Roland Cashel Volume Ii Part 5

This kindly office was, however, antic.i.p.ated by Lady Janet MacFarline, who, in her brief transit from the door to the carriage, always contrived to drop each of the twenty things she loaded herself with at starting, and thus to press into the service as many of the bystanders as possible, who followed, one with a m.u.f.f, another with a smelling-bottle, a third with a book, a fourth with her knitting, and so on; while Flint brought up the rear with more air-cushions and hot-water apparatus than ever were seen before for the accommodation of two persons. In fact, if the atmosphere of our dear island, instead of being the mere innocent thing of fog it is, had been surcharged with all the pestilential vapors of the mistral and the typhoon together, she could not have armed herself with stronger precautions against it; while even Sir Andrew, with the const.i.tution of a Russian bear, was compelled to wear blue spectacles in sunshine, and a respirator when it lowered,--leaving him, as he said, to the "domnable alternative o' being blind or dumb."

"I maun say," muttered he, behind his barrier of mouth plate, "that Mesther Cashel has his ain notions aboot amusin' his company when he leaves ane o' his guests to drive aboot wi' his ain wife. Ech, sir, it is a pleasure I need na hae come so far to enjoy."

"Where's Sir Harvey Upton, Sir Andrew?" said my Lady, tartly; "he has never been near me to-day. I hope he 's not making a fool of himself with those Kennyf.e.c.k minxes."

"I dinna ken, and I dinna care," growled Sir Andrew; and then to himself, he added, "An' if he be, it's aye better fooling wi' young la.s.sies than doited auld women!"

"A place for you, Mr. Linton!" said Mrs. White, as she seated herself in a low drosky, where her companion, Mr. Howie, sat, surrounded with all the details for a sketching-excursion.

"Thanks, but I have nothing so agreeable in prospect."

"Why, what are you about to do?"

"Alas! I must set out on a canva.s.sing expedition, to court the sweet voices of my interesting const.i.tuency. You know that I am a candidate for the borough."

"That must be very disagreeable."

"It is, but I could not get off; Cashel is incurably lazy, and _I_ never know how to say 'no.'"

"Well, good-bye, and all fortune to you," said she; and they drove away.

Mr. Kennyf.e.c.k and the Chief Justice, mounted on what are called sure-footed ponies, and a few others, still lingered about the door, but Linton took no notice of them, but at once re-entered the house.

For some time previous he had remarked that Lord Kilgoff seemed, as it were, struggling to emerge from the mist that had shrouded his faculties; his perceptions each day grew quicker and clearer, and even when silent, Linton observed that a shrewd expression of the eye would betoken a degree of apprehension few would have given him credit for.

With the keenness of a close observer, too, Linton perceived that he more than once made use of his favorite expression, "It appears to me,"

and slight as the remark might seem, there is no more certain evidence of the return to thought and reason than the resumption of any habitual mode of expression.

Resolved to profit by this gleam of coming intelligence, by showing the old peer an attention he knew would be acceptable, Linton sent up a message to ask "If his Lordship would like a visit from him?" A most cordial acceptance was returned; and, a few moments after, Linton entered the room where he sat, with all that delicate caution so becoming a sick chamber.

Motioning his visitor to sit down, by a slight gesture of the finger, while he made a faint effort to smile, in return for the other's salutation, the old man sat, propped up by pillows, and enveloped in shawls, pale, sad, and careworn.

"I was hesitating for two entire days, my Lord," said Linton, lowering his voice to suit the character of the occasion, "whether I might propose to come and sit an hour with you, and I have only to beg that you will not permit me to trespa.s.s a moment longer than you feel disposed to endure me."

"Very kind of you--most considerate, sir," said the old peer, bowing with an air of haughty courtesy.

"You seem to gain strength every day, my Lord," resumed Linton, who well knew there was nothing like a personal topic to awaken a sick man's interest.

"There is something here," said the old man, slowly, as he placed the tip of his finger on the centre of his forehead.

"Mere debility, nervous debility, my Lord. You are paying the heavy debt an overworked intellect must always acquit; but rest and repose will soon restore you."

