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diff --git a/old/chl6w10.txt b/old/chl6w10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..de27cc8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/chl6w10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4407 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer, v6 +#6 in our series Charles James Lever (1806-1872) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer, v6 + +Author: Charles James Lever (1806-1872) + +Release Date: March, 2004 [EBook #5239] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on June 10, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONFESSIONS OF LORREQUER, V6 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by Mary Munarin +and David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + + +THE CONFESSIONS OF HARRY LORREQUER, v6 + +[By Charles James Lever (1806-1872)] + + +Dublin + +MDCCCXXXIX. + + + +Volume 6. (Chapter XLII-LV) + + + +Contents: + +CHAPTER XLII. +The Journey + +CHAPTER XLIII. +The Journey + +CHAPTER XLIV. +A Reminscence of the East + +CHAPTER XLV. +A Day in the Phoenix + +CHAPTER XLVI. +An Adventure in Canada + +CHAPTER XLVII. +The Courier's Passport + +CHAPTER XLVIII. +A Night in Strasbourg + +CHAPTER XLIX. +A Surprise + +CHAPTER L. +Jack Waller's Story + +CHAPTER LI. +Munich + +CHAPTER LII. +Inn at Munich + +CHAPTER LIII. +The Ball + +CHAPTER LIV. +A Discovery + +CHAPTER LV. +Conclusion + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +THE JOURNEY. + +Trevanion came at last. He had obtained my passport, and engaged a +carriage to convey me about eight miles, where I should overtake the +diligence--such a mode of travelling being judged more likely to favour +my escape, by attracting less attention than posting. It was past ten +when I left the Rue St. Honore, having shaken hands with Trevanion for +the last time, and charged him with ten thousand soft messages for the +"friends" I left behind me. + +When I arrived at the village of St. Jacques, the diligence had not come +up. To pass away the time, I ordered a little supper and a bottle of St. +Julien. Scarcely had I seated myself to my "cotelette," when the rapid +whirl of wheels was heard without, and a cab drew up suddenly at the +door. So naturally does the fugitive suspect pursuit, that my immediate +impression was, that I was followed. In this notion I was strengthened +by the tones of a cracked, discordant voice, asking in very peculiar +French if the "diligence had passed?" Being answered in the negative he +walked into the room where I was, and speedily by his appearance, removed +any apprehensions I had felt as to my safety. Nothing could less +resemble the tall port and sturdy bearing of a gendarme, than the +diminutive and dwarfish individual before me. His height could scarcely +have reached five feet, of which the head formed fully a fourth part; and +even this was rendered in appearance still greater by a mass of loosely +floating black hair that fell upon his neck and shoulders, and gave him +much the air of a "black lion" on a sign board. His black frock, fur- +collared and braided--his ill-made boots, his meerschaum projecting from +his breast-pocket, above all, his unwashed hands, and a heavy gold ring +upon his thumb--all made up an ensemble of evidences that showed he could +be nothing but a German. His manner was bustling, impatient, and had it +not been ludicrous, would certainly be considered as insolent to every +one about him, for he stared each person abruptly in the face, and +mumbled some broken expressions of his opinion of them half-aloud in +German. His comments ran on:--"Bon soir, Monsieur," to the host: "Ein +boesewicht, ganz sicher"--"a scoundrel without doubt;" and then added, +still lower, "Rob you here as soon as look at you." "Ah, postillion! +comment va?"--"much more like a brigand after all--I know which I'd take +you for." "Ver fluchte fraw"--"how ugly the woman is." This compliment +was intended for the hostess, who curtsied down to the ground in her +ignorance. At last approaching me, he stopped, and having steadily +surveyed me, muttered, "Ein echter Englander"--"a thorough Englishman, +always eating." I could not resist the temptation to assure him that I +was perfectly aware of his flattering impression in my behalf, though I +had speedily to regret my precipitancy, for, less mindful of the rebuke +than pleased at finding some one who understood German, he drew his chair +beside me and entered into conversation. + +Every one has surely felt, some time or other in life, the insufferable +annoyance of having his thoughts and reflections interfered with, and +broken in upon by the vulgar impertinence and egotism of some "bore," +who, mistaking your abstraction for attention and your despair for +delight, inflicts upon you his whole life and adventures, when your own +immediate destinies are perhaps vacillating in the scale. + +Such a doom was now mine! Occupied as I was by the hope of the future, +and my fears lest any impediment to my escape should blast my prospects +for ever, I preferred appearing to pay attention to this confounded +fellow's "personal narrative" lest his questions, turning on my own +affairs, might excite suspicions as to the reasons of my journey. + +I longed most ardently for the arrival of the diligence, trusting that +with true German thrift, by friend might prefer the cheapness of the +"interieure" to the magnificence of the "coupe," and that thus I should +see no more of him. But in this pleasing hope I was destined to be +disappointed, for I was scarcely seated in my place when I found him +beside me. The third occupant of this "privileged den," as well as my +lamp-light survey of him permitted, afforded nothing to build on as a +compensation for the German. He was a tall, lanky, lantern-jawed man, +with a hook nose and projecting chin; his hair, which had only been +permitted to grow very lately, formed that curve upon his forehead we +see in certain old fashioned horse-shoe wigs; his compressed lip and +hard features gave the expression of one who had seen a good deal of the +world, and didn't think the better of it in consequence. I observed that +he listened to the few words we spoke while getting in with some +attention, and then, like a person who did not comprehend the language, +turned his shoulder towards us, and soon fell asleep. I was now left to +the "tender mercies" of my talkative companion, who certainly spared me +not. Notwithstanding my vigorous resolves to turn a deaf ear to his +narratives, I could not avoid learning that he was the director of music +to some German prince--that he had been to Paris to bring out an opera +which having, as he said, a "succes pyramidal," he was about to repeat in +Strasbourg. He further informed me that a depute from Alsace had +obtained for him a government permission to travel with the courier; but +that he being "social" withal, and no ways proud, preferred the democracy +of the diligence to the solitary grandeur of the caleche, (for which +heaven confound him,) and thus became my present companion. + +Music, in all its shapes and forms made up the staple of the little +man's talk. There was scarcely an opera or an overture, from Mozart to +Donizetti, that he did not insist upon singing a scene from; and wound up +all by a very pathetic lamentation over English insensibility to music, +which he in great part attributed to our having only one opera, which he +kindly informed me was "Bob et Joan." However indisposed to check the +current of his loquacity by any effort of mine, I could not avoid the +temptation to translate for him a story which Sir Walter Scott once +related to me, and was so far apropos, as conveying my own sense of the +merits of our national music, such as we have it, by its association with +scenes, and persons, and places we are all familiar with, however +unintelligible to the ear of a stranger. + +A young French viscomte was fortunate enough to obtain in marriage the +hand of a singularly pretty Scotch heiress of an old family and good +fortune, who, amongst her other endowments, possessed a large old- +fashioned house in a remote district of the highlands, where her +ancestors had resided for centuries. Thither the young couple repaired +to pass their honeymoon; the enamoured bridegroom gladly availing himself +of the opportunity to ingratiate himself with his new connexion, by +adopting the seclusion he saw practised by the English on such occasions. +However consonant to our notions of happiness, and however conducive to +our enjoyment this custom be--and I have strong doubts upon the subject +--it certainly prospered ill with the volatile Frenchman, who pined for +Paris, its cafes, its boulevards, its maisons de jeu, and its soirees. +His days were passed in looking from the deep and narrow windows of some +oak-framed room upon the bare and heath-clad moors, or watching the +cloud's shadows as they passed across the dark pine trees that closed the +distance. + +Ennuyee to death, and convinced that he had sacrificed enough and more +than enough to the barbarism which demanded such a "sejour," he was +sitting one evening listlessly upon the terrace in front of the house, +plotting a speedy escape from his gloomy abode, and meditating upon the +life of pleasure that awaited him, when the discordant twang of some +savage music broke upon his ear, and roused him from his reverie. The +wild scream and fitful burst of a highland pibroch is certainly not the +most likely thing in nature to allay the irritable and ruffled feelings +of an irascible person--unless, perhaps, the hearer eschew breeches. So +thought the viscomte. He started hurriedly up, and straight before him, +upon the gravel-walk, beheld the stalwart figure and bony frame of an old +highlander, blowing, with all his lungs, the "Gathering of the clans." +With all the speed he could muster, he rushed into the house, and, +calling his servants, ordered them to expel the intruder, and drive him +at once outside the demesne. When the mandate was made known to the old +piper, it was with the greatest difficulty he could be brought to +comprehend it--for, time out of mind, his approach had been hailed +with every demonstration of rejoicing; and now--but no; the thing was +impossible--there must be a mistake somewhere. He was accordingly about +to recommence, when a second and stronger hint suggested to him that it +were safer to depart. "Maybe the 'carl' did na like the pipes," said the +highlander musingly, as he packed them up for his march. "Maybe he did +na like me;" "perhaps, too, he was na in the humour of music." He paused +for an instant as if reflecting--not satisfied, probably, that he had hit +upon the true solution--when suddenly his eye brightened, his lips +curled, and fixing a look upon the angry Frenchman, he said--"Maybe ye +are right enow--ye heard them ower muckle in Waterloo to like the skirl +o' them ever since;" with which satisfactory explanation, made in no +spirit of bitterness or raillery, but in the simple belief that he had +at last hit the mark of the viscomte's antipathy, the old man gathered +up his plaid and departed. + +However disposed I might have felt towards sleep, the little German +resolved I should not obtain any, for when for half an hour together I +would preserve a rigid silence, he, nowise daunted, had recourse to some +German "lied," which he gave forth with an energy of voice and manner +that must have aroused every sleeper in the diligence: so that, fain to +avoid this, I did my best to keep him on the subject of his adventures, +which, as a man of successful gallantry, were manifold indeed. Wearying +at last, even of this subordinate part, I fell into a kind of half doze. +The words of a student song he continued to sing without ceasing for +above an hour--being the last waking thought on my memory. + +Less as a souvenir of the singer than a specimen of its class I give here +a rough translation of the well-known Burschen melody called + + THE POPE + + I. + The Pope, he leads a happy life, + He fears not married care, nor strife, + He drinks the best of Rhenish wine, + I would the Pope's gay lot were mine. + + CHORUS. + He drinks the best of Rhenish wine. + I would the Pope's gay lot were mine. + + II. + But then all happy's not his life, + He has not maid, nor blooming wife; + Nor child has he to raise his hope-- + I would not wish to be the Pope. + + III. + The Sultan better pleases me, + His is a life of jollity; + His wives are many as he will-- + I would the Sultan's throne then fill. + + IV. + But even he's a wretched man, + He must obey his Alcoran; + And dares not drink one drop of wine-- + I would not change his lot for mine. + + V. + So then I'll hold my lowly stand, + And live in German Vaterland; + I'll kiss my maiden fair and fine, + And drink the best of Rhenish wine. + + VI. + Whene'er my maiden kisses me, + I'll think that I the Sultan be; + And when my cheery glass I tope, + I'll fancy then I am the Pope. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +THE JOURNEY. + +It was with a feeling of pleasure I cannot explain, that I awoke in the +morning, and found myself upon the road. The turmoil, the bustle, the +never-ending difficulties of my late life in Paris had so over-excited +and worried me, that I could neither think nor reflect. Now all these +cares and troubles were behind me, and I felt like a liberated prisoner +as I looked upon the grey dawn of the coming day, as it gradually melted +from its dull and leaden tint to the pink and yellow hue of the rising +sun. The broad and richly-coloured plains of "la belle France" were +before me--and it is "la belle France," however inferior to parts of +England in rural beauty--the large tracts of waving yellow corn, +undulating like a sea in the morning breeze--the interminable reaches of +forest, upon which the shadows played and flitted, deepening the effect +and mellowing the mass, as we see them in Ruysdael's pictures--while now +and then some tall-gabled, antiquated chateau, with its mutilated terrace +and dowager-like air of bye-gone grandeur, would peep forth at the end of +some long avenue of lime trees, all having their own features of beauty-- +and a beauty with which every object around harmonizes well. The +sluggish peasant, in his blouse and striped night-cap--the heavily +caparisoned horse, shaking his head amidst a Babel-tower of gaudy worsted +tassels and brass bells--the deeply laden waggon, creeping slowly along-- +are all in keeping with a scene, where the very mist that rises from the +valley seems indolent and lazy, and unwilling to impart the rich perfume +of verdure with which it is loaded. Every land has its own peculiar +character of beauty. The glaciered mountain, the Alpine peak, the +dashing cataract of Switzerland and the Tyrol, are not finer in their way +than the long flat moorlands of a Flemish landscape, with its clump of +stunted willows cloistering over some limpid brook, in which the oxen are +standing for shelter from the noon-day heat--while, lower down, some rude +water-wheel is mingling its sounds with the summer bees and the merry +voices of the miller and his companions. So strayed my thoughts as the +German shook me by the arm, and asked if "I were not ready for my +breakfast?" Luckily to this question there is rarely but the one answer. +Who is not ready for his breakfast when on the road? How delightful, if +on the continent, to escape from the narrow limits of the dungeon-like +diligence, where you sit with your knees next your collar-bone, fainting +with heat and suffocated by dust, and find yourself suddenly beside the +tempting "plats" of a little French dejeune, with its cutlets, its fried +fish, its poulet, its salad, and its little entre of fruit, tempered with +a not despicable bottle of Beaune. If in England, the exchange is nearly +as grateful--for though our travelling be better, and our equipage less +"genante," still it is no small alterative from the stage-coach to the +inn parlour, redolent of aromatic black tea, eggs, and hot toast, with a +hospitable side-board of red, raw surloins, and York hams, that would +made a Jew's mouth water. While, in America, the change is greatest of +all, as any one can vouch for who has been suddenly emancipated from the +stove-heat of a "nine-inside" leathern "conveniency," bumping ten miles +an hour over a corduroy road, the company smoking, if not worse; to the +ample display of luxurious viands displayed upon the breakfast-table, +where, what with buffalo steaks, pumpkin pie, gin cock-tail, and other +aristocratically called temptations, he must be indeed fastidious who +cannot employ his half-hour. Pity it is, when there is so much good to +eat, that people will not partake of it like civilized beings, and with +that air of cheerful thankfulness that all other nations more or less +express when enjoying the earth's bounties. But true it is, that there +is a spirit of discontent in the Yankee, that seems to accept of benefits +with a tone of dissatisfaction, if not distrust. I once made this remark +to an excellent friend of mine now no more, who, however, would not +permit of my attributing this feature to the Americans exclusively, +adding, "Where have you more of this than in Ireland? and surely you +would not call the Irish ungrateful?" He illustrated his first remark by +the following short anecdote:-- + +The rector of the parish my friend lived in was a man who added to the +income he derived from his living a very handsome private fortune, which +he devoted entirely to the benefit of the poor around him. Among the +objects of his bounty one old woman--a childless widow, was remarkably +distinguished. Whether commiserating her utter helplessness or her +complete isolation, he went farther to relieve her than to many, if not +all, the other poor. She frequently was in the habit of pleading her +poverty as a reason for not appearing in church among her neighbours; +and he gladly seized an opportunity of so improving her condition, that +on this score at least no impediment existed. When all his little plans +for her comfort had been carried into execution, he took the opportunity +one day of dropping in, as if accidentally, to speak to her. By degrees +he led the subject to her changed condition in life--the alteration from +a cold, damp, smoky hovel, to a warm, clean, slated house--the cheerful +garden before the door that replaced the mud-heap and the duck-pool--and +all the other happy changes which a few weeks had effected. And he then +asked, did she not feel grateful to a bountiful Providence that had +showered down so many blessings upon her head? + +"Ah, troth, its thrue for yer honour, I am grateful," she replied, in a +whining discordant tone, which astonished the worthy parson. + +"Of course you are, my good woman, of course you are--but I mean to say, +don't you feel that every moment you live is too short to express your +thankfulness to this kind Providence for what he has done?" + +"Ah, darlin', it's all thrue, he's very good, he's mighty kind, so he +is." + +"Why then, not acknowledge it in a different manner?" said the parson, +with some heat--"has he not housed you, and fed you, and clothed you?" + +"Yes, alanah, he done it all." + +"Well, where is your gratitude for all these mercies?" + +"Ah, sure if he did," said the old crone, roused at length by the +importunity of the questioner--"sure if he did, doesn't he take it out o' +me in the corns?" + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +A REMINISCENCE OF THE EAST. + +The breakfast-table assembled around it the three generations of men who +issued from the three subdivisions of the diligence, and presented that +motley and mixed assemblage of ranks, ages, and countries, which forms +so very amusing a part of a traveller's experience. + +First came the "haute aristocratie" of the coupe, then the middle class +of the interieure, and lastly, the tiers etat of the rotonde, with its +melange of Jew money-lenders, under-officers and their wives, a Norman +nurse with a high cap and a red jupe; while, to close the procession, a +German student descended from the roof, with a beard, a blouse, and a +meerschaum. Of such materials was our party made up; and yet, differing +in all our objects and interests, we speedily amalgamated into a very +social state of intimacy, and chatted away over our breakfast with much +good humour and gaiety. Each person of the number seeming pleased at the +momentary opportunity of finding a new listener, save my tall companion +of the coupe. He preserved a dogged silence, unbroken by even a chance +expression to the waiter, who observed his wants and supplied them by a +species of quick instinct, evidently acquired by practice. As I could +not help feeling somewhat interested about the hermit-like attachment he +evinced for solitude, I watched him narrowly for some time, and at length +as the "roti" made its appearance before him, after he had helped himself +and tasted it, he caught my eye fixed upon him, and looking at me +intently for a few seconds, he seemed to be satisfied in some passing +doubt he laboured under, as he said with a most peculiar shake of the +head--"No mangez, no mangez cela." + +"Ah," said I, detecting in my friend's French his English origin, "you +are an Englishman I find." + +"The devil a doubt of it, darlin'," said he half testily. + +"An Irishman, too--still better," said I. + +"Why then isn't it strange that my French always shows me to be English, +and my English proves me Irish? It's lucky for me there's no going +farther any how." + +Delighted to have thus fallen upon a "character," as the Irishman +evidently appeared, I moved my chair towards his; and finding, however, +he was not half pleased at the manner in which my acquaintance had been +made with him, and knowing his country's susceptibility of being taken by +a story, I resolved to make my advances by narrating a circumstance which +had once befallen me in my early life. + +Our countrymen, English and Irish, travel so much now a days, that one +ought never to feel surprised at finding them anywhere. The instance I +am about to relate will verify to a certain extent the fact, by showing +that no situation is too odd or too unlikely to be within the verge of +calculation. + +When the 10th foot, to which I then belonged, were at Corfu, I obtained +with three other officers a short leave of absence, to make a hurried +tour of the Morea, and taking a passing glance at Constantinople--in +those days much less frequently visited by travellers than at present. + +After rambling pleasantly about for some weeks, we were about to return, +when we determined that before sailing we should accept an invitation +some officers of the "Dwarf" frigate, then stationed there, had given us, +to pass a day at Pera, and pic-nic in the mountain. + +One fine bright morning was therefore selected--a most appetizing little +dinner being carefully packed up--we set out, a party of fourteen, upon +our excursion. + +The weather was glorious, and the scene far finer than any of us had +anticipated--the view from the mountain extending over the entire city, +gorgeous in the rich colouring of its domes and minarets; while, at one +side, the golden horn was visible, crowded with ships of every nation, +and, at the other, a glimpse might be had of the sea of Marmora, blue and +tranquil as it lay beneath. The broad bosom of the Bosphorus was sheeted +out like a map before us--peaceful yet bustling with life and animation. +Here lay the union-jack of old England, floating beside the lilies of +France--we speak of times when lilies were and barricades were not--the +tall and taper spars of a Yankee frigate towering above the low timbers +and heavy hull of a Dutch schooner--the gilded poop and curved galleries +of a Turkish three-decker, anchored beside the raking mast and curved +deck of a suspicious looking craft, whose red-capped and dark-visaged +crew needed not the naked creese at their sides to bespeak them Malays. +The whole was redolent of life, and teeming with food for one's fancy to +conjure from. + +While we were debating upon the choice of a spot for our luncheon, which +should command the chief points of view within our reach, one of the +party came to inform us that he had just discovered the very thing we +were in search of. It was a small kiosk, built upon a projecting rock +that looked down upon the Bosphorus and the city, and had evidently, from +the extended views it presented, been selected as the spot to build upon. +The building itself was a small octagon, open on every side, and +presenting a series of prospects, land and seaward, of the most varied +and magnificent kind. + +Seeing no one near, nor any trace of habitation, we resolved to avail +ourselves of the good taste of the founder; and spreading out the +contents of our hampers, proceeded to discuss a most excellent cold +dinner. When the good things had disappeared, and the wine began to +circulate, one of the party observed that we should not think of enjoying +ourselves before we had filled a bumper to the brim, to the health of our +good king, whose birth-day it chanced to be. Our homeward thoughts and +loyalty uniting, we filled our glasses, and gave so hearty a "hip, hip, +hurra," to our toast, that I doubt if the echoes of those old rocks ever +heard the equal of it. + +Scarcely was the last cheer dying away in the distance, when the door of +the kiosk opened, and a negro dressed in white muslin appeared, his arms +and ancles bearing those huge rings of massive gold, which only persons +of rank distinguish their servants by. + +After a most profound obeisance to the party, he explained in very +tolerable French, that his master the Effendi, Ben Mustapha Al Halak, at +whose charge (in house rent) we were then resting, sent us greetings, and +begged that if not considered as contrary to our usages, &c. we should +permit him and his suite to approach the kiosk and observe us at our +meal. + +Independent of his politeness in the mode of conveying the request, as he +would prove fully as entertaining a sight to us as we could possibly be +to him, we immediately expressed our great willingness to receive his +visit, coupled with a half hint that perhaps he might honour us by +joining the party. + +After a half hour's delay, the door was once more thrown open, and a +venerable old Turk entered: he salaamed three times most reverently, and +motioned to us to be seated, declining, at the same time, by a gentle +gesture of his hand, our invitation. He was followed by a train of six +persons, all splendidly attired, and attesting, by their costume and +manner, the rank and importance of their chief. Conceiving that his +visit had but one object--to observe our convivial customs--we +immediately reseated ourselves, and filled our glasses. + +As one after another the officers of the effendi's household passed +round the apartments, we offered them a goblet of champagne, which they +severally declined, with a polite but solemn smile--all except one, a +large, savage-looking Turk, with a most ferocious scowl, and the largest +black beard I ever beheld. He did not content himself with a mute +refusal of our offer, but stopping suddenly, he raised up his hands above +his head, and muttered some words in Turkish, which one of the party +informed us was a very satisfactory recommendation of the whole company +to Satan for their heretic abomination. + +The procession moved slowly round the room, and when it reached the door +again retired, each member of it salaaming three times as they had done +on entering. Scarcely had they gone, when we burst into a loud fit of +laughter at the savage-looking fellow who thought proper to excommunicate +us, and were about to discuss his more than common appearance of disgust +at our proceedings, when again the door opened, and a turbaned head +peeped in, but so altered were the features, that although seen but the +moment before, we could hardly believe them the same. The dark +complexion--the long and bushy beard were there--but instead of the +sleepy and solemn character of the oriental, with heavy eye and closed +lip, there was a droll, half-devilry in the look, and partly open mouth, +that made a most laughable contrast with the head-dress. He looked +stealthily around him for an instant, as if to see that all was right, +and then, with an accent and expression I shall never forget, said, "I'll +taste your wine, gentleman, an it be pleasing to ye." + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +A DAY IN THE PHOENIX. + +When we were once more in the coupe of the diligence, I directed my +entire attention towards my Irish acquaintance, as well because of his +apparent singularity, as to avoid the little German in the opposite +corner. + +"You have not been long in France, then, sir," said I, as we resumed our +conversation. + +"Three weeks, and it seems like three years to me--nothing to eat-- +nothing to drink--and nobody to speak to. But I'll go back soon--I only +came abroad for a month." + +"You'll scarcely see much of the Continent in so short a time." + +"Devil a much that will grieve me--I didn't come to see it." + +"Indeed!" + +"Nothing of the kind; I only came--to be away from home." + +"Oh! I perceive." + +"You're quite out there," said my companion, misinterpreting my meaning. +"It wasn't any thing of that kind. I don't owe sixpence. I was laughed +out of Ireland--that's all, though that same is bad enough." + +"Laughed out of it!" + +"Just so--and little you know of Ireland if that surprises you." + +After acknowledging that such an event was perfectly possible, from what +I myself had seen of that country, I obtained the following very brief +account of my companion's reasons for foreign travel: + +"Well, sir," began he, "it is about four months since I brought up to +Dublin from Galway a little chesnut mare, with cropped ears and a short +tail, square-jointed, and rather low--just what you'd call a smart hack +for going to cover with--a lively thing on the road with a light weight. +Nobody ever suspected that she was a clean bred thing--own sister to +Jenny, that won the Corinthians, and ran second to Giles for the +Riddlesworth--but so she was, and a better bred mare never leaped the +pound in Ballinasloe. Well, I brought her to Dublin, and used to ride +her out two or three times a week, making little matches sometimes to +trot--and, for a thorough bred, she was a clipper at trotting--to trot +a mile or so on the grass--another day to gallop the length of the nine +acres opposite the Lodge--and then sometimes, back her for a ten pound +note, to jump the biggest furze bush that could be found--all or which +she could do with ease, nobody thinking, all the while, that the cock- +tailed pony was out of Scroggins, by a "Lamplighter mare." As every +fellow that was beat to-day was sure to come back to-morrow, with +something better, either of his own or a friend's, I had matches booked +for every day in the week--for I always made my little boy that rode, win +by half a neck, or a nostril, and so we kept on day after day pocketing +from ten to thirty pounds or thereabouts. + +"It was mighty pleasant while it lasted, for besides winning the money, +I had my own fun laughing at the spoonies that never could book my bets +fast enough. Young infantry officers and the junior bar--they were for +the most part mighty nice to look at, but very raw about racing. How +long I might have gone on in this way I cannot say; but one morning I +fell in with a fat, elderly gentleman, in shorts and gaiters, mounted on +a dun cob pony, that was very fidgety and hot tempered, and appeared to +give the rider a great deal of uneasiness. + +"'He's a spicy hack you're on, sir,' said I, 'and has a go in him, I'll +be bound.' + +"'I rayther think he has,' said the old gentleman, half testily. + +"'And can trot a bit, too.' + +"'Twelve Irish miles in fifty minutes, with my weight.' Here he looked +down at a paunch like a sugar hosghead. + +"'Maybe he's not bad across a country,' said I, rather to humour the old +fellow, who, I saw, was proud of his poney. + +"'I'd like to see his match, that's all.' Here he gave a rather +contemptuous glance at my hack. + +"Well, one word led to another, and it ended at last in our booking a +match, with which one party was no less pleased than the other. It was +this: each was to ride his own horse, starting from the school in the +Park, round the Fifteen Acres, outside the Monument, and back to the +start--just one heat, about a mile and a half--the ground good, and only +soft enough. In consideration, however, of his greater weight, I was to +give odds in the start; and as we could not well agree on how much, it +was at length decided that he was to get away first, and I to follow as +fast as I could, after drinking a pewter quart full of Guinness's double +stout--droll odds, you'll say, but it was the old fellow's own thought, +and as the match was a soft one, I let him have his way. + +"The next morning the Phoenix was crowded as if for a review. There were +all the Dublin notorieties, swarming in barouches, and tilburies, and +outside jaunting-cars--smart clerks in the post-office, mounted upon +kicking devils from Dycer's and Lalouette's stables--attorney's wives +and daughters from York-street, and a stray doctor or so on a hack that +looked as if it had been lectured on for the six winter months at the +College of Surgeons. My antagoist was half an hour late, which time I +occupied in booking bets on every side of me--offering odds of ten, +fifteen, and at last, to tempt the people, twenty-five to one against the +dun. At last, the fat gentleman came up on a jaunting-car, followed by a +groom leading the cob. I wish you heard the cheer that greeted him on +his arrival, for it appeared he was a well-known character in town, and +much in favour with the mob. When he got off the car, he bundled into a +tent, followed by a few of his friends, where they remained for about +five minutes, at the end of which he came out in full racing costume-- +blue and yellow striped jacket, blue cap and leathers--looking as funny a +figure as ever you set eyes upon. I now thought it time to throw off my +white surtout, and show out in pink and orange, the colours I had been +winning in for two months past. While some of the party were sent on to +station themselves at different places round the Fifteen Acres, to mark +out the course, my fat friend was assisted into his saddle, and gave +a short preliminary gallop of a hundred yards or so, that set us all +a-laughing. The odds were now fifty to one in my favour, and I gave them +wherever I could find takers. 'With you, sir, if you please, in pounds, +and the gentleman in the red whiskers, too, if he likes--very well, in +half sovereigns, if you prefer it.' So I went on, betting on every side, +till the bell rung to mount. As I knew I had plenty of time to spare, I +took little notice, and merely giving a look to my girths, I continued +leisurely booking my bets. At last the time came, and at the word +'Away!' off went the fat gentleman on the dun, at a spluttering gallop, +that flung the mud on every side of us, and once more threw us all +a-laughing. I waited patiently till he got near the upper end of the +park, taking bets every minute; and now that he was away, every one +offered to wager. At last, when I had let him get nearly half round, +and found no more money could be had, I called out to his friends for the +porter, and, throwing myself into the saddle, gathered up the reins in my +hand. The crowd fell back on each side, while from the tent I have +already mentioned came a thin fellow with one eye, with a pewter quart in +his hand: he lifted it up towards me, and I took it; but what was my +fright to find that the porter was boiling, and the vessel so hot I could +barely hold it. I endeavoured to drink, however: the first mouthful took +all the skin off my lips and tongue--the second half choked, and the +third nearly threw me into an apoplectic fit--the mob cheering all the +time like devils. Meantime, the old fellow had reached the furze, and +was going along like fun. Again I tried the porter, and a fit of +coughing came on that lasted five minutes. The pewter was now so hot +that the edge of the quart took away a piece of my mouth at every effort. +I ventured once more, and with the desperation of a madman I threw down +the hot liquid to its last drop. My head reeled--my eyes glared--and my +brain was on fire. I thought I beheld fifty fat gentlemen galloping on +every side of me, and all the sky raining jackets in blue and yellow. +Half mechanically I took the reins, and put spurs to my horse; but before +I got well away, a loud cheer from the crowd assailed me. I turned, and +saw the dun coming in at a floundering gallop, covered with foam, and so +dead blown that neither himself nor the rider could have got twenty yards +farther. The race was, however, won. My odds were lost to every man on +the field, and, worse than all, I was so laughed at, that I could not +venture out in the streets, without hearing allusions to my misfortune; +for a certain friend of mine, one Tom O'Flaherty--" + +"Tom of the 11th light dragoons?" + +"The same--you know Tom, then? Maybe you have heard him mention me-- +Maurice Malone?" + +"Not Mr. Malone, of Fort Peak?" + +"Bad luck to him. I am as well known in connexion with Fort Peak, as the +Duke is with Waterloo. There is not a part of the globe where he has not +told that confounded story." + +As my readers may not possibly be all numbered in Mr. O'Flaherty's +acquaintance, I shall venture to give the anecdote which Mr. Malone +accounted to be so widely circulated. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +AN ADVENTURE IN CANADA. + +Towards the close of the last war with America, a small detachment of +military occupied the little block house of Fort Peak, which, about eight +miles from the Falls of Niagara, formed the last outpost on the frontier. +The Fort, in itself inconsiderable, was only of importance as commanding +a part of the river where it was practicable to ford, and where the easy +ascent of the bank offered a safe situation for the enemy to cross over, +whenever they felt disposed to carry the war into our territory. + +There having been, however, no threat of invasion in this quarter, and +the natural strength of the position being considerable, a mere handful +of men, with two subaltern officers, were allotted for this duty--such +being conceived ample to maintain it till the arrival of succour from +head-quarters, then at Little York, on the opposite side of the lake. +The officers of this party were our old acquaintance Tom O'Flaherty, and +our newly-made one Maurice Malone. + +Whatever may be the merits of commanding officers, one virtue they +certainly can lay small claim to--viz. any insight into character, or at +least any regard for the knowledge. Seldom are two men sent off on +detachment duty to some remote quarter, to associate daily and hourly for +months together, that they are not, by some happy chance, the very people +who never, as the phrase is, "took to each other" in their lives. The +grey-headed, weather-beaten, disappointed "Peninsular" is coupled with +the essenced and dandified Adonis of the corps; the man of literary +tastes and cultivated pursuits, with the empty headed, ill informed +youth, fresh from Harrow or Westminster. This case offered no exception +to the rule; for though there were few men possessed of more assimilating +powers than O'Flaherty, yet certainly his companion did put the faculty +to the test, for any thing more unlike him, there never existed. Tom all +good humour and high spirits--making the best of every thing--never non- +plussed--never taken aback--perfectly at home, whether flirting with a +Lady Charlotte in her drawing-room, or crossing a grouse mountain in the +highlands--sufficiently well read to talk on any ordinary topic--and +always ready-witted enough to seem more so. A thorough sportsman, +whether showing forth in the "park" at Melton, whipping a trout-stream in +Wales, or filling a country-house with black cock and moor-fowl; an +unexceptionable judge of all the good things in life, from a pretty ancle +to a well hung tilbury--from the odds at hazard to the "Comet vintage." +Such, in brief, was Tom. Now his confrere was none of these; he had been +drafted from the Galway militia to the line, for some election services +rendered by his family to the government candidate; was of a saturnine +and discontented habit; always miserable about some trifle or other, and +never at rest till he had drowned his sorrows in Jamaica rum--which, +since the regiment was abroad, he had copiously used as a substitute for +whiskey. To such an extent had this passion gained upon him, that a +corporal's guard was always in attendance whenever he dined out, to +convey him home to the barracks. + +The wearisome monotony of a close garrison, with so ungenial a companion, +would have damped any man's spirits but O'Flaherty's. He, however, upon +this, as other occasions in life, rallied himself to make the best of it; +and by short excursions within certain prescribed limits along the river +side, contrived to shoot and fish enough to get through the day, and +improve the meagre fare of his mess-table. Malone never appeared before +dinner--his late sittings at night requiring all the following day to +recruit him for a new attack upon the rum bottle. + +Now, although his seeing so little of his brother officer was any thing +but unpleasant to O'Flaherty, yet the ennui of such a life was gradually +wearing him, and all his wits were put in requisition to furnish +occupation for his time. Never a day passed without his praying ardently +for an attack from the enemy; any alternative, any reverse, had been a +blessing compared with his present life. No such spirit, however, seemed +to animate the Yankee troops; not a soldier was to be seen for miles +around, and every straggler that passed the Fort concurred in saying that +the Americans were not within four day's march of the frontier. + +Weeks passed over, and the same state of things remaining unchanged, +O'Flaherty gradually relaxed some of his strictness as to duty; small +foraging parties of three and four being daily permitted to leave the +Fort for a few hours, to which they usually returned laden with wild +turkeys and fish--both being found in great abundance near them. + +Such was the life of the little garrison for two or three long summer +months--each day so resembling its fellow, that no difference could be +found. + +As to how the war was faring, or what the aspect of affairs might be, +they absolutely knew nothing. Newspapers never reached them; and whether +from having so much occupation at head-quarters, or that the difficulty +of sending letters prevented, their friends never wrote a line; and thus +they jogged on, a very vegetable existence, till thought at last was +stagnating in their brains, and O'Flaherty half envied his companion's +resource in the spirit flask. + +Such was the state of affairs at the Fort, when one evening O'Flaherty +appeared to pace the little rampart that looked towards Lake Ontario, +with an appearance of anxiety and impatience strangely at variance with +his daily phlegmatic look. It seemed that the corporal's party he had +despatched that morning to forage, near the "Falls," had not returned, +and already were four hours later than their time away. + +Every imaginable mode of accounting for their absence suggested itself to +his mind. Sometimes he feared that they had been attacked by the Indian +hunters, who were far from favourably disposed towards their poaching +neighbours. Then, again, it might be merely that they had missed their +track in the forest; or could it be that they had ventured to reach Goat +Island in a canoe, and had been carried down the rapids. Such were the +torturing doubts that passed as some shrill squirrel, or hoarse night owl +pierced the air with a cry, and then all was silent again. While thus +the hours went slowly by, his attention was attracted by a bright light +in the sky. It appeared as if part of the heavens were reflecting some +strong glare from beneath, for as he looked, the light, at first pale and +colourless, gradually deepened into a rich mellow hue, and at length, +through the murky blackness of the night, a strong clear current of flame +rose steadily upwards from the earth, and pointed towards the sky. From +the direction, it must have been either at the Falls, or immediately near +them; and now the horrible conviction flashed upon his mind that the +party had been waylaid by the Indians, who were, as is their custom, +making a war feast over their victims. + +Not an instant was to be lost. The little garrison beat to arms; and, as +the men fell in, O'Flaherty cast his eyes around, while he selected a few +brave fellows to accompany him. Scarcely had the men fallen out from the +ranks, when the sentinel at the gate was challenged by a well-known +voice, and in a moment more the corporal of the foraging party was among +them. Fatigue and exhaustion had so overcome him, that for some minutes +he was speechless. At length he recover sufficiently to give the +following brief account:-- + +The little party having obtained their supply of venison above Queenston, +were returning to the Fort, when they suddenly came upon a track of feet, +and little experience in forest life soon proved that some new arrivals +had reached the hunting grounds, for on examining them closely, they +proved neither to be Indian tracks, nor yet those made by the shoes of +the Fort party. Proceeding with caution to trace them backwards for +three or four miles, they reached the bank of the Niagara river, above +the whirlpools, where the crossing is most easily effected from the +American side. The mystery was at once explained: it was a surprise +party of the Yankees, sent to attack Fort Peak; and now the only thing to +be done was to hasten back immediately to their friends, and prepare for +their reception. + +With this intent they took the river path as the shortest, but had not +proceeded far when their fears were confirmed; for in a little embayment +of the bank they perceived a party of twenty blue coats, who, with their +arms piled, were lying around as if waiting for the hour of attack. The +sight of this party added greatly to their alarm, for they now perceived +that the Americans had divided their force--the foot-tracks first seen +being evidently those of another division. As the corporal and his few +men continued, from the low and thick brushwood, to make their +reconnaisance of the enemy, they observed with delight that they were not +regulars, but a militia force. With this one animating thought, they +again, with noiseless step, regained the forest, and proceeded upon their +way. Scarcely, however, had they marched a mile, when the sound of +voices and loud laughter apprised them that another party was near, +which, as well as they could observe in the increasing gloom, was still +larger than the former. They were now obliged to make a considerable +circuit, and advance still deeper into the forest--their anxiety hourly +increasing, lest the enemy should reach the Fort before themselves. In +this dilemma it was resolved that the party should separate--the corporal +determining to proceed alone by the river bank, while the others, by a +detour of some miles, should endeavour to learn the force of the Yankees, +and, as far as they could, their mode of attack. From that instant the +corporal knew no more; for, after two hours' weary exertion, he reached +the Fort, which, had it been but another mile distant, his strength had +not held out for him to attain. + +However gladly poor O'Flaherty might have hailed such information under +other circumstances, now it came like a thunderbolt upon him. Six of his +small force were away, perhaps ere this made prisoners by the enemy; +the Yankees, as well as he could judge, were a numerous party; and he +himself totally without a single adviser--for Malone had dined, and was, +therefore, by this time in that pleasing state of indifference, in which +he could only recognise an enemy, in the man that did not send round the +decanter. + +In the half indulged hope that his state might permit some faint exercise +of the reasoning faculty, O'Flaherty walked towards the small den they +had designated as the mess-room, in search of his brother officer. + +As he entered the apartment, little disposed as he felt to mirth at such +a moment, the tableau before him was too ridiculous not to laugh at. At +one side of the fire-place sat Malone, his face florid with drinking, and +his eyeballs projecting. Upon his head was a small Indian skull cap, +with two peacock feathers, and a piece of scarlet cloth which hung down +behind. In one hand he held a smoking goblet of rum punch, and in the +other a long, Indian Chibook pipe. Opposite to him, but squatted upon +the floor, reposed a red Indian, that lived in the Fort as a guide, +equally drunk, but preserving, even in his liquor, an impassive, grave +aspect, strangely contrasting with the high excitement of Malone's face. +The red man wore Malone's uniform coat, which he had put on back +foremost--his head-dress having, in all probability been exchanged for +it, as an amicable courtesy between the parties. There they sat, looking +fixedly at each other; neither spoke, nor even smiled--the rum bottle, +which at brief intervals passed from one to the other, maintained a +friendly intercourse that each was content with. + +To the hearty fit of laughing of O'Flaherty, Malone replied by a look of +drunken defiance, and then nodded to his red friend, who returned the +courtesy. As poor Tom left the room, he saw that nothing was to be hoped +for in this quarter, and determined to beat the garrison to arms without +any further delay. Scarcely had he closed the door behind him, when a +sudden thought flashed through his brain. He hesitated, walked forward a +few paces, stopped again, and calling out to the corporal, said-- + +"You are certain they were militia?" + +"Yes, sir; quite sure." + +"Then, by Jove, I have it," cried O'Flaherty. "If they should turn out +to be the Buffalo fencibles, we may get through this scrape better than I +hoped for." + +"I believe you are right, sir; for I heard one of the men as I passed +observe, 'what will they say in Buffalo when it's over?'