The Absentee (32 page)

'That—if you like it, madam,' said he, giving one hasty glance at Miss
Nugent, and withdrawing his eyes, 'it is the best possible arrangement.'

'So,' thought Grace, 'that is the best possible arrangement which takes
us away.'

'If I like it!' said Lady Clonbrony; 'to be sure I do, or I should not
propose it. What is Colambre thinking of? I know, Grace, at all events,
what you and I must think of—of having the furniture packed up, and
settling what's to go, and what's to be exchanged, and all that. Now,
my dear, go and write a note directly to Mr. Soho, and bid him come
himself, immediately; and we'll go and make out a catalogue this instant
of what furniture I will have packed.'

So, with her head full of furniture, Lady Clonbrony retired. 'I go to my
business, Colambre; and I leave you to settle yours in peace.'

In peace!—Never was our hero's mind less at peace than at this moment.
The more his heart felt that it was painful, the more his reason told
him it was necessary that he should part from Grace Nugent. To his union
with her there was an obstacle, which his prudence told him ought to be
insurmountable; yet he felt that, during the few days he had been with
her, the few hours he had been near her, he had, with his utmost
power over himself, scarcely been master of his passion, or capable of
concealing it from its object. It could not have been done but for her
perfect simplicity and innocence. But how could this be supposed on his
part? How could he venture to live with this charming girl? How could he
settle at home? What resource?

His mind turned towards the army; he thought that abroad, and in active
life, he should lose all the painful recollections, and drive from
his heart all the resentments, which could now be only a source of
unavailing regret. But his mother—his mother, who had now yielded her
own taste to his entreaties, for the good of her family—she expected
him to return and live with her in Ireland. Though not actually promised
or specified, he knew that she took it for granted; that it was upon
this hope, this faith, she consented; he knew that she would be shocked
at the bare idea of his going into the army. There was one chance—our
hero tried, at this moment, to think it the best possible chance—that
Miss Nugent might marry Mr. Salisbury, and settle in England. On this
idea he relied as the only means of extricating him from difficulties.

It was necessary to turn his thoughts immediately to business, to
execute his promises to his father. Two great objects were now to be
accomplished—the payment of his father's debts, and the settlement
of the Irish agent's accounts; and, in transacting this complicated
business, he derived consider-able assistance from Sir Terence O'Fay,
and from Sir Arthur Berryl's solicitor, Mr. Edwards. Whilst acting for
Sir Arthur, on a former occasion, Lord Colambre had gained the entire
confidence of this solicitor, who was a man of the first eminence. Mr.
Edwards took the papers and Lord Clonbrony's title-deeds home with him,
saying that he would give an answer the next morning. He then waited
upon Lord Colambre, and informed him, that he had just received a letter
from Sir Arthur Berryl, who, with the consent and desire of his lady,
requested that whatever money might be required by Lord Clonbrony should
be immediately supplied on their account, without waiting till
Lord Colambre should be of age, as the ready money might be of same
convenience to him in accelerating the journey to Ireland, which Sir
Arthur and Lady Berryl knew was his lordship's object. Sir Terence O'Fay
now supplied Mr. Edwards with accurate information as to the demands
that were made upon Lord Clonbrony, and of the respective characters of
the creditors. Mr. Edwards undertook to settle with the fair claimants;
Sir Terence with the rogues; so that by the advancement of ready money
from THE BERRYLS, and by the detection of false and exaggerated charges,
which Sir Terence made among the inferior class, the debts were reduced
nearly to one half of their former amount. Mordicai, who had been foiled
in his vile attempt to become sole creditor, had, however, a demand of
more than seven thousand pounds upon Lord Clonbrony, which he had raised
to this enormous sum in six or seven years, by means well known to
himself. He stood the foremost in the list, not from the greatness of
the sum, but from the danger of his adding to it the expenses of law.
Sir Terence undertook to pay the whole with five thousand pounds. Lord
Clonbrony thought it impossible; the solicitor thought it improvident,
because he knew that upon a trial a much greater abatement would
be allowed; but Lord Colambre was determined, from the present
embarrassments of his own situation, to leave nothing undone that could
be accomplished immediately.

