LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 University of California. 
 
 Class 
 
OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
 FORN^s 
 
i 
 
JACK HINTON 
 
 Clje dSuarDgman, 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES LEVER. 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY PHIZ. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 LITTLE, BROWN. AND COMPANY. 
 
 1902. 
 
University Press : 
 John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chaptib Pagi 
 
 I. A Family Party • 1 
 
 II. The Irish Packet 7 
 
 III. The Castle 15 
 
 IV. The Breakfast 28 
 
 V. The Review in the Phcenes 44 
 
 VI. The Sham Battle 50 
 
 VII. The Rooneys 61 
 
 VIII. The Visit 72 
 
 IX. The Ball 80 
 
 X. A Finale to an Evening 94 
 
 XI. A Negotiation 109 
 
 XII. A Wager 116 
 
 XIII. A Night of Trouble 123 
 
 XIV. The Parting 142 
 
 XV. The Letter from Home 147 
 
 XVI. A Morning in Town 154 
 
 XVII. An Evening in Town 165 
 
 XVIII. A Confidence 183 
 
 XIX. The Canal-Boat 192 
 
 XX. Shannon Harbor 200 
 
 
 19306 
 
 >» 
 
vi CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 XXI. LoUGHREA 211 
 
 XXII. A Moonlight Canter 225 
 
 XXIII. Major Mahon and his Quarters 234 
 
 XXIV. The Devils Grip 240 
 
 XXV. The Steeple-Chase ....251 
 
 XXVI. The Dinner-Party at Mount Brown .... 266 
 
 XXVII. The Race Ball . 273 
 
 XXVIII. The Inn Eire 287 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 Volume One. 
 
 3Etrf)ings. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Modirideroo Frontispiece 
 
 The Duke knighting Corny Delany 107 
 
 Irish Sport with a Cockney . 246 
 
 Joe, the Mighty Hunter 204 
 
 Illustrations in trje 2Eat. 
 
 The Packet 10 
 
 Mr. Delany 17 
 
 Long Tim 38 
 
 Mr. Paul Rooney 63 
 
 Mrs. Paul Rooney 65 
 
 Mr. Paul Rooney's Introduction to the Duke . . 90 
 
 The Finale to an Evening 105 
 
 The Boys 118 
 
 The Money-Lender's Drawing-Room 161 
 
 Painting Latitat 164 
 
 A Monk of the Screw unscrews Mr. Delany's 
 
 Courage 181 
 
 Tipperary Joe 263 
 
 Mr. Harkin 276 
 
TO 
 
 THE EIGHT HONORABLE LORD ELIOT, 
 
 CHIEF SECRETARY OF STATE FOR IRELAND. 
 
 My dear Lord, — The hero of the Volume whose dedication I 
 beg you to accept of was sorely puzzled, some forty years back, by 
 the anomalies of the worthy people among whom his lot was cast. 
 Since that period, whatever other changes time may have worked, 
 in these respects I am inclined to believe they remain unaltered, 
 and are at this moment pretty much as incomprehensible as ever. 
 
 Your Lordship's residence among us may have assured you of 
 this latter fact, which, I suspect, is about as much knowledge as is 
 attainable on the subject. I, at least, have no presumptuous expec- 
 tation of elucidating the mysteries or solving the difficulties of Irish 
 character ; but with the less ambitious object of exhibiting some of 
 their -peculiar features, some of their moods of mirth and melan- 
 choly, I have ventured on these sketches, which I should be de- 
 lighted to hope might amuse a stray hour snatched from the cares of 
 office, while they afford me an occasion to say how much I am, 
 My dear Lord, 
 
 Your very sincere and devoted servant, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 Temple-Oge, November 10, 1842. 
 
NOTICE, LIMINARY OR PRELIMINARY. 
 
 My dear Lorrequer, — As there is no possibility of even guess- 
 ing how far your " Irish impudence " and the good nature of the 
 public may lead you, a number of us have resolved on swimming 
 with the current we cannot stem ; and as you seem determined to 
 " take our lives," we feel the best thing we can do is to offer them 
 to you freely. 
 
 A little knot, — some on full, some on half, some on no pay, — of 
 every age and rank in the service, from the lieutenant-general to the 
 junior ensign of every arm, from the sepoy to the sapper, have 
 agreed to form a reunion under the name of Our Mess, where, 
 meeting together, we can chat over and communicate such incidents 
 of our early days as possibly might amuse the public, and at all 
 events will prevent our being presented to their notice with more 
 follies, faults, and absurdities than we can justly lay claim to. 
 
 I need not tell you that our number was soon made up. Some 
 liked the gossip of the thing, others the jollity ; one was pleased 
 with the publicity, another with the punch, and not a few were 
 frightened by the fate of Monsoon. 
 
 We give you, then, all right and title to our memoirs and 
 reminiscences; you have carte blanche as to style and every other 
 matter of book-making, of which we suppose you understand some- 
 thing, and we are convinced we know nothing, — and have only 
 one parting injunction, which is, to treat us as tenderly as the trade 
 will permit. 
 
 Believe me yours, my dear Lorrequer, 
 
 Tom O'Flaherty. 
 Badajos Lodge, Windermere. 
 
 P. S. — We have a stray Adonis or two among us who would 
 prefer it if your friend Phiz could come down here for their por- 
 
xii NOTICE, LUMINARY OR PRELIMINARY. 
 
 traits instead of trusting to chance, or, worse still, your vile descrip- 
 tions. Try if this could be managed. 
 
 P. P. S. — Don't you think it would be a polite attention to send 
 us the thing as it comes out monthly. 
 
 T. O'F. 
 
 This free-and-easy epistle, most kind public, we present to you 
 verbatim, with the double object of showing to what indignities we 
 are exposed for your sake, and also of explaining the motive of the 
 present publication, — to maintain with you an intimacy which is at 
 once the pride and pleasure of our life. To continue, on any terms, 
 an acquaintance which to us has been but a source of unceasing 
 satisfaction, we have put our honest indignation in our pocket, and 
 accepted our friend's proposal. 
 
 Taking " Our Mess " as our title, we purpose to give you the 
 memoirs of its members, suffering each man to tell his story, if he 
 have one, in his own way. We shall interfere little with their 
 claims to authorship, while we indulge the solitary hope that they 
 may prove as agreeable in type as we have known some of them 
 at table. 
 
 We remember once, in a ramble through the classic precincts of 
 the liberties in Dublin, to have assisted at a species of lottery, in 
 which for the payment of one shilling you had a dive into a sack 
 supposed to contain wigs of every shape and color, from the " judge " 
 to the "jasy." The disappointment and dismay of the luckless 
 candidates who by the fickleness of fortune invariably drew forth 
 the opposite to their wishes, — the spruce apprentice falling upon a 
 " scratch," while a cobbler flourished a full bottom that had figured 
 in Chancery, — diverted us for a considerable time. 
 
 The lesson, however, has lingered in our memory, and shall not 
 be lost. Adopting the same method with our manuscripts, while we 
 utter the honest invitation of our predecessor, — "No favor or 
 affection, gentlemen; all fair, and only one shilling," — we draw 
 forth, at random, what comes first to our hand, and here present you 
 with — 
 
JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 We were all very " pipe-clay," I freely confess, 
 
 Though I see not why that should alarm ye: 
 It 's tol'rably clear, if ye dine at a mess, 
 
 You '11 now and then hear of the army ; 
 And in fact for nought else will you ever find room, 
 
 Nor e'en a sly syllable cram, 
 While they rave of Barossa and Bergen-op-Zoom, 
 
 Salamanca, Seringapatam. 
 
 What a noise ! — what a din ! — v/hat a Babel ! I 'm sure 
 
 That no one e'er heard such a racket ; 
 One old general 's describing the siege of Namur, 
 
 And an older, the fight at Malplaquet. 
 But the glories of Spain, and of Portugal, too, 
 
 Have nearly eclipsed old " Malbrook ; " 
 And if any one whisper the word Waterloo, 
 
 We rise with three cheers to " the Duke." 
 
 The Mess, a Poem. 
 
JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A FAMILY PARTY. 
 
 It was on a dark and starless night in February, 181-, as 
 the last carriage of a dinner party had driven from the 
 door of a large house in St. James's Square, when a party 
 drew closer around the drawing-room fire, apparently bent 
 upon that easy and familiar chit-chat the presence of 
 company interdicts. 
 
 One of these was a large and fine-looking man of about 
 five-and-forty, who, dressed in the full uniform of a general 
 officer, wore besides the ribbon of the Bath. He leaned 
 negligently upon the chimney-piece, and, with his back 
 towards the fire, seemed to follow the current of his own 
 reflections. This was my father. 
 
 Beside him, but almost concealed in the deep recess of 
 a well-cushioned fauteuil, sat or rather lay a graceful but 
 somewhat passee figure, who with an air of languid repose 
 was shading her fine complexion as well from the glare of 
 the fire as the trying brilliancy of an Argand lamp upon 
 the mantelpiece. Her rich dress, resplendent with jewels, 
 while it strangely contrasted with the careless abandon of 
 her attitude, also showed that she had bestowed a more 
 than common attention that day upon her toilette. This, 
 fair reader, was my mother. 
 
 VOL. I. — l 
 
2 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 Opposite to her, and disposed in a position of rather 
 studied gracefulness, lounged a tall, thin, fashionable-look- 
 ing man, with a dark olive complexion, and a short black 
 mustache. He wore in the button-hole of his blue coat 
 the ribbon of St. Louis. The Count de Grammont, for 
 such he was, was an emigre noble, who, attached to the for- 
 tunes of the Bourbons, had resided for some years in Lon- 
 don, and who, in the double capacity of adviser of my 
 father and admirer of my lady mother, obtained a consid- 
 erable share of influence in the family and a seat at its 
 councils. 
 
 At a little distance from the rest, and apparently en- 
 gaged with her embroidery, sat a very beautiful girl, whose 
 dark hair and long lashes deepened the seeming paleness of 
 features a Greek sculptor might have copied. While noth- 
 ing could be more perfect than the calm loveliness of her 
 face and the delicate pencilling of her slightly-arched eye- 
 brows, an accurate observer could detect that her tremulous 
 lip occasionally curled with a passing expression of half 
 scorn, as from time to time she turned her eyes towards 
 each speaker in turn, while she herself maintained a perfect 
 silence. My cousin. Lady Julia Egerton, had indeed but 
 that one fault : shall I venture to call by so harsh a name 
 that spirit of gentle malice which loved to look for the lu- 
 dicrous features of everything around her, and inclined her 
 to indulge what the French call the " esprit mtq ueur " even 
 on occasions when her own feelings were interested ? 
 
 The last figure of the group was a stripling of some nine- 
 teen years, who, in' the uniform of the Guards, was endeav- 
 oring to seem perfectly easy and unconcerned, while it 
 was evident that his sword-knot divided his attention with 
 some secret thoughts that rendered him anxious and ex- 
 cited. This was myself. 
 
 A silence of some moments was at length broken by my 
 mother, who, with a kind of sigh Miss O'Neil was fond of, 
 turned towards the count and said, — 
 
 " Do confess, Count, we were all most stupid to-day. 
 Never did a dinger go off so heavily. But it 's always the 
 
A FAMILY TARTY. 6 
 
 penalty one pays for a royal duke. Ajjropos, General, what 
 did lie say of Jack's appointment ? " 
 
 "Nothing could be more kind, nothing more generous 
 than his B.oyal Highness. The very first thing he did in 
 the room was to place this despatch in my hands. This, 
 Jack," said my father, turning to me, "this is your 
 appointment as an extra aide-de-camp." 
 
 "Very proper indeed," interposed my mother; "I am 
 very happy to think you '11 be about the court. Windsor, 
 to be sure, is stupid." 
 
 "He is not likely to see much of it," said my father, 
 dryly. 
 
 " Oh, you think he '11 be in town, then ? " 
 
 " Why, not exactly that either." 
 
 "Then what can you mean?" said she, with more of 
 animation than before. 
 
 " Simply, that his appointment is on the staff in Ireland." 
 
 " In Ireland ! " repeated my mother, with a tragic start. 
 "In Ireland!" 
 
 " In Ireland ! " said Lady Julia, in a low, soft voice. 
 
 "En Irelande!" echoed the count, with a look of well 
 got up horror, as he elevated his eyebrows to the very top 
 of his forehead ; while I myself, to whom the communica- 
 tion was as sudden and as unexpected, assumed a kind of 
 soldier-like indifference, as though to say. "What matters it 
 to me ; what do I care for the rigors of climate ? The snows 
 of the Caucasus or the suns of Bengal are quite alike ; even 
 Ireland, if his Majesty's service require it." 
 
 " Ireland ! " repeated my mother once more, "I really never 
 heard anything so very shocking. But, my dear Jack, you 
 can't think of it. Surely, General, you had presence of 
 mind to decline." 
 
 " To accept, and to thank most gratefully his Boyal High- 
 ness for such a mark of his favor, — for this I had quite pres- 
 ence of mind," said my father, somewhat haughtily. 
 
 " And you really will go, Jack ? " 
 
 " Most decidedly," said I, as I put on a kind of Godefroy- 
 de-Bouillon look, and strutted about the room. 
 
4 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " And, pray, what can induce you to such a step ? " 
 
 " Oui, ' que diable allait-il faire dans cette galere ? ' " said 
 the count. 
 
 " By Jove ! " cried my father, hastily, " you are both in- 
 tolerable ; you wished your boy to be a Guardsman in oppo- 
 sition to my desire for a regiment on service. You would 
 have him an aide-de-camp. Now he is both one and the 
 other. In Heaven's name, what think ye of getting him 
 made a lady of the bed-chamber ; for it 's the only appoint- 
 ment I am aware of — " 
 
 " You are too absurd, General," said my mother, pettishly. 
 " Count, pray touch the bell ; that fire is so very hot, and I 
 really was quite unprepared for this piece of news." 
 
 " And you, Julia," said I, leaning over the back of my 
 cousin's chair, "what do you say to all this?" 
 
 "I 've just been thinking what a pity it is I should have 
 wasted all my skill and my worsted on this foolish rug, 
 while I could have been embroidering a gay banner for our 
 young knight bound for the wars, — < Partant pour la Syrie, ' " 
 hummed she, half pensively, while I could see a struggling 
 effort to suppress a laugh. I turned indignantly away and 
 walked towards the fire, where the count was expending his 
 consolations on my mother. 
 
 " After all, miladi, it is not so bad as you think in the 
 provinces. I once spent three weeks in Brittany, very pleas- 
 antly indeed ; oui, pardieu, it 's quite true. To be sure, we 
 had Perlet and Mademoiselle Mars, and got up the Pr<f- 
 cieuses Ridicules as well as in Paris." 
 
 The application of this very apposite fact to Ireland was 
 clearly satisfactory to my mother, who smiled benignly at 
 the speaker, while my father turned upon him a look of the 
 most indescribable import. 
 
 "Jack, my boy," said he, taking me by the arm, "were 
 I your age, and had no immediate prospect of active ser- 
 vice, I should prefer Ireland to any country in the world. 
 I have plenty of old friends on the staff there. The duke 
 himself was my schoolfellow — " 
 
 " I hope he will be properly attentive," interrupted my 
 
A FAMILY TARTY. 5 
 
 mother. "Dear Jack, remind me to-morrow to write to 
 Lady Mary." 
 
 " Don't mistake the country you 're going to," continued 
 my father'; " you will find many things very different from 
 what you are leaving ; and, above all, be not over ready to 
 resent as an injury what may merely be intended as a 
 joke ; your brother officers will always guide you on these 
 points." 
 
 " And above all things," said my mother, with great 
 earnestness, " do not adopt that odious fashion of wearing 
 their hair. I 've seen members of both houses, and particu- 
 larly that little man they talk so much of, Mr. Grattan, I 
 believe they call him — " 
 
 " Make your mind perfectly easy on that head, my lady," 
 said my father, dryly ; " your son is not particularly likely 
 to resemble Henry Grattan." 
 
 My cousin Julia alone seemed to relish the tone of sar- 
 casm he spoke in, for she actually bestowed on him a look 
 of almost grateful acknowledgment. 
 
 "The carriage, my lady," said the servant, and at the 
 same moment my mother, possibly not sorry to cut short 
 the discussion, rose from her chair. 
 
 " Do you intend to look in at the duchess's, General ? " 
 
 " For half an hour," replied my father ; " after that I have 
 my letters to write. Jack, you know, leaves us to-morrow." 
 
 " 'T is really very provoking," said my mother, turning at 
 the same time a look towards the count. 
 
 " A vos ordres, Madame," said he, bowing with an air of 
 most deferential politeness, while he presented his arm for 
 her acceptance. 
 
 " Good-night, then," cried I, as the party left the room ; 
 " I have so much to do and to think of, I sha'n't join you." 
 I turned to look for Lady Julia, but she was gone, when and 
 how I knew not ; so I sat down at the fire to ruminate alone 
 over my present position and my prospects for the future. 
 
 These few and imperfect passages may put the reader in 
 possession of some, at least, of the circumstances which 
 
6 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 accompanied my outset in life ; and if they be not suffi- 
 ciently explicit, I can only say that he knows fully as much 
 of me as at the period in question I did of myself. 
 
 At Eton I had been what is called rather a smart boy, 
 but incorrigibly idle ; at Sandhurst I showed more ability 
 and more disinclination to learn. By the favor of a royal 
 duke (who had been my god-father) my commission in a 
 marching regiment was exchanged for a second lieutenancy 
 in the Guards ; and at the time I write of I had been some 
 six months in the service, which I spent in all the whirl 
 and excitement of London society. My father, who besides 
 being a distinguished officer was one of the most popu- 
 lar men among the clubs, and my mother, a London beauty 
 of some twenty years' standing, were claims sufficient to in- 
 sure me no common share of attention, while I added to the 
 number what, in my own estimation at least, were certain 
 very decided advantages of a purely personal nature. 
 
 To obviate, as far as might be, the evil results of such a 
 career, my father secretly sued for the appointment on the 
 staff of the noble duke, then Viceroy of Ireland, in prefer- 
 ence to what my mother contemplated, — my being attached 
 to the royal household. To remove me alike from the en- 
 ervating influence of a mother's vanity and the extrava- 
 gant profusion and voluptuous abandonment of London 
 habits, this was his object. He calculated, too, that by 
 new ties, new associations, and new objects of ambitiou, I 
 should be better prepared for and more desirous of that career 
 of real service to which in his heart he destined me. These 
 were his notions at least ; the result must be gleaned from 
 my story. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE IRISH PACKET. 
 
 A few nights after the conversation I have briefly al- 
 luded to, and pretty much about the same time, I aroused 
 myself from the depression of nearly thirty hours' sea-sick- 
 ness, on hearing that at length we were in the Bay of Dub- 
 lin. Hitherto I had never left the precincts of the narrow 
 den denominated my berth; but now I made my way 
 eagerly on deck, anxious to catch a glimpse, however faint, 
 of that bold coast I had more than once heard compared 
 with, or even preferred to, Naples. The night, however, 
 was falling fast, and, worse still, a perfect downpour of 
 rain was falling with it ; the sea ran high, and swept the 
 little craft from stem to stern ; the spars bent like whips, 
 and our single topsail strained and stretched as though at 
 every fresh plunge it would part company with us alto- 
 gether. No trace or outline of the coast could I detect on 
 any side ; a deep red light appearing and disappearing at 
 intervals, as we rode upon or sank beneath the trough of 
 the sea, was all that my eye could perceive. This, the drip- 
 ping helsman briefly informed me, was the " Kish ; " but as 
 he seemed little* disposed for conversation, I was left to my 
 unassisted ingenuity to make out whether it represented 
 any point of the capital we were approaching, or not. 
 
 The storm of wind and rain increasing at each moment 
 drove me once more back to the cabin, where, short as had 
 been the peroid of my absence, the scene had undergone a 
 most important change. Up to this moment my sufferings 
 and my seclusion gave me little leisure or opportunity to 
 observe my fellow-travellers. The stray and scattered 
 fragments of conversation that reached me rather puzzled 
 
8 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 than enlightened me. Of the topics which I innocently 
 supposed occupied all human attention not a word was 
 dropped; Carlton House was not once mentioned; the St. 
 Leger and the Oaks not even alluded to; whether the 
 Prince's breakfast was to come off at Knightsbridge or 
 Frogmore, no one seemed to know or even care ; nor was a 
 hint dropped as to the fashion of the new bearskins the 
 Guards were to spqrt at the review on Hounslow. The 
 price of pigs, however, in Ballinasloe, they were perfect in. 
 
 Of a late row in Kil something, where one half of 
 
 the population had massacred the other, they knew every- 
 thing, even to the names of the defunct. A few of the bet- 
 ter-dressed chatted over country matters, from which I 
 could glean that game and gentry were growing gradually 
 scarcer ; but a red-nosed, fat old gentleman, in rusty black 
 and high boots, talked down the others by an eloquent ac- 
 count of the mawling that he, a certain Father Tom Loftus, 
 had given the Keverend Paul Strong at a late controversial 
 meeting in the Rotunda. 
 
 Through all this " bald, disjointed chat " unceasing de- 
 mands were made for bottled porter, " matarials," or 
 " spirits and wather," of which, were I to judge from the 
 frequency of the requests, the consumption must have been 
 awful. 
 
 There would seem something in the very attitude of 
 lying that induces reflection, and thus stretched at full 
 length in my berth I could not help ruminating upon the 
 land I was approaching, in a spirit which I confess accorded 
 much more with my mother's prejudices than my father's 
 convictions. From the few chance phrases dropped around 
 me, it appeared that even the peaceful pursuits of a coun- 
 try market, or the cheerful sports of the field, were fol- 
 lowed up in a spirit of recklessness and devilment ; so that 
 many a head that left home without a care went back with 
 a crack in it. 
 
 But to come back once more to the cabin. It must be 
 borne in mind that some thirty odd years ago the passage 
 between Liverpool and Dublin was not, as at present, the 
 
THE IRISH PACKET. * 
 
 rapid flight of a dozen hours from shore to shore, — where 
 on one evening you left the thundering din of wagons, and 
 the iron crank of cranes and windlasses, to wake the next 
 morning with the rich brogue of Paddy floating softly 
 around you, — far from it; the thing was then a voyage. 
 You took a solemn leave of your friends, you tore yourself 
 from the embraces of your family, and with a tear in your 
 eye and a hamper on your arm you betook yourself to the 
 pier to watch, with an anxious and a beating heart, every 
 step of the three hours preceding that heralded your de- 
 parture. In those days there was some honor in being a 
 traveller; and the man who had crossed the Channel a 
 couple of times became a kind of Captain Cook among his 
 acquaintances. 
 
 The most singular feature of the whole, however, and the 
 one to which I am now about to allude, proceeded from the 
 fact that the steward in those days, instead of the exten- 
 sive resources of the present period, had little to offer you 
 save some bad brandy and a biscuit ; and each traveller had 
 to look to his various wants with an accuracy and foresight 
 that required both tact and habit. The mere demands of 
 hunger and thirst were not only to be considered in the ab- 
 stract, but a point of far greater difficulty, the probable 
 length of the voyage, was to be taken into consideration ; 
 so that you bought your beef-steaks with your eye upon the 
 barometer, and laid in your mutton by the age of the moon. 
 While thus the agency of the season was made to re-act 
 upon your stomach, in a manner doubtless highly conducive 
 to the interests of science, your part became one of the 
 most critical nicety. 
 
 Scarcely were you afloat and on the high seas, when your 
 appetite was made to depend on the aspect of the weather. 
 Did the wind blow fresh and fair, you eat away with a care- 
 less ease and a happy conscience highly beneficial to your 
 digestion. With a glance through the sky-light at the blue 
 heaven, with a sly look at the prosperous dog-vane, you 
 helped yourself to the liver-wing, and took an extra glass 
 of your sherry. Let the breeze fall, however ; let a calm 
 
10 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 come on, or, worse still, a tramping noise on deck, and a 
 certain rickety motion of the craft betoken a change of 
 wind, — the knife and fork fell listlessly from your hand, the 
 aplifted cutlet was consigned to your plate, the very spoon- 
 ful of gravy you had devoured in imagination was dropped 
 upon the dish, and you replaced the cork in your bottle, 
 with the sad sigh of a man who felt that instead of his 
 income he had been living on the principal of his fortune. 
 
 Happily, there is a reverse to the medal ; and this it was 
 to which now my attention was directed. The trip, as oc- 
 casionally happened, was a rapid one ; and while under the 
 miserable impression that a fourth part of the journey had 
 not been accomplished, we were blessed with the tidings of 
 land. Scarcely was the word littered, when it flew from 
 mouth to mouth ; and I thought I could trace the elated 
 look of proud and happy hearts, as home drew near. What 
 
THE IRISH PACKET. 11 
 
 •was my surprise, however, to see the enthusiasm take an- 
 other and very different channel. With one accord a 
 general rush was made upon the hampers of prog. Baskets 
 were burst open on every side. Sandwiches and sausages, 
 porter bottles, cold punch, chickens and hard eggs, were 
 strewn about with a careless and reckless profusion ; none 
 seemed too sick or too sore for this general epidemic of 
 feasting. Old gentlemen sat up in their beds and bawled 
 for beef ; children of tender years brandished a drum-stick. 
 Individuals who but a short half-hour before seemed to 
 have made a hearty meal, testified by the ravenous exploits 
 of their appetites to their former forbearance and abstemi- 
 ousness. Even the cautious little man in the brown spen- 
 cer, that wrapt up the remnant of his breakfast in the 
 " Times," now opened his whole store, and seemed bent 
 upon a day of rejoicing. Never was such a scene of riotous 
 noise and tumultuous mirth. Those who scowled at each 
 other till now, hob-nobbed across the table ; and simpering 
 old maids cracked merry thoughts with gay bachelors, 
 without even a passing fear for the result. " Thank 
 Heaven ! " said T, aloud, " that I see all this with my sense 
 and my intellects clear about me ! " Had I suddenly awoke 
 to such a prospect from the disturbed slumber of sickness, 
 the chances were ten to one I had jumped overboard and 
 swam for my life. In fact, it could convey but one image 
 to the mind, such as we read of, when some infuriated and 
 reckless men, despairing of safety, without a hope left, 
 resolve upon closing life in the mad orgies of drunken 
 abandonment. 
 
 Here were the meek, the tranquil, the humble-minded, 
 the solitary, the sea-sick, all suddenly converted into 
 riotous and roistering feasters. The lips that scarcely 
 moved now blew the froth from a porter cup with the blast 
 of a Boreas ; and even the small urchin in the green face 
 and nankeen jacket bolted hard eggs with the dexterity of 
 a clown in a pantomime. The end of all things (eatable) 
 had certainly come. Chickens were dismembered like 
 felons, and even jokes and witticisms were bandied upon 
 
i2 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 the victuals. What if even yet, thought I, the wind 
 should change ! The idea was a malicious one, too horri- 
 ble to indulge in. At this moment the noise and tur- 
 moil on deck apprised me that our voyage was near its 
 termination. 
 
 The night, as I have said, was dark and stormy. It 
 rained too — as it knows only how to rain in Ireland. 
 There was that steady persistence, that persevering monot- 
 ony of downpour, which, not satisfied with wetting you to 
 the skin, seems bent upon converting your very blood into 
 water. The wind swept in long and moaning gusts along 
 the bleak pier, which, late and inclement as it was, seemed 
 crowded with people. Scarcely was a rope thrown ashore 
 when we were boarded on every side, by the rigging, on the 
 shrouds, over the bulwarks, from the anchor to the taffrail ; 
 the whole population of the island seemed to flock in upon 
 lis, while sounds of welcome and recognition resounded on 
 all sides. 
 
 " How are you, Mister Maguire ? " 
 
 " Is the mistress with you ? " 
 
 " Is that you, Mister Tierney ? " 
 
 " How are you, ma'am ? " 
 
 "And yourself, Tim?" 
 
 u Beautiful, glory be to God ! " 
 ■ " A great passage, entirely, ma'am." 
 
 " Nothing but rain since I seen you." 
 
 " Take the trunks up to Mrs. Tunstall ; and, Tim, darling, 
 oysters and punch for four." 
 
 " Great Mercy ! " said I, " eating again ! " 
 
 "Morrisson, your honor," said a ragged ruffian, nudging 
 me by the elbow. 
 
 "Keilly, sir; isn't it? It's me, sir, — the Club. I'm 
 the man always drives your honor." 
 
 " Arrah, howld your prate ! " said a deep voice, " the 
 gentleman has n't time to bless himself." 
 
 " It's me, sir; Owen Daly, that has the black horse." 
 
 " More, by token, with a spavin," Avhispered another, 
 while a roar of laughter followed the joke. 
 
THE IRISH PACKET. 13 
 
 "A car, sir, — take you up in five minutes." 
 
 " A chaise, your honor, — do the thing dacently." 
 
 Now, whether my hesitation at this moment was set 
 down by the crowd of my solicitors to some doubt of my 
 solvency or not, I cannot say ; but, true it is, their tone of 
 obsequious entreaty gradually changed into one of rather 
 caustic criticism. 
 
 " Maybe it 's a gossoon you 'd like, to carry the little 
 trunk." 
 
 " Let him alone ! it 's only a carpetbag ; he '11 carry it 
 himself." 
 
 " Don't you see the gentleman would rather walk ? And 
 as the night is fine, 't is pleasanter — and — cheaper." 
 
 " Take you for a fipp'ny bit and a glass of sparits," said a 
 gruff voice in my ear. 
 
 By this time I had collected my luggage together, whose 
 imposing appearance seemed once more to testify in my 
 favor, particularly the case of my cocked hat, which to my 
 ready-witted acquaintances proclaimed me a military man. 
 A general rush was accordingly made upon my luggage ; 
 and while one man armed himself with a portmanteau, an- 
 other laid hands on a trunk, a third a carpet-bag, a fourth a 
 gun-case, and so on, until I found myself keeping watch 
 and ward over my epaulet-case and my umbrella, the sole 
 remnant of my effects. At the same moment a burst of 
 laughter and a half shout broke from the crowd, and a huge 
 powerful fellow jumped on the deck, and, seizing me by the 
 arm, cried out, — 
 
 " Come along now, Captain . It 's all right. This 
 
 way, this way, sir." 
 
 " But why am I to go with you ? " said I, vainly strug- 
 gling to escape his grasp. 
 
 " Why is it ? " said he, with a chuckling laugh ; " reason 
 enough, — did n't we toss up for ye, and did n't I win ye ? " 
 
 " Win me ! " 
 
 " Ay ; just that same." 
 
 By this time I found myself beside a car, upon which all 
 my luggage was already placed. 
 
14 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " Get up now,"' said he. 
 
 " It 's a beautiful car, and a dhry cushion," added a voice 
 near, to the manifest mirth of the bystanders. 
 
 Delighted to escape my tormentors, I sprang up opposite 
 to him, while a cheer, mad and wild enough for a tribe of 
 Iroquois, yelled behind us. Away we rattled over the 
 pavement, without lamp or lantern to guide our path, while 
 the sea dashed its foam across our faces, and the rain beat 
 in torrents upon our backs. 
 
 " Where to, Captain ? " inquired my companion, as he 
 plied his whip without ceasing. 
 
 " The Castle ; you know where that is ? " 
 "Faix I ought," was the reply. "Ain't I there at the 
 levees ? But howld fast, your honor ; the road is n't good, 
 and there is a hole somewhere hereabouts." 
 
 " A hole ! For Heaven's sake, take care ! Do you know 
 where it is ? " 
 
 " Begorra, you 're in it ! " was the answer ; and, as he 
 spoke, the horse went down head foremost, the car after 
 him. Away flew the driver on one side, while I myself was 
 shot some half-dozen yards on the other, a perfect ava- 
 lanche of trunks, boxes, and valises rattling about my 
 doomed head. A crashing shower of kicks, the noise of the 
 flying splinters, and the imprecations of the carman were 
 the last sounds I hoard, as a heavy imperial full of books 
 struck me on the head, and laid me prostrate. 
 
 Through my half-consciousness I could still feel the rain 
 as it fell in sheets ; the heavy plash of the sea sounded in 
 my ears ; but, somehow, a feeling like sleepiness crept over 
 me, and I became insensible. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE CASTLE. 
 
 When I next came to my senses I found myself lying 
 upon a sofa in a large room, of which I appeared the only 
 occupant. A confused and misty recollection of my acci- 
 dent, some scattered fragments of my voyage, and a rather 
 aching sensation in my head were the only impressions of 
 which I was well conscious. The last evening I spent at 
 home was full in my memory, and I could not help thinking 
 over my poor mother's direful anticipations in my vain en- 
 deavors to penetrate what I felt had been a misfortune of 
 some kind or other. The mystery was, however, too deep 
 for my faculties ; and so, in despair of unravelling the past, 
 I set myself to work to decipher the present. The room, I 
 have already said, was large ; and the ceiling, richly stuc- 
 coed and ornamented, spoke of a day whose architecture 
 was of a grand and massive character. The furniture, now 
 old and time-worn, had once been handsome, even magnifi- 
 cent, — rich curtains of heavy brocaded silk, with deep gold 
 fringes, gorgeously-carved and gilded chairs, in the taste of 
 Louis XV.; marble consoles stood between the windows, 
 and a mirror of gigantic proportions occupied the chimney- 
 breast. Years and neglect had not only done their worst, 
 but it was evident that the hand of devastation had also 
 been at work. The marbles were cracked ; few of the chairs 
 were available for use ; the massive lustre, intended to 
 shine with a resplendent glare of fifty wax-lights, was now 
 made a resting-place for shakos, bearskins, and foraging- 
 caps ; an ominous-looking star in the looking-glass bore 
 witness to the bullet of a pistol ; and the very Cupids 
 carved upon the frame, who once were wont to smile blandly 
 
16 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 at each other, were now disfigured with cork mustaches, 
 and one of them even carried a pair of spurs in his mouth. 
 Swords, sashes, and sabretaches, spurs and shot-belts, with 
 guns, fishing-tackle, and tandem whips, were hung here and 
 there upon the walls, which themselves presented the stran- 
 gest spectacle of all, there not being a portion of them un- 
 occupied by caricature sketches, executed in every imagina- 
 ble species of taste, style, and coloring. Here was a field-day 
 in the park, in which it was easy to see the prominent fig- 
 ures were portraits ; there an enormous nose, surmounted 
 by a grenadier cap, was passing in review some trembling 
 and terrified soldiers. In another, a commander-of-the-forces 
 was seen galloping down the lines, holding on by the pom- 
 mel of the saddle. Over the sofa I occupied a levee at the 
 castle was displayed, in which, if the company were not 
 villanously libelled, the viceroy had little reason to be proud 
 of his guests. There were also dinners at the lodge ; guards 
 relieved by wine-puncheons dressed up like field-officers ; 
 the whole accompanied by doggerel verses explanatory of 
 the views. 
 
 The owner of this singular chamber had, however, not 
 merely devoted his walls to the purposes of an album, but 
 he had also made them perform the part of a memorandum- 
 book. Here were the " meets " of the Kildare and the 
 Dubber for the month of March ; there the turn of duty for 
 the garrison of Dublin, interspersed with such fragments as 
 the following : " Mem. — To dine at Mat Kean's on Tues- 
 day, 4th. — Xot to pay Hennesy till he settles about the 
 handicap. — To ask Courtenay for Fanny Burke's fan ; the 
 same Fanny has pretty legs of her own. — To tell Holmes 
 to have nothing to do with Lanty Moore's niece, in regard 
 to a reason ! — Five to two on Giles's two-year-old, if Tom 
 likes. — N.B. The mare is a roarer. — A heavenly daj T , what 
 fun they must have ! — May the devil fire Tom 0' Flaherty, 
 or I would not be here now." These and a hundred other 
 similar passages figured on every side, leaving me in a state 
 of considerable mystification, not as to the character of my 
 host, of which I could guess something, but as to the nature 
 
THE CASTLE. 
 
 17 
 
 =3 P- 
 
 ?^feF 
 
 of his abode, which I could not imagine to be a barrack- 
 room. 
 
 As I lay thus pondering, the door cautiously opened, and 
 a figure appeared, which, as I had abundant leisure to ex- 
 amine it, and as the individual is one who occasionally 
 turns up in the course of my history, I may as well take 
 the present opportunity of presenting to my reader. The 
 man who entered, scarcely more than four feet and a half 
 high, might be about sixty 
 years of age. His head, enor- 
 mously disproportioned to the 
 rest of his figure, presented 
 a number of flat surfaces, as 
 though Nature had originally 
 destined it for a crystal. 
 Upon one of these planes the 
 eyes were set, and although 
 as far apart as possible, yet 
 upon such terms of distance 
 were they that they never, 
 even by an accident, looked 
 in the same direction. The 
 nose was short and snubby; 
 the nostrils wide and ex- 
 panded, as if the feature had 
 been pitched against the face 
 in a moment of ill temper, 
 
 and flattened by the force. As for the mouth, it looked 
 like the malicious gash of a blunt instrument, jagged, 
 ragged, and uneven. It had not even the common-place 
 advantage of being parallel to the horizon, but ran in an 
 oblique direction from right to left, enclosed between a 
 parenthesis of the crankiest wrinkles that ever human 
 cheek were creased by. The head would have been bald 
 but for a scanty wig, technically called a "jasy," which, 
 shrunk by time, now merely occupied the apex of the scalp, 
 where it moved about with every action of the forehead 
 and eyebrows, and was thus made to minister to the expres- 
 
 VOL I. — 2 
 
18 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 sion of a hundred emotions that other men's wigs know 
 nothing about. Truly, it was the strangest peruke that 
 ever covered a human cranium ; I do not believe that an- 
 other like it ever existed. It had nothing in common with 
 other wigs ; it was like its owner, perfectly sui generis. 
 It had not the easy flow and wavy curl of the old beau ; it 
 had not the methodical precision and rectilinear propriety 
 of the elderly gentleman ; it was not full like a lawyer's, 
 nor horse-shoed like a bishop's. No ; it was a cross-grained, 
 ill-tempered, ill-conditioned old scratch, that looked like 
 nothing under heaven save the husk of a hedge-hog. 
 
 The dress of this strange figure was a suit of very 
 gorgeous light-brown livery, with orange facings ; a green 
 plush waistcoat and shorts, frogged, flapped, and embroi- 
 dered most lavishly Avith gold lace ; silk stockings, with 
 shoes, whose enormous buckles covered nearly the entire 
 foot, and rivalled, in their paste brilliancy, the piercing 
 brightness of the wearer's eye. Having closed the door 
 carefully behind him, he walked towards the chimney, 
 with a certain air of solemn and imposing dignity that 
 very nearly overcame all my efforts at seriousness, — his 
 outstretched and expanded hands, his averted toes and 
 waddling gait, giving him a most distressing resemblance 
 to the spread eagle of Prussia, had that respectable bird 
 been pleased to take a promenade in a showy livery. Hav- 
 ing snuffed the candles, and helped himself to a pinch of 
 snuff from a gold box on the mantelpiece, he stuck his 
 arms, nearly to the elbows, in the ample pockets of his 
 coat, and with his head a little elevated, and his under-lip 
 slightly protruded, seemed to meditate upon the mutability 
 of human affairs and the vanity of all worldly pursuits. 
 
 I coughed a couple of times to attract his attention, and 
 having succeeded in catching his eye, I begged, in my 
 blandest imaginable voice, to know where I was. 
 
 " Where are ye, is it ? " said he, repeating my question 
 in a tone of the most sharp and querulous intonation, to 
 which not even his brogue could lend one touch of softness. 
 " Where are ye ? And where would you like to be ; or where 
 
THE CASTLE. 19 
 
 would any one be that was disgracing himself, or black- 
 guarding about the streets till he got his head cut and his 
 clothes torn, but in Master Phil's room ? — devil other com- 
 pany it 's used to. Well, well ! It is more like a watch- 
 house nor a gentleman's parlor, the same room. It 's little 
 his father, the judge," — here he crossed himself piously, — 
 " it is little he thought the company his son would be keep- 
 ing ; but it is no matter. I gave him warning last Tuesday, 
 and with the blessing o' God — " 
 
 The remainder of this speech was lost in a low muttering 
 grumble, which, I afterwards learned, was his usual manner 
 of closing an oration, — a few broken and indistinct phrases 
 being only audible, such as, " Sarve you right," — " Fifty 
 years in the family," — " Slaving like a negur," — " Oh, the 
 Turks ! the Haythins ! " 
 
 Having waited what I deemed a reasonable time for his 
 honest indignation to evaporate, I made another effort to 
 ascertain who my host might be. 
 
 " Would you favor me," said I, in a tone still more insin- 
 uating, " with the name of — " 
 
 " It 's my name ye want ? Oh, sorrow bit I am ashamed 
 of it ! Little as you think of me, Cornelius Delany is as 
 good a warrant for family as many a one of the dirty 
 spalpeens about the coort, that have n't a civiller word in 
 their mouth than Cross Corny ! Bad luck to them for that 
 same ! " 
 
 This honest admission as to the world's opinion of Mister 
 Delany's character was so far satisfactory as it enabled me 
 to see with whom I had to deal ; and although for a mo- 
 ment or two it was a severe struggle to prevent myself 
 bursting into laughter, I fortunately obtained the mastery, 
 and once more returned to the charge. 
 
 "And now, Mister Delany, can you inform me how I 
 came here ? I remember something of an accident on my 
 landing ; but when, where, and how, I am totally ignorant." 
 
 " An accident ! " said he, turning up his eyes, " an acci- 
 dent, indeed ! That 's what they always call it, when they 
 wring off the rappers, or bate the watch. Ye came here in 
 
20 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 a hackney-coach, with the police, as many a one came before 
 you." 
 
 "But where am I ?" said I, impatiently. 
 
 " In Dublin Castle ; bad luck to it for a riotous, disorderly 
 place ! " 
 
 " Well, well," said I, half angrily, " I want to know whose 
 room is this ? " 
 
 "Captain O'Grady's. What have you to say agin the 
 room ? Maybe you 're used to worse. There, now, that 's 
 what you got for that. I 'm laving the place next week ; 
 but that 's no rason — " 
 
 Here he went off diminuendo again, with a few flying 
 imprecations upon several things and persons unknown. 
 
 Mister Delany now dived for a few seconds into a small 
 pantry at the end of the room, from which he emerged 
 with a tray between his hands, and two decanters under 
 his arms. 
 
 " Draw the little table this way," he cried, " more towards 
 the fire ; for, av coorse, you 're fresh and fastin'. There 
 now, take the sherry from under my arm, — the other 's 
 port ; that was a ham, till Captain Mills cut it away, as ye 
 see ; there 's a veal pie, and here 's a cold grouse ; and 
 maybe you 've eat worse before now, — and will again, 
 plaze God." 
 
 I assured him of the truth of his observation in a most 
 conciliating tone. 
 
 " Oh, the devil fear ye ! " was the reply ; while he mur- 
 mured somewhat lower, — " the half of yees is n't used to 
 meat twice in the week." 
 
 " Capital fare, this, Mister Delany," said I, as, half fam- 
 ished with long fasting, I helped myself a second time. 
 
 " You 're eating as if you liked it," said he, with a shrug 
 of his shoulders. 
 
 " Upon my word," said I, after throwing down a bumper 
 of sherry, " that 's a very pleasant glass of wine ; and, on 
 the whole, I should say there are worse places than this in 
 the world." 
 
 A look of unutterable contempt — whether at me for my 
 
THE CASTLE. 21 
 
 discovery, or at the opinion itself, I can't say — was the 
 sole reply of my friend; who, at the same moment, pre- 
 suming I had had sufficient opportunities for the judgment 
 I pronounced, replaced the decanters upon the tray, and 
 disappeared with the entire in the most grave and solemn 
 manner. 
 
 Repressing a very great inclination to laughter, I sat 
 still ; and a silence of a few moments ensued, when Mister 
 Delany walked towards the window, and, drawing aside the 
 curtains, looked out. All was in darkness save on the 
 opposite side of the courtyard, where a blaze of light fell 
 upon the pavement from over the half shutters of an ap- 
 parently spacious apartment. " Ay, ay, there you go ! hip, 
 hip, hurrah ! You waste more liquor every night than would 
 float a lighter ; that 's all you 're good for, bad luck to your 
 Grace! — making fun of the people, laughing and singing 
 as if the potatoes was n't two shillings a stone." 
 
 " What 's going on there ? " said I. 
 
 " The ould work, nay ther more nor less, — the lord liftin- 
 nant and the bishops and the jidges and all the privy 
 councillors roaring drunk. Listen to them ! May I never 
 if it is n't the dean's voice I hear, — the ould beast! he is 
 singing ( The Night before Larry was stretched.' " 
 
 "That's a good fellow, Corny — Mister Delany, I mean: 
 do open the window for a little, and let 's hear them." 
 
 "It's a blessed night you'd have the window open to 
 listen to a set of drunken devils. But here 's Master Phil ; 
 I know his step well. It 's long before his father that 's 
 gone would come tearing up the stairs that way as if the 
 bailiffs was after him; rack and ruin, sorrow else, av I 
 never got a place — the Haythins ! the Turks!" 
 
 Mister Delany, who probably from motives of delicacy 
 wished to spare his master the pain of an interview, made 
 his exit by one door as he came in at the other. I had 
 barely time to see that the person before me was in every 
 respect the very opposite of his follower, when he called 
 out in a rich, mellow voice, — 
 
 " All right again, I hope, Mr. Hinton ? It 's the first 
 
22 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 moment I could get away ; we had a dinner at the Privy 
 Council, and some of them are rather late sitters. You 're 
 not hurt, I trust ? " 
 
 "A little bruised, or so, nothing more; but, pray, how- 
 did I fall into such kind hands ? " 
 
 " Oh, the watchman, it seems, could read ; and as your 
 trunks were addressed to the Castle, they concluded you 
 ought to go there also. You have despatches have n't 
 you ? " 
 
 " Yes," said I, producing the packet ; " when must they 
 be delivered ? " 
 
 "Oh, at once. Do you think you could make a little 
 change in your dress, and manage to come over ? His Grace 
 always likes it better; there's no stiffness, no formality 
 whatever. Most of the dinner-party have gone home ; there 
 are only a few of the government people, the duke's 
 friends, remaining ; and, besides, he 's always kind and 
 good-natured." 
 
 " I '11 see what I can do," replied I, as I rose from the 
 sofa; "I put myself into your hands altogether." 
 
 "Well, come along," said he; "you'll find everything 
 ready in this room. I hope that old villain has left hot 
 water. Corny, Corny, I say ! confound him, he 's gone to 
 bed, I suppose." 
 
 Having no particular desire for Mister Delany's attentions, 
 I prevailed on his master not to disturb him, and proceeded 
 to make my toilette as well as I was able. 
 
 " Did n't that stupid scoundrel come near you at all ? " 
 cried O'Grady. 
 
 "Oh, yes, we have had along interview; but, somehow, 
 I fear I did not succeed in gaining his good graces." 
 
 " The worst-tempered old villain in Europe." 
 
 " Somewhat of a character, I take it." 
 
 "A crab-tree planted in a lime-kiln, cranky and cross- 
 grained ; but he is a legacy, almost the only one my father 
 left me. I 've done my best to part with him every day for 
 the last twelve years, but he sticks to me like a poor rela- 
 tion, giving me warning every night of his life, and every 
 
THE CASTLE. 23 
 
 morning kicking up such a row in the house that every one 
 is persuaded I am beating him to a jelly before turning 
 him out to, starve in the streets." 
 
 " Oh, the Haythins ! the Turks ! " said I, slyly. 
 
 " Confound it ! " cried he, " the old devil has been open- 
 ing upon you already ! And yet, with all that, I don't know 
 how I should get on without Corny ; his gibes, his jeers, his 
 everlasting ill-temper, his crankiness that never sleeps, 
 seem to agree with me ! The fact is, one enjoys the world 
 from its contrasts ; the olive is a poor thing in itself, but 
 it certainly improves the smack of your Burgundy. In this 
 way Corny Delany does me good service. Come, by Jove, 
 you have not been long dressing. This way : now follow 
 me." So saying, Captain O'Grady led the way down the 
 stairs to the piazza, following which to the opposite side 
 of the quadrangle we arrived at a brilliantly-lighted hall, 
 where several servants in full-dress liveries were in wait- 
 ing. Passing hastily through this, we mounted a handsome 
 staircase, and traversing several antechambers, at length 
 arrived at one whose contiguity to the dinner-room I could 
 guess at from the loud sound of many voices. " Wait one 
 moment here," said my companion, "until I speak to his 
 Grace." He disappeared as he spoke, but before a minute 
 had elapsed he was again beside me. " Come this way ; 
 it's all right," said he. The next moment I found myself 
 in the dinner-room. 
 
 The scene before me was altogether so different from 
 what I had expected, that for a moment or two I could 
 scarce do aught else than stand still to survey it. At a 
 table which had been laid for about forty persons, scarcely 
 more than a dozen were now present. Collected together 
 at one end of the board, the whole party were roaring with 
 laughter at some story of a strange, melancholy-looking 
 man, whose whining voice added indescribable ridicule to 
 the drollery of his narrative. Gray-headed general officers, 
 grave-looking divines, lynx-eyed lawyers, had all giveo 
 way under the irresistible impulse, and the very table 
 shook with laughter. 
 
24 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " Mr. Hinton, your Excellency," said O'Grady, for the 
 third time, while the duke wiped his eye with his napkin, 
 and pushing his chair a little back from the table motioned 
 me to approach. 
 
 " Ah, Hinton, glad to see you. How is your father, a very 
 old friend of mine, indeed ; and Lady Charlotte, — well, I 
 hope ? O'Grady tells me you 've had an accident, — some- 
 thing slight, I trust. So these are the despatches." Here 
 he broke the seal of the envelope and ran his eye over the 
 contents. " There, that 's your concern." So saying, he 
 pitched a letter across the table to a shrewd-looking person- 
 age in a horseshoe wig. " They won't do it, Dean, and we 
 must wait. Ah, so they don't like my new commis- 
 sioners ! But, Hinton, my boy, sit down. O'Grady, have 
 you room there ? A glass of wine with you." 
 
 "Nothing the worse of your mishap, sir?" said the 
 melancholy-looking man who sat opposite to me. 
 
 I replied by briefly relating my accident. 
 
 "Strange enough," said he, in a compassionate tone, 
 " your head should have suffered ; your countrymen gen- 
 erally fall upon their legs in Ireland." This was said with 
 a sly look at the viceroy, who, deep in his despatches, paid 
 no attention to the allusion. 
 
 " A very singular thing, I must confess," said the duke, 
 laying down the paper. " This is the fourth time the 
 bearer of despatches has met with an accident. If they 
 don't run foul of a rock in the Channel they are sure to 
 have a delay on the pier." 
 
 " It is so natural, my lord," said the gloomy man, " that 
 the carriers should stop at the pigeon-house." 
 
 " Do be quiet, Curran," cried the duke, " and pass round 
 the decanter ; they '11 not take the duty off claret, it seems." 
 
 " And Day, my lord, won't put the claret on duty ; he 
 has kept the wine at his elbow for the last half hour. 
 Upon my soul, your Grace ought to knight him." 
 
 " Not even his Excellency's habits," said a sharp, clever- 
 looking man, " would excuse his converting Day into 
 knight." 
 
THE CASTLE. 25 
 
 Amid a shower of smart, caustic, and witty sayings, droll 
 stories, retort and repartee, the wine circulated freely from 
 hand to hand, — the presence of the duke adding fresh 
 impulse to the sallies of fun and merriment around him. 
 Anecdotes of the army, the bench, and the bar poured in 
 unceasingly, accompanied by running commentaries of the 
 hearers, who never let slip an opportunity for a jest or a 
 rejoinder. To me the most singular feature of all this was 
 that no one seemed too old or too dignified, too high in 
 station or too venerable from office, to join in this head- 
 long current of conviviality; austere churchmen, erudite 
 chief-justices, profound politicians, privy councillors, mili- 
 tary officers of high rank and standing, were here all mixed 
 up together into one strange medley, apparently bent on 
 throwing an air of ridicule over the graver business of life, 
 and laughing alike at themselves and the world. Nothing 
 was too grave for a jest, nothing too solemn for a sarcasm. 
 All the soldier's experience of men and manners, all the 
 lawyer's acuteness of perception and readiness of wit, all 
 the politician's practised tact and habitual subtlety, were 
 brought to bear upon the common topics of the day with 
 such promptitude and such power that one knew not 
 whether to be more struck by the mass of information they 
 possessed, or by that strange fatality which could make 
 men, so great and so gifted, satisfied to jest where they 
 might be called on to judge. 
 
 Play and politics, wine and women, debts and duels, were| 
 discussed not only with an absence of all restraint, but with 
 a deep knowledge of the world and a profound insight into 
 the heart, which often imparted to the careless and random 
 speech the sharpness of the most cutting sarcasm. Per- 
 sonalities too were rife : no one spared his neighbor, for he_j 
 did not expect mercy for himself ; and the luckless wight 
 who tripped in his narrative or stumbled in his story was 
 assailed on every side, until some happy expedient of his 
 own, or some new victim being discovered, the attack would 
 take another direction, and leave him once more at liberty. 
 I feel how sadly inadequate I am to render even the faint- 
 
26 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 est testimony to the talents of those any one of whom in 
 after life would have been considered to have made the 
 fortune of a dinner-party, and who now were met together, 
 not in the careless ease and lounging indifference of relaxa- 
 tion, but in the open arena where wit met wit, and where 
 even the most brilliant talker, the happiest relator, the 
 quickest in sarcasm, and the readiest in reply felt he had 
 need of all his weapons to defend and protect him. This 
 was no war of partisans, but a melee tournament, where 
 each man rode down his neighbor, with no other reason for 
 attack than the rent in his armor. Even the viceroy him- 
 self, who as judge of the lists might be supposed to enjoy 
 an immunity, was not safe here ; and many an arrow, ap- 
 parently shot at an adversary, was sent quivering into 
 his corslet. 
 
 As I watched with all the intense excitement of one to 
 whom such a display was perfectly new, I could not help 
 feeling how fortunate it was that the grave avocations and 
 the venerable pursuits of the greater number of the party 
 should prevent this firework of wit from bursting into the 
 blaze of open animosity. I hinted as much to my neigh- 
 bour O'Grady, who at once broke into a fit of laughter at 
 my ignorance ; and I now learned to my amazement that 
 the Common Pleas had winged the Exchequer, that the 
 attorney-general had pinked the Rolls, and, stranger than 
 all, that the provost of the University himself had planted 
 his man in the Phoenix. 
 
 " It is just as well for us," continued he in a whisper, 
 " that the churchmen can't go out ; for the clean yonder can 
 snuff a candle at twenty paces, and is rather a hot-tempered 
 fellow to boot. But come, now ; his Grace is about to rise. 
 We have a field-day to-morrow in the park, and break up 
 somewhat earlier in consequence." 
 
 As it was now near two o'clock I could see nothing to cavil 
 at as to the earliness of the hour ; although I freely confess, 
 tired and exhausted as I felt, I could not contemplate the 
 moment of separation without a sad foreboding that I never 
 should look upon the like again. The party rose at this 
 
THE CASTLE. 27 
 
 moment, and the duke, shaking hands cordially with each 
 person as he passed down, wished us all a good-night. I 
 followed with O'Grady and some others of the household, 
 but when I reached the antechamber my new friend volun- 
 teered his services to see me to my quarters. 
 
 On traversing the lower castle-yard we mounted an old- 
 fashioned and rickety stair, which conducted to a gloomy, 
 ill-lighted corridor. I was too much fatigued, however, to 
 be critical at the moment ; and so, having thanked O'Grady 
 for all his kindness, I threw off my clothes hastily, and 
 before my head was well upon the pillow was sound 
 asleep. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE BREAKFAST. 
 
 There are few persons so unreflective as not to give way 
 to a little self-examination on waking for the first time in 
 a strange place. The very objects about are so many ap- 
 peals to your ingenuity or to your memory that you can- 
 not fail asking yourself how you became acquainted with 
 them ; the present is thus made the herald of the past, and 
 it is difficult, when unravelling the tangled web of doubt 
 that assails you, not to think over the path by which you 
 have been travelling. 
 
 As for me, scarcely were my eyes opened to the light, I 
 had barely thrown one glance around my cold and comfort- 
 less chamber, when thoughts of home came rushing to my 
 mind. The warm earnestness of my father, the timid 
 dreads of my poor mother, rose up before me, as I felt my- 
 self for the first time alone in the world. The elevating 
 sense of heroism, that more or less blends with every young 
 man's dreams of life, gilds our first journey from our 
 father's roof. There is a feeling of freedom in being the 
 arbiter of one's actions, to go where you will and when you 
 will. Till that moment the world has been a comparative 
 blank ; the trammels of school or the ties of tutorship 
 have bound and restrained you. You have been living, as 
 it were, within the rules of court, — certain petty privileges 
 permitted, certain small liberties allowed ; but now you 
 come forth disenchanted, disenthralled, emancipated, free 
 to come as to go, — a man in all the plenitude of his voli- 
 tion, and, better still, a man without the heavy depressing 
 weight of responsibility that makes manhood less a bless- 
 ing than a burden. The first burst of life is indeed a 
 
3ITY 1 
 
 ^•"THE BREAKFAST. 29 
 
 glorious thing ; youth, health, hope, and confidence have 
 each a force and vigor they lose in after years. Life is 
 then a splendid river, and we are swimming with the 
 stream ; no" adverse waves to weary, no billows to buffet us, 
 we hold on our course rejoicing. 
 
 The sun was peering between the curtains of my window, 
 and playing in fitful flashes on the old oak floor, as I lay 
 thus ruminating and dreaming over the future. How many 
 a resolve did I then make for my guidance ; how many an 
 intention did I form ; how many a groundwork of princi- 
 ple did I lay down, with all the confidence of youth ! 
 I fashioned to myself a world after my own notions, in 
 which I conjured up certain imaginary difficulties, all of 
 which were surmounted by my admirable tact and con- 
 summate cleverness. I remembered how, at both Eton and 
 Sandhurst, the Irish boy was generally made the subject of 
 some jest or quiz, — at one time for his accent, at another 
 for his blunders. As a Guardsman, short as had been my 
 experience of the service, I could plainly see that a certain 
 indefinable tone of superiority was ever asserted towards 
 our friends across the sea. A wide-sweeping prejudice, 
 whose limits were neither founded in reason, justice, nor 
 common-sense, had thrown a certain air of undervaluing 
 import over every one and every thing from that country. 
 Not only were its faults and its follies heavily visited, but 
 those accidental and trifling blemishes, — those slight and 
 scarce perceptible deviations from the arbitrary standard of 
 fashion, — were deemed the strong characteristics of the 
 nation, and condemned accordingly ; while the slightest use 
 of any exaggeration in speech, the commonest employ- 
 ment of a figure or a metaphor, the causal introduction of 
 an anecdote or a repartee, were all heavily censured, and 
 pronounced " so very Irish ! " Let some fortune-hunter 
 carry off an heiress ; let a lady trip over her train at the 
 drawing-room ; let a minister blunder in his mission ; let a 
 powder-magazine explode and blow up one half of the sur- 
 rounding population, — there was but one expression to 
 qualify all, " How Irish ! how very Irish ! " The adjective 
 
30 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 had become one of depreciation ; and an Irish lord, an Irish 
 member, an Irish estate, and an Irish diamond were held 
 pretty much in the same estimation. 
 
 Reared in the very hotbed, the forcing-house of such 
 exaggerated prejudice, while imbibing a very sufficient con- 
 tempt for everything in that country, I obtained proportion- 
 ably absurd notions of all that was English. Our principles 
 may come from our fathers : our prejudices certainly de- 
 scend from the female branch. Now, my mother, notwith- 
 standing the example of the Prince Regent himself, whose 
 chosen associates were Irish, was most thoroughly exclusive 
 on this point. She would admit that a native of that coun- 
 try could be invited to an evening party under extreme and 
 urgent circumstances ; that some brilliant orator, whose 
 eloquence was at once the dread and the delight of the house, 
 — that some gifted poet, whose verses came home to the 
 heart alike of prince and peasant, — that the painter, whose 
 canvas might stand unblushingly amid the greatest triumphs 
 of art, — could be asked to lionize for those cold and callous 
 votaries of fashion, across the lake of whose stagnant na- 
 ture no breath of feeling stirred, esteeming it the while 
 that in her card of invitation he was reaping the proudest 
 proof of his success; but that such could be made acquain- 
 tances or companions, could be regarded in the light of 
 equals or intimates, — the thing never entered into her im- 
 agination, and she would as soon have made a confidant of 
 the King of Kongo as a gentleman from Connaught. 
 
 Less for the purposes of dwelling upon my lady-mother's 
 " Hibernian horrors " than of showing the school in which 
 I was trained, I have made this somewhat lenghtened exposL 
 It may, however, convey to my reader some faint impres- 
 sion of the feelings which animated me at the outset of my 
 career in Ireland. 
 
 I have already mentioned the delight I experienced with 
 the society at the viceroy's table. So much brilliancy, so 
 much wit, so much of conversational power, until that mo- 
 ment I had no conception of. Now, however, while reflect- 
 ing on it, I was actually astonished to find how far the 
 
THE BREAKFAST. 31 
 
 whole scene contributed to the support of my ancient preju- 
 dices. I well knew that a party of the highest functionaries 
 — bishops, and law-officers of the crown — would not have 
 conducted themselves in the same manner in England. I 
 stopped not to inquire whether it was more the wit or the 
 Avill that was wanting ; I did not dwell upon the fact that 
 the meeting was a purely convivial one, to which I was ad- 
 mitted by the kindness and condescension of the duke, — but 
 so easily will a warped and bigoted impression find food for 
 its indulgence, I only saw in the meeting an additional evi- 
 dence of my early convictions. How far my theorizing on 
 this point might have led me, — whether eventually I should 
 have come to the conclusion that the Irish nation were 
 lying in the darkest blindness of barbarism, while by a spe- 
 cial intervention of Providence I was about to be erected 
 into a species of double revolving light, — it is difficult to 
 say, when a tap at the door suddenly aroused me from my 
 musings. 
 
 " Are ye awake yet ? " said a harsh, husky voice, like a 
 bear in bronchitis, which I had no difficulty in pronouncing 
 to be Corny's. 
 
 " Yes, come in," cried I. " What hour is it ? " 
 
 " Somewhere after ten," replied he, sulkily. " You 're the 
 first I ever heerd ask the clock in the eight years I have 
 lived here. Are ye ready for your morning ? '" 
 
 " My what ? " said I, with some surprise. 
 
 " Did n't I say it plain enough ? Is it the brogue that 
 bothers you ? " As he said this with a most sarcastic grin, 
 he poured, from a large jug he held in one hand, a brim- 
 ming goblet full of some white compound, and handed it 
 over to me. Preferring at once to explore, rather than to 
 question the intractable Corny, I put it to my lips, and 
 found it to be capital milk-punch, concocted with great 
 skill, and seasoned with what O'Grady afterwards called 
 " a notion of nutmeg." 
 
 " Oh, devil fear you, that ye '11 like it. Sorrow one of 
 you ever left as much in the jug as 'ud make a foot-bath for 
 a flea." 
 
32 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 "They don't treat you over-well, then, Corny?" said I, 
 purposely opening the sorest wound of his nature. 
 
 " Trate me well ! faix, them that 'ud come here for good 
 tratement would go to the devil for divarsion. There 's 
 Master Phil himself, that I used to bate when he was a 
 child, — many 's the time when his father, rest his sowl, was 
 up at the courts, — ay, strapped him, till he had n't a spot 
 that was n't sore an him. And look at him now ; oh, wirra! 
 you 'd think I never took a ha'porth of pains with him. 
 Ugh ! the Haythins ! the Turks ! " 
 
 " This is all very bad, Corny. Hand me those boots." 
 
 " And thim 's boots ! " said he, with a contemptuous ex- 
 pression on his face that would have struck horror to the 
 heart of Hoby. " Well, well ! " Here he looked up as 
 though the profligacy and degeneracy of the age were 
 transgressing all bounds. " When you 're ready, come 
 over to the master's, for he 's waiting breakfast for you. 
 A beautiful hour for breakfast it is ! Many 's the day 
 his father sintenced a whole dock full before the same 
 time ! " 
 
 With the comforting reflection that the world went better 
 in his youth, Corny drained the few remaining drops of 
 the jug, and muttering the while something that did not 
 sound exactly like a blessing, waddled out of the room 
 with a gait of the most imposing gravity. 
 
 I had very little difficulty in finding my friend's quar- 
 ters ; for as his door lay open, and as he himself was 
 carolling away, at the very top of his lungs, some popular 
 melody of the day, I speedily found nvyself beyond the 
 threshold. 
 
 " Ah, Hinton, my hearty, how goes it ? Your head-piece 
 nothing the worse, I hope, for either the car or the claret ? 
 By-the-bye, capital claret that is ; you 've nothing like it in 
 England." 
 
 I could scarce help a smile at the remark, as O'Grady 
 proceeded, — 
 
 " But, come, my boy, sit down ; help yourself to a cutlet, 
 and make yourself quite at home in Mount O'Grady." 
 
THE BREAKFAST. 33 
 
 " Mount O'Grady ! " repeated I. " Ha ! in allusion, I 
 suppose, to these confounded two flights one has to climb 
 up to you.'\ 
 
 " Nothing of the kind ; the name has a very different 
 origin. Tea or coffee ? — there 's the congou. Now, my boy, 
 the fact is we O'Gradys were once upon a time very great 
 folk in our way ; lived in an uncouth old barrack, with 
 battlements and a keep, upon the Shannon, where we rav- 
 aged the country for miles round, and did as much mis- 
 chief, and committed as much pillage upon the peaceable 
 inhabitants, as any respectable old family in the province. 
 Time, however, wagged on ; luck changed ; your countrymen 
 came pouring in upon us with new-fangled notions of read- 
 ing, writing, and road-making ; police and petty sessions, 
 and a thousand other vexatious contrivances followed, 
 to worry and puzzle the heads of simple country gentle- 
 men, — so that at last, instead of taking to the hillside for 
 our mutton, we were reduced to keep a market-cart, and 
 employ a thieving rogue in Dublin to supply us with poor 
 claret, instead of making a trip over to Galway, where a 
 smuggling craft brought us our lush, with a bouquet fresh 
 from Bordeaux. But the worst was n't com~ ; for you see 
 a litigious spirit grew up in the country, and a kind of 
 vindictive habit of pursuing you for your debts. Now, we 
 always contrived, somehow or other, to have rather a con- 
 fused way of managing our exchequer. No tenant on the 
 property ever precisely knew what he owed ; and as we 
 possessed no record of what he paid, our income was rather 
 obtained after the manner of levying a tribute than receiv- 
 ing a legal debt. Meanwhile we pushed our credit like a 
 new colony. Whenever a loan was to be obtained, it was 
 little we cared for ten, twelve, or even fifteen per cent ; 
 and as we kept a jolly house, a good cook, good claret, and 
 had the best pack of beagles in the country, he 'd have 
 been a hardy creditor who 'd have ventured to push us to 
 extremities. Even sheep, however, they say, get courage 
 when they flock together ; and so this contemptible herd of 
 tailors, tithe-proctors, butchers, barristers, and bootmakers 
 
 VOL. I. — 3 
 
34 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 took heart of grace, and laid siege to us in all form. My 
 grandfather, Phil, — for I was called after hirn, — who 
 always spent his money like a gentleman, had no notion of 
 figuring in the Four Courts ; but he sent Tom Darcy, his 
 cousin, up to town, to call out as many of the plaintiffs as 
 would fight, and to threaten the remainder that if they did 
 not withdraw their suits they 'd have more need of the sur- 
 geon than the attorney-general, for they should n't have a 
 whole bone in their body by Michaelmas Day. Another 
 cutlet, Hinton ; but I am tiring you with all these family 
 matters." 
 
 " iTot at all ; go on, I beg of you. I want to hear how 
 your grandfather got out of his difficulties." 
 
 " Faith, I wish you could ; it would be equally pleasant 
 news to myself. But, unfortunately, his beautiful plan 
 only made bad worse, for they began fresh actions. Some, 
 for provocation to fight a duel ; others, for threats of as- 
 sault and battery. And the short of it was, as my grand- 
 father wouldn't enter a defence, they obtained their 
 verdicts, and got judgment, with all the costs." 
 
 "The devil they did! That must have pushed him 
 hard." 
 
 " So it did. Indeed, it got the better of his temper ; and 
 he that was one of the heartiest, pleasantest fellows in 
 the province, became, in a manner, morose and silent ; and 
 instead of surrendering possession, peaceably and quietly, 
 he went down to the gate, and took a sitting shot at the 
 sub-sheriff, who was there in a tax-cart." 
 
 " Bless my soul ! Did he kill him ? " 
 
 " No ; he only ruffled his feathers and broke his thigh ; 
 but it was bad enough, for he had to go over to France till 
 it blew over. Well, it was either vexation or the climate, 
 or maybe the weak wines, or perhaps all three, under- 
 mined his constitution ; but he died at eighty-four, — the 
 only one of the family ever cut off early, except such as 
 were shot, or the like." 
 
 " Well, but your father — " 
 
 "I am coming to him. My grandfather sent for him 
 
THE BREAKFAST. 35 
 
 from school when he was dying, and he made him swear he 
 would be a lawyer. 'Morris will be a thorn in their flesh, 
 yet,' said he; 'and look to it, my boy,' he cried, 'I leave 
 you a Chancery suit that has nearly broke eight families 
 and the hearts of two chancellors. See that you keep it 
 going; sell every stick on the estate; put all the beggars 
 in the barony on the property, — beg, borrow, and steal 
 them ; plough up all the grazing-land ; and I '11 tell you 
 a better trick than all — ' Here a fit of coughing inter- 
 rupted the pious old gentleman, and when it was over, so 
 was he ! " 
 
 " Dead ? " said I. 
 
 "As a door-nail! "Well, my father was dutiful; he 
 kept the suit moving till he got called to the bar ! Once 
 there, he gave it all his spare moments ; and when there 
 was nothing going in the Common Pleas or King's Bench 
 he was sure to come doAvn with a new bill or a declaration 
 before the Master, or a writ of error, or a point of law for 
 a jury, till at last, when no case was ready to come on, the 
 sitting judge would call out, 'Let us hear O'Grady,' — 
 in appeal, or in error, or whatever it was. But, to make 
 my story short, my father became a first-rate lawyer by 
 the practice of his own suit ; rose to a silk-gown ; was 
 made solicitor and attorney-general; afterwards, chief- 
 justice — " 
 
 " And the suit — " 
 
 "Oh, the suit survived him, and became my property. 
 But somehow I didn't succeed in the management quite 
 as well as my father ; and I found that my estate cost me 
 somewhere about fifteen hundred a year, — not to mention 
 more oaths than fifty years of purgatory could pay off. 
 This was a high premium to pay for figuring every term on 
 the list of trials, so I raised a thousand pounds on my com- 
 mission, gave it to Kick M'Xamara to take the property off 
 my hands ; and as my father's last injunction was, ' Never 
 rest till you sleep in Mount O'Grady,' — why, I just bap- 
 tized my present abode by that name, and here I live with 
 the easy conscience of a dutiful and affectionate child, 
 
36 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 that took the shortest and speediest way of fulfilling 
 his father's testament." 
 
 " By Jove ! a most singular narrative. I should n't like 
 to have parted with the old place, however." 
 
 " Faith, I don't know ; I never was much there. It was 
 a rackety, tumble-down old concern, with rattling windows, 
 rooks and rats, pretty much like this ; and what between 
 my duns and Corny Delany, I very often think I am back 
 there again. There was n't as good a room as this in the 
 whole house, not to speak of the pictures. Is n't that like- 
 ness of Darcy capital ? You saw him last night ; he sat 
 next Curran. Come, I 've no Curacoa to offer you, but try 
 this Usquebaugh." 
 
 " By-the-bye, that Corny is a strange character. I rather 
 think, if I were you, I should have let him go with the 
 property." 
 
 " Let him go ! Egad, that 's not so easy as you think. 
 Nothing but death will ever part us." 
 
 " I really cannot comprehend how you endure him ; he 'd 
 drive me mad." 
 
 " Well, he very often pushes me a little hard or so ; and 
 if it was n't that by deep study and minute attention 
 I have at length got some insight into the weak parts 
 of his nature, I frankly confess I could n't endure it much 
 longer." 
 
 " And, pray, what may these amiable traits be ? " 
 
 " You will scarcely guess." 
 
 " Love of money, perhaps ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Attachment to your family, then ? " 
 
 " Not that either." 
 
 " I give it up." 
 
 " Well, the truth is, Corny is a most pious Catholic. 
 The Church has unbounded influence and control over all 
 his actions. Secondly, he is a devout believer in ghosts, 
 particularly my grandfather's, which, I must confess, I have 
 personated two or three times myself, when his temper had 
 nearly tortured me into a brain fever ; so that between pur- 
 
THE BREAKFAST. 37 
 
 gatory and apparitions, fears here and hereafter, I keep 
 him pretty busy. There 's a friend of mine, a priest, one 
 Father Tom Loftus — " 
 
 " I 've heard that name before, somewhere." 
 
 " Scarcely, I think ; I 'm not aware that he was ever in 
 England. But he 's a glorious fellow ; I'll make you known 
 to him one of these days ; and when you have seen a little 
 more of Ireland, I am certain you '11 like him. But I 'm 
 forgetting, — it must be late ; we have a field-day, you 
 know, in the park." 
 
 " What am I to do for a mount ? I 've brought no horses 
 with me." 
 
 " Oh, I 've arranged all that. See, there are the nags 
 already, — that dark chestnut I destine for you, — and, come 
 along, we have no time to lose. There go the carriages, 
 and here comes our worthy confrere and fellow aide-de- 
 camp ; do you know him ? " 
 
 " Who is it, pray ? " 
 
 " Lord Dudley de Vere, the most confounded puppy and 
 the emptiest ass — But here he is. De Vere, my friend 
 Mr. Hinton. One of ours." 
 
 His Lordship raised his delicate-looking eyebrows as 
 high as he was able, letting fall his glass at the same 
 moment from the corner of his eye ; and, while he adjusted 
 his stock at the glass, lisped out, — 
 
 " Ah — yes — very happy. In the Guards, I think. 
 Know Douglas, don't you ? " 
 
 "Yes, very slightly." 
 
 " When did you come, — to-day ? " 
 
 " No, last night." 
 
 " Must have got a buffeting ; blew very fresh. You don't 
 happen to know the odds on the Oaks ? " 
 
 " Hecate, they say, is falling. I rather heard a good 
 account of the mare." 
 
 " Indeed ! " said he, while his cold inanimate features 
 brightened up with a momentary flush of excitement. 
 " Take you five to two, or give you the odds, you don't 
 name the winner on the double event." 
 
38 
 
 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 A look from O' Grady decided me at once on declining 
 the proffered wager ; and his Lordship once more returned 
 to the mirror and his self-admiration. 
 
 " I say, O'Grady, do come here for a minute. What the 
 deuce can that be ? " 
 
 Here an immoderate fit of laughter from his Lordship 
 brought us both to the window. The figure to which his 
 
 attention was directed was 
 certainly not a little remark- 
 able. Mounted upon an ani- 
 mal of the smallest possible 
 dimensions, sat, or rather 
 stood, the figure of a tall, 
 gaunt, raw-boned looking 
 man, in a livery of the gaudi- 
 est blue and yellow, his hat 
 garnished with silver lace, 
 while long tags of the same 
 material were festooned 
 gracefully from his shoidder 
 to his breast ; his feet nearly 
 touched the ground, and gave 
 him rather the appearance of 
 one progressing with a pony 
 between his legs than of a 
 figure on horseback He carried under one arm a leather 
 pocket, like a despatch-bag; and as he sauntered slowly 
 about, with his eyes directed hither and thither, seemed 
 like some one in search of some unknown locality. 
 
 The roar of laughter which issued from our window drew 
 his attention to that quarter, and he immediately touched 
 his hat, while a look of pleased recognition played across 
 his countenance. 
 
 " Holloa, Tim ! " cried O'Grady ; " what 's in the wind 
 now ? " 
 
 Tim's answer was inaudible ; but inserting his hand into 
 the leathern conveniency already mentioned, he drew forth 
 a card of most portentous dimensions. By this time Corny's 
 voice could be heard joining the conversation. 
 
THE BREAKFAST. 39 
 
 " Arrah, give it here, and don't be making a baste of your- 
 self! Isn't the very battle-ax guards laughing at you? 
 I 'in sure I wonder how a Christian would make a merry 
 andrew of himself by wearing such clothes ; you 're more 
 like a play-actor nor a respectable servant." 
 
 With these words he snatched, rather thau accepted, the 
 proffered card ; and Tim, with another flourish of his hat, 
 and a singularly droll grin, meant to convey his apprecia- 
 tion of Cross Corny, plunged the spurs till his legs met 
 under the belly of the little animal, and cantered out of 
 the courtyard amid the laughter of the bystanders, in 
 which even the sentinels on duty could not refrain from 
 participating. 
 
 " What the devil can it be ? " cried Lord Dudley ; " he 
 evidently knows you, O'Grady." 
 
 •• And you, too, my lord ; his master has helped you to a 
 cool hundred or two more than once before now." 
 
 " Eh — what — you don't say so ! Not our worthy friend 
 Paul — eh ? Why, confound it, I never should have known 
 Timothy in that dress." 
 
 "No," said O'Grady, slyly; "I acknowledge it is not 
 exactly his costume when he serves a latitat." 
 
 " Ah, ha ! " cried the other, trying to laugh at the joke, 
 which he felt too deeply, "I thought I knew the pony, 
 though. Old three-and-fourpence ; his infernal canter al- 
 ways sounds in my ears like the jargon of a bill of costs." 
 
 " Here comes Corny," said O'Grady. " What have you 
 got there ? " 
 
 " There, 't is for you," replied he, throwing, with an air 
 of the most profound disdain a large card upon the table ; 
 while, as he left the room, he muttered some very saga- 
 cious reflections about the horrors of low company ; his 
 father, the judge, the best in the land ; riotous, disor- 
 derly life, — the whole concluded with an imprecation upon 
 Heathens and Turks, with which he managed to accomplish 
 his exit. 
 
 " Capital, by Jove ! " said Lord Dudley, as he surveyed 
 the card with his glass. " 'Mr. and Mrs. Paul Rooney pre- 
 
40 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 sents ' — the devil they does ! — ' presents their compliments, 
 and requests the honor of Captain O'Grady's company at 
 dinner on Friday, the 8th, at half-past seven o'clock.' 
 How good ! glorious, by Jove ! Eh, O'Grady ! you are 
 a sure ticket there ; l'ami de la maison ? " 
 
 O'Grady's cheek became red at these words ; and a flash- 
 ing expression in his eyes told how deeply he felt them. 
 He turned sharply round, his lip quivering with passion ; 
 then checking himself suddenly, he burst into an affected 
 laugh, — 
 
 " You '11 go, too, won't you ? " 
 
 " I ? No, faith. They caught me once ; but then the 
 fact was a protest and an invitation were both served 
 on me together. I could n't accept one, so I did the 
 other." 
 
 "Well, I must confess," said O'Grady, in a firm, resolute 
 tone, " there may be many more fashionable people than 
 our friends ; but I, for one, scruple not to say I have re- 
 ceived many kindnesses from them, and am deeply, sin- 
 cerely grateful." 
 
 " As far as doing a bit of paper now and then, when one 
 is hard up," said Lord Dudley, " why, perhaps, I 'm some- 
 what of your mind ; but if one must take the discount out 
 in dinners, it 's an infernal bore." 
 
 " And yet," said O'Grady, maliciously, " I 've seen your 
 Lordship tax your powers to play the agreeable at these 
 same dinners ; and I think your memory betrays you in 
 supposing you have only been there once. I myself have 
 met you at least four times." 
 
 " Only shows how devilish hard up I must have been," 
 was the cool reply ; " but now, as the governor begins to 
 behave better, I think I '11 cut Paul." 
 
 " I 'm certain you will," said O'Grady, with an emphasis 
 that could not be mistaken. " But, come, Hinton, we had 
 better be moving. There 's some stir at the portico yonder ; 
 I suppose they 're coming." 
 
 At this moment the tramp of cavalry announced the 
 arrival of the guard of honor. The drums beat ; the troops 
 
THE BREAKFAST. 41 
 
 stood to arms, and we had barely time to mount our horses, 
 when the viceregal party took their places in the carriages, 
 and we all set out for the Phoenix. 
 
 "Confess, Hinton: it is worth while being a soldier to be 
 in Ireland." 
 
 This was O'Grady's observation as we rode down Par- 
 liament Street, beside the carriage of the viceroy. It 
 was the first occasion of a field-day since the arrival of 
 his Excellency, and all Dublin was on the tiptoe of expec- 
 tation at the prospect. Handkerchiefs were waved from 
 the windows ; streamers and banners floated from the 
 house-tops ; patriotic devices and allegoric representations 
 of Erin sitting at a plentiful board, opposite an elderly 
 gentleman with a ducal coronet, met us at every turn of 
 the way. The streets were literally crammed with peo- 
 ple. The band played " Patrick's Day ; " the mob shouted ; 
 his Grace bowed; and down to Phil O'Grady himself, who 
 winked at the pretty girls as he passed, there did not seem 
 an unoccupied man in the whole procession. On we went, 
 following the line of the quays, threading our way through 
 a bare-legged, ragged population, bawling themselves hoarse 
 with energetic desires for prosperity to Ireland. "Yes," 
 thought I, as I looked upon the worn, dilapidated houses, 
 the faded and b} r gone equipages, the tarnished finery of 
 better days, — " yes, my father was right ; these people are 
 very different from their neighbors ; their very prosperity 
 has an air quite peculiar to itself." Everything attested a 
 state of poverty, a lack of trade, a want of comfort and of 
 cleanliness ; but still there was but one expression preva- 
 lent in the mass, — that of unbounded good-humor and 
 gayety. With a philosophy quite his own, poor Paddy 
 seemed to feel a reflected pleasure from the supposed hap- 
 piness of those around him ; the fine clothes, the gorgeous 
 equipages, the prancing chargers, the flowing plumes, — all, 
 in fact, that forms the appurtenances of wealth, constitut- 
 ing in his mind a kind of paradise on earth. He thought 
 their possessors at least ought to be happy, and, like a good- 
 hearted fellow, he was glad of it for their sakes. 
 
42 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 There had been in the early part of the day an abortive 
 effort at a procession. The Lord Mayor and the Sheriffs, 
 in their state liveries, had gone forth with a proud follow- 
 ing of their fellow-citizens ; but a manoeuvre, which hitherto 
 had been supposed exclusively the province of the navy, 
 was here employed with unbounded success ; and the hack- 
 ney coachmen, by " cutting the line " in several places, had 
 completely disorganized the procession, which now pre- 
 sented the singular spectacle of an aldermanic functionary, 
 with emblazoned panels and bedizened horses, followed by 
 a string of rackety jaunting-cars, or a noddy with its four- 
 teen insides. Horsemen there were, too, in abundance. 
 Were I to judge from the spectacle before me, I should say 
 that the Irish were the most equestrian people of the globe ; 
 and at what a pace they went! Caring little or nothing 
 for the foot-passengers, they only drew rein when their 
 blown steeds were unable to go farther, and then dashed 
 onward like a charge, amid a shower of oaths, curses, 
 and imprecations, half drowned in the laughter that burst 
 on every side. Deputations there were also from various 
 branches of trade, entreating their Graces to wear and to 
 patronize the manufacture of the country, and to conform 
 in many respects to its habits and customs, — by all of 
 which, in my then ignorance, I could only understand the 
 vehement desire of the population that the viceregal court 
 should go about in a state of nature, and limit their diet 
 to poteen and potatoes. 
 
 "Fine sight this, Hinton! Isn't it cheering?" said 
 O'Grady, as his eye beamed with pleasure and delight. 
 
 " Why, yes," said I, hesitatingly ; " but don't you think 
 if they wore shoes — " 
 
 "Shoes!" repeated he, contemptuously; "they'd never 
 suffer such restrictions on their liberties. Look at them ! 
 they are the fellows to make soldiers of ! The only fear of 
 half rations with them would be the risk of indigestion." 
 
 On we went, a strange and motley mass, — the only grave 
 faces being a few of those who sat in gilded coaches, with 
 embroidered hammer-cloths ; while every half-naked figure 
 
THE BREAKFAST. 43 
 
 that flitted past had a countenance of reckless jollity and 
 fun. But the same discrepancy that pervaded the people 
 and the procession was visible even in their dwellings ; and 
 the meanest hovels stood side by side with the public and 
 private edifices of elegance and beauty. 
 
 " This, certainly," thought I, " is a strange land," — a 
 reflection I had reason to recur to more than once in my 
 after experience of Ireland. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE REVIEW IN THE PHOENIX. 
 
 Winding along the quays, we crossed an old and dilapi- 
 dated bridge ; and after traversing some narrow and ruinous- 
 looking streets, we entered the park, and at length reached 
 the Fifteen Acres. 
 
 The carriages were drawn up in line ; his Grace's led 
 horses were ordered up, and staff-officers galloped right 
 and left to announce the orders for the troops to stand 
 to arms. 
 
 As the duke descended from his carriage he caught my 
 eye, and turning suddenly towards the duchess, said, " Let 
 me present Mr. Hinton to your Grace." 
 
 While I was making my bows and acknowledgments his 
 Grace put his hand upon my arm. 
 
 " You know Lady Killimore, Hinton ? Never mind, it 's 
 of no consequence. You see her carriage yonder, — they 
 have made some blunder in the road, and the dragoons, it 
 seems, wont let them pass. Just canter down and rescue 
 them." 
 
 " Do, pray, Mr. Hinton," added the duchess. " Poor Lady 
 Killimore is so very nervous she '11 be terrified to death if 
 they make any fuss. Her carriage can come up quite close ; 
 there is plenty of room." 
 
 " Now, do it well," whispered O'Grady ; " there is a pretty 
 girl in the case. It 's your first mission ; acquit yourself 
 with credit." 
 
 An infernal brass band playing "Rule Britannia" within 
 ten paces of me, the buzz of voices, the crowd, the novelty of 
 the situation, the excitement of the moment, — all conspired 
 to addle and confuse me ; so that when I put spurs to my 
 
THE KEVIEW IN THE PHCBNIX. 45 
 
 horse and struck out into a gallop I had no very precise idea 
 of what I was to do, and not the slightest upon earth of 
 where I was to do it. 
 
 A pretty girl in a carriage beset by dragoons was to be 
 
 looked for ; Lady Kil somebody's ecpaipage — " Oh, 
 
 I have it ; there they are," said I, as a yellow barouche, 
 with four steaming posters, caught my eye in a far part of 
 the field. From the number of dragoons that surrounded the 
 carriage, no less than their violent gestures, I could perceive 
 that an altercation had taken place ; pressing my horse to 
 the top of his speed, I flew across the plain, and arrived 
 flushed, heated, and breathless beside the carriage. 
 
 A large and strikingly handsome woman, in a bonnet 
 and plumes of the most gaudy and showy character, was 
 standing upon the front seat, and carrying on an active 
 and, as it seemed, acrimonious controversy with the ser- 
 geant of the horse-police. 
 
 " You must go back ; can't help it, ma'am ; nothing 
 but members of the household can pass this way." 
 
 " Oh, dear ! where 's Captain O'Grady ? Sure, it 's not 
 possible I could be treated this way. Paul, take that man's 
 name, and mind you have him dismissed in the morning. 
 Where are you, Paul ? Ah, he 's gone ! It is the way with 
 him always ; and there you sit, Bob Dwyer, and you are no 
 more good than a stick of sealing-wax ! " 
 
 Here a suppressed titter of laughter from the back of the 
 carriage induced me to turn my eyes in that direction, and 
 I beheld one of the most beautiful girls I ever looked at, 
 holding her handkerchief to her mouth to conceal her 
 laughter. Her dark eyes flashed and her features sparkled, 
 while a blush at being so discovered, if possible, added to 
 her beauty. 
 
 "All right ! " said I to myself, as taking off my hat I bowed 
 to the very mane of my horse. 
 
 " If your Ladyship will kindly permit me," said I, " his 
 Grace has sent me to show you the way." 
 
 The dragoons fell back as I spoke ; the horse-police 
 looked awfully frightened ; while the lady, whose late elo- 
 
46 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 quence manifested little of fear or trepidation, threw her- 
 self back in the carriage, and covering her face with a hand- 
 kerchief, sobbed violently. 
 
 "Ah, the duchess said she was nervous. Poor Lady 
 Kil " 
 
 " Speak to me, Louisa, dear. Who is it ? Is it Mr. 
 Wellesley Pole ? Is it — " 
 
 I did not wait for a further supposition ; but in a most 
 insinuating voice, added, — 
 
 " Mr. Hinton, my lady, extra aide-de-camp on his Excel- 
 lency's staff. The duchess feared you would be nervous, 
 and hopes you '11 get as close to her as possible." 
 
 " Where 's Paul ? " said the lady, once more recovering 
 her animation. " If this is a hoax, young gentleman — " 
 
 " Madam," said I, bowing stiffly, " I am really at a loss to 
 understand your meaning." 
 
 " Oh, forgive me, Mr. Hilton." 
 
 " Hinton, my lady." 
 
 " Yes, Hinton," said she. "lama beast to mistrust you, 
 and you so young and so artless : the sweetest blue eyes I 
 ever looked at." 
 
 This was said in a whisper to her young friend, whose 
 mirth now threatened to burst forth. 
 
 " And was it really his Royal Highness that sent 
 you ? " 
 
 " His Grace, my lady, I assure you, despatched me to 
 your aid. He saw your carriage through his glass, and 
 guessing what had occurred, directed me to ride over and 
 accompany your Ladyship to the viceregal stand." 
 
 Poor Lady Kil 's nervousness again seized her, and 
 
 with a faint cry for the ever-absent Paul, she went off into 
 rather smart hysterics. During this paroxysm I could not 
 help feeling somewhat annoyed at the young lady's con- 
 duct, who, instead of evincing the slightest sympathy for 
 her mother, held her head down, and seemed to shake with 
 laughter. By this time, however, the postilions were 
 again under way, and after ten minutes' sharp trotting we 
 entered the grand stand, with whips cracking, ribbons nut- 
 
THE REVIEW IN THE FIKENIX. 47 
 
 tering, and I myself caracoling beside the carriage with an 
 air of triumphant success. 
 
 A large dusky travelling carriage had meanwhile occu- 
 pied the place the duchess designed for her friend. The 
 only thing to do, therefore, was to place them as conve- 
 niently as I could, and hasten back to inform her Grace of 
 the success of my mission. As I approached her carriage 
 I was saluted with a burst of laughter from the staff, in 
 which the duke himself joined most extravagantly; while 
 O'Grady, with his hands on his sides, threatened to fall 
 from the saddle. 
 
 u What the deuce is the matter ? " thought I ; " I did n't 
 bungle it?" 
 
 " Tell her Grace," said the duke, with his hand upon his 
 mouth, unable to finish the sentence with laughter. 
 
 I saw something was wrong, and that I was in some 
 infernal scrape ; still, resolved to go through with it, I drew 
 near, and said, — 
 
 " I am happy to inform your Grace that — " 
 
 " Lady Kil is here," said the duchess, bowing haugh- 
 tily, as she turned towards a spiteful-looking dowager 
 beside her. 
 
 Here was a mess ! So bowing and backing, I dropped 
 through the crowd to where my companions still stood con- 
 vulsed with merriment. 
 
 " What, in the devil's name, is it ? " said I to O'Grady. 
 " Whom have I been escorting this half hour ? " 
 
 " You 've immortalized yourself," said O'Grady, with a 
 roar of laughter. "Your bill at twelve months for five 
 hundred pounds is as good this moment as bank paper." 
 
 " What is it ? " said I, losing all patience. " Who is she ? " 
 
 " Mrs. Paul Rooney. my boy, the gem of attorneys' wives, 
 the glory of Stephen's Green, with a villa at Bray, a box at 
 the theatre, champagne suppers every night in the week, 
 dinners promiscuously, and lunch a discretion, — there's 
 glory for you ! You may laugh at a latitat, sneer at the 
 King's Bench, and snap your fingers at any process-server 
 from here to Kilmainham ! " 
 
48 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " May the devil fly away with her ! " said I, wiping my 
 forehead with passion and excitement. 
 
 " The heavens forbid ! " said O'Grady, piously. " Our 
 exchequer may be guilty of many an extravagance, but it 
 could not permit such a flight as that. It is evident, 
 Hinton, that you did not see the pretty girl beside her in 
 the carriage." 
 
 "Yes, yes, I saw her," said I, biting my lip with im- 
 patience, "and she seemed evidently enjoying the infernal 
 blunder I was committing. And Mrs. Paul — oh, confound 
 her ! I can never endure the sight of her again ! " 
 
 "My dear young friend," replied O'Grady, with an 
 affected seriousness, " I see that already the prejudices of 
 your very silly countrymen have worked their effect upon 
 you. Had not Lord Dudley de Vere given you such a pic- 
 ture of the Rooney family, you would probably be much 
 more lenient in your judgment; besides, after all, the error 
 was yours, not hers. You told her that the duke had sent 
 you ; you told her the duchess wished her carriage beside 
 her own." 
 
 " You take a singular mode," said I, pettishly, " to bring 
 a man back to a good temper, by showing him that he has 
 no one to blame for his misfortunes but himself. Confound 
 them ! look how they are all laughing about us ! Indeed, 
 from the little I 've seen, it is the only thing they appear 
 to do in this country." 
 
 At a signal from the duke, O'Grady put spurs to his horse 
 and cantered down the line, leaving me to such reflections 
 as I could form beneath the gaze of some forty persons, 
 who could not turn to look without laughing at me. 
 
 " This is pleasant," thought I, "this is really a happy d6but, 
 — that I, whose unimpeachable accuracy of manner and ad- 
 dress should have won for me, at the prince's levee, the 
 approbation of the first gentleman of Europe, should here, 
 among these semi-civilized savages, become an object of ridi- 
 cule and laughter ! " My father had told me they were very 
 different; and my mother — I had not patience to think of 
 the frightful effects my absurd situation might produce 
 
THE REVIEW IN THE PHOENIX. 49 
 
 upon her nerves. Lady Julia, too, — ah, there 's the rub ! — 
 my beautiful cousin, who in the slightest solecism of Lorn 
 don manners could find matter for sarcasm and raillery, — 
 what would she think of me. now ? And this it is they per- 
 suaded me to prefer to active service ! What wound to 
 a man's flesh could equal one to his feelings ? "I would 
 rather be condoled with than scoffed at, any day ; and see, 
 by Jove, they 're laughing still ! I would wager a fifty that 
 I furnish the dinner conversation for every table in the 
 capital this day." 
 
 The vine-twig shows not more ingenuity as it traverses 
 some rocky crag in search of the cool stream, at once its 
 luxury and its life, than does our injured self-love in seek- 
 ing for consolation from the inevitable casualties of fate 
 and the irresistible strokes of fortune ! Thus I found com- 
 fort in the thought that the ridicule attached to me rather 
 proceeded from the low standard of manners and habits 
 about me than from anything positively absurd in m}' posi- 
 tion ; and in my warped and biassed imagination I actually 
 preferred the insolent insipidity of Lord Dudley de Vere 
 to the hearty raciness and laughter-loving spirit of Phil 
 O'Grady. 
 
 My reflections were now cut short by the order for the 
 staff to mount, and, following the current of my present 
 feelings, I drew near to Lord Dudley, in whose emptiness 
 and inanity I felt a degree of security from sarcasm 
 that I could by no means be so confident of in O'Grady's 
 company. 
 
 Amid the thunder of cannon, the deafening roll of drums, 
 the tramp of cavalry, and the measured foot-fall of the 
 infantry columns, these thoughts rapidly gave way to 
 others, and I soon forgot myself in the scene around me. 
 The sight, indeed, was an inspiriting one ; for although 
 but the mockery of glorious war, to my unpractised eye the 
 deception was delightful. The bracing air, the bright sky, 
 the scenery itself, lent their aid, and in the brilliant pano- 
 rama before me I soon regained my light-heartedness, and 
 felt happy as before. 
 
 VOL. I. — 4 
 
CHAPTEK VI. 
 
 THE SHAM BATTLE. 
 
 I have mentioned in my last chapter how very rapidly I 
 forgot my troubles in the excitement of the scene around 
 me. Indeed, they must have been much more important, 
 much deeper woes, to have occupied any place in a head so 
 addled and confused as mine was. The manoeuvres of the 
 day included a sham battle ; and scarcely had his Excellency 
 passed down the line, when preparations for the engage- 
 ment began. The heavy artillery was seen to limber up 
 and move slowly across the field, accompanied by a strong 
 detachment of cavalry ; columns of infantry were marched 
 hither and thither with the most pressing ani eager haste; 
 orderly dragoons and staff-officers galloped to and fro like 
 madmen; red-faced, plethoric little colonels bawled out 
 the word of command, till one feared they might burst a 
 blood-vessel ; and already two companies of light infantry 
 might be seen stealing cautiously along the skirts of the 
 wood, with the apparently insidious design of attacking a 
 brigade of guns. 
 
 As for me, I was at one moment employed carrying 
 despatches to Sir Charles Asgill, at another conveying in- 
 telligence to Lord Harrington, — these, be it known, being 
 the rival commanders, whose powers of strategy were now 
 to be tested before the assembled and discriminating citi- 
 zens of Dublin. Not to speak of the eminent personal 
 hazard of a service which required me constantly to ride 
 between the lines of contending armies, the fatigue alone 
 had nigh killed me. Scarcely did I appear breathless 
 at headcpiarters on my return from one mission when I 
 was despatched on another. Tired and panting, I more 
 
THE SHAM BATTLE. 51 
 
 than once bungled my directions, and communicated to Sir 
 Charles the secret intentions of his Lordship, while with a 
 laudable impartiality I disarranged the former's plans by 
 a total misconception of the orders. Fatigue, noise, cha- 
 grin, and incessant worry had so completely turned my 
 head that I became perfectly incapable of the commonest 
 exercises of reason. Part of the artillery I ordered into a 
 hollow, where I was told to station a party of riflemen. 
 Three squadrons of cavalry I desired to charge up a 
 hill, which the Seventy-first Highlanders were to have 
 scrambled up if they were able. Light dragoons I posted 
 in situations so beset with brushwood and firs that all 
 movement became impossible ; and, in a word, when the 
 signal-gun announced the commencement of the action, my 
 mistakes had introduced such a new feature into tactics 
 that neither party knew what his adversary was at, nor 
 indeed had any accurate notion of which were his own 
 troops. The duke, who had watched with the most eager 
 satisfaction the whole of my proceedings, sat laughing 
 upon his horse till the very tears coursed down his cheeks ; 
 and as all the staff were more or less participators in the 
 secret, I found myself once more the centre of a grinning 
 audience, perfectly convulsed at my exploits. 
 
 Meanwhile, the guns thundered, the cavalry charged, the 
 infantry poured in a rattling roar of small arms ; while the 
 luckless commanders, unable to discover any semblance of 
 a plan, and, still worse, not knowing where one half their 
 forces were concealed, dared not adventure upon a move- 
 ment, and preferred trusting to the smoke of the battle as a 
 cover for their blunders. The fusilade, therefore, was hotly 
 sustained, all the heavy pieces brought to the front ; and 
 while the spectators were anxiously looking for the manoeu- 
 vres of a fight, the ammunition was waxing low, and the 
 day wearing apace. Dissatisfaction at length began to 
 show itself on every side ; and the duke assuming, as well 
 as he was able, somewhat of a disappointed look, the un- 
 happy generals made a final effort to retrieve their mishaps, 
 and aides-de-camp were despatched through all the highways 
 
52 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 and byways to bring up whoever they could find as quickly 
 as possible. 
 
 Now then began such a scene as few even of the oldest 
 campaigners ever witnessed the equal of. From every 
 dell and hollow, from every brake and thicket, burst forth 
 some party or other, who up to this moment believed them- 
 selves lying in ambush. Horse, foot, and dragoons, 
 artillery, sappers, light infantry, and grenadiers, rushed 
 forward wherever chance or their bewildered officers led 
 them. Here might be seen one half of a regiment blazing 
 away at a stray company of their own people running like 
 devils for shelter ; here some squadrons of horse, who, in- 
 dignant at tbeir fruitless charges and unmeaning move- 
 ments, now doggedly dismounted, were standing right be- 
 fore a brigade of twelve-pounders, thundering mercilessly 
 amongst them. Never w r as witnessed such a scene of riot, 
 confusion, and disorder. Colonels lost their regiments, 
 regiments their colonels. The fusiliers captured the band 
 of the Royal Irish, and made them play through the heat 
 of the engagement. Those who at first expressed ennui 
 and fatigue at the sameness and monotony of the scene 
 were now gratified to the utmost by its life, bustle, and 
 animation. Elderly citizens in drab shorts and buff waist- 
 coats explained to their listening wives and urchins the 
 plans and intentions of the rival heroes, pronouncing the 
 whole thing the while the very best field-day that ever was 
 seen in the Phoenix. 
 
 In the midst of all this confusion a new element of dis- 
 cord suddenly displayed itself. That loyal corps, the Cork 
 militia, who were ordered up to attack close to where the 
 duke and his staff were standing, deemed that no better 
 moment could be chosen to exhibit their attachment to 
 Church and State than when marching on to glory, struck 
 up with all the discord of their band the redoubted air of 
 "Protestant Boys." The cheer burst from the ranks as 
 the loyal strains filled the air ; but scarcely had the loud 
 burst subsided, when the Louth militia advanced with a 
 quick-step, their fifes playing "Vinegar Hill." 
 
THE SHAM BATTLE. 53 
 
 For a moment or two the rivalry created a perfect roar 
 of laughter; but this very soon gave way, as the two regi- 
 ments, instead of drawing up at a reasonable distance for 
 the interchange of an amicable blank cartridge, rushed 
 down upon each other with the fury of madmen. So sud- 
 den, so impetuous was the encounter that all effort to prevent 
 it was impracticable. Muskets were clubbed or bayonets 
 fixed, and in a moment really serious battle was engaged, — 
 the musicians on each side encouraging their party, as they 
 racked their brains for party tunes of the most bitter and 
 taunting character; while cries of "Down with King Wil- 
 liam ! " " To hell with the Pope ! " rose alternately from 
 either side. 
 
 How far this spirit might have extended it is difficult to 
 say, when the duke gave orders for some squadrons of 
 cavalry to charge down upon them, and separate the con- 
 tending forces. This order was fortunately in time; for 
 scarcely was it issued, when a west-country yeomanry corps 
 came galloping up to the assistance of the brave Louth. 
 
 " Here we are, boys ! " cried Mike Westropp, their col- 
 onel. " Here we are ! Lave the way ! lave the way for us ! 
 and we '11 ride down the murthering Orange villains, every 
 man of them ! " 
 
 The Louth fell back, and the yeomen came forward at a 
 charge, Westropp standing high in his stirrups and flour- 
 ishing his sabre above his head. It was just then that a 
 heavy brigade of artillery, unconscious of the hot work go- 
 ing forward, was ordered to open their fire upon the Louth 
 militia. One of the guns by some accident contained an 
 undue proportion of wadding, and to this casual circum- 
 stance may in a great degree be attributed the happy is- 
 sue of what threatened to be a serious disturbance ; for as 
 Westropp advanced, cheering and encouraging his men. lie 
 received this wadding slap in his face. Down he tumbled at 
 once, rolling over and over with the shock ; while, believing 
 that he had got his death wound, he bellowed out, — 
 
 " Oh, blessed Virgin ! there 's threason in the camp ! Hit 
 in the face by a four-pounder, by Jove I Oh, Duke darling ! 
 
54 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 Oh, your Grace ! oh, holy Joseph ! look at this ! Oh, bad 
 luck to the arthillery for spoiling a fair fight ! Peter," — 
 this was the major of the regiment, — " Peter Darcy, gallop 
 into town, and lodge informations against the brigade of 
 guns ! I '11 be dead before you come back." 
 
 A perfect burst of laughter broke from the opposing ranks, 
 and while his friends crowded round the discomfited leader, 
 the rival bands united in a roar of merriment that for a 
 moment caused a suspension of hostilities. For a moment, 
 I say ; for scarcely had the gallant Westropp been con- 
 veyed to the rear, when once more the bands struck up 
 their irritating strains, and preparations for a still more 
 deadly encounter were made on every side. The matter 
 now assumed so serious an aspect that the duke was obliged 
 himself to interfere, and order both parties off the ground, 
 — the Cork deploying towards the Lodge, while the brave 
 Louth marched off with banners flying and drums beating 
 in the direction of Knockmaroon. 
 
 These movements were conducted with a serio-comic 
 solemnity of the most ludicrous kind; and although the 
 respect for viceregal authority was great, and the military 
 devotion of each party strong, yet neither one nor the other 
 was sufficient to prevent the more violent on both sides 
 from occasionally turning, as they went, to give expres- 
 sion to some taunting allusion or some galling sarcasm, 
 well calculated, did the opportunity permit, to renew the 
 conflict. 
 
 A hearty burst of laughter from the duke indicated 
 pretty clearly how he regarded the matter; and however 
 the grave and significant looks of others might seem to 
 imply that there was more in the circumstance than mere 
 food for mirth, he shook his sides merrily ; and as his 
 bright eye glistened with satisfaction and his cheek glowed, 
 he could, not help whispering his regret that his station 
 compelled him to check the very best joke he ever witnessed 
 in his life. 
 
 '•'This is hot work, Sir Charles," said he, wiping his fore- 
 head as he spoke ; " and as it is now past three o'clock, 
 
THE SHAM BATTLE. 55 
 
 and we have a privy council at four, I fear I must leave 
 you." 
 
 " The troops will move past in marching order," replied 
 Sir Charles, pompously : " will your Grace receive the salute 
 at this point ? " 
 
 " Wherever you like, Sir Charles ; wherever you like. 
 Would to Heaven that some good Samaritan could afford 
 me a little brandy and water from his canteen! I say, 
 Hinton, they seem at luncheon yonder in that carriage : 
 do you think your diplomacy could negotiate a glass of 
 sherry for me ? " 
 
 "If you'll permit me, my lord, I'll try," said I, as, dis- 
 engaging myself from the crowd, I set off in the direction 
 he pointed. 
 
 As I drew near the carriage, — from which the horses 
 having been taken, was drawn up beside a clump of beech- 
 trees for the sake of shelter, — I was not long in perceiving 
 that it was the same equipage I had so gallantly rescued in 
 the morning from the sabres of the horse-police. Had I 
 entertained any fears for the effects of the nervous shock 
 upon the tender sensibilities of Mrs. Paul Rooney, the scene 
 before me must completely have dispelled my uneasiness. 
 Never did a merrier peal of laughter ring from female lungs 
 than hers as I rode forward. Seated in the back of the 
 carriage, the front cushion of which served as a kind of 
 table, sat the lady in question. One hand, resting upon 
 her knee, held a formidable carving-fork, on the summit of 
 which vibrated the short leg of a chicken ; in the other she 
 grasped a silver vessel, which, were I to predicate from the 
 froth, I fear I should pronounce to be porter. A luncheon 
 on the most liberal scale displayed, in all the confusion and 
 disorder inseparable from such a situation, a veal-pie, cold 
 lamb, tongue, chickens, and sandwiches ; drinking vessels of 
 every shape and material ; a smelling-bottle full of mustard, 
 and a newspaper paragraph full of salt. Abundant as were 
 the viands, the guests were not wanting. Crowds of infan- 
 try officers, flushed with victory or undismayed by defeat^ 
 hobnobbed from the rumble to the box ; the steps, the 
 
56 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 springs, the very splinterbar had its occupant ; and, truly, 
 a merrier party, or a more convival, it were difficult to 
 conceive. 
 
 So environed was Mrs. Rooney by her friends that I was 
 enabled to observe them sometime, myself unseen. 
 
 " Captain Mitchell, another wing ? Well, the least taste 
 in life of the breast ? Bob Dwyer, will ye never have done 
 drawing that cork ? " 
 
 Now, this I must aver was an unjust reproach, inasmuch 
 as, to my own certain knowledge, he had accomplished three 
 feats of that nature in about as many minutes ; and had 
 the aforesaid Bob been reared from his infancy in drawing 
 corks instead of declarations, his practice could not have 
 been more expert. Pop, pop, they went ; glug, glug, glug, 
 flowed the bubbling liquor, as sherry, shrub, cold punch, 
 and bottled porter succeeded one another in rapid order. 
 Simpering ensigns, with elevated eyebrows, insinuated non- 
 sense, soft, vapid, and unmeaning as their own brains, as 
 they helped themselves to ham or dived into the pastry ; 
 while a young dragoon, who seemed to devote his atten- 
 tion to Mrs. Rooney's companion, amused himself by con- 
 stant endeavors to stroke down a growing mustache, whose 
 downy whiteness resembled nothing that I know of save 
 the ill-omened fur one sees on an antiquated apple-pie. 
 
 As I looked on every side to catch a glance at him whom 
 I should suppose to be Mr. Rooney, I was myself detected by 
 the watchful eye of Bob Dwyer, who, at that moment having 
 his mouth full of three hard eggs, was nearly asphyxiated 
 in his endeavors to telegraph my approach to Mrs. Paul. 
 
 " The edge-du-cong, by the mortial ! " said he, sputtering 
 out the words, as his bloodshot eyes nearly bolted out of 
 his head. 
 
 Had I been a Bengal tiger, my advent might have caused 
 less alarm. The officers, not knowing if the duke himself 
 were coming, wiped their lips, resumed their caps and shakos, 
 and sprang to the ground in dismay and confusion ; as Mrs. 
 Rooney herself, with an adroitness an Indian juggler might 
 have envied, plunged the fork, drumstick and all, into the 
 
THE SHAM BATTLE. 57 
 
 recesses of her muff, while with a back hand she decanted 
 the XX upon a bald major of infantry, who was brush- 
 ing the crumbs from his facings. One individual alone 
 seemed to relish and enjoy the discomfiture of the others. 
 This was the young lady whom I before remarked, and whose 
 whole air and appearance seemed strangely at variance with 
 everything around her. She gave free current to her mirth ; 
 while Mrs. Paul, now suddenly restored to a sense of her 
 nervous constitution, fell back in the carriage, and appeared 
 bent upon a scene. 
 
 "You caught us enjoying ourselves, Mr. Stilton — " 
 
 " Hinton, if you '11 allow me, Madam." 
 
 "Ay, to be sure; Mr. Hinton, — taking a little snack, 
 which I am sure you 'd be the better of after the fatigues of 
 the day." 
 
 " Eh, au, au ! a devilish good luncheon," chimed in a pale 
 sub, the first who ventured to pluck up his courage. 
 
 "Would a sandwich tempt you, with a glass of cham- 
 pagne ? " said Mrs. Paul, with the blandest of smiles. 
 
 " I can recommend the lamb, sir," said a voice behind. 
 
 " Begad, I '11 vouch for the porter," said the major. " I 
 only hope it is a good cosmetic." 
 
 " It 's a beautiful thing for the hair," said Mrs. Kooney, 
 half venturing upon a joke. 
 
 "No more on that head, ma'am," said the little major, 
 bowing pompously. 
 
 By this time, thanks to the assiduous attentions of Bob 
 Dwyer, I was presented with a plate, which, had I been an 
 anaconda instead of an aide-de camp, might have satisfied 
 my appetite. A place was made for me in the carriage ; 
 and the faithful Bob, converting the skirt of his princi- 
 pal blue into a grass-cloth, polished a wine-glass for my 
 private use. 
 
 " Let me introduce my young friend, Mr. Hinton," said 
 Mrs. Paul, with a graceful wave of her jewelled hand 
 towards her companion. "Miss Louisa Bellew, only 
 daughter of Sir Simon Bellew, of — " what the place was 
 I could not well hear, but it sounded confoundedly like 
 
58 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 Killhiraan-smotheruin, — "a beautiful place in the county 
 Mayo. Bob, is it punch you are giving ? " 
 
 " Most excellent, I assure you, Mrs. Rooney." 
 
 "And how is the duke, sir? I hope his Grace enjoys 
 good health. He is a darling of a man." 
 
 By-the-bye, it is perfectly absurd the sympathy your 
 third or fourth-rate people feel in the health and habits 
 of those above them in station, — pleased as they are to 
 learn the most commonplace and worthless trifles concern- 
 ing them, and happy when by any chance some acci- 
 dental similitude would seem to exist even between their 
 misfortunes. 
 
 " And the dear duchess," resumed Mrs. Rooney, " she 's 
 troubled with the nerves like myself. Ah, Mr. Hinton, 
 what an affliction it is to have a sensitive nature ! — that 's 
 what I often say to my sweet young friend here. It's 
 better for her to be the gay, giddy, thoughtless, happy 
 thing she is than — " Here the lady sighed, wiped her 
 eyes, flourished her cambric, and tried to look like Agnes 
 in the " Bleeding Nun." " But here they come ! You don't 
 know Mr. Rooney ? Allow me to introduce him to you." 
 
 As she spoke, 0' Grady cantered up to the carriage, accom- 
 panied by a short, pursy, round-faced little man, who, with 
 his hat set knowingly on one side, and his top-boots scarce 
 reaching to the middle of the leg, bestrode a sharp, strong- 
 boned hackney, with cropped ears and short tail. He car- 
 ried in his hand a hunting-whip, and seemed, by his seat in 
 the saddle and the easy finger upon the bridle, no indiffer- 
 ent horseman. 
 
 "Mr. Rooney," said the lady, drawing herself up with 
 a certain austerity of manner, " I wish you to make the 
 acquaintance of Mr. Hinton, the aide-de-camp to his 
 Grace." 
 
 Mr. Rooney lifted his hat straight above his head, and 
 replaced it a little more obliquely than before over his 
 right eye. 
 
 " Delighted, upon my honor ; faith, quite charmed. 
 Hope you got something to eat ; there never was such a 
 
THE SHAM BATTLE. 59 
 
 murthering hot day. Bob Dwyer, open a bottle of port, — 
 the captain is famished." 
 
 "I say, Hinton," called out O'Grady, "you forgot the 
 duke, it seems. He told me you 'd goue in search of some 
 sherry, or something of the kind; but I can readily con- 
 ceive how easily a man may forget himself in such a posi- 
 tion as yours." 
 
 Here Mrs. Paul dropped her head in deep confusion, Miss 
 Bellew looked saucy, and I, for the first time remembering 
 what brought me there, was perfectly overwhelmed with 
 shame at my carelessness. 
 
 "Never mind, boy, — don't fret about it; his Grace is 
 the most forgiving man in the world ; and when he knows 
 where you were — " 
 
 "Ah, Captain," sighed Mrs. Rooney. 
 
 " Master Phil, it 's yourself can do it," murmured Paul, 
 who perfectly appreciated O'Grady's powers of blarney, 
 when exercised on the susceptible temperament of his fair 
 spouse. 
 
 "I '11 take a sandwich," continued the captain. "Do you 
 know, Mrs. Rooney, I 've been riding about this half-hour 
 to catch my young friend, and introduce him to you ; and 
 hero 1 find him comfortably installed without my aid or 
 assistance. The fact is, these English fellows have a flat- 
 tering, insinuating way of their own there 's no coming up 
 to. Is n't that so, Miss Bellew ? " 
 
 "Very likely," said the young lady, who now spoke for 
 the first time ; " but it is so very well concealed, that I for 
 one could never detect it." 
 
 This speech, uttered with a certain pert and saucy air, 
 nettled me for the moment; but as no reply occurred to 
 me, I could only look at the speaker a tacit acknowledg- 
 ment of her sarcasm ; while I remembered, for the first 
 time, that, although seated opposite my very attractive 
 neighbor, I had hitherto not addressed to her a single 
 phrase of even commonplace attention. 
 
 " I suppose you put up in the Castle, sir ? " said Mr. 
 Rooney. 
 
60 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 "Yes; two doors lower down than Mount O'Grady," 
 replied the captain for me. "But, come, Hinton, the car- 
 riages are moving; we must get back as quick as we can. 
 Good-by, Paul. Adieu, Mrs.* Eooney. Miss Bellew, good 
 afternoon." 
 
 It was just at the moment when I had summoned up my 
 courage to address Miss Bellew that O'Grady called me 
 away ; there was nothing for it, however, but to make my 
 adieus while extricating myself from the debris of the lun- 
 cheon. I once more mounted my horse, and joined the 
 viceregal party as they drove from the ground. 
 
 " I 'in delighted you know the Kooneys," said O'Grady, 
 as we drove along ; " they are by far the best fun going. 
 Paul good, but his wife superb." 
 
 " And the young lady ? " said I. 
 
 " Oh, a different kind of thing altogether. By-the-bye, 
 Hinton, you took my hint, I hope, about your English 
 manner." 
 
 " Eh ! why — how — what did you mean ? " 
 
 " Simply, my boy, that your Coppermine River kind of 
 courtesy may be a devilish fine thing in Hyde Park or St. 
 James's, but will never do with us poor people here. Put 
 more warmth into it, man ! Dash the lemonade with a 
 little maraschino ; you '11 feel twice as comfortable your- 
 self, and the girls will like you all the better. You take 
 the suggestion in good part, I 'm sure." 
 
 " Oh, of course," said I, somewhat stung that I should 
 get a lesson in manners, where I had meant to be a model 
 for imitation; "if they like that kind of thing, I must only 
 conform." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE R00NEYS. 
 
 I cannot proceed further in this my veracious history 
 without dwelling a little longer upon the characters of the 
 two interesting individuals I have already presented to my 
 readers as Mr. and Mrs. Rooney. 
 
 Paul Rooney, attorney-at-law, 42 Stephen's Green, north, 
 was about as well known in his native city of Dublin as 
 Nelson's Pillar. His reputation, unlimited by the adven- 
 titious circumstances of class, spread over the whole sur- 
 face of society; and from the chancellor down to the 
 carman his claims were confessed. 
 
 It is possible that in many other cities of the world Mr. 
 Rooney might have been regarded as a commonplace, every- 
 day personage, well-to-do in the world, and of a fair-and- 
 easy character, which if it left little for reproach, left still 
 less for remark ; but in Ireland, whether it was the climate 
 or the people, the poteen or the potatoes, I cannot say, but 
 certainly he came out, as the painters call it, in a breadth 
 of color quite surprising. The changeful character of the 
 skies has, they tell us, a remarkable influence in fashioning 
 the ever-varying features of Irish temperament ; and cer- 
 tainly, the inconstant climate of Dublin had much merit 
 if it produced in Mr. Rooney the versatile nature he re- 
 joiced in. 
 
 About ten o'clock, on every morning during term, might 
 be seen a shrewd, cunning-looking, sly little fellow, who, 
 with pursed-up lips and slightly elevated nose, wended his 
 way towards the Four Courts, followed by a ragged urchin 
 with a well-filled bag of purple stuff. His black coat, drab 
 shorts, and gaiters had a plain and business-like cut ; and 
 
62 JACK HINTON, THE GUAEDSMAN. 
 
 the short square tie of his white cravat had a quaint re- 
 semblance to a flourish on a deed. The self-satisfied look, 
 the assured step, the easy roll of the head, — all bespoke 
 one with whom the world was thriving ; and it did not 
 need the additional evidence of a certain habit he had of 
 jingling his silver in his breeches-pocket as he went, to 
 assure you that Eooney was a warm fellow, and had no 
 want of money. 
 
 Were you to trace his steps for the three or four hours 
 that ensued, you would see him bustling through the 
 crowded hall of the Four Courts, — now whispering some 
 important point to a leading barrister, while he held an- 
 otner by the gown lest he should escape him ; now he might 
 be remarked seated in a niche between the pillars, ex- 
 plaining some knotty difficulty to a western client, whose 
 flushed cheek and flashing eye too plainly indicated his 
 impatience of legal strategy, and how much more pleased 
 he would feel to redress his wrongs in his own fashion ; 
 now brow-beating, now cajoling, now encouraging, now 
 condoling, he edged his way through the be-wigged and 
 dusty throng, not stopping to reply to the hundred saluta- 
 tions he met with save by a knowing wink, which was the 
 only civility he did not put down at three-and-fourpence. 
 If his knowledge of law was little, his knowledge of human 
 nature — at least of such of it as Ireland exhibits — was 
 great ; and no case of any importance could come before a 
 jury where Paul's advice and opinion were not deemed of 
 considerable importance. No man better knew all the 
 wiles and twists, all the dark nooks and recesses of Irish 
 character; no man more quickly could ferret out a 
 hoarded secret, no one so soon detect an attempted imposi- 
 tion. His was the secret police of law: he read a witness 
 as he would a deed, and detected a flaw in him to the full 
 as easily. 
 
 As he sat near the leading counsel in a cause, he seemed 
 a kind of middle term between the lawyer and the jury. 
 Marking by some slight but significant gesture every point 
 of the former, to the latter he impressed upon their minds 
 
THE ROONEYS. 
 
 G3 
 
 every favorable feature of his client's cause ; and twelve 
 deaf men might have followed the pleadings in a case 
 through the v agency of Paul's gesticulations. The conse- 
 quence of these varied gifts was that business flowed in 
 upon him from every side, and few members of the bar 
 were in the receipt of one half his income. 
 
 Scarcely, however, did the courts rise, when Paul, shak- 
 ing from his shoulders the learned dust of the Exchequer, 
 would dive into a small apartment, which, in an obscure 
 house in Mass Lane, he dig- 
 nified by the name of his 
 " study." Short and few as 
 were his moments of seclu- 
 sion, they sufficed to effect 
 in his entire man a complete 
 and total change. The shrewd 
 little attorney, that went in 
 with a nisi prius grin, came 
 out a round pleasant-looking 
 fellow, with a green coat of 
 jockey cut, a buff waistcoat, 
 white cords, and tops, his 
 hat set jauntily on one side, 
 his spotted neck-cloth knot- 
 ted in bang-up mode, — in 
 fact, his figure the beau ideal 
 of a west-country squire tak- 
 ing a canter among his covers before the opening of the 
 hunting. His gray eyes, expanded to twice their former 
 size, looked the very soul of merriment; his nether lip, 
 slightly dropped, quivered with the last joke it uttered. 
 Even his voice partook of the change, and was now a rich, 
 full, mellow Clare accent, which, with the recitative of his 
 country, seemed to Italianize his English. 
 
 While such was Paul, his accessolres — as the French 
 would call them — were in admirable keeping. A dark- 
 chestnut cob, a perfect model of strength and symmetry, 
 would be led up and down by a groom, also mounted 
 
64 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 upon a strong hackney, whose flat rib and short pastern 
 showed his old Irish breeding ; the well-fitting saddle, 
 the well-balanced stirrup, the plain but powerful snaffle, 
 all looked like the appendages of one whose jockey ism 
 was no assumed feature ; and, indeed, you had only to see 
 Mr. Eooney in his seat to confess that he was to the full 
 as much at home there as in the court of Chancery. 
 
 From this to the hour of a late dinner the Phoenix Park 
 became his resort. There, surrounded by a gay and laugh- 
 ing crowd, Paul cantered along, amusing his hearers with 
 the last mot from the King's Bench, or some stray bit of 
 humor or fun from a case on circuit. His conversation, 
 however, principally ran on other topics, — the Curragh 
 meeting, the Lougrea steeple-chase, the Meath cup, or Lord 
 Boyne's handicap. With these he was thoroughly familiar ; 
 he knew the odds of every race, could apportion the weights, 
 describe the ground, and, better than all, make rather a good 
 guess at the winner. In addition to these gifts, he was the 
 best judge of a horse in Ireland, — always well-mounted, and 
 never without at least two hackneys in his stable, able to 
 trot their fifteen Irish miles within the hour. Such quali- 
 ties as these might be supposed popular ones in a country 
 proverbially given to sporting ; but Mr. Rooney had other 
 and very superior powers of attraction, — he was the Am- 
 phitryon of Dublin. It was no figurative expression to say 
 that he kept open house. Dejeuners, dinners, routs, and 
 balls followed each other in endless succession. His cook 
 was French, his claret was Sneyd's ; he imported his own 
 sherry and madeira, both of which he nursed with a care 
 and affection truly parental. His venison and black-cock 
 came from Scotland ; every Holyhead packet had its con- 
 signment of Welsh mutton ; and, in a word, whatever wealth 
 could purchase, and a taste, nurtured as his had been by the 
 counsel of many who frequented his table, could procure, 
 such he possessed in abundance, — his greatest ambition 
 being to outshine in splendor and surpass in magnificence 
 all the other dinner-givers of the day ; tilling his house with 
 the great and titled of the land, who ministered to his vanity 
 
THE ROONEYS. 
 
 65 
 
 with singular good-nature, while they sipped his claret and 
 sat over his burgundy. 
 
 His was indeed a pleasant house. The bons vivants liked 
 it for its excellent cuisine, the perfection of its wines, the 
 certainty of finding the first rarity of the season before its 
 existence was heard of at other tables ; the lounger liked it 
 for its ease and informality ; the humorist, for the amusing 
 features of its host and hostess ; and not a few were at- 
 tracted by the gracefulness and surpassing loveliness of one 
 who, by some strange fatality of fortune, seemed to have 
 been dropped down into the midst of this singular menage. 
 
 Of Mr. Rooney I have only further to say, that, hospita- 
 ble as a prince, he was never so happy as at the head of his 
 table ; for although his natural sharpness could not but 
 convince him of the foot- 
 ing which he occupied 
 among his high and dis- 
 tinguished guests, yet he 
 knew well there are few 
 such levellers of rank as 
 riches, and he had read in 
 his youth that even the 
 lofty Jove himself was ac- 
 cessible by the odor of a 
 hecatomb. 
 
 Mrs. Rooney — or, as 
 she wrote herself upon her 
 card, Mrs. Paul Rooney 
 (there seemed something 
 distinctive in the prenom.) 
 — was a being of a very 
 different order. Perfectly 
 unconscious of the ridicule 
 that attaches to vulgar 
 
 profusion, she believed herself the great source of attrac- 
 tion of her crowded staircase and besieged drawing-room. 
 True it was, she was a large and very handsome woman ; 
 her deep, dark, brown eyes and brilliant complexion would 
 
 VOL. I. — 5 
 
66 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 have been beautiful, had not her mouth somewhat marred 
 their effect by that coarse expression which high living and 
 a voluptuous life is sure to impress upon those not born to be 
 great. There is no doubt of it, the mouth is your thorough- 
 bred feature. You will meet eyes as softly beaming, as 
 brightly speaking, among the lofty cliffs of the wild Tyrol, 
 or in the deep valleys of the far west. I have seen, 
 too, a brow as fairly pencilled, a nose no Grecian statue 
 could surpass, a skin whose tint was fair and transparent 
 as the downy rose-leaf, amid the humble peasants of a poor 
 and barren land ; but never have I seen the mouth, whose 
 clean-cut lip and chiselled arch betokened birth. No ; that 
 feature would seem the prerogative of the highly born. 
 Fashioned to the expression of high and holy thoughts, 
 moulded to the utterance of ennobling sentiment or proud 
 1 desire, — its every lineament tells of birth and blood. 
 
 Now, Mrs. Rooney's mouth was a large and handsome 
 one, her teeth white and regular withal, aud when at rest 
 there was nothing to find fault with; but let .her speak — 
 was it her accent; was it the awful provincialism of her 
 native city; was it that strange habit of contortion any 
 patois is sure to impress upon the speaker ? I cannot tell ; 
 but certainly it lent to features of very considerable at- 
 traction a vulgarizing character of expression. 
 
 It was truly provoking to see so handsome a person mar 
 every effect of her beauty by some extravagant display. 
 Dramatizing every trivial incident in life, she rolled her 
 eyes, looked horror-struck or happy, sweet or sarcastic, 
 lofty or languishing, all in one minute. There was an 
 eternal play of feature of one kind or other ; there was no 
 rest, no repose. Her arms, and they were round and fair 
 and well-fashioned, were also enlisted in the service; and 
 to a distant observer Mrs. Rooney's animated conversation 
 appeared like a priest performing Mass. 
 
 And that beautiful head, whose fair and classic propor- 
 tions were balanced so equally upon her white and swelling 
 throat, how tantalizing to know it full of low and petty 
 ambitions, of vulgar tastes, of contemptible rivalries, of 
 
THE ROONEYS. G7 
 
 insignificant triumphs. To see her, amid the voluptuous 
 splendor and profusion of her gorgeous house, resplendent 
 with jewelry, glistening in all the blaze of emeralds and 
 rubies ; to watch how the poisonous venom of innate vul- 
 garity had so tainted that fair and beautiful form, ren- 
 dering her an object of ridicule who should have been a 
 thing to worship, — it was too bad ; and as she sat at din- 
 ner, her plump but taper fingers grasping a champagne 
 glass, she seemed like a Madonna enacting the part of Moll 
 Flagon. 
 
 Now, Mrs. Paul's manner had as many discrepancies as 
 her features. She was by nature a good, kind, merry, 
 coarse personage, who loved a joke not the less if it were 
 broad as well as long. Wealth, however, and its attendant 
 evils suggested the propriety of a very different line ; and 
 catching up, as she did at every opportunity that presented 
 itself, such of the airs and graces as she believed to be the 
 distinctive traits of high life, she figured about in these 
 cast-off attractions, like a waiting-maid in the abandoned 
 finery of her mistress. As she progressed in fortune, she 
 '•tried back" for a family, and discovered that she was an 
 O'Toole by birth, and consequently of Irish blood-royal, — 
 a certain O'Toole being king of a nameless tract, in an un- 
 known year, somewhere about the time of Cromwell, who, 
 Mrs. Rooney had heard, came over with the Romans. 
 
 "Ah, yes, my dear," as she would say, when, softened by 
 sherry and sorrow, she would lay her hand upon your arm, 
 — " ah, yes, if every one had their own, it is n't married to 
 an attorney I 'd be, but living in regal splendor in the halls 
 of my ancestors. Well, well ! " 
 
 Here she would throw up her eyes with a mixed expres- 
 sion of grief and of confidence in Heaven, that, if she 
 had n't got her own in this world, Oliver Cromwell, at 
 least, was paying off in the other his foul wrongs to the 
 royal house of O'Toole. 
 
 I have only one person more to speak of, ere I conclude 
 my rather prolix account of the family. Miss Louisa 
 Bellew was the daughter of Sir Simon Bellew, an Irish 
 
68 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 baronet, who put the key-stone upon his ruin by his honest 
 opposition to the passing of the Union. His large estates, 
 loaded with debt and encumbered by mortgage, had been 
 for half a century a kind of battle-field for legal warfare at 
 every assizes. Through the medium of his difficulties he 
 became acquainted with Mr. Kooney, whose craft and 
 subtlety had rescued him from more than one difficulty, 
 and whose good-natured assistance had done still more 
 important service by loans upon his property. 
 
 At Mr. Eooney's suggestion, Miss Belle w was invited to 
 pass her winter with them in Dublin. This proposition, 
 which in the palmier days of the baronet's fortune would in 
 all probability never have been made, and would certainly 
 never have been accepted, was now entertained with some 
 consideration, and finally acceded to, on prudential motives. 
 Rooney had lent Sir Simon large sums ; he had never been 
 a pressing, on the contrary he was a lenient, creditor; pos- 
 sessing great power over the property, he had used it spar- 
 ingly, even delicately, and showed himself upon more than 
 one occasion not only a shrewd adviser, but a warm friend. 
 " 'T is true," thought Sir Simon, " they are vulgar people, 
 of coarse tastes and low habits, and those with whom they 
 associate laugh at, though they live upon, them ; yet, after 
 all, to refuse this invitation may be taken in ill part. A 
 few months will do the whole thing. Louisa, although 
 young, has tact and cleverness enough to see the difficulties 
 of her position ; besides, poor child, the gayety and life of 
 a city will be a relief to her, after the dreary and monoto- 
 nous existence she has passed with me." This latter 
 reason he plausibly represented to himself as a strong one 
 for complying with what his altered fortunes and ruined 
 prospects seemed to render no longer a matter of choice. 
 
 To the Rooneys, indeed, Miss Bellew's visit was a matter 
 of some consequence : it was like the recognition of some 
 petty State by one of the great Powers of Europe. It was 
 an acknowledgment of a social existence, an evidence to the 
 world not only that there was such a thing as the kingdom 
 of Rooney, but also that it was worth while to enter into 
 
THE ROONEYS. 69 
 
 negotiation with it, and even accredit an ambassador to its 
 court. 
 
 Little did that fair and lovely girl think, as with tearful 
 eyes she turned again and again to embrace her father, as 
 the hour arrived when for the first time in her life she was 
 to leave her home, — little did she dream of the circum- 
 stances under which her visit was to be paid. Less a guest 
 than a hostage, she was about to quit the home of her in- 
 fancy, where, notwithstanding the inroads of poverty, a 
 certain air of its once greatness still lingered; the broad 
 and swelling lands, that stretched away with wood and 
 coppice as far as the eye could reach ; the woodland walks ; 
 the ancient house itself, with its discordant pile, accumu- 
 lated at different times by different masters, — all told of 
 power and supremacy in the land of her fathers. The 
 lonely solitude of those walls, peopled alone by the grini- 
 visaged portraits of long-buried ancestors, were now to be 
 exchanged for the noise and bustle, the glitter and the 
 glare of second-rate city life, — profusion and extravagance, 
 where she had seen but thrift and forbearance. The gos- 
 sip, the scandal, the tittle-tattle of society, with its envies, 
 its jealousies, its petty rivalries, and its rancors, were to 
 supply those quiet evenings beside the winter hearth, when 
 reading aloud some old and valued volume she learned to 
 prize the treasures of our earlier writers, under the guiding 
 taste of one whose scholarship was of no mean order, and 
 whose cultivated mind was imbued with all the tenderness 
 and simplicity of a refined and gentle nature. 
 
 When fortune smiled, when youth and wealth, an ancient 
 name and a high position, all concurred to elevate him, Sir 
 Simon Bellew was courteous almost to humility ; but when 
 the cloud of misfortune lowered over his house, when diffi- 
 culties thickened around him, and every effort to rescue 
 seemed only to plunge him deeper, then the deep-rooted 
 pride of the man shone forth ; and he, who in happier days 
 was forgiving even to a fault, became now scrupulous about 
 every petty observance, exacting testimonies of respect from 
 all around him, and assuming an almost tyranny of manner 
 
70 JACK HLNTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 totally foreign to his tastes, his feelings, and his nature. 
 Like some mighty oak of the forest, riven and scathed by 
 lightning, its branches leafless and its roots laid bare, still 
 standing erect, it stretches its sapless limbs proudly towards 
 heaven, — so stood he, reft of nearly all, yet still present- 
 ing to the adverse wind of fortune his bold, unshaken 
 front. 
 
