The Martins Of Cro' Martin Volume II Part 29

"Yes, that we do," said Crow, stoutly.

"Of course, it's quite sufficient to have blended lights, rugged foregrounds, and plenty of action to make a Salvator; but let me tell you, sir, that it's not even a copy of him. It is a bad--ay, and a very bad--Haemlens,--an Antwerp fellow that lived by poor facsimiles."

"Oh dear, oh dear!" cried Crow, despairingly. "Did I ever hear the like of this!"

"Are these your best things, Mr. Crow?" said Merl, surveying the room with an air of consummate depreciation.

"There are others. There are some portraits and a number of small cabinet pictures."

"Gerard Dows, and Jansens, and such like?" resumed Merl; "I understand: a mellow brown tint makes them, just as a glossy white satin petticoat makes a Terburg. Mr. Crow, you 've caught a Tartar," said he, with a grin. "There's not a man in Europe can detect a copy from the original sooner than him before you. Now seven out of every eight of these here are veritable 'croutes,'--what we call 'croutes,' sir,--things sold at Christie's, and sent off to the Continent to be hung up in old chateaux in Flanders, or dilapidated villas in Italy, where your exploring Englishman discovers them by rare good luck, and brings them home with him as Cuyps or Claudes or Vand.y.k.es. I'll undertake," said he, looking around him,--"I'll undertake to furnish you with a gallery, in every respect the duplicate of this, for--let me see--say three hundred pounds. Now, Mr. Crow," said Merl, taking a chair, and spreading out his legs before the fire, "will you candidly answer me one question?"

"Tell me what it is," said Crow, cautiously.

"I suppose by this time," said Merl, "you are tolerably well satisfied that Herman Merl is not very easily duped? I mean to say that at least there are _softer_ fellows to be found than the humble individual who addresses you."

"I trust there are, indeed," said the other, sighing, "or it would be a mighty poor world for Simmy Crow and the likes of him."

"Well, I think so too," said Merl, chuckling to himself. "The wide-awake ones have rather the best of it. But, to come back to my question, I was simply going to ask you if the whole of the Martin estate--house, demesne, woods, gardens, quarries, farms, and fisheries--was not pretty much of the same sort of thing as this here gallery?"

"How? What do you mean?" asked Crow, whose temper was barely, and with some difficulty, restrainable.

"I mean, in plain words, a regular humbug,--that's all! and no more the representative of real value than these daubs here are the works of the great masters whose names they counterfeit."

"Look here, sir," said Crow, rising, and approaching the other with a face of angry indignation, "for aught I know, you may be right about these pictures. The chances are you are a dealer in such wares,--at least you talk like one,--but of the family that lived under this roof, and whose bread I have eaten for many a day, if you utter one word that even borders on disrespect,--if you as much as hint at--"

What was to be the conclusion of Mr. Crow's menace we have no means of recording, for a servant, rus.h.i.+ng in at the instant, summoned the artist with all speed to Miss Martin's presence. He found her, as he entered, with flushed cheeks and eyes flas.h.i.+ng angrily, in one of the deep recesses of a window that looked out upon the lawn.

"Come here, sir," cried she, hurriedly,--"come here, and behold a sight such as you scarcely ever thought to look upon from these windows. Look here!" And she pointed to an a.s.semblage of about a hundred people, many of whom were rudely armed with stakes, gathered around the chief entrance of the castle. In the midst was a tall man, mounted upon a wretched horse, who seemed from his gestures to be haranguing the mob, and whom Crow speedily recognized to be Magennis of Barnagheela.

"What does all this mean?" asked he, in astonishment.

"It means this, sir," said she, grasping his arm and speaking in a voice thick from pa.s.sionate eagerness. "That these people whom you see there have demanded the right to enter the house and search it from bas.e.m.e.nt to roof. They are in quest of one that is missing; and although I have given my word of honor that none such is concealed here, they have dared to disbelieve me, and declare they will see for themselves. They might know me better," added she, with a bitter smile,--"they might know me better, and that I no more utter a falsehood than I yield to a menace.

See!" exclaimed she, "they are pa.s.sing through the flower-garden,--they are approaching the lower windows. Take a horse, Mr. Crow, and ride for Kiltimmon; there is a police-station there,--bring up the force with you,--lose no time, I entreat you."

"But how--leave you here all alone?"

"Have no fears on that score, sir," said she, proudly; "they may insult the roof that shelters me, to myself they will offer no outrage. But be quick; away at once, and with speed!"

Had Mr. Crow been, what it must be owned had been difficult, a worse horseman than he was, he would never have hesitated to obey this behest.

Ere many minutes, therefore, he was in the saddle and flying across country at a pace such as he never imagined any energy could have exacted from him.

"They have got a ladder up to the windows of the large drawing-room, Miss Mary," said a servant; "they'll be in before many minutes."

Taking down two splendidly ornamented pistols from above the chimney-piece, Mary examined the priming, and ordering the servant away, she descended by a small private stair to the drawing-room beneath.

