"I"m not afraid of Freny"s people," said the Captain, with a faint attempt at a laugh; "my man is armed, and so am I."
"You know the use of arms very well, Quin," said Ulick; "and no one can doubt your courage; but Mick and I will see you home for all that."
"Why, you"ll not be home till morning, boys. Kilw.a.n.gan"s a good ten mile from here."
"We"ll sleep at Quin"s quarters," replied Ulick: "WE"RE GOING TO STOP A WEEK THERE."
"Thank you," says Quin, very faint; "it"s very kind of you."
"You"ll be lonely, you know, without us."
"Oh yes, very lonely!" says Quin.
"And in ANOTHER WEEK, my boy," says Ulick (and here he whispered something in the Captain"s ear, in which I thought I caught the words "marriage," "parson," and felt all my fury returning again).
"As you please," whined out the Captain; and the horses were quickly brought round, and the three gentlemen rode away.
f.a.gan stopped, and, at my uncle"s injunction, walked across the old treeless park with me. He said that after the quarrel at dinner, he thought I would scarcely want to see the ladies that night, in which opinion I concurred entirely; and so we went off without an adieu.
"A pretty day"s work of it you have made, Master Redmond," said he. "What! you a friend to the Bradys, and knowing your uncle to be distressed for money, try and break off a match which will bring fifteen hundred a year into the family? Quin has promised to pay off the four thousand pounds which is bothering your uncle so. He takes a girl without a penny-a girl with no more beauty than yonder bullock. Well, well, don"t look furious; let"s say she IS handsome-there"s no accounting for tastes,-a girl that has been flinging herself at the head of every man in these parts these ten years past, and MISSING them all. And you, as poor as herself, a boy of fifteen-well, sixteen, if you insist-and a boy who ought to be attached to your uncle as to your father"- "And so I am," said I.
"And this is the return you make him for his kindness! Didn"t he harbour you in his house when you were an orphan, and hasn"t he given you rent-free your fine mansion of Barryville yonder? And now, when his affairs can be put into order, and a chance offers for his old age to be made comfortable, who flings himself in the way of him and competence?-You, of all others; the man in the world most obliged to him. It"s wicked, ungrateful, unnatural. From a lad of such spirit as you are, I expect a truer courage."
"I am not afraid of any man alive," exclaimed I (for this latter part of the Captain"s argument had rather staggered me, and I wished, of course, to turn it-as one always should when the enemy"s too strong); "and it"s I am the injured man, Captain f.a.gan. No man was ever, since the world began, treated so. Look here-look at this riband. I"ve worn it in my heart for six months. I"ve had it there all the time of the fever. Didn"t Nora take it out of her own bosom and give it me? Didn"t she kiss me when she gave it me, and call me her darling Redmond?"
"She was PRACTISING," replied Mr. f.a.gan, with a sneer. "I know women, sir. Give them time, and let n.o.body else come to the house, and they"ll fall in love with a chimney-sweep. There was a young lady in Fermoy"- "A young lady in flames," roared I (but I used a still hotter word). "Mark this; come what will of it, I swear I"ll fight the man who pretends to the hand of Nora Brady. I"ll follow him, if it"s into the church, and meet him there. I"ll have his blood, or he shall have mine; and this riband shall be found dyed in it. Yes, and if I kill him, I"ll pin it on his breast, and then she may go and take back her token." This I said because I was very much excited at the time, and because I had not read novels and romantic plays for nothing.
"Well," says f.a.gan after a pause, "if it must be, it must. For a young fellow, you are the most blood-thirsty I ever saw. Quin"s a determined fellow, too."
"Will you take my message to him?" said I, quite eagerly.
"Hush!" said f.a.gan: "your mother may be on the look-out. Here we are, close to Barryville."
"Mind! not a word to my mother," I said; and went into the house swelling with pride and exultation to think that I should have a chance against the Englishman I hated so.