 Alas and alas ! poverty has no heavier evil in its train 
 than its power of perverting the fairest gifts of our nature 
 from their true channel, making the bright sides of our 
 character dark, gloomy, and repulsive. Thus the high- 
 souled pride that in our better days sustains and keeps us 
 far above the reach of sordid thoughts and unworthy ac- 
 tions, becomes in the darker hour of our destiny a misan- 
 thropic selfishness in which we wrap ourselves as in a man- 
 tle. The caresses of friendship, the warm affections of 
 domestic love, cannot penetrate through this, — even sym- 
 pathy becomes suspect; and then commences that terri- 
 ble struggle against the world whose only termination is 
 a broken heart. 
 
 Notwithstanding, then, all Mr. Kooney's address in con- 
 veying the invitation m question, it was not without a 
 severe struggle that Sir Simon resolved on its acceptance ; 
 and when at last he did accede, it was with so many stipula- 
 tions, so many express conditions, that, had they been com- 
 plied with de facto, as they were acknowledged by promise, 
 Miss Bellew would in all probability have spent her winter 
 in the retirement of her own chamber in Stephen's Green, 
 without seeing more of the capital and its inhabitants than 
 a view from her window presented. Paul, it is true, agreed 
 to everything ; for although, to use his own language, the 
 codicil revoked the entire body of the testament, he de- 
 termined in his own mind to break the will. "Once in 
 Dublin," thought he, "the fascinations of society, the pleas- 
 ures of the world, with such a guide as Mrs. Rooney [and 
 here let me mention, that for his wife's tact and savoirfaire 
 Paul had the most heartfelt admiration], — with advantages 
 like these, she will soon forget the hum-drum life of Kil- 
 
THE ROONEYS. 71 
 
 morran Castle, and become reconciled to a splendor and 
 magnificence unsurpassed by even the viceregal court." 
 
 Here, then, let me conclude this account of the Rooneys, 
 while I resume the thread of my own narrative. Although 
 I am ashamed of the prolixity in which I have indulged, yet, 
 as I speak of real people, well known at the period of which 
 I write, and as they may to a certain extent convey an im- 
 pression of the tone of one class in the society of that day, 
 I could not bring myself to omit their mention, nor even 
 dismiss them more briefly. 
 
CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 THE VISIT. 
 
 I have already recorded the first twenty-four hours of 
 my life in Ireland ; and if there was enough in them to 
 satisfy me that the country was unlike in many respects 
 that which I had left, there was also some show of reason 
 to convince me that if I did not conform to the habits and 
 tastes of those around me I should incur a far greater 
 chance of being laughed at by them than be myself amused 
 by their eccentricities. The most remarkable feature that 
 struck me was the easy, even cordial, manner with which 
 acquaintance was made. Every one met you as if he had 
 in some measure been prepared for the introduction ; a tone 
 of intimacy sprang up at once ; your tastes were hinted, 
 your wishes guessed at, with an unaffected kindness that 
 made you forget the suddenness of the intimacy, — so that, 
 when at last you parted with your dear friend of some half- 
 an-hour's acquaintance, you could not help wondering at 
 the confidences you had made, the avowals you had spoken, 
 and the lengths to which you had gone in close alliance 
 with one you had never seen before, and might possibly 
 never meet again. Strange enough as this was with men, 
 it was still more singular when it extended to the gentler 
 sex. Accustomed as I had been all my life to the rigid 
 observances of etiquette in female society, nothing sur- 
 prised me so much as the rapid steps by which Irish ladies 
 passed from acquaintance to intimacy, from intimacy to 
 friendship. The unsuspecting kindliness of woman's nature 
 has certainly no more genial soil than in the heart of Erin's 
 daughters. There is besides, too, a winning softness in 
 their manner towards the stranger of another land that 
 
THE VISIT. 73 
 
 imparts to their hospitable reception a tone of courteous 
 warmth I have never seen in any other country. 
 
 The freedom of manner I have here alluded to, however 
 delightful it may render the hours of one separated from 
 home, family, and friends, is yet not devoid of its incon- 
 veniences. How many an undisciplined and uninformed 
 youth has misconstrued its meaning and mistaken its im- 
 port ! How often have I seen the raw subaltern elated 
 with imaginary success, flushed with a fancied victory, 
 where in reality he had met with nothing save the kind 
 looks and the kind words in which the every-day courtesies 
 of life are couched, and by which what in less favored 
 lands are the cold and chilling observances of ceremony, are 
 here the easy and familiar intercourse of those who wish 
 to know each other. 
 
 The coxcomb who fancies that he can number as many 
 triumphs as he has passed hours in Dublin is like one who, 
 estimating the rich productions of a southern clime by their 
 exotic value in his own colder regions, dignifies by the 
 name of luxury what are in reality but the every-day pro- 
 ductions of the soil : so he believes peculiarly addressed to 
 himself the cordial warmth and friendly greeting which 
 make the social atmosphere around him. 
 
 If I myself fell deeply into this error, and if my punish- 
 ment was a heavy one, let my history prove a beacon to all 
 who follow in my steps ; for Dublin is still a garrison city, 
 and I have been told that lips as tempting and eyes as 
 bright are to be met there as heretofore. Now to my 
 story. 
 
 Life in Dublin, at the time I write of, was about as gay 
 a thing as a man can well fancy. Less debarred than in 
 other countries from partaking of the lighter enjoyments of 
 life, the members of the learned professions mixed much 
 in society ; bringing with them stores of anecdote and in- 
 formation unattainable from other sources, they made what 
 elsewhere would have proved the routine of intercourse a 
 season of intellectual enjoyment. Thus, the politician, the 
 
74 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 churchman, the barrister, and the military man, shaken as 
 they were together in close intimacy, lost individually 
 many of the prejudices of their caste, and learned to con- 
 verse with a wider and more extended knowledge of the 
 world. While this was so, another element, peculiarly 
 characteristic of the country, had its share in modelling 
 social life : that innate tendency to drollery, that bent to 
 laugh with every one and at every thing, so eminently Irish, 
 was now in the ascendant. From the viceroy downwards, 
 the island was on the broad grin. Every day furnished its 
 share, its quota of merriment. Epigrams, good stories, 
 repartees, and practical jokes rained in showers over the 
 land. A privy council was a conversazione of laughing 
 bishops and droll chief-justices. Every trial at the bar, 
 every dinner at the court, every drawing-room, afforded a 
 theme for some ready-witted absurdity ; and all the graver 
 business of life was carried on amid this current of unceas- 
 ing fun and untiring laughter, just as we see the serious 
 catastrophe of a modern opera assisted by the crash of an 
 orchestral accompaniment. 
 
 With materials like these society was made up ; and into 
 this I plunged with all the pleasurable delight of one, who, 
 if he could not appreciate the sharpness, was at least daz- 
 zled by the brilliancy of the wit that flashed around him. 
 My duties as aide-de-camp were few, and never interfered 
 with my liberty ; while in my double capacity of military 
 man and attache to the court I was invited everywhere, and 
 treated with marked courtesy and kindness. 
 
 Thus passed my life pleasantly along, when a few morn- 
 ings after the events I have mentioned, I was sitting at my 
 breakfast, conning over my invitations for the week, and 
 meditating a letter home, in which I should describe my 
 mode of life with as much reserve as might render the 
 record of my doings a safe disclosure for the delicate 
 nerves of my lady-mother. In order to accomplish this 
 latter task with success, I scribbled with some notes a sheet 
 of paper that lay before me. " Among other particularly 
 nice people, my dear mother," wrote I, "there are the 
 
THE VISIT. 75 
 
 Rooneys. Mr. Rooney — a member of the Irish bar, of 
 high standing and great reputation — is a most agreeable 
 and accomplished person. How much I should like to pre- 
 sent him to you ! " I had got thus far when a husky, 
 asthmatic cough, and a muttered curse on the height of my 
 domicile, apprised me that some one was at my door. At 
 the same moment a heavy single knock, that nearly stove in 
 the panel, left no doubt upon my mind. 
 
 " Are ye at home, or is it sleeping ye are ? May I 
 never, if it 's much else the half of ye 's fit for. Ugh, 
 blessed hour ! three flights of stairs with a twist an them 
 instead of a landing. Ye see he's not in the place. I 
 tould you that before I came up ; but it 's always the same 
 thing. ' Corny, run here ; Corny, fly there ; get me this, 
 take that.' Bad luck to them ! One would think they 
 badgered me for bare divarsion, the Haythens, the Turks ! " 
 
 A fit of coughing, that almost convinced me Corny had 
 given his last curse, followed this burst of eloquence just 
 as I appeared at the door. 
 
 " What 's the matter, Corny ? " 
 
 "The matter ? Ugh, ain't I coughing my soul out with a 
 wheezing and whistling in my chest like a creel of chickens? 
 Here 's Mr. Rooney wanting to see ye ; and faith," as he 
 added in an undertone, " it 's not long you wor in making 
 his acquaintance. That 's his room," added he with a jerk 
 of his thumb. "Now lave the way, if you plaze, and let 
 me get a howld of the banisters." ' 
 
 With these words Corny began his descent; while I, 
 apologizing to Mr. Rooney for not having sooner perceived 
 him, bowed him into the room with all proper ceremony. 
 
 "A thousand apologies, Mr. Hinton, for the unseasonable 
 hour of my visit ; but business — " 
 
 " Pray, not a word," said I ; " always delighted to see 
 you. Mrs. Rooney is well, I hope ? " 
 
 "Charming, upon my honor. But, as I was saying, I 
 could not well come later; there is a case in the King's 
 Bench, — Rex versus Ryves, — a heavy record, and I want 
 to catch the counsel to assure him that all 's safe. God 
 
76 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 knows it has cost me an anxious night. Everything de- 
 pended on one witness, — an obstinate beast, that would n't 
 listen to reason. We got hold of him last night ; got three 
 doctors to certify he was out of his mind ; and at this mo- 
 ment, with his head shaved and a gray suit on him, he is 
 the noisiest inmate in Glassnevin madhouse."' 
 
 "Was not this a very bold, a very dangerous expedient ? " 
 
 " So it was. He fought like the devil ; and his outrage- 
 ous conduct has its reward, for they put him on low diet 
 and handcuffs the moment he went in. But excuse me if I 
 make a hurried visit. Mrs. Kooney requests that — that — 
 but where the devil did I put it ? " 
 
 Here Mr. Eooney felt his coat-pockets, dived into those 
 of his waistcoat, patted himself all over, then looked into 
 his hat, then round the room, on the floor, and even outside 
 the door upon the lobby. 
 
 " Surely it is not possible I 've lost it ! " 
 
 " Nothing of consequence, I hope ? " said I. 
 
 " What a head I have ! " replied he, with a knowing grin, 
 while at the same moment, throwing up the sash of my 
 window, he thrust out the head in question, and gave a 
 loud, shrill whistle. 
 
 Scarcely was the casement closed when a ragged urchin 
 appeared at the door, carrying on his back the ominous 
 stuff-bag containing the record of Mr. Rooney's rogueries. 
 
 " Give me the bag, Tim," quoth he ; at the same moment 
 he plunged his hand deep among the tape-tied parcels, and 
 extricated a piece of square pasteboard, which, having 
 straightened and flattened upon his knee, he presented to 
 me with a graceful bow, adding jocosely, " An ambassador 
 without his credentials would never do." 
 
 It was an invitation to dinner at Mr. Eooney 's for the 
 memorable Friday for which my friend O'Grady had already 
 received his card. 
 
 " Nothing will give me more pleasure — " 
 
 " No, will it though ? How very good of you ! A small 
 cosey party, — Harry Burgh, Bowes Daley, Barrington, the 
 judges, and a few more. There now, no ceremony, I beg of 
 
THE VISIT. 77 
 
 you. Come along, Tim. Good-morning, Mr. Hinton : not a 
 step farther." 
 
 So saying, Mr. Eooney backed and shuffled himself out 
 of my room, and, followed by his faithful attendant, hur- 
 ried downstairs, muttering a series of self-gratulations as he 
 went, on the successful result of his mission. Scarcely had 
 he gone when I heard the rapid stride of another visitor, 
 who, mounting four steps at a time, came along chanting 
 at the top of his voice, — 
 
 " My two back teeth I will bequeath 
 To the Reverend Michael Palmer. 
 His wife has a tongue that '11 match them well; 
 She's a devil of a scold, G — d d — n her ! " 
 
 " How goes it, Jack, my hearty ? " cried he, as he sprang 
 into the room, flinging his sabre into the corner, and hurling 
 his foraging cap upon the sofa. 
 
 " You have been away, O'Grady ? What became of you 
 for the last two days ? " 
 
 "Down at the Curragh, taking a look at the nags for the 
 spring meeting. Dined with the bar at Naas ; had a great 
 night with them ; made old Moore gloriously tipsy, and 
 sent him into court the next morning with the overture to 
 Mother Goose in his bag instead of his brief. Since day- 
 break I 've been trying a new horse in the park, screwing 
 him over all the fences, and rushing him at the double rails 
 in the pathway, to see if he can't cross the country." 
 
 " Why, the hunting season is nearly over." 
 
 " Quite true ; but it is the Loughrea steeple-chase I am 
 thinking of. I have promised to name a horse, and I only 
 remembered last night that I had but twenty-four hours to 
 do it. The time was short, but by good fortune I heard of 
 this gray on my way up to town." 
 
 " And you think he '11 do ? " 
 
 "He has a good chance, if one can only keep on his 
 back ; but what between bolting, plunging, and rushing 
 through his fences, he is not a beast for a timid elderly 
 gentleman. After all, one must have something : the 
 whole world will be there ; the Eooneys are going, and 
 
78 JACK HINTON, THE GUAKDSMAN. 
 
 that pretty little girl with them. By-the-bye, Jack, what 
 do you think of Miss Belle w ? " 
 
 " I can scarcely tell you ; I only saw her for a moment, 
 and then that Hibernian hippopotamus, Mrs. Paul, so 
 completely overshadowed her there was no getting a look 
 at her." 
 
 " Devilish pretty girl, that she is ; and one day or other, 
 they say, will have an immense fortune. Old Booney al- 
 ways shakes his head when the idea is thrown out, which 
 only convinces me the more of her chance." 
 
 " Well, then, Master Phil, why don't you do something 
 in that quarter ? " 
 
 "Well, so I should; but somehow, most unaccountably 
 you '11 say, I don't think I made my impression. To be 
 sure, I never went vigorously to work. I could n't get over 
 my scruples of making up to a girl who may have a large 
 fortune, while I myself am so confoundedly out at the 
 elbows : the thing would look badly, to say the least of it ; 
 and so, when I did think I was making a little running, I 
 only held the faster, and at length gave up the race. You 
 are the man, Hinton. Your chances, I should say — " 
 
 " Ah, I don't know." 
 
 Just at this moment the door opened, and Lord Dudley 
 de Vere entered, dressed in colored clothes cut in the most 
 foppish style of the day, and with his hands stuck negli- 
 gently behind in his coat-pockets. He threw himself 
 affectedly into a chair, and eyed us both without speaking. 
 
 " I say, Messieurs, Booney or not Booney, that's the 
 question. Do we accept this invitation for Friday ? " 
 
 " I do for one," said I, somewhat haughtily. 
 
 " Can't be, my boy," said O'Grady ; " the thing is most 
 unlucky. They have a dinner at court that same day ; our 
 names are all on the list ; and thus we lose the Boonevs, 
 which, from all I hear, is a very serious loss indeed. Cur- 
 ran, Barrington, Harry Martin, and half-a-dozen others, the 
 first fellows of the day, are all to be there." 
 
 " What a deal they will talk ! " yawned out Lord Dudley. 
 " I feel rather happy to have escaped it. There 's no say- 
 
THE VISIT. 79 
 
 ing a word to the woman beside you, as long as those con- 
 founded fellows keep up a roaring fire of what they think 
 wit. What" an idea ! To be sure, there is not a man among 
 them that can tell you the odds upon the Derby, nor what 
 year there was a dead heat for the St. Leger. That little 
 girl the Rooneys have got is very pretty, I must confess ; 
 but I see what they are at, — won't do, though. Ha ! 
 O'Grady, you know what I mean ? " 
 
 " Faith, I am very stupid this morning ; can't say that 
 I do." 
 
 " Not see it ! It is a hollow thing ; but perhaps you are 
 in the scheme too. There, you need n't look angry ; I only 
 meant it in joke, — ha ! ha ! ha ! I say, Hinton, do you 
 take care of yourself ! Englishers have no chance here ; 
 and when they find it won't do with me, they '11 take you in 
 training." 
 
 " Anything for a pis-aller," said O'Grady, sarcastically ; 
 " but let us not forget there is a levee to-day, and it is al- 
 ready past twelve o'clock." 
 
 " Ha ! to be sure ; a horrid bore ! " 
 
 So saying, Lord Dudley lounged once more round the 
 room, looked at himself in the glass, nodded familiarly to 
 his own image, and took his leave. O'Grady soon followed ; 
 while I set about my change of dress with all the speed the 
 time required. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE BALL. 
 
 As the day of Mr. RooDey's grand entertainment drew 
 near, our disappointment increased tenfold at our inability 
 to be present. The only topic discussed in Dublin was the 
 number of the guests, the splendor and magnificence of the 
 dinner, which was to be followed by a ball, at which above 
 eight hundred guests were expected. The band of the 
 Fermanagh militia, at that time the most celebrated in 
 Ireland, was brought up expressly for the occasion. All 
 that the city could number of rank, wealth, and beauty had 
 received invitations, and scarcely a single apology had 
 been returned. 
 
 "Is there no possible way," said I, as I chatted with 
 O'Grady on the morning of the event, — " is there no 
 chance of our getting away in time to see something of the 
 ball at least ? " 
 
 " None whatever," replied he, despondingly ; " as ill 
 luck would have it, it's a command-night at the theatre. 
 The duke has disappointed so often that he is sure to go 
 now, and for the same reason he '11 sit the whole thing out. 
 By that time it will be half-past twelve ; we sha'n't get 
 
 back here before one ; then comes supper ; and in 
 
 fact, you know enough of the habits of this place now to 
 guess that after that there is very little use of thinking of 
 going anywhere." 
 
 " It is devilish provoking," said I. 
 
 " That it is ; and you don't know the worst of it. I 've 
 got rather a heavy book on the Loughrea race, and shall 
 want a few hundreds in a week or so ; and as nothing ren- 
 ders my friend Paul so sulky as not eating his dinners, it is 
 
THE BALL. 81 
 
 five-and-twenty per cent at least out of my pocket from this 
 confounded contretemps. There goes De Vere. I say, 
 Dudley, whom have we at dinner to day ? " 
 
 " Harrington and the Asgills, and that set," replied he, 
 with an insolent shrug of his shoulder. 
 
 " More of it, by Jove ! " said O'Grady, biting his lip. 
 " One must be as particular before these people as a young 
 sub. at a regimental mess. There 's not a button of your 
 coat, not a loop of your aiguilette, not a twist of your 
 sword-knot, little Charley won't note down ; and as there 
 is no orderly book in the drawing-room, he will whisper to 
 his Grace before coffee." 
 
 " What a bore ! " 
 
 " Ay, and to think that all that time we might have been 
 up to the very chin in fun ! The Rooneys to-day will 
 outdo even themselves. They've got half-a-dozen new 
 lords on trial; all the judges; a live bishop; and, better 
 than all, every pretty woman in the capital. I 've a devil 
 of a mind to get suddenly ill, and slip off to Paul's for the 
 dessert." 
 
 " No, no, that 's out of the question ; we must only put 
 up with our misfortunes as well as we can. As for me, the 
 dinner here is, I think, the worst part of the matter." 
 
 " I estimate my losses at a very different rate. First, 
 there is the three hundred, which I should certainly have 
 had from Paul, and which now becomes a very crooked con- 
 tingency. Then there 's the dinner and two bottles — I 
 speak moderately — of such burgundy as nobody has but 
 himself. These are the positive bona fide losses. Then, 
 what do you say to my chance of picking up some lovely 
 girl, with a stray thirty thousand, and the good taste to 
 look out for a proper fellow to spend it with ? Seriously, 
 Jack, I must think of something of that kind one of these 
 days. It 's wrong to lose time ; for by waiting one 's 
 chances diminish, while becoming more difficult to please. 
 So you see what a heavy blow this is to me ; not to men- 
 tion my little gains at short-whist, which in the half-hour 
 before supper I may fairly set down as a fifty." 
 vol. i. — 6 
 
82 JACK HIXTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " Yours is a very complicated calculation ; for except 
 the dinner, and I suppose we shall have as good a one here, 
 I have not been able to see anything but problematic loss 
 or profit." 
 
 " Of course you have n't : your English education is 
 based upon grounds far too positive for that ; but we mere 
 Irish get a habit of looking at the possible as probable, and 
 the probable as most likely. I don't think we build castles 
 more than our neighbors, but we certainly go live in them 
 earlier ; and if we do now and then get a chill for our pains, 
 why we generally have another building ready to receive us 
 elsewhere for change of air." 
 
 " This is, I confess, somewhat strange philosophy." 
 
 " To be sure it is, my boy ; for it is of pure native manu- 
 facture. Every other people I ever heard of deduce their 
 happiness from their advantages and prosperity. As we 
 have very little of one or the other, we extract some fun 
 out of our misfortunes ; and what between laughing occasion- 
 ally at ourselves, and sometimes at our neighbors, we push 
 along through life right merrily after all. So now, then, to 
 apply my theory : let us see what we can do to make the 
 best of this disappointment. Shall I make love to Lady 
 Asgill ? Shall I quiz Sir Charles about the review ? Or 
 can you suggest anything in the way of a little extempora- 
 neous devilry, to console us for our disappointment ? But, 
 come along, my boy, we '11 take a canter ; I want to show 
 you Moddiridderoo. He improves every day in his train- 
 ing ; but they tell me there is only one man can sit him 
 across a country, — a fellow I don't much fancy, by-the- 
 bye ; but the turf, like poverty, leads us to form somewhat 
 strange acquaintances. Meanwhile, my boy, here come 
 the nags ; and now for the park till dinner." 
 
 During our ride O'Grady informed me that the individual 
 to whom he so slightly alluded was a Mr. Ulick Burke, a 
 cousin of Miss Bellew. This individual, who by family and 
 connections was a gentleman, had contrived by his life 
 and habits to disqualify himself from any title to the 
 appellation in a very considerable degree. Having squan- 
 
THE BALL. 83 
 
 dered the entire of his patrimony on the turf, he had 
 followed the apparently immutable law on such occasions, 
 and ended by becoming a hawk, where he had begun as a 
 pigeon. For many years past he had lived by the exercise 
 of those most disreputable sources, his own wits. Present at 
 every race-course in the kingdom, and provided with that 
 under-current of information obtainable from jockeys and 
 stable-men, he understood all the intrigue, all the low cun- 
 ning of the course. He knew when to back the favorite, 
 when to give, when to take the odds ; and if upon any occa- 
 sion he was seen to lay heavily against a well-known horse, 
 the presumption became a strong one that he was either 
 " wrong " or withdrawn. But his qualifications ended not 
 here ; for he was also that singular anomaly in our social 
 condition, — a gentleman-rider, ready upon any occasion to 
 get into the saddle for any one that engaged his services ; a 
 fiat race, or a steeple-chase, all the same to him. His neck 
 was his livelihood, and to support, he must risk it. A 
 racing-jacket, a pair of leathers and tops, a heavy handled- 
 whip, and a shot-belt were his stock-in-trade, and he 
 travelled through the world a species of sporting Dalgetty, 
 minus the probity which made the latter firm to his engage- 
 ments so long as they lasted. At least, report denied the 
 quality to Mr. Burke ; and those who knew him well scru- 
 pled not to say that fifty pounds had exactly twice as many 
 arguments in its favor as five-and-twenty. 
 
 So much, then, in brief concerning a character to whom I 
 shall hereafter have occasion to recur ; and now to my own 
 narrative. 
 
 O'Grady's anticipations as to the Castle dinner were not 
 in the least exaggerated. Nothing could possibly be more 
 stiff or tiresome ; the entertainment being given, as a kind 
 of ex-officio civility, to the commander-of-the forces and his 
 staff, the conversation was purely professional, and never 
 ranged beyond the discussion of military topics, or such as 
 bore in any way upon the army. Happily, however, its 
 duration was short. We dined at six, and by half-past eight 
 
84 JACK HINTOX, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 we found ourselves at the foot of the grand staircase of the 
 theatre in Crow Street, with Mr. Jones in the full dignity 
 of his managerial costume waiting to receive us. 
 
 " A little late, I fear, Mr. Jones," said his Grace with a 
 courteous smile. " 'What have we got ? " 
 
 "Your Excellency selected the 'Inconstant,'" said the 
 obsequious manager ; while a lady of the party darted her 
 eyes suddenly towards the duke, and with a tone of marked 
 sarcastic import, exclaimed, — 
 
 " How characteristic ! " 
 
 " And the after-piece, what is it ? " said the duchess, as 
 she fussed her way upstairs. 
 
 " ' Timour the Tartar,' your Grace." 
 
 The next moment the thundering applause of the audi- 
 ence informed us that their Excellencies had taken their 
 places. Cheer after cheer resounded through the building, 
 and the massive lustre itself shook under the deafening 
 acclamations of the audience. The scene was truly a bril- 
 liant one. The boxes presented a perfect blaze of wealth 
 and beauty; nearly every person in the pit was in full 
 dress ; to the very ceiling itself the house was crammed. 
 The progress of the piece was interrupted, while the band 
 struck up " God save the King," and as I looked upon the 
 brilliant dress-circle I could not but think that O'Grady 
 had been guilty of some exaggeration when he said that 
 Mrs. Eooney's ball was to monopolize that evening the 
 youth and the beauty of the capital. The National Anthem 
 over, " Patrick's Day " was called for loudly from every 
 side, and the whole house beat time to the strains of their 
 native melody, with an energy that showed it came as fully 
 home to their hearts as the air that preceded it. For ten 
 minutes at least the noise and uproar continued; aud al- 
 though his Grace bowed repeatedly, there seemed no pros- 
 pect to an end of the tumult, when a voice from the gallery 
 called out, " Don't make a stranger of yourself, my lord ; 
 take a chair and sit down." A roar of laughter, increased as 
 the duke accepted the suggestion, shook the house ; and 
 poor Talbot, who all this time was kneeling beside Miss 
 
THE BALL. 85 
 
 Walstein's chair, was permitted to continue his ardent tale 
 of love, and take up the thread of his devotion where he 
 had left it twenty minutes before. 
 
 While O'Grady, who sat in the back of the box, seemed 
 absorbed in his chagrin and disappointment, I myself be- 
 came interested in the play, which was admirably per- 
 formed ; and Lord Dudley, leaning affectedly against a 
 pillar, with his back towards the stage, scanned the house 
 with his vapid, unmeaning look, as though to say they were 
 unworthy of such attention at his hands. 
 
 The comedy was at length over, and her Grace, with the 
 ladies of her suite, retired, leaving only the Asgills and 
 some members of the household in the box with his Excel- 
 lency. He apparently was much entertained by the per- 
 formance, and seemed most resolutely bent on staying to 
 the last. Before the first act, however, of the after-piece 
 was over, many of the benches in the dress-circle became 
 deserted, and the house altogether seemed considerably 
 thinner. 
 
 "I say, O'Grady," said he, "what are these good people 
 about? There seems to be a general move among them. 
 Is there anything going on ? " 
 
 " Yes, your Grace," said Phil, whose impatience now could 
 scarcely be restrained, "they are going to a great ball in 
 Stephen's Green ; the most splendid thing Dublin has wit- 
 nessed these fifty years." 
 
 " Ah, indeed ! Where is it ? Who gives it ? " 
 " Mr. Rooney, sir, a very well-known attorney, and a great 
 character in the town." 
 
 " How good ! And he does the thing well ? " 
 " He flatters himself that he rivals your Grace." 
 " Better still ! But who has he ? What are his people ? " 
 " Every one ; there is nothing too high, nothing too hand- 
 some, nothing too distinguished for him. His house, like 
 the Holyhead packet, is open to all comers ; and the conse- 
 quence is, his parties are by far the pleasantest thing going. 
 One has such strange rencontres, sees such odd people, hears 
 such droll things ; for besides having everything like a char- 
 
86 JACK HIXTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 aeter in the city, the very gravest of Mr. Rooney's guests 
 seems to feel his house as a place to relax and unbend in. 
 Thus, I should not be the least surprised to see the chief- 
 justice and the attorney-general playing small plays, nor 
 the bishop of Cork dancing Sir Roger de Coverley." 
 
 " Glorious fun, by Jove ! But why are you not there, 
 lads ? Ah, I see : on duty. I wish you had told me. But 
 come, it is not too late yet. Has Hinton got a card ? " 
 
 " Yes, your Grace." 
 
 " Well, then, don't let me detain you any longer. I see 
 you are both impatient ; and faith, if I must confess it, I 
 half envy you ; and mind you give me a full report of the 
 proceedings to-morrow morning." 
 
 " How I wish your Grace could only witness it yourself ! " 
 
 " Eh ! Is it so very good, then ? " 
 
 "Nothing ever was like it; for although the company is 
 admirable, the host and hostess are matchless." 
 
 " Egad ! you 've quite excited my curiosity. I say, 
 O'Grady, would they know me, think ye? Have you no 
 uncle or country cousin about my weight and build?" 
 
 " Ah, my lord, that is out of the question ; you are too 
 well known to assume an incognito. But still, if you wish 
 to see it for a few minutes, nothing could be easier than 
 just to walk through the rooms and come away. The crowd 
 will be such the thing is quite practicable, done in that 
 way." 
 
 "By Jove, I don't know; but if I thought — To be sure, 
 as you say, for five minutes or so one might get through. 
 Come, here goes ; order up the carriages. Now, mind, 
 O'Grady, I am under your management. Do the thing as 
 quietly as you can." 
 
 Elated at the success of his scheme, Phil scarcely waited 
 for his Grace to conclude, but sprang down the box-lobby 
 to give the necessary orders, and was back again in an 
 instant. 
 
 " Don't you think I had better take this star off ? " 
 
 "Oh no, my lord, it will not be necessary. By timing 
 the thing well, we '11 contrive to get your Grace into the 
 
THE BALL. 87 
 
 midst of the crowd without attracting observation. Once 
 there, the rest is easy enough." 
 
 Many minutes had not elapsed ere we reached the corner 
 of Grafton Street. Here we became entangled with the 
 line of carriages, which extended more than half way 
 round Stephen's Green, and, late as was the hour, were 
 still thronging and pressing onwards towards the scene 
 of festivity. 0' Grady, who contrived entirely to engross 
 his Grace's attention by many bits of the gossip and small- 
 talk of the day, did not permit him to remark that the vice- 
 regal liveries and the guard of honor that accompanied us 
 enabled us to cut the line of carriages, and taking prece- 
 dence of all others, arrive at the door at once. Indeed, so 
 occupied was the duke with some story at the moment, that 
 he was half provoked as the door was flung open, and the 
 clattering clash of the steps interrupted the conversation. 
 
 " Here we are, my lord," said Phil. 
 
 "Well, get out, O'Grady. Lead on. Don't forget it is 
 my first visit here ; and you, I fancy, know the map of the 
 country." 
 
 The hall in which we found ourselves, brilliantly lighted 
 and thronged with servants, presented a scene of the most 
 strange confusion and tumult ; for such was the eagerness 
 of the guests to get forward, many persons were separated 
 from their friends. Turbaned old ladies called in cracked 
 voices for their sons to rescue them, and desolate daughters 
 seized distractedly the arm nearest them, and implored suc- 
 cor with an accent as agonizing as though on the eve of 
 shipwreck. Mothers screamed, fathers swore, footmen 
 laughed, and high above all came the measured tramp of 
 the dancers overhead ; while fiddles, French horns, and 
 dulcimers scraped and blew their worst, as if purposely 
 to increase the inextricable and maddening confusion that 
 prevailed. 
 
 " Sir Peter and Lady Macfarlane ! " screamed the servant 
 at the top of the stairs. 
 
 " Counsellor and Mrs. Blake ! " 
 
 " Captain O'Ryan of the Rifles ! " 
 
88 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSxMAN. 
 
 " Lord Dumboy — " 
 
 " Dunboyne, you villain ! " 
 
 " Ay, Lord Dunboyne and five ladies ! " 
 
 Such were the announcements that preceded us as we 
 wended our way slowly on ; while I could distinguish Mr. 
 Eooney's voice receiving and welcoming his guests, for 
 which purpose he used a formula, in part derived from the 
 practice of an auction-room. 
 
 "Walk in, ladies and gentlemen, walk in. Whist, tea, 
 dancing, negus, and blind-hookey; delighted to see you; 
 walk in ; " and so, da capo, only varying the ritual when a 
 lord or a baronet necessitated a change of title. 
 
 " You 're quite right, O'Grady ; I would n't have lost this 
 for a great deal," whispered the duke. 
 
 " Now, my lord, permit me," said Phil. " Hinton and I 
 will engage Mr. Rooney in conversation, while your Grace 
 can pass on and mix with the crowd." 
 
 "Walk in, walk in, ladies and — Ah, how are you, 
 Captain ? This is kind of you — Mr. Hinton, your hum- 
 ble servant — Whist, dancing, blind-hookey, and negus, — 
 walk in ; and, Captain Phil," added he in a whisper, " a bit 
 of supper by-and-by below stairs." 
 
 "I must tell you an excellent thing, Rooney, before I 
 forget it," said O'Grady, turning the host's attention away 
 from the door as he spoke, and inventing some imaginary 
 secret for the occasion ; while I followed his Grace, who 
 now was so inextricably jammed up in the dense mob that 
 any recognition of him would have been very difficult, if 
 not actually impossible. 
 
 For some time I could perceive that the duke's attention 
 was devoted to the conversation about him. Some half- 
 dozen ladies were carrying on a very active and almost 
 acrimonious controversy on the subject of dress, — not, 
 however, with any artistic pretension of regulating costume 
 or color; not discussing the rejection of an old or the adop- 
 tion of a new mode ; but with a much more practical spirit 
 of inquiry they were appraising and valuing each other's 
 finery, in the most sincere and simple way imaginable. 
 
THE BALL. 89 
 
 " Seven-and-sixpence a yard, my dear; you'll never get 
 it less, I assure you." "That's elegant lace, Mrs. Mahony; 
 was it run, ma'am ? " Mrs. Mahony bridled at the sugges- 
 tion, and replied that though neither her lace nor her dia- 
 monds were Irish — "Six breadths, ma'am, always in 
 the skirt," said a fat, little, dumpy woman, holding up her 
 satin petticoat in evidence. 
 
 "I say, Hinton," whispered the duke, "I hope they 
 won't end by an examination of us. But what the deuce is 
 going on here ? " 
 
 This remark was caused by a very singular movement in 
 the room. The crowd which had succeeded to the dancers, 
 and filled the large drawing-room from end to end, now fell 
 back to either wall, leaving a space of about a yard wide 
 down the entire centre of the room, as though some per- 
 formance was about to be enacted or some procession to 
 march there. 
 
 " What can it be ? " said the duke, — " some foolery of 
 O'Grady's, depend upon it ; for look at him up there talking 
 to the band." 
 
 As he spoke, the musicians struck up the grand march in 
 Blue Beard, and Mrs. Paul Rooney appeared in the open 
 space in all the plenitude of her charms, — a perfect blaze 
 of rouge, red feathers, and rubies, — marching in solemn 
 state. She moved along in time to the music, followed by 
 Paul, whose cunning eyes twinkled with more than a com- 
 mon shrewdness, as he peered here and there through the 
 crowd. They came straight towards where we were stand- 
 ing ; and while a whispered murmur ran through the room, 
 the various persons around us drew back, leaving the duke 
 and myself completely isolated. Before his Grace could 
 recover his concealment, Mrs. Rooney stood before him. 
 The music suddenly ceased ; while the lady, disposing her 
 petticoats as though the object were to conceal all the 
 company behind her, courtesied down to the very floor. 
 
 " Ah, your Grace," uttered in an accent of the most melt- 
 ing tenderness, were the only words she could speak, as she 
 bestowed a look of still more speaking softness. " Ah, did 
 
90 
 
 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 I ever hope to see the day when your Highness would 
 honor — " 
 
 "My dear madam," said the duke, as taking her hand 
 with great courtesy, " pray don't overwhelm me with obli- 
 gations. A very natural, I hope a very pardonable desire 
 
 m 
 
 ,. •n 
 
 fern '-> - WJ) 
 
 to witness hospitality I have heard so much of has led me 
 to intrude thus uninvited upon you. Will you allow me to 
 make Mr. Eooney's acquaintance ? " 
 
 Mrs. Kooney moved gracefully to one side, waving her 
 hand with the air of a magician about to summon an attor- 
 ney from the earth, when suddenly a change came over his 
 Grace's features ; and as he covered his mouth with his 
 handkerchief, it was with the greatest difficulty he re- 
 frained from an open burst of laughter. The figure before 
 him was certainly not calculated to suggest gravity. 
 
 Mr. Paul Rooney for the first time in his life found him- 
 self the host of a viceroy, and, amid the fumes of his wine 
 
THE BALL. 91 
 
 and the excitement of the scene, entertained some very con- 
 fused notion of certain ceremonies observable on such occa- 
 sions. He had read of curious observances in the East and 
 strange forms of etiquette in China, and probably had the 
 Khan of Tartary dropped in on the evening in question his 
 memory would have supplied him with some hints for his 
 reception ; but with the representative of Britannic Ma,- 
 jesty, before whom he was so completely overpowered, he 
 could not think of nor decide upon anything. A very 
 misty impression flitted through his mind that people oc- 
 casionally knelt before a lord-lieutenant ; but whether they 
 did so at certain moments, or as a general practice, for the 
 life of him he could not tell. While, therefore, the dread 
 of omitting a customary etiquette weighed with him on the 
 one hand, the fear of ridicule actuated him on the other ; 
 and thus he advanced into the presence with bent knees 
 and a supplicating look eagerly turned towards the duke, 
 ready at any moment to drop down or stand upright before 
 him as the circumstances might warrant. 
 
 Entering at once into the spirit of the scene, the duke bowed 
 with the most formal courtesy, while he vouchsafed to Mr. 
 Eooney some few expressions of compliment. At the same 
 time, drawing Mrs. Rooney's arm within his own, he led 
 her down the room with a grace and dignity of manner no 
 one was more master of than himself. As for Paul, appar- 
 ently unable to stand upright under the increasing load of 
 favors that fortune was showering upon his head, he looked 
 over his shoulder at Mrs. Rooney, as she marched off in 
 triumph, with the same exuberant triumph Young used to 
 throw into Othello, as he passionately exclaims, — 
 
 " Excellent wench ! perdition catch my soul, but I do love thee ! " 
 
 Not but that, at the very moment in question, the object 
 of it was most ungratefully oblivious of Mr. Rooney and 
 his affection. 
 
 Had Mrs. Paul Rooney been asked on the morning after 
 her ball what was her most accurate notion of Elysian bliss, 
 she probably would have answered, — leaning upon a vice- 
 
92 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 roy's arm in her own ball-room, under the envious stare 
 and jealous gaze of eight hundred assembled guests. Her 
 flushed look, her flashing eye, the trembling hand with 
 which she waved her fan, the proud imperious step, — all 
 spoke of triumph. In fact, such was the halo of reverence, 
 such the reflected brightness the representative of monarchy 
 then bore, she felt it a prouder honor to be thus escorted than 
 if the emperor of all the Russias had deigned to grace her 
 mansion with his presence. How she loved to run over 
 every imaginable title she conceived applicable to his rank, 
 " Your Royal Highness," " Your Grace," " Your noble Lord- 
 ship," — varying and combining them, like a child who runs 
 his erring fingers over the keys of a pianoforte, and is de- 
 lighted with the efforts of his skill ! 
 
 While this kingly scene was thus enacting, the ball-room 
 resumed its former life and vivacity. This indeed was 
 owing to O'Grady. No sooner had his scheme succeeded 
 of delivering up the duke into the hands of the Rooneys, 
 than he set about restoring such a degree of turmoil, tu- 
 mult, noise, and merriment as, while it should amuse his 
 Grace, would rescue him from the annoyance of being 
 stared at by many who never had walked the boards with 
 a live viceroy. 
 
 " Is n't it gloriously done, Hinton ? " he whispered in my 
 ear as he passed. " Now lend me your aid, my boy, to keep 
 the whole thing moving. Get a partner as quick as you 
 can, and let us try if we can't do the honors of the house, 
 while the master and mistress are basking in the sunshine 
 of royal favor." 
 
 As he spoke, the band struck up "Haste to the Wed- 
 ding ! " The dancers assumed their places, — Phil himself 
 flying hither and thither, arranging, directing, ordering, 
 countermanding, providing partners for persons he had 
 never seen before, and introducing individuals of whose 
 very names he was ignorant. 
 
 "Push along, Hinton," said he; " only set them going. 
 Speak to every one : half the men in the room answer to 
 the name of ' Bob,' and all the young ladies are ' Miss 
 
THE BALL. 93 
 
 Magees.' Then go it, my boy ! this is a great night for 
 Ireland ! " 
 
 This happy land indeed, which like a vast powder- 
 magazine only wants but the smallest spark to ignite it, is 
 always prepared for an explosion of fun. No sooner than 
 did O'Grady, taking out the fattest woman in the room, 
 proceed to lead her down the middle to the liveliest imagi- 
 nable country -dance, than at once the contagious spirit flew 
 through the room, and dancers pressed in from every side. 
 Champagne served round in abundance added to the excite- 
 ment; and as eight-and-thirty couple made the floor vi- 
 brate beneath them, such a scene of noise, laughter, uproar, 
 and merriment ensued as it were difficult to conceive or 
 describe. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 A FINALE TO AN EVENING. 
 
 A ball, like a battle, has its critical moment, — that one 
 short and subtile point, on which its trembling fate would 
 seem to hesitate, ere it incline to this side or that. In both, 
 such is the time for generalship to display itself, — and of 
 this my friend 0' Grady seemed well aware ; for calling up 
 his reserve for an attack in force, he ordered strong negus 
 for the band, and ere many minutes the increased vigor 
 of the instruments attested that the order had been 
 attended to. 
 
 " Eight and left ! " " Hands across ! " " Here we are ! " 
 " This way, Peter ! " " Ah, Captain, you 're a droll cray- 
 ture ! " " Move along, alderman ! " " That negus is mighty 
 strong ! " " The Lord grant the house is — " 
 
 Such and such like phrases broke around me as, under the 
 orders of the irresistible Phil, I shuffled down the middle 
 with a dumpy little school-girl with red hair and red shoes, 
 which, added to her capering motion, gave her a most un- 
 happy resemblance to a cork fairy. 
 
 " You are a trump, Jack," said Phil. " Never give in ! 
 I never was in such spirits in my life. Two bottles of 
 champagne under my belt, and a cheque for three hundred 
 Paul has just given me without a scrape of my pen : it 
 might have been five if I had only had presence of mind." 
 
 " Where is Miss Bellew all this time ? " inquired I. 
 
 " I only saw her for a moment ; she iooks saucy, and 
 won't dance." 
 
 My pride somewhat stimulated by a fact which I could 
 not help interpreting in Miss Bellew's favor, I went through 
 the rooms in search of her, and at length discovered her in 
 
A FINALE TO AN EVENING. 95 
 
 a boudoir where a whist-party were assembled. She was 
 sitting upon a sofa beside a tall, venerable-looking old man, 
 to whom she was listening with a semblance of the great- 
 est attention as I entered. I had some time to observe her, 
 and could not help feeling struck how much handsomer she 
 was than I had formerly supposed. Her figure, slightly 
 above the middle size, and most graceful in all its propor- 
 tions, was perhaps a little too much disposed to embonpoint ; 
 \he character of her features, however, seemed to suit if 
 not actually to require as much. Her eyes of deep blue, 
 set well beneath her brow, had a look of intensity in them 
 that evidenced thought ; but the other features relieved by 
 their graceful softness this strong expression, and a nose 
 short and slightly, very slightly, retrousse, with a mouth 
 the very perfection of eloquent and winning softness, made 
 ample amends to those who prefer charms purely feminine 
 to beauty of a severer character. Her hair, too, was of that 
 deep auburn through which a golden light seems forever 
 playing ; and this, contrary to the taste of the day, she 
 wore simply braided upon her temple and cheeks, marking 
 the oval contour of her face, and displaying by this graceful 
 coquetry the perfect chiselling of her features. Let me 
 add to this, that her voice was low and soft in all its tones ; 
 and if the provincialism with which she spoke did at first 
 offend my ear, I learned afterwards to think that the 
 breathing intonations of the west lent a charm of their 
 own to all she said, deepening the pathos of a simple story, 
 or heightening the drollery of a merry one. Yes, laugh if 
 you will, ye high-bred and high-born denizens of a richer 
 sphere, w T hose ears, attuned to the rhythm of Metastasio, 
 softly borne on the strains of Donizetti, can scarce pardon 
 the intrusion of your native tongue in the every-day con- 
 cerns of life, — smile if it so please ye ; but from the lips 
 of a lovely woman a little, a very little, of the brogue is 
 most seductive. Whether the subject be grave or gay, 
 whether mirth or melancholy be the mood, like the varnish 
 upon a picture, it brings out all the color into strong effect, 
 brightening the lights and deepening the shadows ; and 
 
96 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 then, somehow, there is an air of naivete, a tone of sim- 
 plicity about it, that appeals equally to your heart as your 
 hearing. 
 
 Seeing that the conversation in which she was engaged 
 seemed to engross her entire attention, I was about to retire 
 without addressing her, when suddenly she turned round 
 and her eyes met mine. I accordingly came forward, and, 
 after a few of the commonplace civilities of the moment, 
 asked her to dance. 
 
 " Pray, excuse me, Mr. Hinton ; I have declined already 
 several times. I have been fortunate enough to meet with 
 a very old and dear friend of my father — " 
 
 " Who is much too attached to his daughter to permit 
 her to waste an entire evening upon him. No, sir, if you 
 will allow me, I will resign Miss Bellew to your care." 
 
 She said something in a low voice, to which he muttered 
 in reply. The only words which I could catch — " No, no ; 
 very different, indeed ; this is a most proper person " — 
 seemed, as they were accompanied bj a smile of much 
 kindness, in some way to concern me ; and the next mo- 
 ment Miss Bellew took my arm and accompanied me to 
 the ball-room. 
 
 As I passed the sofa where the duke and Mrs. Rooney 
 were still seated, his Grace nodded familiarly to me, with a 
 gesture of approval ; while Mrs. Paul clasped both her hands 
 before her with a movement of ecstasy, and seemed about 
 to bestow upon us a maternal blessing. Fearful of in- 
 curring a scene, Miss Bellew hastened on, and as her arm 
 trembled within mine I could perceive how deeply the 
 ridicule of her friend's position wounded her own pride. 
 Meanwhile, I could just catch the tones of Mrs. Rooney's 
 voice, explaining to the duke Miss Bellew's pedigree, — 
 " One of the oldest families of the land, your Grace ; came 
 over with Romulus and Remus ; and if it were not for 
 Oliver Cromwell and the Danes — " the confounded fiddles 
 lost the rest, and I was left in the dark, to guess what 
 these strange allies had inflicted upon the Bellew family. 
 
 The dancing now began, and only between the intervals 
 
A FINALE TO AN EVENING. 97 
 
 of the cotillon had I an opportunity of conversing with my 
 partner. Few and brief as these occasions were, I was de- 
 lighted to find in her a tone and manner quite different 
 from anything I had ever met before. Although having 
 seen scarcely anything of the world, her knowledge of 
 character seemed an instinct; and her quick appreciation 
 of the ludicrous features of many of the company was ac- 
 companied by a naive expression, and at the same time a 
 witty terseness of phrase, that showed me how much real 
 intelligence lay beneath that laughing look. Unlike my 
 fair cousin, Lady Julia, her raillery never wounded. Hers 
 were the fanciful combinations which a vivid and sparkling 
 imagination conjures up, but never the barbed and bitter 
 arrows of sarcasm. Catching up in a second any passing 
 absurdity, she could laugh at the scene, yet seem to spare 
 the actor. Julia, on the contrary, with what the French call 
 V esprit moqueur, never felt that her wit had hit its mark till 
 she saw her victim writhing and quivering beneath her. 
 
 There is always something in being the partner of the 
 belle of a ball-room. The little bit of envy and jealousy, 
 whose limit is to be the duration of a waltz or quadrille, 
 has somehow its feeling of pleasure. There is the reflective 
 flattery in the thought of a fancied preference that raises 
 one in his own esteem ; and as the muttered compliments 
 and half-spoken praises of the bystanders fall upon your 
 ears, you seem to feel that you are a kind of shareholder in 
 the company, and ought to retire from business with your 
 portion of the profits. Such, I know, were some of my 
 feelings at the period in question ; and as I pulled up my 
 stock and adjusted my sash, I looked upon the crowd about 
 me with a sense of considerable self-satisfaction, and began 
 really for the first time to enjoy myself. 
 
 Scarcely was the dance concluded when a general move- 
 ment was perceptible towards the door, and the word 
 " supper," repeated from voice to voice, announced that the 
 merriest hour in Irish life had sounded. Delighted to 
 have Miss Bellew for my companion, I edged my way into 
 the mass, and was borne along on the current. 
 
 VOL. I. — 7 
 
98 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 The view from the top of the staircase was sufficiently 
 amusing. A waving mass of feathers of every shape and 
 hue, a crowd of spangled turbans, bald and powdered heads, 
 seemed wedged inextricably together, swaying backwards 
 and forwards with one impulse, as the crowd at the door of 
 the supper-room advanced or receded. The crash of plates 
 and knives, the jingling of glasses, the popping of cham- 
 pagne corks, told that the attack had begun, had not even 
 the eager faces of those nearer the door indicated as much. 
 Nulli ocull retrorsum seemed the motto of the day, save 
 when some anxious mother would turn a backward and 
 uneasy glance towards the staircase, where her daughter, 
 preferring a lieutenant to a lobster, was listening with 
 elated look to his tale of love and glory. " Eliza, my dear, 
 sit next me." — " Anna, my love, come down here." These 
 brief commands, significantly as they were uttered, would 
 be lost to those for whom intended, and only serve to 
 amuse the bystanders, and awaken them to a quicker per- 
 ception of the passing flirtation. Some philosopher has 
 gravely remarked that the critical moments of our life are 
 the transitions from one stage or state of our existence to 
 another; and that our fate for the future depends in a 
 great measure upon those hours in which we emerge from 
 infancy to boyhood, from boyhood to manhood, from man- 
 hood to maturer years. Perhaps the arguments of time 
 might be applied to place, and we might thus be enabled to 
 show how a staircase is the most dangerous portion of a 
 building. I speak not here of the insecurity of the archi- 
 tecture, nor, indeed, of any staircase whose well-tempered 
 light shines down at noonday through the perfumed foliage 
 of a conservatory ; but of the same place, a blaze of lamp- 
 light, about two in the morning, crowded, crammed, and 
 creaking by an anxious and elated throng pressing towards 
 a supper-room. Whether it is the supper or the squeeze, 
 the odor of balmy lips or the savory smell of roast ducks ; 
 whether it be the approach to silk tresses or sillery mous- 
 seuX) — whatever the provocation, I cannot explain it ; but 
 the fact is so : one is tremendously given in such a place, 
 
A FINALE TO AN EVENING. 99 
 
 at such a time, to the most barefaced and palpable flirta- 
 tion. So strongly do I feel on this point, that, were I a 
 law-giver, I would never award damages for a breach of 
 contract where the promise was made on a staircase. 
 
 As for me, my acquaintance with Miss Bellew was not of 
 more than an hour's standing. During that time we had 
 contrived to discuss the ball-room, its guests, its lights, its 
 decorations, the music, the dancers, — in a word, all the 
 commonplaces of an evening party ; thence we wandered 
 on to Dublin, society in general, to Ireland, and Irish 
 habits and Irish tastes ; quizzed each other a little about 
 our respective peculiarities, and had just begun to discuss 
 the distinctive features which characterize the softer emo- 
 tions in the two nations, when the announcement of supper 
 brought us on the staircase. Apropos, or mal ajyropos, this 
 turn of our conversation, let the reader decide by Avhat I 
 have already stated ; so it was, however, and in a little 
 nook of the landing I found myself with my fair compan- 
 ion's arm pressed closely to my side, engaged in a warm 
 controversy on the trite subject of English coldness of 
 manner. Advocating my country, I deemed that no more 
 fitting defence could be entered than by evidencing in my- 
 self the utter absence of the frigidity imputed. Champagne 
 did something for me ; Louisa's bright eyes assisted ; but 
 the staircase, the confounded staircase, crowned all. In 
 fact, the undisguised openness of Miss Bellew's manner. 
 the fearless simplicity with which she had ventured upon 
 topics a hardened coquette would not dare to touch upon, 
 led me into the common error of imputing to flirtation 
 what was only due to the untarnished freshness of happy 
 girlhood. 
 
 Finding my advances well received, I began to feel not a 
 little proud of my success, and disposed to plume myself 
 upon the charm of my eloquence, when, as I concluded a 
 high-flown and inflated phrase of sentimental absurdity, 
 she suddenly turned round, fixed her bright eyes upon me, 
 and burst out into a fit of laughter. 
 
 "There, there! pray, don't try that! No one but an 
 
100 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 Irishman ever succeeds in blarney. It is our national dish, 
 and can never be seasoned by a stranger." 
 
 This pull-up, for such it most effectually was, completely 
 unmanned me. I tried to stammer out an explanation, en- 
 deavored to laugh, coughed, blundered, and broke down ; 
 while, merciless in her triumph, she only laughed the more, 
 and seemed to enjoy my confusion. 
 
 With such a failure hanging over me, I felt happy when 
 we reached the supper-room ; and the crash, din, and con- 
 fusion about us once more broke in upon our conversa- 
 tion. It requires far less nerve for the dismounted jockey, 
 whose gay jacket has been rolled in the mud of a race- 
 course, resuming his saddle, to ride in amid the jeers and 
 scoffs of ten thousand spectators, than for the gallant who 
 has blundered in the full tide of a flirtation to recover his 
 lost position, and sustain the current of his courtship. The 
 sarcasm of our sex is severe enough, Heaven knows ; but 
 no raillery, no ridicule, cuts half so sharp or half so deep 
 as the bright twinkle of a pretty girl's eye, when, detect- 
 ing some exhibition of dramatized passion, some false 
 glitter of pinchbeck sentiment, she exchanges her look of 
 gratified attention for the merry mockery of a hearty laugh. 
 No tact, no savoir /aire, no knowledge of the world, no old 
 soldierism that ever I heard of, was proof against this. To 
 go back is bad ; to stand still, worse ; to go on, impossible. 
 The best — for I believe it is the only thing to do — is to 
 turn approver on your own misdeeds, and join in the laugh- 
 ter against yourself. Now, this requires no common self- 
 mastery, and an aplomb few young gentlemen under twenty 
 possess ; hence both my failure and its punishment. 
 
 That staircase, which but a moment before I wished might 
 be as long as a journey to Jerusalem, I now escaped 'from 
 with thankfulness. Concealing my discomfiture as well as 
 I was able, I bustled about, and finally secured a place for 
 my companion at one of the side tables. We were too 
 far from the head of the table, but the clear ringing of his 
 Grace's laughter informed me of his vicinity ; and as I saw 
 Miss Bellew shrank from approaching that part of the room, 
 
A FINALE TO AN EVENING. 101 
 
 I surrendered my curiosity to the far more grateful task of 
 cultivating her acquaintance. 
 
 All the ardor of my attentions, — and I had resumed them 
 with nearly as much warmth, although less risk of discomfi- 
 ture, for I began to feel what before I had only professed, — 
 all the preoccupation of my mind, could not prevent my 
 hearing high above the crash and clatter of the tables the 
 rich roundness of Mrs. Rooney's brogue, as she recounted 
 to the duke some interesting trait of the O'Toole family, or 
 adverted to some classical era in Irish history, when, possi- 
 bly, Mecsenas was mayor of Cork, or Diogenes an alderman 
 of Skinner's Alley. 
 
 " Ah, my dear — the Lord forgive me ! I mean your 
 Grace." 
 
 " I shall never forgive you, Mrs. Rooney, if you change 
 the epithet." 
 
 " Ah, your Grace's worship, them was fine times ; and 
 the husband of an O'Toole in them days spent more of his 
 time harrying the country with his troops at his back than 
 driving about in an old gig full of writs and latitats, with a 
 process-server behind him." 
 
 Had Mr. Rooney, who at that moment was carving a hare 
 in total ignorance of his wife's sarcasm, only heard the 
 speech, the chances are ten to one he would have figured in 
 a steel breastplate and an iron headpiece before the week 
 was over. I was unable to hear more of the conversation, 
 notwithstanding my great wish to do so, as a movement of 
 those next the door implied that a large instalment of the 
 guests who had not supped would wait no longer, but were 
 about to make what Mr. Rooney called a forcible entry on 
 a summary process, and eject the tenant in possession. 
 
 "We accordingly rose, and all (save the party around the 
 viceroy) along with us, once more to visit the ball-room, 
 where already dancing had begun. While I was eagerly 
 endeavoring to persuade Miss Bellew that there was no 
 cause or just impediment to prevent her dancing the next 
 set with me, Lord Dudley de Vere lounged affectedly for- 
 ward, and mumbled out some broken indistinct phrases, in 
 
102 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 which the word " da — ance " was alone audible. Miss Bel- 
 lew colored slightly, turned her eyes towards me, cour- 
 tesied, took his arm, and the next moment was lost amid 
 the crowd. 
 
 I am not aware of any readier method of forming a no- 
 tion of perpetual motion than watching the performance of 
 Sir Roger de Coverley at an evening party in Dublin. It 
 seems to be a point of honor never to give in ; and thus the 
 same complicated figures, the same mystic movements that 
 you see in the beginning, continue to succeed each other in 
 a never-ending series. You endeavor in vain to detect the 
 plan, to unravel the tangled web of this strange ceremony ; 
 but somehow it would seem as if the whole thing was com- 
 pletely discretionary with the dancers, — there being only 
 one point of agreement among them, which is, whenever 
 blown and out of breath, to join in a vigorous hands-round ; 
 and the motion being confined to a shuffling of the feet and 
 a shaking of the elbows, little fatigue is incurred. To this 
 succeeds a capering forward-movement of a gentleman, which 
 seemingly magnetizes an opposite lady to a similiar exhibi- 
 tion ; then, after seizing each other rapturously by the hands, 
 they separate to run the gantlet in and out down the whole 
 line of dancers, to meet at the bottom, when, apparently rec- 
 onciled, they once more embrace. What follows, the devil 
 himself may tell. As for me, I heard only laughing, titter- 
 ing, now and then a slight scream, and a cry of " Behave, 
 Mr. Murphy ! " etc. ; but the movements themselves were 
 conic sections to me, and I closed my eyes as I sat alone in 
 my corner, and courted sleep as a short oblivion to the scene. 
 Unfortunately I succeeded ; for wild and singular as the 
 gestures, the looks, and the voices were before, they now 
 became to my dreaming senses something too terrible. I 
 thought myself in the centre of some hobgoblin orgie, where 
 demons, male and female, were performing their fantastic 
 antics around me, grinning hideously, and uttering cries of 
 menacing import. Tarn O'Shanter's vision was a respecta- 
 ble tea-party of Glasgow matrons compared to my imagin- 
 ings ; for so distorted were the pictures of my brain, that 
 
A FINALE TO AN EVENING. 103 
 
 the leader of the band, a peaceable-looking old man in shorts 
 and spectacles, seemed to me like a grim-visaged imp, who 
 flourished his tail across the strings of his instrument in 
 lieu of a bow. 
 
 I must confess that the dancers, without any wish on my 
 part to detract from their efforts, had not the entire merit 
 of this transmutation. Fatigue (for the hour was late), 
 chagrin at being robbed of my partner, added to the heat 
 and the crowd, had all their share in the mystification. 
 Besides, if I must confess it, Mr. Rooney's champagne was 
 strong. My friend O'Grady, however, seemed but little of 
 my opinion ; for, like the master-spirit of the scene, he 
 seemed to direct every movement and dictate every change, 
 — no touch of fatigue, no semblance of exhaustion, about 
 him. On the contrary, as the hour grew later, and the pale 
 gray of morning began to mingle with the glare of wax- 
 lights, the vigor of his performance only increased, and 
 several new steps were displayed, which, like a prudent 
 general, he seemed to have kept in reserve for the end of 
 the engagement. And what a sad thing is a ball as it 
 draws towards the close ! What an emblem of life at a 
 similar period ! How much freshness has faded, how much 
 of beauty has passed away, how many illusions are dissi- 
 pated ; how many dreams the lamp-light and chalk-floors 
 have called into life fly like spirits with the first beam 
 of sunlight ! The eye of proud bearing is humbled now ; 
 the cheek, whose downy softness no painter could have 
 copied, looks pale and wan and haggard; the beaming 
 looks, the graceful bearing, the elastic step, where are they ? 
 Only to be found where youth — bright, joyous, and elastic 
 youth — unites itself to beauty. 
 
 Such were my thoughts as the dancers flew past, — and 
 many whom I had remarked at the beginning of the even- 
 ing as handsome and attractive seemed now without a trace 
 of either, — when suddenly Louisa Bellew came by, her step 
 as light, her every gesture as graceful, her cheek as bloom- 
 ing, and her liquid eye as deeply beaming as when first I 
 saw her. The excitement of the dance had slightly flushed 
 
104 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 her face, and heightened the expression its ever-varying 
 emotions lent it. 
 
 Handsome as I before had thought her, there was a look 
 of pride about her now that made her lovely to my eyes. 
 As I continued to gaze after her, I did not perceive for 
 some time that the guests were rapidly taking their leave, 
 and already the rooms were greatly thinned. Every mo- 
 ment now, however, bore evidence of the fact; the un- 
 ceasing roll of carriages to the door, the clank of the steps, 
 the reiterated cry to drive on, followed by the call for the 
 next carriage, — all betokened departure. Now and then, 
 too, some cloaked and hooded figure would appear at the 
 door of the drawing-room, peering anxiously about for a 
 daughter, a sister, or a friend who still lingered in the 
 dance, averring it "was impossible to go, that she was 
 engaged for another set." The disconsolate gestures, the 
 impatient menaces of the shawled spectres — for, in truth, 
 they seemed like creatures of another world come back to 
 look upon the life they left — are of no avail ; the seduc- 
 tions of the "major" are stronger than the frowns of 
 mamma, and though a rowing may come in the morning, 
 she is resolved to have a reel at night. 
 
 An increased noise and tumult below stairs at the same 
 moment informed me that the supper-party was at length 
 about to separate. I started up at once, wishing to see Miss 
 Bellew again ere I took my leave, when O'Grady seized me 
 by the arm and hurried me away. 
 
 " Come along, Hinton ! Not a moment to lose ; the duke 
 is going." 
 
 " Wait an instant," said I ; " I wish to speak to — " 
 
 "Another time, my dear fellow; another time. The 
 duke is delighted with the Kooneys, and we are going to 
 have Paul knighted ! " 
 
 With these words he dragged me along, dashing down 
 the stairs like a madman. As we reached the door of the 
 dining-room we found his Grace, who, with one hand on 
 Lord Dudley's shoulder, was endeavoring to steady himself 
 by the other. 
 
A FINALE TO AN EVENING. 
 
 105 
 
 " I say, O'Grady, is that you ? Very powerful burgundy 
 
 this — It 's not possible it can be morning ! " 
 " Yes, your Grace, half-past seven o'clock." 
 " Indeed, u'pon my word, your friends are very charming 
 
 people. What did you say about knighting some one ? 
 
 Oh, I remember, — Mr. Rooney, was n't it ? Of course, 
 
 nothing could be better ! " 
 
 ■--*%r-4 
 
 " Come, Hinton, have you got a sword ? " said O'Grady, 
 " I 've mislaid mine somehow. There, that '11 do. Let us 
 try and find Paul now." 
 
 Into the supper-room we rushed : but what a change was 
 there ! The brilliant tables, resplendent with gold plate, 
 candelabras, and flowers, were now despoiled and disman- 
 tled. On the floor, among broken glasses, cracked decan- 
 ters, pyramids of jelly, and pagodas of blanc-mange, lay 
 scattered in every attitude the sleeping figures of the late 
 guests. Mrs. Rooney alone maintained her position, seated 
 
106 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 in a large chair, her eyes closed, a smile of Elysian happi- 
 ness playing upon her lips. Her right arm hung gracefully 
 over the side of the chair, where lately his Grace had kissed 
 her hand at parting. Overcome, in all probability, by the 
 more than human happiness of such a moment, she had 
 sunk into slumber, and was murmuring in her dreams such 
 short and broken phrases as the following: "Ah, happy 
 day ! — What will Mrs. Tait say ? — The lord mayor, in- 
 deed ! — Oh, my poor head ! I hope it won't be turned. — 
 Holy Agatha, pray for us ! your Grace, pray for us ! — 
 Is n't he a beautiful man ? Has n't he the darling white 
 teeth ? " 
 
 "Where's Paul?" said O'Grady; " where 's Paul, Mrs. 
 Rooney ? " as he jogged her rather rudely by the arm. 
 
 " Ah, who cares for Paul ? " said she, still sleeping ; 
 "don't be bothering me about the like of him." 
 
 "Egad! this is conjugal, at any rate," said Phil. 
 
 " I have him ! " cried I : " here he is ! " as I stumbled 
 over a short thick figure, who was propped up in a corner 
 of the room. There he sat, his head sunk upon his bosom, 
 his hands listlessly resting on the floor. A large jug stood 
 beside him, in the concoction of whose contents he appeared 
 to have spent the last moments of his waking state. We 
 shook him, and called him by his name, but to no purpose ; 
 and as we lifted up his head we burst out a-laughing at the 
 droll expression of his face ; for he had fallen asleep in the 
 act of squeezing a lemon in his teeth, the half of which not 
 only remained there still, but imparted to his features the 
 twisted and contorted expression that act suggests. 
 
 " Are you coming, O'Grady ? " now cried the duke, 
 impatiently. 
 
 "Yes, my lord," cried Phil, as he rushed towards the 
 door. " This is too bad, Hinton : that confounded fellow 
 could not possibly be moved. I '11 try and carry him." As 
 he spoke, he hurried back towards the sleeping figure of 
 Mr. Rooney, while I made towards the duke. 
 
 As Lord Dudley had gone to order up the carriages, his 
 Grace was standing alone at the foot of the stairs, leaning 
 
. 
 
A FINALE TO AN EVENING. 107 
 
 his back against the banisters, his eyes opening and shut- 
 ting alternately as his head nodded every now and then 
 forward, overcome by sleep and the wine he had drunk. 
 Exactly in' front of him, but crouching in the attitude of an 
 Indian monster, sat Corny Delany. To keep himself from 
 the cold, he had wrapped himself up in his master's cloak, 
 and the only part of his face perceptible was the little 
 wrinkled forehead and the malicious-looking fiery eyes 
 beneath it, firmly fixed on the duke's countenance. 
 
 "Give me your sword," said his Grace, turning to me, in 
 a tone half sleeping, half commanding ; " give me your 
 sword, sir ! " 
 
 Drawing it from the scabbard, I presented it respectfully. 
 
 " Stand a little on one side, Hinton. Where is he ? Ah, 
 quite right. Kneel down, sir ! kneel down, I say ! " 
 These words, addressed to Corny, produced no other move- 
 ment in him than a slight change in his attitude, to enable 
 him to extend his expanded hand above his eyes, and take 
 a clearer view of the duke. 
 
 " Does he hear me, Hinton ? — Do you hear me, sir ? " 
 
 " Do you hear his Grace ? " said I, endeavoring with a 
 sharp kick of my foot to assist his perceptions. 
 
 " To be sure I hear him," said Corny ; " why would n't I 
 hear him ? " 
 
 " Kneel down, then," said I. 
 
 " Devil a bit of me '11 kneel down. Don't I know what 
 he 's after, well enough ? Ach ma bocklish ! Sorrow else 
 he ever does nor make fun of people." 
 
 " Kneel down, sir ! " said his Grace, in an accent there 
 was no refusing to obey. " What is your name ? " 
 
 "Oh, murther! Oh, heavenly Joseph!" cried Corny, as 
 I hurled him down upon his knees, " that I 'd ever live to 
 see the day ! " 
 
 •• What is his d — d name ? " said the duke, passionately. 
 
 " Corny, your Grace, — Corny Delany." 
 
 " There, that '11 do," as with a hearty slap of the sword, 
 not on his shoulder, but on his bullet head, he cried out, 
 " Rise, Sir Corny Delany ! " 
 
108 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 "Och, the devil a oue of me will ever get up out of 
 this same spot. wirra, wirra ! how will I ever show 
 myself agaiu after this disgrace ? " 
 
 Leaving Corny to his lamentations, the duke walked 
 towards the door. Here above a hundred people were now 
 assembled, their curiosity excited in no small degree by a 
 picket of light dragoons, who occupied the middle of the 
 street, and were lying upon the ground, or leaning on their 
 saddles, in all the wearied attitudes of a night-watch. In 
 fact, the duke had forgotten to dismiss his guard of honor, 
 who had accompanied him to the theatre, and thus had 
 spent the dark hours of the night keeping watch and ward 
 over the proud dwelling of the Rooneys. A dark frown 
 settled on the duke's features as he perceived the mistake, 
 and he muttered between his teeth, " How they will talk 
 of this in England ! " The next moment, bursting into a 
 hearty fit of laughter, he stepped into the carriage, and 
 amid a loud cheer from the mob, by whom he was recog- 
 nized, drove rapidly away. 
 
 Seated beside his Grace, I saw nothing more of O'Grady, 
 whose efforts to ennoble the worthy attorney only exposed 
 him to the risk of a black eye; for no sooner did Paul 
 perceive that he was undergoing rough treatment than he 
 immediately resisted, and gave open battle. 
 
 O'Grady accordingly left him, to seek his home on foot, 
 followed by Corny, whose cries and heart-rending exclama- 
 tions induced a considerable crowd of well-disposed citizens 
 to accompany them to the Castle gate. And thus ended 
 the great Rooney ball. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 A NEGOTIATION. 
 
 From what I have already stated, it may be inferred 
 that my acquaintance with the Rooneys was begun under 
 favorable auspices. Indeed, from the evening of the ball 
 the house was open to me at all hours ; and as the hour of 
 luncheon was known to every lounger about town, by drop- 
 ping in about three o'clock one was sure to hear all the chit- 
 chat and gossip of the day. All the dinners and duels of 
 the capital, all its rows and runaway matches, were there 
 discussed, while future parties of pleasure were planned 
 and decided on, — the Rooney equipages, horses, servants, 
 and cellar being looked upon as common property, the 
 appropriation of which was to be determined on by a vote 
 of the majority. 
 
 At all these domestic parliaments O'Grady played a 
 prominent part. He was the speaker and the whipper-in ; 
 he led for both the government and the opposition ; in fact, 
 since the ever-memorable visit of the viceroy his power in 
 the house was absolute. How completely they obeyed, and 
 how implicitly they followed him, may be guessed, when I 
 say that he even persuaded Mrs. Rooney herself not only 
 to abstain from all triumph on the subject of their illustri- 
 ous guest, but actually to maintain a kind of diplomatic 
 silence on the subject ; so that many simple-minded people 
 began to suspect his Grace had never been there at all, and 
 that poor Mrs. Rocney, having detected the imposition, 
 prudently held her tongue, and said nothing about the 
 matter. As this influence might strike my reader as some- 
 what difficult in its exercise, and also as it presents a fair 
 
110 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 specimen of ray friend's ingenuity, I cannot forbear men- 
 tioning the secret of its success. 
 
 When the duke awoke late in the afternoon that followed 
 Mrs. Eooney's ball, his first impression was one bordering 
 on irritation with 0' Grady. His quick-sightedness enabled 
 him at once to see how completely he had fallen into the 
 trap of his worthy aide-de-camp ; and although he had con- 
 fessedly spent a very pleasant evening, and laughed a great 
 deal, now that all was over he would have preferred if the 
 whole affair could be quietly consigned to oblivion, or only 
 remembered as a good joke for after dinner. The scandal 
 and the eclat it must cause in the capital annoyed him con- 
 siderably; and he knew that before a day passed over, the 
 incident of the guard of honor lying in bivouac around their 
 horses would furnish matter for every caricature-shop in 
 Dublin. Ordering O'Grady to his presence, and with a 
 severity of manner in a great degree assumed, he directed 
 him to remedy, as far as might be, the consequences of this 
 blunder, and either contrive to give a totally different ver- 
 sion of the occurrence, or else by originating some new 
 subject of scandal to eclipse the memory of this unfor- 
 tunate evening. 
 
 O'Grady promised and pledged himself to everything; 
 vowed that he would give such a turn to the affair that no- 
 body would ever believe a word of the story ; assured the 
 duke — God forgive him ! — that however ridiculous the 
 Rooneys at night, by day they were models of discretion ; 
 and at length took his leave to put his scheme into execu- 
 tion, heartily glad to discover that his Grace had forgotten 
 all about Corny and the knighthood, the recollection of 
 which might have been attended with very grave results 
 to himself. 
 
 So much for his interview with the duke. Now for his 
 diplomacy with Mrs. Rooney ! 
 
 It was about five o'clock on the following day when 
 O'Grady cantered up to the door. Giving his horse to his 
 groom, he dashed boldly upstairs, passed through the ante- 
 chamber and the drawing-room, and, tapping gently at the 
 
A NEGOTIATION. Ill 
 
 door of a little boudoir, opened it at the same moment and 
 presented himself before Mrs. Paul. 
 
 That amiable lady, reclining a la Princess O'Toole, was 
 gracefully disposed on a small sofa, regarding with fixed 
 attention a little plaster bust of his Grace, which, with con- 
 siderable taste and propriety, was dressed in a blue coat 
 and bright buttons, with a star on the breast, a bit of sky- 
 blue satin representing the ribbon of the bath. Nothing 
 was forgotten ; and a faint attempt was even made to 
 represent the coloring of the vice-regal nose, which I am 
 bound to confess was not flattered in the model. 
 
 " Ah, Captain, is it you ? " said Mrs. Paul, with a kind 
 of languishing condescension very different from her ordi- 
 nary reception of a Castle aide-de-camp. " How is his Grace 
 this evening ? " 
 
 Drawing his chair beside her, Phil proceeded to reply to 
 her questions, and assure her that whatever her admiration 
 for the duke, the feeling was perfectly mutual. " Egad," 
 said he, " the thing may turn out very ill for me when the 
 duchess finds out that it was all my doing. Speaking in 
 confidence to you, my dear Mrs. Paul, I may confess that 
 although without exception she is the most kind, amiable, 
 excellent soul breathing, yet she has one fault — We all 
 have our faults." 
 
 " Ah ! " sighed Mrs. Rooney, as she threw down her 
 eyes as though to say, " That 's very true, but you will not 
 catch me telling what mine is." 
 
 " As I was observing, there never was a more estimable 
 being, save in this one respect — You guess it ? I see 
 you do." 
 
 " Ah, the creature, she drinks ! " 
 
 The captain found it not a little difficult to repress a 
 burst of laughter at Mrs. Rooney's suggestion. He did so, 
 however, and proceeded : " No, my dear madam, you mis- 
 take. Jealousy is her failing ; and when I tell you this, 
 and when I add that unhappily for her the events of last 
 night may only afford but too much cause, you will compre* 
 hend the embarrassment of my present position." 
 
112 JACK HLNTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 Having said thus much, he walked the room for several 
 minutes as if sunk in meditation, while he left Mrs. Rooney 
 to ruminate over an announcement the bare possibility of 
 which was ecstasy itself. To be the rival of a peeress, — 
 that peeress a duchess ; that duchess the lady of the vice- 
 roy ! These were high thoughts indeed. What would 
 Mrs. Riley say now ? How would the Maloneys look ? 
 Would n't Father Glynn be proud to meet her at the door 
 of Liffey-street Chapel in full pontificals as she drove up, 
 who knows but with a guard of honor beside her ? Run- 
 ning on in this way, she had actually got so far as to be dis- 
 cussing with herself what was to be done with Paul, — not 
 that her allegiance was shaken towards that excellent in- 
 dividual ; not a single unworthy thought crossed her mind, 
 — far from it. Poor Mrs. Rooney was purity herself; she 
 merely dreamed of those outward manifestations of the 
 viceroy's preference, which were to procure for her con- 
 sideration in the world, a position in society, and those at- 
 tentions from the hands of the great and the titled which 
 she esteemed at higher price than the real gifts of health, 
 wealth, and beauty, so bounteously bestowed upon her by 
 Providence. 
 
 She had come then to that difficult point in her mind as 
 to what was to be done with Paul. What peculiar course 
 of training could he be submitted to, to make him more 
 presentable in the world ; how were they to break him of 
 whiskey-and-water and small jokes ? "Ah," she was think- 
 ing, " it 's very hard to make a real gentleman out of such 
 materials as grog and drab gaiters," when suddenly O'Grady 
 wiping his forehead with his handkerchief, and then flourish- 
 ing it theatrically in the air, exclaimed, — 
 
 "Yes, Mrs. Rooney, everything depends on you. His 
 Grace's visit — I have just been with him talking the whole 
 thing over — ■ must be kept a profound secret. If it ever 
 reach the ears of the duchess we are ruined and undone." 
 
 Here was a total overthrow to all Mrs. Paul's specula- 
 tions; here was a beautiful castle uprooted from its very 
 foundation! All her triumph, all her vaunted superiority 
 
A NEGOTIATION. 113 
 
 over her city acquaintance, was vanishing like a mirage 
 before her ! What was the use of his coming, after all ? 
 What was the good of it, if not to be spoken of, if not 
 talked over at tea, written of in notes, discussed at dinner, 
 and displayed in the morning papers ? Already was her 
 brow contracted, and a slight flush of her cheek showed the 
 wily captain that resistance was in preparation. 
 
 " I know, my dear Mrs. Paul, how gratifying it would be 
 for even the highest of the land to speak of his Grace's con- 
 descension in such terms as you might speak ; but then, 
 after all, how very fleeting such a triumph ! Many would 
 shrug their shoulders, and not believe the story. Some of 
 those who believed would endeavor to account for it as a 
 joke, one of those odd wild fancies the duke is ever so fond 
 of," — here she reddened deeply. " In fact, the malevolence 
 and the envy of the world will give a thousand turns to the 
 circumstance. Besides that, after all, they would seem to 
 have some reason on their side ; for the publicity of the 
 affair must forever prevent a repetition of the visit : whereas, 
 on the other side, by a little discretion, by guarding our own 
 secret," — here Phil looked knowingly in her eyes, as though 
 to say they had one, — " not only will the duke be delighted 
 to continue his intimacy, but from the absence of all men- 
 tion of the matter, all display on the subject, the world will 
 be ten times more disposed to give credence to the fact than 
 if it were paragraphed in every newspaper in the kingdom." 
 
 This was hitting the nail on the head with a vengeance. 
 Here was a picture, here a vision of happiness ! Only to 
 think of the duke dropping in, as a body might say, to take 
 his bit of dinner, or his dish of tea in the evening, just in a 
 quiet, homely, family way ! She thought she saw him sit- 
 ting with his feet on the fender, talking about the king and 
 the queen, and the rest of the royal family, just as he would 
 of herself and Paul ; and her eyes involuntarily turned 
 towards the little bust, and two round full tears of pure 
 joy trickled slowly down her cheeks. 
 
 Yielding, at length, to these and similiar arguments. Mrs. 
 Kooney gave in her adhesion ; and a treaty was arranged 
 
 VOL I. — 8 
 
114 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 and agreed upon between the high contracting parties, which 
 ran somewhat to this effect : — 
 
 In the first place, for the enjoyment of certain advantages 
 to be hereafter more fully set forth, the lady was bound to 
 maintain in all large companies, balls, dinners, drums, and 
 dejeuners, a rigid silence regarding the duke's visit to her 
 house, never speaking of nor alluding to it in any manner 
 whatever, and in fact conducting herself in all respects as 
 if such a thing had never taken place. 
 
 Secondly, she was forbidden from making any direct in- 
 quiries in public respecting the health of the duke or the 
 duchess, or exercising any overt act of personal interest in 
 these exalted individuals. 
 
 Thirdly, so long as Mrs. Eooney strictly maintained the 
 terms of the covenant, nothing in the foregoing was to pre- 
 clude her from certain other privileges — namely, blushing 
 deeply when the duke's name was mentioned, throwing down 
 her eyes, gently clasping her hands, and even occasionally 
 proceeding to a sigh. Neither was she interdicted from re- 
 garding any portion of her domicile as particularly sacred 
 in consequence of its viceregal associations. A certain arm- 
 chair might be selected for peculiar honors, and preserved 
 inviolate, etc. 
 
 And lastly, nevertheless, notwithstanding that in all large 
 assemblies Mrs. Rooney was to conduct herself with the 
 reserve and restrictions aforesaid, yet in small reunions de 
 famille, — this O'Grady purposely inserted in French, for 
 as Mrs. Paul could not confess her ignorance of that lan- 
 guage, the interpretation must rest with himself, — she was 
 to enjoy a perfect liberty of detailing his Grace's advent, 
 entering into all its details, discussing, explaining, expatiat- 
 ing, inquiring with a most minute particularity concerning 
 his health and habits, and, in a word, conducting herself in 
 all respects, to use her own expressive phrase, " as if they 
 were thick since they were babies." 
 
 Armed with this precious document, formally signed and 
 sealed by both parties, O'Grady took his leave of Mrs. 
 Rooney, — not, indeed, in his usual free-and-easy manner, 
 
A NEGOTIATION. 115 
 
 but with the respectful and decorous reserve of one address- 
 ing a favorite near the throne. Nothing could be more 
 perfect than Phil's profound obeisance, except perhaps 
 the queenly demeanor of Mrs. Rooney herself ; for with 
 the ready tact of a woman she caught up in a moment the 
 altered phase of her position, and in the reflective light 
 of O'Grady's manner she learned to appreciate her own 
 brilliancy. 
 
 "From this day forward," muttered O'Grady, as he 
 closed the door behind him and hurried downstairs, — 
 " from this day forward she '11 be greater than ever. 
 Heaven help the lady mayoress that ventures to shake 
 hands with her ; and the attorney's wife will be a bold 
 woman that asks her to a tea-party henceforth ! " 
 
 "With these words he threw himself upon his horse and 
 cantered off towards the park to inform the duke that all 
 was happily concluded, and amuse him with a sight of the 
 great Rooney treaty, which he well knew would throw the 
 viceroy into convulsions of laughter. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A WAGER. 
 
 In a few weeks after the events I have mentioned, the 
 duke left Ireland to resume his parliamentary duties in the 
 House of Lords, where some measure of considerable impor- 
 tance was at that time under discussion. Into the hands 
 of the lords justices, therefore, the government ad interim 
 was delivered ; while upon Mrs. Paul Rooney devolved the 
 more pleasing task of becoming the leader of fashion, the 
 head and fountain of all the gayeties and amusements of 
 the capital. Indeed, O'Grady half hinted that his Grace 
 relied upon her to supply his loss, — which manifestation of 
 his esteem, so perfectly in accordance with her own wishes, 
 she did not long hesitate to profit by. 
 
 Had a stranger, on his first arrival in Dublin, passed 
 along that part of Stephen's Green in which the "Hotel 
 Rooney," as it was familiarly called, was situated, he could 
 not have avoided being struck, not only with the appear- 
 ance of the house itself, but with that of the strange and 
 incongruous assembly of all ranks and conditions of men 
 that lounged about its door. The house, large and spa- 
 cious, with its windows of plate-glass, its Venetian blinds, 
 its gaudily gilt and painted balcony, and its massive brass 
 knocker, betrayed a certain air of pretension, standing as it 
 did among the more sombre-looking mansions where the 
 real rank of the country resided. Clean windows and a 
 bright knocker, however, distinctive features as they were 
 in the metropolis of those days, would not have arrested 
 the attention of the passing traveller to the extent I have 
 supposed, but that there were other signs and sights than 
 these. 
 
A WAGER. 11 T 
 
 At the open hall-door, to which you ascended by a flight 
 of granite steps, lounged some half-dozen servants in pow- 
 dered heads and gaudy liveries ; the venerable porter in his 
 leather chair, the ruddy coachman in his full-bottomed wig, 
 tall footmen with bouquets in their button-holes, were here 
 to be seen reading the morning papers, or leisurely strolling 
 to the steps to take a look at the weather and cast a super- 
 cilious glance at the insignificant tide of population that 
 flowed on beneath them : a lazy and an idle race, they 
 toiled not, neither did they spin, and I sincerely trust that 
 Solomon's costume bore no resemblance to theirs. 
 
 More immediately in front of the house stood a mixed 
 society of idlers, beggars, horseboys, and grooms, assembled 
 there from motives of curiosity or gain. Indeed, the rich 
 odor of savory viands that issued from the open kitchen- 
 windows and ascended through the area to the nostrils of 
 those without, might in its appetizing steam have brought 
 the dew upon the lips of greater gourmands than they 
 were. All that French cookery could suggest to impart 
 variety to the separate meals of breakfast, luncheon, dinner, 
 and supper here went forward unceasingly ; and the beg- 
 gars who thronged around the bars, and were fed with the 
 crumbs from the rich man's table, became by degrees so 
 habituated to the delicacies and refinements of good living 
 that they would have turned up their noses with contempt 
 at the humble and more homely fare of the respectable 
 shopkeeper. Truly, it was a strange picture to see these 
 poor and ragged men, as they sat in groups upon the steps 
 and on the bare flagway, exposed to every wind of heaven, 
 the drifting rain soaking through their frail and threadbare 
 garments, yet criticising, with practised acumen, the savory 
 food before them. Consommes, ragouts, pates, potages, 
 jellies, with an infinity of that smaller grape-shot of epi- 
 curism with which fine tables are filled, — all here met a 
 fair and a candid appreciation. 
 
 A little farther off, and towards the middle of the street, 
 stood another order of beings, who, with separate and 
 peculiar privileges maintained themselves as a class apart. 
 
 OF TH 
 
 UNIVER 
 
 CF 
 
 UFO 
 
118 
 
 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 These were the horse-boys, half-naked urchins, whose ages 
 varied from eight to fourteen, but whose looks of mingled 
 cunning and drollery would defy any guess as to their time 
 of life, who here sported in all the wild, untrammelled 
 liberty of African savages. The only art they practised 
 was to lead up and down the horses of the various visitors 
 
 ••si 1 K "b, 
 
 it a; | f ■'.,<. y 
 
 whom the many attractions of the Hotel Rooney brought 
 daily to the house. And here you saw the proud and pam- 
 pered steed, with fiery eye and swelling nostrils, led about 
 by this ambulating mass of rags and poverty, whose bright 
 eye wandered ever from his own tattered habiliments to 
 the gorgeous trappings and gold embroidery of the sleek 
 charger beside him. In the midst of these, such as were 
 not yet employed amused themselves by cutting summer- 
 sets, standing on their heads, walking crab-fashion, and by 
 other classical performances, which form the little distrac- 
 tions of life for this strange sect. 
 
 Jaunting-cars there were too, whose numerous fastenings 
 of rope and cordage looked as though they were taken to 
 
A WAGER. 119 
 
 pieces every night and put together in the morning ; while 
 the horse, a care-worn and misanthropic-looking beast, 
 would turn his head sideways over the shaft to give a 
 glance of compassionating scorn at the follies and vanities 
 of a world he was sick of. Not so the driver. Equally low 
 in condition, and fully as ragged in coat, the droll spirit 
 that made his birthright was with him a lamp that neither 
 poverty nor penury could quench. Ever ready with his 
 joke, never backward with his repartee, prepared to com- 
 fort you by assurances of the strength of his car and the 
 goodness of his horse, while his own laughing look gave 
 the lie to his very words, he would persuade you that with 
 him alone there was safety, while it was a risk of life and 
 limb to travel with his rivals. 
 
 These formed the ordinary dramatis persona?, while every 
 now and then some flashy equipage, with armorial bearings 
 and showy liveries, would scatter the crowd right and left, 
 set the led horses lashing among the by-standers, and even 
 break up the decorous conviviality of a dinner-party grace- 
 fully disposed upon the flags. Curricles, tandems, tilburies, 
 and dennets were constantly arriving and departing. Mem- 
 bers of Daly's with their green coats and buff waistcoats, 
 whiskered dragoons and plumed aides-de-camp, were all 
 mixed up together, while on the open balcony an indiscri- 
 minate herd of loungers telegraphed the conversation from 
 the drawing-room to the street ; and thus all the bons mots, 
 all the jests, all the witticisms that went forward within 
 doors found also a laughing auditory without, — for it is a 
 remarkable feature of this singular country that there is no 
 turn of expression whose raillery is too delicate, no repartee 
 whose keenness is too fine, for the appreciation of the poor- 
 est and meanest creature that walks the street. Poor 
 Paddy ! if the more substantial favors of fortune be not 
 your lot, Nature has linked you by a strong sympathy with 
 tastes, habits, and usages which, by some singular intuition, 
 you seem throughly to comprehend. One cannot dwell 
 long among them without feeling this, and witnessing how 
 generally, how almost universally, poverty of condition and 
 
120 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 wealth of intellect go hand in hand together ; and as it is 
 only over the bleak and barren surface of some fern-clad 
 heath the wild fire flashes through the gloom of night, so it 
 would seem the more brilliant fire-work of fancy would 
 need a soil of poverty and privation to produce it. 
 
 But, at length, to come back, the Rooneys now were in- 
 stalled as the great people of the capital. Many of the 
 ancien regime, who held out sturdily before, and who looked 
 upon the worthy attorney in the light of a usurper, now gave 
 in their allegiance, and regarded him as the true monarch. 
 What his great prototype effected by terror, he brought 
 about by turtle ; and if Napoleon consolidated his empire 
 and propped his throne by the bayonets of the grand army, 
 so did Mr. Rooney establish his claims to power by the 
 more satisfactory arguments which, appealing not only to 
 the head but to the stomach, convince while they conciliate. 
 You might criticise his courtesy, but you could not con- 
 demn his claret; you might dislike his manners, but you 
 could not deny yourself his mutton. Besides, after all, 
 matters took pretty much the same turn in Paris as in 
 Dublin ; public opinion ran strong in both cases. The 
 mass of the world consists of those who receive benefits, 
 and he who confers them deserves to be respected. We 
 certainly thought so ; and among those of darker hue who 
 frequented Mr. Rooney's table, three red-coats might daily 
 be seen, whose unchanged places, added to their indescrib- 
 able air of at-homeishness, bespoke them as the friends of 
 the family. 
 
 O'Grady, at Mrs. Rooney's right hand, did the honors of 
 the soup ; Lord Dudley, at the other end of the table, sup- 
 ported Mr. Rooney ; while to my lot Miss Bellew fell. But 
 as our places at table never changed, there was nothing 
 marked in my thus every day finding myself beside her, 
 and resuming my place on our return to the drawing-room. 
 To me, I confess, she formed the great attraction of the 
 house. Less imbued than my friend O'Grady with the 
 spirit of fun, I could not have gone on from day to day to 
 
A WAGER. 121 
 
 amuse myself with the eccentricities of the Rooneys ; while 
 I could not, on the other hand, have followed Lord Dud- 
 ley's lead, and continued to receive the hospitalities of a 
 house while I sneered at the pretensions of its owner. 
 
 Under any circumstances Louisa Bellew might be con- 
 sidered a very charming person; but contrasted with those 
 by whom she was surrounded, her attractions were very 
 great. Indeed, her youth, her light-heartedness, and the 
 buoyancy of her spirit concealed to a great degree the sor- 
 row it cost her to be associated with her present hosts ; for 
 although they were kind to her, and she felt and acknowl- 
 edged their kindness, yet the humiliating sense of a posi- 
 tion which exposed her to the insolent familiarity of the 
 idle, the dissipated, or the underbred visitors of the house, 
 gradually impressed itself upon her manner, and tempered 
 her mild and graceful nature with a certain air of hauteur 
 and distance. A circumstance, slight in itself, but suffi- 
 ciently indicative of this, took place some weeks after 
 what I have mentioned. 
 
 Lord Dudley de Vere, who from his rank and condition 
 was looked upon as a kind of privileged person in the 
 Rooney family, sitting rather later than usual after dinner, 
 and having drunk a great deal of wine, offered a wager 
 that on his appearance in the drawing-room, not only 
 would he propose for but be accepted by any unmarried 
 lady in the room. The puppyism and coxcombry of 
 such a wager might have been pardoned were it not 
 that the character of the individual, when sober, was in 
 perfect accordance with this drunken boast. The bet, 
 which was for three hundred guineas, was at once taken 
 up ; and one of the party running hastily up to the 
 drawing-room, obtained the names of the ladies there, 
 which, being written on slips of paper, were thrown into a 
 hat, chus leaving chance to decide upon whom the happy 
 lot was to fall. 
 
 •'Mark ye, Upton," cried Lord Dudley, as he prepared to 
 draw forth his prize, — " mark ye, I did n't say I 'd marry 
 her." 
 
122 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " No, no ! " resounded from different parts of the room ; 
 "we understand you perfectly." 
 
 " My bet," continued he, " is this : I have booked it." 
 With these words he opened a small memorandum book 
 and read forth the following paragraph : " Three hundred 
 with Upton that I don't ask and be accepted by any girl in 
 Paul's drawing-room this evening, after tea ; the choice to 
 be decided by lottery. Is n't that it ? " 
 
 " Yes, yes ! quite right, perfectly correct," said several per- 
 sons round the table. " Come, my lord, here is the hat." 
 
 " Shake them up well, Upton." 
 
 " So here goes," said Herbert, as affectedly tucking up 
 the sleeve of his coat he inserted two fingers, and drew 
 forth a small piece of paper carefully folded in two. "I 
 say, gentlemen, this is your affair ; it does n't concern me." 
 With these words he threw it carelessly on the table, and 
 resuming his seat, leisurely filled his glass, and sipped his 
 wine. 
 
 " Come, read it, Blake ! read it up ! Who is she ? " 
 
 " Gently, lads, gently ; patience for one moment. How 
 are we to know if the wager be lost or won ? Is the lady 
 herself to declare it ? " 
 
 " Why, if you like it ; it is perfectly the same to me." 
 
 "Well, then," rejoined Blake, "it is — Miss Bellew!" 
 
 No sooner was the name read aloud, than, instead of the 
 roar of laughter which it was expected would follow the 
 announcement, a kind of awkward and constrained silence 
 settled on the party. Mr. Rooney himself, who felt shocked 
 beyond measure at this result, had been so long habituated 
 to regard himself as nothing at the head of his own table, 
 accepting, not dictating, its laws, that, much as he may 
 have wished to do so, did not dare to interfere to stay any 
 further proceedings. But many of those around the table 
 who knew Sir Simon Bellew, and felt how unsuitable and 
 inadmissible such a jest as this would be if practised upon 
 his daughter, whispered among themselves a hope that the 
 wager would be abandoned, and never thought of more by 
 either party. 
 
A WAGER. 123 
 
 "Yes, yes," said Upton, who was an officer in a dragoon 
 regiment, and although of a high family and well connected 
 was yet very limited in his means, — "yes, yes, I quite agree. 
 This foolery might be very good fun with some young ladies 
 we know, but with Miss Bellew the circumstances are quite 
 different ; and, for my part, I withdraw from the bet." 
 
 " Eh — aw ! Pass down the claret, if you please. You 
 withdraw from the bet, then ? That means you pay me 
 three hundred guineas ; for d — n me, if I do ! No, no ; I 
 am not so young as that. I have n't lost fifteen thousand 
 on the Derby without gaining some little insight into these 
 matters. Every bet is a, p. p., if not stated to be the reverse. 
 I leave it to any gentleman in the room." 
 
 "Come, come, De Vere," said one, "listen to reason, my 
 boy ! " 
 
 "Yes, Dudley," cried another, "only think over the 
 thing. You must see — " 
 
 " I only wish to see a check for three hundred. And I '11 
 not be done." 
 
 " Sir ! " said Upton, springing from his chair, as the 
 blood mounted to his face and temples, "did you mean 
 that expression to apply to me ? " 
 
 "Sit down, 'Mr. Upton, for the love of Heaven! Sit 
 down ; do, sir ! his Lordship never meant it at all. See, 
 now, I '11 pay the money myself. Give me a pen and ink. 
 I '11 give you a check on the bank this minute. What the 
 devil signifies a trifle like that ! " stammered out poor Paul, 
 as he wiped his forehead with his napkin, and looked the 
 very picture of terror. " Yes, my lord and gentlemen of 
 the jury, we agree to pay the whole costs of this suit." 
 
 A perfect roar of laughter interrupted the worthy attor- 
 ney, and as it ran from one end of the table to the other 
 seemed to promise a happier issue to this unpleasant 
 discussion. 
 
 "There, now," said honest Paul, "the Lord be praised, 
 it is all settled ! So let us have another cooper up, and 
 then we '11 join the ladies." 
 
 " Then I understand it thus," said Lord Dudley, — " you 
 
124 JACK HINTON, THE GUAEDSMAN. 
 
 pay the money for Mr. Upton, and I may erase the bet 
 from my book ? " 
 
 " No, sir ! " cried Upton, passionately. " I pay my own 
 wagers ; and if you still insist — " 
 
 "No, no, no!" cried several voices; while at the same 
 time, to put an end at once to any further dispute, the party 
 suddenly rose to repair to the drawing-room. 
 
 On passing through the hall, chance, or perhaps design, 
 on Lord Dudley's part brought him beside Upton. " I wish 
 you to understand, once more," said he, in a low whisper, 
 " that I consider this bet to hold." 
 
 " Be it so," was the brief reply, and they separated. 
 
 O'Grady and myself, having dined that day in the coun- 
 try, only arrived in the Rooney's drawing-room as the dinner- 
 party was entering it. Contrary to their wont, there was 
 less of loud talking, less of uproarious and boisterous mirth, 
 as they came up the stairs, than usual. O'Grady remarked 
 this to me afterwards. At the time, however, I paid but 
 little attention to it. The fact was, my thoughts were prin- 
 cipally running in another channel. Certain innuendoes of 
 Lord Dudley de Vere, certain broad hints he had ventured 
 upon even before Mrs. Rooney, had left upon my mind a 
 kind of vague, undecided impression that, somehow or other, 
 I was regarded as their dupe. Miss Bellew's manner was 
 certainly more cordial, more kind to me than to any of the 
 others who visited the house. The Rooneys themselves 
 omitted nothing to humor my caprices and indulge my fan- 
 cies, affording me at all times opportunities of being alone 
 with Louisa, joining in her walks, and accompanying her 
 on horseback. Could there be anything in all this ? Was 
 this the quarter in which the mine was to explode ? This 
 painful doubt hanging upon my mind I entered the drawing- 
 room. 
 
 The drawing-room of 42 Stephen's Green had often 
 afforded me an amusing study, — its strange confusion of 
 ranks and classes ; its melange of lordly loungers and city 
 beauties ; the discordant tone of conversation, where each 
 person discussed the very thing he knew least of; the 
 
A WAGER. 125 
 
 blooming daughters of a lady mayoress talking "fashion 
 and the musical glasses ; " while the witless scion of a 
 noble house was endeavoring to pass himself as a sayer of 
 good things: These now, however, afforded me neither in- 
 terest nor pleasure; bent solely upon one thought, eager 
 alone to ascertain how far Louisa Bellew's manner towards 
 me was the fruit of artifice or the offspring of an artless and 
 unsuspecting mind, I left O'Grady to entertain a whole circle 
 of turbaned ladies, while I directed my course towards the 
 little boudoir where Louisa usually sat. 
 
 In a house where laxity of etiquette and a freedom of 
 manner prevailed to the extent I have mentioned, Miss 
 Bellew's more cautious and reserved demeanor was any- 
 thing but popular ; and as there was no lack of beauty, men 
 found it more suitable to their lounging and indolent habits 
 to engage those in conversation who were less exigeante in 
 their demands for amusement, and were equally merry them- 
 selves, as mercifully disposed when the mirth became not 
 only easy but free. 
 
 Miss Bellew, therefore, was permitted to indulge many of 
 her tastes unmolested ; and as one of these was to work at 
 embroidery in the small room in question, few persons in- 
 truded themselves upon her, — and even they but for a 
 short time, as if merely paying their required homage to a 
 member of the family. 
 
 As I approached the door of the boudoir, my surprise 
 was not a little to hear Lord Dudley de Vere's voice, the 
 tones of which, though evidently subdued by design, had a 
 clear distinctness that made them perfectly audible where 
 I stood. 
 
 " Eh ! you can't mean it, though ? Ton my soul, it 's too 
 bad ! You know I shall lose my money if you persist." 
 
 " I trust Lord Dudley de Vere is too much of a gentle- 
 man to make my unprotected position in this house the sub- 
 ject of an insolent wager. I 'm sure nothing in my manner 
 could ever have given encouragement to such a liberty." 
 
 "There, now, I knew you didn't understand it. The 
 whole thing was a chance ; the odds were at least eighteen 
 
126 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 to one against you, — ha, ha ! I mean in your favor. Devil- 
 ish good mistake that of mine. They were all shaken up in 
 a hat. You see there was no collusion, — could be none." 
 
 " My lord, this impertinence becomes past enduring ; and 
 if you persist — " 
 
 " Well, then, why not enter into the joke ? It '11 be a 
 devilish expensive one to me if you don't, that I promise 
 you. What a confounded fool I was not to draw out when 
 Upton wished it ! D — n it ! I ought to have known there 
 is no trusting to a woman." As he said this, he walked 
 twice or thrice hurriedly to and fro, muttering as he went, 
 with ill-suppressed passion. " Laughed at, d — n me ! that 
 I shall be, all over the kingdom. To lose the money is bad 
 enough ; but the ridicule of the thing, that 's the devil ! Stay, 
 Miss Bellew, stop one minute, — I have another proposition 
 to make. Begad, I see nothing else for it. This, you know, 
 was all a humbug, — mere joke, nothing more. Now, I can't 
 stand the way I shall be quizzed about it, at all. So, here 
 goes ! hang me, if I don't make the proposition in real earn- 
 est ! There, now, say yes at once, and we '11 see if I can't 
 turn the laugh against them." 
 
 There was a pause for an instant, and then Miss Bellew 
 spoke. I would have given worlds to have seen her at that 
 moment ; but the tone of her voice, firm and unshaken, sank 
 deep into my heart, 
 
 "My lord," said she, "this must now cease; but as your 
 Lordship is fond of a wager, I have one for your acceptance. 
 The sum shall be your own choosing. Whatever it be, I 
 stake it freely, that, as I walk from this room, the first 
 gentleman I meet — you like a chance, my lord, and you 
 shall have one — will chastise you before the world for your 
 unworthy, unmanly insult to a weak and unoffending girl." 
 
 As she spoke, she sprang from the room, her eyes flash- 
 ing with indignant fire, while her cheek, pale as death, and 
 her heaving bosom, attested how deep was her passion. As 
 she turned the corner of the door, her eyes met mine. In 
 an instant the truth flashed upon her mind. She knew I 
 had overheard all that passed. She gasped painfully for 
 
A WAGER. 127 
 
 breath; her lips moved with scarce a sound; a violent 
 trembling shook her from head to foot, and she fell faint- 
 ing to the ground. 
 
 I followed her with my eyes as they bore her from the 
 room ; and then, without a thought for anything around me, 
 I hurriedly left the room, dashed downstairs, and hastened 
 to my quarters in the Castle. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 A NIGHT OF TROUBLE. 
 
 Until the moment when I reached the room and threw 
 myself into a chair, my course respecting Lord Dudley de 
 Vere seemed to present not a single difficulty. The appeal 
 so unconsciously made to me by Miss Bellew, not less than 
 my own ardent inclination, decided me on calling him out. 
 No sooner, however, did calm reflection succeed to the pas- 
 sionate excitement of the moment, than at once I perceived 
 the nicety of my position. Under what possible pretext 
 could I avow myself as her champion, not as of her own 
 choosing ? — for I knew perfectly well that the words she 
 uttered were merely intended as a menace, without the 
 slightest idea of being acted on. To suffer her name, there- 
 fore, to transpire in the affair would be to compromise her 
 in the face of the world. Again, the confusion and terror 
 she evinced when she beheld me at the door proved to me, 
 that, perhaps of all others, I was the last person she would 
 have wished to be a witness to the interview. 
 
 What was to be done ? The very difficulty of the affair 
 only made my determination to go through with it the 
 stronger. I have already said my inclination also prompted 
 me to this course. Lord Dudley's manner to me, without 
 being such as I could make a plea for resenting, had ever 
 been of a supercilious and almost offensive character. If 
 there be anything which more deeply than another wounds 
 our self-esteem, it is the assumed superiority of those whom 
 we heartily despise. More than once he ventured upon 
 hinting at the plans of the Rooneys respecting me, suggest- 
 ing that their civilities only concealed a deeper object ; and 
 
A NIGHT OF TROUBLE. 129 
 
 all this he did with a tone of half insolence that irritated 
 me ten times more than an open affront. Often and often 
 had I promised myself that a day of retribution must come. 
 Again and 'again did I lay this comfort to my heart, — that, 
 one time or other^ his habitual prudence would desert him ; 
 that his transgression would exceed the narrow line which 
 separates an impertinent freedom from an insult; and 
 then — Now, this time had come at last. Such a chance 
 might not again present itself, and must not be thrown 
 away. 
 
 My reasonings had come to this point when a tremendous 
 knocking at my door, and a loud shout of " Jack ! Jack 
 Hinton ! " announced O'Grady. This was fortunate. He 
 was the only man whom I knew well enough to consult in 
 such a matter ; and of all others, he was the one on whose 
 advice and counsel I could place implicit reliance. 
 
 " What the deuce is all this, my dear Hinton ? " said he, 
 as he grasped my hand in both of his. " I was playing 
 whist with the tabbies when it occurred, and saw nothing 
 of the whole matter. She fainted, did n't she ? What the 
 deuce could you have said or done ? " 
 
 " Could / have said or done ! What do you mean, 
 O'Grady ? " 
 
 " Come, come, be frank with me ; what was it ? If you 
 are in a scrape, I am not the man to leave you in it." 
 
 " First of all," said I, assuming with all my might a 
 forced and simulated composure, — " first of all, tell me 
 what you heard in the drawing-room." 
 
 "What I heard? Egad, it was plain enough. In the 
 beginning, a young lady came souse down upon the floor ; 
 screams and smelling-bottles followed; a general running 
 hither and thither, in which confusion, by-the-bye, our 
 adversaries contrived to manage a new deal, though I had 
 four by honors in my hand. Old Miss Macan upset my 
 markers, drank my negus, and then fainted off herself, with 
 a face like an apothecary's rose." 
 
 "Yes, yes, but," said I impatiently, "what of Miss 
 Bellew ? " 
 
 VOL. I. — 9 
 
130 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " What of her ! that you must know best. You know, of 
 course, what occurred between you." 
 
 " My dear O'Grady," said I, with passionate eagerness. 
 " do be explicit. What did they say in the drawing-room ? 
 What turn has been given to this affair ? " 
 
 " Faith, I can't tell you ; I am as much in the dark as my 
 neighbors. After the lady was carried out and you ran 
 away, they all began talking it over. Some said you had 
 been proposing an elopement; others said you hadn't. 
 The Kileys swore you had asked to have your picture back 
 again; and old Mrs. Ram, who had planted herself be- 
 hind a curtain to overhear all, forgot, it seems, that the 
 window was open, and caught such a cold in her head, 
 and such a deafness, that she heard nothing. She says, 
 however, that your conduct was abominable ; and iu fact, 
 my dear Hinton, the whole thing is a puzzle to us all." 
 
 "And Lord Dudley de Vere," said I, "did he offer no 
 explanation ? " 
 
 "Oh, yes, something pretty much in his usual style; 
 pulled up his stock, ran his fingers through his hair, and 
 muttered some indistinct phrases about lovers' quarrels." 
 
 " Capital ! " exclaimed I with delight ; " nothing could 
 be better, nothing more fortunate than this ! Now, 
 O'Grady, listen to my version of the matter, and then tell 
 me how to proceed in it." 
 
 I here detailed to my friend every circumstance that had 
 occurred from the moment of my entering to my departure 
 from the drawing-room. " As to the wager," said I, " what 
 it was, when made, and with whom, I know not." 
 
 " Yes, yes ; I know all that," interrupted O'Grady ; " I 
 have the whole thing perfectly before me. Xow, let us see 
 what is to be done ; and first of all, allow me to ring the 
 bell for some sherry and water, — that 's the head and 
 front of a consultation." 
 
 When O'Grady had mixed his glass, sipped, corrected, 
 and sipped again, he beat the bars of the grate a few mo- 
 ments contemplatively with the poker, and then turning to 
 me, gravely said, " We must parade him, Jack, that 's cer- 
 
A NIGHT OF TROUBLE. 131 
 
 tain. Now for the how. Our friend Dudley is not much 
 given to fighting, and it will be rather difficult to obtain his 
 consent. Indeed, if it had not been for the insinuation he 
 threw out^after you had left the room, I don't well see how 
 you could push him to it." 
 
 "Why, my dear 0' Grady, was n't there quite cause 
 enough ? " 
 
 "Plenty, no doubt, my dear Jack, as far as feeling goes ; 
 but there are innumerable cases in this life which, like 
 breaches of trust in law, escape with slight punishment. 
 Not but that, when you owe a man a grudge, you have it 
 always in your power to make him sensible of it; and 
 among gentlemen there is the same intuitive perception of 
 a contemplated collision as you see at a dinner-party when 
 one fellow puts his hand on a decanter ; his friend at the 
 end of the table smiles, and cries, ' With pleasure, my boy ! ' 
 There is one thing, however, in your favor." 
 
 " What is that ? " said I, eagerly. 
 
 " Why, he has lost his wager ; that 's pretty clear. And 
 as that won't improve his temper, it 's possible, — mind, I 
 don't say more, but it's possible he may feel better dis- 
 posed to turn his irritation into valor, — a much more com- 
 mon process in metaphysical chemistry than the world wots 
 of. Under these circumstances, the best thing to do, as it 
 strikes me, is to try the cause, as our friend Paul would 
 say, on the general issue : that is, to wait on Herbert ; tell 
 him we wish to have a meeting ; that after what has 
 passed, — that 's a sweet phrase is n't it, and has got more 
 gentlemen carried home on a door than any other I know, 
 — that after what has passed, the thing is unavoidable, and 
 the sooner it comes off the better. He can't help refer- 
 ring me to a friend, and he can scarcely find any one that 
 won't see the thing with our eyes. It 's quite clear Miss 
 Bellew's name must be kept out of the matter ; and now, 
 my boy, if you agree with me, leave the whole affair in 
 my hands, tumble into bed, and go to sleep as fast as 
 you can." 
 
 " I leave it all to you, Phil," said I, shaking his hand 
 
132 JACK HIXTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 warmly ; " and to prove my obedience, 1 11 be in bed in ten 
 minutes." 
 
 O'Grady finished the decanter of sherry, buttoned up his 
 coat, and slapping his boots with his cane, sauntered down 
 stairs, whistling an Irish quick-step as he went. 
 
 When I had half accomplished my undressing, I sat 
 down before the fire, and, unconsciously to myself, fell into 
 a train of musing about my present condition. I was very 
 young ; knew little of the world ; the very character of my 
 education had been so much under the eye and direction of 
 my mother that my knowledge was even less than that of 
 the generality of young men of my own time of life. It is 
 not surprising, then, if the events which my new career 
 hurried so rapidly one upon another in some measure con- 
 fused me. Of duelling I had, of course, heard repeatedly, 
 and had learned to look upon the necessity of it as more or 
 less imperative upon every man in the outset of his career. 
 Such was, in a great measure, the tone of the day ; and the 
 man who attained a certain period of life without having 
 had at least one affair of honor was rather suspected of 
 using a degree of prudent caution in his conduct with the 
 world than of following the popular maxim of the period, 
 which said, " Be always ready with the pistol." 
 
 The affair with Lord de Yere, therefore, I looked upon 
 rather as a lucky hit ; I might as well make my debut with 
 him as with any other. So much, then, for the prejudice 
 of the period. Now, for my private feelings on the subject, 
 they were, I confess, anything but satisfactory. Without 
 at all entering into any anticipation I might have felt as to 
 the final result, I could not avoid feeling ashamed of my- 
 self for my total ignorance about the whole matter ; not 
 only, as I have said, had I never seen a duel, but I never 
 had fired a pistol twice in my life. I was naturally a ner- 
 vous fellow, and the very idea of firing at a word, would, I 
 knew, render me more so. My dread that the peculiarity 
 of my constitution might be construed into want of courage 
 increased my irritability ; while I felt that my endeavor to 
 acquit myself with all the etiquette and punctilio of the 
 
A NIGHT OF TROUBLE. 133 
 
 occasion would inevitably lead me to the commission of 
 some mistake or blunder. 
 
 And then, as to my friends at home, what would my father 
 say ? His" notions on the subject I knew were very rigid, 
 and only admitted the necessity of an appeal to arms as the 
 very last resort. What account could I give him, sufficient- 
 ly satisfactory, of my reasons for going out ? How would my 
 mother feel, with all her aristocratic prejudices, when she 
 heard of the society where the affair originated ; when some 
 glowing description of the Rooneys should reach her ? — 
 and this some kind friend or other was certain to under- 
 take. And, worse than all, Lady Julia, my high-born cousin, 
 whose beauty and sarcasm had inspired me with a mixture 
 of admiration and dread, — how should I ever bear the sati- 
 rical turn she would give the whole affair ? Her malice 
 would be increased by the fact that a young and pretty girl 
 was mixed up in it; for somehow, I must confess, a kind of 
 half-flirtation had always subsisted between my cousin and 
 me. Her beauty, her wit, her fascinating manner, rendered 
 me at times over head-and-ears in love with her ; while, at 
 others, the indifference of her manner towards me, or, still 
 worse, the ridicule to which she exposed me, would break 
 the spell and dissipate the enchantment. 
 
 Thoughts like these were far from assuring me, and con- 
 tributed but little towards that confidence in myself I stood 
 so much in need of. And, again, what if I were to fall ? 
 As this thought settled on my mind, I resolved to write 
 home. Not to my father, however : I felt a kind of con- 
 straint about unburdening myself to him at such a moment. 
 My mother was equally out of the question ; in fact, a letter 
 to her could only be an apologetic narrative of my life in 
 Ireland, — softening down what she would call the atroci- 
 ties of my associates, and giving a kind of Rembrandt tint 
 to the Rooneys, which might conceal the more vivid color- 
 ing of their vulgarity. At such a moment I had no heart 
 for this ; such trifling would ill suit me now. To Lady 
 Julia, then, I determined to write : she knew me well. He- 
 sides, I felt that when I was no more, the kindliness of her 
 
134 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 nature would prevail, and she would remember me but as 
 the little lover that brought her bouquets from the conser- 
 vatory ; that wrote letters to her from Eton ; that wore her 
 picture round his neck at Sandhurst — And, by-the-bye, 
 that picture I had still in my possession : this was the time 
 to restore it. I opened my writing-desk and took it out. 
 It was a strange love-gift, painted when she was barely ten 
 years old. It represented a very lovely child, with blue 
 eyes, and a straight regularity of feature, like a Grecian 
 statue. The intensity of look that after years developed 
 more fully, and the slight curl of the lip that betrayed the 
 incipient spirit of mockery, were both there ; still was she 
 very beautiful. I placed the miniature before me, and fixed 
 my eyes upon it. Carried away by the illusion of the mo- 
 ment, I burst into a rhapsody of proffered affection, while I 
 vindicated myself against any imputation my intimacy with 
 Miss Bellew might give rise to. As I proceeded, however, 
 I discovered that my pleading scarce established my inno- 
 cence even to myself ; so I turned away, and once more sat 
 down moodily before the fire. 
 
 The Castle clock struck two. I started up, somewhat 
 ashamed of myself at not having complied with O'Grady's 
 advice, and at once threw myself on my bed, and fell sound 
 asleep. Some confused impression upon my mind of a threat- 
 ened calamity gave a gloomy character to all my dreams, 
 and more than once I awoke with a sudden start and looked 
 about me. The flickering and uncertain glare of the dying 
 embers threw strange goblin shapes upon the wall and on 
 the old oak floor. The window-curtains waved mournfully 
 to and fro, as the sighing night- wind pierced the openings of 
 the worn casements, adding, by some unknown sympathy, to 
 my gloom and depression ; and although I quickly rallied 
 myself from these foolish fancies, and again sank into slum- 
 ber, it was always again to wake with the same unpleasant 
 impressions, and with the same sights and sounds about me. 
 Towards morning however I fell into a deep, unbroken sleep, 
 from which I was awakened by the noise of some one rudely 
 drawing my curtains. I looked up, as I rubbed my eyes : 
 
A NIGHT OF TROUBLE. 135 
 
 it was Corny Delany, who with a mahogany box under his 
 arm, and a little bag in his hand, stood eying me with a 
 look in which his habitual ill-temper was dashed with a 
 slight mixture of scorn and pity. 
 
 " So you are awake at last ! " said he ; " faith, and you 
 sleep sound, and,*' — this he muttered between his teeth, — 
 " and maybe it 's sounder you '11 sleep to-morrow night ! 
 The Captain bid me call you at seven o'clock, and it 's near 
 eight now. That bla-guard of a servant of yours would n't 
 get up to open the door till I made a cry of fire outside, and 
 puffed a few mouthfuls of smoke through the key-hole ! " 
 
 " Well done, Corny ! But where 's the Captain ? " 
 
 " Where is he ? Sorrow one o' me knows ! Maybe at 
 the watchhouse, maybe in George's-street barrack, maybe 
 in the streets, maybe — och, troth ! there 's many a place 
 he might be, and good enough for him any of them. Them 's 
 the tools, well oiled ; I put flints in them." 
 
 " And what have you got in the bag, Corny ? " 
 
 " Maybe you '11 see time enough. It 's the lint, the stick- 
 ing-plaster and the bandages, and the turn-an '-twist." This, 
 be it known, was the Delany for toumquet. " And, faith^ 
 it 's a queer use to put the same bag to : his honor the judge 
 had it made to carry his notes in. Ugh, ugh, ugh ! a bloody 
 little bag it always was ! Many 's the time I seen the poor 
 craytures in the dock have to hould on by the spikes when 
 they 'd see him put his hands in it. It 's not lucky, the 
 same bag. Will you have some brandy-and-water, and a 
 bit of dry toast ? It 's what the Captain always gives them 
 the first time they go out. When they 're used to it, a cup 
 of chocolate with a spoonful of whiskey is a fine thing for 
 the hand." 
 
 I could scarce restrain a smile at the notion of dieting a 
 man for a duel, though, I confess, there seemed something 
 excessively bloodthirsty about it. However, resolved to 
 give Corny a favorable impression of my coolness, I said, 
 " Let me have the chocolate and a couple of eggs." 
 
 He gave a grin a demon might have envied, as he mut- 
 tered to himself, "He wants to try and die game, — ugh, 
 
136 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 ugh ! " With these words he waddled out of the room to 
 prepare my breakfast, his alacrity certainly increased by 
 the circumstance in which he was employed. 
 
 No sooner was I alone than I opened the pistol-case to 
 examine the weapons. They were doubtless good ones ; 
 but a ruder, more ill-fashioned, clumsy pair it would be im- 
 possible to conceive. The stock, which extended nearly to 
 the end of the barrel, was notched with grooves for the 
 fingers to fit in, — the whole terminating in an uncouth 
 knob, inlaid with small pieces of silver, which at first I 
 imagined were purely ornamental. On looking closer, how- 
 ever, I perceived that each of them contained a name and a 
 date, with an ominous phrase beneath, which ran thus : 
 "Killed!" or thus : "Wounded!" 
 
 "Egad," thought I, "they are certainly the coolest 
 people in the world in this island, and have the strangest 
 notions withal of cheering a man's courage ! " 
 
 It was growing late, meanwhile ; so that without further 
 loss of time I sprang out of bed and set about dressing, 
 huddling my papers and Julia's portrait into my writing- 
 desk. I threw into the fire a few letters, and was looking 
 about my room lest anything should have escaped me, 
 when suddenly the quick movement of horses' feet on the 
 pavement beneath drew me to the window. As I looked 
 out, I could just catch a glimpse of O'Grady's figure as he 
 sprang from a high tandem ; I then heard his foot as he 
 mounted the stairs, and the next moment he was knocking 
 at my door. 
 
 " Holloa ! " cried he ; " by Jove, I have had a night of 
 it ! Help me off with the coat, Jack, and order breakfast, 
 with any number of mutton-chops you please. I never 
 felt so voracious in my life. Early rising must be a bad 
 thing for the health, if it makes a man's appetite so 
 painful." 
 
 While I was giving my necessary directions, O'Grady 
 stirred up the fire, drew his chair close to it, and planting 
 his feet upon the fender, and expanding his hands before 
 the blaze, called out, — 
 
 
A NIGHT OF TROUBLE. 137 
 
 " Yes, yes, quite right, — cold ham and a devilled drum- 
 stick by all means ; the mulled claret must have nothing 
 but cloves and a slice of pineapple in it ; and, mind, don't 
 let them fry the\ kidneys in champagne, — they are fifty 
 times better in moselle ; we '11 have the champagne au 
 naturel. There, now, shut the door ! there's a confounded 
 current of air comes up that cold staircase. So, come over, 
 my boy ; let me give you all the news. And to begin : — 
 
 " After I parted with you, I went over to De Vere's 
 quarters, and heard that he had just changed his clothes 
 and driven over to Clare Street. I followed immediately ; 
 but, as ill-luck would have it, he left that just five minutes 
 before, with Watson of the Fifth, who lives in one of the 
 hotels near. This, you know, looked like business ; and as 
 they told me they were to be back in half an hour, I cut 
 into a rubber of whist with Darcy and the rest of them, 
 where, what between losing heavily and waiting for those 
 fellows, I never got up till half-past four ; when I did, it 
 was minus Paul's check, all the loose cash about me, and a 
 bill for one hundred and thirty to Vaughan. Pleasant, all 
 that, was n't it ? Monk, who took my place, told me that 
 Herbert and Watson were gone out together to the park, 
 where I should certainly find them. Off then I set for the 
 Phoenix, and just as I was entering the gate of the Lodge a 
 chaise covered with portmanteaus and hat-boxes drove past 
 me. I had just time to catch a glimpse of De Vere's face 
 as the light fell suddenly upon it ; I turned as quickly as 
 possible, and gave chase down Barrack Street. We flew, 
 he leading, and I endeavoring to keep up ; but my poor 
 hack was so done up, between waiting at the club and the 
 sharp drive, that I found we could n't keep up the pace. 
 Fortunately, however, a string of coal-cars blocked up 
 Essex bridge, upon which my friend came to a check, and I 
 also. I jumped out immediately, and running forward, just 
 got up in the nick, as they were once more about to move 
 forward. ' Ah, Dudley,' cried I, ' I 've had a sharp run for 
 it, but by good fortune have found you at last.' I wish you 
 had seen his face as I said these words ; he leaned forward 
 
138 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 in the carriage so as completely to prevent Watson, who 
 was with him, overhearing what passed. 
 
 " ' May I ask,' said he, endeavoring to get up a little of 
 his habitual coolness, — ' may I ask what so very pressing 
 has sent you in pursuit of me ? ' 
 
 " ' Nothing which should cause your present uneasiness,' 
 replied I, in a tone and a look he could not mistake. 
 
 " ' Eh — aw ! don't take you exactly ; anything gone 
 wrong ? ' 
 
 " ' You 've a capital memory, my lord, when it suits you ; 
 pray, call it to your aid for a few moments, and it will save 
 us both a deal of trouble. My business with you is on the 
 part of Mr. Hinton, and I have to request you will at once 
 refer me to a friend.' 
 
 " ' Eh ! you want to fight ? Is that it ? I say, Watson, 
 they want to make a quarrel out of that foolish affair I 
 told you of.' 
 
 " ' Is Major Watson your friend on this occasion, my 
 lord ? ' 
 
 " ' No ; oh, no ! that is, I did n't say — I told Watson 
 how they walked into me for three hundred at Rooney's. 
 Must confess I deserved it richly for dining among such a 
 set of fellows ; and as I have paid the money and cut the 
 whole concern, I don't see what more 's expected of me.' 
 
 " ' We have very little expectation, my lord, but a slight 
 hope, that you '11 not disgrace the cloth you wear and the 
 profession you follow.' 
 
 " ' I say, Watson, do you think I ought to take notice of 
 these words ? ' 
 
 " ' Would your Lordship like them stronger ? ' 
 
 " ' One moment if you please, Captain O'Grady,' said 
 Major Watson, as, opening the door of the chaise, he 
 sprang out. 'Lord Dudley de Vere has detailed to me, 
 and of course correctly, the whole of his last night's pro- 
 ceedings. He has expressed himself as ready and anxious 
 to apologize to your friend for any offence he may have 
 given him, — in fact, that their families are in some way 
 connected, and any falling out would be a very unhappy 
 
A NIGHT OF TROUBLE. 139 
 
 tiling between them ; and, last of all, Lord Dudley has 
 resigned his appointment as aide-de-camp, and resolved on 
 leaving Ireland ; in two hours more he will sail from this. 
 So I trust that under every circumstance you will see the 
 propriety of not pressing the affair any further.' 
 
 " < With the apology — ' 
 
 " < That of course,' said Watson. 
 
 " ' I say,' cried Herbert, ' we shall be late at the Pigeon- 
 house ; it 's half-past seven.' 
 
 "Watson whispered a few words into his ear: he was 
 silent for a second, and a slight crimson flush settled on 
 his cheek. 
 
 " ' It won't do for me if they talk of this afterwards ; but 
 tell him — ■ I mean Hinton — that I am sorry ; that is, I 
 wish him to forgive — ' 
 
 " ' There, there,' said I, impatiently, ' drive on ! that is 
 quite enough ! ' 
 
 "The next moment the chaise was out of sight, and I 
 leaned against the balustrade of the bridge with a sick 
 feeling at my heart I never felt before. Vaughan came 
 by at the moment with his tandem, so I made him turn 
 about and set me down ; and here I am, my boy, now that 
 my qualmishness has passed off, ready to eat you out of 
 house and home if the means would only present them- 
 selves." 
 
 Here ended O'Grady's narrative ; and as breakfast very 
 shortly after made its appearance, our conversation dropped 
 into broken, disjointed sentences, — the burden of which on 
 his part was, that, although no man would deserve more 
 gratitude from the household and the garrison generally 
 than myself for being the means of exporting Lord de Vere, 
 yet that under every view of the case all effort should be 
 made to prevent publicity, and stop the current of scandal 
 such an event was calculated to give rise to in the city. 
 
 " No fear of that I hope," said I. 
 
 " Every fear, my dear boy. We live in a village here : 
 every man hears his friend's watch tick, and every lady 
 knows what her neighbor paid for her paste diamonds. 
 
140 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 However, be comforted ! your reputation will scarcely 
 stretch across the Channel ; and one's notoriety must 
 have strong claims before it pass the custom-house at 
 Liverpool." 
 
 " Well, that is something ; but hang it, O'Grady, I wish 
 I had had a shot at him." 
 
 "Of course you do; nothing more natural, and at the 
 same time, if you care for the lady, nothing more mal 
 apropos. Do what you will, her name will be mixed up 
 in the matter ; but had it gone further, she must have been 
 deeply compromised between you. You are too young, 
 Jack, to understand much of this ; but take my word for 
 it, — fight about your sister, your aunt, your maternal 
 grand-mother, if you like, but never for the girl you are 
 about to marry ; it involves a false position to both her 
 and yourself. And now that I am giving advice, just give 
 me another cutlet. I say, Corny, any hot potatoes ? " 
 
 " Thim was hot awhile ago," said Corny, without taking 
 his hands from his pockets. 
 
 " Well, it is pleasant to know even that. Put that pistol- 
 case back again. Ah, there goes Vaughan ; I want a word 
 with him." 
 
 So saying, he sprang up, and hastened downstairs. 
 
 " What did he say I was to do with the pistols ? " said 
 Corny, as he polished the case with the ample cuff of his 
 coat. 
 
 "You are to put them by: we sha'n't want them this 
 morning." 
 
 "And there is to be no dewil after all," said he with a 
 most fiendish grin. " Ugh, ugh ! did n't I know it ? Ye 's 
 come from the wrong side of the water for that. It 's little 
 powder ye blaze, for all your talking." 
 
 Taking out one of the pistols as he spoke, he examined 
 the cock for a few minutes patiently, and then muttered to 
 himself, "Wasn't I right to put in the ould flints? The 
 devil a more ye 'd be doing, I guessed, nor making a flash in 
 the pan ! " 
 
 It was rather difficult, even with every allowance for 
 
A NIGHT OF TROUBLE. 141 
 
 Mister Delany's temper, to submit to his insolence pa- 
 tiently. After all, there was nothing better to be done ; 
 for Corny was even greater in reply than attack, and any 
 rejoinder oh my part would unquestionably have made me 
 fare the worse. Endeavoring, therefore, to hum a tune, I 
 strolled to the window and looked out ; while the imperturb- 
 able Corny, opening the opposite sash, squibbed off both 
 pistols previous to replacing them in the box. 
 
 I cannot say what it was in the gesture and the action of 
 this little fiend; but somehow the air of absurdity thus 
 thrown over our quarrel by this ludicrous termination hurt 
 me deeply, and Corny's face as he snapped the trigger was 
 a direct insult. All my self-respect, all my self-approval 
 gave way in a moment, and I could think of nothing but 
 Cross Corny's commentary on my courage. 
 
 " Yes," said I, half aloud, " it is a confounded country, — if 
 for nothing else, that every class and condition of man thinks 
 himself capable to pronounce upon his neighbor. Hard 
 drink and duelling are the national penates ; and Heaven 
 help him who does not adopt the religion of the land ! My 
 English servant would as soon have thought of criticising 
 a chorus of Euripides as my conduct ; and yet this little 
 wretch not only does so, but does it to my face, superadding 
 a sneer upon my country ! " 
 
 This, like many other of my early reflections on Ireland, 
 had its grain of truth and its bushel of fallacy ; and before 
 I quitted the land I learned to make the distinction. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. ' 
 
 THE PARTING. 
 
 From motives of delicacy towards Miss Bellew I did not 
 call that day at the Rooneys. For many months such an 
 omission on my part had never occurred. Accordingly, 
 when O'Grady returned at night to the Castle, he laugh- 
 ingly told me that the house was in half-mourning. Paul 
 sat moodily over his wine, scarce lifting his head, and look- 
 ing what he himself called non-suited. Mrs. Paul, whose 
 grief was always in the active mood, sobbed, hiccupped, 
 gulped, and waved her arms as if she had lost a near rela- 
 tive. Miss Bellew did not appear at all, and Phil dis- 
 covered that she had written home that morning, request- 
 ing her father to send for her without loss of time. 
 
 " The affair, as you see," continued O'Grady, " has turned 
 out ill for all parties. Dudley has lost his post, you your 
 mistress, and I my money, — a pretty good illustration how 
 much mischief a mere fool can at any moment make in 
 society." 
 
 It was about four o'clock in the afternoon when I 
 mounted my horse to ride over to Stephen's Green. As I 
 passed slowly along Dame Street my attention was called 
 to a large placard, which, in front of a house opposite the 
 lower Castle gate, had attracted a considerable crowd 
 around it. I was spared the necessity of stopping to read, 
 by the hoarse shout of a ragged ruffian who elbowed his 
 way through the mob, carrying on one arm a mass of 
 printed handbills ; the other hand he held beside his mouth 
 to aid the energy of his declamation. " Here 's the full 
 and true account," cried he, " of the bloody and me-lan- 
 cho-ly duel that tuk place yesterday morning in the Phay- 
 
THE PARTING. 143 
 
 nix Park, between Lord Dudley de Vere and Mr. Hinton, 
 two edge-du-congs to his Grace the Lord Liftinint, wid all 
 the particulars, for one ha 'penny." 
 
 " Here 's ~the whole correspondence between the Castle 
 bucks," shouted a rival publisher, the Colburn to this Bent- 
 ley, " wid a beautiful new song to an old tune, — 
 
 " Bang it up, bang it up, to the lady in the Green ! " 
 
 "Give me one, if you please," said a motherly -looking 
 woman, in a gray cloak. 
 
 " No, ma'am, a penny," responded the vendor. " The 
 bloody fight for a halfpenny ! What ! " said he, " would 
 you have an Irish melody and the picture of an illigint 
 female for a copper ? " 
 
 " Sing us the song, Peter ! " called out another. 
 
 " This is too bad ! " said I, passionately, as driving the 
 spurs into my horse I dashed through the ragged mob, up- 
 setting and overturning all before me, — not, however, 
 before I was recognized; and, as I cantered down the 
 street, a shout of derision and a hail-storm of offensive 
 epithets followed me as I went. 
 
 It was, I confess, sometime before I recovered my equa- 
 nimity enough to think of my visit. For myself, individu- 
 ally, I cared little or nothing ; but who could tell in what 
 form these things might reach my friends in England ? — 
 how garbled, how exaggerated, how totally perverted ! And 
 then, too, Miss Bellew ! It was evident that she was 
 alluded to. I trembled to think that her name, polluted by 
 the lips of such wretches as these, should be cried through 
 the dark alleys and purlieus of the capital, a scoff and a 
 mockery among the very outcasts of vice. 
 
 As I turned the corner of Grafton Street a showy car- 
 riage witb four gray horses passed me by. I knew it was 
 the Eooney equipage, and although for a moment I was 
 chagrined that the object of my visit was defeated, on 
 second thoughts I satisfied myself that perhaps it was quite 
 as well ; so I rode on to leave my card. On reaching the 
 door, from which already some visitors were turning away, 
 
144 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 I discovered that I had forgotten my ticket-case ; so I dis- 
 mounted to write my name in the visiting-book, — for this 
 observance among great people Mrs. Rooney had borrowed, 
 to the manifest horror and dismay of many respectable 
 citizens. 
 
