“I only know it is your due, sir,” said Repton. “Go now,—it is not too early; see this man, and let the meeting be of the briefest, for if I were to tell you my own mind, I'd say I'd rather he should reject our offer.”
“You are, I own, a little incomprehensible this morning,” said Massingbred, “but I am determined to yield you a blind obedience; and so I'm off.”
“I 'll wait breakfast for you,” said Repton, as he reseated himself to his work.
Repton requested Mr. Nelligan's permission to have his breakfast served in his own room, and sat for a long time impatiently awaiting Massingbred's return. He was at one time aroused by a noise below stairs, but it was not the announcement of him he looked for; and he walked anxiously to and fro in his chamber, each moment adding to the uneasiness that he felt.
“Who was it that arrived half an hour ago?” asked he of the servant.
“Mr. Joe, sir, the counsellor, has just come from Dublin, and is at breakfast with the master.”
“Ah! he 's come, is he? So much the better,” muttered Repton, “we may want his calm, clear head to assist us here; not that we shall have to fear a contest,—there is no enemy in the field,—and if there were, Val Repton is ready to meet him!” And the old man crossed his arms, and stood erect in all the consciousness of his undiminished vigor. “Here he comes at last,—I know his step on the stair.” And he flung open the door for Massingbred.
“I read failure in your flushed cheek, Massingbred; failure and anger both, eh?”
Massingbred tried to smile. If there was any quality on which he especially prided himself, it was the bland semblance of equanimity he could assume in circumstances of difficulty and irritation. It was his boast to be able to hide his most intense emotions at moments of passion, and there was a period in which, indeed, he wielded this acquirement. Of later times, however, he had grown more natural and impulsive; he had not yet lost the sense of pain this yielding occasioned, and it was with evident irritation that he found Repton had read his thoughts.
“You perceive, then, that I am unsuccessful?” said he, with a faint smile. “So much the better if my face betrays me; it will save a world of explanation!”