Whether it was that the Chief Baron had thrown off an attack which had
long menaced him, and whose slow approaches had gradually impaired his
strength and diminished his mental activity, or whether, as some of his
“friends” suggested, that the old man's tenure of life had been renewed
by the impertinences of the newspapers and the insolent attacks of
political foes,--an explanation not by any means far-fetched,--whatever
the cause, he came out of his illness with all the signs of renewed
vigor, and with a degree of mental acuteness that he had not enjoyed for
many years before.
“Beattie tells me that this attack has inserted another life in my
lease,” said he; “and I am glad of it. It is right that the men who
speculated on my death should be reminded of the uncertainty of life by
the negative proof. It is well, too, that there should be men long-lived
enough to bridge over periods of mediocrity, and connect the triumphs
of the past with the coming glories of the future. We are surely not
destined to a perpetuity of Pendletons and Fitzgibbons?”
It was thus he discoursed to an old legal comrade,--who, less gifted
and less fortunate, still wore his stuff gown, and pleaded for the
outer bar,--poor old Billy Haire, the dreariest advocate, and one of the
honestest fellows that ever carried his bag into court. While nearly all
of his contemporaries had risen to rank and eminence, Billy toiled on
through life with small success, liked by his friends, respected by
the world, but the terror of attorneys, who only saw in him the type of
adverse decisions and unfavorable verdicts.
For forty-odd years had he lived a life that any but himself would have
deemed martyrdom,--his law laughed at, his eloquence ridiculed, his
manner mimicked, jeered at by the bench, quizzed by the bar, sneered at
by the newspapers, every absurd story tagged to his name, every stupid
blunder fathered on him, till at last, as it were, by the mere force
of years, the world came to recognize the incomparable temper that no
provocation had ever been able to irritate, the grand nature that rose
above all resentment, and would think better of its fellows than these
moods of spiteful wit or impertinent drollery might seem to entitle them
to.
The old Judge liked him; he liked his manly simplicity of character, his
truthfulness, and his honesty; but perhaps more than all these, did he
like his dulness. It was so pleasant to him to pelt this poor heavy man
with smart epigrams and pungent sarcasms on all that was doing in the
world, and see the hopeless effort he made to follow him.
Billy, too, had another use; he alone, of all the Chief Baron's friends,
could tell him what was the current gossip of the hall,--what men
thought, or at least what they said of him. The genuine simplicity of
Haire's nature gave to his revelations a character so devoid of all
spitefulness,--it was so evident that, in repeating, he never identified
himself with his story that Lendrick would listen to words from him
that, coming from another, his resentment would have repelled with
indignation.
“And you tell me that the story now is, my whole attack was nothing but
temper?” said the old Judge, as the two men walked slowly up and down on
the grass lawn before the door.
“Not that exactly; but they say that constitutional irritability had
much to say to it.”
“It was, in fact, such a seizure as, with a man like yourself, would
have been a mere nothing.”
“Perhaps so.”
“I am sure of it, sir; and what more do they say?”
“All sorts of things, which, of course, they know nothing about. Some
have it that you refused the peerage, others that it was not offered.”
“Ha!” said the old man, irritably, while a faint flush tinged his cheek.
“They say, too,” continued Haire, “that when the Viceroy informed you
that you were not to be made a peer, you said: 'Let the Crown look to
it, then. The Revenue cases all come to my court; and so long as I sit
there, they shall never have a verdict.'”
“You must have invented that yourself, Billy,” said the Judge, with a
droll malice in his eye. “Come, confess it is your own. It is _so_ like
you.”
“No, on my honor,” said the other, solemnly.
“Not that I would take it ill, Haire, if you had. When a man has a turn
for epigram, his friends must extend their indulgence to the humor.”
“I assure you, positively, it is not mine.”
“That is quite enough; let us talk of something else. By the way, I have
a letter to show you. I put it in my pocket this morning, to let you
see it; but, first of all, I must show you the writer,--here she is.”
He drew forth a small miniature case, and, opening it, handed it to the
other.
“What a handsome girl! downright beautiful!”
“My granddaughter, sir,” said the old man, proudly.
“I declare, I never saw a lovelier face,” said Haire. “She must be
a rare cheat if she be not as good as she is beautiful. What a sweet
mouth!”
“The brow is fine; there is a high intelligence about the eyes and the
temples.”
“It is the smile, that little lurking smile, that captivates me. What
may her age be?”
“Something close on twenty. Now for her letter. Read that.”
While Haire perused the letter, the old Judge sauntered away, looking
from time to time at the miniature, and muttering some low inaudible
words as he went.
“I don't think I understand it. I am at a loss to catch what she is
drifting at,” said Haire, as he finished the first side of the letter.
“What is she so grateful for?”
“You think the case is one which calls for little gratitude, then. What
a sarcastic mood you are in this morning, Haire!” said the Judge, with
a malicious twinkle of the eye. “Still, there are young ladies in the
world who would vouchsafe to bear me company in requital for being
placed at the head of such a house as this.”
