"What an admirable monitor! One only wonders how so much morality coexists with such very intimate knowledge of ign.o.ble pursuits."

"By Jove! she knows everything," broke in the Captain. "Such a canter as she gave me t' other morning about idleness and the rest of it, saying how I ought to study Hindostanee, and get a staff appointment, and so on,--that every one ought to place himself above the accidents of fortune; and when I said something about having no opportunity at hand, she replied, 'Never complain of that; begin with _me_. I know quite enough to initiate you; and as to Sanscrit, I 'm rather "up" in it.'"

"I trust you accepted the offer?" said her Ladyship, with an ambiguous smile.

"Well, I can't say I did. I hate work,--at least that kind of work.

Besides, one doesn't like to come out 'stupid' in these kind of things, and so I merely said, 'I 'd think of it--very kind of her,' and so on."

"Did it never occur to you all this while," began her Ladyship; and then suddenly correcting herself, she stopped short, and said, "By the way, Mr. Scanlan is waiting for his answer. Ring the bell, and let him come in."

Perhaps it was the imperfect recollection of that eminent individual,--perhaps the altered circ.u.mstances in which she now saw him, and possibly some actual changes in the man himself,--but really Lady Dorothea almost started with surprise as he entered the room, dressed in a dark pelisse, richly braided and frogged, an embroidered travelling-cap in his hand, and an incipient moustache on his upper lip,--all evidencing how rapidly he had turned his foreign experiences to advantage. There was, too, in his address a certain confident a.s.surance that told how quickly the habits of the "Table d'hote" had impressed him, and how instantaneously his nature had imbibed the vulgar ease of the "Continent."

"You have just arrived, Mr. Scanlan?" said her Ladyship, haughtily, and not a little provoked at the shake-hand salutation her son had accorded him.

"Yes, my Lady, this instant, and such a journey as we 've had! No water on the Rhine for the steamers; and then, when we took to the land, a perfect deluge of rain, that nearly swept us away. At Eisleben, or some such name, we had an upset."

"What day did you leave Ireland?" asked she, in utter indifference as to the casualty.

"Tuesday fortnight last, my Lady. I was detained two days in Dublin making searches--"

"Have you brought us any letters, sir?"

"One from Miss Mary, my Lady, and another from Mr. Repton--very pressing he said it was. I hope Mr. Martin is better? Your Ladyship's last--"

"Not much improvement," said she, stiffly, while her thin lips were compressed with an expression that might mean pride or sorrow, or both.

"And the country, sir? How did you leave it looking?"

"Pretty well, my Lady. More frightened than hurt, as a body might say.

They 've had a severe winter, and a great deal of sickness; the rains, too, have done a deal of mischief; but on the whole matters are looking up again."

"Will the rents be paid, sir?" asked she, sharply.

"Indeed, I hope so, my Lady. Some, of course, will be backward, and beg for time, and a few more will take advantage of Magennis's success, and strive to fight us off."

"There must have been some gross mismanagement in that business, sir,"

broke in her Ladyship. "Had I been at home, I promise you the matter would have ended differently."

"Mr. Repton directed all the proceedings himself, my Lady. He conferred with Miss Mary."

"What could a young lady know about such matters?" said she, angrily.

"Any prospect of a tenant for the house, sir?"

"If your Ladyship really decides on not going back--"

"Not the slightest intention of doing so, sir. If it depended upon me, I'd rather pull it down and sell the materials than return to live there. You know yourself, sir, the utter barbarism we were obliged to submit to. No intercourse with the world--no society--very frequently no communication by post. Surrounded by a set of ragged creatures, all importunity and idleness, at one moment all defiance and insolence, at the next crawling and abject. But it is really a theme I cannot dwell upon. Give me your letters, sir, and let me see you this evening." And taking the papers from his hand, she swept out of the room in a haughty state.

The Captain and Mr. Scanlan exchanged looks, and were silent, but their glances were far more intelligible than aught either of them would have ventured to say aloud; and when the attorney's eyes, having followed her Ladyship to the door, turned and rested on the Captain, the other gave a brief short nod of a.s.sent, as though to say, "Yes, you are right; she's just the same as ever."

"And _you_, Captain," said Scanlan, in his tone of natural familiarity,--"how is the world treating _you?_"

"Devilish badly, Master Scanlan."

"Why, what is it doing, then?"

"I'll tell you what it's doing! It's charging me fifty--ay, sixty per cent; it's protesting my bills, stimulating my blessed creditors to proceed against me, worrying my very life out of me with letters.

Letters to the governor, letters to the Horse Guards, and, last of all, it has just lamed Bonesetter, the horse 'I stood to win' on for the Chester Cup, I would n't have taken four thousand for my book yesterday morning!"

"Bad news all this."

"I believe you," said he, lighting a cigar, and throwing another across the table to Scanlan. "It's just bad news, and I have nothing else for many a long day past. A fellow of your sort, Master Maurice, punting away at county races and small sweepstakes, has a precious deal better time of it than a captain of the King's Hussars with his head and shoulders in the Fleet."

"Come, come, who knows but luck will turn, Captain? Make a book on the Oaks."

"I've done it; and I'm in for it, too," said the other, savagely.

"Raise a few thousands, you can always sell a reversion."

"I have done that also," said he, still more angrily.

"With your position and advantages you could always marry well. If you'd just beat up the manufacturing districts, you'd get your eighty thousand as sure as I'm here! And then matrimony admits of a man's changing all his habits. He can sell off hunters, get rid of a racing stable, and twenty other little embarra.s.sments, and only gain character by the economy."

"I don't care a bra.s.s farthing for that part of the matter, Scanlan. No man shall dictate to me how I 'm to spend my money. Do you just find me the tin, and I 'll find the talent to scatter it."

"If it can't be done by a post-obit--"

"I tell you, sir," cried Martin, peevishly, "as I have told you before, that has been done. There is such a thing as pumping a well dry, is n't there?"

Scanlan made a sudden exclamation of horror; and after a pause, said, "Already!"

"Ay, sir, already!"

"I had my suspicions about it," muttered Scanlan, gloomily.

"You had? And how so, may I beg to ask?" said Martin, angrily.

"I saw him down there, myself."

"Saw whom? Whom are you talking of?"

"Of that Jew, of course. Mr. Merl, he calls himself."

A faint groan was all Martin's reply, as he turned away to hide his face.

Scanlan watched him for a minute or so, and then resumed: "I guessed at once what he was at; _he_ never deceived me, talking about snipe and woodc.o.c.ks, and pretending to care about hare-hunting. I saw my man at a glance. 'It's not sporting ever brought you down to these parts,' said I. '_Your_ game is young fellows, hard up for cash, willing to give up their birthright for a few thousands down, and never giving a second thought whether they paid twenty per cent, or a hundred and twenty.'

Well, well, Captain, you ought to have told me all about it. There wasn't a man in Ireland could have putted you through like myself."

"How do you mean?" cried Martin, hurriedly.