The Martins Of Cro' Martin Volume I Part 33

"I will not, sir," was the abrupt reply.

"I am sure no friend of mine could have--"

"It is no use, Mr. Ma.s.singbred; all your address will avail you nothing.

You shall not cross-examine _me!_"

"You must, however, see, sir," said Ma.s.singbred, "that unknown and unfriended as I am here, bail is out of the question."

"The Bench will hear anything you desire to say on that subject," said Nelligan, coldly. "Good-morning to you."

And with these words he left the room, and descended into the street.

The pa.s.sionate warmth which Ma.s.singbred had so successfully controlled in the presence of his visitor burst forth the first moment he found himself alone. He inveighed against the country, the people, their habits, and all belonging to them; cursed his own fate at being ever thrown into such companions.h.i.+p; and wound up by resolving to submit to any terms by which he might quit Galway forever, and forget, for the rest of his days, that he had ever entered it. While he was yet fuming in this fas.h.i.+on, the waiter entered and presented him with a very dirty-looking note, fastened by two wafers, and inscribed "Most private." Ma.s.singbred opened it and read,--

"My dear Mr. M.,--We 're found out--I believe by Hosey Lynch, where I dropped a bullet-mould this morning when he was shaving me. At all events, we 're blown, and as I am under 250 recognizances to keep the peace for three years, I 'm off to the mountains till this pa.s.ses over. I 'm sure, from what I saw of the Counsellor, that he 'll keep himself open to a proposal elsewhere. Meanwhile, there's nothing for it but to give your bail and satisfy the blackguards--bad luck to them--that spoiled the sport! You can go back to the house when all's over, and I 'll return as soon as it is safe for

"Your sincere friend,

"T. M."

Scarcely had he finished reading this epistle, when Major Froode presented himself in his chamber, the door of which the waiter was yet holding ajar. Having introduced himself, he briefly informed Ma.s.singbred of his position as Mr. Repton's friend, and as briefly stated that the Counsellor had been obliged to pledge himself against any hostile intentions,--a step which, he foresaw, would also be required of him.

"For this reason I have come," continued he, "to say that any a.s.sistance I can be of to you is frankly at your service. I have learned that you are a stranger here, and not likely to have many acquaintances."

"If they would be satisfied with my word," began Jack.

"Of course they will, and shall," interrupted Froode; "and now, what is there in the way of _amende_ my friend can make, for what he is prepared to confess was a mere accident?"

"The acknowledgment is ample. I ask for nothing beyond it," said Ma.s.singbred. "I am not quite certain but that my own conduct might require a little explanation; but as your friend's vigor put matters beyond negotiation at the time, we 'll not go back upon bygones."

"And now, sir," burst in Repton, who had waited outside the door,--"and now, sir, I beg you to accept the humblest apology I can tender for what has happened. I 'm not as safe on my saddle as I used to be forty years ago; and when the nag reared and threatened to fall back upon me, I am ashamed to own that I neither saw nor cared what I struck at. I 'd have said all this to you, Mr. Ma.s.singbred, after your fire, had we been permitted to go the ground; and although there is some additional humiliation in saying it here, I richly deserve all the pain it gives me, for my want of temper. Will you give me your hand?"

"With sincere pleasure," said Jack, shaking him warmly and cordially with both his own.

"There 's but one thing more to be done," said Repton. "These borough magistrates, vulgar dogs as they are, will want you to give a bail bond.

Take no notice of them, but just drive out with me to Cro' Martin, and we 'll settle it all there."

"I am not acquainted with Mr. Martin."

"But you shall be. He 'll be charmed to know you, and the place is worth seeing. Come, you mustn't leave the West with only its barbarism in your memory. You must carry away some other recollections."

The new turn affairs had just taken was by no means distasteful to Ma.s.singbred. It promised another scene in that drama of life he loved to fas.h.i.+on for himself, with new scenery, new actors, and new incidents.

"The Counsellor," too, struck his fancy. There was a raciness in the old man's manner, a genial cordiality, united with such palpable acuteness, that he promised himself much pleasure in his society; and so he accepted the proposal with all willingness, and pledged to hold himself ready for his friend within an hour.

