Lally

“ Young as she was, Miss Lally quite understood; she quite forgot all about his having been vexed with her a moment before.
'O Francie!' she cried, running to him and flinging her arms round him, in a way she sometimes did, as if he needed her protection; 'how could papa say so to you? Nobody could think you mean or cunning. It's only that you're too good. I'll tell Bess as soon as she comes in, and she'll tell papa all about it, then he'll see.'
'No, dear,' said Master Francis, 'that's just what you mustn't do. ”

“ What a cruel world it is; what a hard, wicked, misjudging, uncharitable, mercenary world! Thus Heather Dudley reflected, while, without waiting for Lucy or Leonard, she walked homewards with Lally, the hot tears filling her eyes and coursing down her cheeks as she recalled Mrs. Croft’s insulting words, as she came gradually to comprehend the full meaning of her insolent accusation. ”

“ From the Madras region, too, from India and outrageous Lally, the news are good. Early in Spring last, poor Lally,—a man of endless talent and courage, but of dreadfully emphatic loose tongue, in fact of a blazing ungoverned Irish turn of mind,—had instantly, on sight of some small Succors from Pitt, to raise his siege of Madras, retire to Pondicherry ”

“ Every day provisions were becoming more and more scarce, and notwithstanding the weakness of his garrison, Lally was compelled to select 200 French and 300 black soldiers, whom he contrived to despatch towards Gingi for succour; but they were all cut off, and thus he found himself worse than before.
The scarcity increased, and now gaunt starvation and death met the eye on every hand; a thousand scenes of horror and distress occurred daily within the walls of Pondicherry. The soldiers of Lally and the citizens were compelled to eat the flesh of elephants, camels, and troop-horses ”

“ At eight o'clock on the morning of the 16th July, Lally with a bitter heart ordered the standard of France to be hauled down on Fort St. Lewis, and at that hour Coote's grenadiers received the Villenour Gate from the Regiment de Lally, while those of the 79th Regiment took possession of the citadel. [2] Thus fell Pondicherry after a blockade and siege which Lally's skill and valour had protracted under a thousand difficulties for the long period of eight months, against forces treble in number to those he commanded. ”

“ Piggott, who, having made overtures to Heather, soon after that young lady’s marriage, had returned to her old dominions and reigned supreme at Berrie Down, over kitchen, and dairy, and larder. To Lally, nothing in the way of attention or amusement came amiss; from the feeding of the chickens to the milking of the cows, from bull’s-eyes to bonbons, 80from a tour round the premises, seated in a barrow wheeled by Ned, the odd man previously mentioned, to a gallop undertaken on the shoulders of that willing steed Alick, Lally was equally agreeable to, and gratified with all. ”

“ Stewart.
“She is not with us now,” explained Mrs. Dudley. “She was staying at the Hollow for some months before we left Hertfordshire, and Lally grew very fond of her. I cannot imagine why she so continually talks about her now, though; I do not fancy other children have such tenacious memories. Sometimes for weeks together she will never mention 63Bessie’s name, and then she breaks out as you see. I wish she would not do it. It is very bad for her, fretting so much after any one. Lally, my darling, you must be patient; whenever Bessie can come to see you, she will.” ”

“ Mr. Lally received information, that the detachment had been paraded, and suspected the service for which it had been intended. Such a proof of the opinion which the English army entertained of their own superiority, convinced him that it would soon be followed by some real blow of equal detriment, if they were not immediately convinced, that his own was capable of more than acting on the defensive. He resolved to attack their camp by surprize on the night of the 4th, and his dispositions were made with much skill and sagacity. ”

“ During this period the remonstrances which Lally sent frequently to France for succour, describe the deep anxiety he felt for the success of a cause in which his honour was implicated; and so keen and bitter did this feeling become, that at times, when aggravated by an illness incident to the climate, his reports and dispatches are remarkable for containing occasional sentences expressive of horror and distraction. ”

