CHAPTER XI. “A CONSULTATION.”
It was late in the night as Lord Lackington and his friends reached the villa, a good deal wearied, very jaded, and, if the confession may be made, a little sick of each other; they parted pretty much as the members of such day-long excursions are wont to do,—not at all sorry to have reached home again, and brought their trip of pleasure to an end. Twining, of course, was the same happy-natured, gay, volatile creature that he set out in the morning. Everything went well with him, the world had but one aspect, which was a pleasant one, and he laughed and muttered, “What fun!” as in half-dogged silence the party wended their way through the garden towards the house.
“I hope these little girls may not have caught cold,” said the Viscount, as he stood with Twining on the terrace, after saying “Good-night!”
“I hope so, with all my heart. Charming girls—most fascinating—father so amiable.”
“Isn't that Dunn's apartment we see the light in?” asked the other, half impatiently. “I 'll go and make him a visit.”
“Overjoyed to see you, greatly flattered by the attention,” chimed in Twining; and while he rubbed his hands over the enchanting prospect, Lord Lackington walked away.
Not waiting for any announcement, and turning the handle of the door immediately after he had knocked at it, the Viscount entered. Whether Dunn had heard him or not, he never stirred from the table where he was writing, but continued engrossed by his occupation till his Lordship accosted him.
“I have come to disturb you, I fear, Dunn?”
“Oh! Lord Lackington, your most obedient. Too happy to be honored by your presence at any time. Just returned, I conclude?”
“Yes, only this moment,” said the Viscount, sighing weariedly. “These picnics are stupid inventions; they fatigue and they exhaust. They give little pleasure at the time, and none whatever to look back upon.”
“Your Lordship's picture is rather a dreary one,” said Dunn, smiling.
“Perfectly correct, I assure you; I went simply to oblige some country folks of yours. The O'Reillys,—nice little girls,—very natural, very pretty creatures; but the thing is a bore. I never knew any one who enjoyed it except the gentleman who gets tipsy, and he has an awful retribution in the next day's headache,—the terrible headache of iced rum punch.”
Dunn laughed, because he saw that his Lordship expected as much; and the Viscount resumed,—
“I am vexed, besides, at the loss of time; I wanted to have my morning with you here.”
Dunn bowed graciously, but did not speak.
“We have so much to talk over—so many things to arrange—that I am quite provoked at having thrown away a day; and you, too, are possibly pressed for time?”
He nodded in assent.
“You can give me to-morrow, however?”
“I can give you to-night, my Lord, which will, perhaps, do as well.”
“But to-morrow—”
“Oh, to-morrow, my Lord, I start with Baron Glumthal for Frankfort, to meet the Elector of Darmstadt,—an appointment that cannot be broken.”
“Politically most important, I have no doubt,” said the Viscount, with an undisguised sarcasm in the tone.
“No, my Lord, a mere financial affair,” said Dunn, not heeding the other's manner. “His Highness wants a loan, and we are willing to accommodate him.”
“I wish I could find you in the same liberal spirit. It is the very thing I stand in need of Just now. In fact, Dunn, you must do it.”
The half-coaxing accent of these last words was a strong contrast to the sneer of a few seconds before, and Dunn smiled as he heard them.
“I fancy, my Lord, that if you are still of the same mind as before, you will have little occasion to arrange for a loan in any quarter.”
“Pooh! pooh! the scheme is absurd. It has not one, but fifty obstacles against it. In the first place, you know nothing of this fellow, or whether he can be treated with. As for myself, I do not believe one word about his claim. Why, sir, there's not a titled house in England has not at some period or other been assailed with this sort of menace. It is the stalest piece of knavery going. If you were to poll the peers to-morrow, you 'd not meet two out of ten have not been served with notice of action, or ejectment on the title; in fact, sir, these suits are a profession, and a very lucrative one, too.”
Lord Lackington spoke warmly, and ere he had finished had lashed himself up into a passion. Meanwhile Duun sat patiently, like one who awaited the storm to pass by ere he advanced upon his road.
“I conclude, from your manner, that you do not agree with me?” said the Viscount.
“Your Lordship opines truly. I take a very different view of this transaction. I have had all the documents of Conway's claim before me. Far more competent judges have seen and pronounced upon them. They constitute a most formidable mass of evidence, and, save in a very few and not very important details, present an unbroken chain of testimony.”
