In a few weeks after the events I have mentioned, the duke left Ireland
to resume his parliamentary duties in the House of Lords, where some
measure of considerable importance was at that time under discussion.
Into the hands of the lords justices, therefore, the government _ad
interim_ was delivered; while upon Mrs. Paul Rooney devolved the more
pleasing task of becoming the leader of fashion, the head and fountain
of all the gaieties and amusements of the capital. Indeed, O'Grady
half hinted that his grace relied upon her to supply his loss, which
manifestation of his esteem, so perfectly in accordance with her own
wishes, she did not long hesitate to profit by.
Had a stranger, on his first arrival in Dublin, passed along that part
of Stephen's Green in which the 'Hotel Rooney,' as it was familiarly
called, was situated, he could not have avoided being struck, not only
with the appearance of the house itself, but with that of the strange
and incongruous assembly of all ranks and conditions of men that lounged
about its door. The house, large and spacious, with its windows of
plate-glass, its Venetian blinds, its gaudily gilt and painted balcony,
and its massive brass knocker, betrayed a certain air of pretension,
standing as it did among the more sombre-looking mansions where the
real rank of the country resided. Clean windows and a bright knocker,
however--distinctive features as they were in the metropolis of those
days--would not have arrested the attention of the passing traveller to
the extent I have supposed, but that there were other signs and sights
than these.
At the open hall door, to which you ascended by a flight of granite
steps, lounged some half-dozen servants in powdered heads and gaudy
liveries--the venerable porter in his leather chair, the ruddy
coachman in his full-bottomed wig, tall footmen with bouquets in their
button-holes, were here to be seen reading the morning papers, or
leisurely strolling to the steps to take a look at the weather, and
cast a supercilious glance at the insignificant tide of population
that flowed on beneath them; a lazy and an idle race, they toiled not,
neither did they spin, and I sincerely trust that Solomon's costume bore
no resemblance to theirs.
More immediately in front of the house stood a mixed society of
idlers, beggars, horseboys, and grooms, assembled there from motives of
curiosity or gain. Indeed, the rich odour of savoury viands that issued
from the open kitchen windows and ascended through the area to the
nostrils of those without, might in its appetising steam have brought
the dew upon the lips of greater gourmands than they were. All that
French cookery could suggest to impart variety to the separate meals of
breakfast, luncheon, dinner, and supper, here went forward unceasingly;
and the beggars who thronged around the bars, and were fed with the
crumbs from the rich man's table, became by degrees so habituated to the
delicacies and refinements of good living, that they would have turned
up their noses with contempt at the humble and more homely fare of the
respectable shopkeeper. Truly, it was a strange picture to see these
poor and ragged men as they sat in groups upon the steps and on the
bare flagway, exposed to every wind of heaven, the drifting rain soaking
through their frail and threadbare garments, yet criticising, with
practical acumen, the savoury food before them. Consommés, ragouts,
pâtés, potages, jellies, with an infinity of that smaller grapeshot of
epicurism with which fine tables are filled, all here met a fair and a
candid appreciation.
[Illustration: 159]
A little farther off, and towards the middle of the street, stood
another order of beings, who, with separate and peculiar privileges,
maintained themselves as a class apart; these were the horseboys,
half-naked urchins, whose ages varied from eight to fourteen, but whose
looks of mingled cunning and drollery would defy any guess as to their
time of life, who here sported in all the wild, untrammelled liberty of
African savages. The only art they practised was to lead up and down the
horses of the various visitors whom the many attractions of the Hotel
Rooney brought daily to the house. And here you saw the proud and
pampered steed, with fiery eye and swelling nostrils, led about by this
ambulating mass of rags and poverty, whose bright eye wandered ever
from his own tattered habiliments to the gorgeous trappings and gold
embroidery of the sleek charger beside him. In the midst of these,
such as were not yet employed, amused themselves by cutting summersets,
standing on their heads, walking crab-fashion, and other classical
performances, which form the little distractions of life for this
strange sect.
Jaunting-cars there were too, whose numerous fastenings of rope and
cordage looked as though they were taken to pieces every night and
put together in the morning; while the horse, a care-worn and
misanthropic-looking beast, would turn his head sideways over the shaft
to give a glance of compassionating scorn at the follies and vanities of
a world he was sick of. Not so the driver: equally low in condition, and
fully as ragged in coat, the droll spirit that made his birthright was,
with him, a lamp that neither poverty nor penury could quench. Ever
ready with his joke, never backward with his repartee, prepared to
comfort you by assurances of the strength of his car and the goodness of
his horse, while his own laughing look gave the lie to his very words,
he would persuade you that with him alone there was safety, while it was
a risk of life and limb to travel with his rivals.