Sir Terence, pleased with his commission, immediately went to Mordicai.

'Well, Sir Terence,' said Mordicai, 'I hope you are come to pay me my
hundred guineas; for Miss Broadhurst is married!'

'Well, Mister Mordicai, what then? The ides of March are come, but
not gone! Stay, if you plase, Mister Mordicai, till Lady-day, when it
becomes due; in the meantime, I have a handful, or rather an armful, of
bank-notes for you, from my Lord Colambre.'

'Humph!' said Mordicai; 'how's that? he'll not be of age these three
days.'

'Don't matter for that; he has sent me to look over your account, and to
hope that you will make some small ABATEMENT in the total.'

'Harkee, Sir Terence you think yourself very clever in things of this
sort, but you've mistaken your man; I have an execution for the whole,
and I'll be d—d if all your cunning shall MAKE me take up with part!'

'Be easy, Mister Mordicai!—you shan't make me break your bones, nor
make me drop one actionable word against your high character; for I know
your clerk there, with that long goose-quill behind his ear, would be
ready evidence again' me. But I beg to know, in one word, whether you
will take five thousand down, and GIVE Lord Clonbrony a discharge?'

'No, Mr. Terence! nor six thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine pounds.
My demand is £7130, odd shillings: if you have that money, pay it; if
not, I know how to get it, and along with it complete revenge for all
the insults I have received from that greenhorn, his son.'

'Paddy Brady!' cried Sir Terence,'do you hear that? Remember that word,
REVENGE!—Mind, I call you to witness!'

'What, sir, will you raise a rebellion among my workmen?'

'No, Mr. Mordicai, no rebellion; and I hope you won't cut the boy's ears
off for listening to a little of the brogue—So listen, my good lad.
Now, Mr. Mordicai, I offer you here, before little goose-quill, £5000
ready penny—take it, or leave it; take your money, and leave your
revenge; or, take your revenge, and lose your money.'

'Sir Terence, I value neither your threats nor your cunning. Good
morning to you.'

'Good morning to you, Mr. Mordicai—but not kindly! Mr. Edwards, the
solicitor, has been at the office to take off the execution; so now you
may have law to your heart's content! And it was only to plase the
young lord that the OULD one consented to my carrying this bundle to
you,'—showing the bank-notes.

'Mr. Edwards employed!' cried Mordicai. 'Why, how the devil did Lord
Clonbrony get into such hands as his? The execution taken off! Well,
sir, go to law I am ready for you; Jack Latitat is A MATCH for your
sober solicitor.'

'Good morning again to you, Mr. Mordicai; we're fairly out of your
clutches, and we have enough to do with our money.'

'Well, Sir Terence, I must allow you have a very wheedling way—Here,
Mr. Thompson, make out a receipt for Lord Clonbrony: I never go to law
with an old customer, if I can help it.'

This business settled, Mr. Soho was next to be dealt with.

He came at Lady Clonbrony's summons; and was taking directions, with the
utmost SANG FROID, for packing up and sending off the very furniture for
which he was not paid.

Lord Colambre called him into his father's study; and, producing his
bill, he began to point out various articles which were charged at
prices that were obviously extravagant.

'Why, really, my lord, they are ABUNDANTLY extravagant; if I charged
vulgar prices, I should be only a vulgar tradesman. I, however, am not a
broker, nor a Jew. Of the article superintendence, which is only £500,
I cannot abate a dolt; on the rest of the bill, if you mean to offer
READY, I mean, without any negotiation, to abate thirty per cent; and I
hope that is a fair and gentlemanly offer.'

'Mr. Soho, there is your money!'

'My Lord Colambre! I would give the contents of three such bills to be
sure of such noblemanly conduct as yours. Lady Clonbrony's furniture
shall be safely packed, without costing her a farthing.'

With the help of Mr. Edwards, the solicitor, every other claim was soon
settled; and Lord Clonbrony, for the first time since he left Ireland,
found himself out of debt, and out of danger.

Old Nick's account could not be settled in London. Lord Colambre had
detected numerous false charges, and sundry impositions; the land, which
had been purposely let to run wild, so far from yielding any rent, was
made a source of constant expense, as remaining still unset: this was a
large tract, for which St. Dennis had at length offered a small rent.

