The light and animation of life were fast fading from his face; he attempted to speak again, but voice and tongue refused to discharge their office--he had become speechless. Feeling conscious, however, that he could not any longer make himself understood by words, he raised his feeble hand, and attempted to point as if in a certain direction, but the arm fell powerlessly down--he gave a deep sigh and expired.
Thus far only can we proceed at present. How and why the stranger makes his appearance at Ballytrain, and whether in connection with this incident or not, are circ.u.mstances which we will know in due time.
CHAPTER XI. The Stranger"s Visit to Father MacMalum.
The stranger, after Fenton had gone, began to feel that it was impossible either to wheedle or extort any information whatsoever, whether of importance or otherwise, from that extraordinary and not very sane individual. That, however, there was a deep mystery about him, be it what it might, he could not, for a moment, doubt; and, for this reason, he resolved by no means to relax his exertions, or suffer Fenton, if he could fairly prevent it, to slip through his fingers.
His unaccountable conduct and terror, during, as well as after, his own angry altercation with the baronet, went, in his opinion, strongly to connect him, in some manner, with that unscrupulous man. But how to develop the nature of this connection const.i.tuted the very difficulty which not only disappointed but mortified him.
"I will call upon Birney," thought he; "he is acute and sensible, and probably, from his greater experience of life, will be able to throw out some hint that may be valuable, and enable me to proceed with more effect."
We have already said, that it was somewhat difficult to commonplace observers to determine his (the stranger"s) exact position in society by a first glance at his dress. This ambiguity of appearance, if, after all, it could properly be called so, was a.s.sumed for the express purpose of avoiding observation as much as possible. The fact, however, of finding that his desire to remain unnoticed had been not merely observed and commented on, but imputed to him almost as a crime, determined him no longer to lie _perdu_ in his inn, but to go abroad, and appear in public like another; whilst, at the same time, his resolution remained fixed as ever, for various reasons, to conceal his name. The moment, therefore, he had made up his mind to this course, that a.s.sumed restraint of manner and consciousness of not being what we appear to be were completely thrown aside, and the transition which ensued was indeed extraordinary. His general deportment became at once that of a perfect gentleman, easy, elegant, if not absolutely aristocratic; but without the slightest evidence of anything that could be considered supercilious or offensive. His dress was tastefully within the fashion, but not in its extreme, and his admirable figure thus displayed to the best advantage; whilst his whole person was utterly free from every symptom of affectation or foppery. Nor was the change in the tone of his features less striking. Their style of beauty was at once manly and intellectual, combining, as they did, an expression of great sweetness, obvious good sense, and remarkable determination. He bore, in fact, the aspect of a man who could play with a child on the green, or beard a lion in his lair.
The sagacity of the Irish people, in the estimate they form of personal appearance and character, is, indeed, very extraordinary. Our friend, the stranger, when casting his eye over the town of Ballytrain, on his way to have an interview with Birney, who, we may as well observe, was in his confidence, perceived that it was market-day. As he went out upon the street, a crowd of persons were standing opposite the inn door, where an extensive yarn market, in these good old times, was always held; and we need scarcely say that his gentlemanly and n.o.ble figure, and the striking elegance of his manner, at once attracted their attention.
"Well," said one of them, "there goes a real gintleman, begad, at any rate."
"Divil a lie in that," added another; "there"s no mistakin" the true blood."
"Who is he," asked a third--"Does n.o.body know him?"
"Troth," said the other, "it doesn"t signify a traneen who or what he is; whether he"s gentle or simple, I say that the whole country ought to put their heads under his feet."
"Why so, Jemmy Trailcudgel," asked a fourth; "what did he do for the counthry?"
"I"ll tell you that, Micky," replied the other--"The Black Baronet, bad luck to him, came to the inn where he stops, and insisted, right or wrong, on knowing who and what he was."
"I wouldn"t put it past him, the turk o" blazes! Well, an" what happened?"
