"Say twenty.' 66 6 By the beard of Aaron! I'll not part with it a sixpence under thirty.' 46 6 Well, well, wait a moment, I'll try if Mrs. S. could lend the money.' "He rang a bell, and an old white-bearded Israelite answered it. To him he consigned the custody of the plate, disappeared behind a door concealed by a curtain, and in two minutes returned, counted down the money, rubbed the ring, spoke in Hebrew to his assistant, while I, without wasting a word upon the wretch, hurried off to join my companion. 'Well, Jack, we exchanged my clothes for others better suited to my altered estate; made some necessary purchases; retired to a double-bedded room; and next day, before the sun peeped through the dusky atmosphere of London, the ex-captain of the Blues started for Gravesend, to join a detachment of the 'Faugh-a-ballaghs.' "I will not detain you with a narrative of my Peninsular campaigns; I bore my fallen fortunes with as much philosophy as I could muster; roughed it pretty well, did my duty steadily, was wounded at Badajoz and Vittoria, and returned to England sergeant-major of the regiment, and master of some hundred dollars of pay saved. Through the interest of an old schoolfellow, I got a lieutenancy in the militia, and now you have my history. "You may be curious about my London acquaintances, and wish to know how they got on and prospered. The lady shall have of course, precedency. The fair descendant of the Conqueror actually married the millionaire, and there is not so miserable a wife within the bills of mortality. Sir Peter is a miser, and doles out grudgingly a pittance to his lady that a country-gentlewoman would reject. Her residence is an old mansion in the north, sometimes exchanged for a cheap lodging at Bath or Cheltenham, when the nabob is desired by his physician to use the waters. Her equipage, an ill-appointed chariot-her retinue a grizzled negro, and one or two clowns from Cumberland. Rebel she dares not; for the old opium-dealer arranged the settlements so adroitly, that everything is discretionary with his good pleasure. He had previously become owner of so many securities of the Marquis, that the Arlingford estates were nearly at his mercy; and as he is a mean and sordid tyrant, he lords it over 'the noble house,' and makes them feel their painful dependency. No chance of a meliorated life awaits the Lady Agnes, and from death alone can she hope emancipation from a thrall that goads her almost to madness; and yet she dares not leave or disobey a being whom she abominates. I hear his health is excellent: long may it continue so!long may he be spared to curse the mercenary wretch-a perjurer before God's altar-a libel upon nobility-a by-word among women! "As to the Earl her brother, he avoids a prison only by the privilege of a rotten borough. He, with some others of a lower caste, have been blasted for foul play. Fallen from his high and palmy state, he exists upon the bounty of a pensioned mistress, to whom, if report speaks truly, he is privately married. In short, he is almost as low in reputation as any titled swindler in the kingdom. 66 Jack, there is retribution even in this world. Of four annuitants, three are gone to their accounts-the attorney died by his own hand, to escape the penalty of a detected forgery. None stands between me and my inheritance but the Jew-and though villains of his kind are said to live forever, I hope to see him planted yet, and sent to father Abraham after the remainder of the gang." Aylmer stopped, for a hackney chaise drove into the barrack-yard. We went to the window. Presently we saw Daly's servant tie on some luggage, and down came the gallant captain in mufti, and "the best of daughters" in a. sky-blue pelisse. After handing in the lady, he deposited his own person in the vehicle; the driver chirruped, the horses obeyed, and off they went like a wedding. 66 66 Victory!" exclaimed the cynic, as the carriage rattled over the paving-stones; "the old lad," and he pointed to the floor, to get his due, has stood your friend, Jack. Don't build on his assistance too far-he leaves gentlemen in the lurch, occasionally. But here comes dinner; bless your lucky planet, and sit down, with what appetite you may.'' CHAPTER XX. JACK THE DEVIL. Sir A.-You have been too lively, Jack. Sir A.-Come, no lying, Jack; I'm sure 'twas so. Come, no excuses, Jack-why, your father, you rogue, was so before you. The Rivals. EVENTS came thick upon each other. The Dalys had not departed above an hour, when the post came in, and “ Ensign John Blake" appeared in the Gazette, promoted to a second lieutenancy in the 95th Rifles. My honest uncle had not forgotten me, and by exerting his county interest with Lord obtained for me a removal to the line, and a commis sion in a favourite corps. "I am truly gratified at this, my dear Jack," said Aylmer, for I was going to counsel you to leave this regiment. It is as bad a school for a Connaught gentleman to spend his nonage in, as could be selected. You have seen a little of headquarters; everything there irregular and disorderly—and dissipation the order of the day. The colonel sets the example; he can carry off more wine than any commander in the service, and of course his officers, like good soldiers, imitate their leader in all things. He is a singular personage, and although he and I are on but indifferent terms, I shall do him justice in my sketch. Brave as a lion-generous, if he had the means—mercenary, embarrassed, and extravagant— in short, a mass of contradictions. He has 'misused the King's press most damnably;' his