Scanlan

“ Scanlan's pretensions an actual outrage. “She'll never forgive me for stating them, that's certain,” said he; “but will she do so if I decline to declare them, or worse still, leave them to the vulgar interpretation Scanlan himself is sure to impart to them?” While he thus hesitated and debated with himself, now altering a phrase here, now changing a word there, Captain Martin entered the room, and threw himself into a chair with a more than ordinary amount of weariness and exhaustion. ”

“ Massingbred, we might talk this way a twelvemonth, and never be a bit nearer our object than when we began,” said Scanlan, resolutely. “I want two things, and I won't take less than the two together. One is to be secured in the agency of the estate, under nobody's control whatever but the Martins themselves. No Mister Repton to say 'Do this, sign that, seal the other.' I 'll have nobody over me but him that owns the property.” ”

“ There's Scanlan sitting on a bench before the door. Call him up—tell him you accept his terms—let him start for London, post haste. With every speed he can master he 'll not be a minute too soon. Shall I call him? Shall I beckon to him?”
“Send a servant for him,” said Lady Dorothea, calmly, while she folded up the letter, and laid it on the table at her side. ”

“ I never forget a pledge.”
“Very well, sir; that's enough,” said Scanlan, speaking rapidly, and like one anxious to overcome his confusion by an effort. “We have just one thing to do. We must buy out Merl. Of course as reasonably as we can, but buy him out we must. What between his own short experiences of Ireland, and the exposure that any litigation is sure to bring with it, he's not likely to be hard to deal with, particularly when we are in possession, as I suppose we may be, through your intimacy with the Captain, of all the secret history of these transactions. ”

“ Scanlan, besides, would necessarily have a great deal in his power; he would be able to make many a concession to the poor people on the estate, retard the cruel progress of the law, or give them time to provide against its demands. Mary felt that she was in a position to exercise a certain influence over him ”

“ It's not every day in the week one has the good luck to get a peep into the enemy's brief, and this is exactly what you 'll find here.”
Massingbred stretched out his hand to take the book, but Scanlan quietly replaced it in his pocket, and, with a dry and very peculiar smile, said,—“Have a little patience, sir. We must go regularly to work here. You shall see this book—you shall examine it—and even retain it—but it must be on conditions.” “Oh, you may confide in me, Scanlan. Even if Mr. Merl were my friend,—which I assure you he is not,—I could not venture to betray you.” ”

“ Many men would have been struck by the changed aspect of the place,—silence and desolation where before there were movement and bustle; but Scanlan only read in the altered appearances around the encouragement of his own ambitious hopes. The easy swagger in which the attorney indulged while moving about the stable-yard declined into a more becoming gait as he traversed the long corridors, and finally became actually respectful as he drew nigh the library, where he was informed Miss Martin awaited him, so powerful was the influence of old habit over the more vulgar instincts of his nature. ”

“ Scanlan is a man over eighty, but erect and vigorous, and full of subtle cunning. It is to this man Honor turns in trouble and perplexity. He is no friend of hers—all her life she has been taught to look upon him as an evil man and a bad neighbor, who would do any harm that lay in his power to her or hers. ”

“ More than half the enmities of the world are mere misconceptions.”
“That's true!” said Scanlan, gravely. But his thoughts had gone on a very different errand from the theme in question, and were busily inquiring what effect all these changes might have upon his own prospects.
“And now for a matter of business,” said Mary, rising and taking her place at another table. “I shall want your assistance, Mr. Scanlan. There is a small sum settled upon me, but not payable during my uncle's life. I wish to raise a certain amount of this, by way of loan,—say a thousand pounds. ”

“ Scanlan dismounted and gathered him up, discharging his pistol at some country fellow who was rushing forward; they say the man has lost an eye. They got off, however, and, gaining the shelter of the Cro' Martin wood, they managed to escape at last, and reached this about six o'clock, their clothes in tatters, their horses lamed, and themselves lamentable objects of fatigue and exhaustion. Since that, no one but the doctor has seen Merl, and Scanlan only goes out with an escort of police. ”

