第82章

'Safe for the present!' repeated Lord Colambre, coming again into the room.'Safe for the present hour.'

'He could not get in, I suppose--oh, I warned all the servants well,' said Lord Clonbrony,'and so did Terry.Ay, there's the rascal, Mordicai, walking off, at the end of the street; I know his walk a mile off.Gad! I can breathe again.I am glad he's gone.But he will come back and always lie in wait, and some time or other, when we're off our guard (unawares), he'll slide in.'

Slide in! Oh, horrid!' cried Lady Clonbrony, sitting up, and wiping away the water which Miss Nugent had sprinkled on her face.

'Were you much alarmed?' said Lord Colambre, with a voice of tenderness, looking at his mother first, but his eyes fixing on Miss Nugent.

'Shockingly!' said Lady Clonbrony; 'I never thought it would REELLY come to this.'

'It will really come to much more, my dear,' said Lord Clonbrony, 'that you may depend upon, unless you prevent it.'

'Lord! what can I do?--I know nothing of business; how should I, Lord Clonbrony; but I know there's Colambre--I was always told that when he was of age everything should be settled; and why can't he settle it when he's upon the spot?'

'And upon one condition, I will,' cried Lord Colambre; 'at what loss to myself, my dear mother, I need not mention.'

'Then I will mention it,' cried Lord Clonbrony; 'at the loss it will be of nearly half the estate he would have had, if we had not spent it.'

'Loss! Oh, I am excessively sorry my son's to be at such a loss --it must not be.'

'It cannot be otherwise,' said Lord Clonbrony; 'nor it can't be this way either, my Lady Clonbrony, unless you comply with his condition, and consent to return to Ireland.'

'I cannot--I will not,' replied Lady Clonbrony.'Is this your condition, Colambre?--I take it exceedingly ill of you.I think it very unkind, and unhandsome, and ungenerous, and undutiful of you, Colambre; you, my son!' She poured forth a torrent of reproaches; then came to entreaties and tears.But our hero, prepared for this, had steeled his mind; and he stood resolved not to indulge his own feelings, or to yield to caprice or persuasion, but to do that which he knew was best for the happiness of hundreds of tenants who depended upon them--best for both his father and his mother's ultimate happiness and respectability.

'It's all in vain,' cried Lord Clonbrony; 'I have no resource but one, and I must condescend now to go to him this minute, for Mordicai will be back and seize all--I must sign and leave all to Garraghty.'

'Well, sign, sign, my lord, and settle with Garraghty.

--Colambre, I've heard all the complaints you brought over against that man.My lord spent half the night telling them to me; but all agents are bad, I suppose; at any rate I can't help it--sign, sign, my lord; he has money--yes, do; go and settle with him, my lord.'

Lord Colambre and Miss Nugent, at one and the same moment, stopped Lord Clonbrony as he was quitting the room, and then approached Lady Clonbrony with supplicating looks; but she turned her head to the other side, and, as if putting away their entreaties, made a repelling motion with both her hands, and exclaimed, 'No, Grace Nugent!-no, Colambre--no--no, Colambre!

I'll never hear of leaving Lon'on--there's no living out of Lon'on--I can't, I won't live out of Lon'on, I say.'

Her son saw that the LONDONOMANIA was now stronger than ever upon her, but resolved to make one desperate appeal to her natural feelings, which, though smothered, he could not believe were wholly extinguished; he caught her repelling hands, and pressing them with respectful tenderness to his lips--'Oh, my dear mother, you once loved your son,' said he; 'loved him better than anything in this world; if one spark of affection for him remains, hear him now, and forgive him, if he pass the bounds--bounds he never passed before of filial duty.Mother, in compliance with your wishes my father left Ireland--left his home, his duties, his friends, his natural connexions, and for many years he has lived in England, and you have spent many seasons in London.'

'Yes, in the very best company--in the very first circles,' said Lady Clonbrony; 'cold as the high-bred English are said to be in general to strangers.'

'Yes,' replied Lord Colambre; 'the very best company (if you mean the most fashionable) have accepted of our entertainments.We have forced our way into their frozen circles; we have been permitted to breathe in these elevated regions of fashion; we have it to say, that the duke of this, and my lady that, are of our acquaintance.We may say more; we may boast that we have vied with those whom we could never equal.And at what expense have we done all this? For a single season, the last winter (Iwill go no farther), at the expense of a great part of your timber, the growth of a century--swallowed in the entertainments of one winter in London! Our hills to be bare for another half century to come! But let the trees go; I think more of your tenants--of those left under the tyranny of a bad agent, at the expense of every comfort, every hope they enjoyed!--tenants, who were thriving and prosperous; who used to smile upon you, and to bless you both! In one cottage, I have seen--'

Here Lord Clonbrony, unable to restrain his emotion, hurried out of the room.

'Then I am sure it is not my fault,' said Lady Clonbrony; 'for Ibrought my lord a large fortune; and I am confident I have not, after all, spent more any season, in the best company, than he has among a set of low people, in his muddling, discreditable way.'