and the carriage left this at three to fetch them."
+
+"Read the note again,--he writes so very briefly always. I 'm sure I
+wish the dear man would understand that I am not a client, and that a
+letter is not exactly all it might be, because it can be charged its
+thirteen-and-fourpence, or six-and-eightpence, whatever it is."
+
+Miss Kennyfeck took an open note from the chimney, and read:--
+
+     Dear Mrs. Kennyfeck,--We have made all the necessary
+     arrangements in London, and shall leave on the 2nd,  so as
+     to arrive at Merrion Square by the 5th.    Mr. C---- would,
+     I believe, rather have remained another day in town; but
+     there was no possibility of doing so, as the "Chancellor"
+     will sit on Tuesday. Love to the girls, and believe me,
+     yours very truly,
+
+     M. Kennyfeck.
+
+Invite Jones and Softly to meet us at dinner.
+
+The clock on the mantelpiece now struck seven; and scarcely had the last
+chime died away as a carriage drove up to the door.
+
+"Here they come, I suppose," said Mrs. Kennyfeck, with a half-sigh.
+
+"No, mamma; it is a hackney-coach. Mr. Jones, or Mr. Softly, perhaps."
+
+"Oh, dear! I had forgotten them. How absurd it was to ask these people,
+and your father not here."
+
+The door opened, and the servant announced the Rev. Mr. Knox Softly. A
+very tall, handsome young man entered, and made a most respectful but
+cordial salutation to the ladies. He was in look and mien the _beau
+idéal_ of health, strength, and activity, with bright, full blue eyes,
+and cheeks rosy as the May. His voice, however, was subdued to the
+dulcet accent of a low whisper, and his step, as he crossed the room,
+had the stealthy noiselessness of a cat's approach.
+
+"Mr. Kennyfeck quite restored, I hope, from the fatigue of his journey?"
+
+"We 've not seen him yet," replied his lady, almost tartly. "He ought to
+have been here at four o'clock, and yet it's past seven."
+
+"I think I hear a carriage."
+
+"Another ------," hackney, Miss Kennyfeck was about to say, when she
+stopped herself, and, at the instant, Counsellor Clare Jones was
+announced.
+
+This gentleman was a rising light of the Irish bar, who had the
+good fortune to attract Mr. Kennyfeck's attention, and was suddenly
+transferred from the dull duties of civil bills and declarations to
+business of a more profitable kind. He had been somewhat successful in
+his college career,--carried off some minor honors; was a noisy member
+of a debating society; wrote leaders for some provincial papers; and
+with overbearing powers of impudence, and a good memory, was a very
+likely candidate for high forensic honor.
+
+Unlike the first arrival, the Counsellor had few, if any, of the
+forms of good society in his manner or address. His costume, too, was
+singularly negligent; and as he ran a very dubious hand through a mass
+of thick and tangled hair on entering, it was easy to see that the
+greatest part of his toilet was then and there performed. The splashed
+appearance of his nether garments, and of shoes that might have done
+honor to snipe-shooting, also showed that the carriage which brought him
+was a mere ceremonial observance, and, as he would himself say, "the act
+of conveyance was a surplusage."
+
+Those who saw him in court pronounced him the most unabashed and cool of
+men; but there was certainly a somewhat of haste and impetuosity in his
+drawing-room manner that even a weak observer would have ascribed to
+awkwardness.
+
+"How do you do, Mrs. Kennyfeck?--how do you do, Miss Kennyfeck?--glad to
+see you. Ah! Mr. Softly,--well, I hope? Is he come--has he arrived?"
+A shake of the head replied in the negative. "Very strange; I can't
+understand it. We have a consultation with the Solicitor-General
+to-morrow, and a meeting in chambers at four."
+
+"I should n't wonder if Mr. Cashel detained papa; he is very young, you
+know, and London must be so new and strange to him, poor lad!"
+
+"Yes; but your father would scarce permit it," said Mrs. Kennyfeck,
+smartly. "I rather think it must have been some accidental circumstance;
+coaches are constantly upsetting, and post-horses cannot always be had."
+
+Mr. Knox Softly smiled benignly, as though to say in these suggestions
+Mrs. Kennyfeck was displaying a very laudable spirit of uncertainty as
+to the course of human events.
+
+"Here 's Olivia," said Mrs. Kennyfeck, as her younger daughter entered.
+"Let us hear her impressions,--full of forebodings, I don't doubt."
+
+Miss Olivia Kennyfeck performed her salutations to the guests with the
+most faultless grace, throwing into her courtesy to the curate a
+certain air of filial reverence very pretty to behold, and only a
+little objectionable on the score of the gentleman's youth and personal
+attractions; and then, turning to her mother said,--
+
+"You are not uneasy, mamma, I hope? Though, after all, this is about the
+period of the equinox."
+
+"Nonsense, child! packets are never lost nowadays in the Irish Channel.
+It's merely some sudden freak of gayety,--some London distraction
+detains them. Will you touch that bell, Mr. Clare Jones? It is better to
+order dinner."
+
+There was something peremptory in the lady's tone and manner that rather
+damped the efforts at small-talk,--never very vigorous or well-sustained
+at these ante-dinner moments; nor were any of the party very sorry when
+the servant announced that the soup was served.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. HOW ROLAND BECAME ENTITLED TO THE GODFREY BROWNE PROPERTY.
+
+     The sherry iced,--the company still colder.
+
+     Bell:  Images.
+
+
+The party who now took their seats at table were not made of those
+ingredients whose admixture accomplishes a social meeting. Their
+natures, pursuits, and tastes were only sufficiently unlike to suggest
+want of agreement, without possessing the broad contrasts that invite
+conversation by their own contrariety. Besides this, there was a sense
+of constraint over every one, from the absence of the host and his
+expected guest; and lastly, the very aspect of a gorgeously decorated
+table, with vacant places, has always a chilling influence over those
+who sit around. A certain amount of propinquity is as essential to
+conversation as good roads and easy distances are a necessary condition
+to a visiting neighborhood. If you cannot address him or her who sits
+beside you without attracting the attention of the whole table to your
+remark, you are equally debarred from the commonplaces that induce
+table-talk, or the smart thing that cannot well be said too publicly.
+
+The dinner here proceeded in very stately quietude, nor were the efforts
+of Mr. Jones to introduce a conversational spirit at all successful;
+indeed, that gifted gentleman would have willingly exchanged the
+unexceptionable cookery and admirably conditioned wine before him for
+the riotous freedom of a bar mess,--where sour sherry and nisi-prius
+jokes abounded, and Father Somebody's song was sure to give the scene
+a conviviality that only yielded its fascination to blind hookey or
+spoiled five.
+
+Far otherwise the curate. The angelic smile that sat upon his features
+mechanically; his low, soft, liquid voice; his gentle gestures; and even
+his little sallies of pleasantry, were in perfect accordance with the
+decorous solemnity of a scene where the chink of a cut decanter, or the
+tingling sound of a silver dish-cover, were heard above the stillness of
+the company.
+
+If, then, Mr. Knox Softly accompanied the ladies to the door, and
+followed them out with his eyes with an expression beaming regretfulness
+at their departure, the Counsellor, very differently minded, surrounded
+himself with an array of the dessert-dishes and decanters, and prepared
+to discuss his wine and walnuts to his perfect contentment.
+
+"You have never met this Mr. Roland Cashel, I believe?" said Mr. Softly,
+as he filled a very large claret glass and tasted it enjoyably.
+
+"Never," replied Jones, whose teeth were busily engaged in smashing
+almonds and filberts, in open defiance of a tray of silver nutcrackers
+before him. "I don't think he has been in Ireland since a mere child,
+and very little in England."
+
+"Then his recovery of the estate was quite unexpected?"
+
+"Mere accident Kennyfeck came upon the proofs when making some searches
+for a collateral claim. The story is very short. This lad's father,
+whose name was Godfrey Cashel, was a poor lieutenant in the 81st, and
+quartered at Bath, when he chanced to discover that a rich old bachelor
+there, a certain Godfrey Browne, was a distant relation of his
+mother. He lost no time in making his acquaintance and explaining the
+relationship, which, however, brought him no more substantial benefit
+than certain invitations to dinner and whist parties, where the
+unfortunate lieutenant lost his half-crowns.
+
+"At length a note came one morning inviting him to breakfast and to
+'transact a little matter of business.' Poor Godfrey read the words with
+every commentary that could flatter his hopes, and set out in better
+spirits than he had known for many a year before. What, then, was
+his dismay to discover that he was only wanted to witness the old
+gentleman's will!--a very significant proof that he was not to benefit
+by its provisions.
+
+"With a very ill-repressed sigh, the poor lieutenant threw a glance over
+the half-opened leaves, where leasehold, and copyhold, and freehold, and
+every other 'hold' figured among funded property, consols, and reduced
+annuities,--with money lent on mortgages, shares in various companies,
+and What not,--a list only to be equalled by the long catalogue of
+those 'next of kin,' who, to the number of seventeen, were mentioned as
+reversionary heirs.
+
+"'You are to sign your name here, Mr. Cashel,' said the solicitor,
+pointing to a carefully-scratched portion of the parchment, where
+already the initials were pencilled for his guidance.
+
+"'Faith! and it's at the other side of the book I'd rather see it,' said
+the lieutenant, with a sigh.
+
+"'Not, surely, after seventeen others!' exclaimed the astonished
+attorney.
+
+"'Even so,--a chance is better than nothing.'
+
+"'What's that he's saying?' interposed the old man, who sat reading his
+newspaper at the fire. The matter was soon explained by the attorney,
+and when he finished, Cashel added: 'That's just it; and I'm to sail for
+the Cape on the 4th of next month, and if you 'll put me down among the
+rest of the fellows, I 'll send you the best pipe of Constantia you
+ever tasted, as sure as my name is Godfrey Cashel.'
+
+"The old man threw his spectacles up on his forehead, wiped his eyes,
+and then, replacing his glasses, took a deliberate survey of the poor
+lieutenant who had proposed such a very 'soft' bargain. 'Eh! Clinchet,'
+said he to the attorney, 'can we do this for him?'
+
+"'Nothing easier, sir; let the gentleman come in last, as residuary
+legatee, and it alters nothing.'
+
+"'I suppose you count on your good luck,' said old Browne, grinning.
+
+"'Oh, then, it's not from my great experience that way.' said Cashel.
+'I 've been on the "Duke's list" for promotion seventeen years already,
+and, for all I see, not a bit nearer than the first day; but there's no
+reason my poor boy should be such an unfortunate devil. Who knows but
+fortune may make amends to him one of these days? Come, sir, is it a
+bargain?'
+
+"'To be sure. I 'm quite willing; only don't forget the Constantia. It's
+a wine I like a glass of very well indeed, after my dinner.'
+
+"The remainder is easily told; the lieutenant sailed for the Cape,
+and kept his word, even though it cost him a debt that mortgaged his
+commission. Old Browne gave a great dinner when the wine arrived, and
+the very first name on the list of legatees, his nephew, caught a fever
+on his way home from it, and died in three weeks.
+
+"Kennyfeck could tell us, if he were here, what became of each of them
+in succession; four were lost, out yachting, at once; but, singular as
+it may seem, in nineteen years from the day of that will, every life
+lapsed, and, stranger still, without heirs; and the fortune has now
+descended to poor Godfrey Cashel's boy, the lieutenant himself having
+died in the West Indies, where he exchanged into a native regiment. That
+is the whole story; and probably in a romance one would say that the
+thing was exaggerated, so much more strange is truth than fiction."
+
+"And what kind of education did the young man get?"
+
+"I suppose very little, if any. So long as his father lived, he of
+course held the position of an officer's son,--poor, but in the rank of
+gentleman. After that, without parents,--his mother died when he was an
+infant,--he was thrown upon the world, and, after various vicissitudes,
+became a cabin boy on board of a merchantman; then he was said to be a
+mate of a vessel in the African trade employed on the Gold Coast,--just
+as probably a slaver; and, last of all, he was lieutenant in the
+Columbian navy,--which, I take it, is a very good name for piracy. It
+was in the Havannah we got a trace of him, and I assure you, strange as
+it may sound, Kennyfeck's agent had no small difficulty in persuading
+him to abandon that very free-and-easy service, to assume the rights and
+immunities of a very large property.
+
+"Kennyfeck was to meet him on his arrival in England, about ten days
+ago, and they spent a few days in London, and were--But hark! there
+comes a carriage now,--yes, I know the step of his horses; here they
+are!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. A FRACAS IN THE BETTING-RING.
+
+     Ne'er mind his torn, ill-fashioned doublet,
+     Beshrew me! if he 's not a pretty man.
+
+     Don Lopez.
+
+The movement and bustle in the hall showed that Mr. Jones's surmise was
+correct; for scarcely had the carriage stopped than the street-door
+was flung wide open, and Mr. Pearse, the butler, followed by a strong
+detachment of bright-liveried menials, stood bowing their respectful
+compliments to their master and his guest. As Mr. Kennyfeck entered the
+house, he walked slowly and with difficulty, endeavoring at the same
+time to avoid all scrutiny of his appearance as he passed through the
+crowded hall; but, although his hat was pressed firmly over his brows,
+it could not entirely conceal a very suspiciously tinted margin around
+one eye; while the care with which he defended his left arm, and which
+he carried in his waistcoat, looked like injury there also.
+
+He, however, made an attempt at a little sprightliness of manner, as,
+shaking his companion's hand with cordial warmth, he said,--
+
+"Welcome to Ireland, Mr. Cashel. I hope I shall very often experience
+the happiness of seeing you under this roof."
+
+The person addressed was a remarkably handsome young man, whose air and
+carriage bespoke, however, much more the confidence that results from a
+sense of personal gifts, and a bold, daring temperament, than that more
+tempered ease which is the consequence of fashionable breeding.
+
+Mr. Kennyfeck's felicitations on their arrival were scarce uttered ere
+Cashel had sufficiently recovered from his surprise at the unexpected
+magnificence of the house to make any reply; for, although as yet
+advanced no further than the hall, a marble group by Canova, a centre
+lamp of costly Sčvres, and some chairs of carved ebony served to
+indicate the expensive style of the remainder of the mansion.
+
+While Cashel, then, muttered his acknowledgments, he added to himself,
+but in a voice scarcely less loud,--
+
+"Devilish good crib, this, Master Kennyfeck."
+
+"Pearse," said the host, "is dinner ready?"
+
+"My mistress and the young ladies have dined, sir; but Mr. Jones and Mr.
+Softly are in the parlor."
+
+"Well, let us have something at once; or, would you prefer, Mr. Cashel,
+making any change in your dress first?"
+
+"I say dinner above all things," said the youth, disencumbering himself
+of a great Mexican mantle.
+
+"Perfectly right; quite agree with you," said Kennyfeck, endeavoring to
+assume a little of his guest's dash; "and here we are. Ah, Jones, how
+d'ye do? Mr. Cashel, this is my friend Mr. Jones. Mr. Softly, very
+glad to see you. Mr. Softly.--Mr. Cashel. Don't stir, I beg; keep your
+places. We 'll have a bit of dinner here, and join you at your wine
+afterwards. Meanwhile, I 'll just step upstairs, and be back again in a
+moment; you'll excuse me, I 'm sure."
+
+"Oh, certainly," replied Cashel, who appeared as if he could excuse
+anything with a better grace than the ceremonious slowness of the
+butler's arrangements.
+
+There was a pause of a few seconds as Mr. Kennyfeck left the room,
+broken, at last, by Mr. Jones asking if they had not been detained by
+contrary winds.
+
+"No, I think not; I fancy the weather was pretty average kind of
+weather. Had we been expected here earlier?"
+
+"Yes; Mrs. Kennyfeck mentioned to me Monday, and afterwards Tuesday, as
+the very latest day for your arrival."
+
+Cashel made no remark; and, soon after, Mr. Pearse's entrance with the
+soup put an end to the conversation. "Mr. Kennyfeck desired me to say,
+sir, not to wait for him; he'll be down presently."
+
+"What do you call this soup?"
+
+"Mock-turtle, sir."
+
+"Rather too much Madeira in it for my taste; but that sha' n't prevent
+my having a glass of wine. Will you permit me, gentlemen?"
+
+The parties bowed policy; but still the intercourse did not progress;
+and in the exchanged glances of those at the large table, and the
+sidelong looks Cashel occasionally threw towards them, it was easy to
+see that neither party had made way with the other.
+
+"I fear Kennyfeck is not going to make his appearance," said Cashel, as
+he seemed to hesitate about proceeding with his dinner.
+
+"I should n't advise you waiting," cried Jones; "the fish is growing
+cold."
+
+"I suspect Mr. Kennyfeck is fatigued by his journey, sir," said Mr.
+Softly, in his most bland of voices; "I thought I remarked it by his
+face."
+
+"Oh, did you?" said Cashel, with a very peculiar look of knowingness.
+
+"Yes; you are aware, Mr. Cashel," interrupted Jones, "our friend is n't
+much used to that kind of thing. I suppose it's some years since he has
+had so much knocking about as in these last few days."
+
+"I fancy so," said Cashel, with a significant smile that puzzled the
+lawyer exceedingly, and he ate on without making a further remark.
+
+The two or three efforts made by Jones and Softly to converse
+together were, like nearly all similar attempts at perfect ease and
+self-possession, complete failures, and gradually slided down into
+monosyllables, and then to silence; when Cashel, who seemed to be
+enjoying his venison and Bordeaux with perfect zest, leaned back in his
+chair and said, "What kind of place is this same good city of Dublin?
+What goes forward here?"
+
+As this question was more directly addressed to Jones, that gentleman
+prepared himself, not unwillingly, for an elaborate reply.
+
+"Dublin, Mr. Cashel," said he, pretty much in the same tone he would
+have used in opening an address to a jury,--
+
+"Dublin is a city which, from a great variety of causes, will always
+be exposed to every variable and opposing criticism. To begin: it is
+provincial--"
+
+"Is it slow?" interrupted Cashel, who had listened to this exordium with
+palpable signs of impatience.
+
+"If you mean, has it its share of those habits of dissipation, those
+excesses so detrimental alike to health and fortune--"
+
+"No, no; I merely ask what goes on here,--how do people amuse
+themselves?" said Cashel, fencing to avoid any very lengthened exposure
+of the other's views.
+
+"They dine, dance, drink tea, talk politics and scandal, like other
+folk; but if you ask, what are the distinguishing features of the
+society--"
+
+"What kind of sport does the country afford?" interrupted Roland,
+somewhat unceremoniously.
+
+"Hunting, shooting, fishing, coursing--"
+
+"What do you mean by hunting,--a fox, is it?"
+
+"Yes, fox-hunting and hare-hunting, too."
+
+A very insolent laugh was Cashel's answer, as, turning to Mr. Softly, he
+said, "Well, I own, all this does strike me as a very tiresome kind of
+life. Do you like Ireland, sir?"
+
+"I feel a deep interest in it," said the curate, with a most solemn
+manner.
+
+"Yes, that's all very well; but do you like it?"
+
+"Were it not for its darkness," said Mr. Softly, sighing, "I should say
+I liked it."
+
+"Darkness," echoed Cashel,--"darkness; why, hang it, you are pretty far
+north here. What is the darkness you speak of?"
+
+"I alluded to popery, sir,--to the obscuring mists of superstition and
+ignorance," replied Mr. Softly, with a kind of energetic timidity that
+made himself blush.
+
+"Oh--I perceive--yes--I understand," muttered Cashel, who certainly felt
+all the awkwardness of a man caught in a lie.
+
+"We have a very agreeable society among the bar men," said Jones,
+returning to the charge in a new direction; "a great deal of pleasantry
+and fun goes on at our messes."
+
+"Droll fellows, I suppose," said Cashel, carelessly. "I remember I
+knew a lawyer once; he was a mate of a small clipper in the African
+trade,--mischievous kind of devil he was too,--always setting the slaves
+by the ears, and getting money for settling the differences. They played
+him a good trick at last." Here he laughed heartily at the recollection
+for several minutes.
+
+"What was it?" asked Jones, in some curiosity to learn how the bar was
+respected on the banks of the Niger.
+
+"They painted him black and sold him at Cuba," said Cashel, who once
+more broke out into laughter at the excellence of the jest.
+
+Jones's and Softly's eyes met with a most complete accordance in the
+glances exchanged. Meanwhile, Cashel, drawing his chair towards the
+larger table, filled his glass and proceeded to smash his walnuts with
+all the easy contentment of a man who had dined well.
+
+"I perceive Mr. Kennyfeck is not likely to join us," said Softly, with a
+half suggestive look towards the door.
+
+"Tired, perhaps," said Jones, affecting what he opined to be the cool
+indifference of the highest fashion.
+
+"More than that, I suspect," said Cashel, with a most unfeigned
+carelessness. "Did you remark his eye?"
+
+"Yes!" exclaimed both together. "What could that mean?"
+
+"A slight bit of a scrimmage we had on the way from town; a--"
+
+"Mr. Kennyfeck engaged in a row!" cried Softly, almost incredible at the
+tidings.
+
+"Yes. I fancy that is about the best word for it," said Cashel, sipping
+his wine. "I suppose one ought not to mention these kind of things;
+but of course they are safe with you. They 'll never go further, I am
+certain."
+
+"Oh, never,--not a syllable," chimed in the two.
+
+"Well, then, on our way here, I learned that there were to be races a
+few miles from Coventry, and as I saw our friend Kennyfeck had no fancy
+for the sight, I just slipped a few half-crowns into the postboy's hand,
+and told him to drive there instead of taking the Liverpool road. Away
+we went at a good pace, and in less than an hour reached the course. I
+wish you saw the old gentleman's face when he awoke from a sound nap,
+and saw the grand stand, with its thousand faces, all in a row, and the
+cords, the betting-ring, and the whole circumstance of a race-ground. By
+good luck, too, the sharp jerk of our pull-up smashed a spring, and so
+we had nothing for it but to leave the chaise and wait till it could be
+repaired. While my servant was away in search of some kind of a drag or
+other, to go about the field,--there was no walking, what with the crowd
+and the press of horses, not to speak of the mud that rose over the
+ankles,--we pushed on,--that is, I did, with a stout grip of Kennyfeck's
+arm, lest he should escape,--we pushed on, into the ring. Here there was
+rare fun going forward, every fellow screaming out his bets, and booking
+them as fast as he could. At first, of course, the whole was all ancient
+Greek to me. I neither knew what they meant by the 'favorite,' or
+'the odds,' or 'the field;' but one somehow always can pick up a thing
+quickly, if it be but 'game,' and so, by watching here, and listening
+there, I managed to get a kind of inkling of the whole affair, and by
+dint of some pushing and elbowing, I reached the very centre of the
+ring, where the great dons of the course were betting together.
+
+"'Taurus even against the field,' cried one.
+
+"'Taurus against the field,' shouted another.
+
+"And this same cry was heard on every side.
+
+"'Give it in fifties,--hundreds if you like better,' said a young fellow
+mounted on a smart-looking pony, to his friend, who appeared to reflect
+on the offer. 'Come, hurry on, man. Let's have a bet, just to give one
+an interest in the race.' The other shook his head, and the first went
+on, 'What a slow set, to be sure! Is no one willing to back the field,
+even? Come, then, here 's a hundred pound to any man who 'll take the
+field against Taurus, for two thousand.'
+
+"'Let me have your cob,' said I, 'and I 'll take the bet.'
+
+"He turned round in his saddle, and stared at me as if I were something
+more or less than human, while a very general roar of laughing ran
+around the entire circle.
+
+"'Come away, come away at once,' whispered Kennyfeck, trembling with
+fright.
+
+"'Yes, you had better move off, my friend,' said a thickset,
+rough-looking fellow, in a white coat.
+
+"'What say you to five thousand, sir; does that suit your book?' cried
+the young fellow to me, in a most insolent tone.
+
+"'Oh, let him alone, my Lord,' said another. 'Take no notice of him.'
+
+"'I say, Grindle,' cried a tall thin man with moustaches, 'who let these
+people inside the ring?'
+
+"'They forces their way, my Lud,' said a little knocker-kneed creature,
+in a coat four times too big for him, 'and I says to Bill, de--pend upon
+it, Bill, them's the swell mob.'
+
+"The words were scarcely out of the fellow's mouth when a general cry
+of the 'swell mob' resounded on every side, and at once they closed upon
+us, some pushing, others elbowing, driving, and forcing, so that what
+with the dense crowd, and the tight hold Kennyfeck now kept of me, I was
+pinioned, and could do nothing. At last, by a vigorous twist, I shook
+them off from me, and laid two of the foremost at my feet. This I did
+with a Mexican trick I saw they knew nothing about. You first make a
+feint at the face, and then, dropping on the knee, seize the fellow by
+both legs, and hurl him back on his head,--just stand up, I 'll not hurt
+you."
+
+"Thank you,--I understand the description perfectly," said Mr. Softly,
+pale with terror at the proposed experiment.
+
+"Well, the remainder is soon told. They now got in upon us, and of
+course I need n't say we got confoundedly thrashed. Kennyfeck was
+tumbled about like a football; every one that had nothing else to do had
+a kick at him, and there 's no saying how it might have ended had not a
+certain Sir George Somebody recognized our poor friend, and rescued him.
+I 'm not quite sure that I was quite myself about this time; Kennyfeck
+has some story of my getting on some one's horse, and riding about the
+course in search of the originators of the fray. The end of it, however,
+was, we reached Liverpool with sorer bones than was altogether pleasant,
+and although, when Kennyfeck went to bed, I went to the theatre, the
+noise only increased my headache, and it needed a good night's sleep to
+set me all right again."
+
+"Mr. Kennyfeck taken for one of the swell mob!" exclaimed Softly, with
+a sort of holy horror that seemed to sum up his whole opinion of the
+narrative.
+
+"Very bad, was n't it?" said Cashel, pushing the wine past; "but he's a
+capital fellow,--took the whole thing in such good part, and seems
+only anxious that the story should n't get abroad. Of course I need n't
+repeat my caution on that subject?"
+
+"Oh, certainly not! Shall we join the ladies?" said Mr. Jones, as he
+surveyed his whiskers and arranged the tie of his cravat before the
+glass.
+
+"I'm quite ready," said Cashel, who had quietly set down in his own mind
+that the ladies of the Kennyfeck family were a kind of female fac-simile
+of the stiff-looking old attorney, and, therefore, felt very few qualms
+on the subject of his disordered and slovenly appearance.
+
+Scarcely had Cashel entered the drawing-room than he found his hand
+grasped in Mr. Kennyfeck's, when, with a most dulcet acccent, he said,--
+
+"I knew you 'd forgive me,--I told Mrs. Kennyfeck you'd excuse me
+for not joining you at dinner; but I was really so fatigued. Mrs.
+Kennyfeck--Mr. Cashel. My daughter, Mr. Cashel. My daughter Olivia.
+Well, now, have you dined heartily?--I hope my friends here took care of
+you."
+
+"I thank you. I never dined better,--only sorry not to, have had your
+company. We have our apologies to make, Mrs. Kennyfeck, for not being
+earlier; but, of course, you 've heard that we did our very utmost."
+
+"Oh, yes, yes! I explained everything," interrupted Kennyfeck, most
+eager to stop a possible exposure. "Mrs. Kennyfeck knows it all."
+
+Although Cashel's manner and address were of a kind to subject him to
+the most severe criticism of the ladies of the Kennyfeck family, they
+evinced the most laudable spirit in their hospitable and even cordial
+reception of him, Mrs. Kennyfeck making room for him to sit on the sofa
+beside her,--a post of honor that even the Castle aides-de-camp only
+enjoyed by great favor; while the daughters listened with an attention
+as flattering to _him_ as it was galling to the other two guests.
+
+Mr. Softly, however, resigned himself to this neglect as to a passing
+cloud of forgetfulness, and betook himself to the columns of the
+"Morning Post" for consolation, occasionally glancing over the margin
+to watch the laughing group around the fire. As for Jones; Mr. Kennyfeck
+had withdrawn with that gentleman into a window, where the tactics of
+some bill in equity engaged their attention,--manifestly, however, to
+the young barrister's discontent, as his frequent stolen looks towards
+the ladies evidenced.
+
+It was the first time that the Kennyfecks had ever deigned to listen
+to any one whose claims to a hearing rested on higher grounds than
+the light gossip and small-talk of the capital, the small fashionable
+chit-chat of a provincial city, and which bears the same resemblance to
+the table-talk of the greater metropolis as do larks to ortolans, when
+disguised in the same kind of sauce; only those accustomed to the higher
+flavor being able to detect the difference. It was, then, with as
+much surprise as pleasure that they found themselves listening to the
+narratives in which not a single noble or lordly personage figured, nor
+one singular incident occurred reflecting on the taste, the wealth, or
+the morals of their acquaintance. It was no less a novelty, too, for
+Cashel to find any one a listener to descriptions of scenes and habits
+in whose familiarity he saw nothing strange or remarkable; so that when
+the young ladies, at first attracted by mere curiosity, became gradually
+more and more interested in his stories, his flattered vanity gave new
+warmth to an enthusiasm always ardent, and he spoke of prairie life
+and adventure with a degree of eloquence and power that might have
+captivated even less indulgent auditors.
+
+It was, besides, the first time that they ever had seen great wealth
+unallied with immense pretension. Cashel, perhaps from character,
+or that his accession to fortune was too recent, and his consequent
+ignorance of all that money can do, whichever of these the cause, was
+certainly the most unassuming young man they had ever met. In comparison
+with him, the aides-de-camp were princes of the blood; even Mr. Jones
+put forth a degree of pretension on the score of his abilities, which
+stood in strong contrast with the unaffected and simple modesty of
+Roland Cashel.
+
+It is but fair to all parties to add that dark and flashing eyes, shaded
+by long and drooping lashes, a high and massive forehead; a brown,
+almost Spanish complexion, whose character was increased by a pair of
+short coal-black moustaches,--did not detract from the merit of tales,
+which, as they chiefly related to feats of personal daring and
+address, were well corroborated by the admirable symmetry and handsome
+proportions of the relater.
+
+Story followed story. Now the scene lay in the low and misty swamps
+of the Niger, where night resounds with the dull roar of the beasts of
+prey, and the heavy plash of the sluggish alligator on the muddy shore;
+now, it was in the green wood of the Spice Islands, amid an atmosphere
+scented with perfume, and glittering with every gorgeous hue of plumage
+and verdure. At one moment he would describe a chase at sea, with all
+its high and maddening excitement, as each new vicissitude of success
+or failure arose; and then he would present some little quiet picture
+of shore life in a land where the boundless resources of Nature supply,
+even anticipate, the wants and luxuries of man.
+
+Whatever the interest, and occasionally it rose to a high pitch, that
+attended his narratives of danger and daring, the little sketches he
+gave from time to time of the domestic life of these far-away people,
+seemed to attract the most delighted attention of his fair hearers,
+particularly where his narrative touched upon the traits, whether of
+beauty, dress, or demeanor, that distinguish the belles of New Spain.
+
+"How difficult," said Miss Kennyfeck, "I could almost say, how
+impossible, to leave a land so abounding in the romance of life, for all
+the dull and commonplace realities of European existence."
+
+"How hard to do so without leaving behind the heart that could feel such
+ecstasies," murmured Olivia, with a half-raised eyelid, and a glance
+that made Cashel flush with delight.
+
+"How shall we ever make Ireland compensate you for quitting so lovely a
+country!" said Mrs. Kennyfeck, with a smile rarely accorded to anything
+lower than a viscount.
+
+"We have a Mexican proverb, madam," said Cashel, gayly, "which says,
+'Wherever the sun shines, bright eyes shine also.' But enough of these
+tiresome memories, in which my egotism will always involve me. Shall we
+have a fandango?"
+
+"I don't know it; I never saw it danced."
+
+"Well, the manolo, then."
+
+"Nor that either," said both girls, laughing.
+
+"Well, will you learn? I'll teach you the manolo. It's very simple. If
+you 'll play the air, Miss Kennyfeck,--it runs thus." Here he opened the
+pianoforte, and, after a few chords, struck with a masterly finger, he
+played a little Spanish dance; but with a spirit of execution, and
+in such an exciting character of time and measure, that a general
+exclamation of delight broke from the whole room, Mr. Jones himself
+forgetting all rivalry, and Mr. Softly laying down his newspaper
+to listen, and for a moment carried away by the fascination of the
+spirit-stirring melody.
+
+"That is the manolo; come, now, and let me teach you, first the air, and
+then the dance."
+
+"Oh, I never could succeed to give it that character of bold and haughty
+defiance it breathes from you," said Miss Kennyfeck.
+
+"Nay, nay, a man's hand is always so rude and heavy, it needs the taper
+finger of a lady,"--here Cashel bent, and kissed the hand he held,
+but with such a deference and respect in the salute, that deprived the
+action, so novel to our eyes, of any appearance of a liberty,--"of
+a lady," he resumed, "to impart the ringing brilliancy of the saucy
+manolo."
+
+"Then play it over once more, and I 'll try," said Miss Kennyfeck, who
+was a most accomplished musician, and had even already caught up the
+greater part of the air.
+
+Cashel obeyed, and again the plaudits followed even more
+enthusiastically than the first time. With a precision that called forth
+many a hearty "bravo" from Roland, Miss Kennyfeck played over the air,
+catching up all the spirit of its transitions from gay to plaintive, and
+from tender to a strain bold, daring, and energetic.
+
+"Now for the dance," exclaimed Cashel, eagerly, as he busied himself
+in removing chairs and pushing back sofas. "Will you be kind enough to
+assist me with this table?"
+
+Mr. Softly, the gentleman thus addressed, rose to comply, his face
+exhibiting a very amusing struggle between shame and astonishment at the
+position he occupied. The space cleared, Roland took Olivia's hand, and
+led her forward with an air of exceeding deference.
+
+"Now, Miss Kenny feck, the step is the easiest thing in the world. It
+goes so,--one--two; one--two--three; and then change--Exactly, quite
+right; you have it perfectly. This is, as it were, an introduction to
+the dance; but the same step is preserved throughout, merely changing
+its time with the measure."
+
+It would be as impossible to follow as it would be unfair to weary the
+reader with the lesson which now began; and yet we would like to linger
+on the theme, as our memory brings up every graceful gesture and every
+proud attitude of the fascinating manolo. Representing, as it does, by
+pantomimic action a little episode of devotion, in which pursuit and
+flight, entreaty, rejection, seductive softness, haughty defiance, timid
+fear, and an even insolent boldness alternate and succeed each other,
+all the movements which expressive action can command, whether of
+figure or feature, are called forth. Now, it is the retiring delicacy of
+shrinking, timid loveliness, half hoping, halt fearing, to be pursued;
+now the stately defiance of haughty beauty, demanding homage as its due.
+At one moment the winning seductiveness that invites pursuit, and then,
+sudden as the lightning, the disdain that repels advance.
+
+Not the least interesting part of the present scene was to watch how
+Olivia, who at first made each step and gesture with diffidence and
+fear, as she went on, became, as it were, seized with the characteristic
+spirit of the measure; her features varying with each motive of the
+music, her eyes at one instant half closed in dreamy languor, and at the
+next flashing in all the brilliancy of conscious beauty. As for Roland,
+forgetting, as well he might, all his functions as teacher, he
+moved with the enthusiastic spirit of the dance,--his rapturous gaze
+displaying the admiration that fettered him; and when at last, as it
+were, yielding to long-proved devotion, she gave her hand, it needed
+the explanation of its being a Mexican fashion to excuse the ardor with
+which he pressed it to his lips.
+
+Mrs. Kennyfeck's applause, however, was none the less warm; and if
+any of the company disapproved, they prudently said nothing,--even Mr.
+Softly, who only evidenced his feeling by a somewhat hasty resumption
+of the "Morning Post," while the elder sister, rising from the piano,
+whispered, as she passed her sister, "Bad jockey-ship, Livy, dear, to
+make fast running so early."
+
+"And that is the--What d'ye call it, Mr. Cashel?" said Mrs. Kennyfeck.
+
+"The manolo, madam. It is of Italian origin, rather than
+Spanish,--Calabrian, I fancy; but, in Mexico, it has become national,
+and well suits the changeful temper of our Spanish belles, and the style
+of their light and floating costume."
+
+"Yes, I suspect it has a better effect with short drapery than with the
+sweeping folds of our less picturesque dress," said Miss Kennyfeck,
+who, for reasons we must not inquire, took a pleasure in qualifying her
+approval.
+
+"I never saw it appear more graceful," said Cashel, with a blunt
+abruptness far more flattering than a studied compliment.
+
+Olivia blushed; Mrs. Kennyfeck looked happy, and the elder sister
+bit her lips, and threw up her eyebrows, with an expression we cannot
+attempt to render in words.
+
+"May I not have the honor of introducing you to the manolo?" said
+Cashel, presenting himself before her with a deep bow.
+
+"Thank you, I prefer being a spectator; besides, we could have no
+music,--my sister does not play."
+
+Olivia blushed; and, in her hasty look, there was an expression of
+gently conveyed reproach, as though to say, "This is unfair."
+
+"Do you like music, Mr. Cashel?" continued Miss Kennyfeck, who saw the
+slight cloud of disappointment that crossed Roland's features. "Oh, I 'm
+certain you do, and I know you sing!"
+
+"Yes," said Cashel, carelessly, "as every one sings in that merry land
+I come from; but I fear the wild carol-lings of a ranchero would scarce
+find acceptance in the polished ears of Europe."
+
+"What are the melodies like, then?" asked Miss Kennyfeck, throwing into
+the question a most eager interest.
+
+"You shall hear, if you like," said Roland, taking up a guitar, and
+striking a few full chords with a practised hand. "This is one of the
+war-songs;" and without further preface he began. Had he even been less
+gifted than he was as to voice and musical taste, there was enough in
+the bold and manly energy of his manner, in the fiery daring of his dark
+eyes, and the expressive earnestness of his whole bearing, to attract
+the admiration of his hearers. But, besides these advantages, he was not
+unskilled in the science of music, and even made so poor an instrument a
+full and masterly accompaniment, imitating, as few but Spaniards can do,
+the distant sound of drums, the dropping fire of cannon, the wild abrupt
+changes of battle, and the low plaintive sounds of suffering and defeat;
+so that, as he concluded, the whole character of the performance had
+ceased to be regarded as a mere musical display, but had the absolute
+effect of a powerfully told story.
+
+The Kennyfecks had often been called on in society to award their
+praises to amateur performances, in whose applause, be it said, _en
+passant_, a grateful sense of their being concluded always contributes
+the enthusiasm; but real admiration and pleasure now made them silent,
+and as their eyes first turned on the singer and then met, there was a
+world of intelligence in that one quiet, fleeting glance that revealed
+more of secret thought and feeling than we, as mere chroniclers of
+events, dare inquire into.
+
+Whether it was that this silence, prolonged for some seconds, suggested
+the move, or that Mr. Jones began to feel how ignoble a part he had been
+cast for in the whole evening's entertainment, but he rose to take
+his leave at once, throwing into his manner a certain air of easy
+self-sufficiency, with which in the "courts" he had often dismissed
+a witness under cross-examination, and by a mere look and gesture
+contrived to disparage his testimony.
+
+None, save Miss Kennyfeck, perceived his tactic. She saw it, however,
+and, with a readiness all her own, replied by a slight elevation of the
+eyebrow. Jones saw his "signal acknowledged," and went home contented.
+Poor man, he was not the first who has been taken into partnership
+because his small resources were all "ready," and who is ejected from
+the firm when wider and grander speculations are entered on. I am not
+certain either that he will be the last!
+
+Mr. Softly next withdrew, his leave-taking having all the blended
+humility and cordiality of his first arrival; and now Mr. Kennyfeck was
+awakened out of a very sound nap by his wife saying in his ear, "Will
+you ask Mr. Cashel if he 'll take a biscuit and a glass of wine before
+he retires?"
+
+The proposition was politely declined, and after a very cordial
+hand-shaking with all the members of the family, Cashel said his
+good-night and retired.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. PEEPS BEHIND THE CURTAIN.
+
+     Ich möchte ihn im Schlafrock sehen.
+
+     Der Reisende Teufel.
+
+     (I 'd like to see him in his robe-de-chambre.)
+
+     (The Travelling Devil.)
+
+
+There has always appeared to us something of treachery, not to speak of
+indelicacy, in the privileges authors are wont to assume in following
+their characters into their most secret retirement, watching there
+their every movement and gesture, overhearing their confidential
+whisperings,--nay, sometimes sapping their very thoughts, for the mere
+indulgence of a prying, intrusive curiosity.
+
+For this reason, highly appreciating, as we must do, the admirable wit
+of the "Diable Boiteux," and the pleasant familiar humor of the "Hermite
+de la Chaussée d'Antin," we never could entirely reconcile ourselves to
+the means by which such amusing views of life were obtained, while we
+entertain grave doubts if we,--that is, the world at large,--have any
+right to form our judgments of people from any other evidence than what
+is before the public. It appears to us somewhat as if, that following
+Romeo or Desdemona into the Green-room, we should be severe upon the
+want of keeping which suggested the indulgence of a cigar or a pot of
+porter, and angry at the high-flown illusions so grossly routed and
+dispelled.
+
+"Act well your part; there all the honour lies," said the poet moralist;
+but it's rather hard to say that you are to "act" it off as well as on
+the stage; and if it be true that no man is a hero to his valet, the
+valet should say nothing about it; and this is the very offence we think
+novel-writers commit, everlastingly stripping off the decorations and
+destroying the illusions they take such trouble to create, for little
+else than the vain boastfulness of saying, See, upon what flimsy
+materials I can move you to sentiments of grief, laughter, pity, or
+contempt. Behold of what vulgar ingredients are made up the highest
+aspirations of genius,--the most graceful fascinations of beauty.
+
+Having denounced, by this recorded protest, the practice, and
+disclaiming, as we must do, all desire to benefit by its enjoyment, we
+desire our reader, particularly if he be of the less worthy gender, to
+feel a due sense of the obligation he owes us, if we claim his company
+for half an hour on such a voyage of discovery. Step softly, there is no
+excuse for noise, as the stair-carpet is thick, and not a sound need be
+heard. Gently, as you pass that green door,--that is the bedroom of Mr.
+and Mrs. Kennyfeck. We will not linger there, nor invade the sanctity of
+those precincts, within which the monotonous tones of Mrs. K. are heard,
+revelling in that species of domestic eloquence which, like the liberty
+of the press, is oftener pleasant to those who employ, than to those
+who receive its judgments. Here for a few minutes let us stay. This is
+Roland Cashel's apartment; and, strange enough, instead of sleeping, he
+is up at his table, writing, too,--he, of all men the least epistolary.
+There may be no great indication of character in mere handwriting, but
+the manner, the gesture, the degree of rapidity of the writer, as seen
+at the moment, are all full of individuality. Mark, then, with what
+speed his pen moves; not the daisy-cutting sling of the accomplished
+rider, but the slashing gallop of the heavy charger. Many a blot, never
+an erasure,--so, there it goes,--"Yours ever, Roland Cashel." And now,
+he begins another.
+
+Come, these are no times for squeamishness. Let us anticipate "Sir
+James," and read before he seals it.
+
+     Dublin. My dear Comrade,--We are neither of us very gifted
+     letter-writers, but events are always enough to tell, even
+     when style be wanting; and here am I, so overwhelmed by the
+     rush of new sensations that I know not where to begin, or
+     how to tell what has really happened since we parted, nor
+     distinguish actual stubborn facts from my own fancies. My
+     brief note from Porto Giacomo told you that I had succeeded
+     to something like fifteen thousand pounds a year. I believe
+     it is rather more, with a good round sum, I don't know how
+     much, in bank; and now, here I am,' just arrived, but
+     marvellously at home, in the house of the worthy fellow that
+     has established my claim.
+
+     If I only knew so much of my good luck, I 'd say it was no
+     bad thing to be pleasantly domesticated in a capital
+     mansion, with every refinement and luxury at hand, and two
+     such girls, the daughters! Oh, _amigo mio_, you'd think
+     wondrous little of the Barcelonetta belles, if I could show
+     you these damsels! Such tempting shyness; such shrinking,
+     playful modesty; and then so frank, without that slap-dash
+     abruptness! Never mind,--I own freely that Maritaņa is
+     lovely; there is not such a mouth--as to a foot--well,
+     well. I wish I could take a peep at you all again, just as
+     night closes, and she comes out to take her walk upon the
+     grass, and hear her singing as she went, or watch her as she
+     danced the manolo, which--by the way--one of the girls here
+     caught up wonderfully, and in almost an instant too. But the
+     manolo, with a long, sweeping, flounced, and furbelowed
+     petticoat! Only think of the absurdity! Not but she looked
+     exceedingly pretty the while, but how much better had she,
+     if one could only have cut half a yard off her drapery!
+
+     Have you received the pistols I sent from London? I hope you
+     'll think them handsome,--I know they are true, having tried
+     them at thirty-five, and even fifty paces. The yataghan I 'm
+     certain you 'll admire; it has the peculiar handle and hilt
+     you 're fond of. Pray let our friends on the Chilian side
+     learn something of the qualities of the blade itself. I have
+     been thinking since about the emeralds--and perhaps Maritaņa
+     may refuse them. If so, do what you will with them so that I
+     hear no more of the matter. And now for the bond: release
+     me from that tie by all means. It is not that I really feel
+     it in the light of a contract,--Maritaņa never did; but I
+     have it ever on my mind, like a debt. I give you full powers:
+     draw upon me for the sum you please, and I promise not to
+     dishonor the check. Pedro likes a good bargain, and don't
+     balk him!
+
+     I don't know what your own views are in that quarter, but I
+     tell you frankly that Maritaņa has higher and bolder
+     aspirations than either you or I were likely to aid her in
+     attaining. She is a proud girl, Enrique, and will never care
+     for any man that is not able and willing to elevate her into
+     a very different sphere from that she moves in. I never
+     actually loved her,--I certainly do not do so now,--and yet
+     I cannot get her out of my head.
+
+     Before I forget it, let me ask you to pay Ruy Dias two
+     hundred doubloons for me. The horse I killed was not worth
+     forty; but, these are not times for bargaining, and the
+     fellow didn't want to part with the beast Alconetti--the
+     Italian in the Plaza--has something against me,--pay it too;
+     and now that I am on the subject of debts, whenever you
+     next cruise off Ventillanos, send a party on shore to catch
+     the dean, and give him four-and-twenty with a rope's end,--
+     say it is from me; he 'll know why, and so shall you, when
+     you inform me that it has been cleverly effected.
+
+     Above all, my dear boy, write; I so long to hear about you
+     all, and to know all that has happened since I left you.
+     Send the old trunks with my uniform to the agents in the
+     Havannah; I 'd like to see them once more. Franįois may
+     keep anything else of mine, except what you would like to
+     select as a "souvenir." Don't let Rica write to me. I feel I
+     should have no chance in a correspondence with him; nor
+     need I have any, because whatever you say, I agree to,--
+     remember that.
+
+     If you can manage about the emeralds, it would be the most
+     gratifying news to me. You might tell her that we are so
+     certain of never meeting again, and that all is now over
+     forever, and so on,--it would have an air of unkindness to
+     reject them. Besides, I see no reason why she should! No
+     matter; I needn't multiply reasons, where, if one will not
+     suffice, a thousand must fail, and the chances are, if she
+     suspect my anxiety on the subject, it will decide her
+     against me.    Do it, then, all in your own way.
+
+     Have I said all I wanted? Heaven knows! My head is full; my
+     heart, too, is not without its load. I wish you were here. I
+     wish it for many reasons. I already begin to suspect you are
+     right about the sudden effect a spring into wealth may
+     produce; but I hope that all you said on that score may not
+     be true. If I thought so, I 'd--No matter, I 'll endeavor to
+     show that you are unjust, and that is better.   Yours ever,
+
+     Roland Cashel.
+
+     Don Enrique da Cordova,
+
+     Lieutenant of the Columbian frigate "Esmeralda." Care of
+     Messrs. Eustache et Le Moine, merchants, Havannah.
+
+The next epistle which followed was far more brief. It was thus:--
+
+     Messrs. Vanderhaeghen und Droek, Antwerp.
+
+     Enclosed is an order on Hamerton for seventeen thousand four
+     hundred and forty-eight gulden, principal and interest for
+     three years, of an unjust demand made by you on me before
+     the tribunal of Bruges.
+
+     You failed, even with all the aid of your knavish laws and
+     more knavish countrymen, to establish this iniquitous claim,
+     and only succeeded in exhibiting yourselves as rogues and
+     swindlers,--good burgher-like qualities in your commercial
+     city.
+
+     I have now paid what I never owed; but there still remains
+     between us an unsettled score. Let my present punctuality
+     guarantee the honorable intentions I entertain of settling
+     it one day; till when, as you have shown yourselves my
+     enemy,
+
+     Believe me to be yours, Roland Cashel.
+
+The order on the banker ran as follows:--
+
+Pay to Vanderhaeghen und Droek, two of the greatest knaves alive,
+seventeen thousand four hundred and forty-eight gulden, being the
+principal and interest for three years of a dishonest claim made upon
+Roland Cashel. To Hamerton and Co., Cheapside.
+
+With all that soothing consciousness we hear is the result of good
+actions, Cashel lay down on his bed immediately on concluding this last
+epistle, and was fast asleep almost before the superscription was dried.
+
+And now, worthy reader, another peep, and we have done. Ascending
+cautiously the stairs, you pass through a little conservatory, at the
+end of which a heavy cloth curtain conceals a door. It is that of a
+dressing-room, off which, at opposite sides, two bedrooms lie. This same
+dressing-room, with its rose-colored curtains and ottoman, its little
+toilet-tables of satin-wood, its mirrors framed in alabaster, its
+cabinets of buhl, and the book-shelves so coquettishly curtained with
+Malines lace, is the common property of the two sisters whom we so
+lately introduced to your notice.
+
+There were they wont to sit for hours after the return from a ball,
+discussing the people they had met, their dress, their manner, their
+foibles and flirtations; criticising with no mean acuteness all the
+varied games of match-making mammas and intriguing aunts, and
+canvassing the schemes and snares so rife around them. And oh, ye
+simple worshippers of muslin-robed innocence! oh, ye devoted slaves
+of ringleted loveliness and blooming freshness! bethink ye what wily
+projects lie crouching in hearts that would seem the very homes of
+careless happiness; what calculations; what devices; how many subtleties
+that only beauty wields, or simple man is vanquished by!
+
+It was considerably past midnight as the two girls sat at the fire,
+their dressing-gowns and slippered feet showing that they had prepared
+for bed; but the long luxuriant hair, as yet uncurled, flowed in heavy
+masses on their neck and shoulders. They did not, as usual, converse
+freely together; a silence and a kind of constraint sat upon each, and
+although Olivia held a book before her, it was less for the purpose of
+reading than as a screen against the fire, while her sister sat with
+folded arms and gently drooping head, apparently lost in thought. It was
+after a very lengthened silence, and in a voice which showed that the
+speaker was following up some train of thought, Miss Kennyfeck said,--
+
+"And do you really think him handsome, Olivia?"
+
+"Of whom are you speaking, dear?" said Olivia, with the very softest
+accent.
+
+Miss Kennyfeck started; her pale cheeks became slightly red as, with a
+most keen irony, she replied, "Could you not guess? Can I mean any one
+but Mr. Clare Jones?"
+
+"Oh, he's a downright fright," answered the other; "but what could have
+made you think of him?"
+
+"I was not thinking of him, nor were you either, sister dear," said Miss
+Kennyfeck, fixing her eyes full upon her; "we were both thinking of the
+same person. Come, what use in such subterfuges? Honesty, Livy, may not
+be the 'best policy,' but it has one great advantage,--it saves a deal
+of time; and so I repeat my question, do you think him handsome?"
+
+"If you mean Mr. Cashel, dearest," said the younger, half bashfully, "I
+rather incline to say he is. His eyes are very good; his forehead and
+brow--"
+
+"There,--no inventory, I beg,--the man is very well-looking, I dare say,
+but I own he strikes me as _tant soit peu sauvage_. Don't you think so?"
+
+"True, his manners--"
+
+"Why, he has none; the man has a certain rakish, free-and-easy demeanor
+that, with somewhat more breeding, would rise as high as 'tigerism,' but
+now is detestable vulgarity."
+
+"Oh, dearest, you are severe."
+
+"I rather suspect that you are partial."
+
+"I, my dear! not I, in the least. He is not, by any means, the style
+of person I like. He can be very amusing, perhaps; he certainly is very
+odd, very original."
+
+"He is very rich, Livy," said the elder sister, with a most dry gravity.
+
+"That can scarcely be called a fault, still less a misfortune," replied
+Olivia, slyly.
+
+"Well, well, let us have done with aphorisms, and speak openly. If you
+are really pleased with his manner and address, say so at once, and I
+'ll promise never to criticise too closely a demeanor which, I vow, does
+not impress me highly,--only be candid."
+
+"But I do not see any occasion for such candor, my dear. He is no more
+to me than he is to _you_. I ask no protestations from _you_ about this
+Mr. Roland Cashel."
+
+Miss Kennyfeck bit her lip and seemed to repress a rising temptation to
+reply, but was silent for a moment, when she said, in a careless, easy
+tone,--
+
+"Do you know, Livy dearest, that this same manolo you danced this
+evening is not by any means a graceful performance to look at, at least
+when danced with long, sweeping drapery, flapping here and flouncing
+there. It may suit those half-dressed Mexican damsels who want to
+display a high arched instep and a rounded ankle, and who know that they
+are not transgressing the ordinary limits of decorum in the display; but
+certainly your friend Mr. Softly did not accord all his approval. Did
+you remark him?"
+
+"I did not; I was too much engaged in learning the figure: but Mr.
+Softly disapproves of all dancing."
+
+"Oh, I know he does," yawned Miss Kennyfeck, as if the very mention
+of his name suggested sleep; "the dear man has his own notions of
+pleasantry,--little holy jokes about Adam and Eve. There is nothing
+so intolerable to me as the insipid playfulness of your young parson,
+except, perhaps, the coarse fun of your rising barrister. How I hate Mr.
+Clare Jones!"
+
+"He is very underbred."
+
+"He is worse; the rudest person I ever met,--so familiar."
+
+"Why will he always insist on shaking hands?"
+
+"Why will he not at least wash his own, occasionally?"
+
+"And then his jests from the Queen's Bench,--the last _mot_--I'm sure I
+often wished it were so literally--of some stupid Chief Justice. Well,
+really, in comparison, your savage friend is a mirror of good looks and
+good manners."
+
+"Good night, my dear," said Olivia, rising, as though to decline a
+renewal of the combat.
+
+"Good night," echoed her sister, bluntly, "and pleasant dreams of
+'Roland the brave, Roland the true;' the latter quality being the one
+more in request at this moment." And so, humming the well-known air, she
+took her candle and retired.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. LOVE v. LAW
+
+     Ay! marry--they have wiles,
+     Compared to which, our schemes are honesty.
+
+     The Lawyer's Daughter.
+
+
+Notwithstanding all that we hear said against castle-building, how few
+among the unbought pleasures of life are so amusing, nor are we certain
+that these shadowy speculations--these "white lies" that we tell to our
+own conscience--are not so many incentives to noble deeds and generous
+actions. These "imaginary conversations" lift us out of the jog-trot
+path of daily intercourse, and call up hopes and aspirations that lie
+buried under the heavy load of wearisome commonplaces of which life is
+made up, and thus permit a man, immersed as he may be in the fatigues
+of a profession, or a counting-house, harassed by law, or worried by
+the Three per Cents, to be a hero to his own heart at least for a few
+minutes once a week.
+
+But if "castle-building" be so pleasurable when a mere visionary scheme,
+what is it when it comes associated with all the necessary conditions
+for accomplishment,--when not alone the plan and elevation of the
+edifice are there, but all the materials and every appliance to realize
+the conception?
+
+Just fancy yourself "two or three and twenty," waking out of a sound and
+dreamless sleep, to see the mellow sun of an autumnal morning straining
+its rays through the curtains of your bedroom. Conceive the short and
+easy struggle by which, banishing all load of cares and duties in which
+you were once immersed, you spring, as by a bound, to the joyous fact
+that you are the owner of a princely fortune, with health and ardent
+spirit, a temper capable of, nay, eager for engagement, a fearless
+courage, and a heart unchilled. Think of this, and say, Is not the
+first waking half-hour of such thoughts the brightest spot of a whole
+existence? Such was the frame of mind in which our hero awoke, and lay
+for some time to revel in! We could not, if we would, follow the
+complex tissue of day-dreams that wandered over every clime, and in the
+luxuriant rapture of power created scenes of pleasure, of ingredients
+the most far-fetched and remote. The "actual" demands our attention
+more urgently than the "ideal," so that we are constrained to follow the
+unpoetical steps of so ignoble a personage as Mr. Phillis,--Cashel's new
+valet,--who now broke in upon his master's reveries as he entered with
+hot water and the morning papers.
+
+"What have you got there?" cried Cashel, not altogether pleased at the
+intrusion.
+
+"The morning papers! Lord Ettlecombe "--his former master, and his
+universal type--"always read the 'Post,' sir, before he got out of bed."
+
+"Well, let me see it," said Cashel, who, already impressed with the
+necessity of conforming to a new code, was satisfied to take the law
+even from so humble an authority as his own man.
+
+"Yes, sir. Our arrival is announced very handsomely among the
+fashionable intelligence, and the 'Dublin Mail' has copied the paragraph
+stating that we are speedily about to visit our Irish estates."
+
+"Ah, indeed," said Cashel, somewhat flattered at his newborn notoriety;
+"where is all this?"
+
+"Here, sir, under 'Movements in High Life': 'The Duke of Uxoter to Lord
+Debbington's beautiful villa at Maulish; Sir Harry and Lady Emeline
+Morpas, etc.; Rosenorris; Lord Fetcherton--'No, here we have it,
+sir,--'Mr. Roland Cashel and suite'--Kennyfeck and self, sir--'from
+Mivart's, for Ireland. We understand that this millionnaire proprietor
+is now about to visit his estates in this country, preparatory to taking
+up a residence finally amongst us. If report speak truly, he is as
+accomplished as wealthy, and will be a very welcome accession to the
+ranks of our country gentry.'"
+
+"How strange that these worthy people should affect to know or care
+anything about me or my future intentions," said Cashel, innocently.
+
+"Oh, sir, they really know nothing,--that little thing is mine."
+
+"Yours,--how yours?"
+
+"Why, I wrote it, sir. When I lived with Sir Giles Heathcote, we always
+fired off a certain number of these signal-guns when we came to a new
+place. Once the thing was set a-going, the newspaper fellows followed
+up the lead themselves. They look upon a well-known name as of the same
+value as a fire or a case of larceny. I have known a case of seduction
+by a marquis to take the 'pas' of the last murder in the Edgware Road."
+
+"I have no fancy for this species of publicity," said Cashel, seriously.
+
+"Believe me, sir, there is nothing to be done without it. The Press,
+sir, is the fourth estate. They can ignore anything nowadays, from a
+speech in Parliament to the last novel; from the young beauty just come
+out, to the newly-launched line-of-battle ship. A friend of mine, some
+time back, tried the thing to his cost, sir. He invented an admirable
+moustache-paste; he even paid a guinea to an Oxford man for a Greek name
+for it; well, sir, he would not advertise in the dailies, but only in
+bills. Mark the consequence. One of the morning journals, in announcing
+the arrival of the Prince of Koemundkuttingen on a visit to Colonel
+Sibthorp, mentioned that in the fraternal embrace of these two
+distinguished personages their moustaches, anointed with the new patent
+adhesive Eukautherostickostecon, became actually so fastened together
+(as the fellow said, like two clothes-brushes) that after a quarter of
+an hour's vain struggle they had to be cut asunder. From that moment,
+sir, the paste was done up; he sold it as harness stuff the week after,
+and left the hair and beard line altogether."
+
+As Cashel's dressing proceeded, Mr. Phillis continued to impose upon him
+those various hints and suggestions respecting costume for which that
+accomplished gentleman's gentleman was renowned.
+
+"Excuse me, but you are not going to wear that coat, I hope. A morning
+dress should always incline to what artists call 'neutral tints;' there
+should also be nothing striking, nothing that would particularly catch
+the eye, except in those peculiar cases where the wearer, adopting a
+certain color, not usually seen, adheres strictly to it, Just as we
+see my Lord Blenneville with his old coffee-colored cut-away, and Sir
+Francis Heming with his light-blue frock; Colonel Mordaunt's Hessians
+are the same kind of thing."
+
+"This is all mere trifling," said Casbel, impatiently; "I don't intend
+to dress like the show-figure in a tailor's shop, to be stared at."
+
+"Exactly so, sir; that is what I have been saying: any notoriety is
+to be avoided where a gentleman has a real position. Now, with a dark
+frock, gray trousers, and this plain single-breasted vest, your costume
+is correct."
+
+If Cashel appeared to submit to these dictations with impatience, he
+really received them as laws to which he was, in virtue of his station,
+to be bound. He had taken Mr. Phillis exactly as he had engaged the
+services of a celebrated French cook, as a person to whom a "department"
+was to be intrusted; and feeling that he was about to enter on a world
+whose habits of thinking and prejudices were all strange, he resolved
+to accept of guidance, with the implicitness that he would have shown in
+taking a pilot to navigate him through a newly visited channel. Between
+the sense of submission, and a certain feeling of shame at the mock
+importance of these considerations, Casbel exhibited many symptoms of
+impatience, as Mr. Phillis continued his revelations on dress, and was
+sincerely happy when that refined individual, having slowly surveyed
+him, pronounced a faint, "Yes, very near it," and withdrew.
+
+There was a half glimmering suspicion, like a struggling ray of sunlight
+stealing through a torn and ragged cloud, breaking on Roland's mind that
+if wealth were to entail a great many requirements, no matter how small
+each, of obedience to the world's prescription, that he, for one, would
+prefer his untrammelled freedom to any amount of riches. This was but a
+fleeting doubt, which he had no time to dwell upon, for already he was
+informed by the butler that Mrs. Kennyfeck was waiting breakfast for
+him.
+
+Descending the stairs rapidly, he had just reached the landing opposite
+the drawing-room, when he heard the sounds of a guitar accompaniment,
+and the sweet silvery tones of a female voice. He listened, and to his
+amazement heard that the singer was endeavoring, and with considerable
+success, too, to remember his own Mexican air that he had sung the
+preceding evening.
+
+Somehow, it struck him he had never thought the melody so pretty
+before; there was a tenderness in the plaintive parts he could not have
+conceived. Not so the singer; for after a few efforts to imitate one
+of Roland's bolder passages, she drew her finger impatiently across
+the chords, and exclaimed, "It is of no use; it is only the caballero
+himself can do it."
+
+"Let him teach you, then!" cried Cashel, as he sprang into the room,
+wild with delight.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Cashel, what a start you 've given me!" said Olivia Kennyfeck,
+as, covered with blushes, and trembling with agitation, she leaned on
+the back of a chair.
+
+"Oh, pray forgive me," said he, eagerly; "but I was so surprised,
+so delighted to hear you recalling that little song, I really forgot
+everything else. Have I startled you, then?"
+
+"Oh, no; it's nothing. I was trying a few chords. I thought I was quite
+alone."
+
+"But you'll permit me to teach you some of our Mexican songs, won't you?
+I should be so charmed to hear them sung as you could sing them."
+
+"It is too kind of you," said she, timidly; "but I am no musician. My
+sister is a most skilful performer, but I really know nothing; a simple
+ballad and a canzonette are the extent of my efforts."
+
+"For our prairie songs, it is the feeling supplies all the character.
+They are wild, fanciful things, with no higher pretensions than to
+recall some trait of the land they belong to; and I should be so
+flattered if you would take an interest in the Far West."
+
+"How you must love it! How you must long to return to it!" said Olivia,
+raising her long drooping lashes, and letting her eyes rest, with an
+expression of tender melancholy, on Cashel.
+
+What he might have said there is no guessing,--nay, for his sake, and
+for hers too, it is better not even to speculate on it; but ere he could
+reply, another speaker joined in the colloquy, saying,--
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Cashel. Pray don't forget, when the lesson is over,
+that we are waiting breakfast." So saying, and with a laugh of saucy
+raillery, Miss Kennyfeck passed down the stairs, not remaining to hear
+his answer.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Cashel!" exclaimed Olivia, with a tone half reproachful, half
+shy, "we shall be scolded,--at least, I shall," added she. "It is the
+unforgivable offence in this house to be late at breakfast."
+
+Cashel would very willingly have risked all the consequences of delay
+for a few minutes longer of their interview; but already she had tripped
+on downstairs, and with such speed as to enter the breakfast-parlor a
+few seconds before him. Roland was welcomed by the family without the
+slightest shade of dissatisfaction at his late appearance, cordial
+greetings and friendly inquiries as to how he had rested pouring in on
+every side.
+
+"What 's to be done with Mr. Cashel to-day? I hope he is not to be
+teased by business people and red-tapery," said Mrs. Kenny feck to her
+husband.
+
+"I am afraid," said the silky attorney, "I am very much afraid I must
+trespass on his kindness to accompany me to the Master's office. There
+are some little matters which will not wait."
+
+"Oh, they must," said Mrs. Kennyfeck, peremptorily. "Who is the
+Master,--Liddard, is n't it? Well, tell him to put it off; Mr. Cashel
+must really have a little peace and quietness after all his fatigues."
+
+"It will only take an hour, at most, Mrs. Kennyfeck," remonstrated her
+submissive mate.
+
+"Well, that is nothing," cried Cashel. "I 'm not in the least tired, and
+the day is long enough for everything."
+
+"Then we have a little affair which we can manage at home here about the
+mortgages. I told you--"
+
+"I believe you did," replied Cashel, laughing; "but I don't remember a
+word of it. It's about paying some money, isn't it?"
+
+"Yes, it's the redemption of two very heavy claims," exclaimed
+Kennyfeck, perfectly shocked at the indifference displayed by the young
+man,--"claims for which we are paying five and a half per cent."
+
+"And it would be better to clear them off?" said Cashel, assuming a show
+of interest in the matter he was far from feeling.
+
+"Of course it would. There is a very large sum lying to your credit at
+Falkner's, for which you receive only three per cent."
+
+"Don't you perceive how tiresome you are, dear Mr. Kennyfeck?" said his
+wife. "Mr. Cashel is bored to death with all this."
+
+"Oh, no! not in the least, madam. It ought to interest me immensely;
+and so all these things will, I 'm sure. But I was just thinking at what
+hour that fellow we met on the packet was to show us those horses he
+spoke of?"
+
+"At four," said Mr. Kennyfeck, with a half-sigh of resignation; "but
+you 'll have ample time for that. I shall only ask you to attend at the
+judge's chambers after our consultation."
+
+"Well, you are really intolerable!" cried his wife. "Why cannot you and
+Jones, and the rest of you, do all this tiresome nonsense, and leave Mr.
+Cashel to us? I want to bring him out to visit two or three people; and
+the girls have been planning a canter in the park."
+
+"The canter, by all means," said Cashel. "I 'm sure, my dear Mr.
+Kennyfeck, you 'll do everything far better without me. I have no
+head for anything like business; and so pray, let me accompany the
+riding-party."
+
+"The attendance at the Master's is peremptory," sighed the
+attorney,--"there is no deferring that; and as to the mortgages, the
+funds are falling every hour. I should seriously advise selling out at
+once."
+
+"Well, sell out, in Heaven's name! Do all and anything you like, and I
+promise my most unqualified satisfaction at the result."
+
+"There, now," interposed Mrs. Kennyfeck, authoritatively, "don't worry
+any more; you see how tiresome you are!"
+
+And poor Mr. Kennyfeck seemed to see and feel it too; for he hung his
+head, and sipped his tea in silence.
+
+"To-day we dine alone, Mr. Cashel," said Mrs. Kennyfeck; "but to-morrow
+I will try to show you some of the Dublin notorieties,--at least, such
+as are to be had in the season. On Friday we plan a little country
+party into Wicklow, and have promised to keep Saturday free, if the
+Blackenburgs want us."
+
+"What shall we say, then, about Tubberbeg, Mr. Cashel?" said Kennyfeck,
+withdrawing him into a window-recess. "We ought to give the answer at
+once."
+
+"Faith! I forgot all about it," said Cashel. "Is that the fishery you
+told me of?"
+
+"Oh, no!" sighed the disconsolate man of law. "It's the farm on the
+terminable lease, at present held by Hugh Corrigan; he asks for a
+renewal."
+
+"Well, let him have it," said Cashel, bluntly, while his eyes were
+turned towards the fire, where the two sisters, with arms entwined,
+stood in the most graceful of attitudes.
+
+"Yes, but have you considered the matter maturely?" rejoined Kennyfeck,
+laying his hand on Cashel's arm. "Have you taken into account that he
+only pays eight and seven pence per acre,--the Irish acre, too,--and
+that a considerable part of that land adjoining the Boat Quay is let, as
+building plots for two and sixpence a foot?"
+
+"A devilish pretty foot it is, too," murmured Cashel, musingly.
+
+"Eh! what?" exclaimed Kennyfeck, perfectly mystified at this response.
+
+"Oh! I meant that I agreed with you," rejoined the young man, reddening,
+and endeavoring to appear deeply interested. "I quite coincide with your
+views, sir."
+
+Kennyfeck seemed surprised at this, for he had not, to his knowledge,
+ventured on any opinion.
+
+"Perhaps," said he, taking breath for a last effort, "if you 'd kindly
+look at the map of the estate, and just see where this farm trenches
+on your own limits, you could judge better about the propriety of the
+renewal."
+
+"Oh, with pleasure!" exclaimed Cashel, while he suffered himself to
+be led into the study, his face exhibiting very indifferent signs of
+satisfaction.
+
+"Shall we assist in the consultation, Mr. Cashel?" said Mrs. Kennyfeck,
+smiling in reply to his reluctant look at leaving.
+
+"Oh, by all means!" cried he, enthusiastically; "do come, and give me
+your advice. Pray, come."
+
+"Come, girls," said the mother, "although I perceive Mr. Kennyfeck is
+terribly shocked at the bare thought of our intrusion; but be of
+good courage, we only accompany Mr. Cashel to save him from any long
+imprisonment." And so she moved majestically forward, her daughters
+following her.
+
+An alchemist would probably have received company in his laboratory, or
+a hermit admitted a jovial party in his cell, with less of constraint
+and dissatisfaction than did Mr. Kennyfeck watch the approach of his
+wife and daughters to the sanctum of his study.
+
+Save at rare intervals, when a disconsolate widow had come to resolve a
+question of administration, or a no less forlorn damsel had entered to
+consult upon an action for "breach of promise," St. Kevin himself had
+never been less exposed to female intervention. It needed, then, all
+his reverence and fear of Mrs. Kennyfeck to sustain the shock to his
+feelings, as he saw her seat herself in his office-chair, and look
+around with the air of command that he alone used to exhibit in these
+regions.
+
+"Now for this same map, Mr. Kennyfeck, and let us bear the question for
+which this Privy Council has been convened."
+
+"This is the map," said Mr. Kennyfeck, unfolding a large scroll, "and
+I believe a single glance will enable Mr. Cashel to perceive that some
+little deliberation would be advisable before continuing in possession
+a tenant whose holding completely destroys the best feature of the
+demesne. This red line here is your boundary towards the Limerick road;
+here, stands the house, which, from the first, was a great mistake. It
+is built in a hollow without a particle of view; whereas, had it
+been placed here, where this cross is marked, the prospect would
+have extended over the whole of Scariff Bay, and by the west, down to
+Killaloe."
+
+"Well, what's to prevent our building it there yet?" interrupted Cashel.
+"I think it would be rare fun building a house,--at least if I may
+judge from all the amusement I've had in constructing one of leaves and
+buffalo-hides, in the prairies."
+
+Mrs. Kennyfeck and her eldest daughter smiled their blandest
+approbation, while Olivia murmured in her sister's ear, "Oh, dear, he is
+so very natural, isn't he?"
+
+"That will be a point for ulterior consideration," said Mr. Kennyfeck,
+who saw the danger of at all wandering from the topic in hand. "Give me
+your attention now for one moment, Mr. Cashel. Another inconvenience
+in the situation of the present house is, that it stands scarcely a
+thousand yards from this red-and-yellow line here."
+
+"Well, what is that?" inquired Cashel, who already began to feel
+interested in the localities.
+
+"This--and pray observe it well, sir--this red-and-yellow line,
+enclosing a tract which borders on the Shannon, and runs, as you may
+remark, into the very heart of the demesne, this is Tubberbeg, the
+farm in question,--not only encroaching upon your limits, but actually
+cutting you off from the river,--at least, your access is limited to a
+very circuitous road, and which opens upon a very shallow part of the
+stream."
+
+"And who or what is this tenant?" asked Cashel.
+
+"His name is Corrigan, a gentleman by birth, but of a very limited
+fortune; he is now an old man, upwards of seventy, I understand."
+
+"And how came it that he ever obtained possession of a tract so
+circumstanced, marring, as you most justly observe, the whole character
+of the demesne?"
+
+"That would be a long story, sir; enough, if I mention that his
+ancestors were the ancient owners of the entire estate, which was lost
+by an act of confiscation in the year forty-five. Some extenuating
+circumstances, however, induced the Government to confer upon a younger
+branch of the family a lease of this small tract called Tubberbeg, to
+distinguish it from Tubbermore, the larger portion; and this lease it is
+whose expiration, in a few years, induces the present query."
+
+"Has Mr. Corrigan children?"
+
+"No; his only child, a daughter, is dead, but a granddaughter lives now
+with the old man."
+
+"Then what is it he asks? Is it a renewal of the lease, on the former
+terms?"
+
+"Why, not precisely. I believe he would be willing to-pay more."
+
+"That's not what I mean," replied Cashel, reddening; "I ask, what terms
+as to time, he seeks for. Would it content him to have the land for his
+own life?"
+
+"Mr. Kennyfeck, you are really very culpable to leave Mr. Cashel to the
+decision of matters of this kind,--matters in which his kindliness of
+heart and inexperience will always betray him into a forgetfulness of
+his own interest. What has Mr. Cashel to think about this old creature's
+ancestors, who were rebels, it appears, or his daughter, or his
+granddaughter? Here is a simple question of a farm, which actually makes
+the demesne worthless, and which, by a singular piece of good fortune,
+is in Mr. Cashel's power to secure."
+
+"This is a very correct view, doubtless," said her meek husband,
+submissively, "but we should also remember--"
+
+"We have nothing to remember," interrupted Mrs. Kenny-feck, stoutly;
+"nothing, save his interests, who, as I have observed, is of too
+generous a nature to be trusted with such matters."
+
+"Is there no other farm,--have we nothing on the property he 'd like as
+well as this?" asked Cashel.
+
+"I fear not. The attachment to a place inhabited for centuries by his
+ancestry--"
+
+"By his fiddlestick!" struck in Mrs. Kennyfeck; "two and sixpence an
+acre difference would be all the necessary compensation. Mr. Kennyfeck,
+how can you trifle in this manner, when you know how it will injure the
+demesne!"
+
+"Oh, ruin it utterly!" exclaimed Miss Kennyfeck.
+
+"It completely cuts off the beautiful river and those dear islands,"
+said Olivia.
+
+"So it does," said Cashel, musing.
+
+"I wonder are they wooded? I declare I believe they are. Papa, are these
+little scrubby things meant to represent trees?"
+
+"Oaks and chestnut-trees," responded Mr. Kennyfeck, gravely.
+
+"Oh, how I should love a cottage on that island,--a real Swiss cottage,
+with its carved galleries and deep-eaved roof. Who owns these delicious
+islands?"
+
+"Mr. Cashel, my dear," said papa, still bent on examining the map.
+
+"Do I, indeed!" cried Roland, in an ecstasy. "Then you shall have your
+wish, Miss Kenny feck. I promise you the prettiest Swiss cottage that
+your own taste can devise."
+
+"Oh, dear, oh, pray forgive me!"
+
+"Oh, Mr. Roland Cashel, don't think of such a thing! Olivia was merely
+speaking at random. How silly, child, you are to talk that way!"
+
+"Really, mamma, I had not the slightest suspicion--I would n't for the
+world have said anything if I thought--"
+
+"Of course not, dear; but pray be guarded. Indeed, I own I never did
+hear you make a lapse of the kind before. But you see, Mr. Cashel, you
+have really made us forget that we were strangers but yesterday, and you
+are paying the penalty of your own exceeding kindness. Forget, then, I
+beseech you, this first transgression."
+
+"I shall assuredly keep my promise, madam," said Cashel, proudly; "and I
+have only to hope Miss Kennyfeck will not offend me by declining so very
+humble a present. Now, sir, for our worthy friend Mr. Corrigan."
+
+"Too fast, a great deal to fast, love," whispered the elder sister in
+the ear of the younger, and who, to the credit of her tact and ingenuity
+be it spoken, only gave the most heavenly smile in reply.
+
+"I really am puzzled, sir, what advice to give," said the attorney,
+musing.
+
+"I have no difficulties of this sentimental kind," said Mrs. Kennyfeck,
+with a glance of profound depreciation towards her husband; "and I beg
+Mr. Cashel to remember that the opportunity now offered will possibly
+never occur again. If the old man is to retain his farm, of course
+Mr. Cashel would not think of building a new mansion, which must be
+ill-circumstanced; from what I can hear of the present house, it is
+equally certain that he would not reside in that."
+
+"Is it so very bad?" asked Cashel, smiling.
+
+"It was ill-planned originally, added to in, if possible, worse taste,
+and then suffered to fall into ruin. It is now something more than
+eighty years since it saw any other inhabitant than a caretaker."
+
+"Well, the picture is certainly not seductive. I rather opine that the
+best thing we can do is to throw this old rumbling concern down, at all
+events; and now once more,--what shall we do with Mr. Corrigan?"
+
+"I should advise you not giving any reply before you visit the property
+yourself. All business matters will be completed here, I trust, by
+Saturday. What, then, if we go over on Monday to Tubbermore?"
+
+"Agreed. I have a kind of anxiety to look at the place,--indeed, a mere
+glance would decide me if I ever care to return to it again."
+
+"Then, I perceive, our counsel is of no avail here," said Mrs.
+Kennyfeck, rising, with a very ill-concealed chagrin.
+
+"Nay, madam, don't say so. You never got so far as to give it," cried
+Cashel.
+
+"Oh, yes, you forget that I said it would be absurd to hesitate about
+resuming possession."
+
+"Unquestionably," echoed Miss Kennyfeck. "It is merely to indulge an old
+man's caprice at the cost of your own comfort and convenience."
+
+"But he may cling to the spot, sister dear," said Olivia, in an accent
+only loud enough to be audible by Cashel.
+
+"You are right," said Roland, in her ear, with a look that spoke his
+approval far more eloquently.
+
+Although Miss Kennyfeck had heard nothing that passed, her quickness
+detected the looks of intelligence that were so speedily interchanged,
+and as she left the room she took occasion to whisper, "Do take advice,
+dear; there is no keeping up a pace like that."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. AN EXCITING ADVENTURE
+
+     "Bravo, Toro."
+
+
+As it chanced that many of Mr. Kennyfeck's clients were Western
+gentlemen, whose tastes have an unequivocal tendency to all matters
+relating to horse-flesh, his stable was not less choicely furnished
+than his cellar; for, besides being always able to command the shrewdest
+judgments when he decided to make a purchase, many an outstanding
+balance of long duration, many a debt significantly pencilled "doubtful"
+or "bad," in his note-book, was cleared off by some tall, sinewy
+steeplechaser from Galway, or some redoubted performer with the
+"Blazers."
