Mr. Hill and Mr. Marshal looked at one another during
this speech; and the dread of ridicule again seized
on Mr. Hill, when he apprehended that, after all he
had said, the mountain might, at last, bring forth—a
rat. Mr. Marshal, who instantly saw what passed
in the verger’s mind, relieved him from this
fear, by refraining even from a smile on this occasion.
He only said to the child, in a grave manner, “I
am afraid, my dear, we shall be obliged to spoil your
diversion. Mr. Verger, here, cannot suffer rat-holes
in the cathedral: but, to make you amends for
the loss of your favourite, I will give you a very
pretty little dog, if you have a mind.”
The child was well pleased with this promise; and,
at Mr. Marshal’s desire, she then went along
with him and Mr. Hill to the cathedral, and they placed
themselves at a little distance from that hole which
had created so much disturbance. The child soon
brought the dreadful enemy to light; and Mr. Hill,
with a faint laugh, said, “I’m glad it’s
no worse: but there were many in our club who
were of my opinion; and, if they had not suspected
O’Neill too, I am sure I should never have given
you so much trouble, sir, as I have done this morning.
But, I hope, as the club know nothing about that vagabond,
that king of the gipsies, you will not let any one
know any thing about the prophecy, and all that?
I am sure, I am very sorry to have given you so much
trouble, Mr. Marshal.”
Mr. Marshal assured him that he did not regret the
time which he had spent in endeavouring to clear up
all these mysteries and suspicions; and Mr. Hill gladly
accepted his invitation to meet O’Neill at his
house the next day. No sooner had Mr. Marshal
brought one of the parties to reason and good-humour,
than he went to prepare the other for a reconciliation.
O’Neill and his mother were both people of warm
but forgiving tempers: the arrest was fresh in
their minds; but when Mr. Marshal represented to them
the whole affair, and the verger’s prejudices,
in a humorous light, they joined in the good-natured
laugh, and O’Neill declared that, for his part,
he was ready to forgive and to forget every thing,
if he could but see Miss Phoebe in the Limerick gloves.
Phosbe appeared the next day, at Mr. Marshal’s,
in the Limerick gloves; and no perfume ever was so
delightful to her lover as the smell of the rose leaves,
in which they had been kept. Mr. Marshal had the
benevolent pleasure of reconciling the two families.
The tanner and the glover of Hereford became, from
bitter enemies, useful friends to each other; and
they were convinced, by experience, that nothing could
be more for their mutual advantage than to live in
union.
Nov. 1799.
OUT OF THE DEBT OF DANGER
* * * *
*
CHAPTER I.
Copyrights
Tales and Novels — Volume 02 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