Tim, my servant, had come up from Barryville on my mother"s return from church; for the good lady was rather alarmed at my absence, and anxious for my return. But he had seen me go in to dinner, at the invitation of the sentimental lady"s-maid; and when he had had his own share of the good things in the kitchen, which was always better furnished than ours at home, had walked back again to inform his mistress where I was, and, no doubt, to tell her, in his own fashion, of all the events that had happened at Castle Brady. In spite of my precautions to secrecy, then, I half suspected that my mother knew all, from the manner in which she embraced me on my arrival, and received our guest, Captain f.a.gan. The poor soul looked a little anxious and flushed, and every now and then gazed very hard in the Captain"s face; but she said not a word about the quarrel, for she had a n.o.ble spirit, and would as lief have seen anyone of her kindred hanged as shirking from the field of honour. What has become of those gallant feelings nowadays? Sixty years ago a man was a MAN, in old Ireland, and the sword that was worn by his side was at the service of any gentleman"s gizzard, upon the slightest difference. But the good old times and usages are fast fading away. One scarcely every hears of a fair meeting now, and the use of those cowardly pistols, in place of the honourable and manly weapon of gentlemen, has introduced a deal of knavery into the practice of duelling, that cannot be sufficiently deplored.
When I arrived at home I felt that I was a man in earnest, and welcoming Captain f.a.gan to Barryville, and introducing him to my mother, in a majestic and dignified way, said the Captain must be thirsty after his walk, and called upon Tim to bring up a bottle of the yellow-sealed Bordeaux, and cakes and gla.s.ses, immediately.
Tim looked at the mistress in great wonderment: and the fact is, that six hours previous I would as soon have thought of burning the house down as calling for a bottle of claret on my own account; but I felt I was a man now, and had a right to command; and my mother felt this too, for she turned to the fellow and said, sharply, "Don"t you hear, you rascal, what YOUR MASTER says! Go, get the wine, and the cakes and gla.s.ses, directly." Then (for you may be sure she did not give Tim the keys of our little cellar) she went and got the liquor herself; and Tim brought it in, on the silver tray, in due form. My dear mother poured out the wine, and drank the Captain welcome; but I observed her hand shook very much as she performed this courteous duty, and the bottle went clink, clink, against the gla.s.s. When she had tasted her gla.s.s, she said she had a headache, and would go to bed; and so I asked her blessing, as becomes a dutiful son-(the modern BLOODS have given up the respectful ceremonies which distinguished a gentleman in my time)-and she left me and Captain f.a.gan to talk over our important business.
"Indeed," said the Captain," I see now no other way out of the sc.r.a.pe than a meeting. The fact is, there was a talk of it at Castle Brady, after your attack upon Quin this afternoon, and he vowed that he would cut you in pieces: but the tears and supplications of Miss Honoria induced him, though very unwillingly, to relent. Now, however, matters have gone too far. No officer, bearing His Majesty"s commission, can receive a gla.s.s of wine on his nose-this claret of yours is very good, by the way, and by your leave we"ll ring for another bottle-without resenting the affront. Fight you must; and Quin is a huge strong fellow."
"He"ll give the better mark," said I. "I am not afraid of him."
"In faith," said the Captain," I believe you are not; for a lad, I never saw more game in my life."
"Look at that sword, sir," says I, pointing to an elegant silver-mounted one, in a white s.h.a.green case, that hung on the mantelpiece, under the picture of my father, Harry Barry. "It was with that sword, sir, that my father pinked Mohawk O"Driscol, in Dublin, in the year 1740; with that sword, sir, he met Sir Huddlestone Fuddlestone, the Hampshire baronet, and ran him through the neck. They met on horseback, with sword and pistol, on Hounslow Heath, as I dare say you have heard tell of, and those are the pistols" (they hung on each side of the picture) "which the gallant Barry used. He was quite in the wrong, having insulted Lady Fuddlestone, when in liquor, at the Brentford a.s.sembly. But, like a gentleman, he scorned to apologise, and Sir Huddlestone received a ball through his hat, before they engaged with the sword. I am Harry Barry"s son, sir, and will act as becomes my name and my quality."
"Give me a kiss, my dear boy," said f.a.gan, with tears in his eyes. "You"re after my own soul. As long as Jack f.a.gan lives you shall never want a friend or a second."
