“'Withering was finer than ever I heard him in the speech to evidence.
We have been taunted with our defensive attitude so suddenly converted
into an attack, and he compared our position to Wellington's at Torres
Vedras. The Chief Justice said Curran, at his best, never excelled it,
and they have called me nothing but Lord Wellington ever since. And now,
Dinah, to answer the question your impatience has been putting these ten
minutes: “What of the money part of all this triumph?” I fear much,
my dear sister, we are to take little by our motion. The costs of the
campaign cut up all but the glory! Hogan's bill extends to thirty-eight
folio pages, and there's a codicil to it of eleven more, headed
“Confidential between Client and Attorney,” and though I have not in
a rapid survey seen anything above five pounds, the gross total is two
thousand seven hundred and forty-three pounds three and fourpence. I
must and will say, however, it was a great suit, and admirably prepared.
There was not an instruction Withering did not find substantiated,
and Hogan is equally delighted with _him_, With all my taste for field
sports and manly games, Dinah, I am firmly convinced that a good trial
at bar is a far finer spectacle than the grandest tournament that
ever was tilted. There was a skirmish yesterday that I 'd rather
have witnessed than I 'd have seen Brian de Bois himself at
Ashby-de-la-Zouch. And, considering that my own share for this passage
at arms will come to a trifle above two thousand pounds, the confession
may be taken as an honest one.
“'And who is your young guest whom I shall be so delighted to see? This
gives no clew to him, Dinah, for you know well how I would welcome any
one who has impressed you so favorably. Entreat of him to prolong his
stay for a week at least, and if I can persuade Withering to come down
with me, we 'll try and make his sojourn more agreeable. Look out for
me--at least, about five o'clock--and have the green-room ready for W.,
and let Darby be at Holt's stile to take the trunks, for Withering likes
that walk through the woods, and says that he leaves his wig and gown on
the holly-bushes there till he goes back.'”
The next paragraph she skimmed over to herself. It was one about an
advance that Hogan had let him have of two hundred pounds. “Quite
ample,” W. says, “for our excursion to fetch over Josephine.” Some
details as to the route followed, and some wise hints about travelling
on the Continent, and a hearty concurrence on the old lawyer's part with
the whole scheme.
“These are little home details,” said she, hurriedly, “but you have
heard enough to guess what my brother is like. Here is the conclusion:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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