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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Set of Rogues, by Frank Barrett
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: A Set of Rogues
+
+Author: Frank Barrett
+
+Release Date: January 16, 2004  [eBook #10727]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: iso-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SET OF ROGUES***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Linda Cantoni, Tonya Allen, and
+Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+A SET OF ROGUES
+
+NAMELY
+
+CHRISTOPHER SUTTON, JOHN DAWSON, THE SEŅOR DON SANCHEZ DEL CASTILLO DE
+CASTELAŅA AND MOLL DAWSON
+
+
+Their Wicked Conspiracy, and a True Account of their Travels and
+Adventures
+
+
+THE MARRIAGE OF MOLL DAWSON BY SINFUL MEANS TO A WORTHY GENTLEMAN OF
+MERIT; HER FALL, REMORSE AND GREAT SORROW; HER SECOND EXPEDITION WITH
+HER FORMER ROGUISH COMPANIONS INTO STRANGE PLACES
+
+
+HER ATONEMENT TO MR. RICHARD GODWIN (WHEREBY SHE RENDERS UP ALL SHE EVER
+HAD OF HIM AND MORE) AND SELLING OF HERSELF TO ALGERINE PIRATES AND
+GOING INTO BARBARY A SLAVE; TOGETHER WITH THE TRIBULATIONS OF THOSE WHO
+LED HER TO WRONG DOING, AND MANY OTHER SURPRISING THINGS NOW DISCLOSED
+FOR THE FIRST TIME AS THE FAITHFUL CONFESSION OF CHRISTOPHER SUTTON
+
+BY
+
+FRANK BARRETT
+
+1895
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "'GIVE ME THY HAND, CHILD,' SAYS HE."]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+_Of my companions and our adversities, and in particular from our
+getting into the stocks at Tottenham Cross to our being robbed at
+Edmonton._
+
+
+There being no plays to be acted at the "Red Bull," because of the
+Plague, and the players all cast adrift for want of employment, certain
+of us, to wit, Jack Dawson and his daughter Moll, Ned Herring, and
+myself, clubbed our monies together to buy a store of dresses, painted
+cloths, and the like, with a cart and horse to carry them, and thus
+provided set forth to travel the country and turn an honest penny, in
+those parts where the terror of pestilence had not yet turned men's
+stomachs against the pleasures of life. And here, at our setting out,
+let me show what kind of company we were. First, then, for our master,
+Jack Dawson, who on no occasion was to be given a second place; he was a
+hale, jolly fellow, who would eat a pound of beef for his breakfast
+(when he could get it), and make nothing of half a gallon of ale
+therewith,--a very masterful man, but kindly withal, and pleasant to
+look at when not contraried, with never a line of care in his face,
+though turned of fifty. He played our humorous parts, but he had a sweet
+voice for singing of ditties, and could fetch a tear as readily as a
+laugh, and he was also exceeding nimble at a dance, which was the
+strangest thing in the world, considering his great girth. Wife he had
+none, but Moll Dawson was his daughter, who was a most sprightly, merry
+little wench, but no miracle for beauty, being neither child nor woman
+at this time; surprisingly thin, as if her frame had grown out of
+proportion with her flesh, so that her body looked all arms and legs,
+and her head all mouth and eyes, with a great towzled mass of chestnut
+hair, which (off the stage) was as often as not half tumbled over her
+shoulder. But a quicker little baggage at mimicry (she would play any
+part, from an urchin of ten to a crone of fourscore), or a livelier at
+dancing of Brantles or the single Coranto never was, I do think, and as
+merry as a grig. Of Ned Herring I need only here say that he was the
+most tearing villain imaginable on the stage, and off it the most
+civil-spoken, honest-seeming young gentleman. Nor need I trouble to give
+a very lengthy description of myself; what my character was will appear
+hereafter, and as for my looks, the less I say about them, the better.
+Being something of a scholar and a poet, I had nearly died of
+starvation, when Jack Dawson gave me a footing on the stage, where I
+would play the part of a hero in one act, a lacquey in the second, and a
+merry Andrew in the third, scraping a tune on my fiddle to fill up the
+intermedios.
+
+We had designed to return to London as soon as the Plague abated, unless
+we were favoured with extraordinary good fortune, and so, when we heard
+that the sickness was certainly past, and the citizens recovering of
+their panic, we (being by this time heartily sick of our venture, which
+at the best gave us but beggarly recompense) set about to retrace our
+steps with cheerful expectations of better times. But coming to Oxford,
+we there learned that a prodigious fire had burnt all London down, from
+the Tower to Ludgate, so that if we were there, we should find no house
+to play in. This lay us flat in our hopes, and set us again to our
+vagabond enterprise; and so for six months more we scoured the country
+in a most miserable plight, the roads being exceedingly foul, and folks
+more humoured of nights to drowse in their chimnies than to sit in a
+draughty barn and witness our performances; and then, about the middle
+of February we, in a kind of desperation, got back again to London, only
+to find that we must go forth again, the town still lying in ruins, and
+no one disposed to any kind of amusement, except in high places, where
+such actors as we were held in contempt. So we, with our hearts in our
+boots, as one may say, set out again to seek our fortunes on the
+Cambridge road, and here, with no better luck than elsewhere, for at
+Tottenham Cross we had the mischance to set fire to the barn wherein we
+were playing, by a candle falling in some loose straw, whereby we did
+injury to the extent of some shilling or two, for which the farmer would
+have us pay a pound, and Jack Dawson stoutly refusing to satisfy his
+demand he sends for the constable, who locks us all up in the cage that
+night, to take us before the magistrate in the morning. And we found to
+our cost that this magistrate had as little justice as mercy in his
+composition; for though he lent a patient ear to the farmer's case, he
+would not listen to Jack Dawson's argument, which was good enough, being
+to the effect that we had not as much as a pound amongst us, and that he
+would rather be hanged than pay it if he had; and when Ned Herring
+(seeing the kind of Puritanical fellow he was) urged that, since the
+damage was not done by any design of ours, it must be regarded as a
+visitation of Providence, he says: "Very good. If it be the will of
+Providence that one should be scourged, I take it as the Divine purpose
+that I should finish the business by scourging the other"; and therewith
+he orders the constable to take what money we have from our pockets and
+clap us in the stocks till sundown for payment of the difference. So in
+the stocks we three poor men were stuck for six mortal hours, which was
+a wicked, cruel thing indeed, with the wind blowing a sort of rainy snow
+about our ears; and there I do think we must have perished of cold and
+vexation but that our little Moll brought us a sheet for a cover, and
+tired not in giving us kind words of comfort.
+
+At five o'clock the constable unlocked us from our vile confinement, and
+I do believe we should have fallen upon him and done him a mischief for
+his pains there and then, but that we were all frozen as stiff as stones
+with sitting in the cold so long, and indeed it was some time ere we
+could move our limbs at all. However, with much ado, we hobbled on at
+the tail of our cart, all three very bitter, but especially Ned Herring,
+who cursed most horridly and as I had never heard him curse off the
+stage, saying he would rather have stayed in London to carry links for
+the gentry than join us again in this damnable adventure, etc. And that
+which incensed him the more was the merriment of our Moll, who, seated
+on the side of the cart, could do nothing better than make sport of our
+discontent. But there was no malice in her laughter, which, if it sprang
+not from sheer love of mischief, arose maybe from overflowing joy at our
+release.
+
+Coming at dusk to Edmonton, and finding a fine new inn there, called the
+"Bell," Jack Dawson leads the cart into the yard, we following without a
+word of demur, and, after putting up our trap, into the warm parlour we
+go, and call for supper as boldly as you please. Then, when we had eaten
+and drunk till we could no more, all to bed like princes, which, after a
+night in the cage and a day in the stocks, did seem like a very
+paradise. But how we were to pay for this entertainment not one of us
+knew, nor did we greatly care, being made quite reckless by our
+necessities. It was the next morning, when we met together at breakfast,
+that our faces betrayed some compunctions; but these did not prevent us
+eating prodigiously. "For," whispers Ned Herring, "if we are to be
+hanged, it may as well be for a sheep as a lamb." However, Jack Dawson,
+getting on the right side of the landlord, who seemed a very honest,
+decent man for an innkeeper, agreed with him that we should give a
+performance that night in a cart-shed very proper to our purpose, giving
+him half of our taking in payment of our entertainment. This did Jack,
+thinking from our late ill-luck we should get at the most a dozen people
+in the sixpenny benches, and a score standing at twopence a head. But it
+turned out, as the cunning landlord had foreseen, that our hanger was
+packed close to the very door, in consequence of great numbers coming to
+the town in the afternoon to see a bull baited, so that when Jack Dawson
+closed the doors and came behind our scene to dress for his part, he
+told us he had as good as five pounds in his pocket. With that to cheer
+us we played our tragedy of "The Broken Heart" very merrily, and after
+that, changing our dresses in a twinkling, Jack Dawson, disguised as a
+wild man, and Moll as a wood nymph, came on to the stage to dance a
+pastoral, whilst I, in the fashion of a satyr, stood on one side plying
+the fiddle to their footing. Then, all being done, Jack thanks the
+company for their indulgence, and bids 'em good-night.
+
+And now, before all the company are yet out of the place, and while Jack
+Dawson is wiping the sweat from his face, comes the landlord, and asks
+pretty bluntly to be paid his share of our earnings.
+
+"Well," says Jack, in a huff, "I see no reason for any such haste; but
+if you will give me time to put on my breeches, you shall be paid all
+the same." And therewith he takes down his trunks from the nail where
+they hung. And first giving them a doubtful shake, as seeming lighter
+than he expected, and hearing no chink of money, he thrusts his hand
+into one pocket, and then into the other, and cries in dismay: "Heaven's
+mercy upon us; we are robbed! Every penny of our money is gone!"
+
+"Can you think of nothing better than such an idle story as that?" says
+the landlord. "There hath been none behind this sheet but yourselves all
+the night."
+
+We could make no reply to this, but stood gaping at each other in a maze
+for some seconds; then Jack Dawson, recovering his wits, turns him
+round, and looking about, cries: "Why, where's Ned Herring?"
+
+"If you mean him as was killed in your play," says the landlord, "I'll
+answer for it he's not far off; for, to my knowledge, he was in the
+house drinking with a man while you were a-dancing of your antics like a
+fool. And I only hope you may be as honest a man as he, for he paid for
+his liquor like a gentleman."
+
+That settled the question, for we knew the constable had left never a
+penny in his pocket when he clapt us in the stocks.
+
+"Well," says Jack, "he has our money, as you may prove by searching us,
+and if you have faith in him 'tis all as one, and you may rest easy for
+your reckoning being paid against his return."
+
+The landlord went off, vowing he would take the law of us if he were not
+paid by the morning; and we, as soon as we had shuffled on our clothes,
+away to hunt for Ned, thinking that maybe he had made off with the money
+to avoid paying half to the landlord, and hoping always that, though he
+might play the rogue with him, he would deal honestly by us. But we
+could find no trace of him, though we visited every alehouse in the
+town, and so back we go, crestfallen, to the Bell, to beg the innkeeper
+to give us a night's lodging and a crust of bread on the speculation
+that Ned would come back and settle our accounts; but he would not
+listen to our prayers, and so, hungry and thirsty, and miserable beyond
+expression, we were fain to make up with a loft over the stables, where,
+thanks to a good store of sweet hay, we soon forgot our troubles in
+sleep, but not before we had concerted to get away in the morning
+betimes to escape another day in the stocks.
+
+Accordingly, before the break of day, we were afoot, and after
+noiselessly packing our effects in the cart in the misty grey light,
+Jack Dawson goes in the stable to harness our nag, while I as silently
+take down the heavy bar that fastened the yard gate. But while I was yet
+fumbling at the bolts, and all of a shake for fear of being caught in
+the act, Jack Dawson comes to me, with Moll holding of his hand, as she
+would when our troubles were great, and says in a tone of despair:
+
+"Give over, Kit. We are all undone again. For our harness is stole, and
+there's never another I can take in its place."
+
+While we were at this stumble, out comes our landlord to make sport of
+us. "Have you found your money yet, friends?" says he, with a sneer.
+
+"No," says Jack, savagely, "and our money is not all that we have lost,
+for some villain has filched our nag's harness, and I warrant you know
+who he is."
+
+"Why, to be sure," returns the other, "the same friend may have taken it
+who has gone astray with your other belongings; but, be that as it may,
+I'll answer for it when your money is found your harness will be
+forthcoming, and not before."
+
+"Come, Master," says I, "have you no more heart than to make merry at
+the mischances of three poor wretches such as we?"
+
+"Aye," says he, "when you can show that you deserve better treatment."
+
+"Done," says Jack. "I'll show you that as quickly as you please." With
+that he whips off his cap, and flinging it on the ground, cries: "Off
+with your jacket, man, and let us prove by such means as Heaven has
+given all which is the honester of us two." And so he squares himself up
+to fight; but the innkeeper, though as big a man as he, being of a
+spongy constitution, showed no relish for this mode of argument, and
+turning his back on us with a shake of the head, said he was very well
+satisfied of his own honesty, and if we doubted it we could seek what
+satisfaction the law would give us, adding slyly, as he turned at the
+door, that he could recommend us a magistrate of his acquaintance,
+naming him who had set us in the stocks at Tottenham Cross.
+
+The very hint of this put us again in a quake, and now, the snow
+beginning to fall pretty heavily, we went into the shed to cast about as
+to what on earth we should do next. There we sat, glum and silent,
+watching idly the big flakes of snow fluttering down from the leaden
+sky, for not one of us could imagine a way out of this hobble.
+
+"Holy Mother!" cries Jack at length, springing up in a passion, "we
+cannot sit here and starve of cold and hunger. Cuddle up to my arm,
+Moll, and do you bring your fiddle, Kit, and let us try our luck
+a-begging in alehouses."
+
+And so we trudged out into the driving snow, that blinded us as we
+walked, bow our heads as we might, and tried one alehouse after the
+other, but all to no purpose, the parlours being empty because of the
+early hour, and the snow keeping folks within doors; only, about midday,
+some carters, who had pulled up at an inn, took pity on us, and gave us
+a mug of penny ale and half a loaf, and that was all the food we had the
+whole miserable day. Then at dusk, wet-footed and fagged out in mind and
+body, we trudged back to the Bell, thinking to get back into the loft
+and bury ourselves in the sweet hay for warmth and comfort. But coming
+hither, we found our nag turned out of the stable and the door locked,
+so that we were thrown quite into despair by the loss of this last poor
+hope, and poor Moll, turning her face away from us, burst out
+a-crying--she who all day had set us a brave example by her cheerful
+merry spirit.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+_Of our first acquaintance with the Seņor Don Sanchez del Castillo de
+Castelaņa, and his brave entertaining of us._
+
+
+I was taking a turn or two outside the shed,--for the sight of Jack
+Dawson hugging poor Moll to his breast and trying to soothe her bodily
+misery with gentle words was more than I could bear,--when a drawer
+coming across from the inn told me that a gentleman in the Cherry room
+would have us come to him. I gave him a civil answer and carried this
+message to my friends. Moll, who had staunched her tears and was smiling
+piteously, though her sobs, like those of a child, still shook her thin
+frame, and her father both looked at me in blank doubt as fearing some
+trap for our further discomfiture.
+
+"Nay," says Jack, stoutly. "Fate can serve us no worse within doors than
+without, so let us in and face this gentleman, whoever he is."
+
+So in we go, and all sodden and bedrabbled as we were, went to follow
+the drawer upstairs, when the landlady cried out she would not have us
+go into her Cherry room in that pickle, to soil her best furniture and
+disgrace her house, and bade the fellow carry us into the kitchen to
+take off our cloaks and change our boots for slip-shoes, adding that if
+we had any respect for ourselves, we should trim our hair and wash the
+grime off our faces. So we enter the kitchen, nothing loath, where a
+couple of pullets browning on the spit, kettles bubbling on the fire,
+and a pasty drawing from the oven, filled the air with delicious odours
+that nearly drove us mad for envy; and to think that these good things
+were to tempt the appetite of some one who never hungered, while we,
+famishing for want, had not even a crust to appease our cravings! But it
+was some comfort to plunge our blue, numbed fingers into a tub of hot
+water and feel the life blood creeping back into our hearts. The paint
+we had put on our cheeks the night before was streaked all over our
+faces by the snow, so that we did look the veriest scarecrows
+imaginable; but after washing our heads well and stroking our hair into
+order with a comb Mistress Cook lent us, we looked not so bad. And thus
+changed, and with dry shoes to our feet, we at length went upstairs, all
+full of wondering expectation, and were led into the Cherry room, which
+seemed to us a very palace, being lit with half a dozen candles (and
+they of wax) and filled with a warm glow by the blazing logs on the
+hearth reflected in the cherry hangings. And there in the midst was a
+table laid for supper with a wondrous white cloth, glasses to drink
+from, and silver forks all set out most bravely.
+
+"His worship will be down ere long," says the drawer, and with that he
+makes a pretence of building up the fire, being warned thereto very like
+by the landlady, with an eye to the safety of her silver.
+
+"Can you tell me his worship's name, friend?" I whispered, my mind
+turning at once to his worship of Tottenham Cross.
+
+"Not I, were you to pay me," says he. "'Tis that outlandish and
+uncommon. But for sure he is some great foreign grandee."
+
+He could tell us no more, so we stood there all together, wondering,
+till presently the door opens, and a tall, lean gentleman enters, with a
+high front, very finely dressed in linen stockings, a long-waisted coat,
+and embroidered waistcoat, and rich lace at his cuffs and throat. He
+wore no peruke, but his own hair, cut quite close to his head, with a
+pointed beard and a pair of long moustachios twisting up almost to his
+ears; but his appearance was the more striking by reason of his beard
+and moustachios being quite black, while the hair on his head was white
+as silver. He had dark brows also, that overhung very rich black eyes;
+his nose was long and hooked, and his skin, which was of a very dark
+complexion, was closely lined with wrinkles about the eyes, while a deep
+furrow lay betwixt his brows. He carried his head very high, and was
+majestic and gracious in all his movements, not one of which (as it
+seemed to me) was made but of forethought and purpose. I should say his
+age was about sixty, though his step and carriage were of a younger man.
+To my eyes he appeared a very handsome and a pleasing, amiable
+gentleman. But, Lord, what can you conclude of a man at a single glance,
+when every line in his face (of which he had a score and more) has each
+its history of varying passions, known only to himself, and secret
+phases of his life!
+
+He saluted us with a most noble bow, and dismissed the drawer with a
+word in an undertone. Then turning again to us, he said: "I had the
+pleasure of seeing you act last night, and dance," he adds with a slight
+inclination of his head to Moll. "Naturally, I wish to be better
+acquainted with you. Will it please you to dine with me?"
+
+I could not have been more dumbfounded had an angel asked me to step
+into heaven; but Dawson was quick enough to say something.
+
+"That will we," cries he, "and God bless your worship for taking pity on
+us, for I doubt not you have heard of our troubles."
+
+The other bowed his head and set a chair at the end of the table for
+Moll, which she took with a pretty curtsey, but saying never a word, for
+glee did seem to choke us all. And being seated, she cast her eyes on
+the bread hungrily, as if she would fain begin at once, but she had the
+good manners to restrain herself. Then his worship (as we called him),
+having shown us the chairs on either side, seated himself last of all,
+at the head of the table, facing our Moll, whom whenever he might
+without discourtesy, he regarded with most scrutinising glances from
+first to last. Then the door flinging open, two drawers brought in those
+same fat pullets we had seen browning before the fire, and also the
+pasty, with abundance of other good cheer, at which Moll, with a little
+cry of delight, whispers to me:
+
+"'Tis like a dream. Do speak to me, Kit, or I must think 'twill all fade
+away presently and leave us in the snow."
+
+Then I, finding my tongue, begged his worship would pardon us if our
+manners were more uncouth than the society to which he was accustomed.
+
+"Nay," says Dawson, "Your worship will like us none the worse, I
+warrant, for seeing what we are and aping none."
+
+Finding himself thus beworshipped on both hands, our good friend says:
+
+"You may call me Seņor. I am a Spaniard. Don Sanchez del Castillo de
+Castelaņa." And then to turn the subject, he adds: "I have seen you play
+twice."
+
+"Aye, Seņor, and I should have known you again if by nothing but this
+piece of generosity," replies Dawson, with his cheek full of pasty, "for
+I remember both times you set down a piece and would take no change."
+
+Don Sanchez hunched his shoulders cavalierly, as if such trifles were
+nought to him; but indeed throughout his manner was most high and noble.
+
+And now, being fairly settled down to our repast, we said no more of any
+moment that I can recall to mind till we had done (which was not until
+nought remained of the pullets and the pasty but a few bones and the
+bare dish), and we were drawn round the fire at Don Sanchez's
+invitation. Then the drawers, having cleared the tables, brought up a
+huge bowl of hot spiced wine, a dish of tobacco, and some pipes. The Don
+then offered us to smoke some cigarros, but we, not understanding them,
+took instead our homely pipes, and each with a beaker of hot wine to his
+hand sat roasting before the fire, scarce saying a word, the Don being
+silent because his humour was of the reflective grave kind (with all his
+courtesies he never smiled, as if such demonstrations were unbecoming to
+his dignity), and we from repletion and a feeling of wondrous
+contentment and repose. And another thing served to keep us still, which
+was that our Moll, sitting beside her father, almost at once fell
+asleep, her head lying against his shoulder as he sat with his arm about
+her waist. As at the table, Don Sanchez had seated himself where he
+could best observe her, and now he scarcely once took his eyes off her,
+which were half closed as if in speculation. At length, taking the
+cigarro from his lips, he says softly to Jack Dawson, so as not to
+arouse Moll:
+
+"Your daughter."
+
+Jack nods for an answer, and looking down on her face with pride and
+tenderness, he put back with the stem of his pipe a little curl that had
+strayed over her eyes. She was not amiss for looks thus, with her long
+eyelashes lying like a fringe upon her cheeks, her lips open, showing
+her good white teeth, and the glow of the firelight upon her face; but
+her attitude and the innocent, happy expression of her features made up
+a picture which seemed to me mighty pretty.
+
+"Where is her mother?" asks Don Sanchez, presently; and Dawson, without
+taking his eyes from Moll's face, lifts his pipe upwards, while his big
+thick lips fell a-trembling. Maybe, he was thinking of his poor Betty as
+he looked at the child's face.
+
+"Has she no other relatives?" asks the Don, in the same quiet tone; and
+Jack shakes his head, still looking down, and answers lowly:
+
+"Only me."
+
+Then after another pause the Don asks:
+
+"What will become of her?"
+
+And that thought also must have been in Jack Dawson's mind; for without
+seeming surprised by the question, which appeared a strange one, he
+answers reverently, but with a shake in his hoarse voice, "Almighty God
+knows."
+
+This stilled us all for the moment, and then Don Sanchez, seeing that
+these reflections threw a gloom upon us, turned to me, sitting next him,
+and asked if I would give him some account of my history, whereupon I
+briefly told him how three years ago Jack Dawson had lifted me out of
+the mire, and how since then we had lived in brotherhood. "And," says I
+in conclusion, "we will continue with the favour of Providence to live
+so, sharing good and ill fortune alike to the end, so much we do love
+one another."
+
+To this Jack Dawson nods assent.
+
+"And your other fellow,--what of him?" asked Don Sanchez.
+
+I replied that Ned Herring was but a fair-weather friend, who had joined
+fortunes with us to get out of London and escape the Plague, and how
+having robbed us, we were like never to see his face again.
+
+"And well for him if we do not," cries Dawson, rousing up; "for by the
+Lord, if I clap eyes on him, though it be a score of years hence, he
+shan't escape the most horrid beating ever man outlived!"
+
+The Don nodded his satisfaction at this, and then Moll, awaking with the
+sudden outburst of her father's voice, gives first a gape, then a
+shiver, and looking about her with an air of wonder, smiles as her eye
+fell on the Don. Whereon, still as solemn as any judge, he pulls the
+bell, and the maid, coming to the room with a rushlight, he bids her
+take the poor weary child to bed, and the best there is in the house,
+which I think did delight Dawson not less than his Moll to hear.
+
+Then Moll gives her father a kiss, and me another according to her wont,
+and drops a civil curtsey to Don Sanchez.
+
+"Give me thy hand, child," says he; and having it, he lifts it to his
+lips and kisses it as if she had been the finest lady in the land.
+
+She being gone, the Don calls for a second bowl of spiced wine, and we,
+mightily pleased at the prospect of another half-hour of comfort,
+stretch our legs out afresh before the fire. Then Don Sanchez, lighting
+another cigarro, and setting his chair towards us, says as he takes his
+knee up betwixt his long, thin fingers:
+
+"Now let us come to the heart of this business and understand one
+another clearly."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+_Of that design which Don Sanchez opened to us at the Bell._
+
+
+We pulled our pipes from our mouths, Dawson and I, and stretched our
+ears very eager to know what this business was the Don had to propound,
+and he, after drawing two or three mouthfuls of smoke, which he expelled
+through his nostrils in a most surprising unnatural manner, says in
+excellent good English, but speaking mighty slow and giving every letter
+its worth:
+
+"What do you go to do to-morrow?"
+
+"The Lord only knows," answers Jack, and Don Sanchez, lifting his
+eyebrows as if he considers this no answer at all, he continues: "We
+cannot go hence with none of our stage things; and if we could, I see
+not how we are to act our play, now that our villain is gone, with a
+plague to him! I doubt but we must sell all that we have for the few
+shillings they will fetch to get us out of this hobble."
+
+"With our landlord's permission," remarks Don Sanchez, dryly.
+
+"Permission!" cries Dawson, in a passion. "I ask no man's permission to
+do what I please with my own."
+
+"Suppose he claims these things in payment of the money you owe him.
+What then?" asks the Don.
+
+"We never thought of that, Kit," says Dawson, turning to me in a pucker.
+"But 'tis likely enough he has, for I observed he was mighty careless
+whether we found our thief or not. That's it, sure enough. We have
+nought to hope. All's lost!"
+
+With that he drops his elbows on his knees, and stares into the fire
+with a most desponding countenance, being in that stage of liquor when a
+man must either laugh or weep.
+
+"Come, Jack," says I. "You are not used to yield like this. Let us make
+the best of a bad lot, and face the worst like men. Though we trudge
+hence with nothing but the rags on our backs, we shall be no worse off
+to-morrow than we were this morning."
+
+"Why, that's true enough!" cries he, plucking up his courage. "Let the
+thieving rascal take our poor nag and our things for his payment, and
+much good may they do him. We will wipe this out of our memory the
+moment we leave his cursed inn behind us."
+
+It seemed to me that this would not greatly advance us, and maybe Don
+Sanchez thought the same, for he presently asks:
+
+"And what then?"
+
+"Why, Seņor," replies Dawson, "we will face each new buffet as it comes,
+and make a good fight of it till we're beat. A man may die but once."
+
+"You think only of yourselves," says the Don, very quietly.
+
+"And pray, saving your Seņor's presence, who else should we think of?"
+
+"The child above," answers the Don, a little more sternly than he had
+yet spoken. "Is a young creature like that to bear the buffets you are
+so bold to meet? Can you offer her no shelter from the wind and rain but
+such as chance offers? make no provision for the time when she is left
+alone, to protect her against the evils that lie in the path of
+friendless maids?"
+
+"God forgive me," says Jack, humbly. And then we could say nothing, for
+thinking what might befall Moll if we should be parted, but sat there
+under the keen eye of Don Sanchez, looking helplessly into the fire. And
+there was no sound until Jack's pipe, slipping from his hand, fell and
+broke in pieces upon the hearth. Then rousing himself up and turning to
+Don Sanchez, he says:
+
+"The Lord help her, Seņor, if we find no good friend to lend us a few
+shillings for our present wants."
+
+"Good friends are few," says the Don, "and they who lend need some
+better security for repayment than chance. For my own part, I would as
+soon fling straws to a drowning man as attempt to save you and that
+child from ruin by setting you on your feet to-day only to fall again
+to-morrow."
+
+"If that be so, Seņor," says I, "you had some larger view in mind than
+that of offering temporary relief to our misery when you gave us a
+supper and Moll a bed for the night."
+
+Don Sanchez assented with a grave inclination of his head, and going to
+the door opened it sharply, listened awhile, and then closing it softly,
+returned and stood before us with folded arms. Then, in a low voice, not
+to be heard beyond the room, he questioned us very particularly as to
+our relations with other men, the length of time we had been wandering
+about the country, and especially about the tractability of Moll. And,
+being satisfied with our replies,--above all, with Jack's saying that
+Moll would jump out of window at his bidding, without a thought to the
+consequences,--he says:
+
+"There's a comedy we might play to some advantage if you were minded to
+take the parts I give you and act them as I direct."
+
+"With all my heart," cries Dawson. "I'll play any part you choose; and
+as to the directing, you're welcome to that, for I've had my fill of it.
+If you can make terms with our landlord, those things in the yard shall
+be yours, and for our payment I'm willing to trust to your honour's
+generosity."
+
+"As regards payment," says the Don, "I can speak precisely. We shall
+gain fifty thousand pounds by our performance."
+
+"Fifty thousand pounds," says Jack, as if in doubt whether he had heard
+aright. Don Sanchez bent his head, without stirring a line in his face.
+
+Dawson took up his beaker slowly, and looked in it, to make sure that he
+was none the worse for drink, then, after emptying it, to steady his
+wits, he says again:
+
+"Fifty thousand pounds."
+
+"Fifty thousand pounds, if not more; and that there be no jealousies one
+of the other, it shall be divided fairly amongst us,--as much for your
+friend as for you, for the child as for me."
+
+"Pray God, this part be no more than I can compass," says Jack,
+devoutly.
+
+"You may learn it in a few hours--at least, your first act."
+
+"And mine?" says I, entering for the first time into the dialogue.
+
+The Don hunched his shoulders, lifting his eyebrows, and sending two
+streams of smoke from his nose.
+
+"I scarce know what part to give you, yet," says he. "To be honest, you
+are not wanted at all in the play."
+
+"Nay, but you must write him a part," says Dawson, stoutly; "if it be
+but to bring in a letter--that I am determined on. Kit stood by us in
+ill fortune, and he shall share better, or I'll have none of it, nor
+Moll neither. I'll answer for her."
+
+"There must be no discontent among us," says the Don, meaning thereby,
+as I think, that he had included me in his stratagem for fear I might
+mar it from envy. "The girl's part is that which gives me most
+concern--and had I not faith in my own judgment--"
+
+"Set your mind at ease on that score," cried Jack. "I warrant our Moll
+shall learn her part in a couple of days or so."
+
+"If she learn it in a twelvemonth, 'twill be time enough."
+
+"A twelvemonth," said Jack, going to his beaker again, for
+understanding. "Well, all's as one, so that we can get something in
+advance of our payment, to keep us through such a prodigious study."
+
+"I will charge myself with your expenses," says Don Sanchez; and then,
+turning to me, he asks if I have any objection to urge.
+
+"I take it, Seņor, that you speak in metaphor," says I; "and that this
+'comedy' is nought but a stratagem for getting hold of a fortune that
+doesn't belong to us."
+
+Don Sanchez calmly assented, as if this had been the most innocent
+design in the world.
+
+"Hang me," cries Dawson, "if I thought it was anything but a whimsey of
+your honour's."
+
+"I should like to know if we may carry out this stratagem honestly,"
+says I.
+
+"Aye," cries Jack. "I'll not agree for cutting of throats or breaking of
+bones, for any money."
+
+"I can tell you no more than this," says the Don. "The fortune we may
+take is now in the hands of a man who has no more right to it than we
+have."
+
+"If that's so," says Jack, "I'm with you, Seņor. For I'd as lief bustle
+a thief out of his gains as say my prayers, any day, and liefer."
+
+"Still," says I, "the money must of right belong to some one."
+
+"We will say that the money belongs to a child of the same age as Moll."
+
+"Then it comes to this, Seņor," says I, bluntly. "We are to rob that
+child of fifty thousand pounds."
+
+"When you speak of robbing," says the Don, drawing himself up with much
+dignity, "you forget that I am to play a part in this stratagem--I, Don
+Sanchez del Castillo de Castelaņa."
+
+"Fie, Kit, han't you any manners?" cries Dick. "What's all this talk of
+a child? Hasn't the Seņor told us we are but to bustle a cheat?"
+
+"But I would know what is to become of this child, if we take her
+fortune, though it be withheld from her by another," says I, being
+exceeding obstinate and persistent in my liquor.
+
+"I shall prove to your conviction," says the Don, "that the child will
+be no worse off, if we take this money, than if we leave it in the hands
+of that rascally steward. But I see," adds he, contemptuously, "that for
+all your brotherly love, 'tis no such matter to you whether poor little
+Molly comes to her ruin, as every maid must who goes to the stage, or is
+set beyond the reach of temptation and the goading of want."
+
+"Aye, and be hanged to you, Kit!" cries Dawson.
+
+"Tell me, Mr. Poet," continues Don Sanchez, "do you consider this
+steward who defrauds that child of a fortune is more unfeeling than you
+who, for a sickly qualm of conscience, would let slip this chance of
+making Molly an honest woman?"
+
+"Aye, answer that, Kit," adds Jack, striking his mug on the table.
+
+"I'll answer you to-morrow morning, Seņor," says I. "And whether I fall
+in with the scheme or not is all as one, since my help is not needed;
+for if it be to Moll's good, I'll bid you farewell, and you shall see me
+never again."
+
+"Spoken like a man!" says Don Sanchez, "and a wise one to boot. An
+enterprise of this nature is not to be undertaken without reflection,
+like the smoking of a pipe. If you put your foot forward, it must be
+with the understanding that you cannot go back. I must have that
+assurance, for I shall be hundreds of pounds out of pocket ere I can get
+any return for my venture."
+
+"Have no fear of me or of Moll turning tail at a scarecrow," says Jack,
+adding with a sneer, "we are no poets."
+
+"Reflect upon it. Argue it out with your friend here, whose scruples do
+not displease me, and let me know your determination when the last word
+is said. Business carries me to London to-morrow; but you shall meet me
+at night, and we will close the business--aye or nay--ere supper."
+
+With that he opens the door and gives us our congee, the most noble in
+the world; but not offering to give us a bed, we are forced to go out of
+doors and grope our way through the snow to the cart-shed, and seek a
+shelter there from the wind, which was all the keener and more bitter
+for our leaving a good fire. And I believe the shrewd Spaniard had put
+us to this pinch as a foretaste of the misery we must endure if we
+rejected his design, and so to shape our inclinations to his.
+
+Happily, the landlord, coming out with a lantern, and finding us by the
+chattering of our teeth, was moved by the consideration shown us by Don
+Sanchez to relax his severity; and so, unlocking the stable door, he
+bade us get up into the loft, which we did, blessing him as if he had
+been the best Christian in the world. And then, having buried ourselves
+in hay, Jack Dawson and I fell to arguing the matter in question, I
+sticking to my scruples (partly from vanity), and he stoutly holding
+t'other side; and I, being warmed by my own eloquence, and he not less
+heated by liquor (having taken best part of the last bowl to his share),
+we ran it pretty high, so that at one point Jack was for lighting a
+candle end he had in his pocket and fighting it out like men. But,
+little by little, we cooled down, and towards morning, each giving way
+something, we came to the conclusion that we would have Don Sanchez show
+us the steward, that we might know the truth of his story (which I
+misdoubted, seeing that it was but a roguish kind of game at best that
+he would have us take part in), and that if we found all things as he
+represented them, then we would accept his offer. And also we resolved
+to be down betimes and let him know our determination before he set out
+for London, to the end that we might not be left fasting all the day.
+But herein we miscalculated the potency of liquor and a comfortable bed
+of hay, for 'twas nine o'clock before either of us winked an eye, and
+when we got down, we learnt that Don Sanchez had been gone a full hour,
+and so no prospect of breaking our fast till nightfall.
+
+Presently comes Moll, all fresh and pink from the house, and falls to
+exclaiming upon the joy of sleeping betwixt clean sheets in a feather
+bed, and could speak of nothing else, saying she would give all the
+world to sleep so well every day of her life.
+
+"Eh," whispers her father in my ear, "you see how luxuries do tempt the
+poor child, and what kind of a bed she is like to lie in if our hopes
+miscarry."
+
+On which, still holding to my scruples, I says to Moll:
+
+"'Tis easy to say you would give the world, Moll, but I know full well
+you would give nothing for all the comfort possible that was not your
+own."
+
+"Nay," says she, crossing her hands on her breast, and casting up her
+eyes with the look of a saint, "what are all the fruits of the earth to
+her who cannot take them with an easy conscience? Honesty is dearer to
+me than the bread of life."
+
+Then, as Jack and I are looking at each other ruefully in the face at
+this dash to our knavish project, she bursts into a merry peal of
+laughter, like a set of Christmas bells chiming, whereupon we, turning
+about to find the cause of her merriment, she pulls another demure face,
+and, slowly lifting her skirt, shows us a white napkin tied about her
+waist, stuffed with a dozen delicacies she had filched from Don
+Sanchez's table in coming down from her room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+_Of the several parts that we are appointed to play._
+
+
+Finding a sheltered secret corner, we made a very hasty breakfast of
+these stolen dainties, and since we had not the heart to restore them to
+our innkeeper, so we had not the face to chide Moll for her larceny, but
+made light of the business and ate with great content and some mirth.
+
+A drizzly rain falling and turning the snow into slush, we kept under
+the shelter of the shed, and this giving us scope for the reflection Don
+Sanchez had counselled, my compunctions were greatly shaken by the
+consideration of our present position and the prospect of worse. When I
+thought of our breakfast that Moll had stolen, and how willingly we
+would all have eaten a dinner got by the same means, I had to
+acknowledge that certainly we were all thieves at heart; and this
+conclusion, together with sitting all day doing nothing in the raw cold,
+did make the design of Don Sanchez seem much less heinous to me than it
+appeared the night before, when I was warm and not exceedingly sober,
+and indeed towards dusk I came to regard it as no bad thing at all.
+
+About six comes back our Don on a fine horse, and receives our
+salutations with a cool nod--we standing there of a row, looking our
+sweetest, like hungry dogs in expectation of a bone. Then in he goes to
+the house without a word, and now my worst fear was that he had thought
+better of his offer and would abandon it. So there we hang about the
+best part of an hour, now thinking the Don would presently send for us,
+and then growing to despair of everything but to be left in the cold
+forgotten; but in the end comes Master Landlord to tell us his worship
+in the Cherry room would see us. So, after the same formalities of
+cleansing ourselves as the night afore, upstairs we go at the heels of a
+drawer, carrying a roast pig, which to our senses was more delightful
+than any bunch of flowers.
+
+With a gesture of his hands, after saluting us with great dignity, Don
+Sanchez bade us take our places at the table and with never a word of
+question as to our decision; but that was scarce necessary, for it
+needed no subtle observation to perceive that we would accept any
+conditions to get our share of that roast pig. This supper differed not
+greatly from the former, save that our Moll was taken with a kind of
+tickling at the throat which presently attracted our notice.
+
+"What ails you, Molly, my dear?" asks Jack. "Has a bit of crackling gone
+down the wrong way?"
+
+She put it off as if she would have us take no notice of it, but it grew
+worse and worse towards the end of the meal, and became a most horrid,
+tearing cough, which she did so natural as to deceive us all and put us
+in great concern, and especially Don Sanchez, who declared she must have
+taken a cold by being exposed all day to the damp weather.
+
+"If I have," says she, very prettily, after wiping the tears from her
+eyes upon another fit, "'tis surely a most ungrateful return for the
+kindness with which you sheltered me last night, Seņor."
+
+"I shall take better care to shelter you in the future, my poor child,"
+replies the Don, ringing the bell. Then, the maid coming, he bids her
+warm a bed and prepare a hot posset against Moll was tucked up in the
+blankets. "And," says he, turning to Moll, "you shall not rise till
+noon, my dear; your breakfast shall be brought to you in your room,
+where a fire shall be made, and such treatment shown you as if you were
+my own child."
+
+"Oh! what have I done that you should be so gentle to me?" exclaims
+Moll, smothering another cough. And with that she reaches out her leg
+under the table and fetches me a kick of the shin, looking all the while
+as pitiful and innocent as any painted picture. "Would it be well to
+fetch in a doctor?" says Don Sanchez, when Moll was gone barking
+upstairs. "The child looks delicate, though she eats with a fairly good
+appetite."
+
+"'Tis nothing serious," replies Jack, who had doubtless received the
+same hint from Moll she had given me. "I warrant she will be mended in a
+day or so, with proper care. 'Tis a kind of family complaint. I am taken
+that way at times," and with that he rasps his throat as a hint that he
+would be none the worse for sleeping a night between sheets.
+
+This was carrying the matter too far, and I thought it had certainly
+undone us; for stopping short, with a start, in crossing the room, he
+turns and looks first at Dawson, then at me, with anything but a
+pleasant look in his eyes as finding his dignity hurt, to be thus
+bustled by a mere child. Then his dark eyebrows unbending with the
+reflection, maybe, that it was so much the better to his purpose that
+Moll could so act as to deceive him, he seats himself gravely, and
+replies to Jack:
+
+"Your family wit may get you a night's lodging, but I doubt if you will
+ever merit it so well as your daughter."
+
+"Well," says Jack, with a laugh, "what wit we have amongst us we are
+resolved to employ in your honour's service, so that you show us this
+steward-fellow is a rascal that deserves to be bounced, and we do no
+great injury to any one else."
+
+"Good," says Don Sanchez. "We will proceed to that without delay. And
+now, as we have no matter to discuss, and must be afoot early to-morrow,
+I will ring for a light to take you to bed."
+
+So we up presently to a good snug room with a bed to each of us fit for
+a prince. And there, with the blankets drawn up to our ears, we fell
+blessing our stars that we were now fairly out of our straits, and after
+that to discussing whether we should consult Moll's inclination to this
+business. First, Dawson was for telling her plump out all about our
+project, saying that being so young she had no conscience to speak of,
+and would like nothing better than to take part in any piece of
+mischief. But against this I protested, seeing that it would be
+dangerous to our design to let her know so much (she having a woman's
+tongue in her head), and also of a bad tendency to make her, as it were,
+at the very beginning of her life, a knowing active party to what looked
+like nothing more nor less than a piece of knavery. Therefore I proposed
+we should, when necessary, tell her just so much of our plan as was
+expedient, and no more. And this agreeing mightily with Jack's natural
+turn for taking of short cuts out of difficulties, he fell in with my
+views at once, and so, bidding God bless me, he lays the clothes over
+his head and was snoring the next minute.
+
+In the morning we found the Don just as kind to us as the day before he
+had been careless, and so made us eat breakfast with him, to our great
+content. Also, he sent a maid up to Moll to enquire of her health, and
+if she could eat anything from our table, to which the baggage sends
+reply that she feels a little easier this morning and could fancy a dish
+of black puddings. These delicacies her father carried to her, being
+charged by the Don to tell her that we should be gone for a couple of
+days, and that in our absence she might command whatever she felt was
+necessary to her complete recovery against our return. Then I told Don
+Sanchez how we had resolved to tell Moll no more of our purpose than was
+necessary for the moment, which pleased him, I thought, mightily, he
+saying that our success or failure depended upon secrecy as much as
+anything, for which reason he had kept us in the dark as much as ever it
+was possible.
+
+About eight o'clock three saddle nags were brought to the door, and we,
+mounting, set out for London, where we arrived about ten, the roads
+being fairly passable save in the marshy parts about Shoreditch, where
+the mire was knee-deep; so to Gracious Street, and there leaving our
+nags at the Turk inn, we walked down to the Bridge stairs, and thence
+with a pair of oars to Greenwich. Here, after our tedious chilly voyage,
+we were not ill-pleased to see the inside of an inn once more, and Don
+Sanchez, taking us to the King's posting-house, orders a fire to be
+lighted in a private room, and the best there was in the larder to be
+served us in the warm parlour. While we were at our trenchers Don
+Sanchez says:
+
+"At two o'clock two men are coming hither to see me. One is a master
+mariner named Robert Evans, the other a merchant adventurer of his
+acquaintance whom I have not yet seen. Now you are to mark these two men
+well, note all they say and their manner of speaking, for to-morrow you
+will have to personate these characters before one who would be only too
+glad to find you at fault."
+
+"Very good, Seņor," says Dawson; "but which of these parts am I to
+play?"
+
+"That you may decide when you have seen the men, but I should say from
+my knowledge of Robert Evans that you may best represent his character.
+For in your parts to-day you are to be John and Christopher Knight, two
+needy cousins of Lady Godwin, whose husband, Sir Richard Godwin, was
+lost at sea seven years ago. I doubt if you will have to do anything in
+these characters beyond looking eager and answering merely yes and no to
+such questions as I may put."
+
+Thus primed, we went presently to the sitting-room above, and the drawer
+shortly after coming to say that two gentlemen desired to see Don
+Sanchez, Jack and I seated ourselves side by side at a becoming distance
+from the Don, holding our hats on our knees as humbly as may be. Then in
+comes a rude, dirty fellow with a patch over one eye and a most peculiar
+bearish gait, dressed in a tarred coat, with a wool shawl about his
+neck, followed by a shrewd-visaged little gentleman in a plain cloth
+suit, but of very good substance, he looking just as trim and
+well-mannered as t'other was uncouth and rude.
+
+"Well, here am I," says Evans (whom we knew at once for the master
+mariner), flinging his hat and shawl in a corner. "There's his
+excellency Don Sanchez, and here's Mr. Hopkins, the merchant I spoke on
+yesterday; and who be these?" turning about to fix us with his one blue
+eye.
+
+"Two gentlemen related to Mrs. Godwin, and very anxious for her return,"
+replies the Don.
+
+"Then we being met friends all, let's have up a bottle and heave off on
+this here business without more ado," says Evans; and with that he seats
+himself in the Don's chair, pokes up the fire with his boots, and spits
+on the hearth.
+
+The Don graciously places a chair for Mr. Hopkins, rings the bell, and
+seats himself. Then after a few civilities while the bottle was being
+opened and our glasses filled, he says:
+
+"You have doubtless heard from Robert Evans the purpose of our coming
+hither, Mr. Hopkins."
+
+"Roughly," replies Mr. Hopkins, with a dry little cough. "But I should
+be glad to have the particulars from you, that I may judge more clearly
+of my responsibilities in this undertaking."
+
+"Oh, Lord!" exclaims Evans, in disgust. "Here give us a pipe of tobacco
+if we're to warp out half a day ere we get a capful of wind."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+_Don Sanchez puts us in the way of robbing with an easy conscience._
+
+
+Promising to make his story as short as he possibly could, Don Sanchez
+began:
+
+"On the coming of our present king to his throne, Sir Richard Godwin was
+recalled from Italy, whither he had been sent as embassador by the
+Protector. He sailed from Livorno with his wife and his daughter Judith,
+a child of nine years old at that time, in the Seahawk."
+
+"I remember her," says Evans, "as stout a ship as ever was put to sea."
+
+"On the second night of her voyage the Seahawk became parted from her
+convoy, and the next day she was pursued and overtaken by a pair of
+Barbary pirates, to whom she gave battle."
+
+"Aye, and I'd have done the same," cries Evans, "though they had been a
+score."
+
+"After a long and bloody fight," continues Don Sanchez, "the corsairs
+succeeded in boarding the Seahawk and overcoming the remnant of her
+company."
+
+"Poor hearts! would I had been there to help 'em," says Evans.
+
+"Exasperated by the obstinate resistance of these English and their own
+losses, the pirates would grant no mercy, but tying the living to the
+dead they cast all overboard save Mrs. Godwin and her daughter. Her lot
+was even worse; for her wounded husband, Sir Richard, was snatched from
+her arms and flung into the sea before her eyes, and he sank crying
+farewell to her."
+
+"These Turks have no hearts in their bellies, you must understand,"
+explains Evans. "And nought but venom in their veins."
+
+"The Seahawk was taken to Alger, and there Mrs. Godwin and her daughter
+were sold for slaves in the public market-place."
+
+"I have seen 'em sold by the score there," says Evans, "and fetch but an
+onion a head."
+
+"By good fortune the mother and daughter were bought by Sidi ben Moula,
+a rich old merchant who was smitten by the pretty, delicate looks of
+Judith, whom he thenceforth treated as if she had been his own child. In
+this condition they lived with greater happiness than falls to the lot
+of most slaves, until the beginning of last year, when Sidi died, and
+his possessions fell to his brother, Bare ben Moula. Then Mrs. Godwin
+appeals to Bare for her liberty and to be sent home to her country,
+saying that what price (in reason) he chooses to set upon their heads
+she will pay from her estate in England--a thing which she had proposed
+before to Sidi, but he would not hear of it because of his love for
+Judith and his needing no greater fortune than he had. But this Bare,
+though he would be very well content, being also an old man, to have his
+household managed by Mrs. Godwin and to adopt Judith as his child, being
+of a more avaricious turn than his brother, at length consents to it, on
+condition that her ransoms be paid before she quits Barbary. And so,
+casting about how this may be done, Mrs. Godwin finds a captive whose
+price has been paid, about to be taken to Palma in the Baleares, and to
+him she entrusts two letters." Here Don Sanchez pulls two folded sheets
+of vellum from his pocket, and presenting one to me, he says:
+
+"Mayhap you recognise this hand, Mr. Knight."
+
+And I, seeing the signature Elizabeth Godwin, answers quickly enough:
+"Aye, 'tis my dear cousin Bess, her own hand."
+
+"This," says the Don, handing the other to Evans, "you may understand."
+
+"I can make out 'tis writ in the Moorish style," says Evans, "but the
+meaning of it I know not, for I can't tell great A from a bull's foot
+though it be in printed English."
+
+"'Tis an undertaking on the part of Bare ben Moula," says the Don, "to
+deliver up at Dellys in Barbary the persons of Mrs. Godwin and her
+daughter against the payment of five thousand gold ducats within one
+year. The other writing tells its own story."
+
+Mr. Hopkins took the first sheet from me and read it aloud. It was
+addressed to Mr. Richard Godwin, Hurst Court, Chislehurst in Kent, and
+after giving such particulars of her past as we had already heard from
+Don Sanchez, she writes thus: "And now, my dear nephew, as I doubt not
+you (as the nearest of my kindred to my dear husband after us two poor
+relicts) have taken possession of his estate in the belief we were all
+lost in our voyage from Italy, I do pray you for the love of God and of
+mercy to deliver us from our bondage by sending hither a ship with the
+money for our ransoms forthwith, and be assured by this that I shall not
+dispossess you of your fortune (more than my bitter circumstances do now
+require), so that I but come home to die in a Christian country and have
+my sweet Judith where she may be less exposed to harm than in this
+infidel country. I count upon your love,--being ever a dear nephew,--and
+am your most hopeful, trusting, and loving aunt, Elizabeth Godwin."
+
+"Very well, sir," says Mr. Hopkins, returning the letter. "You have been
+to Chislehurst."
+
+"I have," answers the Don, "and there I find the estate in the hands of
+a most curious Puritanical steward, whose honesty is rather in the
+letter than the spirit. For though I have reason to believe that not one
+penny's value of the estate has been misemployed since it has been in
+his hands, yet will he give nothing--no, not a maravedi to the
+redemption of his mistress, saying that the letter is addressed to
+Richard Godwin and not to him, etc., and that he hath no power to pay
+out monies for this purpose, even though he believed the facts I have
+laid before him--which for his own ends doubtless he fains to misdoubt."
+
+"As a trader, sir," says Mr. Hopkins, "I cannot blame his conduct in
+that respect. For should the venture fall through, the next heir might
+call upon him to repay out of his own pocket all that he had put into
+this enterprise. But this Mr. Richard Godwin, what of him?"
+
+"He is nowhere to be found. The only relatives I have been able to
+discover are these two gentlemen."
+
+"Who," remarks Mr. Hopkins, with a shrewd glance at our soiled clothes,
+"are not, I venture to think, in a position to pay their cousin's
+ransom."
+
+"Alas, no, sir," says Jack. "We are but two poor shopkeepers of London
+undone by the great fire."
+
+"Well now, sir," says Mr. Hopkins, fetching an inkpot, a pen, and a
+piece of paper from his pocket. "I may conclude that you wish me to
+adventure upon the redemption of these two ladies in Barbary, upon the
+hazard of being repaid by Mrs. Godwin when she recovers her estate." And
+the Don making him a reverence, he continues, "We must first learn the
+extent of our liabilities. What sum is to be paid to Bare ben Moula?"
+
+"Five thousand gold ducats--about two thousand pounds English."
+
+"Two thousand," says Mr. Hopkins, writing. "Then, Robert Evans, what
+charge is yours for fetching the ladies from Dellys?"
+
+"Master Hopkins, I have said fifteen hundred pounds," says he, "and I
+won't go from my word though all laugh at me for a madman."
+
+"That seems a great deal of money," says Mr. Hopkins.
+
+"Well, if you think fifteen hundred pounds too much for my carcase and a
+ship of twenty men, you can go seek a cheaper market elsewhere."
+
+"You think there is very small likelihood of coming back alive?"
+
+"Why, comrade, 'tis as if you should go into a den of lions and hope to
+get out whole; for though I have the Duke's pass, these Moors are no
+fitter to be trusted than a sackful of serpents. 'Tis ten to one our
+ship be taken, and we fools all sold into slavery."
+
+"Ten to one," says Mr. Hopkins; "that is to say, you would make this
+voyage for the tenth part of what you ask were you sure of returning
+safe."
+
+"I would go as far anywhere outside the straits for an hundred pounds
+with a lighter heart."
+
+Mr. Hopkins nods his head, and setting down some figures on his paper,
+says:
+
+"The bare outlay in hard money amounts to thirty-five hundred pounds.
+Reckoning the risk at Robert Evans' own valuation (which I take to be a
+very low one), I must see reasonable prospect of winning thirty-five
+thousand pounds by my hazard."
+
+"Mrs. Godwin's estate I know to be worth double that amount."
+
+"But who will promise me that return?" asks Mr. Hopkins. "Not you?" (The
+Don shook his head.) "Not you?" (turning to us, with the same result).
+"Not Mrs. Godwin, for we have no means of communicating with her. Not
+the steward--you have shown me that. Who then remains but this Richard
+Godwin who cannot be found? If," adds he, getting up from his seat, "you
+can find Richard Godwin, put him in possession of the estate, and obtain
+from him a reasonable promise that this sum shall be paid on the return
+of Mrs. Godwin, I may feel disposed to consider your proposal more
+seriously. But till then I can do nothing."
+
+"Likewise, masters all," says Evans, fetching his hat and shawl from the
+corner, "I can't wait for a blue moon; and if so be we don't sign
+articles in a week, I'm off of my bargain, and mighty glad to get out of
+it so cheap."
+
+"You see," says Don Sanchez, when they were gone out of the room, "how
+impossible it is that Mrs. Godwin and her daughter shall be redeemed
+from captivity. To-morrow I shall show you what kind of a fellow the
+steward is that he should have the handling of this fortune rather than
+we."
+
+Then presently, with an indifferent, careless air, as if 'twas nought,
+he gives us a purse and bids us go out in the town to furnish ourselves
+with what disguise was necessary to our purpose. Therewith Dawson gets
+him some seaman's old clothes at a Jew's, and I a very neat, presentable
+suit of cloth, etc., and the rest of the money we take back to Don
+Sanchez without taking so much as a penny for our other uses; but he,
+doing all things very magnificent, would have none of it, but bade us
+keep it against our other necessities. And now having his money in our
+pockets, we felt 'twould be more dishonest to go back from this business
+than to go forward with it, lead us whither it might.
+
+Next morning off we go betimes, Jack more like Robert Evans than his
+mother's son, and I a most seeming substantial man (so that the very
+stable lad took off his hat to me), and on very good horses a long ride
+to Chislehurst And there coming to a monstrous fine park, Don Sanchez
+stayed us before the gates, and bidding us look up a broad avenue of
+great oaks to a most surprising brave house, he told us this was Hurst
+Court, and we might have it for our own within a year if we were so
+minded.
+
+Hence, at no great distance we reach a square plain house, the windows
+all barred with stout iron, and the most like a prison I did ever see.
+Here Don Sanchez ringing a bell, a little grating in the door is opened,
+and after some parley we are admitted by a sturdy fellow carrying a
+cudgel in his hand. So we into a cold room, with not a spark of fire on
+the hearth but a few ashes, no hangings to the windows, nor any ornament
+or comfort at all, but only a table and half a dozen wooden stools, and
+a number of shelves against the wall full of account books and papers
+protected by a grating of stout wire secured with sundry padlocks. And
+here, behind a tableful of papers, sat our steward, Simon
+Stout-in-faith, a most withered, lean old man, clothed all in leather,
+wearing no wig but his own rusty grey hair falling lank on his
+shoulders, with a sour face of a very jaundiced complexion, and pale
+eyes that seemed to swim in a yellowish rheum, which he was for ever
+a-mopping with a rag.
+
+"I am come, Mr. Steward," says Don Sanchez, "to conclude the business we
+were upon last week."
+
+"Aye," cries Dawson, for all the world in the manner of Evans, "but ere
+we get to this dry matter let's have a bottle to ease the way, for this
+riding of horseback has parched up my vitals confoundedly."
+
+"If thou art athirst," says Simon, "Peter shall fetch thee a jug of
+water from the well; but other liquor have we none in this house."
+
+"Let Peter drown in your well," says Dawson, with an oath; "I'll have
+none of it. Let's get this matter done and away, for I'd as lief sit in
+a leaky hold as in this here place for comfort."
+
+"Here," says Don Sanchez, "is a master mariner who is prepared to risk
+his life, and here a merchant adventurer of London who will hazard his
+money, to redeem your mistress and her daughter from slavery."
+
+"Praise the Lord, Peter," says the steward. Whereupon the sturdy fellow
+with the cudgel fell upon his knees, as likewise did Simon, and both in
+a snuffling voice render thanks to Heaven in words which I do not think
+it proper to write here. Then, being done, they get up, and the steward,
+having dried his eyes, says:
+
+"So far our prayers have been answered. Put me in mind, friend Peter,
+that to-night we pray these worthy men prosper in their design."
+
+"If they succeed," says Don Sanchez, "it will cost your mistress
+five-and-thirty thousand pounds."
+
+The steward clutched at the table as if at the fortune about to turn
+from him; his jaw fell, and he stared at Don Sanchez in bewilderment,
+then getting the face to speak, he gasps out, "Thirty-five thousand
+pounds!" and still in a maze asks: "Art thou in thy right senses,
+friend?"
+
+The Don hunches his shoulders and turns to me. Whereupon I lay forth in
+pretty much the same words as Mr. Hopkins used, the risk of the venture,
+etc., to all which this Simon listened with starting eyes and gaping
+mouth.
+
+"Thirty-five thousand pounds!" he says again; "why, friend, 'tis half of
+all I have made of the estate by a life of thrift and care and earnest
+seeking."
+
+"'Tis in your power, Simon," says Don Sanchez, "to spare your mistress
+this terrible charge, for which your fine park must be felled, your
+farms cut up, and your economies be scattered. The master here will
+fetch your mistress home for fifteen hundred pounds."
+
+"Why, even that is an extortion."
+
+"Nay," says Jack, "if you think fifteen hundred pounds too much for my
+carcase and a ship of twenty men, you may seek a cheaper market and
+welcome, for I've no stomach to risk my life and property for less."
+
+"To the fifteen hundred pounds you must add the ransom of two thousand
+pounds. Thus Mrs. Godwin and her daughter may be redeemed for
+thirty-five hundred pounds to her saving of thirty-one thousand five
+hundred pounds," says the Don.
+
+And here Dawson and I were secretly struck by his honesty in not seeking
+to affright the steward from an honest course, but rather tempting him
+to it by playing upon his parsimony and avarice.
+
+"Three thousand five hundred," says Simon, putting it down in writing,
+that he might the better realise his position. "But you say, friend
+merchant, that the risk is as ten to one against seeing thy money
+again."
+
+"I will run the risk for thirty-one thousand pounds, and no less," says
+I.
+
+"But if it may be done for a tenth part, how then?"
+
+"Why, 'tis your risk, sir, and not mine," says I.
+
+"Yea, yea, my risk. And you tell me, friend sailor, that you stand in
+danger of being plundered by these infidels."
+
+"Aye, more like than not."
+
+"Why, then we may count half the estate gone; and the peril is to be run
+again, and thus all cast away for nought."
+
+In this manner did Simon halt betwixt two ways like one distracted, but
+only he did mingle a mass of sacred words with his arguments which
+seemed to me nought but profanity, his sole concern being the gain of
+money. Then he falls to the old excuses Don Sanchez had told us of,
+saying he had no money of his own, and offering to show his books that
+we might see he had taken not one penny beyond his bare expenses from
+the estate, save his yearly wage, and that no more than Sir Richard had
+given him in his lifetime. And on Don Sanchez showing Mrs. Godwin's
+letter as a fitting authority to draw out this money for her use, he
+first feigns to doubt her hand, and then says he: "If an accident
+befalls these two women ere they return to justify me, how shall I
+answer to the next heir for this outlay? Verily" (clasping his hands) "I
+am as one standing in darkness, and I dare not move until I am better
+enlightened; so prithee, friend, give me time to commune with my
+conscience."
+
+Don Sanchez hunches up his shoulders and turns to us.
+
+"Why, look here, Master," says Dawson. "I can't see as you need much
+enlightenment to answer yes or no to a fair offer, and as for me, I'm
+not going to hang in a hedge for a blue moon. So if you won't clap hands
+on the bargain without more ado, I throw this business overboard and
+shall count I've done the best day's work of my life in getting out of
+the affair."
+
+Then I made as if I would willingly draw out of my share in the project.
+
+"My friends," says Simon, "there can be scarce any hope at all if thou
+wilt not hazard thy money for such a prodigious advantage." Then turning
+to Peter as his last hope, he asks in despair, "What shall we do, my
+brother?"
+
+"We can keep on a-praying, friend Simon," replies Peter, in a snivelling
+voice.
+
+"A blessed thought!" exclaims the steward in glee. "Surely that is more
+righteous than to lay faith in our own vain effort. So do thou, friend"
+(turning to me), "put thy money to this use, for I will none."
+
+"I cannot do that, sir," says I, "without an assurance that Mrs.
+Godwin's estate will bear this charge."
+
+With wondrous alacrity Simon fetches a book with a plan of the estate,
+whereby he showed us that not a holding on the estate was untenanted,
+not a single tenant in arrear with his rent, and that the value of the
+property with all deductions made was sixty-five thousand pounds.
+
+"Very good sir," says I. "Now you must give me a written note, stating
+what you have shown, with your sanction to my making this venture on
+Mrs. Godwin's behalf, that I may justify my claim hereafter."
+
+But this Simon stoutly refused to do, saying his conscience would not
+allow him to sign any bond (clearly with the hope that he might in the
+end shuffle out of paying anything at all), until Don Sanchez, losing
+patience, declared he would certainly hunt all London through to find
+that Mr. Richard Godwin, who was the next of kin, hinting that he would
+certainly give us such sanction as we required if only to prove his
+right to the succession should our venture fail.
+
+This put the steward to a new taking; but the Don holding firm, he at
+length agreed to give us this note, upon Don Sanchez writing another
+affirming that he had seen Mrs. Godwin and her daughter in Barbary, and
+was going forth to fetch them, that should Mr. Richard Godwin come to
+claim the estate he might be justly put off.
+
+And so this business ended to our great satisfaction, we saying to
+ourselves that we had done all that man could to redeem the captives,
+and that it would be no harm at all to put a cheat upon the miserly
+steward. Whether we were any way more honest than he in shaping our
+conduct according to our inclinations is a question which troubled us
+then very little.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+_Moll is cast to play the part of a fine lady; doubtful promise for this
+undertaking._
+
+
+On our way back to Greenwich we stayed at an inn by the road to refresh
+ourselves, and there, having a snug parlour to ourselves, and being
+seated about a fine cheese with each a full measure of ale, Don Sanchez
+asks us if we are satisfied with our undertaking.
+
+"Aye, that we are," replies Dawson, mightily pleased as usual to be
+a-feasting. "We desire nothing better than to serve your honour
+faithfully in all ways, and are ready to put our hands to any bond you
+may choose to draw up."
+
+"Can you show me the man," asks the Don, lifting his eyebrows
+contemptuously, "who ever kept a treaty he was minded to break? Men are
+honest enough when nought's to be gained by breaking faith. Are you both
+agreed to this course?"
+
+"Yes, Seņor," says I, "and my only compunction now is that I can do so
+little to forward this business."
+
+"Why, so far as I can see into it," says Dawson, "one of us must be cast
+for old Mrs. Godwin, if Moll is to be her daughter, and you're fitter to
+play the part than I, for I take it this old gentlewoman should be of a
+more delicate, sickly composition than mine."
+
+"We will suppose that Mrs. Godwin is dead," says the Don, gravely.
+
+"Aye, to be sure; that simplifies the thing mightily. But pray, Seņor,
+what parts are we to play?"
+
+"The parts you have played to-day. You go with me to fetch Judith Godwin
+from Barbary."
+
+"This hangs together and ought to play well; eh, Kit?"
+
+I asked Don Sanchez how long, in the ordinary course of things an
+expedition of this kind would take.
+
+"That depends upon accidents of many kinds," answers he. "We may very
+well stretch it out best part of a year."
+
+"A year," says Jack, scratching his ear ruefully, for I believe he had
+counted upon coming to live like a lord in a few weeks. "And what on
+earth are we to do in the meanwhile?"
+
+"Teach Moll," answers the Don.
+
+"She can read anything print or scrip," says Jack, proudly, "and write
+her own name."
+
+"Judith Godwin," says the Don, reflectively, "lived two years in Italy.
+She would certainly remember some words of Italian. Consider this: it is
+not sufficient merely to obtain possession of the Godwin estate; it must
+be held against the jealous opposition of that shrewd steward and of the
+presumptive heir, Mr. Richard Godwin, who may come forward at any time."
+
+"You're in the right, Seņor. Well, there's Kit knows the language and
+can teach her a smattering of the Italian, I warrant, in no time."
+
+"Judith would probably know something of music," pursues the Don.
+
+"Why, Moll can play Kit's fiddle as well as he."
+
+"But, above all," continues the Don, as taking no heed of this tribute
+to Moll's abilities, "Judith Godwin must be able to read and write the
+Moorish character and speak the tongue readily, answer aptly as to their
+ways and habits, and to do these things beyond suspect. Moll must live
+with these people for some months."
+
+"God have mercy on us!" cries Jack. "Your honour is not for taking us to
+Barbary."
+
+"No," answers the Don, dryly, passing his long fingers with some
+significance over the many seams in his long face, "but we must go where
+the Moors are to be found, on the hither side of the straits."
+
+"Well," says Dawson, "all's as one whither we go in safety if we're to
+be out of our fortune for a year. There's nothing more for our Moll to
+learn, I suppose, seņor."
+
+"It will not be amiss to teach her the manners of a lady," replies the
+Don, rising and knitting his brows together unpleasantly, "and
+especially to keep her feet under her chair at table."
+
+With this he rings the bell for our reckoning, and so ends our
+discussion, neither Dawson nor I having a word to say in answer to this
+last hit, which showed us pretty plainly that in reaching round with her
+long leg for our shins, Moll had caught the Don's shanks a kick that
+night she was seized with a cough.
+
+So to horse again and a long jog back to Greenwich, where Dawson and I
+would fain have rested the night (being unused to the saddle and very
+raw with our journey), but the Don would not for prudence, and
+therefore, after changing our clothes, we make a shift to mount once
+more, and thence another long horrid jolt to Edmonton very painfully.
+
+Coming to the Bell (more dead than alive) about eight, and pitch dark,
+we were greatly surprised that we could make no one hear to take our
+horses, and further, having turned the brutes into the stable ourselves,
+to find never a soul in the common room or parlour, so that the place
+seemed quite forsaken. But hearing a loud guffaw of laughter from below,
+we go downstairs to the kitchen, which we could scarce enter for the
+crowd in the doorway. And here all darkness, save for a sheet hung at
+the further end, and lit from behind, on which a kind of phantasmagory
+play of Jack and the Giant was being acted by shadow characters cut out
+of paper, the performer being hid by a board that served as a stage for
+the puppets. And who should this performer be but our Moll, as we knew
+by her voice, and most admirably she did it, setting all in a roar one
+minute with some merry joke, and enchanting 'em the next with a pretty
+song for the maid in distress.
+
+We learnt afterwards that Moll, who could never rest still two minutes
+together, but must for ever be a-doing something new, had cut out her
+images and devised the show to entertain the servants in the kitchen,
+and that the guests above hearing their merriment had come down in time
+to get the fag end, which pleased them so vastly that they would have
+her play it all over again.
+
+"This may undo us," says Don Sanchez, in a low voice of displeasure,
+drawing us away. "Here are a dozen visitors who will presently be
+examining Moll as a marvel. Who can say but that one of them may know
+her again hereafter to our confusion? We must be seen together no more
+than is necessary, until we are out of this country. I shall leave here
+in the morning, and you will meet me next at the Turk, in Gracious
+Street, to-morrow afternoon." Therewith he goes up to his room, leaving
+us to shift for ourselves; and we into the parlour to warm our feet at
+the fire till we may be served with some victuals, both very silent and
+surly, being still sore, and as tired as any dogs with our day's
+jolting.
+
+While we are in this mood, Moll, having finished her play, comes to us
+in amazing high spirits, and all aglow with pleasure shows us a handful
+of silver given her by the gentry; then, pulling up a chair betwixt us,
+she asks us a dozen questions of a string as to where we have been, what
+we have done, etc., since we left her. Getting no answer, she presently
+stops, looks first at one, then at the other, and bursting into a fit of
+laughter, cries: "Why, what ails you both to be so grumpy?"
+
+"In the first place, Moll," says Jack, "I'll have you to know that I am
+your father, and will not be spoken to save with becoming respect."
+
+"Why, I did but ask you where you have been."
+
+"Children of your age should not ask questions, but do as they're bid,
+and there's an end of it."
+
+"La, I'm not to ask any questions. Is there nothing else I am not to
+do?"
+
+"Yes; I'll not have you playing of Galimaufray to cook wenches and such
+stuff. I'll have you behave with more decency. Take your feet off the
+hearth, and put 'em under your chair. Let me have no more of these
+galanty-shows. Why, 'twill be said I cannot give you a basin of
+porridge, that you must go a-begging of sixpences like this!"
+
+"Oh, if you begrudge me a little pocket-money," cries she, springing up
+with the tears in her eyes, "I'll have none of it."
+
+And with that she empties her pocket on the chair, and out roll her
+sixpences together with a couple of silver spoons.
+
+"What," cries Jack, after glancing round to see we were alone. "You have
+filched a couple of spoons, Moll?"
+
+"And why not?" asks she, her little nose turning quite white with
+passion. "If I am to ask no questions, how shall I know but we may have
+never a spoon to-morrow for your precious basin of porridge?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+_Of our journey through France to a very horrid pass in the Pyraneans._
+
+
+Skipping over many unimportant particulars of our leaving Edmonton, of
+our finding Don Sanchez at the Turk in Gracious Street, of our going
+thence (the next day) to Gravesend, of our preparation there for voyage,
+I come now to our embarking, the 10th March, in the Rose, for Bordeaux
+in France. Nor shall I dwell long on that journey, neither, which was
+exceedingly long and painful, by reason of our nearing the equinoctials,
+which dashed us from our course to that degree that it was the 26th
+before we reached our port and cast anchor in still water. And all those
+days we were prostrated with sickness, and especially Jack Dawson,
+because of his full habit, so that he declared he would rather ride
+a-horseback to the end of the earth than go another mile on sea.
+
+We stayed in Bordeaux, which is a noble town, but dirty, four days to
+refresh ourselves, and here the Don lodged us in a fine inn and fed us
+on the best; and also he made us buy new clothes and linen (which we
+sadly needed after the pickle we had lain in a fortnight) and cast away
+our old; but no more than was necessary, saying 'twould be better to
+furnish ourselves with fresh linen as we needed it, than carry baggage,
+etc. "And let all you buy be good goods," says he, "for in this country
+a man is valued at what he seems, and the innkeepers do go in such fear
+of their seigneurs that they will charge him less for entertainment than
+if he were a mean fellow who could ill afford to pay."
+
+So not to displease him we dressed ourselves in the French fashion, more
+richly than ever we had been clad in our lives, and especially Moll did
+profit by this occasion to furnish herself like any duchess; so that
+Dawson and I drew lots to decide which of us should present the bill to
+Don Sanchez, thinking he would certainly take exception to our
+extravagance; but he did not so much as raise his eyebrows at the total,
+but paid it without ever a glance at the items. Nay, when Moll presents
+herself in her new equipment, he makes her a low reverence and pays her
+a most handsome compliment, but in his serious humour and without a
+smile. He himself wore a new suit all of black, not so fine as ours, but
+very noble and becoming, by reason of his easy, graceful manner and his
+majestic, high carriage.
+
+On the last day of March we set forth for Toulouse. At our starting Don
+Sanchez bade Moll ride by his side, and so we, not being bid, fell
+behind; and, feeling awkward in our new clothes, we might very well have
+been taken for their servants, or a pair of ill-bred friends at the
+best, for our Moll carried herself not a whit less magnificent than the
+Don, to the admiration of all who looked at her.
+
+To see these grand airs of hers charmed Jack Dawson.
+
+"You see, Kit," whispers he, "what an apt scholar the minx is, and what
+an obedient, dutiful, good girl. One word from me is as good as six
+months' schooling, for all this comes of that lecture I gave her the
+last night we were at Edmonton."
+
+I would not deny him the satisfaction of this belief, but I felt pretty
+sure that had she been riding betwixt us in her old gown, instead of
+beside the Don as his daughter, all her father's preaching would not
+have stayed her from behaving herself like an orange wench.
+
+We journey by easy stages ten days through Toulouse, on the road to
+Perpignan, and being favoured with remarkably fine weather, a blue sky,
+and a bright sun above us, and at every turn something strange or
+beautiful to admire, no pleasure jaunt in the world could have been more
+delightful. At every inn (which here they call hotels) we found good
+beds, good food, excellent wine, and were treated like princes, so that
+Dawson and I would gladly have given up our promise of a fortune to have
+lived in this manner to the end of our days. But Don Sanchez professed
+to hold all on this side of the Pyrenese Mountains in great contempt,
+saying these hotels were as nothing to the Spanish posadas, that the
+people here would rob you if they dared, whereas, on t'other side, not a
+Spaniard would take so much as the hair of your horse's tail, though he
+were at the last extremity, that the food was not fit for aught but a
+Frenchman, and so forth. And our Moll, catching this humour, did also
+turn up her nose at everything she was offered, and would send away a
+bottle of wine from the table because 'twas not ripe enough, though but
+a few weeks before she had been drinking penny ale with a relish, and
+that as sour as verjuice. And, indeed, she did carry it mighty high and
+artificial, wherever respect and humility were to be commanded. But it
+was pretty to see how she would unbend and become her natural self where
+her heart was touched by some tender sentiment. How she would empty her
+pockets to give to any one with a piteous tale, how she would get from
+her horse to pluck wild-flowers by the roadside, and how, one day,
+overtaking a poor woman carrying a child painfully on her back, she must
+have the little one up on her lap and carry it till we reached the
+hamlet where the woman lived, etc. On the fifteenth day we stayed at St.
+Denys, and going thence the next morning, had travelled but a couple of
+hours when we were caught in a violent storm of hailstones as big as
+peas, that was swept with incredible force by a wind rushing through a
+deep ravine in the mountains, so that 'twas as much as we could make
+headway through it and gain a village which lay but a little distance
+from us. And here we were forced to stay all day by another storm of
+rain, that followed the hail and continued till nightfall. Many others
+besides ourselves were compelled to seek refuge at our inn, and amongst
+them a company of Spanish muleteers, for it seems we were come to a pass
+leading through the mountains into Spain. These were the first Spaniards
+we had yet seen (save the Don), and for all we had heard to their
+credit, we could not admire them greatly, being a low-browed,
+coarse-featured, ragged crew, and more picturesque than cleanly, besides
+stinking intolerably of garlic. By nightfall there was more company than
+the inn could accommodate; nevertheless, in respect to our quality, we
+were given the best rooms in the house to ourselves.
+
+About eight o'clock, as we were about to sit down to supper, our
+innkeeper's wife comes in to tell us that a Spanish grandee is below,
+who has been travelling for hours in the storm, and then she asked very
+humbly if our excellencies will permit her to lay him a bed in our room
+when we have done with it, as she can bestow him nowhere else (the
+muleteers filling her house to the very cock loft), and has not the
+heart to send him on to St. Denys in this pitiless driving rain. To this
+Don Sanchez replies, that a Spanish gentleman is welcome to all we can
+offer him, and therewith sends down a mighty civil message, begging his
+company at our table.
+
+Moll has just time to whip on a piece of finery, and we to put on our
+best manners, when the landlady returns, followed by a stout, robust
+Spaniard, in an old coat several times too small for him, whom she
+introduced as Seņor Don Lopez de Calvados.
+
+Don Lopez makes us a reverence, and then, with his shoulders up to his
+ears and like gestures, gives us an harangue at some length, but this
+being in Spanish, is as heathen Greek to our ears. However, Don Sanchez
+explains that our visitor is excusing his appearance as being forced to
+change his wet clothes for what the innkeeper can lend him, and so we,
+grinning to express our amiability, all sit down to table and set
+to--Moll with her most finicking, delicate airs and graces, and Dawson
+and I silent as frogs, with understanding nothing of the Dons'
+conversation. This, we learn from Don Sanchez after supper, has turned
+chiefly on the best means of crossing into Spain, from which it appears
+there are two passes through the mountains, both leading to the same
+town, but one more circuitous than the other. Don Lopez has come by the
+latter, because the former is used by the muleteers, who are not always
+the most pleasant companions one can have in a dangerous road; and for
+this reason he recommends us to take his way, especially as we have a
+young lady with us, which will be the more practicable, as the same
+guides who conducted him will be only too glad to serve us on their
+return the next morning. To this proposition we very readily agree, and
+supper being ended, Don Sanchez sends for the guides, two hardy
+mountaineers, who very readily agree to take us this way the next
+morning, if the weather permits. And so we all, wishing Don Lopez a
+good-night, to our several chambers.
+
+I was awoke in the middle of the night, as it seemed to me, by a great
+commotion below of Spanish shouting and roaring with much jingling of
+bells; and looking out of window I perceived lanterns hanging here and
+there in the courtyard, and the muleteers packing their goods to depart,
+with a fine clear sky full of stars overhead. And scarce had I turned
+into my warm bed again, thanking God I was no muleteer, when in comes
+the Don with a candle, to say the guide will have us moving at once if
+we would reach Ravellos (our Spanish town) before night. So I to
+Dawson's chamber, and he to Moll's, and in a little while we all
+shivering down to the great kitchen, where is never a muleteer left, but
+only a great stench of garlic, to eat a mess of soup, very hot and
+comforting. And after that out into the dark (there being as yet but a
+faint flush of green and primrose colour over towards the east), where
+four fresh mules (which Don Sanchez overnight had bargained to exchange
+against our horses, as being the only kind of cattle fit for this
+service) are waiting for us with other two mules, belonging to our
+guides, all very curiously trapped out with a network of wool and little
+jingling bells. Then when Don Sanchez had solemnly debated whether we
+should not awake Don Lopez to say farewell, and we had persuaded him
+that it would be kinder to let him sleep on, we mounted into our high,
+fantastic saddles, and set out towards the mountains, our guides
+leading, and we following close upon their heels as our mules could get,
+but by no guidance of ours, though we held the reins, for these
+creatures are very sagacious and so pertinacious and opiniastre that I
+believe though you pulled their heads off they would yet go their own
+way.
+
+Our road at first lay across a rising plain, very wild and scrubby, as I
+imagine, by the frequent deviations of our beast, and then through a
+forest of cork oaks, which keep their leaves all the year through, and
+here, by reason of the great shade, we went, not knowing whither, as if
+blindfold, only we were conscious of being on rough, rising ground, by
+the jolting of our mules and the clatter of their hoofs upon stones; but
+after a wearisome, long spell of this business, the trees growing more
+scattered and a thin grey light creeping through, we could make out that
+we were all together, which was some comfort. From these oaks, we passed
+into a wood of chestnuts, and still going up and up, but by such
+devious, unseen ways, that I think no man, stranger to these parts,
+could pick it out for himself in broad daylight, we came thence into a
+great stretch of pine trees, with great rocks scattered amongst them, as
+if some mountain had been blown up and fallen in a huge shower of
+fragments.
+
+And so, still for ever toiling and scambling upwards, we found ourselves
+about seven o'clock, as I should judge by the light beyond the trees and
+upon the side of the mountain, with the whole champaign laid out like a
+carpet under us on one side, prodigious slopes of rock on either hand,
+with only a shrub or a twisted fir here and there, and on the further
+side a horrid stark ravine with a cascade of water thundering down in
+its midst, and a peak rising beyond, covered with snow, which glittered
+in the sunlight like a monstrous heap of white salt.
+
+After resting at this point half an hour to breathe our mules, the
+guides got into their saddles, and we did likewise, and so on again
+along the side of the ravine, only not of a cluster as heretofore, but
+one behind the other in a long line, the mules falling into this order
+of themselves as if they had travelled the path an hundred times; but
+there was no means of going otherwise, the path being atrociously narrow
+and steep, and only fit for wild goats, there being no landrail, coping,
+or anything in the world to stay one from being hurled down a thousand
+feet, and the mountain sides so inclined that 'twas a miracle the mules
+could find foothold and keep their balance. From the bottom of the
+ravine came a constant roar of falling water, though we could spy it
+only now and then leaping down from one chasm to another; and more than
+once our guides would cry to us to stop (and that where our mules had to
+keep shifting their feet to get a hold) while some huge boulder,
+loosened by the night's rain, flew down across our path in terrific
+bounds from the heights above, making the very mountain tremble with the
+shock. Not a word spoke we; nay, we had scarce courage at times to draw
+breath, for two hours and more of this fearful passage, with no
+encouragement from our guides save that one of them did coolly take out
+a knife and peel an onion as though he had been on a level, broad road;
+and then, reaching a flat space, we came to a stand again before an
+ascent that promised to be worse than that we had done. Here we got
+down, Moll clinging to our hands and looking around her with large,
+frighted eyes.
+
+"Shall we soon be there?" she asked.
+
+And the Don, putting this question in Spanish to the guides, they
+pointed upwards to a gap filled with snow, and answered that was the
+highest point. This was some consolation, though we could not regard the
+rugged way that lay betwixt us and that without quaking. Indeed, I
+thought that even Don Sanchez, despite the calm, unmoved countenance he
+ever kept, did look about him with a certain kind of uneasiness.
+However, taking example from our guides, we unloosed our saddle bags,
+and laid out our store of victuals with a hogskin of wine which
+rekindled our spirits prodigiously.
+
+While we were at this repast, our guides, starting as if they had caught
+a sound (though we heard none save the horrid bursting of water), looked
+down, and one of them, clapping two dirty fingers in his mouth, made a
+shrill whistle. Then we, looking down, presently spied two mules far
+below on the path we had come, but at such a distance that we could
+scarce make out whether they were mounted or not.
+
+"Who are they?" asks Don Sanchez, sternly, as I managed to understand.
+
+"Friends," replies one of the fellows, with a grin that seemed to lay
+his face in two halves.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+_How we were entertained in the mountains, and stand in a fair way to
+have our throats cut._
+
+
+"We will go on when you are ready," says Don Sanchez, turning to us.
+
+"Aye," growled Jack in my ear, "with all my heart. For if these friends
+be of the same kidney as Don Lopez, we may be persuaded to take a better
+road, which God forbid if this be a sample of their preference."
+
+So being in our saddles forth we set once more and on a path no easier
+than before, but worse--like a very housetop for steepness, without a
+tinge of any living thing for succour if one fell, but only sharp,
+jagged rocks, and that which now added to our peril was here and there a
+patch of snow, so that the mules must cock their ears and feel their way
+before advancing a step, now halting for dread, and now scuttling on
+with their tails betwixt their legs as the stones rolled under them.
+
+But the longest road hath an end, and so at length reaching that gap we
+had seen from below, to our great content we beheld through an angle in
+the mountain a tract of open country below, looking mighty green and
+sweet in the distance. And at the sight of this, Moll clapt her hands
+and cried out with joy; indeed, we were all as mad as children with the
+thought that our task was half done. Only the Don kept his gravity. But
+turning to Moll, he stretches out his hand towards the plain and says
+with prodigious pride, "My country!"
+
+And now we began the descent, which was actually more perilous than the
+ascent, but we made light of it, being very much enlivened by the high
+mountain air and the relief from dread uncertainty, shouting out our
+reflections one to another as we jolted down the rugged path.
+
+"After all, Jack," says I to him at the top of my voice, being in
+advance and next to Don Sanchez; "after all, Don Lopez was not such a
+bad friend to us."
+
+Upon which, the Don, stopping his mule at the risk of being cast down
+the abyss, turns in his saddle, and says:
+
+"Fellow, Don Lopez is a Spaniard. A Castilian of noble birth--" but here
+his mule deciding that this was no fit place for halting, bundled onward
+at a trot to overtake the guides, and obliged his rider to turn his
+attention to other matters.
