Extracted from Ormond by Maria Edgeworth, published by Appletree Press
Ormond
by Maria Edgeworth
Chapter One - part 1
"WHAT! no music, no dancing at Castle Hermitage to night; and all the ladies sitting in a formal circle, petrifying into perfect statues," cried Sir Ulick O'Shane, as he entered the drawing-room, between ten and eleven o'clock at night, accompanied by what he called his rear-guard, veterans of the old school of good fellows, who at those times in Ireland, times long since past, deemed it essential to health, happiness, and manly rharacter, to swallow, and shew themselves able to stand after swallowing, a certain number of bottles of claret per day or night.
"Now then," continued Sir Ulick, "of all the figures in nature or art, the /o.rmal circle is universally the most obnoxious to conversation, and, to me, the most formidable; all my faculties are spell-bound—here I am like a bird in a circle of chalk that dare not move so much as its head or its eyes, and can't, for the life of it, take to its legs."
A titter ran round that part of the circle where the young ladies sat—Sir Ulick was a favourite with them, and they rejoiced when he came among them; because, as they observed, "he always said something pleasant, or set something pleasant a-going."
"Lady O'Shane, for mercy's sake, let us have no more of these permanent sittings at Castle Hermitage, my dear—"
"Sir Ulick, I am sure I should be very glad if it were possible," replied Lady O'Shane, "to have no more permanent sittings at Castle Hermitage, but when gentlemen are at their bottle, I really don't know what the ladies can do but sit in a circle."
"Can't they dance in a circle, or any way—or have not they an elegant resource in their music; there's many here who, to my knowledge, can caper as well as they modulate," said Sir Ulick, "to say nothing of cards for those that like them."
"Lady Annaly does not like cards," said Lady O'Shane, "and I could not ask any of these young ladies to waste their breath, and their execution, singing and playing before the gentlemen came out."
"These young ladies would not, I'm sure, do us old fellows the honour of waiting for us; and the young beaux deserted to your tea-table a long hour ago—so why you have not been dancing is a mystery beyond my comprehension."
"Tea or coffee, Sir Ulick O'Shane, for the third time of asking?" cried a sharp female voice from the remote tea-table.
"Wouldn't you swear to that being the voice of a presbyterian?" whispered Sir Ulick, over his shoulder, to the curate: then aloud he replied to the lady, "Miss Black, you are three times too obliging.—Neither tea nor coffee I'll take from you to-night. I thank you kindly."
"Fortunate for yourself', Sir—for both are as cold as stones,—and no wonder!" said Miss Black.
"No wonder!" echoed L:ldy O'Shane, looking at her watch, and sending forth an ostentatious sigh.
"What o'clock is it by your ladyship?" asked Miss Black, "I have a notion it's tremendously late."
"No matter—we are not pinned to hours in this house, Miss Black," said Sir Ulick, walking up to the tea-table, and giving her a look, which said as plainly as look could say— "You had better be quiet."
Lady O'Shane followed her husband, and putting her arm within his, began to say something in a fondling tone, and in a most conciliatory manner she went on talking to him for some moments.—He looked absent, and replied coldly.
"I'll take a cup of coffee from you now, Miss Black," said he, drawing away his arm from his wife, who looked much mortified.
"We are too long, Lady O'Shane," added he, "standing here like lovers, talking to no one but ourselves—awkward in company!"
"Like lovers—" the sound pleased poor Lady O'Shane's ear, and she smiled for the first time this night,—Lady O'Shane was perhaps the last woman in the room, whom a stranger would have guessed to be Sir Ulick's wife.
He was a fine gallant off-hand looking Irishman, with something of dash in his tone and air, which at first view might lead a common observer to pronounce him to be vulgar; but at five minutes after sight, a good judge of men and manners would have discovered in him the power of assuming whatever manner he chose, from the audacity of the callous profligate to the deference of the accomplished courtier—the capability of adapting his conversation to his company and his views, whether his object were "to set the senseless table in a roar," or to insinuate himself into the delicate female heart.—Of this latter power, his age had diminished, but not destroyed the influence. The fame of former conquests still operated in his favour, though he had long since passed his splendid meridian of gallantry.
While Sir Ulick is drinking his cup of cold coffee, we may look back a little into his family history…
The family history of Sir Ulick O'Shane continues:here
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