Scarcely, however, had she crossed the threshold than she was met by a man eagerly hurrying away. Stepping back in astonishment, and with a face pale as death, he exclaimed, "Is it Miss Martin?"

"Yes, sir," replied she, firmly; "and your name?"

"Mr. Merl--Herman Merl," said he, with a stealthy glance towards the windows, on the outside of which two fellows were now seated, communicating with those below.

"This is not a moment for much ceremony, sir," said she, promptly; "but you are here opportunely. These people will have it that I am harboring here one that they are in pursuit of. I have a.s.sured them of their error, I have pledged my word of honor upon it, but they are not satisfied. They declare that they will search the house, and _I_ as firmly declare they-shall not."

"But the person is really not here?" broke in Merl.

"I have said so, sir," rejoined she, haughtily.

"Then why not let them search? Egad, I'd say, look away to your heart's content, pry into every hole and corner you please, only don't do any mischief to the furniture--don't let any--"

"I was about to ask your a.s.sistance, sir, but your counsel saves me from the false step. To one who proffers such wise advice, arguments like these"--and she pointed to the pistols--"arguments like these would be most distasteful; and yet let us see if others may not be of your mind too." And steadily aiming her weapon for a second or two, she sent a ball through the window, about a foot above the head of one of the fellows without. Scarcely had the report rung out and the splintering gla.s.s fallen, than the two men leaped to the ground, while a wild cheer, half derision, half anger, burst from the mob beneath. "Now, sir,"

continued she, with a smile of a very peculiar meaning, as she turned towards Merl,--"now, sir, you will perceive that you have got into very indiscreet company, such as I 'm sure Captain Martin's letter never prepared you for; and although it is not exactly in accordance with the usual notions of Irish hospitality to point to the door, perhaps you will be grateful to me when I say that you can escape by that corridor.

It leads to a stair which will conduct you to the stable-yard. I'll order a saddle-horse for you. I suppose you ride?" And really the glance which accompanied these words was not a flattery.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 222]

However the proposition might have met Mr.' Merl's wishes there is no means of knowing, for a tremendous crash now interrupted the colloquy, and the same instant the door of the drawing-room was burst open, and Magennis, followed by a number of country people, entered.

"I told you," cried he, rudely, "that I'd not be denied. It's your own fault if you would drive me to enter here by force."

"Well, sir, force has done it," said she, taking a seat as she spoke. "I am here alone, and you may be proud of the achievement!" The glance she directed towards Merl made that gentleman shrink back, and eventually slide noiselessly from the room, and escape from the scene altogether.

"If you'll send any one with me through the house, Miss Martin," began Magennis, in a tone of much subdued meaning--"No, sir," broke she in--"no, sir, I'll give no such order. You have already had my solemn word of honor, a.s.suring you that there was not any one concealed here. The same incredulous disrespect you have shown to my word would accompany whatever direction I gave to my servants. Go wherever you please; for the time you are the master here. Mark me, sir," said she, as, half crestfallen and in evident shame, he was about to move from the room--"mark me, sir, if I feel sorry that one who calls himself a gentleman should dishonor his station by discrediting the word, the plighted word, of a lady, yet I can forgive much to him whose feelings are under the impulse of pa.s.sion. But how shall I speak my contempt for _you_,"--and she turned a withering look of scorn on the men who followed him,--"for you, who have dared to come here to insult me,--I, that if you had the least spark of honest manhood in your natures, you had died rather than have offended? Is this your requital for the part I have borne amongst you? Is it thus that you repay the devotion by which I have squandered all that I possessed, and would have given my life, too, for you and yours? Is it thus, think you, that your mothers and wives and sisters would requite me? Or will they welcome you back from your day's work, and say, Bravely done? You have insulted a lone girl in her home, outraged the roof whence she never issued save to serve you, and taught her to believe that the taunts your enemies cast upon you, and which she once took as personal affronts to herself, that they are just and true, and as less than you merited. Go back, men," added she, in a voice trembling with emotion,--"go back, while it is time. Go back in shame, and let me never know who has dared to offer me this insult!"

And she hid her face between her hands, and bent down her head upon her lap. For several minutes she remained thus, overwhelmed and absorbed by intensely painful emotion, and when she lifted up her head, and looked around, they were gone! A solemn silence reigned on every side; not a word, nor a footfall, could be heard. She rushed to the window just in time to see a number of men slowly entering the wood, amidst whom she recognized Magennis, leading his horse by the bridle, and following the others, with bent-down head and sorrowful mien.

"Oh, thank Heaven for this!" cried she, pa.s.sionately, as the tears gushed out and coursed down her face. "Thank Heaven that they are not as others call them--cold-hearted and treacherous, craven in their hour of trial, and cruel in the day of their vengeance! I knew them better!"

