Roland Cashel, Volume II (of II)

“I was thinking, sir, if I saw Miss Mary, and could get her to spake a word to the master, – they say she can do what she plazes with him.”

“Indeed! – who says so?”

“The servants’ hall says it; and so does Mr. Corrigan’s ould butler. He towld me the other day that he hoped he ‘d be claning the plate up at the big house before he died.”

“How so?” said Linton, affecting not to catch the intention of the remark.

“Just that he was to be butler at the hall when the master was married to Miss Mary.”

“And so, I suppose, this is very likely to happen?”

“Sure yer honer knows betther than ignorant craytures like us; but faix, if walking about in the moonlight there, among the flowers, and talking together like whisperin’, is any sign, I would n’t wonder if it came about.”

“Indeed! and they have got that far?”

“Ay, faith!” said Tom, with a significance of look only an Irishman or an Italian can call up.

“Well, I had no suspicion of this,” said Linton, with a frankness meant to invite further confidence.

“An’ why would yer honer? Sure was n’t it always on the evenings, when the company was all together in the great house, that Mr. Cashel used to steal down here and tie his horse to the wicket, and then gallop back again at full speed, so that the servants towld me he was never missed out of the room!”

“And does she like him, – do they say she likes him?”

“Not like him wid a place such as this!” said Tom, waving his hand towards the wide-spreading fields and woods of the demesne. “Bathershin! sure the Queen of England might be proud of it!”

“Very true,” said Linton, affecting to be struck by the shrewdness of the speaker.

“See, now,” said Tom, who began to feel a certain importance from being listened to, “I know faymales well, and so I ought! but take the nicest, quietest, and most innocent one among them, and by my conscience ye ‘ll see, ‘t is money and money’s worth she cares for more nor the best man that ever stepped! Tell her ‘tis silk she’ll be wearin’, and goold in her ears, and ye may be as ould and ogly as Tim Hogan at the cross roods!”

“You have n’t a good opinion of the fair sex, Thomas,” said Linton, carelessly, for he was far less interested in his speculations than his facts. “Well, as to your own case, – leave that in my hands. I may not have all the influence of Miss Leicester, but I suspect that I can do what you want on this occasion.” And without waiting for the profuse expressions of his gratitude, Linton passed on and entered the garden, through which a little path led directly to the door of the cottage.

“At breakfast, I suppose?” said Linton to the servant who received him.

“The master is, sir; but Miss Mary isn’t well this morning.”

“Nothing of consequence, I hope?”

“Only a headache from fatigue, sir.” So saying, he ushered Linton, whose visits were admitted on the most intimate footing, into the room where Mr. Corrigan sat by himself at the breakfast-table.

“Alone, sir!” said Linton as he closed the door behind him, and conveying in his look an air of surprise and alarm.

“Yes, Mr. Linton, almost the only time I remember to have been so for many a year. My poor child has had a night of some anxiety, which, although bearing well at the time, has exacted its penalty at last in a slight attack of fever. It will, I trust, pass over in a few hours; and you, – where have you been; they said you had been absent for a day or two?”

“A very short ramble, sir, – one of business rather than pleasure. I learned suddenly – by a newspaper paragraph, too – that a distant relative of my mother’s had died in the East, leaving a considerable amount of property to myself; and so, setting out, I arrived at Limerick, intending to sail for Liverpool, when, who should I meet, almost the first person I saw, but my agent, just come in haste from London, to confer with me on the subject. The meeting was so far agreeable, that it saved me a journey I had no fancy for, and also put me in possession of the desired information regarding the property. My agent, speaking of course from imperfect knowledge, calls it a large – what a man like myself would style – a very large fortune.”

“I give you joy, with all my heart,” cried Corrigan, grasping his hand in both his, and shaking it cordially. “When wealth descends to men who have shown their ability to maintain an honorable station without it, the chances are greatly in favor of its being nobly and generously employed.”

“How I hope that I may not disgrace your theory,” said Linton, “for I am not ashamed to assert that I have fulfilled the first condition of the category. With little else but good birth and a fair education, I had to start in the race against others with every aid of fortune; and if I have not reached a more elevated position, I can say that the obstacle lay rather in my own scruples than my incapacity. I declined Parliamentary life because I would not be a nominee; I had a glancing suspicion that my time would come, too, when, without other check upon my motives than the voice of conscience, I should stand in the British Senate a free and independent member. If I have waited patiently for this hour, I hope I have not abused the leisure interval, and that I may bring to the public service something besides the zeal of one who feels the importance of his trust.”

“There is no failure with intentions pure and honorable as these,” said Corrigan, warmly. “It does not need your talents, Mr. Linton, to insure success in such a path; one half of your ability, so nobly backed, would reach the goal. And now tell me, if I be not indiscreet in asking some of your plans, what place do you mean to stand for?”

“Our good borough of Derraheeny,” said Linton, half smiling. “I am in a measure committed to continue my canvass there, and, indeed, have already entered into securities to keep my pledge. I see these words sound a little mysteriously, but I intend to explain them; only I must ask one favor of you. I hope, before I leave the room, to show that I have, if not a claim upon your generosity, at least a plea to warrant my request. My entreaty is this, that you will never divulge to any one what I shall now tell you.”

“Pray, my dear friend, consider for a moment what you are asking. Why make me the depositary of a secret? An old man, whose very years are like ‘fissures in the strong keep,’ where mysteries should be imprisoned.”