These formed the ordinary _dramatis persono_, while every now and then
some flashy equipage, with armorial bearings and showy liveries, would
scatter the crowd right and left, set the led horses lashing among
the bystanders, and even break up the decorous conviviality of a
dinner-party gracefully disposed upon the flags. Curricles, tandems,
tilburies, and dennets were constantly arriving and departing. Members
of Daly's with their green coats and buff waistcoats, whiskered dragoons
and plumed aides-de-camp, were all mixed up together, while on the open
balcony an indiscriminate herd of loungers telegraphed the conversation
from the drawing-room to the street, and thus all the _bons mots_, all
the jests, all the witticisms that went forward within doors, found
also a laughing auditory without; for it is a remarkable feature of this
singular country, that there is no turn of expression whose raillery
is too delicate, no repartee whose keenness is too fine, for the
appreciation of the poorest and meanest creature that walks the street.
Poor Paddy, if the more substantial favours of fortune be not your lot,
nature has linked you by a strong sympathy with tastes, habits, and
usages which, by some singular intuition, you seem thoroughly to
comprehend. One cannot dwell long among them without feeling this, and
witnessing how generally, how almost universally, poverty of condition
and wealth of intellect go hand in hand together; and, as it is only
over the bleak and barren surface of some fern-clad heath the wildfire
flashes through the gloom of night, so it would seem the more brilliant
firework of fancy would need a soil of poverty and privation to produce
it.
But, at length, to come back, the Rooneys now were installed as the
great people of the capital. Many of the _ancien régime_, who held out
sturdily before, and who looked upon the worthy attorney in the light
of a usurper, now gave in their allegiance, and regarded him as the true
monarch. What his great prototype effected by terror, he brought about
by turtle; and, if Napoleon consolidated his empire and propped his
throne by the bayonets of the grand army, so did Mr. Rooney establish
his claims to power by the more satisfactory arguments which,
appealing not only to the head, but to the stomach, convince while they
conciliate. You might criticise his courtesy, but you could not condemn
his claret. You might dislike his manners, but you could not deny
yourself his mutton. Besides, after all, matters took pretty much the
same turn in Paris as in Dublin; public opinion ran strong in both
cases. The mass of the world consists of those who receive benefits, and
he who confers them deserves to be respected. We certainly thought so;
and among those of darker hue who frequented Mr. Rooney's table, three
red-coats might daily be seen, whose unchanged places, added to their
indescribable air of at-homeishness, bespoke them as the friends of the
family.
O'Grady, at Mrs. Rooney's right hand, did the honours of the soup; Lord
Dudley, at the other end of the table, supported Mr. Rooney, while to my
lot Miss Bellew fell. But, as our places at table never changed, there
was nothing marked in my thus every day finding myself beside her, and
resuming my place on our return to the drawing-room. To me, I confess,
she formed the great attraction of the house. Less imbued than my friend
O'Grady with the spirit of fun, I could not have gone on from day to day
to amuse myself with the eccentricities of the Rooneys, while I could
not, on the other hand, have followed Lord Dudley's lead, and continued
to receive the hospitalities of a house while I sneered at the
pretensions of its owner.
Under any circumstances Louisa Bellew might be considered a very
charming person; but, contrasted with those by whom she was
surrounded, her attractions were very great. Indeed, her youth, her
light-heartedness, and the buoyancy of her spirit, concealed to a great
degree the sorrow it cost her to be associated with her present hosts;
for, although they were kind to her, and she felt and acknowledged their
kindness, yet the humiliating sense of a position which exposed her to
the insolent familiarity of the idle, the dissipated, or the underbred
visitors of the house, gradually impressed itself upon her manner, and
tempered her mild and graceful nature with a certain air of hauteur and
distance. A circumstance, slight in itself, but sufficiently indicative
of this, took place some weeks after what I have mentioned.
Lord Dudley de Vere, who, from his rank and condition, was looked upon
as a kind of privileged person in the Rooney family, sitting rather
later than usual after dinner, and having drunk a great deal of wine,
offered a wager that, on his appearance in the drawing-room, not only
would he propose for, but be accepted by, any unmarried lady in the
room. The puppyism and coxcombry of such a wager might have been
pardoned, were it not that the character of the individual, when sober,
was in perfect accordance with this drunken boast. The bet, which was
for three hundred guineas, was at once taken up; and one of the party
running hastily up to the drawing-room, obtained the names of the ladies
there, which, being written on slips of paper, were thrown into a hat,
thus leaving chance to decide upon whom the happy lot was to fall.
'Mark ye, Upton,' cried Lord Dudley, as he prepared to draw forth his
prize--'mark ye, I didn't say I 'd marry her.'