+
+By the look of the sun it must have been about two in the afternoon
+when, rounding a great bluff of rock, we came upon a kind of tableland
+which commanded a wide view of the plain below, most dazzling to our
+eyes after the gloomy recesses of the pass; and here we found trees
+growing and some rude attempt at cultivation, but all very poor and
+stunted, being still very high and exposed to the bleak winds issuing
+from the gorges.
+
+Our guides, throwing themselves on the ground, repaired once more to
+their store of onions, and we, nothing loath to follow their examples,
+opened our saddle bags, and with our cold meat and the hogskin of wine
+made another good repast and very merry. And the Don, falling into
+discourse with the guides, pointed out to us a little white patch on the
+plain below, and told us that was Ravellos, where we should find one of
+the best posadas in the world, which added to our satisfaction. "But"
+says he, "'tis yet four hours' march ere we reach it, so we had best be
+packing quickly."
+
+Thereupon we finished our meal in haste, the guides still lying on the
+ground eating onions, and when we were prepared to start they still lay
+there and would not budge. On this ensued another discussion, very
+indignant and passionate on the part of Don Sanchez, and as cool and
+phlegmatic on the side of the guides, the upshot of which was, as we
+learned from Don, that these rascals maintained they had fulfilled their
+bargain in bringing us over into Spain, but as to carrying us to
+Ravellos they would by no means do that without the permission of their
+zefe, who was one of those they had whistled to from our last halting
+place, and whom they were now staying for.
+
+Then, beginning to quake a bit at the strangeness of this treatment, we
+looked about us to see if we might venture to continue our journey
+alone. But Lord! one might as easily have found a needle in a bundle of
+hay as a path amidst this labyrinth of rocks and horrid fissures that
+environed us; and this was so obvious that the guides, though not yet
+paid for their service, made no attempt to follow or to stay us, as
+knowing full well we must come back in despair. So there was no choice
+but to wait the coming up of the zefe, the Don standing with his legs
+astride and his arms folded, with a very storm of passion in his face,
+in readiness to confront the tardy zefe with his reproaches for this
+delay and the affront offered to himself, we casting our eye longingly
+down at Ravellos, and the guides silently munching their onions. Thus we
+waited until the fine ear of our guides catching a sound, they rose to
+their feet muttering the word "zefe," and pull off their hats as two men
+mounted on mules tricked out like our own, came round the corner and
+pulled up before us. But what was our surprise to see that the foremost
+of these fellows was none other than the Don Lopez de Calvados we had
+entertained to supper the night before, and of whose noble family Don
+Sanchez had been prating so highly, and not a thread better dressed than
+when we saw him last, and full as dirty. That which gave us most
+uneasiness, however, was to observe that each of these "friends" carried
+an ugly kind of musket slung across his back, and a most unpleasant long
+sheath knife in his waist cloth.
+
+Not a word says our Don Sanchez, but feigning still to believe him a man
+of quality, he returns the other Don's salutation with all the ceremony
+possible. Then Don Lopez, smiling from ear to ear, begs us (as I learnt
+afterwards) to pardon him for keeping us waiting, which had not
+happened, he assures us, if we had not suffered him to oversleep
+himself. He then informs us that we are now upon his domain, and begs us
+to accept such hospitality as his Castillo will furnish, in return for
+our entertainment of last night. To this Don Sanchez replies with a
+thousand thanks that we are anxious to reach Ravellos before nightfall,
+and that, therefore, we will be going at once if it is all the same to
+him. With more bowing and scraping Don Lopez amiably but firmly declines
+to accept any refusal of his offer or to talk of business before his
+debt of gratitude is paid. With that he gives a sign to our guides, who
+at once lead off our mules at a brisk trot, leaving us to follow on foot
+with Don Lopez and his companion, whom he introduces as Don Ruiz del
+Puerto,--as arrant a cut-throat rascal to look at as ever I clapt eyes
+on.
+
+
+So we with very dismal forebodings trudge on, having no other course to
+take, Don Sanchez, to make the best of it, warranting that no harm shall
+come to us while we are under the hospitable protection of a Spaniard,
+but to no great effect--our faith being already shaken in his valuation
+of Spaniards.
+
+Quitting the tableland, ten minutes of leaping and scrambling brought us
+to a collection of miserable huts built all higgledy-piggledy along the
+edge of a torrent, overtopped by a square building of more consequence,
+built of grey stone and roofed with slate shingles, but with nothing but
+ill-shaped holes for windows; and this, Don Lopez with some pride told
+us was his castillo. A ragged crew of women and children, apprised of
+our coming by the guide, maybe, trooped out of the village to meet us
+and hailed our approach with shouts of joy, "for all the world like a
+pack of hounds at the sight of their keeper with a dish of bones,"
+whispers Jack Dawson in my ear ominously. But it was curious to see how
+they did all fall back in two lines, those that had hats taking them off
+as Don Lopez passed, he bowing to them right and left, like any prince
+in his progress.
+
+So we up to the castillo, where all the men of the village are assembled
+and all armed like Don Lopez, and they greet us with cries of "Hola!"
+and throwing up of hats. They making way for us with salutations on both
+sides, we enter the castillo, where we find one great ill-paved room
+with a step-ladder on one side leading to the floor above, but no
+furniture save a table and some benches of wood, all black and shining
+with grease and dirt. But indeed the walls, the ceiling, and all else
+about us was beyond everything for blackness, and this was easily to be
+understood, for a wench coming in with a cauldron lights a faggot of
+wood in a corner, where was no chimney to carry off the smoke, but only
+a hole in the wall with a kind of eaves over it, so that presently the
+place was so filled with the fumes 'twas difficult to see across it.
+
+Don Lopez (always as gracious as a cat with a milkmaid) asks Moll
+through Don Sanchez if she would like to make her toilette, while dinner
+is preparing, and at this offer all of us jump--choosing anything for a
+change; so he takes us up the step-ladder to the floor above, which
+differs from that below in being cut up into half a dozen pieces by some
+low partition of planks nailed loosely together like cribs for cattle,
+with some litter of dry leaves and hay in each, but in other respects
+being just as naked and grimy, with a cloud of smoke coming up through
+the chinks in the floor.
+
+"You will have the sole use of these chambers during your stay," says
+Don Lopez, "and for your better assurance you can draw the ladder up
+after you on retiring for the night."
+
+But for the gravity of our situation and prospects I could have burst
+out laughing when Don Sanchez gave us the translation of this promise,
+for the idea of regarding these pens as chambers was not less ludicrous
+than the air of pride with which Don Lopez bestowed the privilege of
+using 'em upon us.
+
+Don Lopez left us, promising to send a maid with the necessary
+appointments for Moll's toilette.
+
+"A plague of all this finery!" growled Dawson. "How long may it be,
+think you, Seņor, ere we can quit this palace and get to one of those
+posadas you promised us?"
+
+Don Sanchez hunched his shoulders for all reply and turned away to hide
+his mortification. And now a girl comes up with a biggin of water on her
+head, a broken comb in her hand, and a ragged cloth on her arm that
+looked as if it had never been washed since it left the loom, and sets
+them down on a bench, with a grin at Moll; but she, though not
+over-nice, turns away with a pout of disgust, and then we to get a
+breath of fresh air to a hole in the wall on the windward side, where we
+stand all dumb with disappointment and dread until we are called down to
+dinner. But before going down Don Sanchez warns us to stand on our best
+behaviour, as these Spaniards, for all their rude seeming, were of a
+particularly punctilious, ticklish disposition, and that we might come
+badly out of this business if we happened to displease them.
+
+"I cannot see reason in that, Seņor," says Dawson; "for the less we
+please 'em, the sooner they are likely to send us hence, and so the
+better for us."
+
+"As you please," replies the Don, "but my warning is to your advantage."
+
+Down we go, and there stands Don Lopez with a dozen choice friends, all
+the raggedest, dirty villains in the world; and they saluting us, we
+return their civility with a very fair pretence and take the seats
+offered us--they standing until we are set. Then they sit down, and each
+man lugs out a knife from his waist-cloth. The cauldron, filled with a
+mess of kid stewed in a multitude of onions, is fetched from the fire,
+and, being set upon a smooth board, is slid down the table to our host,
+who, after picking out some titbits for us, serves himself, and so
+slides it back, each man in turn picking out a morsel on the end of his
+knife. Bearing in mind Don Sanchez's warning, we do our best to eat of
+this dish; but, Heaven knows! with little relish, and mighty glad when
+the cauldron is empty and that part of the performance ended. Then the
+bones being swept from the table, a huge skin of wine is set before Don
+Lopez, and he serves us each with about a quart in an odd-shaped vessel
+with a spout, which Don Sanchez and his countrymen use by holding it
+above their heads and letting the wine spurt into their mouths; but we,
+being unused to this fashion, preferred rather to suck it out of the
+spout, which seemed to them as odd a mode as theirs was to us. However,
+better wine, drink it how you may, there is none than the wine of these
+parts, and this reconciling us considerably to our condition, we
+listened with content to their singing of ditties, which they did very
+well for such rude fellows, to the music of a guitar and a tambourine.
+And so when our pots came to be replenished a second time, we were all
+mighty merry and agreeable save Jack Dawson, who never could take his
+liquor like any other man, but must fall into some extravagant humour,
+and he, I perceived, regarded some of the company with a very sour,
+jealous eye because, being warmed with drink, they fell to casting
+glances at Moll with a certain degree of familiarity. Especially there
+was one fellow with a hook nose, who stirred his bile exceedingly,
+sitting with his elbows on the table and his jaws in his hands, and
+would scarcely shift his eyes from Moll. And since he could not make his
+displeasure understood in words, and so give vent to it and be done,
+Jack sat there in sullen silence watching for an opportunity to show his
+resentment in some other fashion. The other saw this well enough, but
+would not desist, and so these two sat fronting each other like two dogs
+ready to fly at each other's throats. At length, the hook-nosed rascal,
+growing bolder with his liquor, rises as if to reach for his wine pot,
+and stretching across the table, chucks Moll under the chin with his
+grimy fingers. At this Jack flinging out his great fist with all the
+force of contained passion, catches the other right in the middle of the
+face, with such effect that the fellow flies clean back over his bench,
+his head striking the pavement with a crash. Then, in an instant, all
+his fellows spring to their feet, and a dozen long knives flash out from
+their sheaths.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+_Of the manner in which we escaped pretty fairly out of the hands of
+Seņor Don Lopez and his brigands._
+
+
+Up starts Jack Dawson, catching Moll by the arm and his joint stool by
+the leg, and stepping back a pace or two not to be taken in the flank,
+he swings his stool ready to dash the brains out of the first that nears
+him. And I do likewise, making the same show of valour with my stool,
+but cutting a poor figure beside Dawson's mighty presence.
+
+Seeing their fellow laid out for dead on the floor, with his hook nose
+smashed most horridly into his face, the others had no stomach to meet
+the same fate, but with their Spanish cunning began to spread out that
+so they might attack us on all sides; and surely this had done our
+business but that Don Lopez, flinging himself before us with his knife
+raised high, cries out at the top of his voice, "Rekbah!"--a word of
+their own language, I am told, taken from the Moorish, and signifying
+that whosoever shall outrage the laws of hospitality under his roof
+shall be his enemy to the death. And at this word every man stood still
+as if by inchantment, and let fall his weapon. Then in the same high
+voice he gives them an harangue, showing them that Dawson was in the
+right to avenge an insult offered his daughter, and the other justly
+served for his offence to us. "For his offence to me as the host of
+these strangers," adds he, "Jose shall answer to me hereafter if he
+live; if he be dead, his body shall be flung to the vultures of the
+gorge, and his name be never uttered again beneath this roof."
+
+"I bear no grudges, not I," says Dawson, when Don Sanchez gave him the
+English of this. "If he live, let his nose be set; and if dead, let him
+be buried decently in a churchyard. But hark ye, Seņor, lest we fall out
+again and come out worse the next bout, do pray ask his worship if we
+may not be accommodated with a guide to take us on our way at once. We
+have yet two hours of daylight before us, there's not a cloud in the
+sky, and with such a moon as we had the night before last, we may get on
+well enough."
+
+Poor Moll, who was all of a shake with the terror of another
+catastrophe, added her prayers to Dawson's, and Don Sanchez with a
+profusion of civilities laid the proposal before Don Lopez, who, though
+professing the utmost regret to lose us so soon, consented to gratify
+our wish, adding that his mules were so well accustomed to the road that
+they could make the journey as well in the dark as in broad day.
+
+"Well, then," says Dawson, when this was told us, "let us settle the
+business at once, and be off."
+
+And now, when Don Sanchez proposed to pay for the service of our guides,
+it was curious to see how every rascal at the table craned forward to
+watch the upshot. Don Lopez makes a pretence of leaving the payment to
+Don Sanchez's generosity; and he, not behindhand in courtesy, lugs out
+his purse and begs the other to pay himself. Whereupon, with more
+apologies, Don Lopez empties the money on the table and carefully counts
+it, and there being but about a score of gold pieces and some silver, he
+shakes his head and says a few words to Don Sanchez in a very
+reproachful tone of remonstrance, to which our Don replies by turning
+all the trifles out of his pocket, one after the other, to prove that he
+has no money.
+
+"I thought as much," growls Jack in my ear. "A pretty nest of hornets
+we're fallen into."
+
+The company, seeing there was no more to be got out of Don Sanchez,
+began to murmur and cast their eyes at us; whereupon Dawson, seeing how
+the land lay, stands up and empties his pockets on the table, and I
+likewise; but betwixt us there was no more than some French pennies and
+a few odds and ends of no value at all. Fetching a deep sigh, Don Lopez
+takes all these possessions into a heap before him, and tells Don
+Sanchez that he cannot believe persons of our quality could travel with
+so little, that he feels convinced Don Sanchez must have dropped a purse
+on the way, and that until it is found he can on no account allow us to
+leave the neighbourhood.
+
+"This comes of being so mighty fine!" says Dawson, when Don Sanchez had
+explained matters. "Had we travelled as became our condition, this
+brigand would never have ensnared us hither. And if they won't believe
+your story, Seņor, I can't blame 'em; for I would have sworn you had a
+thousand pounds to your hand."
+
+"Do you reproach me for my generosity?" asks the Don.
+
+"Nay, Master, I love you for being free with your money while you have
+it, but 'tis a queer kind of generosity to bring us into these parts
+with no means of taking us back again. Hows'ever, we'll say no more
+about that if we get out of this cursed smoke-hole; and as we are like
+to come off ill if these Jack-thieves keep us here a week or so and get
+nothing by it, 'twill be best to tell 'em the honest truth, and acquaint
+them that we are no gentle folk, but only three poor English mountebanks
+brought hither on a wild goose chase."
+
+This was a bitter pill for Don Sanchez to swallow; however, seeing no
+other cure for our ills, he gulped it down with the best face he could
+put on it. But from the mockery and laughter of all who heard him, 'twas
+plain to see they would not believe a word of his story.
+
+"What would you have me do now?" asks the Don, turning to us when the
+clamour had subsided, and he told us how he had tried to persuade them
+we were dancers he was taking for a show to the fair at Barcelona, which
+they, by our looks, would not believe, and especially that a man of such
+build as Jack Dawson could foot it, even to please such heavy people as
+the English.
+
+"What!" cries Jack. "I can't dance! We will pretty soon put them to
+another complexion if they do but give us space and a fair trial. You
+can strum a guitar, Kit, for I've heard you. And Moll, my chick, do you
+dash the tears from your cheek and pluck up courage to show these
+Portugals what an English lass can do."
+
+The brigands agreeing to this trial, the table is shoved back to give us
+a space in the best light, and our judges seat themselves conveniently.
+Moll brushes her eyes (to a little murmur of sympathy, as I thought),
+and I, striking out the tune, Jack, with all the magnificence of a king,
+takes her hand and leads her out to a French pavan; and sure no one in
+the world ever stepped it more gracefully than our poor little Moll (now
+put upon her mettle), nor more lightly than Dawson, so that every rascal
+in our audience was won to admiration, clapping hands and shouting
+"Hola!" when it was done. And this warming us, we gave 'em next an
+Italian coranto, and after that, an English pillow dance; and, in good
+faith, had they all been our dearest friends, these dirty fellows could
+not have gone more mad with delight. And then Moll and her father
+sitting down to fetch their breath, a dispute arose among the brigands
+which we were at a loss to understand, until Don Sanchez explained that
+a certain number would have it we were real dancers, but that another
+party, with Don Lopez, maintained these were but court dances, which
+only proved the more we were of high quality to be thus accomplished.
+
+"We'll convince 'em yet, Moll, with a pox of their doubts," cries
+Dawson, starting to his feet again. "Tell 'em we will give 'em a stage
+dance of a nymph and a wild man, Seņor, with an excuse for our having no
+costume but this. Play us our pastoral, Kit. And sing you your ditty of
+'Broken Heart,' Moll, in the right place, that I may get my wind for the
+last caper."
+
+Moll nods, and with ready wit takes the ribbon from her head, letting
+her pretty hair tumble all about her shoulders, and then whipping up her
+long skirt, tucks one end under her girdle, thereby making a very dainty
+show of pink lining against the dark stuff, and also giving more play
+for her feet. And so thus they dance their pastoral, Don Sanchez taking
+a tambourine and tapping it lightly to the measure, up to Moll's song,
+which so ravished these hardy, stony men by the pathetic sweetness of
+her voice,--for they could understand nothing save by her
+expression,--that they would not let the dance go on until she had sung
+it through again. To conclude, Jack springs up as one enamoured to
+madness and flings out his last steps with such vigour and agility as to
+quite astound all.
+
+[Illustration: "MOLL AND HER FATHER DANCE A PASTORAL."]
+
+And now the show being ended, and not one but is a-crying of "Hola!" and
+"Animo!" Moll snatches the tambourine from Don Sanchez's hand, and
+stepping before Don Lopez drops him a curtsey, and offers it for her
+reward. At this Don Lopez, glancing at the money on the table by his
+side, and looking round for sanction to his company (which they did give
+him without one voice of opposition), he takes up two of the gold pieces
+and drops them on the parchment. Thus did our Moll, by one clever hit,
+draw an acknowledgment from them that we were indeed no fine folks, but
+mere players, which point they might have stumbled over in their cooler
+moments.
+
+But we were not quit yet; for on Don Sanchez's begging that we should
+now be set upon our road to Ravellos, the other replies that though he
+will do us this service with great pleasure, yet he cannot permit us to
+encounter the danger again of being taken for persons of quality. "Fine
+dress," says he, "may be necessary to the Seņor and his daughter for
+their court dances, and they are heartily welcome to them for the
+pleasure they have given us, but for you and the musician who plays but
+indifferent well, meaner garb is more suitable; and so you will be good
+enough to step upstairs, the pair of you, and change your clothing for
+such as we can furnish from our store."
+
+And upstairs we were forced to go, Don Sanchez and I, and there being
+stripped we were given such dirty foul rags and so grotesque, that when
+we came down, Jack Dawson and Moll fell a-laughing at us, as though they
+would burst. And, in truth, we made a most ludicrous spectacle,
+--especially the Don, whom hitherto we had seen only in the
+neatest and most noble of clothes,--looking more like a couple of
+scarecrows than living men.
+
+Don Sanchez neither smiled nor frowned at this treatment, taking this
+misfortune with the resignation of a philosopher; only to quiet Dawson's
+merriment he told him that in the clothes taken from him was sewed up a
+bond for two hundred pounds, but whether this was true or not I cannot
+tell.
+
+And now, to bring an end to this adventure, we were taken down the
+intricate passes of the mountain in the moonlight, as many of the gang
+as could find mules coming with us for escort, and brought at last to
+the main road, where we were left with nought but what we stood in (save
+Moll's two pieces), the robbers bidding us their adios with all the
+courtesy imaginable. But even then, robbed of all he had even to the
+clothes of his back, Don Sanchez's pride was unshaken, for he bade us
+note that the very thieves in Spain were gentlemen.
+
+As we trudged along the road toward Ravellos, we fell debating on our
+case, as what we should do next, etc., Don Sanchez promising that we
+should have redress for our ill-treatment, that his name alone would
+procure us a supply of money for our requirements, etc., to my great
+content. But Dawson was of another mind.
+
+"As for seeking redress," says he, "I would as soon kick at a hive for
+being stung by a bee, and the wisest course when you've been once bit by
+a dog is to keep out of his way for the future. With respect of getting
+money by your honour's name, you may do as you please, and so may you,
+Kit, if you're so minded. But for my part, henceforth I'll pretend to be
+no better than I am, and the first suit of rags I can get will I wear in
+the fashion of this country. And so shall you, Moll, my dear; so make up
+your mind to lay aside your fine airs and hold up your nose no longer as
+if you were too good for your father."
+
+"Why, surely, Jack," says I, "you would not quit us and go from your
+bargain."
+
+"Not I, and you should know me well enough, Kit, to have no doubt on
+that score. But 'tis no part of our bargain that we should bustle
+anybody but Simon the steward."
+
+"We have four hundred miles to go ere we reach Elche," says Don Sanchez.
+"Can you tell me how we are to get there without money?"
+
+"Aye, that I can, and I warrant my plan as good as your honour's. How
+many tens are there in four hundred, Kit?"
+
+"Forty."
+
+"Well, we can walk ten miles a day on level ground, and so may do this
+journey in six weeks or thereabouts, which is no such great matter,
+seeing we are not to be back in England afore next year. We can buy a
+guitar and a tabor out of Moll's pieces; with them we can give a show
+wherever we stay for the night, and if honest men do but pay us half as
+much as the thieves of this country, we may fare pretty well."
+
+"I confess," says Don Sanchez, "your scheme is the best, and I would
+myself have proposed it but that I can do so little for my share."
+
+"Why, what odds does that make, Seņor?" cries Jack. "You gave us of the
+best while you had aught to give, and 'tis but fair we should do the
+same now. Besides which, how could we get along without you for a
+spokesman, and I marked that you drummed to our dance very tunefully.
+Come, is it a bargain, friend?"
+
+And on Don Sanchez's consenting, Jack would have us all shake hands on
+it for a sign of faith and good fellowship. Then, perceiving that we
+were arrived at the outskirts of the town, we ended our discussion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+_Of our merry journeying to Alicante._
+
+
+We turned into the first posada we came to--a poor, mean sort of an inn
+and general shop, to be sure, but we were in no condition to cavil about
+trifles, being fagged out with our journey and the adventures of the
+day, and only too happy to find a house of entertainment still open. So
+after a dish of sausages with very good wine, we to our beds and an end
+to the torment of fleas I had endured from the moment I changed my
+French habit for Spanish rags.
+
+The next morning, when we had eaten a meal of goats' milk and bread and
+paid our reckoning, which amounted to a few rials and no more, Don
+Sanchez and I, taking what rested of Moll's two pieces, went forth into
+the town and there bought two plain suits of clothes for ourselves in
+the mode of the country, and (according to his desire) another of the
+same cut for Dawson, together with a little jacket and petticoat for
+Moll. And these expenditures left us but just enough to buy a good
+guitar and a tambourine--indeed, we should not have got them at all but
+that Don Sanchez higgled and bargained like any Jew, which he could do
+with a very good face now that he was dressed so beggarly. Then back to
+our posada, where in our room Jack and I were mighty merry in putting on
+our new clothes; but going below we find Moll still dressed in her
+finery, and sulking before the petticoat and jacket we had bought for
+her, which she would not put on by any persuasion until her father fell
+into a passion of anger. And the sight of him fuming in a short jacket
+barely covering his loins, and a pair of breeches so tight the seams
+would scarce hold together, so tickled her sense of humour that she fell
+into a long fit of laughter, and this ending her sulks she went upstairs
+with a good grace and returned in her hated petticoat, carrying her fine
+dress in a bundle. But I never yet knew the time when this sly baggage
+would not please herself for all her seeming yielding to others, and we
+were yet to have more pain from her than she from us in respect of that
+skirt. For ere we had got half way through the town she, dawdling behind
+to look first in this shop and then in that, gave us the slip, so that
+we were best part of an hour hunting the streets up and down in the
+utmost anxiety. Then as we were sweating with our exercise and trouble,
+lo! she steps out of a shop as calm as you please in a petticoat and
+jacket of her own fancy (and ten times more handsome than our purchase),
+a red shawl tied about her waist, and a little round hat with a bright
+red bob in it, set on one side of her head, and all as smart as a
+carrot.
+
+"Da!" says she, "where have you been running all this time?"
+
+And we, betwixt joy at finding her and anger at her impudence, could say
+nothing; and yet we were fain to admire her audacity too. But how, not
+knowing one word of the language, she had made her wants known was a
+mystery, and how she had obtained this finery was another, seeing that
+we had spent all there was of her two pieces. Certainly she had not
+changed her French gown and things for them, for these in a cumbrous
+bundle had her father been carrying up and down the town since we lost
+the minx.
+
+"If you han't stole 'em," says Dawson, finding his tongue at last,
+"where did you find the money to pay for those trappings, slut?"
+
+"In my pocket, sir," says she, with a curtsey, "where you might have
+found yours had you not emptied it so readily for the robbers yesterday.
+And I fancy," adds she slyly, "I may still find some left to offer you a
+dinner at midday if you will accept of it."
+
+This hint disposed us to make light of our grievance against her, and we
+went out of Ravellos very well satisfied to know that our next meal
+depended not solely upon chance. And this, together with the bright
+sunlight and the sweet invigorating morning air, did beget in us a
+spirit of happy carelessness, in keeping with the smiling gay aspect of
+the country about us.
+
+It was strange to see how easily Moll fell into our happy-go-lucky
+humour, she, who had been as stately as any Roman queen in her long
+gown, being now, in her short coloured petticoat, as frolicsome and
+familiar as a country wench at a fair; but indeed she was a born actress
+and could accommodate herself as well to one condition as another with
+the mere change of clothes. But I think this state was more to her real
+taste than the other, as putting no restraint upon her impulses and
+giving free play to her healthy, exuberant mirth. Her very step was a
+kind of dance, and she must needs fall a-carolling of songs like a lark
+when it flies. Then she would have us rehearse our old songs to our new
+music. So, slinging my guitar in front of me, I put it in tune, and Jack
+ties his bundle to his back that he may try his hand at the tambourine.
+And so we march along singing and playing as if to a feast, and stopping
+only to laugh prodigiously when one or other fell out of tune,--the most
+mad, light-hearted fools in the world;--but I speak not of Don Sanchez,
+who, feel what he might, never relaxed his high bearing or unbent his
+serious countenance.
+
+One thing I remember of him on this journey. Having gone about five
+miles, we sat us down on a bridge to rest a while, and there the Don
+left us to go a little way up the course of the stream that flowed
+beneath, and he came back with a posey of sweet jonquils set off with a
+delicate kind of fern very pretty, and this he presents to Moll with a
+gracious little speech, which act, it seemed to me, was to let her know
+that he respected her still as a young gentlewoman in spite of her short
+petticoat, and Moll was not dull to the compliment neither; for, after
+the first cry of delight in seeing these natural dainty flowers (she
+loving such things beyond all else in the world), she bethought her to
+make him a curtsey and reply to his speech with another as good and well
+turned, as she set them in her waist scarf. Also I remember on this road
+we saw oranges and lemons growing for the first time, but full a mile
+after Moll had first caught their wondrous perfume in the air. And these
+trees, which are about the size of a crab tree, grew in close groves on
+either side of the road, with no manner of fence to protect them, so
+that any one is lief to pluck what he may without let, so plentiful are
+they, and curious to see how fruit and blossom grow together on the same
+bush, the lemons, as I hear, giving four crops in the year, and more
+delicious, full, and juicy than any to be bought in England at six to
+the groat.
+
+We got a dinner of bread and cheese (very high) at a roadside house, and
+glad to have that, only no meat of any kind, but excellent good wine
+with dried figs and walnuts, which is the natural food of this country,
+where one may go a week without touching flesh and yet feel as strong
+and hearty at the end. And here very merry, Jack in his pertinacious,
+stubborn spirit declaring he would drink his wine in the custom of the
+country or none at all, and so lifting up the spouted mug at arm's
+length he squirts the liquor all over his face, down his new clothes and
+everywhere but into his mouth, before he could arrive to do it like Don
+Sanchez; but getting into the trick of it, he so mighty proud of his
+achievement that he must drink pot after pot until he got as drunk as
+any lord. So after that, finding a retired place,--it being midday and
+prodigious hot (though only now in mid-April),--we lay down under the
+orange trees and slept a long hour, to our great refreshment. Dawson on
+waking remembered nothing of his being drunk, and felt not one penny the
+worse for it. And so on another long stretch through sweet country, with
+here and there a glimpse of the Mediterranean, in the distance, of a
+surprising blueness, before we reached another town, and that on the top
+of a high hill. But it seems that all the towns in these parts (save
+those armed with fortresses) are thus built for security against the
+pirates, who ravage the seaboard of this continent incessantly from end
+to end. And for this reason the roads leading up to the town are made
+very narrow, tortuous, and difficult, with watch-towers in places, and
+many points where a few armed men lying in ambush may overwhelm an enemy
+ten times as strong. The towns themselves are fortified with gates, the
+streets extremely narrow and crooked, and the houses massed all together
+with secret passages one to another, and a network of little alleys
+leading whither only the inhabitants knew, so that if an enemy do get
+into them 'tis ten to one he will never come out alive.
+
+It being market day in this town, here Jack and his daughter gave a show
+of dancing, first in their French suits, which were vastly admired, and
+after in their Spanish clothes; but then they were asked to dance a
+fandango, which they could not. However, we fared very well, getting the
+value of five shillings in little moneys, and the innkeepers would take
+nothing for our entertainment, because of the custom we had brought his
+house, which we considered very handsome on his part.
+
+We set out again the next morning, but having shown how we passed the
+first day I need not dwell upon those which followed before we reached
+Barcelona, there being nothing of any great importance to tell. Only
+Moll was now all agog to learn the Spanish dances, and I cannot easily
+forget how, after much coaxing and wheedling on her part, she at length
+persuaded Don Sanchez to show her a fandango; for, surely, nothing in
+the world was ever more comic than this stately Don, without any music,
+and in the middle of the high road, cutting capers, with a countenance
+as solemn as any person at a burying. No one could be more quick to
+observe the ludicrous than he, nor more careful to avoid ridicule;
+therefore it said much for Moll's cajolery, or for the love he bore her
+even at this time, to thus expose himself to Dawson's rude mirth and
+mine in order to please her.
+
+We reached Barcelona the 25th of April, and there we stayed till the 1st
+of May, for Moll would go no further before she had learnt a bolero and
+a fandango--which dances we saw danced at a little theatre excellently
+well, but in a style quite different to ours, and the women very fat and
+plain. And though Moll, being but a slight slip of a lass, in whom the
+warmer passions were unbegotten, could not give the bolero the
+voluptuous fervour of the Spanish dancers, yet in agility and in pretty
+innocent grace she did surpass them all to nought, which was abundantly
+proved when she danced it in our posada before a court full of
+Spaniards, for there they were like mad over her, casting their silk
+handkerchiefs at her feet in homage, and filling Jack's tambourine three
+times over with cigarros and a plentiful scattering of rials. And I
+believe, had we stayed there, we might have made more money than ever we
+wanted at that time--though not so much as Don Sanchez had set his mind
+on; wherefore he would have us jogging again as soon as Moll could be
+brought to it.
+
+From Barcelona, we journeyed a month to Valencia, growing more indolent
+with our easier circumstances, and sometimes trudging no more than five
+or six miles in a day. And we were, I think, the happiest, idlest set of
+vagabonds in existence. But, indeed, in this country there is not that
+spur to exertion which is for ever goading us in this. The sun fills
+one's heart with content, and for one's other wants a few halfpence a
+day will suffice, and if you have them not 'tis no such great matter.
+For these people are exceeding kind and hospitable; they will give you a
+measure of wine if you are thirsty, as we would give a mug of water, and
+the poorest man will not sit down to table without making you an offer
+to share what he has. Wherever we went we were well received, and in
+those poor villages where they had no money to give they would pay us
+for our show in kind, one giving us bed, another board, and filling our
+wallets ere we left 'em with the best they could afford.
+
+'Twas our habit to walk a few miles before dinner, to sleep in the shade
+during the heat of the day, and to reach a town (if possible) by the
+fall of the sun. There would we spend half the night in jollity, and lie
+abed late in the morning. The inns and big houses in these parts are
+built in the form of squares, enclosing an open court with a sort of
+arcade all round, and mostly with a grape-vine running over the sunnier
+side, and in this space we used to give our performance, by the light of
+oil lamps hung here and there conveniently, with the addition, maybe, of
+moonlight reflected from one of the white walls. Here any one was free
+to enter, we making no charge, but taking only what they would freely
+give. And this treatment engenders a feeling of kindness on both sides
+(very different to our sentiment at home, where we players as often as
+not dread the audience as a kind of enemy, ready to tear us to pieces if
+we fail to please), and ours was as great a pleasure to amuse as theirs
+to be amused. I can recall to mind nothing of any moment occurring on
+this journey, save that we spent some time every day in perfecting our
+Spanish dances, I getting to play the tunes correctly, which at first I
+made sad bungling of, and Dawson in learning of his steps. Also, he and
+Moll acquired the use of a kind of clappers, called costagnettes, which
+they play with their hands in these fandangos and boleros, with a very
+pleasing effect.
+
+At Valencia we stayed a week and three days, lingering more than was
+necessary, in order to see a bull-fight. And this pastime they do not as
+we with dogs, but with men, and the bull quite free, and, save for the
+needless killing of horses, I think this a very noble exercise, being a
+fair trial of human address against brute force. And 'tis not nearly so
+beastly as seeing a prize fought by men, and not more cruel, I take it,
+than the shooting of birds and hares for sport, seeing that the agony of
+death is no greater for a sturdy bull than for a timid coney, and hath
+this advantage, that the bull, when exhausted, is despatched quickly,
+whereas the bird or hare may just escape capture, to die a miserable
+long death with a shattered limb.
+
+From Valencia we travelled five weeks (growing, I think, more lazy every
+day), over very hilly country to Alicante, a seaport town very strongly
+protected by a castle on a great rock, armed with guns of brass and
+iron, so that the pirates dare never venture near. And here I fully
+thought we were to dawdle away another week at the least, this being a
+very populous and lively city, promising much entertainment. For Moll,
+when not playing herself, was mad to see others play, and she did really
+govern, with her subtle wiles and winning smiles, more than her father,
+for all his masterful spirit, or Don Sanchez with his stern authority.
+But seeing two or three English ships in the port, the Don deemed it
+advisable that we should push on at once for Elche, and, to our great
+astonishment, Moll consented to our speedy going without demur, though
+why, we could not then discover, but did soon after, as I shall
+presently show.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+_Of our first coming to Elche and the strangeness of that city._
+
+
+Being resolved to our purpose overnight, we set out fairly early in the
+morning for Elche, which lies half a dozen leagues or thereabouts to the
+west of Alicante. Our way lay through gardens of oranges and spreading
+vineyards, which flourish exceedingly in this part, being protected from
+unkind winds by high mountains against the north and east; and here you
+shall picture us on the white, dusty road, Moll leading the way a dozen
+yards in advance, a tambourine slung on her back with streaming ribbons
+of many colours, taking two or three steps on one foot, and then two or
+three steps on t'other, with a Spanish twist of her hips at each turn,
+swinging her arms as she claps her costagnettes to the air of a song she
+had picked up at Barcelona, and we three men plodding behind, the Don
+with a guitar across his back, Dawson with our bundle of clothes, and I
+with a wallet of provisions hanging o' one side and a skin of wine on
+the other--and all as white as any millers with the dust of Moll's
+dancing.
+
+"It might be as well," says Don Sanchez, in his solemn, deliberate
+manner, "if Mistress Moll were advised to practise her steps in our
+rear."
+
+"Aye, Seņor," replied Dawson, "I've been of the same mind these last ten
+minutes. But with your consent, Don Sanchez, I'll put her to a more
+serious exercise."
+
+The Don consenting with a bow, Jack continues:
+
+"You may have observed that I haven't opened my lips since we left the
+town, and the reason thereof is that I've been turning over in my mind
+whether, having come thus far, it would not be advisable to let my Moll
+know of our project. Because, if she should refuse, the sooner we
+consider some other plan, the better, seeing that now she is in good
+case and as careless as a bird on the bough, and she is less tractable
+to our purposes than when she felt the pinch of hunger and cold and
+would have jumped at anything for a bit of comfort."
+
+"Does she not know of our design?" asks the Don, lifting his eyebrows.
+
+"No more than the man in the moon, Seņor," answers Jack. "For, though
+Kit and I may have discoursed of it at odd times, we have been mighty
+careful to shut our mouths or talk of a fine day at her approach."
+
+"Very good," says Don Sanchez. "You are her father."
+
+"And she shall know it," says Jack, with resolution, and taking a stride
+or two in advance he calls to her to give over dancing and come to him.
+
+"Have you forgot your breeding," he asks as she turns and waits for him,
+"that you have no more respect for your elders than to choke 'em with
+dust along of your shuffling?"
+
+"What a thoughtless thing am I!" cries she, in a voice of contrition.
+"Why, you're floured as white as a shade!"
+
+Then taking up a corner of her waist-shawl, she gently rubs away the
+dust from the tip of his nose, so that it stood out glowing red from his
+face like a cherry through a hole in a pie-crust, at which she claps her
+hands and rings out a peal of laughter.
+
+"I counted to make a lady of you, Moll," says Jack, in sorrow, "but I
+see plainly you will ever be a fool, and so 'tis to no purpose to speak
+seriously."
+
+"Surely, father, I have ever been what you wish me to be," answers she,
+demurely, curious now to know what he would be telling her.
+
+"Then do you put them plaguy clappers away, and listen to me patiently,"
+says he.
+
+Moll puts her hands behind her, and drawing a long lip and casting round
+eyes at us over her shoulder, walks along very slowly by her father's
+side, while he broaches the matter to her. And this he did with some
+difficulty (for 'tis no easy thing to make a roguish plot look
+innocent), as we could see by his shifting his bundle from one shoulder
+to the other now and again, scratching his ear and the like; but what he
+said, we, walking a pace or two behind, could not catch, he dropping to
+a very low tone as if ashamed to hear his own voice. To all he has to
+tell she listens very attentively, but in the end she says something
+which causes him to stop dead short and turn upon her gaping like a pig.
+
+"What!" he cries as we came up. "You knew all this two months ago?"
+
+"Yes, father," answers she, primly, "quite two months."
+
+"And pray who told you?" he asks.
+
+"No one, father, since you forbade me to ask questions. But though I may
+be dumb to oblige you, I can't be deaf. Kit and you are for ever
+a-talking of it."
+
+"Maybe, child," says Dawson, mightily nettled. "Maybe you know why we
+left Alicante this morning."
+
+"I should be dull indeed if I didn't," answers she. "And if you hadn't
+said when we saw the ships that we might meet more Englishmen in the
+town than we might care to know hereafter, why,--well, maybe we should
+have been in Alicante now."
+
+"By denying yourself that satisfaction," says Don Sanchez, "we may
+conclude that the future we are making for you is not unacceptable."
+
+Moll stopped and says with some passion:
+
+"I would turn back now and go over those mountains the way we came to
+ride through France in my fine gown like a lady."
+
+"Brava! bravamente!" says the Don, in a low voice, as she steps on in
+front of us, holding her head high with the recollection of her former
+state.
+
+"She was ever like that," whispers Dawson, with pride. "We could never
+get her to play a mean part willingly; could we, Kit? She was for ever
+wanting the part of a queen writ for her."
+
+The next day about sundown, coming to a little eminence, Don Sanchez
+points out a dark patch of forest lying betwixt us and the mountains,
+and says:
+
+"That is Elche, the place where we are to stay some months."
+
+We could make out no houses at all, but he told us the town lay in the
+middle of the forest, and added some curious particulars as how, lying
+on flat ground and within easy access of the sea, it could not exist at
+all but for the sufferance of the Spaniards on one side and of the
+Barbary pirates on the other, how both for their own convenience
+respected it as neutral ground on which each could exchange his
+merchandise without let or hindrance from the other, how the sort of
+sanctuary thus provided was never violated either by Algerine or
+Spaniard, but each was free to come and go as he pleased, etc., and this
+did somewhat reassure us, though we had all been more content to see our
+destination on the crest of a high hill.
+
+From this point we came in less than half an hour to Santa Pola, a small
+village, but very bustling, for here the cart-road from Alicante ends,
+all transport of commodities betwixt this and Elche being done on mules;
+so here great commotion of carriers setting down and taking up
+merchandise, and the way choked with carts and mules and a very babel of
+tongues, there being Moors here as well as Spaniards, and all shouting
+their highest to be the better understood of each other. These were the
+first Moors we had seen, but they did not encourage us with great hopes
+of more intimate acquaintance, wearing nothing but a kind of long,
+ragged shirt to their heels, with a hood for their heads in place of a
+hat, and all mighty foul with grease and dirt.
+
+Being astir betimes the next morning, we reached Elche before midday,
+and here we seemed to be in another world, for this region is no more
+like Spain than Spain is like our own country. Entering the forest, we
+found ourselves encompassed on all sides by prodigious high palm trees,
+which hitherto we had seen only singly here and there, cultivated as
+curiosities. And noble trees they are, standing eighty to a hundred feet
+high, with never a branch, but only a great spreading crown of leaves,
+with strings of dates hanging down from their midst. Beneath, in marshy
+places, grew sugar-canes as high as any haystack; and elsewhere were
+patches of rice, which grows like corn with us, but thrives well in the
+shade, curiously watered by artificial streams of water. And for hedges
+to their property, these Moors have agaves, with great spiky leaves
+which no man can penetrate, and other strange plants, whereof I will
+mention only one, they call the fig of Barbary, which is no fig at all,
+but a thing having large, fleshy leaves, growing one out of the other,
+with fruit and flower sprouting out of the edges, and all monstrous
+prickly. To garnish and beautify this formidable defence, nature had
+cast over all a network of creeping herbs with most extraordinary
+flowers, delightful both to see and smell, but why so prickly, no man
+can say.
+
+"Surely, this must be paradise," cries Moll, staying to look around her.
+
+And we were of the same thinking, until we came to the town, which, as I
+have said, lies in the midst of this forest, and then all our hopes and
+expectations were dashed to the ground. For we had looked to find a city
+in keeping with these surroundings,--of fairy palaces and stately
+mansions; in place whereof was nought but a wilderness of mean, low,
+squalid houses, with meandering, ill-paved alleys, and all past
+everything for unsavoury smells,--heaps of refuse lying before every
+door, stark naked brats of children screaming everywhere, and a pack of
+famished dogs snapping at our heels.
+
+Don Sanchez leads the way, we following, with rueful looks one at the
+other, till we reach the market-place, and there he takes us into a
+house of entertainment, where a dozen Moors are squatting on their
+haunches in groups about sundry bowls of a smoking mess, called
+cuscusson, which is a kind of paste with a little butter in it and a
+store of spices. Their manner of eating it is simple enough: each man
+dips his hand in the pot, takes out a handful, and dances it about till
+it is fashioned into a ball, and then he eats it with all the gusto in
+the world. For our repast we were served with a joint of roast mutton,
+and this being cut up, we had to take up in our hands and eat like any
+savages,--their religion denying these Moors anything but the bare
+necessities of life. Also, their law forbids the drinking of wine, which
+did most upset Jack Dawson, he having for drink with his meat nothing
+but the choice of water and sour milk; but which he liked least I know
+not, for he would touch neither, saying he would rather go dry any day
+than be poisoned with such liquor.
+
+Whilst we were at our meal, a good many Moors came in to stare at us, as
+at a raree show, and especially at Moll, whose bright clothes and loose
+hair excited their curiosity, for their women do rarely go abroad,
+except they be old, and wear only long dirty white robes, muffling the
+lower part of their faces. None of them smiled, and it is noticeable
+that these people, like our own Don, do never laugh, taking such
+demonstration as a sign of weak understanding and foolishness, but
+watching all our actions very intently. And presently an old Moor, with
+a white beard and more cleanly dressed than the rest, pushing the crowd
+aside to see what was forward, recognised Don Sanchez, who at once rose
+to his feet; we, not to be behind him in good manners, rising also.
+
+"May Baba," says the old Moor; and repeating this phrase thrice (which
+is a sure sign of hearty welcome), he claps the Don's hand, without
+shaking it, and lays his own upon his breast, the Don doing likewise.
+Then Don Sanchez, introducing us as we understood by his gestures, the
+old Moor bends his head gravely, putting his right hand first to his
+heart, next to his forehead, and then kissing the two foremost fingers
+laid across his lips, we replying as best we could with a bowing and
+scraping. These formalities concluded, the Don and the old Moor walk
+apart, and we squat down again to our mutton bones.
+
+After a lengthy discussion the old Moor goes, and Don Sanchez, having
+paid the reckoning, leads us out of the town by many crooked alleys and
+cross-passages; he speaking never a word, and we asking no questions,
+but marvelling exceedingly what is to happen next. And, following a wall
+overhung by great palms, we turn a corner, and find there our old Moor
+standing beside an open door with a key in his hand. The old Moor gives
+the key into Don Sanchez's hand, and with a very formal salutation,
+leaves us.
+
+Then following the Don through the doorway, we find ourselves in a
+spacious garden, but quite wild for neglect; flower and weed and fruit
+all mingling madly together, but very beautiful to my eye, nevertheless,
+for the abundance of colour, the richness of the vegetables, and the
+graceful forms of the adjacent palms.
+
+A house stood in the midst of this wilderness, and thither Don Sanchez
+picked his way, we at his heels still too amazed to speak. Beside the
+house was a well with a little wall about it, and seating himself on
+this, Don Sanchez opens his lips for the first time.
+
+"My friend, Sidi ben Ahmed, has offered me the use of this place as long
+as we choose to stay here," says he. "Go look in the house and tell me
+if you care to live in it for a year."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+_How Don Sanchez very honestly offers to free us of our bargain if we
+will; but we will not._
+
+
+The house, like nearly all Moorish houses of this class, was simply one
+large and lofty room, with a domed ceiling built of very thick masonry,
+to resist the heat of the sun. There was neither window nor chimney, the
+door serving to admit light and air, and let out the smoke if a fire
+were lighted within. One half of this chamber was dug out to a depth of
+a couple of feet, for the accommodation of cattle (the litter being
+thrown into the hollow as it is needed, and nought removed till it
+reaches the level of the other floor), and above this, about eight feet
+from the ground and four from the roof, was a kind of shelf (the breadth
+and length of that half), for the storage of fodder and a sleeping-place
+for the inhabitants, with no kind of partition, or any issue for the
+foul air from the cattle below.
+
+"Are we to live a year in this hutch?" asks Moll, in affright.
+
+"Have done with your chatter, Moll!" answers Jack, testily. "Don't you
+see I'm a-thinking? Heaven knows there's enough to swallow without any
+bugbears of your raising."
+
+With that, having finished his inspection of the interior, he goes out
+and looks at it outside.
+
+"Well," says Don Sanchez, "what think you of the house?"
+
+"Why, Seņor, 'tis no worse as I can see than any other in these parts,
+and hath this advantage, which they have not, of being in a sweet air.
+With a bit of contrivance we could make a shift to live here well
+enough. We should not do amiss neither for furniture, seeing that 'tis
+the custom of the country to eat off the floor and sit upon nothing. A
+pot to cook victuals in is about all we need in that way. But how we are
+to get anything to cook in it is one mystery, and" (clacking his tongue)
+"what we are going to drink is another, neither of which I can fathom.
+For, look you, Seņor, if one may judge of men's characters by their
+faces or of their means by their habitations, we may dance our legs off
+ere ever these Moors will bestow a penny piece upon us, and as for their
+sour milk, I'd as lief drink hemlock, and liefer. Now, if this town had
+been as we counted on, like Barcelona, all had gone as merry as a
+marriage bell, for then might we have gained enough to keep us in
+jollity as long as you please; but here, if we die not of the colicks in
+a week, 'twill be to perish of starvation in a fortnight. What say you,
+Kit?"
+
+I was forced to admit that I had never seen a town less likely to afford
+a subsistence than this.
+
+Then Don Sanchez, having heard us with great patience, and waited a
+minute to see if we could raise any further objections, answers us in
+measured tones.
+
+"I doubt not," says he, "that with a little ingenuity you may make the
+house habitable and this wilderness agreeable. My friend, Sidi ben
+Ahmed, has offered to provide us with what commodities are necessary to
+that end. I agree with you that it would be impossible to earn the
+meanest livelihood here by dancing; it would not be advisable if we
+could. For that reason, my knowledge of various tongues making me very
+serviceable to Sidi ben Ahmed (who is the most considerable merchant of
+this town), I have accepted an office in his house. This will enable me
+to keep my engagement with you. You will live at my charge, as I
+promised, and you shall want for nothing in reason. If the Moors drink
+no wine themselves, they make excellent for those who will, and you
+shall not be stinted in that particular."
+
+"Come, this sounds fair enough," cries Dawson. "But pray, Seņor, are we
+to do nothing for our keep?"
+
+"Nothing beyond what we came here to do," replies he, with a meaning
+glance at Moll.
+
+"What!" cries poor Moll, in pain. "We are to dance no more!"
+
+The Don shook his head gravely; and, remembering the jolly, vagabond,
+careless, adventurous life we had led these past two months and more,
+with a thousand pleasant incidents of our happy junketings, we were all
+downcast at the prospect of living in this place--though a paradise--for
+a year without change.
+
+"Though I promised you no more than I offer," says the Don, "yet if this
+prospect displease you, we will cry quits and part here. Nay," adds he,
+taking a purse from his pocket, "I will give you the means to return to
+Alicante, where you may live as better pleases you."
+
+It seemed to me that there was an unfeigned carelessness in his manner,
+as if he would as lief as not throw up this hazardous enterprise for
+some other more sure undertaking. And, indeed, I believe he was then
+balancing another alternative in his mind.
+
+At this generous offer Moll dashed away the tears that had sprung to her
+eyes, brightening up wonderfully, but then, casting her eyes upon the
+Don, her face fell again as at the thought of leaving him. For we all
+admired him, and she prodigiously, for his great reserve and many good
+qualities which commanded respect, and this feeling was tinged in her
+case, I believe, with a kind of growing affection.
+
+Seeing this sentiment in her eyes, the Don was clearly touched by it,
+and so, laying his hand gently on her shoulder, he says:
+
+"My poor child, remember you the ugly old women we saw dancing at
+Barcelona? They were not more than forty; what will they be like in a
+few years? Who will tolerate them? who love them? Is that the end you
+choose for your own life--that the estate to which our little princess
+shall fall?"
+
+"No, no, no!" cries she, in a passion, clenching her little hands and
+throwing up her head in disdain.
+
+"And no, no, no, say I," cries Dawson. "Were our case ten times as bad,
+I'd not go back from my word. As it is, we are not to be pitied, and I
+warrant ere long we make ourselves to be envied. Come, Kit, rouse you
+out of your lethargies, and let us consult how we may improve our
+condition here; and do you, Seņor, pray order us a little of that same
+excellent wine you spoke of, if it be but a pint, when you feel disposed
+that way."
+
+The Don inclined his head, but lingered, talking to Moll very gravely,
+and yet tenderly, for some while, Dawson and I going into the house to
+see what we could make of it; and then, telling us we should see him no
+more till the next day, he left us. But for some time after he was gone
+Moll sat on the side of the well, very pensive and wistful, as one to
+whom the future was opened for the first time.
+
+Anon comes a banging at our garden gate, which Moll had closed behind
+the Don; and, going to it, we find a Moorish boy with a barrow charged
+with many things. We could not understand a word he said, but Dawson
+decided these chattels were sent us by the Don, by perceiving a huge
+hogskin of wine, for which he thanked God and Don Sanchez an hundred
+times over. So these commodities we carried up to the house, marvelling
+greatly at the Don's forethought and generosity, for here were a score
+of things over and above those we had already found ourselves lacking;
+namely, earthen pipkins and wooden vessels, a bag of charcoal, a box of
+carpenters' tools (which did greatly like Dawson, he having been bred a
+carpenter in his youth), instruments for gardening (to my pleasure, as I
+have ever had a taste for such employment), some very fine Moorish
+blankets, etc. So when the barrow was discharged, Dawson gives the lad
+some rials out of his pocket, which pleased him also mightily.
+
+Then, first of all, Dawson unties the leg of the hogskin, and draws off
+a quart of wine, very carefully securing the leg after, and this we
+drank to our great refreshment; and next Moll, being awoke from her
+dreams and eager to be doing, sets herself to sort out our goods, such
+as belong to us (as tools, etc.), on one side, and such as belong to her
+(as pipkins and the rest) on the other. Leaving her to this employment,
+Dawson and I, armed with a knife and bagging hook, betake ourselves to a
+great store of canes stacked in one corner of the garden, and sorting
+out those most proper to our purpose, we lopped them all of an equal
+length, and shouldering as many as we could carried them up to our
+house. Here we found Moll mighty jubilant in having got her work done,
+and admirably she had done it, to be sure. For, having found a long
+recess in the wall, she had brushed it out clean with a whisp of herbs,
+and stored up her crocks according to their size, very artificial, with
+a dish of oranges plucked from the tree at our door on one side, and a
+dish of almonds on the other, a pipkin standing betwixt 'em with a
+handsome posey of roses in it. She had spread a mat on the floor, and
+folded up our fine blankets to serve for cushions; and all that did not
+belong to her she had bundled out of sight into that hollowed side I
+have mentioned as being intended for cattle.
+
+After we had sufficiently admired the performance, she told us she had a
+mind to give us a supper of broth. "But," says she, "the Don has
+forgotten that we must eat, and hath sent us neither bread nor flesh nor
+salt."
+
+This put us to a stumble, for how to get these things we knew not; but
+Moll declared she would get all she needed if we could only find the
+money.
+
+"Why, how?" asks Jack. "You know not their gibberish."
+
+"That may be," answers she, "but I warrant the same language that bought
+me this petticoat will get us a supper."
+
+So we gave her what money we had, and she went off a-marketing, with as
+much confidence as if she were a born Barbary Moor. Then Jack falls to
+thanking God for blessing him with such a daughter, at the same time
+taking no small credit to himself for having bred her to such
+perfection, and in the midst of his encomiums, being down in the hollow
+searching for his hammer, he cries:
+
+"Plague take the careless baggage! she has spilled all our nails, and
+here's an hour's work to pick 'em up!"
+
+This accident was repaired, however, and Moll's transgression forgotten
+when she returned with an old woman carrying her purchases. Then were we
+forced to admire her skill in this business, for she had bought all that
+was needful for a couple of meals, and yet had spent but half our money.
+Now arose the difficult question how to make a fire, and this Jack left
+us to settle by our own devices, he returning to his own occupation.
+Moll resolved we should do our cooking outside the house, so here we
+built up a kind of grate with stones; and, contriving to strike a spark
+with the back of a jack-knife and a stone, upon a heap of dried leaves,
+we presently blew up a fine flame, and feeding this with the ends of
+cane we had cut and some charcoal, we at last got a royal fire on which
+to set our pot of mutton. And into this pot we put rice and a multitude
+of herbs from the garden, which by the taste we thought might serve to
+make a savoury mess. And, indeed, when it began to boil, the odour was
+so agreeable that we would have Jack come out to smell it. And he having
+praised it very highly, we in return went in to look at his handiwork
+and praise that. This we could do very heartily and without hypocrisy,
+for he had worked well and made a rare good job, having built a very
+seemly partition across the room, by nailing of the canes
+perpendicularly to that kind of floor that hung over the hollowed
+portion, thus making us now three rooms out of one. At one end he had
+left an opening to enter the cavity below and the floor above by the
+little ladder that stood there, and these canes were set not so close
+together but that air and light could pass betwixt them, and yet from
+the outer side no eye could see within, which was very commodious. Also
+upon the floor above, he had found sundry bundles of soft dried leaves,
+and these, opened out upon the surface of both chambers, made a very
+sweet, convenient bed upon which to lie. Then Dawson offering Moll her
+choice, she took the upper floor for her chamber, leaving us two the
+lower; and so, it being near sundown by this time, we to our supper in
+the sweet, cool air of evening, all mightily content with one another,
+and not less satisfied with our stew, which was indeed most savoury and
+palatable. This done, we took a turn round our little domain, admiring
+the many strange and wonderful things that grew there (especially the
+figs, which, though yet green, were wondrous pleasant to eat); and I
+laying out my plans for the morrow, how to get this wilderness into
+order, tear out the worthless herbs, dig the soil, etc., Dawson's
+thoughts running on the building of an outhouse for the accommodation of
+our wine, tools, and such like, and Moll meditating on dishes to give us
+for our repasts. And at length, when these divers subjects were no more
+to be discussed, we turned into our dormitories, and fell asleep mighty
+tired, but as happy as princes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+_A brief summary of those twelve months we spent at Elche._
+
+
+The surprising activity with which we attacked our domestic business at
+Elche lasted about two days and a half,--Dawson labouring at his shed, I
+at the cultivation of the garden, and Moll quitting her cooking and
+household affairs, as occasion permitted, to lend a helping hand first
+to her father and then to me. And as man, when this fever of enterprise
+is upon him, must for ever be seeking to add to his cares, we persuaded
+Don Sanchez to let us have two she-goats to stall in the shed and
+consume our waste herbage, that we might have milk and get butter, which
+they do in these parts by shaking the cream in a skin bag (a method that
+seems simple enough till you have been shaking the bag for twenty
+minutes in vain on a sultry morning) without cost. But the novelty of
+the thing wearing off, our eagerness rapidly subsided, and so about the
+third day (as I say), the heat being prodigious, we toiled with no
+spirit at all.
+
+Dawson was the first to speak his mind. Says he, coming to me whilst I
+was still sweating over my shovel:
+
+"I've done it, but hang me if I do more. There's a good piece of work
+worth thirty shillings of any man's money, but who'll give me a thank ye
+for it when we leave here next year?"
+
+And then he can find nothing better to do than fall a-commenting on my
+labours, saying there was but precious little to show for my efforts,
+that had he been in my place he would have ordered matters otherwise,
+and begun digging t'other end, wagering that I should give up my job
+before it was quarter done, etc., all which was mighty discouraging and
+the more unpleasant because I felt there was a good deal of truth in
+what he said.
+
+Consequently, I felt a certain malicious enjoyment the next morning upon
+finding that the goats had burst out one side of his famous shed, and
+got loose into the garden, which enabled me to wonder that two such
+feeble creatures could undo such a good thirty shillings' worth of work,
+etc. But ere I was done galling him, I myself was mortified exceedingly
+to find these mischievous brutes had torn up all the plants I had set by
+the trees in the shade as worthy of cultivation, which gave Jack a
+chance for jibing at me. But that which embittered us as much as
+anything was to have Moll holding her sides for laughter at our attempts
+to catch these two devilish goats, which to our cost we found were not
+so feeble, after all; for getting one up in a corner, she raises herself
+up on her hind legs and brings her skull down with such a smack on my
+knee that I truly thought she had broke my cramp-bone, whilst t'other,
+taking Dawson in the ankles with her horns, as he was reaching forward
+to lay hold of her, lay him sprawling in our little stream of water. Nor
+do I think we should ever have captured them, but that, giving over our
+endeavours from sheer fatigue, they of their own accord sauntered into
+the shed for shelter from the sun, where Moll clapt to the door upon
+them, and set her back against the gap in the side, until her father
+came with a hammer and some stout nails to secure the planks. So for the
+rest of that day Jack and I lay on our backs in the shade, doing
+nothing, but exceedingly sore one against the other for these
+mischances.
+
+But our heart burnings ended not there; for coming in to supper at
+sundown, Moll has nothing to offer us but dry bread and a dish of dates,
+which, though it be the common supper of the Moors in this place, was
+little enough to our satisfaction, as Dawson told her in pretty round
+terms, asking her what she was good for if not to give us a meal fit for
+Christians, etc., and stating very explicitly what he would have her
+prepare for our dinner next day. Moll takes her upbraiding very humbly
+(which was ever a bad sign), and promises to be more careful of our
+comfort in the future. And so ended that day.
+
+The next morning Dawson and I make no attempt at work, but after
+breakfast, by common accord, stretch us out under the palms to meditate;
+and there about half past ten, Don Sanchez, coming round to pay us a
+visit, finds us both sound asleep. A sudden exclamation from him aroused
+us, and as we stumbled to our feet, staring about us, we perceived Moll
+coming from the house, but so disfigured with smuts of charcoal all over
+her face and hands, we scarce knew her.
+
+"God's mercy!" cries the Don. "What on earth have you been doing,
+child?"
+
+To which Moll replies with a curtsey:
+
+"I am learning to be a cook-wench, Seņor, at my father's desire."
+
+"You are here," answers the Don, with a frown, "to learn to be a lady.
+If a cook-wench is necessary, you shall have one" (this to us), "and
+anything else that my means may afford. You will do well to write me a
+list of your requirements; but observe," adds he, turning on his heel,
+"we may have to stay here another twelvemonth, if my economies are not
+sufficient by the end of the first year to take us hence."
+
+This hint brought us to our senses very quickly, and overtaking him ere
+he reached our garden gate, Dawson and I assured the Don we had no need
+of any servant, and would be careful that Moll henceforth did no menial
+office; that we would tax his generosity no more than we could help,
+etc., to our great humiliation when we came to reflect on our conduct.
+
+Thenceforth Dawson charged himself with the internal economy of the
+house, and I with that part which concerned the custody and care of the
+goats, the cultivation of pot-herbs and with such instruction of Moll in
+the Italian tongue as I could command. But to tell the truth, we neither
+of us did one stroke of work beyond what was absolutely necessary, and
+especially Dawson, being past everything for indolence, did so order his
+part that from having two dishes of flesh a day, we came, ere long, to
+getting but one mess a week; he forcing himself and us to be content
+with dates and bread for our repasts, rather than give himself the
+trouble of boiling a pot. Beyond browsing my goats, drawing their milk
+(the making of butter I quickly renounced), and watering my garden night
+and morn (which is done by throwing water from the little stream
+broadcast with a shovel on either side), I did no more than Dawson, but
+joined him in yawning the day away, for which my sole excuse is the
+great heat of this region, which doth beget most slothful humours in
+those matured in cooler climes.
+
+With Moll, however, the case was otherwise; for she, being young and of
+an exceeding vivacious, active disposition, must for ever be doing of
+something, and lucky for us when it was not some mischievous trick at
+our expense--as letting the goats loose, shaking lemons down on our
+heads as we lay asleep beneath it, and the like. Being greatly smitten
+with the appearance of the Moorish women (who, though they are not
+permitted to wander about at will like our women, are yet suffered to
+fetch water from the public fountains), she surprised us one morning by
+coming forth dressed in their mode. And this dress, which seems to be
+nought but a long sheet wound loosely twice or thrice about the body,
+buckled on the shoulder, with holes for the arms to be put through in
+the manner of the old Greeks, became her surprisingly; and we noticed
+then for the first time that her arms were rounder and fuller than when
+we had last seen them bare. Then, to get the graceful, noble bearing of
+the Moors, she practised day after day carrying a pitcher of water on
+her head as they do, until she could do this with perfect ease and
+sureness. In this habit the Don, who was mightily pleased with her
+looks, took her to the house of his friend and employer, Sidi ben Ahmed,
+where she ingratiated herself so greatly with the women of his household
+that they would have her come to them again the next day, and after that
+the next,--indeed, thenceforth she spent far more of her time with these
+new friends than with us. And here, from the necessity of making herself
+understood, together with an excellent memory and a natural aptitude,
+she learned to speak the Moorish tongue in a marvellously short space of
+time. Dawson and I were frequently asked to accompany Moll, and we went
+twice to this house, which, though nothing at all to look at outside,
+was very magnificently furnished within, and the entertainment most
+noble. But Lord! 'twas the most tedious, wearisome business for us, who
+could make out never a word of the civil speeches offered us without the
+aid of Don Sanchez and Moll, and then could think of no witty response,
+but could only sit there grinning like Gog and Magog. Still, it gave us
+vast pleasure to see how Moll carried herself with this company, talking
+as freely as they, yet holding herself with the dignity of an equal, and
+delighting all by her vivacity and sly, pretty ways.
+
+[Illustration: "SHE PRACTISED DAY AFTER DAY BY CARRYING A PITCHER OF
+WATER ON HER HEAD."]
+
+I think no country in Europe can be richer than this Elche in fruits and
+vegetation, more beautiful in its surrounding aspects of plain and
+mountain, more blessed with constant, glorious sunlight; and the effect
+of these charms upon the quick, receptive spirit of our Molly was like a
+gentle May upon a nightingale, so that the days were all too short for
+her enjoyment, and she must need vent her happiness in song; but on us
+they made no more impression than on two owls in a tower, nay, if
+anything they did add to that weariness which arose from our lack of
+occupation. For here was no contrast in our lives, one day being as like
+another as two peas in a pod, and having no sort of adversities to give
+savour to our ease, we found existence the most flat, insipid, dull
+thing possible. I remember how, on Christmas day, Dawson did cry out
+against the warm sunshine as a thing contrary to nature, wishing he
+might stand up to his knees in snow in a whistling wind, and taking up
+the crock Moll had filled with roses (which here bloom more fully in the
+depth of winter than with us in the height of summer), he flung it out
+of the door with a curse for an unchristian thing to have in the house
+on such a day.
+
+As soon as the year had turned, we began to count the days to our
+departure, and thenceforth we could think of nought but what we would do
+with our fortune when we got it; and, the evenings being long, we would
+set the bag of wine betwixt us after our supper of dates, and sit there
+for hours discussing our several projects. Moll being with us (for in
+these parts no womankind may be abroad after sundown), she would take
+part in these debates with as much gusto as we. For though she was not
+wearied of her life here as we were, yet she was possessed of a very
+stirring spirit of adventure, and her quick imagination furnished
+endless visions of lively pleasures and sumptuous living. We agreed that
+we would live together, and share everything in common as one family,
+but not in such an outlandish spot as Chislehurst. That estate we would
+have nothing to do with; but, selling it at once, have in its place two
+houses,--one city house in the Cheap, and a country house not further
+from town than Bednal Green, or Clerkenwell at the outside, to the end
+that when we were fatigued with the pleasures of the town, we might, by
+an easy journey, resort to the tranquillity of rural life, Dawson
+declaring what wines he would have laid down in our cellars, I what
+books should furnish our library, and Moll what dresses she would wear
+(not less than one for every month of the year), what coaches and horses
+we should keep, what liveries our servants should wear, what
+entertainments we would give, and so forth. Don Sanchez was not excluded
+from our deliberations; indeed, he encouraged us greatly by approving of
+all our plans, only stipulating that we would guard one room for him in
+each of our houses, that he might feel at home in our society whenever
+he chanced to be in our neighbourhood. In all these arguments, there was
+never one word of question from any of us as to the honesty of our
+design. We had settled that, once and for all, before starting on this
+expedition; and since then, little by little, we had come to regard the
+Godwin estate as a natural gift, as freely to be taken as a blackberry
+from the hedge. Nay, I believe Dawson and I would have contested our
+right to it by reason of the pains we were taking to possess it.
+
+And now, being in the month of June, and our year of exile (as it liked
+us to call it) nigh at an end, Dawson one night put the question to Don
+Sanchez, which had kept us fluttering in painful suspense these past six
+months, whether he had saved sufficient by his labours, to enable us to
+return to England ere long.
+
+"Yes," says he, gravely, at which we did all heave one long sigh of
+relief, "I learn that a convoy of English ships is about to sail from
+Alicante in the beginning of July, and if we are happy enough to find a
+favourable opportunity, we will certainly embark in one of them."
+
+"Pray, Seņor," says I, "what may that opportunity be; for 'tis but two
+days' march hence to Alicante, and we may do it with a light foot in
+one."
+
+"The opportunity I speak of," answers he, "is the arrival, from Algeria,
+of a company of pirates, whose good service I hope to engage in putting
+us aboard an English ship under a flag of truce as redeemed slaves from
+Barbary."
+
+"Pirates!" cry we, in a low breath.
+
+"What, Seņor!" adds Dawson, "are we to trust ourselves to the mercy and
+honesty of Barbary pirates on the open sea?"
+
+"I would rather trust to their honesty," answers the Don, dropping his
+voice that he might not be heard by Moll, who was leading home the
+goats, "than to the mercy of an English judge, if we should be brought
+to trial with insufficient evidence to support our story."
+
+Jack and I stared at each other aghast at this talk of trial, which had
+never once entered into our reckoning of probabilities.
+
+"If I know aught of my fellow-men," continues the Don, surely and slow,
+"that grasping steward will not yield up his trust before he has made
+searching enquiry into Moll's claim, act she her part never so well. We
+cannot refuse to give him the name of the ship that brought us home,
+and, learning that we embarked at Alicante, jealous suspicion may lead
+him to seek further information there; with what result?"
+
+"Why, we may be blown with a vengeance, if he come ferreting so nigh as
+that," says Dawson, "and we are like to rot in gaol for our pains."
+
+"You may choose to run that risk; I will not," says the Don.
+
+"Nor I either," says Dawson, "and God forgive me for overlooking such a
+peril to my Moll. But, do tell me plainly, Seņor, granting these pirates
+be the most honest thieves in the world, is there no other risk to
+fear?"
+
+The Don hunched his shoulders.
+
+"Life itself is a game," says he, "in which the meanest stroke may not
+be won without some risk; but, played as I direct, the odds are in our
+favour. Picked up at sea from an Algerine boat, who shall deny our story
+when the evidence against us lies there" (laying his hand out towards
+the south), "where no man in England dare venture to seek it?"
+
+"Why, to be sure," says Dawson; "that way all hangs together to a
+nicety. For only a wizard could dream of coming hither for our undoing."
+
+"For the rest," continues the Don, thoughtfully, "there is little to
+fear. Judith Godwin has eyes the colour of Moll's, and in all else Simon
+must expect to find a change since he last saw his master's daughter.
+They were in Italy three years. That would make Judith a lisping child
+when she left England. He must look to find her altered. Why," adds he,
+in a more gentle voice, as if moved by some inner feeling of affection
+and admiration, nodding towards Moll, "see how she has changed in this
+little while. I should not know her for the raw, half-starved spindle of
+a thing she was when I saw her first playing in the barn at Tottenham
+Cross."
+
+Looking at her now (browsing the goats amongst my most cherished herbs),
+I was struck also by this fact, which, living with her day by day, had
+slipped my observation somewhat. She was no longer a gaunt, ungainly
+child, but a young woman, well proportioned, with a rounded cheek and
+chin, brown tinted by the sun, and, to my mind, more beautiful than any
+of their vaunted Moorish women. But, indeed, in this country all things
+do mature quickly; and 'twas less surprising in her case because her
+growth had been checked before by privation and hardship, whereas since
+our coming hither it had been aided by easy circumstances and good
+living.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+_Of our coming to London (with incidents by the way), and of the great
+address whereby Moll confounds Simon, the steward._
+
+
+On the third day of July, all things falling in pat with the Don's
+design, we bade farewell to Elche, Dawson and I with no sort of regret,
+but Moll in tears at parting from those friends she had grown to love
+very heartily. And these friends would each have her take away something
+for a keepsake, such as rings to wear on her arms and on her ankles (as
+is the Moorish fashion), silk shawls, etc., so that she had quite a
+large present of finery to carry away; but we had nothing whatever but
+the clothes we stood in, and they of the scantiest, being simply long
+shirts and "bernouses" such as common Moors wear. For the wise Don would
+let us take nought that might betray our sojourn in Spain, making us
+even change our boots for wooden sandals, he himself being arrayed no
+better than we. Nor was this the only change insisted on by our
+governor; for on Dawson bidding Moll in a surly tone to give over a
+shedding of tears, Don Sanchez turns upon him, and says he:
+
+"It is time to rehearse the parts we are to play. From this day forth
+your daughter is Mistress Judith Godwin, you are Captain Robert Evans,
+and you" (to me), "Mr. Hopkins, the merchant. Let us each play our part
+with care, that we do not betray ourselves by a slip in a moment of
+unforeseen danger."
+
+"You are in the right, Seņor," answers Jack, "for I doubt it must be a
+hard task to forget that Mistress Judith is my daughter, as it is for a
+loving father to hold from chiding of his own flesh and blood; so I pray
+you, Madam" (to Moll), "bear that in mind and vex me no more."
+
+We lay this lesson seriously to heart, Dawson and I, for the Don's hint
+that we might end our career in gaol did still rankle woundily in our
+minds. And so very soberly we went out of the forest of Elche in the
+night on mules lent us by Sidi ben Ahmed, with a long cavalcade of mules
+charged with merchandise for embarking on board the pirates' vessel, and
+an escort of some half-dozen fierce-looking corsairs armed with long
+firelocks and a great store of awesome crooked knives stuck in their
+waist-cloths.
+
+After journeying across the plain, we came about midday to the seaboard,
+and there we spied, lying in a sheltered bay, a long galley with three
+masts, each dressed with a single cross-spar for carrying a
+leg-of-mutton sail, and on the shore a couple of ship's boats with a
+company of men waiting to transport our goods and us aboard. And here
+our hearts quaked a bit at the thought of trusting ourselves in the
+hands of these same murderous-looking pirates. Nevertheless, when our
+time came we got us into their boat, recommending ourselves very
+heartily to God's mercy, and so were rowed out to the galley, where we
+were very civilly received by an old Moor with a white beard, who seemed
+well acquainted with Don Sanchez. Then the merchandise being all aboard,
+and the anchor up, the men went to their oars, a dozen of each side, and
+rowed us out of the bay until, catching a little wind of air, the sails
+were run up, and we put out to sea very bravely.
+
+"Seņor," says Dawson, "I know not how I am to play this part of a
+sea-captain when we are sent on board an English ship, for if they ask
+me any questions on this business of navigating, I am done for a
+certainty."
+
+"Rest easy on that score, Evans," replies the Don. "I will answer for
+you, for I see very clearly by your complexion that you will soon be
+past answering them yourself."
+
+And this forecast was quickly verified; for ere the galley had dipped a
+dozen times to the waves, poor Dawson was laid low with a most horrid
+sickness like any dying man.
+
+By sundown we sighted the island of Maggiore, and in the roads there we
+cast anchor for the night, setting sail again at daybreak; and in this
+latitude we beat up and down a day and a night without seeing any sail,
+but on the morning of the third day a fleet of five big ships appeared
+to the eastward, and shifting our course we bore down upon them with
+amazing swiftness. Then when we were near enough to the foremast to see
+her English flag and the men aboard standing to their deck guns for a
+defence, our old Moor fires a gun in the air, takes in his sails, and
+runs up a great white flag for a sign of peace. And now with shrewd
+haste a boat was lowered, and we were set in it with a pair of oars, and
+the old pirate bidding us farewell in his tongue, clapt on all sail and
+stood out before the wind, leaving us there to shift for ourselves. Don
+Sanchez took one oar, and I t'other,--Dawson lying in the bottom and not
+able to move a hand to save his life,--and Moll held the tiller, and so
+we pulled with all our force, crying out now and then for fear we should
+not be seen, till by God's providence we came alongside the Talbot of
+London, and were presently hoisted aboard without mishap. Then the
+captain of the Talbot and his officers gathering about us were mighty
+curious to know our story, and Don Sanchez very briefly told how we had
+gone in the Red Rose of Bristol to redeem two ladies from slavery; how
+we had found but one of these ladies living (at this Moll buries her
+face in her hands as if stricken with grief); how, on the eve of our
+departure, some of our crew in a drunken frolic had drowned a Turk of
+Alger, for which we were condemned by their court to pay an indemnity
+far and away beyond our means; how they then made this a pretext to
+seize our things, though we were properly furnished with the Duke's
+pass, and hold our men in bond; and how having plundered us of all we
+had, and seeing there was no more to be got, they did offer us our
+freedom for a written quittance of all they had taken for their
+justification if ever they should be brought to court; and finally, how,
+accepting of these conditions, we were shipped aboard their galley with
+nothing in the world but a few trifles, begged by Mistress Judith in
+remembrance of her mother.
+
+This story was accepted without any demur; nay, Captain Ballcock, being
+one of those men who must ever appear to know all things, supported it
+in many doubtful particulars, saying that he remembered the Rose of
+Bristol quite well; that he himself had seen a whole ship's crew sold
+into slavery for no greater offence than breaking a mosque window; that
+the Duke's pass counted for nothing with these Turks; that he knew the
+galley we were brought in as well as he knew Paul's Church, having
+chased it a dozen times, yet never got within gunshot for her swift
+sailing, etc., which did much content us to hear.
+
+But the officers were mighty curious to know what ailed Captain Robert
+Evans (meaning Dawson), fearing he might be ill of the plague; however,
+on the Don's vowing that he was only sick of a surfeit, Captain Ballcock
+declared he had guessed it the moment he clapt eyes on him, as he
+himself had been taken of the same complaint with only eating a dish of
+pease pudding. Nevertheless, he ordered the sick man to be laid in a
+part of the ship furthest from his quarters, and so great was the dread
+of pestilence aboard that (as his sickness continued) not a soul would
+venture near him during the whole voyage except ourselves, which also
+fell in very well with our wishes. And so after a fairly prosperous
+voyage we came up the Thames to Chatham, the third day of August.
+
+We had been provided with some rough seamen's clothes for our better
+covering on the voyage; but now, being landed, and lodged in the Crown
+inn at Chatham, Don Sanchez would have the captain take them all back.
+
+"But," says he, "if you will do us yet another favour, Captain, will you
+suffer one of your men to carry a letter to Mistress Godwin's steward at
+Chislehurst, that he may come hither to relieve us from our present
+straits?"
+
+"Aye," answers he, "I will take the letter gladly, myself; for nothing
+pleases me better than a ramble in the country where I was born and
+bred."
+
+So Moll writes a letter at once to Simon, bidding him come at once to
+her relief; and Captain Ballcock, after carefully enquiring his way to
+this place he knew so well (as he would have us believe), starts off
+with it, accompanied by his boatswain, a good-natured kind of
+lick-spittle, who never failed to back up his captain's assertions,
+which again was to our great advantage; for Simon would thus learn our
+story from his lips, and find no room to doubt its veracity.
+
+As soon as these two were out of the house, Dawson, who had been carried
+from the ship and laid in bed, though as hale since we passed the
+Godwins as ever he was in his life before, sprang up, and declared he
+would go to bed no more, for all the fortunes in the world, till he had
+supped on roast pork and onions,--this being a dish he greatly loved,
+but not to be had at Elche, because the Moors by their religion forbid
+the use of swine's flesh,--and seeing him very determined on this head,
+Don Sanchez ordered a leg of pork to be served in our chamber, whereof
+Dawson did eat such a prodigious quantity, and drank therewith such a
+vast quantity of strong ale (which he protested was the only liquor an
+Englishman could drink with any satisfaction), that in the night he was
+seized with most severe cramp in his stomach. This gave us the occasion
+to send for a doctor in the morning, who, learning that Jack had been
+ill ever since we left Barbary, and not understanding his present
+complaint, pulled a very long face, and, declaring his case was very
+critical, bled him copiously, forbade him to leave his bed for another
+fortnight, and sent him in half a dozen bottles of physic. About midday
+he returns, and, finding his patient no better, administers a bolus; and
+while we are all standing about the bed, and Dawson the colour of death,
+and groaning, betwixt the nausea of the drug he had swallowed and the
+cramp in his inwards, in comes our Captain Ballcock and the little
+steward.
+
+"There!" cries he, turning on Simon, "did not I tell you that my old
+friend Evans lay at death's door with the treatment he hath received of
+these Barbary pirates? Now will you be putting us off with your doubts
+and your questionings? Shall I have up my ship's company to testify to
+the truth of my history? Look you, Madam," (to Moll), "we had all the
+trouble in the world to make this steward of yours do your bidding; but
+he should have come though we had to bring him by the neck and heels,
+and a pox to him--saving your presence."
+
+"But this is not Simon," says Moll, with a pretty air of innocence. "I
+seem to remember Simon a bigger man than he."
+
+"You must consider, Madam," says Don Sanchez, "that then you were very
+small, scarce higher than his waist, maybe, and so you would have to
+look up into his face."
+
+"I did not think of that. And are you really Simon, who used to scold me
+for plucking fruit?"
+
+"Yea, verily," answers he. "Doubt it not, for thou also hast changed
+beyond conception. And so it hath come to pass!" he adds, staring round
+at us in our Moorish garb like one bewildered. "And thou art my mistress
+now" (turning again to Moll).
+
+"Alas!" says she, bowing her head and covering her eyes with her hand.
+
+"Han't I told you so, unbelieving Jew Quaker!" growls Captain Ballcock,
+in exasperation. "Why will you plague the unhappy lady with her loss?"
+
+"We will leave Evans to repose," says Moll, brushing her eyes and
+turning to the door. "You will save his life, Doctor, for he has given
+me mine."
+
+The doctor vowed he would, if bleeding and boluses could make him whole,
+and so, leaving him with poor groaning Dawson, we went into the next
+chamber. And there Captain Ballcock was for taking his leave; but Moll,
+detaining him, says:
+
+"We owe you something more than gratitude--we have put you to much
+expense."
+
+"Nay," cries he. "I will take nought for doing a common act of mercy."
+
+"You shall not be denied the joy of generosity," says she, with a sweet
+grace. "But you must suffer me to give your ship's company some token of
+my gratitude." Then turning to Simon with an air of authority, she says,
+"Simon, I have no money."
+
+The poor man fumbled in his pocket, and bringing out a purse, laid it
+open, showing some four or five pieces of silver and one of gold, which
+he hastily covered with his hand.
+
+"I see you have not enough," says Moll, and taking up a pen she quickly
+wrote some words on a piece of paper, signing it "Judith Godwin." Then
+showing it to Simon, she says, "You will pay this when it is presented
+to you," and therewith she folds it and places it in the captain's hand,
+bidding him farewell in a pretty speech.
+
+"A hundred pounds! a hundred pounds!" gasps Simon, under his breath, in
+an agony and clutching up his purse to his breast.
+
+"I am astonished," says Moll, returning from the door, and addressing
+Simon, with a frown upon her brow, "that you are not better furnished to
+supply my wants, knowing by my letter how I stand."
+
+"Mistress," replies he, humbly, "here is all I could raise upon such
+sudden notice"--laying his purse before her.
+
+"What is this?" cries she, emptying the contents upon the table. "'Tis
+nothing. Here is barely sufficient to pay for our accommodation in this
+inn. Where is the money to discharge my debt to these friends who have
+lost all in saving me? You were given timely notice of their purpose."
+
+"Prithee, be patient with me, gentle mistress. 'Tis true, I knew of
+their intent, but they were to have returned in six months, and when
+they came not at the end of the year I did truly give up all for lost;
+and so I made a fresh investment of thy fortune, laying it out all in
+life bonds and houses, to great worldly advantage, as thou shalt see in
+good time. Ere long I may get in some rents--"
+
+"And in the meanwhile are we to stay in this plight--to beg for
+charity?" asks Moll, indignantly. "Nay, mistress. Doubtless for your
+present wants this kind merchant friend--"
+
+"We have lost all," says I, "Evans his ship, and I the lading in which
+all my capital was embarked."
+
+"And I every maravedi I possessed," adds the Don.
+
+"And had they not," cries Moll, "were they possessed now of all they
+had, think you that I with an estate, as I am told, of sixty thousand
+pounds would add to the debt I owe them by one single penny!"
+
+"If I may speak in your steward's defence, Madam," says I, humbly, "I
+would point out that the richest estate is not always readily converted
+into money. 'Tis like a rich jewel which the owner, though he be
+starving, must hold till he find a market."
+
+"Thee hearest him, mistress," cries Simon, in delight. "A man of
+business--a merchant who knows these things. Explain it further, friend,
+for thine are words of precious wisdom."
+
+"With landed property the case is even more difficult. Tenants cannot be
+forced to pay rent before it is due, nor can their messuages be sold
+over their heads. And possibly all your capital is invested in land--"
+
+"Every farthing that could be scraped together," says Simon, "and not a
+rood of it but is leased to substantial men. Oh! what excellent
+discourse! Proceed further, friend."
+
+"Nevertheless," says I, "there are means of raising money upon credit.
+If he live there still, there is a worthy Jew in St. Mary Axe, who upon
+certain considerations of interest--"
+
+"Hold, friend," cries Simon. "What art thee thinking of? Wouldst deliver
+my simple mistress into the hands of Jew usurers?"
+
+"Not without proper covenants made out by lawyers and attorneys."
+
+"Lawyers, attorneys, and usurers! Heaven have mercy upon us! Verily,
+thee wouldst infest us with a pest, and bleed us to death for our cure."
+
+"I will have such relief as I may," says Moll; "so pray, sir, do send
+for these lawyers and Jews at once, and the quicker, since my servant
+seems more disposed to hinder than to help me."