+
+So well known was this fact that several needed no other standard of a
+neighbor's circumstances, than whether he had contributed or not to the
+Kennyfeck stud. This brief explanation we have been induced to make, to
+account for the sporting character of a stable whose proprietor never
+was once seen in the saddle. Far otherwise the ladies of the house; the
+mother and daughters, but in particular the elder, rode with all the
+native grace of Galway; and as they were invariably well mounted, and
+their grooms the smartest and best appointed, their "turn-out" was the
+admiration of the capital.
+
+It was in vain that the English officials at the Castle, whose
+superlative tastes were wont to overshadow mere Irish pretension,
+endeavored to compete with these noted equestrians. Secretaries' wives
+and chamberlains' daughters, however they might domineer in other
+matters, were here, at least, surpassed, and it was a conceded fact,
+that the Kennyfecks rode better, dressed better, and looked better on
+horseback than any other girls in the country. If all the critics as to
+horsemanship pronounced the elder unequivocally the superior rider,
+mere admirers of gracefulness preferred the younger sister, who,
+less courageous and self-possessed, invested her skill with a certain
+character of timidity that increased the interest her appearance
+excited.
+
+They never rode out without an immense _cortčge_ of followers, every
+well-looking and well-mounted man about town deeming it his _devoir_ to
+join this party, just as the box of the reigning belle at the opera is
+besieged by assiduous visitors The very being seen in this train was
+a kind of brevet promotion in fashionable esteem, to which each
+newly-arrived cornet aspired, and thus the party usually presented
+a group of brilliant uniforms and dancing plumes that rivalled in
+brilliancy, and far excelled in amusement, the staff of the viceroy
+himself.
+
+It would be uufair to suppose that, with all their natural innocence
+and artlessness, they were entirely ignorant of the sway they thus
+exercised; indeed, such a degree of modesty would have trenched upon the
+incredulous, for how could they doubt what commanders of the forces
+and deputy-assistant-adjutants assured them, still less question the
+veracity of a prince royal, who positively asserted that they "rode
+better than Quentin's daughter"?
+
+It was thus a source of no small excitement among the mounted loungers
+of the capital, when the Kennyfecks issued forth on horseback, and not,
+as usual, making the tour of the "Square" to collect their forces, they
+rode at once down Grafton Street, accompanied by a single cavalier.
+
+"Who have the Kennyfeck girls got with them?" said a
+thin-waisted-looking aide-de-camp to a lanky, well-whiskered fellow in a
+dragoon undress, at the Castle gate.
+
+"He is new to me--never saw him before. I say, Lucas, who is that tall
+fellow on Kennyfeck's brown horse--do you know him?"
+
+"Don't know--can't say," drawled out a very diminutive hussar cornet.
+
+"He has a look of Merrington," said another, joining the party.
+
+"Not a bit of it; he's much larger. I should n't wonder if he's one of
+the Esterhazys they've caught. There is one of them over here--a Paul or
+a Nicholas, of the younger branch;--but here 's Linton, he 'll tell us,
+if any man can."
+
+This speech was addressed to a very dapper, well-dressed man of about
+thirty, mounted on a small thoroughbred pony, whose splashed and heaving
+flanks bespoke a hasty ride.
+
+"I say, Tom, you met the Kennyfecks,--who was that with them?"
+
+"Don't you know him, my Lord?" said a sharp, ringing voice; "that's our
+newly-arrived millionnaire,--Roland Cashel, our Tipperary Croesus,--the
+man with I won't say how many hundred thousands a year, and millions in
+bank besides."
+
+"The devil it is--a good-looking fellow, too."
+
+"Spooney, I should say," drawled out the hussar, caressing his
+moustache.
+
+"One need n't be as smart a fellow as you, Wheeler, with forty thousand
+a year," said Linton, with a sly glance at the others.
+
+"You don't suppose, Tom," said the former speaker, "that the Kennyfecks
+have any designs in that quarter,--egad! that would be rather aspiring,
+eh?"
+
+"Very unwise in us to permit it, my Lord," said Linton, in a low tone.
+"That's a dish will bear carving, and let every one have his share."
+
+My Lord laughed with a low cunning laugh at the suggestion, and nodded
+an easy assent.
+
+Meanwhile the Kennyfecks rode slowly on, and crossing Essex Bridge
+continued their way at a foot pace towards the park, passing in front of
+the Four Courts, where a very large knot of idlers uncovered their heads
+in polite salutation as they went.
+
+"That's Kennyfeck's newly-discovered client," cried one; "a great card,
+if they can only secure him for one of the girls."
+
+"I say, did you remark how the eldest had him engaged? She never noticed
+any of us."
+
+"I back Olivia," said another; "she's a quiet one, but devilish sly for
+all that."
+
+"Depend upon it," interposed an older speaker, "the fellow is up to all
+that sort of thing."
+
+"Jones met him at dinner yesterday at Kennyfeck's, and says he is a
+regular soft one, and if the girls don't run an opposition to each
+other, one is sure to win."
+
+"Why not toss up for him, then? that would be fairer."
+
+"Ay, and more sisterly, too," said the elder speaker. "Jones would be
+right glad to claim the beaten horse."
+
+"Jones, indeed,--I can tell you they detest Jones," said a young fellow.
+
+"They told you so, eh, Hammond?" said another; while a very hearty laugh
+at the discomfited youth broke from the remainder.
+
+And now to follow our mounted friends, who, having reached the park,
+continued still at a walking pace to thread the greasy paths that
+led through that pleasant tract; now hid amid the shade of ancient
+thorn-trees, now gaining the open expanse of plain with its bold
+background of blue mountains.
+
+From the evident attention bestowed by the two sisters, it was clear
+that Cashel was narrating something of interest, for he spoke of an
+event which had happened to himself in his prairie life; and this alone,
+independent of all else, was enough to make the theme amusing.
+
+"Does this convey any idea of a prairie, Mr. Cashel?" said Miss
+Kennyfeck, as they emerged from a grove of beech-trees, and came upon
+the wide and stretching plain, so well known to Dubliners as the Fifteen
+Acres, but which is, in reality, much greater in extent. "I have always
+fancied this great grassy expanse must be like a prairie."
+
+"About as like as yonder cattle to a herd of wild buffaloes," replied
+Roland, smiling.
+
+"Then what is a prairie like? Do tell us," said Olivia, eagerly.
+
+"I can scarcely do so, nor, if I were a painter, do I suppose that I
+could make a picture of one, because it is less the presence than the
+total absence of all features of landscape that constitutes the wild
+and lonely solitude of a prairie. But fancy a great plain--gently--very
+gently undulating,--not a tree, not a shrub, not a stream to break the
+dreary uniformity; sometimes, but even that rarely, a little muddy pond
+of rain-water, stagnant and yellow, is met with, but only seen soon
+after heavy showers, for the hot sun rapidly absorbs it. The only
+vegetation a short yellowed burnt-up grass,--not a wild flower or a
+daisy, if you travelled hundreds of hundreds of miles. On you go, days
+and days, but the scene never changes. Large cloud shadows rest upon
+the barren expanse, and move slowly and sluggishly away, or sometimes a
+sharp and pelting shower is borne along, traversing hundreds of miles
+in its course; but these are the only traits of motion in the death-like
+stillness. At last, perhaps after weeks of wandering, you descry, a long
+way off, some dark objects dotting the surface,--these are buffaloes; or
+at sunset, when the thin atmosphere makes everything sharp and distinct,
+some black spectral shapes seem to glide between you and the red
+twilight,--these are Indian hunters, seen miles off, and by some strange
+law of nature they are presented to the vision when far, far beyond the
+range of sight. Such strange apparitions, the consequence of refraction,
+have led to the most absurd superstitions; and all the stories the
+Germans tell you of their wild huntsmen are nothing to the tales every
+trapper can recount of war parties seen in the air, and tribes of red
+men in pursuit of deer and buffaloes, through the clear sky of an autumn
+evening."
+
+"And have you yourself met with these wild children of the desert?" said
+Olivia; "have you ever been amongst them?"
+
+"Somewhat longer than I fancied," replied Roland, smiling. "I was a
+prisoner once with the Camanches."
+
+"Oh, let us hear all about it,--how did it happen?" cried both together.
+
+"It happened absurdly enough, at least you will say so, when I tell you;
+but to a prairie-hunter the adventure would seem nothing singular. It
+chanced that some years ago I made one of a hunting-party into the Rocky
+Mountains, and finally as far as Pueblo Santo, the last station before
+entering the hunting-grounds of the Camanches, a very fierce tribe,
+and one with whom all the American traders have failed to establish
+any relations of friendship or commerce. They care nothing for the
+inventions of civilization, and, unlike all other Indians, prefer their
+own bows and arrows to firearms.
+
+"We had been now four days within their boundary, and yet never met
+one of the tribe. Some averred that they always learned by the scouts
+whenever any invasion took place, and retired till they were in
+sufficient force to pour down and crush the intruders. Others, who
+proved better informed, said that they were hunting in a remote tract,
+several days' journey distant. We were doubly disappointed, for besides
+not seeing the Camanches, for which we had a great curiosity, we did not
+discover any game. The two or three trails we followed led to nothing,
+nor could a hoof-track be seen for miles and miles of prairie. In this
+state of discomfiture, we were sitting one evening around our fires, and
+debating with ourselves whether to turn back or go on, when, the dispute
+waxing warm between those of different opinions, I, who hated all
+disagreements of the kind, slipped quietly away, and throwing the bridle
+on my horse, I set out for a solitary ramble over the prairie.
+
+"I have the whole scene before me this instant,--the solemn desolation
+of that dreary track; for scarcely had I gone a mile over what seemed a
+perfectly level plain, when the swelling inequalities of the ground shut
+out the watch-fires of my companions, and now there was nothing to be
+seen but the vast expanse of land and sky, each colored with the same
+dull leaden tint of coming night; no horizon was visible, not a star
+appeared, and in the midst of this gray monotony, a stillness prevailed
+that smote the heart with something more appalling than mere fear. No
+storm that ever I listened to at sea, not the loudest thunder that ever
+crashed, or the heaviest sea that ever broke upon a leeward shore at
+midnight, ever chilled my blood like that terrible stillness. I thought
+that the dreadful roll of an avalanche or the heaving ground-swell of
+an earthquake had been easier to bear. I believe I actually prayed for
+something like sound to relieve the horrible tension of my nerves, when,
+just as if my wish was heard, a low booming sound, like the sea within a
+rocky cavern, came borne along on the night wind. Then it lulled again,
+and after a time grew louder. This happened two or three times, so
+that, half suspecting some self-delusion, I stopped my ears, and then on
+removing my hands, I heard the noise increasing till it swelled into one
+dull roaring sound, that made the very air vibrate. I thought it must
+be an earthquake, of which it is said many occur in these regions, but,
+from the dreary uniformity, leave no trace behind.
+
+"I resolved to regain my companions at once; danger is always easier
+to confront in company, and so I turned my horse's head to go back. The
+noise was now deafening, and so stunning that the very ground seemed to
+give it forth. My poor horse became terrified, his flanks heaved, and he
+labored in his stride as if overcome by fatigue. This again induced me
+to suspect an earthquake, for I knew by what singular instincts animals
+are apprised of its approach. I therefore gave him the spur, and urged
+him on with every effort, when suddenly he made a tremendous bound
+to one side, and set off with the speed of a racer. Stretched to his
+fullest stride, I was perfectly powerless to restrain him; meanwhile,
+the loud thundering sounds filled the entire air,--more deafening than
+the greatest artillery; the crashing uproar smote my ears, and made my
+brain ring with the vibration, and then suddenly the whole plain grew
+dark behind and at either side of me, the shadow swept on and on, nearer
+and nearer, as the sounds increased, till the black surface seemed, as
+it were, about to close around me; and now I perceived that the great
+prairie, far as my eyes could stretch, was covered by a herd of wild
+buffaloes; struck by some sudden terror, they had taken what is called
+'the Stampedo,' and set out at full speed. In an instant they
+were around me on every side,--a great moving sea of dark-backed
+monsters,--roaring in terrible uproar, and tossing their savage heads
+wildly to and fro, in all the paroxysm of terror. To return, or even to
+extricate myself, was impossible; the dense mass pressed like a wall
+at either side of me, and I was borne along in the midst of the heaving
+herd, without the slightest hope of rescue. I cannot--you would not ask
+me, if even I could--recall the terrors of that dreadful night, which in
+its dark hours compassed the agonies of years. Until the moon got up,
+I hoped that the herd might pass on, and at last leave me at liberty
+behind; but when she rose, and I looked back, I saw the dark sea of
+hides, as if covering the whole wide prairie, while the deep thunder
+from afar mingled with the louder bellowing of the herd around me.
+
+"I suppose my reeling brain became maddened by the excitement; for even
+yet, when by any accident I suffer slight illness, terrible fancies of
+that dreadful scene come back; and I have been told that, in my wild
+cries and shouts, I seem encouraging and urging on the infuriate herd,
+and by my gestures appearing to control and direct their headlong
+course. Had it been possible, I believe I should have thrown myself to
+the earth and sought death at once, even in this dreadful form, than
+live to die the thousand deaths of agony that night inflicted; but this
+could not be, and so, as day broke, I was still carried on, not, indeed,
+with the same speed as before; weariness weighed on the vast moving
+mass, but the pressure of those behind still drove them onward. I
+thought the long hours of darkness were terrible; and the appalling
+gloom of night added tortures to my sufferings; but the glare of
+daylight, the burning sun, and the clouds of dust were still worse. I
+remember, too, when exhaustion had nearly spent my last frail energy,
+and when my powerless hands, letting fall the bridle, dropped heavily to
+my side, that the herd suddenly halted,--halted, as if arrested by some
+gigantic hand; and then the pressure became so dreadful that my bones
+seemed almost bursting from my flesh, and I screamed aloud in my agony.
+After this, I remember little else. The other events of that terrible
+ride are like the shadowy spectres of a magic lantern; vague memories
+of sufferings, pangs that even yet chill my blood, steal over me, but
+unconnected and incoherent, so that when, as I afterwards heard, the
+herd dashed into the Camanche encampment, I have no recollection of
+anything, except the terror-struck faces of the red men, as they bent
+before me, and seemed to worship me as a deity. Yes, this terrible
+tribe, who had scarcely ever been known to spare a white man, not
+only did not injure, but they treated me with the tenderest care and
+attention. A singular incident had favored me. One of the wise men had
+foretold some days before that a herd of wild buffaloes, sent by their
+god, Anadongu, would speedily appear, and rescue the tribe from the
+horrors of impending starvation. The prediction was possibly based upon
+some optical delusion, like that I have mentioned. Whatever its origin,
+the accomplishment was hailed with ecstasy; and I myself, a poor, almost
+dying creature, stained with blood, crushed and speechless, was regarded
+as their deliverer and preserver."
+
+"How long did you remain amongst them?" cried Miss Kennyfeck.
+
+"And how did you escape?" asked Olivia.
+
+"Were they always equally kind?"
+
+"Were you sorry to leave them?" were the questions rapidly poured in ere
+Cashel could reply to any one of them.
+
+"I have often heard," said Miss Kennyfeck, "that the greater mental
+ability of the white man is certain to secure him an ascendancy over the
+minds of savage tribes, and that, if he be spared at first, he is sure
+in the end to become their chief."
+
+"I believe they actually worship any display of intelligence above their
+own," said Olivia.
+
+"These are exaggerated accounts," said Cashel, smiling. "Marriage is,
+among savage as among civilized nations, a great stepping-stone to
+eminence. When a white man is allied with a princess--"
+
+"Oh, how shocking!" cried both together. "I'm sure no person, anything
+akin to a gentleman, could dream of such a thing," said Miss Kennyfeck.
+
+"It happens now and then, notwithstanding," said Cashel, with a most
+provoking gravity.
+
+While the sisters would have been well pleased had Cashel's personal
+revelations continued on this theme, they did not venture to explore so
+dangerous a path, and were both silent. Roland, too, appeared buried
+in some recollection of the past, for he rode on for some time without
+speaking,--a preoccupation on his part which seemed in no wise agreeable
+to his fair companions.
+
+"There are the MacFarlines, Livy," said Miss Kennyfeck; "and Linton, and
+Lord Charles, and the rest of them. I declare, I believe they see us,
+and are coming this way."
+
+"What a bore! Is there no means of escape? Mr. Cashel, pray invent one."
+
+"I beg pardon. What was it you said? I have been dreaming for the last
+three minutes."
+
+"Pleasant dreams I 'm certain they were," said Miss Kennyfeck, with a
+very significant smile; "evoked, doubtless, by some little memory of
+your life among the Cainanches."
+
+Cashel started and grew red, while his astonishment rendered him
+speechless.
+
+"Here they come; how provoking!" exclaimed Livy.
+
+"Who are coming?"
+
+"Some friends of ours, who, strange to say, have the misfortune to
+be peculiarly disagreeable to my sister Livy to-day, although I
+have certainly seen Lord Charles contrive to make his company less
+distasteful at other times."
+
+"Oh, my dear Caroline, you know perfectly well--" broke in Olivia, with
+a tone of unfeigned reproach.
+
+"Let us ride for it, then," said Miss Kepnyfeck, without permitting her
+to finish. "Now, Mr. Cashel, a canter,--a gallop, if you will."
+
+"Quite ready," said Cashel, his animation at once returning at the bare
+mention; and away they set, down a gentle slope with wooded sides, then
+they gained another grassy plain, skirted with trees, at the end of
+which a small picturesque cottage stood, the residence of a ranger;
+passing this, they arrived at a thick wood, and then slackened their
+pace, as all pursuit might be deemed fruitless. This portion of
+the park, unlike the rest, seemed devoted to various experiments in
+agriculture and gardening. Here were little enclosed plots of Indian
+corn and Swedish turnips; here, small plantations of fruit trees. Each
+succeeding secretary seemed to have left behind him some trace of his
+own favorite system for the improvement of Ireland, and one might recall
+the names of long-departed officials in little experimental specimens of
+drainage, or fencing, or drill culture around. Less interested by these
+patchwork devices, Cashel stood gazing on a beautiful white bull, who
+grazed in a little paddock carefully fenced by a strong oak paling.
+Although of a small breed, he was a perfect specimen of strength and
+proportion, his massive and muscular neck and powerful loins contrasting
+with the lanky and tendinous form of the wild animal of the prairies.
+
+The girls had not remarked that Roland, beckoning to his servant,
+despatched him at full speed on an errand, for each was loitering about,
+amusing herself with some object of the scene.
+
+"What has fascinated you yonder?" said Miss Kennyfeck, riding up to
+where Roland still stood in wondering admiration at the noble animal.
+
+"The handsomest bull I ever saw!" cried he, in all the ecstasy of a
+'Torero;' "who ever beheld such a magnificent fellow? Mark the breadth
+of his chest, and the immense fore-arm. See how he lashes his tail
+about. No need of bandilleros to rouse your temper.".
+
+"Is there no danger of the creature springing over the paling?" said
+Olivia, drawing closer to Cashel, and looking at him with a most
+trustful dependence.
+
+Alas for Roland's gallantry, he answered the words and not the glance
+that accompanied them.
+
+"No; he'd never think of it, if not excited to some excess of passion.
+I 'd not answer for his patience, or our safety either, if really
+provoked. See! is not that glorious?" This burst of enthusiasm was
+called forth by the bull, seized with some sudden caprice, taking a
+circuit of the paddock at full speed, his head now raised majestically
+aloft, and now bent to the ground; he snatched some tufts of the grass
+as he went, and flung them from him in wild sport.
+
+"Bravo, toro!" cried Cashel, in all the excitement of delight and
+admiration. "Viva el toro!" shouted he. "Not a 'Corrida' of the Old
+World or the New ever saw a braver beast."
+
+Whether in compliance with his humor, or that she really caught up the
+enthusiasm from Cashel, Miss Kennyfeck joined in all his admiration, and
+seemed to watch the playful pranks of the great animal with delight.
+
+"How you would enjoy a real 'toro machia!'" said Cashel, as he turned
+towards her, and felt that she was far handsomer than he had ever
+believed before. Indeed, the heightened color of exercise, and the
+flashing brilliancy of her eyes, made her seem so without the additional
+charm derived from sympathy with his humor.
+
+"I should delight in it," cried she, with enthusiasm. "Oh, if I could
+but see one!"
+
+Cashel drew nearer as she spoke, his dark and piercing eyes fixed with a
+look of steadfast admiration, when in a low half-whisper he said, "Would
+you really like it? Have these wild and desperate games an attraction
+for you?"
+
+"Oh, do not ask me," said she, in the same low voice. "Why should I
+confess a wish for that which never can be."
+
+"How can you say that? Have not far greater and less likely things
+happened to almost all of us? Think of me, for instance. Travelling with
+the Gambusinos a few months back, and now--now _your_ companion here."
+
+If there was not a great deal in the mere words themselves, there was
+enough in the look of the speaker to make them deeply felt. How
+much further Cashel might have adventured, and with what additional
+speculations invested the future, is not for us to say; for just then
+his groom rode up at speed, holding in his hands a great coil of rope,
+to one end of which a small round ball of wood was fastened.
+
+"What is that for, Mr. Cashel?" inquired both the girls together, as
+they saw him adjust the coils lightly on his left arm, and poise the
+ball in his right hand.
+
+"Cannot you guess what it means?" said Roland, smiling. "Have you never
+heard of a lasso?"
+
+"A lasso!" exclaimed both in amazement "You surely could never intend--"
+
+"You shall see," cried he, as he made three or four casts with the rope
+in the air, and caught up the loops again with astonishing dexterity.
+"Now only promise me not to be afraid, nor, if possible, let a cry
+escape, and I'll show you some rare sport Just take your places here;
+the horses will stand perfectly quiet." Without waiting for a reply,
+he ordered the grooms to remain at either side of the young ladies, and
+then dismounting, he forced open the lock and led his horse into the
+paddock. This done, he leisurely closed the gate and mounted, every
+motion being as free from haste and excitement as if made upon the
+high-road. As for the bull, at the noise of the gate on its hinges, he
+lifted up his head; but as it were indifferent to the cause, he resumed
+his grazing attitude the moment after.
+
+Cashel's first care seemed to be to reconnoitre the ground; for at
+a slow walk he traversed the space in various directions, carefully
+examining the footing and watching for any accidental circumstance
+that might vary the surface. He then rode up to the paling, where in
+unfeigned terror the two girls sat, silently following him in every
+motion.
+
+"Now, remember," said he, smiling, "no fears, no terrors. If you were to
+make me nervous, I should probably miss my cast, and the disgrace, not
+to speak of anything else, would be dreadful."
+
+"Oh, we 'll behave very well," said Miss Kennyfeck, trying to assume a
+composure that her pale cheek and compressed lips very ill corroborated.
+As for Olivia, too terrified for words, she merely looked at him, while
+the tears rolled heavily down her cheeks.
+
+"Now, to see if my hand has not forgot its cunning!" said Roland, as
+he pressed his horse's flanks, and, pushing into a half-gallop, made
+a circuit around the bull. The scene was a picturesque as well as
+an exciting one. The mettlesome horse, on which the rider sat with
+consummate ease; in his right hand the loose coils of the lasso, with
+which to accustom his horse he flourished and shook around the head
+and ears of the animal as he went; while, with head bent down, and
+the strong neck slightly retracted, the bull seemed to watch him as he
+passed, and at length, slowly turning, continued to fix his eyes
+upon the daring intruder. Gradually narrowing his circle, Cashel was
+cautiously approaching within a suitable distance for the cast, when the
+bull, as it were losing patience, gave one short hoarse cry and made at
+him, so sudden the spring, and so infuriate the action, that a scream
+from both the sisters together showed how near the danger must have
+appeared. Roland, however, had foreseen from the attitude of the beast
+what was coming, and by a rapid wheel escaped the charge, and passed
+close beside the creature's flank, unharmed. Twice or thrice the same
+manouvre occurred with the same result; and although the horse was
+terrified to that degree that his sides were one sheet of foam, the
+control of the rider was perfect, and his every gesture bespoke ease and
+confidence.
+
+Suddenly the bull stopped, and retiring till his haunches-touched the
+paling, he seemed surveying the field, and contemplating another
+and more successful mode of attack. The concentrated passion of the
+creature's attitude at this moment was very fine, as with red eyeballs
+and frothed lips he stood, slowly and in heavy strokes lashing his
+flanks with his long tail.
+
+"Is he tired?" said Miss Kennyfeck, as Cashel stood close to the paling,
+and breathed his horse, for what he foresaw might be a sharp encounter.
+
+"No! far from it," answered Roland; "the fellow has the cunning of an
+old 'Corridor;' you 'll soon see him attack."
+
+The words were not well uttered, when, with a low deep roar, the bull
+bounded forward, not in a straight line, however, but zigzagging from
+left to right, and right to left, as if with the intention of pinning
+the horseman into a corner. The terrific springs of the great beast, and
+his still more terrific cries, appeared to paralyze the horse, who
+stood; immovable, nor was it till the savage animal had approached
+within a few yards of him, that at last he reared up straight, and then,
+as if overcome by terror, dashed off at speed, the bull following.
+
+The scene was now one of almost maddening excitement; for, although the
+speed of the horse far exceeded that of his pursuer, the bull, by
+taking a small circle, was rapidly gaining on him, and, before the third
+circuit of the field was made, was actually almost side by side. Roland
+saw all his danger; he knew well that the slightest swerve, a "single
+mistake," would be fatal; but he had been trained to peril, and this was
+not the first time he had played for life and won. It was then, just
+at the instant when the bull, narrowing his distance, was ready, by
+one bound, to drive his horns into the horse's flank, that the youth
+suddenly reined up, and throwing the horse nearly on his haunches,
+suffered his pursuer to shoot ahead. The same instant, at least so it
+seemed, he rose in his stirrups, and winding the rope three or four
+times above his head, hurled it forth. Away went the floating coils
+through the air, and with a sharp snap, they caught the animal's
+fore-legs in their fast embrace. Maddened by the restraint, he plunged
+forward, but ere he gained the ground, a dexterous pull of the lasso
+jerked the legs backwards, and the huge beast fell floundering to the
+earth. The stunning force seemed enough to have extinguished life, and
+he lay, indeed, motionless for a few seconds, when, by a mighty effort,
+he strove to burst his bonds. Roland, meanwhile, after a severe struggle
+to induce his horse to approach, abandoned the effort, sprang to the
+ground, and by three or four adroit turns of the lasso over the head and
+between the horns, completely fettered him, and at each fresh struggle
+passing new turns of the rope, he so bound him that the creature lay
+panting and powerless, his quivering sides and distended nostrils
+breathing the deep rage that possessed him.
+
+"Ah, Mosquito mio,"--the Toridor's usual pet name for a young
+bull,--"you were an easy victory after all, though I believe with a
+little more practice of the game I should only get off second best."
+
+There was, if we must confess it, a certain little bit of boastfulness
+in the speech, the truth being that the struggle, though brief, had
+been a sharp one, and so Cashel's air and look bespoke it, as he led his
+horse out of the paddock.
+
+It would be a somewhat nice point--happily, it is not requisite to
+decide it--whether Roland was more flattered by the enthusiastic praise
+of the elder sister, or touched by the silent but eloquent look with
+which Olivia received him.
+
+"What a splendid sight, what a noble achievement!" said Miss Kennyfeck.
+"How I thank you for thus giving me, as it were, a peep into Spain, and
+letting me feel the glorious enthusiasm a deed of heroism can inspire!"
+
+"Are you certain you are not hurt?" whispered Olivia; "the creature's
+horns certainly grazed you. Oh dear! how terrible it was at one moment!"
+
+"Are you going to leave him in his toils?" said Miss Kennyfeck.
+
+"Oh, certainly," replied Cashel, laughing; "I commit the pleasant office
+of liberating him to other hands." And so saying, he carelessly mounted
+his horse, while they pressed him with a hundred questions and inquiries
+about the late combat.
+
+"I shall be amused to hear the reports that will be current to-morrow,"
+said Miss Kennyfeck, "about this affair. I 'm certain the truth will
+be the last to ooze out. My groom says that the creature belongs to the
+Lord Lieutenant, and if so, there will be no end to the stories."
+
+Cashel did not seem as much impressed as the sisters expected at
+this announcement, nor at all aware that he had been constructively
+affronting the Vice-Majesty of the land, and so he chatted away in
+pleasant indifference while they continued their ride towards home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. THE COMING DINNER-PARTY DISCUSSED
+
+     How kindness all its spirit lends,
+     When we discuss our dearest friends,
+     Not meanly faults and follies hiding,
+     But frankly owning each backsliding,
+     Confessing with polite compassion,
+     "They 're very bad, but still the fashion."
+
+     The Mode.
+
+
+The Kennyfecks were without strangers that day, and Cashel, who was now,
+as it were by unanimous election, received into the bosom of the family,
+enjoyed for the first time in his life a peep into the science of
+dinner-giving, in the discussions occasioned by the approaching banquet.
+
+No sooner were they assembled around the drawing-room fire, than
+Mrs. Kennyfeck, whose whole soul was occupied by the one event, took
+occasion, as it were by pure accident, to remember that they "were
+to have some people to-morrow." Now, the easy _nonchalance_ of the
+reminiscence and the shortness of the invitation would seem to imply
+that it was merely one of those slight deviations from daily routine
+which adds two or three guests to the family table; and so, indeed, did
+it impress Cashel, who little knew that the dinner in question had been
+devised, planned, and arranged full three weeks before, and the
+company packed with a degree of care and selection that evinced all the
+importance of the event.
+
+Time was when the Irish capital enjoyed, and justly, the highest
+reputation for all that constitutes social success; when around
+the dinner-tables of the city were met men of the highest order of
+intelligence, men pleased to exercise, without effort or display, all
+the charm of wit and eloquence, and to make society a brilliant reunion
+of those gifts which, in the wider sphere of active life, won fame and
+honors.
+
+As the race of these bright conversers died out,--for, alas! they
+belonged to a past era,--their places were assumed by others of very
+dissimilar tastes. Many educated at English universities brought back
+with them to Ireland the more reserved and cautious demeanor of the
+other country, and thus, if not by their influence, by their mere
+presence, threw a degree of constraint over the tone of society, which,
+in destroying its freedom, despoiled it of all its charm.
+
+Fashion, that idol of an Englishman's heart, soon became an Irish deity
+too, and it now grew the "ton" to be English, or at least what was
+supposed to be such, in dress and manner, in hours, accent, and
+demeanor. The attempt was never successful; the reserve and placidity
+which sit with gracefulness on the high-bred Englishman, was a stiff,
+uncourteous manner in the more cordial and volatile Irishman. His own
+demeanor was a tree that would not bear grafting, and the fruit lost all
+its raciness by the admixture.
+
+The English officials at the Castle, the little staff of a commander of
+the forces, a newly-made bishop, fresh from Oxford, even the officers
+of the last arrived dragoon regiment, became, by right of "accent," the
+types of manner and breeding in circles where, in the actual enjoyment
+of social qualities, they were manifestly beneath those over whom they
+held sway; however, they were stamped at the metropolitan mint, and the
+competitors were deemed a mere depreciated currency which a few years
+more would cancel forever.
+
+Mrs. Kennyfeck, as a fashionable dinner-giver, of course selected her
+company from this more choice section; a fact which deserves to be
+recorded, to the credit of her hospitality; for it was a very rare
+occurrence indeed, when she found herself invited by any of those
+distinguished personages who figured the oftenest at her own table. They
+thought, perhaps justly, that their condescension was sufficiently great
+to demand no further acknowledgment; and that, as virtue is said to be
+its own reward, theirs was abundantly exhibited in the frankness with
+which they ate Kennyfeck's venison, and drank his Burgundy, both of
+which were excellent.
+
+Every one dined there, because they knew "they 'd meet every one." A
+pretender in the world of fashion, unlike a pretender to monarchy, is
+sure to have the best company in his _salon_; and so, although you might
+have met many at the tables of the first men of the country, who were
+there by virtue of their talents or abilities, at Kennyfeck's the
+company was sure to be "select." They could not afford dilution, lest
+they should find themselves at ease!
+
+"Olivia, pray take that newspaper from Mr. Kennyfeck, and let us hear
+who he has asked to dinner to-morrow," said Mrs. Kennyfeck, gracefully
+imitating an attitude of Lady Londonderry in the "Book of Beauty."
+
+Mr. Kennyfeck heard the request, and started; his surprise had not been
+greater if the Chancellor had addressed him as "Tom." It was the
+first time in his life that an allusion had ever been made to the bare
+possibility of his inviting the company of a grand dinner; a prerogative
+he had never so much as dreamed of, and now he actually heard his wife
+refer to him, as if he were even a party to the deed.
+
+"Invite! Mrs. Kennyfeck. I 'm sure I never thought--"
+
+"No matter what you thought," said his spouse, reddening at his
+stupidity. "I wanted to remember who are coming, that we may let Mr.
+Cashel learn something of our Dublin folk."
+
+"Here's a list, mamma," said Olivia; "and I believe there are no
+apologies. Shall I read it?"
+
+"Do so, child," said she, but evidently out of humor that the delightful
+little display of indifference and ignorance should not have succeeded
+better.
+
+"Sir Andrew and Lady Janet MacFarline, of course!" cried Miss Kennyfeck;
+"ain't they first?"
+
+"They are," replied her sister.
+
+"Sir Andrew, Mr. Cashel," said Mrs. Kennyfeck, "is a very distinguished
+officer,--a K.C.B., and something else besides. He was in all the
+Duke's battles in Spain; a most gallant officer, but a little rough in
+manner,--Scotch, you know. Lady Janet was sister to Lord--What is that
+lord, Caroline? I always forget."
+
+"Dumkeeran, mamma."
+
+"Yes, that's it She is a charming person, but very proud,--very proud,
+indeed; will not visit with the Dublin people. With us, I must say,
+I have never seen anything like her kindness; we are absolutely like
+sisters. Go on, Olivia."
+
+"Lord Charles Frobisher."
+
+"And the Honorable Elliot St. John," chimed in her sister; "Damon and
+Pythias, where a dinner is concerned." This was said in a whisper.
+
+"They are aides-de-camp to the Lord Lieutenant. Lord Charles is younger
+brother to the Duke of Derwent; quite a man of fashion, and so amusing.
+Oh, he 's delightful!"
+
+"Charming!" duetted the two sisters.
+
+"Mr. St. John is a very nice person too; but one never knows him like
+Lord Charles: he is more reserved. Olivia, however, says he has a great
+deal in him."
+
+"Oh, mamma! I 'm sure I don't know; I only thought him much more
+conversable than he gets credit for."
+
+"Well, I meant no more," said her mother, who did not fancy the
+gathering gloom on Cashel's face at this allusion; "read on again,
+child."
+
+"Lord Chief Justice Malone."
+
+"Oh, Mr. Kennyfeck," said she, playfully, "this is _your_ doing; I
+suspected, from your confusion awhile ago, what you were at." Then,
+turning to Roland, she said, "He is always playing us this trick, Mr.
+Cashel; whenever we have a few friends together, he will insist upon
+inviting some of his old bar cronies!"
+
+A deep groan from Mr. Kennyfeck at the terrible profanity of thus
+styling the chief of the Common Pleas, made every one start; but
+even this, like a skilful tactician, Mrs. Kennyfeck turned to her own
+advantage.
+
+"Pray don't sigh that way. He is a most excellent person, a great
+lawyer, and, they say, must eventually have the peerage." She nodded to
+Olivia to proceed, who read on.
+
+"The Attorney-General and Mrs. Knivett."
+
+"Oh, really, Mr. Kennyfeck, this is pushing prerogative; don't you
+think so, Mr. Cashel? Not but, you know, the Attorney-General is a great
+personage in this poor country; he is member for--where is it?"
+
+"Baldoyle, mamma."
+
+"Yes, member for Baldoyle; and she was a Miss Gamett, of Red Gamett, in
+Antrim; a most respectable connection; so I think we may forgive him.
+Yes, Mr. Kennyfeck, you are, at least, reprieved."
+
+"Here come the Whites, mamma. I suppose we may reckon on both, though
+she, as usual, sends her hopes and fears about being with us at dinner,
+but will be delighted to come in the evening."
+
+"That apology is stereotyped," broke in Miss Kennyfeck, "as well as the
+little simpering speech she makes on entering the drawing-room. 'So you
+see, my dear Mrs. Kennyfeck, there is no resisting you. Colonel
+White assured me that your pleasant dinners always set him up for a
+month,--he, he, he.'"
+
+If Cashel had not laughed heartily at the lisping imitation, it is
+possible Mrs. Kennyfeck might have been displeased; but as the quiz
+"took," she showed no umbrage whatever.
+
+"The Honorable Downie Meek, Under Secretary of State," read Olivia, with
+a little more of emphasis than on the last-mentioned names.
+
+"A person you'll be charmed with, Mr. Cashel,--so highly informed, so
+well bred, so perfectly habituated to move in the very highest circles,"
+said Mrs. Kennyfeck, giving herself, as she spoke, certain graces of
+gesture which she deemed illustrative of distinguished fashion.
+
+"A cucumber dressed in oil," whispered Miss Kennyfeck, who showed more
+than once a degree of impatience at these eulogistic descriptions.
+
+"The Dean of Dramcondera, your great favorite, mamma."
+
+"So he is, my dear. Now, Mr. Cashel, I shall insist upon you liking my
+Dean. I call him _my_ Dean, because one day last spring--"
+
+"Mrs. Biles wants to speak to you, ma'am, for a minute," said the butler
+from behind the chair; and although the interruption was anything
+but pleasant, yet the summons must be obeyed, for Mrs. Biles was the
+housekeeper, and any approach to treating her with indifference or
+contempt on the eve of a great dinner would be about as impolitic as
+insulting a general who was about to command in a great battle; so that
+Mrs. Kennyfeck rose to comply, not even venturing a word of complaint,
+lest the formidable functionary should hear of it, and take her revenge
+on the made dishes.
+
+"Now for the Dean. Is mamma out of hearing?" said Miss Kennyfeck, who
+rejoiced at the casual opportunity of a little portrait-painting in
+a different style. "Conceive a tall, pompous man, with large white
+features, and a high bald head with a conical top; a sharp, clear, but
+unpleasant voice, always uttering grave nonsense, or sublime absurdity.
+He was a brilliant light at Oxford, and came over to illumine our
+darkness, and if pedantry could only supply the deficiency in the potato
+crop, he would be a providence to the land. His affectation is to know
+everything, from chuck-farthing to conic sections, and so to diffuse his
+information as always to talk science to young ladies, and discuss the
+royal game of goose with Lords of the Treasury. His failures in these
+attempts at Admirable Crichtonism would abash even confidence great as
+his, but that he is surrounded by a little staff of admirers, who fend
+off the sneers of the audience, and, like buffers, break the rude shocks
+of worldly collision. Socially, he is the tyrant of this capital; for
+having learning enough to be more than a match for those he encounters,
+and skill enough to give his paradoxes a mock air of authority, he
+usurps a degree of dictation and rule that makes society mere slavery.
+You 'll meet him to-morrow evening, and you'll see if he does not know
+more of Mexico and Savannah life than you do. Take care, I say, that you
+venture not into the wilds of the Pampas; for you'll have his
+companionship, not as fellow-traveller, but as guide and instructor. As
+for myself, whenever I read in the papers of meetings to petition
+Parliament to repeal this or redress that, in the name of 'Justice to
+Ireland,' I ask, why does nobody pray for the recall of the Dean of
+Drumcondera?"
+
+"Here's mamma," whispered Olivia, as the drawing-room door opened.
+
+"We've done the Dean, mamma," said Miss Kennyfeck, with calm composure.
+
+"Well, don't you feel that you love him already? Mr. Cashel, confess
+that you participate in all my raptures. Oh dear! I do so admire talent
+and genius," exclaimed Mrs. Kennyfeck, theatrically.
+
+Cashel smiled, and muttered something unintelligible; and Olivia read
+on, but with a rapidity that showed the names required no special
+notice. "The Craufurds, the Smythes, Mrs. Felix Brown, Lady Emmeline
+Grove."
+
+"Oh, that dear Lady Emmeline! a most gifted creature; she 's the
+authoress of some sweet poems. She wrote that touching sonnet in the
+'Nobility's Gallery of Loveliness,' beginning, 'Twin Sister of the
+Evening Star.' I'm sure you know it."
+
+"I 'm unfortunate enough never to have seen it," said Cashel.
+
+"Well, you shall see the writer to-morrow evening; I must really take
+care that you are acquainted. People will tell you that she is affected,
+and takes airs of authorship; but remember her literary success,--think
+of her contributions to the 'Court Journal.'"
+
+"Those sweet flatteries of the nobility that Linton calls court-plaster,
+mamma," said Miss Kennyfeck, laughing maliciously.
+
+"Linton is very abusive," said her mother, tartly; "he never has a good
+word for any one."
+
+"He used to be a pet of yours, mamma," insinuated Olivia.
+
+"So he was till he became so intimate with those atrocious Fothergills."
+
+"Who is he?" said Cashel.
+
+"He's a son of Sir George Linton."
+
+"That's one story, mamma; but as nobody ever saw the aforesaid Sir
+George, the presumption is it may be incorrect. The last version is that
+he was found, like Moses, the discoverer being Lady Harriet Dropmore,
+who, with a humanity never to be forgotten,"--"or forgiven," whispered
+Olivia, "for she has been often taunted with it,"--"took care of the
+creature, and had it reared,--nay, better again, she sent it to Rugby
+and to Cambridge, got it into Parliament for Elmwood, and has now made
+it Master of the Horse in Ireland."
+
+"He is the most sarcastic person I ever met."
+
+"It is such an easy talent," said Miss Kennyfeck; "the worst of wine
+makes capital vinegar."
+
+"Then here follow a set of soldier people," said Olivia,--"hussars and
+Queen's Bays, and a Captain Tanker of the Royal Navy,--oh, I remember,
+he has but one arm,--and then the Pelertons and the Cuffes."
+
+"Well, are we at the end of our muster-roll?"
+
+"Yes, we have nearly reached the dregs of the cup. I see Mr. Knox
+Softly, and the Townleys!"
+
+"Oh, the Townleys! Poor Mrs. Townley, with her yellow turban and red
+feathers, that Lord Dunbrock mistook for a _vol-au-vent_ garnished with
+shrimps."
+
+"Caroline!" cried Mrs. Kennyfeck, reprovingly, for her daughter's
+sallies had more than once verged upon the exhaustion of her patience.
+
+"We shall not weary you with any description of the 'refreshers,' Mr.
+Cashel."
+
+"Pray who and what are they?" inquired Cashel.
+
+"The 'refreshers' are that amiable but undervalued class in society who
+are always asked for the evening when the other members of the family
+are invited to dine. They are the young lady and young gentleman
+class,--the household with ten daughters, and a governess that sings
+like, anything but, Persiani. They are briefless barristers, with
+smart whiskers; and young men reading for the Church, with moustaches;
+infantry officers, old maids, fellows of college, and the gentleman who
+tells Irish stories."
+
+"Caroline, I really must request--"
+
+"But, mamma, Mr. Cashel surely ought to learn the map of the country he
+is to live in."
+
+"I am delighted to acquire my geography so pleasantly," cried Cashel.
+"Pray go on."
+
+"I am bound over," said she, smiling; "mamma is looking penknives at me,
+so I suppose I must stop. But as to these same 'refreshers,' you will
+easily distinguish them from the dinner company. The young ladies are
+always fresher in their white muslin; they walk about in gangs, and eat
+a prodigious deal of bread-and-butter at tea. Well, I have done, mamma,
+though I 'm sure I was not aware of my transgressions."
+
+"I declare Mr. Kennyfeck is asleep again.--Mr. Kenny-feck, have the
+goodness to wake up and say who is to make the whist-table for Lady
+Blennerbore."
+
+"Yes, my Lord," said Mr. Kennyfeck, waking up and rubbing his eyes,
+"we'll take a verdict for the plaintiff, leaving the points reserved."
+
+A very general laugh here recalled him to himself, as with extreme
+confusion he continued, "I was so fatigued in the Rolls to-day. It was
+an argument relative to a trust, Mr. Cashel, which it is of great moment
+you should be relieved of."
+
+"Oh, never trouble your head about it now, sir," said Cashel,
+good-naturedly. "I am quite grieved at the weariness and fatigue my
+affairs are costing you."
+
+"I was asking about Lady Blennerbore's whist," interposed Mrs.
+Kennyfeck. "Who have you for her party besides the Chief Justice?"
+
+"Major M'Cartney says he can't afford it, mamma," said the eldest
+daughter, slyly. "She is so very lucky with the honors!"
+
+"Where is Thorpe?" cried Mrs. Kennyfeck, not deigning to notice this
+speech,--"he used to like his rubber."
+
+"He told me," said Miss Kennyfeck, "that he would n't play with her
+Ladyship any more; that one had some chance formerly, but that since she
+has had that touch of the palsy, she does what she likes with the Kings
+and Aces."
+
+"This is atrocious; never let me hear it again," said the mamma,
+indignantly; "at all events, old Mr. Moore Hacket will do."
+
+"Poor old man, he is so blind that he has to thumb the cards all over
+to try and know them by the feel, and then he always washes the King
+and Queen's faces with a snuffy handkerchief, so that the others are
+sneezing at every trick they play."
+
+"Caroline, you permit yourself to take the most improper freedoms; I
+desire that we may have no more of this."
+
+"I rather like old Mr. Hacket," said the incorrigible assailant; "he
+mistook Mr. Pottinger's bald and polished head for a silver salver, and
+laid his teacup on it, the last evening he was here."
+
+If Cashel could not help smiling at Miss Kennyfeck's sallies, he felt
+it was in rather a strange spirit of hospitality the approaching
+entertainment was given, since few of the guests were spared the most
+slighting sarcasms, and scarcely for any was there professed the least
+friendship or affection. He was, however, very new to "the world," and
+the strange understanding on which its daily intercourse, its social
+life of dinners, visits, and _déjeuners_ subsists, was perfectly unknown
+to him. He had much to learn; but as his nature was of an inquiring
+character, he was as equal as he was well inclined to its task. It was
+then, with less enjoyment of the scene for its absurdity, than actually
+as an occasion to acquire knowledge of people and modes of living
+hitherto unknown, he listened gravely to the present discussion, and sat
+with attentive ears to hear who was to take in Lady Janet, and whether
+Sir Archy should precede the Chief Justice or not; if a Dragoon Colonel
+should take the _pas_ of an Attorney-General, and whether it made the
+same difference in an individual's rank that it did in his comfort, that
+he was on the half-pay list When real rank is concerned, few things are
+easier than the arrangement of such details; the rules are simple, the
+exceptions few, if any; but in a society where the distinctions are
+inappreciable, where the designations are purely professional, an
+algebraic equation is simpler of solution than such difficulties.
+
+Then came a very animated debate as to the places at table, wherein lay
+the extreme difficulty of having every one away from the fire and nobody
+in a draught, except, of course, those little valued guests who really
+appeared to play the ignoble part of mortar in a great edifice, being
+merely the cohesive ingredient that averted friction between more
+important materials. Next came the oft-disputed question as to whether
+the champagne should be served with the _petits pâtés_, after the fish,
+or at a remote stage of the second course, the young ladies being
+eager advocates of the former, Mrs. Kennyfeck as firmly denouncing the
+practice as a new-fangled thing, that "the Dean" himself said he had
+never seen at Christchurch; but the really great debate arose on a still
+more knotty point, and one on which it appeared the family had brought
+in various bills, without ever discovering the real remedy. It was by
+what means--of course, moral force means--it were possible to induce old
+Lady Blennerbore to rise from table whenever Mrs. Kennyfeck had decreed
+that move to be necessary.
+
+It was really moving to listen to Mrs. Kennyfeck's narratives of signals
+unnoticed and signs unattended to; that even on the very last day her
+Ladyship had dined there, Mrs. Kennyfeck had done little else for three
+quarters of an hour than half stand and sit down again, to the misery of
+herself and the discomfort of her neighbors.
+
+"Poor dear old thing," said Olivia, "she is so very nearsighted."
+
+"Not a bit of it," said her sister; "don't tell me of bad sight that can
+distinguish the decanter of port from the claret, which I have seen her
+do some half-dozen times without one blunder."
+
+"I 'd certainly stop the supplies," said Cashel; "wouldn't that do?"
+
+"Impossible!" said Miss Kennyfeck; "you couldn't starve the whole
+garrison for one refractory subject."
+
+"Mr. Linton's plan was a perfect failure, too," said Mrs. Kennyfeck. "He
+thought by the introduction of some topic ladies do not usually discuss
+that she would certainly withdraw; on the contrary, her Ladyship called
+out to me, 'I see your impatience, my dear, but I must hear the end
+of this naughty story.' We tried the French plan, too, and made the
+gentlemen rise with us; but really they were so rude and ill-tempered
+the entire evening after, I 'll never venture on it again."
+
+Here the whole party sighed and were silent, as if the wished-for mode
+of relief were as distant as ever.
+
+"Must we really ask those Claridge girls to sing, mamma?" said Miss
+Kennyfeck, after a long pause.
+
+"Of course you must. They were taught by Costa, and they are always
+asked wherever they go."
+
+"As a matter of curiosity, Mr. Cashel, the thing is worth hearing.
+Paganini's monocorde was nothing to it, for they 'll go through a whole
+scena of Donizetti with only one note in their voice. Oh dear! how very
+tiresome it all is; the same little scene of pressings and refusals and
+entreaties and rejections, and the oft-repeated dispute of the sisters
+between 'Notte divina' and 'Non vedro mai,' ending in that Tyrolese
+thing, which is on every organ in the streets, and has not the merit of
+the little shaved dog with the hat in his mouth, to make it droll. And
+then"--here Miss Kennyfeck caught a side glance of a most rebuking frown
+on her mother's face, so that adroitly addressing herself to Cashel, she
+seemed unaware of it,--"and then, when the singing is over, and those
+who detest music are taking their revenge by abusing the singers, and
+people are endeavoring to patch up the interrupted chattings,--then, I
+suppose, we are quite suddenly, without the slightest premeditation, to
+suggest a quadrille or carpet-dance. This is to be proposed as a most
+new and original idea that never occurred to any one before, and is
+certain to be hailed with a warm enthusiasm; all the young ladies
+smiling and smirking, and the gentlemen fumbling for their soiled kid
+gloves,--clean ones would destroy the merit of the impromptu."
+
+"I 'm certain Mr. Cashel's impression of our society here will
+scarcely be flattering, from what he has heard this evening," said Mrs.
+Kennyfeck, rising.
+
+"He'll see with his own eyes to-morrow night," said Miss Kennyfeck,
+coolly.
+
+"Will you favor me with a little of your time in the morning?" said Mr.
+Kennyfeck to Cashel. "I find that I cannot avoid troubling you; there
+are several documents for signature, and if you could devote an hour,
+or, if possible, two--"
+
+"I am perfectly at your orders," said Cashel; "the ladies say that they
+will not ride, and therefore dispose of me as you like."
+
+A hearty good-night followed, and the party broke up.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI. A DRIVE WITH THE LADIES.
+
+     Geld kann vieles in der Welt.
+
+     --Wiener Lied.
+
+     (Money can do much in this world.)
+
+When Cashel descended the stairs to breakfast, he took a peep into the
+drawing-room as he went, some slight hope of seeing Olivia, perhaps,
+suggesting the step. He was disappointed, however; except a servant
+arranging candies in the lustres, the room was empty. The same
+fate awaited him in the breakfast-room, where a small table, most
+significantly laid for two, showed that a _tęte-ā-tęte_ with his host
+was in store for him. No wonder, then, if Mr. Kennyfeck saw something of
+impatience in the air of his young guest, whose eyes turned to the door
+each time it opened, or were as hastily directed to the garden at each
+stir without,--evident signs of thoughts directed in channels different
+from the worthy solicitor's.
+
+Confess, my dear reader,--if you be of the sex to judge of these
+matters,--confess it is excessively provoking when you have prepared
+your mind, sharpened your wit--perhaps, too, curled your whiskers--with
+a latent hope that you are to meet and converse with two very handsome
+and sprightly girls, that the interview is converted into a scene with
+"Papa." For ourselves, who acknowledge to have a kind of Catholicism in
+these affairs, who like the dear creatures in all the flaunting dash of
+a riding-hat and habit, cantering away of a breezy day, with laughing
+voice and half-uncurled hair; who delight to see them lounging in
+a britzska or lolling in a phaeton; who gaze with rapture on charms
+heightened by the blaze of full-dress, and splendid in all the
+brilliancy of jewels and flowers,--we own that we have a kind of
+fondness, almost amounting to a preference, for the prim coquettishness
+of a morning-dress--some light muslin thing, floating and gauzy--showing
+the figure to perfection, and in its simplicity suiting well the two
+braids of hair so innocently banded on the cheeks. There is something of
+conscious power in the quiet garb, a sense of trustfulness; it is
+like the warrior advancing without his weapons to a conference that is
+exceedingly pleasing, seeming to say, You see that I am not a being of
+tulle, and gauze, and point de Bruxelles, of white satin, and turquoise,
+and pink camellias, but a creature whose duties may be in the daily
+round of life, meant to sit beside on a grassy slope as much as on a
+velvet ottoman, to talk with as well as flirt with.
+
+We have no means of knowing if Cashel was of our mind, and whether
+these demi-toilette visions were as suggestive to his as they are to our
+imagination, but that he bore his disappointment with a very bad grace
+we can perfectly answer for, and showed, by his distracted manner
+and inattentive air, that the papa's companionship was a very poor
+substitute for the daughters'.
+
+It must be owned, too, that Mr. Kennyfeck was scarcely a brilliant
+converser, nor, had he been so, was the matter under consideration of
+a kind to develop and display his abilities. The worthy solicitor had
+often promised himself the pleasure he now enjoyed of recounting the
+whole story of the law proceedings. It was the great event of his
+own life, "his Waterloo," and he dwelt on every detail with a prosy
+dalliance that was death to the listener. Legal subtleties, shrewd and
+cunning devices of crafty counsellors, all the artful dodges of the
+profession, Cashel heard with a scornful indifference or a downright
+apathy, and it demanded all Mr. Kennyfeck's own enthusiasm in the case
+to make him persist in a narrative so uninteresting to its only auditor.
+
+"I fear I weary you, Mr. Cashel," said the solicitor, "with these
+details, but I really supposed that you must feel desirous of knowing
+not only the exact circumstances of your estate, but of learning the
+very singular history by which your claim was substantiated."
+
+"If I am to be frank," said Cashel, boldly, "I must tell you that
+these things possess not the slightest interest for me. When I was a
+gambler--which, unfortunately, I was at one time--whether I won or lost,
+I never could endure to discuss the game after it was over. So long as
+there was a goal to reach, few men could feel more ardor in the pursuit.
+I believe I have the passion for success as strong as my neighbors,
+but the struggle over, the prize won, whether by myself or another it
+mattered not, it ceased to have any hold upon me. I could address myself
+to a new contest, but never look back on the old one."
+
+"So that," said Kennyfeck, drawing a long breath to conceal a sigh, "I
+am to conclude that this is a topic you would not desire to renew.
+Well, I yield of course; only pray how am I to obtain your opinion on
+questions concerning your property?"
+
+"My opinions," said Cashel, "must be mere arbitrary decisions, come to
+without any knowledge; that you are well aware of. I know nothing of
+this country,--neither its interests, its feelings, nor its tastes. I
+know just as little of what wealth will do, and what it will not do.
+Tell me, therefore, in a few words, what other men, situated as I am,
+would pursue,--what habits they would adopt, how live, and with whom. If
+I can conform, without any great sacrifice of personal freedom, I 'll do
+so, because I know of no slavery so bad as notoriety. Just then give me
+your counsel, and I ask, intending to follow it."
+
+Few men were less able than Mr. Kennyfeck to offer a valuable opinion on
+these difficult subjects, but the daily routine of his professional life
+had made him acquainted with a certain detail that seemed, to himself at
+least, an undeviating rule of procedure. He knew that, to the heir of a
+large estate coming of age, a wife and a seat in Parliament were the two
+first objects. He had so often been engaged in drawing up settlements
+for the one, and raising money for the other contingency, that they
+became as associated in his mind with one-and-twenty years of age as
+though intended by Nature to denote it.
+
+With some reserve, which we must not scrutinize, he began with the
+political object.
+
+"I suppose, sir," said he, "you will desire to enter Parliament?"
+
+"I should like it," said Cashel, earnestly, "if a sense of inferiority
+would not weigh too heavily on me to compensate for the pleasure. With
+an education so neglected as mine, I should run the hazard of either
+unjustly depreciating my own judgment, or what is worse, esteeming it at
+more than its worth. Now, though I suspect that the interest of politics
+would have a great attraction for me, I should always occupy too
+humble a station regarding them, to make that interest a high one. Omit
+Parliament, then, and what next?"
+
+"The duties of a country gentleman are various and important--the
+management of your estates--"
+
+"This I must leave in your hands," said Cashel, abruptly. "Suggest
+something else."
+
+"Well, of course, these come in a far less important category; but the
+style of your living, the maintenance of a house befitting your rank
+and property, the reception of your country neighbors,--all these are
+duties."
+
+"I am very ignorant of forms," said Cashel, haughtily; "but I opine that
+if a man spare no money, with a good cook, a good cellar, a good stable,
+and _carte blanche_ from the owner to make free with everything, these
+duties are not very difficult to perform."
+
+Had Mr. Kennyfeck known more of such matters, he might have told him
+that something was still wanting,--that something which can throw its
+perfume of good-breeding and elegance over the humble dinner-party in a
+cottage, and yet be absent from the gorgeous splendor of a banquet in
+a palace. Mr. Kennyfeck did not know this, so he accorded his fullest
+assent to Cashel's opinion.
+
+"What comes next?" said Roland, impatiently, "for as I am neither
+politician nor country gentleman, nor can I make a pursuit of mere
+hospitality, I really do not see what career is open to me."
+
+Mr. Kennyfeck had been on the eve of introducing the topic of marriage,
+when this sally suddenly routed the attempt. The man who saw nothing to
+occupy him in politics, property, or social intercourse would scarcely
+deem a wife an all-sufficient ambition. Mr. Kennyfeck was posed.
+
+"I see, sir, your task is a hard one; it is no less than to try and
+conform my savage tastes and habits to civilized usages,--a difficult
+thing, I am certain; however, I promise compliance with any ritual for
+a while. I have often been told that the possession of fortune in these
+countries imposes more restraints in the shape of duties than does
+poverty elsewhere. Let me try the problem for myself. Now, dictate, and
+I obey."
+
+"After all," said Mr. Kennyfeck, taking courage, "few men would deem it
+a hard condition in which to find themselves master of above Ģ16,000 a
+year, to enter Parliament, to keep a good house, and marry--as every man
+in your circumstances may--the person of his choice."
+
+"Oh! Is matrimony another article of the code?" said Cashel, smiling.
+"Well, that is the greatest feature, because the others are things
+to abandon, if not found to suit your temper or inclination--but a
+wife--that does look somewhat more permanent. No matter, I'll adventure
+all and everything--of course depending on your guidance for the path."
+
+Mr. Kennyfeck was too happy at these signs of confidence to neglect an
+opportunity for strengthening the ties, and commenced a very prudent
+harangue upon the necessity of Cashel's using great caution in his first
+steps, and not committing himself by anything like political pledges,
+till he had firmly decided which side to adopt. "As to society," said
+he, "of course you will select those who please you most for your
+intimates; but in politics there are many considerations very different
+from mere liking. Be only guarded, however, in the beginning, and you
+risk nothing by waiting."
+
+"And as to the other count in the indictment," said Cashel, interrupting
+a rather prosy dissertation about political parties,--"as to the other
+count--matrimony I mean. I conclude, as the world is so exceedingly kind
+as to take a profound interest in all the sayings and doings of a man
+with money, that perhaps it is not indifferent regarding so eventful
+a step as his marriage. Now, pray, Mr. Kennyfeck, having entered
+Parliament, kept open house, hunted, shot, raced, dined, gambled,
+duelled, and the rest, to please society, how must I satisfy its
+exigencies in this last particular? I mean, is there any particular
+style of lady,--tall, short, brunette or fair, dark-eyed or
+blue-eyed,--or what, in short, is the person I must marry if I would
+avoid transgressing any of those formidable rules which seem to
+regulate every action of your lives, and, if I may believe Mr. Phillis,
+superintend the very color of your cravat and the shape of your hat?"
+
+"Oh, believe me," replied Mr. Kennyfeck with a bland persuasiveness,
+"fashion is only exigeant in small matters; the really momentous affairs
+of life are always at a man's own disposal. Whoever is fortunate enough
+to be Mr. Cashel's choice, becomes, by the fact, as elevated above
+envious criticisms as she will be above the sphere where they alone
+prevail."
+
+"So far that is very flattering. Now for another point. There is an old
+shipmate of mine--a young Spanish officer--who has lived rather a rakish
+kind of life. I 'm not quite sure if he has not had a brush or two
+with our flag, for he dealt a little in ebony--you understand--the
+slave-trade, I mean. How would these fine gentlemen, I should like to
+know, receive him? Would they look coldly and distantly at him? I should
+naturally wish to see him at my house, but not that he might be offered
+anything like slight or insult."
+
+"I should defer it, certainly. I would recommend you not pressing this
+visit, till you have surrounded yourself with a certain set, a party by
+whom you will be known and upheld."
+
+"So then, if I understand you aright, I must obtain a kind of security
+for my social good conduct before the world will trust me? Now, this
+does seem rather hard, particularly as no man is guilty till he has been
+convicted."
+
+"The bail-bond is little else than a matter of form," said Mr.
+Kennyfeck, smiling, and glad to cap an allusion which his professional
+pursuits made easy of comprehension.
+
+"Well," sighed Cashel, "I'm not quite certain that this same world of
+yours and I shall be long friends, if even we begin as such. I have all
+my life been somewhat of a rebel, except where authority was lax enough
+to make resistance unnecessary. How am I to get on here, hemmed in and
+fenced by a hundred restrictions?"
+
+Mr. Kennyfeck could not explain to him that these barriers were less
+restrictions against personal liberty than defences against aggression;
+so he only murmured some commonplaces about "getting habituated," and
+"time," and so on, and apologized for what he, in reality, might have
+expatiated on as privileges.
+
+"My mistress wishes to know, sir," said a footman, at this juncture, "if
+Mr. Cashel will drive out with her? the carriage is at the door."
+
+"Delighted!" cried Cashel, looking at the same time most uncourteously
+pleased to get away from his tiresome companion.
+
+Cashel found Mrs. Kennyfeck and her daughters seated in a handsome
+barouche, whose appointments, bating, perhaps, some little exuberance
+in display, were all perfect. The ladies, too, were most becomingly
+attired, and the transition from the tittle cobwebbed den of the
+solicitor to the free air and pleasant companionship, excited his
+spirits to the utmost.
+
+"How bored you must have been by that interview!" said Mrs. Kennyfeck,
+as they drove away.
+
+"Why do you say so?" said Cashel, smiling.
+
+"You looked so weary, so thoroughly tired out, when you joined us. I'm
+certain Mr. Kennyfeck has been reading aloud all the deeds and documents
+of the trial, and reciting the hundred-and-one difficulties which his
+surpassing acuteness, poor dear man! could alone overcome."
+
+"No, indeed you wrong him," said Roland, with a laugh; "he scarcely
+alluded to what he might have reasonably dwelt upon with pride, and what
+demands all my gratitude. He was rather giving me, what I so much stand
+in need of, a little lecture on my duties and devoirs as a possessor of
+fortune; a code, I shame to confess, perfectly strange to me."
+
+A very significant glance from Mrs. Kennyfeck towards the girls
+revealed the full measure of her contempt for the hardihood of poor Mr.
+Kennyfeck's daring; but quickly assuming a smile, she said, "And are we
+to be permitted to hear what these excellent counsels were, or are these
+what the Admiralty calls 'secret instructions'?"
+
+"Not in the least. Mr. Kennyfeck sees plainly enough--it is but too
+palpable--that I am as ignorant of this new world as he himself would
+be, if dropped down suddenly in an Indian encampment, and that as the
+thing I detest most in this life is any unnecessary notoriety, I want to
+do as far as in me lies, like my neighbors. I own to you that the little
+sketch with which he favored me is not too fascinating, but he assures
+me that with time and patience and zeal I'll get over my difficulties,
+and make a very tolerable country gentleman."
+
+"But, my _dear_ Mr. Cashel," said Mrs. Kennyfeck, with a great emphasis
+on the epithet, "why do you think of listening to Mr. Kennyfeck on such
+a subject? Poor man, he takes all his notions of men and manners from
+the Exchequer and Common Pleas."
+
+"Papa's models are all in horse-hair wigs,--fat mummies in ermine!" said
+Miss Kennyfeck.
+
+"When Mr. Cashel knows Lord Charles," said Olivia.
+
+"Or Mr. Linton--"
+
+"Or the Dean," broke in Mrs. Kennyfeck; "for although a Churchman, his
+information on every subject is boundless."
+
+Miss Kennyfeck gave a sly look towards Cashel, which very probably
+entered a dissent to her mamma's opinion.
+
+"If I were you," resumed she, tenderly, "I know what I should do; coolly
+rejecting all their counsels, I should fashion my life as it pleased
+myself to live, well assured that in following my bent I should find
+plenty of people only too happy to lend me their companionship. Just
+reflect, for a moment, how very agreeable you can make your house,
+without in the least compromising any taste or inclination of your own;
+without, in fact, occupying your mind on the subject."
+
+"But the world," remarked Mrs. Kennyfeck, "must be cared for! It would
+not do for one in Mr. Cashel's station to form his associates only among
+those whose agreeability is their recommendation."
+
+"Then let him know the Dean, mamma," said Miss Kennyfeck, slyly.
+
+"Yes, my dear," rejoined Mrs. Kennyfeck, not detecting the sarcasm, "I
+cannot fancy one more capable of affording judicious counsel. You spoke
+about ordering plate, Mr. Cashel; but of course you will apply to Storr
+and Mortimer. Everything is so much better in London; otherwise, here we
+are at Leonard's."
+
+The carriage drove up, as she spoke, to the door of a very
+splendid-looking shop, where in all the attractive display modern taste
+has invented, plate and jewellery glittered and dazzled.
+
+"It was part of Mr. Kennyfeck's counsel this morning," said Cashel,
+"that I should purchase anything I want in Ireland, so far, at least, as
+practicable; so, if you will aid me in choosing, we 'll take the present
+opportunity."
+
+Mrs. Kennyfeck was overjoyed at the bare mention of such an occasion of
+display, and sailed into the shop with an air that spoke plain as words
+themselves, "I'm come to make your fortune." So palpable, indeed, was
+the manner of her approach, that the shopman hastily retired to seek
+the proprietor of the establishment,--a little pompous man, with a bald
+head,--who, having a great number of "bad debts" among his high
+clients, had taken to treating great folk with a very cool assumption of
+equality.
+
+"Mr. Cashel is come to look about some plate, Mr. Leonard. Let us see
+your book of drawings; and have you those models you made for Lord
+Kellorane?"
+
+"We have better, ma'am," said Leonard. "We have the plate itself. If you
+will step upstairs. It is all laid out on the tables. The fact is"--here
+he dropped his voice--"his lordship's marriage with Miss Fenchurch is
+broken off, and he will not want the plate, and we have his orders to
+sell it at once."
+
+"And is that beautiful pony-phaeton, with the two black Arabians, to
+be sold?" asked Miss Kennyfeck, eagerly. "He only drove them once, I
+think."
+
+"Yes, madam, everything: they are all to be auctioned at Dycer's
+to-day."
+
+"At what hour?" inquired Cashel.
+
+"At three, precisely, sir."
+
+"Then it wants but five minutes of the time," said Cashel, looking at
+his watch.
+
+"But the plate, sir? Such an opportunity may never occur again," broke
+in Leonard, fearful of seeing his customer depart unprofitably.
+
+"Oh, to be sure. Let us see it," said Cashel, as he handed Mrs.
+Kennyfeck upstairs.
+
+An exclamation of surprise and delight burst from the party at the
+magnificent display which greeted them on entering the room. How
+splendid--what taste--how very beautiful--so elegant--so massive--so
+chaste! and fifty other encomiastic phrases.
+
+"Very fine, indeed, ma'am," chimed in Leonard; "cost fifteen and
+seven-pence the ounce throughout, and now to be sold for thirteen
+shillings."
+
+"What is the price?" said Cashel, in a low whisper.
+
+"There are, if I remember right, sir, but I 'll ascertain in a moment,
+eight thousand ounces."
+
+"I want to know the sum in one word," rejoined Cashel, hastily.
+
+"It will be something like three thousand seven hundred and--"
+
+"Well, say three thousand seven hundred, it is mine."
+
+"These ice-pails are not included, sir."
+
+"Well, send them also, and let me know the price. How handsome that
+brooch is! Let me see it on your velvet dress, Mrs. Kennyfeck. Yes, that
+really looks well. Pray let it remain there."
+
+"Oh, I could not think of such a thing! It is far too costly. It is the
+most splendid--"
+
+"You 'll not refuse me, I hope, a first request, madam," said he, with a
+half-offended air.
+
+Mrs. Kennyfeck, really overwhelmed by the splendor of the gift, complied
+with a reluctant shame.
+
+"These are the diamonds that were ordered for the bride," said Leonard,
+opening a jewel-casket, and exhibiting a most magnificent suite.
+
+"Oh, how sorry she must be!" cried Miss Kennyfeck, as she surveyed the
+glittering mass.
+
+"If she loved him," murmured Olivia, in a low whisper, as if to
+herself, but overheard by Cashel, who kept his eyes towards her with an
+expression of deep interest.
+
+"If the gentleman stood in need of such a set," said Leonard, "I am
+empowered to dispose of them at the actual cost. It is old Mr. Fenchurch
+who suffers all the loss, and he can very well afford it. As a wedding
+present, sir--"
+
+"But I am not going to be married, that I know of," said Cashel,
+smiling.
+
+"Perhaps not this week, sir, or the next," rejoined the self-sufficient
+jeweller; "but, of course, that time will come. Two thousand pounds for
+such a suite is positively getting them a present, to break them up and
+reset them."
+
+"How shocking!" cried Miss Kennyfeck.
+
+"Yes, madam; but what is to be done? They only suit large fortunes in
+their present form; these, unfortunately, are very rare with us."
+
+"A quarter past three!" exclaimed Cashel; "we shall be too late."
+
+"And the diamonds, sir?" said Leonard, following him downstairs.
+
+"Do _you_ think them so handsome?" said Cashel to Olivia, as she walked
+at his side.
+
+"Oh, they are most beautiful," replied she, with a bashful falling of
+her eyelids.
+
+"I 'll take them also," whispered Cashel to Leonard, who, for perhaps
+the only time for years past, accompanied the party, bareheaded, to
+their carriage, and continued bowing till they drove away.
+
+"Dycer's," said Mrs. Kennyfeck; "and as fast as you can."
+
+With all their speed they came too late. The beautiful equipage had been
+already disposed of, and was driving from the gate as they drew up.
+
+"How provoking!--how terribly provoking!" exclaimed Mrs. Kennyfeck.
+
+"I declare, I think them handsomer than ever," said Miss Kennyfeck, as
+she surveyed the two well-matched and highly-bred ponies.
+
+"Who bought them?" asked Mrs. Kennyfeck.
+
+"I am the fortunate individual, or rather the unhappy one, who excites
+such warm regrets," said Mr Linton, as he lounged on the door of the
+carriage. "I would I were Rothschild, or his son, or his godson, to beg
+your acceptance of them."
+
+"What did you give for them, Mr. Linton?" asked Mrs. Kennyfeck.
+
+"How unfair to ask; and you, too, who understand these things so well."
+
+"I want to purchase them," said she, laughing; "that was my reason."
+
+"To you, then, the price is what I have just paid,--a hundred and
+fifty."
+
+"How cheap!"
+
+"Absolutely for nothing. I bought them on no other account. I really do
+not want such an equipage."
+
+"To be serious, then," resumed Mrs. Kennyfeck, "we came here with Mr.
+Cashel to purchase them, and just arrived a few minutes too late."
+
+"Quite early enough to allow of my being able to render you a slight
+service; without, however, the satisfaction of its having demanded any
+effort from me. Will you present me to Mr. Cashel?" The gentlemen bowed
+and smiled, and Linton resumed: "If you care for the ponies, Mr. Cashel,
+I am delighted to say they are at your service. I really bought them, as
+I say, because they were going for nothing." Cashel did not know how to
+return the generosity, but accepted the offer, trusting that time would
+open an occasion to repay the favor.
+
+"Shall I send them home to you, or will you drive them?"
+
+"Will you venture to accompany me?" said Cashel, turning to Olivia
+Kennyfeck; who, seeing at once the impropriety of a proposal which
+Roland's ignorance of the world alone could have committed, was silent
+and confused.
+
+"Are you afraid, my dear?" inquired Mrs. Kennyfeck, to show that all
+other objections might be waived.
+
+"Oh no, mamma, if you are not."
+
+"The ponies are perfectly quiet," said Linton.
+
+"I 'm certain nothing will happen," said Miss Kennyfeck, with a most
+significant glance at her sister.
+
+"Take care of her, Mr. Cashel," said the mamma, as Roland handed the
+blushing girl to her place. "I have never trusted her in any one's
+charge before; and if I had not such implicit confidence--" Before the
+sentence was finished, the ponies sprang forward in a trot, the equipage
+in a moment fled and disappeared from view.
+
+"A fine young fellow he seems to be," said Linton, as he raised his hat
+in adieu; "and so frank, too!" There was a something in his smile that
+looked too intelligent, but Mrs. Kennyfeck affected not to notice it, as
+she said "Good-bye."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII. THE GREAT KENNYFECK DINNER.
+
+     There were lords and ladies,--I saw myself,--
+     A duke with his Garter, a knight with his Gaelph.
+     "Orders"--as bright as the eye could see,
+     The "Golden Fleece," and the "Saint Esprit;"
+     Black Eagles, and Lions, and even a Lamb,
+     Such an odd-looking thing--from the great "Nizam;"
+     Shamrocks and Thistles there were in a heap,
+     And the Legion of Honor from "Louis Philippe,"
+     So I asked myself--Does it not seem queer,
+     What can bring this goodly company here?
+
+     Mrs. Thorpe's Fęte at Twickenham
+
+
+Although Mrs. Kennyfeck's company were invited for seven o'clock, it
+was already something more than half-past ere the first guest made
+his appearance, and he found himself alone in the drawing-room; Mrs.
+Kennyfeck, who was a very shrewd observer of everything in high life,
+having remembered that it twice occurred to herself and Mr. K. to have
+arrived the first at the Secretary's "Lodge," in the Park, and that the
+noble hostess did not descend till at least some two or three others had
+joined them.
+
+The "first man" to a dinner is the next most miserable thing to the
+"last man" at leaving it. The cold air of solitude, the awkwardness of
+seeming too eager to be punctual, the certainty, almost inevitable, that
+the next person who arrives is perfectly odious to you, and that you
+will have to sustain a _tęte-ā-tęte_ with the man of all others you
+dislike,--all these are the agreeables of the first man; but he who now
+had to sustain them was, happily, indifferent to their tortures. He was
+an old, very deaf gentleman, who had figured at the dinner-tables of the
+capital for half a century, on no one plea that any one could discover,
+save that he was a "Right Honorable." The privilege of sitting at the
+Council had conferred the far pleasanter one of assisting at dinners;
+and his political career, if not very ambitious, had been, what few men
+can say, unruffled.
+
+He seated himself, then, in a very well-cushioned chair, and with that
+easy smile of benevolent meaning which certain deaf people assume as
+a counterpoise for the want of colloquial gifts, prepared to be, or at
+least to look, a very agreeable old gentleman to the next arrival.
+A full quarter of an hour passed over, without anything to break the
+decorous stillness of the house; when suddenly the door was thrown wide,
+and the butler announced Sir Harvey Upton and Captain Jennings. These
+were two hussar officers, who entered with that admirable accompaniment
+of clinking sabres, sabretaches, and spurs, so essential to a cavalry
+appearance.
+
+"Early, by Jove!" cried one, approaching the mirror over the
+chimney-piece, and arranging his moustaches, perfectly unmindful of the
+presence of the Right Honorable who sat near it.
+
+"They are growing worse and worse in this house, I think," cried the
+other. "The last time I dined here, we sat down at a quarter to nine."
+
+"It's all Linton's fault," drawled out the first speaker; "he told a
+story about Long Wellesley asking some one for 'ten.' and apologizing
+for an early dinner, as he had to speak in the House afterwards. Who is
+here? Neat steppers, those horses!"
+
+"It is Kilgoff and his new wife,--do you know her?"
+
+"No; she's not one of those pale girls we used to ride with at
+Leamington?"
+
+There was no time for reply, when the names were announced, "Lord and
+Lady Kilgoff!" and a very weakly looking old man, with a blue inside
+vest, and enormous diamond studs in his shirt, entered, supporting
+a very beautiful young woman, whose proud step and glancing eye were
+strange contrasts to his feeble and vacant expression. The hussars
+exchanged significant but hasty glances, and fell back, while the others
+advanced up the room.
+
+"Our excellent hostess," said my Lord, in a low but distinct voice,
+"will soon shame Wilton-Crescent itself in late hours. I fancy it 's
+nigh eight o'clock."
+
+"It's not their fault, poor things," said she, lying back in a chair and
+disposing her magnificent dress into the most becoming folds; "people
+will come late do what one may."
+
+"They may do so, that's very true; but I would beg to observe, you need
+not wait for them." This was said with a smile towards the hussars,
+as though to imply, "There is no reason why you should not express an
+opinion, if it agree with mine."
+
+The baronet immediately bowed, and smiling, so as to show a very white
+range of teeth beneath his dark moustache, said, "In part, I agree with
+your Lordship, but it requires the high hand of fashion to reform the
+abuse." Here a most insidious glance at her Ladyship most effectually
+conveyed the point of his meaning.
+
+Just then, in all the majesty of crimson velvet, Mrs. Kennyfeck
+appeared, her comely person heaving under the accumulated splendor
+of lace, flowers, and jewelry. Her daughters, more simply but still
+handsomely dressed, followed, Mr. Kennyfeck bringing up the rear, in
+very evident confusion at having torn his kid gloves,--a misfortune
+which he was not clear should be buried in silence, or made the subject
+of public apology.
+
+Lady Kilgoff received Mrs. Kennyfeck's excuses for being late with a
+very quiet, gentle smile; but my Lord, less given to forgiveness, held
+his watch towards Mr. Kennyfeck, and said, "There 's always an excuse
+for a man of business, sir, or this would be very reprehensible."
+Fortunately for all parties the company now poured in faster; every
+instant saw some two or three arrive. Indeed, with such speed did they
+appear, it seemed as if they had all waited for a movement _en masse_:
+judges and generals, with nieces and daughters manifold, country
+gentlemen, cliente, the _élite_ of Dublin diners-out, the Whites, the
+Rigbys, with their ringleted girls, the young member for Mactark, the
+Solicitor-General and Mrs. Knivett, and, at last, escorted by his staff
+of curates and small vicars, came "the Dean" himself, conducting a
+very learned dissertation on the musical properties of the
+"Chickgankazoo,"--a three-stringed instrument of an African tribe,
+and which he professed to think "admirably adapted for country
+congregations too poor to buy an organ! Any one could play it, Softly
+could play it, Mrs. Kennyfeck could--"
+
+"How do you do, Mr. Dean?" said that lady, in her sweetest of voices.
+
+The Dean accepted the offered hand, but, without attending to the
+salutation, went on with a very curious argument respecting the vocal
+chords in the human throat, which he promised to demonstrate on any thin
+lady in the company.