." + +"Send Mathers here, corporal; and do you order four rank and file, with +side-arms to be in readiness immediately." + +"Mathers, you have heard the news," said O'Flaherty, as the sergeant +entered. "Can the Fort hold out against such a force as Jackson reports? +You doubt; well, so do I; so let's see what's to be done. Can you +remember, was it not the Buffalo militia that were so tremendously +thrashed by the Delawares last autumn?" + +"Yes, sir, they chased them for two days and nights, and had they not +reached the town of Buffalo, the Delawares would not have left a scalp +in the regiment." + +"Can you recollect the chief's name--it was Carran--something, eh?" + +"Caudan-dacwagae." + +"Exactly. Where is he supposed to be now?" + +"Up in Detroit, sir, they say, but no one knows. Those fellows are here +to-day, and there to-morrow." + +"Well then, sergeant, here's my plan." Saying these words, O'Flaherty +proceeded to walk towards his quarters, accompanied by the sergeant, with +whom he conversed for some time eagerly--occasionally replying, as it +appeared, to objections, and offering explanations as the other seemed to +require them. The colloquy lasted half an hour--and although the veteran +sergeant seemed difficult of conviction, it ended by his saying, as he +left the room, + +"Well, sir, as you say, it can only come to hard knocks at worst. Here +goes--I'll send off the scout party to make the fires and choose the men +for the out picquets, for no time is to be lost." + +In about an hour's time from the scene I have mentioned, a number of +militia officers, of different grades, were seated round a bivouac fire, +upon the bank of the Niagara river. The conversation seemed of an angry +nature, for the voices of the speakers were loud and irrascible, and +their gestures evidenced a state of high excitement. + +"I see," said one, who seemed the superior of the party--"I see well +where this will end. We shall have another Queenston affair, as we had +last fall with the Delawares." + +"I only say," replied another, "that if you wish our men to stand fire +to-morrow morning, the less you remind them of the Delawares the better. +What is that noise? Is not that a drum beating?" + +The party at these words sprung to their legs, and stood in an attitude +of listening for some seconds. + +"Who goes there?" sung out a sentinel from his post; and then, after a +moment's delay, added--"Pass flag of truce to Major Brown's quarters." + +Scarcely were the words spoken, when three officers in scarlet, preceded +by a drummer with a white flag, stood before the American party. + +"To whom may I address myself?" said one of the British--who, I may +inform my reader, en passant, was no other than O'Flaherty--"To whom may +I address myself as the officer in command?" + +"I am Major Brown," said a short, plethoric little man, in a blue uniform +and round hat--"And who are you?" + +"Major O'Flaherty, of his majesty's fifth foot," said Tom, with a very +sonorous emphasis on each word--"the bearer of a flag of truce and an +amicable proposition from Major-General Allen, commanding the garrison of +Fort Peak." + +The Americans, who were evidently taken by surprise at their intentions +of attack being known, were silent, while he continued-- + +"Gentlemen, it may appear somewhat strange that a garrison, possessing +the natural strength of a powerful position--supplied with abundant +ammunition and every muniment of war--should despatch a flag of truce on +the eve of an attack, in preference to waiting for the moment, when a +sharp and well-prepared reception might best attest its vigilance and +discipline. But the reasons for this step are soon explained. In the +first place, you intend a surprise. We have been long aware of your +projected attack. Our spies have tracked you from your crossing the +river above the whirlpool to your present position. Every man of your +party is numbered by us; and, what is still more, numbered by our allies +--yes, gentlemen, I must repeat it, "allies"--though, as a Briton, I +blush at the word. Shame and disgrace for ever be that man's portion, +who first associated the honourable usages of war with the atrocious and +bloody cruelties of the savage. Yet so it is: the Delawares of the +hills"--here the Yankees exchanged very peculiar looks--"have this +morning arrived at Fort Peak, with orders to ravage the whole of your +frontier, from Fort George to Lake Erie. They brought us the information +of your approach, and their chief is, while I speak, making an infamous +proposition, by which a price is to paid for every scalp he produces in +the morning. Now, as the general cannot refuse to co-operate with the +savages, without compromising himself with the commander-in-chief, +neither can he accept of such assistance without some pangs of +conscience. He has taken the only course open to him: he has despatched +myself and my brother officers here"--O'Flaherty glanced at two privates +dressed up in his regimentals--"to offer you terms"-- + +O'Flaherty paused when he arrived thus far, expecting that the opposite +party would make some reply; but they continued silent: when suddenly, +from the dense forest, there rung forth a wild and savage yell, that rose +and fell several times, like the pibroch of the highlander, and ended at +last in a loud whoop, that was echoed and re-echoed again and again for +several seconds after. + +"Hark!" said O'Flaherty, with an accent of horror--"Hark! the war-cry of +the Delawares! The savages are eager for their prey. May it yet be time +enough to rescue you from such a fate! Time presses--our terms are +these--as they do not admit of discussion, and must be at once accepted +or rejected, to your own ear alone can I impart them." + +Saying which, he took Major Brown aside, and, walking apart from the +others, led him, by slow steps, into the forest. While O'Flaherty +continued to dilate upon the atrocities of Indian war, and the revengeful +character of the savages, he contrived to be always advancing towards the +river side, till at length the glare of a fire was perceptible through +the gloom. Major Brown stopped suddenly, and pointed in the direction of +the flame. + +"It is the Indian picquet," said O'Flaherty, calmly; "and as the facts I +have been detailing may be more palpable to your mind, you shall see them +with your own eyes. Yes, I repeat it, you shall, through the cover of +this brushwood, see Caudan-dacwagae himself--for he is with them in +person." + +As O'Flaherty said this, he led Major Brown, now speechless with terror, +behind a massive cork tree, from which spot they could look down upon the +river side, where in a small creek sat five or six persons in blankets, +and scarlet head-dresses; their faces streaked with patches of yellow and +red paint, to which the glare of the fire lent fresh horror. In the +midst sat one, whose violent gestures and savage cries gave him the very +appearance of a demon, as he resisted with all his might the efforts of +the others to restrain him, shouting like a maniac all the while, and +struggling to rise. + +"It is the chief," said O'Flaherty; "he will wait no longer. We have +bribed the others to keep him quiet, if possible, a little time; but I +see they cannot succeed." + +A loud yell of triumph from below interrupted Tom's speech. The +infuriated savage--who was no other than Mr. Malone--having obtained the +rum bottle, for which he was fighting with all his might--his temper not +being improved in the struggle by occasional admonitions from the red end +of a cigar, applied to his naked skin by the other Indians--who were his +own soldiers acting under O'Flaherty's orders. + +"Now," said Tom, "that you have convinced yourself, and can satisfy your +brother officers, will you take your chance? or will you accept the +honoured terms of the General--pile your arms, and retreat beyond the +river before day-break? Your muskets and ammunition will offer a bribe +to the cupidity of the savage, and delay his pursuit till you can reach +some place of safety." + +Major Brown heard the proposal in silence, and at last determined upon +consulting his brother officers. + +"I have outstaid my time," said O'Flaherty, "but stop; the lives of so +many are at stake, I consent." Saying which, they walked on without +speaking, till they arrived where the others were standing around the +watch-fire. + +As Brown retired to consult with the officers, Tom heard with pleasure +how much his two companions had worked upon the Yankees' fears, during +his absence, by details of the vindictive feelings of the Delawares, and +their vows to annihilate the Buffalo militia. + +Before five minutes they had decided. Upon a solemn pledge from +O'Flaherty that the terms of the compact were to be observed as he stated +them, they agreed to march with their arms to the ford, where, having +piled them, they were to cross over, and make the best of their way home. + +By sunrise the next morning, all that remained of the threatened attack +on Fort Peak, were the smouldering ashes of some wood fires--eighty +muskets piled in the fort--and the yellow ochre, and red stripes that +still adorned the countenance of the late Indian chief,--but now snoring +Lieutenant Maurice Malone. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +THE COURIER'S PASSPORT. + +A second night succeeded the long dreary day of the diligence, and the +only one agreeable reflection arose in the feeling that every mile +travelled, was diminishing the chance of pursuit, and removing me still +further from that scene of trouble and annoyance that was soon to furnish +gossip for Paris--under the title of "The Affaire O'Leary." + +How he was ever to extricate himself from the numerous and embarrassing +difficulties of his position, gave me, I confess, less uneasiness than +the uncertainty of my own fortunes. Luck seemed ever to befriend him--me +it had always accompanied far enough through life to make its subsequent +desertion more painful. How far I should blame myself for this, +I stopped not to consider; but brooded over the fact in a melancholy +and discontented mood. The one thought uppermost in my mind was, how +will Lady Jane receive me--am I forgotten--or am I only remembered as +the subject of that unlucky mistake, when, under the guise of an elder +son, I was feted and made much of. What pretensions I had, without +fortune, rank, influence, or even expectations of any kind, to seek the +hand of the most beautiful girl of the day, with the largest fortune as +her dowry, I dare not ask myself--the reply would have dashed all my +hopes, and my pursuit would have at once been abandoned. "Tell the +people you are an excellent preacher," was the advice of an old and +learned divine to a younger and less experienced one--"tell them so every +morning, and every noon, and every evening, and at last they will begin +to believe it." So thought I. I shall impress upon the Callonbys that +I am a most unexceptionable "parti." Upon every occasion they shall hear +it--as they open their newspapers at breakfast--as they sip their soup at +luncheon--as they adjust their napkin at dinner--as they chat over their +wine at night. My influence in the house shall be unbounded--my +pleasures consulted--my dislikes remembered. The people in favour with +me shall dine there three times a-week--those less fortunate shall be put +into schedule A. My opinions on all subjects shall be a law--whether I +pronounce upon politics, or discuss a dinner: and all this I shall +accomplish by a successful flattery of my lady--a little bullying of my +lord--a devoted attention to the youngest sister--a special cultivation +of Kilkee--and a very "prononce" neglect of Lady Jane. These were my +half-waking thoughts, as the heavy diligence rumbled over the pave into +Nancy; and I was aroused by the door being suddenly jerked open, and a +bronzed face, with a black beard and moustache, being thrust in amongst +us. + +"Your passports, Messieurs," as a lantern was held up in succession +across our faces, and we handed forth our crumpled and worn papers to the +official. + +The night was stormy and dark--gusts of wind sweeping along, bearing with +them the tail of some thunder cloud--mingling their sounds with a falling +tile from the roofs, or a broken chimney-pot. The officer in vain +endeavoured to hold open the passports while he inscribed his name; and +just as the last scrawl was completed, the lantern went out. Muttering a +heavy curse upon the weather, he thrust them in upon us en masse, and, +banging the door to, called out to the conducteur, "en route." + +Again we rumbled on, and, ere we cleared the last lamps of the town, the +whole party were once more sunk in sleep, save myself. Hour after hour +rolled by, the rain pattering upon the roof, and the heavy plash of the +horses' feet contributing their mournful sounds to the melancholy that +was stealing over me. At length we drew up at the door of a little +auberge; and, by the noise and bustle without, I perceived there was a +change of horses. Anxious to stretch my legs, and relieve, if even for a +moment, the wearisome monotony of the night, I got out and strode into +the little parlour of the inn. There was a cheerful fire in an open +stove, beside which stood a portly figure in a sheepskin bunta and a +cloth travelling cap, with a gold band; his legs were cased in high +Russia leather boots, all evident signs of the profession of the wearer, +had even his haste at supper not bespoke the fact that he was a +government courier. + +"You had better make haste with the horses, Antoine, if you don't wish +the postmaster to hear of it," said he, as I entered, his mouth filled +with pie crust and vin de Beaune, as he spoke. + +A lumbering peasant, with a blouse, sabots, and a striped nightcap, +replied in some unknown patois; when the courier again said-- + +"Well, then, take the diligence horses; I must get on at all events; they +are not so presse, I'll be bound; besides it will save the gens-d'armes +some miles of a ride if they overtake them here." + +"Have we another vise of our passports here, then?" said I, addressing +the courier, "for we have already been examined at Nancy?" + +"Not exactly a vise," said the courier, eyeing me most suspiciously as +he spoke, and then continuing to eat with his former voracity. + +"Then, what, may I ask, have we to do with the gens-d'armes?" + +"It is a search," said the courier, gruffly, and with the air of one who +desired no further questioning. + +I immediately ordered a bottle of Burgundy, and filling the large goblet +before him, said, with much respect, + +"A votre bonne voyage, Monsier le Courier." + +To this he at once replied, by taking off his cap and bowing politely as +he drank off the wine. + +"Have we any runaway felon or a stray galerien among us?" said I, +laughingly, "that they are going to search us?" + +"No, monsieur," said the courier; "but there has been a government order +to arrest a person on this road connected with the dreadful Polish plot, +that has just eclated at Paris. I passed a vidette of cavalry at Nancy, +and they will be up here in half an hour." + +"A Polish plot! Why, I left Paris only two days ago, and never heard of +it." + +"C'est bien possible, Monsieur? Perhaps, after all, it may only be an +affair of the police; but they have certainly arrested one prisoner at +Meurice, charged with this, as well as the attempt to rob Frascati, and +murder the croupier." + +"Alas," said I, with a half-suppressed groan, "it is too true; that +infernal fellow O'Leary has ruined me, and I shall be brought back to +Paris, and only taken from prison to meet the open shame and ignominy of +a public trial." + +What was to be done?--every moment was precious. I walked to the door to +conceal my agitation. All was dark and gloomy. The thought of escape +was my only one; but how to accomplish it! Every stir without suggested +to my anxious mind the approaching tread of horses--every rattle of the +harness seemed like the clink of accoutrements. + +While I yet hesitated, I felt that my fate was in the balance. +Concealment where I was, was impossible; there were no means of +obtaining horses to proceed. My last only hope then rested in the +courier; he perhaps might be bribed to assist me at this juncture. +Still his impression as to the enormity of the crime imputed, might +deter him; and there was no time for explanation, if even he would listen +to it. I returned to the room; he had finished his meal, and was now +engaged in all the preparations for encountering a wet and dreary night. +I hesitated; my fears that if he should refuse my offers, all chance of +my escape was gone, deterred me for a moment. At length as he wound a +large woollen shawl around his throat, and seemed to have completed his +costume, I summoned nerve for the effort, and with as much boldness in my +manner as I could muster, said-- + +"Monsieur le Courier, one word with you." I here closed the door, and +continued. "My fortunes--my whole prospects in life depend upon my +reaching Strasbourg by to-morrow night. You alone can be the means of my +doing so. Is there any price you can mention, for which you will render +me this service?--if so, name it." + +"So then, Monsieur," said the Courier, slowly--"so, then, you are the--" + +"You have guessed it," said I, interrupting. "Do you accept my +proposal?" + +"It is impossible," said he, "utterly impossible; for even should I be +disposed to run the risk on my own account, it would avail you nothing; +the first town we entered your passport would be demanded, and not being +vised by the minister to travel en courier, you would at once be detained +and arrested." + +"Then am I lost," said I, throwing myself upon a chair; at the same +instant my passport, which I carried in my breast pocket, fell out at the +feet of the courier. He lifted it and opened it leisurely. So engrossed +was I by my misfortunes, that for some minutes I did not perceive, that +as he continued to read the passport, he smiled from time to time, till +at length a hearty fit of laughing awoke me from my abstraction. My +first impulse was to seize him by the throat; controlling my temper, +however, with an effort, I said-- + +"And pray, Monsieur, may I ask in what manner the position I stand in +at this moment affords you so much amusement? Is there any thing so +particularly droll--any thing so excessively ludicrous in my situation-- +or what particular gift do you possess that shall prevent me throwing you +out of the window?" + +"Mais, Monsieur," said he, half stifled with laughter, "do you know the +blunder I fell into? it is really too good. Could you only guess who I +took you for, you would laugh too." + +Here he became so overcome with merriment, that he was obliged to sit +down, which he did opposite to me, and actually shook with laughter. + +"When this comedy is over," thought I, "we may begin to understand each +other." Seeing no prospect of this, I became at length impatient, and +jumping on my legs, said-- + +"Enough, sir, quite enough of this foolery. Believe me, you have every +reason to be thankful that my present embarrassment should so far engross +me, that I cannot afford time to give you a thrashing." + +"Pardon, mille pardons," said he humbly; "but you will, I am sure, +forgive me when I tell you that I was stupid enough to mistake you for +the fugitive Englishman, whom the gens-d'armes are in pursuit of. How +good, eh?" + +"Oh! devilish good--but what do you mean?" + +"Why, the fellow that caused the attack at Frascati, and all that, and--" + +"Yes--well, eh? Did you think I was him?" + +"To be sure I did, till I saw your passport." + +"Till you saw my passport!" Why, what on earth can he mean? thought I. +"No, but," said I, half jestingly, "how could you make such a blunder?" + +"Why, your confused manner--your impatience to get on--your hurried +questions, all convinced me. In fact, I'd have wagered any thing you +were the Englishman." + +"And what, in heaven's name, does he think me now?" thought I, as I +endeavoured to join the laugh so ludicrous a mistake occasioned. + +"But we are delaying sadly," said the courier. "Are you ready?" + +"Ready?--ready for what?" + +"To go on with me, of course. Don't you wish to get early to +Strasbourg?" + +"To be sure I do." + +"Well, then, come along. But, pray, don't mind your luggage, for my +caleche is loaded. Your instruments can come in the diligence." + +"My instruments in the diligence! He's mad--that's flat." + +"How they will laugh at Strasbourg at my mistake." + +"That they will," thought I. "The only doubt is, will you join in the +merriment?" + +So saying, I followed the courier to the door, jumped into his caleche, +and in another moment was hurrying over the pave at a pace that defied +pursuit, and promised soon to make up for all our late delay. Scarcely +was the fur-lined apron of the caleche buttoned around me, and the German +blinds let down, when I set to work to think over the circumstance that +had just befallen me. As I had never examined my passport from the +moment Trevanion handed it to me in Paris, I knew nothing of its +contents; therefore, as to what impression it might convey of me, I was +totally ignorant. To ask the courier for it now might excite suspicion; +so that I was totally at sea how to account for his sudden change in my +favour, or in what precise capacity I was travelling beside him. Once, +and once only, the thought of treachery occurred to me. Is he about to +hand me over to the gens-d'armes? and are we now only retracing our steps +towards Nancy? If so, Monsieur le Courier, whatever be my fate, your's +is certainly an unenviable one. My reflections on this head were soon +broken in upon, for my companion again returned to the subject of his +"singular error," and assured me that he was as near as possible leaving +me behind, under the mistaken impression of my being "myself;" and +informed me that all Strasbourg would be delighted to see me, which +latter piece of news was only the more flattering, that I knew no one +there, nor had ever been in that city in my life; and after about an +hour's mystification as to my tastes, habits, and pursuits, he fell fast +asleep, leaving me to solve the difficult problem as to whether I was not +somebody else, or the only alternative--whether travelling en courier +might not be prescribed by physicians as a mode of treating insane +patients. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +A NIGHT IN STRASBOURG. + +With the dawn of day my miseries recommenced; for after letting down the +sash, and venting some very fervent imprecations upon the postillion for +not going faster than his horses were able, the courier once more +recurred to his last night's blunder, and proceeded very leisurely to +catechise me as to my probable stay at Strasbourg, when I should go from +there, &c. As I was still in doubt what or whom he took me for, I +answered with the greatest circumspection--watching, the while, for any +clue that might lead me to a discovery of myself. Thus, occasionally +evading all pushing and home queries, and sometimes, when hard pressed, +feigning drowsiness, I passed the long and anxious day--the fear of being +overtaken ever mingling with the thoughts that some unlucky admission of +mine might discover my real character to the courier, who, at any post +station, might hand me over to the authorities. Could I only guess at +the part I am performing, thought I, and I might manage to keep up the +illusion; but my attention was so entirely engrossed by fencing off all +his threats, that I could find out nothing. At last, as night drew near, +the thought that we were approaching Strasbourg rallied my spirits, +suggesting an escape from all pursuit, as well as the welcome prospect of +getting rid of my present torturer, who, whenever I awoke from a doze, +reverted to our singular meeting with a pertinacity that absolutely +seemed like malice. + +"As I am aware that this is your first visit to Strasbourg," said the +courier, "perhaps I can be of service to you in recommending a hotel. +Put up, I advise you, at the 'Bear'--a capital hotel, and not ten +minutes' distance from the theatre." + +I thanked him for the counsel; and, rejoicing in the fact that my +prototype, whoever he might be, was unknown in the city, began to feel +some little hope of getting through this scrape, as I had done so many +others. + +"They have been keeping the 'Huguenots' for your arrival, and all +Strasbourg is impatient for your coming." + +"Indeed!" said I, mumbling something meant to be modest. "Who the devil +am I, then, to cause all this fracas? Heaven grant, not the new +'prefect,' or the commander of the forces." + +"I am told the 'Zauberflotte' is your favourite opera?" + +"I can't say that I ever heard it--that is, I mean that I could say--well +got up." + +Here I floundered on having so far forgot myself as to endanger every +thing. + +"How very unfortunate! Well, I hope you will not long have as much to +say. Meanwhile, here we are--this is the 'Bear.'" + +We rattled into the ample porte cochere of a vast hotel--the postillion +cracking his enormous whip, and bells ringing on every side, as if the +crown prince of Russia had been the arrival, and not a poor sub. in the +__th. + +The courier jumped out, and running up to the landlord, whispered a few +words in his ear, to which the other answered by a deep "ah, vraiment!" +and then saluted me with an obsequiousness that made my flesh quake. + +"I shall make 'mes hommages' in the morning," said the courier, as he +drove off at full speed to deliver his despatches, and left me to my own +devices to perform a character, without even being able to guess what it +might be. My passport, too, the only thing that could throw any light +upon the affair, he had taken along with him, promising to have it vised, +and save me any trouble. + +Of all my difficulties and puzzling situations in life, this was +certainly the worst; for however often my lot had been to personate +another, yet hitherto I had had the good fortune to be aware of what and +whom I was performing. Now I might be any body from Marshal Soult to +Monsieur Scribe; one thing only was certain, I must be a "celebrity." +The confounded pains and trouble they were taking to receive me, attested +that fact, and left me to the pleasing reflection that my detection, +should it take place, would be sure of attracting a very general +publicity. Having ordered my supper from the landlord, with a certain +air of reserve, sufficient to prevent even an Alsace host from obtruding +any questions upon me, I took my opportunity to stroll from the inn down +to the river side. There lay the broad, rapid Rhine, separating me, by +how narrow a gulph, from that land, where, if I once arrived, my safety +was certain. Never did that great boundary of nations strike me so +forcibly, as now when my own petty interests and fortunes were at stake. +Night was fast settling upon the low flat banks of the stream, and +nothing stirred, save the ceaseless ripple of the river. One fishing +barque alone was on the water. I hailed the solitary tenant of it, and +after some little parley, induced him to ferry me over. This, however, +could only be done when the night was farther advanced--it being against +the law to cross the river except at certain hours, and between two +established points, where officers of the revenue were stationed. The +fisherman was easily bribed, however, to evade the regulation, and only +bargained that I should meet him on the bank before daybreak. Having +settled this point to my satisfaction, I returned to my hotel in better +spirits; and with a Strasbourg pate, and a flask of Nierensteiner, drank +to my speedy deliverance. + +How to consume the long, dreary hours between this time and that of my +departure, I knew not; for though greatly fatigued, I felt that sleep was +impossible; the usual resource of a gossip with the host was equally out +of the question; and all that remained was the theatre, which I happily +remembered was not far from the hotel. + +It was an opera night, and the house was crowded to excess; but with some +little management, I obtained a place in a box near the stage. The piece +was "Les Franc Macons," which was certainly admirably supported, and drew +down from the audience--no mean one as judges of music--the loudest +thunders of applause. As for me, the house was a great a curiosity as +the opera. The novel spectacle of some hundred (thousand?) people +relishing and appreciating the highest order of musical genius, was +something totally new and surprising to me. The curtain at length fell +upon the fifth act. + +And now the deafening roar of acclamation was tremendous; and amid a +perfect shout of enthusiasm, the manager announced the opera for the +ensuing evening. Scarcely had this subsided, when a buzz ran through the +house; at first subdued, but gradually getting louder--extending from the +boxes to the balcone--from the balcone to the parterre--and finally