While Mr. Davenport Dunn's residence was in Merrion Square, his house
of business was in Henrietta Street,--one of those roomy old mansions
which, before the days of the Union, lodged the aristocracy of Ireland,
but which have now fallen into utter neglect and decay. Far more
spacious in extent, and more ornate in decoration, than anything modern
Dublin can boast, they remain, in their massive doors of dark
mahogany, their richly stuccoed ceilings, and their handsome marble
chimney-pieces, the last witnesses of a period when Dublin was a real
metropolis.
From the spacious dinner-room below to the attics above, all this vast
edifice was now converted into offices, and members of Mr. Dunn's staff
were located even in the building at the rear, where the stables once
had stood. Nothing can so briefly convey the varied occupations of his
life as a glance at some of the inscriptions which figured on the
different doors: “Inland Navigation Office,” “Grand Munster Junction
Drainage,” “Compressed Fuel Company,” “Reclaimed Lands,” “Encumbered
Estates,” “Coast Fishery,” “Copper and Cobalt Mining Association,”
“Refuge Harbor Company,” “Slate and Marble Quarries,” “Tyrawley and
Erris Bank of Deposit,” “Silver and Lead Mines.” These were but a few of
the innumerable “associations,” “companies,” and “industrial
speculations” which denoted the cares and employments of that busy head.
Indeed, the altered fortunes of that great mansion itself presented no
bad type of the changed destinies of the land. Here, once, was the abode
of only too splendid hospitality, of all that refined courtesy and
polished manners could contribute to make society as fascinating as it
was brilliant Here were wit and beauty, and a high, chivalrous tone of
manners, blended, it is true, with wildest extravagance and a general
levity of thought, that imparted to intercourse the glowing tints of an
orgy; and in their stead were now the active signs of industry, all the
means by which wealth is amassed and great fortunes acquired, every
resource of the country explored, every natural advantage consulted and
developed,--the mountains, the valleys, the rivers, the sea-coasts, the
vast tracts of bog and moss, the various mines and quarries, the
products once deemed valueless, the districts formerly abandoned as
irreclaimable, all brought out into strong light, and all investigated
in a spirit which hitherto had been unknown to Ireland. What a change
was here, and what necessities must have been the fate of those who had
so altered all their habits and modes of thought as to conform to a
system so widely different from all they had hitherto followed! It was
like re-colonizing an empire, so subversive were all the innovations of
what had preceded them.
“Eh, Barton, we used to trip up these stairs more flippantly once on a
time,” said a very handsome old man, whose well-powdered hair and queue
were rather novelties in modern appearance, to a feeble figure who,
assisted by his servant, was slowly toiling his way upwards.
“How d' ye do, Glengariff?” said the other, with a weak smile. “So we
used; and they were better days in every sense of the word.”
“Not a doubt of it,” said the other. “Is that your destination?” And he
pointed to a door inscribed with the title “Encumbered Estates.”
“Ay!” said Barton, sighing.
“It 's mine, too, I 'm sorry to say,” cried Lord Glengariff; “as I
suppose, erelong, it will be that of every country gentleman in the
land!”
“We might have known it must come to this!” muttered the other, in a
weak voice.
“I don't think so,” broke in his Lordship, quickly. “I see no occasion
at all for what amounts to an act of confiscation; why not give us
time to settle with our creditors? Why not leave us to deal with our
encumbrances in our own way? The whole thing is a regular political
swindle, Barton; they wanted a new gentry that could be more easily
managed than the old fellows, who had no station, no rank, but right
ready to buy both one and the other by supporting--”
“Can I be of any service to your Lordship?” interrupted a very
over-dressed and much-gold-chained man, of about forty, with a great
development of chest, set off to advantage by a very pretentious
waistcoat.
“Ah, Hankes! is Dunn come back yet?” asked Lord Glengariff.
“No, my Lord; we expect him on Saturday. The telegraph is dated St.
Cloud, where he is stopping with the Emperor.”
Glengariff gave Barton a slight pinch in the arm, and a look of intense
meaning at the words.
“Nothing has been done in that matter of mine?” said Barton, feebly.
“Jonas Barton is the name,” added he, coloring at the necessity of
announcing himself.
“Jonas Barton, of Curryglass House?”
“Yes, that's it.”
