Tom Burke Of "Ours" Volume I Part 24

"Well, then, what will you take to cancel that indenture? You don't set a very high value on my services, I suppose?"

"You forget, I perceive," said he, "that I am answerable for your future appearance if called on."

"There was no bail-bond drawn out, no sum mentioned, if I mistake not, Mr. Ba.s.set."

"Very true, sir; very true; but I pledged myself to the law adviser,--my character is responsible."

"Well, well, let me have two hundred pounds; b.u.m that cursed indenture--"

"Two hundred pounds! Do you fancy, then, that you are in the possession of this legacy? Why, it never may, in all likelihood it never will, be yours; it's only payable on your attaining your majority."

"Give me one hundred pounds, then,--give me fifty; let me only be free, at liberty, and not absolutely a beggar on the streets."

Ba.s.set leaned his head on the chimney, and seemed sunk in reflection; while I, wound up to the highest pitch of excitement, trod up and down the room, pouring forth from time to time short and broken sentences, declaratory of my desire to surrender all that I might chance to inherit by every casualty in life, to my last guinea, only let there be no constraint on my actions, no attempt to control my personal liberty.

"I see," cried I, pa.s.sionately,--"I see what hampers you. You fear I may compromise my family! It is my brother's fair fame you are thinking of.

But away with all dread on that score. I 'll leave Ireland; I have long since determined on that."

"Indeed!" said Ba.s.set, slowly, as he turned round his head, and looked me full in the face.

"Would you go to America, then?"

"To America? No,--to France! That shall be the land of my adoption, as it is this moment of all my heart's longings."

His eyes sparkled, and a gleam of pleasure shot across his cold features, as if he caught a glow of the enthusiasm that lit up mine.

"Come," cried he, "I 'll think of this. Give me till tomorrow, and if you 'll pledge yourself to leave Ireland within a week--"

"I 'll pledge myself to nothing of the kind," replied I, fiercely. "It is to be free,--free in thought as in act,--that I would barter all my prospects with you. There must be but one compact between us,--it must begin and end here. Take a night if you will to think it over, and to-morrow morning--"

"Well, then, to-morrow morning be it," said he, with more of animation in his tone; "and now to supper!"

"To bed, rather," said I, "if I may speak my mind; for rest is what I now stand most in need of."

CHAPTER XVII. MR. Ba.s.sET'S DWELLING

Excepting the two dingy-looking, dust-covered parlors, which served as office and dining-room, the only portion of Mr. Ba.s.set's dwelling untenanted by lodgers was the attics. The large bra.s.s plate that adorned the hall door, setting forth in conspicuous letters, "Anthony Ba.s.set, Attorney," gave indeed a most inadequate notion of the mixed population within, whose respectability, in the inverse ratio of their height from the ground, went on growing beautifully less, till it found its culminating point in the host himself, on whose venerable head the light streamed from a cobweb-covered pane in the roof. The stairs were dark and narrow; the walls covered with a dull-colored old wainscot, that flapped and banged with every foot that came and went; while the windows were defended by strong iron railings, as if anything inside them could possibly demand such means of protection.

I followed Mr. Ba.s.set as he led the way up these apparently interminable stairs, till at length the decreasing head room betokened that we were near the slates. Mumbling a half apology for the locale, he introduced me into a long, low attic, where a settle bed of the humblest pretensions and a single rush-bottomed chair supporting a basin were the only articles of furniture. Something like the drop curtain of a strolling theatre closed up the distance; but this I could only perceive imperfectly by the dim twilight of a dip candle, and in my state of fatigue and weariness, I had little inclination to explore further.

Wishing me a good night, and promising that I should be called betimes next morning, Mr. Ba.s.set took his leave; while I, overcome by a long day of care and anxiety, threw myself on the bed, and slept far more soundly than I could have believed it were possible for me to do under the roof of Anthony Ba.s.set.

The sun was streaming in a rich flood of yellow light through a small skylight, and playing its merry gambols on the floor, when I awoke. The birds, too, were singing; and the hum of the street noises, mellowed by distance, broke not unpleasantly on the ear. It did not take me long to remember where I was, and why. The conversation of the evening before recurred at once to my mind; and hope, stronger than ever before I felt it, filled my heart. It was clear Ba.s.set could place little value on such services as mine; and if I could only contrive to make it his interest to part with me, he would not hesitate about it. I resolved that, whatever price he put upon my freedom, if in my power I should pay it. My next plan was to find out, through some of the persons in correspondence with France, the means of reaching that country, in whose military service I longed to enroll myself. Had I but the papers of my poor friend Charles de Meudon, there had been little difficulty in this; but unfortunately they were seized by Major Barton on the day of his death, and I had never seen them since.

