Tony Butler Part 25

"None whatever. I 'll tell him,--that is, if I see him," muttered Tony, below his breath.

"Maybe, if there was too much sea 'on' for your honor to land--"

"What?" interrupted Tony, eying him sternly.

"I was saying, sir, that if your honor was forced to come on to Derry--"

"How should I be forced?"

"By the heavy surf, no less," said Waters, peevishly, for he foresaw failure to his negotiation.

"The tide will be on the flood till eleven, and if they can't lower a boat, I 'll swim it, that's all. As to going on to Derry with you, Tom,"

added he, laughing, "I'd not do it if you were to give me your four thoroughbreds for it."

"Well, the wind 's freshening, anyhow," grumbled Waters, not very sorry, perhaps, at the turn the weather was taking.

"It will be the rougher for you as you sail up the Lough," said Tony, as he lighted his cigar.

Waters pondered a good deal over what he could not but regard as a great change in character. This young man, so gay, so easy, so careless, so ready to do anything or do nothing,--how earnest he had grown, and how resolute, and how stern too! Was this a sign that the world was going well, or the reverse, with him? Here was a knotty problem, and one which, in some form or other, has ere now puzzled wiser heads than Waters's. For as the traveller threw off in the sunshine the cloak which he had gathered round him in the storm, prosperity will as often disclose the secrets of our hearts as that very poverty that has not wealth enough to buy a padlock for them.

"You want to land here, young man," said the captain to Tony; "and there's a sh.o.r.e-boat close alongside. Be alive, and jump in when she comes near."

"Good-bye, Tom," said Tony, shaking hands with him. "I 'll report well of the beasts, and say also how kindly you treated me."

"You 'll tell Sir Arthur that the rub on the off shoulder won't signify, sir; and that Emperor's hock is going down every day. And please to say, sir,--for he 'll mind _you_ more than me,--that there 's nothing will keep beasts from kicking when a ship takes to rollin'; and that when the helpers got sea-sick, and could n't keep on deck, if it had n't been for yourself--Oh, he's not minding a word I'm saying," muttered he, disconsolately; and certainly this was the truth, for Tony was now standing on a bulwark, with the end of a rope in his hand, slung whip fashion from the yard, to enable him to swing himself at an opportune moment into the boat, all the efforts of the rowers being directed to keep her from the steamer's side.

"Now's your time, my smart fellow," cried the Captain,--"off with you!"

And, as he spoke, Tony swung himself free with a bold spring, and, just as the boat rose on a wave, dropped neatly into her.

"Well done for a landsman!" cried the skipper; "port the helm, and keep away."

"You 're forgetting the bundle, Master Tony," cried Waters, and he flung it towards him with all his strength; but it fell short, dropped into the sea, floated for about a second or so, and then sank forever.

Tony uttered what was not exactly a blessing on his awkwardness, and, turning his back to the steamer, seized the tiller and steered for sh.o.r.e.

CHAPTER XVI. AT THE ABBEY

"Who said that Tony Butler had come back?" said Sir Arthur, as they sat at breakfast on the day after his arrival.

"The gardener saw him last night, papa," said Mrs. Trafford; "he was sitting with his mother on the rocks below the cottage; and when Gregg saluted him, he called out, 'All well at the Abbey, I hope?'"

"It would have been more suitable if he had taken the trouble to a.s.sure himself of that fact by a visit here," said Lady Lyle. "Don't you think so, Mr. Maitland?"

"I am disposed to agree with you," said he, gravely.

"Besides," added Sir Arthur, "he must have come over in the 'Foyle,'

and ought to be able to bring me some news of my horses. Those two rough nights have made me very uneasy about them."

"Another reason for a little attention on his part," said her Ladyship, bridling; and then, as if anxious to show that so insignificant a theme could not weigh on her thoughts, she asked her daughter when Mark and Isabella purposed coming home.

"They spoke of Sat.u.r.day, mamma; but it seems now that Mrs. Maxwell has got up--or somebody has for her--an archery meeting for Tuesday, and she writes a most pressing entreaty for me to drive over, and, if possible, persuade Mr. Maitland to accompany me."

"Which I sincerely trust he will not think of."

"And why, dearest mamma?"

"Can you ask me, Alice? Have we not pushed Mr. Maitland's powers of patience far enough by our own dulness, without subjecting him to the stupidities of Tilney Park?--the dreariest old mansion of a dreary neighborhood."

"But he might like it. As a matter of experimental research, he told us how he pa.s.sed an autumn with the Mandans, and ate nothing but eels and wood-squirrels."

"You are forgetting the prairie rats, which are really delicacies."

"Nor did I include the charms of the fair Chachinhontas, who was the object of your then affections," said she, laughingly, but in a lower tone.

"So, then," said he, "Master Mark has been playing traitor, and divulging my confidence. The girl was a marvellous horsewoman, which is a rare gift with Indian women. I 've seen her sit a drop-leap--I 'll not venture to say the depth, but certainly more than the height of a man--with her arms extended wide, and the bridle loose and flowing."

"And you followed in the same fashion?" asked Alice, with a roguish twinkle of the eye.

"I see that Mark has betrayed me all through," said he, laughing. "I own I tried it, but not with the success that such ardor deserved. I came head-foremost to the ground before my horse."

"After all, Mr. Maitland, one is not obliged to ride like a savage,"

said Lady Lyle.

"Except when one aspires to the hand of a savage princess, mamma. Mr.

Maitland was ambitious in those days."

"Very true," said he, with a deep sigh; "but it was the only time in my life in which I could say that I suffered my affection to be influenced by mere worldly advantages. She was a great heiress; she had a most powerful family connection."

"How absurd you are!" said Lady Lyle, good-humoredly.

"Let him explain himself, mamma; it is so very seldom he will condescend to let us learn any of his sentiments on any subject. Let us hear him about marriage."

"It is an inst.i.tution I sincerely venerate. If I have not entered into the holy estate myself, it is simply from feeling I am not good enough.

I stand without the temple, and only strain my eyes to catch a glimpse of the sanctuary."

"Does it appear to you so very awful and appalling, then?" said my Lady.

"Certainly it does. All the efforts of our present civilization seem directed to that end. We surround it with whatever can inspire terror.

We call in the Law as well as the Church,--we add the Statutes to the Liturgy; and we close the whole with the most depressing of all festivities,--a wedding-breakfast."

"And the Mandans, do they take a more cheerful view of matters?" asked Alice.

"How can you be so silly, Alice?" cried Lady Lyle.

"My dear mamma, are you forgetting what a marvellous opportunity we enjoy of learning the geography of an unknown sea, from one of the only voyagers who has ever traversed it?"