 " A note for you, sir," said the butler, in his most silvery 
 accent, as he placed a small sealed billet in my hand. 
 
 I opened it hastily. It contained but two lines : — 
 
 " Miss Bellew requests Mr. Hinton will kindly favor her with a 
 few moments' conversation at an early opportunity." 
 
 " Is Miss Bellew at home ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir," said the servant, who stood waiting to pre- 
 cede me upstairs, and announce me. 
 
 "Mr. Hinton," said the man; and the words echoed in 
 the empty drawing-room, as he closed the door be] and me. 
 The next moment I heard the rustle of a silk dress, and 
 Miss Bellew came out of the boudoir and walked towards 
 me. Contrary to her usual habit, which was to hold out 
 her hand to me, she now came timidly, hesitatingly for- 
 ward, — her eyes downcast, and her whole air and ap- 
 pearance indicating, not only the traces of sorrow, but of 
 physical suffering. 
 
 " Mr. Hinton," said she, in a voice every accent of which 
 vibrated on my heart, " I have taken the liberty to ask a 
 few moments' interview with you ; for although it is not 
 only probable, but almost certain, we shall not meet again, 
 yet I wish to explain certain portions of my conduct, and 
 indeed to make them the reason of a favor I have to ask at 
 your hands." 
 
 "Permit me to interrupt you for a moment," said I. " It 
 is evident how painful the matter you would speak of is to 
 you ; you have no need of explanation, least of all to me. 
 By accident I overheard that which, however high my 
 esteem for Miss Bellew before, could but elevate her in 
 my eyes. Pass then at once, I beseech you, to what you 
 call a favor ; there is no service you can seek for — " 
 
 " I thank you," replied she, in a voice scarcely articulate ; 
 
THE PARTING. 145 
 
 "you have, indeed, spared me much in not asking me to 
 speak of what it is misery enough to remember. But it is 
 not the first time my unprotected position in this house has 
 exposed me to outrage, though assuredly it shall be the 
 last." The tone of indignation she spoke in supplied her 
 with energy, as she hurriedly continued : " Already, Mr. 
 Hinton, persons have dared to build a scandal upon the 
 frail foundation of this insolent wager. Your name has 
 been mixed up with it in such a way that no possible inter- 
 course could exist between us without being construed into 
 evidence of a falsehood; therefore, I have made up my 
 mind to ask you to discontinue your visits here for the few 
 days I may yet remain. I have already written home, — 
 the answer may arrive the day after to-morrow ; and while 
 I feel that I but ill repay the hospitality and kindness I 
 have received and have met with in closing the door to a 
 most valued guest, I am assured you will understand and 
 approve my motives, and not refuse me my request." 
 
 Delighted at the prospect of being in some way engaged 
 in a service, I had listened with a throbbing heart up to 
 the moment she concluded. Nothing could so completely 
 overthrow all my hopes as these last few words. Seeing 
 my silence and my confusion, — for I knew not what to 
 say, — she added, in a slightly tremulous voice, — 
 
 " I am sorry, Mr. Hinton, that my little knowledge of 
 the world should have led me into this indiscretion. I per- 
 ceive from your manner that I have asked a sacrifice you 
 are unwilling to make. I ought to have known that habits 
 have their influence, as well as inclinations ; and that this 
 house, being the resort of your friends — " 
 
 " Oh, how much, how cruelly, you have mistaken me ! 
 Not on this account, not for such reasons as you suppose, 
 did I hesitate in my reply ; far from it. Indeed, the very 
 cause which made me a frequent visitor of this house is 
 that which now renders me unable to answer you." A 
 slight flush upon her cheek and a tremulous motion of her 
 lip prevented my adding more. " Fear not, Miss Bellew," 
 
 VOL. I. — 10 
 
146 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 said I, — " fear not from me ; however different the feeling 
 that would prompt it, no speech of mine shall cause you 
 pain to listen to, however the buried thought may rack my 
 own bosom. You shall have your request : good-by." 
 
 " Nay, nay, not so," said she, as she raised her handker- 
 chief to her eyes, and gave a soft but sickly smile; "you 
 must n't go without my thanking you for all your kindness. 
 It may so chance that one day or other you will visit the 
 wild west ; if so, pray don't forget that my father, of whom 
 you have heard me speak so much, would be but too happy 
 to thank one who has been so kind to his daughter. And 
 if that day should come," — here a slight gleam of anima- 
 tion shot across her features, — " I beseech you not to think, 
 from what you will see of me there, that I have forgotten 
 all your good teaching and all your lessons about London 
 manner, though I sadly fear that neither my dress nor de- 
 portment will testify in my favor ; and so good-by." 
 
 She drew her glove from her hand as she spoke. I raised 
 the taper fingers respectfully to my lips, and without ven- 
 turing another look, muttered " good-by," and left the 
 room. 
 
 As step by step I loitered on the stairs, I struggled with 
 myself against the rising temptation to hurry back to her 
 presence, and tell her that although hitherto the fancied 
 security of meeting her every day had made me a stranger 
 to my own emotions, the hour of parting had dispelled the 
 illusion ; the thought of separation had unveiled the depth 
 of my heart, and told me that I loved her. Was this true ? 
 It was. 
 
x CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE LETTER FROM HOME. 
 
 Feigning illness to O'Grady as the reason of my not go- 
 ing to the Rooneys, I kept my quarters for several days, 
 during which time it required all my resolution to enable 
 me to keep my promise ; and scarcely an hour of the day 
 went over without my feeling tempted to mount my horse 
 and try if, perchance, I could not catch even a passing look 
 at her once more. Miss Bellew was the first woman who 
 had ever treated me as a man ; this in itself had a strong 
 hold on my feelings, for after all, what flattery is there so 
 artful as that which invests us with a character to which 
 we feel in our hearts our pretension is doubtful ? Why 
 has college life, why has the army, such a claim upon our 
 gratitude at our outset in the world? Is it not the ac- 
 knowledgment of our manhood ? And for the same 
 reason the man who first accepts our bill, and the woman 
 who first receives our addresses, have an unqualified right 
 to our regard for evermore. 
 
 It is the sense of what we seem to others that moulds 
 and fashions us through life ; and how many a character 
 that seems graven in letters of adamant took its type, after 
 all, from some chance or casual circumstance, some passing 
 remark, some hazarded expression ! We begin by simulat- 
 ing a part, and we end by dovetailing it into our nature : 
 thence the change which a first passion works in every 
 young mind. The ambition to be loved and the desire to 
 win affection teach us those ways of pleasing, which, 
 whether real or affected, become part and parcel of our- 
 selves. Little know we in the passion we believe to be 
 the most disinterested how much of pure egoism is mixed 
 
148 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 up ; and well is it for us that such is the case. The im- 
 aginary standard we set up before ourselves is a goal to 
 strive for, an object of high hope before us ; and few, if 
 any, of our bolder enterprises in after life have not their 
 birth in the cradle of first love. The accolade that in olden 
 days by its magic touch converted the humble squire into 
 the spurred and belted knight had no such charm as the 
 first beam from a bright eye, when, falling upon the hid- 
 den depths of our heart, it has shown us a mine of rich 
 thoughts, of dazzling hopes, of bright desires. This indeed 
 is a change ; and who is there, having felt it, has not 
 walked forth a prouder and a nobler spirit ? 
 
 Thoughts like these came rushing on my mind as I re- 
 flected on my passion for Louisa Bellew ; and as I walked 
 my room my heart bounded with elation, and my step grew 
 firm in its tread, for I felt that already a new influence was 
 beaming on me, a new light was shining upon my path in 
 life. Musing thus, I paid but little attention to my ser- 
 vant, who had just left a letter upon my table ; my eye at 
 length glanced at the address, which I perceived was in my 
 mother's hand-writing. I opened it somewhat carelessly, 
 for somehow my dear mother's letters had gradually de- 
 creased in their interest as my anti-Irish prejudices grew 
 weaker by time ; her exclusively English notions I could no 
 longer respond to so freely as before, and as I knew the 
 injustice of some of her opinions I felt proportionably 
 disposed to mistrust the truth of many others. 
 
 The letter, as usual, was crossed and recrossed ; for noth- 
 ing, after all, was so thorough a criterion of fashion as a pe- 
 nurious avoidance of postage, and in consequence scarcely 
 a portion of the paper was uncovered by ink. The detail 
 of balls and dinners, the on-dits of the town, the rumored 
 changes in the ministry, — who was to come in and who to 
 go out ; whether Lord Arthur got a regiment, or Lady Mary 
 a son, — had all become comparatively uninteresting to me. 
 What we know and what we live in is the world to us ; and 
 the arrival of a new bear is as much a matter of interest in 
 the prairies of the far west as the first night of a new 
 
THE LETTER FROM HOME. 149 
 
 ballet in the circles of Paris. In all probability, therefore, 
 after satisfying myself that my friends were well, I should 
 have been undutiful enough to put my mother's letter to 
 bed in a card-rack without any very immediate intention of 
 disturbing its slumbers, when suddenly the word " Rooney " 
 attracted my eye and. at once awakened my curiosity. How 
 the name of these people should have come to my mother's 
 aristocratic ears I could not conceive ; for although I had 
 myself begun a letter about them, yet, on second thoughts, 
 I deemed it better to consign it to the fire than risk a 
 discovery by no means necessary. 
 
 I now sat patiently down before the fire, resolved to spell 
 over the letter from beginning to end, and suffer nothing to 
 escape me. All her letters, like the preamble of a deed, 
 began with a certain formula, — a species of lamentation 
 over her wretched health ; the difficulty of her case, which, 
 consisting in the absence of all symptoms, had puzzled the 
 Faculty for years long ; the inclemency of the weather, 
 which by some fatality of fortune was sure to be rainy 
 
 when Dr. Y said it ought to be fine, and oppressively 
 
 hot when he assured her she required a bracing element ; 
 besides, it was evident the medical men mistook her case, 
 and what chance had she, with Providence and the College 
 of Physicians against her ! Then every one was unkind ; 
 nobody believed her sick, or thought her valuable life in 
 danger, although from four o'clock in the afternoon to the 
 same hour the next morning she was continually before 
 their eyes, driving in the park, visiting, dining, and even 
 dancing, too, — in fact, exerting herself in every imagin- 
 able shape and form for the sake of an ungrateful world 
 that had nothing but hollow civilities to show her, instead 
 of tears for her sufferings. Skimming my eye rapidly over 
 this, I came at length to the well-known paragraph which 
 always concluded this exordium, and which I could have 
 repeated by heart, — the purport of it being simply a pro- 
 phetic menace of what would be the state, and what the feel- 
 ings, of various persons unknown, when at her demise they 
 discovered how unjustly, how ungenerously, how cruelly 
 
150 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 they had once or twice complimented her upon her health 
 and looks, during her lifetime. The undying remorse of 
 those unfeeling wretches, among whom it was very plain 
 my father was numbered, was expatiated upon with much 
 force and Christian charity ; for as certain joint-stock com- 
 panies contrive in their advertisements to give an apparent 
 stability to their firm by quoting some well-known Coutts 
 or Drummond as their banker, so my poor mother, by 
 simply introducing the word " Providence " into all her 
 worldly transactions, thought she was discharging the most 
 rigid of Christian duties, and securing a happy retreat for 
 herself when that day should arrive when neither rouge 
 nor false hair would supply the deficiencies of youth, and 
 death should unlock the jaw the dentist had furnished. 
 
 After this came the column of court gossip, the last pun 
 of the prince, and a mot of Mr. Canning. " We hope," con- 
 tinued she, " poor Somerset will go to Madrid as ambassador ; 
 to refuse him would be a great cruelty, as he has been or- 
 dered by his medical men to try a southerly climate." Hum ; 
 ah ! — " Lady Jane to replace Miss Barclay with the Land- 
 gravine." Very stupid all this. But, come ; here we have 
 it ! The writing too changes, as if a different spirit had dic- 
 tated it. 
 
 " Two o'clock. I 've just returned from the Grevilles, seriously ill 
 from the effect of the news that has reached me. Wretched boy ! 
 what have you done I What frightful career of imprudence have you 
 entered upon ? Write to me at once; for although I shall take im- 
 mediate steps for your recall, I shall be in a fever of impatience till 
 you tell me all about it. Poor dear Lord Dudley de Vere, how I love 
 him for the way he speaks of you ! for although, evidently, your con- 
 duct to him has been something very gross, yet his language respect- 
 ing you is marked not only by forbearance, but by kindness. Indeed, 
 he attributes the spirit you have manifested to the instigation of an- 
 other member of the staff, whose name, with his habitual delicacy, 
 we could not prevail upon him to disclose. His accouut of that 
 wretched country is distressing indeed ; the frightful state of society, 
 the barbarism of the natives, and the frequency of bloodshed. I shall 
 not close my eyes to-night thinking of you ; though he nas endeav- 
 ored to reassure me by telling us, that, as the Castle is a strong place 
 
THE LETTER FROM HOME. 151 
 
 and a considerable military force always there, you are in comparative 
 safety. But, my dear child, who are these frightful Rooneys, with 
 the odious house where all this gambling and ruin goes forward ? 
 How feelingly poor Lord Dudley spoke of the trials young men are 
 exposed to ! His parents have indeed a treasure in him. Rooney 
 appears to be a money-lender, a usurer, — most probably a Jew. 
 His wretched wife, what can she be ? And that designing minx, 
 niece, daughter, or whatever this Miss Belloo (what a shocking name !) 
 may be! To think you should have fallen among such people ! Lord 
 George's debts are, they say, very considerable, all owing, as he as- 
 sures me, to his unfortunate acquaintance with this Rooney, with 
 whom he appears to have had bill transactions for some time past. 
 If your difficulties were only on the score of money I should think 
 little of it ; but a quarrelsome, rancorous spirit, a taste for low com- 
 pany and vulgar associates, and a tendency to drink, — these, indeed, 
 are very shocking features, and calculated to inflict much misery on 
 your parents. 
 
 " However, let us, as far as possible, endeavor to repair the mis- 
 hap. I write by this post to this Mr. Rooney, requesting him to 
 send in his account to your father, and that in future any dinners or 
 wine you may have at his house will not be paid for, as you are under 
 age. I shall also let him know that the obscurity of his rank in life, 
 and the benighted state of the country he lives in, shall prove no 
 safeguard to him from our vigilance ; and as the chancellor dines 
 with us to-morrow, I think of asking him if he could n't be punished 
 in some way. Transportation, they tell me, has already nearly got 
 rid of the gypsies. As for yourself, make your arrangements to re- 
 turn immediately ; for although your father knows nothing about it, 
 I intend to ask Sir Henry Gordon to call on the Duke of York and 
 contrive an exchange for you. How I hate this secret adviser of 
 yours ! how I detest the Rooneys ! how I abhor the Irish ! You 
 have only to come back with long hair and the frightful accent, to 
 break the heart of your affectionate but afflicted mother. 
 
 " Your cousin Julia desires her regards. I must say she has not shown 
 a due respect to my feelings since the arrival of this sad intelligence ; 
 it is only this minute she has finished a caricature of you making love 
 to a wild Irish girl with wings. This is not only cruel towards me, 
 but an unbecoming sarcasm towards a wretched people, to whom the 
 visitations of Providence should not be made matters of reproach." 
 
 Thus concluded this famous epistle, at which, notwith- 
 standing that every line offended me deeply, I could not 
 
152 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 refrain from bursting into laughter. My opinion of Lord 
 Dudley had certainly not been of the highest ; but yet was 
 I totally unprepared for the apparent depth of villany his 
 character possessed. But I knew not then how strong an 
 alloy of cunning exists in every fool ; and how, almost in- 
 variably, a narrow intellect and a malevolent disposition 
 are associated in the same individual. 
 
 There is no prejudice more popular, nor is there any 
 which is better worth refuting, than that which attributes 
 to folly certain good qualities of heart as a kind of com- 
 pensation for the deficiency in those of the head. Now, 
 although there are of course instances to the contrary, yet 
 will the fact be found generally true that mediocrity of 
 mind has its influence in producing a mischievous disposi- 
 tion. Unable to carry on any lengthened chain of reason- 
 ing, the man of narrow intellect looks for some immediate 
 result ; and in his anxiety to attain his object, forgetful of 
 the value of both character and credit, he is prepared to 
 sacrifice the whole game of life provided he secure but the 
 odd trick. Besides, the very insufficiency of his resources 
 leads him out of himself for his enjoyments and his occu- 
 pations. Watching, therefore, the game of life, he gradu- 
 ally acquires a certain low and underhand cunning, which, 
 being mistaken by himself for ability, he omits no occasion 
 to display ; and hence begins the petty warfare of malice 
 he wages against the world with all the spiteful ingenuity 
 and malevolence of a monkey. 
 
 I could trace through all my mother's letter the dexterity 
 with which Lord Dudley avoided committing himself re- 
 specting me, while his delicacy regarding O'Grady's name 
 was equally conspicuous to a certain extent. He might 
 have been excused if he bore no good-will to one or other 
 of us ; but what could palliate his ingratitude to the 
 Booneys ? What could gloss over the base return he 
 made them for all their hospitalities and attention ? — for 
 nothing was more clear than that the light in which he 
 represented them to my mother made them appear as low 
 and intriguing adventurers- 
 
THE LETTER FROM HOME. 153 
 
 This was all bad enough ; but what should I say of the 
 threatened letter to them ? In what a position would it 
 place me before those who had been uniformly kind and 
 good-natured towards me ! The very thought of this 
 nearly drove me to distraction, and I confess it was in no 
 dutiful mood I crushed up the epistle in my hand, and 
 walked my room in an agony of shame and vexation- 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 A MORXING IN TOWN*. 
 
 The morning after the receipt of the letter the contents 
 of which I have in part made known to the reader, O'Grady 
 called on me to accompany him into the city. 
 
 " I am on a borrowing expedition, Jack," cried he ; " and 
 there 's nothing like having a new face with one. Caven- 
 dish, Hopeton, and the rest of them are so well-known it 's 
 of no use having them. But you, my boy, you 're fresh ; 
 your smooth chin does not look like a protested bill, and 
 you 've got a degage, careless manner, a kind of unsuspi- 
 cious look about you, a man never has after a bailiff has 
 given him an epaulette of five dirty fingers." 
 
 " But, Phil," said I, " if you really want money — " 
 "My very excellent young friend," interrupted he, in a 
 kind of sermon voice, " don't finish it, I beseech you ; that 
 is the very last thing in the way of exchequer a gentleman 
 is ever driven to, — borrowing from a friend. Heaven 
 forbid ! But even supposing the case that one's friend has 
 money, why, the presumption is that he must have bor- 
 rowed it himself ; so that you are sponging upon his in- 
 genuity, not his income. Besides, why riddle one's own 
 ships, while there is an enemy before us to fight ? Please 
 to remember the money-lenders, the usurers, the stock- 
 broking knaves at fifty per cent that the world is glutted 
 with: these are the true game for a sporting gentleman, 
 who would rather harpoon a shark any day than spear a 
 salmon." 
 
 " But what 's become of Paul ? Is he not available ? " 
 " Don't you know what has happened there ? But I was 
 forgetting you 've kept the house this week past. In the 
 
A MORNING IN TOWN. 155 
 
 first place, La Belle Louise has gone home ; Paul has taken 
 his departure for the circuit ; and Mrs. Paul, after three 
 days' sharp hysterics, has left town for her villa, near 
 Bray, — old Harvey finding it doubtless more convenient 
 to visit her there, with twenty guineas for his fee, than to 
 receive one for his call at Stephen's Green." 
 
 " And what is supposed to be the cause of all this ? " 
 said I, scarce able to conceal my agitation. 
 
 " The report goes," replied he, " that some bank has 
 broke in Calcutta or the Caucasus, or somewhere ; or that 
 some gold-mine in Peru, in which Paul had a share, has all 
 turned out to be only plated goods, — for it was on the 
 receipt of a letter, on the very morning of Paul's depar- 
 ture, that she took so dangerously ill ; and as Paul in his 
 confusion brought the attorney instead of the surgeon- 
 general, the case became alarming, and they gave her so 
 much ether and sal volatile that it required the united 
 strength of the family to keep her from ascending like a 
 balloon. However, the worst of it all is, the house is shut, 
 the windows closed ; and where lately on the door-steps a 
 pair of yellow-plush breeches figured bright and splendent 
 as the glorious sun, a dusky-looking planet in threadbare 
 black now informs you that the family are from home, and 
 not expected back for the summer." 
 
 "Perhaps I can explain the mystery," said I, as a blush 
 of shame burned on my cheek. " Read this." 
 
 So saying, I handed O'Grady the letter, doubled down 
 at the part where Lord Dudley's mention of the Rooneys 
 began. Grieved as I felt thus to expose the absurd folly 
 of my mother's conduct, yet I felt the necessity of having 
 at least one friend to advise with, and that, to render his 
 counsel of any value, a perfect candor on my part was 
 equally imperative. 
 
 While his eye glanced over the lines, I walked towards 
 the window, expecting at each moment some open burst of 
 indignation would escape him, some outbreak of passionate 
 warmth, at the cold-blooded ingratitude and malevolence of 
 one whom previously we had regarded but as a fool. Not 
 
156 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 so ; on the contrary, lie read the letter to the end with an 
 unchanged countenance, folded it up with great composure, 
 and then turning his back to the fire, he burst out into a fit 
 of the most immoderate laughter. 
 
 "Look ye, Jack," cried he, in a voice almost suffocated 
 with the emotion, " I am a poor man, have scarcely a guinea 
 I can call my own ; yet I 'd have given the best hack in my 
 stable to have seen the Rooneys reading that letter. There, 
 there ! don't talk to me, boy, about villany, ingratitude, and 
 so forth, — the fun of it, man, covers all the rest. Only to 
 think of Mr. Paul Rooney, the Amphytrion of viceroys, 
 chancellors, bishops, major-generals, and lord-mayors, asked 
 for his bill, — to score up all your champagne and your 
 curacpa, your turtle, your devilled kidneys ; all the heavy 
 brigade of your grand dinners, and all the light infantry of 
 luncheons, breakfasts, grilled bones, and sandwiches ! The 
 Lord forgive your mother for putting it in his head ! My 
 chalk would be a fearful one, not to speak of the ugly item 
 of ' cash advanced.' Oh, it '11 kill me, I know that ! Don't 
 look so serious, man ! you may live fifty years, and never 
 have so good a joke to laugh at. Tell me, Jack, do you 
 think your mother has kept a copy of the letter ? I would 
 give my right eye for it. What a fearful temper Paul will 
 be in, on circuit ! and as to Mrs. Rooney, it will go hard 
 with her but she cuts the whole aristocracy for at least 
 a week. There never was anything like it. To hint at 
 transporting the Princess O'Toole, whose ancestor was 
 here in the time of Moses ! Ah, Jack, how little respect 
 your mother appears to have for an old family ! She evi- 
 dently has no classical associations to hallow her memory 
 withal." 
 
 "I confess," said I, somewhat tartly, "had I anticipated 
 the spirit with which you have taken up this matter I doubt 
 whether I should have shown you the letter." 
 
 "And if you had not," replied he, "I 'd not have forgiven 
 you till the day of my death. Next to a legacy, a good 
 laugh is the best thing I know ; indeed, sometimes it is 
 better, for you can't be choused out of it by your lawyer." 
 
A MORNING IN TOWN. 157 
 
 "Laughing is a very excellent practice no doubt, but I 
 looked for some advice — " 
 
 "Advice.! to be sure, my boy; and so you shall have it. 
 Only give me a good training canter of a hearty laugh, and 
 you '11 see what running I '11 make when it comes to sound 
 discretion afterwards. The fun of a man's temperament is 
 like the froth on your champagne ; while it gives a zest to 
 the liquor of life by its lightness and its sparkle, it neither 
 detracts from the flavor nor the strength of the beverage. 
 At the same time, when I begin to froth up don't expect 
 me to sober down before twenty-four hours. So take your 
 hat, come along into town, and thank your stars that you 
 have been able to delight the heart of a man who 's trying 
 to get a bill discounted. Now, hear me, Jack," said he, as 
 we descended the stairs ; " if you expect me to conduct my- 
 self with becoming gravity and decorum, you had better 
 avoid any mention of the Eooneys for the rest of the day. 
 And now a Vouvrage." 
 
 As we proceeded down Dame Street my friend scienti- 
 fically explained to me the various modes there were of 
 obtaining money on loan. 
 
 " I don't speak," said he, " of those cases where a man 
 has landed security, or property of one kind or other, or 
 even expectations, because all these are easy, — the mere 
 rule of three in financial arithmetic. What I mean are the 
 decimal fractions of a man's difficulties, when, with as many 
 writs against him as would make a carpet for his bed-room, 
 he can still go out with an empty pocket in the morning 
 and come back with it furnished at night. And now to 
 begin. The maxims of the sporting world are singularly 
 applicable to the practice before us. You 're told that be- 
 fore you enter a preserve your first duty is to see that your 
 gun is properly loaded, — all the better if it be a double- 
 barrelled one. Now, look here," — as he spoke he drew 
 from his sabretache five bills for one hundred pounds each ; 
 " you see I am similarly prepared. The game may get up 
 at any moment, and not find me at half-cock ; and although 
 I only go out for a single bird, — that is, but one hundred, 
 
158 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 — yet if by good luck I flush a covey, you see I am ready 
 for them all. The doctrine of chances shows us that five 
 to one is better than an even bet; so by scattering these 
 five bills in different directions, the odds are exactly so 
 many in my favor that I raise a hundred somewhere." 
 " And now," said I, " where does the game lie ? " 
 " I 'in coming to that, Jack. Your rich preserves are all 
 ibout the neighborhood of Clare Street, Park Street, Mer- 
 rion Street, and that direction. With them, alas ! I have 
 nothing to do. My broad acres have long since taken 
 wings to themselves ; and I fear a mortgage upon Mount 
 O'Grady, as it at present exists, would be a poor remedy 
 for an empty pocket. The rich money-lenders despise poor 
 devils like me ; they love not contingencies, and, as Mac- 
 beth says, 'they have no speculation in their eyes.' For 
 them, my dear Jack, you must have messuages and tene- 
 ments and out-houses, townlands and turbaries, corn, cattle, 
 and cottages, pigs, potatoes, and peasantry. They love to 
 let their eyes range over a rich and swelling scene of wood- 
 land and prairie, for they are the landscape gardeners of 
 usury, they are the Hobbimas and Berghems of the law. 
 
 "Others again, of smaller range and humbler practice, 
 there are, to whom upon occasion you assign your grand- 
 father's plate and the pictures of your grand-aunts for cer- 
 tain monied conveniences you stand in need of. These are 
 a kind of Brobdignag pawnbrokers, who have fine houses, 
 the furniture of which is everlastingly changing, each credi- 
 tor sending his representative like a minister to a foreign 
 court ; with them, also, I have nothing to do. The family 
 have had so little to eat for the last two generations that 
 they trouble themselves but slightly on the score of sil- 
 ver dishes ; and as to pictures, I possess but one in the 
 world, — a portrait of my father in his wig and robes. 
 This, independent of other reasons, I couldn't part with, as 
 it is one of the only means I possess of controlling Corny 
 when his temper becomes more than usually untractable. 
 Upon these occasions I hang up the * jidge ' over the 
 chimney-piece, and the talisman has never failed yet. 
 
A MORNING IN TOWN. 159 
 
 "Now, Jack, my constituency live about Fleet Street, 
 and those small, obscure, dingy-looking passages that 
 branch from it on either side. Here live a class of men 
 who having" begun life as our servants or valets are in per- 
 fect possession of all our habits of life, our wants, and our 
 necessities. Having amassed enough by retail robbery of 
 us while in our service to establish some petty tavern or 
 some low livery-stable, they end by cheating us wholesale 
 for the loan of our own money at their own rate of interest. 
 Well aware that however deferred we must pay eventually, 
 they are satisfied — good, easy souls ! — to renew and re- 
 new bills, whose current percentage varies from five-and- 
 twenty to forty. And even notwithstanding all this, 
 Jack, they are difficult devils to deal with, — any appear- 
 ance of being hard-up, any show of being out-at-elbows, 
 rendering a negotiation as difficult as the assurance of a 
 condemned ship for a China voyage. No, my boy ; though 
 your house be besieged by duns, though in every passenger 
 you see a bailiff, and never nap after dinner without dream- 
 ing of the Marshalsea, yet still, the very moment you cross 
 the precincts of their dwelling you must put your care 
 where your cash ought to be, — in your pocket. You must 
 wear the easy smile of a happy conscience, and talk of your 
 want of a few hundreds as though it were a question of a 
 pinch of snuff or a glass of brandy-and-water, while you 
 agree to the exorbitant demands they exact with the care- 
 less indifference of one to whom money is no object, rather 
 than with the despair of a wretch who looks for no benefit 
 in life save in the act for insolvent debtors. This you '11 say 
 is a great bore, and so I once thought too ; now, however, I 
 have got somewhat used to it, and sometimes don't actually 
 dislike the fun. Why, man, I have been at it for three 
 months at a time. I remember when I never blew ray nose 
 without pulling out a writ along with my pocket-handker- 
 chief, and I never was in better spirits in all my life. — But 
 here we are. This is Billy Fagan's, a well-known dry-salter; 
 you '11 have to wait for me in the front parlor for a moment 
 while I negotiate with Billy." 
 
160 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 Elbowing our way through a squalid and miserable- 
 looking throng of people that filled the narrow hall of a 
 house in Fleet Street, we forced on till we reached an inner 
 door in which a sliding panel permitted those within to 
 communicate with others on the outside. Tapping at this 
 with his cane, O'Grady called out something which I could 
 not catch ; the panel at once flew back, a red carbuncled 
 face appeared at the opening, the owner of which with a 
 grin of very peculiar signification, exclaimed, — 
 " Ah, it 's yourself, Captain ? Walk in, sir." 
 With these words the door was opened, and we were ad- 
 mitted into the inner hall. This was also crowded, but 
 with a different class from what I had seen without. 
 These were apparently men in business, shopkeepers and 
 traders, who, reduced by some momentary pressure to ef- 
 fect a loan, were content to prop up their tottering credit 
 by sapping the very core of their prosperity, — unlike the 
 others, on whom habitual poverty and daily misery had 
 stamped its heavy impress, and whose faces too, inured to 
 suffering, betrayed no shame at being seen. These, on the 
 contrary, looked downward or aside ; seemed impatient, 
 fretful, and peevish, and indicated in a hundred ways how 
 unused they were to exigencies of this nature, muttering to 
 themselves in angry mood at being detained, and feigning 
 a resolution to depart at every moment. O'Grady, after a 
 conference of a few moments with the rubicund Cerberus 
 I have mentioned, beckoned to me to follow him. We pro- 
 ceeded accordingly up a narrow creaking stair, into a kind 
 of front drawing-room, in which about a dozen persons 
 were seated, or listlessly lounging in every imaginable at- 
 titude, — some on chairs, some on the window-sills, some on 
 the tables, and one even on the mantlepiece, with his legs 
 gracefully dangling in front of the fire. Perfectly distinct 
 from the other two classes I have mentioned, these were 
 all young men, whose dress, look, and bearing bespoke 
 them of rank and condition. Chatting away gayly, laugh- 
 ing, joking, and telling good stories, they seemed but little 
 to care for the circumstances which brought them there; 
 
A MORNING IN TOWN. 
 
 1G1 
 
 and while they quizzed one another about their various 
 debts and difficulties seemed to think want of money as 
 about the Y ei T ues t joke a gentleman could laugh at. By 
 all these 0' Grady was welcomed with a burst of applause, 
 as they eagerly pressed forward to shake hands with him. 
 
 " I say, 0' Grady," cried one, " we muster strong this 
 morning. I hope Fagan's bank will stand the run on it. 
 What 's your figure ? " 
 
 " Oh, a couple of hundred," said Phil, carelessly ; " I have 
 got rather a heavy book on the steeple-chase." 
 
 " So I hear," said another ; " and they say Ulick Burke 
 won't ride for you. He knows no one can sit the horse but 
 himself ; and Maher, the story goes, has given him a hun- 
 dred and fifty to leave you in the lurch ! " 
 
 " How good ! " said Phil, smiling ; for although this in- 
 telligence came upon him thus suddenly, he never evinced 
 the slightest surprise nor the most trifling irritation. 
 vol. i. — 11 
 
162 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " You '11 pay forfeit, of course, Phil," said the gentleman 
 on the chimney. 
 
 " I fancy not." 
 
 "Then will you take two fifties to one, against your 
 horse ? " 
 
 " Will you give it ? " was the cool reply. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " And I — and I also," said different voices round the 
 room. 
 
 " Agreed, gentlemen, with all of you. So, if you please, 
 we '11 book this. Jack, have you got a pencil ? " 
 
 As I drew forth my pocket-book I could not help whis- 
 pering to O'Grady that there seemed something like a coali- 
 tion among his opponents. Before I could conclude, the red 
 face appeared at the door. O'Grady hastily muttered, " Wait 
 for me here," and left the room. 
 
 During his absence I had abundant time to study those 
 about me. Indeed, a perfect sameness in their characters 
 as in their pursuits rendered it an easy process ; for as with 
 unguarded frankness they spoke of their several difficulties, 
 their stories presented one uniform feature, — reckless ex- 
 penditure and wasteful extravagance, with limited means 
 and encumbered fortunes. They had passed through every 
 phase of borrowing, every mode of raising money, and were 
 now reduced to the last rung of the ladder of expediency, — 
 to become the prey of the usurer, who meted out to them a 
 few more months of extravagance, at the cost of many a 
 future year of sorrow and repining. 
 
 I was beginning to grow impatient as the door gently 
 opened, and I saw my friend, as he emerged from the back 
 drawing-room. Without losing a moment's time I joined 
 him. We descended the stairs together, and walked out 
 into the street. 
 
 " Are you fond of pickled herrings, Jack ? " said O'Grady, 
 as he took my arm. 
 
 " Pickled herrings ! Why, what do you mean ? " 
 
 "Probably," resumed he, in the same dry tone of voice, 
 " you prefer ash-bark, or assafoetida ? " 
 
A MORNING IN TOWN. 163 
 
 " Why, I can't say." 
 
 " Ah, my boy, you 're difficult to please, then ! What do 
 you say to whale oil and Welch wigs ? " 
 
 " Confound me if I understand you ! " 
 
 " Nothing more easy after all, for of each of these com- 
 modities I 'm now a possessor to the amount of some two 
 hundred and twenty pounfls. You look surprised, but such 
 is the nature of our transactions here ; and for my bill of 
 five hundred, payable in six months, I have become a gen- 
 eral merchant to the extent I've told you, not to mention 
 paying eighty more for a certain gig and horse, popularly 
 knOwn in this city as the discount dennet. This," con- 
 tinued he with a sigh, " is about the tenth time I 've been the 
 owner of that vile conveyance ; for you must know when- 
 ever Fagan advances a good round sum he always insists 
 upon something of this kind forming part of it ; and thus, 
 according to the figure of your loan, you may drive from his 
 door in anything, from a wheel-barrow to a stage-coach. As 
 for the discount dennet, it is as well known as the black- 
 cart that conveys the prisoners to Newgate, and the repu- 
 tation of him who travels in either is pretty much on a 
 par. From the crank of the rusty springs to the limping 
 amble of the malicious old black beast in the shafts, the 
 whole thing has a look of beggary about it. Every jingle 
 of the ragged harness seems to whisper in your ear, ' Fifty 
 per cent ; ' and drive which way you will, it is impossible 
 to get free of the notion that you're not trotting along the 
 road to ruin. To have been seen in it once is as though you 
 had figured in the pillory, and the very fact of its being in 
 your possession is a blow of a battering-ram to your credit 
 forever ! " 
 
 " But why venture into it ? If you must have it, let it 
 be like the pickled herrings and the paving-stones, — so 
 much of pure loss." 
 
 " The fact is, Jack, it is generally passed off on a young 
 hand the first time he raises money. He knows little of the 
 town, less of its secret practices, and not until he has fur- 
 nished a hearty laugh to all his acquaintances does he dis- 
 
164 
 
 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 cover the blunder he has committed. Besides, sometimes 
 you 're hard up for something to bring you about. I re- 
 member once keeping it an entire winter ; and as I painted 
 Latitat a good piebald, and had his legs white-washed every 
 
 morning, few recognized him, except such as had paid for 
 their acquaintance. After this account, probably, you'll 
 not like to drive with me ; but as I am going to Loughrea 
 for the race, I 've determined to take the dennet down, and 
 try if I can't find a purchaser among the country gentle- 
 men. — And now let 's think of dinner. What do you say 
 to a cutlet at the club, and perhaps we shall strike oat 
 something there to finish our evening ? " 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 AN EVENING IN TOWN. 
 
 We dined at the club-house, and sat chatting over our 
 wine till near ten o'clock. The events of the morning were 
 our principal topics ; for although I longed myself to turn 
 the conversation to the Rooneys, I was deterred from doing 
 so by the fear of another outbreak of O'Grady's mirth. 
 Meanwhile, the time rolled on, and rapidly too; for my 
 companion, with an earnestness of manner and a force of 
 expression I little knew he possessed, detailed to me many 
 anecdotes of his own early career. From these I could 
 glean that while O'Grady suffered himself to be borne 
 along the current of dissipation and excess, yet in his heart 
 he repudiated the life he led, and when a moment of re- 
 flection came, felt sorrow for the past and but little hope 
 for the future. 
 
 "Yes, Jack," said he, on concluding a narrative of con- 
 tinual family misfortune, " there would seem a destiny in 
 these things ; and if we look about us in the world we can- 
 not fail to see that families, like individuals, have their 
 budding spring of youth and hope, their manhood of pride 
 and power, and their old age of feebleness and decay. As 
 for myself, I am about the last branch of an old tree, and 
 all my endeavor lias been to seem green and cheerful to the 
 last. My debts have hung about my neck all through life ; 
 the extravagances of my early years have sat like a mill- 
 stone upon me ; and I who began the world with a heart 
 brimful of hope, and a soul bounding with ambition, have 
 lingered on my path like a truant schoolboy. And here I 
 am, at the age of three-and-thirty, without having realized 
 a single promise of my boyhood, the poorest of all imagin- 
 
166 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 able things, — a gentleman without fortune, a soldier with- 
 out service, a man of energy without hope." 
 
 " But why, Phil," said I, " how comes it that you never 
 went out to the Peninsula ? " 
 
 " Alas, my boy ! from year to year I have gone on ex- 
 pecting my gazette to a regiment on service. Too poor to 
 purchase, too proud to solicit, I have waited in anxious ex- 
 pectancy from some of those with whom, high as was their 
 station, I've lived on terms of intimacy and friendship, 
 that notice they extended to others less known than I was ; 
 but somehow the temperament that would seem to consti- 
 tute my happiness has proved my bane, and those qualities 
 which have made me a boon companion have left me a beg- 
 gar. Handed over from one viceroy to another, like a 
 state-trumpeter or a butt of sherry, I have been left to lin- 
 ger out my best years a kind of court-jester, — my only re- 
 ward being, the hour of merriment over, that they who 
 laughed with should laugh at me." 
 
 There was a tone of almost ferocity in the way he spoke 
 these words ; while the trembling lip, the flashing eye, and 
 the swollen veins of his temple betrayed that the very bit- 
 terest of all human emotions — self-scorn — was racking 
 his heart within him. 
 
 Por sometime we were both silent. Had I even known 
 what to say at such a moment, there was that comfortless 
 expression about his face, that look of riveted despair, 
 which would have rendered any effort on my part to con- 
 sole him a vain and presumptuous folly. 
 
 "But, come, Jack," said he, filling his glass and pushing 
 over the decanter to me, " I have learned to put little faith 
 in patrons ; and although the information has been long in 
 acquiring, still it has come at last, and I am determined to 
 profit by it. I am now endeavoring to raise a little money 
 to pay off the most pressing of my creditors, and have 
 made an application to the Horse Guards to be appointed 
 to any regiment on service, wherever it may be. If both 
 these succeed, and it is necessary both should, then, Jack, 
 I '11 try a new path ; and even though it lead to nothing, 
 
AN EVENING IN TOWN. 167 
 
 yet at least it will be a more manly one to follow. And if 
 I am to linger on to that period of life when to look back is 
 nearly all that's left us, — why, then, the retrospect will 
 be less dashed with shame than with such a career as this 
 is. Meanwhile, my boy, the decanter is with you ; so fill 
 your glass, 1 '11 join you presently." 
 
 As he spoke , O'Grady sprang up and walked to the other 
 end of the room, where a party of some half-dozen persons 
 were engaged in putting on great-coats and buttoning up 
 previous to departure. In an instant I could hear his 
 voice high above the rest, — that cheerful ringing tone that 
 seemed the very tocsin of a happy heart, — while at some 
 observation he made the whole party around him were con- 
 vulsed with laughter. In the midst of all this he drew one 
 of them aside, and conversing eagerly with him for a few 
 seconds, pointed to me as he spoke. 
 
 " Thank you, my lord, thank you," said he, as he turned 
 away. " I '11 be answerable for my friend. — Now, Hinton," 
 whispered he, as he leaned his hand upon my shoulder and 
 bent over me, " we 're in luck to-night, at all events ; for I 
 have just got permission to bring you with me where I am 
 to spend the evening. It 's no small favor if you knew but 
 all ; so finish your wine, for my friends there are moving 
 already." 
 
 All my endeavors to ascertain where we were going, or to 
 whose house, were in vain ; the only thing I could learn was 
 that my admission was a prodigious favor, while to satisfy 
 my scruples about dress he informed me that no change of 
 costume was necessary. 
 
 " I perceive," said O'Grady, as he drew the curtain and 
 looked out into the street, " the night is fine and star-light ; 
 so what say you if we walk ? I must tell you, however, 
 our place of rendezvous is somewhat distant." 
 
 Agreeing to the proposition with pleasure, I took his arm, 
 and we sallied forth together. Our way led at first through 
 a most crowded and frequented part of the capital. We 
 traversed Dame Street, passed by the Castle, and ascended 
 a steep street beyond it ; after this we took a turning to the 
 
168 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 left, and entered a part of the city to me at least utterly 
 unknown. For about half an hour we continued to wander 
 on, now to the right, now to the left, the streets becoming 
 gradually narrower, less frequented, and less lighted ; the 
 shops were all closed, and few persons stirred in the remote 
 thoroughfares. 
 
 " I fear I must have made a mistake," said O'Grady, "en- 
 deavoring to take a short cut ; but here comes a watchman. 
 I say, is this Kevin Street ? " 
 
 "No, sir; the second turning to your right brings you 
 into it." 
 
 "Kevin Street!" said I, repeating the name half aloud 
 to myself. 
 
 " Yes, Jack, so it is called ; but all your ingenuity will 
 prove too little in discovering whither you are going. So 
 come along ; leave time to tell you what guessing never 
 will." 
 
 By this time we arrived at the street in question, when 
 very soon after O'Grady called out, — 
 
 " All right ! here we are." 
 
 With these words he knocked three times in a peculiar 
 manner at the door of a large and gloomy-looking house. 
 An ill-trimmed lamp threw a faint and flickering light upon 
 the old and ruined building, and I could trace here and there, 
 through all the wreck of time, some remnants of a better 
 day. The windows now however were broken in several 
 places, those on the lower story being defended on the out- 
 side by a strong iron railing ; not a gleam of light shone 
 through any one of them, but a darkness unrelieved, save 
 by the yellow gleam of the street-lamp, enveloped the entire 
 building. O'Grady's summons was twice repeated ere there 
 seemed any chance of its being replied to, when at last the 
 step of a heavy foot descending the stairs announced the 
 approach of some one. While I continued my survey of 
 the house O'Grady never spoke, and perceiving that he 
 made a mystery of our visit I resolved to ask no further 
 questions, but patiently await the result: my impression, 
 however, was that the place was the resort either of thieves 
 
AN EVENING IN TOWN. 1G9 
 
 or of some illegal association, of which more than one at 
 that time were known to have their meetings in the capital. 
 While I was thus occupied in my conjectures, and wonder- 
 ing within -myself how O'Grady had become acquainted 
 with his friends, the door opened, and a diminutive, mean- 
 looking old man, shading the candle with his hand, stood 
 at the entrance. 
 
 "Good evening, Mickey," cried O'Grady, as he brushed by 
 him into the hall. " Are they come ? " 
 
 " Yes, Captain," said the little man, as, snuffing the long 
 wick with his fingers, he held the light up to O'Grady's 
 face, — " Yes, Captain, about fifteen." 
 
 " This gentleman 's with me, — come along, Jack. He is 
 my friend, Mickey." 
 
 " Oh, I can't do it by no means, Mister Phil," said the 
 dwarf, opposing himself as a barrier to my entrance. " You 
 know what they said the last night, " — here he strained 
 himself on his toes, and, as O'Grady stooped down, whis- 
 pered some words I couldn't catch, while he continued 
 aloud, — " and you know after that, Captain, I dare n't 
 do it." 
 
 " I tell you, you old fool, I 've arranged it all ; so get 
 along there, and show us the light up these confounded 
 stairs. I suppose they never mended the hole on the 
 lobby ? " 
 
 "Troth they didn't," growled the dwarf; "and it would 
 be chaper for them nor breaking their shins every night." 
 
 I followed O'Grady up the stairs, which creaked and bent 
 beneath us at every step ; the hand-rail, broken in many 
 places, swung to and fro with every motion of the stair, 
 and the walls, covered with green and damp mould, looked 
 the very picture of misery and decay. Still grumbling at 
 the breach of order incurred by my admission, the old man 
 shuffled along wheezing, coughing, and cursing between 
 times, till at length we reached the landing-place, where 
 the hole of which I heard them speak permitted a view of 
 the hall beneath. Stepping across this, we entered a large 
 room lighted by a lamp upon the chimney-piece ; around 
 
170 JACK HIXTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 the walls were hung a variety of what appeared to be cloaks 
 of a lightish drab color, while over each hung a small skull- 
 cap of yellow leather. 
 
 " Don't you hear the knocking below, Mickey ? There 's 
 some one at the door," said O'Grady. 
 
 The little man left the room, and as we were now alone I 
 expected some explanation from my friend as to the place 
 we were in, and the people who frequented it. Not so, 
 however. Phil merely detached one of the cloaks from 
 its peg, and proceeded to invest himself in its folds ; he 
 placed the skull-cap on his head, after which, covering the 
 whole with a hood, he fastened the garment around his 
 waist with a girdle of rope, and stood before me the per- 
 fect picture of a monk of St. Benedict, as we see them 
 represented in old pictures, — the only irregularity of cos- 
 tume being, that, instead of a rosary, the string from his 
 girdle supported a cork-screw and a horn-spoon of most 
 portentous proportions. 
 
 "Come, my son," said he, reverently, "indue thy gar- 
 ment ; " so saying, he proceeded to clothe me in a similar 
 manner, after which he took a patient survey of me for a 
 few seconds. "You'll do very well; wear the hood well 
 forward ; and mark me, Jack, I 've but one direction to give 
 you, — never speak a word, not a syllable, so long as you 
 remain in the house ; if spoken to, cross your arms thus 
 upon your breast, and bow your head in this manner. Try 
 that — Perfectly ! you have your lesson ; now, don't 
 forget it." 
 
 O'Grady now, with his arms crossed upon his bosom and 
 his head bent slightly forward, walked slowly forth, with a 
 solemn gravity well befitting his costume. Imitating him 
 as well as I was able, I followed him up the stairs. On 
 reaching the second landing, he tapped twice with his 
 knuckles at a low door, whose pointed arch and iron grating 
 were made to represent the postern of a convent. 
 
 " Benedicite," said Phil, in a low voice. 
 
 " Et tu quoque, f rater," responded some one from within, 
 and the door was opened. 
 
AN EVENING IN TOWN. 171 
 
 Saluting a venerable-looking figure, who with a long gray 
 beard bowed devoutly as we passed, we entered an apart- 
 ment, where, so sudden was the change from what I had 
 hitherto seen, I could scarcely trust my eyes. A comforta- 
 ble, well-carpeted room, with curtained windows, cushioned 
 chairs, and, not least inviting of all, a blazing fire of wood 
 upon the hearth, were objects I was little prepared for ; 
 but I had little time to note them, my attention being di- 
 rected with more curiosity to the living occupants of this 
 strange dwelling. Some fifteen or sixteen persons, cos- 
 tumed like ourselves, either walked up and down engaged 
 in conversation, or sat in little groups around the fire. 
 Card-tables there were in different parts of the room, but 
 one only was occupied. At this a party of reverend fathers 
 were busily occupied at whist. In the corner next the fire, 
 seated in a large chair of carved oak, was a figure whose 
 air and bearing bespoke authority ; the only difference in 
 his costume from the others being a large embroidered 
 cork-screw, which he wore on his left shoulder. 
 
 " Holy Prior, your blessing," said Phil, bowing obse- 
 quiously before him. 
 
 " You have it, my son : much good may it do you," re- 
 sponded the superior, in a voice which, somehow or other, 
 seemed not perfectly new to me. 
 
 While O'Grady engaged in a whispered conversation with 
 the prior, I turned my eyes towards a large-framed paper 
 which hung above the chimney. It ran thus : — 
 
 "Rules and regulations to be observed in the monastery of the 
 venerable and pious brothers, the Monks of the Screw." 
 
 Conceiving it scarcely delicate in a stranger to read over 
 the regulations of a Society of which he was not a member, 
 I was turning away, when O'Grady, seizing me by the arm, 
 whispered, " Remember your lesson ; " then added aloud, 
 " Holy Father, this is the lay brother of whom I spoke." 
 
 The prior bowed formally, and extended his hands towards 
 me with a gesture of benediction : " Accipe benedictionem — " 
 
 " Supper, by the Lord Harry ! " cried a jolly voice behind 
 
172 JACK HINTOX, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 me, and at the same moment a general movement was made 
 by the whole party. 
 
 The prior now did n't wait to conclude his oration, but 
 tucking up his garments, put himself at the head of the 
 procession which had formed, two and two, in order of 
 march. At the same moment two fiddles from the supper- 
 room, after a slight prelude, struck up the anthem of the 
 order, which was the popular melody of " The night before 
 Larry was stretched ! " 
 
 Marching in measured tread, we entered the supper- 
 room, when, once having made the circuit of the table, at 
 a flourish of the fiddles we assumed our places, the superior 
 seating himself at the head in a chair of state, slightly 
 elevated above the rest. A short Latin grace, which I was 
 unfortunate enough not to catch, being said, the work of 
 eating began ; and certainly, whatever might have been the 
 feats of the friars of old when the bell summoned them to 
 the refectory, their humble followers, the Monks of the 
 Screw, did them no discredit. A profusion of dishes cov- 
 ered the table ; and although the entire service was of 
 wood, and the whole "equipage" of the most plain and 
 simple description, yet the cookery was admirable, and the 
 wines perfection itself. 
 
 While the supper proceeded, scarcely a word was spoken. 
 By the skilful exercise of signs, with which the}* all seemed 
 familiar, roast ducks, lobsters, veal-pies, and jellies flew 
 from hand to hand ; the decanters also paraded up and 
 down the table with an alacrity and despatch I had seldom 
 seen equalled. Still, the pious brethren maintained a taci- 
 turn demeanor that would have done credit to La Trappe 
 itself. As for me, my astonishment and curiosity increased 
 every moment. What could they be ? What could they 
 mean ? There was something too farcical about it all to 
 suppose that any political society or any dangerous associa- 
 tion could be concealed under such a garb; and if mere 
 conviviality and good fellowship were meant, their un- 
 broken silence and grave demeanor struck me as a most 
 singular mode of promoting either. 
 
AN EVENING IN TOWN. 173 
 
 Supper at length concluded, the dishes were removed by 
 two humble brethren of the order, dressed in a species of 
 gray serge;, after which, marching to a solemn tune, an- 
 other monk appeared, bearing a huge earthenware bowl, 
 brimful of steaming punch, — at least so the odor and the 
 floating lemons bespoke it. Each brother was now pro- 
 vided with a small quaint-looking pipkin, after which the 
 domestics withdrew, leaving us in silence as before. For 
 about a second or two this continued, when suddenly the 
 fiddles gave a loud twang, and each monk, springing to his 
 legs, threw back his cowl, and, bowing to the superior, re- 
 seated himself. So sudden was the action, so unexpected 
 the effect, for a moment or two I believed it a dream- 
 What was my surprise, what my amazement, that this den 
 of thieves, this horde of burglars, this secret council of 
 rebels, was nothing more or less than an assemblage of 
 nearly all the first men of the day in Ireland ! And as my 
 eye ran rapidly over the party, here I could see the chief 
 baron, with a venerable dignitary of St. Patrick's on his 
 right; there was the attorney-general; there the provost 
 of Trinity College ; lower down, with his skull-cap set 
 jauntily on one side, was Wellesley Pole, the secretary of 
 state ; Yelverton, Day, Plunket, Parsons, Toler, — in a 
 word, all those whose names were a guarantee for every- 
 thing that was brilliant, witty, and amusing were there; 
 while, conspicuous among the rest, the prior himself was 
 no other than John Philpot Curran ! Scarcely was my 
 rapid survey of the party completed, when the superior, 
 filling his pipkin from the ample bowl before him, rose to 
 give the health of the order. Alas me ! that time should 
 have so sapped my memory ! I can but give my impression 
 of what I heard. 
 
 The speech, which lasted about ten minutes, was a kind 
 of burlesque on speeches from the throne, describing in 
 formal phrase the prosperous state of their institution, its 
 amicable foreign relations, the flourishing condition of its 
 finances, — Brother Yelverton having paid in the two-and- 
 sixpence he owed for above two years, — concluding all 
 
174 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 with the hope that by a rigid economy (part of which con- 
 sisted in limiting John Toler to ten pipkins), they would 
 soon be enabled to carry into effect the proposed works on 
 the frontier, and expend the sum of four shillings-and-nine- 
 pence in the repair of the lobby. Winding up all with a 
 glowing eulogium on monastic institutions in general, he 
 concluded with recommending to their special devotion and 
 unanimous cheers " the Monks of the Screw." Never, cer- 
 tainly, did men compensate for their previous silence better 
 than the worthy brethren in question. Cheering with an 
 energy I never heard the like of, each man finished his 
 pipkin with just voice enough left to call for the song of 
 the order. 
 
 Motioning with his hand to the fiddlers to begin, the 
 prior cleared his throat, and, to the same simple but touch- 
 ing melody they had marched in to supper, sang the 
 following chant : — 
 
 GOOD LUCK TO THE FRIARS OF OLD. 
 
 Of all trades that flourished of old, 
 
 Before men knew reading and writing, 
 The friar's was best I am told, 
 
 If one was n't much given to fighting; 
 For, rent free, you lived at your ease, 
 
 You had neither to work nor to labor ; 
 You might eat of whatever you please, 
 
 For the prog was supplied by your neighbor. 
 Oh, good luck to the friars of old ! 
 
 Your dress was convenient and cheap, — 
 
 A loose robe like this I am wearing ; 
 It was pleasant to eat in or sleep, 
 
 And never much given to tearing 
 Not tightened nor squeezed in the least, — 
 
 How of modern days you might shame us! 
 With a small bit of cord round your waist, — 
 
 With what vigor you 'd chant the oremus .' 
 
 Oh, good luck to the friars of old .' 
 
 What miracles then, too, you made ! 
 The fame to this hour is lasting ; 
 
AN EVENING IN TOWN. 175 
 
 But the strangest of all, it is said, 
 
 You grew mighty fat upon fasting ! 
 And though strictly forbid to touch wine, — 
 -How the fact all your glory enhances ! — 
 You well knew the taste of the vine : 
 Some miraculous gift of Saint Francis ! 
 
 Oh, good luck to the friars of old ! 
 
 To trace an example so meek, 
 
 And repress all our carnal desires, 
 We mount two-pair stairs every week, 
 
 And put on the garment of friars ; 
 And our order itself it is old, — 
 
 The oldest between me and you, sir, — 
 For King David, they say, was enrolled, 
 
 And a capital Monk of the Screw, sir. 
 
 So, good luck to the friars of old ! 
 
 The song over, and another cheer given to the brethren 
 of the Screw, the pipkins were replenished, and the con- 
 versation, so long pent up, burst forth in all its pleni- 
 tude. Nothing but fun, nothing but wit, nothing but mer- 
 riment, was heard on either side. Here were not only all 
 the bright spirits of the day, but they were met by appoint- 
 ment, — they came prepared for the combat, armed for the 
 fight ; and certainly never was such a joust of wit and bril- 
 liancy. Good stories reigned around ; jests, repartees, and 
 epigrams flew like lightning ; and one had but time to catch 
 some sparkling gem as it glittered, ere another and another 
 succeeded. 
 
 But even already I grow impatient with myself while I 
 speak of these things. How poor, how vapid, and how 
 meagre is the effort to recall the wit that set the table in a 
 roar ! Not only is memory wanting, but how can one con- 
 vey the incessant roll of fun, the hailstorm of pleasantry, 
 that rattled about our ears, — each good thing that was 
 uttered ever suggesting something still better ; the bright- 
 est fancy and the most glowing imagination stimulated to 
 their utmost exercise ; while powers of voice, of look, and 
 of mimicry unequalled lent all their aid to the scene. 
 
 While I sat entranced and delighted with all I saw and 
 
176 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 all I heard, I had not remarked that 0' Grady had been ad- 
 dressing the chair for some time previous. 
 
 " Reverend brother," replied the prior, " the prayer of 
 thy petition is inadmissible. The fourth rule of our faith 
 says, de confessione : no subject, mirthful, witty, or jocose, 
 known to or by any member of the order, shall be withheld 
 from the brotherhood under a penalty of the heaviest kind. 
 And it goes on to say, that, whether the jest involve your 
 father or your mother, your wife, your sister, or the aunt 
 from whom you expect a legacy, no exception can be made. 
 What you then look for is clearly impossible ; make a clean 
 breast of it, and begin." 
 
 This being a question of order, a silence was soon estab- 
 lished, when what was my horror to find that Phil 0' Grady 
 began the whole narrative of my mother's letter on the sub- 
 ject of the Rooneys ! Not limiting himself, however, to the 
 meagre document in question, but coloring the story with all 
 the force of his imagination, he displayed to the brethren the 
 ludicrous extremes of character personated by the London 
 fine lady and the Dublin attorney's wife. Shocked as I was 
 at first, he had not proceeded far when I was forced to join 
 the laughter. The whole table pounced upon the story; 
 the Rooneys were well known to them all, and the idea of 
 poor Paul, who dispensed his hospitalities with a princely 
 hand, having his mansion degraded to the character of a 
 chop-house almost convulsed them with laughter. 
 
 " I am going over to London next week," said Parsons, 
 " with old Lambert ; and if I thought I should meet this 
 Lady Charlotte Hinton I 'd certainly contrive to have him 
 presented to her as Mr. Paul Rooney." 
 
 This observation created a diversion in favor of my lady- 
 mother, to which I had the satisfaction of listening without 
 the power to check. 
 
 "She has," said Dawson, "most admirable and original 
 views about Ireland ; and were it only for the fact of call- 
 ing on the Rooneys for their bill, she deserves our gratitude. 
 I humbly move, therefore, that we drink to the health of 
 our worthy sister, Lady Charlotte Hinton." 
 
AN EVENING IN TOWN. 177 
 
 The next moment found me hip-hipping in derision to my 
 mother's health, the only consolation being that I was escap- 
 ing unnoticed and unknown. 
 
 •• Well, Barrington, the duke was delighted with the 
 corps; nothing could be more soldier-like than their ap- 
 pearance as they marched past." 
 
 "Ah, the attorneys', is n't it, —the Devil's Own, as Curran 
 calls them ? " 
 
 " Yes, and remarkably well they looked. I say, Parsons, 
 you heard what poor Rooney said when Sir Charles Asgill 
 read aloud the general order complimenting them : < May I 
 beg, Sir Charles,' said he, ' to ask if the document in your 
 hand be an attested copy ? ' " 
 
 " Capital, faith ! By-the-bye, what 's the reason, can any 
 one tell me, Paul has never invited me to dine for the last 
 two years ? " 
 
 " Indeed ! " said Curran ; " then your chance is a bad one, 
 for the statute of limitations is clearly against you." 
 
 " Ah, Kellar, the Rooneys have cut all their low acquaint- 
 ances, and your prospects look very gloomy. You know 
 what took place between Paul and Lord Manners ? " 
 
 " No, Barrington ; let 's hear it, by all means." 
 
 "Paul had met him at Kinnegad, where both had stopped 
 to change horses. 'A glass of sherry, my lord?' quoth 
 Paul, with a most insinuating look. 
 
 " ' No, sir, thank you,' was the distant reply. 
 
 " 'A bowl of gravy, then, my lord ? ' rejoined he. 
 
 " 'Pray, excuse me/ more coldly than before. 
 
 " ' Maybe a chop and a crisped potato would tempt your 
 lordship ? ' 
 
 " ' Neither, Sir, I assure you.' 
 
 " ' Nor a glass of egg-flip ? ' repeated Paul, in an accent 
 bordering on despair. 
 
 "'Nor even the egg-flip,' rejoined his Lordship, in the 
 most pompous manner. 
 
 " ' Then, my lord,' said Paul, drawing himself up to his 
 full height, and looking him firmly in the face, 'I've only 
 to say the onus is now on you.' With which he stalked 
 vol. i. — 12 
 
178 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 out of the room, leaving the chancellor to his own 
 reflections." 
 
 " Brethren, the saint ! " cried out the prior, as he rose 
 from the chair. 
 
 " The saint ! the saint ! " re-echoed from lip to lip ; and 
 at the same moment the door opened, and a monk appeared, 
 bearing a silver image of Saint Patrick, about a foot and a 
 half high, which he deposited in the middle of the table 
 with the utmost reverence. All the monks rose, tilling their 
 pipkins ; while the junior of the order, a fat little monk 
 with spectacles, began the following ditty, in which all the 
 rest joined with every energy of voice and manner : — 
 
 i. 
 
 When Saint Patrick our order created, 
 And called us the Monks of the Screw, 
 
 Good rules he revealed to our abbot 
 To guide us in what we should do. 
 
 But first he replenished his fountain 
 With liquor the best in the sky, 
 
 And he swore by the word of his saintship 
 That fountain should never run dry. 
 
 My children, be chaste, till you 're tempted; 
 
 While sober, be wise and discreet; 
 And humble your bodies with fasting 
 
 Whene'er you 've nothing to eat. 
 
 Then be not a glass in the convent, 
 
 Except on a festival, found; 
 And this rule to enforce, I ordain it 
 
 A festival all the year round. 
 
 A hip, hip, hurrah ! that made the very saint totter on 
 his legs, shook the room ; and once more the reverend 
 fathers reseated themselves to resume their labors. 
 
 Again the conversation flowed on in its broader channel ; 
 and scarcely was the laughter caused by one anecdote at an 
 
AN EVENING IN TOWN. 179 
 
 end when another succeeded, — the strangest feature of all 
 this being that he who related the story was, in almost 
 every instance, less the source of amusement to the party 
 than they who, listening to the recital, threw a hundred 
 varied lights upon it, making even the tamest imaginable 
 adventure the origin of innumerable ludicrous situations 
 and absurd fancies. Besides all this, there were charac- 
 teristic differences in the powers of the party, which de- 
 prived the display of any trace or appearance of sameness. 
 The epigrammatic terseness and nicety of Curran; the 
 jovial good humor and mellow raciness of Lawrence 
 Parsons; the happy facility of converting all before him 
 into a pun or a repartee, so eminently possessed by Toler ; 
 and, perhaps more striking than all, the caustic irony and 
 piercing sarcasm of Plunket's wit, — relieved and displayed 
 one another; each man's talent having only so much of 
 rivalry as to excite opposition and give interest to the 
 combat, yet never by any accident originating a particle of 
 animosity, or even eliciting a shade of passing irritation. 
 
 With what pleasure could I continue to recount the 
 stories, the songs, the sayings, I listened to ! With what 
 satisfaction do I yet look back upon that brilliant scene, 
 nearly all the actors in which have since risen to high rank 
 and eminence in the country ! How often, too, in their 
 bright career, when I have heard the warm praise of the 
 world bestowed upon their triumphs and their successes, 
 has my memory carried me back to that glorious night, 
 when with hearts untrammelled by care, high in hope and 
 higher in ambition, these bright spirits sported in all the 
 wanton exuberance of their genius, scattering with profu- 
 sion the rich ore of their talent, careless of the depths to 
 which the mine should be shafted hereafter! Yes, it is 
 true there were giants in those days. However much one 
 may be disposed to look upon the eulogist of the past, as 
 one whose fancy is more ardent than his memory is tena- 
 cious, yet with respect to this there is no denial of the fact 
 that great convivial gifts, great conversational power, no 
 longer exist as they did some thirty or forty years ago. I 
 
180 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 speak more particularly of the country where I passed my 
 youth, — of Ireland ; and who that remembers those names 
 I have mentioned, — who that can recall the fascination 
 and charm which almost every dinner-party of the day 
 could boast, — who that can bring to mind the brilliancy 
 of Curran, the impetuous power of Plunket, or the elegance 
 of manner and classical perfection of wit that made Burke 
 the Cicero of his nation, — who, I say, with all these things 
 before his memory, can venture to compare the society of 
 that period with the present ? No, no ! the gray hairs that 
 mingle with our brown may convict us of being a preju- 
 diced witness, but we would call into court every one whose 
 testimony is available, and confidently await the verdict. 
 
 " And so they ran away ! " said the prior turning towards 
 a tall, gaunt-looking monk, who with a hollow voice and 
 solemn manner was recording the singular disappearance of 
 the militia regiment he commanded on the morning they 
 were to embark for England. " The story we heard," re- 
 sumed the prior, " was that when drawn up in the Fifteen 
 Acres, one of the light company caught sight of a hare and 
 flung his musket at it ; that the grenadiers followed the ex- 
 ample, and that then the whole battalion broke loose, with 
 a loud yell, and .set off in pursuit — " 
 
 "No, sir," said the gaunt .uan, waving his hand to sup- 
 press the laughter around him. " They were assembled on 
 the light-house wall, as it might be here, and we told them 
 off by tallies as they marched on board, — not perceiving, 
 however, that as fast as they entered the packet on one 
 side they left it on the opposite, there being two jolly-boats 
 in waiting to receive them ; and as it was dusk at the time, 
 the scheme was undetected, until the corporal of a flank 
 company shouted out to them to wait for him, that being 
 his boat. At this time we had fifty men of our four 
 hundred and eighty." 
 
 " Ay, ay, holy father," cried the prior, as he helped him- 
 self to a devilled bone, " your fellows were like the grilled 
 bone before me, — when they were mustered, they would 
 not wait to be peppered." 
 
AN EVENING IN TOWN. 
 
 181 
 
 This sally produced a roar of laughter, not the less 
 hearty that the grim-visaged hero it was addressed to never 
 relaxed a muscle of his face. 
 
 It was aow late, and what between the noise, the wine, 
 and the laughter, my faculties were none of the clearest. 
 Without having drunk much, I felt all the intoxication of 
 
 liquor, and a whirlwind of confusion in my ideas that 
 almost resembled madness. To this state one part of their 
 proceedings in a great measure contributed ; for every now 
 and then, on some signal from the prior, the whole party 
 would take hands and dance round the table to the measure 
 of an Irish jig, wilder and even more eccentric than their 
 own orgies. Indeed, I think this religious exercise finished 
 me ; for after the third time of its performance the whole 
 scene became a confused and disturbed mass, and amid the 
 
182 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 crash of voices, the ringing of laughter, the tramping of 
 feet, I sank into something which if not sleep was at least 
 unconsciousness, — and thus is a wet sponge drawn over 
 the immediately succeeding portion of my history. 
 
 Some faint recollection I have of terrifying old Corny by 
 my costume ; but what the circumstances, or how they 
 happened, I cannot remember. I can only call to mind 
 one act in vindication of my wisdom, — I went to bed. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 A CONFIDENCE. 
 
 I slept late on the morning after my introduction to the 
 Monks of the Screw, and probably should have continued 
 to indulge still longer had not O'Grady awoke me. 
 
 " Come, Jack," he cried, " this is the third time I have 
 been here to-day. I can't have mercy on you any longer ; 
 so rub your eyes, and try if you can't wake sufficiently to 
 listen to me. I have just received my appointment as cap- 
 tain in the Forty-first, with an order to repair immediately 
 to Chatham to join the regiment, which is under orders for 
 foreign service." 
 
 " And when do you go, Phil ? " 
 
 "To-night, at eight o'clock. A private note from a 
 friend at the Horse Guards tells me not to lose a moment ; 
 and as I shall have to wait on the duke to thank him for 
 his great kindness to me, I have no time to spare." 
 
 This news so stunned me that for a moment or two I 
 could n't reply. O'Grady perceived it, and, patting me 
 gayly on the shoulder, said, — 
 
 " Yes, Jack, I am sorry we are to separate. But as for 
 me, no other course was open ; and as to you, with all your 
 independence from fortune, and with all your family influ- 
 ence to push your promotion, the time is not very distant 
 when you will begin to feel the life you are leading vapid 
 and tiresome. You will long for an excitement more vigor- 
 ous and more healthy in its character ; and then, my boy, 
 my dearest hope is that we may be thrown once more 
 together." 
 
 Had my friend been able at the moment to have looked 
 into the secret recesses of my heart and read there my in- 
 
184 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 most thoughts, he could not more perfectly have depicted 
 my feelings, nor pictured the impressions that at the very 
 moment he spoke were agitating my mind. The time he 
 alluded to had indeed arrived ; the hour had come when I 
 wished to be a soldier in more than the mere garb. But 
 with that wish came linked another even stronger still ; 
 and this was, that, before I went on service I should once 
 more see Louisa Bellew, explain to her the nature and ex- 
 tent of my attachment to her, and obtain if possible some 
 pledge on her part, that, with the distinction I hoped to 
 acquire, I should look to the possession of her love as my 
 reward and my recompense. Young as I was, I felt 
 ashamed at avowing to O'Grady the rapid progress of my 
 passion. I had not courage to confess upon what slight 
 encouragement I built my hopes, and at the same time was 
 abashed at being compelled to listen tamely to his prophecy, 
 when the very thoughts that flashed across me would have 
 indicated my resolve. 
 
 While I thus maintained an awkward silence, he once 
 more resumed : — 
 
 " Meanwhile, Jack, you can serve me, and I shall make 
 no apologies for enlisting you. You 've heard me speak of 
 this great Loughrea steeple-chase : now, somehow or other, 
 with my usual prudence, I have gone on adding wager to 
 wager, until at last I find myself with a book of some eight 
 hundred pounds, — to lose which at a moment like this, I 
 need not say, would almost ruin all my plans. To be free 
 of the transaction, I this morning offered to pay half for- 
 feit, and they refused me. Yes, Hinton, they knew every 
 man of them the position I stood in. They saw that not 
 only my prospects but my honor were engaged ; that before 
 a week I should be far away, without any power to control, 
 without any means to observe them. They knew well that 
 thus circumstanced I must lose; and that if I lost, I must 
 sell my commission, and leave the army beggared in 
 character and in fortune." 
 
 "And now, my dear friend," said I, interrupting, "how 
 happens it that you bet with men of this stamp ? I under- 
 
A CONFIDENCE. 185 
 
 stood you it was a friendly match, got up at a dinner- 
 party." 
 
 "Even so, Jack. The dinner was in my own rooms, the 
 claret mine, -the men my friends. You may smile, but so 
 the world is pleased to call those with whom from day to 
 day we associate, with no other bond of union than the 
 similarity of a pursuit which has nothing more repre- 
 hensible in it than the character of the intimacies it engen- 
 ders. Yes, Hinton, these are my sporting-friends, sipping 
 my wine while they plot my wretchedness. Conviviality 
 with them is not the happy abandonment to good fellow- 
 ship and enjoyment, but the season of cold and studied cal- 
 culation, — the hour when, unexcited themselves, they trade 
 upon the unguarded and unwary feelings of others. They 
 know how imperative is the code of honor as regards a bet, 
 and they make a virtue to themselves in the unflinching 
 firmness of their exaction, as a cruel judge would seek ap- 
 plause for the stern justice with which he condemns a 
 felon. It is usual, however, to accept half forfeit in cir- 
 cumstances like these of mine : the condition did not 
 happen to be inserted, and they rejected my offer." 
 
 " Is this possible," said I, " and that these men call them- 
 selves your friends ? " 
 
 " Yes, Jack ; a betting-book is like Shylock's bond, and 
 the holder of one pretty much about as merciful as the 
 worthy Israelite. But come, come ! it is but boyish weak- 
 ness in one like me to complain of these things ; nor, 
 indeed, would I speak of them noAV, but with the hope that 
 my words may prove a warning to you, while they serve to 
 explain the service I look for from you, and give you some 
 insight into the character of those with whom you '11 have 
 to deal." 
 
 " Only tell me," said I, " only explain, my dear O'Grady, 
 what I can do, and how : \z is needless for me to say I 'm 
 ready." 
 
 " I thought as much : now listen to me. When I made 
 this unlucky match it was, as I have said, over a dinner-party, 
 when, excited by wine and carried away by the enthusiasm 
 
186 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 of the moment, I made a proposition which with a calmer 
 head I should never have ventured. For a second or two 
 it was not accepted; and Mr. Burke, of whom you've heard 
 me speak, called out from the end of the table, ' A sporting 
 offer, by Jove ! and I '11 ride for you myself.' This I knew 
 was to give me one of the first horsemen in Ireland ; so, 
 while filling my glass, and, nodding to him, accepted his 
 offer, I cried out, ' Two to one against any horse named at 
 this moment ! ' The words were not spoken when I was 
 taken up, at both sides of the table ; and as I leaned across 
 to borrow a pencil from a friend, I saw that a smile was 
 curling every lip, and that Burke himself endeavored with 
 his wine-glass to conceal the expression of his face. I 
 needed no stronger proof that the whole match had been a 
 preconcerted scheme between the parties, and that I had 
 fallen into a snare laid purposely to entrap me. It was too 
 late, however, to retract; I booked my bets, drank my 
 wine, congeed my friends, went to bed, and woke the next 
 morning to feel myself a dupe. 
 
 " But, come, Jack ; at this rate, I shall never have done. 
 The match was booked, the ground chosen, Mr. Burke to be 
 my jockey, and in fact everything arranged, when what 
 was my surprise, my indignation, to find that the horse I 
 destined for the race (at that time in possession of a 
 friend) was bought up for five hundred and sent off to 
 England ! This disclosed to me how completely I was en- 
 trapped. Nothing remained for me then but to purchase 
 one which offered at the moment ; and this one, I 've told 
 you already, has the pleasant reputation of being the most 
 wicked devil and the hardest to ride in the whole west : in 
 fact, except Burke himself, nobody would mount him on a 
 road, and as to crossing a country with him, even he, they 
 say, has no fancy for it. In any case, he made it the 
 ground of a demand which I could not refuse, — that in the 
 event of my winning he was to claim a third of the stakes. 
 At length the horse is put in training, improves every hour. 
 and matters seem to be taking a favorable turn. In the 
 midst of this, however, the report reaches me, as you heard 
 
A CONFIDENCE. 187 
 
 yourself yesterday morning, that Burke will not ride. 
 However I affected to discredit it at the moment, I had 
 great difficulty to preserve the appearance of calm. This 
 morning settles the question by this letter : " — 
 
 Red House, Wednesday Morning. 
 Dear Sir, — A friendly hint has just reached me that I am to be 
 arrested on the morning of the Loughrea race for a trifle of a hundred 
 and eighteen pounds and some odd shillings. If it suits your con- 
 venience to pay the money, or enter into bail for the amount, I '11 be 
 very happy to ride your horse ; for although I don't care for a double 
 ditch, I 've no fancy to take the wall of the county jail, even on the 
 back of as good a horse as Moddiridderoo. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 Ulick Burke. 
 
 " Well," said I, as after some difficulty I spelled through 
 this ill-written and dirty epistle, " and what do you mean 
 to do here ? " 
 
 " If you ask me," said Phil, " what I 'd like to do, I tell 
 you fairly it would be to horsewhip my friend Mr. Burke 
 as a preliminary, pay the stakes, withdraw my horse, and 
 cut the whole concern ; but my present position is, unhap- 
 pily, opposed to each of these steps. In the first place, a 
 rencontre with Burke would do me infinite disservice at the 
 Horse Guards; and as to the payment of eight hundred 
 pounds, I don't think I could raise the money without some 
 one would advance five hundred of it for a mortgage on 
 Corny Delany. But to be serious, Jack, — and, as time 
 passes, I must be serious, — I believe the best way on this 
 occasion is to give Burke the money (for as to the bill, that 's 
 an invention) ; yet as I must start to-night for England, 
 and the affair will require some management, I must put 
 the whole matter into your hands, with full instructions 
 how to act." 
 
 " I am quite ready and willing," said I ; " only give me 
 the carte du pays." 
 
 " Well, then, my boy, you '11 go down to Loughrea for me 
 the day before the race, establish yourself as quietly as you 
 can in the hotel, and, as the riders must be named on the 
 
188 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 day before the running, contrive to see Mr. Burke, and in- 
 form him that his demand will be complied with. Have no 
 delicacy with him, — it is a mere money question ; and al- 
 though by the courtesy of the turf he is a gentleman, yet 
 there is no occasion to treat him with more of ceremony 
 than is due to yourself in your negotiation. This letter 
 contains the sum he mentions. In addition to that, I have 
 enclosed a bank cheque for whatever you like to give him ; 
 only remember one thing, Hinton, — he must ride, and 1 
 must win." 
 
 All the calmness with which O'Grady had hitherto 
 spoken deserted him at this moment ; his face became 
 scarlet, his brow was bent, and his lip quivered with pas- 
 sion, while as he walked the room with hurried steps he 
 muttered between his teeth, — 
 
 " Yes, though it cost my last shilling, I '11 win the race ! 
 They thought to ruin me ; the scheme was deeply laid and 
 well planned too, but they shall fail. No, Hinton," resumed 
 he in a louder tone, — " no, Hinton ; believe me, poor man 
 that I am, this is not with me a question of so many pounds ; 
 it is the wounded ainour projwe of a man who all through 
 his life held out the right hand of fellowship to those very 
 men who now conspire to be his ruin. And such, my dear 
 boy, such, for the most part, are the dealings of the turf. 
 I do not mean to say that men of high honor and unblem- 
 ished integrity are not foremost in the encouragement of a 
 sport which from its bold and manly character is essentially 
 an English one ; but this I would assert, that probity, truth, 
 and honor are the gifts of but a very small number of those 
 who make a traffic of the turf, and are what the world calls 
 'racing men.' And oh how very hard the struggle, how nice 
 the difficulty, of him who makes these men his daily com- 
 panions, to avoid the many artifices which the etiquette of 
 the race-course permits, but which the feelings of a gentle- 
 man would reject as unfair and unworthy ! How contami- 
 nating that laxity of principle that admits of every strata- 
 gem, every trick, as legitmate, with the sole proviso that it 
 be successful ! And what a position is it that admits of 
 
A CONFIDENCE. 189 
 
 no alternative save being the dupe or the black-leg ! How 
 hard for the young fellow entering upon life with all the 
 ardor, all the unsuspecting freshness of youth about him, to 
 stop short at one without passing on to the other stage ! 
 How difficult, with offended pride and wounded self-love, 
 to find himself the mere tool of sharpers ! How very diffi- 
 cult to check the indignant spirit that whispers retaliation 
 by the very arts by which he has been cheated ! Is not 
 such a trial as this too much for any boy of twenty ; and 
 is it not to be feared, that, in the estimation he sees those 
 held in whose blackguardism is their pre-eminence, a per- 
 verted ambition to be what is called a sharp fellow may sap 
 and undermine every honorable feeling of the heart, break 
 down the barriers of rigid truth and scrupulous fidelity, 
 teaching him to exult at what formerly he had blushed, 
 and to recognize no folly so contemptible as that of him 
 who believes the word of another ? Such a career as 
 this has many a one pursued, abandoning bit by bit 
 every grace, every virtue, and every charm of his char- 
 acter, that, at the end, he should come forth a 'sporting 
 gentleman ! ' " 
 
 He paused for a few seconds, and then, turning towards 
 me, added in a voice tremulous from emotion, " And yet, my 
 boy, to men like this I would now expose you ! No, no, 
 Jack ; I '11 not do it. I care not what turn the thing may 
 take ; I '11 not embitter my life with this reflection." He 
 seized the letter, and crushing it in his hand, walked towards 
 the window. 
 
 " Come, come, O'Grady," said I, " this is not fair ; you 
 first draw a strong picture of these men, and then you 
 deem me weak enough to fall into their snares. That 
 would hardly say much for my judgment and good sense ; 
 besides, you have stimulated my curiosity, and I shall be 
 sadly disappointed if I 'm not to see them." 
 
 " Be it so, Jack," said he with a sigh. " I shall give you 
 a couple of letters to some friends of mine down there ; 
 and I know but one recompense you'll have for all the 
 trouble and annoyance of this business, — your pretty 
 
190 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 friend, Miss Bellew, is on a visit in the neighborhood, and 
 is certain to be at the race." 
 
 Had O'Grady looked at me while he spoke he would have 
 seen how deeply this intelligence affected me, while I my- 
 self could with difficulty restrain the increased interest I 
 now felt in all about the matter, questioning him on every 
 particular, inquiring into a hundred minute points, and in 
 fact displaying an ardor on the subject that nothing short 
 of my friend's pre-occupation could have failed in detecting 
 the source of. My mind now fixed on one object, I could 
 scarcely follow him in his directions as to travelling down, 
 secrecy, etc. 
 
 I heard something about the canal-boat, and some con- 
 fused impression was on my mind about a cross-road and a 
 jaunting-car ; but the prospect of meeting Louisa, the hope 
 of again being in her society, rendered me indifferent to 
 all else; and as I thrust the letters he gave me into my 
 coat pocket, and promised an implicit observance of all his 
 directions, I should have been sorely puzzled had he asked 
 me to repeat them. 
 
 "Now," continued O'Grady, at the end of about half-an- 
 hour's rapid speaking, " I believe I 've put you in posses- 
 sion of all the bearings of this case. You understand, I 
 hope, the kind of men you have to deal with, and I trust Mr. 
 Ulick Burke is thoroughly known to you by this time ? " 
 
 "Oh, perfectly," said I, half mechanically. 
 
 " Well, then, my boy, 1 believe I had better say good-by. 
 Something tells me we shall meet ere long ; meanwhile, 
 Jack, you have my best wishes." He paused for a moment 
 and turned away his head, evidently affected, then added, 
 " You '11 write to me soon, of course ; and as that old fool 
 Corny follows me in a week — " 
 
 " And is Corny going abroad ? " 
 
 " Ay, confound him ! like the old man in Sindbad, 
 there 's no getting him off one's shoulders. Besides, he has 
 a kind of superstition that he ought to close the eyes of 
 the last of the family ; and as he has frankly confessed to 
 me this morning he knows I am in that predicament, he 
 
A CONFIDENCE. 191 
 
 esteems it a point of duty to accompany me. Poor fellow ! 
 with all his faults I can't help feeling attached to him ; 
 and were I to leave him behind me, what would become of 
 him ? No, Jack ; I am fully sensible of all the incon- 
 venience, all the ridicule of this step, but, faith, I prefer 
 both to the embittering reflection I should have did I 
 desert him." 
 
 "Why does he remain after you, Phil? He'll never 
 find his way to London." 
 
 " Oh, trust him ! What with scolding, cursing, and abus- 
 ing every one he meets, he '11 attract notice enough on the 
 road never to be forgotten or left behind. But the fact is, 
 it is his own proposition ; and Corny has asked for a few 
 days' leave of absence, for the first time for seven-and- 
 twenty years ! " 
 
 " And what the deuce can that be for ? " 
 
 " You 'd never guess if you tried until to-morrow, — to 
 see his mother." 
 
 " Corny's mother ! Corny Delany's mother ! " 
 
 " Just so, — his mother. Ah, Hinton ! you still have 
 much to learn about us all here. And now, before we part, 
 let me instruct you on this point, — not that I pretend to 
 have a reason for it, nor do I know that there is any ; but 
 somehow I '11 venture to say that whenever you meet with 
 a little cross-grained, ill-conditioned, ill-thriven old fellow, 
 with a face as if carved in the knot of a crab-tree, the odds 
 are about fifteen to one that the little wretch has a mother 
 alive. Whether it is that the tenacity of life among such 
 people is greater, or whether Nature has any peculiar ob- 
 jects of her own in view in the matter, I can't say ; but 
 trust me for the fact. And now, I believe, I have run my- 
 self close to time ; so once more, Jack, good-by, and God 
 bless you!" 
 
 He hurried from the room as he spoke, but as the door 
 was closing I saw that his lip trembled and his cheek was 
 pale ; while I leaned against the window-shutter and looked 
 after him with a heavy and oppressed heart, for he was my 
 first friend in the world. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE CANAL-BOAT. 
 
 In obedience to O'Grady's directions, — of which, fortu- 
 nately for me, he left a memorandum in writing, — I 
 started from Portobello in the canal-boat on the afternoon 
 of the day after his departure. The day was dark and 
 lowering, with occasional showers of cold and sleety rain. 
 However, the casual glance I took of the gloomy cell, de- 
 nominated cabin, deterred me from seeking shelter there, 
 and, buttoned up in my great-coat and with my travelling- 
 cap drawn firmly over my eyes, I walked the deck for 
 several hours, my own thoughts affording me sufficient 
 occupation; and even had the opportunity presented it- 
 self, I should not have desired any other. On this score, 
 however, there was no temptation; and as I looked at 
 my fellow-passengers, there was nothing either in their 
 voice, air, or appearance to induce me to care for any 
 closer intimacy. 
 
 The majority of them were stout, plain-looking country 
 folk, with coats of brown or gray frieze, leather gaiters and 
 thick shoes, returning, as I could guess from some chance 
 expressions they dropped, from the Dublin market, whither 
 they had proceeded with certain droves of bullocks, wethers, 
 and hoggets, the qualities of which formed the staple of 
 conversation. There were also some lady passengers, — one 
 a rather good-looking woman, with a certain air of half gen- 
 tility about her, which enabled her at times to display to 
 her companion her profound contempt for the rest of the 
 company. This companion was a poor subdued-looking 
 girl of about eighteen or twenty years, who scarcely ven- 
 tured to raise her haggard eyes, and spoke with an accent 
 
THE CANAL-BOAT. 193 
 
 painful from agitation ; her depressed look and her humble 
 manner did not conceal, however, a certain air of composed 
 and quiet dignity, which spoke of happier days. A host of 
 ill-bred, noisy, and unmannerly children accompanied them ; 
 and I soon discovered that the mother was the wife of the 
 great shopkeeper in Loughrea, and her pale companion a 
 governess she had just procured in Dublin, to initiate the 
 promising offspring in the accomplished acquirements of 
 French, Italian, music, and painting. Their only acquaint- 
 ance on board seemed to be a jolly-looking man, who, 
 although intimate with every one, seemed somehow not 
 to suffer in the grand lady's esteem from the familiarities 
 he dispensed on all sides. He was a short, florid-looking 
 little fellow, with a round bullet head, the features of 
 which seemed at first sight so incongruous that it was 
 difficult to decide on their prevailing expression ; his large 
 gray eyes, which rolled and twinkled with fun, caught a 
 character of severity from his heavy overhanging eyebrows, 
 and there was a stern determination in his compressed lips 
 that every moment gave way to some burst of jocular good- 
 humor, as he accosted one or other of his friends. His 
 voice, however, was the most remarkable thing about him ; 
 for while at one moment he would declaim in the full round 
 tone of a person accustomed to speak in public, in the next 
 he would drop down into an easy and familiar accent, to 
 which the mellowness of his brogue imparted a raciness 
 quite peculiar. His dress was a suit of rusty black, with 
 leather breeches of the same color, and high boots. This 
 costume, which pronounced him a priest, might also, had I 
 known more of the country, have explained the secret of 
 that universal understanding he maintained with all on 
 board. He knew every one's business, whither they were 
 going, where they had been, what success had attended 
 them in the market, how much the black heifer brought, 
 what the pigs were sold for ; he asked why Tim did n't 
 come to his duties, and if Molly's child was well of the 
 measles ; he had a word too for the shopkeeper's wife, but 
 that was said in a whisper ; and then producing a copper 
 
 VOL. I. — 13 
 
194 JACK HLNTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 snuff-box, about the size of a saucer, he presented it to me 
 with a graceful bow, saying, — 
 
 " This is not the first time I have had the honor of being 
 your fellow-traveller, Captain. We came over from Liver- 
 pool together.'-" 
 
 I now remembered that this was the same priest whose 
 controversial powers had kept me awake for nearly half 
 the night, and whose convivial ones filled up the remainder. 
 I was delighted, however, to renew my acquaintance ; and 
 we soon cemented an intimacy, which ended in his propos- 
 ing that we should sit together at dinner, to which I at 
 once assented. 
 
 " Dacent people, dacent people, Captain ; but bastes, after 
 all, in the ways of the world, — none of the usage de society 
 as we used to say at St. Omer's. No, no; ferce natural, 
 devil a more. But here comes the dinner ; the owld story, 
 — leg of mutton and turnips, boiled chickens and ham, a 
 cod and potatoes ! By the Mass, they would boil one's 
 father if they had him on board," while he added in a 
 whisper, — " by rason they can't roast ! So now, will you 
 move down, if you please ? " 
 
 "After your reverence, if you'll permit. Arma cedant 
 togce." 
 
 " Thrue for you, my son, sacerdotes priores ; and though 
 I am only a priest — " 
 
 " More 's the pity," said I, interrupting. 
 
 "You're right," said he, with a slight pinch of my arm, 
 "whether you are joking or not." 
 
 The dinner Avas not a very appetizing one, nor indeed 
 the company over seductive, so that I disappeared with the 
 cloth, glad to find myself once more in the open air, with 
 the deck to myself; for my fellow-travellers had, one and 
 all, begun a very vigorous attack upon sundry jugs of hot 
 water and crucibles full of whiskey, the fumes of which, 
 added to the heat, the smoke, and other disagreeables, made 
 me right happy to escape. 
 
 As the evening wore late, the noise and uproar grew 
 louder and more vociferous, and had not frequent bursts 
 
THE CANAL-BOAT. 195 
 
 of laughter proclaimed the spirit of the conviviality, I 
 should have been tempted to believe the party were en- 
 gaged in deadly strife. Sometimes a single narrator would 
 seem to hold the company in attentive silence ; then a 
 general chorus of the whole would break in, with shouts 
 of merriment, knocking of knuckles on the table, stamping 
 of feet, and other signs of approbation and applause. As 
 this had now continued for sometime, and it was already 
 verging towards midnight, I began to grow impatient; for 
 as sleep stole over my eyelids I was desirous of some little 
 quiet, to indulge myself in a nap. Blessings on my inno- 
 cent delusion ! the gentlemen below stairs had as much 
 notion of swimming as sleeping. Of this, a rapid glance 
 through a little window at the extremity of the cabin soon 
 satisfied me. As well as the steamed and heated glass 
 would permit my seeing, the scene was a strange one. 
 
 About forty persons were seated around a narrow table, 
 so closely packed that any attitude but the bolt upright was 
 impracticable. There they were, of every age and sex; 
 some asleep, with Welsh wigs and red pocket-handkerchiefs 
 screening their heads from cold, and their ears as well as 
 might be from uproar ; some were endeavoring to read by 
 the light of mutton candles, with wicks like a light infantry 
 feather, with a nob at the head ; others with their heads 
 bent down together, were confidentially exchanging the 
 secrets of the last market ; while here and there were scat- 
 tered about little convivial knots of jolly souls, whose noisy 
 fun and loud laughter indicated but slight respect for their 
 drowsy neighbors. 
 
 The group, however, which attracted most of my attention 
 was one near the fire at the end. This consisted of his 
 reverence Father Tom, a stout, burly-looking old farmer 
 opposite him, the austere lady from Loughrea, and a little 
 dried-up, potted-herring of a man, who, with a light brown 
 coat and standing collar, sat up perpendicularly on his seat, 
 and looked about him with an eye as lively and an accent 
 as sharp as though it were only noon-day. This little per- 
 sonage, who came from that Irish Pennsylvania called 
 
196 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 Moate, was endeavoring to maintain a controversy with the 
 worthy priest, who, in addition to his polemics, was deep in 
 a game of spoiled five with the farmer, and carrying on be- 
 sides another species of warfare with his fair neighbor. 
 The diversity of all these occupations might possibly have 
 been overmuch for him, were it not for the aid of a 
 suspicious-looking little kettle that sat hissing and rocking 
 on the hob, with a look of pert satisfaction that convinced 
 me its contents were something stronger than water. 
 
 Perceiving a small space yet unoccupied in the party, I 
 made my way thither by the stair near it, and soon had 
 the satisfaction to find myself safely installed, without 
 attracting any other notice from the party than a proud 
 stare from the lady, as she removed a little farther from 
 beside the priest. 
 
 As to his reverence, far too deeply interested in his im- 
 mediate pursuits to pay any attention to me, he had quite 
 enough on his hands with his three antagonists, none of 
 whom did he ever for a moment permit to edge in even a 
 word. Conducting his varied warfare with the skill of a 
 general, who made the artillery, the infantry, and the cav- 
 airy of mutual aid and assistance to one another, he con- 
 tinued to keep the church, the courtship, and the cards all 
 moving together in a manner perfectly miraculous, — the 
 vehemence with which he thumped down a trump upon the 
 table serving as a point in his argumeut, while the energy 
 of the action permitted a squeeze of the lady's hand with 
 the other. 
 
 " There ye go, six of spades ! Play a spade, av ye have 
 one, Mr. Larkins — For a set of shrivelled up craytures, 
 with nothing but thee and thou for a creed, to deny the 
 real owld ancient faith that Saint Peter and — The ace of 
 diamonds ! that tickled you under the short ribs — Not 
 you, Mrs. Carney ; for a sore time you have of it, and an 
 angel of a woman ye are ; and the husband that could be 
 cruel to you, and take — The odd trick out of you, Mr. 
 Larkins — No, no, I deny it ! nego in omnibus, Domine. 
 What does Origen say ? The rock, says he, is Peter ; and 
 
THE CANAL-BOAT. 197 
 
 if you translate the passage without — Another kettle- 
 full, if you please. I go for the ten, Misther Larkins. 
 Trumps ! another — another — hurroo ! By the tower of 
 Clonmacnoise, I'll beggar the bank to-night. Malhereux 
 au jeux, heureux en amour, as we used to say formerly. 
 God forgive us ! " 
 
 Whether it was the French or the look that accompanied 
 it, I cannot aver, but certainly the lady blushed and looked 
 down. In vain did the poor Quaker essay a word of expla- 
 nation ; in vain did Mrs. Carney herself try to escape from 
 the awkward inferences some of his allusions seemed to 
 lead to. Even the old farmer saw his tricks confiscated, 
 and his games estreated, without a chance of recovery ; for, 
 like Cceur de Lion with his iron mace, the good priest laid 
 about him, smashing, slaying, and upsetting all before him, 
 and never giving his adversaries a moment to recover from 
 one blow ere he dealt another at their heads. 
 
 " To be sure, Mrs. Carney, and why not ? It 's as mild 
 as mother's milk. Come, owld square-toes, take a thimble- 
 full of it, and maybe it '11 lead you to a better understand- 
 ing. I play the five fingers, Mr. Larkins. There goes 
 Jack, my jewel ! Play to that, — the trick is mine. Don't 
 be laughing ; I've a bit of fat in the heel of my fist for 
 you yet. There now, what are you looking at ? Don't you 
 see the cards ? Troth, you 're as bad as the Quaker ; you 
 won't believe your own eyes — And ye see, ma'am " (here 
 he whispered something in the lady's ear for a few seconds, 
 adding, as he concluded), "and thim, Mrs. Carney, thim 's 
 the rights of the Church — Friends, indeed ! ye call your- 
 selves friends ! Faix, ye 're the least social friends I ever 
 forgathered with, even if the bare look of you was n't an 
 antidote to all kinds of amusements — Cut, Mr. Lar- 
 kins — And its purgatory ye don't like ? Ye know what 
 Father O'Leary said, ' Some of ye may go farther and fare 
 worse,' not to speak of what a place heaven would be, with 
 the likes of you in it ! — Av it was Mrs. Carney, indeed. 
 Yes, Mary, your own beautiful self, that 's fit to be an 
 angel any day, and discoorse with angels — Howld, av you 
 
198 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 please ; I 've a club for that — Don't you see what non- 
 sense you 're talking, — the little kittle is laughing at 
 you — What 's that you 're mumbling about my time of 
 life ? Show me the man that '11 carry twelve tumblers 
 with me ; show me the man that '11 cross a country ; show 
 me the man that '11 — Never mind, Mrs. Carney — Time 
 of life, indeed ! Faix, I '11 give you a song." 
 
 With these words, the priest pushed the cards aside, re- 
 plenished the glasses, and began the following melody to 
 an air much resembling " Sir Eoger de Coverley : " — 
 
 To morrow I '11 just be three-score; 
 
 May never worse fortune betide me 
 Than to have a hot tumbler before, 
 
 And a beautiful crayture beside me! 
 If this world 's a stage, as they say, 
 
 And that men are the actors, I 'm certain, 
 In the after-piece I 'd like to play, 
 
 And be there at the fall of the curtain. 
 Whack ! fol lol. 
 
 " No, no, Mrs. Carney, I '11 take the vestment on it, noth- 
 ing of the kind ; the allusion is most discreet ; but there is 
 
 more." 
 
 For the pleasures of youth are a flam ; 
 
 To try them again, pray excuse me ; 
 I 'd rather be priest that I am, 
 
 With the rites of the Church to amuse me. 
 Sure, there 's nought like a jolly old age, 
 
 And the patriarchs knew this, it said is ; 
 For though they looked sober and sage, 
 
 Faith, they had their own fun with the ladies ! 
 Whack! fol lol. 
 
 "Come, now, Captain, you are a man that knows his 
 humanities ; I '11 be judged by you." 
 
 " I protest," said I, laughingly. " I 'd rather pronounce 
 on your punch than your polemics." 
 
 " No, would you though ? " said the priest, with a joyous 
 twinkle in his eye that showed which controversy had more 
 attraction for him. " Faix, then, you shall have a fair trial. 
 Reach me that glass, Mr. Larkins ; and if it is n't sweet 
 
THE CANAL-BOAT. 199 
 
 enough, maybe Mrs. Carney would stir it for you with her 
 finger. There, now, we '11 be comfortable and social, and 
 have no more bother about creeds nor councils ; for although 
 it is only child's play for me to demolish a hundred like 
 you, I 'd rather be merciful, and leave you, like Alexander 
 the coppersmith, to get the reward of your works." 
 
 Whether it was the polite attention bestowed upon me 
 by his reverence, or that the magical word " Captain " — so 
 generic for all things military in Ireland — had its effect, 
 or that any purely personal reasons were the cause, I can- 
 not aver ; but certainly Mrs. Carney's manner became won- 
 derfully softened. She smiled at me slyly when the priest 
 was n't looking, and vouchsafed an inquiry as to whether I 
 had ever served in the Roscommon yeomanry. 
 
 The kettle once more sent forth its fragrant steam, the 
 glasses were filled, the vanquished Quaker had extinguished 
 both himself and his argument beneath his broad beaver ; 
 and Father Tom, with a glance of pleasure at the party, 
 pronounced our arrangements perfect, and suggested a round 
 game by way of passing the time. 
 
 "We are now," said he, "on the long level for eighteen 
 miles ; there 's neither a lock nor a town to disturb us. 
 Give Mrs. Carney the cards." 
 
 The proposition was met with hearty approval ; and thus 
 did I, Lieutenant Hinton of the Grenadier Guards, extra 
 aide-de-camp to the viceroy, discover myself at four in the 
 morning engaged at a game of loo, whose pecuniary limits 
 were fourpence, but whose boundaries as to joke and broad 
 humor were wide as the great Atlantic. Day broke, and 
 I found myself richer by some tumblers of the very strong- 
 est whiskey punch, a confounded headache, and two-and- 
 eightpence in bad copper jingling in my pocket. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 SHANNON HARBOR. 
 
 Little does he know who voyages in a canal-boat, dragged 
 along some three miles and a half per hour ignominiously 
 at the tails of two ambling hackneys, what pride, pomp, and 
 circumstance await him at the first town he enters. Seated 
 on the deck, watching with a Dutchman's apathy the sedgy 
 banks, whose tall naggers bow their heads beneath the ripple 
 that eddies from the bow, — now lifting his eyes from earth 
 to sky, with nothing to interest, nothing to attract him, 
 turning from the gaze of the long dreary tract of bog and 
 moorland to look upon his fellow-travellers, whose features 
 are perhaps neither more striking nor more pleasing, — the 
 monotonous jog of the postillion before, the impassive 
 placidity of the helmsman behind; the lazy smoke that 
 seems to lack energy to issue from the little chimney ; the 
 brown and leaden look of all around, — have something 
 dreamy and sleep-compelling, almost impossible to resist. 
 And already, as the voyager droops his head, and lets fall 
 his eyelids, a confused and misty sense of some everlasting 
 journey, toilsome, tedious, and slow, creeps over his be- 
 sotted faculties ; when suddenly the loud bray of the horn 
 breaks upon his ears, the sound is re-echoed from a dis- 
 tance, the far-off tinkle of a bell is borne along the water, 
 and he sees before him, as if conjured up by some magi- 
 cian's wand, the roofs and chimneys of a little village. 
 Meanwhile, the excitement about him increases ; the deck 
 is lumbered with hampers and boxes and parcels, the note 
 of departure to many a cloaked and frieze-coated passenger 
 has rung, — for strange as it may seem, in that little assem- 
 blage of mud hovels, with their dung-hills and their duck- 
 
SHANNON HARBOR. 201 
 
 % pools around them, with its one slated house and its square 
 chapel, there are people who live there ; and stranger still, 
 some of those who have left it, and seen other places, are 
 going back "there again, to drag on life as before. But the 
 plot is thickening ; the large brass bell at the stern of the 
 boat is thundering away with its clanging sound, the banks 
 are crowded with people'; and as if to favor the melo- 
 dramatic magic of the scene, the track-rope is cast off, the 
 weary posters trot away towards their stable, and the 
 stately barge floats on to its destined haven without the aid 
 of any visible influence. He who watches the look of 
 proud, important bearing that beams upon "the captain's" 
 face at a moment like this, may philosophize upon the 
 charms of that power which man wields above his fellow- 
 men. Such, at least, were some of my reflections ; and I 
 could not help muttering to myself, if a man like this feels 
 pride of station, what a glorious service must be the navy ! 
 
 Watching with interest the nautical skill with which, 
 having fastened a rope to the stern, the boat was swung 
 round with her head in the direction from whence she 
 came, intimating thereby the monotonous character of her 
 avogations, I did not perceive that one by one the passen- 
 gers were taking their departure. 
 
 "Good-by, Captain," cried Father Tom, as he extended 
 his ample hand to me ; " we '11 meet again in Loughrea. 
 I'm going on Mrs. Carney's car, or I'd be delighted to join 
 you in a conveyance ; but you '11 easily get one at the 
 hotel." 
 
 I had barely time to thank the good father for his kind 
 advice, when I perceived him adjusting various duodecimo 
 Carneys in the well of the car, and then having carefully 
 included himself in the frieze-coat that wrapped Mrs. Carney, 
 he gave the word to drive on. 
 
 As the day following was the time appointed for naming 
 the horses and the riders, I had no reason for haste. 
 Loughrea, from what I had heard, was a commonplace 
 country town, in which, as in all similar places, every new- 
 comer was canvassed with a prying and searching curiosity. 
 
202 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 I resolved, therefore, to stop where I was ; not, indeed, that 
 the scenery possessed any attractions. A prospect more 
 bleak, more desolate, and more barren it would be impos- 
 sible to conceive, — a wide river with low and reedy banks, 
 moving sluggishly on its yellow current, between broad 
 tracts of bog or callow meadow-land ; no trace of cultiva- 
 tion, not even a tree, was to be seen. 
 
 Such is Shannon Harbor. No matter, thought I, the 
 hotel at least looks well. This consolatory reflection of 
 mine was elicited by the prospect of a large stone-building 
 of some stories high, whose granite portico and wide steps 
 stood in strange contrast to the miserable mud-hovels that 
 flanked it on either side. It was a strange thought to have 
 placed such a building in such a situation. I dismissed the 
 ungrateful notion, as I remembered my own position, and 
 how happy I felt to accept its hospitality. 
 
 A solitary jaunting-car stood on the canal side, — the 
 poorest specimen of its class I had ever seen. The car — a 
 few boards cobbled up by some country carpenter — seemed 
 to threaten disunion even with the coughing of the wretched 
 beast that wheezed between its shafts ; while the driver, an 
 emaciated creature of any age from sixteen to sixty, sat 
 shivering upon the seat, striking from time to time with 
 his whip at the flies that played about the animal's ears, as 
 though anticipating their prey. 
 
 " Banagher, yer honor ? Loughrea, sir ? Eowl ye over 
 in an hour and a half. Is it Portumna, sir ? " 
 
 " No, my good friend," replied I, " I stop at the hotel." 
 
 Had I proposed to take a sail down the Shannon on my 
 portmanteau, I don't think the astonishment could have 
 been greater. The bystanders, and they were numerous 
 enough by this time, looked from one to the other with ex- 
 pressions of mingled surprise and dread ; and indeed had I, 
 like some sturdy knight-errant of old, announced my deter- 
 mination to pass the night in a haunted chamber, more 
 unequivocal evidences of their admiration and fear could 
 not have been evoked. 
 
 " In the hotel ! " said one. 
 
SHANNON HARBOR. 203 
 
 " He is going to stop at the hotel ! " cried another. 
 
 "Blessed hour!" said a third; "wonders will never 
 cease ! " 
 
 Short as 'had been my residence in Ireland, it had at 
 least taught me one lesson, — never to be surprised at any- 
 thing I met with. So many views of life peculiar to the 
 land met me at every turn, so many strange prejudices, so 
 many singular notions, that were I to apply my previous 
 knowledge of the world, such as it was, to my guidance 
 here, I should be like a man endeavoring to sound the 
 depths of the sea with an instrument intended to ascertain 
 the distance of a star. Leaving, therefore, to time the ex- 
 planation of the mysterious astonishment around me, I gath- 
 ered together my luggage, and left the boat. 
 
 The first impressions of a traveller are not uncommonly 
 his best. The finer and more distinctive features of a land 
 require deep study and long acquaintance, but the broader 
 traits of nationality are caught in an instant, or not caught 
 at all. Familiarity with destroys them, and it is only at 
 first blush that we learn to appreciate them with force. 
 Who that has landed at Calais, at Eotterdam, or at Leg- 
 horn, has not felt this? The Flemish peasant with her 
 long-eared cap and heavy sabots, the dark Italian basking 
 his swarthy features in the sun, are striking objects when 
 we first look on them ; but days and weeks roll on, the 
 wider characteristics of human nature swallow up the 
 smaller and more narrow features of nationality, and in 
 a short time we forget that the things which have sur- 
 prised us at first are not what we have been used to from 
 our infancy. 
 
 Gifted with but slender powers of observation, such as 
 they were, this was to me always a moment of their exer- 
 cise. "How often in the rural districts of my own country 
 had the air of cheery comfort and healthy contentment 
 spoken to my heart; how frequently, in the manufactur- 
 ing ones, had the din of hammers, the black smoke, or the 
 lurid flame of furnaces turned my thoughts to those great 
 sources of our national wealth, and made me look on every 
 
204 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 dark and swarthy face that passed as on one who minis- 
 tered to his country's weal ! But now I was to view a new 
 and very different scene. Scarcely had I put foot on shore 
 when the whole population of the village thronged around 
 rne. What are these, thought I ? What art do they prac- 
 tice ; what trade do they profess ? Alas ! their wan looks, 
 their tattered garments, their outstretched hands and im- 
 ploring voices gave the answer, — they were all beggars ! 
 It was not as if the old, the decrepit, the sickly, or the feeble 
 had fallen on the charity of their fellow-men in their hour 
 of need; but here were all — all, — the old man and the in- 
 fant, the husband and the wife, the aged grandfather and 
 the tottering grandchild, the white locks of youth, the 
 whiter hairs of age, pale, pallid, and sickly, — trembling be- 
 tween starvation and suspense, watching with the hectic 
 eye of fever every gesture of him on whom their momen- 
 tary hope was fixed ; canvassing, in muttered tones, every 
 step of his proceeding, and hazarding a doubt upon its 
 bearing on their own fate. 
 
 " Oh, the heavens be your bed, noble gentleman ! look at 
 me ! The Lord reward you for the little sixpence that 
 you have in your fingers there ! I 'm the mother of ten 
 of them." 
 
 " Billy Cronin, yer honor ; I 'm dark since I was nine 
 years old." 
 
 " I 'm the ouldest man in the town-land," said an old 
 fellow with a white beard, and a blanket strapped round 
 him. 
 
 While bursting through the crowd came a strange odd- 
 looking figure, in a huntsman's coat and cap, but both so 
 patched and tattered it was difficult to detect their color. 
 " Here 's Joe, your honor," cried he, putting his hand to his 
 mouth at the same moment. " Tally ho ! ye ho ! ye ho ! " 
 he shouted, with a mellow cadence I never heard surpassed. 
 " Yow ! yow ! yow ! " he cried, imitating the barking of 
 dogs, and then uttering a long low wail, like the bay of a 
 hound, he shouted out, " Hark away ! hark away ! " and at 
 the same moment pranced into the thickest of the crowd, 
 

OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
SHANNON HARBOR. 205 
 
 upsetting men, women, and children as he went, — the curses 
 of some, the cries of others, and the laughter of nearly all 
 ringing through the motley mass, making their misery look 
 still more frightful. 
 
 Throwing what silver I had about me amongst them, I 
 made my way towards the hotel, — not alone, however, but 
 heading a procession of my ragged friends, who with loud 
 praises of my liberality testified their gratitude by bearing 
 me company. Arrived at the porch, I took my luggage 
 from the carrier, and entered the house. Unlike any other 
 hotel I had ever seen, there was neither stir nor bustle, — 
 no burly landlord, no buxom landlady, no dapper waiter with 
 napkin on his arm, no pert-looking chambermaid with a 
 bed-room candlestick. A large hall, dirty and unfurnished, 
 led into a kind of bar, upon whose unpainted shelves a few 
 straggling bottles were ranged together, with some pewter 
 measures and tobacco pipes ; while the walls were covered 
 with placards, setting forth the regulations for the Grand 
 Canal Hotel, with a list, copious and abundant, of all the 
 good things to be found therein, with the prices annexed, 
 and a pressing entreaty to the traveller, should he not feel 
 satisfied with his reception, to mention it in a " book kept 
 for that purpose by the landlord." I cast my eye along the 
 bill of fare so ostentatiously put forth; I read of rump- 
 steaks and roast fowls, of red rounds and sirloins, and I 
 turned from the spot resolved to explore farther. The room 
 opposite was large and spacious, and probably destined for 
 the coffee-room, but it also was empty ; it had neither chair 
 nor table, and save a pictorial representation of a canal-boat 
 drawn by some native artist with a burnt stick upon the 
 wall, it had no decoration. Having amused myself with 
 the " Lady Caher," such was the vessel called, I again set 
 forth on my voyage of discovery, and bent my steps towards 
 the kitchen. Alas ! my success was no better there. The 
 goodly grate, before which should have stood some of that 
 luscious fare of which I had been reading, was cold and de- 
 serted ; in one corner, it was true, three sods of earth, scarce 
 lighted, supported an antiquated kettle, whose twisted spout 
 
206 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 was turned up with a misanthropic curl at the misery of its 
 existence. I ascended the stairs, my footsteps echoiug along 
 the silent corridor ; but still no trace of human habitant 
 could I see, and I began to believe that even the landlord 
 had departed with the larder. 
 
 At this moment the low murmur of voices caught my ear. 
 I listened, and could distinctly catch the sound of persons 
 talking together at the end of the corridor. Following 
 along this, I came to a door, at which having knocked 
 twice with my knuckles I waited for the invitation to 
 enter. Either indisposed to admit me, or not having 
 heard my summons, they did not reply; so turning the 
 handle gently, I opened the door, and entered the room 
 unobserved. For some minutes I profited but little by 
 this step: the apartment, a small one, was literally full 
 of smoke, and it was only when I had wiped the tears from 
 my eyes three times that I at length began to recognize the 
 objects before me. 
 
 Seated upon two low stools, beside a miserable fire of 
 green wood that smoked, not blazed, upon the hearth, were 
 a man and a woman. Between them a small and rickety 
 table supported a tea equipage of the humblest description, 
 and a plate of fish whose odor pronounced them red her- 
 rings. Of the man I could see but little, as his back was 
 turned toward me; but had it been otherwise, I could 
 scarcely have withdrawn my looks from the figure of his 
 companion. Never had my eyes fallen on an object so 
 strange and so unearthly. She was an old woman, so old, 
 indeed, as to have numbered nearly a hundred years ; her 
 head uncovered by cap or quoif displayed a mass of white 
 hair, that hung down her back and shoulders, and even 
 partly across her face, not sufficiently however to conceal 
 two dark orbits, within which her dimmed eyes faintly 
 glimmered ; her nose was thin and pointed and projecting 
 to the very mouth, which, drawn backwards at the angles 
 by the tense muscles, wore an expression of hideous laugh- 
 ter. Over her coarse dress of some country stuff she wore, 
 for warmth, the cast-off coat of a soldier, giving to her un- 
 
SHANNON HARBOR. 207 
 
 couth figure the semblance of an aged baboon at a village- 
 show. Her voice, broken with coughing, was a low feeble 
 treble, that seemed to issue from passages where lingering 
 life had" left scarce a trace of vitality ; and yet she talked 
 on, without ceasing, and moved her skinny fingers among 
 the tea-cups and knives upon the table, with a fidgety rest- 
 lessness, as though in search of something. 
 
 " There, acushla, don't smoke ; don't now ! Sure it is the 
 ruin of your complexion. I never see boys take to tobacco 
 this way when I was young." 
 
 " Whisht, Mother, and don't be bothering me ! " was the 
 cranky reply, given in a voice which, strange to say, was 
 not quite unknown to me. 
 
 "Ay, ay," said the old crone; "always the same, — 
 never mindin' a word I say ; and maybe in a few years I 
 won't be to the fore to look after you and watch you." 
 
 Here the painful thought of leaving a world so full of its 
 seductions and sweets seemed too much for her feelings, 
 and she began to cry. Her companion, however, appeared 
 but little affected, but puffed away his pipe at his ease, 
 waiting with patience till the paroxysm was past. 
 
 "There, now," said the old lady, brightening up, "take 
 away the tay-things, and you may go and take a run on 
 the common ; but mind you don't be pelting Jack Moore's 
 goose ; and take care of Bryan's sow, she is as wicked as the 
 divil now that she has boneens after her. D 'ye hear me, 
 darlin,' or is it sick you are? Och, wirra! wirra! What's 
 the matter with you, Corny mabouchal ? " 
 
 " Corny ! " exclaimed I, forgetful of my incognito. 
 
 "Ay, Corny! nayther more nor less than Corny himself," 
 said that redoubted personage, as rising to his legs he de- 
 posited his pipe upon the table, thrust his hands into his 
 pockets, and seemed prepared to give battle. 
 
 " Oh, Corny," said I, " I am delighted to find you here. 
 Perhaps you can assist me. I thought this was a hotel." 
 
 " And why would n't you think it a hotel ? Has n't it a 
 bar and a coffee-room ? Is n't the regulations of the house 
 printed, and stuck up on all the walls ? Ay, that 's what 
 
208 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 the directors did, — put the price on everything, as if one 
 was going to cheat the people. And signs on it, look at 
 the place now ! Ugh ! the Haythins ! the Turks ! " 
 
 "Yes, indeed, Corny, look at the place now!" glad to have 
 an opportunity to chime in with iny friend's opinions. 
 
 "Well, and look at it," replied he, bristling up; "and 
 what have you to say agin it ? Is n't it the Grand Canal 
 Hotel ? " 
 
 "Yes; but," said I, conciliatingly, "a hotel ought at least 
 to have a landlord, or a landlady." 
 
 "And what do you call my mother there?" said he, with 
 indignant energy. 
 
 "Don't bate Corny, sir! don't strike the child!" screamed 
 the old woman, in an accent of heart-rending terror. "Sure, 
 he does n't know what he is saying." 
 
 " He is telling me it is n't the Grand Canal Hotel, Mother ! " 
 shouted Corny in the old lady's ears, while at the same mo- 
 ment he burst into a fit of most discordant laughter. By 
 some strange sympathy the old woman joined in; and I 
 myself, unable to resist the ludicrous effect of a scene which 
 still had touched my feelings, gave way also, and thus we 
 all three laughed on for several minutes. 
 
 Suddenly recovering himself in the midst of his cachin- 
 nations, Corny turned briskly round, fixed his fiery eyes 
 upon me, and said, — 
 
 " And did you come all the way from town to laugh at 
 my mother and me ? " 
 
 I hastened to exonerate myself from such a charge, and 
 in a few words informed him of the object of my journey, 
 whither I was going, and under what painful delusion I 
 labored in supposing the internal arrangements of the 
 Grand Canal Hotel bore any relation to its imposing 
 exterior. 
 
 " I thought I could have dined here." 
 " No, you can't," was the reply, " av ye 're not fond of 
 herrins." 
 
 " And had a bed too." 
 
 " Nor that either, av ye don't like straw." 
 
SHANNON HARBOR. 209 
 
 "And has your mother nothing better than that? " said 
 I, pointing to the miserable plate of fish. 
 
 " Whisht, I tell you, and don't be putting the like in her 
 head ; sometimes she hears as well as you or me." Here 
 he dropped his voice to a whisper : " Herrins is so cheap 
 that we always make her believe it 's Lent ; this is nine 
 years now she's fasting." Here a fit of laughing at the 
 success of this innocent ruse again broke from Corny, in 
 which, as before, his mother joined. 
 
 " Then what am I to do," asked I, " if I can get nothing 
 to eat here ? Is there no other house in the village ? " 
 
 " No, devil a one." 
 
 " How far is it to Lough rea ? " 
 
 " Fourteen miles and a bit." 
 
 " I can get a car, I suppose ? " 
 
 " Ay, if Mary Doolan's boy is not gone back." 
 
 The old woman, whose eyes were impatiently fixed upon 
 me during this colloquy, but who heard not a word of what 
 was going forward, now broke in : — 
 
 " Why does n't he pay the bill and go away ? Devil a 
 farthing I '11 take off it. Sure, av ye were a raal gentleman 
 ye 'd be givin' a fippenny-bit to the gossoon there, that 
 sarved you. Never mind, Corny dear ; I '11 buy a bag of 
 marbles for you at Banagher." 
 
 Fearful of once more giving way to unseasonable mirth I 
 rushed from the room and hurried downstairs ; the crowd 
 that had so lately accompanied me was now scattered, each 
 to his several home. The only one who lingered near the 
 door was the poor idiot (for such he was) that wore the 
 huntsman's dress. 
 
 " Is the Loughrea car gone, Joe ? " said I, for I remem- 
 bered his name. 
 
 " She is, yer honor, she 's away." 
 
 "Is there any means of getting over to-night ? " 
 
 " Barrin' walkin', there 's none." 
 
 " Ay ; but," said I, " were I even disposed for that, I 
 have got my luggage." 
 
 " Is it heavy ? " said Joe. 
 
 VOL. I. — u 
 
210 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " This portmanteau and the carpet-bag you see there." 
 
 " I '11 carry them," was the brief reply. 
 
 " You '11 not be able, my poor fellow," said I. 
 
 " Ay, and you on the top of them." 
 
 " You don't know how heavy I am," said I, laughingly. 
 
 " Be gorra, I wish you was heavier." 
 
 " And why so, Joe ? " 
 
 " Because one that was so good to the poor is worth his 
 weight in goold any day." 
 
 I do not pretend to say whether it was the flattery, or 
 the promise these words gave me of an agreeable companion 
 en route ; but, certain it is, I at once closed with his pro- 
 posal, and with a ceremonious bow to the Grand Canal 
 Hotel, took my departure, and set out for Loughrea. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 LOUGHREA. 
 
 With the innate courtesy of his country, my humble 
 companion endeavored to lighten the road by song and 
 story. There was not a blackened gable, not a ruined 
 tower, not even a well we passed, without its legend. The 
 very mountains themselves, that reared their mighty peaks 
 towards the clouds, had their tale of superstitious horror ; 
 and though these stories were simple in themselves, there 
 was something in the association of the scene, something in 
 the warm fervor of his enthusiasm that touched and thrilled 
 my heart. 
 
 Like a lamp, whose fitful glare flickers through the 
 gloomy vault of some rocky cavern, too feeble to illumine 
 it, but yet calling up wild and goblin shapes on every side, 
 and peopling space with flickering spectres, so did the small 
 modicum of intellect this poor fellow possessed enable him 
 to look at life with strange, distorted views. Accustomed 
 to pass his days in the open air, — the fields, the flowers, 
 the streams, his companions, — he had a sympathy in the 
 eddying current that flowed on beneath, in the white cloud 
 that rolled above him. Happy, for he had no care, he jour- 
 neyed about from one county to another. In the hunting- 
 season he would be seen lounging about a kennel, making 
 or renewing his intimacy with the dogs, who knew and 
 loved him ; then he was always ready to carry a drag, to 
 stop an earth, or do a hundred other of those minor services 
 that are ever wanted. Many who lived far from a post- 
 town knew the comfort of falling in with poor " Tipperary 
 Joe," for such was he called. Not more fleet of foot than 
 honest in heart, oftentimes was a letter intrusted to his 
 
212 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 keeping that with any other messenger would have excited 
 feelings of anxiety. His was an April-day temperament, — 
 ever varying, ever changing. One moment would he tell, 
 with quivering lip and broken voice, some story of wild 
 and thrilling interest ; the next, breaking suddenly off, he 
 would burst out into some joyous rant, generally ending in 
 a loud "tallyho," in which all his enthusiasm would shine 
 forth, and in his glistening eye and flushed cheek one could 
 mark the pleasure that stirred his heart. He knew every 
 one, not only in this but in the surrounding counties ; and 
 they stood severally classed in his estimation by their be- 
 nevolence to the poor, and their prowess in the hunting- 
 field. These with him were the two great qualities of 
 mankind. The kind man and the bold rider made his beau 
 ideal of all that was excellent ; and it was strange to watch 
 with what ingenuity he could support his theory. 
 
 " There 's Burton Pearse, — that 's the darling of a man ! 
 It 's he that 's good to the poor, and takes his walls flying. 
 It is n't a lock of bacon or a bag of meal he cares for, be 
 gorra ; it 's not that, nor a double ditch would ever stop 
 him. Hurroo ! I think I 'm looking at him throwing up 
 his whip-hand this way, going over a gate and calling out 
 to the servant, ' Make Joe go in for his dinner, and give 
 him half-a-crown,' — devil a less ! And then there 's Mr. 
 Power of Kilfane, — maybe your honor knows him ? 
 Down in Kilkenny, there. He 's another of them, — one of 
 the right sort. I wish ye seen him facing a leap : a little 
 up in his stirrups, just to look over and see the ground, and 
 then — hoo ! he 's across and away. A beautiful place he 
 has of it, and an elegant pack of dogs, fourteen hunters in 
 the stable, and as pleasant a kitchen as ever I broke my 
 fast in. The cook 's a mighty nice woman, — a trifle fat, or 
 so ; but a good sowl, and a raal warrant for an Irish stew." 
 " And Mr. Ulick Burke, Joe, do you know him ? " 
 " Is it blazing Burke ? Faix, I do know him ! I was as 
 near him as I am to you when he shot Matt Callanan at the 
 mills. ' There, now,' says he, when he put a ball in his 
 hip, and lamed him for life, 'you were always fond of your 
 
LOUGIIREA. 213 
 
 trade, arid I '11 make you a hopper.' And sure enough, this 
 is the way he goes ever since." 
 
 " He is a good horseman, they tell me, Joe ? " 
 
 "The "best in Ireland; for following the dogs, flat race, 
 or steeple-chase, show me his equal. Och! it's himself 
 has the seat in a saddle. Mighty short he rides with his 
 knees up, this way, and his toes out. Not so purty to look 
 at, till you are used to it; but watch him fingering his 
 baste, feeling his mouth with the snaffle, — never torment- 
 ing, but just letting him know who is on his back. It 's 
 raal pleasure to look at him ; and then to see him taking a 
 little canter before he sets off, with his hand low, and just 
 tickling the flanks with his spurs, to larn the temper of the 
 horse. May I never ! if it is n't a heavenly sight ! " 
 
 " You like Mr. Burke, then, I see, Joe ? " 
 
 " Like him ! Who would n't like him a-horseback ? 
 Is n't he the moral of a rider, that knows his baste better 
 than I know my Hail Mary ? But see him a-foot, he 's the 
 greatest divil from here to Croaghpatrick, — nothing civil- 
 ler in his mouth than a curse and a ' bloody end ' to ye ! 
 Och ! it 's himself hates the poor, and they hate him : the 
 beggars run away from him as if he was the police ; and 
 the blind man that sits on Banagher bridge takes up his 
 bags and runs for the bare life the minit he hears the trot 
 of his horse. Is n't it a wonder how he rides so bowld with 
 all the curses over him ? Faix, myself would n't cross that 
 little stream there, if I was like him. Weil, well, he '11 
 have a hard reckoning at last. He 's killed five men al- 
 ready, and wounded a great many more ; but they say he 
 won't be able to go on much further, for when he kills an- 
 other the divil 's to come for him. The Lord be about us ! 
 by rason he never let 's any one kill more nor six." 
 
 Thus chatting away, the road passed over ; and as the 
 sun was setting we came in sight of the town, now not 
 above a mile distant. 
 
 " That 's Loughrea you see there, — it 's a mighty fine 
 place," said Joe. "There 's slate houses and a market and 
 a barrack ; but you '11 stop a few days in the town ? " 
 
214 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 «Oh, certainly ;' I wish to see this race/' 
 
 " That will be the fine race. It is a great country entirely, 
 — every kind of fence, gates, ditches, and stcne-walls, as 
 thick as they can lie. I '11 show you all the course, for I 
 know it well, and tell you the names of all the gentlemen, 
 and the names of their horses and their servants ; and I '11 
 bring you where you'll see the whole race, from begin- 
 ning to end, without stirring an inch. Are you going to 
 bet any money ? " 
 
 " I believe not, Joe ; but I 'm greatly interested for a 
 friend." 
 
 % And who is he ? " 
 
 "Captain O'Grady." 
 
 " Master Phil ! Tear-an'-ages ! are you a friend of Mas- 
 ter Phil's ? Arrah, why did n't you tell me that before ? 
 Why did n't you mintion his name to me ? Och ! is n't 
 myself proud this evening to be with a friend of the 
 Captain's ? See, now, what 's your name ? " 
 
 " Hinton," said I. 
 
 " Ay, but your Christian name ? " 
 
 " They who know me best call me Jack Hinton." 
 
 " Musha ! but I'd like to call you Jack Hinton, just for 
 this once. Now, will you do one thing for me ? " 
 
 " To be sure, Joe ; what is it ? " 
 
 " Make them give me a half pint to drink your health 
 and the Captain's ; for, faix, you must be the right sort, or 
 he would n't keep company with you. It's just like yester- 
 day to me the day I met him, down at Bishop's Loch. The 
 hounds came to a check, and a hail-storm came on, and all 
 the gentlemen went into a little shebeen house for shelter. 
 I was standing outside, as it may be here, when Master 
 Phil saw me : ' Come in, Joe,' says he ; ' you 're the best 
 company, and the pleasantest fellow over a mug of egg-flip.' 
 And may I never! if he didn't make me sit down fornint 
 him at a little table, and drink two quarts of as beautiful 
 flip as ever I tasted. And Master Phil has a horse here, ye 
 tell, me : what 's his name ? " 
 
 " That, Joe, I am afraid I can't pronounce for you ; it '3 
 
LOUGIIREA. 215 
 
 rather beyond my English tongue. But I know that his 
 color 's gray, and that he has one cropped ear." 
 
 " That 's Moddiridderoo ! " shouted Joe, as throwing my 
 portmanteau to the ground, he seated himself leisurely on 
 it, and seemed lost in meditation. 
 
 " Be gorra," said he at length, " he chose a good-tempered 
 one, when he was about it ! there never was such a horse 
 foaled in them parts. Ye heard what he did to Mr. Shea, 
 the man that bred him ? He threw him over a wall, and 
 then jumped after him ; and if it was n't that his guardian- 
 angel made his leather breeches so strong, he 'd have ate 
 him up entirely ! Sure, there 's no one can ride him barrin' 
 the man I was talkin' of." 
 
 " Well, Joe, I believe Mr. Burke is to ride him." 
 
 " Musha ! but I 'm sorry for it ! " 
 
 "And why so? You seem to think highly of his 
 horsemanship." 
 
 " There 's no mislikin' that, av it was fair ; but then, you 
 see, he has as many tricks in him as the devil. Sometimes 
 he '11 break his stirrup leather, or he'll come in a pound too 
 heavy, or he '11 slip the snaffle out of the mouth ; for he 
 does n't care for his neck. Once I see him stake his baste, 
 and bring him in dead lame." 
 
 Here ended our conversation ; for by this time we 
 entered the town, and proceeded to Mrs. Doolan's. The 
 house was full, or the apartments bespoke ; and I was turn- 
 ing away in disappointment when I accidentally overheard 
 the landlady mention the two rooms ordered by Captain 
 O'Grady. A little explanation ensued, and I discovered, to 
 my delight, that these were destined for me by my friend, 
 who had written sometime before to secure them. A few 
 minutes more saw me comfortably installed in the little inn, 
 whose unpretending exterior and cheerful comfort within 
 doors were the direct antithesis to the solemn humbug I 
 had left at Shannon Harbor. 
 
 Under Joe's auspices — for he had established himself as 
 my own man — tea and rashers made their appearance. 
 My clothes were unpacked and put by ; and as he placed 
 
216 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 my dressing-gown and slippers in readiness before the fire, 
 I could not help observing the servant-like alacrity of his 
 manner, perfect in everything save in his habit of singing 
 to himself as he went, which I can't say, however, that I 
 disliked, and certainly never dreamed of checking. Hav- 
 ing written a few lines to Mr. Burke, expressing my desire 
 for a few minutes' interview the following morning, I de- 
 spatched the note, and prepared for bed. 
 
 I had often listened with apathy to the wise saws of peo- 
 ple who never having felt either hunger or fatigue are so 
 fond of pronouncing a glowing eulogium on such luxuries 
 when the period of their gratification has arrived; but I 
 confess, as I lay down that night in bed and drew the 
 clothes around me, I began to believe that they had under- 
 rated the pleasures they spoke of. The house-clock ticked 
 pleasantly in the room without ; the cheerful turf fire threw 
 its mild red light across the room; the sounds from the 
 street were those of happy voices and merry laughter, and 
 when I ceased to hear them I had fallen into a sound and 
 peaceful sleep. 
 
 It was after about a dozen efforts, in which I had gone 
 through all the usual formula on such occasions, — rubbing 
 my eyes, stretching, and even pinching myself, — before I 
 could awake on the following morning. I felt somewhat 
 stiffened from the unaccustomed exertions of the day before, 
 but somehow my spirits were unusually high, and my heart 
 in its very lightest mood. I looked about me through the 
 little room, where all was order, neatness, and propriety. 
 My clothes carefully brushed and folded, my boots resplen- 
 dent in their blacking, stood basking before the fire ; even 
 my hat, placed gently on one side, and my gloves, carefully 
 flattened, were laid out in true valet fashion. The door 
 into my little sitting-room lay open, and I could mark the 
 neat and comfortable preparations for my breakfast; while 
 at a little distance from the table, and in an attitude of 
 patient attention, stood poor Joe himself, who, with a nap* 
 kin across his arm, was quietly waiting the moment of my 
 awaking. 
 
LOUGHREA. 217 
 
 I know not if my reader will have any sympathy with 
 the confession ; but I own I have always felt a higher 
 degree of satisfaction from the unbought and homely cour- 
 tesy chance has thrown in my way, than from the more 
 practised and dearly paid for attentions of the most dis- 
 ciplined household. There is something flattering in the 
 personal devotion which seems to spring from pure good- 
 will, that insensibly raises one in his own esteem. In some 
 such reflection as this was I lost, when the door of my 
 outer room was opened, and a voice inquired if Mr. Hinton 
 stopped there. 
 
 " Yes, sir," replied Joe ; " he is in bed and asleep." 
 
 " Ah, it is you, Joe ? " replied the other. " So you are 
 turned footman, I see. If the master be like the man, it 
 ought to be a shrewd establishment." 
 
 "No," replied Joe, carelessly; "he's not very like anything 
 down in these parts ; for he appears to be a gentleman." 
 
 " Tell him I am here, and be d d to you," was the in- 
 dignant reply, as the speaker threw himself into his chair 
 and stirred the fire with his foot. 
 
 Suspecting at once who my visitor was, I motioned to 
 Joe to leave the room, and proceeded to dress myself with 
 all despatch. During the operation, however, my friend 
 without manifested several symptoms of impatience, — now 
 walking the room with rapid strides, as he whistled a quick- 
 step ; now beating the bars of the grate with a poker, and 
 occasionally performing that popular war-dance, "the Devil's 
 Tattoo," with his knuckles upon the table. At length his 
 endurance seemed pushed to its length, and he knocked 
 sharply at the door, calling out at the same moment, — 
 
 " I say, sir, time 's up, if you please." 
 
 The next moment I was before him. 
 
