Upon a fair calculation of the profits of the ground, and from other items in the account, Nicholas Garraghty, Esq., appeared at last to be, not the creditor, but the debtor to Lord Clonbrony. He was dismissed with disgrace, which perhaps he might not have felt, if it had not been accompanied by pecuniary loss, and followed by the fear of losing his other agencies, and by the dread of immediate bankruptcy.
Mr. Burke was appointed agent in his stead to the Clonbrony as well as the Colambre estate. His appointment was announced to him by the following letter:—
To MRS. BURKE, AT COLAMBRE. DEAR MADAM, The traveller whom you so hospitably received some months ago was Lord Colambre—he now writes to you in his proper person. He promised you that he would, as far as it might be in his power, do justice to Mr. Burke's conduct and character, by representing what he had done for Lord Clonbrony in the town of Colambre, and in the whole management of the tenantry and property under his care.
Happily for my father, my dear madam, he is now as fully convinced as you could wish him to be of Mr. Burke's merits; and he begs me to express his sense of the obligations he is under to him and to you. He entreats that you will pardon the impropriety of a letter, which, as I assured you the moment I saw it, he never wrote or read. This will, he says, cure him, for life, of putting his signature to any paper without reading it.
He hopes that you will forget that such a letter was ever received, and that you will use your influence with Mr. Burke to induce him to continue to our family his regard and valuable services. Lord Clonbrony encloses a power of attorney, enabling Mr. Burke to act in future for him, if Mr. Burke will do him that favour, in managing the Clonbrony as well as the Colambre estate.
Lord Clonbrony will be in Ireland in the course of next month, and intends to have the pleasure of soon paying his respects in person to Mr. Burke, at Colambre.—I am, dear madam, your obliged guest, and faithful servant, COLAMBRE.
GROSVENOR SQUARE, LONDON.
Lord Colambre was so continually occupied with business during the two days previous to his coming of age, every morning at his solicitor's chambers, every evening in his father's study, that Miss Nugent never saw him but at breakfast or dinner; and, though she watched for it most anxiously, never could find an opportunity of speaking to him alone, or of asking an explanation of the change and inconsistencies of his manner. At last, she began to think that, in the midst of so much business of importance, by which he seemed harassed, she should do wrong to torment him, by speaking of any small disquietude that concerned only herself. She determined to suppress her doubts, to keep her feelings to herself, and to endeavour, by constant kindness, to regain that place in his affections which she imagined that she had lost. 'Everything will go right again,' thought she, 'and we shall all be happy, when he returns with us to Ireland—to that dear home which he loves as well as I do!'
The day Lord Colambre was of age, the first thing he did was to sign a bond for five thousand pounds, Miss Nugent's fortune, which had been lent to his father, who was her guardian.
'This, sir, I believe,' said he, giving it to his father as soon as signed—'this, I believe, is the first debt you would wish to have secured.'