Fast as had been the pace in the Major's tax-cart, it seemed to me as
though the miles flew much more quickly by as I returned to the town.
How, indeed, they passed I cannot well say; but, from the instant that
I quitted Mr. Dillon's house to that of my arrival in Loughrea, there
seemed to be but one brief, delightful moment. I have already said that
Miss Bellew's manner was quite changed; and, as I assisted her from the
carriage, I could not but mark the flashing brilliancy of her eye and
the sparkling animation of her features, lending, as they did, an added
loveliness to her beauty.
'Am I to dance with you, Mr. Hinton?' said she laughingly, as I led
her up the stairs. 'If so, pray be civil enough to ask me at
once--otherwise, I must accept the first partner that offers himself.'
'How very stupid I have been! Will you, pray, let me have the honour?'
'Yes, yes--you shall have the honour; but, now that I think of it, you
mustn't ask me a second time. We countryfolk are very prudish about
these things; and, as you are the lion of the party, I should get into a
sad scrape were I to appear to monopolise you.'
'But you surely will have compassion on me,' said I, in a tone of
affected bashfulness. 'You know I am a stranger here--neither known to
nor by any one save you.'
'_Ah_, _trêve de modestie!_' said she coquettishly. 'My cousins will be
quite delighted; and indeed, you owe them some _amende_ already.'
'As how?' said I. 'What have I done?'
'Rather, what have you left undone? I'll tell you. You have not come
to the ball in your fine uniform, with your aiguillette and your showy
feathers, and all the pride, pomp, and circumstance of your dignity as
aide-de-camp. Learn, that in the west we love the infantry, doat on
the dragoons, but we adore the staff. Now, a child would find it as
difficult to recognise a plump gentleman without a star on his breast as
a king, as we western ladies would to believe in the military features
of a person habited in quiet black. You should, at least, have some
symbol of your calling. A little bit of moustache like a Frenchman, a
foreign order at your button-hole, your arm in a sling--from a wound,
as it were--even a pair of brass spurs would redeem you. Poor Mary
here won't believe that you wear a great sword, and are the most
warlike-looking person imaginable on occasions.'
'Dearest Louisa, how silly you are!' said her cousin, blushing deeply.
'Pray, Mr. Hinton, what do you think of the rooms?'
This question happily recalled me to myself, for up to that very moment,
forgetful of everything save my fair companion, I had not noticed our
entrance into the ballroom, around which we were promenading with alow
steps. I now looked up, and discovered that we were in the Town-hall,
the great room of which building was generally reserved for occasions
like the present. Nothing could be more simple than the decorations
of the apartment. The walls, which were whitewashed, were tastefully
ornamented with strings and wreaths of flowers suspended between the
iron chandeliers, while over the chimney-piece were displayed the
colours of the marching regiment then quartered in the town. Indeed, to
do them justice, the garrison were the main contributors to the pleasure
of the evening. By _them_ were the garlands so gracefully disposed;
by _them_ were the rat-holes and other dangerous crevices in the floor
caulked with oakum; _their_ band was now blowing 'God Save the King' and
'Rule Britannia' alternately for the last hour, and _their_ officers, in
all the splendour of scarlet, were parading the room, breaking the men's
hearts with envy and the women's with admiration.
O'Grady was quite right--it is worth while being a soldier in Ireland;
and, if such be the case in the capital, how much more true is it in
Connaught? Would that some minute anatomist of human feeling could
demonstrate that delicate fibre in an Irishwoman's heart that vibrates
so responsively to everything in the army-list! In this happy land you
need no nitrous oxide to promote the high spirits of your party; I had
rather have a sub. in a marching regiment than a whole gasometer full
of it. How often have I watched the sleepy eye of languid loveliness
brighten up--how often have I seen features almost plain in their
character assume a kind of beauty, as some red-coat drew near! Don't
tell me of your insurrection acts, of your nightly outrages, your
outbreaks, and your burnings, as a reason for keeping a large military
force in Ireland--nothing of the kind. A very different object, indeed,
is the reason--Ireland is garrisoned to please the ladies. The
War Office is the most gallant of public bodies; and, with a true
appreciation of the daughters of the west, it inundates the land with
red-coats.
