Had our advent conferred the order of knighthood upon the host, he could not have received us with more "empress.e.m.e.nt." He shook us all in turn by the hand, to the number of eight and thirty, and then presented us seriatim to his spouse, a very bejewelled lady of some forty years--who, what between bugles, feathers, and her turban, looked excessively like a Chinese paG.o.da upon a saucer. The rooms were crowded to suffocation--the noise awful--and the company crushing and elbowing rather a little more than you expect where the moiety are of the softer s.e.x. However, "on s"habitue a tout," sayeth the proverb, and with truth, for we all so perfectly fell in with the habits of the place, that ere half an hour, we squeezed, ogled, leered, and drank champagne like the rest of the corporation.
"Devilish hot work, this," said the colonel, as he pa.s.sed me with two rosy-cheeked, smiling ladies on either arm; "the mayor--that little fellow in the punch-coloured shorts--has very nearly put me hors de combat with champagne; take care of him, I advise you."
Tipsy as I felt myself, I was yet sufficiently clear to be fully alive to the drollery of the scene before me. Flirtations that, under other circ.u.mstances, would demand the secrecy and solitude of a country green lane, or some garden bower, were here conducted in all the open effrontery of wax lights and l.u.s.tres; looks were interchanged, hands were squeezed, and soft things whispered, and smiles returned; till the intoxication of "punch negus" and spiced port, gave way to the far greater one of bright looks and tender glances. Quadrilles and country dances--waltzing there was none, (perhaps all for the best)--whist, backgammon, loo--unlimited for uproar--sandwiches, and warm liquors, employed us pretty briskly till supper was announced, when a grand squeeze took place on the stairs--the population tending thitherward with an eagerness that a previous starvation of twenty-four hours could alone justify. Among this dense ma.s.s of moving muslin, velvet and broad-cloth, I found myself chaperoning an extremely tempting little damsel, with a pair of laughing blue eyes and dark eyelashes, who had been committed to my care and guidance for the pa.s.sage.
"Miss Moriarty, Mr. Lorrequer," said an old lady in green and spangles, who I afterwards found was the lady mayoress.
"The nicest girl in the room," said a gentleman with a Tipperary accent, "and has a mighty nice place near Athlone."
The hint was not lost upon me, and I speedily began to faire l"amiable to my charge; and before we reached the supper room, learned certain particulars of her history, which I have not yet forgot. She was, it seems, sister to a lady then in the room, the wife of an attorney, who rejoiced in the pleasing and cla.s.sical appellation of Mr. Mark Anthony Fitzpatrick; the aforesaid Mark Anthony being a tall, raw-boned, black-whiskered, ill-looking dog, that from time to time contrived to throw very uncomfortable looking glances at me and Mary Anne, for she was so named, the whole time of supper. After a few minutes, however, I totally forgot him, and, indeed, every thing else, in the fascination of my fair companion. She shared her chair with me, upon which I supported her by my arm pa.s.sed round the back; we eat our pickled salmon, jelly, blanc mange, cold chicken, ham, and custard; off the same plate, with an occasional squeeze of the finger, as our hands met--her eyes making sad havoc with me all the while, as I poured my tale of love--love, lasting, burning, all-consuming--into her not unwilling ear.
"Ah! now, ye"r not in earnest?"
"Yes, Mary Anne, by all that"s"-- "Well, there now, don"t swear, and take care--sure Mark Anthony is looking."
"Mark Anthony be--"
"Oh! how pa.s.sionate you are; I"m sure I never could live easy with you. There, now, give me some sponge cake, and don"t be squeezing me, or they"ll see you."
"Yes, to my heart, dearest girl."
"Och, it"s cheese you"re giving me," said she, with a grimace that nearly cured my pa.s.sion.
"A cottage, a hut, with you--with you," said I, in a cadence that I defy Macready to rival--"what is worldly splendour, or the empty glitter of rank."
I here glanced at my epaulettes, upon which I saw her eyes rivetted.
