Sir Jasper Carew Part 28

Crowther sighed heavily, like one who has a wearisome task before him, but must go through with it.

"If I could but persuade you, sir, to believe that my business here has no connection with politics whatever; that the Castle has nothing to do with it--"

"Ay, I see," cried Curtis, "it's Lord Charlemont sent you. It 's no use; I 'll have nothing to say to any of them. He's too fond of Castle dinners and Castle company for me! I never knew any good come of the patriotism that found its way up Corkhill at six o'clock of an evening!"

"Once for all, Mr. Curtis, I say that what brought me here this morning was to show you that Mr. f.a.gan would be willing to surrender all claim against you for outstanding liabilities, and besides to settle on you a very handsome annuity, in consideration of some concessions on your part with respect to a property against which he has very large claims."

"What's the annuity,--how much?" cried Curtis, hastily.

"What sum would you yourself feel sufficient, sir? He empowered me to consult your own wishes and expectations on the subject."

"If I was to say a thousand a-year, for instance?" said Curtis, slowly.

"I'm certain he would not object, sir."

"Perhaps if I said two, he 'd comply?"

"Two thousand pounds a-year is a large income for a single man," replied Crowther, sententiously.

"So it is; but I could spend it. I spent eight thousand a-year once in my life, and when my estate was short of three! and that 's what comes of it;" and he gave the settle-bed a rude kick as he spoke. "Would he give two? That's the question, Crowther: would he give two?"

"I do not feel myself competent to close with that offer, Mr. Curtis; but if you really think that such a sum is necessary--"

"I do,--I know it; I could n't do with a shilling less; in fact, I'd find myself restricted enough with that. Whenever I had to think about money, it was hateful to me. Tell him two is the lowest, the very lowest, I 'd accept of; and if he wishes to treat me handsomely, he may exceed it. You 're not to judge of my habits, sir, from what you see here," added he, fiercely; "this is not what I have been accustomed to. You don't know the number of people who look up to me for bread. My father's table was laid for thirty every day, and it had been well for us if as many more were not fed at our cost elsewhere."

"I have often heard tell of Meagh-valley House and its hospitalities,"

said Crowther, blandly.

"'Come over and drink a pipe of port' was the invitation when I was a boy. A servant was sent round to the neighborhood to say that a hogshead of claret was to be broached on such a day, and to beg that the gentlemen around would come over and help to drink it,--ay, to drink it out! Your piperly hounds, with their two-bottle magnum, think themselves magnificent nowadays; why, in my time they 'd have been laughed to scorn!"

"They were glorious times indeed," cried Crowther, with mad enthusiasm.

"Glorious times to beggar a nation, to prost.i.tute public honor and private virtue," broke in Curtis, pa.s.sionately; "to make men heartless debauchees first, that they might become shameless scoundrels after; to teach them a youth of excess and an old age of venality. These were your Glorious Times! But you, sir, may be forgiven for praising them; to you, and others like you, they have been indeed 'Glorious Times'! Out of them grew those lawsuits and litigations that have enriched you, while they ruined us. Out of that blessed era of orgie and debauch came beggared families and houseless gentry; men whose fathers lay upon down couches, and whose selves sleep upon the like of that;" and the rude settle rocked as his hand shook it. "Out upon your Glorious Times, say I; you might as well call the drunken scene of a dinner-party a picture of domestic comfort and happiness! It was a long night of debauchery, and this that we now see is the sad morning afterwards! Do you know besides, sir," continued he, in a still fiercer tone, "that in those same 'Glorious Times,' you, and others of your stamp, would have been baited like badgers if found within the precincts of a gentleman's house? Ay, faith, and if my memory does not betray me, I can call to mind one or two such instances."

The violence of the old man's pa.s.sion seemed to have exhausted him, and he sat down on the bed, breathing heavily and panting.

"Where were we?" cried he at last. "What was it that we were arguing?

Yes--ay--to be sure--these bills--these confounded bills. I can't pay them. I would n't if I could. That scoundrel f.a.gan has made enough of me without that. What was it you said of an annuity? There was some talk of an annuity, eh?"

Crowther bent down, and spoke some words in a low, murmuring voice.

"Well, and for that what am I to do?" cried Curtis, suddenly. "My share of the compact is heavy enough, I'll be sworn. What is it?"

"I think I can show you that it is not much of a sacrifice, sir. I know you hate long explanations, and I 'll make mine very brief. Mr. f.a.gan has very heavy charges against an estate which is not unlikely to be the subject of a disputed ownership. It may be a long suit, with all the delays and difficulties of Chancery; and in looking over the various persons who may prefer claims here and there, we find your name amongst the rest, for it is a long list, sir. There may be forty or forty-five in all! The princ.i.p.al one, however, is a wealthy baronet who has ample means to prosecute his claim, and with fair hopes of succeeding. My notion, however, was that if Mr. f.a.gan could arrange with the several persons in the cause to waive their demands for a certain consideration, that it would not be difficult then to arrange some compromise with the baronet himself,--he surrendering the property to f.a.gan for a certain amount, on taking with it all its liabilities. You understand?"

