Castle Richmond eBook

No two women were ever closeted together who were more unlike each other,—­except that they had one common strong love for family rank.  But in Aunt Letty it must be acknowledged that this passion was not unwholesome or malevolent in its course of action.  She delighted in being a Fitzgerald, and in knowing that her branch of the Fitzgeralds had been considerable people ever since her Norman ancestor had come over to Ireland with Strongbow.  But then she had a useful idea that considerable people should do a considerable deal of good.  Her family pride operated more inwardly than outwardly,—­inwardly as regarded her own family, and not outwardly as regarded the world.  Her brother, and her nephew, and her sister-in-law, and nieces, were, she thought, among the highest commoners in Ireland; they were gentlefolks of the first water, and walked openly before the world accordingly, proving their claim to gentle blood by gentle deeds and honest conduct.  Perhaps she did think too much of the Fitzgeralds of Castle Richmond; but the sin was one of which no recording angel could have made much in his entry.  That she was a stupid old woman, prejudiced in the highest degree, and horribly ignorant of all the world beyond her own very narrow circle,—­even of that, I do not think that the recording angel could, under the circumstances, have made a great deal.

And now how was her family pride affected by this horrible catastrophe that had been made known to her?  Herbert the heir, whom as heir she had almost idolized, was nobody.  Her sister-in-law, whom she had learned to love with the whole of her big heart, was no sister-in-law.  Her brother was one, who, in lieu of adding glory to the family, would always be regarded as the most unfortunate of the Fitzgerald baronets.  But with her, human nature was stronger than family pride, and she loved them all, not better, but more tenderly than ever.

The two ladies were closeted together for about two hours; and then, when the door was opened, Aunt Letty might have been seen with her bonnet much on one side, and her poor old eyes and cheeks red with weeping.  The countess, too, held her handkerchief to her eyes as she got back into her pony-carriage.  She saw no one else there but Aunt Letty; and from her mood when she returned to Desmond Court it might be surmised that from Aunt Letty she had learned little to comfort her.

“They will be beggars!” she said to herself—­“beggars!”—­when the door of her own room had closed upon her.  And there are few people in the world who held such beggary in less esteem than did the Countess of Desmond.  It may almost be said that she hated herself on account of her own poverty.

CHAPTER XXIX

ILL NEWS FLIES FAST