even +to the galleries. Groups of people stood upon the benches, and looked +fixedly in one part of the house; then changed and regarded as eagerly +the other. + +What can this mean? thought I. Is the theatre on fire? Something surely +has gone wrong! + +In this conviction, with the contagious spirit of curiosity, I mounted +upon a seat, and looked about me on every side; but unable still to catch +the object which seemed to attract the rest, as I was about to resume my +place, my eyes fell upon a well-known face, which in an instant I +remembered was that of my late fellow-traveller the courier. Anxious to +avoid his recognition, I attempted to get down at once; but before I +could accomplish it, the wretch had perceived and recognised me; and I +saw him, even with a gesture of delight, point me out to some friends +beside him. + +"Confound the fellow," muttered I; "I must leave this at once, or I shall +be involved in some trouble." + +Scarcely was my my resolve taken, when a new burst of voices arose from +the pit--the words 'l'Auteur," "l'Auteur," mingling with loud cries for +"Meerberger," "Meerberger," to appear. So, thought I, it seems the great +composer is here. Oh, by Jove! I must have a peep at him before I go. +So, leaning over the front rail of the box, I looked anxiously about to +catch one hasty glimpse of one of the great men of his day and country. +What was my surprise, however, to perceive that about two thousand eyes +were firmly rivetted upon the box I was seated in; while about half the +number of tongues called out unceasingly, "Mr. Meerberger--vive +Meerberger--vive l'Auteur des Franc Macons--vive Franc Macons," &c. +Before I could turn to look for the hero of the scene, my legs were taken +from under me, and I felt myself lifted by several strong men and held +out in front of the box, while the whole audience, rising en masse, +saluted me--yes, me, Harry Lorrequer--with a cheer that shook the +building. Fearful of precipitating myself into the pit beneath, if I +made the least effort, and half wild with terror and amazement, I stared +about like a maniac, while a beautiful young woman tripped along the edge +of the box, supported by her companion's hand, and placed lightly upon my +brow a chaplet of roses and laurel. Here the applause was like an +earthquake. + +"May the devil fly away with half of ye," was my grateful response, to as +full a cheer of applause as ever the walls of the house re-echoed to. + +"On the stage--on the stage!" shouted that portion of the audience who, +occupying the same side of the house as myself, preferred having a better +view of me; and to the stage I was accordingly hurried, down a narrow +stair, through a side scene, and over half the corps de ballet who were +waiting for their entree. Kicking, plunging, buffetting like a madman, +they carried me to the "flats," when the manager led me forward to the +foot lights, my wreath of flowers contrasting rather ruefully with my +bruised cheeks and torn habiliments. Human beings, God be praised, are +only capable of certain efforts--so that one-half the audience were +coughing their sides out, while the other were hoarse as bull-frogs from +their enthusiasm in less than five minutes. + +"You'll have what my friend Rooney calls a chronic bronchitis for this, +these three weeks," said I, "that's one comfort," as I bowed my way back +to the "practicable" door, through which I made my exit, with the +thousand faces of the parterre shouting my name, or, as fancy dictated, +that of one of "my" operas. I retreated behind the scenes, to encounter +very nearly as much, and at closer quarters, too, as that lately +sustained before the audience. After an embrace of two minutes duration +from the manager, I ran the gauntlet from the prima donna to the last +triangle of the orchestra, who cut away a back button of my coat as a +"souvenir." During all this, I must confess, very little acting was +needed on my part. They were so perfectly contented with their self- +deception, that if I had made an affidavit before the mayor--if there be +such a functionary in such an insane town--they would not have believed +me. Wearied and exhausted at length, by all I had gone through, I sat +down upon a bench, and, affecting to be overcome by my feelings, +concealed my face in my handkerchief. This was the first moment of +relief I experienced since my arrival; but it was not to last long, +for the manager, putting down his head close to my ear, whispered-- + +"Monsieur Meerberger, I have a surprise for you--such as you have not had +for some time, I venture to say"-- + +"I defy you on this head," thought I. "If they make me out king Solomon +now, it will not amaze me"-- + +"And when I tell you my secret," continued he, "you will acknowledge I +cannot be of a very jealous disposition. Madame Baptiste has just told +me she knew you formerly, and that--she--that is, you--were--in fact, you +understand--there had been--so to say--a little 'amourette' between you." + +I groaned in spirit as I thought, now am I lost without a chance of +escape--the devil take her reminiscences. + +"I see," continued le bon mari, "you cannot guess of whom I speak; but +when I tell you of Amelie Grandet, your memory will, perhaps, be better." + +"Amelie Grandet!" said I, with a stage start. I need not say that I had +never heard the name before. "Amelie Grandet here!" + +"Yes, that she is," said the manager, rubbing his hands; "and my wife, +too"-- + +"Married!--Amelie Grandet married! No, no; it is impossible--I cannot +believe it. But were it true--true, mark me--for worlds would I not meet +her." + +"Comment il est drole," said the manager, soliloquising aloud; "for my +wife takes it much easier, seeing they never met each other since they +were fifteen." + +"Ho, ho!" thought I, "the affair is not so bad either--time makes great +changes in that space." "And does she still remember me?" said I, in a +very Romeo-in-the-garden voice. + +"Why, so far as remembering the little boy that used to play with her in +the orchard at her mother's cottage near Pirna, and with whom she used to +go boating upon the Elbe, I believe the recollection is perfect. But +come along--she insists upon seeing you, and is this very moment waiting +supper in our room for you." + +"A thorough German she must be," thought I, "with her sympathies and her +supper--her reminiscences and her Rhine wine hunting in couples through +her brain." + +Summoning courage from the fact of our long absence from each other, I +followed the manager through a wilderness of pavilions, forests, clouds +and cataracts, and at length arrived at a little door, at which he +knocked gently. + +"Come in," said a soft voice inside. We opened, and beheld a very +beautiful young woman, in Tyrolese costume. She was to perform in the +afterpiece--her low boddice and short scarlet petticoat displaying the +most perfect symmetry of form and roundness of proportion. She was +dressing her hair before a low glass as we came in, and scarcely turned +at our approach; but in an instant, as if some sudden thought had struck +her, she sprung fully round, and looking at me fixedly for above a +minute--a very trying one for me--she glanced at her husband, whose +countenance plainly indicated that she was right, and calling out, +"C'est lui--c'est bien lui," threw herself into my arms, and sobbed +convulsively. + +"If this were to be the only fruits of my impersonation," thought I, "it +is not so bad--but I am greatly afraid these good people will find out a +wife and seven babies for me before morning." + +Whether the manager thought that enough had been done for stage effect, +I know not; but he gently disengaged the lovely Amelie, and deposited her +upon a sofa, to a place upon which she speedily motioned me by a look +from a pair of very seducing blue eyes. + +"Francois, mon cher, you must put off La Chaumiere. I can't play +to-night." + +"Put it off! But only think of the audience, ma mie--they will pull down +the house." + +"C'est possible," said she, carelessly. "If that give them any pleasure, +I suppose they must be indulged; but I, too, must have a little of my own +way. I shall not play." + +The tone this was said in--the look--the easy gesture of command--no less +than the afflicted helplessness of the luckless husband, showed me that +Amelie, however docile as a sweetheart, had certainly her own way as +wife. + +While Le cher Francois then retired, to make his proposition to the +audience, of substituting something for the Chaumiere--the "sudden +illness of Madame Baptiste having prevented her appearance,"--we began to +renew our old acquaintance, by a thousand inquiries from that long-past +time, when we were sweethearts and lovers. + +"You remember me then so well?" said I. + +"As of yesterday. You are much taller, and your eyes darker; but still-- +there is something. You know, however, I have been expecting to see you +these two days; and tell me frankly how do you find me looking?" + +"More beautiful, a thousand times more beautiful than ever--all save in +one thing, Amelie." + +"And that is--" + +"You are married." + +"How you jest. But let us look back. Do you ever think on any of our +old compacts?" Here she pulled a leaf from a rose bud in her bouquet, +and kissed it. "I wager you have forgotten that." + +How I should have replied to this masonic sign, God knows; but the +manager fortunately entered, to assure us that the audience had kindly +consented not to pull down the house, but to listen to a five act tragedy +instead, in which he had to perform the principal character. "So, then, +don't wait supper, Amelie; but take care of Monsieur Meerberger till my +return." + +Thus, once more were we left to our souvenirs, in which, whenever hard +pushed myself, I regularly carried the war into the enemy's camp, by +allusions to incidents, which I need not observe had never occurred. +After a thousand stories of our early loves, mingled with an occasional +sigh over their fleeting character--now indulging a soft retrospect of +the once happy past--now moralising on the future--Amelie and I chatted +away the hours till the conclusion of the tragedy. + +By this time, the hour was approaching for my departure; so, after a very +tender leave-taking with my new friend and my old love, I left the +theatre, and walked slowly along to the river. + +"So much for early associations," thought I; "and how much better pleased +are we ever to paint the past according to our own fancy, than to +remember it as it really was. Hence all the insufferable cant about +happy infancy, and 'the glorious schoolboy days,' which have generally no +more foundation in fact than have the 'Chateaux en Espagne' we build up +for the future. I wager that the real Amant d'enfance, when he arrives, +is not half so great a friend with the fair Amelie as his unworthy +shadow. At the same time, I had just as soon that Lady Jane should have +no 'premiers amours' to look back upon, except such as I have performed a +character in." + +The plash of oars near me broke up my reflections, and the next moment +found me skimming the rapid Rhine, as I thought for the last time. What +will they say in Strasbourg to-morrow? How will they account for the +mysterious disappearance of Monsieur Meerberger? Poor Amelie Grandet! +For so completely had the late incidents engrossed my attention, that I +had for the moment lost sight of the most singular event of all--how I +came to be mistaken for the illustrious composer. + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +A SURPRISE. + +It was late upon the following day ere I awoke from the long deep sleep +that closed my labours in Strasbourg. In the confusion of my waking +thoughts, I imagined myself still before a crowded and enthusiastic +audience--the glare of the foot-lights--the crash of the orchestra--the +shouts of "l'Auteur," "l'Auteur," were all before me, and so completely +possessed me, that, as the waiter entered with hot water, I could not +resist the impulse to pull off my night-cap with one hand, and press the +other to my heart in the usual theatrical style of acknowledgments for a +most flattering reception. The startled look of the poor fellow as he +neared the door to escape, roused me from my hallucination, and awakened +me to the conviction that the suspicion of lunacy might be a still +heavier infliction than the personation of Monsieur Meerberger. + +With thoughts of this nature, I assumed my steadiest demeanour--ordered +my breakfast in the most orthodox fashion--eat it like a man in his +senses; and when I threw myself back in the wicker conveniency they call +a caleche, and bid adieu to Kehl, the whole fraternity of the inn would +have given me a certificate of sanity before any court in Europe. + +"Now for Munich," said I, as we rattled along down the steep street of +the little town. "Now for Munich, with all the speed that first of +postmasters and slowest of men, the Prince of Tour and Taxis, will afford +us." + +The future engrossed all my thoughts; and puzzling as my late adventures +had been to account for, I never for a moment reverted to the past. "Is +she to be mine?" was the ever-rising question in my mind. The thousand +difficulties that had crossed my path might long since have terminated a +pursuit where there was so little of promise, did I not cherish the idea +in my heart, that I was fated to succeed. Sheridan answered the ribald +sneers of his first auditory, by saying, "Laugh on; but I have it in me, +and by ____ it shall come out." So I whispered to myself:--Go on Harry. +Luck has been hitherto against you, it is true; but you have yet one +throw of the dice, and something seems to say, a fortunate one in store; +and, if so----, but I cannot trust myself with such anticipations. I am +well aware how little the world sympathises with the man whose fortunes +are the sport of his temperament--that April-day frame of mind is ever +the jest and scoff of those hardier and sterner natures, who, if never +overjoyed by success, are never much depressed by failure. That I have +been cast in the former mould, these Confessions have, alas! plainly +proved; but that I regret it, I fear also, for my character for sound +judgment, I must answer "No." + + Better far to be + In utter darkness lying, + Than be blest with light, and see + That light for ever flying + +is, doubtless, very pretty poetry, but very poor philosophy. For myself +--and some glimpses of sunshine this fair world has afforded me, fleeting +and passing enough, in all conscience--and yet I am not so ungrateful as +to repine at my happiness, because it was not permanent, as I am thankful +for those bright hours of "Love's young dream," which, if nothing more, +are at least delightful souvenirs. They form the golden thread in the +tangled web of our existence, ever appearing amid the darker surface +around, and throwing a fair halo of brilliancy on what, without it, were +cold, bleak, and barren. No, no-- + + The light that lies + In woman's eyes, + +were it twice as fleeting--as it is ten times more brilliant--than the +forked lightning, irradiates the dark gloom within us for many a long day +after it has ceased to shine upon us. As in boyhood it is the humanizing +influence that tempers the fierce and unruly passions of our nature, so +in manhood it forms the goal to which all our better and higher +aspirations tend, telling us there is something more worthy than gold, +and a more lofty pinnacle of ambition than the praise and envy of our +fellow-men; and we may rest assured, that when this feeling dies within +us, that all the ideal of life dies with it, and nothing remains save the +dull reality of our daily cares and occupations. "I have lived and have +loved," saith Schiller; and if it were not that there seems some +tautology in the phrase, I should say, such is my own motto. If Lady +Jane but prove true--if I have really succeeded--if, in a word--but why +speculate upon such chances?--what pretensions have I?--what reasons to +look for such a prize? Alas! and alas! were I to catechise myself too +closely, I fear that my horses' heads would face towards Calais, and that +I should turn my back upon the only prospect of happiness I can picture +to myself in this world. In reflections such as these, the hours rolled +over, and it was already late at night when we reached the little village +of Merchem. While fresh horses were being got ready, I seized the +occasion to partake of the table d'hote supper of the inn, at the door +of which the diligence was drawn up. Around the long, and not over- +scrupulously clean table, sat the usual assemblage of a German +"Eilwagen"--smoking, dressing salad, knitting, and occasionally picking +their teeth with their forks, until the soup should make its appearance. +Taking my place amid this motley assemblage of mustachioed shopkeepers +and voluminously-petticoated frows, I sat calculating how long human +patience could endure such companionship, when my attention was aroused +by hearing a person near me narrate to his friend the circumstances of my +debut at Strasbourg, with certain marginal notes of his own that not a +little surprised me. + +"And so it turned out not to be Meerberger, after all,": said the +listener. + +"Of course not," replied the other. "Meerberger's passport was stolen +from him in the diligence by this English escroc, and the consequence +was, that our poor countryman was arrested, the other passport being +found upon him; while the Englishman, proceeding to Strasbourg, took his +benefit at the opera, and walked away with above twelve thousand florins. + +"Sappermint" said the other, tossing off his beer. "He must have been a +clever fellow, though, to lead the orchestra in the Franc Macons." + +"That is the most astonishing part of all; for they say in Strasbourg +that his performance upon the violin was far finer than Paganini's; but +there seems some secret in it, after all: for Madame Baptiste swears that +he is Meerberger; and in fact the matter is far from being cleared up-- +nor can it be till he is apprehended." + +"Which shall not be for some time to come," said I to myself, as, +slipping noiselessly from the room, I regained my "caleche," and in ten +minutes more was proceeding on my journey. So much for correct +information, thought I. One thing, however, is certain--to the chance +interchange of passports I owe my safety, with the additional +satisfaction that my little German acquaintance is reaping a pleasant +retribution for all his worry and annoyance of me in the coupe. + +Only he who has toiled over the weary miles of a long journey-- +exclusively occupied with one thought--one overpowering feeling--can +adequately commiserate my impatient anxiety as the days rolled slowly +over on the long tiresome road that leads from the Rhine to the south of +Germany. + +The morning was breaking on the fourth day of my journey as the tall +spires of Munich rose to my view, amid the dull and arid desert of sand +that city is placed in. At last! was my exclamation as the postilion +tapped at the window with his whip, and then pointed towards the city. +At last! Oh! what would be the extacy of my feelings now could I +exchange the torturing anxieties of suspense for the glorious certainty +my heart throbs for; now my journey is nearing its end to see me claim as +my own what I now barely aspire to in the sanguine hope of a heart that +will not despair. But cheer up, Harry. It is a noble stake you play +for; and it is ever the bold gambler that wins. Scarcely was this +reflection made half aloud, when a sudden shock threw me from my seat. +I fell towards the door, which, bursting open, launched me out upon the +road, at the same moment that the broken axletree of the caleche had +upset it on the opposite side, carrying one horse along with it, and +leaving the other with the postillion on his back, kicking and plunging +with all his might. After assisting the frightened fellow to dismount, +and having cut the traces of the restive animal, I then perceived that in +the melee I had not escaped scatheless. I could barely stand; and, on +passing my hand upon my instep, perceived I had sprained my ancle in the +fall. The day was only breaking, no one was in sight, so that after a +few minutes' consideration, the best thing to do, appeared to get the +other horse upon his legs, and despatching the postillion to Munich, then +about three leagues distant, for a carriage, wait patiently on the road- +side for his return. No sooner was the resolve made than carried into +execution; and in less than a quarter of an hour from the moment of the +accident, I was seated upon the bank, watching the retiring figure of the +postillion, as he disappeared down a hill, on his way to Munich. When +the momentary burst of impatience was over, I could not help +congratulating myself, that I was so far fortunate in reaching the end of +my journey ere the mischance befell me. Had it occurred at Stuttgard I +really think that it would have half driven me distracted. + +I was not long in my present situation till a number of peasants, with +broad-brimmed hats, and many-buttoned coats, passed on their way to work; +they all saluted me respectfully; but although they saw the broken +carriage, and might well guess at the nature of my accident, yet not +one ever thought of proffering his services, or even indulging curiosity, +by way of inquiry. "How thoroughly German," thought I; "these people are +the Turks of Europe, stupified with tobacco and 'starkes bier.' They +have no thought for any thing but themselves, and their own immediate +occupations." Perceiving at length one whose better dress and more +intelligent look bespoke a rank above the common, I made the effort with +such "platt deutsch," as I could muster, to ask if there were any house +near, where I could remain till the postillion's return? and learned +greatly to my gratification, that by taking the path which led through a +grove of pine trees near me, I should find a chateau; but who was the +proprietor he knew not; indeed the people were only newly come, and he +believed were foreigners. English he thought. Oh, how my heart jumped +as I said, "can they be the Callonbys; are they many in family; are there +ladies--young ladies, among them?"--he knew not. Having hastily arranged +with my new friend to watch the carriage till my return, I took the path +he showed me, and smarting with pain at every step, hurried along as best +I could towards the chateau. I had not walked many minutes, when a break +in the wood gave me a view of the old mansion, and at once dispelled the +illusion that was momentarily gaining upon me. "They could not be the +Callonbys." The house was old; and though it had once been a fine and +handsome structure, exhibited now abundant traces of decay; the rich +cornices which supported the roof had fallen in many places, and lay in +fragments upon the terrace beneath; the portico of the door was half +tumbling; and the architraves of the windows were broken and dismantled; +the tall and once richly ornamented chimnies, were bereft of all their +tracery, and stood bolt upright in all their nakedness above the high +pitched roof. A straggling "jet d'eau" was vigorously fighting its way +amid a mass of creeping shrubs and luxuriant lichens that had grown +around and above a richly carved fountain, and fell in a shower of +sparkling dew upon the rank grass and tall weeds around. The gentle +murmur was the only sound that broke the stillness of the morning. + +A few deities in lead and stone, mutilated and broken, stood like the +Genii loci, guarding the desolation about them, where an old, +superannuated peacock, with dropping, ragged tail was the only living +thing to be seen. All bespoke the wreck of what once was great and +noble, and all plainly told me that such could not be the abode of the +Callonbys. + +Half doubting that the house were inhabited, and half scrupling if so to +disturb its inmates from their rest, I sat down upon the terrace steps +and fell into a fit of musing on the objects about. That strange +propensity of my countrymen to settle down in remote and unfrequented +spots upon the continent, had never struck me so forcibly; for although +unquestionably there were evident traces of the former grandeur of the +place, yet it was a long past greatness; and in the dilapidated walls, +broken statues, weed grown walls, and dark and tangled pine grove, there +were more hints for sadness than I should willingly surround myself by in +a residence. The harsh grating of a heavy door behind roused me; I +turned and beheld an old man in a species of tarnished and worm-eaten +livery, who, holding the door, again gazed at me with a mingled +expression of fear and curiosity. Having briefly explained the +circumstances which had befallen me, and appealed to the broken caleche +upon the road to corroborate a testimony that I perceived needed such +aid, the old man invited me to enter, saying that his master and mistress +were not risen, but that he would himself give me some breakfast, of +which by this time I stood much in want. The room into which I was +ushered, corresponded well with the exterior of the house. It was large, +bleak, and ill furnished; the ample, uncurtained windows; the cold, white +pannelled walls; the uncarpeted floor; all giving it an air of +uninhabitable misery. A few chairs of the Louis-quatorze taste, with +blue velvet linings, faded and worn, a cracked marble table upon legs +that once had been gilt; two scarcely detectable portraits of a mail-clad +hero and a scarcely less formidable fair, with a dove upon her wrist, +formed the principal articles of furniture in the dismal abode, where so +"triste" and depressing did every thing appear, that I half regretted the +curiosity that had tempted me from the balmy air, and cheerful morning +without, to the gloom and solitude around me. + +The old man soon re-appeared with a not despicable cup of "Cafe noir," +and a piece of bread as large as a teaspoon, and used by the Germans +pretty much in the same way. As the adage of the "gift horse" is of +tolerably general acceptation, I eat and was thankful, mingling my +acknowledgments from time to time with some questions about the owners of +the mansion, concerning whom I could not help feeling curious. The +ancient servitor, however, knew little or nothing of those he served; his +master was the honourable baron; but of his name he was ignorant; his +mistress was young; they had not been many months there; they