“Heroes must sleep, and lovers too; or they soon will cease to be
heroes or lovers!” said the count. “Rest, rest, perturbed spirit! this
night; and to-morrow morning we’ll finish the adventures in Red Lion
Square, or I will accompany you when and where you will; if necessary,
to earth’s remotest bounds.”
The next morning Lord Colambre went to breakfast with the count. The
count, who was not in love, was not up, for our hero was half an
hour earlier than the time appointed. The old servant Ulick, who had
attended his master to England, was very glad to see Lord Colambre
again, and, showing him into the breakfast parlour, could not help
saying, in defence of his master’s punctuality, “Your clocks, I
suppose, my lord, are half an hour faster than ours: my master will be
ready to the moment.”
The count soon appeared--breakfast was soon over, and the carriage at
the door; for the count sympathized in his young friend’s impatience.
As they were setting out, the count’s large Irish dog pushed out of
the house-door to follow them; and his master would have forbidden
him, but Lord Colambre begged that he might be permitted to accompany
them; for his lordship recollected the old woman’s having mentioned
that Mr. Reynolds was fond of dogs.
They arrived in Red Lion Square, found the house of Mr. Reynolds, and,
contrary to the count’s prognostics, found the old gentleman up, and
they saw him in his red night-cap at his parlour window. After some
minutes’ running backwards and forwards of a boy in the passage, and
two or three peeps taken over the blinds by the old gentleman, they
were admitted.
The boy could not master their names; so they were obliged
reciprocally to announce themselves--“Count O’Halloran and Lord
Colambre.” The names seemed to make no impression on the old
gentleman; but he deliberately looked at the count and his lordship,
as if studying _what_ rather than _who_ they were. In spite of the red
night-cap, and a flowered dressing-gown, Mr. Reynolds looked like a
gentleman, an odd gentleman--but still a gentleman.
As Count O’Halloran came into the room, and as his large dog attempted
to follow, the count’s look expressed--
“Say, shall I let him in, or shut the door?”
“Oh, let him in, by all means, sir, if you please! I am fond of
dogs; and a finer one I never saw: pray, gentlemen, be seated,” said
he--a portion of the complacency, inspired by the sight of the dog,
diffusing itself over his manner towards the master of so fine an
animal, and even extending to the master’s companion, though in an
inferior degree. Whilst Mr. Reynolds stroked the dog, the count told
him that “the dog was of a curious breed, now almost extinct--the
Irish greyhound; only one nobleman in Ireland, it is said, has a few
of the species remaining in his possession--Now, lie down, Hannibal,”
said the count. “Mr. Reynolds, we have taken the liberty, though
strangers, of waiting upon you--”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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