+
+The Chief Secretary's fortunate arrival, however, rescued the devoted
+fair one from the Dean's scientific ardor; for Mr. Meek was a great
+personage in the chief circles of Dublin. Any ordinary manner, in
+comparison with Mr. Downie Meek's, would be as linsey-woolsey to
+three-pile velvet! There was a yielding softness, a delicious compliance
+about him, which won him the world's esteem, and pointed him out to
+the Cabinet as the very man to be "Secretary for Ireland." Conciliation
+would be a weak word to express the _suave_ but winning gentleness
+of his official dealings. The most frank of men, he was unbounded in
+professions, and if so elegant a person could have taken a hint from so
+humble a source, we should say that he had made his zoological studies
+available and imitated the cuttle-fish, since when close penned by
+an enemy he could always escape by muddying the water. In this great
+dialectic of the Castlereagh school he was perfect, and could become
+totally unintelligible at the shortest notice.
+
+After a few almost whispered words to his hostess, Mr. Meek humbly
+requested to be presented to Mr. Cashel. Roland, who was then standing
+beside Miss Kennyfeck, and listening to a rather amusing catalogue of
+the guests, advanced to make the Secretary's acquaintance. Mr. Downie
+Meek's approaches were perfect, and in the few words he spoke, most
+favorably impressed Cashel with his unpretentious, unaffected demeanor.
+
+"Are we waiting for any one, Mr. Kennyfeck?" said his spouse, with a
+delicious simplicity of voice.
+
+"Oh, certainly!" exclaimed her less accomplished husband; "Sir Andrew
+and Lady Janet MacFarline and Lord Charles Frobisher have not arrived."
+
+"It appears to me,"--a favorite expression of his Lordship, with a
+strong emphasis on the pronoun,--"it appears to me," said Lord Kilgoff,
+"that Sir Andrew MacFarline waits for the tattoo at the Royal Barrack to
+dress for dinner;" and he added, somewhat lower, "I made a vow, which I
+regret to have broken to-day, never to dine wherever he is invited."
+
+"Here they come! here they come at last," cried out several voices
+together, as the heavy tread of carriage-horses was heard advancing, and
+the loud summons of the footman resounded through the square.
+
+Sir Andrew and Lady Janet MacFarline were announced in Mr. Pearse's most
+impressive manner; and then, after a slight pause, as if to enable the
+company to recover themselves from the shock of such august names, Lord
+Charles Frobisher and Captain Foster.
+
+Sir Andrew was a tall, raw-boned, high-cheeked old man, with a white
+head, red nose, and a very Scotch accent, whose manners, after forty
+years' training, still spoke of the time that he carried a halbert in
+the "Black Watch." Lady Janet was a little, grim-faced, gray-eyed old
+lady, with a hunch, who, with a most inveterate peevishness of voice and
+a most decided tendency to make people unhappy, was the terror of the
+garrison.
+
+"We hae na kept ye waitin', Mrs. Kannyfack, I humbly hope?" said Sir
+Andrew.
+
+"A good forty minutes, Sir Andrew," broke in Lord Kilgoff, showing his
+watch; "but you are always the last."
+
+"He was not recorded as such in the official despatch from 'Maida,' my
+Lord," said Lady Janet, fiercely; "but with some people there is more
+virtue in being early at dinner than first up the breach in an assault!"
+
+"The siege will always keep hot, my Lady," interposed a very
+well-whiskered gentleman in a blue coat and two inside waistcoats; "the
+soup will not."
+
+"Ah, Mr. Linton," said she, holding out two fingers, "why were n't you
+at our picnic?" Then she added, lower:
+
+"Give me your arm in to dinner. I can't bear that tiresome old man."
+Linton bowed and seemed delighted, while a scarcely perceptible motion
+of the brows conveyed an apology to Miss Kennyfeck.
+
+Dinner was at length announced, and after a little of what Sir Andrew
+called "clubbing the battalions," they descended in a long procession.
+Cashel, after vainly essaying to secure either of the Kennyfeck girls as
+his companion, being obliged to pair off with Mrs. White, the lady who
+always declined, but never failed to come.
+
+It is a singular fact in the physiology of Amphytrionism, that
+second-class people can always succeed in a "great dinner," though they
+fail egregiously in all attempts at a small party. We reserve the reason
+for another time, to record the fact that Mrs. Kennyfeck's table was
+both costly and splendid. The soups were admirable, the Madeira perfect
+in flavor, the pâtés as hot and the champagne as cold, the fish as
+fresh and the venison as long kept, the curry as high seasoned and the
+pine-apple ice as delicately simple, as the most refined taste could
+demand. The material enjoyments were provided with elegance and
+abundance, and the guests--the little chagrin of the long waiting
+over--all disposed to be chatty and agreeable.
+
+Like a tide first breaking on a low strand, in small and tiny ripples,
+then gradually coming bolder in, with courage more assured, and greater
+force, the conversation of a dinner usually runs; till at last at the
+high flood the great waves tumble madly one upon another, and the wild
+chorus of the clashing water wakes up "the spirit of the storm."
+
+Even without the aid of the "Physiologie du Goût," people will talk
+of eating while they eat; and so the chitchat was _cuisine_ in all its
+moods and tenses, each bringing to the common stock some new device
+in cookery, and some anecdotes of his travelled experience in
+"gourmandise," and while Mr. Linton and Lord Charles celebrated
+the skill of the "Cadran," or the "Schwan" at Vienna, the Dean was
+critically explaining to poor Mrs. Kennyfeck that Homer's heroes had
+probably the most perfect _rôti_ that ever was served, the juices of the
+meat being preserved in such large masses.
+
+"Soles, with a 'gratin' of fine gingerbread, I saw at Metternich's,"
+said Mr. Linton, "and they were excellent."
+
+"I like old Jules Perregaux's idea better, what he calls his _côtelettes
+ā la financičre_."
+
+"What are they? I never tasted them."
+
+"Very good mutton cutlets _en papillotte_, the envelopes being billets
+de banque of a thousand francs each."
+
+"Is it permitted to help one's self twice, my Lord?"
+
+"I called for the dish again, but found it had been too successful. De
+Brigues did a neat thing that way, in a little supper he gave to the
+artistes of the Opéra-Comique; the jellies were all served with rings in
+them,--turquoise, diamond, emerald, pearl, and so on,--so that the fair
+guests had all the excitement of a lottery as the _plat_ came round to
+them."
+
+"The kick-shaws required something o' that kind to make them endurable,"
+said Sir Andrew, gruffly; "gie me a haggis, or a cockie-leekie."
+
+"What is that?" said Miss Kennyfeck, who saw with a sharp malice how
+angrily Lady Janet looked at the notion of the coming explanation.
+
+"I 'll tell ye wi' pleasure, Miss Kannyfack, hoo to mak' a
+cockie-leekie!"
+
+"Cockie-leekie, _unde derivator_ cockie-leekie?" cried the Dean, who,
+having taken a breathing canter through Homer and Horace, was quite
+ready for the moderns.
+
+"What, sir?" asked Sir Andrew, not understanding the question.
+
+"I say, what 's the derivation of your cockie-leekie,--the etymology of
+the phrase?"
+
+"I dinna ken, and I dinna care. It's mair needfu' that one kens hoo to
+mak' it than to speer wha gave it the name of cockie-leekie."
+
+"More properly pronounced, _coq ā lécher_," said the inexorable Dean.
+"The dish is a French one."
+
+"Did ever any one hear the like?" exclaimed Sir Andrew, utterly
+confounded by the assertion.
+
+"I confess, Sir Andrew," said Linton, "it's rather hard on Scotland.
+They say you stole all your ballad-music from Italy, and now they claim
+your cookery for France!"
+
+"The record," said the Attorney-General, across the table, "was tried at
+Trim. Your Lordships sat with the Chief Baron."
+
+"I remember perfectly; we agreed that the King's Bench ruled right,
+and that the minor's claim was substantiated." Then turning to Mrs.
+Kennyfeck, who out of politeness had affected to take interest in what
+she could not even understand a syllable of, he entered into a very
+learned dissertation on "heritable property," and the great difficulties
+that lay in the way of defining its limits.
+
+Meanwhile "pipeclay," as is not unsuitably styled mess-table talk,
+passed among the military, with the usual quizzing about regimental
+oddities. Brownrigg's cob, Hanshaw's whiskers, Talbot's buggy, and
+Carey's inimitable recipe for punch, the Dean throwing in his negatives
+here and there, to show that nothing was "too hot or too heavy" for his
+intellectual fingers.
+
+"Bad law! Mr. Chief Justice," said he, in an authoritative tone. "Doves
+in a cot, and coneys in a warren, go to the heir. With respect to
+deer--"
+
+"Oh dear, how tiresome!" whispered Mrs. White to Cashel, who most
+heartily assented to the exclamation.
+
+"What's the name o' that beastie, young gentleman?" said Sir Andrew, who
+overheard Cashel recounting some circumstances of Mexican life.
+
+"The chiguire,--the wild hog of the Caraccas," said Cashel. "They are
+a harmless sort of animal, and lead somewhat an unhappy life of it; for
+when they escape the crocodile in the river, they are certain to fall
+into the jaws of the jaguar on land."
+
+"Pretty much like a member o' the Scotch Kirk in Ireland," said Sir
+Andrew, "wi' Episcopaalians on the tae haun, and Papishes on the tither.
+Are thae creatures gude to eat, sir?"
+
+"The flesh is excellent," broke in the Dean. "They are the
+_Cavia-Capybara_ of Linnaeus, and far superior to our European swine."
+
+"I only know," said Cashel, abruptly, "that _we_ never eat them, except
+when nothing else was to be had. They are rancid and fishy."
+
+"A mere prejudice, sir," responded the Dean. "If you taste the chiguire,
+to use the vulgar name, and let him lie in steep in a white-wine
+vinegar, _en marinade_, as the French say--"
+
+"Where are you to find the white-wine vinegar in the Savannahs?" said
+Cashel. "You forget, sir, that we are speaking of a country where a fowl
+roasted in its own feathers is a delicacy."
+
+"Oh, how very singular! Do you mean that you eat it, feathers and all?"
+said Mrs. White.
+
+"No, madam. It's a prairie dish, which, I assure you, after all, is not
+to be despised. The _plat_ is made this way. You take a fowl,--the wild
+turkey, when lucky enough to find one,--and cover him all over with soft
+red clay; the river clay is the best. You envelop him completely; in
+fact, you make a great ball, somewhat the size of a man's head. This
+done, you light a fire, and bake the mass. It requires, probably, five
+or six hours to make the clay perfectly hard and dry. When it cracks,
+the dish is done. You then break open the shell, to the outside of which
+the feathers adhere, and the fowl, deliciously roasted, stands before
+you."
+
+"How very excellent,--_le poulet braisé_ of the French, exactly," said
+Lord Kilgoff.
+
+"How cruel!" "How droll!" "How very shocking!" resounded through the
+table; the Dean the only one silent, for it was a theme on which, most
+singular to say, he could neither record a denial nor a correction.
+
+"I vote for a picnic," cried Mrs. White, "and Mr. Cashel shall cook us
+his _dinde ā la Mexicaine_."
+
+"An excellent thought," said several of the younger part of the company.
+
+"A very bad one, in my notion," said Lord Kilgoff, who had no fancy for
+seeing her Ladyship scaling cliffs, and descending steep paths, when his
+own frail limbs did not permit of accompanying her. "Picnics are about
+as vulgar a pastime as one can imagine. Your dinner is ever a
+failure; your wine detestable; your table equipage arrives smashed or
+topsy-turvy--" "_Unde_ topsy-turvy?--_unde_, topsy-turvy, Softly?" said
+the Dean, turning fiercely on the curate. "Whence topsyturvy? Do you
+give it up? Do you, Mr. Attorney? Do you, my Lord? do you give it up,
+eh? I thought so! Topsy-turvy, _quasi_, top side t' other way."
+
+"It's vera ingenious," said Sir Andrew; "but I maun say I see no
+neecessity to be always looking back to whare a word gat his birth,
+parentage, or eddication."
+
+"It suggests unpleasant associations," said Lord Kilgoff, looking
+maliciously towards Linton, who was playing too agreeable to her
+Ladyship. "The etymology is the key to the true meaning. Sir, many of
+those expressions popularly termed bulls--"
+
+"Oh, _apropos_ of bulls," said Mr. Meek, in his sweetest accent, "did
+you hear of a very singular outrage committed yesterday upon the Lord
+Lieutenant's beautiful Swiss bull?"
+
+"Did the Dean pass an hour with him?" whispered Linton to Lady Janet,
+who hated the dignitary.
+
+"It must have been done by mesmerism, I fancy," rejoined Mr. Meek.
+"The animal, a most fierce one, was discovered lying in his paddock, so
+perfectly fettered, head, horns, and feet, that he could not stir. There
+is every reason to connect the outrage with a political meaning; for
+in this morning's paper, 'The Green Isle,' there is a letter from Mr.
+O'Bleather, with a most significant allusion to the occurrence.
+'The time is not distant,' says he, 'when John Bull,'--mark the
+phrase,--'tied, fettered, and trammelled, shall lie prostrate at the
+feet of the once victim of his tyranny.'"
+
+"The sedition is most completely proven by the significance of the act,"
+cried out the Chief Justice.
+
+"We have, consequently, offered a reward for the discovery of the
+perpetrators of this insolent offence, alike a crime against property,
+as an act subversive of the respectful feeling due to the representative
+of the sovereign."
+
+"What is the amount offered?" said Cashel.
+
+"One hundred pounds, for such information as may lead to the conviction
+of the person or persons transgressing," replied the Attorney-General.
+
+"I feel it would be very unfair to suffer the Government to proceed in
+an error as to the affair in question; so that I shall claim the reward,
+and deliver up the offender," replied Cashel, smiling.
+
+"Who can it be?" cried Mr. Meek, in astonishment "Myself, sir," said
+Cashel. "If you should proceed by indictment, as you speak of, I hope
+the Misses Kennyfeck may not have to figure as 'aiding and abetting,'
+for they were present when I lassoed the animal."
+
+"Lassoed the Swiss bull!" exclaimed several together.
+
+[Illustration: 162]
+
+"Nothing more simple," said the Dean, holding up his napkin over Mrs.
+Kennyfeck's head, to the manifest terror of that lady for her yellow
+turban. "You take the loop of a long light rope, and, measuring the
+distance with your eye, you make the cast, in this manner--"
+
+"Oh dear! oh, Mr. Dean; my bird-of-paradise plume!"
+
+"When you represent a bull, ma'am, you should not have feathers,"
+rejoined the implacable Dean, with a very rough endeavor to restore the
+broken plume. "Had you held your head lower down, in the attitude of
+a bull's attack, I should have lassoed you at once, and without
+difficulty."
+
+"Lasso is part of the verb 'to weary,' 'to fatigue,' 'to _ennuyer,_ in
+fact," said Mr. Linton, with an admirably-put-on simplicity; and a very
+general smile ran through the company.
+
+"When did you see Gosford?" said Meek, addressing one of the hussar
+officers, eager to relieve the momentary embarrassment.
+
+"Not for six months; he 's in Paris now." "Does he mention _me_ in his
+letter to you?"
+
+"He does," said the other, but with an evident constraint, and a
+side-look as he ended.
+
+"Yes, faith, he forgets nane of us," said Sir Andrew, with a grin. "He
+asks after Kannyfack,--ould sax-and-eightpence, he ca's you,--and says
+he wished you were at Paris, to gie him a dinner at the--what d' ye
+ca' it?--the Roshy de something. I see he has a word for ye, my Lord
+Kilgoff. He wants to know whether my leddie is like to gie ye an heir
+to the ancient house o' Kilgoff, in whilk case he 'll no be so fond of
+playing écarté wi' George Lushington, wha has naething to pay wi' except
+post-obits on yer lordship,--he, he, he! Ay, and Charlie, my man,"
+continued he, turning to the aide-de-camp, Lord Charles Frobisher, "he
+asks if ye hauld four by honors as often as ye used formerly; he says
+there 's a fellow at Paris ye could n't hold a candle to,--he never
+deals the adversary a card higher than the nine."
+
+The whole company, probably in relief to the evident dismay created by
+the allusion to Lord Kilgoff, laughed heartily at this sally, and none
+more than the good-looking fellow the object of it.
+
+"But what of Meek, sir?--what does he say of Downie?"
+
+"He says vera little about Mister Meek, ava; he only inquires what
+changes we have in the poleetical world, and where is that d--d humbug,
+Downie Meek?"
+
+Another and a heartier laugh now ran through the room, in which Mr.
+Downie Meek cast the most Imploring looks around him.
+
+"Well," cried he, at last, "that's not fair; it is really not fair of
+Gosford. I appeal to this excellent company if I deserve the title."
+
+A chorus of negatives went the round, with most energetic assurances of
+dissenting from the censure of the letter.
+
+"Come now, Sir Andrew," said Meek, who for once, losing his balance,
+would not even omit him in the number of approving voices,--"come, now,
+Sir Andrew, I ask you frankly, am I a humbug?"
+
+"I canna tell," said the cautious old general, with a sly shake of the
+head; "I can only say, sir, be ma saul, ye never humbugged _me!_"
+
+This time the laugh was sincere, and actually shook the table. Mrs.
+Kennyfeck, who now saw that Sir Andrew, to use the phrase employed
+by his acquaintances, "was up," determined to withdraw, and made her
+telegraphic signals, which soon were answered along the line, save by
+Lady Janet, who stubbornly adhered to her glass of claret, with some
+faint hope that the lagging decanter might arrive in her neighborhood
+time enough for another.
+
+Poor Mrs. Kennyfeck's devices to catch her eye were all in vain; as
+well might some bore of the "House" hope for the Speaker's when he was
+fixedly exchanging glances with "Sir Robert." She ogled and smiled, but
+to no purpose.
+
+"My Leddy,--Leddy Janet," said Sir Andrew.
+
+"I hear you, sir; I heard you twice already. If you please, my Lord, a
+very little,--Mr. Linton, I beg for the water. I believe, Sir Andrew,
+you have forgotten Mr. Gosford's kind remembrances to the Dean."
+
+"Faith, and so I did, my Leddy. He asks after ye, Mr. Dean, wi' muckle
+kindness and affection, and says he never had a hearty laugh syne the
+day ye tried to teach Lady Caroline Jedyard to catch a sheep!"
+
+The Dean looked stern, and Linton asked for the secret.
+
+"It was by hauding the beast atween yer knees, and so when the Dean pit
+himself i' the proper position, wi' his legs out, and the shepherd drove
+the flock towards him, by sair ill-luck it was a ram cam first and he
+hoisted his reverence up i' the air, and then laid him flat on his
+back, amaist dead. Ech, sirs! but it was a sair fa', no' to speak o' the
+damage done to his black breeches!"
+
+This was too much for Lady Janet's endurance, and, amid the loud
+laughter of some, and the more difficultly suppressed mirth of others,
+the ladies arose.
+
+"Yer na going, leddies! I hope that naething I said, Leddy Kilgoff,
+Leddy Janet, ech. We mun e'en console ourselves wi' the claret." This
+was said _sotto_, as the door closed and the party reseated themselves
+at the table.
+
+"My Jo Janet _does_ like to bide a wee," muttered he, half aloud.
+
+"Jo!" cried the Dean, "is derived from the Italian; it's a term of
+endearment in both languages. It's a corruption of _Gioia mia_."
+
+"What may that mean?"
+
+"My joy! my life!"
+
+"Eh, that's it, is it? Ah, sir, these derivatives gat mony a twist and
+turn in the way from one land to the tither!" And with this profound bit
+of moralizing, he sipped his glass in revery.
+
+The conversation now became more general, fewer personalities arose; and
+as the Dean, after a few efforts to correct statements respecting the
+"pedigrees of race-horses," "the odds at hazard," "the soundings upon
+the coral reefs," "the best harpoons for the sulphur-bottomed whales,"
+only made new failures, he sulked and sat silent, permitting talk to
+take its course uninterrupted. The hussar baronet paid marked attention
+to Cashel, and invited him to the mess for the day following. Lord
+Charles overheard the invitation, and said, "I'll join the party;" while
+Mr. Meek, leaning over the table, in a low whisper begged Cashel to
+preserve the whole bull adventure a secret, as the press was really a
+most malevolent thing in Ireland!
+
+During the while the Chief Justice slept profoundly, only waking as
+the bottle came before him, and then dropping off again. The
+Attorney-General, an overworked man of business, spoke little and
+guardedly, so that the conversation, principally left to the younger
+members of the party, ranged over the accustomed topics of hunting,
+shooting, and deer-stalking, varied by allusion, on Cashel's part, to
+sports of far higher, because more dangerous, excitement.
+
+In the pleasant flurry of being attentively listened to,--a new
+sensation for Roland,--he arose and ascended to the drawing-room, where
+already a numerous party of refteshers had arrived. Here again Cashel
+discovered that he was a person of notoriety, and as, notwithstanding
+all Mr. Downie Meek's precaution, the "lasso" story had got abroad, the
+most wonderful versions of the incident were repeated on every side.
+
+"How did you say he effected it, Mr. Linton?" said the old deaf Countess
+of Dumdrum, making an ear-trumpet of her hand.
+
+"By doing what Mr. Meek won't do with the Catholics, my Lady,--taking
+the bull by the horns."
+
+"Don't you think he found conciliation of service besides?" suggested
+Mr. Meek, with an angelic simplicity.
+
+"Isn't he handsome! how graceful! So like a Corsair,--one of Byron's
+heroes. I 'm dying to know him. Dear me, how those Kennyfeck girls eat
+him up. Olivia never takes her eyes off him. He looks so bored, poor
+fellow! he 's longing to be let alone." Such were the muttered comments
+on the new object of Dublin curiosity, who himself was very far
+from suspecting that his personal distinction had less share in his
+popularity than his rent-roll and his parchments.
+
+As we are more desirous of recording the impression he himself created,
+than of tracing how others appeared to him, we shall make a noiseless
+turn of the salons, and, spy-fashion, listen behind the chairs.
+
+"So you don't think him even good-looking, Lady Kilgoff?" said Mr.
+Linton, as he stood half behind her seat.
+
+"Certainly not more than good-looking, and not so much as
+nice-looking,--very awkward, and ill at ease he seems."
+
+"That will wear off when he has the good taste to give up talking to
+young ladies, and devote himself to the married ones."
+
+"Enchanting,--positively enchanting, my dear," exclaimed Mrs. Leicester
+White to a young friend beside her. "That description of the forest,
+over which the lianas formed an actual roof, the golden fruit hanging
+a hundred feet above the head, was the most gorgeous picture I ever
+beheld."
+
+"I wish you could persuade him," lisped a young lady with large blue
+eyes, and a profusion of yellow hair in ringlets, "to write that little
+story of the Zambo for Lady Blumter's Annual."
+
+"I say, Charlie," whispered the baronet to the aide-decamp, "but he's
+wide-awake, that Master Cashel; he's a very shrewd fellow, you'll see."
+
+"Do you mean to couch his eyes, Tom?" said Lord Charles, with his usual
+slow, lazy intonation; "what does he say about the races,--will he
+come?"
+
+"Oh, he can't promise, old Kennyfeck has a hold upon him just now about
+law business."
+
+"You will impress upon him, my dear Mr. Kennyfeck," said Mr. Meek, who
+held the lappet of the other's coat, "that there are positively--so to
+say--but two parties in the country,--the Gentleman and the Jacobin.
+Whig and Tory, orange and green, have had their day; and the question
+is now between those who have something to lose, and those who have
+everything to gain."
+
+"I really could wish that you, who are so far better qualified than I am
+to explain--"
+
+"So I will; I intend, my dear sir. Now, when can you dine with me? You
+must come this week; next I shall be obliged to be in London. Shall we
+say Wednesday? Wednesday be it Above all, take care that he doesn't even
+meet any of that dangerous faction,--those Morgans. They are the very
+people to try a game of ascendancy over a young man of great prospects
+and large fortune. O'Growl wants a few men of standing to give an air
+of substance and respectability to the movement. Lord Witherton will
+be most kind to your young friend, but you must press upon him the
+necessity of being presented at once. We want to make him a D.L., and if
+he enters Parliament, to give him the lieutenancy of the county."
+
+While all these various criticisms were circulating, and amid an
+atmosphere, as it were, impregnated by plots and schemes of every kind,
+Cashel stood a very amused spectator of a scene wherein he never knew he
+was the chief actor. It would indeed have seemed incredible to him
+that he could, by any change of fortune, become an object of interested
+speculation to lords, ladies, members of the Government, Church
+dignitaries, and others. He was unaware that the man of fortune, with
+a hand to offer, a considerable share of the influence property always
+gives, livings to bestow, and money to lose, may be a very legitimate
+mark for the enterprising schemes of mammas and ministers, suggesting
+hopes alike to black-coats and blacklegs.
+
+Perhaps, among the pleasant bits of credulity which we enjoy through
+life, there is none sweeter than that implicit faith we repose in the
+cordial expressions and flattering opinions bestowed upon us, when
+starting in the race, by many who merely, in the jockey phrase,
+"standing to win" upon us, have their own, and not _our_ interest before
+them in the encouragement they bestow.
+
+The discovery of the cheat is soon made, and we are too prone to revenge
+our own over-confidence by a general distrust, from which, again,
+experience, later on, rallies us. So that a young man's course is
+usually from over-simplicity to over-shrewdness, and then again to
+that negligent half-faith which either, according to the calibre of the
+wearer, conceals deep knowledge of life, or hides a mistaken notion of
+it. Let us return to Cashel, who now stood at the table, around which
+a considerable number of the party were grouped, examining a number of
+drawings, which Mr. Pepystell, the fashionable architect, had that day
+sent for Roland's inspection; houses, villas, castles, cottages,
+abbeys, shooting-boxes, gate-lodges, Tudor and Saxon, Norman and
+Saracenic,--everything that the morbid imagination of architecture run
+mad could devise and amalgamate between the chaste elegance of the Greek
+and the tinkling absurdity of the Chinese.
+
+"I do so love a cottage _ornée_," said Mrs. White, taking up a very
+beautiful representation of one, where rose-colored curtains, and a
+group on a grass-plot, with gay dresses and parasols, entered into the
+composite architecture. "To my fancy, that would be a very paradise."
+
+"Oh, mamma! isn't that so like dear old Kilgoran!" said a tall, thin
+young lady, handing an abbey, as large as Westminster, to another in
+widow's black.
+
+"Oh, Maria! I wonder at your showing me what must bring up such
+sad memories!" said the mamma, affectedly, while she pressed her
+handkerchief to her eyes.
+
+"If she means her father's house," said Lady Janet to Linton, "it's
+about as like a like as--Lord Kilgoff to the Farnese Hercules, or his
+wife to any other lady in the peerage."
+
+"You remember Kilgoran, my Lord," said the lady in black to the Chief
+Justice; "does that remind you of it?"
+
+"Very like,--very like, indeed, madam," said the old judge, looking at a
+rock-work grotto in a fish-pond.
+
+"What's this?" cried another, taking up a great Saxon fortress,
+with bastions and gate-towers and curtains, as gloomy and sombre as
+Indian-ink could make it.
+
+"As a residence I think that is far too solemn-looking and sad."
+
+"What did you say it was, sir?" asked the judge.
+
+"The elevation for the new jail at Naas, my Lord," replied Linton,
+gravely.
+
+"I 'm very glad to hear it. We have been sadly crippled for room there
+latterly."
+
+"Do you approve of the Panopticon plan, my Lord?" said Mrs. White, who
+never omitted a question when a hard word could be introduced.
+
+"It is, madam,--you are perfectly correct," said the obsequious old
+judge,--"very much the same kind of thing as the Pantechnicon."
+
+"Talking of Panopticon, where 's Kilgoff?" whispered Linton to one of
+the hussars.
+
+"Don't you see him yonder, behind the harp? How that poor woman must be
+bored by such _espionnage!_"
+
+"If you mean to build a house, sir," said Lady Janet, addressing Cashel,
+with a tone of authority, "don't, I entreat of you, adopt any of these
+absurd outrages upon taste and convenience, but have a good square stone
+edifice."
+
+"Four, or even five stories high," broke in Linton, gravely.
+
+"Four quite enough," resumed she, "with a roomy hall, and all the
+reception-rooms leading off it. Let your bedrooms--" "Be numerous
+enough, at all events," said Linton again.
+
+"Of course; and so arranged that you can devote one story to families
+exclusively."
+
+"Yes; the _garįons_ should have their dens as remote as possible from
+the quieter regions."
+
+"Have a mass of small sitting-rooms beside the larger salons. In a
+country-house there's nothing like letting people form their own little
+coteries."
+
+"Wouldn't you have a theatre?" asked Mrs. White.
+
+"There might be, if the circumstances admitted. But with a billiard-room
+and a ball-room--"
+
+"And a snug crib for smoking," whispered one of the military.
+
+"I don't see any better style of house," said Linton, gravely, "than
+those great hotels one finds on the Rhine, and in Germany generally.
+They have ample accommodation, and are so divided that you can have your
+own suite of rooms to yourself."
+
+"Mathews used to keep house after that fashion," said Lord Kilgoff,
+approaching the table. "Every one ordered his own dinner, and eat it
+either in his own apartment or in the dining-room. You were invited for
+four days, never more."
+
+"That was a great error; except in that particular, I should recommend
+the plan to Mr. Roland Cashel's consideration."
+
+"I never heard of it before," said Cashel; "pray enlighten me on the
+subject."
+
+"A very respectable country gentleman, sir," said Lord Kilgoff, "who had
+the whim to see his company without paying what he deemed the heaviest
+penalty,--the fatigue of playing host. He therefore invited his
+friends to come and do what they pleased,--eat, drink, drive, ride,
+play,--exactly as they fancied; only never to notice him otherwise than
+as one of the guests."
+
+"I like his notion prodigiously," cried Cashel; "I should be delighted
+to imitate him."
+
+"Nothing easier, sir," said my Lord, "with Mr. Linton for your prime
+minister; the administration is perfectly practicable."
+
+"Might I venture on such a liberty?"
+
+"Too happy to be president of your council," said Linton, gayly.
+
+A very entreating kind of look from Olivia Kennyfeck here met Cashel's
+eyes, and he remarked that she left the place beside the table and
+walked into the other room; he himself, although dying to follow her,
+had no alternative but to remain and continue the conversation.
+
+"The first point, then," resumed Linton, "is the house. In what state is
+your present mansion?"
+
+"A ruin, I believe," said Cashel.
+
+"How picturesque!" exclaimed Mrs. Leicester White.
+
+"I fancy not, madam," rejoined Cashel. "I understand it is about the
+least prepossessing bit of stone and mortar the country can exhibit."
+
+"No matter, let us see it; we 'll improvise something, and get it ready
+for the Christmas holidays," said Linton. "We have--let us see--we have
+about two months for our preparation, and, therefore, no time to lose.
+We must premise to the honorable company that our accommodation is of
+the simplest; 'roughing' shall be the order of the day. Ladies are not
+to look for Lyons silk ottomans in their dressing-rooms, nor shall we
+promise that our conservatory furnish a fresh bouquet for each fair
+guest at breakfast."
+
+"Two months are four centuries!" said Mrs. White; "we shall accept of no
+apologies for any shortcomings, after such an age of time to prepare."
+
+"You can have your fish from Limerick every day," said an old
+bluff-looking gentleman in a brown wig.
+
+"There 's a capital fellow, called Tom Cox, by the way, somewhere
+down in that country, who used to paint our scenes for the garrison
+theatricals. Could you make him out, he 'd be so useful," said one of
+the military.
+
+"By all means get up some hurdle-racing," cried another.
+
+Meanwhile, Roland Cashel approached Olivia Kennyfeck, who was affecting
+to seek for some piece of music on the pianoforte.
+
+"Why do you look so sad?" said he, in a low tone, and seeming to assist
+her in the search.
+
+"Do I?" said she, with the most graceful look of artless-ness. "I 'm
+sure I did n't know it."
+
+"There again, what a deep sigh that was; come, pray tell me, if I dare
+to know, what has grieved you?"
+
+"Oh, nothing, nothing whatever. I 'm sure I never felt in better
+spirits. Dear me! Mr. Cashel, how terrified I am, there's that dreadful
+Lady Janet has seen us talking together."
+
+"Well, and what then?"
+
+"Oh, she is so mischievous, and says such horrid, spite-ful things. It
+was she that said it--"
+
+"Said what,--what did she say?" cried he, eagerly.
+
+"Oh, what have I done?" exclaimed she, covering her face with her hands.
+"Not for the world would I have said the words. Oh, Mr. Cashel, you, who
+are so good and so generous, do not ask me more."
+
+"I really comprehend nothing of all this," said Cashel, who now began
+to suspect that she had overheard some speech reflecting upon him, and
+had, without intending, revealed it; "at the same time, I must say, if I
+had the right, I should insist on knowing what you heard."
+
+"Perhaps he has the right," muttered she, half aloud, as if speaking
+unconsciously; "I believe he has."
+
+"Yes, yes, be assured of it; what were the words?"
+
+"Oh, I shall die of shame. I 'll never be able to speak to you again;
+but don't look angry, promise that you 'll forget them, swear you 'll
+never think of my having told them, and I'll try."
+
+"Yes, anything, everything; let me hear them."
+
+"Well,"--here she hung her head till the long ringlets fell straight
+from her fair forehead, and half concealed the blushing cheek, which
+each moment grew redder,--"I am so terrified, but you 'll forgive
+it,--I know you will,--well, she said, looking towards you, 'I am not
+acquainted with this young gentleman yet, but if I should have that
+honor soon I 'll take the liberty to tell him that the worthy father's
+zeal in his service is ill-requited by his stealing the affections of
+his youngest daughter.'" Scarcely were the words uttered, when, as if
+the strength that sustained her up to that moment suddenly failed, she
+reeled back and sank fainting on a sofa.
+
+Happily for Cashel's character for propriety, a very general rush of
+ladies, old and young, to the spot, prevented him taking her in his arms
+and carrying her to the balcony for air; but a universal demand for sal
+volatile, aromatic vinegar, open windows, and all the usual restoratives
+concealed his agitation, which really was extreme.
+
+"You are quite well now, dearest," said her mamma, bathing her temples,
+and so artistically as to make her pale face seem even more beautiful in
+the slight dishevelment of her hair. "It was the heat."
+
+"Yes, mamma," muttered she, quite low.
+
+"Hem! I thought so," whispered Lady Janet to a neighbor. "She was too
+warm."
+
+"I really wish that young ladies would reserve these scenes for fitting
+times and places. That open window has brought back my lumbago," said
+Lord Kilgoff.
+
+"The true treatment for syncope," broke in the Dean, "is not by
+stimulants. The want of blood on the brain is produced by mechanical
+causes, and you have merely to hold the person up by the legs--"
+
+"Oh, Mr. Dean! Oh, fie!" cried twenty voices together.
+
+"The Dean is only exemplifying his etymology on 'top side t'other way,'"
+cried Linton.
+
+"Lord Kilgoff's carriage stops the way," said a servant. And now, the
+first announcement given, a very general air of leave-taking pervaded
+the company.
+
+"Won't you have some more muffling?--nothing round _your_ throat?--a
+little negus, my Lord, before venturing into the night air."--"How
+early!"--"How late!"--"What a pleasant evening!"--"What a fine
+night!"--"May I offer you my arm?--mind that step--goodbye,
+good-bye--don't forget to-morrow."--"Your shawl S is blue--that's Lady
+Janet's."--"Which is your hat?"--
+
+"That's not mine. Thanks--don't take so much trouble."--"Not your
+carriage, it is the next but one--mind the draught."--A hundred
+good-nights, and they are gone! So ends a dinner-party, and of all
+the company not a vestige is seen, save the blaze of the low-burned
+wax-lights, the faded flowers, the deranged furniture, and the jaded
+looks of those whose faces wreathed in smiles for six mortal hours seek
+at last the hard-bought and well-earned indulgence of a hearty yawn!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII. TUBBER-BEG.
+
+     He was, the world said, a jovial fellow,
+     Who ne'er was known at Fortune to repine;
+     Increasing years had rendered him more mellow,
+     And age improved him--as it did his wine.
+
+     Sir Gavin Gwynne.
+
+The Shannon, after expanding into that noble sheet of water called
+Lough Derg, suddenly turns to the southward, and enters the valley of
+Killaloe, one of the most beautiful tracts of country which Ireland,
+so rich in river scenery, can boast. The transition from the wide lake,
+with its sombre background of gray mountain and rocky islands, bleak
+and bare, to the cultivated aspect of this favored spot, is like that
+experienced in passing from beneath the gloom of lowering thunder-clouds
+into light and joyous sunshine. Rich waving woods of every tint and hue
+of foliage, with here and there some spreading lawns of deepest green,
+clothe the mountains on either side, while in bright eddies the rapid
+river glides in between, circling and winding as in playful wantonness,
+till in the far distance it is seen passing beneath the ancient bridge
+of Killaloe, whose cathedral towers stand out against the sky.
+
+On first emerging from the lake, the river takes an abrupt bend, round
+a rocky point, and then, sweeping back again in a bold curve, forms a
+little bay of deep and tranquil water, descending towards which the rich
+meadows are seen, dotted with groups of ancient forest trees, and backed
+by a dense skirting of timber. At one spot, where the steep declivity
+of the ground scarce affords footing for the tall ash-trees, stands a
+little cottage, at the extremity of which is an old square tower; this
+is Tubber-beg.
+
+As you sail down the river you catch but one fleeting glance at the
+cottage, and when you look again it is gone! The projecting headlands,
+with the tall trees, have hidden it, and you almost fancy that you have
+not seen it. If you enter the little bay, however, and, leaving the
+strong current, run into the deep water under shore, you arrive at a
+spot which your memory will retain for many a day after.
+
+In front of the cottage, and descending by a series of terraces to which
+art has but little contributed, are a number of flower-plots, whose
+delicious odors float over the still water, while in every gorgeous hue
+are seen the camellia, the oleander, and the cactus, with the tulip, the
+ranunculus, and the carnation,--all flourishing in a luxuriance which
+care and the favored aspect of this sheltered nook combine to
+effect. Behind and around, on either side, the dark-leaved holly, the
+laurustinus, and the arbutus are seen in all the profusion of leaf and
+blossom a mild, moist air secures, and forming a framework in which
+stands the cottage itself, its deep thatched eave, and porch of
+rustic-work trellised and festooned with creeping plants, almost
+blending its color with the surrounding foliage. Through the open
+windows a peep within displays the handsomely disposed rooms, abounding
+in all the evidences of cultivated taste and refinement. Books in
+several of the modern languages are scattered on the table, music,
+drawings of the surrounding scenery, in water-color or pencil,--all that
+can betoken minds carefully trained and exercised, and by their very
+diversity showing in what a world of self-stored resources their
+possessors must live; the easel, the embroidery-frame, the chess-board,
+the half-finished manuscript, the newly copied music, the very sprig of
+fern which marks the page in the little volume on botany,--slight things
+in themselves, but revealing so much of daily life!
+
+If the cottage be an almost ideal representation of rustic elegance and
+simplicity, its situation is still more remarkable for beauty; for while
+Art has developed all the resources of the ground, Nature, in her own
+boundless profusion, has assembled here almost every ingredient of
+the picturesque, and as if to impart a sense of life and motion to the
+stilly calm, a tumbling sheet of water gushes down between the rocks,
+and in bounding leaps descends towards the Shannon, of which it is a
+tributary.
+
+A narrow path, defended by a little railing of rustic-work, separates
+the end of the cottage from the deep gorge of the waterfall; but through
+the open window the eye can peer down into the boiling abyss of spray
+and foam beneath, and catch a glimpse of the bridge which, formed of a
+fallen ash-tree, spans the torrent.
+
+Traversed in every direction by paths, some galleried along the face,
+others cut in the substance of the rock, you can pass hours in rambling
+among these wild and leafy solitudes, now lost in shade, now emerging
+again, to see the great river gliding along, the white sails dotting its
+calm surface.
+
+Well did Mr. Kennyfeck observe to Roland Cashel that it was the most
+beautiful feature of his whole demesne, and that its possession by
+another not only cut him off from the Shannon in its handsomest
+part, but actually deprived the place of all pretension to extent and
+grandeur. The spreading woods of Tubbermore were, as it seemed, the
+background to the cottage scene, and possessed no character to show that
+they were the property of the greater proprietor.
+
+The house itself was not likely to vindicate the claim the locality
+denied. It was built with a total disregard to aspect or architecture.
+It was a large four-storied edifice, to which, by way of taking off from
+the unpicturesque height, two wings had been planned: one of these only
+was finished; the other, half built, had been suffered to fall into
+ruin. At the back, a high brick wall enclosed a space intended for a
+garden, but never put into cultivation, and now a mere nursery of tall
+docks and thistles, whose gigantic size almost overtopped the wall.
+All the dirt and slovenliness of a cottier habitant--for the house was
+occupied by what is misnamed "a caretaker"--were seen on every hand. One
+of the great rooms held the family; its fellow, on the opposite side of
+the hall, contained a cow and two pigs; cabbage-stalks and half-rotting
+potato-tops steamed their pestilential vapors beneath the windows;
+while half-naked children added the discord, the only thing wanting
+to complete the sum of miserable, squalid discomfort, so sadly general
+among the peasantry.
+
+If one needed an illustration of the evils of absenteeism, a better
+could not be found than in the ruinous, damp, discolored building, with
+its falling roof and broken windows. The wide and spreading lawn, thick
+grown with thistles; the trees broken or barked by cattle; the
+gates that hung by a single hinge, or were broken up piecemeal for
+firing,--all evidenced the sad state of neglectful indifference by which
+property is wrecked and a country ruined! Nor was the figure then seated
+on the broken doorstep an unfitting accompaniment to such a scene,--a
+man somewhat past the middle period of life, whose ragged, tattered
+dress bespoke great poverty, his worn hat drawn down over his eyes so
+as partly to conceal a countenance by no means prepossessing; beside him
+lay a long old-fashioned musket, the stock mended by some rude country
+hand. This was Tom Keane, the "caretaker," who, in all the indolent
+enjoyment of office, sat smoking his "dudeen," and calmly surveying the
+process by which a young heifer was cropping the yearling shoots of an
+ash-tree.
+
+Twice was his name called by a woman's voice from within the house
+before he took any notice of it.
+
+"Arrah, Tom, are ye asleep?" said she, coming to the door, and showing a
+figure whose wretchedness was even greater than his own; while a certain
+delicacy of feature, an expression of a mild and pleasing character,
+still lingered on a face where want and privation had set many a mark.
+"Tom, alanah!" said she, in a tone of coaxing softness, "sure it's time
+to go down to the post-office. Ye know how anxious the ould man is for a
+letter."
+
+"Ay, and he has rayson, too," said Tom, without stirring.
+
+"And Miss Mary herself was up here yesterday evening to bid you go
+early, and, if there was a letter, to bring it in all haste."
+
+"And what for need I make haste?" said the man, sulkily. "Is it any
+matther to me whether he gets one or no? Will _I_ be richer or poorer?
+Poorer!" added he, with a savage laugh; "be gorra! that wud be hard,
+anyhow. That's a comfort old Oorrigan hasn't. If they turn him out of
+the place, then he'll know what it is to be poor!"
+
+"Oh, Tom, acushla! don't say _that_, and he so good to us, and the
+young lady that was so kind when the childer had the measles, comin'
+twice--no, but three times a day, with everything she could think of."
+
+"Wasn't it to please herself? Who axed her?" said Tom, savagely.
+
+"Oh, dear! oh, dear!" sighed the woman. "Them's the hard words,--'to
+please herself!'"
+
+"Ay, just so! When ye know them people as well as me, you 'll say the
+same. That's what they like,--to make themselves great among the poor;
+giving a trifle here, and a penny there; making gruel for this one, and
+tay for that; marchin' in as if they owned the house, and turning up
+their noses at everything they see. 'Why don't you sweep before the
+door, Nancy?'--'Has the pig any right to be eating there out of the
+kish with the childer?'--'Ye ought to send that child to school'--and,
+'What's your husband doing?'--That's the cry with them. 'What's your
+husband doing? Is he getting the wheat in, or is he at the potatoes?'
+Tear and ages!" cried he, with a wild energy, "what does any one of
+themselves do from morning till night, that they 're to come spyin'
+after a poor man, to ax 'Is he workin' like a naygur?' But we 'll teach
+them something yet,--a lesson they 're long wanting. Listen to this."
+
+He took, as he spoke, a soiled and ragged newspaper from his pocket, and
+after seeking some minutes for the place, he read, in a broken voice:--
+
+"'The days to come'--ay, here it is--'The days to come.--Let the poor
+man remember that there is a future before him that, if he have but
+courage and boldness, will pay for the past. Turn about's fair play, my
+lords and gentlemen! You 've had the pack in your own hands long enough,
+and dealt yourselves all the trumps. Now, give us the cards for a while.
+You say our fingers are dirty; so they are, with work and toil, black
+and dirty! but not as black as your own hearts. Hurrah! for a new deal
+on a bran-new table: Ireland the stakes, and the players her own stout
+sons!' Them's fine sintiments," said he, putting up the paper. "Fine
+sintiments! and the sooner we thry them the better. That's the real
+song," said he, reciting with energy,--
+
+     "'Oh! the days to come, the days to come,
+     When Erin shall have her own, boys!
+     When we 'll pay the debts our fathers owed,
+     And reap what they have sown, boys!'"
+
+He sprang to his feet as he concluded, shouldering his musket, strode
+out as if in a marching step, and repeating to himself, as he went, the
+last line of the song. About half an hour's brisk walking brought him to
+a low wicket which opened on the high road, a little distance from
+which stood the small village of Derraheeny, the post-town of the
+neighborhood. The little crowd which usually assembled at the passing of
+the coach had already dispersed, when Tom Keane presented himself at the
+window, and asked, in a tone of voice subdued almost to softness,--
+
+"Have you anything for Mr. Corrigan this morning, ma'am?"
+
+"Yes; there are two letters and a newspaper," replied a sharp voice from
+within. "One-and-fourpence to pay."
+
+"She did n't give me any money, ma'am, but Miss Mary said--"
+
+"You can take them," interrupted the post-mistress, hastily handing them
+out, and slamming the little window to at the same instant.
+
+"There's more of it!" muttered Tom; "and if it was for _me_ the letters
+was, I might sell my cow before I 'd get trust for the price of them!"
+And with this reflection he plodded moodily homeward. Scarcely, however,
+had he entered the thick plantation than he seated himself beneath a
+tree, and proceeded to take a careful and strict scrutiny of the two
+letters; carefully spelling over each address, and poising them in his
+hands, as if the weight could assist his guesses as to the contents.
+"That's Mr. Kennyfeck's big seal. I know it well," said he, gazing on
+the pretentious coat-of-arms which emblazoned the attorney's letter.
+"I can make nothing of the other at all. 'Cornelius Corrigan, Esq.,
+Tubber-beg, Derraheeny,'--sorra more!" It was in vain that he held it
+open, lozenge fashion, to peep within; but one page only was written,
+and he could not see that. Kennyfeck's letter was enclosed in an
+envelope, so that here, too, he was balked, and at last was fain to
+slip the newspaper from its cover,--a last resource to learn
+something underhand! The newspaper did not contain anything peculiarly
+interesting, save in a single paragraph, which announced the intention
+of Roland Cashel, Esq., of Tubbermore Castle, to contest the county at
+the approaching general election. "We are informed," said the writer,
+"on competent authority, that this gentleman intends to make the
+ancestral seat his chief residence in future, and that already
+preparations are making to render this princely mansion in every respect
+worthy of the vast fortune of its proprietor."
+
+"Faith, and the 'princely mansion' requires a thing or two to make it
+all perfect," said Tom, with a sardonic laugh; while in a lower tone he
+muttered,--"maybe, for all the time he 'll stay there, it's not worth
+his while to spend the money on it." Having re-read the paragraph, he
+carefully replaced the paper in its cover, and continued his way, not,
+however, towards his own home, but entering a little woodland path that
+led direct towards the Shannon. After passing a short distance, he came
+to a little low edge of beech and birch, through which a neat rustic
+gate led and opened upon a closely shaven lawn. The neatly gravelled
+walk, the flower-beds, the delicious perfume that was diffused on every
+side, the occasional peeps at the eddying river, and the cottage itself
+seen at intervals between the evergreens that studded the lawn, were
+wide contrasts to the ruinous desolation of the "Great House;" and as
+if unwilling to feel their influence, Tom pulled his hat deeper over his
+brows, and never looked at either side as he advanced. The part of
+the cottage towards which he was approaching contained a long veranda,
+supported by pillars of rustic-work, within which, opening by three
+large windows, was the principal drawing-room. Here, now, at a small
+writing-table, sat a young girl, whose white dress admirably set off the
+graceful outline of her figure, seen within the half-darkened room; her
+features were pale, but beautifully regular, and the masses of her hair,
+black as night, which she wore twisted on the back of the head, like a
+cameo, gave a character of classic elegance and simplicity to the whole.
+
+[Illustration: 181]
+
+Without, and under the veranda, an old man, tall, and slightly bowed
+in the shoulders, walked slowly up and down. It needed not the careful
+nicety of his long queue., the spotless whiteness of his cambric shirt
+and vest, nor the perfection of his nicely fitting nankeen pantaloons,
+to bespeak him a gentleman of the past day. There was a certain _suave_
+gentleness in his bland look, an air of easy courtesy in his every
+motion, a kind of well-bred mannerism in the very carriage of his
+gold-headed cane, that told of a time when the graces of deportment were
+a study, and when our modern careless freedom had been deemed the very
+acme of rudeness. He was dictating, as was his wont each morning, some
+reminiscence of his early life, when he had served in the Body-Guard of
+Louis XVI., and where he had borne his part in the stormy scenes of that
+eventful era. The memory of that most benevolent monarch, the
+fascinations of that queen whom to serve was to idolize, had sufficed to
+soften the hardships of a life which, from year to year, pressed more
+heavily, and were at last, after many a straggle, impressing their lines
+upon a brow where age alone had never written grief.
+
+On the morning in question, instead of rapidly pouring forth his
+recollections, which usually came in groups, pressing one upon the
+other, he hesitated often, sometimes forgetting "where he was," in his
+narrative, and more than once ceasing to speak altogether; he walked in
+revery, and seeming deeply preoccupied.
+
+His granddaughter had noticed this change; but cautiously abstaining
+from anything that might betray her consciousness, she sat, pen in hand,
+waiting, her lustrous eyes watching each gesture with an intensity of
+interest that amounted to actual suffering.
+
+"I fear, Mary," said he, with an effort to smile, "we must give it up
+for to-day. The present is too strong for the past, just as sorrow is
+always an overmatch for joy. Watching for the post has routed all my
+thoughts, and I can think of nothing but what tidings may reach me from
+Dublin."
+
+"You have no fears, sir," said she, rising, and drawing her arm within
+his, "that your application could be rejected. You ask nothing unusual
+or unreasonable,--a brief renewal of a lease where you have expended a
+fortune."
+
+"True, true, dear child. Let us, however, not look on the case with our
+eyes alone, but see it as others may.. But here comes Tom.--Well, what
+news, Tom; are there letters?"
+
+"Yes, sir, here's two; there's one-and-fourpence to be paid."
+
+"Let me see them," cried the old man, impatiently, as he snatched them,
+and hastily re-entered the house.
+
+"Is Cathleen better to-day?" said the young lady, addressing the
+peasant.
+
+"Yes, miss, glory be to God, she's betther. Thanks to yourself and Him.
+Oh, then, it's of yer beautiful face she does be dramin' every night.
+Says she, 'It's Miss Mary, I think, is singing to me, when I hear the
+birds in my sleep.'"
+
+"Poor child, give her this little book for me, and say I 'll come up and
+see her this evening, if I can. Mrs. Moore will send her the broth; I
+hope she 'll soon be able to eat something. Good-bye, Tom."
+
+A deep-drawn heavy sigh from within the cottage here made her abruptly
+conclude the interview and hasten in. The door of her grandfather's
+little dressing-room was, however, locked; and after a noiseless effort
+to turn the handle, she withdrew to the drawing-room to wait in deep
+anxiety for his coming.
+
+The old man sat with his head supported on both hands, gazing
+steadfastly at two open letters which lay on the table before him; had
+they contained a sentence of death, his aspect could scarce have been
+more sad and sorrow-struck. One was from Mr. Kennyfeck, and ran thus:
+
+     Dear Mr. Corrigan,--I have had a brief conversation with Mr.
+     Roland Cashel on the subject of your renewal, and I am
+     grieved to say that he does not seem disposed to accede to
+     your wishes. Entertaining, as he does, the intention to make
+     Tubbermore his chief residence in Ireland, his desire is, I
+     believe, to connect the farm in your holding with the
+     demesne. This will at once explain that it is not a question
+     of demanding a higher rent from you, but simply of carrying
+     out a plan for the enlargement and improvement of the
+     grounds pertaining to the "Hall."
+
+     The matter, is, however, by no means decided upon; nor will
+     it be, in all probability, before you have an opportunity of
+     meeting Mr. Cashel personally. His present intention is to
+     visit your neighborhood next week.
+
+     I am, dear sir, truly yours,
+
+     M. Kennyfeck. Cornelius Corrigan, Esq., Tubber-beg Cottage.
+
+The second letter was as follows:--
+
+     "Simpkins and Green have the honor to forward for
+     acceptance the enclosed bill for two hundred and seventeen
+     pounds, at three months, Mr. Heneage Leicester, of New
+     Orleans, on Mr. Corrigan.
+
+     "They are authorized also to state that Mr. Leicester's
+     affairs have suffered considerably from the consequence of
+     the commercial distress at N. O., and his personal property
+     has been totally lost by the earthquake which took place on
+     the 11th and 12th ultimo. He therefore trusts to Mr. C------
+     's efforts to contribute to his aid by a greater exertion
+     than usual, and will draw upon him for two sums of one
+     hundred, at dates of six and nine months, which he hopes may
+     suit his convenience, and be duly honored. Mr. Leicester
+     continues to hope that he may be able to visit Europe in the
+     spring, where his great anxiety to see his daughter will
+     call him."
+
+"The ruin is now complete," said the old man. "I have struggled for
+years with poverty and privation to ward off this hour; but, like
+destiny, it will not be averted! Despoiled of fortune; turned from the
+home where I have lived from my childhood; bereft of all! I could bear
+up still if she were left to me; but now, he threatens to take _her_, my
+child, my hope, my life! And the world will stand by him, and say,
+'He is her father!' He, that broke the mother's heart,--my own darling
+girl!--and now comes to rob me--a poor helpless old man--of all my
+companionship and my pride. Alas, alas! the pride, perhaps, deserves the
+chastisement. Poor Mary, how will she ever learn to look on him with
+a daughter's affection?--What a life will hers be! and this
+deception,--how will it, how can it ever be explained? I have always
+said that he was dead."
+
+Such, in broken half-sentences, were the words he spoke, while
+thick-coming sobs almost choked his utterance.
+
+"This cannot be helped," said he, taking up the pen and writing his name
+across the bill. "So much I can meet by selling our little furniture
+here; we shall need it no more, for we have no longer a home. Where to,
+then?"
+
+He shook his hands in mournful despair, and walked towards the window.
+Mary was standing outside, in the little flower-garden, assisting the
+old gardener to fasten some stray tendrils of a japonica between two
+trees.
+
+"We must try and shelter this window, Ned," said she, "from the morning
+sun. It comes in too strongly here in papa's library. By next summer, I
+hope to see a thick trellis of leaves across the whole casement."
+
+"By next summer," repeated the old man, from within, with a trembling
+voice; "and who will be here to see it?"
+
+"This little hedge, too, must be overgrown with that creeping plant we
+got from America, the white liana. I want the beech to be completely hid
+beneath the blossoms, and they come out in May."
+
+"In May!" said the poor old man, with an accent of inexpressible
+sadness, as though the very promise of spring had unfolded a deep vista
+of years of suffering. "But why care for the home, if she, who made its
+sunshine, is taken from me? What matters it where I linger on, or how,
+the last few hours of a life, bereft of its only enjoyment,--she, that
+in my old age renewed all the memories of my early and my happy days."
+
+He sat down and covered his face with his hands; and when he withdrew
+them, the whole character and expression of the countenance had changed:
+a dull, meaningless look had replaced the mild and cheerful beam of his
+soft blue eyes; the cheeks were flattened, and the mouth, so ready with
+its gentle smile, now remained partly open, and slightly drawn to one
+side. He made an effort to speak, but a thickened guttural utterance
+rendered the words scarcely intelligible. He approached the window and
+beckoned with his hand. The next instant, pale with terror, but still
+composed and seeming calm, Mary was beside him.
+
+"You are not well, dear papa," she said, with a great effort to appear
+at ease. "You must lie down--here will do--on this sofa; I 'll close
+the curtain, and send over for Tiernay,--he said he should be back from
+Limerick this morning."
+
+A gentle pressure of her hand to his lips, and a faint smile, seemed to
+assent.
+
+She opened the window, and whispered a few words to the gardener; and
+then, closing it noiselessly, drew the curtain, and sat down on a low
+stool beside the sofa where he lay.
+
+So still and motionless did he remain that she thought he
+slept,--indeed, the long-drawn breathing, and the repose of his
+attitude, betokened sleep.
+
+Mary did not venture to move, but sat, one hand clasped in his, the
+other resting on his forehead, still and silent.
+
+The darkened room, the unbroken silence, the figure of him in whom was
+centred her every thought and hope, lying sick before her, sank with
+a dreary weight upon her heart; and in the gloom of her sorrow dark
+foreboding of future evil arose, vague terrors of trials, new and
+hard to bear! That strange prescience, which never is wanting in great
+afflictions, and seems itself a Heaven-sent warning to prepare for the
+coming blow, revealed a time of sore trouble and calamity before her.
+"Let him be but spared to me," she cried, in her heart-uttered prayer,
+"and let me be so fashioned in spirit and temper that I may minister to
+him through every hour,--cheering, consoling, and encouraging; giving of
+_my_ youth its gift of hopefulness and trust, and borrowing of _his_ age
+its serenity and resignation. But oh that I may not be left solitary and
+alone, unfriended and unsupported!" A gush of tears, the first she shed,
+here burst forth, and, in the transport of her grief, brought calm to
+her mind once more.
+
+A low tap at the window, and a voice in whisper aroused her. "It is the
+doctor, miss,--Dr. Tiernay," said the gardener.
+
+A motion to admit him was all her reply, and with noiseless step the
+physician entered and approached the sofa. He felt the pulse, and
+listened to the respiration of the sick man; and then, withdrawing
+the curtain so as to let the light fall upon his features, steadily
+contemplated their expression. As he looked, his own countenance grew
+graver and sadder; and it was with an air of deep solemnity that he took
+Mary's hand and led her from the room.
+
+With a weight like lead upon her heart Mary moved away. "When did it
+happen?" whispered he, when he had closed the door behind them.
+
+"Happen!" gasped she, in agony; "what do you mean?"
+
+"I meant when--this--occurred," replied he, faltering; "was he in his
+usual health this morning?"
+
+"Yes, perfectly,--a little less composed; anxious about his letters;
+uneasy at the delay,--but no more."
+
+"You do not know if he received any unpleasant tidings, or heard
+anything to distress him?"
+
+"He may have done so," answered she, sadly, "for he locked his door and
+read over his letters by himself. When I saw him next, he was standing
+at the window, and beckoning to me."
+
+A gentle tap at the door here interrupted the colloquy, and the old
+housekeeper whispered, "The master, miss, wants to spake with the
+doctor; he's better now."
+
+"Oh, let me see him," cried Mary, springing towards the door. But Dr.
+Tiernay interposed gently, and said, "No, this might prove dangerous;
+remain here till I have seen and spoken with him." Mary assented by a
+gesture, and sat down without speaking.
+
+"Sit down, Tiernay," said the sick man, as the doctor came to his
+bedside,--"sit down, and let me speak while I have strength. Everything
+is against us, Tiernay. We are not to get the renewal; this young Mr.
+Cashel wants the cottage,--we must turn out. I'll have to do so, even
+before the gale-day; but what matter about me! It 's that poor child
+I 'm thinking of--" Here he stopped, and was some minutes before he could
+resume. "There,--read that; that will tell you all."
+
+Tiernay took the crumpled letter, which the old man had all this while
+held firmly in his closed grasp, and read it.
+
+"Well, that 's bad news, is n't it?" said Corrigan. "Not the bill,--I
+don't mean that; but _he 's_ coming back; do you see the threat?--he's
+coming back again."
+
+"How can he?" said the doctor. "The man committed a forgery. How will he
+dare to return here and place his neck in a halter?"
+
+"You forget whose evidence alone can convict him,--mine; the name he
+forged was mine, the sum he took was mine,--nearly all I had in the
+world; but he has nothing to fear from me, whatever I may have to dread
+from _him_."
+
+"How can he have any terror for _you!_"
+
+"He can take _her_ away,--not from me, for she 'll soon be separated by
+a stronger hand than his; but I can't bear to think that she 'll be in
+his power. Tiernay, this is what is cutting into my heart now as I lie
+here, and leaves me no rest to think of the brief minutes before me.
+Tell me, is there no way to avoid this? Think of something, my old
+friend,--take this weight off my dying heart, and my last breath will
+bless you."
+
+"Are there any relations, or friends?"
+
+"None, not one; I 'm the last of the tree,--the one old rotten branch
+left. I was thinking of a nunnery, Tiernay, one of those convents in
+France or the Low Countries; but even there, if he found her out, he
+could legally demand her to be restored to him,--and he would find her,
+ay, that he would! There never was a thing yet that man could n't do
+when he set his heart on it; and the more the obstacles, the greater his
+wish. I heard him say it with his own lips, that he never had any fancy
+for my poor Lucy till he overheard her one day saying that 'she never
+hated any one till she knew him.' From that hour, he swore to himself
+she should be his wife! Heaven knows if the hate was not better bestowed
+than the love; and yet, she did love him to the last,--ay, even, after
+cruelty and desertion, ay, after his supposed death; when she heard that
+he married another, and was living in splendor at Cadiz, ay,--Tiernay!
+after all that, she told me on her death-bed, she loved him still!"
+
+"I think the nunnery is the best resource," said the doctor, recalling
+the sick man from a theme where his emotions were already too powerfully
+excited.
+
+"I believe it is," said the old man, with more of energy than before;
+"and I feel almost as if Providence would give me strength and health
+to take her there myself, and see her safe before I die. Feel that pulse
+now: isn't it stronger?"
+
+"You are better, much better already," said the doctor; "and now, keep
+quiet and composed. Don't speak--if it was possible, I 'd say, don't
+think--for a few hours. The worst is nigh over."
+
+"I thought so, Tiernay. I felt it was what old Joe Henchy used to call
+'a runaway knock.'" And, with a faint smile, the old man pressed his
+hand, and said, "Good-bye."
+
+Scarcely, however, had the doctor reached the door, when he called him
+back.
+
+"Tiernay," said he, "it's of no use telling me to lie still, and keep
+quiet, and the rest of it. I continue, asleep or awake, to think over
+what's coming. There is but one way to give me peace,--give me some
+hope. I 'll tell you now how that is to be done; but, first of all, can
+you spare three days from home?"
+
+"To be sure I can; a week, if it would serve you. Where am I to go?"
+
+"To Dublin, Tiernay. You 'll have to go up there, and see this young
+man, Cashel, yourself, and speak to him for me. Tell him nothing of our
+present distress or poverty, but just let him see who it is that he
+is turning out of the lands where their fathers lived for hundreds of
+years. Tell him that the Corrigans is the oldest stock in the whole
+country; that the time was, from the old square tower on Garraguin, you
+could n't see a spot of ground that was n't our own! Tell him,"--and,
+as he spoke, his flashing eye and heightened color showed how the theme
+agitated and excited him,--"tell him that if he turns us from hearth
+and home, it is not as if it was like some poor cotter--" He paused, his
+lips trembled, and the big tears burst from his eyes and rolled heavily
+down his face. "Oh! God forgive me for saying the words!" cried he, in
+an accent of deep agony. "Why wouldn't the humblest peasant that ever
+crouched to his meal of potatoes, beside the little turf fire of his
+cabin, love his home as well as the best blood in the land? No, no, Mat,
+it's little kindness we 'd deserve on such a plea as that."
+
+"There, there, don't agitate yourself. I know what you mean, and what
+you'd like me to say."
+
+"You do not," rejoined the old man, querulously, "for I have n't said it
+yet. Nor I can't think of it now. Ah, Mat," here his voice softened once
+more into its habitual key, "that was a cruel thought of me a while ago;
+and faith, Mr. Cashel might well suspect, if he heard it, that I was n't
+one of the old good blood of the Corrigans, that could talk that way of
+the poor; but so it is. There is n't a bad trait in a man's heart that
+is not the twin-brother of his selfishness. And now I'll say no more;
+do the best you can for us, that's all. I was going to bid you tell him
+that we have an old claim on the whole estate that some of the lawyers
+say is good,--that the Crown have taken off the confiscation in the
+time of my great father, Phil Corrigan; but sure he would n't mind
+that,--besides, that's not the way to ask a favor."
+
+"You must n't go on talking this way; see how hot your hand is!"
+
+"Well, maybe it will be cold enough soon! There is another thing, Mat.
+You must call on Murphy, with the bill of sale of the furniture and the
+books, and get money to meet these bills. There they are; I indorsed
+them this morning. Tell Green it's no use sending me the other bills; I
+'ll not have means to take them up, and it would be only disgracing my
+name for nothing to write it on them. I 'll be longing to see you back
+again, Mat, and hear your tidings; so God bless you, and send you safe
+home to us."
+
+"I 'll set off to-night," said the doctor, rising, and shaking his hand.
+"Your attack is passed over, and there's no more danger, if you 'll keep
+quiet."
+
+"There's another thing, Mat," said the sick man, smiling faintly, and
+with a strange meaning. "Call at 28 Drogheda Street, and ask the people
+to show you the room Con Corrigan fought the duel in with Colonel
+Battley. It was only twelve feet long and ten wide, a little place off
+the drawing-room, and the colonel would n't even consent that we should
+stand in the corners. Look and see if the bullet is in the wall still.
+The old marquis used to have it fresh painted red every year, on the
+anniversary of the day. Oh, dear, oh, dear, but they were the strange
+times, then! ay, and pleasant times too." And with such reflections on
+the past, he fell off into a dreamy half-consciousness, during which
+Tiernay stole from the room and left him alone.
+
+Faint and trembling with agitation, Mary Leicester was standing all this
+while at the door of the sick chamber. "Did I hear aright, Doctor?" said
+she; "was that his voice that sounded so cheerfully?"
+
+"Yes, my dear Miss Mary, the peril is by; but be cautious. Let him not
+speak so much, even with you. This is a sweet quiet spot,--Heaven grant
+he may long enjoy it!"
+
+Mary's lips muttered some words in audibly, and they parted. She sat
+down alone, in the little porch under the eave. The day was a delicious
+one in autumn, calm, mellow, and peaceful; a breeze, too faint to ripple
+the river, stirred the flowers and shook forth their odor. The cottage,
+the leafy shade, through which the tempered sunlight fell in fanciful
+shapes upon the gravel, the many colored blossoms of the rich garden,
+the clear and tranquil river, the hum of the distant waterfall,--they
+were all such sights and sounds as breathe of home and home's happiness;
+and so had she felt them to be till an unknown fear found entrance into
+her heart and spread its darkness there. What a terrible sensation comes
+with a first sorrow!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV. MR. LINTON REVEALS HIS DESIGNS.
+
+     With fame and fortune on the cast,
+     He never rose a winner,
+     And learned to know himself, at last,
+     "A miserable sinner."
+
+     Bell.
+
+It was about ten days or a fortnight after the great Kennyfeck dinner,
+when all the gossip about its pretension, dulness, and bad taste had
+died away, and the worthy guests so bored by the festivity began to
+wonder "when they would give another," that a gentleman sat at breakfast
+in one of those large, dingy-looking, low-ceilinged apartments which are
+the choice abodes of the viceregal staff in the Castle of Dublin. The
+tawdry and time-discolored gildings, the worn and faded silk hangings,
+the portraits of bygone state councillors and commanders-in-chief,
+grievously riddled by rapier-points and pistol-shots, were not without
+an emblematic meaning of the past glories of that seat of Government,
+now so sadly fallen from its once high and palmy state.
+
+Although still a young man, the present occupant of the chamber appeared
+middle-aged, so much had dissipation and excess done the work of time on
+his constitution. A jaded, wearied look, a sleepy, indolent expression
+of the eye, certain hard lines about the angles of the mouth, betokened
+one who played a high game with life, and rarely arose a winner.
+Although his whole appearance bespoke birth and blood rather than
+intellect or ability, there was enough in his high and squarely shaped
+head, his deep dark eye, and his firm, sharply cut mouth, to augur that
+incapacity could not be reckoned among the causes of any failures he
+incurred in his career. He was, in every respect, the _beau idéal_
+of that strange solecism in our social code, "the younger son." His
+brother, the Duke of Derwent, had eighty thousand a year. _He_ had
+exactly three hundred. His Grace owned three houses, which might well
+be called palaces, besides a grouse lodge in the Highlands, a yachting
+station at Cowes, and a villa at Hyčres in France. My Lord was but too
+happy to be the possessor of the three cobwebbed chambers of a viceregal
+aide-decamp, and enjoy the pay of his troop without joining his
+regiment.
+
+Yet these two men were reared exactly alike! As much habituated to
+every requirement and luxury of wealth as his elder brother, the younger
+suddenly discovered that, once beyond the shadow of his father's house,
+all his worldly resources were something more than what the cook, and
+something less than the valet, received. He had been taught one valuable
+lesson, however, which was, that as the State loves a rich aristocracy,
+it burdens itself with the maintenance of all those who might prove a
+drain on its resources, and that it is ever careful to provide for the
+Lord Georges and Lord Charleses of its noble houses. To this provision
+he believed he had a legal claim,--at all events, he knew it to be a
+right uncontested by those less highly born.
+
+The system which excludes men from the career of commerce, in
+compensation opens the billiard-room, the whist-table, and the
+betting-ring; and many a high capacity has been exercised in such
+spheres as these, whose resources might have won honor and distinction
+in very different fields of enterprise. Whether Lord Charles Frobisher
+knew this, and felt that there was better in him, or whether his
+successes were below his hopes, certain is it, he was a depressed,
+dejected man, who lounged through life in a languid indolence, caring
+for nothing, not even himself.
+
+There was some story of an unfortunate attachment, some love affair with
+a very beautiful but portionless cousin, who married a marquis, to which
+many ascribed the prevailing melancholy of his character; but they who
+remembered him as a schoolboy said he was always shy and reserved,
+and saw nothing strange in his bearing as a man. The breakfast-table,
+covered with all that could stimulate appetite, and yet withal untasted,
+was not a bad emblem of one who, with many a gift to win an upward way,
+yet lived on in all the tawdry insignificance of a court aide-de-camp.
+A very weak glass of claret and water, with a piece of dry toast, formed
+his meal; and even these stood on the corner of a writing-table, at
+which he sat, rising sometimes to look out of the window, or pace the
+room with slow, uncertain steps. Before him lay an unfinished letter,
+which, to judge from the slow progress it made, and the frequent
+interruptions to its course, seemed to occasion some difficulty in the
+composition; and yet the same epistle began "My dear Sydney," and was
+addressed to his brother. Here it is:--
+
+     My dear Sydney,--I suppose, from not hearing from you some
+     weeks back, that my last, which I addressed to the
+     Clarendon, has never reached you, nor is it of any
+     consequence. It would be too late now to ask you about
+     Scott's horses. Cobham told us how you stood yourself, and
+     that was enough to guide the poor devils here with their
+     ponies and fifties. We all got a squeeze on the "mare." I
+     hear you won seven thousand besides the stakes. I hope the
+     report may be true. Is Raucus in training for the Spring
+     Meeting, or not? If so, let me have some trifle on him in
+     your own book.
+
+     I perceive you voted on Brougham's amendment against our
+     people; I conclude you were right, but it will make them
+     very stubborn with me about the exchange.     N------has
+     already remarked upon what he calls the "intolerable
+     independence of some noble lords." I wish I knew the clew to
+     your proceeding: are you at liberty to give it? I did not
+     answer the question in your last letter.--Of course I am
+     tired of Ireland; but as the alternatives are a "compound
+     in Calcutta, or the Government House, Quebec," I may as well
+     remain where I am. I don't know that a staff-officer, like
+     Madeira, improves by a sea-voyage.
+
+     You say nothing of Georgina, so that I hope her chest is
+     better, and that Nice may not be necessary. I believe, if
+     climate were needed, you would find Lisbon, or rather
+     Cintra, better than any part of Italy, and possessed of one
+     great advantage,--few of our rambling countrymen.    N------
+     commended your haunch so highly, and took such pains to
+     record his praises, that I suspect he looks for a repetition
+     of the favor. If you _are_ shooting bucks, perhaps you would
+     send him a quarter.
+
+Two sentences, half finished and erased, here showed that the writer
+experienced a difficulty in continuing. Indeed, his flurried manner as
+he resumed the letter proved it. At last he went on:--
+
+     I hate asking favors, my dear Sydney, but there is one
+     which, if not positively repugnant to you to grant, will
+     much oblige me. There is a young millionnaire here, a Mr.
+     Cashel, wishes to be a member of your Yacht Club; and as I
+     have given a promise to make interest in his behalf with
+     you, it would be conferring a great obligation on me were I
+     to make the request successfully. So far as I can learn,
+     there is no reason against his admission, and, as regards
+     property, many reasons in his favor. If you can do this for
+     me, then, you will render me a considerable service.
+
+     Of course I do not intend to fix any acquaintanceship upon
+     you, nor in any other way, save the bean in the ballot-box,
+     and a civil word in proposing, inflict you with what Rigby
+     calls "Protective Duties." I should have been spaced in
+     giving you this trouble but for Tom Linton, who, with his
+     accustomed good nature at other men's cost, suggested the
+     step to Cashel, and told him, besides, that my brother was
+     vice-admiral of the yacht fleet.
+
+     If Emily wants a match for the chestnut pony, I know of one
+     here perfect in every respect, and to be had very cheap. Let
+     me know about this soon, and also the club matter, as I have
+     promised to visit Cashel at his country-house; and in case
+     of refusal on your part, this would be unpleasant Thanks for
+     your invitation for Christmas, which I cannot accept of.
+     Hope and Eversham are both on leave, so that I must remain
+     here.   N------continues to ask you here; but my advice is,
+     as it has ever been, not to come. The climate detestable,--
+     the houses dull and dirty; no shooting, nor any hunting,--
+     at least with such horses as you are accustomed to ride.
+
+     I am glad you took my counsel about the mortgage. There is
+     no property here worth seventeen years' purchase, in the
+     present aspect of politics. Love to Jane and the girls, and
+     believe me ever yours,
+
+     Charles Frobisher.
+
+The task completed, he turned to the morning papers, which, with a
+mass of tradesmen's bills, notes, and cards of invitation, littered the
+table. He had not read long, when a deep-drawn yawn from the further end
+of the room aroused him, and Frobisher arose and walked towards a sofa,
+on which was stretched a man somewhat about the middle of life, but
+whose bright eye and fresh complexion showed little touch of time. His
+dress, slightly disordered, was a dinner costume, and rather inclined
+towards over-particularity; at least, the jewelled buttons of his vest
+and shirt evinced a taste for display that seemed not ill to consort
+with the easy effrontery of his look.
+
+Taking his watch from his pocket, he held it to his ear, saying, "There
+is an accomplishment, Charley, I 've never been able to acquire,--to
+wind my watch at supper-time. What hour is it?"
+
+"Two," said the other, laconically.
+
+"By Jove! how I must have slept Have you been to bed?"
+
+"Of course. But, I 'd swear, with less success than you have had on that
+old sofa. I scarcely closed my eyes for ten minutes together."
+
+"That downy sleep only comes of a good conscience and a heart at ease
+with itself," said the other. "You young gentlemen, who lead bad lives,
+know very little about the balmy repose of the tranquil mind."
+
+"Have you forgotten that you were to ride out with Lady Cecilia this
+morning?" said Frobisher, abruptly.
+
+"Not a bit of it. I even dreamed we were cantering together along the
+sands, where I was amusing her ladyship with some choice _morceaux_ of
+scandal from that set in society she professes to hold in such horror
+that she will not receive them at court, but for whose daily sayings and
+doings she has the keenest zest."
+
+"Foster is gone with her," rejoined Lord Charles, "and I suspect she is
+just as well pleased. Before this he has told her everything about our
+late sitting, and the play, and the rest of it!"
+
+"Of course he has; and she is dying to ask Mr. Softly, the young
+chaplain's advice, whether rooting us all out would not be a 'good
+work.'"
+
+"Since when have you become so squeamish about card-playing, Mr.
+Linton?"
+
+"I? Not in the least! I 'm only afraid that some of my friends may
+turn to be so when they hear of my successes. You know what happened to
+Wycherley when he got that knack of always turning up a king? Some one
+asked Buxton what was to be done about it. 'Is it certain?' said he.
+'Perfectly certain; we have seen him do it a hundred times!' 'Then back
+him,' said old Ruxton; 'that's my advice to you.'" As he said this
+he drew a chair towards the table and proceeded to fill out a cup of
+chocolate. "Where do you get these anchovies, Charley? Burke has got
+some, but not half the size."
+
+"They are ordered for the household. Lawson can tell you all about
+'em," said the other, carelessly. "But, I say, what bets did you book on
+Laplander?"
+
+"Took him against the field for seven hundred even."
+
+"A bad bet, then,--I call it a very bad bet."
+
+"So should I, if I did n't know Erebus is dead lame."
+
+"I've seen a horse run to win with a contracted heel before now," said
+Lord Charles, with a most knowing look.
+
+"So have I; but not on stony ground. No, no, you may depend upon it."
+
+"I don't want to depend upon it," said the other, snappishly. "I shall
+not venture five pounds on the race. I remember once something of an
+implicit reliance on a piece of information of the kind."
+
+"Well! you know how that happened. I gave Hilyard's valet fifty pounds
+to get a peep at his master's betting-book, and the fellow told Hilyard,
+who immediately made up a book express, and let us all in for a smart
+sum. I am sure I was the heaviest loser in the affair."
+
+"So you ought, too. The contrivance was a very rascally one, and
+deserved its penalty."
+
+"The expression is not parliamentary, my Lord," said Linton, with a
+slight flushing of the cheek, "and so I must call you to order."
+
+"Is Turcoman to run?" asked Lord Charles, negligently.
+
+"No. I have persuaded Cashel to buy him, and he has taken him out of
+training."
+
+"Well, you really go very straightforward in your work, Linton. I must
+say you are as plucky a rogue as I 've ever heard of. Pray, now, how do
+you manage to keep up your influence over that youth? He always appears
+to me to be a rash-headed, wilful kind of fellow there would be no
+guiding."
+
+"Simply, by always keeping him in occupation. There are people like
+spavined horses, and one must always get them warm in their work, and
+they never show the blemish. Now, I have been eternally alongside of
+Cashel. One day buying horses,--another, pictures,--another time it
+was furniture, carriages, saddlery,--till we have filled that great old
+house of the ex-Chancellor's with an assemblage of objects, living and
+inanimate, it would take a month to chronicle."
+
+"Some kind friend may open his eye to all this one of these days, Master
+Linton; and then--"
+
+"By that time," said Linton, "his clairvoyance will be too late. Like
+many a man I 've known, he 'll be a capital judge of claret when his
+cellar has been emptied."
+
+"You were a large winner last night, Linton?"
+
+"Twelve hundred and fifty. It might have been double the amount, but I
+'ve taken a hint from Splasher's Physiology. He says nothing encourages
+a plethora like small bleedings. And you, Charley; what did _you_ do?"
+
+"Sixty pounds!" replied he, shortly. "I never venture out of my depth."