These observations were forced upon me as I looked about the room, and
saw on every side how completely the gallant Seventy-something had
cut out the country gentry. Poor fellows! you are great people at the
assizes--you are strong men at a road-sessions--but you're mighty small
folk indeed before your wives and daughters when looked at to the
music of 'Paddy Carey,' and by the light of two hundred and fifty
mutton-candles.
The country-dance was at length formed, and poor Mr. Harkin, the master
of the ceremonies and Coryphaeus-in-ordinary of Loughrea, had, by dint
of scarce less fatigue than I experienced in my steeplechase, by running
hither and thither, imploring, beseeching, wheedling, coaxing, and even
cursing, at length succeeded in assembling sixty-four souls in a double
file upon the floor. Poor fellow! never was there a more disorderly
force. Nobody would keep his own place, but was always trying to get
above his neighbour. In vain did he tell the men to stand at their own
side. Alas! they thought that side their own where the ladies were also.
Then the band added to his miseries; for scarcely had he told them to
play 'The Wind that shakes the Barley,' when some changed it to 'The
Priest in his Boots,' and afterwards to 'The Dead March in Saul.' These
were heavy afflictions; for be it known that he could not give way,
as other men would in such circumstances, to a good outbreak of
passion--for Mr. Harkin was a public functionary, who, like all other
functionaries, had a character to sustain before the world. When kings
are angry, we are told by Shakespeare, Schiller, and others, they
rant it in good royal style. Now, when a dancing-master is excited by
passion, he never loses sight of the unities. If he flies down the floor
to chide the little fat man that is talking loudly, he contrives to do
it with a step, a spring, and a hop, to the time of one, two, three.
Is there a confusion in the figure, he advances to rectify it with a
_chassé_ rigadoon. Does Mr. Somebody turn his toes too much out, or is
Miss So-and-so holding her petticoats too high, he fugles the correction
in his own person--first imitating the deformity he would expose, and
then displaying the perfection he would point to.
On the evening in question, this gentleman afforded me by far the most
of the amusement of the ball. Nearly half the company had been in time
of yore his pupils, or were actually so at the very moment; so that,
independent of his cares as conductor of the festivities, he had also
the _amour propre_ of one who saw his own triumphs reflected in the
success of his disciples.
[Illustration: 325]
At last the dances were arranged. A certain kind of order was
established in the party; and Mr. Harkin, standing in the fifth
position, with all his fingers expanded, gave three symbolic claps of
his hand, and cried out, 'Begin!' Away went the band at once, and
down the middle I flew with my partner, to the measure of a quick
country-dance that no human legs could keep time to. Two others quickly
followed, more succeeding them like wave after wave. Nothing was too
fat, nothing too short, nothing too long, to dance. There they were, as
ill-paired as though, instead of treading a merry measure, they had been
linked in the very bonds of matrimony--old and young, the dwarf and the
brobdingnag, the plump and the lean, each laughing at the eccentricities
of his neighbour, and happily indifferent to the mirth he himself
afforded. By-the-bye, what a glorious thing it would be if we
could carry out this principle of self-esteem into all our
reciprocity-treaties, and, while we enjoyed what we derive from others,
be unconscious of the loss we sustained ourselves!
Unlike our English performance, the dance here was as free-and-easy a
thing as needs be. Down the middle you went, holding, mayhap squeezing
your partner's hand, laughing, joking, flirting, venturing occasionally
on many a bolder flight than at other times you could have dared; for
there was no time for the lady to be angry, as she tripped along to 'The
Hare in the Corn'; and besides, but little wisdom could be expected from
a man while performing more antics than Punch in a pantomime. With all
this, there was a running fire of questions, replies, and recognitions,
from every one you passed--
'That's it, Captain: push along! begad, you're doing it well!'--
'Don't forget to-morrow!'--'Hands round!'--'Hasn't she a leg of her
own!'--'Keep it up!'--'This way I--turn, Miss Malone!'--'You'll come to
breakfast!'--'How are ye, Joe?' etc.
Scarcely was the set concluded, when Miss Bellew was engaged by another
partner; while I, at her suggestion, invited her cousin Mary to become
mine. The ball-room was now crowded with people; the mirth and fun grew
fast and furious. The country-dance occupied the whole length of the
room; and round the walls were disposed tables for whist or loo, where
the elders amused themselves with as much pleasure, and not less noise.