 Mr. Ulick Burke — for I need not say it was he — was a 
 well looking man, of about eight-and-twenty or thirty years 
 of age. Although his height was below the middle size, he 
 was powerfully and strongly made ; his features would have 
 been handsome were it not for a certain expression of vul- 
 gar suspicion that played about the eyes, giving him a side- 
 
218 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 long look when he spoke ; this, and the loss of two front 
 teeth from a fall, disfigured a face originally pleasing. His 
 whiskers were large, bushy, and meeting beneath his chin. 
 As to his dress, it was in character with his calling, — a 
 green coat cut round in jockey fashion, over which he 
 wore a white " bang-up," as it was called, in one pocket of 
 which was carelessly thrust a lash-whip ; a belcher hand- 
 kerchief, knotted loosely about his neck, buckskin breeches 
 reaching far down upon the leg, and top-boots completed his 
 costume. I had almost forgotten a hat, perhaps the most 
 characteristic thing of all. This, which once had been white, 
 was now, by stress of time and weather, of a dirty drab 
 color ; its crown dinged in several places, and the leaf jagged 
 and broken, bespoke the hard usage to which it was sub- 
 jected. While speaking, he held it firmly clutched in his 
 ungloved hand, and from time to time struck it against his 
 thigh with an energy of manner that seemed habitual. His 
 manner was a mixture of timid embarrassment and vulgar 
 assurance, — feeling his way as it were with one, while he 
 forgot himself with the other. With certain remnants of 
 the class he originally belonged to, he had associated the 
 low habitudes and slang phraseology of his daily associates, 
 making it difficult for one at first sight to discover to which 
 order he belonged. In the language of his companions, 
 Ulick Burke " could be a gentleman when ■ he pleased it." 
 
 How often have we heard this phrase, and with what a fa- 
 tal mistake is it generally applied ! He who can be a gen- 
 tleman when he pleases, never pleases to be anything else. 
 Circumstances may and do, every day in life, throw men 
 of cultivated minds and refined habits into the society of 
 their inferiors ; but while, with the tact and readiness that 
 is their especial prerogative, they make themselves wel- 
 come among those with whom they have few if any sympa- 
 thies in common, yet never by any accident do they dero- 
 gate from that high standard that makes them gentlemen. 
 So, on the other hand, the man of vulgar tastes and coarse 
 propensities may simulate, if he be able, the outward habi- 
 tudes of society, — speaking with practised intonation, and 
 
LOUGHREA. 219 
 
 bowing with well-studied grace ; yet is he no more a gentle- 
 man in his thought or feeling than is the tinselled actor, 
 who struts the board, the monarch his costume would be- 
 speak him. This being the " gentleman when he likes " is 
 but the mere performance of the character. It has all the 
 smell of the orange-peel and the foot-lights about it, and 
 never can be mistaken by any one who knows the world. 
 
 But to come back to Mr. Burke. Having eyed me for a 
 second or two, with a look of mingled distrust and imperti- 
 nence, he unfolded my note, which he held beneath his fin- 
 gers, and said, — 
 
 " I received this from you last night, Mr. — " 
 
 " Hinton," said I, assisting him. 
 
 " Mr. Hinton," repeated he, slowly. 
 
 " Won't you be seated ? " said I, pointing to a chair, and 
 taking one myself. 
 
 He nodded familiarly, and placing himself on the window- 
 sill, with one foot upon a chair, resumed, — 
 
 " It 's about O'G-rady's business I suppose you 've come 
 down here. The captain has treated me very ill." 
 
 " You are quite right," said I, coolly, " in guessing the 
 object of my visit ; but I must also let you know that in 
 any observations you make concerning Captain O'Grady they 
 are made to a friend, who will no more permit his name to 
 be slightingly treated than his own." 
 
 "Of course," pronounced with a smile of the most insult- 
 ing coolness, was the only reply. " That, however, is not 
 the matter in hand: your friend, the captain, never conde- 
 scended to answer my letter." 
 
 " He only received it a few days ago." 
 
 " Why is n't he here himself ? Is a gentleman rider to 
 be treated like a common jockey that 's paid for his race ? " 
 
 I confess the distinction was too subtile for me, but I 
 said nothing in reply. 
 
 " I don't even know where the horse is, nor if he is 
 here at all. Will you call that handsome treatment, 
 Mr. Hinton?" 
 
 " One thing I am quite sure of, Mr. Burke, — Captain 
 
220 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 O'Grady is incapable of anything unworthy or unbecoming 
 a gentleman ; the haste of his departure for foreign service 
 may have prevented him observing certain matters of eti- 
 quette towards you, but he has commissioned me to accept 
 your terms. The horse is here, or will be here to-night ; 
 and I trust nothing will interrupt the good understanding 
 that has hitherto subsisted between you." 
 
 " And will he take up the writ ? " 
 
 " He will," said I, firmly. 
 
 " He must have a heavy book on the race." 
 
 "Nearly a thousand pounds." 
 
 " I 'm sorry for it for his sake," was the cool reply, " for 
 he '11 lose his money." 
 
 " Indeed ! " said I ; "I understand that you thought well 
 of his horse, and that with your riding — " 
 
 " Ay ; but I won't ride for him." 
 
 " You won't ride ! — not on your own terms ? " 
 
 "No; not even on my own terms. Don't be putting 
 yourself into a passion, Mr. Hinton. You 've come down 
 to a country where that never does any good ; we settle all 
 our little matters here in a social, pleasant way of our own. 
 But, I repeat it, I won't ride for your friend ; so you may 
 withdraw his horse as soon as you like, — except," added 
 he, with a most contemptuous sneer, " you have a fancy for 
 riding him yourself." 
 
 Eesolving that whatever course I should follow I would 
 at least keep my temper for the present, I assumed as 
 much calmness as I could command, and said, — 
 
 " And what is there against O'Grady's horse ? " 
 
 "A chestnut mare of Tom Molloy's, that can beat him 
 over any country. The rest are withdrawn ; so that I '11 
 have a ' ride over ' for my pains." 
 
 " Then you ride for Mr. Molloy ? " said I. 
 
 " You 've guessed it," replied he with a wink, as throw- 
 ing his hat carelessly on one side of his head he gave me 
 an insolent nod, and lounged out of the room. 
 
 I need not say that my breakfast appetite was not im- 
 proved by Mr. Burke's visit; in fact, never was a man 
 
LOUGHREA. 221 
 
 more embarrassed than I was. Independent of the loss of 
 his money, I knew how poor Phil would suffer from the 
 duplicity of the transaction ; and in my sorrow for his sake 
 I could not help accusing myself of ill-management in the 
 matter. Had I been more conciliating or more blunt, 
 had I bullied or bid higher, perhaps a different result 
 might have followed. Alas ! in all my calculations, I knew 
 little or nothing of him with whom I had to deal. Puzzled 
 and perplexed, uncertain how to act, — now resolving on one 
 course, now deciding on the opposite, — I paced my little 
 room for above an hour, the only conviction I could come 
 to being the unhappy choice that poor 0' Grady had made 
 when he selected me for his negotiator. 
 
 The town clock struck twelve. I remembered suddenly 
 that was the hour when the arrangements for the race were 
 to be ratified ; and without a thought of what course I 
 should pursue, what plan I should adopt, I took my hat 
 and sallied forth. 
 
 The main street of the little town Avas crowded with 
 people, most of them of that class which in Irish phrase 
 goes by the appellation of squireen, — a species of human 
 lurcher, without any of the good properties of either class 
 from which it derives its origin, but abounding in the bad 
 traits of both. They lounged along, followed by pointers 
 and wire-haired greyhounds, their hands stuck in their 
 coat-pockets, and their hats set well back on their heads. 
 Following in the train of this respectable cortege, I reached 
 the market-house, upon the steps of which several " sport- 
 ing gentlemen " of a higher order were assembled. Elbow- 
 ing my way with some difficulty through these, I mounted 
 a dirty and sandy stair to a large room, usually employed 
 by the magistrates for their weekly sessions ; here, at a 
 long table, sat the race committee, an imposing display of 
 books, pens, and papers before them. A short little man, 
 with a powdered head, and a certain wheezing chuckle 
 when he spoke that involuntarily suggested the thought of 
 apoplexy, seemed to be the president of the meeting. 
 
 The room was so crowded with persons of every class 
 
222 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 that I could with difficulty catch what was going forward. 
 I looked anxiously round to see if I could not recognize 
 some friend or acquaintance, but every face was strange to 
 me. The only one I had ever seen before was Mr. Burke 
 himself, who with his back to the fire was edifying a select 
 circle of his friends by what I discovered, from the laugh- 
 ter of his auditory, was a narrative of his visit to myself. 
 The recital must have owed something to his ingenuity in 
 telling, for indeed the gentlemen seemed convulsed with 
 mirth ; and when Mr. Burke concluded, it was plain to see 
 that he stood several feet higher in the estimation of his 
 acquaintances. 
 
 " Silence ! " wheezed the little man with the white head : 
 " it is a quarter past twelve o'clock, and I '11 not wait any 
 longer." 
 
 "Read the list, Maurice," cried some one. "As it is 
 Only 'a walk over,' you needn't lose any time." 
 
 " Here, then, No. 1, — Captain Fortescue's Tramp." 
 
 " Withdrawn," said a voice in the crowd. 
 
 " No. 2, — Harry Studdard's Devil-may-care ! " 
 
 " Paid forfeit," cried another. 
 
 "No. 3, — Sir George O'Brien 's Billy-the-bowl ! " 
 
 " Gone home again," was the answer. 
 
 « Xo. 4, — Tom Molloy's Cathleen ! " 
 
 " All right ! " shouted Mr. Burke, from the fireplace. 
 
 " Who rides ? " asked the president. 
 
 " Ulick ! " repeated half-a-dozen voices together. 
 
 " Eleven stone eight," said the little man. 
 
 " And a pound for the martingale," chimed in Mr. Burke. 
 
 " Well, I believe that 's all — No : there 's another horse, 
 — Captain O'Grady's Moddiridderoo." 
 
 " Scratch him out with the rest," said Mr. Burke. 
 
 "No S " said I, from the back of the room. 
 
 The word seemed electric ; every eye was turned towards 
 the quarter where I stood, and as I moved forward towards 
 the table the crowd receded to permit my passage. 
 
 "Are you on the part of Mr. O'Grady, sir?" said the 
 little man, with a polite smile. 
 
LOUGHREA. 223 
 
 I bowed an affirmative. 
 
 " He does not withdraw his horse, then ? " said he. 
 
 " No ! " said I again. 
 
 " But you are aware, sir, that Mr. Burke is going to ride 
 for my friend, Mr. Molloy, here. Are you prepared with 
 another gentleman ? " 
 
 I nodded shortly. 
 
 " His name, may I ask ? " continued he. 
 
 " Mr. Hinton." 
 
 By this time Mr. Burke, attracted by the colloquy, had 
 approached the table, and stooping down whispered some 
 words in the president's ear. 
 
 " You will forgive me, I 'ni sure," said the latter, address- 
 ing me, " if I ask, as the name is unknown to me, if this be 
 a gentleman rider ? " 
 
 The blood rushed to my face and temples. I knew at 
 once from whom this insult proceeded. It was no time, 
 however, to notice it ; so I simply replied, — 
 
 " Mr. Hinton is an officer of the Guards, an aide-de-camp 
 to the Lord Lieutenant, and I beg leave respectfully to pre- 
 sent him to you." 
 
 The obsequious civility exhibited by the party as I pro- 
 nounced these few words was an ample amende for what I 
 had suffered a few minutes before. Meanwhile, Mr. Burke 
 had resumed his place at the fire, once more surrounded by 
 his admiring satellites. 
 
 Being accommodated with a chair at the table, I proceeded 
 to read over and sign the usual papers, by which I bound 
 myself to abide by the regulations of the course, and con- 
 form in all things to the decision of the stewards. Scarcely 
 had I concluded, when Mr. Burke called out, — 
 
 " Who '11 take eight to one on the race ? " 
 
 Not a word was spoken in reply. 
 
 " Who '11 take fifty to five ? " cried he again. 
 
 " 1 will," said a voice from the door. 
 
 " Who is that takes my bet ? What is his name ? " 
 
 " Tom Loftus, P.P: of Murranakilty." 
 
224 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " A better fellow nor an honester could n't do it," said 
 the president. 
 
 " Book your bet, sir," said Mr. Burke ; " or if it is equally 
 convenient for you, you can pay it at present." 
 
 " I never make a memorandum of such trifles," said the 
 priest; "but I'll stake the money in some decent man's 
 hands." 
 
 A roar of laughter followed the priest's proposition, than 
 which nothing could be less to Mr. Burke's taste. This 
 time, however, he was in funds ; and while the good father 
 disengaged his five-pound note from the folds of a black 
 leather pocket-book as large as a portfolio, his antagonist 
 threw a fifty on the table with an air of swaggering impor- 
 tance. I turned now to shake hands with my friend ; but 
 to my surprise and astonishment he gave me a look of cold 
 and impressive import, that showed me at once he did not 
 wish to be recognized, and the next moment left the room. 
 My business there was also concluded, and having promised 
 to be forthcoming the following day, at two o'clock, I bowed 
 to the chairman and withdrew. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 A MOONLIGHT CANTER. 
 
 I was not quite satisfied with the good priest for his 
 having cut me, no matter what his reasons. I was not over- 
 much so with the tone of the whole meeting itself, and cer- 
 tainly I was very little satisfied with the part I had myself 
 taken therein ; for as cooller judgment succeeded to hot ex- 
 citement, I perceived in what a mess of difficulty I had in- 
 volved myself, and Inn a momentary flush of passionate 
 indignation had carried me away beyond the bounds of 
 reason and sense, to undertake what but half an hour pre- 
 viously I should have shrunk from with shame, and the 
 very thought of which now filled me with apprehension and 
 dread, — not indeed as to the consequences to myself, phy- 
 sically considered, for most willingly would I have com- 
 pounded for a fractured limb, or even two, to escape the 
 ridicule I was almost certain of incurring. This it was 
 which I could not bear, and my heart, amour propre, re- 
 coiled from the thought of being a laughing-stock to the 
 under-bred and ill-born horde that would assemble to wit- 
 ness me. 
 
 When I arrived at the inn poor Joe was there awaiting 
 me ; he had been down to see the horse, which for pre- 
 caution's sake was kept at a mill a little distance from 
 the town, and of whose heart and condition he spoke in 
 glowing terms. 
 
 " Och ! he is a raal beauty ; a little thick in fat about the 
 crest, but they say he always trains fleshy, and his legs are 
 as clean as a whistle. Sorra bit, but it will give Mr. Ulick 
 as much as he can do to ride him to-morrow. I know by 
 
 VOL i. — 15 
 
226 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 the way he turns his eyes round to you in the stable he 's 
 in the devil's temper." 
 
 "But it is not Mr. Burke, Joe. I am going to ride 
 him." 
 
 " You are going to do it ! You ! Oh, by the powers ! 
 Mr. Ulick was n't far out when he said the master was as 
 mad as the man. ' Tell me your company,' says the old 
 proverb ; and you see there it is. What comes of it ? If 
 you lie down with dogs you '11 get up with fleas ; and that 's 
 the fruits of travelling with a fool." 
 
 I was in no temper for badinage at the moment, and re- 
 plied to the poor fellow in a somewhat harsher tone than I 
 should have used ; and as he left the room without speak- 
 ing, I felt ashamed and angry with myself for thus banish- 
 ing the only one that seemed to feel an interest in my 
 fortunes. 
 
 I sat down to my dinner discontented and unhappy. 
 But a few hours previous, and I awoke high in heart and 
 hope ; and now without any adverse stroke of fortune, 
 without any of those casualties of fate which come on us 
 unlooked for and unthought of, but simply by the unguided 
 exercise of a passionate temperament, I found myself sur- 
 rounded by embarrassments and environed by difficulties, 
 without one friend to counsel or advise me. 
 
 Yes, I could not conceal it from myself, — my determi- 
 nation to ride the steeple-chase was the mere outbreak of 
 passion. The taunting insolence of Burke had stung me to 
 adopt a course which I had neither previously considered, 
 nor if suggested by another could ever have consented to. 
 True, I was what could be called a good horseman. In the 
 two seasons I had spent in Leicestershire, on a visit to a 
 relative, I had acquitted myself with credit and character ; 
 but a light weight splendidly mounted on a trained hunter, 
 over his accustomed country, has no parallel with the same 
 individual upon a horse he has never crossed, over a coun- 
 try he has never seen. These and a hundred similar con- 
 siderations came rushing on me now when it was too late. 
 However, the thing was done, and their being no possible 
 
A MOONLIGHT CANTER. 227 
 
 way of undoing it, there was but one road — the straightfor- 
 ward — to follow in the case. Alas! half of our philoso- 
 phy in difficulties consists in shutting our eyes firmly 
 against consequences, and, tete baiss&e, rushing headlong 
 at the future. Though few may be found willing to admit 
 that the bull in the china-shop is the model of their pru- 
 dence, I freely own it was mine, and that I made up my 
 mind to ride the horse with the unspeakable name as long 
 as he would permit me to ride him, at everything, over 
 everything, or through everything before me. This conclu- 
 sion at length come to, I began to feel more easy in my 
 mind. Like the felon that feels there is no chance of a 
 reprieve, I could look my fate more steadily in the face. 
 
 I had no great appetite for my dinner, but I sat over an 
 excellent bottle of port, sipping and sipping, each glass I 
 swallowed lending a rose-tint to the future. The second 
 bottle had just been placed on the table before me, when 
 O'Grady's groom came in to receive his instructions. He 
 had heard nothing of my resolution to ride, and certainly 
 looked aghast when I announced it to him. By this time, 
 however, I had combated my own fears, and I was not going 
 to permit his to terrify me. Affecting the easy nonchalance 
 of that excellent type Mr. Ulick Burke, I thrust my hands 
 into my coat-pockets, and standing with my back to the 
 fire, began questioning him about the horse. Confound it ! 
 there 's no man so hard to humbug as an Irishman ; but if 
 he be a groom, I pronounce the thing impossible. The 
 fellow saw through me in a moment ; and as he sipped the 
 glass of wine I had filled out for him, he approached me 
 confidentially, while he said in a low tone, — 
 
 " Did you say you 'd ride him ? " 
 
 " Yes, to be sure I did." 
 
 " You did ! well, well ! there 's no helping it, since you 
 said it. There 's only one thing to be done," — he looked 
 cautiously about the room, lest any one should overhear 
 him. " There 's but one thing I know of, — let him throw 
 you at the first leap. Mind me now, just leave it to him- 
 self, — he '11 give you no trouble in life ; and all you have 
 
228 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 to do is to choose the soft side. It 's not your fault after 
 that, you know, for I need n't tell you he won't be caught 
 before night." 
 
 I could not help laughing at this new receipt for riding a 
 steeple-chase, although I confess it did not raise my courage 
 regarding the task before ine. 
 
 " But what does he do ? " said I, — " this infernal beast ; 
 what trick has he ? " 
 
 " It is n't one but a hundred that he has. First of all, it 
 is n't so easy to get on his back, for he is as handy with his 
 hind foot as a fiddler ; and if you are not mighty quick in 
 mounting, he '11 strike you down with it. Then, when you 
 are up, maybe he won't move at all, but stand with his fore- 
 legs out, his head down, and his eyes turned back just like 
 a picture, hitting his flanks between times with his long 
 tail. You may coax him, pet him, and pat him, — faith, 
 you might as well be tickling a milestone, for it 's laughing 
 at you he '11 be all the time. Maybe at last you '11 get 
 tired, and touch him with the spur. Hurroo ! be gorra, 
 you '11 get it then ! " 
 
 " Why, what happens then ? " 
 
 " What happens, is it ? Maybe it 's your neck is broke, 
 or your thigh, or your collar-bone at least. He '11 give you 
 a straight plunge up in the air, about ten feet high, throw 
 his head forward till he either pulls the reins out of your 
 hands or lifts you out of the saddle, and at the same mo- 
 ment he '11 give you a blow with his hind-quarters in the 
 small of the back. Och, murther ! " said he, placing both 
 hands upon his loins, and writhing as he spoke, " it '11 be 
 six weeks to-morrow since he made one of them buck-leaps 
 with me, and I never walked straight since. But that is 
 not all." 
 
 " Come, come," said I, impatiently, " this is all nonsense ! 
 He only wants a man with a little pluck to bully him out 
 of all this." 
 
 As I said these valorous words I own that to my own 
 heart I did n't exactly correspond to the person I described ; 
 but as the bottle of port was now finished, I set forth with 
 
A MOONLIGHT CANTER. 229 
 
 my companion to pay my first visit to this redoubted 
 animal. 
 
 The mill where the stable lay was about a mile from the 
 town ; but the night was a fine moonlight one, with not an 
 air of wind stirring, and the walk delightful. When we 
 reached the little stream that turned the mill, over which a 
 plank was thrown as a bridge, we perceived that a country 
 lad was walking a pair of saddle-horses backwards and for- 
 wards near the spot. The suspicion of some trickery, some 
 tampering with the horse, at once crossed me ; and I hinted 
 as much to the groom. 
 
 " No, no," said he, laughing ; " make your mind easy 
 about that. Mr. Ulick Burke knows the horse well, and 
 he'll leave it all to himself." 
 
 The allusion was a pleasant one ; but I said nothing, and 
 walked on. 
 
 Having procured a lantern at the mill, the groom pre- 
 ceded me to the little out-house which acted as stable. He 
 opened the door cautiously, and peeped in. 
 
 " He 's lying down," said he to me in a whisper, and at 
 the same moment taking the candle from the lantern he 
 held it up to permit my obtaining a better view. " Don't 
 be afeard," continued he, " he '11 not stir now, the thief of 
 the arth ! When once he 's down that way, he lies as 
 peaceable as a lamb." 
 
 As well as I could observe him, he was a magnificent 
 horse, — a little too heavy perhaps about the crest and 
 forehand, but then so strong behind, such powerful muscle 
 about the haunches, that his balance was well preserved. 
 As I stood contemplating him in silence, I felt the breath 
 of some one behind me. I turned suddenly around : it was 
 Father Tom Loftus himself. There was the worthy priest, 
 mopping his forehead with a huge pocket-handkerchief and 
 blowing like a rhinoceros. 
 
 " Ugh ! " said he at length, " I have been running up and 
 down the roads this half-hour after you, and there's not 
 a puff left in me." 
 
 " Ah, Father ! I hoped to have seen you at the inn." 
 
230 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " Whisht ! I darn't. I thought I 'd do it better my own 
 way ; but, see now, we 've no time to lose. I knew as well 
 as yourself you never intended to ride this race. No mat- 
 ter ; don't say a word, but listen to me. I know the horse 
 better than any one in these parts ; and it is n't impossible, 
 if you can keep the saddle over the first two or three fences, 
 that you may win. I say, if you can, — for, faith, it 's not 
 in a 'swing-swong' you'll be ! But, come now, the course 
 was marked out this evening. Burke was over it before 
 dinner; and, with a blessing, we will be before supper. 
 I 've got a couple of hacks here that '11 take us over every 
 bit of it, and perhaps it is not too much to say you might 
 have a worse guide." 
 
 " Faith, your reverence," chimed in the groom, " he 'd 
 find it hard to have a better." 
 
 Thanking the kind priest for his good-natured solicitude, 
 I followed him out upon the road, where the two horses 
 were waiting us. 
 
 " There, now," said he, " get up ; the stirrups are about 
 your length. He looks a little low in flesh, but you '11 not 
 complain of him when he 's under you." 
 
 The next moment we were both in the saddle. Taking a 
 narrow path that led off from the high-road, we entered a 
 large tilled field, keeping along the headlands of which we 
 came to a low stone-wall, through a gap of which we passed, 
 and came out upon an extensive piece of grass-land, that 
 gently sloped away from where we were standing to a lit- 
 tle stream at its base, an arm of that which supplied the 
 mill. 
 
 "Here, now," said the priest, "a little to the left yonder 
 is the start. You come down this hill ; you take the water 
 there, and you keep along by Freney's house, where you 
 see the trees there. There 's only a small stone-wall, and a 
 clay ditch between this and that ; afterwards you turn off to 
 the right. But, come now, are you ready ? We '11 explore 
 a bit." 
 
 As he spoke, the good priest, putting spurs to his hack- 
 ney, dashed on before me, and motioning me to follow, 
 
A MOONLIGHT CANTER. 231 
 
 cantered down the slope. Taking the little mill-stream at 
 a fly, he turned in his saddle to watch my performance. 
 
 " Neat ! mighty neat ! " cried he, encouraging me. " Keep 
 your hand a little low. The next is a wall — " 
 
 Scarcely had he spoke when we both came together at a 
 stone fence, about three feet high. This time I was a little 
 in advance, as my horse was fresher, and took it first. 
 
 "Oh, the devil a better!" said Father Tom. "Burke 
 himself could n't beat that ! Here, now : keep this way 
 out of the deep ground, and rush him at the double ditch 
 there." 
 
 Resolved on securing his good opinion, I gripped my 
 saddle firmly with my knees, and rode at the fence. Over 
 we went in capital style ; but lighting on the top of a rotten 
 ditch, the ground gave way, and my horse's hind legs slipped 
 backwards into the gripe. Being at full stretch, the poor 
 animal had no power to recover himself, so that disengag- 
 ing his fore-legs I pulled him down into the hollow, and 
 then with a vigorous dash of the spur and a bold lift carried 
 him clean over it into the field. 
 
 " Look, now!" said the priest ; "that pleases me better 
 than all you did before ! Presence of mind, — that 's the 
 real gift for a horseman when he 's in a scrape; but, mind 
 me, it was your own fault, for here 's the way to take the 
 fence." So saying, he made a slight semi-circle in the 
 field, and then, as he headed his horse towards the leap, 
 rushed him at it furiously, and came over like the bound 
 of a stag. 
 
 " Now," said Father Tom, pointing with his whip as he 
 spoke, "we have a beautiful bit of galloping-ground before 
 us ; and if you ever reach this far, and I don't see why you 
 should n't, here 's where you ought to make play. Listen 
 to me, now," said he, dropping his voice. " Tom Molloy's 
 mare is n't thoroughbred, though they think she is ; she has 
 got a bad drop in her. Now, the horse is all right, clean 
 bred, sire and dam, by reason he '11 be able to go through 
 the dirt when the mare can't ; so that all you 've to do, if, 
 as I said befere, you get this far, is to keep straight down 
 
232 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 to the two thorn-bushes, — there, you see them yonder. 
 Burke won't be able to take that line, but must keep upon 
 the head-lands, and go all round yonder, — look, now, you 
 see the difference, — so that before he can get over that 
 wide ditch you'll be across it, and making for the stone- 
 wall. After that, by the powers, if you don't win, I can't 
 help you ! " 
 
 " Where does the course turn after, Father ? " said I. 
 
 " Oh, a beautiful line of flat country, intersprinkled with 
 walls, ditches, and maybe a hedge or two, but all fair, and 
 only one rasping fence, — the last of all. After that, you 
 have a clean gallop of about a quarter of a mile over as nice 
 a sod as ever you cantered." 
 
 " And that last fence, what is it like ? " 
 
 "Faith, it is a rasper! It's a wide gully, where there 
 was a boreen once, and they say it is every inch of sixteen 
 feet ; that '11 make it close upon twenty when you clear the 
 clay on both sides. The gray horse, I 'm told, has a way 
 of jumping in and jumping out of these narrow roads ; but 
 take my advice, and go it in a fly. — And now, Captain, 
 what between the running and the riding and the talking 
 altogether, I am as dry as a lime-kiln ; so what do you say 
 if we turn back to town, and have a bit of supper together ? 
 There 's a kind of a cousin of mine, one Bob Mahon, a major 
 in the Roscommon ; and he has got a grouse-pie, and some- 
 thing hot to dilute it with, waiting for us." 
 
 " Nothing will give me more pleasure, Father ; and 
 there 's only one thing more, — indeed, I had nearly for- 
 gotten it altogether — " 
 
 " What 's that ? " said the priest, with surprise. 
 
 "Not having any intention to ride, I left town without 
 any racing equipment ; breeches and boots I have, but as 
 to a cap and a jacket — " 
 
 " I 've provided for both," said Father Tom. " You saw 
 the little man with a white head that sat at the head of the 
 table, — Tom Dillon of Mount Brown : you know him ? " 
 
 " I am not acquainted with him." 
 
 " Well, he knows you ; that 's all the same. His son, 
 
 
A MOONLIGHT CANTER. 233 
 
 that's just gone to Gibraltar with his regiment, was about 
 your size, and he had a new cap and jacket made for this 
 very race, and of course they are lying there and doing 
 nothing. So I sent over a little gossoon with a note, and 
 I don't doubt but they are all at the inn this moment." 
 
 " By Jove, Father ! " said I, " you are a real friend, and a 
 most thoughtful one, too." 
 
 " Maybe I '11 do more than that for you," said he, with a 
 sly wink of his eye, that somehow suggested to my mind 
 that he knew more of and took a deeper interest in me than 
 I had reason to believe. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 MAJOR MAHON AND HIS QUARTERS. 
 
 The major's quarters were fixed in one of the best houses 
 in the town, in the comfortable back-parlor of which was 
 now displayed a little table laid for three persons. A 
 devilled lobster, the grouse-pie already mentioned, some 
 fried ham, and crisped potatoes were the viands ; but each 
 was admirable in its kind, and with the assistance of an 
 excellent bowl of hot punch and the friendly welcome of 
 the host, left nothing to be wished for or desired. 
 
 Major Bob Mahon was a short, thick-set little man, with 
 round blue eyes, a turned-up nose, and a full under lip, 
 which he had a habit of protruding with an air of no mean 
 pretension ; a short crop of curly black hair covered a head 
 as round as a billiard-ball. These traits, with a certain 
 peculiar smack of his mouth, by which he occasionally 
 testified the approval of his own eloquence, were the most 
 remarkable things about him. His great ambition was to 
 be thought a military man ; but somehow his pretensions 
 in this respect smacked much more of the militia than the 
 line. Indeed, he possessed a kind of adroit way of assert- 
 ing the superiority of the former to the latter, averring that 
 they who fought pro aris et focis — the major was fond of 
 Latin — stood on far higher ground than the travelled mer- 
 cenaries who only warred for pay. This peculiarity, and 
 an absurd attachment to practical jokes, the result of which 
 had frequently through life involved him in law-suits, 
 damages, compensations, and even duels, formed the great 
 staple of his character, — of all which the good priest in- 
 formed me most fully on our way to the house. 
 
MAJOR MAHON AND HIS QUARTERS. 235 
 
 " Captain Hinton, I believe," said the major, as he held 
 out his hand in welcome. 
 
 "Mr. Hinton," said I, bowing. 
 
 " Ay, ye's ; Father Tom, there, does n't know much about 
 these matters. What regiment, pray ? " 
 
 " The Grenadier Guards." 
 
 " Oh, a very good corps, mighty respectable corps, — not 
 that, between ourselves, I think over-much of the regulars ; 
 between you and me, I never knew foreign travel do good 
 to man or beast. What do they bring back with them, I 'd 
 like to know? — French cookery and Italian licentiousness. 
 No, no ; give me the native troops ! You were a boy at 
 the time, but maybe you have heard how they behaved in 
 the west, when Hoche landed. Egad ! if it was n't for the 
 militia the country was sacked. I commanded a company 
 of the Roscommon at the time. I remember well we laid 
 siege to a windmill, held by a desperate fellow, the miller, — 
 a resolute character, Mr. Hinton ; he had two guns in the 
 place with him." 
 
 " I wish to the Lord he had shot you with one of them, and 
 we 'd have been spared this long story ! " said the priest. 
 
 "I opened a parallel — " 
 
 " Maybe you 'd open the pie ? " said the priest, as he drew 
 his chair, and sat down to the table. " Perhaps you forget, 
 Bob, we have had a sharp ride of it this evening ? " 
 
 " Upon my conscience, so I did," replied the major, good- 
 humoredly. " So let us have a bit of supper now, Mr. Hin- 
 ton, and I '11 finish my story by-and-by." 
 
 "The Heavens forbid!" piously ejaculated the priest, 
 as he helped himself to a very considerable portion of the 
 lobster. 
 
 " Is this a fast, Father Loftus ? " said I, slyly. 
 
 " No, my son, but we '11 make it one. That reminds me 
 of what happened to me going up in the boat. It was a 
 Friday, and the dinner, as you may suppose, was not over- 
 good. But there was a beautiful cut of fried salmon just 
 before me, — about a pound and a half, maybe two pounds ; 
 this I slipped quietly on my plate, observing to the com- 
 
236 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 pany, in this way, ' Ladies and gentlemen, this is a fast day 
 with me — ' when a big fellow, with red whiskers, stooped 
 across the table, cut my bit of fish in two halves, calling out 
 as he carried off one, ' Bad scran to ye ! d' ye think nobody 
 has a sowl to be saved but yourself ? ' " 
 
 " Ah, they 're a pious people, are the Irish ! " said the 
 major, solemnly, " and you '11 remark that when you see 
 more of them. And now, Captain, how do you like us 
 here ? " 
 
 " Exceedingly," said I, with warmth. " I have had every 
 reason to be greatly pleased with Ireland." 
 
 " That 's right ! and I 'm glad of it ! though, to be sure, 
 you have not seen us in our holiday garb. Ah, if you were 
 here before the Union ; if you saw Dublin as I remember 
 it, and Tom there remembers it, — ' that was a pleasant 
 place.' It was not trusting to balls and parties, to dinners 
 and routs, but to all kinds of fun and devilment besides. 
 All the members of Parliament used to be skylarking about 
 the city, playing tricks on one another, and humbugging 
 the Castle people. And, to be sure, the Castle was not the 
 grave, stupid place it is now; they were convivial, jovial 
 fellows — " 
 
 "Come, come, Major," interrupted I; "you are really 
 unjust! The present court is not the heavy — " 
 
 " Sure, I know what it is well enough. Has n't the duke 
 all the privy council and the bishops as often to dinner as 
 the garrison and the bar ? Is n't he obliged to go to his 
 own apartment when they want to make a night of it, and 
 sing a good chorus ? Don't tell me ! Sure, even as late as 
 Lord Westmoreland's time it was another thing ; pleasant 
 and happy times they were, and the country will never be 
 the same till we have them back again ! " 
 
 Being somewhat curious to ascertain in what particular 
 our degeneracy consisted, — for in my ignorance of better, 
 I had hitherto supposed the present regime about as gay a 
 thing as need be, — I gradually led the major on to talk of 
 those happier days when Ireland kept all its fun for home 
 consumption, and ntver exported even its surplus produce. 
 
MAJOR MAHON AND HIS QUARTERS. 237 
 
 " It was better in every respect," responded the major. 
 " Had n't we all the patronage amongst us ? There 's Jonah, 
 there — Barrington, I mean ; well, he and I could make any- 
 thing, from a tide-waiter to a master in Chancery. It 's 
 little trouble small debts gave us then ; a pipe of sherry 
 never cost me more than a storekeeper in the ordnance, and 
 I kept my horses at livery for three years with a washwoman 
 to Kilmainham Hospital. And as for fun, — look at the 
 Castle now ! Don't I remember the times when we used 
 to rob the coaches coming from the drawing-rooms, — and 
 pretty girls they were inside of them ! " 
 
 " For shame, for shame ! " cried Father Tom, with a 
 sly look in the corner of his eye that by no means be- 
 spoke a suitable degree of horror at such unwarrantable 
 proceedings. 
 
 " Well, if it was a shame it was no sin," responded the 
 major; -'for we never took anything more costly than 
 kisses. Ah, dear me ! them was the times ! And, to be 
 sure, every now and then we got a pull-up from the lady- 
 lieutenant, and were obliged to behave ourselves for a week 
 or two together. One thing she never could endure was a 
 habit we had of leaving the Castle before they themselves 
 left the ball-room. I 'm not going to defend it, — it was 
 not very polite, I confess ; but somehow or other there was 
 always something going on we could n't afford to lose, — 
 maybe a supper at the barrack, or a snug party at Daly's, 
 or a bit of fun elsewhere. Her Excellency, however, got 
 angry about it, and we got a quiet hint to reform our man- 
 ners. This, I need not tell you, was a hopeless course ; so 
 we hit on an expedient that answered to the full as well. 
 It was by our names being called out, as the carriages drove 
 up, that our delinquency became known. So Matt Fortes- 
 cue suggested that we should adopt some feigned nomen- 
 clature, which would totally defy every attempt at discovery; 
 the idea was excellent, and we traded on it for many a day 
 with complete success. One night, however, from some 
 cause or other, the carriages were late in arriving, and we 
 were all obliged to accompany the court into the supper- 
 
238 JACK HIXTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 room. Angry enough we were ; but still there was no help 
 for it ; and so ' smiling through tears,' as the poet says, in 
 we went. Scarcely, however, had we taken our places 
 when a servant called out something from the head of the 
 stairs ; another re-echoed it at the antechamber, and a third 
 at the supper-room shouted out, ' Oliver Cromwell's carriage 
 stops the way ! ' The roar of laughter the announcement 
 caused shook the very room ; but it had scarcely subsided 
 when there was another call for ' Brian Boru's coach,' 
 quickly followed by 'Guy Fawkes' and 'Paddy 0'Raffert3 r 's 
 jingle,' which latter personage was no other than the Dean 
 of Cork. I need not tell you that we kept our secret, and 
 joined in the universal opinion of the whole room 'that the 
 household was shamefully disguised in drink ; ' and indeed 
 there was no end to the mistakes that night, for every now 
 and then some character in heathen or modern history 
 would turn up among the announcements ; and as the 
 laughter burst forth, the servants would grow ashamed for 
 a while, and refuse to call any carriage where the style and 
 title was a little out of the common. Ah, Mr. Hinton, if 
 you had lived in those days — Well, well, no matter; 
 here 's a glass to their memory, any way. It is the first 
 time you 've been in these parts, and I suppose you have n't 
 seen much of the country ? " 
 
 " Very little indeed," replied I ; " and even that much 
 only by moonlight." 
 
 "I'm afraid," said Father Tom, half pensively, "that 
 many of your countrymen take little else than a ' dark 
 view' of us." 
 
 " See, now," said the major, slapping his hand on the 
 table with energy, " the English know as much about Pat 
 as Pat knows of purgatory, — no offence to you, Mr. Hin- 
 ton. I could tell you a story of a circumstance that once 
 happened to myself." 
 
 " No, no, Bob," said the priest ; " it is bad taste to tell a 
 story en petit comitL I '11 leave it to the captain." 
 
 " If I am to be the judge," said I, laughingly, " I decide 
 for the story." 
 
MAJOR MAHON AND HIS QUARTERS. 239 
 
 "Let's have it, then," said the priest. "Come, Bob, a 
 fresh brew, and begin your tale." 
 
 "You are a sensual creature, Father Tom," said the 
 major, "and prefer drink to intellectual discussion; not 
 but that you may have both here at the same time. But in 
 honor of my friend beside me I '11 not bear malice, but give 
 you the story ; and let me tell you it is not every day in the 
 week a man hears a tale with a moral to it, particularly 
 down in this part of the country." 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE DEVIL'S GRIP. 
 
 " The way of it was this. There was a little estate of 
 mine in the county of Waterford that I used now and then 
 to visit in the shooting-season. In fact, except for that 
 there was very little inducement to go there; it was a 
 bleak, ugly part of the country, a bad market-town near it, 
 and not a neighbor within twelve miles. Well, I went over 
 there, — it was, as well as I remember, December two 
 years. Never was there such weather ; it rained from 
 morning till night, and blew and rained from night till 
 morning ; the slates were flying about on every side, and 
 we used to keep fellows up all night, that in case the chim- 
 neys were blown away we 'd know where to find them in 
 the morning. This was the pleasant weather I selected for 
 my visit to the ' Devil's Grip,' — that was the name of the 
 townland where the house stood ; and no bad name either, 
 for, faith, if he had n't his paw on it it might have gone in 
 law, like the rest of the property. However, down I went 
 there, and only remembered on the evening of my arrival 
 that I had ordered my gamekeeper to poison the mountain 
 to get rid of the poachers ; so that, instead of shooting, — 
 which, as I said before, was all you could do in the place, 
 — there I was, with three brace of dogs, two guns, and 
 powder enough to blow up a church, walking a big dining- 
 parlor all alone by myself, as melancholy as may be. 
 
 "You may judge how happy I was, looking out upon the 
 bleak country-side, with nothing to amuse me except when 
 now and then the roof of some cabin or other would turn 
 upside down, like an umbrella, or watching an old wind-mill 
 
THE DEVIL'S GRIP. 241 
 
 that had gone clean mad, and went round at such a pace 
 that nobody dare go near it. All this was poor comfort. 
 However, I got out of temper with the place ; and so I 
 sat down, and wrote a long advertisement for the English 
 papers, describing the Devil's Grip as a little terrestrial 
 paradise, in the midst of picturesque scenery, a delightful 
 neighborhood, and an Arcadian peasantry, — the whole to 
 be parted with (a dead bargain) as the owner was about to 
 leave the country. I did n't add that he had some thought 
 of blowing his brains out with sheer disgust of his family 
 residence. I wound up the whole with a paragraph to the 
 effect, that, if not disposed of within the month, the pro- 
 prietor would break it up into small farms. I said this be- 
 cause I intended to remain so long there ; and although I 
 knew no purchaser would treat after he saw the premises, 
 yet still some one might be fool enough to come over and 
 look at them, and even that would help me to pass the 
 Christmas. My calculation turned out correct ; for before 
 a week was over a letter reached me, stating that a Mr. 
 Green, of No. 196 High Holborn, would pay me a visit as 
 soon as the weather moderated and permitted him to travel. 
 If he waits for that, thought I, he '11 not find me here ; and 
 if it blows as hard for the next week he '11 not find the 
 house either ; so I mixed another tumbler of punch, and 
 hummed myself to sleep with the ' Battle of Boss.' 
 
 " It was about four or five evenings after I received this 
 letter that old Dan M'Cormick, — a kind of butler I have, 
 a handy fellow ; he was a steward for ten years in the Holy- 
 head packet, — burst into the room about ten o'clock, when 
 I was disputing with myself whether I took six tumblers or 
 seven : I said one, the decanter said the other. 
 
 " < It 's blowing terrible, Mr. Bob,' said Dan. 
 
 " ' Let it blow ! What else has it to do ? ' 
 
 " ' The trees is tumbling about as if the}' was drunk ; there 
 won't be one left before morn.' 
 
 " ' They 're right,' says I, ' to leave that ; for the soil was 
 never kind for planting.' 
 
 " ' Two of the chimneys is down,' says he. 
 
 VOL. I. — 16 
 
242 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " ' Devil mend them ! ' said I ; ' they were always 
 smoking.' 
 
 " ' And the hall-door/ cried he, < is blown flat into the 
 hall.' 
 
 " ' It 's little I care,' said I ; ' if it could n't keep out the 
 sheriff it may let in the storm, if it pleases.' 
 
 " ' Murther ! murther ! ' said he, wringing his hands, ' I 
 wish we were at say ! It 's a cruel thing to have one's life 
 perilled this way.' 
 
 " "While we were talking, a gossoon burst into the room 
 with the news that the Milford packet had just gone ashore 
 somewhere below the Hook Tower, — adding, as is always 
 the case on such occasions, that they were all drowned. 
 
 " I jumped up at this, put on my shooting-shoes, buttoned 
 up my frieze coat, and, followed by Dan, took a short cut 
 over the hills towards Passage, where I now found the 
 packet had been driven in. Before we had gone half a 
 mile I heard the voices of some country people coming up 
 the road towards me ; but it was so dark you could n't see 
 your hand. 
 
 " < Who 's there ? ' said I. 
 
 " < Tim Molloy, your honor,' was the answer. 
 
 " ' What 's the matter, Tim ? ' said I. ' Is there anything 
 wrong ? ' 
 
 " ' Nothing, sir, glory be to God ! It 's only the corpse of 
 the gentleman that was drowned there below.' 
 
 " ' I ain't dead, I tell you ; I 'm only faint,' called out a 
 shrill voice. 
 
 " ' He says he 's better,' said Tim ; ' and maybe it 's only 
 the salt water that's in him; and, faix, when we found him, 
 there was no more spark in him than in a wet sod.' 
 
 "Well, the short of it was, we brought him up to the 
 house, rubbed him with gunpowder before the fire, gave 
 him about half a pint of burnt spirits, and put him to 
 bed, — he being just able to tell me, as he was dropping 
 asleep, that he was my friend from No. 196 High Holborn. 
 
 " The next morning I sent up Dan to ask how he was, and 
 he came down with the news that he was fast asleep. ' The 
 
THE DEVIL'S GRIP. 243 
 
 best thing he could do,' said I ; and I began to think over 
 what a mighty load it would have been upon my conscience 
 if the decent man had been drowned. ' For, maybe, after 
 all,' thought I, ' he is in earnest ; maybe he wished to buy 
 a beautiful place like that I have described in the papers ; ' 
 and so I began to relent, and wonder with myself how I 
 could make the country pleasant for him during his stay. 
 ' It '11 not be above a day or two at farthest, particularly 
 after he sees the place. Ay, there 's the rub ; the poor 
 devil will find out then that I have been hoaxing him.' 
 This kept fretting me all day ; and I was continually send- 
 ing up word to know if he was awake, and the answer always 
 was — still sleeping. 
 
 " Well, about four o'clock, as it was growing dark, Oakley 
 of the Fifth and two of his brother-officers came bowling up 
 to the door, on their way to Carrick. Here was a piece of 
 luck! So we got dinner ready for the party, brought a 
 good store of claret at one side of the fireplace, and a plenti- 
 ful stock of bog-fir at the other, and resolved to make a 
 night of it; and just as I was describing to my friends 
 the arrival of my guest above stairs, who should enter the 
 room but himself. He was a round little fellow, about my 
 size, with a short, quick, business-like way about him. In- 
 deed, he was a kind of a dry-salter, or something of that 
 nature, in London ; had made a large fortune, and wished 
 to turn country gentleman. I had onty time to learn these 
 few particulars, and to inform him that he was at that mo- 
 ment in the mansion he had come to visit, when dinner was 
 announced. 
 
 " Down we sat ; and, faith, a jollier party rarely met 
 together. Poor Mr. Green knew but little of Ireland, but 
 we certainly tried to enlighten him ; and he drank in won- 
 ders with his wine at such a rate that by eleven o'clock he 
 was carried to his room, pretty much in the same state as 
 on his arrival the night before, — the only difference being, 
 it was Sneyd, not salt-water, this time that filled him. 
 
 " < I like the cockney,' said Oakley ; ' that fellow 's good 
 fun. I say, Bob, bring him over with you to-morrow to 
 
244 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 dinner. We halt at Carrick till the detachment comes 
 up.' 
 
 " ' Could you call it breakfast ? ' said I. ' There 's a 
 thought just strikes me : we '11 be over in Carrick with 
 you about six o'clock ; we '11 have our breakfast, whatever 
 you like to give us, and dine with you about eleven or 
 twelve afterwards.' 
 
 "Oakley liked the project well; and before we parted the 
 whole thing was arranged for the next day. 
 
 " Towards four o'clock in the afternoon of the following 
 day Mr. Green was informed by Daniel, that, as we had 
 made an engagement to take an early breakfast some miles 
 off, he ought to be up and stirring ; at the same time a pair 
 of candles were brought into the room, hot water for shav- 
 ing, etc., and the astonished cockney, who looked at his 
 watch, perceived that it was but four. 
 
 " ' These are very early people,' thought he. ' However, 
 the habits of the country must be complied with.' So say- 
 ing, he proceeded with his toilette, and at last reached the 
 drawing-room just as my drag dashed up to the door, the 
 lamps fixed and shining, and everything in readiness for 
 departure. 
 
 '"We '11 have a little shooting, Mr. Green,' said I. 'After 
 breakfast, we '11 see what my friend's preserves offer. I 
 suppose you 're a good shot ? ' 
 
 " ' I can't say much for my performance ; but I 'm pas. 
 sionately fond of it.' 
 
 " ' Well,' added I, ' I believe I can answer for it you '11 
 have a good day here.' 
 
 " So chatting, we rolled along, the darkness gradually 
 thickening round us, and the way becoming more gloomy 
 and deserted. 
 
 " ' It 's strange,' says Mr. Green, after a while, — ' it 's 
 strange, how very dark it grows before sun-rise ; for I per- 
 ceive it 's much blacker now than when we set out.' 
 
 "'Every climate has its peculiarities,' said I; 'and now 
 that we 're used to this, we like it better than any other. 
 But see there, yonder, where you observe the light in the 
 
THE DEVIL'S GRIP. 245 
 
 valley, — that 's Carriek. My friend's house is a little at 
 
 the side of the town. I hope you 've a good appetite for 
 
 breakfast.' 
 
 " ' Trust me ! I never felt so hungry in my life.' 
 
 " ' Ah^ here they come ! ' said Oakley, as he stood with a 
 
 lantern in his hand at the barrack-gate ; ' here they are ! 
 
 Good morning, Mr. Green. Bob, how goes it ? Heavenly 
 
 morning 
 
 p 
 
 " < Delightful, indeed,' said poor Green, though evidently 
 not knowing why. 
 
 " ' Come along, boys, now,' said Oakley ; ' we 've a great 
 deal before us, — though I am afraid, Mr. Green, you will 
 think little of our Irish sporting after your English pre- 
 serves. However, I have kept a few brace of pheasants, 
 very much at your service, in a snug clover-field near the 
 house. So now to breakfast.' 
 
 " There were about half-a-dozen of the Fifth at that time 
 in the barrack, who all entered heart and hand into the 
 scheme ; and with them we sat down to a capital meal, 
 which, if it was not for a big tea-pot and an urn that figured 
 in the middle of the table, might very well have been called 
 dinner. Poor Mr. Green, who for old prejudice' sake began 
 with his congo and a muffin, soon afterwards, and by an easy 
 transition, glided into soup and fish, and went the pace with 
 the rest of us. The claret began to circulate briskly, and 
 after a couple of hours the whiskey made its appearance. 
 The Englishman, whose attention was never suffered to 
 flag with singular anecdotes of a country whose eccentrici- 
 ties he already began to appreciate, enjoyed himself to the 
 utmost. He laughed, he drank, he even proposed to sing ; 
 and with one hand on Oakley's shoulder, and the other on 
 mine, he registered a vow to purchase an estate and spend 
 the rest of his days in Ireland. It was now about eleven 
 o'clock, when I proposed that we should have a couple of 
 hours at the woodcocks before luncheon. 
 
 "'Ah, yes,' said Green, rubbing his hands, 'let us not 
 forget the shooting. I 'm passionately fond of sport.' 
 
 "It took some time to caparison ourselves for the field. 
 
246 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 Shot-bags, flasks, and powder-horns were distributed about, 
 while three brace of dogs caracoled round the room and in- 
 creased the uproar. We now sallied forth. It was a dark 
 and starless night, the wind still blowing a hurricane from 
 the northeast, and not a thing to be seen two yards from 
 where you stood. 
 
 " ' Glorious weather ! ' said Oakley. 
 
 " ' A delicious morning ! ' cried another. ' When those 
 clouds blow over we shall have no rain.' 
 
 " ' That 's a fine line of country, Mr. Green,' said I. 
 
 " ' Eh ! what ? A fine what ? I can see nothing ; it 's 
 pitch dark.' 
 
 " ' Ah, I forgot,' said I. ' How stupid we were, Oakley, 
 not to remember that Mr. Green was not used to our cli- 
 mate ! We can see everything, you know ; but come along, 
 you '11 get better by-and-by.' 
 
 " With this we hurried him down a lane, through a 
 hedge, and into a ploughed field ; while on every side of 
 him pop, pop, went the guns, accompanied by exclamations 
 of enthusiastic pleasure and delight. 
 
 " ' There they go — mark ! That 's yours, Tom ! Well 
 done — cock pheasant, by Jove ! Here, Mr. Green ! this 
 way, Mr. Green ! that dog is pointing — there, there ! don't 
 you see there ? ' said I, almost lifting the gun to his shoul- 
 der, while poor Mr. Green, almost in a panic of excitement 
 and trepidation, pulled both triggers, and nearly fell back 
 with the recoil. 
 
 " ' Splendid shot, begad ! — killed both,' said Oakley. 
 ' Ah, Mr. Green, we have no chance with you ! Give him 
 another gun at once.' 
 
 " ' I should like a little brandy,' said Mr. Green, < for my 
 feet are wet.' 
 
 " I gave him my flask, which he emptied at a pull ; while 
 at the same time, animated with fresh vigor, he tramped 
 manfully forward without fear or dread. The firing still 
 continued hotly around us ; and as Mr. Green discharged 
 his piece whenever he was bid, we calculated that in about 
 an hour and a half he had fired above a hundred and fifty 
 

 
OF TyE <^ 
 
 OF 
 
THE DEVIL'S GRIP. 247 
 
 times. Wearied and fatigued by his exertions, at length he 
 sat down upon a bank ; while one of the game-keepers 
 covered the ground about him with ducks, hens, and turkey- 
 cocks, as the spoils of his exertions. 
 
 "At Oakley's proposal we now agreed to go back to 
 luncheon, which I need not tell you was a hot supper, 
 followed by mulled claret and more punch. Here the cock- 
 ney came out still better than before. His character as a 
 sportsman raised him in his own esteem, and he sang ' The 
 Poacher' for two hours, until he fell fast asleep on the car- 
 pet. He was then conveyed to bed, where, as on the 
 former day, he slept till late in the afternoon. 
 
 " Meanwhile, I had arranged another breakfast-party at 
 Ross, where we arrived about seven o'clock in the evening, 
 — and so on for the rest of the week, occasionally varying 
 the amusement by hunting, fishing, or coursing. 
 
 " At last poor Mr. Green, when called on one morning to 
 dress, sent down Dan with his compliments that he wished 
 to speak to me. T went to him at once, and found him 
 sitting up in his bed. 
 
 " ' Ah, Mr. Mahon,' said he, ' this will never do : it's a 
 pleasant life, no doubt, but I never could go on with it. 
 Will you tell me one thing, — do you never see the sun 
 here ? ' 
 
 " ' Oh, bless you ! yes,' said I ; ' repeatedly. He was out 
 for two hours on last Patrick's day ; and we have him 
 now and then, promiscuously ! ' 
 
 " ' How very strange, how very remarkable,' said he, with 
 a sigh, ' that we in England should know so little of all 
 this ! But, to tell you the truth, I don't think I ever could 
 get used to Lapland — it 's Ireland I mean ; I beg your 
 pardon for the mistake. And now may I ask you another 
 question, — is this the way you always live?' 
 
 " ' Why, pretty much in this fashion ; during the hazy 
 season we go about to one another's houses, as you see; 
 and one gets so accustomed to the darkness — ' 
 
 " ' Ah, now, don't tell me that ! T know I never could, — 
 it 's no use my trying it. I 'm used to the daylight ; I have 
 
248 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 seen it, man and boy, for above fifty years, and I never 
 could grope about this way. Not but that I am very grate- 
 ful to you for all your hospitality; but I had rather go 
 home.' 
 
 " ' You '11 wait for morning, at all events,' said I ; ' you 
 will not leave the house in the dead of the night ? ' 
 
 " < Oh, indeed, for the matter of that it does n't signify 
 much; night and day is much about the same thing in 
 this country.' 
 
 "And so he grew obstinate, and, notwithstanding all I 
 could say, insisted on his departure ; and the same evening 
 he sailed from the quay of Waterford, wishing me every 
 health and happiness, while he added, with a voice of 
 trembling earnestness, — 
 
 " ' Yes, Mr. Mahon, — pardon me if I am wrong, — but 
 I wish to heaven you had a little more light in Ireland ! ' " 
 
 I am unable to say how far the good things of Major 
 Mahon's table seasoned the story I have just related ; but I 
 confess I laughed at it loud and long, — a testimony on 
 my part which delighted the major's heart ; for, like all 
 anecdote-mongers, he was not indifferent to flattery. 
 
 " The moral particularly pleases me," said I. 
 
 " Ah, but the whole thing 's true as I am here. Whisht ! 
 there 's somebody at the door. Come in, whoever you are." 
 
 At these words the door cautiously opened, and a boy of 
 about twelve years of age entered. He carried a bundle 
 under one arm, and held a letter in his hand. 
 
 " Oh, here it is," said Father Tom. " Come here, Patsey, 
 my boy ; here 's the penny I promised you. There, now, 
 don't make a bad use of your money." 
 
 The little fellow's eyes brightened, and with a happy 
 smile and a pull of his forelock for a bow left the room 
 delighted. 
 
 " Twelve miles — ay, and long miles too — in less than 
 three hours ! Not bad travelling, Captain, for a bit of a 
 gossoon like that." 
 
 "And for a penny," said I, almost startled with surprise. 
 
THE DEVIL'S GRIP. 249 
 
 " To be sure," said the priest, as he cut the cord of the 
 package, and opened it on the table. " Here we are, as 
 nate a jacket as ever I set my eyes on, green and white, 
 with a cap of the same." So saying, he unfolded the 
 racing-costume, which, by the desire of both parties, I was 
 obliged immediately to try on. "There now," resumed he; 
 " turn about ; it fits you like your skin." 
 
 " It looks devilish well, upon my word," said the major. 
 "Put on the cap; and see, too, he has sent a whip, — that 
 was very thoughtful of Dillon. But what's this letter 
 here ? — for you, I think, Mr. Hinton." 
 
 The letter was in a lady's hand; I broke the seal, and 
 read as follows : — 
 
 Mount Brown, Wednesday Evening. 
 
 Dear Sir, — My Uncle Dillon requests that you will give us the 
 pleasure of your company to dinner to-morrow, at six o'clock. I 
 have taken the liberty to tell him, that, as we are old acquaintances, 
 you will perhaps kindly overlook his not having visited you to-day ; 
 and I shall feel happy if by accepting the invitation, you will sustain 
 my credit on this occasion. 
 
 He desires me to add that the racing-jacket, etc., are most perfectly 
 at your service, as well as any articles of horse-gear you may be in 
 want of. 
 
 Believe me, dear sir, truly yours, 
 
 Lousia Bellew. 
 
 A thrill of pleasure ran through me as I read these lines ; 
 and notwithstanding my efforts to conceal my emotion from 
 my companions, they but too plainly saw the excitement 
 I felt. 
 
 " Something agreeable there ! You don't look, Mr. Hin- 
 ton, as if that were a latitat or a bill of costs you were 
 reading." 
 
 " Not exactly," said I, laughing. " It is an invitation to 
 dinner from Mount Brown, — wherever that may be." 
 
 "The best house in the county," said the major; "and a 
 good fellow he is, Hugh Dillon. When is it for ? " 
 
 "To-morrow at six." 
 
 " Well, if he has not asked me to meet you, I '11 invite 
 myself, and we '11 go over together." 
 
250 JACK HIXTOX, THE GUAKDSMAX. 
 
 "Agreed," said I. "But how shall I send back the 
 answer ? " 
 
 The major promised to send his servant over with the 
 reply, which I penned at once. 
 
 "Just tell Hugh," said the major, "that I '11 join you." 
 
 I blushed, stammered, and looked confused. " I am not 
 writing to Mr. Dillon," said I, "for the invitation came 
 through a lady of the family, Miss Bellew, — his niece, I 
 believe." 
 
 "Whew!" said the major, with a long whistle. "Is it 
 there we are ! Oh, by the powers, Mr. Hinton ! that 's not 
 fair, — to come down here not only to win our money in 
 a steeple-chase, but to want to carry off the belle of our 
 country besides ! That '11 never do." 
 
 "She doesn't belong to you at all," said Father Tom; 
 " she is a parishioner of mine, and so were her father and 
 grandfather before her. And moreover than that, she is 
 the prettiest girl, and the best too, in the county she lives 
 in, — and that 's no small praise, for it 's Galway I 'm talk- 
 ing of. And now here 's a bumper to her, and who '11 
 refuse it ? " 
 
 " Not I, certainly." 
 
 "Nor I," said the major, as we drank to her health with 
 all the honors. 
 
 "Now for another jug," quoth the major, as he moved 
 towards the fireplace in search of the kettle. 
 
 " After that toast, not another drop," said I, resolutely. 
 
 "Well said!" chimed in the priest; "may I never, if 
 that was n't very Irish ! " 
 
 Firmly resisting all the major's solicitations to resume 
 my place at the table, I wished both my friends good- 
 night; and having accepted Bob Mahons offer of a seat 
 in his tax-cart to the race, I shook their hands warmly, 
 and took my leave. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE STEEPLE-CHASE. 
 
 I did not awake till past noon the next day, and had 
 only completed my dressing when Major Mahon made his 
 appearance. Having pronounced my costume accurate, and 
 suggested that instead of carrying my racing-cap in my hat 
 I should tie the string round my neck and let it hang down 
 in front, he assisted me on with my great coat, in which, 
 notwithstanding that the season was summer and the day 
 a hot one, he buttoned me up to the chin and down to the 
 knees. 
 
 " There, now," said he, " you look mighty like the thing. 
 Where 's your whip ? We have no time to lose, so jump 
 into the tax-cart, and let us be off." 
 
 As my reader may remember, the race-ground lay about a 
 mile from the town ; but the road thither, unlike the peace- 
 ful quiet of the preceding night, was now thronged with 
 people on foot and horseback. Vehicles, too, of every 
 description were there. Barouches and landaus, hack- 
 chaises, buggies, and jaunting-cars, whiskys, noddies, and 
 in fact every species of conveyance pronounced capable 
 of rolling upon its wheels, were put into requisition. Nor 
 was the turn-out of cavalry of a character less mixed. 
 Horses of every shape and color, — some fat from grass ; 
 others lean, like anatomical specimens : old and young, 
 rich and poor; the high-sheriff of the county, with his 
 flashy four-in-hand ; the mendicant on his crutches, — all 
 pressed eagerly forward ; and as I surveyed the motley 
 mass I felt what pleasure I could take in the scene were 
 I not engaged as a principal performer. 
 
252 JACK HINTON, THE GUAKDSMAN. 
 
 On reaching the course we found it already occupied by 
 numerous brilliant equipages and a strong cavalcade of 
 horsemen ; of these the greater number were well mounted, 
 and amused themselves and the by-standers by leaping the 
 various fences around, — a species of pastime which occa- 
 sionally afforded food for laughter, many a soiled coat and 
 broken hat attesting the color and consistence of the clayey 
 ground. There were also refreshment-booths ; stalls for 
 gaming on a humble scale ; tables laid out with beer, hard 
 eggs, and gingerbread, — in a word, all the ordinary and ex- 
 traordinary preparations which accompany any great assem- 
 blage of people whose object is amusement. 
 
 A temporary railing of wood, rudely and hastily put to- 
 gether, enclosed a little space reserved as a weighing-stand ; 
 here the stewards of the course were assembled, along with 
 " the dons " of the country ; and into this privileged sanc- 
 tum was I introduced by the major, in due form. All eyes 
 were turned on me as I entered ; and whether from the 
 guardianship of him who acted as my chaperon, or that the 
 costume of my coat and overalls had propitiated their favor, 
 I cannot say ; but somehow I felt that there was more cour- 
 tesy in their looks, and an air of greater civility in their 
 bearing, than I had remarked the preceding day at the 
 town hall. True, these were for the most part men of bet- 
 ter stamp, the real gentry of the country, who, devotedly 
 attached to field-sports, had come, not as betting characters, 
 but to witness a race. Several of them took off their hats 
 as I approached, and saluted me with politeness. While 
 returning their courtesy, I felt my arm gently touched, and 
 on looking around perceived Mr. Dillon, of Mount Brown, 
 who, with a look of most cordial greeting and an outstretched 
 hand, presented himself before me. 
 
 " You '11 dine with us, Mr. Hinton, I hope ? " said he. 
 " No apology, pray. You shall not lose the ball, for my 
 girls insist on going to it ; so that we can all come in to- 
 gether. There, now, that is settled. Will you permit me 
 to introduce you to a few of my friends ? Here 's Mr. Barry 
 Connolly wishes much to know you. You'll pardon me, 
 
THE STEEPLE-CHASE. 253 
 
 Mr. Hinton, but your name is so familiar to me through my 
 niece, I forget that we are not old acquaintances." 
 
 So saying, the little man took my arm and led me about 
 through the crowd, introducing me right and left. Of the 
 names, the rank, and the residences of my new friends I 
 knew as much as I did of the domestic arrangements of the 
 King of Congo ; but one thing I can vouch for, — more un- 
 bounded civility and hospitable attention never did man 
 receive. One gentleman begged me to spend a few days 
 with him at his shooting-lodge in the mountains ; another 
 wanted to make up a coursing-party for me ; a third volun- 
 teered to mount me if I 'd come down in the hunting-season. 
 One and all gave me most positive assurance that if I re- 
 mained in the country I should neither lack bed nor board 
 for many a day to come. 
 
 But a few days before, and in my ignorance, I had set 
 down this same class as rude, underbred, and uncivilized ; 
 and had I left the country on the preceding evening I should 
 have carried away my prejudices with me. The bare imi- 
 tation of his better that the squireen presents was the source 
 of this blunder ; the spurious currency had, by its false glit- 
 ter, deteriorated the sterling coin in my esteem ; but now I 
 could detect the counterfeit from the genuine metal. 
 
 " The ladies are on this side," said Mr. Dillon. " Shall 
 we make our bow to them ? " 
 
 " You '11 not have time, Dillon," said a friend who over- 
 heard his remark ; " here come the horses." 
 
 As he spoke, a distant cheer rose from the bottom of the 
 hill, which, gradually taken up by those nearer, grew louder 
 and louder, till it filled the very air. 
 
 " What is it ? " said I, eagerly. 
 
 " It 's < Jug of Punch,' " said a person beside me. " The 
 mare was bred in the neighborhood, and excites a great in- 
 terest among the country people." 
 
 The crowd now fell back rapidly, and Mr. Burke, seated 
 in a high tandem, dashed up to the weighing-stand, and 
 giving the reins to his servant sprang to the ground. His 
 costume was a loose coat of course drab cloth, beset on 
 
254 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 every side by pockets of various shapes and dimensions ; 
 long gaiters of the same material encased his legs ; and the 
 memorable white hat, set most rakishly on his head, com- 
 pleted his equipment. 
 
 Scarcely had he put foot to the ground when he was sur- 
 rounded by a number of his obsequious followers ; but pay- 
 ing little or no attention to their proffered civilities, he 
 brushed rudely through them, and walked straight up to 
 where I was standing. There was an air of swaggering in- 
 solence in his manner which could not be mistaken ; and I 
 could mark, that, in the sidelong glance he threw about him, 
 he intended that our colloquy should be for the public ear. 
 Nodding familiarly, while he touched his hat with one fin- 
 ger, he addressed me : — 
 
 "Good morning, sir; I am happy to have met you so 
 soon. There is a report that we are to have no race : may 
 I ask you if there be any ground for it ? " 
 
 " Not so far as I am concerned," replied I, in a tone of 
 quiet indifference. 
 
 " At least," resumed he, " there would seem some color 
 for the rumor. Your horse is not here ; I understand he 
 has not left the stable ; and your groom is among the crowd 
 below. I only asked the question, as it affects my betting- 
 book; there are doubtless here many gentlemen among 
 your friends who would wish to back you." 
 
 This was said with an air of sneering mockery so palpa- 
 ble as to call forth an approving titter from the throng of 
 satellites at his back. 
 
 Without deigning any reply to his observation, I whis- 
 pered a few words to the major, who at once, taking a horse 
 from a farmer, threw himself into the saddle and cantered 
 off to the mill. . 
 
 "In fifteen minutes the time will be up," said Mr. 
 Burke, producing his watch. " Is n't that so, Dillon ? 
 You are the judge here." 
 
 " Perfectly correct," replied the little man, with a hasty, 
 confused manner that showed me in what awe he stood of 
 his redoubted relative. 
 
THE STEEPLE-CHASE. 255 
 
 " Then in that time I shall call on you to give the word 
 to start; for I believe the conditions require me to ride 
 over the course, with or without a competitor." 
 
 So saying, Mr. Burke proceeded leisurely to unbutton his 
 great-coat, which, with the assistance of his friends, he 
 drew off ; two sedulous familiars were meanwhile unbutton- 
 ing his gaiters, and in a few seconds he stood forth what 
 even my most prejudiced judgment could not deny, — the 
 very beau ideal of a gentleman rider. His jacket, of black- 
 and-yellow, bore the stains of more than one race ; but his 
 whole carriage, not less than his costume, looked like one 
 who felt every inch the jockey. His mare was led within 
 the ropes to be saddled, — a proceeding conducted under 
 his own eye, and every step of which he watched with criti- 
 cal nicety. This done, he sat down upon a bench, and, 
 with watch in hand, seemed to count the minutes as they 
 flew past. 
 
 " Here we are ! here we are ! all right, Hinton ! " shouted 
 the major, as he galloped up the hill. "Jump into the 
 scale, my lad ; your saddle is beside you. Don't lose a 
 moment." 
 
 " Yes, off with your coat," said another, " and jump in ! " 
 
 Divesting myself of my outer garments with a speed not 
 second to that of Mr. Burke, I took my saddle under my 
 arm, and seated myself in the scale. The groom fortu- 
 nately had left nothing to a moment, and my saddle being 
 leaded to the required weight, the operation took not a 
 minute. 
 
 " Saddle now as quickly as you can," whispered Dillon ; 
 " for Burke, being overweight, won't get into the scale." 
 
 While he was yet speaking the gallant gray was led in, 
 covered with clothing from head to tail. 
 
 " All was quite right," said Mahon, in a low whisper ; 
 "your horse won't bear a crowd, and the groom kept him 
 stabled to the last moment. You are in luck besides," con- 
 tinued he ; " they say he is in a good temper this morning, 
 and, indeed, he walked up from the mill as gently as a 
 lamb." 
 
256 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " Mount, gentlemen ! " cried Mr. Dillon, as, with watch 
 in hand, he ascended a little platform in front of the 
 weighing-stand. 
 
 I had but time to throw one glance at my horse, when 
 the major gave me his hand to lift me into the saddle. 
 
 " After you, sir," said Mr. Burke, with a mock politeness, 
 as he drew back to permit me to pass out first. 
 
 I touched my horse gently with the snaffle, but he stood 
 stock still; I essayed again, but with no better success. 
 The place was too crowded to permit of any attempt to 
 bully him, so I once more tried gentle means. It was of no 
 use ; he stood rooted to the ground. Before I could deter- 
 mine what next to do, Mahon sprang forward and took him 
 by the head, when the animal walked quietly forward 
 without a show of restiveness. 
 
 " He 's a droll devil," said the groom, " and in one of his 
 odd humors this morning ; for that 's what I never saw him 
 do before." 
 
 I could see as I passed out that this little scene, short as 
 it was, had not impressed the by-standers with any exalted 
 notion of my horsemanship ; for although there was noth- 
 ing actually to condemn, my first step did not seem to 
 augur well. Having led me forth before the stand, the 
 major pointed with his finger to the line of country before 
 me, and was repeating the priest's injunctions, when Mr. 
 Burke rode up to my side, and, with a smile of very 
 peculiar meaning, said, — 
 
 " Are you ready now, sir ? " 
 
 I nodded assent. The major let go the bridle. 
 
 " We are all ready, Dillon ! " cried Burke, turning in his 
 saddle. 
 
 " All ready ! " repeated Dillon ; "then away ! " 
 
 As he spoke, the bell rang, and off we went. 
 
 For about thirty yards we cantered side by side, the gray 
 horse keeping stroke with the other, and not betraying the 
 slightest evidence of bad temper. Whatever my own sur- 
 prise, the amazement of Burke was beyond all bounds. He 
 turned completely round in his saddle to look, and I could 
 
THE STEEPLE-CHASE. 257 
 
 see in the workings of his features the distrustful expres- 
 sion of one who suspected he had been duped. Meanwhile, 
 the cheers of the vast multitude pealed high on every side ; 
 and as the thought flashed across me that I might still 
 acquit myself with credit, my courage rose, and I gripped 
 my saddle with double energy. 
 
 At the foot of the slope there was, as I have already 
 mentioned, a small fence ; towards this we were now ap- 
 proaching at the easy sling of a hand-gallop, when suddenly 
 Burke's features — which I watched from time to time with 
 intense anxiety — changed their expression of doubt and 
 suspicion for a look of triumphant malice. Putting spurs 
 to his horse, he sprang a couple of lengths in advance, and 
 rode madly at the fence ; the gray stretched out to follow, 
 and already was I preparing for the leap, when Burke, who 
 had now reached the fence, suddenly swerved his horse 
 round, and, affecting to balk, cantered back towards the 
 hill. The manoeuvre was perfectly successful. My horse, 
 who up to that moment was going on well, threw his fore- 
 legs far out, and came to a dead stop. In an instant the 
 trick was palpable to my senses ; and in the heat of my 
 passion I dashed in both spurs, and endeavored to lift him 
 by the rein. Scarcely had I done so, when, as if the very 
 ground beneath had jerked us upwards, he sprang into 
 the air, dashing his head forward between the fore-legs 
 and throwing up his haunches behind, till I thought we 
 should come clean over in the summersault. I kept my 
 seat, however; and thinking that boldness alone could 
 do at such a moment, I only waited till he reached the 
 ground, when I again drove the spurs up to the rowels in 
 his flanks. With a snort of passion he bounded madly 
 up, and pawing the air for some moments with his fore- 
 legs, lit upon the earth, panting with rage and trembling 
 in every limb. 
 
 The shouts which now filled my ears seemed but like 
 
 mockery and derision ; and stung almost to madness, I 
 
 fixed myself in my seat, pulled my cap upon my brows, and 
 
 with clinched teeth gathered up the reins to renew the 
 
 vol. i. — 17 
 
258 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 conflict. There was a pause now for a few seconds ; both 
 horse and man seemed to feel that there was a deadly strife 
 before them, and each seemed to collect his energy for the 
 blow. The moment came ; and driving in the spurs with 
 all my force, I struck him with the whip between the ears. 
 With something like a yell, the savage animal sprang into 
 the air, writhing his body like a fish. Bound after bound 
 he made, as though goaded on to madness ; and at length, 
 after several fruitless efforts to unseat me, he dashed 
 straight upwards, struck out with his fore-legs, poised for 
 a second or two, and then with a crash fell back upon me, 
 rolling me to the ground, bruised, stunned, and senseless. 
 
 How long this state lasted I cannot tell ; but when half 
 consciousness returned to me, I found myself standing in 
 the field, my head reeling with the shock, my clothes torn 
 and ragged. My horse was standing beside me, with some 
 one at his head; while another, whose voice I thought I 
 could recognize, called out, — 
 
 " Get up, man, get up ! you '11 do the thing well yet. 
 There, don't lose time." 
 
 " No, no," said another voice, " it 's a shame. The poor 
 fellow is half killed already; and there, don't you see, 
 Burke 's at the second fence ! " 
 
 Thus much I heard, amid the confusion around me ; but 
 more I know not. The next moment I was in the saddle, 
 with only sense enough left to feel reckless to desperation. 
 I cried out to leave the way, and turned towards the fence. 
 A tremendous cut of a whip fell upon the horse's quarter 
 from some one behind; and, like a shell from a mortar, he 
 sprang wildly out. With one fly he cleared the fence, 
 dashed across the field, and before I was firm in my seat 
 was over the second ditch. Burke had barely time to look 
 round him ere I had passed. He knew that the horse was 
 away with me, but he also knew his bottom, and that if I 
 could but keep my saddle the chances were now in my 
 favor. 
 
 Then commenced a terrible struggle. In advance of him, 
 about four lengths, I took everything before me, my horse 
 
THE STEEPLE-CHASE. 259 
 
 flying straight as an arrow. I dared not turn my head, but 
 I could mark that Burke was making every effort to get be- 
 fore me. We were now approaching a tall hedge, beyond 
 which lay the deep ground of which the priest had already 
 spoken. So long as the fences presented nothing of height, 
 the tremendous pace I was going was all in my favor ; but 
 now there was fully five feet of a hedge standing before me. 
 Unable to collect himself, my horse came with his full 
 force against it, and chesting the tangled branches, fell 
 head-foremost into the field. Springing to my legs un- 
 hurt, I lifted him at once ; but ere I could remount, 
 Burke came bounding over the hedge and lit safely beside 
 me. With a grin of malice he turned one look towards 
 me, and dashed on. 
 
 For some seconds my horse was so stunned he could 
 scarcely move, and as I pressed him forward, the heavy 
 action of his shoulder and his drooping head almost bid me 
 to despair. By degrees, however, he warmed up and got 
 into his stride. Before me, and nearly a hundred yards in 
 advance, rode Burke, still keeping up his pace, but skirting 
 the head-lands to my right. I saw now the force of the 
 priest's remark, that were I to take a straight line through 
 the deep ground the race was still in my favor. But dare I 
 do so with a horse so dead beat as mine was ? The thought 
 was quick as lightning ; it was my only chance to win, and 
 I resolved to take it. Plunging into the soft and marshy 
 ground before me, I fixed my eye upon the blue flag that 
 marked the course. At this moment Burke turned and saw 
 me, and I could perceive that he immediately slackened his 
 pace. Yes, thought I, he thinks I am pounded, but it is 
 not come to that yet ; in fact, my horse was improving at 
 every stride, and although the ground was trying, his breed- 
 ing began to tell, and I could feel that he had plenty of 
 running still in him. Affecting, however, to lift him at 
 every stroke, and seeming to labor to help him through, I 
 induced Burke to hold in until I gradually crept up to the 
 fence before he was within several lengths of it. The gray 
 no sooner caught sight of the wall than he pricked up his 
 
260 JACK HIXTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 ears and rushed towards it ; with a vigorous lift I popped 
 him over, without touching a stone. Burke followed in 
 splendid style, and in an instant was alongside of me. 
 
 Now began the race in right earnest. The cunning of his 
 craft could avail him little here, except as regarded the su- 
 perior management of his own horse ; so Burke, abandon- 
 ing every ruse, rode manfully on. As for me, my courage 
 rose at every moment ; and so far from feeling any fear, I 
 only wished that the fences were larger, and like a gambler 
 who would ruin his adversary at one throw, I would have 
 taken a precipice if he pledged himself to follow. For some 
 fields we rode within a few yards of each other, side by side, 
 each man lifting his horse at the same moment to his leap, 
 and alighting with the same shock beyond it. Already our 
 heads were turned homewards, and I could mark on the 
 distant hill the far-off crowds whose echoing shouts came 
 floating towards us. But one fence of any consequence re- 
 mained ; that was the large gripe that formed the last of the 
 race. We had cleared a low stone wall, and now entered 
 the field that led to the great leap. It was evident that 
 Burke's horse, both from being spared the shocks that mine 
 had met with, and from his better riding, was the fresher 
 of the two ; we had neither of us, however, much to boast 
 of on that score, and perhaps at a calmer moment would 
 have little fancied facing such a leap as that before us. It 
 was evident that the first over must win ; and as each man 
 measured the other's stride, the intense anxiety of the mo- 
 ment nearly rose to madness. 
 
 From the instant of entering the field I had marked out 
 with my eye where I meant to take the leap. Burke had 
 evidently done this also ; and we now slightly diverged, 
 each to his allotted spot. The pace was awful. All thought 
 of danger lost or forgotten, we came nearer and nearer with 
 knitted brow and clinched lip, — I, the first. Already I 
 was on the side ; with a loud cry and a cut of my whip I 
 rose my horse to it. The noble beast sprang forward ; but 
 his strength was spent, and he fell downwards on his head. 
 Recovering him without losing my seat, I scrambled up the 
 
THE STEEPLE-CHASE. 261 
 
 opposite bank and looked round. Burke, who had pressed 
 the pace so hotly before, had only done so to blow my horse 
 and break him down at his leap ; and I saw him now ap- 
 proaching the fence with his mare fully in hand, and her 
 haunches well under her. Unable to move forward save at a 
 walk, I turned in my saddle to watch him. He came boldly 
 to the brink of the fence ; his hand was up prepared to 
 strike; already the mare was collecting herself for the 
 effort, when from the bottom of the gripe a figure sprang 
 wildly up, and as the horse rose into the air, he jumped 
 at the bridle, pulling down both the horse and the rider 
 with a crash upon him, a loud cry of agony rising 'mid 
 the struggle. 
 
 As they disappeared from my sight I felt like one in a 
 trance. All thoughts, however, were lost in the desire to 
 win ; and collecting my energies for a last struggle, T lifted 
 the gallant gray with both hands, and by dint of spurring 
 and shaking, pressed him to a canter, and rode in, the win- 
 ner, amid the deafening cheers and cries of thousands. 
 
 " Keep back ! keep back ! " cried Mahon, restraining 
 with his whip the crowd that bore down upon me. "Hin- 
 ton, take care that no one touch your horse ; ride inside, 
 take off your saddle and get into the scale." 
 
 Moving onwards like one in a dream, I mechanically 
 obeyed the direction, while the cries and shouts around me 
 grew each moment louder and wilder. 
 
 "Here he comes ! here he comes !" shouted several voices ; 
 and Burke galloped up, and without drawing rein rode into 
 the weighing-stand. 
 
 " Foul play ! " roared he in a tone hoarse with passion. 
 " I protest against the race ! Holloa, sir ! " he shouted, turn- 
 ing towards me. 
 
 " There, there," said Mahon, as he hurried me along 
 towards the scale, "you have nothing to do with him;" 
 and at the same moment a number of others pressed eagerly 
 forward to shake my hand and wish me joy. 
 
 " Look here, Dillon," cried the major, " mark the weight : 
 twelve stone two, and two pounds over, if he wanted it. 
 
262 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 There, now,"' whispered he in a voice which though not 
 meant for my hearing I could distinctly catch, — "there, 
 now, Dillon, take him into your carriage and get him off 
 the ground as fast as you can." 
 
 Just at this instant Burke, who had been talking with 
 loud voice and violent gesticulation, burst through the 
 crowd, and stood before us. 
 
 " Do you say, Dillon, that I have lost this race ? " 
 
 " Yes, yes, to be sure ! " cried out full twenty voices. 
 
 " My question was not addressed to you, sirs," said he, 
 boiling with passion; " I ask the judge of this course, have 
 I lost ? " 
 
 " My dear Ulick — " said Dillon, in a voice scarce audible 
 from agitation. 
 
 " No cursed palaver with me ! " said he, interrupting. 
 " Lost or won, sir, — one word." 
 
 " Lost, of course," replied Dillon, with more of firmness 
 than I believed him capable. 
 
 "Well, sir," said Burke, as he turned towards me, his 
 teeth clinched with passion, " it may be some alloy to your 
 triumph to know that your accomplice 'has smashed his 
 thigh-bone in your service ; and yet I can tell you you have 
 not come to the end of this matter." 
 
 Before I could reply, Burke's friends tore him from the 
 spot and hurried him to a carriage ; while I, still more than 
 ever puzzled by the words I had heard, looked from one to 
 the other of those around for an explanation. 
 
 " Never mind, Hinton," said Mahon, as, half-breathless 
 with running, he rushed up and seized me by the hand. 
 " The poor fellow was discharging a double debt in his 
 own rude way, — gratitude on your score, vengeance on 
 his own." 
 
 " Tally-ho ! tally-ho ! Hark, there — stole away ! " shouted 
 a wild cry from without, and at the same instant four coun- 
 trymen came forward, carrying a door between them, on 
 which was stretched the pale and mangled figure of Tippe- 
 rary Joe. "A drink of water — spirits — tay — anything 
 for the love of the Virgin ! I 'm famished, and I want to 
 
THE STEEPLE-CHASE. 
 
 263 
 
 drink Captain Phil's health. Ah, darling ! " said he, as he 
 turned his filmy eyes up towards me, " did n't I do it beauti- 
 ful ; did n't I pay him off for this ? " With these words he 
 pointed to a blue welt that stretched across his face, from 
 the mouth to the ear. " He gave me that yesterday, for 
 saying long life and success to you ! " 
 
 "Oh, this is too horrible," said I, gasping for breath. 
 " My poor fellow ! and I who had treated you so harshly ! " 
 I took his hand in mine, but it was cold and clammy ; his 
 features were sunken too, — he had fainted. 
 
 "Come, Hinton," said the major, "we can do no good 
 here ; let us move down to the inn at once, and see after 
 this poor boy." 
 
 " You are coming with us, Mr. Hinton ? " cried Dillon. 
 
264 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " Not now, not now," said I, while my throat was swell- 
 ing with repressed emotion. Without suffering me to say 
 more, Mahon almost lifted me into the tax-cart, and putting 
 his horse to the gallop, dashed towards the town, the cheers 
 of the people following us as we went ; for to their wild 
 sense of justice Joe was a genuine martyr, and I shared in 
 the glory of his self-devotion. 
 
 The whole way towards Loughrea Mahon continued to 
 talk ; but not a word could I catch. My thoughts were 
 fixed on the poor fellow who had suffered for my sake ; and 
 I would have given all I possessed in the world to have 
 lost the race, and seen him safe and sound before me. 
 
 " There, there," said the major, as he shook me by the 
 arm ; " don't take it to heart this way. You know little of 
 Ireland, that 's plain ; that poor fellow will be prouder for 
 the feeling you have shown towards him this night than 
 many a king upon his throne. To have served a gentle- 
 man, to have put him under an obligation, — that has a 
 charm you can't estimate the extent of. Beware, only be- 
 ware of one thing : do not by any offer of money destroy the 
 illusion; do what you like for him, but take care of that." 
 
 We now reached the little inn ; and Mahon — for I was 
 incapable of all thought or exertion — got a room in readi- 
 ness for Joe, and summoning the doctor of the place, pro- 
 vided everything for his care and accommodation. 
 
 " Now, Hinton," said he, as he burst into my room, " all 's 
 right. Joe is comfortable in bed; the fracture turns out 
 not to be a bad one. So, rouse yourself, for Dillon's car- 
 riage with all its ladies is waiting these ten minutes." 
 
 " No, no ! " cried I ; "I can't go to this dinner-party ! 
 I'll not quit—" 
 
 " Nonsense, man ! " said he, interrupting me, " you can 
 only do harm here ; the doctor says he must be left quite 
 quiet, and alone. Besides, Dillon has behaved so well to- 
 day, so stoutly, for him, that you must n't forget it. There, 
 now, where are your clothes ? I '11 pack them for you." 
 
 I started up to obey him ; but a giddiness came over me, 
 and I sank into my chair, weak and sick. 
 
THE STEEPLE-CHASE 265 
 
 "This will never do," said Mahon ; "I had better tell 
 them I'll drive you over myself. And now just lie down 
 for an hour or two, and keep quiet." 
 
 This advice I felt was good ; and thanking my kind 
 friend with a squeeze of the hand, for I could not speak, I 
 threw myself upon my bed, and strange enough, while such 
 contending emotions disturbed my brain, fell asleep almost 
 immediately. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE DINNER-PARTY AT MOUNT BROWN". 
 
 I awoke refreshed after half-an-hour's doze, and then 
 every circumstance of the whole day was clear and pal- 
 pable before me. I remembered each minute particular, 
 and could bring to my mind all the details of the race it- 
 self, notwithstanding the excitement they had passed in, 
 and the rapidity with which they succeeded one another. 
 
 My first thought was to visit poor Joe ; and creeping 
 stealthily to his room, I opened the door. The poor fellow 
 was fast asleep. His features had already become colored 
 with fever, and a red hectic spot on either cheek told that 
 the work of mischief had begun ; yet still his sleep was 
 tranquil, and a half smile curled his bloodless lips. On his 
 bed his old hunting-cap was placed, a bow of white and 
 green ribbons — the colors I wore — fastened gaudily in 
 the front ; upon this, doubtless, he had been gazing to the 
 last moment of his waking. I now stole noiselessly back, 
 and began a letter to 0' Grady, whose anxiety as to the 
 result would, I knew, be considerable. 
 
 It was not without pride, I confess, that I narrated the 
 events of the day ; yet when I came to that part of my 
 letter in which Joe was to be mentioned, I could not avoid 
 a sense of shame in acknowledging the cruel contrast be- 
 tween my conduct and his gratitude. I did not attempt to 
 theorize upon what he had done ; for I felt that O'Grady's 
 better knowledge of his countrymen would teach him to 
 sound the depths of a motive the surface of which I could 
 but skim. I told him frankly that the more I saw of Ire- 
 land the less I found I knew about it ; so much of sterling 
 good seemed blended with unsettled notions and unfixed 
 
THE DINNER-PARTY AT MOUNT BROWN. 267 
 
 opinions, such warmth of heart, such frank cordiality, with 
 such traits of suspicion and distrust, that T could make 
 nothing of them. Either, thought I, these people are born 
 to present the anomaly of all that is most opposite and con- 
 tradictory in human nature, or else the fairest gifts that 
 ever graced manhood have been perverted and abused by 
 mismanagement and misguidance. 
 
 I had just finished my letter when Bob Mahon drove up, 
 his honest face radiant with smiles and good-humor. 
 
 "Well, Hinton," cried he, "the whole thing is properly 
 settled. The money is paid over ; and if you are writing 
 to O'Grady, you may mention that he can draw on the 
 Limerick bank at sight, if he pleases. There's time 
 enough, however, for all this ; so get up beside me. 
 We 've only half an hour to do our five miles, and dress 
 for dinner." 
 
 I took my place beside the major, and as we flew fast 
 through the air, the cool breeze and his enlivening con. 
 versation rallied and refreshed me. Such was our pace 
 that we had ten minutes to spare, as we entered a dark 
 avenue of tall beech-trees, and a few seconds after arrived 
 at the door of a large old-fashioned-looking manor-house, 
 on the steps of which stood Hugh Dillon himself, in all 
 the plenitude of a white waistcoat and black-silk tights. 
 While he hurried me to a dressing-room, he overwhelmed 
 me with felicitations on the result of the day. 
 
 " You '11 think it strange, Mr. Hinton," said he, " that I 
 should congratulate you, knowing that Mr. Burke is a kind 
 of relative of mine ; but I have heard so much of your kind- 
 ness to my niece, Louisa, that I cannot but rejoice in your 
 success." 
 
 "I should rather," said I, "for many reasons, had it been 
 more legitimately obtained ; and, indeed, were I not acting 
 for another, I doubt how far I should feel justified in con- 
 sidering myself a winner." 
 
 "My dear sir," interrupted Dillon, "the laws of racing 
 are imperative in the matter ; besides, had you waived your 
 right, all who backed you must have lost their money." 
 
268 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 "For that matter," said I, laughing, "the number of my 
 supporters was tolerably limited." 
 
 " No matter for that ; and even if you had not a single 
 bet upon you, Ulick's conduct in the beginning deserved 
 little favor at your hands." 
 
 "I confess," said I, "that there you have touched on the 
 saving clause to my feeling of shame. Had Mr. Burke con- 
 ducted himself in a different spirit towards my friend and 
 myself, I should feel sorely puzzled this minute." 
 
 "Quite right, quite right," said Dillon; "and now try if 
 you can't make as much haste with your toilette as you did 
 over the clover-field." 
 
 Within a quarter of an hour I made my appearance in 
 the drawing-room, now crowded with company, the faces 
 of many among whom I remembered having seen in the 
 morning. Mr. Dillon was a widower ; but his daughters — 
 three fine, tall, handsome-looking girls — did the honors. 
 While I was making my bows to them, Miss Bellew came 
 forward, and with an eye bright with pleasure held out her 
 hand towards me. 
 
 "I told you, Mr. Hinton, we should meet in the west. 
 Have I been as good a prophetess in saying that you would 
 like it ? " 
 
 " If it afforded me but this one minute," said I, in a half 
 whisper. 
 
 " Dinner ! " said the servant, and at the same moment 
 that scene of pleasant confusion ensued that preludes the 
 formal descent of a party to the dining-room. 
 
 The host had gracefully tucked a large lady under his 
 arm, beside whose towering proportions he looked pretty 
 much like what architects call " a lean-to," superadded to a 
 great building. He turned his eye towards me "to go and 
 do likewise," with a significant glance at a heaving mass of 
 bugles and ostrich feathers that sat panting on a sofa. I 
 parried the stroke, however, by drawing Miss Bellew's arm 
 within mine, while I resigned the post of honor to my little 
 friend the major. 
 
 The dinner passed off like all other dinners ; there was 
 
THE DINNER-PARTY AT MOUNT BROWN. 269 
 
 the same routine of eating and drinking, and pretty much 
 the same ritual of table-talk. As a kind of commentary 
 on the superiority of natural gifts over the affected and 
 imitated graces of society, I could not help remarking that 
 those things which figured on the table of homely origin 
 were actually luxurious, while the exotic resources of the 
 cookery were in every instance miserable failures. Thus 
 the fish was excellent, and the mutton perfect; while the 
 fricandeau was atrocious, and the petits pat6s execrable. 
 
 Should my taste be criticised, that with a lovely girl be- 
 side me, for whom I already felt a strong attachment, I 
 could thus set myself to criticise the cuisine, in lieu of any 
 other more agreeable occupation, let my apology be that my 
 reflection was an apropos, called forth by comparing Louisa 
 Bellew with her cousins the Dillons. I have said they 
 were handsome girls; they were more, — they were beauti- 
 ful. They had all that fine pencilling of the eye-brow, that 
 deep, square orbit, so characteristically Irish, and which 
 gives an expression to the eye, whatever be its color, of in- 
 expressible softness ; their voices too, albeit the accent was 
 provincial, were soft and musical, and their manners quiet 
 and lady-like. Yet, somehow, they stood immeasurably 
 apart from her. 
 
 I have already ventured on one illustration from the 
 cookery, may I take another from the cellar ? How often 
 in wines of the same vintage, of even the same cask, do we 
 find one bottle whose bouquet is more aromatic, whose 
 flavor is richer, whose color is more purely brilliant ! 
 There seems to be no reason why this should be so, nor is 
 the secret appreciable to our senses ; however, the fact is 
 incontestable. So among women. You meet some half- 
 dozen in an evening party, equally beautiful, equally lovely ; 
 yet will there be found one among the number towards 
 whom, without any assignable cause, more eyes are turned 
 and more looks bent, — around whose chair more men are 
 found to linger, and in whose slightest word some cunning 
 charm seems ever mingled. Why is this so ? I confess I 
 cannot tell you, but trust me for the fact. If, however, it 
 
270 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 "will satisfy you that I adduce an illustration, — Louisa 
 Bellew was one of these. With all the advantages of a 
 cultivated mind, she possessed that fearlessness that only 
 girls really innocent of worldly trickery and deceit ever 
 have ; and thus, while her conversation ranged far bej^ond 
 the limits the cold ordeal of fashion would prescribe to a 
 London beauty, the artless enthusiasm of her manner 
 was absolutely captivating. 
 
 In Dublin, the most marked feature about her was an air 
 of lofty pride and hauteur, by which, in the mixed society 
 of Rooney's house, was she alone enabled to repel the 
 obtrusive and impertinent attentions it was the habit of the 
 place to practise. Surrounded by those who resorted there 
 for a lounge, it was a matter of no common difficulty for 
 her, a young and timid girl, to assert her own position, and 
 exact the respect that was her due. Here, however, in her 
 uncle's house, it was quite different. Relieved from all 
 performance of a part, she was natural, graceful, and easy ; 
 and her spirits, untrammelled by the dread of misconstruc- 
 tion, took their own free and happy flight without fear and 
 without reproach. 
 
 When we returned to the drawing-room, seated beside 
 her, I entered into an explanation of all my proceedings 
 since my arrival in the country, and had the satisfaction to 
 perceive that not only did she approve of everything I had 
 done, but, assuming a warmer interest than I could credit in 
 my fortunes, she counselled me respecting the future. Sup- 
 posing that my success might induce me to further trials of 
 my horsemanship, she cautioned me about being drawn into 
 any matches or wagers. 
 
 "My Cousin Ulick," said she, "is one of those who 
 rarely let a prey escape them. I speak frankly to you, for 
 I know I may do so ; therefore, I would beseech you to take 
 care of him, and, above all things, do not come into collision 
 with him. I have told you, Mr. Hinton, that I wish you to 
 know my father. For this object, it is essential you should 
 have no misunderstanding with my cousin ; for although 
 his whole conduct through life has been such as to grieve 
 
THE DINNER-PARTY AT MOUNT BROWN. 271 
 
 and afflict him, yet the feeling for his only sister's child has 
 sustained him against all the rumors and reports that have 
 reached him, and even against his own convictions." 
 
 " You have, indeed," said I, " suggested a strong reason 
 for keeping well with your cousin ; my heart is not only 
 bent on being known to your father, but, if I dare hope it, 
 on being liked by him also." 
 
 " Yes, yes," said she, quickly, blushing while she spoke, 
 "I am sure he'll like you; and I know you'll like him. 
 Our house, perhaps I should tell you, is not a gay one ; we 
 lead a secluded and retired life ; and this has had its effect 
 upon my poor father, giving a semblance of discontent — 
 only a semblance, though — to a nature mild, manly, and 
 benevolent." 
 
 She paused an instant, and as if fearing that she had been 
 led away to speak of things she should not have touched 
 upon, added with a more lively tone, — 
 
 " Still, we may contrive to amuse you. You shall have 
 plenty of fishing and coursing, the best shooting in the 
 west ; and, as for scenery, I '11 answer for it you are not 
 disappointed." 
 
 While we chatted thus, the time rolled on, and at last the 
 clock on the mantlepiece apprised us that it was time to 
 set out for the ball. This, as it may be believed, was any- 
 thing but a promise of pleasure to me. With Louisa Bel- 
 lew beside me, talking in a tone of confidential intimacy 
 she had never ventured on before, I would have given 
 worlds to have remained where I was. However, the thing 
 was impossible ; " the ball ! the ball ! " passed from lip to 
 lip, and already the carriages were assembled before the 
 door, and cloaks, hoods, and mantles were distributed on 
 all sides. 
 
 Resolving, at all events, to secure Miss Bellew as my 
 fellow-traveller, I took her arm to lead her downstairs. 
 
 " Holloa, Hinton ! " cried the major, " you 're coming with 
 me, ain 't you ? " 
 
 I got up a tremendous fit of coughing, as I stammered 
 out an apology about night-air, etc. 
 
272 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 « Ah, true, my poor fellow," said the simple-hearted Bob ; 
 " you must take care of yourself ; this has been a severe 
 day's work for you." 
 
 " With such a heavy cold," said Louisa, laughing, as her 
 bright eyes sparkled with fun, " perhaps you '11 take a seat 
 in our carriage." 
 
 I pressed her arm gently, and whispering my assent, as- 
 sisted her in, and placed myself beside her. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE RACE BALL. 
 
 Fast as had been the pace in the major's tax-cart, it 
 seemed to me as though the miles flew much more quickly 
 by as I returned to the town. How indeed they passed, I 
 cannot well say ; but from the instant that I quitted Mr. 
 Dillon's house to that of my arrival in Loughrea, there 
 seemed to be but one brief, delightful moment. I have 
 already said that Miss Bellew's manner was quite changed ; 
 and, as I assisted her from the carriage, I could not but 
 mark the flashing brilliancy of her eye and the sparkling 
 animation of her features, lending, as they did, an added 
 loveliness to her beauty. 
 
 " Am I to dance with you, Mr. Hinton ? " said she, laugh- 
 ingly, as I led her up the stairs. " If so, pray, be civil 
 enough to ask me at once ; otherwise, I must accept the 
 first partner that offers himself." 
 
 " How very stupid I have been ! Will you, pray, let me 
 have the honor ? " 
 
 •' Yes, yes, you shall have the honor ; but, now that I 
 think of it, you must n't ask me a second time. We country 
 folk are very prudish about these things ; and as you are 
 the lion of the party, I should get into a sad scrape were 
 I to appear to monopolize you." 
 
 " But you surely will have compassion on me," said I, in 
 a tone of affected bashfulness. " You know I am a stranger 
 here, — neither known to nor by any one save you." 
 
 "Ah, treve de modestie!" said she, coquettishly. "My 
 cousins will be quite delighted ; and, indeed, you owe them 
 some amende already." 
 vol. i. — 18 
 
274 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " As how ? " said I. " What have I done ? " 
 
 " Rather, what have you left undone ? I '11 tell you. 
 You have not come to the ball in your fine uniform, with 
 your aiguillette and your showy feathers, and all the pride, 
 pomp, and circumstance of your dignity as aide-de-camp. 
 Learn, that in the west we love the infantry, dote on the 
 dragoons, but we adore the staff. Now, a child would fiud 
 it as difficult to recognize a plump gentleman without a star 
 on his breast as a king, as we western ladies would to believe 
 in the military features of a person habited in quiet black. 
 You should, at least, have some symbol of your calling. A 
 little bit of mustache like a Frenchman, a foreign order at 
 your button-hole, your arm in a sling (from a wound as it 
 were), even a pair of brass spurs would redeem you. Poor 
 Mary, here, won't believe that you wear a great sword, 
 and are the most warlike-looking person imaginable on 
 occasions." 
 
 " Dearest Louisa, how silly you are ! " said her cousin, 
 blushing deeply. " Pray, Mr. Hinton, what do you think 
 of the rooms ? " 
 
 This question happily recalled me to myself, for up to 
 that very moment, forgetful of everything save my fair 
 companion, I had not noticed our entrance into the ball- 
 room, around which we were promenading with slow steps. 
 I now looked up, and discovered that we were in the town 
 hall, the great room of which building was generally re- 
 served for occasions like the present. Nothing could be 
 more simple than the decorations of the apartment. The 
 walls, which were white-washed, were tastefully ornamented 
 with strings and wreaths of flowers suspended between the 
 iron chandeliers ; while over the chimney-piece were dis- 
 played the colors of the marching regiment then quartered 
 in the town. Indeed, to do them justice, the garrison were 
 the main contributors to the pleasures of the evening. By 
 them were the garlands so gracefully disposed ; by them 
 were the rat-holes and other dangerous crevices in the floor 
 calked with oakum ; their band was now blowing " God 
 Save the King " and " Rule Britannia " alternately for the 
 
THE RACE BALL. 
 
 275 
 
 last hour ; and their officers, in all the splendor of scarlet, 
 were parading the room, breaking the men's hearts with 
 envy and the women's with admiration. 
 
 O'Grady was quite right, — it is worth while being a sol- 
 dier in Ireland ; and if such be the case in the capital, how 
 much more true is it in Connaught ! Would that some 
 minute anatomist of human feeling could demonstrate that 
 delicate fibre in an Irish-woman's heart that vibrates so re- 
 sponsively to everything in the army-list ! In this happy 
 land you need no nitrous oxyde to promote the high spirits 
 of your party ; I had rather have a sub in a marching regi- 
 ment than a whole gasometer full of it. How often have I 
 watched the sleepy eye of languid loveliness brighten up, 
 how often have I seen features almost plain in their charac- 
 ter assume a kind of beauty, as some red-coat drew near ! 
 Don't tell me of your insurrection acts, of your nightly out- 
 rages, your outbreaks, and your burnings, as a reason for 
 keeping a large military force in Ireland, — nothing of the 
 kind. A very different object, indeed, is the reason : Ire- 
 land is garrisoned to please the ladies. The war-office is 
 the most gallant of public bodies ; and with a true appre- 
 ciation of the daughters of the west, it inundates the land 
 with red-coats. 
 
 These observations were forced upon me as I looked 
 about the room, and saw on every side how completely the 
 gallant Seventy-something had cut out the country gentry. 
 Poor fellows ! you are great people at the assizes ; you are 
 strong men at a road-sessions; but you're mighty small 
 folk indeed before your wives and daughters when looked 
 at to the music of " Paddy Carey," and by the light of two 
 hundred and fifty mutton-candles. 
 
 The country-dance was at length formed; and poor Mr. 
 Harkin, the master of the ceremonies and Coryphoeus-in- 
 ordinary of Loughrea, had, by dint of scarce less fatigue 
 than I experienced in my steeple-ehase, by running hither 
 and thither, imploring, beseeching, wheedling, coaxing, and 
 even cursing, at length succeeded in assembling sixty-four 
 souls in a double file upon the floor. Poor fellow ! never 
 
276 
 
 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 was there a more disorderly force. Nobody would keep his 
 own place, but was always trying to get above his neigh- 
 bor. In vain did he tell the men to stand at their own 
 side ; alas ! they thought that side their own where the 
 ladies were also. Then the band added to his miseries j 
 
 * ill." 
 
 for scarcely had he told them to play "The Wind that 
 shakes the Barley," when some changed it to " The Priest 
 in his Boots," and afterwards to "The Dead March in 
 Saul." These were heavy afflictions ; for be it known that 
 he could not give way, as other men would in such circum- 
 stances, to a good outbreak of passion, — for Mr. Harkin 
 was a public functionary, who, like all other functionaries, 
 had a character to sustain before the world. When kings 
 
THE RACE BALL. 277 
 
 are angry, we are told by Shakspeare, Schiller, and others 
 that they rant it in good royal style. Now, when a dancing- 
 master is excited by passion, he never loses sight of the 
 unities. If he flies down the floor to chide the little fat 
 man thaf is talking so loud, he contrives to do it with a 
 step, a spring, and a hop, to the time of one, two, three. Is 
 there a confusion in the figure, he advances to rectify it 
 with a chasse rigadoon. Does Mr. Somebody turn his toes 
 too much out, or is Miss So-and-so holding her petticoats 
 too high, he fugles the correction in his own person, — 
 first imitating the deformity he would expose, and then 
 displaying the perfection he would point to. 
 
 On the evening in question, this gentleman afforded me 
 by far the most of the amusement of the ball. Nearly half 
 the company had been in time of yore his pupils, or were 
 actually so at the very moment; so that, independent of 
 his cares as conductor of the festivities, he had also the 
 amour propre of one who saw his own triumphs reflected 
 in the success of his disciples. 
 
 At last the dances were arranged. A certain kind of 
 order was established in the party ; and Mr. Harkin, stand- 
 ing in the fifth position, with all his fingers expanded, gave 
 three symbolic claps of his hand, and cried out, " Begin ! " 
 Away went the band at once, and down the middle I flew 
 with my partner, to the measure of a quick country-dance 
 that no human legs could keep time to. Two others quickly 
 followed; more succeeding them like wave after wave. 
 Nothing was too fat, nothing too short, nothing too long, to 
 dance. There they were, as ill-paired as though instead of 
 treading a merry measure they had been linked in the very 
 bonds of matrimony, — old and young, the dwarf and the 
 brobdignag, the plump and the lean, each laughing at the 
 eccentricities of his neighbor, and happily indifferent to 
 the mirth he himself afforded. By-the-bye, what a glorious 
 thing it would be if we could carry out this principle of 
 self-esteem into all our reciprocity-treaties, and while we 
 enjoyed what we derive from others, be unconscious of the 
 loss we sustained ourselves ! 
 
278 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 Unlike our English performance, the dance here was as 
 free-and-easy a thing as needs be. Down the middle you 
 went, holding, mayhap squeezing, your partner's hand, 
 laughing, joking, flirting, venturing occasionally on many 
 a bolder flight than at other times you could have dared ; 
 for there was no time for the lady to be angry, as she 
 tripped along to " The Hare in the Corn," — and, besides, 
 but little wisdom could be expected from a man while per- 
 forming more antics than Punch in a pantomime. With all 
 this, there was a running fire of questions, replies, and 
 recognitions, from every one you passed : — 
 
 " That 's it, Captain : push along ! begad, you 're doing it 
 well ! " — " Don't forget to-morrow ! " — " Hands round ! " — 
 " Has n't she a leg of her own ! " — " Keep it up ! " — " This 
 way ! — turn, Miss Malone ! " — " You '11 come to breakfast, 
 ." — " How are ye, Joe ? " etc. 
 
 Scarcely was the set concluded when Miss Bellew was 
 engaged by another partner; while I, at her suggestion, 
 invited her cousin Mary to become mine. The ball-room 
 was now crowded with people ; the mirth and fun grew 
 fast and furious. The country-dance occupied the whole 
 length of the room ; and round the walls were disposed 
 tables for whist or loo, where the elders amused themselves 
 with as much pleasure, and not less noise. 
 
 I fear that I gave my fair partner but a poor impression 
 of an aide-de-camp's gallantry, — answering at random, 
 speaking vaguely and without coherence, my eyes fixed 
 on Miss Bellew ; delighted when by chance I could catch 
 a look from her, and fretful and impatient when she smiled 
 at some remark of her partner. In fact, love has as many 
 stages as a fever; and I was in that acute period of the 
 malady when the feeling of devotion, growing every mo- 
 ment stronger, is checkered by a doubt lest the object of 
 your affections should really be indifferent to you, thus 
 suggesting all the torturing agonies of jealousy to your 
 distracted mind. At such times as these a man can scarcely 
 be very agreeable even to the girl he loves ; but he is a con- 
 founded bore to a chance acquaintance. So, indeed, did 
 
THE RACE BALL. 279 
 
 poor Mary Dillon seem to think ; and as, at the conclusion 
 of the dance, I resigned her hand to a lieutenant somebody, 
 with pink cheeks, black eyebrows, and a most martial air, 
 I saw she- looked upon her escape as a direct mercy from 
 Providence. 
 
 Just at this moment Mr. Dillon, who had only been wait- 
 ing for the propitious moment to pounce upon me, seized 
 me by the arm, and led me down the room. There was a 
 charming woman dying to know me in one corner ; the best 
 cock-shooting in Ireland wished to make my acquaintance 
 in another ; thirty thousand pounds, and a nice little prop- 
 erty in Leitrim, was sighing for me near the fire ; and three 
 old ladies, the gross bonnets of the land, had kept the 
 fourth place at the whist table vacant for my sake, and 
 were at length growing impatient at my absence. 
 
 Non sunt mea verba, good reader. Such was Mr. Dillon's 
 representation to me, as he hurried me along, presenting 
 me as he went to every one we met, — a ceremony in which 
 I soon learned to perform my part respectably, by merely 
 repeating a formula I had adopted for my guidance : " De- 
 lighted to know you, Mr. Burke," or, " Charmed to make 
 your acquaintance, Mrs. French ; " for as nine tenths of the 
 men were called by the one and nearly all the ladies by the 
 other appellation, I seldom blundered in my addresses. 
 
 The evening wore on, but the vigor of the party seemed 
 unabated. The fatigues of fashionable life seemed to be as 
 little known in Ireland as its apathy and its ennui. Poor, 
 benighted people ! you appear to enjoy society, not as a 
 refuge for your own weariness, not as an escape-valve for 
 your own vapors, but really as a source of pleasurable 
 emotions, — an occasion for drawing closer the bonds of in- 
 timacy, for being agreeable to your friends, and for making 
 yourselves happy. Alas ! you have much to learn in this 
 respect ; you know not yet how p'ref erable is the languid 
 look of blase beauty to the brilliant eye and glowing cheek 
 of happy girlhood ; you know not how superior is the cut- 
 ting sarcasm, the whispered equivoque, to the kind welcome 
 and the affectionate greeting ; and while enjoying the pleas- 
 
280 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 ure of meeting your friends, you absolutely forget to be 
 critical upon their characters or their costume ! 
 
 What a pity it is that good-nature is under-bred, and 
 good feeling is vulgarity ! for after all, while I contrasted 
 the tone of everything around me with the supercilious 
 cant and unimpassioned coldness of London manners, I 
 could not but confess to myself that the difference was 
 great and the interval enormous. To which side my own 
 heart inclined it needed not my affection for Louisa Bellew 
 to tell me ; yes, I had seen enough of life to learn how far 
 are the real gifts of worth and excellence preferable to the 
 adventitious polish of high society. While these thoughts 
 rushed through my mind, another flashed across it. What 
 if my lady-mother were here ! What if my proud cousin ! 
 How would her dark eyes brighten, as some absurd or ludi- 
 crous feature of the company would suggest its mot of 
 malice or its speech of sarcasm ! how would their air, their 
 carriage, their deportment appear in her sight ! I could 
 picture to myself the cold scorn of her manner towards the 
 men, the insulting courtesy of her demeanor to the women ; 
 the affected naivete with which she would question them as 
 to their e very-day habits and habitudes, their usages and 
 their wants, as though she were inqvuring into the manners 
 and customs of South-Sea islanders. I could imagine the 
 ineffable scorn with which she would receive what were 
 meant to be kind and polite attentions ; and I could fashion 
 to myself her look, her manner, and her voice, when, escap- 
 ing, as she would call it, from her Nuit parmi les sauvages, 
 she would caricature every trait, every feature of the party, 
 converting into food for laughter their frank and hospita- 
 ble bearing, and making their very warmth of heart the 
 groundwork of a sarcasm. 
 
 The ball continued with unabated vigor, and as, in obedi- 
 ence to Miss Bellew's request, I could not again ask her to 
 dance, I myself felt little inclination to seek for another 
 partner. The practice of the place seemed, however, as im- 
 peratively to exclude idleness as the discipline of a man-of- 
 war. If you were not dancing you ought to be playing 
 
THE RACE BALL. 281 
 
 cards, making love, drinking negus, or exchanging good 
 stories with some motherly fat old lady, too heavy for a 
 reel, too stupid for loo. In this dilemma I cut into a round 
 game, which I remember often to have seen at Rooney's, 
 technically called "speculation." A few minutes before, 
 and I was fancying to myself what my mother would think 
 of all this ; and now, as I drew my chair to the table, I mut- 
 tered a prayer to my own heart that she might never hear 
 of my doings. How strange it is that we would much rather 
 be detected in some overt act of vice than caught in any 
 ludicrous situation or absurd position ! I could look my 
 friends and family steadily enough in the face while stand- 
 ing amid all the black-legs of Epsom and the swindlers of 
 Ascot, exchanging with them the courtesies of life, and 
 talking on terms of easy and familiar intercourse ; yet 
 would I rather have been seen with the veriest pickpocket 
 in fashionable life than seated amid that respectable and 
 irreproachable party who shook their sides with laughter 
 around the card-table ! 
 
 Truly, it was a merry game and well-suited for a novice, 
 as it required no teaching. Each person had his three 
 cards dealt him, one of which was displayed to the company 
 in rotation. Did this happen to be a knave, or some other 
 equally reproachful character, the owner was mulcted to 
 the sum of five-pence ; and he must indeed have had a 
 miser's heart who could regret a penalty so provocative of 
 mirth. Often as the event took place, the fun never 
 seemed to grow old ; and from the exuberance of the delight 
 and the unceasing flow of the laughter I began to wonder 
 within myself if these same cards had not some secret and 
 symbolic meaning, unknown to the neophyte. But the 
 drollery did not end here : you might sell your luck, and 
 put up your hand to auction. This led to innumerable droll 
 allusions and dry jokes, and, in fact, if ever a game was 
 contrived to make one's sides ache, this was it. 
 
 A few sedate and sober people there were, who, with 
 bent brow and pursed-up lip, watched the whole proceed- 
 ing. They were the secret police of the card-table ; it was 
 
282 JACK HINTON, THE GUAKDSMAN. 
 
 in vain to attempt to conceal your luckless knave from 
 their prying eyes ; with the glance of a tax-collector they 
 pounced upon the defaulter, and made him pay. Rarely or 
 never smiling themselves, they really felt all the eagerness, 
 all the excitement of gambling ; and I question if, after all, 
 their hard looks and stern features were not the best fun 
 of the whole. 
 
 After about two hours had been thus occupied, during 
 which I had won the esteem and affection of several elderly 
 ladies by the equanimity and high-mindedness with which 
 I bore up against the loss of two whole baskets of counters, 
 amounting to the sum of four-and-sixpence, I felt my shoul- 
 der gently touched, and at the same moment Bob Mahon 
 whispered in my ear, — 
 
 ■ " The Dillons are going, and he wants to speak a word 
 with you ; so give me your cards, and slip away." 
 
 Resigning my place to the major, whose advent was re- 
 ceived with evident signs of dissatisfaction, inasmuch as he 
 was a shrewd player, I hurried through the room to find 
 out Dillon. 
 
 "Ah, here he is," said Miss Bellew to her uncle, while 
 she pointed to me. " How provoking to go away so early, 
 isn't it, Mr. Hinton?" 
 
 "You, doubtless, feel it so," said I, with something of 
 pique in my manner, — " your evening has been so agree- 
 ably passed." 
 
 " And yours, too, if I am to judge from the laughter of 
 your card-table. I am sure I never heard so noisy a party. 
 Well, Mary, does he consent ? " 
 
 " No ; papa is still obstinate, and the carriage is ordered. 
 He says we shall have so much gayety this week that we 
 must go home early to-night." 
 
 " There, there ! now be good girls ; get on your muffling, 
 and let us be off. Ah, Mr. Hinton, — the very man I 
 wanted. Will you do us the very great favor of coming 
 over for a few days to Mount Brown ? We shall have the 
 partridge-shooting after to-morrow, and I think I can show 
 you some sport. May I send in for you in the morning ? 
 
THE RACE BALL. 283 
 
 What hour will suit you ? You will not refuse me, I 
 trust ? " 
 
 "I need not say, my dear sir, how obliged I feel for, and 
 with what, pleasure I should accept, your kind invitation ; 
 but the truth is, I 've come away without leave of absence. 
 The duke may return any day, and I shall be in a sad 
 scrape." 
 
 " Do you think a few days — " 
 
 A look from Louisa Bellew, at this moment, came most 
 powerfully in aid of her uncle's eloquence. I hesitated, 
 and looked uncertain how to answer. 
 
 "There, girls ! now is your time! He is half persuaded 
 to do a kind thing; do try and convince him the whole 
 way. Come, Mary ! Fanny ! Louisa ! " 
 
 A second look from Miss Bellew decided the matter ; and 
 as a flush of pleasure colored my cheek, I shook Dillon 
 warmly by the hand, and promised to accept his invitation. 
 
 " That is like a really good fellow," said the little man, 
 with a face sparkling with pleasure. " Now, what say you 
 if we drive over for you about two o'clock ? The girls 
 are coming in to make some purchases, and we shall all 
 drive out together." 
 
 This arrangement, so very palatable to me, was agreed 
 upon, and I now took Miss Bellew's arm to lead her to the 
 carriage. On descending to the hall a delay of a few 
 minutes ensued, as the number of vehicles prevented the 
 carriage coming up. The weather appeared to have 
 changed; it was now raining heavily, and blowing a per- 
 fect storm. 
 
 As the fitful gusts of wind howled along the dark corri- 
 dors of the old building, dashing the rain upon our faces 
 even where we stood, I drew my fair companion closer to 
 my side, and held her cloak more firmly round her. What 
 a moment was that ! Her arm rested on mine ; her very 
 tresses were blown each moment across my cheek. I know 
 not what I said, but I felt that in the tones of my voice 
 they were the utterings of my heart that fell from my lips. 
 
284 JACK HLNTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 I had not remembered that Mr. Dillon had already placed 
 his daughters in the carriage, and was calling to us loudly 
 to follow. 
 
 "No, no! I pray you not," said Louisa, in reply to I 
 know not what. " Don't you hear my uncle ? " 
 
 In her anxiety to press forward she had slightly dis- 
 engaged her arm from mine as she spoke. At this instant 
 a man rushed forward, and catching her hand, drew it 
 rudely within his arm, calling out as he did so, — 
 
 " Never fear, Louisa ! you shall not be insulted while 
 your cousin is here to protect you." 
 
 She sprang round to reply : " You are mistaken, Ulick ! 
 It is Mr. Hinton ! " She could say no more ; for he lifted 
 her into the carriage, and, closing the door with a loud bang, 
 desired the coachman to drive on. 
 
 Stupefied with amazement, I stood still and motionless. 
 My first impulse was to strike him to the ground ; for al- 
 though a younger and a weaker man, I felt within me at 
 the moment the strength to do it. My next thought was 
 of Louisa's warning not to quarrel with her cousin. The 
 struggle was indeed a severe one, but I gained the victory 
 over my passion. Unable, however, to quit the spot, I 
 stood with my arms folded, and my eyes riveted upon him. 
 He returned my stare, and with a sneer of insufferable in- 
 solence passed me by and walked upstairs. Xot a word was 
 spoken on either side ; but there are moments in one's life 
 in which a look or passing glance rivets an undying hate. 
 Such a one did we exchange, and nothing that the tongue 
 could speak could compass that secret instinct by which we 
 ratified our enmity. 
 
 With slow, uncertain steps I mounted the stairs. Some 
 strange fascination led me, as it were, to dog his steps ; and 
 although in my heart I prayed that no collision should ever 
 come between us, yet I could not resist the headlong im- 
 pulse to follow and to watch him. Like that unexplained 
 temptation which leads the gazer over some lofty precipice 
 to move on step by step yet nearer to the brink, conscious 
 
THE RACE BALL. 285 
 
 of his danger yet unable to recede, so did I track this man 
 from place to place, following him as he passed from one 
 group to the other of his friends, till at length he seated 
 himself at.a table, around which a number of persons were 
 engaged in noisy and boisterous conversation. He filled a 
 tumbler to the brim with wine, and drinking it off at a 
 draught, refilled again. 
 
 " You are thirsty, Ulick," said some one. 
 
 "Thirsty! On fire, by G ! You'll not believe me 
 
 when I tell you — I can't do it ; no, by Heaven ! there is 
 nothing in the way of provocation — " 
 
 As he said thus much, some lady passing near induced 
 him to drop his voice, and the remainder of the sentence 
 was inaudible to me. Hitherto I had been standing beside 
 his chair ; I now moved round to the opposite side of the 
 table, and, with my arms folded and my eyes firmly fixed, 
 stood straight before him. For an instant or two he did 
 not remark me, as he continued to speak with his head bent 
 downwards. Suddenly lifting up his eyes, he started, pushed 
 his chair slightly back from the table, — 
 
 " And, look ! see ! " cried he, as with outstretched finger 
 he pointed towards me, — " see ! if he is n't there again ! " 
 
 Then suddenly changing the tone of his voice to one of 
 affected softness, he continued, addressing me, — 
 
 " I have been explaining, sir, as well as my poor powers 
 will permit, the excessive pains I have taken to persuade 
 you to prove yourself a gentleman. One half the trouble 
 you have put me to would have told an Irish gentleman 
 what was looked for at his hands ; you appear, however, to 
 be the best-tempered fellows in the world at your side of 
 the Channel. Come, now, boys! if any man likes a bet, I '11 
 wager ten guineas that even this won't ruffle his amiable 
 nature. Pass the sherry here, Godfrey ! Is that a clean 
 glass beside you ? " 
 
 So saying, he took the decanter, and leisurely filling the 
 glass stood up as if to present it, but when he attained the 
 erect position he looked at me fixedly for a second, and 
 
286 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 then dashed the wine in my face. A roar of laughter burst 
 around rae, but I saw and heard no more. The moment be- 
 fore, and my head was cool, my senses clear, my faculties 
 unclouded ; but now, as if derangement had fallen upon me, 
 I could see nothing but looks of mockery and scorn, and 
 hear nothing save the discordant laugh and the jarring 
 accent of derision. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 THE INN FIRE. 
 
 How I escaped from that room, and by what means I 
 found myself in the street, I know not. My first impulse 
 was to tear off my cravat, that I might breathe more freely; 
 still a sense of suffocation oppressed me, and I felt stunned 
 and stupefied. 
 
 " Come along, Hinton ! rouse yourself, my boy ! See, 
 your coat is drenched with rain," said a friendly voice be- 
 hind me ; while grasping me forcibly by the arm, the major 
 led me forward. 
 
 "What have I done?" cried I, struggling to get free. 
 " Tell me — oh, tell me, have I done wrong ? Have I com- 
 mitted any dreadful thing ? There is an aching pain here — 
 here in my forehead, as though — I dare not speak my 
 shame ! " 
 
 " Nothing of the kind, my boy," said Mahon ; " you 've 
 conducted yourself admirably. Matt Keane saw it all, and 
 he says he never witnessed anything finer, — and he's no 
 bad judge, let me tell you. So, there now, be satisfied, and 
 take off your wet clothes." 
 
 There was something imperative in the tone in which he 
 spoke ; besides, the major was one of those people who 
 somehow or other always contrive to have their own way 
 in the world ; so that I yielded at once, feeling too that any 
 opposition would only defer my chance of an explanation. 
 
 While I was thus occupied in my inner room, I could 
 overhear my friend without, engaged in the preparation of 
 a little supper, mingling an occasional soliloquy with the 
 simmering of the grilled bone that browned upon the fire, — 
 the clink of glasses and plates, and all the evidences of 
 
288 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 punch-making, breaking every now and then amid such re- 
 flections as these : — 
 
 " A mighty ugly business ! nothing for it but meeting 
 him. Poor lad ! they '11 say we murdered him among us ! 
 Och, he 's far too young for Galway. — Holloa, Hinton, are 
 you ready ? Now you look something reasonable ; and 
 when we 've eaten a bit, we '11 talk this matter over coolly 
 and sensibly. And to make your mind easy, I may tell 
 you at once I have arranged a meeting for you with Burke 
 at five to-morrow morning." 
 
 I grasped his hand convulsively within mine, as a gleam 
 of savage satisfaction shot through me. 
 
 " Yes, yes," said he, as if replying to my look, — " it 's 
 all as it ought to be. Even his own friends are indignant 
 at his conduct ; and indeed I may say it 's the first time a 
 stranger has met with such in our country." 
 
 "I can well believe it, Major," said I; "for unless from 
 the individual in question, I have met with nothing but 
 kindness and good feeling amongst you. He indeed would 
 seem an exception to his countrymen." 
 
 " Therefore the sooner you shoot him the better. But I 
 wish I could see Father Tom." 
 
 " Adest, domine," cried the priest at the same moment, as 
 he entered the room, throwing his wet great-coat into a cor- 
 ner and giving himself a shake a Newfoundland dog might 
 have envied. " Is n't this pretty work, Bob ? " said he, turn- 
 ing to his cousin with a look of indignant reproach : " he is 
 not twenty-four hours in the town, and you 've got him into 
 a fight already ! And sure it 's my own fault that ever 
 brought you together. Nee fortunam nee gratiam habes, — 
 no, indeed, you have neither luck nor grace. Mauvaise 
 tete, as the French say, — always in trouble. Arrah, don't 
 be talking to me at all, at all ; reach me over the spirits. 
 Sorra better I ever saw you ! — disturbing me out of my 
 virtuous dreams at two in the morning. True enough, die 
 mihi societatem tuam ; but little I thought he 'd be getting 
 you shot before you left the place." 
 
 I endeavored to pacify the good priest as well as I was 
 
THE INN FIRE. 289 
 
 able ; the major too made every explanation ; but what be- 
 tween his being called out of bed, his anger at getting wet, 
 and his cousin's well-known character for affairs of this 
 nature, it, was not before he had swallowed his second 
 tumbler of punch that he would "listen to rayson." 
 
 " Well, well, if it is so, God's will be done ! " said he 
 with a sigh. " Un bon coup d'epee, as we used to say for- 
 merly, is beautiful treatment for bad blood. But maybe 
 you 're going to fight with pistols ? Oh, murther, them 's 
 dreadful things ! " 
 
 "I begin to suspect," said the major, slyly, "that Father 
 Tom 's afraid if you shoot Ulick he '11 never get that fifty 
 pounds he won. Hinc illce lacrymcB, — eh, Tom ? " 
 
 " Ah, the spalpeen ! " said the priest, with a deep groan, 
 " did n't he do me out of that money already ? " 
 
 "How so, Father?" said I, scarce able to repress my 
 laughter at the expression of his face. 
 
 " I was coming down the main street yesterday evening, 
 with Doctor Plunkett the bishop beside me, discoursing a 
 little theology, and looking as pious and respectable as may 
 be, when that villain Burke came running out of a shop, 
 and pulling out his pocket-book, cried, — 
 
 " ' Wait a bit, Father Tom ! you know I 'm a little in your 
 debt about that race ; and as you 're a sporting character, 
 it's only fair to book up at once.' 
 
 " i What is this I hear, Father Loftus ? ' says the bishop. 
 
 " ' Oh, my lord," says I, ' he 's a jocosus puer, a humbug- 
 ging bla-guard ; a farceur, your Reverence, and that 's the 
 way he is always cutting his jokes upon the people.' 
 
 " ' And so he does not owe you this money ? ' said the 
 bishop, looking mighty hard at us both. 
 
 " ' Not a farthing of it, my lord.' 
 
 " ' That 's comfortable, any how,' says Burke, putting up 
 his pocket-book ; < and faith, my lord,' said he with a wink, 
 ' I wish I had a loan of you for an hour or two every set- 
 tling day, for troth you 're a trump ! ' And with that he 
 went off laughing 'till ye 'd have thought he'd split his 
 sides, — and I am sure I wish he had." 
 
 VOL. i. — 19 
 
290 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 I don't think Mr. Burke himself could have laughed 
 louder or longer at his scheme than did we in hearing it. 
 The priest at length joined in the mirth, and I could per- 
 ceive, as the punch made more inroads upon him and the 
 evening wore on, that his holy horror of duelling was 
 gradually melting away before the warmth of his Hibernian 
 propensities. Like a wet sponge passed across the surface 
 of a dark picture, bringing forth from the gloom many a 
 figure and feature indistinct before, and displaying touches 
 of light not hitherto appreciable, so whiskey seems to ex- 
 ercise some strange power of displaying its votaries in all 
 their breadth of character, divesting them of the adventi- 
 tious clothes in which position or profession has invested 
 them. Thus a tipsy Irishman stands forth in the exuber- 
 ance of his nationality, Hibernicis Hibernior. Forgetting 
 all his moral declamation on duelling, oblivious of his late 
 indignation against his cousin, he rubbed his hands pleas- 
 antly, and related story after story of his own early ex- 
 periences, some of them not a little amusing. 
 
 The major, however, seemed not fully to enjoy the priest's 
 anecdotical powers, but sipped his glass with a grave and 
 sententious air. " Very true, Tom," said he at length, 
 breaking silence ; " you have seen a fair share of these 
 things for a man of your cloth. But where 's the man liv- 
 ing — show him to me, I say — that has had my experience, 
 either as principal or second ? Have n't I had my four 
 men out in the same morning ? " 
 
 " Why, I confess," said I, meekly, " that does seem an 
 extravagant allowance." 
 
 " Clear waste, downright profusion, du luxe, mon cher, 
 nothing else," observed Father Tom. 
 
 Meanwhile, the major rolled his eyes fearfully at me, and 
 fidgeted in his chair with impatience to be asked for his 
 story ; and as I myself had some curiosity on the subject, I 
 begged him to relate it. 
 
 • " Tom, here, does n't like a story at supper," said the 
 major, pompously; for, perceiving our attitude of attention, 
 he resolved on being a little tyrannical before telling it. 
 
THE INN FIRE. 291 
 
 The priest made immediate submission ; and slyly hint- 
 ing that his objection only lay against stories he had been 
 hearing for the last thirty years, said he could listen to the 
 narration in question with much pleasure. 
 
 " You shall have it, then," said the major, as he squared 
 himself in his chair, and thus began : — 
 
 "You have never been in Castle Concel, Hinton? Well, 
 there is a wide bleak line of country there that stretches 
 away to the westward, with nothing but large round-backed 
 mountains, low boggy swamps, with here and there a mis- 
 erable mud-hovel, surrounded by, maybe, half an acre of 
 lumpers, or bad oats ; a few small streams struggle through 
 this on their way to the Shannon, but they are brown and 
 dirty as the soil they traverse ; and the very fish that swim 
 in them are brown and smutty also. 
 
 " In the very heart of this wild country I took it into my 
 head to build a house. A strange notion it was, for there 
 was no neighborhood and no sporting ; but, somehow, I had 
 taken a dislike to mixed society sometime before that, and 
 I found it convenient to live somewhat in retirement ; so 
 that if the partridges were not in abundance about me, 
 neither were the process-servers, — and the truth was, I 
 kept a much sharper look-out for the sub-sheriff than I did 
 for the snipe. 
 
 " Of course, as I was over head-and-ears in debt, my no- 
 tion was to build something very considerable and impos- 
 ing ; and, to be sure, I had a fine portico, and a flight of 
 steps leading up to it; and there were ten windows in front, 
 and a grand balustrade at the top ; and, faith, taking it all 
 in all, the building was so strong, the walls so thick, the 
 windows so narrow, and the stones so black, that my cousin, 
 Darcy Mahon, called it Newgate, — and not a bad name 
 either, and the devil another it ever went by. And even 
 that same had its advantages ; for when the creditors used 
 to read that at the top of my letters, they'd say, 'Poor 
 devil ! he has enough on his hands ; there 's no use troubling 
 him any more.' Well, big as Newgate looked from Avithout, 
 it had not much accommodation when you got inside. There 
 
292 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 was, 't is true, a fine hall, all flagged ; and out of it you en- 
 tered what ought to have been the dinner-room, thirty -eight 
 feet by seven-and-twenty, but which was used for herding 
 sheep in winter. On the right hand there was a cosey little 
 breakfast-room, just about the size of this we are in. At 
 the back of the hall, but concealed by a pair of folding- 
 doors, there was a grand staircase of old Irish oak, that 
 ought to have led up to a great suite of bed-rooms, but it 
 only conducted to one, — a little crib I had for myself. The 
 remainder were never plastered nor floored ; and, indeed, in 
 one of them, that was over the big drawing-room, the joists 
 were never laid, — which was all the better, for it was there 
 we used to keep our hay and straw. Now, at the time I 
 mention, the harvest was not brought in, and instead of 
 its being full, as it used to be, it was mighty low ; so that 
 when you opened the door above stairs, instead of finding 
 the hay up beside you, it was about fourteen feet down 
 beneath you. 
 
 " I can't help boring you with all these details, — first, 
 because they are essential to my story ; and next, because, 
 being a young man and a foreigner to boot, it may lead you 
 to a little better understanding of some of our national cus- 
 toms. Of all the partialities we Irish have, after lush and 
 the ladies, I believe our ruling passion is to build a big 
 house, spend every shilling we have, or that we have not, 
 as the case may be, in getting it half finished, and then live 
 in a corner of it, 'just for grandeur,' as a body maj r say. 
 It 's a droll notion, after all ; but show me the county 
 in Ireland that has n't at least six specimens of what 
 I mention. 
 
 "Newgate was a beautiful one ; and although the sheep 
 lived in the parlor and the cows were kept in the blue 
 drawing-room, Darby Whaley slept in the boudoir, and two 
 bull-dogs and a buck-goat kept house in the library, faith, 
 upon the outside it looked very imposing ; and not one that 
 saw it from the high-road to Ennis — and you could see it 
 for twelve miles in every direction — did n't say, ' That 
 Mahon must be a snug fellow : look what a beautiful place 
 
THE INN FIRE. 293 
 
 he has of it there ! ' Little they knew that it was safer to 
 go up the ' Reeks ' than my grand staircase, and it was like 
 rope-dancing to pass from one room to the other. 
 
 "Well, it was about four o'clock in the afternoon of a 
 dark lowering day in December that I was treading home- 
 wards in no very good humor ; for except a brace and a half 
 of snipe, and a gray plover, I had met with nothing the 
 whole day. The night was falling fast ; so I began to 
 hurry on as quickly as I could, when I heard a loud shout 
 behind me, and a voice called out, — 
 
 " ' It 's Bob Mahon, boys ! By the hill of Scariff, we are 
 in luck ! ' 
 
 "I turned about, and what should I see but a parcel of 
 fellows in red coats: they were the Blazers. There was 
 Dan Lambert, Tom Burke, Harry Eyre, Joe M'Mahon, and 
 the rest of them, — fourteen souls in all. They had come 
 down to draw a cover of Stephen Blake's about ten miles 
 from me ; but in the strange mountain country they lost 
 the dogs, they lost their way and their temper ; in truth, 
 to all appearance, they lost everything but their appetites. 
 Their horses were dead beat too, and they looked as miser- 
 able a crew as ever you set eyes on. 
 
