The Knight Of Gwynne Volume I Part 27

"Shall we vote him present, then?" said Lord Castle-reagh, who saw the look of dismay the further prospect of waiting threw over the party.

"By all means," said Lord Beerhaven; "Heffernan never eats soup."

"I don't think he cares much for fish, either," said Hamilton.

"I think our friend Con is fond of walnuts," said the Knight, dryly.

"Them 's the unwholesomest things he could eat," muttered old Hickman, who, although seated in a corner of the room, and partly masked by his son and grandson, could not be altogether secluded from earshot.

"Are they indeed?" said the bishop, turning sharply round; for the theme of health was one that engaged all his sympathies; and although his short ap.r.o.n covered a goodly rotundity of form, eating exacted to the full as many pains as it afforded pleasures to the Churchman.

"Yes, my Lord," said Hickman, highly gratified to obtain such exalted notice; "there's an essential oil in them that destroys the mucous membrane--"

"Destroys the mucous membrane!" said the bishop, interrupting him.

"Mine is pretty much in that way already," said Lord Beerhaven, querulously; "five-and-twenty minutes past six."

"No, no, my dear Darcy," said Lord Drogheda, who, having drawn the Knight aside, was speaking in an earnest but low tone, "I never was easier in my life, on the score of money; don't let the thing give you any trouble; consult Gleeson about it, he's a clever fellow, and take your own time for the payment."

"Gleeson is a clever fellow, my Lord, but there are straits that prove too much even for his ingenuity."

"Ah! I know what you mean," said Lord Drogheda, secretly, "you 've heard of that Spanish-American affair,--yes, he made a bad hit there; some say he'll lose fifty thousand by it."

Dinner was at this moment announced, and the Knight was unable to learn further on a subject the little he had heard of which gave him great sorrow. Unfortunately, too, his position at table was opposite, not next, to Lord Drogheda, and he was thus compelled to wait for another opportunity of interrogating him.

Lord Castlereagh has left behind him one reputation which no political or party animosity has ever availed to detract from, that of being the most perfect host that ever dispensed the honors of a table. Whatever seeming reserve or coldness he maintained at other times, here he was courteous to cordiality; his manner, the happy union of thorough good-breeding and friendly ease. Gifted with a most retentive memory, and well versed on almost every topic that could arise, he possessed that most difficult art, the power of developing the resources and information of others, without ever making any parade of his own acquirements; or, what is still harder, without betraying the effort which, in hands less adroit, becomes the most vulgar of all tricks, called "drawing out."

With all these advantages, and well suited as he was to meet every emergency of a social meeting, he felt on the present occasion far less at ease than was his wont. The party was one of Heffernan's contriving,--the elements were such as he himself would never have dreamed of collecting together,--and he relied upon his "ancient" to conduct the plan he had so skilfully laid down. It was, as he muttered to himself, "Heffernan's Bill," and he was not coming forward to explain its provisions or state its object.

Happily for the success of such meetings in general, the adjuncts contribute almost equally with the intellectual resources of the party; and here Heffernan, although absent, had left a trace of his skill. The dinner was admirable. Lord Castlereagh knew nothing of such matters; the most simple, nay, the most ill-dressed, meats would have met equal approval from him with the greatest triumphs of the art; and as to wine, he mixed up his madeira, his claret, and his burgundy together in a fas.h.i.+on which sadly deteriorated him in the estimation of many of his more cultivated acquaintances.

All the detail of the dinner was perfect, and Lord Beer-haven, his fears on that score allayed, emerged from the cloud of his own dreary antic.i.p.ations, and became one of the pleasantest of the party. And thus the influence of good cheer and easy converse extended its happy sway until even Mr. Hickman O'Reilly began to suffer less anxiety respecting his father's presence, and felt relieved at the preoccupation the good things of the table exacted from the old doctor.

The party was of that magnitude which, while enabling the guests to form into the twos and threes of conversational intimacy, yet affords, from time to time, the opportunity of generalizing the subject discussed, and drawing, as it were, into a common centre the social abilities of each.

And there Lord Castlereagh shone conspicuously, for at the same time that he called forth all the anecdotic stores of Lord Beerhaven, and the witty repartee for which Hamilton was noted, he shrouded the obtrusive old Hickman, or gave a character of quaint originality to remarks which, with less flattering introduction, had been deemed low-lived and vulgar.

The wine went freely round, and claret, whose flavor might have found acceptance with the most critical, began to work its influence upon the party, producing that pleasant amalgamation in which individual peculiarities are felt to be the attractive, and not the repelling, properties of social intercourse.