“So, then, there is a battery preparing to open fire upon us?” said the Viscount, with a laugh of ill-affected indifference.
“There is a mine whose explosion depends entirely upon your Lordship's discretion. If I say, my Lord, that I never perused a stronger case, I will also say that I never heard of one so easy of management The individual in whose favor these proofs exist has not the slightest knowledge of them. He has not a suspicion that all his worldly prospects put together are worth a ten-pound note. It is only within the last three months that I have succeeded in even discovering where he is.”
“And where is he?”
“Serving as a soldier with his regiment in the Crimea. He was in hospital at Scutari when I first heard, but since that returned to duty with his regiment.”
“What signifies all this? The fellow himself is nothing to us!”
Dunn again waited till this burst of anger had passed, and then resumed,—
“My Lord, understand me well. You can deal with this case now; six months hence it may be clear and clean beyond all your power of interference. If Conway's claim derive, as I have strong ground to believe it, from the elder branch, the estate and the title are both his.”
“You are a hardy fellow, a very hardy fellow, Mr. Dunn, to make such a speech as this!”
“I said, 'If,' my Lord—'If' is everything here. The assumption is that Reginald Conway was summoned by mistake to the House of Peers in Henry the Seventh's reign,—the true Baron Lackington being then an exile. It is from him this Conway's descent claims.”
“I'm not going to constitute myself a Committee of Privileges, sir, and listen to all this jargon; nor can I easily conceive that the unshaken possession of centuries is to be disturbed by the romantic pretensions of a Crimean soldier. I am also aware how men of your cloth conduct these affair to their own especial advantage. They assume to be the arbiters of the destinies of great families, and they expect to be paid for their labors,—eh, is n't it so?”
“I believe your Lordship has very accurately defined our position, though, perhaps, we might not quite agree as to the character of the remuneration.”
“How so? What do you mean?”
“I, for instance, my Lord, would furnish no bill of costs to either party. My relations with your Lordship are such as naturally give me a very deep interest in what concerns you; of Mr. Conway I know nothing.”
“So, then, you are simply moved in this present affair by a principle of pure benevolence; you are to be a sort of providence to the House of Lackington,—eh, is that it?”
“Your Lordship's explanation is most gracious,” said Dunn, bowing.
“Come, now; let us talk seriously,” said the Viscount, in a changed tone. “What is it you propose?”
“What I would suggest, my Lord,” said Dunn, with a marked emphasis on the word, “is this. Submit the documents of this claim—we can obtain copies of the most important of them—to competent opinion, learn if they be of the value I attribute to them, see, in fact, if this claim be prosecuted, whether it is likely to succeed at law, and, if so, anticipate the issue by a compromise.”
“But what compromise?”
“Your Lordship has no heir. Your brother, who stands next in succession, need not marry. This point at once decided, Conway's claim can take its course after Mr. Beecher's demise. The estates secured to your Lordship for life will amply guarantee a loan to the extent you wish.”
“But they are mine, sir; they are mine this moment. I can go into the market to-morrow and raise what amount I please—”
“Take care, my Lord, take care; a single imprudent step might spoil all. If you were to negotiate a mere ten thousand to-morrow, you might be met by the announcement that your whole property was about to be litigated, and your title to it contested. Too late to talk of compromise, then.”
“This sounds very like a threat, Mr. Dunn.”
“Then have I expressed myself most faultily, my Lord; nor was there anything less near my thoughts.”
“Would you like to see my brother? He shall call on you in Dublin; you will be there by—when?”
“Wednesday week, my Lord; and it is a visit would give me much pleasure.”
“If I were to tell you my mind frankly, Dunn,” said the Viscount, in a more assured tone, “I 'd say, I would not give a ten-pound note to buy up this man's whole claim. Annesley, however, has a right to be consulted; he has an interest only second to my own. See him, talk it over with him, and write, to me.”
“Where shall I address you, my Lord?”
“Florence; I shall leave this at once,—to-night,” said Lord Lackington, impatiently; for, somehow,—we are not going to investigate wherefore,—he was impatient to be off, and see no more of those he had been so intimate with.