"Isn"t the ginger beer beautiful," said she, emptying a gla.s.s of champagne.
Still I was not to be roused from my trance, and continued my courtship as warmly as ever.
"I suppose you"ll come home now," said a gruff voice behind Mary Anne.
I turned and perceived Mark Anthony with a grim look of peculiar import.
"Oh, Mark dear, I"m engaged to dance another set with this gentleman."
"Ye are, are ye?" replied Mark, eyeing me askance. "Troth and I think the gentleman would be better if he went off to his flea-bag himself."
In my then mystified intellect this west country synonyme for a bed a little puzzled me.
"Yes sir, the lady is engaged to me: have you any thing to say to that?"
"Nothing at present, at all," said Mark, almost timidly.
"Oh dear, oh dear," sobbed Mary Anne; "they"re going to fight, and he"ll be killed--I know he will."
For which of us this fate was destined, I stopped not to consider, but amid a very sufficient patting upon the back, and thumping between the shoulders, bestowed by members of the company who approved of my proceedings. The three fiddles, the flute, and ba.s.soon, that formed our band, being by this time sufficiently drunk, played after a fashion of their own, which by one of those strange sympathies of our nature, imparted its influence to our legs, and a country dance was performed in a style of free and easy gesticulation that defies description. At the end of eighteen couple, tired of my exertions--and they were not slight --I leaned my back against the wall of the room, which I now, for the first time, perceived was covered with a very peculiar and novel species of hanging--no less than a kind of rough, green baize cloth, that moved and floated at every motion of the air. I paid little attention to this, till suddenly turning my head, something gave way behind it. I felt myself struck upon the back of the neck, and fell forward into the room, covered by a perfect avalanche of fenders, fire-irons, frying-pans, and copper kettles, mingled with the lesser artillery of small nails, door keys, and holdfasts. There I lay amid the most vociferous mirth I ever listened to, under the confounded torrent of ironmongery that half-stunned me. The laughter over, I was a.s.sisted to rise, and having drank about a pint of vinegar, and had my face and temples washed in strong whiskey punch--the allocation of the fluids being mistaken, I learned that our host, the high sheriff, was a celebrated tin and iron man, and that his salles de reception were no other than his magazine of metals, and that to conceal the well filled shelves from the gaze of his aristocratic guests, they were clothed in the manner related; which my unhappy head, by some misfortune, displaced, and thus brought on a calamity scarcely less afflicting to him than to myself. I should scarcely have stopped to mention this here, were it not that Mary Anne"s gentle nursing of me in my misery went far to complete what her fascination had begun; and although she could not help laughing at the occurrence, I forgave her readily for her kindness.
"Remember," said I, trying to ogle through a black eye, painted by the angle of a register grate--"remember, Mary Anne, I am to see you home."
"Oh! dear, sir, sure I don"t know how you can manage it--"
Here Mark Anthony"s entrance cut short this speech, for he came to declare that some of the officers had taken his coach, and was, as might be supposed, in a towering pa.s.sion.
"If, sir," said I, with an air of the most balmy courtesy--"If I can be of any use in a.s.sisting you to see your friends home--"
"Ah! then, ye"r a nice looking article to see ladies home. I wish you seen yourself this minute," said he.
As I felt it would be no breach of the unities--time, place, and every thing considered--to smash his skull, I should certainly have proceeded to do so, had not a look of the most imploring kind from Mary Anne restrained me. By this time, he had taken her under the arm, and was leading her away. I stood irresolute, till a glance from my charmer caught me; when I rallied at once, and followed them down stairs. Here the scene was the full as amusing as above; the cloaking, shawling, shoeing, &c., of the ladies being certainly as mirth-moving a process as I should wish to see. Here were mothers trying to collect their daughters, as a hen her chickens, and as in that case, the pursuit of one usually lost all the others; testy papas swearing, lovers leering, as they twisted the boas round the fair throats of their sweethearts; vows of love, mingling with lamentations for a lost slipper, or a stray mantle. Sometimes the candles were extinguished, and the melee became greater, till the order and light were restored together. Meanwhile, each of our fellows had secured his fair one, save myself, and I was exposed to no small ridicule for my want of savoir faire. Nettled at this, I made a plunge to the corner of the room, where Mary Anne was shawling; I recognized her pink sash, threw her cloak over her shoulders, and at the very moment that Mark Anthony drew his wife"s arm within his, I performed the same by my friend, and followed them to the door. Here, the grim brother-in-law turned round to take Mary Anne"s arm, and seeing her with me, merely gave a kind of hoa.r.s.e chuckle, and muttered, "Very well, sir: upon my conscience you will have it, I see." During this brief interval, so occupied was I in watching him, that I never once looked in my fair friend"s face; but the gentle squeeze of her arm, as she leaned upon me, a.s.sured me that I had her approval of what I was doing.
