CHAPTER XXIII. MAURICE SCANLAN ADVISES WITH "HIS COUNSEL"
Jack Massingbred sat in expectation of Mr. Merl's arrival till nigh teno'clock; and if not manifesting any great degree of impatience at thedelay, still showing unmistakable signs of uneasiness, as though theevent were not destitute of some cause for anxiety. At last a notearrived to say that a sudden and imperative necessity to start at oncefor England would prevent Mr. Merl from keeping his appointment. "Ishall be in town by Tuesday," continued the writer, "and if CaptainMartin has any communication to make to me respecting his affairs, letit be addressed to Messrs. Twining and Scape's, solicitors, Furnival'sInn. I hope that with regard to your own matter, you will make suitableprovision for the acceptance due on the ninth of next month. Any furtherrenewal would prove a great inconvenience to yours
"Very sincerely and to command,
"Herman Merl."
"Negotiations have ended ere they were opened, and war is proclaimed atonce," said Massingbred, as he read over this brief epistle. "You maycome forth, Master Scanlan," added he, opening the door of his bedroom,and admitting that gentleman. "Our Hebrew is an overmatch for us. Hedeclines to appear."
"Why so? How is that?" asked Scanlan.
"There 's his note," said the other; "read and digest it."
"This smacks of suspicion," said Scanlan. "He evidently suspects that wehave concerted some scheme to entangle him, and he is resolved not to becaught."
"Precisely; he 'll do nothing without advice. Well, well, if he but knewhow unprepared we are, how utterly deficient not only in resources,but actually in the commonest information of our subject, he might haveventured here in all safety."
"Has Captain Martin not put you in possession of the whole case, then?"
"Why, my good Scanlan, the Captain knows nothing, actually nothing, ofhis difficulties. He has, it is true, a perfect conviction that he isout of his depth; but whether he be in five fathom water or fifty, hedoesn't know; and, what 's stranger, he does n't care!"
"After all, if it be over his head, I suppose it's pretty much the samething," said Scanlan, with a bitter laugh.
"I beg to offer my dissent to that doctrine," said Mas-singbred, gently."Where the water is only just out of a man's depth, the shore is usuallynot very distant. Now, if we were quite certain such were the case here,we might hope to save him. If, on the contrary, he has gone down outof all sight of land--" He stopped, gazed steadily at Scanlan for a fewseconds, and then in a lower tone, not devoid of a touch of anxiety,said, "Eh, do you really know this to be so?"
"I'll tell you all I know, Mr. Massingbred," said he, as having turnedthe key in the door, he took his seat at the table. "And I 'll tell you,besides, how I came by the knowledge, and I 'll leave it to your ownjudgment to say what his chance is worth. When Merl was stopping atKilkieran, he left there a little pocket-book, with memorandums of allhis secret transactions. Mighty nice doings they were,--and profitable,too,--as you 'll perceive when you look over it."
"You have it, then," cried Jack, eagerly.
"Here it is," said he, producing the precious volume, and laying hishand firmly on it. "Here it is now. I got it under a pledge to handit to himself, which I need n't tell you I never had the slightestintention of performing. It's not every day in the week one has the goodluck to get a peep into the enemy's brief, and this is exactly what you'll find here."
Massingbred stretched out his hand to take the book, but Scanlan quietlyreplaced it in his pocket, and, with a dry and very peculiar smile,said,--"Have a little patience, sir. We must go regularly to work here.You shall see this book--you shall examine it--and even retain it--butit must be on conditions." "Oh, you may confide in me, Scanlan. Evenif Mr. Merl were my friend,--which I assure you he is not,--I could notventure to betray _you_."
"That's not exactly what I 'm thinking of, Mr. Massingbred. I 'm certainyou 'd say nothing to Merl of what you saw here. My mind is easy enoughupon that score."
"Well, then, in what direction do your suspicions point?"
"They 're not suspicions, sir," was the dry response.
"Fears,--hesitations,--whatever you like to call them."
"Are we on honor here, Mr. Massingbred?" said Scanlan, after a pause.
