Respect for the memory of Major Dawson of course prevented the immediate marriage of Edward and Fanny; but the winter months passed cheerfully away in looking forward to the following autumn which should witness the completion of their happiness. Though Edward was thus tempted by the society of the one he loved best in the world, it did not make him neglect the duties he had undertaken in behalf of Gustavus. Not only did he prosecute his reading with him regularly, but he took no small pains in looking after the involved affairs of the family, and strove to make satisfactory arrangements with those whose claims were gnawing away the estate to nothing. Though the years of Gusty's minority were but few, still they would give the estate some breathing-time; and creditors, seeing the minor backed by a man of character, and convinced a sincere desire existed to relieve the estate of its encumbrances and pay all just claims, presented a less threatening front than hitherto, and listened readily to such terms of accommodation as were proposed to them. Uncle Robert (for the breaking of whose neck Ratty's pious aspirations had been raised) behaved very well on the occasion. A loan from him, and a partial sale of some of the acres, stopped the mouths of the greedy wolves who fatten on men's ruin, and time and economy were looked forward to for the discharge of all other debts. Uncle Robert, having so far acted the friend, was considered entitled to have a partial voice in the ordering of things at the Hall; and having a notion that an English accent was genteel, he desired that Gusty and Ratty should pass a year under the roof of a clergyman in England, who received a limited number of young gentlemen for the completion of their education. Gustavus would much rather have remained near Edward O'Connor, who had already done so much for him; but Edward, though he regretted parting with Gustavus, recommended him to accede to his uncle's wishes, though he did not see the necessity of an Irish gentleman being ashamed of his accent.
The visit to England, however, was postponed till the spring, and the winter months were used by Gustavus in availing himself as much as he could of Edward's assistance in putting him through his classics, his pride prompting him to present himself creditably to the English clergyman.
It was in vain to plead such pride to Ratty, who paid more attention to shooting than his lessons. His mother strove to persuade—Ratty was deaf. His “gran” strove to bribe—Ratty was incorruptible. Gusty argued—Ratty answered after his own fashion.
“Why won't you learn even a little?”
“I'm to go to that 'English fellow' in spring, and I shall have no fun then, so I'm making good use of my time now.”
“Do you call it 'good use' to be so dreadfully idle and shamefully ignorant?”
“Bother!—the less I know, the more the English fellow will have to teach me, and Uncle Bob will have more worth for his money;” and then Ratty would whistle a jig, fling a fowling-piece over his shoulder, and shout “Ponto! Ponto! Ponto!” as he traversed the stable-yard; the delighted pointer would come bounding at the call, and, after circling round his young master with agile grace and yelps of glee at the sight of the gun, dash forward to the well-known “bottoms” in eager expectancy of ducks and snipe. How fared it all this time with the lord of Scatterbrain? He became established, for the present, in a house that had been a long time to let in the neighbourhood, and his mother was placed at the head of it, and Oonah still remained under his protection, though the daily sight of the girl added to Andy's grief at the desperate plight in which his ill-starred marriage placed him, to say nothing of the constant annoyance of his mother's growling at him for his making “such a Judy of himself;” for the dowager Lady Scatterbrain could not get rid of her vocabulary at once. Andy's only resource under these circumstances was to mount his horse and fly.
As for the dowager Lady Scatterbrain, she had a carriage with “a picture” on it, as she called the coat of arms, and was fond of driving past the houses of people who had been uncivil to her. Against Mrs. Casey (the renowned Matty Dwyer) she entertained an especial spite, in consideration of her treatment of her beautiful boy and her own pair of black eyes; so she determined to “pay her off” in her own way, and stopping one day at the hole in the hedge which served for entrance to the estate of the “three-cornered field,” she sent the footman in to say the dowjer Lady Scatterbreen wanted to speak with “Casey's wife.”
When the servant, according to instructions, delivered this message, he was sent back with the answer, “that if any lady wanted to see Casey's wife, 'Casey's wife,' was at home.”
“Oh, go back, and tell the poor woman I don't want to bring her to the door of my carriage, if it's inconvaynient. I only wished to give her a little help; and tell her if she sends up eggs to the big house, Lady Scatterbreen will pay her for them.”