Roland Cashel Volume Ii Part 19

"My maid said he was for all the world like a sheriff's officer.

It seems, too, he was very violent in his language; and but for Mr.

Kennyf.e.c.k, he would not have left the house."

"Too true, I fear, ma'am," said Mrs. Malone; "my husband, the Thief,"--this was Mrs. Malone's mode of abbreviating and p.r.o.nouncing the words Chief Justice,--"told me it was impothible for Mr. Cashel to continue his extravaganth much longer."

"It's shameful--it's disgraceful," said Lady Janet; "the kitchen is a scene of waste and recklessness, such as no fortune could stand."

"Indeed, so the 'Thief' said," resumed Mrs. Malone; "he said that robbery went on, on every thide, and that Mr. Phillith, I think his name is, was the worst of all."

"Your husband was quite correct, ma'am," said Lady Janet; "no one should know it better." And then she whispered in her neighbor's ear, "If the adage be true, 'Set a thief to catch a thief.'"

The party intrusted with this could not restrain her laughter, and for a s.p.a.ce, a species of distrust seemed to pervade the circle.

We are certain that no apology will be required, if we ask of our reader to quit this amiable society,--although seated at a comfortable fire, in the very easiest of chairs, with the softest carpet beneath his feet,--and accompany Roland Cashel, who now, with hasty step, trod the little path that led to Tubber-beg Cottage.

However inhospitable the confession, we are bound to acknowledge Cashel was growing marvellously weary of his character as a host. The hundred little contrarieties which daily arose, and which he knew not how to smooth down or conciliate, made him appear, in his own estimation at least, deficient in worldly tact, and left him open to the belief that others would judge him even less mercifully. The unbridled freedom of his household, besides, stimulated all the selfishness of those who, in a better arranged establishment, had kept "watch and ward" over their egotism; and thus, instead of presenting the features of a society where the elements of agreeability were not deficient, they resembled rather the company in a packet-ship, each bent upon securing his own comfort, and only intent how to make his neighbor subsidiary to himself.

Prosperity, too, was teaching him one of its least gracious lessons,--"Distrust." The mean and selfish natures by which he was surrounded were gradually unfolding themselves to his view, and he was ever on the verge of that dangerous frontier where scepticism holds sway. One conclusion--and it was not the least wise--he formed was, that he was ill suited to such companionship, and that he had been happier, far happier, on some humble fortune, than as the rich proprietor of a great estate.

It was while thus ruminating, Cashel found himself at the little s.p.a.ce which intervened between one front of the cottage and the lake, and was struck by the rapid movement of lights that glanced from window to window, appearing and disappearing at every instant.

The dread that the old man was taken seriously ill at once came over him, and he hastened forward in eager anxiety to learn the tidings.

Then, suddenly checking himself, he felt reluctant, almost stranger that he was, to obtrude at such a moment. Fearing to advance, and unwilling to retire, he stood uncertain and hesitating.

As he remained thus, the door of the drawing-room that opened upon the lawn was flung wide, and Tiernay pa.s.sed hastily out, saying in a loud and excited voice, "I will have my own way. I 'll see Cashel at once."

And with these words he issued forth in haste. Scarcely, however, had he gone a dozen paces, than he stopped short, and, clasping his hands firmly together, muttered aloud, "To what end should I seek him? What claim can I pretend,--by what right appeal to him?"

"Every claim and every right," cried Roland, advancing towards him, "if I can only be of any service to you."

"What! actually here at this moment!" exclaimed Tiernay. "Come this way with me, sir; we must not go into the house just yet." And so saying, he pa.s.sed his arm within Roland's, and led him onward towards the lake.

"Is he ill?" said Cashel,--"is Mr. Corrigan taken ill?" But although the question was asked eagerly, Tiernay was too deeply sunk in his own thoughts to hear it; while he continued to mutter hurriedly to himself.

"What _is_ the matter?" said Roland at last, losing patience at a preoccupation that could not be broken in upon. "Is Mr. Corrigan ill?"

"He is ruined!" said Tiernay, dropping Cashel's arm, and letting fall his own as he spoke, with a gesture of despair.

"What do you mean? How?"

"Ruined! utterly ruined!" re-echoed Tiernay; and there was that in his accent and the emotion of his manner that forbade any further questioning.

