Costello

“ Costello shone supreme. Her brisk, big figure, with skirts turned back, and a blue apron still further protecting them, was everywhere at once; laughter and encouragement marked her path. She wore a paper of pins on the breast of her silk dress, she had a tack hammer thrust in her belt. In her apron pockets were string, and wire, and tacks. A big pair of scissors hung at her side, and a pencil was thrust through her smooth black hair. She advised and consulted and directed; even with the priests it was to be observed that her mild, "Well, Father, it seems to me," always won the day. ”

“ Costello, exhausted and pale as death, lay trying to gather strength for thought and endurance, longing, yet dreading, to share with her daughter the miserable burden which was pressing out her very life. Lucia, half hidden by the curtain, sat pondering uselessly over the letter she had read; feeling a vague fear and a livelier curiosity. But a heart so ignorant of sadness in itself, and so filled at the moment with all that is least in accord with the prosaic troubles of middle life, could not remain long fixed upon a doubtful and uncomprehended misfortune. ”

“ Costello stooped down and kissed her child's forehead.
"I thought you might have had a brighter fate than that, darling. Perhaps I thought more of seeing you a happy woman than a good one; but if you are never to have the home I wished for you, you will find, at any rate, that a single woman's life may be full of usefulness and honour."
Ah! that brighter fate! Mrs. Costello thought of Maurice, and sighed for the loss to two lives. Lucia's heart still turned loyally to the one lover who had claimed it, but both knew that the "brighter fate" was no longer a possibility now. ”

“ If a man only breaks a window now he is a Fenian. If I could bring, or if I had only the means of bringing, witnesses from America, I would have established my innocence here without a probability of doubt. I would have brought a host of witnesses to prove that Costello was not the centre of a circle in 1866. ”

“ Costello led him into the great rush-strewn hall, where were none of the comforts which had begun to grow common among the gentry, but a feudal gauntness and bareness, and pointed to the bench in the great chimney; and when he had sat down, filled up a horn noggin and set it on the bench beside him, and set a great black jack of leather beside the noggin, and lit a torch that slanted out from a ring in the wall, his hands trembling the while ”

“ Costello had her work-table placed at the end nearest the river, and her rocking-chair beside it. Some knitting was in her hands, but she could not knit, for her ball of wool was being idly wound and unwound round her daughter's fingers.
Sitting on a footstool, leaning back against her mother's knee, was this daughter—a child loved (it could almost be seen at a glance) with an absorbing, passionate love. A girl of seventeen, just between child and woman, who seemed to have been a baby but yesterday, and who still, in the midst of her new womanly grace, kept her caressing baby ways. ”

“ Costello said, “You will ride on the seat outside, as his triumphant conqueror. You will outrival the gladiators of ancient Rome. You will listen to the plaudits of the multitude. Are you able to look fierce? ”

“ Costello. "What a dreadful girl!"
Her nephew was silent for some moments. "You really think, then," he began earnestly, and with a desire for trustworthy information—"you really think that—" But he paused again.
"Think what, sir?" said his aunt.
"That she is the sort of young lady who expects a man, sooner or later, to carry her off?"
"I haven't the least idea what such young ladies expect a man to do. But I really think that you had better not meddle with little American girls that are uncultivated, as you call them. You have lived too long out of the country. ”

“ That is one of the things I want you to decide for me."
"You cannot bear to live in a large town?" [Pg 258]
"Better now probably than I did years ago," Mrs. Costello said, with a faint smile. "I am more used now to a civilized life than I was then."
"I think your best security now, as then, would be found in a crowd—or if you dislike that, you might travel from place to place for a time."
"Are you strong enough for that, mamma?" asked Lucia. "If you are, it is surely the best plan."
"It is the best plan," Mrs. Costello answered, "because it would be a sufficient reason for our leaving here. ”

