CHAPTER XXXIV. AN HONORED GUEST
It was a time of unusual stir and bustle at the Martin Arms; the housewas crammed with company. Messengers--some mounted, others on foot--cameand went at every moment; horses stood ready saddled and harnessed inthe stables, in waiting for any emergency; in fact, there was a degreeof movement and animation only second to that of a contested election.In the midst of this confusion a chaise with four smoking posters drewup at the door, and a sharp, clear voice called out,--"Morrissy, are myrooms ready?"
"No, indeed, Mr. Repton," stammered out the abashed landlord; "the houseis full; there's not a spot in it to put a child in."
"You got my letter, I suppose?" said Repton, angrily.
"I did, sir, but it was too late; the whole house was engaged byMr. Scanlan, and the same evening the company arrived in twocoaches-and-four."
"And who is the precious company you speak of?"
"Mr. Merl, sir," said the other, dropping his voice to a whisper, "thenew owner of Cro' Martin; he's here, with two or three great lawyers andone or two of his friends. They came down to serve the notices and givewarning--"
"Well, what is to be done? where can I be accommodated?" broke inRepton, hastily. "Isn't Mr. Massing-bred in the house?"
"No, sir, he had to move out, too; but, sure enough, he left a bit of anote for you in the bar." And he hastened off at once to fetch it.
Repton broke open the seal impatiently, and read:--
"My dear Mr. Repton,--I regret that you 'll find the inn full on yourarrival; they turned me out yesterday to make room for Mr. Merl and hisfollowers. Happily, Mr. Nelligan heard of my destitution, and offered mea quarter at his house. He also desires me to say that he will deem ita very great favor if you will accept the shelter of his roof, and inhopeful anticipation of your consenting, he will wait dinner for yourarrival. From my own knowledge, I can safely assure you that the offeris made in a spirit of true hospitality, and I sincerely wish that youmay accept it.
"Yours very faithfully,
"J. Massingbred."
"Where does Mr. Nelligan live?" asked Repton, as he refolded the letter.
"Just across the street, sir. There it is."
"Set me down there, then," said Repton. And the next moment he was atNelligan's door.
"This is a very great honor, sir," said old Dan, as he appeared in asuit of decorous black. "It is, indeed, a proud day that gives me thepleasure of seeing you here."
"My dear sir, if you had no other distinction than being the father ofJoseph Nelligan, the honor and the pride lie all in the opposite scale.I am sincerely glad to be your guest, and to know you where every trueIrishman is seen to the greatest advantage,--at the head of his ownboard."
While Nelligan conducted his guest to his room, he mentioned thatMassingbred had ridden over to Cro' Martin early in the morning, butwould be certainly back for dinner.
"And what 's the news of Miss Martin? Is she better?"
"They say not, sir. The last accounts are far from favorable."
"Sir Henry Laurie saw her, did n't he?"
"Yes, sir; he passed all Sunday here, and only returned to townyesterday. He spoke doubtfully,--I might even say, gloomily. He said,however, that we cannot know anything for certain before Friday or,perhaps, Saturday."
"It is fever, then?"
"Yes, he told my wife, the worst character of typhus."
"Brought on, as I've been told, by exposure to wet and cold on thatnight at sea. Is n't that the case?"
"I believe so. Mrs. Nelligan went over the next morning to the cottage.She had heard of poor Mr. Martin's death, and thought she might beof some use to Miss Mary; but when she arrived, it was to find her infever, talking wildly, and insisting that she must be up and away toKyle-a-Noe to look after a poor sick family there."
"Has Mrs. Nelligan seen her since that?"
"She never left her,--never quitted her. She relieves Henderson'sdaughter in watching beside her bed; for the old housekeeper is quitetoo infirm to bear the fatigue."
"What a sad change has come over this little spot, and in so briefa space too! It seems just like yesterday that I was a guest at Cro'Martin,--poor Martin himself so happy and light-hearted; his dear girl,as he called her, full of life and spirits. Your son was there the nightI speak of. I remember it well, for the madcap girls would make a foolof me, and insisted on my singing them a song; and I shall not readilyforget the shame my compliance inflicted on my learned brother's face."