"What splendid action that horse you drive has, Mr. Beecham O'Reilly,"

said Lord Loughdooner, who had paid the most marked attention to him during dinner. "That's the style of moving they 're so mad after in London,--high and fast at the same time."

"I gave three hundred and fifty for him," lisped out the youth, carelessly, "and think him cheap."

"Cheap at three hundred and fifty!" exclaimed old Hickman, who had heard the fact for the first time. "May I never stir from the spot, but you told me forty pounds."

"When you can pick up another at that price let me know, I beg you,"

said Lord Loughdooner, coming to the rescue, and with a smile that seemed to say, "How well you quizzed the old gentleman! I say, Hamilton, who bought your gray?"

"Ecclesmere bought him for his uncle."

"Why, he starts, or s.h.i.+es, or something of that sort, don't he?"

"No, my Lord, he 'comes down,' which is what the uncle does not; and as he stands between Ecclesmere and the Marquisate--"

"That's what I've always maintained," said the bishop to Lord Castlereagh. "The potato disposes to acidity. I know the poor people correct that by avoiding animal food,--a most invaluable fact."

"There are good grounds for your remark," said Lord Castlereagh to the Knight, while he smiled an easy a.s.sent to the bishop, without attending to him, "and the social relations of the country will demand the earliest care of the Government whenever measures of immediate importance permit this consideration. We have been unfortunate in not drawing closer to us men who, like yourself, are thoroughly acquainted with the condition of the people generally. It is not too late--"

"Too late for what?" interrupted Lord Drogheda. "Not too late for more claret, I trust; and the decanter has been standing opposite to me these ten minutes."

"A thousand pardons!--O'Reilly, will you touch that bell? Thanks."

The tone of easy familiarity with which he spoke covered Hickman with a flush of ecstatic pleasure.

"They ginger them up so, nowadays," said Lord Loughdooner to Beecham O'Reilly.

"Ginger!" chimed in Hickman,--"the devil a finer thing for the stomach.

I ask your pardon, my Lord, for saying his name, but I 'll give you a receipt for the windy bile worth a guinea-note."

"Take a pinch of snuff, Dr. Hickman," said Lord Castle-reagh, who saw the mortification of the two generations at the old man's vulgarity.

"Thank you, my Lord. 'Tis blackguard I like best: them brown snuffs ruins the nose entirely.--I was saying about the mixture," said he, addressing the bishop. "Take a pint of infusion of gentian, and put a pinch of coriander seeds, and the peel of a Chaney orange--"

"I recommend a b.u.mper of that claret, my Lord," said Lord Castlereagh, determined to cut short the prescription, which now was being listened to by the whole board; "and when I add the health of the primate, I 'm sure you 'll not refuse me." The toast was drunk with all suitable honors, and the Secretary resumed in a whisper: "He wants our best wishes on that score, poor fellow, if they could serve him. He's not long to be with us, I fear."

"Indeed, my Lord!" said the bishop, eagerly.

"Alas! too true," sighed Lord Castlereagh; "he 'll be a severe loss, too. I wanted to have some minutes' talk with you on the matter. These are times of no common emergency, and the men we promote are of great consequence at this moment. Say to-morrow, about one."

"I 'll be punctual," said the bishop, taking out his tablets to make a note of what his memory would retain to the end of his life.

Lord Castlereagh caught the Knight's eye at the instant, and they both smiled, without being able to control their emotion.

"And so," said Lord Castlereagh, hastening to conceal his laugh, "my young relation continues to enjoy the hospitalities of your house.

I don't doubt in the least that he reckons that wound the luckiest incident of his life."

"My friend Darcy paid even more dearly for it," said Lord Drogheda, overhearing the remark; "but for Heffernan's tidings, I should certainly have lost my wager."

"I a.s.sure you, Knight," broke in Hickman O'Reilly, "it was through no fault of mine that the altercation ended so seriously. I visited Captain Forester in his room, and thought I obtained his pledge to take no further notice of the affair."

"And I, too, told him the style of fellow MacDonough was," said Beecham, affectedly.

"I have heard honorable mention of both facts, gentlemen," said Darcy, dryly; "that nothing could have less contributed to a breach of the peace than Mr. Beecham O'Reilly's conduct, my friend Daly is willing to vouch for."

"I wish his own had been equally prudent and pacific," said Hickman O'Reilly, reddening at the taunt conveyed in the Knight's speech.

"Daly is unquestionably the best friend on the ground--"