"Yes, sir," muttered the other, with a weak smile, as though, without fathoming the sentiment, he felt that something agreeable to his feelings had been spoken.

"I have been impatient for your recovery, my Lord, I will confess to you, on personal grounds; I feel now how much I have been indebted to your Lordship's counsel and advice all through life, by the very incert.i.tude that tracks me. In fact, I can resolve on nothing, determine nothing, without your sanction."

The old man nodded a.s.sentingly; the a.s.surance had his most sincere conviction.

"It would seem, my Lord, that I must--whether I will or no--stand for this borough, here; there is no alternative, for you are aware that Cashel is quite unfit for public business. Each day he exhibits more and more of those qualities which bespeak far more goodness of heart than intellectual training or culture. His waywardness and eccentricity might seriously damage his own party,--could he even be taught that he had one,--and become terrible weapons in the hands of the enemy. I was speaking of Cashel, my Lord," said Linton, as it were answering the look of inquiry in the old man's face.

"I hate him, sir," said the old peer, with a bitterness of voice and look that well suited the words.

"I really cannot wonder at it," said Linton, with a deep sigh; "such duplicity is too shocking--far too shocking--to contemplate."

"Eh! what? What did you say, sir?" cried the old man, impatiently.

"I was remarking, my Lord, that I have no confidence in his sincerity; that he strikes me as capable of playing a double part."

A look of disappointment succeeded to the excited expression of the old man's face; he had evidently expected some revelation, and now his features became clouded and gloomy.

"We may be unjust, my Lord," said Linton; "it may be a prejudice on our part: others would seem to have a different estimate of that gentleman.

Meek thinks highly of him."

"Who, sir? I didn't hear you," asked he, snappishly.

"Meek,--Downie Meek, my Lord."

"Pshaw!" said the old man, with a shrewd twinkle of the eye that made Linton fear the mind behind it was clearer than he suspected.

"I know, my Lord," said he, hastily, "that you always held the worthy secretary cheap; but you weighed him in a balance too nice for the majority of people--"

"What does that old woman say? Tell me _her_ opinion of Cashel," said Lord Kilgoff, rallying into something like his accustomed manner. "You know whom I mean!" cried he, impatient at Linton's delay in answering.

"The old woman one sees everywhere,--she married that Scotch sergeant--"

"Lady Janet MacFarline--"

"Exactly, sir."

"She thinks precisely with your Lordship."

"I'm sure of it; I told my Lady so," muttered he to himself.

Linton caught the words with eagerness, and his dark eyes kindled; for at last were they nearing the territory he wanted to occupy.

"Lady Kilgoff," said he, slowly, "does not need any aid to appreciate him; she reads him thoroughly, the heartless, selfish, unprincipled spendthrift that he is."

"She does not, sir," rejoined the old man, with a loud voice, and a stroke of his cane upon the floor that echoed through the room; "you never were more mistaken in your life. His insufferable puppyism, his reckless effrontery, his underbred familiarity, are precisely the very qualities she is pleased with,--'They are so different,' as she says, 'from the tiresome routine of fashionable manners.'"

"Unquestionably they are, my Lord," said Linton, with a smile.

"Exactly, sir; they differ as do her Ladyship's own habits from those of every lady in the peerage. I told her so; I begged to set her right on that subject, at least."

"Your Lordship's refinement is a most severe standard," said Linton, bowing low.

"It should be an example, sir, as well as a chastis.e.m.e.nt. Indeed, I believe few would have failed to profit by it." The air of insolent pride in which he spoke seemed for an instant to have brought back the wonted look to his features, and he sat up, with his lips compressed, and his chin pro-traded, as in his days of yore.

"I would entreat your Lordship to remember," said Linton, "how few have studied in the same school you have; how few have enjoyed the intimacy of 'the most perfect gentleman of all Europe;' and of that small circle, who is there could have derived the same advantage from the privilege?"

"Your remark is very Just, sir. I owe much--very much--to his Royal Highness."