+
+"And you mean to infer that I do, my Lord," said Linton, trying to
+smile, while evidently piqued by the remark. "Well, I plead guilty to
+the charge. I have a notion in my head that seven feet of water drowns
+a man just as effectually as seven hundred fathoms in the blue Atlantic.
+Now _you_ know, as well as I, that neither of us could afford to lose
+sixty pounds thrice running; so let us not talk of venturing out of
+our depth, which, I take it, would be to paddle in very shallow water
+indeed."
+
+For an instant it seemed as if Lord Charles would have given an angry
+reply to this sally; but, as hastily checking the emotion, he walked to
+the window, and appeared to be lost in thought, while Linton continued
+his breakfast with all the zest of a hungry man.
+
+"I'll give up play altogether," said Frobisher. "That I've resolved
+upon. This will go abroad, rely upon it Some of the papers will get
+hold of it, and we shall see some startling paragraphs about 'Recent
+Discoveries in the Vice-regal Household,'--'Nefarious System of High
+Play at the Castle,' and so on. Now it 's all very well for you,
+who neither care who 's in or out, or hold any appointment here; but
+remember, there are others--myself for instance--who have no fancy for
+this kind of publicity."
+
+"In the first place," interrupted Linton, "there is no danger; and in
+the second, if there were, it's right well remunerated. Your appointment
+here, with all its contingent advantages, of which, not to excite your
+blushes, we shall say nothing, is some three or four hundred a year.
+Now, a lucky evening and courage to back the luck--a quality, by the
+way, I never yet found in one Englishman in a hundred--is worth this
+twice or thrice told. Besides, remember, that this wild bull of the
+prairies has come of himself into our hunting-grounds. If _we_ don't
+harpoon him, somebody else will. A beast of such fat on the haunches is
+not going to escape scot free; and lastly, by falling into good hands,
+he shall have the advantage of being cut up artistically, and not mauled
+and mangled by the rude fingers of the ignorant Faith, as for myself, I
+think I richly merit all the spoils I shall obtain!"
+
+"As how, pray?" asked Lord Charles, languidly.
+
+"In the first place, to speak of the present, I have ridden out with
+him, sat beside him on the box of his drag; he is seen with me in
+public, and has been heard to call me 'Linton' on the ride at Dycer's.
+My tradespeople have become his tradespeople. The tailor who reserved
+his master stroke of genius for me now shares his favors with him. In
+fact, Charley, we are one. Secondly, as regards the future, see from
+what perils I shall rescue him. He shall not marry Livy Kennyfeck;
+he shall not go into Parliament for the Liberal interest, nor for any
+interest, if I can help it; he shall not muddle away a fine fortune in
+fattening Durham bulls and Berkshire boars; neither shall he excel in
+rearing mangel-wurzel or beet-root. I 'll teach him to have a soul above
+subsoiling, and a spirit above green crops. He shall not fall into the
+hands of Downie Meek, and barter his birthright for a Whig baronetcy;
+neither shall he be the victim of right honorable artifices, and marry a
+Lady Juliana or Cecilia. In fine, I 'll secure him from public meetings
+and agricultural societies, twaddling dinners, horticultural breakfasts,
+the Irish Academy, and Mrs. White."
+
+"These are great deservings indeed," said Lord Charles, affectedly.
+
+"So they are," said the other; "nor do I believe there is another man
+about town could pilot the channel but myself. It is only reasonable,
+then, if I save the craft, that I should claim the salvage. Now, the
+next point is, will you be one of the crew? I'll take you with pleasure,
+but there's no impressment All I ask is secrecy, whether you say yea or
+nay."
+
+"Let me hear what the service is to be like."
+
+"Well, we shall first of all cruise; confound metaphors,--let us talk
+plainly. Cashel has given me a _carte blanche_ to fill his house with
+guests and good things. The company and the _cuisine_ are both to be
+among my attributions, and I intend that we should do the thing right
+royally. Selection and exclusiveness are, of course, out of the
+question. There are so many cock-tails to run,--there can be no
+disqualification. Our savage friend, in fact, insists on asking
+everybody he sees, and we are lucky if we escape the infantry and the
+junior bar. Here's the list,--a goodly catalogue truly, and such a
+_macédoine_ of incongruities has been rarely assembled, even at old
+Kennyfeck's dinner-table."
+
+"Why, I see few others than the people we met there t' other day."
+
+"Not many; but please to remember that even a country house has limits,
+and that some of the guests, at least, must have separate rooms. To be
+serious, Charley, I have misused the King's press damnably; we have such
+a party as few have ever witnessed. There are the Kilgoffs, the Whites,
+the Hamiltons, along with the Clan Kennyfeck, the Ridleys, and Mathew
+Hannigan, Esquire, of Bally-Hanni-gan, the new Member of Parliament for
+Dunrone, and the last convert to the soothing doctrines of Downie Meek."
+
+"Is Downie coming?" lisped the aide-de-camp.
+
+"Ay, and his daughter, too. He wrote one of his velvety epistles,
+setting forth the prayer of his petition in favor of 'a little girl yet
+only in the nursery.'"
+
+"Yes, yes; I know all that. Well, I 'm not sorry. I like Jemmy. She is
+a confounded deal better than her father, and is a capital weight to put
+on a young horse, and a very neat hand too. Who next? Not the Dean, I
+hope."
+
+"No; we divided on the Dean, and carried his exclusion by a large
+majority. Mrs. Kennyfeck was, I believe, alone in the lobby."
+
+"Glad of that! No one can expect an Irish visit in the country without
+rain, and he 's an awful fellow to be caged with, when out-o'-door work
+is impracticable."
+
+"Then there are the Latrobes and the Heatherbys; in fact, the whole
+set, with a Polish fellow, of course a Count,--Deuroominski; a literary
+tourist, brought by Mrs. White, called Howie; and a small little dark
+man one used to see two seasons ago, that sings the melodies and tells
+Irish legends,--I forget the name."
+
+"Promiscuous and varied, certainly; and what is the order of the course?
+Are there to be games, rural sports, fireworks, soaped pigs, and other
+like intellectualities?"
+
+"Precisely; a kind of coming-of-age thing on a grand scale. I have
+engaged Somerton's _chef_; he has just left his place. Gunter sends
+over one of his people; and Dubos, of the Cadran Bleu, is to forward two
+hampers per week from Paris. Hicksley is also to provide all requisites
+for private theatricals. In fact, nearly everything has been attended
+to, save the horse department; I wish you 'd take that under your
+protectorate; we shall want any number of screws for saddle and harness,
+with drags, breaks, and machines of all kinds, to drive about in. Do,
+pray, be master of the horse."
+
+"Thanks; but I hate and detest trouble of all kinds. So far as selling
+you two of my own,--a wall-eye and a bone-spavin included,--I consent."
+
+"Agreed. Everything in your stable carries a sidesaddle; that I know, so
+name your figure."
+
+"A hundred; they 'd bring close on fifty at Dycer's any day; so I am not
+exorbitant, as these are election times."
+
+"There 's the ticket, then," said Linton, taking out a check-book and
+filling up a leaf for the sum, which he tore out and presented to Lord
+Charles.
+
+"What! has he really so far installed you as to--" "As to give blank
+checks," said the other, holding up the book in evidence, where "Roland
+Cashel" was written on a vast number of pages. "I never knew the
+glorious sense of generosity before, Charley. I have heard a great deal
+about liberal sentiments, and all that kind o' thing; but now, for the
+first time, do I feel the real enjoyment of indulgence. To understand
+this liberty aright, however, a man must have a squeeze,--such a squeeze
+as I have experienced myself once or twice in life; and then, my boy,
+as the song says,"--here, with a bold rattling air, he sang to a popular
+melody,--
+
+     "When of luck you 've no card up,
+     And feel yourself 'hard up,'
+     And cannot imagine a method to win;
+     When 'friends' take to shy you,
+     And Jews to deny you,
+     How pleasant to dip in another man's tin!
+
+     "Not seeking or craving
+     Some pettyful saving,
+     You draw as you like upon Drummond or Gwynne,
+     And, while pleasure pursuing
+     You know there 's no ruing
+     The cost that comes out of another man's tin.
+
+"Eh, Charley! that's the toast we 'Chevaliers Modernes' should drink
+before the health of the royal family."
+
+"The royal family!" sneered Frobisher; "I never observed that loyalty
+was a very remarkable trait in your character."
+
+"The greater injustice yours, then," said Linton. "I conceived a very
+early attachment to monarchy, on learning the importance of the king at
+écarte."
+
+"I should have thought the knave had more of your sympathy," said the
+other.
+
+"Inasmuch as he follows the queen, I suppose," said Linton,
+good-humoredly, laughing. "But come, don't look so grave, old fellow;
+had I been a political _intrigant_, and devoted these goodly talents of
+mine to small state rogueries in committees and adjourned debates, I'd
+have been somebody in these dull times of aspiring mediocrity; but as my
+ambitions have never soared beyond the possession of what may carry
+on the war of life, irrespective of its graver honors, you
+moralists--Heaven bless the mark!--rather regard me distrustfully.
+Now, let me tell you a secret, and it's one worth the knowing. There's
+nothing so fatal to a man's success in life as 'a little character;'
+a really great one may dispense with every kind of ability and
+acquirement. Get your name once up in our English public, and you
+may talk, preach, and write the most rank nonsense with a very long
+impunity; but a little character, like a small swimming bladder, only
+buoys you up long enough to reach deep water and be drowned. To journey
+the road of life with this is to 'carry weight' Take my advice,--I
+give it in all sincerity; you are as poor a man as myself; there are
+thousands of luxuries you can afford yourself, but this is too costly
+an indulgence for a small fortune. Your 'little character' is a kind of
+cankering conscience, not strong enough to keep you out of wickedness,
+but sufficiently active to make you miserable afterwards. An everlasting
+suggester of small scruples, it leaves a man no time for anything but
+petty expedients and devices, and you hang suspended all your life
+between desire and denial, without the comfort of the one or the credit
+of the other."
+
+"Is the sermon over?" said Lord Charles, rather affectedly than really
+feeling tired of the "tirade," "or are you only rehearsing the homily
+before you preach it to Roland Cashel?"
+
+"Quite wrong there, my Lord," said Linton, with the same imperturbable
+temper. "Cashel is rich enough to afford himself any caprice, even a
+good name, if he like it You and I take ours as we do railway tickets,
+any number that's given us!" And with this speech, delivered in an air
+of perfect quietude, but still emphatically slow, he settled his hat on
+before the glass, arranged his whiskers, and walked away.
+
+Lord Charles, for a second, seemed disposed to make an angry reply, but,
+correcting the impulse, he walked to the window in silence. "I have half
+a mind to spoil your game, my worthy friend," muttered he, as the other
+passed across the court-yard; "one word to Cashel would do it To be sure
+it is exploding the mine with one's own hand to the fusee; that's to be
+thought of." And, so saying, he lay down on the sofa to ruminate.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV. AT THE GAMING TABLE.
+
+     "Not half so skilled in means and ways,
+     The 'hungry Greek' of classic days
+     His cards with far less cunning plays
+     Than eke our modern sharper!"
+
+When Linton had determined within himself to make Cashel "his own," his
+first care was to withdraw him from the daily society of the Kennyfecks,
+by whose familiar intercourse a great share of influence was already
+enjoyed over their young guest. This was not so easy a task as he had
+at first imagined. Cashel had tasted of the pleasant fascination of
+easy intimacy with two young and pretty girls, eagerly bent on being
+agreeable to him. He was in all the full enjoyment of that rare union,
+the pleasure of being at home and yet an honored guest; and it was only
+when Linton suggested that late hours and irregular habits were but
+little in accordance with the decorous propriety of a family, that
+Cashel yielded, and consented to remove his residence to a great
+furnished house in "Stephen's Green," where some bygone Chancellor once
+held his state.
+
+Linton well knew that if "Necessity" be the mother of invention,
+"Propinquity" is the father of love; that there is nothing so suggestive
+of the tender passion as that lackadaisical state to which lounging at
+home contributes, and the chance meetings with a pretty girl. The little
+intercourse on the stairs going down to breakfast, the dalliance in the
+conservatory, the chit-chat before dinner, are far more formidable than
+all the formal meetings under the blaze of wax-lights, and amid the
+crush of white satin.
+
+"If I leave him much longer among them," said he to himself, "he 'll
+marry one of these girls; and then adieu to all influence over him!
+No more écarté,--no more indiscriminate purchases of everything I
+propose,--no more giving 'the odds against the field.' A wife and
+a wife's family are heavy recognizances against a bachelor friend's
+counsels."
+
+Cashel was really sorry to leave the house where his time had passed
+so pleasantly. The very alternation of his interest regarding the two
+sisters had kept his mind in a state of pleasant incertitude, now
+seeing something to prefer in this, now in that, while at the same time
+suggesting on their part greater efforts to please and amuse him. If Mr.
+Kennyfeck deemed Cashel's removal a very natural step, and one which
+his position in some sort demanded, not so his wife. She inveighed
+powerfully against the dangerous intimacy of Linton, and the ruinous
+consequences such an ascendancy would lead to. "You should tell Mr.
+Cashel who this man is," said she, imperiously.
+
+"But that is exactly what nobody knows," meekly responded Mr. Kennyfeck.
+
+"Pshaw! every one knows all about him. You can tell him how he
+ruined young Rushbrook, and in less than two years left him without a
+shilling."
+
+Mr. Kennyfeck shook his head, as though to say that the evidence was by
+no means conclusive on that count.
+
+"Yes, you may affect not to believe it," said she, angrily, "but did
+n't George Lawson see the check for eight thousand paid to Linton at La
+touche's bank, and that was one evening's work."
+
+"There was a great deal of high play, I 've heard, among them."
+
+"Oh, indeed! you've heard that much," said she, scornfully; "probably,
+too, you've heard how Linton paid seventy thousand pounds for part of
+the Dangwood estate,--he that had not sixpence three months previous. I
+tell you, Mr. Kennyfeck, that you have labored to very little purpose
+to establish this young man's claim if you are to stand by and see
+his property portioned among sharpers. There! don't start and look so
+frightened; there 's nobody listening, and if there were, too, I don't
+care. I tell you, Mr. Kennyfeck, that if it weren't for your foolish
+insufficiency Cashel would propose for Olivia. Yes! the thing is plain
+as possible. He fell in love with her the very night he arrived; every
+one saw it. Jane Lyons told me how it was remarked the day the company
+dined here. Leonard told all over Dublin how she chose the diamonds,
+and that Cashel distinctly referred to her before buying them. Then
+they were seen together driving through the streets. What more would you
+have? And now you suffer all this to be undone for the selfish objects
+of Mr. Linton; but I tell you, Mr. Kennyfeck, if you 're a fool, I am
+not!"
+
+"But really I don't see--"
+
+"You don't see! I'm sure you do not. You'd see, however, if it were a
+case for an action in the courts,--a vulgar appeal to twelve greasy
+jurors,--you 'd see then. There is quite enough for a shabby verdict!
+But I regard the affair very differently, and I tell you frankly, if
+I see Cashel draw off in his attentions, I 'll send for my cousin
+O'Gorman. I believe you can assure your young client that he 'll find
+there's no joking with him."
+
+Now this was the "most unkindest cut of all;" for if report spoke truly,
+Mr. Kennyfeck had himself experienced from that gentleman a species
+of moral force impulsion which left the most unpleasant reminiscences
+behind.
+
+"I beseech you to remember, Mrs. Kennyfeck, that this agency is one of
+the best in Ireland."
+
+"So much the more reason to have the principal your son-in-law."
+
+"I 'd have you to reflect how little success coercion is like to have
+with a person of Mr. Cashel's temper."
+
+"Peter is the best shot in Ballinasloe," rejoined Mrs. Kennyfeck,
+sententiously.
+
+Mr. Kennyfeck nodded a full assent, but seemed to hazard a doubt as to
+the efficiency of such skill.
+
+"I repeat, sir, I'll send for him. Peter knows pretty well what ought
+to be done in such matters, and it's a comfort to think there is
+some spirit on one side of the family, at least." Whether to afford
+a practical illustration, albeit negatively, or that he dreaded a
+continuance of the controversy, Mr. Kennyfeck feigned a business
+appointment, and retired, leaving his spouse to ponder over her threat,
+and resolve with herself as to the advantage of Peter's alliance.
+
+While this conjugal discussion engaged papa and mamma, Cashel was
+endeavoring to explain to the fair daughters the reasons for his
+departure, affecting to see that the multiplicity of his engagements
+and duties required a step which he owned was far from agreeable to his
+feelings.
+
+"I suspected how soon you would weary of us," said Olivia, in a half
+whisper.
+
+"We ought to have remembered, Livy," said the elder sister, "how little
+would our claims upon Mr. Cashel appear when confronted with those of a
+higher station in the world."
+
+"I assure you, you wrong both yourselves and me. I never--"
+
+"Oh, I 'm certain you never imagined this step. I can well believe that
+if it were not for advice--not very disinterested, perhaps--you would
+have still condescended to regard this as your home."
+
+"If I suspected that this removal would in the least affect the
+sentiments I entertain for my kind friends here, or in any way alter
+those I trust they feel for me, I 'd never have adopted, or, having
+adopted, never execute it."
+
+"We are really very much to blame, Mr. Cashel," said Olivia bashfully,
+"in suffering our feelings to sway you on a matter like this. It was
+only too kind of you to come here at first; and perhaps even yet you
+will come occasionally to see us."
+
+"Yes, Mr. Cashel, Livy is right; we are very selfish in our wishes,
+and very inconsiderate besides. Your position in the world requires a
+certain mode of living, a certain class of acquaintances, which are
+not ours. It is far better, then, that we should resign ourselves to an
+interruption, than wait for an actual broach of intimacy."
+
+Cashel was totally at a loss to see how his mere change of residence
+could possibly imply a whole train of altered feelings and relations,
+and was about to express his astonishment on that score when Linton's
+phaeton drove up to the door, according to an appointment they had made
+the day before, to breakfast with the officers of a regiment quartered a
+short distance from town.
+
+"There is your _friend_, Mr. Cashel," said Miss Kennyfeck, with a marked
+emphasis on the word. Cashel muttered something about a rendezvous, and
+took up his hat, when a servant entered to request he would favor Mr.
+Kennyfeck with a brief interview before going out.
+
+"Are we to see you at dinner to-day?" said Olivia, languidly.
+
+"I hope so. Mrs. Kennyfeck has been kind enough to ask me, and I hope to
+have the pleasure."
+
+"Will Mr. Linton give leave?" said Miss Kennyfeck, laughing; and then,
+seeing a cloud on Cashel's brow, added, "I meant, if you had made no
+appointment with him."
+
+"I 'm self-willed enough to follow my own bent generally," said he,
+abruptly, and left the room.
+
+"You owe that gentleman a heavy grudge, Livy," said Miss Kennyfeck, as
+she approached the window and looked out.
+
+"Who do you mean, dear?"
+
+"Mr. Linton. Were it not for him, I half think you might have
+succeeded."
+
+"I really cannot comprehend you," said the younger, with well-assumed
+astonishment.
+
+"Of course not, my dear. Still, it was a difficult game, even if left
+all to yourself. He was always likely to smash the tackle at the moment
+when almost caught. There, don't look so puzzled, dear; I was only
+following out a little reverie,--that's all."
+
+Meanwhile Cashel hastily descended the stairs, not over good-humoredly
+commenting on Mr. Kennyfeck's ill-chosen moment for a business
+conversation. "I can only stay a few minutes, or rather seconds," cried
+he, as he opened the door of the study; and then checked himself as he
+perceived a short, stout elderly man, of venerable appearance, who rose
+respectfully from his chair as he came in.
+
+"Doctor Tiernay, Mr. Cashel," said Kennyfeck, presenting the stranger.
+"I have taken the liberty to delay you, sir, since it would be a great
+convenience if you could accord this gentleman a brief hearing at
+present; he has come above a hundred miles to crave it, and must leave
+Dublin by the afternoon mail."
+
+"Without it be Mr. Cashel's pleasure to detain me," said the doctor,
+submissively.
+
+"He is a tenant of your Tubbermore estate, sir," resumed Kennyfeck, "a
+very near neighbor."
+
+"I regret that I am pressed for time at this moment, sir," said Cashel,
+drawing on his gloves impatiently; "but I believe it is the less
+consequence, inasmuch as I really know nothing--absolutely nothing--and
+you, Mr. Kennyfeck, know everything about that property, and are by far
+the best person to hear and decide upon this gentleman's proposition,
+whatever it be."
+
+"It is a case that must be decided by yourself, sir," said the doctor.
+"It is neither a matter of law nor right, but a simple question of
+whether you will do an act of great kindness to the oldest tenant on
+your property,--a man who, now overtaken by years and sickness, may not
+perhaps be alive at my return to hear of your benevolence."
+
+"It is about this renewal, sir," interposed Kennyfeck, who saw Cashel's
+increasing impatience to be away. "Mr. Corrigan's lease expires on the
+25th."
+
+"He is now struck by paralysis," interrupted the doctor; "and his only
+prayer is to be suffered to die beneath the roof where he has lived for
+fifty years."
+
+"A tenant at will," interposed Kennyfeck.
+
+"Gracious Heaven! how could he suppose I should dream of dispossessing
+him?" cried Cashel. "Of course, sir, the house is his own so long as
+he pleases to hold it. Tell him so. Mr. Kennyfeck will tell him from me
+that he need not give the matter another thought. I am sincerely grieved
+that it should have already caused him so much anxiety."
+
+"Ah, sir," cried the doctor, while two very dubious drops twinkled in
+his eyes, "you are indeed worthy of the good fortune that has befallen
+you. My poor old friend will bless you, with a prouder heart in his
+belief in human nature than even his gratitude could suggest. Farewell,
+sir, and may you long live to be as happy as you know how to make
+others."
+
+With an impulse of irrepressible warmth the old man seized Cashel's
+hand in both his own, and pressed it cordially, when the door suddenly
+opened, and Linton, dressed in a riding costume, appeared.
+
+"What, Roland, at business so early. Do you know you 're an hour behind
+time?"
+
+"I do; but I couldn't help it In fact, this was unexpected--"
+
+"It was an act of benevolence, sir, detained Mr. Cashel," interrupted
+the doctor. "I believe no appointment can be broken with a safer
+apology."
+
+"Ho! ho!" said Linton, throwing up his eyebrows, as if he suspected a
+snare to his friend's simplicity. "Which of the missions to convert the
+blacks, or what family of continuous twins are you patronizing?"
+
+"Good-bye, sir," said the doctor, turning towards Cashel. "I'd ask your
+pardon for the liberty I have already taken with you, if I were not
+about to transgress again." Here he looked Linton fully in the face.
+"Mr. Cashel has done a kind and worthy action this morning, sir; but
+if he does many more such, and keep your company, he is not only a good
+man, but the strongest principled one I ever met with."
+
+As the last word was uttered, the door closed after him, and he was
+gone.
+
+"So then, I 'm the Mephistopheles to your Faust," said Linton, laughing
+heartily; "but what piece of credulous benevolence has cost you this
+panegyric and me this censure?"
+
+"Oh, a mere trifle," said Cashel, preparing to leave,--"a simple grant
+of renewal to an old tenant on my estate."
+
+"Only that," said Linton, affecting the coolest indifference, while by
+a keen glance at Kennyfeck he revealed a profound consciousness of his
+friend's simplicity.
+
+"Nothing more, upon my honor; that little cottage of Tubber-beg."
+
+"Not that fishing lodge beside the river, in an angle of your own
+demesne?" asked Linton, eagerly.
+
+"The same. Why, what of it?"
+
+"Nothing, save that your magnanimity is but one-sided, since only so
+late as Thursday last, when we looked over the map together, you gave me
+that cottage until such time as you should include the farm within the
+demesne."
+
+"By Jupiter, and so I did!" exclaimed Cashel, while a flush of shame
+covered his face and forehead; "what a confounded memory I have! What is
+to be done?"
+
+"Oh, never fret about it," said Linton, taking his arm, and leading him
+away; "the thing is easily settled. What do I want with the cottage? The
+old gentleman is, doubtless, a far more rural personage than I should
+prove. Let us not forget Aubrey's breakfast, which, if we wait much
+longer, will be a luncheon. The ladies well, Mr. Kennyfeck?" This was
+the first time he had noticed that gentleman.
+
+"Quite well, Mr. Linton," said he, bowing politely.
+
+"Pray present my respects. By the way, you don't want a side-saddle
+horse, do you?"
+
+"I thank you, we are supplied."
+
+"Whata pity! I 've got such a gray, with that swinging low cantering
+action Miss Kennyfeck likes; she rides so well! I wish she 'd try him."
+
+A shake of the head and a bland smile intimated a mild refusal.
+
+"Inexorable father! Come, Cashel, you shall make the _amende_ for having
+given away my cottage; you must buy Reginald and make him a present to
+the lady."
+
+"Agreed," said Cashel; "send him over to-day; he's mine, or rather Miss
+Kennyfeck's. Nay, sir, really I will not be opposed. Mr. Kennyfeck, I
+insist."
+
+The worthy attorney yielded, but not without reluctance, and saw them
+depart, with grave misgivings that the old doctor's sentiment was truly
+spoken, and that Linton's companionship was a most unhappy accident.
+
+"I must get into Parliament," said Linton, as he seated himself beside
+Cashel in the phaeton, "if it were only to quote you as one of that
+much-belied class, the Irish landlord. The man who grants renewals of
+his best land on terms contracted three hundred years ago is very much
+wanted just now. What a sensation it would create in the House when
+they cry, 'Name, name,' and I reply that I am under a positive personal
+injunction not to name, and then Sharman Crawford, or one of that set,
+rises and avers that he believed the honorable and learned gentleman's
+statement to be perfectly unfounded. Amid a deluge of 'Ohs!' I stand up
+and boldly declare that further reserve is no longer possible, and that
+the gentleman whom I am so proud to call my friend is Roland Cashel,
+Esq., of Tubbennore. There 's immortality for you, for that evening
+at any rate. You 'll be toasted at Bellamy's at supper, and by the
+white-headed old gentlemen who sit in the window at the Carlton."
+
+"You'll not hint that I had already made a present of the lands when I
+displayed so much munificence," said Cashel, smiling.
+
+"Not a syllable; but I'll tell the secret to the Opposition, if you ever
+grow restive," said Linton, with a laugh, in which, had Roland studied
+Lavater, he might have read a valuable lesson.
+
+"_A propos_ of Parliament, Kennyfeck persists in boring me about it, and
+that Mr. Downie Meek seems to have it at heart that I am to represent
+something or somebody, well knowing, the while, that I cannot possibly
+be supposed to understand anything of the interests whereon I should be
+called to vote and legislate."
+
+"That 's not so much consequence," said Linton; "you 'd find a very
+strong section of the House very like yourself, but the thing would
+bore you; you would neither like the fatigue nor the slavery of it; and,
+positively, there is no excitement, save for the half-dozen who really
+contest the race. Meek, and others of the same stamp, will tell you that
+property should be represented in the Legislature. I agree fully with
+the sentiment, so it should. So also should a man's rents be collected,
+but that's no reason he should be his own agent, when he can find
+another, far more capable, ready for office.--Touch that off-side horse,
+he 'll skulk his collar when he can.--Now, if you have county or borough
+influence going a begging, send in your nominee, any fellow who 'll suit
+your views, and express your opinions,--myself, for instance," said
+he, laughing, "for want of a better.--Those manes don't lie right; that
+near-sider's falls on the wrong side of the neck.--The great secret for
+any man situated as you are is to avoid all complications, political,
+social, and matrimonial. You have a glorious open country before you, if
+there be no cross-riding to spoil your run."
+
+"Well, I am not above taking advice," said Cashel; "but really I must
+own that, from the little I've seen of the matter, it seems harder to go
+through life with a good fortune than without a shilling. I know that,
+as a poor man, very lately--"
+
+"Come, come, you know very little of what poverty means; you 've been
+leading a gay life in a land where men do by one bold enterprise the
+work which costs years of slow toil in our tamer regions. Now, I should
+have liked that kind of thing myself. Ay, you may smile, that a man
+who devotes a large share of each day to the tie of his cravat, and the
+immaculate elegance of his boots, should venture to talk of prairie
+life and adventure. Take care! By Jove! I thought you were into that
+apple-stall."
+
+"Never say it twice," cried Cashel, gayly. "I 'm beginning to feel
+confoundedly tired of this life here; and, if I don't find that it
+improves on acquaintance, I 'll take a run down west, just to refresh my
+spirits. Will you come with me?"
+
+"With my whole heart I join the proposal; but you are not serious; I
+know you are merely jesting in all this."
+
+"Perfectly serious. I am decidedly weary of seven o'clock dinners and
+morning calls. But here we are."
+
+As he spoke, they drove into the barrack-yard, where groups of lounging
+officers, in every variety of undress, were seen in all the insipid
+enjoyment of that cigar-smoking existence which forms the first article
+in our military code of education.
+
+The gallant --th Light Dragoons were a "fast regiment," and the inventors
+of that new locomotive on the road to ruin called a "mess breakfast,"--a
+meal where champagne flows with a profusion rarely seen at dinner, and
+by which men begin the day in a frame of mind that would not be very
+decorous even when concluding it. Cashel, being an honored guest, drank
+wine with every one, not to speak of participating in various little
+bibatory trios and quartets, so that when the entertainment drew to a
+close he was very far from that self-possession and command which, with
+all his high spirits, seldom deserted him.
+
+A tremendous fall of rain, that showed no prospect of ceasing, had just
+set in, so that the party agreed to repair to the major's rooms, and
+make a pool at écarté. After some talking about play in general, and
+some quizzing about not being able to bet a sum such as Cashel would
+care to play for, the game began.
+
+Notwithstanding the apologies, the play was high, so much so, that
+Cashel, never a very shrewd observer, could not help remarking that
+several of the players could not conceal the anxiety the game inspired.
+
+Roland himself joined less from inclination than fellowship, and far
+better pleased to be at liberty to chat with some of the others than to
+be seated at the table, he arose each time he lost, well content to pay
+for freedom by his gold. His natural indifference, added to a perfect
+carelessness about money, induced him to accept any bet that was
+offered, and these were freely proposed, since, in play _parlance_, "the
+run was against him;" so that, ere the trumpet-call announced the time
+to dress for the mess, he had lost heavily.
+
+"You have no idea how much you have lost?" said Linton, in a low voice,
+and with a gravity of manner almost reproachful.
+
+"Not the slightest," said Cashel, laughing.
+
+"I can tell you, then, for I have totted it up. This morning's work has
+cost you seven thousand some hundred pounds."
+
+"Indeed!" said Cashel, a flush rather of shame than displeasure mantling
+on his features. "I'll give it up in future."
+
+"No, no! not till you've had your revenge," whispered Linton. "We 'll
+stay for the mess, and have at them again. The night is terrific, and no
+possibility of leaving."
+
+The mess followed, and although play was to succeed it, the party drank
+freely, and sat long over their wine; even Linton himself seemed to
+linger at the table, and leave it with regret.
+
+As for Cashel, for the first time in his life he wished to play. No
+desire for money-getting, no mean passion for gain, suggested the wish,
+it was simply a piqued vanity at being beaten; a sense of indignity that
+his inferiority should seem to be implied, even in so trifling a matter,
+urged him on, and he was one of the first to vote for a return to
+écarté.
+
+Except Linton, there was not probably one who could be called a good
+player in the party; but luck, which has more than the mastery over
+skill, supplied the place of knowledge, and Cashel was the only heavy
+loser of the whole assembly. Stung by continued failure, too, he betted
+madly and foolishly, so that as the day was breaking, and the stir in
+the barrack-yard announced the approaching parade, his losses reached
+more than double what they had been in the morning.
+
+"I say, lads!" said the major, as they all arose from the table, "one
+word before you go." So saying, he turned the key in the door, and stood
+with his back against it. "Before any one leaves the room, each must
+promise on his honor not to mention a syllable of this night's business.
+We all know that we have been playing far higher stakes than ever we've
+been in the habit of. The report, if it get abroad, would ruin the
+regiment."
+
+"Oh, we all promise not a word shall be said about it," cried out
+several voices together. "There's the second trumpet!" So saying,
+they hastened pell-mell to dress for the parade, while Cashel, taking
+Linton's arm, set out homewards.
+
+"I say, Tom!" said Roland, after they had walked on for some time in
+silence, "I am somewhat ashamed of this exploit of mine, and would not
+for a great deal that Kennyfeck should know it. Is there no way of
+getting this money by loan?--for if I draw now--"
+
+"Make your mind quite easy; I'll arrange that for you. Don't worry
+yourself about it. It's a bore, of course, to lose a round sum like
+that; but you can afford it, my boy, that's one comfort. If it had been
+me, by Jove, the half of it would have drained the well!" This said, he
+hastily changed the topic, and they walked along chatting of everything
+save the late party.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI. WHAT ROLAND OVERHEARD AT THE MONEY LENDER'S
+
+     The money that "at play" is spent
+     Must oft be raised at "cent per cent."
+
+     The Mode.
+
+"Good night, or rather good morrow," said Linton, as he stood with
+Cashel on the steps of his newly taken residence.
+
+Cashel made no reply; his thoughts were recurring to the scene of the
+late debauch, and in some pangs of self-reproach he was recalling the
+heavy sum he had lost. "You spoke of my being able to raise this money,
+Linton, without Kennyfeck's knowing; for I am really ashamed of the
+affair. Tell me how can it be done?"
+
+"Nothing easier."
+
+"Nay, but when? for, if I must confess it, I can think of nothing else
+till it be arranged."
+
+"What a timid conscience yours must be," said Linton, laughing, "that
+cannot sleep lest the ghosts of his I. O.'s should haunt him."
+
+"The fact is so, nevertheless. The very gloomy moments of my life have
+been associated with play transactions. This shall be the last."
+
+"What folly! You suffer mere passing impressions to wear deep into
+your nature,--you that should be a man of nerve and vigor. What can
+it possibly signify that you have thrown away a few hundreds, or a few
+thousands either?"
+
+"Very little as regards the money, I own; but I'm not certain how long
+my indifference respecting play might last. I am not sure how long
+I could endure being beaten--for that is the sense losing
+suggests--without a desire to conquer in turn. Now up to this I have
+played to oblige others, without interest or excitement of any kind.
+What if I should change and become a gambler from choice?"
+
+"Why, if you propound the question with that solemn air, you'll almost
+frighten me into believing it would be something very terrible; but if
+you ask me simply what would be the result of your growing fond of play,
+I 'll tell you fairly, it's a pleasure gained,--one of the few resources
+which only a rich man can afford with impunity, so much the more
+fascinating that it can be indulged in such perfect accordance with
+every humor of a man's mind. If you are so inclined, you play low, and
+coquet with fortune, or if lavishly given, you throw the reins loose and
+go free. Now it seems to me that nothing could better suit the careless,
+open-handed freedom of your habits than the vacillations of high play.
+It's the only way that even for a moment you can taste the sensation of
+being hard pressed, while in the high flood of luck you can feel that
+gushing sense of power that somehow seems to be the secret soul of
+gold!"
+
+"Men must lose with a very different look upon their features before I
+can win with the ecstasy you speak of," cried Cashel. "But where are we
+straying to,--what part of the town have we got into?"
+
+"This is the cattle-market," said Linton, "and I have brought you here
+because I saw you 'd not close your eyes till that silly affair was
+settled; and here we are now at Dan Hoare's counting-house, the man of
+all others to aid us. Follow me; I ought to know the stairs well, in
+daylight or dark."
+
+Cautiously following his guide, Cashel mounted a half-rotten, creaky
+stair, which passed up between two damp and mildewed walls, and entered
+a small chamber whose one window looked out in a dirty court. The only
+furniture consisted of two deal chairs and a table, on which various
+inscriptions made by penknives betokened the patience and zeal of former
+visitors.
+
+Linton passed on to the end of the chamber, where was a narrow door, but
+suddenly halted as his eye caught a little slip of paper attached to a
+sliding panel, and which bore the word "Engaged." "Ha!" cried he, "one
+here already! You see, early as it is, Dan is at work, discounting and
+protesting as usual. By the way, I have forgot one essential: he never
+gives a stamp, and so I must provide one. Wait for me here; there is
+a place in the neighborhood where they can be had, and I 'll be back
+presently."
+
+Cashel sat himself down in the cheerless little den, thinking of the
+many who might have waited there before, in so many frames of anxiety
+and torturing suspense. His own memory could recall a somewhat similar
+character in Geiz-heimer, and while he was thus remembering some
+features of the past he fell into a reverie, forgetting time and place
+together, the sound of voices from the adjoining room serving rather
+to lull than arouse his attention. At last a word caught his ear. He
+started suddenly, and, looking about him for a second, experienced
+almost a difficulty to remember where he was. Could it be possible, or
+was it mere fancy? but he believed he heard his name mentioned by some
+one within that room. Less caring to know how or by whom the name was
+spoken than if the fact were actually so, he leaned forward on his
+chair, and bent his ear to listen, when he heard, in a voice louder than
+had been used before, the following words:--
+
+"It may be all as you say, sir; I won't pretend to throw a doubt upon
+your words; but, as a mere man of business, I may be permitted to say
+that this promise, however satisfactory to your friend's feelings, is
+not worth a sixpence in law. Corrigan asks for a renewal of his lease,
+and the other says, 'Keep your holding,--don't disturb yourself,'--and
+there he is, a tenant at will. Now, for the purposes you have in view
+towards me, that pledge goes for nothing. I cannot renew these bills
+upon such frail security. If the old man cannot find means to meet them,
+Leicester must, that's all."
+
+"Leicester is a villain!" cried another and a deeper voice, whose tones
+seemed not quite strange to Roland's ears. "He has ruined my poor old
+friend; he will soon leave him houseless, and he threatens to leave him
+almost friendless too."
+
+"He told me," said the other, "he should certainly claim his daughter,
+and means to return next summer for that purpose."
+
+"I almost hope poor Con will never live to see that day," said the
+former, with a heavy sigh.
+
+"Well, to return to our own affair, sir, I tell you frankly, I don't
+consider Cashel's promise deserving of any consideration. He doubtless
+means to keep it; that's the very most anybody can say about it. But
+remember what a life he is leading: he has drawn about thirty thousand
+out of Latrobe's hands in three months,--no one knows for what. He has
+got among a set of men who play high, and cannot pay if they lose. Now,
+his estate is a good one; but it can't last forever. My notion is that
+the young fellow will end as he began, and become a buccaneer once
+more."
+
+"He has a long course to run ere that comes," said the other.
+
+"Not so long as you fancy. There are demands upon him from quarters you
+little suspect, or that, for the moment, he little suspects himself. It
+would surprise you to hear that he is in Leicester's hands too."
+
+"Roland Cashel--Mr. Cashel--in Leicester's hands! How do you mean?"
+
+Just at this instant Linton's foot was heard ascending the stairs, and
+Cashel, whose eagerness to hear the remainder became a perfect torture
+of anxiety, was forced to lose the opportunity.
+
+"What a hunt I have had!" said Linton, as he entered, flushed and
+weary-looking. "Our amount is rather above the ordinary mark, and
+I found it almost impossible to procure the stamps. Are you tired
+waiting?"
+
+"No,--nothing to speak of," said Cashel, confusedly.
+
+"Well, I fancy our friend here has had much more than his share of an
+audience. I'll see, and unearth him."
+
+And so saying, Linton knocked with his cane at the door. A low murmuring
+of voices succeeded, the sound of feet followed, and soon after the door
+was opened, and a small, thin, pale-faced man in black appeared.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Hoare. Here have we been playing antechamber to your
+serene highness for full an hour. This is Mr. Roland Cashel, Mr. Hoare,
+who wishes to make your acquaintance."
+
+The little man turned his quick gray eyes towards Cashel with a most
+scrutinizing keenness; but, as suddenly withdrawing them, invited both
+to enter.
+
+"Be seated, gentlemen. Pardon the humble accommodation of this place.
+Take a chair, Mr. Linton."
+
+"We want tin, Mr. Hoare," said Linton, slapping his boot with his
+cane,--"that most universal and vulgar want My friend here desires to
+raise a sum without having recourse to his agent, and I believe no man
+can aid in a little secret-service transaction like yourself."
+
+"Is the sum a large one, sir?" said Hoare, addressing Cashel.
+
+"I cannot tell you exactly," said Cashel, in some confusion at the
+confession of his ignorance. "I fancy it must be close on ten or twelve
+thousand pounds."
+
+"More like twenty!" cried Linton, coolly. Then, turning to Hoare, he
+went on: "My friend here is, happily for him, very little skilled in
+affairs of this kind, and, as his security is about the best that can be
+offered, he need not buy his experience very dearly. Now just tell us,
+frankly, how, when, and on what terms he can have this money."
+
+"Money is scarce just now, sir," said Hoare; "but as to securities, Mr.
+Cashel's bills are quite sufficient. There is no necessity for any
+legal expenses whatever. I need not say that the transaction shall be
+perfectly secret: in fact, I'll keep the bills in my own hands till
+due."
+
+"There, that's the man I told you he was," cried Linton. "A Croesus
+in generosity as in gold. I would I were your son, or your son-in-law,
+Hoare."
+
+"Too much honor, Mr. Linton," said the money-lender, whose slight flush
+did not betoken a concurrence in his own words. "Now to business,"
+continued he, addressing Cashel. "If you favor me with your name on four
+bills for five thousand each, and the accompanying charges for interest,
+discount, commission, and so on, I 'll engage that you have this money
+within the week."
+
+"Could it not be to-morrow? I should like greatly to have the whole off
+my mind; and as I mean not to play again--"
+
+"Pooh, pooh," said Linton, stopping an explanation he was by no means
+pleased Hoare should hear; "time enough for resolutions, and time enough
+for payment too. By the end of the week, Hoare, will do perfectly. You
+can bring the bills with you to my quarters, say on Saturday morning,
+and we 'll drive over to Mr. Cashel's."
+
+[Illustration: 222]
+
+"Very well. I 'll be punctual. At eleven on Saturday expect me. May I
+bring that little thing of yours for two hundred pounds with it, Mr.
+Linton?"
+
+"Of course you may not. Where do you expect me to find money for the
+debts of last year? My dear Hoare, I have no more memory for such things
+than I have for the sorrows of childhood."
+
+"Ah, very well, sir, we'll keep it over," said Hoare, smiling.
+
+"Let him bring it," whispered Cashel, "and include it in one of my
+bills. There's nothing so worrying as an overhanging debt."
+
+"Do you think so?" replied Linton. "Bless me, I never felt that. A life
+without duns is like a sky without a cloud, very agreeable for a short
+time, but soon becoming wearisome from very monotony. You grow as sick
+of uninterrupted blue as ever you did of impending rain and storm. Let
+me have the landscape effect of light and shadow over existence. The
+brilliant bits are then ten times as glorious in color, and the dark
+shadows of one's mortgages only heighten the warmth of the picture. Ask
+Hoare, there, _he'll_ tell you. I actually cherish my debts."
+
+"Very true, sir; you cannot bear to part with them either."
+
+"Well said, old Moses; the 'interest' they inspire is too strong for
+one's feelings. But hark! I hear some fresh arrivals without. Another
+boat-load of the d----d has crossed the Styx."
+
+"Thanks for the simile, sir," said Hoare, smiling faintly,--"on
+Saturday."
+
+"On Saturday," repeated Linton.
+
+Cashel lingered as he left the room; a longing desire to speak one
+word, to ask one question of Hoare--who was this Leicester of whom he
+spoke?--was uppermost in his mind, and yet he did not dare to own he had
+heard the words. He could have wished, too, to communicate his thoughts
+to Linton, but a secret fear told him that perhaps the mystery might be
+one he would not wish revealed.
+
+"Why so thoughtful, Roland?" said Linton, after traversing some streets
+in silence. "My friend Hoare has not terrified you?"
+
+"No, I was not thinking of him," said Cashel. "What kind of a character
+does he bear?"
+
+"Pretty much that of all his class. Sharp enough, when sharpness is
+called for, and seemingly liberal if liberality pays better. To me he
+has been ever generous. Why, Heaven knows; I suppose the secret will out
+one of these days. I'm sure I don't ask for it."
+
+Linton's flippancy, for the first time, was distasteful to Cashel. If
+the school in which he was bred taught little remorse about the sin of
+incurring debt, it inculcated, however, a manly self-reliance to
+clear off the encumbrance by some personal effort, and he by no means
+sympathized with the cool indifference of Linton's philosophy. Linton,
+always shrewd enough to know when he had not "made a hit," at once
+turned the conversation into another channel, by asking at what time
+Cashel proposed to receive his visitors at Tubbermore.
+
+"Is the honor seriously intended me?" said Cashel, "or is it merely a
+piece of fashionable quizzing, this promised visit, for I own I scarcely
+supposed so many fine people would like to encounter the hard usage of
+such an old ruin as I hear this must be."
+
+"You'll have them to a certainty. I doubt if there will be a single
+apology. I know at this instant the most urgent solicitations have been
+employed to procure invitations."
+
+"With all my heart, then," cried Cashel; "only remember the order of
+the course depends on you. I know nothing of how they ought to be
+entertained or amused. Take the whole affair into your own hands, and I
+shall concur in everything."
+
+"Originality is always better than imitation, but still, if one cannot
+strike out a totally new line, what do you think of taking old Mathews
+of Johnstown for our model, and invite all our guests with free
+permission to dine, breakfast, and sup at what hour and in what parties
+they please? This combines the unbridled freedom of an inn with the
+hospitality of a country house. Groups form as fancy dictates. New
+combinations spring up each day,--no fatigue, no _ennui_, can ensue with
+such endless changes in companionship, and you yourself, instead of the
+fatiguing duties of a host, are at liberty, like any of your guests, to
+join this party or that."
+
+"I like the notion immensely. How would our friends take it, for that is
+the point?"
+
+"It would be popular with every one, for it will suit your people, who
+know and like to mix with every set in society, and at the same time
+gratify your 'exclusives,' who can form their own little coteries with
+all the jealous selection they love. Besides, it avoids another and a
+great difficulty. Had you received in ordinary fashion, you must have
+asked some lady friend to have done the honors for you. This would have
+been a matter of the greatest embarrassment. The Kennyfecks have not
+rank enough; old Lady Janet would have frightened every one away; Mrs.
+White would have filled the house with her own 'blues,' and banished
+every one else; and as for Lady Kilgoff, who, besides being a very
+pretty woman and well-mannered, has an exceedingly fascinating way with
+strangers, 'my Lord' is so jealous, so absurdly, madly jealous, that
+she dare not ask after the success of a shooting-party without his
+suspecting an allegorical allusion to Cupid and his shafts."
+
+"Well, then, let us resolve to receive 'en Mathews;' and now, when shall
+we name the day?"
+
+"Let us wait till the result of the division be known in Parliament. A
+change of ministers is hinted at, and if it were to occur, you'll have
+every one hastening away to his county for the new election; by Saturday
+we shall learn everything, and that will be time enough."
+
+"In any case, I had better set off and see what can be done to put the
+house in a fit state to receive them."
+
+"Leave all that to me. I 'll take Popham, the architect, down with me,
+and you need never trouble your head about the matter. It's quite clear
+people who accept an invitation like the present must put up with a
+hundred small penalties on convenience. The liberty of such a house
+always repays whatever is wanting on the score of ceremonial and order,
+and your fine guests, who would perhaps give themselves airs towards the
+Kennyfecks and their set if meeting them elsewhere, will here affect, at
+least, a tone of good-natured equality, just as in revolutionary times
+people shake hands with their hairdresser."
+
+"But how to amuse or even occupy them! that is a great puzzle to me."
+
+"Leave them perfectly to their own devices. In fun there should be
+always free-trade. Protection ruins it. But all this is Egyptian to you,
+so go to bed and sleep soundly, and leave the cares of state to me.
+
+     "On me the glory or disgrace,
+     The pride of triumph or the shame of fall."
+
+"Then I 'll think no more of the matter," said Cashel; "and so good-by."
+
+"Now for a twenty-four hours' sleep," said Linton, "and then once more
+to roll the stone of life, which, by the way, gives the lie to the old
+adage, for unquestionably it does 'gather moss' as we grow older."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII. SCANNING THE POLITICAL HORIZON.
+
+     Confound their politics!
+
+     --National Anthem.
+
+
+Linton was very far from indulging that dreamy inactivity of which he
+spoke. Plans and schemes of various kinds occupied his thoughts too
+intently to admit of slumber. Indeed, his theory was, that, if a man
+could not dream of some happy mode of advancing his fortune, sleep was a
+fearful inroad upon his worldly career.
+
+He at once hastened home to read his letters and newspapers, and so
+important did their intelligence seem, that he only delayed to change
+his dress and eat a hurried breakfast, when he repaired to the Castle,
+where a few minutes previously the secretary, Mr. Downie Meek, had
+arrived from his lodge in the Park.
+
+"Safe once more, Meek," said he, entering the official chamber, where,
+immersed in printed returns, petitions, and remonstrances, sat the busy
+secretary.
+
+"Ah, Linton! you are the _bien venu_. We are to have another heat for
+the race, though I own it scarcely looks promising."
+
+"Particularly as you are going to carry weight," said Linton, laughing.
+"It's true, I suppose, that the Irish party have joined you?"
+
+"There was no help for it," said the secretary, with a despondent
+gesture of the eyebrows; "we had no alternative save accepting the
+greasy voices, or go out. Some deemed the former the better course, but
+others remembered the story of the Brahmin, who engaged to teach the ass
+to speak in ten years, or else forfeit his own head."
+
+"And perfectly right," interrupted Linton. "The Brahmin had only three
+chances in his favor. Now, your king may die too, and you have any
+number of asses to be got rid of."
+
+"Let us be serious, Tom. What are our prospects at a general election?
+Are the landed gentry growing afraid of the O'Gorman party, or are they
+still hanging back, resentful of Peel's desertion?"
+
+"They are very conservative,--that is, they want to keep their
+properties and pay the least possible taxation. Be cautious, however,
+and you have them all your own. The Irish party being now with you,
+begin by some marked favor to the Protestant Church. Hear me out. This
+will alarm the Romanists, and cause a kind of split amongst them. Such
+as have, or expect to have place, will stand by you; the others will
+show fight. You have then an opportunity of proclaiming yourselves a
+strong Protestant Cabinet, and the ultras, who hate Peel, will at least
+affect to believe you. While the country is thus agitated, go to the
+elections. Your friends, amid so many unsettled opinions, cannot be
+expected to take pledges, or, better still, they cannot accept any,
+subject to various contingencies never to arise."
+
+"I am sorely afraid of this splitting up the forces," said Meek,
+doubtfully.
+
+"It's your true game, depend upon it," said Linton. "These Irish allies
+are unwieldy--when numerous. I remember once calling on Tom Scott, the
+trainer, one day, and while we went through the stables I could not
+help remarking the fine family of boys he had. 'Yes, sir,' said Tom,
+modestly, 'they 're good-looking chaps, and smart ones. God Almighty
+keep 'em little, sir!'"
+
+"Ah, very true," sighed Meek; "God Almighty keep 'em little!"
+
+"Then," resumed Linton, "you have never played out that golden game of
+Irish legislation, which consists in enacting a law, and always ruling
+against it. Decide for the education system, but promote the men who
+oppose it. Condemn the public conduct of certain parties, and then
+let them figure as baronets, or lieutenants of counties, in the next
+'Gazette,' and, to crown all, seek out every now and then some red-hot
+supporter of Government, and degrade him from the bench of magistrates
+for maladministration! This, which in England would seem rather chaotic
+legislation, will to Irish intelligence smack like even-handed justice."
+
+"We have a bad press," said Meek, peevishly.
+
+"No matter, it has the less influence. Believe me, it will be an evil
+day for you Downing Street gentlemen when Ireland possesses a really
+able and independent press,--when, avoiding topics of mere irritating
+tendency, men address themselves to the actual wants of the country,
+exemplifying, as they disclose them, the inaptitude and folly of English
+legislation. Don't wait for that day, Meek. In all likelihood it
+is distant enough, but in any case don't hasten its coming by your
+prayers."
+
+"You mustn't broach these doctrines out of doors, Tom," said Meek, in
+a soft, caressing tone; "there is a horrid cant getting up just now
+against English rule, and in favor of native manufactures."
+
+"Which be they, Meek? I never heard of them. Maynooth is the only
+factory I know of in the land, and a brisk trade it has, home and
+colonial."
+
+"You know as well as any man the benefits we have conferred on this
+country."
+
+"Yes, it demands no great tax on memory to repeat them. You found
+a starving peasantry of a couple of millions, and, being unable or
+incompetent to aid them, you ruined the gentry to keep them company.
+You saw a mangy, miserable dog with famine in his flank and death in his
+eye, and, answering his appeal to your compassion, you cut an inch off
+his tail and told him to eat it."
+
+"You are too bad, Tom--a great deal too bad. What are you looking for?"
+
+"Nothing at present," was the cool reply.
+
+"What in prospective, then?"
+
+"I should like to be the Secretary for Ireland, Meek, whenever they
+shelve you among the other unredeemed pledges in that pawn-office, the
+Board of Trade."
+
+Meek affected a laugh, but not over successfully, while to turn the
+conversation, he said, "_A propos_ to your friend Cashel, I have not
+been able to show him any attentions, so occupied have I been with one
+thing and another. Let us make a dinner for him."
+
+"No, no, he does n't care for such things. Come and Join his
+house-warming on the Shannon; that will be far better."
+
+"I mean it, but I should like also to see him here. He knows the
+Kilgoffs, doesn't he?"
+
+"Slightly. By the way, what are you going to do with my Lord? He wants,
+like Sancho, to be governor of an island."
+
+"What an old bore! without brains, fortune, or influence."
+
+"He has a very pretty wife, Meek. Don't you think the Foreign Office
+would recognize _that_ claim?"
+
+"So they send him out of this, I am content. But to return to what we
+were talking about. Shall we say Friday? or will Saturday suit you? and
+we'll make up a small party."
+
+"I fear not. I mean to leave the town by the end of the week."
+
+"Not for any time?"
+
+"A few days only, and then I shall be at your orders. Meanwhile, leave
+Cashel to himself; he has got some suspicions--Heaven knows whence or
+how--that his borough influence makes him a very important card just
+now; therefore don't notice him, starve him out, and you 'll have him
+come forth with a white flag one of these days. I know him well, and the
+chances are that, if he were to attribute any of your civilities to the
+score of your calculation respecting his political influence, he would
+at once become your most determined opponent."
+
+"But his borough--"
+
+"Let him represent it himself, Meek, and it's the next best thing to
+disfranchisement."
+
+"He would not be likely to accept any advice from us?" asked Meek, half
+timidly.
+
+"To a certainty he would not, although proffered in your own most
+insinuating manner. Come, Meek, no nonsense; you must look out for
+a seat for your _protégé_ Clare Jones, elsewhere; though I tell you
+frankly he is not worth the trouble."
+
+"I declare you are all wrong, Linton--quite wrong; I was thinking
+whether from motives of delicacy you would not like to press your own
+claim, which _we_ might, with so much propriety."
+
+"Thanks," said Linton; while a sly twinkle of his eye showed that he
+did not care to disguise the spirit of mistrust with which he heard the
+speech. "Thanks; _you_ are too generous, and I am too modest, so let us
+not think more of the matter."
+
+"What is Cashel's real fortune?" said Meek, not sorry to turn the
+conversation into a less dangerous channel; "one hears so many absurd
+and extravagant reports, it is hard to know what to believe."
+
+"Kennyfeck calls it fourteen thousand a year above all charges and cost
+of collection."
+
+"And your own opinion?"
+
+Linton shrugged his shoulders carelessly, and said, "There or
+thereabouts. I fancy that his ready money has been greatly overrated.
+But why do you ask? Your people wouldn't give him a peerage, would
+they?"
+
+"Not now, of course," said Meek, hesitating.
+
+"Nor at any time, I trust," said Linton, authoritatively. "The man does
+not know how to behave as a plain country gentleman; why increase his
+embarrassments by making him a Lord? Besides, you should take care in
+these new creations who are your peeresses, or one of these days you 'll
+have old Kennyfeck fancying that he is a noble himself."
+
+"There is no danger to be apprehended in that quarter?" asked Meek, with
+some trepidation of manner.
+
+"Yes, but there is, though, and very considerable, too. He has been
+living in the house with those girls,--clever and shrewd girls, too. He
+is more at his ease there than elsewhere. They listen patiently to
+his tiresome prairie stories, and are indulgent to all his little
+'escapades'--as a 'ranchero;' in a word, he is a hero there, and never
+leaves the threshold without losing some of the charms of the illusion."
+
+"And you saw all this?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And suffered it?"
+
+"Yes. What would you have me do? Had there been only one girl in the
+case--I might have married her. But it is only in botany, or the bay of
+that name, that the English permit polygamy."
+
+"I am very sorry to hear this," said Meek, gravely.
+
+"I am very sorry to have it to tell, Meek," said the other.
+
+"He might marry so well!" muttered Meek, half in soliloquy.
+
+"To be sure he might; and in good hands--I mean in those of a man who
+sees his way in life--cut a very fair figure, too. But it won't do
+to appear in London with a second or third rate woman, whose only
+recommendation is the prettiness that has fascinated 'Castle balls' in
+Dublin."
+
+"Let us talk over this again, Linton," said Meek, arranging his papers,
+and affecting to be busied.
+
+"With all my heart; indeed, it was a subject I intended to speak to you
+about. I have a little theory thereanent myself."
+
+"Have you, indeed?" said Meek, looking up with animation.
+
+"Yes, but it needs your counsel--perhaps something more, I should
+say--but another time--good-bye, goodbye." And without waiting to say
+or hear more, Linton lounged out of the room, leaving the secretary,
+thoughtful and serious, behind him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII. UNDER THE GREEN-WOOD TREE.
+
+     Nor lives the heart so cold and dark
+     But in its depths some lingering spark
+     Of love is cherished there!
+
+     The Outlaw.
+
+When Tom Linton parted with Mr. Meek he repaired to the club in Kildare
+Street to listen to the gossip on the rumored dissolution of Parliament,
+and pick up what he could of the prevailing tone among the country
+gentry.
+
+His appearance was eagerly hailed by many, who regarded him as generally
+well informed on all the changes and turns of party warfare; but, as
+he professed the most complete ignorance of everything, and seemed to
+devour with greedy curiosity the most commonplace announcements, he was
+speedily deserted and suffered to pursue his work of inquiry perfectly
+unmolested. Not that indeed there was much to learn; the tone of banter
+and raillery with which, from want of all real political influence, men
+in Ireland accustom themselves to discuss grave questions, concealing
+their real sentiments, or investing them with a ludicrous exaggeration,
+oftentimes foiled even the shrewd perception of Tom Linton.
+
+He did, however, learn so much as showed him, that all the ordinary
+landmarks of party being lost, men were beginning to find themselves at
+liberty to adopt any leadership which pleased them, without suffering
+the stain of desertion. They thought themselves betrayed by each of the
+great political chiefs in turn, and began to fancy that the best course
+for them in future would be to make specific terms for any support they
+should accord. Suggestions to this end thrown out in all the bantering
+gayety of Irish manner might mean anything, or nothing, and so Linton
+well knew, as he listened to them.
+
+He had taken his place at a whist-table, that he might, while seemingly
+preoccupied, hear what was said around him, and although no error of
+play, nor a single mistake in the game, marked the different direction
+of his attention, he contrived to learn much of the opinion prevalent in
+certain circles.
+
+"That is the luckiest fellow in Europe," said one of his late
+antagonists; "as usual he rises the only winner."
+
+"You can scarcely call it luck," said another; "he is a first-rate
+player, and always so cool."
+
+Meanwhile, Linton, mounting his horse, rode slowly along the streets
+till he arrived at Bilton's Hotel, where a handsome britzska was
+standing, whose large up-standing horses and richly-mounted harnessing
+gave token of London rather than of Dublin taste.
+
+"Is her Ladyship going out, Halpin?" said he to the footman.
+
+"Her Ladyship ordered the carriage for four precisely, sir."
+
+Linton mused for a second or two, and then asked if Lord Kilgoff were at
+home, and not waiting for a reply, passed on.
+
+No sooner, however, had he reached the landing-place, and was beyond the
+observation of the servant, than he halted and appeared to reflect At
+last, as if having made his resolve, he turned to descend the stairs,
+when the drawing-room door opened and Lord Kilgoff appeared.
+
+"The very man I wanted. Linton, come here," cried he, re-entering the
+room.
+
+"I was just on my way to you, my Lord," said Linton, with well-affected
+eagerness.
+
+"Are they out, Linton, are they 'out'?" said he, in breathless
+impatience.
+
+"No, my Lord. I've seen Meek; they're safe for the present. A coalition
+has been formed with O'Morgan and his party, which secures a working
+majority of forty-five or fifty."
+
+"This is certain, Linton; may I rely upon it?"
+
+"You may, my Lord, with confidence."
+
+"Then I suppose the moment has come when my adhesion would be most
+well-timed. It's a grave question, Tom; everything depends on it. If I
+join them and they go out--"
+
+"Why, your Lordship goes out too, without ever having the satisfaction
+of being 'in.'"
+
+"Not if they gave me the mission to Florence, Tom. They never remove the
+smaller legations in any change of parties."
+
+"But you could not help resigning, my Lord; you should follow your
+friends," said Linton, with an assumed air of high principle.
+
+"Not a bit of it; I 'd hold on. I see no reason whatever for such a
+course. I have made a rough draft of a letter which Hindley should show
+to Peel. See here, this is the important passage. I presuppose that I
+had already given Hindley my resignation to hand in to Aberdeen, but
+that yielding to his arguments, who refuses to deliver it, I have
+reconsidered the matter. Now, listen: 'You say that my functions are
+not of a nature to admit any line of partisanship, and that a man
+of honorable views can serve his country under a Whig or Tory
+administration, irrespective of his own preference for one or the other.
+I feel this to be true. I know that, in my own official career, I
+have always forgotten the peculiar politics of my masters; but another
+question arises,--how shall I be judged by others? for while I confess
+to you that I entertain for Peel's capacity a respect I have never been
+able to feel for the Whig leaders, yet family prejudices, connections, a
+hundred minor circumstances, some purely accidental, threw me among
+the ranks of that party, and a sense of consistency kept me where very
+probably unbiassed judgment had never suffered me to remain.'"
+
+"Amazingly good! very well done, indeed!" said Linton, in whose dubious
+smile younger eyes than Lord Kilgoff's might have read the most insolent
+expression of contempt; not, indeed, at the hypocrisy, but at the poor
+attempt to give it color. "There could be no thought of removing a man
+with such sentiments."
+
+"I think not, Linton. It would be a gross and flagrant case of official
+tyranny to do so,--a case for inquiry in the House,--a motion to produce
+the correspondence--"
+
+"Better not, my Lord," said Linton, dryly; "that is an admirable letter
+addressed to your friend, Lord Hindley; but in a blue book it won't read
+so well. Take my advice: hold on if you can, go if you must, but don't
+ask questions, at all events."
+
+"Perhaps you are right, Tom," said Kilgoff, musing.
+
+"Now for another point, my Lord; this visit to Mr. Cashel--"
+
+"I 've declined it," said Lord Kilgoff, reddening, and with a look of
+extreme irritation. "The note is there sealed on the table, and shall be
+sent within an hour."
+
+"I am not at liberty to ask your reasons, my Lord," said Linton, gravely
+and respectfully, "but I am certainly free to state my own, why I think
+you ought most positively to go there."
+
+"You may, certainly," said Lord Kilgoff, rising impatiently, and pacing
+the room; "I shall not interrupt you, but I shall also pledge myself not
+to let them influence me in the slightest degree. My mind is made up,
+sir."
+
+"Then I shall speak with more freedom," said Linton, boldly; "because,
+having no pretension to change your sentiments, I am merely desirous to
+record my own."
+
+Lord Kilgoff made no reply, but continued his walk, while Linton
+resumed:--
+
+"Now I see your impatience, my Lord, and will not trespass on it. Here,
+in three words, is my case. The borough of Drumkeeran returns a member
+to Parliament; Hebden, who represents it, is about to accept the
+Hundreds; Cashel owns the town."
+
+"And if he does, sir, what signifies it to me?" broke in Lord Kilgoff;
+"I have not the slightest influence over that gentleman's opinions.
+He was rude enough to give me a very flat contradiction in the only
+discussion we ever held together. I venture to assert, from what I have
+seen of him, that any direction of his course in Parliament would be
+totally impossible. He is self-willed, obstinate, and opinionated."
+
+"Granted, my Lord; he is the very calibre to run through his own, and
+ruin any other man's fortune."
+
+"Well, sir, and this is the person whose services you think it worth my
+while obtaining?"
+
+"I never said so, my Lord."
+
+"What! did n't I hear you this moment--"
+
+"No, you heard me say that the borough is his, but you never heard me
+say that he ought to be its member. For that honor I had another in
+my eye,--one over whom your Lordship's influence has never yet been
+doubted."
+
+"Whom do you mean?"
+
+"Tom Linton, my Lord; a very unworthy, but a most devoted partisan of
+your Lordship's."
+
+"What! Tom--_you_ in Parliament?"
+
+"Even so, my Lord," said Linton, for once in his life--perhaps, the only
+time--that a flash of angry meaning colored his calm features. "I
+am sorry that the notion should so palpably wake your Lordship's
+amazement."
+
+"No--no--no! I did n't mean that. I was only surprised. In fact, you
+took me unawares--we were talking of Cashel."
+
+"Precisely, my Lord; we were discussing the probable career of a person
+so eminently gifted with statesmanlike qualities; then, how could I
+possibly hope for patience when introducing to your notice abilities so
+humble as my own?"
+
+"But is it possible--is this practicable, Linton?"
+
+"With your assistance it is certain. The influence of your Lordship's
+rank would give such weight to your opinions, that if you were only to
+say to him, 'Send Linton into Parliament as your member,' the thing is
+done."
+
+"I have my doubts."
+
+"I have none whatever--I know the man well. He is dying to conform to
+anything that he supposes to be the discipline of his class. Tell him he
+ought, and he never resists."
+
+"I have resolved on not paying this visit," said Kilgoff, after a brief
+pause; "reasons of sufficient weight determined me."
+
+"Oh, my Lord, pardon the freedom, but I must say that they had need be
+strong reasons to weigh against all the advantages I can show from the
+opposite course."
+
+"They are, sir, very strong reasons, nor do I deem it necessary to
+advert to them again; enough that I esteem them sufficient."
+
+"Of course, my Lord, I never dreamed of calling them in question; they
+must needs be cogent arguments which counterpoise the opposite scale--a
+high diplomatic career--a representative peerage--this there could be no
+doubt of."
+
+"How do you mean?" broke in Kilgoff, abruptly.
+
+"Simply that this young man becomes your trump card, if you only please
+to take him up. As yet he has resisted the advances made by Downie Meek
+and his set, because of my watchfulness; but sooner or later some
+party will catch him, and when one thinks how few men with a large
+unencumbered fortune we possess here, with a great county interest, two
+boroughs, for he owns Knockgarvan as well, the prize is really worth
+having, particularly as it only needs the stretching out the hand to
+take."
+
+Lord Kilgoff mused and seemed to ponder over the words. He entertained
+small doubts of his "friend" Linton's capacity; but he had very
+considerable suspicions of his principles, and it is a strange fact that
+people willing to commit very gross breaches of fair dealing themselves
+are exceedingly scrupulous respecting the fair fame of their associates
+in iniquity, so admirably accommodating is a worldly conscience!
+
+"Well, sir," said he, at length, "the price--name the price. What are we
+to pay for the article?--that is the question."
+
+"I have said, my Lord, it is to be had for asking. Your Lordship has
+only to take the territory, as our naval men do the chance islands they
+meet with in the Southern Pacific. Land and plant your flag--_voilā
+tout!_"
+
+"But you have heard me observe already," said he, in a querulous tone,
+"that I dislike the prospect of this visit--that in fact it would be
+exceedingly disagreeable to me."
+
+"Then I have nothing more to say, my Lord," said Linton, coolly, while
+he took up his hat and gloves. "I can only congratulate you on the
+excellence of your political prospects, which can dispense with a strong
+alliance to be had so easily."
+
+"Our measures of value are very different, Mr. Linton," said Lord
+Kilgoff, proudly. "Still, to prove that this is no caprice on my
+part,"--here he stopped abruptly, while his heightened color showed the
+degree of embarrassment he labored under,--"to show you that I have--in
+order to explain my motives--" Here he took a cautious glance around the
+room, walked to the door, opened and shut it again, and then drawing his
+arm within Linton's, led him towards a window. For a second or two he
+seemed undecided, and at last, by a great effort, he whispered a few
+words in Linton's ear.
+
+Had any third party been there to watch the effect of the whispered
+confidence, he might easily have read in the speaking brilliancy of
+Linton's eyes, and in his assured look, that it was of a nature to give
+him the greatest pleasure. But scarce had his Lordship done speaking,
+when these signs of pleasure gave way to a cold, almost stern air of
+morality, and he said, "But surely, my Lord, it were far better to leave
+her Ladyship to deal with such insolent pretension--"
+
+"Hush, not so loud; speak lower. So I should, Linton, but women never
+will see anything in these airs of puppyism. They persist in thinking,
+or saying, at least, that they are mere modern fashionable manners, and
+this endurance on their part gives encouragement. And then, when there
+happens to be some disparity of years--Lady Kilgoff _is_ my junior--the
+censorious world seizes on the shadow of a scandal; in fact, sir, I
+will not consent to afford matter for newspaper asterisks or figurative
+description."
+
+"Your Lordship never had a better opportunity of giving open defiance to
+both. These airs of Cashel are, as you remark, mere puppyism, assumed to
+get credit for a certain fashionable character for levity. To avoid him
+would be to acknowledge that there was danger in his society. I don't
+go so far as to say that he would assert as much, but most assuredly the
+world would for him. I think I hear the ready comments on your absence:
+'Were not the Kilgoffs expected here?' 'Oh, they were invited, but Lord
+Kilgoff was afraid to venture. Cashel had been paying attentions.' In a
+word, every species of impertinence that malevolence and envy can fancy
+would be fabricated. Your Lordship knows the world far better than I do;
+and knows, besides, the heavy price a man pays for being the possessor
+of a high capacity and a handsome wife: these are two insults that the
+less fortunate in life never do, or never can forgive."
+
+"Well, what is it you counsel?"
+
+"To meet these calumnies in the face; small slanders, like weak fires,
+are to be trampled out; to tamper with such, is to fan the flame which
+at last will scorch you. Besides, to take another view of the matter:
+her Ladyship is young, and has been much admired; how will she accept
+this seclusion? I don't speak of the present case; besides, I suppose
+that this country visit would bore her beyond measure. But how will
+she regard it in other instances? Is it not an implied fear on your
+Lordship's part? you, who have really nothing to dread in competition
+with any man. I only know, if I were in your place, how I should
+actually seize the very opportunity of openly flouting such calumnious
+rumor; never was there an occasion to do so on cheaper terms. This
+Roland Cashel is an underbred boy."
+
+"There is a great deal in what you say, Linton. But as jealousy is a
+feeling of which I have never had any experience, I was only anxious on
+Lady Kilgoff's account, that the thoughtless gayety of a very young and
+handsome woman should not expose her to the sarcastic insinuations of an
+impertinent world. She _is_ gay in manner; there _is_ an air of lively
+imagination--"
+
+"No more than what the French call '_amabilité_,' my Lord, which,
+like the famed armor of Milan is not the less defensive that it is so
+beautiful in all its details."
+
+"Well, then, I 'll not send the note," said Lord Kilgoff, as he took
+up the letter, and tearing it, threw the fragments into the fire; "of
+course, Linton, this conversation is strictly confidential?"
+
+"Your Lordship has never found me unworthy of such a trust."
+
+"Never; nor, I must say, would it be for your advantage to become so."
+
+Linton bit his lip, and for a second or two seemed burning to make a
+rejoinder; but overcoming the temptation, assumed his careless smile,
+and said,--
+
+"I leave you, my Lord, greatly gratified that chance led me to pay this
+visit. I sincerely believe, that in the counsels I have offered, I have
+at least been able to be of service to you."
+
+Lord Kilgoff presented his hand in acknowledgment of the speech, but it
+was accorded with an air which seemed to say, "Well, here is a receipt
+in full for your devotedness."
+
+Linton took it in the same spirit, and left the room, as though deeply
+impressed with all the honor he enjoyed in such a noble friendship.
+
+Hastening down the stairs, he sprang into the saddle of his horse, and
+cantering up the street, turned towards the road which leads to the
+Phoenix Park. It was about the hour when the equipages were wont to
+throng that promenade, but Linton did not seem desirous of joining that
+gay crowd, for he took a cross-path through the fields, and after a
+sharp ride of half-an-hour, reached a low paling which skirted the park
+on the eastward; here, at a small cottage kept by one of the rangers, a
+little door led in, passing through which he found himself in one of the
+long green alleys of that beautiful tract. A boy, who seemed to be
+ready waiting, now took his horse, and Linton entered the wood and
+disappeared. He did not proceed far, however, within the shady copse,
+for after going a short distance he perceived a carriage standing in the
+lane, by the door of which a footman waited, with a shawl upon his arm.
+The coachman, with his whip posed, sat talking with his fellow-servant,
+so that Linton saw that the carriage had no occupant.
+
+He now hastened along, and speedily emerging at a little grassy opening
+of the wood, came in sight of a lady walking at some distance in front.
+The fashionable air and splendid dress, which might have suited the
+most brilliant promenade of a great city, seemed strange in such a lone,
+unvisited spot. Linton lost no time in overtaking her, only diminishing
+his speed as he came closer, when, with his hat removed, and in an
+attitude of the most humble deference, he said,--
+
+"Pray let me stand excused if I am somewhat behind my time; the fault
+was not my own."
+
+"Oh, say nothing about it," said a soft musical voice, and Lady Kilgoff
+turned an easy smile towards him. "'Qui s'excuse, s'accuse,' says the
+French proverb, and I never dreamt of the accusation. Is it not a lovely
+day here?"
+
+[Illustration: 213]
+
+Linton was too much piqued to answer at once, but recovering, he said,
+"Without seeking to apologize for an absence that was not felt, let me
+return to the subject. I assure your Ladyship that I had been detained
+by Lord Kilgoff, who was pleased to bestow a more than ordinary share of
+his confidence upon me, and even condescended to ask my counsel."
+
+"How flattering! Which you gave, I hope, with all the sincerity for
+which you are famous."
+
+Linton tried to smile, but not very successfully.
+
+"What, then, was this wonderful mystery? Not the representative peerage,
+I trust; I 'm sure I hope that question is at rest forever."
+
+"You are quite safe there,--he never mentioned it."
+
+"Oh, then it was his diplomatic ambition,--ain't I right? Ah, I knew it;
+I knew it How very silly, or how very wicked you must be, Mr. Linton,
+to encourage these daydreams,--you who have not the excuse of
+hallucinations, who read the book of life as it is written, without
+fanciful interpretations!"
+
+"I certainly must disclaim your paneygric. I had one hallucination,
+if so you term it,--it was that you wished, ardently wished, for the
+position which a foreign 'mission' bestows. A very natural wish, I
+freely own, in one so worthy in every way to grace and adorn it."
+
+"Well, so I did some time back, but I 've changed my mind. I don't think
+I should like it; I have been reconsidering the subject."
+
+"And your Ladyship inclines now rather to seclusion and rural pleasures;
+how fortunate that I should have been able to serve your interests there
+also."
+
+"What do you mean?" said she, with a stare, while a deep scarlet
+suffused her cheek.
+
+"I alluded to a country visit which you fancied might be made so
+agreeably, but which his Lordship had the bad taste to regard less
+favorably."
+
+"Well, sir, you did not presume to give any opinion?"
+
+"I really did. I had all the hardihood to brave Lord Kilgoff's
+most fixed resolves. You were aware that he declined Mr. Cashel's
+invitation?"
+
+She nodded, and he went on,--
+
+"Probably, too, knowing the reasons for that refusal?"
+
+"No, sir; the matter was indifferent to me, so I never troubled my head
+about it. My Lord said we shouldn't go, and I said, 'Very well,' and
+there it ended."
+
+Now, although this was spoken with a most admirably feigned
+indifference, Linton was too shrewd an observer not to penetrate the
+deception.
+
+"I am doubly unlucky this day," said he, at last, "first to employ all
+my artifices to plan a ministerial success to which you are actually
+averse, and secondly, to carry a point to which you are indifferent."
+
+"Dare I ask, if the question be not an indiscreet one, what peculiar
+interest Mr. Linton can have, either in our acceptance or refusal of
+this invitation?"
+
+"Have I not said that I believed you desired it?" replied he, with a
+most meaning look.
+
+"Indeed you read inclinations most skilfully, only that you interpret
+them by anticipation."
+
+"This is too much," said Linton, in a voice whose passionate earnestness
+showed that all dissimulation was at an end, "far too much! The genteel
+comedy that we play before the world, madam, might be laid aside for a
+few moments here. When I asked for this interview, and you consented to
+give it--"
+
+"It was on the express stipulation that you should treat me as you do
+in society, sir," broke she in--"that there should be no attempt to fall
+back upon an intimacy which can never be resumed."
+
+"When I promised, I intended to have kept my word, Laura," said he,
+in deep dejection; "I believed I could have stifled the passion
+that consumes me, and talked to you in the words of sincere, devoted
+friendship, but I cannot. Old memories of once happiness, brought up too
+vividly by seeing you, as I used to see you, when in many a country walk
+we sauntered on, dreaming of the time when, mine, by every tie of right,
+as by affection--"
+
+"How you requited that affection, Linton!" said she, in a tone whose
+deep reproach seemed actually to stun him. Then suddenly changing to an
+air of disdainful anger, she continued: "You are a bold man, Linton.
+I thought it would be too much for even _your_ hardihood to recur to a
+theme so full of humiliation for yourself; but I know your theory, sir:
+you think there is a kind of heroism in exaggerated baseness, and that
+it is no less great to transcend men in crime than in virtue. You dare
+to speak of an affection that you betrayed and bartered for money."
+
+"I made you a peeress, madam. When you were Laura Gardiner, you couldn't
+have spoken to me as now you speak."
+
+"If I consented to the vile contract, it was that, when I discovered
+your baseness, any refuge was preferable to being the wife of one like
+you!"
+
+"A most complimentary assurance, not only to myself, but his Lordship,"
+said Linton, with an insolent smile.
+
+"Now, hear me," said she, not noticing the taunt, but speaking with a
+voice of deep collected earnestness. "It is in vain to build upon time
+or perseverance--the allies you trust so deeply--to renew the ties
+broken forever. If I had no other higher and more sustaining motive, my
+knowledge of you would be enough to rescue me from this danger. I know
+you well, Linton. You have often told me what an enemy you could be.
+This, at least, I believe of all that you have ever sworn! I have a full
+faith, too, in your ingenuity and skill; and yet I would rather brave
+both--ay, both hate and craft--than trust to what you call your honor."
+
+"You do indeed know me well, Laura," said he, in a voice broken and
+faltering, "or you never had dared to speak such words to me. There is
+not one breathing could have uttered them and not pay the penalty, save
+yourself. I feel in my inmost heart how deeply I have wronged you, but
+is not my whole life an atonement for the wrong? Am I not heartbroken
+and wretched, without a hope or a future? What greater punishment did
+any one ever incur than to live in the daily sight and contemplation of
+a bliss that his own folly or madness have forever denied him; and yet,
+to that same suffering do I cling, as the last tie that binds me to
+existence. To see you in the world, to watch you, to mark the
+effect your grace and beauty are making on all around you--how every
+fascination calls up its tribute of admiration--how with each day some
+new excellence develops itself, till you seem inexhaustible in all the
+traits of graceful womanhood, this has been the cherished happiness of
+my life! It was to this end I labored to induce the acceptance of that
+invitation that once more, beneath the same roof, I should see you for
+days long. Your own heart must confess how I have never before the world
+forgotten the distance that separates us. There is, then, no fear that
+I should resign every joy that yet remains to me for any momentary
+indulgence of speaking to you as my heart feels. No, no, Laura, you have
+nothing to dread either from my hate or my love."
