Around this table let there be seated from fifteen to twenty men, whose ages might vary from nineteen to three- or four-and-twenty; some smoking cigars, some talking vociferously, some laughing, some though they were decidedly the minority, listening: but -164--all showing signs of being more or less elated by the wine they had taken. Let the reader imagine all this, and he will have formed a pretty correct idea of the supper-party in Lawless's rooms, as it appeared about ten o'clock on the evening subsequent to the conversation I have just detailed.

"Didn't I see you riding a black horse with one white stocking yesterday, Oaklands?" inquired a young man with a round jovial countenance, which might have been reckoned handsome but for the extreme redness of the complexion, and the loss of a front tooth, occasioned by a fall received in the hunting field, whose name was Richard, or, as he was more commonly termed, d.i.c.k Curtis.

"Yes," replied Oaklands, "I daresay you did; I was trying him."

"Ah! I fancied he was not one of your own." "No; he belongs to Tom Barret, who wants me to buy him; but I don't think he's strong enough to carry my weight; there's not substance enough about him; I ride nearly eleven stone."

"Oh! he'll never do for you," exclaimed Lawless. "I know the horse well; they call him Blacksmith, because the man who bred him was named Smith; he lives down in Lincolnshire, and breeds lots of horses; but they are none of them, at least none that I have seen, what I call the right sort; don't you buy him,--he's got too much daylight under him to suit you."

"Too long in the pasterns to carry weight," urged Curtis.

"Rather inclined to be cow-hocked," chimed in Lawless.

"Not ribbed home," remarked Curtis.

"Too narrow across the loins," observed Lawless.

"He'll never carry flesh," continued Curtis.

"It's useless to think of his jumping; he'll never make a hunter," said Lawless.

"Only hear them," interrupted a tall, fashionable-looking young man, with a high forehead and a profusion of light, curling hair; "now those two fellows are once off, it's all up with anything like rational conversation for the rest of the evening."

"That's right, Archer, put the curb on 'em; we might as well be in Tattersall's yard at once," observed another of the company, addressing the last speaker.

"I fear it's beyond my power," replied Archer; "they've got such an incurable trick of talking equine scandal, and taking away the characters of their -165--neighbours' horses, that n.o.body can stop them unless it is Stephen Wilford."

The mention of this name seemed to have the effect of rendering every one grave, and a pause ensued, during which Oaklands and I exchanged glances. At length the silence was broken by Curtis, who said:--

"By the way, what's become of Wilford? I expected to meet him here to-night."

"He was engaged to dine with Wentworth," said Lawless; "but he promised to look in upon us in the course of the evening; I thought he would have been here before this."

As he spoke a tap was heard at the room-door.

"Well, that's odd," continued Lawless; "that's Wilford for a ducat; talk of the devil,--eh, don't you know? Come in."

"You had better not repeat that in his hearing," observed Archer, "though I believe he'd take it as a compliment on the whole; it's my opinion he rather affects the satanic."

"Hush," said Curtis, pressing his arm, "here he is."

As he spoke the door opened, and the subject of their remarks entered.

He was rather above the middle height, of a slight but unusually elegant figure, with remarkably small hands and feet, the former of which were white and smooth as those of a woman. His features were delicately formed and regular, and the shape of his face a perfect oval; strongly marked eyebrows overshadowed a pair of piercing black eyes; his lips were thin and compressed, and his mouth finely cut; his hair, which was unusually glossy and luxuriant, was jet black, as were his whiskers, affording a marked contrast to the death-like pallor of his countenance.

The only fault that could be found in the drawing of his face was that the eyes were placed too near together; but this imparted a character of intensity to his glance which added to, rather than detracted from, the general effect of his appearance. His features, when in repose, were usually marked by an expression of contemptuous indifference; he seldom laughed, but his smile conveyed an indication of such bitter sarcasm that I have seen men, whom he chose to make a b.u.t.t for his ridicule, writhe under it as under the infliction of bodily torture. He was dressed, as was his wont, entirely in black; but his clothes, which were fashionably cut, fitted him without a wrinkle. He bowed slightly to the a.s.sembled company, and then seated himself in a chair which had been reserved for -166--him at the upper end of the table, nearly opposite Oaklands and myself, saying as he did so: "I'm afraid I'm rather late, Lawless, but Wentworth and I had a little business to transact, and I could not get away sooner".

"What devil's deed have they been at now, I wonder?" whispered Oaklands to me.

"Manslaughter, most likely," replied Archer (who was seated next me, and had overheard the remark), "Wilford appears so thoroughly satisfied with himself; that was just the way in which he looked the morning he winged Sherringham, for I saw him myself."

"Send me down the claret, will you, Curtis?" asked Wilford. "Punch is a beverage I don't patronise; it makes a man's hand shaky."

"If that is the case," returned Archer, "you ought to make a point of drinking it for the good of society, my dear Wilford; let me help you to a gla.s.s."

"Nonsense, Archer, be quiet, man; here, taste this cool bottle, Wilford; claret's good for nothing if it's at all flat," exclaimed Lawless, drawing the cork of a fresh magnum as he spoke.

"I differ from you in that opinion, Archer," returned Wilford, fixing his keen black eyes upon the person he addressed with a piercing glance; "society is like the wine in this gla.s.s," and he filled a b.u.mper to the brim with claret as he spoke; "it requires a steady hand to keep it within its proper bounds, and to compel it to preserve an unruffled surface"; and so saying he raised the gla.s.s to his lips without spilling a drop, still keeping his eyes fixed upon Archer's face with the same withering glance.