Poor fellow! he was shot six months afterwards, carrying orders to my Lord George Sackville, at Minden, and I lost thereby a kind friend. But we don"t know what is in store for us, and that night was a merry one at least. We had a second bottle, and a third too (I could hear the poor mother going downstairs for each, but she never came into the parlour with them, and sent them in by the butler, Mr. Tim): and we parted at length, he engaging to arrange matters with Mr. Quin"s second that night, and to bring me news in the morning as to the place where the meeting should take place. I have often thought since, how different my fate might have been, had I not fallen in love with Nora at that early age; and had I not flung the wine in Quin"s face, and so brought on the duel. I might have settled down in Ireland but for that (for Miss Quinlan was an heiress, within twenty miles of us, and Peter Burke, of Kilw.a.n.gan, left his daughter Judy L700 a year, and I might have had either of them, had I waited a few years). But it was in my fate to be a wanderer, and that battle with Quin sent me on my travels at a very early age: as you shall hear anon.
I never slept sounder in my life, though I woke a little earlier than usual; and you may be sure my first thought was of the event of the day, for which I was fully prepared. I had ink and pen in my room-had I not been writing those verses to Nora but the day previous, like a poor fond fool as I was? And now I sat down and wrote a couple of letters more: they might be the last, thought I, that I ever should write in my life. The first was to my mother:- "Honoured Madam"-I wrote-"This will not be given you unless I fall by the hand of Captain Quin, whom I meet this day in the field of honour, with sword and pistol. If I die, it is as a good Christian and a gentleman,-how should I be otherwise when educated by such a mother as you? I forgive all my enemies-I beg your blessing as a dutiful son. I desire that my mare Nora, which my uncle gave me, and which I called after the most faithless of her s.e.x, may be returned to Castle Brady, and beg you will give my silver-hiked hanger to Phil Purcell, the gamekeeper. Present my duty to my uncle and Ulick, and all the girls of MY party there. And I remain your dutiful son, "REDMOND BARRY."
To Nora I wrote:- "This letter will be found in my bosom along with the token you gave me. It will be dyed in my blood (unless I have Captain Quin"s, whom I hate, but forgive), and will be a pretty ornament for you on your marriage-day. Wear it, and think of the poor boy to whom you gave it, and who died (as he was always ready to do) for your sake.
"REDMOND."
These letters being written, and sealed with my father"s great silver seal of the Barry arms, I went down to breakfast; where my mother was waiting for me, you may be sure. We did not say a single word about what was taking place: on the contrary, we talked of anything but that; about who was at church the day before, and about my wanting new clothes now I was grown so tall. She said I must have a suit against winter, if-if-she could afford it. She winced rather at the "if," Heaven bless her! I knew what was in her mind. And then she fell to telling me about the black pig that must be killed, and that she had found the speckled hen"s nest that morning, whose eggs I liked so, and other such trifling talk. Some of these eggs were for breakfast, and I ate them with a good appet.i.te; but in helping myself to salt I spilled it, on which she started up with a scream. "THANK G.o.d," said she, "IT"S FALLEN TOWARDS ME." And then, her heart being too full, she left the room. Ah! they have their faults, those mothers; but are there any other women like them?
When she was gone I went to take down the sword with which my father had vanquished the Hampshire baronet, and, would you believe it?-the brave woman had tied A NEW RIBAND to the hilt: for indeed she had the courage of a lioness and a Brady united. And then I took down the pistols, which were always kept bright and well oiled, and put some fresh flints I had into the locks, and got b.a.l.l.s and powder ready against the Captain should come. There was claret and a cold fowl put ready for him on the sideboard, and a case-bottle of old brandy too, with a couple of little gla.s.ses on the silver tray with the Barry arms emblazoned. In after life, and in the midst of my fortune and splendour, I paid thirty-five guineas, and almost as much more interest, to the London goldsmith who supplied my father with that very tray. A scoundrel p.a.w.nbroker would only give me sixteen for it afterwards; so little can we trust the honour of rascally tradesmen!
At eleven o"clock Captain f.a.gan arrived, on horseback, with a mounted dragoon after him. He paid his compliments to the collation which my mother"s care had provided for him, and then said, "Look ye, Redmond my boy; this is a silly business. The girl will marry Quin, mark my words; and as sure as she does you"ll forget her. You are but a boy. Quin is willing to consider you as such. Dublin"s a fine place, and if you have a mind to take a ride thither and see the town for a month, here are twenty guineas at your service. Make Quin an apology, and be off."
"A man of honour, Mr. f.a.gan," says I, "dies, but never apologises. I"ll see the Captain hanged before I apologise."
"Then there"s nothing for it but a meeting."
"My mare is saddled and ready," says I; "where"s the meeting, and who"s the Captain"s second?"
