This etext was produced by Jim Tinsley <jtinsley@pobox.com>
by G.P.R. JAMES ESQ.
Though the weather was hot and sultry, and the summer was at its height,yet the evening was gloomy, and low, angry clouds hung over the distantline of the sea, when, under the shelter of some low-browed cliffs uponthe Irish coast, three persons stood together, two of whom were talkingearnestly. About four or five miles from the shore, looking like aspectre upon the misty background of clouds, appeared a small brig withher canvas closely reefed, though there was little wind stirring, andnothing announced the approach of a gale, unless it were a long, heavyswell that heaved up the bosom of the ocean as if with a suppressed sob.The three persons we have mentioned were standing together close at thefoot of the rocks; and, though there was nothing in their demeanourwhich would imply that they were seeking concealment by the points andangles of the cliff,—for they spoke loud, and one of them laughed morethan once with the short but jocund laugh of a heart whose carelessgaiety no circumstances can repress,—yet the spot was well calculatedto hide them from any eye, unless it were one gazing down from thecliffs above, or one looking towards the shore from the sea.
The party of which we speak comprised two men not quite reached themiddle age, and a fine, noble-looking boy of perhaps eight years old ora little more; but all the conversation was between the two elder, whobore a slight family likeness to each other. The one had a cloak thrownover his arm, and a blue handkerchief bound round his left hand. Hisdress in other respects was that of a military man of the period; along-waisted, broad-tailed coat, with a good deal of gold lace and manylarge buttons upon it, enormous riding boots, and a heavy sword. He hadno defensive armour on, indeed, though those were days when thesoldierly cuirass was not yet done away with; and on his head he onlywore an ordinary hat trimmed round with feathers.
He seemed, however, to be a personage perfectly well able to defend hisown, being not much short of six feet in height; and though somewhatthin, extremely muscular, with long, bony arms, and a wide deep chest.His forehead was high and open, and his eye frank and clear, havingwithal some shrewdness in its quick twinkle. The countenance was a goodone; the features handsome, though a little coarse; and if it was notaltogether prepossessing, the abatement was made on account of a certainindescribable look of dissipation—not absolutely to say debauchery,but approaching it—which mingled with the expression of finer things,like nightshade filling up the broken masses of some ruined temple. Hishair was somewhat prematurely grizzled; for he yet lacked several yearsof forty, and strong lines, not of thought, were marked upon his brow.
He was, upon the whole, a man whom many people would have called ahandsome, fine-looking man; and there was certainly in his countenancethat indescribable something, which can only be designated by the termengaging.
While conversing with his companion, which he did frankly and evengaily, laughing, as we have said, from time to time, there was still apeculiarity which might be supposed to show that for some reason he wasnot perfectly at his ease, or perfectly sure of the man to whom hespoke. In general, he did not look at him, though he gazed straightforward; but, as is very frequently the case with us all, when we aretalking to a person whom we doubt or dislike, he looked beyond him, fromtime to time, however, turning his eyes full upon the countenance of hiscomrade, and kee