“Could I participate in your reasonings, my dear sir, there is yet enough in the present instance to make it an exception. This is a matter you ought to know for your sake, and to keep secret for mine.”

“Then you have my promise,” said Corrigan, frankly.

“I ‘ll be brief with my explanation,” said Linton. “When there was a design, some time back, of my accepting the representation of the borough, Cashel offered me his property of Tubber-beg, on terms which very nearly approached a gift. This – though at the time our relations were those of the closest friendship – I refused; but, as I had made some progress in my canvass of the borough, there was a difficulty in abandoning the position; and so the matter hung, each hoping that the other would suggest some arrangement that might satisfy both. This fortunate device, however, was not to be discovered, and as, for some time back, our intercourse had become gradually less intimate, the chance of such a solution diminished daily.

“In this way the affair stood, when, a couple of mornings since, I felt it my duty, as one who really felt an interest in him, to remonstrate with Roland on a circumstance which, without any affectation of prudery, would have gravely compromised himself, and, worse still, another person. It was a case, – I know not exactly how to touch upon a matter of such delicacy; enough if I say it was one where a persistence in his conduct must have ended in disgrace to him, ruin and misery to another. Poor thing! she is, indeed, to be pitied; and if there be extenuation for such cases, hers is one to claim it. I knew her as Laura Gardiner, – the handsomest creature I ever beheld. Well, well, it is a theme I must not linger on. Cashel, so far from receiving my counsel as I hoped, and indeed expected, resented it with anger and rudeness, and even questioned the degree of intimacy on which I presumed to give my unasked advice.

“I am fortunately a man of cool temper, and so I bore this ungenerous return better than most others might; and seeing that it would possibly be the last occasion I should ever have of giving even unwilling counsel, I spoke to him freely and openly. I told him that his mode of living, while derogatory to the hopes conceived of him, was one that must end at last in ruin; that no fortune could stand his losses at play, and the wasteful extravagance of his caprices. I pressed the matter as strongly as I was able, and represented that his habits bore no reference whatever to his income.

“‘It is quite true,’ said he, with a sneering tone; ‘I cannot readily forget I am chargeable with all these wasteful ways you speak of, nor do I feel that I make any the slightest defence of myself, in regard to habits where my generosity has been as lavish as it has been ill-bestowed.’

“‘I wish I knew if I understand you aright,’ said I.

“‘Your comprehension is of the quickest where there is question of a favor to be received.’

“I did not trust myself with any answer to this speech, which I well knew was a trait of his old buccaneer life. I withdrew, and hastening to his law-agent, Kennyfeck, I at once arranged for the purchase of this small property. The moment for me was propitious; they were in want of ready money, and the treaty was completed the same day. There is the title.”

As he spoke, he threw down the parchment deed upon the table, and lay back in his chair, watching with intense delight the expression of sadness and disappointment on Corrigan’s features.

“Good heavens!” exclaimed the old man at last, “how deceived I have been in him!”

“I confess that is what wounds me most in the whole transaction,” said Linton, with a mock emotion in his manner. “One is well accustomed through life to meet sordid motives in mere men of the world, and who deem their low-born subtilty cleverness; but to find a young fellow, beginning life with an ample fortune and a fair position, surrounded by all the blandishments that wealth charms up – ”

“Hold!” cried Corrigan, laying his hand on Linton’s arm, “I cannot bear this. It is not at my age, sir, that disappointments like these can be borne easily. I have too short a time before me here to hope to recover from such shocks.”

“I would not willingly give you pain, my dear sir; nor indeed, is this the topic on which I am most anxious to address you. Another and a very different interest led me hither this morning; and, although I have thought long and maturely on the subject, I am as far as ever from knowing how to approach it. My own unworthiness to what I aspire recoils upon me at every instant, and nothing but the indulgent kindness with which you have always regarded me could give me courage. Forgive me this prolixity; I am like one who fears to plunge, lest he should never rise again.”

“If my estimate of you be correct,” said the old man, laying his hand upon Linton’s, “the goal must needs be high to which you dare not aspire.”

“It is indeed so!” cried Linton, as if carried away by an irresistible emotion. “To me it means station, hope, worldly success, happiness, – ay, life itself. I cannot longer tamper with your feelings, nor my own. The ambition of which I speak, is to be your son; not alone in the affectionate love which already I bear you, but by the closest and dearest ties, to be bound to you in the same chain by which she is, who owns all my heart and all my destiny.”

He stopped as if overcome; and Corrigan, compassionating the agitation he seemed to suffer, said, —

“Be calm, my dear friend; this takes me by surprise. I was not in any way prepared for such an announcement; nor have I courage to look at its consequences; poor, old, companionless as I should be – ”

“Nay, such cruelty was not in my thoughts. It was with far other intentions I became possessed of the property; it was in the glorious hope that it would be our home, – yours and mine together; not to render your hearth desolate, but to give it another guest, whose duty would be his title to be there.”

“Let me think, – let me reflect on this, – let me separate my own selfish thoughts from the higher ones that should guide me. You have not spoken to my daughter?”

“No, sir; I deemed the more honorable course to have your sanction; or, if not that, to bury my sorrows in silence forever.”

“There is so much to consider, and I am so weak and infirm, so inadequate to decide. Your proposal is a proud one for any girl, – I know it; and we are proud, although poor. Ay, Mr. Linton, poor to very necessity! If her affections were engaged by you, if I saw that your high qualities had made the impression upon her that they have on me, I own this offer would delight me; but can you say this is the case?”