"For myself, I say decidedly so," was the firm reply.
"That will do, sir. I ask only one pledge, and I 'm sure you 'll notrefuse it: if you should think, on reflection, that what I propose toyou this evening is neither practicable nor advisable,--that, in fact,you could neither concur in it nor aid it,--that you'll never, so longas you live, divulge it to any one,--man, woman, or child. Have I thatpromise?"
"I think I may safely say that."
"Ay, but do you say it?"
"I do; here is my promise."
"That will do. I don't ask a word more. Now, Mr. Massingbred," said he,replacing the book on the table, "I 'll tell you in the fewest words Ican how the case stands,--and brevity is essential, for we have not anhour to lose. Merl is gone to London about this business, and we'll have to follow him. _He 'd_ be very glad to be rid of the affairto-morrow, and he 'll not waste many days till he is so. Read that bitthere, sir," said he, pointing to a few closely written lines in thenote-book.
"Good heavens!" cried Jack, "this is downright impossible. This is avile falsehood, devised for some infernal scheme of roguery. Who 'dbelieve such a trumpery piece of imposition? Ah, Scanlan, you are notthe wily fellow I took you for. This same precious note-book wasdropped as a decoy, as I once knew a certain noble lord to have left hisbetting-book behind him. An artful device, that can only succeed once,however. And you really believed all this?"
"I did, and I do believe it," said Scanlan, firmly.
"If you really say so, we must put the matter to the test. CaptainMartin is here,--we 'll send for him, and ask him the question; but Imust say I don't think your position will be a pleasant one after thatreply is given."
"I must remind you of your promise already, it seems," said Scanlan."You are pledged to say nothing of this, if you cannot persuade yourselfto act along with me in it."
"Very true," said Massingbred, slowly; "but I never pledged myself tocredit an impossibility."
"I ask nothing of the kind. I only claim that you should adhere to whatyou have said already. If this statement be untrue, all my speculationsabout it fall to the ground at once. I am the dupe of a stale trick, andthere's an end of it."
"Ay, so far all well, Master Scanlan; but _I_ have no fancy to beassociated in the deception. Can't you see that?"
"I can, sir, and I do. But perhaps there may be a readier way ofsatisfying your doubts than calling for the Captain's evidence. There isa little page in this same volume devoted to one Mr. Massingbred. _You_surely may have some knowledge about _his_ affairs. Throw your eye overthat, sir, and say what you think of it."
Massingbred took the book in his hand and perused the place pointed outto him.
"By Jove! this _is_ very strange," said he, after a pause. "Here is mybetting-book on the St. Hubert all transcribed in full,--however the Jewboy got hold of it; and here 's mention of a blessed hundred-pound note,which, in less than five years, has grown to upwards of a thousand!"
"And all true? All fact?"
"Perfectly true,--most lamentable fact, Master Scanlan!How precise the scoundrel is in recording this loan as 'after supper atDubos'!' Ay, and here again is my unlucky wager about Martingale forthe 'Chester,' and the handicap with Armytage. Scanlan, I recant myrash impression. This is a real work of its great author! _Aut Merl--autDiabolus_."
"I could have sworn it," said Scanlan.
"To be sure you could, man, and have done, ere this time o' day, fiftyother things on fainter evidence. But let me tell you it requires strongtestimony to make one believe that there should live such a consummatefool in the world as would sell his whole reversionary right to asplendid state of some twelve thousand--"
"Fifteen at the lowest," broke in Scanlan.
"Worse again. Fifteen thousand a yea
r for twenty-two thousand sevenhundred and sixty-four pounds sterling."
"And he has done it."
"No, no; the thing is utterly incredible, man. Any one must see thatif he did want to make away with his inheritance, that he could haveobtained ten, twenty times that sum amongst the tribe of Merl."
