Val now proceeded to execute his great mission of vengeance. As he went along--his heart literally beat with a sense of Satanic triumph and delight; his spirit became exhilarated, and all his faculties moved in a wild tumult of delirious enjoyment. He was at best but a slow horseman, but on this occasion he dashed onward with an unconscious speed that was quite unusual to him. At length he reached M'Loughlin's, whither the carts had been sent, immediately on his return from Deaker's. All there seemed very quiet and orderly; the usual appearance of business and bustle was not of course visible, for, thanks to his own malignant ingenuity and implacable resentment, there were many families in the neighborhood not only thrown out of employment, but in a state of actual destitution. Having knocked at the hall door, it was instantly opened by one of his own retainers, and without either preface or apology he entered the parlor. There was none there but M'Loughlin himself, Gordon Harvey, the excellent fellow of whom we have already spoken, and whom M'Loughlin, in consequence of his manly and humane character, had treated with kindness and respect--and Solomon M'Slime who had arrived only a few minutes before him.
"Gentlemen," said M'Loughlin, "what have I done, that I am to thank you both for your kindness in honoring a ruined man with this unusual visit."
Val gave him a long, fixed and triumphant look,--such a look as a savage gives his worst enemy, when he gets him beneath his knee, and brandishes his war-knife, before plunging it in his throat.
"Indeed, my good neighbor," replied Solomon, seeing that Val did not speak, "I believe it is a matter of conscience on the part of my friend M'Clutchy here, who is about to exhibit towards you and your family a just specimen of Christian retribution. In my view of the matter, however, he is merely the instrument; for I am one, Mr. M'Loughlin, who believe, that in whatever we do here, we are only working out purposes that are shaped above."
"What! when we rob the poor, oppress the distressed, strive to blacken the character of an innocent girl, or blast the credit of an industrious man, and bring him and his to ruin? Do you mean to say, that the scoundrel"--he looked at Val as he uttered the last word--"the scoundrel who does this, and ten times more than this, is working out the purposes of God? If you do, Sir" he continued, "carry your blasphemy elsewhere, for I tell you that you shall not utter it under this roof."
"This roof," said Val, "in two hours hence shall be no longer yours."
"I thought you pledged yourself solemnly that you would not take any hasty steps, in consequence of my embarrassments," said M'Loughlin; "but you see that I understand your character thoroughly. You are still the same treacherous and cowardly scoundrel that you ever were, and that you ever will be."
"This roof," replied Val, "in an hour or two shall be no longer yours.
You and yours shall be this night roofless, homeless, houseless. This, Brian M'Loughlin, is the day of my vengeance and of my triumph. Out you go, sir, without consideration, without pity, without mercy--aye, mercy, for now you are at my mercy, and shall not find it."
"But my wife is ill of fever," said M'Loughlin, "and surely you are at all events an Irishman, and will not drag her from her sick bed--perhaps her bed of death?"
"That act of kindness to her would be kindness to you and your family, Mr. M'Loughlin, and for that reason she shall go out, if she were to expire on the moment. No; this is the day of my vengeance and my triumph. Harvey," he added, "tell Jack Stuart to come to me."
Harvey went out, and in a minute or two Stuart came in; a heavy-faced, sullen-looking villain, who strongly resembled Val himself in character, for he was equally cowardly and ferocious. Val met him in the hall--
"Stuart," said he, "I have sent up three or four fellows--the two Boyds and the two Carsons--to arrest a fellow named Easel--a Spy or something of that kind--with orders to lodge him in goal; go up and tell them to bring him here first. I have my reasons for it; he has taken an interest in this M'Loughlin, and I wish him to witness his punishment."
"Hadn't you betther put the rascal in the stocks, or give an ordher for it, till it's your honor's convenience to see him?"
"No, no, desire them to bring him here immediately--go now, and do not lose a moment."
On entering the parlor again, he rubbed his hands with perfect delight.
"Ay," said he, "this day, M'Loughlin, I have long looked for; this day, this day, ha, ha, ha!"
"M'Clutchy," said M'Loughlin, "I always knew you were a bad and black-hearted man; but that you were such a perfect devil I never knew till now. What, to drag out my sick wife!"
"Ha! ha! ha!"
"Consider that her removal now will occasion her death."
"Ha! ha! ha!"
"You will not do it; you could not do it. Would you kill her?"
"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! M'Loughlin, this is the day of my vengeance, and my triumph. Ha, ha, ha!"
"Friend M'Clutchy," said Solomon, "permit me for one moment to remonstrate--"
"Permit the devil, sir," said Val, stamping on the floor with fury; "remonstrate! Don't you know that I have this fellow safely in my power?"
"I do," replied Solomon, "and my remonstrance would have been, had you heard me, simply and humbly to suggest that you might do the thing---this vengeance that you speak of--in an edifying manner--or, in other words, in a mild and Christian spirit."
"Solomon, you are after all but a poor devil," said Val; "a poor pitiful scoundrel, that can't understand what full, deep-seated, and lasting vengeance means. You are only fit to sneak, and peep, and skulk about after a sly, prim, sweet-faced--but I am losing my breath to speak to you. Gordon, is the inventory taken?"
