Sir Jasper Carew: His Life and Experience. Lever Charles James

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      “Perhaps it was a little untoward,” replied MacNaghten, “but there was no help for it. Joe asked himself; and when I wrote to say that the Duke was coming, he replied that he ‘d certainly not fail to be here, for he did n’t think there was another house in the kingdom likely to harbor them both at the same time.”

      “He was right there,” said Rutledge, gravely.

      “He generally is right,” replied MacNaghten, with a dry nod. “Stephen Blake, too, isn’t unlikely to come over, particularly if he finds out that we ‘ve little room to spare, and that he ‘ll put us all to inconvenience.”

      “Oh, we’ll have room enough for every one,” cried my father.

      “I do hope, at least, none will go away for want of – how you say, place?” said my mother.

      “That’s exactly the right word for it,” cried MacNaghten, slyly. “‘Tis looking for places the half of them are. I’ve said nothing of the ladies, Rutledge; for of course your courtly habits see no party distinctions amongst the fair sex. We’ll astonish your English notions, I fancy, with such a display of Irish beauty as you ‘ve no idea of.”

      “That we can appreciate without the slightest disparagement on the score of politics.”

      “Need you tell him of Polly?” whispered my father in Dan’s ear.

      “No; it’s just as well not.” “I’d tell him, Dan; the thing is done, and cannot be undone,” continued he, in the same undertone.

      “As you please.”

      “We mean to show you such a girl, Rutledge, as probably not St. James’s itself could match. When I tell you she ‘ll have not very far from half a million sterling, I think it’s not too much to say that your English Court has n’t such a prize in the wheel.”

      “It ‘s Westrop’s daughter you mean?”

      “Not a bit of it, man. Dorothy won’t have fifty thousand. I doubt greatly if she ‘ll have thirty; and as to look, style, and figure, she’s not to compare with the girl I mean.”

      “The Lady Lucy Lighton? and she is very beautiful, I confess.”

      “Lucy Lighton! Why, what are you thinking of? Where would she get the fortune I am speaking of? But you’d never guess the name; you never saw her, – perhaps never so much as heard of her. She is a Miss Fagan.”

      “Polly – Polly Fagan, the Grinder’s daughter?”

      “So, then, you have heard of her?” said Dan, not a little disconcerted by this burst of intelligence.

      “Heard of her! Nay, more, I’ve seen and spoken with her. I once made a descent on the old father, in the hope of doing something with him; and being accidentally, I believe it was, shown upstairs, I made Miss Polly’s acquaintance, but with just as little profit.”

      “You’ll have more time to improve the intimacy here, Rutledge,” said my father, laughingly, “if MacNaghten be not a rival ‘near the throne.’”

      “I’ll not interfere with you, Barry,” cried MacNaghten, carelessly.

      Rutledge gave one of his usual unmeaning laughs, and said, “After all, if we except Ffrench and Curtis, there’s nothing to be afraid of; and I suppose there will be no difficulty in keeping them at a safe distance.”

      “Bob Ffrench cares much more for Carew’s Burgundy than for his grand acquaintances,” interposed MacNaghten; “and as for Curtis, he only comes out of curiosity. Once satisfied that all will go on in the routine fashion of every other country visit, he’ll jog home again, sorely discontented with himself for the trouble he has taken to come here.”

      “I need scarcely tell you,” said Rutledge, taking my father’s arm, and leading him to one side, – “I need scarcely tell you that we ‘d better avoid all discussion about politics and party. You yourself are very unlikely to commit any error in tact, but of course you cannot answer for others. Would it not, then, be as well to give some kind of hint?”

      “Faith,” broke in my father, hastily, “I will never attempt to curb the liberty of speech of any one who does me the honor to be my guest; and I am sure I have not a friend in the world who would tamely submit to such dictation.”

      “Perhaps you are right. Indeed, I’m sure you are,” broke in Rutledge, and hastened his step till he joined the others.

      CHAPTER X. THE COMPANY AT CASTLE CAREW

      From an early hour on the following morning, the company began to pour in to Castle Carew, then style and retinue being as varied as may well be imagined, – some arriving in all the pomp and splendor of handsomely appointed equipage; some dashing up with splashed and panting posters; and others jogging lazily along the avenue in some old “conveniency” of a past age, drawn by animals far more habituated to the plough than the phaeton. Amongst those first was conspicuous the singular old noddy, as it was called, in which Ffrench and Curtis travelled; the driver being perilously elevated some dozen feet above the earth, and perched on a bar which it required almost a rope-dancer’s dexterity to occupy. This primitive conveyance, as it trundled along before the windows, drew many to gaze and jest upon its curious appearance, – a degree of notice which seemed to have very opposite effects on the two individuals exposed to it; for while Ffrench nodded, kissed hands, and smiled good-humoredly to his friends, Curtis sat back with his arms folded, and his hat slouched over his eyes, as if endeavoring to escape recognition.

      “Confound the rascal!” muttered he between his teeth. “Could n’t he have managed to creep round by some back way? His blasted jingling old rat-trap has called the whole household to look at us! – and, may I never, if he has n’t broken something! What’s the matter, – what are you getting down for?”

      “‘T is the mare’s got the reins under her tail, yer honer!” said the driver, as he descended some half-dozen feet to enable him to get near enough to rectify the entanglement The process was made more difficult by the complicated machinery of springs, straps, bars, and bolts which supported the box, and in the midst of which the poor fellow sat as in a cage. He was, however, proceeding in a very business-like way to tug at the tail with one hand, and pull out the reins with the other, when, suddenly, far behind, there came the tearing tramp of horses advancing at speed, the cracking of the postilions’ whips adding to the clamor. The horses of the noddy, feeling no restraint from the reins, and terrified by the uproar, kicked up their heels at once, and bolted away, shooting the driver out of his den into a flowerpot. Away dashed the affrighted beasts, the crazy old conveyance rattling and shaking behind them with a deafening uproar. Immediately beyond the hall-door, the avenue took a sweep round a copse, and by a gentle descent wound its course towards the stables, a considerable expanse of ornamental water bordering the-road on the other side. Down the slope they now rushed madly; and, unable from their speed to accomplish the turn in safety, they made a sudden “jib” at the water’s edge, which upset the noddy, pitching its two occupants over head and heels into the lake. By good fortune it was not more than four or five feet deep in this part, so that they came off with no other injury than a thorough drenching, and the ridicule which met them in the laughter of some fifty spectators. As for Ffrench, he had to sit down on the bank and laugh till the very tears came; the efforts of Curtis to rid himself of tangled dead weed and straggling aquatic plants having driven that choleric subject almost out of his wits.

      “This may be an excellent joke, – I’ve no doubt СКАЧАТЬ