What were the precise train of my thoughts, and what the subjects of conversation between us, I am unfortunately now unable to recollect. It is sufficient to remember, that I could not believe five minutes had elapsed, when we arrived at York-street. "Then you confess you love me," said I, as I squeezed her arm to my side.
"Then, by this kiss," said I, "I swear, never to relinquish."-- What I was about to add, I am sure I know not; but true it is, that a certain smacking noise here attracted Mr. Mark Anthony"s attention, who started round, looked as full in the face, and then gravely added, "Enough is as good as a feast. I wish you pleasant drames, Mr. Larry Kar, if that"s your name; and you"ll hear from me in the morning."
"I intend it," said I. "Good night, dearest; think of--" The slam of the street door in my face spoiled the peroration, and I turned towards home.
By the time I reached the barracks, the united effects of the champagne, sherry, and Sheffield iron, had, in a good measure subsided, and my head had become sufficiently clear to permit a slight retrospect of the evening"s amus.e.m.e.nt.
From two illusions I was at least awakened:--First, the high sheriff"s ball was not the most accurate representation of high society; secondly, I was not deeply enamoured of Mary Anne Moriarty. Strange as it may seem, and how little soever the apparent connexion between those two facts, the truth of one had a considerable influence in deciding the other. N"importe, said I, the thing is over; it was rather good fun, too, upon the whole--saving the "chute des ca.s.seroles;" and as to the lady, she must have seen it was a joke as well as myself. At least, so I am decided it shall be; and as there was no witness to our conversation, the thing is easily got out of.
The following day, as I was dressing to ride out, my servant announced no less a person than Mr. Mark Anthony Fitzpatrick, who said "that he came upon a little business, and must see me immediately."
Mr. Fitzpatrick, upon being announced, speedily opened his negociation by asking in very terse and unequivocal phrase, my intentions regarding his sister-in-law. After professing the most perfect astonishment at the question, and its possible import, I replied, that she was a most charming person, with whom I intended to have nothing whatever to do.
"And maybe you never proposed for her at the ball last night?"
"Propose for a lady at a ball the first time I ever met her!"
"Just so. Can you carry your memory so far back? or, perhaps I had better refresh it;" and he here repeated the whole substance of my conversation on the way homeward, sometimes in the very words I used.
"But, my dear sir, the young lady could never have supposed I used such language as this you have repeated?"
"So, then, you intend to break off? Well, then, it"s right to tell you that you"re in a very ugly sc.r.a.pe, for it was my wife you took home last night--not Miss Moriarty; and I leave you to choose at your leisure whether you"d rather be defendant in a suit for breach of promise or seduction; and, upon my conscience, I think it"s civil in me to give you a choice."
What a pretty disclosure was here! So that while I was imaging myself squeezing the hand and winning the heart of the fair Mary Anne, I was merely making a case of strong evidence for a jury, that might expose me to the world, and half ruin me in damages. There was but one course open--to make a fight for it; and, from what I saw of my friend Mark Anthony, this did not seem difficult.
I accordingly a.s.sumed a high tone--laughed at the entire affair--said it was a "way we had in the army"--that "we never meant any thing by it," &c. &c.