knew no +one--had no visitors--he had heard they were English, but did not know it +himself; they were "Gute leute," "good people," and that was enough for +him. How strange did all this seem, that two people, young, too, should +separate themselves from all the attractions and pleasures of the world, +and settle down in the dark and dreary solitude, where every association +was of melancholy, every object a text for sad reflections. Lost in +these thoughts I sat down beside the window, and heeded not the old man +as he noiselessly left the room. My thoughts ran on over the strange +phases in which life presents itself, and how little after all external +influences have to do with that peace of mind whose origin is within. +The Indian, whose wigwam is beside the cataract, heeds not its thunders, +nor feels its sprays as they fall in everlasting dews upon him; the Arab +of the desert sees no bleakness in those never ending plains, upon whose +horizon his eye has rested from childhood to age. Who knows but he who +inhabits this lonely dwelling may have once shone in the gay world, +mixing in its follies, tasting of its fascination; and to think that now +--the low murmurs of the pine tops, the gentle rustle of the water +through the rank grass, and my own thoughts combining, overcame me at +length, and I slept--how long I know not; but when I awoke, certain +changes about showed me that some length of time had elapsed; a gay wood +fire was burning on the hearth; an ample breakfast covered the table; and +the broadsheet of the "Times" newspaper was negligently reposing in the +deep hollow of an arm chair. Before I had well thought how to apologize +for the cool insouciance of my intrusion, the door opened, and a tall, +well built man entered; his shooting jacket and gaiters were evidence of +his English origin, while a bushy moustache and most ample "Henri quatre" +nearly concealed features, that still were not quite unknown to me; he +stopped, looked steadily at me, placed a hand on either shoulder, and +calling out, "Harry--Harry Lorrequer, by all that's glorious!" rushed +from the room in a transport of laughter. + +If my escape from the gallows depended upon my guessing my friend, I +should have submitted to the last penalty of the law; never was I so +completely nonplussed. Confound him what does he mean by running away +in that fashion. It would serve him right were I to decamp by one of +the windows before he comes back; but hark! some one is approaching. + +"I tell you I cannot be mistaken," said the man's voice from without. + +"Oh, impossible!" said a lady-like accent that seemed not heard by me for +the first time. + +"Judge for yourself; though certainly the last time you saw him may +confuse your memory a little." + +"What the devil does he mean by that?" said I, as the door opened, and a +very beautiful young woman came forward, who, after a moment's +hesitation, called out-- + +"True, indeed, it is Mr. Lorrequer, but he seems to have forgotten me." + +The eyes, the lips, the tone of the voice, were all familiar. What! can +it be possible? Her companion who had now entered, stood behind her, +holding his sides with ill-suppressed mirth; and at length called out-- + +"Harry, my boy, you scarcely were more discomposed the last morning we +parted, when the yellow plush--" + +"By Jove it is," said I, as I sprang forward, and seizing my fair friend +in my arms, saluted upon both cheeks my quondam flame, Miss Kamworth, now +the wife of my old friend Jack Waller, of whom I have made due mention in +an early chapter of these Confessions. + +Were I given a muster roll of my acquaintance to say which of them might +inhabit this deserted mansion, Jack Waller would certainly have been the +last I should have selected--the gay, lively, dashing, high-spirited +Jack, fond of society, dress, equipage, living greatly in the world, +known to and liked by every body, of universal reputation. Did you want +a cavalier to see your wife through a crush at the opera, a friend in a +duel, a rider for your kicking horse in a stiff steeple chase, a bow oar +for your boat at a rowing match, Jack was your man. Such then was my +surprise at finding him here, that although there were many things I +longed to inquire about, my first question was-- + +"And how came you here?" + +"Life has its vicissitudes," replied Jack, laughing; "many stranger +things have come to pass than my reformation. But first of all let us +think of breakfast; you shall have ample satisfaction for all your +curiosity afterwards." + +"Not now, I fear; I am hurrying on to Munich." + +"Oh, I perceive; but you are aware that--your friends are not there." + +"The Callonbys not at Munich!" said I, with a start. + +"No; they have been at Saltzburgh, in the Tyrol, for some weeks; but +don't fret yourself, they are expected to-morrow in time for the court +masquerade; so that until then at least you are my guest." + +Overjoyed at this information, I turned my attention towards madame, +whom I found much improved; the embonpoint of womanhood had still farther +increased the charms of one who had always been handsome; and I could not +help acknowledging that my friend Jack was warrantable in any scheme for +securing such a prize. + + + + +CHAPTER L. + +JACK WALLER'S STORY. + +The day passed quickly over with my newly-found friends, whose curiosity +to learn my adventures since we parted, anticipated me in my wish to +learn theirs. After an early dinner, however, with a fresh log upon the +hearth, a crusty flask of red hermitage before us, Jack and I found +ourselves alone and at liberty to speak freely together. + +"I scarcely could have expected such would be our meeting, Jack," said I, +"from the way we last parted." + +"Yes, by Jove, Harry; I believe I behaved but shabbily to you in that +affair; but 'Love and War,' you know; and besides we had a distinct +agreement drawn up between us." + +"All true; and after all you are perhaps less to blame than my own +miserable fortune that lies in wait to entrap and disappoint me at every +turn in life. Tell me what do you know of the Callonbys?" + +"Nothing personally; we have met them at dinner, a visit passed +subsequently between us, 'et voila tout;' they have been scenery hunting, +picture hunting, and all that sort of thing since their arrival; and +rarely much in Munich; but how do you stand there? to be or not to be-- +eh?" + +"That is the very question of all others I would fain solve; and yet am +in most complete ignorance of all about it; but the time approaches which +must decide all. I have neither temper nor patience for further +contemplation of it; so here goes; success to the Enterprize." + +"Or," said Jack, tossing off his glass at the moment, "or, as they would +say in Ireland, 'your health and inclinations, if they be virtuous.'" + +"And now, Jack, tell me something of your own fortunes since the day you +passed me in the post-chaise and four." + +"The story is soon told. You remember that when I carried off Mary, I +had no intention of leaving England whatever: my object was, after making +her my wife, to open negociations with the old colonel, and after the +approved routine of penitential letters, imploring forgiveness, and +setting forth happiness only wanting his sanction to make it heaven +itself, to have thrown ourselves at his feet 'selon les regles,' sobbed, +blubbered, blew our noses, and dressed for dinner, very comfortable +inmates of that particularly snug residence, 'Hydrabad Cottage.' Now +Mary, who behaved with great courage for a couple of days, after that got +low-spirited and depressed; the desertion of her father, as she called +it, weighed upon her mind, and all my endeavours to rally and comfort +her, were fruitless and unavailing. Each day, however, I expected to +hear something of, or from, the colonel, that would put an end to this +feeling of suspense; but no--three weeks rolled on, and although I took +care that he knew of our address, we never received any communication. +You are aware that when I married, I knew Mary had, or was to have, a +large fortune; and that I myself had not more than enough in the world +to pay the common expenses of our wedding tour. My calculation was this +--the reconciliation will possibly, what with delays of post--distance-- +and deliberation, take a month--say five weeks--now, at forty pounds per +week, that makes exactly two hundred pounds--such being the precise limit +of my exchequer, when blessed with a wife, a man, and a maid, three +imperials, a cap-case, and a poodle, I arrived at the Royal Hotel, in +Edinburgh. Had I been Lord Francis Egerton, with his hundred thousand a +year, looking for a new 'distraction,' at any price; or still more--were +I a London shopkeeper, spending a Sunday in Boulogne sur Mer, and trying +to find out something expensive, as he had only one day to stay, I could +not have more industriously sought out opportunities for extravagance, +and each day contrived to find out some two or three acquaintances to +bring home to dinner. And as I affected to have been married for a long +time, Mary felt less genee among strangers, and we got on famously; still +the silence of the colonel weighed upon her mind, and although she +partook of none of my anxieties from that source, being perfectly +ignorant of the state of my finances, she dwelt so constantly upon this +subject, that I at length yielded to her repeated solicitations, and +permitted her to write to her father. Her letter was a most proper one; +combining a dutiful regret for leaving her home, with the hope that her +choice had been such as to excuse her rashness, or, at least, palliate +her fault. It went to say, that her father's acknowledgment of her, was +all she needed or cared for, to complete her happiness, and asking for +his permission to seek it in person. This was the substance of the +letter, which upon the whole, satisfied me, and I waited anxiously for +the reply. At the end of five days the answer arrived. It was thus:-- + + "'Dear Mary, + + "'You have chosen your own path in life, and having done so, I have + neither the right nor inclination to interfere with your decision; + I shall neither receive you, nor the person you have made your + husband; and to prevent any further disappointment, inform you that, + as I leave this to-morrow, any future letters you might think proper + to address, will not reach me. + + "'Yours very faithful, + C. Kamworth, Hydrabad Cottage.' + +"This was a tremendous coup, and not in the least anticipated by either +of us; upon me the effect was stunning, knowing, as I did, that our fast- +diminishing finances were nearly expended. Mary on the other hand, who +neither knew nor thought of the exchequer, rallied at once from her +depression, and after a hearty fit of crying, dried her eyes, and putting +her arm round my neck, said: + +"'Well, Jack, I must only love you the more, since papa will not share +any of my affection.' + +"'I wish he would his purse though,' muttered I, as I pressed her in my +arms, and strove to seem perfectly happy. + +"I shall not prolong my story by dwelling upon the agitation this letter +cost me; however, I had yet a hundred pounds left, and an aunt in Harley- +street, with whom I had always been a favourite. This thought, the only +rallying one I possessed, saved me for the time; and as fretting was +never my forte, I never let Mary perceive that any thing had gone wrong, +and managed so well in this respect, that my good spirits raised her's, +and we set out for London one fine sunshiny morning, as happy a looking +couple as ever travelled the north road. + +"When we arrived at the 'Clarendon,' my first care was to get into a cab, +and drive to Harley-street. I rung the bell; and not waiting to ask if +my aunt was at home, I dashed up stairs to the drawing-room; in I bolted, +and instead of the precise old Lady Lilford, sitting at her embroidery, +with her fat poodle beside her, beheld a strapping looking fellow, with a +black moustache, making fierce love to a young lady on a sofa beside him. + +"'Why, how is this--I really--there must be some mistake here.' In my +heart I knew that such doings in my good aunt's dwelling were impossible. + +"'I should suspect there is, sir,' drawled out he of the moustache, as he +took a very cool survey of me, through his glass. + +"'Is Lady Lilford at home, may I ask,' said I, in a very apologetic tone +of voice. + +"'I haven't the honor of her ladyship's acquaintance,' replied he in a +lisp, evidently enjoying my perplexity, which was every moment becoming +more evident. + +"'But this is her house,' said I, 'at least--' + +"'Lady Lilford is at Paris, sir,' said the young lady, who now spoke for +the first time. 'Papa has taken the house for the season, and that may +perhaps account for your mistake.' + +"What I muttered by way of apology for my intrusion, I know not; but I +stammered--the young lady blushed--the beau chuckled, and turned to the +window, and when I found myself in the street, I scarcely knew whether to +laugh at my blunder, or curse my disappointment. + +"The next morning I called upon my aunt's lawyer, and having obtained her +address in Paris, sauntered to the 'Junior Club,' to write her a letter +before post hour. As I scanned over the morning papers, I could not help +smiling at the flaming paragraph which announced my marriage, to the only +daughter and heiress of the Millionaire, Colonel Kamworth. Not well +knowing how to open the correspondence with my worthy relative, I folded +the paper containing the news, and addressed it to 'Lady Lilford, Hotel +de Bristol, Paris.' + +"When I arrived at the 'Clarendon,' I found my wife and her maid +surrounded by cases and band-boxes; laces, satins and velvets were +displayed on all sides, while an emissary from 'Storr and Mortimer' was +arranging a grand review of jewellery on a side table, one half of which +would have ruined the Rajah of Mysore, to purchase. My advice was +immediately called into requisition; and pressed into service, I had +nothing left for it, but to canvass, criticise, and praise, between +times, which I did, with a good grace, considering that I anticipated the +'Fleet,' for every flounce of Valenciennes lace; and could not help +associating a rich diamond aigrette, with hard labour for life, and the +climate of New South Wales. The utter abstraction I was in, led to some +awkward contre temps; and as my wife's enthusiasm for her purchases +increased, so did my reverie gain ground. + +"'Is it not beautiful, Jack?--how delicately worked--it must have taken a +long time to do it.' + +"'Seven years,' I muttered, as my thoughts ran upon a very different +topic. + +"'Oh, no--not so much,' said she laughing; 'and it must be such a hard +thing to do.' + +"'Not half so hard as carding wool, or pounding oyster shells.' + +"'How absurd you are. Well, I'll take this, it will look so well in--' + +"'Botany Bay,' said I, with a sigh that set all the party laughing, which +at last roused me, and enabled me to join in the joke. + +"As, at length, one half of the room became filled with millinery, and +the other glittered with jewels and bijouterie, my wife grew weary with +her exertions, and we found ourselves alone. + +"When I told her that my aunt had taken up her residence in Paris, it +immediately occurred to her, how pleasant it would be to go there too; +and, although I concurred in the opinion for very different reasons, it +was at length decided we should do so; and the only difficulty now +existed as to the means, for although the daily papers teem with 'four +ways to go from London to Paris;' they all resolved themselves into one, +and that one, unfortunately to me, the most difficult and impracticable-- +by money. + +"There was, however, one last resource open--the sale of my commission. +I will not dwell upon what it cost me to resolve upon this--the +determination was a painful one, but it was soon come to, and before +five-o'clock that day, Cox and Greenwood had got their instructions to +sell out for me, and had advanced a thousand pounds of the purchase. Our +bill settled--the waiters bowing to the ground (it is your ruined man +that is always most liberal)--the post-horses harnessed, and impatient +for the road, I took my place beside my wife, while my valet held a +parasol over the soubrette in the rumble, all in the approved fashion of +those who have an unlimited credit with Coutts and Drummond; the whips +cracked, the leaders capered, and with a patronizing bow to the +proprietor of the 'Clarendon,' away we rattled to Dover. + +"After the usual routine of sea sickness, fatigue, and poisonous cookery, +we reached Paris on the fifth day, and put up at the 'Hotel de Londres,' +Place Vendome. + +"To have an adequate idea of the state of my feelings as I trod the +splendid apartments of this princely Hotel, surrounded by every luxury +that wealth can procure, or taste suggest, you must imagine the condition +of a man, who is regaled with a sumptuous banquet on the eve of his +execution. The inevitable termination to all my present splendour, was +never for a moment absent from my thoughts, and the secrecy with which I +was obliged to conceal my feelings, formed one of the greatest sources of +my misery. The coup, when it does come, will be sad enough, and poor +Mary may as well have the comfort of the deception, as long as it lasts, +without suffering as I do. Such was the reasoning by which I met every +resolve to break to her the real state of our finances, and such the +frame of mind in which I spent my days at Paris, the only really unhappy +ones I can ever charge my memory with. + +"We had scarcely got settled in the hotel, when my aunt, who inhabited +the opposite side of the 'Place,' came over to see us and wish us joy. +She had seen the paragraph in the Post, and like all other people with +plenty of money, fully approved a match like mine. + +"She was delighted with Mary, and despite the natural reserve of the old +maiden lady, became actually cordial, and invited us to dine with her +that day, and every succeeding one we might feel disposed to do so. So +far so well, thought I, as I offered her my arm to see her home; but if +she knew of what value even this small attention is to us, am I quite so +sure she would offer it?--however, no time is to be lost; I cannot live +in this state of hourly agitation; I must make some one the confidant of +my sorrows, and none so fit as she who can relieve as well as advise upon +them. Although such was my determination, yet somehow I could not pluck +up courage for the effort. My aunt's congratulations upon my good luck, +made me shrink from the avowal; and while she ran on upon the beauty and +grace of my wife, topics I fully concurred in, I also chimed in with her +satisfaction at the prudential and proper motives which led to the match. +Twenty times I was on the eve of interrupting her, and saying, 'But, +madam, I am a beggar--my wife has not a shilling--I have absolutely +nothing--her father disowns us--my commission is sold, and in three +weeks, the 'Hotel de Londres' and the 'Palais Royale,' will be some +hundred pounds the richer, and I without the fare of a cab, to drive me +to the Seine to drown myself.' + +"Such were my thoughts; but whenever I endeavoured to speak them, some +confounded fulness in my throat nearly choked me; my temples throbbed, my +hands trembled, and whether it was shame, or the sickness of despair, I +cannot say; but the words would not come, and all that I could get out +was some flattery of my wife's beauty, or some vapid eulogy upon my own +cleverness in securing such a prize. To give you in one brief sentence +an idea of my state, Harry--know, then, that though loving Mary with all +my heart and soul, as I felt she deserved to be loved, fifty times a day +I would have given my life itself that you had been the successful man, +on the morning I carried her off, and that Jack Waller was once more a +bachelor, to see the only woman he ever loved, the wife of another. + +"But, this is growing tedious, Harry, I must get over the ground faster; +two months passed over at Paris, during which we continued to live at +the 'Londres,' giving dinners, soirees, dejeuners, with the prettiest +equipage in the 'Champs Elysees,' we were quite the mode; my wife, which +is rare enough for an Englishwoman, knew how to dress herself. Our +evening parties were the most recherche things going, and if I were +capable of partaking of any pleasure in the eclat, I had my share, having +won all the pigeon matches in the Bois de Boulegard, and beat Lord Henry +Seymour himself in a steeple chase. The continual round of occupation in +which pleasure involves a man, is certainly its greatest attraction-- +reflection is impossible--the present is too full to admit any of the +past, and very little of the future; and even I, with all my terrors +awaiting me, began to feel a half indifference to the result in the +manifold cares of my then existence. To this state of fatalism, for +such it was becoming, had I arrived, when the vision was dispelled in +a moment, by a visit from my aunt, who came to say, that some business +requiring her immediate presence in London, she was to set out that +evening, but hoped to find us in Paris on her return. I was +thunderstruck at the news, for, although as yet I had obtained no manner +of assistance from the old lady, yet, I felt that her very presence was a +kind of security to us, and that in every sudden emergency, she was there +to apply to. My money was nearly expended, the second and last +instalment of my commission was all that remained, and much of even that +I owed to trades-people. I now resolved to speak out--the worst must be +known, thought I, in a few days--and now or never be it. So saying, I +drew my aunt's arm within my own, and telling her that I wished a few +minutes conversation alone, led her to one of the less frequented walks +in the Tuilleries gardens. When we had got sufficiently far to be +removed from all listeners, I began then--'my dearest aunt, what I have +suffered in concealing from you so long, the subject of my present +confession, will plead as my excuse in not making you sooner my +confidante.' When I had got thus far, the agitation of my aunt was such, +that I could not venture to say more for a minute or two. At length, she +said, in a kind of hurried whisper, 'go on;' and although then I would +have given all I possessed in the world to have continued, I could not +speak a word. + +"'Dear John, what is it, any thing about Mary--for heavens sake speak.' + +"'Yes,' dearest aunt, 'it is about Mary, and entirely about Mary.' + +"'Ah, dear me, I feared it long since; but then, John, consider she is +very handsome--very much admired--and--' + +"'That makes it all the heavier, my dear aunt--the prouder her present +position, the more severely will she feel the reverse.' + +"'Oh, but surely, John, your fears must exaggerate the danger.' + +"'Nothing of the kind--I have not words to tell you--' + +"'Oh dear, oh dear, don't say so,' said the old lady blushing, 'for +though I have often remarked a kind of gay flirting manner she has with +men--I am sure she means nothing by it--she is so young--and so--' + +"I stopped, stepped forward, and looking straight in my aunt's face, +broke out into a fit of laughter, that she, mistaking for hysterical +from its violence, nearly fainted upon the spot. + +"As soon as I could sufficiently recover gravity to explain to my aunt +her mistake, I endeavoured to do so, but so ludicrous was the contre +temps, and so ashamed the old lady for her gratuitous suspicions, that +she would not listen to a word, and begged me to return to her hotel. +Such an unexpected turn to my communication routed all my plans, and +after a very awkward silence of some minutes on both sides, I mumbled +something about our expensive habits of life, costly equipage, number of +horses, &c., and hinted at the propriety of retrenchment. + +"'Mary rides beautifully,' said my aunt, drily.' + +"'Yes, but my dear aunt, it was not exactly of that I was going to speak, +for in fact--' + +"Oh John,' said she, interrupting--'I know your delicacy too well to +suspect; but, in fact, I have myself perceived what you allude to, and +wished very much to have some conversation with you on the subject.' + +"'Thank God,' said I to myself, 'at length, we understand each other--and +the ice is broken at last.' + +"'Indeed, I think I have anticipated your wish in the matter; but as time +presses, and I must look after all my packing, I shall say good by for a +few weeks, and in the evening, Jepson, who stays here, will bring you, +"what I mean," over to your hotel; once more, then, good by.' + +"'Good by, my dearest, kindest friend,' said I, taking a most tender +adieu of the old lady. 