The Luck of Barry Lyndon William Makepeace Thackeray (portable ebook reader .TXT) š
- Author: William Makepeace Thackeray
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In a pretty nest of villains, indeed, was I plunged! It seemed as if all my misfortunes were to break on me at once; for, on going home and ascending to my bedroom in a disconsolate way, I found the Captain and his lady there before me, my valise open, my wardrobe lying on the ground, and my keys in the possession of the odious Fitzsimons. āWhom have I been harbouring in my house?ā roared he, as I entered the apartment. āWho are you, sirrah?ā
āSirrah! Sir,ā said I, āI am as good a gentleman as any in Ireland.ā
āYouāre an impostor, young man: a schemer, a deceiver!ā shouted the Captain.
āRepeat the words again, and I will run you through the body,ā replied I.
āTut, tut! I can play at fencing as well as you, Mr. Redmond Barry. Ah! you change colour, do youā āyour secret is known, is it? You come like a viper into the bosom of innocent families; you represent yourself as the heir of my friends the Redmonds of Castle Redmond; I inthrojuice you to the nobility and genthry of this methropolisā (the Captainās brogue was large, and his words, by preference, long); āI take you to my tradesmen, who give you credit, and what do I find? That you have pawned the goods which you took up at their houses.ā
āI have given them my acceptances, sir,ā said I with a dignified air.
āUnder what name, unhappy boyā āunder what name?ā screamed Mrs. Fitzsimons; and then, indeed, I remembered that I had signed the documents Barry Redmond instead of Redmond Barry: but what else could I do? Had not my mother desired me to take no other designation? After uttering a furious tirade against me, in which he spoke of the fatal discovery of my real name on my linenā āof his misplaced confidence of affection, and the shame with which he should be obliged to meet his fashionable friends and confess that he had harboured a swindler, he gathered up the linen, clothes, silver toilet articles, and the rest of my gear, saying that he should step out that moment for an officer and give me up to the just revenge of the law.
During the first part of his speech, the thought of the imprudence of which I had been guilty, and the predicament in which I was plunged, had so puzzled and confounded me, that I had not uttered a word in reply to the fellowās abuse, but had stood quite dumb before him. The sense of danger, however, at once roused me to action. āHark ye, Mr. Fitzsimons,ā said I; āI will tell you why I was obliged to alter my name: which is Barry, and the best name in Ireland. I changed it, sir, because, on the day before I came to Dublin, I killed a man in deadly combatā āan Englishman, sir, and a captain in His Majestyās service; and if you offer to let or hinder me in the slightest way, the same arm which destroyed him is ready to punish you; and by Heaven, sir, you or I donāt leave this room alive!ā
So saying, I drew my sword like lightning, and giving a āha! ha!ā and a stamp with my foot, lunged within an inch of Fitzsimonsās heart, who started back and turned deadly pale, while his wife, with a scream, flung herself between us.
āDearest Redmond,ā she cried, ābe pacified. Fitzsimons, you donāt want the poor childās blood. Let him escapeā āin Heavenās name let him go.ā
āHe may go hang for me,ā said Fitzsimons sulkily; āand heād better be off quickly, too, for the jeweller and the tailor have called once, and will be here again before long. It was Moses the pawnbroker that peached: I had the news from him myself.ā By which I conclude that Mr. Fitzsimons had been with the new laced frock-coat which he procured from the merchant tailor on the day when the latter first gave me credit.
What was the end of our conversation? Where was now a home for the descendant of the Barrys? Home was shut to me by my misfortune in the duel. I was expelled from Dublin by a persecution occasioned, I must confess, by my own imprudence. I had no time to wait and choose: no place of refuge to fly to. Fitzsimons, after his abuse of me, left the
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