The Knight Of Gwynne Volume II Part 7

"'Say, it's impossible,' said M'Claverty; 'it's for his own private ear.'

"Dodd and Dempsey was strong in my grandfather that day: he would listen to no terms.

"'No,' says he, 'if the goods are worth anything, they never come without an invoice. I 'll have nothing to say to him.'

"But the captain wasn't to be balked; for, in spite of everything, he pa.s.sed the servant, and came at once into the room where my grandfather was sitting,--ay, and before he could help it, was shaking him by both hands as if he was his brother.

"'Why the devil didn't you let me in?' said he; 'I came from the Duke with a message for you.'

"'Bother!' says my grandfather.

"'I did, though,' says he; 'he's got a heavy book on your little mare, and he wants you to make your boy ride a waiting race, and not win the first beat,--you understand?'

"'I do,' says my grandfather, 'perfectly; and he's got a deal of money on her, has he?'

"'He has,' said the captain; 'and every one at the Castle, too, high and low, from the chief secretary down to the second coachman,--we are all backing her.'

"'I am glad of it,--I am sincerely glad of it,' said my grandfather, rubbing his hands.

"'I knew you would be, old boy!' cried the captain, joyfully.

"'Ah, but you don't know why; you 'd never guess.'

"M'Claverty stared at him, but said nothing.

"'Well, I'll tell you,' resumed my grandfather; 'the reason is this: I 'll not let her run,--no, divil a step! I 'll bring her up to the ground, and you may look at her, and see that she 's all sound and safe, in top condition, and with a skin like a looking-gla.s.s, and then I 'll walk her back again! And do you know why I 'll do this?' said he, while his eyes flashed fire, and his lip trembled; 'just because I won't suffer the house of Dodd and Dempsey to be humbugged as if we were greengrocers! Two years ago, it was to "eat an oyster with me;" last year it was a "day with my hounds;" maybe now his Grace would join the race dinner; but that's all past and gone,--I 'll stand it no longer.'

"'Confound it, man,' said the captain, 'the Duke must have forgotten it.

You never reminded him of his engagement. He 'd have been delighted to have come to you if he only recollected.'

"'I am sorry my memory was better than his,' said my grandfather, 'and I wish you a very good morning.'

"'Oh, don't go; wait a moment; let us see if we can't put this matter straight. You want the Duke to dine with you?'

"'No, I don't; I tell you I 've given it up.'

"'Well, well, perhaps so; will it do if you dine with him?'

"My grandfather had his hand on the lock,--he was just going,--he turned round, and fixed his eyes on the captain.

"'Are you in earnest, or is this only more of the same game?' said he, sternly.

"'I'll make that very easy to you,' said the captain; 'I 'll bring the invitation to you this night; the mare doesn't run till to-morrow; if you don't receive the card, the rest is in your own power.'

"Well, ma'am, my story is now soon told; that night, about nine o'clock, there comes a footman, all splashed and muddy, in a Castle livery, up to the door of the Lodge, and he gave a violent pull at the bell, and when the servant opened the door, he called out in a loud voice, 'From his Excellency the Lord-Lieutenant,' and into the saddle he jumped, and away he was like lightning; and, sure enough, it was a large card, all printed, except a word here and there, and it went something this way:--

"'I am commanded by his Excellency the Lord-Lieutenant to request the pleasure of Mr. Dempsey's company at dinner on Friday, the 23d instant, at the Lodge, Phoenix Park, at seven o'clock.

"'Granville Vereker, _Chamberlain_.

"'Swords and Bags.'

"'At last!' said my grandfather, and he wiped the tears from his eyes; for to say the truth, ma'am, it was a long chase without ever getting once a 'good view.' I must hurry on; the remainder is easy told.

