While speaking he proceeded with the readjustment of his toilet at the large mirror, an operation which appeared to const.i.tute the great object on which his mind was engaged, the affair of the squire"s life or death coming in only parenthetically, or as a consideration of minor importance.
In height Sir Robert Whitecraft was fully six feet two; but being extremely thin and lank, and to all appearance utterly devoid of substance, and of every thing like proportion, he appeared much taller than even nature had made him. His forehead was low, and his whole character felonious; his eyes were small, deep set, and cunning; his nose was hooked, his mouth was wide, but his lips thin to a miracle, and such as always--are to be found under the nose of a miser; as for a chin, we could not conscientiously allow him any; his under-lip sloped off until it met the throat with a curve not larger than that of an oyster-sh.e.l.l, which when open to the tide, his mouth very much resembled. As for his neck, it was so long that no portion of dress at that time discovered was capable of covering more than one third of it; so that there were always two parts out of three left stark naked, and helplessly exposed to the elements. Whenever he smiled he looked as if he was about to weep. As the squire said, he was dreadfully round-shouldered--had dangling arms, that kept napping about him as if they were moved by some machinery that had gone out of order--was close-kneed--had the true telescopic leg--and feet that brought a very large portion of him into the closest possible contact with the earth.
"Are you succeeding, Sir Robert?" inquired the old man sarcastically, "because, if you are, I swear you"re achieving wonders, considering the slight materials you have to work upon."
"Ah! sir," replied the baronet, "I perceive you are in one of your biting humors to-day."
"Biting!" exclaimed the other. "Egad, it"s very well for most of your sporting acquaintances that you"re free from hydrophobia; if you were not, I"d have died pleasantly between two feather beds, leaving my child an orphan long before this. Egad, you bit me to some purpose."
"Oh, ay, you allude to the affair of "Hop-and-go-constant" and "Pat the Spanker;" but you know, my dear sir, I gave you heavy boot;" and as he spoke, he pulled up the lapels of his coat, and glanced complacently at the profile of his face and person in the gla.s.s.
"Pray, is Miss Folliard at home, sir?"
"Again I"m forgotten," thought the squire. "Ah, what an affectionate son-in-law he"d make! What a tender husband for Helen! Why, hang the fellow, he has a heart for n.o.body, but himself. She is at home, Sir Robert, but the truth is, I don"t think it would become me, as a father anxious for the happiness of his child, and that child, an only one, to sacrifice her happiness--the happiness of her whole life--to wealth or ambition. You know she herself entertains a strong prejudice--no, that"s not the word--"
"I beg your pardon, sir; that is the word; her distaste to me is a prejudice, and nothing else."
"No, Sir Robert; it is not the word. Antipathy is the word. Now I tell you, once for all, that I will not force my child."
"This change, Mr. Folliard," observed the baronet, "is somewhat of the suddenest. Has any thing occurred on my part to occasion it?"
"Perhaps I may have other views for her, Sir Robert."
"That may be; but is such conduct either fair or honorable towards me, Mr. Folliard? Have I got a rival, and if so, who is he?"
"Oh, I wouldn"t tell you that for the world."
"And why not, pray?"
"Because," replied the squire, "if you found out who he was, you"d be hanged for cannibalism."
"I really don"t understand you, Mr. Folliard. Excuse me, but it would seem to me that something has put you into no very agreeable humor to-day."
"You don"t understand me! Why, Sir Robert," replied the other, "I know you so well that if you heard the name of your rival you would first kill him, then powder him, and, lastly, eat him. You are such a terrible fellow that you care about no man"s life, not even about mine."
Now it was to this very point that the calculating baronet wished to bring him. The old man, he knew, was whimsical, capricious, and in the habit of taking all his strongest and most enduring resolutions from sudden contrasts produced by some mistake of his own, or from some discovery made to him on the part of others.
"As to your life, Mr. Folliard, let me a.s.sure you," replied Sir Robert, "that there is no man living prizes it, and, let me add, you character too, more highly than I do; but, my dear sir, your life was never in danger."
"Never in danger! what do you mean, Sir Robert? I tell you, sir, that the murdering miscreant, the Red Rapparee, had a loaded gun levelled at me last evening, after dark."