fancy is to fill the regiment, not with 'revolted tapsters, but tradesmen, whom drunkenness induces to list, and with these he is building a village on his own property. The shifts to which his necessities urge him, are often mean, and sometimes most ridiculous. He raised a hundred last summer, by furnishing the officers with gold-headed canes, he, of course, collecting the amount from the corps; but when the cane-maker will be paid, time will best tell. A screech-owl is not more unmusical; yet a short time ago, the commander discovered, what had escaped the observation of the master of the band, that every instrument was in harmonious-the horns were false; trumpets fit only for the driver of a stage-coach; bassoons flat; flutes not worth a fig; cymbals cracked; and the very bells upon the Turkish crescent "jangled out of tune. In short, every instrument was condemned, a new set provided by the maker to the Guards,' a subsidy of four hundred put in the colonel's pocket; for he pouched the band-fund, and the tradesman will be paid when the Greek kalends come round. The man is fearless; but even this good quality in the soldier is mischievous in him, from his propensity for duelling. Not long before you joined, a subaltern was dismissed for a gross deception in an exchange of horses. Now the colonel is nineteen stone, honest weight; but he cheerfully received a message from the delinquent, and hipped him next morning. The consequence was, that a fancy for fighting has crept into the corps, and there is a proneness among the younger officers to take offence where none could be intended, that makes the mess anything but a safe society, wherein to get drunk or commence an argument. "With regard to your friends below-stairs; I fear I shall be scarce forgiven, when I inform you, that you have let slip a golden opportunity. Indeed, Jack, you had the offer of a noble alliance, and rejected it. Miss Lucinda is Captain Daly's child by courtesy and law; but the noble Baron of Tireragh claims without dispute the honours of paternity. Madame Mère was daughter to his gate-keeper, found favour in his sight, and Missy was the result of the liaison. Captain Daly had the honour of receiving the lady's hand a few days before her accouchement, and thus became legally entitled to Miss Lucy. A company, a child, and a note for five hundred, rewarded the complaisance of the commander. 66 Of Daly, little is known. None ever heard him mention the place of his nativity. Indeed, his profession in early life would have been equally involved in obscurity, had it not pleased his helpmate, in course of a connubial argument, to hint that he had been a wig-maker. The captain is most unfortunate in his acquaintances; with the living he holds no intimacy; but the moment a man is fairly coffined, then the defunct turns out to have been his bosom friend. 66 O'Moore is a true Bobadil; enacts the bully, and affects the madman. In everything appertaining to the safe keeping of his purse and person, he needs no control. His insanity is put on when required; one while it cloaks his cowardice, and at another, is a cover for his knavery. And, my dear Jack, was this a field for you to waste your youth in? Here, you would have learned jockeyship and duelling; sapped your constitution before it was matur ed; frittered your fortune away in drunkenness and debauchery; and for all this enjoy the honourable distinction of wearing a scarlet coat, wage war against illicit distillation, and, twice a year, mount a guard of honour upon the lodgings of a judge of assize. I shall not inquire how your account stands, between flirtation, and pounds, shillings, and pence; but I am certain you have come off cheaper by half than your predecessor, Mr. D'Arcy. The pony was a present from that swain; the brown habit with black braiding is noted in his tailor's ledger; indeed, I suspect the greater proportion of the young lady's personals could be derived from the same source. And yet, poor man! he was no piquet-player; but applied for permission to marry, which his family answered by removing him by return of post. 66 Jack, there are many Lucindas in the world. You have had an early lesson from Miss Daly, and an early lecture from a ruined man. Eschew fashionable profligates; no matter whether they have sprung from the servants' hall, or are booked by Debrett. Avoid play: it is covert robbery; -all, from the lottery at Guildhall, to the little-go in a beerhouse. Gamblers, titled and untitled, are just the same; and you will be fleeced at the billiard-table of a baron, as unmercifully as you would be plundered in a Jermyn-street hell, Remember Frank Aylmer's warning; and, when Isaac Solomons is gathered to his fathers, I will visit you in person, and learn how far you have profited by my counsels." Events, indeed, came thickly. Napoleon had landed at Cannes, and in double-quick, was hurrying to the capital! I, with every officer on leave, was ordered to join; and as the ninety-fifth were at Brussels, I had not a moment to spare. The disposal of my regimental property was entrusted to Aylmer, ny horse despatched to Castle Blake; and bidding adieu to the militia in a carouse, from which a corpulent captain never recovered, and which very nearly finished my own career, I started, on recovering, for the metropolis. To visit Connaught was impossible; and all I could do was to see my cousin Jack pending the sailing of the packet. Accordingly, I threw myself into the Kells day-coach, and at seven o'clock in the same evening was safely landed at The Hibernian, in Dawson-street. |