Part 34 (1/2)

'No, no, I pray you not!' said Louisa, in reply to I know not what.

'Don't you hear my uncle?'

In her anxiety to press forward she had slightly disengaged her arm from mine as she spoke. At this instant a man rushed forward, and catching her hand, drew it rudely within his arm, calling out as he did so--

'Never fear, Louisa! you shall not be insulted while your cousin is here to protect you.'

She sprang round to reply: 'You are mistaken, Ulick! It is Mr. Hinton!'

She could say no more, for he lifted her into the carriage, and, closing the door with a loud bang, desired the coachman to drive on.

Stupefied with amazement, I stood quite motionless. My first impulse was to strike him to the ground; for although a younger and a weaker man, I felt within me at the moment the strength to do it. My next thought was of Louisa's warning not to quarrel with her cousin. The struggle was indeed a severe one, but I gained the victory over my pa.s.sion. Unable, however, to quit the spot, I stood with my arms folded, and my eyes riveted upon him. He returned my stare, and with a sneer of insufferable insolence pa.s.sed me by and walked upstairs. Not a word was spoken on either side; but there are moments in one's life in which a look or pa.s.sing glance rivets an undying hate. Such a one did we exchange and nothing that the tongue could speak could compa.s.s that secret instinct by which we ratified our enmity.

With slow, uncertain steps I mounted the stairs. Some strange fascination led me, as it were, to dog his steps; and although in my heart I prayed that no collision should ever come between us, yet I could not resist the headlong impulse to follow and to watch him.

Like that unexplained temptation that leads the gazer over some lofty precipice to move on, step by step, yet nearer to the brink, conscious of his danger, yet unable to recede; so did I track this man from place to place, following him as he pa.s.sed from one group to the other of his friends, till at length he seated himself at a table, around which a number of persons were engaged in noisy and boisterous conversation.

He filled a tumbler to the brim with wine, and drinking it off at a draught, refilled again.

'You are thirsty, Ulick,' said some one.

'Thirsty! On fire, by G----! You'll not believe me when I tell you--I can't do it; no, by Heaven! there is nothing in the way of provocation----'

As he said thus much, some lady pa.s.sing near induced him to drop his voice, and the remainder of the sentence was inaudible to me. Hitherto I had been standing beside his chair; I now moved round to the opposite side of the table, and, with my arms folded and my eyes firmly fixed, stood straight before him. For an instant or two he did not remark me, as he continued to speak with his head bent downwards. Suddenly lifting up his eyes, he started--pushed his chair slightly back from the table--

'And look! see!' cried he, as with outstretched finger he pointed toward me--'see! if he isn't there again!'

Then suddenly changing the tone of his voice to one of affected softness, he continued, addressing me--

'I have been explaining, sir, as well as my poor powers will permit, the excessive pains I have taken to persuade you to prove yourself a gentleman. One half the trouble you have put me to would have told an Irish gentleman what was looked for at his hands; you appear, however, to be the best-tempered fellows in the world at your side of the Channel. Come now, boys! if any man likes a bet, I'll wager ten guineas that even this won't ruffle his amiable nature. Pa.s.s the sherry here, G.o.dfrey! Is that a clean gla.s.s beside you?'

So saying, he took the decanter, and, leisurely filling the gla.s.s, stood up as if to present it, but when he attained the erect position, he looked at me fixedly for a second, and then dashed the wine in my face.

A roar of laughter burst around me, but I saw and heard no more. The moment before, and my head was cool, my senses clear, my faculties unclouded; but now, as if derangement had fallen upon me, I could see nothing but looks of mockery and scorn, and hear nothing save the discordant laugh and the jarring accent of derision.

CHAPTER XXVIII. THE INN FIRE

How I escaped from that room, and by what means I found myself in the street, I know not. My first impulse was to tear off my cravat, that I might breathe more freely; still a sense of suffocation oppressed me, and I felt stunned and stupefied.

'Come along, Hinton--rouse yourself, my boy! See, your coat is drenched with rain,' said a friendly voice behind me; while, grasping me forcibly by the arm, the Major led me forward.

'What have I done?' cried I, struggling to get free. 'Tell me--oh, tell me, have I done wrong? Have I committed any dreadful thing? There is an aching pain here--here in my forehead, as though----- I dare not speak my shame.'

'Nothing of the kind, my boy,' said Mahon: 'you've conducted yourself admirably. Matt Keane saw it all, and he says he never witnessed anything finer; and he's no bad judge, let me tell you. So, there now, be satisfied, and take off your wet clothes.'

There was something imperative in the tone in which he spoke; besides, the Major was one of those people who somehow or other always contrive to have their own way in the world; so that I yielded at once, feeling, too, that any opposition would only defer my chance of an explanation.

While I was thus occupied in my inner room, I could overhear my friend without engaged in the preparation of a little supper, mingling an occasional soliloquy with the simmering of the grilled bone that browned upon the fire--the clink of gla.s.ses and plates, and all the evidences of punch-making, breaking every now and then amid such reflections as these:--

'A mighty ugly business! nothing for it but meeting him. Poor lad, they'll say we murdered him among us! Och, he's far too young for Galway. Holloa, Hinton, are you ready? Now you look something reasonable; and when we've eaten a bit, well talk this matter over coolly and sensibly. And to make your mind easy, I may tell you at once, I have arranged a meeting for you with Burke at five to-morrow morning.'

I grasped his hand convulsively within mine, as a gleam of savage satisfaction shot through me.