"I know it," replied the other; "I am well aware of it, and you were rescued just in the nick of time."
"True enough," said the squire, "just in the nick of time; by that glorious young fellow--a--a--yes--Reilly--w.i.l.l.y Reilly."
"This w.i.l.l.y Reilly, sir, is a very accomplished person, I think."
"A gentleman, Sir Robert, every inch of him, and as handsome and fine-looking a young fellow as ever I laid my eyes upon."
"He was educated on the Continent by the Jesuits."
"No!" replied the squire, dreadfully alarmed at this piece of information, "he was not; by the great Boyne, he wasn"t."
This mighty a.s.severation, however, was exceedingly feeble in moral strength and energy, for, in point of fact, it came out of the squire"s lips more in the shape of a question than an oath.
"It is unquestionably true, sir," said the baronet; "ask himself, and he will admit it."
"Well, and granting that he was," replied the squire, "what else could he do, when the laws would not permit of his being educated here? I speak not against the laws, G.o.d forbid, but of his individual case."
"We are travelling from the point, sir," returned the baronet. "I was observing that Reilly is an accomplished person, as indeed every Jesuit is. Be that as it may, I again beg to a.s.sure you that your life stood in no risk."
"I don"t understand you, Sir Robert. You"re a perfect oracle; by the great Deliverer from Pope and Popery, wooden shoes, and so forth, only that Reilly made his appearance at that moment I was a dead man."
"Not the slightest danger, Mr. Folliard. I am aware of that, and of the whole Jesuitical plot from the beginning, base, ingenious, but diabolical as it was."
The squire rose up and looked at him for a minute, without speaking, then sat down again, and, a second time, was partially up, but resumed his seat.
"A plot!" he exclaimed; "a plot, Sir Robert! What plot?"
"A plot, Mr. Folliard, for the purpose of creating an opportunity to make your acquaintance, and of ingratiating himself into the good graces and affections of your lovely daughter; a plot for the purpose of marrying her."
The Squire seemed for a moment thunderstruck, but in a little time he recovered. "Marrying her!" he exclaimed; "that, you know, could not be done, unless he turned Protestant."
It was now time for the baronet to feel thunderstricken.
"He turn Protestant! I don"t understand you, Mr. Folliard. Could any change on Reilly"s part involve such a probability as a marriage between him and your daughter?"
"I can"t believe it was a plot, Sir Robert," said the squire, shifting the question, "nor I won"t believe it. There was too much truth and sincerity in his conduct. And, what is more, my house would have been attacked last night; I myself robbed and murdered, and my daughter-my child, carried off, only for him. Nay, indeed, it was partially attacked, but when the villainy found us prepared they decamped; but, as for marriage, he could not marry my daughter, I say again, so long as he remains a Papist."
"Unless he might prevail on her to turn Papist."
"By the life of my body, Sir Robert, I won"t stand this. Did you come here, sir, to insult me and to drive me into madness? What devil could have put it into your head that my daughter, sir, or any one with a drop of my blood in their veins, to the tenth generation, could ever, for a single moment, think of turning Papist? Sir, I hoped that you would have respected the name both of my daughter and myself, and have foreborne to add this double insult both to her and me. The insolence even to dream of imputing such an act to her I cannot overlook. You yourself, if you could gain a point or feather your nest by it, are a thousand times much more likely to turn Papist than either of us. Apologize instantly, sir, or leave my house."
"I can certainly apologize, Mr. Folliard," replied the baronet, "and with a good conscience, inasmuch as I had not the most remote intention of offending you, much less Miss Folliard--I accordingly do so promptly and at once; but as for my allegations against Reilly, I am in a position to establish their truth in the clearest manner, and to prove to you that there wasn"t a. single robber, nor Rapparee either, at or about your house last night, with the exception of Reilly and his gang.
If there were, why were they neither heard nor seen?"
"One of them was--the Red Rapparee himself."
"Do not be deceived, Mr. Folliard; did you yourself, or any of your family or household, see him?"
"Why, no, certainly, we did not; I admit that."
"Yes, and you will admit more soon. I shall prove the whole conspiracy."
"Well, why don"t you then?"
"Simply because the matter must be brought about with great caution.
You--must allow me a few days, say three or four, and the proofs shall be given."