"Pray, my dear friend, consider for a moment what you are asking. Why make me the depositary of a secret? An old man, whose very years are like "fissures in the strong keep," where mysteries should be imprisoned."
"Could I partic.i.p.ate in your reasonings, my dear sir, there is yet enough in the present instance to make it an exception. This is a matter you ought to know for _your_ sake, and to keep secret for _mine_."
"Then you have my promise," said Corrigan, frankly.
"I "ll be brief with my explanation," said Linton. "When there was a design, some time back, of my accepting the representation of the borough, Cashel offered me his property of Tubber-beg, on terms which very nearly approached a gift. This--though at the time our relations were those of the closest friendship--I refused; but, as I had made some progress in my canva.s.s of the borough, there was a difficulty in abandoning the position; and so the matter hung, each hoping that the other would suggest some arrangement that might satisfy both. This fortunate device, however, was not to be discovered, and as, for some time back, our intercourse had become gradually less intimate, the chance of such a solution diminished daily.
"In this way the affair stood, when, a couple of mornings since, I felt it my duty, as one who really felt an interest in him, to remonstrate with Roland on a circ.u.mstance which, without any affectation of prudery, would have gravely compromised himself, and, worse still, another person. It was a case,--I know not exactly how to touch upon a matter of such delicacy; enough if I say it was one where a persistence in his conduct must have ended in disgrace to him, ruin and misery to another.
Poor thing! she is, indeed, to be pitied; and if there be extenuation for such cases, hers is one to claim it. I knew her as Laura Gardiner,--the handsomest creature I ever beheld. Well, well, it is a theme I must not linger on. Cashel, so far from receiving my counsel as I hoped, and indeed expected, resented it with anger and rudeness, and even questioned the degree of intimacy on which I presumed to give my unasked advice.
"I am fortunately a man of cool temper, and so I bore this ungenerous return better than most others might; and seeing that it would possibly be the last occasion I should ever have of giving even unwilling counsel, I spoke to him freely and openly. I told him that his mode of living, while derogatory to the hopes conceived of him, was one that must end at last in ruin; that no fortune could stand his losses at play, and the wasteful extravagance of his caprices. I pressed the matter as strongly as I was able, and represented that his habits bore no reference whatever to his income.
""It is quite true," said he, with a sneering tone; "I cannot readily forget I am chargeable with all these wasteful ways you speak of, nor do I feel that I make any the slightest defence of myself, in regard to habits where my generosity has been as lavish as it has been ill-bestowed."
""I wish I knew if I understand you aright," said I.
""Your comprehension is of the quickest where there is question of a favor to be received."
"I did not trust myself with any answer to this speech, which I well knew was a trait of his old buccaneer life. I withdrew, and hastening to his law-agent, Kennyf.e.c.k, I at once arranged for the purchase of this small property. The moment for me was propitious; they were in want of ready money, and the treaty was completed the same day. There is the t.i.tle."
As he spoke, he threw down the parchment deed upon the table, and lay back in his chair, watching with intense delight the expression of sadness and disappointment on Corrigan"s features.
"Good heavens!" exclaimed the old man at last, "how deceived I have been in him!"
"I confess that is what wounds me most in the whole transaction," said Linton, with a mock emotion in his manner. "One is well accustomed through life to meet sordid motives in mere men of the world, and who deem their low-born subtilty cleverness; but to find a young fellow, beginning life with an ample fortune and a fair position, surrounded by all the blandishments that wealth charms up--"
"Hold!" cried Corrigan, laying his hand on Linton"s arm, "I cannot bear this. It is not at my age, sir, that disappointments like these can be borne easily. I have too short a time before me here to hope to recover from such shocks."
"I would not willingly give you pain, my dear sir; nor indeed, is this the topic on which I am most anxious to address you. Another and a very different interest led me hither this morning; and, although I have thought long and maturely on the subject, I am as far as ever from knowing how to approach it. My own unworthiness to what I aspire recoils upon me at every instant, and nothing but the indulgent kindness with which you have always regarded me could give me courage. Forgive me this prolixity; I am like one who fears to plunge, lest he should never rise again."
"If my estimate of you be correct," said the old man, laying his hand upon Linton"s, "the goal must needs be high to which you dare not aspire."
"It is indeed so!" cried Linton, as if carried away by an irresistible emotion. "To me it means station, hope, worldly success, happiness,--ay, life itself. I cannot longer tamper with your feelings, nor my own.
The ambition of which I speak, is to be your son; not alone in the affectionate love which already I bear you, but by the closest and dearest ties, to be bound to you in the same chain by which she is, who owns all my heart and all my destiny."
He stopped as if overcome; and Corrigan, compa.s.sionating the agitation he seemed to suffer, said,--
"Be calm, my dear friend; this takes me by surprise. I was not in any way prepared for such an announcement; nor have I courage to look at its consequences; poor, old, companionless as I should be--"
"Nay, such cruelty was not in my thoughts. It was with far other intentions I became possessed of the property; it was in the glorious hope that it would be our home,--yours and mine together; not to render your hearth desolate, but to give it another guest, whose duty would be his t.i.tle to be there."
"Let me think,--let me reflect on this,--let me separate my own selfish thoughts from the higher ones that should guide me. You have not spoken to my daughter?"
"No, sir; I deemed the more honorable course to have your sanction; or, if not that, to bury my sorrows in silence forever."
"There is so much to consider, and I am so weak and infirm, so inadequate to decide. Your proposal is a proud one for any girl,--I know it; and we are proud, although poor. Ay, Mr. Linton, poor to very necessity! If her affections were engaged by you, if I saw that your high qualities had made the impression upon her that they have on me, I own this offer would delight me; but can you say this is the case?"