"Joe told me of it afterwards."
"Ah, he told you, did he? He doubtless remarked with asperity on thelittle sense of my own dignity I possessed?"
"On the contrary, sir, he said, 'Great as are Mr. Rep-ton's gifts, andbrilliant as are his acquirements, I envy him more the happy buoyancy ofhis nature than all his other qualities.'"
"He's a fine fellow, and it was a generous speech; not but I will bevain enough to say he was right,--ay, sir, perfectly right. Of all theblessings that pertain to temperament, there is not one to compare withthe spirit that renews in an old man the racy enjoyment of youth, keepshis heart fresh and his mind hopeful. With these, age brings no terrors.I shall be seventy-five, sir, if I live to the second of next month, andI have not lived long enough to dull the enjoyment life affords me, nordiminish the pleasure my heart derives upon hearing of a noble action ora generous sentiment."
Nelligan gazed at the speaker in mingled astonishment and admiration.Somehow, it was not altogether the man he had expected; but he was farfrom being disappointed at the difference. The Valentine Repton of hisimagination was a crafty pleader, a subtle cross-examiner, an ingeniousflatterer of juries; but he was not a man whose nature was assailable byanything "not found in the books."
Now, though Nelligan was himself essentially a worldly man, he wastouched by these traits of one whom he had regarded as a hardened oldlawyer, distrustful and suspicious.
"Ay, sir," said Repton, as, leaning on the other's arm, he entered thedrawing-room, "a wiser man than either of us has left it on record, thatafter a long life and much experience of the world, he met far more ofgood and noble qualities in mankind than of their opposite. Take my wordfor it, whenever we are inclined to the contrary opinion, the fault lieswith ourselves."
While they sat awaiting Massingbred's return, a servant entered with anote, which Nelligan, having read, handed over to Repton. It was verybrief, and ran thus:--
"My dear Mr. Nelligan,--Forgive my not appearing at dinner, and make myexcuses to Mr. Repton, if he be with you, for I have just fallen inwith Magennis, who insists on carrying me off to Barnagheela. You canunderstand, I 'm sure, that there are reasons why I could not welldecline this invitation. Meanwhile, till to-morrow, at breakfast,
"I am yours,
"Jack Massingbred."
If there was a little constraint on Nelligan's part at finding himselfalone to do the honors to his distinguished guest, the feeling soon woreaway, and a frank, hearty confidence was soon established between thesetwo men, who up to the present moment had been following very differentroads in life. Apart from a lurking soreness, the remnants of long-pastbitterness, Nelligan's political opinions were fair and moderate, andagreed with Repton's now to a great extent. His views as to the people,their habits and their natures, were also strikingly just and true. Hewas not over-hopeful, nor was he despondent; too acute an observer torefer their faults to any single source, he regarded their complex,intricate characters as the consequence of many causes, the issue ofmany struggles. There was about all he said the calm judgment of a mandesirous of truth; and yet, when he came to speak of the higher classes,the great country gentry, he displayed prejudices and mistakesquite incredible in one of his discernment. The old grudge of socialdisqualification had eaten deep into his heart, and, as Repton saw, itwould take at least two generations of men, well-to-do and successful,to eradicate the sentiment.
Nelligan was quick enough to see that these opinions of his were notshared by his guest, and said, "I cannot expect, Mr. Re
pton, that youwill join me in these views; you have seen these people always as anequal, if not their superior; they met _you_ with their best faces andsweetest flatteries. Not so with us. They draw a line, as though to say,go on: make your fortunes; purchase estates; educate your children;send them to the universities with our own; teach them our ways, ourinstincts, our manners, and yet, at the end of all, you shall remainexactly where you began. You shall never be 'of us.'"