While I revolved these thoughts within myself I heard the merry notes of a girl's voice, singing apparently in the very room with me. I started up and looked about me, and now perceived that what seemed so like a drop curtain' the night before was nothing more or less than a very large patchwork quilt, suspended on a line across the entire attic, from the other side of which came the sounds in question. It was clear, both from the melody and the voice, that she could not be a servant; and somewhat curious to know more of my fair neighbor, I rose gently, and slipping on my clothes, approached the boundary of my territory with noiseless step.

A kind of whistling noise interrupted every now and then the lady's song, and an occasional outbreak of impatience would burst forth in the middle of the "Arrah, will you marry me, dear Alley Croker?" by some malediction on a "black knot" or a broken string. I peeped over the "drop," and beheld the figure of a young, plump, and pretty girl, busily engaged in lacing her stays,--an occupation which accounted equally for the noise of the rushing staylace and the bit of peevishness I had heard. I quite forgot how inadvisable was the indulgence of my curiosity in my admiration of my fair neighbor, whose buxom figure, not the less attractive for the shortness of her drapery, showed itself to peculiar advantage as she bent to one side and the other in her efforts to fasten the impracticable bodice. A ma.s.s of rich brown hair, on which the sun was playing, fell over her neck and on her shoulders, and half concealed her round, well-turned arms as they plied their busy task.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Peeping Tom 166]

"Well, ain't my heart broke with you, entirely?" exclaimed she, as a stubborn knot stopped all further progress.

At this moment the cord, on which through inadvertence I had leaned somewhat too heavily, gave way, and down came the curtain with a squash to the floor. She sprang back with a bound, and, while a slight but momentary blush flushed her cheek, stared at me half angrily, and then cried out,--"Well, I hope you like me?"

"Yes, that I do," said I, readily;--"and who wouldn't that saw you?"

Whether it was the naivete of my confession, or my youth, or both, I can't well say, but she laughed heartily at my speech, and threw herself into a chair to indulge her mirth.

"So we were neighbors, it seems," said I.

"And if we were," said she, roguishly, "I think it's a very unceremonious way you 've opened the acquaintance."

"You forget, apparently, I haven't left my own territory."

"Well, I 'm sure I wish you would, if you 're any good at a black knot; my heart and my nails are both broke with one here."

I didn't wait for any more formal invitation, but stepped at once over the frontier; while she, rising from the chair, turned her back towards me, as with her finger she directed me to the most chaotic a.s.semblage of knots, twists, loops, and entanglements I ever beheld.

"And you're Burke, I suppose," cried she, as I commenced my labors.

"Yes; I'm Burke."

"Well, I hope you 're done with wildness by this time. Uncle Tony tells fine tales of your doings."

"Uncle Tony! So you 're Mr. Ba.s.set's niece? Is that--"

"You did n't take me for his wife, I hope?" said she, again bursting out into laughter.

"In truth, I never thought so well of him as to suppose it."

"Well, well, I 'm sure it 's little I expected you to look so mild and so quiet. But you need n't pinch me, for all that. Is n't your name Tom?"

"Yes; I hope you 'll always call me so."

"Maybe I will. Is n't that done yet? And there 's the milk bell. Uncle will be in a nice pa.s.sion if I 'm not down soon. Cut it,--cut it at once."

"Now do be patient for a minute or two; it's all right if you stay quiet. I 'll try my teeth on it."

"Yes; but you needn't try your lips too," said she, tartly.

"Why, it 's the only plan to get your fingers out of the way. I 'm sure I never was so puzzled in all my life."

"Nothing like practice, my boy,--nothing," cried a merry voice from the door behind me, half choked with laughing; while a muttered anathema, in a deeper tone, followed. I looked back, and there stood Bubbleton, his face florid with laughter, endeavoring to hold back Mr. Ba.s.set, whose angry look and flashing eye there was no mistaking.

"Mr. Burke,--Burke, I say! Nelly, what does this mean? How came this young gentleman--"