"Lord Durrisdeer," said I, "it is very well known to you that I am a partisan in your family.""I hope we are none of us partisans," said he. "That you love my son sincerely, I have always been glad to recognise.""Oh! my lord, we are past the hour of these civilities," I replied.
"If we are to save anything out of the fire, we must look the fact in its bare countenance. A partisan I am; partisans we have all been; it is as a partisan that I am here in the middle of the night to plead before you. Hear me; before I go, I will tell you why.""I would always hear you, Mr. Mackellar," said he, "and that at any hour, whether of the day or night, for I would be always sure you had a reason. You spoke once before to very proper purpose; I have not forgotten that.""I am here to plead the cause of my master," I said. "I need not tell you how he acts. You know how he is placed. You know with what generosity, he has always met your other - met your wishes," Icorrected myself, stumbling at that name of son. "You know - you must know - what he has suffered - what he has suffered about his wife.""Mr. Mackellar!" cried my lord, rising in bed like a bearded lion.
"You said you would hear me," I continued. "What you do not know, what you should know, one of the things I am here to speak of, is the persecution he must bear in private. Your back is not turned before one whom I dare not name to you falls upon him with the most unfeeling taunts; twits him - pardon me, my lord - twits him with your partiality, calls him Jacob, calls him clown, pursues him with ungenerous raillery, not to be borne by man. And let but one of you appear, instantly he changes; and my master must smile and courtesy to the man who has been feeding him with insults; I know, for I have shared in some of it, and I tell you the life is insupportable. All these months it has endured; it began with the man's landing; it was by the name of Jacob that my master was greeted the first night."My lord made a movement as if to throw aside the clothes and rise.
"If there be any truth in this - " said he.
"Do I look like a man lying?" I interrupted, checking him with my hand.
"You should have told me at first," he odd.
"Ah, my lord! indeed I should, and you may well hate the face of this unfaithful servant!" I cried.
"I will take order," said he, "at once." And again made the movement to rise.
Again I checked him. "I have not done," said I. "Would God I had!
All this my dear, unfortunate patron has endured without help or countenance. Your own best word, my lord, was only gratitude. Oh, but he was your son, too! He had no other father. He was hated in the country, God knows how unjustly. He had a loveless marriage.
He stood on all hands without affection or support - dear, generous, ill-fated, noble heart!""Your tears do you much honour and me much shame," says my lord, with a palsied trembling. "But you do me some injustice. Henry has been ever dear to me, very dear. James (I do not deny it, Mr.
Mackellar), James is perhaps dearer; you have not seen my James in quite a favourable light; he has suffered under his misfortunes;and we can only remember how great and how unmerited these were.
And even now his is the more affectionate nature. But I will not speak of him. All that you say of Henry is most true; I do not wonder, I know him to be very magnanimous; you will say I trade upon the knowledge? It is possible; there are dangerous virtues:
virtues that tempt the encroacher. Mr. Mackellar, I will make it up to him; I will take order with all this. I have been weak; and, what is worse, I have been dull!""I must not hear you blame yourself, my lord, with that which Ihave yet to tell upon my conscience," I replied. "You have not been weak; you have been abused by a devilish dissembler. You saw yourself how he had deceived you in the matter of his danger; he has deceived you throughout in every step of his career. I wish to pluck him from your heart; I wish to force your eyes upon your other son; ah, you have a son there!""No, no" said he, "two sons - I have two sons."I made some gesture of despair that struck him; he looked at me with a changed face. "There is much worse behind?" he asked, his voice dying as it rose upon the question.
"Much worse," I answered. "This night he said these words to Mr.
Henry: 'I have never known a woman who did not prefer me to you, and I think who did not continue to prefer me.'""I will hear nothing against my daughter," he cried; and from his readiness to stop me in this direction, I conclude his eyes were not so dull as I had fancied, and he had looked not without anxiety upon the siege of Mrs. Henry.
"I think not of blaming her," cried I. "It is not that. These words were said in my hearing to Mr. Henry; and if you find them not yet plain enough, these others but a little after: Your wife, who is in love with me!'""They have quarrelled?" he said.
I nodded.
"I must fly to them," he said, beginning once again to leave his bed.
"No, no!" I cried, holding forth my hands.
"You do not know," said he. "These are dangerous words.""Will nothing make you understand, my lord?' said I.
His eyes besought me for the truth.
I flung myself on my knees by the bedside. "Oh, my lord," cried I, "think on him you have left; think of this poor sinner whom you begot, whom your wife bore to you, whom we have none of us strengthened as we could; think of him, not of yourself; he is the other sufferer - think of him! That is the door for sorrow -Christ's door, God's door: oh! it stands open. Think of him, even as he thought of you. 'WHO IS TO TELL THE OLD MAN?' - these were his words. It was for that I came; that is why I am here pleading at your feet.""Let me get up," he cried, thrusting me aside, and was on his feet before myself. His voice shook like a sail in the wind, yet he spoke with a good loudness; his face was like the snow, but his eyes were steady and dry.
"Here is too much speech," said he. "Where was it?""In the shrubbery," said I.
"And Mr. Henry?" he asked. And when I had told him he knotted his old face in thought.
"And Mr. James?" says he.