In a few minutes I perceived the bait was taking. Mr. Fitzpatrick"s west country blood was up: all thought of the legal resource was abandoned; and he flung out of the room to find a friend, I having given him the name of "one of ours" as mine upon the occasion.
Very little time was lost, for before three o"clock that afternoon a meeting was fixed for the following morning at the North Bull; and I had the satisfaction of hearing that I only escaped the malignant eloquence of Holmes in the King"s Bench, to be "blazed" at by the best shot on the western circuit. The thought was no way agreeable, and I indemnified myself for the sc.r.a.pe by a very satisfactory anathema upon the high sheriff and his ball, and his confounded saucepans; for to the lady"s sympathy for my sufferings I attributed much of my folly.
At eight the next morning I found myself standing with Curzon and the doctor upon that bleak portion of her majesty"s dominion they term the North Bull, waiting in a chilly rain, and a raw fog, till it pleased Mark Anthony Fitzpatrick, to come and shoot me--such being the precise terms of our combat, in the opinion of all parties.
The time, however, pa.s.sed on, and half-past eight, three quarters, and at last nine o"clock, without his appearing; when, just as Curzon had resolved upon our leaving the ground, a hack jaunting-car was seen driving at full speed along the road near us. It came nearer and at length drew up; two men leaped off and came towards us; one of whom, as he came forward, took off his hat politely, and introduced himself as Mr. O"Gorman, the fighting friend of Mark Anthony.
"It"s a mighty unpleasant business I"m come upon, gentlemen," said he, "Mr. Fitzpatrick has been unavoidedly prevented from having the happiness to meet you this morning--"
"Then you can"t expect us, sir, to dance attendance upon him here to-morrow," said Curzon, interrupting.
"By no manner of means," replied the other, placidly; "for it would be equally inconvenient for him to be here then. But I have only to say, maybe you"d have the kindness to waive all etiquette, and let me stand in his place."
"Certainly and decidedly not," said Curzon. "Waive etiquette!--why, sir, we have no quarrel with you; never saw you before."
"Well, now, isn"t this hard?" said Mr. O"Gorman, addressing his friend, who stood by with a pistol-case under his arm; "but I told Mark that I was sure they"d be standing upon punctilio, for they were English. Well, sir," said he, turning towards Curzon, "there"s but one way to arrange it now, that I see. Mr. Fitzpatrick, you must know, was arrested this morning for a trifle of L140. If you or your friend there, will join us in the bail we can get him out, and he"ll fight you in the morning to your satisfaction."
When the astonishment this proposal had created subsided, we a.s.sured Mr. O"Gorman that we were noways disposed to pay such a price for our amus.e.m.e.nt--a fact that seemed considerably to surprise both him and his friend--and adding, that to Mr. Fitzpatrick personally, we should feel bound to hold ourselves pledged at a future period, we left the ground, Curzon laughing heartily at the original expedient thus suggested, and I inwardly p.r.o.nounced a most glowing eulogy on the law of imprisonment for debt.
Before Mr. Fitzpatrick obtained the benefit of the act, we were ordered abroad, and I have never since heard of him.
CHAPTER XL.
THE TWO LETTERS.
From the digression of the last chapter I was recalled by the sight of the two letters which lay during my reverie unopened before me. I first broke the seal of Lady Callonby"s epistle, which ran thus: "Munich, La Croix Blanche, "My dear Mr. Lorrequer--I have just heard from Kilkee, that you are at length about to pay us your long promised visit, and write these few lines to beg that before leaving Paris you will kindly execute for me the commissions of which I enclose a formidable list, or at least as many of them as you can conveniently accomplish. Our stay here now will be short, that it will require all your despatch to overtake us before reaching Milan, Lady Jane"s health requiring an immediate change of climate. Our present plans are, to winter in Italy, although such will interfere considerably with Lord Callonby, who is pressed much by his friends to accept office. However, all this and our other gossip I reserve for our meeting. Meanwhile, adieu, and if any of my tasks bore you, omit them at once, except the white roses and the Brussels veil, which Lady Jane is most anxious for.