“Sold yesterday, under the Court, sir--for, let me see--” And he opened
a small memorandum-book. “Griffith's valuation,” muttered he between his
teeth, “was rather better than the Commissioner's,--yes, sir, they got
a bargain of that property yesterday; it went for twenty-two thousand
six hundred--”
“Great God, sir; the whole estate?”
“The whole estate; there is a tithe-rent charge--”
“There, there, don't you see he does not hear you?” said Lord
Glengariff, angrily. “Have you no room where he can sit down for half
an hour or so?” And so saying, he assisted the servant to carry the now
lifeless form into a small chamber beside them. The sick man rallied
soon, and as quickly remembered where he was.
“This is bad news, Glengariff,” said he, with a sickly effort at a
smile. “Have you heard who was the buyer?”
“No, no; what does it matter? Take my arm and get out of this place.
Where are you stopping in town? Can I set you down?” said the other, in
hurry and confusion.
“I'm with my son-in-law at Ely Place; he is to call for me here, so you
can leave me, my dear friend, for I see you are impatient to get away.”
Lord Glengariff pressed his hand cordially, and descended the stairs far
more rapidly than he had mounted them.
“Lord Glengariff,--one word, my Lord,” cried Mr. Hankes, hastening after
him, and just catching him at the door.
“Not now, sir,--not now,” said Lord Glengariff.
“I beg a thousand pardons, my Lord, but Mr. Dunn writes me peremptorily
to say that it cannot be effected--”
“Not raise the money, did you say?” asked he, growing suddenly pale.
“Not in the manner he proposed, my Lord. If you will allow me to
explain--”
“Come over to my hotel. I am at Bilton's,” said Lord Glengariff. “Call
on me there in an hour.” And so saying, he got into his carriage and
drove off.
In the large drawing-room of the hotel sat a lady working, and
occasionally reading a book which lay open before her. She was tall and
thin, finely featured, and though now entered upon that period of life
when every line and every tint confess the ravage of time, was still
handsome. This was Lady Augusta Arden, Lord Glengariff's only unmarried
daughter, the very type of her father in temperament as well as
appearance.
“By George! it is confiscation. It is the inauguration of that Communism
the French speak of,” cried Lord Glengariff, as he entered the room.
“There 's poor Barton of Curryglass, one of the oldest names in his
county, sold out, and for nothing,--absolutely nothing. No man shall
persuade me that this is just or equitable; no man shall tell me that
the Legislature shall step in and decide at any moment how I am to deal
with my creditors.”
“I never heard of that Burton.”
“I said Barton,--not Burton; a man whose estate used to be called five
thousand a year,” said he, angrily. “There he is now, turned out on the
world. I verily believe he has n't a guinea left! And what is all this
for? To raise up in the country a set of spurious gentry,--fellows that
were never heard of, whose names are only known over shop-boards,--as
if the people should be better treated or more kindly dealt with by them
than by us, their natural protectors! By George! if Ireland should swarm
with Davenport Dunns, I 'd call it a sorry exchange for the good blood
she had lost in exterminating her old gentry.”
“Has he come back?” asked Lady Augusta, as she bent her head more deeply
over her work, and her cheeks grew a shade more red.
“No; he's dining with royalties, and driving about in princely carriages
on the Continent Seeing what the pleasures of his intimacy have cost us
here at home, I'd say that these great personages ought to look sharp,
or, by George! he'll sell them out, as he has done us.” He laughed a
bitter laugh at his jest, but his daughter did not join in the emotion.
“I scarcely think it fair,” said she, at length, “to connect Mr. Dunn
with a legislation which he is only called upon to execute.”
“With all my heart. Acquit him as much as you will; but, for my part,
I feel very little tenderness for the hand that accomplishes the last
functions of the law against me. These fellows have displayed a zeal and
an alacrity in their work that shows how they relish the sport. After
all,” said he, after a pause, “this Dunn is neither better nor worse
than the rest of them, and in one respect he has the advantage over
them,--he has not forgotten himself quite so much as the others. To be
sure, we knew him in his very humblest fortunes, Augusta; he was meek
enough then.”
She stooped to pick up her work, which had fallen, and her neck and face
were crimson as she resumed it.
“Wonderful little anticipation had he then of the man he was to become
one of these days. Do you know, Augusta, that they say he is actually
worth two millions?--two millions!”