'What an excellent creature she is,' said I, half +aloud, as I turned towards home--'how considerate, how truly kind--to +spare me too all the pain of explanation. Now I begin to breathe once +more. If there be a flask of Johannisberg in the "Londres," I'll drink +your health this day, and so shall Mary;' so saying, I entered the hotel +with a lighter heart, and a firmer step than ever it had been my fortune +to do hitherto. + +"'We shall miss the old lady, I'm sure, Mary, she is so kind.' + +"'Oh! indeed she is; but then, John, she is such a prude.' + +"Now I could not help recurring in my mind to some of the conversation in +the Tuilleries garden, and did not feel exactly at ease. + +"'Such a prude, and so very old-fashioned in her notions.' + +"'Yes, Mary,' said I, with more gravity than she was prepared for, 'she +is a prude; but I am not certain that in foreign society, where less +liberties are tolerated than in our country, if such a bearing be not +wiser.' What I was going to plunge into, heaven knows, for the waiter +entered at the moment, and presenting me with a large and carefully +sealed package, said, 'de la part de mi ladi Lilfore,'--'but stay, here +comes, if I am not mistaken, a better eulogy upon my dear aunt, than any +I can pronounce.' + +"How heavy it is, said I to myself, balancing the parcel in my hand. +'There is no answer,' said I, aloud to the waiter, who stood as if +expecting one. + +"'The servant wishes to have some acknowledgment in writing, sir, that it +has been delivered into your own hands.' + +"Jepson entered,--'well, George, your parcel is all right, and here is a +Napoleon to drink my health.' + +"Scarcely had the servants left the room, when Mary, whose curiosity was +fully roused, rushed over, and tried to get the packet from me; after a +short struggle, I yielded, and she flew to the end of the room, and +tearing open the seals, several papers fell to the ground; before I could +have time to snatch them up, she had read some lines written on the +envelope, and turning towards me, threw her arms arouind my neck, and +said, 'yes Jack, she is, indeed, all you have said; look here,' I turned +and read--with what feeling I leave to you to guess--the following:-- + +"'Dear Nephew and Niece, + +"'The enclosed will convey to you, with my warmest wishes for your +happiness, a ticket on the Francfort Lottery, of which I inclose the +scheme. I also take the opportunity of saying that I have purchased the +Hungarian pony for Mary--which we spoke of this morning. It is at +Johnston's stable, and will be delivered on sending for it.' + +"'Think of that, Jack, the Borghese poney, with the silky tail; mine--Oh! +what a dear good old soul; it was the very thing of all others I longed +for, for they told me the princess had refused every offer for it.' + +"While Mary ran on in this strain, I sat mute and stupified; the sudden +reverse my hopes had sustained, deprived me, for a moment, of all +thought, and it was several minutes before I could rightly take in the +full extent of my misfortunes. + +"How that crazy old maid, for such, alas, I called her to myself now, +could have so blundered all my meaning--how she could so palpably have +mistaken, I could not conceive; what a remedy for a man overwhelmed with +debt--a ticket in a German lottery, and a cream-coloured pony, as if my +whole life had not been one continued lottery, with every day a blank; +and as to horses, I had eleven in my stables already. Perhaps she +thought twelve would read better in my schedule, when I, next week, +surrendered as insolvent. + +"Unable to bear the delight, the childish delight of Mary, on her new +acquisition, I rushed out of the house, and wandered for several hours in +the Boulevards. At last I summoned up courage to tell my wife. I once +more turned towards home, and entered her dressing-room, where she was +having her hair dressed for a ball at the Embassy. My resolution failed +me--not now thought I--to-morrow will do as well--one night more of +happiness for her and then--I looked on with pleasure and pride, as +ornament after ornament, brilliant with diamonds and emeralds, shone in +her hair, and upon her arms, still heightened her beauty, and lit up with +a dazzling brilliancy her lovely figure.--But it must come--and whenever +the hour arrives--the reverse will be fully as bitter; besides I am able +now--and when I may again be so, who can tell--now then be it, said I, as +I told the waiting-maid to retire; and taking a chair beside my wife, put +my arm round her. + +"'There, John dearest, take care; don't you see you'll crush all that +great affair of Malines lace, that Rosette has been breaking her heart to +manage this half hour.' + +"'Et puis,' said I. + +"'Et puis. I could not go to the ball, naughty boy. I am bent on great +conquest to-night; so pray don't mar such good intentions.' + +"'And you should be greatly disappointed were you not to go?' + +"'Of course I should; but what do you mean; is there any reason why I +should not? You are silent, John--speak--oh speak--has any thing +occurred to my--' + +"'No, no, dearest--nothing that I know has occurred to the Colonel.' + +"'Well then, who is it? Oh tell me at once.' + +"'Oh, my dear, there is no one in the case but ourselves;' so saying, +despite the injunction about the lace, I drew her towards me, and in as +few words, but as clearly as I was able, explained all our circumstances +--my endeavour to better them--my hopes--my fears--and now my bitter +disappointment, if not despair. + +"The first shock over, Mary showed not only more courage, but more +sound sense than I could have believed. All the frivolity of her former +character vanished at the first touch of adversity; just as of old, +Harry, we left the tinsel of our gay jackets behind, when active service +called upon us for something more sterling. She advised, counselled, and +encouraged me by turns; and in half an hour the most poignant regret I +had was in not having sooner made her my confidante, and checked the +progress of our enormous expenditure somewhat earlier. + +"I shall not now detain you much longer. In three weeks we sold our +carriages and horses, our pictures, (we had begun this among our other +extravagances,) and our china followed; and under the plea of health set +out for Baden; not one among our Paris acquaintances ever suspecting the +real reason of our departure, and never attributing any monied +difficulties to us--for we paid our debts. + +"The same day we left Paris, I despatched a letter to my aunt, explaining +fully all about us, and suggesting that as I had now left the army for +ever, perhaps she would interest some of her friends--and she has +powerful ones--to do something for me. + +"After some little loitering on the Rhine, we fixed upon Hesse Cassel for +our residence. It was very quiet--very cheap. The country around +picturesque, and last but not least, there was not an Englishman in the +neighbourhood. The second week after our arrival brought us letters from +my aunt. She had settled four hundred a year upon us for the present, +and sent the first year in advance; promised us a visit as soon as we +were ready to receive her; and pledged herself not to forget when an +opportunity of serving me should offer. + +"From that moment to this," said Jack, "all has gone well with us. We +have, it is true, not many luxuries, but we have no wants, and better +still, no debts. The dear old aunt is always making us some little +present or other; and somehow I have a kind of feeling that better luck +is still in store; but faith, Harry, as long as I have a happy home, and +a warm fireside, for a friend when he drops in upon me, I scarcely can +say that better luck need be wished for." + +"There is only one point, Jack, you have not enlightened me upon, how +came you here? You are some hundred miles from Hesse, in your present +chateau." + +"Oh! by Jove, that was a great omission in my narrative; but come, this +will explain it; see here"--so saying, he drew from a little drawer a +large lithographic print of a magnificent castellated building, with +towers and bastions, keep, moat, and even draw-bridge, and the walls +bristled with cannon, and an eagled banner floated proudly above them. + +"What in the name of the Sphynxes is this?" + +"There," said Jack, "is the Schloss von Eberhausen; or, if you like it in +English, Eberhausen Castle, as it was the year of the deluge; for the +present mansion that we are now sipping our wine in bears no very close +resemblance to it. But to make the mystery clear, this was the great +prize in the Francfort lottery, the ticket of which my aunt's first note +contained, and which we were fortunate enough to win. We have only been +here a few weeks, and though the affair looks somewhat meagre, we have +hopes that in a little time, and with some pains, much may be done to +make it habitable. There is a capital chasses of some hundred acres; +plenty of wood and innumerable rights, seignorial, memorial, &c., which, +fortunately for my neighbours, I neither understand nor care for; and we +are therefore the best friends in the world. Among others I am styled +the graf or count--." + +"Well, then, Monsieur Le Comte, do you intend favouring me with your +company at coffee this evening; for already it is ten o'clock; and +considering my former claim upon Mr. Lorrequer, you have let me enjoy +very little of his society." + +We now adjourned to the drawing-room, where we gossipped away till past +midnight; and I retired to my room, meditating over Jack's adventures, +and praying in my heart, that despite all his mischances, my own might +end as happily. + + + + +CHAPTER LI. + +MUNICH. + +The rest and quietness of the preceding day had so far recovered me from +the effects of my accident, that I resolved, as soon as breakfast was +over, to take leave of my kind friends, and set out for Munich. + +"We shall meet to-night, Harry," said Waller, as we parted--"we shall +meet at the Casino--and don't forget that the Croix Blanche is your +hotel; and Schnetz, the tailor, in the Grande Place, will provide you +with every thing you need in the way of dress." + +This latter piece of information was satisfactory, inasmuch as the +greater part of my luggage, containing my uniform, &c., had been left in +the French diligence; and as the ball was patronised by the court, I was +greatly puzzled how to make my appearance. + +Bad roads and worse horses made me feel the few leagues I had to go the +most tiresome part of my journey. But, of course, in this feeling +impatience had its share. A few hours more, and my fate should be +decided; and yet I thought the time would never come. If the Callonbys +should not arrive--if, again, my evil star be in the ascendant, and any +new impediment to our meeting arise--but I cannot, will not, think this-- +Fortune must surely be tired of persecuting me by this time, and, even to +sustain her old character for fickleness, must befriend me now. Ah! here +we are in Munich--and this is the Croix Blanche--what a dingy old +mansion! Beneath a massive porch, supported by heavy stone pillars, +stood the stout figure of Andreas Behr, the host. A white napkin, +fastened in one button-hole, and hanging gracefully down beside him--a +soup-ladle held sceptre-wise in his right hand, and the grinding motion +of his nether jaw, all showed that he had risen from his table d'hote to +welcome the new arrival; and certainly, if noise and uproar might explain +the phenomenon, the clatter of my equipage over the pavement might have +risen the dead. + +While my postillion was endeavouring, by mighty efforts, with a heavy +stone, to turn the handle of the door, and thus liberate me from my cage, +I perceived that the host came forward and said something to him--on +replying, to which, he ceased his endeavours to open the door, and looked +vacantly about him. Upon this I threw down the sash, and called out-- + +"I say, is not this the Croix Blanche?" + +"Ya," said the man-mountain with the napkin. + +"Well, then, open the door, pray--I'm going to stop here." + +"Nein." + +"No! What do you mean by that? Has not Lord Callonby engaged rooms +here?" + +"Ya." + +"Well, then, I am a particular friend of his, and will stay here also." + +"Nein." + +"What the devil are you at, with your ya and nein?" said I. "Has your +confounded tongue nothing better than a monosyllable to reply with." + +Whether disliking the tone the controversy was assuming, or remembering +that his dinner waited, I know not, but at these words my fat friend +turned leisurely round, and waddled back into the house; where, in a +moment after, I had the pleasure of beholding him at the head of a long +table, distributing viands with a very different degree of activity from +what he displayed in dialogue. + +With one vigorous jerk, I dashed open the door, upsetting, at the same +time, the poor postillion, who had recommenced his operations on the +lock, and, foaming with passion, strode into the "salle a manger." +Nothing is such an immediate damper to any sudden explosion of temper, as +the placid and unconcerned faces of a number of people, who, ignorant of +yourself and your peculiar miseries at the moment, seem only to regard +you as a madman. This I felt strongly, as, flushed in face and tingling +in my fingers, I entered the room. + +"Take my luggage," said I to a gaping waiter, "and place a chair there, +do you hear?" + +There seemed, I suppose, something in my looks that did not admit of much +parley, for the man made room for me at once at the table, and left the +room, as if to discharge the other part of my injunction, without saying +a word. As I arranged my napkin before me, I was collecting my energies +and my German, as well as I was able, for the attack of the host, which, +I anticipated from his recent conduct, must now ensue; but, greatly to my +surprise, he sent me my soup without a word, and the dinner went on +without any interruption. When the desert had made its appearance, I +beckoned the waiter towards me, and asked what the landlord meant by his +singular reception of me. The man shrugged his shoulders, and raised his +eyebrows, without speaking, as if to imply, "it's his way." + +"Well, then, no matter," said I. "Have you sent my luggage up stairs?" + +"No, sir, there is no room--the house is full." + +"The house full! Confound it--this is too provoking. I have most urgent +reasons for wishing to stay here. Cannot you make some arrangement--see +about it, waiter." I here slipped a Napoleon into the fellow's hand, and +hinted that as much more awaited the finale of the negociation. + +In about a minute after, I perceived him behind the host's chair, +pleading my cause with considerable energy; but to my complete chagrin, +I heard the other answer all his eloquence by a loud "Nein," that he +grunted out in such a manner as closed the conference. + +"I cannot succeed, sir," said the man, as he passed behind me, "but don't +leave the house till I speak with you again." + +What confounded mystery is there in all this, thought I. Is there any +thing so suspicious in my look or appearance, that the old bear in the +fur cap will not even admit me. What can it all mean. One thing I'm +resolved upon--nothing less than force shall remove me. + +So saying I lit my cigar, and in order to give the waiter an opportunity +of conferring with me unobserved by his master, walked out into the porch +and sat down. + +In a few minutes he joined me, and after a stealthy look on each side, +said-- + +"The Herr Andreas is a hard man to deal with, and when he says a thing, +never goes back of it. Now he has been expecting the new English Charge +d'Affaires here these last ten days, and has kept the hotel half empty in +consequence; and as mi Lor Callonby has engaged the other half, why we +have nothing to do; so that when he asked the postillion if you were mi +Lor, and found that you were not, he determined not to admit you." + +"But why not have the civility to explain that?" + +"He seldom speaks, and when he does only a word or two at a time. He is +quite tired with what he has gone through to-day, and will retire very +early to bed; and for this reason I have requested you to remain, for as +he never ventures up stairs, I will then manage to give you one of the +ambassador's rooms, which, even if he come, he'll never miss. So that if +you keep quiet, and do not attract any particular attention towards you, +all will go well." + +This advice seemed so reasonable, that I determined to follow it--any +inconvenience being preferable, provided I could be under the same roof +with my beloved Jane; and from the waiter's account, there seemed no +doubt whatever of their arrival that evening. In order, therefore, to +follow his injunctions to the letter, I strolled out toward the Place in +search of the tailor, and also to deliver a letter from Waller to the +chamberlain, to provide me with a card for the ball. Monsieur Schnetz, +who was the very pinnacle of politeness, was nevertheless, in fact, +nearly as untractable as my host of the "Cross." All his "sujets" were +engaged in preparing a suit for the English Charge d'Affaires, whose +trunks had been sent in a wrong direction, and who had despatched a +courier from Frankfort, to order a uniform. This second thwarting, and +from the same source, so nettled me, that I greatly fear, all my respect +for the foreign office and those who live thereby, would not have saved +them from something most unlike a blessing, had not Monsieur Schnetz +saved diplomacy from such desecration by saying, that if I could content +myself with a plain suit, such as civilians wore, he would do his +endeavour to accommodate me. + +"Any thing, Monsieur Schnetz--dress me like the Pope's Nuncio, or the +Mayor of London, if you like, but only enable me to go." + +Although my reply did not seem to convey a very exalted idea of my taste +in costume to the worthy artiste, it at least evinced my anxiety for the +ball; and running his measure over me, he assured me that the dress he +would provide was both well looking and becoming; adding, "At nine +o'clock, sir, you'll have it--exactly the same size as his Excellency the +Charge d'Affaires." + +"Confound the Charge d'Affaires!" I added, and left the house. + + + + +CHAPTER LII. + +INN AT MUNICH. + +As I had never been in Munich before, I strolled about the town till +dusk. At that time the taste of the present king had not enriched the +capital with the innumerable objects of art which render it now second to +none in Europe. There were, indeed, then but few attractions--narrow +streets, tall, unarchitectural-looking houses, and gloomy, unimpressive +churches. Tired of this, I turned towards my inn, wondering in my mind +if Antoine had succeeded in procuring me the room, or whether yet I +should be obliged to seek my lodging elsewhere. Scarcely had I entered +the porch, when I found him waiting my arrival, candle in hand. He +conducted me at once up the wide oaken stair, then along the gallery, +into a large wainscotted room, with a most capacious bed. A cheerful +wood fire burned and crackled away in the grate--the cloth was already +spread for supper--(remember it was in Germany)--the newspapers of the +day were placed before me--and, in a word, every attention showed that I +had found the true avenue to Antoine's good graces, who now stood bowing +before me, in apparent ecstasy at his own cleverness. + +"All very well done, Antoine, and now for supper--order it yourself for +me--I never can find my way in a German 'carte de diner;' and be sure to +have a fiacre here at nine--nine precisely." + +Antoine withdrew, leaving me to my own reflections, which now, if not +gloomy, were still of the most anxious kind. + +Scarcely was the supper placed upon the table, when a tremendous tramping +of horses along the street, and loud cracking of whips, announced a new +arrival. + +"Here they are," said I, as, springing up, I upset the soup, and nearly +threw the roti into Antoine's face, as he was putting it before me. + +Down stairs I rushed, through the hall, pushing aside waiters and +overturning chambermaids in my course. The carriage was already at the +door. Now for a surprise, thought I, as I worked through the crowd in +the porch, and reached the door just as the steps were clattered down, +and a gentleman began to descend, whom twenty expectant voices, now +informed of his identity, welcomed as the new Charge d'Affaires. + +"May all the--" + +What I wished for his excellency it would not be polite to repeat, nor +most discreet even to remember; but, certes, I mounted the stairs with as +little good will towards the envoy extraordinary as was consistent with +due loyalty. + +When once more in my room, I congratulated myself that now at least no +more "false starts" could occur--"the eternal Charge d'Affaires, of whom +I have been hearing since my arrival, cannot come twice--he is here now, +and I hope I'm done with him." + +The supper--some greasiness apart--was good--the wine excellent. My +spirits were gradually rising, and I paced my room in that mingled state +of hope and fear, that amid all its anxieties, has such moments of +ecstasy. A new noise without--some rabble in the street; hark, it comes +nearer--I hear the sound of wheels; yes, there go the horses--nearer and +nearer. Ah, it is dying away again--stay--yes, yes--here it is--here +they are. The noise and tumult without now increased every instant--the +heavy trot of six or eight horses shook the very street, and I heard the +round, dull, rumbling sound of a heavy carriage, as it drew up at last at +the door of the inn. Why it was I know not, but this time I could not +stir--my heart beat almost loud enough for me to hear--my temples +throbbed, and then a cold and clammy perspiration came over me, and I +sank into a chair. Fearing that I was about to faint, sick as I was, I +felt angry with myself, and tried to rally, but could not, and only at +length was roused by hearing that the steps were let down, and shortly +after the tread of feet coming along the gallery towards my room. + +They are coming--she is coming, thought I. Now then for my doom! + +There was some noise of voices outside. I listened, for I still felt +unable to rise. The talking grew louder--doors were opened and shut-- +then came a lull--then more slamming of doors, and more talking--then all +was still again--and at last I heard the steps of people as if retiring, +and in a few minutes after the carriage door was jammed to, and again the +heavy tramp of the horses rattled over the pave. At this instant Antoine +entered. + +"Well, Antoine," said I, in a voice trembling with weakness and +agitation, "not them yet?" + +"It was his Grace the Grand Mareschal," said Antoine, scarcely heeding my +question, in the importance of the illustrious visitor who had arrived. + +"Ah, the Grand Mareschal," said I, carelessly; "does he live here?" + +"Sappermint nein, Mein Herr; but he has just been to pay his respects to +his Excellency the new Charge d'Affaires." + +In the name of all patience, I ask, who could endure this? From the hour +of my arrival I am haunted by this one image--the Charge d'Affaires. For +him I have been almost condemned to go houseless, and naked; and now the +very most sacred feelings of my heart are subject to his influence. I +walked up and down in an agony. Another such disappointment, and my +brain will turn, thought I, and they may write my epitaph--"Died of love +and a Charge d'Affaires." + +"It is time to dress," said the waiter. + +"I could strangle him with my own hands," muttered I, worked up into a +real heat by the excitement of my passion. + +"The Charge--" + +"Say that name again, villain, and I'll blow your brains out," cried I, +seizing Antoine by the throat, and pinning him against the wall; "only +dare to mutter it, and you'll ever breathe another syllable." + +The poor fellow grew green with terror, and fell upon his knees before +me. + +"Get my dressing things ready," said I, in a more subdued tone. "I did +not mean to terrify you--but beware of what I told you." + +While Antoine occupied himself with the preparations for my toilette, I +sat broodingly over the wood embers, thinking of my fate. + +A knock came to the door. It was the tailor's servant with my clothes. +He laid down the parcel and retired, while Antoine proceeded to open it, +and exhibit before me a blue uniform with embroidered collar and cuffs-- +the whole, without being gaudy, being sufficiently handsome, and quite as +showy as I could wish. + +The poor waiter expressed his unqualified approval of the costume, and +talked away about the approaching ball as something pre-eminently +magnificent. + +"You had better look after the fiacre, Antoine," said I; "it is past +nine." + +He walked towards the door, opened it, and then, turning round, said, in +a kind of low, confidential whisper, pointing, with the thumb of his left +hand, towards the wall of the room as he spoke-- + +"He won't go--very strange that." + +"Who do you mean?" said I, quite unconscious of the allusion. + +"The Charge d'Aff--" + +I made one spring at him, but he slammed the door to, and before I could +reach the lobby, I heard him rolling from top to bottom of the oak +staircase, making noise enough in his fall to account for the fracture of +every bone in his body. + + + + +CHAPTER LIII. + +THE BALL. + +As I was informed that the King would himself be present at the ball, I +knew that German etiquette required that the company should arrive before +his Majesty; and although now every minute I expected the arrival of the +Callonbys, I dared not defer my departure any longer. + +"They are certain to be at the ball," said Waller, and that sentence +never left my mind. + +So saying, I jumped into the fiacre, and in a few minutes found myself in +the long line of carriages that led to the "Hof saal." Any one who has +been in Munich will testify for me, that the ball room is one of the most +beautiful in Europe, and to me who for some time had not been living much +in the world, its splendour was positively dazzling. The glare of the +chandeliers--the clang of the music--the magnificence of the dresses--the +beauty of the Bavarian women too, all surprized and amazed me. There +were several hundred people present, but the king not having yet arrived, +dancing had not commenced. Feeling as I then did, it was rather a relief +to me than otherwise, that I knew no one. There was quite amusement +enough in walking through the saloons, observing the strange costumes, +and remarking the various groups as they congregated around the trays of +ices and the champagne glacee. The buzz of talking and the sounds of +laughter and merriment prevailed over even the orchestra; and, as the gay +crowds paraded the rooms, all seemed pleasure and excitement. Suddenly a +tremendous noise was heard without--then came a loud roll of the drums, +which lasted for several seconds, and the clank of musketry--then a +cheer;--it is the king. + +The king! resounded on all sides; and in another moment the large +folding-doors at the end of the saal were thrown open, and the music +struck up the national anthem of Bavaria. + +His majesty entered, accompanied by the queen, his brother, two or three +archduchesses, and a long suite of officers. + +I could not help remarking upon the singular good taste with which the +assembly--all anxious and eager to catch a glimpse of his majesty-- +behaved on this occasion. There was no pressing forward to the "estrade" +where he stood,--no vulgar curiosity evinced by any one, but the group +continued, as before, to gather and scatter. The only difference being, +that the velvet chair and cushion, which had attracted some observers +before, were, now that they were tenanted by royalty, passed with a deep +and respectful salutation. How proper this, thought I, and what an +inducement for a monarch to come among his people, who remember to +receive him with such true politeness. While these thoughts were passing +through my mind, as I was leaning against a pillar that supported the +gallery of the orchestra, a gentleman whose dress, covered with gold and +embroidery, bespoke him as belonging to the court, eyed me aside with his +lorgnette and then passed rapidly on. A quadrille was now forming near +me, and I was watching, with some interest, the proceeding, when the same +figure that I remarked before, approached me, bowing deeply at every +step, and shaking a very halo of powder from his hair at each reverence. + +"May I take the liberty of introducing myself to you?" said he.