Repton and the Major had but just left the room, when the former re-entered it hurriedly, and said, "By the way, I must leave you to your own guidance to find your road to Cro' Martin, for there's a young lady below stairs has a lien upon me. You shall be presented to her when you come out, and I promise you it will repay the journey."

"This must be the Mary Martin I 've been hearing of," thought Ma.s.singbred, when again alone; "and so the morning's work will probably turn out better than I had antic.i.p.ated."

CHAPTER XVII. A COUNTRY-HOUSE

When Ma.s.singbred arrived at Cro' Martin, he found Repton at the door awaiting him. "I find," said he, "there is little need of introducing you here. Your father was an old acquaintance of Martin's; they sat together for years in Parliament, and Lady Dorothea was related to your family. But here he comes." And Martin approached, with his hand extended in cordial welcome. No one ever knew better how to do the honors of his house, nor could throw more graceful courtesy into the first steps of acquaintances.h.i.+p. Ma.s.singbred, too, was well calculated to appreciate this gift. He had a most intense esteem for "manner,"

and enjoyed even the necessity it imposed upon himself of exertion to please. With sincere satisfaction was it that he accepted an invitation to pa.s.s some days there, and at once despatched a servant to Magennis's house for his trunks.

The adventure of the morning was alluded to but once, and then in a jocular strain, as an incident of no moment whatever; and Ma.s.singbred retired to his room to dress for dinner, wondering within himself if he should find the other members of the family as much to his liking as the worthy host had been.

A dinner-party was a rare event at Cro' Martin. The isolation in which they lived was rarely broken by a visitor; and when, by rare accident, some solitary stranger did present himself with a letter of introduction, his stay was merely of a few hours. Now, however, the company included, in addition to the family, Repton, Ma.s.singbred, and Nelligan, besides Miss Henderson, who was on that day to appear at dinner. The quondam college friends had not met; neither had Miss Martin ever seen her governess; so that there was no small degree of antic.i.p.ation as to how such elements would harmonize and agree.

When Ma.s.singbred entered the drawing-room, he found Miss Henderson there alone; and at once believing she could be no other than Miss Martin, he proceeded to introduce himself in the best manner he could. Her reception was perfect in ease and self-possession, and they soon found themselves engaged in a lively discussion as to the scenery, the people and their habits, of which they both appeared to have a very similar appreciation. Lady Dorothea next made her appearance; and, advancing towards Ma.s.singbred, welcomed him with what, for her, was the extreme of cordiality. "Your mother was a Caradoc, Mr. Ma.s.singbred, and the Caradocs are all of our family; so let me claim relations.h.i.+p at once."

With all the pretensions of a very fine lady, Lady Dorothea knew how to unite very agreeable qualities, not the less successful in her captivations, that she never exercised them without a real desire to please; so that Ma.s.singbred soon saw how in the wilds of dreary Connemara there existed a little oasis of polish and civilization that would have done honor to the most splendid society of London or Paris.

Nor was Ma.s.singbred himself less pleasing to her. It was so long, so many, many years since she had met with one fresh from that great world which alone she valued!

Correspondence had kept her to a certain extent informed upon the changes and vicissitudes of society,--the births, deaths, marriages, separations, quarrels, and other disasters of those dear friends for whose griefs absence and time offer so many consolations! But then, the actual appearance, the _coup d'oil_ of that world could only be imparted by an observer, imbued with all the spirit that gives observation its peculiar piquancy. This she found in him; and so agreeably exercised was it, that she actually heard dinner announced without attending, and only as she arose from her seat was reminded to present him to Miss Martin, by the brief phrase, "My niece, Mr. Ma.s.singbred;" while she took his arm, with a glance at Mr. Repton, that plainly said, "You are deposed."

