The Absentee [110]
little goose-quill, L5000 ready penny--take it, or leave it; take your money, and leave your revenge; or, take your revenge, and lose your money.'
'Sir Terence, I value neither your threats nor your cunning. Good morning to you.'
'Good morning to you, Mr. Mordicai--but not kindly! Mr. Edwards, the solicitor, has been at the office to take off the execution; so now you may have law to your heart's content! And it was only to plase the young lord that the OULD one consented to my carrying this bundle to you,'--showing the bank-notes.
'Mr. Edwards employed!' cried Mordicai. 'Why, how the devil did Lord Clonbrony get into such hands as his? The execution taken off! Well, sir, go to law I am ready for you; Jack Latitat is A MATCH for your sober solicitor.'
'Good morning again to you, Mr. Mordicai; we're fairly out of your clutches, and we have enough to do with our money.'
'Well, Sir Terence, I must allow you have a very wheedling way-- Here, Mr. Thompson, make out a receipt for Lord Clonbrony: I never go to law with an old customer, if I can help it.'
This business settled, Mr. Soho was next to be dealt with.
He came at Lady Clonbrony's summons; and was taking directions, with the utmost SANG FROID, for packing up and sending off the very furniture for which he was not paid.
Lord Colambre called him into his father's study; and, producing his bill, he began to point out various articles which were charged at prices that were obviously extravagant,
'Why, really, my lord, they are ABUNDANTLY extravagant; if I charged vulgar prices, I should be only a vulgar tradesman. I, however, am not a broker, nor a Jew. Of the article superintendence, which is only L500, I cannot abate a dolt; on the rest of the bill, if you mean to offer READY, I mean, without any negotiation, to abate thirty per cent; and I hope that is a fair and gentlemanly offer.'
'Mr. Soho, there is your money!'
'My Lord Colambre! I would give the contents of three such bills to be sure of such noblemanly conduct as yours. Lady Clonbrony's furniture shall be safely packed, without costing her a farthing.'
With the help of Mr. Edwards, the solicitor, every other claim was soon settled; and Lord Clonbrony, for the first time since he left Ireland, found himself out of debt, and out of danger.
Old Nick's account could not be settled in London. Lord Colambre had detected numerous false charges, and sundry impositions; the land, which had been purposely let to run wild, so far from yielding any rent, was made a source of constant expense, as remaining still unset: this was a large tract, for which St. Dennis had at length offered a small rent.
Upon a fair calculation of the profits of the ground, and from other items in the account, Nicholas Garraghty, Esq., appeared at last to be, not the creditor, but the debtor to Lord Clonbrony. He was dismissed with disgrace, which perhaps he might not have felt, if it had not been accompanied by pecuniary loss, and followed by the fear of losing his other agencies, and by the dread of immediate bankruptcy.
Mr. Burke was appointed agent in his stead to the Clonbrony as well as the Colambre estate. His appointment was announced to him by the following letter:--
To MRS. BURKE, AT COLAMBRE. DEAR MADAM, The traveller whom you so hospitably received some months ago was Lord Colambre--he now writes to you in his proper person. He promised you that he would, as far as it might be in his power, do justice to Mr. Burke's conduct and character, by representing what he had done for Lord Clonbrony in the town of Colambre, and in the whole management of the tenantry and property under his care.
Happily for my father, my dear madam, he is now as fully convinced as you could wish him to be of Mr. Burke's merits; and he begs me to express his sense of the obligations he is under to him and to you. He entreats that you will pardon the impropriety of a letter, which, as I assured you the moment I saw it, he never wrote or read. This will, he says, cure him, for life, of putting his signature
'Sir Terence, I value neither your threats nor your cunning. Good morning to you.'
'Good morning to you, Mr. Mordicai--but not kindly! Mr. Edwards, the solicitor, has been at the office to take off the execution; so now you may have law to your heart's content! And it was only to plase the young lord that the OULD one consented to my carrying this bundle to you,'--showing the bank-notes.
'Mr. Edwards employed!' cried Mordicai. 'Why, how the devil did Lord Clonbrony get into such hands as his? The execution taken off! Well, sir, go to law I am ready for you; Jack Latitat is A MATCH for your sober solicitor.'
'Good morning again to you, Mr. Mordicai; we're fairly out of your clutches, and we have enough to do with our money.'
'Well, Sir Terence, I must allow you have a very wheedling way-- Here, Mr. Thompson, make out a receipt for Lord Clonbrony: I never go to law with an old customer, if I can help it.'
This business settled, Mr. Soho was next to be dealt with.
He came at Lady Clonbrony's summons; and was taking directions, with the utmost SANG FROID, for packing up and sending off the very furniture for which he was not paid.
Lord Colambre called him into his father's study; and, producing his bill, he began to point out various articles which were charged at prices that were obviously extravagant,
'Why, really, my lord, they are ABUNDANTLY extravagant; if I charged vulgar prices, I should be only a vulgar tradesman. I, however, am not a broker, nor a Jew. Of the article superintendence, which is only L500, I cannot abate a dolt; on the rest of the bill, if you mean to offer READY, I mean, without any negotiation, to abate thirty per cent; and I hope that is a fair and gentlemanly offer.'
'Mr. Soho, there is your money!'
'My Lord Colambre! I would give the contents of three such bills to be sure of such noblemanly conduct as yours. Lady Clonbrony's furniture shall be safely packed, without costing her a farthing.'
With the help of Mr. Edwards, the solicitor, every other claim was soon settled; and Lord Clonbrony, for the first time since he left Ireland, found himself out of debt, and out of danger.
Old Nick's account could not be settled in London. Lord Colambre had detected numerous false charges, and sundry impositions; the land, which had been purposely let to run wild, so far from yielding any rent, was made a source of constant expense, as remaining still unset: this was a large tract, for which St. Dennis had at length offered a small rent.
Upon a fair calculation of the profits of the ground, and from other items in the account, Nicholas Garraghty, Esq., appeared at last to be, not the creditor, but the debtor to Lord Clonbrony. He was dismissed with disgrace, which perhaps he might not have felt, if it had not been accompanied by pecuniary loss, and followed by the fear of losing his other agencies, and by the dread of immediate bankruptcy.
Mr. Burke was appointed agent in his stead to the Clonbrony as well as the Colambre estate. His appointment was announced to him by the following letter:--
To MRS. BURKE, AT COLAMBRE. DEAR MADAM, The traveller whom you so hospitably received some months ago was Lord Colambre--he now writes to you in his proper person. He promised you that he would, as far as it might be in his power, do justice to Mr. Burke's conduct and character, by representing what he had done for Lord Clonbrony in the town of Colambre, and in the whole management of the tenantry and property under his care.
Happily for my father, my dear madam, he is now as fully convinced as you could wish him to be of Mr. Burke's merits; and he begs me to express his sense of the obligations he is under to him and to you. He entreats that you will pardon the impropriety of a letter, which, as I assured you the moment I saw it, he never wrote or read. This will, he says, cure him, for life, of putting his signature