'No, no,' resounded from different parts of the room; 'we understand you
perfectly.'
'My bet,' continued he, 'is this: I have booked it.' With these words
he opened a small memorandum-book and read forth the following
paragraph:--'Three hundred with Upton that I don't ask and be accepted
by any girl in Paul's drawing-room this evening, after tea; the choice
to be decided by lottery. Isn't that it?'
'Yes, yes, quite right, perfectly correct,' said several persons round
the table. 'Come, my lord, here is the hat.'
'Shake them up well, Upton.'
'So here goes,' said Herbert, as affectedly tucking up the sleeve of
his coat, he inserted two fingers and drew forth a small piece of paper
carefully folded in two. 'I say, gentlemen, this is your affair; it
doesn't concern me.' With these words he threw it carelessly on the
table, and resuming his seat, leisurely filled his glass, and sipped his
wine.
'Come, read it, Blake; read it up! Who is she?'
'Gently, lads, gently; patience for one moment. How are we to know if
the wager be lost or won? Is the lady herself to declare it?'
'Why, if you like it; it is perfectly the same to me.'
'Well, then,' rejoined Blake, 'it is--Miss Bellew!'
No sooner was the name read aloud, than, instead of the roar of laughter
which it was expected would follow the announcement, a kind of awkward
and constrained silence settled on the party. Mr. Rooney himself, who
felt shocked beyond measure at this result, had been so long habituated
to regard himself as nothing at the head of his own table, accepting,
not dictating, its laws, that, much as he may have wished to do so, did
not dare to interfere to stay any further proceedings. But many of those
around the table who knew Sir Simon Bellew, and felt how unsuitable
and inadmissible such a jest as this would be, if practised upon _his_
daughter, whispered among themselves a hope thai the wager would be
abandoned, and never thought of more by either party.
'Yes, yes,' said Upton, who was an officer in a dragoon regiment, and
although of a high family and well connected, was yet very limited in
his means. 'Yes, yes, I quite agree. This foolery might be very good fun
with some young ladies we know, but with Miss Bellew the circumstances
are quite different; and, for _my_ part, I withdraw from the bet.'
'Eh--aw! Pass down the claret, if you please. You withdraw from the bet,
then? That means you may pay me three hundred guineas; for d--n me, if
I do! No, no; I am not so young as that. I haven't lost fifteen thousand
on the Derby without gaining some little insight into these matters.
Every bet is a p. p., if not stated to be the reverse. I leave it to any
gentleman in the room.'
'Come, come, De Vere,' said one, 'listen to reason, my boy!'
'Yes, Dudley,' cried another, 'only think over the thing. You must
see----'
'I only wish to see a cheque for three hundred. And I 'll not be done,'
'Sir!' said Upton, springing from his chair, as the blood mounted to his
face and temples, 'did you mean that expression to apply to me?'
'Sit down, Mr. Upton, for the love of Heaven! Sit down; do, sir; his
lordship never meant it at all. See, now, I'll pay the money myself.
Give me a pen and ink. I'll give you a cheque on the bank this minute.
What the devil signifies a trifle like that!' stammered out poor Paul,
as he wiped his forehead with his napkin, and looked the very picture
of terror. 'Yes, my lord and gentlemen of the jury, we agree to pay the
whole costs of this suit.'
A perfect roar of laughter interrupted the worthy attorney, and as it
ran from one end of the table to the other, seemed to promise a happier
issue to this unpleasant discussion.
'There, now,' said honest Paul, 'the Lord be praised, it is all settled!
So let us have another cooper up, and then we 'll join the ladies.'
'Then I understand it thus,' said Lord Dudley: 'you pay the money for
Mr. Upton, and I may erase the bet from my book?'
'No, sir!' cried Upton passionately. 'I pay my own wagers; and if you
still insist----'
'No, no, no!' cried several voices; while, at the same time, to put an
end at once to any further dispute, the party suddenly rose to repair to
the drawing-room.
On passing through the hall, chance, or perhaps design, on Lord Dudley's
part, brought him beside Upton. 'I wish you to understand, once more,'
said he, in a low whisper, 'that I consider this bet to hold.'
'Be it so,' was the brief reply, and they separated.
O'Grady and myself, having dined that day in the country, only arrived
in the Rooneys' drawing-room as the dinner-party was entering it.