"Why, the gintleman got up, and tuck a hoult o" the black villain by the nose, led him to the head of the stairs, then turned him down before him, and made his feet right and left play against the barrow knight, like the tucks of a cloth mill, until he thrundled him clane--I"m not so sure of that, though--out o" the hall door."
"An" for that same, G.o.d prosper him! Begad, he"s a bully gentleman,"
observed a stout, frieze-coated fellow, with a large bunch of green linen yarn on his l.u.s.ty arm--"he is, and it"s in him, and upon him, as every one that has eyes to see may know."
The object of their praise, on entering the office of his friend Birney, found him at his desk, with professional papers and doc.u.ments before him. After the ordinary greetings of the day, and an accurate account of the baronet"s interview with him, the stranger introduced the topic in which he felt so deep an interest.
"I am unfortunate, Mr. Birney," said he; "Fenton, notwithstanding his eccentricity, insanity, or whatever it may be termed, seems to suspect my design, and evades, with singular address, every attempt, on my part, to get anything out of him. Is he absolutely deranged, think you? For, I a.s.sure you, I have just now had a scene with him, in which his conduct and language could proceed from nothing short of actual insanity. A little affected with liquor he unquestionably was, when he came in first. The appearance, however, of Sir Thomas not only reduced him to a state of sobriety, but seemed to strike him with a degree of terror altogether inexplicable."
"How was that," asked Birney.
The stranger accordingly described the scene between himself and Fenton, with which the reader is acquainted.
"He is not a madman, certainly, in the ordinary sense of the word,"
replied Birney, after a pause; "but, I think, he may be called a kind of lunatic, certainly. My own opinion is, that, whatever insanity he may be occasionally afflicted with results more from an excessive indulgence in liquor than from any other cause. Be that, however, as it may, there is no question but that he is occasionally seized with fits of mental aberration. From what you tell me, and his exaggerated suspicions of a plot between you and Sir Thomas Gourlay, I think it most probable that he is your man still."
"I, too, think it probable," replied the stranger; "but, alas, I think it possible he may not. On comparing his features with the miniature, I confess I cannot now trace the resemblance which my sanguine imagination--and that only, I fear--first discovered."
"But, consider, sir, that that miniature was taken when the original of it was only five or six years of age; and you will also recollect that growth, age, education, and peculiar habits of life, effect the most extraordinary changes in the features of the same individual. No, sir, I would not advise you to feel disheartened by this."
"But, can you fall upon no hint or principle, Mr. Birney, by which I might succeed in unlocking the secret which this young man evidently possesses?"
"All I can recommend to you, sir, is comprised within one word--patience. Mark him well; ingratiate yourself with him; treat him with kindness; supply his wants; and I have no doubt but you may ultimately win upon his confidence."
"Is there no sagacious old person in the neighborhood, no senachie or genealogist, to whom you could refer me, and from whose memory of past events in this part of the country I might be able to gain something to guide me?"
"There is one woman," replied Birney, "who, were she tractable as to the past as she is communicative of the future, could furnish you more details of family history and hereditary scandal than any one else I can think of just now. Some of her predictions--for she is a fortune-teller--have certainly been amazing."
"The result, I have no doubt," replied the other, "of personal acquaintance with private occurrences, rendered incredible under ordinary circ.u.mstances, in consequence of her rapid transitions from place to place. I shall certainly not put myself under the guidance of an impostor, Mr. Birney."
"In this case, sir, I think you are right; for it has been generally observed that, in no instance, has she ever been known to make any reference to the past in her character of fortune-teller. She affects to hold intercourse with the fairies, or good people, as we term them, and insists that it is from them that she derives the faculty of a prophetess. She also works extraordinary cures by similar aid, as she a.s.serts. The common impression is, that her mind is burdened with some secret guilt, and that it relieves her to contemplate the future, as it regards temporal fate, but that she dares not look back into the past.
I know there is nothing more certain than that, when asked to do so, in peculiar moods of mind, she manifests quite as much of the maniac as poor Fenton."
"Away with the old impostress!" exclaimed the stranger; "I will have none of her! Can you think of no one else?"