The pa.s.sage to the dinner-room lay through three s.p.a.cious and splendid rooms, which now were brilliantly lighted up, and lined with servants in rich liveries,--a degree of state Ma.s.singbred was not a little pleased at; partly suspecting that it was intended to do himself honor. As they moved slowly through the last of these, the door suddenly opened, and young Nelligan entered. He had returned late from a long ride, and heard nothing whatever of Ma.s.sing-bred's arrival. With an exclamation of "Jack--Ma.s.singbred!" he bounded forward. But the other showed no recognition of him; and directing Lady Dorothea's attention to the richness of a picture-frame, pa.s.sed calmly on into the dinner-room.

"You must bring up the rear alone, Nelligan," said Martin, who had given his arm to Miss Henderson; and Joe followed, almost overwhelmed with mingled shame and amazement.

For an instant the possibility of mistake a.s.suaged his sense of mortification; but no sooner did he find himself at table, and directly opposite to Ma.s.singbred, than he perceived there was no ground whatever for this consolation. It was, indeed, Ma.s.singbred, just as he had seen him the first day in the Commons Hall at dinner, and when his cold, supercilious manner had struck him so disagreeably.

What a terrible vengeance for all the superiority Nelligan had displayed over him in the Examination Hall was Ma.s.singbred's present success; for success it was. With all that consummate readiness the habit of society imparts, Jack could talk well on a great variety of topics, and possessed, besides, that especial tact to make others so far partic.i.p.ators in his observations that they felt a partners.h.i.+p in the agreeability. Lady Dorothea was perfectly charmed with him; it was the triumph, as it were, of one of her own set. His anecdotes--not very pointed or curious in themselves--had the marked characteristic of always referring to distinguished individuals; so that what was deficient in wit was more than compensated by the rank of the actors.

Martin enjoyed his conversation with all his own complacent ease, and felt delighted with one who could play all the game without an adversary. Mary was pleased and astonished together--the pleasure being even less than the amazement--at all he seemed to know of life and the world, and how intimately one so young seemed to have mixed in society.

As for Repton, he relished the other's powers with the true zest of a pleasant talker; they were of different styles, and no disagreeable rivalry marred the appreciation.

Amidst all these silent or spoken testimonies sat poor Nelligan, overwhelmed with shame. Ma.s.singbred had refused to recognize him; and it was left to his own gloomy thoughts to search out the reason. At first Joe avoided meeting the other's look; he dreaded he knew not what of impertinence or insult, to which the time and place could offer no reparation; but gradually he grew to perceive that Ma.s.singbred's cold eye met his own without a spark of meaning; nor was there in voice, manner, or bearing, a single evidence of constraint or awkwardness to be detected.

Miss Henderson alone seemed to listen to him with easy indifference; and more than once, when Jack put forth his most showy pretensions, he was secretly mortified to see how little impression he had made on the dark beauty with the haughty smile. This was exactly the kind of defiance that Ma.s.singbred never declined, and he determined within himself to attempt the conquest. As the party returned to the drawing-room, he asked Lady Dorothea to present him more formally to the young lady whose acquaintance he had dared to obtrude upon before dinner; but she coldly said,--

"Oh, it's no matter; she's only the governess." An explanation she deemed quite sufficient to subdue any rising feeling of interest regarding her.

"And the gentleman who sat next her at dinner?" asked he.

"A neighbor,--that is, the son of one of our borough people. I have not introduced him to you; for, of course, you are not likely to meet again.

As you were remarking, awhile ago, society in England is gradually undergoing that change which in France was accomplished in a year or two."

"With the aid of the guillotine and the 'lanterne,'" said Jack, smiling.

"Just so; they used sharp remedies for a quick cure. But I own to you that I have not yet reconciled myself, nor do I see how I shall ever reconcile myself, to intimacy with a cla.s.s not only whose habits and instincts, but whose very natures are adverse to our own. That young man now, for instance, they speak of him as quite a college wonder. I'm ashamed to say I don't know wherein his great successes lie; but they tell me that he has distanced every compet.i.tor of his day, and stands alone in his preeminence, and yet we saw him to-day not venturing on a remark, nor even hazarding an opinion on the topics we talked of, and silent where he ought to have been heard with advantage."

"Is he bashful?" said Jack, with a lazy drawl.

"I don't think it's that; at least, not altogether."

"Supercilious, perhaps?"