"Your cousins go out with him," answered Mr. f.a.gan.
"I"ll ring for my groom to bring my mare round," I said, "as soon as you have rested yourself." Tim was accordingly despatched for Nora, and I rode away, but I didn"t take leave of Mrs. Barry. The curtains of her bedroom windows were down, and they didn"t move as we mounted and trotted off... BUT TWO HOURS AFTERWARDS, you should have seen her as she came tottering downstairs, and heard the scream which she gave as she hugged her boy to her heart, quite unharmed and without a wound in his body.
What had taken place I may as well tell here. When we got to the ground, Ulick, Mick, and the Captain were already there: Quin, flaming in red regimentals, as big a monster as ever led a grenadier company. The party were laughing together at some joke of one or the other: and I must say I thought this laughter very unbecoming in my cousins, who were met, perhaps, to see the death of one of their kindred.
"I hope to spoil this sport," says I to Captain f.a.gan, in a great rage, "and trust to see this sword of mine in yonder big bully"s body."
"Oh! it"s with pistols we fight," replied Mr. f.a.gan. "You are no match for Quin with the sword."
"I"ll match any man with the sword," said I.
"But swords are to-day impossible; Captain Quin is-is lame. He knocked his knee against the swinging park-gate last night, as he was riding home, and can scarce move it now."
"Not against Castle Brady gate," says I: "that has been off the hinges these ten years." On which f.a.gan said it must have been some other gate, and repeated what he had said to Mr. Quin and my cousins, when, on alighting from our horses, we joined and saluted those gentlemen.
"Oh yes! dead lame," said Ulick, coming to shake me by the hand, while Captain Quin took off his hat and turned extremely red. "And very lucky for you, Redmond my boy," continued Ulick; "you were a dead man else; for he is a devil of a fellow-isn"t he, f.a.gan?"
"A regular Turk," answered f.a.gan; adding, "I never yet knew the man who stood to Captain Quin."
"Hang the business!" said Ulick; "I hate it. I"m ashamed of it. Say you"re sorry, Redmond: you can easily say that."
"If the young FELLER will go to DUBLING, as proposed"-here interposed Mr. Quin.
"I am NOT sorry-I"ll NOT apologise-and I"ll as soon go to DUBLING as to-!" said I, with a stamp of my foot.
"There"s nothing else for it," said Ulick with a laugh to f.a.gan. "Take your ground, f.a.gan,-twelve paces, I suppose?"
"Ten, sir," said Mr. Quin, in a big voice; "and make them short ones, do you hear, Captain f.a.gan?"
"Don"t bully, Mr. Quin," said Ulick surlily; "here are the pistols." And he added, with some emotion, to me, "G.o.d bless you, my boy; and when I count three, fire."
Mr. f.a.gan put my pistol into my hand,-that is, not one of mine (which were to serve, if need were, for the next round), but one of Ulick"s. "They are all right," said he. "Never fear: and, Redmond, fire at his neck-hit him there under the gorget. See how the fool shows himself open." Mick, who had never spoken a word, Ulick, and the Captain retired to one side, and Ulick gave the signal. It was slowly given, and I had leisure to cover my man well. I saw him changing colour and trembling as the numbers were given. At "three," both our pistols went off. I heard something whizz by me, and my antagonist, giving a most horrible groan, staggered backwards and fell.
"He"s down-he"s down!" cried the seconds, running towards him. Ulick lifted him up-Mick took his head.
"He"s. .h.i.t here, in the neck," said Mick; and laying open his coat, blood was seen gurgling from under his gorget, at the very spot at which I aimed.
"How is it with you?" said Ulick. "Is he really hit?" said he, looking hard at him. The unfortunate man did not answer, but when the support of Ulick"s arm was withdrawn from his back, groaned once more, and fell backwards.
"The young fellow has begun well," said Mick, with a scowl. "You had better ride off, young sir, before the police are up. They had wind of the business before we left Kilw.a.n.gan."
"Is he quite dead?" said I.
"Quite dead," answered Mick.
"Then the world"s rid of A COWARD," said Captain f.a.gan, giving the huge prostrate body a scornful kick with his foot. "It"s all over with him, Reddy,-he doesn"t stir."
