Chapter VII
The Flight from Gurt-Na-Morra
It was by one of those sudden and inexplicable revulsions which occasionally restore to sense and intellect the maniac of years’ standing, that I was no sooner left alone in my chamber, than I became perfectly sober. The fumes of the wine—and I had drunk deeply—were dissipated at once; my head, which but a moment before was half wild with excitement, was now cool, calm, and collected; and, stranger than all, I, who had only an hour since entered the dining-room with all the unsuspecting freshness of boyhood, became, by a mighty bound, a man—a man in all my feelings of responsibility, a man who, repelling an insult by an outrage, had resolved to stake his life upon the chance. In an instant a new era in life had opened before me—the light-headed gaiety which fearlessness and youth impart, was replaced by one absorbing thought—one all-engrossing, all-pervading impression, that if I did not follow up my quarrel with Bodkin, I was dishonoured and disgraced; my little knowledge of such matters not being sufficient to assure me that I was now the aggressor, and that any further steps in the affair should come from his side.
So thoroughly did my own grief occupy me, that I had no thought for the disappointment my poor uncle was destined to meet with in hearing that the Blake interest was lost to him, and the former breach between the families irreparably widened by the events of the evening. Escape was my first thought; but how to accomplish it?—the door, a solid one of Irish oak, doubly locked and bolted, defied all my efforts to break it open—the window was at least five-and-twenty feet from the ground, and not a tree near to swing into. I shouted, I called aloud, I opened the sash, and tried if any one outside were within hearing, but in vain. Weary and exhausted, I sat down upon my and ruminated over my fortunes, Vengeance, quick, entire, decisive vengeance, I thirsted and panted for; and every moment I lived under the insult inflicted on me, seemed an age of torturing and maddening agony. I rose with a leap, a thought had just occurred to me, drew the bed towards the window, and fastening the sheet to one of the posts with a firm knot, I twisted it into a rope, and let myself down to within about twelve feet of the ground, when I let go my hold, and dropped upon the grass beneath, safe and uninjured; a thin misty rain was falling, and I now perceived, for the first time, that in my haste I had forgotten my hat; this thought, however, gave mo little uneasiness, and I took my way towards the stable, resolving, if I could, to saddle my horse, and get off before any intimation of my escape reached the family.
When I gained the yard all was quiet and deserted; the. servants were doubtless enjoying themselves below stairs, and I met no one in the way. I entered the stable, threw the saddle upon “Badger,” and before five minutes from my descent from the window, was galloping