"It's too much, Davy,--it's too much; I'll never live to see it."

"That you will, sir,--for a time, indeed, I was half disposed to stipulate that the title should be conferred upon yourself. It would have thus acquired another generation in date, but I remembered how indisposed you might feel to all the worry and care the mere forms of assuming it might cost you. You would not like to leave this old spot, besides--"

"No, on no account," said the old man, pensively.

"And then I thought that your great pride, after all, would be to hear of me, your own Davy, as Lord Castle-dunn."

"I thought it would be plain Dunn,--Lord Dunn," said the old man, quickly.

"If the name admitted of it, I 'd have preferred it so."

"And what is there against the name?" asked he angrily.

"Nothing, father; none have ever presumed to say a word against it. In talking the matter over, however, with some members of the Cabinet, one or two suggested Dunnscourt, but the majority inclined to Castledunn."

"And what did your Lordship say?" asked the old man, with a gleeful cackle. "Oh, Davy! I never thought the day would come that I 'd call you by any name I 'd love so well as that you bore when a child; but see, now, it makes my old eyes run over to speak to you as 'my Lord.'"

"It is a fair and honest pride, father," said Dunn, caressingly. "We stormed the breach ourselves, with none to help, none to cheer us on."

"Oh, Davy, but it does me good to call you 'my Lord.'"

"Well, sir, you are only anticipating a week or two. Parliament will assemble after the elections, and then be prorogued; immediately afterwards there will be four elevations to the peerage,--mine one of them."

"Yes, my Lord," mumbled the old man, submissively.

"But this is not all, father; the same week that sees me gazetted a peer will announce my marriage with an Earl's daughter."

"Davy, Davy, this luck is coming too quick! Take care, my son, that there's no pit before you."

"I know what I am doing, sir, and so does the Lady Augusta Arden. You remember the Earl of Glengariffs name?"

"Where you were once a tutor, is it?"

"The same, sir."

"It was they that used to be so cruel to you, Davy, wasn't it?"

"I was a foolish boy, ignorant of the world and its ways at the time. I fancied fifty things to mean offence which never were intended to wound me."

"Ay, they made you eat in the servants' hall, I think."

"Never, sir,--never; they placed me at a side table once or twice when pressed for room."

"Well, it was the room you had somewhere in a hayloft, eh?"

"Nothing of the kind, sir. Your memory is all astray. My chamber was small,--for the cottage had not much accommodation,--but I was well and suitably lodged."

"Well, what was it they did?" muttered he to himself. "I know it was something that made you cry the whole night after you came home."

"Father, father! these are unprofitable memories," said Dunn, sternly.

"Were one to treasure up the score of all the petty slights he may have received in life, so that in some day of power he might acquit the debt, success would be anything but desirable."

"I'm not so sure of that, Davy. I never forgot an injury."

"I am more charitable, sir," said Dunn, calmly.

"No, you 're not, Davy,--no, you 're not," replied the old man, eagerly, "but you think it's wiser to be never-minding; and so it would, boy, if the man that injured you was to forget it too. Ay, Davy, that's the rub.

But _he_ won't; he 'll remember to his dying day that there's a score between you."

"I tell you, father, that these maxims do not apply to persons of condition, all whose instincts and modes of thought are unlike those of the inferior classes."

"They are men and women, Davy,--they are men and women."

Dunn arose impatiently, observing that the night was growing chilly, and it were better to return to the house.

"I mean to sup with you," said he, gayly, "if you have anything to give me."

"A rasher and eggs, and a bladebone of cold mutton is all I have,"

muttered the old man, gloomily. "I would not let them buy a chicken this week, when I saw the shares falling. Give me your arm, Davy, I've a slight weakness in the knees; it always took me at this season since I was a boy." And mumbling how strange it was that one did not throw off childish ailments as one grew older, he crept slowly along towards the house.

As they entered the kitchen, Dunn remarked with astonishment how little there remained of the abundance and plenty which had so characterized it of old. No hams, no flitches hung from the rafters; no sturdy barrels of butter stood against the walls; the chicken-coop was empty; and even to the good fire that graced the hearth there was a change, for a few half-sodden turf-sods were all that lingered in the place. Several baskets and hampers, carefully corded and sealed, were ranged beside the dresser, in which Dunn recognized presents of wine, choice cordials and liqueurs, that he had himself addressed to the old man.

"Why, father, how is this?" asked he, half angrily. "I had hoped for better treatment at your hands. You have apparently not so much as tasted any of the things I sent you."

"There they are, indeed, Davy, Just as they came for 'Matthew Dunn, Esq., with care,' written on them, and not a string cut!"

"And why should this be so, sir, may I ask?"

"Well, the truth is, Davy," said he, with a sigh, "I often longed to open them, and uncork a bottle of ale, or brandy, or, maybe, sherry, and sore tempted I felt to do it when I was drinking my buttermilk of a night; but then I 'd say to myself, 'Ain't you well and hearty? keep cordials for the time when you are old, and feeble, and need support; don't be giving yourself bad habits, that maybe some fifteen or twenty years hence you'll be sorry for.' There's the reason, now, and I see by your face you don't agree with me."

Dunn made no answer, but taking up a knife he speedily cut the cordage of a large hamper, and as speedily covered a table with a variety of bottles.

"We 'll drink this to the Queen's health, father," said he, holding up a flask of rare hock; "and this to the 'House of Lords,' for which estimable body I mean to return thanks; and then, father, I 'll give 'Prosperity to the landed interest and the gentry of Ireland,' for which you shall speak."

Dunn went gayly along in this jesting fashion while he emptied the hamper of its contents, displaying along the dresser a goodly line of bottles, whose shape and corkage guaranteed their excellence. Meanwhile an old servant-woman had prepared the table, and was busily engaged with the materials of the meal.

"If I only thought we were going to have a feast, Davy, I 'd have made her light a fire in the parlor," said the old man, apologetically.

"We're better here, sir; it's cosier and homelier, and I know you think so. Keep your own corner, father, and I 'll sit here."

With appetites sharpened by the sea air and a long fast, they seated themselves at table and eat heartily. If their eyes met, a smile of pleasant recognition was exchanged; for while the old man gazed almost rapturously on his illustrious son, Dunn bent a look of scarcely inferior admiration on that patriarchal face, whereon time seemed but to mellow the traits that marked its wisdom.

"And what name do they give this, Davy?" said he, as he held up his glass to the light.

"Burgundy, father,--the king of wines. The wine-merchant names this Chambertin, which was the favorite drinking of the great Napoleon."

"I wonder at that, now," said the old man, sententiously.

"Wonder at it! And why so, father?--is it not admirable wine?"