"No doubt, if he were free to negotiate the transaction. But you 'llsee, on looking over these pages, in what a network of debt he wasinvolved,--how, as early as four years ago, at the Cape, he owed Merllarge sums, lost at play, and borrowed at heavy interest. So that,at length, this same twenty-two thousand, assumed as paid for thereversion, was in reality but the balance of an immense demand for moneylost, bills renewed, sums lent, debts discharged, and so on. But toavoid the legal difficulty of an 'immoral obligation,' the bale of thereversion is limited to this simple payment of twenty-two thousand--"
"Seven hundred and sixty-four pounds, sir. Don't let us diminish theprice by a fraction," said Massingbred. "Wonderful people ye are, to besure; and whether in your talent for savings, or dislike for sausages,alike admirable and praiseworthy! What a strange circle do eventsobserve, and how irrevocable is the law of the material, the stern ruleof the moral world, decay, decomposition, and regeneration followingon each other; and as great men's ashes beget grubs, so do illustrioushouses generate in their rottenness the race of Herman Merls."
Scanlan tried to smile at the rhapsodical conceit, but for some privatereason of his own he did not relish nor enjoy it.
"So, then, according to the record," said Massingbred, holding up thebook, "there is an end of the 'Martins of Cro' Martin'?"
"That's it, sir, in one word."
"It is too shocking--too horrible to believe," said Mas-singbred, withmore of sincerity than his manner usually displayed. "Eh, Scanlan,--isit not so?" added he, as waiting in vain for some show of concurrence.
"I believe, however," said the other, "it's the history of every greatfamily's downfall: small liabilities growing in secrecy to become heavycharges, severe pressure exerted by those out of whose pockets cameeventually the loans to meet the difficulties,--shrewdness and rapacityon one side, folly and wastefulness on the other."
"Ay, ay; but who ever heard of a whole estate disposed of for less thantwo years of its rental?"
"That's exactly the case, sir," said he, in the same calm tone asbefore; "and what makes matters worse, we have little time to look outfor expedients. Magennis will put us on our title at the new trialnext assizes. Merl will take fright at the insecurity of his claim, anddispose of it,--Heaven knows to whom,--perhaps to that very league nowformed to raise litigation against all the old tenures."
"Stop, stop, Scanlan! There is quite enough difficulty before us,without conjuring up new complications," cried Massingbred. "Have youanything to suggest? What ought to be done here?"
Scanlan was silent, and leaning his head on his hand seemed lost inthought.
"Come, Scanlan, you 've thought over all this ere now. Tell me, man,what do you advise?"
Scanlan was silent.
"Out with it, Scanlan. I know, I feel that you have a resource in storeagainst all these perils! Out with it, man."
"Have I any need to remind you of your promise, Mr. Massingbred?" askedthe other, stealthily.
"Not the slightest, Scanlan. I never forget a pledge."
"Very well, sir; that's enough," said Scanlan, speaking rapidly, andlike one anxious to overcome his confusion by an effort. "We have justone thing to do. We must buy out Merl. Of course as reasonably as wecan, but buy him out we must. What between his own short experiences ofIreland, and the exposure that any litigation is sure to bring with it,he's not likely to be hard to deal with, particularly when we are inpossession, as I suppose we may be, through _your_ intimacy with theCaptain, of all the secret history of these transactions. I take it forgranted that he 'll be as glad of a settlement that keeps all 'snug,'as ourselves. Less than the twenty-two thousand we can't expect he'lltake."
"And how are we to raise that sum without Mr. Martin's concurrence?"
"I wish that was the only difficulty," said Scanlan.
"What do you mean?"
"Just this: that in his present state no act of his would stand. Surehis mind is gone. There isn't a servant about him could n't swear to hisfancies and imaginations. No, sir, the whole thing must be done amongstourselves. I have eight thousand some hundred pounds of my own availableat a moment; old Nelligan would readily--for an assignment of theBrewery and the Market Square--advance us ten thousand more;--the money,in short, could be had--more if we wanted it--the question--"
"As to the dealing with Merl?" broke in Jack.
"No, sir, not that, though of course it is a most importantconsideration."
"Well, what then?"
"As to the dealing with Maurice Scanlan, sir," said he, making a greateffort. "There's the whole question in one word."