She never spoke; and after an interval Lord Glengariff burst out into a
strange laugh.
“You 'd scarcely guess what I was laughing at, Augusta. I was just
remembering the wretched hole he used to sleep in. It was a downright
shame to put him there over the stable, but the cottage was under repair
at the time, and there was no help for it. 'I can accommodate myself
anywhere, my Lord,' he said. Egad, he has contrived to fulfil the
prediction in a very different sense. Just fancy--two millions
sterling!”
It was precisely what Lady Augusta was doing at the moment, though,
perhaps, not quite in the spirit his Lordship suspected.
“Suppose even one half of it be true, with a million of money at
command, what can't a man have nowadays?”
And so they both fell a-thinking of all that same great amount of riches
could buy,--what of power, respect, rank, flattery, political influence,
fine acquaintance, fine diamonds, and fine dinners.
“If he play his cards well, he might be a peer,” thought my Lord.
“If he be as ambitious as he ought to be, he might aspire to a peer's
daughter,” was the lady's reflection.
“He has failed in my negotiation, however,” said Lord Glengariff,
peevishly; “at least, Hankes just told me that it can't be done. I
detest that fellow Hankes. It shows great want of tact in Dunn having
such a man in his employment,--a vulgar, self-sufficient, over-dressed
fellow, who can't help being familiar out of his own self-satisfaction.
Now, Dunn himself knows his place. Don't you think so?”
She muttered something not very intelligible, but which sounded like
concurrence.
“Yes,” he resumed, “Dunn does not forget himself,--at least, with me.”
And to judge from the carriage of his head as he spoke, and the air with
which he earned the pinch of snuff to his nose, he had not yet despaired
of seeing the world come back to the traditions which once had made it
worth living in.
“I am willing to give him every credit for his propriety of conduct,
Augusta,” added he, in a still more lofty tone; “for we live in times
when really wealth and worldly prosperity have more than their rightful
supremacy, and such men as Dunn are made the marks of an adulation that
is actually an outrage,--an outrage upon _us!_”
And the last little monosyllable was uttered with an emphasis of intense
significance.
Just as his Lordship had rounded his peroration, the servant presented
him with a small three-cornered note. He opened it and read,--
“My Lord,--I think the bearer of this, T. Driscoll, might possibly
do what you wish for; and I send him, since I am sure that a personal
interview with your Lordship would be more efficacious than any
negotiation.
“By your Lordship's most obedient to command,
“Simpson Hankes.”
“Is the person who brought this below?” asked Lord Glengariff.
“Yes, my Lord; he is waiting for the answer.”
“Show him into my dressing-room.”
Mr. Terence Driscoll was accordingly introduced into that sanctum;
and while he employs his few spare moments in curious and critical
examination of the various gold and silver objects which contribute to
his Lordship's toilet, and wonderingly snuffs at essences and odors of
whose existence he had never dreamed, let us take the opportunity of a
little examination of himself. He was a short, fat old man, with a
very round red face, whose jovial expression was rather heightened than
marred by a tremendous squint; for the eyes kept in incessant play and
movement, which intimated a restless drollery that his full, capacious
mouth well responded to. In dress and general appearance he belonged to
the class of the comfortable farmer, and his massive silver watch-chain
and huge seal displayed a consciousness of his well-to-do condition in
life.
“Are you Mr. Driscoll?” said Lord Glengariff, as he looked at the letter
to prompt him to the name. “Pray take a seat!”
“Yes, my Lord, I 'm that poor creature Terry Driscoll; the neighbors
call me Tearin' Terry, but that 's all past and gone, Heaven be praised!
It was a fever I had, my Lord, and my rayson wandered, and I did many
a thing that desthroyed me entirely; I tore up the lease of my house,
I tore up Peter Driscoll's, my uncle's, will; ay, and worse than all, I
tore up all my front teeth!”
And, in evidence of this feat of dentistry, Mr. Driscoll gave a grin
that exposed his bare gums to view.
“Good heavens, how shocking!” exclaimed Lord Glen-gariff, though, not
impossibly, the expression was extorted by the sight rather than the
history of the calamity.
“Shocking indeed, my Lord,--that's the name for it!” said Terry,
sighing; “but ye see I was n't compos when I did it. I thought they were
a set of blackguards that I could n't root out of the land,--squatters
that would n't pay sixpence, nor do a day's work. That was the delusion
that was upon me!”