"It is, sir; Montgomery has it."
"That's well, here are the carts then--ay, and here comes the sheriff.
Now for business."
"So, then, you will proceed, Mr. M'Clutchy?" said M'Loughlin.
"Proceed," he replied, looking at him, as it were, with amazement; "proceed--ha, ha, ha!"
"Truly that is unchristian mirth," observed Solomon; "I must say as much--even although your cause be a just cause, and one supported by the laws--by our blessed laws, that protect the rights of the tenant and landlord with equal justice and impartiality; for it is a glorious privilege to live under a constitution that protects the tenant from the malignity and oppression of the landlord or his agents. It is that,"
said Solomon; "oh, it is that precious thing, indeed."
As he spoke the words there was a slight upraising of the eyes, together with a side glance at M'Clutchy, which, though barely-perceptible, contained as much sanctified venom as could well be expressed. He had scarcely concluded, when the sheriff, having pulled up his gig, entered.
Val, notwithstanding his excessive thirst for vengeance, could not avoid feeling the deepest possible mortification since his arrival at M'Loughlin's. There was observable in this honest fellow's bearing something that vexed his oppressor sorely, and which consisted in a kind of easy, imperturbable serenity, that no threat could disturb or ruffle.
Nay, there appeared a kind of lurking good-humored defiance in his eye, which, joined to the irony of his manner, aggravated the resentment of M'Clutchy to the highest pitch.
"This is an unpleasant visit, Mr. Graham," said M'Loughlin, when that official entered; "but it can't be helped."
"It is unpleasant to both of us, I assure you," replied the sheriff; "on my part, of course, you know it is an act of duty, and, indeed, a very painful one, Mr. M'Loughlin."
"I have experienced your civility, sir, before now," returned M'Loughlin, "thanks to my friends," and he eyed M'Clutchy; "and I know you to be incapable of an un-gentlemanly act. But you must feel it a distressing thing to be made, in the discharge of that duty, the unwilling instrument of oppression on the unfortunate."
"It is quite true," said the sheriff, "and the case you speak of too frequently happens, as I have reason to know."
"Pray, what are those carts for, Mr. M'Clutchy?" asked M'Loughlin.
"To remove your furniture, sir, and all your other movable property off the premises. I act in this matter by the authority of the law, and Lord Cumber's instructions."
"Dear me," said M'Loughlin, coolly, "why, you are very harsh, Mr.
M'Clutchy; you might show a little forbearance, my good neighbor. Upon what authority, though, do you remove the furniture? because I did believe that the tenant was usually allowed fourteen days to pay up, before the process of an auction, and even that, you know, must take place on the premises, and not of them."
"There has been an affidavit made, that you intend to remove suddenly, that is, to make what is called a moonlight flitting, Mr. M'Loughlin, and upon that affidavit I proceed. As I said, I have the law with me, my good neighbor."
"Pray where did you pick up the honest man who was able to swear to my intentions? he surely must be a clever fellow that can make affidavit as to another man's thoughts--eh, Mr. M'Clutchy?"
Val's glances at the man, from time to time, were baleful; but, with his usual tact and plausibility, he restrained his temper before the sheriff, lest that gentleman might imagine that he had acted from any other principle than a sense of duty.
Harvey, who heard M'Clutchy's determination with deep regret, now happening to look out of the window, observed a group of persons approaching--one of the said group hard and fast in the grip of two of Val's constables; whilst, at the same time, it was quite evident, that despite the ignominy of the arrest, mirth was the predominant feeling among them, excepting only the constables. On approaching the house, they were soon known, and Val, to his manifest delight, recognized Mr.
Easel as a prisoner, accompanied by Messrs. Hickman and Hartley, both of whom seemed to enjoy Easel's position between the two constables, as a very excellent subject for mirth.
"Mr. M'Clutchy," said M'Loughlin, "whether is it you or I that is about to hold a little levee in my humble parlor to-day? But I suppose I need not ask. Consider yourself at home here, my good neighbor--you are now up, and I am down; so we must only allow you to have your way."
Just then the parlor door once more opened, and the party already alluded to entered. Very distant and very polite were the salutations that passed from M'Clutchy to the party in question, which the party in question received, on the other hand, with a degree of good humor and cordiality that surprised and astounded our agent, Val, to tell the truth, felt rather queer; for, on comparing M'Loughlin's nonchalance with the significant good humor of the new comers, he was too shrewd not to feel that there was a bit of mystery somewhere, but in what quarter he could not possibly guess."
"Gentlemen," said he, falling back upon his humanity, "the duties of an Agent are often painful, but still they must be discharged. Lord Cumber, I must confess, has not been well advised, to force me to these proceedings. Mr. M'Loughlin, I acknowledge I lost temper a while ago--but the fact really is, that I proceed in this matter with great reluctance, notwithstanding what I said. Here, however," he added, turning to Easel, "is a horse of a different color."