"I don't see that there can be any grave obstacle against that. You knowthe property."
"Every acre of it."
"You know how you'd like your advance to be secured to you--on what partof the estate. The conditions, I am certain, might be fairly left inyour own hands; I feel assured you'd not ask nor expect anything beyondwhat was equitable and just."
"Mr. Massingbred, we might talk this way a twelvemonth, and never be abit nearer our object than when we began," said Scanlan, resolutely. "Iwant two things, and I won't take less than the two together. One is tobe secured in the agency of the estate, under nobody's control whateverbut the Martins themselves. No Mister Repton to say 'Do this, signthat, seal the other.' I 'll have nobody over me but him that owns theproperty."
"Well, and the other condition?"
"The other--the other--" said Scanlan, growing very red--"the other, Isuppose, will be made the great difficulty--at least, on my Lady's side.She 'll be bristling up about her uncle the Marquis, and her half-cousinthe Duke, and she'll be throwing in my teeth who I am, and what I was,and all the rest of it, forgetting all the while where they 'll be ifthey reject my terms, and how much the most noble Viceroy will do forher when she has n't a roof over her head, and how many letters hisGrace will write when she has n't a place to address them to,--not tosay that the way they're treating the girl at this very moment showshow much they think of her as one of themselves, living with old CattyBroon, and cantering over the country without as much as a boy afterher. Sure, if they were n't Pride itself, it's glad they might bethat a--a--a respectable man, that is sure to be devoted to their owninterests forever, and one that knows the estate well, and, moreoverthan that, that doesn't want to be going over to London,--no, nor evento Dublin,--that doesn't care a brass farthing for the castle and thelodge in the park,--that, in short, Mr. Massingbred, asks nothing foranybody, but is willing to trust to his industry and what he knows oflife--There it is now,--there's my whole case," said he, stammering,and growing more and more embarrassed. "I haven't a word to add to it,except this: that if they'd rather be ruined entirely, left withoutstick or stone, roof or rafter in the world, than take my offer, they've nothing to blame but themselves and their own infernal pride!" Andwith this peroration, to deliver which cost him an effort like a smallapoplexy, Maurice Scanlan sat down at the table, and crossed his arms onhis breast like one prepared to await his verdict with a stout heart.
At last, and with the start of one who "suddenly bethought him of aprecaution that ought not to be neglected," he said,--"Of course, this isso far all between ourselves, for if I was to go up straight to my Lady,and say, 'I want to marry your niece,' I think I know what the answerwould be."
Although Massingbred had followed this rambling and incoherent effortat explanation with considerable attention, it was only by the veryconcluding words that he was quite certain of having comprehendedits meaning. If we acknowledge that he felt almost astounded by thepretension, it is but fair to add that nothing in his manner or airbetokened this feeling. Nay, he even by a slight gesture of the headinvited the other to continue; and when the
very abrupt conclusion didensue, he sat patiently, as it were revolving the question in his ownmind.
Had Scanlan been waiting for the few words which from a jury-boxdetermine a man's fate forever, he could not have suffered more acuteanxiety than he felt while contemplating the other's calm and unmovedcountenance. A bold, open rejection of his plan, a defiant repudiationof his presumption, would not probably have pained him more, if as muchas the impassive quietness of Jack's demeanor.
"If you think that this is a piece of impudence on my part, Mr.Massingbred,--if it's your opinion that in aspiring to be connected withthe Martins I'm forgetting my place and my station, just say so at once.Tell it to me frankly, and I'll know how to bear it," said he, at last,when all further endurance had become impossible.
"Nothing of the kind, my dear Scanlan," said Jack, smiling blandly."Whatever snobbery once used to prevail on these subjects, we have cometo live in a more generous age. The man of character, the man who unitesan untarnished reputation to very considerable abilities, with talent towin any station, and virtues to adorn it, such a man wants no blazonryto illustrate his name, and it is mainly by such accessions that ourEnglish aristocracy, refreshed and invigorated as it is, preserves itsgreat acknowledged superiority."
