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CHAPTER XXV.
IN WHICH THE SUN SETS, AND THE MERRY-MAKING IS KEPT UP BY CANDLE-LIGHT
IN THE KING'S HOUSE, AND LILY RECEIVES A WARNING WHICH SHE DOES NOT
COMPREHEND.
Dr. Toole, without whom no jollification of any sort could occur
satisfactorily in Chapelizod or the country round, was this evening at
the 'King's House,' of course, as usual, with his eyes about him and his
tongue busy; and at this moment he was setting Cluffe right about
Devereux's relation to the title and estates of Athenry. His uncle
Roland Lord Athenry was, as everybody knew, a lunatic--Toole used to
call him Orlando Furioso: and Lewis, his first cousin by his father's
elder brother--the heir presumptive--was very little better, and
reported every winter to be dying. He spends all his time--his spine
being made, it is popularly believed, of gristle--stretched on his back
upon a deal board, cutting out paper figures with a pair of scissors.
Toole used to tell them at the club, when alarming letters arrived about
the health of the noble uncle and his hopeful nephew--the heir
apparent--'That's the gentleman who's back-bone's made of jelly--eh,
Puddock? Two letters come, by Jove, announcing that Dick Devereux's
benefit is actually fixed for the Christmas holidays, when his cousin
undertakes to die for positively the last time, and his uncle will play
in the most natural manner conceivable, the last act of "King Lear.
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