+
+"Forbear, mistress; for the love of God, forbear!" cries Simon, in an
+agony, clasping his hands. "Be not misguided by this foolish merchant,
+who hath all to gain and nought to lose by this proceeding. Give me but
+a little space, and their claims shall be met, thy desires shall be
+satisfied, and yet half of thy estate be saved, which else must be all
+devoured betwixt these ruthless money-lenders and lawyers. I can make a
+covenant more binding than any attorney, as I have proved again and
+again, and" (with a gulp) "if money must be raised at once, I know an
+honest, a fairly honest, goldsmith in Lombard Street who will lend at
+the market rate."
+
+"These gentlemen," answers Moll, turning to us, "may not choose to wait,
+and I will not incommode them for my own convenience."
+
+"Something for our present need we must have, Madam," says the Don, with
+a significant glance at his outlandish dress; "but those wants supplied,
+_I_ am content to wait."
+
+"And you, sir?" says Moll to me.
+
+"With a hundred or two," says I, taking Don Sanchez's hint, "we may do
+very well till Michaelmas."
+
+"Be reasonable, gentlemen," implores Simon, mopping his eyes, which ran
+afresh at this demand. "'Tis but some five or six weeks to Michaelmas;
+surely fifty pounds--"
+
+"Silence!" cries Moll, with an angry tap of her foot. "Will three
+hundred content you, gentlemen? Consider, the wants of our good friend,
+Captain Evans, may be more pressing than yours."
+
+"He is a good, honest, simple man, and I think we may answer for his
+accepting the conditions we make for ourselves. Then, with some
+reasonable guarantee for our future payment--"
+
+"That may be contrived to our common satisfaction, I hope," says Moll,
+with a gracious smile. "I owe you half my estate; share my house at
+Chislehurst with me till the rest is forthcoming. That will give me yet
+a little longer the pleasure of your company. And there, sir," turning
+to me, "you can examine my steward's accounts for your own satisfaction,
+and counsel me, mayhap, upon the conduct of my affairs, knowing so much
+upon matters of business that are incomprehensible to a simple,
+inexperienced maid. Then, should you find aught amiss in my steward's
+books, anything to shake your confidence in his management, you will, in
+justice to your friends, in kindness to me, speak your mind openly, that
+instant reformation may be made."
+
+Don Sanchez and I expressed our agreement to this proposal, and Moll,
+turning to the poor, unhappy steward, says in her high tone of
+authority:
+
+"You hear how this matter is ordered, Simon. Take up that purse for your
+own uses. Go into the town and send such tradesmen hither as may supply
+us with proper clothing. Then to your goldsmith in Lombard Street and
+bring me back six hundred pounds."
+
+"Six--hundred--pounds!" cries he, hardly above his breath, and with a
+pause between each word as if to gain strength to speak 'em.
+
+"Six hundred. Three for these gentlemen and three for my own needs; when
+that is done, hasten to Chislehurst and prepare my house; and, as you
+value my favour, see that nothing is wanting when I come there."
+
+
+And here, lest it should be thought that Moll could not possibly play
+her part so admirably in this business, despite the many secret
+instructions given by the longheaded Don, I do protest that I have set
+down no more than I recollect, and that without exaggeration. Further,
+it must be observed that in our common experience many things happen
+which would seem incredible but for the evidence of our senses, and
+which no poet would have the hardihood to represent. 'Tis true that in
+this, as in other more surprising particulars to follow, Moll did
+surpass all common women; but 'tis only such extraordinary persons that
+furnish material for any history. And I will add that anything is
+possible to one who hath the element of greatness in her composition,
+and that it depends merely on the accident of circumstances whether a
+Moll Dawson becomes a great saint or a great sinner--a blessing or a
+curse to humanity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+_Lay our hands on six hundred pounds and quarter ourselves in Hurst
+Court, but stand in a fair way to be undone by Dawson, his folly._
+
+
+The next day comes Simon with a bag of six hundred pounds, which he
+tells over with infinite care, groaning and mopping his eyes betwixt
+each four or five pieces with a most rueful visage, so that it seemed he
+was weeping over this great expenditure, and then he goes to prepare the
+Court and get servants against Moll's arrival. By the end of the week,
+being furnished with suitable clothing and equipment, Moll and Don
+Sanchez leave us, though Dawson was now as hale and hearty as ever he
+had been, we being persuaded to rest at Chatham yet another week, to
+give countenance to Jack's late distemper, and also that we might appear
+less like a gang of thieves.
+
+Before going, Don Sanchez warned us that very likely Simon would pay us
+a visit suddenly, to satisfy any doubts that might yet crop up in his
+suspicious mind; and so, to be prepared for him, I got in a good store
+of paper and books, such as a merchant might require in seeking to
+reestablish himself in business, and Dawson held himself in readiness to
+do his share of this knavish business.
+
+Sure enough, about three days after this, the drawer, who had been
+instructed to admit no one to my chamber without my consent, comes up to
+say that the little old man in leather, with the weak eyes, would see
+me; so I bade him in a high voice bid Mr. Simon step up, and setting
+myself before my table of paper, engage in writing a letter (already
+half writ), while Dawson slips out into the next room.
+
+"Take a seat, Mr. Steward," says I, when Simon entered, cap in hand, and
+casting a very prying, curious look around. "I must keep you a minute or
+two"; and so I feign to be mighty busy, and give him scope for
+observation.
+
+"Well, sir," says I, finishing my letter with a flourish, and setting it
+aside. "How do you fare?"
+
+He raised his hands, and dropped them like so much lead on his knees,
+casting up his eyes and giving a doleful shake of his head for a reply.
+
+"Nothing is amiss at the Court, I pray--your lady Mistress Godwin is
+well?"
+
+"I know not, friend," says he. "She hath taken my keys, denied me
+entrance to her house, and left me no privilege of my office save the
+use of the lodge house. Thus am I treated like a faithless servant,
+after toiling night and day all these years, and for her advantage,
+rather than mine own."
+
+"That has to be proved, Mr. Steward," says I, severely; "for you must
+admit that up to this present she has had no reason to love you, seeing
+that, had her fate been left in your hands, she would now be in Barbary,
+and like to end her days there. How, then, can she think but that you
+had some selfish, wicked end in denying her the service we, who are
+strangers, have rendered her?"
+
+"Thee speakest truth, friend, and yet thee knowest that I observed only
+the righteous prudence of an honest servant."
+
+"We will say no more on that head, but you may rest assured on my
+promise--knowing as I do the noble, generous nature of your
+mistress--that if she has done you wrong in suspecting you of base
+purpose, she will be the first to admit her fault and offer you
+reparation."
+
+"I seek no reparation, no reward, nothing in the world but the right to
+cherish this estate," cries he, in passion; and, upon my looking at him
+very curiously, as not understanding the motive of such devotion, he
+continues: "Thee canst not believe me, and yet truly I am neither a liar
+nor a madman. What do others toil for? A wife--children--friends--the
+gratification of ambition or lust! I have no kith or kin, no ambition,
+no lust; but this estate is wife, child, everything, to me. 'Tis like
+some work of vanity,--a carved image that a man may give his whole life
+to making, and yet die content if he achieves but some approach to the
+creation of his soul. I have made this estate out of nothing; it hath
+grown larger and larger, richer and more rich, in answer to my skill;
+why should I not love it, and put my whole heart in the accomplishment
+of my design, with the same devotion that you admire in the maker of
+graven images?"
+
+Despite his natural infirmities, Simon delivered this astonishing
+rhapsody with a certain sort of vehemence that made it eloquent; and
+indeed, strange as his passion was, I could not deny that it was as
+reasonable in its way as any nobler act of self-sacrifice.
+
+"I begin to understand you, Mr. Steward," says I.
+
+"Then, good friend, as thee wouldst help the man in peril of being torn
+from his child, render me this estate to govern; save it from the hands
+of usurers and lawyers, men of no conscience, to whom this Spanish Don
+would deliver it for the speedy satisfaction of his greed."
+
+"Nay, my claim's as great as his," says I, "and my affairs more
+pressing" (with a glance at my papers), "I am undone, my credit lost, my
+occupation gone."
+
+"Thee shalt be paid to the last farthing. Examine my books, enquire into
+the value of my securities, and thee wilt find full assurance."
+
+"Well, one of these days mayhap," says I, as if to put him off.
+
+"Nay, come at once, I implore thee; for until I am justified to my
+mistress, I stand like one betwixt life and death."
+
+"For one thing," says I, still shuffling, "I can do nothing, nor you
+either, to the payment of our just claim, before the inheritance is
+safely settled upon Mistress Godwin."
+
+"That shall be done forthwith. I understand the intricacies of the law,
+and know my way" (tapping his head and then his pocket), "to get a seal,
+with ten times the despatch of any attorney. I promise by Saturday thee
+shalt have assurance to thy utmost requirement. Say, good friend, thee
+wilt be at my lodge house on that day."
+
+"I'll promise nothing," says I. "Our poor Captain Evans is still a
+prisoner in his room."
+
+"Aye," says Dawson, coming in from the next room, in his nightgown,
+seeming very feeble and weak despite his blustering voice, "and I'm like
+to be no better till I can get a ship of my own and be to sea again.
+Have you brought my money, Mr. Quaker?"
+
+"Thee shalt have it truly; wait but a little while, good friend, a
+little while."
+
+"Wait a little while and founder altogether, eh? I know you land sharks,
+and would I'd been born with a smack of your cunning; then had I never
+gone of this venture, and lost my ship and twoscore men, that money'll
+ne'er replace. Look at me, a sheer hulk and no more, and all through
+lending ear to one prayer and another. I doubt you're minded to turn
+your back on poor old Bob Evans, as t'others have, Mr. Hopkins,--and why
+not? The poor old man's worth nothing, and cannot help himself." With
+this he fell a-snivelling like any girl.
+
+"I vow I'll not quit you, Evans, till you're hale again."
+
+"Bring him with thee o' Saturday," urged Simon. "Surely, my mistress can
+never have the heart to refuse you shelter at the Court, who owes her
+life to ye. Come and stay there till thy wage be paid, friend Evans."
+
+"What! would ye make an honest sailor play bum-bailiff, and stick in a
+house, willy nilly, till money's found? Plague of your dry land! Give me
+a pitching ship and a rolling sea, and a gale whistling in my shrouds.
+Oh, my reins, my reins! give me a paper of tobacco, Mr. Hopkins, and a
+pipe to soothe this agony, or I shall grow desperate!"
+
+I left the room as if to satisfy this desire, and Simon followed,
+imploring me still to come on Saturday to Chislehurst; and I at length
+got rid of him by promising to come as soon as Evans could be left or
+induced to accompany me.
+
+I persuaded Dawson, very much against his gree, to delay our going until
+Monday, the better to hoodwink old Simon; and on that day we set out for
+Chislehurst, both clad according to our condition,--he in rough frieze,
+and I in a very proper, seemly sort of cloth,--and with more guineas in
+our pockets than ever before we had possessed shillings. And a very
+merry journey this was; for Dawson, finding himself once more at
+liberty, and hearty as a lark after his long confinement and under no
+constraint, was like a boy let loose from school. Carolling at the top
+of his voice, playing mad pranks with all who passed us on the road, and
+staying at every inn to drink twopenny ale, so that I feared he would
+certainly fall ill of drinking, as he had before of eating; but the
+exercise of riding, the fresh, wholesome air, and half an hour's doze in
+a spinney, did settle his liquor, and so he reached Hurst Court quite
+sober, thanks be to Heaven, though very gay. And there we had need of
+all our self-command, to conceal our joy in finding those gates open to
+us, which we had looked through so fondly when we were last here, and to
+spy Moll, in a stately gown, on the fine terrace before this noble
+house, carrying herself as if she had lived here all her life, and Don
+Sanchez walking very deferential by her side. Especially Dawson could
+scarce bring himself to speak to her in an uncouth, surly manner, as
+befitted his character, and no sooner were we entered the house but he
+whips Moll behind a door, and falls a-hugging and kissing her like any
+sly young lover.
+
+Whilst he was giving way to these extravagances, which Moll had not the
+heart to rebuff,--for in her full, warm heart she was as overjoyed to
+see him there as he her,--Don Sanchez and I paced up and down the
+spacious hall, I all of a twitter lest one or other of the servants
+might discover the familiarity of these two (which must have been a fine
+matter for curious gossip in the household and elsewhere), and the Don
+mighty sombre and grave (as foreseeing an evil outcome of this
+business), so that he would make no answer to my civilities save by dumb
+gestures, showing he was highly displeased. But truly 'twas enough to
+set us all crazy, but he, with joy, to be in possession of all these
+riches and think that we had landed at Chatham scarce a fortnight before
+without decent clothes to our backs, and now, but for the success of our
+design, might be the penniless strolling vagabonds we were when Don
+Sanchez lighted on us.
+
+Presently Moll came out from the side room with her father, her hair all
+tumbled, and as rosy as a peach, and she would have us visit the house
+from top to bottom, showing us the rooms set apart for us, her own
+chamber, the state room, the dining-hall, the store closets for plate
+and linen, etc., all prodigious fine and in most excellent condition;
+for the scrupulous minute care of old Simon had suffered nothing to fall
+out of repair, the rooms being kept well aired, the pictures,
+tapestries, and magnificent furniture all preserved fresh with linen
+covers and the like. From the hall she led us out on to the terrace to
+survey the park and the gardens about the house, and here, as within
+doors, all was in most admirable keeping, with no wild growth or
+runaweeds anywhere, nor any sign of neglect. But I observed, as an
+indication of the steward's thrifty, unpoetic mind, that the garden beds
+were planted with onions and such marketable produce, in place of
+flowers, and that instead of deer grazing upon the green slopes of the
+park there was only such profitable cattle as sheep, cows, etc. And at
+the sight of all this abundance of good things (and especially the
+well-stored buttery), Dawson declared he could live here all his life
+and never worry. And with that, all unthinkingly, he lays his arm about
+Moll's waist.
+
+Then the Don, who had followed us up and down stairs, speaking never one
+word till this, says, "We may count ourselves lucky, Captain Evans, if
+we are suffered to stay here another week."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+_Prosper as well as any thieves may; but Dawson greatly tormented._
+
+
+The next morning I went to Simon at his lodge house, having writ him a
+note overnight to prepare him for my visit, and there I found him, with
+all his books and papers ready for my examination. So to it we set,
+casting up figures, comparing accounts, and so forth, best part of the
+day, and in the end I came away convinced that he was the most
+scrupulous, honest steward ever man had. And, truly, it appeared that by
+his prudent investments and careful management he had trebled the value
+of the estate, and more, in the last ten years. He showed me, also, that
+in all his valuations he had set off a large sum for loss by accident of
+fire, war, etc., so that actually at the present moment the estate,
+which he reckoned at seventy-five thousand pounds, was worth at the
+least one hundred and twenty-five thousand. But for better assurance on
+this head, I spent the remainder of the week in visiting the farms,
+messuages, etc., on his rent roll, and found them all in excellent
+condition, and held by good substantial men, nothing in any particular
+but what he represented it.
+
+Reporting on these matters privily to Don Sanchez and Dawson, I asked
+the Don what we should now be doing.
+
+"Two ways lie before us," says he, lighting a cigarro. "Put Simon out of
+his house--and make an enemy of him," adds he, betwixt two puffs of
+smoke, "seize his securities, sell them for what they will fetch, and
+get out of the country as quickly as possible. If the securities be
+worth one hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds, we may" (puff)
+"possibly" (puff) "get forty thousand for them" (puff), "about a third
+of their value--not more. That yields us ten thousand apiece. On ten
+thousand pounds a man may live like a prince--in Spain. The other way is
+to make a friend of Simon by restoring him to his office, suffer him to
+treble the worth of the estate again in the next ten years, and live
+like kings" (puff) "in England."
+
+"Pray, which way do you incline, Seņor?" says I.
+
+"Being a Spaniard," answers he, gravely, "I should prefer to live like a
+prince in Spain."
+
+"That would not I," says Dawson, stoutly. "A year and a half of Elche
+have cured me of all fondness for foreign parts. Besides, 'tis a
+beggarly, scurvy thing to fly one's country, as if we had done some
+unhandsome, dishonest trick. If I faced an Englishman, I should never
+dare look him straight in the eyes again. What say you, Mr. Hopkins?"
+
+"Why, Evans," says I, "you know my will without telling. I will not, of
+my own accord, go from your choice, which way you will."
+
+"Since we owe everything to Mistress Judith," observes the Don, "and as
+she is no longer a child, ought not her wishes to be consulted?"
+
+"No," says Jack, very decidedly, and then, lowering his voice, he adds,
+"for was she Judith Godwin ten times told, and as old as my grandmother
+into the bargain, she is still my daughter, and shall do as I choose her
+to do. And if, as you say, we owe her everything, then I count 'twould
+be a mean, dirty return to make her live out of England and feel she has
+a sneaking coward for a father."
+
+"As you please," says the Don. "Give me ten thousand of the sum you are
+to be paid at Michaelmas, and you are welcome to all the rest."
+
+"You mean that, Seņor," cries Jack, seizing the Don's hand and raising
+his left.
+
+"By the Holy Mother," answers Don Sanchez, in Spanish.
+
+"Done!" cries Dawson, bringing his hand down with a smack on the Don's
+palm. "Nay, I always believed you was the most generous man living. Ten
+from t'other. Master Hopkins," says he, turning to me, "what does that
+leave us?"
+
+"More than a hundred thousand!"
+
+"The Lord be praised for evermore!" cries Jack.
+
+Upon this, Moll, by the advice of Don Sanchez, sends for Simon, and
+telling him she is satisfied with the account I have given of his
+stewardship, offers him the further control of her affairs, subject at
+all times to her decision on any question concerning her convenience,
+and reserving to herself the sole government of her household, the
+ordering of her home, lands, etc. And Simon grasping eagerly at this
+proposal, she then gives him the promise of one thousand pounds for his
+past services, and doubles the wages due to him under his contract with
+Sir R. Godwin.
+
+"Give me what it may please thee to bestow that way," cries he. "All
+shall be laid out to enrich this property. I have no other use for
+money, no other worldly end in life but that."
+
+And when he saw me next he was most slavish in his thanks for my good
+offices, vowing I should be paid my claim by Michaelmas, if it were in
+the power of man to raise so vast a sum in such short space. Surely,
+thinks I, there was never a more strange, original creature than this,
+yet it do seem to me that there is no man but his passion must appear a
+madness to others.
+
+I must speak now of Moll, her admirable carriage and sober conduct in
+these new circumstances, which would have turned the heads of most
+others. Never once to my knowledge did she lose her self-possession, on
+the most trying occasion, and this was due, not alone to her own shrewd
+wit and understanding, but to the subtle intelligence of Don Sanchez,
+who in the character of an old and trusty friend was ever by her side,
+watchful of her interest (and his own), ready at any moment to drop in
+her ear a quiet word of warning or counsel. By his advice she had taken
+into her service a most commendable, proper old gentlewoman, one Mrs.
+Margery Butterby, who, as being the widow of a country parson, was very
+orderly in all things, and particularly nice in the proprieties. This
+notable good soul was of a cheery, chatty disposition, of very pleasing
+manners, and a genteel appearance, and so, though holding but the part
+of housekeeper, she served as an agreeable companion and a respectable
+guardian, whose mere presence in the house silenced any question that
+might have arisen from the fact of three men living under the same roof
+with the young and beautiful mistress of Hurst Court. Moreover, she
+served us as a very useful kind of mouthpiece; for all those marvellous
+stories of her life in Barbary, of the pirates we had encountered in
+redeeming her from the Turk, etc., with which Moll would beguile away
+any tedious half-hour, for the mere amusement of creating Mrs.
+Butterby's wonder and surprise,--as one will tell stories of fairies to
+children,--this good woman repeated with many additions of her own
+concerning ourselves, which, to reflect credit on herself, were all to
+our advantage. This was the more fitting, because the news spreading
+that the lost heiress had returned to Hurst Court excited curiosity far
+and wide, and it was not long before families in the surrounding seats,
+who had known Sir R. Godwin in bygone times, called to see his daughter.
+And here Moll's wit was taxed to the utmost, for those who had known
+Judith Godwin as an infant expected that she should remember some
+incident stored in their recollection; but she was ever equal to the
+occasion, feigning a pretty doubting innocence at first, then suddenly
+asking this lady if she had not worn a cherry dress with a beautiful
+stomacher at the time, or that gentleman if he had not given her a gold
+piece for a token, and it generally happened these shrewd shafts hit
+their mark: the lady, though she might have forgotten her gown,
+remembering she had a very becoming stomacher; the gentleman believing
+that he did give her a lucky penny, and so forth, from very vanity. Then
+Moll's lofty carriage and her beauty would remind them of their dear
+lost friend, Mrs. Godwin, in the heyday of her youth, and all agreed in
+admiring her beyond anything. And though Moll, from her lack of
+knowledge, made many slips, and would now and then say things
+uncustomary to women of breeding, yet these were easily attributed to
+her living so long in a barbarous country, and were as readily glanced
+over. Indeed, nothing could surpass Moll's artificial conduct on these
+occasions. She would lard her conversation with those scraps of Italian
+she learnt from me, and sometimes, affecting to have forgot her own
+tongue, she would stumble at a word, and turning to Don Sanchez, ask him
+the English of some Moorish phrase. Then one day, there being quite a
+dozen visitors in her state room, she brings down her Moorish dress and
+those baubles given her by friends at Elche, to show the ladies, much to
+the general astonishment and wonder; then, being prayed to dress herself
+in these clothes, she with some hesitation of modesty consents, and
+after a short absence from the room returns in this costume, looking
+lovelier than ever I had before seen, with the rings about her shapely
+bare arms and on her ankles, and thus arrayed she brings me a guitar,
+and to my strumming sings a Moorish song, swaying her arms above her
+head and turning gracefully in their fashion, so that all were in an
+ecstasy with this strange performance. And the talk spreading, the
+number of visitors grew apace,--as bees will flock to honey,--and
+yielding to their urgent entreaties, she would often repeat this piece
+of business, and always with a most winning grace, that charmed every
+one. But she was most a favourite of gentlemen and elderly ladies; for
+the younger ones she did certainly put their noses out of joint, since
+none could at all compare with her in beauty nor in manner, either, for
+she had neither the awkward shyness of some nor the boldness of others,
+but contrived ever to steer neatly betwixt the two extremes by her
+natural self-possession and fearlessness.
+
+Of all her new friends, the most eager in courting her were Sir Harry
+Upton and his lady (living in the Crays); and they, being about to go to
+London for the winter, did press Moll very hard to go with them, that
+she might be presented to the king; and, truth to tell, they would not
+have had to ask her twice had she been governed only by her own
+inclination. For she was mad to go,--that audacious spirit of adventure
+still working very strong in her,--and she, like a winning gamester,
+must for ever be playing for higher and higher stakes. But we, who had
+heard enough of his excellent but lawless Majesty's court to fear the
+fate of any impulsive, beauteous young woman that came within his sway,
+were quite against this. Even Don Sanchez, who was no innocent, did
+persuade her from it with good strong argument,--showing that, despite
+his worldliness, he did really love her as much as 'twas in his withered
+heart to love any one. As for Dawson, he declared he would sooner see
+his Moll in her winding-sheet than in the king's company, adding that
+'twould be time enough for her to think of going to court when she had a
+husband to keep her out of mischief. And so she refused this offer (but
+with secret tears, I believe). "But," says she to her father, "if I'm
+not to have my own way till I'm married, I shall get me a husband as
+soon as I can."
+
+And it seemed that she would not have to look far nor wait long for one
+neither. Before a month was passed, at least half a dozen young sparks
+were courting her, they being attracted, not only by her wit and beauty,
+but by the report of her wealth, it being known to all how Simon had
+enriched the estate. And 'twas this abundance of suitors which prevented
+Moll from choosing any one in particular, else had there been but one, I
+believe the business would have been settled very quickly. For now she
+was in the very flush of life, and the blood that flowed in her veins
+was of no lukewarm kind.
+
+But here (that I may keep all my strings in harmony) I must quit Moll
+for a space to tell of her father. That first hint of the Don's bringing
+him to his senses somewhat (like a dash of cold water), and the
+exuberance of his joy subsiding, he quickly became more circumspect in
+his behaviour, and fell into the part he had to play. And the hard,
+trying, sorrowful part that was, neither he nor I had foreseen. For now
+was he compelled for the first time in his life, at any length, to live
+apart from his daughter, to refrain from embracing her when they met in
+the morning, to speak to her in a rough, churlish sort when his heart,
+maybe, was overflowing with love, and to reconcile himself to a cool,
+indifferent behaviour on her side, when his very soul was yearning for
+gentle, tender warmth. And these natural cravings of affection were
+rather strengthened than stilled by repression, as one's hunger by
+starving. To add to this, he now saw his Moll more bewitching than ever
+she was before, the evidence of her wit and understanding stimulating
+that admiration which he dared not express. He beheld her loved and
+courted openly by all, whilst he who had deeper feeling for her than
+any, and more right to caress her, must at each moment stifle his
+desires and lay fetters on his inclinations, which constraint, like
+chains binding down a stout, thriving oak, did eat and corrode into his
+being, so that he did live most of these days in a veritable torment.
+Yet, for Moll's sake, was he very stubborn in his resolution; and, when
+he could no longer endure to stand indifferently by while others were
+enjoying her sprightly conversation, he would go up to his chamber and
+pace to and fro, like some she-lion parted from her cub.
+
+These sufferings were not unperceived by Moll, who also had strong
+feeling to repress, and therefore could comprehend her father's torture,
+and she would often seize an opportunity, nay, run great risk of
+discovery, to hie her secretly to his room, there to throw herself in
+his arms and strain him to her heart, covering his great face with
+tender kisses, and whispering words of hope and good cheer (with the
+tears on her cheek). And one day when Jack seemed more than usual
+downhearted, she offered him to give up everything and return to her old
+ways, if he would. But this spurring his courage, he declared he would
+live in hell rather than she should fall from her high estate, and
+become a mere vagabond wench again, adding that 'twas but the first
+effort gave him so much pain, that with practice 'twould all be as
+nothing; that such sweet kisses as hers once a week did amply compensate
+him for his fast, etc. Then her tears being brushed away, she would quit
+him with noiseless step and all precautions, and maybe five minutes
+afterwards, whilst Jack was sitting pensive at his window pondering her
+sweetness and love, he would hear her laughing lightly below, as if he
+were already forgotten.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+_How Dawson for Moll's good parts company with us, and goes away a
+lonely man._
+
+
+On the eve of Michaelmas day old Simon returned from London, whither he
+had gone two days before, to raise the money he had promised; and
+calling upon him in the afternoon I found him seated at his table, with
+a most woe-begone look in his face, and his eyes streaming more
+copiously than usual. And with most abject humility he told me that
+doing the utmost that lay in his power, he had not been able to persuade
+his goldsmith to lend more than ten thousand pounds on the title deeds.
+Nor had he got that, he declared, but that the goldsmith knew him for an
+honest and trustworthy man whom he would credit beyond any other in the
+world; for the seal not yet being given to Judith Godwin's succession,
+there was always peril of dispute and lawsuits which might make these
+papers of no value at all (the king's ministers vying one with another
+to please their master by bringing money rightly or wrongly into the
+treasury), and this, indeed, may have been true enough.
+
+"But," says he, "all will go well if thee wilt have but a little
+patience for a while. To-morrow my rents will come in, and I will exact
+to the last farthing; and there is a parcel of land I may sell, mayhap,
+for instant payment, though 'twill be at a fearsome loss" (mopping his
+eyes), "yet I will do it rather than put thee to greater incommodity;
+and so, ere the end of the week, thee mayst safely count on having yet
+another three thousand, which together makes nigh upon half the sum
+promised. And this, dear good friend," adds he, slyly, "thee mayst well
+take on account of thine own share,--and none dispute thy right, for
+'tis thy money hath done all. And from what I see of him, smoking of
+pipes in the public way and drinking with any low fellows in alehouses,
+this Captain Evans is but a paltry, mean man who may be easily put off
+with a pound or two to squander in his pleasures; and as for the Spanish
+grandee, he do seem so content to be with our mistress that I doubt he
+needs no pretext for quitting her, added to which, being of a haughty,
+proud nature, he should scorn to claim his own, to the prejudice of a
+merchant who hath nought but his capital to live upon. And I do implore
+thee, good friend, to lay this matter before my mistress in such a way
+that she may not be wroth with me."
+
+I told him I would do all he could expect of me in reason, but bade him
+understand that his chance of forgiveness for having broke his first
+engagement depended greatly upon his exactitude in keeping the second,
+and that he might count on little mercy from us if the other three
+thousand were not forthcoming as he promised. So I took the money and
+gave him a quittance for it, signing it with my false name, James
+Hopkins, but, reflecting on this when I left him, I wished I had not.
+For I clearly perceived that by this forgery I laid myself open to very
+grievous consequences; moreover, taking of this solid money, disguise it
+how I would, appeared to me nothing short of downright robbery, be it
+whose it might. In short, being now plunged up to my neck in this
+business, I felt like a foolish lad who hath waded beyond his depth in a
+rapid current, hoping I might somehow get out of it safely, but with
+very little expectation. However, the sight of all this gold told up in
+scores upon the table in our closed room served to quiet these qualms
+considerably. Nevertheless, I was not displeased to remember our bargain
+with Don Sanchez, feeling that I should breathe more freely when he had
+taken this store of gold out of my hands, etc. Thus did my mind waver
+this way and that, like a weather-cock to the blowing of contrary winds.
+
+'Twas this day that Moll (as I have said) dressed herself in her Moorish
+clothes for the entertainment of her new friends, and Dawson, hearing
+her voice, yet not daring to go into the state room where she was, must
+needs linger on the stairs listening to her song, and craning his neck
+to catch a glimpse of her through the open door below. Here he stands in
+a sort of ravishment, sucking in her sweet voice, and the sounds of
+delight with which her guests paid tribute to her performance, feeding
+his passion which, like some fire, grew more fierce by feeding, till he
+was well-nigh beside himself. Presently, out comes Moll from her state
+room, all glowing with exercise, flushed with pleasure, a rich colour in
+her cheek, and wild fire in her eyes, looking more witching than any
+siren. Swiftly she crosses the hall, and runs up the stairs to gain her
+chamber and reclothe herself, but half way up Dawson stops her, and
+clasping her about, cries hoarsely in a transport:
+
+"Thou art my own Moll--my own sweet Moll!" adding, as she would break
+from him to go her way, "Nay, chick. You shall not go till you have
+bussed your old dad."
+
+Then she, hesitating a moment betwixt prudence and her warmer feelings,
+suddenly yields to the impulse of her heart (her head also being turned
+maybe with success and delight), and flinging her arms about his neck
+gives him a hearty kiss, and then bursts away with a light laugh.
+
+Jack watches her out of sight, and then, when the moment of escape is
+past, he looks below to see if there be any danger, and there he spies
+Don Sanchez, regarding him from the open door, where he stands, as if to
+guard it. Without a sign the Don turns on his heel and goes back into
+the room, while Dawson, with a miserable hangdog look, comes to me in my
+chamber, where I am counting the gold, and confesses his folly with a
+shamed face, cursing himself freely for his indiscretion, which at this
+rate must ruin all ere long.
+
+This was no great surprise to me, for I myself had seen him many a time
+clip his dear daughter's hand, when he thought no one was by, and, more
+than once, the name of Moll had slipped out when he should have spoken
+of Mistress Judith.
+
+These accidents threw us both into a very grave humour, and especially I
+was tormented with the reflection that a forgery could be proved against
+me, if things came to the worst. The danger thereof was not slight; for
+though all in the house loved Moll dearly and would willingly do her no
+hurt, yet the servants, should they notice how Mistress Judith stood
+with Captain Evans, must needs be prating, and there a mischief would
+begin, to end only the Lord knows where! Thereupon, I thought it as well
+to preach Jack a sermon, and caution him to greater prudence; and this
+he took in amazing good part--not bidding me tend my own business as he
+might at another time, but assenting very submissively to all my hints
+of disaster, and thanking me in the end for speaking my mind so freely.
+Then, seeing him so sadly downcast, I (to give a sweetmeat after a
+bitter draught) bade him take the matter not too much to heart,
+promising that, with a little practice, he would soon acquire a habit of
+self-restraint, and so all would go well. But he made no response, save
+by shaking of his head sorrowfully, and would not be comforted. When all
+were abed that night, we three men met in my chamber, where I had set
+the bags of money on the table, together with a dish of tobacco and a
+bottle of wine for our refreshment, and then the Don, having lit him a
+cigarro, and we our pipes, with full glasses beside us, I proposed we
+should talk of our affairs, to which Don Sanchez consented with a solemn
+inclination of his head. But ere I began, I observed with a pang of
+foreboding, that Jack, who usually had emptied his glass ere others had
+sipped theirs, did now leave his untouched, and after the first pull or
+two at his pipe, he cast it on the hearth as though it were foul to his
+taste. Taking no open notice of this, I showed Don Sanchez the gold, and
+related all that had passed between Simon and me.
+
+"Happily, Seņor," says I, in conclusion, "here is just the sum you
+generously offered to accept for your share, and we give it you with a
+free heart, Evans and I being willing to wait for what may be
+forthcoming."
+
+"Is it your wish both, that I take this?" says he, laying his hand on
+the money and looking from me to Dawson.
+
+"Aye," says he, "'tis but a tithe of what is left to us, and not an
+hundredth part of what we owe to you."
+
+"Very good," says the Don. "I will carry it to London to-morrow."
+
+"But surely, Seņor," says I, "you will not quit us so soon."
+
+Don Sanchez rolls his cigarro in his lips, looking me straight in the
+face and somewhat sternly, and asks me quietly if I have ever found him
+lacking in loyalty and friendship.
+
+"In truth, never, Seņor."
+
+"Then why should you imagine I mean to quit you now when you have more
+need of a friend in this house" (with a sideward glance as towards
+Moll's chamber) "than ever you before had?" Then, turning towards Jack,
+he says, "What are you going to do, Captain Evans?"
+
+Dawson pauses, as if to snatch one last moment for consideration, and
+then, nodding at me, "You'll not leave my--Moll, Kit?" says he, with no
+attempt to disguise names.
+
+"Why should I leave her; are we not as brothers, you and I?"
+
+"Aye, I'd trust you with my life," answers he, "and more than that, with
+my--Moll! If you were her uncle, she couldn't love you more, Kit. And
+you will stand by her, too, Seņor?"
+
+The Don bowed his head.
+
+"Then when you leave, to-morrow, I'll go with you to London," says Jack.
+
+"I shall return the next day," says Don Sanchez, with significance.
+
+"And I shall not, God help me!" says Jack, bitterly.
+
+"Give me your hand," says the Don; but I could speak never a word, and
+sat staring at Jack, in a maze.
+
+"We'll say nought of this to her," continues Jack; "there must be no
+farewells, I could never endure that. But it shall seem that I have gone
+with you for company, and have fallen in with old comrades who would
+keep me for a carousing."
+
+"But without friends--alone--what shall you do there in London?" says I,
+heart-stricken at the thought of his desolation. The Don answers for
+Jack.
+
+"Make the best of his lot with a stout heart, like any other brave man,"
+says he. "There are natural hardships which every man must bear in his
+time, and this is one of them." Then lowering his voice, he adds,
+"Unless you would have her die an old maid, she and her father must part
+sooner or later."
+
+"Why, that's true, and yet, Master," says Jack, "I would have you know
+that I'm not so brave but I would see her now and then."
+
+"That may be ordered readily enough," says the Don.
+
+"Then do you tell her, Seņor, I have but gone a-junketing, and she may
+look to see me again when my frolic's over."
+
+The Don closed his eyes as one in dubitation, and then says, lifting his
+eyebrows: "She is a clever woman--shrewd beyond any I have ever known;
+then why treat her as you would a foolish child? You must let me tell
+her the truth when I come back, and I warrant it will not break her
+heart, much as she loves you."
+
+"As you will," says t'other. "'Twill be all as one to me," with a sigh.
+
+"This falls out well in all ways," continues the Don, turning to me.
+"You will tell Simon, whose suspicion we have most to fear, that we have
+handed over four thousand of those pieces to Captain Evans as being most
+in need, we ourselves choosing to stay here till the rest of our claim
+is paid. That will account for Evans going away, and give us a pretext
+for staying here."
+
+"I'll visit him myself, if you will," says Jack, "and wring his hand to
+show my gratitude. I warrant I'll make him wince, such a grip will I
+give him. And I'll talk of nothing else but seas and winds, and the
+manner of ship I'll have for his money."
+
+
+The following morning before Moll was stirring, Don Sanchez and Dawson
+set forth on their journey, and I going with them beyond the park gates
+to the bend of the road, we took leave of each other with a great show
+of cheerfulness on both sides. But Lord! my heart lay in my breast like
+any lump of lead, and when Jack turned his back on me, the tears sprang
+up in my eyes as though indeed this was my brother and I was never to
+see him more. And long after he was out of sight I sat on the bank by
+the roadside, sick with pain to think of his sorrow in going forth like
+this, without one last loving word of parting from his dear Moll, to
+find no home in London, no friend to cheer him, and he the most
+companionable man in the world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+_Of our getting a painter into the Court, with whom our Moll falls
+straightway in love._
+
+
+Being somewhat of a coward, I essayed to put Moll off with a story of
+her father having gone a-frolicking with Don Sanchez, leaving it to the
+Don to break the truth to her on his return. And a sorry, bungling
+business I made of it, to be sure. For, looking me straight in the eyes,
+whenever I dared lift them, she did seem to perceive that I was lying,
+from the very first, which so disconcerted me, though she interrupted me
+by never a word, that I could scarce stammer to the end of my tale.
+Then, without asking a single question, or once breaking her painful
+silence, she laid her face in her hands, her shoulders shook, and the
+tears ran out between her fingers, and fell upon her lap.
+
+"I know, I know," says she, putting me away, when I attempted to speak.
+"He has gone away for my sake, and will come back no more; and 'tis all
+my fault, that I could not play my part better."
+
+Then, what words of comfort I could find, I offered her; but she would
+not be consoled, and shut herself up in her room all that morning.
+Nevertheless, she ate more heartily than I at dinner, and fresh visitors
+coming in the afternoon, she entertained them as though no grief lay at
+her heart. Indeed, she recovered of this cruel blow much easier than I
+looked for; and but that she would at times sit pensive, with
+melancholy, wistful eyes, and rise from her seat with a troubled sigh,
+one would have said, at the end of the week, that she had ceased to feel
+for her father. But this was not so (albeit wounds heal quickly in the
+young and healthful), for I believe that they who weep the least do ache
+the most.
+
+Then, for her further excuse (if it be needed), Don Sanchez brought back
+good tidings of her father,--how he was neatly lodged near the Cherry
+garden, where he could hear the birds all day and the fiddles all night,
+with abundance of good entertainment, etc. To confirm which, she got a
+letter from him, three days later, very loving and cheerful, telling
+how, his landlord being a carpenter, he did amuse himself mightily at
+his old trade in the workshop, and was all agog for learning to turn
+wood in a lathe, promising that he would make her a set of egg-cups
+against her birthday, please God. Added to this, the number of her
+friends multiplying apace, every day brought some new occupation to her
+thoughts; also, having now those three thousand pounds old Simon had
+promised us, Moll set herself to spending of them as quickly as
+possible, by furnishing herself with all sorts of rich gowns and
+appointments, which is as pretty a diversion of melancholy from a young
+woman's thoughts as any. And so I think I need dwell no longer on this
+head.
+
+About the beginning of October, Simon comes, cap in hand, and very
+humble, to the Court to crave Moll's consent to his setting some men
+with guns in her park at night, to lie in ambush for poachers, telling
+how they had shot one man in the act last spring, and had hanged another
+the year before for stealing of a sheep; adding that a stranger had been
+seen loitering in the neighbourhood, who, he doubted not, was of their
+thieving crew.
+
+"What makes you think that?" asks Moll. "He has been seen lingering
+about here these three days," answers Simon. "Yet to my knowledge he
+hath not slept at either of the village inns. Moreover, he hath the look
+of a desperate, starving rascal, ripe for such work."
+
+"I will have no man killed for his misfortunes."
+
+"Gentle mistress, suffer me to point out that if thee lets one man steal
+with impunity, others, now innocent, are thereby encouraged to sin, and
+thus thy mercy tends to greater cruelty."
+
+"No man shall be killed on my land,--there is my answer," says Moll,
+with passion. "If you take this poor, starved creature, it shall be
+without doing him bodily hurt. You shall answer for it else."
+
+"Not a bone shall be broken, mistress. 'Tis enough if we carry him
+before Justice Martin, a godly, upright man, and a scourge to
+evil-doers."
+
+"Nay, you shall not do that, neither, till I have heard his case," says
+Moll. "'Tis for me to decide whether he has injured me or not, and I'll
+suffer none to take my place."
+
+Promising obedience, Simon withdrew before any further restrictions
+might be put upon him; but Moll's mind was much disturbed all day by
+fear of mischief being done despite her commands, and at night she would
+have me take her round the park to see all well. Maybe, she thought that
+her own father, stealing hither to see her privily, might fall a victim
+to Simon's ambushed hirelings. But we found no one, though Simon had
+certainly hidden these fellows somewhere in the thickets.
+
+Whilst we were at table next morning, we heard a great commotion in the
+hall; and Mrs. Butterby coming in a mighty pucker, told how the robber
+had been taken in the park, and how Simon had brought him to the house
+in obedience to her lady's command. "But do, pray, have a care of
+yourself, my dear lady," says she; "for this hardy villain hath struck
+Mr. Simon in the face and made most desperate resistance; and Heaven
+protect us from such wicked outlaws as have the villany to show
+themselves in broad daylight!"
+
+Moll, smiling, said she would rather face a lion in the day than a mouse
+by night, and so bade the captive to be brought before her.
+
+Then in comes Simon, with a stout band over one eye, followed by two
+sturdy fellows holding their prisoner betwixt them. And this was a very
+passionate man, as was evidenced by the looks of fury he cast from side
+to side upon his captors as they dragged him this way and that to make a
+show of their power, but not ill-looking. In his struggles he had lost
+his hat, and his threadbare coat and shirt were torn open, laying bare
+his neck and showing a very fair white skin and a good beard of light
+curling hair. There was nought mean or vile in his face, but rather it
+seemed to me a noble countenance, though woefully wasted, so that at a
+glance one might perceive he was no born rascal, but likely enough some
+ruined man of better sort driven to unlawful ways by his distress. He
+was of a fair height, but gaunt beyond everything, and so feeble that
+after one effort to free his arms his chin sank upon his breast as if
+his forces were all spent.
+
+Seeing this, Moll bade the fellows unbind him, telling them sharply they
+might see there was no need of such rigour.
+
+Being freed, our prisoner lifts his head and makes a slight reverence to
+Moll, but with little gratitude in his look, and places himself at the
+end of the table facing us, who are at the other end, Moll sitting
+betwixt Don Sanchez and me. And there, setting his hands for support
+upon the board, he holds his head up pretty proudly, waiting for what
+might come.
+
+"Who are you?" asks Moll, in a tone of authority.
+
+He waits a moment, as if deliberating with himself whether to speak
+fairly or not, then, being still sore with his ill-treatment, and
+angered to be questioned thus by a mere girl (he, as I take it, being a
+man of thirty or thereabouts), he answers:
+
+"I do not choose to tell. Who I am, what I am, concerns you no more than
+who and what you are concerns me, and less since I may justly demand by
+what right these fellows, whom I take to be your servants, have thus
+laid hands on me."
+
+"How do you answer this?" asks Moll, turning to Simon.
+
+Then Simon told very precisely, as if he were before a magistrate, how
+this man, having been seen lingering about the Court several days, and
+being without home or occupation, had been suspected of felonious
+purposes; how, therefore, he had set a watch to lay wait for him; how
+that morning they had entrapped him standing within a covert of the park
+regarding the house; how he had refused to give his name or any excuse
+for his being there, and how he had made most desperate attempt to
+escape when they had lain hands on him.
+
+"Is this true?" asks Moll of the prisoner.
+
+"Yes," says he.
+
+Moll regards him with incredulous eyes a moment, then, turning to Simon,
+"What arms had he for this purpose that you speak of?" says she.
+
+"None, mistress; but 'twould be a dread villain verily who would carry
+the engines of his trade abroad in daylight to betray him." And then he
+told how 'tis the habit of these poachers to reconnoitre their ground by
+day, and keep their nets, guns, etc., concealed in some thicket or
+hollow tree convenient for their purpose. "But," adds he, "we may
+clearly prove a trespass against him, which is a punishable offence, and
+this assault upon me, whereof I have evidence, shall also count for
+something with Justice Martin, and so the wicked shall yet come by their
+deserts." And with that he gives his fellows a wink with his one eye to
+carry off their quarry.
+
+"Stay," says Moll, "I would be further convinced--"
+
+"If he be an honest man, let him show thee his hand," says Simon.
+
+The man innocently enough stretches out his palm towards us, not
+perceiving Simon's end.
+
+"There!" cries Simon. "What said I? Is that a hand that ever did a day's
+honest work?"
+
+"'Tis no worse than mine," says Moll, regarding the hand which in truth
+was exceeding smooth and well formed. "Come," adds she, still more
+kindly, "you see I am no harsh judge. I would not deny a fellow-creature
+the pleasure that is not grudged the coney that runs across my lawn.
+Tell me you were there but to gratify a passing caprice, and I'll
+forgive you as freely as I'll believe you."
+
+This gentle appeal seemed to move the young man greatly, and he made as
+if he would do more than was demanded of him, and make that free
+confession which he had refused to force. But ere a word could leave his
+parted lips a deadly shade passed over his face, his knees gave under
+him, and staggering to save himself, he fell to the ground in a swoon.
+
+Then, whilst all we men stood fixed in wonderment, Moll, with the quick,
+helpful impulse of her womanhood, ran swiftly from her place to his
+side, and dropping on her knees cried for water to be brought her.
+
+"Dead of hunger," says Don Sanchez, in my ear. "Fetch a flask of
+brandy."
+
+And then, laying hold of Simon by the shoulder, he pointed significantly
+to the open door. This hint Simon was not slow to take, and when I
+returned from the buttery with a case of strong waters, I found no one
+in the room but Don Sanchez, and Moll with the fainting man's head upon
+her lap, bathing his temples gently. Life had not come back, and the
+young man's face looked very handsome in death, the curls pushed back
+from his brow, and his long features still and colourless like a carved
+marble.
+
+Then with a "lack-a-day" and "alas," in bustles Mrs. Butterby with a
+bottle of cordial in one hand and a bunch of burning feathers in the
+other.
+
+"Fling that rubbish in the chimney," says the Don. "I know this
+malady--well enough," and pouring some hollands in a cup he put it to
+the dead man's parted lips.
+
+In a few moments he breathed again, and hearing Moll's cry of joy, he
+opened his eyes as one waking from a dream and turned his head to learn
+what had happened. Then finding his head in Moll's lap and her small,
+soft, cool hand upon his brow, a smile played over his wasted face. And
+well, indeed, might he smile to see that young figure of justice turned
+to the living image of tender mercy.
+
+Perceiving him out of danger, and recovering her own wits at the same
+time, Mrs. Butterby cries: "Lord! Madam, do let me call a maid to take
+your place; for, dear heart! you have quite spoiled your new gown with
+this mess of water, and all for such a paltry fellow as this!"
+
+Truly, it must have seemed to her understanding an outrageous thing that
+a lady of her mistress' degree should be nursing such a ragged rascal;
+but to me, knowing Moll's helpful, impulsive disposition, 'twas no such
+extraordinary matter, for she at such a moment could not entertain those
+feelings which might have restrained a lady of more refined breeding.
+
+The pretty speech of Mrs. Butterby, reaching the fallen man's ear,
+seemed instantly to quicken his spirits, and, casting off his lethargic
+humour, he quickly staggered to his feet, while we raised Moll. Then,
+resting one hand upon the table for support, he craved her pardon for
+giving so much trouble, but in a very faint, weak voice.
+
+"I would have done as much for a dog," says Moll. "My friends will
+render you what further services are fit; and, if it appears that you
+have been unjustly used (as I do think you have), be sure you shall have
+reparation."
+
+"I ask no more," says he, "than to be treated as I may merit in your
+esteem."
+
+"Justice shall be done," says Don Sanchez, in his stern voice, and with
+that he conducts Moll to the door.
+
+But Moll was not content with this promise of justice. For the quality
+of mercy begetteth love, so that one cannot moderate one's anger against
+an enemy, but it doth breed greater compassion and leniency by making
+one better content with oneself, and therefore more indulgent to others.
+And so, when she had left the room, she sends in her maid to fetch me,
+and taking me aside says with vivacity:
+
+"I will have no punishment made upon that man."
+
+"Nay," says I, "but if 'tis proved that his intent was to rob you--"
+
+"What then!" says she. "Hath he not as much right to this estate as we?
+And are we one whit the better than he, save in the more fortunate issue
+of our designs? Understand me," adds she, with passion; "I will have
+nothing added to his unhappiness."
+
+I found the young man seated at the table, and Don Sanchez gravely
+setting food before him. But he would take nothing but bread, and that
+he ate as though it were the sweetest meat in all the world. I lead the
+Don to the window, and there, in an undertone, told him of Moll's
+decision; and, whether her tone of supreme authority amused him or not,
+I cannot say, because of his impassive humour, but he answered me with a
+serious inclination of his head, and then we fell speaking of other
+matters in our usual tone, until the young man, having satisfied the
+cravings of nature, spoke:
+
+"When you are at liberty, gentlemen," says he, "to question my conduct,
+I will answer you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+
+_Of the business appointed to the painter, and how he set about the
+same._
+
+
+The young man had risen and was standing by the table when we turned
+from the window; he seemed greatly refreshed, his face had lost its
+livid hue of passion and death, and looked the better for a tinge of
+colour. He met our regard boldly, yet with no braggart, insolent air,
+but the composure of a brave man facing his trial with a consciousness
+of right upon his side.
+
+"I would ask you," says the Don, seating himself on t'other side the
+table, "why you refused to do that before?"
+
+"Sir," answers he, "I have lost everything in the world save some small
+modicum of pride, which, being all I have, I do cherish, maybe, unduly.
+And so, when these unmannerly hinds took me by the throat, calling on me
+to tell my name and business, this spirit within me flaring up, I could
+not answer with the humility of a villain seeking to slink out of danger
+by submissive excuses."
+
+"Be seated," says the Don, accepting this explanation with a bow. "How
+may we call you?"
+
+"In Venice," replies the other, with some hesitation, "I was called
+Dario--a name given me by my fellow-scholars because my English name was
+not to their taste."
+
+"Enough," says the Don. "I can understand a man of better fortune, as I
+perceive you have been, wishing in such a position as this to retain his
+incognito. There are no parks in Venice, to my knowledge, but surely,
+sir, you would not enter a palazzo there uninvited without some
+reasonable pretext."
+
+"It would be sufficient that in such a house as this I thought I might
+find some employment for a painter."
+
+"You are a painter?" says I.
+
+"A poor one, as you see," replies Dario, with a significant glance at
+his clothes.
+
+Don Sanchez turned to me, hunching his shoulders.
+
+"'Tis clear," says he, "that Signor Dario has been grossly abused by our
+lady's over-zealous steward. You have but to tell us, sir, what
+reparation we can make you."
+
+"I'll not refuse it," answers Dario, eagerly. "You shall grant me
+permission to prove the honesty of my story--and something more than
+that. Somewhere here," adds he, glancing around him, "I'd leave a
+tribute to the grace of that dear lady who brought me back to life."
+
+Don Sanchez assents with a bow to this proposal, but with a rueful
+glance at the rich panels of the wall, as fearing this painter might be
+as poor in talent as in his clothes--the latter reflecting discredit on
+the former--and would disfigure the handsome walls with some rude daub.
+
+"Ah!" cries Dario, casting his eye upon the ceiling, which was plastered
+in the Italian mode and embellished with a poor design of cherubs and
+clouds, "this ceiling is ill done. I could paint a fresco that would
+less disgrace the room."
+
+"You will need materials," says the Don, laying his purse upon the
+table. "When you return with them, you may rely upon having our lady's
+consent to your wishes."
+
+The painter took the purse with a bow of acknowledgment, and no more
+hesitation than one gentleman would show in receiving an obligation from
+another, and presently left us.
+
+"Shall we see him again, think ye, Seņor?" I asked when we were left to
+ourselves.
+
+He nodded, but with such a reflective, sombre air, that I was impelled
+to ask him if he lacked confidence in the story told us by the painter.
+
+"His story may be true enough, but whether Signor Dario be an honest man
+or not is another matter. A painter's but a man. A ruined gentleman will
+accommodate his principles to circumstances" (with a side glance that
+seemed to say, "I am a ruined gentleman")--"and my mind would be easier
+if I knew by what curious accident a painter in need should find himself
+in the heart of Kent, and why fixing on this house to seek employment he
+should linger to the point of starvation before he can pluck up courage
+to ask a simple question. We must keep our eyes open, Mr. Hopkins, and,"
+adds he, dropping his voice, "our mouths shut."
+
+I could not sleep that night for thinking of house-breakings and bloody
+struggles for dear life; for 'tis a matter of common report that this
+sort of robbers, ere they make attack, do contrive to get one of their
+number into the house that he may learn where good goods are stowed,
+which part is easiest of attack, etc. I know not whether these quakings
+were shared by the Don, but certainly our misgivings never entered
+Moll's little head. Nay, rather, her romantic disposition did lead her
+(when she heard our narration) to conceive that this mysterious Dario
+might be some wandering genius, whose work upon our ceiling would make
+the Court for ever glorious. And while in this humour she bade me go to
+Simon, whose presence she would not tolerate in her house, and make him
+acquainted with her high displeasure, and furthermore, to command that
+he should make satisfactory apology to Dario upon his return. So to him
+I went, and he wringing his hands in anguish deplored that his best
+endeavours to serve his mistress served only to incense her the more
+against him. But for his apology he declared that has been made the
+moment he heard of the gentleman's release, at the same time that he
+restored to him his hat and a pocket-book which had fallen from his
+pocket.
+
+This did somewhat reassure me, knowing full well that Simon would not
+have given up this book without first acquainting himself with its
+contents, and urging that had there been anything in it to incriminate
+him, he had certainly laid it before his mistress for his own
+justification.
+
+A couple of days after this, as Don Sanchez and I were discoursing in
+the great avenue, Dario presents himself, looking all the better for a
+decent suit of clothes and a more prosperous condition, and Moll joining
+us at that moment, he makes her a very handsome obeisance and standing
+uncovered before her, begs to know if it is her will that he should
+paint the ceiling of her dining-hall.
+
+As he spoke, the colour rose on his cheek, and a shaft of sunlight
+falling on his curling hair, which shone with the lustre of health, made
+him look as comely a man as ever I did see, and a good five years
+younger than when he stood before us in the extremity of distress.
+
+"Sir," says Moll, "were you my debtor as much as I am yours, I could not
+ask for better payment."
+
+Don Sanchez put an end to this pretty exchange of courtesies--which
+maybe he considered overmuch as between a lady of Moll's degree and one
+who might turn out to be no more than an indifferent painter at the
+best--by proposing that Dario should point out what disposition he would
+have made for his convenience in working. So he went within doors, and
+there Dario gave orders to our gardener, who was a handy sort of
+Jack-of-all-trades, what pieces of furniture should be removed, how the
+walls and floor should be protected, and how a scaffold should be set up
+for him to work on. And the gardener promising to carry out all these
+instructions in the course of the day, Dario took his leave of us in a
+very polished style, saying he would begin his business the next morning
+betimes.
+
+Sure enough, we were awoke next day by a scraping below, and coming
+down, we found our painter in a scull-cap and a smock that covered him
+to his heels, upon his scaffold, preparing the ceiling in a very
+workmanlike manner. And to see him then, with his face and beard thickly
+crusted over with a mess of dry plaster and paint, did I think somewhat
+dispel those fanciful illusions which our Moll had fostered--she,
+doubtless, expecting to find him in a very graceful attitude and
+beautiful to look at, creating a picture as if by inchantment. Her
+mortification was increased later in the day when, we having invited him
+on her insistence to dine at our table, he declined (civilly enough),
+saying he had brought his repast with him, and we presently found him
+seated astride one of his planks with a pocket knife in one hand and a
+thumb-piece of bread and bacon in the other, which he seemed to be
+eating with all the relish in the world.
+
+"Why, he is nought but a common labourer," says Moll, disgusted to see
+him regaling himself in this fashion, as we returned to our room. "A
+pretty picture we are like to get for all this mess and inconvenience!"
+
+And her idol being broken (as it were), and all her fond fancies dashed,
+she would not as much as look at him again nor go anigh the room, to be
+reminded of her folly.
+
+However, on the third day Dario sent to ask if she would survey his
+outlines and decide whether the design pleased her or not. For this
+purpose he had pushed aside his scaffold, and here we saw a perspective
+done on the ceiling in charcoal, representing a vaulted roof with an
+opening to the sky in the middle, surrounded by a little balcony with
+trailing plants running over it, and flowers peeping out betwixt the
+balusters. And this, though very rough, was most artificial, making the
+room look twice its height, and the most admirable, masterly drawing
+that I did ever see.
+
+And now Moll, who had prepared a courteous speech to cover the contempt
+she expected to feel for the work, could say nought for astonishment,
+but stood casting her eyes round at the work like one in a maze.
+
+"If you would prefer an allegory of figures," says Dario, misconceiving
+her silence.
+
+"Nay," answers she, "I would have nothing altered. 'Tis wonderful how
+such effect can be made with mere lines of black. I can scarce believe
+the ceiling is flat." And then she drops her eyes upon Dario, regarding
+him with wonder, as if doubting that such a dirty-looking man could have
+worked this miracle.
+
+"You must have seen better designs in Rome," says he.
+
+At this I took alarm, not thinking for the moment that he might have
+picked up some particulars of Judith Godwin's history from Mrs.
+Butterby, or the curious servants who were ever prying in the room.
+
+"'Tis so long ago," says Moll, readily.
+
+"I think I have seen something like it in the Holy City," observes the
+Don, critically.
+
+"Probably. Nothing has been left undone in Rome--I am told. It has not
+been my good fortune to get so far."
+
+This was good news; for otherwise he might have put some posers to Moll,
+which she had found it hard to answer without betraying her ignorance.
+
+Having Moll's approval, Dario set to work forthwith to colour his
+perspective; and this he did with the sure firm hand of one who
+understands his business, and with such nice judgment, that no builder,
+whose design is ordered by fixed rule and line, could accomplish his
+work with greater truth and justice. He made it to appear that the lower
+part of his vaulted roof was wainscoted in the style of the walls, and
+to such perfection that 'twould have puzzled a conjurer to decide where
+the oaken panels ended and the painted ones began.
+
+And now Moll suffers her fancies to run wild again, and could not
+sufficiently marvel over this poor painter and his work, of which she
+would discourse to such lengths, that both the Don and I at times had
+some ado to stifle our yawns. She would have it that he was no common
+man, but some great genius, compelled by misfortune or the persecution
+of rivals, to wander abroad in disguise, taking for evidence the very
+facts which had lately led her to condemn him, pointing out that,
+whereas those young gentlemen who courted her so persistently did
+endeavour, on all occasions, to make their estate and natural parts
+appear greater than they were, this Dario did not, proving that he had
+no such need of fictitious advancement, and could well afford to let the
+world judge of his worth by his works, etc. This point we did not
+contest, only we were very well content to observe that he introduced no
+one into the house, had no friends in the village (to our knowledge),
+and that nought was lacking from our store of plate.
+
+She never tired of watching him at his work--having the hardihood to
+mount upon the scaffold where he stood, and there she would sit by the
+hour on a little stool, chatting like any magpie, when the nature of his
+occupation allowed his thoughts to wander, silent as a mouse when she
+perceived that his mind was absorbed in travail--ready at any moment to
+fetch this or hold t'other, and seizing every opportunity to serve him.
+Indeed, I believe she would gladly have helped him shift the heavy
+planks, when he would have their position altered, had he permitted her
+this rough usage of her delicate hands. One day, when he was about to
+begin the foliage upon his balcony, he brought in a spray of ivy for a
+model; then Moll told him she knew where much better was to be found,
+and would have him go with her to see it. And she, coming back from this
+expedition, with her arms full of briony and herbage, richly tinted by
+the first frost, I perceived that there was a new kind of beauty in her
+face, a radiance of great happiness and satisfaction which I had never
+seen there before.
+
+Here was herbage enough for a week, but she must have fresh the next
+morning, and thenceforth every day they would go out ere the sun was
+high, hunting for new models.
+
+To prepare for these early excursions, Mistress Moll, though commonly
+disposed to lie abed late in the morning, must have been up by daybreak.
+And, despite her admiration of Dario's simplicity in dress, she showed
+no inclination to follow his example in this particular; but, on the
+contrary, took more pains in adorning her person at this time than ever
+she had done before; and as she would dress her hair no two mornings
+alike, so she would change the fashion of her dress with the same
+inconstancy until the sly hussy discovered which did most please Dario's
+taste; then a word of approval from him, nay, a glance, would suffice to
+fix her choice until she found that his admiration needed rekindling.
+And so, as if her own imagination was not sufficiently forcible, she
+would talk of nothing with her friends but the newest fashions at court,
+with the result that her maids were for ever a-brewing some new wash for
+her face (which she considered too brown), compounding charms to remove
+a little mole she had in the nape of her neck, cutting up one gown to
+make another, and so forth. One day she presented herself with a black
+patch at the corner of her lip, and having seen nought of this fashion
+before, I cried out in alarm:
+
+"Lord, child! have you injured your face with that mess Betty was
+stewing yesterday?"
+
+"What an absurd, old-fashioned creature you are!" answers she, testily.
+"Don't you know that 'tis the mode now for ladies to wear spots? Signor
+Dario," adds she, her eyes lighting up, "finds it mighty becoming." When
+I saw her thus disfiguring her pretty face (as I considered it then,
+though I came to admire this embellishment later on) to please Signor
+Dario, I began to ask myself how this business was likely to end.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+
+_Of Moll's ill humour and what befel thereby._
+
+
+Feeling, in the absence of Dawson, that I stood in the position of a
+guardian to his daughter, and was responsible for her welfare, my mind
+grew very uneasy about the consequences of her extravagant admiration
+for the painter; and, knowing that Don Sanchez, despite his phlegmatic
+humour, loved Moll very sincerely at heart, I took him aside one day,
+and asked him if he had observed nothing particular in Moll's behaviour
+of late.
+
+"One would be blind," says he, "not to see that she is enamoured of
+Dario, if that's what you mean."
+
+I admitted that my suspicions inclined that way, and, explaining my
+concern on her behalf, I asked him what he would do in my place.
+
+"In my country," says he, "matters never would have been suffered to go
+so far, and Mistress Judith would have been shut up a prisoner in her
+room these past three weeks. But I doubt if our maidens are any the
+safer or better for such treatment, and I am quite sure that such
+treatment would be worse than useless for an English girl, and
+especially such an one as this. For, guard her how you might, she would
+assuredly find means to break her prison, and then no course is open to
+her but to throw herself in the arms of the man she loves, trusting to
+mere accident whether he abuses her devotion or not. You might as well
+strive to catch the wind and hold it as stay and stem the course of
+youthful passion."
+
+"Aye, Seņor," says I, "this may be all very true. But what should you do
+in my place?"
+
+"Nothing," says he.
+
+This was a piece of advice which set me scratching my head in
+dubitation.
+
+"Beware," continues he, "how you suggest the thing you fear to one who
+needs but a hint to act. I have great faith in the natural modesty of
+women (and I do think no child more innocent than Mistress Judith),
+which, though it blind them to their danger, does, at the same time,
+safeguard them against secret and illicit courses of more fatal
+consequences. Let her discourse with him, openly, since it pleases her.
+In another fortnight or so Dario's work will be finished, he will go
+away, our young lady will shed secret tears and be downcast for a week.
+Then another swain will please her, and she'll smile again. That, as I
+take it, will be the natural order of events, unless," adds he, "that
+natural order is disturbed by some external influence."
+
+Maugre this sage advice, my concern being unabated, I would step pretty
+frequently into the room where these young people were, as if to see how
+the work was going forward, and with such a quick step that had any
+interchange of amorous sentiments existed, I must at one time or another
+have discovered it. But I never detected any sign of this--no bashful
+silence, no sudden confusion, or covert interchange of glances.
+Sometimes they would be chatting lightly, at others both would be
+standing silent, she, maybe, holding a bunch of leaves with untiring
+steadfastness, for him to copy. But I observed that she was exceedingly
+jealous of his society, and no matter how glibly she was talking when I
+entered, or how indifferent the subject, she would quickly become
+silent, showing me very plainly by her manner that she would vastly
+prefer my room to my company.
+
+Still, I was not displeased when I perceived this fresco drawing near to
+its completion.
+
+"You are getting on apace," says I, very cheerfully one day. "I reckon
+you will soon have done."
+
+"Yes," answers he, "in a week I shall have nought to do but to pack up
+my tools and go." There was an accent of sorrow in his voice, despite
+himself, which did not escape me nor Moll neither, for I saw her cast
+her eyes upon his face, as if to read if there were sadness there. But
+she said never a word.
+
+However, in the afternoon she comes to me, and says she:
+
+"I am resolved I will have all the rooms in the house plastered, if
+Signor Dario will consent to paint them."
+
+"All the rooms!" says I, in alarm. "Surely you have not counted the cost
+of what you propose."
+
+"I suppose I have enough to keep my house in suitable condition."
+
+"Without doubt, though I expect such work as Signor Dario's must command
+a high price."
+
+"All I ask of you, then," says she, "is to bid my steward have five
+thousand pounds ready for my uses, and within a week, lest I should need
+it suddenly. Should he raise objections--"
+
+"As assuredly he will," says I, who knew the crafty, subtle character of
+old Simon full well by, this time. "A thousand objections, and not one
+you can pick a hole in."
+
+"Then show him this and tell him I accept Mr. Goodman's offer unless he
+can find more profitable means of raising money."
+
+With that she puts in my hand a letter she had that morning received
+from one Henry Goodman, a tenant, who having heard that she had disposed
+of a farm to his neighbour, now humbly prayed she would do him the same
+good turn by selling him the land he rented, and for which he was
+prepared to pay down in ready money the sum of five thousand pounds.
+
+Armed with this letter, I sought Simon and delivered Moll's message. As
+I expected, the wily old man had good excuses ready for not complying
+with this request, showing me the pains he had taken to get the king's
+seal, his failures to move the king's officers, and the refusal of his
+goldsmith to furnish further supplies before the deed of succession was
+passed.
+
+"These objections are all very just," says I, "so I see no way of
+pleasing our lady but by selling Mr. Goodman's farm, which she will have
+done at once if there be no alternative." So I give him the letter,
+which he can scarce read for trembling with anguish.
+
+"What," cries he, coming to the end, "I am to sell this land which I
+bought for nine hundred pounds and is now worth six thousand? I would
+rather my mistress had bid me have the last teeth torn from my head."
+
+"We must have money," says I.
+
+"Thee shalt have it in good time. Evans hath been paid, and thy debt
+shall be discharged; fear not."
+
+"I spoke as representing our lady; for ourselves we are content to wait
+her better convenience." And I told him how his mistress would lay out
+her money in embellishing the Court with paintings, which put him to a
+new taking to think so much good money should be wasted in such
+vanities.
+
+"But," says he, "this work must take time, and one pays for nothing ere
+'tis done. By quarter day our rents will be coming in again--"
+
+"No," says I, cutting him short, "the money must be found at once, or be
+assured that your lady will take the management of her affairs out of
+your hands."
+
+This raised a fresh outcry and more lamentations, but in the end he
+promised to procure the money by collecting his rents in advance, if his
+mistress would refuse Mr. Goodman's offer and wait three weeks; and on
+Moll's behalf I agreed to these terms.
+
+A few days after this, we were called into the dining-hall to see the
+finished ceiling, which truly deserved all the praise we could bestow
+upon it, and more. For now that the sky appeared through the opening,
+with a little pearly cloud creeping across it, the verdure and flowers
+falling over the marble coping, and the sunlight falling on one side and
+throwing t'other into shade, the illusion was complete, so that one
+could scarcely have been more astonished had a leaf fallen from the
+hanging flowers or a face looked over the balcony. In short; 'twas
+prodigious.
+
+Nevertheless, the painter, looking up at his work with half-closed,
+critical eyes, seemed dissatisfied, and asking us if we found nothing
+lacking, we (not to appear behindhand in judgment) agreed that on one
+side there was a vacant place which might yet be adorned to advantage.
+
+"Yes," says he, "I see what is wanted and will supply it. That," adds
+he; gently turning to Moll, "will give me still another day."
+
+"Why, what charm can you add that is not there?" asks she.
+
+"Something," says he, in a low voice, "which I must see whenever I do
+cast my eyes heavenwards."
+
+And now Moll, big with her purpose, which she had hitherto withheld from
+Dario, begs him to come into her state room, and there she told how she
+would have this ceiling plastered over and painted, like her
+dining-hall, if he would undertake to do it.
+
+Dario casts his eye round the room and over the ceiling, and then,
+shaking his head, says: "If I were in your place, I would alter nothing
+here."
+
+"But I will have it altered," says she, nettled, because he did not leap
+at once at her offer, which was made rather to prolong their communion
+than to obtain a picture. "I detest these old-fashioned beams of wood."
+
+"They are in keeping with the character of the room. I think," adds he,
+looking round him again with renewed admiration, "I think I have never
+seen a more perfect example of English art."
+
+"What of that," cries she, "if it pleases me to have it otherwise?"
+
+"Nothing," returns he, calmly. "You have as just a right to stand by
+your opinion as I by mine."
+
+"And am I to understand that you will rather hold by your opinion than
+give me pleasure?"
+
+"I pray you, do not press me to discourtesy," says he.
+
+"Nay, but I would have a plain answer to my question," says she,
+haughtily.
+
+"Then," says he, angering in his turn, "I must tell you that I would as
+soon chip an antique statue to suit the taste of a French modiste as
+disfigure the work of him who designed this room."
+
+Now, whether Moll took this to be a reflection on her own figure, which
+had grown marvellous slim in the waist since she had her new stays from
+London, or not, I will not say; but certainly this response did
+exasperate her beyond all endurance (as we could see by her blanched
+cheek and flashing eye); so, dismissing him with a deep curtsey, she
+turns on her heel without another word.
+
+This foolish business, which was not very creditable to our Moll's good
+sense (though I think she acted no worse than other maids in her
+condition,--for I have observed that young people do usually lose their
+heads at the same time that they lose their hearts), this foolish scene,
+I say, I would gladly omit from my history, but that it completely
+changed our destiny; for had these two parted with fair words, we should
+probably have seen no more of Dario, and Don Sanchez's prognostic had
+been realised. Such trifles as these do influence our career as greatly
+as more serious accidents, our lives being a fabric of events that hang
+together by the slenderest threads.
+
+Unmoved from his design by Moll's displeasure, Dario replaced his
+scaffold before he left that day, and the next morning he came to put
+the last touch upon his work. Moll, being still in dudgeon, would not go
+near him, but sat brooding in a corner of her state room, ready, as I
+perceived, to fly out in passion at any one who gave her the occasion.
+Perceiving this, Don Sanchez prudently went forth for a walk after
+dinner; but I, seeing that some one must settle accounts with the
+painter for his work, stayed at home. And when I observed that he was
+collecting his materials to go, I went in to Moll.
+
+"My dear," says I, "I believe Dario is preparing to leave us."
+
+"My congratulations to him," says she, "for 'tis evident he is weary of
+being here."
+
+"Nay, won't you come in and see his work now 'tis finished?"
+
+"No; I have no desire to see it. If I have lost my taste for Italian
+art, 'tis through no fault of his."
+
+"You will see him, surely, before he goes."
+
+"No; I will not give him another opportunity to presume upon my
+kindness."
+
+"Why, to be sure," says I, like a fool, "you have been a little
+over-familiar."
+
+"Indeed," says she, firing up like a cracker. "Then I think 'twould have
+been kinder of you to give me a hint of it beforehand. However, 'tis a
+very good excuse for treating him otherwise now."
+
+"Well, he must be paid for his work, at any rate."
+
+"Assuredly. If you have not money enough, I will fetch it from my
+closet."
+
+"I have it ready, and here is a purse for the purpose. The question is,
+how much to put in it. I should think such a perspective as that could
+not be handsomely paid under fifty guineas."
+
+"Then you will give him a hundred, and say that I am exceedingly obliged
+to him."
+
+I put this sum in the purse and went out into the hall where Dario was
+waiting, with his basket of brushes beside him. In a poor, bungling,
+stammering fashion, I delivered Moll's message, and made the best excuse
+I could for delivering it in her stead.
+
+He waited a moment or two after I had spoken, and then, says he, in a
+low voice:
+
+"Is that all?"
+
+"Nay," says I, offering the purse, "we do beg you to take this as--"
+
+He stopped me, pushing my hand aside.
+
+"I have taken a purse from Don Sanchez," says he. "There was more in it
+than I needed--there are still some pieces left. But as I would not
+affront him by offering to return them, so I beg you will equally
+respect my feelings. I undertook the task in gratitude, and it hath been
+a work of love all through, well paid for by the happiness that I have
+found here."
+
+He stood musing a little while, as if he were debating with himself
+whether he should seek to overcome Moll's resentment or not. Then,
+raising his head quickly, he says: "'Tis best so, maybe. Farewell, sir"
+(giving me his hand). "Tell her," adds he, as we stand hand in hand at
+the door, "that I can never forget her kindness, and will ever pray for
+her happiness."
+
+I found the door ajar and Moll pacing the room very white, when I
+returned. She checked me the moment I essayed to deliver Dario's
+message.
+
+"You can save your breath," says she, passionately, "I've heard every
+word."
+
+"More shame for you," says I, in a passion, casting my purse on the
+table. "'Tis infamous to treat an honest gentleman thus, and silly
+besides. Come, dear," altering my tone, "do let me run and fetch him
+back."
+
+"You forget whom you are speaking to, Mr. Hopkins," cries she.
+
+I saw 'twas impossible to move her whilst she was in this mood, for she
+had something of her father's obstinate, stubborn disposition, and did
+yet hope to bring Dario back to her feet, like a spaniel, by harsh
+treatment. But he came no more, though a palette he had overlooked could
+have given him the excuse, and for very vexation with Moll I was glad he
+did not.
+
+He had not removed the scaffold, but when I went upon it to see what
+else he had put into his painting, the fading light only allowed me to
+make out a figure that seemed to be leaning over the balcony.
+
+Moll would not go in there, though I warrant she was dying of curiosity;
+and soon after supper, which she could scarce force herself to touch,
+she went up to her own chamber, wishing us a very distant, formal
+good-night, and keeping her passionate, angry countenance.
+
+But the next morning, ere I was dressed, she knocked at my door, and,
+opening it, I found her with swollen eyes and tears running down her
+cheeks.
+
+"Come down," says she, betwixt her sobs, and catching my hand in hers.
+"Come down and see."
+
+So we went downstairs together,--I wondering what now had happened,--and
+so into the dining-hall. And there I found the scaffold pushed aside,
+and the ceiling open to view. Then looking up, I perceived that the
+figure bending over the balcony bore Moll's own face, with a most sweet,
+compassionate expression in it as she looked down, such as I had
+observed when she bent over Dario, having brought him back to life. And
+this, thinks I, remembering his words, this is what he must ever see
+when he looks heavenwards.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+
+_Of the strange things told us by the wise woman._
+
+
+"Tell me I am wicked; tell me I'm a fool," says Moll, clinging to my
+arm.
+
+But I had no feeling now but pity and forgiveness, and so could only try
+to comfort her, saying we would make amends to Dario when we saw him
+next.
+
+"I will go to him," says she. "For nought in the world would I have him
+yield to such a heartless fool as I am. I know where he lodges."
+
+"Well, when we have eaten--"
+
+"Nay; we must go this moment. I cannot be at peace till I have asked him
+to forgive. Come with me, or I must go alone."
+
+Yielding to her desire without further ado, I fetched my hat and cloak,
+and, she doing likewise, we sallied out forthwith. Taking the side path
+by which Dario came and went habitually, we reached a little wicket
+gate, opening from the path upon the highway; and here, seeing a man
+mending the road, we asked him where we should find Anne Fitch, as she
+was called, with whom the painter lodged. Pointing to a neat cottage
+that stood by the wayside, within a stone's throw, he told us the "wise
+woman" lived there. We crossed over and knocked at the door, and a voice
+within bidding us come in, we did so.
+
+There was a very sweet, pleasant smell in the room from the herbs that
+hung in little parcels from the beams, for this Anne Fitch was greatly
+skilled in the use of simples, and had no equal for curing fevers and
+the like in all the country round. (But, besides this, it was said she
+could look into the future and forecast events truer than any Egyptian.)
+There was a chair by the table, on which was an empty bowl and some
+broken bread; but the wise woman sat in the chimney corner, bending over
+the hearth, though the fire had burnt out, and not an ember glowed. And
+a strange little elf she looked, being very wizen and small, with one
+shoulder higher than the other, and a face full of pain.
+
+When I told her our business,--for Moll was too greatly moved to
+speak,--the old woman pointed to the adjoining room.
+
+"He is gone!" cries Moll, going to the open door, and peering within.
+
+"Yes," answers Anne Fitch. "Alas!"
+
+"When did he go?" asks Moll.
+
+"An hour since," answers the other.
+
+"Whither is he gone?"
+
+"I am no witch."
+
+"At least, you know which way he went."
+
+"I have not stirred from here since I gave him his last meal."
+
+Moll sank into the empty chair, and bowed her head in silence.
+
+Anne Fitch, whose keen eyes had never strayed from Moll since she first
+entered the room, seeming as if they would penetrate to the most secret
+recesses of her heart, with that shrewd perception which is common to
+many whose bodily infirmity compels an extraordinary employment of their
+other faculties, rises from her settle in the chimney, and coming to the
+table, beside Moll, says:
+
+"I am no witch, I say; yet I could tell you things would make you think
+I am."
+
+"I want to know nothing further," answers she, dolefully, "save where he
+is."
+
+"Would you not know whether you shall ever see him again, or not?"
+
+"Oh! If you can tell me that!" cries Moll, quickly.
+
+"I may." Then, turning to me, the wise woman asks to look at my hand,
+and on my demurring, she says she must know whether I am a friend or an
+enemy, ere she speaks before me. So, on that, I give my hand, and she
+examines it.
+
+"You call yourself James Hopkins," says she.
+
+"Why, every one within a mile knows that," says I.
+
+"Aye," answers she, fixing her piercing eye on my face; "but every one
+knows not that some call you Kit."
+
+This fairly staggered me for a moment.
+
+"How do you answer that?" she asks, observing my confusion. "Why," says
+I, recovering my presence of mind, "'tis most extraordinary, to be sure,
+that you should read this, for save one or two familiars, none know that
+my second name is Christopher."
+
+"A fairly honest hand," says she, looking at my hand again. "Weak in
+some things, but a faithful friend. You may be trusted."
+
+And so she drops my hand and takes up Moll's.
+
+"'Tis strange," says she. "You call yourself Judith, yet here I see your
+name writ Moll."
+
+[Illustration: "YOU CALL YOURSELF JUDITH, YET HERE I SEE YOUR NAME WRIT
+MOLL."]
+
+Poor Moll, sick with a night of sorrow and terrified by the wise woman's
+divining powers, could make no answer; but soon Fitch, taking less heed
+of her tremble than of mine, regards her hand again.
+
+"How were you called in Barbary?" asks she.
+
+This question betraying a flaw in the wise woman's perception, gave Moll
+courage, and she answered readily enough that she was called "Lala
+Mollah"--which was true, "Lala" being the Moorish for lady, and "Mollah"
+the name her friends in Elche had called her as being more agreeable to
+their ear than the shorter English name.
+
+"Mollah--Moll!" says Anne Fitch, as if communing with herself. "That may
+well be." Then, following a line in Moll's hand, she adds, "You will
+love but once, child."
+
+"What is my sweetheart's name?" whispers Moll, the colour springing in
+her face.
+
+"You have not heard it yet," replies the other, upon which Moll pulls
+her hand away impatiently. "But you have seen him," continues the wise
+woman, "and his is the third hand in which I have read another name."
+
+"Tell me now if I shall see him again," cries Moll, eagerly--offering
+her hand again, and as quickly as she had before withdrawn it.
+
+"That depends upon yourself," returns the other. "The line is a deep
+one. Would you give him all you have?"
+
+Moll bends her head low in silence, to conceal her hot face.
+
+"'Tis nothing to be ashamed of," says the old woman, in a strangely
+gentle tone. "'Tis better to love once than often; better to give your
+whole heart than part. Were I young and handsome and rich, I would give
+body and soul for such a man. For he is good and generous and exceeding
+kind. Look you, he hath lived here but a few weeks, and I feel for him,
+grieve for him, like a mother. Oh, I am no witch," adds she, wiping a
+tear from her cheek, "only a crooked old woman with the gift of seeing
+what is open to all who will read, and a heart that quickens still at a
+kind word or a gentle thought." (Moll's hand had closed upon hers at
+that first sight of her grief.) "For your names," continues she,
+recovering her composure, "I learnt from one of your maids who came
+hither for news of her sweetheart, that the sea captain who was with you
+did sometimes let them slip. I was paid to learn this."
+
+"Not by him," says Moll.
+
+"No; by your steward Simon."
+
+"_He_ paid for that!" says I, incredulous, knowing Simon's reluctance to
+spend money.
+
+"Aye, and a good price, too. It seems you call heavily upon him for
+money, and do threaten to cut up your estate and sell the land he prizes
+as his life."
+
+"That is quite true," says I.
+
+"Moreover, he greatly fears that he will be cast from his office, when
+your title to it is made good. For that reason he would move heaven and
+earth to stay your succession by casting doubts upon your claim. And to
+this end he has by all the means at his command tried to provoke your
+cousin to contest your right."
+
+"My cousin!" cries Moll.
+
+"Richard Godwin."
+
+"My cousin Richard--why, where is he?"
+
+"Gone," says the old woman, pointing to the broken bread upon the table.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+
+_How Moll and Mr. Godwin come together and declare their hearts'
+passion, and how I carry these tidings to Dawson._
+
+
+"What!" cries Moll, starting to her feet. "He whom I have treated thus
+is--" and here she checked herself, as if recoiling (and for the first
+time) from false pretence in a matter so near her heart.
+
+"He is your cousin, Richard Godwin," says the wise woman. "Simon knew
+this from the first; for there were letters showing it in the
+pocket-book he found after the struggle in the park; but for his own
+ends he kept that knowledge secret, until it fitted his ends to speak.
+Why your cousin did not reveal himself to you may be more readily
+conceived by you than 'twas by me."
+
+"Why, 'tis clear enough," says Moll. "Pressed by his necessities, he
+came hither to claim assistance of his kinsman; but finding he was dead
+and none here but me, his pride did shrink from begging of a mere maid
+that which he might with justice have demanded from a man. And then, for
+shame at being handled like a rogue--"
+
+Surely there is something in the blood of a gentleman that tempers his
+spirit to a degree scarcely to be comprehended by men of meaner birth,
+thinks I.
+
+"When did Simon urge him to dispute my rights?" asks Moll.
+
+"On Sunday--in the wood out there. I knew by his look he had some
+treacherous business in hand, and, matching my stealth with his, I found
+means to overhear him, creeping from thicket to thicket, as noiseless as
+a snake, to where they stood; for, be assured, I should not otherwise
+have learnt one word of this."
+
+"How did _he_ receive these hints at my ill doing?" asks Moll.
+
+"Patiently, till the tale was told; then, taking your steward by the
+throat with sudden passion, he cries: 'Why should I not strangle you,
+rascal? 'Twould be a service to humanity. What have I done to deserve
+your love, or this lady your hate? Nothing. You would pit us one against
+the other merely to keep your hold upon these lands, and gratify your
+insensate love of possession. Go, get you gone, beast!' cries he,
+flinging him off; ''tis punishment enough for you to live and know
+you've failed. For, had you proved your case to my conviction, I'd not
+stir a hand against this lady, be she who she may. Nay,' adds he, with
+greater fury, 'I will not stay where my loyalty and better judgment may
+be affected by the contagion of a vile suspicion. Away while you may; my
+fingers itch to be revenged on you for sundering me from one who should
+have been my closest, dearest friend.'"
+
+Moll claps her hands together with a cry of joy and pain mingled, even
+as the smile played upon her lips whilst tears filled her eyes.
+
+"Sunday!" cries she, turning to me and dashing the tears that blinded
+her from her eyes; "Sunday, and it 'twas o' Monday he refused to stay.
+O, the brave heart!" Then, in impetuous haste, "He shall be found--we
+must overtake him."
+
+"That may be done if you take horse," says Anne Fitch, "for he travels
+afoot."
+
+"But which way shall we turn?"
+
+"The way that any man would take, seeking to dispel a useless sorrow,"
+answers the wise woman; "the way to London."
+
+"God bless you!" cries Moll, clasping the withered old woman to her
+heaving breast and kissing her. Then the next moment she would be gone,
+bidding me get horses for our pursuit.
