Before the fire-place, at a convenient distance, stood a round table, covered with the relics of the evening-meal. Drinking-cups are there, and flagons, and it would seem that in that squat, flat-sided, long-necked bottle, there is some precious and much-esteemed liquor, from the tall glasses, gilt and bedizened, which stand by, and can never be destined for the conveyance of any unworthy fluid. Between the table and the fire, so near the former that the elbow could rest comfortably upon it, sat the good knight the master of the house, and his young kinsman; and between them, again, and the chimney, lay a large, shaggy hound, such as would have delighted the soul of a Landseer, or a Scott, and who may have been a remote connexion of one of those immortalized by Rubens. Stretched out like a trussed hare, with his paws before him, and his long muzzle gracefully leaning over the ankle next to the fire, the good dog seemed to be asleep; and, perhaps, had his head been in a position to accomplish such a feat, he might have nodded from time to time; but, nevertheless, he was evidently only in a state of pleasant drowsiness, for ever and anon he opened his keen eyes, and gazed into the fire, as if wondering what that extraordinary element could be, and twice lifted up his head, and looked in his master's face, to see that all was right, speedily settling himself down to his doze again.
It is a sweet and pleasant thing for two old, familiar friends to spend together a long hour after the sun has gone down, and when all the world is quiet, in a warm room, with a blazing fire, and with the moderate use of the pure juice of the grape to fill the intervals of conversation. No haste is upon them, no hurry, no hateful pressure of importunate business; there they can sit as long as they choose; it matters not whether they rise the next minute, or three hours hence. They are free--in short, free from the bondage of worldly affairs, and can do what they think fit with their little treasure of time. No liberty is more pleasant than the emancipation, from all the chains, and shackles, and bars, and bonds of business; and there, when Memory, sweet Memory, takes us by the hand, and leads us back into the flower garden of other years, and points out all the blossoming things that we loved, looking as fresh and beautiful as ever, how sweet are the sensations, how entrancing would they be, were it not for the subdued consciousness that it is all a part of the dream that is passing away.
Nor is the pleasure of such intercourse lessened when there exists some difference in age between the two companions. Youth brings its eager fancy, its bright expectations, its energetic rashness, to the mithridate; and Age its sober reason, its bright remembrances, its calm knowledge, and its tried powers. The party must never extend beyond two, however; a dog, indeed, you may admit, a friendly, faithful dog, the image of unbought attachment and unvarying love; but there must be no one else.
Thus had Sir Harry West and his young friend been passing the last hour--now turning their thoughts to the days when William Seymour was a mere boy, and, as the second son of a noble family, had been left greatly to the care of his maternal relations; now talking of those days of strange adventure, when, under the guardianship of the good knight, he had first mounted horse for the battle-field in that beautiful neighbouring island to which England has been "little more than kin, and less than kind"--when about half-past nine o'clock, which was, indeed, half an hour later than Sir Harry West's usual bed time in the country, the dog, who lay upon the hearth, gave signs of being awake by raising one ear perpendicularly from his head, without, however, moving from his place, or lifting his muzzle from his paw.
"He hears some sound without," observed his master, whose eyes had been fixed contemplative upon him.
"And yet," said William Seymour, who understood that he spoke of the dog, for he had been looking in the same direction, without any visible cause for his eyes being turned towards the animal, except that those of his friend were resting upon it, "and yet the rain is dropping so hard and heavily that I should suppose no sound from without but a very loud one, would drown its noise and the crackling of the fire, for ears that lie so near the blaze as his."
"They are quicker than our own even in youth," replied his friend; "it is wonderful how dogs will catch the lightest sound, and distinguish in a moment whether it is one they are accustomed to or not. They are learned in sounds, these triangular-headed gentry. See! he looks up; if it were a moonlight night, I should think some of the young neighbouring vagabonds had come to plunder the rookery or the dovecot."
As he spoke, the dog gazed in his master's face for a moment, as if for encouragement, and then gave a short growl.
"What is the matter, Mark'em?" asked the old knight, patting his head; and instantly the dog sprang forward into one of the bay-windows, with a loud, angry bark, which was repeated more fiercely still the next moment, when a thundering heavy blow upon the door of the house announced that some visitor sought admission.
"Down, Mark'em!--down!" cried Sir Harry West. "On my life, this is a stormy night for any one to venture out. Those blue-bottles of mine must not keep the man waiting, whoever he be;" and, advancing to the door of the room, he called loudly to several of the servants by name.