“I hold here a letter from Mr. Hankes,” said his Lordship, pompously,
and in a tone that was meant to recall Mr. Driscoll from the personal
narrative he had entered upon with such evident self-satisfaction. “He
mentions you as one likely--that is to say--one in a position--a person,
in fact--”
“Yes, my Lord, yes,” interrupted Terry, with a grin of unbounded
acquiescence.
“And adds,” continued his Lordship, “your desire to communicate
personally with myself.” The words were very few and not very
remarkable, and yet Lord Glengariff contrived to throw into them an
amount of significance really great. They seemed to say, “Bethink thee
well, Terry Driscoll, of the good fortune that this day has befallen
thee. Thy boldness has been crowned with success, and there thou sittest
now, being the poor worm that thou art, in converse with one who wears a
coronet.”
And so, indeed, in all abject humility, did Mr. Driscoll appear to feel
the situation. He drew his feet closer together, and stole his hands up
the wide sleeves of his coat, as though endeavoring to diminish, as far
as might be, his corporeal presence.
His Lordship saw that enough had been done for subjection, and blandly
added, “And I could have no objection to the interview; none whatever.”
“It's too good you are, my Lord; too good and too gracious to the like
of me,” said Terry, barely raising his eyes to throw a glance of mingled
shame and drollery on his Lordship; “but I come by rayson of what Mr.
Hankes tould me, that it was a trifle of a loan,--a small matter of
money your Lordship was wantin' just at this moment.”
“I prefer doing these kind of things through my solicitors. I know
nothing of business, sir, absolutely nothing,” said his Lordship,
haughtily. “The present case, however, might form an exception. The sum
I require is, as you justly remark, a mere trifle, and the occasion is
not worthy of legal interference.”
“Yes, my Lord,” chimed in Driscoll, who had a most provoking habit of
employing the affirmative in all situations.
“I suppose he mentioned to you the amount?” asked his Lordship, quickly.
“No, indeed, my Lord; all he said was, 'Terry,' says he, 'go over to
Bilton's Hotel with this note, and ask for Lord Glengariff. He wants a
little ready cash,' says he, 'and I tould him you 're a likely man to
get it for him. It's too small a matter for us here,' says he, 'to be
bothered about.'”
“He had n't the insolence to make use of these words towards _me!_”
said Lord Glengariff, growing almost purple with passion.
“Faix, I 'm afeard he had, my Lord,” said Terry, looking down; “but I
'm sure he never meant any harm in it; 't was only as much as to say,
'There, Terry, there 's something for _you_; you 're a poor strugglin'
man, and are well plazed to turn a penny in a small way. If you can
accommodate my Lord there,' says he, 'he 'll not forget it to you.'”
The conclusion of this speech was far more satisfactory to his Lordship
than its commencement seemed to promise; and Lord Glengariff smiled half
graciously as he said, “I 'm not in the habit of neglecting those who
serve me.”
“Yes, my Lord,” said Driscoll, again.
“I may safely say that any influence I possess has always been exercised
in favor of those who have been, so to say, supporters of my family.”
Had his Lordship uttered a sentiment of the most exalted and
self-denying import, he could not have assumed a prouder air than when
he had finished these words. “And now, Mr. Driscoll, to business. I want
five thousand pounds--”
A long, low whistle from Terry, as he threw up both his hands in the
air, abruptly stopped his Lordship.
“What do you mean? Does the sum appear so tremendous, sir?”
“Five thousand! Where would I get it? Five thousand pounds? By the
mortial man! your Lordship might as well ax me for five millions. I
thought it was a hundred; or, maybe, a hundred and fifty; or, at the
outside, two hundred pounds, just to take you over to London for what
they call the sayson, or to cut a figure at Paris; but, five thousand!
By my conscience, that's the price of an estate nowadays!”
“It is upon estated property I intend to raise this loan, sir,” said his
Lordship, angrily.
“Not Cushnacreena, my Lord?” asked Terry, eagerly.
“No, sir; that is secured by settlement.”
“Nor Ballyrennin?”
“No; the townland of Ballyrennin is, in a manner, tied up.”
“Tory's Mill, maybe?” inquired Terry, with more eagerness.