+
+So, as quickly as I might, I procured a couple of nags, and we set out,
+leaving a message for Don Sanchez, who was not yet astir. And we should
+have gone empty, but that while the horses were a-preparing (and Moll,
+despite her mighty haste at this business too), I took the precaution to
+put some store of victuals in a saddle bag.
+
+Reckoning that Mr. Godwin (as I must henceforth call him) had been set
+out two hours or thereabouts, I considered that we might overtake him in
+about three at an easy amble. But Moll was in no mood for ambling, and
+no sooner were we started than she put her nag to a gallop and kept up
+this reckless pace up hill and down dale,--I trailing behind and
+expecting every minute to be cast and get my neck broke,--until her
+horse was spent and would answer no more to the whip. Then I begged her
+for mercy's sake to take the hill we were coming to at a walk, and break
+her fast. "For," says I, "another such half-hour as the last on an empty
+stomach will do my business, and you will have another dead man to bring
+back to life, which will advance your journey nothing, and so more
+haste, less speed." Therewith I opened my saddle bag, and sharing its
+contents, we ate a rare good meal and very merry, and indeed it was a
+pleasure now to look at her as great as the pain had been to see her so
+unhappy a few hours before. For the exercise had brought a flood of rich
+colour into her face, and a lively hope sparkled in her eyes, and the
+sound of her voice was like any peal of marriage bells for gaiety. Yet
+now and then her tongue would falter, and she would strain a wistful
+glance along the road before us as fearing she did hope too much.
+However, coming to an inn, we made enquiry, and learnt that a man such
+as we described had surely passed the house barely an hour gone, and one
+adding that he carried a basket on his stick, we felt this must be our
+painter for certain.
+
+Thence on again at another tear (as if we were flying from our
+reckoning) until, turning a bend of the road at the foot of a hill, she
+suddenly drew rein with a shrill cry. And coming up, I perceived close
+by our side Mr. Godwin, seated upon the bridge that crossed a stream,
+with his wallet beside him.
+
+He sprang to his feet and caught in an instant the rein that had fallen
+from Moll's hand, for the commotion in her heart at seeing him so
+suddenly had stopped the current of her veins, and she was deadly pale.
+
+"Take me, take me!" cries she, stretching forth her arms, with a faint
+voice. "Take me, or I must fall," and slipping from her saddle she sank
+into his open, ready arms.
+
+"Help!" says Mr. Godwin, quickly, and in terror.
+
+"Nay," says she; "I am better--'tis nothing. But," adds she, smiling at
+him, "you may hold me yet a little longer."
+
+The fervid look in his eyes, as he gazed down at her sweet pale face,
+seemed to say: "Would I could hold you here for ever, sweetheart."
+
+"Rest her here," says I, pointing to the little wall of the bridge, and
+he, complying (not too willingly), withdrew his arm from her waist, with
+a sigh.
+
+And now the colour coming back to her cheek, Moll turns to him, and
+says:
+
+"I thought you would have come again. And since one of us must ask to be
+forgiven, lo! here am I come to ask your pardon."
+
+"Why, what is there to pardon, Madam?" says he.
+
+"Only a girl's folly, which unforgiven must seem something worse."
+
+"Your utmost folly," says he, "is to have been over-kind to a poor
+painter. And if that be an offence, 'tis my misfortune to be no more
+offended."
+
+"Have I been over-kind?" says Moll, abashed, as having unwittingly
+passed the bounds of maiden modesty.
+
+"As nature will be over-bounteous in one season, strewing so many
+flowers in our path that we do underprize them till they are lost, and
+all the world seems stricken with wintry desolation."
+
+"Yet, if I have said or done anything unbecoming to my sex--"
+
+"Nothing womanly is unbecoming to a woman," returns he. "And, praised be
+God, some still live who have not learned to conceal their nature under
+a mask of fashion. If this be due less to your natural free disposition
+than to an ignorance of our enlightened modish arts, then could I find
+it in my heart to rejoice that you have lived a captive in Barbary."
+
+They had been looking into each other's eyes with the delight of reading
+there the love that filled their hearts, but now Moll bent her head as
+if she could no longer bear that searching regard, and unable to make
+response to his pretty speech, sat twining her fingers in her lap,
+silent, with pain and pleasure fluttering over her downcast face. And at
+this time I do think she was as near as may be on the point of
+confessing she had been no Barbary slave, rather than deceive the man
+who loved her, and profit by his faith in her, which had certainly
+undone us all; but in her passion, a woman considered the welfare of her
+father and best friends very lightly; nay, she will not value her own
+body and soul at two straws, but is ready to yield up everything for one
+dear smile.
+
+A full minute Mr. Godwin sat gazing at Moll's pretty, blushing, half-hid
+face (as if for his last solace), and then, rising slowly from the
+little parapet, he says:
+
+"Had I been more generous, I should have spared you this long morning
+ride. So you have something to forgive, and we may cry quits!" Then,
+stretching forth his hand, he adds, "Farewell."
+
+"Stay," cries Moll, springing to her feet, as fearing to lose him
+suddenly again, "I have not eased myself of the burden that lay
+uppermost. Oh!" cries she, passionately, casting off all reserve, "I
+know all; who you are, and why you first came hither, and I am here to
+offer you the half of all I have."
+
+"Half, sweet cousin?" answers he, taking her two hands in his.
+
+"Aye; for if I had not come to claim it, all would have been yours by
+right. And 'tis no more than fair that, owing so much to Fortune, I
+should offer you the half."
+
+"Suppose that half will not suffice me, dear?" says he.
+
+"Why, then I'll give you all," answers she; "houses, gardens,
+everything."
+
+"Then what will you do, coz?"
+
+"Go hence, as you were going but just now," answers she, trembling.
+
+"Why, that's as if you took the diamond from its setting, and left me
+nothing but the foil," says he. "Oh, I would order it another way: give
+me the gem, and let who will take what remains. Unless these little
+hands are mine to hold for ever, I will take nothing from them."
+
+"They are thine, dear love," cries she, in a transport, flinging them
+about his neck, "and my heart as well."
+
+At this conjuncture I thought it advisable to steal softly away to the
+bend of the road; for surely any one coming this way by accident, and
+finding them locked together thus in tender embrace on the king's
+highway, would have fallen to some gross conclusion, not understanding
+their circumstances, and so might have offended their delicacy by some
+rude jest. And I had not parted myself here a couple of minutes, ere I
+spied a team of four stout horses coming over the brow of the hill,
+drawing the stage waggon behind them which plies betwixt Sevenoaks and
+London. This prompting me to a happy notion, I returned to the happy,
+smiling pair, who were now seated again upon the bridge, hand in hand,
+and says I:
+
+"My dear friends,--for so I think I may now count you, sir, as well as
+my Mistress Judith here,--the waggon is coming down the hill, by which I
+had intended to go to London this morning upon some pressing business.
+And so, Madam, if your cousin will take my horse and conduct you back to
+the Court, I will profit by this occasion and bid you farewell for the
+present."
+
+This proposal was received with evident satisfaction on their part, for
+there was clearly no further thought of parting; only Moll, alarmed for
+the proprieties, did beg her lover to lift her on her horse instantly.
+Nevertheless, when she was in her saddle, they must linger yet, he to
+kiss her hands, and she to bend down and yield her cheek to his lips,
+though the sound of the coming waggon was close at hand.
+
+Scarcely less delighted than they with this surprising strange turn of
+events, I left 'em there with bright, smiling faces, and journeyed on to
+London, and there taking a pair of oars at the Bridge to Greenwich, all
+eagerness to give these joyful tidings to my old friend, Jack Dawson. I
+found him in his workroom, before a lathe, and sprinkled from head to
+toe with chips, mighty proud of a bed-post he was a-turning. And it did
+my heart good to see him looking stout and hearty, profitably occupied
+in this business, instead of soaking in an alehouse (as I feared at one
+time he would) to dull his care; but he was ever a stout, brave fellow,
+who would rather fight than give in any day. A better man never lived,
+nor a more honest--circumstances permitting.
+
+His joy at seeing me was past everything; but his first thought after
+our hearty greeting was of his daughter.
+
+"My Moll," says he, "my dear girl; you han't brought her to add to my
+joy? She's not slinking behind a door to fright me with delight, hey?"
+
+"No," says I; "but I've brought you great news of her."
+
+"And good, I'll swear, Kit, for there's not a sad line in your face.
+Stay, comrade, wait till I've shook these chips off and we are seated in
+my parlour, for I do love to have a pipe of tobacco and a mug of ale
+beside me in times of pleasure. You can talk of indifferent things,
+though, for Lord! I do love to hear the sound of your voice again."
+
+I told him how the ceiling of our dining-hall had been painted.
+
+"Aye," says he. "I have heard of that; for my dear girl hath writ about
+that and nought else in her letters; and though I've no great fancy for
+such matters, yet I doubt not it is mighty fine by her long-winded
+praises of it. Come, Kit, let us in here and get to something fresher."
+
+So we into his parlour, which was a neat, cheerful room, with a fine
+view of the river, and there being duly furnished with a mighty mug of
+ale and clean pipes, he bids me give him my news, and I tell him how
+Moll had fallen over head and ears in love with the painter, and he with
+her, and how that very morning they had come together and laid open
+their hearts' desire one to the other, with the result (as I believed)
+that they would be married as soon as they could get a parson to do
+their business.
+
+"This is brave news indeed," cries he, "and easeth me beyond
+comprehension, for I could see clearly enough she was smitten with this
+painter, by her writing of nothing else; and seeing she could not get at
+his true name and condition, I felt some qualms as to how the matter
+might end. But do tell me, Kit, is he an honest, wholesome sort of man?"
+
+"As honest as the day," says I, "and a nobler, handsomer man never
+breathed."
+
+"God be praised for all things," says he, devoutly. "Tell me he's an
+Englishman, Kit--as Moll did seem to think he was, spite his foreign
+name--and my joy's complete."
+
+"As true-born an Englishman as you are," says I.
+
+"Lord love him for it!" cries he.
+
+Then coming down to particulars, I related the events of the past few
+days pretty much as I have writ them here, showing in the end how Mr.
+Godwin would have gone away, unknown rather than profit by his claim as
+Sir Richard Godwin's kinsman, even though Moll should be no better than
+old Simon would have him believe, upon which he cries, "Lord love him
+for it, say I again! Let us drink to their health. Drink deep, Kit, for
+I've a fancy that no man shall put his lips to this mug after us."
+
+So I drank heartily, and he, emptying the jug, flung it behind the
+chimney, with another fervent ejaculation of gratitude. Then a shade of
+sorrow falling on his face as he lay it in his hand, his elbow resting
+on the table:
+
+"I'd give best half of the years I've got to live," says he, "to see 'em
+together, and grasp Mr. Godwin's hand in mine. But I'll not be tempted
+to it, for I perceive clearly enough by what you tell me that my wayward
+tongue and weakness have been undoing us all, and ruining my dear Moll's
+chance of happiness. But tell me, Kit" (straightening himself up), "how
+think you this marriage will touch our affairs?"
+
+"Only to better them. For henceforth our prosperity is assured, which
+otherwise might have lacked security."
+
+"Aye, to be sure, for now shall we be all in one family with these
+Godwins, and this cousin, profiting by the estate as much as Moll, will
+never begrudge her giving us a hundred or two now and then, for
+rendering him such good service."
+
+"'Twill appease Moll's compunctions into the bargain," says I,
+heedlessly.
+
+"What compunctions?"
+
+"The word slipped me unintended," stammers I; "I mean nothing."
+
+"But something your word must mean. Come, out with it, Kit."
+
+"Well," says I, "since this fondness has possessed her, I have observed
+a greater compunction to telling of lies than she was wont to have."
+
+"'Tis my fault," answers he, sadly. "She gets this leaning to honesty
+from me."
+
+"This very morning," continues I, "she was, I truly believe, of two
+minds whether she should not confess to her sweetheart that she was not
+his cousin."
+
+"For all the world my case!" cries he, slapping the table. "If I could
+only have five minutes in secret with the dear girl, I would give her a
+hint that should make her profit by my folly." And then he tells me how,
+in the heyday of courtship and the flush of confiding love, he did
+confess to his wife that he had carried gallantry somewhat too far with
+Sukey Taylor, and might have added a good half dozen other names beside
+hers but for her sudden outcry; and how, though she might very well have
+suspected other amours, she did never reproach him therewith, but was
+for ever to her dying day a-flinging Sukey Taylor in his teeth, etc.
+
+"Lord, Kit!" cries he, in conclusion; "what would I give to save her
+from such torment! You know how obedient she is to my guiding, for I
+have ever studied to make her respect me; and no one in the world hath
+such empire over her. Could it not be contrived anyhow that we should
+meet for half an hour secretly?"
+
+"Not secretly," says I. "But there is no reason why you should not visit
+her openly. Nay, it will create less surprise than if you stay away. For
+what could be more natural than your coming to the Court on your return
+from a voyage to see the lady you risked so much to save?"
+
+"Now God bless you for a good, true friend!" cries he, clasping my hand.
+"I'll come, but to stay no great length. Not a drop will I touch that
+day, and a fool indeed I must be if I can't act my part without bungling
+for a few hours at a stretch, and I a-listening every night in the
+parlour of the 'Spotted Dog' to old seamen swearing and singing their
+songs. And I'll find an opportunity to give--Moll a hint of my past
+folly, and so rescue her from a like pitfall. I'll abide by your advice,
+Kit,--which is the wisest I ever heard from your lips."
+
+But I was not so sure of this, and, remembering the kind of obedience
+Moll had used to yield to her father's commands, my mind misgave me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+
+_Don Sanchez proposes a very artful way to make Mr. Godwin a party to
+our knavery, etc._
+
+
+I returned to Hurst Court the following day in the forenoon, and there I
+found Mr. Godwin, with Moll clinging to his arm, in an upper room
+commanding a view of the northern slopes, discussing their future, and
+Moll told me with glee how this room was to be her husband's workroom,
+where he would paint pictures for the admiration of all the world,
+saying that he would not (nor would she have him) renounce his calling
+to lead the idle life of a country gentleman.
+
+"If the world admire my pictures, the world shall pay to have them,"
+says he, with a smile; then turning to her he adds very tenderly: "I
+will owe all my happiness to you, sweetheart; yet guard my independence
+in more material matters. No mercenary question shall ever cast
+suspicion on my love."
+
+Seeing I was not wanted here, I left them to settle their prospectives,
+and sought Don Sanchez, whom I found reading in a room below, seated in
+a comfortable chair before a good fire of apple logs. To please me, he
+shut up his book and agreed to take a stroll in the park while dinner
+was a-dressing. So we clap on our hats and cloaks and set forth, talking
+of indifferent matters till we are come into a fair open glade (which
+sort of place the prudent Don did ever prefer to holes and corners for
+secret conference), and then he told me how Moll and Mr. Godwin had
+already decided they would be married in three weeks.
+
+"Three weeks?" says I. "I would it were to be done in three days." To
+which desire the Don coincides with sundry grave nods, and then tells me
+how Moll would have herself cried in church, for all to know, and that
+nothing may be wanting to her husband's dignity.
+
+"After all," says I, "three weeks is no such great matter. And now,
+Seņor, do tell me what you think of all this."
+
+"If you had had the ordering of your own destiny, you could not have
+contrived it better," answers he. "'Tis a most excellent game, and you
+cannot fail to win if" (here he pauses to blow his nose) "if the cards
+are played properly."
+
+This somehow brought Dawson into my thoughts, and I told the Don of my
+visit to him, and how he did purpose to come down to see Moll; whereat
+the Don, stopping short, looked at me very curiously with his eyebrows
+raised, but saying nothing.
+
+"'Tis no more than natural that a father should want to see what kind of
+man is to be his daughter's husband," says I, in excuse, "and if he
+_will_ come, what are we to do?"
+
+"I know what I should do in your place, Mr. Hopkins," says he, quietly.
+
+"Pray, Seņor, what is that?"
+
+"Squeeze all the money you can out of old Simon before he comes,"
+answers he. "And it wouldn't be amiss to make Mr. Godwin party to this
+business by letting him have a hundred or two for his present
+necessities at once."
+
+Acting on this hint, when Moll left us after supper and we three men
+were seated before the fire, I asked Mr. Godwin if he would permit me to
+speak upon a matter which concerned his happiness no less than his
+cousin Judith's.
+
+"Nay, sir," replies he, "I do pray you to be open with me, for otherwise
+I must consider myself unworthy of your friendship."
+
+"Well, sir," says I, "my mind is somewhat concerned on account of what
+you said this morning; namely, that no pecuniary question shall ever be
+discussed betwixt you and your wife, and that you will owe nothing to
+her but happiness. This, together with your purpose of painting pictures
+to sell, means, I take it, that you will leave your wife absolute
+mistress of her present fortune."
+
+"That is the case exactly, Mr. Hopkins," says he. "I am not indifferent
+to the world's esteem, and I would give no one reason to suspect that I
+had married my dear cousin to possess her fortune."
+
+"Nevertheless, sir, you would not have it thought that she begrudged you
+an equal share of her possessions. Your position will necessitate a
+certain outlay. To maintain your wife's dignity and your own, you must
+dress well, mount a good horse, be liberal in hospitality, give largely
+to those in need, and so forth. With all due respect to your genius in
+painting, I can scarcely think that art will furnish you at once with
+supplies necessary to meet all these demands."
+
+"All this is very true, Mr. Hopkins," says he, after a little
+reflection; "to tell the truth, I have lived so long in want that
+poverty has become my second nature, and so these matters have not
+entered into my calculations. Pray, sir, continue."
+
+"Your wife, be she never so considerate, may not always anticipate your
+needs; and hence at some future moment this question of supplies must
+arise--unless they are disposed of before your marriage."
+
+"If that could be done, Mr. Hopkins," says he, hopefully.
+
+"It may be done, sir, very easily. With your cousin's consent and yours,
+I, as her elected guardian, at this time will have a deed drawn up to be
+signed by you and her, settling one-half the estate upon you, and the
+other on your cousin. This will make you not her debtor, but her
+benefactor; for without this deed, all that is now hers becomes yours by
+legal right upon your marriage, and she could not justly give away a
+shilling without your permission. And thus you assure to her the same
+independence that you yourself would maintain."
+
+"Very good," says Don Sanchez, in a sonorous voice of approval, as he
+lies back in his high chair, his eyes closed, and a cigarro in the
+corner of his mouth.
+
+"I thank you with all my heart, Mr. Hopkins," says Mr. Godwin, warmly.
+"I entreat you have this deed drawn up--if it be my wife's wish."
+
+"You may count with certainty on that," says I; "for if my arguments
+lacked power, I have but to say 'tis your desire, and 'twould be done
+though it took the last penny from her."
+
+He made no reply to this, but bending forward he gazed into the fire,
+with a rapture in his face, pressing one hand within the other as if it
+were his sweetheart's.
+
+"In the meantime," says I, "if you have necessity for a hundred or two
+in advance, you have but to give me your note of hand."
+
+"Can you do me this service?" cries he, eagerly. "Can you let me have
+five hundred by to-morrow?"
+
+"I believe I can supply you to the extent of six or seven."
+
+"All that you can," says he; "for besides a pressing need that will take
+me to London to-morrow, I owe something to a friend here that I would
+fain discharge."
+
+Don Sanchez waived his hand cavalierly, though I do believe the subtle
+Spaniard had hinted at this business as much for his own ends as for our
+assurance.
+
+"I will have it ready against we meet in the morning," says I. "You are
+so certain of her sanction?" he asks in delight, as if he could not too
+much assure himself of Moll's devotion.
+
+"She has been guided by me in all matters relating to her estate, and
+will be in this, I am convinced. But here's another question, sir,
+which, while we are about business, might be discussed with advantage.
+My rule here is nearly at an end. Have you decided who shall govern the
+estate when I am gone?"
+
+"Only that when I have authority that rascal Simon shall be turned from
+his office, neck and crop. He loves me as little as he loves his
+mistress, that he would set us by the ears for his own advantage."
+
+"An honest man, nevertheless--in his peculiar way," observes the Don.
+
+"Honest!" cries Mr. Godwin, hotly. "He honest who would have suffered
+Judith to die in Barbary! He shall go."
+
+"Then you will take in your own hands the control of your joint estate?"
+
+"I? Why, I know no more of such matters than the man in the moon."
+
+"With all respect to your cousin's abilities, I cannot think her
+qualified for this office."
+
+"Surely another steward can be found."
+
+"Undoubtedly," says I. "But surely, sir, you'd not trust all to him
+without some supervision. Large sums of money must pass through his
+hands, and this must prove a great temptation to dishonest practices.
+'Twould not be fair to any man."
+
+"This is true," says he. "And yet from natural disinclination,
+ignorance, and other reasons, I would keep out of it." Then after some
+reflection he adds, "My cousin has told me how you have lost all your
+fortune in saving her, and that 'tis not yet possible to repay you. May
+I ask, sir, without offence, if you have any occupation for your time
+when you leave us?"
+
+"I went to London when I left you to see what might be done; but a
+merchant without money is like a carpenter without tools."
+
+"Then, sir, till your debt is discharged, or you can find some more
+pleasant and profitable engagement, would you not consent to govern
+these affairs? I do not ask you to stay here, though assuredly you will
+ever be a welcome guest; but if you would have one of the houses on the
+estate or come hither from time to time as it might fit your other
+purposes, and take this office as a matter of business, I should regard
+it as a most generous, friendly kindness on your part."
+
+I promised him with some demur, and yet with the civility his offer
+demanded, to consider of this; and so our debate ended, and I went to
+bed, very well content with myself, for thus will vanity blind us to our
+faults.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+
+_I overcome Moll's honest compunctions, lay hold of three thousand
+pounds more, and do otherwise play the part of rascal to perfection._
+
+
+I got together six hundred pounds (out of the sum left us after paying
+Don Sanchez his ten thousand), and delivered 'em to Mr. Godwin against
+his note of hand, telling him at the same time that, having slept upon
+his proposal, I was resolved to be his steward for three months, with
+freedom on both sides to alter our position, according to our
+convenience, at the end of that time, and would serve him and his lady
+to the best of my power. Thanking me very heartily for my friendly
+service to him (though, God knows, with little reason), he presently
+left us. And Moll, coming back from taking tender leave of him at her
+gates, appeared very downcast and pensive. However, after moping an hour
+in her chamber, she comes to me in her hood, and begs I will take her a
+walk to dispel her vapours. So we out across the common, it being a
+fine, brisk, dry morning and the ground hard with a frost. Here, being
+secure from observation, I showed her how I had settled matters with Mr.
+Godwin, dividing the estate in such a manner as would enable her to draw
+what funds she pleased, without let, hindrance, or any inconvenient
+question.
+
+At this she draws a deep sigh, fixing her eyes sadly enough on the
+perspective, as if she were thinking rather of her absent lover than the
+business in hand. Somewhat nettled to find she prized my efforts on her
+behalf so lightly, I proceeded to show her the advantages of this
+arrangement, adding that, to make her property the surer, I had
+consented to manage both her affairs and Mr. Godwin's when they were
+married.
+
+"And so," says I, in conclusion, "you may have what money you want, and
+dispose of it as you will, and I'll answer for it Mr. Godwin shall never
+be a penny the wiser."
+
+"Do what you find is necessary," says she, with passion. "But for
+mercy's sake say no more on this matter to me. For all these hints do
+stab my heart like sharp knives."
+
+Not reading rightly the cause of her petulance, I was at first disposed
+to resent it; but, reflecting that a maiden is no more responsible for
+her tongue than a donkey for his heels in this season of life (but both
+must be for ever a-flying out at some one when parted from the object of
+their affections), I held my peace; and so we walked on in sullen
+silence for a space; then, turning suddenly upon me, she cries in a
+trembling voice:
+
+"Won't you say something to me? Can't you see that I am unhappy?"
+
+And now, seeing her eyes full of tears, her lips quivering, and her face
+drawn with pain, my heart melted in a moment; so, taking her arm under
+mine and pressing it to my side, I bade her be of good cheer, for her
+lover would return in a day or two at the outside.
+
+"No, not of him,--not of him," she entreats. "Talk to me of indifferent
+things."
+
+So, thinking to turn her thoughts to another furrow, I told her how I
+had been to visit her father at Greenwich.
+
+"My father," says she, stopping short. "Oh, what a heartless, selfish
+creature am I! I have not thought of him in my happiness. Nay, had he
+been dead I could not have forgot him more. You saw him--is he well?"
+
+"As hearty as you could wish, and full of love for you, and rejoiced
+beyond measure to know you are to marry a brave, honest gentleman." Then
+I told how we had drunk to their health, and how her father had smashed
+his mug for a fancy. And this bringing a smile to her cheek, I went on
+to tell how he craved to see Mr. Godwin and grip his hand.
+
+"Oh, if he could see what a noble, handsome man my Richard is!" cries
+she. "I do think my heart would ache for pride."
+
+"Why, so it shall," says I, "for your father does intend to come hither
+before long."
+
+"He is coming to see my dear husband!" says she, her face aglow with
+joy.
+
+"Aye, but he does promise to be most circumspect, and appear as if,
+returning from a voyage, he had come but to see how you fare, and will
+stay no longer than is reasonably civil."
+
+"Only that," says she, her countenance falling again, "we are to hide
+our love, pretend indifference, behave towards this dear father as if he
+were nought to me but a friend."
+
+"My dear," says I, "'tis no new part you have to play."
+
+"I know it," she answers hotly, "but that makes it only the worse."
+
+"Well, what would you?"
+
+"Anything" (with passion). "I would do anything but cheat and cozen the
+man I love." Then, after some moments' silence o' both sides, "Oh, if I
+were really Judith Godwin!"
+
+"If you were she, you'd be in Barbary now, and have neither father nor
+lover; is that what you want?" says I, with some impatience.
+
+"Bear with me," says she, with a humility as strange in her as these
+new-born scruples of conscience.
+
+"You may be sure of this, my dear," says I, in a gentler tone, "if you
+were anything but what you are, Mr. Godwin would not marry you."
+
+"Why, then, not tell him what I am?" asks she, boldly.
+
+"That means that you would be to-morrow what you're not to-day."
+
+"If he told me he had done wrong, I could forgive him, and love him none
+the less."
+
+"Your conditions are not the same. He is a gentleman by birth, you but a
+player's daughter. Come, child, be reasonable. Ponder this matter but a
+moment justly, and you shall see that you have all to lose and nought to
+gain by yielding to this idle fancy. Is he lacking in affection, that
+you would seek to stimulate his love by this hazardous experiment?"
+
+"Oh, no, no, no!" cries she.
+
+"Would he be happier knowing all?" (She shakes her head.) "Happier if
+you force him to give you up and seek another wife?" (She starts as if
+flicked with a whip.) "Would _you_ be happier stripped of your
+possessions, cast out of your house, and forced to fly from justice with
+your father?" (She looks at me in pale terror.) "Why, then, there's
+nothing to be won, and what's to lose? the love of a noble, honest
+gentleman, the joy of raising him from penury."
+
+"Oh, say no more," cries she, in passion. "I know not what madness
+possessed me to overlook such consequences. I kiss you for bringing me
+to my senses" (with that she catches up my hand and presses her lips to
+it again and again). "Look in my face," cries she, "and if you find a
+lurking vestige of irresolution there, I'll tear it out."
+
+Indeed, I could see nothing but set determination in her countenance,--a
+most hard expression of fixed resolve, that seemed to age her by ten
+years, astonishing me not less than those other phases in her rapidly
+developing character.
+
+"Now," says she, quickly, and with not a note of her repining tone,
+"what was that you spoke of lately,--you are to be our steward?"
+
+"Yes," says I, "for Mr. Godwin has declared most firmly that the moment
+he has authority he will cast Simon out for his disloyalty."
+
+"I will not leave that ungrateful duty to him," says she. "Take me to
+this wretch at once, and choose the shortest path."
+
+I led her back across the common, and coming to Simon's lodge, she
+herself knocked loudly at the door.
+
+Seeing who it was through his little grating, Simon quickly opens the
+door, and with fawning humility entreats her to step into his poor room,
+and there he stands, cringing and mopping his eyes, in dreadful
+apprehension, as having doubtless gathered from some about the house how
+matters stood betwixt Moll and Mr. Godwin.
+
+"Where are your keys?" demands Moll, in a very hard, merciless voice.
+
+Perceiving how the land lay, and finding himself thus beset, old Simon
+falls to his usual artifices, turning this way and that, like a rat in a
+pit, to find some hole for escape. First he feigns to misunderstand,
+then, clapping his hands in his pockets, he knows not where he can have
+laid them; after that fancies he must have given them to his man Peter,
+who is gone out of an errand, etc.; until Moll, losing patience, cut him
+short by declaring the loss of the keys unimportant, as doubtless a
+locksmith could be found to open his boxes and drawers without 'em.
+
+"My chief requirement is," adds she, "that you leave this house
+forthwith, and return no more."
+
+Upon this, finding further evasion impossible, the old man turns to bay,
+and asks upon what grounds she would dismiss him without writ or
+warrant.
+
+"'Tis sufficient," returns she, "that this house is mine, and that I
+will not have you a day longer for my tenant or my servant. If you
+dispute my claim,--as I am told you do,--you may take what lawful means
+you please to dispossess me of my estate, and at the same time redress
+what wrong is done you."
+
+Seeing his secret treachery discovered, Simon falls now to his whining
+arts, telling once more of his constant toil to enrich her, his thrift
+and self-denial; nay, he even carries it so far as to show that he did
+but incite Mr. Godwin to dispute her title to the estate, that thereby
+her claim should be justified before the law to the obtaining of her
+succession without further delay, and at the expense of her cousin,
+which did surpass anything I had ever heard of for artfulness. But this
+only incensed Moll the more.
+
+"What!" cries she, "you would make bad blood between two cousins, to the
+ruin and disgrace of one, merely to save the expense of some beggarly
+fees! I'll hear no more. Go at once, or I will send for my servants to
+carry you out by force."
+
+He stood some moments in deliberation, and then he says, with a certain
+dignity unusual to him, "I will go." Then he casts his eye slowly round
+the room, with a lingering regard for his piles of documents and
+precious boxes of title deeds, as if he were bidding a last farewell to
+all that was dear to him on earth, and grotesque as his appearance might
+be, there was yet something pathetic in it. But even at this moment his
+ruling passion prevailed.
+
+"There is no need," says he, "to burst these goodly locks by force. I do
+bethink me the keys are here" (opening a drawer, and laying them upon
+the table). Then dropping his head, he goes slowly to the door, but
+there he turns, lifting his head and fixing his rheumy eyes on Moll. "I
+will take nothing from this house, not even the chattels that belong to
+me, bought from the mean wage I have allowed myself. So shalt thou judge
+of my honesty. They shall stand here till I return, for that I shall
+return I am as fully persuaded as that a just God doth dispose of his
+creatures. Thee hast might on thy side, woman, but whether thee hast
+right as well, shall yet be proven--not by the laws of man, which are an
+invention of the devil to fatten rogues upon the substance of fools, but
+by the law of Heaven, to which I do appeal with all my soul" (lifting
+high his shaking hands). "Morning and night I will pray that God shall
+smite with heavy hand which of us two hath most wronged the other. Offer
+the same prayer if thee darest."
+
+I do confess that this parting shot went home to my conscience, and
+troubled my mind considerably; for feeling that he was in the right of
+it as regarded our relative honesty, I was constrained to think that his
+prophecy might come true also to our shame and undoing. But Moll was
+afflicted with no such qualms, her spirit being very combative and high,
+and her conscience (such as it was) being hardened by our late
+discussion to resist sharper slaps than this. Nay, maintaining that
+Simon must be dishonest by the proof we had of his hypocrisy and double
+dealing, she would have me enter upon my office at once by sending
+letters to all her tenants, warning them to pay no rent to any one
+lately in her service, but only to me; and these letters (which kept my
+pen going all that afternoon) she signed with the name of Judith Godwin,
+which seemed to me a very bold, dangerous piece of business; but she
+would have it so, and did her signature with a strong hand and a
+flourish of loops beneath like any queen.
+
+Nor was this all; for the next morning she would have me go to that Mr.
+Goodman, who had offered to buy her farm for ready money, and get what I
+could from him, seeing that she must furnish herself with fresh gowns
+and make other outlay for her coming marriage. So to him I go, and after
+much haggling (having learnt from Simon that the land was worth more
+than he offered for it), I brought him to give six thousand pounds
+instead of five, and this was clearly better business on his side than
+on mine at that, for that the bargain might not slip from his hands he
+would have me take three thousand pounds down as a handsell, leaving the
+rest to be paid when the deed of transference was drawn up.
+
+And now as I jogged home with all this gold chinking in my pockets, I
+did feel that I had thrust my head fairly into a halter, and no chance
+left of drawing it out. Look at it how I might, this business wore a
+most curst aspect, to be sure; nor could I regard myself as anything but
+a thoroughpaced rogue.
+
+"For," thinks I, "if old Simon's prayer be answered, what will become of
+this poor Mr. Goodman? His title deeds will be wrested from him, for
+they are but stolen goods he is paying for, and thus an innocent, honest
+man will be utterly ruined. And for doing this villany I may count
+myself lucky if my heels save my neck."
+
+With this weight on my mind, I resolved to be very watchful and careful
+of my safety, and before I fell asleep that night I had devised a dozen
+schemes for making good my escape as soon as I perceived danger;
+nevertheless, I could dream of nothing but prisons, scourgings, etc.,
+and in every vision I perceived old Simon in his leather skull-cap
+sitting on the top of Tyburn tree, with his handkercher a-hanging down
+ready to strangle me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+
+_A table of various accidents._
+
+
+As your guide, showing you an exhibition of paintings, will linger over
+the first room, and then pass the second in hurried review to come the
+quicker to a third of greater interest, so I, having dwelt, may be, at
+undue length upon some secondary passages in this history, must
+economise my space by touching lightly on the events that came
+immediately before Moll's marriage, and so get to those more moving
+accidents which followed. Here, therefore, will I transcribe certain
+notes (forming a brief chronicle) from that secret journal which, for
+the clearer understanding of my position, I began to keep the day I took
+possession of Simon's lodge and entered upon my new office.
+
+_December 8._ Very busy all this forenoon setting my new house in order,
+conveying, with the help of the gardener, all those domestic and
+personal goods that belong to Simon into the attick; but Lord! so few
+these things, and they so patched and worn, that altogether they are not
+worth ten shillings of anybody's money. I find the house wondrous neat
+and clean in every part, but so comfortless and prison-like, that I look
+forward with little relish to living here when the time comes for me to
+leave the Court. After this to examining books, papers, etc., and the
+more closely I look into these, the more assured I am that never was any
+servant more scrupulous, exact, and honest in his master's service than
+this old steward, which puts me to the hope that I may be only half as
+faithful to my trust as he, but I do fear I shall not.
+
+Conversing privily with Don Sanchez after dinner, he gave me his opinion
+that we had done a very unwise thing in turning out old Simon, showing
+how by a little skill I might have persuaded Moll to leave this business
+to Mr. Godwin as the proper ruler of her estate; how by such delay Mr.
+Godwin's resentment would have abated and he willing to listen to good
+argument in the steward's favour; how then we should have made Simon
+more eager than ever to serve us in order to condone his late offence,
+and how by abusing our opportunities we had changed this useful servant
+to a dangerous enemy whose sole endeavour must be to undo us and recover
+his former position, etc.... "Why, what have we to fear of this
+miserable old man?" says I. "Unless he fetch Mrs. Godwin from Barbary,
+he cannot disprove Moll's right to the estate, and what else can he do?"
+
+"There's the mischief of it," answers he. "'Tis because you know not how
+he may attack you that you have no means of defending yourself. 'Tis
+ever the unseen trifle in our path which trips us up." And dismissing
+this part of the subject with a hunch of his shoulders, he advises me
+seriously to sell as many more farms as I may for ready money, and keep
+it in some secret convenient corner where I may lay hands on it at a
+moment's warning.
+
+This discourse coming atop of a night's ill rest, depressed my mind to
+such a degree that I could take no interest in my work, but sat there in
+my naked room with my accounts before me, and no spirit to cast 'em up,
+Nor was I much happier when I gave up work and returned to the Court.
+For, besides having to wait an hour later than usual for dinner, Moll's
+treatment of me was none of the best,--she being particularly perverse
+and contrary, for having dressed herself in her best in expectation of
+her lover's return, and he not coming when at last she permitted supper
+to be dished. We were scarcely seated, however, when she springs up with
+a cry of joy and runs from the room, crying she hears her Richard's
+step, which was indeed true, though we had heard nothing more pleasant
+than the rattle of our plates. Presently they come in, all radiant with
+happiness, hand in hand, and thenceforth nought but sweetness and mirth
+on the part of Mistress Moll, who before had been all frown and pout. At
+supper Mr. Godwin tells us how his sweetheart hath certainly dispelled
+the clouds that have hung so long over him, he having heard in London
+that Sir Peter Lely, on seeing one of his pieces, desires to see him at
+Hatfield (where he is painting) on good business, and to Hatfield he
+will go to discharge this matter before his marriage; which joyeth Moll
+less than me, I being pleased to see he is still of the same, stout
+disposition to live an active life. In the evening he gives Moll a very
+beautiful ring for a troth token, which transports her with joy, so that
+she cannot enough caress her lover or this toy, but falls first to
+kissing one and then t'other in a rapture. In return, she gives him a
+ring from her finger. "'Tis too small for my finger, love," says he;
+"but I will wear it against my heart as long as it beats." After that he
+finds another case and puts it in Moll's hand, and she, opening it,
+fetches her breath quickly and can say nothing for amazement; then,
+turning it in the light, she regards it with winking eyes, as if dazzled
+by some fierce brilliancy. And so closing the case as if it were too
+much for her, she lays her face upon Mr. Godwin's breast, he having his
+arm about her, murmuring some inarticulate words of passionate love.
+Recovering her energies presently, she starts up, and putting the case
+in her lover's hand, she bids him put on his gift, therewith pulling
+down her kerchief to expose her beautiful bare neck, whereupon he draws
+from the box a diamond collar and clasps it about her throat with a
+pretty speech. And truly this was a gift worthy of a princess, the most
+beautiful bauble I have ever seen, and must have cost him all he had of
+me to the last shilling.
+
+_December 10._ Finding amongst Simon's quittances a bill for law
+expenses of one John Pearson, attorney, at Maidstone, I concluded this
+must be the most trustworthy man of his kind in the country; and so set
+forth early this morning to seek him,--a tedious, long journey, and the
+roads exceedingly foul. By good luck I found Mr. Pearson at home,--a
+very civil, shrewd man, as I think. Having laid my business before him,
+he tells me there will be no difficulty in dividing the estate according
+to the wish of Mr. Godwin and Moll, which may be done by a simple deed
+of agreement; and this he promises to draw up, and send to us for
+signature in a couple of days. But to get the seal to Moll's succession
+will not be such an easy matter, and, unless we are willing to give
+seven or eight hundred pounds in fees, we may be kept waiting a year,
+with the chance of being put to greater expense to prove our right; for
+he tells me the court and all about it are so corrupt that no minister
+is valued if he do not, by straight or crooked ways, draw money into the
+treasury, and that they will rather impede than aid the course of
+justice if it be to the king's interest, and that none will stir a hand
+to the advantage of any one but the king, unless it be secretly to his
+own, etc. And, though he will say nothing against Simon, save (by way of
+hint) that all men must be counted honest till they are proved guilty,
+yet he do apprehend he will do all in his power to obstruct the granting
+of this seal, which it is only reasonable to suppose he will. So, to
+close this discussion, I agree he shall spend as much as one thousand
+pounds in bribery, and he thinks we may certainly look to have it in a
+month at that price. Home late, and very sore.
+
+_December 11._ Much astonished this morning on going to my house to find
+all changed within as if by inchantment--fine hangings to my windows,
+handsome furniture in every room, all arranged in due order (with a pair
+of pictures in my parlour), the linen press stocked with all that is
+needful and more, and even the cellar well garnished with wines, etc.
+And truly thus embellished my house looks no longer like a prison, but
+as cheerful and pleasant a dwelling-place as the heart of man could
+desire (in moderation), and better than any I have yet dreamt of
+possessing. And 'twas easy to guess whose hands had worked this
+transformation, even had I not recognised certain pieces of furniture as
+coming from the Court, for 'twas of a piece with Moll's loving and
+playful spirit to prepare this surprise for me while I was gone
+yesterday to Maidstone. I am resolved I will sleep here
+henceforth,--there being two bedrooms all properly furnished,--as being
+more in keeping with my new position.
+
+_December 13._ This day a little before dinner time came Dawson to the
+Court, quite sober and looking as like a rough honest seaman as anything
+could be, but evidently with his best shore-going manners on. And when
+Moll very graciously offers him her hand, he whips out a red handkercher
+and lays it over her hand before kissing it, which was a piece of
+ceremony he must have observed at Greenwich, as also many odd phrases
+and sea expressions with which he garnished his conversation.
+
+"Captain Evans," says Moll, taking her lover's hand, "this is Mr.
+Godwin, my cousin, and soon to be my husband."
+
+Mr. Godwin holds forth his hand, but ere he would take it, Dawson looks
+him full in the face a good minute; then, taking it in his great grimy
+hand, and grasping it firmly, "Master," says Jack, "I see thou art an
+honest man, and none lives who hath ever sold me tar for pitch, be he
+never so double-faced, and so I wish you joy of your sweet wife. As for
+you, Mistress" (turning to Moll) "who have ever been kind to me beyond
+my deserts, I do wish you all the happiness in the world, and I count
+all my hardships well paid in bringing you safely to this anchorage. For
+sure I would sooner you were still Lala Mollah and a slave in Barbary
+than the Queen of Chiney and ill-mated; and so Lord love the both of
+you!"
+
+After staying a couple of hours with us, he was for going (but not
+before he had given us the instructive history of the torment he had
+endured, by telling his wife, in an unguarded moment, of his gallantries
+with Sukey Taylor), nor would he be persuaded to sleep at the Court and
+leave next day, maintaining that whilst he had never a penny in the
+world he could very honestly accept Moll's hospitality, but that now
+being well-to-do, thanks to her bounty, he blessed Heaven he had
+sufficient good breeding, and valued himself well enough not to take
+advantage of her beneficence. However, hearing I had a house of my own,
+and could offer him a bed, he willingly agreed to be my guest for the
+night, regarding me as one of his own quality. We stayed to sup at the
+Court, where he entertained us with a lengthy account of his late
+voyage, and how being taken in a tempest, his masts had all been swept
+by the board, and his craft so damaged that 'twas as much as she would
+hold together till he brought her into Falmouth, where she must lie
+a-repairing a good two months ere he could again venture to sea in her.
+And this story he told with such an abundance of detail and so many
+nautical particulars, that no one in the world could have dreamt he was
+lying.
+
+He explained to me later on that he had refused to lie at the Court, for
+fear a glass or two after supper might lead his tongue astray, telling
+me that he had touched nothing but penny ale all his long journey from
+London, for fear of losing his head; and on my asking why he had
+fabricated that long history of shipwreck he vowed I had put him to it
+by saying I had a house of my own where he could lie; "For," says he,
+"my ship being laid up will furnish me with a very good excuse for
+coming to spend a day or two with you now and then. So may I get another
+glimpse of my own dear Moll, and see her in the fulness of her joy."
+
+He could not sufficiently cry up the excellence of Mr. Godwin, his noble
+bearing, his frank, honest countenance, his tenderness for Moll, etc.,
+and he did truly shed tears of gratitude to think that now, whatever
+befell him, her welfare and happiness were assured; but this was when he
+had emptied his bottle and had got to that stage of emotion which
+usually preceded boisterous hilarity when he was in his cups.
+
+And whilst I am speaking of bottles, it will not be amiss to note here,
+for my future warning, a grave imprudence of mine, which I discovered on
+leaving the room to seek more wine. On the flame of my candle blowing
+aside, I perceived that I had left my door unfastened, so that it now
+stood ajar. And, truly, this was as culpable a piece of oversight as I
+could well have committed; for here, had an enemy, or even an idle
+busybody, been passing, he might very well have entered the little
+passage and overheard that which had been our undoing to have made
+known.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+
+_How Moll Dawson was married to Mr. Richard Godwin; brief account of
+attendant circumstances._
+
+
+_December 14._ Dawson left us this morning. In parting, Mr. Godwin
+graciously begged him to come to his wedding feast on Christmas
+day,--they having fixed upon Christmas eve to be married,--and Dawson
+promised he would; but he did assure me afterwards, as we were walking
+along the road to meet the stage waggon, that he would certainly feign
+some reason for not coming. "For," says he, "I am not so foolhardy as to
+jeopardise my Moll's happiness for the pleasure this feast would give
+me. Nay, Kit, I do think 'twould break my heart indeed, if anything of
+my doing should mar my Moll's happiness." And I was very well pleased to
+find him in this humour, promising him that we would make amends for his
+abstinence on this occasion by cracking many a bottle to Moll's joy when
+we could come together again secretly at my house. In the afternoon Mr.
+Pearson's clerk brought the deed of agreement for the settlement of the
+estate upon Moll and Mr. Godwin, which they signed, and so that is
+finished as we would have it. This clerk tells me his master hath
+already gone to London about getting the seal. So all things look mighty
+prosperous.
+
+_December 17._ Fearing to displease Sir Peter Lely by longer delay, Mr.
+Godwin set out for Hatfield Tuesday, we--that is, Moll, Don Sanchez, and
+I--going with him as far as the borough, where Moll had a thousand
+things to buy against her wedding. And here we found great activity of
+commerce, and many shops filled with excellent good goods,--more than
+ever there were before the great fire drove out so many tradesmen from
+the city. Here Moll spends her money royally, buying whatever catches
+her eye that is rich and beautiful, not only for her own personal
+adornment, but for the embellishment of her house (as hangings, damasks,
+toys, etc.), yet always with a consideration of Mr. Godwin's taste, so
+that I think she would not buy a pair of stockings but she must ask
+herself whether he would admire 'em. And the more she had, the more
+eager she grew to have, buying by candle-light, which was an imprudence,
+and making no sort of bargain, but giving all the shopkeepers asked for
+their wares, which, to be sure, was another piece of recklessness. This
+business seemed to me the most wearisome in the world, but it served
+only to increase her energies, and she would not be persuaded to desist
+until, the shops closing, she could lay out no more money that night.
+Supped very well (but mighty late) at the Tabard inn, where we lay all
+night. And the next morning, Moll's fever still unabated, we set out
+again a-shopping, and no rest until we caught the stage (and that by a
+miracle) at four; and so home, dead beat.
+
+_December 18._ Moll mad all day because the carrier hath brought but
+half her purchases, and they not what she wanted. By the evening waggon
+come three seamstresses she engaged yesterday morning, and they are to
+stay in the house till all is finished; but as yet nothing for them to
+do, which is less grievous to them than to poor Moll, who, I believe,
+would set 'em working all night for fear she shall not be fitted against
+her wedding.
+
+_December 19._ Thank God, the carrier brought all our packages this
+morning, and they being all undone and laid out, there is no sitting
+down anywhere with comfort, but all confusion, and no regularity
+anywhere, so I was content to get my meals in the kitchen the best I
+could. And here I do perceive the wisdom of Don Sanchez, who did not
+return with us from London, and does intend (he told me) to stay there
+till the wedding eve. _December 20._ Moll, bit by a new maggot, tells me
+this morning she will have a great feast on Christmas day, and bids me
+order matters accordingly. She will have a whole ox roasted before the
+house by midday, and barrels of strong ale set up, that there may be
+meat and drink for all who choose to take it; and at four she will have
+a supper of geese, turkeys, and plum puddings for all her tenants, their
+wives and sweethearts, with fiddles afterwards for dancing, etc. Lord
+knows how we shall come out of this madness; but I have got the
+innkeeper (a busy, capable man) to help me, and he does assure me all
+will go well enough, and I pray he be right.
+
+_December 21._ Sick with fears that all must end ill. For the place is a
+very Babel for tradesmen and workpeople bringing in goods, and knowing
+not where to set them, servants hurrying this way and that, one charged
+with a dozen geese, another with silk petticoats, jostling each other,
+laughing, quarrelling, and no sort of progress, as it seems, anywhere,
+but all tumult and disorder.
+
+_December 22._ Could not sleep a wink all last night for casting up
+accounts of all this feasting and finery will cost us, and finding it
+must eat up all that money we had of poor Mr. Goodman, and make a deep
+hole in our quarter's rents besides, I fell a speculating whether our
+tenants would pay me with the same punctuality they have used to pay old
+Simon, with grievous fears to the contrary. For, assuredly, Simon hath
+not been idle these past days, and will do us an ill turn if he can, by
+throwing doubts before these same tenants whether they should pay or not
+before Moll's succession is made sure. And I have good reason to fear
+they will not, for I observed yesterday when I called upon Farmer Giles
+to invite him to our feast, he seemed very jerky and ill at ease, which
+perplexed me greatly, until, on quitting, I perceived through a door
+that stood ajar old Simon seated in a side room. And 'tis but natural
+that if they find prudent excuse for withholding their rents they will
+keep their money in pocket, which will pinch us smartly when our bills
+come to be paid. Yet I conceived that this feast would incline our
+tenants to regard us kindly; but, on the other hand, thinks I, supposing
+they regard this as a snare, and do avoid us altogether! Then shall we
+be nipped another way; for, having no one to eat our feast but a few
+idle rogues, who would get beef and ale for nothing, we shall but lay
+ourselves open to mockery, and get further into discredit. Thus, betwixt
+one fear and another, I lay like a toad under a harrow, all night, in a
+mortal sweat and perturbation of spirit.
+
+Nor has this day done much to allay my apprehension. For at the Court
+all is still at sixes and sevens, none of a very cheerful spirit, but
+all mighty anxious, save Moll, who throughout has kept a high, bold
+spirit. And she does declare they will work all night, but everything
+shall be in its place before her lover comes to-morrow. And, truly, I
+pray they may, but do think they will not. For such a mighty business as
+this should have been begun a full month back. But she will not endure
+me in the house (though God knows I am as willing as any to help),
+saying that I do hinder all, and damp their spirit for work with my
+gloomy countenance, which is no more than the truth, I fear. The sky
+very overcast, with wind in the south and the air very muggy, mild, and
+close, so that I do apprehend our geese will be all stinking before they
+are eat. And if it pour of rain on Christmas day how will the ox be
+roast, and what sort of company can we expect? This puts me to another
+taking for dread of a new fiasco.
+
+_December 23._ Going to the Court about midday, I was dumbfounded to
+find no sign of the disorder that prevailed there yesterday, but all
+swept and garnished, and Moll in a brave new gown seated at her
+fireside, reading a book with the utmost tranquillity,--though I suspect
+she did assume something in this to increase my astonishment. She was
+largely diverted by my amazement, and made very light of her
+achievement; but she admitted that all had worked till daybreak, and she
+had slept but two hours since. Nevertheless, no one could have looked
+fresher and brighter than she, so healthy and vigorous are her natural
+parts. About one comes Mr. Godwin to cap her happiness and give fresh
+glory to her beauty. And sure a handsomer or better mated couple never
+was, Mr. Godwin's shapely figure being now set off to advantage by a
+very noble clothing, as becoming his condition. With him came also by
+the morning stage Don Sanchez, mighty fine in a new head, of the latest
+mode, and a figured silk coat and waistcoat. And seeing the brave show
+they made at table, I was much humbled to think I had gone to no expense
+in this particular. But I was yet more mortified when Don Sanchez
+presents Moll with a handsome set of jewels for a wedding gift, to see
+that I had nothing in the world to offer her, having as yet taken not a
+penny of her money, save for the use of others and my bare necessities.
+Moll, however, was too full of happiness to note this omission on my
+part; she could think of no one now but her dear husband, and I counted
+for nothing.
+
+However, this little chagrin was no more than a little cloud on a
+summer's day, which harms no one and is quickly dispelled by generous
+heat; and the tender affection of these two for each other did impart a
+glow of happiness to my heart. 'Tis strange to think how all things
+to-night look bright and hopeful, which yesterday were gloomy and
+awesome. Even the weather hath changed to keep in harmony with our
+condition. A fresh wind sprang up from the north this morning, and
+to-night every star shines out sharp and clear through the frosty air,
+promising well for to-morrow and our Christmas feast. And smelling of
+the geese, I do now find them all as sweet as nuts, which contents me
+mightily, and so I shall go to bed this night blessing God for all
+things.
+
+_December 24._ Now this blessed day hath ended, and Moll is sure and
+safely bound to Mr. Godwin in wedlock, thanks to Providence. Woke at
+daybreak and joyed to find all white without and covered with rime,
+sparkling like diamonds as the sun rose red and jolly above the firs;
+and so I thought our dear Moll's life must sparkle as she looked out on
+this, which is like to be the brightest, happiest day of her life.
+Dressed in my best with great care, and put on the favour of white
+ribbons given me by Moll's woman last night, and so very well pleased
+with my looks, to the Court, where Moll is still a-dressing, but Mr.
+Godwin and Don Sanchez, nobly arrayed, conversing before the fire. And
+here a great bowpot on the table (which Mr. Godwin had made to come from
+London this morning) of the most wondrous flowers I have ever seen at
+this time of the year, so that I could not believe them real at first,
+but they are indeed living; and Mr. Godwin tells me they are raised in
+houses of glass very artificially heated. Presently comes in Moll with
+her maids, she looking like any pearl, in a shining gown of white satin
+decked with rich lace, the collar of diamonds glittering about her white
+throat, her face suffused with happy blushes and past everything for
+sprightly beauty. Mr. Godwin offers his bowpot and takes her into his
+arms, and there for a moment she lay with closed eyes and a pallor
+spreading over her cheek as if this joy were more than her heart could
+bear; but recovering quickly, she was again all lively smiles and
+radiance.
+
+Then comes a letter, brought by the night carrier, from her father (a
+most dirty, ill-written scrawl signed Robert Evans with his mark),
+praying he may be excused, as his masts are to be stepped o' Wednesday,
+and he must take the occasion of a ketch leaving Dartford for Falmouth
+this day, and at the same time begging her acceptance of a canister of
+China tea (which is, I learn, become a fashionable dish in London) as a
+marriage offering. Soon after this a maid runs in to say the church
+bells are a-ringing; so out we go into the crisp, fresh air, with not a
+damp place to soil Moll's pretty shoes--she and Mr. Godwin first, her
+maids next, carrying her train, and the Don and I closing the
+procession, very stately. In the churchyard stand two rows of village
+maids with baskets to strew rosemary and sweet herbs in our path, and
+within the church a brave show of gentlefolks, friends and neighbours,
+to honour the wedding.
+
+But here was I put to a most horrid quaking the moment I passed the
+door, to perceive old Simon standing foremost in the throng about the
+altar, in his leather cap (which he would not remove for clerk or
+sexton, but threatened them, as I am told, with the law if they lay a
+finger on him). And seeing him there, I must needs conclude that he
+intended to do us an ill turn, for his face wore the most wicked, cruel,
+malicious look that ever thirst of vengeance could impart. Indeed, I
+expected nothing less than that he would forbid the marriage on such
+grounds as we had too good reason to fear; and with this dread I
+regarded Moll, who also could not fail to see him. Her face whitened as
+she looked at him, but her step never faltered, and this peril seemed
+but to fortify her courage and resolution; and indeed I do think by her
+high bearing and the defiance in her eye as she held her lover's arm
+that she was fully prepared to make good answer if he challenged her
+right to marry Mr. Godwin. But (the Lord be thanked!) he did not put her
+to this trial, only he stood there like a thing of evil omen to mar the
+joy of this day with fearful foreboding.
+
+I can say nothing about the ceremony, for all my attention was fixed
+upon this hideous Simon, and I had no relief until 'twas safely ended
+and Moll's friends pressed forward to kiss the bride and offer their
+good wishes; nor did I feel really at ease until we were back again at
+the Court, and seated to a fine dinner, with all the friends who would
+join us, whereof there were as many as could sit comfortably to the long
+table. This feast was very joyous and merry, and except that the parson
+would be facetious over his bottle, nothing unseemingly or immodest was
+said. So we stayed at table in exceeding good fellowship till the
+candles were lit, and then the parson, being very drunk, we made a
+pretext of carrying him home to break up our company and leave the happy
+couple to their joy.
+
+_December 26._ Down betimes yesterday morning to find the sky still
+clear, the air brisk and dry, and ample promise of a fair day. To the
+Court, and there perceive the great ox spitted on a stout fir pole, and
+the fire just kindling; John the gardener setting up the barrels of
+beer, and a famous crowd of boys and beggars already standing before the
+gates. And there they might have stayed till their dinner was cooked,
+ere I had let them in, but Moll coming down from the house with her
+husband, and seeing this shivering crew, their pinched cheeks yellow and
+their noses blue with cold, and so famished with hunger they could
+scarce find strength to cry, "God bless you, merry gentlefolks!" she
+would have them taste at once some of that happiness with which her
+heart was overflowing, and so did with her own hands unbolt the gates
+and set them wide, bidding the halting wretches come in and warm
+themselves. Not content with this, she sends up to the house for loaves
+and gives every one a hunch of bread and a mug of ale to stay his empty
+stomach. And Lord, 'twas a pleasure to see these poor folks' joy--how
+they spread their hands out to the flames; how they cockered up the fire
+here and there to brown their ox equally, with all hands now and then to
+turn him on the spit; how they would set their bread to catch the
+dropping gravy; and how they would lift their noses to catch the savoury
+whiffs that came from the roasting beef.
+
+This is all very well, thinks I, but how about our geese and turkeys?
+will our tenants come, or shall we find that Simon hath spoilt their
+appetite, and so be left with nought but starved beggars for our
+company? However, before four o'clock an end was put to these doubts,
+for some in waggons, others on horse, with their wives or sweethearts on
+pillions behind, clasping their men tight, and the rest afoot, all came
+that were asked by me, and more, and pretty jolly already with ale on
+the road, and a great store of mistletoe amongst them for their further
+merriment. And what pleased me as much as anything was to find all
+mighty civil to Moll--nearly all offering her a Christmas box of fresh
+eggs, honey, and such homely produce, which she received with the most
+pretty, winning grace, that went home to every heart, so that the
+hardest faces were softened with a glow of contentment and admiration.
+Then down we sat to table, Moll at one end and her husband beside her;
+Don Sanchez and I at t'other; and all the rest packed as close as sprats
+in a barrel; but every lad squeezing closer to his lass to make room for
+his neighbour, we found room for all and not a sour look anywhere. Dear
+heart! what appetites they had, yet would waste nothing, but picked
+every one his bone properly clean (which did satisfy me nothing was
+amiss with our geese), and great cheering when the puddings and
+flapdragons came in all aflame, and all as merry as grigs--flinging of
+lighted plums at each other, but most mannerly not to fling any at Moll
+or us. Then more shouting for joy when the bowls of wassail and posset
+come in, and all standing to give three times three for their new
+mistress and her husband. Hearing of which, the beggars without (now
+tired of dancing about the embers) troop up to the door and give three
+times three as well, and end with crying joy and long life to the wedded
+pair. When this tumult was ended and the door shut, Mr. Godwin gave a
+short oration, thanking our tenants for their company and good wishes;
+and then he told them how his dear wife and he, wishing others to share
+their joy and remember this day, had resolved to forgive every tenant
+one-half of his quarter's rent. "And so, Mr. Hopkins," says he,
+addressing me, "you will think of this to-morrow."
+
+At first I was disposed to begrudge this munificence--thinking of my
+accounts and the bills I should have to pay ere rent day came again; but
+on second thoughts it rejoiced me much as being a counterblast to
+anything Simon could do against us. For no tenant, thinks I, will be
+fool enough to withold payment when he may get his quittance to-morrow
+for half its value. And herein was I not mistaking; for to-day every
+tenant hath paid with a cheerful countenance. So that this is very good
+business, and I am not in any way astonished to find that our subtle
+Spaniard was at the bottom of it, for indeed it was Don Sanchez who
+(knowing my fears on this head and thinking them well-grounded)
+suggested this act of generosity to Moll, which she, in her fulness of
+heart, seized on at once. (Truly, I believe she would give the clothes
+off her back, no matter what it cost her, to any one in need, so
+reckless is she in love and pity.)
+
+_December 27._ Don Sanchez took leave of us this day, he setting forth
+for Spain to-morrow, with the hope to reach his friends there, for their
+great feast of the New Year. And we are all mighty sorry to lose him;
+for not only hath he been a rare good friend to us, but also he is a
+most seemly gentleman (to keep us in countenance), and a very good
+staunch and reliable companion. But this comprises not all our loss, he
+having, as I confess, more wit in his little finger than we in all our
+bodies, and being ever ready with an expedient in the hour of need; and
+I know not why, but I look on his going as a sign of coming evil; nor am
+I greatly comforted by his telling me privily that when we want him he
+shall be found by a letter sent to the Albego Puerto del Sole, Toledo,
+in Spain. And I pray Heaven we have no occasion to write to him.
+
+To-night at supper I find Moll all cock-a-hoop with a new delight, by
+reason of her dear husband offering to take her to London for a month to
+visit the theatres and other diversions, which put me to a new quirk for
+fear Moll should be known by any of our former playhouse companions. But
+this I now perceive is a very absurd fear; for no one in the world who
+had seen Moll three years ago--a half-starved, long-legged, raw
+child--could recognise her now, a beautiful, well-proportioned young
+woman in her fine clothes; and so my mind is at ease on this head. When
+Moll was retired, Mr. Godwin asked if I could let him have a few
+hundreds upon his account, and I answered very willingly he shall. And
+now setting aside enough to pay all bills and furnish our wants till
+next quarter day, I am resolved to give him every farthing left of the
+rents paid yesterday, and shall be most hearty glad to be rid of it, for
+this money do seem to scar my hands every time I touch it; nor can I
+look at it but my heart is wrung with pity for those poor tenants who
+paid so gleefully yesterday, for surely their quittances will hold good
+for no more than spoilt paper if ever our roguery is discovered.
+
+_December 28._ This day Moll and Mr. Godwin set out for London, all
+smiles and gladness, and Moll did make me promise to visit them there,
+and share their pleasures. But if I have no more appetite for gaiety
+than I feel at this moment, I shall do better to stay here and mind my
+business; though I do expect to find little pleasure in that, and must
+abide by a month of very dull, gloomy days.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+
+_Of the great change in Moll, and the likely explanation thereof._
+
+
+A week before the promised month was up, Moll and her husband came back
+to the Court, and lest I should imagine that her pleasures had been
+curtailed by his caprice, she was at great pains to convince me that he
+had yielded to her insistence in this matter, declaring she was sick of
+theatres, ridottos, masquerades, and sight-seeing, and had sighed to be
+home ere she had been in London a week. This surprised me exceedingly,
+knowing how passionate fond she had ever been of the playhouse and
+diversions of any kind, and remembering how eager she was to go to town
+with her husband; and I perceived there was more significance in the
+present distaste for diversion than she would have known. And I observed
+further (when the joy of return and ordering her household subsided)
+that she herself had changed in these past three weeks, more than was to
+be expected in so short a time. For, though she seemed to love her
+husband more than ever she had loved him as her lover, and could not be
+happy two minutes out of his company, 'twas not that glad, joyous love
+of the earlier days, but a yearning, clinging passion, that made me sad
+to see, for I could not look upon the strained, anxious tenderness in
+her young face without bethinking me of my poor sister, as she knelt
+praying by her babe's cot for God to spare its frail life.
+
+Yet her husband never looked more hearty and strong, and every look and
+word of his bespoke increasing love. The change in her was not
+unperceived by him, and often he would look down into her wistful,
+craving eyes as if he would ask of her, "What is it, love? tell me all."
+And she, as understanding this appeal, would answer nothing, but only
+shake her head, still gazing into his kind eyes as if she would have him
+believe she had nought to tell.
+
+These things made me very thoughtful and urgent to find some
+satisfactory explanation. To be sure, thinks I, marriage is but the
+beginning of a woman's real life, and so one may not reasonably expect
+her to be what she was as a thoughtless child. And 'tis no less natural
+that a young wife should love to be alone with her husband, rather than
+in the midst of people who must distract his thoughts from her; as also
+it is right and proper she should wish to be in her own home, directing
+her domestic affairs and tending to her husband--showing him withal she
+is a good and thoughtful housewife. But why these pensive tristful
+looks, now she hath her heart's desire? Then, finding I must seek some
+better explanation of her case, I bethought me she must have had a very
+hard, difficult task in London to conceal from one, who was now a part
+of herself, her knowledge of so many things it was unbefitting she
+should reveal. At the playhouse she must feign astonishment at all she
+saw, as having never visited one before, and keep constant guard upon
+herself lest some word slipped her lips to reveal her acquaintance with
+the players and their art. At the ridotto she must equally feign
+ignorance of modish dancing--she whose nimble feet had tripped to every
+measure since she could stand alone. There was scarcely a subject on
+which she would dare to speak without deliberation, and she must check
+her old habit of singing and be silent, lest she fall by hazard to
+humming some known tune. Truly, under such continuous strain (which none
+but such a trained actress could maintain for a single day) her spirit
+must have wearied. And if this part was hard to play in public, where we
+are all, I take it, actors of some sort and on the alert to sustain the
+character we would have our own, how much more difficult must it be in
+private when we drop our disguise and lay our hearts open to those we
+love! And here, as it seemed to me, I did hit rightly at the true cause
+of her present secret distress; for at home as abroad she must still be
+acting a part, weighing her words, guarding her acts--for ever to be
+hiding of something from her dearest friend--ever denying him that
+confidence he appealed for--ever keeping a cruel, biting bond upon the
+most generous impulse of her heart, closing that heart when it was
+bursting to open to her dear mate.
+
+Soon after their return Mr. Godwin set to work painting the head of a
+Sybil, which the Lord of Hatfield House had commanded, on the
+recommendation of Sir Peter Lely, taking Anne Fitch for his model, and
+she sitting in that room of the Court house he had prepared for his
+workshop. Here he would be at it every day, as long as there was light
+for his purpose, Moll, near at hand, watching him, ready to chat or hold
+her peace, according to his inclination--just as she had done when he
+was a-painting of the ceiling, only that now her regard was more intent
+upon him than his work, and when he turned to look at her, 'twas with
+interchange of undisguised love in their fond eyes. She ever had a piece
+of work or a book in her lap, but she made not half a dozen stitches or
+turned a single page in the whole day, for he was the sole occupation of
+her mind; the living book, ever yielding her sweet thoughts.
+
+This persevering, patient toil on his part did at first engender in my
+mind suspicion that some doubting thoughts urged him to assume his
+independence against any accident that might befall the estate; but now
+I believe 'twas nothing but a love of work and of his art, and that his
+mind was free from any taint of misgiving, as regards his wife's
+honesty. 'Tis likely enough, that spite her caution, many a word and
+sign escaped Moll, which an enemy would have quickly seized on to prove
+her culpable; but we do never see the faults of those we love (or,
+seeing them, have ready at a moment excuse to prove them no faults at
+all), and at this time Mr. Godwin's heart was so full of love, there was
+no place for other feeling. Venom from a rose had seemed to him more
+possible than evil, from one so natural, sweet, and beautiful as Moll.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+
+_Moll plays us a mad prank for the last time in her life._
+
+
+About once in a fortnight I contrived to go to London for a couple of
+days on some pretext of business, and best part of this time I spent
+with Dawson. And the first visit I paid him after the return of Moll and
+her husband, telling him of their complete happiness, Moll's increasing
+womanly beauty, and the prosperous aspect of our affairs (for I had that
+day positive assurance our seal would be obtained within a month), I
+concluded by asking if his mast might not now be stepped, and he be in a
+position to come to Chislehurst and see her as he had before.
+
+"No, Kit, thanking ye kindly," says he, after fighting it out with
+himself in silence a minute or two, "better not. I am getting in a
+manner used to this solitude, and bar two or three days a week when I
+feel a bit hangdog and hipped a-thinking there's not much in this world
+for an old fellow to live for when he's lost his child, I am pretty well
+content. It would only undo me. If you had a child--your own flesh and
+blood--part of your life--a child that had been to you what my sweet
+Moll hath been to me, you would comprehend better how I feel. To pretend
+indifference when you're longing to hug her to your heart, to talk of
+fair weather and foul when you're thinking of old times, and then to bow
+and scrape and go away without a single desire of your aching heart
+satisfied,--'tis more than a man with a spark of warmth in his soul can
+bear." And then he proceeded to give a dozen other reasons for declining
+the tempting bait,--the sum of all proving to my conviction that he was
+dying to see Moll, and I feared he would soon be doing by stealth that
+which it were much safer he should do openly.
+
+About a week after this I got a letter from him, asking me to come again
+as soon as I might, he having cut his hand with a chisel, "so that I
+cannot work my lathe, and having nothing to occupy my mind, do plague
+myself beyond endurance."
+
+Much concerned for my old friend, I lose no time in repairing to
+Greenwich, where I find him sitting idle before his lathe, with an arm
+hanging in a handkerchief, and his face very yellow; but this, I think,
+was of drinking too much ale. And here he fell speedily discoursing of
+Moll, saying he could not sleep of nights for thinking of the pranks she
+used to play us, our merry vagabond life together in Spain ere we got to
+Elche, etc., and how he missed her now more than ever he did before.
+After that, as I anticipated, he came in a shuffling, roundabout way (as
+one ashamed to own his weakness) to hinting at seeing Moll by stealth,
+declaring he would rather see her for two minutes now and again peering
+through a bush, though she should never cast a glance his way, than have
+her treat him as if she were not his child and ceased to feel any love
+for him. But seeing the peril of such ways, I would by no means consent
+to his hanging about the Court like a thief, and told him plainly that
+unless he would undo us all and ruin Moll, he must come openly as before
+or not at all.
+
+Without further demur he consents to be guided by me, and then, very
+eagerly, asks when it will be proper for him to come; and we agree that
+if he come in a week's time, there will be no thought in anybody's mind
+of our having conspired to this end.
+
+As the fates would have it, Mr. Godwin finished his painting on the
+Saturday following (the most wonderful piece of its kind I ever saw, or
+any one else, in my belief), and being justly proud of his work and
+anxious Sir Peter Lely should see it soon, he resolved he would carry it
+to Hatfield on Monday. Moll, who was prouder of her husband's piece than
+if it were of her own doing, was not less eager it should be seen; yet
+the thought that she must lose him for four days (for this journey could
+not well be accomplished in less time) cast down her spirits
+exceedingly. 'Twas painful to see her efforts to be cheerful despite of
+herself. And, seeing how incapable she was of concealing her real
+feeling from him whom she would cheer, she at length confessed to him
+her trouble. "I would have you go, and yet I'd have you stay, love,"
+says she.
+
+"'Tis but a little while we shall be parted," says he.
+
+"A little while?" says she, trembling and wringing one hand within the
+other. "It seems to me as if we were parting for ever."
+
+"Why, then," returns he, laughing, "we will not part at all. You shall
+come with me, chuck. What should prevent you?"
+
+She starts with joy at this, then looks at him incredulous for a moment,
+and so her countenance falling again, she shakes her head as thinking, I
+take it, that if it were advisable she should go with him, he would have
+proposed it before.
+
+"No," says she, "'twas an idle fancy, and I'll not yield to it. I shall
+become a burden, rather than a helpmate, if you cannot stir from home
+without me. Nay," adds she, when he would override this objection, "you
+must not tempt me to be weak, but rather aid me to do that which I feel
+right."
+
+And she would not be persuaded from this resolution, but bore herself
+most bravely, even to the moment when she and her husband clasped each
+for the last time in a farewell embrace.
+
+She stood where he had left her for some moments after he was gone.
+Suddenly she ran a few paces with parted lips and outstretched hands, as
+if she would call him back; then, as sharply she halts, clasping her
+hands, and so presently turns back, looking across her shoulder, with
+such terror in her white face, that I do think her strong imagination
+figured some accusing spirits, threatening the end of all her joys.
+
+I followed her into the house, but there I learnt from Mrs. Butterby
+that her mistress was gone to her own chamber.
+
+As I was sitting in my office in the afternoon, Jack Dawson came to me
+in his seaman's dress, his hand still wrapped up, but his face more
+healthful for his long ride and cheerful thoughts.
+
+"Why, this could not have fallen out better," says I, when we had
+exchanged greetings; "for Moll is all alone, and down in the dumps by
+reason of her husband having left her this morning on business, that
+will hold him absent for three or four days. We will go up presently and
+have supper with her."
+
+"No, Kit," says he, very resolutely, "I'll not. I am resolved I won't go
+there till to-morrow, for this is no hour to be a-calling on ladies, and
+her husband being away 'twill look as if we had ordered it of purpose.
+Besides, if Moll's in trouble, how am I to pretend I know nothing of the
+matter and care less, and this Mother Butterby and a parcel of sly,
+observant servants about to surprise one at any moment? Say no
+more--'tis useless--for I won't be persuaded against my judgment."
+
+"As you will," says I.
+
+"There's another reason, if other's needed," says he, "and that's this
+plaguey thirst of mine, which seizes me when I'm doleful or joyful, with
+a force there's no resisting. And chiefly it seizes me in the later part
+of the day; therefore, I'd have you take me to the Court to-morrow
+morning betimes, ere it's at its worst. My throat's like any limekiln
+for dryness now; so do pray, Kit, fasten the door snug, and give me a
+mug of ale."
+
+This ended our discussion; but, as it was necessary I should give some
+reason for not supping with Moll, I left Dawson with a bottle, and went
+up to the house to find Moll. There I learnt that she was still in her
+chamber, and sleeping, as Mrs. Butterby believed; so I bade the good
+woman tell her mistress when she awoke that Captain Evans had come to
+spend the night with me, and he would call to pay her his devoirs the
+next morning.
+
+Here, that nothing may be unaccounted for in the sequence of events, I
+must depart from my train of present observation to speak from
+after-knowledge.
+
+I have said that when Moll started forward, as if to overtake her
+husband, she suddenly stopped as if confronted by some menacing spectre.
+And this indeed was the case; for at that moment there appeared to her
+heated imagination (for no living soul was there) a little, bent old
+woman, clothed in a single white garment of Moorish fashion, and Moll
+knew that she was Mrs. Godwin (though seeing her now for the first
+time), come from Barbary to claim her own, and separate Moll from the
+husband she had won by fraud.
+
+She stood there (says Moll) within her gates, with raised hand and a
+most bitter, unforgiving look upon her wasted face, barring the way by
+which Moll might regain her husband; and as the poor wife halted,
+trembling in dreadful awe, the old woman advanced with the sure foot of
+right and justice. What reproach she had to make, what malediction to
+pronounce, Moll dared not stay to hear, but turning her back fled to the
+house, where, gaining her chamber, she locked the door, and flung
+herself upon her husband's bed; and in this last dear refuge, shutting
+her eyes, clasping her ears, as if by dulling her senses to escape the
+phantom, she lay in a convulsion of terror for the mere dread that such
+a thing might be.
+
+Then, at the thought that she might never again be enfolded here in her
+husband's arms, an agony of grief succeeded her fit of maddening fear,
+and she wept till her mind grew calm from sheer exhaustion. And so,
+little by little, as her courage revived, she began to reason with
+herself as how 'twas the least likely thing in the world that if Mrs.
+Godwin were in England, she should come to the Court unattended and in
+her Moorish clothes; and then, seeing the folly of abandoning herself to
+a foolish fancy, she rose, washed the tears from her face, and set
+herself to find some occupation to distract her thoughts. And what
+employment is nearer to her thoughts or dearer to her heart than making
+things straight for her husband; so she goes into the next room where he
+worked, and falls to washing his brushes, cleaning his paint-board, and
+putting all things in order against his return, that he may lose no time
+in setting to work at another picture. And at dinner time, finding her
+face still disfigured with her late emotions and ashamed of her late
+folly, she bids her maid bring a snack to her room, under the pretence
+that she feels unwell. This meal she eats, still working in her
+husband's room; for one improvement prompting another, she finds plenty
+to do there: now bethinking her that the hangings of her own private
+room (being handsomer) will look better on these walls, whereas t'others
+are more fit for hers, where they are less seen; that this corner looks
+naked, and will look better for her little French table standing there,
+with a china image atop, and so forth. Thus, then, did she devote her
+time till sundown, whereabouts Mrs. Butterby raps at her door to know if
+she will have a cup of warm caudle to comfort her, at the same time
+telling her that Mr. Hopkins will not sup with her, as he has Captain
+Evans for his guest at the lodge.
+
+And now Moll, by that natural succession of extremes which seems to be a
+governing law of nature (as the flow the ebb, the calm the storm, day
+the night, etc.), was not less elated than she had been depressed in the
+early part of the day,--but still, I take it, in a nervous, excitable
+condition. And hearing her father, whom she has not seen so long, is
+here, a thousand mad projects enter her lively imagination. So, when
+Mrs. Butterby, after the refusal of her warm caudle, proposes she shall
+bring Madam a tray of victuals, that she may pick something in bed,
+Moll, stifling a merry thought, asks, in a feeble voice, what there is
+in the larder.
+
+"Why, Madam," says Mrs. Butterby, from the outside, "there's the
+partridges you did not eat at breakfast, there's a cold pigeon pasty and
+a nice fresh ham, and a lovely hasty pudding I made with my own hands,
+in the pot."
+
+"Bring 'em all," says Moll, in the same aching voice; "and I'll pick
+what tempts me."
+
+Therewith, she silently slips the bolt back, whips on her nightgown, and
+whips into bed.
+
+Presently, up comes Mrs. Butterby, carrying a wax candle, followed by a
+couple of maids charged with all the provisions Moll had commanded.
+Having permission to enter, the good woman sets down her candle, puts on
+her glasses, and, coming to the bedside, says she can see very well by
+her poor looks, that her dear mistress has got a disorder of the
+biliaries on her, and prays Heaven it may not turn to something worse.
+
+"Nay," says Moll, very faintly, "I shall be well again when I am
+relieved of this headache, and if I can only fall asleep,--as I feel
+disposed to,--you will see me to-morrow morning in my usual health. I
+shan't attempt to rise this evening" ("For mercy's sake, don't," cries
+Mrs. Butterby), "and so, I pray you, order that no one shall come near
+my room to disturb me" ("I'll see that no one so much as sets a foot on
+your stair, Madam, poor dear!" says t'other), "and you will see that all
+is closed carefully. And so good-night, mother, and good-night to you,
+Jane and Betsy--oh, my poor head!"
+
+With a whispered "Good-night, dear madam," Mrs. Butterby and the maids
+leave the room a-tiptoe, closing the door behind them as if 'twere of
+gingerbread; and no sooner are they gone than Moll, big with her mad
+design, nips out of bed, strips off her nightgown, and finding nothing
+more convenient for her purpose, puts the ham, pasty, and partridges in
+a clean pillow-slip. This done, she puts on her cloak and hood, and
+having with great caution set the door open and seen all safe and quiet
+below, she takes up her bag of victuals, blows out the candle, and as
+silent as any mouse makes her way to the little private staircase at the
+end of the stairs. And now, with less fear of encountering Mrs. Godwin
+than Black Bogey, she feels her way down the dark, narrow staircase,
+reaches the lower door, unbolts it, and steps out on the path at the
+back of the house.
+
+There is still a faint twilight, and this enables her to find her way to
+the wicket gate opposite Anne Fitch's cottage. Not a soul is to be seen;
+and so, with her hood drawn well over her head, she speeds on, and in
+five minutes reaches my house. Here finding the door fastened, she gives
+a couple of knocks, and on my opening she asks meekly in a feigned
+voice, which for the life of me I should not have known for hers, if I
+am minded to buy a couple of partridges a friend has sent and she has no
+use for.
+
+"Partridges!" cries Dawson, from within. "Have 'em, Kit, for your bread
+and cheese is mighty every-day fare."
+
+"Let me see 'em, good woman," says I.
+
+"Yes, sir," answers she, meekly, putting her pillow-slip in my hand,
+which perplexed me vastly by its weight and bulk.
+
+"They seem to be pretty big birds by the feel of 'em," says I. "You can
+come in and shut the door after you."
+
+Moll shuts the door and shoots the bolt, then tripping behind me into
+the light she casts back her hood and flings her arms round her father's
+neck with a peal of joyful laughter.
+
+"What!" cries I. "Why, what can have brought you here?"
+
+"Why, I knew you'd have nothing to give my poor old dad but mouldy
+cheese, so I've brought you a brace of partridges, if you please, sir,"
+says she, concluding in her feigned voice, as she emptied the ham,
+pasty, and partridges all higgledy-piggledy out of the slip on to the
+table.
+
+"But, Mrs. Godwin--" says I, in alarm.
+
+"Oh, call me Moll," cries she, wildly. "Let me be myself for this one
+night."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+
+_Of the subtile means whereby Simon leads Mr. Godwin to doubt his wife._
+
+
+Again must I draw upon matter of after-knowledge to show you how all
+things came to pass on this fatal night.
+
+When Mr. Godwin reached London, he went to Sir Peter Lely's house in
+Lincoln's Inn, to know if he was still at Hatfield, and there learning
+he was gone hence to Hampton, and no one answering for certainty when he
+would return, Mr. Godwin, seeing that he might linger in London for days
+to no purpose, and bethinking him how pale and sorrowful his dear wife
+was when they parted, concludes to leave his picture at Sir Peter Lely's
+and post back to Chislehurst, counting to give his wife a happy
+surprise.
+
+About eight o'clock he reaches the Court, to find all shut and barred by
+the prudent housekeeper, who, on letting him in (with many exclamations
+of joy and wonder), falls presently to sighing and shaking her head, as
+she tells how her mistress has lain abed since dinner, and is sick of
+the biliaries.
+
+In great concern, Mr. Godwin takes the candle from Mrs. Butterby's hand,
+and hastes up to his wife's room. Opening the door softly, he enters, to
+find the bed tumbled, indeed, but empty. He calls her in a soft voice,
+going into the next room, and, getting no reply, nor finding her there,
+he calls again, more loudly, and there is no response. Then, as he
+stands irresolute and amazed, he hears a knock at the door below, and
+concluding that 'tis his wife, who has had occasion to go out, seeking
+fresh air for her comfort maybe, he runs swiftly down and opens, ere a
+servant can answer the call. And there he is faced, not by sweet Moll,
+but the jaundiced, wicked old Simon, gasping and panting for breath.
+
+"Dost thee know," says he, fetching his breath at every other word,
+"dost thee know where the woman thy wife is?"
+
+"Where is she?" cries Mr. Godwin, in quick alarm, thinking by this
+fellow's sweating haste that some accident had befallen his dear wife.
+
+"I will show thee where she is; aye, and what she is," gasps the old
+man, and then, clasping his hands, he adds, "Verily, the Lord hath heard
+my prayers and delivered mine enemies into my hand."
+
+Mr. Godwin, who had stepped aside to catch up his hat from the table,
+where he had flung it on entering, stopped short, hearing this fervent
+note of praise, and turning about, with misgivings of Simon's purpose,
+cries:
+
+"What are your enemies to me?"
+
+"Everything," cries Simon. "Mine enemies are thine, for as they have
+cheated me so have they cheated thee."
+
+"Enough of this," cries Mr. Godwin. "Tell me where my wife is, and be
+done with it."
+
+"I say I will show thee where she is and what she is."
+
+"Tell me where she is," cries Mr. Godwin, with passion.
+
+"That is my secret, and too precious to throw away."
+
+"I comprehend you, now," says Mr. Godwin, bethinking him of the fellow's
+greed. "You shall be paid. Tell me where she is and name your price."
+
+"The price is this," returns the other, "thy promise to be secret, to
+catch them in this trap, and give no opening for escape. Oh, I know
+them; they are as serpents, that slip through a man's fingers and turn
+to bite. They shall not serve me so again. Promise--"
+
+"Nothing. Think you I'm of your own base kind, to deal with you in
+treachery? You had my answer before, when you would poison my mind,
+rascal. But," adds he, with fury, "you shall tell me where my wife is."
+
+"I would tear the tongue from my throat ere it should undo the work of
+Providence. If they escape the present vengeance of Heaven, thee shalt
+answer for it, not I. Yet I will give thee a clue to find this woman who
+hath fooled thee. Seek her where there are thieves and drunkards to mock
+at thy simplicity, to jeer at their easy gull, for I say again thy wife
+never was in Barbary, but playing the farded, wanton--"
+
+The patience with which Mr. Godwin had harkened to this tirade, doubting
+by his passion that Simon was stark mad, gave way before this vile
+aspersion on his wife, and clutching the old man by the throat he flung
+him across the threshold and shut the door upon him.
+
+But where was his wife? That question was still uppermost in his
+thoughts. His sole misgiving was that accident had befallen her, and
+that somewhere in the house he should find her lying cold and
+insensible.
+
+With this terror in his mind, he ran again upstairs. On the landing he
+was met by Mrs. Butterby, who (prudent soul), at the first hint of
+misconduct on her mistress's part, had bundled the gaping servants up to
+their rooms.
+
+"Mercy on us, dear master!" says she. "Where can our dear lady be? For a
+surety she hath not left the house, for I locked all up, as she bade me
+when we carried up her supper, and had the key in my pocket when you
+knocked. 'See the house safe,' says she, poor soul, with a voice could
+scarce be heared, 'and let no one disturb me, for I do feel most heavy
+with sleep.'"