“ They mounted in an elevator [246] to a privileged room, where all sensations seemed mingled in the confusion of the awakening senses, where, for a moment, she was uncomfortably conscious of the dark, incongruous blot her sober attire made against the swarming flood of color. A waiter, unimpressed, was preparing a hostile answer when Costello himself came up with hand outstretched at the sight of Dangerfield. ”

“ As soon as the former lady had got better of her headache he waited upon her in her apartment; and, after the proper inquiries in regard to her health, he asked her if she had observed in the hotel an American family—a mamma, a daughter, and a little boy.
"And a courier?" said Mrs. Costello. "Oh yes, I have observed them. Seen them—heard them—and kept out of their way." Mrs. Costello was a widow with a fortune; a person of much distinction, who frequently intimated that, if she were not so dreadfully liable to sick-headaches, she would probably have left a deeper impress upon her time. ”

“ He stopped an old man and asked whose burying it was and whose people they were, and the old man answered: ‘It is the burying of Oona, Dermott’s daughter, and we are the Namaras and the Dermotts and their following, and you are Tumaus Costello who murdered her.’
Costello went on towards the head of the procession, passing men who looked at him with fierce eyes, and only vaguely understanding what he had heard, for now that he had lost the understanding that belongs to good health, it seemed impossible that a gentleness and a beauty which had been so long the world’s heart could pass away. ”

“ Yes, sir, you're a twenty-two karat gentleman; you're the first professor the freaks darsent josh!"
Von Barwig bowed his head. He was grateful to Costello; the man had made his hideous task almost bearable.
"Now I don't want to lose her and I don't want to lose you," Costello went on, "but things have got to go right, see? They've got to! You're one of them kind that can take a tip. Give her what she wants! What's the difference? You're a gentleman—she's a lady! She doesn't know any better!" ”

“ If he had but loved Lucia well enough to dare to take her with all her inherited shame, how richly he would have been rewarded when the cloud cleared away! Where would he find another like her? And now, since Maurice could change, who might ever be trusted?
No doubt these meditations were romantic. If Mrs. Costello had been the mother of half-a-dozen children—a woman living in the midst of a busy, lively household, where motherly cares and castle-buildings had to be shared among three or four daughters—she would not have had time to occupy herself so intensely with the affairs of any one. ”

“ Costello inspected the young couple again with her optical instrument. "He is very handsome. One easily sees how it is. She thinks him the most elegant man in the world, the finest gentleman. She has never seen anything like him; he is better, even, than the courier. It was the courier probably who introduced him; and if he succeeds in marrying the young lady, the courier will come in for a magnificent commission."
"I don't believe she thinks of marrying him," said Winterbourne, "and I don't believe he hopes to marry her." ”

“ Bellairs recollected the meeting with the squaw at the farm, and inquired whether Lucia then knew of her Indian descent.
"No," Mrs. Costello said, "that was one of the things which alarmed me. I did not tell her till some time after that; not, indeed, until after Bella's marriage."
"Poor child! and then for this terrible trouble to come! No wonder you are both changed."
"Do you think her changed?" Mrs. Costello asked in alarm. "She has been so brave." [Pg 180]
"She has grown to look much older and as if she thought too much; that is all. And that is no wonder." ”

“ At last a gentle wind blew towards Spain, and the crew rowed out to their schooner, singing Gaelic and Spanish songs, and lifted the anchor, and in a little while the white sails had dropped under the horizon. Then Costello turned homeward, his life gaping before him, and walked all day, coming in the early evening to the road that went from near Lough Gara to the southern edge of Lough Cay. Here he overtook a great crowd of peasants and farmers, who were walking very slowly after two priests and a group of well-dressed persons, certain of whom were carrying a coffin. ”

“ F. X., Senior, 'undertaker by profession and mayor by an immense majority,' shares his position of importance by reason of the charms of his numerous offspring. Mrs. Costello is, of course, the centre of interest, as she is of the Costello circle, which means all who come within range of her generous hand and kindly word. Yet no one remains unindividualized. A few vivid strokes, and the picture is complete. If an artistic hand adds another touch now and then, we are never made conscious of technique. ”