Upon a fair calculation of the profits of the ground, and from other
items in the account, Nicholas Garraghty, Esq., appeared at last to be,
not the creditor, but the debtor to Lord Clonbrony. He was dismissed
with disgrace, which perhaps he might not have felt, if it had not been
accompanied by pecuniary loss, and followed by the fear of losing his
other agencies, and by the dread of immediate bankruptcy.

Mr. Burke was appointed agent in his stead to the Clonbrony as well
as the Colambre estate. His appointment was announced to him by the
following letter:—

To MRS. BURKE, AT COLAMBRE. DEAR MADAM, The traveller whom you so
hospitably received some months ago was Lord Colambre—he now writes to
you in his proper person. He promised you that he would, as far as it
might be in his power, do justice to Mr. Burke's conduct and character,
by representing what he had done for Lord Clonbrony in the town of
Colambre, and in the whole management of the tenantry and property under
his care.

Happily for my father, my dear madam, he is now as fully convinced
as you could wish him to be of Mr. Burke's merits; and he begs me to
express his sense of the obligations he is under to him and to you. He
entreats that you will pardon the impropriety of a letter, which, as I
assured you the moment I saw it, he never wrote or read. This will, he
says, cure him, for life, of putting his signature to any paper without
reading it.

He hopes that you will forget that such a letter was ever received,
and that you will use your influence with Mr. Burke to induce him to
continue to our family his regard and valuable services. Lord Clonbrony
encloses a power of attorney, enabling Mr. Burke to act in future for
him, if Mr. Burke will do him that favour, in managing the Clonbrony as
well as the Colambre estate.

Lord Clonbrony will be in Ireland in the course of next month, and
intends to have the pleasure of soon paying his respects in person
to Mr. Burke, at Colambre.—I am, dear madam, your obliged guest, and
faithful servant, COLAMBRE.

GROSVENOR SQUARE, LONDON.

Lord Colambre was so continually occupied with business during the two
days previous to his coming of age, every morning at his solicitor's
chambers, every evening in his father's study, that Miss Nugent never
saw him but at breakfast or dinner; and, though she watched for it most
anxiously, never could find an opportunity of speaking to him alone,
or of asking an explanation of the change and inconsistencies of his
manner. At last, she began to think that, in the midst of so much
business of importance, by which he seemed harassed, she should do wrong
to torment him, by speaking of any small disquietude that concerned only
herself. She determined to suppress her doubts, to keep her feelings to
herself, and to endeavour, by constant kindness, to regain that place in
his affections which she imagined that she had lost. 'Everything will go
right again,' thought she, 'and we shall all be happy, when he returns
with us to Ireland—to that dear home which he loves as well as I do!'

The day Lord Colambre was of age, the first thing he did was to sign
a bond for five thousand pounds, Miss Nugent's fortune, which had been
lent to his father, who was her guardian.

'This, sir, I believe,' said he, giving it to his father as soon as
signed—'this, I believe, is the first debt you would wish to have
secured.'

'Well thought of, my dear boy I—God bless you!—that has weighed more
upon my conscience and heart than all the rest, though I never said
anything about it. I used, whenever I met Mr. Salisbury, to wish myself
fairly down at the centre of the earth; not that he ever thought of
fortune, I'm sure; for he often told me, and I believed him, he would
rather have Miss Nugent without a penny, if he could get her, than
the first fortune in the empire. But I'm glad she will not go to him
penniless, for all that; and by my fault, especially. There, there's
my name to it—do witness it, Terry. But, Colambre, you must give it to
her—you must take it to Grace.'

'Excuse me, sir; it is no gift of mine—it is a debt of yours. I beg you
will take the bond to her yourself, my dear father.'

'My dear son, you must not always have your own way, and hide everything
good you do, or give me the honour of it I won't be the jay in borrowed
feathers. I have borrowed enough in my life, and I've done with
borrowing now, thanks to you, Colambre—so come along with me; for I'll
be hanged if ever I give this joint bond to Miss Nugent, without you
along with me. Leave Lady Clonbrony here to sign these papers. Terry
will witness them properly, and you come along with me.'