“I can make nothing of it,” said the other, hopelessly.
“The case is this,” said the Judge, as he drew his arm within the
other's. “Tom Lendrick has beeu offered a post of some value--some value
to a man poor as he is--at the Cape. I have told him that his acceptance
in no way involves me. I have told those who have offered the place that
I stand aloof in the whole negotiation,--that in their advancement of
my son they establish no claim upon _me_, I have even said I will know
nothing whatever of the incident.” He paused for some minutes, and then
went on: “I have told Tom, however, if his circumstances were such as
to dispose him to avail himself of this offer, that--until he assured
himself that the place was one to his liking, that it gave a reasonable
prospect of permanence, that the climate was salubrious, and the society
not distasteful--I would take his daughter to live with me.”
“He has a son, too, has n't he?”
“He has, sir, and he fain would have induced me to take _him_ instead of
the girl; but this I would not listen to. I have not nerves for the loud
speech and boisterous vitality of a young fellow of four or five and
twenty. His very vigor would be a standing insult to me, and the fellow
would know it. When men come to my age, they want a mild atmosphere in
morals and manners, as well as in climate. My son's physiology has not
taught him this, doctor though he be.”
“I see,--I see it all now,” said Haire; “and the girl, though sorry to
be separated from her father, is gratified by the thought of becoming a
tie between him and you.”
“That is not in the record, sir,” said the Judge, sternly. “Keep to your
brief.” He took the letter sharply from the other's hand as he spoke.
“My granddaughter has not had much experience of life; but her woman's
tact has told her that her real difficulty--her only one, perhaps--will
be with Lady Lendrick. She cannot know that Lady Lendrick's authority
in this house is nothing,--less than nothing. I would never have invited
her to come here, had it been otherwise.”
“Have you apprised Lady Lendrick of this arrangement?”
“No, sir; nor shall I. it shall be for you to do that 'officiously,' as
the French say, to distinguish from what is called 'officially.' I mean
you to call upon her and say, in the course of conversation, informally,
accidentally, that Miss Lendrick's arrival at the Priory has been
deferred, or that it is fixed for such a date,--in fact, sir, whatever
your own nice tact may deem the neatest mode of alluding to the topic,
leaving to her the reply. You understand me?”
“I 'm not so sure that I do.”
“So much the better; your simplicity will be more inscrutable than your
subtlety, Haire. I can deal with the one--the other masters me.”
“I declare frankly I don't like the mission. I was never, so to say, a
favorite with her Ladyship.”
“Neither was I, sir,” said the other, with a peremptory loudness that
was almost startling.
“Hadn't you better intimate it by a few lines in a note? Had n't you
better say that, having seen your son during his late visit to town, and
learnt his intention to accept a colonial appointment--”
“All this would be apologetic, sir, and must not be thought of. Don't
you know, Haire, that every unnecessary affidavit is a flaw in a man's
case? Go and see her; your very awkwardness will imply a secret, and she
'll be so well pleased with her acuteness in discovering the mystery,
she 'll half forget its offence.”
“Let me clearly understand what I' ve got to do. I 'm to tell her or to
let her find out that you have been reconciled to your son Tom?”
“There is not a word of reconciliation, sir, in all your instructions.
You are to limit yourself to the statement that touches my
granddaughter.”
“Very well; it will be so much the easier. I'm to say, then, that you
have adopted her, and placed her at the head of your house; that she is
to live here in all respects as its mistress?”
He paused; and as the Judge bowed a concurrence, he went on: “Of course
you will allow me to add that I was never consulted; that you did not
ask my opinion, and that I never gave one?”
“You are at liberty to, say all this.”
“I would even say that I don't exactly see how the thing will work. A
very young girl, with of course a limited experience of life, will
have no common difficulties in dealing with a world so new and strange,
particularly without the companionship of one of her own sex.”
“I cannot promise to supply that want, but she shall see as much of
_you_ as possible.” And the words were uttered with a blended courtesy
and malice, of which he was perfect master. Poor Haire, however, only
saw the complimentary part, and hurriedly pledged himself to be at Miss
Lendrick's orders at all times.
“Come and let me show you how I mean to lodge her. I intend her to feel
a perfect independence of me and my humors. We are to see each other
from inclination, not constraint: I intend, sir that we should live on
good terms; and as the Church will have nothing to say to the compact,
it is possible it may succeed.
“These rooms are to be hers,” said he, opening a door which offered a
_vista_ through several handsomely furnished rooms, all looking out upon
a neatly kept flower-garden. “Lady Lendrick, I believe, had long since
destined them for a son and daughter-in-law of hers, who are on their
way home from India. The plan will be now all the more difficult of
accomplishment.”
“Which will not make my communication to her the pleasanter.”
“But redound so much the more to the credit of your adroitness, Haire,
if you succeed. Come over here this evening and report progress.” And
with this he nodded an easy good-bye, and strolled down the garden.
“I don't envy Haire his brief in this case,” muttered he. “He'll not
have the 'court with him,' that's certain;” and he laughed spitefully to
himself as he went.