+
+Mr. Godwin passed into his wife's room and then into the next, looking
+about him in distraction.
+
+"Lord! here's the sweet thing's nightgown," exclaims Mrs. Butterby, from
+the next room, whither she had followed Mr. Godwin. "But dear heart o'
+me, where's the ham gone?"
+
+Mr. Godwin, entering from the next room, looked at her as doubting
+whether he or all the world had taken leave of their wits.
+
+"And the pigeon pasty?" added Mrs. Butterby, regarding the table laid
+out beside her mistress's bed.
+
+"And the cold partridge," adds she, in redoubled astonishment. "Why,
+here's nought left but my pudding, and that as cold as a stone."
+
+Mr. Godwin, with the candle flaring in his hand, passed hastily by her,
+too wrought by fear to regard either the ludicrous or incomprehensible
+side of Mrs. Butterby's consternation; and so, going down the corridor
+away from the stairs, he comes to the door of the little back stairs,
+standing wide open, and seeming to bid him descend. He goes quickly
+down, yet trembling with fear that he may find her at the bottom, broken
+by a fall; but all he discovers is the bolt drawn and the door ajar. As
+he pushes it open a gust of wind blows out the light, and here he stood
+in the darkness, eager to be doing, yet knowing not which way to turn or
+how to act.
+
+Clearly, his wife had gone out by this door, and so far this gave
+support to Simon's statement that he knew where she was; and with this a
+flame was kindled within him that seemed to sear his very soul. If Simon
+spoke truth in one particular, why should he lie in others? Why had his
+wife refused to go with him to Hatfield? Why had she bid no one come
+near her room? Why had she gone forth by this secret stair, alone? Then,
+cursing himself for the unnamed suspicion that could thus, though but
+for a moment, disfigure the fair image that he worshipped, he asked
+himself why his wife should not be free to follow a caprice. But where
+was she? Ever that question surged upwards in the tumult of his
+thoughts. Where should he seek her? Suddenly it struck him that I might
+help him to find her, and acting instantly upon this hope he made his
+way in breathless haste to the road, and so towards my lodge.
+
+Ere he has gone a hundred yards, Simon steps out of the shadow, and
+stands before him like a shade in the dimness.
+
+"I crave thy pardon, Master," says he, humbly. "I spoke like a fool in
+my passion."
+
+"If you will have my pardon, tell me where to find my wife; if not,
+stand aside," answers Mr. Godwin.
+
+"Wilt thee hear me speak for two minutes if I promise to tell thee where
+she is and suffer thee to find her how thee willst. 'Twill save thee
+time."
+
+"Speak," says Mr. Godwin.
+
+"Thy wife is there," says Simon, under his breath, pointing towards my
+house. "She is revelling with Hopkins and Captain Evans,--men that she
+did tramp the country with as vagabond players, ere the Spaniard taught
+them more profitable wickedness. Knock at the door,--which thee mayst be
+sure is fast,--and while one holds thee in parley the rest will set the
+room in order, and find a plausible tale to hoodwink thee afresh. Be
+guided by me, and thee shalt enter the house unknown to them, as I did
+an hour since, and there thee shalt know, of thine own senses, how thy
+wife doth profit by thy blindness. If this truth be not proved, if thee
+canst then say that I have lied from malice, envy, and evil purpose,
+this knife," says he, showing a blade in his hand, "this knife will I
+thrust into my own heart, though I stand the next instant before the
+Eternal Judge, my hands wet with my own blood, to answer for my crime."
+
+"Have you finished?" asks Mr. Godwin.
+
+"No, not yet; I hold thee to thy promise," returns Simon, with eager
+haste. "Why do men lie? for their own profit. What profit have I in
+lying, when I pray thee to put my word to the proof and not take it on
+trust, with the certainty of punishment even if the proof be doubtful.
+Thee believest this woman is what she pretends to be; what does that
+show?--your simplicity, not hers. How would women trick their husbands
+without such skill to blind them by a pretence of love and virtue?"
+
+"Say no more," cries Mr. Godwin, hoarsely, "or I may strangle you before
+you pass trial. Go your devilish way, I'll follow."
+
+"Now God be praised for this!" cries Simon. "Softly, softly!" adds he,
+creeping in the shade of the bank towards the house.
+
+But ere he has gone a dozen paces Mr. Godwin repents him again, with
+shame in his heart, and stopping, says:
+
+"I'll go no further."
+
+"Then thee doubtest my word no longer," whispers Simon, quickly. "'Tis
+fear that makest thee halt,--the fear of finding thy wife a wanton and a
+trickster."
+
+"No, no, by God!"
+
+"If that be so, then art thee bound to prove her innocent, that I may
+not say to all the world, thee mightest have put her honour to the test
+and dared not--choosing rather to cheat thyself and be cheated by her,
+than know thyself dishonoured. If thee dost truly love this woman and
+believe her guiltless, then for her honour must thee put me--not her--to
+this trial."
+
+"No madman could reason like this," says Mr. Godwin. "I accept this
+trial, and Heaven forgive me if I do wrong."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+
+_How we are discovered and utterly undone._
+
+
+"What!" cries Dawson, catching his daughter in his arms and hugging her
+to his breast, when the first shock of surprise was past. "My own sweet
+Moll--come hither to warm her old father's heart?"
+
+"And my own," says she, tenderly, "which I fear hath grown a little
+wanting in love for ye since I have been mated. But, though my dear Dick
+draws so deeply from my well of affection, there is still somewhere down
+here" (clapping her hand upon her heart) "a source that first sprang for
+you and can never dry."
+
+"Aye, and 'tis a proof," says he, "your coming here where we may speak
+and act without restraint, though it be but for five minutes."
+
+"Five minutes!" cries she, springing up with her natural vivacity, "why,
+I'll not leave you before the morning, unless you weary of me." And then
+with infinite relish and sly humour, she told of her device for leaving
+the Court without suspicion.
+
+I do confess I was at first greatly alarmed for the safe issue of this
+escapade; but she assuring me 'twas a dirty night, and she had passed no
+one on the road, I felt a little reassured. To be sure, thinks I, Mr.
+Godwin by some accident may return, but finding her gone, and hearing
+Captain Evans keeps me to my house, he must conclude she has come
+hither, and think no harm of her for that neither--seeing we are old
+friends and sobered with years, for 'tis the most natural thing in the
+world that, feeling lonely and dejected for the loss of her husband, she
+should seek such harmless diversion as may be had in our society.
+
+However, for the sake of appearances I thought it would be wise to get
+this provision of ham and birds out of sight, for fear of misadventure,
+and also I took instant precaution to turn the key in my street door.
+Being but two men, and neither of us over-nice in the formalities, I had
+set a cheese, a loaf, and a bottle betwixt us on the bare table of my
+office room, for each to serve himself as he would; but I now proposed
+that, having a lady in our company, we should pay more regard to the
+decencies by going upstairs to my parlour, and there laying a tablecloth
+and napkins for our repast.
+
+"Aye, certainly!" cries Moll, who had grown mighty fastidious in these
+particulars since she had been mistress of Hurst Court; "this dirty
+table would spoil the best appetite in the world."
+
+So I carried a faggot and some apple logs upstairs, and soon had a brave
+fire leaping up the chimney, by which time Moll and her father, with
+abundant mirth, had set forth our victuals on a clean white cloth, and
+to each of us a clean plate, knife, and fork, most proper. Then, all
+things being to our hand, we sat down and made a most hearty meal of
+Mrs. Butterby's good cheer, and all three of us as merry as grigs, with
+not a shadow of misgiving.
+
+There had seemed something piteous to me in that appeal of Moll's, that
+she might be herself for this night; and indeed I marvelled now how she
+could have so trained her natural disposition to an artificial manner,
+and did no longer wonder at the look of fatigue and weariness in her
+face on her return to London. For the old reckless, careless, daredevil
+spirit was still alive in her, as I could plainly see now that she
+abandoned herself entirely to the free sway of impulse; the old twinkle
+of mirth and mischief was in her eyes; she was no longer a fine lady,
+but a merry vagabond again, and when she laughed 'twas with her hands
+clasping her sides, her head thrown back, and all her white teeth
+gleaming in the light.
+
+"Now," says I, when at length our meal was finished, "I will clear the
+table."
+
+"Hoop!" cries she, catching up the corners of the tablecloth, and
+flinging them over the fragments; "'tis done. Let us draw round the
+fire, and tell old tales. Here's a pipe, dear dad; I love the smell of
+tobacco; and you" (to me) "do fetch me a pipkin, that I may brew a good
+drink to keep our tongues going."
+
+About the time this drink was brewed, Simon, leading Mr. Godwin by a
+circuitous way, came through the garden to the back of the house, where
+was a door, which I had never opened for lack of a key to fit the lock.
+This key was now in Simon's hand, and putting it with infinite care into
+the hole, he softly turned it in the wards. Then, with the like
+precaution, he lifts the latch and gently thrusts the door open,
+listening at every inch to catch the sounds within. At length 'tis
+opened wide; and so, turning his face to Mr. Godwin, who waits behind,
+sick with mingled shame and creeping dread, he beckons him to follow.
+
+Above, Dawson was singing at the top of his voice, a sea-song he had
+learnt of a mariner at the inn he frequented at Greenwich, with a troll
+at the end, taken up by Moll and me. And to hear his wife's voice
+bearing part in this rude song, made Mr. Godwin's heart to sink within
+him. Under cover of this noise, Simon mounted the stairs without
+hesitation, Mr. Godwin following at his heels, in a kind of sick
+bewilderment. 'Twas pitch dark up there, and Simon, stretching forth his
+hands to know if Mr. Godwin was by, touched his hand, which was deadly
+cold and quivering; for here at the door he was seized with a sweating
+faintness, which so sapped his vigour that he was forced to hold by the
+wall to save himself from falling.
+
+"Art thee ready?" asks Simon; but he can get no answer, for Mr. Godwin's
+energies, quickened by a word from within like a jaded beast by the
+sting of a whip, is straining his ears to catch what is passing within.
+And what hears he?--The song is ended, and Dawson cries:
+
+"You han't lost your old knack of catching a tune, Moll. Come hither,
+wench, and sit upon my knee, for I do love ye more than ever. Give me a
+buss, chuck; this fine husband of thine shall not have all thy sweetness
+to himself."
+
+At this moment, Simon, having lifted the latch under his thumb, pushes
+wide open the door, and there through the thick cloud of tobacco smoke
+Mr. Godwin sees the table in disorder, the white cloth flung back over
+the remnants of our repast and stained with a patch of liquor from an
+overturned mug, a smutty pipkin set upon the board beside a dish of
+tobacco, and a broken pipe--me sitting o' one side the hearth heavy and
+drowsy with too much good cheer, and on t'other side his young wife,
+sitting on Dawson's knee, with one arm about his neck, and he in his
+uncouth seaman's garb, with a pipe in one hand, the other about Moll's
+waist, a-kissing her yielded cheek. With a cry of fury, like any wild
+beast, he springs forward and clutches at a knife that lies ready to his
+hand upon the board, and this cry is answered with a shriek from Moll as
+she starts to her feet.
+
+"Who is this drunken villain?" he cries, stretching the knife in his
+hand towards Dawson.
+
+And Moll, flinging herself betwixt the knife and Dawson, with fear for
+his life, and yet with some dignity in her voice and gesture, answers
+swiftly:
+
+"This drunken villain is my father."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+
+_Moll's conscience is quickened by grief and humiliation beyond the
+ordinary._
+
+
+"Stand aside, Moll," cries Dawson, stepping to the fore, and facing Mr.
+Godwin. "This is my crime, and I will answer for it with my blood. Here
+is my breast" (tearing open his jerkin). "Strike, for I alone have done
+you wrong, this child of mine being but an instrument to my purpose."
+
+Mr. Godwin's hand fell by his side, and the knife slipped from his
+fingers.
+
+"Speak," says he, thickly, after a moment of horrible silence broken
+only by the sound of the knife striking the floor. "If this is your
+daughter,--if she has lied to me,--what in God's name is the truth? Who
+are you, I ask?"
+
+"John Dawson, a player," answers he, seeing the time is past for lying.
+
+Mr. Godwin makes no response, but turns his eyes upon Moll, who stands
+before him with bowed head and clasped hands, wrung to her innermost
+fibre with shame, remorse, and awful dread, and for a terrible space I
+heard nothing but the deep, painful breathing of this poor, overwrought
+man.
+
+"You are my wife," says he, at length. "Follow me," and with that he
+turns about and goes from the room. Then Moll, without a look at us,
+without a word, her face ghastly pale and drawn with agony, with
+faltering steps, obeys, catching at table and chair, as she passes, for
+support.
+
+Dawson made a step forward, as if he would have overtaken her; but I
+withheld him, shaking my head, and himself seeing 'twas in vain, he
+dropped into a chair, and, spreading his arms upon the table, hides his
+face in them with a groan of despair.
+
+Moll totters down the dark stairs, and finds her husband standing in the
+doorway, his figure revealed against the patch of grey light beyond, for
+the moon was risen, though veiled by a thick pall of cloud. He sees, as
+she comes to his side, that she has neither cloak nor hood to protect
+her from the winter wind, and in silence he takes off his own cloak and
+lays it on her shoulder. At this act of mercy a ray of hope animates
+Moll's numbed soul, and she catches at her husband's hand to press it to
+her lips, yet can find never a word to express her gratitude. But his
+hand is cold as ice, and he draws it away from her firmly, with obvious
+repugnance. There was no love in this little act of giving her his
+cloak; 'twas but the outcome of that chivalry in gentlemen which doth
+exact lenience even to an enemy.
+
+So he goes on his way, she following like a whipped dog at his heels,
+till they reach the Court gates, and these being fast locked, on a
+little further, to the wicket gate. And there, as Mr. Godwin is about to
+enter, there confronts him Peter, that sturdy Puritan hireling of old
+Simon's.
+
+"Thee canst not enter here, friend," says he, in his canting voice, as
+he sets his foot against the gate.
+
+"Know you who I am?" asks Mr. Godwin.
+
+"Yea, friend; and I know who thy woman is also. I am bidden by friend
+Simon, the true and faithful steward of Mistress Godwin in Barbary, to
+defend her house and lands against robbers and evil-doers of every kind,
+and without respect of their degree; and, with the Lord's help," adds
+he, showing a stout cudgel, "that will I do, friend."
+
+"'Tis true, fellow," returns Mr. Godwin. "I have no right to enter
+here."
+
+And then, turning about, he stands irresolute, as not knowing whither he
+shall go to find shelter for his wife. For very shame, he does not take
+her to the village inn, to be questioned by gaping servants and
+landlord, who, ere long, must catch the flying news of her shameful
+condition and overthrow. A faint light in the lattice of Anne Fitch's
+cottage catches his eye, and he crosses to her door, still humbly
+followed by poor Moll. There he finds the thumb-piece gone from the
+latch, to him a well-known sign that Mother Fitch has gone out
+a-nursing; so, pulling the hidden string he wots of, he lifts the latch
+within, and the door opens to his hand. A rush is burning in a cup of
+oil upon the table, casting a feeble glimmer round the empty room. He
+closes the door when Moll has entered, sets a chair before the hearth,
+and rakes the embers together to give her warmth.
+
+"Forgive me, oh, forgive me!" cries Moll, casting herself at his feet as
+he turns, and clasping his knees to her stricken heart.
+
+[Illustration: "FORGIVE ME, OH, FORGIVE ME!"]
+
+"Forgive you!" says he, bitterly. "Forgive you for dragging me down to
+the level of rogues and thieves, for making me party to this vile
+conspiracy of plunder. A conspiracy that, if it bring me not beneath the
+lash of Justice, must blast my name and fame for ever. You know not what
+you ask. As well might you bid me take you back to finish the night in
+drunken riot with those others of our gang."
+
+"Oh, no, not now! not now!" cries Moll, in agony. "Do but say that some
+day long hence, you will forgive me. Give me that hope, for I cannot
+live without it."
+
+"That hope's my fear!" says he. "I have known men who, by mere contact
+with depravity, have so dulled their sense of shame that they could make
+light of sins that once appalled them. Who knows but that one day I may
+forgive you, chat easily upon this villany, maybe, regret I went no
+further in it."
+
+"Oh, God forbid that shall be of my doing!" cries Moll, springing to her
+feet. "Broken as I am, I'll not accept forgiveness on such terms. Think
+you I'm like those plague-stricken wretches who, of wanton wickedness,
+ran from their beds to infect the clean with their foul ill? Not I."
+
+"I spoke in heat," says Mr. Godwin, quickly. "I repent even now what I
+said."
+
+"Am I so steeped in infamy," continues she, "that I am past all cure?
+Think," adds she, piteously, "I am not eighteen yet. I was but a child a
+year ago, with no more judgment of right and wrong than a savage
+creature. Until I loved you, I think I scarcely knew the meaning of
+conscience. The knowledge came when I yearned to keep no secret from
+you. I do remember the first struggle to do right. 'Twas on the little
+bridge; and there I balanced awhile, 'twixt cheating you and robbing
+myself. And then, for fear you would not marry me, I dared not own the
+truth. Oh, had I thought you'd only keep me for your mistress, I'd have
+told you I was not your cousin. Little as this is, there's surely hope
+in't. Is it more impossible that you, a strong man, should lift me, than
+that I, a weak girl,--no more than that,--should drag you down?"
+
+"I did not weigh my words."
+
+"Yet, they were true," says she. "'Tis bred in my body--part of my
+nature, this spirit of evil, and 'twill exist as long as I. For, even
+now, I do feel that I would do this wickedness again, and worse, to win
+you once more."
+
+"My poor wife," says he, touched with pity; and holding forth his arms,
+she goes to them and lays her cheek against his breast, and there stands
+crying very silently with mingled thoughts--now of the room she had
+prepared with such delight against his return, of her little table in
+the corner, with the chiney image atop, and other trifles with which she
+had dreamed to give him pleasure--all lost! No more would she sit by his
+side there watching, with wonder and pride, the growth of beauty 'neath
+his dexterous hand; and then she feels that 'tis compassion, not love,
+that hath opened his arms to her, that she hath killed his respect for
+her, and with it his love. And so, stifling the sobs that rise in her
+throat, she weeps on, till her tears trickling from her cheek fall upon
+his hand.
+
+The icy barrier of resentment is melted by the first warm tear,--this
+silent testimony of her smothered grief,--and bursting from the bonds of
+reason, he yields to the passionate impulse of his heart, and clasping
+this poor sorrowing wife to his breast, he seeks to kiss away the tears
+from her cheek, and soothe her with gentle words. She responds to his
+passion, kiss for kiss, as she clasps her hands about his head; but
+still her tears flow on, for with her readier wit she perceives that
+this is but the transport of passion on his side, and not the untaxed
+outcome of enduring love, proving again the truth of his unmeditated
+prophecy; for how can he stand who yields so quickly to the first
+assault, and if he cannot stand, how can he raise her? Surely and more
+surely, little by little, they must sink together to some lower depth,
+and one day, thinks she, repeating his words, "We may chat easily upon
+this villany and regret we went no further in it."
+
+Mr. Godwin leads her to the adjoining chamber, which had been his, and
+says:
+
+"Lie down, love. To-morrow we shall see things clearer, and think more
+reasonably."
+
+"Yes," says she, in return, "more reasonably," and with that she does
+his bidding; and he returns to sit before the embers and meditate. And
+here he stays, striving in vain to bring the tumult of his thoughts to
+some coherent shape, until from sheer exhaustion he falls into a kind of
+lethargy of sleep.
+
+Meanwhile, Moll, lying in the dark, had been thinking also, but (as
+women will at such times) with clearer perception, so that her ideas
+forming in logical sequence, and growing more clear and decisive (as an
+argument becomes more lively and conclusive by successful reasoning)
+served to stimulate her intellect and excite her activity. And the end
+of it was that she rose quickly from her bed and looked into the next
+room, where she saw her husband sitting, with his chin upon his breast
+and his hands folded upon his knee before the dead fire. Then wrapping
+his cloak about her, she steals toward the outer door; but passing him
+she must needs pause at his back to staunch her tears a moment, and look
+down upon him for the last time. The light shines in his brown hair, and
+she bending down till her lips touch a stray curl, they part silently,
+and she breathes upon him from her very soul, a mute "Fare thee well,
+dear love."
+
+But she will wait no longer, fearing her courage may give way, and the
+next minute she is out in the night, softly drawing the door to that
+separates these two for ever.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+
+_How we fought a most bloody battle with Simon, the constable, and
+others._
+
+
+For some time we spoke never a word, Dawson and I,--he with his head
+lying on his arm, I seated in a chair with my hands hanging down by my
+side, quite stunned by the blow that had fallen upon us. At length,
+raising his head, his eyes puffed, and his face bedaubed with tears, he
+says:
+
+"Han't you a word of comfort, Kit, for a broken-hearted man?"
+
+I stammered a few words that had more sound than sense; but indeed I
+needed consolation myself, seeing my own responsibility for bringing
+this misfortune upon Moll, and being most heartily ashamed of my roguery
+now 'twas discovered.
+
+"You don't think he'll be too hard on poor Moll, tell me that, Kit?"
+
+"Aye, he'll forgive her," says I, "sooner than us, or we ourselves."
+
+"And you don't think he'll be for ever a-casting it in her teeth that
+her father's a--a drunken vagabond, eh?"
+
+"Nay; I believe he is too good a man for that."
+
+"Then," says he, standing up, "I'll go and tell him the whole story, and
+you shall come with me to bear me out."
+
+"To-morrow will be time enough," says I, flinching from this office;
+"'tis late now."
+
+"No matter for that. Time enough to sleep when we've settled this
+business. We'll not leave poor Moll to bear all the punishment of our
+getting. Mr. Godwin shall know what an innocent, simple child she was
+when we pushed her into this knavery, and how we dared not tell her of
+our purpose lest she should draw back. He shall know how she was ever an
+obedient, docile, artless girl, yielding always to my guidance; and you
+can stretch a point, Kit, to say you have ever known me for a
+headstrong, masterful sort of a fellow, who would take denial from none,
+but must have my own way in all things. I'll take all the blame on my
+own shoulders, as I should have done at first, but I was so staggered by
+this fall."
+
+"Well," says I, "if you will have it so--"
+
+"I will," says he, stoutly. "And now give me a bucket of water that I
+may souse my head, and wear a brave look. I would have him think the
+worst of me that he may feel the kinder to poor Moll. And I'll make what
+atonement I can," adds he, as I led him into my bed-chamber. "If he
+desire it, I will promise never to see Moll again; nay, I will offer to
+take the king's bounty, and go a-sailoring; and so, betwixt sickness and
+the Dutch, there'll be an end of Jack Dawson in a very short space."
+
+When he had ducked his head in a bowl of water, and got our cloaks from
+the room below, we went to the door, and there, to my dismay, I found
+the lock fast and the key which I had left in its socket gone.
+
+"What's amiss, Kit?" asks Dawson, perceiving my consternation.
+
+"The key, the key!" says I, holding the candle here and there to seek it
+on the floor, then, giving up my search as it struck me that Mr. Godwin
+and Moll could not have left the house had the door been locked on the
+inside; "I do believe we are locked in and made prisoners," says I.
+
+"Why, sure, this is not Mr. Godwin's doing!" cries he.
+
+"'Tis Simon," says I, with conviction, seeing him again in my mind,
+standing behind Mr. Godwin, with wicked triumph in his face.
+
+"Is there no other door but this one?" asks Dawson.
+
+"There is one at the back, but I have never yet opened that, for lack of
+a key." And now setting one thing against another, and recalling how I
+had before found the door open, when I felt sure I had locked it fast,
+the truth appeared to me; namely, that Simon had that key and did get in
+the back way, going out by the front on that former occasion in haste
+upon some sudden alarm.
+
+"Is there never a window we can slip through?" asks Jack.
+
+"Only those above stairs; the lower are all barred."
+
+"A fig for his bars. Does he think we have neither hands nor wits to be
+hindered by this silly woman's trick?"
+
+"'Tis no silly trick. He's not the man to do an idle thing. There's
+mischief in this."
+
+"What mischief can he do us more than he has done?--for I see his hand
+in our misfortune. What mischief, I say?--out with it, man, for your
+looks betray a fear of something worse."
+
+"Faith, Jack, I dread he has gone to fetch help and will lodge us in
+gaol for this business."
+
+"Gaol!" cries he, in a passion of desperation. "Why, this will undo Moll
+for ever. Her husband can never forgive her putting such shame upon him.
+Rouse yourself, man, from your stupor. Get me something in the shape of
+a hammer, for God's sake, that we may burst our way from this accursed
+trap."
+
+I bethought me of an axe for splitting wood, that lay in the kitchen,
+and fetching it quickly, I put it in his hand. Bidding me stand aside,
+he let fly at the door like a madman. The splinters flew, but the door
+held good; and when he stayed a moment to take a new grip on his axe, I
+heard a clamour of voices outside--Simon's, higher than the rest,
+crying, "My new door, that cost me seven and eightpence!"
+
+"The lock, the lock!" says I. "Strike that off."
+
+Down came the axe, striking a spark of fire from the lock, which fell
+with a clatter at the next blow; but ere we had time to open the door,
+Simon and his party, entering by the back door, forced us to turn for
+our defence. Perceiving Dawson armed with an axe, however, these fellows
+paused, and the leader, whom I recognised for the constable of our
+parish, carrying a staff in one hand and a lanthorn in t'other, cried to
+us in the king's name to surrender ourselves.
+
+"Take us, if you can," cries Dawson; "and the Lord have mercy on the
+first who comes within my reach!"
+
+Deftly enough, old Simon, snatching the fellow's cap who stood next him,
+flings it at the candle that stands flaring on the floor, and justles
+the constable's lanthorn from his hand, so that in a moment we were all
+in darkness. Taking us at this disadvantage (for Dawson dared not lay
+about him with his axe, for fear of hitting me by misadventure), the
+rascals closed at once; and a most bloody, desperate fight ensued. For,
+after the first onslaught, in which Dawson (dropping his axe, as being
+useless at such close quarters) and I grappled each our man, the rest,
+knowing not friend from foe in the obscurity, and urged on by fear, fell
+upon each other,--this one striking out at the first he met, and that
+giving as good as he had taken,--and so all fell a-mauling and
+belabouring with such lust of vengeance that presently the whole place
+was of an uproar with the din of cursing, howling, and hard blows. For
+my own lot I had old Simon to deal with, as I knew at once by the cold,
+greasy feel of his leathern jerkin, he being enraged to make me his
+prisoner for the ill I had done him. Hooking his horny fingers about my
+throat, he clung to me like any wildcat; but stumbling, shortly, over
+two who were rolling on the floor, we went down both with a crack, and
+with such violence that he, being undermost, was stunned by the fall.
+Then, my blood boiling at this treatment, I got astride of him, and
+roasted his ribs royally, and with more force than ever I had conceived
+myself to be possessed of. And, growing beside myself with this passion
+of war, I do think I should have pounded him into a pulp, but that two
+other combatants, falling across me with their whole weight, knocked all
+the wind out of my body, oppressing me so grievously, that 'twas as much
+as I could do to draw myself out of the fray, and get a gasp of breath
+again.
+
+About this time the uproar began to subside, for those who had got the
+worst of the battle thought it advisable to sneak out of the house for
+safety, and those who had fared better, fearing a reverse of fortune,
+counted they had done enough for this bout, and so also withdrew.
+
+"Are you living, Kit?" asks Dawson, then.
+
+"Aye," says I, as valiantly as you please, "and ready to fight another
+half-dozen such rascals," but pulling the broken door open, all the
+same, to get out the easier, in case they returned.
+
+"Why, then, let's go," says he, "unless any is minded to have us stay."
+
+No one responding to this challenge, we made ado to find a couple of
+hats and cloaks for our use and sallied out.
+
+"Which way do we turn?" asks Dawson, as we come into the road.
+
+"Whither would you go, Jack?"
+
+"Why, to warn Moll of her danger, to be sure."
+
+I apprehended no danger to her, and believed her husband would defend
+her in any case better than we could, but Dawson would have it we should
+warn them, and so we turned towards the Court. And now upon examination
+we found we had come very well out of this fight; for save that the
+wound in Dawson's hand had been opened afresh, we were neither much the
+worse.
+
+"But let us set our best foot foremost, Jack," says I, "for I do think
+we have done more mischief to-night than any we have before, and I shall
+not be greatly surprised if we are called to account for the death of
+old Simon or some of his hirelings."
+
+"I know not how that may be," says he, "but I must answer for knocking
+of somebody's teeth out."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+
+_We take Moll to Greenwich; but no great happiness for her there._
+
+
+In the midst of our heroics I was greatly scared by perceiving a cloaked
+figure coming hurriedly towards us in the dim light.
+
+"'Tis another, come to succour his friends," whispers I. "Let us step
+into this hedge."
+
+"Too late," returns he. "Put on a bold face, 'tis only one."
+
+With a swaggering gait and looking straight before us, we had passed the
+figure, when a voice calls "Father!" and there turning, we find that
+'tis poor Moll in her husband's cloak.
+
+"Where is thy husband, child?" asks Dawson, as he recovers from his
+astonishment, taking Moll by the hand.
+
+"I have no husband, father," answers she, piteously.
+
+"Why, sure he hath not turned you out of doors?"
+
+"No, he'd not do that," says she, "were I ten times more wicked than I
+am."
+
+"What folly then is this?" asks her father.
+
+"'Tis no folly. I have left him of my own free will, and shall never go
+back to him. For he's no more my husband than that house is mine"
+(pointing to the Court), "Both were got by the same means, and both are
+lost."
+
+Then briefly she told how they had been turned from the gate by Peter,
+and how Mr. Godwin was now as poor and homeless as we. And this news
+throwing us into a silence with new bewilderment, she asks us simply
+whither we are going.
+
+"My poor Moll!" is all the answer Dawson can make, and that in a broken,
+trembling voice.
+
+"'Tis no good to cry," says she, dashing aside her tears that had sprung
+at this word of loving sympathy, and forcing herself to a more cheerful
+tone. "Why, let us think that we are just awake from a long sleep to
+find ourselves no worse off than when we fell a-dreaming. Nay, not so
+ill," adds she, "for you have a home near London. Take me there, dear."
+
+"With all my heart, chuck," answers her father, eagerly. "There, at
+least, I can give you a shelter till your husband can offer better."
+
+She would not dispute this point (though I perceived clearly her mind
+was resolved fully never to claim her right to Mr. Godwin's roof), but
+only begged we should hasten on our way, saying she felt chilled; and in
+passing Mother Fitch's cottage she constrained us to silence and
+caution; then when we were safely past she would have us run, still
+feigning to be cold, but in truth (as I think) to avoid being overtaken
+by Mr. Godwin, fearing, maybe, that he would overrule her will. This way
+we sped till Moll was fain to stop with a little cry of pain, and
+clapping her hand to her heart, being fairly spent and out of breath.
+Then we took her betwixt us, lending her our arms for support, and
+falling into a more regular pace made good progress. We trudged on till
+we reached Croydon without any accident, save that at one point, Moll's
+step faltering and she with a faint sob weighing heavily upon our arms,
+we stopped, as thinking her strength overtaxed, and then glancing about
+me I perceived we were upon that little bridge where we had overtaken
+Mr. Godwin and he had offered to make Moll his wife. Then I knew 'twas
+not fatigue that weighed her down, and gauging her feelings by my own
+remorse, I pitied this poor wife even more than I blamed myself; for had
+she revealed herself to him at that time, though he might have shrunk
+from marriage, he must have loved her still, and so she had been spared
+this shame and hopeless sorrow.
+
+At Croydon we overtook a carrier on his way to London for the Saturday
+market, who for a couple of shillings gave us a place in his waggon with
+some good bundles of hay for a seat, and here was rest for our tired
+bodies (though little for our tormented minds) till we reached Marsh
+End, where we were set down; and so, the ground being hard with frost,
+across the Marsh to Greenwich about daybreak. Having the key of his
+workshop with him, Dawson took us into his lodgings without disturbing
+the other inmates of the house (who might well have marvelled to see us
+enter at this hour with a woman in a man's cloak, and no covering but a
+handkerchief to her head), and Moll taking his bed, we disposed
+ourselves on some shavings in his shop to get a little sleep.
+
+Dawson was already risen when I awoke, and going into his little
+parlour, I found him mighty busy setting the place in order, which was
+in a sad bachelor's pickle, to be sure--all littered up with odds and
+ends of turning, unwashed plates, broken victuals, etc., just as he had
+left it.
+
+"She's asleep," says he, in a whisper. "And I'd have this room like a
+little palace against she comes into it, so do you lend me a hand, Kit,
+and make no more noise than you can help. The kitchen's through that
+door; carry everything in there, and what's of no use fling out of the
+window into the road."
+
+Setting to with a will, we got the parlour and kitchen neat and proper,
+plates washed, tiles wiped, pots and pans hung up, furniture furbished
+up, and everything in its place in no time; then leaving me to light a
+fire in the parlour, Dawson goes forth a-marketing, with a basket on his
+arm, in high glee. And truly to see the pleasure in his face later on,
+making a mess of bread and milk in one pipkin and cooking eggs in
+another (for now we heard Moll stirring in her chamber), one would have
+thought that this was an occasion for rejoicing rather than grief, and
+this was due not to want of kind feeling, but to the fond, simple nature
+of him, he being manly enough in some ways, but a very child in others.
+He did never see further than his nose (as one says), and because it
+gave him joy to have Moll beside him once more, he must needs think
+hopefully, that she will quickly recover from this reverse of fortune,
+and that all will come right again.
+
+Our dear Moll did nothing to damp his hopes, but played her part bravely
+and well to spare him the anguish of remorse that secretly wrung her own
+heart. She met us with a cheerful countenance, admired the neatness of
+the parlour, the glowing fire, ate her share of porridge, and finding
+the eggs cooked hard, declared she could not abide them soft. Then she
+would see her father work his lathe (to his great delight), and begged
+he would make her some cups for eggs, as being more to our present
+fashion than eating them from one's hand.
+
+"Why," says he, "there's an old bed-post in the corner that will serve
+me to a nicety. But first I must see our landlord and engage a room for
+Kit and me; for I take it, my dear," adds he, "you will be content to
+stay with us here."
+
+"Yes," answers she, "'tis a most cheerful view of the river from the
+windows."
+
+She tucked up her skirt and sleeves to busy herself in household
+matters, and when I would have relieved her of this office, she begged
+me to go and bear her father company, saying with a piteous look in her
+eyes that we must leave her some occupation or she should weary. She was
+pale, there were dark lines beneath her eyes, and she was silent; but I
+saw no outward sign of grief till the afternoon, when, coming from
+Jack's shop unexpected, I spied her sitting by the window, with her face
+in her hands, bowed over a piece of cloth we had bought in the morning,
+which she was about to fashion into a plain gown, as being more suitable
+to her condition than the rich dress in which she had left the Court.
+
+"Poor soul!" thinks I; "here is a sad awaking from thy dream of riches
+and joy."
+
+Upon a seasonable occasion I told Dawson we must soon begin to think of
+doing something for a livelihood--a matter which was as remote from his
+consideration as the day of wrath.
+
+"Why, Kit," says he, "I've as good as fifty pounds yet in a hole at the
+chimney back."
+
+"Aye, but when that's gone--" says I.
+
+"That's a good way hence, Kit, but there never was such a man as you for
+going forth to meet troubles half way. However, I warrant I shall find
+some jobs of carpentry to keep us from begging our bread when the pinch
+comes."
+
+Not content to wait for this pinch, I resolved I would go into the city
+and enquire there if the booksellers could give me any employment
+--thinking I might very well write some good sermons on honesty,
+now I had learnt the folly of roguery. Hearing of my purpose
+the morning I was about to go, Moll takes me aside and asks me in a
+quavering voice if I knew where Mr. Godwin might be found. This question
+staggered me a moment, for her husband's name had not been spoken by any
+of us since the catastrophe, and it came into my mind now that she
+designed to return to him, and I stammered out some foolish hint at
+Hurst Court.
+
+"No, he is not there," says he, "but I thought maybe that Sir Peter
+Lely--"
+
+"Aye," says I; "he will most likely know where Mr. Godwin may be found."
+
+"Can you tell me where Sir Peter lives?"
+
+"No; but I can learn easily when I am in the city."
+
+"If you can, write the address and send him this," says she, drawing a
+letter from her breast. She had writ her husband's name on it, and now
+she pressed her lips to it twice, and putting the warm letter in my
+hand, she turned away, her poor mouth twitching with smothered grief. I
+knew then that there was no thought in her mind of seeing her husband
+again.
+
+I carried the letter with me to the city, wondering what was in it. I
+know not now, yet I think it contained but a few words of explanation
+and farewell, with some prayer, maybe, that she might be forgiven and
+forgotten.
+
+Learning where Sir Peter Lely lived, I myself went to his house, and he
+not being at home, I asked his servant if Mr. Godwin did sometimes come
+there.
+
+"Why, yes, sir, he was here but yesterday," answers he. "Indeed, never a
+day passes but he calls to ask if any one hath sought him."
+
+"In that case," says I, slipping a piece in his ready hand, and fetching
+out Moll's letter, "you will give him this when he comes next."
+
+"That I will, sir, and without fail. But if you would see him, sir, he
+bids me say he is ever at his lodging in Holborn, from five in the
+evening to eight in the morning."
+
+"'Twill answer all ends if you give him that letter. He is in good
+health, I hope."
+
+"Well, sir, he is and he isn't, as you may say," answers he, dropping
+into a familiar, confidential tone after casting his eye over me to be
+sure I was no great person. "He ails nothing, to be sure, for I hear he
+is ever afoot from morn till even a-searching hither and thither; but a
+more downhearted, rueful looking gentleman for his age I never see.
+'Twixt you and me, sir, I think he hath lost his sweetheart, seeing I am
+charged, with Sir Peter's permission, to follow and not lose sight of
+any lady who may chance to call here for him."
+
+
+I walked back to Greenwich across the fields, debating in my mind
+whether I should tell Moll of her husband's distress or not, so
+perplexed with conflicting arguments that I had come to no decision when
+I reached home.
+
+Moll spying me coming, from her window in the front of the house, met me
+at the door, in her cloak and hood, and begged I would take her a little
+turn over the heath.
+
+"What have you to tell me?" asks she, pressing my arm as we walked on.
+
+"I have given your letter to Sir Peter Lely's servant, who promises to
+deliver it faithfully to your husband."
+
+"Well," says she, after a little pause of silence, "that is not all."
+
+"You will be glad to know that he is well in health," says I, and then I
+stop again, all hanging in a hedge for not knowing whether it were wiser
+to speak or hold my tongue.
+
+"There is something else. I see it in your face. Hide nothing from me
+for love's sake," says she, piteously. Whereupon, my heart getting the
+better of my head (which, to be sure, was no great achievement), I told
+all as I have set it down here.
+
+"My dear, dear love! my darling Dick!" says she, in the end. And then
+she would have it told all over again, with a thousand questions, to
+draw forth more; and these being exhausted, she asks why I would have
+concealed so much from her, and if I did fear she would seek him.
+
+"Nay, my dear," says I; "'tis t'other way about. For if your husband
+does forgive you, and yearns but to take you back into his arms, it
+would be an unnatural, cruel thing to keep you apart. Therefore, to
+confess the whole truth, I did meditate going to him and showing how we
+and not you are to blame in this matter, and then telling him where he
+might find you, if on reflection he felt that he could honestly hold you
+guiltless. But ere I do that (as I see now), I must know if you are
+willing to this accommodation; for if you are not, then are our wounds
+all opened afresh to no purpose, but to retard their healing."
+
+She made no reply nor any comment for a long time, nor did I seek to
+bias her judgment by a single word (doubting my wisdom). But I perceived
+by the quivering of her arm within mine that a terrible conflict 'twixt
+passion and principle was convulsing every fibre of her being. At the
+top of the hill above Greenwich she stopped, and, throwing back her
+hood, let the keen wind blow upon her face, as she gazed over the grey
+flats beyond the river. And the air seeming to give her strength and a
+clearer perception, she says, presently:
+
+"Accommodation!" (And she repeats this unlucky word of mine twice or
+thrice, as if she liked it less each time.) "That means we shall agree
+to let bygones be bygones, and do our best to get along together for the
+rest of our lives as easily as we may."
+
+"That's it, my dear," says I, cheerfully.
+
+"Hush up the past," continues she, in the same calculating tone;
+"conceal it from the world, if possible. Invent some new lie to deceive
+the curious, and hoodwink our decent friends. Chuckle at our success,
+and come in time" (here she paused a moment) "to 'chat so lightly of our
+past knavery, that we could wish we had gone farther in the business.'"
+Then turning about to me, she asks: "If you were writing the story of my
+life for a play, would you end it thus?"
+
+"My dear," says I, "a play's one thing, real life's another; and believe
+me, as far as my experience goes of real life, the less heroics there
+are in it the better parts are those for the actors in't."
+
+She shook her head fiercely in the wind, and, turning about with a
+brusque vigour, cries, "Come on. I'll have no accommodation. And yet,"
+says she, stopping short after a couple of hasty steps, and with a
+fervent earnestness in her voice, "and yet, if I could wipe out this
+stain, if by any act I could redeem my fault, God knows, I'd do it, cost
+what it might, to be honoured once again by my dear Dick."
+
+
+"This comes of living in a theatre all her life," thinks I. And indeed,
+in this, as in other matters yet to be told, the teaching of the stage
+was but too evident.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+
+_All agree to go out to Spain again in search of our old jollity._
+
+
+Another week passed by, and then Dawson, shortsighted as he was in his
+selfishness, began to perceive that things were not coming all right, as
+he had expected. Once or twice when I went into his shop, I caught him
+sitting idle before his lathe, with a most woe-begone look in his face.
+
+"What's amiss, Jack?" asks I, one day when I found him thus.
+
+He looked to see that the door was shut, and then says he, gloomily:
+
+"She don't sing as she used to, Kit; she don't laugh hearty."
+
+I hunched my shoulders.
+
+"She doesn't play us any of her old pranks," continues he. "She don't
+say one thing and go and do t'other the next moment, as she used to do.
+She's too good."
+
+What could I say to one who was fond enough to think that the summer
+would come back at his wish and last for ever?
+
+"She's not the same, Kit," he goes on. "No, not by twenty years. One
+would say she is older than I am, yet she's scarce the age of woman. And
+I do see she gets more pale and thin each day. D'ye think she's fretting
+for _him_?"
+
+"Like enough, Jack," says I. "What would you? He's her husband, and 'tis
+as if he was dead to her. She cannot be a maid again. 'Tis young to be a
+widow, and no hope of being wife ever more."
+
+"God forgive me," says he, hanging his head.
+
+"We did it for the best," says I. "We could not foresee this."
+
+"'Twas so natural to think we should be happy again being all together.
+Howsoever," adds he, straightening himself with a more manful vigour,
+"we will do something to chase these black dogs hence."
+
+On his lathe was the egg cup he had been turning for Moll; he snapped it
+off from the chuck and flung it in the litter of chips and shavings, as
+if 'twere the emblem of his past folly.
+
+It so happened that night that Moll could eat no supper, pleading for
+her excuse that she felt sick.
+
+"What is it, chuck?" says Jack, setting down his knife and drawing his
+chair beside Moll's.
+
+"The vapours, I think," says she, with a faint smile.
+
+"Nay," says he, slipping his arm about her waist and drawing her to him.
+"My Moll hath no such modish humours. 'Tis something else. I have
+watched ye, and do perceive you eat less and less. Tell us what ails
+you."
+
+"Well, dear," says she, "I do believe 'tis idleness is the root of my
+disorder."
+
+"Idleness was never wont to have this effect on you."
+
+"But it does now that I am grown older. There's not enough to do. If I
+could find some occupation for my thoughts, I should not be so silly."
+
+"Why, that's a good thought. What say you, dear, shall we go
+a-play-acting again?"
+
+Moll shook her head.
+
+"To be sure," says he, scratching his jaw, "we come out of that business
+with no great encouragement to go further in it. But times are mended
+since then, and I do hear the world is more mad for diversion now than
+ever they were before the Plague."
+
+"No, dear," says Moll, "'tis of no use to think of that I couldn't play
+now."
+
+After this we sat silent awhile, looking into the embers; then Jack,
+first to give expression to his thoughts, says:
+
+"I think you were never so happy in your life, Moll, as that time we
+were in Spain, nor can I recollect ever feeling so free from care
+myself,--after we got out of the hands of that gentleman robber. There's
+a sort of infectious brightness in the sun, and the winds, blow which
+way they may, do chase away dull thoughts and dispose one to jollity;
+eh, sweetheart? Why, we met never a tattered vagabond on the road but he
+was halloing of ditties, and a kinder, more hospitable set of people
+never lived. With a couple of rials in your pocket, you feel as rich and
+independent as with an hundred pounds in your hand elsewhere."
+
+At this point Moll, who had hitherto listened in apathy to these
+eulogies, suddenly pushing back her chair, looks at us with a strange
+look in her eyes, and says under her breath, "Elche!"
+
+"Barcelony for my money," responds Dawson, whose memories of Elche were
+not so cheerful as of those parts where we had led a more vagabond life.
+
+"Elche!" repeats Moll, twining her fingers, and with a smile gleaming in
+her eyes.
+
+"Does it please you, chuck, to talk of these matters?"
+
+"Yes, yes!" returns she, eagerly. "You know not the joy it gives me"
+(clapping her hand on her heart). "Talk on."
+
+Mightily pleased with himself, her father goes over our past
+adventures,--the tricks Moll played us, as buying of her petticoat while
+we were hunting for her, our excellent entertainment in the mountain
+villages, our lying abed all one day, and waking at sundown to think it
+was daybreak, our lazy days and jovial nights, etc., at great length;
+and when his memory began to give out, giving me a kick of the shin, he
+says:
+
+"Han't you got anything to say? For a dull companion there's nothing in
+the world to equal your man of wit and understanding"; which, as far as
+my observation goes, was a very true estimation on his part.
+
+But, indeed (since I pretend to no great degree of wit or
+understanding), I must say, as an excuse for my silence, that during his
+discourse I had been greatly occupied in observing Moll, and trying to
+discover what was passing in her mind. 'Twas clear this talk of Spain
+animated her spirit beyond ordinary measure, so that at one moment I
+conceived she did share her father's fond fancy that our lost happiness
+might be regained by mere change of scene, and I confess I was persuaded
+somewhat to this opinion by reflecting how much we owe to circumstances
+for our varying moods, how dull, sunless days will cast a gloom upon our
+spirits, and how a bright, breezy day will lift them up, etc. But I
+presently perceived that the stream of her thoughts was divided; for
+though she nodded or shook her head, as occasion required, the strained,
+earnest expression in her tightened lips and knitted brows showed that
+the stronger current of her ideas flowed in another and deeper channel.
+Maybe she only desired her father to talk that she might be left the
+freer to think.
+
+"'Twas near about this time of the year that we started on our travels,"
+said I, in response to Dawson's reminder.
+
+"Aye, I recollect 'twas mighty cold when we set sail, and the fruit
+trees were all bursting into bloom when we came into France. I would we
+were there now; eh, Moll?"
+
+"What, dear?" asks she, rousing herself at this direct question.
+
+"I say, would you be back there now, child?"
+
+"Oh, will you take me there if I would go?"
+
+"With all my heart, dear Moll. Is there anything in the world I'd not do
+to make you happy?"
+
+She took his hand upon her knee, and caressing it, says:
+
+"Let us go soon, father."
+
+"What, will you be dancing of fandangos again?" asks he; and she nods
+for reply, though I believe her thoughts had wandered again to some
+other matter.
+
+"I warrant I shall fall into the step again the moment I smell garlic;
+but I'll rehearse it an hour to-morrow morning, that we may lose no
+time. Will you have a short petticoat and a waist-cloth again, Moll?"
+
+She, with her elbows on her knees now, and her chin in her hands,
+looking into the fire, nodded.
+
+"And you, Kit," continues he, "you'll get a guitar and play tunes for
+us, as I take it you will keep us company still."
+
+"Yes, you may count on me for that," says I.
+
+"We shan't have Don Sanchez to play the tambour for us, but I wager I
+shall beat it as well as he; though, seeing he owes us more than we owe
+him, we might in reason call upon him, and--"
+
+"No, no; only we three," says Moll.
+
+"Aye, three's enough, in all conscience, and seeing we know a bit of the
+language, we shall get on well enough without him. I do long, Moll, to
+see you a-flinging over my shoulder, with your clappers going, your
+pretty eye and cheek all aglow with pleasure, and a court full of seņors
+and caballeros crying 'Holé!' and casting their handkerchiefs at your
+feet."
+
+Moll fetched a long, fluttering sigh, and, turning to her father, says
+in an absent way: "Yes, dear; yes. When shall we go?"
+
+Then, falling to discussing particulars, Dawson, clasping his hands upon
+his stomach, asked with a long face if at this season we were likely to
+fall in with the equinoxes on our voyage, and also if we could not hit
+some point of Spain so as to avoid crossing the mountains of Pyranee and
+the possibility of falling again into the hands of brigands. To which I
+replied that, knowing nothing of the northern part of Spain and its
+people, we stood a chance of finding a rude climate, unsuitable to
+travelling at this time of year, and an inhospitable reception, and
+that, as our object was to reach, the South as quickly as possible, it
+would be more to our advantage to find a ship going through the straits
+which would carry us as far as Alicante or Valencia. And Moll supporting
+my argument very vigorously, Dawson gave way with much less reluctance
+than I expected at the outset. But, indeed, the good fellow seemed now
+ready to make any sacrifice of himself so that he might see his Moll
+joyous again.
+
+When I entered his shop the next morning, I found him with his coat off,
+cutting capers, a wooden platter in his hand for a tambourine, and the
+sweat pouring down his face.
+
+"I am a couple of stone or so too heavy for the boleros," gasps he,
+coming to a stand, "but I doubt not, by the time we land at Alicante,
+there'll not be an ounce too much of me."
+
+Learning that a convoy for the Levant was about to set sail with the
+next favourable wind from Chatham, we took horse and rode there that
+afternoon, and by great good luck we found the Faithful Friend, a good
+ship bound for Genoa in Italy, whereof Mr. Dixon, the master, having
+intent to enter and victual at Alicante, undertook to carry us there for
+ten pounds a head, so being we could get all aboard by the next evening
+at sundown.
+
+Here was short grace, to be sure; but we did so despatch our affairs
+that we were embarked in due time, and by daybreak the following
+morning, were under weigh.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+
+_How we lost our poor Moll, and our long search for her._
+
+
+We reached Alicante the 15th March, after a long, tedious voyage. During
+this time I had ample opportunity for observing Moll, but with little
+relief to my gloomy apprehensions. She rarely quitted her father's side,
+being now as sympathetic and considerate of him in his sufferings, as
+before she had been thoughtless and indifferent. She had ever a gentle
+word of encouragement for him; she was ever kind and patient. Only once
+her spirit seemed to weary: that was when we had been beating about in
+the bay of Cadiz four days, for a favourable gale to take us through the
+straits. We were on deck, she and I, the sails flapping the masts idly
+above our heads.
+
+"Oh," says she, laying her hand on my shoulder, and her wasted cheek
+against my arm, "oh, that it were all ended!"
+
+She was sweeter with me than ever she had been before; it seemed as if
+the love bred in her heart by marriage must expend itself upon some one.
+But though this tenderness endeared her more to me, it saddened me, and
+I would have had her at her tricks once more, making merry at my
+expense. For I began to see that our happiness comes from within and not
+from without, and so fell despairing that ever this poor stricken heart
+of hers would be healed, which set me a-repenting more sincerely than
+ever the mischief I had helped to do her.
+
+Dawson also, despite his stubborn disposition to see things as he would
+have them, had, nevertheless, some secret perception of the incurable
+sorrow which she, with all her art, could scarce dissimulate. Yet he
+clung to that fond belief in a return of past happiness, as if 'twere
+his last hope on earth. When at last our wind sprang up, and we were
+cutting through the waters with bending masts and not a crease in the
+bellied sails, he came upon deck, and spreading his hands out, cries in
+joy:
+
+"Oh, this blessed sunlight! There is nought in the world like it--no,
+not the richest wine--to swell one's heart with content."
+
+And then he fell again to recalling our old adventures and mirthful
+escapades. He gave the rascals who fetched us ashore a piece more than
+they demanded, hugely delighted to find they understood his Spanish and
+such quips as he could call to mind. Then being landed, he falls to
+extolling everything he sees and hears, calling upon Moll to justify his
+appreciation; nay, he went so far as to pause in a narrow street where
+was a most unsavoury smell, to sniff the air and declare he could scent
+the oranges in bloom. And Lord! to hear him praise the whiteness of the
+linen, the excellence of the meat and drink set before us at the posada,
+one would have said he had never before seen clean sheets or tasted
+decent victuals.
+
+Seeing that neither Moll nor I could work ourselves up (try as we might)
+to his high pitch of enthusiasm, he was ready with an excuse for us.
+
+"I perceive," says he, "you are still suffering from your voyage.
+Therefore, we will not quit this town before to-morrow" (otherwise I
+believe he would have started off on our expedition as soon as our meal
+was done). "However," adds he, "do you make enquiry, Kit, if you can get
+yourself understood, if there be ever a bull to be fought to-day or any
+diversion of dancing or play-acting to-night, that the time hang not too
+heavy on our hands."
+
+As no such entertainments were to be had (this being the season of Lent,
+which is observed very strictly in these parts), Dawson contented
+himself with taking Moll out to visit the shops, and here he speedily
+purchased a pair of clappers for her, a tambour for himself, and a
+guitar for me, though we were difficult to please, for no clappers
+pleased Moll as those she had first bought; and it did seem to me that I
+could strike no notes out of any instrument but they had a sad, mournful
+tone.
+
+Then nothing would satisfy him but to go from one draper's to another,
+seeking a short petticoat, a waist-cloth, and a round hat to Moll's
+taste, which ended to his disappointment, for she could find none like
+the old.
+
+"Why, don't you like this?" he would say, holding up a gown; "to my eyes
+'tis the very spit of t'other, only fresher."
+
+And she demurring, whispers, "To-morrow, dear, to-morrow," with
+plaintive entreaty for delay in her wistful eyes. Disheartened, but not
+yet at the end of his resources, her father at last proposed that she
+should take a turn through the town alone and choose for herself. "For,"
+says he, "I believe we do rather hinder than help you with our advice in
+such matters."
+
+After a moment's reflection, Moll agreed to this, and saying she would
+meet us at the posada for supper, left us, and walked briskly back the
+way we had come.
+
+When she was gone, Dawson had never a word to say, nor I either, for
+dejection, yet, had I been questioned, I could have found no better
+reason for my despondency than that I felt 'twas all a mistake coming
+here for happiness.
+
+Strolling aimlessly through the narrow back ways, we came presently to
+the market that stands against the port. And here, almost at the first
+step, Dawson catches my arm and nods towards the opposite side of the
+market-place. Some Moors were seated there in their white clothes, with
+bundles of young palm leaves, plaited up in various forms of crowns,
+crosses, and the like,--which the people of this country do carry to
+church to be blessed on Palm Sunday; and these Moors I knew came from
+Elche, because palms grow nowhere else in such abundance.
+
+"Yes," says I, thinking 'twas this queer merchandise he would point out,
+"I noticed these Moors and their ware when we passed here a little while
+back with Moll."
+
+"Don't you see her there now--at the corner?" asks he.
+
+Then, to my surprise, I perceived Moll in very earnest conversation with
+two Moors, who had at first screened her from my sight.
+
+"Come away," continues he. "She left us to go back and speak to them,
+and would not have us know."
+
+Why should she be secret about this trifling matter, I asked myself.
+'Twas quite natural that, if she recognised in these Moors some old
+acquaintance of Elche, she should desire to speak them.
+
+We stole away to the port; and seating ourselves upon some timber, there
+we looked upon the sea nigh upon half an hour without saying a word.
+Then turning to me, Dawson says: "Unless she speak to us upon this
+matter, Kit, we will say nought to her. But, if she say nothing, I shall
+take it for a sign her heart is set upon going back to Elche, and she
+would have it a secret that we may not be disheartened in our other
+project."
+
+"That is likely enough," says I, not a little surprised by his
+reasoning. But love sharpens a man's wit, be it never so dull.
+
+"Nevertheless," continues he, "if she can be happier at Elche than
+elsewhere, then must we abandon our scheme and accept hers with a good
+show of content. We owe her that, Kit."
+
+"Aye, and more," says I.
+
+"Then when we meet to-morrow morning, I will offer to go there, as if
+'twas a happy notion that had come to me in my sleep, and do you back me
+up with all the spirit you can muster."
+
+So after some further discussion we rose, and returned to our posada,
+where we found Moll waiting for us. She told us she had found no clothes
+to her liking (which was significant), and said not a word of her
+speaking to the Moors in the market-place, so we held our peace on these
+matters.
+
+We did not part till late that night, for Moll would sit up with us,
+confessing she felt too feverish for sleep; and indeed this was apparent
+enough by her strange humour, for she kept no constant mood for five
+minutes together. Now, she would sit pensive, paying no heed to us, with
+a dreamy look in her eyes, as if her thoughts were wandering far
+away--to her husband in England maybe; then she would hang her head as
+though she dared not look him in the face even at that distance; and
+anon she would recover herself with a noble exaltation, lifting her head
+with a fearless mien. And so presently her body drooping gradually to a
+reflective posture, she falls dreaming again, to rouse herself suddenly
+at some new prompting of her spirit, and give us all her thoughts, all
+eagerness for two moments, all melting sweetness the next, with her
+pretty manner of clinging to her father's arm, and laying her cheek
+against his shoulder. And when at last we came to say good-night, she
+hangs about his neck as if she would fain sleep there, quitting him with
+a deep sigh and a passionate kiss. Also she kissed me most
+affectionately, but could say never a word of farewell to either of
+us--hurrying to her chamber to weep, as I think.
+
+We knew not what to conclude from these symptoms, save that she might be
+sickening of some disorder; so we to our beds, very down in the mouth
+and faint at heart.
+
+About six the next morning I was awoke by the door bursting suddenly
+open, and starting up in my bed, I see Dawson at my side, shaking in
+every limb, and his eyes wide with terror.
+
+"Moll's gone!" cries he, and falls a-blubbering.
+
+"Gone!" says I, springing out of bed. "'Tis not possible."
+
+"She has not lain in her bed; and one saw her go forth last night as the
+doors were closing, knowing her for a foreigner by her hood. Come with
+me," adds he, laying his hand on a chair for support. "I dare not go
+alone."
+
+"Aye, I'll go with ye, Jack; but whither?"
+
+"Down to the sea," says he, hoarsely.
+
+I stopped in the midst of dressing, overcome by this fearful hint; for,
+knowing Moll's strong nature, the thought had never occurred to me that
+she might do away with herself. Yet now reflecting on her strange manner
+of late, especially her parting with us overnight, it seemed not so
+impossible neither. For here, seeing the folly of our coming hither,
+desponding of any happiness in the future, was the speediest way of
+ending a life that was burdensome to herself and a constant sorrow to
+us. Nay, with her notions of poetic justice drawn from plays, she may
+have regarded this as the only atonement she could make her husband; the
+only means of giving him back freedom to make a happier choice in
+marriage. With these conclusions taking shape, I shuffled on my clothes,
+and then, with shaking fear, we two, hanging to each other's arms for
+strength, made our way through the crooked streets to the sea; and
+there, seeing a group of men and women gathered at the water's edge some
+little distance from us, we dared not go further, conceiving 'twas a
+dead body they were regarding. But 'twas only a company of fishers
+examining their haul of fishes, as we presently perceived. So, somewhat
+cheered, we cast our eyes to the right and left, and, seeing nothing to
+justify our fears, advanced along the mole to the very end, where it
+juts out into the sea, with great stones around to break the surf. Here,
+then, with deadly apprehensions, we peered amongst the rocks, holding
+our breath, clutching tight hold of one another by the hand, in terror
+of finding that we so eagerly searched,--a hood, a woman's skirt
+clinging to the stones, a stiffened hand thrust up from the lapping
+waters. Never may I forget the sickening horror of the moment when,
+creeping out amidst the rocks, Dawson twitches my hand, and points down
+through the clear water to something lying white at the bottom. It
+looked for all the world like a dead face, coloured a greenish white by
+the water; but presently we saw, by one end curling over in the swell of
+a wave, that 'twas only a rag of paper.
+
+Then I persuaded Dawson to give up this horrid search, and return to our
+posada, when, if we found not Moll, we might more justly conclude she
+had gone to Elche, than put an end to her life; and though we could
+learn nothing of her at our inn, more than Dawson had already told me,
+yet our hopes were strengthened in the probability of finding her at
+Elche by recollecting her earnest, secret conversation with the Moors,
+who might certainly have returned to Elche in the night, they preferring
+that time for their journey, as we knew. So, having hastily snatched a
+repast, whilst our landlord was procuring mules for our use, we set off
+across the plain, doing our best to cheer each other on the way. But I
+confess one thing damped my spirits exceedingly, and that was, having no
+hint from Moll the night before of this project, which then must have
+been fully matured in her mind, nor any written word of explanation and
+encouragement. For, thinks I, she being no longer a giddy, heedless
+child, ready to play any prank without regard to the consequences, but a
+very considerate, remorseful woman, would not put us to this anxiety
+without cause. Had she resolved to go to her friends at Elche, she
+would, at least, have comforted us with the hope of meeting her again;
+whereas, this utter silence did point to a knowledge on her part that we
+were sundered for ever, and that she could give us no hope, but such as
+we might glean from uncertainty.
+
+Arriving at Elche, we made straight for the house of the merchant, Sidi
+ben Ahmed, with whose family Moll had been so intimate previously. Here
+we were met by Sidi himself, who, after laying his fingers across his
+lips, and setting his hand upon his heart, in token of recognition and
+respect, asked us very civilly our business, though without any show of
+surprise at seeing us. But these Moors do pride themselves upon a stoic
+behaviour at all times, and make it a point to conceal any emotion they
+may feel, so that men never can truly judge of their feelings.
+
+Upon explaining our circumstances as well as our small knowledge of the
+tongue allowed us, he makes us a gesture of his open hands, as if he
+would have us examine his house for ourselves, to see that she was not
+hid away there for any reason, and then calling his servants, he bids
+them seek through all the town, promising them a rich reward if they
+bring any tidings of Lala Mollah. And while this search was being made,
+he entertained us at his own table, where we recounted so much of our
+miserable history as we thought it advisable he should know.
+
+One by one the servants came in to tell that they had heard nothing,
+save that some market-men had seen and spoken with Moll at Alicante, but
+had not clapt eyes on her since. Not content with doing us this service,
+the merchant furnished us with fresh mules, to carry us back to
+Alicante, whither we were now all eagerness to return, in the hope of
+finding Moll at the posada. So, travelling all night, we came to our
+starting-place the next morning, to learn no tidings of our poor Moll.
+
+We drew some grain of comfort from this; for, it being now the third day
+since the dear girl had disappeared, her body would certainly have been
+washed ashore, had she cast herself, as we feared, in the sea. It
+occurred to us that if Moll were still living, she had either returned
+to England, or gone to Don Sanchez at Toledo, whose wise counsels she
+had ever held in high respect. The former supposition seemed to me the
+better grounded; for it was easy to understand how, yearning for him
+night and day, she should at length abandon every scruple, and throw
+herself at his feet, reckless of what might follow. 'Twas not
+inconsistent with her impulsive character, and that more reasonable view
+of life she had gained by experience, and the long reflections on her
+voyage hither. And that which supported my belief still more was that a
+fleet of four sail (as I learnt) had set forth for England the morning
+after our arrival. So now finding, on enquiry, that a carrier was to set
+out for Toledo that afternoon, I wrote a letter to Don Sanchez, telling
+him the circumstances of our loss, and begging him to let us know, as
+speedily as possible, if he had heard aught of Moll. And in this letter
+I enclosed a second, addressed to Mr. Godwin, having the same purport,
+which I prayed Don Sanchez to send on with all expedition, if Moll were
+not with him.
+
+And now, having despatched these letters, we had nothing to do but to
+await a reply, which, at the earliest, we could not expect to get before
+the end of the week--Toledo being a good eighty English leagues distant.
+
+We waited in Alicante four days more, making seven in all from the day
+we lost Moll; and then, the suspense and torment of inactivity becoming
+insupportable, we set out again for Elche, the conviction growing strong
+upon us, with reflection, that we had little to hope from Don Sanchez.
+And we resolved we would not go this time to Sidi ben Ahmed, but rather
+seek to take him unawares, and make enquiry by more subtle means, we
+having our doubts of his veracity. For these Moors are not honest liars
+like plain Englishmen, who do generally give you some hint of their
+business by shifting of their eyes this way and that, hawking,
+stammering, etc., but they will ever look you calmly and straight in the
+face, never at a loss for the right word, or over-anxious to convince
+you, so that 'twill plague a conjurer to tell if they speak truth or
+falsehood. And here I would remark, that in all my observations of men
+and manners, there is no nation in the world to equal the English, for a
+straightforward, pious, horse-racing sort of people.
+
+Well, then, we went about our search in Elche with all the slyness
+possible, prying here and there like a couple of thieves a-robbing a
+hen-roost, and putting cross-questions to every simple fellow we
+met,--the best we could with our small knowledge of their tongue,--but
+all to no purpose, and so another day was wasted. We lay under the palms
+that night, and in the morning began our perquisition afresh; now
+hunting up and down the narrow lanes and alleys of the town, as we had
+scoured those of Alicante, in vain, until, persuaded of the uselessness
+of our quest, we agreed to return to Alicante, in the hope of finding
+there a letter from Don Sanchez. But (not to leave a single stone
+unturned), we settled we would call once again on Sidi ben Ahmed, and
+ask if he had any tidings to give us, but, openly, feeling we were no
+match for him at subterfuge. So, to his house we went, where we were
+received very graciously by the old merchant, who, chiding us gently for
+being in the neighbourhood a whole day without giving him a call, prayed
+us to enter his unworthy parlour, adding that we should find there a
+friend who would be very pleased to see us.
+
+At this, my heart bounded to such an extent that I could utter never a
+word (nor could Dawson either), for I expected nothing less than to find
+this friend was our dear Moll; and so, silent and shaking with feverish
+anticipation, we followed him down the tiled passage and round the inner
+garden of his house by the arcade, till we reached a doorway, and there,
+lifting aside the heavy hangings, he bade us enter. We pushed by him in
+rude haste, and then stopped of a sudden, in blank amazement; for, in
+place of Moll, whom we fully thought to find, we discovered only Don
+Sanchez, sitting on some pillows gravely smoking a Moorish chibouk.
+
+"My daughter--my Moll!" cries Dawson, in despair. "Where is she?"
+
+"By this time," replies Don Sanchez, rising, "your daughter should be in
+Barbary."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+
+_We learn what hath become of Moll; and how she nobly atoned for our
+sins._
+
+
+"Barbary--Barbary!" gasps Dawson, thunderstruck by this discovery. "My
+Moll in Barbary?"
+
+"She sailed three days ago," says the Don, laying down his pipe, and
+rising.
+
+Dawson regards him for a moment or two in a kind of stupor, and then his
+ideas taking definite shape, he cries in a fury of passion and clenching
+his fists:
+
+"Spanish dog! you shall answer this. And you" (turning in fury upon
+Sidi), "you--I know your cursed traffic--you've sold her to the Turk!"
+
+Though Sidi may have failed to comprehend his words, he could not
+misunderstand his menacing attitude, yet he faced him with an unmoved
+countenance, not a muscle of his body betraying the slightest fear, his
+stoic calm doing more than any argument of words to overthrow Dawson's
+mad suspicion. But his passion unabated, Dawson turns again upon Don
+Sanchez, crying:
+
+"Han't you won enough by your villany, but you must rob me of my
+daughter? Are you not satisfied with bringing us to shame and ruin, but
+this poor girl of mine must be cast to the Turk? Speak, rascal!" adds
+he, advancing a step, and seeking to provoke a conflict. "Speak, if you
+have any reason to show why I shouldn't strangle you."
+
+"You'll not strangle me," answers the Don, calmly, "and here's my reason
+if you would see it." And with that he tilts his elbow, and with a turn
+of the wrist displays a long knife that lay concealed under his forearm.
+"I know no other defence against the attack of a madman."
+
+"If I be mad," says Dawson, "and mad indeed I may be, and no
+wonder,--why, then, put your knife to merciful use and end my misery
+here."
+
+"Nay, take it in your own hand," answers the Don, offering the knife.
+"And use it as you will--on yourself if you are a fool, or on me if,
+being not a fool, you can hold me guilty of such villany as you charged
+me with in your passion."
+
+Dawson looks upon the offered knife an instant with distraction in his
+eyes, and the Don (not to carry this risky business too far), taking his
+hesitation for refusal, claps up the blade in his waist-cloth, where it
+lay mighty convenient to his hand.
+
+"You are wise," says he, "for if that noble woman is to be served, 'tis
+not by spilling the blood of her best friends."
+
+"You, her friend!" says Dawson.
+
+"Aye, her best friend!" replies the other, with dignity, "for he is best
+who can best serve her."
+
+"Then must I be her worst," says Jack, humbly, "having no power to undo
+the mischief I have wrought."
+
+"Tell me, Seņor," says I, "who hath kidnapped poor Moll?"
+
+"Nobody. She went of her free will, knowing full well the risk she
+ran--the possible end of her noble adventure--against the dissuasions
+and the prayers of all her friends here. She stood in the doorway there,
+and saw you cross the garden when you first came to seek her--saw you,
+her father, distracted with grief and fear, and she suffered you to go
+away. As you may know, nothing is more sacred to a Moor than the laws of
+hospitality, and by those laws Sidi was bound to respect the wishes of
+one who had claimed his protection. He could not betray her secret, but
+he and his family did their utmost to persuade her from her purpose.
+While you were yet in the town, they implored her to let them call you
+back, and she refused. Failing in their entreaties, they despatched a
+messenger to me; alas! when I arrived, she was gone. She went with a
+company of merchants bound for Alger, and all that her friends here
+could do was to provide her with a servant and letters, which will
+ensure her safe conduct to Thadviir."
+
+"But why has she gone there, Seņor?" says I, having heard him in a maze
+of wonderment to the end.
+
+"Cannot you guess? Surely she must have given you some hint of her
+purposes, for 'twas in her mind, as I learn, when she agreed to leave
+England and come hither."
+
+"Nothing--we know nothing," falters Dawson. "'Tis all mystery and
+darkness. Only we did suppose to find happiness a-wandering about the
+country, dancing and idling, as we did before."
+
+"That dream was never hers," answers the Don. "She never thought to find
+happiness in idling pleasure. 'Tis the joy of martyrdom she's gone to
+find, seeking redemption in self-sacrifice."
+
+"Be more explicit, sir, I pray," says I.
+
+"In a word, then, she has gone to offer herself as a ransom for the real
+Judith Godwin."
+
+We were too overwrought for great astonishment; indeed, my chief
+surprise was that I had not foreseen this event in Moll's desire to
+return to Elche, or hit upon the truth in seeking an explanation of her
+disappearance. 'Twas of a piece with her natural romantic disposition
+and her newly awaked sense of poetic justice,--for here at one stroke
+she makes all human atonement for her fault and ours,--earning her
+husband's forgiveness by this proof of dearest love, and winning back
+for ever an honoured place in his remembrance. And I bethought me of our
+Lord's saying that greater love is there none than this: that one shall
+lay down his life for another.
+
+For some time Dawson stood silent, his arms folded upon his breast, and
+his head bent in meditation, his lips pressed together, and every muscle
+in his face contracted with pain and labouring thought. Then, raising
+his head and fixing his eyes on the Don, he says:
+
+"If I understand aright, my Moll hath gone to give herself up for a
+slave, in the place of her whose name she took."
+
+The Don assents with a grave inclination of his head, and Dawson
+continues:
+
+"I ask your pardon for that injustice I did you in my passion; but now
+that I am cool I cannot hold you blameless for what has befallen my poor
+child, and I call upon you as a man of honour to repair the wrong you've
+done me."
+
+Again the Don bows very gravely, and then asks what we would have him
+do.
+
+"I ask you," says Dawson, "as we have no means for such an expedition,
+to send me across the sea there to my Moll."
+
+"I cannot ensure your return," says the Don, "and I warn you that once
+in Barbary you may never leave it."
+
+"I do not want to return if she is there; nay," adds he, "if I may move
+them to any mercy, they shall do what they will with this body of mine,
+so that they suffer my child to be free."
+
+The Don turns to Sidi, and tells him what Dawson has offered to do;
+whereupon the Moor lays his finger across his lips, then his hand on
+Dawson's breast, and afterwards upon his own, with a reverence, to show
+his respect. And so he and the Don fall to discussing the feasibility of
+this project (as I discovered by picking up a word here and there); and,
+this ended, the Don turns to Dawson, and tells him there is no vessel to
+convey him at present, wherefore he must of force wait patiently till
+one comes in from Barbary.
+
+"But," says he, "we may expect one in a few days, and rest you assured
+that your wish shall be gratified if it be possible."
+
+We went down, Dawson and I, to the sea that afternoon; and, sitting on
+the shore at that point where we had formerly embarked aboard the
+Algerine galley, we scanned the waters for a sail that might be coming
+hither, and Dawson with the eagerness of one who looked to escape from
+slavery rather than one seeking it.
+
+As we sat watching the sea, he fell a-regretting he had no especial gift
+of nature, by which he might more readily purchase Moll's freedom of her
+captors.
+
+"However," says he, "if I can show 'em the use of chairs and benches,
+for lack of which they are now compelled, as we see, to squat on mats
+and benches, I may do pretty well with Turks of the better sort who can
+afford luxuries, and so in time gain my end."
+
+"You shall teach me this business, Jack," says I, "for at present I'm
+more helpless than you."
+
+"Kit," says he, laying hold of my hand, "let us have no misunderstanding
+on this matter. You go not to Barbary with me."
+
+"What!" cries I, protesting. "You would have the heart to break from me
+after we have shared good and ill fortune together like two brothers all
+these years?"
+
+"God knows we shall part with sore hearts o' both sides, and I shall
+miss you sadly enough, with no Christian to speak to out there. But 'tis
+not of ourselves we must think now. Some one must be here to be a father
+to my Moll when she returns, and I'll trust Don Sanchez no farther than
+I can see him, for all his wisdom. So, as you love the dear girl, you
+will stay here, Kit, to be her watch and ward, and as you love me you
+will spare me any further discussion on this head. For I am resolved."
+
+I would say nothing then to contrary him, but my judgment and feeling
+both revolted against his decision. For, thinks I, if one Christian is
+worth but a groat to the Turk, two must be worth eightpence, therefore
+we together stand a better chance of buying Moll's freedom than either
+singly. And, for my own happiness, I would easier be a slave in Barbary
+with Jack than free elsewhere and friendless. Nowhere can a man be free
+from toil and pain of some sort or another, and there is no such solace
+in the world for one's discomforts as the company of a true man.
+
+But I was not regardless of Moll's welfare when she returned, neither.
+For I argued with myself that Mr. Godwin had but to know of her
+condition to find means of coming hither for her succour. So the next
+time I met Don Sanchez, I took him aside and told him of my concern,
+asking him the speediest manner of sending a letter to England (that I
+had enclosed in mine to the Don having missed him through his leaving
+Toledo before it arrived).
+
+"There is no occasion to write," says he. "For the moment I learnt your
+history from Sidi I sent a letter, apprising him of his wife's innocence
+in this business, and the noble reparation she had made for the fault of
+others. Also, I took the liberty to enclose a sum of money to meet his
+requirements, and I'll answer for it he is now on his way hither. For no
+man living could be dull to the charms of his wife, or bear resentment
+to her for an act that was prompted by love rather than avarice, and
+with no calculation on her part."
+
+This cheered me considerably, and did somewhat return my faith in Don
+Sanchez, who certainly was the most extraordinary gentlemanly rascal
+that ever lived.
+
+Day after day Dawson and I went down to the sea, and on the fifth day of
+our watching (after many false hopes and disappointments) we spied a
+ship, which we knew to be of the Algerine sort by the cross-set of its
+lateen sails,--making it to look like some great bird with spread wings
+on the water,--bearing down upon the shore.
+
+We watched the approach of this ship in a fever of joy and expectation,
+for though we dared not breathe our hopes one to another, we both
+thought that maybe Moll was there. And this was not impossible. For,
+supposing Judith was married happily, she would refuse to leave her
+husband, and her mother, having lived so long in that country, might not
+care to leave it now and quit her daughter; so might they refuse their
+ransom and Moll be sent back to us. And, besides this reasoning, we had
+that clinging belief of the unfortunate that some unforeseen accident
+might turn to our advantage and overthrow our fears.
+
+The Algerine came nearer and nearer, until at length we could make out
+certain figures moving upon the deck; then Dawson, laying a trembling
+hand on my sleeve, asked if I did not think 'twas a woman standing in
+the fore part; but I couldn't truly answer yes, which vexed him.
+
+But, indeed, when the galley was close enough to drop anchor, being at
+some distance from the shore because of the shoals, I could not
+distinguish any women, and my heart sank, for I knew well that if Moll
+were there, she, seeing us, would have given us some signal of waving a
+handkerchief or the like. As soon as the anchor was cast, a boat was
+lowered, and being manned, drew in towards us; then, truly, we perceived
+a bent figure sitting idle in the stern, but even Dawson dared not
+venture to think it might be Moll.
+
+The boat running on a shallow, a couple of Moors stepped into the water,
+and lifting the figure in their arms carried it ashore to where we
+stood. And now we perceived 'twas a woman muffled up in the Moorish
+fashion, a little, wizen old creature, who, casting back her head
+clothes, showed us a wrinkled face, very pale and worn with care and
+age. Regarding us, she says in plain English:
+
+"You are my countrymen. Is one of you named Dawson?"
+
+"My name is Dawson," says Jack.
+
+She takes his hand in hers, and holding it in hers looks in his face
+with great pity, and then at last, as if loath to tell the news she sees
+he fears to hear, she says:
+
+"I am Elizabeth Godwin."
+
+What need of more to let us know that Moll had paid her ransom?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+
+_Don Sanchez again proves himself the most mannerly rascal in the
+world._
+
+
+In silence we led Mrs. Godwin to the seat we had occupied, and seating
+ourselves we said not a word for some time. For my own part, the
+realisation of our loss threw my spirits into a strange apathy; 'twas as
+if some actual blow had stunned my senses. Yet I remember observing the
+Moors about their business,--despatching one to Elche for a train of
+mules, charging a second boat with merchandise while the first returned,
+etc.
+
+"I can feel for you," says Mrs. Godwin at length, addressing Dawson,
+"for I also have lost an only child."
+
+"Your daughter Judith, Madam?" says I.
+
+"She died two years ago. Yours still lives," says she, again turning to
+Dawson, who sat with a haggard face, rocking himself like one nursing a
+great pain. "And while there is life, there's hope, as one says."
+
+"Why, to be sure," says Jack, rousing himself. "This is no more, Kit,
+than we bargained for. Tell me, Madam, you who know that country, do you
+think a carpenter would be held in esteem there? I'm yet a strong man,
+as you see, with some good serviceable years of life before me. D'ye
+think they'd take me in exchange for my Moll, who is but a bit of a
+girl?"
+
+"She is beautiful, and beauty counts for more than strength and
+abilities there, poor man," says she.
+
+"I'll make 'em the offer," says he, "and though they do not agree to
+give her freedom, they may yet suffer me to see her time and again, if I
+work well."
+
+"'Tis strange," says she. "Your child has told me all your history. Had
+I learnt it from other lips, I might have set you down for rogues,
+destitute of heart or conscience; yet, with this evidence before me, I
+must needs regard you and your dear daughter as more noble than many
+whose deeds are writ in gold. 'Tis a lesson to teach me faith in the
+goodness of God, who redeems his creatures' follies, with one touch of
+love. Be of good cheer, my friend," adds she, laying her thin hand on
+his arm. "There _is_ hope. I would not have accepted this ransom--no,
+not for all your daughter's tears and entreaties--without good assurance
+that I, in my turn, might deliver her."
+
+I asked the old gentlewoman how this might be accomplished.
+
+"My niece," says she, dwelling on the word with a smile, as if happy in
+the alliance, "my niece, coming to Barbary of her free will, is not a
+slave like those captured in warfare and carried there by force. She
+remains there as a hostage for me, and will be free to return when I
+send the price of my ransom."
+
+"Is that a great sum?"
+
+"Three thousand gold ducats,--about one thousand pounds English."
+
+"Why, Madam," says Dawson, "we have nothing, being now reduced to our
+last pieces. And if you have the goodness to raise this money, Heaven
+only knows how long it may be ere you succeed. 'Tis a fortnight's
+journey, at the least, to England, and then you have to deal with your
+steward, who will seek only to put obstacles in your way, so that six
+weeks may pass ere Moll is redeemed, and what may befall her in the
+meantime?"
+
+"She is safe. Ali Oukadi is a good man. She has nought to fear while she
+is under his protection. Do not misjudge the Moors. They have many
+estimable qualities."
+
+"Yet, Madam," says I, "by your saying there is hope, I gather there must
+be also danger."
+
+"There is," answers she, at which Jack nods with conviction. "A
+beautiful young woman is never free from danger" (Jack assents again).
+"There are good and bad men amongst the Moors as amongst other people."
+
+"Aye, to be sure," says Dawson.
+
+"I say she is safe under the protection of Ali Oukadi, but when the
+ransom is paid and she leaves Thadviir, she may stand in peril."
+
+"Why, that's natural enough," cries Dawson, "be she amongst Moors or no
+Moors; 'tis then she will most need a friend to serve her, and one that
+knows the ins and outs of the place and how to deal with these Turks
+must surely be better than any half-dozen fresh landed and raw to their
+business." Then he fell questioning Mrs. Godwin as to how Moll was
+lodged, the distance of Thadviir from Alger, the way to get there, and
+divers other particulars, which, together with his eager, cheerful
+vivacity, showed clearly enough that he was more firmly resolved than
+ever to go into Barbary and be near Moll without delay. And presently,
+leaving me with Mrs. Godwin, he goes down to the captain of the galley,
+who is directing the landing of goods from the play-boat, and, with such
+small store of words as he possessed, aided by plentiful gesture, he
+enters into a very lively debate with him, the upshot of which was that
+the captain tells him he shall start the next morning at daybreak if
+there be but a puff of air, and agrees to carry him to Alger for a
+couple of pieces (upon which they clap hands), as Dawson, in high glee,
+informs us on his return.
+
+"And now, Kit," says he, "I must go back to Elche to borrow those same
+two pieces of Don Sanchez, so I pray you, Madam, excuse me."
+
+But just then the train of mules from Elche appears, and with them Sidi
+ben Ahmed, who, having information of Mrs. Godwin coming, brings a
+litter for her carriage, at the same time begging her to accept his
+hospitality as the true friend of her niece Moll. So we all return to
+Elche together, and none so downcast as I at the thought of losing my
+friend, and speculating on the mischances that might befall him; for I
+did now begin to regard him as an ill-fated man, whose best intentions
+brought him nothing but evil and misfortune.
+
+Being come to Elche, Don Sanchez presented himself to Mrs. Godwin with
+all the dignity and calm assurance in the world, and though she received
+him with a very cold, distant demeanour, as being the deepest rascal of
+us all and the one most to blame, yet it ruffled him never a bit, but he
+carried himself as if he had never benefited himself a penny by his
+roguery and at her expense.
+
+On Dawson asking him for the loan of a couple of pieces and telling his
+project, the Don drew a very long serious face and tried his utmost to
+dissuade him from it, so that at first I suspected him of being loath to
+part with this petty sum; but herein I did him injustice, for, finding
+Dawson was by no means to be turned from his purpose, he handed him his
+purse, advising him the first thing he did on arriving at Alger to
+present himself to the Dey and purchase a firman, giving him protection
+during his stay in Barbary (which he said might be done for a few silver
+ducats). Then, after discussing apart with Sidi, he comes to Mrs.
+Godwin, and says he:
+
+"Madam, with your sanction my friend Sidi ben Ahmed will charge Mr.
+Dawson with a letter to Ali Oukadi, promising to pay him the sum of
+three thousand gold ducats upon your niece being safely conducted hither
+within the space of three weeks."
+
+"Seņor," answers she, "I thank Sidi ben Ahmed very deeply--and you
+also," adds she, overcoming her compunctions, "for this offer. But
+unhappily, I cannot hope to have this sum of money in so short a time."
+
+"It is needless to say, Madam," returns he, with a scrape, "that in
+making this proposal I have considered of that difficulty; my friend has
+agreed to take my bond for the payment of this sum when it shall be
+convenient to you to discharge it."
