The Great Hoggarty Diamond | Page 5

locket will be spoiled, Aunt."
"Well, sir, never mind the locket; have it set afresh."
"Or suppose," said I, "I put aside the setting altogether: it is a little too
large for the present fashion; and have the portrait of my uncle framed
and placed over my chimney-piece, next to yours. It's a sweet
miniature."
"That miniature," said Mrs. Hoggarty, solemnly, "was the great
Mulcahy's chef-d'oeuvre" (pronounced shy dewver, a favourite word of
my aunt's; being, with the words bongtong and ally mode de Parry, the
extent of her French vocabulary). "You know the dreadful story of that
poor poor artist. When he had finished that wonderful likeness for the

late Mrs. Hoggarty of Castle Hoggarty, county Mayo, she wore it in her
bosom at the Lord Lieutenant's ball, where she played a game of piquet
with the Commander-in- Chief. What could have made her put the hair
of her vulgar daughters round Mick's portrait, I can't think; but so it
was, as you see it this day. 'Madam,' says the Commander-in-Chief, 'if
that is not my friend Mick Hoggarty, I'm a Dutchman!' Those were his
Lordship's very words. Mrs. Hoggarty of Castle Hoggarty took off the
brooch and showed it to him.
"'Who is the artist?' says my Lord. 'It's the most wonderful likeness I
ever saw in my life!'
"'Mulcahy,' says she, 'of Ormond's Quay.'
"'Begad, I patronise him!' says my Lord; but presently his face
darkened, and he gave back the picture with a dissatisfied air. 'There is
one fault in that portrait,' said his Lordship, who was a rigid
disciplinarian; 'and I wonder that my friend Mick, as a military man,
should have overlooked it.'
"'What's that?' says Mrs. Hoggarty of Castle Hoggarty.
"'Madam, he has been painted WITHOUT HIS SWORD-BELT!' And
he took up the cards again in a passion, and finished the game without
saying a single word.
"The news was carried to Mr. Mulcahy the next day, and that
unfortunate artist WENT MAD IMMEDIATELY! He had set his whole
reputation upon this miniature, and declared that it should be faultless.
Such was the effect of the announcement upon his susceptible heart!
When Mrs. Hoggarty died, your uncle took the portrait and always
wore it himself. His sisters said it was for the sake of the diamond;
whereas, ungrateful things! it was merely on account of their hair, and
his love for the fine arts. As for the poor artist, my dear, some people
said it was the profuse use of spirit that brought on delirium tremens;
but I don't believe it. Take another glass of Rosolio."
The telling of this story always put my aunt into great good- humour,

and she promised at the end of it to pay for the new setting of the
diamond; desiring me to take it on my arrival in London to the great
jeweller, Mr. Polonius, and send her the bill. "The fact is," said she,
"that the gold in which the thing is set is worth five guineas at the very
least, and you can have the diamond reset for two. However, keep the
remainder, dear Sam, and buy yourself what you please with it."
With this the old lady bade me adieu. The clock was striking twelve as
I walked down the village, for the story of Mulcahy always took an
hour in the telling, and I went away not quite so downhearted as when
the present was first made to me. "After all," thought I, "a diamond-pin
is a handsome thing, and will give me a distingue air, though my
clothes be never so shabby"--and shabby they were without any doubt.
"Well," I said, "three guineas, which I shall have over, will buy me a
couple of pairs of what-d'ye-call- 'ems;" of which, entre nous, I was in
great want, having just then done growing, whereas my pantaloons
were made a good eighteen months before.
Well, I walked down the village, my hands in my breeches pockets; I
had poor Mary's purse there, having removed the little things which she
gave me the day before, and placed them--never mind where: but look
you, in those days I had a heart, and a warm one too. I had Mary's purse
ready for my aunt's donation, which never came, and with my own little
stock of money besides, that Mrs. Hoggarty's card parties had lessened
by a good five-and-twenty shillings, I calculated that, after paying my
fare, I should get to town with a couple of seven-shilling pieces in my
pocket.
I walked down the village at a deuce of a pace; so quick that, if the
thing had been possible, I should have overtaken ten o'clock that had
passed by me two hours ago, when I was listening to Mrs. H.'s long
stories over her terrible Rosolio.