 "'Isn't it lucky, Bob, that we found you at home?' said 
 Lambert. 
 
 " ' They told us you were away,' says Burke. 
 
 "'Some said that you were grown so pious that you 
 never went out except on Sundays,' added old Harry, with 
 a grin. 
 
 " ' Begad,' said I, ' as to the luck, I won't say much for 
 it ; for here 's all I can give you for your dinner ; ' and so 
 I pulled out the four birds and shook them at them ; ' and 
 as to the piety, troth, maybe you 'd like to keep a fast with 
 as devoted a son of the Church as myself.' 
 
 " 'But is n't that Newgate up there ? ' said one. 
 
 "'That same.' 
 
 " ' And you don't mean to say that such a house as that 
 has n't a good larder and a fine cellar ? ' 
 
 " ' You 're right,' said I ; ' and they 're both full at this 
 
294 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 very moment, — the one with seed-potatoes, and the other 
 with Whitehaven coals.' 
 
 " ' Have you got any bacon ? ' said M'Mahon.- 
 
 " ' Oh, yes ! ' said I, ' there 's bacon.' 
 
 " ' And eggs ? ' said another. 
 
 " 'For the matter of that, you might swim in batter.' 
 
 "'Come, come,' said Dan Lambert, 'we're not so badly 
 off, after all.' 
 
 " ' Is there whiskey ? ' cried Eyre. 
 
 " ' Sixty-three gallons, that never paid the king sixpence ! ' 
 
 " As I said this, they gave three cheers you 'd have heard 
 a mile off. 
 
 " After about twenty minutes' walking, we got up to the 
 house, and when poor Darby opened the door I thought 
 he 'd faint ; for, you see, the red-coats made him think it 
 was the army coming to take me away ; and he was for 
 running off to raise the country, when I caught him by 
 the neck. 
 
 '"It 's the Blazers ! ye old fool,' said I. 'The gentlemen 
 are come to dine here.' 
 
 " ' Hurroo ! ' said he, clapping his hands on his knees, 
 ' there must be great distress entirely down about Nenagh 
 and them parts, or they 'd never think of coming up here 
 for a bit to eat.' 
 
 " ' Which way lie the stables, Bob ? ' said Burke. 
 
 " ' Leave all that to Darby,' said I ; for ye see he had 
 only to whistle and bring up as many people as he liked. 
 And so he did too ; and as there was room for a cavalry 
 regiment, the horses were soon bedded down and comforta- 
 ble, and in ten minutes' time we were all sitting pleasantly 
 round a big fire, waiting for the rashers and eggs. 
 
 " ' Now, if you 'd like to wash your hands before dinner, 
 Lambert, come along with me.' 
 
 " ' By all means,' said he. 
 
 " The others were standing up too ; but I observed that 
 as the house was large, and the ways of it unknown to 
 them, it was better to wait 'till I 'd come back for them. 
 
 " ' This was a real piece of good luck, Bob,' said Dan, as 
 
THE INN FIRE. 295 
 
 he followed me upstairs. ' Capital quarters we 've fallen 
 into ; and what a snug bed-room ye have here ! ' 
 
 " ' Yes,' said I, carelessly ; ' it 's one of the small rooms. 
 There are eight like this, and five large ones, plainly fur- 
 nished, as you see ; but for the present, you know — ' 
 
 " ' Oh, begad ! I wish for nothing better. Let me sleep 
 here ; the other fellows may care for your four-posters with 
 satin hangings.' 
 
 "' Well,' said I, 'if you are really not joking, I may tell 
 you that the room is one of the warmest in the house,' — 
 and this was telling no lie. 
 
 " ' Here I '11 sleep,' said he, rubbing his hands with satis- 
 faction, and giving the bed a most affectionate look. 'And 
 now let us join the rest.' 
 
 " When I brought Dan down, I took up Burke, and after 
 him M'Mahon, and so on to the last ; but every time I en- 
 tered the parlor I found them all bestowing immense praises 
 on my house, and each fellow ready to bet he had got the 
 best bed-room. 
 
 "Dinner soon made its appearance; for if the cookery 
 was not very perfect, it was at least wonderfully expeditious. 
 There were two men cutting rashers, two more frying them 
 in the pan, and another did nothing but break the eggs, — 
 Darby running from the parlor to the kitchen and back 
 again as hard as he could trot. 
 
 " Do you know, now, that many a time since when I have 
 been giving venison and burgundy and claret enough to 
 swim a life-boat in, I often thought it was a cruel waste of 
 money ; for the fellows were n't half as pleasant as they 
 were that evening on bacon and whiskey ! 
 
 " I 've a theory on that subject, Hinton, I '11 talk to you 
 more about another time ; I '11 only observe now, that I 'm 
 sure we all over-feed our company. I 've tried both plans ; 
 and my honest experience is that as far as regards con- 
 viviality, fun, and good fellowship, it is a great mistake to 
 provide too well for your guests. There is something 
 heroic in eating your mutton-chop or your leg of a turkey 
 
296 JACK HINTON. THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 among jolly fellows ; there is a kind of reflective flattering 
 about it that tells you you have been invited for your droll- 
 ery and not for your digestion, and that your jokes and not 
 your flattery have been your recommendation. Lord bless 
 you ! I 've laughed more over red-herrings and poteen than 
 I ever expect to do again over turtle and toquay. 
 
 " My guests were, to do them justice, a good illustration 
 of my theory. A pleasanter and a merrier party never sat 
 down together. We had good songs, good stories, plenty of 
 laughing, and plenty of drink ; until at last poor Darby be- 
 came so overpowered (by the fumes of the hot water I sup- 
 pose) that he was obliged to be carried up to bed, and so 
 we were compelled to boil the kettle in the parlor. This, 
 I think, precipitated matters ; for by some mistake, they 
 put punch into it instead of water, and the more you tried 
 to weaken the liquor it was only the more tipsy you were 
 getting. 
 
 "About two o'clock five of the party were under the 
 table, three more were nodding backwards and forwards 
 like insane pendulums, and the rest were mighty noisy, and 
 now and then rather disposed to be quarrelsome. 
 
 " ' Bob,' said Lambert to me, in a whisper, ' if it 's the 
 same thing to you, I '11 slip away and get into bed.' 
 
 "'Of course, if you won't take anything more. Just 
 make yourself at home ; and as you don't know the way 
 here, follow me.' 
 
 " ' I 'm afraid,' said he, ' I 'd not find my way alone.' 
 
 " ' I think,' said I, ' it 's very likely. But come along ! ' 
 
 " I walked upstairs before him ; but instead of turning to 
 the left I went the other way, till I came to the door of 
 the large room that I have told you already was over the 
 big drawing-room. Just as I put my hand on the lock, I 
 contrived to blow out the candle, as if it was the wind. 
 
 " 'What a draught there is here ! ' said I ; ' but just step 
 in, and I'll go for a light.' 
 
 " He did as he was bid ; but instead of finding himself on 
 my beautiful little carpet, down he went fourteen feet into 
 
THE INN FIRE. 297 
 
 the hay at the bottom. I looked down after him for a 
 minute or two, and then called out, — 
 
 " ' As I am doing the honors of Newgate, the least I could 
 do was to show you the drop. Good-night, Dan ! but let 
 me advise you to get a little farther from the door, as there 
 are more coming.' 
 
 "Well, sir, when they missed Dan and me out of the 
 room, two or three more stood up and declared for bed also. 
 The first I took up was Ffrench, of Green Park ; for indeed 
 he was n't a cute fellow at the best of times, and if it was n't 
 that the hay was so low, he 'd never have guessed it was 
 not a feather-bed till he woke in the morning. Well, 
 down he went. Then came Eyre ; then Joe M'Mahon, -— 
 two-and-twenty stone, no less ! Lord pity them ! this was 
 a great shock entirely ! But when I opened the door for 
 Tom Burke, upon my conscience you 'd think it was Pande- 
 monium they had down there ! They were fighting like 
 devils, and roaring with all their might. 
 
 " ' Good-night, Tom,' said I, pushing Burke forward. 
 'It's the cows you hear underneath.' 
 
 " ' Cows ! ' said he. ' If they 're cows, begad they must 
 have got at that sixty-three gallons of poteen you talked 
 of; for they're all drunk.' 
 
 " With that, he snatched the candle out of my hand and 
 looked down into the pit. Never was such a sight seen be- 
 fore or since. Dan was pitching into poor Pfrench, who, 
 thinking he had an enemy before him, was hitting out man- 
 fully at an old turf-creel, that rocked and creaked at every 
 blow, as he called out, — 
 
 " ' I '11 smash you ! I '11 dinge your ribs for you, you 
 infernal scoundrel ! ' 
 
 " Eyre was struggling in the hay, thinking he was swim- 
 ming for his life ; and poor Joe M'Mahon was patting him on 
 the head, and saying, ' Poor fellow ! good dog ! ' for he 
 thought it was Towzer, the bull-terrier, that was prowling 
 round the calves of his legs. 
 
 " ' If they don't get tired, there will not be a man of 
 
298 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 them alive by morning ! ' said Tom, as he closed the door. 
 1 And now, if you '11 allow me to sleep on the carpet, I 'II 
 take it as a favor.' 
 
 " By this time they were all quiet in the parlor ; so I lent 
 Tom a couple of blankets and a bolster, and having locked 
 my door, went to bed with an easy mind and a quiet con- 
 science. To be sure, now and then a cry would burst forth, 
 as if they were killing somebody below stairs ; but I soon 
 fell asleep and heard no more of them. 
 
 " By daybreak next morning they made their escape ; 
 and when I was trying to awake at half-past ten, I found 
 Colonel M'Morris, of the Mayo, with a message from the 
 whole four. 
 
 '" "'A bad business this, Captain Mahon,' said he; 'my 
 friends have been shockingly treated.' 
 
 " < It 's mighty hard,' said I, ' to want to shoot me because 
 I had n't fourteen feather-beds in the house.' 
 
 " ' They will be the laugh of the whole country, sir.' 
 
 " 'Troth!' said I, 'if the country is not in very low 
 spirits, I think they will.' 
 
 ' " ' There 's not a man of them can see ! their eyes are 
 actually closed up ! ' 
 
 " ' The Lord be praised ! ' said I. ' It 's not likely they '11 
 hit me.' 
 
 " But to make a short story of it, out we went. Tom 
 Burke was my friend. I could scarce hold my pistol with 
 laughing ; for such faces no man ever looked at. But for 
 ^elf-preservation's sake, I thought it best to hit one of 
 them ; so I just pinked Ffrench a little under the skirt of 
 the coat. 
 
 " ' Come, Lambert ! ' said the colonel, ' it 's your turn 
 now.' 
 
 " ' Was n't that Lambert/ said I, ' that I hit ? ' 
 
 " ' No.' said he, ' that was Ffrench.' 
 
 " ' Begad, I 'm sorry for it. Ffrench, my dear fellow, ex- 
 cuse me: for you see you're all so like each other about 
 the eyes this morning — " 
 
THE INN FI11E. 299 
 
 " With this there was a roar of laughing from them all, 
 in which, I assure you, Lambert took not a very prominent 
 part ; for somehow he did n't fancy my polite inquiries 
 after him. And so we all shook hands, and left the ground 
 as good friends as ever, — though to this hour the name of 
 Newgate brings less pleasant recollections to their minds 
 than if their fathers had been hanged at its prototype." 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Craftir Pa«i 
 
 I. The Duel « 1 
 
 II. A Country Doctor 9 
 
 ILL The Letter-Bag 15 
 
 IV. Bob Mahon and the Widow 22 
 
 V. The Priest's Gig 29 
 
 VI. The Mountain Pass 34 
 
 VII. The Journey 47 
 
 VIII. MURRANAKILTY 62 
 
 IX. Sir Simon 69 
 
 X. St. Senan's Well 80 
 
 XI. An Unlooked-For Meeting 92 
 
 XII. The Priest's Kitchen 103 
 
 XIII. Tipperary Joe 110 
 
 XIV. The High Boad 115 
 
 XV. The Assize Town 123 
 
 XVI. The Bar Dinner 129 
 
 XVII. The Beturn 134 
 
 XVIII. Farewell to Ireland . 139 
 
 XIX. London 147 
 
 XX. An Unhappy Disclosure 155 
 
 XXI. The Horse Guards 162 
 
vi CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter Pagb 
 
 XXII. The Retreat from Burgos 171 
 
 XXIII. A Mishap 177 
 
 XXIV. The March 187 
 
 XXV. Vittoria 192 
 
 XXVI. The Retreat 199 
 
 XXVII. The Four-in-Hand 215 
 
 XXVIII. St. Denis 221 
 
 XXIX. Paris in 1814 226 
 
 XXX. The Roni Fete 240 
 
 XXXI. Frescati 255 
 
 XXXII. Disclosures 269 
 
 XXXIII. New Arrivals 281 
 
 XXXIV. Conclusion 286 
 
 Envoy 290 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 Volume Two. 
 
 i£tri)t'n0S. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Fattier Tom's Curriculum 31 
 
 Farewell to " Tipper ary Joe" 145 
 
 Illustrations in tfje Etxt 
 
 Corny Delany 20 
 
 St. Senan's Well 85 
 
 A Warm Reception 98 
 
 What is It ? 170 
 
 LA VlVANDlfeRE 180 
 
 A Cutting Reception 231 
 
 Caught a Tartar 287 
 
JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE DUEL. 
 
 When morning broke, I started up and opened the win- 
 dow. It was one of those bright and beauteous daybreaks 
 which would seem to be the compensation a northern cli- 
 mate possesses for its want of the azure sky of noon and 
 the silvery moonlight of night, the gifts of happier climes. 
 The pink hue of the sky was gradually replacing the paler 
 tints, like a deep blush mantling the cheek of beauty; 
 the lark was singing high in heaven, and the deep note of 
 the black-bird came mellowed from the leafy grove ; the 
 cattle were still at rest, and seemed half unwilling to break 
 the tranquil stillness of the scene, as they lay breathing the 
 balmy odors from the wild-flowers that grew around them. 
 Such was the picture that lay on one side of me. On the 
 other was the long street of a little town, on which yet the 
 shadows of night were sleeping ; the windows were closed ; 
 not a smoke-wreath rose from any chimney, but all was 
 still and peaceful. 
 
 In my little parlor I found the good priest and the major 
 fast asleep in their chairs, pretty much in the same atti- 
 tudes I had left them in some hours before. The fire had 
 died away ; the square decanter of whiskey was emptied to 
 its last drop, and the kettle lay pensively on one side, like 
 some shipwrecked craft high and dry upon the shore. I 
 looked at my watch ; it was but four o'clock. Our meeting 
 was appointed for half-past five ; so I crept noiselessly back 
 
2 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 to my room, not sorry to have half-an-hour to myself of un- 
 disturbed reflection. When I had finished my dressing, I 
 threw up the sash and sprang out into the garden. It was 
 a wild, uncultivated spot ; but still there was something of 
 beauty in those old trees whose rich blossoms scented the 
 air, while the rank weeds of many a gay and gaudy hue 
 shot up luxuriantly about their trunks, the pink marsh- 
 mallow and the taper foxglove mingling their colors with 
 the sprayey meadow-sweet and the wild sweetbrier. There 
 was an air of solitude in the neglect around me that seemed 
 to suit the habit of my soul ; and I strolled along from one 
 walk to another, lost in my own thoughts. 
 
 There were many things at a moment like that I would 
 fain have written, fain have said ; but so it is, in the 
 wealth of our emotions we can give nothing, and I could 
 not bring myself to write to my friends even to say fare- 
 well. Although I felt that in every stage of this proceed- 
 ing I had nothing to reproach myself with, this duel being 
 thrust on me by one who had singled me out for his hatred, 
 yet I saw as its result nothing but the wreck of all my 
 hopes. Already had she intimated how strong was her 
 father's attachment to his nephew, and with an expressive 
 fear cautioned me against any collision with him. How 
 vain are all our efforts, how fruitless are all our endeavors, 
 to struggle against the current of our fate ! We may stem 
 for a short time the full tide of fortune, we may breast 
 with courage high and spirit fierce the rough billows as 
 they break upon us, but we are certain to succumb in the 
 end. With some men failure is a question of fear ; some 
 want the persevering courage to drag on amid trials and 
 difficulties ; and some are deficient in the temper which, 
 subduing our actions to a law, governs and presides over 
 every moment of our lives, rendering us, even in our 
 periods of excitement and irritation, amenable to the guid- 
 ance of our reason. This was my case ; and I felt that not- 
 withstanding all my wishes to avoid a quarrel with Burke, 
 yet in my heart a lurking spirit urged me to seek him out 
 and offer him defiance. 
 
THE DUEL. 3 
 
 While these thoughts were passing through iny mind, I 
 suddenly heard a voice which somehow seemed half fa- 
 miliar to my ear. I listened : it came from a room of 
 which the, window was partly open. I now remembered 
 that poor Joe lay in that part of the house, and the next 
 moment I knew it to be his. Placing a ladder against the 
 wall, I crept quietly up till I could peep into the room. 
 The poor fellow was alone, sitting up in his bed, with his 
 hunting-cap on, an old whip in his hand, which he flour- 
 ished from time to time with no small energy ; his cheek 
 was flushed, and his eye, prominent and flashing, denoted 
 the access of high fever. It was evident that his faculties, 
 clouded as they were even in their happiest moments, were 
 now under the wilder influence of delirium. He was speak- 
 ing rapidly to himself in a quick undertone, calling the 
 dogs by name, caressing this one, scolding that ; and then, 
 bursting forth into a loud tally-ho, his face glowed with an 
 ecstatic pleasure, and he broke forth into a rude chant, the 
 words of which I have never forgotten, for as he sang them 
 in a voice of wild and touching sweetness, they seemed the 
 very outpourings of his poor simple heart : — 
 
 " I never yet owned a horse or hound, 
 I never was lord of a foot of ground ; 
 Yet few are richer, I will be bound, 
 
 Than me of a hunting morning. 
 
 "I'm far better off nor him that pays, 
 For though I've no money, I live at my aise, 
 With hunting and shooting whenever I plase, 
 And a tally -high-ho in the morning. 
 
 " As I go on foot, I don't lose my sate, 
 As I take the gaps, I don't brake a gate ; 
 And if I 'm not first, why I 'm seldom late, 
 
 With my tally-high-ho in the morning. 
 
 " And there 's not a man, be he high or low, 
 In the parts down here, or wherever you go, 
 That does n't like poor Tipperary Joe, 
 
 With his tally-high-ho in the morning." 
 
4 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 A loud view-holloa followed this wild chant ; and then 
 the poor fellow, as if exhausted by his efforts, sank back in 
 the bed muttering to himself in a low broken voice, but 
 with a look so happy and a smile so tranquil he seemed 
 more a thing to envy than one to commiserate and pity. 
 
 " I say, Hinton ! " shouted the major from the window of 
 my bedroom, " what the deuce are you doing up that ladder 
 there ? Not serenading Mrs. Doolan, I hope. Are you 
 aware it is five o'clock ? " 
 
 I descended with all haste, and joining my friend, took 
 his arm, and set out towards the rendezvous. 
 
 " I did n't order the horses," said Mahon, " for the rumor 
 of such a thing as this always gets abroad through one's 
 servants." 
 
 " Ah, yes," said I ; " and then you have the police." 
 
 " The police ! " repeated he, laughing, — " not a bit of it, 
 my boy : don't forget you 're in glorious old Ireland, where 
 no one ever thinks of spoiling a fair fight. It is possible 
 the magistrate might issue his warrant if you would not 
 come up to time, but for anything else — " 
 
 "Well," said I, "that certainly does afford me another 
 glimpse of your habits. How far have we to go, Major?" 
 
 "You remember the grass-field below the sunk fence, to 
 the left of the mill ? " 
 
 "Where the stream runs ?" 
 
 " Exactly ; that 's the spot. It was old Pigott chose it, 
 and no man is a better judge of these things. By-the-bye, 
 it is very lucky that Burke should have pitched upon a gen- 
 tleman for his friend, — I mean a real gentleman, for there 
 are plenty of his acquaintances who under that name would 
 rob the mail." 
 
 Thus chatting as we went, Mahon informed me that 
 Pigott was an old half-pay colonel, whose principal occu- 
 pation for thirteen years had been what the French would 
 call "to assist" at affairs of honor. Even the major him- 
 self looked up to him as a last appeal in a disputed or a 
 difficult point ; and many a reserved case was kept for his 
 opinion, with the same ceremonious observance as a knotty 
 
THE DUEL. 5 
 
 point of law for the consideration of the twelve judges. 
 Crossing the little rivulet near the mill, we held on by a 
 small by-path which brought us over the starting-ground 
 of the steeple-chase, by the scene of part of my preceding 
 day's exploits. While I was examining with some curiosity 
 the ground cut up and trod by the horses' feet, and looking 
 at the spot where we had taken the fence, the sharp sound 
 of two pistol shots quickly aroused me, and I eagerly asked 
 what it was. 
 
 " Snapping the pistols," said Mahon. " Ah, by-the-bye, 
 all this kind of thing is new to you. Never mind ; put a 
 careless, half-indifferent kind of face on the matter. Do 
 you take snuff ? It does n't signify ; put your hands in 
 your pockets, and hum < Tatter Jack Walsh ! ' " 
 
 As I supposed there was no specific charm in the melody 
 he alluded to, nor if there had been had I any time to ac- 
 quire it, I consoled myself by observing the first part of his 
 direction, and strolled after him into the field with a non- 
 chalance only perhaps a little too perfect. 
 
 Mr. Burke and his friends, to the number of about a 
 dozen persons, were already assembled ; and were one to 
 judge from their loud talking and hearty laughter as we 
 came forward, it would seem difficult to believe the occa- 
 sion that brought them there was that of mortal combat. 
 So, at least, I thought. Not so, however, the major ; for 
 with a hop, step, and a jump, performed by about the short- 
 est pair of legs in the barony, he sprang into the midst of 
 the party, with some droll observation on the benefits of 
 early rising which once more called forth their merriment. 
 Seating myself on a large moss-covered stone, I waited 
 patiently for the preliminaries to be settled. As I threw 
 my eye among the group, I perceived that Burke was not 
 there ; but on turning my head, I remarked two men walk- 
 ing arm-in-arm on the opposite side of the hedge. As they 
 paced to and fro, I could see, by the violence of his gesticu- 
 lations and the energy of his manner, that one was Burke. 
 It seemed as though his companion was endeavoring to 
 reason with and dissuade him from some course of proceed- 
 
6 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 ing lie appeared bent on following ; but there was a savage 
 earnestness in his manner that would not admit of persua- 
 sion ; and at last, as if wearied and vexed by his friend's 
 importunities, he broke rudely from him, and springing 
 over the fence, called out, — 
 
 "Pigott, are you aware it is past six?" Then pulling 
 out his watch, he added, "I must be at Ballinasloe by 
 eleven o'clock." 
 
 "If you speak another word, sir," said the old colonel, 
 with an air of offended dignity, "I leave the ground. Major 
 Mahon, a word if you please." 
 
 They walked apart from the rest for a few seconds ; and 
 then the colonel, throwing his glove upon the grass, pro- 
 ceeded to step off the ground with a military precision and 
 formality that I am sure at any other time would have 
 highly amused me. 
 
 After a slight demur from the major, to which I could 
 perceive the colonel readily yielded, a walking-stick was 
 stuck at either end of the measured distance; while the 
 two seconds, placing themselves beside them, looked at 
 each other with very great satisfaction, and mutually 
 agreed it was a sweet spot. 
 
 " Would you like to look at these ? " said Pigott, taking 
 up the pistols from where they lay on the grass. 
 
 "Ah, I know them well," replied the major, laughing; 
 "these were poor Tom Casey's, and a better fellow, and 
 a handier with his iron, never snapped a trigger. These 
 are ours, Colonel ; " presenting, as he spoke, two splendid- 
 looking Mortimers, in all the brilliancy of their maiden 
 freshness. A look of contempt from the colonel, and a 
 most expressive shrug of his shoulders, was his reply. 
 
 " Begad, I think so," said Mahon, as if appreciating the 
 gesture ; " I had rather have that old tool with the cracked 
 stock, — not but this is a very sweet instrument, and ele- 
 gantly balanced in the hand." 
 
 " We are ready now," said Pigott ; " bring up your man, 
 Major." 
 
 As I started up to obey the summons, a slight bustle 
 
THE DUEL. 7 
 
 near attracted me. Two or three of Burke's friends were 
 endeavoring as it were to pacify and subdue him ; but his 
 passion knew no bounds, and as he broke from them, he 
 said in a voice perfectly audible where I stood, — 
 
 " Won't I, by G ! then I '11 tell you, if I don't shoot 
 
 him — " 
 
 " Sir," said the colonel, turning on him a look of passion- 
 ate indignation, " if it were not that you were here to an- 
 swer the appeal of wounded honor, I 'd leave you to your 
 fate this moment ; as it is, another such expression as that 
 you 've used, and I abandon you on the spot." 
 
 Doggedly and without speaking, Burke drew his hat far 
 down upon his eyes, and took the place marked out for him. 
 
 "Mr. Hinton," said the colonel, as he touched his hat 
 with most courteous politeness, "will you have the good- 
 ness to stand there ? " 
 
 Mahon, meanwhile, handed each man his pistol, and 
 whispering in my ear, " Aim low," retired. 
 
 "The word, gentlemen," said the colonel, "will be, ' One, 
 two, three.' Mr. Hinton, pray observe, I beg of you, you '11 
 not reserve your fire after I say ' three.' " With his eyes 
 fixed upon us, he walked back about ten paces. " Are you 
 ready ? Are you both ready ? " 
 
 "Yes, yes," said Burke, impatiently. 
 
 " Yes," said I. 
 
 "One, two, three." 
 
 I lifted my pistol at the second word, and as the last 
 dropped from the colonel's lips one loud report rang 
 through the air, and both pistols went off together. A 
 quick, sharp pang shot through my cheek, as though it 
 had been seared by a hot instrument. I put up my hand, 
 but the ball had only touched the flesh, and a few drops 
 of blood were all the damage. Not so Burke ; my ball had 
 entered above the hip, and already his trousers were' 
 stained with blood, and notwithstanding his endeavors he 
 could not stand up straight. 
 
 " Is he hit, Pigott ? " cried he, in a voice harsh from 
 agony. " Is he hit, I say ? " 
 
8 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 "Only grazed," said I, tranquilly, as I wiped the stain 
 from my face. 
 
 "Another pistol, quick ! Do you hear me, Pigott ? " 
 
 " We are not the arbiters in this case," replied the colonel, 
 coolly. " Major Mahon, is your friend satisfied ? " 
 
 "Perfectly satisfied on our own account," said the major; 
 " but if the gentleman desires another shot — " 
 
 " I do, I do ! " screamed Burke, as, writhing with pain, 
 he pressed both hands to his side, from which the blood, 
 now gushing in torrents, formed a pool about his feet. "Be 
 quick there, Pigott ! I am getting faint." He staggered 
 forward as he spoke, his face pale and his lips parted ; 
 then, suddenly clutching his pistol by the barrel, he fixed 
 his eyes steadily on me, while with a curse he hurled the 
 weapon at my head, and fell senseless to the earth. His 
 aim was true ; for straight between the eyes the weapon 
 struck me, and felled me to the ground. Although stunned 
 for the moment, I could hear the cry of horror and indig- 
 nant shame that broke from the bystanders ; but the next 
 instant a dreamy confusion came over me, and I became 
 unconscious of what was passing around. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 A COUNTRY DOCTOR. 
 
 Should my reader feel any interest concerning that por- 
 tion of iny history which immediately followed the events 
 of my last chapter, I believe I must refer him to Mrs. 
 Doolan, the amiable hostess of the Bonaveen Arms. She 
 could probably satisfy any curious inquiry as to the con- 
 fusion produced in her establishment by the lively sallies 
 of Tipperary Joe in one quarter, and the more riotous 
 madness of myself in another. The fact is, good reader, 
 my head was an English one ; and although its contents 
 were gradually acclimating themselves to the habits of the 
 country, the external shell had not assumed that proper 
 thickness and due power of resistance which Irish heads 
 would appear to be gifted with. In plain words, the injury 
 had brought on delirium. 
 
 It was somewhere in the third week after this unlucky 
 morning that I found myself lying in my bed, with a wet 
 cloth upon my temples ; while over my whole frame was 
 spread that depressing sense of great debility more difficult 
 to bear than acute bodily suffering. Although unable to 
 speak, I could distinctly hear the conversation about me, 
 and recognize the voices of both Father Tom and the major 
 as they conversed with a third party, whom I afterwards 
 learned was the Galen of Loughrea. 
 
 Dr. Mopin, surgeon of the Roscommon militia, had been 
 for forty years the terror of the sick of the surrounding 
 country ; for, independent of a naturally harsh and dis- 
 agreeable manner, he had a certain slang and sneering way 
 of addressing his patients that was perfectly shocking. 
 Amusing himself the while at their expense, by suggesting 
 
10 JACK H1NTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 the various unhappy and miserable consequences that might 
 follow on their illness, he appeared to take a diabolical 
 pleasure in the terror he was capable of eliciting. There 
 was something almost amusing in the infernal ingenuity 
 he had acquired in this species of torture. There was no 
 stage of your illness, no phase of your constitution, no char- 
 acter or condition of your malady, that was not the imme- 
 diate forerunner of one or more afflicting calamities. Were 
 you getting weaker, it was the way they always died out ; 
 did you gain strength, it was a rally before death; were 
 you despondent, it was best for you to know your state ; 
 were you sanguine, he would rebuke your good spirits, and 
 suggest the propriety of a priest. However, with all these 
 qualifications people put up with him ; and as he had a cer- 
 tain kind of rude skill, and never stuck at a bold method, 
 he obtained the best practice of the country and a wide- 
 spread reputation. 
 
 '• Well," said Father Tom, in a low voice, — " well, Doc- 
 tor, what do you think of him this evening ? " 
 
 "What do I think -of him ? Just what I thought before, 
 — congestion of the membranes. This is the low stage he 
 is in now ; I would n't be surprised if he 'd get a little 
 better in a few days, and then go off like the rest of them." 
 
 " Go off ! eh ? Xow you don't mean — " 
 
 "Don't I? Maybe not. The ould story, — coma, con- 
 vulsions, and death." 
 
 "Damn the fellow!" said the major, in a muttered 
 voice, "I feel as if I was in a well. But I say, Doctor, 
 what are we to do ? " 
 
 "Anything you plase. They say his family is mighty 
 respectable, and have plenty of money. I hope so; for 
 here am I coming three times a day, and maybe when he 
 dies it will be a mourning ring they '11 be sending me in- 
 stead of my fee. He was a dissipated chap I am sure : 
 look at the circles under his eyes ! " 
 
 " Ay, ay," said the priest, " but they only came since his 
 illness." 
 
 " So much the worse," added the invincible doctor ; 
 
A COUNTRY DOCTOR. 11 
 
 "that's always a symptom that the base of the brain is 
 attacked." 
 
 " And what happens then ? " said the major. 
 
 " Oh, he might recover. I knew a man once get over it, 
 and he is alive now, and in Swift's Hospital." 
 
 " Mad ? " said the priest. 
 
 " Mad as a March hare," grinned the doctor ; " he thinks 
 himself the post-office clock, and chimes all the hours and 
 half-hours day and night." 
 
 " The heavens be about us ! " said Father Tom, crossing 
 himself, piously. " I had rather be dead than that." 
 
 "When did you see Burke?" inquired the major, wish- 
 ing to change the conversation. 
 
 " About an hour ago ; he is going fast." 
 
 " Why, I thought he was better," said Father Tom ; 
 "they told me he eat a bit of chicken, and took a little 
 wine and water." 
 
 " Ay, so he did ; I bid them give him whatever he liked, 
 as his time was so short. So, after all, maybe it is as well 
 for this young chap here not to get over it." 
 
 " How so ? " said the major. " What do you mean by 
 that ? " 
 
 " Just that it is as good to die of a brain fever as be 
 hanged ; and it won't shock the family." 
 
 " I 'd break his neck," muttered Bob Mahon, " if there 
 was another doctor within forty miles." 
 
 Of all his patients, Tipperary Joe was the only one of 
 whom the doctor spoke without disparagement. Whether 
 that the poor fellow's indifference to his powers of terror- 
 izing had awed or conciliated him, I know not ; but he 
 expressed himself favorably regarding his case, and his 
 prospects of recovery. 
 
 " Them chaps always recover," drawled out the doctor in 
 a dolorous cadence. 
 
 " Is it true," said the major, with a malicious grin, — " is 
 it true that he changed all the splints and bandages to the 
 sound leg, and that you did n't discover the mistake for a 
 week afterwards ? Mary Doolan told me." 
 
12 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " Mrs. Doolan," said the doctor, " ought to be thinking of 
 her own misfortunes ; and with an acute inflammation of 
 the pericardium, she might be making her sowl." 
 
 " She ill ? — that fine, fat, comfortable-looking woman ! " 
 
 " Ay, just so ; they 're always fat, and have a sleepy look 
 about the eyes, just like yourself. Do you ever bleed at the 
 nose ? " 
 
 " Never without a blow on it. Come, come, I know you 
 well, Doctor ; you shall not terrify me." 
 
 " You 're right not to fret ; for it will take you off sud- 
 denly, with a giddiness in your head, and a rolling in your 
 eyes, and a choking feel about your throat — " 
 
 " Stop, and be d d to you ! " said the major, as he 
 
 cleared his voice a couple of times, and loosed the tie of his 
 cravat. " This room is oppressively hot." 
 
 " I protest to God," said Father Tom, " my heart is in 
 my mouth, and there is n't a bone in my body that 's not 
 aching." 
 
 "I don't wonder," chimed in the doctor; "you are an- 
 other of them, and you are a surprising man to go on so 
 long. Sure, it is two years ago I warned your niece that 
 when she saw you fall down, she must open a vein in your 
 neck, if it was only with a carving-knife." 
 
 " The saints in heaven forbid ! " said the priest, cutting 
 the sign of the cross in the air ; " it 's maybe the jugular 
 she 'd cut ! " 
 
 " No," drawled out the doctor, " she need n't go so deep ; 
 and if her hand does n't shake, there won't be much danger. 
 Good evening to you both." 
 
 So saying, with his knees bent, and his hands crossed 
 under the skirts of his coat, he sneaked out of the room ; 
 while the others, overcome with fear, shame, and dismay, 
 sat silently, looking misery itself, at each side of the 
 table. 
 
 " That fellow would kill a regiment," said the major at 
 length. "Come, Tom, let's have a little punch; I've a 
 kind of a trembling over me." 
 
 " Not a drop of anything stronger than water will cross 
 
A COUNTRY DOCTOR. 13 
 
 my lips this blessed night. Do you know, Bob, I think 
 this place does n't agree with me ? I wish I was back in 
 Murranakilty : the mountain air, and regular habits of life, 
 that 's the thing for me." 
 
 " We are none of us abstemious enough," said the major ; 
 " and then we bachelors — to be sure you have your niece." 
 
 "Whisht!" said the priest, "how do you know who is 
 listening ? I vow to God I am quite alarmed at his telling 
 that to Mary ; some night or other, if I take a little too much, 
 she '11 maybe try her anatomy upon me ! " 
 
 This unhappy reflection seemed to weigh upon the good 
 priest's mind, and set him a mumbling certain Latin offices 
 between his teeth for a quarter of an hour. 
 
 " I wish," said the major, " Hinton was able to read his 
 letters, for here is a whole bundle of them, — some from 
 England, some from the Castle, and some marked ' on his 
 Majesty's service.' " 
 
 " I '11 wait another week anyhow for him," said the priest. 
 " To go back to Dublin in the state he is now would be the 
 ruin of him, after the shake he has got. The dissipation, 
 the dining-out, and all the devilment would destroy him 
 entirely ; but a few weeks' peace and quietness up at Mur- 
 ranakilty will make him as sound as a bell." 
 
 " You are right, Tom, you are right," said the major ; 
 " the poor fellow must n't be lost for the want of a little 
 care ; and now that Dillon has gone, there is no one here to 
 look after him. Let us go down and see if the post is in ; I 
 think a walk would do us good." 
 
 Assenting to this proposition, the priest bent over me 
 mournfully for a moment, shook his head, and having mut- 
 tered a blessing, walked out of the room with the major, 
 leaving me in silence to think over all I had overheard. 
 
 Whether it was that youth suggested the hope, or that I 
 more quickly imbibed an appreciation of the doctor's char- 
 acter from being" the looker-on at the game, I am not ex- 
 actly sure ; but certainly I felt little depressed by his 
 gloomy forebodings respecting me, and greatly lightened 
 at my heart by the good news of poor Tipperary Joe. 
 
14 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 Of all the circumstances which attended my illness, the 
 one that most impressed me was the warm, affectionate 
 solicitude of my two friends, the priest and his cousin. 
 There was something of kindness and good feeling in their 
 care of me that spoke rather of a long friendship than of 
 the weaker ties of chance and passing acquaintance. Again 
 I thought of home ; and while I asked myself if the events 
 which beset my path in Ireland could possibly have hap- 
 pened to me there, I could not but acknowledge that if they 
 had so, I could scarcely have hoped to suddenly conjure up 
 such faithful and benevolent friends, with no other claim, 
 nor other recommendation, save that of being a stranger. 
 
 The casual observation concerning my letters had, by 
 stimulating my curiosity, awakened my dormant energy; 
 and by a great effort I stretched out my hand to the little 
 bell beside my bed, and rang it. The summons was an- 
 swered by the bare-legged girl who acted as waiter in the 
 inn. When she had sufficiently recovered from her aston- 
 ishment to comprehend my request, I persuaded her to 
 place a candle beside me, and having given me the packet 
 of letters that lay on the chimney-piece, I desired her on 
 no account to admit any one, but say that I had fallen into 
 a sound sleep, and should not be disturbed. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE LETTE R-B A G. 
 
 The package of letters was a large one, of all sizes. 
 From all quarters they came, — some from home ; some 
 from my brother officers of the Guards; some from the 
 Castle ; and even one from O'Grady. 
 
 The first I opened was a short note from Horton, the 
 private secretary to the viceroy. This informed me that 
 Major Mahon had written a statement to the duke of all 
 the circumstances attending my duel ; and that his Grace 
 had not only expressed himself highly satisfied with my 
 conduct, but had ordered a very polite reply to be addressed 
 to the major, thanking him for his great kindness, and say- 
 ing with what pleasure he found that a member of his staff 
 had fallen into such good hands. 
 
 "His Grace desires me to add," continued the writer, "that you 
 need only consult your own health and convenience with respect to 
 your return to duty ; and, iu fact, your leave of absence is perfectly 
 discretionary." 
 
 My mind relieved of a weighty load by the contents of 
 this letter, I recovered my strength already so far that I 
 sat up in bed to peruse the others. My next was from my 
 father ; it ran thus : — 
 
 Dear Jack, — Your friend Major Mahon, to whom I wTite by 
 this post, will deliver this letter to you when he deems fit. He has 
 been most good-natured in conveying to me a narrative of your late 
 doings ; and I cannot express how grateful we all are to him for the 
 truly friendly part he has taken towards you. After the strictest scru- 
 tiny, for 1 confess to you I feared lest the major's might be too partial 
 an account, I rejoice to say that your conduct meets with my entire 
 approbation. An older and a wiser head might, it is possible, have 
 avoided some of the difficulties you have met with ; but this I will 
 
16 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 add, — that once in trouble, no one could have shown better temper 
 or a more befitting spirit than you did. While I saj r this, my dear 
 Jack, understand me clearly that I speak of you as a young, inexperi- 
 enced man, thrown at his very outset of life not only among strangers, 
 but in a country where, as I remarked to you at first, everything is 
 different from those in your own. You have now shown yourself 
 equal to any circumstances in which you may be placed. I therefore 
 not only expect that you will meet with fewer embarrassments in 
 future, but that, should they arise, I shall have the satisfaction of 
 finding your character and your habits will be as much your safe- 
 guard against insult as your readiness to resent any will be sure 
 and certain. 
 
 I have seen the duke several times, and he expresses himself as 
 much pleased with you. From what he mentions, I can collect that 
 you are well satisfied with Ireland, and therefore I do not wish to 
 remove you from it. At the same time, bear in mind that by active 
 service alone can you ever attain to, or merit, rank in the army ; and 
 that hitherto you have only been a soldier by name. 
 
 After some further words of advice respecting the future, 
 and some few details of family matters, he concluded by 
 intrusting to my mother the mention of what she herself 
 professed to think lay more in her peculiar province. 
 
 As usual, her letter opened with some meteorological 
 observations upon the climate of England for the preceding 
 six weeks ; then followed a journal of her own health, 
 whose increasing delicacy, and the imperative necessity of 
 
 being near Doctor Y , rendered a journey to Ireland 
 
 too dangerous to think of. 
 
 Yes, my dearest boy [wrote she], nothing but this would keep 
 me from you a moment ; however, I am much relieved at learning 
 that you are now rapidly recovering, and hope soon to hear of your 
 return to Dublin. It is a very dreadful thing to think of, but per- 
 haps upon the whole it is better that you did kill this Mr. Burke. De 
 Grammont tells me that a mauvaise tete like that must be shot sooner 
 or later. It makes me nervous to dwell on this odious topic, so that 
 I shall pass on to something else. 
 
 The horrid little man that brought your letters, and who calls him- 
 self a servant of Captain O'Grady, insisted on seeing me yesterday. 
 I never was more shocked in my life. From what he says, I gather 
 
THE LETTER-BAG. 17 
 
 that he may be looked on as rather a favorable specimen of the 
 natives. They must indeed be a very frightful people; and although 
 he assured me he would do me no injury, I made Thomas stay in the 
 room the entire time, and told Chubbs to give the alarm to the police 
 if he beard" the slightest noise. The creature, however, did nothing, 
 and I have quite recovered from my fear already. 
 
 What a picture, my dear boy, did he present to me of your conduct 
 and habits ! Your intimacy with that odious family I mentioned in 
 my last seems the root of all your misfortunes. Why will such 
 people thrust themselves forward ? What do they mean by inviting 
 you to their frightful parties? Have they not their own peculiar 
 horrors ? — not but I must confess that they are more excusable than 
 you ; and I cannot conceive how you could so soon have forgotten 
 the lessons instilled into you from your earliest years. As your poor 
 dear grandfather, the admiral, used to say, a vulgar acquaintance is a 
 shifting sand ; you can never tell where you won't meet it, — always 
 at the most inopportune moment; and then, if you remark, your 
 underbred people are never content with a quiet recognition, but 
 they must always indulge in a detestable cordiality there is no escap- 
 ing from. Oh, John, John ! when at ten years of age you made the 
 banker's son at Northampton hold your stirrup as you mounted your 
 pony, I never thought I should have this reproach to make you. 
 
 The little fiend, who calls himself Corny something, also mentions 
 your continued familiarity with the young woman I spoke of before. 
 What her intentions are is perfectly clear, and should she accomplish 
 her object, your position in society and future fortune might possibly 
 procure her large damages ; but pause, my dear boy, before you go 
 any further. I do not speak of the moral features of the case, for 
 you are of an age to judge of them yourself; but think, I beseech 
 you, of the difficulties it will throw around your path in life, and the 
 obstacles it will oppose to your success. There is poor Lord Henry 
 Effingham ; and since that foolish business with the clergyman's wife 
 or daughter, where somebody went mad, and some one else drowned 
 or shot himself, they have never given him any appointment what- 
 ever. The world is a frightful and unforgiving thing, as poor Lord 
 Henry knows ; therefore beware ! 
 
 The more I think of it, the more strongly do I feel the force of my 
 first impressions respecting Ireland ; and were it not that we so con- 
 stantly hear of battles and bloodshed in the Peninsula, I should even 
 prefer your being there. There would seem to be an unhappy destiny 
 over everything belonging to me. My poor dear father, the admiral, 
 had a life of hardship, almost unrewarded. For eleven years he 
 
 VOL. II. — 2 
 
18 JACK HLNTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 commanded a guardship in the Nore ; many a night have I seen him, 
 when I was a little girl, come home dripping with wet, and perfectly 
 insensible from the stimulants he was obliged to resort to, and be 
 carried in that state to his bed ; and after all this he did n't get his 
 blue ribbon till he was near sixty. 
 
 De Vere is constantly with us, and is, I remark, attentive to your 
 cousin Julia. This is not of so much consequence, as I hear that her 
 Chancery suit is taking an unhappy turn ; should it be otherwise, 
 your interests will, of course, be looked to. De Vere is most amus- 
 ing, and has a great deal of wit ; but for him and the count we 
 should be quite dreary, as the season is over, and we can't leave 
 town for at least three weeks. [The epistle concluded with a general 
 summing up of its contents, and an affectionate entreaty to bear in 
 mind her caution regarding the Rooneys.] Once more, my dear boy, 
 remember that vulgar people are a part of our trials in this life. As 
 that delightful man, the Dean of St. George's, says, they are snares 
 for our feet ; and their subservient admiration of us is a dangerous 
 and a subtle temptation. Read this letter again, and believe me, my 
 dearest John, 
 
 Your affectionate and unhappy mother, 
 
 Charlotte Hinton. 
 
 I shall not perform so vmdutif ul a task as to play the 
 critic on my excellent mother's letter. There were, it is 
 true, many new views of life presented, to me by its perusal, 
 and I should feel sadly puzzled were I to say at which I 
 was more amused or shocked, — at the strictness of her 
 manners, or the laxity of her morals ; but I confess that 
 the part which most outraged me of all was the eulogy on 
 Lord Dudley de Vere's conversational gifts. But a few 
 short months before, and it is possible I should not only 
 have credited but concurred in the opinion ; brief, however, 
 as had been the interval, it had shown me much of life ; it 
 had brought me into acquaintance, and even intimacy, with 
 some of the brightest spirits of the clay ; it had taught me 
 to discriminate between the unmeaning jargon of conven- 
 tional gossip and the charm of a society where force of 
 reasoning, warmth of eloquence, and brilliancy of wit con- 
 tested for the palm ; it had made me feel that the intel- 
 lectual gifts reserved in other countries for the personal 
 
THE LETTER-BAG. 19 
 
 advancement of their owner by their public and ostentatious 
 display, can be made the ornament and the delight of the 
 convivial board, the elegant accompaniment to the hours of 
 happy intercourse, and the strongest bond of social union. 
 So gradually had this change of opinion crept over me that 
 I did not recognize in myself the conversion ; and indeed 
 had it not been for my mother's observations on Lord Dud- 
 ley, I could not have credited how far my convictions had 
 gone round. I could now understand the measurement by 
 which Irishmen were estimated in the London world. I 
 could see that if such a character as De Vere had a reputa- 
 tion for ability, how totally impossible it was for those who 
 appreciated him to prize the great and varied gifts of such 
 men as Grattan and Curran, and many more. 
 
 Lost in such thoughts, I forgot for some moments that 
 O'Grady's letter lay open before me. It was dated Chat- 
 ham, and written the night before he sailed. The first few 
 lines showed me that he knew nothing of my duel, having 
 only received my own letter with an account of the steeple- 
 chase. He wrote in high spirits. The commander-in-chief 
 had been most kind to him, appointing him to a vacant 
 majority, — not, as he anticipated, in the Forty-first, but in 
 the Ninth Light Dragoons. 
 
 " I am anxiously looking out for Corny," said he, "and a great 
 letter-bag from Ireland, — the only bit of news from which, except 
 your own, is that the Rooneys have gone into deep mourning, them- 
 selves and their whole house. Various rumors are afloat as to 
 whether any money speculations of Paul's may have suggested the 
 propriety of retrenchment, or whether there may not have been a 
 death in the royal family of O'Toole. Look to this for me, Hinton ; 
 for even in Canada I shall preserve the memory of that capital house, 
 its excellent cuisine, its charming hostess. Cultivate them, my dear 
 Jack, for your sake and for mine. One Rembrandt is as good as a 
 gallery ; so sit down before them, and make a study of the family." 
 
 The letter concluded as it began, by hearty thanks for 
 the service I had rendered him, begging me to accept of 
 Moddiridderoo as a souvenir of his friendship, — and in a 
 postscript, to write which the letter had evidently been re- 
 
20 
 
 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 opened, was a warning to me against any chance collision 
 with Ulick Burke. 
 
 " Not, my dear boy, because he is a dead shot, — although that 
 same is something, — but that a quarrel with him could scarcely be 
 reputable in its commencement, and must be bad whatever the 
 result." 
 
 After some further cautioning on this matter, the justice 
 of which was tolerably evident from my own experience, 
 0' Grady concluded with a hurried postscript : — 
 
 " Corny has not yet arrived, and we have received our orders for 
 embarkation within twenty-four hours. I begin half to despair of 
 his being here in time. Should this be the case, will you, my dear 
 Hinton, look after the old villain for me, at least until I write to you 
 again on the subject ? " 
 
 While I was yet pondering on 
 these last few lines, I perceived 
 that a card had fallen from my 
 father's letter. I took it up, and 
 what was my astonishment to 
 find that it contained a correct 
 likeness of Corny Delany, drawn 
 with a pen, underneath which 
 was written, in my cousin Julia's 
 hand, the following few lines : — 
 
 The dear old thing has waited three 
 days, and I think I have at length 
 caught something like him. Dear 
 Jack, if the. master be only equal to 
 the man, we shall never forgive you 
 for not letting us see him. 
 
 Yours, Julia. 
 
 This, of course, explained the secret of Corny's delay, — 
 my cousin, with her habitual wilfulness, preferring the in- 
 dulgence of a caprice to anything resembling a duty ; and I 
 now had little doubt upon my mind that 0' Grady's fears 
 
THE LETTER-BAG. 21 
 
 were well founded, and that he had been obliged to sail 
 without his follower. 
 
 The exertion it cost rne to read my letters, and the ex- 
 citement produced by their perusal, fatigued and exhausted 
 me, and as' I sank back upon my pillow I closed my eyes 
 and fell sound asleep, not to wake until late on the follow- 
 ing day. But strange enough, when I did so, it was with a 
 head clear and faculties collected, my mind refreshed by 
 rest unbroken by a single dream ; and so restored did I 
 feel, that, save in the debility from long confinement to 
 bed, I was unconscious of any sense of malady. 
 
 From this hour my recovery dated. Advancing every 
 day with rapid steps, my strength increased ; and before a 
 week elapsed, I so far regained my lost health that I could 
 move about my chamber, and even lay plans for my 
 departure. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 BOB MAHON AND THE WIDOW. 
 
 It was about eight or ten days after the events I have 
 mentioned, when Father Tom Loftus, whose care and atten- 
 tion to me had been unceasing throughout, came in to in- 
 form me that all the preparations for our journey were 
 properly made, and that by the following morning at 
 sunrise we should be on the road. 
 
 I confess that I looked forward to my departure with 
 anxiety. The dreary monotony of each day, spent either 
 in perambulating my little room or in a short walk up and 
 down before the inn-door, had done more to depress and 
 dispirit me than even the previous illness. The good 
 priest, it is true, came often to see me ; but then there were 
 hours spent quite alone, without the solace of a book or the 
 sight of even a newspaper. I knew the face of every man, 
 woman, and child in the village ; I could tell their haunts, 
 their habits, and their occupations. Even the very hours 
 of the tedious day were marked in my mind by various 
 little incidents, that seemed to recur with unbroken pre- 
 cision; and if when the pale apothecary disappeared from 
 over the half-door of his shop I knew that he was engaged 
 at his one o'clock dinner, so the clink of the old ladies' pat- 
 tens, as they passed to an evening tea, told me that the day 
 was waning, when the town-clock should strike seven. 
 There was nothing to break the monotonous jog-trot of 
 daily life save the appearance of a few raw subalterns, who, 
 from some cause or other less noticed than others of the 
 regiment by the neighboring gentry, strolled about the 
 town, quizzing and laughing at the humble town's folk, and 
 
BOB MAHON AND THE WIDOW. 23 
 
 endeavoring, by looks of most questionable gallantry, to im- 
 press the female population with a sense of their merits. 
 
 After all, mankind is pretty much the same in every 
 country and every age, — some men ambitioning the credit 
 of virtues the very garb of which they know not ; others, 
 and a large class too, seeking for the reputation of vices the 
 world palliates with the appellation of " fashionable." We 
 laugh at the old courtier of Louis XIV.'s time, who in the 
 flattery of the age he lived in preferred being called a scel4- 
 rat, an infdme scelerat, that by the excesses he professed 
 the vicious habits of the sovereign might seem less strik- 
 ing; and yet we see the very same thing under our own 
 eyes every day we live. 
 
 But to return. There was nothing to delay me longer at 
 Loughrea. Poor Joe was so nearly recovered that in a 
 few days more it was hoped he might leave his bed. He 
 was in kind hands, however, and I had taken every pre- 
 caution that he should want for nothing in my absence. I 
 listened, then, with pleasure to Father Tom's detail of all 
 his preparations ; and although I knew not whither we 
 were going, nor how long the journey was likely to prove, 
 yet I looked forward to it with pleasure, and only longed 
 for the hour of setting out. 
 
 As the evening drew near, I looked anxiously out for the 
 good father's coming. He had promised to come in early 
 with Major Mahon, whom I had not seen for the two days 
 previous, — the major being deeply engaged in consulta- 
 tions with his lawyer regarding an approaching trial at the 
 assizes. Although I could gather from his manner, as well 
 as from the priest's, that something of moment impended, 
 yet as neither of them more than alluded to the circum- 
 stance, I knew nothing of what was going forward. 
 
 It was eight o'clock when Father Tom made his appear- 
 ance. He came alone, and by his flurried look and excited 
 manner I saw there was something wrong. 
 
 " What is it, Father ? " said I. " Where is the major ? " 
 
 " Och, confound him ! they have taken him at last," said 
 he, wiping his forehead with agitation. 
 
24 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " Taken him ! " said I. " Why, was he hiding ? " 
 
 " Hiding ! to be sure he was hiding, and masquerading 
 and disguising himself ! But, faith, those Clare fellows, 
 there 's no coming up to them ; they have such practice in 
 their own county, they would take the devil himself if there 
 was a writ out against him. And, to be sure, it was a clever 
 trick they played old Bob." 
 
 Here the good priest took such a fit of laughing that he 
 was obliged to wipe his eyes. 
 
 " May I never," said he, " if it was n't a good turn they 
 played him, after what he did himself ! " 
 
 " Come, Father, let 's hear it." 
 
 " This was the way of it. Maybe you never remarked — 
 of course you did n't, for you were only up there a couple of 
 times — that opposite Bob's lodgings there was a mighty 
 sweet-looking crayture, a widow-woman ; she was dressed 
 in very discreet black, and had a sorrowful look about 
 her that somehow or other, I think, made her even more 
 interesting. 
 
 " ' I 'd like to know that widow,' said Bob ; ' for now 
 that the fellows have a warrant against me, I could spend 
 my days so pleasantly over there, comforting and consoling 
 her.' 
 
 " ' Whisht,' said I, ' don't you see that she is in grief ? ' 
 
 " ' Not so much in grief,' said he, ' but she lets down two 
 beautiful braids of her brown hair under her widow's cap ; 
 and whenever you see that, Father Tom, take my word for 
 it, the game 's not up.' 
 
 " I believe there was some reason in what he said, for the 
 last time I went up to see him he had the window open, 
 and he was playing ' Planxty Kelly ' with all his might on 
 an old fiddle ; and the widow would come now and then to 
 the window to draw the little muslin curtain, or she would 
 open it to give a half-penny to the beggars, or she would 
 hold out her hand to see if it was raining, — and a beauti- 
 ful lily-white hand it was ; but all the time, you see, it was 
 only exchanging looks they were. Bob was a little ashamed 
 when he saw me in the room, but he soon recovered. 
 
BOB MA HON AND THE WIDOW. 25 
 
 " ' A very charming woman that Mrs. Moriarty is,' said 
 he, closing the window. 'It's a cruel pity that her for- 
 tune is all in the Grand Canal — I mean Canal debentures. 
 But indeed it comes pretty much to the same thing.' 
 
 " And so he went on raving about the widow ; for by thi8 
 time he knew all about her. Her maiden-name was Cassidy, 
 and her father a distiller ; and, in fact, Bob was quite 
 delighted with his beautiful neighbor. At last I bid him 
 good-by, promising to call for him at eight o'clock to come 
 over here to you ; for you see there was a back-door to the 
 house that led into a small alley, by which Mahon used to 
 make his escape in the evening. He was sitting, it seems, 
 at his window, looking out for the widow, who for some 
 cause or oi,her hadn't made her appearance the entire of 
 the day. There he sat with his hand on his heart, and a 
 heavenly smile upon him for a good hour, sipping a little 
 whiskey-and-water between times, to keep up his courage. 
 
 " ' She must be out,' said Bob to himself. ' She 's gone 
 to pass the day somewhere. I hope she does n't know any 
 of those impudent vagabonds up at the barracks. Maybe, 
 after all, it 's sick she is.' 
 
 " While he was ruminating this way, who should he see 
 turn the corner but the widow herself. There she was, 
 coming along in deep weeds, with her maid after her — a 
 fine slashing-looking figure, rather taller than her though, 
 and lustier every way ; but it was the first time he saw her 
 in the streets. As she got near to her door, Bob stood up 
 to make a polite bow. Just as he did so, the widow slipped 
 her foot, and fell down on the flags with a loud scream. 
 The maid ran up, endeavoring to assist her, but she couldn't 
 stir ; and as she placed her hand on her leg, Bob perceived 
 at once she had sprained her ankle. Without waiting for 
 his hat, he sprang downstairs, and rushed across the street. 
 
 " Mrs. Moriarty, my angel ! ' said Bob, putting his arm 
 round her waist. ' Won't you permit me to assist you ? ' 
 
 " She clasped his hand with fervent gratitude, while the 
 maid, putting her hand into her reticule, seemed fumbling 
 for a handkerchief. 
 
\ 
 
 26 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 "'I am a stranger to you, ma'am/ said Bob; 'but if 
 Major Mahon, of the Koscommon — ' 
 
 " ' The very man we want ! ' said the maid, pulling a writ 
 out of the reticule ; for a devil a thing else they were but 
 two bailiffs from Ennis. 
 
 " ' The very man we want ! ' said the bailiffs. 
 
 "'lam caught ! ' said Bob. 
 
 " < The devil a doubt of it ! ' 
 
 " At the same moment the window opened overhead, and 
 the beautiful widow looked out to see what was the matter. 
 
 " ' Good evening to you, ma'am,' says Bob ; ' and I 'd like 
 to pay my respects if I was n't particularly engaged to 
 these ladies here.' And with that he gave an arm to each 
 of them and led them down the street, as if it was his 
 mother and sister." 
 
 " The poor major ! " said I. " And where is he now ? " 
 
 "On his way to Ennis in a post-chaise; for it seems the 
 ladies had a hundred pounds for their capture. Ah, poor 
 Bob ! But there is no use fretting ; besides it would be 
 sympathy thrown away, for he '11 give them the slip before 
 long. And now, Captain, are you ready for the road ? I 
 have got a peremptory letter from the bishop, and must be 
 back in Murranakilty as soon as I can." 
 
 " My dear father, I am at your disposal. I believe we 
 can do no more for poor Joe ; and as to Mr. Burke, — and, 
 by-the-bye, how is he ? " 
 
 " Getting better, they say. But I believe you 've spoiled 
 a very lucrative source of his income. He was the best 
 jumper in the west of Ireland ; and they tell me you 've 
 lamed him for life. He is down at Milltown, or Kilkee, 
 or somewhere on the coast ; but sure we '11 have time 
 enough to talk of these things as we go along. I '11 be 
 with you by seven o'clock. We must start early, and get 
 to Portumna before night." 
 
 Having promised implicit obedience to the worthy priest's 
 directions, be they what they might, I pledged myself to 
 make up my luggage in the smallest possible space, and 
 have breakfast ready for him before starting. After a few 
 
BOB MAHON AND THE WIDOW. 27 
 
 other observations and some suggestions as to the kind of 
 equipment he deemed suitable to the road, he took his leave, 
 and I sat down alone to a little quiet reckoning with myself 
 as to the past, the present, and the future. 
 
 From -my short experience of Ireland, the only thing 
 approaching to an abstract principle I could attain to was 
 the utter vanity, the perfect impossibility, of any man's 
 determining on a given line of action or the steady pursuit 
 of any one enterprise. No ; the inevitable course of fate 
 seems to have chosen this happy island to exhibit its 
 phenomena. Whether your days be passed in love or war, 
 or your evenings in drink or devotion, not yours be the 
 glory ; for there would seem to be a kind of headlong in- 
 fluence at work, impelling you ever forward. Acquaint- 
 ances grow up, ripen, and even bear fruit before in other 
 lands their roots would have caught the earth ; by them 
 your tastes are regulated, your habits controlled, your ac- 
 tions fashioned. You may not, it is true, lisp in the patois 
 of blarney ; you may weed your phraseology of its tropes 
 and figures ; but trust me, that if you live in Ireland, if 
 you like the people (and who does not?), and if you are 
 liked by them (and who would not be ?), then do I say you 
 will find yourself, without knowing or perceiving it, going 
 the pace with the natives, — courtship, fun, frolic, and 
 devilment filling up every hour of your day, and no incon- 
 siderable portion of your night also. One grand feature of 
 the country seemed to me, that, no matter what particular 
 extravagance you were addicted to, no matter what strange 
 or absurd passion to do or seem something remarkable, you 
 were certain of always finding some one to sympathize 
 with if not actually to follow you. Nothing is too strange, 
 nothing too ridiculous, nothing too convivial, nothing too 
 daring for Paddy. With one intuitive bound he springs 
 into your confidence and enters into your plans. Only be 
 open with him, conceal nothing, and he 's yours heart and 
 hand ; ready to indorse your bill, to carry off a young lady, 
 or carry a message ; to burn a house for a joke, or jeopardy 
 his neck for mere pastime ; to go to the world's end to serve 
 
28 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 you, and on his return shoot you afterwards out of down 
 right good-nature. 
 
 As for myself, I might have lived in England to the age 
 of Methuselah, and yet never have seen as much of life as 
 in the few months spent in Ireland. Society in other lands 
 seems a kind of free-masonry, where for lack of every real 
 or important secret men substitute sigus and pass-words, as 
 if to throw the charm of mystery where, after all, nothing 
 lies concealed ; but in Ireland, where national character 
 runs in a deep or hidden channel, with cross currents and 
 back-water ever turning and winding, — where all the in- 
 congruous and discordant elements of what is best and 
 worst seem blended together, — there, social intercourse is 
 free, cordial, warm, and benevolent. Men come together 
 disposed to like one another ; and what an Irishman is dis- 
 posed to, he usually has a way of effecting. My brief career 
 had not been without its troubles ; but who would not have 
 incurred such, or as many more, to have evoked such kind 
 interest and such warm friendship ? From Phil O'Grady 
 my first, to Father Tom my last, friend I had met with 
 nothing but almost brotherly affection ; and yet I could not 
 help acknowledging to myself, that, but six short months 
 before, I would have recoiled from the friendship of the 
 one and the acquaintance of the other, as something to 
 lower and degrade me. Not only would the outward observ- 
 ances of their manner have deterred me, but in their very 
 warm and earnest proffers of good-nature, I would have seen 
 cause for suspecting and avoiding them. Thank Heaven ! 
 I now knew better, and felt deeper. How this revolution 
 became effected in me I am not myself aware. Perhaps — 
 I only say perhaps — Miss Bellew had a share in effect- 
 ing it. 
 
 Such were some of my thoughts as I betook myself to 
 bed, and soon after to sleep. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE PRIEST'S GIG. 
 
 I am by no means certain that the prejudices of my 
 English education were sufficiently overcome to prevent my 
 feeliug a kind of tingling shame as I took my place beside 
 Father Tom Loftus in his gig. Early as it was, there were 
 still some people about ; and I cast a hurried glance around 
 to see if our equipage was not as much a matter of amuse- 
 ment to them as of affliction to me. 
 
 When Father Tom first spoke of his " dennet," I inno- 
 cently pictured to myself something resembling the indi- 
 genous productions of Loughrea. " A little heavy or so," 
 thought I ; " strong for country roads ; mayhap somewhat 
 clumsy in the springs, and not over-refined about the shafts." 
 Heaven help my ignorance ! I never fancied a vehicle whose 
 component parts were two stout poles, surmounting a pair 
 of low wheels, high above which was suspended, on two 
 lofty C springs, the body of an ancient buggy, — the lining 
 of a bright scarlet, a little faded and dimmed by time, bor- 
 dered by a lace of the most gaudy pattern ; a flaming coat- 
 of-arms, with splended blazonry and magnificent quarterings, 
 ornamented each panel of this strange-looking tub, into 
 which, for default of steps, you mounted by a ladder. 
 
 " Eh, Father," said I, " what have we here ? This is 
 surely not the — " 
 
 " Ay, Captain," said the good priest, as a smile of proud 
 satisfaction curled his lip, " that 's ' the convaniency ; ' and 
 a pleasanter and an easier never did man sit in. A little 
 heavy, to be sure ; but then one can always walk up the 
 hills ; and if they're very stiff ones entirely, why it 's only 
 throwing out the ballast." 
 
30 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " The ballast ! What do you mean ? " 
 
 " Just them," said he, pointing with his whip to some 
 three or four huge pieces of lime-stone rock that lay in the 
 bottom of the gig ; " there 's seven, maybe eight, stone 
 weight, every pound of it." 
 
 " And for Heaven's sake," said I, " why do you carry 
 that mass of rubbish along with you ? " 
 
 " I '11 just tell you then. The road has holes in it you 
 could bury your father in ; and when the convaniency gets 
 into one of them, she has a way of springing up into the 
 air, that, if you 're not watching, is sure to pitch you out, — 
 maybe into the bog at the side, maybe on the beast's back. 
 I was once actually thrown into a public-house window, 
 where there was a great deal of fun going on, and the 
 bishop came by before I extricated myself. I assure you I 
 had hard work to explain it to his satisfaction." There was 
 a lurking drollery in his eye, as he said these last few 
 words, that left me to the full as much puzzled about the 
 accident as his worthy diocesan. " But look at the springs," 
 he continued ; " there 's metal for you ! And do you mind 
 the shape of the body ? It 's for all the world like the 
 ancient curriculus. And look at Bathershin himself, — the 
 ould varmint ! Sure, he 's classical too ! Has n't he a 
 Roman nose ; and ain't I a Roman myself ? So get up, 
 Captain, — ascend it e ad currum ; get into the shay. And 
 now for the doch an dhurras, — the stirrup-cup, Mrs. 
 Doolan : that 's the darlin'. Ah, there 's nothing like it ! 
 
 " ' Sit mihi lagena, 
 Ad summum plena.' 
 
 Here, Captain, take a pull, — beautiful milk-punch ! " 
 
 Draining the goblet to the bottom, which I confess was 
 
 no unpleasant task, I pledged my kind hostess, who, courte- 
 
 sying deeply, refilled the vessel for Father Tom. 
 
 '•' That 's it, Mary ; froth it up, aeushla ! Hand it here, 
 
 my darlin', — my blessing on ye." 
 
 As he spoke, the worthy father deposited the reins at his 
 
 feet, and lifted the cup with both hands to his mouth ; 
 

 
 
 
JNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
THE PRIEST'S GIG. 31 
 
 when suddenly the little window over the inn-door was 
 burst open, and a loud tally-ho was shouted out, in accents 
 the wildest I ever listened to. I had barehy time to catch 
 the merry features of poor Tipperary Joe, when the priest's 
 horse, more accustomed to the hunting-held than the high- 
 road, caught up the welcome sound, gave a wild toss of his 
 head, cocked up his tail, and, with a hearty bang of both 
 hind legs against the front of the chariot, set off down the 
 street as if the devil were after him. Feeling himself at 
 liberty, as well as favored by the ground, which was all 
 down hill, the pace was really terrific. It was some time 
 before I could gather up the reins, as Father Tom, jug and 
 all, had been thrown at the first shock on his knees to the 
 bottom of the convaniency, where, half suffocated by fright 
 and the milk-punch that went wrong with him, he bellowed 
 and coughed with all his might. 
 
 " Howld him tight ! — ugh, ugh, ugh ! — not too hard ; 
 don't chuck him for the love of — ugh, ugh, ugh ! — the 
 reins is rotten and the traces no better — ugh, ugh, ugh ! 
 Bad luck to the villains, why didn't they catch his head ? 
 And the stultus execrabilis ! — the damned fool! how he 
 yelled ! " 
 
 Almost fainting with laughter, I pulled my best at the 
 old horse, not, however, neglecting the priest's caution 
 about the frailty of the harness. This, however, was not 
 the only difficulty I had to contend with ; for the curriculus, 
 participating in the galloping action of the horse, swung up- 
 wards and downwards, backwards and forwards, and from 
 one side to the other, — all at once too, — in a manner so 
 perfectly addling that it was not before we reached the first 
 turnpike that I succeeded in arresting our progress. Here 
 a short halt was necessary for the priest to recover himself, 
 and to examine whether either his bones or any portion of 
 the harness had given way. Both had happily been found 
 proof against mishaps, and drew from the reverend father 
 strong encomiums upon their merits ; and after a brief de- 
 lay we resumed our road, but at a much more orderly and 
 becoming pace than before. 
 
32 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 Once more en route, I bethought me it was high time to 
 inquire about the direction we were to travel, and the prob- 
 able length of our journey ; for I confess I was sadly igno- 
 rant as to the geography of the land we were travelling, 
 and the only point I attempted to keep in view was the 
 number of miles we were distant from the capital. The 
 priest's reply was, however, anything but instructive to me, 
 consisting merely of a long catalogue of names, in which the 
 syllables " kill," " whack," " nock," "shock," and "bally" 
 jostled and elbowed one another in the rudest fashion ima- 
 ginable, — the only intelligible portion of his description 
 being, that a blue mountain scarcely perceptible in the 
 horizon lay about half-way between us and Murranakilty. 
 
 My attention was not, however, permitted to dwell on 
 these matters ; for my companion had already begun a nar- 
 rative of the events which had occurred during my illness. 
 The Dillons, I found, had left for Dublin soon after my 
 mishap. Louisa Bellew returned to her father; and Mr. 
 Burke, whose wound had turned out a more serious affair 
 than was at first supposed, was still confined to his bed, 
 and a lameness for life anticipated as the inevitable result 
 of the injury. 
 
 " Sir Simon, for once in his life," said the priest, " has 
 taken a correct view of his nephew's character, and has, 
 now that all danger to life is past, written him a severe let- 
 ter, reflecting on his conduct. Poor Sir Simon ! his life has 
 been one tissue of trial and disappointment throughout. 
 Every buttress that supported his venerable house giving 
 way, one by one, the ruin seems to threaten total downfall, 
 ere the old man exchanges the home of his fathers for his 
 last narrow rest beside them in the churchyard. Betrayed 
 on every hand, wronged, and ruined, he seems merely to 
 linger on in life, — like the stern-timbers of some mighty 
 wreck, that marks the spot where once the goodly vessel 
 perished, and are now the beacon of the quicksand to others. 
 You know the sad story, of course, that I alluded to — " 
 
 " No ; I am completely ignorant of the family history," 
 said I. 
 
THE PRIEST'S GIG. 33 
 
 The priest blushed deeply, as his dark eyebrows met in a 
 heavy frown ; then turning hastily towards me, he said, in a 
 voice whose thick, low utterance bespoke his agitation, — 
 
 " Do not ask me, I beseech you, to speak further of what, 
 had I been more collected, I had never alluded to ! An 
 unhappy duel, the consequence of a still more unhappy 
 event, has blasted every hope in life for my poor friend. 
 I thought — that is, I feared lest the story might have 
 reached you. As I find this is not so, you will spare my 
 recurring to that the bare recollection of which comes like 
 a dark cloud over the happiest day of my existence. Prom- 
 ise me this, or I shall not forgive myself." 
 
 I readily gave the pledge he required ; and we pursued 
 our road, — not, however, as before, but each sunk in his 
 own reflections, silent, reserved, and thoughtful. 
 
 " In about four days," said Father Tom, at last breaking 
 the silence, " perhaps five, we '11 be drawing near Murrana- 
 kilty." He then proceeded, at more length, to inform me 
 of the various counties through which we were to pass, de- 
 tailing with great accuracy the several seats we should see, 
 the remarkable places, the ruined churches, the old castles, 
 and even the very fox-covers that lay on our route. And 
 although my ignorance was but little enlightened by the 
 catalogue of hard names that fell as glibly from his tongue as 
 Italian from a Roman, yet I was both entertained and pleased 
 with the many stories he told, — some of them legends of 
 bygone days, some of them the more touching and truth- 
 dealing records of what had happened in his own time. 
 Could I have borrowed any portion of his narrative power, 
 were I able to present in his strong but simple language any 
 of the curious scenes he mentioned, I should perhaps ven- 
 ture on relating to my reader one of his stories ; but when I 
 think how much of the interest depended on his quaint and 
 homely but ever forcible manner, as, pointing with his whip 
 to some ruined house with blackened walls and fallen chim- 
 neys, he told some narrative of rapine and of murder, I feel 
 how much the force of reality added power to a story that 
 in repetition might be weak and ineffective. 
 
 VOL. II. — 3 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE MOUNTAIN PASS. 
 
 On the whole, the journey was to me a delightful one, 
 and certainly not the least pleasant portion of my life in 
 Ireland. Endowed — partly from his individual gifts, 
 partly from the nature of his sacred functions — with in- 
 fluence over all the humble ranks in life, the good priest 
 jogged along with the assurance of a hearty welcome wher- 
 ever he pleased to halt, — the only look of disappointment 
 being when he declined some proffered civility, or refused 
 an invitation to delay his journey. The chariot was well 
 known in every town and village, and scarcely was the 
 rumble of its wheels heard coming up the "street" when 
 the population might be seen assembling in little groups 
 and knots, to have a word with "the father," to get his 
 blessing, to catch his eye, or even obtain a nod from him. 
 He knew every one and everything, and with a tact which 
 is believed to be the prerogative of royalty, he never mis- 
 called a name nor mistook an event. Inquiring after them, 
 for soul and body, he entered with real interest into all 
 their hopes and plans, their fears and anticipations, and 
 talked away about pigs, penances, purgatory, and potatoes 
 in a way that showed his information on any of these 
 matters to be of no mean or common order. 
 
 By degrees our way left the more travelled high-road, 
 and took by a mountain tract through a wild, romantic line 
 of country beside the Shannon. No villages now presented 
 themselves, and indeed but little trace of any habitation 
 whatever ; large misshapen mountains, whose granite sides 
 were scarce concealed by the dark fern, the only vegetation 
 that clothed them, rose around and about us. In the val- 
 
THE MOUNTAIN PASS. 35 
 
 leys some strips of bog might be seen, with little hillocks 
 of newly-cut turf, the only semblance of man's work the 
 eye could rest on. Tillage there was none. A dreary 
 silence, too, reigned throughout. I listened in vain for the 
 bleating' of a lamb or the solitary tinkle of a sheep-bell ; 
 but no, — save the cawing of the rooks or the mournful cry 
 of the plover, I could hear nothing. ISTow and then, it is 
 true, the heavy flapping of a strong wing would point the 
 course of a heron soaring towards the river ; but his low 
 flight even spoke of solitude, and showed he feared not 
 man in his wild and dreamy mountains. At intervals we 
 could see the Shannon winding along, far, far down below 
 us, and I could mark the islands in the bay of Scariff, with 
 their ruined churches and one solitary tower ; but no sail 
 floated on the surface, nor did an oar break the sluggish 
 current of the stream. It was, indeed, a dreary scene, and 
 somehow my companion's manner seemed colored by its in- 
 fluence ; for scarcely had we entered the little valley that 
 led to this mountain track than he became silent and 
 thoughtful, absorbed in reflection, and when he spoke, either 
 doing so at random or in a vague and almost incoherent 
 way that showed his ideas were wandering. 
 
 I remarked that as we stopped at a little forge shortly 
 after daybreak, the smith had taken the priest aside and 
 whispered to him a few words, at which he seemed strangely 
 moved ; and as they spoke together for some moments in 
 an undertone, I perceived by the man's manner and gesture, 
 as well as by the agitation of the good father himself, that 
 something of importance was being told. "Without waiting 
 to finish the little repair to the carriage which had caused 
 our halt, he remounted hastily, and beckoning me to take 
 my place, drove on at a pace that spoke of haste and eager- 
 ness. I confess that my curiosity to know the reason was 
 great ; but as I could not with propriety ask, nor did my 
 companion seem disposed to give the information, I soon 
 relapsed into a silence unbroken as his own, and we trav- 
 elled along for some miles without speaking. Now and 
 then the priest Avould make an effort to relieve the weari- 
 
36 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 ness of the way by some remark upon the scenery, or some 
 allusion to the wild grandeur of the pass ; but it was plain 
 he spoke only from constraint, and that his mind was occu- 
 pied on other and very different thoughts. 
 
 It was now wearing late, and yet no trace of any house 
 or habitation could I see, where to rest for the night. Not 
 wishing, however, to interrupt the current of my friend's 
 thoughts I maintained my silence, straining my eyes on 
 every side, — from the dark mountains that towered above 
 me, to the narrow gloomy valley that lay several hundred 
 feet beneath our track, — but all in vain. The stillness was 
 unbroken, and not a roof, not even a smoke-wreath, could 
 be seen far as the view extended. The road by which we 
 travelled was scarped from the side of a mountain, and for 
 some miles pursued a gradually descending course. On sud- 
 denly turning the angle of a rocky wall that skirted us for 
 above a mile, we came in sight of a long reach of the Shan- 
 non upon which the sun was now setting in all its golden 
 lustre. The distant shore of Munster, rich in tillage and 
 pasture-land, was lit up too with cornfield and green 
 meadow, leafy wood and blue mountain, all glowing in 
 their brightest hue. It was a vivid and a gorgeous pic- 
 ture, and I could have looked on it long with pleasure, 
 when suddenly I felt my arm grasped by a strong finger. 
 I turned round, and the priest, relaxing his hold, pointed 
 down into the dark valley below us, as he said in a low and 
 agitated voice, — 
 
 " You see the light ? It is there — there." 
 Quickening our pace by every effort, we began rapidly to 
 descend the mountain by a zig-zag road, whose windings 
 soon lost us the view I have mentioned, and left nothing 
 but the wild and barren mountains around us. Tired as 
 our poor horse was, the priest pressed him forward ; and 
 regardless of the broken and rugged way he seemed to think 
 of nothing but his haste, muttering between his teeth with 
 a low but rapid articulation, while his face grew flushed 
 and pale at intervals, and his eye had all the lustrous glare 
 and restless look of fever. I endeavored, as well as I was 
 
THE MOUNTAIN PASS. 37 
 
 able, to occupy my mind with other thoughts; but with that 
 invincible fascination that turns us ever to the side we try 
 to shun, I found myself again and again gazing on my com- 
 panion's countenance. Every moment now his agitation in- 
 creased y his lips were firmly closed, his brow contracted, 
 his cheek flattened and quivering with a nervous spasm, 
 while his hand trembled violently as he wiped the big drops 
 of sweat that rolled in agony from his forehead. 
 
 At last we reached the level, where a better road pre- 
 sented itself before us, and enabled us so to increase our 
 speed that we were rapidly coining up with the light, which, 
 as the evening closed in, seemed larger and brighter than 
 before. It was now that hour when the twilight seems fad- 
 ing into night, — a gray and sombre darkness coloring every 
 object, but yet marking grass and rock, pathway and river, 
 with some seeming of their noonday hues, so that as we 
 came along I could make out the roof and walls of a mud 
 cabin built against the very mountain-side, in the gable of 
 which the light was shining. A rapid, a momentary thought 
 flashed across my mind as to what dreary and solitary man 
 could fix his dwelling-place in such a spot as this, when 
 in an instant the priest suddenly pulled up the horse, 
 and, stretching out one hand with a gesture of listening, 
 whispered, — 
 
 " Hark ! Did you not hear that ? " 
 
 As he spoke, a cry, wild and fearful, rose through the 
 gloomy valley, — at first in one prolonged and swelling 
 note ; then broken as if by sobs, it altered, sank, and rose 
 again wilder and madder, till the echoes, catching up the 
 direful sounds, answered and repeated them as though a 
 chorus of unearthly spirits were calling to one another 
 through the air. 
 
 " God ! too late — too late ! " said the priest, as he 
 bowed his face upon his knees, and his strong frame shook 
 in agony. " Father of mercy ! " he cried, as he lifted 
 his eyes, bloodshot and tearful, toward heaven, "forgive 
 me this ; and if unshriven before Thee — " 
 
 Another cry, more frantic than before, here burst upon 
 
38 JACK HLN'TON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 us, and the priest, muttering with rapid utterance, appeared 
 lost in prayer. But at him I looked no longer, lor straight 
 before us on the road, and in front of the little cabin, now 
 not above thirty paces from us, knelt the figure of a woman, 
 whom, were it not for the fearful sounds we had heard, one 
 could scarce believe a thing of life. Her age was not more 
 than thirty years ; she was pale as death ; not a tinge, not 
 a ray of color streaked her bloodless cheek ; her black hair, 
 long and wild, fell upon her back and shoulders, straggling 
 and disordered ; while her hands were clasped, as she held 
 her stiffened arms straight before her. Her dress bespoke 
 the meanest poverty, and her sunken cheek and drawn-in 
 lips betokened famine and starvation. As I gazed on her 
 almost breathless with awe and dread, the priest leaped 
 out, and hurrying forward, called out to her in Irish ; but 
 she heard him not, she saw him not, — dead to every sense, 
 she remained still and motionless. No feature trembled, 
 no limb was shaken ; she knelt before us like an image of 
 stone ; and then, as if by some spell that worked within 
 her, once more gave forth the heart-rending cry we heard 
 at first. Now low and plaintive, like the sighing night- 
 wind, it rose fuller and fuller, pausing and continuing at 
 intervals ; and then breaking into short and fitful efforts, it 
 grew wilder and stronger, till at last with one outbreak, 
 like the overflowing of a heart of misery, it ceased 
 abruptly. 
 
 The priest bent over her and spoke to her ; he called her 
 by her name, and shook her several times, — but all in vain. 
 Her spirit, if indeed present with her body, had lost all 
 sympathy with things of earth. 
 
 " God help her ! " said he ; " God comfort her ! This is 
 sore affliction." 
 
 As he spoke he walked towards the little cabin, the door 
 of which now stood open. All was still and silent within 
 its walls. Unused to see the dwellings of the poor in Ire- 
 land, my eye ranged over the bare walls, the damp and 
 earthen floor, the few and miserable pieces of furniture, 
 when suddenly my attention was called to another and a 
 
THE MOUNTAIN PASS. 39 
 
 sadder spectacle. In one corner of the hovel, stretched 
 upon a bed whose poverty might have made it unworthy of 
 a dog to lie in, lay the figure of a large and powerfully- 
 built man, stone dead. His eyes were closed, his chin 
 bound up with a white cloth, and a sheet, torn and ragged, 
 was stretched above his cold limbs, while on either side of 
 him two candles were burning. His features, though rigid 
 and stiffened, were manly and even handsome, — the bold 
 character of the face heightened in effect by his beard and 
 mustache, which appeared to have been let grow for some 
 time previous, and whose black and waving curl looked 
 darker from the pallor around it. Some lines there were 
 about the mouth that looked like harshness and severity, 
 but the struggle of departing life might have caused them. 
 
 Gently withdrawing the sheet that covered him, the 
 priest placed his hand upon the man's heart. It was evi- 
 dent to me, from the father's manner, that he still believed 
 the man living ; and as he rolled back the covering, he felt 
 for his hand. Suddenly starting, he fell back for an in- 
 stant ; and as he moved his fingers backwards and for- 
 wards, I saw that they were covered with blood. I drew 
 near, and now perceived that the dead man's chest was laid 
 open by a wound of several inches in extent. The ribs had 
 been cut across, and some portion of the heart or lung 
 seemed to protrude. At the slightest touch of the body, 
 the blood gushed forth anew, and ran in streams upon him. 
 His right hand, too, was cut across the entire palm, the 
 thumb nearly severed at the joint. This appeared to have 
 been rudely bound together; but it was evident, from the 
 nature and the size of the other wound, that he could not 
 have survived it many hours. 
 
 As I looked in horror at the frightful spectacle before 
 me, my foot struck at something beneath the bed. I 
 stooped down to examine, and found it was a carbine, such 
 as dragoons usually carry. It was broken at the stock and 
 bruised in many places, but still seemed not unserviceable. 
 Part of the butt-end was also stained with blood. The 
 clothes of the dead man, clotted and matted with gore, were 
 
40 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 also there, adding by their terrible testimony to the dread- 
 ful fear that haunted me. Yes, everything confirmed it, — 
 murder and crime had been there. 
 
 A low, muttering sound near made me turn my head, and 
 I saw the priest kneeling beside the bed, engaged in prayer. 
 His head was bare, and he wore a kind of scarf of blue silk, 
 and the small case that contained the last rites of his 
 Church was placed at his feet. Apparently lost to all 
 around, save the figure of the man that lay dead before 
 him, he muttered with ceaseless rapidity prayer after 
 prayer, — stopping ever and anon to place his hand on the 
 cold heart, or to listen with his ear upon the livid lips ; and 
 then resuming with greater eagerness, while the big drops 
 rolled from his forehead, and the agonizing torture he felt 
 convulsed his entire frame. 
 
 "0 God ! r ' he exclaimed, after a prayer of some minutes, 
 in which his features worked like one in a fit of epilepsy, — 
 " God, is it then too late ? " 
 
 He started to his feet as he spoke, and bending over 
 the corpse, with hands clasped above his head, he poured 
 forth a whole torrent of words in Irish, swaying his body 
 backwards and forwards, as his voice, becoming broken by 
 emotion, now sank into a whisper, or broke into a discord- 
 ant shout. " Shaun, Shaun ! " cried he, as, stooping down 
 to the ground, he snatched up the little crucifix and held it 
 before the dead man's face ; at the same time he shook him 
 violently by the shoulder, and cried, in accents I can never 
 forget, some words aloud, among which alone I could recog- 
 nize one word, " Thea," — the Irish word for God. He 
 shook the man till his head rocked heavily from side to 
 side, and the blood oozed from the opening wound, and 
 stained the ragged covering of the bed. 
 
 At this instant the priest stopped suddenly, and fell 
 upon his knees, while with a low, faint sigh he who seemed 
 dead lifted his eyes and looked around him ; his hands 
 grasped the sides of the bed, and, with a strength that 
 seemed supernatural, he raised himself to a sitting posture. 
 His lips were parted and moved, but without a sound, and 
 
THE MOUNTAIN PASS. 41 
 
 his filmy eyes turned slowly in their sockets from one 
 object to another, till at length they fell upon the little cru- 
 cifix that had dropped from the priest's hand upon the bed. 
 In an instant the corpse-like features seemed inspired with 
 life ; a gleam of brightness shot from his eyes ; the head 
 nodded forward a couple of times, and I thought I heard a 
 discordant, broken sound issue from the open mouth ; but 
 a moment after the head dropped upon the chest, and the 
 hands relaxed, and he fell back with a crash, never to 
 move more. 
 
 Overcome with horror, I staggered to the door and sank 
 upon a little bench in front of the cabin. The cool air of 
 the night soon brought me to myself, and while in my con- 
 fused state I wondered if the whole might not be some 
 dreadful dream, my eyes once more fell upon the figure of 
 the woman, who still knelt in the attitude we had first seen 
 her. Her hands were clasped before her, and from time to 
 time her wild cry rose into the air and woke the echoes of 
 that silent valley. A faint moonlight lay in broken patches 
 around her, and mingled its beams with the red glare of 
 the little candles within, as their light fell upon her marble 
 features. From the cabin I could hear the sounds of the 
 priest's voice, as he continued to pray without ceasing. 
 
 As the hours rolled on, nothing changed ; and when, 
 prompted by curiosity, I looked within the hovel, I saw the 
 priest still kneeling beside the bed, his face pale and sunk 
 and haggard, as though months of sickness and suffering 
 had passed over him. I dared not speak ; I dared not dis- 
 turb him ; and I sat down near the door in silence. 
 
 It is one of the strange anomalies of our nature that the 
 feelings which rend our hearts with agony have a tendency, 
 by their continuance, to lull us into slumber. The watcher 
 by the bedside of his dying friend, the felon in his cell but 
 a few hours before death, sleep, — and sleep soundly. The 
 bitterness of grief would seem to blunt sensation, and the 
 mind, like the body, can only sustain a certain amount of 
 burden, after which it succumbs and yields. So I found it 
 amid this scene of horror and anguish, with everything to 
 
42 JACK HLNTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 excite that can operate upon the mind, — the woman 
 stricken motionless and senseless by grief ; the dead man, 
 as it were, recalled to life by the words that were to herald 
 him into life everlasting; the old man, whom I had known 
 but as a gay companion, displayed now before my eyes in 
 all the workings of his feeling heart, called up by the afflic- 
 tions of one world and the terrors of another, — and this in 
 a wild and dreary valley, far from man's dwelling. Yet 
 amid all this, and more than all, the harassing conviction 
 that some deed of blood, some dark hour of crime, had been 
 here at work, perhaps to be concealed forever, and go un- 
 avenged save of Heaven, — with this around and about me, 
 I slept. How long I know not ; but when I woke, the mist 
 of morning hung in the valley, or rolled in masses of cloud- 
 like vapor along the mountain-side. In an instant the 
 whole scene of the previous night was before me, and the 
 priest still knelt beside the bed and prayed. I looked for 
 the woman, but she was gone. 
 
 The noise of wheels, at some distance, could now be 
 heard on the mountain-road; and as I walked stealthily 
 from the door, I could see three figures descending the pass, 
 followed by a car and horse. As they came along, I marked 
 that beneath the straw on the car something protruded it- 
 self on either side, and this, I soon saw, was a coffin. As 
 the men approached the angle of the road they halted, and 
 seemed to converse in an eager and anxious manner, when 
 suddenly one of them broke from the others, and springing 
 to the top of a low wall that skirted the road, continued to 
 look steadily at the house for some minutes together. The 
 thought flashed on me at the moment that perhaps my be- 
 ing a stranger to them might have caused their hesitation ; 
 so I waved my hat a couple of times above my head. 
 Upon this they resumed their march, and in a few minutes 
 more were standing beside me. One of them, who was an 
 old man with hard, weather-beaten features, addressed me, 
 first in Irish, but correcting himself, at once asked, in a 
 low, steady voice, — 
 
 " Was the priest in time ? Did he get the rites ? " 
 
THE MOUNTAIN PASS. 43 
 
 I nodded in reply ; when he muttered, as if to himself, — 
 " God's will be done ! Shaun did n't tell of Hogan — " 
 
 " Whisht, father ! whisht ! " said one of the younger men 
 as he laid his hand upon the old man's arm, while he added 
 something in Irish, gesticulating with energy as he spoke. 
 
 " Is Mary come back, sir ? " said the third, as he touched 
 his hat to me respectfully. 
 
 "The woman — his wife?" said I. "I have not seen 
 her to-day." 
 
 " She was up with us, at Kiltimmon, at two o'clock this 
 morning, but would n't wait for us. She wanted to get back 
 at once, poor crayture ! She bears it well, and has a stout 
 heart. Faith, maybe before long she '11 make some others 
 faint in their hearts that have stricken hers this night." 
 
 " Was she calm, then ? " said I. 
 
 " As you are this minute ; and sure enough she helped 
 me, with her own hands, to put the horse in the car, for 
 you see I could n't lift .the shaft with my one arm." 
 
 I now saw that his arm was bound up, and buttoned 
 within the bosom of his great-coat. 
 
 The priest now joined us, and spoke for several minutes 
 in Irish ; and although ignorant of all he said, I could mark 
 in the tone of his voice, his look, his manner, and his gest- 
 ure that his words were those of rebuke and reprobation. 
 The old man heard him in silence, but without any evi- 
 dence of feeling. The others, on the contrary, seemed 
 deeply affected; and the younger of the two, whose arm 
 was broken, seemed greatly moved, and the tears rolled 
 down his hardy cheeks. 
 
 These signs of emotion were evidently displeasing to the 
 old man, whose nature was of a sterner and more cruel 
 mould ; and as he turned away from the father's admoni- 
 tion he moved past me, muttering, as he went, — 
 
 " Is n't it all fair ? Blood for blood ; and sure they dhruv 
 him to it." 
 
 After a few words from the priest, two of the party took 
 their spades from the car, and began digging the grave; 
 while "Father Loftus, leading the other aside, talked to him 
 for some time. 
 
44 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 "Be gorra," said the old man, as he shovelled the earth 
 to either side, "Father Tom isn't like himself, at all, at all. 
 He used to have pity and the kind word for the poor when 
 they were turned out on the world to starve, without as 
 much as a sheaf of straw to lie upon, or potatoes enough 
 for the children to eat." 
 
 " Whisht, father ! or the priest will hear ye," said the 
 younger one, looking cautiously around. 
 
 " Sorrow bit o' me cares if he does ! it 's thruth I 'm tell- 
 ing. You are not long in these parts, sir, av I may make 
 so bowld ? " 
 
 " No," said I, " 1 'in quite a stranger." 
 
 " Well, anyhow, ye may understand that this is n't a fine 
 soil for a potato-garden ; and yet the devil a other poor 
 Shaun had since they turned him out on the road last 
 Michaelmas-day, himself and his wife and the little gos- 
 soon, — the only one they had, too, — with a fever and ague 
 upon him. The poor child, however, didn't feel it long, 
 for he died in ten days after. Well, well ! the way of God 
 there 's no saying against it. But, sure, if the little boy 
 did n't die Shaun was off to America ; for he tuk his pas- 
 sage, and got a sea-chest of a friend, and was all ready to 
 go. But, you see, when the child died, he could not bring 
 himself to leave the grave ; and there he used to go and 
 spend half of his days fixing it, and settling the sods about 
 it, and would n't take a day's work from any of the neigh- 
 bors. And at last he went off one night, and we never 
 knew what was become of him, till a pedler brought word 
 that he and Mary was living in the Cluan Beg, away from 
 everybody, without a friend to say ' God save you ! ' — It 's 
 deep enough now, Mickey; there's nobody will turn him 
 out of this. — And so, sir, he might have lived for many a 
 year ; but when he heerd that the boys was up, and going 
 to settle a reckoning with Mr. Tarleton — " 
 
 " Come you," cried the priest, who joined us at the mo- 
 ment, and who I could perceive was evidently displeased at 
 the old man's communicativeness, — " come, you, the sooner 
 you all get back the better. We must look after Mary, too; 
 
THE MOUNTAIN PASS. 45 
 
 for God knows where she is wandering. And now let us 
 put the poor boy in the earth." 
 
 With slow and sullen steps the old man entered the house, 
 followed, by the others. I did not accompany them, but 
 stood beside the grave, my mind full of all I heard. In a 
 few minutes they returned, carrying the coffin, one corner of 
 which was borne by the priest himself. Their heads were 
 bare, and their features were pale and care-worn. They 
 placed the body in the grave, and gazed down after it for 
 some seconds. The priest spoke a few words, in a low, 
 broken voice, the very sounds of which, though their mean- 
 ing was unknown to me, sank deep into my heart. He 
 whispered for an instant to one of the young men, who 
 went into the cabin and speedily returned, carrying with 
 him some of the clothes of the deceased and the old carbine 
 that lay beneath the bed. 
 
 "Throw them in the grave, Mickey, — throw them in," 
 said the priest. "Where 's his coat ? " 
 
 " It is n't there, sir," said the man. " That 's everything 
 that has a mark of blood upon it." 
 
 " Give me that gun," cried the priest ; and at the same 
 moment he took the carbine by the end of the barrel, and 
 by one stroke of his strong foot snapped it at the breech. 
 " My curse be on you ! " said he, as he kicked the fragments 
 into the grave ; " there was peace and happiness in the land 
 before men knew ye, and owned ye ! Ah, Hugh," said he, 
 turning his eyes fiercely on the old man, " I never said ye 
 had n't griefs and trials, and sore ones too, some of them ; 
 but God help you, if ye think that an easy conscience and 
 a happy home can be bought by murder." The old man 
 started at the words, and as his dark brow lowered and his 
 lip trembled, I drew near to the priest, fearful lest an attack 
 might be made on him. " Ay, murder, boys ! that 's the 
 word, and no less. Don't tell me about righting yourselves, 
 and blood for blood, and all that. There 's a curse upon 
 the land where these things happen, and the earth is not 
 lucky that is moistened with the blood of God's creatures." 
 
 " Cover him up ! cover him up ! " said the old man, shovel' 
 
46 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 ling in the earth so as to drown the priest's words, " and let 
 us be going. We ought to be back by six o'clock, unless," 
 added he with a sarcastic bitterness that made him look 
 like a fiend, — " unless your Reverence is going to set the 
 police on our track." 
 
 " God forgive you, Hugh, and turn your heart," said the 
 priest, as he shook his outstretched hands at the old man. 
 As the father spoke these words he took me by the arm, 
 and led me within the house. I could feel his hand trem- 
 ble as it leaned upon me, and the big tears rolled down his 
 cheeks in silence. 
 
 We sat down in the little cabin, but neither of us spoke. 
 After some time we heard the noise of the cart-wheels and 
 the sound of voices, which grew fainter and fainter as they 
 passed up the glen, and at length all became still. 
 
 " And the poor wife," said I, " what, think you, has 
 become of her ? " 
 
 '• Gone home to her people, most likely," answered the 
 priest. " Her misfortunes will make her a home in every 
 cabin. None so poor, none so wretched, as not to succor 
 and shelter her. But let us hence." 
 
 We walked forth from the hovel, and the priest closing 
 the door after him fastened it with a padlock that he had 
 found within, and then, placing the key upon the door-sill, 
 he turned to depart; but suddenly stopping, he took my 
 hand in both of his, and said, in a voice of touching 
 earnestness, — 
 
 " This has been a sad scene. Would to God you had 
 not witnessed it ! Would to God, rather, that it might not 
 have occurred ! But promise me, on the faith of a man of 
 honor and the word of a gentleman, that what you have 
 seen this night you will reveal to no man, until I have 
 passed away myself, and stand before that judgment to 
 which we all are coming." 
 
 " I promise you faithfully," said I. " And now let us 
 leave a spot that has thrown a gloom upon my heart which 
 a long life will never obliterate." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE JOURNEY. 
 
 As we issued from the glen the country became more 
 open ; patches of cultivation presented themselves, and 
 an air of comfort and condition superior to what we had 
 hitherto seen was observable in the dwellings of the coun- 
 try people. The road led through a broad valley bounded 
 on one side by a chain of lofty mountains, and on the 
 other separated by the Shannon from the swelling hills of 
 Minister. Deeply engaged in our thoughts, we travelled 
 along for some miles without speaking. The scene we 
 had witnessed was of that kind that seemed to forbid our 
 recurrence to it, save in our own gloomy reflections. We 
 had not gone far when the noise of horsemen on the road 
 behind us induced us to turn our heads. They came along 
 at a sharp trot, and we could soon perceive that although 
 the two or three foremost were civilians, they who followed 
 were dragoons. I thought I saw the priest change color 
 as the clank of the accoutrements struck upon his ear. I 
 had, however, but little time for the observation, as the 
 party soon overtook vis. 
 
 "You are early on the road, gentlemen," said a strong, 
 powerfully-built man, who mounted upon a gray horse of 
 great bone aud action rode close up beside us. 
 
 " Ah, Sir Thomas, is it you ? " said the priest, affecting at 
 once his former easy and indifferent manner. "I'd rather 
 see the hounds at your back than those beagles of King 
 George there. Is there anything wrong in the country ? " 
 
 " Let me ask you another question," said the knight in 
 answer. " How long have you been in it, and where did 
 you pass the night, not to hear of what has occurred ? " 
 
48 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " Faitli, a home question," said the priest, summoning up 
 a hearty laugh to conceal his emotion ; " but if the truth 
 must out, we came round by the priory at Glenduff, as my 
 friend here being an Englishman, — may I beg to present 
 him to you ? Mr. Hinton, Sir Thomas Garland, — he heard 
 wonders of the monks' way of living up there, and I wished 
 to let him judge for himself." 
 
 "Ah, that accounts for it," said the tall man to himself. 
 "We have had a sad affair of it, Father Tom. Poor 
 Tarleton has been murdered." 
 
 "Murdered!" said the priest, with an expression of 
 horror in his countenance I could scarcely believe feigned. 
 
 " Yes, murdered ! The house was attacked a little after 
 midnight. The party must have been a large one, for 
 while they forced in the hall door, the haggard and the 
 stables were seen in a blaze. Poor George had just retired 
 to bed, a little later than usual ; for his sons had returned 
 a few hours before from Dublin, where they had been to 
 attend their college examination. The villains, however, 
 knew the house well, and made straight for his room. He 
 got up in an instant, and seizing a sabre that hung beside 
 his bed defended himself, with the courage of desperation, 
 against them all. The scuffle and the noise soon brought 
 his sons to the spot, who, although mere boys, behaved in 
 the most gallant manner. Overpowered at last by num- 
 bers, and covered with wounds, they dragged poor Tarleton 
 downstairs, shouting out as they went, ' Bring him down 
 to Freney's ! Let the bloody villain see the black walls 
 and the cold hearth he has made, before he dies ! ' It was 
 their intention to murder him on the spot where, a few 
 weeks before, a distress for rent had been executed against 
 some of his tenants. He grasped the banisters with a de- 
 spairing clutch, while fixing his eyes upon his servant, who 
 had lived with him for some years past, he called out to 
 him in his agony to save him ; but the fellow came deliber- 
 ately forward and held the flame of a candle beneath the 
 dying man's fingers, until he relaxed his hold and fell back 
 among his murderers. Yes, yes, Father, Henry Tarleton 
 
THE JOURNEY. 49 
 
 saw it with his own eyes, for while his brother was stretched 
 senseless on the floor he was struggling with the others at 
 the head of the staircase ; and, strange enough too, they 
 never hurt the boys, but when they had wreaked their ven- 
 geance on the father, bound them back to back, and left 
 them." 
 
 "Can they identify any of them ? " said the priest, with 
 intense emotion in his voice and manner. 
 
 " Scarcely, I fear ; their faces were blackened, and they 
 wore shirts over their coats. Henry thinks he could swear 
 to two or three of the number ; but our best chance of dis- 
 covery lies in the fact that several of them were badly 
 wounded, and one in particular, whom he saw cut down by 
 his father's sabre, was carried downstairs by his comrades, 
 bathed in blood." 
 
 " He did n't recognize him ? " said the priest, eagerly. 
 
 u Xo; but here comes the poor boy, so I'll wish you 
 good-morning." 
 
 He put spurs to his horse as he spoke and dashed for- 
 ward, followed by the dragoons ; while at the same mo- 
 ment, on the opposite side of the road, a young man — pale, 
 with his dress disordered, his arm in a sling — rode by. 
 He never turned a look aside ; his filmy eye was fixed, 
 as it were, on some far-off object, and he seemed scarce 
 to guide his horse as he galloped onward over the rugged 
 road. 
 
 The priest relaxed his pace to permit the crowd of horse- 
 men to pass on, while his countenance once more assumed 
 its drooping and despondent look, and he relapsed into his 
 former silence. 
 
 " You see that high mountain to the left there ? " said he 
 after a long pause. " Well, our road lies around the foot of 
 it ; and, please God, by to-morrow evening we '11 be some 
 five-and-twenty miles on the other side, in the heart of my 
 own wild country, with the big mountains behind you, and 
 the great blue Atlantic rearing its frothing waves at your 
 feet." He stopped for an instant, and then grasping my 
 arm with his strong hand continued in a low, distinct voice : 
 
 VOL. II. — 4 
 
50 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 "Never speak to me nor question me about what we saw 
 last night, and try only to remember it as a dream. And 
 now let me tell you how I intend to amuse you in the far 
 west." 
 
 Here the priest began a spirited and interesting descrip- 
 tion of the scenery and the people, — their habits, their 
 superstitions, and their pastimes. He sustained the inter- 
 est of his account with legend and story, now grave, now 
 gay, — sometimes recalling a trait from the older history of 
 the land ; sometimes detailing an incident of the fair or 
 the market, but always by his wonderful knowledge of the 
 peasantry, their modes of thinking and reasoning, and by 
 his imitation of their figurative and forcible expressions, 
 able to carry me with him, whether he took the moun- 
 tain's side for his path, sat beside some cotter's turf-fire, 
 or skimmed along the surface of the summer sea in the 
 frail bark of an A chill fisherman. I learned from him 
 that in the wild region where he lived there were above 
 fifteen thousand persons, scarce one of whom could speak 
 or understand a word of English. Of these he was not 
 only the priest, but the ruler and judge. Before him all 
 their disputes were settled, all their differences reconciled. 
 His word, in the strongest sense of the phrase, was law, — - 
 not indeed to be enforced by bayonets and policemen, by 
 constables and sheriffs' officers, but which in its moral force 
 demanded obedience, and would have made him who re- 
 sisted it an outcast among his fellows. 
 
 " We are poor," said the priest, " but we are happy. 
 Crime is unknown among us, and the blood of man has 
 not been shed in strife for fifty years within the barony. 
 When will ye learn this in England ? When will ye know 
 that these people may be led, but never driven ; that they 
 may be persuaded, but never compelled ? When will ye 
 condescend to bend so far the prerogative of your birth, 
 3^our riches, and your rank, as to reason with the poor and 
 humble peasant that looks up to you for protection ? Alas ! 
 my young friend, were you to ask me what is the great 
 source of misery of this unhappy land, I should tell you 
 
THE JOURNEY. 51 
 
 the superior intelligence of its people. I see a smile, bul 
 hear me out. Unlike the peasantry of other countries, they 
 are not content. Their characters are mistaken, their traits 
 misconstrued, — partly from indifference, partly from pre- 
 judice, and in a great measure because it is the fashion to 
 recognize in the tiller of the soil a mere drudge, with scarce 
 more intelligence than the cattle in his plough or the oxen 
 in his team. But here you really have a people quick, 
 sharp-sighted, and intelligent, able to scan your motives 
 with ten times the accuracy you can guess at theirs ; sus- 
 picious, because their credulity has been abused ; revenge- 
 ful, because their wild nature knows no other vindicator 
 than their own right arm ; lawless, for they look upon your 
 institutions as the sources of their misery and the instru- 
 ments of your tyranny towards them ; reckless, for they 
 have nothing to lose ; indolent, for they have nothing to 
 gain. Without an effort to win their confidence or secure 
 their good-will, you overwhelm them with your institu- 
 tions, cumbrous, complicated, and unsuitable ; and while 
 you neglect or despise all appeal to their feelings or affec- 
 tions, you place your faith in your soldiery or a special com- 
 mission. Heaven help you ! you may thin them off by the 
 gallows and transportation, but the root of the evil is as far 
 from you as ever. You do not know them, you will not 
 know them ; more prone to punish than prevent, you are 
 satisfied with the working of the law, and not shocked with 
 the accumulation of crime ; and when, broken by poverty 
 and paralyzed by famine, a gloomy desolation spreads over 
 the land, you meet in terms of congratulation to talk over 
 tranquillized Ireland." 
 
 In this strain did the good priest continue to develop his 
 views concerning his country, — the pivot of his argument 
 being, that, to a people so essentially different in every re- 
 spect, English institutions and English laws were inade- 
 quate and unsuitable. Sometimes I could not only follow 
 but agree with him. At others I could but dimly perceive 
 his meaning and dissent from the very little I could catch. 
 
 Enough of this, however. In a biography so flimsy as 
 
52 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 mine politics would play but an unseemly part ; and even 
 were it otherwise, my opportunities were too few and my 
 own incapacity too great to make my opinions of any value 
 on a subject so complicated and so vast. Still, the topic 
 served to shorten the road, and when towards evening we 
 found ourselves in the comfortable parlor of the little inn 
 at Ballyhocsousth, 1 so far had we both regained our spirits 
 that once more the priest's jovial good-humor irradiated 
 his happy countenance ; and I myself, hourly improving in 
 health and strength, felt already the bracing influence of 
 the mountain air, and that strong sense of liberty never 
 more thoroughly appreciated than when regaining vigor 
 after the sufferings of a sick bed. 
 
 We were seated by an open window, looking out upon 
 the landscape. It was past sunset, and the tall shadows of 
 the mountains were meeting across the lake, like spirits 
 who waited for the night-hour to interchange their embraces. 
 A thin pale crescent of a new moon marked the blue sky, 
 but did not dim the lustre of the thousand stars that glit- 
 tered round it. All was hushed and still, save the deep 
 note of the rail, or the measured plash of oars heard from a 
 long distance. The rich meadows that sloped down to the 
 water sent up their delicious odors in the balmy air, and 
 there stole over the senses a kind of calm and peaceful 
 pleasure as such a scene at such an hour can alone impart. 
 
 "This is beautiful, — this is very beautiful, Father," 
 said I. 
 
 " So it is, sir," said the priest. " Let no Irishman 
 wander for scenery ; he has as much right to go travel in 
 search of wit and good fellowship. We don't want for 
 blessings ; all we need is, to know how to enjoy them. 
 And, believe me, there is a plentiful feast on the table if 
 gentlemen would only pass down the dishes. And, now, 
 that reminds me: what are you drinking, — negus? I 
 would n't wish it to my greatest enemy. But, to be sure. I 
 am always forgetting you are not one of ourselves. There, 
 reach me over that square decanter. It Avould n't have 
 1 Town of the Fight of Flails. 
 
THE JOURNEY. 53 
 
 been so full now if we had had poor Bob here, — poor 
 fellow ! But one thing is certain, — wherever he is, he is 
 happy. I believe I never told you how he got into his 
 present scrape." 
 
 " No, Father ; and that 's precisely the very thing I wish 
 to ask you." 
 
 " You shall hear it, and it is n't a bad story in its way. 
 But don't you think the night air is a little too much for 
 you ? Shall we close the window ? " 
 
 " If it depend on me, Father, pray leave it open." 
 
 " Ha, ha ! I was forgetting again," said the old fellow, 
 laughing roguishly, — " stella sunt amantium oculi, as 
 Pilaris says. There now, don't be blushing, but listen 
 to me. 
 
 " It was somewhere about last November that Bob got a 
 quiet hint from some one at Daly's that the sooner he got 
 out of Dublin the more conducive it would be to his per- 
 sonal freedom, as various writs were flying about the capi- 
 tal after him. He took the hint, and set off the same night, 
 and reached his beautiful chateau of Newgate without let or 
 molestation, — which having victualled for the winter, he 
 could, if necessary, sustain in it a reasonable siege against 
 any force the law was likely to bring up. The house had 
 an abundant supply of arms. There were guns that figured 
 in '41, pikes that had done good service a little later, swords 
 of every shape, from the two-handed weapon of the twelfth 
 century to a Roman pattern made out of a scythe by a 
 smith in the neighborhood ; but the grand terror of the 
 country was an old four-pounder of Cromwell's time, that 
 the major had mounted on the roof, and whose effects, if 
 only proportionately injurious to the enemy to the results 
 nearer home, must indeed have been a formidable engine, 
 for the only time it was fired, — I believe to celebrate Bob's 
 birthday, — it knocked down a chimney with the recoil, 
 blew the gardener and another man about ten feet into the 
 air, and hurled Bob himself through a skylight into the 
 housekeeper's room. No matter for that; it had a great 
 effect in raising the confidence of the country people, some 
 
54 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 of whom verily believed that the ball was rolling for a 
 week after. 
 
 " Bob, I say, victualled the fortress ; but he did more, 
 for he assembled all the tenants, and in a short but pithy 
 speech told them the state of his affairs, explaining with 
 considerable eloquence what a misfortune it would be for 
 them if by any chance they were to lose him for a landlord. 
 
 " ' See, now, boys,' said he, ' there 's no knowing what 
 misfortune would n't happen ye ; they 'd put a receiver 
 on the property — a spalpeen with bailiffs and constables 
 after him — that would be making you pay up the rent, 
 and faith I would n't say but maybe he 'd ask you for 
 the arrears.' 
 
 " ' Oh, murther, murther ! did any one ever hear the 
 like ! ' the people cried on every side ; and Bob, like a 
 clever orator, continued to picture forth additional miseries 
 and misfortunes to them if such a calamitous event were 
 to happen, explaining at the same time the contemptible 
 nature of the persecution practised against him. 
 
 " ' ]STo, boys,' cried he, ' there is n't a man among them 
 all that has the courage to come down and ask for his 
 money, face to face ; but they set up a pair of fellows they 
 call John Doe and Richard Roe, — there 's names for you ! 
 Did you ever hear of a gentleman in the country with 
 names like that ? But that 's not the worst of it, for you 
 see even these two chaps can't be found. It 's truth I 'm 
 telling you, and some people go so far as to say that there 
 is no such people at all, and it 's only a way they have to 
 worry and annoy country gentlemen with what they call a 
 fiction of the law ; and my own notion is, that the law is 
 nothing but lies and fiction from beginning to end.' 
 
 " A very loud cheer from Bob's audience proclaimed how 
 perfectly they coincided in his opinion ; and a keg of 
 whiskey being brought into the lawn, each man drained a 
 glass to his health, uttering at the same time a determina- 
 tion with respect to the law officers of the crown that boded 
 but little happiness to them when they made a tour in the 
 neighborhood. 
 
THE JOURNEY. 55 
 
 " In about a week after this there was a grand drawing- 
 home : that 's, you understand, what we call in Ireland 
 bringing in the harvest. And sure enough, the farmyard 
 presented a very comely sight, with ricks of hay, and stacks 
 of corn and oats and barley, and outhouses full of potatoes, 
 and in fact everything the country produces, besides cows 
 and horses, sheep, pigs, goats, and even turkeys ; for most 
 of the tenants paid their rents in kind, and as Bob was an 
 easy landlord, very few came without a little present, — a 
 game-cock, a jackass, a ram, or some amusing beast or 
 other. Well, the next day, — it was a fine dry day with a 
 light frost, and as the bog was hard, Bob sent them all 
 away to bring in the turf. Why, then, but it is a beautiful 
 sight, Captain, and I wish you saw it, — maybe two or 
 three hundred cars all going as fast as they can pelt, on a 
 fine bright clay, Avith a blue sky and a sharp air, the boys 
 standing up in the kishes driving without rein or halter, 
 always at a gallop, — for all the world like Ajax, Ulysses, 
 and the rest of them that we read of; and the girls, as 
 pretty craytures as ever you threw an eye upon, with their 
 short red petticoats, and their hair plaited and fastened 
 up at the back of their heads : on my conscience the Trojan 
 women was nothing to them ! 
 
 "But to come back. Bob Mahon was coming home from 
 the bog about five o'clock in the evening, cantering along 
 on a little dun pony he had, thinking of nothing at all, ex- 
 cept maybe the elegant rick of turf that he 'd be bringing 
 home in the morning, when what did he see before him but 
 a troop of dragoons, and at their head old Basset, the sub- 
 sheriff, and another fellow whose face he had often seen in 
 the Four-courts of Dublin. ' By the mortial,' said Bob, ' I 
 am done for ! ' for he saw in a moment that Basset had 
 waited until all the country people were employed at a dis- 
 tance, to come over and take him. However, he was no 
 ways discouraged, but brushing his way through the dra- 
 goons, he rode up beside Basset's gig, and taking a long 
 pistol out of the holster, he began to examine the priming 
 as cool as may be. 
 
56 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " ' How are you, Nick Basset ? ' said Bob ; ' and where 
 are you going this evening?' 
 
 " ' How are you, Major ? ' said Basset, with his eye all 
 the while upon the pistol. ' It is an unpleasant business, a 
 mighty unpleasant business to me, Major Bob,' says he ; 
 'but the truth is, there is an execution against you, and 
 my friend here, Mr. Hennessy, — Mr. Hennessy, Major 
 Mahon, — asked me to come over with him, because as I 
 knew you — ' 
 
 " ' Well, well,' said Bob, interrupting him. ' Have you a 
 writ against me ? Is it me you want ? ' 
 
 " 'Nothing of the kind, Major Mahon. God forbid we 'd 
 touch a hair of your head ! It 's just a kind of a capias, as 
 I may say, nothing more.' 
 
 " ' And why did you bring the dragoons with you ? ' said 
 Bob, looking at him mighty hard. 
 
 " Basset looked very sheepish, and did n't know what to 
 say ; but Mahon soon relieved him, — 
 
 " ' Never mind, Nick, never mind ; you can't help your 
 trade. But how would you look if I was to raise the 
 country on ye ? ' 
 
 " ' You would n't do the like, Major ; but surely, if you 
 did, the troops — ' 
 
 " ' The troops ! ' said Bob ; ' God help you ! we 'd be 
 twenty, ay thirty to one. See now, if I give a whistle, this 
 minute — ' 
 
 "'Don't distress yourself, Major,' said Basset, 'for the 
 decent people are a good six miles off at the bog, and 
 couldn't hear you if you whistled ever so loud.' 
 
 "The moment he said this Bob saw that the old rogue 
 was up to him, and he began to wonder within himself 
 what was best to be done. 
 
 " ' See now, Nick,' said he, ' it is n't like a friend to bring 
 up all these redcoats here upon me, before my tenantry, 
 disgracing me in the face of my people. Send them back 
 to the town, and go up yourself with Mr. Hennessy there, 
 and do whatever you have to do.' 
 
 "'No, no!' screamed Hennessy, 'I'll never part with 
 the soldiers ! ' 
 
THE JOURNEY. 57 
 
 "'Very -well,' said Bob, 'take your own way, and see 
 what will come of it.' 
 
 " He put spurs to his pony as he said this, and was just 
 striking into the gallop when Nick called out, — 
 
 " ' Wait a bit, Major ! wait a bit ! If we leave the dra- 
 goons where we are now, will you give us your word of 
 honor not to hurt or molest us in the discharge of our duty, 
 nor let any one else do so ? ' 
 
 "'I will,' said Bob, 'now that you talk reasonably; I'll 
 treat you well.' 
 
 " After a little parley it was settled that part of the dra- 
 goons were to wait on the road, and the rest of them in the 
 lawn before the house, while Nick and his friend were to 
 go through the ceremony of seizing Bob's effects, and make 
 an inventory of everything they could find. 
 
 '"A mere matter of form, Major Mahon,' said he. 'We '11 
 make it as short as possible, and leave a couple of men in 
 possession ; and as I know the affair will be arranged in a 
 few days — ' 
 
 " ' Of course,' says Bob, laughing ; ' nothing easier. So 
 come along now and let me show you the way.' 
 
 "When they reached the house, Bob ordered up dinner 
 at once, and behaved as politely as possible, telling them it 
 was early, and they would have plenty of time for every- 
 thing in the evening. But whether it was that they had 
 no appetite just then, or that they were not over-easy in 
 their minds about Bob himself, they declined everything, 
 and began to set about their work. To it they went with 
 pen and ink, putting down all the chairs and tables, the 
 cracked china, the fire-irons, and at last Bob left them 
 counting over about twenty pairs of old top-boots that 
 stood along the wall of his dressing-room. 
 
 " ' Ned,' said Bob to his own man, ' get two big padlocks 
 and put them on the door of the hay-loft as fast as you can.' 
 
 "'Sure it is empty, sir,' said Ned. 'Barrin' the rats, 
 there 's nothing in it.' 
 
 "'Don't I know that as well as you?' said Bob; 'but 
 can't you do as you are bid ? And when you 've done it, 
 
58 JACK HINTON, THE GUAKDSMAN. 
 
 take the pony and gallop over to the bog, and tell the peo- 
 ple to throw the turf out of their carts and gallop up here 
 as fast as they can.' 
 
 " He 'd scarcely said it when Nick called out, ' Now, 
 Major, for the farm-yard, if you please.' And so taking 
 Hennessy's arm, Bob walked out, followed by the two big 
 bailiffs, that never left them for a moment. To be sure it 
 was a great sight when they got outside, and saw all the 
 ricks and stacks as thick as they could stand ; and so they 
 began counting and putting them down on paper, and the 
 devil a thing they forgot, not even the boneens and the 
 bantams ; and at last Nick fixed his eye upon the little door 
 into the loft, upon which now two great big padlocks were 
 hanging. 
 
 " ' I suppose it 's oats you have up there, Major ? ' said he. 
 
 " ' No, indeed,' said Bob, looking a little confused. 
 
 " ' Maybe seed-potatoes ? ' said Hennessy. 
 • " ' Nor it neither,' said he. 
 
 " ' Barley, it 's likely ? ' cried Nick ; ' it is a fine dry loft.' 
 ' "'No,' said Bob, 'it is empty.' 
 
 "And with that he endeavored to turn them away and 
 get them back into the house; but old Basset turned back, 
 and fixing his eye upon the door, shook his head for a 
 couple of minutes. 
 
 " ' Well,' said he, ' for an empty loft it has the finest pair 
 of padlocks I ever looked at. Would there be any objec- 
 tion, Major, to our taking a peep into it ? ' 
 
 " ' None,' said Bob ; ' but I have n't a ladder that long in 
 the place.' 
 
 " ' I think this might reach,' said Hennessy, as he touched 
 one with his foot that lay close along the wall, partly cov- 
 ered with straw. 
 
 " ' Just the thing,' said Nick ; while poor Bob hung down 
 his head and said nothing. With that they raised the 
 ladder and placed it against the door. 
 
 "'Might I trouble you for the key, Major Mahon ? ' said 
 Hennessy. 
 
 " ' I believe it is mislaid,' said Bob, in a kind of sulky 
 
THE JOURNEY. 59 
 
 way, at which they both grinned at each other, as much 
 as to say, 'We have him now.' 
 
 "'You'll not take it amiss then, Major, if we break the 
 door ? ' said Kick. 
 
 " ' You' may break it and be hanged ! ' said Bob, as he 
 stuck his hands into his pockets and walked away. 
 
 " ' This will do,' cried one of the bailiffs, taking up a big 
 stone as he mounted the ladder, followed by Nick, Hen- 
 nessy, and the other. 
 
 " It took some time to smash the locks, for they were 
 both strong ones, and all the while Nick and his friend 
 were talking together in great glee ; but poor Bob stood 
 by himself against a hay-rick, looking as melancholy as 
 might be. At last the locks gave way, and down went the 
 door with a bang. The bailiffs stepped in, and then Nick 
 and the others followed. It took them a couple of minutes 
 to satisfy themselves that the loft was quite empty ; but 
 when they came back again to the door, what was their 
 surprise to discover that Bob was carrying away the ladder 
 upon his shoulders to a distant part of the yard. 
 
 " ' Holloa, Major ! ' cried Basset, ' don't forget us up here ! ' 
 
 " ' Devil a fear of that,' said Bob ; ' few that know you 
 ever forget you.' 
 
 " ' We are quite satisfied, sir,' said Hennessy ; ' what you 
 said was perfectly correct.' 
 
 " ' And why did n't you believe it before, Mr. Hennessy ? 
 You see what you have brought upon yourself.' 
 
 " ' You are not going to leave us up here, sir,' cried Hen- 
 nessy : ' will you venture upon false imprisonment ? ' 
 
 " ' I 'd venture on more than that, if it were needful ; but 
 see now, when you get back, don't be pretending that I 
 did n't offer to treat you well, little as you deserved it. I 
 asked you to dinner, and would have given you your skin- 
 full of wine afterwards ; but you preferred your own dirty 
 calling, and so take the consequences.' 
 
 " While he was speaking a great cheer was heard, and all 
 the country people came galloping into the yard with their 
 turf cars. 
 
60 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " ' Be alive now, my boys ! ' cried Bob. ' How many cars 
 have you ? ' 
 
 " ' Seventy, sir, here ; but there is more coming.' 
 
 " ' That '11 do,' said he ; 'so now set to work and carry 
 away all the oats and the wheat, the hay, barley, and pota- 
 toes. Let some of you take the calves and the pigs, and drive 
 the bullocks over the mountain to Mr. Bodkin's. Don't 
 leave a turkey behind you, boys, and make haste ; for these 
 gentlemen have so many engagements I can scarcely pre- 
 vail on them to pass more than a day or two amongst us.' 
 
 "Bob pointed as he spoke to the four figures that stood 
 trembling at the hay -loft door. A loud cheer, and a roar of 
 laughter to the full as loud, answered his speech ; and at 
 the same moment to it they went, loading their cars with 
 the harvest or the live-stock as fast as they could. To be 
 sure, such a scene was never witnessed, — the cows bleat- 
 ing, pigs grunting, fowls cackling, men and women all run- 
 ning here and there laughing like mad, and Nick Basset 
 himself swearing like a trooper the whole time that he 'd 
 have them all hanged at the next assizes. Would you be- 
 lieve, the harvest it took nearly three weeks to bring home 
 was carried away that night and scattered all over the coun- 
 try at different farms, where it never could be traced ; all the 
 cattle too were taken away, and before sunrise there was n't 
 as much as a sheep or a lamb left to bleat on the lawn. 
 
 " The next day Bob set out on a visit to a friend at some 
 distance, leaving directions with his people to liberate the 
 gentlemen in the hay-loft in the course of the afternoon. 
 The story made a great noise in the country ; but before 
 people were tired laughing at it an action was entered 
 against Bob for false imprisonment, and heavy damages 
 awarded against him. So that you may see there was a 
 kind of poetic justice in the manner of his capture, for 
 after all it was only trick for trick." 
 
 The worthy priest now paused to mix another tumbler, 
 which, when he had stirred and tasted and stirred again, he 
 pushed gently before him on the table, and seemed lost in 
 reverie. 
 
THE JOURNEY. 
 
 61 
 
 " Yes," said he half aloud, " it is a droll country we live 
 in ; and there 's not one of us does n't waste more ingenuity 
 and display more cunning in getting rid of his fortune than 
 the cleverest fellows elsewhere evince in accumulating theirs. 
 But you are looking a little pale, I think ; these late hours 
 won't suit you, so I '11 just send you to bed." 
 
 I felt the whole force of my kind friend's advice, and 
 yielding obedience at once, I shook him by the hand and 
 wished him good-night. 
 
CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 MURRANAKILTY. 
 
 If my kind reader is not already tired of the mountain 
 road and the wild west, may I ask him — dare I say her ? — 
 to accompany me a little farther, while I present another 
 picture of its life ? 
 
 You see that bold mountain, jagged and rugged in out- 
 line, like the spine of some gigantic beast, that runs far 
 out into the Atlantic, and ends in a bold, abrupt headland, 
 against which the waves, from the very coast of Labrador, 
 are beating without one intervening rock to break their 
 force ? Carry your eye along its base, to where you can 
 mark a little clump of alder and beech, with here and there 
 a taper poplar interspersed, and see if you cannot detect 
 the gable of a long, low, thatched house, that lies almost 
 buried in the foliage. Before the door a little patch of 
 green stretches down to the shore, where a sandy beach, 
 glowing in all the richness of a morning sun, glitters 
 with many a shell and brilliant pebble. That, then, is 
 Murranakilty. 
 
 But approach, I beg you, a little nearer. Let me suppose 
 that you have traced the winding of that little bay, cross- 
 ing the wooden bridge over the bright trout stream, as it 
 hastens on to mingle its waters with the ocean; you have 
 climbed over the rude stile, and stopped for an instant to 
 look into the holy well, in whose glassy surface the little 
 wooden crucifix above is dimly shadowed, and at length 
 yon stand upon the lawn before the cottage. What a glori- 
 ous scene is now before you ! On the opposite side of the 
 bay. the mountain, whose summit is lost among the clouds, 
 seems as it were cleft by some earthquake force ; and 
 
MURRANAKILTY. 63 
 
 through its narrow gorge you can trace the blue water of the 
 sea passing in, while each side of the valley is clothed with 
 wood. The oak of a hundred years, here sheltered from 
 the rude wind of the Atlantic, spreads its luxuriant arms, 
 while the frothy waves are breaking at its feet. High, 
 however, above their tops you may mark the irregular out- 
 line of a large building, with battlements and towers and 
 massive walls, and one tall and loop-holed turret, that rises 
 high into the air, and around whose summit the noisy 
 rooks are circling in their flight. That is Kilmorran Castle, 
 the residence of Sir Simon Bellew. There, for centuries 
 past, his ancestors were born and died ; there, in the midst 
 of that wild and desolate grandeur, the haughty descendants 
 of an ancient house lived on from youth to age, surrounded 
 by all the observances of feudal state, and lording it far and 
 near, for many a mile, with a sway and power that would 
 seem to have long since passed away. 
 
 You carry your eye seaward, and I perceive your attention 
 is fixed upon the small schooner that lies anchored in the 
 offing ; her topsail is in the clews, and flaps lazily against 
 the mast, as she rolls and pitches in the breaking surge. 
 The rake of her low masts and the long boom that stretches 
 out far beyond her taffrail have, you deem it, a somewhat 
 suspicious look; and you are right. She is "La Belle 
 Louise," a smuggling craft from Dieppe, whose crew, half 
 French, half Irish, would fight her to the gunwale, and sink 
 with but never surrender her. You hear the plash of oars, 
 and there now you can mark the eight-oared gig springing 
 to the stroke, as it shoots from the shore and heads out to 
 sea. Sir Simon loves claret, and like a true old Irish gen- 
 tleman he drinks it from the wood ; there may, therefore, 
 be some reason why those wild-looking red-caps have pulled 
 in shore. 
 
 But now I '11 ask you to turn to an humbler scene, and 
 look within that room where the window, opened to the 
 ground, is bordered by blossoming honeysuckle. It is the 
 priest's parlor. At a little breakfast-table, whose spotless 
 cloth and neat but simple equipage has a look of propriety 
 
64 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 and comfort, is seated one whose gorgeous dressing-gown 
 and lounging attitude seem strangely at variance with the 
 humble objects around him. He seems endeavoring to read 
 a newspaper, which ever and anon he lays down beside 
 him, and turns his eyes in the direction of the fire ; for 
 although it is July, yet a keen freshness of the morning air 
 makes the blazing turf by no means objectionable. He 
 looks towards the fire, perhaps you would say, lost in his 
 own thoughts and musings ; but no, truth must out, and his 
 attention is occupied in a very different way. Kneeling be- 
 fore the fire is a young and lovely country-girl, engaged in 
 toasting a muffin for the priest's breakfast. Her features 
 are flushed, partly with shame, partly with heat ; and as 
 now and then she throws back her long hair from her face 
 with an impatient toss of her head, she steals a glance at 
 the stranger from a pair of eyes so deeply blue that at first 
 you were unjust enough to think them black. Her dress is 
 a low bodice, and a short skirt of that brilliant dye the 
 Irish peasant of the west seems to possess the secret for. 
 The jupe is short, I say ; and so much the better for you, 
 as it displays a pair of legs which, bare of shoe or stock- 
 ing, are perfect in their symmetry, — the rounded instep 
 and the swelling ankle chiselled as cleanly as a statue 
 of Canova. 
 
 And now, my good reader, having shown you all this, let 
 me proceed with my narrative. 
 
 "And sure now, sir, wouldn't it be better for you, and 
 you sickly, to be eating your breakfast, and not be wait- 
 ing for Father Tom ? Maybe he would n't come in this 
 hour yet." 
 
 " No, thank you, Mary ; I had rather wait. I hope you 
 are not so tired of my company that you want an excuse to 
 get away ? " 
 
 "Ah, be asy now, if you plaze, sir! It's myself that's 
 proud to be talking to you." And as she spoke she turned 
 a pair of blue eyes upon me with such a look that I could 
 not help thinking if the gentlemen of the west be exposed 
 to such, their blood is not as hot as is reputed. I suppose I 
 
MURRANAKILTY. 65 
 
 looked as much; for she blushed deeply, and calling out, 
 " Here 's Father Tom ! " sprang to her legs and hurried 
 from the room. 
 
 " Where are you scampering that way ? " cried the good 
 priest, as he passed her in the hall. " Ah, Captain, Cap- 
 tain ! behave yourself ! " 
 
 " I protest, Father — " cried I. 
 
 " To be sure you do ! Why would n't you protest ? But 
 see now, it was your business brought me out this morning. 
 Hand me over the eggs ; I am as hungry as a hawk. The 
 devil is in that girl, — they are as hard as bullets ! I see 
 how it was, plain enough. It 's little she was thinking of 
 the same eggs. Well, well ! this is an ungrateful world ; 
 and only think of me, all I was doing for you." 
 
 " My dear father, you are quite wrong — " 
 
 "No matter. Another slice of bacon. And, after all, 
 who knows if I have the worst of it ? Do you know, now, 
 that Miss Bellew has about the softest cheek — " 
 
 " What the devil do you mean ? " said I, reddening. 
 
 "Why, just that I was saluting her a la Frangaise this 
 morning ; and I never saw her look handsomer in my life. 
 It was scarce seven o'clock when I was over at Kilmorran, 
 but, early as it was, I caught her making breakfast for me ; 
 and, father and priest that I am, I could n't help feeling in 
 love with her. It was a beautiful sight just to watch her 
 light step and graceful figure moving about the parlor, — 
 now opening the window to let in the fresh air of the 
 morning ; now arranging a bouquet of moss-roses ; now 
 busying herself among the breakfast things, and all the 
 while stealing a glance at Sir Simon, to see if he were 
 pleased with what she was doing. He '11 be over here by- 
 and-by, to call on you ; and, indeed, it is an attention he 
 seldom pays any one, for latterly, poor fellow, he is not 
 over satisfied with the world, — and if the truth were told, 
 he has not had too much cause to be so." 
 
 " You mentioned to him, then, that I was here ? " 
 
 " To be sure I did ; and the doing so cost me a scalded 
 finger ; for Miss Lousia, who was pouring out my tea at the 
 
 VOL. II. — 5 
 
66 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 moment, gave a jerk with her hand, and spilled the boiling 
 water all over me. — Bad cess to you, Mary, but you 've 
 spoiled the toast this morning ! half of it never saw the fire, 
 and the other half is as black as my boot. — But, as I was 
 saying, Sir Simon knows all about you, and is coming over 
 to ask us to dine there, — though I offered to give the invi- 
 tation myself, and accept it first ; but he is very punctilious 
 about these things, and wouldn't hear of anything but 
 doing it in the regular way." 
 