“ Though the form of the local government was not changed, controlling powers were vested in Lieutenant-General Count Lally, who was sent in command of this force, aided by a large staff of officers of high rank and reputation.
The character of Lally, from former services, stood high as a gallant soldier. He was, perhaps, skilled in European warfare, but he was wholly ignorant of the different modes and usages of that science in India; added to which, he was not of a temper to benefit by the experience of others ”

“ The following year saw the final fall of the French power in India. While Clive was securing Bengal, the breaking out of the Seven Years' War had renewed the hostilities in the Carnatic. On this occasion Lally was the champion of the French. But able and vigorous as a soldier, his ill-usage of the natives, his eager temper and satirical tongue, surrounded him with disaffection both among the Indians and his own troops. ”

“ The directors of the India Company went and asked M. d’Argenson to intrust to General Lally the king’s troops promised for the expedition. “You are wrong,” M. d’Argenson said to them; “I know M. de Lally; he is a friend of mine, but he is violent, passionate, inflexible as to discipline; he will not tolerate any disorder; you will be setting fire to your warehouses, if you send him thither.” The directors, however, insisted, and M. de Lally set out on the 2d of May, 1757, with four ships and a body of troops. Some young officers belonging to the greatest houses of France served on his staff. ”

“ I don't believe there's anything makes you feel so rich as skimming the cream does. You lift the thick skins and you can't bear to leave an atom. Except it is when you're hunting eggs and find two in a nest."
"No, no, now, Lally. I don't want you to. I'm useter it! 'Tain't nothin' at all. And I don't want your hands all roughed up!"
"I guess my hands can stand it if yours can."
"That's right, Lally," said her father. "Them old han's o' hern was as white as yours be once. Our han's hev growed old together, wife. With the wearin' o' years an' the wearin' o' work." ”

“ Lally Black—she had been christened Lalla by her romantic mother, after the heroine of Moore’s poem, but her name had lost its romantic sound through years of every-day use—approached her young husband, and softly laid her cheek against his. She stroked his hand gently as she said:
[84]
“It is I who am useless, Rufus. You ought to have married a rich wife instead of a poor little music-teacher. I’m afraid you’ll reproach me in your heart some day for marrying you—there, there, dear boy! I did not mean it. I know you will never regret our marriage, let what will be the result!” ”

“ Lally, putting himself at the head of the European cavalry on the right, set off with them, and taking a large sweep on the plain, came down, intending to fall upon the horse of the English army, which made their third line. The black horse, who were nine-tenths of this body, pretended to wheel, in order to meet the enemy's, but purposely confused themselves so much, that some went off immediately, which gave a pretext to the rest to follow them, and the 80 Europeans were left alone, who faced and drew up properly to receive the charge, relying on better assistance. ”

“ Dudley turned and walked back along the Parade to the point where Lally was still engaged in animated conversation with her two gentlemen friends.
“It is time for you to come in, my pet,” she said, descending one of the flights of wooden steps, and making her way with difficulty over the shingle to the sands. “If you see my sister, Mr. Stewart, would you kindly ask her to bring Leonard back? I do not like him to be out in the heat of the day. I do not think it is good for children to be on the shore when the sun has so much power.” ”

“ She seemed intended for a home fairy, to cheer and uphold and strengthen a kindly, loving husband; to gather little children of her own to her breast; [163] and good Mrs. Peters could not help praying that such might be Lally’s destiny.
When the young mistress of Heather Hills had changed her black bombazine traveling dress for a black lustreless silk trimmed heavily with crape, and provided with white crape ruffles at the throat, and had put on her jet jewelry, she was ready for dinner. ”

“ Lally farmed out the plunder and ransom of the town for 200,000 rupees to Fischer, the commander of the French hussars; stipulating, that if the profit exceeded 100,000 rupees, a proportional addition was to be made to the public fund. Hitherto the conduct of Mr. Lally had been free from the reproach of those pecuniary views, which he continually imputed without distinction to every one in the service of the French company; but this agreement gave them no slight pretence to retort peculation on himself, as going shares with Fischer in the profits of Nagore. ”