"I am happy to say that I disagree with you," said Repton; "I am a mucholder man than you, and I can draw, therefore, on a longer experience.Now the change that I myself have seen come over the tone and temper ofthe world since I was a boy is far more marvellous to me than all thenew-fangled discoveries around us in steam and electricity. Why, sir,the man who now addresses you, born of an ancient stock, as good bloodas any untitled gentleman of the land, was treated once as Jack Cademight be in a London drawing-room. The repute of liberal notions orpolitics at that day stamped you as a democrat and atheist If you sidedwith a popular measure, you were deemed capable of all the crimes of a'Danton.'
"Do I not remember it!--Ay, as a student, young, ardent, andhigh-hearted, when I was summoned before the visitors of the university,and sternly asked by the dark-browed Lord Chancellor if I belonged toa society called the 'Friends of Ireland,' and on my acknowledging thefact, without inquiry, without examination, deprived of my scholarship,and sent back to my chambers, admonished to be more cautious, andmenaced with expulsion. I had very little to live on in those days;my family had suffered great losses in fortune, and I disliked to be aburden to them. I took pupils, therefore, to assist me in my support.The Vice-Provost stepped in, however, and interdicted this. 'Young men,'he said, 'ran a greater chance of coming out of my hands followers ofPaine than disciples of Newton.' I starved on till I was called to thebar. There fresh insults and mortifications met me. My name on a briefseemed a signal for a field-day against Jacobinism and infidelity. Thevery bench forgot its dignity in its zeal. I remember well one day,when, stung and maddened by these outrages, I so far forgot myself asto reply, and the Court of King's Bench was closed against me fortwelve long years,--ay, till I came back to it as the first man in myprofession. It was a trumpery cause,--I forget what; a suit about somepetty bill of exchange. I disputed the evidence, and sought to show itsinvalidity. The Chief Justice stopped me, and said, 'The Court is awareof the point on which you rely; we have known evidence of this natureadmitted in cases of trial for treason,--cases with which Mr. Repton, weknow, is very familiar. I stopped; my blood boiled with indignation,my temples throbbed to bursting, to be thus singled out amongst mybrethren--before the public--as a mark of scorn and reprobation. 'It istrue, my Lord,' said I, with a slow, measured utterance, 'I am familiarwith such cases. Who is there in this unhappy land that is not? I amaware, too, that if I stood in that dock arraigned on such a charge,your Lordship would rule that this evidence was admissible; you wouldcharge against me, sentence, and hang me; but the present is an actionfor eleven pounds ten, and, therefore, I trust to your Lordship's lenityand mercy to reject it.'
"That reply, sir, cost me twelve years of exile from the court wherein Iuttered it. Those were times when the brow-beating judge could crushthe bar; nor were the jury always safe in the sanctuary of the jury-box.Now, such abuses are no longer in existence; and if we have made noother stride in progress, even that is considerable."
"In all that regards the law and its administration, I am sure you arecorrect, sir," said Nelligan, submissively.
"At the period I speak of," resumed Repton, who now was only followingout his own thoughts and reminiscences, "the judges were little elsethan prefects, administering the country through the channel of thepenal code, and the jury a set of vulgar partisans, who wielded thepower of a verdict with all the caprice of a faction; and as to theirignorance, why, sir, Crookshank, who afterwards sat on the bench, usedto tell of a trial for murder at Kells, where the 'murdered man' was twohours under cross-examination on the table! Yes, but that is not all;the jury retired to deliberate, and came out at length with a verdict of'manslaughter,' as the prisoner was 'a bad fellow, and had once stolen asaddle from the foreman.' You talk of law and civilization; why, I tellyou, sir, that the barbaric code of the red man is a higher agentof enlightenment than the boasted institutions of England, when thusperverted and degraded. No, no, Mr. Nelligan, it may be a fine themefor declamation, there may be grand descriptive capabilities about theIreland of sixty or seventy years ago, but be assured, it was a socialchaos of the worst kind; and as a maxim, sir, remember, that theinhabitants of a country are never so much to be pitied as when theaspect of their social condition is picturesque!"
