"How so? Has he been here?"
"Twice already, my Lady; and threatens another visit He says that he has something very important to communicate, and his pockets were stuffed with papers."
"Oh, dear me! how I dread him and his parchments! Those terrible details by which people discover how little is bequeathed to them, and how securely it is tied up against every possibility of enjoying it. I "d rather be a negro slave on a coffee plantation than a widow with what is called a "high-principled trustee" over my fortune."
"There he comes again, my Lady; see how fast he is galloping up the avenue."
"Why will that pony never stumble? Amiable and worthy folk break their necks every day of the week,--fathers of families and unbeneficed clergymen. a.s.surance companies should certainly deal lightly with crusty old bachelors and disagreeable people, for they bear charmed lives."
"Am I to admit him, my Lady?" asked the maid, moving towards the door.
"Yes--no--I really cannot--but perhaps I must. It is only putting off the evil day. Yes, Lisa, let him come in; but mind that you tell him I am very poorly--that I have had a wretched night, and am quite unfit for any unpleasant news, or, indeed, for anything like what he calls business. Oh dear! oh dear! the very thought of parchment will make me hate sheep to the last hour of my life; and I have come to detest the very sight of my own name, from signing "Hester Onslow" so often."
It must be said, there was at least no hypocrisy in her Ladyship"s lamentations; if the cause of them was not all-sufficient, the effects were to the full what she averred, and she was, or believed herself to be, the most miserable of women. Sir Stafford"s will had bequeathed to her his Irish property, on the condition of her residing upon it at least six months every two years, a clause whose cruelty she--with or without reason we know not--attributed to the suggestion of Dr.
Grounsell. To secure eighteen months of unlimited liberty, she was undergoing her captivity in what, it must be acknowledged, was a spirit the reverse of that the testator intended. So far from taking any interest in the country, its people, or its prospects, she only saw in it a dreary imprisonment, saddened by bad weather, bad spirits, and solitude. Nor were her griefs all causeless. Her position was greatly fallen from the possession of a fortune almost without bounds to the changeful vicissitudes of an Irish property. Norwood"s dreadful death, wrapped in all the mystery which involved it, shocked her deeply, although, in reality, the event relieved her from a bondage she had long felt to be insupportable; and lastly, the Romanism in which she had, so to say, invested all her "loose capital" of zeal and enthusiasm, had become a terrible disappointment. The gorgeous splendor of Italian Popery found a miserable representative in Irish Catholicism. The meanly built Irish chapel, with its humble congregation, was a sorry exchange for the architectural grandeur and costly a.s.semblage gathered within the Duomo of Florence, or beneath the fretted roof of "St. John of Lateran."
In all the sublimity of pealing music, of full-toned choirs, of incense floating up into realms of dim distance, there were but the nasal sing-song of a parish priest, and the discordant tw.a.n.g of a dirty acolyte! And what an interval separated their vulgar manners of the village curate from the polished addresses of the Roman cardinal! How unlike the blended pretension and cringing slavery of the one was to the high-bred bearing and courtly urbanity of the other. A visit from "Father John" was an actual infliction. To receive his Eminence was not only an honor but a sincere pleasure. Who, like him, to discuss every topic of the world and its fashionable inhabitants, touching every incident with a suave mellowness of remark that, like the light through a stained-gla.s.s window, warmed, while it softened, that which it fell upon? Who could throw over the frailties of fashion such a graceful cloak of meek forgiveness, that it seemed actually worth while to sin to be pardoned with such affection? All the pomp and circ.u.mstance of Romanism, as seen in its own capital, a.s.sociated with rank, splendor, high dignity, and names ill.u.s.trious in story, form a strong contrast to its vulgar pretensions in Ireland. It is so essentially allied to ceremonial and display, that when these degenerate into poverty and meanness, the effect produced is always bordering on the ludicrous.
Such, at least, became the feeling of Lady Hester as she witnessed those travesties of grandeur, the originals of which had left her awe-stricken and amazed.
Shorn of fortune, deprived of all the illusions which her newly adopted creed had thrown around her, uncheered by that crowd of flatterers which used to form her circle, is it any wonder if her spirits and her temper gave way, and that she fancied herself the very type of misery and desertion? The last solace of such minds is in the pity they bestow upon themselves; and here she certainly excelled, and upon no occasion more forcibly than when receiving a visit from Dr. Grounsell.
"Dr. Grounsell, my Lady," said a servant; and, at the words, that gentleman entered.
A heavy greatcoat, with numerous capes, a low-crowned glazed hat, and a pair of old-fashioned "Hessians," into which his trousers were tucked, showed that he had not stooped to any artifices of toilet to win favor with her Ladyship. As she bowed slightly to him, she lifted her gla.s.s to her eye, and then dropped it suddenly with a gentle simper, as though to say that another glance would have perilled her gravity.
"Winter has set in early, madam," said he, approaching the fire, "and with unusual severity. The poor are great sufferers this year."
"I "m sure I agree with you," sighed Lady Hester. "I never endured such cold before!"
"I spoke of the "poor," madam," retorted he, abruptly.
"Well, sir, has any one a better right to respond in their name than I have? Look around you, see where I am living, and how, and then answer me!"
"Madam," said Grounsell, sternly, and fixing his eyes steadily on her as he spoke, "I have ridden for two hours of this morning over part of that tract which is your estate. I have visited more than a dozen--I will not call them houses, but hovels. There was fever in some, ague in others, and want, utter want, in all; and yet I never heard one of the sufferers select himself as the special mark of misfortune, but rather allude to his misery as part of that common calamity to which flesh is heir. "G.o.d help the poor!" was the prayer, and they would have felt ashamed to have invoked the blessing on themselves alone."