+
+"To what end, then, was it that you asked me to meet you here to-day?"
+said she, in a voice in which a touch of compassionate sorrow was
+blended.
+
+"Simply to entreat, that if I should succeed in persuading his Lordship
+to accept this visit, you would throw no obstacle in the way on your
+side."
+
+"And if I consent, shall I have no cause to rue my compliance?"
+
+"So far as depends on me, none, on my honor!"
+
+It had been better for Linton's cause that he had omitted the last
+words, at least: as Laura turned away her head, a curl of insolent
+meaning was on her lip, but she did not speak, and they now walked
+along, side by side, in silence.
+
+"You will go, then?" said he, at last, in a low whisper.
+
+"Yes," said she, faintly.
+
+Linton stole a glance at her unperceived, and suddenly the sparkle of
+his eyes and the elation of his whole expression showed the transport of
+pleasure he experienced.
+
+"Now for one word of caution," said Linton, as, drawing closer to her
+side, he assumed the tone of sincere friendship. "Lord Kilgoff has just
+revealed to me, in deep confidence, that he has been much offended by
+certain attentions shown to you by this Mr. Cashel, and which were of
+so marked a nature that he was almost determined never to admit his
+intimacy in future. Had his Lordship known you as well as I do, he might
+have spared himself this anxiety. I believe such savage excellence as
+his has few attractions for you; nor, save the admiration that all must
+yield you, has the youth taste or feeling to appreciate your excellence.
+However, 'my Lord' is jealous; let it be your care, by knowledge of the
+fact, not to incur anything to sustain the suspicion."
+
+"How very absurd all this is! Do you know that Mr. Cashel did not
+condescend to pay me the poor compliment of a special invitation to his
+house, but asked my Lord to come, and hoped I would accompany him; just
+as people invite their humbler acquaintances, hoping that only half the
+request may be accorded."
+
+"He is underbred even to barbarism," said Linton.
+
+"He seems a most good-natured creature, and full of generosity."
+
+"Overwealth has sometimes that air. When the glass is brimful, none but
+the steadiest hand can carry, without spilling, the wine."
+
+"He does not appear even to make the effort. They tell me he has
+squandered some thousands already, making presents to every one who will
+accept them."
+
+"He gave me this cane," said Linton, superciliously, exhibiting a little
+riding cane, which he had taken himself out of Cashel's hand, and was of
+no value whatever. "Not any great evidence of exaggerated generosity,"
+said he. "As to his house, however, I trust its honors may be well done;
+he has given me _carte blanche_, and I must only try and not disgrace my
+prerogative."
+
+"How very late it is--nearly seven," said Lady Kilgoff, looking at her
+watch.
+
+"Shall I see your Ladyship to your carriage?" said Linton.
+
+"I think not," said she, blushing slightly; "as I left it unaccompanied,
+so I shall return to it Good-bye."
+
+She held out her hand as she spoke, but slightly averted her head, so
+that Linton could not mark the expression of her features. As it was, he
+pressed the gloved fingers to his lips, but, when doing so, contrived
+to unclasp her bracelet,--a singularly rich one, and a present from Lord
+Kilgoff on the day of her marriage. This he let fall noiselessly on the
+grass, and murmured, in a low voice, "Goodbye."
+
+Lady Kilgoff, hastily wrapping her shawl about her, left the spot.
+Linton watched her till he had seen her seated in the carriage, and
+continued to gaze after it, as it drove rapidly away, and so intently
+occupied by his thoughts, that he did not notice the approach of a
+horseman, who came up at a walking pace behind him.
+
+"Eh, Tom!" cried out Lord Charles Frobisher, "this is flying at high
+game!"
+
+"You are mistaken, Charley," said he, in some confusion. "This 'meeting
+under the green-wood tree' was nothing less than a love affair."
+
+"Oh, hang your morality, Mr. Joseph; it's rather good fun to see the
+'insolent beauty' of the season capitulating."
+
+"Wrong again," said Linton, affecting a laugh. "Everton is in a scrape,
+and his wife wants me to get him out of the way--"
+
+"Nonsense, man, I saw the carriage; there is no need of mystifying here.
+Besides, it's no affair of mine--I'm sure I wish it were! But come, what
+are the odds on Hitchley's colt--are seven to two taken?"
+
+"Don't bet," said Linton, knowingly; "there is something 'wrong' in that
+stable, and I have n't found out the secret."
+
+"What a deep fellow you are, Tom."
+
+"Nothing of the kind, Charley. If I were, you 'd never have discovered
+it. Your only deep fellow is he that the world deems shallow--your
+light-hearted, rattling knave, whose imputed thoughtlessness covers
+every breach of faith, and makes his veriest schemes seem purely
+accident. But, once get the repute of being a clever or a smart fellow,
+and success is tenfold more difficult. The world, then, only plays with
+you as one does with a sharper, betting small stakes, and keeping a
+steady eye on the cards. Your own sleepy eye, Charley, your languid,
+careless look, are a better provision than most men give their younger
+children."
+
+Lord Charles lifted his long eyelashes lazily, and, for a second,
+something like a sparkle lit up his cold, dark eye, but it was gone in a
+moment, and his habitually lethargic expression once more returned. "You
+heard that we were nearly 'out,' I suppose?" said he, after a pause.
+
+"Yes. This is the second time that I bought Downie Meek's
+carriage-horses on the rumor of a change of administration."
+
+"And sold them back again at double the price, when he found that the
+ministry were safe!"
+
+"To be sure; was n't it a 'good hedge' for him to be Secretary for
+Ireland at the cost of a hundred or so?"
+
+"You 'll get the name of spreading the false intelligence, Tom, if you
+always profit so much by it."
+
+"With all my heart. I wish sincerely some good-natured fellow would lay
+to my charge a little roguery that I had no share in. I have experienced
+all manner and shades of sensations, but injured innocence, that would
+really be new to me."
+
+"Well," sighed Lord Charles, with a yawn, "I suppose we have only a
+short time before us here. The end of the session will scarcely see us
+in office."
+
+"About that: by keeping all hands at the pumps we may float the ship
+into harbor, but no more."
+
+"And what 's to become of us?" said the _aide-de-camp_, with a deep
+depression in his accent.
+
+"The usual lot of a crew paid off," cried Linton, laughing; "look out
+for a new craft in commission, and go to sea again. As for you, Charley,
+you can either marry something in the printed calico line, with a
+hundred and fifty thousand, or, if you prefer it, exchange into a light
+cavalry corps at Suntanterabund."
+
+"And you?" said Lord Charles, with something almost of sternness.
+
+"I? Oh, as for me, I have many alternatives. I can remain a Whig, and
+demand office from the Tories--a claim Peel has never resisted; I can
+turn Repealer, and be pensioned by something in the Colonies; I can be
+a waiter on Providence, and live on all parties by turns. In fact,
+Charley, there never was a better age for your 'adventurer' than this
+year of our Lord 18--. All the geography of party has been erased, and
+it is open to every man to lay down new territorial limits."
+
+"But for any case of the kind you should have a seat in Parliament"
+
+"So I mean it, my boy. I intend to represent,--I'm sure I forget the
+name of my constituency,--in the next assemblage of the collective
+wisdom."
+
+"How do you manage the qualification?" said the _aide-de-camp_, slyly.
+
+"The man who gives the borough must take care of that; it's no affair of
+mine," said Linton, carelessly. "I only supply the politics."
+
+"And what are they to be?"
+
+"_Cela dépend_. You might as well ask me what dress I 'll wear in the
+changeable climate of an Irish July."
+
+"Then you 'll take no pledges?"
+
+"To be sure I will; every one asked of me. I only stipulate to accompany
+each with a crotchet of my own, so that, like the gentleman who emptied
+his snuff-box over the peas, I 'll leave the dish uneatable by any but
+myself."
+
+"Well, good-bye, Tom," said Lord Charles, laughing. "If you only be
+as loyal in love as you promise to be in politics, our fair friend is
+scarcely fortunate." And so saying, he cantered slowly away.
+
+"Poor fellow!" said Linton, contemptuously, "your little bit of
+principle haunts you like a superstition." And with this reflection, he
+stepped out briskly to where the boy was standing with his horse.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Linton, darlin', only sixpence! and I here this two hours?"
+said the ragged urchin, with a cunning leer, half roguery, half shame.
+
+"And where could you have earned sixpence, you scoundrel, in that time?"
+cried Linton, affecting anger.
+
+"Faix, I 'd have earned half a crown if I 'd got up on the beast and
+rode down to Bilton's," said the fellow, grinning.
+
+"You 'd have had your skull cracked with this cane, the next time I met
+you, for your pains," said the other, really enraged, while he chucked a
+shilling at him.
+
+"Success to your honor,--all's right," said the boy. And touching his
+cap, he scampered off into the wood, and disappeared.
+
+"You shall have a sea voyage, my friend," said Linton, looking after
+him; "a young gentleman with such powers of observation would have a
+fine opening in our colonies." And away he rode towards town, his brain
+revolving many a complex scheme and lucky stratagem, but still with
+ready smile acknowledging each salutation of his friends, and conveying
+the impression of being one whose easy nature was unruffled by a care.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX. THE DOMESTIC DETECTIVE CONSULTED.
+
+     Of "sweet fifteen" no mortal e'er afraid is,
+     Your real "man traps" are old maiden ladies.
+
+     The Legacy.
+
+It was late of that same afternoon ere Cashel awoke. Mr. Phillis had
+twice adventured into the room on tiptoe, and as stealthily retired, and
+was now, for the third time, about to retreat, when Roland called him
+back.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir; but Mrs. Kennyfeck's footman has been here twice for
+the answer to this note."
+
+"Let me see it," said Cashel, taking a highly-perfumed epistle, whose
+tinted paper, seal, and superscription were all in the perfection of
+epistolary coquetry.
+
+     Dear Mr. Cashel,--Mamma desires me to convey her reproaches
+     for your shocking forgetfulness of yesterday, when, after
+     promising to dine here, you never appeared. She will,
+     however, not only forgive the past, but be grateful for the
+     present, if you will come to us to-day at seven.
+
+     Believe me, very truly yours,
+
+     Olivia Kennyfeck.
+
+Simple and commonplace as the words were, Cashel read them over more
+than once.
+
+I know not if any of my male readers can corroborate me, but I have
+always thought there is some mysterious attraction in even the most
+every-day epistle of a young and pretty woman. The commonest social
+forms assume a different meaning, and we read the four letters which
+spell "dear" in an acceptation very remote from what they inspire when
+written by one's law agent; and then, the concluding "yours truly,"
+or "faithfully yours," or better again, "ever yours,"--what suggestive
+little words they are! how insinuating in their portraiture of a tie
+which possibly might, but does not actually, bind the parties.
+
+If my readers concur not in these sympathies; I have great satisfaction
+in saying that Roland Cashel did. He not only sat gazing at the few
+lines, but he looked so long at them as to half believe that the first
+word was a superlative; then, suddenly rousing himself he asked the
+hour. It was already past six. He had only time, then, for a verbal,
+"With pleasure," and to dress for dinner.
+
+It seemed like a reproach on his late mode of living, the pile of
+unopened letters, which in imposing mass Mr. Phillis had arrayed on
+his master's dressing-table. They contained specimens of everything
+epistolary which falls to the lot of those favored children of fortune
+who, having "much to give," are great favorites with the world. There
+were dear little pressing invitations signed by the lady of the house,
+and indited in all the caligraphy of the governess. There were begging
+letters from clergymen with large families, men who gave so "many
+hostages to fortune," that they actually ruined themselves in their
+own "recognizances." Flatteries, which, if not written on tinted
+paper, might have made it blush to bear them, mixed up with tradesmen's
+assurances of fidelity and punctuality, and bashful apologies for the
+indelicacy of any allusion to money.
+
+Oh, it is a very sweet world this of ours, and amiable withal! save that
+the angelic smile it bestows on one part of the creation has a sorry
+counterpart in the sardonic grin with which it regards the other. Our
+friend Cashel was in the former category, and he tossed over the letters
+carelessly, rarely breaking a seal, and, even then, satisfied with a
+mere glance at the contents, or the name of the writer, when he suddenly
+caught sight of a large square-shaped epistle, marked "Sea-letter." It
+was in a hand he well knew, that of his old comrade Enrique; and burning
+with anxiety to hear of him, he threw himself into a chair, and broke
+the seal.
+
+The very first words which met his eye shocked him.
+
+     "St. Kitt's, Jamaica.
+
+     "Ay, Roland, even so. St. Kitt's, Jamaica! heavily ironed
+     in a cell at the top of a strong tower over the sea, with an
+     armed sentry at my door, I write this! a prisoner fettered
+     and chained,--I, that could not brook the very orders of
+     discipline! Well, well, it is only cowardice to repine.
+     Truth is, _amigo_, I 've had no luck since you left us. It
+     was doubtless yours that sustained me so long, and when
+     _you_ withdrew from the firm, I became bankrupt, and yet,
+     this is pretty much what we used once, in merry mood, to
+     predict for each other, 'the loop and the leap.'
+
+     "How shall I tell you so briefly as neither to weary you to
+     read, nor myself to write it, my last sad misfortune? I say
+     the last, because the bad luck took a run against me. First,
+     I lost everything I possessed at play,--the very pistols you
+     sent me, I staked and lost. Worse still, Roland,--and faith
+     I don't think I could make the confession, if a few hours,
+     or a few days more, were not to hide my shame in a felon's
+     grave,--I played the jewels you sent here for Maritaņa. She
+     refused them with words of bitterness and anger. Partly from
+     the irritated feeling of the moment, partly from the curse
+     of a gambler's spirit,--the hope to weary out the malice of
+     fortune,--I threw them on the monte-table. Of course I lost.
+     It was soon after this Barcelonetta was laid in ruin by a
+     shock of earthquake, the greatest ever experienced here. The
+     'Quadro' is a mere mass of chaotic rubbish. The 'Puerta
+     Mayor,' with all its statues, is ingulfed, and an arm of the
+     sea now washes up and over the beautiful gardens where the
+     Governor gave his _fęte_. The villa, too, rent from roof to
+     basement, is a ruin; vast yawning gulfs intersect the
+     parterres everywhere; the fountains are dried up; the
+     trees blasted by lightning; and a red-brown surface of
+     ashes strewn over the beauteous turf where we used to stroll
+     by moonlight. The old tree that sheltered our monte-table
+     stands uninjured, as if in mockery over our disasters!
+     Maritaņa's hammock was slung beneath the branches, and there
+     she lay, careless of--nay, I could almost say, if the words
+     did not seem too strange for truth, actually pleased by--the
+     dreadful event. I went to take leave of her; it was the last
+     night we were to spend on shore. I little knew it was to be
+     the last time we should ever meet. Pedro passed the night
+     among the ruins of the villa, endeavoring to recover papers
+     and valuables amid that disastrous mass. Geizheimer was
+     always with him, and as Noronja and the rest soon fell off
+     to sleep, wearied by a day of great fatigue, I sat alone
+     beside her hammock till day was breaking. Oh, would that
+     night could have lasted for years, so sweetly tranquil were
+     the starlit hours, so calm and yet so full of hopeful
+     promise. What brilliant pictures of ambition did she, that
+     young, untaught girl, present to my eyes,--how teach me to
+     long for a cause whose rewards were higher, and greater, and
+     nobler than the prizes of this wayward life. I would have
+     spoken of my affection, my deep-felt, long-cherished love,
+     but, with a half-scornful laugh, she stopped me, saying, 'Is
+     this leafy shade so like a fair lady's boudoir that you can
+     persuade yourself to trifle thus, or is your own position so
+     dazzling that you deem the offer to share it a flattery?'"
+
+"I 'm afraid, sir," said Mr. Phillis, here obtruding his head into the
+room, "that you 'll be very late. It is already more than half-past
+seven o'clock."
+
+"So it is!" exclaimed Cashel, starting up, while he muttered something
+not exceedingly complimentary to his host's engagement. "Is the carriage
+ready?" And without staying to hear the reply, hurried downstairs, the
+open letter still in his hand.
+
+Scarcely seated in the carriage, Cashel resumed the reading of the
+letter. Eager to trace the circumstances which led to his friend's
+captivity, he hastily ran his eyes over the lines till he came to the
+following:--
+
+     "There could be no doubt of it. The 'Esmeralda,' our noble
+     frigate, was not in the service of the Republic, but by some
+     infamous treaty between Pedro and Narochez, the minister,
+     was permitted to carry the flag of Columbia. We were
+     slavers, buccaneers, pirates,--not sailors of a state. When,
+     therefore, the British war-brig 'Scorpion' sent a gun
+     across our bows, with an order to lie to, and we replied by
+     showing our main-deck ports open, and our long eighteens all
+     ready, the challenge could not be mistaken. We were near
+     enough to hear the cheering, and it seemed, too, they heard
+     ours; we wanted but you, Roland, among us to have made our
+     excitement madness!"
+
+The carriage drew up at Kennyfeck's door as Cashel had read thus far,
+and in a state of mind bordering on fever he entered the hall and passed
+up the stairs. The clock struck eight as he presented himself in the
+drawing-room, where the family were assembled, the number increased by
+two strangers, who were introduced to Roland as Mrs. Kennyfeck's sister,
+Miss O'Hara, an elderly maiden lady, with a light brown wig; and a
+raw-boned, much-freckled young man, Peter O'Gorman, her nephew.
+
+Nothing could be more cordial than the reception of the Kennyfecks; they
+affected not to think that it was so late, vowed that the clock was
+too fast, were certain that Mr. Cashel's watch was right; in fact, his
+presence was a receipt in full for all the anxieties of delay, and so
+they made him feel it.
+
+There was a little quizzing of Roland, as they seated themselves at
+table, over his forgetfulness of the day before, but so good-humoredly
+as not to occasion, even to himself, the slightest embarrassment.
+
+"At breakfast at the barrack!" repeated Miss Kennyfeck after him. "What
+a formidable affair, if it always lasts twenty-four hours."
+
+"What do you mean? How do you know that?" asked Roland, half in shame,
+half in surprise, at this knowledge of his movements.
+
+"Not to speak of the brilliant conversation, heightened by all the
+excitement of wit, champagne, and hazard,--dreadful competitors with
+such tiresome society as ours," said Olivia.
+
+"Never mind them, Mr. Cashel," broke in Miss O'Hara, in a mellifluous
+Doric; "'tis jealous they are, because you like the officers better than
+themselves."
+
+A most energetic dissent was entered by Cashel to this supposition, who
+nevertheless felt grateful for the advocacy of the old lady.
+
+"When I was in the Cape Coast Fencibles," broke in Peter, with an accent
+that would have induced one to believe Africa was on the Shannon, "we
+used to sit up all night,--it was so hot in the day; but we always
+called it breakfast, for you see--"
+
+"And when are we to visit your pictures, Mr. Cashel?" said Mrs.
+Kennyfeck, whose efforts to suppress Peter were not merely vocal, as
+that injured individual's shins might attest.
+
+"That depends entirely on you, madam," said Roland, bowing. "I have only
+to say, the earlier the more agreeable to me."
+
+"He has such a beautiful collection," said Mrs. Kennyfeck, turning to
+her sister.
+
+"Indeed, then, I delight in pictures," said "Aunt Fanny," as her nieces
+called her. "I went the other day to Mount Bennett, to see a portrait
+painted by Rousseau."
+
+"By Rubens, I suppose you mean, aunt," interposed Miss Kennyfeck,
+tartly.
+
+"So it may be, my dear, I never know the names right; but it was a dark
+old man, with a hairy cap and a long gray beard, as like Father Morris
+Heffernan as ever it could stare."
+
+"Is your new Carlo Dolce so very like Olivia?" interposed Mrs.
+Kennyfeck, who was sadly hampered by her country relatives and their
+reminiscences.
+
+"So very like, madam, that I beg you to accept it as a portrait,"
+replied Roland.
+
+"Upon my word, then, young gentleman, you 're not so fond of a pretty
+face as you might be," broke in Aunt Fanny, "or you would n't be
+so ready to give it away." A very hearty laugh at the old lady's
+eccentricity relieved Cashel from all necessity of explanation.
+
+"The old masters are so good," said Mrs. Kennyfeck; "I delight in their
+fine, vigorous touch."
+
+"Why don't they put more clothes on their figures," said Aunt Fanny,
+"even a warm climate is no excuse for the way the creatures went about."
+
+"If you saw them in Hickweretickanookee," said Peter, "King John never
+wore anything but a cocked-hat and a pair of short black gaiters the
+missionary gave him for learning the Lord's Prayer."
+
+"I hear that Lady Janet said Cary would be an excellent study for Helen
+M'Gregor," said Mrs. Kennyfeck. "It was scarcely civil, however."
+
+"It was more,--downright rude," said Cashel, reddening; "but Miss
+Kennyfeck can afford to pay the penalty beauty always yields to its
+opposite."
+
+"There, my dear, that's a compliment," said Aunt Fanny, "and don't be
+displeased. I say, darling, did n't he say a while ago you were like
+somebody at Carlow?"
+
+"A Carlo Dolce, aunt," broke in both sisters, laughing; and so the
+dinner proceeded amid commonplaces, relieved occasionally from their
+flatness by the absurdities of Aunt Fanny, who seemed as good-naturedly
+proof against ridicule, as she was likely to evoke it.
+
+Peter was the first to rise from table, as he was anxious to go to "the
+play," and the ladies soon retired to the drawing-room, Mrs. Kennyfeck
+slyly whispering, as she passed behind Roland's chair, an entreaty that
+he would not long delay in following them. Cashel's anxiety to close his
+_tęte-ā-tęte_ arose from another cause,--his burning anxiety to
+finish Enrique's letter; while Kennyfeck himself seemed beating about,
+uncertain how to open subjects he desired to have discussed. After a
+long pause, he said,--
+
+"I was speaking to Pepystell yesterday, and he is of opinion that
+there is no use in preserving any part of the old structure at
+Tubbermore,--the great difficulty of adapting a new character of
+architecture to the old would not repay the cost."
+
+Cashel nodded a careless assent, and, after a pause, Kennyfeck
+resumed:--
+
+"It might be of some convenience at present, however, to let the
+building stand as it is. A residence of one kind or other you will want,
+particularly as the elections are approaching."
+
+Another nod in silence was all the reply.
+
+"Pepystells estimate is large,--don't you think so?"
+
+He nodded again.
+
+"Nearly seventy thousand pounds! And that does not include the gate
+tower, which seems a point for after consideration."
+
+"I remember," muttered Cashel, in a voice that implied anything rather
+than a mind attentive to the subject before it.
+
+"Now, it would be as well," said Mr. Kennyfeck, drawing a long breath,
+and, as it were, preparing himself for a great effort, "to put a
+little order into our affairs. Your first year or two will be costly
+ones,--building expenses, equipage, horses, furniture, election charges.
+Much of your capital is vested in foreign securities, which it would be
+injurious to sell at this moment. Don't you think"--here he changed
+his voice to an almost insinuating softness--"don't you think that by
+devoting a certain portion of your income,--say a third, or one-half,
+perhaps,--for the present, to meet these charges--" He paused, for he
+saw from Cashel's occupied look that he was not attending to his words.
+
+"Well--continue," said Roland, affecting to wait for his conclusion.
+
+"I was about to ask, sir," said Kennyfeck, boldly, "what sum would you
+deem sufficient for your yearly expenditure?"
+
+"What is the amount of my income?" asked Cashel, bluntly.
+
+"In good years, something above sixteen thousand pounds; in bad ones,
+somewhat less than twelve."
+
+"Well, then,--you have the scale of my expenditure at once."
+
+"Not your whole income?" exclaimed Kennyfeck, astonished.
+
+"Even so. I see no earthly reason for hoarding. I do not find that
+squandering money is any very high enjoyment; I am certain scraping and
+saving it would afford me still less pleasure."
+
+"But there are always casualties demanding extraordinary expense,--a
+contested election, for instance."
+
+"I 'll not try it,--I don't intend to enter Parliament."
+
+"When you marry--"
+
+"Perhaps I shall not do that either."
+
+"Well, sums lost at play,--the turf has pressed on many a strong
+pocket."
+
+"Play has no fascination for me; I can give it up: I may almost say I
+have done so."
+
+"Not without paying a heavy penalty, however," said Kennyfeck, whose
+animation showed that he had at last approached the territory he was so
+long in search of.
+
+"How do you mean?" said Cashel, blushing deeply, as he began to fear
+that by some accident his secret visit to the money-lender had reached
+Kennyfeck's ears.
+
+"Your drafts on Latrobe, sir, whose account I have received to-day, are
+very heavy."
+
+"Oh, is that all?" said Cashel, carelessly.
+
+"All! all!" repeated Kennyfeck; then, suddenly correcting himself,
+he added, "I am almost certain, sir, that your generous habits have
+over-mastered your prudence. Are you aware of having drawn fifty
+thousand pounds?"
+
+"No, I really was not," replied Cashel, smiling more at the attorney's
+look of consternation than anything else. "I fancied about half as much.
+Pray tell me some of the items. No, no! not from book; that looks too
+formal,--just from memory."
+
+"Well, there are horses without number,--one bought with all his
+engagements for the Oaks, which amount to a forfeiture of four thousand
+pounds."
+
+"I remember that,--a piece of Linton's blundering; but he lost more
+heavily himself, poor fellow, our steed Lanz-knecht having turned out a
+dead failure."
+
+"Then there is something about a villa at Cowes, which I am certain you
+never saw."
+
+"No; but I have a drawing of it somewhere--a pretty thing under a cliff,
+with a beautiful bay of deep water, and good anchorage. Linton knows all
+about it."
+
+"Twelve thousand pounds is a large sum to give without ever seeing the
+purchase."
+
+"So it is; but go on."
+
+"I cannot remember one-half; but there is plate and jewels; sums
+advanced for building; subscriptions to everything and everybody; a
+heavy amount transmitted to the Havannah."
+
+"Very true; and that reminds me of a letter which I received at the very
+moment I was leaving home. Have I your leave to finish the reading? It
+is from an old and valued comrade."
+
+"Of course,--don't think of me for an instant," said Kennyfeck, scarcely
+able to repress an open acknowledgment of his amazement at the
+coolness which could turn from so interesting a topic to the, doubtless
+commonplace, narrative of some Mexican sailor.
+
+Cashel was, meanwhile, searching every pocket for the letter, which he
+well remembered, after reading in the carriage, to have crushed in his
+hand as he ascended the stairs. "I have dropped this letter," said he,
+in a voice of great agitation. "May I ask if your servants have found
+it?"
+
+The bell was rung, and the butler at once interrogated. He had seen
+nothing, neither had the footman. They both remembered, however that Mr.
+Phillis had accompanied his master to the foot of the stairs to receive
+some directions, and then left him to return with the carriage.
+
+"So, then, Phillis must have found it," said Cashel, rising hastily;
+and, without a word of apology or excuse, he bade his host a hurried
+good evening, and left the room.
+
+"Won't you have the carriage? Will you not stay for a cup of tea?" cried
+Mr. Kennyfeck, hastening after him. But the hall-door had already banged
+heavily behind him, and he was gone. When Cashel reached his house, it
+was to endure increased anxiety; for Mr. Phillis had gone out, and, like
+a true gentleman's gentleman, none of the other servants knew anything
+of his haunts, or when he would return. Leaving Cashel, then, to the
+tortures of a suspense which his fervid nature made almost intolerable,
+we shall return for a brief space to the house he had just quitted, and
+to the drawing-room, where, in momentary expectation of his appearance,
+the ladies sat, maintaining that species of "staccato" conversation
+which can afford interruption with least inconvenience. It is our duty
+to add, that we bring the reader back here less with any direct object
+as to what is actually going forward, than to make him better acquainted
+with the new arrival.
+
+Had Miss O'Hara been the mere quiet, easy-going, simple-minded elderly
+maiden she seemed to Cashel's eyes, the step on our part had not been
+needed; she might, like some other characters of our tale, have been
+suffered to glide by as ghosts or stage-supernumeraries do, unquestioned
+and undetained; but she possessed qualities of a kind to demand somewhat
+more consideration. Aunt Fanny, to give her the title by which she
+was best known, was, in reality, a person of the keenest insight
+into others,--reading people at sight, and endowed with a species of
+intuitive perception of all the possible motives which lead to any
+action. Residing totally in a small town in the west of Ireland, she
+rarely visited the capital, and was now, in fact, brought up "special"
+by her sister, Mrs. Kennyfeck, who desired to have her advice and
+counsel on the prospect of securing Cashel for one or other of her
+daughters. It was so far a wise step, that in such a conjuncture no
+higher opinion could have been obtained.
+
+"It was like getting a private hint from the Chancellor about a cause in
+equity." This was Mr. Kennyfeck's own illustration.
+
+Aunt Fanny was then there in the guise of a domestic detective, to watch
+proceedings and report on them,--a function which simplifies the due
+conduct of a case, be it in love or law, beyond anything.
+
+"How agreeable your papa must be this evening, my dear!" said Mrs.
+Kennyfeck, as with a glance at the clock on the mantelpiece she
+recognized that it was near ten.
+
+[Illustration: 261]
+
+"I 'm sure he is deep in one of his interminable law arguments, which
+always makes Mr. Cashel so sleepy and so stupid, that he never recovers
+for the rest of the evening."
+
+"He ought to find the drawing-room all the pleasanter for the contrast,"
+remarked Miss O'Hara, dryly. "I like to see young men--mind me well,
+young men, it does n't do with old ones--thoroughly bored before they
+come among the ladies. The sudden change to the tea, and the wax-lights,
+and the bright eyes, are trying stimulants. Let them, however, be what
+they call 'pleasant' below-stair, and they are sure to come up flushed
+and excited, well satisfied with the host's claret, and only anxious to
+order the carriage. What o'clock is it now?"
+
+"A quarter-past ten, aunt."
+
+"Too late; full three-quarters too late," ejaculated she, with the tone
+of an oracle. "There is nothing your father could have to say should
+have detained him till now. Play that little Mexican thing again, my
+dear; and, Livy, love, leave the door a little open; don't you find the
+heat of this room intolerable?"
+
+The young ladies obeyed, and meanwhile Aunt Fanny, drawing her chair
+closer to her sister's, said, in a low tone,--
+
+"Well, explain the matter more clearly. Did he give her the diamonds?"
+
+"No; that is the strangest of all," responded Mrs. Kennyfeck. "He just
+told Leonard to send them home, and we never heard more about them."
+
+Aunt Fanny shook her head.
+
+"You know, he asked Olivia, as they were going downstairs, what she
+thought of them; and she replied, 'They 're beautiful.'"
+
+"How did she say it, though; was it like a mere casual remark, or did
+she make it with feeling?"
+
+"With feeling," echoed Mrs. Kennyfeck, pursing up her lips.
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Well! he just said, 'I'll take them,' and there was an end of it."
+
+Aunt Fanny seemed to reflect, and, after some time, said,--
+
+"Now, as to the horse, when did he make her a present of that?"
+
+"It was to Caroline he gave the horse; sure I told you already."
+
+"Very true, so you did; a bad feature of the case, too! She ought to
+have declined it somehow."
+
+"So she would," broke in Mrs. Kennyfeck; "but, you perceive, it was very
+doubtful, at the time, which of the girls he preferred."
+
+"And you tell me this Mr. Linton has such influence over him."
+
+"The most absolute. It is only a few weeks since they became acquainted,
+and now they are inseparable."
+
+"What is he like,--Linton himself?"
+
+Mrs. Kennyfeck gave a most significant signal, by closing up her lips,
+and slowly nodding her head,--a gesture that seemed well understood.
+
+"Does Kennyfeck know nothing of his affairs; has he no private history
+of the man, which might be useful to us?"
+
+"Don't think of that, my dear," rejoined Mrs. Kennyfeck, knowingly; "but
+here they come at last." This was said with reference to the sound of
+footsteps on the stairs, which gradually approached, and at last Mr.
+Kennyfeck made his appearance in the drawing-room.
+
+"Where is Mr. Cashel,--is he gone?" asked Mrs. Kennyfeck, in an accent
+of unusual anxiety.
+
+"He went away above an hour ago. He wanted to see a letter, or to write
+one, or to look for one he had lost,--I forget which."
+
+"I'm certain you do!" observed Mrs. Kennyfeck, with an expression of
+unequivocal contempt. "I am perfectly certain we need not look to you
+for either information or assistance."
+
+Poor Mr. Kennyfeck was dumfoundered. The very words were riddles to
+him, and he turned to each person about him in silent entreaty for
+explanation; but none came.
+
+"What had you been conversing about?" asked Aunt Fanny, in that
+encouraging tone lawyers sometimes use to draw out a reluctant or
+bashful witness.
+
+"Of his money affairs, Miss O'Hara; and I am grieved to say that the
+subject had so little interest for him, that he started up and left me
+on suddenly remembering something about a letter."
+
+"Which something you have totally forgotten," remarked Mrs. Kennyfeck,
+tartly.
+
+"And yet it would be a most important fact for us," observed Aunt Fanny,
+with judicial solemnity; "a letter, whether to read or to write, of such
+pressing necessity, implies much."
+
+"Come, Livy, dear," said Miss Kennyfeck, rising from the pianoforte, and
+addressing her sister, who sat reading on the sofa, "_my_ canzonette and
+_your_ beautiful attitude are so much sweetness thrown away. He's gone
+without even a thought of either! There, there, don't look so innocently
+vacant,--you understand me perfectly."
+
+A very gentle smile was all the younger sister's reply as she left the
+room.
+
+"Depend upon it, my dear," said Miss O'Hara to Mrs. Kennyfeck, "that
+young man had made some unhappy connection; that's the secret of this
+letter, and when they get into a scrape of the kind it puts marriage out
+of their heads altogether. It was the same with Captain Morris,"--here
+she whispered still lower, the only audible words being, "without my
+ever suspecting,--one evening--a low creature--never set eyes upon--ah,
+man, man!" And with this exclamation aloud, Aunt Fanny took her candle
+and retired.
+
+About a minute after, however, she re-entered the drawing-room, and
+advancing close to her sister, said, with all the solemnity of deep
+thought,--
+
+"Peter is no good in this case, my dear; send him home at once. That man
+will 'blaze' for the asking." And with a nod of immense significance she
+finally withdrew.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX. HOW ENRIQUE'S LETTER WAS LOST AND FOUND.
+
+     "Arcades ambo!"
+
+     Blackguards both!
+
+
+In the window of a very pretty cottage-room overlooking the Liffey, and
+that romantic drive so well known to Dub-liners as the "low road" to
+Lucan, sat Tom Linton. He was enjoying a cigar and a glass of weak
+negus, as a man may enjoy such luxuries seated in the easiest of chairs,
+looking out upon one of the sweetest of woodland landscapes, and feeling
+the while that the whole was "his own." If conscientious scruples
+had been any part of that gentleman's life philosophy, he might have
+suffered some misgivings, seeing that the cottage itself, its furniture,
+the plate, the very horses in the stable and the grooms about it,
+had been won at the hazard-table, and from one whose beggary ended in
+suicide. But Linton did not dwell on such things, and if they did for
+an instant cross his mind, he dismissed them at once with a contemptuous
+pity for the man who could not build up a fortune by the arts with which
+he had lost one. He had not begun the world himself with much principle,
+and all his experiences went to prove that even less would suffice, and
+that for the purposes of the station he occupied, and the society he
+frequented, it was only necessary that he should not transgress in his
+dealings with men of a certain rank and condition; so that while every
+transaction with people of class and fashion should be strictly on
+"the square," he was at perfect liberty to practise any number of sharp
+things with all beneath them. It was the old axiom of knight-errantry
+adapted to our own century, which made every weapon fair used against
+the plebeian!
+
+From a pleasant revery over some late successes and some future ones in
+anticipation, he was aroused by a gentle tap at the door.
+
+"Come in," said he; "I think I guess who it is,--Phillis, eh?"
+
+"Yes, sir, you're quite correct," said that individual, advancing from
+the misty twilight of the room, which was only partly lighted by a
+single alabaster lamp. "I thought I'd find you at home, sir, and I knew
+this letter might interest you. He dropped it when going up the stairs
+at Kennyfeck's, and could scarcely have read it through."
+
+"Sit down, George--sit down, man--what will you take? I see you 've had
+a fast drive; if that was your car I heard on the road, your pace was
+tremendous. What shall it be--claret--sherry--brandy-and-water?"
+
+"If you please, sir, sherry. I have lost all palate for Bordeaux since I
+came to Mr. Cashel. We get abominable wine from Cullan."
+
+"So I remarked myself; but this must be looked to. Come, try that; it's
+some of Gordon's, and he would not send a bad bottle to me."
+
+"I 'm very certain of that, sir. It is excellent."
+
+"Now then for the epistle." So saying, he lighted a taper and prepared
+to read.. "Jamaica,--oh, a shipmate's letter!"
+
+"A curious one, too, sir, as you 'll say when you read it."
+
+Linton, without reply, began to read, nor did he break silence till he
+finished, when, laying down the paper, he said, "And this very fellow
+who writes this he actually spoke of inviting to Ireland,--to stay some
+time at his house,--to be introduced, in fact, to his acquaintances as a
+personal friend."
+
+"It's very sad, sir," sighed Phillis. "I have long been of opinion that
+I must leave him. The appointments, it is true, are good; perquisites,
+too, very handsome; but the future, Mr. Linton,--what a future it will
+be!"
+
+"It need not be a very near one, at all events," said Linton, smiling;
+"you've read this?"
+
+"Just threw an eye over it, sir!"
+
+"Well, you see that your excellent master has been little better than a
+pirate or a slaver."
+
+"Very shocking, indeed, sir!"
+
+"Of course this must not go abroad, George."
+
+"It would ruin me utterly, sir."
+
+"To be sure it would. No nobleman, nor any gentleman of rank or fashion,
+could think of engaging your services after such an appointment.
+Happily, George, you may not require such, if you only mind your hits.
+Your master can afford to make your fortune, and never know himself the
+poorer. Come, how go on matters latterly at No. 50?"
+
+"Pretty much as usual, sir; two dinner-parties last week."
+
+"I know all about them, though I affected to be engaged and did n't dine
+there. What I want is to hear of these Kennyfecks,--do they come much
+after him?"
+
+"Only once, sir, when they came to see the house and stopped to
+luncheon."
+
+"Well, was he particular in his attentions to either of the daughters?"
+
+"Very attentive, indeed, sir, to the younger. She dropped her
+handkerchief in the gallery, and ran back for it, and so did he, sir."
+
+"You followed, of course?"
+
+"I did, sir, and she was blushing very much as I came in, and I heard
+her say something about 'forgiving him,' and then they left the room."
+
+"And what of Kennyfeck,--has he had any conversations with him on
+business?"
+
+"None, sir; I have strictly followed your orders, and never admitted
+him."
+
+"Lord Charles Frobisher was a large winner t'other night?" said Linton,
+after a pause.
+
+"Yes, sir, so I heard them say at supper, and Mr. Cashel first gave a
+check and then changed his mind, and I saw him hand over a heavy sum in
+notes."
+
+"Indeed!" muttered Linton to himself; "and my worthy friend Charley did
+not confess this to me. Have you taken care that the people don't send
+in their bills and accounts, as I mentioned?"
+
+"Yes, sir; with few exceptions, nothing of the kind comes."
+
+"What brought that Mr. Clare Jones so frequently of late?"
+
+"He came twice in Mr. Downie Meek's carriage, sir, but sat all the while
+outside, while Mr. Meek was with my master; the third day, however, he
+was sent for to come in, and spent nearly an hour in the study."
+
+"Well, what took place?"
+
+"I could only hear part of the conversation, sir, as I feared I might be
+sent for. The subject was a seat in Parliament, which Mr. Cashel owns,
+and that Mr. Meek is desirous of procuring for Jones."
+
+"Ha! ha! my little Judas! is that your game? Go on, George, this
+interests me."
+
+"I have little more to tell, sir, for Mr. Meek always speaks so low, and
+my master scarcely said anything."
+
+"And Jones?"
+
+"He merely remarked on the identity of his political principles with
+those of the present Government."
+
+"Of course; the fellow began as a Radical, and then turned Tory, and now
+is a Whig. Blue and yellow when mixed always make green. But how did it
+end?"
+
+"As well as I could perceive, sir, without any promise. My master was to
+deliberate and send his answer."
+
+"Let neither have access to him till you hear from me again,--mark
+that."
+
+"You shall be obeyed, sir."
+
+"Did Lord Kilgoff call?"
+
+"Twice, sir; but my master was out. I followed your directions, however,
+and said that her Ladyship was with him, and he seemed much provoked at
+not finding him at home."
+
+"Well, how did he take it,--did he make any remark?"
+
+"A half smile, sir; nothing more."
+
+"But said nothing?"
+
+"Not a word, sir."
+
+Linton arose and walked the room in deep meditation; at last he said,--
+
+"You had better let him have those letters we held back the last two
+days, to-day. He'll not think deeply over his losses on the Derby while
+dwelling on this missing letter."
+
+"I don't suspect his losses, sir, will cause much uneasiness on any
+score; money occupies very little of his thoughts."
+
+"True; but here the sum is a very heavy one. I made the book myself, and
+stood to win thirty thousand pounds; but, no matter,--it can't be helped
+now,--better luck another time. Now, another point. It strikes me of
+late that he seems bored somewhat by the kind of life he is leading, and
+that these carouses at the messes are becoming just as distasteful to
+him as the heavy dinner-parties with the Dean and the rest of them. Is
+that your opinion?"
+
+"Perfectly, sir. He even said as much to me t'other evening, when he
+came back from a late supper. He is always wishing for the yacht to
+come over,--speaks every now and then of taking a run over to London and
+Paris; in fact, sir, he _is_ bored here. There is no disguising it."
+
+"I feared as much, George; I suspected, many a day ago, he would not be
+long satisfied with the provincial boards. But this must not be; once
+away from Dublin, he is lost to us forever. I know, and so do you know,
+the hands he would fall into in town. Better let him get back to his old
+prairie haunts, for a while, than that."
+
+"Not so very unlikely, sir. He sits poring over maps and charts for
+hours together, and scans the new coast survey like a man bent on
+exploring the scenes for himself. It is hard to say what is best to do
+with him."
+
+"I'll tell you what he must not be permitted to do with himself: he must
+not leave Ireland; he must not marry; he must not enter Parliament; and,
+for the moment, to employ his thoughts and banish _ennui_, we 'll get up
+the house-warming at Tubbermore. I mean to set off thither to-morrow."
+
+"Without Mr. Cashel, sir?"
+
+"Of course; be it your care that matters are well looked to in my
+absence, and as Kennyfeck's house is safer than the barracks, he may
+dine there as often as he pleases. Keep a watch on Jones,--not that I
+think he 'll be very dangerous; see after Lord Charles, whether he may
+try to profit by my absence; and, above all, write me a bulletin each
+day."
+
+Mr. Phillis promised a strict obedience to orders, and rose to retire,
+pleading the necessity of his being at home when his master returned.
+
+"What of this letter, sir? Shall I contrive to place it in his pocket,
+and discover it as he is undressing? He never suspects anything or
+anybody."
+
+"No, George,--I 'll keep it; it may turn out useful to us one of these
+days; there's no knowing when or how. I 'm curious, too, to see how
+he will act with reference to it,--whether he will venture on any
+confidence towards me. I suspect not; he never alludes to his
+bygones. The only terror his mind is capable of would seem the fear of
+fashionable contempt. If he ever lose this, he's lost to us forever."
+This was said rather in soliloquy than addressed to Phillis, who did not
+appear to catch the meaning of the remark. "You'll leave this note
+on his table, and take care he sees it. It is to remind him of an
+appointment here to-morrow with Hoare, the money-lender, at eleven
+o'clock punctually."
+
+Phillis took the note, and after a very respectful leave-taking,
+withdrew.
+
+"Yes," said Linton, musing, as he leaned against the window, "all goes
+fairly so far. Mr. Phillis may live to see himself once more a merchant
+tailor in Cheapside, and Tom Linton, under the buckler of his M.P., defy
+duns and bums, and be again a denizen of the only city worth living in."
+
+He then reseated himself in an easy-chair, and prepared to con over the
+letter, to which he had only given a passing attention. The narrative
+of Enrique, full of exciting details and hair-breadth 'scapes, was,
+however, far less an object of interest to Linton than the consideration
+how far a character like this might be made use of for the purpose of
+threat and intimidation over Cashel.
+
+His reflections ran somewhat thus: "The day may come--is, perhaps, even
+now nigh--when Cashel shall reject my influence and ascendency. There
+never has been anything which could even counterfeit friendship between
+us,--close intimacy has been all. To maintain that hold over him so
+necessary to my fortunes, I must be in a position to menace. Roland
+himself has opened the way to this by his own reserve. The very
+concealment he has practised implies fear;--otherwise, why, in all the
+openness of our familiar intercourse, never have mentioned Enrique's
+name; still more, never once alluded to this Maritaņa? It is clear
+enough with what shame he looks back on the past. Let mine be the task
+to increase that feeling, and build up the fear of the world's ridicule,
+till he shall be the slave of every whisper that syllables his name! The
+higher his path in society, the greater the depth to which disclosures
+may consign him; and what disclosures so certainly ruinous as to connect
+him with the lawless marauders of the Spanish main,--the slaver and
+the pirate? His dear friend, a felon, taken in open fight by a British
+cruiser! Maritaņa, too, may serve us; her name as mistress--or, if need
+be, as wife--will effectually oppose any matrimonial speculations here.
+So far this letter has been a rare piece of fortune!"
+
+For some moments he walked the room with excited and animated looks, the
+alternating shades of pleasure and its opposite flitting rapidly across
+his strong features. At last he broke out in words: "Ay, Cashel, I am as
+suddenly enriched as yourself,--but with a different heritage. Yours was
+Gold; mine, Revenge! And there are many to whom I could pay the old debt
+home. There's Forster, with his story of Ascot, and his black-ball at
+Graham's!--a double debt, with years of heavy interest upon it; there's
+Howard, too, that closed his book at Tattersall's, after tearing out the
+leaf that had my name! Frobisher himself daring his petty insolence at
+every turn!--all these cry for acquittance, and shall have it There are
+few men of my own standing, that with moneyed means at my command, I
+could not ruin! and, ungallant as the boast may be, some fair ladies,
+too! How I have longed for the day, how I have schemed and plotted for
+it! and now it comes almost unlooked for.
+
+"Another month or two of this wasteful extravagance, and Cashel will be
+deeply, seriously embarrassed. Kennyfeck will suggest retrenchment and
+economy; that shall be met with an insidious doubt of the good man's
+honesty. And how easy to impeach it! The schemes of his wife and
+daughter will aid the accusation. Roland shall, meanwhile, learn the
+discomfort of being 'hard up.' The importunity--nay, the insolence--of
+duns shall assail him at every post and every hour. From this there is
+but one bold, short step,--and take it he must,--make me his agent. That
+done, all the rest is easy. Embarrassment and injurious reports will
+soon drive him from the country, and from an estate he shall never
+revisit as his own! So far,--the first act of the drama! The second
+discovers Tom Linton the owner of Tubbermore, and the host of Lord and
+Lady Kilgoff, who have condescendingly agreed to pass the Easter recess
+with him. Mr. Linton has made a very splendid maiden speech, which,
+however, puzzles the ministers and the 'Times;' and, if he were not a
+man perfectly indifferent to place, would expose him to the imputation
+of courting it.
+
+"And Laura all this while!" said he, in a voice whose accents trembled
+with intense feeling, "can she forgive the past? Will old memories
+revive old affections, or will they rot into hatred? Well," cried he,
+sternly, "whichever way they turn, I 'm prepared."
+
+There was a tone of triumphant meaning in his last words that seemed to
+thrill through his frame, and as he threw himself back upon his seat,
+and gazed out upon the starry sky, his features wore the look of proud
+and insolent defiance. "So is it," said he, after a pause; "one must be
+alone--friendless, and alone--in life, to dare the world so fearlessly."
+He filled a goblet of sherry, and as he drank it off, cried, "Courage!
+Tom Linton against 'the field!'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI. THE CONSPIRATORS DISTURBED
+
+     Eternal friendship let us swear,
+     In fraud at least--"nous serons frčres."
+
+     Robert Macaire.
+
+
+Cashel passed a night of feverish anxiety. Enrique's uncertain fate was
+never out of his thoughts; and if for a moment he dropped off to sleep,
+he immediately awoke with a sudden start,--some fancied cry for help,
+some heart-uttered appeal to him for assistance breaking in upon his
+weary slumber.
+
+How ardently did he wish for some one friend to whom he might confide
+his difficulty, and from whom receive advice and counsel. Linton's
+shrewdness and knowledge of life pointed him out as the fittest; but
+how to reveal to his fashionable friend the secrets of that buccaneering
+life he had himself so lately quitted? How expose himself to the dreaded
+depreciation a "fine gentleman" might visit on a career passed amid
+slavers and pirates? A month or two previous, he could not have
+understood such scruples; but already the frivolities and excesses of
+daily habit had thrown an air of savage rudeness over the memory of his
+Western existence, and he had not the courage to brave the comments it
+might suggest To this false shame had Linton brought him, acting on
+a naturally sensitive nature, by those insidious and imperceptible
+counsels which represent the world--meaning, thereby, that portion of it
+who are in the purple and fine linen category--as the last appeal in all
+cases, not alone of a man's breeding and pretensions, but of his honor
+and independence.
+
+It was not without many a severe struggle, and many a heartfelt
+repining, Cashel felt himself surrender the free action of his natural
+independence to the petty and formal restrictions of a code like this.
+But there was an innate dread of notoriety, a sensitive shrinking from
+remark, that made him actually timid about transgressing whatever he
+was told to be an ordinance of fashion. To dress in a particular way;
+to frequent certain places; to be known to certain people; to go out
+at certain hours; and so on,--were become to his mind as the actual
+requirements of his station, and often did he regret the hour when he
+had parted with his untrammelled freedom to live a life of routine and
+monotony.
+
+Shrinking, then, from any confidence in Linton, he next thought of
+Kennyfeck; and, although not placing a high value on his skill and
+correctness in such a difficulty, he resolved, at all hazards, to
+consult him on the course to be followed. He had been often told how
+gladly Government favors the possessor of fortune and influence. "Now,"
+thought he, "is the time to test the problem. All of mine is at their
+service, if they but liberate my poor comrade."
+
+So saying to himself, he had just reached the hall, when the sound of
+wheels approached the door. A carriage drew up, and Linton, followed by
+Mr. Hoare, the money-lender, descended.
+
+"Oh, I had entirely forgotten this affair," cried Cashel, as he met
+them; "can we not fix another day?"
+
+"Impossible, sir; I leave town to-night."
+
+"Another hour to-day, then?" said Cashel, impatiently.
+
+"This will be very difficult, sir. I have some very pressing
+engagements, all of which were formed subject to your convenience in
+this business."
+
+"But while you are discussing the postponement, you could finish the
+whole affair," cried Linton, drawing his arm within Cashel's, and
+leading him along towards the library. "By Jove! it does give a man a
+sublime idea of wealth, to be sure," said he, laughing, "to see the
+cool indifference with which you can propose to defer an interview
+that brings you some fifteen thousand pounds. As for me, I 'd make the
+Viceroy himself play 'ante-chamber,' if little Hoare paid me a visit."
+
+"Well, be it so; only let us despatch," said Cashel, "for I am anxious
+to catch Kennyfeck before he goes down to court."
+
+"I 'll not detain you many minutes, sir," said Hoare, drawing forth a
+very capacious black leather pocket-book, and opening it on the
+table. "There are the bills, drawn as agreed upon,--at three and six
+months,--here is a statement of the charges for interest, commission,
+and--"
+
+"I am quite satisfied it is all right," said Cashel, pushing the paper
+carelessly from him. "I have borrowed money once or twice in my life,
+and always thought anything liberal which did not exceed cent per cent."
+
+"We are content with much less, sir, as you will perceive," said Hoare,
+smiling. "Six per cent interest, one-half commission--"
+
+"Yes, yes; it is all perfectly correct," broke in Cashel. "I sign my
+name here--and here?"
+
+"And here, also, sir. There is also a policy of insurance on your life."
+
+"What does that mean?"
+
+"Oh, a usual kind of security in these cases," said Linton; "because if
+you were to die before the bills came due--"
+
+"I see it all; whatever you please," said Cashel, taking up his hat and
+gloves. "Now, will you pardon me for taking a very abrupt leave?"
+
+"You are forgetting a very material point, sir," said Hoare; "this is an
+order on Frend and Beggan for the money."
+
+"Very true. The fact is, gentlemen, my head is none of the clearest
+to-day. Good-bye--good-bye."
+
+"Ten to one all that haste is to keep some appointment with one of
+Kennyfeck's daughters," said Hoare, as he shook the sand over the
+freshly-signed bills, when the heavy bang of the hall-door announced
+Cashel's departure.
+
+"I fancy not," said Linton, musing; "I believe I can guess the secret."
+
+"What am I to do with these, Mr. Linton?" said the other, not heeding
+the last observation, as he took two pieces of paper from the pocket of
+his book.
+
+"What are they?" said Linton, stretching at full length on a sofa.
+
+"Two bills, with the endorsement of Thomas Linton."
+
+"Then are two ten-shilling stamps spoiled and good for nothing," replied
+Linton, "which, without that respectable signature, might have helped to
+ruin somebody worth ruining."
+
+"'One will be due on Saturday, the twelfth. The other--"
+
+"Don't trouble yourself about the dates, Hoare. I 'll renew as often as
+you please--I 'll do anything but pay."
+
+"Come, sir, I'll make a generous proposition: I have made a good
+morning's work. You shall have them both for a hundred."
+
+"Thanks for the liberality," said Linton, laughing. "You bought them for
+fifty."
+
+"I know that very well; but remember, you were a very depreciated
+stock at that time. Now, you are at a premium. I hear you have been a
+considerable winner from our friend here."
+
+"Then you are misinformed. I have won less than the others,--far less
+than I might have done. The fact is, Hoare, I have been playing a back
+game,--what jockeys call, holding my stride."
+
+"Well, take care you don't wait too long," said Hoare, sententiously.
+
+"How do you mean?" said Linton, sitting up, and showing more animation
+than he had exhibited before.
+
+"You have your secret--I have mine," replied Hoare, dryly, as he
+replaced the bills in his pocket-book and clasped it.
+
+"What if we exchange prisoners, Hoare?"
+
+"It would be like most of your compacts, Mr. Linton, all the odds in
+your own favor."
+
+"I doubt whether any man makes such compacts with _you_," replied
+Linton; "but why higgle this way? 'Remember,' as Peacham says, 'that we
+could hang one another;' and there is an ugly adage about what happens
+when people such as you and I 'fall out.'"
+
+"So there is; and, strange enough, I was just thinking of it. Come, what
+is _your_ secret?"
+
+"Read that," said Linton, placing Enrique's letter in his hand, while he
+sat down, directly in front, to watch the effect it might produce.
+
+Hoare read slowly and attentively; some passages he re-read three or
+four times; and then, laying down the letter, he seemed to reflect on
+its contents.
+
+"You scarcely thought what kind of company our friend used to keep
+formerly?" asked Linton, sneeringly.
+
+"I knew all about that tolerably well. I was rather puzzling myself a
+little about this Pedro Rica; that same trick of capturing the slavers,
+and then selling the slaves, is worthy of one I could mention, not to
+speak of the double treachery of informing against his comrades, and
+sending the English frigate after them."
+
+"A deep hand he must be," remarked Linton, coolly.
+
+"A very deep one; but what is Cashel likely to do here?"
+
+"Nothing; he has no clew whatever to the business; the letter itself he
+had not time to read through, when he dropped it, and--"
+
+"I understand--perfectly. This accounts for his agitation. Well, I must
+say, _my_ secret is the better of the two, and, as usual, you have made
+a good bargain."
+
+"Not better than _your_ morning's work here, Hoare; confess that"
+
+"Ah, there will not be many more such harvests to reap," said he,
+sighing.
+
+"How so? his fortune is scarcely breached as yet"
+
+"He spends money fast," said Hoare, gravely; "even now, see what sums
+he has squandered; think of the presents he has lavished,--diamonds,
+horses--"
+
+"As to the Kennyfeck affair, it was better than getting into a
+matrimonial scrape, which I fancy I have rescued him from."
+
+"Oh, no, nothing of the kind. Pirate as he is, he would n't venture on
+that."
+
+"Why so?--what do you mean?"
+
+"Simply, that he is married already; at least, that species of betrothal
+which goes for marriage in his free and easy country."
+
+"Married!" exclaimed Linton, in utter amazement; "and he never even
+hinted in the most distant manner to this."
+
+"And yet the obligation is sufficiently binding, according to Columbian
+law, to give his widow the benefit of all property he might die
+possessed of in that Republic."
+
+"And he knows this himself?"
+
+"So well, that he has already proposed a very large sum as forfeit to
+break the contract."
+
+"And this has been refused?"
+
+"Yes. The girl's father has thought it better to follow your own plan,
+and make 'a waiting race,' well knowing, that if Cashel does not return
+to claim her as his wife,--or that, which is not improbable, she may
+marry more advantageously,--he will always be ready to pay the forfeit."
+
+"May I learn his name?"
+
+"No!"
+
+"Nor his daughter's--the Christian name, I mean."
+
+"To what end? It would be a mere idle curiosity, for I should exact a
+pledge of your never divulging it."
+
+"Of course," said Linton, carelessly. "It was, as you say, a mere idle
+wish. Was this a love affair, then, for it has a most commercial air?"
+
+"I really don't know that; I fancy that they were both very young, and
+very ignorant of what they were pledging, and just as indifferent to the
+consequences."
+
+"She was handsome, this--"
+
+"Maritaņa is beautiful, they say," said Hoare, who inadvertently let
+slip the name he had refused to divulge.
+
+Linton's quick ear caught it at once, but as rapidly affected not to
+notice it, as he said,--
+
+"But I really do not see as yet how this affects what we were just
+speaking of?"
+
+"It will do so, however--and ere long. These people, who were immensely
+rich some time back, are now, by one of the convulsions so frequent
+in those countries, reduced to absolute poverty. They will, doubtless,
+follow Cashel here, and seek a fulfilment of his contract. I need not
+tell you, Mr. Linton, what must ensue on such a demand; it would be
+hard to say whether acceptance or refusal would be worse. In a word,
+the father-in-law is a man of such a character, there is only one thing
+would be more ruinous than his enmity, and that is, any alliance with
+him. Let him but arrive in this country, and every gentleman of station
+and class will fall back from Cashel's intimacy; and even those--I 'll
+not mention names," said he, smiling--"who could gloss over some of
+their prejudices with gold-leaf, will soon discover that a shrewder eye
+than Cashel's will be on them, and that all attempts to profit by his
+easiness of temper and reckless nature will be met by one who has never
+yet been foiled in a game of artifice and deceit."
+
+"Then I perceive we have a very short tether," said Linton, gravely;
+"when may this worthy gentleman be-looked for?"
+
+"At any moment. I believe early in spring, however, will be the time."
+
+"Well, that gives us a few months; during which I must contrive to get
+in for this borough of Derraheeny--But hark! is that a carriage at
+the door?--yes, by Jove! the Kennyfecks. I remember, he had asked them
+to-day to come and see his pictures. I say, Hoare, step out by the
+back way; we must not be caught together here. I 'll make my escape
+afterwards."
+
+Already the thundering knock of the footman resounded through lie house,
+and Hoare, not losing a moment, left the library, and hastened through
+the garden at the rear of the house; while Linton, seizing some writing
+materials, hurried upstairs, and established himself in a small boudoir
+off one of the drawing-rooms, carefully letting down the Venetians as he
+entered, and leaving the chamber but half lighted; this done, he drew a
+screen in front of him, and waited patiently.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII. VISIT TO THE "CASHEL PICTURE GALLERY."
+
+     Ignored the schools of France and Spain,
+     And of the Netherlands not surer,
+     He knew not Cuyp from Claude Lorraine,
+     Nor Dow from Albert Durer.
+
+     Bell: Images.
+
+Scarcely had the Kennyfecks' carriage driven from the door when the
+stately equipage of the MacFarlines drew up, which was soon after
+followed by the very small pony phaeton of Mrs. Leicester White,
+that lady herself driving, and having for her companion a large
+high-shouldered, spectacled gentleman, whose glances, at once inquiring
+and critical, pronounced him as one of her numerous _protégés_ in art,
+science, or letters.
+
+This visit to the "Cashel Gallery," as she somewhat grandiloquently
+designated the collection, had been a thing of her own planning; first,
+because Mrs. White was an adept in that skilful diplomacy which so
+happily makes plans for pleasure at other people's houses--and oh, what
+numbers there are!--delightful, charming people as the world calls them!
+whose gift goes no further than this, that they keep a registry of their
+friends' accommodation, and know to a nicety the season to dine here,
+to sup there, to picnic at one place, and to "spend the day"--horrible
+expression of a more horrible fact--at another. But Mrs. White had also
+another object in view on the present occasion, which was, to introduce
+her companion, Mr. Elias Howie, to her Dublin acquaintance.
+
+Mr. Elias Howie was one of a peculiar class, which this age, so fertile
+in inventions, has engendered, a publishers' man-of-all-work, ready for
+everything, from statistics to satire, and equally prepared to expound
+prophecy, or write squibs for "Punch."
+
+Not that lodgings were not inhabited in Grub Street before our day,
+but that it remained for the glory of this century to see that numerous
+horde of tourist authors held in leash by fashionable booksellers,
+and every now and then let slip over some country, to which plague,
+pestilence, or famine, had given a newer and more terrible interest
+In this novel walk of literature Mr. Howie was one of the chief
+proficients; he was the creator of that new school of travel which,
+writing expressly for London readers, refers everything to the standard
+of "town;" and whether it be a trait of Icelandic life, or some remnant
+of old-world existence in the far East, all must be brought for trial to
+the bar of "Seven Dials," or stand to plead in the dock of Pall Mall
+or Piccadilly. Whatever errors or misconceptions he might fall into
+respecting his subjects, he made none regarding his readers. He knew
+them by heart,--their leanings, their weakness, and their
+prejudices; and how pleasantly could he flatter their town-bred
+self-sufficiency,--how slyly insinuate their vast superiority over all
+other citizens, insidiously assuring them that the Thames at Richmond
+was infinitely finer than the Rhine or the Danube, and that a trip to
+Margate was richer in repayal than a visit to the Bosphorus! Ireland
+was, just at the time we speak of, a splendid field for his peculiar
+talents. The misery-mongers had had their day. The world was somewhat
+weary of Landlordism, Pauperism, and Protestantism, and all the other
+"isms" of that unhappy country.
+
+There was nothing that had not been said over the overgrown Church
+establishment, the devouring Middleman, Cottier misery, and Celtic
+barbarism; people grew weary of hearing about a nation so endowed with
+capabilities, and which yet did nothing, and rather than puzzle their
+heads any further, they voted Ireland a "bore." It was just then that
+"this inspired Cockney" determined to try a new phase of the subject,
+and this was not to counsel nor console, not to lament over nor bewail
+our varied mass of errors and misfortunes, but to laugh at us. To hunt
+out as many incongruities--many real enough, some fictitious--as he
+could find; to unveil all that he could discover of social anomaly; and,
+without any reference to, or any knowledge of, the people, to bring them
+up for judgment before his less volatile and more happily circumstanced
+countrymen, certain of the verdict he sought for--a hearty laugh. His
+mission was to make "Punch" out of Ireland, and none more capable than
+he for the office.
+
+A word of Mr. Howie in the flesh, and we have done. He was large and
+heavily built, but neither muscular nor athletic; his frame and all his
+gestures indicated weakness and uncertainty. His head was capacious, but
+not remarkable for what phrenologists call moral development; while
+the sinister expression of his eyes--half submissive, half
+satirical--suggested doubts of his sincerity. There was nothing honest
+about him but his mouth; this was large, full, thick-lipped, and
+sensual,--the mouth of one who loved to dine well, and yet felt that
+his agreeability was an ample receipt in full for the best entertainment
+that ever graced Black wall or the "Frčres."
+
+It is a heavy infliction that we story-tellers are compelled to lay
+upon our readers and ourselves, thus to interrupt our narrative by a
+lengthened description of a character not essentially belonging to our
+story; we had rather, far rather, been enabled to imitate Mrs. White, as
+she advanced into the circle in the drawing-room, saying, "Mr. Cashel,
+allow me to present to your favorable notice my distinguished friend,
+Mr. Howie. Lady Janet MacFarline, Mr. Howie,--" sotto,--"the author of
+'Snooks in the Holy Land,' the wittiest thing of the day; Sir Andrew
+will be delighted with him--has been all over the scenes of the
+Peninsular war. Mrs. Kennyfeck, Mr. Howie."
+
+Mr. Howie made his round of salutations, and although by his awkwardness
+tacitly acknowledging that they were palpably more habituated to the
+world's ways than himself, yet inwardly consoled by remarking certain
+little traits of manner and accent sufficiently provincial to be
+treasured up, and become very droll in print or a copper etching.
+
+"It's a vara new pleasure ye are able to confer upon your friends, Mr.
+Cashel," said Sir Andrew, "to show them so fine a collection o'
+pictures in Ireland, whar, methinks, the arts ha' no enjoyed too mickle
+encouragement."
+
+"I confess," said Cashel, modestly, "I am but ill qualified to extend
+the kind of patronage that would be serviceable, had I even the means;
+I have not the slightest pretension to knowledge or judgment. The few I
+have purchased have been as articles of furniture, pleasant to look at,
+without any pretension to high excellence."
+
+"Just as Admiral Dalrymple paid ten pounds for a dunghill when he turned
+farmer," whispered Mr. Howie in Mrs. White's ear, "and then said, 'he
+had only bought it because some one said it was a good thing; but that,
+now, he 'd give any man "twenty" to tell him what to do with it,'"
+
+Mrs. White burst into a loud fit of laughter, exclaiming:
+
+"Oh, how clever, how good! Pray, Mr. Howie, tell Lady Janet--tell Mr.
+Cashel that."
+
+"Oh, madam!" cried the terrified tourist, who had not discovered before
+the very shallow discrimination of his gifted acquaintance.
+
+"If it is so vara good," said Sir Andrew, "we maun insist on hearin'
+it."
+
+"No, no! nothing of the kind," interposed Howie; "besides, the
+observation was only intended for Mrs. White's ear."
+
+"Very true," said that lady, affecting a look of consciousness.
+
+"The odious woman," whispered Miss Kennyfeck to her sister; "see how
+delighted she looks to be compromised."
+
+"If we had Linton," said Cashel, politely offering his arm to Lady
+Janet, as he led her into the so-called gallery, "he could explain
+everything for us. We have, however, a kind of catalogue here. This
+large landscape is said to be by Both."
+
+"If she be a coo," said Sir Andrew, "I maun say it's the first time I
+ever seen ane wi' the head ower the tail."
+
+"Nonsense," said Lady Janet; "don't ye perceive that the animal is
+fore-shortened, and is represented looking backwards?"
+
+"I ken nothing aboot that; she may be shortened in the fore-parts, an'
+ye say, and that may be some peculiar breed, but what brings her head
+ower her rump?"
+
+Sir Andrew was left to finish his criticism alone, the company moving
+on to a portrait assigned to Vandyck, as Diedrich von Aevenghem,
+Burgomaster of Antwerp.
+
+"A fine head!" exclaimed Mrs. White, authoritatively; "don't you think
+so, Mr. Howie?"
+
+"A very choice specimen of the great master, for which, doubtless, you
+gave a large sum."
+
+"Four hundred, if I remember aright," said Cashel.
+
+"I think he maught hae a clean face for that money," broke in Sir
+Andrew.
+
+"What do you mean, sir?" said Miss Kennyfeck, insidiously, and delighted
+at the misery Lady Janet endured from his remarks.
+
+"Don't ye mind the smut he has on ane cheek?"
+
+"It's the shadow of his nose, Sir Andrew," broke in Lady Janet, with a
+sharpness of rebuke there was no misunderstanding.
+
+"Eh, my leddy, so it may, but ye need na bite mine off, for a' that!"
+And so saying, the discomfited veteran fell back in high dudgeon.
+
+The party now broke into the twos and threes invariable on such
+occasions, and While Mrs. Kennyfeck and her elder daughter paid their
+most devoted attentions to Lady Janet, Mrs. White and the author paired
+off, leaving Olivia Kennyfeck to the guidance of Cashel.
+
+"So you 'll positively not tell me what it is that preys on your mind
+this morning?" said she, in the most insinuating of soft accents.
+
+Cashel shook his head mournfully, and said,--
+
+"Why should I tell you of what it is impossible you could give me
+any counsel in, while your sympathy would only cause uneasiness to
+yourself?"
+
+"But you forget our compact," said she, archly; "there was to be perfect
+confidence on both sides, was there not?"
+
+"Certainly. Now, when shall we begin?"
+
+"Have you not begun already?"
+
+"I fancy not. Do you remember two evenings ago, when I came suddenly
+into the drawing-room and found you pencil in hand, and you, instead of
+at once showing me what you had been sketching, shut the portfolio, and
+carried it off, despite all my entreaties--nay, all my just demands?"
+
+"Oh, but," said she, smiling, "confidence is one thing--confession is
+another."
+
+"Too subtle distinctions for me," cried Cashel. "I foolishly supposed
+that there was to be an unreserved--"
+
+"Speak lower, for mercy sake!--don't you perceive Lady Janet trying to
+hear everything you say?" This was said in a soft whisper, while she
+added aloud, "I think you said it was a Correggio, Mr. Cashel," as they
+stood before a very lightly-clad Magdalen, who seemed endeavoring to
+make up for the deficiency of her costume by draping across her bosom
+the voluptuous masses of her golden hair.
+
+"I think a Correggio," said Cashel, confused at the sudden artifice;
+"but who has the catalogue?--oh, Sir Andrew; tell us about number
+fifty-eight."
+
+"Fefty-eight, fefty-eight?" mumbled Sir Andrew a number of times to
+himself, and then, having found the number, he approached the picture
+and surveyed it attentively.
+
+"Well, sir, what is it called?" said Olivia.
+
+"It's vara singular," said Sir Andrew, still gazing at the canvas, "but
+doubtless Correggio knew weel what he was aboot. This," said he, "is a
+picture of Sain John the Baaptist in a raiment of caamel's hair."
+
+No sense of propriety was proof against this announcement; a laugh, loud
+and general, burst forth, during which Lady Janet, snatching the book
+indignantly from his hands, cried,--
+
+"You were looking at sixty-eight, Sir Andrew, not fifty-eight; and you
+have made yourself perfectly ridiculous."
+
+"By my saul, I believe so," muttered the old gentleman, in deep anger.
+"I 've been looking at 'saxty-eight' ower long already!"
+
+Fortunately, this sarcasm was not heard by her against whom it was
+directed, and they who did hear it were fain to suppress their laughter
+as well as they were able. The party was now increased by the arrival of
+the Dean and his "ancient," Mr. Softly, to the manifest delight of Mrs.
+Kennyfeck, who at once exclaimed,--
+
+"Ah, we shall now hear something really instructive."
+
+[Illustration: 288]
+
+The erudite churchman, after a very abrupt notice of the company,
+started at speed without losing a moment.
+
+His attention being caught by some curious tableaux of the interior
+of the great Pyramid, he immediately commenced an explanation of the
+various figures, the costumes and weapons, which he said were all
+masonic, showing that Pharaoh wore an apron exactly like the Duke of
+Sussex, and that every emblem of the "arch" was to be found among the
+great of Ancient Egypt.
+
+While thus employed, Mr. Howie, seated in a corner, was busily sketching
+the whole party for an illustration to his new book on Ireland, and once
+more Cashel and his companion found themselves, of course by the merest
+accident, standing opposite the same picture in a little boudoir off
+the large gallery. The subject was a scene from Faust, where Marguerite,
+leaning on her lover's arm, is walking in a garden by moonlight, and
+seeking by a mode of divination common in Germany to ascertain his
+truth, which is by plucking one by one the petals of a flower, saying
+alternately, "He loves me, he loves me not;" and then, by the result of
+the last-plucked leaf, deciding which fate is accomplished. Cashel first
+explained the meaning of the trial, and then taking a rose from one of
+the flower vases, he said,--
+
+"Let me see if you can understand my teaching; you have only to say, 'Er
+liebt mich,' and, 'Er liebt mich nicht.'"
+
+"But how can I?" said she, with a look of beaming innocence, "if there
+be none who--"
+
+"No matter," said Cashel; "besides, is it not possible you could be
+loved, and yet never know it? Now for the ordeal."
+
+"Er liebt mich nicht," said Olivia, with a low, silvery voice, as she
+plucked the first petal off, and threw it on the floor.
+
+"You begin inauspiciously, and, I must say, unfairly, too," said Cashel.
+"The first augury is in favor of love."
+
+"Er liebt mich," said she, tremulously, and the leaf broke in her
+fingers. "Ha!" sighed she, "what does that imply? Is it, that he only
+loves by half his heart?"
+
+"That cannot be," said Cashel; "it is rather that you treated his
+affection harshly."
+
+"Should it not bear a little?--ought it to give way at once?"
+
+"Nor will it," said he, more earnestly, "if you deal but fairly. Come, I
+will teach you a still more simple, and yet unerring test."
+
+A heavy sigh from behind the Chinese screen made both the speakers
+start; and while Olivia, pale with terror, sank into a chair, Cashel
+hastened to see what had caused the alarm.
+
+"Linton, upon my life!" exclaimed he, in a low whisper, as, on tiptoe,
+he returned to the place beside her.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Cashel; oh dear, Mr. Cashel--"
+
+"Dearest Olivia--"
+
+"Heigho!" broke in Linton; and Roland and his companion slipped
+noiselessly from the room, and, unperceived, mixed with the general
+company, who sat in rapt attention while the Dean explained that
+painting was nothing more nor less than an optical delusion,--a theory
+which seemed to delight Mrs. Kennyfeck in the same proportion that it
+puzzled her. Fortunately, the announcement that luncheon was on the
+table cut short the dissertation, and the party descended, all more or
+less content to make material enjoyments succeed to intellectual ones.
+
+"Well," whispered Miss Kennyfeck to her sister, as they descended the
+stairs, "did he?"
+
+An almost inaudible "No" was the reply.
+
+"Your eyes are very red for nothing, my dear," rejoined the elder.
+
+"I dinna ken, sir," said Sir Andrew to Softly, as he made use of his arm
+for support,--"I dinna ken how ye understand your theory aboot optical
+delusions, but I maun say, it seems to me a vara strange way for men o'
+your cloth to pass the mornin' starin' at naked weemen,--creatures, too,
+that if they ever leeved at all, must ha' led the maist abondoned lives.
+I take it that Diana herself was ne better than a cuttie; do ye mark hoo
+she does no scruple to show a bra pair of legs--"
+
+"With respect to the Heathen Mythology," broke in Softly, in a voice he
+hoped might subdue the discussion.
+
+"Don't tell me aboot the hay thins, sir; flesh and bluid is a' the same,
+whatever Kirk it follows."
+
+Before they were seated at table, Linton had joined them, explaining, in
+the most natural way in the world, that, having sat down to write in the
+boudoir, he had fallen fast asleep, and was only awakened by Mr. Phillis
+having accidentally discovered him. A look of quick intelligence
+passed between Cashel and Olivia at this narrative; the young lady
+soon appeared to have recovered from her former embarrassment, and the
+luncheon proceeded pleasantly to all parties. Mr. Howie enjoyed himself
+to the utmost, not only by the reflection that a hearty luncheon at two
+would save an hotel dinner at six, but that the Dean and Sir Andrew were
+two originals, worth five pound apiece even for "Punch." As to Cashel, a
+glance at the author's note-book would show how he impressed that gifted
+personage: "R. C.: a snob--rich--and gullible; his pictures, all the
+household gods at Christie's, the Vandyck, late a sign of the Marquis
+of Granby, at Windsor. Mem.: not over safe to quiz him." "But we 'll see
+later on." "Visit him at his country-seat, 'if poss.'"
+
+"Who is our spectacled friend?" said Linton, as they drove away from the
+door.
+
+"Some distinguished author, whose name I have forgotten."
+
+"Shrewd looking fellow,--think I have seen him at Ascot. What brings him
+over here?"
+
+"To write a book, I fancy."
+
+"What a bore. This is the age of detectives, with a vengeance. Well,
+don't let him in again, that's all. By Jove! it's easier, now-a-days, to
+escape the Queen's Bench than the 'Illustrated News.'"
+
+"A note from Mr. Kennyfeck, sir," said Mr. Phillis, "and the man waits
+for an answer."
+
+Linton, taking up a book, affected to read, but in reality placed
+himself so as to watch Cashel's features as he perused the letter, whose
+size and shape pronounced to be something unusual. Hurriedly mumbling
+over a rather tedious exordium on the various views the writer had taken
+of a subject, Cashel's eyes suddenly flashed as he drew forth a small
+printed paragraph, cut from the column of a newspaper, and which went
+thus:--
+
+     "It will be, doubtless, in our readers' recollection how a
+     short time back an armed slaver, sailing under the flag of
+     Columbia, was taken, after a most severe and sanguinary
+     engagement, by H.M. brig 'Hornet.' The commander, a young
+     Spaniard of singularly handsome exterior, and with all the
+     bearing and appearance of a rank very different from his
+     mode of life, was carried off and confined in St. Kitts'
+     till such time as he could be brought to trial.
+     Representations from the Government of the Republic were,
+     however, made, and a claim preferred for indemnity, not only
+     for the loss of the vessel and property, but for the loss of
+     life and other injury incurred on the capture. While this
+     singular demand was under investigation, the young Spaniard
+     alluded to contrived to break his bonds and escape: the
+     only mode of doing which was by a leap into the sea from the
+     parapet of the fortress, a height, we are informed, of nigh
+     one hundred feet. They who are acquainted with the locality
+     assert that if he even survived the desperate leap, he must
+     inevitably have fallen a victim to the sharks who frequent
+     the bay to catch the bodies of all who die in the prison,
+     and who, it would appear, are thus unceremoniously disposed
+     of. This supposition would seem, however, in some respect,
+     contradicted by the circumstance that a Venezuelan cruiser,
+     which hung about the shore for the two preceding days,
+     sailed on the very night of his escape, and, in all
+     probability, with him on board."
+
+"I could swear he is safe!" cried Cashel, in an ecstasy of enthusiasm;
+"he's a glorious fellow."
+
+"Who is that?" said Linton, looking up; "any one I know?"
+
+"No, indeed!" said Cashel. Then suddenly checking himself in a speech
+whose opening accents were far from flattering, he added, "One you never
+even heard of."
+
+He once more addressed himself to the letter, which, however, merely
+contained some not very brilliant commentaries of Mr. Kennyfeck over the
+preceding extract, and which, after enumerating a great many modes of
+investigating the event, concluded with the only thing like common sense
+in the whole, by recommending a strict silence and secrecy about it all.
+
+Cashel was closing the epistle, when he caught on the turn-down the
+following lines;--
+
+"Mr. Linton has written to me about something like a legal transfer
+of the cottage and lands of Tubberbeg, which he mentions your having
+presented to him. What reply am I to return to this? I stated that you
+had already assured Mr. Corrigan, the present tenant, of an undisturbed
+possession of the tenure, but Mr. L. interrupted my explanation by
+saying that he only desired an assignment of the property, such as would
+give a parliamentary qualification, and that all pledges made to Mr. C.
+he would regard as equally binding on himself."