Repton fell into a musing fit when he had finished these observations,and Nelligan felt too much deference for his guest to disturb him,and they sat thus silent for some time, when the old lawyer suddenlyarousing himself, said,--"What's all this I hear about disturbances, andattacks on the police, down here?"
"There's nothing political in it," rejoined Nelligan. "It was resistanceoffered by the people to the service of certain notices on the part ofthis London Jew--Merl, I think they call him."
"Yes, that's the name," quickly responded Repton. "You are aware of thecircumstances under which he claims the estate?"
"I had it from Brierley, who was told by Scanlan, that he purchased, orrather won at play, the entire and sole reversion."
Repton nodded.
"And such is a legal compact, I presume?" said Nelligan.
"If the immoral obligation be well concealed in the negotiation, I don'tsee how it is to be broken. The law, sir," added he, solemnly, "neverundertakes the charge of fools till a commission be taken out in theirbehalf! This young fellow's pleasure it was to squander his successionto a princely estate, and he chanced to meet with one who couldappreciate his intentions."
"Massingbred told me, however, that some arrangement, some compromisewas in contemplation; that Merl, knowing that to enforce his claim wouldsubject him to a trial and all its disclosures, had shown a dispositionto treat; in fact, Massingbred has already had an interview with him,and but for Scanlan, who desires to push matters to extremity, theaffair might possibly be accommodated."
"The Jew possibly sees, too, that an Irish succession is not a bloodlesstriumph. He has been frightened, I have no doubt."
"I believe so; they say he took to his bed the day he got back here, andhas never quitted it since. The people hunted them for four miles acrossthe country, and as Merl couldn't leap his horse over the walls, theywere several times nearly caught by the delay in making gaps for him."
"I'd have given fifty pounds to be in at it," broke out Repton.Then suddenly remembering that the aspiration did not sound as verydignified, he hemmed and corrected himself, saying, "It must, indeed,have been a strange spectacle!"
"They started at Kyle's Wood, and ran them over the low grounds besideKelly's Mills, and then doubling, brought them along the foot ofBarnagheela Mountain, where, it seems, Magennis joined the chase; he wasfast closing with them when his gun burst, and rather damaged his hand."
"He fired, then?"
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"Yes, he put a heavy charge of slugs into Merl's horse as he was gettingthrough the mill-race, and the beast flung up and threw his rider intothe stream. Scanlan dismounted and gathered him up, discharging hispistol at some country fellow who was rushing forward; they say the manhas lost an eye. They got off, however, and, gaining the shelter of theCro' Martin wood, they managed to escape at last, and reached thisabout six o'clock, their clothes in tatters, their horses lamed, andthemselves lamentable objects of fatigue and exhaustion. Since that,no one but the doctor has seen Merl, and Scanlan only goes out with anescort of police."
"All this sounds very like 'sixty years ago,'" said Repton, laughing.
"I'm afraid it does, and I half dread what the English newspapers maysay under the heading of 'Galway Barbarities.'"
"By Jove! I must say I like it; that is," said Repton, hesita
ting andconfused, "I can see some palliation for the people in such an outburstof generous but misdirected feeling. The old name has still itsspell for their hearts; and even superstitions, sir, are better thanincredulity!"
"But of what avail is all this? The law must and will be vindicated. Itmay cost some lives, on the road, but Mr. Merl must reach his journey'send, at last."
"He may deem the sport, as I have known some men do tiger-hunting, notworth the danger," said Repton. "You and I, Mr. Nelligan, acclimated, asI may say, to such incidents, would probably not decline the title toan estate, whose first step in possession should be enforced by theblunderbuss; but make the scene Africa, and say what extent of territorywould you accept of, on the compact of enforcing your claim againstthe natives? Now, for all the purposes of argument, to this cockney'sappreciation, these countrymen of ours are Africans."
"I can well understand his terror," said Nelligan, thoughtfully. "I 'msure the yell that followed him through the gap of Kyle-a-Noe will ringin his heart for many a day. It was there the pursuit was hottest. Asthey came out, a stranger, who had been here during the winter,--a Mr.Barry--"
"What of _him?_ What did _he_ do?" broke in Repton, with greateagerness.
