The Jaspers made only a short call, but when they had gone the captain
still lingered, caressing little Olive, whom he had coaxed to the seat
upon his knee vacated by Perry Golding, talking gayly with Ronald about
some of the lighter experiences of their army life—for they had been
companions in arms—yet furtively watching Miriam and frequently
addressing a remark to her.
“That will be a match, you may depend upon it, Alonzo,” Serena said to
her husband, with a wise nod of her pretty head as they drove homeward.
“What will be a match, my dear?” he asked, giving her a roguish look
and smile.
“Now, you needn’t pretend that you don’t understand me,” she said; “you
know very well what I mean. Captain Charlton is smitten with that
handsome Miss Heath, and I saw in a minute that they were made for each
other.”
At that moment a horseman came dashing up at a gallop, bowing and
lifting his hat as he passed.
“Colonel Bangs,” murmured Serena. “Alonzo, I perfectly detest that man.”
“In which you are by no means peculiar,” replied the doctor;
“overbearing and tyrannical to the last degree, and strongly suspected
of cowardice in the face of the enemy, he was cordially hated by many
of his men.”
“Is he going to Lakeside, do you think?”
The doctor put his head out of the gig and glanced back at the house
they had just left.
“Yes,” he said, drawing it in again; “he has reined in at the gate. I
suspect the captain is to have a rival.”
“If it’s the colonel, I don’t think he need be alarmed,” returned
Serena. “What chance has a homely, disagreeable old bachelor beside a
handsome, good-humored young fellow like Captain Charlton?”
“Ah, but the colonel is said to be in very easy circumstances; while
Warren, poor fellow, has next to nothing.”
The colonel had now dismounted, fastened his horse, and entered the
gate. A middle-aged Irishman, a rough but good-humored-looking fellow,
was at work at the flower-beds. He had saluted the doctor and his wife
courteously as they passed him; the captain also; but looking up at the
sound of Bangs’s entrance, and seeing who it was, he simply scowled and
turned to his work again.
“What are you doing here, you—— rascal?” demanded Bangs, in an
insolent tone.
“Mindin’ me own business, sor; an’ it’s yersilf that had betther be
doin’ that same, an’ not meddlin’ wid an honest man as yees haven’t got
no authority over no longer.”
A lightning glance of intense scorn, contempt, and hatred, accompanied
by a volley of oaths and curses, not loud but deep; and with that Bangs
turned and hurried up the path and around to the side porch, where the
family and Captain Charlton were sitting. He was greeted politely, and
invited to take a seat among them; but his arrival seemed to act as a
damper upon the whole party; conversation flagged, and presently there
was dead silence for a moment. It was broken by Bangs.
“This is a lovely spot,” he remarked, sending a sweeping glance around.
“I would advise you to have a care whom you employ. These fellows who
have been in the army during the war”—and he nodded in the direction
of the front garden—“are apt to be lawless, and too ready to help
themselves to whatever they can lay their hands on. Got in the way of
it, you know, plundering the rebs.”
“I must say, sir, that I consider your remark grossly unjust to our
brave boys in blue,” said Captain Charlton, his cheek reddening and his
eye flashing; “for though there could not fail to be many bad fellows
among the immense numbers in the field, the large majority were loyal,
true, and honest, and have gone back to civil life to gain an honest
living at their old employments.”
“Yes; and it is so with Barney Nolan, against whom you seem to be
warning us, Colonel Bangs,” Miriam said, with spirit. “Norah, his wife,
who has been our charwoman for years past, tells me he is leading a
sober, industrious life, treating her and his children kindly, and
doing his best to provide for them.”
“Humph! What kind of character did he bear before he went into the
army?” sneered Bangs.
“He drank a good deal; but army life, it seems, has reformed and
improved him. A rather unusual effect, doubtless,” Miriam concluded,
with a mischievous twinkle of the eye and a meaning look at her
antagonist.
And now Mrs. Heath, the gentle old grandmother, desirous to pour oil
upon the troubled waters, put in her soothing word.
“Yes, Barney is behaving very well indeed; and he and Norah are as
faithful workers as one could ask for. And I think all the people about
here are honest. I’ve never heard of a burglary anywhere in this region
of country.”
“You haven’t? Well, I can tell you there was a daring and successful
one last night at Walnut Hill, Judge Hall’s place, which, you know, is
not many miles up the valley,” returned Bangs, with evident triumph.
The ladies were much startled; Ronald looked troubled and anxious; but
Captain Charlton received the news quietly, remarking that he had heard
it some hours since, but thought it not worth while to annoy these
friends with the story, as it could only rouse their apprehensions
without doing any good.
“Have they been caught?” asked the old lady.
“The burglars?” queried Bangs, with a malicious smile. “No, madam; not
yet.”
Then he went on to describe the premises visited by Phelim O’Rourke and
his confederates, and the valuables they had carried off. He seemed to
take pleasure in enlarging upon the ease with which they had effected
an entrance, and the fact that they were men evidently accomplished in
the art of housebreaking and lock-picking.
Charlton made a movement to go; but an entreating look and word from
Ronald led him to resume his seat, and he outstayed the colonel.
When the latter had gone, “What has he against Barney Nolan?” asked the
old lady.
“Barney belonged to his regiment,” replied Ronald, “and had to submit
to many an act of outrageous tyranny from him.”
“That would account for Barney’s disliking him,” she said, doubtfully.
“And for his dislike to Barney,” added Charlton. “A man hates those he
oppresses. Besides, it is quite likely the Irishman has retorted with
his tongue, if in no other way, as who would not?”