"Of course, you have not had time to become acquainted with our parish priest?" replied Birney. "Since "Aroint thee, witch," is your creed, I think you had better try him."
"Not an unnatural transition," replied the stranger, smiling; "but what is he like? Give me an outline."
"He is named the Rev. Peter M"Mahon,and I forewarn you, that you are as likely, if he be not in the mood, to get such a reception as you may not relish. He is somewhat eccentric and original, but, at the same time, his secret piety and stolen benevolence are beyond all question. With his limited means, the good he does is incalculable. He is, in fact, simple, kind-hearted, and truly religious. In addition to all, he is a considerable bit of a humorist; when the good man"s mind is easy, his humor is kindly, rich, and mellow; but, when any way in dudgeon, it is comically sarcastic."
"I must see this man," said the stranger; "you have excited my curiosity. By all accounts he is worth a visit."
"He is more likely to serve you in this matter than any one I know,"
said the attorney; "or, if he can"t himself, perhaps he may find out those that can. Very little has happened in the parish within the last thirty-five years with which he is not acquainted."
"I like the man," replied the other, "from your description of him."
"At all events, you would if you knew him," replied Birney. "He is both a good priest and a good man."
He then directed him to the worthy clergy-man"s residence, which was not more than a mile and a half from the town, and the stranger lost little time in reaching it.
On approaching the house, he was much struck with the extraordinary air of neatness, cleanliness, and comfort, which characterized not only the house itself, but everything about it. A beautiful garden facing the south, stretched down to the left, as you approached the elegant little whitewashed dwelling, which, placed on a green knoll, literally shone for miles over the beautiful and serene country by which it was surrounded. Below it, to the south, between firm green banks and meadows, wound a beautiful river, and to the north rose one of the most picturesque hills, probably, in the kingdom; at the hip of which was a gloomy, precipitous glen, which, for wildness and solitary grandeur, is unrivalled by anything of the kind we have seen. On the top of the hill is a cave, supposed to be Druidical, over which an antiquarian would dream half a life; and, indeed, this is not to be wondered at, inasmuch as he would find there some of the most distinctly traced Ogham characters to be met with in any part of the kingdom.
On entering the house, our nameless friend found the good priest in what a stranger might be apt to consider a towering pa.s.sion.
"You lazy bosthoon," said he, to a large, in fact to a huge young fellow, a servant, "was it to allow the pigs, the destructive vagabonds, to turn up my beautiful bit of lawn that I undertook to give you house-room, wages, and feeding--eh? and a bitther business to me the same feeding is. If you were a fellow that knew when he had enough, I could bear the calamity of keeping you at all. But that"s a subject, G.o.d help you, and G.o.d help me too that has to suffer for it, on which your ignorance is wonderful. To know when to stop so long as the blessed victuals is before you is a point of polite knowledge you will never reach, you immaculate savage. Not a limb about you but you"d give six holidays to out of the seven, barrin" your walrus teeth, and, if G.o.d or man would allow you the fodder, you"d give us an elucidation of the perpetual motion. Be off, and get the strongest set of rings that Jemmy M"Quade can make for those dirty, grubbing bastes of pigs. The Lord knows I don"t wondher that the Jews hated the thieves, for sure they are the only blackguard animals that ever committed suicide, and set the other bastes of the earth such an unchristian example. Not that a slice of ham is so bad a thing in itself, especially when it is followed by a single tumbler of poteen punch."
"Troth, masther, I didn"t see the pigs, or they"d not have my sanction to go into the lawn."
"Not a thing ever you see, or wish to see, barring your dirty victuals."
"I hope, sir," said the stranger, much amused in the meantime, but with every courtesy of manner, "that my request for a short interview does not come at an unseasonable hour?"
"And, do you hear me, you bosthoon," proceeded his reverence--this, however, he uttered sotto voce, from an apprehension lest the stranger should hear his benevolent purposes--"did you give the half crown to Widow Magowran, whose children, poor creatures, are lying ill of fever?"
Not a word to the stranger, who, however, overheard him.