"I came thus early, however," said he, earnestly, "because I was impatient to correct an impression which might have remained from something that fell from me last night. You smile, I perceive," said he, "that I should attach so much importance to my own words!"

"It was not at that I smiled," said Mary, archly.

"No matter," continued he. "It is better, at the cost of a little wounded vanity, that I should escape a misconception. When your uncle spoke to me, last night, about the division of parties in the borough--You are smiling again, Miss Martin!"

"Don't you perceive, sir, that what amuses me is the mistaken estimate you have formed of me, by addressing me on such topics?"

"But I came here expressly to speak to you," said he, with increased eagerness; "for I have always heard--always understood--that none ever took a deeper interest in all that regarded the country than yourself."

"If you mean, by the country, the lives and fortunes of those who live in it,--the people by whose toil it is fertilized, by whose traits it is a nation,--I tell you frankly that I yield to none for interest in all that touches them; but if you come to talk of privileges and legislative benefits, I know nothing of them: they form a land of whose very geography I am ignorant."

"But the subject is the same, and the mind which comprehends one could embrace the other."

"In the one, however, I can labor usefully and fittingly, without much risk of mistake,--never, indeed, of any mistake that might prove of serious moment. The other involves great questions, and has great hazards, perils, to affright stronger heads than mine!"

"There is much in what you say," said he, reflectingly.

"There is far more than I am able to express," said she, warmly. "Just remember, for a moment, that of all the laws you great and wise men are making, over which you rant and wrangle, and a.s.sail each other so vindictively, how few ever touch the interests or descend to the fortunes of those for whom you a.s.sume to make them,--that the craftiest devices of your legislation never uproot ah old prejudice nor disturb an antiquated superst.i.tion; while I, and such as I,--and there need be nothing more humble,--can by a little timely help in trouble--a little care, or even a little counsel--comfort many a failing heart, cheer up many a sinking spirit, and, better still, do good service by teaching the poor man that he is of one family with those better off than himself, and that he is not an outcast because he is lowly!"

As Mary went on, her eyes shone more brilliantly, and her cheeks glowed, till Nelligan forgot even the words she spoke in admiration of the speaker.

"But here comes my uncle," cried she, hastily, "to rescue you from further amplification of the theme. Come in, uncle,"--for Martin was already about to retire,--"it is Mr. Nelligan, who wants to speak to you."

"Oh, I was in terror of a regular morning visitor!" said Martin, shaking the young man's hand cordially. "They didn't tell me you were here."

"I came, sir," said Joseph, hesitatingly, "to rectify what might, perhaps, require correction in an observation I made last night. We were talking about the proper basis of a representation--"

"My dear boy," broke in Martin, laughingly, "there's nothing kills me like asking me to go over the past, either in reading an old letter or recalling an old conversation. And as to calling on me to justify something I once defended in argument, I 'd give up the cause at once, and say I was all wrong, in preference."

"Then I need not fear you will hold me responsible--"

"Not for anything, except your pledge to dine here tomorrow at seven."

Notwithstanding all the ease and frankness of Martin's manner--and as manner it was perfect--the young man felt far from satisfied. His want of breeding--that cruel want strong enough to mar the promise of high ability, and even impair the excellence of many a n.o.ble nature--seemed to hold him fast bound to the object of his visit. He had come for an explanation, and he couldn't go away without it. Mary read his difficulty at once, and as she pa.s.sed him to leave the room, said in a low voice, "To-morrow evening."

Nelligan started at the words, and his face became scarlet. What could she have meant? Was it that she wished him to come, and had thus condescended to remind him of his promise? or was it to suggest a more fitting moment to return to the late discussion?

"Are you coming to luncheon, Nelligan?" said Martin, rising.

"No, sir; not to-day. I have a call--a visit--some miles off." And while he was yet stammering out his excuses, Martin waved a familiar good-bye with his hand, and pa.s.sed into the adjoining room.

"And what can this mean?" said Nelligan to himself. "Is this the cordial treatment of an intimate, or is it contemptuous indifference for an inferior?" And, far more puzzled than he should have been with the knottiest problem of the "Principia," he quitted the house and strolled homewards.

His way led along the sh.o.r.e, and consequently in front of that straggling row of cottages which formed the village. It chanced to be the last day of the month, and, by the decree of the almanac, the close of the bathing-season. The scene then going forward was one of unusual and not unpicturesque confusion. It was a general break-up of the encampment, and all were preparing to depart to their homes, inland. Had young Nelligan been--what he was not--anything of a humorist, he might have been amused at the variety of equipage and costume around him.

Conveyances the most c.u.mbrous and most rickety, drawn by farm horses, or even donkeys, stopped the way before each door, all in process of loading by a strangely attired a.s.semblage, whose Welsh wigs, flannel dressing-gowns, and woollen nightcaps showed how, by a common consent, all had agreed to merge personal vanity in the emergency of the moment.

