“We must not be interrupted, for I want to have a little talk with you. I have just parted with the Duke—”
“I know it,” broke in Dan, “I saw you shake hands; and it was that made me hurry downstairs to meet you.”
My father flushed up suddenly, and it was not till after a few seconds he was collected enough to continue.
“The fact is, Dan,” said he, “this gathering of the clans has been a most unlucky business, after all. There's no telling how it might have turned out, with favorable weather and good sport; but caged up together, the menagerie has done nothing but growl and show their teeth; and, egad! very little was wanting to have set them all by the ears in open conflict.”
MacNaghten shrugged his shoulders, without speaking.
“It's an experiment I 'll assuredly never try again,” continued my father; “for whether it is that I have forgotten Irishmen, or that they are not what they used to be, but all has gone wrong.”
“Your own fault, Watty. You were far too anxious about it going right; and whenever a man wants to usurp destiny, he invariably books himself for a 'break down.' You tried, besides, what no tact nor skill could manage. You wanted grand people to be grand, and witty people to be witty, and handsome people to look beautiful. Now, the very essence of a party like this is, to let everybody try and fancy themselves something that they are not, or at least that they are not usually. Your great folk ought to have been suffered to put off the greatness, and only be esteemed for their excessive agreeability. Your smart men ought not to have been called on for pleasantry, but only thought very high-bred and well-mannered, or, what is better still, well-born. And your beauties should have been permitted to astonish us all by a simplicity that despised paint, patches, and powder, and captivate us all, as a kind of domestic shepherdesses.”
“It's too serious for jesting about, Dan; for I doubt if I have not offended some of the oldest friends I had in the world.”
“I hope not,” said MacNaghten, more seriously.
“I am sadly afraid it is so, though,” said my father. “You know the Fosbrokes are gone?”