I fear that I gave my fair partner but a poor impression of an
aide-de-camp's gallantry--answering at random, speaking vaguely and
without coherence, my eyes fixed on Miss Bellew, delighted when by
chance I could catch a look from her, and fretful and impatient when she
smiled at some remark of her partner. In fact, love has as many stages
as a fever; and I was in that acute period of the malady when the
feeling of devotion, growing every moment stronger, is checkered by a
doubt lest the object of your affections should really be indifferent
to you--thus suggesting all the torturing agonies of jealousy to your
distracted mind. At such times as these a man can scarcely be very
agreeable even to the girl he loves; but he is a confounded bore to a
chance acquaintance. So, indeed, did poor Mary Dillon seem to think; and
as, at the conclusion of the dance, I resigned her hand to a lieutenant
somebody, with pink cheeks, black eyebrows, and a most martial air, I
saw she looked upon her escape as a direct mercy from Providence.
Just at this moment, Mr. Dillon, who had only been waiting for the
propitious moment to pounce upon me, seized me by the arm, and led
me down the room. There was a charming woman dying to know me in one
corner; the best cock-shooting in Ireland wished to make my acquaintance
in another; thirty thousand pounds, and a nice little property in
Leitrim, was sighing for me near the fire; and three old ladies, the
_gros bonnets_ of the land, had kept the fourth place at the whist
table vacant for _my_ sake, and were at length growing impatient at my
absence.
_Non sunt mea verba_, good reader. Such was Mr. Dillon's representation
to me, as he hurried me along, presenting me as he went to every one we
met--a ceremony in which I soon learned to perform my part respectably,
by merely repeating a formula I had adopted for my guidance: 'Delighted
to know you, Mr. Burke!' or, 'Charmed to make your acquaintance, Mrs.
French!' for, as nine-tenths of the men were called by the one, and
nearly all the ladies by the other appellation, I seldom blundered in my
addresses.
The evening wore on, but the vigour of the party seemed unabated. The
fatigues of fashionable life seemed to be as little known in Ireland
as its apathy and its ennui Poor, benighted people! you appear to enjoy
society, not as a refuge for your own weariness, not as an escape-valve
for your own vapours, but really as a source of pleasurable emotions--an
occasion for drawing closer the bonds of intimacy, for being agreeable
to your friends, and for making yourselves happy. Alas! you have much
to learn in this respect; you know not yet how preferable is the languid
look of _blasé_ beauty to the brilliant eye and glowing cheek of
happy girlhood; you know not how superior is the cutting sarcasm, the
whispered equivoque, to the kind welcome and the affectionate greeting;
and while enjoying the pleasure of meeting your friends, you absolutely
forget to be critical upon their characters or their costume!
What a pity it is that good-nature is underbred, and good-feeling is
vulgarity; for, after all, while I contrasted the tone of everything
around me with the supercilious cant and unimpassioned coldness of
London manners, I could not but confess to myself that the difference
was great and the interval enormous. To which side my own heart
inclined, it needed not my affection for Louisa Bellew to tell me; yes,
I had seen enough of life to learn how far are the real gifts of worth
and excellence preferable to the adventitious polish of high society.
While these thoughts rushed through my mind, another flashed across it.
What if my lady-mother were here! What if my proud cousin! How would her
dark eyes brighten as some absurd or ludicrous feature of the company
would suggest its _mot_ of malice or its speech of sarcasm! how would
their air, their carriage, their deportment, appear in _her_ sight! I
could picture to myself the cold scorn of her manner towards the men,
the insulting courtesy of her demeanour to the women; the affected
_naïveté_ with which she would question them as to their everyday
habits, and habitudes, their usages and their wants, as though she were
inquiring into the manners and customs of South Sea Islanders! I could
imagine the ineffable scorn with which she would receive what were meant
to be kind and polite attentions; and I could fashion to myself her
look, her manner, and her voice when escaping, as she would call it,
from her _Nuit parmi les sauvages_, she would caricature every trait,
every feature of the party, converting into food for laughter their
frank and hospitable bearing, and making their very warmth of heart the
groundwork of a sarcasm.
