Roland Cashel Volume I Part 31

"Pray present my respects. By the way, you don't want a side-saddle horse, do you?"

"I thank you, we are supplied."

"Whata pity! I 've got such a gray, with that swinging low cantering action Miss Kennyf.e.c.k likes; she rides so well! I wish she 'd try him."

A shake of the head and a bland smile intimated a mild refusal.

"Inexorable father! Come, Cashel, you shall make the _amende_ for having given away my cottage; you must buy Reginald and make him a present to the lady."

"Agreed," said Cashel; "send him over to-day; he's mine, or rather Miss Kennyf.e.c.k's. Nay, sir, really I will not be opposed. Mr. Kennyf.e.c.k, I insist."

The worthy attorney yielded, but not without reluctance, and saw them depart, with grave misgivings that the old doctor's sentiment was truly spoken, and that Linton's companions.h.i.+p was a most unhappy accident.

"I must get into Parliament," said Linton, as he seated himself beside Cashel in the phaeton, "if it were only to quote you as one of that much-belied cla.s.s, the Irish landlord. The man who grants renewals of his best land on terms contracted three hundred years ago is very much wanted just now. What a sensation it would create in the House when they cry, 'Name, name,' and I reply that I am under a positive personal injunction not to name, and then Sharman Crawford, or one of that set, rises and avers that he believed the honorable and learned gentleman's statement to be perfectly unfounded. Amid a deluge of 'Ohs!' I stand up and boldly declare that further reserve is no longer possible, and that the gentleman whom I am so proud to call my friend is Roland Cashel, Esq., of Tubbennore. There 's immortality for you, for that evening at any rate. You 'll be toasted at Bellamy's at supper, and by the white-headed old gentlemen who sit in the window at the Carlton."

"You'll not hint that I had already made a present of the lands when I displayed so much munificence," said Cashel, smiling.

"Not a syllable; but I'll tell the secret to the Opposition, if you ever grow restive," said Linton, with a laugh, in which, had Roland studied Lavater, he might have read a valuable lesson.

"_A propos_ of Parliament, Kennyf.e.c.k persists in boring me about it, and that Mr. Downie Meek seems to have it at heart that I am to represent something or somebody, well knowing, the while, that I cannot possibly be supposed to understand anything of the interests whereon I should be called to vote and legislate."

"That 's not so much consequence," said Linton; "you 'd find a very strong section of the House very like yourself, but the thing would bore you; you would neither like the fatigue nor the slavery of it; and, positively, there is no excitement, save for the half-dozen who really contest the race. Meek, and others of the same stamp, will tell you that property should be represented in the Legislature. I agree fully with the sentiment, so it should. So also should a man's rents be collected, but that's no reason he should be his own agent, when he can find another, far more capable, ready for office.--Touch that off-side horse, he 'll skulk his collar when he can.--Now, if you have county or borough influence going a begging, send in your nominee, any fellow who 'll suit your views, and express your opinions,--myself, for instance," said he, laughing, "for want of a better.--Those manes don't lie right; that near-sider's falls on the wrong side of the neck.--The great secret for any man situated as you are is to avoid all complications, political, social, and matrimonial. You have a glorious open country before you, if there be no cross-riding to spoil your run."

"Well, I am not above taking advice," said Cashel; "but really I must own that, from the little I've seen of the matter, it seems harder to go through life with a good fortune than without a s.h.i.+lling. I know that, as a poor man, very lately--"

"Come, come, you know very little of what poverty means; you 've been leading a gay life in a land where men do by one bold enterprise the work which costs years of slow toil in our tamer regions. Now, I should have liked that kind of thing myself. Ay, you may smile, that a man who devotes a large share of each day to the tie of his cravat, and the immaculate elegance of his boots, should venture to talk of prairie life and adventure. Take care! By Jove! I thought you were into that apple-stall."

"Never say it twice," cried Cashel, gayly. "I 'm beginning to feel confoundedly tired of this life here; and, if I don't find that it improves on acquaintance, I 'll take a run down west, just to refresh my spirits. Will you come with me?"

"With my whole heart I join the proposal; but you are not serious; I know you are merely jesting in all this."

"Perfectly serious. I am decidedly weary of seven o'clock dinners and morning calls. But here we are."

As he spoke, they drove into the barrack-yard, where groups of lounging officers, in every variety of undress, were seen in all the insipid enjoyment of that cigar-smoking existence which forms the first article in our military code of education.

The gallant --th Light Dragoons were a "fast regiment," and the inventors of that new locomotive on the road to ruin called a "mess breakfast,"--a meal where champagne flows with a profusion rarely seen at dinner, and by which men begin the day in a frame of mind that would not be very decorous even when concluding it. Cashel, being an honored guest, drank wine with every one, not to speak of partic.i.p.ating in various little bibatory trios and quartets, so that when the entertainment drew to a close he was very far from that self-possession and command which, with all his high spirits, seldom deserted him.

A tremendous fall of rain, that showed no prospect of ceasing, had just set in, so that the party agreed to repair to the major's rooms, and make a pool at ecarte. After some talking about play in general, and some quizzing about not being able to bet a sum such as Cashel would care to play for, the game began.