 " Did he allude to Mr. Ulick Burke's affair ? " 
 
 " Not a word. And even when I wished to touch on it 
 for the sake of a little explanation, he adroitly turned the 
 subject, and spoke of something else. But it is drawing 
 late, and I have some people to see this morning ; so come 
 along now into my little library here, and I '11 leave you 
 for awhile to amuse yourself." 
 
 The priest led me, as he spoke, into a small room, whose 
 walls were covered with books from the floor to the ceil- 
 ing; even the very door by which we entered had its 
 shelves, like the rest, so that when once inside you could 
 see no trace of it. A single window looked seaward, to- 
 wards the wide Atlantic, and presented a view of many 
 miles of coast, indented with headland and promontory. 
 Beneath, upon the placid sea, was a whole fleet of fishing- 
 boats, the crews of which were busily engaged in collecting 
 the sea-weed to manure the land. The sight was both curi- 
 ous and picturesque. The light boats, tossing ou the heavy 
 swell, were crowded with figures whose attitude evinced all 
 the eagerness of a chase. Sometimes an amicable contest 
 would arise between two parties, as their boat-hooks were 
 fixed in the same mass of tangled weed. Sometimes two 
 rival crews would be seen stretching upon their oars, as 
 they headed out to sea in search of a new prize. The 
 merry voices and the loud laughter, however, that rose 
 above all other sounds, told that good-humor and good-will 
 never deserted them in all the ardor of the contest. 
 
 Long after the priest left me, I continued to watch them. 
 At last I set myself to explore the good father's shelves, 
 
MURRANAKILTY. 67 
 
 which I found, for the most part, were filled with portly- 
 tomes of divinity and polemics, — huge folio copies of Saint 
 Augustine, Origen, Eusebius, and others ; innumerable vol- 
 umes of learned tractates on disputed points in theology, — 
 none of which possessed any interest for me. In one cor- 
 ner, however, beside the fire, whose convenience to the ha- 
 bitual seat of Father Tom argued that they were not least 
 in favor with his Reverence, was an admirable collection of 
 the French dramatists, — Moliere, Beaumarchais, Racine, 
 and several more. These were a real treat; and seating 
 myself beside the window, I prepared, for about the twen- 
 tieth time in my life, to read " La Folle Journee." 
 
 I had scarcely got to the end of the second act, when the 
 door was gently opened, and Mary made her appearance, — 
 not in the dishabille of the morning, however, but with a 
 trim cotton gown, and smart shoes and stockings ; her hair, 
 too, was neatly dressed, in the country fashion. Yet still I 
 was more than half disposed to think she looked even 
 better in her morning costume. 
 
 The critical scrutiny of my glance had evidently discon- 
 certed her, and made her, for the moment, forget the object 
 of her coming. She looked down and blushed ; she fiddled 
 with the corner of her apron, and at last, recollecting her- 
 self, she dropped a little courtesy, and, opening the door 
 wide, announced Sir Simon Bellew. 
 
 "Mr. Hinton, I believe," said Sir Simon, with a slight 
 smile, as he bowed himself into the apartment ; " will you 
 allow me to introduce myself, — Sir Simon Bellew." 
 
 The baronet was a tall, thin, meagre-looking old man, 
 somewhat stooped by age, but preserving, both in look and 
 gesture, not only the remains of good looks, but the evident 
 traces of one habituated to the world. His dress was very- 
 plain ; but the scrupulous exactitude of his powdered cue, 
 and the massive gold-headed cane he carried, showed he 
 had not abandoned those marks of his position so distinc- 
 tive of rank in those days. He wore, also, large and hand- 
 some buckles in his shoes ; but in every other particular 
 his costume was simplicity itself. Conversing with an ease 
 
68 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 which evinced his acquaintance with all the forms of soci- 
 ety, he touched shortly upon my former acquaintance with 
 his daughter, and acknowledged in terms slight, but suit- 
 able, how she had spoken of me. His manner was, how- 
 ever, less marked by everything I had deemed to be Irish 
 than that of any other person I had met with in the coun- 
 try ; for while he expressed his pleasure at my visit to the 
 west, and invited me to pass some days at his house, his 
 manner of doing so had nothing whatever of the warmth 
 and empressement I had so often seen. In fact, save a 
 slight difference in accent, it was as English as need be. 
 
 Whether I felt disappointed at this, or whether I had 
 myself adopted the habits and prejudices of the land, I am 
 unable to say, but certainly I felt chilled and repulsed ; and 
 although our interview scarce lasted twenty minutes, I was 
 delighted when he rose to take his leave, and say, good- 
 morning. 
 
 " You are good enough, then, to promise you '11 dine with 
 us to-morrow, Mr. Hinton. I need scarcely remark that I 
 can have no party to meet you, for this wild neighborhood 
 has denied us that ; but as I am aware that your visit to 
 the west is less for society than scenery, perhaps I may 
 assure you you will not be disappointed. So now, au 
 revoir." Sir Simon bowed deeply as he spoke, and, with 
 a wave of his hat that would have done honor to the court 
 of Louis XV., he took his leave and departed. 
 
 I followed him with my eye, as mounted on his old gray 
 pony, he ambled quietly down the little path that led to 
 the shore. Albeit an old man, his seat was firm, and not 
 without a certain air of self-possession and ease ; and as he 
 returned the salutations of the passing country people, he 
 did so with the quiet dignity of one who felt he conveyed 
 an honor even in the recognition. There was something 
 singular in the contrast of that venerable figure with the 
 wild grandeur of the scene ; and as I gazed after him, it 
 set me thinking on the strange vicissitudes of life that must 
 have made such as he pass his days in the dreary solitude 
 of these mountains. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SIR SIMON. 
 
 My journey had so far fatigued me that I was n't sorry 
 to have a day of rest ; and as Father Tom spent the greater 
 part of it from home, I was left to myself and my own 
 reflections. The situation in which I found myself was 
 singular enough, — the guest of a man whose acquaintance 
 I had made by chance, and who, knowing as little of me as 
 I did of him, yet showed by many an act of kindness, not 
 less than by many a chance observation, a deep interest in 
 myself and my fortunes. Here, then, I was, — far from the 
 sphere of my duties, neglecting the career I had adopted, 
 and suffering days, weeks, to pass over without bestowing 
 a thought upon my soldier life. 
 
 Following on this train of thought, I could not help ac- 
 knowledging to myself that my attachment to Miss Bellew 
 was the cause of my journey, and the real reason of my 
 wandering. However sanguine may be the heart when 
 touched by the first passion, the doubts that will now and 
 then shoot across it are painful and poignant ; and now, in 
 the calmness of my judgment, I could not but see the innu- 
 merable obstacles my family would raise to all my hopes. 
 I well knew my father's predilection for a campaigning 
 life, and that nothing would compensate to him for the 
 defeat of this expectation. I had but too many proofs of 
 my mother's aristocratic prejudices to suppose that she 
 ever could acknowledge as her daughter-in-law one whose 
 pretensions to rank, although higher than her own, were 
 yet neither trumpeted by the world nor blazoned by fashion. 
 And lastly, changed as I was myself since my arrival in 
 Ireland, there was yet enough of the Englishman left in 
 
70 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 me to see how unsuited was Louisa Bellew, in many re- 
 spects, to be launched forth in the torrent of London life, 
 while yet her experience of the world was so narrow and 
 limited. Still, I loved her. The very artless simplicity 
 of her manner, the untutored freshness of her mind, had 
 taught me to know that even great personal attractions 
 may be the second excellence of a woman. And besides, 
 I was just at that time of life when ambition is least 
 natural. One deems it more heroic to renounce all that is 
 daring in enterprise, all that is great in promise, merely 
 to be loved. My mind was therefore made up. The 
 present opportunity was a good one to see her frequently 
 and learn thoroughly to know her tastes and her disposi- 
 tions. Should I succeed in gaining her affections, however 
 opposed my family might prove at first, I calculated on 
 their fondness for me as an only son, and knew that in 
 regard to fortune I should be independent enough to marry 
 whom I pleased. 
 
 In speculations such as these the time passed over ; and 
 although I waited with impatience for the hour of our visit 
 to Kilmorran Castle, still, as the time drew near, many a 
 passing doubt would flit across me, — how far I had mis- 
 taken the promptings of my own affection for any return 
 of my love. True it was, that more than once Louisa's 
 look and manner testified I was not indifferent to her; 
 still, when I remembered that I had ever seen her sur- 
 rounded by persons she was anxious to avoid, a suspicion 
 crossed me that perhaps I owed the little preference she 
 showed me less to any qualities I possessed than to my 
 own unobtrusiveness. These were galling and unpleasant 
 reflections ; and whither they might have led me I know 
 not, when the priest tapped with his knuckles at my 
 window, and called out, — 
 
 " Captain, we shall be late if } r ou don't hurry a bit ; and 
 I had rather be behind time with his gracious Majesty him- 
 self than with old Sir Simon." 
 
 I opened the window at once, and jumped out into the 
 lawn. 
 
SIR SIMON. 71 
 
 "My dear father, I've been ready this half-hour, but 
 fell into a dreamy fit and forgot everything. Are we to 
 walk it?" 
 
 " No, iiq ; the distance is much greater than you think. 
 Small as the bay looks, it is a good three miles from this to 
 Kilmorran; but here comes your old friend the curriculus." 
 
 I once more mounted to my old seat, and the priest, guid- 
 ing the horse down to the beach, selected the strand, from 
 which the waves had just receded, as the hardest road, and 
 pressed on at a pace that showed his desire to be punctual. 
 
 " Get along there, Nabocklish ! How lazy the devil is ! 
 Faith, we '11 be late, do our best. Captain, darling, put your 
 watch back a quarter of an hour, and I '11 stand to it that 
 we are both by Dublin time." 
 
 " Is he, then, so very particular," said I, " as all that 
 comes to ? " 
 
 " Particular, is it ? Faith he is. Why, man, there is as 
 much ringing of bells before dinner in that house as if 
 every room in it was crammed with company. And the 
 old butler will be there, all in black, and his hair pow- 
 dered, and beautiful silk stockings on his legs, every day 
 in the week, although, maybe, it is a brace of snipe will be 
 all that is on the table. Take the whip for a while, and 
 lay into that baste, — my heart is broke flogging him." 
 
 Had Sir Simon only watched the good priest's exertions 
 for the preceding quarter of an hour, he certainly would 
 have had a hard heart if he had criticised his punctuality. 
 Shouting one moment, cursing the next, thrashing away 
 with his whip, and betimes striding over the splash-board 
 to give a kick with his foot, he undoubtedly spared noth- 
 ing in either voice or gesture. 
 
 " There, glory be to God ! " cried he at last, as he turned 
 sharp from the shady road into a narrow avenue of tall 
 lime-trees; "take the reins, Captain, till I wipe my face. 
 Blessed hour, look at the state I am in ! Lift him to it, 
 and don't spare him. May I never, if that is n't the last 
 bell, and he only gives five minutes after that ! " 
 
 Although I certainly should have preferred that Father 
 
72 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 Tom had continued his functions as charioteer now that we 
 were approaching the house, common humanity however 
 compelled me to spare him, and I flogged and chucked the 
 old beast with all my might up the rising ground towards 
 the house. I had but just time to see that the building be- 
 fore us was a large embattled structure, which, although 
 irregular and occasionally incongruous in detail, was yet a 
 fine specimen of the castellated Gothic of the seventeenth 
 century. Massive square towers flanked the angles, them- 
 selves surmounted by smaller turrets, that shot up into the 
 air high above the dark woods around them. The whole 
 was surrounded by a fosse, now dry, and overgrown with 
 weeds ; but the terrace, which lay between this and the 
 castle, was laid out as a flower-garden, with a degree of 
 taste and beauty that to my mind at least bespoke the fos- 
 tering hand of Louisa Bellew. Upon this the windows of 
 a large drawing-room opened, at one of which I could mark 
 the tall and stately figure of Sir Simon, as he stood, watch 
 in hand, awaiting our arrival. I confess, it was not with- 
 out a sense of shame that I contiifTTed my flagellations at 
 the moment. Under any circumstances, our turn-out was 
 not quite unexceptionable ; but when I thought of my own 
 position, and of the good priest who sat beside me mopping 
 his head and face with a huge red cotton handkerchief, I 
 cursed my stars for the absurd exposure. Just at this in- 
 stant the skirt of a white robe passed one of the windows, 
 and I thought — I hope it was but a thought — I heard a 
 sound of laughter. 
 
 " There, that will do. Phoebus himself could n't do it 
 better. I would n't wish my worst enemy to be in a pair of 
 shafts before you." 
 
 Muttering a curse on the confounded beast, I pulled short 
 up and sprang out. 
 
 " Not late, Nicholas, I hope ? " said the priest to a tall, 
 thin old butler, who bore a most absurd resemblance to his 
 master. 
 
 " Your Reverence has a minute and a half yet ; but the 
 soup 's on the table." As he spoke, he drew from his pocket 
 
SIR SIMON. 73 
 
 a small bit of looking-glass, in a wooden frame, and with a 
 pocket-comb arranged his hair in the most orderly and de- 
 corous manner ; which being done, he turned gravely round 
 and said, " Are ye ready, now, gentlemen ? " 
 
 The priest nodded, and forward we went. Passing through 
 a suite of rooms whose furniture, however handsome once, 
 was now worm-eaten and injured by time, we at length 
 reached the door of the drawing-room, when the butler, 
 after throwing one more glance at us to assure himself that 
 we were in presentable array, flung the door wide open, and 
 announced, with the voice of a king-at-arms, — 
 
 " The Reverend Father Loftus, and Mr. Hinton." 
 
 " Serve ! " said Sir Simon, with a wave of his hand. 
 While, advancing towards us, he received us with most 
 polished courtesy. "You are most welcome to Kilmorran, 
 Mr. Hinton. I need not present my daughter." 
 
 He turned towards the priest, and the same moment I 
 held Miss Bellew's hand in mine. Dressed in white, and 
 with her hair plainly braided on her cheek, I thought she 
 looked handsomer than I had ever seen her. There was an 
 air of assured calmness in her manner that sat well upon 
 her lovely features, as, with a tone of winning sweetness, 
 she seconded the words of her father, and welcomed me to 
 Kilmorran. 
 
 The first step in the knowledge of the female heart is to 
 know how to interpret any constraint or reserve of manner 
 on the part of the woman you are in love with. Your mere 
 novice is never more tempted to despair than at the precise 
 moment his hopes should grow stronger ; nor is he ever so 
 sanguine as when the prospect is gloomy before him. The 
 quick perceptions of even a very young girl enable her to 
 perceive when she is loved ; and however disposed she may 
 feel towards the individual, a certain mixture of womanly 
 pride and coquetry will teach her a kind of reserve towards 
 him. Now, there was a slight dash of this constrained 
 tone through Miss Bellew's manner to me ; and little expe- 
 rience as I had had in such matters, I knew enough to 
 augur favorably from it. While doing the honors of her 
 
74 JACK HLNTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 house, a passing timidity would seem every now and then 
 to check her advances, and I could remark how carefully 
 she avoided any allusion, however slight, to our past 
 acquaintance. 
 
 • The austerity of Sir Simon's manner at his first visit, as 
 well as the remarks of my friend the priest, had led me to 
 suspect that our dinner-party would prove cold, formal, and 
 uncomfortable ; indeed, the baronet's constrained and meas- 
 ured courtesy in the drawing-room gave me but little en- 
 couragement to expect anything better. Most agreeable, 
 therefore, was my disappointment to find that before the 
 soup was removed he had thawed considerably. The 
 stern wrinkles of his haughty face relaxed, and a bland 
 and good-humored smile had usurped the place of his for- 
 mer fixed and determined look. Doing the honors of his 
 table with the most perfect tact, he contrived, while almost 
 monopolizing the conversation, to appear the least obtru- 
 sive amongst us ; his remarks being ever accompanied 
 by some appeal to his daughter, the priest, or myself, 
 seemed to link us in the interest of all he said, and make 
 his very listeners deem themselves entertaining and agree- 
 able. Unfortunately, I can present but a very meagre pic- 
 ture of this happy gift ; but I remember well how insensibly 
 my prejudices gave way, one by one, as I listened to his 
 anecdotes, and heard him recount, with admirable humor, 
 many a story of his early career. To be sure, it may be 
 said that my criticism was not likely to be severe while 
 seated beside his beautiful daughter, whose cheek glowed 
 with pleasure, and whose bright eye glistened with added 
 lustre as she remarked the impression her father's agreea- 
 bility was making on his guests. Such may, I doubt not, 
 have increased the delight I felt; but Sir Simon's own 
 claims were still indisputable. 
 
 I know not how far I shall meet my reader's concurrence 
 in the remark, but it appears to me that conversational 
 talent, like wine, recprires age to make it mellow. The 
 racy flavor that smacks of long knowledge of life, the re- 
 flective tone that deepens without darkening the picture, 
 
SIR SIMON. 75 
 
 the freedom from exaggeration either in praise or censure, 
 are not the gifts of young men, usually ; and certainly they 
 do season the intercourse of older ones, greatly to its ad- 
 vantage. There is, moreover, a pleasant flattery in listen- 
 ing to the narratives of those who were mixing with the 
 busy world — its intrigues, its battles, and its by-play — 
 while we were but boys. How we like to hear of the social 
 every-day life of those great men of a by -gone day, whose 
 names have become already historical ; what a charm does 
 it lend to reminiscence, when the names of Burke, Sheri- 
 dan, Grattan, and Curran start up amid memories of youth- 
 ful pleasure ; and how we treasure every passing word that 
 is transmitted to us, and how much, in spite of all the glo- 
 rious successes of their after days, do we picture them to 
 ourselves, from some slight or shadowy trait of their school 
 or college life ! 
 
 Sir Simon Bellew's conversation abounded in features of 
 this kind. His career had begun and continued for a long 
 time in the brightest period of Ireland's history, — when 
 wealth and genius were rife in the land, and when the joy- 
 ous traits of Irish character were elicited in all their force 
 by prosperity and happiness. It was then shone forth in 
 all their brilliancy the great spirits whose flashing wit and 
 glittering fancy have cast a sunlight over their native coun- 
 try that even now, in the twilight of the past, continues to 
 illumine it. Alas ! they have had no heritors to their 
 fame; they have left no successors behind them. 
 
 I have said that Miss Bellew listened with delight to all 
 her father's stores of amusement, — happy to see him once 
 more aroused to the exertion of his abilities, and pleased to 
 watch how successfully his manner had won over us. With 
 what added loveliness she looked up to him, as he narrated 
 some circumstances of his political career, where his im- 
 portance with his party was briefly alluded to ; and how 
 proudly her features glowed, as some passing sentiment of 
 high and simple patriotism would break from him ! At 
 such moments, the resemblance between them both became 
 remarkably striking, and I deemed her even more beautiful 
 
76 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 than when her face wore its habitual calm and peaceful 
 expression. 
 
 Father Loftus himself seemed also to have undergone a 
 change, — no longer indulging in his accustomed free-and- 
 easy manner, seasoning his conversation with droll allu- 
 sions and sly jokes. He now appeared a shrewd, intelli- 
 gent reasoner, a well informed man of the world, and at 
 times evidenced traits of reading and scholarship I was no- 
 wise prepared for. But how vain is it for one of any other 
 country to fathom one half the depth of Irish character, or 
 say what part is inapplicable to an Irishman! My own 
 conviction is that we are all mistaken in our estimate of 
 them ; that the gay and reckless spirit, the wild fun, and 
 frantic impetuous devilment are their least remarkable 
 features, and in fact only the outside emblem of the stir- 
 ring nature within. Like the lightning that flashes over 
 the thunder-cloud, but neither influences the breaking of 
 the storm nor points to its course, so have I seen the jest 
 break from lips pale with hunger, and heard the laugh 
 come free and mellow when the heart was breaking in 
 misery. But what a mockery of mirth ! 
 
 When we retired to the drawing-room, Sir Simon, who 
 had something to communicate to Father Tom, took him 
 apart into one of the deep window-recesses, and I was left 
 for the first time alone beside Miss Bellew. There was 
 something of awkwardness in the situation ; for as neither 
 of us could allude to the past without evoking recollections 
 we both shunned to touch on, we knew not well of what to 
 speak. The window lay open to the ground, displaying be- 
 fore us a garden in all the richness of fruit and blossom ; 
 the clustering honeysuckle and the dog-rose hung in masses 
 of flower across the casement, and the graceful hyacinth 
 and the deep carnation were bending to the night air, 
 scented with the odor of many a flower. I looked wistfully 
 without. Miss Bellew caught my glance ; a slight hesita- 
 tion followed, and then, as if assuming more courage, she 
 said, — 
 
 " Are you fond of a garden ? Would you like to walk ? " 
 
SIR SIMON. 77 
 
 The haste with which I caught at the proposal half dis- 
 concerted her; but, -with a slight smile, she stepped out 
 into the walk. 
 
 How I do like a large, old-fashioned garden with its 
 venerable- fruit-trees, its shady alleys, its overgrown and 
 tangled beds, in which the very luxuriance sets all effort of 
 art at defiance, and where rank growth speaks of wildness 
 rather than culture ! I like those grassy walks, where the 
 footstep falls unheard; those shady thickets of nut-trees, 
 which the blackbird haunts in security, and where the 
 thrush sings undisturbed. What a sense of quiet home- 
 happiness there breathes in the leafy darkness of the spot, 
 and how meet for reverie and reflection does it seem ! 
 
 As I sauntered along beside my companion, these 
 thoughts crowded on me. Neither spoke ; but her arm was 
 in mine, our footsteps moved in unison, our eyes followed 
 the same objects, and I felt as though our hearts beat re- 
 sponsively. On turning from one of the darker walks we 
 suddenly came upon an elevated spot, from which, through 
 an opening in the wood, the coast came into view, broken 
 into many a rocky promontory, and dotted with small 
 islands. The sea was calm and waveless, and stretched 
 away towards the horizon in one mass of unbroken blue, 
 where it blended with the sky. An exclamation of " How 
 beautiful ! " broke from me at once ; and as I turned to- 
 wards Louisa, I perceived that her eyes sparkled with pleas- 
 ure, and a half blush was mantling her cheek. 
 
 " You are not, then, disappointed with the west ? " said 
 she, with animation. 
 
 " No, no ! I did not look for anything like this ; nor," 
 added I, in a lower tone, while the words trembled on my 
 lips, " did I hope to enjoy it thus. " 
 
 She seemed slightly confused, but with woman's readiness 
 to turn the meaning of my speech, added, — 
 
 " Your recovery from illness doubtless gives a heightened 
 pleasure to everything like this. The dark hour of sickness 
 is often needed to teach us to feel strongly as we ought the 
 beauty of the fair world we live in." 
 
78 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 "It may be so; but still I find that every sorrow leaves 
 a scar upon the heart, and he who has mourned much loses 
 the zest for happiness." 
 
 " Or, rather, his views of it are different. I speak, hap- 
 pily for me, in ignorance ; yet it seems as though every 
 trial in life was a preparation for some higher scale of bliss- 
 ful enjoyment ; and that as our understandings mature in 
 power, so do our hearts in goodness, — chastening at each 
 ordeal of life, till at last the final sorrow, death, bids us 
 prepare for the eternity where there is no longer grief, and 
 where the weary are at rest." 
 
 " Is not your view of life rather derived from the happy 
 experience of this quiet spot than suited for the collisions 
 of the world, where, as men grow older, their consciences 
 grow more seared, their hearts less open ? " 
 
 "Perhaps ; but is not my philosophy a good one that fits 
 me for my station ? My life has been cast here ; I have no 
 wish to leave it. I hope I never shall." 
 
 " Never ! Surely, you would like to see other countries, 
 — to travel ?" 
 
 " No, no ! All the brilliant pleasures you can picture for 
 me would never requite the fears I must suffer lest these 
 objects should grow less dear to me when I came back to 
 them. The Tyrol is doubtless grander in its wild magnifi- 
 cence ; but can it ever come home to my heart with so 
 many affections and memories as these bold cliffs I have 
 gazed on in my infancy ; or should I benefit in happiness 
 if it did ? Can your Swiss peasant, be his costume ever so 
 picturesque, interest me one half as much as yonder poor 
 fisherman, who is carrying up his little child in his arms 
 from the beach ? I know him, his home, his hearth ; I 
 have seen his grateful smile for some small benefit, and 
 heard his words of thankfulness. And think you not that 
 such recollections as these are all mingled in every glance I 
 throw around me, and that every sun-lit spot of landscape 
 shines not more brightly in my heart for its human associa- 
 tions ? These may be narrow prejudices — I see you 
 smile at me." 
 
SIR SIMON. 79 
 
 "No, no ! Trust me, I do not undervalue your reasons." 
 
 " Well, here comes Father Loftus, and he shall be judge 
 between us. We were discussing the advantages of con- 
 trasting our home with other countries — " 
 
 "Ahem! A very difficult point," said the priest, inter- 
 rupting her, and drawing himself up with a great air of 
 judicial importance. " Ubi bene, ibi patria, — which may 
 be rendered, ' There 's potatoes everywhere.' Not that I 
 incline to the doctrine myself. Ireland is the only enjoy- 
 able country I know of. Utamur ereatura, dum possumus, 
 — that means ' a moderate use of creature comforts,' Miss 
 Louisa. But, troth, I 'm so heated with an argument I had 
 with Sir Simon that I 'm no ways competent — Did I tell 
 you he was waiting for his tea ? " 
 
 " No, indeed you did not," said Miss Bellew, giving vent 
 to a laugh she had been struggling against for the last few 
 minutes ; and which I did not at the moment know was 
 caused by her perceiving the priest's air of chagrin and 
 discontent, the evident proofs of his being worsted by the 
 old baronet, whose chief pleasure in life was to worry the 
 father into a discussion, and either confuse or confute 
 him. "My father seems in such good spirits to-night! 
 Don't you think so ? " said she, roguishly, looking over at 
 the priest. 
 
 " Never saw him better ; quite lively and animated, 
 and " — dropping his voice to a whisper — " as obstinate 
 as ever." 
 
 As we entered the house we found Sir Simon walking 
 leisurely up and down the drawing-room, with his hands 
 behind his back, his face radiant with smiles, and his eye 
 gleaming with conscious triumph towards the corner where 
 the priest stood tumbling over some books to conceal his 
 sense of defeat. In a few minutes after we were seated 
 round the tea-table; the little cloud was dispelled, and a 
 happier party it was difficult to imagine. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 ST. SENAN'S WELL. 
 
 How shall I trace this the happiest period of my life, 
 when days and weeks rolled on and left no trace behind, 
 save in that delicious calm that stole over my senses gradu- 
 ally and imperceptibly ! Each morning saw me on my way 
 to Castle Bellew. The mountain path that led up from the 
 little strand was well worn by my footsteps ; I knew its 
 every turn and winding ; scarcely a dog-rose bloomed along 
 the way with which I had not grown familiar. And how 
 each object spoke to my heart ! For I was happy ! The 
 clouds that moved above, the rippling tide that flowed be- 
 neath, the sunny shore, the shady thicket, were all to me 
 as though I had known them from boyhood. For so it is, 
 in our glad moments we cling to all things that surround 
 us ; and giving to external Nature the high coloring of our 
 own hearts, we feel how beautiful is this world ! 
 
 Yet was my mind not all tranquil ; for often, as I has- 
 tened on, some passing thought would shoot across me. 
 Where is this to end ? Can I hope ever to overcome the 
 deep-rooted prejudices of my family, and induce them to 
 receive amongst them as my wife the beautiful and artless 
 daughter of the wild west ? Or could I dare to expose her, 
 on whom all my affections were centred, to the callous 
 criticism of my fine lady-mother, and her fashionable 
 friends in London ? What right had I to stake Louisa's hap- 
 piness on such a chance, — to take her from all the objects 
 endeared to her by taste, by time, by long-hallowed associa- 
 tions, and place her amid those among whom the very 
 charm of her untarnished nature would have made her 
 their inferior? Is it that trait of rebellious spirit that 
 
ST. SENAN'S WELL. 81 
 
 would seem to leaven every portion of our nature which 
 makes our love strongest when some powerful barrier has 
 been opposed to our hopes and wishes ; or is it, rather, that 
 in the difficulties and trials of life we discover those deeper 
 resources of our hearts, that under happier auspices had 
 lain dormant and unknown ? I scarcely know ; but true 
 it is, after such reflections as these I ever hurried on the 
 faster to meet Louisa, more resolutely bent than ever, in 
 weal or woe, to link my fortune with her own. 
 
 Though I returned each night to the priest's cottage, my 
 days were entirely spent at Castle Bellew. How well do I 
 remember every little incident that marked their tranquil 
 course ! The small breakfast-parlor, with its old Tudor 
 window looking out upon the flower-garden, — how often 
 have I paced it, impatient for her coming; turning ever 
 and anon to the opening door, where the old butler, with 
 the invariable habitude of his kind, continually appeared 
 with some portion of the breakfast equipage ! How I 
 started, as some distant door would shut or open, some 
 far-off footstep sound upon the stair, and wonder within 
 myself why felt she not some of this impatient longing ! 
 And when at last, tortured with anxiety and disappoint- 
 ment, I had turned away towards the window, the gentle 
 step, the rustling dress, and, more than all, the indescriba- 
 ble something that tells us we are near those we love, be- 
 spoke her coming, — oh, the transport of that moment ! 
 With what a fervid glow of pleasure I sprang to meet her, 
 to touch her hand, to look upon her ! How rapidly, too, I 
 endeavored to speak my few words of greeting, lest her 
 father's coming might interfere with even this short-lived 
 period of happiness ; and, after all, how little meaning were 
 in the words themselves, save in the tone I spoke them ! 
 
 Then followed our rambles through the large but neg- 
 lected garden, where the rich-blossoming fruit-tree scented 
 the air, loaded with all the fragrance of many a wild-flower. 
 Now strolling onwards, silent, but full of thought, we trod 
 some dark and shaded alley ; now we entered upon some 
 open glade, where a view of the far-off mountains would 
 
 VOL. II. — 6 
 
82 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 break upon us, or where some chance vista showed the 
 deep-blue sunny sea swelling with sullen roar against the 
 rocky coast. How often, at such times as these, have I 
 asked myself if I could look for greater happiness than 
 thus to ramble on, turning from the stupendous majesty 
 of Nature to look into her eyes whose glance met mine 
 so full of tender meaning, while words would pass be- 
 tween us, few and low-voiced, but all so thrilling; their 
 very accents spoke of love ! 
 
 Yet amid all this some agonizing doubt would shoot 
 across me that my affection was not returned. The very 
 frankness of her nature made me fear ; and when we parted 
 at night, and I held my homeward way towards the priest's 
 cottage, I would stop from time to time, conning over every 
 word she spoke, calling to mind each trivial circumstance ; 
 and if by accident some passing word of jest, some look of 
 raillery, recurred to my memory, how have the warm tears 
 rushed to my eyes, as with my heart full of bursting I mut- 
 tered to myself, " She loves me not ! " These fears would 
 then give way to hope, as in my mind's eye she stood be- 
 fore me, all beaming in smiles. And amid these alternate 
 emotions, I trod my lonely path, longing for the morrow 
 when we should meet again, when I vowed within my heart 
 to end my life of doubt by asking if she loved me. But 
 with that morrow came the same spell of happiness that 
 lulled me ; and like the gambler who had set his life upon 
 the die, and durst not throw, so did I turn with trembling 
 fear from tempting the chance that might in a moment dis- 
 pel the bright dream of my existence, and leave life bleak 
 and barren to me forever. 
 
 The month of August was drawing to a close, as we saun- 
 tered one fine evening towards the sea-shore. There was a 
 little path which wound round the side of a bold crag, 
 partly by steps, partly by a kind of sloping way, defended 
 at the sides by a rude wooden railing, which led down upon 
 the beach exactly at the spot where a well of clear spring- 
 water sprang up, and tracked its tiny stream into the blue 
 ocean. This little spring, which was always covered by the 
 
ST. SENAN'S WELL. 83 
 
 sea at high water, was restored, on the tide ebbing, to its 
 former purity, and bubbled away as before; and from this 
 cause it had obtained from the simple peasantry the reputa- 
 tion of being miraculous, and was believed to possess in- 
 numerable' properties of healing and consoling. 
 
 I had often heard of it, but never visited it before ; and 
 thither we now bent our steps, more intent upon catching 
 the glorious sunset that was glowing on the Atlantic than 
 of testing the virtues of St. Senan's well, for so was it 
 called. The evening, an autumnal one, was calm and still ; 
 not a leaf stirred ; the very birds were hushed ; and there 
 was all that solemn silence that sometimes threatens the 
 outbreak of a storm. As we descended the crag, however, 
 the deep booming of the sea broke upon us, and between 
 the foliage of the oak-trees we could mark the heavy roll- 
 ing of the mighty tide, as wave after wave swelled on, and 
 then was dashed in foam and spray upon the shore. There 
 was something peculiarly grand and almost supernatural in 
 the heavy swell of the great sea, rearing its white crest afar 
 and thundering along the weather-beaten rocks, when every- 
 thing else was calm and unmoved around; the deep and 
 solemn roar, echoing from many a rocky cavern, rose amid 
 the crashing spray that sent up a thin veil of mist, through 
 which the setting sun was reflected in many a bright rain- 
 bow. It was indeed a glorious sight, and we stopped for 
 several minutes gazing on it ; when suddenly Louisa, let- 
 ting go my arm, exclaimed, as she pointed downwards, — 
 
 "See, see the swell beneath that large black rock yonder! 
 The tide is making fast ; we must get quickly down if you 
 wish to test St. Senan's power." 
 
 I had no time left me to ask what peculiar virtues the 
 saint dispensed through the mediation of his well, when she 
 broke from my side and hurried down the steep descent. 
 In a moment we had reached the shore, upon which already 
 the tide was fast encroaching, and had marked with its dark 
 stain the yellow sand within a few feet of the well. As we 
 drew nearer, I perceived the figure of an old woman bent 
 with age, who seemed busily occupied sprinkling the water 
 
84 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 of the spring over something that, as I came closer, seemed 
 like a sailor's jacket. She was repeating some words rapidly 
 to herself ; but on hearing our approach, she quickly col- 
 lected her bundle together under her remnant of a cloak, 
 and sat waiting our approach in silence. 
 
 " It 's Molly Ban ! " said Louisa, suddenly, and growing 
 pale as she spoke. " Give her something, if you have any 
 money, I beseech you." 
 
 There was no opportunity for inquiring further about her 
 now, for the old woman slowly rose from the stone by the 
 aid of a stick, and stood confronting us. Her figure was 
 singularly short, scarce four feet in height ; but her head 
 was enormously large, and her features, which were almost 
 terrific in ugliness, were swarthy as a gypsy's. A man's hat 
 was fastened upon her head by a red kerchief, which was 
 knotted beneath her chin ; a short cloak of faded scarlet, 
 like what the peasantry of the west usually wear, covered 
 her shoulders, beneath which a patched and many-colored 
 petticoat appeared, that reached to the middle of her legs, 
 which, as well as her feet, were completely naked, giving a 
 look of wildness and poverty in one so old I cannot attempt 
 to convey. The most singular part of her costume, how- 
 ever, was a rude collar she wore round her neck of sea- 
 shells, among which, here and there, I could detect some 
 bits of painted and gilded carving, like fragments of a 
 wreck. This strange apparition now stood opposite me, 
 her dark eyes fixed steadily on my companion, to whom, 
 unlike the people of the country, she never made the slight- 
 est reverence or showed any semblance of respect. 
 
 " And was it to spy after me, Miss Loo, ye brought down 
 yer sweetheart to the well this evening ? " said the hag, in 
 a harsh, grating voice, that seemed the very last effort of 
 some suppressed passion. 
 
 Louisa's arm grasped mine, and I could feel it tremble 
 with agitation as she whispered in my ear, — 
 " Give her money quickly ; I know her." 
 " And is your father going to send me back to jail be- 
 cause the cattle 's got the rot amongst them ? Ha, ha, ha ! " 
 
ST. SENAN'S WELL. 
 
 85 
 
 said she, breaking into a wild, discordant laugh. " There 
 will be more mourning than for that at Castle Bellew before 
 long." 
 
 Louisa leaned against me, faint and almost falling, while 
 drawing out my purse hastily I held forth my hand full of 
 silver. The old hag clutched at it eagerly, and as her dark 
 eyes flashed fire she thrust the money into a pocket at her 
 side, and again broke out into a horrid laugh. 
 
 " So, you 're beginnin' to know me, are ye ? Ye won't 
 mock Molly Ban now, eh ? No, faith, nor Mary Lafi'erty 
 
 W~&^ 
 
 either, that turned me from the door and shut it agin me. 
 Where '11 her pride be to-morrow night, when they bring 
 in her husband a corpse to her ? Look at that ! " 
 
 With these words she threw her cloak or. one side, and 
 showed the blue jacket of a fisherman which I had seen her 
 sprinkling with the water as we came up. 
 
 " The blue water will be his winding-sheet this night, 
 calm as it is now." 
 
 " Oh, Molly dear, don't speak this way ! " 
 
86 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " ' Molly dear ! ' " echoed the beldame, in an accent of 
 biting derision. " Who ever heerd one of your name call 
 me that ? Or are ye come for a charm for that young man 
 beside you ? See, now ! the sun 's just gone ; in a minit 
 more the sea '11 be in, and it '11 be too late. Here, come 
 near me ! kneel down there ! kneel down, I say ! or is it 
 only my curse ye mind ? " 
 
 " She 's mad, poor thing," said I, in my companion's ear. 
 " Let her have her way ; do as she bids you." 
 
 Sinking with terror, pale as death, and trembling all 
 over, Louisa bent one knee upon the little rock beside the 
 well, while the old hag took her fair hand within her own 
 skinny fingers and plunged it rudely in the well. 
 
 " There, drink," said the old woman, offering me the 
 fair palm, through which the clear water was running rap- 
 idly, while she chanted rather than spoke the rude rhyme 
 that follows, — 
 
 " By the setting sun, 
 The flowing sea, 
 The waters that run, 
 I swear to thee 
 That my faith shall be true, at this moment now, 
 In weal or in woe, wherever or how : 
 So help me, Saint Senan, to keep my vow ! " 
 
 The last words had scarcely been uttered when Louisa, 
 who apparently had been too much overcome by terror to 
 hear one word the hag had muttered, sprang up from the 
 stone, her face and neck covered with a deep blush, her 
 lip trembling with agitation, while her eyes were fixedly 
 directed towards the old woman with an expression of 
 haughty anger. 
 
 " A y> y e m ay look as proud as ye like. It's little I 
 mind ye, in love or in hate. Ye are well humbled enough 
 now. And as for you," said she, turning towards me a look 
 of scornful pity, — " you, I wish ye joy of your fair sweet- 
 heart ; let her only keep her troth like her own motner, and 
 ye '11 have a happy heart to sit at yer fireside with." 
 
 The blood fled from Louisa's cheek as these words were 
 Uttered ; a deadly paleness spread over her features; her lips 
 
ST. SENAN'S WELL. 87 
 
 were bloodless and parted; and her hands firmly clinched 
 together and pressed against her side bespoke the agony 
 of the moment. It lasted not longer ; for she fell back 
 fainting and insensible into my arms. I bathed her face 
 and temples from the well ; I called upon her, rubbed her 
 hands within my own, and endeavored by every means to 
 arouse her ; but in vain. I turned to beg for aid from the 
 woman, but she was gone. I again endeavored to awake 
 Louisa from her stupor, but she lay cold, rigid, and motion- 
 less ; her features had stiffened like a corpse, and showed no 
 touch of life. I shouted aloud for aid ; but, alas ! we were 
 far from all human habitations, and the wild cries of the 
 curlew were the only sounds that met my ear, or the deep 
 rushing of the sea, as it broke nearer and nearer to where 
 I stood. A sudden pang of horror shot across me as I 
 looked around and below, and saw no chance of aid from 
 any quarter. Already the sun was below the horizon, and 
 the gray twilight gave but gloomy indications all around. 
 The sea, too, was coming fast ; the foam had reached us, and 
 even now the salt tide had mingled its water with the little 
 spring. No more time was to be lost. A projecting point 
 of rock intervened between us and the little path by which 
 we had descended to the beach ; over this the spray was 
 now splashing, and its base was only to be seen at inter- 
 vals between the advancing or retiring wave. A low wail- 
 ing sound, like distant wind, was creeping over the water, 
 which from time to time was curled along the round-backed 
 wave with all the threatening aspect of a coming storm ; 
 the sea-birds wheeled round in circles, waking the echoes 
 with their wild notes, and the heavy swell of the breaking 
 sea roared through many a rocky cavern with a sad and 
 mournful melody. I threw one last look above, where the 
 tall beetling cliff was lost in the gloom of coming night, 
 another on the broad bleak ocean, and then, catching up my 
 companion in my arms, set forward. 
 
 For the first few moments I felt not my burden. My 
 beating heart throbbed proudly, and as I pressed her to my 
 bosom, how I nerved myself for any coming danger by the 
 
88 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 thought that all the world to me lay in my arms ! Every 
 step, however, brought me farther out; the sea, which at 
 first washed only to my ankles, now reached my knees ; 
 my step became unsteady, and when for an instant I turned 
 one look on her who lay still and insensible within my 
 grasp, I felt my head reel and my sight wander as I again 
 looked out on the dark water that rolled around us. We 
 were now near the rocky point which once passed placed us 
 in safety ; and to reach this I summoned up every effort. 
 Around this the waves had worn a deeper track, and 
 against its side they beat and lashed themselves to foam, 
 which boiled in broad sheets around. A loud cheer from 
 some one on the cliff above us turned my glance upwards, 
 and I could see lights moving backwards and forwards 
 through the darkness ; before I could reply to the voice, 
 however, a large wave came mantling near, gathering force 
 as it approached, and swelling its gigantic mass so as to 
 shut out all besides. I fixed myself firmly to resist the 
 shock, and slightly bending, opposed my shoulder to the 
 mighty roll of water that now towered like a wall above us. 
 On it came, till its dark crest frowned above our heads; 
 for a second or two it seemed to pause, as the white curl 
 tipped its breaking edge, and then, with a roll like thunder, 
 broke over us. For an instant I held my footing ; at 
 length, however, my step tottered ; I felt myself lifted up, 
 and then hurled headlong beneath the swollen volume of 
 water that closed above my head. Stunned, but not sense- 
 less, I grasped my burden closer to my heart, and struggled 
 to regain my footing. The wave passed inwards as I rose 
 to my feet, and a sea of boiling foam hissed around me. 
 Beyond, all was dim and indistinct ; a brooding darkness 
 stretched towards the sea, and landward the tall cliffs were 
 wrapped in deep shadow, except when the light that I had 
 seen flitted from place to place, like the dancing wild-fire. 
 A loud cheer from on high made me suppose that we were 
 perceived; but my attention was turned away by a low 
 moaning sound that came floating over the water ; and as I 
 looked, I could see that the black surface swelled upwards, 
 
ST. SENAN'S WELL. 89 
 
 as if by some mighty force beneath, and rose towering into 
 the air. The wave that now approached us was much 
 greater than the former one, and came thundering on as if 
 impatient for its prey. My fear was of being carried out to 
 sea, and I 'looked hastily around for some rocky point to 
 hold on by; but in vain. The very sands beneath me 
 seemed moving and shifting ; the voice of thunder was in 
 my ears ; my senses reeled, and the thought of death by 
 drowning, with all its agony, came over me. 
 
 " Oh, my father ! my poor father ! " said a low plaintive 
 voice beside my cheek; and the next instant the blood 
 rushed warm to my heart. My courage rallied ; my arm 
 grew nerved and strong ; my footsteps seemed to grasp the 
 very ground, and with a bold and daring spirit I waited for 
 the coming shock. On it came, a mighty flood, sweeping 
 high above us as we struggled in the midst. The blue 
 water moved on, unbroken ; for a moment or two I felt we 
 were borne along with a whirlwind speed ; then suddenly 
 we touched the strand, — but only for a second, for the re- 
 turning wave came thundering back, and carried us along 
 with it. My senses now began to wander ; the dark and 
 gloomy sea stretched around us ; the stars seemed to flit to 
 and fro ; the roar of water and the sounds of human voices 
 were mingled in my ears ; my strength, too, was failing 
 me, and I buffeted the waves with scarcely consciousness. 
 Just at that moment when all dread of danger past, the 
 gloomy indifference to life is fast succeeding, I saw a bright 
 gleam of light flying rapidly across the water ; the shouts 
 of voices reached me also, but the words I heard not. Now 
 falling beneath, now rising above the foamy surface, I 
 struggled on, my only strength to press home closer to my 
 bosom the form of her my heart was filled by, when of a 
 sudden I felt my arm rudely grasped on either side. A 
 rope, too, was thrown around my waist, and I was hurried 
 inwards towards the shore amid cries of "All safe! all 
 safe ! not too fast, there ! " A dreary indistinctness of 
 what followed even still haunts my mind. A huge wood- 
 fire upon the beach, the figures of the fishermen, the coun- 
 
90 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 try people passing hither and thither, the tumult of voices, 
 and a rude chair in which lay a pale, half-fainting form. 
 The rest I know not. 
 
 It was dark, so dark I could not see the persons that 
 moved beside me. As we passed along the grassy turf in 
 silence I held a soft hand in mine, and a fair cheek rested 
 on my shoulder, while masses of long and dripping hair 
 fell on my neck and bosom. Carried by two stout peasant- 
 fishermen in a chair, Louisa Bellew, faint but conscious of 
 the danger past, was borne homeward. I walked beside 
 her, my heart too full for words. A loud, wild cheer burst 
 suddenly forth, and a bright gleam of light aroused me 
 from my trance of happiness. The steps were crowded 
 with people, the large hall so full we scarce could force our 
 way. The door of the parlor was now thrown open, and 
 there sat the pale, gaunt figure of Sir Simon Bellew, his 
 eyes staring wildly, and his lips parted ; his hands resting 
 on each arm of his chair, but all still and motionless. 
 
 Bursting from those that carried her, Louisa sprang 
 towards her father with a cry; but ere she reached his 
 arms he had fallen from his seat to his knees, and with 
 his hands clasped above his head, and upturned eyes, 
 poured forth his prayer to God. Sinking to his side, she 
 twined her hands with his ; and as if moved by the magic 
 of the scene, the crowd fell to their knees, and joined in 
 the thanksgiving. It was a moment of deep and touching 
 feeling to hear the slow, scarce articulate words of that 
 old man, who turned from the sight of her Jiis heart 
 treasured to thank the great Father of mercy who had 
 not left him childless in his age; to mark the low sobs 
 of those around, as they strove to stifle them, while tears 
 coursed down the hard and weather-beaten cheeks of hum- 
 ble poverty, as they muttered to themselves their heartfelt 
 thanks for her preservation. There was a pause ; the old 
 man turned his eyes upon his child, and, like a dammed- 
 up torrent breaking forth, the warm tears gushed out, and 
 with a cry of "My own, my only one!" he fell upon her 
 neck and wept. 
 
ST. SENAN'S WELL. 91 
 
 I could hear no more. Springing to my feet, I dashed 
 through the hall, and, resisting every effort to detain me, 
 rushed down the steps and gained the lawn. Once there 
 alone, I sank down upon the sward, and poured forth my 
 heart in tears of happiness. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 AN UNLOOKED-FOR MEETING. 
 
 I made many ineffectual efforts to awake in the morning 
 after my adventure. Fatigue and exhaustion, which seem 
 always heaviest when incurred by danger, had completely 
 worn me out, and scarcely had I succeeded in opening my 
 eyes and muttering some broken words, ere again I dropped 
 off to sleep, soundly, and without a dream. It was late in 
 the afternoon when at length I sat up in my bed and looked 
 about me. A gentle hand suddenly fell upon my shoulder, 
 and a low voice, which I at once recognized as Father Tom's, 
 whispered, — 
 
 " There now, my dear fellow, lie down again. You must 
 not stir for a couple of hours yet." 
 
 I looked at him fixedly for a moment, and, as I clasped 
 his hand in mine, asked, — 
 
 " How is she, Father ? " 
 
 Scarcely were these words spoken when I felt a burning 
 blush upon my cheek. It was the confidence of long months 
 that found vent in one second, the pent-up secret of my 
 heart that burst from me unconsciously, and I hid my face 
 upon the pillow, and felt as though I had betrayed her. 
 
 " Well, quite well," said the old man, as he pressed my 
 hand forcibly in his own. "But let us not speak now. 
 You must take more rest, and then have your arm looked 
 to. I believe you have forgotten all about it." 
 
 " My arm ! " repeated I, in some surprise ; while, turning 
 down the clothes, I perceived that my right arm was sorely 
 bruised, and swollen to an immense size. "The rocks have 
 done this," muttered I. " And she, Father, — what of her, 
 for Heaven's sake ? " 
 
[AN UNLOOKED-FOR MEETING. 93 
 
 "Be calm, or I must leave you," said the priest. "I said 
 before that she was well. Poor boy ! " 
 
 There was something so touching in the tone of the last 
 words that, without my knowing why, I felt a kind of 
 creeping fear pass across me, and a dread of some unknown 
 evil steal over me. 
 
 " Father," said I, springing up, and grasping him with 
 both my hands, while the pain of my wounded arm shot 
 through my very heart, "you are an honest man, and you 
 are a man of God; you would not tell me a lie. Is she 
 well ? " The big drop fell from my brow as I spoke. 
 
 He clasped his hands fervently together as he replied, in 
 a voice tremulous with agitation, "I have not told you a 
 lie ! " He turned away as he spoke, and I lay down in my 
 bed with a mind relieved, but not at rest. 
 
 Alas, how hard it is to be happy ! The casualties of this 
 world come on like waves, one succeeding the other. We 
 may escape the heavy roll of the mighty ocean, and be 
 wrecked in the still, smooth waters of the land-locked bay. 
 We dread the storm and the hurricane, and we forget how 
 many have perished within sight of shore. But yet a secret 
 fear is ever present with us when danger hovers near ; and 
 this sense of some impending evil it was which now dark- 
 ened me, and whispered me to be prepared. 
 
 I lay for some time sunk in my reflections, and when I 
 looked up, the priest was gone. A letter had fallen on the 
 floor, as if by accident, and I rose to place it on my table, 
 when, to my surprise, I found it addressed to myself. It 
 was marked, " On his Majesty's service," and ran thus : — 
 
 Dublin Castle. 
 Sir, — I have received his Excellency's orders to inform you that 
 unless you, on receipt of the present letter, at once return to your 
 duty as a member of the staff, your name will be erased from the 
 list, and the vacancy immediately filled up. 
 
 I have the honor to be, etc. Henry Horton. 
 
 What could have caused the great alteration in his Ex- 
 cellency's feelings that this order evinced I could not con- 
 
94 JACK HENTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 ceive, and felt hurt and indignant at the tone of a letter 
 which came on me so completely by surprise. I knew, 
 however, how much my father looked to my strict obedience 
 to every call of duty, and resolved that, come what would, 
 I should at once resume my position on the duke's staff. 
 
 These were but momentary reflections. My thoughts re- 
 curred at once to where my heart was dwelling, — with her 
 whose very image lived within me. Try how I would, I 
 could think of no pleasure in which she took not part, 
 imagine no scheme of life in which she was not concerned. 
 Ambition had lost its charm ; the path of glory I had 
 longed to tread, I felt now as nothing beside that heather 
 walk which led me towards her; and if I were to have 
 chosen between the most brilliant career high station, in- 
 fluence, and fortune could bestow, and the lowly condition 
 of a dweller in these wild mountain solitudes, I felt that 
 not a moment of hesitation or doubt would mark my de- 
 cision. There was a kind of heroism in the relinquishing 
 all the blandishments of fortune, all the seductions of the 
 brilliant world, for one whose peaceful and humble life 
 strayed not beyond the limits of these rugged mountains ; 
 and this had its charm. There were times when I loved to 
 ask myself whether Louisa Bellew would not, even amid 
 all the splendor and display of London life, be as much ad- 
 mired and courted as the most acknowledged of beauty's 
 daughters ; now I turned rather to the thought of how far 
 happier and better it was to know that a nature so unhack- 
 neyed, a heart so rich in its own emotions, was never to be 
 exposed to the callous collision of society and all the hard- 
 ened hypocrisy of the world. My own lot, too, how many 
 more chances of happiness did it not present as I looked 
 at the few weeks of the past, and thought of whole years 
 thus gliding away, loving and beloved ! 
 
 A kind of stir, and the sound of voices beneath my win- 
 dow, bi-oke my musings, and I rose and looked out. It pro- 
 ceeded from the young girl and the country lad who formed 
 the priest's household. They were talking together before 
 the door, and pointing in the direction of the high-road, 
 
AN UNLOOKED-FOR MEETING. 95 
 
 where a cloud of dust had marked the passage of sOme car- 
 riage, — an event rare enough to attract attention in these 
 wild districts. 
 
 " And did his Reverence say that the captain was to be 
 kept in bed till he came back ? " 
 
 " Ah, then, sure, he knew well enough," said Mary, 
 " that the young man would be up and off to the castle the 
 moment he was able to walk, — ay, and, maybe, before it 
 too. Troth, Fatsey, it 's what I 'm thinking, — there 's no- 
 body knows how to coort like a raal gentleman." 
 
 " Och, botheration ! " said Patsey, with an offended toss 
 of his head, and a look of half malice. 
 
 " Faix, you may look how you like, but it 's truth I 'm 
 telling ye. They know how to do it. It is n't winking at a 
 body, nor putting their great rough arms round their neck ; 
 but it 's a quiet, mannerly, dacent way they have, and 
 soothering voice, and a look undher their eyes, as much as 
 to say, ' Maybe you would n't, now ? ' " 
 
 " Troth, Mary," said Patsey, sharply, " it strikes me that 
 you know more of their ways than is just convanient, — eh, 
 do you understand me now ? " 
 
 " Well, and if I do," replied Mary, " there 's no one 
 can be evenen it to you, for I'm sure it wasn't you 
 taught me ! " 
 
 " Ye want to provoke me," said the young man, rising, 
 and evidently more annoyed than he felt disposed to con- 
 fess ; " but, faix, I '11 keep my temper. It 's not after 
 spaking to his Reverence, and buying a cow and a dresser, 
 that I 'm going to break it off." 
 
 " Heigh-ho ! " said Mary, as she adjusted a curl that was 
 most coquettishly half falling across her eyes ; " sure 
 there 's many a slip betune the cup and the lip, as the poor 
 dear young gentleman will find out when he wakes." 
 
 A cold fear ran through me as I heard these words, and 
 the presentiment of some mishap that for a few moments I 
 had been forgetting now came back in double force. I set 
 about dressing myself in all haste, and, notwithstanding 
 that my wounded arm interfered with me at each instant, 
 
96 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 succeeded at last in my undertaking. I looked at my 
 watch ; it was already six o'clock in the afternoon, and the 
 large mountains were throwing their great shadows over 
 the yellow strand. Collecting from what I had heard from 
 the priest's servants that it was their intention to detain me 
 in the house, I locked my door on leaving the room, and 
 stole noiselessly down the stairs, crossed the little garden, 
 and passing through the beech-hedge, soon found myself 
 upon the mouutain path. My pace quickened as I breasted 
 the hill-side, my eyes firmly fixed upon the tall towers of 
 the old castle, as they stood proudly topping the dense 
 foliage of the oak-trees. Like some mariner who gazes on 
 the long-wished-for beacon that tells of home and friends, 
 so I bent my steadfast looks to that one object, and con- 
 jured up many a picture to myself of the scene that might 
 be at that moment enacting there. Now I imagined the old 
 man seated, silent and motionless, beside the bed where his 
 daughter, overcome with weakness and exhaustion, still 
 slept, her pale face scarce colored by a pinkish stain that 
 marked the last trace of feverish excitement ; now I thought 
 of her as if still seated in her own drawing-room, at the 
 little window that looked seaward, looking perhaps upon 
 the very spot that marked our last night's adventure, and, 
 mayhap, blushing at the memory. 
 
 As I came near the park I turned from the regular ap- 
 proach to a small path, which, opening by a wicket, led to 
 a little flower-garden beside the drawing-room. I had not 
 walked many paces when the sound of some one as if sob- 
 bing caught my ear. I stopped to listen, and could dis- 
 tinctly hear the low broken voice of grief quite near me. 
 My mind was in that excited state when every breeze that 
 rustled, every leaf that stirred, thrilled through my heart; 
 the same dread of something, I knew not what, that agi- 
 tated me as I awoke came fresh upon me, and a cold tremor 
 crept over me. The next moment I sprang forward, and as 
 I turned the angle of the walk beheld — with what relief of 
 heart ! — that the cries proceeded from a little child, who, 
 seated in the grass, was weeping bitterly. It was a boy of 
 
AN UNLOOKED-FOR MEETING. 97 
 
 scarce five years old that Louisa used to employ about 
 the garden, — rather to amuse the little fellow, to whom 
 she had taken a liking, than for the sake of services which 
 at the best were scarcely harmless. 
 
 " Well, Billy," said I, " what has happened to you, my 
 boy ? Have you fallen and hurt yourself ? " 
 
 " Na," was the only reply ; and sinking his head between 
 his knees, he sobbed more bitterly than ever. 
 
 " Has Miss Loo been angry with you, then ? " 
 
 " Xa, na," was the only answer, as he poured forth a 
 flood of tears. 
 
 " Come, come, my little man, what is it ? Tell me, and 
 perhaps we can set it all to rights." 
 
 " Gone ! gone away forever ! " cried the child, as a burst 
 of pent-up agony broke from him ; and he cried as though 
 his very heart would break. 
 
 Again the terrible foreboding crossed my mind, and with- 
 out waiting to ask another question I rushed forward, 
 cleared the little fence of the flower-garden at a spring, and 
 stood within a few yards of the window. It lay open as 
 usual ; the large china vase of moss-roses that she had 
 plucked the evening before stood on the little table beside 
 it. I stopped for an instant to breathe ; the beating of my 
 heart was so painful that I pressed my hand upon my side. 
 At that instant I had given my life to have heard Louisa's 
 voice ; but for one single word I had bartered my heart's 
 blood. But all was as hushed and still as midnight. I 
 thought I did hear something like a sigh ; yes, and now I 
 could distinctly hear the rustling sound of some one as if 
 turning in a chair. Sir Simon Bellew, for some cause or 
 other, I knew never came into that room. I listened again: 
 yes, and now too I could see the shadow of a figure on the 
 floor. I sprang forward to the window and cried out, 
 " Louisa ! " The next instant I was in the room, and my 
 eyes fell upon the figure of — Ulick Burke ! Seated in 
 a deep armchair, his leg resting on a low stool, he was 
 reclining at half-length, his face pale as death, and his 
 very lips blanched ; but there rested on the mouth the 
 
 VOL. II. — 7 
 
98 
 
 JACK HLNTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 same curl of insolent mockery that marked it when first 
 we met. 
 
 " Disappointed, I fear, sir," said he, in a tone which, 
 however weakened by sickness, had lost nothing of its 
 sneering bitterness. 
 
 " I confess, sir," said I, confusedly, " that this is a 
 pleasure I had not anticipated." 
 
 " Nor I either, sir," replied he with a dark frown. " Had 
 I been able to ring the bell before, the letter that lies there 
 should have been sent to you, and might have spared both 
 of us this ' pleasure,' as you are good enough to call it." 
 
 " A letter for me ? " said I, eagerly ; then half ashamed 
 at my own emotion, and not indifferent to the sickly and 
 apparently dying form before me, I hesitated, and added, 
 " I trust that you are recovering from the effects of your 
 wound ? " 
 
AN UNLOOKED-FOR MEETING. 99 
 
 "Damn the wound, sir; don't speak to me about it! 
 You never came here for that, I suppose ? Take your 
 letter, sir!" A purple flush here colored his features, as 
 though some pang of agonizing pain had shot through him, 
 and his livid lip quivered with passion. " Take your letter, 
 sir ! " and he threw it towards me as he spoke. 
 
 I stood amazed and thunderstruck at this sudden out- 
 break of anger, and for a second or two could not recover 
 myself to speak. " You mistake me," said I. 
 
 " Mistake you ? No, confound me ! I don't mistake you; 
 I know you well and thoroughly ! But you mistake me, ay, 
 and damnably too, if you suppose that because I 'm crippled 
 here this insolence shall pass unpunished! Who but a 
 coward, sir, would come thus to taunt a man like me ? 
 Yes, sir, a coward ! I spoke it — I said it ! Would you 
 like to hear it over again ? Or if you don't like it, the 
 remedy is n°ar you, — nearer than you think. There are 
 two pistols in that case, both loaded with ball ; take your 
 choice, and your own distance ; and here, where we are, let 
 us finish this quarrel ! For, mark me ! " and here his brow 
 darkened, till the veins, swelled and knotted in his fore- 
 head, looked like indigo, — "mark me, the account shall be 
 closed one day or other ! " 
 
 I saw at once that he had lashed his fury up to an un- 
 governable pitch, and that to speak to him was only to in- 
 crease his passion; so I stooped down without saying a 
 word, and took up the letter that lay at my feet. 
 
 " I am waiting your reply, sir," said he, with a low voice, 
 subdued by an inward effort into a seeming quietness of 
 tone. 
 
 "You cannot imagine," said T, mildly, "that I could ac- 
 cept of such a challenge as this, nor fight with a man who 
 cannot leave his chair?" 
 
 " And who has made me so, sir ? Who has made me a 
 paralytic thing for life ? But if that be all, give me your 
 arm, and help me through that window ; place me against 
 that yew-tree, yonder. I can stand well enough. You 
 won't ? — you refuse me this ? Oh, coward ! coward ! You 
 
100 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 grow pale and red again ! Let your white lip mutter, and 
 your nails eat into your hands with passion ! Your heart 
 is craven and you know it ! " 
 
 Shall I dare to own it ? For an instant or two my reso- 
 lution tottered, and involuntarily my eyes turned to the 
 pistol-case upon the table beside me. He caught the look, 
 and in a tone of triumphant exultation cried out, — 
 
 "Bravo, bravo! What! you hesitate again? Oh, that 
 this should not be before the world, — in some open and 
 public place, — that men should not look on and see us 
 here ! " 
 
 " I leave you, sir," said I, sternly, — " thankful, for your 
 sake at least, that this is not before the world." 
 
 "Stop, sir! stop!" cried he, hoarse with rage. "Ring 
 that bell!" I hesitated, and he called out again, " Eing 
 that bell, sir ! " 
 
 I approached the chimney, and did as he desired. The 
 butler immediately made his appearance. 
 
 " Nicholas," cried the sick man, " bring in the servants. — 
 bring them in here : you hear me well. I want to show 
 them something they have never seen. Go ! " 
 
 The man disappeared at once, and as I met the scowling 
 look of hate that fixed its glare upon me, once more I felt 
 myself to waver. The struggle was but momentary. I 
 sprang to the window, and leaped into the garden. A loud 
 curse broke from Burke as I did so ; a cry of disappointed 
 wrath, like the yell of a famished wolf, followed. The 
 next moment I was beyond the reach of his insolence and 
 his invective. 
 
 The passionate excitement of the moment over, my first 
 determination was to gain the approach, and return to the 
 house by the hall-door ; my next, to break the seal of the 
 letter which I held in my hand, and see if its contents 
 might not throw some light upon the events which some- 
 how I felt were thickening around me, but of whose nature 
 and import I knew nothing. 
 
 The address was written in a stiff, old-fashioned hand ; 
 but the large seal bore the arms of the Bellew family, and 
 
AN UNLOOKED-FOR MEETING. 101 
 
 left no doubt upon my mind that it had come from Sir 
 Simon. I opened it with a trembling and throbbing heart, 
 and read as follows : — 
 
 My dear Sir, — The event of last night has called back upon a 
 failing and broken memory the darkest hour of a long and blighted 
 life, and made the old man, whose steadfast gaze looked onward to 
 the tomb, turn once backward to behold the deepest affliction of his 
 days, — misfortune, crime, remorse. I cannot even now, while al- 
 ready the very shadow of death is on me, recount the sad story I 
 allude to ; enough for the object I have in view if I say, that, where 
 I once owed the life of one I held dearest in the world, the hand that 
 saved lived to steal, and the voice that blessed me was perjured and 
 forsworn. Since that hour I have never received a service of a fellow- 
 mortal, until the hour when you rescued my child. And oh! loving 
 her as 1 do, wrapt up as my soul is in her image, I could have borne 
 better to see her cold and dripping corse laid down beside me than to 
 behold her, as I have done, in your arms. You must never meet 
 more. The dreadful anticipation of long-suffering years is creeping 
 stronger and stronger upon me ; and I feel in my inmost heart that 
 I am reserved for another and a last bereavement ere I die. 
 
 We shall have left before this letter reaches you. You may per- 
 haps hear the place of our refuge, for such it is ; but I trust that to 
 your feelings as a gentleman and a man of honor I can appeal, in the 
 certain confidence that you will not abuse my faith, — you will not 
 follow us. 
 
 I know not what I have written, nor dare I read it again. Already 
 my tears have dimmed my eyes, and are falling on the paper; so let 
 me bid you farewell, — an eternal farewell. My nephew has arrived 
 here. I have not seen him, nor shall I ; but he will forward this 
 letter to you after our departure. 
 
 Yours, S. Bellew. 
 
 The first stunning feeling past, I looked round me to see 
 if it were not some horrid dream, and the whole events but 
 the frightful deception of a sleeping fancy. But bit by bit 
 the entire truth broke upon me ; the full tide of sorrow 
 rushed in upon my heart. The letter I could not compre- 
 hend further than that some deep affliction had been re- 
 called by my late adventure. But then, the words of the 
 hag — the brief, half-uttered intimations of the priest — 
 
102 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 came to my memory. " Her mother," said I, — " what of 
 her mother ? " I remembered Louisa had never mentioned 
 or even alluded to her ; and now a thousand suspicions 
 crossed my mind, which all gave way before my own sense 
 of bereavement and the desolation and desertion I felt in 
 my own heart. I threw myself upon the ground where she 
 walked so often beside me, and burst into tears. But a few 
 brief hours, and how surrounded by visions of happiness 
 and love ! Now, bereft of everything, what charm had life 
 for me ! How valueless, how worthless did all seem ! The 
 evening sun I loved to gaze on, the bright flowers, the wav- 
 ing grass, the low murmur of the breaking surf that stole 
 like music over the happy sense, were now but gloomy things 
 or discordant sounds. The very high and holy thoughts 
 that used to stir within me were changed to fierce and wrath- 
 ful passions or the low drooping of despair. It was night, 
 still and starry night, when I arose and wended my way 
 towards the priest's cottage. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE PRIEST'S KITCHEN. 
 
 The candles were burning brightly, and the cheerful 
 bog-fire was blazing on the hearth, as I drew near the 
 window of the priest's cottage ; but yet there was no 
 one in the room. The little tea-kettle was hissing on the 
 hob, and the room had all that careful look of watchful 
 attention bestowed upon it that showed the zeal of his 
 little household. 
 
 Uncertain how I should meet him, how far explain the 
 affliction that had fallen on me, I walked for some time up 
 and down before the door; at length I wandered to the 
 back of the house, and passing the little stable I remarked 
 that the pony was absent. The priest had not returned 
 perhaps since morning ; perhaps he had gone some distance 
 off, — in all likelihood accompanied the Bellews ; again 
 the few words he had spoken that morning recurred to 
 me, and I pondered in silence over their meaning. As I 
 thus mused, a strong flood of mellow light attracted me 
 as it fell in a broad stream across the little paved court, 
 and I now saw that it came from the kitchen. I drew 
 near the window in silence, and looked in. Before the 
 large turf fire were seated three persons ; two of them, 
 who sat in the shining light, I at once recognized as the 
 servants; but the third was concealed in the shadow of 
 the chimney, and I could only trace the outline of his 
 figure against the blaze. I was not long, however, in doubt 
 as to his identity. 
 
 " Seemingly then you 're a great traveller," said Patsey, 
 the priest's man, addressing the unknown. 
 
104 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 A long whiff of smoke, patiently emitted, and a polite 
 wave of the hand in assent was the reply. 
 
 "And how far did you come to-day, av I might be so 
 bould ? " said Mary. 
 
 "From the cross of Kiltermon, beyond Gurtmore, my 
 darlin' ; and sure it is a real pleasure and a delight to 
 come so far to see as pretty a crayture as yourself." Here 
 Patsey looked a little put out, and Mary gave a half smile 
 of encouragement. "For," continued the other, breaking 
 into a song, — 
 
 " Though I love a fox in a cover to find, 
 When the clouds is low, with a sou'west wind, 
 Faix, a pretty girl is more to my mind 
 Than the tally-high ho of a morning." 
 
 I need scarcely say that the finale of this rude verse was 
 given in a way that only Tipperary Joe could accomplish, 
 as he continued, — 
 
 " And just show me one with an instep high, 
 A saucy look, and a roguish eye, 
 Who 'd smile ten times for once she 'd sigh, 
 And I'm her slave till morning." 
 
 " And that 's yoursel', devil a less, — ye ho, ye ho, tally- 
 ho ! I hope the family is n't in bed ? " 
 
 "Troth, seemingly," said Patsey, in a tone of evident 
 pique, "it would distress you little av they were; you seem 
 mighty well accustomed to making j^ourself at home." 
 
 " And why would n't the young man ? " said Mary, appar- 
 ently well pleased to encourage a little jealousy on the part 
 of her lover, " and no harm neither. And ye do be always 
 with the hounds, sir ? " 
 
 "Yes, miss, that 's what I be doing. But I wonder what 's 
 keeping the captain ; I'vea letter here for him that I know 
 ought to have no delay. I run all the way for fourteen 
 miles over Mey'nacurraghew mountain to be here quick 
 with it." 
 
 I opened the door as I heard this, and entered the kitchen. 
 
 "Hurroo! by the mortial," cried Joe, with one of his 
 
THE PRIEST'S KITCHEN. 105 
 
 wild shouts, " it 's himself ! Arrah, darlin', how is every 
 bit in your skiu ? " 
 
 "Well, Joe, my poor fellow, I am delighted to see you 
 safe and spund once more. Many a day have I reproached 
 myself for the way you suffered for my sake, and for the 
 manner I left you." 
 
 "There's ouly one thing you have any ray son to grieve 
 over," said the poor fellow, as the tears started to his eyes, 
 and rolled in heavy drops down his cheeks, "and here it is." 
 
 As he spoke, he drew from his bosom a little green-silk 
 purse, half filled with gold. 
 
 " Ah, Captain, jewel, why wouldn't you let a poor fellow 
 teste happiness his own way? Is it because I had no 
 shoes on me that I had n't any pride in my heart ? And is 
 it because I was n't rich that you would n't let me be a 
 friend to you, just to myself alone ? Oh, little as we know 
 of grand people and their ways, troth, they don't see our 
 hearts half as plain. See, now, I 'd rather you 'd have 
 come up to the bed that morning and left me your curse — 
 ay, devil a less — than that purse of money ; and it would n't 
 do me as much harm." 
 
 He dropped his head as he spoke, and his arms fell list- 
 lessly to his side, while he stood mute and sorrow-struck 
 before me. 
 
 " Come, Joe," said I, holding out my hand to him, — 
 "come Joe, forgive me. If I didn't know better, remem- 
 ber we were only new acquaintance at that time : from this 
 hour we are more." 
 
 The words seemed to act like a spell upon him ; he stood 
 proudly up, and his eyes flashed with their wildest glare, 
 while, seizing my hand, he pressed it to his lips, and called 
 out, — 
 
 " While there 's a drop in my heart, darlin' — " 
 
 "You have a letter for mc," said I, glad to turn the 
 channel of both our thoughts. " Where did you get it ? " 
 
 " At the Curragh, sir, no less. I was standing beside the 
 staff, among all the grand generals and the quality, near 
 the lord liftinint, and I heard one of the officers say, ' If I 
 
106 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 knew where to write to him, I 'd certainly do so ; but he 
 has never written to any of us since his duel.' ' Ah,' said 
 another, ' Hinton 's an odd fellow that way.' The minit I 
 heard the name,. I up and said to him, 'Write the letter, 
 and I '11 bring it, and bring you an answer besides, av ye 
 want it.' " 
 
 " < And who the devil are you ? ' said he. 
 
 " ' Troth,' said I, ' there 's more on this race knows me 
 nor yourself, fine as ye are.' And they all began laughing 
 at this, for the officer grew mighty red in the face, and was 
 angry ; and what he was going to say it 's hard to tell, for 
 just then Lord Clonmel called out, — 
 
 " ' Sure, it 's Tipperary Joe himself ; begad, every one 
 knows him. Here, Joe, I owe you half-a-crown since last 
 meeting at the lough.' 
 
 " ' Faix, you do,' says I, ' and ten shillings to the back of 
 it for Lanty Cassan's mare that I hired to bring you home 
 when you staked the horse ; you never paid it since.' 
 And then there was another laugh ; but the end of all was, 
 he writ a bit of a note where he was on horseback, with a 
 pencil, and here it is." 
 
 So saying, he produced a small crumpled piece of paper, 
 in which I could with some difficulty trace the following 
 lines : — 
 
 Dear Jack, — If the fool who bears this ever arrives with it, 
 come back at once. Your friends in England have been worrying 
 the duke to command your return to duty ; and there are stories 
 afloat about your western doings that your presence here can alone 
 contradict. 
 
 Yours, J. Horton. 
 
 It needed not a second for me to make up mjr mind as to 
 my future course, and I said, — 
 
 " How can I reach Limerbk the shortest way ? " 
 
 " I know a short cut," said Joe, " and if we could get a 
 pony I 'd bring you over the mountain before to-morrow 
 evening." 
 
 "And you," said I, — " how are you to go ? " 
 
THE PRIEST'S KITCHEN. 107 
 
 " On my feet, to be sure ; how else would I go ? " 
 
 Despatching Joe, in company with Patsey, in search of 
 a pony to carry me over the mountain, I walked into the 
 little parlor which I was now about to take my leave of 
 forever. 
 
 It was only then when I threw myself upon a seat, alone 
 and in solitude, that I felt the full force of all my sorrow, 
 — the blight that had fallen on my dearest hopes, and the 
 blank, bleak prospect of life before me. Sir Simon Belle w's 
 letter I read over once more ; but now the mystery it con- 
 tained had lost all interest for me, and I had only thoughts 
 for my own affliction. Suddenly, a deep burning spot 
 glowed on my cheek as I remembered my interview with 
 Ulick Burke, and I sprang to my legs, and for a second or 
 two felt undecided whether I would not give him the 
 opportunity he so longed for. It was but a second, and my 
 better reason came back, and I blushed even deeper with 
 shame than I had done with passion. 
 
 Calming myself with a mighty effort, I endeavored to 
 pen a few lines to my worthy and kind friend, Father 
 Loftus. I dared not tell him the real cause of my de- 
 parture, though indeed I guessed from his absence that he 
 had accompanied the Bellews, and but simply spoke of my 
 return to duty as imperative, and my regret that after such 
 proofs of his friendship I could not shake his hand at part- 
 ing. The continued flurry of my feelings doubtless made 
 this a very confused and inexplicit document; but I could 
 do no better. In fact, the conviction I had long been labor- 
 ing under, but never could thoroughly appreciate, broke on 
 me at the moment. It was this : the sudden vicissitudes 
 of every-day life in Ireland are sadly unsuited to our Eng- 
 lish natures and habits of thought and action. These 
 changes from grave to gay, these outbreaks of high-souled 
 enthusiasm followed by dark reflective traits of brooding 
 thought, these noble impulses of good, these events of more 
 than tragic horror, demand a changeful, even a forgetful 
 temperament to bear them ; and while the Irishman rises 
 or falls with every emergency of his fate, with us impres- 
 
108 
 
 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 sions are eating deeper and deeper into our hearts, and we 
 become sad and thoughtful, and prematurely old. Thus at 
 least did I feel, and it seemed to me as though very many 
 years had passed over me since I left my father's house. 
 
 The tramp of feet and the sounds of speaking and laugh- 
 ter outside interrupted my musings, and I heard my friend 
 Joe carolling at the top of his voice, — 
 
 " Sir Pat bestrode a high-bred steed, 
 And the huntsman one that was broken-kneed, 
 And Father Fitz had a wiry weed 
 
 With his tally-high-ho in the morning." 
 
 " Faith, and you "re a great beast entirely ; and one might 
 dance a jig on your back, and leave room for the piper 
 besides." 
 
 I opened the window, and in the bright moonlight beheld 
 the party leading up a short, rugged-looking pony, whose 
 Dreadth of beam and square proportions fully justified all 
 Joe's encomiums. 
 
 " Have you bought this pony for me, Joe ? " cried I. 
 
 "jSTo, sir, only borrowed him. He'll take you up to 
 Wheley's mills, where we'll get Andy's mare to-morrow- 
 morning." 
 
 " Borrowed him ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Where 's his owner ? " 
 
 " He 's in bed, where he ought to be. I tould him 
 through the door who it was for, and that he need n't get 
 up, as I 'd find the ways of the place myself ; and ye see so 
 I did." 
 
 " Told him who it was for ! Why, he never heard of me 
 in his life." 
 
 "Devil may care; sure you're the priest's friend, and 
 who has a better warrant for everything in the place ? 
 Don't you know the song, — 
 
 " ' And Father Fitz had no cows nor sheep, 
 And the devil a hen or pig to keep ; 
 But a pleasanter house to dine or sleep 
 You 'd never find till morning. 
 
THE PRIEST'S KITCHEN. 109 
 
 "'For Molly, says he, if the fowls be few, 
 I 've only one counsel to give to you : 
 There's hens hard by — go kill for two, 
 For I 've a friend till morning.' 
 
 By the rock of Cashel, it 'ud be a hard case av the priest 
 was to want. Look how the ould saddle fits him ! faix, 
 ye 'd think he was made for it ! " 
 
 I am not quite sure that I felt all Joe's enthusiasm for 
 the beast 's perfections ; nor did the old yeomanry " demi- 
 pique," with its brass mountings and holsters, increase my 
 admiration. Too happy, however, to leave a spot where all 
 my recollections were now turned to gloom and despon- 
 dence, I packed my few traps, and was soon ready for the 
 road. 
 
 It was not without a gulping feeling in my throat, and a 
 kind of suffocating oppression at my heart, that I turned 
 from the little room where in happier times I had spent so 
 many pleasant hours, and bidding a last good-by to the 
 priest's household, told them to say to Father Tom how sad 
 I felt at leaving before he returned. This done, I mounted 
 the little pony, and escorted by Joe, who held the bridle, 
 descended the hill, and soon found myself by the little 
 rivulet that murmured along the steep glen through which 
 our path was lying. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 TIPPERARY JOE. 
 
 I have already passingly alluded to Joe's conversational 
 powers ; and certainly they were exercised on this occasion 
 with a more than common ability. Either taking my 
 silence as a suggestion for him to speak, or perhaps, and 
 more probably, perceiving that some deep depression was 
 over me, the kind-hearted fellow poured forth his stores of 
 song and legend without ceasing. Now amusing me by his 
 wild and fitful snatches of old ballads, now narrating in his 
 simple but touching eloquence some bygone story of thrill- 
 ing interest, the long hours of the night passed over, and at 
 daybreak we found ourselves descending the mountain to- 
 wards a large and cultivated valley, in which I could faintly 
 distinguish in the misty distance the little mill where our 
 relay was to be found. 
 
 I stopped for a few minutes to gaze upon the scene 
 before me. It was one of those peaceful landscapes of 
 rural beauty which beam more of soothing influence upon 
 the sorrow-struck heart than the softest voice of consola- 
 tion. Unlike the works of man, they speak directly to our 
 souls while they appeal to our reason ; and the truth comes 
 forced upon us, that we alone must not repine. A broad 
 and richly cultivated valley was bounded by mountains 
 whose sides were clothed with deep wood ; a stream, whose 
 wayward course watered every portion of the plain, was 
 seen now flowing among the grassy meadows, now peeping 
 from the alders that lined the banks. The heavy mist of 
 morning was rolling lazily up the mountain-side ; and be- 
 neath its gray mantle the rich green of pasture and meadow 
 land was breaking forth, dotted with cattle and sheep. As 
 
TIPrERARY JOE. Ill 
 
 I looked, Joe knelt down and placed his ear upon the 
 ground, and seemed for some minutes absorbed in listening. 
 Then suddenly springing up, he cried out, — 
 
 " The mill is n't going to-day ! I wonder what 's the 
 matter. 1 hope Andy isn't sick." 
 
 A shade of sorrow came over his wild features as he mut- 
 tered between his teeth the verse of some old song, of which 
 I could but catch the last two lines, — 
 
 " And when friends are crying around the dying, 
 Who would n't wish he had lived alone ! " 
 
 "Ay," cried he aloud, as his eye glistened with an un- 
 natural lustre, " better be poor Tipperary Joe, without 
 house or home, father or mother, sister or friend, and 
 when the time comes, run to earth, without a wet eye 
 after him." 
 
 " Come, come, Joe, you have many a friend ! and when 
 you count them over, don't forget me in the reckoning." 
 
 " Whisht, whisht ! " he whispered in a low voice, as if 
 fearful of being overheard, " don't say that ; them 's dan- 
 gerous words." 
 
 I turned towards him with astonishment, and perceived 
 that his whole countenance had undergone a striking change. 
 The gay and laughing look was gone ; the bright color had 
 left his cheek, and a cold, ghastly paleness was spread over 
 his features ; and as he cast a hurried and stealthy look 
 around him, I could mark that some secret fear was work- 
 ing within him. 
 
 " What is it, Joe ? " said I ; " what 's the matter ? Are 
 you ill ? " 
 
 "No," said he, in a tone scarce audible, — "no, but you 
 frightened me just now when you called me your friend." 
 
 " How could that frighten you, my poor fellow ? " 
 
 " I '11 tell you. That 's what they called my father ; they 
 said he was friendly with the gentlemen, and sign 's on it." 
 He paused, and his eye became rooted to the ground as if 
 on some object there from which he could not turn his gaze. 
 " Yes, I mind it well ; we were sitting by the fire in the 
 
112 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 guard-room all alone by ourselves, — the troops was away, 
 I don't know where, — when we heard the tramp of men 
 marching, but not regular, but coming as if they did n't 
 care how, and horses and carts rattling and rumbling 
 among them. 
 
 "'Thim 's the boys,' says my father. 'Give me that ould 
 cockade there, till I stick it in my cap ; and reach me over 
 the fiddle, till I rise a tune for them.' 
 
 " I mind little more till we was marching at the head of 
 them through the town, down towards the new college that 
 was building, — it 's Maynooth, I 'm speaking about, — and 
 then we turned to the left, my father scraping away all the 
 time every tune he thought they 'd like ; and if now and 
 then by mistake he'd play anything that did not plaze 
 them, they'd damn and blast him with the dreadfullest 
 curses, and stick a pike into him, till the blood would 
 come running down his back; and then my father would 
 cry out, — 
 
 " ' I '11 tell my friends on you for this, — divil a lie in it, 
 but I will.' 
 
 " At last we came to the duke's wall, and then my father 
 sat down on the roadside, and cried out that he would n't go 
 a step farther, for I was crying away with sore feet at the 
 pace we were going, and asking every minute to be let sit 
 down to rest myself. 
 
 " ' Look at the child,' said he, ' his feet 's all bleeding.' 
 
 " < Ye have only a little farther to go,' says one of them 
 that had crossed belts on and a green sash about him. 
 
 " ' The divil resave another step,' says my father. 
 
 " < Tell Billy to play us " The Farmer's Daughter " before 
 he goes,' says one in the crowd. 
 
 " ' I 'd rather hear " The Little Bowld Fox," ' says 
 another. 
 
 " ' No, no, " Baltiorum ! Baltiorum ! " ' says many more 
 behind. 
 
 " ' Ye shall have them all,' says my father, ' and that '11 
 plaze ye.' 
 
 " And so he set to, and played the three tunes as beauti- 
 
TIPPERARY JOE. 113 
 
 ful as ever ye heard ; and when he was done, the man with 
 the belts ups and says to him, — 
 
 '" Ye 're a fine hand, Billy, and it 's a pity to lose you, and 
 your friends will be sorry for you,' and he said this with a 
 grin ; ' but take the spade there and dig a hole, for we must 
 be jogging, it 's nigh day.' 
 
 " Well, my father, though he was tired enough, took the 
 spade, and began digging as they told him ; for he thought 
 to himself, ' The boys is going to hide the pikes and the 
 carbines before they go home.' Well, when he worked half 
 an hour, he threw off his coat, and set to again ; and at last 
 he grew tired and sat down on the side of the big hole, and 
 called out, — 
 
 " ' Is n't it big enough now, boys ? ' 
 
 " ' No,' says the captain, ' nor half.' 
 
 " So my father set to once more, and worked away with 
 all his might ; and they all stood by, talking and laughing 
 with one another. 
 
 " ' Will it do now ? ' says my father ; < for sure enough 
 I 'm clean beat.' 
 
 " ' Maybe it might,' says one of them ; ' lie down, and 
 see if it 's the length.' 
 
 " ' Well, is it that it 's for ? ' says my father ; ' faix, I 
 never guessed it was a grave.' And so he took off his cap 
 and lay down his full length in the hole. 
 
 " ' That 's all right,' says the others, and began with 
 spades and shovels to cover him up. At first he laughed 
 away as hearty as the rest ; but when the mould grew 
 heavy on him he began to screech out to let him up ; and 
 then his voice grew weaker and fainter, and they waited a 
 little ; then they worked harder, and then came a groan, and 
 all was still ; and they patted the sods over him and heaped 
 them up. And then they took me and put me in the 
 middle of them, and one called out, ' March ! ' I thought I 
 saw the green sod moving on the top of the grave as we 
 walked away, and heard a voice half choking calling out, 
 ' There, boys, there ! ' and then a laugh. But sure I often 
 
 VOL. II. —8 
 
114 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 hear the sara^ still, when there 's nobody near me, and I do 
 be looking on the ground by myself." 
 
 " Great God ! " cried I, " is this true ? " 
 
 " True as you 're there," replied he. " I was ten years 
 of age when it happened, and I never knew how time went 
 since, nor how long it is ago ; only it was in the year of the 
 great troubles here, when the soldiers and the country 
 people never could be cruel enough to one another; and 
 whatever one did to-day, the others would try to beat it out 
 to-morrow. But it 's truth every word of it ; and the place 
 is called ' Billy the fool's grave ' to this hour. I go there 
 once a year to see it myself." 
 
 This frightful story — told, too, with all the simple power 
 of truth — thrilled through me with horror long after the 
 impression seemed to have faded away from him who told 
 it ; and though he still continued to speak on, I heard noth- 
 ing ; nor did I mark our progress, until I found myself 
 beside the little stream which conducted to the mill. 
 
CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 THE HIGH-ROAD. 
 
 Joe was right ; the mill was not at work, for " Andy " 
 had been summoned to Ennis, where the assizes were then 
 going forward. The mare which had formed part of our 
 calculations was also absent; and we sat down in the little 
 porch to hold a council of war as to our future proceedings. 
 After canvassing the question for some time, Joe left me 
 for a few minutes, and returned with the information that 
 the high-road to Ennis lay only a couple of miles distant, 
 and that a stage-coach would pass there in about two hours, 
 by which I could reach the town that evening. It was 
 therefore decided that he should return with the pony to 
 Murranakilty ; while I, having procured a gossoon to carry 
 my baggage, made the best of my way towards the Ennis 
 road. 
 
 Joe soon found me an urchin to succeed him as my 
 guide and companion ; and with an affectionate leave- 
 taking, and a faithful promise to meet me sometime and 
 somewhere, we parted. 
 
 So long as I had journeyed along beside my poor, half- 
 witted follower, the strange and fickle features of his wan- 
 dering intellect had somehow interrupted the channels of 
 my own feelings, and left me no room for reflection on my 
 changed fortunes. Now, however, my thoughts returned to 
 the past with all the force of some dammed-up current, and 
 my blighted hopes threw a dark and sombre shadow over 
 all my features. What cared I what became of me ? Why 
 did I hasten hither and thither ? These were my first re- 
 flections. If life had lost its charm, so had misfortune its 
 terror for me. There seemed something frivolous and con- 
 
116 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 temptible in the return to those duties which in all the 
 bouyant exhilaration of my former life had ever seemed 
 unfitting and unmanly. No ! rather let me seek for some 
 employment on active service. The soldier's career I once 
 longed for, to taste its glorious enthusiasm, — that I wished 
 for now, to enjo} r its ceaseless movement and exertion. 
 
 As I thought over all I had seen and gone through since 
 my arrival in Ireland, — its varied scenes of mirth and 
 woe ; its reckless pleasures, its wilder despair, — I believed 
 that I had acquired a far deeper insight into my own heart 
 in proportion as I looked more into those of others. A not 
 unfrequent error this. The outstretched page of human 
 nature that I had been gazing on had shown me the pas- 
 sions and feelings of other men laid bare before me, while 
 my own heart lay dark, enshrined, and unvisited within 
 me. I believed that life had no longer anything to tie me 
 to it, — and I was not then twenty ! Had I counted double 
 as many years, I had had more reason for the belief, and 
 more difficulty to think so. 
 
 Sometimes I endeavored to console myself by thinking 
 of all the obstacles that under the happiest circumstances 
 must have opposed themselves to my union with Louisa 
 Belle w. My mother's pride alone seemed an insurmount- 
 able one. But then I thought of what a noble part had 
 lain before me, to prefer the object of my love — the prize 
 of my own winning — to all the caresses of fortune, all the 
 seductions of the world. Sir Simon Bellew, too, — what 
 could he mean ? The secret he alluded to, what was it ? 
 Alas ! what mattered it ? My doom was sealed, my fate 
 decided ; I had no care for how ! 
 
 Such were my thoughts as I journeyed along the path 
 that conducted towards the high-road; while my little 
 guide, bare-legged and bare-footed, trotted on merrily be- 
 fore me, who with none of this world's goods had no room 
 in his heart for sorrow or repining. 
 
 We at last reached the road, which, dusty and deserted, 
 skirted the side of a bleak mountain for miles, — not a 
 house to be seen ; not a traveller, nor scarce a wheel-track, 
 
THE HIGH-ROAD. 117 
 
 to mark the course of any one having passed there. I had 
 not followed it for more than half an hour when I heard 
 the tramp of horses and the roll which announced the 
 approach of an equipage. A vast cloud of dust, through 
 which a pair of leaders were alone visible, appeared at a 
 distance. I seated myself at the roadside to await its com- 
 ing, my little gossoon beside me, evidently not sorry to 
 have reached a resting-place ; and once more my thoughts 
 returned to their well-worn channel, and my head sank on 
 my bosom. I forgot where I was, when suddenly the 
 prancing of a pair of horses close to me aroused me from 
 my stupor, and a postilion called out to me in no very 
 subdued accent, — 
 
 " Will ye hook on that trace there, avick, av ye 're not 
 asleep ? " 
 
 Whether it was my look of astonishment at the tone and 
 the nature of the request, or delay in acceding to it, I know 
 not; but a hearty curse from the fellow on the wheelers 
 perfectly awakened me, and I replied by something not ex- 
 actly calculated to appease the heat of the discussion. 
 
 " Be gorra," said he of the leaders, " it 's always the way 
 with your shabby genteels ! " and he swung himself down 
 from the saddle to perform the required service himself. 
 
 During this operation I took the opportunity of looking 
 at the carriage, which was a large and handsome barouche, 
 surrounded by all the appurtenances of travel, — cap-cases, 
 imperials, etc. ; a fat-looking, lazy footman was nodding 
 sleepily on the box, and a well-tanned lady's maid was 
 reading a novel in the rumble. Within I saw the figure of 
 a lady, whose magnificent style of dress but little accorded 
 with the unfrequented road she was traversing and the wild 
 inhabitants so thinly scattered through it. As I looked, 
 she turned round suddenly ; and, before I could recognize 
 her, she called out my name. The voice in an instant re- 
 assured me : it was Mrs. Paul Rooney herself ! 
 
 " Stop ! " cried she, with a wave of her jewelled hand. 
 "Michael, get down. Only think of meeting you here, 
 Captain ! " 
 
118 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 I stammered out some explanation about a cross-cut over 
 the mountain to catch the stage, and my desire to reach 
 Ennis ; while the unhappy termination of our intimacy, and 
 my mother's impertinent letter kept ever uppermost in my 
 mind, and made me confused and uneasy. Mrs. Paul, how- 
 ever, had evidently no participation in such feelings, but 
 welcomed me with her wonted cordiality, and shook my 
 hand with a warmth that proved, if she had not forgotten, 
 she had certainly forgiven, the whole affair. 
 
 " And so you are going to Ennis ! " said she, as I assumed 
 the place beside her in the barouche, while Michael was 
 busily engaged in fastening on my luggage behind, — the 
 which two movements seeming to be as naturally performed 
 as though the amiable lady had been in the habit of taking 
 up walking gentlemen with a portmanteau every day of her 
 life. " Well, how fortunate ! I 'm going there too. Pole 
 [so she now designated her excellent spouse, it being the 
 English for Paul] has some little business with the chief- 
 justice, — two murder cases, and a forcible abduction, — 
 and I promised to take him up on my return from Miltown, 
 where I have been spending a few weeks. After that we 
 return to our little place near Bray, where I hope you '11 
 come and spend a few weeks with us." 
 
 " This great pleasure I fear I must deny myself," said I, 
 " for I have already outstayed my leave, and have unfortu- 
 nately somehow incurred the displeasure of his Excellency ; 
 and unless," — here I dropped my voice, and stole a half 
 timid look at the lady under my eye-lashes, — " some one 
 with influence over his Grace shall interfere on my behalf, 
 I begin to fear lest I may find myself in a sad scrape." 
 
 Mrs. Paul blushing, turned away her head ; and while 
 pressing my hand softly in her own, she murmured, — 
 
 " Don't fret about it ; it won't signify." 
 
 I could scarce repress a smile at the success of my bit of 
 flattery, for as such alone I intended it, when she turned 
 towards me, and, as if desirous to change the topic, 
 said, — 
 
 "Well, we heard of all your doings, — your steeple-chase 
 
THE IIIGII-ROAD. 119 
 
 and your duel and your wound, and all that; but what 
 became of you afterwards ? " 
 
 " Oh," said I, hesitatingly, " I was fortunate enough to 
 make a mast agreeable acquaintance, and with him I have 
 been spending a few weeks on the coast, — Father Tom 
 Loftus." 
 
 "Father Tom ! " said Mrs. Rooney with a laugh, — " the 
 pleasantest crayture in Ireland ! There is n't the like of 
 him. Did he sing you the ' Priest's Supper ? ' " The lady 
 blushed as she said these words, as if carried away by a 
 momentary excitement to speak of matters not exactly 
 suitable ; and then drawing herself up, she continued in a 
 more measured tone : " You know, Captain, one meets such 
 strange people in this world." 
 
 " To be sure, Mrs. Rooney," said I, encouragingly ; " and 
 to one like yourself, who can appreciate character, Father 
 Loftus is indeed a gem." 
 
 Mrs. Rooney, however, only smiled her assent, and again 
 changed the course of the conversation. 
 
 " You met the Bellews, I suppose, when down in the 
 west ? " 
 
 " Yes," stammered I ; " I saw a good deal of Sir Simon 
 when in that country." 
 
 " Ah, the poor man ! " said she with real feeling, " what 
 an unhappy lot his has been ! " 
 
 Supposing that she alluded to his embarrassment as to 
 fortune, the difficulties which pressed upon him from 
 money causes, I merely muttered my assent. 
 
 "But I suppose," continued she, '-'you h r „ve heard the 
 whole story, though the unhappy event occurred when you 
 were a mere child." 
 
 "I am not aware to what you allude," said I, eagerly, 
 while a suspicion shot across my mind that the secret 
 of Sir Simon Bellew's letter was at length to be cleared 
 up. 
 
 "Ah," said Mrs. Rooney with a sigh, "I mean poor dear 
 Lady Bellew's affair, — when she went away with a major 
 of dragoons ; and to be sure an elegant young man he was, 
 
120 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 they said. Pole was on the inquest, and I heard him say 
 he was the handsomest man he ever saw in his life." 
 
 " He died suddenly, then ? " 
 
 " He was shot by Sir Simon in a duel the very day-week 
 after the elopement." 
 
 " And she ? " said I. 
 
 " Poor thing ! she died of a consumption, or some say a 
 broken heart, the same summer." 
 
 " That is a sad story, indeed," said I, musingly ; " and I 
 no longer wonder that the poor old man should be such 
 as he is." 
 
 " No, indeed ; but then he was very much blamed after 
 all, for he never had that Jerningham out of the house." 
 
 " Horace Jerningham ! " cried I, as a cold sickening fear 
 crept over me. 
 
 "Oh, yes, that was his name. He was the Honorable 
 Horace Jerningham, the younger son of some very high 
 family in England ; and, indeed, the elder brother has died 
 since, and they say the title has become extinct." 
 
 It is needless for me to attempt any description of the 
 feelings that agitated my heart, when I say that Horace 
 Jerningham was the brother of my own mother. I remem- 
 bered when a child to have heard something of a dread- 
 ful duel, when all the family went into deep mourning, 
 and my mother's health suffered so severely that her life 
 was at one time feared for; but that fate should have 
 ever thrown me into intimacy with those upon whom 
 this grievous injury was inflicted, and by whom death 
 and mourning were brought upon my house, was a sad 
 and overwhelming affliction that rendered me stunned and 
 speechless. How came it then, thought I, that my mother 
 never recognized the name of her brother's antagonist when 
 speaking of Miss Bellew in her letter to me? Before I 
 had time to revolve this doubt in my mind Mrs. Rooney 
 had explained it. 
 
 "And this was the beginning of all his misfortunes. The 
 friends of the poor young man were people of great influ- 
 ence, and set every engine to work to ruin Sir Simon, or, 
 
THE HIGH-ROAD. 121 
 
 as he then was, Mr. Simon Barrington. At last they got 
 him outlawed ; and it was only the very year he came to the 
 title and estates of his uncle that the outlawry was taken 
 off, and he was once more enabled to return to Ireland. 
 However, they had their revenge if they wished for it; 
 for what between recklessness and bad company, he took 
 to gambling when abroad, contracted immense debts, and 
 came into his fortune little better than a beggar. Since 
 then the world has seen little of him, and indeed he owes 
 it but little favor. Under Pole's management the property 
 is now rapidly improving ; but the old man cares little for 
 this, and all I believe he wishes for is to have health enough 
 to go over to the Continent and place his daughter in a con- 
 vent before he dies." 
 
 Little did she guess how every word sank deep into my 
 heart. Every sentence of the past was throwing its shadow 
 over all my future, and the utter wreck of my hopes seemed 
 now inevitable. 
 
 While thus I sat brooding over my gloomiest thoughts, 
 Mrs. Rooney, evidently affected by the subject, maintained 
 a perfect silence. At last, however, she seemed to have 
 summed up the whole case in her mind, as turning to me 
 confidentially, with her hand pressed upon my arm, she 
 added in a true moralizing cadence, very different from 
 that she had employed when her feelings were really 
 engaged, — 
 
 " And that 's what always comes of it when a gallant, 
 gay Lutherian gets admission into a family." 
 
 Shall I confess, that, notwithstanding the deep sorrow of 
 my heart, I could scarce repress an outbreak of laughter at 
 these words ! We now chatted away on a variety of sub- 
 jects, till the concourse of people pressing onwards to the 
 town, the more thickly populated country, and the distant 
 view of chimneys apprised us we were approaching Ennis. 
 Notwithstanding all my wishes to get on as fast as might 
 be, I found it impossible to resist an invitation to dine 
 that day with the Eooneys, who had engaged a small 
 
122 JACK HINTOX, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 select party at the Head Inn, where Mrs. Rooney's apart- 
 ments were already awaiting her. 
 
 It was dusk when we arrived, and I could only perceive 
 that the gloomy and narrow streets were densely crowded 
 with country people, who conversed together in groups. 
 Here and there a knot of legal folk were congregated, 
 chatting in a louder tone ; and before the court house stood 
 the carriage of the chief-justice, with a guard of honor of 
 the county yeomanry, whose unsoldierlike attitudes and 
 droll equipments were strongly provocative of laughter. 
 The postilions, who had with true tact reserved a "trot 
 for the town," whipped and spurred with all their might ; 
 and as we drove through the thronged streets a strange 
 impression fled abroad that we were the bearers of a re- 
 prieve, and a hearty cheer from the mob followed us to 
 our arrival at the inn-door, — a compliment which Mrs. 
 Paul in nowise attributing to anything save her own pe- 
 culiar charms and deserts, most graciously acknowledged 
 by a smile and a wave of her hand, accompanied by an 
 unlimited order for small beer, — which act of grace was, 
 I think, even more popular than their first impression 
 concerning us. 
 
 " Ah, Captain," said the lady with a compassionate smile, 
 as I handed her out of the carriage, " they are so attached 
 to the aristocracy ! " 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE ASSIZE TOWN. 
 
 When I had dressed, I found that I had above an hour 
 to spare before dinner ; so taking my hat I strolled out into 
 the town. The streets were even more crowded now than 
 before. The groups of country people were larger, and as 
 they conversed together in their native tongue, with all the 
 violent gesticulation and energetic passion of their uature, 
 an inexperienced spectator might well have supposed them 
 engaged in active strife. Now and then a kind of move- 
 ment, a species of suppressed murmur from the court house, 
 would turn every eye in that direction; and then every 
 voice was hushed, not a man moved. It was evident that 
 some trial of the deepest interest was going forward, and 
 on inquiry I learned that it was a murder case, in which 
 six men were concerned. I heard also that the only evi- 
 dence against them was from one of their own party, who 
 had turned, as the lawyers term it, "approver." I knew 
 well that'no circumstance was more calculated than this to 
 call forth all that is best and worst in Irish character, and 
 thought, as I walked along through the dense crowd, I 
 could trace in the features around me the several emotions 
 by which they were moved. 
 
 Here was an old gray-headed man leaning on a staff, his 
 lack-lustre eyes gazing in wonder at some speaker who nar- 
 rated a portion of the trial, his face all eagerness, and his 
 hands tremulous with anxiety ; but I felt I could read the 
 deep sorrow of his heart as he listened to the deed of blood, 
 and wondered how men would risk their tenure of a life 
 which in a few days more, perhaps, he himself was to leave 
 forever. Here beside him was a tall and powerfully-built 
 
124 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 countryman, his hat drawn upon his eyes, that peered forth 
 from their shadow dark, lustrous, and almost wild in their 
 expression ; his face, tanned by season and exposure, was 
 haggard and care-worn, and in his firmly-clinched lips and 
 fast-locked jaw you could read the resolute purpose of one 
 who could listen to nothing save the promptings of the 
 spirit of vengeance, and his determination that blood should 
 have blood. Some there were whose passionate tones and 
 violent gestures showed that all their sympathy for the 
 prisoners was merged in the absorbing feeling of detesta- 
 tion for the informer ; and you could mark in such groups 
 as these that more women were mingled, whose blood-shot 
 eyes and convulsed features made them appear the very 
 demons of strife itself. But the most painful sight of all 
 was the children who were assembled around every knot of 
 speakers, their eyes staring, and their ears eagerly drinking 
 in each word that dropped ; no trace of childhood's happy 
 carelessness was there, no sign of that light-hearted youth 
 that knows no lasting sorrow. No, theirs were the rigid 
 features of intense passion, in which fear, suspicion, craft, 
 but above all the thirst for revenge, were writ. There 
 were some whose clinched hand and darkened brow be- 
 tokened the gloomy purpose of their hearts ; there were 
 others whose outpoured wrath heaped curses on him who 
 had betrayed his fellows. There was grief, violent, wild, 
 and frantic ; there was mute and speechless suffering ; but 
 not a tear did I see, not even on the cheek of childhood or 
 of woman. No ! their seared and withered sorrow no dew 
 of tears had ever watered ; like a blighting simoom the 
 spirit of revenge had passed over them, and scorched and 
 scathed all the verdant charities of life. The law, which 
 in other lands is looked to for protection and security, was 
 regarded by them as an instrument of tyranny; they 
 neither understood its spirit nor trusted its decisions ; and 
 when its blow fell upon them, they bent their heads in 
 mournful submission, to raise them when opportunity of- 
 fered in wild and stern defiance. Its denunciations came 
 to them sudden and severe ; they deemed the course of jus- 
 
THE ASSIZE TOWN. 125 
 
 tlce wayward and capricious, the only feature of certainty 
 in its operation being that its victim was ever the poor 
 man. The passionate elements of their wild natures 
 seemed but ill-adapted to the slow-sustained current of 
 legal investigation ; they looked upon all the details of evi- 
 dence as the signs of vindictive malice, and thought that 
 trickery and deceit were brought in arms against them. 
 Hence each face among the thousands there bore the traces 
 of that hardened, dogged suffering that tells us that the 
 heart is rather steeled with the desire to avenge than 
 bowed to weep over the doomed. 
 
 Before the court house a detachment of soldiers was 
 drawn up under arms, their unmoved features and fixed 
 attitudes presenting a strange contrast to the excited ex- 
 pressions and changeful gestures of those about them. 
 The crowd at this part was thickest, and I could perceive 
 in their eager looks and mute expressions that something 
 more than common had attracted their attention. My own 
 interest was, however, directed in another quarter ; for 
 through the open window of the court house I could hear 
 the words of a speaker, whom I soon recognized as the 
 council for the prisoner addressing the jury. My foraging 
 cap passed me at once through the ranks, and after some 
 little crushing I succeeded in gaining admission to the body 
 of the court. 
 
 Such was the crowd within, I could see nothing but the 
 heads of a closely-wedged mass of people, save at the dis- 
 tant part of the court the judges, and to their right the 
 figure of the pleader, whose back was turned towards me. 
 
 Little as I heard of the speech, I was overwhelmed with 
 surprise at what I did hear. Touching on the evidence of 
 the " approver " but slightly, the advocate dwelt with a ter- 
 rific force upon the degraded character of a man who could 
 trade upon the blood of his former friends and associates. 
 Scarce stopping to canvass how the testimony bore home 
 upon the prisoner, he burst forth into an impassioned ap- 
 peal to the hearts of the jury on faith betrayed and vows 
 forsworn, and pictured forth the man who could thus sur- 
 
126 JACK HLNTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 render his fellows to the scaffold as a monster whose evi- 
 dence no man could trust, no jury confide in ; and when he 
 had thus heightened the coloring of his description by every 
 power of an eloquence that made the very building ring, 
 he turned suddenly towards the informer himself, as, pale, 
 wan, and conscience-stricken, he cowered beneath the light- 
 ning glance from an eye that seemed to pierce his secret 
 soul within him, and apostrophizing his virtues, he directed 
 every glance upon the miserable wretch that writhed be- 
 neath his sarcasm. This seemed, indeed, the speaker's forte. 
 Never did I hear anything so tremendous as the irony with 
 which he described the credit due to one who had so often 
 been sworn and forsworn, — " who took an oath of allegiance 
 to his king, and an oath of fealty to his fellows, and now is 
 here this day with a third oath, by which, in the blood of 
 his victim, he is to ratify his perjury to both, and secure 
 himself an honorable independence." The caustic satire 
 verged once — only once — on something that produced a 
 laugh, when the orator suddenly stopped : — 
 
 " I find, my lord, I have raised a smile. God knows, never did I 
 feel less merriment. Let me not be condemned. Let not the laugh 
 be mistaken. Few are those events that are produced by folly and 
 vice that fire the hearts with indignation, but something in them will 
 shake, the sides with laughter. So, when the two famous moralists 
 of old beheld the sad spectacle of Life, the one burst into laughter, 
 the other melted into tears. They were each of them right, and 
 equally right. But these laughs are the bitter, rueful laughs of hon- 
 est indignation, or they are the laughs of hectic melancholy and des- 
 pair. But look there, and tell me where is your laughter now! " 
 
 With these words he turned fully round and pointed his 
 finger to the dock, where the six prisoners side by side 
 leaned their haggard, death-like faces upon the rail, and 
 gazed with stupid wonder at the scene before them. Four 
 of the number did not even know the language, but seemed 
 by the instinct of their position to feel the nature of the 
 appeal their advocate was making, and turned their eyes 
 around the court as if in search of some one look of pity or 
 encouragement that should bring comfort to their hearts. 
 
THE ASSIZE TOWN. 127 
 
 The whole thing was too dreadful to bear longer, so I 
 forced my way through the crowd, and at last reached the 
 steps in front of the building. But here a new object of 
 horror presented itself, and one which to this hour I cannot 
 chase from before me. In the open space between the line 
 formed by the soldiers and the court knelt a woman, whose 
 tattered garments scarce covered a figure emaciated nearly 
 to starvation ; her cheeks, almost blue with famine, were 
 pinched inwards, and her hands, which she held clasped 
 with outstretched arms before her, were like the skinny 
 claws of some wild animal. As she neither spoke nor 
 stirred, there was no effort made to remove her ; and there 
 she knelt, her eyes, bloodshot and staring, bent upon the 
 door of the building. A vague fear took possession of me. 
 Somewhere I had seen that face before. I drew near, and 
 as a cold thrill ran through my blood, I remembered where. 
 She was the wife of the man by whose bedside I had watched 
 in the mountains. A half dread of being recognized by her 
 kept me back for a moment ; then came the better feeling 
 that perhaps I might be able to serve her, and I walked 
 towards her. But though she turned her eyes towards me 
 as I approached, her look had no intelligence in it, and I 
 could plainly see that reason had fled, and left nothing save 
 the poor suffering form behind it. I endeavored to attract 
 her attention, but all in vain. At last I tried by gentle 
 force to induce her to leave the place ; but a piercing shriek, 
 like one whose tones had long dwelt in my heart, broke 
 from her, with a look of such unutterable anguish that I 
 was obliged to desist and leave her. The crowd made way 
 for me as I passed out, and I could see in their looks and 
 demeanor the expression of grateful acknowledgment for 
 even this show of feeling on my part; while some muttered 
 as 1 went by a " God reward ye," " the Lord be good to ye," 
 as though at that moment they had nothing in their hearts 
 save thoughts of kindness and words of blessing. 
 
 I reached my room, and sat down a sadder, perhaps a 
 wiser man ; and yet I know not this. It would need a 
 
128 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 clearer head than mine to trace all the varying and dis. 
 cordant elements of character I had witnessed to their true 
 source ; to sift the evil from the good ; to know what to 
 cherish, what to repress, whereon to build hope or what 
 to fear. Such was this country once ! Has it changed 
 since ? 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE BAR DINNER. 
 
 At nine o'clock the jury retired, and a little afterwards 
 the front drawing-room of the Head Inn was becoming 
 every moment more crowded, as the door opened to admit 
 the several members of the bar, invited to partake of Mrs. 
 Rooney's hospitalities. Mrs. Rooney's, I say ; for the eti- 
 quette of the circuit forbidding the attorney to entertain 
 the dignitaries of the craft, Paul was only present at his 
 own table on sufferance, and sought out the least obtrusive 
 place he could find among the juniors and side-dishes. 
 
 No one who could have seen the gay, laughing, merry 
 mob of shrewd, cunning-looking men that chatted away 
 there would have imagined them a few moments previously 
 engaged in a question where the lives of four of their 
 fellow-men hung in the balance, and where at the very mo- 
 ment the deliberation was continuing that should, perhaps, 
 sentence them to death upon the scaffold. 
 
 The instincts of a profession are narrow and humiliating 
 things to witness. The surgeon who sees but in the suffer- 
 ing agony of his patient the occasional displacement of cer- 
 tain anatomical details is little better than a savage ; the 
 lawyer who watches the passions of hope and fear, distrust, 
 dread, and suspicion, only to take advantage of them in his 
 case, is far worse than a savage. I confess, on looking at 
 these men, I could never divest myself of the impression 
 that the hired and paid-for passion of the advocate, the 
 subtlety that is engaged special, the wit that is briefed, the 
 impetuous rush of indignant eloquence that is bottled up 
 from town to town in circuit, and like soda-water grows 
 weaker at every corking, make but a poor ensemble of quali- 
 
 VOL. II. — 9 
 
130 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 ties for the class who, par excellence, stand at the head of 
 professional life. 
 
 One there was, indeed, whose haggard eye and blanched 
 cheek showed no semblance of forgetting the scene in 
 which so lately he had been an actor. This was the lawyer 
 who had defended the prisoners. He sat in a window, rest- 
 ing his head upon his hand, — fatigue, exhaustion, but 
 more than all, intense feeling, portrayed in every lineament 
 of his pale face. 
 
 " Ah," said the gay, jovial-looking attorney-general, slap- 
 ping him familiarly on the shoulder, — " ah, my dear 
 fellow; not tired, I hope. The court was tremendously 
 hot ; but come, rally a bit : we shall want you. Bennet and 
 O'Grady have disappointed us, it seems ; but you are a 
 host in yourself." 
 
 " Maybe so," replied the other, faintly, and scarce lifting 
 his eyes ; " but you can't depend on my elevation." 
 
 The ease and readiness of the reply, as well as the tones 
 of the voice, struck me ; and I perceived that it was no 
 other than the prior of the Monks of the Screw who had 
 spoken. Mrs. Rooney made her appearance at the moment, 
 and my attention was soon taken away by the announce- 
 ment of dinner. 
 
 One of the judges arrived in time to offer his arm, and I 
 could not help feeling amused at the mock-solemnity of the 
 procession, as we moved along. The judge, I may observe, 
 was a young man, lately promoted, and one whose bright 
 eye and bold, dashing expression bore many more traces of 
 the outer bar than it smacked of the dull gravity of the 
 bench. He took the end of the table beside Mrs. Paul, and 
 the others soon seated themselves promiscuously along the 
 table. 
 
 There is a species of gladiatorial exhibition in lawyers' 
 society which is certainly very amusing. No one speaks 
 without the foreknowledge that he is to be caught up, 
 punned up, or ridiculed, as the case may be. The whole 
 conversation is therefore a hail-storm of short stories, 
 quips, and retorts, intermingled with details of successful 
 
THE BAR DINNER. 131 
 
 bar-stratagems, and practical jokes played off upon juries. 
 With less restraint than at a military mess, there is a strong 
 professional feeling of deference for the seniors, and much 
 more tact and knowledge of the world to unite them. 
 While thus the whole conversation ran on topics of the cir- 
 cuit, I was amazed at Mrs. Rooney's perfect intimacy with 
 all the niceties of a law joke, or the fun of a nisi prizes 
 story. She knew the chief peculiarities of the several per- 
 sons alluded to, and laughed loud and long at the good 
 things she listened to. The judge alone, above all others, 
 had the lady's ear. His bold but handsome features, his 
 rich commanding voice (nothing the worse that it was 
 mellowed by a little brogue), his graceful action and manly 
 presence, stamped him as one well suited to be successful 
 wherever good looks, ready tact, and consummate conversa- 
 tional powers have a field for their display. His stories 
 were few, but always pertinent and well told; and fre- 
 quently the last joke at the table was capped by him, when 
 no one else could have ventured to try it, while the rich 
 roll of his laugh was a guarantee for mirth that never 
 failed. 
 
 It was just when my attention was drawn off by Mrs. 
 Rooney to some circumstance of our former intimacy, that 
 a hearty burst of laughing from the end of the table told 
 that something unusually absurd was being related. 
 
 "Yes, sir," said a shrewd-looking, thin old fellow in 
 spectacles, "we capitulated, on condition of leaving the 
 garrison with all the honors of war ; and, faith, the sheriff 
 was only too glad to comply." 
 
 " Bob Mahon is certainly a bold fellow, and never hard 
 pushed, whatever you may do with him." 
 
 " Bob Mahon ! " said I : " what of him ? " 
 
 " Keatley has just been telling how he held out the jail 
 of Ennis for four weeks against the sheriff. The jailer 
 was an old tenant of his, and readily came into his plans. 
 They were victualled for a long siege, and as the place was 
 strong they had nothing to fear. When the garrison was 
 summoned to surrender, they put a charge of No. 4 into the 
 
132 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 sub-sheriff, that made hiin move to the rear; and as the 
 prisoners were all coming from the assizes, they were 
 obliged to let him have his own terms if he 'd only consent 
 to come out. So they gave him twelve hours' law, and a 
 clear run for it ; and he 's away." 
 
 This was indeed a very quick realization of Father Tom's 
 prediction, and I joined in the mirth the story elicited, — 
 not the less readily that I was well acquainted with the 
 principal actor in it. 
 
 While the laughter still continued, the door opened, and 
 a young barrister stole into the room and whispered a few 
 words into the ear of the counsel for the prisoners. He 
 leaned back in his chair, and pushed his wine-glass hur- 
 riedly before him. 
 
 " What, Collinson ! " cried the attorney-general, " have 
 they agreed ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir, — a verdict of guilty." 
 
 "Of course; the evidence was too home for a doubt," 
 said he, filling his glass from the decanter. 
 
 A sharp glance from the dark eye of the opposite counsel 
 was the only reply, as he rose and left the room. 
 
 " Our friend has taken a more than common interest in 
 this case," was the cool observation of the last speaker; 
 " but there was no getting over Hanlon's testimony." Here 
 he entered into some detail of the trial, while the buzz and 
 confusion of voices became greater than ever. I took this 
 opportunity of making my escape, and joined Mrs. Eooney, 
 who a short time before had retired to the drawing-room. 
 
 Mrs. Paul had contrived, even in the short space since 
 her arrival, to have converted the drawing-room into a sem- 
 blance of something like an apartment in a private house, — 
 books, prints, and flowers, judiciously disposed, as well as 
 an open pianoforte, giving it an air of comfort and pro- 
 priety far different from its ordinary seeming. She was 
 practising Moore's newly-published song of, " Fly from this 
 world, dear Bessy, with me," as I entered. 
 
 " Pray, continue, my dear Mrs. Rooney," said I : "I will 
 take it as the greatest possible favor — " 
 
THE BAR DINNER. 133 
 
 "Ah," said Mrs. Paul, throwing up her eyes in the most 
 languishing ecstasy, — " ah, you have soul, I know you 
 have ! " 
 
 Protesting that I had strong reasons to believe so, I 
 renewed my entreaty. 
 
 "Yes," said she, musing, and in a Siddons tone of 
 soliloquy, "yes, the poet is right, — 
 
 ' Music hath charms to smooth the savage beast.' 
 
 But I really can't sing the melodies, — they are too much 
 for me. The allusion to former times, when King O'Toole 
 and the rest of the royal family — Ah, you are aware, I 
 believe, that family reasons — " 
 
 Here she pressed her embroidered handkerchief to her 
 eyes with one hand, while she pressed mine convulsively 
 with the other. 
 
 " Yes, yes," said I, hurriedly, while a strong temptation 
 to laugh outright seized me; "I have heard that your 
 descent — " 
 
 "Yes, my dear ; if it was n't for the Danes, and the cruel 
 battle of the Boyne, there 's no saying where I might not 
 be seated now." 
 
 She leaned on the piano as she spoke, and seemed over- 
 powered with sorrow. At this instant the door opened, and 
 the judge made his appearance. 
 
 " A thousand pardons for the indiscretion," said he, step- 
 ping back as he saw me sitting with the lady's hand in 
 mine. I sprang up, confused and ashamed, and rushing 
 past him hurried downstairs. 
 
 I knew how soon my adventure, for such it would grow 
 into, would be the standing jest of the bar mess ; and not 
 feeling disposed to be present at their mirth, I ordered a 
 chaise, and before half an hour elapsed was on my road to 
 Dublin. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE RETURN. 
 
 We never experience to the full how far sorrow has 
 made its inroad upon us until we come back, after absence, 
 to the places where we have once been happy, and find 
 them lone and tenantless. While we recognize each old 
 familiar object, we see no longer those who gave them all 
 their value in our eyes ; every inanimate thing about speaks 
 to our senses, but where are they who were wont to speak 
 to our hearts ? The solitary chamber is then, indeed, but 
 the body of all our pleasure, from which the soul has de- 
 parted forever. 
 
 These feelings were mine as I paced the old well-worn 
 stairs, and entered my quarters in the Castle. No more I 
 heard the merry laugh of my friend 0' Grady, nor his quick 
 step upon the stair. The life, the stir, the bustle of the 
 place itself seemed to have all fled ; the court echoed only 
 to the measured tread of the grenadier, who marched back- 
 wards and forwards beside the flag-staff in the centre of the 
 open space. No cavalcade of joyous riders, no prancing 
 horses led about by grooms, no showy and splendid equi- 
 pages ; all was still, sad, and neglected-looking. The dust 
 whirled about in circling eddies, as the cold wind of an 
 autumnal day moaned through the arched passages and 
 gloomy corridors of the old building. A care-worn offi- 
 cial, or some slatternly inferior of the household, would 
 perhaps pass from time to time ; but except such as these, 
 nothing stirred. The closed shutters and drawn-down blinds 
 showed that the viceroy was absent, and I found myself the 
 only occupant of the building. 
 
 It requires the critical eye of the observant resident of 
 great cities to mark the changes which season and fashion 
 
THE RETURN. 135 
 
 effect in their appearance. To one unaccustomed to their 
 phases it seems strange to hear, " How empty the town is ! 
 how very few people are in London ! " — while the heavy 
 tide of population pours incessantly around him, and his 
 ear is deafened with the ceaseless roll of equipage. But in 
 such a city as Dublin the alteration is manifest to the least 
 remarking. But little frequented by the country gentry, 
 and never except for the few months when the court is 
 there ; still less visited by foreigners ; deserted by the pro- 
 fessional classes, at least such of them as are independent 
 enough to absent themselves, — the streets are actually 
 empty. The occupations of trade, the bustle of commerce, 
 that through every season continue their onward course in 
 the great trading-cities such as Liverpool, Hamburg, Frank- 
 fort, and Bourdeaux, scarce exist here ; and save that the 
 tattered garments of mendicancy, and the craving cries of 
 hunger are ever before you, you might fall into a drowsy 
 reverie as you walked, and dream yourself in Palmyra. 
 
 I had strolled about for above an hour, in the moody 
 frame of mind my own reflections and the surrounding ob- 
 jects were well calculated to suggest, when, meeting by 
 accident a subaltern with whom I was slightly acquainted, 
 I heard that the court had that morning left the Lodge in 
 the park for Kilkenny, where the theatricals of that pleas- 
 ant city were going forward, — a few members of the 
 household alone remaining, who were to follow in a day 
 or two. 
 
 For some days previous I had made up my mind not to 
 remain in Ireland. Every tie that bound me to the coun- 
 try was broken. I had no heart to set about forming new 
 friendships while the wounds of former ones were still 
 fresh and bleeding ; and I longed for change of scene and 
 active occupation, that I might have no time to reflect or 
 look back. 
 
 Resolving to tender my resignation on the duke's staff 
 without any further loss of time, I set out at once for the 
 park. I arrived there in the very nick of time ; the car- 
 riages were at the entrance, waiting for the private secre- 
 
136 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 tary of his Grace and two of the aides-de-camp, who were 
 eating a hurried luncheon before starting. One of the aides- 
 de-camp I knew but slightly, the other was a perfect stran- 
 ger to me ; but the secretary, Horton, was an intimate 
 acquaintance. He jumped up from his chair as my name 
 was announced, and a deep blush covered his face as he 
 advanced to meet me : — 
 
 " My dear Hinton, how unfortunate ! Why were n't you 
 here yesterday ? It 's too late now." 
 
 " Too late for what ? I don't comprehend you." 
 
 " Why, my dear fellow," said he, drawing his arm within 
 mine, and leading me towards a window, as he dropped his 
 voice to a whisper, " I believe you heard from me that his 
 Grace was provoked at your continued absence, and ex« 
 pected at least that you would have written to ask an 
 extension of your leave. I don't know how it was, but it 
 6eemed to me that the duchess came back from England 
 with some crotchet in her head, about something she heard 
 in London. In any case, they ordered me to write." 
 
 " Well, well," said I, impatiently ; " I guess it all. I have 
 got my dismissal. Is n't that the whole of it ? " 
 
 He nodded twice, without speaking. 
 
 "It only anticipates my own wishes," said I, coolly, "as 
 this note may satisfy you." I placed the letter I had writ- 
 ten for the purpose of my resignation in his hand, and con- 
 tinued : " I am quite convinced in my own mind that his 
 Grace, whose kindness towards me has never varied, would 
 never have dreamed of this step on such slight grounds as 
 my absence. Xo, no ; the thing lies deeper. At any other 
 time I should certainly have wished to trace this matter to 
 its source ; now, however, chiming as it does with my own 
 plans, and caring little how fortune intends to treat me, I '11 
 submit in silence." 
 
 " And take no notice of the affair further ? " 
 
 " Such is my determination," said I, resolutely. 
 
 " In that case," said Horton, " I may tell you that some 
 story of a lady had reached the duchess, when in London. — 
 some girl that it was reported you endeavored to seduce, 
 
THE RETURN. 137 
 
 and had actually followed for that purpose to the west of 
 Ireland. There, there ! don't take the matter up that way, 
 for Heaven's sake ! My dear fellow, hear me out ! " But 
 I could hear no more ; the rushing blood that crowded on 
 my brain stunned and stupefied me, and it took several 
 minutes before I became sufficiently collected to ask him 
 to go on. 
 
 " I heard the thing so confusedly," said he, " that I can- 
 not attempt anything like connection in relating it. But 
 the story goes that your duel in Loughrea did not origi- 
 nate about the steeple-chase at all, but in a quarrel about 
 this girl, with her brother or her cousin, who, having dis- 
 covered your intentions regarding her, you wished to get 
 rid of, as a preliminary. No one but a fool could credit 
 such a thing." 
 
 "None but such could have invented it," said I, as my 
 thoughts at once recurred to Lord Dudley de Vere. 
 
 " The duke, however, spoke to General Hinton — " 
 
 " To my father ! And how did he — " 
 
 " Oh, behaved as only he could have done : ' Stop, my 
 lord ! ' said he ; ' I '11 spare you any further relation of this 
 matter. If it be true, my son is unworthy of remaining on 
 your staff. If it be false, I '11 not permit him to hold an 
 appointment where his reputation has been assailed with- 
 out affording him an opportunity of defence.' High words 
 ensued, and the end was that if you appeared before to-day, 
 you were to hear the charge and have an opportunity for 
 reply. If not, your dismissal was to be made out, and 
 another appointed in your place. Now that I have told 
 you what I feel the indiscretion of my ever having spoken 
 of, promise me, my dear Hinton, that you will take no 
 step in the matter. The intrigue is altogether beneath 
 you, and your character demands no defence on your 
 part." 
 
 " I almost suspect I know the party," said I, gloomily. 
 
 "No, no; I'm certain you can't. It is some woman's 
 story ; some piece of tea-table gossip, depend on it, — in 
 any case, quite unworthy of caring about." 
 
138 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 "At all events, I am too indifferent at this moment 
 to feel otherwise about anything," said I. "So, good-by, 
 Horton; my regards to all our fellows; good-by!" 
 
 " Good-by, my boy," said he, warmly shaking my hand. 
 "But, stop a moment, I have got some letters for you; they 
 arrived only a few days since." 
 
 He took a packet from a drawer as he spoke, and once 
 more bidding him adieu, I set out on my return to the 
 Castle. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 FAREWELL TO IRELAND. 
 
 My first care on reaching my quarters was to make 
 preparations for my departure by the packet of the same 
 evening; my next was to sit down and read over my 
 letters. As I turned them over, I remarked that there 
 were none from my father or Lady Charlotte ; there was, 
 however, one in Julia's hand, and also a note from O'Grady. 
 The others were the mere commonplace correspondence of 
 every-day acquaintances, which I merely threw my eyes 
 carelessly over ere I consigned them to the fire. My fair 
 cousin's possessed — I cannot explain why — a most unusual 
 degree of interest for me ; and throwing myself back in my 
 chair, I gave myself up to its perusal. 
 
 The epistle opened by a half-satirical account of the 
 London season then nearly drawing to its close, in which 
 various characters and incidents I have not placed before 
 my readers, but all well known to me, were touched with 
 that quiet, subdued raillery she excelled in. The flirta- 
 tions, the jiltings, the matches that were on or off, the 
 rumored duels, debts, and difficulties of every one we were 
 acquainted with, were told with a most amusing smart- 
 ness, — all showing, young as she was, how thoroughly 
 the wear-and-tear of fashionable life had invested her with 
 the intricate knowledge of character, and the perfect ac- 
 quaintance with all the intrigues and by-play of the world. 
 " How unlike Louisa Bellew ! " said I, as I laid down the 
 letter after reading a description of a manoeuvring mamma 
 and obedient daughter to secure the prize of the season, 
 with a peerage and some twenty thousand pounds per 
 annum. ' It was true they were the vices and the follies 
 
140 JACK IIINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 of the age which she ridiculed ; but why should she have 
 ever known them? Ought she to have been conversant 
 with such a state of society as would expose them ? Were 
 it not better, like Louisa Bellew, to have passed her days 
 amid the simple, unexciting scenes of secluded life, than to 
 have purchased all the brilliancy of her wit and the dazzle 
 of her genius at the price of true womanly delicacy and 
 refinement? While I asked and answered myself these 
 questions to the satisfaction of my own heart, I could not 
 dismiss the thought, that, amid such scenes as London 
 presented, with such associates as fashion necessitated, the 
 unprotected simplicity of Miss Bellew's character would 
 expose her to much both of raillery and coldness ; and I 
 felt that she would be nearly as misplaced among the 
 proud daughters of haughty England as my fair cousin 
 in the unfashionable freedom of Dublin life. 
 
 I confess, as I read on, that old associations came crowd- 
 ing upon me. The sparkling brilliancy of Julia's style re- 
 minded me of the charms of her conversational powers, 
 aided by all the loveliness of her beauty, and all that witch- 
 ery which your true belle of fashion knows how, so success- 
 fully, to spread around her; and it was with a flush of 
 burning shame on my cheek I acknowledged to myself 
 how much her letter interested me. As I continued, I 
 saw O'Grady's name, and to my astonishment found the 
 following : — 
 
 " Lady Charlotte came back from the duke's ball greatly pleased 
 with a certain major of dragoons, who, among his other excellent 
 qualities, turns out to be a friend of yours. This estimable person, 
 whose name is O'Grady, has done much to dissipate her Ladyship's 
 prejudices regarding Irishmen, — the repose of his manner, and the 
 quiet, unassuming, well-bred tone of his address being all so opposed 
 to her preconceived notions of his countrymen. He dines here twice 
 or thrice a week, and as he is to sail soon, may happily preserve the 
 bloom of his reputation to the last. My estimate of him is somewhat 
 different. I think him a bold effrontee kind of person, esteeming 
 himself very highly, and thinking little of other people. He has, 
 however, a delightful old thing, his servant Corny, whom I am never 
 tired of, and shall really miss much when he leaves us. 
 
FAREWELL TO IRELAND. 141 
 
 " Now as to yourself, dear cousin, what mean all the secret hints and 
 sly looks and doubtful speeches about you here 1 The mysteries of 
 Udolpho are plain reading compared to your doings. Her Ladyship 
 never speaks of you but as ' that poor boy,' accompanying the epithet 
 with the sigh with which one speaks of a shipwreck. Sir George calls 
 you John, which shows he is not quite satisfied about you ; and, in 
 tact, I begin to suspect you must have become a United Irishman, 
 with ' a lady in the case.' Yet even this would scarcely demand one 
 half the reserve and caution with which you are mentioned. Am I 
 indiscreet in saying that I don't think De Vere likes you ? The 
 major, however, certainly does ; and his presence has banished the 
 lordling, for which, really, I owe him gratitude." 
 
 The letter concluded by saying that my mother had de- 
 sired her to write in her place, as she was suffering from 
 one of her nervous headaches, which only permitted her to 
 go to the exhibition at Somerset House ; my father, too, 
 was at Woolwich on some military business, and had no 
 time for anything save to promise to write soon ; and that 
 she herself, being disappointed by the milliner in a new 
 bonnet, dedicated the morning to me, with a most praise- 
 worthy degree of self-denial and benevolence. I read the 
 signature some half-dozen times over, and wondered what 
 meaning in her own heart she ascribed to the words, 
 " Yours, Julia." 
 
 " Now for O'Grady," said I, breaking the seal of the 
 major's envelope. 
 
 My dear Jack, — I was sitting on a hencoop, now pondering on 
 my fortunes, now turning to con over the only book on board, — a 
 very erudite work on naval tactics, with directions how " to moor a 
 ship in the Downs," — when a gun came booming over the sea, and a 
 frigate with certain enigmatical colors flying at her main-top com- 
 pelled the old troop-ship we were in to back her top-sails and lie to. 
 (We were then steering straight for Madeira, in latitude , longi- 
 tude the same ; our intention being, with the aid of Providence, to 
 reach Quebec at some remote period of the summer, to join our ser- 
 vice companies in Canada.) Having obeyed the orders of H. M. S. 
 " Blast " to wait until she overtook us, — a measure that nearly cost us 
 two of our masts and the cook's galley, we not being accustomed to 
 stand still, it seemed, — a boat came alongside with the smallest bit 
 
142 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 of a midshipman I ever looked at sitting in the stern sheets, with 
 orders for us to face about, left shoulder forward, and march back to 
 England, where, having taken in the. second battalion of the Twenty- 
 eighth, we were to start for Lisbon. 
 
 I need not tell you what pleasure the announcement afforded us, 
 delighted as we were to exchange tomahawks and bowie-knives for 
 civilized warfare, even against more formidable foes. Behold us 
 then in full sail back to old England, which we reached within a 
 fortnight, — only to touch, however, for the Twenty-eighth were most 
 impatiently expecting us; and having dedicated three days to tak- 
 ing in water and additional stores, and once more going through the 
 horrible scene of leave-taking between soldiers and their wives, we 
 sailed again. I have little inclination to give you the detail, which 
 newspapers would beat me hollow in, of our march, or where we first 
 came up with the French. A smart affair took place at daybreak, in 
 which your humble servant, to use the appropriate phrase, " distin- 
 guished " himself, — egad ! I had almost said extinguished ; for I was 
 shot through the side, losing part of that conjugal portion of the 
 human anatomy called a rib, and sustaining several other minor 
 damages, that made me appear to the regimental doctor a very unser- 
 viceable craft for his Majesty's service. The result was, I was sent 
 back with that plaister for a man's vanity, though not for his wounds, 
 a despatch-letter to the Horse Guards, and an official account of the 
 action. As nothing has occurred since in the Peninsula to eclipse 
 my performance, I continue to star it here with immense success, and 
 am quite convinced that with a little more loss I might have made an 
 excellent match out of the affair. 
 
