The Martins Of Cro' Martin, Vol. II (of II)

lling any longer on a life whose daily monotony was unbrok

tract, that pathless region of fern and wild furze, that we love to linger, rambling half listlessly through silent glens and shady gorges, o

ey's Nest, the ornamented villa, on which her Ladyship had squandered so lavishly good money and bad taste, was now an inn! A vulgar sign-board, representing a small boat in a heavy sea, hung over the door, w

vulgar association. The merest stranger cannot but experience a sense of disgust at the contrast. Whichever way you turned, some object met the eye recalling past splendor and present degradation; inde

in a newly arrived traveller, whose wet and road-stained drapery bore traces of an Irish winter's day. "Mr. Scanlan told

sure to have a good fire in my bedroom. What an infernal climate! It has rained since the day I landed at Dublin; an

em; but I'll get real Irish sashes put up next season, if I live. It was a fanc

r, then,-the Martins

the estate. There isn't a mother's son of us might n't be in jail; and it's not Maurice's fault, either,-Mr. Scanlan's, I mean. Your honor's a friend of his, I believe,"

state better when they lived

d Griddle' in John Street; but I believe, if the truth was told, it was always pretty much the same. They were

their prese

t chap in the dragoons-the Captain they call him-sells a farm, or a plot of ground, just the way ye 'd tear a leaf out of

miration, the skilful management by which Scanlan skimmed along the strand, zigzagging his smart nag through

hey have only witnessed them as the gifts of guardsmen and "young squires of high degree," never suspecting that in the country a very inferior class is often endowed with these skilful arts. Mr. Merl

n, with a profound bow, as he entered the room; "bu

is a zephyr to it. I 'd not live in this clim

a searching glance, as though to say, "Don't lose your time trying to humbug me; I'm 'York,' too." Indeed, there was species of freemasonry in the looks that now

e you can stay as long as you like, and nobody the wiser; but in the town of Oughterard they'd be at you morning, noon, and nig

ht; only this place does loo

to be sure," said Sc

ere is a se

to be got before twelve o'clock. 'T is the height of fashion comes down here in July,-the Rams of Kiltimmon, and the Bodkins of Crossmaglin;

ay?" as

re is; whist every ni

with which the Great Napoleon repeated the words "Bows and

his trim, Mr. Scanlan," said he

reverting to the habit of respect at any fresh display of the ot

d the summons, and whispered

know who and what he is, that must always have the best that 's going?" Then turning to Merl, he added: "It's a lodger he has upstairs; an

ell," said Toby,

on, I find, and left us to d

oby; "and it would be as much as m

's alon

e with him. He's making drawings for him o

once," said Maurice, angrily. "The bas

for you; and barrin' the fish y

shed their fare like hungry men; nor, time

on an equality when, the dinner over and the door closed, they drew the

all," said Merl, as he gazed admiringly on the

of course, you've seen a deal of life; and when I say

was always my 'line.' I fancy there's few fellows going have

?" asked Maurice

of close intimacy,-friendship, I may say,-it 's all very well; but take a new hand just launched into lif

hey do?" asked Sc

at him, live on him, win his last

t he get a cr

wha

ot at some of them, at

l, half contemptuously

said Scanlan, "devil may care who o

to the Sandwich Islands," said Merl, on whose brain the po

he other checked the reply he was about to make,

tanhope's and mine. There, we are all young fellows of fortune, good family, good prospects, you understand,-no, thank you, no more wine;-I feel that what I 've taken ha

ice. "There 's enough here"-and he pointed to the bottles on the tabl

g his drapery gracefully around him, he closed his eyes, and before Ma

tected that the port was, with the addition of a great fire, too much for him; he recognized in himself certain indications of confusion that implied wandering and uncertain faculties, and he resolved to arrest the progress of such symptoms by a little repose. He felt, in s

sy to see that the investigation puzzled him. Mr. Merl did not belong to any one category he had ever seen before. Maurice was acquainted with various ranks and conditions of men; but here was a new order, not referable to any known class. He opened Captain Martin's letter, which he carried in his pocket-book, and re-read it; but it was vague and uninstructive. He merely requ

f him for the agency?"-and Maurice flushed as the suspicion crossed him,-"or is it after Miss Mary he is?" And a sudden paleness covered his face at the thought. "I 'd give a cool hundred, this minute, if I could read you," said he to himself, "Ay, and I'd no

, in a low voice. "Come in, an

gaze on the recumbent figure before him, which

ou think of him?"

ell; you see the very image of him in the old Venetian pictures. Whenever they wa

right, Simmy," said Scanlan, o

l lips, and the coarse, projecting under-jaw. Faix!" said he to hims

!" said

. You know," added he, "if one took him in the historical way, you 'd get rid of the vulga

laced a chair beside his own for the artis

ld fellow in many respects, he's too abstemious; a pint of sherry for two at dinner, and a pint of port after, that's

s he?" ask

could tell m

a notion; nor

ands them well; ask him about foreign countries,-egad, he was everywhere. Ireland seems the only place new to him, and it won't be so long; for he goes among the people, and talks to them, and hears all they have to

d Scanlan, co

aurice; he's right. They

're a set of scheming, plotting vagabonds, that are unmanageabl

pologetically, for he liked the port, and did n

ever will," said Scanlan. "I defy an Englishman-I

erl's part here admonished

tever he is-is no fool! he 's deep enough; and yet there 's not

ldn't call him cute or cunning; but he's a sensibl

says, brings him h

and, if I understand him aright, where some of his ancestors came from; for, you see, at times he's not so easy for o

he world, pretending they want to see this an

nlan. "Twenty pounds! And he gave you that?" "This very evening. 'It is a little more than our bargain, Mr. Crow,' said he, 'but not more than I can afford

e last fortnight; and what's more, one must n't as much as allude to it. He gets angry at the slightest word that can bring the subject forward. It was the other day he said to myself, 'If you can relieve destitution without too much parade of its sufferings, y

climate is n't the best, and bad as it is, you 're never sure of it. All that anybody can hope to do is to make his living out of it; but as to improving it,-raising the intellectual standard of the people, and all that balde

dicts every word you say!" cried Crow, half angrily; for

exclaime

rl-a child the other day-has done more to raise the condition of the pe

om Scanlan was the insult

by that?" cried

table. I 'm not going to say one word against her intentions; but when I see the waste of thousands of pounds on useless improvements, elegant roads that lead nowhere, bridges that nobody will ever pa

="1

n hour, nursing typhus fever and cholera. The cloak she took off the door-for she left it there to dry-was still soaked with ra

nd,-we are all picturesque; I wish we were prosperous! But come, Simmy, finish your wine; it's not worth disputing

to say that they

tories that reach

e, and in a whisper scarcely breathed,

will soon discover his mistake; there are mortgages of more than eighty years' standing on the estate. You've had a gre

and stretching his legs. "I'm all ri

to you, sir,-a native artis

served it. You 'd rather gain a cause at the Quarter Sessions, or take in a

umored," said Scanlan, laughing. "Maybe h

is whiskers, and performed a small impromptu toilet before th

of dummy afterwards," said Sc

ho now seated himself with an air of bland amiability, ready, acc