"To be sure,--Mrs. Creevy. And her friend, who always came with her?"

"Miss Busk--"

"Yes, of course; Miss Busk, of the Emporium. If I don't mistake, I 've given her an order for something,--bonnets, or caps; what is it?"

"A head-dress. Your Ladyship told her--"

"You 'll make me ill, child--positively ill--if you remind me of such horrors. I told you to come and read for me, and you begin to inflict me with what--I declare solemnly--is the most humiliating incident of my life."

Kate resumed her book, and read on. Lady Dorothea was now, however, unmistakably inattentive, and the changing color of her cheek betrayed the various emotions which moved her.

"I really fancy that Miss Martin liked the atrocious creatures we have received here the past week; she certainly showed them a species of attention quite distinct from mere acceptance; and then they all addressed her like old acquaintance. Did you observe that?"

"I thought that they a.s.sumed a degree of familiarity with Miss Martin which was scarcely consistent with their station."

"Say highly ridiculous, child,--perfectly preposterous; for although she will persist in a style of living very opposite to the requirements of her position, she is Miss Martin, and _my_ niece!"

There was now a dead pause of some seconds. At length her Ladyship spoke:--

"To have been beaten in one's own town, where we own every stick and stone in the place, really requires some explanation; and the more I reflect upon it, the more mysterious does it seem. Repton, indeed, had much to say to it. He is so indiscreet,--eh, don't you think so?"

"He is very vain of his conversational powers, my Lady, and, like all clever talkers, says too much."

"Just so. But I don't think him even agreeable. I deem him a bore,"

said my Lady, snappishly. "That taste for story-telling--that anecdotic habit--is quite vulgar; n.o.body does it now."

Kate listened, as though too eager for instruction to dare to lose a word, and her Ladyship went on:--

"In the first place, everybody--in society, I mean--knows every story that can or ought to be told; and, secondly, a narrative always interrupts conversation, which is a game to be played by several."

Kate nodded slightly, as though to accord as much acquiescence as consorted with great deference.

"It is possible, therefore," resumed her Ladyship, "that he may have divulged many things in that careless way he talked; and my niece, too, may have been equally silly. In fact, one thing is clear,--the enemy acquired a full knowledge of our tactics, and met every move we made by another. I was prepared for all the violence, all the insult, all the licentious impertinence and ribaldry of such a contest; but certainly I reckoned on success." Another long and dreary pause ensued, and Lady Dorothea's countenance grew sadder and more clouded as she sat in moody silence. At length a faint tinge of color marked her cheek; her eyes sparkled, and it was in a voice of more than ordinary energy she said: "If they fancy, however, that we shall accept defeat with submission, they are much mistaken. They have declared the war, and it shall not be for them to proclaim peace on the day they 've gained a victory. And Miss Martin also must learn that her Universal Benevolence scheme must give way to the demands of a just retribution. Have you made out the list I spoke of?"

"Yes, my Lady, in part; some details are wanting, but there are eighteen cases here quite perfect."

"These are all cottiers,--pauper tenants," said Lady Dorothea, scanning the paper superciliously through her eyegla.s.s.

"Not all, my Lady; here, for instance, is d.i.c.k Sheehan, the blacksmith, who has worked for the castle twenty-eight years, and who holds a farm called Mulianahogue, on a terminable lease."

"And he voted against us?" broke she in.

"Yes; and made a very violent speech, too."

"Well, turn him out, then," said Lady Dorothea, interrupting her. "Now, where 's your father? Send for Henderson at once; I 'll have no delay with this matter."

"I have sent for him, my Lady; he 'll be here within half an hour."

"And Scanlan also. We shall want him."

"Mr. Scanlan will be here at the same time."

"This case here, with two crosses before it, what does this refer to?"

said her Ladyship, pointing to a part of the paper.

"That's Mr. Magennis, my Lady, of Barnagheela, who has been making incessant appeals for a renewal of his tenure--"

"And how did he behave?"

"He seconded Mr. Ma.s.singbred's nomination, and made a very outrageous speech on the occasion."

"To be sure, I remember him; and he had the insolence--the unparalleled insolence--afterwards to address Miss Martin, as she sat beside me in the carriage, and to tell her that if the rest of the family had been like her the scene that had been that day enacted would never have occurred! Who is this Hosey Lynch? His name is so familiar to me."

"He is a postmaster of Oughterard, and a kind of factotum in the town."

"Then make a note of him. He must be dismissed at once."

"He is not a freeholder, my lady, but only mentioned as an active agent of the Liberal party."

"Don't adopt that vulgar cant, Miss Henderson,--at least, when speaking to _me_, They are not--they have no pretensions to be called the Liberal party. It is bad taste as well as bad policy to apply a flattering epithet to a faction."

"What shall I call them in future, my Lady?" asked Kate, with a most admirably a.s.sumed air of innocence.

"Call them Papists, Radicals, Insurgents,--anything, in fact, which may designate the vile principles they advocate. You mentioned Mr. Nelligan, and I own to you I felt ill--positively ill--at the sound of his name.

Just to think of that man's ingrat.i.tude,--base ingrat.i.tude. It is but the other day his son was our guest here,--actually dined at the table with us! You were here. _You_ saw him yourself!"

"Yes, my Lady," was the quiet reply.

"I 'm sure nothing could be more civil, nothing more polite, than our reception of him. I talked to him myself, and asked him something--I forget what--about his future prospects, and see if this man, or his father--for it matters not which--is not the ringleader of this same movement! I tell you, child, and I really do not say so to hurt your feelings, or to aggravate your natural regrets at your condition in life, but I say it as a great moral lesson,--that low people are invariably deceitful. Perhaps they do not always intend it; perhaps--and very probably, indeed--their standard of honorable dealing is a low one; but of the fact itself you may rest a.s.sured. They are treacherous, and they are vindictive!"

"Ennis Cafferty, my Lady, who lives at Broguestown," said Kate, reading from the list, "sends a pet.i.tion to your Ladyship, entreating forgiveness if he should have done anything to cause displeasure to the family."

"What _did_ he do? that is the question."

"He carried a banner inscribed 'Down with Monopoly!'"

"Mark him for eviction. I'll have no half measures. Miss Martin has brought the estate to such a pa.s.s that we may draw the rents, but never aspire to the influence of our property. These people shall now know their real masters. Who is that knocking at the door?--Come in."

And at this summons, uttered in a voice not peculiar for suavity, Mr.

Henderson entered, bowing profoundly, and smoothing the few glossy hairs that streaked rather than covered his bald head. A momentary glance pa.s.sed between the father and daughter; so fleeting, however, was it, that the most sharp-eyed observer could not have detected its meaning.

Lady Dorothea was too deeply occupied with her own thoughts to waste a second's consideration on either of them, and promptly said,--

"I want you, Henderson, to inform me who are the chief persons who have distinguished themselves in this outrageous insult to us in the borough."

Mr. Henderson moved from one foot to the other, once more stroked down his hair, and seemed like a man suddenly called upon to enter on a very unpleasant and somewhat difficult task.

"Perhaps you don't like the office, sir?" said she, hastily. "Perhaps your own principles are opposed to it?"