Volume Ii Part 4 (2/2)
If I wanted a proof of K. I.'s misconduct, Molly, was n't this scene decisive? Where would be the motive of her behavior, if it was n't conscious guilt? That was the ground I took in discussing the subject as we came along; and a more lamentable spectacle of confounded iniquity than he exhibited I never beheld. To be sure, I did n't spare him much, and jibed him on the ingrat.i.tude his devotion met with, till he grew nearly purple with pa.s.sion. ”Mrs. D.,” said he, at last, ”when we lived at home, in Ireland, we had our quarrels like other people, about the expense of the house, and waste in the kitchen, the time the horses was kept out under the rain, and such-like,--but it never occurred to you to fancy me a gay Lutherian. What the ------ has put that in your head now? Is it coming abroad? for, if so, that's another grudge I owe this infernal excursion!”
”You've just guessed it, Mr. Dodd, then,” said I. ”When you were at home in your own place, you were content like the other old fools of your own time of life, with a knowing glance of the eye, a sly look, and maybe a pa.s.sing word or two, to a pretty girl; but no sooner did you put foot on foreign ground than you fancied yourself a lady-killer! You never saw how absurd you were, though I was telling it to you day and night. You would n't believe how the whole world was laughing at you, though I said so to the girls.”
I improved on this theme till we came at nightfall to the foot of the Alps, and by that time--take my word for it, Mrs. Gallagher--there was n't much more to be said on the subject.
New troubles awaited us here, Molly. I wonder will they ever end? You may remember that I told you how the wheels was taken off our carriage to put it on a sledge on account of the snow. Well, my dear, what do you think the creatures did, but they sent our wheels over the Great St. Bernardt,--I think they call it,--and when we arrived here we found ourselves on the hard road without any wheels to the coach, but sitting with the axles in the mud! I only ask you where's the temper can stand that? And worse, too, for K. I. sat down on a stone to look at us, and laughed till the tears run down his wicked old cheeks and made him look downright horrid.
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”May I never!” said he, ”but I 'd come the whole way from Ireland for one hearty laugh like this! It's the only thing I 've yet met that requites me for coming! If I live fifty years, I'll never forget it.”
I perceive that I have n't s.p.a.ce for the reply I made him, so that I must leave you to fill it up for yourself, and believe me your
Ever attached and suffering
Jemima Dodd.
LETTER VIII. JAMES DODD TO LORD GEORGE TIVERTON, M. P., POSTE RESTANTE, BREGENZ.
Hotel of All Nations, Baths of Homburg.
My dear Tiverton,--You often said I was a fellow to make a spoon or spoil a--something which I have forgotten--and I begin to fancy that you were a better prophet than that fellow in ”Bell's Life” who always predicts the horse that does _not_ win the Oaks. When we parted a few days ago, my mind was resolutely bent on becoming another Metternich or Palmerston. I imagined a whole life of brilliant diplomatic successes, and thought of myself receiving the freedom of the City of London, dining with the Queen, and making ”very pretty running” for the peerage.
What will you say, then, when I tell you that I despise the highest honors of the entire career, and would n't take the seals of the Foreign Office, if pressed on my acceptance this minute? To save myself from even the momentary accusation of madness, I 'll give you--and in as few words as I can--ray explanation. As I have just said, I set out with my head full of Amba.s.sadorial ambitions, and jogged along towards England, scarcely noticing the road or speaking to my fellow-travellers. On arriving at Frankfort, however, I saw nothing on all sides of me but announcements and advertis.e.m.e.nts of the baths of Homburg,--”The last week of the season, and the most brilliant of all.” Gorgeous descriptions of the voluptuous delights of the place--lists of distinguished visitors, and spicy bits of scandal--alternated with anecdotes of those who had ”broke the bank,” and were buying up all the chateaux and parks in the neighborhood. I tried to laugh at these pictorial puffs; I did my best to treat them as mere humbugs; but it would n't do. I went to bed so full of them that I dreamed all night of the play-table, and fancied myself once again the terror of croupiers, and the admired of the fas.h.i.+onable circle in the _salon_. To crown all, a waiter called me to say that the carriage I had ordered for the baths was at the door. I attempted to undeceive him; but even there my effort was a failure; and, convinced that there was a fate in the matter, I jumped out of bed, dressed, and set off, firmly impressed with the notion that I was not a free agent, but actually impelled and driven by destiny to go and win my millions at Homburg.
Perhaps my ardor was somewhat cooled down by the aspect of the place. It has few of the advantages nature has so lavishly bestowed on Baden, and which really impart to that delightful resort a charm that totally disarms you of all distrust, and make you forget that you are in a land of ”legs” and swindlers, and that every second man you meet is a rogue or a runaway. Now, Homburg does not, as the French say, ”impose” in this way. You see at once that it is a ”h.e.l.l,” and that the only amus.e.m.e.nt is to ruin or to be ruined.
”No matter,” thought I; ”I have already graduated at the green table; I have taken my degree in arts at Baden, and am no young hand fresh from Oxford and new to the Continent; I 'll just go down and try my luck--as a fisherman whips a stream. If they rise to my fly,--well; if not, pack up the traps, and try some other water.” You know that my capital was not a strong one,--about a hundred and thirty in cash, and a bill on Drummond for a hundred more,--and with this, the governor had ”cleared me out” for at least six months to come. I was therefore obliged to ”come it small;” and merely dabbled away with a few ”Naps.,” which, by dint of extraordinary patience and intense application, I succeeded in acc.u.mulating to the gross total of sixty. As I foresaw that I could n't loiter above a day longer, I went down in the evening to experimentalize on this fund, and, after a few hours, rose a winner of thirty-two thousand odd hundred francs. The following morning, I more than doubled this; and in the evening, won a trifle of twenty thousand francs; when, seeing the game take a capricious turn, I left off, and went to supper.
I was an utter stranger in the place, had not even a pa.s.sing acquaintance with any one; so that, although dying for a little companions.h.i.+p, I had nothing for it but to order my roast partridge in my own apartment, and hobn.o.b with myself. It is true, I was in capital spirits,--I had made glorious running, and no mistake,--and I drank my health, and returned thanks for the toast with an eloquence that really astonished me. Egad, I think the waiter must have thought me mad, as he heard me hip, hipping with ”one cheer more,” to the sentiment.
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I suppose I must have felt called on to sing; for sing I did, and, I am afraid, with far more zeal than musical talent; for I overheard a t.i.ttering of voices outside my door, and could plainly perceive that the household had a.s.sembled as audience. What cared I for this? The world had gone too well with me of late to make me thin-skinned or peevishly disposed. I could afford to be forgiving and generous: and I revelled in the very thought that I was soaring in an atmosphere to which trifling and petty annoyances never ascended. In this enviable frame of mind was I, when a waiter presented himself with a most obsequious bow, and, in a voice of submissive civility, implored me to moderate my musical transports, since the lady who occupied the adjoining apartment was suffering terribly from headache.
”Certainly, of course,” was my reply at once; and as he was leaving the room,--just by way of having something to say,--I asked, ”Is she young, waiter?”
”Young and beautiful, sir.”
”An angel, eh?”
”Quite handsome enough to be one, sir, I'm certain.”
”And her name?”
”The Countess de St. Auber, widow of the celebrated Count de St. Auber, of whom Monsieur must have read in the newspapers.”
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