--"Le +Comte Benningsen." Here he bowed again, and I returned the obeisance +still deeper. "Regretted much that I was not fortunate enough to make +your acquaintance this evening, when I called upon you." + +"Never heard of that," said I to myself. + +"Your excellency arrived this evening?" + +"Yes," said I, "only a few hours since." + +"How fond these Germans are of titles," thought I. Remembering that in +Vienna every one is "his grace," I thought it might be Bavarian +politeness to call every one his excellency. + +"You have not been presented, I believe?" + +"No," said I; "but I hope to take an early opportunity of paying 'mes +homages' to his majesty." + +"I have just received his orders to present you now," replied he, with +another bow. + +"The devil, you have," thought I. "How very civil that." And, although +I had heard innumerable anecdotes of the free-and-easy habits of the +Bavarian court, this certainly surprized me, so that I actually, to +prevent a blunder, said, "Am I to understand you, Monsieur le Comte, that +his majesty was graciously pleased"-- + +If you will follow me," replied the courtier, motioning with his chapeau; +and in another moment I was elbowing my way through the mob of marquisses +and duchesses, on my way to the raised platform where the king was +standing. + +"Heaven grant I have not misunderstood all he has been saying," was my +last thought as the crowd of courtiers fell back on either side, and I +found myself bowing before his majesty. How the grand mareschal entitled +me I heard not; but when the king addressed me immediately in English, +saying, + +"I hope your excellency has had a good journey?" + +I felt, "Come, there is no mistake here, Harry; and it is only another +freak of fortune, who is now in good humour with you." + +The king, who was a fine, tall, well-built man, with a large, bushy +moustache, possessed, though not handsome, a most pleasing expression; +his utterance was very rapid, and his English none of the best, so that +it was with the greatest difficulty I contrived to follow his questions, +which came thick as hail upon me. After some commonplaces about the +roads, the weather, and the season, his majesty said, + +"My Lord Callonby has been residing some time here. You know him?" And +then, not waiting for a reply, added, "Pleasant person--well informed-- +like him much, and his daughters, too, how handsome they are." Here I +blushed, and felt most awkwardly, while the king continued. + +"Hope they will remain some time--quite an ornament to our court. +Monsieur le Comte, his excellency will dance?" I here muttered an +apology about my sprained ankle, and the king turned to converse with +some of the ladies of the court. His majesty's notice brought several +persons now around me, who introduced themselves; and, in a quarter of an +hour, I felt myself surrounded by acquaintances, each vieing with the +other in showing me attention. + +Worse places than Munich, Master Harry, thought I, as I chaperoned a fat +duchess, with fourteen quarterings, towards the refreshment-room, and had +just accepted invitations enough to occupy me three weeks in advance. + +"I have been looking every where for your excellency," said the grand +mareschal, bustling his way to me, breathless and panting. "His majesty +desires you will make one of his party at whist, so pray come at once." + +"Figaro qua, Figaro la," muttered I. "Never was man in such request. +God grant the whole royal family of Bavaria be not mad, for this looks +very like it. Lady Jane had better look sharp, for I have only to throw +my eyes on an archduchess, to be king of the Tyrol some fine morning." + +"You play whist, of course; every Englishman does," said the king. "You +shall be my partner." + +Our adversaries were the Prince Maximilian, brother to his Majesty and +the Prussian Ambassador. As I sat down at the table, I could not help +saying in my heart, "now is your time, Harry, if my Lord Callonby should +see you, your fortune is made." Waller passed at this moment, and as he +saluted the king, I saw him actually start with amazement as he beheld +me--"better fun this than figuring in the yellow plush, Master Jack," I +muttered as he passed on actually thunder-struck with amazement. But the +game was begun, and I was obliged to be attentive. We won the first +game, and the king was in immense good humour as he took some franc +pieces from the Prussian minister, who, small as the stake was, seemed +not to relish losing. His majesty now complimented me upon my play, and +was about to add something when he perceived some one in the crowd, and +sent an Aide de camp for him. + +"Ah, my Lord, we expected you earlier," and then said some words in too +low a tone for me to hear, motioning towards me as he spoke. If Waller +was surprised at seeing me where I was, it was nothing to the effect +produced upon the present party, whom I now recognized as Lord Callonby. +Respect for the presence we were in, restrained any expression on either +side, and a more ludicrous tableau than we presented can scarcely be +conceived. What I would have given that the whist party was over, I need +not say, and certainly his majesty's eulogy upon my play came too soon, +for I was now so "destrait and unhinged," my eyes wandering from the +table to see if Lady Jane was near, that I lost every trick, and finished +by revoking. The king rose half pettishly, observing that "Son +Excellence a apparement perdu la tete," and I rushed forward to shake +hands with Lord Callonby, totally forgetting the royal censure in my +delight at discovering my friend. + +"Lorrequer, I am indeed rejoiced to see you, and when did you arrive." + +"This evening." + +"This evening! and how the deuce have you contrived already, eh? why you +seem quite chez vous here?" + +"You shall hear all," said I hastily, "but is Lady Callonby here?" + +"No. Kilkee only is with me, there he is figuranting away in a gallope. +The ladies were too tired to come, particularly as they dine at court to- +morrow, the fatigue would be rather much." + +"I have his majesty's order to invite your Excellency to dinner to- +morrow," said the grand Mareschal coming up at this instant. + +I bowed my acknowledgments, and turned again to Lord Callonby, whose +surprise now seemed to have reached the climax. + +"Why Lorrequer, I never heard of this? when did you adopt this new +career?" + +Not understanding the gist of the question, and conceiving that it +applied to my success at court, I answered at random, something about +"falling upon my legs, good luck, &c.," and once more returned to the +charge, enquiring most anxiously for Lady Callonby's health. + +"Ah! she is tolerably well. Jane is the only invalid, but then we hope +Italy will restore her." Just at this instant, Kilkee caught my eye, and +rushing over from his place beside his partner, shook me by both hands, +saying, + +"Delighted to see you here Lorrequer, but as I can't stay now, promise to +sup with me to-night at the 'Cross'." + +I accepted of course, and the next instant, he was whirling along in his +waltze, with one of the most lovely German girls I ever saw. Lord +Callonby saw my admiration of her, and as it were replying to my gaze, +remarked, + +"Yes, very handsome indeed, but really Kilkee is going too far with it. +I rely upon you very much to reason him out of his folly, and we have all +agreed that you have most influence over him, and are most likely to be +listened to patiently." + +Here was a new character assigned me, the confidential friend and adviser +of the family, trusted with a most delicate and important secret, likely +to bring me into most intimate terms of intercourse with them all, for +the "we" of Lord Callonby bespoke a family consultation, in which I was +deputed as the negociator. I at once promised my assistance, saying, at +the same time, that if Kilkee really was strongly attached, and had also +reason to suppose that the Lady liked him, it was not exactly fair; that +in short, if the matter had gone beyond flirtation, any interference of +mine would be imprudent, if not impertinent. Lord Callonby smiled +slightly as he replied, + +"Quite right, Lorrequer, I am just as much against constraint as +yourself, if only no great barriers exist; but here with a difference of +religion, country, language, habits, in fact, everything that can create +disparity, the thing is not to be thought of." + +I suspected that his Lordship read in my partial defence of Kilkee, a +slight attempt to prop up my own case, and felt confused and embarrassed +beyond measure at the detection. + +"Well, we shall have time enough for all this. Now let us hear something +of my old friend Sir Guy. How is he looking?" + +"I am unfortunately unable to give you any account of him. I left Paris +the very day before he was expected to arrive there." + +"Oh then, I have all the news myself in that case, for in his letter +which I received yesterday, he mentions that we are not to expect him +before Tuesday." + +"Expect him. Is he coming here then?" + +"Yes. Why, I thought you were aware of that, he has been long promising +to pay us a visit, and at last, by great persuasion, we have succeeded in +getting him across the sea, and, indeed, were it not that he was coming, +we should have been in Florence before this." + +A gleam of hope shot through my heart as I said to myself, what can this +visit mean? and the moment after I felt sick, almost to fainting, as I +asked if "my cousin Guy were also expected." + +"Oh yes. We shall want him I should think" said Lord Callonby with a +very peculiar smile. + +I thought I should have fallen at these few words. Come, Harry, thought +I, it is better to learn your fate at once. Now or never; death itself +were preferable to this continued suspense. If the blow is to fall, it +can scarcely sink me lower than I now feel: so reasoning, I laid my hand +upon Lord Callonby's arm, and with a face pale as death, and a voice all +but inarticulate, said, + +"My Lord, you will pardon, I am sure--" + +"My dear Lorrequer," said his lordship interrupting me, "for heaven's +sake sit down. How ill you are looking, we must nurse you, my poor +fellow." + +I sank upon a bench--the light danced before my eyes--the clang of the +music sounded like the roar of a waterfall, and I felt a cold +perspiration burst over my face and forehead; at the same instant, I +recognized Kilkee's voice, and without well knowing why, or how, +discovered myself in the open air. + +"Come, you are better now," said Kilkee, "and will be quite well when you +get some supper, and a little of the tokay, his majesty has been good +enough to send us." + +"His majesty desires to know if his excellency is better," said an aide +de camp. + +I muttered my most grateful acknowledgments. + +"One of the court carriages is in waiting for your excellency," said a +venerable old gentleman in a tie wig, whom I recognized as the minister +for foreign affairs--as he added in a lower tone to Lord Callonby, "I +fear he has been greatly overworked lately--his exertions on the subject +of the Greek loan are well known to his majesty." + +"Indeed," said Lord Callonby, with a start of surprise, "I never heard of +that before." + +If it had not been for that start of amazement, I should have died of +terror. It was the only thing that showed me I was not out of my senses, +which I now concluded the old gentleman must be, for I never had heard of +the Greek loan in my life before. + +"Farewell, mon cher colleague," said the venerable minister as I got into +the carriage, wondering as well I might what singular band of brotherhood +united one of his majesty's __th with the minister for foreign affairs of +the Court of Bavaria. + +When I arrived at the White-cross, I found my nerves, usually proof to +any thing, so shaken and shattered, that fearing with the difficult game +before me any mistake, however trivial, might mar all my fortunes for +ever, I said a good night to my friends, and went to bed. + + + + +CHAPTER LIV. + +A DISCOVERY. + +"A note for Monsieur," said the waiter, awaking me at the same time from +the soundest sleep and most delightful dream. The billet was thus:-- + +"If your excellency does not intend to slumber during the next twenty- +four hours, it might be as well to remember that we are waiting +breakfast. Ever yours, + +"Kilkee." + +"It is true, then," said I--following up the delusion of my dream. "It +is true, I am really domesticated once more with the Callonbys. My suit +is prospering, and at length the long-sought, long-hoped for moment is +come--" + +"Well, Harry," said Kilkee, as he dashed open the door. "Well, Harry, +how are you, better than last night, I hope?" + +"Oh yes, considerably. In fact, I can't think what could have been the +matter with me; but I felt confoundedly uncomfortable." + +"You did! Why, man, what can you mean; was it not a joke?" + +"A joke," said I, with a start. + +"Yes, to be sure. I thought it was only the sequel of the other humbug." + +"The sequel of the other humbug!" Gracious mercy! thought I, getting +pale with horror, is it thus he ventures to designate my attachment to +his sister? + +"Come, come, it's all over now. What the devil could have persuaded you +to push the thing so far?" + +"Really, I am so completely in the dark as to your meaning that I only +get deeper in mystery by my chance replies. What do you mean?" + +"What do I mean! Why, the affair of last night of course. All Munich is +full of it, and most fortunately for you, the king has taken it all in +the most good-humoured way, and laughs more than any one else about it." + +Oh, then, thought I, I must have done or said something last night during +my illness, that I can't remember now. "Come, Kilkee, out with it. What +happened last night, that has served to amuse the good people of Munich? +for as I am a true man, I forget all you are alluding to." + +"And don't remember the Greek Loan--eh?" + +"The Greek Loan!" + +"And your Excellency's marked reception by his Majesty? By Jove though, +it was the rarest piece of impudence I ever heard of; hoaxing a crowned +head, quizzing one of the Lord's anointed is un peu trop fort." + +"If you really do not wish to render me insane at once, for the love of +mercy say, in plain terms, what all this means." + +"Come, come, I see you are incorrigible; but as breakfast is waiting all +this time, we shall have your explanations below stairs." + +Before I had time for another question Kilkee passed his arm within mine, +and led me along the corridor, pouring out, the entire time a whole +rhapsody about the practical joke of my late illness, which he was +pleased to say would ring from one end of Europe to the other. + +Lord Callonby was alone in the breakfast-room when we entered, and the +moment he perceived me called out, + +"Eh, Lorrequer, you here still? Why, man, I thought you'd have been over +the frontier early this morning?" + +"Indeed, my lord, I am not exactly aware of any urgent reason for so +rapid a flight." + +"You are not! The devil, you are not. Why, you must surely have known +his majesty to be the best tempered man in his dominions then, or you +would never have played off such a ruse, though I must say, there never +was anything better done. Old Heldersteen, the minister for foreign +affairs, is nearly deranged this morning about it--it seems that he was +the first that fell into the trap; but seriously speaking, I think it +would be better if you got away from this; the king, it is true, has +behaved with the best possible good feeling; but--" + +"My lord, I have a favour to ask, perhaps, indeed in all likelihood the +last I shall ever ask of your lordship, it is this--what are you alluding +to all this while, and for what especial reason do you suggest my +immediate departure from Munich?" + +"Bless my heart and soul--you surely cannot mean to carry the thing on +any further--you never can intend to assume your ministerial functions by +daylight?" + +"My what!--my ministerial functions." + +"Oh no, that were too much--even though his majesty did say--that you +were the most agreeable diplomate he had met for a long time." + +"I, a diplomate." + +"You, certainly. Surely you cannot be acting now; why, gracious mercy, +Lorrequer! can it be possible that you were not doing it by design, do +you really not know in what character you appeared last night?" + +"If in any other than that of Harry Lorrequer, my lord, I pledge my +honour, I am ignorant." + +"Nor the uniform you wore, don't you know what it meant?" + +"The tailor sent it to my room." + +"Why, man, by Jove, this will kill me," said Lord Callonby, bursting into +a fit of laughter, in which Kilkee, a hitherto silent spectator of our +colloquy, joined to such an extent, that I thought he should burst a +bloodvessel. "Why man, you went as the Charge d'Affaires." + +"I, the Charge d'Affaires!" + +"That you did, and a most successful debut you made of it." + +While shame and confusion covered me from head to foot at the absurd and +ludicrous blunder I had been guilty of, the sense of the ridiculous was +so strong in me, that I fell upon a sofa and laughed on with the others +for full ten minutes. + +"Your Excellency is, I am rejoiced to find, in good spirits," said Lady +Callonby, entering and presenting her hand. + +"He is so glad to have finished the Greek Loan," said Lady Catherine, +smiling with a half malicious twinkle of the eye. Just at this instant +another door opened, and Lady Jane appeared. Luckily for me, the +increased mirth of the party, as Lord Callonby informed them of my +blunder, prevented their paying any attention to me, for as I half sprung +forward toward her, my agitation would have revealed to any observer, the +whole state of my feelings. I took her hand which she extended to me, +without speaking, and bowing deeply over it, raised my head and looked +into her eyes, as if to read at one glance, my fate, and when I let fall +her hand, I would not have exchanged my fortune for a kingdom. + +"You have heard, Jane, how our friend opened his campaign in Munich last +night." + +"Oh, I hope, Mr. Lorrequer, they are only quizzing. You surely could +not--" + +"Could not. What he could not--what he would not do, is beyond my +calculation to make out," said Kilkee, laughing, "anything in life, from +breaking an axletree to hoaxing a king;" I turned, as may be imagined, a +deaf ear to this allusion, which really frightened me, not knowing how +far Kilkee's information might lead, nor how he might feel disposed to +use it. Lady Jane turned a half reproachful glance at me, as if rebuking +my folly; but in the interest she thus took in me, I should not have +bartered it for the smile of the proudest queen in Christendom. + +Breakfast over, Lord Callonby undertook to explain to the Court the +blunder, by which I had unwittingly been betrayed into personating the +newly arrived minister, and as the mistake was more of their causing than +my own, my excuses were accepted, and when his lordship returned to the +hotel, he brought with him an invitation for me to dine at Court in my +own unaccredited character. By this time I had been carrying on the +siege as briskly as circumstances permitted; Lady Callonby being deeply +interested in her newly arrived purchases, and Lady Catherine being good- +natured enough to pretend to be so also, left me, at intervals, many +opportunities of speaking to Lady Jane. + +As I feared that such occasions would not often present themselves, I +determined on making the best use of my time, and at once led the +conversation towards the goal I aimed at, by asking, "if Lady Jane had +completely forgotten the wild cliffs and rocky coast of Clare, amid the +tall mountains and glaciered peaks of the Tyrol?" + +"Far from it," she replied. "I have a most clear remembrance of bold +Mogher and the rolling swell of the blue Atlantic, and long to feel its +spray once more upon my cheek; but then, I knew it in childhood--your +acquaintance with it was of a later date, and connected with fewer happy +associations." + +"Fewer happy associations--how can you say so? Was it not there the +brightest hours of my whole life were passed, was it not there I first +met--" + +"Kilkee tells me," said Lady Jane, interrupting me shortly, "that Miss +Bingham is extremely pretty." + +This was turning my flank with a vengeance; so I muttered something about +differences of tastes, &c. and continued, "I understand my worthy cousin +Guy, had the good fortune to make your acquaintance in Paris." + +It was now her turn to blush, which she did deeply, and said nothing. + +"He is expected, I believe, in a few days at Munich," said I, fixing my +eyes upon her, and endeavouring to read her thoughts; she blushed more +deeply, and the blood at my own heart ran cold, as I thought over all I +had heard, and I muttered to myself "she loves him." + +"Mr. Lorrequer, the carriage is waiting, and as we are going to the +Gallery this morning, and have much to see, pray let us have your +escort." + +"Oh, I am sure," said Catherine, "his assistance will be considerable-- +particularly if his knowledge of art only equals his tact in botany. +Don't you think so, Jane?"--But Jane was gone. + +They left the room to dress, and I was alone--alone with my anxious, now +half despairing thoughts, crowding and rushing upon my beating brain. +She loves him, and I have only come to witness her becoming the wife of +another. I see it all, too plainly;--my Uncle's arrival--Lord Callonby's +familiar manner--Jane's own confession. All--all convince me, that my +fate is decided. Now, then, for one last brief explanation, and I leave +Munich, never to see her more. Just as I had so spoken, she entered. +Her gloves had been forgotten in the room, and she came in not knowing +that I was there. What would I not have given at that moment, for the +ready witted assurance, the easy self-possession, with which I should +have made my advances had my heart not been as deeply engaged as I now +felt it. Alas! My courage was gone; there was too much at stake, and +I preferred, now, that the time was come, any suspense, any vacillation, +to the dreadful certainty of refusal. + +These were my first thoughts, as she entered; how they were followed, I +cannot say. The same evident confusion of my brain, which I once felt +when mounting the breach in a storm-party, now completely beset me; and +as then, when death and destruction raged on every side, I held on my way +regardless of every obstacle, and forgetting all save the goal before me; +so did I now, in the intensity of my excitement, disregard every thing, +save the story of my love, which I poured forth with that fervour which +truth only can give. But she spoke not,--her averted head,--her cold and +tremulous hand, and half-drawn sigh were all that replied to me, as I +waited for that one word upon which hung all my fortune. At length her +hand, which I scarcely held within my own, was gently withdrawn. She +lifted it to her eyes, but still was silent. + +"Enough," said I, "I seek not to pain you more. The daring ambition that +prompted me to love you, has met its heaviest retribution. Farewell,-- +You, Lady Jane, have nothing to reproach yourself with--You never +encouraged, you never deceived me. I, and I alone have been to blame, +and mine must be the suffering. Adieu, then once more, and now for +ever." + +She turned slowly round, and as the handkerchief fell from her hand,--her +features were pale as marble,--I saw that she was endeavouring to speak, +but could not; and at length, as the colour came slowly back to her +cheek, her lips moved, and just as I leaned forward, with a beating heart +to hear, her sister came running forward, and suddenly checked herself in +her career, as she said, laughingly,-- + +"Mille pardons, Jane, but his Excellency must take another occasion to +explain the quadruple alliance, for mamma has been waiting in the +carriage these ten minutes." + +I followed them to the door, placed them in the carriage, and was turning +again towards the house, when Lady Callonby said-- + +"Oh, Mr. Lorrequer, we count upon you--you must not desert us." + +I muttered something about not feeling well. + +"And then, perhaps, the Greek loan is engaging your attention," said +Catherine; "or, mayhap, some reciprocity treaty is not prospering." + +The malice of this last sally told, for Jane blushed deeply, and I felt +overwhelmed with confusion. + +"But pray come--the drive will do you good." + +"Your ladyship will, I am certain, excuse"-- + +Just as I had got so far, I caught Lady Jane's eye, for the first time +since we had left the drawing-room. What I read there, I could not, for +the life of me, say; but, instead of finishing my sentence, I got into +the carriage, and drove off, very much to the surprise of Lady Callonby, +who, never having studied magnetism, knew very little the cause of my +sudden recovery. + +The thrill of hope that shot through my heart succeeding so rapidly the +dark gloom of my despairing thoughts, buoyed me up, and while I whispered +to myself, "all may not yet be lost," I summoned my best energies to my +aid. Luckily for me, I was better qualified to act as cicerone in a +gallery than as a guide in a green-house; and with the confidence that +knowledge of a subject ever inspires, I rattled away about art and +artists, greatly to the edification of Lady Callonby--much to the +surprise of Lady Catherine--and, better than all, evidently to the +satisfaction of her, to win whose praise I would gladly have risked my +life. + +"There," said I, as I placed my fair friend before a delicious little +madonna of Carl Dolci--"there is, perhaps, the triumph of colouring--for +the downy softness of that cheek--the luscious depth of that blue eye-- +the waving richness of those sunny locks, all is perfect--fortunately so +beautiful a head is not a monopoly, for he painted many copies of this +picture." + +"Quite true," said a voice behind, "and mine at Elton is, I think, if +anything, better than this." + +I turned, and beheld my good old uncle, Sir Guy, who was standing beside +Lady Callonby. While I welcomed my worthy relative, I could not help +casting a glance around to see if Guy were also there, and not perceiving +him, my heart beat freely again. + +My uncle, it appeared, had just arrived, and lost no time in joining us +at the gallery. His manner to me was cordial to a degree; and I +perceived that, immediately upon being introduced to Lady Jane, he took +considerable pains to observe her, and paid her the most marked +attention. + +The first moment I could steal unnoticed, I took the opportunity of +asking if Guy were come. That one fact were to me all, and upon the +answer to my question, I hung with deep anxiety. + +"Guy here!