"Is Master Tony at home, Jenny?" said she, as she entered.
"Yes; he's reading a letter that has just come wi' the post."
The old lady stopped, with her hand on the handle of the door, to draw a full breath, and regain a calm look; but a merry laugh from Tony, as he sat reading his letter, did more to rally her, though her heart smote her to think how soon she might have to throw a shadow across his sunshine.
"Who's your letter from, Tony?" said she, dryly.
"From Skeffy; he 'll be here to-morrow; he's to arrive at Coleraine by six in the morning, and wants me to meet him there."
"And what's the other sealed note in your hand?"
"This?--this is from another man,--a fellow you've never heard of; at least, you don't know him."
"And what may be his name, Tony?" asked she, in a still colder tone.
"He's a stranger to you, mother. Skeffy found the note at my hotel, and forwarded it,--that's all."
"You were n't wont to have secrets from me, Tony," said she, tremulously.
"Nor have I, mother; except it may be some trifling annoyance or worry that I don't care to tease you about. If I had anything heavier on my mind, you may trust me, I 'd very soon be out with it."
"But I 'm not to hear who this man is?" said she, with a strange pertinacity.
"Of course you are, if you want to hear; his name is there, on the corner of his note,--Robt M'Gruder,--and here's the inside of it, though I don't think you 'll be much the wiser when you 've read it."
"It's for yourself to read your own letter, Tony," said she, waving back the note. "I merely asked who was your correspondent."
Tony broke the seal, and ran his eye hastily over the lines. "I 'm as glad as if I got a hundred pounds!" cried he. "Listen to this, mother:--
"'Dear Sir,--When I received your note on Monday--'
"But wait a bit, mother; I must tell you the whole story, or you 'll not know why he wrote this to me. Do you remember my telling you, just at the back of a letter, that I was carried off to a dinner at Richmond?"
"Well, I wish I hadn't gone, that's all. Not that it was n't jolly, and the fellows very pleasant and full of fun, but somehow we all of us took too much wine, or we talked too much, or perhaps both; but we began laying wagers about every imaginable thing, and I made a bet,--I 'll be hanged if I could tell what it was; but it was something about Dolly Stewart. I believe it was that she was handsomer than another girl. I forgot all about her hair being cut off, and her changed looks. At all events, off we set in a body, to M'Gruder's house. It was then about two in the morning, and we all singing, or what we thought was singing, most uproariously. Yes, you may shake your head. I 'm ashamed of it now, too, but it was some strange wine--I think it was called Marcobrunner--that completely upset me; and the first thing that really sobered me was seeing that the other fellows ran away, leaving me all alone in the garden, while a short stout man rushed out of the house with a stick to thrash me. I tried to make him hear me, for I wanted to apologize; but he wouldn't listen, and so I gave him a shake. I didn't strike him; but I shook him off, roughly enough perhaps, for he fell, and then I sprang over the gate, and cut off as fast as I could. When I awoke next morning, I remembered it all, and heartily ashamed I was of myself; and I thought that perhaps I ought to go out in person and beg his pardon; but I had no time for that; I wanted to get away by that day's packet, and so I wrote him a few civil lines. I don't remember them exactly, but they were to say that I was very sorry for it all, and I hoped he 'd see the thing as it was,--a stupid bit of boyish excess, of which I felt much ashamed; and here's his answer:--