"Sincerely yours, "Charlotte Callonby."
How much did these few and apparently common-place lines convey to me? First, my visit was not only expected, but actually looked forward to, canva.s.sed--perhaps I might almost whisper to myself the flattery--wished for. Again, Lady Jane"s health was spoken of as precarious, less actual illness--I said to myself--than mere delicacy requiring the bluer sky and warmer airs of Italy. Perhaps her spirits were affected--some mental malady--some ill-placed pa.s.sion--que sais je? In fact my brain run on so fast in its devisings, that by a quick process, less logical than pleasing, I satisfied myself that the lovely Lady Jane Callonby was actually in love, with whom let the reader guess at. And Lord Callonby too, about to join the ministry--well, all the better to have one"s father-in-law in power--promotion is so cursed slow now a-days. And lastly, the sly allusion to the commissions--the mechancete of introducing her name to interest me. With such materials as these to build upon, frail as they may seem to others, I found no difficulty in regarding myself as the dear friend of the family, and the acknowledged suitor of Lady Jane.
In the midst, however, of all my self-gratulation, my eye fell upon the letter of Emily Bingham, and I suddenly remembered how fatal to all such happy antic.i.p.ations it might prove. I tore it open in pa.s.sionate haste and read-- "My dear Mr. Lorrequer--As from the interview we have had this morning I am inclined to believe that I have gained your affections, I think that I should ill requite such a state of your feeling for me, were I to conceal that I cannot return you mine--in fact they are not mine to bestow. This frank avowal, whatever pain it may have cost me, I think I owe to you to make. You will perhaps say, the confession should have been earlier; to which I reply, it should have been so, had I known, or even guessed at the nature of your feelings for me. For--and I write it in all truth, and perfect respect for you--I only saw in your attentions the flirting habits of a man of the world, with a very uninformed and ignorant girl of eighteen, with whom as it was his amus.e.m.e.nt to travel, he deemed it worth his while to talk. I now see, and bitterly regret my error, yet deem it better to make this painful confession than suffer you to remain in a delusion which may involve your happiness in the wreck of mine. I am most faithfully your friend, "Emily Bingham."
What a charming girl she is, I cried, as I finished the letter; how full of true feeling, how honourably, how straight-forward: and yet it is devilish strange how cunningly she played her part--and it seems now that I never did touch her affections; Master Harry, I begin to fear you are not altogether the awful lady-killer you have been thinking. Thus did I meditate upon this singular note--my delight at being once more "free" mingling with some chagrin that I was jockied, and by a young miss of eighteen, too. Confoundedly disagreeable if the mess knew it, thought I. Per Baccho--how they would quiz upon my difficulty to break off a match, when the lady was only anxious to get rid of me.
This affair must never come to their ears, or I am ruined; and now, the sooner all negociations are concluded the better. I must obtain a meeting with Emily. Acknowledge the truth and justice of all her views, express my deep regret at the issue of the affair, slily hint that I have been merely playing her own game back upon her; for it would be the devil to let her go off with the idea that she had singed me, yet never caught fire herself; so that we both shall draw stakes, and part friends.
This valiant resolution taken, I wrote a very short note, begging an interview, and proceeded to make as formidable a toilet as I could for the forthcoming meeting; before I had concluded which, a verbal answer by her maid informed me, that "Miss Bingham was alone, and ready to receive me."
As I took my way along the corridor, I could not help feeling that among all my singular sc.r.a.pes and embara.s.sing situations through life, my present mission was certainly not the least--the difficulty, such as it was, being considerably increased by my own confounded "amour propre," that would not leave me satisfied with obtaining my liberty, if I could not insist upon coming off scathless also. In fact, I was not content to evacuate the fortress, if I were not to march out with all the honours of war. This feeling I neither attempt to palliate nor defend, I merely chronicle it as, are too many of these confessions, a matter of truth, yet not the less a subject for sorrow.