"And who's the owner?" asked Curtis, shortly.

"He is dead, sir."

"Who was he when alive?"

"An old friend, or rather the son of an old friend of yours, Mr.

Curtis!"

"Ah, Brinsley Morgan! I guess him at once; but you are wrong, quite wrong there, my good fellow. I have n't the shadow of a lien on his estate. We talked it over together one day, and Hackett, the Attorney-General, who was in the house, said that my claim was n't worth five shillings. But I 'll tell you where I have a claim,--at least Hackett said so, I have a very strong claim--No, no; I was forgetting again,--my memory is quite gone. It is so hard when one grows old to bear the last ten or fifteen years in mind. I can remember my boyhood and my school-days like yesterday. It is late events that confuse me!

You 'll scarce believe me when I tell you I often find myself going to dine with some old friend, and only discover when I reach his door that he is dead and gone this many a day! There was something in my mind to tell you, and it has escaped me already. Oh! I have it. There are some curious old family papers in that musty-looking portmanteau. I should like to find out some clever fellow that would look them over without rushing me into a lawsuit, mind ye, for I have no heart for that now! My brother Harry's boy is dead. India finished him, poor fellow! That's the key of it,--see if it will open the lock."

"If you like I 'll take them back with me, sir, and examine them myself at home."

"Do so, Crowther. Only understand me well, no bills of costs, my worthy friend; no searches after this, or true copies of that; I 'll have none of them. As d.i.c.k Parsons said, I 'd rather spend my estate at the 'Fives' than the 'Four' Courts."

Crowther gave one of his complacent laughs; and having induced Curtis to accept an invitation for the following day at dinner, he took the portmanteau under his arm and withdrew.

He had scarcely descended the stairs when Dan found the door unlocked, and proceeded to pay his visit to Curtis, his mind full of all that he had just overheard, and wondering at the many strange things he had been a listener to.

When MacNaghten entered, he found Curtis sitting at a table, with his head resting on his hand, and looking like one deeply engaged in thought. Dan saluted him twice, without obtaining a reply, and at last said,--

"They said that you had a visitor this morning, and so I have been waiting for some time to see you."

The other nodded a.s.sentingly, but did not speak.

"You are, perhaps, too much tired now," said Dan, in a kind voice, "for much talking. Come and have a turn in the open air; it will refresh you."

Curtis arose and took his hat, without uttering a word.

"You are a good walker, Curtis," said MacNaghten, as they reached the street. "What say you if we stroll down to Harold's Cross, and eat our breakfast at the little inn they call 'The Friar'?"

"Agreed," muttered the other, and walked along at his side, without another word; while Dan, to amuse his companion, and arouse him from the dreary stupor that oppressed him, exerted himself in various ways, recounting the popular anecdotes of the day, and endeavoring, so far as might be, to entertain him.

It was soon, however, evident that Curtis neither heard nor heeded the efforts the other was making, for he continued to move along with his head down, mumbling at intervals to himself certain broken and incoherent words. At first, MacNaghten hoped that this moody dejection would pa.s.s away, and his mind recover its wonted sharpness; but now he saw that the impression under which he labored was no pa.s.sing or momentary burden, but a heavy load that weighed wearily on his spirits.

"I am afraid you are scarcely so well as usual to-day?" asked Dan, after a long interval of silence between them.

"I have a pain hereabouts,--it is not a pain either, but I feel uneasy,"

said Curtis, pushing his hat back from his forehead, and touching his temple with his finger.

"It will pa.s.s away with the fresh air and a hearty breakfast, I hope. If not, I will see some one on our return. Who is your doctor?"

"My doctor! You ask a man who has lived eighty-four years who is his doctor! That nature that gave him a good stout frame; the spirit that told him what it could, and what it could not, bear,--these, and a hearty contempt for physic and all that live by it, have guided me so far, and you may call them my doctors if you wish."

Rather pleased to have recalled the old man to his habitual energy, Dan affected to contest his opinions, by way of inducing him to support them; but he quickly saw his error, for Curtis, as though wearied by even this momentary effort, seemed more downcast and depressed than before.

MacNaghten, therefore, contented himself with some commonplace remarks about the country around and the road they were walking, when Curtis came to a sudden halt, and said,--

"You would n't take the offer, I 'll be sworn. You 'd say at once: 'Show me what rights I 'm surrendering; let me know the terms of the agreement.' But what signifies all that at my age?--the last of the stock besides! If I lay by what will pay the undertaker, it's all the world has a right to demand at my hands."

"Here's 'The Friar,'--this is our inn," said MacNaghten. "Shall I be the caterer, eh? What say you to some fried fish and a gla.s.s of Madeira, to begin with?"

"I 'll have a breakfast, sir, that suits my condition," said Curtis, haughtily. "Send the landlord here for my orders."