“ Whether the interval be destined to be long or short, will, in great measure, depend upon yourselves.”
“That agrees with what Scanlan said the other day,” said Martin.
“Scanlan!” echoed her Ladyship, with most profound contempt.
“Who is this Scanlan?” asked Repton.
“There he comes to answer for himself,” said Martin. “The fellow drives neatly. See how cleverly he swept round that sharp turn! He may be 'at fault' about the world of politics; but, my word for it! he is a rare judge of a hack.” ”

“ Scanlan’s words of warning, he struck out vigorously to put a safe distance between himself and the drowning people, and was frightened almost out of his senses when he saw a powerful man spring out of the yawl, and make the most strenuous efforts to seize him. As quick as thought, Bob thrust the blade of his oar into the outstretched hands which closed upon it with a grasp of iron. ”

“ That's what Scanlan will do, take my word for it He 'll call us a low set of fellows, that have no position in society,—no acceptance anywhere.”
“But Massingbred is a gentleman born, and he won't be led astray by such a consideration.”
“It is exactly for that very reason that he will,” said the priest, stoutly. “It's a strange fact, but there 's no manner of man rates social advantages so high as he that has them by right, and without any struggle for them.” ”

“ At length he laid his hand upon Scanlan’s shoulder. “Come, James,” said he, “look up, man; don’t be so utterly cast down. You know the old saying, ‘Whilst there’s life, there’s hope.’”
“It’s kind of your honour to try and comfort me; but yours was always the good heart, and the kind one, and you never made the sight of your sunny face a compliment. But it’s no use—there’s no hope. The death’s on her handsome countenance.” ”

“ Martin would write to you himself, in the course of the week, fully and explicitly.”
“To whom was this said, sir?”
“To myself, miss; there is the letter.” And Scanlan drew from his pocket-book a very voluminous epistle, in Kate Henderson's hand. “This contains the whole of her Ladyship's instructions. How all the works are to be stopped,—roads, woods, and quarries; the townlands of Carrigalone and Killybogue to be distrained; Kyle-a-Noe the same. If a tenant can be got for the demesne, it is to be let, with the shooting over the seven mountains, and the coast-fishing too. ”

“ Merl felt, therefore, no ordinary reverence for Maurice Scanlan, a sentiment fully reciprocated by the attorney, as he beheld the gorgeous dressing-gown, rich tasselled cap, and Turkish trousers of the other.
“I thought I'd arrive before you, sir,” said Scanlan, with a profound bow, as he entered the room; “but I'm glad you got in first. What a shower that was!”
“Shower!” said Merl; “a West India hurricane is a zephyr to it. I 'd not live in this climate if you 'd give me the whole Martin estate!”
“I 'm sure of it, sir; one must be bred in the place, and know no better, to stand it.” ”

“ The chair I throwed at him was wasted, because Scanlan stepped aside and flattened the assassin with a left hook to the jaw. The big guy gives one yell and rushes out of the office.
"Who's your friend?" I asks the Kid, pointin' to the sleepin' beauty on the floor. ”

“ Scanlan's tandem came slinging along; and after various little dexterities amid stranded boats, disabled anchors, and broken capstans, drew up at the gate of the Osprey's Nest. When men devise their own equipage, they invariably impart to it a strong infusion of their own idiosyncrasy. The quiet souls who drag through life in chocolate-colored barouches, with horses indifferently matched, give no clew to their special characteristics ”

“ The furniture, less costly and rich than at Cro' Martin, was all marked by that air of propriety and comfort so observable in rich men's houses. There were the hundred appliances of ease and luxury that show how carefully the most trifling inconveniences are warded off, and the course of daily life rendered as untroubled as mere material enjoyments can secure. Scanlan sighed deeply, for the thought crossed his mind how was a girl brought up in this way ever to stoop to ally her fortune to a man like him? Was it, then, possible that he nourished such a presumption? ”

“ Oh, you men are horrid!" She gathers up her skirts and flashes Scanlan a look, "I thought you, at least, were different!" she whispers—and trips into the picture!
For about three minutes the Kid stands lookin' after her without sayin' a word. He acts like he has stopped one with his chin!
"The big English stiff!" he busts out finally. "What does he mean by comin' over here and gettin' me in a jam with my girl? I'll get that bird, though, believe me!" ”