My hand was upon the lock of the door. I stopped, hesitated, and listened. I certainly heard something. Yes, it is too true--she is sobbing. What a total overthrow to all my selfish resolves, all my egotistical plans, did that slight cadence give. She was crying--her tears for the bitter pain she concluded I was suffering--mingling doubtless with sorrow for her own sources of grief--for it was clear to me that whoever may have been my favoured rival, the attachment was either unknown to, or unsanctioned by the mother. I wished I had not listened; all my determinations were completely routed and as I opened the door I felt my heart beating almost audibly against my side.
In a subdued half-light--tempered through the rose-coloured curtains, with a small sevres cup of newly-plucked moss-roses upon the table--sat, or rather leaned, Emily Bingham, her face buried in her hands as I entered. She did not hear my approach, so that I had above a minute to admire the graceful character of her head, and the fine undulating curve of her neck and shoulders, before I spoke.
"Miss Bingham," said I-- She started--looked up--her dark blue eyes, brilliant though tearful, were fixed upon me for a second, as if searching my very inmost thoughts. She held out her hand, and turning her head aside, made room for me on the sofa beside her. Strange girl, thought I, that in the very moment of breaking with a man for ever, puts on her most fascinating toilette --arrays herself in her most bewitching manner, and gives him a reception only calculated to turn his head, and render him ten times more in love than ever. Her hand, which remained still in mine, was burning as if in fever, and the convulsive movement of her neck and shoulders showed me how much this meeting cost her. We were both silent, till at length, feeling that any chance interruption might leave us as far as ever from understanding each other, I resolved to begin.
"My dear, dear Emily," I said, "do not I entreat of you add to the misery I am this moment enduring by letting me see you thus. Whatever your wrongs towards me, this is far too heavy a retribution. My object was never to make you wretched, if I am not to obtain the bliss, to strive and make you happy."
"Oh, Harry"--this was the first time she had ever so called me--"how like you, to think of me--of me, at such a time, as if I was not the cause of all our present unhappiness--but not wilfully, not intentionally. Oh, no, no--your attentions--the flattery of your notice, took me at once, and, in the gratification of my self-esteem, I forgot all else. I heard, too, that you were engaged to another, and believing, as I did, that you were trifling with my affections, I spared no effort to win your"s. I confess it, I wished this with all my soul."
"And now," said I, "that you have gained them"--Here was a pretty sequel to my well matured plans!--"And now Emily"-- "But have I really done so?" said she, hurriedly turning round and fixing her large full eyes upon me, while one of her hands played convulsively through my hair--"have I your heart? your whole heart?"
"Can you doubt it, dearest," said I, pa.s.sionately pressing her to my bosom; and at the same time muttering, "What the devil"s in the wind now; we are surely not going to patch up our separation, and make love in earnest."
There she lay, her head upon my shoulder, her long, brown, waving ringlets falling loosely across my face and on my bosom, her hand in mine. What were her thoughts I cannot guess--mine, G.o.d forgive me, were a fervent wish either for her mother"s appearance, or that the hotel would suddenly take fire, or some other extensive calamity arise to put the finishing stroke to this embara.s.sing situation.
None of these, however, were destined to occur; and Emily lay still and motionless as she was, scarce seeming to breathe, and pale as death. What can this mean, said I, surely this is not the usual way to treat with a rejected suitor; if it be, why then, by Jupiter the successful one must have rather the worst of it--and I fervently hope that Lady Jane be not at this moment giving his conge to some disappointed swain. She slowly raised her long, black fringed eyelids, and looked into my face, with an expression at once so tender and so plaintive, that I felt a struggle within myself whether to press her to my heart, or--what the deuce was the alternative. I hope my reader knows, for I really do not. And after all, thought I, if we are to marry, I am only antic.i.p.ating a little; and if not, why then a "chaste salute," as Winifred Jenkins calls it, she"ll be none the worse for. Acting at once upon this resolve, I leaned downwards, and pa.s.sing back her ringlets from her now flushed cheek, I was startled by my name, which I heard called several times in the corridor. The door at the same instant was burst suddenly open, and Trevanion appeared.