"He stood upon an old wall, and hurrahed the people on, calling out,'Five gold guineas to the man who will hurl that fellow into the lake.'"
"He said that?" cried Repton.
"Yes, and waved his hat in encouragement to the mob! This was deposed inevidence before the bench; and Scanlan's affidavit went on to say, thatwhen the temper of the people seemed to relent, and the ardor oftheir pursuit to relax, this man's presence invariably rallied all theenergies of mischief, and excited the wildest passions of the populace."
"Who or what is he supposed to be?" asked the lawyer.
"Some say, a returned convict,--a banker that was transported thirtyyears ago for forgery; others, that he is Con O'Hara, that killed MajorStackpoole in the famous duel at Bunratty Castle. Magennis swears thathe remembers the face well; at all events, there is a mystery about him,and when he came into the shop below stairs--"
"Oh, then, you have seen him yourself?"
"Yes; he came in on Monday last, and asked for some glazed gunpowder,and if we had bullets of a large mould to fit his pistols. They werecuriosities in their way; they were made in America, and had a borelarge as your thumb."
"You had some conversation with him?"
"A few words about the country and the crops. He said he thought we hadgood prospects for the wheat, and, if we should have a fine harvest,a good winter was like to follow. Meaning that, with enough to eat, weshould have fewer outrages in the dark nights, and by that I knew hewas one acquainted with the country. I said as much, and then he turnedfiercely on me, and remarked, 'I never questioned you, sir, about yourhides and tallow and ten-penny nails, for they were _your_ affairs;please, then, to pay the same deference to _me_ and _mine_.' And beforeI could reply he was gone."
"It was a rude speech," said Repton, thoughtfully; "but many men aremorose from circumstances whose natures are full of kindliness andgentleness."
"It was precisely the impression this stranger made upon me. There wasthat in his manner which implied a hard lot in life,--no small share ofthe shadiest side of fortune; and even when his somewhat coarse rebukewas uttered, I was more disposed to be angry with myself for being thecause than with him who made it."
"Where is he stopping just now?"
"At Kilkieran, I have heard; but he has been repeatedly back and forwardin the town here during the week, though for the last few days I havenot seen him. Perhaps he has heard of Scanlan's intention to summonshim for aiding and abetting an assault, and has kept out of the way inconsequence."
"_He_ keep out of the way!" cried Repton; "you never mistook a man morein your life!"
"You are acquainted with him, then?" said Nelligan, in amazement.
"That am I, sir. No one knows him better, and on my knowledge of the manit was that I apologized for his incivility to yourself. If I cannotsay more, Mr. Nelligan, it is not because I have any mistrust in yourconfidence, but that my friend's secret is, in his own charge, and onlyto be revealed at his own pleasure."
"I wish you would tell him that I never meant to play the spy uponhim,--that my remark was a merely chance observation--"
"I promise you to do so," broke in Repton. "I promise you still more,that before he leaves this you shall have an apology from his own lipsfor his accidental rudeness; nay, two men that would know how to respecteach other should never part under even a passing misunderstanding. Itis an old theory of mine, Mr. Nelligan, that good men's good opinions ofus form the pleasantest store of our reminiscences, and I 'd willinglygo a hundred miles to remove a misconception that might bring me back tothe esteem of an honorable heart, though I never were to set eyes againon him who possessed it."
"I like your theory well, sir," said Nelligan, cordially.
"You 'll find the practice will reward you," said Repton.
"I confess this stranger has inspired me with great curiosity."
"I can well understand the feeling," said Repton, musing. "It is withmen as with certain spots in landscape, there are chance glimpses whichsuggest to us the fair scenes that lie beyond our view! Poor fellow!poor fellow!" muttered he once or twice to himself; and then startingabruptly, said, "You have made me so cordially welcome here that Iam going to profit by every privilege of a guest. I 'm going to saygood-night, for I have much before me on the morrow."