"WE are not cowards, f.a.gan," said Ulick roughly, "whatever he was! Let"s get the boy off as quick as we may. Your man shall go for a cart, and take away the body of this unhappy gentleman. This has been a sad day"s work for our family, Redmond Barry: you have robbed us of 1500(pounds) a year."
"It was Nora did it," said I; "not I." And I took the riband she gave me out of my waistcoat, and the letter, and flung them down on the body of Captain Quin. "There!" says I-"take her those ribands. She"ll know what they mean: and that"s all that"s left to her of two lovers she had and ruined."
I did not feel any horror or fear, young as I was, in seeing my enemy prostrate before me; for I knew that I had met and conquered him honourably in the field, as became a man of my name and blood.
"And now, in Heaven"s name, get the youngster out of the way," said Mick.
Ulick said he would ride with me, and off accordingly we galloped, never drawing bridle till we came to my mother"s door. When there, Ulick told Tim to feed my mare, as I would have far to ride that day; and I was in the poor mother"s arms in a minute.
I need not tell how great were her pride and exultation when she heard from Ulick"s lips the account of my behaviour at the duel. He urged, however, that I should go into hiding for a short time; and it was agreed between them that I should drop my name of Barry, and, taking that of Redmond, go to Dublin, and there wait until matters were blown over. This arrangement was not come to without some discussion; for why should I not be as safe at Barryville, she said, as my cousin and Ulick at Castle Brady?-bailiffs and duns never got near THEM; why should constables be enabled to come upon me? But Ulick persisted in the necessity of my instant departure; in which argument, as I was anxious to see the world, I must confess, I sided with him; and my mother was brought to see that in our small house at Barryville, in the midst of the village, and with the guard but of a couple of servants, escape would be impossible. So the kind soul was forced to yield to my cousin"s entreaties, who promised her, however, that the affair would soon be arranged, and that I should be restored to her. Ah! how little did he know what fortune was in store for me!
My dear mother had some forebodings, I think, that our separation was to be a long one; for she told me that all night long she had been consulting the cards regarding my fate in the duel: and that all the signs betokened a separation; then, taking out a stocking from her escritoire, the kind soul put twenty guineas in a purse for me (she had herself but twenty-five), and made up a little valise, to be placed at the back of my mare, in which were my clothes, linen, and a silver dressing-case of my father"s. She bade me, too, to keep the sword and the pistols I had known to use so like a man. She hurried my departure now (though her heart, I know, was full), and almost in half-an-hour after my arrival at home I was once more on the road again, with the wide world as it were before me. I need not tell how Tim and the cook cried at my departure: and, mayhap, I had a tear or two myself in my eyes; but no lad of sixteen is VERY sad who has liberty for the first time, and twenty guineas in his pocket: and I rode away, thinking, I confess, not so much of the kind mother left alone, and of the home behind me, as of to-morrow, and all the wonders it would bring.
CHAPTER III. A FALSE START IN THE GENTEEL WORLD
I rode that night as far as Carlow, where I lay at the best inn; and being asked what was my name by the landlord of the house, gave it as Mr. Redmond, according to my cousin"s instructions, and said I was of the Redmonds of Waterford county, and was on my road to Trinity College, Dublin, to be educated there. Seeing my handsome appearance, silver-hiked sword, and well-filled valise, my landlord made free to send up a jug of claret without my asking; and charged, you may be sure, pretty handsomely for it in the bill. No gentleman in those good old days went to bed without a good share of liquor to set him sleeping, and on this my first day"s entrance into the world, I made a point to act the fine gentleman completely; and, I a.s.sure you, succeeded in my part to admiration. The excitement of the events of the day, the quitting my home, the meeting with Captain Quin, were enough to set my brains in a whirl, without the claret; which served to finish me completely. I did not dream of the death of Quin, as some milksops, perhaps, would have done; indeed, I have never had any of that foolish remorse consequent upon any of my affairs of honour: always considering, from the first, that where a gentleman risks his own life in manly combat, he is a fool to be ashamed because he wins. I slept at Carlow as sound as man could sleep; drank a tankard of small beer and a toast to my breakfast; and exchanged the first of my gold pieces to settle the bill, not forgetting to pay all the servants liberally, and as a gentleman should. I began so the first day of my life, and so have continued. No man has been at greater straits than I, and has borne more pinching poverty and hardship; but n.o.body can say of me that, if I had a guinea, I was not free-handed with it, and did not spend it as well as a lord could do.