The ball continued with unabated vigour, and as, in obedience to Miss
Bellew's request, I could not again ask her to dance, I myself felt
little inclination to seek for another partner. The practice of the
place seemed, however, as imperatively to exclude idleness as the
discipline of a man-of-war. If you were not dancing you ought to be
playing cards, making love, drinking negus, or exchanging good stories
with some motherly, fat, old lady, too heavy for a reel, too stupid for
loo. In this dilemma I cut into a round game, which I remember often to
have seen at Rooney's, technically called 'speculation.' A few minutes
before, and I was fancying to myself what my mother would think of all
this; and now, as I drew my chair to the table, I muttered a prayer to
my own heart that she might never hear of my doings. How strange it is
that we would much rather be detected in some overt act of vice than
caught in any ludicrous situation or absurd position! I could look my
friends and family steadily enough in the face while standing amid all
the blacklegs of Epsom and the swindlers of Ascot, exchanging with
them the courtesies of life, and talking on terms of easy and familiar
intercourse; yet would I rather have been seen with the veriest
pickpocket in fashionable life, than seated amid that respectable and
irreproachable party who shook their sides with laughter around the
card-table!
Truly, it was a merry game, and well suited for a novice, as it required
no teaching. Each person had his three cards dealt him, one of which was
displayed to the company in rotation. Did this happen to be a knave or
some other equally reproachful character, the owner was mulcted to the
sum of fivepence; and he must indeed have had a miser's heart who could
regret a penalty so provocative of mirth. Often as the event took
place, the fun never seemed to grow old; and from the exuberance of
the delight, and the unceasing flow of the laughter, I began to wonder
within myself if these same cards had not some secret and symbolic
meaning unknown to the neophyte. But the drollery did not end here:
you might sell your luck and put up your hand to auction. This led to
innumerable droll allusions and dry jokes, and, in fact, if ever a game
was contrived to make one's sides ache, this was it.
A few sedate and sober people there were, who, with bent brow and
pursed-up lip, watched the whole proceeding. They were the secret police
of the card-table; it was in vain to attempt to conceal your luckless
knave from their prying eyes; with the glance of a tax-collector they
pounced upon the defaulter, and made him pay. Barely or never smiling
themselves, they really felt all the eagerness, all the excitement
of gambling; and I question if, after all, their hard looks and stern
features were not the best fun of the whole.
After about two hours had been thus occupied, during which I had won
the esteem and affection of several elderly ladies by the equanimity
and high-mindedness with which I bore up against the loss of two whole
baskets of counters, amounting to the sum of four-and-sixpence, I felt
my shoulder gently touched, and at the same moment Bob Mahon whispered
in my ear--'The Dillons are going, and he wants to speak a word with
you; so give me your cards, and slip away.'
Resigning my place to the Major, whose advent was received with evident
signs of dissatisfaction, inasmuch as he was a shrewd player, I hurried
through the room to find out Dillon.
'Ah, here he is!' said Miss Bellew to her uncle, while she pointed to
me. 'How provoking to go away so early--isn't it, Mr. Hinton?'
'You, doubtless, feel it so,' said I, with something of pique in my
manner; 'your evening has been so agreeably passed.'
'And yours, too, if I am to judge from the laughter of your card-table.
I am sure I never heard so noisy a party. Well, Mary, does he consent?'
'No; papa is still obstinate, and the carriage is ordered. He says
we shall have so much gaiety this week that we must go home early
to-night.'
'There! there! now be good girls; get on your muffling, and let us be
off. Ah, Mr. Hinton!--the very man I wanted. Will you do us the very
great favour of coming over for a few days to Mount Brown? We shall have
the partridge-shooting after to-morrow, and I think I can show you some
sport. May I send in for you in the morning? What hour will suit you?
You will not refuse me, I trust?'
'I need not say, my dear sir, how obliged I feel for and with what
pleasure I should accept your kind invitation; but the truth is, I've
come away without leave of absence. The duke may return any day, and I
shall be in a sad scrape.'
'Do you think a few days----'
A look from Louisa Bellew, at this moment, came most powerfully in
aid of her uncle's eloquence. I hesitated, and looked uncertain how to
answer.
'There, girls! now is your time. He is half persuaded to do a kind
thing; do try and convince him the whole way. Come, Mary! Fanny!
Louisa!'
A second look from Miss Bellew decided the matter; and as a flush of
pleasure coloured my cheek, I shook Dillon warmly by the hand, and
promised to accept his invitation.
'That is like a really good fellow,' said the little man, with a face
sparkling with pleasure. 'Now, what say you, if we drive over for you
about two o'clock? The girls are coming in to make some purchases, and
we shall all drive out together.'