“ The skeleton looked wise and tapped his bony forehead with his bony fingers.
"Dippy," he articulated. "All musicians are dippy," he added.
The midgets looked serious, for they loved the professor. Tears started in the little lady's eyes; she expected a storm, for she was terribly afraid of Bosco.
"I do hope that Mr. Costello won't haul him over the coals," said the albino to the tattooed girl. "He's such a nice old guy!"
After the show Mr. Costello listened to Von Barwig's apology in silence, and silence meant a great deal of self-restraint for him. ”

“ Costello nothing happened to mar the harmony of his existence there. The curios were very fond of Von Barwig, and he took quite an interest in them. Poor, crippled human beings, the sadness of their existence aroused his sympathy; their very affliction earning a livelihood for them. Was life not a living hell for them?
He found on closer intimacy with them that it was not, for they enjoyed life after their own manner and were capable of real affection. The midgets always shook hands with him every evening when he came to play. ”

“ Costello lay down that night with a great feeling of content with regard to her daughter's future.
"Certainly," she thought, "Maurice may be satisfied with the affection she has for him; if it is not just the kind of love he wishes for, that is only because it has never entered her mind that he could be anything but a brother to her. ”

“ To Von Barwig's astonishment and embarrassment, Costello took a violent fancy to him, and would talk to him whenever a chance offered itself.
"Professor," he would say, "you're different from the gang that hangs around here. I like to talk to you; it does me good. You don't never try to give me no songs and dances about how much more you're worth than I'm paying you, and how much more you know than the day professor. You ain't forever talkin' about yourself." ”

“ Costello is not well."
"Mrs. Costello or Lucia? Upon my word, if Lucia is not breaking her heart, she ought to be, for Mr. Percy."
"Bella, I wish you would leave off talking such nonsense. Do you never mean to be wiser?"
"Never, my dear; it's hopeless. But confess, Elise, that you were very fidgety about Lucia, and heartily glad to get rid of your visitor. ”

“ Costello leaned a little more forward, and touched her daughter's arm.
"I must speak to you about this, Lucia," she said. "I do not want to be harsh, but you ought to know what you have done. And, good heavens! for what? A stranger, a mere coxcomb comes in your way, and you listen to his fine words, and straight begin to be able to see nothing but him, though the most faithful, generous heart a girl ever had offered to her is in your very hand! I was bad enough [Pg 208] —but I had no such love as Maurice's to leave behind me." ”

“ Costello looked at him and shook his head slowly: the man was touched. That any one could express anything like affection or sentiment for the poor creatures in his curiously assorted collection was a marvel to him.
"Put it there, profess'," he said, and held out his hand to Von Barwig. "You're all right, profess'; you're all right, and your job is always open for you, rain or shine, summer or winter! You can always come back—good or bad biz—the job is yours for the askin'. There ain't nobody that can touch you in your line ”

“ His father, James Francis Costello, who became a captain in the 14th regiment 25 May 1803, was born in the barony of Costello, county Mayo, and died at an early age, leaving his wife and two children in impoverished circumstances. The son Dudley was educated for the army at Sandhurst, and received a commission from that college as ensign in the 34th regiment on 4 Oct. 1821, but his regiment being in India and continuing there, he was placed on half-pay on 27 Sept. 1823. He joined the 96th regiment on 29 Jan. ”

“ About 1838 Costello became foreign correspondent to the Morning Herald; in 1846 he became foreign correspondent of the Daily News; and during the last twenty years of his life he held the post of sub-editor of the Examiner. He wrote A Tour through the Valley of the Meuse (1845) and Piedmont and Italy, from the Alps to the Tiber (1859–1861) . Among his novels are Stories from a Screen (1855) , The Millionaire (1858) , Faint Heart never won Fair Lady (1859) and Holidays with Hobgoblins (1860) . He died on the 30th of September 1865. ”