I had no doubts of the future: thinking that a man of my person, parts, and courage, could make his way anywhere. Besides, I had twenty gold guineas in my pocket; a sum which (although I was mistaken) I calculated would last me for four months at least, during which time something would be done towards the making of my fortune. So I rode on, singing to myself, or chatting with the pa.s.sers-by; and all the girls along the road said G.o.d save me for a clever gentleman! As for Nora and Castle Brady, between to-day and yesterday there seemed to be a gap as of half-a-score of years. I vowed I would never re-enter the place but as a great man; and I kept my vow too, as you shall hear in due time.
There was much more liveliness and bustle on the king"s highroad in those times, than in these days of stage-coaches, which carry you from one end of the kingdom to another in a few score hours. The gentry rode their own horses or drove in their own coaches, and spent three days on a journey which now occupies ten hours; so that there was no lack of company for a person travelling towards Dublin. I made part of the journey from Carlow towards Naas with a well-armed gentleman from Kilkenny, dressed in green and a gold cord, with a patch on his eye, and riding a powerful mare. He asked me the question of the day, and whither I was bound, and whether my mother was not afraid on account of the highwaymen to let one so young as myself to travel? But I said, pulling out one of them from a holster, that I had a pair of good pistols that had already done execution, and were ready to do it again; and here, a pock-marked man coming up, he put spurs into his bay mare and left me. She was a much more powerful animal than mine; and, besides, I did not wish to fatigue my horse, wishing to enter Dublin that night, and in reputable condition.
As I rode towards Kilcullen, I saw a crowd of the peasant-people a.s.sembled round a one-horse chair, and my friend in green, as I thought, making off half a mile up the hill. A footman was howling "Stop thief!" at the top of his voice; but the country fellows were only laughing at his distress, and making all sorts of jokes at the adventure which had just befallen.
"Sure you might have kept him off with your blunderBUSH!" says one fellow.
"Oh, the coward! to let the Captain BATE you; and he only one eye!" cries another.
"The next time my Lady travels, she"d better lave you at home!" said a third.
"What is this noise, fellows?" said I, riding up amongst them, and, seeing a lady in the carriage very pale and frightened, gave a slash of my whip, and bade the red-shanked ruffians keep off. "What has happened, madam, to annoy your Ladyship?" I said, pulling off my hat, and bringing my mare up in a prance to the chair window.
The lady explained. She was the wife of Captain Fitzsimons, and was hastening to join the Captain at Dublin. Her chair had been stopped by a highway-man: the great oaf of a servant-man had fallen down on his knees armed as he was; and though there were thirty people in the next field working when the ruffian attacked her, not one of them would help her; but, on the contrary, wished the Captain, as they called the highwayman, good luck.
"Sure he"s the friend of the poor," said one fellow, "and good luck to him!"
"Was it any business of ours?" asked another. And another told, grinning, that it was the famous Captain Freny, who, having bribed the jury to acquit him two days back at Kilkenny a.s.sizes, had mounted his horse at the gaol door, and the very next day had robbed two barristers who were going the circuit.
I told this pack of rascals to be off to their work, or they should taste of my thong, and proceeded, as well as I could, to comfort Mrs. Fitzsimons under her misfortunes. "Had she lost much?" "Everything: her purse, containing upwards of a hundred guineas; her jewels, snuff-boxes, watches, and a pair of diamond shoe-buckles of the Captain"s." These mishaps I sincerely commiserated; and knowing her by her accent to be an Englishwoman, deplored the difference that existed between the two countries, and said that in OUR country (meaning England) such atrocities were unknown.
"You, too, are an Englishman?" said she, with rather a tone of surprise. On which I said I was proud to be such: as, in fact, I was; and I never knew a true Tory gentleman of Ireland who did not wish he could say as much.
