Part 91 (2/2)
”I suppose the sooner _we_ leave the better,” said Lady Lyle, whose interest in political affairs was very inferior to that she felt on personal matters.
”Skeff says that the 'Talisman' will take us on board,” said Sir Arthur.
”Yes,” said Skeff; ”Captain Paynter will be here by and by to take your orders, and know when he is to send in his boats for you; and though I feel a.s.sured my general directions will be carried out here, and that no public disturbance will take place, you will all be safer under the Union Jack.”
”And what of Tony Butler? When is he to arrive?” asked Bella.
”Tony,” said Skeff, ”is to arrive here to-night I have had a note from his friend M'Gruder, who has gone down to meet him, and is now at Salerno.”
”And who is his friend M'Gruder?” asked Lady Lyle, superciliously.
”A rag-merchant from Leghorn,” said Skeff; ”but Tony calls him an out-and-out good fellow; and I must say he did n't take five minutes to decide when I told him Tony was coming up from Cava, and would be glad to have his company on the road.”
”These are, of course, exceptional times, when all sorts of strange intimacies will be formed; but I _do_ hope that Tony will see that his altered circ.u.mstances as to fortune require from him more care in the selection of his friends than he has. .h.i.therto been distinguished for.”
”Don't trouble yourself about that, my dear,” said Sir Arthur; ”a man's fortune very soon impresses itself on all he says and does.”
”I mistake him much,” said Bella, ”if any wealth will estrange him from one of those he cared for in his humbler days. Don't you agree with me, Alice?”
Alice made no reply, but continued to gaze at the s.h.i.+ps through a gla.s.s.
”The danger is that he'll carry that feeling to excess,” said Skeff; ”for he will not alone hold to all these people, but he 'll make you and me hold to them too.”
”That would be impossible, perfectly impossible,” said my Lady, with a haughty toss of her head.
”No, no; I cannot agree to go that far,” chimed in Sir Arthur.
”It strikes me,” said Alice, quietly, ”we are all of us deciding a little too hastily as to what Tony Butler will or will not do. Probably a very slight exercise of patience would save us some trouble.”
”Certainly not, Alice, after what Mr. Darner has said. Tony would seem to have thrown down a sort of defiance to us all. We must accept him with his belongings, or do without him.”
”He shall have me on his own terms,” said Skeffy. ”He is a n.o.ble savage, and I love him with all my heart.”
”And you will know his rag friend?” asked Lady Lyle.
”Ay, that will I; and an Irish creature, too, that he calls Rory,--a fellow of six feet four, with a voice like an enraged bull and a hand as wide as one of these flags!”
”It is Damon and Pythias over again, I declare!” said Lady Lyle. ”Where did he pick up his monster?”
”They met by chance in England, and, equally by chance, came together to Italy, and Tony persuaded him to accompany him and join Garibaldi. The worthy Irishman, who loved fighting, and was not very particular as to the cause, agreed; and though he had originally come abroad to serve in the Pope's army, some offence they had given him made him desert, and he was well pleased not to return home without, as he said, 'batin'
somebody.' It was in this way he became a Garibaldian. The fellow, it seems, fought like a lion; he has been five times wounded, and was left for dead on the field; but he bears a charm which he knows will always protect him.”
”A charm,--what is the charm?”
”A medallion of the Pope, which he wears around his neck, and always kisses devoutly before he goes into battle.”
”The Pope's image is a strange emblem for a Garibaldian, surely,” said Sir Arthur, laughing.
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