"Well, I have often heard of looking daggers at a person," continued Archer, who had been drinking somewhat deeply during the evening, and now appeared possessed by a spirit of mischief leading him to tease and annoy Wilford in every way he could think of; "but Wilford does worse, he positively looks pistols--c.o.c.ked and loaded pistols--at one.

Fairlegh, I shall screen myself behind your broad shoulders; I never could stand fire." So saying he seized me by the elbows, and, urging me forward, crouched down behind me, affecting the extremity of terror.

The scowl on Wilford's brow deepened as he spoke, but, after a moment's hesitation, apparently considering the affair too absurd to take notice of, he turned away with a contemptuous smile, saying, "You make your punch too strong, Lawless".

Archer instantly recovered his erect att.i.tude, and with -167--a flushed face seemed about to make some angry reply, when Lawless, who appeared nervously anxious that the evening should pa.s.s over harmoniously, interposed.

"Archer, you're absolutely incorrigible; keep him in order, Fairlegh, eh? give him some more punch, and fill your own gla.s.s--it has been empty I don't know how long. I'll find a toast that will make you drink--b.u.mpers round, gentlemen, 'to the health of the prettiest girl in Hertfordshire'. Are you all charged? I beg to propose

[Ill.u.s.tration: page167 The Wine Party]

"Excuse my interrupting you, Lawless," exclaimed I--for I felt certain who it was he was thinking of; and the idea of Miss Saville's name being mentioned and discussed with the tone of licence common on such occasions, appeared to me such complete profanation, that I determined, be the consequences what they might, to prevent it--"Excuse my interrupting you, but I should feel greatly obliged by your subst.i.tuting some other toast for the one you are about to propose".

"Eh, what! not drink the young woman's health? why I thought you admired her more than I do: not drink her health? how's that, eh?"

"I shall be most happy to explain to you the reasons for my request at some other time," replied I; "at present I can only add that I shall consider it as a personal favour if you will accede to it."

"It does not appear to me to require an OEdipus to discover Mr.

Fairlegh's reasons for this request," observed Stephen Wilford; "he evidently does not consider the present company deserving of the high honour of drinking the health of a young lady whom _he_ distinguishes by his admiration."

"Not over-flattering, I must say," muttered Lawless, looking annoyed.

"I suppose he's afraid of our hearing her name, lest some of us should go and cut him out," suggested Curtis in an undertone, which was, however, perfectly audible.

"In the meanwhile, Lawless, I hope you're not going to indulge your friend's caprice at the expense of the rest of the company," resumed Wilford; "having raised our expectations you are bound to gratify them."

Lawless, who evidently hesitated between his desire to a.s.sert his independence and his wish to oblige me, was beginning with his usual, "Eh? why, don't you see,"--when I interrupted him by saying, "Allow me to set this matter at rest in a very few words. Lawless, I hope, knows me well enough to feel sure that I could not -168--intend any disrespect either to himself or to his guests--I believe it is not such an unheard-of thing for a gentle-man to object to the name of any lady whom he respects being commented upon with the freedom incidental to a convivial meeting like the present--however that may be, I have asked Lawless as a favour not to drink a certain toast in my presence; should he be unwilling to comply with my request, as I would not wish to be the slightest restraint upon him at his own table, I shall request his permission to withdraw; on this point I await his decision. I have only one more observation to make," continued I, looking at Wilford, who was evidently preparing to speak, "which is, that if, after what I have just said, any gentleman should continue to urge Lawless to give the toast to which I object, I must perforce consider that he wishes to insult me."

As I concluded, there was a murmur of applause, and Archer and one or two others turned to Lawless, declaring it was quite impossible to press the matter further after what I had said; when Wilford, in a cold, sarcastic tone of voice, observed: "I am sorry Mr. Fairlegh's _last_ argument should have failed in convincing me, as easily as it seems to have done some others of the party; such, however, unfortunately being the case, I must repeat, even at the risk of incurring a thing so terrible as that gentleman's displeasure, my decided opinion that Lawless, having informed us he was going to drink a particular toast, should not allow himself to be bullied out of it, in compliance with any man's humour".

This speech, as it might be expected, produced great excitement; I sprang to my feet (an example followed by several of the party), and was about to make an angry reply, when Oaklands, who up to this moment had taken no part in the discussion, but sat sipping his wine with his usual air of listless contentment, apparently indifferent to, if not wholly unconscious of, all that was going on, now rose from his seat, and having obtained silence said: "Really, gentlemen, all this confusion appears to me very unnecessary, when a word from our host will end it.

Fairlegh has asked you not to propose a certain toast; it only remains for you, Lawless, to say, whether you intend to do so or not."

Thus urged, Lawless replied, "Eh? no, certainly not; Frank Fairlegh's a trump, and I would not do anything to annoy him for more than I can tell: besides, when I come to think of it, I believe he was right, and I was wrong--but you see, women are a kind of cattle I don't clearly understand--if it was a horse now----"

-169--A burst of laughter at this characteristic remark drowned the conclusion of the speech, but the announcement that the toast was given up appeared to produce general satisfaction; for, since I had spoken, the popular opinion had been decidedly in my favour.

"The cause of this little interruption to the harmony of the evening being removed," resumed Oaklands, "suppose we see whether its effects may not as easily be got rid of. Every man, I take it, has a right to express his own opinion, and I think Fairlegh must allow that he was a little hasty in presupposing, that by so doing an insult was intended.

This being the case, he will, I am sure, agree with me that he ought not to take any notice of Mr. Wilford's remark."

"Yes, to be sure, that's it--all right, eh?" exclaimed Lawless; "come, Fairlegh, as a favour to me, let the matter end here."