"I hope, sir, I am not indifferent to Miss Leicester. The humble fortune which has restrained me hitherto, and prevented my prosecuting an attachment to which I felt I had no claim, exists no longer. I am independent in means, as in opinion; and, however conscious of my personal unworthiness, in all that regards station and condition I "m in a position to satisfy you. I only ask your sanction to address Miss Leicester, to know, in fact, that if I should prove acceptable to _her_, that _you_ will not look unfavorably upon me."
"This appears most candid and fair on your part; and it is a time when we must both use candor and fairness. Now, Mr. Linton, there are circ.u.mstances which at this moment involve me in considerable difficulty; I cannot enter into them just yet; but they may offer grave obstacles to what you propose. I will, therefore, beg of you not to press me for my answer. I see this delay is displeasing--"
"Nay, sir, I am ready to yield to anything you suggest; but is it not possible that my a.s.sistance and advice might be of service in these difficulties you speak of?"
"There is another point, Mr. Linton,--and I know you will think better of me for all my frankness. Are your friends--your family I mean--aware of this step of yours? are you certain of their concurrence in it?"
"I have few relatives living, sir," said Linton, reddening; "but I can answer for their partic.i.p.ation in all that so nearly concerns my happiness."
"This evening, then; come to me this evening, then," said Mr. Corrigan, "and you shall hear my sentiments."
"This is most kind; I can ask for nothing more," said Linton; and, with a most affectionate pressure of the old man"s hand, departed.
CHAPTER XV. POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS
Be grateful too! you ask, "for what?"
Simply, for that you never got; And you "ll get something yet.
Machiavelli Travestied.
Mr. Linton, like a large majority of the cunning people in this world, made the mistake of supposing that every one had an "after-thought,"--some secret mental reservation in all he said; that, in fact, no one told "the whole truth" on any subject. Now, judging Mr.
Corrigan by this rule, he came to the conclusion that the old gentleman had not received his addresses with all the warmth that might be expected;--possibly, in the hope of a more advantageous offer; possibly, because, in his old Irish pride of family, he had got to learn who this Mr. Linton was, what his connections, and what position they held in the society of their own country.
In this way did Linton read the old man"s inquiry as to the "concurrence of his relatives." It was, to his thinking, a mere subtle attempt to ascertain who and what these same relatives were. "A clever stroke in its way," thought Tom; "but I am not to be drawn out of my intrenchment so easily. Still, the theme will linger in his mind, and must be got rid of."
Linton knew well how the influence of rank and t.i.tle can smooth down difficulties of this kind, and ran over in his mind the names of at least a dozen peers, any one of whom, in such an emergency, would have owned him for a half-brother, or a cousin, at least.
It was provoking to think how many there were, at that dull season, listless and unemployed, who could, were he only able to summon them, stand sponsors to his rank and condition. Measuring Corrigan by what he had witnessed in other men of small fortune and retired lives, he deemed "a lord" was all-essential. Linton had seen a great deal of life, and a great deal of that submissive homage so readily conceded to n.o.bility.
A lord, at a wedding, is like a captain in a duel; they are the great ingredients which warrant that these events "come off" properly; they place beyond all cavil or question whatever may occur; and they are the recognizances one enters into with the world that he is "spliced" or shot like a gentleman. It is quite true Linton was above this vulgarity; but he was not above the vulgarity of attributing it to another.
The more he reflected on this, the more did he believe it to be the solution of the whole difficulty. "My kingdom for a lord!" exclaimed he, laughing aloud at the easy gullibility of that world which he had duped so often.
The reader is aware that of the pleasant company of Tub-bermore, Lord Kilgoff was the only representative of the peerage; and to him Linton"s thoughts at once resorted as the last hope in his emergency. Of late his Lordship had been gradually mending: clear intervals broke through the mist of his clouded faculties, and displayed him, for the time, in all his wonted self-importance, irritability, and pertinacity. To catch him in one of these fortunate moments was the object, and so induce him to pay a visit to the cottage.
Could he but succeed in this, none better than the old peer to play the part a.s.signed to him. The very qualities to make his society intolerable would be, here, the earnest of success; the imperturbable conceit, the pompous distance of his manner, would repel inquiry, and Linton saw that his oracle would not utter one word more than he ought.
"He will not,--I dare not ask him to call me his relative," said he; "but I can easily throw a hazy indistinctness over our intimacy. He can be a friend of "my poor father,""--Tom laughed at the conceit,--"one who knew me from the cradle. With him for a foreground figure, I "ll soon paint an imaginary group around him, not one of whom shall be less than a marquis.
"With Mary this will not succeed. Laura, indeed, might do me good service in that quarter, but I cannot trust her. Were she more skilled in this world"s ways, she would gladly aid me--it would be like drawing the game between us; but she is rash, headlong, and pa.s.sionate. I doubt if even her fears would control her. And yet I might work well upon these! I have the will, and the way, both; the event shall decide whether I employ them." With these thoughts pa.s.sing in his mind he reached the house, and entering un.o.bserved, since they were all at breakfast, repaired to his own room.
He immediately sat down and wrote a few lines to Lord Kilgoff, inquiring with solicitude after his health, and craving the favor of being permitted to wait upon him. This done, he amused himself by inventing a number of little political "gossipries" for the old peer,--those small nothings which form the sweepings of clubs and the whisperings of under-secretaries" offices; the pleasant trifles which every one repeats, but no one believes.
"My Lord will see Mr. Linton whenever he pleases," was the answer of the valet; and Linton lost no time in availing himself of the permission.
"His Lordship is at breakfast?" said he to the servant, as he walked along.