+
+Cashel's first impulse, when he had read thus far, was to show Linton
+the paragraph, and frankly ask him what he wished to be done; indeed,
+he had already advanced towards him with that object, when he checked
+himself. "It might seem ungracious to ask any explanation. There had
+been already a moment of awkwardness about that same cottage, and Linton
+had behaved so well; and, of course, only asking him for the possession
+as a means of qualifying, Corrigan need never hear of it Besides, he
+could make Linton a present of much greater real value as soon as the
+circumstances of the estate became better known." Such and such-like
+reasonings passed hastily through his brain; and as all his resolves
+were quickly formed, and as quickly acted on, he sat down and wrote:
+
+     Dear Mr. Kennyfeck,--Many thanks for the information of your
+     note, which has served to allay all my anxiety for a valued
+     friend. As to Linton, you will have the goodness to satisfy
+     him in every particular, and make all and every legal title
+     he desires to the cottage and grounds of Tubberbeg. Although
+     he is now at my side while I write, I have not alluded to
+     the subject, feeling the awkwardness of touching on a theme
+     so delicate. Say, however, for me, that Corrigan is not to
+     be disturbed, nor any pledge I have made towards him--no
+     matter how liberally construed by him--to be, in any
+     respect, infringed.--Yours, in great haste,
+
+"Why you are quite a man of business to-day, Cashel, with your
+correspondence and letter-writing; and I 'm sorry for it, for I wanted
+to have a bit of serious talk with you,--that is, if it do not bore
+you."
+
+"Not in the least. I was, I own it, nervous and uneasy this morning;
+now, however, my mind is at ease, and I am quite ready for anything."
+
+"Well, then, without preamble, are you still of the same mind about
+Parliament, because the time is hastening on when you ought to come to
+some decision on the matter?"
+
+"I have never bestowed a thought on the matter since," said Cashel.
+"The truth is, when I hear people talk politics in society, I am only
+astonished at their seeming bigotry and one-sidedness; and when I
+read newspapers of opposite opinions, I am equally confounded at the
+excellent arguments they display for diametrically contradictory lines
+of action, so that my political education makes but little progress."
+
+"What you say is perfectly just," said Linton, appearing to reflect
+profoundly. "A man of real independence--not the mere independence of
+fortune, but the far higher independence of personal character--has
+much to endure in our tangled and complex system of legislation. As for
+yourself, for instance, who can afford to despise patronage, who have
+neither sons to advance in the Navy, nor nephews in the Foreign Office,
+who neither want the Bath nor a baronetcy, who would be as sick of the
+flatteries as you would be disgusted with the servility of party--why
+you should submit to the dust and heat, the turmoil and fatigue of
+a session, I can't think. And how you would be bored,--bored by the
+ceaseless reiterations night after night, the same arguments growing
+gradually weaker as the echo grew fainter; bored by the bits of 'Horace'
+got off by heart to wind up with; bored by the bad jests of witty
+members; bored by Peel's candor, and Palmerston's petulance; by Cobden's
+unblushing effrontery, and Hume's tiresome placidity. You 'd never know
+a happy day nor a joyous hour till you accepted the Chiltern Hundreds,
+and cut them all. No; the better course for you would be, choose a
+nominee for your borough; select a man in whom you have confidence.
+Think of some one over whom your influence would be complete, who would
+have no other aim than in following out your suggestions; some one, in
+fact, who unites sufficient ability with personal friendship. What d' ye
+think of Kennyfeck?"
+
+"Poor Kennyfeck," said Cashel, laughing, "he'd never think of such a
+thing."
+
+"I don't know," said Linton, musing; "it might not suit him, but his
+wife would like it prodigiously."
+
+"Shall I propose it, then?" said Cashel.
+
+"Better not, perhaps," said Linton, appearing to reflect; "his income,
+which is a right good one, is professional. This, of course, he 'd
+forfeit by accepting a seat in the House. Besides, really, the poor
+man would make no way. No, we must think of some one else. Do you like
+White?"
+
+"Leicester White? I detest the man, and the wife too."
+
+"Well, there's Frobisher, a fellow of good name and family. I 'd not go
+bail for his preferring your interests to his own, but as times go, you
+might chance upon worse. Will you have Frobisher?"
+
+"I have no objection," said Cashel, carelessly; "would he like it
+himself?"
+
+"Would he like anything that might help him to a step in the regiment,
+or place him in a position to sell himself, you, and the borough
+constituency, to the highest bidder?" said Linton, irritated at Cashel's
+half assent.
+
+"Well, if these be his principles," cried Cashel, laughing, "I think
+we 'd better put him aside."
+
+"You 're right; he 'd never do," said Linton, recovering all his
+self-possession; "what you want is a man sufficiently unconnected with
+ties of family or party, to see in you his patron and his object, and
+who, with cleverness enough to enunciate the views you desire to see
+prevail, has also the strong bond of personal regard to make him always
+even more the friend than the follower."
+
+"I only know of one man who realizes all this combination," said Cashel,
+smiling, "and _he_ would n't answer."
+
+"Who is he,--and why?" asked Linton, in vain endeavoring to look easy
+and unconcerned.
+
+"Tom Linton is the man, and his invincible laziness the 'why.' Isn't
+that true?"
+
+"By George, Cashel, if you 're content with the first part of the
+assertion, I 'll pledge myself to remedy the latter. I own, frankly, it
+is a career for which I have no predilection; if I had, I should have
+been 'in' many years ago. I have all my life held very cheap your great
+political leaders, both as regards capacity and character, and I have
+ever fancied that I should have had some success in the lists; but I
+have always loved ease, and that best of ease, independence. If you
+think, however, that I can worthily represent you in Parliament, and
+that you could safely trust to my discretion the knotty question of
+political war, say the word, my boy, and I 'll fling my 'far niente'
+habits to the wind, and you shall have all the merit of developing the
+promising member for--what's the name of it?"
+
+"Derraheeny."
+
+"Exactly--the honorable and learned--for Derraheeny. I rather like the
+title."
+
+"Well, Linton, if you are really serious--"
+
+"Most assuredly, serious; and more, to prove it, I shall ask you to
+clench our bargain at once. It is not enough that you make me your
+nominee, but you must also render me eligible to become so."
+
+"I don't clearly comprehend--"
+
+"I 'll enlighten you. Our venerable constitution, perfectly irrespective
+of the Tom Lintons of this world--a race which, by the way, never dies
+out, probably because they have avoided intermarriage--has decided that
+a man must possess something besides his wits to be qualified as 'Member
+of Parliament;' a strange law, because the aforesaid wits are all that
+the Honorable House has any reason to lay claim to. This same something
+which guarantees that a man has a legislative capacity, amounts to some
+hundreds a year. Don't be impatient, and come out with any piece of rash
+generosity; I don't want you to make a present of an estate--only to
+lend me one! To be qualified, either as a candidate for the House or a
+gentleman rider, one only needs a friend,--a well-to-do friend, who 'll
+say, 'He's all right.'"
+
+"I 'm quite ready to vouch for you, Tom, but you 'll have to take the
+affair into your own management."
+
+"Oh, it's easy enough. That same cottage and the farm which we spoke of
+the other day, Kennyfeck can make out a kind of conveyance, or whatever
+the instrument is called, by which it acknowledges me for its owner,
+vice Roland Cashel, Esquire. This, properly sealed, signed, and so
+on, will defy the most searching Committee that ever pried into any
+gentleman's private circumstances."
+
+"Then explain it all to Kennyfeck, and say that I wish it done at once."
+
+"Nay, Cashel, pardon me. My ugliest enemy will not call me punctilious,
+but I must stand upon a bit of ceremony here. This must be ordered by
+yourself. You are doing a gracious thing,--a devilish kind thing,--it
+must not be done by halves. Were I to communicate this to Kennyfeck,
+he 'll unquestionably obey the direction, but most certainly he 'd say to
+the first man he met, 'See how Linton has managed to trick Cashel out of
+a very considerable slice of landed property.' He 'd not take much
+trouble to state the nature of our compact; he 'd rather blink the whole
+arrangement, altogether, and make the thing seem a direct gift. Now, I
+have too much pride on your account, and my own too, to stand this."
+
+"Well, well, it shall be as you like; only I trow I disagree with you
+about old Kennyfeck: he 's a fine straight-hearted fellow--he's--"
+
+"He 's an attorney, Cashel. These fellows can no more comprehend a
+transfer of property without a trial at bar, or a suit in Equity, than
+an Irish second can understand a falling out without one of the parties
+being brought home on a door. Besides, he has rather a grudge against
+me. I never told you,--indeed, I never meant to tell you,--but I can
+have no secrets from you. You know the youngest girl, Olivia?"
+
+"Yes, go on," said Cashel, red and pale by turns.
+
+"Well, I flirted a good deal last winter with her. Upon my life, I did
+not intend it to have gone so far; I suppose it must have gone far,
+though, because she became desperately in love. She is very pretty,
+certainly, and a really good little girl,--_mais, que voulez-vous?_ If
+I tie a fly on my hook I can't afford to see a flounder or a perch walk
+off with it; it's the speckled monster of the stream I fish for. They
+ought to have known that themselves,--I 've no doubt they did, too; but
+they were determined, as they say here, to die 'innocent,' and so one
+fine morning I was just going to join the hounds at Finglas, when old
+Kennyfeck, very trimly dressed, and looking unutterable importance,
+entered my lodgings. There's a formula for these kind of explanations--I
+'ve gone through seven of these myself, and I 'll swear that every papa
+has opened the conference with a solemn appeal to Heaven 'that he never
+was aware of the attentions shown his daughter, nor the state of his
+dear child's affections, till last evening.' They always assure you,
+besides, that if they could give a million and a half as dowry, you are
+the very man--the actual one individual--they would have selected; so
+that on an average most young ladies have met with at least half-a-dozen
+parties whom the fathers have pronounced to be, separately, the one most
+valued. Kennyfeck behaved, I must say, admirably. His wife would have a
+Galway cousin sent for, and a duel; some other kind friend suggested to
+have me waylaid and thrashed. He calmly heard me for about ten minutes,
+and then taking up his hat and gloves, said, 'Take your rule,' and so it
+ended. I dined there the next Sunday,--yes, that's part of my system: I
+never permit people to nourish small grudges, and go about abusing me
+to my acquaintances. If they _will_ do that, I overwhelm them by their
+duplicity, as I am seen constantly in their intimacy, and remarkable for
+always speaking well of them, so that the world will certainly give it
+against them. The gist of all this tiresome story is, that Kennyfeck
+and the ladies would, if occasion served, pay off the old debt to me;
+therefore, beware if you hear me canvassed in that quarter!" Linton,
+like many other cunning people, very often lapsed into little
+confessions of the tactics by which he played his game in the world,
+and although Cashel was not by any means a dangerous confidant to such
+disclosures, he now marked with feelings not all akin to satisfaction
+this acknowledgment of his friend's skill.
+
+"You 'd never have shown your face there again, I 'll wager a hundred!"
+said Linton, reading in the black look of Roland's countenance an
+expression he did not fancy.
+
+"You are right. I should have deemed it unfair to impose on the young
+lady a part so full of awkwardness as every meeting must necessitate."
+
+"That comes of your innocence about women, my dear friend; they have
+face for anything. It is not hypocrisy, it is not that they do not feel,
+and feel deeply, but their sense of command, their instinct of what is
+becoming, is a thousand times finer than ours; and I am certain
+that when we take all manner of care to, what is called, spare their
+feelings, we are in reality only sparing them a cherished opportunity of
+exercising a control over those feelings which we foolishly suppose to
+be as ungovernable as our own."
+
+Either not agreeing with the sentiment, or unable to cope with its
+subtlety, Cashel sat some time without speaking. From Olivia Kennyfeck
+his thoughts reverted to one in every respect unlike her,--the daring,
+impetuous Maritaņa.
+
+He wondered within himself whether _her_ bold, impassioned nature
+could be comprehended within Linton's category, and a secret sense of
+rejoicing thrilled through him as he replied to himself in the negative.
+
+"I 'd wager a trifle, Roland, from that easy smile you wear, that your
+memory has called up one example, at least, unfavorable to my theory.
+Eh! I have guessed aright Come then, out with it, man,--who is this
+peerless paragon of pure ingenuous truth?--who is she whose nature is
+the transparent crystal where fair thoughts are enshrined? No denizen
+of our misty northland, I'll be sworn, but some fair Mexican, with as
+little disguise as drapery. Confess, I say--there is a confession, I 'll
+be sworn--and so make a clean breast of it."
+
+It struck Cashel, while Linton was speaking, how effectually Maritaņa
+herself, by one proud look, one haughty gesture, would have silenced
+such flippant raillery; and he could not help feeling it a kind of
+treason to their old friendship that he should listen to it in patient
+endurance.
+
+"Listen to me, amigo mio," said he, in a tone of earnest passion that
+seemed almost estranged from his nature latterly,--"listen to me while
+I tell you that in those faraway countries, whose people you regard with
+such contemptuous pity, there are women--ay, young girls--whose daring
+spirit would shame the courage of many of those fine gentlemen we spend
+our lives with; and I, for one, have so much of the Indian in me, as to
+think that courage is the first of virtues."
+
+"I cannot help fancying," said Linton, with an almost imperceptible
+raillery, "that there are other qualities would please me as well in a
+wife or a mistress."
+
+"I have no doubt of it--and suit you better, too," said Cashel,
+savagely; then hastily correcting himself for his rude speech, he added,
+"I believe, in good earnest, that you would as little sympathize
+with that land and its people as I do with this. Ay, if you want a
+confession, there's one for you. I'm longing to be back once more among
+the vast prairies of the West, galloping free after the dark-backed
+bisons, and strolling along in the silent forests. The enervation of
+this life wearies and depresses me; worse than all, I feel that, with a
+little more of it, I shall lose all energy and zest for that activity
+of body, which, to men like myself, supplies the place of thought,--a
+little more of it, and I shall sink into that languid routine where
+dissipation supplies the only excitement."
+
+"This is a mere passing caprice; a man who has wealth--"
+
+"There it is," cried Cashel, interrupting him impetuously; "that is the
+eternal burden of your song. As if wealth, in forestalling the necessity
+for labor, did not, at the same time, deprive life of all the zeal of
+enterprise. When I have stepped into my boat to board a Chilian frigate,
+I have had a prouder throbbing at my heart than ever the sight of that
+banker's check-book has given me. There's many a Gambusino in the Rocky
+Mountains a happier--ay, and a finer fellow, too, than the gayest of
+those gallants that ever squandered the gold _he_ quarried! But why go
+on?--we are speaking in unknown tongues to each other."
+
+The tone of irritation into which, as it seems unconsciously, Cashel had
+fallen, was not lost on the keen perception of Linton, and he was not
+sorry to feign a pretext for closing an interview whose continuance
+might be unpleasant.
+
+"I was thinking of a hurried trip down to Tubbermore," said he, rising;
+"we shall have these guests of yours in open rebellion, if we don't
+affect at least something like preparation for their reception. I'll
+take Perystell along with me, and we'll see what can be done to get the
+old house in trim."
+
+"Thanks," said Cashel, as he walked up and down, his thoughts seeming
+engaged on some other theme.
+
+"I 'll write to you a report of the actual condition of the fortress,"
+said Linton, assuming all his habitual easy freedom of manner, "and
+then, if you think of anything to suggest, you'll let me hear."
+
+"Yes, I 'll write," said Cashel, still musing on his own thoughts.
+
+"I see pretty plainly," cried Linton, laughing, "there's no earthly use
+in asking you questions just now, your brain being otherwise occupied,
+and so, good-bye."
+
+"Good-bye--good-bye," said Cashel, endeavoring, but not with a very good
+grace to shake off his pre-occupation while he shook hands with him; and
+Linton descended the stairs, humming an opera air, with all the seeming
+light-heartedness of a very careless nature.
+
+Cashel, meanwhile, sat down, and, with his head resting on his hand,
+pondered over their late interview. There were two circumstances which
+both puzzled and distressed him. How came it that Linton should have
+written this note to Kennyfeck on a subject which only seemed to
+have actually suggested itself in the course of this their very last
+conversation? Had he already planned the whole campaign respecting the
+seat in Parliament and the qualification, and was his apparently chance
+allusion to those topics a thing studied and devised beforehand? This,
+if true, would argue very ill for his friend's candor and fair dealing;
+and yet, how explain it otherwise? Was there any other seat open to him
+for which to need a qualification? If so, he had never spoken of it. It
+was the first time in his life that Cashel had conceived a suspicion of
+one whom he had regarded in the light of friend, and only they who have
+undergone a similar trial can understand the poignant suffering of the
+feeling; and yet, palpable as the cause of such a doubt was, he
+had never entertained it had not Linton spoken disparagingly of the
+Kennyfecks! This is a curious trait of human nature, but one worth
+consideration; and while leaving it to the elucidation the penetration
+of each reader may suggest, we only reiterate the fact, that while
+Cashel could, without an effort, have forgiven the duplicity practised
+on himself, the levity Linton employed respecting Olivia engendered
+doubts of his honor too grave to be easily combated.
+
+As for Linton scarcely had he quitted Cashel, than he hastened to call
+on Kennyfeck; he had written the note already alluded to, to leave
+at the house should the solicitor be from home; but having left it by
+accident on the writing-table, his servant, discovering it to be sealed
+and addressed, had, without further question, left it at Kennyfeck's
+house. As Linton went along, he searched his pockets for the epistle,
+but consoled himself by remembering how he had left it at home.
+
+A few moments later found him at Kennyfeck's door. The attorney was at
+home, and, without any announcement, Linton entered the study where he
+sat.
+
+"I was this instant writing to you, sir," said Kennyfeck, rising,
+and placing a seat for him; "Mr Cashel, on being informed of the wish
+expressed in your note--"
+
+"Of what note?" said Linton, in a voice of, for him, very unusual
+agitation.
+
+"This note--here, sir,--dated--no, by-the-by, it is not dated, but
+brought by your servant two hours ago."
+
+Linton took the paper, glanced his eye over it, and then, in mingled
+chagrin and forgetfulness, tore it, and threw the fragments into the
+fire.
+
+"There is some mistake about this," said he, slowly, and giving himself
+time to consider what turn he should lend it.
+
+"This is Mr. Cashel's reply, sir," said Kennyfeck, after pausing some
+moments, but in vain for the explanation.
+
+Linton eagerly caught the letter and read it through, and whatever
+scruples or fear he might have conceived for any other man's, it seemed
+as if he had little dread of Cashel's penetration, for his assured and
+easy smile at once showed that he had regained his wonted tranquillity.
+
+"You will then take the necessary steps, without delay, Kennyfeck,"
+said he. "The elections cannot be very distant, and it is better to be
+prepared." As he spoke, he threw the letter back upon the table, but in
+a moment afterwards, while taking off his gloves, managed to seize it
+and convey it to his pocket. "You know far better than I do, Kennyfeck,"
+resumed he, "how sharp the lawyers can be in picking out any flaw
+respecting title and so forth; for this reason, be careful that this
+document shall be as regular and binding as need be."
+
+"It shall be submitted for counsel's opinion this evening, sir--"
+
+"Not to Jones, then; I don't fancy that gentleman, although I know he
+has some of your confidence; send it to Hammond."
+
+"As you please, sir."
+
+"Another point. You'll not insert any clause respecting the tenant in
+possession; it would only be hampering us with another defence against
+some legal subtlety or other."
+
+"Mr. Cashel does not desire this, sir?"
+
+"Of course not--you understand what the whole thing means. Well, I must
+say good-bye; you 'll have all ready by the time I return to town. My
+respects to the drawing-room. Adieu.
+
+"That was bad blunder about the note," muttered Linton, as he walked
+along towards home, "and might have lost the game, if the antagonist had
+any skill whatever."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII. LINTON VISITS HIS ESTATE.
+
+     Let's see the field, and mark it well,
+     For, here, will be the battle.
+
+     Ottocar.
+
+
+"Does this path lead to the house, friend?" said a gentleman whose dress
+bespoke recent travel, to the haggard, discontented figure of a man who,
+seated on a stone beside a low and broken wicket, was lazily filling
+his pipe, and occasionally throwing stealthy glances at the stranger.
+A. short nod of the head was the reply. "You belong to the place, I
+suppose?"
+
+"Maybe I do; and what then?"
+
+"Simply that, as I am desirous of going thither, I should be glad of
+your showing me the way."
+
+"Troth, an' there's little to see when you get there," rejoined the
+other, sarcastically. "What are you by trade, if it's not displeasin' to
+ye?"
+
+"That's the very question I was about to ask you," said Linton, for it
+was himself; "you appear to have a very easy mode of life, whatever it
+be, since you are so indifferent about earning half-a-crown."
+
+Tom Keane arose from his seat, and made an awkward attempt at saluting,
+as he said,--
+
+"'Tis the dusk o'the evening prevented me seeing yer honer, or I
+wouldn't be so bowld. This is the way to the Hall sure enough."
+
+"This place has been greatly neglected of late," said Linton, as they
+walked along side by side, and endeavoring, by a tone of familiarity, to
+set his companion at ease.
+
+"Troth, it is neglected, and always was as long as I remember. I was
+reared in it, and I never knew it other; thistles and docks as big as
+your leg, everywhere, and the grass choked up with moss."
+
+"How came it to be so completely left to ruin?"
+
+"Anan!" muttered he, as if not well comprehending the question, but,
+in reality, a mere device employed to give him more time to scan the
+stranger, and guess at his probable object.
+
+"I was asking," said Linton, "how it happened that a fine old place like
+this was suffered to go to wreck and ruin?"
+
+"Faix, it's ould enough, anyhow," said the other, with a coarse laugh.
+
+"And large too."
+
+"Yer honer was here afore?" said Tom, stealthily glancing at him under
+his brows. "I 'm thinking I remember yer honer's faytures. You would n't
+be the gentleman that came down with Mr. Duffy?"
+
+"No; this is my first visit to these parts; now, where does this little
+road lead? It seems to be better cared for than the rest, and the gate,
+too, is neatly kept."
+
+"That goes down to the cottage, sir--Tubber-beg, as they call it. Yer
+honer isn't Mr. Cashel himself?" said Tom, reverentially taking off his
+tattered hat, and attempting an air of courtesy, which sat marvellously
+ill upon him.
+
+"I have not that good luck, my friend."
+
+"'T is good luck ye may call it," sighed Tom; "a good luck that does n't
+fall to many; but, maybe, ye don't want it; maybe yer honer--"
+
+"And who lives in the cottage of Tubber-beg?" said Linton, interrupting.
+
+"One Corrigan, sir; an old man and his granddaughter."
+
+"Good kind of people, are they?"
+
+"Ayeh! there's worse, and there 's betther! They 're as proud as
+Lucifer, and poor as naygurs."
+
+"And this is the Hall itself?" exclaimed Linton, as he stopped directly
+in front of the old dilapidated building, whose deformities were only
+exaggerated by the patchy effect of a faint moonlight.
+
+"Ay, there it is," grinned Tom, "and no beauty either; and ugly as it
+looks without, it's worse within! There 'a cracks in the walls ye could
+put your hand through, and the windows is rotten, where they stand."
+
+"It is not very tempting, certainly, as a residence," said Linton,
+smiling.
+
+"Ah, but if ye heerd the rats, the way they do be racin' and huntin'
+each other at night, and the wind bellowsin' down the chimbleys, such
+screechin' and yellin' as it keeps, and then the slates rattlin', till
+ye'd think the ould roof was comin' off altogether,--be my soul, there's
+many a man would n't take the property and sleep a night in that house."
+
+"One would do a great deal, notwithstanding, for a fine estate like
+this," said Linton, dryly.
+
+There was something, either in the words or the accent, that touched Tom
+Keane's sympathy for the speaker; some strange suspicion perhaps, that
+he was one whose fortune, like his own, was not beyond the casualties
+and chances of life, and it was with a species of coarse friendship that
+he said, "Ah, if we had it between us, we 'd do well."
+
+"Right well; no need to ask for better," said Linton, with a heartiness
+of assent that made the other perfectly at ease. "I'm curious to have a
+look at the inside of the place; I suppose there is no hindrance?"
+
+"None in life! I live below, and, faix, there's no living anywhere
+else, for most of the stairs is burned, and, as I towld ye, the rats has
+upstairs all to themselves. Nancy, give us a light," cried he, passing
+into the dark and spacious hall, "I'm going to show a gentleman the
+curiosities. I ax you honer's pardon, the place is n't so clean as it
+might be."
+
+Linton gave one peep into the long and gloomy chamber, where the whole
+family were huddled together in all the wretchedness and disorder of a
+cabin, and at once drew back.
+
+"The cows is on the other side," said the man, "and, beyond, there's
+four rooms was never plastered; and there, where you see the straw,
+that's the billiard-room, and inside of it again, there's a place for
+play-actin', and, more by token, there's a quare thing there."
+
+"What's that?" asked Linton, whose curiosity was excited by the remark.
+
+"Come, and I 'll show yer honer."
+
+So saying, he led on through a narrow corridor, and, passing through two
+or three dilapidated, ruined chambers, they entered a large and spacious
+apartment, whose sloping floor at once showed Linton that they were
+standing on the stage of a theatre.
+
+Tom Keane held up the flickering light, that the other might see the
+torn and tattered remnants of the decorations, and the fragments of
+scenes, as they flapped to and fro. "It's a dhroll place, anyhow," said
+he, "and there's scarce a bit of it hasn't a trap-door, or some other
+contrivance of the like; but here's one stranger than all; this is what
+I towld yer honer about." He walked, as he spoke, to the back wall
+of the building, where, on the surface of the plaster, a rude scene,
+representing a wood, was painted, at one side of which a massive pile of
+rock, overgrown with creepers, stood. "Now, ye 'd never guess what was
+there," said Tom, holding the candle in different situations to exhibit
+the scene; "and, indeed, I found it by chance myself; see this,"--and he
+pressed a small but scarcely perceptible knob of brass in the wall,
+and at once, what appeared to be the surface of the rock, slid back,
+discovering a dark space behind. "Come on, now, after me," continued
+he. Linton followed, and they ascended a narrow stair constructed in the
+substance of the wall, and barely sufficient to admit one person.
+
+Arriving at the top, after a few seconds' delay, Tom opened a small
+door, and they stood in a large and well-proportioned room, where some
+worm-eaten bed-furniture yet remained. The door had been once, as a
+small, fragment of glass showed, the frame of a large mirror, and must
+have been quite beyond the reach of ordinary powers of detection.
+
+"That was a cunning way to steal down among the play acthers," said
+Keane, grinning, while Linton, with the greatest attention, remarked the
+position of the door and its secret fastening.
+
+"I suppose no one but yourself knows of this stair?" said Linton.
+
+"Sorra one, sir, except, maybe, some of the smugglers that used to
+come here long ago from the mouth of the Shannon. This was one of their
+hiding-places."
+
+"Well, if this old mansion comes ever to be inhabited, one might have
+rare fun by means of that passage; so be sure, you keep the secret well.
+Let that be a padlock on your lips." And, so saying, he took a sovereign
+from his purse and gave it to him. "Your name is--"
+
+"Tom, yer honer--Tom Keane; and, by this and by that, I'm ready to do
+yer honer's bidding from this hour out--"
+
+"Well, we shall be good friends, I see," interrupted Linton; "you may,
+perhaps, be useful to me, and I can also be able to serve you. Now,
+which is the regular entrance to this chamber?"
+
+"There, sir; it's the last door as ye see in the long passage. Them is
+all bedrooms alone there, but it's not safe to walk down, for the floor
+is rotten."
+
+Linton noted down in a memory far from defective the circumstances of
+the chamber, and then followed his guide through the remainder of the
+house, which in every quarter presented the same picture of ruin and
+decay.
+
+"The bit of candle is near out," said Tom, "but sure there is n't much
+more to be seen; there's rooms there was never opened, and more on the
+other side, the same. The place is as big as a barrack, and here we are
+once more on the grand stair."
+
+For once, the name was not ill applied, as, constructed of Portland
+stone, and railed with massive banisters of iron, it presented features
+of solidity and endurance, in marked contrast to the other portions of
+the edifice. Linton cast one more glance around the gloomy entrance, and
+sallied forth into the free air. "I 'll see you to-morrow, Tom," said
+he, "and we'll have some talk together. Good night."
+
+"Good night, and good luck to yer honer; but won't you let me see your
+honer out of the grounds,--as far as the big gate, at least?"
+
+"Thanks; I know the road perfectly already, and I rather like a lonely
+stroll of a fine night like this."
+
+Tom, accordingly, reiterated his good wishes, and Linton was suffered
+to pursue his way unaccompanied. Increasing his speed as he arrived at a
+turn of the road, he took the path which led off the main approach, and
+led down by the river-side to the cottage of Tubber-beg. There was a
+feeling of strong interest which prompted him to see this cottage, which
+now he might call his own; and as he went, he regarded the little clumps
+of ornamental planting, the well-kept walks, the neat palings, the
+quaint benches beneath the trees, with very different feelings from
+those he had bestowed on the last-visited scene. Nor was he insensible
+to the landscape beauty which certain vistas opened, and, seen even by
+the faint light of a new moon, were still rich promises of picturesque
+situation.
+
+Suddenly, and without any anticipation, he found himself on turning a
+little copse of evergreens, in front of the cottage, and almost
+beneath the shadow of its deep porch. Whatever his previous feelings of
+self-interest in every detail around, they were speedily routed by the
+scene before him.
+
+In a large and well furnished drawing-room, where a single lamp was
+shining, sat an old man in an easy-chair, his features, his attitude,
+and his whole bearing indicating the traces of recent illness. Beside
+him, on a low stool almost at his feet, was a young girl of singular
+beauty,--the plastic grace of her figure, the easy motion of the
+head, as from time to time she raised it to throw upwards a look of
+affectionate reverence, and the long, loose masses of her hair, which,
+accidentally unfastened, fell on either shoulder, making rather one
+of those ideals which a Raphael can conceive than a mere creature of
+every-day existence. Although late autumn, the windows lay open to the
+ground, for, as yet, no touch of coming winter had visited this secluded
+and favored spot. In the still quiet of the night, _her_ voice, for she
+alone spoke, could be heard; at first, the mere murmur of the accents
+reached Linton's ears, but even from them he could gather the tone of
+cheering and encouragement in which she spoke. At length he heard her
+say, in a voice of almost tremulous enthusiasm, "It was so like you,
+dear papa, not to tell this Mr. Cashel that you had yourself a claim,
+and, as many think, a rightful one, to this same estate, and thus not
+trouble the stream of his munificence."
+
+"Nay, child, it had been as impolitic as unworthy to do so," said the
+old man; "he who stoops to receive a favor should detract nothing from
+the generous sentiment of the granter."
+
+"For my part, I would tell him," said she, eagerly, "that his noble
+conduct has forever barred my prosecuting such a claim, and that if,
+to-morrow, the fairest proofs of my right should reach me, I'd throw
+them in the fire."
+
+"To get credit for such self-sacrifice, Mary, one must be independent
+of all hypothesis; one must do, and not merely promise. Now, it would
+be hard to expect Mr. Cashel to feel the same conviction I do, that this
+confiscation was repealed by letters under the hand of Majesty itself.
+The Brownes, through whom Cashel inherits, were the stewards of my
+ancestors, entrusted with all their secret affairs, and cognizant of
+all their family matters. From the humble position of dependents, they
+suddenly sprang into wealth and fortune, and ended by purchasing the
+very estate they once lived on as day-laborers,--sold as it was, like
+all confiscated estates, for a mere fraction of its value."
+
+"Oh, base ingratitude!"
+
+"Worse still; it is said, and with great reason to believe it true, that
+Hammond Browne, who was sent over to London by my great grandfather to
+negotiate with the Government, actually received the free pardon and the
+release of the confiscation, but concealed and made away with both, and,
+to prevent my grandfather being driven to further pursuit, gave him the
+lease of this cottage on the low terms we continue to hold it."
+
+A low, faint cough from the old man warned his granddaughter of the
+dangers of the night air, and she arose and closed the windows. They
+still continued their conversation, but Linton, unable to hear more,
+returned to his inn, deeply reflecting over the strange disclosures he
+had overheard.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV. BREAKFAST WITH MR. CORRIGAN.
+
+     How cold is treachery.
+
+     _Play_.
+
+
+"Who can Mr. Linton be, my dear?" said old Mr. Corrigan, as he sat at
+breakfast the next day, and pondered oyer the card which, with a polite
+request for an interview, the servant had just delivered. "I cannot
+remember the name, if I ever heard it before; but should we not invite
+him to join us at breakfast?"
+
+"Where is he, Simon?" asked Miss Leicester.
+
+"At the door, miss, and a very nice-looking gentleman as ever I saw."
+
+"Say that I have been ill, Simon, and cannot walk to the door, and beg
+he'll be kind enough to come in to breakfast."
+
+With a manner where ease and deference were admirably blended, Linton
+entered the room, and apologizing for his intrusion, said, "I have come
+down here, sir, on a little business matter for my friend Roland
+Cashel, and I could not think of returning to town without making
+the acquaintance of one for whom my friend has already conceived the
+strongest feeling of interest and regard. It will be the first question
+I shall hear when I get back, 'Well, what of Mr. Corrigan, and how is
+he?'"
+
+While making this speech, which he delivered in a tone of perfect
+frankness, he seemed never to have noticed the presence of Miss
+Leicester, who had retired a little as he entered the room, and now, on
+being introduced to her, made his acknowledgments with a grave courtesy.
+
+"And so our young landlord is thinking of taking up his residence
+amongst us?" said Corrigan, as Linton assumed his place at the
+breakfast-table.
+
+"For a few weeks he purposes to do so, but I question greatly if the
+tranquil pleasures and homely duties of a country life will continue
+long to attract him; he is very young, and the world so new to him, that
+he will scarcely settle down anywhere, or to anything, for some time to
+come."
+
+"Experience is a capital thing, no doubt, Mr. Linton; but I 'd rather
+trust the generous impulses of a good-hearted youth in a country like
+this, long neglected by its gentry. Let him once take an interest in the
+place and the people, and I'll vouch for the rest. Is he a sportsman?"
+
+"He _was_, when in Mexico; but buffalo and antelope hunting are very
+different from what this country offers."
+
+"Does he read?--is he studious?" said Mary.
+
+"Not even a newspaper, Miss Leicester. He is a fine, high-spirited,
+dashing fellow, and if good-nature and honorable intentions could
+compensate for defective education and training, he would be perfect."
+
+"They'll go very far, depend on it, Mr. Linton. In these days, a man of
+wealth can buy almost anything. Good sense, judgment, skill, are all in
+the market; but a generous nature and a warm heart are God's gifts, and
+can neither be grafted nor transplanted."
+
+"You'll like him, I'm certain, Mr. Corrigan."
+
+"I know I shall. I have reason for the anticipation; Tiernay told me
+the handsome words he used when according me a favor--and here comes
+the doctor himself." And as he spoke, Dr. Tiernay entered the room,
+his flushed face and hurried breathing bespeaking a hasty walk.
+"Good-morrow, Tiernay. Mr. Linton, let me present our doctor; not
+the least among our local advantages, as you can tell your friend Mr.
+Cashel."
+
+"We've met before, sir," said Tiernay, scanning, with a steady gaze,
+the countenance which, wreathed in smiles, seemed to invite rather than
+dread recognition.
+
+"I am happy to be remembered, Dr. Tiernay," said Linton, "although I
+fancy our meeting was too brief for much acquaintance; but we'll know
+each other better, I trust, hereafter."
+
+"No need, sir," whispered Tiernay, as he passed close to his side; "I
+believe we read each other perfectly already."
+
+Linton smiled, and bowed, as though accepting the speech in some
+complimentary sense, and turned toward Miss Leicester, who was busily
+arranging some dried plants in a volume.
+
+"These are not specimens of this neighborhood?" said Linton, taking up
+some heaths which are seldom found save in Alpine regions.
+
+"Yes, sir," interrupted Tiernay, "you 'll be surprised to find here
+productions which would not seem native to these wilds."
+
+"If you take an interest in such things," said old Corrigan, "you can't
+have a better guide than my granddaughter and Tiernay; they know every
+crag and glen for twenty miles round; all I bargain for is, don't be
+late back for dinner. You 'll give us your company, I hope, sir, at
+six?"
+
+Linton assented, with a cordial pleasure that delighted his inviter;
+and Mary, so happy to see the gratified expression of her grandfather's
+face, looked gratefully at the stranger for his polite compliance.
+
+"A word with you, sir," whispered Tiernay in Linton's ear; and he passed
+out into the little flower-garden, saying, as he went, "I 'll show Mr.
+Linton the grounds, Miss Mary, and you shall not have to neglect your
+household cares."
+
+Linton followed him without speaking, nor was a word interchanged
+between them till they had left the cottage a considerable distance
+behind them. "Well, sir," said Linton, coming to a halt, and speaking in
+a voice of cold and steadfast purpose, "how far do you propose that I am
+to bear you company?"
+
+"Only till we are beyond the danger of being overheard," said Tiernay,
+turning round. "Here will do perfectly. You will doubtless say, sir,
+that in asking you for an explanation of why I see you in this cottage,
+that I am exceeding the bounds of what right and duty alone impose."
+
+"You anticipate me precisely," said Linton, sarcastically, "and to save
+you the embarrassment of so obviously impertinent a proceeding, I beg to
+say that I shall neither afford you the slightest satisfaction on this
+or any other subject of inquiry. Now, sir, what next?"
+
+"Do you forget the occasion of our first meeting?" said the doctor, who
+actually was abashed beneath the practised effrontery of his adversary.
+
+"Not in the least, sir. You permitted yourself on that occasion to take
+a liberty, which from your age and other circumstances I consented to
+pass unnoticed. I shall not always vouch for the same patient endurance
+on my part; and so pray be cautious how you provoke it."
+
+"It was at that meeting," said the doctor, with passionate earnestness,
+"that I heard you endeavor to dissuade your friend from a favorable
+consideration of that man's claim, whose hospitality you now accept of.
+It was with an insolent sneer at Mr. Cashers simplicity--"
+
+"Pray stop, sir; not too far, I beseech you. The whole affair, into
+which by some extraordinary self-delusion you consider yourself
+privileged to obtrude, is very simple. This cottage and the grounds
+appertaining to it are mine. This old gentleman, for whom I entertain
+the highest respect, is _my_ tenant. The legal proof of what I say,
+I promise to submit to you within the week; and it was to rescue Mr.
+Cashel from the inconsistency of pledging himself to what was beyond his
+powers of performance, that I interfered. _Your_ very ill-advised zeal
+prevented this; and rather than increase the awkwardness of a painful
+situation, I endured a very unprovoked and impertinent remark. Now, sir,
+you have the full explanation of my conduct, and my opinion of yours;
+and I see no reason to continue the interview." So saying, Linton
+touched his hat and turned back towards the cottage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV. TUBBERMORE TRANSFORMED.
+
+     Ay, sir, the knave is a deep one.
+
+     Old Play.
+
+
+To save our reader the tedious task of following Mr. Linton's movements,
+however necessary to our story some insight into them may be, we take
+the shorter, and therefore pleasanter course, of submitting one of his
+own brief notes to Roland Cashel, written some three days after his
+arrival at Tubbermore:--
+
+     "Still here, my dear Cashel, still in this Tipperary
+     Siberia, where our devotion to your service has called and
+     still retains us,--and what difficulties and dangers have
+     been ours! What a land!--and what a people! Of a truth, I
+     no longer envy the rich, landed proprietor, as, in my
+     ignorance, I used to do some weeks back. To begin: Your
+     Château de Tubbermore, which seems a cross between a jail
+     and a county hospital without, and is a downright ruin
+     within, stands in a park of thistles and docks whose
+     luxuriant growth are a contemptuous reflection upon your
+     trees, which positively don't grow at all. So ingeniously
+     placed is this desirable residence, that although the
+     country, the river, and the mountains, offer some fine
+     landscape effects, not a vestige of any of them can be seen
+     from your windows. Your dining-room, late a nursery for an
+     interesting family of small pigs, looks out upon the
+     stables, picturesque as they are in fissured walls and
+     tumbling rafters; and one of the drawing-rooms--they call
+     it the blue room, a tint so likely to be caught up by the
+     spectators--opens upon a garden,--but what a garden! Fruit-
+     trees, there are none--stay, I am unjust, two have been left
+     standing to give support to a clothes-line, where the
+     amiable household of your care-taker, Mr. Cane, are
+     pictorially represented by various garments, crescendo from
+     the tunic of tender years to the full-grown 'toga.' But why
+     enumerate small details? Let me rather deal in negatives,
+     and tell you there is not a whole pane of glass in the
+     entire building, not a grate, few doors, little flooring,
+     and actually no roof. The slates, where there are such, are
+     so loose that the wind rattles among them like the keys of a
+     gigantic piano, and usually ends with a grand Freischutz
+     effect, which uncovers a room or two. The walls are
+     everywhere so rotten, that if you would break a loop-hole,
+     you throw down enough to drive a 'break' through; and as
+     for the chimneys, the jackdaw may plead the Statute of
+     Limitations, and defy to surrender a possession which
+     certainly dates from the past century! Perystell is in
+     despair; he goes about sticking his thumb through the
+     rotting timbers, and knocking down partitions with a tick of
+     his foot, and exclaiming against the ignorance of the last
+     age of architects, who, I take it, were pretty much like
+     their successors, save in the thefts committed from Greek
+     and Roman models. This is not tempting, nor the remedy for
+     it easy. Stone and mortar are as great luxuries here as ice-
+     cream at Calcutta; there are no workmen, or the few are
+     merely artificers in mud. Timber is an exotic, glass and
+     iron are traditions; so that if you desire to be an Irish
+     country gentleman, your pursuit of territorial ascendancy
+     has all the merit of difficulty. Now, _que faire?_ Shall we
+     restore, or, rather, rebuild, or shall we put forty pounds
+     of Dartford gunpowder in one of the cellars, and blow the
+     whole concern to him who must have devised it? Such is the
+     course I should certainly adopt myself, and only feel regret
+     at the ignoble service of the honest explosive.
+
+     "Perystell, like all his tribe, is a pedant, and begins by
+     asking for two years, and I won't say how many thousand
+     pounds. My reply is, 'Months and hundreds, _vice_ years and
+     thousands'--and so we are at issue. I know your anxiety to
+     receive the people you have invited, and I feel how
+     fruitless it would be to tell you with what apologies I, if
+     in your place, should put them off; so pray instruct me how
+     to act. Shall I commission Perystell to go to work in all
+     form, and meanwhile make a portion of the edifice habitable?
+     or shall I--and I rather admire the plan--get a corps of
+     stage artificers from Drury Lane, and dress up the house as
+     they run up a provincial theatre? I know you don't care
+     about cost, which, after all, is the only real objection to
+     the scheme; and if you incline to my suggestion about the
+     fireworks for a finish, it will be perfectly appropriate.
+
+     "'My own cottage'--so far, at least, as I could see of it
+     without intruding on the present occupant--is very pretty:
+     roses, and honeysuckle, and jasmines, and such-like
+     ruralities, actually enveloping it. It is well placed, too,
+     in a snug little nook, sheltered from the north, and with a
+     peep at the river in front,--just the sort of place where
+     baffled ambition and disappointment would retire to; and
+     where, doubtless, some of these days, Tom Linton, not being
+     selected by her Majesty as Chief Secretary for the Home
+     Office, will be announced in the papers to have withdrawn
+     from public life, 'to prosecute the more congenial career of
+     literature.' There is a delicious little boudoir, too,--such
+     is it at present, you or I would make it a smoking crib,--
+     looking over the Shannon, and with a fine bold mountain,
+     well wooded, beyond. I should like a gossip with you in that
+     bay-window, in the mellow hour, when confidence, which hates
+     candles, is at its full.
+
+     "Have I told you everything? I scarcely know, my head is so
+     full of roof-trees, rafters, joists, gables, and parapets.
+     Halt! I was forgetting a pretty--that is not the word--a
+     handsome girl, daughter or granddaughter of our tenant, Mr.
+     Corrigan, one of those saintly, virginal heads Raphael
+     painted, with finely pencilled eyebrows, delicate beyond
+     expression above; severe, in the cold, un-impassioned
+     character of the mouth and lips; clever, too, or, what
+     comes to nearly the same, odd and eccentric, being educated
+     by an old St. Omer priest who taught her Latin, French,
+     Italian, with a dash of theology, and, better than all, to
+     sing Provenįal songs to her own accompaniment on the piano.
+     You 'll say, with such companionship, Siberia is not so bad
+     after all, nor would it, perhaps, if we had nothing else to
+     think of. Besides, she is as proud as an Austrian
+     archduchess, has the blood of, God knows how many, kings--
+     Irish, of course--in her veins, and looks upon me, Saxon
+     that I am, as a mountain-ash might do on a mushroom."
+
+There was no erasure but one, and that very slight, and seeming
+unimportant; he had written Tubber-beg at the top of the letter, and,
+perceiving it, had changed it to Tubber-more, the fact being that he had
+already established himself as an inmate of the "Cottage," and a
+guest of Mr. Corrigan. We need not dwell on the arts by which Linton
+accomplished this object, to which, indeed, Mr. Corrigan's hospitable
+habits contributed no difficulty. The "doctor" alone could have
+interposed any obstacle; and he, knowing the extent of Linton's power,
+did not dare to do so, contenting himself to watch narrowly all his
+proceedings, and warn his friend whenever warning could no longer be
+delayed.
+
+Without enjoying the advantages of a careful education, Linton's
+natural quickness counterfeited knowledge so well that few, in every-day
+intercourse, could detect the imposition. He never read a book through,
+but he skimmed some thousands, and was thoroughly familiar with
+that process so popular in our Universities, and technically termed
+"cramming" an author. In this way, there were few subjects on which he
+could not speak fairly,--a faculty to which considerable fluency and
+an easy play of fancy lent great assistance. His great craft, however,
+was--and whatever may be said on the subject, it would seem the peculiar
+gift of certain organizations--that he was able, in an inconceivably
+short time, to worm himself into the confidence of almost all with whom
+he came in contact. His natural good sense, his singularly clear views,
+his ever ready sympathy, but, more than all, the dexterity with which
+he could affect acquaintance with topics he was all but totally ignorant
+of, pointed him out as the very person to hear the secrets of a family.
+
+Mr. Corrigan was not one to exact any great efforts of Linton's tact
+in this walk; his long isolation from the world, Joined to a character
+naturally frank, made him communicative and open; and before Linton had
+passed a week under his roof, he had heard all the circumstances of the
+old forfeiture, and the traditionary belief of the family that it had
+been withdrawn under a special order of the King in council.
+
+"You are quite right," said Linton, one night, as this theme bad
+been discussed for some hours, "never to have alluded to this in any
+correspondence with Cashel. His hasty and excitable temper would have
+construed the whole into a threat; and there is no saying how he might
+have resented it."
+
+"I did not speak of it for a very different reason," said old Corrigan,
+proudly; "I had just accepted a favor--and a great one--at his hands,
+and I would not tarnish the lustre of his noble conduct by even the
+possibility of self-interest."
+
+Linton was silent; a struggle of some kind seemed working within him,
+but he did not speak, and at last sauntered from the room, and passed
+out into the little garden in front.
+
+He had not gone far, when he heard a light footstep on the gravel behind
+him. He turned, and saw Mary Leicester.
+
+"I have followed you, Mr. Linton," said she, in a voice whose agitation
+was perceptible, "because I thought it possible that some time or other,
+in your close intimacy with Mr. Cashel, you might allude to this topic,
+and I know what distress such a communication would occasion to my
+grandfather. Our claim--if the word be not inapplicable--can never be
+revived; for myself, there is no condition of privation I would not
+rather meet, than encounter the harassing vicissitudes of a struggle
+which should embitter my poor dear grandfather's few years on earth. The
+very mention of the theme is sure to render him irritable and unhappy.
+Promise me, then, to avoid the subject as much as possible here, and
+never to advert to it elsewhere."
+
+"Should I not be doing you a gross injustice by such a pledge?" said
+Linton, mildly.
+
+"I can endure that; I cannot support the alternative. Make me this
+promise."
+
+"I make it, truly and solemnly; would it were in my power to pledge
+myself to aught of real service to Miss. Leicester."
+
+"There is one such," said Mary, after a pause, "and yet I am ashamed
+to ask it,--ashamed of the presumption it would imply,--and yet I feel
+acquitted to my own heart."
+
+"What is it?--only tell me how I can serve you," said Linton,
+passionately.
+
+"I have scarce courage for the avowal," said she, in a low, faint voice.
+"It is not that my self-love can be wounded by any judgment that may be
+pronounced; it is rather that I dread failure for itself. In a word,
+Mr. Linton, certain circumstances of fortune have pressed upon my
+grandfather's resources, some of which I am aware of--of others
+ignorant. So much, however, do I know, that the comforts, so necessary
+to his age and habits, have diminished one by one, each year seeing some
+new privations, where increasing infirmity would demand more ease.
+In this emergency, I have thought of an effort--you will smile at the
+folly, perhaps, but be lenient for the motive--I have endeavored to make
+some of the many reminiscences of his own early years contribute to his
+old age, and have written certain short sketches of the time when, as a
+youth, he served as a soldier of the body-guard of Louis XVI. I know
+how utterly valueless they are in a literary point of view, but I have
+thought that, as true pictures of a time now probably passed away never
+to return again, they might have their interest Such is my secret.
+My entreaty is, to ask of you to look at them, and, if not utterly
+unworthy, to assist me regarding their publication."
+
+"I not only promise this, but I can pledge myself to the success," said
+Linton; "such recitals of life and manners as I have listened to from
+Mr. Corrigan would be invaluable; we know so little in England--"
+
+"Nay, let me stop you; they are written in French. My hope is to procure
+their insertion in some French journal, as is the custom now-a-days.
+Here they are," said she, handing him a packet with a trembling hand. "I
+have but to say, that if they be all I fear them, you will be too true a
+friend to peril me by a rejection." And without waiting for a reply, she
+hurried back to the house.
+
+Many minutes had not elapsed ere Linton found himself in his room,
+with the open manuscript before him. It was quite true, he had not in
+anticipation conceived a very high idea of Miss Leicester's efforts,
+because his habit, like that of a great number of shrewd people, was to
+regard all amateur performances as very inferior, and that only they who
+give themselves wholly up to any pursuit attain even mediocrity. He had
+not, however, read many pages ere he was struck by the evidence of
+high ability. The style was everywhere simple, chaste, and elegant; the
+illustrations natural and graceful; and the dialogue, when, occurring,
+marked by all the epigrammatic smartness which characterized the era.
+
+The sketches also had the merit of life-pictures,--real characters
+of the day, being drawn with a vigor that only actual knowledge could
+impart. All these excellences Linton could perceive and estimate; but
+there were many very far above his power of appreciation. As it was, he
+read on, fascinated by the interest the scenes inspired, nor ceased till
+the last page was completed, when, throwing himself on his bed, he fell
+soon asleep, and dreamed of Mary Leicester.
+
+His very first care, on waking, was to resume the manuscript, and see
+how far the impression first made might be corroborated by afterthought.
+It was while reading, that the post had just arrived, bringing,
+among other letters, one in Phillis's hand, which was, though brief,
+significant:--
+
+     Sir,--There is no time to be lost.   The K.'s are here every
+     day, and Lord C------ spends every morning here till three
+     or four O'C.
+
+     Mr. Meek has written to ask for Mr. C.'s interest in the
+     borough; what answer given, not known. Mr. C. would seem to
+     be again pressed for money. He was here twice yesterday. The
+     rumor is that Mr. C. will marry Miss O. K. immediately.
+     Pearse overheard Mr. K. warning Mr. C. against Mr. Linton as
+     a very dangerous intimate. Ld. C. F. said, when sitting here
+     yesterday, "I have known Master Tom some years, and never
+     knew the man he did not help to ruin with whom he had any
+     influence." Mr. C. said something about being on his guard,
+     and "suspecting;" but the exact words were not heard. Lord
+     K. and Lady breakfasted with Mr. C. to-day, and stayed till
+     two. Lady K. swept down with her dress a Sevres jar in the
+     boudoir; heard Mr. C. say that he would not give the
+     fragments for the most precious vase in the Tuileries. Lord
+     K. asked what he said, and her Ladyship replied that Mr.
+     C.'s vase was unhappily the fellow of one in the Tuileries,
+     and looked confused at the accident. Mr. Linton is warned to
+     lose no time, as Mr. C. is hourly falling deeper into other
+     influences, and every day something occurs to injure Mr. L's
+     interest.   Honored sir, in duty yours,
+     P.
+
+     N.B.--The yacht came into harbor from Cowes last night.
+
+The same day which brought this secret despatch saw one from Linton
+to Cashel, saying, that by the aid of four hundred workmen in various
+crafts, unceasing toil, and unwearied zeal, Tubbermore would be ready
+to receive his guests by the following Wednesday. A steamer, hired
+specially, had brought over from London nearly everything which
+constitutes the internal arrangement of a house; and as money had been
+spent without control, difficulties melted away into mere momentary
+embarrassments,--impossibilities, there were none. The letter contained
+a long list of commissions for Cashel to execute, given, however, with
+no other object than to occupy his time for the remaining few days in
+town as much as possible. This written and sent off, Linton addressed
+himself to his task of preparation with an energy few could surpass,
+and while the trades-people were stimulated by increased pay to greater
+efforts, and the work was carried on through the night by torchlight;
+the whole demesne swarmed with laborers by whom roads were cut, paths
+gravelled, fences levelled, flower-plots devised; even the garden--that
+labyrinth of giant weeds--was reduced to order, till in the hourly
+changing aspect of the place it was hard not to recognize the wand of
+enchantment It was, indeed, like magic to see how fountains sprang up,
+and threw their sprayey showers over the new-planted shrubs; new paths
+led away into dense groves of trees; windows, so late half walled up,
+now opened upon smooth, shaven turf, or disclosed a reach of swelling
+landscape; and chambers, that a few days back were the gloomy abode of
+the bat and the night-owl, became of a sudden cheerful and lightsome.
+
+Stuccoed ceilings, mirror-panelled windows, gilded cornices, and carved
+architraves--all of which would imply time and long labor--were there
+at once and on the moment, for the good fairy who did these things
+knows not failure,--the banker's check-book. From the great hall to the
+uppermost chamber the aspect of all bespoke comfort. The elegances of
+life, Linton well knew, are like all other refinements,--not capable of
+being "improvised," but the daily comforts are. The meaner objects which
+make up the sum of hourly want,--the lazy ottoman, the downy-pillowed
+fauteuils, the little squabs that sit in windows to provoke flirtations
+and inspire confidences; the tempting little writing-tables that suggest
+pen and ink; the billiard-table, opening on the flower-garden, so
+redolent of sweet odors that you feel exonerated for the shame of an
+in-door occupation; the pianos and guitars and harps scattered about in
+various places, as though to be ever ready to the touch; the books and
+prints and portfolios that give excuse to the lounging mood, and text
+for that indolent chitchat so pleasant of a morning,--all these, and a
+thousand other things, seen through the long perspective of a handsome
+suite of rooms, do make up that sum, for which our own dear epithet,
+"comfort," has no foreign equivalent.
+
+We have been often compelled, in this veracious history, to reflect with
+harshness on certain traits of Mr. Linton's morality. Let us make him
+the small _amende_ in our power to say, that in his present functions he
+was unsurpassable; and here, for the moment, we leave him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI. BAD GENERALSHIP
+
+     "They alle agrede to disagree,
+     A moste united Familie!"
+
+
+Great was the excitement and bustle in the Kennyfeck family on the
+arrival of a brief note from Roland Cashel, setting forth that the house
+at Tubbermore was at length in a state to receive his guests, who were
+invited for the following Wednesday.
+
+Although this visit had rarely been alluded to in Cashel's presence, it
+was a very frequent topic of the family in secret committee, and many
+were the fears inspired by long postponement that the event would
+never come off. Each, indeed, looked forward to it with very different
+feelings. Independent of all more purely personal views, Mrs. Kennyfeck
+speculated on the immense increase of importance she should obtain
+socially, in the fact of being domesticated in the same house with
+a commander of the forces and his lady, not to speak of secretaries,
+_aides-de-camp_, and Heaven knows what other functionaries. The young
+ladies had prospective visions of another order; and poor Kennyfeck
+fancied himself a kind of agricultural Metternich, who was about, at the
+mere suggestion of his will, to lay down new territorial limits on the
+estate, and cut and carve the boundaries at his pleasure.
+
+Aunt Fanny, alone, was not warmed by the enthusiasm around her; first
+of all, there were grave doubts if she could accompany the others, as
+no precise invitation had ever been accorded to her; and although Mrs.
+Kennyfeck stoutly averred "she was as good as asked," the elder daughter
+plainly hinted at the possible awkwardness of such a step, Olivia
+preserving between the two a docile neutrality.
+
+"I 'm sorry for _your_ sake, my dear," said Miss O'Hara to Olivia, with
+an accent almost tart, "because I thought I might be useful."
+
+"It is very provoking for all our sakes," said Miss Kennyfeck, as though
+quietly suffering the judgment to be pronounced; "we should have been so
+happy all together."
+
+"If your father was any good, he 'd manage it at once," said Mrs. K.,
+with a resentful glance towards poor Mr. Kennyfeck, who, with spectacles
+on his forehead, and the newspaper on his knee, fancied he was thinking.
+
+"We should have some very impertinent remark upon it, I'm certain," said
+Miss K., who, for reasons we must leave to the reader's own acuteness,
+was greatly averse to her aunt accompanying them, "so many of one
+family! I know how Linton will speak of it."
+
+"Let him, if he dare; I wonder whose exertions placed Cashel himself
+in the position he enjoys," said Mrs. Kennyfeck, angrily, and darting
+a look of profound contempt at her husband, recognizing, doubtless, the
+axiom of the ignoble means through which Providence occasionally effects
+our destinies.
+
+"I can remain here, mamma, for that matter," said Olivia, in a voice of
+angelic innocence.
+
+"Sweet--artless creature," whispered her sister, "not to know how all
+our devices are exercised for her."
+
+"It 's really too provoking, Fanny," said Mrs. Kennyfeck; "you were just
+beginning to acquire that kind of influence over him which would be so
+serviceable, and once in the country, where so many opportunities for
+joining him in his walks would occur, I calculated immensely on your
+assistance."
+
+"Well, my dear, it can't be helped," sighed Aunt Fanny.
+
+"Could n't we allude to it to-day, when Cashel calls, and say something
+about your going away to the country and our regrets at parting, and so
+on? Olivia, you might do that very easily."
+
+"It wouldn't do for Olivia," said Aunt Fanny, very sententiously.
+
+"Quite right, aunt," chimed in Miss Kennyfeck; "that would be like old
+Admiral Martin, who shot away all his ammunition firing salutes."
+
+"Mr. Kennyfeck!" said his spouse, with a voice of command; "I vow he
+is deafer every day--Mr. Kennyfeck, you must call on Mr. Cashel this
+morning, and say that we really cannot think of inflicting him with an
+entire family; that you and I alone--or you and Olivia--"
+
+"No--no, Mr. Kennyfeck and Caroline," interposed Aunt Fanny, "say that."
+
+"Thanks for the preference," said Miss Kennyfeck, with a short nod, "I
+am to play lightning-conductor; isn't it so?"
+
+"Or shall I propose going alone?" interposed Mr. Kennyfeck, in all the
+solemnity of self-importance.
+
+"Is n't he too bad?" exclaimed his wife, turning to the others; "did
+you ever conceive there could be anything as dull as that man? We cannot
+trust you with any part of the transaction."
+
+"Here comes Mr. Cashel himself," said Miss Kennyfeck; as a phaeton drove
+rapidly to the door, and Cashel, accompanied by a friend, descended.
+
+"Not a word of what we were speaking, Mr. Kennyfeck!" said his wife,
+sternly, for she reposed slight reliance on his tact.
+
+"Who is with him?" whispered Olivia to her sister; but not heeding the
+question, Miss Kennyfeck said,--
+
+"Take _my_ advice, Livy, and get rid of your duenna. You 'll play your
+own game better."
+
+Before there was time for rejoinder, Lord Charles Frobisher and Cashel
+entered the drawing-room.
+
+"You received my note, I hope, Mrs. Kennyfeck," said Roland, as he
+accepted her cordially offered hand. "I only this morning got Linton's
+last bulletin, and immediately wrote off to tell you."
+
+"That _is_ significant," whispered Miss Kennyfeck to Olivia. "To give
+_us_ the earliest intelligence."
+
+"I trust the announcement is not too abrupt."
+
+"Of course not,--our only scruple is, the largeness of our party. We are
+really shocked at the notion of inflicting an entire family upon you."
+
+"Beware the Bear," whispered Lord C., in a very adroit
+undertone,--"don't invite the aunt."
+
+"My poor house will only be the more honored," said Cashel, bowing, and
+sorely puzzled how to act.
+
+"You'll have a very numerous muster, Cashel, I fancy," said Lord
+Charles, aloud; "not to speak of the invited, but those 'Umbræ,' as the
+Romans call them, who follow in the suite of such fascinating people as
+Mrs. White."
+
+"Not one too many, if there be but room for them; my anxiety is, that my
+personal friends should not be worst off, and I have come to beg, if not
+inconvenient, that you would start from this on Tuesday."
+
+"Do you contract to bring us all down?" said Frobisher. "I really think
+you ought; the geography of that district is not very familiar to most
+of us. What says Miss Kennyfeck?"
+
+"I like everything that promises pleasure and amusement."
+
+"What says her sister?" whispered Cashel to Olivia.
+
+"How do you mean to travel, Mr. Cashel?" said she, in a tone which might
+be construed into perfect artlessness or the most intense interest.
+
+"With you--if you permit," said Cashel, in a low voice. "I have been
+thinking of asking Mrs. Kennyfeck if she would like to go down by sea,
+and sail up the Shannon. My yacht has just arrived."
+
+"Mamma cannot bear the water, or it would be delightful," said Olivia.
+
+"Cannot we manage a lady patroness, then?" said Cashel; "would Miss
+O'Hara kindly consent?"
+
+"Aunt Fanny, Mr. Cashel wishes to speak to you."
+
+"Gare la tante!" said Frobisher, between his teeth.
+
+"We were speaking--or rather, I was expressing a hope," said Cashel,
+diffidently, "that a yacht excursion round the southern coast, and so up
+the Shannon, might not be an inappropriate way of reaching Tubbermore.
+Would Miss O'Hara feel any objection to be of the party?"
+
+"With Caroline and me," said Olivia, innocently.
+
+Miss O'Hara smiled, and shook her head doubtfully.
+
+"It is very tempting, Mr. Cashel,--too tempting, indeed; but it requires
+consideration. May I speak a word with you?" And so saying, she withdrew
+with Cashel into a window recess.
+
+The interview was brief; but as they returned to the circle, Cashel was
+heard to say,--
+
+"I am really the worst man in the world to solve such difficulties, for
+in my ignorance of all forms, I incur the risk of undervaluing them; but
+if you thought by my inviting Lord and Lady Kilgoff--"
+
+"Oh, by no means. My sister would never consent to that. But I will just
+confer with her for an instant."
+
+"If the Kilgoff s are asked, it spoils all," said Mrs. Kennyfeck, in
+reply to a whispered communication of her sister.
+
+"I'll manage that," said Aunt Fanny; "I half hinted you did n't like the
+companionship for the girls."
+
+"He'll invite Mrs. Leicester White, or Lady Janet, perhaps."
+
+"He sha'n't. I 'll take the whole upon myself."
+
+"You _have_ done it, I see," said Frobisher, coming close to Cashel,
+and affecting to examine his watch-guard; "and I warned you,
+notwithstanding."
+
+"What could I do?" said Cashel, hopelessly.
+
+"What you must do later on," said Lord Charles, coolly; "cut the whole
+concern altogether."
+
+"Have you invited the Dean, Mr. Cashel?" interposed Mrs. Kennyfeck.
+
+"I really cannot inform you, madam. There has been so much
+confusion--Linton promising to do everything, and ask everybody; but the
+omission--if such--"
+
+"Should be left where it is," muttered Frobisher.
+
+"How long should we probably be on the voyage, Mr. Cashel?" asked Miss
+O'Hara.
+
+"Three--four--or five days--perhaps more."
+
+"I 'll give you a month's sail, and back 'Time' after all," said Lord
+Charles.
+
+"Oh, that is out of the question; we couldn't think of such an
+excursion," said Aunt Fanny.
+
+Olivia cast a most imploring look on her aunt, and was silent.
+
+"Another point, Mr. Cashel," said Miss O'Hara, speaking in a very low
+whisper; "my sister, who is so particular about her girls,--you know how
+they have been brought up, so rigidly, and so carefully,--she is afraid
+of that kind of intimacy that might possibly grow up between them
+and--and--" Here she came to a full stop. "Did n't I hear you speak of
+Lady Kilgoff?"
+
+"Yes; I thought her exactly the kind of person you 'd like to have."
+
+"Oh, she is charming--most delightful; but she is a woman of the world,
+Mr. Cashel." said Aunt Fanny, shaking her head.
+
+"Indeed!" muttered Roland, not in the least guessing the drift of the
+remark.
+
+"No, no, Mr. Cashel, that would never do. These sweet children have
+no knowledge of such people, further than the common intercourse of
+society. Lady Kilgoff and Mrs. White--"
+
+"Is she another?"
+
+"She is another, Mr. Cashel," said Aunt Fanny oracularly.
+
+"Then I see nothing for it but limiting the party to myself and my yacht
+commander,--Lieutenant Sickleton of the Navy,--and I believe we have as
+little of the world about us as any one could desire."
+
+It was full a minute or two before Miss O'Hara could satisfy herself
+that this speech was not uttered ironically; but the good-natured and
+frank look of the speaker at last dispelled the fear, and she said,--
+
+"Well, if you really ask my opinion, I'd say, you are right. For our
+parts--that is, for the girls and myself, I mean--we should like it all
+the better, and if you would n't find us too tiresome companions--"
+
+Miss O'Hara was interrupted here by Mrs. Kennyfeck, who, with
+considerable agitation in her manner said, "I must beg pardon for
+disturbing your agreeable _tęte-ā-tęte_, Mr. Cashel, but I wish to say
+one word to my sister."
+
+As they retired together, Frobisher came up, and, drawing his arm within
+Roland's, led him to a window: "I say, old fellow, you are going too
+fast here; hold in a bit, I advise you."
+
+"How do you mean?--what have I done?"
+
+"It's no affair of mine, you know, and you may say I'm devilish
+impertinent to mix myself up in it, but I don't like to see a fellow
+'sold,' notwithstanding."
+
+"Pray be explicit and frank; what is it?"
+
+"Well, if you 'll not take it ill--"
+
+"I promise I shall not--go on."
+
+"Do you mean to marry that little girl yonder, with the blue flower in
+her hair?"
+
+"I cannot say that I do, or that I do not," said Roland, getting very
+red.
+
+"Then, you 're making a very bad book, that's all."
+
+"Oh, you 're quite mistaken; I don't suspect her of the slightest
+feeling towards me--"
+
+"What has that to say to it, my dear fellow?" interrupted Frobisher. "I
+did n't imply that she was in love with you! I wanted to warn you about
+the mess you 're getting into,--the family fracas; the explanation
+asking; the sermonizing; the letter-writing; the tears, reproaches,
+distractions,--ay, and the damages, too!--devilish heavy they'd be
+against one like you, with plenty of 'ready.' Hush! they 're coming."
+
+Miss O'Hara advanced towards Cashel, and Frobisher retired; her mien
+and carriage were, however, statelier and more imposing, with less
+of cordiality than before. "We cannot agree upon the details of
+this excursion, I find, sir; my sister's scruples, Mr. Kennyfeck's
+doubts,--the difficulties, in short, of every kind, are such, that I
+fear we must relinquish it."
+
+Cashel bowed deeply, without uttering a word; the insinuations of
+Frobisher were added in his mind to the suspicion that some secret game
+was being played against him, and his manly nature was insulted by the
+doubt.
+
+Aunt Fanny, perhaps, perceived she had gone too far, for, reassuming her
+former smile, she said, "Not that we despair of one day or other taking
+a pleasure-trip in your beautiful vessel."
+
+"You do me too much honor by expressing such a hope," said Cashel,
+gravely; and then turning to Frobisher, added, "Will you drive me down
+to Kingstown? I want to go on board for a few minutes."
+
+"We see you at seven o'clock I hope?" said Mrs. Kennyfeck, in a whisper.
+
+"I regret to have made an engagement for to-day, madam," replied
+Cashel, stiffly. "Good-morning, ladies. Very sorry, Miss O'Hara, our sea
+intentions have been a failure. Let me hope for better luck on land."
+
+"Will you not be here this evening?" said Olivia, as he passed close
+to her, and there was in the swimming eye and tremulous voice enough
+to have melted a harder heart than Roland's; but this time he was proof
+against all blandishments, and with a very cold negative, he departed.
+
+"There is hope for you yet, old fellow," said Lord Charles, as he walked
+downstairs beside him; "you did that extremely well."
+
+Now, although Roland was far from knowing what he had done, or how to
+merit the praises, he was too well pleased with the momentary repose the
+flattery afforded to question further. Meanwhile, a very excited scene
+took place in the house they had just quitted, and to which, for a brief
+space, we must return.
+
+On a sofa in one corner of the room sat Olivia Kennyfeck, pale and
+trembling, her eyes tearful, and her whole air bespeaking grief and
+agitation. At the window close by stood Miss Kennyfeck, the calm
+composure of her face, the ease of her attitude, the very types of
+internal quiet. She looked out, up the square, and playing on the
+woodwork of the window an imaginary pianoforte air, while in the back
+drawing-room sat Mrs. Kennyfeck and Miss O'Hara, side by side on a sofa,
+their excited looks and heightened complexions attesting the animation
+of the controversy, for such in reality it was.
+
+"I thought you would go too far--I knew you would," said Mrs. Kennyfeck,
+with an angry gesture of the hand.
+
+"What do you mean by too far?" rejoined her sister. "Is it in the
+face of a letter like this that you would permit him to continue his
+attentions, and, worse still, let the girls go off for an excursion of
+maybe a week or two? Read that."
+
+"The letter is anonymous, and may be untrue from end to end."
+
+"Then why not let me test its truth by some allusion to its contents?"
+
+"And banish him from the house ever after," rejoined Mrs. Kennyfeck,
+bitterly. "No, no, Fanny, you mistake him very much; he isn't like one
+of your old County Clare admirers, that can be huffed to-day, and asked
+to dinner to-morrow,--not that, indeed, you showed much judgment in your
+management even of them."
+
+This allusion to Aunt Fanny's spinsterhood was too palpable to pass
+unnoticed, and she arose from the sofa with a face of outraged temper.
+
+"It might be a question, my dear, between us, which had the least
+success,--I, who never got a husband, or you, who married that one."
+
+If Mr. Kennyfeck had intended by a tableau to have pointed the moral
+of this allusion, he could not have succeeded better, as he sat bolt
+upright in his chair, endeavoring through the murky cloud of his crude
+ideas to catch one ray of light upon all he witnessed; he looked the
+very ideal of hopeless stupidity. Miss O'Hara, like a skilful general,
+left the field under the smoke of her last fire, and Mrs. Kennyfeck sat
+alone, with what Homer would call "a heart-consuming rage," to meditate
+on the past.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII. LIEUTENANT SICKLETON'S PATENT PUMP.
+
+     The mariner's chart
+     He knew by heart,
+     And every current, rock, and shore,
+     From the drifting sand
+     Off Newfoundland,
+     To the son-split cliffs of Singapore.
+
+     Captain Pike.
+
+
+Lord Charles Frobisher was never a very talkative companion, and as
+Cashel's present mood was not communicative, they drove along, scarcely
+interchanging a sentence, till the harbor of Kingstown came in sight,
+and with it the gay pennons that fluttered from the mast of Roland's
+schooner.
+
+"I suppose that is your yacht,--the large craft yonder?"
+
+"I hope so," said Cashel, enthusiastically; "she sits the water like a
+duck, and has a fine rakish look about her."
+
+"So, then, you never saw her before?"
+
+"Never. I purchased her from description, taking her crew, commander,
+and all, just as she sailed into Southampton from Zante, a month ago.
+They sent me a drawing of her, her measurement, tonnage, and draught
+of water, as also the log of her run in the Mediterranean;--yes, that's
+she, I can recognize the water-line from the sketch."
+
+"Is your visit on board going to be a long one?" drawled out Lord
+Charles, languidly; "for I own I am not the least aquatic, and were it
+not for lobsters and whitebait I vote the sea a humbug."
+
+"Then I 'll say good-bye," said Cashel. "That blue water, that curling
+ripple, and the fluttering of that bunting, have set me a-thinking about
+a hundred things."
+
+"You 'll dine with us at seven, won't you?"
+
+"No, I 'll dine on board, or not dine at all," said he, as he sprang
+from the carriage, and, waving his hand in adieu, made his way to the
+harbor. Taking the first boat that offered, Cashel rowed out to the
+yacht, just in time to catch Lieutenant Sickleton, who, in full
+yacht costume, was about to wait on his principal. He was a bluff,
+good-natured, blunt fellow, who, having neither patronage nor interest
+in the service, had left the wardroom for the easier, but less
+ambitious, life of a yacht commander; a thoroughly good seaman, and
+brave as a lion, he saw himself reduced to a position almost menial from
+hard and galling necessity. He had twice been to Alexandria with touring
+lords, who, while treating him well in all essentials, yet mingled so
+much of condescension in their courtesy as to be all but unendurable. He
+had gone to America with a young Oxford man, the son of a great London
+brewer, whose overbearing insolence he had been obliged to repel by
+a threat of personal consequences. He had taken an invalid family to
+Madeira, and a ruined duke to Greece, and was now, with the yacht
+and its company, transferred to Cashel's hands, not knowing--scarce
+caring--with whom or where his future destinies were to be cast.
+
+The Freemasonry of the sea has a stronger tie than the mere use of
+technicals. Cashel was not ten minutes on board ere Sickleton and he
+were like old acquaintances. The "Lucciola" was, in Skeleton's ideas,
+the best thing that ever ran on a keel; there was nothing she could n't
+do,--fair weather or foul. She could outsail a Yankee smack in a gale
+off the coast of Labrador, or beat a felucca in the light winds off the
+Gulf of Genoa. If these tidings were delightful to Cashel's ears,--the
+most exciting and heart-stirring he had listened to for many a day,--the
+gratification was no less to Sickleton that he was about to sail with
+one who really loved the sea, and thoroughly understood and could value
+the qualities of his noble craft.
+
+From the vessel, they turned the conversation to all the possible places
+the world's map afforded for a cruise. Sickleton's experiences were
+chiefly Eastern,--he knew the Mediterranean as well as he did the Downs;
+while Cashel's could vie with him in both coasts of the great Spanish
+peninsula, and all the various channels of the West India islands.
+For hours they sat discussing soundings, the trade winds, and
+shore currents, with all the bearings of land points, bluffs, and
+lighthouses. In talk, they visited half the globe; now staggering under
+a half-reefed topsail in the Bay of Biscay, now swimming along, with
+winged and stretching sails, under the blue cliffs of Baia.
+
+"I 'm sure I don't know how you ever could lead a shore life," said
+Sickleton, as Cashel described with warm enthusiasm some passages of his
+rover's existence.
+
+"Nor do I understand how I have borne it so long," said Cashel;
+"its dissipations weary, its deceits provoke me. I have lost--if not
+all--great part of that buoyancy which mingled peril and pleasure
+create, and I suppose, in a month or two more, I should be about as
+apathetic, as indolent, and as selfish as any fine gentleman ought to
+be. Ah, if we had a war!"
+
+"That's it,--that's what I say every day and every night: if we had
+a war, the world would be worth living, in or dying for. Fellows like
+myself, for instance, are never thought of in a peace; but they 'look
+us all out,'--just as they do a storm-jib, when it comes on to blow. No
+laughing a man out of position, then,--no, faith!"
+
+"How do you mean?" said Cashel, who saw in the intense expression of the
+speaker how much the words covered.
+
+"Just what happened to myself,--that's all," said Sickleton; "but if you
+like to hear how,--the story is n't long, or any way remarkable,--we 'll
+have a bit of luncheon here, and I'll tell it to you."
+
+Cashel willingly assented, and very quickly a most appetizing meal made
+its appearance in the cabin, to which Sickleton did the honors most
+creditably.
+
+"I 'm impatient for that anecdote you promised me," said Cashel, as the
+dessert made its appearance, and they sat in all the pleasant enjoyment
+of social ease.
+
+"You shall hear it,--though, as I said before, it's not much of a story
+either; nor should I tell it, if I did n't see that you feel a sort of
+interest about myself--unhappily, its hero."
+
+"I 'll not weary you by telling you the story that thousands can repeat,
+of a service without patronage, no sooner afloat than paid off again,
+and no chance of employment, save in a ten-gun brig off the coast of
+Guinea, and I suppose you know what that is?"
+
+Cashel nodded, and Sickleton went on:--
+
+"Well, I passed as lieutenant, and went through my yellow fever in the
+Niger very creditably. I was the only one of a ship's company in the
+gun-room on the way back to England, after a two years' cruise; I
+suppose because life was less an object to me than the other fellows,
+who had mothers, and sisters, and so on. So it was, I brought the old
+'Amphion' safe into dock, and was passed off to wander about the world,
+with something under forty pounds in my pocket, and a 'good-service
+letter' from the Admiralty--a document that costs a man some trouble
+to gain, but that would not get you a third-class place in the rail to
+Croydon, when you have it. What was I to do?--I had no interest for the
+Coast-Guard. I tried to become keeper of a lighthouse, but failed. It
+was no use to try and be a clerk--there were plenty of fellows, better
+qualified than myself, walking the streets supperless. So I set myself a
+thinking if I could n't do something for 'the service' that might get
+me into notice, and make the 'Lords' take me up. There was one chap made
+his fortune by 'round sterns,' though they were known in the Dutch Navy
+for two centuries. There was another invented a life-boat; a third, a
+new floating buoy--and so on. Now I 'm sure I passed many a sleepless
+night thinking of something that might aid me; at one time it was a
+new mode of reefing topsails in a gale; at another it was a change in
+signalizing the distant ships of a squadron; now an anchor for rocky
+bottoms; now a contrivance for lowering quarter-boats in a heavy
+sea--till at last, by dint of downright thought and perseverance, I did
+fall upon a lucky notion. I invented a new hand-pump, applicable
+for launches and gun-boats,--a thing greatly wanted, very simple of
+contrivance, and easy to work. It was a blessed moment, to be sure, when
+my mind, instead of wandering over everything from the round top to the
+taffrail, at last settled down on this same pump!
+
+"It was not mere labor and study this invention caused me. No! it
+swallowed up nearly every shilling of my little hoard. I was obliged to
+make a model, and what with lead and zinc, and solder and leather, and
+caoutchouc and copper, I was very soon left without 'tin;' but I had
+hope, and hope makes up for half rations! At last, my pump was perfect;
+the next thing was to make it known. There was no use in trying this
+through any unprofessional channels. Landsmen think that as they pay for
+the navy, they need not bother their heads about it further. 'My lords,'
+I knew well, would n't mind me, because my father was n't in Parliament,
+and so I thought of one of those magazines that devote themselves to
+the interests of the two services, and I wrote a paper accordingly,
+and accompanied it by a kind of diagram of my pump. I waited for
+a month--two--three months--but heard nothing, saw nothing of my
+invention. I wrote, but could get no answer; I called, but could see
+no editor; and at last was meditating some personal vengeance, when I
+received a note. It was then much after midsummer, few people in town,
+and the magazines were printing anything--as no one reads them in the
+dog-days--stating that if Lieutenant Sickleton would procure a woodcut
+of his pump, the paper descriptive of it should appear in the next
+number. That was a civil way of asking me for five pounds; but help
+there was none, and so I complied.