It would have required a more acute critic than Maurice Scanlan to havedetected the spirit in which this rhapsody was uttered. The apparentearnestness of the manner did not exactly consort with a certainpomposity of enunciation and an over-exactness in the tone of thedeclamation. On the whole Maurice did not like it. It smacked to hisears very like what he had often listened to in the Four Courts at theclose of a "junior's" address; and there was a Nisi Prius jingle in itthat sounded marvellously unlike conviction.
"If, then," resumed Massingbred, "they who by the accidents of fortune,or the meritorious services of their forefathers, represent rather intheir elevation the gratitude of their country than--"
"I 'm sorry to interrupt you, sir,--indeed, I'm ashamed of myself fordoing it,--for your remarks are beautiful, downright eloquent; but thetruth is, this is a case touches me too closely to make me care fora grand speech about it. I 'd rather have just a few words--to theevidence, as one might say,--or a simple answer to a plain question, Canthis thing be done?"
"There's where you beat us, Scanlan. There's where we cannot approachyou. You are practical. You reduce a matter at once to the simpledimension of efficacy first, then possibility, and with these twoconditions before you you reject the fifty extraneous considerations,outlying contingencies, that distract and embarrass such fellows as me.
"I have no pretension to abilities like yours, Mr. Massingbred," saidScanlan, with unassumed modesty.
"Ah, Scanlan, yours are the true gifts, take my word for it!--therecognized currency by which a man obtains what he seeks for; andthere never was an era in which such qualities bore a higher value. Ourstatesmen, our diplomatists, our essay-writers,--nay, our very poets,addressing themselves as they do to the correction of social wrongs andclass inequalities,--they are all 'practical'! That is the type of ourtime, and future historians will talk of this as the 'Age of Fact'!"
If one were to judge from Maurice Scanlan's face during the delivery ofthis peroration, it might be possibly inferred that he scarcely acceptedthe speech as an illustration in point, since anything less practical hehad never listened to.
"When I think," resumed he, "what a different effect I should haveproduced in the 'House' had I possessed this requisite! You, possibly,may be under the impression that I achieved a great success?"
"Well, I did hear as much," said Scanlan, half doggedly.
"Perhaps it was so. A first speech, you are aware, is always listened toindulgently; not so a second, especially if a man rises soon after hisfirst effort. They begin to suspect they have got a talkative fellow,eager and ready to speak on every question; they dread that, and even ifhe be clever, they 'll vote him a bore!"
"Faith! I don't wonder at it!" said Maurice, with a hearty sincerity inthe tone.
"Yet, after all, Scanlan, let us be just! How in Heaven's name, are mento become debaters, except by this same training? You require men notalone to be strong upon the mass of questions that come up in debate,but you expect them to be prompt with their explanations, alwaysprepared with their replies. Not ransacking history, or searchingthrough 'Hansard,' you want a man who, at the spur of the moment,can rise to defend, to explain, to simplify, or mayhap to assail, todenounce, to annihilate. Is n't that true?"
"I don't want any such thing, sir!" said Scanlan, with a sulkydetermination that there was no misunderstanding.
"You don't. Well, what _do_ you ask for?"
"I'll tell you, sir, and in very few words, too, what I do _not_ askfor! I don't ask to be humbugged, listening to this, that, and theother, that I have nothing to say to; to hear how you failed or why yousucceeded; what you did or what you could n't do. I put a plain case toyou, and I wanted as plain an answer. And as to your flattering me aboutbeing practical, or whatever you call it, it's a clean waste of time,neither less nor more!"
"The agency and the niece!" said Massingbred, with a calm solemnity thatthis speech had never disconcerted.
"Them 's the conditions!" said Scanlan, reddening over face andforehead.
"You 're a plucky fellow, Scanlan, and by Jove I like you for it!" saidMassingbred. And for once there was a hearty sincerity in the wayhe spoke. "If a man _is_ to have a fall, let it be at least over a'rasper,' not be thrown over a furrow in a ploughed field! You flyat high game, but I'm far from saying you'll not succeed." And with ajocular laugh he turned away and left him.