CHAPTER VII.—­A Shoneen Magistrate Distributing Justice.

On the morning but one afterwards, John Purcel proceeded to the house of his friend and neighbor, Fitzy O’Driscol, as he was usually termed for brevity.  O’Driscol was rather a small man—­that is to say, he was short but thick, and of full habit.  He was naturally well made, and had been considered well-looking, until his complexion became a good deal inflamed from the effects of social indulgence, to which he was rather strongly addicted.  His natural manner would have been plausible if he had allowed it to remain natural; but so far from this, he affected an air of pomp and dignity, that savored very strongly of the mock heroic.  On the other side, his clothes fitted him very well, and as he had a good leg and a neat small foot, he availed himself of every possible opportunity to show them.  He was, like most men of weak minds, exceedingly fond of ornaments, on which account he had his fingers loaded with costly rings, and at least two or three folds of a large gold chain hung about his breast.  His morning gown was quite a tasteful, and even an expensive article, and his slippers, heavily embroidered, harmonized admirably with the whole fashionable deshabille in which he often distributed justice.  He carried a gold snuff-box of very massive size, which, when dining out, he always produced after dinner for the benefit of the company, although he never took snuff himself.  This, in addition to a tolerably stiff and unreclaimable brogue, and a style of pronunciation wofully out of keeping with his elegant undress, constituted him the very beau-ideal of what is usually known as a shoneen magistrate.

John, on arriving, found him reading a paper in the breakfast-parlor, and saw Hourigan waiting outside, who, by the way, gave him such a look as a cat might be supposed to bestow upon a mastiff from whom she dreaded an attack—­a look which, in Hourigan’s case, combined as much ferocious vengeance and sullen hang-dog cowardice as could well be brought together on the same features.

“Well, Jack,” said the pompous distributor of justice, addressing young Purcel, “how do you do?  Take a seat—­by the way, is it true that your father and my excellent friend, Dr. Turbot, were shot at yesterday?”

“True enough,” replied John; “the bullet whistled right between them, and so close that each felt the wind of it.”

“The country is getting into a frightful state, friend Purcel, eh?  Upon my honor now, yes! it is so—­it is so.”

“Why there is no question of it,” replied John; “it is already in a frightful state.”

“It is, Mr. Purcel, and in my opinion, the crame of the matter will be blood—­blood—­my dear John—­that is what it will come to.”

“Certainly you speak, Mr. O’Driscol, like a man that knows the country, and can feel the pulse of the public officially—­I mean, of course, as a magistrate—­for it is now, and in times of such turbulence, that men—­I mean magistrates—­of your stamp—­will prove themselves serviceable to the government of the country, and to the country itself; intelligent and determined men—­I mean magistrates—­who know not what fear is, and who will do their duty at the risk of their lives.”