He had just a housekeeper and two
maids, who looked nearly as old, and a valet, and a groom, who slept at
the 'Phoenix,' and two very pretty horses at livery in the same place.
All his appointments were natty and complete, and his servants, every
one, stood in awe of him; for no lip or eye-service would go down with
that severe, prompt, and lynx-eyed gentleman. And his groom, among the
coachmen and other experts of the 'Salmon House,' used to brag of his
hunters in England; and his man, of his riches, and his influence with
Lord Castlemallard.
In England, Dangerfield, indeed, spent little more money than he did in
Chapelizod, except in his stable; and Lord Castlemallard, who admired
his stinginess, as he did everything else about him, used to say: 'He's
a wonder of the world! How he retains his influence over all the people
he knows without ever giving one among them so much as a mutton-chop or
a glass of sherry in his house, I can't conceive. _I_ couldn't do it, I
know.' But he had ultimate plans, if not of splendour, at least of
luxury. His tastes, and perhaps some deeper feelings, pointed to the
continent, and he had purchased a little paradise on the Lake of Geneva,
where was an Eden of fruits and flowers, and wealth of marbles and
coloured canvas, and wonderful wines maturing in his cellars, and
aquaria for his fish, and ice-houses and baths, and I know not what
refinements of old Roman Villa-luxury beside--among which he meant to
pass the honoured evening of his days; with just a few more thousands,
and, as he sometimes thought, perhaps a wife.
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