I rode by Mrs. Fitzsimon"s chair all the way to Naas; and, as she had been robbed of her purse, asked permission to lend her a couple of pieces to pay her expenses at the inn: which sum she was graciously pleased to accept, and was, at the same time, kind enough to invite me to share her dinner. To the lady"s questions regarding my birth and parentage, I replied that I was a young gentleman of large fortune (this was not true; but what is the use of crying bad fish? my dear mother instructed me early in this sort of prudence) and good family in the county of Waterford; that I was going to Dublin for my studies, and that my mother allowed me five hundred per annum. Mrs. Fitzsimons was equally communicative. She was the daughter of General Granby Somerset of Worcestershire, of whom, of course, I had heard (and though I had not, of course I was too well-bred to say so); and had made, as she must confess, a runaway match with Ensign Fitzgerald Fitzsimons. Had I been in Donegal?-No! That was a pity. The Captain"s father possesses a hundred thousand acres there, and Fitzsimonsburgh Castle"s the finest mansion in Ireland. Captain Fitzsimons is the eldest son; and, though he has quarrelled with his father, must inherit the vast property. She went on to tell me about the b.a.l.l.s at Dublin, the banquets at the Castle, the horse-races at the Phoenix, the ridottos and routs, until I became quite eager to join in those pleasures; and I only felt grieved to think that my position would render secrecy necessary, and prevent me from being presented at the Court, of which the Fitzsimonses were the most elegant ornaments. How different was her lively rattle to that of the vulgar wenches at the Kilw.a.n.gan a.s.semblies! In every sentence she mentioned a lord or a person of quality. She evidently spoke French and Italian, of the former of which languages I have said I knew a few words; and, as for her English accent, why, perhaps I was no judge of that, for, to say the truth, she was the first REAL English person I had ever met. She recommended me, further, to be very cautious with regard to the company I should meet at Dublin, where rogues and adventurers of all countries abounded; and my delight and grat.i.tude to her may be imagined, when, as our conversation grew more intimate (as we sat over our dessert), she kindly offered to accommodate me with lodgings in her own house, where her Fitzsimons, she said, would welcome with delight her gallant young preserver.
"Indeed, madam," said I, "I have preserved nothing for you." Which was perfectly true; for had I not come up too late after the robbery to prevent the highwayman from carrying off her money and pearls?
"And sure, ma"am, them wasn"t much," said Sullivan, the blundering servant, who had been so frightened at Freny"s approach, and was waiting on us at dinner. "Didn"t he return you the thirteenpence in copper, and the watch, saying it was only pinch-beck?"
But his lady rebuked him for a saucy varlet, and turned him out of the room at once, saying to me when he had gone, "that the fool didn"t know what was the meaning of a hundred-pound bill, which was in the pocket-book that Freny took from her."
Perhaps had I been a little older in the world"s experience, I should have begun to see that Madam Fitzsimons was not the person of fashion she pretended to be; but, as it was, I took all her stories for truth, and, when the landlord brought the bill for dinner, paid it with the air of a lord. Indeed, she made no motion to produce the two pieces I had lent to her; and so we rode on slowly towards Dublin, into which city we made our entrance at nightfall. The rattle and splendour of the coaches, the flare of the linkboys, the number and magnificence of the houses, struck me with the greatest wonder; though I was careful to disguise this feeling, according to my dear mother"s directions, who told me that it was the mark of a man of fashion never to wonder at anything, and never to admit that any house, equipage, or company he saw, was more splendid or genteel than what he had been accustomed to at home.
We stopped, at length, at a house of rather mean appearance, and were let into a pa.s.sage by no means so clean as that at Barryville, where there was a great smell of supper and punch. A stout red-faced man, without a periwig, and in rather a tattered nightgown and cap, made his appearance from the parlour, and embraced his lady (for it was Captain Fitzsimons) with a great deal of cordiality. Indeed, when he saw that a stranger accompanied her, he embraced her more rapturously than ever. In introducing me, she persisted in saying that I was her preserver, and complimented my gallantry as much as if I had killed Freny, instead of coming up when the robbery was over. The Captain said he knew the Redmonds of Waterford intimately well: which a.s.sertion alarmed me, as I knew nothing of the family to which I was stated to belong. But I posed him, by asking WHICH of the Redmonds he knew, for I had never heard his name in our family. He said he knew the Redmonds of Redmondstown. "Oh," says I, "mine are the Redmonds of Castle Redmond;" and so I put him off the scent. I went to see my nag put up at a livery-stable hard by, with the Captain"s horse and chair, and returned to my entertainer.