 Now to the pleasant part of my epistle. Your father found me 
 out a few evenings since at an evening party at the Duke of York's, 
 and presented me to your lady-mother, who was most gracious in her 
 reception of me ', an invitation to dinner the next day followed, and 
 since, I have spent almost every day at your house. Your father, my 
 dear Jack, is a glorious fellow, a soldier in every great feature of the 
 character ; you never can have a finer object of your imitation, and 
 your best friend cannot wish you to be more than his equal. Lady 
 Charlotte is the most fascinating person I ever met ; her abilities are 
 first-rate, and her powers of pleasing exceed all that ever I fancied 
 even of London fashionables. How you could have left such a house 
 I can scarcely conceive, knowing as I do something of your taste for 
 comfort and voluptuous ease. Besides, la cousine, Lady Julia — 
 Jack, Jack, what a close fellow you are ! and how very lovely she is ! 
 she certainly has not her equal even here. I scarcely know her, for 
 
FAREWELL TO IRELAND. 143 
 
 somehow she rather affects hauteur with my cloth, and rarely deigns 
 any notice of the red-co.ats so plentifully sprinkled along your father's 
 dinner-table. Her kindness to Corny, who has been domesticated at 
 your house for the last five weeks, I can never forget ; and even he 
 can't, it would appear, conjure up any complaint against her. What 
 a testimony to her goodness! 
 
 This life, however, cannot last forever; and as I have now recov- 
 ered so far as to mount a horse once more, I have applied for a regi- 
 mental appointment. Your father most kindly interests himself for 
 me, and before the week is over I may be gazetted. That fellow Ue 
 Vere was very intimate here when I arrived ; since he has seen me, 
 however, his visits have become gradually less frequent, and now 
 have almost ceased altogether. This, entre nous, does not seem to 
 have met completely with Lady Julia's approval, and I think she 
 may have attributed to me a circumstance in which certainly I was 
 not an active cause. However happy I may feel at being instrumen- 
 tal in a breach of intimacy between her and one so very unworthy of 
 her, even as a common acquaintance, 1 will ask you, Jack, when op- 
 portunity offers, to put the matter in its true light ; for although I 
 may, in all likelihood, never meet her again, I should be sorry to 
 leave with her a more unfavorable impression of me than I really 
 deserve. 
 
 Here the letter broke off ; but lower down on the paper 
 were the following lines, written in evident haste, and with 
 a different ink : — 
 
 We sail to-night. Oporto is our destination. Corny is to remain 
 behind, and I must ask of you to look to him on his arrival in Dub- 
 lin. Lady Julia likes De Vere, and you know him too well to per- 
 mit of such a fatal misfortune. I am, I find, meddling in what 
 really I have no right to touch upon ; this is, however, de vous a moi. 
 God bless you. 
 
 Yours ever, Phil O'Guady. 
 
 "Poor Phil!" said I, as I laid down the letter; "in his 
 heart he believes himself disinterested in all this, but I see 
 plainly he is in love with her himself." Alas ! I cannot 
 conceive a heavier affliction to befall the man without for- 
 tune than to be thrown among those whose prospects ren- 
 der an alliance impossible, and to bestow his affections on 
 an object perfectly beyond his reach of attainment. Many 
 
144 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 a proud heart has been torn in the struggle between its 
 own promptings and the dread of the imputation, which 
 the world so hastily confers, of " fortune-hunting ; " many a 
 haughty spirit has cpiailed beneath this fear, and stifled in 
 his bosom the thought that made his life a blessed dream. 
 My poor friend, how little will she that has stolen away 
 your peace think of your sorrows! 
 
 A gentle tap at my door aroused me from my musings. 
 I opened it, and saw, to my surprise, my old companion 
 Tipperary Joe. He was covered with dust, heated, and 
 travel-stained, and leaned against the door-post to rest 
 himself. 
 
 " So," cried he, when he had recovered his breath, 
 " I 'm in time to see you once more before you go ! I run 
 all the way from Carlow, since twelve o'clock last night." 
 
 " Come in, my poor boy, and sit down. Here 's a glass 
 of wine ; 't will refresh you. We '11 get something for you 
 to eat, presently." 
 
 "No, I couldn't eat now. My throat is full, and my 
 heart is up here. And so you are going away, — going for 
 good and all, never to come back again ? " 
 
 " Who can say so much as that, Joe ? I should, at least, 
 be very sorry to think so." 
 
 " And would you, now ? And will you really think of 
 ould Ireland when you 're away ? Hurroo ! by the mortial, 
 there 's no place like it for fun, divilment, and divarsion. 
 But, musha, musha ! I 'm forgettin', and it 's gettin' dark. 
 May I go with you to the packet ? " 
 
 " To be sure, my poor boy ; and I believe we have not 
 many minutes to spare." 
 
 I despatched Joe for a car while I threw a last look 
 around my room. Sad things, these last looks, whether 
 bestowed on the living or the dead, the life-like or the in- 
 animate ! There is a feeling that resembles death in the 
 last glance we are ever to bestow on a loved object. The 
 girl you have treasured in your secret heart, as she passes 
 by on her wedding-day, it may be happy and blissful, lifts 
 up her laughing eyes, the symbol of her own light heart, 
 
iffy 
 
 
UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
FAREWELL TO IRELAND. 145 
 
 and leaves in that look darkness and desolation to you for- 
 eveT. The boy your father-spirit has clung to, like the 
 very light, of your existence, waves his hand from the 
 quarter-deck, as the gigantic ship bends over to the breeze ; 
 the wind is playing through the locks your hand so often- 
 times has smoothed ; the tears have dimmed his eyes, for, 
 mark ! he moves his fingers over them, — and this is a last 
 look. My sorrow had no touch of these. My eye ranged 
 over the humble furniture of my little chamber, while mem- 
 ories of the past came crowding on me, — hopes that I had 
 lived to see blighted, day-dreams dissipated, heartfelt wishes 
 thwarted and scattered. I stood thus for some minutes, 
 when Joe again joined me. 
 
 Poor fellow ! his wayward and capricious flights, now 
 grave, now gay, were but the mockery of that sympathy my 
 heart required. Still did he heal the sadness of the mo- 
 ment. We need the voice, the look, the accent of affection 
 when we are leaving the spot where we have once been 
 happy. It will not do to part from the objects that have 
 made our home, without the connecting link of human 
 friendship. The hearth, the roof-tree, the mountain, and 
 the rivulet are not so eloquent as the once syllabled 
 " Good-by," come it from ever so humble a voice. 
 
 The bustle and excitement of the scene beside the packet 
 seemed to afford Joe the most lively gratification ; and, 
 like the genius of confusion, he was to be seen flitting from 
 place to place, assisting one, impeding another, while 
 snatches of his wild songs broke from him every moment. 
 I had but time to press his hand, when he was hurried 
 ashore amongst the crowd ; and the instant after the vessel 
 sheered off from the pier, and got under way. The poor 
 boy stood upon a block of granite, waving his cap over his 
 head. He tried a faint cheer, but it was scarcely audible ; 
 another, it too failed. He looked wildly around him on the 
 strange, unknown faces, as if a scene of desolation had 
 fallen on him, burst into a torrent of tears, and fled wildly 
 from the spot. And thus I took my leave of Ireland. 
 
 At this period of my narrative I owe it to my reader — I 
 
 VOL. II. — 10 
 
146 JACK HINTON, THE GUAEDSMAN. 
 
 owe it to myself — to apologize for the mention of inci- 
 dents, places, and people that have no other bearing on my 
 story than in the impression they made upon me while yet 
 young. When I arrived in Ireland I knew scarcely any- 
 thing of the world. My opportunities had shown me life 
 only through the colored gloss of certain fashionable pre- 
 judices ; but of the real character, motives, and habitual 
 modes of acting and thinking of others, still more of my- 
 self, I was in total ignorance. The rapidly succeeding inci- 
 dents of Irish life, — their interest, variety, and novelty, — 
 all attracted and excited me ; and without ever stopping to 
 
 • reflect upon causes, I found myself becoming acquainted 
 with facts. That the changeful pictures of existence so 
 profusely scattered through the land should have made 
 their impression upon me is natural enough; and because 
 I have found it easier and pleasanter to tell my reader 
 the machinery of this change in me than to embody that 
 change itself, is the reason why I have presented before 
 him tableaux of life under so many different circumstances, 
 and when, frequently, they had no direct relation to the 
 
 j current of my own fate and the story of my own fortunes. 
 It is enough of myself to say, that, though scarcely older in 
 time, I had grown so in thought and feeling. If I felt, on 
 the one hand, how little my high connections and the posi- 
 tion in fashionable life which my family occupied availed 
 me, I learned, on the other, to know that friends, and 
 stanch ones, could be made at once, on the emergency of a 
 moment, without the imposing ceremony of introduction 
 and the diplomatic interchange of visits. 
 And now to my story. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 LONDON. 
 
 It was late when I arrived in London and drove up to 
 my father's house. The circumstances under which I had 
 left Ireland weighed more heavily on me as I drew near 
 home, and as I reflected over the questions I should be 
 asked and the explanations I should be expected to afford ; 
 and I half dreaded lest my father should disapprove of my 
 conduct before I had an opportunity of showing him how 
 little I had been to blame throughout. The noise and din 
 of the carriages, the oaths and exclamations of the coach- 
 men, and the uproar of the streets turned my attention 
 from these thoughts, and I asked what was the meaning of 
 the crowd. 
 
 " A great ball, sir, at Lady Charlotte Hinton's." 
 
 This was a surprise, and not of the pleasantest. I had 
 wished that my first meeting with my father at least 
 should have been alone and in quietness, where I could 
 fairly have told him every important event of my late life, 
 and explained wherefore I so ardently desired immediate 
 employment on active service and a total change in that 
 career which weighed so heavily on my spirits. The car- 
 riage drew up at the instant, and I found myself once more 
 at home. 
 
 What a feeling does that simple word convey to his ears 
 who knows the real blessing of a home, — that shelter 
 from the world, its jealousies and its envies, its turmoils 
 and its disappointments ; where, like some land-locked bay. 
 the still, calm waters sleep in silence, while the storm and 
 hurricane are roaring without; where glad faces and bright 
 looks abound ; where each happiness is reflected back from 
 
148 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 every heart and ten times multiplied, and every sorrow 
 comes softened by consolation and words of comfort! 
 And how little like this is the abode of the great leader 
 of fashion ; how many of the fairest gifts of humanity are 
 turned back by the glare of a hundred wax-lights, and the 
 glitter of gilded lacqueys ; and how few of the charities of 
 life find entrance where the splendor and luxury of volup- 
 tuous habits have stifled natural feeling, and made even 
 sympathy unfashionable ! 
 
 It was not without difficulty I could persuade the ser- 
 vants, who were all strangers to me, that the travel-stained, 
 dusty individual before them was the son of the celebrated 
 and fashionable Lady Charlotte Hinton, and at length reach 
 my room to dress. 
 
 It was near midnight ; the rooms were filled as I entered 
 the drawing-room. For a few moments I could not help 
 feeling strongly the full influence of the splendid scene be- 
 fore me. The undoubted evidences of rank and wealth that 
 meet the eye on every side in London life are very striking. 
 The splendor of the women's dress, their own beauty, a cer- 
 tain air of haughty bearing peculiarly English, a kind of 
 conscious superiority to the rest of the world mark them ; 
 and in their easy, unembarrassed, steady glance you read 
 the proud spirit of Albion's "haughty dames." This alone 
 was very different from the laughing spirit of Erin's daugh- 
 ters, their espiegle looks and smiling lips. The men, too, 
 were so dissimilar, — their reserved and stately carriage, 
 their low voices, and deferential but composed manner con- 
 trasting strongly with Irish volubility, quickness, and ges- 
 ticulation. I stood unnoticed and alone for some time, 
 quietly observant of the scene before me; and as I heard 
 name after name announced, many of them the greatest and 
 the highest in the land, there was no semblance of excite- 
 ment as they entered, no looks of admiring wonder as they 
 passed on and mingled with the crowd. This showed me I 
 was in a mighty city, where the chief spirits that ruled the 
 age moved daily before the public eye ; and again I thought 
 of Dublin, where some third-rate notoriety would have been 
 
LONDON. 149 
 
 hailed with almost acclamation, and lionized to the "top of 
 his bent." 
 
 I could remember but few of those around, and even they 
 had either forgotten me altogether, or, having no recollec- 
 tion of my absence, saluted me with the easy nonchalance 
 of one who is seen every evening of his life. 
 
 " How are you, Hinton ? " said one, with something more 
 of warmth than the rest. " I have not met you for some 
 weeks past." 
 
 "No," said I, smiling. " I have been nearly a year from 
 home." 
 
 " Ah, indeed ! In Spain ? " 
 
 "No, in Ireland." 
 
 " In Ireland ? How odd ! " 
 
 " Who has been in Ireland ? " said a low, plaintive voice. 
 Turning round as she spoke, my lady-mother stood before 
 me. "I should like to hear something — But, dear me, 
 this must be John ! " and she held out her jewelled hand 
 towards me. 
 
 " My dear mother, I am so happy to see you look so very 
 well — " 
 
 "No, no, my dear," said she, sighing, "don't speak of 
 that. When did you arrive ? — I beg your Royal High- 
 ness's pardon, I hope you have not forgotten your protege, 
 my son." 
 
 I bowed reverently as a large, full, handsome man, with 
 bald head and a most commanding expression, drew him- 
 self up before me. 
 
 " No, Madam, I have not forgotten him, I assure you ! " 
 was the reply, as he returned my salute with marked cold- 
 ness, and passed on. 
 
 Before Lady Charlotte could express her surprise at such 
 an unlooked-for mark of displeasure, my father, who had 
 just heard of my arrival, came up. 
 
 "Jack, my clear fellow, I am glad to see you. How large 
 you have grown, boy, and how brown ! " 
 
 The warm welcome of his manly voice, the affectionate 
 grasp of his strong hand, rallied me at once, and I cared 
 
150 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 little for the looks of king or kaiser at that moment. He 
 drew his arm within mine, and led me through the rooms 
 to a small boudoir, where a party at cards were the only- 
 occupants. 
 
 " Here we shall be tolerably alone for a little while, at 
 least," said he ; " and now, my lad, tell me everything 
 about you." 
 
 In less than half-an-hour I ran over the principal events 
 of my life in Ireland, omitting only those in which Miss 
 Bellew bore a part. On this account my rupture with Lord 
 de Vere was only imperfectly alluded to ; and I could 
 perceive that my father's brow became contracted, and 
 his look assumed a severer expression at this part of my 
 narrative. 
 
 " You have not been very explicit, Jack, about this busi- 
 ness ; and this it is which I am really uneasy about. I have 
 never known you do a mean or a shabby thing ; I will never 
 suspect you of one. So, now, let me clearly understand the 
 ground of this quarrel." 
 
 There was a tone of command in his voice as he said this 
 which decided me at once, and without further hesitation I 
 resolved on laying everything before him. Still, I knew 
 not how to begin ; the mention of Louisa's name alone stag- 
 gered me, and for a second or two I stammered and looked 
 confused. 
 
 Unlike his wonted manner, my father looked impatient, 
 almost angry. At last, when seeing that my agitation only 
 increased upon me, and that my difficulty grew each mo- 
 ment greater, he looked me sternly in the face, and with a 
 voice full of meaning, said, — 
 
 " Tell me everything! I cannot bear to doubt you. Was 
 this a play transaction ? " 
 
 "A play transaction! No, sir, nothing like it." 
 
 " Was there not a bet — some disputed wager — mixed 
 up in it ? " 
 
 " Yes, there was a wager, sir ; but — " 
 
 Before I could conclude, my father pressed his hand 
 against his eyes, and a faint sigh broke from him. 
 
LONDON. 151 
 
 " But hear me out, sir. The wager was none of mine." 
 
 In a few moments I ran over the whole circumstances of 
 De Vere's bet, his conduct to Miss Bellew, and my own 
 subsequent proceedings ; but when I came to the mention 
 of O'Grady's name, he stopped me suddenly, and said, — 
 
 "Major O'Grady, however, did not approve of your con- 
 duct in the affair." 
 
 " O'Grady ! He was my friend all through it ! " 
 
 My father remained silent for a few minutes, and then in 
 a low voice added, — 
 
 " There has been misrepresentation here." 
 
 The words were not well spoken when Lord Dudley de 
 Vere, with my cousin Lady Julia on his arm, came up. 
 The easy nonchalance of his manner, the tone of quiet in- 
 difference he assumed, were well known to me ; but I was 
 in nowise prepared for the look of insufferable, patronizing 
 impertinence he had now put on. 
 
 My cousin, more beautiful far than ever I had seen her, 
 took off my attention from him, however, and I turned with 
 a feeling of half-pride, half-wonder, to pay my respects to 
 her. Dressed in the most perfect taste of the fashion, her 
 handsome features wore the assured and tranquil expression 
 which conscious beauty gives. And here let no inexperi- 
 enced observer rashly condemn the placid loveliness of the 
 queen of beauty, the sanctioned belle of fashionable life. 
 It is, indeed, very different from the artless loveliness of 
 innocent girlhood ; but its claim is not less incontestible. 
 The features, like the faculties, can be cultivated ; and when 
 no unnatural effort suggests the expression, who shall say 
 that the mind habitually exercised in society of the highest 
 and most gifted circle will not impart a more elevated char- 
 acter to the look than when the unobtrusive career of every- 
 day life flows on calm and unruffled, steeping the soul in a 
 dreary monotony, and calling for no effort save of the com- 
 monest kind. 
 
 Julia's was indeed splendid beauty. The lustrous bril- 
 liancy of her dark blue eyes were shaded by long, black 
 lashes ; the contour of her cheeks was perfect ; her full 
 
152 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 short lips were slightly, so slightly, curled you knew not if 
 it were no more smile than sarcasm ; the low tones of her 
 voice were rich and musical, and her carriage and demeanor 
 possessed all the graceful elegance which is only met with 
 in the society of great cities. Her manner was most frank 
 and cordial ; she held out her hand to me at once, and 
 looked really glad to see me. After a few brief words of 
 recognition, she turned towards De Vere, — 
 
 " I shall ask you to excuse me, my lord, this set. It is 
 so long since I have seen my cousin." 
 
 He bowed negligently, muttered something carelessly 
 about the next waltz, and with a familiar nod to me 
 lounged away. O'Grady's caution about this man's atten- 
 tions to Julia at once came to my mind, and the easy tone 
 of his manner towards her alarmed me ; but I had no time 
 for reflection, as she took my arm and sauntered down the 
 room. 
 
 " And so, mon cher cousin, you have been leading a very 
 wild life of it, — fighting duels, riding steeple-chases, break- 
 ing your own bones and ladies' hearts, in a manner exceed- 
 ingly Irish ? " said Julia with a smile, into which not a 
 particle of her habitual raillery entered. 
 
 "From your letters I can learn, Julia, that a very strange 
 account of my doings must have reached my friends here. 
 Except from yourself I have met with scarcely anything 
 but cold looks since my arrival." 
 
 " Oh, never mind that ; people will talk, you know. For 
 my part, Jack, I never will believe you anything but what 
 I have always known you. The heaviest charge I have 
 heard against you is that of trifling with a poor girl's affec- 
 tions ; and as I know that the people who spread these 
 rumors generally don't know at which side either the trifling 
 or the affection resides, why I think little about it." 
 
 " And has this been said of me ? " 
 
 " To be sure it has, and ten times as much. As to your 
 gambling sins, there is no end to their enormity. A certain 
 Mr. Rooney, 1 think the name is, a noted play-man — " 
 
 " How absurd, Julia ! Mr. Rooney never played in his 
 
LONDON. 153 
 
 life ; nor have I, except in the casual way every one does 
 in a drawing-room." 
 
 " N'importe, — you are a lady-killer and a gambler. Now 
 as to count number three, — for being a jockey." 
 
 " My dear Julia, if you had seen my steeple-chase you 'd 
 acquit me of that." 
 
 " Indeed, I did hear," said she, roguishly, " that you ac- 
 quitted yourself admirably ; but still you won. And then 
 we come to the great offence, — your quarrelsome habits. 
 We heard, it is true, that you behaved, as it is called, very 
 honorably, etc. ; but really duelling is so detestable — " 
 
 "Come, come, fair cousin, let us talk of something be- 
 sides my delinquencies. What do you think of my friend 
 O'Grady ? " 
 
 I said this suddenly, by way of reprisal ; but to my utter 
 discomfiture she replied with perfect calmness, — 
 
 " I rather was amused with him at first. He is very odd, 
 very unlike other people ; but Lady Charlotte took him up 
 so, and we had so much of him here, I grew somewhat tired 
 of him. He was, however, very fond of you ; and you 
 know that made up for much with us all." 
 
 There was a tone of sweetness and almost of deep interest 
 in these last few words that made my heart thrill, and un- 
 consciously I pressed her arm closer to my side, and felt 
 the touch returned. Just at the instant my father came 
 forward accompanied by another, who I soon perceived was 
 the royal duke that had received me so coldly a few min- 
 utes before. His frank, manly face was now all smiles, and 
 his bright eye glanced from my fair cousin to myself with 
 a quick, meaning expression. 
 
 "Another time, General, will do quite as well. I say, 
 Mr. Hinton, call on me to-morrow morning about ten, will 
 you ? I have something to say to you." 
 
 I bowed deeply in reply, and he passed on. 
 
 " And let me see you after breakfast," said Julia, in a 
 half whisper, as she turned towards De Vere, who now 
 came forward to claim her for the waltz. 
 
 My father, too, mixed with the crowd, and I felt myself 
 
154 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 alone and a stranger in what should have been my home. 
 A kind of cold thrill came over me as I thought how unlike 
 was my welcome to what it would have been in Ireland ; 
 for although I felt that in my father's manner towards me 
 there was no want of affection or kindness, yet somehow I 
 missed the exuberant warmth and ready cordiality I had 
 latterly been used to, and soon turned away, sad and dis- 
 appointed, to seek my own room. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 AN UNHAPPY DISCLOSURE. 
 
 " What ! " cried I, as I awoke the next morning, and 
 looked with amazement at the figure which waddled across 
 the room with a boot in either hand, — " what, not Corny 
 Delany, surely ? " 
 
 " Ugh, that same," said he, with a cranky croak. " I don't 
 wonder ye don't know me ; hardship 's telling on me every 
 day." 
 
 Now really, in vindication of my father's household, in 
 which Sir Corny had been domesticated for the last two 
 months, I must observe that the alteration in his appear- 
 ance was not exactly such as to justify his remark ; on the 
 contrary, he had grown fatter and more ruddy, and looked 
 in far better case than I had ever seen him. His face, 
 however, most perse veringly preserved its habitual sour 
 and crabbed expression, rather increased, than otherwise, 
 by his improved condition. 
 
 " So, Corny, you are not comfortable here, I find ? " 
 
 " Comfortable ! The ways of this place would kill the 
 Danes ! Nothing but ringing bells from morning till night ; 
 carriages drivin' like wind up to the door, and bang, bang 
 away at the rapper ; then more ringing to let them out 
 again ; and bells for breakfast and for luncheon and the 
 hall dinner ; and then the sight of vi'tals that 's wasted, 
 — meat and fish and fowl and vegetables without end. 
 Ugh, the Haythins, the Turks ! eating and drinking as if 
 the world was all their own." 
 
 " Well, apparently they take good care of you in that 
 respect." 
 
156 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " Devil a bit of care ; here it 's every man for himself. 
 But I '11 give warning on Saturday ; sorrow one o' me 'ill 
 be kilt for the like of them." 
 
 " You prefer Ireland, then, Corny ? " 
 " Who said I did ? " said he, snappishly ; " is n't it as 
 bad there? Ugh, ugh, the captain won't rest asy in his 
 grave after the way he trated me, — leaving me here alone 
 and dissolate in this place, amongst strangers ! " 
 
 " Well, you must confess the country is not so bad." 
 " And why would I confess it ? What 's in it that I don't 
 mislike ? Is it the heap of houses and the smoke and the 
 devil's noise that 's always going on that I 'd like ? Why 
 isn't it peaceful and quiet like Dublin?" 
 
 And as I conversed further with him, I found that all his 
 dislikes proceeded from the discrepancy he everywhere dis- 
 covered from what he had been accustomed to in Ireland, 
 and which, without liking, he still preferred to our Saxon 
 observances, — the few things he saw worthy of praise be- 
 ing borrowed or stolen from his own side of the Channel. 
 And in this his ingenuity was striking, insomuch that the 
 very trees in Woburn Park owed their goodness to the 
 owner having been once a lord-lieutenant in Ireland, where, 
 as Corny expressed it, "devil thank him to have fine trees ! 
 hadn't he the pick of the Phaynix?" 
 
 I knew that candor formed a most prominent feature 
 in Mister Delany's character, and consequently had little 
 difficulty in ascertaining his opinion of every member of 
 my family ; indeed, to do him justice, no one ever required 
 less of what is called pumping. His judgment on things 
 and people flowed from him without effort or restraint, so 
 that ere half an hour elapsed he had expatiated on my 
 mother's pride and vanity ; apostrophized my father's hasti- 
 ness and determination ; and was quite prepared to enter 
 upon a critical examination of my cousin Julia's failings, 
 concerning whom, to my astonishment, he was not half so 
 lenient as I expected. 
 
 " Arrah, is n't she like the rest of them, coorting one day 
 with Captain Phil, and another with the young lord there, 
 
AN UNHAPPY DISCLOSURE. 157 
 
 and then laughing at them both with the ould duke that 
 comes here to dinner ! She thinks I don't be minding her ; 
 but did n't I see her taking myself off one day on paper, — 
 making a drawing of me, as if I was a baste! Maybe 
 there 's worse nor me," said the little man, looking down 
 upon his crooked shins and large knee-joints with singular 
 complacency; "and maybe she'd get one of them yet." A 
 harsh cackle, the substitute for a laugh, closed this speech. 
 
 "Breakfast on the table, sir," said a servant, tapping 
 gently at the door. 
 
 " I '11 engage it is, and will be till two o'clock, when 
 they '11 be calling out for luncheon," said Corny, turning up 
 the whites of his eyes, as though the profligate waste of 
 the house was a sin he wished to wash his hands of. 
 " That was n't the way at his honor the Jidge's ; he 'd 
 never taste a bit from morning till night ; and many a man 
 he 'd send to his long account in the mean time. Ugh ! I 
 wish I was back there." 
 
 "I have spent many happy days in Ireland, too," said I, 
 scarce following him in more than the general meaning of 
 his speech. 
 
 A fit of coughing from Corny interrupted his reply, but 
 as he left the room I could hear his muttered meditations, 
 something in this strain : " Happy days, indeed ! A dacent 
 life you led ! tramping about the country with a fool, 
 horse-riding and fighting ! Ugh ! " 
 
 I found my cousin in the breakfast-room alone ; my fa- 
 ther had already gone out; and as Lady Charlotte never 
 left her room before three or four o'clock, I willingly took 
 the opportunity of our tete-a-tete to inquire into the cause 
 of the singular reception I had met with, and to seek an 
 explanation, if so might be, of the viceroy's change towards 
 me since his visit to England. 
 
 Julia entered frankly and freely into the whole matter, 
 with the details of which, though evidently not trusting 
 me to the full, she was somehow perfectly conversant. 
 
 " My dear John," said she, " your whole conduct in 
 Ireland has been much mistaken — " 
 
158 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 "Calumniated, apparently, were the better word, Julia," 
 said I, hastily. 
 
 " Nay, hear me out. It is so easy, when people have no 
 peculiar reasons to vindicate another, to misconstrue, per- 
 haps condemn. It is so much the way of the world to look 
 at things in their worst light, that I am sure you will see 
 no particular ingenuity was required to make your career 
 in Dublin appear a wild one, and your life in the country 
 still more so. Now you are growing impatient ; you are 
 getting angry; so I shall stop." 
 
 " No, no, Julia ; a thousand pardons if a passing shade 
 of indignation did show itself in my face. Pray, go on." 
 
 "Well, then, when a young gentleman, whose exclusive 
 leanings were even a little quizzed here — there, no im- 
 patience ! — condescends at one spring to frequent third- 
 rate people's houses ; falls in love with a niece, or daughter, 
 or a something there ; plays high among riotous associ- 
 ates ; makes rash wagers ; and fights with his friends, 
 who endeavor to rescue him — " 
 
 " Thank you, Julia, — a thousand thanks, sweet cousin ! 
 The whole narrative and its author are palpably before me." 
 
 A deep blush covered her cheek as I rose hastily from 
 my chair. 
 
 " John, dear John, sit down again," said she, " I have 
 only been in jest all this time. You surely do not suppose 
 me silly enough to credit one word of all this ? " 
 
 " It must have been told you, however," said I, fixing my 
 eyes on her as I spoke. 
 
 The redness of her cheek grew deeper, and her confusion 
 increased to a painful extent, as, taking my hand in hers, 
 she said in a low, soft voice, — 
 
 " I have been very, very foolish ; but you will promise 
 me never to remember — at least never to act upon — 
 the— " 
 
 The words became fainter and fainter as she spoke, and 
 at last died away inaudibly ; and suddenly there shot across 
 my mind the passage in O'Grady's letter. The doubt, once 
 suggested, gained strength at every moment : she loved De 
 
AN UNHAPPY DISCLOSURE. 159 
 
 Vere. I will not attempt to convey the conflicting storm 
 of passion this thought stirred up within me. I turned 
 towards her. Her head was thrown gently back, and her 
 deep-blue lustrous eyes were fixed on me as if waiting my 
 reply. A tear rolled heavily along her cheek : it was the 
 first I ever saw her shed. Pressing her hand to my lips, 
 I muttered the words, "Trust me, Julia," and left the 
 room. 
 
 " Sir George wishes to see you, sir, in his own room," 
 said a servant, as I stood stunned and overcome by the 
 discovery I had made of my cousin's affection. I had no 
 time given me for further reflection as I followed him to 
 my father's room. 
 
 " Sit down, Jack," said my father, as he turned the key 
 in the door. " I wish to talk with you alone, here. I have 
 been with the duke this morning ; a little explanation has 
 satisfied him that your conduct was perfectly irreproachable 
 in Ireland. He writes by this post to the viceroy to make 
 the whole thing clear, and indeed he offered to reinstate 
 you at once, — which I refused, however. Now to some- 
 thing graver still, my boy, and which I wish I could spare 
 you ; but it cannot be." 
 
 As he spoke these words he leaned his head in both 
 his hands, and was silent. A confused, imperfect sense 
 of some impending bad news rendered me motionless and 
 still, and I waited without speaking. When my father 
 lifted up his head his face was pale and careworn, and 
 an expression such as long illness leaves had usurped the 
 strong and manly character of his countenance. 
 
 " Come, my boy, I must not keep you longer in suspense. 
 Fortune has dealt hardly with me since we parted. Jack, 
 I am a beggar ! " 
 
 A convulsive gulp and a rattling sound in the throat 
 followed the words, and for a second or two his fixed looks 
 and purple color made me fear a fit was approaching. But 
 in a few minutes he recovered his calmness, and proceeded, 
 still with a broken and tremulous voice, to relate the cir- 
 cumstances of his altered fortune. 
 
160 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 It appeared that many British officers of high rank had 
 involved themselves deeply in a loan to the Spanish gov- 
 ernment, under the faith of speedy repayment. The vary- 
 ing chances of the Peninsular struggle had given this loan 
 all the character of a gambling speculation, the skill in 
 which consisted in the anticipation of the result of the 
 war we were then engaged in. My father's sanguine hopes 
 of ultimate success induced him to enter deeply into the 
 speculation, from which, having once engaged, there was 
 no retreat. Thousand after thousand followed, to secure 
 the sum already advanced; and at last, hard pressed by 
 the increasing demands for money, and confident that the 
 first turn of fortune would lead to repayment, he had made 
 use of the greater part of my cousin Julia's fortune, whose 
 guardian he was, and in whose hands this trust-money had 
 been left. My cousin would come of age in about four 
 months, at which time she would be eighteen; and then, 
 if the money were not forthcoming, the consequences were 
 utter ruin, with the terrific blow of blasted character and 
 reputation. 
 
 There was a sum of ten thousand pounds settled on me 
 by my grandfather, which I at once offered to place at his 
 disposal. 
 
 " Alas, my poor fellow ! I have advanced already up- 
 wards of thirty thousand of Julia's fortune ! No, no, 
 Jack. I have thought much over the matter; there is 
 but one way of escaping from this difficulty. By dispos- 
 ing of these bonds at considerable loss, I shall be enabled 
 to pay Julia's money. This will leave us little better than 
 above actual want ; still, it must be done. I shall solicit 
 a command abroad ; they '11 not refuse me, I know. Lady 
 Charlotte must retire to Bath, or some quiet place, which 
 in my absence will appear less remarkable. Strict economy 
 and time will do much. And as to yourself, I know that 
 having once learned what you have to look to I shall have 
 no cause of complaint on your score : the duke has promised 
 to take care of you. And now my heart is lighter than it 
 has been for some months past." 
 
AN UNHAPPY DISCLOSURE. 161 
 
 Before my father had ceased speaking the shock of his 
 news had gradually subsided with me, and I was fully 
 intent on the details by which he hoped to escape his 
 embarrassments. My mother was my first thought. Lady 
 Charlotte, I knew, could never encounter her changed con- 
 dition; she was certain to sink under the very shock of it. 
 My lather, however, supposed that she need not be told its 
 full extent; that, by management, the circumstances should 
 be gradually made known to her ; and he hoped, too, that 
 her interest in her husband and son, both absent from her, 
 would withdraw her thoughts in great measure from the 
 routine of fashionable life, and fix them in a channel more 
 homely and domestic. 
 
 "Besides," added he, with more animation of voice, "they 
 may offer me some military appointment in the colonies, 
 where she could accompany me ; and this will prevent an 
 exposure. And, after all, Jack, there is nothing else for 
 it." As he said this he fixed his eyes on me, as though 
 rather asking than answering the question. 
 
 Not knowing what to reply, I was silent. 
 
 " You were fond of Julia, as a boy," said he, carelessly. 
 
 The blood rushed to my cheek, as I answered, " Yes, sir ; 
 but — but — " 
 
 "But you have outgrown that ? " added he, with a smile. 
 
 "Not so much, sir, as that she has forgotten me. In 
 fact, I believe we are excellent cousins." 
 
 "And it is not now, my dear boy, I would endeavor to 
 make you more to each other. What is not a union of in- 
 clination shall never be one of sordid interest. Besides, 
 Jack, why should we not take the field together? The 
 very thought of it makes me feel young enough ! ** 
 
 I saw his lip quiver as he spoke ; and unable to bear 
 more, I wrung his hand warmly, and hurried away. 
 
 VOL. II. — 11 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE HORSE-GUARDS. 
 
 I will not say that my reverse of fortune did not depress 
 me ; indeed, the first blow fell heavily ; but that once past, 
 a number of opposing motives rallied my courage and nerved 
 my heart. My father, I knew, relied on me in this crisis to 
 support his own strength. I had learned to care less for 
 extravagant habits and expensive tastes, by living among 
 those who accorded them little sympathy and less respect. 
 Besides, if my changed career excluded me from the race 
 of fashion, it opened the brilliant path of a soldier's life be- 
 fore me ; and now every hour seemed an age, until I should 
 find myself among the gallant fellows who were winning 
 their laurels in the battle-fields of the Peninsula. 
 
 According to the duke's appointment of the preceding 
 evening I found myself, at ten o'clock, punctually awaiting 
 my turn to be introduced, in the ante-chamber of the Horse- 
 Guards. The room was crowded with officers in full dress. 
 Some old white-haired generals of division had been com- 
 ing daily for years past to solicit commands, their fitness 
 for which lay only in their own doting imaginations ; some, 
 broken by sickness and crippled with wounds, were seeking 
 colonial appointments they never could live to reach ; hale 
 and stout men in the prime of life were there also, entreat- 
 ing exchanges which should accommodate their wives and 
 daughters, who preferred Bath or Cheltenham to the banks 
 of the Tagus or the snows of Canada. Among these, how- 
 ever, were many fine soldier-like fellows, whose only request 
 was to be sent where hard knocks were going, careless of 
 the climate and regardless of the cause. Another class were 
 thinly sprinkled around, — young officers of the staff, many 
 
THE HORSE-GUARDS. 163 
 
 of them delicate, effeminate-looking figures, herding scrupu- 
 lously together, and never condescending, by word or look, 
 to acknowledge their brethren about them. In this knot 
 De Vere was conspicuous by the loud tone of his voice and 
 the continued titter of his unmeaning laugh. I have already 
 mentioned the consummate ease with which he could appar- 
 ently forget all unpleasant recollections, and accost the man 
 whom he should have blushed to meet. Now he exhibited 
 this power in perfection ; saluting me across the room with 
 a familiar motion of his hand, he called out, — 
 
 " Ah, Hinton, you here, too ? Sick of Ireland ; I knew 
 it would come to that. Looking for something near 
 town ? " 
 
 A cold negative, and a colder bow, was my only answer. 
 
 Nothing abashed by this, — indeed, to all seeming, quite 
 indifferent to it, he continued, — 
 
 " Bad style of thing, Dublin ; could n't stand those con- 
 founded talkers, with their old jokes from circuit. You 
 were horribly bored, too ; I saw it." 
 
 "I beg, my lord," said I, in a tone of seriousness, the best 
 exchange I could assume for the deep annoyance I felt, — 
 " I beg that you will not include me in your opinions re- 
 specting Ireland ; I opine we differ materially in our im- 
 pressions on that country, and perhaps not without reason 
 too." These latter words I spoke with marked emphasis, 
 and fixing my eyes steadily on him. 
 
 "Very possibly," lisped he, as coolly as before. "I left 
 it without regret ; you apparently ought to be there still ! 
 Ha, ha, ha ! he has it there, I think." 
 
 The blood mounted to my face and temples as I heard 
 these words, and stepping close up beside him, I said slowly 
 and distinctly, — 
 
 " I thought, sir, that one lesson might have taught you 
 with whom these liberties were practicable." 
 
 As I said thus much, the door opened, and his Grace the 
 Duke of York appeared. Abashed at having so far forgot- 
 ten where I was, I stood motionless and crimson for shame. 
 Lord Dudley, on the contrary, bowed reverently to his Royal 
 
164 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 Highness, without the slightest evidence of discomposure 
 or irritation, his easy smile curling his lip. 
 
 The duke turned from one to the other of us without 
 speaking, his dark eyes piercing, as it were, into our very 
 hearts. "Lord Dudley de Vere," said he at length, "I have 
 signed your appointment. Mr. Hinton, I am sorry to find 
 that the voice I have heard more than once within the last 
 five minutes, in an angry tone, was yours. Take care, 
 sir, that this forgetfulness does not grow upon you. The 
 colonel of the Twenty-seventh is not the person to overlook 
 it, I promise you." 
 
 " If your Eoyal Highness — " 
 
 " I must entreat you to spare me any explanations. You 
 are gazetted to the Twenty -seventh. I hope you will hold 
 yourself in readiness for immediate embarkation. Where 's 
 the detachment, Sir Howard ? " 
 
 " At Chatham, your Royal Highness," replied an old 
 officer behind the duke's shoulder. At the same moment 
 his Grace passed through the room, conversing as he went 
 with different persons about him. 
 
 As I turned away, I met Lord Dudley's eyes. They were 
 riveted on me with an expression of triumphant malice I 
 had never seen in them before, and I hurried homeward 
 with a heart crushed and wounded. 
 
 I have but one reason for the mention of this trivial inci- 
 dent. It is to show how often the studied courtesy, the well- 
 practised deception, that the fashion of the world teaches, 
 will prevail over the heartfelt, honest indignation which 
 deep feeling evinces ; and what a vast superiority the very 
 affectation of temper confers, in the judgment of others who 
 stand by the game of life and care nothing for the players 
 at either side. Let no one suspect me of lauding the mock- 
 ery of virtue in what I say here. I would merely impress 
 on the young man who can feel for the deep sorrow and 
 abasement I suffered the importance of the attainment of 
 that self-command, of that restraint over any outbreak of 
 passion, when the very semblance of it insures respect and 
 admiration. 
 
THE HORSE-GUARDS. 165 
 
 It is very difficult to witness with indifference the pref- 
 erence of those we have once loved for some other person ; 
 still more so, when that other chances to be one we dislike. 
 The breach of affection seems then tinctured with a kind of 
 betrayal ; we call to mind how once we swayed the temper 
 and ruled the thoughts of her who now has thrown off her 
 allegiance ; we feel, perhaps for the first time too, how for- 
 gotten are all our lessons, how dead is all our wonted influ- 
 ence ; we remember when the least word, the slightest 
 action, bent beneath our will ; when our smile was happi- 
 ness and our very sadness a reproof ; and now we see our- 
 selves unminded and neglected, with no more liberty to 
 advise, no more power to control, than the merest stranger 
 of the passing hour. What a wound to our self-love ! 
 
 That my cousin Julia loved De Vere, O'Grady's suspi- 
 cions had already warned me ; the little I had seen of her 
 since my return strengthened the impression ; while his 
 confident manner and assured tone confirmed my worst 
 fears. In my heart I knew how utterly unworthy he was 
 of such a girl ; but then, if he had already won her affec- 
 tions, my knowledge came too late. Besides, the changed 
 circumstances of my own fortune, which must soon become 
 known, would render my interference suspicious, and con- 
 sequently of no value ; and, after all, if I determined on 
 such a course, what allegation could I bring against him 
 which he could not explain away as the mere levity of the 
 young officer associating among those he looked down upon 
 and despised. 
 
 Such were some of my reflections as I slowly returned 
 homewards from the Horse-Guards. As I arrived, a travel- 
 ling-carriage stood at the door; boxes, imperials, and cap- 
 cases littered the hall and steps ; servants were hurrying 
 back and forward, and Mademoiselle Clemence, my mother's 
 maid, with a poodle under one arm and a macaw's cage in the 
 other, was adding to the confusion by directions in a compo- 
 site language that would have astonished Babel itself. 
 
 " What means all this ? " said I. " Is Lady Charlotte 
 leaving town ? " 
 
156 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " Mi ladi va partir — " 
 
 " Her Ladyship 's going to Hastings, sir," said the but- 
 ler, interrupting. " Dr. Y has been here this morn- 
 ing and recommends an immediate change of air for her 
 Ladyship." 
 
 " Is Sir George in the house ? " 
 " No, sir, he 's just gone out with the doctor." 
 Ah, thought I, this, then, is a concerted measure to induce 
 my mother to leave town. " Is Lady Julia at home ? " 
 " Yes, sir, in the drawing-room." 
 "Whose horse is that with the groom ?" 
 " Lord Dudley de Vere's, sir ; he 's upstairs." 
 Already had I turned to go to the drawing-room, when 
 I heard these words. Suddenly a faint, half-sick feeling 
 came over me, and I hastened upstairs to my own room, 
 actually dreading to meet any one as I went. The blank 
 future before me never seemed so cheerless as at that 
 moment, — separated, without a chance of ever meeting, 
 from the only one I ever really loved ; tortured by my 
 doubts of her feeling for me (for even now what would I 
 not have given to know she loved me !); my worldly pros- 
 pects ruined ; without a home ; my cousin Julia, the only 
 one who retained either an interest in me or seemed to care 
 for me, about to give her hand to the man I hated and de- 
 spised. " How soon, and I shall be alone in the world ! " 
 thought I ; and already the cold selfishness of isolation 
 presented itself to my mind. 
 
 A gentle tap came to the door. I opened it : it was a 
 message from Lady Charlotte, requesting to see me in her 
 room. As I passed the door of the drawing-room I heard 
 Lady Julia and Lord de Vere talking and laughing to- 
 gether. He was, as usual, "so amusing," as my mother's 
 letter called him, — doubtless, relating my hasty and in- 
 temperate conduct at the Horse-Guards. For an instant I 
 stopped irresolute as to whether I should not break sud- 
 denly in, and disconcert his Lordship's practical coolness 
 by a disclosure : my better reason prevented me, and I 
 passed on. Lady Charlotte was seated in a deep armchair, 
 
THE HORSE-GUARDS. 167 
 
 inspecting the packing of various articles of toilette and 
 jewelry which were going on around her, her cheek some- 
 what flushed from even this small excitement. 
 
 " Ah, dearest John, how d' ye do ? Find a chair some- 
 where, and sit down by me ; you see what confusion we 're 
 
 in. Dr. Y found there was not an hour to spare ; the 
 
 heart he suspects to be sympathetically engaged — Don't 
 put that Chantilly veil there, I shall never get at it — and 
 he advises Hastings for the present. He 's coming with 
 us, however — I'll wear that ring, Clemence — and I 
 must insist at his looking at you. You are very pale to- 
 dav, and dark under the eyes ; have you any pain in the 
 side ? " 
 
 ,; Xone whatever, my dear mother; I 'm quite well." 
 
 "Pain is, however, a late symptom; my attack began 
 with an — a sense of — it was rather — Has Rundal not 
 sent back that bracelet ? How very provoking ! Could 
 you call there, dear John? — that tiresome man never 
 minds the servants, — it's just on your way to the club, or 
 the Horse-Guards, or somewhere." 
 
 I could scarce help a smile, as I promised not to forget 
 the commission. 
 
 " And now, my dear, how did his Grace receive you ? 
 You saw him this morning ? " 
 
 " My interview was quite satisfactory on the main point. 
 I am appointed to the Twenty-seventh." 
 
 " Why not on the staff, dear John ? You surely don't 
 mean to leave England ! Having been abroad already, — in 
 Ireland I mean, — it 's very hard to expect you to go so 
 soon again. Lady Jane Colthurst's son has never been far- 
 ther from her than Knightsbridge ; and I 'm sure I don't 
 see why we are to be treated worse than she is." 
 
 " But my own wish — " 
 
 "Your own wish, my dear, could never be to give me 
 uneasiness, which I assure you you did very considerably 
 while in Ireland. The horrid people you made acquaint- 
 ance with — my health, I 'm certain, could never sustain a 
 repetition of the shock I experienced then." 
 
168 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 My mother leaned back and closed her eyes, as if some 
 very dreadf al circumstance was passing across her memory ; 
 and I, half ashamed of the position to which she would con- 
 demn me, was silent. 
 
 " There, that aigrette will do very well there, I 'in sure. 
 I don't know why you are putting in all these things ; I 
 shall never want them again, in all likelihood." 
 
 The depressed tone in which these words were spoken 
 did not affect me much ; for I knew well, from long habit, 
 how my mother loved to dwell on the possibility of that 
 event, the bare suggestion of which, from another, she 
 couldn't have endured. 
 
 Just at this moment Julia entered in her travelling dress, 
 a shawl thrown negligently across her shoulders. 
 
 " I hope I have not delayed you. John, are we to have 
 your company too ? " 
 
 " No, my dear," said my mother, languidly, " he 's going 
 to leave us. Some foolish notion of active service — " 
 
 " Indeed ! " said Julia, not waiting for the conclusion of 
 the speech, — " indeed ! " She drew near me, and as she 
 did so her color became heightened, and her dark eyes grew 
 darker and more meaning. " You never told me this ! " 
 
 " I only knew it about an hour ago myself," replied I, 
 coolly ; " and when I was about to communicate my news 
 to you I found you were engaged with a visitor, — Lord de 
 Vere, I think." 
 
 " Ah, yes, very true ; he was here," she said quickly ; 
 and then perceiving that my eyes were fixed upon her, she 
 turned away her head hastily, and in evident confusion. 
 
 " Dear me, is it so late ? " said my mother with a sigh. 
 " I have some calls to make yet. Don't you think, John, 
 you could take them off my hands ? It 's only to drop a 
 card at Lady Blair's ; and you could ask if Caroline 's bet- 
 ter, — though, poor thing, she can't be, of course; Dr. Y 
 
 says her malady is exactly my own. And then if you are 
 passing Long's, tell Sir Charles that our whist-party is put 
 off, — perhaps Grammont has told him already. You may 
 mention to Saunders that I shall not want the horses till I 
 
THE HORSE-GUARDS. 169 
 
 return ; .and say I detest grays, they are so like city peo- 
 ple's equipages; and wait an instant," — here her Ladyship 
 took a small ivory memorandum tablet from the table, and 
 began reading from it a list of commissions, some of them 
 most ludicrously absurd. In the midst of the catalogue my 
 father entered hastily with his watch in his hand. 
 
 "You'll be dreadfully late on the road, Charlotte; and 
 you forget Y must be back here early to-morrow." 
 
 " So I had forgotten it," said she with some animation ; 
 " but we 're quite ready now. Clemence has done every- 
 thing, I think. Come, John, give me your arm, my dear : 
 Julia always takes this side. Are you certain it won't rain^ 
 Sir George ? " 
 
 " I really cannot be positive," said my father, smiling. 
 
 " I 'm sure there 's thunder in the air," rejoined my 
 mother; "my nerves would never bear a storm." 
 
 Some dreadful catastrophe in the West Indies, where an 
 earthquake had swallowed up a whole population, occurred 
 to her memory at the instant, and the possibility of some- 
 thing similar occurring between Seven Oaks and Tunbridge 
 seemed to engross her entire attention. By this time we 
 reached the hall, where the servants, drawn up in double 
 file, stood in respectful silence. My mother's eyes were, 
 however, directed upon a figure which occupied the place 
 next the door, and whose costume certainly was strangely 
 at variance with the accurate liveries about him. An old 
 white great-coat with some twenty capes reaching nearly 
 to the ground (for the garment had been originally destined 
 for a much larger person), a glazed hat fastened down with 
 a handkerchief passed over it and tied under the chin, and 
 a black-thorn stick with a little bundle at the end of it were 
 his most remarkable equipments. 
 
 " What is it ? What can it be doing there ? " said my 
 mother, in a Siddons tone of voice. 
 
 "What is it? Corny Delany, no less," croaked out the 
 little man in the crankiest tone of his harsh voice. " It 's 
 what remains of me, at laste ! " 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Julia, bursting into a laugh, " Corny 's 
 
170 
 
 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 coming as my body-guard. He '11 sit in the rumble with 
 Thomas." 
 
 " What a shocking figure it is ! " said my mother, survey- 
 ing him through her glass. 
 
 " Time does n't improve either of us," said Corny, with 
 the grin of a demon : happily the observation was only 
 
 heard by myself. "Is it in silk stockings I'd be trapesing 
 about the roads all night, with the rheumatiz in the small 
 of my back ! Ugh, the hay thins ! " 
 
 My mother was at length seated in the carriage, with 
 Julia beside her, — the hundred and one petty annoyances 
 to make travelling uncomfortable, by way of rendering it 
 supportable, around her ; Corny had mounted to his place 
 beside Thomas, who regarded him with a look of as pro- 
 found contempt as a sleek, well-fed pointer would confer 
 upon some mangy mongrel of the road-side ; a hurried good- 
 by from my mother, a quick, short glance from Julia, a whis- 
 per lost in the crash of the wheels, — and they were gone. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE RETREAT FROM BURGOS. 
 
 Few men have gone through life without passing through 
 certain periods which, although not marked by positive mis- 
 fortune, were yet so impressed by gloom and despondence 
 that their very retrospect is saddening. Happy it is for us 
 that in after days our memory is but little retentive of 
 these. We remember the shadows that darkened over the 
 landscape ; but we forget in great part their cause and their 
 duration, and perhaps even sometimes are disposed to smile 
 at the sources of grief to which long habit of the world and 
 its ways would have made us callous. 
 
 I was almost alone in the world, — bereft of fortune, 
 separated irrevocably from the only one I loved, and by 
 whom I had reason to think my affection was returned. In 
 that home to which I should have looked for fondness I 
 found only gloom and misfortune, — my mother grown in- 
 sensible to everything save some frivolous narrative of her 
 own health ; my father, once high-spirited and free-hearted, 
 care-worn, depressed, and broken ; my cousin, my early 
 play-fellow, half sweetheart and half sister, bestowing her 
 heart and affections on one so unworthy of her. All lost to 
 me, — and at a time, too, when the heart is too weak and 
 tender to stand alone, but must cling to something, or it 
 sinks upon the earth, crushed and trodden upon. 
 
 I looked back upon my past life, and thought over the 
 happy hours I had spent in the wild west, roaming through 
 its deep valleys and over its heath-clad mountains. I 
 thought of her my companion through many a long summer- 
 day by the rocky shore, against which the white waves 
 were ever beating, watching the sea-birds careering full 
 
172 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 many a fathom deep below us, mixing their shrill cries 
 with the wilder plash of the ever restless sea, — and how 
 we dreamed away those hours, now half in sadness, now 
 in bright hope of long years to come, and found ourselves 
 thus wandering hand in hand, loved and loving ; and then 
 I looked out upon the bleak world before me, without an 
 object to win, without a goal to strive at. 
 
 " Come, Jack," said my father, laying his hand on my 
 shoulder, and startling me out of my reverie, " one piece of 
 good fortune we have had. The duke has given me the 
 command at Chatham ; some hint of my altered cir- 
 cumstances, it seems, had reached him, and without my 
 applying, he most kindly sent for me and told me of my 
 appointment. You must join the service companies of the 
 Twenty-seventh by to-morrow ; they are under sailing- 
 orders, and no time is to be lost. I told his Grace that for 
 all your soft looks and smooth chin there was no lack of 
 spirit in your heart ; and you must take an eagle, Jack, if 
 you would keep up my credit." 
 
 Laughingly spoken as these few words were, they some- 
 how struck upon a chord that had long lain silent in my 
 heart, and as suddenly awoke in me the burning desire for 
 distinction, and the ambitious thirst of military glory. 
 
 The next evening at sunset the transport weighed an- 
 chor and stood out to sea. A slight breeze off shore and an 
 ebb-tide carried us gently away from land ; and as night 
 was falling I stood alone, leaning on the bulwarks, and 
 looking fixedly on the faint shadows of the tall chalk- 
 cliffs, my father's last words, "You must take an eagle, 
 Jack ! " still ringing in my ears, and sinking deeply into 
 my heart. 
 
 Had my accidents by flood and field been more numerous 
 and remarkable than they were, the recently-told adven- 
 tures of my friend Charles O'Malley would prevent my 
 giving them to the public. The subaltern of a marching 
 regiment, — a crack corps, it is true, — I saw merely the 
 ordinary detail of a campaigning life ; and although my 
 desire to distinguish myself rose each day higher, the great- 
 
THE RETREAT FROM BURGOS. 173 
 
 est extent of my renown went no further than the admira- 
 tion of my comrades that one so delicately nurtured and 
 brought up should bear so cheerfully and well the rough- 
 ings of a Soldier's life ; and my sobriquet of " Jack Hin- 
 ton, the Guardsman," was earned among the stormy scenes 
 and blood-stained fields of the Peninsula. 
 
 My first experiences of military life were indeed but little 
 encouraging. I joined the army in the disastrous retreat 
 from Burgos. What a shock to all my cherished notions of 
 a campaign ! How sadly different to my ideas of the pride, 
 pomp, and circumstance of glorious war ! I remember well 
 we first came up with the retiring forces on the morning of 
 the 4th of November. The day broke heavily ; masses of 
 dark and weighty clouds drifted across the sky. The 
 ground was soaked with rain, and a cold, chilling wind 
 swept across the bleak plain, and moaned dismally in the 
 dark pine-woods. Our party, which consisted of drafts 
 from the Fiftieth, Twenty-seventh, and Seventy-first regi- 
 ments, were stationed in a few miserable hovels on the side 
 of the high-road from Madrid to Labeyos. By a mistake of 
 the way we had missed a body of troops on the preceding 
 day, and were now halted here in expectation of joining 
 some of the corps retiring on the Portuguese frontier. 
 Soon after daybreak a low rumbling sound, at first supposed 
 to be the noise of distant cannonading, attracted our atten- 
 tion ; but some stragglers coming up soon after, informed 
 us that it proceeded from tumbrels and ammunition-wagons 
 of Sir Lowry Cole's brigade, then on the march. The news 
 was scarcely communicated, when the head of a column 
 appeared topping the hill. 
 
 As they came nearer, we remarked that the men did not 
 keep their ranks, but strayed across the road from side to 
 side ; some carried their muskets by the sling, others on 
 the shoulder ; some leaned on their companions, as though 
 faint and sick ; and many there were whose savage looks 
 and bloated features denoted drunkenness. The uniforms 
 were torn and ragged ; several of the men had no shoes, and 
 some even had lost their caps and shakos, and wore hand- 
 
174 JACK HINTON. THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 kerchiefs bound round their heads. Among these the offi- 
 cers were almost undistinguishable ; fatigue, hardship, and 
 privation had levelled them with the men, and discipline 
 scarcely remained in that disorganized mass. On they came, 
 their eyes bent only on the long vista of road that lay be- 
 fore them. Some, silent and sad, trudged on side by side ; 
 others, maddened by drink or wild with the excitement 
 of fever, uttered frightful and horrible ravings. Some 
 flourished their bayonets, and threatened all within their 
 reach ; and denunciations of their officers and open avowals 
 of desertion were heard on every side as they went. The 
 bugle sounded a halt as the column reached the little ham- 
 let where we were stationed ; and in a few seconds the road 
 and the fields at either side were covered with the figures 
 of the men, who threw themselves down on the spot where 
 they stood, in every posture that weariness and exhaustion 
 could suggest. 
 
 All the information we could collect was that this force 
 formed part of the rear-guard of the army ; that the French 
 under Marshal Soult were hotly in pursuit, having already 
 driven in the cavalry outposts, and more than once throw- 
 ing their skirmishers amongst our fellows. In a few 
 minutes the bugle again sounded to resume the march ; 
 and however little disposed to yield to the dictates of 
 discipline, yet old habit, stronger than even lawless insub- 
 ordination, prevailed ; the men rose, and falling in with 
 some semblance of order, continued their way. Nothing 
 struck me more in that motley mass of ragged uniform 
 and patched clothing than the ferocious, almost savage, 
 expression of the soldiers as they marched past our better 
 equipped and better disciplined party. Their dark scowl 
 betokened deadly hate ; and I could see the young men of 
 our detachment quail beneath the insulting ruffianism of 
 their gaze. Every now and then some one or other would 
 throw down his pack or knapsack to the ground, and with 
 an oath asseverate his resolve to carry it no longer. Some 
 even declared they would abandon their muskets ; and more 
 than one sat down by the way-side, preferring death or im- 
 
THE RETREAT FROM BURGOS. ■ 176 
 
 prisonment from the enemy to the horrors and severities 
 of that dreadful march. 
 
 The Highland regiments and the Guards alone preserved 
 their former discipline ; the latter, indeed, had only lately 
 joined the army, having landed at Corunna a few weeks 
 previously, and were perfect in every species of equipment. 
 Joining myself to a group of their officers, I followed in 
 the march, and was enabled to learn some tidings of my 
 friend O'Grady, who, I was glad to hear, was only a few 
 miles in advance of us, with his regiment. 
 
 Towards three o'clock we entered a dark pine-wood, 
 through which the route continued for several miles. Here 
 the march became extremely difficult, from the deep clayey 
 soil, the worn and cut-up road, and more than all the tor- 
 rents of rain that swept along the narrow gorge, and threw 
 a darkness almost like night over everything. We plodded 
 on gloomily and scarcely speaking, when suddenly the gal- 
 loping of horses was heard in the rear, and we were joined 
 by Sir Edward Paget, who, with a single aide-de-camp, rode 
 up to our division. After a few hurried questions to the 
 officer in command, he wheeled his horse round, and rode 
 back towards the next column, which, from some accidental 
 delay, was yet two miles in the rear. The sound of the 
 horse's hoofs was still ringing along the causeway, when 
 a loud shout, followed by the sharp reports of pistol-firing, 
 mingled with the voice. In an instant all was as still as 
 before, and save the crashing of the pine-branches and the 
 beating rain, no other sound was heard. 
 
 Our conjectures as to the cause of the firing were just 
 making, when an orderly dragoon, bare-headed and wounded, 
 came up at the top of his horse's speed. The few hurried 
 words he spoke in a half whisper to our commanding officer 
 were soon reported through the lines. Sir Edward Paget, 
 our second in command, had been taken prisoner, carried 
 away by a party of French cavalry, who were daring enough 
 to dash in between the columns, which in no other retreat 
 had they ventured to approach. The temerity of our enemy, 
 added to our own dispirited and defenceless condition, was 
 
176 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 the only thing wanting to complete our gloom and depres- 
 sion, and the march was now resumed in the dogged sullen- 
 ness of despair. 
 
 Day followed day, and all the miseries of our state but 
 increased with time, till on the morning of the 17th the 
 town of Ciudad Rodrigo came in view, and the rumor spread 
 that stores of all kinds would be served out to the famished 
 troops. 
 
 By insubordination and intemperance we had lost seven 
 thousand men since the day the retreat from Burgos be- 
 gan, and although neither harassed by night marches nor 
 excessive journeys, losing neither guns, ammunition, nor 
 standards, yet was the memorable document addressed by 
 Wellington to the officers commanding divisions but too 
 justly merited, concluding in these words : — 
 
 " The discipline of every army, after a long and active campaign, 
 becomes in some degree relaxed ; but I am concerned to observe that 
 the army under my command has fallen off in this respect to a greater 
 degree than any army with which I have ever been, or of which I 
 have ever read." 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 A MISHAP. 
 
 If I began niy career as a soldier at one of the gloomiest 
 periods of our Peninsular struggle, I certainly was soon des- 
 tined to witness one of the most brilliant achievements of 
 our arms in the opening of the campaign of 1813. 
 
 On the 22d of May the march began, — that forward 
 movement, for the hour of whose coming many a heart 
 had throbbed, and many a bosom beat high. From Ciudad 
 Rodrigo to the frontier our way led through the scenes 
 of former glory ; and if the veterans of the army exulted 
 at once again beholding the battle-fields where victory had 
 crowned their arms, the new soldiers glowed with ambition 
 to emulate their fame. As for myself, short as the period 
 had been since I quitted England, I felt that my character 
 had undergone a very great change ; the wandering fancies 
 of the boy had sobered down into the more fixed, determined 
 passions of the man. The more I thought of the inglori- 
 ous indolence of my former life, the stronger was now my 
 desire to deserve a higher reputation than that of a mere 
 lounger about a court, the military accompaniment of a 
 pageant. Happily for me, I knew not at the time how few 
 opportunities for distinction are afforded by the humble 
 position of a subaltern; how seldom occasions arise where, 
 amid the mass around him, his name can win praise or honor. 
 I knew not this ; and my reverie by day, my dream by night, 
 presented but one image, — that of some bold, successful 
 deed, by which I should be honorably known and proudly 
 mentioned, or my death be that of a brave soldier in the 
 field of glory. 
 
 It may be remembered by my reader that in the cele- 
 brated march by which Wellington opened that campaign 
 
 VOL. II. 12 
 
178 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 whose result was the expulsion of the French armies from 
 the Peninsular, the British left, under the command of 
 Graham, was always in advance of the main body. Their 
 route traversed the wild and dreary passes of the Tras-os- 
 Montes, a vast expanse of country, with scarcely a road to 
 be met with, and but few inhabitants; the solitary glens 
 and gloomy valleys, whose echoes had waked to no other 
 sounds save those of the wild heron or the eagle, were now 
 to resound with the thundering roll of artillery wagons, the 
 clanking crash of cavalry columns, or the monotonous din 
 of the infantry battalions, as from sunrise to sunset they 
 poured along, — now scaling the rugged height of some bold 
 mountain, now disappearing among the wooded depths of 
 some dark ravine. 
 
 Owing to a temporary appointment on the staff, I was 
 continually passing and repassing between this portion of 
 the army and the force under the immediate command of 
 Lord Wellington. Starting at daybreak, I have set off 
 alone through these wild untravelled tracts, where moun- 
 tains rose in solemn grandeur, their dark sides wooded 
 with the gloomy cork-tree, or rent by some hissing torrent 
 whose splash was the only sound that broke the universal 
 silence, — now dashing on with speed across the grassy 
 plain, now toiling along on foot, the bridle on my arm, — 
 I have seen the sun go down and never heard a human 
 voice, nor seen the footsteps of a fellow-man ; and yet what 
 charms had those lonely hours for me, and what a crowd 
 of blissful thoughts and happy images they yet bring back 
 to me ! The dark glen, the frowning precipice, the clear 
 rivulet gurgling on amid the mossy stones, the long and 
 tangled weeds that hung in festoons down some rocky cliff, 
 through whose fissured sides the water fell in heavy drops 
 into a little basin at its foot, — all spoke to me of the hap- 
 piest hours of my life, when, loved and loving, I wandered 
 on the livelong day. How often, as the day was falling, 
 have I sat down to rest beneath some tall beech, gazing on 
 the glorious expanse of mountain and valley, hill and plain, 
 and winding river, — all beneath me ; and how, as I looked, 
 
A MISHAP. 179 
 
 have my thoughts wandered away from those to many a 
 far-off mile ; and then what doubts and hopes would crowd 
 upon me ! Was I forgotten ? Had time and distance 
 wiped away all memory of me ? Was I as one she had 
 never seen, or was she still to me as when we parted ? In 
 such moments as these how often have I recurred to our 
 last meeting at the holy well, — and still, I own it, some 
 vague feeling of superstition has spoken hope to my heart, 
 when reason alone had bid me despair. 
 
 It was at the close of a sultry day, — the first of June ; I 
 shall not readily forget it, — that, overcome by fatigue I 
 threw myself down beneath the shelter of a grove of aca- 
 cias, and, tethering my horse with his bridle, fell into one 
 of my accustomed reveries. The heat of the day, the 
 drowsy hum of the summer insects, the very monotonous 
 champ of my horse, feeding beside me, — all conspired to 
 make me sleepy, and I fell into a heavy slumber. My 
 dreams, like my last-waking thoughts, were of home ; but, 
 strangely enough, the scenes through which I had been 
 travelling, the officers with whom I was intimate, the wild 
 guerilla chiefs who from time to time crossed my path or 
 shared my bivouac, were mixed up with objects and persons 
 many a mile away, making that odd and incongruous col- 
 lection which we so often experience in sleep. A kind of 
 low, unbroken sound, like the tramp of cavalry over grass, 
 awoke me ; but still, such was my drowsiness that I was 
 again about to relapse into sleep, when the sound of a 
 manly voice, singing at the foot of the rock beneath me, 
 fully aroused me. I started up, and, peeping cautiously 
 over the head of the cliff, beheld to my surprise and terror 
 a party of French soldiers stretched upon the greensward 
 around a fire. It was the first time I had ever seen the im- 
 perial troops, and notwithstanding the danger of my posi- 
 tion I felt a most unaccountable longing to creep nearer 
 and watch their proceedings. The sounds I had heard at 
 first became at this moment more audible ; and on looking 
 down the glen I perceived a party of about twenty dra- 
 goons cantering up the valley. They were dressed in the 
 
180 
 
 JACK HIXTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 uniform of the Chasseur Legers, and in their light-blue 
 jackets and silvered helmets had a most striking and pic- 
 turesque effect. 
 
 My astonishment at their appearance was not diminished 
 by the figure who rode gayly along at their head. She was 
 a young and pretty-looking girl, dressed in a blue frock and 
 jean trousers ; a light foraging cap, with the number of the 
 
 regiment worked in silver on the front, and a small canteen 
 suspended from one shoulder by a black belt completed her 
 equipment. Her hair, of a glossy black, was braided richly 
 at either side of her face, and a couple of bows of light blue 
 attested a degree of coquetry the rest of her costume gave 
 no evidence of. She rode en cavalier ; and the easy atti- 
 tude in which she sat, and her steady hand on the bridle, 
 denoted that the regimental riding-school had contributed 
 to her accomplishments. I had heard before of the Vivan- 
 dieres of the French army, but was in nowise prepared for 
 the really pretty figure and costume I now beheld. 
 
A MISHAP. 181 
 
 As the riding-party approached, the others sprang to 
 their feet, and drawing up in line performed a mock salute, 
 which the young lady returned with perfect gravity ; and 
 then, carelessly throwing her bridle to the one nearest, she 
 dismounted. In a few moments the horses were pic- 
 quetted; the packs were scattered about the grass; cooking 
 utensils, provisions, and wine were distributed ; and, amid 
 a perfect din of merry voices and laughter, the preparations 
 for dinner were commenced. Mademoiselle's part, on the 
 whole, amused me not a little. Not engaging in any of the 
 various occupations about her, she seated herself on a pile 
 of cavalry cloaks at a little distance from the rest, and tak- 
 ing out a much-worn and well-thumbed-looking volume 
 from the pocket of her coat, she began to read to herself 
 with the most perfect unconcern of all that was going on 
 about her. Meanwhile the operations of the cuisine were 
 conducted with a despatch and dexterity that only French 
 soldiers ever attain to; and, shall I confess it, the rich 
 odor that steamed upwards from the well-seasoned potage, 
 the savory smell of the roast kid, albeit partaking of 
 onions, and the brown breasts of certain poulets made me 
 wish heartily that for half an hour or so I could have 
 changed my allegiance, converted myself into a soldat de la 
 garde, and led mademoiselle in to dinner. 
 
 At length the party beneath had arranged their meal 
 upon the grass ; and the corporal, with an air of no incon- 
 siderable pretension, took Mademoiselle's hand to conduct 
 her to the place of honor at the head of the feast, — calling 
 out as he did, "Place, Messieurs, place pour Madame la 
 Duchesse de — de — " 
 
 " N'importe quoi," said another ; " the Emperor has 
 many a battle to win yet, and many a kingdom and a 
 duchy to give away. As for myself, I count upon the 
 baton of a marshal before the campaign closes." 
 
 "Have done, I beg you, with such folly, and help me to 
 some of that salmi" said the lady, with a much more prac- 
 tical look about her than her expression a few moments 
 before denoted. 
 
182 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 The feast now progressed with all the clatter which little 
 ceremony, hearty appetites, and good fellowship produce. 
 The wine went round freely, and the qui r>ropos, if I might 
 judge from their mirth, were not wanting ; for I could but 
 catch here and there a stray word or so of the conversation. 
 
 All this time my own position was far from agreeable. 
 Independent of the fact of being a spectator of a good 
 dinner and a jolly party while famishing with hunger and 
 thirst, my chance of escape depended either on the party 
 moving forward, or being so insensible from the effects of 
 their carouse that I might steal away unobserved. While I 
 balanced with myself which of these alternatives was more 
 likely, an accident decided the question. My horse, who 
 up to this moment was grazing close beside me, hearing one 
 of the troop-horses neigh in the valley beneath, pricked up 
 his ears, plunged upwards, broke the bridle with which I 
 had fastened him, and cantered gayly down into the midst 
 of the picquetted animals. In an instant every man sprang 
 to his legs ; some rushed to their holsters and drew forth 
 their pistols ; others caught up their sabres from the grass ; 
 and the young lady herself tightened her girth and sprang 
 into her saddle with the alacrity of one accustomed to 
 moments of danger. All was silence now for a couple of 
 minutes, except the slight noise of the troopers engaged in 
 bridling their horses and fixing on their packs, when a loud 
 voice called out, " Voila ! " and the same instant every eye 
 in the party was directed to my shako, which hung on a 
 branch of a tree above me, and which up to this moment I 
 had forgotten. Before I could determine on any line of 
 escape, three of the number had rushed up the rock, and 
 with drawn sabres commanded me to surrender myself 
 their prisoner. There was no choice ; I flung down my 
 sword with an air of sulky resignation, and complied. My 
 despatches, of which they soon rifled me, sufficiently ex- 
 plained the cause of my journey, and allayed any apprehen- 
 sions they might have felt as to a surprise party. A few 
 brief questions were all they put to me ; and then, con- 
 ducting me down the cliff to the scene of their bivouac, 
 
A MISHAP. 183 
 
 they proceeded to examine my holsters and the flaps of rny 
 saddle for any papers which I might have concealed in 
 these places. 
 
 " Eh, bien ! raon colonel," said the leader of the party, as 
 he drew himself up before me, and carried his hand to his 
 cap in a salute as respectful and orderly as though I were 
 his officer, " what say you to a little supper ere we move 
 forward ? " 
 
 " There 's the bill of fare," said another, laughing, as he 
 pointed to the remnant of roast fowls and stewed kid that 
 covered the grass. 
 
 I was too young a soldier to comport myself at the mo- 
 ment with that philosophic resignation to circumstances 
 which the changeful fortunes of war so forcibly instil ; 
 and I merely answered by a brief refusal, while half uncon- 
 sciously I threw my eyes around to see if no chance of 
 escape presented itself. 
 
 •• Xo, no," cried the corporal, who at once read my look 
 and its meaning ; "don't try that, or you reduce me to the 
 extremity of trying this," patting, as he spoke, the butt of 
 his carbine with an air of easy determination there was no 
 mistaking. 
 
 " Let me rather recommend Monsieur le Capitaine to try 
 this," said the Vivandiere, who, unperceived by me, was all 
 this while grilling the half of apoulet over the embers. 
 
 There was something in the kindness of the act, coupled as 
 it was with an air of graceful courtesy, that touched me ; so, 
 smothering all my regretful thoughts at my mishap, I sum- 
 moned up my best bow and my best French to acknowledge 
 the civility, and the moment after was seated on the grass 
 beside Mademoiselle Annette, discussing my supper with 
 the appetite of a man whose sorrows were far inferior to 
 his hunger. 
 
 As the moon rose, the party, who evidently had been 
 waiting for some others they expected, made preparations 
 for continuing their journey, the first of which consisted in 
 changing the corporal's pack and equipments to the back of 
 my English thoroughbred, his own meagre and rawboned 
 
184 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 quadruped being destined for me. Up to this instant the 
 thought of escape had never left my mind. I knew I could 
 calculate on the speed of my horse ; I had had some trials 
 of his endurance, and the only thing was to obtain such a 
 start as might carry me out of bullet range at once, and all 
 was safe. Now this last hope deserted me, as I beheld the 
 miserable hack to which I was condemned ; and yet poig- 
 nant as this feeling was — shall I confess it ? — it was in- 
 ferior in its pain to the sensation I experienced as I saw 
 the rude French soldier, with clumsy jack-boots and heavy 
 hand, curvetting about upon my mettlesome charger, and 
 exhibiting his paces for the amusement of his companions. 
 
 The order was now given to mount, and I took my place in 
 the middle file, — the dragoons on either side of me having 
 unslung their carbines, and given me laughingly to under- 
 stand that I was to be made a riddle of if I attempted an 
 escape. 
 
 The long months of captivity that followed have, some- 
 how, I cannot at all explain why, left no such deep impres- 
 sion on my mind as the simple events of that night. I 
 remember it still like a thing of yesterday. We travelled 
 along the crest of a mountain, the valley lying in deep, dark 
 shadow beneath ; the moon shone brightly out upon the gray 
 granite rocks beside us ; our pace was sometimes pushed to 
 a fast trot, and then relaxed to a walk, the rather, as it 
 appeared to me, to indulge the conversational tastes of 
 my escort than for any other reason. Their spirits never 
 flagged for a moment ; some jest or story was ever going 
 forward, — some anecdote of the campaign, or some love- 
 adventure, of which the narrator was the hero, commented 
 on by all in turn with a degree of sharp wit and ready re- 
 partee that greatly surprised me. In all these narratives 
 Mademoiselle played a prominent part, being invariably 
 referred to for any explanation which the difficulties of 
 female character seemed to require, her opinion on such 
 points being always regarded as conclusive. At times, too, 
 they would break forth into some rude hussar song, some 
 regular specimen of camp lyric-poetry, each verse being 
 
A MISHAP. 185 
 
 sung by a different individual, and chorussed by the whole 
 party in common. I have said that these trifling details 
 have left a deep impression behind them. Stranger still, 
 one of those wild strains haunts my memory yet ; and strik- 
 ingly illustrative as it is, not only of those songs in general 
 but of that peculiar mixture of levity and pathos, of reck- 
 less heartlessness and deep feeling so eminently French, I 
 cannot help giving it to my reader. It represents the last 
 love-letter of a soldier to his mistress, and runs thus : — 
 
 LE DERNIER ADIEU DU SOLDAT. 
 
 Rose, l'intention d' la presente 
 Est de t' informer d' ma same'. 
 L'armee francaise est triomphante, 
 Et moi j'ai V bras gauche emporte. 
 Nous avons eu d' grands avantages ; 
 La niitraille m'a brise les os, 
 Nous avons pris arm's et baggages ; 
 Pour ma part j'ai deux bals dans l'dos. 
 
 J' suis a I'hopital d'oii je pense 
 
 Partir bientot pour chez les morts. 
 
 J' t'envois dix francs qu' celui qui me panse 
 
 Ma donnes pour avoir mon corps. 
 
 Je me suis dit puisq'il faut que je file, 
 
 Et que ma Rose perd son epouseur, 
 
 <Ja fait que je mourrai plus tranquille 
 
 D' savoir que j' lui laiss' ma valeur. 
 
 Lorsque j'ai quitte ma vieill' mere, 
 Elle s'expirant sensiblement ; 
 A l'arrivee d' ma lettre j'espere 
 Qu'ell' sera niorte entierement; 
 Car si la pauvre femme est gue'rite 
 Elle est si bonne qu'elle est dans le ca» 
 De s' faire mourir de mort subite 
 A la nouvelle de mon tre'pas. 
 
 
186 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 Je te recommand' bien, ma p'tit' Rose, 
 Mon bon chien ; ne rabandonn' pas ; 
 Surtout ne lui dit pas la chose 
 Qui fait qu'il ne me reverra pas, — 
 Lui qu' je suis sur se fait une fete 
 De me voir rev'nir caporai ; 
 II va pleurer comme une bete, 
 En apprenant mon sort fatal. 
 
 Quoiqu' 9a c'est quelqu' chose qui m'enrage 
 
 D'etre fait niourir loin du pays, — 
 
 Au moins quand on meurt au village, 
 
 On peut dire bon soir aux amis, 
 
 On a sa place derriere l'eglise 
 
 On a son nom sur un' croix de bois, 
 
 Et puis on esper' qu' la payse 
 
 Viendra pour priere quelque fois. 
 
 Adieu, Rose ! adieu ! du courage! 
 A nous r'voir il n' faut plus songer; 
 Car au regiment ou je m'engage 
 On ne vous accorde pas de conge. 
 Via tout qui tourne ! j' n'y vois goutte! 
 Ah, c'est fini ! j' sens que j' m'en vas; 
 J' viens de recevoir ma feuill' de route ; 
 Adieu! Rose, adieu! n' m'oubli' pas. 
 
 Fatigue and weariness, that seemed never to weigh, upon 
 my companions, more than once pressed heavily on me. As 
 I awoke from a short and fitful slumber the same song con- 
 tinued ; for having begun it, somehow it appeared to pos- 
 sess such a charm for them they could not cease singing, 
 
 and the 
 
 "Adieu ! Rose, adieu! n' m'oubli' pas," 
 
 kept ringing through my ears till daybreak. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE MARCH. 
 
 Such, with little variety, was the history of each day and 
 night of our march, — the days usually passed in some place 
 of security and concealment, while a reconnoissance would 
 be made by some three or four of the party ; and, as night 
 fell, the route was continued. 
 
 One incident alone broke the monotony of the journey. 
 On the fourth night we left the mountain and descended 
 into a large open plain, taking for our guide the course of a 
 river which seemed familiar to my companions. The night 
 was dark ; heavy masses of cloud concealed the moon, and 
 not a star was visible ; the atmosphere was close and oppres- 
 sive, and there reigned around a kind of unnatural stillness, 
 unbroken by the flow of the sluggish river which moved on 
 beside us. Our pace had been a rapid one for some time ; 
 and contrary to their wont the dragoons neither indulged 
 in their gay songs nor merry stories, but kept together with 
 more of military precision than they had hitherto assumed. 
 I conjectured from this that we were probably approaching 
 the French lines ; and on questioning the corporal, was told 
 that such was the case. 
 
 A little after midnight we halted for a few moments to 
 refresh the horses. Each man dismounted, and stood with 
 his hand upon the bridle ; and I could not but mark how 
 the awful silence of the hour seemed to prey upon their 
 spirits as they spoke together in low and broken whispers, 
 as if fearful to interrupt the deep sleep of Nature. It was 
 just then that every eye was directed to a bright star that 
 burst out above the horizon, and seemed to expand gradually 
 into a large mass of great brilliancy, and again to diminish 
 
188 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 to a mere speck, — which it remained for some time, and 
 then disappeared entirely. We continued gazing on the 
 dark spot where this phenomenon had appeared, endeavor- 
 ing by a hundred conjectures to explain it. Wearied at 
 length with watching, we were about to continue our jour- 
 ney, when suddenly from the quarter from where the star 
 had shone a rocket shot up into the dark sky and broke into 
 ten thousand brilliant fragments, which seemed to hang 
 suspended on high in the weight of the dense atmosphere. 
 Another followed, and another ; then, after a pause of 
 some minutes, a blue rocket was seen to mount into the air, 
 and explode with a report which even at the distance we 
 stood was audible. Scarcely had its last fragments dis- 
 appeared in the darkness when a low rumbling noise, like 
 the booming of distant thunder, seemed to creep along the 
 ground. Then came a rattling volley, as if of small arms ; 
 and at last the whole horizon burst into a red glare, which 
 forked up from earth to sky with a crash that seemed to 
 shake the very ground beneath us. Masses of dark, mis- 
 shapen rock sprang into the blazing sky ; millions upon 
 millions of sparks glittered through the air ; and a cry, 
 like the last expiring wail of a drowning crew, rose above 
 all other sounds, — and all was still. The flame was gone ; 
 the gloomy darkness had returned, not a sound was heard ; 
 but in that brief moment four hundred of the French army 
 met their graves beneath the castle of Burgos, which in 
 their hurried retreat they had blown up, without appris- 
 ing the troops who were actually marching beneath its 
 very walls. 
 
 Our route was now resumed in silence ; even the levity 
 of the French soldiers had received a check ; and scarcely 
 a word passed as we rode on through the gloomy darkness, 
 anxiously looking for daybreak, to learn something of the 
 country about us. 
 
 Towards sunrise we found ourselves at the entrance of a 
 mountain pass traversed by the Ebro, Avhich in some places 
 almost filled the valley, and left merely a narrow path be- 
 tween its waters and the dark cliffs that frowned above. 
 
THE MARCH. 189 
 
 Here we proceeded, — sometimes in single file ; now trac- 
 ing the signs of the retreating force which had just preceded 
 us, now lost in astonishment at the prodigious strength of 
 the position thus abandoned. But even these feelings gave 
 way before a stronger one, — our admiration of the exquisite 
 beauty of the scenery. Glen after glen was seen opening 
 as we advanced into this wide valley, each bearing its tribu- 
 tary stream to the mighty Ebro, — the clear waters reflect- 
 ing the broken crags, the waving foliage, and the bright 
 verdure that beamed around, as orange-trees, laurels, and 
 olives bent over the current, or shot up in taper spires 
 towards the clear blue sky. How many a sheltered nook 
 we passed, with an involuntary longing to rest and linger 
 among scenes so full of romantic beauty ! But already the 
 din of the retreating column was borne towards us on the 
 breeze, the heavy, monotonous roll of large guns and cais- 
 sons ; while now and then we thought we could catch the 
 swell of martial music blending through the other sounds. 
 But soon we came up with wagons carrying the wounded 
 and sick, who, having joined by another road, had fallen to 
 the rear of the march. From them we learned that the 
 King of Spain, Joseph himself, was with the advanced 
 guard ; and that the destination of the forces was Vittoria, 
 where a junction with the corps d'armee of the other gen- 
 erals being effected, it was decided on giving battle to the 
 Anglo-Spanish army. 
 
 As we advanced, our progress became slower and more 
 difficult ; close columns of infantry blocked up the road, or 
 dense masses of cavalry, with several hundred led-horses 
 and baggage mules, prevented all chance of getting forward. 
 Gradually, however, the valley widened, the mountain be- 
 came less steep ; and by evening we reached a large plain, 
 closed towards the northeast by lofty mountains, which I 
 learned were the Pyrenees, and beheld in the far distance 
 the tall spires of the city of Vittoria. Several roads 
 crossed the plain towards the city, all of which were now 
 crowded with troops, — some pressing on in the direction 
 of the town, others taking up their position and throwing 
 
190 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 up hasty embankments and stockades. Meanwhile the 
 loaded wagons, with the spoil of the rich convents and the 
 royal treasure, were seen wending their slow way beneath 
 the walls of Vittoria on the road to Bayonne, escorted by a 
 strong cavalry force, whose bright helmets and breastplates 
 pronounced them Cuirassiers de la Garde. The animation 
 and excitement of the whole scene was truly intense, and as 
 I rode along beside the corporal, I listened with eagerness 
 to his account of the various regiments as they passed 
 hither and thither and took up their positions on the wide 
 plain. 
 
 " There, look yonder," said he, " where that dark mass is 
 defiling beside the pine-wood ! See how they break into 
 parties ; watch them, how they scatter along the low bank 
 beside the stream under shelter of the brushwood. There 
 were eight hundred men in that battalion : where are they 
 now ? All concealed, — they are the tirailleurs of the 
 army ; and see on that low mound above them where the 
 flag is flying, — the guns are about to occupy that height. 
 I was right, you see ; there they come, six, seven, eight 
 pieces of heavy metal. Sacre bleu ! that must be a place 
 of some consequence." 
 
 " What are the troops yonder with the red tufts in their 
 caps, and scarlet trousers ? " 
 
 " Ah, par bleu! your countrymen will soon know to their 
 cost : they are the Infanterie de la Garde. There 's not a 
 man in the column you are looking at who is not decore"." 
 
 " Look at this side, Monsieur ! See the Chasseurs a 
 Cheval," said Annette, putting her hand on my arm, while 
 her bright eyes glanced proudly at the glittering column 
 which advanced by a road near us, — coming along at a 
 sharp trot, their equipment clattering, their horses highly 
 conditioned, and the splendid uniform of light-blue and 
 silver giving them a most martial air. 
 
 "Bah!" said the corporal, contemptuously, "these are 
 the dragoons to my taste ; " so saying, he pointed to a dark 
 column of heavy cavalry, who led their horses slowly along 
 by a narrow causeway; the long black horse-hair trailed 
 
THE MARCH. 191 
 
 from their dark helmets with something of a gloomy as- 
 pect, to which their flowing cloaks of deep-blue added. 
 
 "The Quirassiers de Milhauds. But look — look yonder! 
 Tonnere de ciel! see that ! " 
 
 The object to which my attention was now directed, was 
 a park of artillery that covered the whole line of road from 
 the Miranda pass to the very walls of Vittoria. 
 
 "Two hundred, at least," exclaimed he, after counting 
 some twenty or thirty of the foremost. " Ventre bleu! 
 what chance have you before the batteries of the Guard ? " 
 
 As he spoke, the drums beat across the wide plain ; a con- 
 tinuous dull roll murmured along the ground. It ceased ; 
 the trumpets brayed forth a call; a clanging crash fol- 
 lowed, and I saw that the muskets were brought to the 
 shoulder, as the bayonets glanced in the sun and the sharp 
 sabres glittered along the squadrons. For a second or two 
 all was still, and then the whole air was rent with a loud 
 cry of Vive le Roi! while a mounted party rode slowly 
 from the left, and entering one of the gates of the city dis- 
 appeared from our sight. Night was now beginning to fall, 
 as we wended our way slowly along towards the walls of 
 Vittoria, — it being the corporal's intention to deliver his 
 prisoner into the hands of the etat major of Marshal 
 Jourdan. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 VITTORIA. 
 
 What a contrast to the scene without the walls did the 
 city of Vittoria present ! Scarcely had we left behind us 
 the measured tread of moving battalions, the dark columns of 
 winding cavalry, when we entered streets brilliantly lighted. 
 Gorgeous and showy equipages turned everywhere ; music 
 resounded on all sides ; servants in splendid liveries made 
 way for ladies in all the elegance of evening dress, enjoy- 
 ing the delicious coolness of a southern climate at sunset ; 
 groups of officers in full uniform chatted with their fair 
 friends from the balconies of the large majestic houses ; 
 the sounds of gayety and mirth were heard from every 
 open lattice, and the chink of the castanet and the proud 
 step of the fandango echoed around us. 
 
 "Women, dressed in all the perfection of Parisian co- 
 quetry, loitered along the streets, wondering at the strange 
 sights the Spanish city afforded, — themselves scarcely less 
 objects of wonder to the dark-eyed senoras, who, with 
 close-drawn mantillas, peered cautiously around them to see 
 the strangers. Young French officers swaggered boastfully 
 about with the air of conquerors, while now and then some 
 tall and swarthy Spaniard might be seen lowering with 
 gloomy frown from under the broad shadow of his som- 
 brero, as if doubting the evidence of his own senses at 
 seeing his native city in the occupation of the usurper. 
 
 In the open plazas, too, the soldiers were picquetted, and 
 stood in parties around their fires, or lay stretched on the 
 rich tapestries they had carried away as spoils from the 
 southern provinces. Cups and goblets of the rarest handi- 
 work and of the most costly materials were strewn about 
 
VITTORIA. 193 
 
 them. The vessels of the churches ; the rich cloths of gold 
 embroidery that had decorated the altars ; pictures, the 
 ehef-d'oeuvres of the first masters, — all were there, in one 
 confused heap, among baskets of fruit, wine-skins, ancient 
 armor, and modern weapons. From time to time some 
 brilliant staff would pass, usually accompanied by ladies, 
 who seemed strangely mixed up with all the military 
 display of the scene. 
 
 My guide, after conversing for a few moments with a sous- 
 officier of his regiment, turned from the plaza into a narrow 
 street, the termination to which was formed by a large 
 building now brilliantly lit up. As we approached, I per- 
 ceived that two sentries were on guard at the narrow gate, 
 and a large banner, with the imperial " N " in the centre, 
 waved heavily over the entrance. "This is le quartier 
 general" said the corporal, dropping his voice respectfully, 
 as we drew near. At the same instant a young officer, 
 whose long plume bespoke him as an aide-de-camp, pushed 
 past us ; but turning hastily round said something I could 
 not catch, to the corporal. " Bien, mon lieutenant," said 
 the latter, carrying his hand to his shako. "Follow me, 
 Monsieur," said the officer, addressing me, and the next 
 moment I found myself in a large and richly furnished 
 room, when having motioned me to be seated, he left me. 
 
 My meditations, such as they were, were not suffered to 
 be long, for in a few seconds the aide-de-camp made his 
 appearance, and with a low bow requested me to accom- 
 pany him. 
 
 " The general will receive you at once," said he. 
 
 I eagerly asked his name. 
 
 " Le General Oudinot." 
 
 "Ah, the Marshal?" 
 
 "No; his brother. I perceive you are a young soldier; 
 so let me give you a hint. Don't mind his manner ; ' c'est 
 un brave homrae' at bottom, but — " the loud burst of 
 laughter from a room at the end of the corridor drowned 
 the conclusion of his speech, and before I had time for 
 another question the door opened, and I was introduced. 
 
 VOL. II. — 13 
 
194 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 In a small but richly furnished chamber sat four officers 
 round a table covered with a magnificent display of silver 
 cups and plate, and upon which a dessert was spread, with 
 flasks of French and Spanish wine, and a salver holding 
 cigars ; a book, apparently an orderly book, was before 
 them, from which one of the party was reading as I came 
 in. As the aide-de-camp announced me they all looked up, 
 and the general, for I knew him at once, fixing his eyes 
 steadily on me, desired me to approach. 
 
 As I obeyed his not very courteous order, I had time to 
 perceive that the figure before me was that of a stout, 
 square-built man of about fifty-five or sixty. His head was 
 bald ; his eyebrows, of a bushy gray, were large and meet- 
 ing. A mustache of the same grizzly appearance shaded 
 his lip, and served to conceal two projectiug teeth, which, 
 when he spoke, displayed themselves like boar's tusks, 
 giving a peculiarly savage expression to his dark and 
 swarthy countenance. The loose sleeve of his coat denoted 
 that he had lost his left arm high up ; but whenever ex- 
 cited, I could see that the short stump of the amputated 
 limb jerked convulsively in a manner it was painful to 
 look at. 
 
 " What, a deserter ! a spy ! Eh, what is it, Alphonse ? " 
 
 The aide-de-camp, blushing, whispered some few words 
 rapidly, and the general resumed, — 
 
 ' " Ha ! Be seated, Monsieur. The officers of the impe- 
 rial army know how to treat their prisoners ; though, par 
 Dieu, they can't teach their enemies the lesson ! You have 
 floating prisons, they tell me, in England, where my poor 
 countrymen die of disease and starvation. Sacre Dieu/ 
 what cruelty ! " 
 
 "You have been misinformed, General. The nation I 
 belong to is uniformly humane to all whom chance of war 
 has made its prisoners, and never forgets that the officers 
 of an army are gentlemen." 
 
 " Ha ! what do you mean ? " said he, becoming dark 
 with passion, as he half rose from his seat ; then, stopping 
 suddenly short, he continued in a voice of suppressed 
 
VITTORIA. 1^5 
 
 anger, " Where are your troops ? What number of men 
 has your Villainton got with him ? " 
 
 " Of course," said I, smiling, " you do not expect me to 
 answer snch questions." 
 
 " Do you refuse it ? " said he, with a grim smile. 
 
 "I do distinctly refuse," was my answer. 
 
 " What rank do you hold in your service ? " 
 
 " I am but a subaltern." 
 
 " Tenez," said another of the party, who for some time 
 past had been leisurely conning over the despatches which 
 had been taken from me, " You are called ' capitaine ' here, 
 Monsieur." 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! What say you to that ? " cried the general, 
 exultingly. " Head it, Chamont." 
 
 " ' The despatches which Captain Airey will deliver — ' 
 Is it not so ? " said he, handing me the paper. 
 
 " Yes," said I, coolly ; " he is the senior aide-de-camp ; 
 but being employed in General Graham's staff, now occu- 
 pied in the pursuit of your army — " 
 
 " Mille tonneres ! Young man, you have chosen an un- 
 suitable place to cut your jokes ! " 
 
 "Sa Majeste le Roi," said an aide-de-camp, entering has- 
 tily, and throwing the door open to its full extent ; and 
 scarcely had the party time to rise when the Emperor's 
 brother appeared. 
 
 Of the middle size, pale, and with a thoughtful, expres- 
 sive countenance, Joseph Bonaparte's appearance was much 
 in his favor. His forehead was lofty and expansive, his 
 eye large and full, and the sweet smile which seemed the 
 gift of every member of the family he possessed in perfec- 
 tion. After a few words with General Oudinot, whose rough 
 manner and coarse bearing suffered no change by his pres- 
 ence, he turned towards me, and with much mildness of 
 voice and courtesy of demeanor inquired if I were wounded. 
 On hearing that I was not, he expressed a hope that my 
 captivity would be of brief duration, as exchanges were 
 already in progress. " Meanwhile," said he, " you shall 
 have as little to complain of as possible." 
 
196 JACK HINTON, THE GUAKDSMAN. 
 
 As he concluded these few but to me most comforting 
 words, I received a hint from the aide-de-camp to with- 
 draw, which I did, into an adjoining room. The same 
 aide-de-camp by whom I had hitherto been accompanied 
 now joined me, and, slapping me familiarly on the shoul- 
 der, cried out, — 
 
 " Eh, bien ! I hope now you are satisfied. Joseph is a 
 fine, generous fellow, and will take care not to forget his 
 promise to you. Meanwhile, come and take a share of my 
 supper." 
 
 He opened a door in the wainscot as he spoke, and intro- 
 duced me into a perfectly fitted up little boudoir, where a 
 supper had been laid out for him. Another cover was soon 
 provided for me, and in a few minutes we were seated at 
 table, chatting away about the war and the opposing armies, 
 as though instead of partisans we had merely been lookers- 
 on at the great game before us. My companion, though but 
 a year or two older than myself, held the grade of colonel, 
 every step to which he won at the point of his sword ; he 
 was strikingly handsome, and his figure, though slight, 
 powerfully knit. As the champagne passed back and for- 
 ward between us, confidences became interchanged, and be- 
 fore midnight sounded I found my companion quite familiar 
 with the name of Louisa Bellew, while to my equal aston- 
 ishment I was on terms of perfect intimacy with a certain 
 lovely marquise of the Chaussee d'Antin. The tinkle of a 
 sharp bell suddenly called the aide-de-camp to his legs ; so 
 drinking off a large goblet of cold water, and taking up his 
 chapeau, he left the room. 
 
 I now threw myself back into my chair, and tossing off a 
 bumper of champagne began to reason myself into the be- 
 lief that there were worse things even than imprisonment 
 among the French. Flitting thoughts of the past, vague 
 dreams of the future, confused images of the present, were 
 all dancing through my brain, when the door again opened, 
 and I heard my companion's footsteps behind me. 
 
 " Do you know, Alphonse," said I, without turning in 
 my chair, " I have been seriously thinking of making my 
 
VITTOKIA. 197 
 
 escape ? It is quite clear that a battle is not far off ; and, 
 by Jove ! if I only have the good fortune to meet with your 
 chef d'etat major, that savage old Oudinot, I'll pledge my- 
 self to clear off scores with him." 
 
 A half chuckle of laughter behind, induced me to 
 continue : — 
 
 " That old fellow certainly must have risen from the 
 ranks, — not a touch of breeding about him. I 'in certain 
 his Majesty rated him soundly for his treatment of me, 
 when I came away. I saw his old mustachios bristling up ; 
 he knew he was in for it." 
 
 A louder laugh than the first, but in somewhat of a differ- 
 ent cadence, induced me to turn my head, when what was 
 my horror to see before me, not my new friend the aide- 
 de-camp, but General Oudinot himself, who all this time had 
 been listening to my polite intentions regarding his future 
 welfare ! There was a savage exultation in his look as his 
 eye met mine, and for a second or two he seemed to enjoy 
 my confusion too much to permit him to break silence. At 
 last, he said, — 
 
 " Are you on parole, sir ? " 
 
 " No," I briefly replied, " nor shall I be." 
 
 " What, have I heard you aright ? Do you refuse your 
 parole ? " 
 
 " Yes ; I shall not pledge myself against attempting my 
 escape the very first opportunity that offers." 
 
 " Indeed," said he, slowly, " indeed ! What is to become 
 of poor General Oudinot if such a casualty take place ? But 
 come, sir, I have his Majesty's orders to accept your parole ; 
 if you refuse it, you are then at my disposal. I have re- 
 ceived no other instructions about you. Yes or no, — I ask 
 you for the last time." 
 
 "No! distinctly no!" 
 
 " C'est bien ; holla, garde ! numero dix et onze." 
 
 Two soldiers of the grenadiers, with fixed bayonets, ap- 
 peared at the door ; a few hurried words were spoken, the 
 only part of which I could catch was the word cachot. I 
 
198 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 was at once ordered to rise ; a soldier walked on either side 
 of me, and I was in this way conducted through the city to 
 the prison of the gendarmerie, where for the night I was 
 to remain, with orders to forward me the next morning 
 at daybreak, with some Spanish prisoners, on the road to 
 Bayonne. 
 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE RETREAT. 
 
 My cell, for such it was, although dignified with the ap- 
 pellation of chamber, looked out by a small window upon a 
 narrow street, the opposite side to which was formed by 
 the wall of a churchyard pertaining to a convent. As day 
 broke, I eagerly took my place at the casement to watch 
 what was going on without ; but except some bare-headed 
 figure of a monk gliding along between the dark yew 
 avenues, or some female in deep mourning passing to her 
 morning's devotions beside the grave of a relative, I could 
 see nothing. A deep silence seemed to brood over the city, 
 so lately the scene of festivity and mirth. Towards four 
 o'clock, however, I could hear the distant roll of drums, 
 which gradually extended from the extreme right to the 
 left of the plain before the town ; then I heard the heavy 
 monotonous tramp of marching, broken occasionally by the 
 clank of the brass bands of the cavalry, or the deep sullen 
 thunder of the artillery wagons as they moved along over 
 the paved roads. The sounds came gradually nearer ; the 
 trumpets too joined the clamor with the shrill reveille, and 
 soon the streets towards the front of the prison re-echoed 
 with the unceasing clatter of troops moving forward. I 
 could hear the voices of the officers calling to the men to 
 move up ; heard more than once the names of particular 
 regiments, as some distinguished corps were passing. The 
 music of the bands was quick and inspiriting ; and as some 
 popular air Avas struck up, the men would break forth sud- 
 denly into the words, and the rough-voiced chorus rang 
 through the narrow streets, and fell heavily on my own 
 heart as I lay there a prisoner. Hour after hour did this 
 
200 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 continue, yet the silence behind remained as unbroken as 
 ever ; the lonely churchyard, with its dark walks and sad- 
 looking trees, was still and deserted. By degrees the din 
 in front diminished ; regiments passed now only at inter- 
 vals, and their pace increased to a run left no time for the 
 bands ; the cavalry too trotted rapidly by, and at last all 
 was still as in the gloomy street before me. 
 
 It was now eight o'clock, and no summons had yet come 
 to me, although I had heard myself the order for our march- 
 ing on the Bayonne road by sunrise. The prison was still 
 as the grave ; not a step could I hear ; not a bolt nor a 
 hinge creaked. I looked to the window, but the strong iron 
 grating that defended it left no prospect of escape ; the 
 door was even stronger, and there was no chimney. The 
 thought occurred to me that the party had forgotten me, 
 and had gone away with the other prisoners. This thought 
 somehow had its consolation ; but the notion of being left 
 to starve came suddenly across me, and I hastened to the 
 window to try and make myself known to some chance 
 passer-by. 
 
 Just then the loud boom of a gun struck upon my ear ; 
 another followed, louder still ; and then a long heavy crash- 
 ing noise, which rose and fell as the wind bore it, told me 
 that the work of death had begun. The sound of the large 
 guns, which at first came only at intervals, now swelled 
 into one loud continuous roar, that drowned all other noise. 
 The strong frames of the windows shook, and the very 
 ground beneath my feet seemed to tremble with the dread- 
 ful concussion of the artillery ; sometimes the din would 
 die away for a few seconds, and then, as the wind freshened, 
 it would swell into a thunder so loud as to make me think 
 the battle was close to where I stood. Hour after hour did 
 this continue ; and now, although the little street beside 
 me was thronged with many an anxious group, I no longer 
 thought of questioning them. My whole soul was wrapped 
 up in the one thought, — that of the dreadful engagement; 
 and as I listened, my mind was carrying on with itself 
 some fancied picture of the fight, with no othsr guide to my 
 
THE RETREAT. 201 
 
 imaginings than the distant clangor of the battle. Now I 
 thought that the French were advancing, that their battery 
 of guns had opened ; and I could imagine the dark mass 
 that move'd on, their tall shakos and black belts peering 
 amidst the smoke that lay densely in the field. On they 
 poured, thousand after thousand; ay, there goes the fusi- 
 lade, — the platoons are firing. But now they halt; the 
 crash of fixing bayonets is heard ; a cheer breaks forth ; 
 the cloud is rent ; the thick smoke is severed as if by a 
 lightning flash ; the red-coats have dashed through at the 
 charge ; the enemy waits not ; the line wavers and breaks j 
 down come the cavalry, like an eagle on the swoop ! But 
 again the dread artillery opens ; the French form beneath 
 the lines, and the fight is renewed. 
 
 The fever of my mind was at its height ; I paced my 
 room with hurried steps, and springing to the narrow case- 
 ment, held my ear to the wall to listen. Forgetting where 
 I was, I called out as though at the head of my company, 
 with the wild yell of the battle around me, and the foe 
 before me. 
 
 Suddenly the crowd beneath the window broke ; the 
 crash of cavalry equipments resounded through the street, 
 and the head of a squadron of cuirassiers came up at a trot, 
 followed by a train of baggage-wagons, with six horses to 
 each ; the drivers whipped and spurred their cattle, and all 
 betokened haste. From the strength of the guard and the 
 appearance of the wagons, I conjectured that they were 
 the treasures of the army, — an opinion in which I was 
 strengthened by the word " Bayonne " chalked in large 
 letters on a chest thrown on the top of a carriage. Some 
 open wagons followed, in which the invalids of the army 
 lay ; a pale and sickly mass, their lack-lustre eyes gazed 
 heavily around with a stupid wonder, like men musing in a 
 dream. Even they, however, had arms given them, such 
 was the dread of falling into the hands of the guerilla 
 bands who infested the mountain passes, and who never 
 gave quarter even to the wounded and the dying. 
 
 The long file at length passed, but only to make way for 
 
202 JACK BUTTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 a still longer procession of Spanish prisoners, who, bound 
 wrist to wrist, marched between two files of mounted gen- 
 darmes. The greater number of these were mountaineers, 
 guerillas of the south, condemned to the galleys for life, 
 their bronzed faces and stalwart figures a striking contrast 
 to their pale and emaciated companions, the inhabitants of 
 the towns, who could scarce drag their weary limbs along, 
 and seemed at every step ready to sink between misery and 
 privation. The ribald jests and coarse language of the 
 soldiers were always addressed to these, there seeming to 
 be a kind of respect for the bolder guerillas even in the 
 hour of their captivity. The tramp of led-horses, the roll 
 of wagons, the cracking of whips, mingled with the oaths 
 of muleteers and the fainter cries of the sick, now filled 
 the air, and only occasionally did the loud cannonade rise 
 above them. From every window faces appeared, turned 
 with excited eagerness towards the dense crowds ; and 
 though I could perceive that inquiries as to the fate of the 
 day were constantly made and answered, my ignorance of 
 Spanish prevented my understanding what was said. 
 
 The noise in front of the prison, where the thorough- 
 fare was wider and larger, far exceeded that around me ; 
 and at last I could hear the steps of persons marching 
 overhead, and ascending and descending the stairs. Doors 
 clapped and slammed on every side ; when, suddenly, the 
 door of my own cell was shaken violently, and a voice cried 
 out in French, " Try this ; I passed twice without perceiv- 
 ing it." The next moment the lock turned, and my room 
 was filled with dragoons, their uniforms splashed and dirty, 
 and evidently bearing the marks of a long and severe 
 march. 
 
 "Are you the Guerilla Guiposcoa de Condeiga ? " said 
 one of the party, accosting me, as I stood wrapped up in 
 my cloak. 
 
 " No ; I am an English officer." 
 
 "Show your epaulettes, then," said another, who knew 
 that Spanish officers never wore such. 
 
 I opened my cloak, when the sight of my red uniform at 
 
THE RETREAT. 203 
 
 once satisfied them. At this instant a clamor of voices 
 without was heard, and several persons called out, " We 
 have hiin ! here he is ! " The crowd around me rushed 
 forth at the sound ; and following among them I reached 
 the street, now jammed up with horse-and-foot, wagons, 
 tumbrils, and caissons, — some endeavoring to hasten for- 
 ward towards the road to Bayonne ; others as eagerly 
 turned towards the plain of Vittoria, where the deafening 
 roll of artillery showed the fight was at its fiercest. The 
 dragoons issued forth, dragging a man amongst them whose 
 enormous stature and broad chest towered above the others, 
 but who apparently made not the slightest resistance as 
 they hurried him forward, shouting, as they went, " A la 
 grand place ! — a la place ! " 
 
 It was the celebrated Guerilla Guiposcoa, who had dis- 
 tinguished himself by acts of heroic daring, and sometimes 
 by savage cruelty towards the French, and who had fallen 
 into their hands that morning. Anxious to catch a glance 
 at one of whom I had heard so often, I pressed forward 
 among the rest, and soon found myself in the motley 
 crowd of soldiers and towns-people that hurried towards 
 the Plaza. 
 
 Scarcely had I entered the square when the movement of 
 the multitude was arrested, and a low whispering murmur 
 succeeded to the deafening shouts of vengeance and loud 
 cries of death I had heard before ; thon came the deep 
 roll of a muffled drum. I made a strong effort to press 
 forward, and at length reached the rear of a line of dis- 
 mounted dragoons who stood leaning on their carbines, 
 their eyes steadily bent on a figure some twenty paces in 
 front. He was leisurely employed in divesting himself of 
 some of his clothes, which, as he took off, he piled in a 
 little heap beside him; his broad guerilla hat, his dark 
 cloak, his sheep's-wool jacket slashed with gold, fell one 
 by one from his hand, and his broad manly chest at last 
 lay bare, heaving with manifest pride and emotion, as he 
 turned his dark eyes calmly around him. Nothing was 
 now heard in that vast crowd save when some low, broken 
 
204 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 sob of grief would burst from the close-drawn mantillas of 
 the women, as they offered up their heartfelt prayers for 
 the soul of the patriot. 
 
 A low parapet wall, surmounted by an iron railing, 
 closed in this part of the Plaza, and separated it from a 
 deep and rapid river that flowed beneath, — a branch of the 
 Ebro. Beyond, the wide plain of Vittoria stretched away 
 towards the Pyrenees ; and two leagues distant the scene 
 of the battle was discernible, from the heavy mass of cloud 
 that lowered overhead, and the deep booming of the guns 
 that seemed to make the air tremulous. 
 
 The Spaniard turned his calm look towards the battle- 
 field, and for an instant his dark eye flashed back upon 
 his foes with an expression of triumphant daring, which 
 seemed as it were to say, " I am avenged already ! " A cry 
 of impatience burst from the crowd of soldiers, and the 
 crash of their firelocks threatened that they would not wait 
 longer for his blood. But the guerilla's manner changed at 
 once, and holding up a small ebony crucifix before him, he 
 seemed to ask a moment's respite for a short prayer. 
 
 The stillness showed his request was complied with ; he 
 turned his back towards the crowd, and placing the crucifix 
 on the low parapet, he bent down on both his knees, and 
 seemed lost in his devotions. As he rose I thought I could 
 perceive that he threw a glance, rapid as lightning, over the 
 wall towards the river that flowed beneath. He now turned 
 fully round ; and unfastening the girdle of many a gay color 
 that he wore round his waist, he threw it carelessly on his 
 left arm ; and then, baring his breast to the full, knelt 
 slowly down, and with his arms wide apart called out in 
 Spanish, " Here is my life ! come, take it ! " The words 
 were scarcely uttered, when the carbines clanked as they 
 brought them to the shoulder ; the sergeant of the company 
 called out the words, " Donnez ! " a pause, — " Feu ! " The 
 fusilade rang out, and as my eyes pierced the smoke I could 
 see that the guerilla had fallen to the earth, his arms crossed 
 upon his bosom. 
 
 A shriek wild and terrific burst from the crowd. The 
 
THE RETREAT. 205 
 
 blue smoke slowly rose, and I perceived the French sergeant 
 standing over the body of the guerilla, which lay covered 
 with blood upon the turf. A kind of convulsive spasm 
 seemed to twitch the limbs, upon which the Frenchman 
 drew his sabre. The rattle of the steel scabbard rang 
 through my heart; the bright weapon glanced as he raised 
 it above his head. At the same instant the guerilla chief 
 sprang to his legs ; he tottered as he did so, for I could 
 see that his left arm hung powerless at his side, but his 
 right held a long poinard. He threw himself upon the 
 Frenchman's bosom ; a yell followed, and the same mo- 
 ment the guerilla sprang over the battlements, and with a 
 loud splash dropped into the river beneath. The water had 
 scarce covered his body, as the Frenchman fell a corpse 
 upon the ground. 
 
 A perfect roar of madness and rage burst from the French 
 soldiers, as, rushing to the parapet, a hundred balls swept 
 the surface of the river ; but the tall reeds of the bank had 
 already concealed the bold guerilla, whose left arm had re- 
 ceived the fire of the soldiers, who now saw the meaning of 
 that quick movement by which he had thrown his girdle 
 around it. The incident was but the work of a few brief 
 moments ; nor was there longer time to think on it, for 
 suddenly a squadron of cavalry swept past at the full speed 
 of their horses, calling out the words, "Place there! Make 
 way there in front ! The ambulance ! the ambulance ! " 
 
 A low groan of horror rose around ; the quick retreat of 
 the wounded betokened that the battle was going against 
 the French ; the words " beaten and retreat " re-echoed 
 through the crowd ; and as the dark suspicion crept amid 
 the moving mass, the first wagon of the wounded slowly 
 turned the angle of the square, a white flag hanging above 
 it. I caught but one glance of the sad convoy ; but never 
 shall I forget that spectacle of blood and agony. Torn 
 and mangled, they lay an indiscriminate heap; their faces 
 blackened with powder, their bodies shattered with wounds. 
 High above the other sounds their piercing cries rent the 
 air, with mingled blasphemies and insane ravings. Mean- 
 
206 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 while the drivers seemed only anxious to get forward, as 
 deaf to every prayer and entreaty they whipped their horses 
 and called out to the crowd to make way. 
 
 Escape was now open ; but where could I go ? My uni- 
 form exposed me to immediate detection ; should I endeavor 
 to conceal myself, discovery would be my death. The vast 
 tide of people that poured along the streets was a current 
 too strong to stem, and I hesitated what course to follow. 
 My doubts were soon resolved for me ; an officer of General 
 Oudinot's staff, who had seen me the previous night, rode 
 up close to where I stood, and then turning to his orderly, 
 spoke a few hurried words. The moment after, two heavy 
 dragoons, in green uniform and brass helmets, came up, one 
 at either side of me ; without a second's delay one of them 
 unfastened a coil of small rope that hung at his saddle-bow, 
 which with the assistance of the other was passed over my 
 right wrist and drawn tight. In this way, secured like a 
 malefactor, I was ordered forward. In vain I remonstrated; 
 in vain I told them I was a British officer ; to no purpose 
 did I reiterate that hitherto I had made no effort to escape. 
 It is not in the hour of defeat that a Frenchman can be- 
 have either with humanity or justice. A volley of sacrts 
 was the only answer I received, and nothing was left me 
 but to yield. 
 
 Meanwhile the tumult and confusion of the town was in- 
 creasing every minute. Heavy wagons inscribed in large 
 letters, " Domaine exterieure de sa Majeste l'Empereur," 
 containing the jewels and treasures of Madrid, passed by, 
 drawn by eight and sometimes ten horses, and accompanied 
 by strong cavalry detachments. Infantry regiments, black- 
 ened with smoke and gunpowder, newly arrived from the 
 field, hurried past to take up positions on the Bayonne road 
 to protect the retreat ; then came the nearer din and crash 
 of the artillery as the French army were falling back upon 
 the town. 
 
 Scarcely had we issued from the walls of the city when 
 the whole scene of flight and ruin was presented to our 
 eyes. The country for miles round was one moving mass 
 
THE RETREAT. 207 
 
 of fugitives ; cannon, wagons, tumbrils, wounded soldiers, 
 horsemen, and even splendid equipages were all mixed up 
 together pn the Pampeluna road which lay to our right. 
 The march was there intercepted by an overturned wagon ; 
 the horses were plunging, and the cries of wounded men 
 could be heard even where we were. The fields at each 
 side of the way were soon spread over by the crowd, 
 eager to press on. Guns were now abandoned and thrown 
 into ditches and ravines ; the men broke their muskets, 
 and threw the fragments on the road-side, and vast maga- 
 zines of powder were exploded here and there through 
 the plain. 
 
 But my attention was soon drawn to objects more immedi- 
 ately beside me. The Bayonne road, which we now reached, 
 was the last hope of the retiring army. To maintain this 
 line of retreat strong detachments of infantry, supported by 
 heavy guns, were stationed at every eminence commanding 
 the position ; but the swooping torrent of the retreat had 
 left little time for these to form, many of whom were borne 
 along with the flying army. Discipline gave way on every 
 side ; the men sprang upon the wagons, refusing to march ; 
 the treasures were broken open and thrown upon the road. 
 Frequently the baggage-guard interchanged shots and sabre- 
 cuts with the infuriated soldiers, who only thought of es- 
 cape; and the ladies, who but yesterday were the objects 
 of every care and solicitude, were hurried along amid that 
 rude multitude, — some on foot, others glad to be allowed 
 to take a place in the ambulance among the wounded, their 
 dresses blood-stained and torn, adding to the horror and 
 misery of the scene. 
 
 Such was the prospect before us. Behind, a dark mass 
 hovered as if even yet withstanding the attack of the enemy, 
 whose guns thundered clearer and clearer every moment. 
 Still the long line of wounded came on, — some in wide 
 open carts, others stretched upon the gun-carriages, man- 
 gled and bleeding. Among these my attention was drawn 
 to one whose head having fallen over the edge of the cart 
 was endangered by every roll of the heavy wheel that grazed 
 
208 JACK HIXTOX, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 his very skull. There was a halt, and I seized the moment 
 to assist the poor fellow as he lay thus in peril. His hel- 
 met had fallen back, and was merely retained by the brass 
 chain beneath his chin ; his temples were actually cleft 
 open by a sabre-cut, and I could see that he had also re- 
 ceived some shot-wounds in the side, where he pressed his 
 hands, the blood welling up between the fingers. As I 
 lifted the head to place it within the cart, the eyes opened 
 and turned fully upon me. A faint smile of gratitude curled 
 his lip ; I bent over him, and to my horror recognized in 
 the mangled and shattered form before me the gallant fel- 
 low with whom the very night before I had formed almost 
 a friendship. The word " cold," muttered between his teeth, 
 was the only answer I could catch as I called him by his 
 name. The order to march rang out from the head of the 
 convoy, and I had barely time to unfasten my cloak and 
 throw it over him ere the wagon moved on. I never saw 
 him after. 
 
 A squadron of cavalry now galloped past, reckless of all 
 before them ; the traces of their artillery were cut, and the 
 men, mounting the horses, deserted the guns, and rode for 
 their lives. In the midst of the flying mass a splendid 
 equipage flew past, its six horses lashed to madness by the 
 postillions ; a straggling guard of honor galloped at either 
 side, and a grand ecuyer in scarlet, who rode in front, called 
 out incessantly, "Place, place, pour sa Majeste!" But all 
 to no purpose ; the road, blocked up by broken wagons, 
 dense crowds of horse-and-foot, dead and dying, soon be- 
 came impassable. An effort to pass a heavily-loaded wagon 
 entangled the coach ; the axle was caught by the huge 
 wagon ; the horses plunged when they felt the restraint, 
 and the next moment the royal carriage was hurled over on 
 its side, and fell with a crash into the ravine at the road- 
 side. While the officers of his staff dismounted to rescue 
 the fallen monarch, a ribald burst of laughter rose from 
 the crowd, and a pioneer actually gave the butt of his car- 
 bine to assist the king as, covered with mud, he scrambled 
 up the ditch. I had but an instant to look upon his pale 
 
THE RETREAT. 209 
 
 countenance, which even since the night before seemed to 
 have grown many years older, ere I was myself dragged 
 forward among the crowd. 
 
 Darkness now added its horror to the scene of riot and 
 confusion. The incessant cries of the fugitives told that 
 the English cavalry were upon them ; the artillery came 
 closer and closer, and the black sky was traversed by many 
 a line of fire, as the shells poured down upon the routed 
 army. The English guns, regardless of roads, dashed down 
 on the terrified masses, raining balls and howitzer-shells on 
 every side. Already the cheers of my gallant countrymen 
 were within my hearing, and amid all the misery and dan- 
 ger around me my heart rose proudly at the glorious vic- 
 tory they had gained. 
 
 Meanwhile my escort, whose feeling towards me became 
 more brutal as their defeat was more perceptible, urged me 
 forward with many an oath and imprecation. Leaving the 
 main road, we took the fields, already crowded with the in- 
 fantry. At last, as the charges of the English came closer, 
 my escort seemed to hesitate upon being any longer bur- 
 dened by me, and one, after interchanging some angry words 
 with his companion, rode off, leaving me to the care of him 
 who passed the cord round my wrist. For a second or two 
 this fellow seemed to waver whether he might not dispose 
 of me more briefly, and once he half withdrew his pistol 
 from the holster, and turned round in his saddle to regard 
 me more steadily. A better feeling, however, gained the 
 mastery ; the hope, too, of promotion, could he bring in an 
 officer his prisoner, had doubtless its share in his decision. 
 He ordered me to jump up behind him, and dashing spurs 
 into his troop-horse rode forward. 
 
 I have, perhaps, lingered too long in my recollections of 
 this eventful night ; it was, however, the last striking in- 
 cident which preceded a long captivity. On the third day 
 of the retreat I was joined to a band of Spanish prisoners 
 marching towards Bayonne. Of the glorious victory which 
 rescued the Peninsula from the dominion of the French, 
 and drove their beaten armies beyond the Pyrenees, or of 
 
 VOL. II. — 14 
 
210 JACK HINTON, THE GUAKDSMAN. 
 
 the great current of events which followed the battle of 
 Vittoria, I do not purpose to speak. Neither will I trouble 
 jny reader with a narrative of hardship and suffering ; it is 
 .enough to mention that my refusal to give my parole sub- 
 jected me in all cases to every indignity. Wearied out at 
 length, however, I accepted this only chance of rendering 
 life endurable ; and on reaching Bayonne I gave my word 
 not to attempt my escape, and was accordingly separated 
 from my companions in misfortune, and once more treated 
 as a gentleman. 
 
 The refusal to accept " parole," I learned afterwards, was 
 invariably construed by the French authorities of the day 
 into a direct avowal not only to attempt escape by any 
 means that might present themselves, but was also deemed 
 a rejection of the hospitality of the country, which placed 
 the recusant beyond the pale of its courtesy. No sooner 
 had I complied with this necessity — for such it was — 
 than I experienced the greatest kindness and politeness 
 in every quarter. Through every village in the south, the 
 house of the most respectable inhabitant was always opened 
 to me ; and with a delicacy it would be difficult to match 
 elsewhere, although the events of the Spanish war were the 
 subjects of general interest wherever we passed, not a word 
 was spoken nor a hint dropped before the "prisoner" 
 which could in the slightest degree offend his nationality 
 or hurt his susceptibility as an enemy. 
 
 I shall now beg of my reader to pass over with me a 
 long interval of time, during which my life presented 
 nothing of interest or incident, and accompany me to the 
 environs of St. Omer, where, in the commencement of the 
 year 1814, 1 found myself domesticated as a prisoner of war 
 on parole. Daring the long period that had elapsed since the 
 battle of Vittoria, I had but once heard from home. Mat- 
 ters there were pretty much as I had left them. My father 
 had removed to a colonial appointment, whence he trans- 
 mitted the rich revenues of his office to my mother, whose 
 habitual economy enabled her to dispense hospitality at Bath, 
 
THE RETREAT. 211 
 
 much in the same kind of way as she had formerly done at 
 London. My lovely cousin — in the full possession of her 
 beauty and a large fortune — had refused some half-dozen 
 brilliant'proposals, and was reported to have an unswerving 
 attachment to some near relative, — which happy individ- 
 ual, my mother suggested, was myself. Of the Bellews, I 
 learned from the newspapers that Sir Simon was dead ; and 
 Miss Bellew, having recovered most of the great estates of 
 her family through the instrumentality of a clever attorney 
 (whom I guessed to be my friend Paul), was now the great 
 belle and fortune of Dublin. I had frequently written home, 
 and once or twice to the Rooneys and the major, but never 
 received any answer ; so that at last I began to think my- 
 self forgotten by every one, and dreamed away my life in a 
 state of almost apathy, — dead to the exciting events of the 
 campaign, Avhich, even in the seclusion where I lived, were 
 from time to time reported. The brilliant march of our 
 victorious troops through the Pyrenees and the south of 
 France, Nivelle, Orthes, and Toulouse, I read of as people 
 read of long past events. Life to me appeared to have run 
 out ; and my thoughts turned ever backward to the bright 
 morning of my career in Ireland, — my early burst of man- 
 hood, my first and only passion. 
 
 The old royalist seigneur upon whom I was billetted 
 could evidently make nothing of the stolid indifference with 
 which I heard him and his antiquated spouse discuss the 
 glorious prospect of a restoration of the Bourbons : even 
 the hope of libert} 7 was dying away within me. One ever- 
 present thought had clamped all ardor and all ambition, — 
 I had done nothing as a soldier ; my career had ended as it 
 begun ; and while others had risen to fame and honor my 
 name had won nothing of distinction and repute. Instead 
 of anxiously looking forward to a meeting with Louisa 
 Bellew, I dreaded the very thoughts of it. My mother's 
 fashionable morgue and indifference I should now feel as a 
 sarcasm on my own failure ; and as to my cousin Julia, the 
 idea alone of her raillery was insufferable. The only plan 
 I could devise for the future was, as soon as I should re- 
 
212 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 cover my liberty, to exchange into some regiment in the 
 East Indies, and never to return to England. 
 
 It was, then, with some surprise and not much sympathy 
 that I beheld my venerable host appear one morning at 
 breakfast with a large white cockade in the breast of his 
 frock coat, and a huge white lily in a wine-glass before him. 
 His elated manner and joyous looks were all so many rid- 
 dles to me ; while the roll of drums in the peaceful little 
 town, the ringing of bells, and the shouts of the inhabitants 
 were all too much even for apathy like mine. 
 
 " What is the tintamarre about ? " said I, pettishly, as 
 I saw the old gentleman fidget from the table to the win- 
 dow and then back again, rubbing his hands, admiring his 
 cockade, and smelling at the lily, alternately. 
 
 "Tintamarre ! " said he, indignantly, " savez-vous, Mon- 
 sieur ? Ce n'est pas le mot, celui-la. We are restored, 
 sir ! we have regained our rightful throne ! we are no 
 longer exiles ! " 
 
 " Yes ! " said the old lady, bursting into the room, and 
 throwing herself into her husband's arms, and then into 
 mine, in a rapture of enthusiasm, — " yes, brave young 
 man ! to you and your victorious companions in arms we 
 owe the happiness of this moment. We are restored ! " 
 
 " Oui ! restored ! restored ! " echoed the old gentleman, 
 throwing open the window, and shouting as though he 
 would have burst a blood-vessel ; while the mob without, 
 catching up the cry, yelled it louder than ever. 
 
 " These people must be all deranged," thought I, unable to 
 conjecture at the moment the reasons for such extravagant 
 joy. Meanwhile, the room became crowded with towns- 
 people in holiday costume, all wearing the white cockade, 
 and exchanging with one another the warmest felicitations 
 at the happy event. 
 
 I now soon learned that the allies were in the possession 
 of Paris, that Napoleon had abdicated, and the immediate 
 return of Louis XVIII. was already decided upon. The 
 trumpets of a cavalry regiment on the march were soon 
 added to the uproar without, accompanied by cries of " The 
 
THE RETREAT. 213 
 
 English ! The brave English ! " I rushed to the door, and 
 to my astonishment beheld above the heads of the crowd 
 the tall caps of a British dragoon regiment towering aloft. 
 Their band struck up as they approached ; and what a sen- 
 sation did my heart experience as I heard the well re- 
 membered air of " Garryowen " resound through the little 
 streets of a French village ! 
 
 " An Irish regiment ! " said I, half aloud. 
 
 The word was caught by a bystander, who immediately 
 communicated it to the crowd, adding, by way of ex- 
 planation, " Les Irlandois ! oui, ces sont les Cossaques 
 d'Angleterre." 
 
 I could not help laughing at the interpretation, when 
 suddenly my own name was called out loudly by some per- 
 son from the ranks. I started at the sound, and forcing 
 my way through the crowd I looked eagerly on every side, 
 my heart beating with anxiety lest some deception might 
 have misled me. 
 
 " Hinton ! Jack Hinton ! " cried the voice again. At the 
 head of the regiment rode three officers, whose looks were 
 bent steadily on me, while they seemed to enjoy my sur- 
 prise and confusion. The oldest of the party, who rode 
 between the two others, was a large swarthy-looking man, 
 with a long drooping mustache, at that time rarely worn 
 by officers of our army. His left arm he wore in a sling ; 
 but his right was held in a certain easy, jaunty manner I 
 could not soon forget. A burst of laughter broke from him 
 at length, as he called out, — 
 
 " Come, Jack, you must remember me ! " 
 
 " What ! " cried I, " O'Grady ! Is it possible ? " 
 
 "Even so, ray boy," said he, as throwing his reins on his 
 wrist he grasped my hand and shook it with all his heart. 
 " I knew you were here, and I exerted all my interest to 
 get quartered near you. This is my regiment — eh ? — not 
 fellows to be ashamed of, Jack ? But come along with us ; 
 we must n't part company now." 
 
 Amid the wildest cries of rejoicing and frantic demon- 
 strations of gratitude from the crowd, the regiment moved 
 
214 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 on to the little square of the village. Here the billets 
 were speedily arranged; the men betook themselves to 
 their quarters, the officers broke into small parties, and 
 O'Grady and myself retired to the inn, where, having dined 
 tete-d-tete, we began the interchange of our various adven- 
 tures since we parted. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE FOUR-IN-HAND. 
 
 ~" 1 
 
 My old friend, save in the deeper brown upon his cheek 
 and some scars from French sabres, was nothing altered 
 from the hour in which we parted ; the same bold, generous 
 temperament, the same blending of recklessness and deep 
 feeling, the wild spirit of adventure, and the gentle tender- 
 ness of a child were all mixed up in his complex nature, 
 for he was every inch an Irishman. While the breast of 
 his uniform glittered with many a cross and decoration, he 
 scarcely ever alluded to his own feats in the campaign; 
 nor did he more than passingly mention the actions where 
 his own conduct had been most conspicuous. Indeed, there 
 was a reserve in his whole manner while speaking of the 
 Peninsular battles which I soon discovered proceeded from 
 delicacy towards me, knowing how little I had seen of ser- 
 vice from my early imprisonment, and fearing lest in the 
 detail of the glorious career of our armies he might be 
 inflicting fresh wounds on one whose fortune forbade him 
 to share in it. He often asked me about my father, andj 
 seemed to feel deeply the kindness he had received from 
 him when in London. Of my mother, too, he sometimes 
 spoke, but never even alluded to Lady Julia; and when 
 once I spoke of her as the protector of Corny, he fidgetted 
 for a second or two, seemed uneasy and uncomfortable, and 
 gave me the impression that he teifc sorry to be reduced to 
 accept a favor for his servant, where he himself had been 
 treated with coldness and distance. 
 
 Apart from this — and it was a topic we mutually 
 avoided — O'Grady's spirits were as high as ever. Mixing 
 much with the officers of his corps, he was actually beloved 
 
216 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 by them. He joined in all their schemes of pleasure and 
 amusement with the zest of his own buoyant nature ; and the 
 youngest cornet in the regiment felt himself the colonel's 
 inferior in the gayety of the mess as much as at the head 
 of the squadrons. 
 
 At the end of a few days I received from Paris the 
 papers necessary to relieve me from the restraint of my 
 parole, and was concerting with 0' Grady the steps neces- 
 sary to be taken to resume my rank in the service, when 
 an incident occurred which altered all our plans for the 
 moment, and, by one of those strange casualties which so 
 often occur in life, gave a new current to my own fate 
 forever. 
 
 I should mention here, that, amid all the rejoicings which 
 ushered in the restoration, amid all the flattery by which 
 the allied armies were received, one portion of the royalists 
 maintained a dogged, ungenial spirit towards the men by 
 whom their cause was rendered victorious, and never for- 
 gave them the honor of reviving a dynasty to which they 
 themselves had contributed nothing. These were the old 
 militaires of Louis XVIII., — the men who, too proud or 
 too good-for-nothing to accept service under the Emperor, 
 had lain dormant during the glorious career of the French 
 armies, and who now, in their hour of defeat and adversity, 
 started into life as the representatives of the military 
 genius of the country. These men, I say, hated the Eng- 
 lish with a vindictive animosity which the old Napoleon- 
 ists could not equal. Without the generous rivalry of an 
 open foe, they felt themselves humbled by comparison with 
 the soldiers whose weather-beaten faces and shattered limbs 
 bore token of a hundred battles, and for the very cause, too, 
 for which they themselves were the most interested. This 
 ungenerous spirit found vent for itself in a thousand petty 
 annoyances, which were practised upon our troops in every 
 town and village of the north of France ; and every officer 
 whose billet consigned him to the house of a royalist soldier 
 would gladly have exchanged his quarters for the com- 
 panionship of the most inveterate follower of Napoleon. 
 
TEE FOUR-IN-HAND. 217 
 
 To an instance of what I have mentioned was owing the 
 incident which I am about to relate. 
 
 To relieve the ennui of a French village, the officers of 
 the Eighteenth had, Avith wonderful expenditure of skill 
 and labor, succeeded in getting up a four-in-hand drag, 
 which to the astonishment and wonder of the natives was 
 seen daily wending its course through the devious alleys and 
 narrow streets of the little town, the roof covered with 
 dashing dragoons, whose laughing faces and loud-sounding 
 bugles were all deemed so many direct insults by the ill- 
 conditioned party I have mentioned. The unequivocal 
 evidences of dislike they exhibited to this dashing " turn- 
 out " formed, I believe, one of its great attractions to the 
 Eighteenth, who never omitted an occasion, whatever the 
 state of the weather, to issue forth every day, with all the 
 noise and uproar they could muster. 
 
 At last, however, the old commissaire de police, whose in- 
 dignation at the proceeding knew no bounds, devised an ad- 
 mirable expedient for annoying our fellows, — one which, 
 supported as it was by the law of the country, there was no 
 possibilit} 7 of evading. This was to demand the passport 
 of every officer who passed the barriere, thus necessitat- 
 ing him to get down from the roof of the coach, present 
 his papers, and have them carefully conned and scruti- 
 nized, their visee looked into, and all sorts of questions 
 propounded. 
 
 When it is understood that the only drive led through 
 one or other of these barriers, it may be imagined how pro- 
 voking and vexatious such a course of proceeding became. 
 Representations were made to the mayor over and anon, 
 explaining that the passports once produced no further in- 
 convenience should be incurred; but all to no purpose. 
 Any one who knows France will acknowledge how totally 
 inadequate a common-sense argument is in the decision of 
 a question before a government functionary. The mayor, 
 too, was a royalist, and the matter was decided against us. 
 