“ Mr. Croft was present; but from him, Alick Dudley kept aloof. Even amongst the moss-grown headstones in Fifield graveyard, he could not forget what he had seen amidst the tombs at North Kemms.
He would not break faith with Bessie; but he could not be cordial to the man, although he had been kind to Heather and fond of Lally.
Alick was able, perhaps, now to guess the reason of his fancy for the child; but that did not soften him much towards the offender.
Rather the reverse, possibly; young people are, like most women, apt to be a trifle intolerant. ”

“ The events upon the coast subsequent to the siege of Madras do not relate to our subject. Suffice it to say, that, after some indecisive operations in 1759, Lally, next year, suffered a signal defeat at Wandewash, from an English army under the command of Colonel Coote. He was soon after compelled to shut himself up with the remains of his army in Pondicherry, which was immediately invested by the English. Before this period, the increased irritability of his temper had led to discontent in the local government, and among the inhabitants of that settlement, almost amounting to sedition. ”

“ WOMAN TO WOMAN. Feminine curiosity, we may take it for granted, is sometimes less keen than feminine grief. If it were otherwise, in what way, I pray you, should any one account for the fact, that some weeks passed away, from the night of Lally’s death, without Heather Dudley knowing all the particulars of Bessie’s existence from the hour when she left Berrie Down, till she reappeared in Lincoln’s Inn Fields? ”

“ Have you any message for my wife? she will be certain to inquire whether you sent her one.”
“Lally’s love give her,” said the child, who was now all excitement at the bustle, and the noise, and the steam, and the number of the people, and the general variety,—“Lally’s love—and a tiss;” and she kissed the tall gentleman, spite of his bushy whiskers and bristling moustache, both articles which ordinarily tried her equanimity and temper not a little.
288“That child will never be better,” was Mr. Plimpton’s summary of Lally’s state on his return home. ”

“ The young folks at Berrie Down Hollow, however, who had no secrets and no plans, found her capital company. Even Lally was not more tireless than she. Ever ready to go out to walk, to inspect the poultry-yard, to try her hand at butter-making, to gather flowers and group them into bouquets, to shake the cherry-trees, to carry Lally into the Hollow and hide her among the blackberry bushes, to smother the child in armfuls of freshly-mown grass, to lead the way, fleet of foot, to the meadows, where the haymakers were at work, to don with demurest air a 124snowy apron, and help Mrs. ”

“ Which Muff did—greatly to her credit, as I consider.
A dozen times in an hour the cat was roused from her slumber, with invariably the same result; and, sleepy or not sleepy, she was always expected, if Lally wished that she should do so, to fold her 149paws, lie quiet, put down her head, commence purring, and so wander into dreamland once again.
“Poor pussens, poor tittens, poor Muff!” and so mistress and cat would fall to rest, mutually caressing each other; and sometimes Bessie, watching the pair, would turn her head aside and cry silently. ”

“ My glasses don't noways fit my eyes—"
"Now, father! It ain't likely but Lally's seen enough of the folks that can read them books. She don't love us because we can read books or can't read 'em. She loves us because we're ourselves. I wouldn't own her if she didn't!"
"That's jest it. You'll be gittin' put out 'ith her, an' there'll be trouble—"
"Now, Sam, you go right back to the mowin'-field! ”

“ Croft ridiculed Heather’s anxiety about the little girl; how scornfully she would listen to Lally’s prattle; with what open contempt she watched the child sometimes struggling into Mr. Stewart’s arms, and beheld him fondling and caressing her, were things to be seen, not described.
A stately woman, who looked born to rule a 36nation of slaves, and seemed to regard every one with whom she came in contact, her husband included, as so much dirt under feet; a woman who would have been beautiful but for the expression of habitual bad temper on her face ”

“ It was Lallie who spoke. "How dare you speak to her like that? Oh, you----"
Mrs. Atwood covered her face with her hands and fled from the room.
"Listen to me, Lallie! Don't let her come between us."
He spoke in sobbing gasps and caught at one of Lallie's hands. She drew it away.
"She has not come between us," she said scornfully; "it is yourself. You might have told me that it had all been the worst thing possible, and I could have forgiven you. Who am I to judge a man? But not this. You went back on her. You put her to open shame before me. You are a coward, Mr. Ballinger." ”