“Why, Haire, you are almost as useful to him as Bozzy was to Johnson.”
Haire only caught the last name, and, thinking it referred to a judge on
the Irish bench, cried out, “Don't compare him with Johnston, sir; you
might as well liken him to _me!_”
“I must go and find Lucy,” said Lendrick. “I think she ought to go and
show Mrs. Sewell how anxious we all are to prove our respect and regard
for her in this unhappy moment; the poor thing will need it.”
“She has gone away already. She has removed to Lady Lendrick's house in
Merrion Square; and I think very wisely,” said Beattie.
“There 's some Burgundy below,--Chambertin, I think it is,--and Cheetor
won't know where to find it,” said Haire. “I'll go down to the cellar
myself; the Chief will be charmed to see it on the table.”
“So shall I,” chimed in Beattie. “It is ten years or more since I saw a
bottle of it, and I half feared it had been finished.”
“You are wrong,” broke in Haire. “It will be nineteen years on the 10th
of June next. I 'll tell you the occasion. It was when your father,
Tom, had given up the Solicitor-Generalship, and none of us knew who
was going to be made Chief Baron. Plunkett was dining here that day, and
when he tasted the Burgundy he said, 'This deserves a toast,
gentlemen,' said he. 'I cannot ask you to drink to the health of the
Solicitor-General, for I believe there is no Solicitor-General; nor
can I ask you to pledge the Chief Baron of the Exchequer, for I believe
there is no Chief Baron; but I can give you a toast about which there
can be no mistake nor misgiving,--I give you the ornament of the Irish
Bar.' I think, I hear the cheers yet. The servants caught them up, too,
in the hall, and the house rang with a hip-hurrah till it trembled.”
“Well done, Bozzy!” said Beattie. “I'm glad that my want of memory
should have recalled so glorious a recollection.”
At last Fossbrooke's heavy tread was heard descending the stairs, and
they all rushed to the door to meet him.
“It is all right!” cried he. “The Chief Baron has taken the whole event
in an admirable spirit, and, like a truly generous man, he dwells on
every proof of regard and esteem that has been shown him, and forgets
the wrongs that others would have done him.”
“The shock, then, did not harm him?” asked Lendrick, eagerly.
“Far from it; he said he felt revived and renovated. Yes, Beattie, he
told me I had done him more good than all your phials. His phrase was,
'_Your_ bitters, sir, leave no bad flavor behind them.' I am proud to
think I made a favorable impression upon him; for he permitted me not
only to state my own views, but to correct some of his. He agrees now to
everything. He even went so far as to say that he will employ his first
half-hour of strength in writing to Lady Trafford; and he charges you,
Beattie, to invite Lionel Trafford to come and pass some days here.”
“_Viva!_” cried Haire; “this is grand news.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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