--no, not yet. The fact is, Harry, my boy, Guy has not got on +here as well as I could have wished. Everything had been arranged among +us--Callonby behaved most handsomely--and, as far as regarded myself, I +threw no impediment in the way. But still, I don't know how it was, but +Guy did not advance, and the matter now"-- + +"Pray, how does it stand? Have you any hopes to put all to rights +again?" + +"Yes, Harry, I think, with your assistance, much may be done." + +"Oh, count upon me by all means," said I, with a sneering bitterness, +that my uncle could not have escaped remarking, had his attention not +been drawn off by Lady Callonby. + +What have I done--what sin did I meditate before I was born, that I +should come into the world branded with failure in all I attempt? Is it +not enough that my cousin, my elder by some months, should be rich while +I am poor--honoured and titled, while I am unknown and unnoticed?--but is +he also to be preferred to me in every station in life? Is there no +feeling of the heart so sacred that it must not succumb to primogeniture? + +"What a dear old man Sir Guy is," said Catherine, interrupting my sad +reflections, "and how gallant; he is absolutely flirting with Lady Jane." + +And quite true it was. The old gentleman was paying his devoirs with a +studied anxiety to please, that went to my very heart as I witnessed it. +The remainder of that day to me was a painful and suffering one. My +intention of suddenly leaving Munich had been abandoned, why, I knew not. +I felt that I was hoping against hope, and that my stay was only to +confirm, by the most "damning proof," how surely I was fated to +disappointment. My reasonings all ended in one point. If she really +love Guy, then my present attentions can only be a source of unhappiness +to her; if she do not, is there any prospect that from the bare fact of +my attachment, so proud a family as the Callonbys will suffer their +daughter to make a mere "marriage d'inclination?" + +There was but one answer to this question, and I had at last the courage +to make it: and yet the Callonbys had marked me out for their attentions, +and had gone unusually out of their way to inflict injury upon me, if all +were meant to end in nothing. If I only could bring myself to think that +this was a systematic game adopted by them, to lead to the subsequent +arrangement with my cousin!--if I could but satisfy my doubts on this +head----What threats of vengeance I muttered, I cannot remember, for I +was summoned at that critical moment to attend the party to the palace. + +The state of excitement I was in, was an ill preparative for the rigid +etiquette of a court dinner. All passed off, however, happily, and the +king, by a most good-natured allusion to the blunder of the night before, +set me perfectly at ease on that head. + +I was placed next to Lady Jane at dinner; and half from wounded pride, +half from the momentarily increasing conviction that all was lost, +chatted away gaily, without any evidence of a stronger feeling than the +mere vicinity of a pretty person is sure to inspire. What success this +game was attended with I know not; but the suffering it cost me, I shall +never cease to remember. One satisfaction I certainly did experience-- +she was manifestly piqued, and several times turned towards the person on +the other side of her, to avoid the tone of indifference in which I +discussed matters that were actually wringing my own heart at the moment. +Yet such was the bitterness of my spirit, that I set down this conduct +on her part as coquetry; and quite convinced myself that any slight +encouragement she might ever have given my attentions, was only meant +to indulge a spirit of vanity, by adding another to the list of her +conquests. + +As the feeling grew upon me, I suppose my manner to her became more +palpably cutting, for it ended at last in our discontinuing to speak, and +when we retired from the palace, I accompanied her to the carriage in +silence, and wished her a cold and distant good night, without any +advance to touch her hand at parting--and yet that parting, I had +destined for our last. + +The greater part of that night I spent in writing letters. One was to +Jane herself owning my affection, confessing that even the "rudesse" of +my late conduct was the fruit of it, and finally assuring her that +failing to win from her any return of my passion, I had resolved never to +meet her more--I also wrote a short note to my uncle, thanking him for +all he had formerly done in my behalf, but coldly declining for the +future, any assistance upon his part, resolving that upon my own efforts +alone should I now rest my fortunes. To Lord Callonby I wrote at greater +length, recapitulating the history of our early intimacy, and accusing +him of encouraging me in expectations, which, as he never intended to +confirm them, were fated to prove my ruin. More--much more I said, which +to avow, I should gladly shrink from, were it not that I have pledged +myself to honesty in these "Confessions," and as they depict the +bitterness and misery of my spirit, I must plead guilty to them here. In +a word, I felt myself injured. I saw no outlet for redress, and the only +consolation open to my wounded pride and crushed affection, was to show, +that if I felt myself a victim, at least I was not a dupe. I set about +packing up for the journey, whither, I knew not. My leave was nearly +expired, yet I could not bear the thought of rejoining the regiment. +My only desire was to leave Munich, and that speedily. When all my +arrangements were completed I went down noiselessly to the inn yard to +order post-horses by day-break, there to my surprise I found all activity +and bustle. Though so late at night, a courier had arrived from England +for Lord Callonby, with some important dispatches from the Government; +this would, at any other time, have interested me deeply; now I heard +the news without a particle of feeling, and I made all the necessary +dispositions for my journey, without paying the slightest attention to +what was going on about me. I had just finished, when Lord Callonby's +valet came to say, that his lordship wished to see me immediately in his +dressing room. Though I would gladly have declined any further +interview, I saw no means of escape, and followed the servant to his +lordship's room. + +There I found Lord Callonby in his dressing gown and night cap, +surrounded by papers, letters, despatch boxes, and red tape-tied parcels, +that all bespoke business. + +"Lorrequer, sit down, my boy, I have much to say to you, and as we have +no time to lose, you must forego a little sleep. Is the door closed? +I have just received most important news from England, and to begin," +here his lordship opened a letter and read as follow:-- + +"My Lord--They are out at last--the majority on Friday increased to forty +yesterday evening, when they resigned; the Duke has, meanwhile, assumed +the reins till further arrangements can be perfected, and despatches are +now preparing to bring all our friends about us. The only rumours as yet +are, L___, for the Colonies, H___, to the Foreign Office, W____ President +of the Council, and we anxiously hope yourself Viceroy to Ireland. In +any case lose no time in coming back to England. The struggle will be a +sharp one, as the outs are distracted, and we shall want you much. Ever +yours, my dear lord, + +"Henry ____." + +"This is much sooner than I looked for, Lorrequer, perhaps almost than I +wished; but as it has taken place, we must not decline the battle; now +what I wanted with you is this--if I go to Ireland I should like your +acceptance of the Private Secretary's Office. Come, come, no objections; +you know that you need not leave the army, you can become unattached, +I'll arrange all that; apropos, this concerns you, it is from the Horse +Guards, you need not read it now though, it is merely your gazette to the +company; your promotion, however, shall not stop there; however, the +important thing I want with you is this, I wish you to start for England +to-morrow; circumstances prevent my going from this for a few days. You +can see L____ and W____, &c., and explain all I have to say; I shall +write a few letters, and some hints for your own guidance; and as Kilkee +never would have head for these matters, I look to your friendship to do +it for me." + +Looking only to the post, as the proposal suited my already made resolve +to quit Munich, I acceded at once, and assured Lord Callonby that I +should be ready in an hour. + +"Quite right, Lorrequer, but still I shall not need this, you cannot +leave before eleven or twelve o'clock, in fact I have another service to +exact at your hands before we part with you; meanwhile, try and get some +sleep, you are not likely to know anything of a bed before you reach the +Clarendon." So saying, he hurried me from the room, and as he closed the +door, I heard him muttering his satisfaction, that already so far all had +been well arranged. + + + + +CHAPTER LV. + +CONCLUSION. + +Sleep came on me, without my feeling it, and amid all the distracting +cares and pressing thoughts that embarrassed me, I only awoke when the +roll of the caleche sounded beneath my window, and warned me that I must +be stirring and ready for the road. + +Since it is to be thus, thought I, it is much better that this +opportunity should occur of my getting away at once, and thus obviate all +the unpleasantness of my future meeting with Lady Jane; and the thousand +conjectures that my departure, so sudden and unannounced might give rise +to. So be it, and I have now only one hope more--that the terms we last +parted on, may prevent her appearing at the breakfast table; with these +words I entered the room, where the Callonbys were assembled, all save +Lady Jane. + +"This is too provoking; really, Mr. Lorrequer," said Lady Callonby, with +her sweetest smile, and most civil manner, "quite too bad to lose you +now, that you have just joined us." + +"Come, no tampering with our party," said Lord Callonby, "my friend here +must not be seduced by honied words and soft speeches, from the high road +that leads to honours and distinctions--now for your instructions." Here +his lordship entered into a very deep discussion as to the conditions +upon which his support might be expected, and relied upon, which Kilkee +from time to time interrupted by certain quizzing allusions to the low +price he put upon his services, and suggested that a mission for myself +should certainly enter into the compact. + +At length breakfast was over, and Lord Callonby said, "now make your +adieux, and let me see you for a moment in Sir Guy's room, we have a +little discussion there, in which your assistance is wanting." I +accordingly took my farewell of Lady Callonby, and approached to do so to +Lady Jane, but much to my surprise, she made me a very distant salute, +and said in her coldest tone, "I hope you may have a pleasant journey." +Before I had recovered my surprise at this movement, Kilkee came forward +and offered to accompany me a few miles of the road. I accepted readily +the kind offer, and once more bowing to the ladies, withdrew. And thus +it is, thought I, that I leave all my long dreamed of happiness, and such +is the end of many a long day's ardent expectation. When I entered my +uncle's room, my temper was certainly not in the mood most fit for +further trials, though it was doomed to meet them. + +"Harry, my boy, we are in great want of you here, and as time presses, we +must state our case very briefly. You are aware, Sir Guy tells me, that +your cousin Guy has been received among us as the suitor of my eldest +daughter. It has been an old compact between us to unite our families by +ties still stronger than our very ancient friendship, and this match has +been accordingly looked to, by us both with much anxiety. Now, although +on our parts I think no obstacle intervenes, yet I am sorry to say, there +appear difficulties in other quarters. In fact, certain stories have +reached Lady Jane's ears concerning your cousin, which have greatly +prejudiced her against him, and we have reason to think most unfairly; +for we have succeeded in tracing some of the offences in question, not to +Guy, but to a Mr. Morewood, who it seems has personated your cousin upon +more than one occasion, and not a little to his disadvantage. Now we +wish you to sift these matters to the bottom, by your going to Paris as +soon as you can venture to leave London--find out this man, and if +possible, make all straight; if money is wanting, he must of course have +it; but bear one thing in mind, that any possible step which may remove +this unhappy impression from my daughter's mind, will be of infinite +service, and never forgotten by us. Kilkee too has taken some dislike to +Guy. You have only, however, to talk to him on the matter, and he is +sure to pay attention to you." + +"And, Harry," said my uncle, "tell Guy, I am much displeased that he is +not here, I expected him to leave Paris with me, but some absurd wager at +the Jockey Club detained him." + +"Another thing, Harry, you may as well mention to your cousin, that Sir +Guy has complied with every suggestion that he formerly threw out--he +will understand the allusion." + +"Oh yes," said my uncle, "tell him roundly, he shall have Elton Hall; I +have fitted up Marsden for myself; so no difficulty lies in that +quarter." + +"You may add, if you like, that my present position with the government +enables me to offer him a speedy prospect of a Regiment, and that I think +he had better not leave the army." + +"And say that by next post Hamercloth's bond for the six thousand shall +be paid off, and let him send me a note of any other large sum he owes." + +"And above all things, no more delays. I must leave this for England +inevitably, and as the ladies will probably prefer wintering in Italy--" + +"Oh certainly," said my uncle, "the wedding must take place." + +"I scarcely can ask you to come to us on the occasion, though I need not +say how greatly we should all feel gratified if you could do so," said my +Lord. + +While this cross fire went on from both sides, I looked from one to the +other of the speakers. My first impression being, that having perceived +and disliked my attention to Lady Jane, they adopted this "mauvaise +plaisanterie" as a kind of smart lesson for my future guidance. My next +impression was that they were really in earnest, but about the very +stupidest pair of old gentlemen that ever wore hair powder. + +"And this is all," said I, drawing a long breath, and inwardly uttering a +short prayer for patience. + +"Why, I believe, I have mentioned everything," said Lord Callonby, +"except that if anything occurs to yourself that offers a prospect of +forwarding this affair, we leave you a carte blanche to adopt it." + +"Of course, then," said I, "I am to understand that as no other +difficulties lie in the way than those your Lordship has mentioned, the +feelings of the parties, their affections are mutual." + +"Oh, of course, your cousin, I suppose, has made himself agreeable; he +is a good looking fellow, and in fact, I am not aware, why they should +not like each other, eh Sir Guy?" + +"To be sure, and the Elton estates run half the shire with your +Gloucester property; never was there a more suitable match." + +"Then only one point remains, and that being complied with, you may +reckon upon my services; nay, more, I promise you success. Lady Jane's +own consent must be previously assured to me, without this, I most +positively decline moving a step in the matter; that once obtained, +freely and without constraint, I pledge myself to do all you require." + +"Quite fair, Harry, I perfectly approve of your scruples," so saying, his +Lordship rose and left the room. + +"Well, Harry, and yourself, what is to be done for you, has Callonby +offered you anything yet?" + +"Yes sir, his Lordship has most kindly offered me the under secretaryship +in Ireland, but I have resolved on declining it, though I shall not at +present say so, lest he should feel any delicacy in employing me upon the +present occasion." + +"Why, is the boy deranged--decline it--what have you got in the world, +that you should refuse such an appointment." + +The colour mounted to my cheeks, my temples burned, and what I should +have replied to this taunt, I know not, for passion had completely +mastered me. When Lord Callonby again entered the room, his usually calm +and pale face was agitated and flushed; and his manner tremulous and +hurried; for an instant he was silent, then turning towards my uncle, +he took his hand affectionately, and said, + +"My good old friend, I am deeply, deeply grieved; but we must abandon +this scheme. I have just seen my daughter, and from the few words which +we have had together, I find that her dislike to the match is invincible, +and in fact, she has obtained my promise never again to allude to it. If +I were willing to constrain the feelings of my child, you yourself would +not permit it. So here let us forget that we ever hoped for, ever +calculated on a plan in which both our hearts were so deeply interested." + +These words, few as they were, were spoken with deep feeling, and for the +first time, I looked upon the speaker with sincere regard. They were +both silent for some minutes; Sir Guy, who was himself much agitated, +spoke first. + +"So be it then, Callonby, and thus do I relinquish one--perhaps the only +cheering prospect my advanced age held out to me. I have long wished to +have your daughter for my niece, and since I have known her, the wish has +increased tenfold." + +"It was the chosen dream of all my anticipations," said Lord Callonby, +"and now Jane's affections only--but let it pass." + +"And is there then really no remedy, can nothing be struck out?" + +"Nothing." + +"I am not quite so sure, my Lord," said I tremulously. + +"No, no, Lorrequer, you are a ready witted fellow I know, but this passes +even your ingenuity, besides I have given her my word." + +"Even so." + +"Why, what do you mean, speak out man," said Sir Guy, "I'll give you ten +thousand pounds on the spot if you suggest a means of overcoming this +difficulty." + +"Perhaps you might not accede afterwards." + +"I pledge myself to it." + +"And I too," said Lord Callonby, "if no unfair stratagem be resorted to +towards my daughter. If she only give her free and willing consent, I +agree." + +"Then you must bid higher, uncle, ten thousand won't do, for the bargain +is well worth the money." + +"Name your price, boy, and keep your word." + +"Agreed then," holding my uncle to his promise, "I pledge myself that his +nephew shall be husband of Lady Jane Callonby, and now, my Lord, read +Harry vice Guy in the contract, and I am certain my uncle is too faithful +to his plighted word, and too true to his promise not to say it shall +be." + +The suddenness of this rash declaration absolutely stunned them both, and +then recovering at the same moment, their eyes met. + +"Fairly caught, Guy" said Lord Callonby, "a bold stroke if it only +succeeds." + +"And it shall, by G--," said my uncle, "Elton is yours, Harry, and with +seven thousand a year, and my nephew to boot, Callonby won't refuse you." + +There are moments in life in which conviction will follow a bold "coup de +main," that never would have ensued from the slow process of reasoning. +Luckily for me, this was one of those happy intervals. Lord Callonby +catching my uncle's enthusiasm, seized me by the hand and said, + +"With her consent, Lorrequer, you may count upon mine, and faith +if truth must be told, I always preferred you to the other." + +What my uncle added, I waited not to listen to; but with one bound sprung +from the room--dashed up stairs to Lady Callonby's drawing-room--looked +rapidly around to see if SHE were there, and then without paying the +slightest attention to the questions of Lady Callonby and her younger +daughter, was turning to leave the room, when my eye caught the flutter +of a Cachmere shawl in the garden beneath. In an instant the window was +torn open--I stood upon the sill, and though the fall was some twenty +feet, with one spring I took it, and before the ladies had recovered from +their first surprise at my unaccountable conduct, put the finishing +stroke to their amazement, by throwing my arms around Lady Jane, and +clasping her to my heart. + +I cannot remember by what process I explained the change that had taken +place in my fortunes. I had some very vague recollection of vows of +eternal love being mingled with praises of my worthy uncle, and the state +of my affections and finances were jumbled up together, but still +sufficiently intelligible to satisfy my beloved Jane--that this time at +least, I made love with something more than my own consent to support me. +Before we had walked half round the garden, she had promised to be mine; +and Harry Lorrequer, who rose that morning with nothing but despair and +darkness before him, was now the happiest of men. + +Dear reader, I have little more to confess. Lord Callonby's politics +were fortunately deemed of more moment than maidenly scruples, and the +treasury benches more respected than the trousseau. Our wedding was +therefore settled for the following week. Meanwhile, every day seemed +to teem with its own meed of good fortune. My good uncle, under whose +patronage, forty odd years before, Colonel Kamworth had obtained his +commission, undertook to effect the reconciliation between him and the +Wallers, who now only waited for our wedding, before they set out for +Hydrabad cottage, that snug receptacle of Curry and Madeira, Jack +confessing that he had rather listen to the siege of Java, by that fire- +side, than hear an account of Waterloo from the lips of the great Duke +himself. + +I wrote to Trevanion to invite him to Munich for the ceremony, and the +same post which informed me that he was en route to join us, brought also +a letter from my eccentric friend O'Leary, whose name having so often +occurred in these confessions, I am tempted to read aloud, the more so as +its contents are no secret, Kilkee having insisted upon reading it to a +committee of the whole family assembled after dinner. + + "Dear Lorrequer, + + "The trial is over, and I am acquitted, but still in St. Pelagie; + for as the government were determined to cut my head off if guilty, + so the mob resolved to murder me if innocent. A pleasant place + this: before the trial, I was the most popular man in Paris; my face + was in every print shop; plaster busts of me, with a great organ + behind the ear, in all the thoroughfares; my autograph selling at + six and twenty sous, and a lock of my hair at five francs. Now that + it is proved I did not murder the "minister at war," (who is in + excellent health and spirits) the popular feeling against me is very + violent; and I am looked upon as an imposter, who obtained his + notoriety under false pretences; and Vernet, who had begun my + picture for a Judas, has left off in disgust. Your friend Trevanion + is a trump; he procured a Tipperary gentleman to run away with Mrs. + Ram, and they were married at Frankfort, on Tuesday last. By the + by, what an escape you had of Emily: she was only quizzing you all + the time. She is engaged to be married to Tom O'Flaherty, who is + here now. Emily's imitation of you, with the hat a little on one + side, and a handkerchief flourishing away in one hand, is capital; + but when she kneels down and says, 'dearest Emily, &c.' you'd swear + it was yourself."--[Here the laughter of the auditory prevented + Kilkee proceeding, who, to my utter confusion, resumed after a + little.]--"Don't be losing your time making up to Lord Callonby's + daughter"--[here came another burst of laughter]--"they say here you + have not a chance, and moreover she's a downright flirt."--["It is + your turn now, Jane," said Kilkee, scarcely able to proceed.]-- + "Besides that, her father's a pompous old Tory, that won't give a + sixpence with her; and the old curmudgeon, your uncle, has as much + idea of providing for you, as he has of dying."--[This last sally + absolutely convulsed all parties.]--"To be sure Kilkee's a fool, but + he is no use to you."--["Begad I thought I was going to escape," + said the individual alluded to, "but your friend O'Leary cuts on + every side of him."] The letter, after some very grave reflections + upon the hopelessness of my pursuit, concluded with a kind pledge to + meet me soon, and become my travelling companion. Meanwhile, added + he, "I must cross over to London, and look after my new work, which + is to come out soon, under the title of 'the Loiterings of Arthur + O'Leary.'" + +This elegant epistle formed the subject of much laughter and conversation +amongst us long after it was concluded; and little triumph could be +claimed by any party, when nearly all were so roughly handled. So passed +the last evening I spent in Munich--the next morning I was married. + +THE END. + + + + +EBOOK EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Accept of benefits with a tone of dissatisfaction +Mistaking your abstraction for attention +My English proves me Irish +My French always shows me to be English +Nine-inside leathern "conveniency," bumping ten miles an hour +Pleased are we ever to paint the past according to our own fancy +Sure if he did, doesn’t he take it out o' me in the corns? +They were so perfectly contented with their self-deception +Unwashed hands, and a heavy gold ring upon his thumb + + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONFESSIONS OF LORREQUER, V6 *** + +******** This file should be named chl6w10.txt or chl6w10.zip ********* + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, chl6w11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, chl6w10a.txt + +This eBook was produced by Mary Munarin +and David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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