 Argument and reason having failed, the gallant Eigh- 
 teenth came to the resolution to try force ; and accordingly 
 
218 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 it was decided that next morning we should charge the bar- 
 riere in full gallop, as it was rightly conjectured that no 
 French employe would feel disposed to encounter the rush 
 of a four-in-hand, even with the law on his side. To ren- 
 der the coup-de-main more brilliant, and perhaps, too, to 
 give an air of plausibility to the infraction, four dashing 
 thoroughbred light chestnuts — two of the number having 
 never felt a collar in their lives — were harnessed for the 
 occasion. A strong force of the wildest spirits of the regi- 
 ment took their places on the roof ; and amid a cheer that 
 actually made the street ring, and a tantarara from the 
 trumpets, the equipage dashed through the town, the lead- 
 ers bounding with the swingle-bars every moment over 
 their backs. Away we went, the populace flying in terror 
 on every side, and every eye turned towards the barriere, 
 where the dignified official stood, in the calm repose of his 
 station, as if daring us to transgress his frontier. Already 
 had he stepped forward with his accustomed question. 
 The words, " Messieurs, je vous demande," had just escaped 
 his lips, when he had barely time to spring into. his den as 
 the furious leaders tore past, the pavement crashing be- 
 neath their hoofs, and shouts of laughter mingling with 
 the uproar. 
 
 Having driven for a league or so at a slow pace, to 
 breathe our cattle, we turned homewards, rejoicing in the 
 success of our scheme, which had fully satisfied our ex- 
 pectations. What was our chagrin, however, as we neared 
 the barriere, to discover that a strong force of mounted 
 gendarmes stopped the way, their drawn sabres giving 
 us plainly to understand the fate that awaited our horses 
 if we persisted in our plan ! What was to be done ? 
 To force a passage under the circumstances was only to 
 give an opportunity to the gendarmerie they were long 
 anxious for, to cut our whole equipage in pieces. To yield 
 was the only alternative ; but what an alternative ! — to 
 be laughed at by the whole town on the very day of 
 our victory ! 
 
 " I have it ! " said O'Grady, who sat on the box beside 
 
THE FOUR-IN-HAND. 219 
 
 the driver, — "I have it, lads ! Pull up when they tell 
 you, and do as they direct." 
 
 With some difficulty the four dashing nags were reined 
 in as we' came up to the barriere ; and the commissaire, 
 bursting with passion, appeared at the door of the lodge, 
 and directed us to get down. 
 
 " Your passports will avail little on the present occasion," 
 said he, insolently, as we produced our papers. " Your 
 carriage and horses are confiscated. St. Omer has now 
 privilege as a fortified town. The fortresses of France 
 enforce a penalty of forty thousand francs — " 
 
 A burst of laughter from the bystanders at our rueful 
 faces prevented us hearing the remainder of the explana- 
 tion. Meanwhile, to our horror and disgust, some half- 
 dozen gendarmes, with their long caps and heavy boots, 
 were crawling up the sides of the drag, and taking their 
 seats upon the top. Some crept into the interior, and 
 showed their grinning faces at the windows ; others 
 mounted into the rumble; and two more aspiring spirits 
 ascended to the box, by one of whom O'Grady was rudely 
 ordered to get down, a summons enforced by the commis- 
 saire himself in a tone of considerable insolence. O'Grady's 
 face for a minute or two seemed working with a secret im- 
 pulse of fun and devilment which I could not account for 
 at such a moment, as he asked, in a voice of much 
 humility, — 
 
 ''Does Monsieur the Commissaire require me to come 
 down ? " 
 
 " Instantly ! " roared the Frenchman, whose passion was 
 now boiling over. 
 
 " In that case, gentlemen, take charge of the team." So 
 saying, he handed the reins to the passive gendarmes, who 
 took them, without well knowing why. " I have only a 
 piece of advice," continued Phil, as he slowly descended 
 the side, — " keep a steady hand on the near-side leader, 
 and don't let the bar strike her ; and now, good-by." 
 
 He flourished his four-in-hand whip as he spoke, and 
 with one tremendous cut came down on the team, from 
 
220 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 leader to wheeler, accompanying the stroke with a yell 
 there was no mistaking. The heavy carriage bounded from 
 the earth, as the infuriated cattle broke away at full gallop. 
 A narrow street and a sharp angle lay straight in front ; 
 but few of those on the drag waited for the turn, as at 
 every step some bear-skin shako shot into the air, followed 
 by a tall figure, whose heavy boots seemed ill adapted for 
 flying in. The corporal himself had abandoned the reins, 
 and held on manfully by the rail of the box. On every 
 side they fell, in every attitude of distress. But already 
 the leaders had reached the corner ; round went the swingle- 
 bars, the wheelers followed, the coach rocked to one side, 
 sprang clean off the pavement, came down with a crash, and 
 then fell right over, while the maddened horses, breaking 
 away, dashed through the town, the harness in fragments 
 behind them, and the pavement flying at every step. 
 
 The immediate consequences of this affair were some 
 severe bruises, and no small discouragement to the gen- 
 darmerie of St. Omer ; the remoter ones, an appeal from 
 the municipal authorities to the commander-in-chief, by 
 whom the matter was referred for examination to the adju- 
 tant-general. 0' Grady was accordingly summoned to Paris 
 to explain, if he could, his conduct in the matter. The 
 order for his appearance there came down at once, and I, 
 having nothing to detain me at St. Omer, resolved to 
 accompany my friend for a few days at least, before I 
 returned to England. Our arrangements were easily made; 
 and the same night we received the adjutant-general's 
 letter we started by post for Paris. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 ST. DENIS. 
 
 We were both suddenly awakened from a sound sleep in 
 the caleche by the loud cracking of the postillion's whip, 
 the sounds of street noises, and the increased rattle of the 
 wheels over the unequal pavement. We started up just as, 
 turning round in his saddle and pointing with his long whip 
 to either side of him, the fellow called out, — 
 
 " Paris, Messieurs, Paris ! This is Faubourg St. Denis ; 
 there before you lies the Rue St. Denis. Sacristi! the 
 streets are as crowded as at noon-day." 
 
 By this time we had rubbed the sleep from our eyelids 
 and looked about us, and truly the scene before us was one 
 to excite all our astonishment. The Quartier St. Denis was 
 then in the occupation of the Austrian troops, who were not 
 only billetted in the houses, but bivouacked in the open 
 streets, — their horses picquetted in long files along the 
 pavd, the men asleep around their watch-fires, or burnish- 
 ing arms and accoutrements beside them. The white-clad 
 cuirassier from the Danube, the active and sinewy Hun- 
 garian, the tall and swarthy Croat were all there, mixed up 
 among groups of peasant girls coming in to market with 
 fowls and eggs. Carts of forage and wagons full of all 
 manner of provisions were surrounded by groups of sol- 
 diers and country people, trading amicably with one an- 
 other as though the circumstances which had brought them 
 together were among the ordinary events of commerce. 
 
 Threading our way slowly through these, we came upon 
 the Jager encampment, their dark -green uniform and brown 
 carbines giving that air of sombre to their appearance so 
 striking after the steel-clad cuirassier and the bright hel- 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
222 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 mets of the dragoons. Farther on, around a fountain, were 
 a body of dismounted dragoons, their tall calpacks and sear- 
 let trousers bespeaking them Polish lancers ; their small 
 but beautifully formed white horses pawed the ground, and 
 splashed the water round them, till the dust and foam rose 
 high above them. But the strangest of all were the tall, 
 gigantic figures, who, stretched alongside of their horses, 
 slept in the very middle of the wide street. Lifting their 
 heads lazily for a moment, they gazed on us as we passed, 
 and then lay down again to sleep. Their red beards hung in 
 masses far down upon their breasts, and their loose trousers 
 of a reddish dye but half concealed boots of undressed skin. 
 Their tall lances were piled around them; but these were not 
 wanting to prove that the savage, fierce-looking figures be- 
 fore us were the Cossacks of the Don, thus come for many 
 a hundred mile to avenge the slaughter of Borodino and the 
 burning of Moscow. As we penetrated farther into the city, 
 the mixture of nation and costume became still more re- 
 markable. The erect and soldier-like figure of the Prussian ; 
 the loose, wild-eyed Tartar ; the brown-clad Russian, with 
 russet beard and curved sabre ; the stalwart Highlander, 
 with nodding plume and waving tartan ; the Bashkir, with 
 naked scimitar ; the gorgeous hussar of Hungary ; the tall 
 and manly form of the English guardsman, — all passed 
 and re-passed before us, adding, by the babel of discordant 
 sound, to the wild confusion of the scene. 
 
 It was a strange sight to see the savage soldier from the 
 steppes of Russia, the dark-eyed, heavy-browed Gallician, 
 the yellow-haired Saxon, the rude native of the Caucasus 
 who had thus given themselves a rendezvous in the very 
 heart of European civilization, wandering about, — now stop- 
 ping to admire some magnificent palace, now gazing with 
 greedy wonder at the rich display of some jeweller, or the 
 costly and splendid dresses which were exhibited in the 
 shop windows ; while here and there were gathered groups 
 of men whose looks of undisguised hate and malignity were 
 bent unceasingly upon the moving mass. Their bourgeois 
 dress could not conceal that they were the old soldiers of 
 
ST. DENIS. 223 
 
 the empire, — the men of Wagram, of Austerlitz, of Jena, 
 and of Wilna, — who now witnessed within their own capital 
 the awful retribution of their own triumphant aggressions. 
 
 As the morning advanced the crowds increased, and as 
 we approached the Place du Carousel, regiments poured in 
 from every street to the morning parade. Among these, 
 the Russian garde — the Bonnets oVor — were conspicuous for 
 the splendor of their costume and the soldier-like precision 
 of their movements, the clash of their brass cymbals and 
 the wild strains of their martial music adding indescribably 
 to their singular appearance. As the infantry drew up in 
 line, we stopped to regard them, when from the Place Louis 
 Quinze the clear notes of a military band rang out a quick- 
 step, and the Twenty-eighth British marched in to the air 
 of " The Young May Moon." O'Grady's excitement could 
 endure no longer. He jumped up in the caliche, and, wav- 
 ing his hat above his head, gave a cheer that rang through 
 the long corridor beneath the Louvre. The Irish regi- 
 ment caught up the cry, and a yell as wild as ever rose 
 above the din of battle shook the air. A Cossack picquet 
 tVien cantering up suddenly halted, and, leaning down upon 
 their horses' manes, seemed to listen ; then dashing spurs 
 into their horses' flanks they made the circuit of the Place 
 at full gallop, while their " Hurra ! " burst forth with all 
 the wild vehemence of their savage nature. 
 
 " We shall get into some precious scrape with all this," 
 said O'Grady, as, overcome with laughing, he fell back into 
 the caliche. 
 
 Such was my own opinion ; so telling the postillion to turn 
 short into the next street we hurried away unperceived, 
 and drove with all the speed we could muster for the Rue 
 St. Honore. The Hotel de la Paix fortunately had room 
 for us ; and ordering our breakfasts we adjourned to 
 dress, each resolving to make the most of his few hours 
 at Paris. 
 
 I had just reached the breakfast-room, and was conning 
 over the morning papers, when O'Grady entered in full 
 uniform, his face radiant with pleasure, and the same 
 
224 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 easy, jaunty swagger in his walk as on the first day I met 
 him. 
 
 "When do you expect to have your audience, Phil?" 
 said I. 
 
 "I have had it, my boy. It's all over, finished, com- 
 pleted. Never was anything so successful. I talked over 
 the old adjutant in such a strain, that, instead of dreaming 
 about a court-martial on us, the worthy man is seriously 
 bent on our obtaining compensation for the loss of the drag. 
 He looked somewhat serious as I entered ; but when once I 
 made him laugh, the game was my own. I wish you had 
 seen him wiping his dear old eyes as I described the covey 
 of gendarmes taking the air. However, the main point is, 
 the regiment is to be moved up to Paris, the commissaire 
 is to receive a reprimand, our claim for some ten thousand 
 francs is to be considered, and I am to dine with the adju- 
 tant to-day and tell the story after dinner." 
 
 " Do you know, Phil, I have a theory that an Irishman 
 never begins to prosper but just at the moment that any 
 one else would surely be ruined." 
 
 " Don't make a theory of it, Jack, for it may turn out un- 
 lucky. But the practice is pretty much what you represent 
 it. Fortune never treats people so well as when they 
 don't care a fig about her. She 's exactly like a lady 
 patroness, — confoundedly impertinent, if you '11 bear it ; 
 but all smiles, if you won't. Have you ever met Tom 
 Burke, — ' Burke of ours,' as they call him, I believe, in 
 half the regiments in the service ? " 
 
 "No, never." 
 
 " Well, the loss is yours. Tom 's a fine fellow in his way ; 
 and if you could get him to tell you his story, — or rather 
 one of his stories, for his life is a succession of them, — 
 perhaps you would find that this same theory of yours has 
 some foundation. We '11 pick him up one of these days, 
 and I'll introduce you. But now, Jack, I have a piece 
 of news for you. What do you think of it, my lad ? — 
 Lady Charlotte Hinton 's at Paris." 
 
 " My mother here ? Is it possible ? " 
 
 
ST. DENIS. 225 
 
 " Yes. Her Ladyship resides No. 4 Place Vendome, oppo- 
 site the Hotel de Londres. There 's accuracy for you." 
 
 " And who is with her ? My father ? " 
 
 "No. 'The General is expected in a few days. Lady 
 Julia, I believe, is her only companion." 
 
 There was a kind of reserve suddenly in O'Grady's man- 
 ner as he mentioned this name, which made us both pause 
 for a few seconds. At length he broke the awkwardness 
 of the silence by saying, in his usual laughing way, — 
 
 " I contrived to pick up all the gossip of Paris in half an 
 hour. The town is full of English — and such English too ! 
 The Cossacks are civilized people, of quiet, retiring habits, 
 compared to them. I verily believe the French are more 
 frightened by our conviviality than ever they were by the 
 bayonets of the allies. I 'm dying to hear your lady- 
 mother's account of everything here." 
 
 " What say you, then, if you come along with me ? I 'm 
 becoming very impatient to see my people once more. 
 Julia will, I 'in certain, be very amusing." 
 
 "Ah, and I have a debt of gratitude in that quarter," 
 said O'G-rady, hesitatingly. " Lady Julia was so very kind 
 as to extend her protection to that old villain Corny. I 
 cannot for the life of me understand how she endured 
 him." 
 
 " As to that," said I, " Julia has a taste for character ; 
 and not even the Chevalier Delany's eccentricity would pain 
 her. So let 's forward." 
 
 " Did I tell you that De Vere is here ? " said O'Grady. 
 
 "No ; not with my friends, I trust ? " 
 
 " On the contrary, I ascertained that he does not visit at 
 Lady Charlotte's. He is attached to Lord Cathcart's em- 
 bassy ; he 's very little in society, and rarely to be seen but 
 at the salon, where he plays tremendously high, loses every 
 night, but reappears each day with a replenished pocket. 
 But I intend to know the secret of all this, and of many 
 other matters, ere long. So now let us proceed." 
 
 VOL. II. — 15 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 PARIS IN 1814. 
 
 If the strange medley of every nation and costume which 
 we beheld on entering Paris surprised us, how much greater 
 was our astonishment when, having finished a hurried break- 
 fast, we issued forth into the crowded streets ! Here were 
 assembled among the soldiers of every country visitors from 
 all parts of Europe, attracted by the novel spectacle thus 
 presented to them, and eager to participate in the pleasures 
 of a capital whose rejoicings, so far from being checked by 
 the sad reverse of fortune, were now at the highest pitch ; 
 and the city much more resembled the gay resort of an elated 
 people than a town occupied by the troops of conquering 
 enemies. The old soldier of the empire alone grieved in 
 the midst of this general joy ; with the downfall of Napo- 
 leon died his every hope. The spirit of conquest, by which 
 for so many years the army had been intoxicated, was anni- 
 hilated by the one line that signed the treaty of Fontaine- 
 bleau. Thus among the gay and laughing groups that 
 hurried onward might now and then be seen some veteran 
 of the Old Guard scowling with contemptuous look upon 
 that fickle populace, as eager to celebrate the downfall as 
 ever they had been to greet the glory of their nation. 
 
 Nothing more strikingly marked the incongruous host that 
 filled the city than the different guards of honor which were 
 mounted at the several hotels where officers and generals of 
 distinction resided. At this time the regulation was not es- 
 tablished which prevailed somewhat later, and gave to the 
 different armies of the allies the duty of mounting all the 
 guards in rotation. Thus at one door might be seen the tall 
 cuirassier of Austria, his white cloak falling in heavy folds 
 
PAKIS IN 1814. 227 
 
 over the flank and haunches of his coal-black horse, looking 
 like some Templar of old ; at another the plumed bonnet 
 of a Highlander fluttered in the breeze, as some hardy moun- 
 taineer paced to and fro, his gray eye and stern look un- 
 moved by the eager and prying gaze of the crowd that 
 stopped to look upon so strange and singular a costume. 
 Here was the impatient schimmel of some Hungarian hus- 
 sar pawing the ground with restless eagerness, as his gay 
 dolman slashed with gold glittered in the sun. The jiiger 
 from Bohemia, the deadly marksman with the long rifle, the 
 savage Tartar of the Ukraine devouring his meal on his 
 guard, and turning his dark suspicious eye around him, lest 
 every passer-by might mean some treachery, — all denoted 
 that some representative of their country dwelt within ; 
 while every now and then the clank of a musket would be 
 heard, as a heavy porte cochere opened to permit the passage 
 of an equipage, as strange and as characteristic as the guard 
 himself. Here would issue the heavy wagon of some Ger- 
 man prince, with emblazoned panels and scarlet hammer- 
 cloth, the horses as fat and lethargic as the smoking and 
 mustached figure they were drawing ; there was a low 
 droschki of a Russian, three horses abreast, their harness 
 tinkling with brass bells as the spirited animals plunged 
 and curvetted along. The quiet and elegant-looking phae- 
 ton of English build, with its perfection of appointment, 
 rolled along with its deep woody sound beside the quaint, 
 old-fashioned caleche of Northern Germany, above whose 
 cumbrous side-panels only the heads of the passengers were 
 visible. Nor were the horsemen less dissimilar; the stately 
 Prussian, with his heel aplomb beneath his elbow ; the Cos- 
 sack, with short stirrups, crouched upon his horse's mane ; 
 the English horse-artilleryman powdering along with mas- 
 sive accoutrements and gigantic steed ; the Polish light 
 cavalry soldier, standing high in his stirrups, and turning 
 his restless eye on every side, — all were subjects for our 
 curiosity and wonder. 
 
 The novelty of the spectacle seemed, however, to have 
 greatly worn off for the Parisians, who rarely noticed the 
 
228 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 strange and uncouth figures that every moment passed be- 
 fore their eyes, and now talked away as unconcernedly amid 
 the scene of tumult and confusion as though nothing new 
 or remarkable was going on about them, — their very in- 
 difference and insouciance one of the strangest sights we 
 witnessed. 
 
 Our progress, which at the first was a slow one, ceased 
 entirely at the corner of the palace, where a considerable 
 crowd was now collected. Although we asked of the by- 
 standers, no one could tell what was going forward; but the 
 incessant roars of laughter showed that something droll or 
 ridiculous had occurred. O'Grady, whose taste in such mat- 
 ters would suffer no denial, elbowed his way through the 
 mob, I following as well as I was able. When we reached 
 the first rank of the spectators, we certainly needed no ex- 
 planation of the circumstances to make us join in the mirth 
 about us. 
 
 It was a single combat of a very remarkable description. 
 A tall Cossack, with a long red beard now waving wildly on 
 every side, was endeavoring to recover his mutcka cap from 
 a little decrepit old fellow, from whom he had stolen a bas- 
 ket of eggs. The eggs were all broken on the ground ; and 
 the little man danced among them like an infuriated fiend, 
 flourishing a stick all the while in the most fearful fashion. 
 The Cossack, whose hand at every moment sought the naked 
 knife that was stuck in his girdle, was obliged to relinquish 
 his weapon by the groans of the mob, who unequivocally 
 showed that they would not permit foul play, and being 
 thus unarmed, could make nothing of an adversar} r whose 
 contemptible appearance caused all the ridicule of the scene. 
 Meanwhile the little fellow, his clothes in rags, and his head 
 surmounted by a red Cossack mutcka, capered about like 
 nothing human, uttering the most frightful sounds of rage 
 and passion ; at length, in a paroxysm of fury, he dealt the 
 tall Cossack a rap on the temples which made him reel again. 
 Scarcely had the blow descended, when, stung by the insult 
 and the jeers of the mob, the enraged savage grasped his 
 knife ; with one spring he pounced upon the little man ; but 
 
PARIS IN 1814. 229 
 
 as he did so a strong hand from behind seized him by the 
 collar, and with one tremendous jerk huiled him back upon 
 the crowd, where he fell stunned and senseless. 
 
 I had only time to perceive that it was O'Grady who had 
 come to the rescue, when the little old fellow, turning 
 fully round, looked up in his protector's face, and, without 
 evincing any emotion of surprise or wonder or even of 
 gratitude, croaked out, — 
 
 " And it 's standin' looking on ye wor all the time, and I 
 fighting my sowle out ! Ugh ! bad luck to service ! Look 
 at my coat and small-clothes ! Ay, you might laugh, ye 
 grinning bastes as ye are, — and a basket of fresh eggs in 
 smithereens, and this Friday ! " 
 
 The convulsions of laughter which this apparition and 
 the speech excited prevented our hearing more. The mob, 
 too, without understanding a word, were fully sensible of 
 the absurdity of the scene, and a perfect chorus of laughter 
 rang through the street. 
 
 " And my elegant beaver, see it now ! " said Corny — for 
 we hope our reader recognizes him — as he endeavored to 
 empty the batter from his head-piece, and restore it to 
 shape. " Ugh ! the Haythins ! the Turks ! see now, Mas- 
 ter Phil, it 's warning I 'm giving you this minit, — here, 
 where I stand. May the divil — Ah, if ye dare, ye eter- 
 nal robber ! " This elegant exordium was directed to the 
 poor Cossack, who, having regained his feet, was skulking 
 away from the field, throwing as he went a lingering look 
 at his red cap, which Mister Delany still wore as a spoil of 
 his victory. 
 
 We now made our way through the crowd, followed by 
 Corny, whose angry looks on every side elicited peals of 
 laughter; and thus accompanied we approached the mas- 
 sive porte cochere of a large hotel in the Place Vendome, 
 where a Swiss, in full costume of porter, informed us that 
 Lady Charlotte Hinton resided. While I endeavored to 
 pass on, he interposed his burly person, informing me, in 
 very short phrase, that her Ladyship did not receive before 
 four o'clock. 
 
230 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " Arrab, hould your prate ! " cried Corny ; " sure it 's the 
 woman's son you 're talking to. — Two pair of stairs to 
 your left hand, and the first doore in the passage. — Look 
 at the crowd there, the lazy craytures ! that has nothing 
 better to do than follow a respectable man. Be off ! bad 
 luck to yez ! ye ought to be crying over the disgrace ye 're 
 in. Be the light that shines ! but you desarved it well." 
 
 Leaving Corny to his oration before the mob, of which, 
 happily for the safety of his own skin, they did not com- 
 prehend one word, I took the direction he mentioned, and 
 soon found out the door, on which a visiting card with my 
 mother's name Avas fastened. 
 
 We were now introduced into a large and splendidly fur- 
 nished saloon, with all that lightness and elegance of deco- 
 ration which in a foreign apartment is the compensation — 
 a poor one sometimes — for the more comfortable look of 
 our English houses. The room was empty, but the morning 
 papers and all the new publications of the day were scat- 
 tered about with profusion. Consigning my friend for a 
 short time to these, I followed the femme-de-chambre, who 
 had already brought in my card to my mother, to her Lady- 
 ship's dressing-room. The door was opened noiselessly Tjy 
 the maid, who whispered my name. A gentle "Let him 
 come in " followed, and I entered. 
 
 My mother was seated before a glass, under the hands of 
 a coiffeur, and dared not turn her head. As I approached 
 she reached me her hand, however, which having kissed 
 dutifully, I drew my chair, and sat down beside her. 
 " My dear boy ! " said she, as her eyes turned towards me, 
 and a tear fell from the lid and trickled down her cheek. 
 In spite of the unnatural coldness of such a meeting, the 
 words, the accents, and the look that accompanied them 
 came home to my heart, and I was glad to hide 1113^ emotion 
 by again pressing my lips to her hand. Having kindly in- 
 formed me that the ceremony she was then submitting to 
 was imperative, inasmuch as if she had not M. Dejonconrt 
 then she could not have him at all, — that his time was so 
 filled up, every moment of it, from eight in the morning 
 
PARIS IN 1814. 
 
 231 
 
 till eleven at night, that the Emperor Alexander himself 
 could n't obtain his services, if he wished for them, — she 
 proceeded- to give me some details of my father, by which 
 I could learn that the change in his circumstances had 
 never been made known to her, and that she had gone on 
 
 since we last met in her old career of extravagance and 
 expense, the indulgence of which, and the cares of her ever- 
 declining health, having given her abundant occupation. 
 
 As I looked at her beautiful features and delicately fair 
 complexion, upon which time had scarcely laid a touch, I 
 sighed to think at what a frightful sacrifice of feeling, of 
 duty, and of happiness, too, such loveliness had been pur- 
 chased. If the fine pencilling of that brow had never known 
 a wrinkle, the heart had never throbbed to one high or holy 
 thought; if the smile sat easily on the lip, it was the habit- 
 ual garb of fashionable captivation, and not the indication 
 of one kind thought or one affectionate feelinsr. I felt 
 
232 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 shocked, too, that I could thus criticise my mother; but in 
 truth for a minute or two I forgot she was such. 
 
 " And Julia," said I, at length, — " what of her ? " 
 
 " Very handsome indeed, — strikingly so. Beulwitz, the 
 emperor's aide-de-camp, admires her immensely. I am sin- 
 cerely glad that you are come, dear John. You know Julia's 
 fortune has all been saved : but of that another time. The 
 first point now is to secure you a ticket for this ball ; and 
 how to do it, I 'in sure I know not." 
 
 " My dear mother, believe me I have not the slightest 
 desire — " 
 
 " How very unkind you are to think we could separate 
 from you after such an absence ! Besides, Julia would be 
 seriously offended, and I think with cause. But the ticket, — 
 let 's consider about that. Dejoncourt, is it true that the 
 Princesse de Nassau was refused a card for the ball ? " 
 
 "Oui, mi ladi. The King of Prussia has sent her one of 
 his, and is to take her; and Madame la Duchesse de St. Bieve 
 was so angry at being left out that she tried to get up an 
 alarm of conspiracy in the faubourg, to prevent the sover- 
 eigns from going." 
 
 " But they will go, surely, — won't they ? " 
 
 "Ah, to be sure. Pardieu, they would say to-morrow 
 that they had been omitted too, if they did n't appear." 
 
 " What are we to do ? " said her Ladyship with energy. 
 " Grammont can be of no use here ; for unfortunately these 
 people are not French." 
 
 " What then," said I, " is it some of the crowned heads 
 who are the entertainers ? " 
 
 " Oh, no ! Indeed, I don't know who they are ; nor do I 
 know any one who does. The only fact of importance is 
 that this is their third fete, — the first two were the most 
 brilliant things ever given in Paris ; that the Emperor of 
 Bussia always dances there ; that the King of Prussia makes 
 his whist party ; that Blucher takes the head of one of the 
 supper-tables ; and, in a word, Talleyrand himself lias em- 
 ployed more diplomacy to secure an extra ticket than he 
 has often dispensed in carving out a new monarchy." 
 
TARIS IN 1814. 233 
 
 My mother handed me a splendidly embossed card, as she 
 spoke, upon which, in letters of pale burnished gold, were 
 inscribed the following words : " Madame de Roni, nee Cas- 
 sidy de Kilmainham, prie honneur," etc. A burst of laugh- 
 ter at the absurdity of the title stopped my reading further. 
 
 " She 's an Italian, possibly," said my mother. 
 
 " I should think not," I replied ; " the ' nee Cassidy de 
 Kilmainham' smacks of something nearer home. What 
 think you of Ireland ? " 
 
 " Ireland ! Are these people Irish ? " said she, starting 
 with horror at the thought. " I trust, my dear John, you 
 would not think proper to jest on such a subject." 
 
 " My dear mother, I never heard of them before ; the 
 only thing that strikes me is the name. 'Cassidy' is as- 
 suredly more Milesian than Roman." 
 
 "But she has birth, — that's certain," replied my mother, 
 proudly. 
 
 Not caring to argue the point, which after all resolved 
 itself into the question that the lady was the child of some- 
 body, and that somebody was called " Cassidy," I began to 
 meditate on the singularity of such a phase in life as the 
 entertainer of sovereigns, kaisers, kings, princes, archdukes, 
 and ambassadors being a person utterly unknown. 
 
 "But here 's Grammont," said my mother, as a gentle tap 
 was heard at the door and the count entered, — the only 
 change in his appearance since last I saw him being the 
 addition of another cordon to his blue coat, and a certain 
 springiness in his walk, which I afterwards remarked as 
 common among all the returned emigres at the restoration. 
 
 " Que diable faut il faire," said the count, entering, " with 
 this Madame de Roni ? She refuses all the world. Ah, 
 Jack, mon cher, how do you do ? — safe and sound from all 
 the perils of these terrible French, who cut you all to pieces 
 in the Peninsula ? But only think, mi ladi, no card for la 
 Duchesse de Tavenne ; Madame de Givry left out ! Sacristi I 
 I hope there is nothing against ce pauvre Roi de Prusse." 
 
 "Well, and here is John," said my mother; "what are 
 we to do about him ? " , 
 
234 JACK HIXTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 My renewed disclaimer of any wish in the matter was cut 
 short by a look of reproof, and I waited the whole discus- 
 sion with patience. 
 
 " Never was there such a difficulty," said the count, mus- 
 ing. " There is certainly nothing to be done through the 
 worthy husband of Madame. Dejoncourt and two or three 
 more gave him a diner en gourmande at Very's, to seduce 
 him ; and after his fifth flask of champagne he frankly con- 
 fessed he was sorry he could not return their civilities as he 
 wished. ' I '11 entertain you here, and have Blucher and 
 Platoff, Fouche, and any one else you lika to meet you. 
 I '11 introduce you to old Prussia and the Czar whenever 
 you please; you shall have permission to shoot at Fontaine- 
 bleau any day you mention ; but as to Madame de Roni, 
 she is devilish exclusive. I really cannot manage that 
 for you.'" 
 
 "I wish you could prevail on yourself to be serious," 
 said my mother, in nowise pleased with the jocular spirit 
 the count's anecdote had excited. " But here is Julia, — 
 what does she advise ? " 
 
 As my mother spoke, the door opened, and my cousin 
 appeared. Her figure had more of the roundness of 
 womanhood, and her face though paler was fuller, and its 
 expression had assumed a more decided character than 
 when I last saw her. Her winning smile and her graceful 
 carriage were all unchanged ; and her low soft voice never 
 struck me as more fascinating than when she held out her 
 hand and said, — 
 
 "My dear cousin, how happy it makes me to see you 
 again ! " 
 
 Her dark blue eyes were tearful as she spoke, and her 
 lip — that haughty lip — trembled. A strange wild thrill 
 crept through my heart as I pressed her hand within both 
 of mine, — a vague feeling which I dared not suffer to 
 dwell in my mind, and yet feared lest when it should de- 
 part that I had lost my chance of happiness. Yes, there 
 are times when a man without the admixture of any cox- 
 combry in the feeling, without a particle of vanity, — nay, 
 
PARIS IN 1814. 235 
 
 with a deep sense of his own unworthiness, — can ask 
 himself, " Does this woman like me ? " And at such 
 moments, if his own heart give not the ready answer, it 
 were far better that he sought not the reply from his 
 reason. 
 
 It was only when my mother asked for the second time, 
 what was to be done about John's ticket, that Julia seemed 
 aware of the question, — a slight, a very slight, curving of 
 her lip showing the while the sense she entertained of such 
 an inquiry after long years of separation ; and at last, as if 
 unable to repress the indignation of the moment, she said 
 abruptly, — 
 
 "But, of course, as we shall not think of going to- 
 night — " 
 
 " We not go ! Eh, pardieu ! why not ? " said the 
 count. 
 
 " The colonel below stairs begs to say that he will call 
 somewhat later," said the femme-de-chambre at this 
 juncture. 
 
 " The colonel ! Whom does she mean ? " 
 
 " Oh, my friend O'Grady. Poor fellow ! I have been 
 forgetting him all this while. So allow me to join him, and 
 we '11 wait for your appearance in the drawing-room." 
 
 " I remember him perfectly," said my mother, — " an 
 agreeable person, I think. So take Julia and the count 
 with you, and I'll follow as soon as I can." 
 
 Julia blushed deeply, and as suddenly grew pale again as 
 my mother spoke. I knew that she had always treated my 
 friend with hauteur and reserve, without any assignable 
 reason, and had long determined that when an opportunity 
 arose I would endeavor to get rid of the unjust impression 
 she had somehow conceived of my warmest, truest friend. 
 This was not, however, the time for explanations; and I 
 merely said, as I offered my arm, — 
 
 "Poor O'Grady has been badly wounded; but I think 
 he's now getting on favorably." 
 
 She said something in reply, but the words were lost in 
 the noise of descending the stairs. Just as we reached the 
 
236 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 landing I caught a glimpse of my friend issuing from the 
 porte cochere, and only in time to call him by his name, — 
 
 " Holloa, Phil ! Don't go away." 
 
 As he turned back towards the drawing-room, he cried 
 out, — 
 
 "It's only this instant, Jack, I remembered how very 
 awkward it was of me to come here with you at this hour. 
 You have, of course, so much to say and hear after your 
 absence — " 
 
 The sight of my fair cousin cut short his speech, as she 
 stood near the door with her hand out to receive him. As 
 O'Grady took her taper fingers within his own, there was 
 an air of cold distance in his manner that actually offended 
 me. Bowing deeply, he said a few brief words in a tone of 
 gravity and stiffness quite unusual with him ; and then, 
 turning to Grammont, he shook the count's hand with a 
 warmth and cordiality most markedly different. I only 
 dared to glance at Julia ; but as I did so I could mark an 
 expression of haughty displeasure that settled on her brow, 
 while her heightened color made her turn away towards 
 the window. 
 
 I was myself so much annoyed by the manner in which 
 O'Grady had received advances which I had never seen 
 made to any one before, that I was silent. Even Gram- 
 mont saw the awkwardness of all parties so much in need 
 of his intervention that he at once opened the whole nego- 
 tiation of the ball to O'Grady, describing with a French- 
 man's volubility and sarcasm the stratagems and devices 
 which were employed to obtain invitations, the triumph of 
 the successful, the despairing malice of the unfortunate, — 
 heightening his narrative by the mystery of the fair hostess, 
 who, herself unknown and unheard of till now, was at this 
 moment at the pinnacle of fashion, dictating the laws and 
 distributing the honors of the beau monde to the greatest 
 sovereigns of Europe. 
 
 " She is very beautiful, no doubt ? " asked O'Grady. 
 
 " Oui, pas mal," said Grammont, with that all-explaining 
 shrug of the shoulders by which a foreigner conveys so 
 much. 
 
PARIS IN 1814. 237 
 
 " Very rich, perhaps ? " 
 
 " Millionnaire ! " said the Frenchman, in a tone of ex- 
 ultation that bespoke his full acquiescence in that surmise 
 at least. 
 
 " And her rank ? " 
 
 " Ah, I don't read riddles. All I know is, her house is 
 the best thing at Paris; she has secured old Cambaceres' 
 chef de cuisine ; has bought up the groom of the chambers 
 of the ex-Emperor ; keeps an estafette going on the Stras- 
 bourg road for pates de fois gras ; and is on such terms 
 with the sovereigns that she has their private bands to 
 play at all her parties. Que voulez-vous ! " 
 
 " Nothing more, indeed ! " said O'G-rady, laughing. 
 " Such admirable supremacy in the world of bon ton it 
 would be rank heresy to question further, and I no longer 
 wonder at the active canvass for her invitations." 
 
 " Oui, parbleu ! " said the Frenchman, gayly. " If Mon- 
 sieur the Comte d'Artois does not exert himself, people 
 will be more proud of a ticket to these balls than of the 
 Croix de St. Louis. For my own part, I think of wearing 
 mine over the cordon." 
 
 is he spoke, he flourished his card of invitation in the 
 air, and displayed it in his bosom. 
 
 •• Madame de Roni, nee Cassidy de Kilmainham," said 
 0' Grady, bursting into a perfect roar of laughter. " This 
 is glorious, Jack ! Did you see this ? " 
 
 " See ! eh ? to be sure ; and what then ? " 
 
 But 0' Grady's mirth had burst all bounds, and he sat 
 back in an armchair laughing immoderately. To all our 
 questions he could give no other reply than renewed bursts 
 of merriment, which, however enjoyed by himself, were 
 very provoking to us. 
 
 " He knows her," whispered Grammont in my ear ; " be 
 assured he knows Madame." 
 
 " Jack, where shall we meet in half an hour ? " said Phil 
 at length, jumping up and wiping his eyes. 
 
 " Here, if you like," said I. " I shall not leave this till 
 you return." 
 
238 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 "Be it so,"said he; and then with a bow to my cousin 
 and an easy nod to Grammont, O'G-rady took his hat and 
 departed. 
 
 Grammont now looked at his watch, and remembering 
 some half-dozen very important appointments, took his 
 leave also, leaving me once more, after so long an interval, 
 tete-a-tete with Julia. 
 
 There were so many things to talk over since we had 
 met, so many reminiscences which each moment called up, 
 that I never thought of the hours as they ran over ; and it 
 was only by Lady Charlotte's appearance in the drawing- 
 room that we were apprised it was already past four 
 o'clock, and that the tide of her morning visitors would 
 now set in, and break up all hopes of continuing our 
 colloquy. 
 
 " Where is your friend ? " said my mother, as she carried 
 her eyes languidly round the spacious apartment. 
 
 " Gone some hours ago ; but he promised to take me up 
 here. We shall see him soon, I suspect." 
 
 " Colonel O'Grady," said a servant ; and my cousin had 
 just time to leave the room by one door as he entered by 
 another. 
 
 Advancing to my mother with a manner of respectful 
 ease which he possessed in perfection, O'Grady contrived 
 in a few brief words to resume the ground he had formerly 
 occupied in her acquaintance, throwing out as he went an 
 occasional compliment to her looks, so naturally and unaf- 
 fectedly done as not to need acknowledgment or reply, but 
 yet with sufficient empressement to show interest. 
 
 " I have heard since my arrival that you were interested 
 about this ball, and took the opportunity to secure you 
 some tickets, which, though late, some of your friends may 
 care for." 
 
 He presented my mother as he spoke with several blank 
 cards of invitation, who, as she took them, could not con- 
 ceal her astonishment nor repress the look of curiosity, 
 which she could scarcely repel in words, as to how he had 
 accomplished a task the highest people in Paris had failed 
 
PARIS IN 1814. 239 
 
 m. I saw what was passing in her mind, and immediately- 
 said, — 
 
 " My mother would like to know your secret about these 
 same cards, O'Grady ; for they have been a perfect subject 
 of contention here for the last three weeks." 
 
 " Her Ladyship must excuse me — at least for the pres- 
 ent — if I have one secret I cannot communicate to her," 
 said O'Grady, smiling. " Let me only assure her that no 
 one shall know it before she herself does." 
 
 " And there is a secret ? " said Lady Charlotte, eagerly. 
 
 " Yes, there is a secret," replied O'Grady, with a most 
 ludicrous gravity of tone. 
 
 " Well, at least we have profited by it, and so we may 
 wait in patience 4 . Your friend Colonel O'Grady will give 
 us the pleasure of his company at dinner, I hope," con- 
 tinued my mother, with her most winning smile. 
 
 O'Grady declined, having already accepted the invitation 
 of the adjutant-general, but begged he might be permitted 
 to join our party at the ball, — which being graciously 
 acceded to by my mother, we both made our bows, and 
 sauntered out to see more of the sights of Paris. 
 
 "Come, Phil," said I, when we were once more alone, 
 " what is the secret ? Who is Madame de Roni ? " 
 
 " Not even to you, Jack," was his answer, and we walked 
 on in silence. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 THE R0NI FETE. 
 
 There is no epidemic more catching than excitement. 
 The fussy manner and feverish bustle of the people about 
 you are sure, after a time, to communicate themselves to 
 you, — the very irritation they create being what the physi- 
 cians call a predisposing cause. I became an illustration 
 in point, as the hour of this ball drew nigh. At first I 
 could not but wonder how in the midst of such stupendous 
 events as were then taking place, — in the heart of a city 
 garrisoned by an enemy, with everything that could wound 
 national pride and offend national honor, — even French 
 levity could raise itself to the enjoyment of fashionable 
 frivolity; but by degrees the continual recurrence of the 
 subject familiarized my mind to it, wearing off my first 
 and more natural impressions, and at last I began, like my 
 neighbors, not only to listen with patience, but even to join 
 in the various discussions with animation and interest. 
 
 No sooner had the report gained currency that Lady 
 Charlotte was in possession of blank invitations, than our 
 hotel was beseiged by half Paris, — the unfortunate en- 
 deavoring, by every species of flattery and every imagin- 
 able stratagem, to obtain tickets ; the lucky ones all anxious 
 to find out the mystery of her Ladyship's success, which 
 at first seemed almost incredible. The various surmises, 
 guesses, hints, allusions, and subterfuges which followed 
 one another in rapid succession, as this motley mob of 
 fashionables came and went, and went and came again, 
 amused me considerably, — the more so, perhaps, as the 
 occasion called into full play all my cousin Julia's powers 
 of flippant raillery and sarcasm, both of which she exer- 
 
THE RONI FETE. 241 
 
 cised without scruple, but uever within range of discovery 
 by any of her victims. 
 
 Everything gave way to the convenience of this splendid 
 fete. The eight o'clock dinner was anticipated by full two 
 hours ; no other subject of conversation was ever broached 
 by the company ; and at nine the carriages were ordered to 
 the door, it being wisely calculated that if we reached our 
 destination at eleven we should esteem ourselves fortunate. 
 
 How often, as the dashing equipage whirls past to some 
 scene of pleasure, where beauty and rank and riches await 
 the sated votary of fashion, will the glare of the carriage- 
 lamps fall upon the gloomy footway, where, wet and weary, 
 some melancholy figure steals along with downcast head and 
 plodding step, his thoughts turned ever to some accustomed 
 scene of wretchedness, where want and misery, disease, neg- 
 lect, decay, all herd together, and not even hope can enter ! 
 The poor man, startled, looks up ; the rich one, lolling back 
 upon his easy cushion, casts a downward glance : their eyes 
 meet, — it is but a second ; there is no sympathy between 
 them, — the course of one lies north, the other south. Thus 
 at each moment did my sad heart turn away from all the 
 splendor of the preparation about me, to wonder with my- 
 self how even for an instant I could forget my own path in 
 life, which, opening with every prospect of happiness, yet 
 now offered not a hope for the future. Between these two 
 alternate states the hours crept on. As I sat beside Julia 
 in the carriage, I could not but mark that something weighed 
 also on her spirits. More silent than usual, she replied, 
 when spoken to, with effort; and more than once returned 
 wrong answers to my mother, who talked away unceasingly 
 of the ball and the guests. 
 
 It was near midnight when we drove into the large arch- 
 way of the Hotel de Rohan, where Madame de Roni held 
 her court. Brilliantly lighted with lamps of various colors, 
 the very equipages were made a part of the spectacle, as 
 they shone in bright and changeful hues, reflected from 
 gorgeous housings, gilded trappings, and costly liveries. A 
 large, dark-colored travelling-carriage, with a single pair of 
 
 VOL. II. — 16 
 
242 JACK HINTOX, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 horses, stood in the corner of the court, the only thing to 
 distinguish it being two mounted light dragoons who waited 
 beside it, and a chasseur in green and gold uniform who 
 stood at the door. This simple equipage belonged to the 
 King of Prussia. Around on every side were splendidly 
 appointed carriages, glittering with emblazonry and gilding, 
 from which, as the guests descended and entered the mar- 
 ble vestibule, names of European celebrity were called out 
 and repeated from voice to voice along the lofty corridors. 
 Le Prince de Schwartzenberg, Count Pozzo di Borgo, Le 
 Due de Dalberg, Mi Lord Cathcart, Le Comte de Nessel- 
 rode, Monsieur Talleyrand de Perigord, with others equally 
 noble and exalted, followed in rapid succession. 
 
 Our turn came at last ; and as we reached the hall we 
 found O'Grady waiting for our arrival. 
 
 " There 's no use in attempting to get forward for some 
 time," said he ; " so follow me, and I '11 secure you a more 
 comfortable place to wait in." 
 
 As he spoke he passed through the hall, and, whispering 
 a few words to a servant, a door was opened in the wainscot, 
 admitting us to a small and neatly fitted up library, where 
 a good fire and some easy chairs awaited us. 
 
 " I see your surprise," said O'Grady, as my mother looked 
 about her with astonishment at his perfect acquaintance 
 with the whole locality; "but I can't explain, — it's part 
 of my secret. Meanwhile, Jack, I have another for your 
 ear," said he, in a low whisper, as he drew me aside into 
 a corner. "I have made a very singular discovery, Jack, 
 to-day, and I have a notion it may lead to more. I met, 
 by accident, at the adjutant-general's table the brother of 
 a French officer whose life 1 saved at Xivelle ; he remem- 
 bered my name in a moment, and we became sworn friends. 
 I accepted his offer of a seat in his carriage to this ball, 
 and on the way he informed me that he was the chief of the 
 secret police of Paris, whose business it is to watch all the 
 doings of the regular police and report upon them to 
 Fouche, whose spies are in every salon and at every dinner- 
 table in the capital. I have no time at present to repeat 
 
THE RONI FETE. 243 
 
 any of the extraordinary stories he told me of this horrible 
 system ; but just as we entered the courtyard of this hotel, 
 our carriage was jammed up in the line and detained for 
 some minutes. Guillemain suddenly let down the glass, 
 and gave a low, peculiar whistle, which, if I had not been 
 paying considerable attention to everything about him, 
 might have escaped my notice. In about a minute after a 
 man with a hat slouched over his face, and a large cravat 
 covering his mouth, approached the carriage. They con- 
 versed together for some time, and I could perceive that 
 the new-comer spoke his French in a broken manner and 
 with a foreign accent. By a slight movement of the horses 
 one of the lamps threw the light full upon this man's 
 face; I fixed my eyes rapidly on him, and recognized — 
 whom, think you ? But you 'd never guess : no other than 
 your old antagonist, Ulick Burke ! " 
 
 " Ulick Burke ! You must have been mistaken." 
 
 " No, no. I knew him at once ; the light rested on him 
 for full five minutes, and I had time enough to scan every 
 feature of his face. I could swear to the man now. He 
 left us at last, and I watched him till he disappeared among 
 the crowd of servants that filled the courtyard." 
 
 " ' That 's one of your people,' said I, carelessly, as Guil- 
 lemain drew up the glass, and sat back in the carriage. 
 
 " ' Yes, and a thorough scoundrel he is, — capable of 
 anything.' 
 
 " ' He 's not French,' said I, with the same indifference of 
 manner I had feigned at first. 
 
 " Guillemain started as I spoke ; and I half feared I had 
 destroyed all by venturing too much. At length, after a 
 short pause he replied, ' You 're right, he 's not French ; 
 but we have them of all nations. — Poles, Swedes, Germans, 
 Italians, Greeks. That fellow is English.' 
 
 " ' Say Irish, rather,' said I, determining to risk all, to 
 know all. 
 
 " ' You know him, then ? ' said Guillemain, hurriedly ; 
 ' where did you see Fitzgerald ? ' 
 
 " < Fitzgerald ! ' said I, repeating the name after him ; 
 
244 JACK HINTOX, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 and then affecting disappointment, added, ' That 's not the 
 name.' 
 
 " ' Ha ! I knew you were mistaken,' said Guillemain, 
 with animation ; ' the fellow told me he defies recognition ; 
 and I certainly have tried him often among his country- 
 men, and he has never been detected. And yet he knows the 
 English thoroughly and intimately. It was through him 
 that I first found out these very people we are going to.' 
 
 "Here, Jack, he entered upon a long account of our 
 worthy hosts, who with great wealth, great pretensions, and 
 as great vulgarity came to Paris some weeks ago in that 
 mighty flood of all sorts of people that flocked here since 
 the peace. Their desire to be ranked among the fashionable 
 entertainers of the day was soon reported to the minister of 
 police, who after considering how far such a house might be 
 useful, where persons of all shades of political opinion 
 might meet, — friends of the Bourbons, Jacobites, Napole- 
 onists, the men of '88, and the admirers of the old regime, — 
 measures were accordingly taken that their invitations 
 should go out to the first persons in Paris, and, more still, 
 should be accepted by them. 
 
 "While these worthy people are therefore distributing 
 their hospitalities with all the good faith imaginable, their 
 hotel is nothing more nor less than a cabinet de police, 
 where Fouche and his agents are unravelling the intrigues 
 of Paris, or weaving fresh ones for their own objects." 
 
 " Infamous system ! But how comes it, Phil, that they 
 have never discovered their anomalous position ? " 
 
 " What a question, Jack ! Vulgar pretension is a triple 
 shield that no eye can pierce ; and as you know the 
 parties — " 
 
 " Know them ! no, I never heard of them before." 
 
 " What, Jack ! Is your memory so short lived ? And 
 yet there was a pretty girl in the house who might have 
 rested longer in your memory." 
 
 The announcement of Lady Charlotte and my cousin's 
 names by the servant at the foot of the stairs broke up our 
 conference ; and we had only time io join our party as we 
 
THE RONI FETE. 245 
 
 fell into that closely wedged phalanx that wound its slow 
 length up the spacious staircase. O'Grady's last words had 
 excited my curiosity to the highest pitch ; but as he pre- 
 ceded me with my mother on his arm, I was unable to ask 
 for an explanation. 
 
 At last we reached the antechamber, from which a vista 
 of salons suddenly broke upon the view ; and although an- 
 ticipating much, I had formed no conception whatever of 
 the splendor of the scene before me. More brilliant than 
 noonday itself, the room was a blaze of waxlights ; the ceil- 
 ings of fretted gold and blue enamel glittered like a gorge- 
 ous firmament; the walls were covered with pictures in 
 costly frames of Venetian taste. But the decorations, mag- 
 nificent and princely as they were, were as nothing to that 
 splendid crowd of jewelled dames and glittering nobles, of 
 all that was distinguished in beauty, in rank, in military 
 glory, or in the great contest of political life. Here were 
 the greatest names of Europe, — the kings and princes of 
 the earth, the leaders of mighty armies, the generals of a 
 hundred battles ; here was the collective greatness of the 
 world, all that can influence mankind, — hereditary rank, 
 military power, stupendous intellect, beauty, wealth, — mix- 
 ing in the vast vortex of fashionable dissipation, and plun- 
 ging into all the excesses of voluptuous pleasure. The band 
 of the Imperial Guard stationed near the staircase were 
 playing with all the delicious softness of their national 
 instrument — the Russian horn — a favorite mazurka of 
 the emperor as we entered; and a partial silence reigned 
 among the hundred listeners. 
 
 O'Grady conveyed my mother through the crowd to a 
 seat, where, having placed my cousin beside her, he once 
 more came near me. 
 
 "Jack," whispered he, "come a little this way." He 
 drew aside a curtain as he spoke, and we entered a boudoir, 
 where a buffet of refreshments was placed. Here the 
 scene was ludicrous in the extreme, from the incongruous 
 mixture of persons of so many nations and languages who 
 were chatting away and hobnobbing to one another in all 
 
246 JACK HIXTOX, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 the dismembered phrases of every tongue in Europe ; roars 
 of laughter, however, poured from one corner of the room, 
 whither O'G-rady directed his steps, still holding my arm. 
 A group of Cossack officers in full scarlet costume, their 
 loose trousers slashed with gold embroidery and thrust into 
 wide boots of yellow leather, stood in a circle round a per- 
 son whom we could not yet perceive, but who, we were 
 enabled to discover, was exercising his powers of amuse- 
 ment for this semi-savage audience, whose wild shouts of 
 laughter broke forth at every moment. We made our way 
 at length through the crowd, and my eyes at last fell upon 
 the figure within. I stared ! I rubbed my eyes ! I actually 
 began to doubt my very senses, when suddenly turning his 
 joyous face beaming with good humor towards me, he held 
 forth his hand and called out, " Captain, my darling, the 
 top of the morning to you. This beats Stephen's Green, 
 does n't it ? " 
 
 " Mr. Paul Rooney," said I. 
 
 " No, no ! Monsieur de Roni, if you please," said he, 
 again breaking out into a fit of laughing. " Lord help you, 
 man, I 've been christened since I came abroad. Let me 
 present you to my friends." Here Paul poked a tall Cos- 
 sack in the ribs to attract his attention, and then point- 
 ing to me, said, " This is Captain Hinton ; his name 's a 
 poser, — a cross between chincough and a house-key. Eh, 
 old fellow ? " 
 
 A Tartar grin was the reply to this very intelligible 
 speech ; but a bumper of champagne made everything com- 
 prehensible between them. Mr. Eooney's hilarity soon 
 showed me that he had not forgotten his native habits, and 
 was steadily bent upon drinking glass for glass with his 
 company, even though they only came in detachments. 
 "With Bashkir chiefs, Pomeranian barons, Rhine graafs, 
 and Polish counts he seemed as intimate as though he had 
 passed as much of his time in the Caucasus as the Four 
 Courts, and was as familiar with the banks of the Don as 
 ever he had been with those of the Dodder. 
 
 " And is it really our old friend Mrs. Paul who enter- 
 tains this host of czars and princes ? " 
 
THE RONI FETE. 247 
 
 " Is it really only now that you 've guessed it ? " said 
 O'Grady, as he carried me away with him through the 
 salon. "But I see Lady Charlotte is amongst her friends, 
 and your cousin is dancing ; so now let 's make the most of 
 our time. I say, Jack, your lady-mother scarcely supposes 
 that her host is the same person she once called on for his 
 bill. By Jove, what a discovery it would be to her ! and 
 the little girl she had such a horror of is now the belle of 
 Paris. You remember Louisa Belle w, don't you ? Seven 
 thousand a year, my boy, and beauty worth double the 
 money. But there she is, and how handsome ! " 
 
 As he spoke, a lady passed us leaning on her partner's 
 arm, her head turned slightly over her shoulder. I caught 
 but one glance, and as I did so, the rushing torrent of blood 
 that mounted to my face made my very brain grow dizzy. 
 I knew not where I stood. I sprang forward to speak to 
 her, and then became rooted to the ground. It was she, 
 indeed, beautiful as ever I had seen her ; her pale face 
 wore the very look I had last seen the night I saved her 
 from the flood. 
 
 " Did you observe her companion ? " said O'Grady, who 
 fortunately had not noticed my confusion. " It was De 
 Vere. I knew he was here; and I suspect I see his 
 plans." 
 
 " De Vere ! " said I, starting. " De Vere with Miss 
 Bellew ! Are you certain ? " 
 
 " Quite certain ; I seldom mistake a face, and his I 
 can't forget. But here 's Guillemain. I '11 join you in a 
 moment." 
 
 So saying, O'Grady left my side, and I saw him take the 
 arm of a small man in black, who was standing at a door- 
 way. The rush of sensations that crowded on me as I 
 stood there alone made me forget the time, and I knew not 
 that O'Grady had been above half-an-hour away when he 
 again came to my side. 
 
 "How the plot thickens, Hinton!" said he, in a low- 
 whisper. " Only think, the villain Burke has actually 
 made the hand and fortune of that lovely girl the price of 
 
248 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 obtaining secret information from De Vere of the proceed- 
 ings of the British embassy. Guillemain did not confess 
 this to me ; but he spoke in such a way, that, with my 
 knowledge of all the parties, I made out the clew." 
 
 " Burke ! but what influence has he over her ? " 
 
 " None over her, but much over the Rooneys, whom, in- 
 dependent of threats about exposing their real condition in 
 life, he has persuaded that such a marriage for their ward 
 secures them in fashionable society forever. This with 
 Paul would do nothing ; but Madame de Roni, as you know, 
 sets a high price on such a treasure. Besides, he is in pos- 
 session of some family secret about her mother, which he 
 uses as a means of intimidation to Paul, who would rather 
 die than hurt Miss Bellew's feelings. Now, Jack, De Vere 
 only wants intellect to be as great a scoundrel as Master 
 Ulick ; so we must rescue this poor girl, come what will." 
 
 " We must and we will," said I, with a tone of eagerness 
 that made O'Grady start. 
 
 " Not a moment is to be lost," said he, after a brief pause. 
 " I '11 try what can be done with Guillemain." 
 
 An opening of the crowd as he spoke compelled us to fall 
 back, and as we did so I could perceive that an avenue was 
 made along the room. 
 
 " One of the sovereigns," whispered O'Grady. 
 
 I leaned forward, and perceived two aides-de-camp in 
 green uniform, who were retreating step by step slowly 
 before some persons farther back. 
 
 "The Emperor of Russia," whispered a voice near me; 
 and the same instant I saw the tall and fine-looking figure 
 of Alexander, his broad massive forehead, and frank manly 
 face turning from side to side as he acknowledged the salu- 
 tations of the room. On his arm he supported a lady, whose 
 nodding plumes waved in concert with every inclination 
 of the czar himself. Curious to see what royal personage 
 shared thus with him the homage of the assembly, I stooped 
 to catch a glance. The lady turned, — our eyes met ; a slight 
 flush colored her cheek as she quickly moved her head away. 
 It was Mrs. Paul Rooney herself ! Yes, she whom I had 
 
THE RONI FfiTE. 249 
 
 once seen with an effort subdue her pride of station when 
 led in to dinner by some Irish attorney-general, or some 
 going judge of assize, now leaned on the arm of an emperor, 
 and divided with him the honors of the moment ! 
 
 While O'Grady sought out his new friend, the minister of 
 police, I went in search of my mother and Lady Julia, whom 
 I found surrounded by a knot of their own acquaintances, 
 actively engaged in surmises as to the lady of the house, — 
 her rank, fortune, and pretensions. For some time I could 
 not but feel amused at the absurd assertions of many of the 
 party, who affected to know all about Madame de Roni and 
 her secret mission at Paris. 
 
 " My dear John," said my mother in a whisper, " you 
 must find out all about her. Your friend, the colonel, is 
 evidently in the secret. Pray, now, don't forget it. But 
 really you seem in a dream. There 's Beulwitz paying 
 Julia all the attention imaginable the entire evening, and 
 you 've never gone near her. Apropos, have you seen this 
 ward of Madame de Roni ? She is very pretty, and they 
 speak of her as a very suitable person." (This phrase was 
 a kind of cant with my mother and her set, which expressed 
 in brief that a lady was enormously rich and a very desir- 
 able match for a man with nothing.) " I forget her name." 
 
 " Miss Bellew, perhaps," said I, trembling lest any 
 recollection of ever having heard it before should cross 
 her mind. 
 
 " Yes, that 's the name ; somehow it seems familiar to 
 me. Do you know her yet, for my friend Lady Middle- 
 ton knows every one, and will introduce you?" 
 
 " Oh, I have the pleasure of being acquainted with her 
 already," said I, turning away to hide my confusion. 
 
 "That's quite proper," said her Ladyship, encourag- 
 ingly. " But here she comes ; I think you must introduce 
 me, John." 
 
 As my mother spoke, Louisa Bellew came up, leaning on 
 a lady's arm. A moment's hesitation on my part would 
 have only augmented the embarrassment which increased 
 at every instant ; so I stepped forward and pronounced her 
 
250 JACK HLNTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 name. No sooner had the words " Miss Bellew " escaped 
 my lips than she turned round ; her large full eyes were 
 fixed upon me doubtingly for a second, and her face grew 
 deep scarlet, and then as suddenly pale again. She made 
 an effort to speak, but could not ; a tottering weakness 
 seemed to creep over her frame, and as she pressed her 
 companion's arm closely I heard her mutter, — 
 " Oh, pray move on ! " 
 
 " Lady Charlotte Hinton — Miss Bellew," said the lady 
 at her side, who had paid no attention whatever to Louisa 
 Bellew's agitated manner. 
 
 My mother smiled in her sweetest manner ; while Miss 
 Bellew's acknowledgments were made with the most dis- 
 tant coldness. 
 
 "My son had deemed himself fortunate enough to be 
 known to you," said Lady Charlotte. 
 
 Miss Bellew became pale as death ; her very lips were 
 bloodless, as with a voice tremulous with emotion, she 
 replied, — 
 
 " We were acquainted once, Madam ; but — " 
 What was to be the remainder of the speech I know not ; 
 for as the crowd moved on she passed with it, leaving me 
 like one whose senses were forsaking him one by one. I 
 could only hear my mother say, " How very impertinent ! " 
 and then my brain became a chaos. A kind of wild reck- 
 less feeling, the savage longing that in moments of dark 
 passion stirs within a man for some act of cruelty, some 
 deed of vengeance, ran through my breast. I had been 
 spurned, despised, disowned by her of whom through many 
 a weary month my heart alone was full. I hurried away 
 from the spot, my brain on fire. I saw nothing, I heeded 
 nothing, of the bright looks and laughing faces that passed 
 me ; scornful pity and contempt for one so low as I was 
 seemed to prevail in every face I looked at. A strange im- 
 pulse to seek out Lord Dudley de Vere was uppermost in 
 my mind ; and as I turned on every side to find him, I felt 
 my arm grasped tightly, and heard O'Grady's voice in my 
 ear, — 
 
THE RONI FETE. 251 
 
 " Be calm, Jack, for Heaven's sake ! Your disturbed 
 looks make every one stare at you." 
 
 He dvew me along with him through the crowd, and at 
 length reached a card-room, where, except the players, no 
 one was present. 
 
 " Come, my dear boy, I saw what has annoyed you." 
 
 " You saw it ! " said I, my eyeballs straining as I spoke. 
 
 "Yes, yes; and what signifies it? So very handsome a 
 girl, and the expectation of a large fortune, must always 
 have followers. But you know Lady Julia well enough — " 
 
 " Lady Julia ! " repeated I, in amazement. 
 
 " Yes. I say you know her well enough to believe that 
 Beulwitz is not exactly the person — " 
 
 A burst of laughter at his mistake broke from me at the 
 moment ; but so wild and discordant was it that O'Grady 
 misconstrued its meaning, and went at some length to 
 assure me that my cousin's affection for me was beyond 
 my suspicion. 
 
 Stunned by my own overwhelming sorrow, I felt no in- 
 clination to undeceive him, and let him persist in his error 
 without even a word of reply. 
 
 " Kouse yourself, Jack," said he, at length. " This de- 
 pression is unworthy of you, had you even cause for grief. 
 There 's many a heart heavier than your own, my boy, 
 where the lip is smiling this minute." 
 
 There was a tone of deep affliction in the cadence of his 
 voice as these words fell from him, and he turned away 
 his head as he spoke. Then rallying in an instant, he 
 added, — 
 
 " Do you know, our dear friend Mrs. Paul has scarcely 
 ventured to acknowledge me to-night ; and I feel a kind of 
 devilish spirit of vengeance working within me in conse- 
 quence. To cut me ! — I that trained her infant mind to 
 greatness ; that actually smuggled for her a contraband 
 viceroy, and brought him alive into her dominions ! What 
 dire ingratitude ! Come, what say you to champagne ? " 
 
 He poured me out a large glassful as he spoke, and, fill- 
 ing his own, called out, laughing, — 
 
252 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " Here, I give yuu a toast, — < La Vendetta ! ' eh, Jack ? 
 Corsican vengeance on all who maltreat us ! " 
 
 Glass after glass followed ; and I felt my brain ; instead 
 of being excited, grow calmer, steadier ; a firm and deter- 
 mined resolution usurped the flitting thoughts and wander- 
 ing fancies of before. 
 
 "They're moving towards the supper-room," said O'Grady, 
 who for some time past had talked away, without my pay- 
 ing any attention to what he said. 
 
 As we descended the stairs, I heard my mother's car- 
 riage announced, and could just see her and my cousin 
 handed to it by some Austrian officers as we entered the 
 supper-room. 
 
 The incessant crash and din of the enormous banquet- 
 ing-room, its crowd and heat, its gorgeous table-equipage 
 and splendid guests, were scarce noticed by me as I fol- 
 lowed O'Grady half mechanically towards the end of the 
 room. For some time I remained stupidly unconscious of 
 all around ; and it was only after a very considerable time 
 that I descried that immediately in front of where we 
 stood Mrs. Paul Rooney was seated, — the Emperor of 
 Russia on her right, the King of Prussia on her left hand ; 
 Swartzenburg, Blucher, Talleyrand, Nesselrode, and many 
 others equally distinguished occupying places along the 
 board. Her jocund laugh and merry voice, indeed, first 
 attracted my attention. 
 
 " By Jove ! she does it admirably," said O'Grady, who 
 for full five minutes had been most critically employed 
 scrutinizing Mrs. Paul's manner. "Do you remark the 
 tact with which she graduates her attentions to the em- 
 peror and the king? And look at the hauteur of her 
 bearing to old Blucher ! But, hush ! what 's coming ? " 
 
 A kind of suppressed murmur buzzed along the crowded 
 room, which subsiding into a dead silence, the Emperor 
 Alexander rose, and addressing the guests in a few but 
 well-chosen words in English, informed them he had re- 
 ceived permission from their amiable and captivating host- 
 ess to propose a toast, and he took the opportunity with 
 
THE RONI FETE. 253 
 
 unqualified delight to give the health of " the Prince 
 Regent." A perfect thunder of applause acknowledged 
 this piece'of gracious courtesy, and a " hip ! hip ! hurra ! " 
 which astonished the foreigners, shook the very roof. 
 While the deafening shouts rose on every side, Mrs. Paul 
 wrote a line with her pencil hastily on her card, and turn- 
 ing round gave it to a Cossack aide-de-camp of the emperor 
 to deliver into Mr. Rooney's hands. Either from the ex- 
 citement of the moment or his imperfect acquaintance with 
 English, the unlucky Cossack turned towards the first 
 British officer near him for an explanation, who happened 
 to be O'Grady. 
 
 " What does this mean ? " said he in French. 
 
 "Ah," said Phil, looking at it, "this is intended for that 
 gentleman at the foot of the table. You see him yonder, — 
 he 's laughing now. Come along, I '11 pilot you towards 
 him." 
 
 Suspecting that O'Grady's politeness had some deeper 
 motive than mere civility, I leaned over his shoulder and 
 asked the reason of it. 
 
 " Look here," said he, showing me the card as he spoke, 
 on which was written the following words : " Make the 
 band play 'God Save the King;' the emperor wishes it." 
 
 " Come with us, Jack," whispered O'Grady ; " we had 
 better keep near the door." 
 
 I followed them through the dense crowd, who were still 
 cheering with all their might, and at last reached the end 
 of the table, where Paul himself was amusing a select party 
 of Tartar chiefs, Prussian colonels, Irish captains, and Hun- 
 garian nobles. 
 
 " Look here," said Phil, showing me the card, which in 
 his passage down the room he had contrived to alter, by 
 rubbing out the first part and interpolating a passage of his 
 own ; making the whole run thus, — 
 
 " Sing the ' Cruiskeen Lawn ; ' the emperor wishes it." 
 
 I had scarcely time to thrust my handkerchief to my 
 mouth and prevent an outbreak of laughter, when I saw the 
 Cossack officer present the card to Paul with a deep bow. 
 
254 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 Mr. Kooney read it, — surveyed the bearer; read it again, — 
 rubbed his eyes, drew over a branch of wax candles to in- 
 spect it better, and then directing a look to the opposite ex- 
 tremity of the table exchanged glances with his spouse, as 
 if interrogating her intentions once more. A quick, sharp 
 nod from Mrs. Paul decided the question thus tacitly asked ; 
 and Paul, clearing off a tumbler of sherry, muttered to him- 
 self, "What the devil put the 'Cruiskeen Lawn' into his 
 Majesty's head I can't think; but I suppose there's no 
 refusing." 
 
 A very spirited tapping with the handle of his knife was 
 now heard to mix with the other convivial sounds, and soon 
 indeed to overtop them, as Paul, anxious to fulfil a royal 
 behest, cleared his throat a couple of times, and called out, 
 " I '11 do the best I can, your Majesty ; " and at once struck 
 
 up,— 
 
 " Let the farmer praise his grounds, 
 Let the huntsman praise Ins hounds, 
 
 And talk of the deeds they have done ; 
 But I more blest than they — " 
 
 Here Paul quavered, and at last the pent-up mirth of the 
 whole room could endure no more, but burst forth into one 
 continuous shout of laughter, in which kings, dukes, ambas- 
 sadors, and field-marshals joined as loudly as their neigh- 
 bors. To hear the song was utterly impossible ; and though 
 from Mr. Paul's expanded cheeks and violent gesticulation 
 it was evident he was in full chant, nothing could be heard 
 save the scream of laughing which shook the building, — 
 an emotion certainly not the less difficult to repress, as 
 Mrs. Paul, shaking her hand at him with passionate energy, 
 called out, — 
 
 " Oh, the baste ! he thinks he 's on circuit this minnit ! " 
 As for myself, half-choking and with sore sides, I never 
 recovered till I reached the street, when O'Grady dragged 
 me along, sajung as he did so, — 
 
 " We must reach home at once. Nothing but a strong 
 alibi will save my character for this in the morning." 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 FRESCATl's. 
 
 I was uot sorry when I heard the following morning that 
 my mother would not appear before dinner-hour. I dreaded 
 the chance of any allusion to Miss Bellew's name requiring 
 explanation on my part ; and the more so, as I myself was 
 utterly lost in conjectures as to the reason of her singular 
 /•eception of me. 
 
 Julia, too, appeared more out of spirits than usual. She 
 pleaded fatigue ; but I could see that something lay heavily 
 on her mind. She conversed with evident effort, and 
 seemed to have a difficulty in recalling her faculties to the 
 ordinary topics of the day. A thought struck me that per- 
 haps De Vere's conduct might have given cause for her 
 depression ; and gradually I drew the conversation to the 
 mention of his name, when I soon became undeceived on 
 this point. She told me with perfect unconcern how my 
 father had tracked out the whole line of his duplicity and 
 calumny regarding me, and had followed the matter up by 
 a representation to the duke at the head of the army, who 
 immediately commanded his retirement from the Guards. 
 Later on, his family influence had obtained his appointment 
 as attache to the embassy at Paris ; but since their first 
 rupture he had discontinued his visits, and now had ceased 
 to be acknowledged by them when they met. 
 
 My cousin's melancholy not being then attributable to 
 anything connected with De Vere, I set myself to work to 
 ascertain whence it proceeded ; and suddenly the thought 
 struck me that perhaps my mother's surmise might have 
 some foundation, and that Julia, feeling an affection for 
 
256 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 me, might have been hurt at my evident want of attention 
 towards her since we met. 
 
 I have already begged of my reader to separate such sus- 
 picions from the coxcombry of the lady-killer, who deems 
 every girl he meets his victim. If I did for a moment 
 imagine that my cousin liked me, I did so with a stronger 
 sense of my own unworthiness to merit her love than if I 
 myself had sought her affection. I had felt her superiority 
 to myself too early in life to outlive the memory of it as we 
 grew older. The former feeling of dread which I enter- 
 tained of Julia's sarcasm still lived within me, and I felt 
 keenly that she who knew the weaknesses of the boy was 
 little likely to forget them in reflecting over the failures of 
 the man ; and thus, if she did care for me, I well knew that 
 her affection must be chequered by too many doubts and un- 
 certainties to give it that character of abiding love which 
 alone could bring happiness. I perceived clearly enough 
 that she disliked O'Grady. Was it, then, that, being in- 
 terested for me, she was grieved at my great intimacy with 
 one she herself did not admire, and who evidently treated 
 her with marked coldness and reserve ? 
 
 Harassed with these suspicions, and annoyed that those 
 1 had hoped to see regard each other as friends avoided 
 every opportunity of intimacy, I strolled forth to walk 
 alone, my mind brooding over dark and disagreeable images, 
 and my brain full of plaus all based upon disappointed 
 hopes and blighted expectations. To my mother's invita- 
 tion to dinner for that day O'Grady had returned an 
 apology : he was engaged to his friend M. Guillemain, with 
 whom he was also to pass the morning; so that I was 
 absolutely without a companion. 
 
 When first I issued from the Place Vendome, I resolved 
 at all hazards to wait on the Rooneys, at once to see Miss 
 Belle w, and seek an explanation, if possible, for her man- 
 ner towards me. As I hastened on towards the Chaussee, 
 however, I began to reflect on the impropriety of such a 
 course, after the evident refusal she had given to any re- 
 newal of acquaintance. "I did know Mr. Hinton," were 
 
FRESCATI'S. 257 
 
 the words she used, — words which, considering all that had 
 passed between us, never could have been spoken lightly or 
 without reason. A hundred vague conjectures as to the 
 different ways in which my character and motives might 
 have been slandered to her occupied me as I sauntered 
 along. De Vere and Burke were both my enemies, and I 
 had little doubt that with them originated the calumny 
 from which I now was suffering ; and as I turned over in 
 my thoughts all the former passages of our hatred, I felt 
 how gladly they would embrace the opportunity of wound- 
 ing me where the injury would prove the keenest. 
 
 Without knowing it, I had actually reached the street 
 where the Eooneys lived, and was within a few paces of 
 their house. Strange enough, the same scene I had so often 
 smiled at before their house in Dublin was now enacting 
 here, — the great difference being, that instead of the 
 lounging subs of marching regiments, the swaggering cor- 
 nets of dragoons, the over-dressed and under-bred crowds of 
 would-be fashionables who then congregated before the 
 windows or curvetted beneath the balcony, were now the 
 generals of every foreign service, field-marshals glittering 
 with orders, powdered diplomates, cordoned political writers, 
 savans from every country in Europe, and idlers whose bon 
 mots and smart sayings were the delight of every dinner- 
 table in the capital ; all happy to have some neutral ground 
 where the outposts of politics might be surveyed without 
 compromise or danger, and where, amid the excellences of 
 the table and the pleasures of society, intrigues could be 
 fathomed or invented under the auspices of that excellent 
 attorney's wife, who deemed herself meanwhile the great 
 attraction of her courtly visitors and titled guests. 
 
 As I drew near the house I scarcely ventured to look 
 towards the balcony, in which a number of well-dressed per- 
 sons were now standing chatting together. One voice I 
 soon recognized, and its every accent cut my very heart as I 
 listened. It was Lord Dudley de Vere, talking in his usual 
 tone of loud assumption. I could hear the same vacant 
 laugh which had so often offended me; and I actually 
 
 VOL. II. — 17 
 
258 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 dreaded lest some chance allusion to myself might reach 
 me where I stood. There must be something intensely 
 powerful in the influence of the human voice, when its 
 very cadence alone can elevate to rapture or sting to mad- 
 ness. Who has not felt the ecstasy of some one brief 
 word from " lips beloved," after long years of absence ; 
 and who has not experienced the tumultuous conflict of 
 angry passions that rise unbidden at the mere sound of 
 speaking from those we like not ? My heart burned within 
 me as I thought of her who doubtless was then among that 
 gay throng, and for whose amusement those powers of his 
 Lordship's wit were in all likelihood called forth ; and I 
 turned away in anger and in sorrow. 
 
 As the day wore on I could not face towards home. I 
 felt I dare not meet the searching questions my mother was 
 certain to ask me ; nor could I endure the thought of mix- 
 ing with a crowd of strangers, when my own spirits were 
 hourly sinking. I dined alone at a small cafe in the Palais 
 Royal, and sat moodily over my wine till past eleven o'clock. 
 The stillness of the room startled me at length, and I looked 
 up and found the tables deserted ; a sleepy waiter lounged 
 lazily on a bench, and the untrimmed candles and disor- 
 dered look of everything indicated that no other guests were 
 then expected. 
 
 " Where have they gone to ? " said I, curious to know 
 what so suddenly had taken the crowd away. 
 
 " To Frescati's, Monsieur," said the waiter ; " the salon 
 is filling fast by this time." 
 
 A strange feeling of dislike to being alone had taken hold 
 on me ; and having inquired the way to the Rue Richelieu 
 from the servant, I issued forth. 
 
 What a contrast to the dark and gloomy streets of Paris, 
 with their irregular pavement, was the brilliantly-lighted 
 vestibule, with its marble pillars and spacious stair rising 
 gracefully beyond it, which met my eyes as I entered Fres- 
 cati's ! Following in the crowd of persons who pressed 
 their way along, I reached a large ante-chamber, where sev- 
 eral servants in rich liveries received the hats and canes 
 
FRESCATI'S. 259 
 
 of the visitors who thronged eagerly forward, their merry 
 voices and gay laughter resounding through the arched 
 roof. 
 
 As the wide doors were thrown open noiselessly, I was 
 quite unprepared for the splendor of the scene. Here were 
 not only officers of rank in all the gala of their brilliant 
 uniforms, and civilians in full dress, shining in stars and 
 decorations, but ladies also, with that perfection of toilette 
 only known to Parisian women, their graceful figures scat- 
 tered through the groups, or promenading slowly up and 
 down, conversing in a low tone ; while servants passed to 
 and fro with champagne and fruit-ices on massive silver 
 salvers, their noiseless gesture and quiet demeanor in per- 
 fect keeping with the hushed and tranquil look of all 
 around. As I drew closer to the table I could mark that 
 the stillness was even more remarkable ; not a voice was 
 heard but of the croupier of the table, as with ceaseless 
 monotony he repeated, " Faites le jeu, Messieurs ! Le jeu 
 est fait. Noire perd, et couleur gagne. Rouge perd, et le 
 couleur — " The rattle of the rake and the chink of the 
 gold followed, a low muttered " sacre ! " being the only 
 sound that mingled with them. 
 
 But I could mark, that, although the etiquette of ruin 
 demanded this unbroken silence, passion worked in every 
 feature there. On one side was an old man, his filmy eyes 
 shaded by his hand from the strong glare of wax-lights, 
 peering with eagerness and tremulous from age and excite- 
 ment as the cards fell from the banker's hands, his blanched 
 lips muttering each word after the croupier, and his wasted 
 cheek quivering as the chances inclined against him. Here 
 was a bold and manly face, flushed and heated, whose blood- 
 shot eye ranged quickly over the board ; while every now 
 and then some effort to seem calm and smile would cross 
 the features, and in its working show the dreadful struggle 
 that was maintained within. And then again a beautiful 
 girl, her dark eye dilated almost to a look of wild insanity, 
 her lips parted, her cheeks marked with patches of white 
 and red, and her fair hands clenched, while her bosom 
 
260 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 heaved and fell as though some pent-up agony was eating 
 within her very heart. 
 
 At the end of the table was a vacant chair, beside which 
 an officer in a Prussian uniform was standing, while before 
 him was a small brass-clasped box. Curious to know what 
 this meant, I turned to see to which of those about me 
 I might venture to address a question, when suddenly my 
 curiosity became satisfied without inquiry. A loud voice 
 talking German with a rough accent, the heavy tramp of a 
 cavalry boot clanking with large spurs, announced the 
 approach of some one who cared little for the conventional 
 silence of the rooms ; and as the crowd opened I saw an 
 old man in blue uniform, covered with stars, elbow his way 
 towards the chair. His eyebrows of shaggy gray almost 
 concealed his eyes as effectually as his heavy mustache did 
 his mouth. He walked lame, and leaned on a stick, which, 
 as he took his place in the chair, he placed unceremoniously 
 on the table before him. The box, which was opened the 
 moment he sat down, he now drew towards him, and 
 plunging his hand into it drew forth a handful of napoleons, 
 which, without waiting to count, he threw on the table, 
 uttering in a thick guttural voice the one word " rouge." 
 The impassive coldness of the croupier as he pronounced 
 his habitual exordium seemed to move the -old man's 
 impatience, as he rattled his fingers hurriedly among the 
 gold and muttered some broken words of German between 
 his teeth. The enormous sum he betted drew every eye 
 towards his part of the table, — of all which he seemed 
 totally regardless, as he raked in his winnings, or frowned 
 with a heavy lowering look as often as fortune turned 
 against him. Marshal Blucher — for it was he — was an 
 impassioned gambler, and needed not the excitement of the 
 champagne, which he drank eagerly from time to time, to 
 stimulate his passion for play. 
 
 As I turned from the rouge et noir table, I remarked that 
 every now and then some person left the room by a small 
 door, which, concealed by a mirror, had escaped my atten- 
 tion when I entered. On inquiry I found that this passage 
 
FRESCATTS. 261 
 
 led to a secret part of the establishment, which only a 
 certain set of players frequented, and where the tables were 
 kept open during the entire day and night. Curious to see 
 the interior of this den of greater iniquity I presented 
 myself at it, and on opening found myself in a narrow 
 corridor, where a servant demanded my billet. Having 
 informed him that I was merely there from motives of 
 curiosity, I offered him a napoleon, which speedily satisfied 
 his scruples. He conducted me to the end of the gallery, 
 where, touching a spring, the door opened, and I found 
 myself in a room considerably smaller than the salon, and, 
 with the exception of being less brilliantly lighted, equally 
 splendid in its decorations. Around on all sides were 
 small partitions, like the cells in a London coffee-house, 
 where tables were provided for parties to sup at. These 
 were now unoccupied, the greater attraction of high play 
 having drawn every one around the table, where the same 
 monotonous sounds of the croupier's voice, the same patter 
 of the cards, and the same clinking of the gold continued 
 unceasingly. The silence of the salon was as nothing to the 
 stillness that reigned here. Not a voice save the banker's 
 was ever heard ; each bettor placed his money on the red or 
 black square of the table without speaking, and the massive 
 rouleaus were passed backwards and forwards with no other 
 sound save the noise of the rake. I remarked, too, that the 
 stakes seemed far heavier; crumpled rolls of billets de 
 banque were often thrown down, and from the muffled 
 murmur of the banker I could hear such sums as " seven 
 thousand francs," "ten thousand francs," called out. 
 
 It was some time before I could approach near enough 
 to see the play ; at last I edged my way to the front, and 
 obtained a place behind the croupier's chair, where a 
 good view of the table was presented to me. The differ- 
 ent nations, with their different costumes, tongues, and 
 expressions so strangely congregated, were a study that 
 might have amused me for a long time, had not a chance 
 word of English spoken close by me drawn off my 
 attention. 
 
262 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 Immediately in front, but with their backs towards me, 
 sat two persons, who seemed, as was often the habit, to play- 
 in concert. A large heap of gold and notes lay before 
 them, and several cards, marked with pin-holes to chronicle 
 the run of the game, were scattered about. Unable to 
 see their faces, I was struck by one singular but decisive 
 mark of their difference in condition and rank. The hands 
 of one were fair and delicate almost as a woman's, — the 
 blue veins circling clearly through them, and rings of great 
 price and brilliancy glittering on the fingers ; those of the 
 other were coarse, brown-stained, and ill cared for, — the 
 sinewy fingers and strong bony knuckles denoting one ac- 
 customed to laborious exertions. It was strange that two 
 persons, evidently so wide apart in their walks in life, 
 should be thus associated ; and feeling a greater inter- 
 est from the chance phrase of English one of them had 
 dropped, I watched them closely. By degrees I could mark 
 that their difference in dress was no less conspicuous ; 
 for although the more humble was well and even fashiona- 
 bly attired, he had not the same distinctive marks which 
 characterized his companion as a person of class and 
 condition. While I looked, the pile of gold before them 
 had gradually melted down to some few pieces ; and as 
 they bent down their heads over the cards, and concerted 
 as to their play, it was clear that by their less frequent 
 ventures they were becoming more cautious. 
 
 " No, no ! " said he, who seemed to be the superior, " I '11 
 not risk it." 
 
 " I say yes, yes ! " muttered the other, in a deeper voice ; 
 "the rouge can't go on forever: it has passed eleven 
 times." . 
 
 "I know," said the former, bitterly; "and I have lost 
 seventeen thousand francs." 
 
 " You have lost ! " retorted the other, savagely, but in 
 the same low tone ; " why not we ? Am 1 for nothing in 
 all this ? " 
 
 " Come, come, Ulick, don't be in a passion ! " 
 
 The name and the tone of the speaker startled me. I 
 
FRESCATI'S. 263 
 
 leaned forward ; my very head reeled as I looked. It was 
 Lord Dudley de Vere and Ulick Burke. The rush of 
 passionate excitement that ran through me for a minute or 
 two, to be thus thrown beside the two only enemies I had 
 ever had, unnerved me so far that I could not collect 
 myself. To call them forth at once, and charge them with 
 their baseness towards me ; to dare them openly, and 
 denounce them before that crowded assembly, — was my 
 first rapid thought. But from this wild thrill of anger I 
 was soon turned, as Burke's voice, elevated to a tone 
 of passion, called out, — 
 
 " Hold ! I am going to bet ! " 
 
 The banker stopped ; the cards still rested in his hands. 
 
 " I say, sir, I will do it," said Burke, turning to De Vere, 
 whose cheek was now pale as death, and whose disordered 
 and haggard air was increased by his having torn off his 
 cravat and opened the collar of his shirt. " I say I will ; 
 do you gainsay me ? " continued he, laying on the words an 
 accent of such contemptuous insolence that even De Vere's 
 eye fired at it. " Vingt mille francs, noir," said Burke, plac- 
 ing his last billet on the table ; and the words were scarce 
 spoken when the banker cried out, — 
 
 " Noir perd et passe." 
 
 A horrible curse broke from Burke as he fixed his 
 staring eyeballs on the outspread cards, and counted over 
 the numbers to himself. 
 
 " You see, Burke," said De Vere. 
 
 " Don't speak to me, now, damn you!" said the other, 
 with clenched teeth. 
 
 De Vere pushed back his chair, and rising, moved 
 through the crowd towards an open window. Burke sat 
 with his head buried between his hands for some seconds, 
 and then starting up at the banker's call, cried out, — 
 
 " Dix mille, noir ! " 
 
 A kind of half-suppressed laugh ran round the table at 
 seeing that he had no funds while he still offered to bet. 
 He threw his eyes upon the board, and then as quickly 
 turned them on the players. One by one his dark look was 
 
264 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 bent on them, as if to search out some victim for his hate ; 
 but all were hushed. Many as reckless as himself were 
 there, many as utterly ruined, but not one so lost to hope. 
 
 " Who laughed ? " said he in French, while the thick 
 veins of his forehead stood out like cordage ; and then, as 
 none answered to his challenge, he rose slowly, still scowl- 
 ing with the malignity of a demon. 
 
 " May I have your seat, Monsieur ? " said a dapper little 
 Frenchman, with a smile and a bow, as Burke moved 
 away. 
 
 " Yes, take it," said he, as lifting the strong chair with 
 V one hand he dashed it upon the floor, smashing it to pieces 
 with a crash that shook the room. 
 
 The crowd, which made way for him to pass out, as 
 speedily closed again around the table, where the work of 
 ruin still went forward. Not a passing glance was turned 
 from the board to look after the beggared gambler. 
 
 The horrible indifference the players had shown to the 
 sufferings of this wretched man so thoroughly disgusted 
 me that I could no longer bear even to look on the game. 
 The passion of play had shown itself to me now in all its 
 most repulsive form, and I turned with abhorrence from 
 the table. 
 
 My mind agitated by a number of emotions, and my 
 heart now swelling with triumphant vengeance, now filled 
 with pity for the sake of him who had ruined my fortunes 
 forever, I sat in one of the small boxes I have mentioned, 
 which, dimly lighted, had not yet been sought by any of 
 the players to sup in. A closely drawn curtain separated 
 the little place I occupied from the adjoining one, where 
 from time to time I heard the clink of glasses and the noise 
 of champagne-corks. At first I supposed that some other 
 solitary individual had established himself there to enjoy 
 his winnings or brood over his losses, when at last I could 
 hear the low muttering of voices, which ere long I recog- 
 nized as belonging to Burke and De Vere. 
 
 Burke, who evidently from his tone and manner pos- 
 sessed the mastery over his companion, no longer employed 
 
FRESCATI'S. 265 
 
 the insulting accents I had witnessed at the table ; on the 
 contrary, he condescended to flatter ; affected to be de- 
 lighted with De Vere's wit and sharpness, and more than 
 once insinuated that with such an associate he cared little 
 what tricks fortune played them, as, to use his own phrase, 
 " they were sure to come round." 
 
 De Vere's voice, which I could only hear at rare inter- 
 vals, told that he bad drunk deeply; and that between 
 wine and his losses a kind of reckless desperation had 
 seized him, which gave to his manner and words a 
 semblance of boldness which his real character lacked 
 completely. 
 
 When I knew that Burke and De Vere were the persona 
 near me, I rose to leave the spot ; the fear of playing the 
 eavesdropper forbade my remaining. But as I stood up, 
 the mention of my name uttered in a tone of vengeance by 
 Burke startled me, and I listened. 
 
 " Yes," said he, striking his hand upon the table, and 
 confirming his assertion with a horrible oath, — '* Yes, for 
 him and through him my uncle left me a beggar. But 
 already I have had my revenge; though it sha'n't end 
 there." 
 
 " You don't mean to have him out again ? Confound 
 him, he 's a devilish good shot ; winged you already, — 
 eh?" 
 
 Burke, unmindful of the interruption, continued, — 
 
 " It was I that told my uncle how this fellow was the 
 nephew of the man who seduced his own wife. I worked 
 upon the old man so that he left house and home, and 
 wandered through the country, till mental irritation, acting 
 on a broken frame, became fever, and then death." 
 
 " Died, — eh ? Glorious nephew you are, by Jove ! 
 What next?" 
 
 " I '11 tell you. I forged a letter, in his handwriting to 
 Louisa, written as if on his death-bed, commanding as his 
 last prayer that she should never see Hinton again ; or if 
 by any accident the}" should meet, that she should not re- 
 cognize him nor know him." 
 
266 JACK HINTON, THE GUAEDSMAN. 
 
 " Devilish clever, that; egad, a better martingale than 
 that you invented a while ago. I say, pass the wine ! red 
 fourteen times — was n't it fourteen ? — and if it had not 
 been for your cursed obstinacy I 'd have backed the red. 
 See, fifty naps ! one hundred, four, eight, sixteen, thirty- 
 four, or six, — which is it ? Oh, confounded stupidity ! " 
 
 " Come, come, Dudley ! better luck another time. Louisa's 
 eyes must have been too kindly bent on you, or you'd have 
 been more fortunate." 
 
 " Eh, you think she likes me ? — Capital champagne 
 that! — I always thought she did from the first. That's 
 what I call walking inside of Hinton. How he'll look! 
 Ha! ha! ha!" 
 
 " Yes, how he '11 look ! " echoed Burke, endeavoring to 
 join the laugh. "But now one thing is yet wanting." 
 
 " You mean those despatches," replied De Vere, suddenly. 
 " You always come back to that. Well, once for all, I say, 
 no!" 
 
 "Just hear me, Dudley! Nothing is easier; nothing 
 incurs less risk." 
 
 "Less risk! what do you mean? No risk for me to steal 
 the papers of the embassy, and give them to you to hand 
 over to that scoundrel at the head of the secret police ? 
 Devilish green I may be, but not so green as that, Master 
 Burke ! " 
 
 " Guillemain will give us forty thousand francs. Forty 
 thousand ! with half that, and your luck, De Vere, we '11 
 break every bank in Paris. I know you don't wish to 
 marry Louisa." 
 
 "No; hang it, that's always the wind-up. Keep that 
 for the last throw, eh ? — There 's heavy play there ; see 
 how silent they are." 
 
 "Ay; and with forty thousand francs we might join 
 them," said Burke, as if musing; "and so safely it may 
 be done." 
 
 " I say no ! " replied De Vere, resolutely. 
 
 " What do you fear ? Is it me ? " 
 
 " No, not you ; I believe you are true enough. Your own 
 
FRESCATI'S. 267 
 
 neck will be in the rope too ; so you '11 say nothing. But I 
 won't do it ! — pass the champagne ! — there 's something 
 so devilish blackguard in stealing a man's papers." 
 
 Burke started, as if the tones of his companion's voice 
 had stung him like an adder. 
 
 " Have you thought over your present condition ? " said 
 Burke, firmly. " You have not a guinea left ; your debts 
 in Paris alone, to my knowledge, are above forty thousand 
 francs ! " 
 
 " I '11 never pay a franc of them, — damned swindlers 
 and Jew money-lenders ! " was the cool reply. 
 
 "Might not some scrupulous moralist hint there was 
 something blackguard in that?" said Burke, with slow 
 and distinct articulation. 
 
 " What ! " replied De Vere ; " do you come here to tutor 
 me, — a low-bred horse-jockey, a spy ? Take off your hands, 
 sir, or I '11 alarm the room ; let loose my collar ! " 
 
 " Come, come, my lord, we 're both in fault," said Burke, 
 smothering his passion with a terrible effort; "we of all 
 men must not quarrel. Play is to us the air we breathe, 
 the light we live in. Give me your hand." 
 
 " Allow me to draw on my glove first," said De Vere, in 
 a tone of incomparable insolence. 
 
 " Champagne here ! " said Burke to the waiter as he 
 passed, and for some minutes neither spoke. 
 
 The clock chimed a quarter to two, and Burke started to 
 his feet. 
 
 " I must be going," said he, hastily ; " I should have been 
 at the Porte St. Martin by half-past one." 
 
 " Salute the Jacobite Club, de ma part" said De Vere, 
 with an insulting laugh, " and tell them to cut everybody's 
 throat in Paris save old Lafitte's ; he has promised to do a 
 bill for me in the morning." 
 
 " You '11 not need his kindness so soon," replied Burke, 
 " if you are willing to take my advice. Forty thousand 
 francs — " 
 
 " Would he make it sixty, think you ? " 
 
268 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 "Sixty!" said Burke, with animation; "I'm not sure, 
 but shall I say for sixty you'll do it?" 
 
 "No, I don't mean that; I was only anxious to know 
 if these confounded rigmaroles I have to copy sometimes 
 could possibly interest any one to that amount." 
 
 Burke tried to laugh, but the hollow chuckle sounded like 
 the gulping of a smothering man. 
 
 " Laugh out ! " said De Vere, whose voice became more 
 and more indistinct as his courage became stronger ; " that 
 muttering is so devilish like a spy, a rascally, low-bred — " 
 
 A heavy blow, a half-uttered cry, followed ; and De Vere 
 fell with a crash to the floor, his face and temples bathed 
 with blood, while Burke, springing to the door, darted 
 downstairs and gained the street before pursuit was thought 
 of. A few of the less interested about the table assisted 
 me to raise the fallen man, from whose nose and mouth the 
 blood flowed in torrents. He was perfectly senseless, and 
 evinced scarcely a sign of life as we carried him downstairs 
 and placed him in a carriage. 
 
 " Where to ? " said the coachman, as I stood beside the 
 door. 
 
 I hesitated for a second, and then said, "No. 4 Place 
 Vendome." 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 DISCLOSURES. 
 
 I have more than once heard physicians remark the 
 singular immunity a fool's skull seems to possess from the 
 evil effects of injury, — as if Nature, when denying a gov- 
 erning faculty, had, in kind compensation, imparted a 
 triple thickness to the head thus exposed. It is well 
 known how among the educated and thinking classes 
 many maladies are fatal which are comparatively innocuous 
 among those whose hands alone are called on to labor. A 
 very ingenious theory might be spun from this fact, to the 
 manifest self-gratulation of fox-hunters, sailors, gentlemen 
 who assault the new police, tithe-proctors, and others. 
 For the present I have no further use for the remark than 
 as it bore upon the head-piece of Lord Dudley de Vere, 
 whose admirable developments had received little or no 
 damage from the rude assault of his companion. When 
 he awoke the next morning, he was only aware that some- 
 thing unusual had occurred ; and gradually by " trying 
 back " in his sensations, he remembered every particle that 
 took place, — had the clearest recollection of the "run 
 upon red ; " knew the number of bottles of champagne he 
 had partaken of ; and was only puzzled by one thing, — 
 what could possibly have suggested the courage with which 
 he confronted Burke, and the hardihood that led to insult- 
 ing him. As to any awkwardness at being brought home 
 to the house of the person he had himself so ill-treated, he 
 never felt anything approaching to it ; the extent of his 
 reasoning on this point only went to his satisfaction that 
 " some one " took care of him, and that he was not left to 
 lie on the floor of the salon. 
 
270 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 This admirable philosophy of De Vere served in a great 
 measure to relieve me from the constraint I felt in pre- 
 senting myself before him, and soon put me perfectly at 
 my ease in our interview. After learning, that, except 
 some headaching sensations, the only inconvenience he 
 experienced was an unconquerable thirst, I touched lightly 
 on the cause of his misfortune ; when, what was my aston- 
 ishment to discern that he not only did not entertain a 
 particle of ill-will towards the man who had so brutally 
 ill-treated him, but actually grew warm in his panegyric 
 of Burke's consummate skill and address at play, — such 
 qualities in his estimation being well worthy to cover any 
 small blemishes of villany his character might suffer 
 under. 
 
 " I say, don't you think Burke a devilish sharp fellow ? 
 He 's up to everything, and so cool, so confoundedly cool ! 
 Not last night, though ; no, by Jove ! he lost temper com- 
 pletely. I shall be marked with that knock, eh ? Damn 
 me, it was too bad ; he must apologize for it. You know- 
 he was drunk, and somehow he was all wrong the whole 
 evening ; he would n't let me back the ' rouge,' and such a 
 run — you saw that, I suppose." 
 
 I assented with a nod, for I still hesitated how far I 
 should communicate to him my knowledge of Burke's 
 villany towards myself. 
 
 " By-the-bye, it 's rather awkward my being here ; you 
 know your people have cut me. Don't you think I might 
 get a cab to bring me over to the Bue d' Alger ? " 
 
 There was something which touched me in the simplicity 
 of this remark, and I proceeded to assure him that any 
 former impressions of my friends would not be remembered 
 against him at that moment. 
 
 " Oh, that I 'm sure of ; no one ever thinks it worth 
 while to bear malice against a poor devil like me. But if 
 I 'd have backed the red — " 
 
 " Colonel O'Grady is in the drawing-room," said a servant 
 in a low voice to me at this instant ; and leaving Lord 
 Dudley to speculate on the contingencies of his having 
 
DISCLOSURES. 271 
 
 "backed the red," I joined my friend, whom I had not 
 seen on the previous day. We were alone, and in ten min- 
 utes I explained to him the entire discovery I had fallen 
 upon, concealing only my affection for Louisa Bellew, 
 which I could not bring myself even to allude to. 
 
 " I see," said Phil, when I concluded, — "I see you are 
 half disposed to forgive De Vere all his rascality. Now, 
 what a different estimate we take of men ! Perhaps — I 
 can't say — it is because I am an Irishman, but I lean to 
 the bold-faced villain Burke ; the miserable, contemptible 
 weakness of the one is far more intolerable to me than the 
 ruffian effrontery of the other. Don't forget the lesson I 
 gave you many a year ago : a fool is always a blackguard. 
 Now, if that fellow could see his companion this minute, 
 there is not a circumstance he has noticed here that he 
 would not retail if it bore to your disadvantage. Un- 
 touched by your kindness to him, he would sell you — ay, 
 to the very man you saved him from ! But, after all, what 
 have we to do with him ? Our first point is to rescue this 
 poor girl's name from being ever mixed with his ; anything 
 further is, of course, out of the question. The Rooneys are 
 going back : I saw Paul this morning. ' The Cruiskeen 
 Lawn' has been their ruin. All the Irish officers who had 
 taken Madame de Roni for an illustrious stranger have 
 found out the true scent ; and so many distinguished per- 
 sons are involved in the ridicule of their parties that the 
 old chef de police, my friend, has sent them a private order 
 to leave Paris in a week. Paul is in raptures at it. He 
 has spent eighteen thousand in two months ; detests the 
 place ; is dying to be back in Dublin ; and swears that 
 except one Cossack officer he has n't met a pleasant fellow 
 since he came abroad." 
 
 " And Mrs. Paul ? " 
 
 " Oh, the old story. I put Guillemain up to it, and he 
 has hinted that the Empress of Russia has heard of the 
 czar's attentions ; that there 's the devil to pay in St. 
 Petersburg ; and that if she does n't manage to steal out of 
 Paris slyly, some confounded boyard or other will slip a 
 
272 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 sack over her head and carry her off to Tobolsk. ' Eliza- 
 beth and the Exiles ' has formed part of her reading, and 
 Madame de Eoni will dream every night of the knout till 
 she reaches her dear native land. — But now to business. 
 I, too, have made my discoveries since we met. De Vere's 
 high play has been a matter of surprise to all who know 
 him. I have found out his secret, — he plays with forged 
 billets de banque" 
 
 " And has the wretched fellow gone so far as this ? " 
 
 " He does n't know it ; he believes that the money is the 
 proceeds of bills he has given to Burke, who affects to get 
 them discounted. See here, —here are a handful of their 
 notes. Guillemain knows all, and retains the secret as a 
 hold over Burke, whose honesty to himself he already sus- 
 pects. If he catch him tripping — " 
 
 "Then — " 
 
 " Why, then, the galleys for life. Such is the system ; a 
 villain with them is worthless if his life is n't at their dis- 
 posal. Satan's bond completely, — all, all. But show me 
 De Vere's room, and leave me alone with him for half an 
 hour. Let us then meet at my hotel, and concert future 
 measures." 
 
 Having left O'Grady with De Vere, I walked out upon 
 the boulevards, my head full of the extraordinary facts so 
 suddenly thronging one upon the other. A dash of hope, 
 that for many a day had not visited me, was now mingled 
 through all my meditations, and I began to think that 
 there was yet a chance of happiness for me. 
 
 I had not gone many paces when an arm was thrust into 
 mine, and a hearty chuckling laugh at the surprise rang in 
 my ear. I turned: it was Mr. Paul Rooney, taking his 
 morning's promenade of Paris, and now on his way home 
 with an enormous bouquet for Madame, which she had 
 taught him to present to her each day on her appearing in 
 the drawing-room. 
 
 " Ah, Captain, the very man I wanted ! We have n't 
 had a moment to ourselves since your arrival. You must 
 come and take a bit of dinner with us to-day, — thank 
 
DISCLOSURES. 27o 
 
 Heaven, we 've no company ! I have a leg of pork, smug- 
 gled into the house as if it was a bale of goods from Alex- 
 andria ; nobody knows of it but myself and Tim." 
 
 " Tim ! why, have you brought Tim to Paris ? " 
 
 " Hush ! " said he in a low, cautious voice ; " I 'd be 
 ruined entirely if Madame was to find him out. Tim is 
 dressed like a Tartar, and stands in the hall ; and Mrs. 
 Rooney believes that he never heard of a civil bill in his 
 life. But here we are." 
 
 So saying, he opened a small wicket with a latch-key, 
 and led me into a large and well-trimmed gardeu, across 
 which we walked at a rapid pace, Paul speculating from 
 the closed shutters of his wife's room that he needed not 
 have hurried home so fast. 
 
 " She 's not down yet — one o'clock as I 'm a sinner ! 
 Come along and sit down in the library ; I '11 join you 
 presently." 
 
 Scarcely had Paul left the room when I began to think 
 over the awkwardness of my position should I meet Miss 
 Bellew. What course to follow under the circumstances I 
 knew not ; when just at the moment the door opened, and 
 she entered. Not perceiving me, as I stood in a deep 
 window-recess, she drew a chair to the fire and sat down. 
 I hardly ventured to breathe. I felt like one who had no 
 right to obtrude himself there, and had become, as it were, 
 a spy upon her. A long-drawn breath burst from me ; she 
 started up. I moved slightly forward, and stood before 
 her. She leaned her hand upon the arm of the chair for 
 support ; her cheek grew deadly pale, and a tremulous 
 quiver shook her lip. 
 
 " Mr. Hinton," she began ; and then as if the very sound 
 of her voice had terrified her, she paused. " Mr. Hinton," 
 resumed she, " I am sure — nay, I know — if you were 
 aware of the reasons of my conduct towards you, you 
 would not only acquit me of all blame, but spare me the 
 pain of our ever meeting again." 
 
 " I know them, — I do know them," said I, passionately. 
 " I have been slandered." 
 
 VOL. II. — 18 
 
274 JACK HDvTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " Xo, you do not, cannot know what I mean," interrupted 
 she. " It is a secret between my own heart and one who is 
 now no more." 
 
 The last words fell from her one by one, while a single 
 tear rolled from her eyelid and trickled along her cheek. 
 
 " Yes, yes, Louisa ; I do know it, — I know all. A 
 chance has told me how your dear father's name has been 
 used to banish me forever from your sight ; how a forgery 
 of his handwriting — " 
 
 " What ! who could have told you what my father's last 
 note contained ? " 
 
 " He who wrote it confessed it in my hearing, — Ulick 
 Burke. Nay, I can even repeat the words — " But as I 
 spoke, a violent trembling seized her; her lips became 
 bloodless ; she tottered, and sank upon the chair. I had 
 only time to spring forward and catch her in my arms, 
 and her head fell heavily back, and dropped on my 
 shoulder. 
 
 I cannot, if I would, repeat the words which in all the 
 warm eloquence of affection I spoke. I could mark by her 
 heightened color that the life-blood again coursed freely in 
 her veins, and could see that she heard me. I told her 
 how through every hardship and suffering, in all the 
 sorrow of disappointed ambition, in the long hours of cap- 
 tivity, my heart had ever turned to her ; and then, when 
 we did meet, to see her changed ! 
 
 " But you do not blame, — you cannot blame me if I 
 believed — " 
 
 " No, if you tell me now that but for this falsehood you 
 have not altered ; that your heart is still as much my own 
 as I once thought it." 
 
 A faint smile played on her lips as her eyes were turned 
 upon me ; while her voice muttered, — 
 
 " And do you still love me ? " 
 
 I pressed her hand to my lips in rapture, when suddenly 
 the door opened, and Paul Rooney rushed in. 
 
 " Another candidate for the leg of — Eh ! what 's 
 this ? " said he, as I rose and advanced to meet him j 
 
DISCLOSURES. 275 
 
 while Louisa, blushing deeply, buried her head in her 
 hand, and then starting up, left the room. 
 
 "Captain, captain," said Paul, gravely, "what does this 
 mean ? Do you suppose that because there is some differ- 
 ence in our rank in life, that you are privileged to insult 
 one who is under my protection ? Is it because you are 
 the Guardsman and I the attorney that you have dared to 
 take a liberty here which in your own walk you could n't 
 venture on ? " 
 
 " My dear Mr. Kooney, you mistake me sadly." 
 
 " If I do not mistake you, I '11 put a hole in your body 
 as sure as my name 's Paul," was the quick reply. 
 
 " You do, then, and wrong me to boot. I have been 
 long and ardently attached to Miss Bellew. From the 
 hour I met her at your house I loved her. It is the first 
 time we have met since our long separation : I determined 
 it should not be lost. I 've asked her to be my wife." 
 
 " You have ! And what does she say ? " 
 
 " She has consented." 
 
 " Rum-ti-iddity, iddity ! " said Paul, snapping his fingers, 
 and capering about the room like a man deranged. " Give 
 me your hand, my buck ! I 'd rather draw the settlements, 
 so help me, than I 'd see the warrant to make me master of 
 the rolls. Who 'd say there is n't luck in a leg of pork ? 
 She 's a darling girl ; and beautiful as she is, her looks 
 is n't the best of her, — an angel as sure as I am here ! 
 And look here," — here he dropped his voice, — " seven 
 thousand a year, that may be made nine ! Hennessy's 
 farm is out of lease in October ; and the Cluangoff estate 
 is let at ten shillings an acre. Hurroo ! maybe I won't be 
 drunk to-night ; and bad luck to the Cossack, Tartar, Bo- 
 hemian, or any other blackguard I '11 let into the house 
 this day or night ! Sworn, my lord." 
 
 After some little discussion, it was arranged that if 
 Louisa would give her consent to the arrangement, the 
 marriage should take place before the Rooneys left Paris. 
 Meanwhile, Paul agreed with me in keeping the whole 
 matter a perfect secret from everybody, Mrs. Rooney her- 
 
276 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 self included. Our arrangements were scarcely completed 
 when O'Grady appeared. Having waited for me some 
 time at his hotel, he had set out in search of me. 
 
 " I 'm your man to-day, Paul," said he. " You got my 
 note, I suppose ? " 
 
 " All right," said Mr. Rooney, whose double secret of the 
 marriage and the leg of pork seemed almost too much for 
 him to bear. 
 
 " I suppose I may tell Phil," said I in a whisper. 
 
 "No one else," said Paul, as we left the house, and I 
 took O'Grady's arm down the street. 
 
 " Well, I have frightened De Vere to some purpose," 
 said O'Grady. " He has made a full confession about 
 Burke, who was even a deeper villain than we supposed. 
 What do you think ? He has been the spy of the Bona- 
 partist faction all this time, and selling old Guillemain as 
 regularly as the others. To indulge his passion for play, 
 he received the pay of four different parties, whom he 
 pitted against one another exactly as he saw proper. 
 Consummate clever scoundrel ! — he had to deal with men 
 whose whole lives are passed in the very practice of every 
 chicanery and deceit, and yet he has jockied them all ! 
 What a sad thing to think that such abilities and knowledge 
 of mankind should be prostituted to the lowest and most 
 debasing uses ; and that the sole tendency of such talent 
 should be to dishonor and disgrace its possessor ! Some 
 of his manufactured despatches were masterpieces of 
 cleverness." 
 
 " Well, where is he now ? Still in Paris ? " 
 
 " No. The moment he had so far forgotten himself as 
 to strike De Vere, he forged a passport and returned to 
 London, carrying with him hosts of papers of the French 
 authorities, which to our foreign office will be very accept- 
 able. De Vere meanwhile feels quite at his ease. He was 
 always afraid of his companion, yet can't forgive him his 
 last indignity." 
 
 " No ! A blow ! " 
 
 " Not at all ; you mistake. His regrets have a different 
 
DISCLOSURES. 277 
 
 origin. It is for not backing the ' rouge ' that he is 
 inexorable towards him. Besides, he is under the impres- 
 sion that all these confessions he has been making establish 
 for him a kind of moral insolvency act, by which he is to 
 come forth irresponsible for the past, and quite ready to 
 contract new debts for the future. At this moment his 
 greatest point of doubt consists in whether he should 
 marry your cousin, Lady Julia, or Miss Bellew ; for, in his 
 own phrase, 'he must do something that way to come 
 round.' " 
 
 " Impudent scoundrel ! " 
 
 " Fact, I assure you ; and so easy, so unaffected, so free 
 from embarrassment of any kind is he, that I'm really 
 quite a convert to this modern school of good manners, 
 when associating with even such as Burke conveys no 
 feeling of shame or discomfort. More than could be said 
 some forty years ago, I fancy." 
 
 It was the hour of my mother's morning reception, 
 and we found the drawing-room crowded with loungers 
 and fashionable idlers, discussing the news of the day, 
 and above all the Roni fete, the extraordinary finale to 
 which gave rise to a hundred conjectures, — some asserting 
 that Monsieur de Roni's song was a violent pasquinade 
 against the Emperor Alexander; others, equally well in- 
 formed, alleging it was the concerted signal for a general 
 massacre of the allies, which was to have begun at the 
 same moment in the Rue Montmartre. " She is a Bona- 
 partist, a Legitimiste, a Xeapolitane, an Anversoise," con- 
 tended one after another, — my only fear being that some 
 one would enlighten the party by saying she was the wife 
 of an Irish attorney. All agreed, however, she was bien 
 mauvais ton ; that her fete was, with all its magnificence, 
 anything but select; her supper superb, but too crowded 
 by half; and, in fact, that Madame Roni had enjoyed the 
 pleasure of ruining herself to very little other purpose than 
 that of being generally ridiculed and laughed at. 
 
 "And this niece, or ward, or whatever it is, — who can 
 tell anything of her ? " said my mother. 
 
2tS JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " Ah, pardieu ! she 's very handsome," said Grammont, 
 with a malicious smile. 
 
 " Perfect," said another ; " quite perfect ; but a little, a 
 very little too graceful. Don't you think so ? " 
 
 " Why, what do you mean ? " said Lady Charlotte, as 
 her eyes sparkled with animation at the thought of a 
 secret. 
 
 " Nothing," replied the last speaker, carelessly ; " ex- 
 cept that one always detects the danseuse. She was thin- 
 ner when I saw her at Naples." 
 
 I whispered one word — but one — in his ear, and his 
 face became purple with shame and confusion. 
 
 " Eh, what is it ? " said my mother, eagerly. " John 
 knows something of her too. John, dearest, let us 
 hear it?" 
 
 " I am in your Ladyship's debt as regards one secret," 
 said O'Grady, interrupting ; " perhaps I may be permitted 
 to pay it on this occasion. The lady in question is the 
 daughter of an Irish baronet, the descendant of a family as 
 old as any of those who now hear me. That baronet would 
 have been a peer of the realm had he consented to vote once 
 — but once — with the minister, on a question where his 
 conscience told him to oppose him. His refusal was re- 
 paid by neglect ; others were promoted to rank and honors 
 before him ; but the frown of a minister could neither take 
 away the esteem of his country nor his own self-respect. 
 He is now dead ; but his daughter is the worthy inheritor 
 of his virtues and his name. Perhaps I might interest the 
 present company as much in her favor by adding, she pos- 
 sesses something like eight thousand per annum." 
 
 "Two hundred thousand Uvres de rent!" said Gram- 
 mont, smacking his lips with astonishment, and perfectly 
 insensible to the tone of mockery in which O'Grady's last 
 words were spoken. 
 
 " And you are sure of all this ? " said my mother. 
 
 O'Grady bowed deeply, but without speaking, while his 
 features assumed an expression of severe determination I 
 had never witnessed before. I could not help remarking, 
 
DISCLOSURES. 279 
 
 that, amid the dismay such an announcement created in 
 that gossiping and calumnious assembly, my cousin Julia's 
 eyes shone with an added lustre, and her whole face 
 beamed with a look of proud and exalted beauty. 
 
 This was now the time to tell O'Grady my secret ; and 
 drawing him towards a window, I said, — 
 
 "Phil, I can wait no longer, — you must hear it. I 'm 
 going to be married." 
 
 The words had not left my lips, when O'Grady started 
 back, his face pale like a corpse, and his whole frame 
 trembling with eagerness. By a violent effort, however, 
 he rallied ; and as he clutched my arm with his fingers, 
 he said, — 
 
 " I must be going ; these good people have made me for- 
 get an appointment. Make my respectful homage to her 
 Ladyship — and the bride. I shall see you before I leave." 
 
 " Leave ! Why, where are you thinking of going ? " 
 
 " To India." 
 
 " To India ! " said Julia, starting round as he spoke. 
 
 " To India ! " said I, in amazement. 
 
 He nodded, and turning quickly round, left the room. 
 
 I hastened after him with all my speed, and dashing down- 
 stairs was making for the parte cochere, when a shadow 
 beside the doorway caught my eye. I stopped. It was 
 O'Grady : he was leaning against the wall, his head buried 
 in his hands. A horrible doubt shot through my heart. I 
 dared not dwell upon it ; but rushing towards him, I called 
 him by his name. He turned quickly round, while a fierce 
 wild look glistened in his eyes. 
 
 " Not now, Hinton, not now ! " said he, motioning me 
 away with his hand ; and then, as a cold shudder passed 
 over him, he drew his hand across his face, and added in 
 a lower tone, " I never thought to have betrayed myself 
 thus. Good-by, my clear fellow, good-by ! It were better 
 we shouldn't meet again." 
 
 "My dearest, best friend! I never dreamed that the 
 brightest hour of my life was to throw this gloom over 
 your heart." 
 
280 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 " Yes, Jack," said he, in a voice low and broken, " from 
 the first hour I saw her I loved her. The cold manner she 
 maintained towards me at your father's house — " 
 
 " In my father's house ! What do you mean ? " 
 
 " When in London, I speak of, — when I joined first — 
 your cousin — " 
 
 " My cousin ! " 
 
 " Yes, Lady Julia. Are you so impatient to call her wife 
 that you will not remember her as cousin ? " 
 
 " Call her wife ! My dear boy, you 're raving. It 's 
 Louisa Bellew ! " 
 
 " What ! Is it Miss Bellew you are to marry ? " 
 
 " To be sure — " 
 
 But I could not finish the sentence, as O'Grady fell upon 
 my shoulder, and his strong frame was convulsed with 
 emotion. 
 
 In an instant, however, I tore myself away ; and calling 
 out, " Wait for me O'Grady ! " I rushed upstairs, peeped 
 hastily into the drawing-room, and then hurrying along the 
 corridor opened a door at the end. The blinds of the win- 
 dows were down, and the room so dark that I could scarcely 
 perceive if any one were there had not my steps been 
 guided by a low sob which I heard issue from the end of 
 the sofa. 
 
 "Julia," said I, rushing forward, — "Julia, my dearest 
 cousin ! this is no time to deceive ourselves. He loves you, 
 — loved you from the first hour he met you. Let me have 
 but one word. Can he, dare he hope that you are not in- 
 different to him ? Let him but see you, but speak to you. 
 Believe me, you have bent a heart as proud and haughty 
 as your own; and you will have broken it if you refuse 
 him. There, dearest girl — Thanks ! my heart's thanks 
 for that ! " 
 
 The slightest pressure of her taper fingers sent a thrill 
 through me, as I sprang up and dashed down the stairs. 
 In an instant I had seized O'Grady's arm, and the next 
 moment whispered in his ear, — 
 
 " You 've won her ! " 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 NEW ARRIVALS. 
 
 Mr. Paul Rooney's secret was destined to be inviolable 
 as regarded his leg of pork ; for Madame de Roni, either 
 from chagrin or fatigue, did not leave her room the entire 
 day. Miss Bellew declined joining us ; and we sat down, a 
 party of three, each wrapped up in his own happiness in a 
 degree far too great to render us either social or conversa- 
 tional. It is true the wine circulated briskly, and we 
 nodded pleasantly now and then to one another ; but all our 
 efforts to talk led to so many blunders and cross answers 
 that we scarcely ventured on more than a chance phrase or 
 a good-humored smile. There were certainly several bar- 
 riers in the way of our complete happiness, in the innumer- 
 able prejudices of my lady-mother, who would be equally 
 averse to O'Grady's project as to my own ; but now was 
 not the time to speculate on these, and we wrapped our- 
 selves up in the glorious anticipation of our success, and 
 cared little for such sources of opposition as might now 
 arise. Meanwhile, Paul entered into a long and doubtless 
 very accurate statement of the Bellew property, to which, 
 I confess, I paid little attention, save when the name of 
 Louisa occurred, which momentarily aroused me from my 
 dreaminess. All the wily stratagems by which he had 
 gained his points with Galway juries, all the cunning de- 
 vices by which he had circumvented opposing lawyers and 
 obtained verdicts in almost hopeless cases, however I might 
 have relished another time, I only now listened to without 
 interest, or heard without understanding. 
 
 Towards ten o'clock I received more than one hint from 
 O'Grady that we had promised to take tea at the Place 
 
282 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 Vendome ; while I myself was manoeuvring to find out, if 
 we were to adjourn for coffee, what prospect there might 
 be of seeing Louisa Bellew in the drawing-room. 
 
 It was in that dusky twilight we sat which somehow 
 seems so suited to the quiet enjoyment of one's claret with 
 a small and chosen party ; where intimacy prevails suffi- 
 ciently to make conversation more a thing of choice than 
 necessity ; where each man can follow out his own path in 
 thought and only let his neighbor have a peep here and there 
 into his dreamings, when some vista opens, or some bold 
 prospect stretches away. Next to the blazing fire of a win- 
 ter's hearth, this is the pleasantest thing I know of. Thus 
 was it, when the door opened, and a dusky outline of a 
 figure appeared at the entrance. 
 
 " Is Master Phil here ? " said a cranky voice there was 
 no mistaking as Mister Delany's. 
 
 " Yes, Corny. What 's wrong ? Anything new ? " 
 
 " Where 's the captain ? " said he in the same tone. 
 
 " I 'm here, Corny," said I. 
 
 " Well, there 's them looking for you without," said he, 
 " that '11 maybe surprise you, pleasant as ye are now." 
 
 A detestable effort at a laugh here brought on a fit of 
 coughing that lasted a couple of minutes. 
 
 " Who is it ? " said I. « Where are they ? " 
 
 A significant gesture with his thumb over his shoulder 
 was the only reply to my question, while he barked out, 
 " Don't you see me coughing the inside out o' me ? " 
 
 I started up, and without attending to Paul's suggestion 
 to bring my friends in, or to O'Grady's advice to be cau- 
 tious if it were Burke, hurried outside, where a servant of 
 the house was in waiting to conduct me. 
 
 " Two gentlemen in the drawing-room, sir," said he, as 
 he preceded me down the corridor. 
 
 The next instant the door opened, and I saw my father 
 accompanied by another person, who being wrapped up in 
 travelling equipment, I could not recognize. 
 
 " My dear father ! " said I, rushing towards him, when 
 suddenly I stopped short, as I perceived that instead of 
 
NEW ARRIVALS. 283 
 
 the affectionate welcome I looked for he had crossed his 
 hands behind his back, and fixed on me a look of stern 
 displeasure. 
 
 " What does this mean ? " said I, in amazement ; " it 
 was not thus I expected — " 
 
 " It was not thus I hoped to have received my son," said 
 he, resolutely, " after a long and eventful separation. But 
 this is too painful to endure longer. Answer me, and with 
 the same truth I have always found in you, — is there a 
 young lady in this house called Miss Bellew ? " 
 
 "Yes, sir," said I, and a cold perspiration broke over 
 me, and I could scarcely support myself. 
 
 " Did you make her acquaintance in Ireland ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Did you at that time use every effort to win her affec- 
 tions, and give her to understand that she had yours ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir," said I, more faintly than before ; for already 
 some horrible doubt was creeping on my mind. 
 
 " And have you now, sir," continued he, in a voice ele- 
 vated to a higher pitch, — " have you now, sir, when a 
 prospect of a richer alliance presents itself, dishonored 
 yourself and my name, by deserting the girl whose affec- 
 tions you have so gained ? " 
 
 " No, sir ! that is untrue." 
 
 "Stop, young man! I have one at hand this moment 
 who may compel you to retract your words as shame- 
 fully as you have boldly said them. Do you know this 
 gentleman ? " 
 
 " Father Loftus ! " said I, starting back with astonish- 
 ment, as the good priest unfolded a huge comforter from 
 his throat, and stood forth. 
 
 " Yes, indeed ! no other," said he, in a voice of great 
 sadness ; " and sorry I am to see you this way." 
 
 " You, surely, my dear friend," said I, — " you cannot 
 believe thus harshly of me ? " 
 
 " If it was n't for your handwriting, I 'd not have be- 
 lieved the Pope of Borne," was his reply, as he wiped 
 • his eyes. " But there it is." 
 
284 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 So saying, he handed to me, with trembling fingers, a 
 letter, bearing the Paris post-mark. 
 
 I tore it open, and found it was written in my own name, 
 and addressed to Father Loftus, informing him of my deep 
 regret, that, having discovered the unhappy circumstance 
 of her mother's conduct, I was obliged to relinquish all 
 thoughts of an alliance with Miss Bellew's family, whose 
 connection with my own had been so productive of heavy 
 misfortune. This also contained an open note, to be 
 handed by the priest to Miss Bellew, in which I was made 
 formally to renounce her hand, for reasons in the posses- 
 sion of Father Loftus. 
 
 In a second the truth flashed across me from whom this 
 plot proceeded; and scarcely permitting myself time to 
 read the letter through, I called out, — 
 
 " This is a forgery ! I never wrote it, never saw it 
 before ! " 
 
 " What ! " said my father, starting round, and fixing his 
 eye on the priest. 
 
 " You never wrote it ? " echoed Father Tom. " Do you 
 say so ? Is that your word as a gentleman ? " 
 
 " It is," said I, firmly. " This day, this very day, I 
 have asked Miss Bellew to be my wife, and she has 
 consented." 
 
 Before my father could seize my hand, the good priest 
 had thrown his arms round my neck and given me an em- 
 brace a bear might have envied. The scene that followed 
 I cannot describe. My poor father, quite overpowered, sat 
 down upon a chair, holding my hand within both his ; while 
 Father Tom bustled about the room, looking into all the 
 glass and china ornaments for something to drink, as his 
 mouth, he said, was like a lime-burner's hat. The honest 
 fellow, it appeared, on receiving the letters signed with my 
 name, left his home the same night and travelled with all 
 speed to London, where he found my father just on the eve 
 of leaving for Paris. Very little persuasion was necessary 
 to induce him to continue his journey farther. On their 
 arrival at Paris they had gone to O'Grady's hotel, where, 
 
NEW ARRIVALS. 285 
 
 securing Corny's services, they lost not a moment in track- 
 ing me out in the manner I have mentioned. 
 
 O'Grady's surprise was little inferior to my own, as I 
 introduced General Hinton and Father Loftus. But as to 
 Mr. Eooney, he actually believed the whole to be a dream ; 
 and even when candles were brought, and he had taken a 
 patient survey of the priest, he was far from crediting that 
 my parent was not performed b}^ deputy, till my father's 
 tact and manner convinced him of his mistake. 
 
 While the priest was recounting some circumstances of 
 his journey, I took occasion to tell my father of O'Grady's 
 intentions regarding Julia, which with all the warmth of 
 his nature he at once responded to ; and touching his glass 
 gayly with Phil's, merely added, " With my best wishes." 
 Poor O'Grady caught up the meaning at once, and grasped 
 his hand with enthusiasm, while the tears started to his 
 eyes. 
 
 It would lead me too far, and perhaps where the good 
 nature of my reader might not follow me, were I to speak 
 more of that happy evening. It is enough to say that 
 Father Loftus won every moment on my father, who also 
 was delighted with the hearty raciness of honest Paul. 
 Their stores of pleasantry and fun, so new to him, were 
 poured forth with profusion ; and a party every member 
 of which was more disposed to like one another and be 
 pleased, never met together. 
 
 I myself, however, was not without my feeling of impa- 
 tience to reach the drawing-room, which I took the first 
 favorable opportunity of effecting, — only then perceiving 
 that O'Grady had anticipated me, having stolen away some 
 time before. 
 
CHAPTEK XXXIV. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 It would be even more wearisome to my reader than the 
 fact was worrying to myself, were I to recount the steps by 
 which my father communicated to Lady Charlotte the in- 
 tended marriages, and finally obtained her consent to both. 
 Fortunately, for some time previous she had been getting 
 tired of Paris, and was soon brought to suppose that these 
 little family arrangements were as much " got up " to afford 
 her an agreeable surprise and a healthful stimulant to her 
 weak nerves as for any other cause whatever. 
 
 With Mrs. Rooney, on the other hand, there was con- 
 siderable difficulty. The holy alliance she had contracted 
 with the sovereigns had suggested so much of grandeur to 
 her expectations that she dreamed of nothing but archdukes 
 and counts of the empire, and was at first quite inexorable 
 at the bare idea of the mesalliance that awaited her ward. 
 A chance decided what resisted every species of argument. 
 Corny Delany, who had been sent with a note to Mr. 
 Rooney, happened to be waiting in the hall while Mrs. 
 Rooney passed out to her carriage escorted by the "Tartar" 
 of whom we have already made mention. Mrs. Rooney was 
 communicating her orders to her bearded attendant hj a 
 code of signals on her fingers, when Corny, who watched 
 the proceeding with increasing impatience, exclaimed, — 
 
 " Arrah, can't you tell the man what you want ? Sure, 
 though you have him dressed like a wild baste, he does n't 
 forget English." 
 
 "It is a Tartar ! " said Mrs. Rooney, with a contemptuous 
 sneer at Corny and a forbidding wave of her hand ordaining 
 silence. 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 287 
 
 rt A Tarther ! Oh, blessed Timothy ! there 's a name for 
 one that comes of dacent people ! He 's a county Carlo w 
 man, and well known he is in the same parts. Many a writ 
 he served, — eh, Tim ? " 
 
 " Tim ! " said Mrs. Rooney, in horror, as she beheld her 
 wild-looking friend grin from ear to ear, with a most fearful 
 significance of what he heard. 
 
 "It was n't my fault, Ma'am, at all," said the Tartar, with 
 a very Dublin accent in the words ; " it was the master 
 made me." 
 
 What further explanation Tim might have afforded it is 
 difficult to say, for Mrs. Rooney's nerves had received too 
 severe and too sudden a shock. A horrible fear lest all the 
 kingly and royal personages by whom she had been for 
 some weeks surrounded might only turn out to be Carlow 
 men, or something as unsubstantial, beset her; a dreadful 
 
288 JACK HINTON, THE GUARDSMAN. 
 
 unbelief of everything and everybody seized upon her, and, 
 quite overcome, she fainted. O'Grady, who happened to 
 come up at the instant, learned the whole secret at once, 
 and with his wonted readiness resolved to profit by it. 
 Mrs. Paul returned to the drawing-room, and ere half an 
 hour was fully persuaded that as General Hinton was 
 about to depart for Ireland as commander of the forces, 
 the alliance was on the whole not so deplorable as she had 
 feared. 
 
 To reconcile so many conflicting interests, to conciliate so 
 many totally opposite characters, was a work I should com- 
 pletely have failed in without O'Grady's assistance. He, 
 however, entered upon it con amove ; and under his auspices, 
 not only did Lady Charlotte receive the visits of Father 
 Tom Loftus, but Mr. Paul became actually a favorite with 
 my cousin Julia ; and, finally, the grand catastrophe of the 
 drama was accomplished, and my lady-mother proceeded in 
 all state to wait on Mrs. Rooney herself, who, whatever her 
 previous pretensions, was so awed by the condescension of 
 her Ladyship's manner that she actually struck her colors 
 at the first broadside. 
 
 Weddings are stupid things in reality, but on paper they 
 are detestable. Not even the " Morning Post " can give 
 them a touch of interest. I shall not, then, trouble my 
 reader with any narrative of white satin and orange-flowers, 
 bouquets, breakfasts, and Bishop Luscombe ; neither shall 
 I entertain him with the article in the French " Feuilleton " 
 as to which of the two brides was the more strictly beauti- 
 ful, and which more lovely. 
 
 Having introduced my reader to certain acquaintances, 
 — some of them rather equivocal ones, I confess, — I ought 
 perhaps to add a word of their future fortunes. 
 
 Mr. Ulick Burke escaped to America, where, by the exer- 
 cise of his abilities and natural sharpness, he accumulated 
 a large fortune, and distinguished by his anti-English pre- 
 judices, became a leading member of Congress. 
 
CONCLUSION. 289 
 
 Of Lord Dudley de Vere I only know that he has lived 
 long enough, if not to benefit by experience, to take advan- 
 tage of Lord Brougham's change in the law of imprison- 
 ment for debt. I saw his name in a late number of " The 
 Times," with a debt of some fifteen thousand annexed 
 to it, against which his available property was eleven 
 pounds odd shillings. 
 
 Father Loftus sleeps in Murranakilty. No stone marks 
 his resting-place ; but not a peasant's foot, for many a mile 
 round, has not pressed the little pathway that leads to his 
 grave, to offer up a prayer for a good man and a friend to 
 the poor. 
 
 Tipperary Joe is still to be met on the Kilkenny road. His 
 old red coat, now nearly russet color, is torn and ragged •, 
 the top-boots have given place to bare legs, as well tanned 
 as their predecessors ; but his merry voice and cheerful 
 " Tallyho ! " are still as rich as of yore, and his heart, poor 
 fellow ! as light as ever it was. 
 
 Corny Delany is the amiable proprietor of a hotel in the 
 neighborhood of Castlebar, where his habitual courtesy and 
 amenity are as conspicuous as of yore. He has requested 
 me to take this opportunity of recommending his establish- 
 ment to the " Haythins and Turks " that yearly perform 
 tours in his vicinity. 
 
 The Rooneys live, and are as hospitable as ever. I dare 
 not venture to give their address, lest you should take 
 advantage of the information. 
 
 O'Grady and his wife are now at Malta. 
 
 Jack Hinton and his are, as they have every right to 
 be, — 
 
 Your very grateful and obedient Servants. 
 
 VOL. II. — 19 
 
ENVOY. 
 
 My dear Friends, — Yon must often have witnessed, in the 
 half-hour which preludes departure from a dinner-party, the species 
 of quiet bustle leave-taking produces. The low-voiced announce- 
 ment of Mr. Somebody's carriage, the whispered good-night, the 
 bow, the slide, the half-pressed finger, — and he is gone. Another 
 and another succeed him, and the few who linger on turn ever 
 towards the opening door, and while they affect to seem at ease, are 
 cursing their coachman and wondering at the delay. 
 
 The position of the host on such an occasion is precisely that 
 of the author at the close of a volume. The same doubts are his 
 whether the entertainment he has provided has pleased his guests; 
 whether the persons he has introduced to one another are mutually 
 satisfied. And, finally, the same solitude which visits him who 
 " treads alone some banquet-hall deserted " settles down upon the 
 weary writer who watches one by one the spirits he has conjured up 
 depart forever, and, worse still, sees the tie snapped that for so long 
 a period has bound him to his readers; and while they have turned 
 to other and newer sources of amusement, he is left to brood over 
 the time when they walked together, and his voice was heard 
 amongst them. 
 
 Like all who look back, he sees how much better he could have 
 done were he again to live over the past. He regrets many an 
 opportunity of interesting you lost forever, many an occasion to 
 amuse you which may never occur again. It is thus that somehow 
 — insensibly, I believe — a kind of sadness creeps over one at the 
 end of a volume; misgivings as to success mingle with sorrows 
 for the loss of our accustomed studies; and, altogether, the author is 
 little to be envied, who, having enjoyed your sympathy and good 
 wishes for twelve months, finds himself at last at the close of the 
 year, at the limit of your kindness, and obliged to say " Good-by," 
 even though it condemns him to solitude. 
 
ENVOY. 291 
 
 I did wish, before parting with you at this season, to justify my- 
 self before you for certain things which my critics have laid to my 
 charge; but on second thoughts I have deemed it better to say 
 nothing, lest by my defence against manslaughter a new indictment 
 should be framed, and convict me of murder. 
 
 Such is the simple truth. The faults, the very great faults, of 
 my book I am as well aware of as I feel myself unable to correct 
 them. But in justice to my monitors I must say, that they have 
 less often taken me up when tripping than when I stood erect upon 
 good and firm ground. Yet let me be grateful for all their kind- 
 ness, which for critics is certainly long-lived ; and that I may still 
 continue for a season to enjoy their countenance and yours is the 
 most sincere desire of 
 
 Your very devoted servant, 
 
 HARRY LORREQUER. 
 
 P. S. — A bashful friend desires an introduction to you. May I 
 present Tom Burke, of Ours ? 
 
 H. L. 
 
r 
 
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