"It is not at a moment like this," said the doctor, "that I can tell you a long tale, where treachery and falsehood on one side, and generosity and manliness on the other, played the game as ever it has been, and ever will be played, between such antagonists;--enough, if I say my poor friend became responsible for the debts of a man who, but for his aid, would have had a felon's fate. This fellow, who possesses one terrible means of vengeance, threatens now to use it, if a demand be not complied with, which Corrigan may leave himself a beggar and yet not satisfy. The threat has been held over him for years, and for years he has struggled on, parting, one by one, with every little requirement of his station, and submitting with n.o.ble resignation to any and every thing to stave off the evil day; but it has come at last."

"And what is the sum demanded?" said Cashel, hastily.

"I cannot tell. There are various bills; some have been renewed again and again, others are yet current. It is a tangled web, and, in our hopelessness, we never sought to unravel it!"

"But the danger is imminent?"

"So imminent that my friend will be arrested to-morrow if bail be not forthcoming. I have not told him this; I dare not tell him so; but I have made up a story to induce him to leave this to-night."

"Where for?" cried Roland, anxiously.

"G.o.d knows! I lose memory as well as judgment in moments like this. I believe I advised Limerick, and thence by ship to some port in England, from which they could reach the Continent."

"But all this will be unnecessary if I offer myself as security," said Roland.

"For a sum of which you know nothing!" muttered Tiernay, sorrowfully.

"No matter; it cannot be, in all likelihood, more than I can meet."

"And for one who can never repay!" echoed the doctor still more sadly.

"Who can tell that?" said Cashel. "There's many a coinage costlier than ever the mint fashioned; he may requite me thus."

The doctor started. "You mean--no!--no!" cried he, interrupting himself, "that were too great good fortune. I must tell you, sir," added he, in a firm voice, "that there is nothing--absolutely nothing--to give you in requital for such aid. My friend's alternative is a prison, or be your debtor for what he cannot pay."

"I am content,--perfectly content," said Roland. "There is no need to say another word on the matter. Do not suffer him to endure any anxiety we can spare him; tell him at once the thing is done."

"We must think over this a little," said Tiernay, musing. "Con is a difficult fellow to deal with; there must be something which shall give it the semblance of a loan; he must be made to believe it is only a change of creditors."

"Could not we arrange it without his knowledge, while you could affect to have made some settlement which has satisfied the others?"

"Too late,--too late, for that; he has seen h.o.a.re himself."

"h.o.a.re!--the money-lender from Dublin?" said Cashel, blushing at the recollection of his own acquaintance with him.

"Ay, sir, of course you know him! A man cannot enjoy such distinguished friendships as you have without the aid of usurers?"

Cashel smiled good-humoredly, and went on,--

"Where is this gentleman at present."

"Yonder," said Tiernay, pointing to the cottage; "but he intends shortly returning to the inn at the village, where perhaps it would be better to meet him than here. If you 'll permit me, I 'll just step in and say as much, and then we can stroll that way together."

Cashel consented, and his companion left him to do his errand. It was only as he stood alone, and had time for reflection, that he remembered his conversation with Kennyf.e.c.k in the morning, and learned that, with regard to ready money at least, he stood in a very different position from what he supposed. That there would be difficulties and legal obstacles innumerable made by Kennyf.e.c.k to any sale of property, he well knew; but he had made up his mind as to his course, and would not be thwarted. He had but s.p.a.ce for these reflections, when Tiernay joined him, saying,--

"So far all is well. h.o.a.re will follow us in a few minutes, and, for privacy' sake, I have made the rendezvous at my house."

"And Corrigan,--how have you left him?" asked Cashel.

"Like one in a dream. He seems neither to know whether it be misfortune or the opposite which impends him. Were it not for Mary, his poor heart had given way long since. Ay, sir, there is more true heroism in one day of that humble life, than in the boldest deed of bravery even you have ever witnessed."

Cashel did not speak, but, in the pressure of his arm against Tiernay's the other felt how the theme had touched him.

"You only know her by the graceful elegance of her manner, and the fascinations that, even to old men like myself, are a kind of sorcery; but I have seen her in every trial, where temper and mind, and heart and pride, are tested, and come through all victorious; draining the very wells of her own hopefulness to feed the exhausted fountain which age and disappointment had dried up; lending to manhood a greater courage than her own; ay, and more,--showing that her temper could resist the jarring influences of misfortune, and, like the bright moon above the storm-lashed clouds, soar on, glorious and l.u.s.trous ever. What are men made of?" cried he, energetically; "of what stuff are they formed, when such a girl as this can excite more admiration for her beauty than for traits of character that enn.o.ble humanity?"

"You speak with all a lover's warmth, doctor," said Cashel, half smiling, while in reality, the subject interested him deeply.