+
+Mrs. Godwin accepted this arrangement with a profound bow, which
+concealed the astonishment it occasioned her. But she drew a long
+breath, and I perceived she cast a curious glance at all three of us, as
+if she were marvelling at the change that must have taken place in
+civilised countries since her absence, which should account for a pack
+of thieves nowadays being so very unlike what a pack of thieves was in
+her young days.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+
+_How we hear Moll's sweet voice through the walls of her prison, and
+speak two words with her though almost to our undoing._
+
+
+Having written his letter, Sidi ben Ahmed proposed that Mrs. Godwin
+should await the return of Moll before setting out for England, very
+graciously offering her the hospitality of his house meanwhile, and this
+offer she willingly accepted. And now, there being no reason for my
+staying in Elche, Dawson gladly agreed I should accompany him, the more
+so as I knew more of the Moors' language than he. Going down with us to
+the water side, Don Sanchez gave us some very good hints for our
+behaviour in Barbary, bidding us, above everything, be very careful not
+to break any of the laws of that country. "For," says he, "I have seen
+three men hanged there for merely casting a Turk into the sea in a
+drunken frolic."
+
+"Be assured, I'll touch nothing but water for my drink," says Dawson,
+taking this warning to his share.
+
+"Be careful," continues the Don, "to pay for all you have, and take not
+so much as an orange from a tree by the wayside without first laying a
+fleece or two on the ground. I warn you that they, though upright enough
+amongst themselves, are crafty and treacherous towards strangers, whom
+they regard as their natural enemies; and they will tempt you to break
+the law either by provoking a quarrel, or putting you to some unlawful
+practice, that they may annul your firman and claim you as convicted
+outlaws for their slaves. For stealing a pullet I have seen the flesh
+beaten off the soles of an English sailor's feet, and he and his
+companions condemned to slavery for life."
+
+"I'll lay a dozen fleeces on the ground for every sour orange I may
+take," says Dawson. "And as for quarrelling, a Turk shall pull my nose
+before ever a curse shall pass my lips."
+
+With these and other exhortations and promises, we parted, and lying
+aboard that night, we set sail by daybreak the next morning, having a
+very fair gale off the land; and no ships in the world being better than
+these galleys for swiftness, we made an excellent good passage, so that
+ere we conceived ourselves half over the voyage, we sighted Alger
+looking like nothing but a great chalk quarry for the white houses built
+up the side of the hill.
+
+We landed at the mole, which is a splendid construction some fifteen
+hundred feet or thereabouts in length (with the forts), forming a
+beautiful terrace walk supported by arches, beneath which large,
+splendid magazines, all the most handsome in the world, I think. Thence
+our captain led us to the Cassanabah, a huge, heavy, square, brick
+building, surrounded by high, massive walls and defended by a hundred
+pieces of ordnance, cannons, and mortars, all told. Here the Dey or
+Bashaw lives with his family, and below are many roomy offices for the
+discharge of business. Our captain takes us into a vast waiting-hall
+where over a hundred Moors were patiently attending an audience of the
+Dey's minister, and there we also might have lingered the whole day and
+gone away at night unsatisfied (as many of these Moors do, day after
+day, but that counts for nothing with these enduring people), but having
+a hint from our friend we found occasion to slip a ducat in the hand of
+a go-between officer, who straightway led us to his master. Our captain
+having presented us, with all the usual ceremonies, the grandee takes
+our letter from Sidi ben Ahmed, reads it, and without further ado signs
+and seals us a trader's pass for twenty-eight days, to end at sunset the
+day after the festival of Ranadal. With this paper we went off in high
+glee, thinking that twenty-eight hours of safe-conduct would have
+sufficed us. And so to an eating-house, where we treated our friendly
+captain to the best, and greasing his palm also for his good services,
+parted in mighty good humour on both sides.
+
+By this time it was getting pretty late in the day; nevertheless, we
+burnt with such impatience to be near our dear Moll that we set forth
+for Thadviir, which lies upon the seacoast about seven English leagues
+east of Alger. But a cool, refreshing air from the sea and the great joy
+in our hearts made this journey seem to us the most delightful of our
+lives. And indeed, after passing through the suburbs richly planted with
+gardens, and crossing the river, on which are many mills, and so coming
+into the plain of Mettegia, there is such an abundance of sweet odours
+and lovely fertile views to enchant the senses, that a dull man would be
+inspirited to a happy, cheerful mood.
+
+'Twas close upon nine o'clock when we reached the little town, and not a
+soul to be seen anywhere nor a light in any window, but that troubled us
+not at all (having provided ourselves with a good store of victuals
+before quitting Alger), for here 'tis as sweet to lie of nights in the
+open air as in the finest palace elsewhere. Late as it was, however, we
+could not dispose ourselves to sleep before we had gone all round the
+town to satisfy our curiosity. At the further extremity we spied a
+building looking very majestic in the moonlight, with a large garden
+about it enclosed with high walls, and deciding that this must be the
+residence of Ali Oukadi, who, we had learnt, was the most important
+merchant of these parts, we lay us down against the wall, and fell
+asleep, thinking of our dear Moll, who perchance, all unconscious, was
+lying within.
+
+Rising at daybreak, for Dawson was mightily uneasy unless we might be
+breaking the law by sleeping out-of-doors (but there is no cruel law of
+this sort in Barbary), we washed ourselves very properly at a
+neighbouring stream, made a meal of dry bread and dates, then, laying
+our bundles in a secret place whence we might conveniently fetch them,
+if Ali Oukadi insisted on entertaining us a day or two, we went into the
+town, and finding, upon enquiry, that this was indeed his palace, as we
+had surmised, bethought us what to say and how to behave the most civil
+possible, and so presented ourselves at his gate, stating our business.
+
+Presently, we were admitted to an outer office, and there received by a
+very bent, venerable old Moor, who, having greeted us with much
+ceremony, says, "I am Ali Oukadi. What would you have of me?"
+
+"My daughter Moll," answers Jack, in an eager, choking voice, offering
+his letter. The Moor regarded him keenly, and, taking the letter, sits
+down to study it; and while he is at this business a young Moor enters,
+whose name, as we shortly learnt, was Mohand ou Mohand. He was, I take
+it, about twenty-five or thirty years of age, and as handsome a man of
+his kind as ever I saw, with wondrous soft dark eyes, but a cruel mouth
+and a most high, imperious bearing which, together with his rich clothes
+and jewels, betokened him a man of quality. Hearing who we were, he
+saluted us civilly enough; but there was a flash of enmity in his eyes
+and a tightening of his lips, which liked me not at all.
+
+When the elder man had finished the letter, he hands it to the younger,
+and he having read it in his turn, they fall to discussing it in a low
+tone, and in a dialect of which not one word was intelligible to us.
+Finally, Ali Oukadi, rising from his cushions, says gravely, addressing
+Dawson:
+
+"I will write without delay to Sidi ben Ahmed in answer to his letter."
+
+"But my daughter," says Dawson, aghast, and as well as he could in the
+Moorish tongue. "Am I not to have her?"
+
+"My friend says nothing here," answers the old man, regarding the
+letter, "nothing that would justify my giving her up to you. He says the
+money shall be paid upon her being brought safe to Elche."
+
+"Why, your Excellency, I and my comrade here will undertake to carry her
+safely there. What better guard should a daughter have than her father?"
+
+"Are you more powerful than the elements? Can you command the tempest?
+Have you sufficient armament to combat all the enemies that scour the
+seas? If any accident befall you, what is this promise of
+payment?--Nothing."
+
+"At least, you will suffer me to make this voyage with my child."
+
+"I do not purpose to send her to Elche," returned the old man, calmly.
+"'Tis a risk I will not undertake. I have said that when I am paid three
+thousand ducats, I will give Lala Mollah freedom, and I will keep my
+word. To send her to Elche is a charge that does not touch my compact.
+This I will write and tell my friend, Sidi ben Ahmed, and upon his
+payment and expressed agreement I will render you your daughter. Not
+before."
+
+We could say nothing for a while, being so foundered by this reverse;
+but at length Dawson says in a piteous voice:
+
+"At least you will suffer me to see my daughter. Think, if she were
+yours and you had lost her--believing her a while dead--"
+
+Mohand ou Mohand muttered a few words that seemed to fix the old Moor's
+wavering resolution.
+
+"I cannot agree to that," says he. "Your daughter is becoming reconciled
+to her position. To see you would open her wounds afresh to the danger
+of her life, maybe. Reflect," adds he, laying his hand on the letter,
+"if this business should come to nought, what could recompense your
+daughter for the disappointment of those false hopes your meeting would
+inspire? It cannot be."
+
+With this he claps his hands, and a servant, entering at a nod from his
+master, lifts the hangings for us to go.
+
+Dawson stammered a few broken words of passionate protest, and then
+breaking down as he perceived the folly of resisting, he dropped his
+head and suffered me to lead him out. As I saluted the Moors in going, I
+caught, as I fancied, a gleam of triumphant gladness in the dark eyes of
+Mohand ou Mohand.
+
+Coming back to the place where we had hid our bundles, Dawson cast
+himself on the ground and gave vent to his passion, declaring he would
+see his Moll though he should tear the walls down to get at her, and
+other follies; but after a time he came to his senses again so that he
+could reason, and then I persuaded him to have patience, and forbear
+from any outburst of violence such as we had been warned against,
+showing him that certainly Don Sanchez, hearing of our condition, would
+send the money speedily, and so we should get Moll by fair means instead
+of losing her (and ourselves) by foul; that after all, 'twas but the
+delay of a week or so that we had to put up with, and so forth. Then,
+discussing what we should do next, I offered that we should return to
+Elche and make our case known rather than trust entirely to Ali Oukadi's
+promise of writing; for I did suspect some treacherous design on the
+part of Mohand ou Mohand, by which Mrs. Godwin failing of her agreement,
+he might possess himself of Moll; and this falling in with Dawson's
+wishes, we set out to return to Alger forthwith. But getting to Alger
+half-dead with the fatigue of trudging all that distance in the full
+heat of the day, we learnt to our chagrin that no ship would be sailing
+to Elche for a fortnight at the least, and all the money we had would
+not tempt any captain to carry us there; so here were we cast down again
+beyond everything for miserable, gloomy apprehensions.
+
+After spending another day in fruitless endeavour to obtain a passage,
+nothing would satisfy Dawson's painful, restless spirit but we must
+return to Thadviir; so thither we went once more to linger about the
+palace of Ali Oukadi, in the poor hope that we might see Moll come out
+to take the air.
+
+One day as we were standing in the shade of the garden wall, sick and
+weary with dejection and disappointment, Dawson, of a sudden, starts me
+from my lethargy by clutching my arm and raising his finger to bid me
+listen and be silent. Then straining my ear, I caught the distant sound
+of female voices, but I could distinguish not one from another, though
+by Dawson's joyous, eager look I perceived he recognised Moll's voice
+amongst them. They came nearer and nearer, seeking, as I think, the
+shade of those palm trees which sheltered us. And presently, quite close
+to us, as if but on the other side of the wall, one struck a lute and
+began to sing a Moorish song; when she had concluded her melancholy air
+a voice, as if saddened by the melody, sighed:
+
+"Ah me! ah me!"
+
+There was no misdoubting that sweet voice: 'twas Moll's.
+
+Then very softly Dawson begins to whistle her old favourite ditty
+"Hearts will break." Scarce had he finished the refrain when Moll within
+took it up in a faint trembling voice, but only a bar, to let us know we
+were heard; then she fell a-laughing at her maids, who were whispering
+in alarm, to disguise her purpose; and so they left that part, as we
+knew by their voices dying away in the distance.
+
+"She'll come again," whispers Dawson, feverishly.
+
+And he was in the right; for, after we had stood there best part of an
+hour, we hear Moll again gently humming "Hearts will break," but so low,
+for fear of being heard by others, that only we who strained so hard to
+catch a sound could be aware of it.
+
+"Moll, my love!" whispers Dawson, as she comes to an end.
+
+"Dear father!" answers she, as low.
+
+"We are here--Kit and I. Be comforted, sweet chuck,--you shall be free
+ere long."
+
+"Shall I climb the wall?" asks she.
+
+"No, no,--for God's sake, refrain!" says I, seeing that Jack was half
+minded to bid her come to him. "You will undo all--have patience."
+
+At this moment other voices came to us from within, calling Lala Mollah;
+and presently the quick witch answers them from a distance, with a
+laugh, as if she had been playing at catch-who-can.
+
+Then Dawson and I, turning about, discovered to our consternation Ali
+Oukadi standing quite close beside us, with folded arms and bent brows.
+
+"You are unwise," says he, in a calm tone.
+
+"Nay, master," says Jack, piteously. "I did but speak a word to my
+child."
+
+"If you understand our tongue," adds I, "you will know that we did but
+bid her have patience, and wait."
+
+"Possibly," says he. "Nevertheless, you compel me henceforth to keep her
+a close prisoner, when I would give her all the liberty possible."
+
+"Master," says Jack, imploring, "I do pray you not to punish her for my
+fault. Let her still have the freedom of your garden, and I promise you
+we will go away this day and return no more until we can purchase her
+liberty for ever."
+
+"Good," says the old man, "but mark you keep your promise. Know that
+'tis an offence against the law to incite a slave to revolt. I tell you
+this, not as a threat, for I bear you no ill will, but as a warning to
+save you from consequences which I may be powerless to avert."
+
+This did seem to me a hint at some sinister design of Mohand ou
+Mohand--a wild suspicion, maybe, on my part, and yet, as I think,
+justified by evils yet to come.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+
+_Of our bargaining with a Moorish seaman; and of an English slave._
+
+
+We lost no time, be sure, in going back to Alger, blessing God on the
+way for our escape, and vowing most heartily that we would be led into
+no future folly, no matter how simple and innocent the temptation might
+seem.
+
+And now began again a tedious season of watching on the mole of Alger;
+but not to make this business as wearisome to others, I will pass that
+over and come at once to that joyful, happy morning, when, with but
+scant hope, looking down upon the deck of a galley entering the port, to
+our infinite delight and amazement we perceived Richard Godwin waving
+his hand to us in sign of recognition. Then sure, mad with joy, we would
+have cast ourselves in the sea had we thereby been able to get to him
+more quickly. Nor was he much less moved with affection to meet us, and
+springing on the quai he took us both in his open arms and embraced us.
+But his first word was of Moll. "My beloved wife?" says he, and could
+question us no further.
+
+We told him she was safe, whereat he thanks God most fervently, and how
+we had spoken with her; and then he tells us of his adventures--how on
+getting Don Sanchez's letter he had started forth at once with such help
+as Sir Peter Lely generously placed at his disposition, and how coming
+to Elche, he found Mrs. Godwin there in great anxiety because we had not
+returned, and how Don Sanchez, guessing at our case, had procured money
+from Toledo to pay Moll's ransom, and did further charter a neutral
+galley to bring him to Alger--which was truly as handsome a thing as any
+man could do, be he thief or no thief. All these matters we discussed on
+our way to the Cassanabah, where Mr. Godwin furnished himself as we had
+with a trader's permit for twenty-eight days.
+
+[Illustration: "ONLY IN THE MIDST OF OUR JOY I PERCEIVED THAT MOHAND OU
+MOHAND HAD ENTERED THE ROOM."]
+
+This done, we set out with a team of good mules, and reaching Thadviir
+about an hour before sundown, we repaired at once to Ali Oukadi's, who
+received us with much civility, although 'twas clear to see he was yet
+loath to give up Moll; but the sight of the gold Mr. Godwin laid before
+him did smooth the creases from his brow (for these Moors love money
+before anything on earth), and having told it carefully he writes an
+acknowledgment and fills up a formal sheet of parchment bearing the
+Dey's seal, which attested that Moll was henceforth a free subject and
+entitled to safe-conduct within the confines of the Dey's
+administration. And having delivered these precious documents into Mr.
+Godwin's hands, he leaves us for a little space and then returns leading
+dear Moll by the hand. And she, not yet apprised of her circumstances,
+seeing her husband with us, gives a shrill cry, and like to faint with
+happiness totters forward and falls in his ready arms.
+
+I will not attempt to tell further of this meeting and our passionate,
+fond embraces, for 'twas past all description; only in the midst of our
+joy I perceived that Mohand ou Mohand had entered the room and stood
+there, a silent spectator of Moll's tender yielding to her husband's
+caresses, his nostrils pinched, and his jaundiced face overcast with a
+wicked look of mortification and envy. And Moll seeing him, paled a
+little, drawing closer to her husband; for, as I learnt later on, and
+'twas no more than I had guessed, he had paid her most assiduous
+attentions from the first moment he saw her, and had gone so far as to
+swear by Mahomet that death alone should end his burning passion to
+possess her. And I observed that when we parted, and Moll in common
+civility offered him her hand, he muttered some oath as he raised it to
+his lips.
+
+Declining as civilly as we might Ali Oukadi's tender of hospitality, we
+rested that night at the large inn or caravansary, and I do think that
+the joy of Moll and her husband lying once more within each other's arms
+was scarcely less than we felt, Dawson and I, at this happy ending of
+our long tribulations; but one thing it is safe to say, we slept as
+sound as they.
+
+And how gay were we when we set forth the next morning for Alger--Moll's
+eyes twinkling like stars for happiness, and her cheeks all pink with
+blushes like any new bride, her husband with not less pride than passion
+in his noble countenance, and Dawson and I as blithe and jolly as
+schoolboys on a holiday. For now had Moll by this act of heroism and
+devotion redeemed not only herself, but us also, and there was no
+further reason for concealment or deceit, but all might be themselves
+and fear no man.
+
+Thus did joy beguile us into a false sense of security.
+
+Coming to Alger about midday, we were greatly surprised to find that the
+sail chartered by Don Sanchez was no longer in the port, and the reason
+of this we presently learnt was that the Dey, having information of a
+descent being about to be made upon the town by the British fleet at
+Tangier, he had commanded, the night before, all alien ships to be gone
+from the port by daybreak. This put us to a quake, for in view of this
+descent not one single Algerine would venture to put to sea for all the
+money Mr. Godwin could offer or promise. So here we were forced to stay
+in trepidation and doubt as to how we, being English, might fare if the
+town should be bombarded as we expected, and never did we wish our own
+countrymen further. Only our Moll and her husband did seem careless in
+their happiness; for so they might die in each other's arms, I do think
+they would have faced death with a smile upon their faces.
+
+However, a week passing, and no sign of any English flag upon the seas,
+the public apprehension subsided; and now we began very seriously to
+compass our return to Elche, our trader's passes (that is, Dawson's and
+mine) being run out within a week, and we knowing full well that we
+should not get them renewed after this late menace of an English attack
+upon the town. So, one after the other, we tried every captain in the
+port, but all to no purpose. And one of these did openly tell me the Dey
+had forbidden any stranger to be carried out of the town, on pain of
+having his vessel confiscated and being bastinadoed to his last
+endurance.
+
+"And so," says he, lifting his voice, "if you offered me all the gold in
+the world, I would not carry you a furlong hence." But at the same time,
+turning his back on a janizary who stood hard by, he gave me a most
+significant wink and a little beck, as if I were to follow him
+presently.
+
+And this I did as soon as the janizary was gone, following him at a
+distance through the town and out into the suburbs, at an idle,
+sauntering gait. When we had got out beyond the houses, to the side of
+the river I have mentioned, he sits him down on the bank, and I, coming
+up, sit down beside him as if for a passing chat. Then he, having
+glanced to the right and left, to make sure we were not observed, asks
+me what we would give to be taken to Elche; and I answered that we would
+give him his price so we could be conveyed shortly.
+
+"When would you go?" asks he.
+
+"Why," says I, "our passes expire at sundown after the day of Ramadah,
+so we must get hence, by hook or by crook, before that."
+
+"That falls as pat as I would have it," returns he (but not in these
+words), "for all the world will be up at the Cassanabah on that day, to
+the feast the Dey gives to honour his son's coming of age. Moreover, the
+moon by then will not rise before two in the morning. So all being in
+our favour, I'm minded to venture on this business. But you must
+understand that I dare not take you aboard in the port, where I must
+make a pretence of going out a-fishing with my three sons, and give the
+janizaries good assurance that no one else is aboard, that I may not
+fall into trouble on my return."
+
+"That's reasonable enough," says I, "but where will you take us aboard?"
+
+"I'll show you," returns he, "if you will stroll down this bank with me,
+for my sons and I have discussed this matter ever since we heard you
+were seeking a ship for this project, and we have it all cut and dried
+properly."
+
+So up we get and saunter along the bank leisurely, till we reached a
+part where the river spreads out very broad and shallow.
+
+"You see that rock," says he, nodding at a huge boulder lapped by the
+incoming sea. "There shall you be at midnight. We shall lie about a half
+a mile out to sea, and two of my sons will pull to the shore and take
+you up; so may all go well and nought be known, if you are commonly
+secret, for never a soul is seen here after sundown." I told him I would
+consult with my friends and give him our decision the next day, meeting
+him at this spot.
+
+"Good," says he, "and ere you decide, you may cast an eye at my ship,
+which you shall know by a white moon painted on her beam; 'tis as fast a
+ship as any that sails from Alger, though she carry but one mast, and so
+be we agree to this venture, you shall find the cabin fitted for your
+lady and everything for your comfort."
+
+On this we separated presently, and I, joining my friends at our inn,
+laid the matter before them. There being still some light, we then went
+forth on the mole, and there we quickly spied the White Moon, which,
+though a small craft, looked very clean, and with a fair cabin house,
+built up in the Moorish fashion upon the stern. And here, sitting down,
+we all agreed to accept this offer, Mr. Godwin being not less eager for
+the venture than we, who had so much more to dread by letting it slip,
+though his pass had yet a fortnight to run.
+
+So the next day I repaired to the rock, and meeting Haroun (as he was
+called), I closed with him, and put a couple of ducats in his hand for
+earnest money.
+
+"'Tis well," says he, pocketing the money, after kissing it and looking
+up to heaven with a "Dill an," which means "It is from God." "We will
+not meet again till the day of Ramadah at midnight, lest we fall under
+suspicion. Farewell."
+
+We parted as we did before, he going his way, and I mine; but, looking
+back by accident before I had gone a couple of hundred yards, I
+perceived a fellow stealing forth from a thicket of canes that stood in
+the marshy ground near the spot where I had lately stood with Haroun,
+and turning again presently, I perceived this man following in my steps.
+Then, fairly alarmed, I gradually hastened my pace (but not so quick
+neither as to seem to fly), making for the town, where I hoped to escape
+pursuit in the labyrinth of little, crooked, winding alleys. As I
+rounded a corner, I perceived him out of the tail of my eye, still
+following, but now within fifty yards of me, he having run to thus
+overreach me; and ere I had turned up a couple of alleys he was on my
+heels and twitching me by the sleeve.
+
+"Lord love you, Master," says he, in very good English, but gasping for
+breath. "Hold hard a moment, for I've a thing or two to say to you as is
+worth your hearing."
+
+So I, mightily surprised by these words, stop; and he seeing the alley
+quite empty and deserted, sits down on a doorstep, and I do likewise,
+both of us being spent with our exertions.
+
+"Was that man you were talking with a little while back named Haroun?"
+asks he, when he could fetch his breath. I nodded.
+
+"Did he offer to take you and three others to Elche, aboard a craft
+called the White Moon?"
+
+I nodded again, astonished at his information, for we had not discussed
+our design to-day, Haroun and I.
+
+"Did he offer to carry you off in a boat to his craft from the rock on
+the mouth?"
+
+Once more I nodded.
+
+"Can you guess what will happen if you agree to this?"
+
+Now I shook my head.
+
+"The villain," says he, "will run you on a shoal, and there will he be
+overhauled by the janizaries, and you be carried prisoners back to
+Alger. Your freedom will be forfeited, and you will be sold for slaves.
+And that's not all," adds he; "the lass you have with you will be taken
+from you and given to Mohand ou Mohand, who has laid this trap for your
+destruction and the gratification of his lust."
+
+I fell a-shaking only to think of this crowning calamity, and could only
+utter broken, unintelligible sounds to express my gratitude for this
+warning.
+
+"Listen, Master, if you cannot speak," said he; "for I must quit you in
+a few minutes, or get my soles thrashed when I return home. What I have
+told you is true, as there is a God in heaven; 'twas overheard by my
+comrade, who is a slave in Mohand's household. If you escape this trap,
+you will fall in another, for there is no bounds to Mohand's devilish
+cunning. I say, if you stay here you are doomed to share our miserable
+lot, by one device or another. But I will show you how you may turn the
+tables on this villain, and get to a Christian country ere you are a
+week older, if you have but one spark of courage amongst you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+
+_Of our escape from Barbary, of the pursuit and horrid, fearful
+slaughter that followed, together with other moving circumstances._
+
+
+So Groves, as my man was named, told me how he and eight other poor
+Englishmen, sharing the same bagnio, had endured the hardships and
+misery of slavery, some for thirteen, and none less than seven, years;
+how for three years they had been working a secret tunnel by which they
+could escape from their bagnio (in which they were locked up every night
+at sundown) at any moment; how for six months, since the completion of
+their tunnel, they had been watching a favourable opportunity to seize a
+ship and make good their escape (seven of them being mariners); and how
+now they were, by tedious suspense, wrought to such a pitch of
+desperation that they were ripe for any means of winning their freedom.
+"And here," says he, in conclusion, "hath merciful Providence given us
+the power to save not only ourselves from this accursed bondage, but
+you, also, if you are minded to join us."
+
+Asking him how he proposed to accomplish this end, he replies:
+
+"'Tis as easy as kiss your hand. First, do you accept Haroun's offer?"
+
+"I have," says I.
+
+"Good!" says he, rubbing his hands, and speaking thick with joy. "You
+may be sure that Mohand will suffer no one to interfere with your
+getting aboard, to the achievement of his design. When is it to be?"
+
+I hesitated a moment, lest I should fall into another trap, trying to
+escape from the first; but, seeing he was an Englishman, I would not
+believe him capable of playing into the Turks' hands for our undoing,
+and so I told him our business was for midnight on the feast of Ramadah.
+
+"Sure, nought but Providence could have ordered matters so well," says
+he, doubling himself up, as if unable to control his joy. "We shall be
+there, we nine sturdy men. Some shall hide in the canes, and others
+behind the rock; and when Haroun rows to shore, four of us will get into
+his boat (muffled up as you would be to escape detection), and as soon
+as they lay themselves to their oars, their business shall be settled."
+
+"As how?" asks I, shrinking (as ever) from deeds of violence.
+
+"Leave that to us; but be assured they shall not raise a cry that shall
+fright your lady. Oh, we know the use of a bow-string as well as any
+Turk amongst them. We have that to thank 'em for. Well, these two being
+despatched, we return to shore, and two more of our men will get in;
+then we four to the felucca, and there boarding, we serve the others as
+we served the first two; so back comes one of us to fetch off our other
+comrades and you four. Then, all being aboard, we cut our cable, up with
+our sail, and by the time Mohand comes, in the morning, to seek his game
+on the sand-bank, we shall be half way to Elche, and farther, if
+Providence do keep pace with this happy beginning. What say you,
+friend?" adds he, noting my reflective mood.
+
+Then I frankly confessed that I would have some assurance of his
+honesty.
+
+"I can give you none, Master," says he, "but the word of a good
+Yorkshireman. Surely, you may trust me as I trust you; for 'tis in your
+power to reveal all to Haroun, and so bring us all to the galleys. Have
+you no faith in a poor broken Englishman?"
+
+"Yes," says I; "I'll trust you."
+
+Then we rose, clapping hands, and he left me, with tears of gratitude
+and joy in his eyes. Telling my friends I had something of a secret
+nature to impart, we went out to the end of the mole, where we were
+secure from eavesdroppers, and there I laid the whole story before them,
+whereupon we fell debating what we should do, looking at this matter
+from every side, with a view to our security; but, slavery lying before
+us, and no better means of escaping it coming to our minds, we did at
+last unanimously agree to trust Joe Groves rather than Haroun.
+
+The next day there fell a great deluge of rain, and the morrow being the
+feast of Ramadah, we regarded this as highly favourable to our escape;
+for here when rain falls it ceases not for forty-eight hours, and thus
+might we count upon the aid of darkness. And that evening as we were
+regarding some merchandise in a bazaar, a fellow sidles up to me, and
+whispers (fingering a piece of cloth as if he were minded to buy it):
+
+"Does all go well?"
+
+Then perceiving this was Joe Groves, I answered in the same manner:
+
+"All goes well."
+
+"To-morrow at midnight?"
+
+"To-morrow at midnight," I return. Upon which, casting down the cloth,
+he goes away without further sign.
+
+And now comes in the feast of Ramadah with a heavy, steady downpour of
+rain all day, and no sign of ceasing at sundown, which greatly contented
+us. About ten, the house we lodged in being quite still, and our fear of
+accident pressing us to depart, we crept silently out into the street
+without let or hindrance (though I warrant some spy of Mohand's was
+watching to carry information of our flight to his master), and so
+through the narrow deserted alleys to the outskirts of the town, and
+thence by the river side to the great rock, with only just so much light
+as enabled us to hang together, and no more. And I do believe we should
+have floundered into the river o' one side of the marsh of canes or
+t'other, but that having gone over this road the last time with the
+thought that it might lead us to liberty, every object by the way
+impressed itself upon my mind most astonishingly.
+
+Here under this rock stood we above an hour with no sound but the
+beating of the rain, and the lap of the water running in from the sea.
+Then, as it might be about half-past eleven, a voice close beside us
+(which I knew for Joe Groves, though I could see no one but us four,
+Jack by my side, and Moll bound close to her husband) says:
+
+"All goes well?"
+
+"Yes, all goes well," says I; whereupon he gives a cry like the croak of
+a frog, and his comrades steal up almost unseen and unheard, save that
+each as he came whispered his name, as Spinks, Davis, Lee, Best, etc.,
+till their number was all told. Then Groves, who was clearly chosen
+their captain, calls Spinks, Lee, and Best to stand with him, and bids
+the others and us to stand back against the canes till we are called. So
+we do his bidding, and fall back to the growth of canes, whence we could
+but dimly make out the mass of the rock for the darkness, and there
+waited breathless, listening for the sound of oars. But these Moors, for
+a better pretence of secrecy, had muffled their oars, so that we knew
+not they were at hand until we heard Haroun's voice speaking low.
+
+"Englishmen, are you there?" asks he.
+
+"Aye, we four," whispers Groves, in reply.
+
+Then we hear them wade into the water and get into the boat with
+whispering of Haroun where they are to dispose themselves, and so forth.
+After that silence for about ten minutes, and no sound but the ceaseless
+rain until we next hear Groves' voice.
+
+"Davis, Negus," whispers he, on which two of our number leave us and go
+out to the boat to replace Haroun and that other Moor, who, in the
+manner of the Turks, had been strangled and cast overboard.
+
+And now follows a much longer period of silence, but at length that
+comes to an end, and we hear Groves' voice again whispering us to come.
+At the first sound of his voice his three comrades rush forward; but
+Groves, recognising them, says hoarsely, "Back, every one of you but
+those I called, or I'll brain you! There's room but for six in the boat,
+and those who helped us shall go first, as I ordered. The rest must wait
+their time."
+
+So these fellows, who would have ousted us, give way, grumbling, and Mr.
+Godwin carrying Moll to the boat, Dawson and I wade in after him, and
+so, with great gratitude, take our places as Groves directs. We being
+in, he and his mate lay to their oars, and pull out to the felucca,
+guided by the lanthorn on her bulwarks.
+
+Having put us aboard safely, Groves and his mate fetch the three fellows
+that remained ashore, and now all being embarked, they abandon the small
+boat, slip the anchor, and get out their long sweeps, all in desperate
+haste; for that absence of wind, which I at first took to be a blessing,
+appeared now to be a curse, and our main hope of escape lay in pulling
+far out to sea before Mohand discovered the trick put upon him, and gave
+chase. All night long we toiled with most savage energy, dividing our
+number into two batches, so that one might go to the oars as the other
+tired, turn and turn about. Not one of us but did his utmost--nay, even
+Moll would stand by her husband, and strain like any man at this work.
+But for all our labour, Alger was yet in sight when the break of day
+gave us light to see it. Then was every eye searching the waters for
+sign of a sail, be it to save or to undo us. Sail saw we none, but about
+nine o'clock Groves, scanning the waters over against Alger, perceived
+something which he took to be a galley; nor were we kept long in
+uncertainty, for by ten it was obvious to us all, showing that it had
+gained considerably upon us in spite of our frantic exertions, which
+convinced us that this was Mohand, and that he had discovered us with
+the help of a spy-glass, maybe.
+
+At the prospect of being overtaken and carried back to slavery, a sort
+of madness possessed those at the oars, the first oar pulling with such
+a fury of violence that it snapped at the rowlock, and was of no further
+use. Still we made good progress, but what could we with three oars do
+against the galley which maybe was mounted with a dozen? Some were for
+cutting down the mast and throwing spars, sails, and every useless thing
+overboard to lighten our ship, but Groves would not hear of this, seeing
+by a slant in the rain that a breeze was to be expected; and surely
+enough, the rain presently smote us on the cheek smartly, whereupon
+Groves ran up our sail, which, to our infinite delight, did presently
+swell out fairly, careening us so that the oar on t'other side was
+useless.
+
+But that which favoured us favoured also our enemies, and shortly after
+we saw two sails go up to match our one. Then Groves called a council of
+us and his fellows, and his advice was this: that ere the galley drew
+nigh enough for our number to be sighted, he and his fellows should
+bestow themselves away in the stern cabin, and lie there with such arms
+of knives and spikes as they had brought with them ready to their hands,
+and that, on Mohand boarding us with his men, we four should retire
+towards the cabin, when he and his comrades would spring forth and fight
+every man to the death for freedom. And he held out good promise of a
+successful issue. "For," says he, "knowing you four" (meaning us) "are
+unarmed, 'tis not likely he will have furnished himself with any great
+force; and as his main purpose is to possess this lady, he will not
+suffer his men to use their firepieces to the risk of her destruction;
+therefore," adds he, "if you have the stomach for your part of this
+business, which is but to hold the helm as I direct, all must go well.
+But for the lady, if she hath any fear, we may find a place in the cabin
+for her."
+
+This proposal was accepted by all with gladness, except Moll, who would
+on no account leave her husband's side; but had he not been there, I
+believe she would have been the last aboard to feel fear, or play a
+cowardly part.
+
+So without further parley, the fellows crept into the little cabin, each
+fingering his naked weapon, which made me feel very sick with
+apprehension of bloodshed. The air of wind freshening, we kept on at a
+spanking rate for another hour, Groves lying on the deck with his eyes
+just over the bulwarks and giving orders to Dawson and me, who kept the
+helm; then the galley, being within a quarter of a mile of us, fired a
+shot as a signal to us to haul down our sail, and this having no effect,
+he soon after fires another, which, striking us in the stern, sent great
+splinters flying up from the bulwarks there.
+
+"Hold her helm, stiff," whispers Groves, and then he backs cautiously
+into the cabin without rising from his belly, for the men aboard the
+galley were now clearly distinguishable.
+
+Presently bang goes another gun, and the same moment, its shot taking
+our mast a yard or so above the deck, our lateen falls over upon the
+water with a great slap, and so are we brought to at once.
+
+Dropping her sail, the galley sweeps up alongside us, and casting out
+divers hooks and tackle they held ready for their purpose, they grappled
+us securely. My heart sank within me as I perceived the number of our
+enemies, thirty or forty, as I reckon (but happily not above half a
+dozen armed men), and Mohand ou Mohand amongst them with a scimitar in
+his hand; for now I foresaw the carnage which must ensue when we were
+boarded.
+
+Mohand ou Mohand was the first to spring upon our deck, and behind came
+his janizaries and half a score of seamen. We four, Mr. Godwin holding
+Moll's hand in his, stood in a group betwixt Mohand and his men and the
+cabin where Joe Groves lay with his fellows, biding his time. One of the
+janizaries was drawing his scimitar, but Mohand bade him put it up, and
+making an obeisance to Moll, he told us we should suffer no hurt if we
+surrendered peaceably.
+
+"Never, you Turkish thief!" cries Dawson, shaking his fist at him.
+
+Mohand makes a gesture of regret, and turning to his men tells them to
+take us, but to use no weapons, since we had none. Then, he himself
+leading, with his eyes fixed hungrily upon Moll, the rest came on, and
+we fell back towards the cabin.
+
+The next instant, with a wild yell of fury, the hidden men burst out of
+the cabin, and then followed a scene of butchery which I pray Heaven it
+may nevermore be my fate to witness.
+
+Groves was the first to spill blood. Leaping upon Mohand, he buried a
+long curved knife right up to the hilt in his neck striking downwards
+just over the collar bone, and he fell, the blood spurting from his
+mouth upon the deck. At the same time our men, falling upon the
+janizaries, did most horrid battle--nay, 'twas no battle, but sheer
+butchery; for these men, being taken so suddenly, had no time to draw
+their weapons, and could only fly to the fore end of the boat for
+escape, where, by reason of their number and the narrow confines of the
+deck, they were so packed and huddled together that none could raise his
+hand to ward a blow even, and so stood, a writhing, shrieking mass of
+humanity, to be hacked and stabbed and ripped and cut down to their
+death.
+
+And their butchers had no mercy. They could think only of their past
+wrongs, and of satiating the thirst for vengeance, which had grown to a
+madness by previous restraint.
+
+"There's for thirteen years of misery," cries one, driving his spike
+into the heart of one. "Take that for hanging of my brother," screams a
+second, cleaving a Moor's skull with his hatchet. "Quits for turning an
+honest lad into a devil," calls a third, drawing his knife across the
+throat of a shrieking wretch, and so forth, till not one of all the
+crowd was left to murder.
+
+Then still devoured by their lust for blood, they swarmed over the side
+of the galley to finish this massacre--Groves leading with a shout of
+"No quarter," and all echoing these words with a roar of joy. But here
+they were met with some sort of resistance, for the Moors aboard, seeing
+the fate of their comrades, forewarning them of theirs, had turned their
+swivel gun about and now fired--the ball carrying off the head of Joe
+Groves, the best man of all that crew, if one were better than another.
+But this only served to incense the rest the more, and so they went at
+their cruel work again, and ceased not till the last of their enemies
+was dead. Then, with a wild hurrah, they signal their triumph, and one
+fellow, holding up his bloody hands, smears them over his face with a
+devilish scream of laughter.
+
+And now, caring no more for us or what might befall us, than for the
+Turks who lay all mangled on our deck, one cuts away the tackle that
+lashes their galley to us, while the rest haul up the sail, and so they
+go their way, leaving us to shift for ourselves.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+
+_How Dawson counts himself an unlucky man who were best dead; and so he
+quits us, and I, the reader._
+
+
+The galley bent over to the wind and sped away, and I watched her go
+without regret, not thinking of our own hapless condition, but only of
+the brutal ferocity of that mad crew aboard her.
+
+Their shouts of joy and diabolical laughter died away, and there was no
+sound but the lapping of the waves against the felucca's side. They had
+done their work thoroughly; not a moan arose from the heaps of butchered
+men, not a limb moved, but all were rigid, some lying in grotesque
+postures as the death agony had drawn them. And after the tumult that
+had prevailed this stillness of death was terrific. From looking over
+this ghastly picture I turned and clutched at Dawson's hand for some
+comforting sense of life and humanity.
+
+We were startled at this moment by a light laugh from the cabin, whither
+Mr. Godwin had carried Moll, fainting with the horror of this bloody
+business, and going in there we found her now lying in a little crib,
+light-headed,--clean out of her wits indeed, for she fancied herself on
+the dusty road to Valencia, taking her first lesson in the fandango from
+Don Sanchez. Mr. Godwin knelt by the cot side, with his arm supporting
+her head, and soothing her the best he could. We found a little cask of
+water and a cup, that he might give her drink, and then, seeing we could
+be of no further service, Dawson and I went from the cabin, our thoughts
+awaking now to the peril of our position, without sail in mid-sea.
+
+And first we cast our eyes all round about the sea, but we could descry
+no sail save the galley (and that at a great distance), nor any sign of
+land. Next, casting our eyes upon the deck, we perceived that the thick
+stream of blood that lay along that side bent over by the broken mast,
+was greatly spread, and not so black, but redder, which was only to be
+explained by the mingling of water; and this was our first notice that
+the felucca was filling and we going down.
+
+Recovering presently from the stupor into which this suspicion threw us,
+we pulled up a hatch, and looking down into the hold perceived that this
+was indeed true, a puncheon floating on the water there within arms'
+reach. Thence, making our way quickly over the dead bodies, which failed
+now to terrify us, to the fore part of our felucca, we discovered that
+the shot which had hit us had started a plank, and that the water leaked
+in with every lap of a wave. So now, our wits quickened by our peril, we
+took a scimitar and a dirk from a dead janizary, to cut away the cordage
+that lashed us to the fallen mast, to free us of that burden and right
+the ship if we might. But ere we did this, Dawson, spying the great sail
+lying out on the water, bethought him to hack out a great sheet as far
+as we could reach, and this he took to lay over the started plank and
+staunch the leakage, while I severed the tackle and freed us from the
+great weight of the hanging mast and long spar. And certainly we thought
+ourselves safe when this was done, for the hull lifted at once and
+righted itself upon the water. Nevertheless, we were not easy, for we
+knew not what other planks below the water line were injured, nor how to
+sink our sheet or bind it over the faulty part. So, still further to
+lighten us, we mastered our qualms and set to work casting the dead
+bodies overboard. This horrid business, at another time, would have made
+me sick as any dog, but there was no time to yield to mawkish
+susceptibilities in the face of such danger as menaced us. Only when all
+was done, I did feel very weakened and shaky, and my gorge rising at the
+look of my jerkin, all filthy with clotted blood, I tore it off and cast
+it in the sea, as also did Dawson; and so, to turn our thoughts (after
+washing of our hands and cleaning our feet), we looked over the side,
+and agreed that we were no lower than we were, but rather higher for
+having lightened our burden. But no sail anywhere on the wide sea to add
+to our comfort.
+
+Going into the cabin, we found that our dear Moll had fallen into a
+sleep, but was yet very feverish, as we could see by her frequent
+turning, her sudden starts, and the dreamy, vacant look in her eyes,
+when she opened them and begged for water. We would not add to Mr.
+Godwin's trouble by telling him of ours (our minds being still restless
+with apprehensions of the leak), but searching about, and discovering
+two small, dry loaves, we gave him one, and took the other to divide
+betwixt us, Dawson and I. And truly we needed this refreshment (as our
+feeble, shaking limbs testified), after all our exertions of the night
+and day (it being now high noon), having eaten nothing since supper the
+night before. But, famished as we were, we must needs steal to the side
+and look over to mark where the water rose; and neither of us dared say
+the hull was no lower, for we perceived full well it had sunk somewhat
+in the last hour.
+
+Jack took a bite of his loaf, and offered me the rest, saying he had no
+stomach for food; but I could not eat my own, and so we thrust the bread
+in our breeches pockets and set to work, heaving everything overboard
+that might lighten us, and for ever a-straining our eyes to sight a
+ship. Then we set to devising means to make the sheet cling over the
+damaged planks, but to little purpose, and so Dawson essayed to get at
+it from the inside by going below, but the water was risen so high there
+was no room between it and the deck to breathe, and so again to wedging
+the canvas in from the outside till the sun sank. And by that time the
+water was beginning to lap up through the hatchway. Then no longer able
+to blink the truth, Jack turns to me and asks:
+
+"How long shall we last?"
+
+"Why," says I, "we have sunk no more than a foot these last six hours,
+and at this slow pace we may well last out eight or nine more ere the
+water comes over the bulwarks."
+
+He shook his head ruefully, and, pointing to a sluice hole in the side,
+said he judged it must be all over with us when the water entered there.
+
+"Why, in that case," says I, "let us find something to fill the sluice
+hole."
+
+So having nothing left on deck, we went into the cabin on a pretence of
+seeing how Moll fared, and Jack sneaked away an old jacket and I a stone
+bottle, and with these we stopped the sluice hole the best we could.
+
+By the time we had made a job of this 'twas quite dark, and having
+nothing more to do but to await the end, we stood side by side, too
+dejected to speak for some time, thinking of the cruelty of fate which
+rescued us from one evil only to plunge us in a worse. At length, Jack
+fell to talking in a low tone of his past life, showing how things had
+ever gone ill with him and those he loved.
+
+"I think," says he in conclusion, "I am an unlucky man, Kit. One of
+those who are born to be a curse against their will to others rather
+than a blessing."
+
+"Fie, Jack," says I, "'tis an idle superstition."
+
+"Nay," says he, "I am convinced 'tis the truth. Not one of us here but
+would have been the happier had I died a dozen years ago. 'Tis all
+through me that we drown to-night."
+
+"Nay, 'tis a blessing that we die all together, and none left to mourn."
+
+"That may be for you and me who have lived the best years of our life,
+but for those in there but just tasting the sweets of life, with years
+of joy unspent, 'tis another matter."
+
+Then we were silent for a while, till feeling the water laving my feet,
+I asked if we should not now tell Mr. Godwin of our condition.
+
+"'Twas in my mind, Kit," answers he; "I will send him out to you."
+
+He went into the cabin, and Mr. Godwin coming out, I showed him our
+state. But 'twas no surprise to him. Only, it being now about three in
+the morning, and the moon risen fair and full in the heavens, he casts
+his eyes along the silver path on the water in the hope of rescue, and
+finding none, he grasps my hand and says:
+
+"God's will be done! 'Tis a mercy that my dear love is spared this last
+terror. Our pain will not be long."
+
+A shaft of moonlight entered the cabin, and there we perceived Dawson
+kneeling by the crib, with his head laid upon the pillow beside his
+daughter.
+
+He rose and came out without again turning to look on Moll, and Mr.
+Godwin took his place.
+
+"I feel more happy, Kit," says Jack, laying his hand upon my shoulder.
+"I do think God will be merciful to us."
+
+"Aye, surely," says I, wilfully mistaking his meaning. "I think the
+water hath risen no higher this last hour."
+
+"I'll see how our sheet hangs; do you look if the water comes in yet at
+the sluice hole."
+
+And so, giving my arm a squeeze as he slips his hand from my shoulder,
+he went to the fore part of the vessel, while I crossed to the sluice
+hole, where the water was spurting through a chink.
+
+I rose after jamming the jacket to staunch the leak, and turning towards
+Jack I perceived him standing by the bulwark, with the moon beyond. And
+the next moment he was gone. And so ended the life of this poor, loving,
+unlucky man.
+
+
+I know not whether it was this lightening of our burden, or whether at
+that time some accident of a fold in the sail sucking into the leaking
+planks, stayed the further ingress of waters, but certain it is that
+after this we sank no deeper to any perceptible degree; and so it came
+about that we were sighted by a fishing-boat from Carthagena, a little
+after daybreak, and were saved--we three who were left.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I have spent the last week at Hurst Court, where Moll and her husband
+have lived ever since Lady Godwin's death. They are making of hay in the
+meadows there; and 'twas sweet to see Moll and her husband, with their
+two boys, cocking the sweet grass. And all very merry at supper; only
+one sad memory cast me down as I thought of poor Jack, sorrowing to
+think he could not see the happiness which, as much as our past
+troubles, was due to him.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SET OF ROGUES***
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Set of Rogues, by Frank Barrett</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: A Set of Rogues</p>
+<p>Author: Frank Barrett</p>
+<p>Release Date: January 16, 2004  [eBook #10727]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: iso-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SET OF ROGUES***</p>
+<center><h3>E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Linda Cantoni, Tonya Allen,<br>
+            and Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders</h3></center>
+
+<hr class="full">
+<br>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="354.jpg"><img src="354th.jpg" alt="'GIVE ME THY HAND, CHILD,' SAYS HE."></a>
+</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<h1>A SET OF ROGUES</h1>
+
+<h3>NAMELY</h3>
+
+<h2>
+CHRISTOPHER SUTTON, JOHN DAWSON, THE SEŅOR DON SANCHEZ DEL CASTILLO DE
+CASTELAŅA AND MOLL DAWSON
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+<i>Their Wicked Conspiracy, and a True Account of their Travels and
+Adventures</i>
+</h3>
+
+<h3>
+THE MARRIAGE OF MOLL DAWSON BY SINFUL MEANS TO A WORTHY GENTLEMAN OF
+MERIT; HER FALL, REMORSE AND GREAT SORROW; HER SECOND EXPEDITION WITH
+HER FORMER ROGUISH COMPANIONS INTO STRANGE PLACES
+</h3>
+
+<h3>
+HER ATONEMENT TO MR. RICHARD GODWIN (WHEREBY SHE RENDERS UP ALL SHE EVER
+HAD OF HIM AND MORE) AND SELLING OF HERSELF TO ALGERINE PIRATES AND
+GOING INTO BARBARY A SLAVE; TOGETHER WITH THE TRIBULATIONS OF THOSE WHO
+LED HER TO WRONG DOING, AND MANY OTHER SURPRISING THINGS NOW DISCLOSED
+FOR THE FIRST TIME AS THE FAITHFUL CONFESSION OF CHRISTOPHER SUTTON
+</h3>
+
+<h3>
+BY
+</h3>
+
+<h2>
+FRANK BARRETT
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+1895
+</h3>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<h1>
+A SET OF ROGUES.
+</h1>
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER I.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Of my companions and our adversities, and in particular from our
+getting into the stocks at Tottenham Cross to our being robbed at
+Edmonton.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There being no plays to be acted at the "Red Bull," because of the
+Plague, and the players all cast adrift for want of employment, certain
+of us, to wit, Jack Dawson and his daughter Moll, Ned Herring, and
+myself, clubbed our monies together to buy a store of dresses, painted
+cloths, and the like, with a cart and horse to carry them, and thus
+provided set forth to travel the country and turn an honest penny, in
+those parts where the terror of pestilence had not yet turned men's
+stomachs against the pleasures of life. And here, at our setting out,
+let me show what kind of company we were. First, then, for our master,
+Jack Dawson, who on no occasion was to be given a second place; he was a
+hale, jolly fellow, who would eat a pound of beef for his breakfast
+(when he could get it), and make nothing of half a gallon of ale
+therewith,--a very masterful man, but kindly withal, and pleasant to
+look at when not contraried, with never a line of care in his face,
+though turned of fifty. He played our humorous parts, but he had a sweet
+voice for singing of ditties, and could fetch a tear as readily as a
+laugh, and he was also exceeding nimble at a dance, which was the
+strangest thing in the world, considering his great girth. Wife he had
+none, but Moll Dawson was his daughter, who was a most sprightly, merry
+little wench, but no miracle for beauty, being neither child nor woman
+at this time; surprisingly thin, as if her frame had grown out of
+proportion with her flesh, so that her body looked all arms and legs,
+and her head all mouth and eyes, with a great towzled mass of chestnut
+hair, which (off the stage) was as often as not half tumbled over her
+shoulder. But a quicker little baggage at mimicry (she would play any
+part, from an urchin of ten to a crone of fourscore), or a livelier at
+dancing of Brantles or the single Coranto never was, I do think, and as
+merry as a grig. Of Ned Herring I need only here say that he was the
+most tearing villain imaginable on the stage, and off it the most
+civil-spoken, honest-seeming young gentleman. Nor need I trouble to give
+a very lengthy description of myself; what my character was will appear
+hereafter, and as for my looks, the less I say about them, the better.
+Being something of a scholar and a poet, I had nearly died of
+starvation, when Jack Dawson gave me a footing on the stage, where I
+would play the part of a hero in one act, a lacquey in the second, and a
+merry Andrew in the third, scraping a tune on my fiddle to fill up the
+intermedios.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We had designed to return to London as soon as the Plague abated, unless
+we were favoured with extraordinary good fortune, and so, when we heard
+that the sickness was certainly past, and the citizens recovering of
+their panic, we (being by this time heartily sick of our venture, which
+at the best gave us but beggarly recompense) set about to retrace our
+steps with cheerful expectations of better times. But coming to Oxford,
+we there learned that a prodigious fire had burnt all London down, from
+the Tower to Ludgate, so that if we were there, we should find no house
+to play in. This lay us flat in our hopes, and set us again to our
+vagabond enterprise; and so for six months more we scoured the country
+in a most miserable plight, the roads being exceedingly foul, and folks
+more humoured of nights to drowse in their chimnies than to sit in a
+draughty barn and witness our performances; and then, about the middle
+of February we, in a kind of desperation, got back again to London, only
+to find that we must go forth again, the town still lying in ruins, and
+no one disposed to any kind of amusement, except in high places, where
+such actors as we were held in contempt. So we, with our hearts in our
+boots, as one may say, set out again to seek our fortunes on the
+Cambridge road, and here, with no better luck than elsewhere, for at
+Tottenham Cross we had the mischance to set fire to the barn wherein we
+were playing, by a candle falling in some loose straw, whereby we did
+injury to the extent of some shilling or two, for which the farmer would
+have us pay a pound, and Jack Dawson stoutly refusing to satisfy his
+demand he sends for the constable, who locks us all up in the cage that
+night, to take us before the magistrate in the morning. And we found to
+our cost that this magistrate had as little justice as mercy in his
+composition; for though he lent a patient ear to the farmer's case, he
+would not listen to Jack Dawson's argument, which was good enough, being
+to the effect that we had not as much as a pound amongst us, and that he
+would rather be hanged than pay it if he had; and when Ned Herring
+(seeing the kind of Puritanical fellow he was) urged that, since the
+damage was not done by any design of ours, it must be regarded as a
+visitation of Providence, he says: "Very good. If it be the will of
+Providence that one should be scourged, I take it as the Divine purpose
+that I should finish the business by scourging the other"; and therewith
+he orders the constable to take what money we have from our pockets and
+clap us in the stocks till sundown for payment of the difference. So in
+the stocks we three poor men were stuck for six mortal hours, which was
+a wicked, cruel thing indeed, with the wind blowing a sort of rainy snow
+about our ears; and there I do think we must have perished of cold and
+vexation but that our little Moll brought us a sheet for a cover, and
+tired not in giving us kind words of comfort.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At five o'clock the constable unlocked us from our vile confinement, and
+I do believe we should have fallen upon him and done him a mischief for
+his pains there and then, but that we were all frozen as stiff as stones
+with sitting in the cold so long, and indeed it was some time ere we
+could move our limbs at all. However, with much ado, we hobbled on at
+the tail of our cart, all three very bitter, but especially Ned Herring,
+who cursed most horridly and as I had never heard him curse off the
+stage, saying he would rather have stayed in London to carry links for
+the gentry than join us again in this damnable adventure, etc. And that
+which incensed him the more was the merriment of our Moll, who, seated
+on the side of the cart, could do nothing better than make sport of our
+discontent. But there was no malice in her laughter, which, if it sprang
+not from sheer love of mischief, arose maybe from overflowing joy at our
+release.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Coming at dusk to Edmonton, and finding a fine new inn there, called the
+"Bell," Jack Dawson leads the cart into the yard, we following without a
+word of demur, and, after putting up our trap, into the warm parlour we
+go, and call for supper as boldly as you please. Then, when we had eaten
+and drunk till we could no more, all to bed like princes, which, after a
+night in the cage and a day in the stocks, did seem like a very
+paradise. But how we were to pay for this entertainment not one of us
+knew, nor did we greatly care, being made quite reckless by our
+necessities. It was the next morning, when we met together at breakfast,
+that our faces betrayed some compunctions; but these did not prevent us
+eating prodigiously. "For," whispers Ned Herring, "if we are to be
+hanged, it may as well be for a sheep as a lamb." However, Jack Dawson,
+getting on the right side of the landlord, who seemed a very honest,
+decent man for an innkeeper, agreed with him that we should give a
+performance that night in a cart-shed very proper to our purpose, giving
+him half of our taking in payment of our entertainment. This did Jack,
+thinking from our late ill-luck we should get at the most a dozen people
+in the sixpenny benches, and a score standing at twopence a head. But it
+turned out, as the cunning landlord had foreseen, that our hanger was
+packed close to the very door, in consequence of great numbers coming to
+the town in the afternoon to see a bull baited, so that when Jack Dawson
+closed the doors and came behind our scene to dress for his part, he
+told us he had as good as five pounds in his pocket. With that to cheer
+us we played our tragedy of "The Broken Heart" very merrily, and after
+that, changing our dresses in a twinkling, Jack Dawson, disguised as a
+wild man, and Moll as a wood nymph, came on to the stage to dance a
+pastoral, whilst I, in the fashion of a satyr, stood on one side plying
+the fiddle to their footing. Then, all being done, Jack thanks the
+company for their indulgence, and bids 'em good-night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now, before all the company are yet out of the place, and while Jack
+Dawson is wiping the sweat from his face, comes the landlord, and asks
+pretty bluntly to be paid his share of our earnings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well," says Jack, in a huff, "I see no reason for any such haste; but
+if you will give me time to put on my breeches, you shall be paid all
+the same." And therewith he takes down his trunks from the nail where
+they hung. And first giving them a doubtful shake, as seeming lighter
+than he expected, and hearing no chink of money, he thrusts his hand
+into one pocket, and then into the other, and cries in dismay: "Heaven's
+mercy upon us; we are robbed! Every penny of our money is gone!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Can you think of nothing better than such an idle story as that?" says
+the landlord. "There hath been none behind this sheet but yourselves all
+the night."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We could make no reply to this, but stood gaping at each other in a maze
+for some seconds; then Jack Dawson, recovering his wits, turns him
+round, and looking about, cries: "Why, where's Ned Herring?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If you mean him as was killed in your play," says the landlord, "I'll
+answer for it he's not far off; for, to my knowledge, he was in the
+house drinking with a man while you were a-dancing of your antics like a
+fool. And I only hope you may be as honest a man as he, for he paid for
+his liquor like a gentleman."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That settled the question, for we knew the constable had left never a
+penny in his pocket when he clapt us in the stocks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well," says Jack, "he has our money, as you may prove by searching us,
+and if you have faith in him 'tis all as one, and you may rest easy for
+your reckoning being paid against his return."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The landlord went off, vowing he would take the law of us if he were not
+paid by the morning; and we, as soon as we had shuffled on our clothes,
+away to hunt for Ned, thinking that maybe he had made off with the money
+to avoid paying half to the landlord, and hoping always that, though he
+might play the rogue with him, he would deal honestly by us. But we
+could find no trace of him, though we visited every alehouse in the
+town, and so back we go, crestfallen, to the Bell, to beg the innkeeper
+to give us a night's lodging and a crust of bread on the speculation
+that Ned would come back and settle our accounts; but he would not
+listen to our prayers, and so, hungry and thirsty, and miserable beyond
+expression, we were fain to make up with a loft over the stables, where,
+thanks to a good store of sweet hay, we soon forgot our troubles in
+sleep, but not before we had concerted to get away in the morning
+betimes to escape another day in the stocks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Accordingly, before the break of day, we were afoot, and after
+noiselessly packing our effects in the cart in the misty grey light,
+Jack Dawson goes in the stable to harness our nag, while I as silently
+take down the heavy bar that fastened the yard gate. But while I was yet
+fumbling at the bolts, and all of a shake for fear of being caught in
+the act, Jack Dawson comes to me, with Moll holding of his hand, as she
+would when our troubles were great, and says in a tone of despair:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Give over, Kit. We are all undone again. For our harness is stole, and
+there's never another I can take in its place."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While we were at this stumble, out comes our landlord to make sport of
+us. "Have you found your money yet, friends?" says he, with a sneer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No," says Jack, savagely, "and our money is not all that we have lost,
+for some villain has filched our nag's harness, and I warrant you know
+who he is."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, to be sure," returns the other, "the same friend may have taken it
+who has gone astray with your other belongings; but, be that as it may,
+I'll answer for it when your money is found your harness will be
+forthcoming, and not before."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Come, Master," says I, "have you no more heart than to make merry at
+the mischances of three poor wretches such as we?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye," says he, "when you can show that you deserve better treatment."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Done," says Jack. "I'll show you that as quickly as you please." With
+that he whips off his cap, and flinging it on the ground, cries: "Off
+with your jacket, man, and let us prove by such means as Heaven has
+given all which is the honester of us two." And so he squares himself up
+to fight; but the innkeeper, though as big a man as he, being of a
+spongy constitution, showed no relish for this mode of argument, and
+turning his back on us with a shake of the head, said he was very well
+satisfied of his own honesty, and if we doubted it we could seek what
+satisfaction the law would give us, adding slyly, as he turned at the
+door, that he could recommend us a magistrate of his acquaintance,
+naming him who had set us in the stocks at Tottenham Cross.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The very hint of this put us again in a quake, and now, the snow
+beginning to fall pretty heavily, we went into the shed to cast about as
+to what on earth we should do next. There we sat, glum and silent,
+watching idly the big flakes of snow fluttering down from the leaden
+sky, for not one of us could imagine a way out of this hobble.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Holy Mother!" cries Jack at length, springing up in a passion, "we
+cannot sit here and starve of cold and hunger. Cuddle up to my arm,
+Moll, and do you bring your fiddle, Kit, and let us try our luck
+a-begging in alehouses."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And so we trudged out into the driving snow, that blinded us as we
+walked, bow our heads as we might, and tried one alehouse after the
+other, but all to no purpose, the parlours being empty because of the
+early hour, and the snow keeping folks within doors; only, about midday,
+some carters, who had pulled up at an inn, took pity on us, and gave us
+a mug of penny ale and half a loaf, and that was all the food we had the
+whole miserable day. Then at dusk, wet-footed and fagged out in mind and
+body, we trudged back to the Bell, thinking to get back into the loft
+and bury ourselves in the sweet hay for warmth and comfort. But coming
+hither, we found our nag turned out of the stable and the door locked,
+so that we were thrown quite into despair by the loss of this last poor
+hope, and poor Moll, turning her face away from us, burst out
+a-crying--she who all day had set us a brave example by her cheerful
+merry spirit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER II.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Of our first acquaintance with the Seņor Don Sanchez del Castillo de
+Castelaņa, and his brave entertaining of us.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I was taking a turn or two outside the shed,--for the sight of Jack
+Dawson hugging poor Moll to his breast and trying to soothe her bodily
+misery with gentle words was more than I could bear,--when a drawer
+coming across from the inn told me that a gentleman in the Cherry room
+would have us come to him. I gave him a civil answer and carried this
+message to my friends. Moll, who had staunched her tears and was smiling
+piteously, though her sobs, like those of a child, still shook her thin
+frame, and her father both looked at me in blank doubt as fearing some
+trap for our further discomfiture.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay," says Jack, stoutly. "Fate can serve us no worse within doors than
+without, so let us in and face this gentleman, whoever he is."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So in we go, and all sodden and bedrabbled as we were, went to follow
+the drawer upstairs, when the landlady cried out she would not have us
+go into her Cherry room in that pickle, to soil her best furniture and
+disgrace her house, and bade the fellow carry us into the kitchen to
+take off our cloaks and change our boots for slip-shoes, adding that if
+we had any respect for ourselves, we should trim our hair and wash the
+grime off our faces. So we enter the kitchen, nothing loath, where a
+couple of pullets browning on the spit, kettles bubbling on the fire,
+and a pasty drawing from the oven, filled the air with delicious odours
+that nearly drove us mad for envy; and to think that these good things
+were to tempt the appetite of some one who never hungered, while we,
+famishing for want, had not even a crust to appease our cravings! But it
+was some comfort to plunge our blue, numbed fingers into a tub of hot
+water and feel the life blood creeping back into our hearts. The paint
+we had put on our cheeks the night before was streaked all over our
+faces by the snow, so that we did look the veriest scarecrows
+imaginable; but after washing our heads well and stroking our hair into
+order with a comb Mistress Cook lent us, we looked not so bad. And thus
+changed, and with dry shoes to our feet, we at length went upstairs, all
+full of wondering expectation, and were led into the Cherry room, which
+seemed to us a very palace, being lit with half a dozen candles (and
+they of wax) and filled with a warm glow by the blazing logs on the
+hearth reflected in the cherry hangings. And there in the midst was a
+table laid for supper with a wondrous white cloth, glasses to drink
+from, and silver forks all set out most bravely.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"His worship will be down ere long," says the drawer, and with that he
+makes a pretence of building up the fire, being warned thereto very like
+by the landlady, with an eye to the safety of her silver.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Can you tell me his worship's name, friend?" I whispered, my mind
+turning at once to his worship of Tottenham Cross.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Not I, were you to pay me," says he. "'Tis that outlandish and
+uncommon. But for sure he is some great foreign grandee."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He could tell us no more, so we stood there all together, wondering,
+till presently the door opens, and a tall, lean gentleman enters, with a
+high front, very finely dressed in linen stockings, a long-waisted coat,
+and embroidered waistcoat, and rich lace at his cuffs and throat. He
+wore no peruke, but his own hair, cut quite close to his head, with a
+pointed beard and a pair of long moustachios twisting up almost to his
+ears; but his appearance was the more striking by reason of his beard
+and moustachios being quite black, while the hair on his head was white
+as silver. He had dark brows also, that overhung very rich black eyes;
+his nose was long and hooked, and his skin, which was of a very dark
+complexion, was closely lined with wrinkles about the eyes, while a deep
+furrow lay betwixt his brows. He carried his head very high, and was
+majestic and gracious in all his movements, not one of which (as it
+seemed to me) was made but of forethought and purpose. I should say his
+age was about sixty, though his step and carriage were of a younger man.
+To my eyes he appeared a very handsome and a pleasing, amiable
+gentleman. But, Lord, what can you conclude of a man at a single glance,
+when every line in his face (of which he had a score and more) has each
+its history of varying passions, known only to himself, and secret
+phases of his life!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He saluted us with a most noble bow, and dismissed the drawer with a
+word in an undertone. Then turning again to us, he said: "I had the
+pleasure of seeing you act last night, and dance," he adds with a slight
+inclination of his head to Moll. "Naturally, I wish to be better
+acquainted with you. Will it please you to dine with me?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I could not have been more dumbfounded had an angel asked me to step
+into heaven; but Dawson was quick enough to say something.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That will we," cries he, "and God bless your worship for taking pity on
+us, for I doubt not you have heard of our troubles."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The other bowed his head and set a chair at the end of the table for
+Moll, which she took with a pretty curtsey, but saying never a word, for
+glee did seem to choke us all. And being seated, she cast her eyes on
+the bread hungrily, as if she would fain begin at once, but she had the
+good manners to restrain herself. Then his worship (as we called him),
+having shown us the chairs on either side, seated himself last of all,
+at the head of the table, facing our Moll, whom whenever he might
+without discourtesy, he regarded with most scrutinising glances from
+first to last. Then the door flinging open, two drawers brought in those
+same fat pullets we had seen browning before the fire, and also the
+pasty, with abundance of other good cheer, at which Moll, with a little
+cry of delight, whispers to me:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis like a dream. Do speak to me, Kit, or I must think 'twill all fade
+away presently and leave us in the snow."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then I, finding my tongue, begged his worship would pardon us if our
+manners were more uncouth than the society to which he was accustomed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay," says Dawson, "Your worship will like us none the worse, I
+warrant, for seeing what we are and aping none."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Finding himself thus beworshipped on both hands, our good friend says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You may call me Seņor. I am a Spaniard. Don Sanchez del Castillo de
+Castelaņa." And then to turn the subject, he adds: "I have seen you play
+twice."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, Seņor, and I should have known you again if by nothing but this
+piece of generosity," replies Dawson, with his cheek full of pasty, "for
+I remember both times you set down a piece and would take no change."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Don Sanchez hunched his shoulders cavalierly, as if such trifles were
+nought to him; but indeed throughout his manner was most high and noble.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now, being fairly settled down to our repast, we said no more of any
+moment that I can recall to mind till we had done (which was not until
+nought remained of the pullets and the pasty but a few bones and the
+bare dish), and we were drawn round the fire at Don Sanchez's
+invitation. Then the drawers, having cleared the tables, brought up a
+huge bowl of hot spiced wine, a dish of tobacco, and some pipes. The Don
+then offered us to smoke some cigarros, but we, not understanding them,
+took instead our homely pipes, and each with a beaker of hot wine to his
+hand sat roasting before the fire, scarce saying a word, the Don being
+silent because his humour was of the reflective grave kind (with all his
+courtesies he never smiled, as if such demonstrations were unbecoming to
+his dignity), and we from repletion and a feeling of wondrous
+contentment and repose. And another thing served to keep us still, which
+was that our Moll, sitting beside her father, almost at once fell
+asleep, her head lying against his shoulder as he sat with his arm about
+her waist. As at the table, Don Sanchez had seated himself where he
+could best observe her, and now he scarcely once took his eyes off her,
+which were half closed as if in speculation. At length, taking the
+cigarro from his lips, he says softly to Jack Dawson, so as not to
+arouse Moll:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your daughter."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Jack nods for an answer, and looking down on her face with pride and
+tenderness, he put back with the stem of his pipe a little curl that had
+strayed over her eyes. She was not amiss for looks thus, with her long
+eyelashes lying like a fringe upon her cheeks, her lips open, showing
+her good white teeth, and the glow of the firelight upon her face; but
+her attitude and the innocent, happy expression of her features made up
+a picture which seemed to me mighty pretty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Where is her mother?" asks Don Sanchez, presently; and Dawson, without
+taking his eyes from Moll's face, lifts his pipe upwards, while his big
+thick lips fell a-trembling. Maybe, he was thinking of his poor Betty as
+he looked at the child's face.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Has she no other relatives?" asks the Don, in the same quiet tone; and
+Jack shakes his head, still looking down, and answers lowly:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Only me."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then after another pause the Don asks:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What will become of her?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And that thought also must have been in Jack Dawson's mind; for without
+seeming surprised by the question, which appeared a strange one, he
+answers reverently, but with a shake in his hoarse voice, "Almighty God
+knows."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This stilled us all for the moment, and then Don Sanchez, seeing that
+these reflections threw a gloom upon us, turned to me, sitting next him,
+and asked if I would give him some account of my history, whereupon I
+briefly told him how three years ago Jack Dawson had lifted me out of
+the mire, and how since then we had lived in brotherhood. "And," says I
+in conclusion, "we will continue with the favour of Providence to live
+so, sharing good and ill fortune alike to the end, so much we do love
+one another."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To this Jack Dawson nods assent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And your other fellow,--what of him?" asked Don Sanchez.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I replied that Ned Herring was but a fair-weather friend, who had joined
+fortunes with us to get out of London and escape the Plague, and how
+having robbed us, we were like never to see his face again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And well for him if we do not," cries Dawson, rousing up; "for by the
+Lord, if I clap eyes on him, though it be a score of years hence, he
+shan't escape the most horrid beating ever man outlived!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Don nodded his satisfaction at this, and then Moll, awaking with the
+sudden outburst of her father's voice, gives first a gape, then a
+shiver, and looking about her with an air of wonder, smiles as her eye
+fell on the Don. Whereon, still as solemn as any judge, he pulls the
+bell, and the maid, coming to the room with a rushlight, he bids her
+take the poor weary child to bed, and the best there is in the house,
+which I think did delight Dawson not less than his Moll to hear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Moll gives her father a kiss, and me another according to her wont,
+and drops a civil curtsey to Don Sanchez.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Give me thy hand, child," says he; and having it, he lifts it to his
+lips and kisses it as if she had been the finest lady in the land.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She being gone, the Don calls for a second bowl of spiced wine, and we,
+mightily pleased at the prospect of another half-hour of comfort,
+stretch our legs out afresh before the fire. Then Don Sanchez, lighting
+another cigarro, and setting his chair towards us, says as he takes his
+knee up betwixt his long, thin fingers:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Now let us come to the heart of this business and understand one
+another clearly."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER III.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Of that design which Don Sanchez opened to us at the Bell.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We pulled our pipes from our mouths, Dawson and I, and stretched our
+ears very eager to know what this business was the Don had to propound,
+and he, after drawing two or three mouthfuls of smoke, which he expelled
+through his nostrils in a most surprising unnatural manner, says in
+excellent good English, but speaking mighty slow and giving every letter
+its worth:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What do you go to do to-morrow?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The Lord only knows," answers Jack, and Don Sanchez, lifting his
+eyebrows as if he considers this no answer at all, he continues: "We
+cannot go hence with none of our stage things; and if we could, I see
+not how we are to act our play, now that our villain is gone, with a
+plague to him! I doubt but we must sell all that we have for the few
+shillings they will fetch to get us out of this hobble."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"With our landlord's permission," remarks Don Sanchez, dryly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Permission!" cries Dawson, in a passion. "I ask no man's permission to
+do what I please with my own."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Suppose he claims these things in payment of the money you owe him.
+What then?" asks the Don.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We never thought of that, Kit," says Dawson, turning to me in a pucker.
+"But 'tis likely enough he has, for I observed he was mighty careless
+whether we found our thief or not. That's it, sure enough. We have
+nought to hope. All's lost!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With that he drops his elbows on his knees, and stares into the fire
+with a most desponding countenance, being in that stage of liquor when a
+man must either laugh or weep.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Come, Jack," says I. "You are not used to yield like this. Let us make
+the best of a bad lot, and face the worst like men. Though we trudge
+hence with nothing but the rags on our backs, we shall be no worse off
+to-morrow than we were this morning."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, that's true enough!" cries he, plucking up his courage. "Let the
+thieving rascal take our poor nag and our things for his payment, and
+much good may they do him. We will wipe this out of our memory the
+moment we leave his cursed inn behind us."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It seemed to me that this would not greatly advance us, and maybe Don
+Sanchez thought the same, for he presently asks:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And what then?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, Seņor," replies Dawson, "we will face each new buffet as it comes,
+and make a good fight of it till we're beat. A man may die but once."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You think only of yourselves," says the Don, very quietly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And pray, saving your Seņor's presence, who else should we think of?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The child above," answers the Don, a little more sternly than he had
+yet spoken. "Is a young creature like that to bear the buffets you are
+so bold to meet? Can you offer her no shelter from the wind and rain but
+such as chance offers? make no provision for the time when she is left
+alone, to protect her against the evils that lie in the path of
+friendless maids?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God forgive me," says Jack, humbly. And then we could say nothing, for
+thinking what might befall Moll if we should be parted, but sat there
+under the keen eye of Don Sanchez, looking helplessly into the fire. And
+there was no sound until Jack's pipe, slipping from his hand, fell and
+broke in pieces upon the hearth. Then rousing himself up and turning to
+Don Sanchez, he says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The Lord help her, Seņor, if we find no good friend to lend us a few
+shillings for our present wants."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Good friends are few," says the Don, "and they who lend need some
+better security for repayment than chance. For my own part, I would as
+soon fling straws to a drowning man as attempt to save you and that
+child from ruin by setting you on your feet to-day only to fall again
+to-morrow."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If that be so, Seņor," says I, "you had some larger view in mind than
+that of offering temporary relief to our misery when you gave us a
+supper and Moll a bed for the night."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Don Sanchez assented with a grave inclination of his head, and going to
+the door opened it sharply, listened awhile, and then closing it softly,
+returned and stood before us with folded arms. Then, in a low voice, not
+to be heard beyond the room, he questioned us very particularly as to
+our relations with other men, the length of time we had been wandering
+about the country, and especially about the tractability of Moll. And,
+being satisfied with our replies,--above all, with Jack's saying that
+Moll would jump out of window at his bidding, without a thought to the
+consequences,--he says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There's a comedy we might play to some advantage if you were minded to
+take the parts I give you and act them as I direct."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"With all my heart," cries Dawson. "I'll play any part you choose; and
+as to the directing, you're welcome to that, for I've had my fill of it.
+If you can make terms with our landlord, those things in the yard shall
+be yours, and for our payment I'm willing to trust to your honour's
+generosity."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"As regards payment," says the Don, "I can speak precisely. We shall
+gain fifty thousand pounds by our performance."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Fifty thousand pounds," says Jack, as if in doubt whether he had heard
+aright. Don Sanchez bent his head, without stirring a line in his face.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dawson took up his beaker slowly, and looked in it, to make sure that he
+was none the worse for drink, then, after emptying it, to steady his
+wits, he says again:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Fifty thousand pounds."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Fifty thousand pounds, if not more; and that there be no jealousies one
+of the other, it shall be divided fairly amongst us,--as much for your
+friend as for you, for the child as for me."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Pray God, this part be no more than I can compass," says Jack,
+devoutly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You may learn it in a few hours--at least, your first act."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And mine?" says I, entering for the first time into the dialogue.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Don hunched his shoulders, lifting his eyebrows, and sending two
+streams of smoke from his nose.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I scarce know what part to give you, yet," says he. "To be honest, you
+are not wanted at all in the play."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay, but you must write him a part," says Dawson, stoutly; "if it be
+but to bring in a letter--that I am determined on. Kit stood by us in
+ill fortune, and he shall share better, or I'll have none of it, nor
+Moll neither. I'll answer for her."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There must be no discontent among us," says the Don, meaning thereby,
+as I think, that he had included me in his stratagem for fear I might
+mar it from envy. "The girl's part is that which gives me most
+concern--and had I not faith in my own judgment--"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Set your mind at ease on that score," cried Jack. "I warrant our Moll
+shall learn her part in a couple of days or so."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If she learn it in a twelvemonth, 'twill be time enough."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A twelvemonth," said Jack, going to his beaker again, for
+understanding. "Well, all's as one, so that we can get something in
+advance of our payment, to keep us through such a prodigious study."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I will charge myself with your expenses," says Don Sanchez; and then,
+turning to me, he asks if I have any objection to urge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I take it, Seņor, that you speak in metaphor," says I; "and that this
+'comedy' is nought but a stratagem for getting hold of a fortune that
+doesn't belong to us."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Don Sanchez calmly assented, as if this had been the most innocent
+design in the world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hang me," cries Dawson, "if I thought it was anything but a whimsey of
+your honour's."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I should like to know if we may carry out this stratagem honestly,"
+says I.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye," cries Jack. "I'll not agree for cutting of throats or breaking of
+bones, for any money."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I can tell you no more than this," says the Don. "The fortune we may
+take is now in the hands of a man who has no more right to it than we
+have."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If that's so," says Jack, "I'm with you, Seņor. For I'd as lief bustle
+a thief out of his gains as say my prayers, any day, and liefer."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Still," says I, "the money must of right belong to some one."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We will say that the money belongs to a child of the same age as Moll."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then it comes to this, Seņor," says I, bluntly. "We are to rob that
+child of fifty thousand pounds."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"When you speak of robbing," says the Don, drawing himself up with much
+dignity, "you forget that I am to play a part in this stratagem--I, Don
+Sanchez del Castillo de Castelaņa."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Fie, Kit, han't you any manners?" cries Dick. "What's all this talk of
+a child? Hasn't the Seņor told us we are but to bustle a cheat?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But I would know what is to become of this child, if we take her
+fortune, though it be withheld from her by another," says I, being
+exceeding obstinate and persistent in my liquor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I shall prove to your conviction," says the Don, "that the child will
+be no worse off, if we take this money, than if we leave it in the hands
+of that rascally steward. But I see," adds he, contemptuously, "that for
+all your brotherly love, 'tis no such matter to you whether poor little
+Molly comes to her ruin, as every maid must who goes to the stage, or is
+set beyond the reach of temptation and the goading of want."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, and be hanged to you, Kit!" cries Dawson.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Tell me, Mr. Poet," continues Don Sanchez, "do you consider this
+steward who defrauds that child of a fortune is more unfeeling than you
+who, for a sickly qualm of conscience, would let slip this chance of
+making Molly an honest woman?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, answer that, Kit," adds Jack, striking his mug on the table.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I'll answer you to-morrow morning, Seņor," says I. "And whether I fall
+in with the scheme or not is all as one, since my help is not needed;
+for if it be to Moll's good, I'll bid you farewell, and you shall see me
+never again."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Spoken like a man!" says Don Sanchez, "and a wise one to boot. An
+enterprise of this nature is not to be undertaken without reflection,
+like the smoking of a pipe. If you put your foot forward, it must be
+with the understanding that you cannot go back. I must have that
+assurance, for I shall be hundreds of pounds out of pocket ere I can get
+any return for my venture."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Have no fear of me or of Moll turning tail at a scarecrow," says Jack,
+adding with a sneer, "we are no poets."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Reflect upon it. Argue it out with your friend here, whose scruples do
+not displease me, and let me know your determination when the last word
+is said. Business carries me to London to-morrow; but you shall meet me
+at night, and we will close the business--aye or nay--ere supper."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With that he opens the door and gives us our congee, the most noble in
+the world; but not offering to give us a bed, we are forced to go out of
+doors and grope our way through the snow to the cart-shed, and seek a
+shelter there from the wind, which was all the keener and more bitter
+for our leaving a good fire. And I believe the shrewd Spaniard had put
+us to this pinch as a foretaste of the misery we must endure if we
+rejected his design, and so to shape our inclinations to his.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Happily, the landlord, coming out with a lantern, and finding us by the
+chattering of our teeth, was moved by the consideration shown us by Don
+Sanchez to relax his severity; and so, unlocking the stable door, he
+bade us get up into the loft, which we did, blessing him as if he had
+been the best Christian in the world. And then, having buried ourselves
+in hay, Jack Dawson and I fell to arguing the matter in question, I
+sticking to my scruples (partly from vanity), and he stoutly holding
+t'other side; and I, being warmed by my own eloquence, and he not less
+heated by liquor (having taken best part of the last bowl to his share),
+we ran it pretty high, so that at one point Jack was for lighting a
+candle end he had in his pocket and fighting it out like men. But,
+little by little, we cooled down, and towards morning, each giving way
+something, we came to the conclusion that we would have Don Sanchez show
+us the steward, that we might know the truth of his story (which I
+misdoubted, seeing that it was but a roguish kind of game at best that
+he would have us take part in), and that if we found all things as he
+represented them, then we would accept his offer. And also we resolved
+to be down betimes and let him know our determination before he set out
+for London, to the end that we might not be left fasting all the day.