Notwithstanding the apologies, the play was high, so much so, that Cashel, never a very shrewd observer, could not help remarking that several of the players could not conceal the anxiety the game inspired.

Roland himself joined less from inclination than fellows.h.i.+p, and far better pleased to be at liberty to chat with some of the others than to be seated at the table, he arose each time he lost, well content to pay for freedom by his gold. His natural indifference, added to a perfect carelessness about money, induced him to accept any bet that was offered, and these were freely proposed, since, in play _parlance_, "the run was against him;" so that, ere the trumpet-call announced the time to dress for the mess, he had lost heavily.

"You have no idea how much you have lost?" said Linton, in a low voice, and with a gravity of manner almost reproachful.

"Not the slightest," said Cashel, laughing.

"I can tell you, then, for I have totted it up. This morning's work has cost you seven thousand some hundred pounds."

"Indeed!" said Cashel, a flush rather of shame than displeasure mantling on his features. "I'll give it up in future."

"No, no! not till you've had your revenge," whispered Linton. "We 'll stay for the mess, and have at them again. The night is terrific, and no possibility of leaving."

The mess followed, and although play was to succeed it, the party drank freely, and sat long over their wine; even Linton himself seemed to linger at the table, and leave it with regret.

As for Cashel, for the first time in his life he wished to play. No desire for money-getting, no mean pa.s.sion for gain, suggested the wish, it was simply a piqued vanity at being beaten; a sense of indignity that his inferiority should seem to be implied, even in so trifling a matter, urged him on, and he was one of the first to vote for a return to ecarte.

Except Linton, there was not probably one who could be called a good player in the party; but luck, which has more than the mastery over skill, supplied the place of knowledge, and Cashel was the only heavy loser of the whole a.s.sembly. Stung by continued failure, too, he betted madly and foolishly, so that as the day was breaking, and the stir in the barrack-yard announced the approaching parade, his losses reached more than double what they had been in the morning.

"I say, lads!" said the major, as they all arose from the table, "one word before you go." So saying, he turned the key in the door, and stood with his back against it. "Before any one leaves the room, each must promise on his honor not to mention a syllable of this night's business.

We all know that we have been playing far higher stakes than ever we've been in the habit of. The report, if it get abroad, would ruin the regiment."

"Oh, we all promise not a word shall be said about it," cried out several voices together. "There's the second trumpet!" So saying, they hastened pell-mell to dress for the parade, while Cashel, taking Linton's arm, set out homewards.

"I say, Tom!" said Roland, after they had walked on for some time in silence, "I am somewhat ashamed of this exploit of mine, and would not for a great deal that Kennyf.e.c.k should know it. Is there no way of getting this money by loan?--for if I draw now--"

"Make your mind quite easy; I'll arrange that for you. Don't worry yourself about it. It's a bore, of course, to lose a round sum like that; but you can afford it, my boy, that's one comfort. If it had been me, by Jove, the half of it would have drained the well!" This said, he hastily changed the topic, and they walked along chatting of everything save the late party.

CHAPTER XVI. WHAT ROLAND OVERHEARD AT THE MONEY LENDER'S

The money that "at play" is spent Must oft be raised at "cent per cent."

The Mode.

"Good night, or rather good morrow," said Linton, as he stood with Cashel on the steps of his newly taken residence.

Cashel made no reply; his thoughts were recurring to the scene of the late debauch, and in some pangs of self-reproach he was recalling the heavy sum he had lost. "You spoke of my being able to raise this money, Linton, without Kennyf.e.c.k's knowing; for I am really ashamed of the affair. Tell me how can it be done?"

"Nothing easier."

"Nay, but when? for, if I must confess it, I can think of nothing else till it be arranged."

"What a timid conscience yours must be," said Linton, laughing, "that cannot sleep lest the ghosts of his I. O.'s should haunt him."

"The fact is so, nevertheless. The very gloomy moments of my life have been a.s.sociated with play transactions. This shall be the last."

"What folly! You suffer mere pa.s.sing impressions to wear deep into your nature,--you that should be a man of nerve and vigor. What can it possibly signify that you have thrown away a few hundreds, or a few thousands either?"

"Very little as regards the money, I own; but I'm not certain how long my indifference respecting play might last. I am not sure how long I could endure being beaten--for that is the sense losing suggests--without a desire to conquer in turn. Now up to this I have played to oblige others, without interest or excitement of any kind.

What if I should change and become a gambler from choice?"

"Why, if you propound the question with that solemn air, you'll almost frighten me into believing it would be something very terrible; but if you ask me simply what would be the result of your growing fond of play, I 'll tell you fairly, it's a pleasure gained,--one of the few resources which only a rich man can afford with impunity, so much the more fascinating that it can be indulged in such perfect accordance with every humor of a man's mind. If you are so inclined, you play low, and coquet with fortune, or if lavishly given, you throw the reins loose and go free. Now it seems to me that nothing could better suit the careless, open-handed freedom of your habits than the vacillations of high play.

It's the only way that even for a moment you can taste the sensation of being hard pressed, while in the high flood of luck you can feel that gus.h.i.+ng sense of power that somehow seems to be the secret soul of gold!"

"Men must lose with a very different look upon their features before I can win with the ecstasy you speak of," cried Cashel. "But where are we straying to,--what part of the town have we got into?"