+
+"At length I read in the list of the contents, 'Lieutenant Sickleton's
+New Hand Pump, with an Illustration'--and my heart bounded at the words.
+It was the nineteenth article--near the end of the number. I forget what
+the others were--something, of course, about Waterloo, and Albuera, and
+the Albert chako, and such-like stuff. My pump, I knew, put it where
+they would, was _the_ paper of the month. This feeling was a little
+abated on finding that, as I walked down Fleet Street on the day
+of publication, I did n't perceive any sign of public notice or
+recognition; no one said as I passed, 'That's Sickleton, the fellow who
+invented the new pump.' I remembered, however, that if my _pump_ was
+known, _I_ was not as yet, and that though the portrait of my invention
+had become fame, my own was still in obscurity.
+
+"I betook myself to the office of the journal, expecting there at least
+to find that enthusiastic reception the knowledge of my merits must
+secure, but hang me, if one of the clerks--as to the editor, there was
+no seeing him--took the slightest trouble about me. I told him, with, I
+trust, a pardonable swelling of the bosom, that I was 'Sickleton.' I
+did n't say the famous Sickleton, and I thought I was modest in the
+omission; but he was n't in the least struck by the announcement, and I
+quitted the place in disgust.
+
+"Worse than all, when I came to read over my paper, I found, by the
+errors of the press, that the whole diagram was spoiled. The letters had
+been misplaced, and the fiend himself, if he wanted it, couldn't work
+my pump. You see that C D represented the angular crank, F was the
+stop-cock, and T the trigger that closed the piston. Hang me, if they
+did n't make F the trigger, and instead of B being the cistern, it was
+made the jet; so that when you began to work, all the water squirted
+through the sluices at OPQ over the operator. I went nearly mad. I wrote
+a furious letter to the editor; I wrote another to the 'Times;' I wrote
+to the 'Globe,' the 'Post,' and the 'Herald.' I explained, I elucidated,
+I asked for the Englishman's birthright, as they call it--'Justice'--but
+no use! In fact, my reclamations could only be inserted as
+advertisements, and would cost me about a hundred pounds to publish.
+So I sat down to grieve over my invention, and curse the hour I ever
+thought of serving my country.
+
+"It was about six months after this--I had been living on some relations
+nearly as poor as myself--when I one day received an order to 'wait at
+the Admiralty the next morning.' I went, but without hope or interest.
+I could n't guess why I was sent for, but no touch of expectancy made me
+anxious for the result.
+
+"I waited from eleven till four in the ante-room; and at last, after
+some fifty had had audiences, Lieutenant Sickleton was called. The time
+was I would have trembled at such an interview to the very marrow of my
+bones. Disappointment, however, had nerved me now, and I stood as much
+at ease and composed as I sit here.
+
+"'You are Mr. Sickleton?' said the First Lord, who was a 'Tartar.'
+
+"'Yes, my Lord.'
+
+"'You invented a kind of pump--a hand-pump for launches and small craft,
+I think?'
+
+"'Yes, my Lord.'
+
+"'You have a model of the invention, too?'
+
+"'Yes, my Lord.'
+
+"'Can you describe the principle of your discovery? is there anything
+which, for its novelty, demands the peculiar attention of the
+Admiralty?'
+
+"'Yes--at least I think so, my Lord,' said I, the last embers of hope
+beginning to flicker into a faint flame within. 'The whole is so simple,
+that I can, with your permission, make it perfectly intelligible even
+here. There is a small double-acting piston--'
+
+"'Confound the fellow! don't let him bore us, now,' said Admiral M------
+in a whisper quite loud enough for me to overhear it. 'If it amuse his
+Majesty, that's enough. Tell him what's wanted, and let him go.'
+
+"'Oh, very well,' said the First Lord, who seemed terribly afraid of his
+colleague. 'It is the king's wish, Mr. Sickleton, that your invention
+should be tested under his Majesty's personal inspection, and you are
+therefore commanded to present yourself at Windsor on Monday next, with
+your model, at eleven o'clock. It is not very cumbrous, I suppose?'
+
+"'No, my Lord. It only weighs four and a half hundredweight.'
+
+"'Pretty well for a model; but here is an order for a wagon. You
+'ll present this at Woolwich.' He bowed and turned his back, and I
+retreated.
+
+"Sharp to the hour of eleven I found myself at Windsor on the following
+Monday. It was past two, however, before his Majesty could see me. There
+were audiences and foreign ambassadors, papers to read, commissions to
+sign--in fact, when two o'clock came, the king had only got through a
+part of his day's work, and then it was luncheon-time. This was over
+about three; and at last his Majesty, with the First Lord, two admirals,
+and an old post-captain, who, by the way, had once put me in irons
+for not saluting his Majesty's guard when coming up to the watch at
+midnight, appeared on the terrace.
+
+"The place selected for the trial was a neat little parterre outside one
+of the small drawing-rooms. There was a fountain supplied by two running
+streams, and this I was to experiment upon with my new pump. It was
+trying enough to stand there before such a presence; but the uppermost
+thought in my mind was about my invention, and I almost forgot the
+exalted rank of my audience.
+
+"After due presentation to his Majesty, and a few common-place questions
+about where I had served, and how long, and so on, the king said, 'Come
+now, sir. Let us see the pump at work, for we haven't much time to
+lose.'
+
+"I immediately adjusted the apparatus, and when all was ready, I looked
+about in some dismay, for I saw no one to assist the working. There were
+present, besides the king and the three naval officers, only two fellows
+in full-dress liveries, a devilish sight more pompous-looking than the
+king or the First Lord. What was to be done? It was a dilemma I had
+never anticipated; and in my dire distress, I stepped back and whispered
+a word to old Admiral Beaufort, who was the kindest-looking of the
+party.
+
+"'What is he saying?--what does he want?' said the king, who partly
+overheard the whisper.
+
+"'Mr. Sickleton remarks, your Majesty, that he will need assistance to
+exhibit his invention--that he requires some one to work the pump.'
+
+"'Then why did n't he bring hands with him?' said the king, testily. 'I
+suppose the machine is not self-acting, and that he knew that before he
+came here.'
+
+"I thought I 'd have fainted at this rebuke from the lips of royalty
+itself, and so I stammered out some miserable excuse about not
+knowing if I were empowered to have brought aid--my ignorance of court
+etiquette--in fact, I blundered--and so far, that the king cut me short
+by saying, 'Take those people there, sir, and don't delay us;' pointing
+to the two gentlemen in cocked hats, bags, and swords, that looked as if
+they could have danced on my grave with delight.
+
+"In a flurry--compared to which a fever was composure--I instructed my
+two new assistants in the duty, and stationing myself with the hose to
+direct the operation of the jet, I gave the word to begin. Well! instead
+of a great dash of water spurting out some fifty feet in height, and
+fizzing through the air like a rocket, there came a trickling, miserable
+dribble, that puddled at my very feet! I thought the sucker was
+clogged--the piston stopped--the valves impeded--twenty things did I
+fancy--but the sober truth was, these gilded rascals would n't do more
+than touch the crank with the tips of their fingers, and barely put
+sufficient force in the pressure to move the arm up and down. 'Work it
+harder--put more strength to it,' I whispered, in mortal fear to be
+overheard, but they never minded me in the least Indeed, I almost think
+one fellow winked his eye ironically when I addressed him.
+
+"'Eh--what!' said the king, after ten minutes of an exhibition that were
+to me ten years at the galleys, 'these pumps do next to nothing. They
+make noise enough, but don't bring up any water at all.'
+
+"The First Lord shook his head in assent. Old Beaufort made me a sign to
+give up the trial, and the post-captain blurted out, in a half-whisper,
+something about a 'blundering son of a dog's wife' that nearly drove me
+mad.
+
+"'I say, Sickleton,' said the king, 'your invention's not worth the
+solder it cost you. You couldn't sprinkle the geraniums yonder in three
+weeks with it.'
+
+"'It's all the fault of these d----d buffers, please your Majesty,' said
+I, driven clean out of my senses by failure and disgrace--and, to be
+sure, as hearty a roar of laughter followed as ever I listened to in
+my life--'if they 'd only bear a hand and work the crank as I showed
+them--' As I spoke, I leaned over and took hold of the crank myself,
+letting the hose rest on my shoulder.
+
+"With two vigorous pulls I filled the pistons full, and, at the third,
+rush went the stream with the force of a Congrčve--not, indeed, over the
+trees, as I expected, but full in the face of the First Lord; scarcely
+was his cry uttered, when a fourth dash laid him full upon his back,
+drenched from head to foot, and nearly senseless from the shock. The
+king screamed with laughing--the admiral shouted--the old post-captain
+swore--and I, not knowing one word of all that was happening behind my
+back, worked away for the bare life, till the two footmen, at a signal
+from the admiral, laid hold of me by main force, and dragged me away,
+the perspiration dripping from my forehead, and my uniform all in rags
+by the exertion.
+
+[Illustration: 346]
+
+"'Get away as fast as you can, sir,' whispered old B., 'and thank God
+if your day's work only puts you at the end of the list.' I followed the
+counsel--I don't know how--I never could recollect one event from that
+moment till I awoke the next morning at my aunt's cottage at Blackwall,
+and saw my coat in tatters, and the one epaulette hanging by a thread;
+then I remembered my blessed invention, and I think I showed good pluck
+by not going clean out of my mind."
+
+There was an earnestness in poor Sickleton's manner that effectually
+repressed any mirth on Cashel's part--indeed, his sense of the ludicrous
+gave way before his feeling of sorrow for the hard fortune of the man
+without a friend. In the partial civilization of the far west, personal
+prowess and energy were always enough to secure any man's success; but
+here, each day's experience taught him how much was to be laid to the
+score of family--of fortune--name--address--and the thousand other
+accessories of fortune. He had just begun to express his wonder that
+Sickleton had never tried life in the New World, when the mate appeared
+at the cabin-door to say that a shore boat was rowing out to the yacht.
+
+A movement of impatience broke from Sickleton. "More of 'em, I suppose,"
+cried he; "we've had such a lot of sight-seers this morning, since we
+dropped anchor! most of them affecting to be intimate friends of yours,
+and all so well acquainted with your habits of life, that I should have
+become perfectly informed on every particular of your private history
+only by listening."
+
+"The chances are," broke in Cashel, "I did not personally know a man
+amongst them."
+
+"I half suspect as much. They spoke far too confidently to be authentic.
+One would have it you were half ruined already, and had got the yacht
+over to clear away, and be off. Another, that you were going to be
+married to a lady with an immense fortune,--a rumor contradicted by a
+third saying it was an attorney's daughter without a shilling."
+
+"There's a lady, I see, sir, coming on board," said the mate, putting in
+his head once more.
+
+"I 'd swear there was," growled Sickleton.
+
+"You give them luncheon, I hope?" said Cashel, smiling at the other's
+impatience.
+
+"Yes; we've had something like an ordinary here, today, and as I heard
+that to-morrow would be busier still, I have had my boat going backwards
+and forwards all the morning to prepare."
+
+"I am desired to show you this card, sir," said the mate, handing one to
+Sickleton, who passed it to Cashel.
+
+"Lord Kilgoff--indeed!" said he, surprised, and at once hastened to the
+deck.
+
+"Mr. Cashel himself here!" exclaimed my Lady, from the stern of a small
+boat alongside; and after an exchange of friendly recognition, the party
+ascended the gangway. "This was a pleasure we scarcely looked for, to
+meet you here," said his Lordship, blandly. "We had just taken our drive
+down to the harbor, when accidentally hearing your yacht had arrived,
+Lady Kilgoff grew desirous to see it."
+
+"A yacht in harbor is a horse in stable," said Cashel. "Will you permit
+me to give you a cruise?"
+
+"I should like nothing in the world so well."
+
+"It is late--almost six o'clock," said Lord Kilgoff, looking at his
+watch.
+
+"And if it be," said my Lady, coaxingly, "you know Dr. Grover
+recommended you the sea air and sea excursions. I declare you look
+better already, don't you think so, Mr. Cashel?" "I protest I do," said
+Cashel, thus appealed to; "and if you will only pardon the deficiencies
+of a floating cuisine, and dine here--"
+
+"How delightful!" broke in my Lady, not suffering even time for an
+apology.
+
+"It appeared to me there was a haunch of venison hanging over the stern
+when we came on board?" said my Lord, with his glass to his eye.
+
+"Yes, my Lord," said Sickleton, touching his hat in salutation; "I've
+had it there for two hours every day since Tuesday week."
+
+"And is the wind, and the tide, and everything else as it should be, Mr.
+Cashel?" said Lady Kilgoff.
+
+"Everything--when you have only uttered your consent," said he,
+gallantly.
+
+"What is this, sir?" said my Lord, as, having requested something to
+drink, Sickleton poured him out a large glassful of scarcely frothing
+liquid.
+
+"Dry champagne, my Lord. Moot's."
+
+"And very excellent too. Really, Laura, I am very sorry it should be so
+late, and we were to have dined with Meek at seven--"
+
+"But only alone--no party, remember that," said she, persuasively; "how
+easy to send the carriage back with an apology."
+
+Cashel looked his thanks, but without speaking.
+
+"Take those red partridges out of ice," said Sickleton, from the cook's
+galley, "and let us have those Ostend oysters to-day."
+
+"I yield," said my Lord. "Mr. Cashel must take all the consequences of
+my breach of faith upon himself."
+
+"I promise to do so, my Lord."
+
+"A pen and ink, and some paper, Mr. Cashel," said her Ladyship.
+
+"Will you permit me to show you the way?" said he, handing her down into
+the little cabin, whose arrangement was all in the perfection of modern
+taste and elegance.
+
+"How beautiful!" cried she. "Oh! Mr. Cashel, I really do envy you the
+possession of this fairy ship. You don't know how passionately I love
+the sea."
+
+"There are but few things I could hear you say with so much pleasure
+to me," said Cashel, gazing with a strange feeling of emotion at the
+brilliant color and heightened expression of her handsome features.
+
+"There! that is finished," said she, closing the hastily-written note.
+"Now, Mr. Cashel, we are yours." However much of course the words were
+in themselves, her eyes met Cashel's as she spoke them, and as suddenly
+fell; while he, taking the letter, left the cabin without speaking--a
+world of curious conjecture warring in his heart.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII. A SPLIT IN THE KENNYFECK CABINET
+
+     Like "cat and dog!" not so! _their_ strife
+     They carried on like "man and wife."
+
+     Family Jars.
+
+
+It may easily have escaped our reader's memory, that on Roland Cashel's
+hasty departure from Mr. Kennyfeck's, the seeds of a very serious schism
+had been sown in that respectable family, Mrs. Kennyfeck being firmly
+persuaded that her liege lord had grossly mismanaged his influence over
+the young proprietor; the girls as resolutely opposed to each other; and
+all, with a most laudable unanimity, agreed in thinking that Aunt Fanny
+"had spoiled everything," and that but for her odious interference there
+never would have arisen the slightest coolness between them and their
+distinguished acquaintance.
+
+"I may lose the agency!" said Mr. Kennyfeck, with a sigh of afflicting
+sincerity.
+
+"I should n't wonder if he avoids the house," quoth his wife.
+
+"He evidently rejects all attempts at domination," said Miss Kennyfeck,
+with a glance at her aunt. Olivia said nothing; but it was not difficult
+to see that her thoughts were full of the theme. Meanwhile, Miss O'Hara,
+in all the dignity of injured rectitude, sat seemingly unconscious of
+the popular feeling against her, repeating from time to time the ominous
+words, "We shall see--we shall see;" a species of prophetic warning
+that, come what may, can always assert its accomplishment.
+
+With such elements of discord and discontent, the breakfast proceeded
+gradually, and the broken attempts at talk had subsided into a sullen
+silence, when the butler entered to say that Mr. Phillis begged to speak
+a few words with Mr. Kennyfeck.
+
+"Let him come in here," said Mrs. Kennyfeck, as her husband was rising
+to leave the room. "I think, if there are to be no more blunders, we had
+better be present at the conference."
+
+"Show him in, Pearse," said Mr. Kennyfeck, in a meek voice; and the
+gentleman's gentleman entered, in all that easy self-sufficiency so
+peculiar to his class.
+
+"What is it, Mr. Phillis?" said Mrs. Kennyfeck, in a commanding tone,
+meant to convey the information of "where the Court sat," and to whom he
+should address his pleading.
+
+"It's a little matter on which I wanted advice, ma'am, for I am really
+puzzled bow to act. You know, ma'am, that we are expecting large company
+at our place in the country--Tubb--something--"
+
+"Tubbermore," interposed Mr. Kennyfeck.
+
+"Yes, sir, Tubbermore. Well, there have been at least twenty messages
+this morning from different families, who want to know the best way of
+going, and when Mr. Cashel means to go himself, and where post-horses
+are to be had, and how they are to get forward where there are none, and
+so on."
+
+"Is your master not the person to dictate the answer to these queries?"
+said Mrs. Kennyfeck, with her grandest air.
+
+"Of course, ma'am, but he's not here."
+
+"Where is he, then?" asked she, eagerly.
+
+"He's gone, ma'am; he went last night."
+
+"Gone! gone where?" said Mrs. Kennyfeck, with an eagerness no artifice
+could cover.
+
+"It's hard to say, ma'am; but he went down to Kingstown last night, and
+sailed in the yacht; and from the preparations and sea stores taken from
+the hotel, it would seem like a long cruise."
+
+"And did he not mention anything of his intention to _you_ Mr. Phillis?"
+said Mrs. Kennyfeck, with a flattering emphasis on the pronoun.
+
+"A few lines in pencil, ma'am, dated from the harbor, was all I
+received. Here they are." And he handed a piece of note-paper across the
+table. The contents ran thus:--
+
+     Phillis, send word to Sir Harvey Upton's that I sha'n't dine
+     there to-morrow. Give the bearer of this my dressing-case,
+     and clothes for some days, and have the fourgon ready packed
+     to start for Tubbermore on receiving my next orders.
+
+     R. C.--Kingstown Harbor.
+
+"And who brought this note?" said Mrs. Kennyfeck, who fancied she was
+conducting the inquiry in true judicial form.
+
+"One of the yacht sailors, ma'am; he came up on Lord Kilgoff s
+carriage."
+
+"On Lord Kilgoff's carriage--how did that happen?"
+
+"The carriage came into town, ma'am, to bring some things my Lady sent
+for; at least, so the sailor told me."
+
+"And were Lord and Lady Kilgoff on board the yacht?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am; they both sailed in her last night."
+
+As though drawn by some irresistible influence, every eye was now turned
+to Aunt Fanny, who, up to this, had listened to Mr. Phillis with a
+breathless attention, and if looks could be translated, every glance
+thus thrown said plainly, "This is _your_ doing."
+
+"Are you certain that the yacht has not returned to Kingstown?" said
+Miss O'Hara.
+
+"Perfectly, ma'am. It blew a storm last night, and the sailors about the
+harbor told me it was a great chance that any small vessel could outlive
+the gale."
+
+Olivia Kennyfeck became deadly pale at these words, and whispered
+something in her sister's ear.
+
+"Of course," replied the other, aloud; then turning to Phillis, said,
+"Had they a pilot with them?"
+
+"I believe so, miss, but there are so many contradictory reports,
+one don't know what to credit; some say that Lord Kilgoff was greatly
+opposed to the cruise, but that her Ladyship insisted, and that, in
+fact, they got under weigh at last without my Lord's knowing, and while
+they were at dinner."
+
+"It was a fearful night!" said Mr. Kennyfeck, whose mind was entirely
+engrossed by the one idea.
+
+"Take him into the next room, and I'll join you presently," said Mrs.
+Kennyfeck to her husband, for that keen-sighted lady had remarked the
+intense interest with which Mr. Phillis listened to every remark made
+around him.
+
+"Here's a pretty piece of business!" cried she, as the door closed after
+her husband and the valet; "and certainly, I must say, we 've no one to
+thank for it but you, Fanny!"
+
+"Unquestionably not," echoed Miss Kennyfeck. "Aunt Fanny has the entire
+merit of this catastrophe."
+
+"It is most cruel," sighed Olivia, as she wiped the tears from her eyes,
+and bent upon her stern relative a glance of most reproachful sadness.
+
+"Are you all mad?" said the assailed individual, her courage and her
+color rising together. "How can you pretend to connect me with this
+disgraceful proceeding? Here's a case as clearly prearranged as ever was
+heard of."
+
+"Impossible!" cried Mrs. Kennyfeck; "did n't he invite us only yesterday
+to go down to Tubbermore by sea?"
+
+"And didn't you yourself offer the only impediment?" said Miss
+Kennyfeck.
+
+"You are very cruel, aunt," sobbed Olivia.
+
+"You'll drive me out of my senses," said Miss O'Hara; and certainly her
+look did not belie her words. "I endeavor to rescue you from the snares
+of a young debauchee, who, as you well know, has a wife still living--"
+
+"There, I hope you are content now," said Mrs. Kennyfeck, as Olivia fell
+fainting into her arms; and the window was thrown open, and all were
+busied in employing the wonted restoratives for such attacks. Meanwhile,
+hostilities were continued, but in a less rigorous fashion. "You know
+you've ruined everything--you know well how your officious meddling has
+destroyed this poor child's fortune; rub her temples, Cary."
+
+"I know that he is a dissipated, abandoned wretch, that would desert her
+to-morrow as he has done that unhappy--"
+
+"Hush, she is coming to. You want to kill her."
+
+"Humph!" muttered Aunt Fanny; "this scene might be very effective with
+the young gentleman, but is quite thrown away upon me."
+
+"Aunt, aunt!" cried Miss Kennyfeck, reprovingly.
+
+"If we had just followed our own counsels, we should have this very hour
+been on the way to Tubbermore, perhaps never to leave it!"
+
+Aunt Fanny shook her head.
+
+"Yes. You may affect to doubt and hesitate, and all that, but where
+is the wonderful condescension in a Mr. Cashel proposing for the
+grand-niece of Roger Miles O'Hara, of Kilmurray O'Hara of Mayo, the
+second cousin of Lawrence O'Hara Kelly, that ought to be Lord Bally
+Kelly?"
+
+"Fairly enough, if that was all," slipped in Miss O'Hara, hoping to
+escape from all danger by climbing up the genealogical tree whereon her
+sister was perched.
+
+"If that was all!" repeated Mrs. Kennyfeck, indignantly, catching at the
+last words, "and what more is wanting, I 'd be glad to ask? But, to be
+sure, it was rather a mistake to call to our counsels, in such a case,
+one that never could succeed in her own."
+
+This terrible taunt at Miss O'Hara's celibacy didn't go unpunished,
+for, throwing all attempts at conciliation behind her, she rose, with
+flashing eyes and trembling lips.
+
+"So, it is you that tell me this," said she--"_you_ that dare to sneer
+at _my_ being unmarried--you, that were fain to take up with a Dublin
+attorney--poor Tom Kennyfeck--the hack of the quarter sessions, serving
+latitats and tithe notices over the country in his old gig--Indeed,
+girls, I 'm sorry to speak that way of your father, but it 's well
+known--"
+
+A loud shriek interrupted the speech, and Mrs. Kennyfeck, in strong
+hysterics, took her place beside Olivia.
+
+"It will do her good, my dear," said Aunt Fanny to her niece, as she
+chafed the hands and bathed the temples of her mother. "I was only
+telling the truth; she'd never have married your father if Major Kennedy
+had n't jilted her; and good luck it was he did, for he had two other
+wives living at the time--just as your friend, Mr. Cashel, wanted to do
+with your sister."
+
+"Aunt--aunt--I entreat you to have done. Haven't you made mischief
+enough?"
+
+"Eaten up with vanity and self-conceit," resumed the old lady, not
+heeding the interruption. "A French cook and a coach-and-four,--nothing
+less! Let her scream, child--sure, I know it's good for her--it
+stretches the lungs."
+
+"Leave me--leave the room!" cried Miss Kennyfeck, whose efforts at
+calmness were rendered fruitless by the torrent of her aunt's eloquence.
+
+"Indeed I will, my dear: I'll leave the house, too. Sorry I am that I
+ever set foot in it. What with the noise and the racket night and day,
+it's more like a lunatic asylum than a respectable residence."
+
+"Send her away--send her away!" screamed Mrs. Kennyfeck, with a cry of
+horror.
+
+"Do, aunt--do leave the room."
+
+"I'm going--I'm going, young lady; but I suppose I may drink my cup of
+tea first--it's the last I 'll ever taste in the same house;" and she
+reseated herself at the table with a most provoking composure. "I came
+here," resumed she, "for no advantage of mine. I leave you without
+regret, because I see how your poor fool of a father, and your vain,
+conceited mother--"
+
+"Aunt, you are really too bad. Have you no feeling?"
+
+"That's just what comes of it," said she, stirring her tea tranquilly.
+"You set up for people of fashion, and you don't know that people of
+fashion are twice as shrewd and 'cute as yourself. Faith, my dear,
+they'd buy and sell you, every one. What are they at all day, but
+roguery and schemes of one kind or other, and then after 'doing' you,
+home they go, and laugh at your mother's vulgarity!"
+
+A fresh torrent of cries from Mrs. Kennyfeck seemed to show that
+unconsciousness was not among her symptoms, and Miss Kennyfeck now
+hastened from the room to summon her father to her aid.
+
+"Well, you've come to turn me out, I suppose?" said Aunt Fanny, as the
+old gentleman entered in a state of perplexity that might have evoked
+the compassion of a less determined enemy.
+
+"My dear Miss Fanny--"
+
+"None of your four courts blarney with me, sir; I'm ready to go--I 'll
+leave by the coach to-night. I conclude you 'll have the decency to pay
+for my place, and my dinner too, for I 'll go to Dawson's Hotel this
+minute. Tell your mother, and that poor dawdle there, your sister, that
+they 'd be thankful they'd have followed my advice. The rate you're
+living, old gentleman, might even frighten you. There's more waste in
+your kitchen than in Lord Clondooney's.
+
+"As for yourself, Caroline, you 're the best of the lot; but your
+tongue, darling!--your tongue!" And here she made a gesture of far more
+expressive force than any mere words could give.
+
+"Is she gone?" said Mrs. Kennyfeck, as a slight lull succeeded.
+
+"Yes, mamma," whispered Miss Kennyfeck; "but speak low, for Mr. Phillis
+is in the hall."
+
+"I'll never see her again--I'll never set eyes on her," muttered Mrs.
+Kennyfeck.
+
+"I shouldn't wonder, mamma, if that anonymous letter was written by
+herself," said Caroline. "She never forgave Mr. Cashel for not specially
+inviting her; and this, I'm almost sure, was the way she took to revenge
+herself."
+
+"So it was," cried Mrs. Kennyfeck, eagerly seizing at the notion. "Hush,
+take care Livy doesn't hear you."
+
+"As for the yacht expedition, it was just the kind of thing Lady Kilgoff
+was ready for. She is dying to be talked of."
+
+"And that poor, weak creature, Cashel, will be so flattered by the soft
+words of a peeress, he'll be intolerable ever after."
+
+"Aunt Fanny--Aunt Fanny!" sighed Miss Kennyfeck, with a mournful
+cadence.
+
+"If I only was sure--that is, perfectly certain--that she wrote that
+letter about Cashel--But here comes your father--take Olivia, and leave
+me alone."
+
+Miss Kennyfeck assisted her sister from the sofa, and led her in silence
+from the room, while Mr. Kennyfeck sat down, with folded hands and bent
+down head, a perfect picture of dismay and bewilderment.
+
+"Well," said his wife, after a reasonable interval of patient
+expectation that he would speak--"well, what have you to say for
+yourself now, sir?"
+
+The poor solicitor, who never suspected that he was under any
+indictment, looked up with an expression of almost comic innocence.
+
+"Did you hear me, Mr. Kennyfeck, or is it you want to pass off your
+dulness for deafness? Did you hear me, I say?"
+
+"Yes, I heard--but I really do not know--that is, I am unaware how--I
+cannot see--"
+
+"Oh, the old story," sighed she--"injured innocence! Well, sir, I was
+asking you if you felt gratified with our present prospects? Linton's
+intimacy was bad enough, but the Kilgoff friendship is absolute, utter
+ruin. That crafty, old, undermining peer, as proud as poor, will soon
+ensnare him; and my Lady, with her new airs of a viscountess, only
+anxious to qualify for London by losing her character before she appears
+there!"
+
+"As to the agency--"
+
+"The agency!" echoed she, indignantly, "do your thoughts never by any
+chance, sir, take a higher flight than five per cent.?--are you always
+dreaming of your little petty gains at rent-day? I told you, sir, how
+the patron might be converted into a son-in-law--did I not?"
+
+"You did, indeed, and I'm certain I never threw any impediment in the
+way of it."
+
+"You never threw any impediment in the way of your child's succeeding
+to a fortune of sixteen thousand a year! You really are an exemplary
+father."
+
+"I 'd have forwarded it, if I only knew how."
+
+"How good of you! I suppose you 'd have drawn up the settlements if
+ordered. But so it is--all my efforts through life have been thwarted by
+you! I have labored and toiled day and night to place my children in the
+sphere that their birth, on one side at least, would entitle them to,
+and you know it."
+
+Now this Mr. Kennyfeck really did not know. In his dull fatuity he
+always imagined that he was the honey-gatherer of the domestic hive, and
+that Mrs. Kennyfeck had in her own person monopolized the functions of
+queen bee and wasp together.
+
+"Your low, pettifogging ambition never soared above a Softly or a Clare
+Jones for your daughters, while I was planning alliances that would have
+placed them among the best in the land--and how have I been rewarded?
+Indifference, coolness, perhaps contempt!" Here a flood of tears, that
+had remained dammed up since the last torrent, burst forth in convulsive
+sobs. "Ungrateful man, who ought never to have forgotten the sacrifice
+I made in marrying him--the rupture with every member of my family--the
+severance of every tie that united me to my own."
+
+She ceased, and here, be it remembered, Mrs. Kennyfeck seemed to address
+herself to some invisible jury empanelled to try Mr. Kennyfeck on a
+serious charge.
+
+"He came like a serpent into the bosom of our peaceful circle, and with
+the arts that his crafty calling but too well supplied, seduced my young
+affections."
+
+Mr. Kennyfeck started. It had never before occurred to him that Don Juan
+was among his range of parts.
+
+"False and unfeeling both," resumed she. "Luring with promises never
+intended for performance, you took me from a home, the very sanctuary of
+peace!"
+
+Mr. Kennyfeck wiped his forehead in perplexity; his recollection of the
+home in question was different. Sanctuary it might have been, but it
+was against the officers of the law and the sheriff, and so far as a
+well-fastened hall door and barricaded windows went, the epithet did not
+seem quite unsuitable.
+
+"Ah!" sighed she--for it is right to remark that Mrs. Kennyfeck was a
+mistress of that domestic harmony which consists in every modulation,
+from the grand adagio of indignant accusation to the rattling andante
+of open abuse--"had I listened to those older and wiser than I, and who
+foretold the destiny that awaited me, I had never seen this unhappy day!
+No, sir! I had not lived to see myself outraged and insulted, and my
+only sister turned out of the house like a discarded menial."
+
+Had Mr. Kennyfeck been informed that for courteously making way for a
+Bencher in the Hall he was stripped of his gown and degraded from his
+professional rank, he could not have been more thoroughly amazed and
+thunderstruck.
+
+He actually gasped with excess of astonishment, and, if breath had been
+left him, would have spoken; but so it was, the very force of the charge
+stunned him, and he could not utter a word.
+
+Meanwhile, Mrs. Kennyfeck, who in the ardor of combat had imitated
+certain Spanish sailors, who in the enthusiasm of a sea-fight loaded
+their cannons with whatever came next to hand, was actually shocked by
+the effect of her own fire. For the grandeur of a peroration she had
+taken a flying leap over all truth, and would gladly have been safe back
+again at the other side of the fence.
+
+For an instant not a word dropped from either side, and it was clear
+that he who spoke first had gained the victory. This was the lady.
+
+"Go, sir"--and she wiped her eyes with that calm dignity by which a
+scolding wife seems to call up all Christian forgiveness of herself, and
+stand acquitted before her own conscience--"go, sir, and find out what
+these people that Cashel has invited mean to do; and if it be their
+intention to repair to Tubbermore, let us lose no time in setting out;
+and if we are to go, Mr. Kennyfeck, let as do so as becomes us."
+
+Mr. Kennyfeck stifled a rising sigh--for he knew what the words
+denoted--and departed; while Mrs. Kennyfeck, with her heart lightened
+of a heavy load, rose to join her daughters, and discuss dress and
+"toilette," the great commissariat of the approaching campaign.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX. STORM AND WRECK.
+
+     Tut, never mind the swell, love,
+     The sails may sweep the brine;
+     But the craft will steer as well, love,
+     With your soft hand in mine.
+
+     The Cruise.
+
+
+It was upon a delicious evening, a little before sunset, that a yacht
+worked out of the harbor of Kingstown, all her canvas spread to catch
+the light air of wind, which scarcely ruffled the glassy surface of the
+Bay. The craft, with her snow-white sails, her tall and taper spars, her
+gay bunting from gaff and peak, was all that the scene wanted to
+render it a perfect picture; and so, to all seeming, thought the many
+spectators who crowded the pier and the shore, and gazed with admiration
+at the graceful vessel, as she glided silently above her own image in
+the water.
+
+Various were the comments and criticisms from those who surveyed her
+course; some, in wondering conjecture whither she was bound; others, not
+a whit better informed, boldly affecting some secret knowledge of her
+destination, and even, by such pretty pretension, assuming airs of
+superiority.
+
+"She belongs to that rich young fellow, Roland Cashel," said one of
+these, "who, by the way, is getting through his fortune tolerably fast.
+The story goes, that he has spent two hundred thousand already, and is
+borrowing at immense interest."
+
+"Was n't he a smuggler, or a privateer's-man, or something of the kind?"
+
+"No; he made all the money in the slave trade."
+
+"I always heard that he succeeded to a landed estate," softly insinuated
+a modest-looking old gentleman.
+
+"Not at all, sir. Such, I am aware, was the common belief; the fact,
+however, is, that he had invested large sums in land, and was then able
+to escape the scrutiny many would have instituted regarding the origin
+of his wealth."
+
+"Who is it he is always riding with about town--a handsome girl, on a
+brown horse?"
+
+"On a gray, you mean."
+
+"No, a brown, with a bang tail."
+
+"No, no, it's a gray. She's a daughter of Tom Kennyfeck, the attorney."
+
+"The gentleman is right," interposed a third. "I 've seen him very often
+with a lady mounted on a brown thorough-bred."
+
+"Oh! that's Lady Kilgoff, the handsomest woman in Ireland."
+
+"She was much better-looking two years ago," simpered out an ensign,
+affectedly. "I used to dance with her and her sister at the race balls
+of Ashby."
+
+The group immediately fell back, in tacit acknowledgment of the claim of
+one so aristocratically associated.
+
+"Didn't you know her, Hipsley?" lisped out the ensign to a brother
+officer, who was admiring a very green baby on the arm of a very
+blooming nursery-maid. "You knew the Craycrofts, didn't you?"
+
+"Lady Kilgoff's maiden name, sir, was Gardiner," said the timid old
+gentleman who spoke before.
+
+The ensign stuck his glass in one eye, and gazed at him for a second or
+two, with consummate effrontery, and then, in a voice intended for the
+most cutting drollery, said,--
+
+"Are, you certain it was n't 'Snooks'?"--a rejoinder so infinitely
+amusing that the bystanders laughed immoderately, and the bashful man
+retired, overwhelmed in confusion.
+
+"They 're off for a good long cruise," said one, looking through his
+pocket telescope at the yacht, which now was steering to the southward,
+with a fresher breeze.
+
+"I suspect so. They took on board five or six hampers from the hotel,
+just before they sailed."
+
+A very warm controversy now arose as to where the yacht was bound for,
+and who were the parties who went on board of her in the harbor; points
+which, in the absence of all real knowledge, admitted of a most animated
+debate. Meanwhile, an old weather-beaten sailor, in a pilot coat,
+continued to gaze alternately from the sky to the sea, and back again,
+and at last murmured to himself,--
+
+"They 'll catch it before midnight, if they don't haul their wind, and
+get into shelter."
+
+Some drifting clouds, dropping slight rain as they passed, soon after
+cleared the pier of its loiterers, and night fell, dark and starless,
+while the wind freshened, and the sea fretted and chafed upon the rocks,
+and even sent its spray high against the strong lighthouse.
+
+Let us now quit the shore, and bear company with the party on board,
+who, having dined sumptuously, sat sipping their coffee on deck, while
+the swift craft skimmed the calm waters of the bay, and unfolded in
+her course the beautiful panorama of the shore--the bold steep bluff of
+Brayhead, the curved strand of Killiney, the two "Sugar Loaves" rising
+from the bosom of dark woods, and, in the distance, the higher chain of
+the Wicklow mountains, while on the opposite side Howth seemed like a
+blue island studding the clear surface of the bay. Lord Kilgoff and Mr.
+Sickleton paid but passing attention to the bright picture around.
+A learned discussion on naval matters, wherein my Lord took the
+opportunity of storing his mind with a goodly stock of technicals, to
+be used at some future occasion, occupied them altogether, leaving her
+Ladyship and Roland Cashel to the undisturbed enjoyment of the scene and
+its associations.
+
+They paid the highest tribute the picturesque can exact--they sat in
+silence watching the changing tints, which from red faded to violet,
+then gray, and at last grew dark with closing night, while the wind
+freshening sent the sea rushing swiftly past, and made their light craft
+heave and pitch heavily.
+
+"We are returning to Kingstown, I trust?" said my Lord to Sickleton,
+who had left him for a moment, to give orders about shortening sail. "It
+appears to me like a threatening night."
+
+"It looks dirty, my Lord," said Sickleton, dryly, as he walked aft with
+the pilot, and conferred with him in a low tone.
+
+"Are we making for Kingstown, Mr. Cashel?" said my Lord, in a voice he
+was not able to divest of anxiety.
+
+"I believe not," said Cashel, rising, and approaching the compass. "No,
+we are lying down channel straight as we can go."
+
+"Ay, and very well for us that we can do it," growled out the pilot. "If
+we make the Hook Light before we tack, I shall say we 're lucky."
+
+"Does he mean there is any danger, Mr. Cashel?" said Lady Kilgoff, but
+in a voice devoid of tremor.
+
+"None whatever; but I am sadly distressed at having carried you out so
+far, since I find that in the present state of the tide, and with the
+wind still driving more to the north, we cannot bear up for Kingstown,
+but must run along the shore."
+
+"Think nothing of that," said she, gayly; "real peril I have no fancy
+for--a mere inconvenience is of no moment whatever; but"--here she
+dropped her voice very low--"say something to my Lord--give him some
+encouragement."
+
+"It blows fresh, my Lord, and if it were not for the trespass on your
+comfort, I should almost rejoice at the occasion of showing you my
+yacht's qualities as a sailing-boat."
+
+"I should prefer taking your word for them, sir," said Lord Kilgoff,
+tartly; "a pleasure-trip is one thing, a night in a small vessel exposed
+to a heavy gale is another."
+
+"You 're right, my Lord," said the pilot, who heard but a part of the
+observation; "it will be a gale before morning."
+
+"Luff! luff, there!" shouted Sickleton; and at the same instant a heavy
+sea thundered against the bow and broke over the fore part of the vessel
+with a crashing sound.
+
+"I think when we see the lighthouse of Kingstown so near us," said Lord
+Kilgoff, "there ought to be no great difficulty in returning."
+
+"That's not the harbor-light you see yonder--that's the Kish, my
+Lord," said the pilot "Keep her up, my man, keep her up, the wind is
+freshening."
+
+"Will you indeed forgive me for this disastrous turn of our cruise?"
+said Cashel, as he fastened his boat-cloak around Lady Kilgoff's throat,
+after several vain efforts to induce her to go below.
+
+"If you only prevent my Lord from scolding, I shall enjoy it immensely,"
+said she, in a half whisper.
+
+"I trust, Lady Kilgoff," said his Lordship, approaching, and steadying
+himself by the bulwarks, "that this night'a experience will induce you
+to distrust your own judgment when in opposition to mine. I foresaw the
+whole of it. It is now blowing a fierce gale--"
+
+"Not a bit of it, my Lord," interposed the pilot, bluntly; "but it will
+blow great guns 'fore daybreak, or I 'm mistaken."
+
+"And where shall we be then?" asked my Lord, querulously.
+
+"Rayther hard to tell," said the pilot, laughing. "If she be as good a
+sea-boat as they say, and that we don't carry away any of our spars, we
+may run for Cove. I take it--"
+
+"For Cove! Gracious mercy! and if she be not as good a vessel as it is
+said she is, sir, what then, pray?"
+
+The pilot made no reply, but gave orders to set the jib, as she was
+laboring too much by the head.
+
+The wind increased, and with it the sea, which, dividing at the bow,
+fell in great cataracts over the vessel, sweeping along the entire deck
+at every plunge she gave.
+
+"I wish she were a little deeper in the water," whispered Sickleton to
+Cashel. "We have n't within fifteen tons of our ballast on board. But
+she 's a sweet craft, ain't she? Keep her, there--steady, man."
+
+"We could n't stand round in stays, and bear up for the harbor?"
+asked Cashel, on whom Lord Kilgoff's face of misery had made a strong
+impression.
+
+"Impossible! At least the pilot, who knows this coast well, says there
+is a shore current here runs eight knots."
+
+"What shall we do with him? He 'll scarce live through the night."
+
+"Let us get him down below, and, once snug in a berth, he 'll fall
+asleep, and forget everything."
+
+Cashel shook his head doubtfully, but determined to try the plan at all
+hazards.
+
+"Would my Lord be persuaded to lie down, do you think?" said Roland,
+approaching Lady Kilgoff, who, enveloped in the folds of the heavy
+boat-cloak, sat calm and collected near the wheel.
+
+"Is there danger?" asked she, hurriedly.
+
+"Not the least; but he seems so ill, and every sea rushes-over him as he
+stands."
+
+"You should go down, my dear Lord," said she, addressing him; "Mr.
+Cashel is afraid you 'll catch cold here?"
+
+"Ah, is he indeed?" said Lord Kilgoff, in a snappish asperity. "He is
+too good to bestow a thought upon me."
+
+"I am only anxious, my Lord, that you should n't suffer from your
+complaisance so unhappily rewarded."
+
+"Very kind, exceedingly kind, sir. It is, as you say, most unhappy--a
+perfect storm, a hurricane. Gracious mercy! what's that?"
+
+This exclamation was caused by a loud smash, like the report of a
+cannon-shot, and at the same moment the taper topmast fell crashing
+down, with all its cordage clattering round it. The confusion of the
+accident, the shouting of voices, the thundering splash of the sea, as,
+the peak having fallen, the craft had lost the steadying influence of
+the mainsail, all seemed to threaten immediate danger. Cashel was about
+to spring forward and assist in cutting away the entangled rigging, when
+he felt his hand firmly grasped by another, whose taper fingers left no
+doubt to whom it belonged.
+
+"Don't be alarmed--it is nothing," whispered he encouragingly; "the
+mishap is repaired in a second."
+
+"You 'll not leave me," said she, in a low tone, which thrilled through
+every fibre of his heart. He pressed her hand more closely, and tried,
+but in vain, to catch a glimpse at her face.
+
+Meanwhile the disordered rigging had been repaired, and two men under
+Sickleton's direction, lifting the drooping and scarce conscious peer
+from the deck, carried him down below.
+
+If the old instincts of Roland Cashel's sailor life would have rendered
+the scene interesting to him, watching as he did the way his craft
+"behaved," and marking well the fine qualities she possessed as a
+sea-boat, there was another and far more intense feeling then occupying
+him as he stood close beside that swathed and muffled figure, who, pale
+and silent, marked by some gesture, from time to time, her dependence
+upon him. To Roland, the rattle of the gale, the hissing sea, the
+strained and creaking cordage, all, not only brought back old memories
+of his once life, but effectually seemed to dispel the colder mood of
+mind which admixture with the world of fashion had impressed upon him.
+He was again, if not in reality, in heart and spirit, the bold buccaneer
+that walked the Western seas, bursting with life, and eager for
+adventure. Every plunge that sent the bowsprit down, every squall that
+bent the taper mast, and laid the vessel half-seas under, inspirited and
+excited him, not the less that the wild storm called forth every form of
+encouragement to her, who vibrated between actual terror and a strange
+sense of delight.
+
+Roland lay at her feet, partly as a barrier against the surging water
+that, breaking over the bow, swept the entire deck, partly that he might
+mark those beauteous features, on which the binnacle light occasionally
+cast its glare.
+
+"It is fine," murmured she, in a low, soft voice, "and I almost feel
+as if my own terrors should serve to heighten the sense of ecstasy. I
+tremble while I delight in it."
+
+There was an expression of intense excitement in her eyes as she spoke,
+and her pale features for an instant flushed, as Roland's look met hers.
+
+"How I glory in your words," cried he, wild with enthusiasm; "I feel
+like one who suddenly awakes to life out of some long and dreary
+sleep,--rather this is the sleep, this is itself the vision in which
+I lie, here, beneath your smile, while we are borne onward through the
+hissing foam. Oh, would it but last--would that this dark and starless
+night could be for years, and that we might thus cleave the black waters
+on and on!"
+
+"And whither to?" asked she, in a whisper scarcely breathed.
+
+"Whither to?" echoed he; "what matters it, while we journey thus? The
+sun-tipped icebergs of the North Sea, or the rosy mountains of the Spice
+Island; the balmy shores of Quito, or the bleak coast of Labrador--all
+are alike to me."
+
+"A large vessel under the lee!" sang out a voice from the bow, and the
+cry was repeated still louder, while the pilot shouted, "Show a light
+at the mast-head; put your helm hard up!" The double command was scarce
+obeyed, when a huge black mass heaved past them, her great yards almost
+seeming to grate the cordage. The looming size of the immense object
+that towered overhead, and the death-like stillness of the yacht's crew
+till the danger was past, thrilled with a cold terror through her, and
+instinctively she grasped Roland's hand more closely. The gale had now
+become furious, and as the light spars were barely able to sustain
+even the little canvas spread, the sea swept over the vessel as she lay
+storm-tossed and scarce navigable. The hatches were fastened down, the
+boats strongly secured, and every precaution of seamanship adopted; and
+so long as these were in performance, and a certain activity and bustle
+prevailed, so long did Lady Kilgoff's courage appear to support her; but
+when all was done, and the men resumed their places in watchful silence,
+and her mind was left to the contemplation of the raging hurricane
+alone, she seemed to sink, and, with a faint, low sigh, glided from the
+seat and fell fainting to the deck.
+
+"You cannot take her below," said Sickleton, as Cashel, raising her in
+his arms, was about to carry her to the cabin; "we dare not open the
+hatches. See, there it comes again!" and, as he spoke, a great wave
+broke over the vessel's quarter and fell in torrents over the deck,
+washing, as it receded, several loose spars overboard. By the aid of
+coats and cloaks innumerable, Cashel at last succeeded in enveloping the
+fair form beside him, and supporting her head upon his arm as he sat,
+he saw, to his unspeakable delight, that she soon dropped into a calm
+sleep.
+
+"This is a disastrous bit of pleasuring," said Sickleton, as he stood
+holding on by one of the braces; "who could have supposed such a gale
+was brewing?"
+
+"Well, well," replied Cashel, "if it comes no worse--"
+
+"If it does, we can't stand through it, that's all," said the
+lieutenant, dryly. "The old pilot says we shall have to make a tack
+to keep clear of the Hook; but what boat can sail on a wind with a
+storm-jib and three-reefed topsail?"
+
+"She behaves nobly," said Roland, as he gazed at the sleeping form, to
+guard which seemed all his care.
+
+Sickleton mistook the remark, and said, "Ay, that I knew she would; but
+the sea is tremendous for a small craft, and see how close we have the
+land under our lee--that black mass yonder."
+
+"I 'd give all I own in the world that she were safe on shore," murmured
+Cashel, not heeding the other's observation; "I cannot forgive myself
+for having induced her to venture out."
+
+The lieutenant made no reply, but peered for a few seconds through the
+skylight of the cabin. "My Lord is lying like a dead man," said he;
+"fright and sea-sickness together have nearly done for him, and yet
+it was only two hours back he thought he 'd make a good figure at the
+Admiralty. There," continued he, "day is breaking yonder; we shall soon
+know our fate; if the gale freshens after sunrise, it is all up with
+us."
+
+"Run the craft in shore and I 'll engage to save her," said Cashel,
+eagerly. "I'm a strong swimmer in surf; I rescued a Malabar girl once,
+and in a sea nearly as heavy as this."
+
+Sickleton smiled incredulously, and turned away.
+
+"It is freshening, by Jove!" said he, as a squall struck the vessel, and
+laid her almost on her beam ends, while every plank shivered as though
+she were rending in pieces.
+
+"It's coming stronger, sir," said the pilot, as he shook the sea from
+his rough coat and bent his gaze steadfastly towards the east; "I 'd
+rather not see that red sunrise. Keep her away, man, keep her away!"
+
+"Shall we try it?" muttered Sickleton, to some whispered observations of
+the other.
+
+"We may as well," rejoined the pilot; "she 'll never hold steerage way
+with her present canvas, and if she won't bear the mainsail we must go
+on shore, and no help for it."
+
+"Bear a hand there, boys!" cried Sickleton; "shake out the mainsail!"
+
+"You 'll carry away the mast," cried Cashel, as he heard the order.
+
+"It 's like enough," growled the pilot, "but yonder's the lee-shore."
+
+"I could save her--I 'm certain I could save her," said Cashel.
+
+"He's thinking of the lady," said the pilot to Sickleton; and the
+contemptuous tone showed how humbly he estimated him.
+
+"Breakers ahead!--shoal water!" shouted a voice from the bow.
+
+"'Bout ship!" cried Sickleton; "stand by sheets and tacks there--down
+helm! Are ye ready, men?" And the next moment the obedient vessel spun
+round, and was cleaving the water on another tack.
+
+"What is it? where am I? is this a dream?" said Lady Kilgoff, as she
+moved back the hair from her eyes, and looked up at Cashel, who for
+hours had never moved or stirred.
+
+"To _me_ it has been a delicious dream," said Cashel, as he met her
+glance; "and if it were not that you may feel alarmed, it would be still
+such."
+
+"What a terrible sea! Where are we?"
+
+"Not far from shore," said Cashel, encouragingly.
+
+"A devilish deal too near it, though," muttered the pilot, under his
+breath.
+
+"Oh, I remember all now. Where is my Lord, Mr. Cashel? Is he ill?"
+
+"He 's gone below--he is sleeping, I believe. It has been a wild night
+for _you_; and you 've passed it here on the deck."
+
+"Here?" said she, looking up and blushing, for she still lay supported
+against Roland, and one of his hands held the boat-cloak across her.
+
+"Yes, here," said Cashel, with a voice and manner that made the color
+mount to her cheeks and as suddenly desert them again.
+
+Meanwhile the lieutenant had gone below, and reappeared with a chart,
+over which he and the pilot now bent in the deepest consideration.
+
+"Then that must have been the 'Calf' Light we saw to the eastward," said
+Sickleton, pointing to the map.
+
+"I 'd say so too," replied the other, "if such a run did n't seem
+impossible; but we only tripped our anchor last night before sunset."
+
+"Ten hours, though!--one can do a deal in ten hours!" said the
+lieutenant.
+
+"It may be worth as many years sometimes!" said Cashel, in a whisper to
+her at his side.
+
+"Breakers right ahead!" shouted the man at the bow.
+
+"We 're among the 'Barrels!'" cried, the pilot; "back the topsail! down
+mainsail!--"
+
+But it was too late! Like a sea-bird rising to its flight, the light
+craft bounded forward, till her shining copper glanced above the waves,
+and then, with a spring, dashed onward, amid the foam and spray that
+rose like a mist around her. The frothy shower flew over the deck, while
+the hissing water spurted up on every side with a crashing, splintering
+sound. The keel came down, and while a loud cry broke forth, "She 's
+struck!" the mast snapped suddenly across, and fell with its draped
+rigging into the sea.
+
+"Stand by! cut away the boats!" shouted Sickleton; and seizing a
+hatchet, gave the example himself, while Cashel, lifting the now
+lifeless form of Lady Kilgoff, placed her in the boat. The confusion and
+terror became now extreme. The breaking sea had already forced its way
+through the vessel's bottom, and issued in a clear jet of blue water
+from the hatchways. The first boat launched was rapidly crowded, and
+scarcely had it touched the water than it was swamped. For an instant
+the struggling figures were seen battling with the waves, but in a
+moment after they were gone!
+
+Mainly through Sickleton and Cashel's exertions, the second boat was got
+ready, and just about to be launched, when Roland turned to seek Lord
+Kilgoff, whom, up to that moment, he had entirely forgotten. Scarcely
+had he reached the binnacle, when the old man, pale and almost dead with
+terror, stood before him. "Is she safe, sir?--is my Lady safe?" cried
+he, tremulously.
+
+"Quite so; come along, there 's not a moment to lose."
+
+"Oh, Mr. Cashel, do not leave me!" cried Lady Kilgoff, as the boat was
+lifted from its place, and swung by the halyards from side to side.
+
+"You cannot surely resist that appeal, sir," said Lord Kilgoff, his
+withered and worn features flushed with a pang of sudden anger.
+
+"I must see to _your_ safety, my Lord, or none else is likely to do it,"
+said Cashel, sternly; and as he spoke he lifted the old man and placed
+him in the boat. "Stay where you are, Sickleton," cried he to
+the lieutenant; "I 'll cut her adrift. So there! my boys, all
+together--larboard now." And as the vessel heaved over to the surge,
+the boat was launched. A shrill cry of terror was heard above the raging
+storm; for Cashel, in his eagerness to secure the others' safety, had
+perilled his own, and now the boiling surf rushed between the yacht and
+the boat, defying every effort to approach.
+
+"Never fear for me," said Roland, boldly; "the distance is short, and I
+'ve swum in many a heavier surf." And he swung himself, as he spoke, by
+a loose stay into the sea. Nobly breasting the mad waves, he was seen at
+intervals, now borne on the white-crested billows, now deep down in the
+dark trough of waters. His Indian teaching had taught him, too, to dive
+at times through the coming surf, and thus escape its force, and so
+did he emerge from the great mass of waters that seemed almost to have
+buried him. Bending to the oars, the boat's crew pulled manfully through
+the tide, and at last gaining a little bay, floated into calm water,
+just as Cashel had got a footing on a reef of rock, a short distance
+from land.
+
+"Safe!" cried he, as he drew his wearied limbs up the little craggy
+eminence, from which he could see the yacht still storm-lashed and
+heaving, and follow with his eyes the boat, as with bounding speed she
+made for shore.
+
+No sooner had Sickleton safely landed his freight than he put out again
+to rescue those in the yacht, while Cashel, bruised, bleeding, and torn,
+made his way slowly to the little hut where Lord and Lady Kilgoff had
+taken shelter.
+
+His entrance was little noticed. The cabin was full of country people
+and fishermen,--some earnestly proffering advice and counsel, others
+as eagerly questioning all about the recent calamity. In a great
+straw chair, beside the fire, sat Lord Kilgoff, his head resting on a
+country-woman's shoulder, while another bathed his temples to restore
+animation.
+
+"Where is she?" said Cashel, passionately; and the tone and look of the
+speaker turned attention towards him.
+
+"'T is her husband," whispered the woman of the house, courtesying
+respectfully to the youth, who, in all the torn disorder of his dress,
+looked the gentleman; and with that she drew him into an inner room,
+where upon a low settle lay the pale and scarce breathing form of Lady
+Kilgoff.
+
+"Don't be afeared, yer honer, she 'll be betther in a minute or two. She
+has more courage than her father there," and she pointed to the outside
+room where Lord Kilgoff sat. "Indeed, the first word she spoke was about
+yerself."
+
+Cashel made a gesture to be silent, and sat down beside the settle, his
+gaze fixed on the features, which, in their calm loveliness, had never
+seemed more beautiful.
+
+The stillness that now reigned in the little cabin, only broken by the
+low whisperings without, the calm tranquillity so suddenly succeeding to
+the terrible convulsion, the crowd of sensations pressing on the brain,
+and, above all, the immense fatigue he had gone through, brought on such
+a sense of stupor that Cashel fell heavily on the floor, and with his
+head leaning against the settle, fell into a sound sleep.
+
+Before evening had closed in most of the party had recovered from their
+fatigues, and sat grouped in various attitudes round the blazing fire of
+the cabin. In a deep, old-fashioned straw chair, reclined, rather than
+sat, Lady Kilgoff; a slightly feverish flush lent a brilliancy to her
+otherwise pale features, deepening the expression of her full soft eyes,
+and giving a more animated character to the placid beauty of her face.
+Her hair, in all the loose freedom of its uncared for state, fell in
+great voluptuous masses along her neck and shoulders, while part of a
+finely-turned arm peeped out beneath the folds of the wide scarlet
+cloak which the fisherman's wife had lent her in lieu of her own costly
+"Cashmere."
+
+[Illustration: 374]
+
+Next to her sat Roland; and although dressed in the rough jacket of a
+sailor, his throat encircled by a rude cravat of colored worsted,
+he seemed in the very costume to have regained some of his long-lost
+joyousness, and, notwithstanding the sad event of the night, to be in
+a very ecstasy of high spirits. Sickleton, too, seemed like one who
+regarded the whole adventure as a circumstance too common-place for
+much thought, and busied himself writing letters to various persons at
+Cashel's dictation, sorely puzzled from time to time to follow out the
+thread of an intention, which Roland's devotion to the lady at his side
+more than once interrupted.
+
+The most disconsolate and woe-begone of all was the poor peer, who,
+propped up by cushions, sat with unmeaning gaze steadily riveted on the
+fire. There was something so horribly absurd, too, in the costume in
+which he was clad, that converted all pity into a sense of ridicule.
+A great wide pea-jacket encircled his shrunken, wasted figure to the
+knees, where the thin attenuated legs appeared, clad in blue worsted
+stockings, whose wide folds fell in a hundred wrinkles around them; a
+woollen cap of red and orange stripes covered his head, giving a most
+grotesque expression to the small and fine-cut features of his face.
+If Lady Kilgoff and Cashel had not been too much interested on other
+topics, they could not have failed to discover, in the occasional
+stealthy glances that Sickleton cast on the old lord, that the costume
+had been a thing of his own devising, and that the rakish air of the
+nightcap, set sideways on the head, was owing to the sailor's inveterate
+fondness for a joke, no matter how ill-timed the moment or ill-suited
+the subject of it.
+
+Behind them, and in a wider circle, sat the fisherman and his family,
+the occasional flash of the fire lighting up the gloom where they
+sat, and showing, as in a Rembrandt, the strong and vigorous lines of
+features where health and hardship were united--the whole forming in the
+light and shadow a perfect subject for a painter.
+
+From the first moment of the mishap, Lord Kilgoff had sunk into a state
+of almost child-like imbecility, neither remembering where he was, nor
+taking interest in anything, an occasional fractious or impatient remark
+at some parsing inconvenience being all the evidence he gave of
+thought. It devolved, therefore, upon Cashel to make every arrangement
+necessary,--an assumption on his part which his natural respect and
+delicacy made no small difficulty. As for Lady Kilgoff, she appeared
+implicitly to yield to his judgment on every point; and when Roland
+suggested that, instead of returning to Dublin and all its inevitable
+rumors, they should at once proceed to Tubbermore, she assented at once,
+and most willingly.
+
+It was with this object, then, that Sickleton sat, pen in hand, making
+notes of Cashel's directions, and from time to time writing at his
+dictation to various tradesmen whose services he stood in need of.
+It would certainly have called for a clearer head, and a calmer than
+Roland's, to have conducted the conversation with the lady and the
+command to the gentleman, who sat at either side of him. Many a sad
+blunder did he make, and more than once did the reply intended for her
+Ladyship find its way into the epistle of the lieutenant, nor did the
+mistake appear till a reading of the document announced it. At these, a
+burst of laughter was sure to break forth, and then my Lord would look
+up, and, passing his fingers across his temples, seem trying to recall
+his lost and wandering faculties--efforts that the changeful play of
+his features showed to be alternately failing and succeeding, as reason,
+tide-like, ebbed and flowed within his brain.
+
+It was as Sickleton wrote down at Cashel's direction the order for a
+considerable sum of money to be distributed among the crew of the yacht,
+that Lord Kilgoff, catching as it were in a momentary lucidness the
+meaning of the words, said aloud, "This is not munificence, sir. I
+tell you this is the wasteful extravagance of the buccaneer, not the
+generosity of a true gentleman."
+
+The other suddenly started at the words, and while Lady Kilgoff's deep
+flush of passion and Cashel's look of astonishment exhibited their
+feelings, Sickleton's hearty laugh showed the racy enjoyment deficient
+delicacy can always reap from an awkward dilemma.
+
+"But, my Lord, you mistake Mr. Cashel," said Lady Kilgoff, eagerly
+bending forward as she spoke. "His noble gift is to compensate
+these brave fellows for a loss, as well as reward them for an act of
+devotion.--How silly in me to reason with him! see, Mr. Cashel, his mind
+is quite shaken by this calamity."
+
+"Your defence compensates a hundred such reproofs," said Cashel, with
+warmth. "Well, Mr. Sickleton," said he, anxious to quit a painful topic,
+"what of this schooner yacht you spoke of awhile ago?"
+
+"The handsomest craft that ever swam," said the lieutenant, delighted
+to discuss a favorite theme. "Lord Wellingham has married, and they say
+won't keep her any longer. You 'll get her for ten thousand, and the
+story is she cost about fourteen."
+
+"But perhaps Mr. Cashel may soon follow her noble owner's example," said
+Lady Kilgoff, smiling, and with a subdued look towards Roland.
+
+"Don't give him bad counsel, my Lady."
+
+"It really does seem to me a kind of inveteracy thus to talk of buying a
+new yacht within a few hours after losing one."
+
+"Like a widower looking out for a new wife, I suppose," said the
+lieutenant, laughing.
+
+"No, sir, I beg to correct you," broke in my Lord, with a snappishness
+that made the bearers start; "her Ladyship is not yet a widow, although
+her levity might seem to imply it."
+
+"My Lord, I must protest against this sarcastic humor," said she, with
+a mild dignity. "Our terrible catastrophe may have disturbed your right
+judgment, but I pray select another theme for misconstruction. Mr.
+Cashel, I will wish you a good-night. In the difficulty in which I
+am placed, I can only say that my perfect confidence in your counsel
+satisfies me it will be such as you ought to give and I to follow."
+
+"Yes, sir, of course; when the lady says, 'Follow,' I hope you know a
+gentleman's devoir better than to disobey." These words were uttered
+by the old man with a sneering impertinence that augured no absence of
+mind; but ere the door closed upon Lady Kilgoff his face had again put
+on its former dull and vacant stare, and it was clear that the momentary
+intelligence was past and over.
+
+"Now, Sickleton," said Cashel, as if at length able to give his mind to
+the details before him, "you will haste to Dublin; send us the carriages
+with all the speed you can muster; pack off her Ladyship's maid and the
+wardrobe, and don't forget that dressing-case at Seward's. I should like
+to have her crest upon it, but there's no time for that--besides, we
+should only have more scandal in Dublin when it got abroad. Then for
+Kennyfeck: tell him I have no money, and stand much in need of it, for,
+as my Lord says, mine are buccaneer's habits; and lastly, run over to
+Cowes and secure the yacht--we must have her. I'm much mistaken, or our
+friends here will take a cruise with us among the Greek Islands one of
+these days."
+
+"Treacherous navigation, too!" said Sickleton, with a dryness that
+seemed to imply more than the mere words.
+
+"What if it be, man! they say there's nothing much worse anywhere than
+the line of coast here beside us."
+
+"Well, and have n't we suffered enough to make us credit the report?"
+He paused, and then dropping his voice to a low and cautious whisper,
+added, "Not but that I shall call you lucky if all the danger has ended
+with the loss of the vessel."
+
+"How? What do you mean?" asked Cashel, in atone of great eagerness.
+
+"Cannot you guess?" said the other, with an imperturbable coolness.
+
+"No, on my honor, I have n't a thought whither your words point."
+
+"Then, faith, the peril is fifty times greater and nearer than I
+suspected," cried he, warmly. "When a man cracks on all that he can
+carry, and more than is safe, you at least give him credit for knowing
+the channel, and understanding its bearings; but when he tells you that
+he neither knows the course nor the soundings, why you set him down as
+mad."
+
+"I shall not be very far removed from that condition if you'll not
+condescend to explain yourself more freely," said Cashel, with some
+irritation of manner. "Where is this danger? and what is it?"
+
+Sickleton looked at him for a second or two, then at the old peer; and,
+at last, with a scarcely perceptible movement of his head, motioned
+towards the door by which Lady Kilgoff had just passed out.
+
+"You surely cannot mean--you do not suppose--"
+
+"No matter what I suppose; all I say is, there are worse breakers ahead
+of you just now than the 'Lucciola' had last night; haul your wind, and
+draw off while you have time. Besides, look yonder,"--and he pointed
+with a jerk of his thumb to Lord Kilgoff, who still sat with stolid gaze
+fixed upon the red embers of the fire,--"that would be a victory with
+but little honor!"
+
+Cashel started to his feet, and, passing his hand over his forehead,
+seemed, as it were, trying to disabuse his mind of some painful
+illusion. His features, flushed and animated an instant before, had
+grown almost livid in pallor; and he stood, with one hand leaning on the
+chair from which he had risen, like one recovering from a fainting
+fit At last, and with a voice husky and hoarse from emotion, he said,
+"Sickleton, if I had thought this--if, I say, I even believed what you
+hint at possible--"
+
+"Pooh! pooh!" broke in the other; "why anchor in three fathoms when
+you 've deep water beside you? You 'll not hug a lee-shore with a fresh
+breeze on your quarter; and all I ask is, that you 'd not risk the loss
+of that noble craft merely that you may spoil the wreck."
+
+Cashel grasped the rough seaman's hand in both his own, and shook it
+with warmth.
+
+"I can only say this," said the bluff lieutenant, rising, "if such be
+the object of your cruises, you must seek another shipmate than Bob
+Sickleton; and so good-night."
+
+"Are you going?" said Cashel, with a sorrowful voice. "I wish you were
+not about to leave thus."
+
+"I have given you your bearings; that ought to be enough for you.
+Good-night, once more." And with this the honest-hearted lieutenant
+threw his boat-cloak around him, and sallied forth to the door, before
+which a chaise was in waiting to convey him to Dublin.
+
+As for Roland, his agitated and excited mind banished all desire for
+sleep, and he wandered out upon the beach, where, resolving many a good
+intention for the future, he walked to and fro till day was breaking.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX. MISS LEICESTER'S DREAM AND ITS FULFILMENT
+
+     Old walls have mouths as well as ears.
+
+     The Convent: a Play.
+
+To us of the present day, who see what Genii are guineas, fairy tales
+are mere allegories. Your true sorcerer is a credit "on Coutts,"
+and anything may be esteemed within his power who reckons by tens of
+thousands.
+
+Tom Linton was experimenting on this problem somewhat largely at
+Tubbermore, where the old, misshapen, ugly house had undergone such
+a series of transformations inside and out that the oldest inhabitant
+might have failed to recognize it. Roman cement and stucco--those
+cosmetics of architecture--had given to the front a most plausible air;
+and what with a great flagged terrace beneath and a balustrade parapet
+above, the whole had put on a wonderful look of solidity and importance.
+French windows and plate-glass, stuccoed architraves and richly
+traceried balconies, from which access was had to various terraces and
+flower-plats, contributed an appearance of lightness to the building;
+and what was lost in architectural elegance, was fully recompensed by
+convenience and facility of enjoyment.
+
+Within, the arrangements were excellent, and, as regarded the object
+in view, perfect; various suites of apartments, so separated as to be
+actually like residences, abounded throughout, so that the guests might
+either indulge their solitude undisturbed, or mix in the wide circle of
+the general company. For the latter, a magnificent suite of rooms led
+along the entire basement story. Here, considering the shortness of the
+time and the difficulties encountered, Linton's skill was pre-eminently
+distinguished. Painting was too slow a process for such an emergency,
+and accordingly the walls were hung with rich silks and stuffs from the
+looms of Lyons, draped in a hundred graceful fashions, while the floors,
+laid down in the rough, were concealed by the massive texture of Persian
+carpets, the most costly ever brought to this country. The air of
+comfort and "livableness"--if we may coin a word--depicted on every
+side, took away the reproach of ostentatious splendor, which perhaps
+might have been applied to rich decorations and gorgeous details in a
+mere country house. And this was managed with no mean skill; and he must
+have been a stern critic who could have canvassed too rigidly the merit
+of appliances so manifestly provided for his own enjoyment. Books
+and pictures--the Penates of domesticity--were there, and everything
+possible was done to give a semblance of long habitation to that which
+but a few weeks back had been a dreary ruin.
+
+A critical eye might have detected in many instances the evidences of a
+more refined taste than Mr. Linton's, and so was it Miss Leicester had
+frequently aided him by her advice and suggestions, and every day, when
+the weather permitted, saw old Mr. Corrigan and his granddaughter repair
+to Tubbermore, whose progress they watched with a degree of interest
+only felt by those whose retirement admits few sources of amusement
+There was a secret cause of pride, too, in seeing the old residence of
+the family--marred as had been its proportions by frequent and tasteless
+additions--resume something of its once grandeur. Mary, whose earliest
+lessons in infancy had been the tales of her powerful ancestors, who
+lorded over an almost princely tract, entered heart and soul into
+a course which favored so many of fancy's pleasantest fictions. Her
+greatest delight, however, was in the restoration of one part of the
+building, which all former innovators had apparently despaired of, and
+left as a species of storehouse for every kind of lumber. This was a
+great square tower, with an adjoining chapel, the floor of which was
+formed by the tombstones of her earliest ancestors. One compartment of
+a stained-glass window showed "the helmet and torch," the arms of the
+O'Regans, from which the family, by a corruption, took the name of
+Corrigan; and various other mementos abounded to prove the high station
+they had once supported.
+
+Strongly imbued with a knowledge of the tales and customs of the period,
+Mary restored the chapel to all the emblazoned splendor of the sixteenth
+century. The rich carvings that modern research has discovered and
+carried away from the châteaux of the Low Countries were adapted to the
+place, and speedily the interior put on an air of highly preserved and
+cherished antiquity.
+
+The tower adjoining was also converted into a great chamber of
+audience,--a "Ritter-Saal,"--hung round with weapons of the chase and
+war, while great buffets displayed a wealth of antique plate and china,
+of gem-wrought cups and massive flagons, that lent a lustre to its
+otherwise too stern appearance. Lighted by a range of stained windows
+far from the ground, the tempered sunlight cast a mellow glance on every
+object; and here, in the silence of the noon, when the workmen had gone
+to dinner, Mary used to sit alone, some strange spell fascinating her
+to a spot where echoes had once awoke to the tramp of her own kinsmen's
+footsteps.
+
+"Tell me, Mr. Linton," said she, as he entered suddenly, and found her
+seated in her favorite place, "what part of the chapel adjoins the wall
+we see yonder?"
+
+"That," said Linton, musing for a second,--"that, if I mistake not, must
+be what you styled the crypt; the--"
+
+"Exactly!" cried she, with animation. "The crypt is somewhat lower than
+this chamber, two steps or so?"
+
+"About as much."
+
+"How strange, how very strange!" she said, half to herself.
+
+"What is strange!" said Linton, smiling at the intense preoccupation of
+her features.
+
+"You will laugh outright," said she, "if I tell you. It was a dream I
+had last night about this chamber."
+
+"Pray let me hear it," said Linton, seating himself, and affecting a
+deep interest "I own to a most implicit confidence in dreams."
+
+"Which is more than I do," said she, laughing. "This has, however, so
+much of truth about it, as the locality is concerned, and thus far it
+is curious. Are you certain that you never told me before that the crypt
+lay outside of that wall?"
+
+"Perfectly; since I only learned as much myself about an hour ago."
+
+"How singular!"
+
+"Come, do not torture my curiosity further. Let us have your dream."
+
+"It was very short. I dreamed that I was sitting here musing and
+thinking over the lives and fortunes of some of those who once dwelt
+within these walls, and comparing their destiny with that of their
+descendants, only admitted, as it were, on sufferance, when suddenly a
+door opened slowly there,--there, in the very midst of that wall,--and
+I could see down into the crypt, and the chapel beyond it. On the altar
+there were candles lighted, and I thought the figure of a man crossed
+and recrossed below the steps, as if settling and arranging the books
+and cushions; and, at last, he turned round, and I perceived that he
+carried in his hands a small and strongly clasped box, and, as he came
+towards me, he seemed to hold this out for me to take; but, as I did not
+move or stir, he laid it down within the doorway, and, as he did so,
+the wall gradually closed up again, and no vestige of the door could
+be seen. Nay, so perfectly unshaken did all appear that I remember
+remarking a cobweb that stretched from the frame of a picture, and
+hung over the spot where the door seemed to be; and there," cried she,
+starting up,--"there, Mr. Linton, as I live, there is the cobweb!"
+
+"Which, without doubt, you observed yesterday," said Linton, "and in
+your sleep the vision of our neglect was renewed."
+
+"No, no; I never saw it before. I am confident that I never noticed it
+yesterday. I am sorry I revealed my dream to you," said she, perceiving
+that, in spite of all his tact, incredulity had lent a look of pitying
+compassion to his features.
+
+"On the contrary, I beg of you to believe in all my interest for your
+recital; nay, I'll prove it too."
+
+"How so?" said she, eagerly.
+
+"Simply enough. I 'll give orders at once to have a door made here, and
+then we shall see if the view you describe of the crypt and the chapel
+can be seen from this point."
+
+"Why don't you add, and of the figure with the casket, too?" said she,
+smiling; "for I see you regard them all as alike veracious."
+
+"In any case," cried Linton, "if he lay down the treasure--and treasure
+it must be--here in the doorway, I 'll take care that the walls do not
+swallow it up again; we shall be able to find it in the morning."
+
+"And will you really have this done?"
+
+"I 'll give the orders this very day."
+
+"I must not be so silly," said she, after a pause; "the whole is too
+absurd. No, Mr. Linton, do not, I beg of you, do not take any notice of
+my folly."
+
+"At all events," said Linton, "your dream is a most happy inspiration;
+a door here will be a great improvement, and if the vista takes in the
+chapel, so much the better. Remember, too," added he, in a lower and
+more feeling voice,--"remember what I have told you so often, that
+whatever we do here has, so to say, no other reward than the pleasure it
+gives me the doing. Our great patron has about as much gratefulness
+in his composition as taste. He will neither feel thankful for our
+exertions, nor sensible of their success, and is just as likely to
+desecrate yon Ritter-Saal, by making it his smoking-room."
+
+"If I thought so," said she, proudly, and then stopped suddenly. "But
+how can it concern me? I have only to wonder how you can accept of an
+intimacy so distasteful."
+
+This, in its very abruptness, was a home-thrust; and so much did Linton
+feel it that he reddened, at first with shame, and then with anger at
+his want of composure.
+
+"There are many circumstances in life, Miss Leicester," said he,
+gravely, "which demand heavy sacrifices of personal feeling; and happy
+if sometimes the recompense come in seeing that our self-devotion has
+worked well for others! I may one day explain myself more fully on this
+head."
+
+Before Mary could answer, a messenger came to say that her grandfather
+was waiting to return with her to the cottage, and she bid Linton
+good-bye with a degree of interest for him she had never felt before.
+Linton stood in a window and watched her as she went, nor did his eye
+quit the graceful form till it disappeared in the covering of the trees.
+"Yes," said he to himself, "I have struck the right chord at last! She
+neither is to be dazzled by the splendor nor excited by the ambitions of
+the great world. The key to the mystery of her nature lies in the
+very fact of her position in life,--the indignant struggle against a
+condition she feels beneath her; she can sympathize with this. She is
+just the very girl, too, to awaken Laura's jealousy, so brilliantly
+handsome, so much of elegance in mien and deportment Ay! the game will
+win; I may stake all upon it. Who is that?" said he, starting suddenly,
+as a door banged behind him, and he saw Tom Keane, who had been a silent
+listener to his soliloquy. Linton well knew that, shrewd as the man was,
+the words could have conveyed little or nothing to his intelligence, and
+carelessly asked what had the post brought.
+
+"A heap of letters, yer honer," said he, laying the heavily loaded bag
+on the table. "I never see so many come to the town afore."
+
+As Linton unlocked the bag and emptied its contents before him, his face
+suddenly grew dark and angry, for none of the letters, as he turned them
+over, were for himself; they were all addressed Roland Cashel, Esq., and
+marked "private." At last he saw one with his own name, and, motioning
+to Keane to leave him undisturbed, he sat down to read it. It came from
+his correspondent, Mr. Phillis, and was of the briefest:
+
+     Sir,--All has gone wrong. R. C. sailed last night on a
+     yachting excursion with Lord and Lady K., some say for
+     Wales, others for the Isle of Wight. The truth I cannot
+     ascertain. The persons invited to Tubbennore are all
+     preparing to set out, but eagerly asking where C. is to be
+     found. There has been something like a breach at K.'s, and I
+     fancy it is about Lady Kilgoffs going in the yacht, which,
+     although seeming accident, must have been planned
+     previously. If you had been here the matter might have taken
+     another turn, as C. appears very tired of K.'s agency, and
+     the difficulty of obtaining money from him.
+
+     I have received a few lines from C., dated from "the
+     harbor," to order a "fourgon" to be got ready; but I shall
+     pretend not to have received the note, and leave this, if
+     you desire it, for Tubbermore on hearing from you.
+
+     Yours, in duty,
+
+     R. Phillis.
+
+Linton crashed the note passionately in his fingers, and with a cheek
+almost purple, and swollen knotted veins about the forehead and temples,
+he hastily walked to and fro in the apartment. "So, madam," said he, "is
+this, then, the reason of your compliance? Was this the source of that
+yielding to my wishes that induced you to come here? And to dare this
+towards _me!_" A fiendish laugh burst from him as he said, "Silly fool;
+so long as you played fair, the advantage was all on your own side. Try
+to cheat, and you 'll see who's the victor! And that cub, too," added
+he, with a hoarse passion, "who ventures a rivalry with me! Hate has an
+inspiration that never deceives; from the first moment I saw him I felt
+that for him."
+
+"You say you wanted the masons, sir," said Keane, opening the door,
+where he had been endeavoring, but ineffectually, to catch the clew of
+Linton's words.
+
+"Yes, let them come here," said he, with his ordinary composure. "You
+are to break a door there," said he, as the men entered, "and I wish
+to have it done with all speed. You 'll work all night, and be doubly
+paid." As he spoke, he sauntered out to muse over the late tidings he
+had received, and plan within himself the coming campaign.
+
+Thus loitering and reflecting, time slipped by and evening drew near.
+
+"We must have a light here," said one of the masons. "This room is never
+very bright, and now it is almost dark as night. But what have we here?"
+And at the moment his hammer sent forth a ringing sound as if it had
+struck upon metal.
+
+"What can it be?" said the other; "it seems like a plate of iron."
+
+Linton now drew nigh, as he overheard these words, and stationing
+himself at a small window, beheld the two men as they labored to detach
+what seemed a heavy stone in the wall.
+
+"It's not a plate of iron, but a box," cried one.
+
+"Hush," said the other, cautioning silence; "if it's money there 's in
+it, let us consider a bit where we 'll hide it."