+But herein we miscalculated the potency of liquor and a comfortable bed
+of hay, for 'twas nine o'clock before either of us winked an eye, and
+when we got down, we learnt that Don Sanchez had been gone a full hour,
+and so no prospect of breaking our fast till nightfall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presently comes Moll, all fresh and pink from the house, and falls to
+exclaiming upon the joy of sleeping betwixt clean sheets in a feather
+bed, and could speak of nothing else, saying she would give all the
+world to sleep so well every day of her life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Eh," whispers her father in my ear, "you see how luxuries do tempt the
+poor child, and what kind of a bed she is like to lie in if our hopes
+miscarry."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On which, still holding to my scruples, I says to Moll:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis easy to say you would give the world, Moll, but I know full well
+you would give nothing for all the comfort possible that was not your
+own."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay," says she, crossing her hands on her breast, and casting up her
+eyes with the look of a saint, "what are all the fruits of the earth to
+her who cannot take them with an easy conscience? Honesty is dearer to
+me than the bread of life."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, as Jack and I are looking at each other ruefully in the face at
+this dash to our knavish project, she bursts into a merry peal of
+laughter, like a set of Christmas bells chiming, whereupon we, turning
+about to find the cause of her merriment, she pulls another demure face,
+and, slowly lifting her skirt, shows us a white napkin tied about her
+waist, stuffed with a dozen delicacies she had filched from Don
+Sanchez's table in coming down from her room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER IV.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Of the several parts that we are appointed to play.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Finding a sheltered secret corner, we made a very hasty breakfast of
+these stolen dainties, and since we had not the heart to restore them to
+our innkeeper, so we had not the face to chide Moll for her larceny, but
+made light of the business and ate with great content and some mirth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A drizzly rain falling and turning the snow into slush, we kept under
+the shelter of the shed, and this giving us scope for the reflection Don
+Sanchez had counselled, my compunctions were greatly shaken by the
+consideration of our present position and the prospect of worse. When I
+thought of our breakfast that Moll had stolen, and how willingly we
+would all have eaten a dinner got by the same means, I had to
+acknowledge that certainly we were all thieves at heart; and this
+conclusion, together with sitting all day doing nothing in the raw cold,
+did make the design of Don Sanchez seem much less heinous to me than it
+appeared the night before, when I was warm and not exceedingly sober,
+and indeed towards dusk I came to regard it as no bad thing at all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About six comes back our Don on a fine horse, and receives our
+salutations with a cool nod--we standing there of a row, looking our
+sweetest, like hungry dogs in expectation of a bone. Then in he goes to
+the house without a word, and now my worst fear was that he had thought
+better of his offer and would abandon it. So there we hang about the
+best part of an hour, now thinking the Don would presently send for us,
+and then growing to despair of everything but to be left in the cold
+forgotten; but in the end comes Master Landlord to tell us his worship
+in the Cherry room would see us. So, after the same formalities of
+cleansing ourselves as the night afore, upstairs we go at the heels of a
+drawer, carrying a roast pig, which to our senses was more delightful
+than any bunch of flowers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With a gesture of his hands, after saluting us with great dignity, Don
+Sanchez bade us take our places at the table and with never a word of
+question as to our decision; but that was scarce necessary, for it
+needed no subtle observation to perceive that we would accept any
+conditions to get our share of that roast pig. This supper differed not
+greatly from the former, save that our Moll was taken with a kind of
+tickling at the throat which presently attracted our notice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What ails you, Molly, my dear?" asks Jack. "Has a bit of crackling gone
+down the wrong way?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She put it off as if she would have us take no notice of it, but it grew
+worse and worse towards the end of the meal, and became a most horrid,
+tearing cough, which she did so natural as to deceive us all and put us
+in great concern, and especially Don Sanchez, who declared she must have
+taken a cold by being exposed all day to the damp weather.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If I have," says she, very prettily, after wiping the tears from her
+eyes upon another fit, "'tis surely a most ungrateful return for the
+kindness with which you sheltered me last night, Seņor."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I shall take better care to shelter you in the future, my poor child,"
+replies the Don, ringing the bell. Then, the maid coming, he bids her
+warm a bed and prepare a hot posset against Moll was tucked up in the
+blankets. "And," says he, turning to Moll, "you shall not rise till
+noon, my dear; your breakfast shall be brought to you in your room,
+where a fire shall be made, and such treatment shown you as if you were
+my own child."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh! what have I done that you should be so gentle to me?" exclaims
+Moll, smothering another cough. And with that she reaches out her leg
+under the table and fetches me a kick of the shin, looking all the while
+as pitiful and innocent as any painted picture. "Would it be well to
+fetch in a doctor?" says Don Sanchez, when Moll was gone barking
+upstairs. "The child looks delicate, though she eats with a fairly good
+appetite."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis nothing serious," replies Jack, who had doubtless received the
+same hint from Moll she had given me. "I warrant she will be mended in a
+day or so, with proper care. 'Tis a kind of family complaint. I am taken
+that way at times," and with that he rasps his throat as a hint that he
+would be none the worse for sleeping a night between sheets.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was carrying the matter too far, and I thought it had certainly
+undone us; for stopping short, with a start, in crossing the room, he
+turns and looks first at Dawson, then at me, with anything but a
+pleasant look in his eyes as finding his dignity hurt, to be thus
+bustled by a mere child. Then his dark eyebrows unbending with the
+reflection, maybe, that it was so much the better to his purpose that
+Moll could so act as to deceive him, he seats himself gravely, and
+replies to Jack:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your family wit may get you a night's lodging, but I doubt if you will
+ever merit it so well as your daughter."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well," says Jack, with a laugh, "what wit we have amongst us we are
+resolved to employ in your honour's service, so that you show us this
+steward-fellow is a rascal that deserves to be bounced, and we do no
+great injury to any one else."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Good," says Don Sanchez. "We will proceed to that without delay. And
+now, as we have no matter to discuss, and must be afoot early to-morrow,
+I will ring for a light to take you to bed."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we up presently to a good snug room with a bed to each of us fit for
+a prince. And there, with the blankets drawn up to our ears, we fell
+blessing our stars that we were now fairly out of our straits, and after
+that to discussing whether we should consult Moll's inclination to this
+business. First, Dawson was for telling her plump out all about our
+project, saying that being so young she had no conscience to speak of,
+and would like nothing better than to take part in any piece of
+mischief. But against this I protested, seeing that it would be
+dangerous to our design to let her know so much (she having a woman's
+tongue in her head), and also of a bad tendency to make her, as it were,
+at the very beginning of her life, a knowing active party to what looked
+like nothing more nor less than a piece of knavery. Therefore I proposed
+we should, when necessary, tell her just so much of our plan as was
+expedient, and no more. And this agreeing mightily with Jack's natural
+turn for taking of short cuts out of difficulties, he fell in with my
+views at once, and so, bidding God bless me, he lays the clothes over
+his head and was snoring the next minute.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the morning we found the Don just as kind to us as the day before he
+had been careless, and so made us eat breakfast with him, to our great
+content. Also, he sent a maid up to Moll to enquire of her health, and
+if she could eat anything from our table, to which the baggage sends
+reply that she feels a little easier this morning and could fancy a dish
+of black puddings. These delicacies her father carried to her, being
+charged by the Don to tell her that we should be gone for a couple of
+days, and that in our absence she might command whatever she felt was
+necessary to her complete recovery against our return. Then I told Don
+Sanchez how we had resolved to tell Moll no more of our purpose than was
+necessary for the moment, which pleased him, I thought, mightily, he
+saying that our success or failure depended upon secrecy as much as
+anything, for which reason he had kept us in the dark as much as ever it
+was possible.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About eight o'clock three saddle nags were brought to the door, and we,
+mounting, set out for London, where we arrived about ten, the roads
+being fairly passable save in the marshy parts about Shoreditch, where
+the mire was knee-deep; so to Gracious Street, and there leaving our
+nags at the Turk inn, we walked down to the Bridge stairs, and thence
+with a pair of oars to Greenwich. Here, after our tedious chilly voyage,
+we were not ill-pleased to see the inside of an inn once more, and Don
+Sanchez, taking us to the King's posting-house, orders a fire to be
+lighted in a private room, and the best there was in the larder to be
+served us in the warm parlour. While we were at our trenchers Don
+Sanchez says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"At two o'clock two men are coming hither to see me. One is a master
+mariner named Robert Evans, the other a merchant adventurer of his
+acquaintance whom I have not yet seen. Now you are to mark these two men
+well, note all they say and their manner of speaking, for to-morrow you
+will have to personate these characters before one who would be only too
+glad to find you at fault."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Very good, Seņor," says Dawson; "but which of these parts am I to
+play?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That you may decide when you have seen the men, but I should say from
+my knowledge of Robert Evans that you may best represent his character.
+For in your parts to-day you are to be John and Christopher Knight, two
+needy cousins of Lady Godwin, whose husband, Sir Richard Godwin, was
+lost at sea seven years ago. I doubt if you will have to do anything in
+these characters beyond looking eager and answering merely yes and no to
+such questions as I may put."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus primed, we went presently to the sitting-room above, and the drawer
+shortly after coming to say that two gentlemen desired to see Don
+Sanchez, Jack and I seated ourselves side by side at a becoming distance
+from the Don, holding our hats on our knees as humbly as may be. Then in
+comes a rude, dirty fellow with a patch over one eye and a most peculiar
+bearish gait, dressed in a tarred coat, with a wool shawl about his
+neck, followed by a shrewd-visaged little gentleman in a plain cloth
+suit, but of very good substance, he looking just as trim and
+well-mannered as t'other was uncouth and rude.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, here am I," says Evans (whom we knew at once for the master
+mariner), flinging his hat and shawl in a corner. "There's his
+excellency Don Sanchez, and here's Mr. Hopkins, the merchant I spoke on
+yesterday; and who be these?" turning about to fix us with his one blue
+eye.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Two gentlemen related to Mrs. Godwin, and very anxious for her return,"
+replies the Don.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then we being met friends all, let's have up a bottle and heave off on
+this here business without more ado," says Evans; and with that he seats
+himself in the Don's chair, pokes up the fire with his boots, and spits
+on the hearth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Don graciously places a chair for Mr. Hopkins, rings the bell, and
+seats himself. Then after a few civilities while the bottle was being
+opened and our glasses filled, he says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You have doubtless heard from Robert Evans the purpose of our coming
+hither, Mr. Hopkins."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Roughly," replies Mr. Hopkins, with a dry little cough. "But I should
+be glad to have the particulars from you, that I may judge more clearly
+of my responsibilities in this undertaking."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh, Lord!" exclaims Evans, in disgust. "Here give us a pipe of tobacco
+if we're to warp out half a day ere we get a capful of wind."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER V.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Don Sanchez puts us in the way of robbing with an easy conscience.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Promising to make his story as short as he possibly could, Don Sanchez
+began:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"On the coming of our present king to his throne, Sir Richard Godwin was
+recalled from Italy, whither he had been sent as embassador by the
+Protector. He sailed from Livorno with his wife and his daughter Judith,
+a child of nine years old at that time, in the Seahawk."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I remember her," says Evans, "as stout a ship as ever was put to sea."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"On the second night of her voyage the Seahawk became parted from her
+convoy, and the next day she was pursued and overtaken by a pair of
+Barbary pirates, to whom she gave battle."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, and I'd have done the same," cries Evans, "though they had been a
+score."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"After a long and bloody fight," continues Don Sanchez, "the corsairs
+succeeded in boarding the Seahawk and overcoming the remnant of her
+company."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Poor hearts! would I had been there to help 'em," says Evans.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Exasperated by the obstinate resistance of these English and their own
+losses, the pirates would grant no mercy, but tying the living to the
+dead they cast all overboard save Mrs. Godwin and her daughter. Her lot
+was even worse; for her wounded husband, Sir Richard, was snatched from
+her arms and flung into the sea before her eyes, and he sank crying
+farewell to her."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"These Turks have no hearts in their bellies, you must understand,"
+explains Evans. "And nought but venom in their veins."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The Seahawk was taken to Alger, and there Mrs. Godwin and her daughter
+were sold for slaves in the public market-place."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I have seen 'em sold by the score there," says Evans, "and fetch but an
+onion a head."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"By good fortune the mother and daughter were bought by Sidi ben Moula,
+a rich old merchant who was smitten by the pretty, delicate looks of
+Judith, whom he thenceforth treated as if she had been his own child. In
+this condition they lived with greater happiness than falls to the lot
+of most slaves, until the beginning of last year, when Sidi died, and
+his possessions fell to his brother, Bare ben Moula. Then Mrs. Godwin
+appeals to Bare for her liberty and to be sent home to her country,
+saying that what price (in reason) he chooses to set upon their heads
+she will pay from her estate in England--a thing which she had proposed
+before to Sidi, but he would not hear of it because of his love for
+Judith and his needing no greater fortune than he had. But this Bare,
+though he would be very well content, being also an old man, to have his
+household managed by Mrs. Godwin and to adopt Judith as his child, being
+of a more avaricious turn than his brother, at length consents to it, on
+condition that her ransoms be paid before she quits Barbary. And so,
+casting about how this may be done, Mrs. Godwin finds a captive whose
+price has been paid, about to be taken to Palma in the Baleares, and to
+him she entrusts two letters." Here Don Sanchez pulls two folded sheets
+of vellum from his pocket, and presenting one to me, he says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Mayhap you recognise this hand, Mr. Knight."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And I, seeing the signature Elizabeth Godwin, answers quickly enough:
+"Aye, 'tis my dear cousin Bess, her own hand."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"This," says the Don, handing the other to Evans, "you may understand."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I can make out 'tis writ in the Moorish style," says Evans, "but the
+meaning of it I know not, for I can't tell great A from a bull's foot
+though it be in printed English."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis an undertaking on the part of Bare ben Moula," says the Don, "to
+deliver up at Dellys in Barbary the persons of Mrs. Godwin and her
+daughter against the payment of five thousand gold ducats within one
+year. The other writing tells its own story."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Hopkins took the first sheet from me and read it aloud. It was
+addressed to Mr. Richard Godwin, Hurst Court, Chislehurst in Kent, and
+after giving such particulars of her past as we had already heard from
+Don Sanchez, she writes thus: "And now, my dear nephew, as I doubt not
+you (as the nearest of my kindred to my dear husband after us two poor
+relicts) have taken possession of his estate in the belief we were all
+lost in our voyage from Italy, I do pray you for the love of God and of
+mercy to deliver us from our bondage by sending hither a ship with the
+money for our ransoms forthwith, and be assured by this that I shall not
+dispossess you of your fortune (more than my bitter circumstances do now
+require), so that I but come home to die in a Christian country and have
+my sweet Judith where she may be less exposed to harm than in this
+infidel country. I count upon your love,--being ever a dear nephew,--and
+am your most hopeful, trusting, and loving aunt, Elizabeth Godwin."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Very well, sir," says Mr. Hopkins, returning the letter. "You have been
+to Chislehurst."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I have," answers the Don, "and there I find the estate in the hands of
+a most curious Puritanical steward, whose honesty is rather in the
+letter than the spirit. For though I have reason to believe that not one
+penny's value of the estate has been misemployed since it has been in
+his hands, yet will he give nothing--no, not a maravedi to the
+redemption of his mistress, saying that the letter is addressed to
+Richard Godwin and not to him, etc., and that he hath no power to pay
+out monies for this purpose, even though he believed the facts I have
+laid before him--which for his own ends doubtless he fains to misdoubt."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"As a trader, sir," says Mr. Hopkins, "I cannot blame his conduct in
+that respect. For should the venture fall through, the next heir might
+call upon him to repay out of his own pocket all that he had put into
+this enterprise. But this Mr. Richard Godwin, what of him?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"He is nowhere to be found. The only relatives I have been able to
+discover are these two gentlemen."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Who," remarks Mr. Hopkins, with a shrewd glance at our soiled clothes,
+"are not, I venture to think, in a position to pay their cousin's
+ransom."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Alas, no, sir," says Jack. "We are but two poor shopkeepers of London
+undone by the great fire."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well now, sir," says Mr. Hopkins, fetching an inkpot, a pen, and a
+piece of paper from his pocket. "I may conclude that you wish me to
+adventure upon the redemption of these two ladies in Barbary, upon the
+hazard of being repaid by Mrs. Godwin when she recovers her estate." And
+the Don making him a reverence, he continues, "We must first learn the
+extent of our liabilities. What sum is to be paid to Bare ben Moula?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Five thousand gold ducats--about two thousand pounds English."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Two thousand," says Mr. Hopkins, writing. "Then, Robert Evans, what
+charge is yours for fetching the ladies from Dellys?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Master Hopkins, I have said fifteen hundred pounds," says he, "and I
+won't go from my word though all laugh at me for a madman."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That seems a great deal of money," says Mr. Hopkins.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, if you think fifteen hundred pounds too much for my carcase and a
+ship of twenty men, you can go seek a cheaper market elsewhere."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You think there is very small likelihood of coming back alive?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, comrade, 'tis as if you should go into a den of lions and hope to
+get out whole; for though I have the Duke's pass, these Moors are no
+fitter to be trusted than a sackful of serpents. 'Tis ten to one our
+ship be taken, and we fools all sold into slavery."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ten to one," says Mr. Hopkins; "that is to say, you would make this
+voyage for the tenth part of what you ask were you sure of returning
+safe."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I would go as far anywhere outside the straits for an hundred pounds
+with a lighter heart."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Hopkins nods his head, and setting down some figures on his paper,
+says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The bare outlay in hard money amounts to thirty-five hundred pounds.
+Reckoning the risk at Robert Evans' own valuation (which I take to be a
+very low one), I must see reasonable prospect of winning thirty-five
+thousand pounds by my hazard."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Mrs. Godwin's estate I know to be worth double that amount."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But who will promise me that return?" asks Mr. Hopkins. "Not you?" (The
+Don shook his head.) "Not you?" (turning to us, with the same result).
+"Not Mrs. Godwin, for we have no means of communicating with her. Not
+the steward--you have shown me that. Who then remains but this Richard
+Godwin who cannot be found? If," adds he, getting up from his seat, "you
+can find Richard Godwin, put him in possession of the estate, and obtain
+from him a reasonable promise that this sum shall be paid on the return
+of Mrs. Godwin, I may feel disposed to consider your proposal more
+seriously. But till then I can do nothing."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Likewise, masters all," says Evans, fetching his hat and shawl from the
+corner, "I can't wait for a blue moon; and if so be we don't sign
+articles in a week, I'm off of my bargain, and mighty glad to get out of
+it so cheap."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You see," says Don Sanchez, when they were gone out of the room, "how
+impossible it is that Mrs. Godwin and her daughter shall be redeemed
+from captivity. To-morrow I shall show you what kind of a fellow the
+steward is that he should have the handling of this fortune rather than
+we."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then presently, with an indifferent, careless air, as if 'twas nought,
+he gives us a purse and bids us go out in the town to furnish ourselves
+with what disguise was necessary to our purpose. Therewith Dawson gets
+him some seaman's old clothes at a Jew's, and I a very neat, presentable
+suit of cloth, etc., and the rest of the money we take back to Don
+Sanchez without taking so much as a penny for our other uses; but he,
+doing all things very magnificent, would have none of it, but bade us
+keep it against our other necessities. And now having his money in our
+pockets, we felt 'twould be more dishonest to go back from this business
+than to go forward with it, lead us whither it might.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next morning off we go betimes, Jack more like Robert Evans than his
+mother's son, and I a most seeming substantial man (so that the very
+stable lad took off his hat to me), and on very good horses a long ride
+to Chislehurst And there coming to a monstrous fine park, Don Sanchez
+stayed us before the gates, and bidding us look up a broad avenue of
+great oaks to a most surprising brave house, he told us this was Hurst
+Court, and we might have it for our own within a year if we were so
+minded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hence, at no great distance we reach a square plain house, the windows
+all barred with stout iron, and the most like a prison I did ever see.
+Here Don Sanchez ringing a bell, a little grating in the door is opened,
+and after some parley we are admitted by a sturdy fellow carrying a
+cudgel in his hand. So we into a cold room, with not a spark of fire on
+the hearth but a few ashes, no hangings to the windows, nor any ornament
+or comfort at all, but only a table and half a dozen wooden stools, and
+a number of shelves against the wall full of account books and papers
+protected by a grating of stout wire secured with sundry padlocks. And
+here, behind a tableful of papers, sat our steward, Simon
+Stout-in-faith, a most withered, lean old man, clothed all in leather,
+wearing no wig but his own rusty grey hair falling lank on his
+shoulders, with a sour face of a very jaundiced complexion, and pale
+eyes that seemed to swim in a yellowish rheum, which he was for ever
+a-mopping with a rag.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I am come, Mr. Steward," says Don Sanchez, "to conclude the business we
+were upon last week."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye," cries Dawson, for all the world in the manner of Evans, "but ere
+we get to this dry matter let's have a bottle to ease the way, for this
+riding of horseback has parched up my vitals confoundedly."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If thou art athirst," says Simon, "Peter shall fetch thee a jug of
+water from the well; but other liquor have we none in this house."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Let Peter drown in your well," says Dawson, with an oath; "I'll have
+none of it. Let's get this matter done and away, for I'd as lief sit in
+a leaky hold as in this here place for comfort."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Here," says Don Sanchez, "is a master mariner who is prepared to risk
+his life, and here a merchant adventurer of London who will hazard his
+money, to redeem your mistress and her daughter from slavery."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Praise the Lord, Peter," says the steward. Whereupon the sturdy fellow
+with the cudgel fell upon his knees, as likewise did Simon, and both in
+a snuffling voice render thanks to Heaven in words which I do not think
+it proper to write here. Then, being done, they get up, and the steward,
+having dried his eyes, says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"So far our prayers have been answered. Put me in mind, friend Peter,
+that to-night we pray these worthy men prosper in their design."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If they succeed," says Don Sanchez, "it will cost your mistress
+five-and-thirty thousand pounds."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The steward clutched at the table as if at the fortune about to turn
+from him; his jaw fell, and he stared at Don Sanchez in bewilderment,
+then getting the face to speak, he gasps out, "Thirty-five thousand
+pounds!" and still in a maze asks: "Art thou in thy right senses,
+friend?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Don hunches his shoulders and turns to me. Whereupon I lay forth in
+pretty much the same words as Mr. Hopkins used, the risk of the venture,
+etc., to all which this Simon listened with starting eyes and gaping
+mouth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thirty-five thousand pounds!" he says again; "why, friend, 'tis half of
+all I have made of the estate by a life of thrift and care and earnest
+seeking."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis in your power, Simon," says Don Sanchez, "to spare your mistress
+this terrible charge, for which your fine park must be felled, your
+farms cut up, and your economies be scattered. The master here will
+fetch your mistress home for fifteen hundred pounds."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, even that is an extortion."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay," says Jack, "if you think fifteen hundred pounds too much for my
+carcase and a ship of twenty men, you may seek a cheaper market and
+welcome, for I've no stomach to risk my life and property for less."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"To the fifteen hundred pounds you must add the ransom of two thousand
+pounds. Thus Mrs. Godwin and her daughter may be redeemed for
+thirty-five hundred pounds to her saving of thirty-one thousand five
+hundred pounds," says the Don.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And here Dawson and I were secretly struck by his honesty in not seeking
+to affright the steward from an honest course, but rather tempting him
+to it by playing upon his parsimony and avarice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Three thousand five hundred," says Simon, putting it down in writing,
+that he might the better realise his position. "But you say, friend
+merchant, that the risk is as ten to one against seeing thy money
+again."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I will run the risk for thirty-one thousand pounds, and no less," says
+I.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But if it may be done for a tenth part, how then?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, 'tis your risk, sir, and not mine," says I.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yea, yea, my risk. And you tell me, friend sailor, that you stand in
+danger of being plundered by these infidels."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, more like than not."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, then we may count half the estate gone; and the peril is to be run
+again, and thus all cast away for nought."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this manner did Simon halt betwixt two ways like one distracted, but
+only he did mingle a mass of sacred words with his arguments which
+seemed to me nought but profanity, his sole concern being the gain of
+money. Then he falls to the old excuses Don Sanchez had told us of,
+saying he had no money of his own, and offering to show his books that
+we might see he had taken not one penny beyond his bare expenses from
+the estate, save his yearly wage, and that no more than Sir Richard had
+given him in his lifetime. And on Don Sanchez showing Mrs. Godwin's
+letter as a fitting authority to draw out this money for her use, he
+first feigns to doubt her hand, and then says he: "If an accident
+befalls these two women ere they return to justify me, how shall I
+answer to the next heir for this outlay? Verily" (clasping his hands) "I
+am as one standing in darkness, and I dare not move until I am better
+enlightened; so prithee, friend, give me time to commune with my
+conscience."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Don Sanchez hunches up his shoulders and turns to us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, look here, Master," says Dawson. "I can't see as you need much
+enlightenment to answer yes or no to a fair offer, and as for me, I'm
+not going to hang in a hedge for a blue moon. So if you won't clap hands
+on the bargain without more ado, I throw this business overboard and
+shall count I've done the best day's work of my life in getting out of
+the affair."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then I made as if I would willingly draw out of my share in the project.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My friends," says Simon, "there can be scarce any hope at all if thou
+wilt not hazard thy money for such a prodigious advantage." Then turning
+to Peter as his last hope, he asks in despair, "What shall we do, my
+brother?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We can keep on a-praying, friend Simon," replies Peter, in a snivelling
+voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A blessed thought!" exclaims the steward in glee. "Surely that is more
+righteous than to lay faith in our own vain effort. So do thou, friend"
+(turning to me), "put thy money to this use, for I will none."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I cannot do that, sir," says I, "without an assurance that Mrs.
+Godwin's estate will bear this charge."
+
+With wondrous alacrity Simon fetches a book with a plan of the estate,
+whereby he showed us that not a holding on the estate was untenanted,
+not a single tenant in arrear with his rent, and that the value of the
+property with all deductions made was sixty-five thousand pounds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Very good sir," says I. "Now you must give me a written note, stating
+what you have shown, with your sanction to my making this venture on
+Mrs. Godwin's behalf, that I may justify my claim hereafter."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But this Simon stoutly refused to do, saying his conscience would not
+allow him to sign any bond (clearly with the hope that he might in the
+end shuffle out of paying anything at all), until Don Sanchez, losing
+patience, declared he would certainly hunt all London through to find
+that Mr. Richard Godwin, who was the next of kin, hinting that he would
+certainly give us such sanction as we required if only to prove his
+right to the succession should our venture fail.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This put the steward to a new taking; but the Don holding firm, he at
+length agreed to give us this note, upon Don Sanchez writing another
+affirming that he had seen Mrs. Godwin and her daughter in Barbary, and
+was going forth to fetch them, that should Mr. Richard Godwin come to
+claim the estate he might be justly put off.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And so this business ended to our great satisfaction, we saying to
+ourselves that we had done all that man could to redeem the captives,
+and that it would be no harm at all to put a cheat upon the miserly
+steward. Whether we were any way more honest than he in shaping our
+conduct according to our inclinations is a question which troubled us
+then very little.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER VI.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Moll is cast to play the part of a fine lady; doubtful promise for this
+undertaking.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On our way back to Greenwich we stayed at an inn by the road to refresh
+ourselves, and there, having a snug parlour to ourselves, and being
+seated about a fine cheese with each a full measure of ale, Don Sanchez
+asks us if we are satisfied with our undertaking.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, that we are," replies Dawson, mightily pleased as usual to be
+a-feasting. "We desire nothing better than to serve your honour
+faithfully in all ways, and are ready to put our hands to any bond you
+may choose to draw up."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Can you show me the man," asks the Don, lifting his eyebrows
+contemptuously, "who ever kept a treaty he was minded to break? Men are
+honest enough when nought's to be gained by breaking faith. Are you both
+agreed to this course?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, Seņor," says I, "and my only compunction now is that I can do so
+little to forward this business."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, so far as I can see into it," says Dawson, "one of us must be cast
+for old Mrs. Godwin, if Moll is to be her daughter, and you're fitter to
+play the part than I, for I take it this old gentlewoman should be of a
+more delicate, sickly composition than mine."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We will suppose that Mrs. Godwin is dead," says the Don, gravely.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, to be sure; that simplifies the thing mightily. But pray, Seņor,
+what parts are we to play?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The parts you have played to-day. You go with me to fetch Judith Godwin
+from Barbary."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"This hangs together and ought to play well; eh, Kit?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I asked Don Sanchez how long, in the ordinary course of things an
+expedition of this kind would take.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That depends upon accidents of many kinds," answers he. "We may very
+well stretch it out best part of a year."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A year," says Jack, scratching his ear ruefully, for I believe he had
+counted upon coming to live like a lord in a few weeks. "And what on
+earth are we to do in the meanwhile?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Teach Moll," answers the Don.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"She can read anything print or scrip," says Jack, proudly, "and write
+her own name."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Judith Godwin," says the Don, reflectively, "lived two years in Italy.
+She would certainly remember some words of Italian. Consider this: it is
+not sufficient merely to obtain possession of the Godwin estate; it must
+be held against the jealous opposition of that shrewd steward and of the
+presumptive heir, Mr. Richard Godwin, who may come forward at any time."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You're in the right, Seņor. Well, there's Kit knows the language and
+can teach her a smattering of the Italian, I warrant, in no time."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Judith would probably know something of music," pursues the Don.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, Moll can play Kit's fiddle as well as he."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But, above all," continues the Don, as taking no heed of this tribute
+to Moll's abilities, "Judith Godwin must be able to read and write the
+Moorish character and speak the tongue readily, answer aptly as to their
+ways and habits, and to do these things beyond suspect. Moll must live
+with these people for some months."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God have mercy on us!" cries Jack. "Your honour is not for taking us to
+Barbary."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No," answers the Don, dryly, passing his long fingers with some
+significance over the many seams in his long face, "but we must go where
+the Moors are to be found, on the hither side of the straits."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well," says Dawson, "all's as one whither we go in safety if we're to
+be out of our fortune for a year. There's nothing more for our Moll to
+learn, I suppose, seņor."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It will not be amiss to teach her the manners of a lady," replies the
+Don, rising and knitting his brows together unpleasantly, "and
+especially to keep her feet under her chair at table."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With this he rings the bell for our reckoning, and so ends our
+discussion, neither Dawson nor I having a word to say in answer to this
+last hit, which showed us pretty plainly that in reaching round with her
+long leg for our shins, Moll had caught the Don's shanks a kick that
+night she was seized with a cough.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So to horse again and a long jog back to Greenwich, where Dawson and I
+would fain have rested the night (being unused to the saddle and very
+raw with our journey), but the Don would not for prudence, and
+therefore, after changing our clothes, we make a shift to mount once
+more, and thence another long horrid jolt to Edmonton very painfully.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Coming to the Bell (more dead than alive) about eight, and pitch dark,
+we were greatly surprised that we could make no one hear to take our
+horses, and further, having turned the brutes into the stable ourselves,
+to find never a soul in the common room or parlour, so that the place
+seemed quite forsaken. But hearing a loud guffaw of laughter from below,
+we go downstairs to the kitchen, which we could scarce enter for the
+crowd in the doorway. And here all darkness, save for a sheet hung at
+the further end, and lit from behind, on which a kind of phantasmagory
+play of Jack and the Giant was being acted by shadow characters cut out
+of paper, the performer being hid by a board that served as a stage for
+the puppets. And who should this performer be but our Moll, as we knew
+by her voice, and most admirably she did it, setting all in a roar one
+minute with some merry joke, and enchanting 'em the next with a pretty
+song for the maid in distress.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We learnt afterwards that Moll, who could never rest still two minutes
+together, but must for ever be a-doing something new, had cut out her
+images and devised the show to entertain the servants in the kitchen,
+and that the guests above hearing their merriment had come down in time
+to get the fag end, which pleased them so vastly that they would have
+her play it all over again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"This may undo us," says Don Sanchez, in a low voice of displeasure,
+drawing us away. "Here are a dozen visitors who will presently be
+examining Moll as a marvel. Who can say but that one of them may know
+her again hereafter to our confusion? We must be seen together no more
+than is necessary, until we are out of this country. I shall leave here
+in the morning, and you will meet me next at the Turk, in Gracious
+Street, to-morrow afternoon." Therewith he goes up to his room, leaving
+us to shift for ourselves; and we into the parlour to warm our feet at
+the fire till we may be served with some victuals, both very silent and
+surly, being still sore, and as tired as any dogs with our day's
+jolting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While we are in this mood, Moll, having finished her play, comes to us
+in amazing high spirits, and all aglow with pleasure shows us a handful
+of silver given her by the gentry; then, pulling up a chair betwixt us,
+she asks us a dozen questions of a string as to where we have been, what
+we have done, etc., since we left her. Getting no answer, she presently
+stops, looks first at one, then at the other, and bursting into a fit of
+laughter, cries: "Why, what ails you both to be so grumpy?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"In the first place, Moll," says Jack, "I'll have you to know that I am
+your father, and will not be spoken to save with becoming respect."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, I did but ask you where you have been."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Children of your age should not ask questions, but do as they're bid,
+and there's an end of it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"La, I'm not to ask any questions. Is there nothing else I am not to
+do?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes; I'll not have you playing of Galimaufray to cook wenches and such
+stuff. I'll have you behave with more decency. Take your feet off the
+hearth, and put 'em under your chair. Let me have no more of these
+galanty-shows. Why, 'twill be said I cannot give you a basin of
+porridge, that you must go a-begging of sixpences like this!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh, if you begrudge me a little pocket-money," cries she, springing up
+with the tears in her eyes, "I'll have none of it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And with that she empties her pocket on the chair, and out roll her
+sixpences together with a couple of silver spoons.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What," cries Jack, after glancing round to see we were alone. "You have
+filched a couple of spoons, Moll?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And why not?" asks she, her little nose turning quite white with
+passion. "If I am to ask no questions, how shall I know but we may have
+never a spoon to-morrow for your precious basin of porridge?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER VII.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Of our journey through France to a very horrid pass in the Pyraneans.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Skipping over many unimportant particulars of our leaving Edmonton, of
+our finding Don Sanchez at the Turk in Gracious Street, of our going
+thence (the next day) to Gravesend, of our preparation there for voyage,
+I come now to our embarking, the 10th March, in the Rose, for Bordeaux
+in France. Nor shall I dwell long on that journey, neither, which was
+exceedingly long and painful, by reason of our nearing the equinoctials,
+which dashed us from our course to that degree that it was the 26th
+before we reached our port and cast anchor in still water. And all those
+days we were prostrated with sickness, and especially Jack Dawson,
+because of his full habit, so that he declared he would rather ride
+a-horseback to the end of the earth than go another mile on sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We stayed in Bordeaux, which is a noble town, but dirty, four days to
+refresh ourselves, and here the Don lodged us in a fine inn and fed us
+on the best; and also he made us buy new clothes and linen (which we
+sadly needed after the pickle we had lain in a fortnight) and cast away
+our old; but no more than was necessary, saying 'twould be better to
+furnish ourselves with fresh linen as we needed it, than carry baggage,
+etc. "And let all you buy be good goods," says he, "for in this country
+a man is valued at what he seems, and the innkeepers do go in such fear
+of their seigneurs that they will charge him less for entertainment than
+if he were a mean fellow who could ill afford to pay."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So not to displease him we dressed ourselves in the French fashion, more
+richly than ever we had been clad in our lives, and especially Moll did
+profit by this occasion to furnish herself like any duchess; so that
+Dawson and I drew lots to decide which of us should present the bill to
+Don Sanchez, thinking he would certainly take exception to our
+extravagance; but he did not so much as raise his eyebrows at the total,
+but paid it without ever a glance at the items. Nay, when Moll presents
+herself in her new equipment, he makes her a low reverence and pays her
+a most handsome compliment, but in his serious humour and without a
+smile. He himself wore a new suit all of black, not so fine as ours, but
+very noble and becoming, by reason of his easy, graceful manner and his
+majestic, high carriage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the last day of March we set forth for Toulouse. At our starting Don
+Sanchez bade Moll ride by his side, and so we, not being bid, fell
+behind; and, feeling awkward in our new clothes, we might very well have
+been taken for their servants, or a pair of ill-bred friends at the
+best, for our Moll carried herself not a whit less magnificent than the
+Don, to the admiration of all who looked at her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To see these grand airs of hers charmed Jack Dawson.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You see, Kit," whispers he, "what an apt scholar the minx is, and what
+an obedient, dutiful, good girl. One word from me is as good as six
+months' schooling, for all this comes of that lecture I gave her the
+last night we were at Edmonton."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I would not deny him the satisfaction of this belief, but I felt pretty
+sure that had she been riding betwixt us in her old gown, instead of
+beside the Don as his daughter, all her father's preaching would not
+have stayed her from behaving herself like an orange wench.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We journey by easy stages ten days through Toulouse, on the road to
+Perpignan, and being favoured with remarkably fine weather, a blue sky,
+and a bright sun above us, and at every turn something strange or
+beautiful to admire, no pleasure jaunt in the world could have been more
+delightful. At every inn (which here they call hotels) we found good
+beds, good food, excellent wine, and were treated like princes, so that
+Dawson and I would gladly have given up our promise of a fortune to have
+lived in this manner to the end of our days. But Don Sanchez professed
+to hold all on this side of the Pyrenese Mountains in great contempt,
+saying these hotels were as nothing to the Spanish posadas, that the
+people here would rob you if they dared, whereas, on t'other side, not a
+Spaniard would take so much as the hair of your horse's tail, though he
+were at the last extremity, that the food was not fit for aught but a
+Frenchman, and so forth. And our Moll, catching this humour, did also
+turn up her nose at everything she was offered, and would send away a
+bottle of wine from the table because 'twas not ripe enough, though but
+a few weeks before she had been drinking penny ale with a relish, and
+that as sour as verjuice. And, indeed, she did carry it mighty high and
+artificial, wherever respect and humility were to be commanded. But it
+was pretty to see how she would unbend and become her natural self where
+her heart was touched by some tender sentiment. How she would empty her
+pockets to give to any one with a piteous tale, how she would get from
+her horse to pluck wild-flowers by the roadside, and how, one day,
+overtaking a poor woman carrying a child painfully on her back, she must
+have the little one up on her lap and carry it till we reached the
+hamlet where the woman lived, etc. On the fifteenth day we stayed at St.
+Denys, and going thence the next morning, had travelled but a couple of
+hours when we were caught in a violent storm of hailstones as big as
+peas, that was swept with incredible force by a wind rushing through a
+deep ravine in the mountains, so that 'twas as much as we could make
+headway through it and gain a village which lay but a little distance
+from us. And here we were forced to stay all day by another storm of
+rain, that followed the hail and continued till nightfall. Many others
+besides ourselves were compelled to seek refuge at our inn, and amongst
+them a company of Spanish muleteers, for it seems we were come to a pass
+leading through the mountains into Spain. These were the first Spaniards
+we had yet seen (save the Don), and for all we had heard to their
+credit, we could not admire them greatly, being a low-browed,
+coarse-featured, ragged crew, and more picturesque than cleanly, besides
+stinking intolerably of garlic. By nightfall there was more company than
+the inn could accommodate; nevertheless, in respect to our quality, we
+were given the best rooms in the house to ourselves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About eight o'clock, as we were about to sit down to supper, our
+innkeeper's wife comes in to tell us that a Spanish grandee is below,
+who has been travelling for hours in the storm, and then she asked very
+humbly if our excellencies will permit her to lay him a bed in our room
+when we have done with it, as she can bestow him nowhere else (the
+muleteers filling her house to the very cock loft), and has not the
+heart to send him on to St. Denys in this pitiless driving rain. To this
+Don Sanchez replies, that a Spanish gentleman is welcome to all we can
+offer him, and therewith sends down a mighty civil message, begging his
+company at our table.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moll has just time to whip on a piece of finery, and we to put on our
+best manners, when the landlady returns, followed by a stout, robust
+Spaniard, in an old coat several times too small for him, whom she
+introduced as Seņor Don Lopez de Calvados.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Don Lopez makes us a reverence, and then, with his shoulders up to his
+ears and like gestures, gives us an harangue at some length, but this
+being in Spanish, is as heathen Greek to our ears. However, Don Sanchez
+explains that our visitor is excusing his appearance as being forced to
+change his wet clothes for what the innkeeper can lend him, and so we,
+grinning to express our amiability, all sit down to table and set
+to--Moll with her most finicking, delicate airs and graces, and Dawson
+and I silent as frogs, with understanding nothing of the Dons'
+conversation. This, we learn from Don Sanchez after supper, has turned
+chiefly on the best means of crossing into Spain, from which it appears
+there are two passes through the mountains, both leading to the same
+town, but one more circuitous than the other. Don Lopez has come by the
+latter, because the former is used by the muleteers, who are not always
+the most pleasant companions one can have in a dangerous road; and for
+this reason he recommends us to take his way, especially as we have a
+young lady with us, which will be the more practicable, as the same
+guides who conducted him will be only too glad to serve us on their
+return the next morning. To this proposition we very readily agree, and
+supper being ended, Don Sanchez sends for the guides, two hardy
+mountaineers, who very readily agree to take us this way the next
+morning, if the weather permits. And so we all, wishing Don Lopez a
+good-night, to our several chambers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I was awoke in the middle of the night, as it seemed to me, by a great
+commotion below of Spanish shouting and roaring with much jingling of
+bells; and looking out of window I perceived lanterns hanging here and
+there in the courtyard, and the muleteers packing their goods to depart,
+with a fine clear sky full of stars overhead. And scarce had I turned
+into my warm bed again, thanking God I was no muleteer, when in comes
+the Don with a candle, to say the guide will have us moving at once if
+we would reach Ravellos (our Spanish town) before night. So I to
+Dawson's chamber, and he to Moll's, and in a little while we all
+shivering down to the great kitchen, where is never a muleteer left, but
+only a great stench of garlic, to eat a mess of soup, very hot and
+comforting. And after that out into the dark (there being as yet but a
+faint flush of green and primrose colour over towards the east), where
+four fresh mules (which Don Sanchez overnight had bargained to exchange
+against our horses, as being the only kind of cattle fit for this
+service) are waiting for us with other two mules, belonging to our
+guides, all very curiously trapped out with a network of wool and little
+jingling bells. Then when Don Sanchez had solemnly debated whether we
+should not awake Don Lopez to say farewell, and we had persuaded him
+that it would be kinder to let him sleep on, we mounted into our high,
+fantastic saddles, and set out towards the mountains, our guides
+leading, and we following close upon their heels as our mules could get,
+but by no guidance of ours, though we held the reins, for these
+creatures are very sagacious and so pertinacious and opiniastre that I
+believe though you pulled their heads off they would yet go their own
+way.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Our road at first lay across a rising plain, very wild and scrubby, as I
+imagine, by the frequent deviations of our beast, and then through a
+forest of cork oaks, which keep their leaves all the year through, and
+here, by reason of the great shade, we went, not knowing whither, as if
+blindfold, only we were conscious of being on rough, rising ground, by
+the jolting of our mules and the clatter of their hoofs upon stones; but
+after a wearisome, long spell of this business, the trees growing more
+scattered and a thin grey light creeping through, we could make out that
+we were all together, which was some comfort. From these oaks, we passed
+into a wood of chestnuts, and still going up and up, but by such
+devious, unseen ways, that I think no man, stranger to these parts,
+could pick it out for himself in broad daylight, we came thence into a
+great stretch of pine trees, with great rocks scattered amongst them, as
+if some mountain had been blown up and fallen in a huge shower of
+fragments.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And so, still for ever toiling and scambling upwards, we found ourselves
+about seven o'clock, as I should judge by the light beyond the trees and
+upon the side of the mountain, with the whole champaign laid out like a
+carpet under us on one side, prodigious slopes of rock on either hand,
+with only a shrub or a twisted fir here and there, and on the further
+side a horrid stark ravine with a cascade of water thundering down in
+its midst, and a peak rising beyond, covered with snow, which glittered
+in the sunlight like a monstrous heap of white salt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After resting at this point half an hour to breathe our mules, the
+guides got into their saddles, and we did likewise, and so on again
+along the side of the ravine, only not of a cluster as heretofore, but
+one behind the other in a long line, the mules falling into this order
+of themselves as if they had travelled the path an hundred times; but
+there was no means of going otherwise, the path being atrociously narrow
+and steep, and only fit for wild goats, there being no landrail, coping,
+or anything in the world to stay one from being hurled down a thousand
+feet, and the mountain sides so inclined that 'twas a miracle the mules
+could find foothold and keep their balance. From the bottom of the
+ravine came a constant roar of falling water, though we could spy it
+only now and then leaping down from one chasm to another; and more than
+once our guides would cry to us to stop (and that where our mules had to
+keep shifting their feet to get a hold) while some huge boulder,
+loosened by the night's rain, flew down across our path in terrific
+bounds from the heights above, making the very mountain tremble with the
+shock. Not a word spoke we; nay, we had scarce courage at times to draw
+breath, for two hours and more of this fearful passage, with no
+encouragement from our guides save that one of them did coolly take out
+a knife and peel an onion as though he had been on a level, broad road;
+and then, reaching a flat space, we came to a stand again before an
+ascent that promised to be worse than that we had done. Here we got
+down, Moll clinging to our hands and looking around her with large,
+frighted eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Shall we soon be there?" she asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And the Don, putting this question in Spanish to the guides, they
+pointed upwards to a gap filled with snow, and answered that was the
+highest point. This was some consolation, though we could not regard the
+rugged way that lay betwixt us and that without quaking. Indeed, I
+thought that even Don Sanchez, despite the calm, unmoved countenance he
+ever kept, did look about him with a certain kind of uneasiness.
+However, taking example from our guides, we unloosed our saddle bags,
+and laid out our store of victuals with a hogskin of wine which
+rekindled our spirits prodigiously.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While we were at this repast, our guides, starting as if they had caught
+a sound (though we heard none save the horrid bursting of water), looked
+down, and one of them, clapping two dirty fingers in his mouth, made a
+shrill whistle. Then we, looking down, presently spied two mules far
+below on the path we had come, but at such a distance that we could
+scarce make out whether they were mounted or not.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Who are they?" asks Don Sanchez, sternly, as I managed to understand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Friends," replies one of the fellows, with a grin that seemed to lay
+his face in two halves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER VIII.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>How we were entertained in the mountains, and stand in a fair way to
+have our throats cut.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We will go on when you are ready," says Don Sanchez, turning to us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye," growled Jack in my ear, "with all my heart. For if these friends
+be of the same kidney as Don Lopez, we may be persuaded to take a better
+road, which God forbid if this be a sample of their preference."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So being in our saddles forth we set once more and on a path no easier
+than before, but worse--like a very housetop for steepness, without a
+tinge of any living thing for succour if one fell, but only sharp,
+jagged rocks, and that which now added to our peril was here and there a
+patch of snow, so that the mules must cock their ears and feel their way
+before advancing a step, now halting for dread, and now scuttling on
+with their tails betwixt their legs as the stones rolled under them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the longest road hath an end, and so at length reaching that gap we
+had seen from below, to our great content we beheld through an angle in
+the mountain a tract of open country below, looking mighty green and
+sweet in the distance. And at the sight of this, Moll clapt her hands
+and cried out with joy; indeed, we were all as mad as children with the
+thought that our task was half done. Only the Don kept his gravity. But
+turning to Moll, he stretches out his hand towards the plain and says
+with prodigious pride, "My country!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now we began the descent, which was actually more perilous than the
+ascent, but we made light of it, being very much enlivened by the high
+mountain air and the relief from dread uncertainty, shouting out our
+reflections one to another as we jolted down the rugged path.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"After all, Jack," says I to him at the top of my voice, being in
+advance and next to Don Sanchez; "after all, Don Lopez was not such a
+bad friend to us."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon which, the Don, stopping his mule at the risk of being cast down
+the abyss, turns in his saddle, and says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Fellow, Don Lopez is a Spaniard. A Castilian of noble birth--" but here
+his mule deciding that this was no fit place for halting, bundled onward
+at a trot to overtake the guides, and obliged his rider to turn his
+attention to other matters.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By the look of the sun it must have been about two in the afternoon
+when, rounding a great bluff of rock, we came upon a kind of tableland
+which commanded a wide view of the plain below, most dazzling to our
+eyes after the gloomy recesses of the pass; and here we found trees
+growing and some rude attempt at cultivation, but all very poor and
+stunted, being still very high and exposed to the bleak winds issuing
+from the gorges.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Our guides, throwing themselves on the ground, repaired once more to
+their store of onions, and we, nothing loath to follow their examples,
+opened our saddle bags, and with our cold meat and the hogskin of wine
+made another good repast and very merry. And the Don, falling into
+discourse with the guides, pointed out to us a little white patch on the
+plain below, and told us that was Ravellos, where we should find one of
+the best posadas in the world, which added to our satisfaction. "But"
+says he, "'tis yet four hours' march ere we reach it, so we had best be
+packing quickly."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thereupon we finished our meal in haste, the guides still lying on the
+ground eating onions, and when we were prepared to start they still lay
+there and would not budge. On this ensued another discussion, very
+indignant and passionate on the part of Don Sanchez, and as cool and
+phlegmatic on the side of the guides, the upshot of which was, as we
+learned from Don, that these rascals maintained they had fulfilled their
+bargain in bringing us over into Spain, but as to carrying us to
+Ravellos they would by no means do that without the permission of their
+zefe, who was one of those they had whistled to from our last halting
+place, and whom they were now staying for.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, beginning to quake a bit at the strangeness of this treatment, we
+looked about us to see if we might venture to continue our journey
+alone. But Lord! one might as easily have found a needle in a bundle of
+hay as a path amidst this labyrinth of rocks and horrid fissures that
+environed us; and this was so obvious that the guides, though not yet
+paid for their service, made no attempt to follow or to stay us, as
+knowing full well we must come back in despair. So there was no choice
+but to wait the coming up of the zefe, the Don standing with his legs
+astride and his arms folded, with a very storm of passion in his face,
+in readiness to confront the tardy zefe with his reproaches for this
+delay and the affront offered to himself, we casting our eye longingly
+down at Ravellos, and the guides silently munching their onions. Thus we
+waited until the fine ear of our guides catching a sound, they rose to
+their feet muttering the word "zefe," and pull off their hats as two men
+mounted on mules tricked out like our own, came round the corner and
+pulled up before us. But what was our surprise to see that the foremost
+of these fellows was none other than the Don Lopez de Calvados we had
+entertained to supper the night before, and of whose noble family Don
+Sanchez had been prating so highly, and not a thread better dressed than
+when we saw him last, and full as dirty. That which gave us most
+uneasiness, however, was to observe that each of these "friends" carried
+an ugly kind of musket slung across his back, and a most unpleasant long
+sheath knife in his waist cloth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not a word says our Don Sanchez, but feigning still to believe him a man
+of quality, he returns the other Don's salutation with all the ceremony
+possible. Then Don Lopez, smiling from ear to ear, begs us (as I learnt
+afterwards) to pardon him for keeping us waiting, which had not
+happened, he assures us, if we had not suffered him to oversleep
+himself. He then informs us that we are now upon his domain, and begs us
+to accept such hospitality as his Castillo will furnish, in return for
+our entertainment of last night. To this Don Sanchez replies with a
+thousand thanks that we are anxious to reach Ravellos before nightfall,
+and that, therefore, we will be going at once if it is all the same to
+him. With more bowing and scraping Don Lopez amiably but firmly declines
+to accept any refusal of his offer or to talk of business before his
+debt of gratitude is paid. With that he gives a sign to our guides, who
+at once lead off our mules at a brisk trot, leaving us to follow on foot
+with Don Lopez and his companion, whom he introduces as Don Ruiz del
+Puerto,--as arrant a cut-throat rascal to look at as ever I clapt eyes
+on.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we with very dismal forebodings trudge on, having no other course to
+take, Don Sanchez, to make the best of it, warranting that no harm shall
+come to us while we are under the hospitable protection of a Spaniard,
+but to no great effect--our faith being already shaken in his valuation
+of Spaniards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quitting the tableland, ten minutes of leaping and scrambling brought us
+to a collection of miserable huts built all higgledy-piggledy along the
+edge of a torrent, overtopped by a square building of more consequence,
+built of grey stone and roofed with slate shingles, but with nothing but
+ill-shaped holes for windows; and this, Don Lopez with some pride told
+us was his castillo. A ragged crew of women and children, apprised of
+our coming by the guide, maybe, trooped out of the village to meet us
+and hailed our approach with shouts of joy, "for all the world like a
+pack of hounds at the sight of their keeper with a dish of bones,"
+whispers Jack Dawson in my ear ominously. But it was curious to see how
+they did all fall back in two lines, those that had hats taking them off
+as Don Lopez passed, he bowing to them right and left, like any prince
+in his progress.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we up to the castillo, where all the men of the village are assembled
+and all armed like Don Lopez, and they greet us with cries of "Hola!"
+and throwing up of hats. They making way for us with salutations on both
+sides, we enter the castillo, where we find one great ill-paved room
+with a step-ladder on one side leading to the floor above, but no
+furniture save a table and some benches of wood, all black and shining
+with grease and dirt. But indeed the walls, the ceiling, and all else
+about us was beyond everything for blackness, and this was easily to be
+understood, for a wench coming in with a cauldron lights a faggot of
+wood in a corner, where was no chimney to carry off the smoke, but only
+a hole in the wall with a kind of eaves over it, so that presently the
+place was so filled with the fumes 'twas difficult to see across it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Don Lopez (always as gracious as a cat with a milkmaid) asks Moll
+through Don Sanchez if she would like to make her toilette, while dinner
+is preparing, and at this offer all of us jump--choosing anything for a
+change; so he takes us up the step-ladder to the floor above, which
+differs from that below in being cut up into half a dozen pieces by some
+low partition of planks nailed loosely together like cribs for cattle,
+with some litter of dry leaves and hay in each, but in other respects
+being just as naked and grimy, with a cloud of smoke coming up through
+the chinks in the floor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You will have the sole use of these chambers during your stay," says
+Don Lopez, "and for your better assurance you can draw the ladder up
+after you on retiring for the night."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But for the gravity of our situation and prospects I could have burst
+out laughing when Don Sanchez gave us the translation of this promise,
+for the idea of regarding these pens as chambers was not less ludicrous
+than the air of pride with which Don Lopez bestowed the privilege of
+using 'em upon us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Don Lopez left us, promising to send a maid with the necessary
+appointments for Moll's toilette.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A plague of all this finery!" growled Dawson. "How long may it be,
+think you, Seņor, ere we can quit this palace and get to one of those
+posadas you promised us?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Don Sanchez hunched his shoulders for all reply and turned away to hide
+his mortification. And now a girl comes up with a biggin of water on her
+head, a broken comb in her hand, and a ragged cloth on her arm that
+looked as if it had never been washed since it left the loom, and sets
+them down on a bench, with a grin at Moll; but she, though not
+over-nice, turns away with a pout of disgust, and then we to get a
+breath of fresh air to a hole in the wall on the windward side, where we
+stand all dumb with disappointment and dread until we are called down to
+dinner. But before going down Don Sanchez warns us to stand on our best
+behaviour, as these Spaniards, for all their rude seeming, were of a
+particularly punctilious, ticklish disposition, and that we might come
+badly out of this business if we happened to displease them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I cannot see reason in that, Seņor," says Dawson; "for the less we
+please 'em, the sooner they are likely to send us hence, and so the
+better for us."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"As you please," replies the Don, "but my warning is to your advantage."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Down we go, and there stands Don Lopez with a dozen choice friends, all
+the raggedest, dirty villains in the world; and they saluting us, we
+return their civility with a very fair pretence and take the seats
+offered us--they standing until we are set. Then they sit down, and each
+man lugs out a knife from his waist-cloth. The cauldron, filled with a
+mess of kid stewed in a multitude of onions, is fetched from the fire,
+and, being set upon a smooth board, is slid down the table to our host,
+who, after picking out some titbits for us, serves himself, and so
+slides it back, each man in turn picking out a morsel on the end of his
+knife. Bearing in mind Don Sanchez's warning, we do our best to eat of
+this dish; but, Heaven knows! with little relish, and mighty glad when
+the cauldron is empty and that part of the performance ended. Then the
+bones being swept from the table, a huge skin of wine is set before Don
+Lopez, and he serves us each with about a quart in an odd-shaped vessel
+with a spout, which Don Sanchez and his countrymen use by holding it
+above their heads and letting the wine spurt into their mouths; but we,
+being unused to this fashion, preferred rather to suck it out of the
+spout, which seemed to them as odd a mode as theirs was to us. However,
+better wine, drink it how you may, there is none than the wine of these
+parts, and this reconciling us considerably to our condition, we
+listened with content to their singing of ditties, which they did very
+well for such rude fellows, to the music of a guitar and a tambourine.
+And so when our pots came to be replenished a second time, we were all
+mighty merry and agreeable save Jack Dawson, who never could take his
+liquor like any other man, but must fall into some extravagant humour,
+and he, I perceived, regarded some of the company with a very sour,
+jealous eye because, being warmed with drink, they fell to casting
+glances at Moll with a certain degree of familiarity. Especially there
+was one fellow with a hook nose, who stirred his bile exceedingly,
+sitting with his elbows on the table and his jaws in his hands, and
+would scarcely shift his eyes from Moll. And since he could not make his
+displeasure understood in words, and so give vent to it and be done,
+Jack sat there in sullen silence watching for an opportunity to show his
+resentment in some other fashion. The other saw this well enough, but
+would not desist, and so these two sat fronting each other like two dogs
+ready to fly at each other's throats. At length, the hook-nosed rascal,
+growing bolder with his liquor, rises as if to reach for his wine pot,
+and stretching across the table, chucks Moll under the chin with his
+grimy fingers. At this Jack flinging out his great fist with all the
+force of contained passion, catches the other right in the middle of the
+face, with such effect that the fellow flies clean back over his bench,
+his head striking the pavement with a crash. Then, in an instant, all
+his fellows spring to their feet, and a dozen long knives flash out from
+their sheaths.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER IX.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Of the manner in which we escaped pretty fairly out of the hands of
+Seņor Don Lopez and his brigands.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Up starts Jack Dawson, catching Moll by the arm and his joint stool by
+the leg, and stepping back a pace or two not to be taken in the flank,
+he swings his stool ready to dash the brains out of the first that nears
+him. And I do likewise, making the same show of valour with my stool,
+but cutting a poor figure beside Dawson's mighty presence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Seeing their fellow laid out for dead on the floor, with his hook nose
+smashed most horridly into his face, the others had no stomach to meet
+the same fate, but with their Spanish cunning began to spread out that
+so they might attack us on all sides; and surely this had done our
+business but that Don Lopez, flinging himself before us with his knife
+raised high, cries out at the top of his voice, "Rekbah!"--a word of
+their own language, I am told, taken from the Moorish, and signifying
+that whosoever shall outrage the laws of hospitality under his roof
+shall be his enemy to the death. And at this word every man stood still
+as if by inchantment, and let fall his weapon. Then in the same high
+voice he gives them an harangue, showing them that Dawson was in the
+right to avenge an insult offered his daughter, and the other justly
+served for his offence to us. "For his offence to me as the host of
+these strangers," adds he, "Jose shall answer to me hereafter if he
+live; if he be dead, his body shall be flung to the vultures of the
+gorge, and his name be never uttered again beneath this roof."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I bear no grudges, not I," says Dawson, when Don Sanchez gave him the
+English of this. "If he live, let his nose be set; and if dead, let him
+be buried decently in a churchyard. But hark ye, Seņor, lest we fall out
+again and come out worse the next bout, do pray ask his worship if we
+may not be accommodated with a guide to take us on our way at once. We
+have yet two hours of daylight before us, there's not a cloud in the
+sky, and with such a moon as we had the night before last, we may get on
+well enough."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Poor Moll, who was all of a shake with the terror of another
+catastrophe, added her prayers to Dawson's, and Don Sanchez with a
+profusion of civilities laid the proposal before Don Lopez, who, though
+professing the utmost regret to lose us so soon, consented to gratify
+our wish, adding that his mules were so well accustomed to the road that
+they could make the journey as well in the dark as in broad day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, then," says Dawson, when this was told us, "let us settle the
+business at once, and be off."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now, when Don Sanchez proposed to pay for the service of our guides,
+it was curious to see how every rascal at the table craned forward to
+watch the upshot. Don Lopez makes a pretence of leaving the payment to
+Don Sanchez's generosity; and he, not behindhand in courtesy, lugs out
+his purse and begs the other to pay himself. Whereupon, with more
+apologies, Don Lopez empties the money on the table and carefully counts
+it, and there being but about a score of gold pieces and some silver, he
+shakes his head and says a few words to Don Sanchez in a very
+reproachful tone of remonstrance, to which our Don replies by turning
+all the trifles out of his pocket, one after the other, to prove that he
+has no money.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I thought as much," growls Jack in my ear. "A pretty nest of hornets
+we're fallen into."
+
+The company, seeing there was no more to be got out of Don Sanchez,
+began to murmur and cast their eyes at us; whereupon Dawson, seeing how
+the land lay, stands up and empties his pockets on the table, and I
+likewise; but betwixt us there was no more than some French pennies and
+a few odds and ends of no value at all. Fetching a deep sigh, Don Lopez
+takes all these possessions into a heap before him, and tells Don
+Sanchez that he cannot believe persons of our quality could travel with
+so little, that he feels convinced Don Sanchez must have dropped a purse
+on the way, and that until it is found he can on no account allow us to
+leave the neighbourhood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"This comes of being so mighty fine!" says Dawson, when Don Sanchez had
+explained matters. "Had we travelled as became our condition, this
+brigand would never have ensnared us hither. And if they won't believe
+your story, Seņor, I can't blame 'em; for I would have sworn you had a
+thousand pounds to your hand."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do you reproach me for my generosity?" asks the Don.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay, Master, I love you for being free with your money while you have
+it, but 'tis a queer kind of generosity to bring us into these parts
+with no means of taking us back again. Hows'ever, we'll say no more
+about that if we get out of this cursed smoke-hole; and as we are like
+to come off ill if these Jack-thieves keep us here a week or so and get
+nothing by it, 'twill be best to tell 'em the honest truth, and acquaint
+them that we are no gentle folk, but only three poor English mountebanks
+brought hither on a wild goose chase."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was a bitter pill for Don Sanchez to swallow; however, seeing no
+other cure for our ills, he gulped it down with the best face he could
+put on it. But from the mockery and laughter of all who heard him, 'twas
+plain to see they would not believe a word of his story.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What would you have me do now?" asks the Don, turning to us when the
+clamour had subsided, and he told us how he had tried to persuade them
+we were dancers he was taking for a show to the fair at Barcelona, which
+they, by our looks, would not believe, and especially that a man of such
+build as Jack Dawson could foot it, even to please such heavy people as
+the English.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What!" cries Jack. "I can't dance! We will pretty soon put them to
+another complexion if they do but give us space and a fair trial. You
+can strum a guitar, Kit, for I've heard you. And Moll, my chick, do you
+dash the tears from your cheek and pluck up courage to show these
+Portugals what an English lass can do."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The brigands agreeing to this trial, the table is shoved back to give us
+a space in the best light, and our judges seat themselves conveniently.
+Moll brushes her eyes (to a little murmur of sympathy, as I thought),
+and I, striking out the tune, Jack, with all the magnificence of a king,
+takes her hand and leads her out to a French pavan; and sure no one in
+the world ever stepped it more gracefully than our poor little Moll (now
+put upon her mettle), nor more lightly than Dawson, so that every rascal
+in our audience was won to admiration, clapping hands and shouting
+"Hola!" when it was done. And this warming us, we gave 'em next an
+Italian coranto, and after that, an English pillow dance; and, in good
+faith, had they all been our dearest friends, these dirty fellows could
+not have gone more mad with delight. And then Moll and her father
+sitting down to fetch their breath, a dispute arose among the brigands
+which we were at a loss to understand, until Don Sanchez explained that
+a certain number would have it we were real dancers, but that another
+party, with Don Lopez, maintained these were but court dances, which
+only proved the more we were of high quality to be thus accomplished.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We'll convince 'em yet, Moll, with a pox of their doubts," cries
+Dawson, starting to his feet again. "Tell 'em we will give 'em a stage
+dance of a nymph and a wild man, Seņor, with an excuse for our having no
+costume but this. Play us our pastoral, Kit. And sing you your ditty of
+'Broken Heart,' Moll, in the right place, that I may get my wind for the
+last caper."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moll nods, and with ready wit takes the ribbon from her head, letting
+her pretty hair tumble all about her shoulders, and then whipping up her
+long skirt, tucks one end under her girdle, thereby making a very dainty
+show of pink lining against the dark stuff, and also giving more play
+for her feet. And so thus they dance their pastoral, Don Sanchez taking
+a tambourine and tapping it lightly to the measure, up to Moll's song,
+which so ravished these hardy, stony men by the pathetic sweetness of
+her voice,--for they could understand nothing save by her
+expression,--that they would not let the dance go on until she had sung
+it through again. To conclude, Jack springs up as one enamoured to
+madness and flings out his last steps with such vigour and agility as to
+quite astound all.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="355.jpg"><img src="355th.jpg" alt="MOLL AND HER FATHER DANCE A PASTORAL."></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now the show being ended, and not one but is a-crying of "Hola!" and
+"Animo!" Moll snatches the tambourine from Don Sanchez's hand, and
+stepping before Don Lopez drops him a curtsey, and offers it for her
+reward. At this Don Lopez, glancing at the money on the table by his
+side, and looking round for sanction to his company (which they did give
+him without one voice of opposition), he takes up two of the gold pieces
+and drops them on the parchment. Thus did our Moll, by one clever hit,
+draw an acknowledgment from them that we were indeed no fine folks, but
+mere players, which point they might have stumbled over in their cooler
+moments.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But we were not quit yet; for on Don Sanchez's begging that we should
+now be set upon our road to Ravellos, the other replies that though he
+will do us this service with great pleasure, yet he cannot permit us to
+encounter the danger again of being taken for persons of quality. "Fine
+dress," says he, "may be necessary to the Seņor and his daughter for
+their court dances, and they are heartily welcome to them for the
+pleasure they have given us, but for you and the musician who plays but
+indifferent well, meaner garb is more suitable; and so you will be good
+enough to step upstairs, the pair of you, and change your clothing for
+such as we can furnish from our store."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And upstairs we were forced to go, Don Sanchez and I, and there being
+stripped we were given such dirty foul rags and so grotesque, that when
+we came down, Jack Dawson and Moll fell a-laughing at us, as though they
+would burst. And, in truth, we made a most ludicrous spectacle,
+--especially the Don, whom hitherto we had seen only in the
+neatest and most noble of clothes,--looking more like a couple of
+scarecrows than living men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Don Sanchez neither smiled nor frowned at this treatment, taking this
+misfortune with the resignation of a philosopher; only to quiet Dawson's
+merriment he told him that in the clothes taken from him was sewed up a
+bond for two hundred pounds, but whether this was true or not I cannot
+tell.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now, to bring an end to this adventure, we were taken down the
+intricate passes of the mountain in the moonlight, as many of the gang
+as could find mules coming with us for escort, and brought at last to
+the main road, where we were left with nought but what we stood in (save
+Moll's two pieces), the robbers bidding us their adios with all the
+courtesy imaginable. But even then, robbed of all he had even to the
+clothes of his back, Don Sanchez's pride was unshaken, for he bade us
+note that the very thieves in Spain were gentlemen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As we trudged along the road toward Ravellos, we fell debating on our
+case, as what we should do next, etc., Don Sanchez promising that we
+should have redress for our ill-treatment, that his name alone would
+procure us a supply of money for our requirements, etc., to my great
+content. But Dawson was of another mind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"As for seeking redress," says he, "I would as soon kick at a hive for
+being stung by a bee, and the wisest course when you've been once bit by
+a dog is to keep out of his way for the future. With respect of getting
+money by your honour's name, you may do as you please, and so may you,
+Kit, if you're so minded. But for my part, henceforth I'll pretend to be
+no better than I am, and the first suit of rags I can get will I wear in
+the fashion of this country. And so shall you, Moll, my dear; so make up
+your mind to lay aside your fine airs and hold up your nose no longer as
+if you were too good for your father."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, surely, Jack," says I, "you would not quit us and go from your
+bargain."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Not I, and you should know me well enough, Kit, to have no doubt on
+that score. But 'tis no part of our bargain that we should bustle
+anybody but Simon the steward."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We have four hundred miles to go ere we reach Elche," says Don Sanchez.
+"Can you tell me how we are to get there without money?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, that I can, and I warrant my plan as good as your honour's. How
+many tens are there in four hundred, Kit?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Forty."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, we can walk ten miles a day on level ground, and so may do this
+journey in six weeks or thereabouts, which is no such great matter,
+seeing we are not to be back in England afore next year. We can buy a
+guitar and a tabor out of Moll's pieces; with them we can give a show
+wherever we stay for the night, and if honest men do but pay us half as
+much as the thieves of this country, we may fare pretty well."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I confess," says Don Sanchez, "your scheme is the best, and I would
+myself have proposed it but that I can do so little for my share."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, what odds does that make, Seņor?" cries Jack. "You gave us of the
+best while you had aught to give, and 'tis but fair we should do the
+same now. Besides which, how could we get along without you for a
+spokesman, and I marked that you drummed to our dance very tunefully.
+Come, is it a bargain, friend?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And on Don Sanchez's consenting, Jack would have us all shake hands on
+it for a sign of faith and good fellowship. Then, perceiving that we
+were arrived at the outskirts of the town, we ended our discussion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER X.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Of our merry journeying to Alicante.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We turned into the first posada we came to--a poor, mean sort of an inn
+and general shop, to be sure, but we were in no condition to cavil about
+trifles, being fagged out with our journey and the adventures of the
+day, and only too happy to find a house of entertainment still open. So
+after a dish of sausages with very good wine, we to our beds and an end
+to the torment of fleas I had endured from the moment I changed my
+French habit for Spanish rags.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next morning, when we had eaten a meal of goats' milk and bread and
+paid our reckoning, which amounted to a few rials and no more, Don
+Sanchez and I, taking what rested of Moll's two pieces, went forth into
+the town and there bought two plain suits of clothes for ourselves in
+the mode of the country, and (according to his desire) another of the
+same cut for Dawson, together with a little jacket and petticoat for
+Moll. And these expenditures left us but just enough to buy a good
+guitar and a tambourine--indeed, we should not have got them at all but
+that Don Sanchez higgled and bargained like any Jew, which he could do
+with a very good face now that he was dressed so beggarly. Then back to
+our posada, where in our room Jack and I were mighty merry in putting on
+our new clothes; but going below we find Moll still dressed in her
+finery, and sulking before the petticoat and jacket we had bought for
+her, which she would not put on by any persuasion until her father fell
+into a passion of anger. And the sight of him fuming in a short jacket
+barely covering his loins, and a pair of breeches so tight the seams
+would scarce hold together, so tickled her sense of humour that she fell
+into a long fit of laughter, and this ending her sulks she went upstairs
+with a good grace and returned in her hated petticoat, carrying her fine
+dress in a bundle. But I never yet knew the time when this sly baggage
+would not please herself for all her seeming yielding to others, and we
+were yet to have more pain from her than she from us in respect of that
+skirt. For ere we had got half way through the town she, dawdling behind
+to look first in this shop and then in that, gave us the slip, so that
+we were best part of an hour hunting the streets up and down in the
+utmost anxiety. Then as we were sweating with our exercise and trouble,
+lo! she steps out of a shop as calm as you please in a petticoat and
+jacket of her own fancy (and ten times more handsome than our purchase),
+a red shawl tied about her waist, and a little round hat with a bright
+red bob in it, set on one side of her head, and all as smart as a
+carrot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Da!" says she, "where have you been running all this time?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And we, betwixt joy at finding her and anger at her impudence, could say
+nothing; and yet we were fain to admire her audacity too. But how, not
+knowing one word of the language, she had made her wants known was a
+mystery, and how she had obtained this finery was another, seeing that
+we had spent all there was of her two pieces. Certainly she had not
+changed her French gown and things for them, for these in a cumbrous
+bundle had her father been carrying up and down the town since we lost
+the minx.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If you han't stole 'em," says Dawson, finding his tongue at last,
+"where did you find the money to pay for those trappings, slut?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"In my pocket, sir," says she, with a curtsey, "where you might have
+found yours had you not emptied it so readily for the robbers yesterday.
+And I fancy," adds she slyly, "I may still find some left to offer you a
+dinner at midday if you will accept of it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This hint disposed us to make light of our grievance against her, and we
+went out of Ravellos very well satisfied to know that our next meal
+depended not solely upon chance. And this, together with the bright
+sunlight and the sweet invigorating morning air, did beget in us a
+spirit of happy carelessness, in keeping with the smiling gay aspect of
+the country about us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was strange to see how easily Moll fell into our happy-go-lucky
+humour, she, who had been as stately as any Roman queen in her long
+gown, being now, in her short coloured petticoat, as frolicsome and
+familiar as a country wench at a fair; but indeed she was a born actress
+and could accommodate herself as well to one condition as another with
+the mere change of clothes. But I think this state was more to her real
+taste than the other, as putting no restraint upon her impulses and
+giving free play to her healthy, exuberant mirth. Her very step was a
+kind of dance, and she must needs fall a-carolling of songs like a lark
+when it flies. Then she would have us rehearse our old songs to our new
+music. So, slinging my guitar in front of me, I put it in tune, and Jack
+ties his bundle to his back that he may try his hand at the tambourine.
+And so we march along singing and playing as if to a feast, and stopping
+only to laugh prodigiously when one or other fell out of tune,--the most
+mad, light-hearted fools in the world;--but I speak not of Don Sanchez,
+who, feel what he might, never relaxed his high bearing or unbent his
+serious countenance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One thing I remember of him on this journey. Having gone about five
+miles, we sat us down on a bridge to rest a while, and there the Don
+left us to go a little way up the course of the stream that flowed
+beneath, and he came back with a posey of sweet jonquils set off with a
+delicate kind of fern very pretty, and this he presents to Moll with a
+gracious little speech, which act, it seemed to me, was to let her know
+that he respected her still as a young gentlewoman in spite of her short
+petticoat, and Moll was not dull to the compliment neither; for, after
+the first cry of delight in seeing these natural dainty flowers (she
+loving such things beyond all else in the world), she bethought her to
+make him a curtsey and reply to his speech with another as good and well
+turned, as she set them in her waist scarf. Also I remember on this road
+we saw oranges and lemons growing for the first time, but full a mile
+after Moll had first caught their wondrous perfume in the air. And these
+trees, which are about the size of a crab tree, grew in close groves on
+either side of the road, with no manner of fence to protect them, so
+that any one is lief to pluck what he may without let, so plentiful are
+they, and curious to see how fruit and blossom grow together on the same
+bush, the lemons, as I hear, giving four crops in the year, and more
+delicious, full, and juicy than any to be bought in England at six to
+the groat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We got a dinner of bread and cheese (very high) at a roadside house, and
+glad to have that, only no meat of any kind, but excellent good wine
+with dried figs and walnuts, which is the natural food of this country,
+where one may go a week without touching flesh and yet feel as strong
+and hearty at the end. And here very merry, Jack in his pertinacious,
+stubborn spirit declaring he would drink his wine in the custom of the
+country or none at all, and so lifting up the spouted mug at arm's
+length he squirts the liquor all over his face, down his new clothes and
+everywhere but into his mouth, before he could arrive to do it like Don
+Sanchez; but getting into the trick of it, he so mighty proud of his
+achievement that he must drink pot after pot until he got as drunk as
+any lord. So after that, finding a retired place,--it being midday and
+prodigious hot (though only now in mid-April),--we lay down under the
+orange trees and slept a long hour, to our great refreshment. Dawson on
+waking remembered nothing of his being drunk, and felt not one penny the
+worse for it. And so on another long stretch through sweet country, with
+here and there a glimpse of the Mediterranean, in the distance, of a
+surprising blueness, before we reached another town, and that on the top
+of a high hill. But it seems that all the towns in these parts (save
+those armed with fortresses) are thus built for security against the
+pirates, who ravage the seaboard of this continent incessantly from end
+to end. And for this reason the roads leading up to the town are made
+very narrow, tortuous, and difficult, with watch-towers in places, and
+many points where a few armed men lying in ambush may overwhelm an enemy
+ten times as strong. The towns themselves are fortified with gates, the
+streets extremely narrow and crooked, and the houses massed all together
+with secret passages one to another, and a network of little alleys
+leading whither only the inhabitants knew, so that if an enemy do get
+into them 'tis ten to one he will never come out alive.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It being market day in this town, here Jack and his daughter gave a show
+of dancing, first in their French suits, which were vastly admired, and
+after in their Spanish clothes; but then they were asked to dance a
+fandango, which they could not. However, we fared very well, getting the
+value of five shillings in little moneys, and the innkeepers would take
+nothing for our entertainment, because of the custom we had brought his
+house, which we considered very handsome on his part.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We set out again the next morning, but having shown how we passed the
+first day I need not dwell upon those which followed before we reached
+Barcelona, there being nothing of any great importance to tell. Only
+Moll was now all agog to learn the Spanish dances, and I cannot easily
+forget how, after much coaxing and wheedling on her part, she at length
+persuaded Don Sanchez to show her a fandango; for, surely, nothing in
+the world was ever more comic than this stately Don, without any music,
+and in the middle of the high road, cutting capers, with a countenance
+as solemn as any person at a burying. No one could be more quick to
+observe the ludicrous than he, nor more careful to avoid ridicule;
+therefore it said much for Moll's cajolery, or for the love he bore her
+even at this time, to thus expose himself to Dawson's rude mirth and
+mine in order to please her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We reached Barcelona the 25th of April, and there we stayed till the 1st
+of May, for Moll would go no further before she had learnt a bolero and
+a fandango--which dances we saw danced at a little theatre excellently
+well, but in a style quite different to ours, and the women very fat and
+plain. And though Moll, being but a slight slip of a lass, in whom the
+warmer passions were unbegotten, could not give the bolero the
+voluptuous fervour of the Spanish dancers, yet in agility and in pretty
+innocent grace she did surpass them all to nought, which was abundantly
+proved when she danced it in our posada before a court full of
+Spaniards, for there they were like mad over her, casting their silk
+handkerchiefs at her feet in homage, and filling Jack's tambourine three
+times over with cigarros and a plentiful scattering of rials. And I
+believe, had we stayed there, we might have made more money than ever we
+wanted at that time--though not so much as Don Sanchez had set his mind
+on; wherefore he would have us jogging again as soon as Moll could be
+brought to it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From Barcelona, we journeyed a month to Valencia, growing more indolent
+with our easier circumstances, and sometimes trudging no more than five
+or six miles in a day. And we were, I think, the happiest, idlest set of
+vagabonds in existence. But, indeed, in this country there is not that
+spur to exertion which is for ever goading us in this. The sun fills
+one's heart with content, and for one's other wants a few halfpence a
+day will suffice, and if you have them not 'tis no such great matter.
+For these people are exceeding kind and hospitable; they will give you a
+measure of wine if you are thirsty, as we would give a mug of water, and
+the poorest man will not sit down to table without making you an offer
+to share what he has. Wherever we went we were well received, and in
+those poor villages where they had no money to give they would pay us
+for our show in kind, one giving us bed, another board, and filling our
+wallets ere we left 'em with the best they could afford.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Twas our habit to walk a few miles before dinner, to sleep in the shade
+during the heat of the day, and to reach a town (if possible) by the
+fall of the sun. There would we spend half the night in jollity, and lie
+abed late in the morning. The inns and big houses in these parts are
+built in the form of squares, enclosing an open court with a sort of
+arcade all round, and mostly with a grape-vine running over the sunnier
+side, and in this space we used to give our performance, by the light of
+oil lamps hung here and there conveniently, with the addition, maybe, of
+moonlight reflected from one of the white walls. Here any one was free
+to enter, we making no charge, but taking only what they would freely
+give. And this treatment engenders a feeling of kindness on both sides
+(very different to our sentiment at home, where we players as often as
+not dread the audience as a kind of enemy, ready to tear us to pieces if
+we fail to please), and ours was as great a pleasure to amuse as theirs
+to be amused. I can recall to mind nothing of any moment occurring on
+this journey, save that we spent some time every day in perfecting our
+Spanish dances, I getting to play the tunes correctly, which at first I
+made sad bungling of, and Dawson in learning of his steps. Also, he and
+Moll acquired the use of a kind of clappers, called costagnettes, which
+they play with their hands in these fandangos and boleros, with a very
+pleasing effect.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At Valencia we stayed a week and three days, lingering more than was
+necessary, in order to see a bull-fight. And this pastime they do not as
+we with dogs, but with men, and the bull quite free, and, save for the
+needless killing of horses, I think this a very noble exercise, being a
+fair trial of human address against brute force. And 'tis not nearly so
+beastly as seeing a prize fought by men, and not more cruel, I take it,
+than the shooting of birds and hares for sport, seeing that the agony of
+death is no greater for a sturdy bull than for a timid coney, and hath
+this advantage, that the bull, when exhausted, is despatched quickly,
+whereas the bird or hare may just escape capture, to die a miserable
+long death with a shattered limb.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From Valencia we travelled five weeks (growing, I think, more lazy every
+day), over very hilly country to Alicante, a seaport town very strongly
+protected by a castle on a great rock, armed with guns of brass and
+iron, so that the pirates dare never venture near. And here I fully
+thought we were to dawdle away another week at the least, this being a
+very populous and lively city, promising much entertainment. For Moll,
+when not playing herself, was mad to see others play, and she did really
+govern, with her subtle wiles and winning smiles, more than her father,
+for all his masterful spirit, or Don Sanchez with his stern authority.
+But seeing two or three English ships in the port, the Don deemed it
+advisable that we should push on at once for Elche, and, to our great
+astonishment, Moll consented to our speedy going without demur, though
+why, we could not then discover, but did soon after, as I shall
+presently show.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XI.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Of our first coming to Elche and the strangeness of that city.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Being resolved to our purpose overnight, we set out fairly early in the
+morning for Elche, which lies half a dozen leagues or thereabouts to the
+west of Alicante. Our way lay through gardens of oranges and spreading
+vineyards, which flourish exceedingly in this part, being protected from
+unkind winds by high mountains against the north and east; and here you
+shall picture us on the white, dusty road, Moll leading the way a dozen
+yards in advance, a tambourine slung on her back with streaming ribbons
+of many colours, taking two or three steps on one foot, and then two or
+three steps on t'other, with a Spanish twist of her hips at each turn,
+swinging her arms as she claps her costagnettes to the air of a song she
+had picked up at Barcelona, and we three men plodding behind, the Don
+with a guitar across his back, Dawson with our bundle of clothes, and I
+with a wallet of provisions hanging o' one side and a skin of wine on
+the other--and all as white as any millers with the dust of Moll's
+dancing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It might be as well," says Don Sanchez, in his solemn, deliberate
+manner, "if Mistress Moll were advised to practise her steps in our
+rear."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, Seņor," replied Dawson, "I've been of the same mind these last ten
+minutes. But with your consent, Don Sanchez, I'll put her to a more
+serious exercise."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Don consenting with a bow, Jack continues:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You may have observed that I haven't opened my lips since we left the
+town, and the reason thereof is that I've been turning over in my mind
+whether, having come thus far, it would not be advisable to let my Moll
+know of our project. Because, if she should refuse, the sooner we
+consider some other plan, the better, seeing that now she is in good
+case and as careless as a bird on the bough, and she is less tractable
+to our purposes than when she felt the pinch of hunger and cold and
+would have jumped at anything for a bit of comfort."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Does she not know of our design?" asks the Don, lifting his eyebrows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No more than the man in the moon, Seņor," answers Jack. "For, though
+Kit and I may have discoursed of it at odd times, we have been mighty
+careful to shut our mouths or talk of a fine day at her approach."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Very good," says Don Sanchez. "You are her father."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And she shall know it," says Jack, with resolution, and taking a stride
+or two in advance he calls to her to give over dancing and come to him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Have you forgot your breeding," he asks as she turns and waits for him,
+"that you have no more respect for your elders than to choke 'em with
+dust along of your shuffling?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What a thoughtless thing am I!" cries she, in a voice of contrition.
+"Why, you're floured as white as a shade!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then taking up a corner of her waist-shawl, she gently rubs away the
+dust from the tip of his nose, so that it stood out glowing red from his
+face like a cherry through a hole in a pie-crust, at which she claps her
+hands and rings out a peal of laughter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I counted to make a lady of you, Moll," says Jack, in sorrow, "but I
+see plainly you will ever be a fool, and so 'tis to no purpose to speak
+seriously."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Surely, father, I have ever been what you wish me to be," answers she,
+demurely, curious now to know what he would be telling her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then do you put them plaguy clappers away, and listen to me patiently,"
+says he.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moll puts her hands behind her, and drawing a long lip and casting round
+eyes at us over her shoulder, walks along very slowly by her father's
+side, while he broaches the matter to her. And this he did with some
+difficulty (for 'tis no easy thing to make a roguish plot look
+innocent), as we could see by his shifting his bundle from one shoulder
+to the other now and again, scratching his ear and the like; but what he
+said, we, walking a pace or two behind, could not catch, he dropping to
+a very low tone as if ashamed to hear his own voice. To all he has to
+tell she listens very attentively, but in the end she says something
+which causes him to stop dead short and turn upon her gaping like a pig.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What!" he cries as we came up. "You knew all this two months ago?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, father," answers she, primly, "quite two months."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And pray who told you?" he asks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No one, father, since you forbade me to ask questions. But though I may
+be dumb to oblige you, I can't be deaf. Kit and you are for ever
+a-talking of it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Maybe, child," says Dawson, mightily nettled. "Maybe you know why we
+left Alicante this morning."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I should be dull indeed if I didn't," answers she. "And if you hadn't
+said when we saw the ships that we might meet more Englishmen in the
+town than we might care to know hereafter, why,--well, maybe we should
+have been in Alicante now."
+
+"By denying yourself that satisfaction," says Don Sanchez, "we may
+conclude that the future we are making for you is not unacceptable."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moll stopped and says with some passion:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I would turn back now and go over those mountains the way we came to
+ride through France in my fine gown like a lady."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Brava! bravamente!" says the Don, in a low voice, as she steps on in
+front of us, holding her head high with the recollection of her former
+state.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"She was ever like that," whispers Dawson, with pride. "We could never
+get her to play a mean part willingly; could we, Kit? She was for ever
+wanting the part of a queen writ for her."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next day about sundown, coming to a little eminence, Don Sanchez
+points out a dark patch of forest lying betwixt us and the mountains,
+and says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That is Elche, the place where we are to stay some months."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We could make out no houses at all, but he told us the town lay in the
+middle of the forest, and added some curious particulars as how, lying
+on flat ground and within easy access of the sea, it could not exist at
+all but for the sufferance of the Spaniards on one side and of the
+Barbary pirates on the other, how both for their own convenience
+respected it as neutral ground on which each could exchange his
+merchandise without let or hindrance from the other, how the sort of
+sanctuary thus provided was never violated either by Algerine or
+Spaniard, but each was free to come and go as he pleased, etc., and this
+did somewhat reassure us, though we had all been more content to see our
+destination on the crest of a high hill.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From this point we came in less than half an hour to Santa Pola, a small
+village, but very bustling, for here the cart-road from Alicante ends,
+all transport of commodities betwixt this and Elche being done on mules;
+so here great commotion of carriers setting down and taking up
+merchandise, and the way choked with carts and mules and a very babel of
+tongues, there being Moors here as well as Spaniards, and all shouting
+their highest to be the better understood of each other. These were the
+first Moors we had seen, but they did not encourage us with great hopes
+of more intimate acquaintance, wearing nothing but a kind of long,
+ragged shirt to their heels, with a hood for their heads in place of a
+hat, and all mighty foul with grease and dirt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Being astir betimes the next morning, we reached Elche before midday,
+and here we seemed to be in another world, for this region is no more
+like Spain than Spain is like our own country. Entering the forest, we
+found ourselves encompassed on all sides by prodigious high palm trees,
+which hitherto we had seen only singly here and there, cultivated as
+curiosities. And noble trees they are, standing eighty to a hundred feet
+high, with never a branch, but only a great spreading crown of leaves,
+with strings of dates hanging down from their midst. Beneath, in marshy
+places, grew sugar-canes as high as any haystack; and elsewhere were
+patches of rice, which grows like corn with us, but thrives well in the
+shade, curiously watered by artificial streams of water. And for hedges
+to their property, these Moors have agaves, with great spiky leaves
+which no man can penetrate, and other strange plants, whereof I will
+mention only one, they call the fig of Barbary, which is no fig at all,
+but a thing having large, fleshy leaves, growing one out of the other,
+with fruit and flower sprouting out of the edges, and all monstrous
+prickly. To garnish and beautify this formidable defence, nature had
+cast over all a network of creeping herbs with most extraordinary
+flowers, delightful both to see and smell, but why so prickly, no man
+can say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Surely, this must be paradise," cries Moll, staying to look around her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And we were of the same thinking, until we came to the town, which, as I
+have said, lies in the midst of this forest, and then all our hopes and
+expectations were dashed to the ground. For we had looked to find a city
+in keeping with these surroundings,--of fairy palaces and stately
+mansions; in place whereof was nought but a wilderness of mean, low,
+squalid houses, with meandering, ill-paved alleys, and all past
+everything for unsavoury smells,--heaps of refuse lying before every
+door, stark naked brats of children screaming everywhere, and a pack of
+famished dogs snapping at our heels.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Don Sanchez leads the way, we following, with rueful looks one at the
+other, till we reach the market-place, and there he takes us into a
+house of entertainment, where a dozen Moors are squatting on their
+haunches in groups about sundry bowls of a smoking mess, called
+cuscusson, which is a kind of paste with a little butter in it and a
+store of spices. Their manner of eating it is simple enough: each man
+dips his hand in the pot, takes out a handful, and dances it about till
+it is fashioned into a ball, and then he eats it with all the gusto in
+the world. For our repast we were served with a joint of roast mutton,
+and this being cut up, we had to take up in our hands and eat like any
+savages,--their religion denying these Moors anything but the bare
+necessities of life. Also, their law forbids the drinking of wine, which
+did most upset Jack Dawson, he having for drink with his meat nothing
+but the choice of water and sour milk; but which he liked least I know
+not, for he would touch neither, saying he would rather go dry any day
+than be poisoned with such liquor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whilst we were at our meal, a good many Moors came in to stare at us, as
+at a raree show, and especially at Moll, whose bright clothes and loose
+hair excited their curiosity, for their women do rarely go abroad,
+except they be old, and wear only long dirty white robes, muffling the
+lower part of their faces. None of them smiled, and it is noticeable
+that these people, like our own Don, do never laugh, taking such
+demonstration as a sign of weak understanding and foolishness, but
+watching all our actions very intently. And presently an old Moor, with
+a white beard and more cleanly dressed than the rest, pushing the crowd
+aside to see what was forward, recognised Don Sanchez, who at once rose
+to his feet; we, not to be behind him in good manners, rising also.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"May Baba," says the old Moor; and repeating this phrase thrice (which
+is a sure sign of hearty welcome), he claps the Don's hand, without
+shaking it, and lays his own upon his breast, the Don doing likewise.
