第77章

'Saved to you, my lord; not your father, if you plase,' said Sir Terence.'For now I'm upon the square with you, I must be straight as an arrow, and deal with you as the son and friend of my friend; before, I was considering you only as the son and heir, which is quite another thing, you know; accordingly, acting for your father here, I was making the best bargain against you Icould; honestly, now, I tell you.I knew the value of the lands well enough; we were as sharp as Garraghty, and he knew it; we were to have had THE DIFFERENCE from him, partly in cash and partly in balance of accounts--you comprehend--and you only would have been the loser, and never would have known it, maybe, till after we all were dead and buried; and then you might have set aside Garraghty's lease easy, and no harm done to any but a rogue that DESARVED it; and, in the meantime, an accommodation to my honest friend, my lord, your father, here.But, as fate would have it, you upset all by your progress INCOGNITO through them estates.Well, it's best as it is, and I am better pleased to be as we are, trusting all to a generous son's own heart.Now put the poor father out of pain, and tell us what you'll do, my dear.'

'In one word, then,' said Lord Colambre, 'I will, upon two conditions, either join my father in levying fines to enable him to sell or mortgage whatever portion of his estate is necessary for the payment of these debts; or I will, in whatever other mode he can point out, as more agreeable or more advantageous to him, join in giving security to his creditors.'

'Dear, noble fellow!' cried Sir Terence; 'none but an Irishman could do it.'

Lord Clonbrony, melted to tears, could not articulate, but held his arms open to embrace his son.

'But you have not heard my conditions yet,' said Lord Colambre.

'Oh, confound the conditions!' cried Sir Terence.

'What conditions could he ask that I could refuse at this minute?' said Lord Clonbrony.

'Nor I--was it my heart's blood, and were I to be hanged for it,'

cried Sir Terence.'And what are the conditions?'

'That Mr.Garraghty shall be dismissed from the agency.'

'And welcome, and glad to get rid of him--the rogue, the tyrant,'

said Lord Clonbrony; 'and, to be beforehand with you in your next wish, put Mr.Burke into his place.'

'I'll write the letter for you to sign, my lord, this minute,'

cried Terry, 'with all the pleasure in life.No; it's my Lord Colambre should do that in all justice.'

'But what's your next condition? I hope it's no worse,' said Lord Clonbrony.

'That you and my mother should cease to be absentees.'

'Oh murder!' said Sir Terence; 'maybe that's not so easy; for there are two words to that bargain.'

Lord Clonbrony declared that, for his own part, he was ready to return to Ireland next morning, and to promise to reside on his estate all the rest of his days; that there was nothing he desired more, provided Lady Clonbrony would consent to it; but that he could not promise for her; that she was as obstinate as a mule on that point; that he had often tried, but that there was no moving her; and that, in short, he could not promise on her part.

But it was on this condition, Lord Colambre said, he must insist.

Without this condition was granted, he would not engage to do anything.

'Well, we must only see how it will be when she comes to town;she will come up from Buxton the day you're of age to sign some papers,' said Lord Clonbrony; 'but,' added he, with a very dejected look and voice, 'if all's to depend on my Lady Clonbrony's consenting to return to Ireland, I'm as far from all hope of being at ease as ever.'

'Upon my conscience, we're all at sea again,' said Sir Terence.

Lord Colambre was silent: but in his silence there was such an air of firmness, that both Lord Clonbrony and Sir Terence were convinced entreaties would on this point be fruitless--Lord Clonbrony sighed deeply.

'But when it's ruin or safety, and her husband and all belonging to her at stake, the woman can't persist in being a mule,' said Sir Terence.

'Of whom are you talking?' said Lord Colambre.

'Of whom? Oh, I beg your lordship's pardon--I thought I was talking to my lord; but, in other words, as you are her son, I'm persuaded her ladyship, your mother, will prove herself a reasonable woman--when she sees she can't help it.So, my Lord Clonbrony, cheer up; a great deal may be done by the fear of Mordicai, and an execution, especially now the prior creditor.

Since there's no reserve between you and I now, my Lord Colambre,' said Sir Terence, 'I must tell you all, and how we shambled on those months while you were in Ireland.First, Mordicai went to law, to prove I was in a conspiracy with your father, pretending to be prior creditor, to keep him off and out of his own; which, after a world of swearing and law---law always takes time to do justice, that's one comfort--the villain proved at last to be true enough, and so cast us; and I was forced to be paid off last week.So there's no prior creditor, or any shield of pretence that way.Then his execution was coming down upon us, and nothing to stay it till I thought of a monthly annuity to Mordicai, in the shape of a wager.So, the morning after he cast us, I went to him: "Mr.Mordicai," says I, "you must be PLASEDto see a man you've beaten so handsomely; and though I'm sore, both for myself and my friend, yet you see I can laugh still;though an execution is no laughing matter, and I'm sinsible you've one in petto in your sleeve for my friend Lord Clonbrony.

But I'll lay you a wager of a hundred guineas in paper that a marriage of his son with a certain heiress, before next Lady-day, will set all to rights, and pay you with a compliment too.'

'Good heavens, Sir Terence! surely you said no such thing?'