Roland Cashel

“ It was far more like Roland Cashel than Tom Linton.”
“Well, you remember he said—to be sure, it was after drinking a quantity of wine—'Master Roland and I may change characters yet. Let us see if he can play “Linton,” as well as I can “Cashel.”'”
“He's so deep, that I wouldn't say but there is something under all this.” And so they parted, sadly puzzled what interpretation to put on conduct, the mere result of a passing intemperance; for so it is, your “cunning men” are never reputed to be so deep by the world as when by some accident they, have forgotten their craft. ”

“ The result was, as Cashel ardently hoped, his complete vindication, and a telegraphic despatch brought tidings that he was already liberated, and on his way to Paris. While both Roland and Rica waited impatiently for the arrival of one whose assistance in their search would be so valuable, the most perfect good understanding grew up between them, and Cashel began to perceive how, beneath the vices which a life of reckless debauchery had created, there lay—inactive and unused for many a day—kindly feelings and warm affections for which he had never given him credit. ”

“ To Roland, the rattle of the gale, the hissing sea, the strained and creaking cordage, all, not only brought back old memories of his once life, but effectually seemed to dispel the colder mood of mind which admixture with the world of fashion had impressed upon him. He was again, if not in reality, in heart and spirit, the bold buccaneer that walked the Western seas, bursting with life, and eager for adventure. ”

“ Reward of £500.—Any person giving such information as may lead to the discovery of a young gentleman named Roland Cashel, who served for some years on board of various merchant vessels in the Levant, the African, and the West India trade, and was seen in New Orleans in the autumn of 18—, will receive the above reward. He was last heard of in Mexico, but it is believed that he has since entered the Chilian or Columbian service. ”

“ For years Roland Cashel had been a wanderer. He travelled every country of the Old World and the New; his appearance and familiarity with the language enabling him to assume the nationality of a Spaniard, and thus screen him from that painful notoriety to which his story was certain to expose him. Journeying alone, and in the least expensive manner,—for he no longer considered himself entitled to any of the property he once enjoyed,—he made few acquaintances and contracted no friendships. One object alone gave a zest to existence,—to discover Mr. ”

“ Heaven knows! My head is full; my heart, too, is not without its load. I wish you were here. I wish it for many reasons. I already begin to suspect you are right about the sudden effect a spring into wealth may produce; but I hope that all you said on that score may not be true. If I thought so, I 'd—No matter, I 'll endeavor to show that you are unjust, and that is better. Yours ever, Roland Cashel. Don Enrique da Cordova, Lieutenant of the Columbian frigate “Esmeralda.” Care of Messrs. Eustache et Le Moine, merchants, Havannah.
The next epistle which followed was far more brief. ”

“ Various were the comments and criticisms from those who surveyed her course; some, in wondering conjecture whither she was bound; others, not a whit better informed, boldly affecting some secret knowledge of her destination, and even, by such pretty pretension, assuming airs of superiority.
“She belongs to that rich young fellow, Roland Cashel,” said one of these, “who, by the way, is getting through his fortune tolerably fast. ”

“ Now depending for support upon his family, now hazarding his miserable means at play, he had lived a life of recklessness and privation,—nothing left to him of his former condition save the name that he had brought down to infamy!
CHAPTER XXXVII. ALL MYSTERY CEASES—MARRIAGE AND GENERAL JOY “The end of all.”
What a contrast did Roland Cashel's life now present to the purposeless vacuity of his late existence! Every hour was occupied; even to a late period of each night was he engaged by cares which seemed to thicken around him as he advanced. ”

“ Worse still, Roland,—and faith I don't think I could make the confession, if a few hours, or a few days more, were not to hide my shame in a felon's grave,—I played the jewels you sent here for Maritaña. She refused them with words of bitterness and anger. Partly from the irritated feeling of the moment, partly from the curse of a gambler's spirit,—the hope to weary out the malice of fortune,—I threw them on the monte-table. Of course I lost. It was soon after this Barcelonetta was laid in ruin by a shock of earthquake, the greatest ever experienced here. ”