Let-Me-Alone-Before-the-People won the cup, my grandfather was chaired home from the course in the evening, and kept open house at the Lodge for all comers while the races lasted; and at length the eventful day drew near on which he was to realize all his long-coveted ambition. It was on the very morning before, however, that he put on his Court suit for about the twentieth time, and the tailor was standing trembling before him while my grandfather complained of a wrinkle here or a pucker there.

"'You see,' said he, 'you've run yourself so close that you 've no time now to alter these things before the dinner.'

"'I 'll have time enough, sir,' says the man, 'if the news is true.'

"'What news?' says my grandfather, with a choking in his throat, for a sudden fear came over him.

"'The news they have in town this morning.'

"'What is it?--speak it out, man!'

"'They say-- But sure you 've heard it, sir?'

"'Go on!' says my grandfather; and he got him by the shoulders and shook him. 'Go on, or I'll strangle you!'

"'They say, sir, that the Ministry is out, and--'

"'And, well--'

"'And that the Lord-Lieutenant has resigned, and the yacht is coming round to Dunleary to take him away this evening, for he won't stay longer than the time to swear in the Lords Justices,--he's so glad to be out of Ireland.'

"My grandfather sat down on the chair, and began to cry, and well he might, for not only was the news true, but he was ruined besides. Every farthing of the great fortune that Dodd and Dempsey made was lost and gone,--scattered to the winds; and when his affairs were wound up, he that was thought one of the richest men in Dublin was found to be something like nine thousand pounds worse than nothing. Happily for him, his mind was gone too, and though he lived a few years after, near Fingla.s.s, he was always an innocent, didn't remember anybody, nor who he was, but used to go about asking the people if they knew whether his Grace the Lord-Lieutenant had put off his dinner-party for the 23d; and then he 'd pull out the old card to show them, for he kept it in a little case, and put it under his pillow every night till he died."

While Mr. Dempsey's narrative continued, Tom Leonard indulged freely and without restraint in the delights of the Knight's sherry, forgetting not only all his griefs, but the very circ.u.mstances and people around him.

Had the party maintained a conversational tone, it is probable that he would have been able to adhere to the wise resolutions he had planned for his guidance on leaving home; unhappily, the length of the tale, the prosy monotony of the speaker's voice, the deepening twilight which stole on ere the story drew to a close, were influences too strong for prudence so frail; an instinct told him that the decanter was close by, and every gla.s.s he drained either drowned a care or stifled a compunction.

The pleasant buzz of voices which succeeded to the anecdote of Dodd and Dempsey aroused Leonard from his dreary stupor. Wine and laughter and merry voices were adjuncts he had not met for many a day before; and, strangely enough, the only emotions they could call up were some vague, visionary sorrowings over his fallen and degraded condition.

"By Jove!" said Dempsey, in a whisper to Darcy, "the lieutenant has more sympathy for my grandfather than I have myself,--I 'll be hanged if he is n't wiping his eyes! So you see, ma'am," added he, aloud, "it was a taste for grandeur ruined the Dempseys; the same ambition that has destroyed states and kingdoms has brought your humble servant to a trifle of thirty-eight pounds four and nine per annum for all worldly comforts and virtuous enjoyments; but, as the old ballad says,--

'Though cla.s.sic 't is to show one's grief, And cry like Carthaginian Marius, I 'll not do this, nor ask relief, Like that ould beggar Belisarius.'

No, ma'am, 'Never give in while there's a score behind the door,'--that's the motto of the Dempseys. If it's not on their coat-of-arms, it's written in their hearts."

"Your grandfather, however, did not seem to possess the family courage,"

said the Knight, slyly.

"Well, and what would you have? Wasn't he brave enough for a wine-merchant?"

"The ladies will give us some tea, Leonard," said the Knight, as Lady Eleanor and her daughter had, some time before, slipped un.o.bserved from the room.

"Yes, Colonel, always ready."

"That's the way with him," whispered Dempsey; "he'd swear black and blue this minute that you commanded the regiment he served in. He very often calls me the quartermaster."