Contrary to their wont, there was less of loud talking, less of
uproarious and boisterous mirth, as they came up the stairs, than usual
O'Grady remarked this to me afterwards. At the time, however, I paid
but little attention to it. The fact was, my thoughts were principally
running in another channel Certain innuendoes of Lord Dudley de Vere,
certain broad hints he had ventured upon even before Mrs. Rooney, had
left upon my mind a kind of vague, undecided impression that, somehow or
other, I was regarded as their dupe. Miss Bellow's manner was certainly
more cordial, more kind to me than to any of the others who visited the
house. The Rooneys themselves omitted nothing to humour my caprices, and
indulge my fancies, affording me, at all times, opportunities of
being alone with Louisa, joining in her walks, and accompanying her on
horseback. Could there be anything in all this? Was this the quarter in
which the mine was to explode? This painful doubt hanging upon my mind I
entered the drawing-room.
The drawing-room of 42 Stephen's Green had often afforded me an amusing
study. Its strange confusion of ranks and classes; its _mélange_ of
lordly loungers and city beauties; the discordant tone of conversation,
where each person discussed the very thing he knew least of; the
blooming daughters of a lady mayoress talking 'fashion and the musical
glasses'; while the witless scion of a noble house was endeavouring to
pass himself as a sayer of good things. These now, however, afforded me
neither interest nor pleasure; bent solely upon one thought, eager alone
to ascertain how far Louisa Bellow's manner towards me was the fruit of
artifice, or the offspring of an artless and unsuspecting mind, I left
O'Grady to entertain a whole circle of turbaned ladies, while I directed
my course towards the little boudoir where Louisa usually sat.
In a house where laxity of etiquette and a freedom of manner prevailed
to the extent I have mentioned, Miss Bellow's more cautious and reserved
demeanour was anything but popular; and, as there was no lack of beauty,
men found it more suitable to their lounging and indolent habits to
engage those in conversation who were less _exigeante_ in their demands
for amusement, and were equally merry themselves, as mercifully disposed
when the mirth became not only easy but free.
Miss Bellew, therefore, was permitted to indulge many of her tastes
unmolested; and as one of these was to work at embroidery in the small
room in question, few persons intruded themselves upon her--and even
they but for a short time, as if merely paying their required homage to
a member of the family.
As I approached the door of the boudoir, my surprise was not a little to
hear Lord Dudley de Vere's voice, the tones of which, though evidently
subdued by design, had a clear distinctness that made them perfectly
audible where I stood.
'Eh! you can't mean it, though. 'Pon my soul, it is too bad! You know I
shall lose my money if you persist.'
'I trust Lord Dudley de Vere is too much of a gentleman to make my
unprotected position in this house the subject of an insolent wager. I'm
sure nothing in my manner could ever have given encouragement to such a
liberty.'
'There, now, I knew you didn't understand it. The whole thing was a
chance; the odds were at least eighteen to one against you--ha, ha! I
mean in your favour. Devilish good mistake that of mine. They were all
shaken up in a hat. You see there was no collusion--could be none.'
'My lord, this impertinence becomes past enduring; and if you
persist----'
'Well, then, why not enter into the joke? It'll be a devilish expensive
one to me if you don't; that I promise you. What a confounded fool I
was not to draw out when Upton wished it! D--n it! I ought to have known
there is no trusting to a woman.' As he said this, he walked twice or
thrice hurriedly to and fro, muttering as he went, with ill-suppressed
passion: 'Laughed at, d--n me! that I shall be, all over the kingdom. To
lose the money is bad enough; but the ridicule of the thing, that's the
devil! Stay, Miss Bellew, stop one minute; I have another proposition
to make. Begad, I see nothing else for it. This, you know, was all a
humbug--mere joke, nothing more. Now, I can't stand the way I shall be
quizzed about it at all. So, here goes! hang me, if I don't make the
proposition in real earnest! There, now, say yes at once, and we 'll see
if I can't turn the laugh against them.'
There was a pause for an instant, and then Miss Bellew spoke. I would
have given worlds to have seen her at that moment; but the tone of her
voice, firm and unshaken, sank deep into my heart.
'My lord,' said she, 'this must now cease; but, as your lordship is fond
of a wager, I have one for your acceptance. The sum shall be your own
choosing. Whatever it be, I stake it freely, that, as I walk from this
room, the first gentleman I meet--you like a chance, my lord, and you
shall have one--will chastise you before the world for your unworthy,
unmanly insult to a weak and unoffending girl.'
As she spoke, she sprang from the room, her eyes flashing with indignant
fire, while her cheek, pale as death, and her heaving bosom, attested
how deep was her passion. As she turned the corner of the door, her eyes
met mine. In an instant the truth flashed upon her mind. She knew I had
overheard all that passed. She gasped painfully for breath; her lips
moved with scarce a sound; a violent trembling shook her from head to
foot, and she fell fainting to the ground.
I followed her with my eyes as they bore her from the room; and then,
without a thought for anything around me, I hurriedly left the room,
dashed downstairs, and hastened to my quarters in the Castle.