“ Each day he exhibits more and more of those qualities which bespeak far more goodness of heart than intellectual training or culture. His waywardness and eccentricity might seriously damage his own party,—could he even be taught that he had one,—and become terrible weapons in the hands of the enemy. I was speaking of Cashel, my Lord,” said Linton, as it were answering the look of inquiry in the old man's face.
“I hate him, sir,” said the old peer, with a bitterness of voice and look that well suited the words. ”

“ Kenny-feck and her elder daughter pass out into the garden, weary of long waiting; when, at last, she heard Roland's hasty step as he traversed the hall, and, hurrying upstairs, entered the drawing-room.
Drawn by an attraction there is no explaining, she left her room, and took up her position in a small boudoir which adjoined the drawing-room. Here she sat, persuading herself she was at her work; but, in reality, in a state of suspense not very inferior to some prisoner while a jury is deliberating on his fate. ”

“ Mrs. Leicester White deferred her departure to oblige Mr. Howie, who was making a series of sketches for the “Pictorial Paul Pry,” showing not only the various façades of Tubbermore House, but several interesting “interiors:” such as the “Ball-room, when the fatal tidings arrived:” “Dressing-room of Roland Cashel, Esq., when entered by the Chief Justice and his party;” the most effective of all being a very shadowy picture of the “Gap of Ennismore—the scene of the murder;” ”

“ He had been often told how gladly Government favors the possessor of fortune and influence. “Now,” thought he, “is the time to test the problem. All of mine is at their service, if they but liberate my poor comrade.”
So saying to himself, he had just reached the hall, when the sound of wheels approached the door. A carriage drew up, and Linton, followed by Mr. Hoare, the money-lender, descended.
“Oh, I had entirely forgotten this affair,” cried Cashel, as he met them; “can we not fix another day?”
“Impossible, sir; I leave town to-night.” ”

“ Cashel,” said Lady Kilgoff; “chance is about to do for us what all our skill would have failed in. Here are two worthy people who will not hear your name mentioned, and who now must consent, not alone to hear, but see you in person. I am quite convinced you never did or could have injured them. Stand forward, Mr. Corrigan, and make your charge.”
“I will save that gentleman the pain of accusing me,” said Roland, with deep emotion. “I have injured him deeply, but yet unwittingly. ”

“ I hope you will be a more careful depositary than you have been hitherto.”
“And where is Linton?” cried Roland, his passionate eagerness for revenge mastering every other feeling.
“Still your guest. He dines and does the honors of your board to-day, as he did yesterday, and will to-morrow.”
“Nay, by my oath, that he will never do more! The man is no coward, and he will not refuse me the amende I 'll ask for.”
“Were he on board, it is a loop and a leap I 'd treat him to,” said Enrique.
“So should I, perhaps,” said Cashel, “but the circumstances change with the place. ”

“ Some years passed over, and the name of Roland Cashel ceased to be uttered, or his memory even evoked, in that capital where once his wealth, his eccentricities, and his notoriety had been the theme of every tongue. A large neglected-looking house, with closed shutters and grass-grown steps, would attract the attention of some passing stranger to ask whom it belonged to, but the name of Mr. ”

“ Roland went on; “the more certainly that I am rich. I know her well; the rank, the station, the thousand flatteries that wealth bestows, would be things for her mockery if unallied with power.”
“You are wrong, quite wrong,” said Tiernay; “her ambition is of a different order. Mary Leicester—”
“Mary Leicester!” echoed Cashel; and, in his suddenly awakened look, Tiernay at once perceived that some mistake had occurred. Hoare relieved the awkwardness of the moment as he said,—
“This wants but your signature, sir, and the matter is finished.” ”

“ Here again Cashel discovered that he was a person of notoriety, and as, notwithstanding all Mr. Downie Meek's precaution, the “lasso” story had got abroad, the most wonderful versions of the incident were repeated on every side.
“How did you say he effected it, Mr. Linton?” said the old deaf Countess of Dumdrum, making an ear-trumpet of her hand.
“By doing what Mr. Meek won't do with the Catholics, my Lady,—taking the bull by the horns.”
“Don't you think he found conciliation of service besides?” suggested Mr. Meek, with an angelic simplicity.
“Isn't he handsome! how graceful! ”

