Tony Butler. Lever Charles James

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СКАЧАТЬ asked leave to smoke. The permission was courteously accorded, and away they rolled over the smooth highway to the pleasant measure of that stirring music, – the trot of four spanking horses.

      Two – three – four efforts did Sir Arthur make at conversation, but they all ended in sad failure. He wanted to say something about the crops, but he did not remember the French for “oats;” he wished to speak of the road, but he knew not the phrase for “grand jury;” he desired to make some apology for a backward season, but he might as well have attempted to write a Greek ode; and so he sat and smiled and waved his hand, pointing out objects of interest, and interjectionally jerking out, “Bons – braves – très braves – but poor – pauvres – très pauvres – light soil – légère, you understand,” and with a vigorous “hem” satisfied himself that he had said something intelligible. After this no more attempts at conversation were made; for the Major had quietly set his companion down for an intense bore, and fell back upon his tobacco for solace.

      “Là!” cried the Baronet, after a long silence – and he pointed with his finger to a tall tower, over which a large flag was waving, about half a mile away, – “Là! Notre chateau – Lyle Abbey – moi;” and he tapped his breast to indicate the personal interest that attached to the spot.

      “Je vous en fais mes compliments,” cried M’Caskey, who chuckled at the idea of such quarters, and very eloquently went on to express the infinite delight it gave him to cultivate relations with a family at once so amiable and so distinguished. The happy hazard which brought him was in reality another tie that bound him to the friendship of that “cher Maitland.” Delivered of this, the Major emptied his pipe, replaced it in its case, and then, taking off his hat, ran his hands through his hair, arranged his shirt-collar, and made two or three other efforts at an improvised toilet.

      “We are late —en retard– I think,” said Sir Arthur, as they drew up at the door, where two sprucely dressed servants stood to receive them. “We dine – at eight – eight,” said he, pointing to that figure on his watch. “You ‘ll have only time to dress, – dress;” and he touched the lappet of his coat, for he was fairly driven to pantomime to express himself. “Hailes,” cried he to a servant in discreet black, “show the Count to his room, and attend to him; his own man has not come on, it seems,” and then, with many bows and smiles and courteous gestures, consigned his distinguished guest to the care of Mr. Hailes, and walked hurriedly upstairs to his own room.

      “Such a day as I have had,” cried he, as he entered the dressing-room, where Lady Lyle was seated with a French novel. “Those fellows at the bank, led on by that creature M’Candlish, had the insolence to move an amendment to that motion of mine about the drainage loan. I almost thought they’d have given me a fit of apoplexy; but I crushed them: and I told Boyd, ‘If I see any more of this, I don’t care from what quarter it comes, – if these insolences be repeated, – I’ ll resign the direction. It’s no use making excuses, pleading that you misunderstood this or mistook that, Boyd,’ said I. ‘If it occurs again, I go.’ And then, as if this was not enough, I ‘ve had to talk French all the way out. By the way, where’s Maitland?”

      “Talk French! what do you mean by that?”

      “Where’s Maitland, I say?”

      “He’s gone off with Mark to Larne. They said they ‘d not be back to dinner.”

      “Here’s more of it; we shall have this foreign fellow on our hands till he comes, – this Italian Count. I found him at M’Grotty’s, and brought him back with me.”

      “And what is he like? is he as captivating as his portrait bespeaks?”

      “He is, to my mind, as vulgar a dog as ever I met: he smoked beside me all the road, though he saw how his vile tobacco set me a-coughing; and he stretched his legs over the front seat of the carriage, where, I promise you, his boots have left their impress on the silk lining; and he poked his cane at Crattle’s wig, and made some impertinent remark which I could n’t catch. I never was very enthusiastic about foreigners, and the present specimen has not made a convert of me.”

      “Maitland likes him,” said she, languidly.

      “Well, then, it is an excellent reason not to like Maitland. There’s the second bell already. By the way, this Count, I suppose, takes you in to dinner?”

      “I suppose so, and it is very unpleasant, for I am out of the habit of talking French. I ‘ll make Alice sit on the other side of him and entertain him.”

      The news that the distinguished Italian friend of Mr. Norman Maitland had arrived created a sort of sensation in the house; and as the guests dropped into the drawing-room before dinner, there was no other topic than the Count. The door at last opened for his entree; and he came in unannounced, the servant being probably unable to catch the name he gave. In the absence of her father and mother, Mrs. Trafford did the honors, and received him most courteously, presenting the other guests to him, or him to them, as it might be. When it came to the turn of the Commodore, he started, and muttered, “Eh, very like, the born image of him!” and coloring deeply at his own awkwardness, mumbled out a few unmeaning commonplaces. As for the Major, he eyed him with one of his steadiest stares, – unflinching, un-blenching; and even said to Mrs. Trafford in a whisper, “I didn’t catch the name; was it Green you said?” Seated between Lady Lyle and Mrs. Trafford, M’Caskey felt that he was the honored guest of the evening: Maitland’s absence, so feelingly deplored by the others, gave him little regret; indeed, instinct told him that they were not men to like each other, and he was all the happier that he had the field for a while his own. It was not a very easy task to be the pleasant man of an Irish country-house, in a foreign tongue; but if any man could have success, it was M’Caskey. The incessant play of his features, the varied tones of his voice, his extraordinary gestures, appealed to those who could not follow his words, and led them very often to join in the laughter which his sallies provoked from others. He was, it is true, the exact opposite to all they had been led to expect, – he was neither well-looking, nor distinguished, nor conciliatory in manner, – there was not a trace of that insinuating softness and gentleness Maitland had spoken of, – he was, even to those who could not follow his speech, one of the most coolly unabashed fellows they had ever met, and made himself at home with a readiness that said much more for his boldness than for his breeding; and yet, withal, each was pleased in turn to see how he out-talked some heretofore tyrant of conversation, how impudently he interrupted a bore, and how mercilessly he pursued an antagonist whom he had vanquished. It is not at all improbable, too, that he owed something of bis success to that unconquerable objection people feel at confessing that they do not understand a foreign language, – the more when that language is such a cognate one as French. What a deal of ecstasy does not the polite world expend upon German drama and Italian tragedy, and how frequently are people moved to every imaginable emotion, without the slightest clew to the intention of the charmer! If he was great at the dinner-table, he was greater in the drawing-room. Scarcely was coffee served than he was twanking away with a guitar, and singing a Spanish muleteer song, with a jingling imitation of bells for the accompaniment; or seated at the piano, he carolled out a French canzonette descriptive of soldier life, far more picturesque than it was proper; and all this time there was the old Commodore cruising above and below him, eying and watching him, – growing perfectly feverish with the anxiety of his doubts, and yet unable to confirm or refute them. It was a suspicious craft; he felt that he had seen it before, and knew the rig well, and yet he was afraid to board and say, “Let me look at your papers.”

      “I say, Beck, just go slyly up and say something accidentally about Barbadoes; don’t ask any questions, but remark that the evening is close, or the sky threatening, or the air oppressive, just as it used to be before a tornado there.” The old sailor watched her, as he might have watched a boat-party on a cutting-out expedition; he saw her draw nigh the piano; he thought he could trace all the ingenious steps by which СКАЧАТЬ