"Harry, Harry Lorrequer," cried he, as he entered; then suddenly checking himself, added "a thousand, ten thousand pardons. But--"
"But what," cried I pa.s.sionately, forgetting all save the situation of poor Emily at the moment, "what can justify--"
"Nothing certainly can justify such an intrusion," said Trevanion, finishing my sentence for me, "except the very near danger you run this moment in being arrested. O"Leary"s imprudence has compromised your safety, and you must leave Paris within an hour."
"Oh, Mr. Trevanion," said Emily, who by this time had regained a more befitting att.i.tude, "pray speak out; what is it? is Harry--is Mr. Lorrequer, I mean, in any danger?"
"Nothing of consequence, Miss Bingham, if he only act with prudence, and be guided by his friends. Lorrequer, you will find me in your apartments in half an hour--till then, adieu."
While Emily poured forth question after question, as to the nature and extent of my present difficulty, I could not help thinking of the tact by which Trevanion escaped, leaving me to make my adieux to Emily as best I might--for I saw in a glance that I must leave Paris at once. I, therefore, briefly gave her to understand the affair at the salon --which I suspected to be the cause of the threatened arrest--and was about to profess my unaltered and unalterable attachment, when she suddenly stopped me.
"No, Mr. Lorrequer, no. All is over between us. We must never meet again--never. We have been both playing a part. Good by--good by: do not altogether forget me--and once more, Harry good by."
What I might have said, thought, or done, I know not; but the arrival of Mrs. Bingham"s carriage at the door left no time for any thing but escape. So, once more pressing her hand firmly to my lips, I said--"au revoir, Emily, au revoir, not good by," and rushing from the room, regained my own, just as Mrs. Bingham reached the corridor.
CHAPTER XLI.
MR. O"LEARY"S CAPTURE.
Does she really care for me? was my first question to myself as I left the room. Is this story about pre-engaged affections merely a got up thing, to try the force of my attachment for her? for, if not, her conduct is most inexplicable; and great as my experience has been in such affairs, I avow myself out maneuvered. While I thought over this difficulty, Trevanion came up, and in a few words, informed me more fully upon what he hinted at before. It appeared that O"Leary, much more alive to the imperative necessity of avoiding detection by his sposa, than of involving himself with the police, had thrown out most dark and mysterious hints in the hotel as to the reason of his residence at Paris; fully impressed with the idea that, to be a good Pole, he need only talk "revolutionary;" devote to the powers below, all kings, czars, and kaisers; weep over the wrongs of his nation; wear rather seedy habiliments, and smoke profusely. The latter were with him easy conditions, and he so completely acted the former to the life, that he had been that morning arrested in the Tuilleries gardens, under several treasonable charges--among others, the conspiracy, with some of his compatriots to murder the minister of war.
However laughable such an accusation against poor O"Leary, one circ.u.mstance rendered the matter any thing but ludicrous. Although he must come off free of this grave offence, yet, the salon transaction would necessarily now become known; I should be immediately involved, and my departure from Paris prevented.
"So," said Trevanion, as he briefly laid before me the difficulty of my position, "you may perceive that however strongly your affections may be engaged in a certain quarter, it is quite as well to think of leaving Paris without delay. O"Leary"s arrest will be followed by yours, depend upon it; and once under the surveillance of the police, escape is impossible."
"But, seriously, Trevanion," said I, nettled at the tone of raillery he spoke in, "you must see that there is nothing whatever in that business. I was merely taking my farewell of the fair Emily. Her affections have been long since engaged, and I--"
"Only endeavouring to support her in her attachment to the more favoured rival. Is it not so?"
"Come, no quizzing. Faith I began to feel very uncomfortable about parting with her, the moment that I discovered that I must do so."
"So I guessed," said Trevanion, with a dry look, "from the interesting scene I so abruptly trespa.s.sed upon. But you are right; a little bit of tendresse is never misplaced, so long as the object is young, pretty, and still more than all, disposed for it."