“ Roland bowed coldly, and said,—
“May I ask to be left alone?”
“Of course, sir; we have neither the right nor the inclination to obtrude ourselves upon you. I ought to mention, perhaps, that if you desire to confer with any friends—”
“Friend!” echoed Cashel, in bitter derision; “such friends as I have seen around my table make the selection difficult.” ”

“ If there be certain minds to whom the very air they breathe is doubt, there are others to whom distrust is absolute misery. Of these latter Cashel was one. Nature had made him frank and free-spoken, and the circumstances of his early life had encouraged the habit. To nourish a grudge would have been as repulsive to his sense of honor as it would be opposed to all the habits of his buccaneering life. To settle a dispute with the sword was invariably the appeal among his old comrades ”

“ At length, perceiving that he did not speak, he himself turned towards the stranger, and said,—
“You are, doubtless, a man of the world, sir, and need no apologies for my remarking that good news demands a scrutiny not less searching than its opposite. As the friend of Senhor Cashel,”—here he turned a glance beneath his heavy brows at the youth, who, however, seemed not to notice the word,—“as his friend, I repeat, deeply interested in whatever affects him, I may, perhaps, be permitted to ask the details of this very remarkable event.” ”

“ Corrigan passed his hand across his brow, as if to clear away some terrible imagination, and sat then pale, silent, and attentive, as Linton went on,—
“The most heartless is yet to come! While this old man lies stretched upon his bed—insensible and dying—this is the time Cashel selects to give a great entertainment, a ball, to above a thousand people. ”

“ I will tell you my reasons, you shall own them to be sufficient.”
“When are we to meet again?” said Roland, as he moved slowly towards the door.
“There it is again!” cried she, in a voice of actual terror; and Cashel opened the window and sprang out; but even the slight delay in unfastening the sash prevented his overtaking the intruder, whoever he might be, while, in the abundance of evergreens about, search was certain to prove fruitless.
“Good-bye,” said she, endeavoring to smile; “you are too proud and high of spirit, if I read you aright, to return to a theme like this.” ”

“ From this window I could see him each time.”
“Indeed,” said Roland, remembering the figure Mary had seen before the window.
“You know my opinion of this man already. He never moves without a plan; and a plan, with him, is ever a treachery.”
“He avoids me strangely; we rarely meet now,—never by any chance alone. And even before others there is a forced gayety in his manner that all his artifice cannot pass off for real.” ”

“ Ay, Roland; and if wealth had not blinded you so effectually, you had soon seen through the counterfeit. As Giovanni, I saw your daily life,—the habits of your household; the sterling worth and fidelity of the men you made your friends; and let me tell you, Cashel, our old associates of the Villa de las Noches were men of unblemished honor compared with those well-bred companions of your prosperity. ”

“ Wherever the eye turned, from the dark parterre below, to the highest boxes above, seemed filled with people. There was something almost solemn in that vast concourse, who sat subdued and silent in the misty half light of the theatre. The intense anxiety of expectation, the dreary gloom of the scene, contributed to spread a kind of awestruck influence around, and brought up to Roland's memory a very different place and occasion—when, himself the observed of all observers, he stood in the felons' dock. ”

“ As for myself, whenever I read in the papers of meetings to petition Parliament to repeal this or redress that, in the name of 'Justice to Ireland,' I ask, why does nobody pray for the recall of the Dean of Drumcondera?”
“Here's mamma,” whispered Olivia, as the drawing-room door opened.
“We've done the Dean, mamma,” said Miss Kennyfeck, with calm composure.
“Well, don't you feel that you love him already? Mr. Cashel, confess that you participate in all my raptures. Oh dear! I do so admire talent and genius,” exclaimed Mrs. Kennyfeck, theatrically. ”