“ Martin rose from his chair and advanced close to where Scanlan was sitting, then, fixing his eyes steadfastly on him, said,—
“Who commissioned you to make this proposition to me?”
“No one, upon my oath. There is not a man breathing who has ever so much as hinted at what I have just said to you.”
“I'm glad of it; I'm heartily glad of it,” said Martin, calmly reseating himself. “I'm glad there is not another fellow in this county your equal in impudence! ”

“ Notwithstanding all these very excellent and reassuring considerations, Maurice Scanlan could not overcome a most uncomfortable sense of awkwardness as Mary Martin entered the room, and saluting him with easy familiarity, said, “I'm quite ashamed of having made you wait, Mr. Scanlan; but I was in the village when I got my uncle's message. I find that he is not well enough to receive you, and if I can—”
“I'm sure it's only too much honor you do me, Miss Mary; I never expected to have the pleasure of this interview; indeed, it will be very hard for me to think of business, at all, at all.” ”

“ It was the other day he said to myself, 'If you can relieve destitution without too much parade of its sufferings, you are not only obviating the vulgar display of rich benevolence, but you are inculcating high sentiments and delicacy of feeling in those that are relieved. Take care how you pauperize the heart of a people, for you 'll have to make a workhouse of the nation.'”
“Sure, they're paupers already!” exclaimed Scanlan, contemptuously. “When I hear all these elegant sentiments uttered about Ireland, I know a man is an ass! ”

“ Nelligan stared with amazement at the effect his few words had produced, and then passed on; while the attorney muttered between his teeth, “Can he suspect me? Is it possible that I have betrayed myself?”
No, Maurice Scanlan. Be of good cheer, your secret is safe. No one has as much as the very barest suspicion that the pettifogging practitioner aspires to the hand of Mary Martin; nor even in the darkest dreams of that house's downfall has such a humiliation obtruded itself anywhere! ”

“ And then Scanlan, poppin' up from somewheres, jumps in front of Arthur, his face the color of that busted table, but his body as steady as the Rockies, as he plants himself there before the big guy, swingin' his head back easily before that tremblin' iron pole. The Kid throws his hands up in a fightin' position and dances from one foot to the other lookin' for a openin', like a guy with a pail of water tryin' to put out hell! Arthur hesitates, starin' wildly at the Kid, and then his face begins to change till it's almost human. ”

“ I shook it and Scanlan kissed it—a trick he stole from Van Ness.
The dinner and dance that night was a knockout! Film City is lit up like a plumber used to be on Saturday night, and the inhabitants is dressed like the people that poses for the ads of any cigarette over fifteen cents a pack. As usual, Miss Vincent had the rest of the dames lookin' like sellin' platers in stake race and, believe me, some of them society girls would have worried Venus. The Kid was so swelled up because she kept within easy call all night that he forgot his promise to fix up G. Herbert with Helen Dear. ”

“ We was talkin' to the doctor, when Miss Vincent come in—stands in the doorway for a minute lookin' like a swell picture in a punk frame, and comes to the Kid with a yours-for-keeps look in her eyes. Scanlan throws up his head like he's just thought of somethin'.
"Say!" he pipes through the bandages. "I know what that psychological moment thing is now—the doc has just been tellin' me. It seems," he says with a grin. "It seems I pulled one off here this afternoon!"
THE END
CHARLES ALDEN SELTZER'S WESTERN NOVELS May be had wherever books are sold. ”

“ Less than the twenty-two thousand we can't expect he'll take.”
“And how are we to raise that sum without Mr. Martin's concurrence?”
“I wish that was the only difficulty,” said Scanlan.
“What do you mean?”
“Just this: that in his present state no act of his would stand. Sure his mind is gone. There isn't a servant about him could n't swear to his fancies and imaginations. No, sir, the whole thing must be done amongst ourselves. I have eight thousand some hundred pounds of my own available at a moment ”

“ Not so Scanlan, who took his seat once more on his lofty “buggy,” and was soon spinning along the road at a pace of full twelve miles the hour.
As Repton drove back to Cro' Martin, he thought once, and not without humiliation, of his late lessons in statecraft to young Massingbred. “To fancy that I was instilling all these precepts at the very moment that he was countermining us. The young villain is a worthy son of his father! And how he will laugh at me, and make others laugh too! It will never do to drive him into opposition to us. ”