"I must say that if you have been to see people with typhus, and perhaps small-pox, it shows very little consideration to come and visit _me_ immediately after, sir."
Grounsell"s face grew purple, but with a great effort he repressed the reply that was on his lips, and was silent.
"Of course, then, these poor creatures can pay nothing, sir?"
"Nothing, madam."
"Che bella cosa! an Irish property!" cried she, with a scornful laugh; "and if I mistake not, sir, it was to your kind intervention and influence that I am indebted for this singular mark of my husband"s affection?"
"Quite true, madam. I had supposed it to be possible----Just possible--that, by connecting your personal interest with duties, you might be reclaimed from a life of frivolity and idleness to an existence of active and happy utility, and this without any flattering estimate of your qualities, madam."
"Oh, sir, this is a very needless protest," said she, bowing and smiling.
"I repeat, madam, that, without any flattering estimate of your qualities, I saw quite enough to convince me that kindness and benevolence were just as easy to you as their opposites."
"Why, you have become a courtier, sir," said she, with a smile of sly malice.
"I "m sorry for it, madam; I "d as soon be mistaken for a hairdresser or a dancing-master. But to return. Whether I was correct or not in my theory would appear to be of little moment; another, and more pressing view of the case, usurping all our interests, which is no less, madam, than your actual right and t.i.tle to this estate at all."
Lady Hester leaned forward in her chair as he said this, and in a low but unshaken voice replied, "Do I understand you aright, sir, that the t.i.tle to this property is contested?"
"Not yet, madam; there is no claim set up as yet; but there is every likelihood that there will be such. Rumors have gradually grown into open discussions; threatening notices have been sent to me by post, and stories which at first I had deemed vague and valueless have a.s.sumed a degree of importance from the details by which they were accompanied. In fact, madam, without any clew to the nature or direct drift of the plot, I can yet see that a formidable scheme is being contrived, the great agent of which is to be menace."
"Oh dear, what a relief it would be to me were I quite certain of all this!" exclaimed Lady Hester, with a deep sigh.
"What a relief? Did you say what a relief, madam?" cried Grounsell, in amazement.
"Yes, sir, that was precisely the word I used."
"Then I must have blundered most confoundedly, madam, in my effort to explain myself. I was endeavoring to show you that your claim to the estate might be disputed!"
"Very well, sir, I perfectly understood you."
"You did, eh? you perceive that you might possibly lose the property, and you acquiesce calmly--"
"Nay, more, sir; I rejoice sincerely at the very thought of it."
"Well, then, upon my----eh? May the devil--I beg pardon, madam, but this is really such a riddle to me that I must confess my inability to unravel it."
"Shall I aid you, sir?" said Lady Hester, with an easy smile on her features. "When bequeathing this estate to me, Sir Stafford expressly provided, that if from any political convulsion Ireland should be separated from her union with Great Britain, or if by course of law a substantial claim was established to the property by another, that I should be recompensed for the loss by an income of equal amount derived from the estate of his son, George Onslow, at whose discretion it lay to allocate any portion of his inheritance he deemed suitable for the purpose."
"All true, madam, quite true," broke in Grounsell; "and the Solicitor-General"s opinion is that the provision is perfectly nugatory,--not worth sixpence. It has not one single tie of obligation, and, from its vagueness, is totally inoperative."
"In law, sir, it may be all that you say," replied Lady Hester, calmly; "but I have yet to learn that this is the appeal to which Captain Onslow would submit it."
Grounsell stared at her; and for the first time in all his life he thought her handsome. That his own features revealed the admiration he felt was also plain enough, and Lady Hester was very far from being insensible to the tribute.
"So that, madam," cried he, at length, "You prefer insecurity to certainty."
"Say rather, sir, that I have more confidence in the honorable sentiments of an English gentleman than I have in the solvency of a poor and wretched peasantry. Up to this very hour I have known nothing except the claims upon myself. I don"t like the climate; and I am certain the neighbors do not like me,--in fact, I have neither the youth nor the enterprise suited to a new country."
"Why, good heavens, madam, it isn"t New Zealand we"re in!" cried Grounsell, angrily.
"Perhaps not," sighed she, languidly; "but it is just as strange to _me_."
"I see, madam," said Grounsell, rising, "my plan was a bad one. A wing in the Borghese Palace, a s.p.a.cious apartment of the Corsini, on the Arno, or even the first floor of the Moncenigo, at Venice, would have been a happier choice than a gloomy old mansion on the banks of an Irish river."
"Oh, do not speak of it, sir!" cried she, enthusiastically. "Do not remind me of starry skies and the deep blue Adriatic in this land of cloud and fog, where even the rain is "dirty water." Pray make the very weakest defence of my claim to this inheritance. I only ask to march out with my baggage, and do not even stipulate for the honors of war. Let me have George"s address."
"You "ll not need it, madam; he will be here within a few days. He has been promoted to a majority for his conduct in the field, and returns to England covered with praise and honors."
"What delightful news, Dr. Grounsell; you are actually charming this morning!" The doctor bowed stiffly at the compliment, and she went on: "I often thought that you could be amiable if you would only let yourself; but, like the Cardinal Gualterino, you took up the character of Bear, and "Bear" you would be at all times and seasons; and then those horrid coats, that you would persist in wearing,--how you ever got them of that odious brown, I can"t think; they must have dyed the wool to order,--not but that I think your shoes were worst of all."