+
+"It sounds empty, anyhow," said the first, as the metal rang clearly
+out under the hammer. Meanwhile Linton stood overwhelmed at the strange
+connection between the dream and the discovery. "It is a box, and here's
+the key fastened to it by a chain," cried the former speaker. He had
+scarcely succeeded in removing the box from the wall, when Linton was
+standing, unseen and noiseless, behind him.
+
+"We 'll share it fair, whatever it is," said the second.
+
+"Of course," said the other. "Let us see what there is to-share." And
+so he threw back the lid, and beheld, to his great dismay, nothing but a
+roll of parchment fastened by a strap of what had once been red leather,
+but which crumbled away as he touched it.
+
+"'T is Latin," said the first, who seemed the more intelligent of the
+two, after a vain effort to decipher the heavily engrossed line at the
+top.
+
+"You are right," said Linton; and the two men started with terror on
+seeing him so near. "It is Latin, boys; it was the custom of the
+monks to bury their prayers in that way once, and to beg whoever might
+discover the document to say so many masses for the writer's soul; and
+Protestant though I be, I do not think badly of the practice. Let us
+find out the name." And thus saying, he took up the roll and perused it
+steadily. For a long time the evening darkness, the difficulty of the
+letters, and the style of the record, impeded him; but as he read on,
+the color came and went in his cheek, his hand trembled with agitation,
+and had there been light enough to have noted him well, even the workmen
+must have perceived the excitement under which he labored.
+
+"Yes," said he, at last, "it is exactly as I said; it was written by a
+monk. This was an old convent once, and Father Angelo asks our prayers
+for his eternal repose, which assuredly he shall have, heretic that I
+am! Here, boys, here's a pound-note for you; Father Rush will tell you
+how to use it for the best. Get a light and go on with your work, and if
+you don't like to spend the money in masses, say nothing about the box,
+and I 'll not betray your secret."
+
+[Illustration: 388]
+
+A dry laugh and a significant leer of the eye showed that he had
+accurately read his hearers' inmost thoughts, and Linton sat down as
+if to await their return; but no sooner had they left the spot than he
+hastened with all speed to the inn, to con over his newly discovered
+treasure, and satisfy himself as to its importance and authenticity.
+
+Drawing close the curtains of his windows, and locking the door of his
+room, like one who would be alone, he again opened the casket, and took
+out the scroll. With bent-down head and steady gaze, he perused it from
+end to end, and then sat with riveted eyes fixed upon the signature and
+massive seal which were appended to the foot of the document. "That this
+should have been revealed in a dream," said he, at length, "is almost
+enough to shake one's faith in the whole! Am I myself awake, and is it
+real what I see before me?" He walked the room with uncertain steps,
+then opened wide the window, then closed it again, once more took up
+the paper and studied it. In fact, it was clear to see that a sceptical
+nature, the very habit of doubt, had indisposed him to believe in even
+that which his very senses corroborated.
+
+"What would I give for some lawyer's craft at this moment!" said he,
+as the drops of perspiration stood upon his forehead, and his clenched
+hands were clasped together in strong emotion; "what would I give for
+the keenness that could pierce through every line of this, and see it
+free of flaw--ay, that is the point! And then, Master Roland,"--here his
+voice grew full and round,--"and then we should see who is the master
+and who the dependent, if with a word--with one word--I could unmake
+you, and from the insolence of your sudden wealth bring you down once
+more to your fitting station! Never did Fortune stand by me like this!
+Let me, however, not lose the game from over-strength; caution is
+needed here. Before Corri-gan shall know himself the rightful owner of
+Tubbermore, he must be satisfied to see Tom Linton his son-in-law. A
+glorious hit that deals vengeance on every hand. Ay, my lady, we shall
+acquit our debt to _you_ also!" From the heat of overwhelming passion
+he again turned to the document which lay open on the table. "What if it
+were only a copy? But this is scarce possible; the signatures look real,
+and the seal cannot be counterfeit. Whom could I trust to inspect it?
+With whom dare I place it for a day, or even an hour? No! I 'll never
+suffer it out of my own keeping! I know not if the power to strike is
+not the very acme of revenge!"
+
+As he walked the room in deepest agitation he chanced for an instant
+to catch a glimpse of Tubbermore, which, in the bright light of a
+newly-risen moon, could be seen above the trees.
+
+"So then it may chance that I have not expended my labor in vain,
+and that this same house may be yet my own. Mine!" cried he, in
+ecstasy,--"mine those swelling woods, that princely park; the high
+position which wealth bestows, and the power that I could speedily
+accomplish in political life. There may be many who have more ambition
+to strive for: I 'll swear there are few men living have more grudges to
+pay off."
+
+And with this speech, uttered in an accent of withering hate and
+scorn, he again returned to gaze at the open parchment. The document,
+surmounted by the royal arms, and engrossed in a stiff old-fashioned
+hand, was a free pardon accorded by his Majesty George the Second to
+Miles Hardress Corrigan, and a full and unqualified restoration to his
+once forfeited estates. Certain legal formalities were also enjoined to
+be taken, and certain oaths to be made, as the recognition of this act
+of his sovereign's grace.
+
+Such was the important document on which now he gazed, reading and
+re-reading it, till every word became riveted on his memory.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI. THE GUESTS BEGIN TO ARRIVE.
+
+     "Hark they come! they come!"
+
+
+An unusual bustle and commotion in the little inn awoke Linton early
+on the following morning. These were caused by the arrival of a host of
+cooks, coachmen, grooms, footmen, and scullions, with a due proportion
+of the other sex, all engaged in London, and despatched--"as per
+order"--to form the household of Tubbermore.
+
+As Linton proceeded with his dressing, he overheard the multifarious
+complaints and lamentations of this town-reared population over the dirt
+and destitution of their newly adopted land,--criticisms which, as
+they scrupled not to detail aloud, evoked rejoinders not a whit more
+complimentary to the Saxon; the hostess of the Goat--being an energetic
+disciple of that great authority who has pronounced both the land and
+its people as the paragons of creation--leading the van of the attack,
+and certainly making up for any deficiencies in her cause by the force
+of her eloquence.
+
+"Arrah! who wanted ye here at all?" said she, addressing the circle,
+stunned into silence by her volubility. "Who axed ye? Was it to plaze
+us, or to fill yer pockets with the goold of ould Ireland, ye kem? Oh,
+murther! murther!--is n't it the sin and the shame to think how the
+craytures is eatin' us up! Faix! maybe ye 'll be sorry enough for it
+yet. There's more than one amongst you would like to be safe home again,
+afore long! A set of lazy thieves, no less. The heavens be my bed, but I
+never thought I 'd see the day they 'd be bringing a 'naygur' to Ireland
+to teach us music!"
+
+This singular apostrophe, which seemed to fill the measure of her woe,
+so far attracted Linton's curiosity to comprehend it, that he opened the
+window and looked out, and at once discovered, by the direction of the
+eyes of the circle, the object of the sarcasm. He was a well-built man,
+of a dark swarthy complexion and immense beard and mustache, who sat on
+a stone bench before the door, occupied in arranging the strings of his
+guitar. The air of unmoved tranquillity showed that he did not suspect
+himself to be the butt of any sarcasm, and he pursued his task with a
+composure that vouched for his ignorance of the language.
+
+[Illustration: 392]
+
+"Who is our friend?" said Linton, addressing the coachman, and pointing
+to the musician.
+
+"We calls him Robinson Crusoe, sir," replied the other; "we took him up
+on the road from Limerick. We never seed him afore."
+
+"So, then, he doesn't belong to our force. I really had begun to fear
+that Mr. Gunter had pushed enlistment too far."
+
+Meanwhile the stranger, attracted by the voice, looked up, and seeing
+Linton, immediately removed his cap, with an air of quiet courtesy that
+was not lost upon the shrewd observer to whom it was tendered.
+
+"You are a sailor, I perceive?" said Tom, as he walked out in front of
+the inn. The other shook his head dubiously.
+
+"I was asking," said Linton, changing his language to French, "if you
+had been a sailor?"
+
+"Yes, sir," replied he, again removing his cap, "a sailor from Trieste."
+
+"And how came you here?"
+
+"Our vessel was lost off the Blasquets, sir, on Wednesday night. We
+were bound for Bristol with fruit from Sicily, and caught in a gale; we
+struck, and all were lost, except myself and another, now in hospital in
+the large city yonder."
+
+"Were you a petty officer, or a common seaman?" said linton, who had
+been scanning with keen eye the well-knit frame and graceful ease of the
+speaker.
+
+"A common sailor, sir," rejoined he, modestly.
+
+"And how comes it that you are a musician, friend?" asked Linton,
+shrewdly.
+
+"Every one is in my country, sir--at least, with such humble skill as I
+possess."
+
+"What good fortune it was to have saved your guitar from shipwreck!"
+rejoined Linton, with an incredulous twinkle of his gray eyes.
+
+"I did not do so, sir," said the sailor, who either did not, or would
+not, notice the sarcasm. "My good friends here"--pointing to the
+servants--"bought this for me in the last town we came through."
+
+Linton again fixed his eyes upon him; it was evident that he was
+hesitating between belief and an habitual sense of distrust, that
+extended to everything and everybody. At last he said,--
+
+"And what led you hither, my friend?"
+
+"Chance," said the man, shrugging his shoulders. "I could have no
+preferences for one road over another--all were strange--all unknown
+to me. I hoped with the aid of my guitar, to get some clothes once more
+together, and then to find some vessel bound for the Adriatic."
+
+"What can you do besides that?" said Linton, "for it strikes me a fellow
+with thews and sinews like yours was scarcely intended to thrum catgut."
+
+"I can do most things where a steady eye, and a strong; hand, and
+a quick foot are needed. I 've been a hunter in the forests of
+Dalmatia--herded the half-wild cattle on the Campagna at Rome--sailed a
+felucca in the worst Levanters of the gulf--and to swim in a high sea,
+or to ride an unbroken horse, I'll yield to but one man living."
+
+"And who may he be?" said Linton, aroused at the southern enthusiasm so
+suddenly excited.
+
+"A countryman of mine," said the sailor, sententiously; "his name is not
+known to you."
+
+"How sad such gifts as these should have so little recompense in our
+days," said Linton, with an affected sincerity. "There was a time, in
+your own country, too, when a fellow like yourself would not have had
+long to seek for a patron."
+
+The Italian's cheek grew deeper in its flush, and his dark eyes seemed
+almost to kindle beneath the shaggy brows; then correcting, as it
+seemed, the passionate impulse, he said: "Ay, true enough, sir; there
+were many who had the gold to squander, who had not the hand to strike,
+and, as you say, fellows like me were high in the market."
+
+"And no great hardship in it, either," said Linton. "There is a justice
+surer and quicker than the law, which I, for one, think right well of."
+
+Either not following the import of the speech, or not caring to concur
+in it, the Italian did not reply.
+
+"I have a notion that we may find out some employment for you here,"
+said Linton. "What name are we to call you?"
+
+"Giovanni," said the sailor, after a moment's hesitation, which did not
+escape the shrewdness of his questioner.
+
+"Giovanni be it," said Linton, easily; "as good as another."
+
+"Just so," rejoined the Italian, with a hardihood that seemed to sit
+easily upon him.
+
+"I think, friend," said Linton, drawing nearer to him--and, although the
+foreign language in which he spoke effectually prevented the others from
+understanding what passed, instantly his voice dropped into a lower and
+more confidential tone--"I think, friend, we shall soon understand each
+other well. You are in want of a protector; I may yet stand in need of
+an attached and zealous fellow. I read people quickly, and it seems to
+me that we are well met. Stay here, then; we shall soon have a large
+company arriving, and I 'll try and find out some exercise for your
+abilities."
+
+The Italian's dark eyes flashed and twinkled as though his subtle nature
+had already enlarged upon the shadowy suggestions of the other, and he
+made a significant gesture of assent.
+
+"Remember, now, in whose service you are," said Linton, taking out his
+purse, and seeking among its contents for the precise piece of coin he
+wanted--"remember, that I am not the master here, but one who has to the
+full as much power, and that I can prove a strong friend, and, some say,
+a very dangerous enemy. Here is the earnest of our bargain," said he,
+handing him a guinea in gold; "from this hour I count upon you."
+
+The Italian nodded twice, and pocketing the money with a cool audacity
+that told that such contracts were easily comprehended by him, touched
+his cap, and sauntered away, as though to follow out some path of his
+own choosing. Linton looked after him for a moment, but the next
+his attention was taken off by seeing that Mr. Corrigan and his
+granddaughter were advancing hastily towards him.
+
+"So you have really accepted my suggestion," said Mary, with a flush
+of pleasure on her cheek; "the door has been opened, and the vista is
+exactly as my dream revealed it."
+
+"In all save the chief ingredient," replied Linton, laugh-. ing; "we
+want the monk and the casket."
+
+"Hush!" said she, cautiously; "grandpapa is a firm believer in all
+dreams and visions, and would not hear them spoken of irreverently."
+
+"Assuredly, I never was less in the mind to do so," replied Linton, with
+a degree of earnestness that made Mary smile, little suspecting at the
+time to what his speech owed its fervor.
+
+"We've come to take a last look at the 'Hall,' Mr. Linton," said the old
+man. "Tom Keane tells me that your gay company will soon arrive; indeed,
+rumor says that some have already reached Limerick, and will be here
+to-morrow."
+
+"This is more than I knew of," said Linton; "but here comes the
+redoubted Tom himself, and with a full letter-bag, too." Hastily
+unlocking the leather sack, Tom Linton emptied its contents upon a
+grassy bench, where the party seated themselves to learn the news.
+"There are no secrets here," said Linton, tossing over the letters,
+with nearly all of whose handwriting he was familiar; "help me, Miss
+Leicester, I beg, to get through my task. Pray break some of the seals,
+and tell us who our dear friends are whose presence is so soon to charm
+and enliven us. And will you, too, sir, bear your part?" Thus invited,
+old Mr. Corrjgan put on his spectacles, and slowly prepared to assist in
+the labor.
+
+"That's the Dean's hand, Miss Leicester--the Dean of Drumcondera. I hope
+he 's not coming; I 'm sure he was never invited."
+
+"He regrets he cannot be with you this week, but will certainly come
+next, and take the liberty of presenting his distinguished friend,
+the Hofrath von Dunnersleben, professor of Oriental Literature at
+Hochenkanperhausen."
+
+"This is painting the lily with a vengeance; 'color on color' is bad
+heraldry, but what shall we say of the taste that brings 'bore upon
+bore'?"
+
+"'Mrs. Leicester White has prevailed upon Mr. Howie to defer his
+departure from Ireland--'"
+
+"This is too bad," interrupted Linton. "What fortune have you, sir? I
+hope better tidings than Miss Leicester."
+
+"This is a strange kind of scrawl enough," said the old man; "it
+runs thus:--'Dear Tom, we are starting for your wild regions this
+evening--two drags and a mail phaeton. I have sent Gipsy and the white
+fetlocked colt by Hericks, and will bring Tom Edwards with me. The
+mare looks well, but fleshy; you must look to it that we haven't heavy
+ground--'"
+
+"Oh, I know who that's from," said Linton, hastily taking the letter
+from Corrigan's hand; "it's Lord Charles Frobisher,--a silly fellow,
+that never thinks of anything but horse-racing and training."
+
+"He would seem to speculate on something of the kind here," said
+Corrigan; "at least, it looks very like premeditation, this sending off
+grooms and racers."
+
+"He does so everywhere he goes," said Linton, affecting to laugh; "a
+surgeon would no more travel without his lancets, than Charley without
+some chance of a 'match;' but what's this?
+
+"Dear Mr. Cashel,--I and my little girl are already _en route_ for
+your hospitable castle, too happy to assist in the celebration of your
+house-warming--"
+
+"Oh, that's Meek," said Linton. "And now for this rugged little hand
+here.
+
+"Lady Janet and Sir Andrew MacFarline--"
+
+"Strange style,--the lady first," interposed Miss Leicester.
+
+"She is always so," said Linton, continuing the perusal--
+
+--"will reach Tubbermore by Tuesday, and have only to request that their
+apartments may not have a north aspect, as Lady J. has still a heavy
+cold hanging over her. Sir A.'s man, Flint, will arrange the rooms
+himself and, with Mr. Cashel's permission, give directions about double
+doors--if there be none.
+
+"Sir A. has taken the liberty of mentioning to Gordon that the sherry
+is far too hot and acrid, and hopes Mr. Cashel will pardon his having
+ordered some dozens of 'Amontillado' for trial. Lady J. asks, as a
+favor, that plants and flowers may be banished from the house during her
+brief stay, Dr. Grimes positively forbidding all herbaceous odors; and
+if the cook could make the 'cuisine' particularly simple, it would also
+oblige her, as Dr. G. says she ought not to be exposed to the irritation
+of tempting viands, even to see them at table.
+
+"Lady J. hopes that the society will be cheerful without dissipation,
+and gay without debauch; above all, she stipulates for early hours, and
+trusts that by eleven, at latest, the house will have retired to rest.
+Lady Janet has no objection to meeting any one Mr. Cashel may honor with
+his invitation, but leaves it to Mr. C.'s discretion not to abuse this
+liberality. Were she to particularize, she should merely suggest that
+the Kennyfecks, except perhaps the elder girl, are odious--Mrs. White a
+perfect horror--the Meeks something too atrocious--and that rather
+than meet the Kilgoffs and their set, Lady J. would almost prefer to
+relinquish all her much-anticipated pleasure. Mr. Linton can be,
+and very often is, gentlemanlike and amusing, but 'Lintonism,' as
+occasionally practised, is intolerable.
+
+"Lady Janet has ventured on these remarks, far less for her own
+convenience than in the discharge of what she feels to be a duty to
+a very young and inexperienced man, whose unsuspecting nature will
+inevitably expose him to the very insidious attacks of selfishness,
+cunning, and to that species of dictation that sooner or later ends in
+debasing and degrading him who permits himself to be its subject.
+
+"Janet MacFarline."
+
+"What a chaste specimen of disinterestedness her Ladyship's own letter,"
+said Mary. "Is she a near relative, or a very old friend of Mr. Cashel's
+family?"
+
+"Neither; a mere acquaintance, undistinguished by anything like even a
+passing preference."
+
+"She is a Lady Janet," interposed old Corrigan, "and it is surprising
+what charms of influence pertain to those segments of great families,
+as they descend a scale in society, and live among the untitled of the
+world; besides that, whatever they want in power, they 'take out' in
+pretension, and it does quite as well."
+
+"She is 'mauvaise langue,'" said Linton; "and there are few qualities
+obtain such sway in society. But who comes here in such haste? It is Tom
+Keane. Well, Tom, what has happened--is the Hall on fire?"
+
+"No, sir; but the company 's comin' rowlin' in as fast as 'pays'
+down the big avenue, and into the coort; there was three coaches all
+together, and I see two more near the gate."
+
+"Then we shall leave you to your cares of host," said Corrigan, rising;
+"but don't forget that when affairs of state permit, we shall be
+delighted to see you at the cottage."
+
+"Oh, by all means, Mr. Linton. I have acquired the most intense
+curiosity to hear about your fine company and their doings--pray
+compassionate my inquisitiveness."
+
+"But will you not join us sometimes?" said Linton; "can I not persuade
+you to make part of our little company? for I trust we shall be able to
+have some society worth showing you."
+
+The old man shook his head and made a gesture of refusal.
+
+"Nay," said he, "I am so unfitted for such scenes, and so grown out of
+the world's ways, that I am going to play hermit, and be churlish enough
+to lock the wicket that leads down to the cottage during the stay of
+your visitors--not against _you_, however. You'll always find the key at
+the foot of the holly-tree."
+
+"Thanks--I'll not forget it," said Linton; and he took a cordial leave
+of his friends, and returned to the house, wondering as he went who were
+the punctual guests whose coming had anticipated his expectations.
+
+He was not long in doubt upon this point, as he perceived Mr. Phillis,
+who, standing on the terrace before the chief entrance, was giving
+directions to the people about, in a tone of no small authority.
+
+"What, Phillis! has your master arrived?" cried Linton, in astonishment.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Linton!" cried the other, obsequiously, as hat in hand he made
+his approaches, "there has been such a business since I wrote--"
+
+"Is he here? Is he come?" asked Linton, impatiently.
+
+"No, sir, not yet; nor can he arrive before to-morrow evening. You
+received my letter, I suppose, about the result of the yachting-party
+and Lady Kilgoff?"
+
+"No! I know not one word about it," said Linton, with a firmness that
+showed how well he could repress any trace of anxiety or excitement.
+"Come this way, out of the hearing of these people, and tell me
+everything from the beginning."
+
+Phillis obeyed, and walked along beside him, eagerly narrating the whole
+story of Cashel's departure, to the moment when the yacht foundered, and
+the party were shipwrecked off the coast of Wexford.
+
+"Well, go on," said Linton, as the other came to a full stop. "What
+then?"
+
+"A few lines came from Mr. Cashel, sir, with orders for certain things
+to be sent down to a little village on the coast, and directions for me
+to proceed at once to Tubbermore and await his arrival."
+
+Linton did not speak for some minutes, and seemed totally occupied with
+his own reflections, when by hazard he caught the words "her Ladyship
+doing exactly as she pleases--"
+
+"With whom?" asked he, sternly.
+
+"With Mr. Cashel, sir; for it seems that notwithstanding all the terror
+and danger of the late mishap, Mr. Sickleton has been despatched to
+Cowes to purchase the 'Queen of the Harem,' Lord Wellingham's new yacht,
+and this at Lady Kilgoff's special instigation. Mr. Sickleton slept one
+night at our house in town, and I took a look at his papers; there was
+nothing of any consequence, however, except a memorandum about 'Charts
+for the Mediterranean,' which looks suspicious."
+
+"I thought, Phillis, I had warned you about the Kilgoff intimacy. I
+thought I had impressed you with the necessity of keeping them from
+him."
+
+"So you had, sir; and, to the very utmost of my power, I did so; but
+here was a mere accident that foiled all my care and watchfulness."
+
+"As accidents ever do," muttered Linton, with suppressed passion. "The
+game of life, like every other game, is less to skill than chance! Well,
+when can they be here?"
+
+"To-morrow afternoon, sir, if not delayed by something unforeseen;
+though this is not at all unlikely, seeing the difficulty of getting
+posters. There are from thirty to forty horses engaged at every stage."
+
+"Whom have we here?" cried Linton, as a large travelling-carriage
+suddenly swept round the drive, and entered the court.
+
+"Sir Andrew MacFarline's baggage, sir; I passed them at the last change.
+One would say, from the preparations, that they speculate on a somewhat
+lengthy visit. What rooms are we to assign them, sir?"
+
+"The four that look north over the billiard-room and the hall; they are
+the coldest and most cheerless in the house. Your master will occupy the
+apartments now mine; see, here is the plan of the house; Lord and Lady
+Kilgoff have 4, 5, and 6. These that are not marked you may distribute
+how you will. My quarters are those two, beyond the library."
+
+Linton was here interrupted by the advance of a tall, stiff-looking
+old fellow, who, carrying his hand to his hat in military guise, stood
+straight before him, saying, in a very broad accent, "The gen'ral's mon,
+sir, an't please ye."
+
+"Well, friend, and what then?" replied Linton, half testily.
+
+"I 've my leddy's orders, sir, to tak' up a good position, and a warm
+ane, in the hoos yonder, and if it's no askin' too much, I 'd like to
+speer the premises first."
+
+"Mr. Phillis, look after this, if you please," said Linton, turning
+away; "and remember my directions."
+
+"Come with me, friend," said Phillis; "your mistress, I suppose, does
+not like cold apartments?"
+
+"Be ma saul, if she finds them so, she 'll mak' the rest of the hoos
+over warm for the others," said he, with a sardonic grin, that left
+small doubt of his sincere conviction.
+
+"And your master?" said Phillis, in that interrogatory tone which
+invites a confidence.
+
+"The gen'ral 's too auld a soldier no to respec deescepline," said he,
+dryly.
+
+"Oh, that's it, Sanders."
+
+"Ma name's Bob Flint, and no Saunders,--gunner and driver i' the Royal
+Artillery," said the other, drawing himself up proudly; "an' if we are
+to be mair acquaint, it's just as well ye 'd mind that same."
+
+As Bob Flint possessed that indescribable something which would seem, by
+an instinct, to save its owner from impertinences, Mr. Phillis did not
+venture upon any renewed familiarity, but led the way into the house in
+silence.
+
+"That's a bra' cookin' place ye've got yonder," said Bob, as he stopped
+for a second at the door of the great kitchen, where already the cooks
+were busied in the various preparations; "but I'm no so certain my leddy
+wad like to see a bra' giggot scooped out in tha' fashion just to mak'
+room for a wheen black potatoes inside o' it;"--the operation alluded
+to so sarcastically being the stuffing of a shoulder of mutton with
+truffles, in Provencal mode.
+
+"I suppose her Ladyship will be satisfied with criticising what comes
+to table," said Phillis, "without descending to the kitchen to make
+objections."
+
+"If she does, then," said Flint, "she's mair ceevil to ye here than she
+was in the last hoos we spent a fortnight, whar she discharged twa maids
+for no making the beds as she'd taw'd them, forbye getting the coachman
+turned off because the carriage horses held their tails ower high for
+her fancy."
+
+"We'll scarce put up with that here," said Phillis, with offended
+dignity.
+
+"I dinna ken," said Bob, thoughtfully; "she made her ain nephew carry
+a pound o' dips from the chandler's, just, as she said, to scratch his
+pride a bit. I 'd ha' ye mind a wee hoo ye please her fancy. You 're a
+bonnie mon, but she'll think leetle aboot sending ye packing."
+
+Mr. Phillis did not deign a reply to this speech, but led the way to the
+suite destined for her Ladyship's accommodation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII. HOW THE VISITORS FARED
+
+     They come--they come!
+
+     --Harold.
+
+
+Linton passed the greater part of the night in letter-writing.
+Combinations were thickening around him, and it demanded all the
+watchful activity he could command to prevent himself being overtaken
+by events. To a confidential lawyer he submitted a case respecting
+Corrigan's title, but so hypothetically and with such reserve that
+it betrayed no knowledge of his secret--for he trusted no man. Mary
+Leicester's manuscript was his next care, and this he intrusted to a
+former acquaintance connected with the French press, entreating his
+influence to obtain it the honor of publication, and, instead of
+remuneration, asking for some flattering acknowledgment of its merits.
+His last occupation was to write his address to the constituency of his
+borough, where high-sounding phrases and generous professions took the
+place of any awkward avowals of political opinion. This finished, and
+wearied by the long-sustained exertion, he threw himself on his bed. His
+head, however, was far too deeply engaged to permit of sleep. The plot
+was thickening rapidly--events, whose course he hoped to shape at his
+leisure, were hurrying on, and although few men could summon to their
+aid more of cold calculation in a moment of difficulty, his wonted calm
+was now disturbed by one circumstance--this being, as he called it to
+himself--Laura's treachery. No men bear breaches of faith so ill as they
+who practise them with the world. To most persons the yacht voyage would
+have seemed, too, a chance occurrence, where an accidental intimacy was
+formed, to wane and die out with the circumstance that created it. Not
+so did _he_ regard it. He read a prearranged plan in every step she had
+taken--he saw in her game the woman's vanity to wield an influence over
+one for whom so many contended--he knew, too, how in the great world an
+"_éclat_" can always cover an "indiscretion"--and that, in the society
+of that metropolis to which she aspired, the reputation of chaperoning
+the rich Roland Cashel would be of incalculable service.
+
+If Linton had often foiled deeper snares, here a deep personal wrong
+disturbed his powers of judgment, and irritated him beyond all calm
+prudential thoughts. Revenge upon her, the only one he had ever cared
+for, was now his uppermost thought, and left little place for any other.
+
+Wearied and worn out, he fell asleep at last, but only to be suddenly
+awakened by the rattling of wheels and the quick tramp of horses on the
+gravel beneath his window. The one absorbing idea pervading his mind,
+he started up, muttering, "_She_ is here." As he opened his window
+and looked down, he at once perceived his mistake--Mrs. Kennyfeck's
+well-known voice was heard, giving directions about her luggage--and
+Linton closed the casement, half relieved and half disappointed.
+
+For a brief space the house seemed astir. Mrs. Kennyfeck made her way
+along the corridor in a mingled commentary on the handsome decorations
+of the mansion and Mr. Kennyfeck's stupidity, who had put Archbold's
+"Criminal Practice" into her bag instead of Debrett's "Peerage,"
+while Linton could overbear a little quizzing conversation between the
+daughters, wherein the elder reproached her sister for not having
+the politeness to bid them "welcome." The slight commotion gradually
+subsided, all became still, but only for a brief space. Again the same
+sound of crashing wheels was heard, and once more Linton flung open
+his window and peered out into the darkness. It was now raining
+tremendously, and the wind howling in long and dreary cadences.
+
+"What a climate!" exclaimed a voice Linton knew to be Downie Meek's. His
+plaint ran thus:--
+
+"I often said they should pension off the Irish Secretary after three
+years, as they do the Chief Justice of Gambia."
+
+"It will make the ground very heavy for running, I fear," said the deep
+full tone of a speaker who assisted a lady to alight.
+
+"How you are always thinking of the turf, Lord Charles!" said she, as he
+rather carried than aided her to the shelter of the porch.
+
+Linton did not wait for the reply, but shut the window, and again lay
+down.
+
+In that half-waking state, where sleep and fatigue contest the ground
+with watchfulness, Linton continued to hear the sound of several
+arrivals, and the indistinct impressions became commingled till all were
+lost in heavy slumber. So is it. Childhood itself, in all its guileless
+freedom, enjoys no sounder, deeper sleep than he whose head is full
+of wily schemes and subtle plots, when once exhausted nature gains the
+victory.
+
+So profound was that dreamless state in which he lay, that he was never
+once aware that the door by which his chamber communicated with the
+adjoining one had been opened, while a select committee were debating
+about the disposition of the furniture, in total ignorance that he made
+part of it.
+
+"Why couldn't Sir Andrew take that small room, and leave this for me? I
+like an alcove vastly," said Lady Janet, as, candle in hand, she took a
+survey of the chamber.
+
+"Yes, my leddy," responded Flint, who, loaded with cloaks, mantles, and
+shawls, looked like an ambulating wardrobe.
+
+"You can make him a kind of camp-bed there; he'll do very well."
+
+"Yes, my leddy."
+
+"And don't suffer that impertinent Mr. Phillis to poke his head in here
+and interfere with our arrangements. These appear to me to be the best
+rooms here, and I 'll take them."
+
+"Yes, my leddy."
+
+"Where's Sir Andrew?"
+
+"He's takin' a wee drap warm, my leddy, in the butler's room; he was
+ower wat in the 'dickey' behind."
+
+"It rained smartly, but I 'm sure the country wanted it," dryly observed
+Lady Janet.--"Well, sir, _you_ here again?" This sharp interrogatory was
+addressed to Mr. Phillis, who, after a vain search for her Ladyship over
+half the house, at length discovered her.
+
+"You are not aware, my Lady," said he, in a tone of obsequious
+deference, that nearly cost him an apoplexy, "that these rooms are
+reserved for my master."
+
+"Well, sir; and am I to understand that a guest's accommodation is a
+matter of less importance than a valet's caprice? for as Mr. Cashel
+never was here himself, and consequently never could have made a choice,
+I believe I am not wrong in the source of the selection."
+
+"It was Mr. Linton, my Lady, who made the arrangement."
+
+"And who is Mr. Linton, sir, who ventures to give orders here?--I ask
+you, who is Mr. Linton?" As there was something excessively puzzling to
+Mr. Phillis in this brief interrogatory, and as Lady Janet perceived as
+much, she repeated the phrase in a still louder and more authoritative
+tone, till, in the fulness of the accents, they fell upon the ears
+of him who, if not best able to give the answer, was, at least, most
+interested in its nature.
+
+He started, and sat up; and although, from the position of his bed in
+a deep alcove he was himself screened from observation, the others were
+palpable enough to his eyes.
+
+"Yes," cried Lady Janet, for the third time, "I ask, who is Mr. Linton?"
+
+"Upon my life, your Ladyship has almost made me doubt if there be such a
+person," said Tom, protruding his head through the curtains.
+
+"I vow he's in the bed yonder!" said Lady Janet, starting back. "Flint,
+I think you are really too bad; this is all your doing, or yours, sir,"
+turning to Phillis with a face of anger.
+
+"Yes, my Leddy, it's a' his meddlin'."
+
+"Eh, Leddy Janet, what's this?" said Sir Andrew, suddenly joining the
+party, after a very dangerous excursion along dark corridors and back
+stairs.
+
+"We've strayed into Mr. Linton's room, I find," said she, gathering up
+various small articles she had on entering thrown on the table. "I must
+only reserve my apologies for a more fitting time and place, and wish
+him 'good-night.'"
+
+"I've even dune something o' the same wi' Mrs. Kannyfack," said Sir
+Andrew. "She was in bed, though, and so I made my retreat undiscovered."
+
+"I regret, Lady Janet," said Linton, politely, "that my present toilet
+does not permit me to show you to your apartment, but if you will allow
+Mr. Phillis--"
+
+"Dinna get up, man," broke in Sir Andrew, as he half pushed the invading
+party out of the door; "we'll find it vara weel, I 've na doubt." And
+in a confused hubbub of excuses and grumblings they withdrew, leaving
+Linton once more to court slumber, if he could.
+
+"I beg pardon, sir," said Phillis, popping in his head the minute after,
+"but Mr. Downie Meek' has taken the rooms you meant for Lady Janet;
+they've pillaged all the chambers at either side for easy-chairs and
+cushions to--"
+
+"With all my heart; let them settle the question between them, or leave
+it to arbitration. Shut the door, pray."
+
+"Mrs. White, too, and a large party are in the library, and I don't know
+where to show them into."
+
+"Anywhere but here, Phillis. Good-night; there's a good man,
+good-night."
+
+"They 're all asking for you, sir; just tell me what to say."
+
+"Merely that I have passed a shocking night, and request I may not be
+disturbed till late in the afternoon."
+
+Phillis retired with a groan, and soon a confused hum of many voices
+could be heard along the corridor, in every accent of irritation and
+remonstrance. Self-reproaches on the mistaken and abused confidence
+which had led the visitors to journey so many miles to "such a place;"
+mutual condolences over misfortune; abuse of the whole establishment,
+and "that insufferable puppy the valet" in particular, went round, till
+at last, like a storm that bad spent its fury, a lull succeeded; one by
+one the grumblers slipped away, and just as day was breaking, the house
+was buried in the soundest sleep.
+
+About an hour later, when the fresh-risen son was glistening and
+glittering among the leaves, lightly tipped with the hoar-frost of an
+autumnal morning, a handsomely-appointed travelling-carriage, with four
+posters, drove rapidly up to the door, and an active-looking figure,
+springing from the box, applied himself to the bell with a vigorous
+hand, and the next minute, flinging open the carriage-door, said,
+"Welcome,--at last, I am able to say,--welcome to Tub-bermore."
+
+A graceful person, wrapped in a large shawl, emerged, and, leaning
+on his arm, entered the house; but in a moment he returned to assist
+another and a far more helpless traveller, an old and feeble man, who
+suffered himself to be carried, rather than walked, into the hall.
+
+"This is Tubbermore, my Lord," said the lady, bending down, and with a
+hand slightly touching his shoulder seeming to awake his attention.
+
+"Yes--thank you--perfectly well," said he, in a low soft voice, while a
+smile of courteous but vacant meaning stole over his sickly features.
+
+"Not over-fatigued, my Lord?" said Roland, kindly.
+
+"No, sir--we saw the 'Lightship' quite near us."
+
+"Still thinking of that dreadful night," said her Ladyship, as she
+arranged two braids of her fair brown hair more becomingly on her
+forehead; and then turning to a very comely personage, who performed
+a series of courtesies, like minute guns, at intervals, added, "If
+you please, then, we'll retire to our apartment. Your housekeeper, I
+suppose, Mr. Cashel?"
+
+"I conclude so," said Roland; "but I am equally a stranger here with
+yourself."
+
+"Mrs. Moss, at your service, sir," said the housekeeper, with another
+courtesy.
+
+"Mrs. Moss, then," said Roland, in an undertone, "I have only to remark
+that Lord and Lady Kilgoff must want for nothing here."
+
+"I understand, sir," said Mrs. Moss; and whether the words, or the look
+that accompanied them, should bear the blame, but they certainly made
+Cashel look half angry, half ashamed.
+
+"Then good-night--or good-morrow, I believe it should be," said Lady
+Kilgoff. "I'm sure, in charity, we should not keep you from your bed a
+minute longer. You had a severe night outside."
+
+"Good-night--good-night, my Lord," said Cashel; and the handsome form of
+the lady moved proudly on, while the servant assisted the poor decrepid
+husband slowly after.
+
+Roland looked after them for an instant, and whether from some curiosity
+to see the possessions which called him master, or that he felt
+indisposed to sleep, he passed out into the lawn and stood some minutes
+gazing at the strange and somewhat incongruous pile before him.
+
+Perhaps something of disappointment mingled with his thoughts--perhaps
+it was only that strange revulsion which succeeds to all long-excited
+expectation, when the moment of satisfying it has come, and speculation
+is at an end forever--but he was turning away, in half sadness, when he
+caught sight of a hand waving to him a salute from one of the windows.
+He had just time to answer the gesture, when the shutter was closed.
+There was one other saw the motion, and noted well the chamber from
+whence it came. Linton, awoke by the arrival of the carriage, had
+watched every step that followed, and now sat, with half-drawn curtains,
+eagerly marking everything that might minister to his jealous anger.
+
+As for Cashel, he sauntered on into the wood, his mind wandering on
+themes separated by nearly half the world from where his steps were
+straying.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII. ROLAND'S INTRODUCTION TO MR. CORRIGAN
+
+     And while the scene around them smiled,
+     With pleasant talk the way beguiled.
+
+     Haile: Rambles.
+
+
+As Roland Cashel strolled along alone, he could not divest himself of
+a certain feeling of disappointment, that, up to the present, at least,
+all his wealth had so little contributed to realize those illusions he
+had so often fancied. The plots, the wiles and cunning schemes by which
+he had been surrounded, were gradually revealing themselves to his
+senses, and he was rapidly nearing the fatal "bourne" which separates
+credulity from distrust.
+
+If we have passed over the events which succeeded the loss of the yacht
+with some appearance of scant ceremony to our reader, it is because,
+though in themselves not totally devoid of interest, they formed a
+species of episode which only in one respect bore reference to the
+current of our story. It is not necessary, no more than it would be
+gratifying, to us to inquire with what precise intentions Lady Kilgoff
+had sought to distinguish Roland by marks of preference. Enough, if we
+say that he was neither puppy enough to ascribe the feeling to anything
+but a caprice, nor was he sufficiently hackneyed in the world's ways to
+suspect it could mean more.
+
+That he was flattered by the notice, and fascinated by the charms of
+a very lovely and agreeable woman, whose dependence upon him each day
+increasing drew closer the ties of intimacy, is neither strange nor
+uncommon, no more than that she, shrewdly remarking the bounds of
+respectful deference by which he ever governed his acquaintance, should
+use greater freedoms and less restricted familiarity with him, than
+had he been one of those fashionable young men about town with whom the
+repute of a conquest would be a triumph.
+
+It is very difficult to say on what terms they lived in each other's
+society. It were easier, perhaps, to describe it by negatives, and say
+that assuredly if it were not love, the feeling between them was just
+as little that which subsists between brother and sister. There was an
+almost unbounded confidence--an unlimited trust--much asking of advice,
+and, in fact, as many of my readers will say, fully as much peril as
+need be.
+
+From her, Cashel first learned to see the stratagems and schemes by
+which his daily life was beset. Too proud to bestow more than a mere
+passing allusion to the Kennyfecks, she directed the whole force of her
+attack upon that far more dangerous group in whose society Roland had
+lately lived. For a time she abstained altogether from even a chance
+reference to Linton; but at length, as their intimacy ripened, she
+avowed her fear of him in all its fulness. When men will build up the
+edifice of distrust, it is wonderful with what ingenuity they will
+gather all the scattered materials of doubt, with what skill arrange and
+combine them! A hundred little circumstances of a suspicious nature
+now rushed to Roland's memory, and his own conscience corroborated
+the history she drew of the possible mode by which Linton acquired an
+influence over him.
+
+That Linton had been the "evil genius" of many, Cashel had often heard
+before, but always from the lips of men; and it is astonishing, whether
+the source be pride, or something less stubborn, but the warning which
+we reject so cavalierly from our fellows, comes with a wondrous force of
+conviction from the gentler sex.
+
+For the heavy sums he had lost at play, for all the wasteful outlay of
+his money, Cashel cared little; but for the humiliating sense of being
+a "dupe" and a "tool," his outraged pride suffered deeply; and when Lady
+Kilgoff drew a picture, half real, half imaginary, of the game which his
+subtle associate was playing, Roland could scarce restrain himself from
+openly declaring a rupture, and, if need be, a quarrel with him.
+
+It needed all her persuasions to oppose this course; and, indeed, if she
+had not made use of one unanswerable argument, could she have succeeded.
+This was the inevitable injury Linton could inflict upon _her_, by
+ascribing the breach to her influence. It would be easy enough, from
+such materials as late events suggested, to compose a history that would
+ruin her. Lord Kilgoff's lamentable imbecility, the result of that fatal
+night of danger; Cashel's assiduous care of her; her own most natural
+dependence upon him,--all these, touched on with a woman's tact and
+delicacy, she urged, and at last obtained his pledge that he would leave
+to time and opportunity the mode of terminating an intimacy he had begun
+to think of with abhorrence.
+
+If there be certain minds to whom the very air they breathe is doubt,
+there are others to whom distrust is absolute misery. Of these latter
+Cashel was one. Nature had made him frank and free-spoken, and the
+circumstances of his early life had encouraged the habit. To nourish a
+grudge would have been as repulsive to his sense of honor as it would be
+opposed to all the habits of his buccaneering life. To settle a dispute
+with the sword was invariably the appeal among his old comrades; and
+such arbitraments are those which certainly leave the fewest traces of
+lingering malice behind them. To cherish and store up a secret wrong,
+and wait in patience for the day of reckoning, had something of the
+Indian about it that, in Roland's eyes, augmented its atrocity.
+
+Oppressed with thoughts like these, and associating every vexation he
+suffered as in some way connected with that wealth whose possession he
+fancied was to satisfy every wish and every ambition, he sauntered on,
+little disposed to derive pleasure from the presence of those external
+objects which fortune had made his own.
+
+"When I was poor," thought he, "I had warm and attached friends, ready
+to exult in my successes, and sympathize with me in my sorrows. If I had
+enemies, they were brave fellows, as willing to defend their cause with
+the sword as myself. None flattered or frowned on him who was richer
+than the rest. No subtle schemes lay in wait for him whose unsuspecting
+frankness exposed him to deception; we were _bons camarades_, at least,"
+said he, aloud, "and from what I have seen of the great world, I 've
+lived to prize the distinction."
+
+From this revery he was suddenly recalled by observing, directly in
+front of him, an elderly gentleman, who, in a stooping posture, seemed
+to seek for something among the dry leaves and branches beside a low
+wicket.
+
+"This is the first fruit of our gay neighborhood," said the old man,
+testily, as he poked the dead leaves with his cane; "we 're lucky if
+they leave us without more serious inconvenience."
+
+"Can I assist you in your search?--have you lost something?" said
+Cashel, approaching.
+
+"There is a key--the key of the wicket--hid somewhere hereabouts,
+young man," said the other, who, scarcely bestowing a look upon Roland,
+continued his investigation as busily as before.
+
+Cashel, undaunted by the somewhat ungracious reception, now aided him in
+his search, while the other continued: "I 've known this path for nigh
+forty years, and never remember this wicket to have been locked before.
+But so it is. My old friend is afraid of the invasion of this noisy
+neighborhood, and has taken to lock and key to keep them out. The key he
+promised to hide at the foot of this tree."
+
+"And here it is," said Cashel, as he unlocked the wicket and flung it
+wide.
+
+"Many thanks for your help, but you have a better reward than my
+gratitude, in eyes some five-and-thirty years younger," said the old
+man, with the same half-testy voice as before. "Perhaps you 'd like to
+see the grounds here, yourself; come along. The place is small, but far
+better kept than the great demesne, I assure you; just as many an humble
+household is more orderly than many a proud retinue."
+
+Roland was rather pleased by the quaint oddity of his new companion, of
+whom he thought, but could not remember where, he had seen the features
+before.
+
+"You are a stranger in these parts, I conclude?" said the old man.
+
+"Yes. I only arrived here about an hour ago, and have seen nothing save
+the path from the Hall to this spot."
+
+"There 's little more worth the seeing on yonder side of the paling,
+sir. A great bleak expanse, with stunted trees and a tasteless mansion,
+full of, I take it, very dubious company; but perhaps you are one of
+them?"
+
+"I confess as much," said Roland, laughing; "but as I have not seen
+them, don't be afraid I 'll take up the cudgels for my associates."
+
+"Labor lost if you did," said the other, bluntly. "I only know of them
+what the newspapers tell us; but their names are enough."
+
+"Are they all in the same category, then?" asked Cashel, smiling.
+
+"Pigeons or hawks; dupes or swindlers,--an ugly alternative to choose
+from."
+
+"You are candid, certainly, friend," said Cashel, half angrily; "but
+don't you fancy there is rather too much of frankness in saying this to
+one who has already said he is of the party?"
+
+"Just as he likes to take it," said the old man, bluntly. "The wise man
+takes warning where the fool takes umbrage. There 's a fine view
+for you--see! there's a glorious bit of landscape," cried he,
+enthusiastically, as they came to an opening of the wood and beheld the
+wide expanse of Lough Deny, with its dotted islands and ruined tower.
+
+Roland stood still, silently gazing on the scene, whose beauty was
+heightened by all the strong effect of light and shade.
+
+"I see you have an eye for landscape," said the old man, as he watched
+the expression of Cashel's features.
+
+"I 've been a lover of scenery in lands where the pursuit was well
+rewarded," said Roland, thoughtfully.
+
+"That you may; but never in a country where the contemplation called for
+more thought than in this before you. See, yonder, where the lazy smoke
+rises heavily from the mountain side, high up there amid the fern and
+the tall heath, that is a human dwelling,--there lives some cottier a
+life of poverty as uncheered and unpitied as though he made no part of
+the great family of man. For miles and miles of that dreary mountain
+some small speck may be traced where men live and grow old and die out,
+unthought of and uncared for by all beside. This misery would seem at
+its full, if now and then seasons of sickness did not show how fever and
+ague can augment the sad calamities of daily life. There are men--ay,
+and old men too--who never have seen bread for years, I say, save when
+some gamekeeper has broken it to feed the greyhounds in a coursing
+party."
+
+"And whose the fault of all this?" said Cashel, eagerly.
+
+"It is easy to see, sir," said the other, "that you are no landed
+proprietor, for not only you had not asked the question, but you had not
+shown so much emotion when putting it So it is," muttered he to himself.
+"It is so ever. They have most sympathy with the poor who have least the
+power to help them."
+
+"But I ask again, whose the fault of such a system?" cried Cashel.
+
+"Ask your host yonder, and you 'll soon have an answer to your question.
+You 'll hear enough of landlords' calamities,--wrecking tenantry, people
+in barbarism, irreclaimably bad, sunk in crime, black in ingratitude.
+Ask the peasant, and he 'll tell you of clearances,--whole families
+turned out to starve and die in the highways; the iron pressure of the
+agent in the dreary season of famine and fever. Ask the priest, and
+he will say, it is the galling tyranny of the 'rich man's church'
+establishment consuming the substance, but restoring nothing to the
+people. Ask the rector, and he 'll prove it is popery,--the debasing
+slavery of the very blackest of all superstitions; and so on. Each
+throws upon another the load which he refuses to bear his share of,
+and the end is, we have a reckless gentry and a ruined people; all the
+embittering hatred of a controversy, and little of the active working of
+Christian charity. Good-bye, sir. I ask pardon for inflicting something
+like a sermon upon you. Good-bye."
+
+"And yet," said Cashel, "you have only made me anxious to hear more from
+you. May I ask if we are likely to meet again, and where?"
+
+"If you should chance to be sick during your visit here, and send for
+the doctor, it's likely they 'll fetch me, as there is no other here."
+
+Cashel started, for he at once remembered that the speaker was Dr.
+Tiernay, the friend of his tenant, Mr. Corrigan. As the doctor did not
+recognize him, however, Roland resolved to keep his secret as long as he
+could.
+
+"There, sir," said Cashel, "I see some friends accosting you. I 'll say
+good-bye."
+
+"Too late to do so now," said the other, half sulkily. "Mr. Corrigan
+would feel it a slight if you turned back, when his table was spread for
+a meal. You 'll have to breakfast here."
+
+Before Roland could answer, Mr. Corrigan came forward from beneath the
+porch, and, with a hand to each, bid them welcome.
+
+"I was telling this gentleman," said Tiernay, "that he is too far within
+your boundaries for retreat. He was about to turn back."
+
+"Nay, nay," said the old man, smiling; "an old fellow like you or me may
+do a churlish thing, but a young man's nature is fresher and warmer. I
+tell you, Tiernay, you 're quite wrong; this gentleman will breakfast
+here."
+
+"With pleasure," said Cashel, cordially, and entered the cottage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV. ROLAND "HEARS SOMETHING TO HIS ADVANTAGE."
+
+     Ay, sir, I saw him 'hind the arras.
+
+     Sir Gavin.
+
+
+Cashel would have devoted more attention to the tasteful arrangement of
+the drawing-room into which they were ushered, if he had not been struck
+with the handsome and graceful form of a young girl, who from time to
+time passed before his eyes in an inner chamber, engaged in the
+office of preparing breakfast, and whom he at once recognized as the
+granddaughter of whom Linton wrote.
+
+"We were talking of poor Ireland," said Tiernay, "and all her sorrows."
+
+"I'll engage you were," cried Corrigan, laughing, "and I 'll swear you
+did not make a mournful topic a whit less gloomy by your way of treating
+it--And that's what he calls entertaining a stranger, sir,--like a
+bankrupt merchant amusing a party by a sight of his schedule. Now, I 'll
+wager a trifle my young friend would rather hear where a brace of cocks
+was to be found, or the sight of a neat grass country to ride over after
+the fox-hounds,--and I can do both one and the other. But here comes
+Mary,--my granddaughter, Miss Leicester, sir."
+
+Mary saluted the stranger with an easy gracefulness, and she shook the
+doctor's hand cordially.
+
+"You are a little late, doctor," said she, as she led the way into the
+breakfast-room.
+
+"That was in part owing to that rogue Keane, who has taken to locking
+the gate of the avenue, by way of seeming regular, and some one else has
+done the same with the wicket here. Now, as for fifty years back all the
+cows of the country have strayed through the one, and all the beggars
+through the other, I don't know what 's to come of it."
+
+"I suppose the great house is filling?" said Mary, to withdraw him from
+a grumbling theme; "we heard the noise of several arrivals this morning
+early."
+
+"This gentleman can inform you best upon all that," said Tiernay; "he
+himself is one of the company."
+
+"But I am ignorant of everything," said Cashel; "I only arrived here a
+little after daybreak, and, not caring to sleep, I strolled out, when my
+good fortune threw me into your way."
+
+"Your friends are likely to have fine weather, and I am glad of it,"
+said Corrigan. "This country, pretty enough in sunshine, looks bleak and
+dreary when the sky is lowering; but I 've no doubt _you'd_ rather have
+
+     'A southerly wind and a cloudy sky,'
+
+as the song says, than the brightest morning that ever welcomed a lark.
+Are you fond of hunting?"
+
+"I like every kind of sport where horse, or gun, or hound can enter; but
+I 've seen most of such pastimes in distant countries, where the game is
+different from here, and the character of the people just as unlike."
+
+"'I have hunted the wild boar myself," said old Corrigan, proudly, "in
+the royal forests at Meudon and Fontainebleau."
+
+"I speak of the antelope and the jaguar, the dark leopard of Guiana, or
+the brown bison of the Andes."
+
+"That is indeed a manly pastime!" said Mary, enthusiastically.
+
+"It is so," said Cashel, warmed by the encouragement of her remark,
+"more even for the endurance and persevering energy it demands than for
+its peril. The long days of toil in search of game, the nights of waking
+watchfulness, and then the strange characters and adventures among which
+you are thrown, all make up a kind of life so unlike the daily world."
+
+"There is, as you say, something highly exciting in all that," said
+Corrigan; "but, to my thinking, hunting is a royal pastime, and loses
+half of its prestige when deprived of the pomp and circumstance of
+its courtly following. When I think of the old forest echoing to the
+tantarara of the _cor de chasse_, the scarlet-clad _piqueurs_ with
+lance and cutlass, the train of courtiers mounted on their high-mettled
+steeds, displaying all the address of the _salon_, and all the skill of
+the chase, to him who was the centre of the group,--the king himself--"
+
+"Are you not forgetting the fairest part of the pageants papa?" broke in
+Mary.
+
+"No, my dear, that group usually waited to join us as we returned. Then,
+when the '_Retour de la Chasse_' rang out from every horn, and the whole
+wood re-echoed with the triumphant sounds, then might be seen the
+queen and her ladies advancing to meet us. I think I see her yet, the
+fair-haired queen, the noblest and most beautiful in all that lovely
+circle, mounted on her spotted Arabian, who bore himself proudly beneath
+his precious burden. Ah! too truly did Burke say, 'the Age of Chivalry
+was past,' or never had such sorrows gone unavenged. Young gentleman,
+I know not whether you have already conceived strong opinions upon
+politics, and whether you incline to one or other of the great parties
+that divide the kingdom, but one thing I would beseech you,--be a
+Monarchist. There is a steadfast perseverance in clinging to the
+legitimate Sovereign. Like the very observance of truth itself, shake
+the conviction once, and there is no limit to scepticism."
+
+"Humph!" muttered Tiernay, half aloud. "Considering how royalty treated
+your ancestors, your ardor in their favor might be cooled a little."
+
+"What's Tiernay saying?" said the old man.
+
+"Grumbling, as usual, papa," said Mary, laughing, and not willing to
+repeat the remark.
+
+"Trying to give a man a bias in politics," said the doctor,
+sarcastically, "is absurd, except you accompany the advice with a place.
+A man's political opinions are born with him, and he has as much to do
+with the choice of his own Christian name as whether he 'll be a Whig or
+a Tory."
+
+"Never mind him, sir," said Corrigan to Cashel; "one might travesty the
+well-known epigram, and say of him that he never said a kind thing, nor
+did a rude one, in his life."
+
+"The greater fool he, then," mattered Tiernay, "for the world likes him
+best who does the exact opposite; and here comes one to illustrate my
+theory. There, I see him yonder; so I 'll step into the library and look
+over the newspaper."
+
+"He cannot endure a very agreeable neighbor of ours,--a Mr. Linton,"
+said Corrigan, as the doctor retired,--"and makes so little secret of
+his dislike that I am always glad when they avoid a meeting."
+
+"Mr. Linton is certainly more generous," said Mary, "for he enjoys the
+doctor's eccentricity without taking offence at his rude humor."
+
+"Good-breeding can be almost a virtue," said the old man, with a smile.
+
+"It has this disadvantage, however," said Cashel: "it deceives men who,
+like myself, have little knowledge of life, to expect far more from
+politeness than it is ever meant to imply,--just as on the Lima shore,
+when we carried off a gold Madonna, we were never satisfied if we missed
+the diamond eyes of the image."
+
+The old man and his granddaughter almost started at the strange
+illustration; but their attention was now called off by the approach of
+Linton, whom they met as he reached the porch.
+
+"Come here a moment, sir," said the doctor, addressing Cashel, from the
+little boudoir; "here are some weapons of very old date found among
+the ruins beside where we stand." And Roland had just time to quit the
+breakfast-room before Linton entered it.
+
+"The menagerie fills fast," said Linton, as he advanced gayly into the
+apartment: "some of our principal lions have come; more are expected;
+and all the small cages have got their occupants."
+
+"I am dying of curiosity," said Mary. "Tell us everything about
+everybody. Who have arrived?"
+
+"We have everything of a household save the host. He is absent; and,
+stranger than all, no one knows where."
+
+"How singular!" exclaimed Corrigan.
+
+"Is it not? He arrived this morning with the Kilgoffs, and has not
+since been heard of. I left his amiable guests at the breakfast-table
+conversing on his absence, and endeavoring to account for it under every
+variety of 'shocking accident' one reads of in the morning papers. The
+more delicately minded were even discussing, in whispers, how long it
+would be decent to stay in a house if the owner committed suicide."
+
+"This is too shocking," said Mary.
+
+"And yet there are men who do these things! Talleyrand it was, I
+believe, who said that the fellow who shot himself showed a great want
+of _savoir vivre_. Well, to come back: we have the Kilgoffs, whom I have
+not seen as yet; the Meeks, father and daughter; the MacFarlines; Mrs.
+White and her familiar, a distinguished author; the whole Kennyfeck
+tribe; Frobisher; some five or six cavalry subalterns; and a large mob
+of strange-looking people, of both sexes, making up what in racing slang
+is called the 'ruck' of the party."
+
+"Will it not tax your ingenuity, Mr. Linton, to amuse, or even to
+preserve concord among such a heterogeneous multitude?" said Mary.
+
+"I shall amuse them by keeping them at feud with each other, and, when
+they weary of that, let them have a grand attack of the whole line upon
+their worthy host and entertainer. Indeed, already signs of rebellious
+ingratitude have displayed themselves. You must know that there has
+been a kind of petty scandal going about respecting Lady Kilgoff and Mr.
+Cashel."
+
+"My dear sir," said Mr. Corrigan, gravely, but with much courtesy, "when
+my granddaughter asked you for the latest news of your gay household,
+she did so in all the inconsiderate ignorance her habits and age may
+warrant; but neither she nor I cared to hear more of your guests than
+they ought to have reported of them, or should be repeated to the ears
+of a young lady."
+
+"I accept the rebuke with less pain," said Linton, smiling easily,
+"because it is, in part at least, unmerited. If you had permitted me
+to continue, you should have seen as much." Then, turning to Miss
+Leicester, he added: "You spoke of amusement, and you 'll acknowledge
+we are not idle. Lord Charles Frobisher is already marking out a
+race-course; Meek is exploring the political leaning of the borough; the
+Kennyfecks are trying their voices together in every room of the house;
+and Lady Janet has every _casserole_ in the kitchen engaged in the
+preparation of various vegetable abominations which she and Sir Andrew
+take before breakfast; and what with the taking down and putting up of
+beds, the tuning of pianofortes, sol-fa-ing here, bells ringing there,
+cracking of tandem whips, firing off percussion-caps, screaming to
+grooms out of window, and slamming of doors, Babel was a scene of
+peaceful retirement in comparison. As this, too, is but the beginning,
+pray forgive me if my visits here be more frequent and enduring than
+ever."
+
+"Your picture of the company is certainly not flattering," said Mary.
+
+"Up to their merits, notwithstanding; but how could it be otherwise? To
+make a house pleasant, to bring agreeable people together,--to assemble
+those particles whose aggregate solidifies into that compact mass called
+society,--is far harder than is generally believed; vulgar folk attempt
+it by getting some celebrity to visit them. But what a failure that
+is! One lion will no more make a party than one swallow a summer. New
+people, like our friend Cashel, try it by asking everybody. They hope,
+by firing a heavy charge, that some of the shot will hit. Another
+mistake! He little knows how many jealousies, rivalries, and small
+animosities are now at breakfast together at his house, and how ready
+they are, when no other game offers, to make him the object of all their
+apite and scandal."
+
+"But why?" said Mary. "Is not his hospitality as princely as it is
+generously offered? Can they cavil with anything in either the reception
+itself or the manner of it?"
+
+"As that part of the entertainment entered into _my_ functions, Miss
+Leicester, I should say, certainly not. The whole has been well 'got
+up.' I can answer for everything save Cashel himself; as Curran said, 'I
+can elevate all save the host.' He is irreclaimably _en arričre_,--half
+dandy, half Delaware, affecting the man of fashion, but, at heart, a
+prairie hunter."
+
+"Hold, sir!" cried Cashel, entering suddenly, his face crimson with
+passion. "By what right do you presume to speak of me in this wise?"
+
+"Ha! ha! ha!" broke out Linton, as he fell into a chair in a burst of
+admirably feigned laughter. "I told you, Miss Leicester, how it would
+be; did I not say I should unearth the fox? Ah! Roland, confess it; you
+were completely taken in."
+
+Cashel stared around for an explanation, and in the astonishment of each
+countenance he fancied he read a condemnation of his conduct All
+his impulses were quick as thought, and so he blushed deeply for his
+passionate outbreak, as he said,--
+
+"I ask pardon of you, sir, and this lady for my unseemly anger.
+This gentleman certainly deserves no apology from me. Confound it,
+Master Tom, but assuredly you don't fire blank cartridge to startle your
+game."
+
+"No use to tickle lions with straws," said Linton; and the insinuated
+flattery succeeded.
+
+"Let me now bid you welcome to my cottage, Mr. Cashel," said Corrigan;
+"although this incognito visit was an accident, I feel happy to see you
+here."
+
+"Thank you, thank you," replied Cashel. "I shall be even more grateful
+still if you permit me to join in Linton's petition, and occasionally
+escape from the noisy festivities of the Hall, and come here."
+
+While Corrigan and Cashel continued to interchange mutual assurances of
+esteem and regard, Linton walked to a window with Miss Leicester.
+
+"We had no conception that our guest was Mr. Cashel," said Mary; "he
+met Dr. Tiernay accidentally in the park, and came along with him to
+breakfast."
+
+"And did not the doctor remember him?" said Linton, shrewdly.
+
+"Oh, no; he may probably recollect something of having met him before,
+three weeks hence, but he is so absent!"
+
+"I thought Roland would have taken the quizzing better," said Linton,
+thoughtfully. "There 's no knowing any man, or--woman either. _You_
+perceived what I was at, certainly."
+
+"No, indeed. I was as much deceived as Mr. Cashel. I thought, to be
+sure, that you were unusually severe, but I never suspected the object."
+
+"How droll! Well, I am a better actor than I fancied," said Linton,
+laughing; then added, in a lower tone, "Not that the lesson should be
+lost upon him; for, in sober earnest, there was much truth in it."
+
+"We were greatly pleased with him," said Mary, "and now, knowing who he
+is, and what temptations such a young man has to over-estimate himself,
+are even more struck by his unassuming quietude."
+
+Linton only smiled, but it was a smile of most compassionate pity.
+
+"I conclude that you mean to show yourself to your company, then, Mr.
+Cashel?" said he, turning suddenly about.
+
+"I'm ready," said Roland. "I'd go, however, with an easier conscience if
+Mr. Corrigan would only promise me to come and see us there sometimes."
+
+"I'm a very old fellow, Mr. Cashel, and have almost outlived the habits
+of society; but if any one's invitation shall bring me beyond these
+walls, it shall be yours."
+
+"I must be content with that," said Roland, as he shook the proffered
+hand; and then, with a cordial farewell to Miss Leicester, took Linton's
+arm, and retired.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV. MISS JEMIMA MEEK.
+
+     If you show him in Hyde Park--Lauk! how they will stare!
+     Though a very smart figure in Bloomsbury Square,
+
+     The Snob.
+
+
+Cashel's was not a nature to dwell upon a grievance, and he would have,
+at once and forever, forgotten the late scene with Linton if it were
+not coupled in his mind with suspicions derived from various different
+sources. This made him silent and reserved as he walked along, and so
+palpably inattentive to all his companion's efforts at agreeability that
+Linton at last said, "Well, Cashel, if you can dispense with sleep, you
+certainly seem to take the compensation in dreaming. Here have I been
+retailing for you the choicest bits of gossip and small-talk, not only
+without the slightest gratitude, but even without common attention on
+your part!"
+
+"Very true," said Cashel; "the reproach is quite just, and no man can be
+more agreeable at the expense of his friends than yourself."
+
+"Still harping on my daughter, eh?" cried Linton. "I never thought you
+the man to misconstrue a jest; but if you really are offended with my
+folly--"
+
+"If I really were offended," said Cashel, almost sternly, "I should not
+leave it to be inferred from my manner."
+
+"That I am sure of," cried Linton, assuming an air of frankness; "and
+now, since all that silly affair is forgotten--"
+
+"I did not say so much," interrupted Cashel. "I cannot forget it; and
+that is the very reason I am annoyed with myself, with you, and with all
+the world."
+
+"Pooh! nonsense, man; you were not used to be so thin-skinned. Let us
+talk of something else. Here are all our gay friends assembled: how are
+we to occupy and amuse them?"
+
+Cashel made no reply, but walked on, seemingly lost in thought.
+
+"By the way," said Linton, "you've told me nothing of your adventures.
+Haven't you had something very like a shipwreck?"
+
+"The yacht is lost," said Cashel, dryly.
+
+"Actually lost!" echoed the other, with well-assumed astonishment. "How
+fortunate not to have had the Kennyfeck party on board, as I believe you
+expected."
+
+"I had the Kilgoffs, however," rejoined Roland.
+
+"The Kilgoffs! you amaze me. How did my Lord ever consent to trust his
+most precious self on such an enterprise?"
+
+Cashel shrugged his shoulders, without uttering a word in reply.
+
+"But come, do condescend to be a little more communicative. How, and
+when, and where did the mishap occur?"
+
+"She foundered on the southern coast some time after midnight on the
+15th. The crew and passengers escaped by the boats, and the craft went
+to pieces."
+
+"And the Kilgoffs, how did they behave in the moment of peril?"
+
+"My Lord seemed insensible to all around; Lady Kilgoff with a dignified
+courage quite admirable."
+
+"Indeed!" said Linton, slowly, while he fixed his eyes on Cashel's face,
+where an expression of increased animation now displayed itself.
+
+"She has a fine generous nature," continued Cashel, not heeding the
+remark. "It is one of the saddest things to think of, how she has been
+mated."
+
+"She is a peeress," said Linton, curtly.
+
+"And what of that? Do your aristocratic distinctions close the heart
+against every high and noble sentiment, or can they compensate for the
+absence of every tie that attaches one to life? Is not some poor Indian
+girl who follows her wild ranchero husband through the dark valleys of
+Guiana, not only a happier, but a better wife than your proud peeress?"
+
+Linton shook his head and smiled, but did not reply.
+
+"I see how my old prejudices shock you," said Cashel. "I only grieve to
+think how many of them have left me; for I am sick--sick at heart--of
+your gay and polished world. I am weary of its double-dealing, and
+tired of its gilded falsehood. Since I have been a rich man, I have seen
+nothing but the servile flattery of sycophancy, or the insidious snares
+of deeper iniquity. There is no equality for one like myself. The
+high-born wealthy would treat me as a _parvenu_, the vulgar rich only
+reflect back my own errors in broader deformity. I have known no other
+use of wealth than to squander it to please others; I have played high,
+and lost deeply; I have purchased a hundred things simply because some
+others wished to sell them; I have entertained and sat among my company,
+waiting to catch and resent the covert insult that men pass upon such as
+me; and will you tell me--you, who know the world well--that such a life
+repays one?"
+
+"Now, let me write the credit side of the account," said Linton,
+laughing, and affecting a manner of easy jocularity. "You are young,
+healthy, and high-spirited, with courage for anything, and more money
+than even recklessness can get rid of; you are the most popular fellow
+among men, and the greatest favorite of the other sex, going; you get
+credit for everything you do, and a hundred others that men know you
+could, but have not done; you have warm, attached friends,--I can
+answer for one, at least, who 'll lay down his life for you." He paused,
+expecting some recognition, but Cashel made no sign, and he resumed:
+"You have only to propose some object to your ambition, whether it be
+rank, place, or a high alliance, to feel that you are a favorite with
+fortune."
+
+"And is it by knowing beforehand that one is sure to win that gambling
+fascinates?" said Roland, slowly.
+
+"If you only knew how the dark presage of failure deters the unlucky
+man, you 'd scarce ask the question!" rejoined Linton, with an accent
+of sorrow, by which he hoped to awaken sympathy. The stroke failed,
+however, for Cashel took no notice of it.
+
+"There goes one whose philosophy of life is simple enough," said Linton,
+as he stopped at a break in the holly hedge, beside which they were
+walking, and pointed to Lord Charles, who, mounted on a blood-horse,
+was leading the way for a lady, equally well carried, over some
+sporting-looking fences.
+
+"I say, Jim," cried Frobisher, "let her go a little free at them; she 's
+always too hot when you hold her back."
+
+"You don't know, perhaps, that Jim is the lady," whispered Linton, and
+withdrawing for secrecy behind the cover of the hedge. "Jim," continued
+Linton, "is the familiar for Jemima. She's Meek's daughter, and the
+wildest romp--"
+
+"By Jove! how well she cleared it. Here she comes back again," cried
+Cashel, in all the excitement of a favorite sport.
+
+"That 's all very pretty, Jim," called out Frobisher, "but let me
+observe it's a very Brummagem style of thing, after all. I want you to
+ride up to your fence with your mare in hand, touch her lightly on the
+flank, and pop her over quietly."
+
+"She is too fiery for all that," said the girl, as she held in the
+mettlesome animal, and endeavored to calm her by patting her neck.
+
+"How gracefully she sits her saddle," muttered Cashel; and the
+praise might have been forgiven from even a less ardent admirer of
+equestrianism, for she was a young, fresh-looking girl, with large hazel
+eyes, and a profusion of bright auburn hair which floated and flaunted
+in every graceful wave around her neck and shoulders. She possessed,
+besides, that inestimable advantage as a rider which perfect
+fearlessness supplies, and seemed to be inspired with every eager
+impulse of the bounding animal beneath her.
+
+As Cashel continued to look, she had taken the mare a canter round a
+large grass field, and was evidently endeavoring, by a light hand and
+a soothing, caressing voice, to calm down her temper; stooping, as she
+went, in the saddle to pat the animal's shoulder, and almost bending her
+own auburn curls to the counter.
+
+"She is perfect!" cried Roland, in a very ecstasy. "See that, Linton!
+Mark how she sways herself in her saddle!"
+
+"That comes of wearing no stays," said Linton, dryly, as he proceeded to
+light a cigar.
+
+"Now she's at it. Here she comes!" cried Cashel almost breathless with
+anxiety; for the mare, chafed by the delay, no sooner was turned towards
+the fence once more, than she stretched out and dashed wildly at it.
+
+It was a moment of intense interest, for the speed was far too great
+to clear a high leap with safety; the fear was, however, but momentary,
+for, with a tremendous bound, the mare cleared the fence, and, after
+a couple of minutes' cantering, stood with heaving flanks and swelling
+nostril beside the other horse.
+
+"You see my misfortune, I suppose?" said the girl, addressing Frobisher.
+
+"No. She 's not cut about the legs?" said he, as he bent down in his
+saddle and took a most searching survey of the animal.
+
+"No, the hack is all right But don't you perceive that bit of blue cloth
+flaunting yonder on the hedge?--that is part of my habit. See what a
+tremendous rent is here; I declare, Charley, it is scarcely decent" And
+to illustrate the remark, she wheeled her horse round so as to show the
+fringed and jagged end of her riding-habit, beneath which a very finely
+turned ankle and foot were now seen.
+
+"Then why don't you wear trousers, like everybody else?" said Frobisher,
+gruffly, and scarce bestowing even a passing glance at the well-arched
+instep.
+
+"Because I never get time to dress like any one else. You order me out
+like one of your Newmarket boys," replied she, pettishly.
+
+"By Jove! I wish any one of them had got your hand."
+
+"To say nothing of the foot, Charley," said she, roguishly, and
+endeavoring to arrange her torn drapery to the best advantage.
+
+[Illustration: 432]
+
+"No; that may do to astonish our friend Cashel, and make 'my lady'
+jealous. By the way, Jim, I don't see why you should n't 'enter for the
+plate' as well as the Kennyfeck girls."
+
+"I like _you_ better, Charley," said she, curveting her horse, and
+passaging him alternately from side to side.
+
+"This is the second time to-day I have played the eavesdropper
+unconsciously," said Roland, in a whisper, "and with the proverbial
+fortune of the listener in both cases." And with these words he moved
+on, leaving Linton still standing opposite the opening of the hedge.
+
+Cashel had not advanced many paces beneath the shelter of the tall
+hollies, when Frobisher accidentally caught sight of Linton, and called
+out, "Ha, Tom,--found you at last! Where have you been hiding the whole
+morning?--you that should, at least, represent our host here."
+
+Linton muttered something, while, by a gesture, he endeavored to caution
+Frobisher, and apprise him of Cashel's vicinity. The fretful motion of
+hie horse, however, prevented his seeing the signal, and he resumed,--
+
+"One of my people tells me that Cashel came with the Kilgoffs this
+morning. I say, Tom, you'll have to look sharp in that quarter. Son,
+there--quiet, Gustave--gently, man!"
+
+"He's too fat, I think. You always have your cattle too heavy," said
+Linton, hoping to change the topic.
+
+"He carries flesh well. But what is it I had to tell you? Oh, I remember
+now,--about the yacht club. I have just got a letter from Derwent, in
+which he says the thing is impossible. His remark is more true than
+courteous. He says, 'It's all very well in such a place as Ireland to
+know such people, but that it won't do in England; besides that, if
+Cashel does wish to get among men of the world, he ought to join some
+light cavalry corps for a year or so, and stand plucking by Stanhope,
+and Dashfield, and the rest of them. They 'll bring him out if he 'll
+only pay handsomely.'--Soh, there, man,--do be quiet, will you?--The
+end of it is, that Derwent will not put his name up. I must say it's a
+disappointment to me; but, as a younger brother, I have only to smile
+and submit."
+
+While Lord Charles was retailing this piece of information in no very
+measured tone, and only interrupted by the occasional impatience of his
+horse, Linton's eyes were fixed on Cashel, who, at the first mention of
+his own name, increased his speed, so as to suggest the fond hope that
+some, at least, of this unwelcome intelligence might have escaped him.
+
+"You'll have to break the thing to him, Tom," resumed Lord Charles. "You
+know him better than any of us, and how the matter can be best touched
+upon."
+
+"Not the slightest necessity for that, _now_," said Linton, with a low,
+deliberate voice.
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"Because you have just done so yourself. If you had only paid the least
+attention to my signal, you 'd have seen that Cashel was only a few
+yards in front of me during the entire of your agreeable revelations."
+
+"By Jove!" exclaimed Frobisher, as his head dropped forward in
+overwhelming confusion; "what is to be done?"
+
+"Rather difficult to say, if he heard all," said Linton, coolly.
+
+"You 'd say it was a quiz, Tom. _You 'd_ pretend that you saw him all
+the while, and only did the thing for joke's sake, eh?"
+
+"Possibly enough I might," replied Linton; "but _you_ could n't."
+
+"How very awkward, to be sure!" exclaimed Frobisher. "I say, Jim, I wish
+you 'd make up to Cashel a bit, and get us out of this scrape. There's
+Tom ready to aid and abet you, if only to take him out of the Kilgoffs'
+way."
+
+"There never was a more propitious moment, Miss Meek,'" said Linton,
+passing through the hedge, and approaching close to her. "He's a great
+prize,--the best estate in Ireland."
+
+"The nicest stable of horses in the whole country," echoed Frobisher.
+
+"A good-looking fellow, too; only wanting a little training to make
+presentable anywhere."
+
+"That white barb, with the flea-bitten flank, would carry you to
+perfection, Jim."
+
+"He 'll be a peer one of these days, if he is only patient enough not to
+commit himself in politics."
+
+"And such a hunting country for _you_," said Frobisher, in ecstasy.
+
+"I tell you I don't care for him; I never did," said the girl, as a
+flush of half-angry meaning colored her almost childish features.
+
+"But don't you care to be mistress of fifteen thousand a year, and the
+finest stud in Ireland?"
+
+"Mayhap a countess," said Linton, quietly. "Your papa would soon manage
+that."
+
+"I 'd rather be mistress of myself, and this brown mare, Joan,
+here,--that's all I know; and I'll have nothing to do with any of your
+plots and schemes," said she, in a voice whose utterance was that of
+emotion.
+
+"That's it," said Frobisher, in a low tone to Linton; "there's no
+getting them, at that age, with a particle of brains."
+
+"They make up surprisingly for it afterwards," replied Linton, dryly.
+
+"So you 'll not consent, Jim?" said Frobisher, in a half-coaxing manner
+to the young girl, who, with averted head, sat in mingled sorrow and
+displeasure. "Well, don't be pettish about it; I 'm sure I thought it
+very generous in me, considering--"
+
+She looked round at this moment, and her large eyes were bent upon him
+with a look which their very tears made passionately meaning.
+
+"Considering what a neat finger you have on a young horse," said he. And
+she turned abruptly away, and, as if to hide her emotion, spurred her
+mare into a bounding canter.
+
+"Take care, Charley, take care what you 're doing," said Linton, with a
+look of consummate shrewdness.
+
+Frobisher looked after her for a minute or two, and then seemed to drop
+into a revery, for he made no reply whatever.
+
+"Let the matter stop where it is," said Linton, quietly, as if replying
+to some acknowledgment of the other; "let it stop there, I say, and one
+of these days, when she marries,--as she unquestionably will do, through
+papa Downie's means,--somebody of influence, she 'll be a steadfast,
+warm friend, never forgetting, nor ever wishing to forget, her
+childhood's companion. Go a little further, however, and you 'll just
+have an equally determined enemy. I know a little of both sides of the
+question," added he, meditatively, "and it needs slight reflection which
+to prefer."
+
+"How are you going to amuse us here, Mr. Linton?" said she, cantering up
+at this moment; "for it seems to me, as old Lord Kilgoff says, that we
+are like to have a very dull house. People are ordering dinner for their
+own small parties as unsocially as though they were at the Crown Inn, at
+Brighton."
+
+"Yes, by the by," said Frobisher, "I want to ask you about that. Don't
+you think it were better to dash a little bit of 'communism' through
+your administration?"
+
+"I intend to send in my resignation as premier, now that the head of the
+State has arrived," said Linton, smiling dubiously.
+
+"I perceive," said Frobisher, shrewdly, "you expect that the Government
+will go to pieces, if you leave it."
+
+"The truth is, Charley," said he, dropping his voice to a low whisper,
+and leaning his hand on the horse's mane, "our friend Roland is rather
+too far in the category 'savage' for long endurance; he grows capricious
+and self-opinionated. The thin plating comes off, and shows the
+buccaneer at every slight abrasion."
+
+"What of that?" said Frobisher, languidly; "his book on Coutts' is
+unexceptionable. Come, Tom, you are the only man here who has a head for
+these things. Do exert yourself and set something a-going."
+
+"Well, what shall it be?" said he, gayly. "Shall we get the country
+people together, and have hack races? Shall we assemble the squires, and
+have a ball? Shall we start private theatricals? What says Miss Meek?"
+
+"I vote for all three. Pray do, Mr. Linton,--you, who are so clever, and
+can do everything,--make us gay. If we only go on as we have begun, the
+house will be like a model prison,--on the separate and silent system."
+
+"As you wish it," said Linton, bowing with assumed gallantry; "and now
+to work at once." So saying, he turned towards the house, the others
+riding at either side of him.
+
+"What shall we do about Derwent's letter, Tom?" asked Frobisher.
+
+"Never speak of it; the chances are that he has heard enough to satisfy
+the most gluttonous curiosity. Besides, he has lost his yacht." Here he
+dropped his voice to a low muttering, as he said, "And may soon have a
+heavier loss!"
+
+"Is his pace too fast?" said Frobisher, who caught up the meaning,
+although not the words.
+
+Linton made no reply, for his thoughts were on another track; then,
+suddenly catching himself, he said, "Come, and let us have a look at the
+stables; I've not seen our stud yet." And they turned off from the main
+approach and entered the wood once more.
+
+
+END OF VOL. I.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Roland Cashel, by Charles James Lever
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