It was long before she could sufficiently subdue her emotion to think calmly of what had occurred. At last she bethought her of Mr. Merl, and despatched a servant in his pursuit, with a polite request that he would return. The man came up with Merl as he had reached the small gate of the park, but no persuasions, no entreaties, could prevail on that gentleman to retrace his steps; nay, he was frank enough to say, "He had seen quite enough of the West," and to invoke something very unlike benediction on his head if he ever pa.s.sed another day in Galway.

CHAPTER XIX. MR. MERL'S "LAST" IRISH IMPRESSION

Never once turning his head towards Cro' Martin, Mr. Merl set out for Oughterard, where, weary and footsore, he arrived that same evening. His first care was to take some refreshment; his next to order horses for Dublin early for the following morning. This done, he sat down to write to Captain Martin, to convey to him what Merl designated as a "piece of his mind," a phrase which, in popular currency, is always understood to imply the very reverse of any flattery. The truth was, Mr. Merl began to suspect that his Irish liens were a very bad investment, that property in that country was held under something like a double t.i.tle, the one conferred by law, the other maintained by a resolute spirit and a stout heart; that parchments required to be seconded by pistols, and that he who owned an estate must always hold himself in readiness to fight for it.

Now, these were all very unpalatable considerations. They rendered possession perilous, they made sale almost impossible. In the cant phrase of Ceylon, the Captain had sold him a wild elephant; or, to speak less figuratively, disposed of what he well knew the purchaser could never avail himself of. If Mr. Merl was an emblem of blandness and good temper at the play-table, courteous and conceding at every incident of the game, it was upon the very wise calculation that the politeness was profitable. The little irregularities that he pardoned all gave him an insight into the character of his antagonists; and where he appeared to have lost a battle, he had gained more than a victory in knowledge of the enemy.

These blandishments were, however, no real part of the man's natural temperament, which was eminently distrustful and suspicious, wary to detect a blot, prompt and sharp to hit it. A vague, undefined impression had now come over him that the Captain had overreached him; that even if uninc.u.mbered,--which was far from the case,--this same estate was like a forfeited territory, which to own a man must a.s.sert his mastery with the strong hand of force. "I should like to see myself settling down amongst those savages," thought he, "collecting my rents with dragoons, or levying a fine with artillery. Property, indeed! You might as well convey to me by bill of sale the right over a drove of wild buffaloes in South America, or give me a t.i.tle to a given number of tigers in Bengal.

He'd be a bold man that would even venture to come and have a look at 'his own.'"

It was in this spirit, therefore, that he composed his epistle, which a.s.suredly lacked nothing on the score of frankness and candor. All his "Irish impressions" had been unfavorable. He had eaten badly, he had slept worse; the travelling was rude, the climate detestable; and lastly, where he had expected to have been charmed with the ready wit, and amused with the racy humor of the people, he had only been terrified--terrified almost to death--by their wild demeanor, and a ferocity that made his heart quake. "Your cousin," said he,--"your cousin, whom, by the way, I only saw for a few minutes, seemed admirably adapted to the exigencies of the social state around her; and although ball practice has not been included amongst the ordinary items of young ladies' acquirements, I am satisfied that it might advantageously form part of an Irish education.

"As to your offer of a seat in Parliament, I can only say," continued he, "that as the Member of Oughterard I should always feel as though I were seated over a barrel of gunpowder; while the very idea of meeting my const.i.tuency makes me shudder. I am, however, quite sensible of the honor intended me, both upon that score and in your proposal of my taking up my residence at Cro' Martin. The social elevation, and so forth, to ensue from such a course of proceeding would have this disadvantage,--it would not pay! No, Captain Martin, the settlement between us must stand upon another basis,--the very simple and matter-of-fact one called s. d. I shall leave this to-morrow, and be in town, I hope, by Wednesday; you can, therefore, give your man of business, Mr. Saunders, his instructions to meet me at Wimpole's, and state what terms of liquidation he is prepared to offer. Suffice it for the present to say that I decline any arrangement which should transfer to me any portion of the estate. I declare to you, frankly, I'd not accept the whole of it on the condition of retaining the proprietors.h.i.+p."

When Mr. Merl had just penned the last sentence, the door slowly and cautiously was opened behind him, and a very much carbuncled face protruded into the room. "Yes, that's himself," muttered a voice; and ere Merl had been able to detect the speaker, the door was closed. These casual interruptions to his privacy had so frequently occurred since the commencement of his tour, that he only included them amongst his other Irish "disagreeables;" and so he was preparing to enter on another paragraph, when a very decisive knock at the door startled him, and before he could say "Come in," a tall, red-faced, vulgar-looking man, somewhat stooped in the shoulders, and with that blear-eyed watery expression so distinctive in hard drinkers, slowly entered, and shutting the door behind him, advanced to the fire.

"My name, sir, is Brierley," said he, with a full, rich brogue.

"Brierley--Brierley--never heard of Brierley before," said Mr. Merl, affecting a flippant ease that was very remote from his heart.

"Better late than never, sir," rejoined the other, coolly seating himself, and crossing his arms on his breast. "I have come here on the part of my friend Tom,--Mr. Magennis, I mean,--of Barnagheela, who told me to track you out."