The innumerable little concealments which had sheltered many a narrow household, the various little stratagems that had eked out many a scanty wardrobe, were now abandoned with a n.o.ble sincerity; and had there been a cork leg or a gla.s.s eye in the company, it would not have shrunk from the gaze of that open-hearted community.

Such of the travellers as had taken their places were already surrounded with the strangest medley of household G.o.ds it is possible to conceive.

Like trophies, bird-cages, candlesticks, spits, cullenders, fenders, and bread-baskets bristled around them, making one marvel how they ever got in, or, still more, how they were ever to get out again; the croaking of invalids, with crying children, barking terriers, and scolding owners, making a suitable chorus to the confusion.

Still, amidst all the discomforts of the moment, amidst the last wranglings with landlords, and the last squabbles over broken furniture and missing movables, it must be owned that the prevailing temper of the scene was good-humor and jollity. The Irish temperament seems ever to discover something congenial in those incidents of confusion and bustle which to other people are seasons of unmitigated misery, and even out of its own sources of discomfiture can derive matter for that quaint humor with which it can always regard life. In this wise was it that few now dwelt much upon their own inconveniences, so long as they were free to laugh at those of their neighbors.

Before he was well aware of it, young Nelligan found himself in the very midst of this gathering, whose mirthful accents suddenly subsided at his approach, and an air of constraint and reserve seemed to take their place. Never very quick to appreciate such indications, he drew nigh to a very lofty "conveniency" in which, with an air of stately dignity, Mrs. Cronan sat enthroned on a backgammon-table, with a portentous-looking cap-case in her lap.

"My mother will be sorry not to have seen you before you went away, Mrs.

Cronan," said he to that lady, whose demure and frigid demeanor made the speech sound like a bold one.

"I 'd have left my card and my compliments, sir, if I wasn't so pressed for time," responded she, with a haughty gravity.

"With P. P. C. on the corner," said the Captain from his pony-gig alongside; "which means, pour prendre 'congo,' or 'congee,' I never knew which."

"She 'll be very lonely now, for the few days we remain," resumed Joe, conscious of some awkwardness, without knowing where or how.

"Not with the society of your distinguished acquaintances at 'The Nest,'

sir!" the sarcastic import of which reply was more in the manner than the mere words; while the old Captain murmured,--

"Begad, she gave it to him there,--a regular double-headed shot!"

"We hope to follow you by the end of the week," said Nelligan, trying to seem at ease.

"If you can tear yourselves away, I suppose," said Miss Busk, through a double veil of blue gauze; for that lady's auburn ringlets reposed at the moment in the small mahogany casket beside her.

"There is not much attraction in the spot just now," said Joseph, smiling.

"Not for the like of us, perhaps, sir," retorted Mrs. Cronan,--"not for persons in our station; but your fashionable people, I believe, always prefer a place when the vulgar company have left it."

"Good again,--grape and canister!" chuckled out the Captain, who seemed to derive a high enjoyment from the scene.

"Would you move a little to one side, Mr. Nelligan?" said the doctor; "my pony won't stand."

"Oh, he's mettlesome," said Joe, good-humoredly, as he stepped out of the way.

"That he is, sir, though he never was leader in a four-in-hand; but, you see, poor creatures of quadrupeds forget themselves down here, just like their betters!"

And the success of this sally was acknowledged by a general laugh from the company. The tone of the speakers, even more than their words, convinced Joseph that, from some cause or other, he was the object of their sarcasms; and although slow to take offence,--even to the verge of what many might have called an unfeeling indifference,--he felt their treatment most acutely. It was, then, in something like a haughty defiance that he wished them a careless good-bye, and continued his way.

"The world seems bent on puzzling me this morning," muttered he, as he sauntered slowly on. "People treat me as though I were playing some deep game to their detriment,--I, who have no game, almost no future!" added he, despondingly. "For what avails it to attain eminence amidst such as these; and, as for the others, I was not born for them."

To these moody thoughts succeeded others still gloomier. It had only been within a short time back that the young man had begun to appreciate the difficulties of a position to which his early successes imparted increasing embarra.s.sment; and darkly brooding over these things, he drew near his mother's cottage. She was already at the door to meet him, with a letter in her hand.

"This is from your father, Joe," said she. "He wants you in all haste up at the town; and I've packed your clothes, and sent off Patsey for Mooney's car; so come in and eat something at once."

Joseph took the note from her hand and perused it in silence. It was brief, and ran thus:--

"Dear Joe,--I want you up here as soon as possible, to meet a friend whom you 'll be surprised to see. I say no more, but that I expect you by dinner-time.--Yours ever,

"D.N."

"What does that mean, Joe?" asked his mother.