This arrangement, so very palatable to me, was agreed upon, and I now
took Miss Bellow's arm to lead her to the carriage. On descending to
the hall a delay of a few minutes ensued, as the number of vehicles
prevented the carriage coming up. The weather appeared to have changed;
and it was now raining heavily, and blowing a perfect storm.
As the fitful gusts of wind howled along the dark corridors of the old
building, dashing the rain upon our faces even where we stood, I drew my
fair companion closer to my side, and held her cloak more firmly round
her. What a moment was that! Her arm rested on mine; her very tresses
were blown each moment across my cheek. I know not what I said, but I
felt that in the tones of my voice they were the utterings of my heart
that fell from my lips. I had not remembered that Mr. Dillon had already
placed his daughters in the carriage, and was calling to us loudly to
follow.
'No, no, I pray you not!' said Louisa, in reply to I know not what.
'Don't you hear my uncle?'
In her anxiety to press forward she had slightly disengaged her arm from
mine as she spoke. At this instant a man rushed forward, and catching
her hand, drew it rudely within his arm, calling out as he did so--
'Never fear, Louisa! you shall not be insulted while your cousin is here
to protect you.'
She sprang round to reply: 'You are mistaken, Ulick! It is Mr. Hinton!'
She could say no more, for he lifted her into the carriage, and, closing
the door with a loud bang, desired the coachman to drive on.
Stupefied with amazement, I stood quite motionless. My first impulse was
to strike him to the ground; for although a younger and a weaker man, I
felt within me at the moment the strength to do it. My next thought was
of Louisa's warning not to quarrel with her cousin. The struggle was
indeed a severe one, but I gained the victory over my passion. Unable,
however, to quit the spot, I stood with my arms folded, and my eyes
riveted upon him. He returned my stare, and with a sneer of insufferable
insolence passed me by and walked upstairs. Not a word was spoken on
either side; but there are moments in one's life in which a look or
passing glance rivets an undying hate. Such a one did we exchange and
nothing that the tongue could speak could compass that secret instinct
by which we ratified our enmity.
With slow, uncertain steps I mounted the stairs. Some strange
fascination led me, as it were, to dog his steps; and although in my
heart I prayed that no collision should ever come between us, yet I
could not resist the headlong impulse to follow and to watch him.
Like that unexplained temptation that leads the gazer over some lofty
precipice to move on, step by step, yet nearer to the brink, conscious
of his danger, yet unable to recede; so did I track this man from place
to place, following him as he passed from one group to the other of his
friends, till at length he seated himself at a table, around which a
number of persons were engaged in noisy and boisterous conversation.
He filled a tumbler to the brim with wine, and drinking it off at a
draught, refilled again.
'You are thirsty, Ulick,' said some one.
'Thirsty! On fire, by G----! You'll not believe me when I tell
you--I can't do it; no, by Heaven! there is nothing in the way of
provocation----'
As he said thus much, some lady passing near induced him to drop his
voice, and the remainder of the sentence was inaudible to me. Hitherto
I had been standing beside his chair; I now moved round to the opposite
side of the table, and, with my arms folded and my eyes firmly fixed,
stood straight before him. For an instant or two he did not remark me,
as he continued to speak with his head bent downwards. Suddenly lifting
up his eyes, he started--pushed his chair slightly back from the
table--
'And look! see!' cried he, as with outstretched finger he pointed toward
me--'see! if he isn't there again!'
Then suddenly changing the tone of his voice to one of affected
softness, he continued, addressing me--
'I have been explaining, sir, as well as my poor powers will permit,
the excessive pains I have taken to persuade you to prove yourself a
gentleman. One half the trouble you have put me to would have told an
Irish gentleman what was looked for at his hands; you appear, however,
to be the best-tempered fellows in the world at your side of the
Channel. Come now, boys! if any man likes a bet, I'll wager ten guineas
that even this won't ruffle his amiable nature. Pass the sherry here,
Godfrey! Is that a clean glass beside you?'
So saying, he took the decanter, and, leisurely filling the glass, stood
up as if to present it, but when he attained the erect position, he
looked at me fixedly for a second, and then dashed the wine in my face.
A roar of laughter burst around me, but I saw and heard no more. The
moment before, and my head was cool, my senses clear, my faculties
unclouded; but now, as if derangement had fallen upon me, I could
see nothing but looks of mockery and scorn, and hear nothing save the
discordant laugh and the jarring accent of derision.