Although there were the relics of some mutton-chops and onions on a cracked dish before him, the Captain said, "My love, I wish I had known of your coming, for Bob Moriarty and I just finished the most delicious venison pasty, which his Grace the Lord Lieutenant sent us, with a flask of Sillery from his own cellar. You know the wine, my dear? But as bygones are bygones, and no help for them, what say ye to a fine lobster and a bottle of as good claret as any in Ireland? Betty, clear these things from the table, and make the mistress and our young friend welcome to our home."
Not having small change, Mr. Fitzsimons asked me to lend him a tenpenny-piece to purchase the dish of lobsters; but his lady, handing out one of the guineas I had given her, bade the girl get the change for that, and procure the supper; which she did presently, bringing back only a very few shillings out of the guinea to her mistress, saying that the fishmonger had kept the remainder for an old account. "And the more great big blundering fool you, for giving the gold piece to him," roared Mr. Fitzsimons. I forget how many hundred guineas he said he had paid the fellow during the year.
Our supper was seasoned, if not by any great elegance, at least by a plentiful store of anecdotes, concerning the highest personages of the city; with whom, according to himself, the Captain lived on terms of the utmost intimacy. Not to be behindhand with him, I spoke of my own estates and property as if I was as rich as a duke. I told all the stories of the n.o.bility I had ever heard from my mother, and some that, perhaps, I had invented; and ought to have been aware that my host was an impostor himself, as he did not find out my own blunders and misstatements. But youth is ever too confident. It was some time before I knew that I had made no very desirable acquaintance in Captain Fitzsimons and his lady; and, indeed, went to bed congratulating myself upon my wonderful good luck in having, at the outset of my adventures, fallen in with so distinguished a couple.
The appearance of the chamber I occupied might, indeed, have led me to imagine that the heir of Fitzsimonsburgh Castle, county Donegal, was not as yet reconciled with his wealthy parents; and, had I been an English lad, probably my suspicion and distrust would have been aroused instantly. But perhaps, as the reader knows, we are not so particular in Ireland on the score of neatness as people are in this precise country; hence the disorder of my bedchamber did not strike me so much. For were not all the windows broken and stuffed with rags even at Castle Brady, my uncle"s superb mansion? Was there ever a lock to the doors there, or if a lock, a handle to the lock or a hasp to fasten it to? So, though my bedroom boasted of these inconveniences, and a few more; though my counterpane was evidently a greased brocade dress of Mrs. Fitzsimons"s, and my cracked toilet-gla.s.s not much bigger than a half-crown, yet I was used to this sort of ways in Irish houses, and still thought myself in that of a man of fashion. There was no lock to the drawers, which, when they DID open, were full of my hostess"s rouge-pots, shoes, stays, and rags; so I allowed my wardrobe to remain in my valise, but set out my silver dressing-apparatus upon the ragged cloth on the drawers, where it shone to great advantage.
When Sullivan appeared in the morning, I asked him about my mare, which he informed me was doing well. I then bade him bring me hot shaving-water, in a loud dignified tone.
"Hot shaving-water!" says he, bursting out laughing (and I confess not without reason). "Is it yourself you"re going to shave?" said he. "And maybe when I bring you up the water I"ll bring you up the cat too, and you can shave her." I flung a boot at the scoundrel"s head in reply to this impertinence, and was soon with my friends in the parlour for breakfast. There was a hearty welcome, and the same cloth that had been used the night before: as I recognised by the black mark of the Irish-stew dish, and the stain left by a pot of porter at supper.
My host greeted me with great cordiality; Mrs. Fitzsimons said I was an elegant figure for the Phoenix; and indeed, without vanity, I may say of myself that there were worse-looking fellows in Dublin than I. I had not the powerful chest and muscular proportion which I have since attained (to be exchanged, alas! for gouty legs and chalk-stones in my fingers; but "tis the way of mortality), but I had arrived at near my present growth of six feet, and with my hair in buckle, a handsome lace jabot and wristbands to my shirt, and a red plush waistcoat, barred with gold, looked the gentleman I was born. I wore my drab coat with plate b.u.t.tons, that was grown too small for me, and quite agreed with Captain Fitzsimons that I must pay a visit to his tailor, in order to procure myself a coat more fitting my size.
"I needn"t ask whether you had a comfortable bed," said he. "Young Fred Pimpleton (Lord Pimpleton"s second son) slept in it for seven months, during which he did me the honour to stay with me, and if HE was satisfied, I don"t know who else wouldn"t be."