“Well, sir,” said his Lordship, drawing himself up, “I must really
make you my compliments upon the very accurate knowledge you appear to
possess about my estate. Since what period, may I venture to ask, have
you conceived this warm interest in my behalf?”
“The way of it was this, my Lord,” said Driscoll, drawing his chair
closer, and dropping his voice to a low, confidential tone. “After I had
the fever,--the fever and ague I told you about,--I got up out of bed
the poor crayture you see me, not able to think of anything, or do a
hand's turn for myself, but just a burden on my friends or anybody that
would keep me. Well, I tried all manner of ways to make myself useful,
and I used to go errands here and there over the country for any one
that wanted to know what land was to be sold, where there was a lot
of good sheep, who had a drove of bullocks or a fancy bull; and, just
getting into the habit of it, I larned a trifle of what was doing in the
three counties, so that the people call me 'Terry's Almanack,'--that's
the name they gave me, better than Tearin' Terry, anyhow! At all events,
I got a taste for finding out the secrets of all the great families;
and, to be sure, if I only had the memory, I'd know a great deal, but my
head is like a cullender, and everything runs out as fast as you put it
in. That's how it is, my Lord, and no lie in it.” And Terry wiped his
forehead and heaved a heavy sigh, like a man who had just accomplished a
very arduous task.
“So, then, I begin to understand how Hankes sent you over here to me,”
said his Lordship.
“Yes, my Lord,” muttered Terry, with a bow.
“I had been under the impression--the erroneous impression--that you
were yourself prepared to advance this small sum.”
“Me! Terry Driscoll lend five thousand pounds! Arrah, look at me, my
Lord,--just take a glance at me, and you 'll see how likely it is I 'd
have as many shillings! 'T was only by rayson of being always about--on
the tramp, as they call it--that Mr. Hankes thought I could be of use to
your Lordship. 'Go over,' says he, 'and just tell him who and what you
are.' There it is now!”
Lord Glengariff made no reply, but slowly walked the room in deep
meditation; a passing feeling of pity for the poor fellow before him had
overcome any irritation his own disappointment had occasioned, and for
the moment the bent of his mind was compassionate.
“Well, Driscoll,” said he, at length, “I don't exactly see how you can
serve me in this matter.”
“Yes, my Lord,” said Terry, with a pleasant leer of his restless eyes.
“I say I don't perceive that you can contribute in any way to the
object I have in view,” said his Lordship, half peevish at being, as he
thought, misapprehended. “Hankes ought to have known as much himself.”
“Yes, my Lord,” chimed in Terry.
“And you may tell him so from _me_. He is totally unfitted for his
situation, and I am only surprised that Dunn, shrewd fellow that he is,
should have ever placed a man of this stamp in a position of such trust.
The first requisite in such a man is to understand the deference he owes
to _us_.”
There was an emphasis on the last monosyllable that pretty clearly
announced how little share Terry Driscoll enjoyed in this co-partnery.
“That because I have a momentary occasion for a small sum of ready
money, he should send over to confer with me a half-witted--I mean a man
only half recovered from a fever--a poor fellow still suffering from--”
“Yes, my Lord,” interposed Terry, as he laid his hand on his forehead in
token of the seat of his calamity.
“It is too gross,--it is outrageous,--but Dunn shall hear of it,--Dunn
shall deal with this fellow when he comes back. I 'm sorry for you,
Driscoll,--very sorry indeed; it is a sad bereavement, and though you
are not exactly a case for an asylum,--perhaps, indeed, you might have
objections to an asylum--”
“Yes, my Lord.”
“Well, in that case private friends are, I opine--private friends--and
the kind sympathies of those who have known you--eh, don't you think
so?”
“Yes, my Lord.”
“That is the sensible view to take of it. I am glad you see it in this
way. It shows that you really exercise a correct judgment,--a very
wise discretion in your case,--and for a man in _your_ situation--your
_painful_ situation--you see things in their true light.”
“Yes, my Lord.” And this time the eyes rolled with a most peculiar
expression.
“If you should relapse, however,--if, say, former symptoms were to
threaten again,--remember that I am on the committee, or a governor, or
something or other, of one of these institutions, and I might be of
use to you. Remember that, Driscoll.” And with a wave of his hand his
Lordship dismissed Terry, who, after a series of respectful obeisances,
gained the door and disappeared.