+Then Don Sanchez, introducing us as we understood by his gestures, the
+old Moor bends his head gravely, putting his right hand first to his
+heart, next to his forehead, and then kissing the two foremost fingers
+laid across his lips, we replying as best we could with a bowing and
+scraping. These formalities concluded, the Don and the old Moor walk
+apart, and we squat down again to our mutton bones.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After a lengthy discussion the old Moor goes, and Don Sanchez, having
+paid the reckoning, leads us out of the town by many crooked alleys and
+cross-passages; he speaking never a word, and we asking no questions,
+but marvelling exceedingly what is to happen next. And, following a wall
+overhung by great palms, we turn a corner, and find there our old Moor
+standing beside an open door with a key in his hand. The old Moor gives
+the key into Don Sanchez's hand, and with a very formal salutation,
+leaves us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then following the Don through the doorway, we find ourselves in a
+spacious garden, but quite wild for neglect; flower and weed and fruit
+all mingling madly together, but very beautiful to my eye, nevertheless,
+for the abundance of colour, the richness of the vegetables, and the
+graceful forms of the adjacent palms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A house stood in the midst of this wilderness, and thither Don Sanchez
+picked his way, we at his heels still too amazed to speak. Beside the
+house was a well with a little wall about it, and seating himself on
+this, Don Sanchez opens his lips for the first time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My friend, Sidi ben Ahmed, has offered me the use of this place as long
+as we choose to stay here," says he. "Go look in the house and tell me
+if you care to live in it for a year."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XII.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>How Don Sanchez very honestly offers to free us of our bargain if we
+will; but we will not.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The house, like nearly all Moorish houses of this class, was simply one
+large and lofty room, with a domed ceiling built of very thick masonry,
+to resist the heat of the sun. There was neither window nor chimney, the
+door serving to admit light and air, and let out the smoke if a fire
+were lighted within. One half of this chamber was dug out to a depth of
+a couple of feet, for the accommodation of cattle (the litter being
+thrown into the hollow as it is needed, and nought removed till it
+reaches the level of the other floor), and above this, about eight feet
+from the ground and four from the roof, was a kind of shelf (the breadth
+and length of that half), for the storage of fodder and a sleeping-place
+for the inhabitants, with no kind of partition, or any issue for the
+foul air from the cattle below.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Are we to live a year in this hutch?" asks Moll, in affright.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Have done with your chatter, Moll!" answers Jack, testily. "Don't you
+see I'm a-thinking? Heaven knows there's enough to swallow without any
+bugbears of your raising."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With that, having finished his inspection of the interior, he goes out
+and looks at it outside.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well," says Don Sanchez, "what think you of the house?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, Seņor, 'tis no worse as I can see than any other in these parts,
+and hath this advantage, which they have not, of being in a sweet air.
+With a bit of contrivance we could make a shift to live here well
+enough. We should not do amiss neither for furniture, seeing that 'tis
+the custom of the country to eat off the floor and sit upon nothing. A
+pot to cook victuals in is about all we need in that way. But how we are
+to get anything to cook in it is one mystery, and" (clacking his tongue)
+"what we are going to drink is another, neither of which I can fathom.
+For, look you, Seņor, if one may judge of men's characters by their
+faces or of their means by their habitations, we may dance our legs off
+ere ever these Moors will bestow a penny piece upon us, and as for their
+sour milk, I'd as lief drink hemlock, and liefer. Now, if this town had
+been as we counted on, like Barcelona, all had gone as merry as a
+marriage bell, for then might we have gained enough to keep us in
+jollity as long as you please; but here, if we die not of the colicks in
+a week, 'twill be to perish of starvation in a fortnight. What say you,
+Kit?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I was forced to admit that I had never seen a town less likely to afford
+a subsistence than this.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Don Sanchez, having heard us with great patience, and waited a
+minute to see if we could raise any further objections, answers us in
+measured tones.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I doubt not," says he, "that with a little ingenuity you may make the
+house habitable and this wilderness agreeable. My friend, Sidi ben
+Ahmed, has offered to provide us with what commodities are necessary to
+that end. I agree with you that it would be impossible to earn the
+meanest livelihood here by dancing; it would not be advisable if we
+could. For that reason, my knowledge of various tongues making me very
+serviceable to Sidi ben Ahmed (who is the most considerable merchant of
+this town), I have accepted an office in his house. This will enable me
+to keep my engagement with you. You will live at my charge, as I
+promised, and you shall want for nothing in reason. If the Moors drink
+no wine themselves, they make excellent for those who will, and you
+shall not be stinted in that particular."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Come, this sounds fair enough," cries Dawson. "But pray, Seņor, are we
+to do nothing for our keep?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nothing beyond what we came here to do," replies he, with a meaning
+glance at Moll.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What!" cries poor Moll, in pain. "We are to dance no more!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Don shook his head gravely; and, remembering the jolly, vagabond,
+careless, adventurous life we had led these past two months and more,
+with a thousand pleasant incidents of our happy junketings, we were all
+downcast at the prospect of living in this place--though a paradise--for
+a year without change.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Though I promised you no more than I offer," says the Don, "yet if this
+prospect displease you, we will cry quits and part here. Nay," adds he,
+taking a purse from his pocket, "I will give you the means to return to
+Alicante, where you may live as better pleases you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It seemed to me that there was an unfeigned carelessness in his manner,
+as if he would as lief as not throw up this hazardous enterprise for
+some other more sure undertaking. And, indeed, I believe he was then
+balancing another alternative in his mind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this generous offer Moll dashed away the tears that had sprung to her
+eyes, brightening up wonderfully, but then, casting her eyes upon the
+Don, her face fell again as at the thought of leaving him. For we all
+admired him, and she prodigiously, for his great reserve and many good
+qualities which commanded respect, and this feeling was tinged in her
+case, I believe, with a kind of growing affection.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Seeing this sentiment in her eyes, the Don was clearly touched by it,
+and so, laying his hand gently on her shoulder, he says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My poor child, remember you the ugly old women we saw dancing at
+Barcelona? They were not more than forty; what will they be like in a
+few years? Who will tolerate them? who love them? Is that the end you
+choose for your own life--that the estate to which our little princess
+shall fall?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, no, no!" cries she, in a passion, clenching her little hands and
+throwing up her head in disdain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And no, no, no, say I," cries Dawson. "Were our case ten times as bad,
+I'd not go back from my word. As it is, we are not to be pitied, and I
+warrant ere long we make ourselves to be envied. Come, Kit, rouse you
+out of your lethargies, and let us consult how we may improve our
+condition here; and do you, Seņor, pray order us a little of that same
+excellent wine you spoke of, if it be but a pint, when you feel disposed
+that way."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Don inclined his head, but lingered, talking to Moll very gravely,
+and yet tenderly, for some while, Dawson and I going into the house to
+see what we could make of it; and then, telling us we should see him no
+more till the next day, he left us. But for some time after he was gone
+Moll sat on the side of the well, very pensive and wistful, as one to
+whom the future was opened for the first time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Anon comes a banging at our garden gate, which Moll had closed behind
+the Don; and, going to it, we find a Moorish boy with a barrow charged
+with many things. We could not understand a word he said, but Dawson
+decided these chattels were sent us by the Don, by perceiving a huge
+hogskin of wine, for which he thanked God and Don Sanchez an hundred
+times over. So these commodities we carried up to the house, marvelling
+greatly at the Don's forethought and generosity, for here were a score
+of things over and above those we had already found ourselves lacking;
+namely, earthen pipkins and wooden vessels, a bag of charcoal, a box of
+carpenters' tools (which did greatly like Dawson, he having been bred a
+carpenter in his youth), instruments for gardening (to my pleasure, as I
+have ever had a taste for such employment), some very fine Moorish
+blankets, etc. So when the barrow was discharged, Dawson gives the lad
+some rials out of his pocket, which pleased him also mightily.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, first of all, Dawson unties the leg of the hogskin, and draws off
+a quart of wine, very carefully securing the leg after, and this we
+drank to our great refreshment; and next Moll, being awoke from her
+dreams and eager to be doing, sets herself to sort out our goods, such
+as belong to us (as tools, etc.), on one side, and such as belong to her
+(as pipkins and the rest) on the other. Leaving her to this employment,
+Dawson and I, armed with a knife and bagging hook, betake ourselves to a
+great store of canes stacked in one corner of the garden, and sorting
+out those most proper to our purpose, we lopped them all of an equal
+length, and shouldering as many as we could carried them up to our
+house. Here we found Moll mighty jubilant in having got her work done,
+and admirably she had done it, to be sure. For, having found a long
+recess in the wall, she had brushed it out clean with a whisp of herbs,
+and stored up her crocks according to their size, very artificial, with
+a dish of oranges plucked from the tree at our door on one side, and a
+dish of almonds on the other, a pipkin standing betwixt 'em with a
+handsome posey of roses in it. She had spread a mat on the floor, and
+folded up our fine blankets to serve for cushions; and all that did not
+belong to her she had bundled out of sight into that hollowed side I
+have mentioned as being intended for cattle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After we had sufficiently admired the performance, she told us she had a
+mind to give us a supper of broth. "But," says she, "the Don has
+forgotten that we must eat, and hath sent us neither bread nor flesh nor
+salt."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This put us to a stumble, for how to get these things we knew not; but
+Moll declared she would get all she needed if we could only find the
+money.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, how?" asks Jack. "You know not their gibberish."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That may be," answers she, "but I warrant the same language that bought
+me this petticoat will get us a supper."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we gave her what money we had, and she went off a-marketing, with as
+much confidence as if she were a born Barbary Moor. Then Jack falls to
+thanking God for blessing him with such a daughter, at the same time
+taking no small credit to himself for having bred her to such
+perfection, and in the midst of his encomiums, being down in the hollow
+searching for his hammer, he cries:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Plague take the careless baggage! she has spilled all our nails, and
+here's an hour's work to pick 'em up!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This accident was repaired, however, and Moll's transgression forgotten
+when she returned with an old woman carrying her purchases. Then were we
+forced to admire her skill in this business, for she had bought all that
+was needful for a couple of meals, and yet had spent but half our money.
+Now arose the difficult question how to make a fire, and this Jack left
+us to settle by our own devices, he returning to his own occupation.
+Moll resolved we should do our cooking outside the house, so here we
+built up a kind of grate with stones; and, contriving to strike a spark
+with the back of a jack-knife and a stone, upon a heap of dried leaves,
+we presently blew up a fine flame, and feeding this with the ends of
+cane we had cut and some charcoal, we at last got a royal fire on which
+to set our pot of mutton. And into this pot we put rice and a multitude
+of herbs from the garden, which by the taste we thought might serve to
+make a savoury mess. And, indeed, when it began to boil, the odour was
+so agreeable that we would have Jack come out to smell it. And he having
+praised it very highly, we in return went in to look at his handiwork
+and praise that. This we could do very heartily and without hypocrisy,
+for he had worked well and made a rare good job, having built a very
+seemly partition across the room, by nailing of the canes
+perpendicularly to that kind of floor that hung over the hollowed
+portion, thus making us now three rooms out of one. At one end he had
+left an opening to enter the cavity below and the floor above by the
+little ladder that stood there, and these canes were set not so close
+together but that air and light could pass betwixt them, and yet from
+the outer side no eye could see within, which was very commodious. Also
+upon the floor above, he had found sundry bundles of soft dried leaves,
+and these, opened out upon the surface of both chambers, made a very
+sweet, convenient bed upon which to lie. Then Dawson offering Moll her
+choice, she took the upper floor for her chamber, leaving us two the
+lower; and so, it being near sundown by this time, we to our supper in
+the sweet, cool air of evening, all mightily content with one another,
+and not less satisfied with our stew, which was indeed most savoury and
+palatable. This done, we took a turn round our little domain, admiring
+the many strange and wonderful things that grew there (especially the
+figs, which, though yet green, were wondrous pleasant to eat); and I
+laying out my plans for the morrow, how to get this wilderness into
+order, tear out the worthless herbs, dig the soil, etc., Dawson's
+thoughts running on the building of an outhouse for the accommodation of
+our wine, tools, and such like, and Moll meditating on dishes to give us
+for our repasts. And at length, when these divers subjects were no more
+to be discussed, we turned into our dormitories, and fell asleep mighty
+tired, but as happy as princes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XIII.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>A brief summary of those twelve months we spent at Elche.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The surprising activity with which we attacked our domestic business at
+Elche lasted about two days and a half,--Dawson labouring at his shed, I
+at the cultivation of the garden, and Moll quitting her cooking and
+household affairs, as occasion permitted, to lend a helping hand first
+to her father and then to me. And as man, when this fever of enterprise
+is upon him, must for ever be seeking to add to his cares, we persuaded
+Don Sanchez to let us have two she-goats to stall in the shed and
+consume our waste herbage, that we might have milk and get butter, which
+they do in these parts by shaking the cream in a skin bag (a method that
+seems simple enough till you have been shaking the bag for twenty
+minutes in vain on a sultry morning) without cost. But the novelty of
+the thing wearing off, our eagerness rapidly subsided, and so about the
+third day (as I say), the heat being prodigious, we toiled with no
+spirit at all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dawson was the first to speak his mind. Says he, coming to me whilst I
+was still sweating over my shovel:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I've done it, but hang me if I do more. There's a good piece of work
+worth thirty shillings of any man's money, but who'll give me a thank ye
+for it when we leave here next year?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And then he can find nothing better to do than fall a-commenting on my
+labours, saying there was but precious little to show for my efforts,
+that had he been in my place he would have ordered matters otherwise,
+and begun digging t'other end, wagering that I should give up my job
+before it was quarter done, etc., all which was mighty discouraging and
+the more unpleasant because I felt there was a good deal of truth in
+what he said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Consequently, I felt a certain malicious enjoyment the next morning upon
+finding that the goats had burst out one side of his famous shed, and
+got loose into the garden, which enabled me to wonder that two such
+feeble creatures could undo such a good thirty shillings' worth of work,
+etc. But ere I was done galling him, I myself was mortified exceedingly
+to find these mischievous brutes had torn up all the plants I had set by
+the trees in the shade as worthy of cultivation, which gave Jack a
+chance for jibing at me. But that which embittered us as much as
+anything was to have Moll holding her sides for laughter at our attempts
+to catch these two devilish goats, which to our cost we found were not
+so feeble, after all; for getting one up in a corner, she raises herself
+up on her hind legs and brings her skull down with such a smack on my
+knee that I truly thought she had broke my cramp-bone, whilst t'other,
+taking Dawson in the ankles with her horns, as he was reaching forward
+to lay hold of her, lay him sprawling in our little stream of water. Nor
+do I think we should ever have captured them, but that, giving over our
+endeavours from sheer fatigue, they of their own accord sauntered into
+the shed for shelter from the sun, where Moll clapt to the door upon
+them, and set her back against the gap in the side, until her father
+came with a hammer and some stout nails to secure the planks. So for the
+rest of that day Jack and I lay on our backs in the shade, doing
+nothing, but exceedingly sore one against the other for these
+mischances.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But our heart burnings ended not there; for coming in to supper at
+sundown, Moll has nothing to offer us but dry bread and a dish of dates,
+which, though it be the common supper of the Moors in this place, was
+little enough to our satisfaction, as Dawson told her in pretty round
+terms, asking her what she was good for if not to give us a meal fit for
+Christians, etc., and stating very explicitly what he would have her
+prepare for our dinner next day. Moll takes her upbraiding very humbly
+(which was ever a bad sign), and promises to be more careful of our
+comfort in the future. And so ended that day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next morning Dawson and I make no attempt at work, but after
+breakfast, by common accord, stretch us out under the palms to meditate;
+and there about half past ten, Don Sanchez, coming round to pay us a
+visit, finds us both sound asleep. A sudden exclamation from him aroused
+us, and as we stumbled to our feet, staring about us, we perceived Moll
+coming from the house, but so disfigured with smuts of charcoal all over
+her face and hands, we scarce knew her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God's mercy!" cries the Don. "What on earth have you been doing,
+child?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To which Moll replies with a curtsey:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I am learning to be a cook-wench, Seņor, at my father's desire."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You are here," answers the Don, with a frown, "to learn to be a lady.
+If a cook-wench is necessary, you shall have one" (this to us), "and
+anything else that my means may afford. You will do well to write me a
+list of your requirements; but observe," adds he, turning on his heel,
+"we may have to stay here another twelvemonth, if my economies are not
+sufficient by the end of the first year to take us hence."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This hint brought us to our senses very quickly, and overtaking him ere
+he reached our garden gate, Dawson and I assured the Don we had no need
+of any servant, and would be careful that Moll henceforth did no menial
+office; that we would tax his generosity no more than we could help,
+etc., to our great humiliation when we came to reflect on our conduct.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thenceforth Dawson charged himself with the internal economy of the
+house, and I with that part which concerned the custody and care of the
+goats, the cultivation of pot-herbs and with such instruction of Moll in
+the Italian tongue as I could command. But to tell the truth, we neither
+of us did one stroke of work beyond what was absolutely necessary, and
+especially Dawson, being past everything for indolence, did so order his
+part that from having two dishes of flesh a day, we came, ere long, to
+getting but one mess a week; he forcing himself and us to be content
+with dates and bread for our repasts, rather than give himself the
+trouble of boiling a pot. Beyond browsing my goats, drawing their milk
+(the making of butter I quickly renounced), and watering my garden night
+and morn (which is done by throwing water from the little stream
+broadcast with a shovel on either side), I did no more than Dawson, but
+joined him in yawning the day away, for which my sole excuse is the
+great heat of this region, which doth beget most slothful humours in
+those matured in cooler climes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With Moll, however, the case was otherwise; for she, being young and of
+an exceeding vivacious, active disposition, must for ever be doing of
+something, and lucky for us when it was not some mischievous trick at
+our expense--as letting the goats loose, shaking lemons down on our
+heads as we lay asleep beneath it, and the like. Being greatly smitten
+with the appearance of the Moorish women (who, though they are not
+permitted to wander about at will like our women, are yet suffered to
+fetch water from the public fountains), she surprised us one morning by
+coming forth dressed in their mode. And this dress, which seems to be
+nought but a long sheet wound loosely twice or thrice about the body,
+buckled on the shoulder, with holes for the arms to be put through in
+the manner of the old Greeks, became her surprisingly; and we noticed
+then for the first time that her arms were rounder and fuller than when
+we had last seen them bare. Then, to get the graceful, noble bearing of
+the Moors, she practised day after day carrying a pitcher of water on
+her head as they do, until she could do this with perfect ease and
+sureness. In this habit the Don, who was mightily pleased with her
+looks, took her to the house of his friend and employer, Sidi ben Ahmed,
+where she ingratiated herself so greatly with the women of his household
+that they would have her come to them again the next day, and after that
+the next,--indeed, thenceforth she spent far more of her time with these
+new friends than with us. And here, from the necessity of making herself
+understood, together with an excellent memory and a natural aptitude,
+she learned to speak the Moorish tongue in a marvellously short space of
+time. Dawson and I were frequently asked to accompany Moll, and we went
+twice to this house, which, though nothing at all to look at outside,
+was very magnificently furnished within, and the entertainment most
+noble. But Lord! 'twas the most tedious, wearisome business for us, who
+could make out never a word of the civil speeches offered us without the
+aid of Don Sanchez and Moll, and then could think of no witty response,
+but could only sit there grinning like Gog and Magog. Still, it gave us
+vast pleasure to see how Moll carried herself with this company, talking
+as freely as they, yet holding herself with the dignity of an equal, and
+delighting all by her vivacity and sly, pretty ways.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="356.jpg"><img src="356th.jpg" alt="SHE PRACTISED DAY AFTER DAY BY CARRYING A PITCHER OF WATER ON HER HEAD."></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I think no country in Europe can be richer than this Elche in fruits and
+vegetation, more beautiful in its surrounding aspects of plain and
+mountain, more blessed with constant, glorious sunlight; and the effect
+of these charms upon the quick, receptive spirit of our Molly was like a
+gentle May upon a nightingale, so that the days were all too short for
+her enjoyment, and she must need vent her happiness in song; but on us
+they made no more impression than on two owls in a tower, nay, if
+anything they did add to that weariness which arose from our lack of
+occupation. For here was no contrast in our lives, one day being as like
+another as two peas in a pod, and having no sort of adversities to give
+savour to our ease, we found existence the most flat, insipid, dull
+thing possible. I remember how, on Christmas day, Dawson did cry out
+against the warm sunshine as a thing contrary to nature, wishing he
+might stand up to his knees in snow in a whistling wind, and taking up
+the crock Moll had filled with roses (which here bloom more fully in the
+depth of winter than with us in the height of summer), he flung it out
+of the door with a curse for an unchristian thing to have in the house
+on such a day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As soon as the year had turned, we began to count the days to our
+departure, and thenceforth we could think of nought but what we would do
+with our fortune when we got it; and, the evenings being long, we would
+set the bag of wine betwixt us after our supper of dates, and sit there
+for hours discussing our several projects. Moll being with us (for in
+these parts no womankind may be abroad after sundown), she would take
+part in these debates with as much gusto as we. For though she was not
+wearied of her life here as we were, yet she was possessed of a very
+stirring spirit of adventure, and her quick imagination furnished
+endless visions of lively pleasures and sumptuous living. We agreed that
+we would live together, and share everything in common as one family,
+but not in such an outlandish spot as Chislehurst. That estate we would
+have nothing to do with; but, selling it at once, have in its place two
+houses,--one city house in the Cheap, and a country house not further
+from town than Bednal Green, or Clerkenwell at the outside, to the end
+that when we were fatigued with the pleasures of the town, we might, by
+an easy journey, resort to the tranquillity of rural life, Dawson
+declaring what wines he would have laid down in our cellars, I what
+books should furnish our library, and Moll what dresses she would wear
+(not less than one for every month of the year), what coaches and horses
+we should keep, what liveries our servants should wear, what
+entertainments we would give, and so forth. Don Sanchez was not excluded
+from our deliberations; indeed, he encouraged us greatly by approving of
+all our plans, only stipulating that we would guard one room for him in
+each of our houses, that he might feel at home in our society whenever
+he chanced to be in our neighbourhood. In all these arguments, there was
+never one word of question from any of us as to the honesty of our
+design. We had settled that, once and for all, before starting on this
+expedition; and since then, little by little, we had come to regard the
+Godwin estate as a natural gift, as freely to be taken as a blackberry
+from the hedge. Nay, I believe Dawson and I would have contested our
+right to it by reason of the pains we were taking to possess it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now, being in the month of June, and our year of exile (as it liked
+us to call it) nigh at an end, Dawson one night put the question to Don
+Sanchez, which had kept us fluttering in painful suspense these past six
+months, whether he had saved sufficient by his labours, to enable us to
+return to England ere long.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes," says he, gravely, at which we did all heave one long sigh of
+relief, "I learn that a convoy of English ships is about to sail from
+Alicante in the beginning of July, and if we are happy enough to find a
+favourable opportunity, we will certainly embark in one of them."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Pray, Seņor," says I, "what may that opportunity be; for 'tis but two
+days' march hence to Alicante, and we may do it with a light foot in
+one."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The opportunity I speak of," answers he, "is the arrival, from Algeria,
+of a company of pirates, whose good service I hope to engage in putting
+us aboard an English ship under a flag of truce as redeemed slaves from
+Barbary."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Pirates!" cry we, in a low breath.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What, Seņor!" adds Dawson, "are we to trust ourselves to the mercy and
+honesty of Barbary pirates on the open sea?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I would rather trust to their honesty," answers the Don, dropping his
+voice that he might not be heard by Moll, who was leading home the
+goats, "than to the mercy of an English judge, if we should be brought
+to trial with insufficient evidence to support our story."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Jack and I stared at each other aghast at this talk of trial, which had
+never once entered into our reckoning of probabilities.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If I know aught of my fellow-men," continues the Don, surely and slow,
+"that grasping steward will not yield up his trust before he has made
+searching enquiry into Moll's claim, act she her part never so well. We
+cannot refuse to give him the name of the ship that brought us home,
+and, learning that we embarked at Alicante, jealous suspicion may lead
+him to seek further information there; with what result?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, we may be blown with a vengeance, if he come ferreting so nigh as
+that," says Dawson, "and we are like to rot in gaol for our pains."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You may choose to run that risk; I will not," says the Don.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nor I either," says Dawson, "and God forgive me for overlooking such a
+peril to my Moll. But, do tell me plainly, Seņor, granting these pirates
+be the most honest thieves in the world, is there no other risk to
+fear?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Don hunched his shoulders.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Life itself is a game," says he, "in which the meanest stroke may not
+be won without some risk; but, played as I direct, the odds are in our
+favour. Picked up at sea from an Algerine boat, who shall deny our story
+when the evidence against us lies there" (laying his hand out towards
+the south), "where no man in England dare venture to seek it?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, to be sure," says Dawson; "that way all hangs together to a
+nicety. For only a wizard could dream of coming hither for our undoing."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"For the rest," continues the Don, thoughtfully, "there is little to
+fear. Judith Godwin has eyes the colour of Moll's, and in all else Simon
+must expect to find a change since he last saw his master's daughter.
+They were in Italy three years. That would make Judith a lisping child
+when she left England. He must look to find her altered. Why," adds he,
+in a more gentle voice, as if moved by some inner feeling of affection
+and admiration, nodding towards Moll, "see how she has changed in this
+little while. I should not know her for the raw, half-starved spindle of
+a thing she was when I saw her first playing in the barn at Tottenham
+Cross."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Looking at her now (browsing the goats amongst my most cherished herbs),
+I was struck also by this fact, which, living with her day by day, had
+slipped my observation somewhat. She was no longer a gaunt, ungainly
+child, but a young woman, well proportioned, with a rounded cheek and
+chin, brown tinted by the sun, and, to my mind, more beautiful than any
+of their vaunted Moorish women. But, indeed, in this country all things
+do mature quickly; and 'twas less surprising in her case because her
+growth had been checked before by privation and hardship, whereas since
+our coming hither it had been aided by easy circumstances and good
+living.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XIV.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Of our coming to London (with incidents by the way), and of the great
+address whereby Moll confounds Simon, the steward.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the third day of July, all things falling in pat with the Don's
+design, we bade farewell to Elche, Dawson and I with no sort of regret,
+but Moll in tears at parting from those friends she had grown to love
+very heartily. And these friends would each have her take away something
+for a keepsake, such as rings to wear on her arms and on her ankles (as
+is the Moorish fashion), silk shawls, etc., so that she had quite a
+large present of finery to carry away; but we had nothing whatever but
+the clothes we stood in, and they of the scantiest, being simply long
+shirts and "bernouses" such as common Moors wear. For the wise Don would
+let us take nought that might betray our sojourn in Spain, making us
+even change our boots for wooden sandals, he himself being arrayed no
+better than we. Nor was this the only change insisted on by our
+governor; for on Dawson bidding Moll in a surly tone to give over a
+shedding of tears, Don Sanchez turns upon him, and says he:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It is time to rehearse the parts we are to play. From this day forth
+your daughter is Mistress Judith Godwin, you are Captain Robert Evans,
+and you" (to me), "Mr. Hopkins, the merchant. Let us each play our part
+with care, that we do not betray ourselves by a slip in a moment of
+unforeseen danger."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You are in the right, Seņor," answers Jack, "for I doubt it must be a
+hard task to forget that Mistress Judith is my daughter, as it is for a
+loving father to hold from chiding of his own flesh and blood; so I pray
+you, Madam" (to Moll), "bear that in mind and vex me no more."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We lay this lesson seriously to heart, Dawson and I, for the Don's hint
+that we might end our career in gaol did still rankle woundily in our
+minds. And so very soberly we went out of the forest of Elche in the
+night on mules lent us by Sidi ben Ahmed, with a long cavalcade of mules
+charged with merchandise for embarking on board the pirates' vessel, and
+an escort of some half-dozen fierce-looking corsairs armed with long
+firelocks and a great store of awesome crooked knives stuck in their
+waist-cloths.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After journeying across the plain, we came about midday to the seaboard,
+and there we spied, lying in a sheltered bay, a long galley with three
+masts, each dressed with a single cross-spar for carrying a
+leg-of-mutton sail, and on the shore a couple of ship's boats with a
+company of men waiting to transport our goods and us aboard. And here
+our hearts quaked a bit at the thought of trusting ourselves in the
+hands of these same murderous-looking pirates. Nevertheless, when our
+time came we got us into their boat, recommending ourselves very
+heartily to God's mercy, and so were rowed out to the galley, where we
+were very civilly received by an old Moor with a white beard, who seemed
+well acquainted with Don Sanchez. Then the merchandise being all aboard,
+and the anchor up, the men went to their oars, a dozen of each side, and
+rowed us out of the bay until, catching a little wind of air, the sails
+were run up, and we put out to sea very bravely.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Seņor," says Dawson, "I know not how I am to play this part of a
+sea-captain when we are sent on board an English ship, for if they ask
+me any questions on this business of navigating, I am done for a
+certainty."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Rest easy on that score, Evans," replies the Don. "I will answer for
+you, for I see very clearly by your complexion that you will soon be
+past answering them yourself."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And this forecast was quickly verified; for ere the galley had dipped a
+dozen times to the waves, poor Dawson was laid low with a most horrid
+sickness like any dying man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By sundown we sighted the island of Maggiore, and in the roads there we
+cast anchor for the night, setting sail again at daybreak; and in this
+latitude we beat up and down a day and a night without seeing any sail,
+but on the morning of the third day a fleet of five big ships appeared
+to the eastward, and shifting our course we bore down upon them with
+amazing swiftness. Then when we were near enough to the foremast to see
+her English flag and the men aboard standing to their deck guns for a
+defence, our old Moor fires a gun in the air, takes in his sails, and
+runs up a great white flag for a sign of peace. And now with shrewd
+haste a boat was lowered, and we were set in it with a pair of oars, and
+the old pirate bidding us farewell in his tongue, clapt on all sail and
+stood out before the wind, leaving us there to shift for ourselves. Don
+Sanchez took one oar, and I t'other,--Dawson lying in the bottom and not
+able to move a hand to save his life,--and Moll held the tiller, and so
+we pulled with all our force, crying out now and then for fear we should
+not be seen, till by God's providence we came alongside the Talbot of
+London, and were presently hoisted aboard without mishap. Then the
+captain of the Talbot and his officers gathering about us were mighty
+curious to know our story, and Don Sanchez very briefly told how we had
+gone in the Red Rose of Bristol to redeem two ladies from slavery; how
+we had found but one of these ladies living (at this Moll buries her
+face in her hands as if stricken with grief); how, on the eve of our
+departure, some of our crew in a drunken frolic had drowned a Turk of
+Alger, for which we were condemned by their court to pay an indemnity
+far and away beyond our means; how they then made this a pretext to
+seize our things, though we were properly furnished with the Duke's
+pass, and hold our men in bond; and how having plundered us of all we
+had, and seeing there was no more to be got, they did offer us our
+freedom for a written quittance of all they had taken for their
+justification if ever they should be brought to court; and finally, how,
+accepting of these conditions, we were shipped aboard their galley with
+nothing in the world but a few trifles, begged by Mistress Judith in
+remembrance of her mother.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This story was accepted without any demur; nay, Captain Ballcock, being
+one of those men who must ever appear to know all things, supported it
+in many doubtful particulars, saying that he remembered the Rose of
+Bristol quite well; that he himself had seen a whole ship's crew sold
+into slavery for no greater offence than breaking a mosque window; that
+the Duke's pass counted for nothing with these Turks; that he knew the
+galley we were brought in as well as he knew Paul's Church, having
+chased it a dozen times, yet never got within gunshot for her swift
+sailing, etc., which did much content us to hear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the officers were mighty curious to know what ailed Captain Robert
+Evans (meaning Dawson), fearing he might be ill of the plague; however,
+on the Don's vowing that he was only sick of a surfeit, Captain Ballcock
+declared he had guessed it the moment he clapt eyes on him, as he
+himself had been taken of the same complaint with only eating a dish of
+pease pudding. Nevertheless, he ordered the sick man to be laid in a
+part of the ship furthest from his quarters, and so great was the dread
+of pestilence aboard that (as his sickness continued) not a soul would
+venture near him during the whole voyage except ourselves, which also
+fell in very well with our wishes. And so after a fairly prosperous
+voyage we came up the Thames to Chatham, the third day of August.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We had been provided with some rough seamen's clothes for our better
+covering on the voyage; but now, being landed, and lodged in the Crown
+inn at Chatham, Don Sanchez would have the captain take them all back.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But," says he, "if you will do us yet another favour, Captain, will you
+suffer one of your men to carry a letter to Mistress Godwin's steward at
+Chislehurst, that he may come hither to relieve us from our present
+straits?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye," answers he, "I will take the letter gladly, myself; for nothing
+pleases me better than a ramble in the country where I was born and
+bred."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So Moll writes a letter at once to Simon, bidding him come at once to
+her relief; and Captain Ballcock, after carefully enquiring his way to
+this place he knew so well (as he would have us believe), starts off
+with it, accompanied by his boatswain, a good-natured kind of
+lick-spittle, who never failed to back up his captain's assertions,
+which again was to our great advantage; for Simon would thus learn our
+story from his lips, and find no room to doubt its veracity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As soon as these two were out of the house, Dawson, who had been carried
+from the ship and laid in bed, though as hale since we passed the
+Godwins as ever he was in his life before, sprang up, and declared he
+would go to bed no more, for all the fortunes in the world, till he had
+supped on roast pork and onions,--this being a dish he greatly loved,
+but not to be had at Elche, because the Moors by their religion forbid
+the use of swine's flesh,--and seeing him very determined on this head,
+Don Sanchez ordered a leg of pork to be served in our chamber, whereof
+Dawson did eat such a prodigious quantity, and drank therewith such a
+vast quantity of strong ale (which he protested was the only liquor an
+Englishman could drink with any satisfaction), that in the night he was
+seized with most severe cramp in his stomach. This gave us the occasion
+to send for a doctor in the morning, who, learning that Jack had been
+ill ever since we left Barbary, and not understanding his present
+complaint, pulled a very long face, and, declaring his case was very
+critical, bled him copiously, forbade him to leave his bed for another
+fortnight, and sent him in half a dozen bottles of physic. About midday
+he returns, and, finding his patient no better, administers a bolus; and
+while we are all standing about the bed, and Dawson the colour of death,
+and groaning, betwixt the nausea of the drug he had swallowed and the
+cramp in his inwards, in comes our Captain Ballcock and the little
+steward.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There!" cries he, turning on Simon, "did not I tell you that my old
+friend Evans lay at death's door with the treatment he hath received of
+these Barbary pirates? Now will you be putting us off with your doubts
+and your questionings? Shall I have up my ship's company to testify to
+the truth of my history? Look you, Madam," (to Moll), "we had all the
+trouble in the world to make this steward of yours do your bidding; but
+he should have come though we had to bring him by the neck and heels,
+and a pox to him--saving your presence."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But this is not Simon," says Moll, with a pretty air of innocence. "I
+seem to remember Simon a bigger man than he."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You must consider, Madam," says Don Sanchez, "that then you were very
+small, scarce higher than his waist, maybe, and so you would have to
+look up into his face."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I did not think of that. And are you really Simon, who used to scold me
+for plucking fruit?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yea, verily," answers he. "Doubt it not, for thou also hast changed
+beyond conception. And so it hath come to pass!" he adds, staring round
+at us in our Moorish garb like one bewildered. "And thou art my mistress
+now" (turning again to Moll).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Alas!" says she, bowing her head and covering her eyes with her hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Han't I told you so, unbelieving Jew Quaker!" growls Captain Ballcock,
+in exasperation. "Why will you plague the unhappy lady with her loss?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We will leave Evans to repose," says Moll, brushing her eyes and
+turning to the door. "You will save his life, Doctor, for he has given
+me mine."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The doctor vowed he would, if bleeding and boluses could make him whole,
+and so, leaving him with poor groaning Dawson, we went into the next
+chamber. And there Captain Ballcock was for taking his leave; but Moll,
+detaining him, says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We owe you something more than gratitude--we have put you to much
+expense."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay," cries he. "I will take nought for doing a common act of mercy."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You shall not be denied the joy of generosity," says she, with a sweet
+grace. "But you must suffer me to give your ship's company some token of
+my gratitude." Then turning to Simon with an air of authority, she says,
+"Simon, I have no money."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The poor man fumbled in his pocket, and bringing out a purse, laid it
+open, showing some four or five pieces of silver and one of gold, which
+he hastily covered with his hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I see you have not enough," says Moll, and taking up a pen she quickly
+wrote some words on a piece of paper, signing it "Judith Godwin." Then
+showing it to Simon, she says, "You will pay this when it is presented
+to you," and therewith she folds it and places it in the captain's hand,
+bidding him farewell in a pretty speech.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A hundred pounds! a hundred pounds!" gasps Simon, under his breath, in
+an agony and clutching up his purse to his breast.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I am astonished," says Moll, returning from the door, and addressing
+Simon, with a frown upon her brow, "that you are not better furnished to
+supply my wants, knowing by my letter how I stand."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Mistress," replies he, humbly, "here is all I could raise upon such
+sudden notice"--laying his purse before her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What is this?" cries she, emptying the contents upon the table. "'Tis
+nothing. Here is barely sufficient to pay for our accommodation in this
+inn. Where is the money to discharge my debt to these friends who have
+lost all in saving me? You were given timely notice of their purpose."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Prithee, be patient with me, gentle mistress. 'Tis true, I knew of
+their intent, but they were to have returned in six months, and when
+they came not at the end of the year I did truly give up all for lost;
+and so I made a fresh investment of thy fortune, laying it out all in
+life bonds and houses, to great worldly advantage, as thou shalt see in
+good time. Ere long I may get in some rents--"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And in the meanwhile are we to stay in this plight--to beg for
+charity?" asks Moll, indignantly. "Nay, mistress. Doubtless for your
+present wants this kind merchant friend--"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We have lost all," says I, "Evans his ship, and I the lading in which
+all my capital was embarked."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And I every maravedi I possessed," adds the Don.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And had they not," cries Moll, "were they possessed now of all they
+had, think you that I with an estate, as I am told, of sixty thousand
+pounds would add to the debt I owe them by one single penny!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If I may speak in your steward's defence, Madam," says I, humbly, "I
+would point out that the richest estate is not always readily converted
+into money. 'Tis like a rich jewel which the owner, though he be
+starving, must hold till he find a market."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thee hearest him, mistress," cries Simon, in delight. "A man of
+business--a merchant who knows these things. Explain it further, friend,
+for thine are words of precious wisdom."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"With landed property the case is even more difficult. Tenants cannot be
+forced to pay rent before it is due, nor can their messuages be sold
+over their heads. And possibly all your capital is invested in land--"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Every farthing that could be scraped together," says Simon, "and not a
+rood of it but is leased to substantial men. Oh! what excellent
+discourse! Proceed further, friend."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nevertheless," says I, "there are means of raising money upon credit.
+If he live there still, there is a worthy Jew in St. Mary Axe, who upon
+certain considerations of interest--"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hold, friend," cries Simon. "What art thee thinking of? Wouldst deliver
+my simple mistress into the hands of Jew usurers?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Not without proper covenants made out by lawyers and attorneys."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Lawyers, attorneys, and usurers! Heaven have mercy upon us! Verily,
+thee wouldst infest us with a pest, and bleed us to death for our cure."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I will have such relief as I may," says Moll; "so pray, sir, do send
+for these lawyers and Jews at once, and the quicker, since my servant
+seems more disposed to hinder than to help me."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Forbear, mistress; for the love of God, forbear!" cries Simon, in an
+agony, clasping his hands. "Be not misguided by this foolish merchant,
+who hath all to gain and nought to lose by this proceeding. Give me but
+a little space, and their claims shall be met, thy desires shall be
+satisfied, and yet half of thy estate be saved, which else must be all
+devoured betwixt these ruthless money-lenders and lawyers. I can make a
+covenant more binding than any attorney, as I have proved again and
+again, and" (with a gulp) "if money must be raised at once, I know an
+honest, a fairly honest, goldsmith in Lombard Street who will lend at
+the market rate."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"These gentlemen," answers Moll, turning to us, "may not choose to wait,
+and I will not incommode them for my own convenience."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Something for our present need we must have, Madam," says the Don, with
+a significant glance at his outlandish dress; "but those wants supplied,
+<i>I</i> am content to wait."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And you, sir?" says Moll to me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"With a hundred or two," says I, taking Don Sanchez's hint, "we may do
+very well till Michaelmas."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be reasonable, gentlemen," implores Simon, mopping his eyes, which ran
+afresh at this demand. "'Tis but some five or six weeks to Michaelmas;
+surely fifty pounds--"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Silence!" cries Moll, with an angry tap of her foot. "Will three
+hundred content you, gentlemen? Consider, the wants of our good friend,
+Captain Evans, may be more pressing than yours."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"He is a good, honest, simple man, and I think we may answer for his
+accepting the conditions we make for ourselves. Then, with some
+reasonable guarantee for our future payment--"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That may be contrived to our common satisfaction, I hope," says Moll,
+with a gracious smile. "I owe you half my estate; share my house at
+Chislehurst with me till the rest is forthcoming. That will give me yet
+a little longer the pleasure of your company. And there, sir," turning
+to me, "you can examine my steward's accounts for your own satisfaction,
+and counsel me, mayhap, upon the conduct of my affairs, knowing so much
+upon matters of business that are incomprehensible to a simple,
+inexperienced maid. Then, should you find aught amiss in my steward's
+books, anything to shake your confidence in his management, you will, in
+justice to your friends, in kindness to me, speak your mind openly, that
+instant reformation may be made."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Don Sanchez and I expressed our agreement to this proposal, and Moll,
+turning to the poor, unhappy steward, says in her high tone of
+authority:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You hear how this matter is ordered, Simon. Take up that purse for your
+own uses. Go into the town and send such tradesmen hither as may supply
+us with proper clothing. Then to your goldsmith in Lombard Street and
+bring me back six hundred pounds."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Six--hundred--pounds!" cries he, hardly above his breath, and with a
+pause between each word as if to gain strength to speak 'em.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Six hundred. Three for these gentlemen and three for my own needs; when
+that is done, hasten to Chislehurst and prepare my house; and, as you
+value my favour, see that nothing is wanting when I come there."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And here, lest it should be thought that Moll could not possibly play
+her part so admirably in this business, despite the many secret
+instructions given by the longheaded Don, I do protest that I have set
+down no more than I recollect, and that without exaggeration. Further,
+it must be observed that in our common experience many things happen
+which would seem incredible but for the evidence of our senses, and
+which no poet would have the hardihood to represent. 'Tis true that in
+this, as in other more surprising particulars to follow, Moll did
+surpass all common women; but 'tis only such extraordinary persons that
+furnish material for any history. And I will add that anything is
+possible to one who hath the element of greatness in her composition,
+and that it depends merely on the accident of circumstances whether a
+Moll Dawson becomes a great saint or a great sinner--a blessing or a
+curse to humanity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XV.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Lay our hands on six hundred pounds and quarter ourselves in Hurst
+Court, but stand in a fair way to be undone by Dawson, his folly.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next day comes Simon with a bag of six hundred pounds, which he
+tells over with infinite care, groaning and mopping his eyes betwixt
+each four or five pieces with a most rueful visage, so that it seemed he
+was weeping over this great expenditure, and then he goes to prepare the
+Court and get servants against Moll's arrival. By the end of the week,
+being furnished with suitable clothing and equipment, Moll and Don
+Sanchez leave us, though Dawson was now as hale and hearty as ever he
+had been, we being persuaded to rest at Chatham yet another week, to
+give countenance to Jack's late distemper, and also that we might appear
+less like a gang of thieves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before going, Don Sanchez warned us that very likely Simon would pay us
+a visit suddenly, to satisfy any doubts that might yet crop up in his
+suspicious mind; and so, to be prepared for him, I got in a good store
+of paper and books, such as a merchant might require in seeking to
+reestablish himself in business, and Dawson held himself in readiness to
+do his share of this knavish business.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sure enough, about three days after this, the drawer, who had been
+instructed to admit no one to my chamber without my consent, comes up to
+say that the little old man in leather, with the weak eyes, would see
+me; so I bade him in a high voice bid Mr. Simon step up, and setting
+myself before my table of paper, engage in writing a letter (already
+half writ), while Dawson slips out into the next room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Take a seat, Mr. Steward," says I, when Simon entered, cap in hand, and
+casting a very prying, curious look around. "I must keep you a minute or
+two"; and so I feign to be mighty busy, and give him scope for
+observation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, sir," says I, finishing my letter with a flourish, and setting it
+aside. "How do you fare?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He raised his hands, and dropped them like so much lead on his knees,
+casting up his eyes and giving a doleful shake of his head for a reply.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nothing is amiss at the Court, I pray--your lady Mistress Godwin is
+well?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I know not, friend," says he. "She hath taken my keys, denied me
+entrance to her house, and left me no privilege of my office save the
+use of the lodge house. Thus am I treated like a faithless servant,
+after toiling night and day all these years, and for her advantage,
+rather than mine own."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That has to be proved, Mr. Steward," says I, severely; "for you must
+admit that up to this present she has had no reason to love you, seeing
+that, had her fate been left in your hands, she would now be in Barbary,
+and like to end her days there. How, then, can she think but that you
+had some selfish, wicked end in denying her the service we, who are
+strangers, have rendered her?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thee speakest truth, friend, and yet thee knowest that I observed only
+the righteous prudence of an honest servant."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We will say no more on that head, but you may rest assured on my
+promise--knowing as I do the noble, generous nature of your
+mistress--that if she has done you wrong in suspecting you of base
+purpose, she will be the first to admit her fault and offer you
+reparation."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I seek no reparation, no reward, nothing in the world but the right to
+cherish this estate," cries he, in passion; and, upon my looking at him
+very curiously, as not understanding the motive of such devotion, he
+continues: "Thee canst not believe me, and yet truly I am neither a liar
+nor a madman. What do others toil for? A wife--children--friends--the
+gratification of ambition or lust! I have no kith or kin, no ambition,
+no lust; but this estate is wife, child, everything, to me. 'Tis like
+some work of vanity,--a carved image that a man may give his whole life
+to making, and yet die content if he achieves but some approach to the
+creation of his soul. I have made this estate out of nothing; it hath
+grown larger and larger, richer and more rich, in answer to my skill;
+why should I not love it, and put my whole heart in the accomplishment
+of my design, with the same devotion that you admire in the maker of
+graven images?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Despite his natural infirmities, Simon delivered this astonishing
+rhapsody with a certain sort of vehemence that made it eloquent; and
+indeed, strange as his passion was, I could not deny that it was as
+reasonable in its way as any nobler act of self-sacrifice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I begin to understand you, Mr. Steward," says I.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then, good friend, as thee wouldst help the man in peril of being torn
+from his child, render me this estate to govern; save it from the hands
+of usurers and lawyers, men of no conscience, to whom this Spanish Don
+would deliver it for the speedy satisfaction of his greed."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay, my claim's as great as his," says I, "and my affairs more
+pressing" (with a glance at my papers), "I am undone, my credit lost, my
+occupation gone."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thee shalt be paid to the last farthing. Examine my books, enquire into
+the value of my securities, and thee wilt find full assurance."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, one of these days mayhap," says I, as if to put him off.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay, come at once, I implore thee; for until I am justified to my
+mistress, I stand like one betwixt life and death."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"For one thing," says I, still shuffling, "I can do nothing, nor you
+either, to the payment of our just claim, before the inheritance is
+safely settled upon Mistress Godwin."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That shall be done forthwith. I understand the intricacies of the law,
+and know my way" (tapping his head and then his pocket), "to get a seal,
+with ten times the despatch of any attorney. I promise by Saturday thee
+shalt have assurance to thy utmost requirement. Say, good friend, thee
+wilt be at my lodge house on that day."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I'll promise nothing," says I. "Our poor Captain Evans is still a
+prisoner in his room."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye," says Dawson, coming in from the next room, in his nightgown,
+seeming very feeble and weak despite his blustering voice, "and I'm like
+to be no better till I can get a ship of my own and be to sea again.
+Have you brought my money, Mr. Quaker?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thee shalt have it truly; wait but a little while, good friend, a
+little while."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Wait a little while and founder altogether, eh? I know you land sharks,
+and would I'd been born with a smack of your cunning; then had I never
+gone of this venture, and lost my ship and twoscore men, that money'll
+ne'er replace. Look at me, a sheer hulk and no more, and all through
+lending ear to one prayer and another. I doubt you're minded to turn
+your back on poor old Bob Evans, as t'others have, Mr. Hopkins,--and why
+not? The poor old man's worth nothing, and cannot help himself." With
+this he fell a-snivelling like any girl.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I vow I'll not quit you, Evans, till you're hale again."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Bring him with thee o' Saturday," urged Simon. "Surely, my mistress can
+never have the heart to refuse you shelter at the Court, who owes her
+life to ye. Come and stay there till thy wage be paid, friend Evans."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What! would ye make an honest sailor play bum-bailiff, and stick in a
+house, willy nilly, till money's found? Plague of your dry land! Give me
+a pitching ship and a rolling sea, and a gale whistling in my shrouds.
+Oh, my reins, my reins! give me a paper of tobacco, Mr. Hopkins, and a
+pipe to soothe this agony, or I shall grow desperate!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I left the room as if to satisfy this desire, and Simon followed,
+imploring me still to come on Saturday to Chislehurst; and I at length
+got rid of him by promising to come as soon as Evans could be left or
+induced to accompany me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I persuaded Dawson, very much against his gree, to delay our going until
+Monday, the better to hoodwink old Simon; and on that day we set out for
+Chislehurst, both clad according to our condition,--he in rough frieze,
+and I in a very proper, seemly sort of cloth,--and with more guineas in
+our pockets than ever before we had possessed shillings. And a very
+merry journey this was; for Dawson, finding himself once more at
+liberty, and hearty as a lark after his long confinement and under no
+constraint, was like a boy let loose from school. Carolling at the top
+of his voice, playing mad pranks with all who passed us on the road, and
+staying at every inn to drink twopenny ale, so that I feared he would
+certainly fall ill of drinking, as he had before of eating; but the
+exercise of riding, the fresh, wholesome air, and half an hour's doze in
+a spinney, did settle his liquor, and so he reached Hurst Court quite
+sober, thanks be to Heaven, though very gay. And there we had need of
+all our self-command, to conceal our joy in finding those gates open to
+us, which we had looked through so fondly when we were last here, and to
+spy Moll, in a stately gown, on the fine terrace before this noble
+house, carrying herself as if she had lived here all her life, and Don
+Sanchez walking very deferential by her side. Especially Dawson could
+scarce bring himself to speak to her in an uncouth, surly manner, as
+befitted his character, and no sooner were we entered the house but he
+whips Moll behind a door, and falls a-hugging and kissing her like any
+sly young lover.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whilst he was giving way to these extravagances, which Moll had not the
+heart to rebuff,--for in her full, warm heart she was as overjoyed to
+see him there as he her,--Don Sanchez and I paced up and down the
+spacious hall, I all of a twitter lest one or other of the servants
+might discover the familiarity of these two (which must have been a fine
+matter for curious gossip in the household and elsewhere), and the Don
+mighty sombre and grave (as foreseeing an evil outcome of this
+business), so that he would make no answer to my civilities save by dumb
+gestures, showing he was highly displeased. But truly 'twas enough to
+set us all crazy, but he, with joy, to be in possession of all these
+riches and think that we had landed at Chatham scarce a fortnight before
+without decent clothes to our backs, and now, but for the success of our
+design, might be the penniless strolling vagabonds we were when Don
+Sanchez lighted on us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presently Moll came out from the side room with her father, her hair all
+tumbled, and as rosy as a peach, and she would have us visit the house
+from top to bottom, showing us the rooms set apart for us, her own
+chamber, the state room, the dining-hall, the store closets for plate
+and linen, etc., all prodigious fine and in most excellent condition;
+for the scrupulous minute care of old Simon had suffered nothing to fall
+out of repair, the rooms being kept well aired, the pictures,
+tapestries, and magnificent furniture all preserved fresh with linen
+covers and the like. From the hall she led us out on to the terrace to
+survey the park and the gardens about the house, and here, as within
+doors, all was in most admirable keeping, with no wild growth or
+runaweeds anywhere, nor any sign of neglect. But I observed, as an
+indication of the steward's thrifty, unpoetic mind, that the garden beds
+were planted with onions and such marketable produce, in place of
+flowers, and that instead of deer grazing upon the green slopes of the
+park there was only such profitable cattle as sheep, cows, etc. And at
+the sight of all this abundance of good things (and especially the
+well-stored buttery), Dawson declared he could live here all his life
+and never worry. And with that, all unthinkingly, he lays his arm about
+Moll's waist.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the Don, who had followed us up and down stairs, speaking never one
+word till this, says, "We may count ourselves lucky, Captain Evans, if
+we are suffered to stay here another week."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XVI.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Prosper as well as any thieves may; but Dawson greatly tormented.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next morning I went to Simon at his lodge house, having writ him a
+note overnight to prepare him for my visit, and there I found him, with
+all his books and papers ready for my examination. So to it we set,
+casting up figures, comparing accounts, and so forth, best part of the
+day, and in the end I came away convinced that he was the most
+scrupulous, honest steward ever man had. And, truly, it appeared that by
+his prudent investments and careful management he had trebled the value
+of the estate, and more, in the last ten years. He showed me, also, that
+in all his valuations he had set off a large sum for loss by accident of
+fire, war, etc., so that actually at the present moment the estate,
+which he reckoned at seventy-five thousand pounds, was worth at the
+least one hundred and twenty-five thousand. But for better assurance on
+this head, I spent the remainder of the week in visiting the farms,
+messuages, etc., on his rent roll, and found them all in excellent
+condition, and held by good substantial men, nothing in any particular
+but what he represented it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Reporting on these matters privily to Don Sanchez and Dawson, I asked
+the Don what we should now be doing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Two ways lie before us," says he, lighting a cigarro. "Put Simon out of
+his house--and make an enemy of him," adds he, betwixt two puffs of
+smoke, "seize his securities, sell them for what they will fetch, and
+get out of the country as quickly as possible. If the securities be
+worth one hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds, we may" (puff)
+"possibly" (puff) "get forty thousand for them" (puff), "about a third
+of their value--not more. That yields us ten thousand apiece. On ten
+thousand pounds a man may live like a prince--in Spain. The other way is
+to make a friend of Simon by restoring him to his office, suffer him to
+treble the worth of the estate again in the next ten years, and live
+like kings" (puff) "in England."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Pray, which way do you incline, Seņor?" says I.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Being a Spaniard," answers he, gravely, "I should prefer to live like a
+prince in Spain."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That would not I," says Dawson, stoutly. "A year and a half of Elche
+have cured me of all fondness for foreign parts. Besides, 'tis a
+beggarly, scurvy thing to fly one's country, as if we had done some
+unhandsome, dishonest trick. If I faced an Englishman, I should never
+dare look him straight in the eyes again. What say you, Mr. Hopkins?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, Evans," says I, "you know my will without telling. I will not, of
+my own accord, go from your choice, which way you will."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Since we owe everything to Mistress Judith," observes the Don, "and as
+she is no longer a child, ought not her wishes to be consulted?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No," says Jack, very decidedly, and then, lowering his voice, he adds,
+"for was she Judith Godwin ten times told, and as old as my grandmother
+into the bargain, she is still my daughter, and shall do as I choose her
+to do. And if, as you say, we owe her everything, then I count 'twould
+be a mean, dirty return to make her live out of England and feel she has
+a sneaking coward for a father."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"As you please," says the Don. "Give me ten thousand of the sum you are
+to be paid at Michaelmas, and you are welcome to all the rest."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You mean that, Seņor," cries Jack, seizing the Don's hand and raising
+his left.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"By the Holy Mother," answers Don Sanchez, in Spanish.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Done!" cries Dawson, bringing his hand down with a smack on the Don's
+palm. "Nay, I always believed you was the most generous man living. Ten
+from t'other. Master Hopkins," says he, turning to me, "what does that
+leave us?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"More than a hundred thousand!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The Lord be praised for evermore!" cries Jack.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon this, Moll, by the advice of Don Sanchez, sends for Simon, and
+telling him she is satisfied with the account I have given of his
+stewardship, offers him the further control of her affairs, subject at
+all times to her decision on any question concerning her convenience,
+and reserving to herself the sole government of her household, the
+ordering of her home, lands, etc. And Simon grasping eagerly at this
+proposal, she then gives him the promise of one thousand pounds for his
+past services, and doubles the wages due to him under his contract with
+Sir R. Godwin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Give me what it may please thee to bestow that way," cries he. "All
+shall be laid out to enrich this property. I have no other use for
+money, no other worldly end in life but that."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And when he saw me next he was most slavish in his thanks for my good
+offices, vowing I should be paid my claim by Michaelmas, if it were in
+the power of man to raise so vast a sum in such short space. Surely,
+thinks I, there was never a more strange, original creature than this,
+yet it do seem to me that there is no man but his passion must appear a
+madness to others.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I must speak now of Moll, her admirable carriage and sober conduct in
+these new circumstances, which would have turned the heads of most
+others. Never once to my knowledge did she lose her self-possession, on
+the most trying occasion, and this was due, not alone to her own shrewd
+wit and understanding, but to the subtle intelligence of Don Sanchez,
+who in the character of an old and trusty friend was ever by her side,
+watchful of her interest (and his own), ready at any moment to drop in
+her ear a quiet word of warning or counsel. By his advice she had taken
+into her service a most commendable, proper old gentlewoman, one Mrs.
+Margery Butterby, who, as being the widow of a country parson, was very
+orderly in all things, and particularly nice in the proprieties. This
+notable good soul was of a cheery, chatty disposition, of very pleasing
+manners, and a genteel appearance, and so, though holding but the part
+of housekeeper, she served as an agreeable companion and a respectable
+guardian, whose mere presence in the house silenced any question that
+might have arisen from the fact of three men living under the same roof
+with the young and beautiful mistress of Hurst Court. Moreover, she
+served us as a very useful kind of mouthpiece; for all those marvellous
+stories of her life in Barbary, of the pirates we had encountered in
+redeeming her from the Turk, etc., with which Moll would beguile away
+any tedious half-hour, for the mere amusement of creating Mrs.
+Butterby's wonder and surprise,--as one will tell stories of fairies to
+children,--this good woman repeated with many additions of her own
+concerning ourselves, which, to reflect credit on herself, were all to
+our advantage. This was the more fitting, because the news spreading
+that the lost heiress had returned to Hurst Court excited curiosity far
+and wide, and it was not long before families in the surrounding seats,
+who had known Sir R. Godwin in bygone times, called to see his daughter.
+And here Moll's wit was taxed to the utmost, for those who had known
+Judith Godwin as an infant expected that she should remember some
+incident stored in their recollection; but she was ever equal to the
+occasion, feigning a pretty doubting innocence at first, then suddenly
+asking this lady if she had not worn a cherry dress with a beautiful
+stomacher at the time, or that gentleman if he had not given her a gold
+piece for a token, and it generally happened these shrewd shafts hit
+their mark: the lady, though she might have forgotten her gown,
+remembering she had a very becoming stomacher; the gentleman believing
+that he did give her a lucky penny, and so forth, from very vanity. Then
+Moll's lofty carriage and her beauty would remind them of their dear
+lost friend, Mrs. Godwin, in the heyday of her youth, and all agreed in
+admiring her beyond anything. And though Moll, from her lack of
+knowledge, made many slips, and would now and then say things
+uncustomary to women of breeding, yet these were easily attributed to
+her living so long in a barbarous country, and were as readily glanced
+over. Indeed, nothing could surpass Moll's artificial conduct on these
+occasions. She would lard her conversation with those scraps of Italian
+she learnt from me, and sometimes, affecting to have forgot her own
+tongue, she would stumble at a word, and turning to Don Sanchez, ask him
+the English of some Moorish phrase. Then one day, there being quite a
+dozen visitors in her state room, she brings down her Moorish dress and
+those baubles given her by friends at Elche, to show the ladies, much to
+the general astonishment and wonder; then, being prayed to dress herself
+in these clothes, she with some hesitation of modesty consents, and
+after a short absence from the room returns in this costume, looking
+lovelier than ever I had before seen, with the rings about her shapely
+bare arms and on her ankles, and thus arrayed she brings me a guitar,
+and to my strumming sings a Moorish song, swaying her arms above her
+head and turning gracefully in their fashion, so that all were in an
+ecstasy with this strange performance. And the talk spreading, the
+number of visitors grew apace,--as bees will flock to honey,--and
+yielding to their urgent entreaties, she would often repeat this piece
+of business, and always with a most winning grace, that charmed every
+one. But she was most a favourite of gentlemen and elderly ladies; for
+the younger ones she did certainly put their noses out of joint, since
+none could at all compare with her in beauty nor in manner, either, for
+she had neither the awkward shyness of some nor the boldness of others,
+but contrived ever to steer neatly betwixt the two extremes by her
+natural self-possession and fearlessness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of all her new friends, the most eager in courting her were Sir Harry
+Upton and his lady (living in the Crays); and they, being about to go to
+London for the winter, did press Moll very hard to go with them, that
+she might be presented to the king; and, truth to tell, they would not
+have had to ask her twice had she been governed only by her own
+inclination. For she was mad to go,--that audacious spirit of adventure
+still working very strong in her,--and she, like a winning gamester,
+must for ever be playing for higher and higher stakes. But we, who had
+heard enough of his excellent but lawless Majesty's court to fear the
+fate of any impulsive, beauteous young woman that came within his sway,
+were quite against this. Even Don Sanchez, who was no innocent, did
+persuade her from it with good strong argument,--showing that, despite
+his worldliness, he did really love her as much as 'twas in his withered
+heart to love any one. As for Dawson, he declared he would sooner see
+his Moll in her winding-sheet than in the king's company, adding that
+'twould be time enough for her to think of going to court when she had a
+husband to keep her out of mischief. And so she refused this offer (but
+with secret tears, I believe). "But," says she to her father, "if I'm
+not to have my own way till I'm married, I shall get me a husband as
+soon as I can."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And it seemed that she would not have to look far nor wait long for one
+neither. Before a month was passed, at least half a dozen young sparks
+were courting her, they being attracted, not only by her wit and beauty,
+but by the report of her wealth, it being known to all how Simon had
+enriched the estate. And 'twas this abundance of suitors which prevented
+Moll from choosing any one in particular, else had there been but one, I
+believe the business would have been settled very quickly. For now she
+was in the very flush of life, and the blood that flowed in her veins
+was of no lukewarm kind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But here (that I may keep all my strings in harmony) I must quit Moll
+for a space to tell of her father. That first hint of the Don's bringing
+him to his senses somewhat (like a dash of cold water), and the
+exuberance of his joy subsiding, he quickly became more circumspect in
+his behaviour, and fell into the part he had to play. And the hard,
+trying, sorrowful part that was, neither he nor I had foreseen. For now
+was he compelled for the first time in his life, at any length, to live
+apart from his daughter, to refrain from embracing her when they met in
+the morning, to speak to her in a rough, churlish sort when his heart,
+maybe, was overflowing with love, and to reconcile himself to a cool,
+indifferent behaviour on her side, when his very soul was yearning for
+gentle, tender warmth. And these natural cravings of affection were
+rather strengthened than stilled by repression, as one's hunger by
+starving. To add to this, he now saw his Moll more bewitching than ever
+she was before, the evidence of her wit and understanding stimulating
+that admiration which he dared not express. He beheld her loved and
+courted openly by all, whilst he who had deeper feeling for her than
+any, and more right to caress her, must at each moment stifle his
+desires and lay fetters on his inclinations, which constraint, like
+chains binding down a stout, thriving oak, did eat and corrode into his
+being, so that he did live most of these days in a veritable torment.
+Yet, for Moll's sake, was he very stubborn in his resolution; and, when
+he could no longer endure to stand indifferently by while others were
+enjoying her sprightly conversation, he would go up to his chamber and
+pace to and fro, like some she-lion parted from her cub.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These sufferings were not unperceived by Moll, who also had strong
+feeling to repress, and therefore could comprehend her father's torture,
+and she would often seize an opportunity, nay, run great risk of
+discovery, to hie her secretly to his room, there to throw herself in
+his arms and strain him to her heart, covering his great face with
+tender kisses, and whispering words of hope and good cheer (with the
+tears on her cheek). And one day when Jack seemed more than usual
+downhearted, she offered him to give up everything and return to her old
+ways, if he would. But this spurring his courage, he declared he would
+live in hell rather than she should fall from her high estate, and
+become a mere vagabond wench again, adding that 'twas but the first
+effort gave him so much pain, that with practice 'twould all be as
+nothing; that such sweet kisses as hers once a week did amply compensate
+him for his fast, etc. Then her tears being brushed away, she would quit
+him with noiseless step and all precautions, and maybe five minutes
+afterwards, whilst Jack was sitting pensive at his window pondering her
+sweetness and love, he would hear her laughing lightly below, as if he
+were already forgotten.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XVII.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>How Dawson for Moll's good parts company with us, and goes away a
+lonely man.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the eve of Michaelmas day old Simon returned from London, whither he
+had gone two days before, to raise the money he had promised; and
+calling upon him in the afternoon I found him seated at his table, with
+a most woe-begone look in his face, and his eyes streaming more
+copiously than usual. And with most abject humility he told me that
+doing the utmost that lay in his power, he had not been able to persuade
+his goldsmith to lend more than ten thousand pounds on the title deeds.
+Nor had he got that, he declared, but that the goldsmith knew him for an
+honest and trustworthy man whom he would credit beyond any other in the
+world; for the seal not yet being given to Judith Godwin's succession,
+there was always peril of dispute and lawsuits which might make these
+papers of no value at all (the king's ministers vying one with another
+to please their master by bringing money rightly or wrongly into the
+treasury), and this, indeed, may have been true enough.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But," says he, "all will go well if thee wilt have but a little
+patience for a while. To-morrow my rents will come in, and I will exact
+to the last farthing; and there is a parcel of land I may sell, mayhap,
+for instant payment, though 'twill be at a fearsome loss" (mopping his
+eyes), "yet I will do it rather than put thee to greater incommodity;
+and so, ere the end of the week, thee mayst safely count on having yet
+another three thousand, which together makes nigh upon half the sum
+promised. And this, dear good friend," adds he, slyly, "thee mayst well
+take on account of thine own share,--and none dispute thy right, for
+'tis thy money hath done all. And from what I see of him, smoking of
+pipes in the public way and drinking with any low fellows in alehouses,
+this Captain Evans is but a paltry, mean man who may be easily put off
+with a pound or two to squander in his pleasures; and as for the Spanish
+grandee, he do seem so content to be with our mistress that I doubt he
+needs no pretext for quitting her, added to which, being of a haughty,
+proud nature, he should scorn to claim his own, to the prejudice of a
+merchant who hath nought but his capital to live upon. And I do implore
+thee, good friend, to lay this matter before my mistress in such a way
+that she may not be wroth with me."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I told him I would do all he could expect of me in reason, but bade him
+understand that his chance of forgiveness for having broke his first
+engagement depended greatly upon his exactitude in keeping the second,
+and that he might count on little mercy from us if the other three
+thousand were not forthcoming as he promised. So I took the money and
+gave him a quittance for it, signing it with my false name, James
+Hopkins, but, reflecting on this when I left him, I wished I had not.
+For I clearly perceived that by this forgery I laid myself open to very
+grievous consequences; moreover, taking of this solid money, disguise it
+how I would, appeared to me nothing short of downright robbery, be it
+whose it might. In short, being now plunged up to my neck in this
+business, I felt like a foolish lad who hath waded beyond his depth in a
+rapid current, hoping I might somehow get out of it safely, but with
+very little expectation. However, the sight of all this gold told up in
+scores upon the table in our closed room served to quiet these qualms
+considerably. Nevertheless, I was not displeased to remember our bargain
+with Don Sanchez, feeling that I should breathe more freely when he had
+taken this store of gold out of my hands, etc. Thus did my mind waver
+this way and that, like a weather-cock to the blowing of contrary winds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Twas this day that Moll (as I have said) dressed herself in her Moorish
+clothes for the entertainment of her new friends, and Dawson, hearing
+her voice, yet not daring to go into the state room where she was, must
+needs linger on the stairs listening to her song, and craning his neck
+to catch a glimpse of her through the open door below. Here he stands in
+a sort of ravishment, sucking in her sweet voice, and the sounds of
+delight with which her guests paid tribute to her performance, feeding
+his passion which, like some fire, grew more fierce by feeding, till he
+was well-nigh beside himself. Presently, out comes Moll from her state
+room, all glowing with exercise, flushed with pleasure, a rich colour in
+her cheek, and wild fire in her eyes, looking more witching than any
+siren. Swiftly she crosses the hall, and runs up the stairs to gain her
+chamber and reclothe herself, but half way up Dawson stops her, and
+clasping her about, cries hoarsely in a transport:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thou art my own Moll--my own sweet Moll!" adding, as she would break
+from him to go her way, "Nay, chick. You shall not go till you have
+bussed your old dad."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then she, hesitating a moment betwixt prudence and her warmer feelings,
+suddenly yields to the impulse of her heart (her head also being turned
+maybe with success and delight), and flinging her arms about his neck
+gives him a hearty kiss, and then bursts away with a light laugh.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Jack watches her out of sight, and then, when the moment of escape is
+past, he looks below to see if there be any danger, and there he spies
+Don Sanchez, regarding him from the open door, where he stands, as if to
+guard it. Without a sign the Don turns on his heel and goes back into
+the room, while Dawson, with a miserable hangdog look, comes to me in my
+chamber, where I am counting the gold, and confesses his folly with a
+shamed face, cursing himself freely for his indiscretion, which at this
+rate must ruin all ere long.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was no great surprise to me, for I myself had seen him many a time
+clip his dear daughter's hand, when he thought no one was by, and, more
+than once, the name of Moll had slipped out when he should have spoken
+of Mistress Judith.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These accidents threw us both into a very grave humour, and especially I
+was tormented with the reflection that a forgery could be proved against
+me, if things came to the worst. The danger thereof was not slight; for
+though all in the house loved Moll dearly and would willingly do her no
+hurt, yet the servants, should they notice how Mistress Judith stood
+with Captain Evans, must needs be prating, and there a mischief would
+begin, to end only the Lord knows where! Thereupon, I thought it as well
+to preach Jack a sermon, and caution him to greater prudence; and this
+he took in amazing good part--not bidding me tend my own business as he
+might at another time, but assenting very submissively to all my hints
+of disaster, and thanking me in the end for speaking my mind so freely.
+Then, seeing him so sadly downcast, I (to give a sweetmeat after a
+bitter draught) bade him take the matter not too much to heart,
+promising that, with a little practice, he would soon acquire a habit of
+self-restraint, and so all would go well. But he made no response, save
+by shaking of his head sorrowfully, and would not be comforted. When all
+were abed that night, we three men met in my chamber, where I had set
+the bags of money on the table, together with a dish of tobacco and a
+bottle of wine for our refreshment, and then the Don, having lit him a
+cigarro, and we our pipes, with full glasses beside us, I proposed we
+should talk of our affairs, to which Don Sanchez consented with a solemn
+inclination of his head. But ere I began, I observed with a pang of
+foreboding, that Jack, who usually had emptied his glass ere others had
+sipped theirs, did now leave his untouched, and after the first pull or
+two at his pipe, he cast it on the hearth as though it were foul to his
+taste. Taking no open notice of this, I showed Don Sanchez the gold, and
+related all that had passed between Simon and me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Happily, Seņor," says I, in conclusion, "here is just the sum you
+generously offered to accept for your share, and we give it you with a
+free heart, Evans and I being willing to wait for what may be
+forthcoming."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Is it your wish both, that I take this?" says he, laying his hand on
+the money and looking from me to Dawson.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye," says he, "'tis but a tithe of what is left to us, and not an
+hundredth part of what we owe to you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Very good," says the Don. "I will carry it to London to-morrow."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But surely, Seņor," says I, "you will not quit us so soon."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Don Sanchez rolls his cigarro in his lips, looking me straight in the
+face and somewhat sternly, and asks me quietly if I have ever found him
+lacking in loyalty and friendship.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"In truth, never, Seņor."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then why should you imagine I mean to quit you now when you have more
+need of a friend in this house" (with a sideward glance as towards
+Moll's chamber) "than ever you before had?" Then, turning towards Jack,
+he says, "What are you going to do, Captain Evans?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dawson pauses, as if to snatch one last moment for consideration, and
+then, nodding at me, "You'll not leave my--Moll, Kit?" says he, with no
+attempt to disguise names.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why should I leave her; are we not as brothers, you and I?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, I'd trust you with my life," answers he, "and more than that, with
+my--Moll! If you were her uncle, she couldn't love you more, Kit. And
+you will stand by her, too, Seņor?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Don bowed his head.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then when you leave, to-morrow, I'll go with you to London," says Jack.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I shall return the next day," says Don Sanchez, with significance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And I shall not, God help me!" says Jack, bitterly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Give me your hand," says the Don; but I could speak never a word, and
+sat staring at Jack, in a maze.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We'll say nought of this to her," continues Jack; "there must be no
+farewells, I could never endure that. But it shall seem that I have gone
+with you for company, and have fallen in with old comrades who would
+keep me for a carousing."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But without friends--alone--what shall you do there in London?" says I,
+heart-stricken at the thought of his desolation. The Don answers for
+Jack.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Make the best of his lot with a stout heart, like any other brave man,"
+says he. "There are natural hardships which every man must bear in his
+time, and this is one of them." Then lowering his voice, he adds,
+"Unless you would have her die an old maid, she and her father must part
+sooner or later."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, that's true, and yet, Master," says Jack, "I would have you know
+that I'm not so brave but I would see her now and then."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That may be ordered readily enough," says the Don.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then do you tell her, Seņor, I have but gone a-junketing, and she may
+look to see me again when my frolic's over."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Don closed his eyes as one in dubitation, and then says, lifting his
+eyebrows: "She is a clever woman--shrewd beyond any I have ever known;
+then why treat her as you would a foolish child? You must let me tell
+her the truth when I come back, and I warrant it will not break her
+heart, much as she loves you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"As you will," says t'other. "'Twill be all as one to me," with a sigh.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"This falls out well in all ways," continues the Don, turning to me.
+"You will tell Simon, whose suspicion we have most to fear, that we have
+handed over four thousand of those pieces to Captain Evans as being most
+in need, we ourselves choosing to stay here till the rest of our claim
+is paid. That will account for Evans going away, and give us a pretext
+for staying here."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I'll visit him myself, if you will," says Jack, "and wring his hand to
+show my gratitude. I warrant I'll make him wince, such a grip will I
+give him. And I'll talk of nothing else but seas and winds, and the
+manner of ship I'll have for his money."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The following morning before Moll was stirring, Don Sanchez and Dawson
+set forth on their journey, and I going with them beyond the park gates
+to the bend of the road, we took leave of each other with a great show
+of cheerfulness on both sides. But Lord! my heart lay in my breast like
+any lump of lead, and when Jack turned his back on me, the tears sprang
+up in my eyes as though indeed this was my brother and I was never to
+see him more. And long after he was out of sight I sat on the bank by
+the roadside, sick with pain to think of his sorrow in going forth like
+this, without one last loving word of parting from his dear Moll, to
+find no home in London, no friend to cheer him, and he the most
+companionable man in the world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XVIII.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Of our getting a painter into the Court, with whom our Moll falls
+straightway in love.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Being somewhat of a coward, I essayed to put Moll off with a story of
+her father having gone a-frolicking with Don Sanchez, leaving it to the
+Don to break the truth to her on his return. And a sorry, bungling
+business I made of it, to be sure. For, looking me straight in the eyes,
+whenever I dared lift them, she did seem to perceive that I was lying,
+from the very first, which so disconcerted me, though she interrupted me
+by never a word, that I could scarce stammer to the end of my tale.
+Then, without asking a single question, or once breaking her painful
+silence, she laid her face in her hands, her shoulders shook, and the
+tears ran out between her fingers, and fell upon her lap.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I know, I know," says she, putting me away, when I attempted to speak.
+"He has gone away for my sake, and will come back no more; and 'tis all
+my fault, that I could not play my part better."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, what words of comfort I could find, I offered her; but she would
+not be consoled, and shut herself up in her room all that morning.
+Nevertheless, she ate more heartily than I at dinner, and fresh visitors
+coming in the afternoon, she entertained them as though no grief lay at
+her heart. Indeed, she recovered of this cruel blow much easier than I
+looked for; and but that she would at times sit pensive, with
+melancholy, wistful eyes, and rise from her seat with a troubled sigh,
+one would have said, at the end of the week, that she had ceased to feel
+for her father. But this was not so (albeit wounds heal quickly in the
+young and healthful), for I believe that they who weep the least do ache
+the most.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, for her further excuse (if it be needed), Don Sanchez brought back
+good tidings of her father,--how he was neatly lodged near the Cherry
+garden, where he could hear the birds all day and the fiddles all night,
+with abundance of good entertainment, etc. To confirm which, she got a
+letter from him, three days later, very loving and cheerful, telling
+how, his landlord being a carpenter, he did amuse himself mightily at
+his old trade in the workshop, and was all agog for learning to turn
+wood in a lathe, promising that he would make her a set of egg-cups
+against her birthday, please God. Added to this, the number of her
+friends multiplying apace, every day brought some new occupation to her
+thoughts; also, having now those three thousand pounds old Simon had
+promised us, Moll set herself to spending of them as quickly as
+possible, by furnishing herself with all sorts of rich gowns and
+appointments, which is as pretty a diversion of melancholy from a young
+woman's thoughts as any. And so I think I need dwell no longer on this
+head.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the beginning of October, Simon comes, cap in hand, and very
+humble, to the Court to crave Moll's consent to his setting some men
+with guns in her park at night, to lie in ambush for poachers, telling
+how they had shot one man in the act last spring, and had hanged another
+the year before for stealing of a sheep; adding that a stranger had been
+seen loitering in the neighbourhood, who, he doubted not, was of their
+thieving crew.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What makes you think that?" asks Moll. "He has been seen lingering
+about here these three days," answers Simon. "Yet to my knowledge he
+hath not slept at either of the village inns. Moreover, he hath the look
+of a desperate, starving rascal, ripe for such work."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I will have no man killed for his misfortunes."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Gentle mistress, suffer me to point out that if thee lets one man steal
+with impunity, others, now innocent, are thereby encouraged to sin, and
+thus thy mercy tends to greater cruelty."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No man shall be killed on my land,--there is my answer," says Moll,
+with passion. "If you take this poor, starved creature, it shall be
+without doing him bodily hurt. You shall answer for it else."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Not a bone shall be broken, mistress. 'Tis enough if we carry him
+before Justice Martin, a godly, upright man, and a scourge to
+evil-doers."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay, you shall not do that, neither, till I have heard his case," says
+Moll. "'Tis for me to decide whether he has injured me or not, and I'll
+suffer none to take my place."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Promising obedience, Simon withdrew before any further restrictions
+might be put upon him; but Moll's mind was much disturbed all day by
+fear of mischief being done despite her commands, and at night she would
+have me take her round the park to see all well. Maybe, she thought that
+her own father, stealing hither to see her privily, might fall a victim
+to Simon's ambushed hirelings. But we found no one, though Simon had
+certainly hidden these fellows somewhere in the thickets.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whilst we were at table next morning, we heard a great commotion in the
+hall; and Mrs. Butterby coming in a mighty pucker, told how the robber
+had been taken in the park, and how Simon had brought him to the house
+in obedience to her lady's command. "But do, pray, have a care of
+yourself, my dear lady," says she; "for this hardy villain hath struck
+Mr. Simon in the face and made most desperate resistance; and Heaven
+protect us from such wicked outlaws as have the villany to show
+themselves in broad daylight!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moll, smiling, said she would rather face a lion in the day than a mouse
+by night, and so bade the captive to be brought before her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then in comes Simon, with a stout band over one eye, followed by two
+sturdy fellows holding their prisoner betwixt them. And this was a very
+passionate man, as was evidenced by the looks of fury he cast from side
+to side upon his captors as they dragged him this way and that to make a
+show of their power, but not ill-looking. In his struggles he had lost
+his hat, and his threadbare coat and shirt were torn open, laying bare
+his neck and showing a very fair white skin and a good beard of light
+curling hair. There was nought mean or vile in his face, but rather it
+seemed to me a noble countenance, though woefully wasted, so that at a
+glance one might perceive he was no born rascal, but likely enough some
+ruined man of better sort driven to unlawful ways by his distress. He
+was of a fair height, but gaunt beyond everything, and so feeble that
+after one effort to free his arms his chin sank upon his breast as if
+his forces were all spent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Seeing this, Moll bade the fellows unbind him, telling them sharply they
+might see there was no need of such rigour.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Being freed, our prisoner lifts his head and makes a slight reverence to
+Moll, but with little gratitude in his look, and places himself at the
+end of the table facing us, who are at the other end, Moll sitting
+betwixt Don Sanchez and me. And there, setting his hands for support
+upon the board, he holds his head up pretty proudly, waiting for what
+might come.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Who are you?" asks Moll, in a tone of authority.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He waits a moment, as if deliberating with himself whether to speak
+fairly or not, then, being still sore with his ill-treatment, and
+angered to be questioned thus by a mere girl (he, as I take it, being a
+man of thirty or thereabouts), he answers:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I do not choose to tell. Who I am, what I am, concerns you no more than
+who and what you are concerns me, and less since I may justly demand by
+what right these fellows, whom I take to be your servants, have thus
+laid hands on me."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"How do you answer this?" asks Moll, turning to Simon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Simon told very precisely, as if he were before a magistrate, how
+this man, having been seen lingering about the Court several days, and
+being without home or occupation, had been suspected of felonious
+purposes; how, therefore, he had set a watch to lay wait for him; how
+that morning they had entrapped him standing within a covert of the park
+regarding the house; how he had refused to give his name or any excuse
+for his being there, and how he had made most desperate attempt to
+escape when they had lain hands on him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Is this true?" asks Moll of the prisoner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes," says he.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moll regards him with incredulous eyes a moment, then, turning to Simon,
+"What arms had he for this purpose that you speak of?" says she.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"None, mistress; but 'twould be a dread villain verily who would carry
+the engines of his trade abroad in daylight to betray him." And then he
+told how 'tis the habit of these poachers to reconnoitre their ground by
+day, and keep their nets, guns, etc., concealed in some thicket or
+hollow tree convenient for their purpose. "But," adds he, "we may
+clearly prove a trespass against him, which is a punishable offence, and
+this assault upon me, whereof I have evidence, shall also count for
+something with Justice Martin, and so the wicked shall yet come by their
+deserts." And with that he gives his fellows a wink with his one eye to
+carry off their quarry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Stay," says Moll, "I would be further convinced--"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If he be an honest man, let him show thee his hand," says Simon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The man innocently enough stretches out his palm towards us, not
+perceiving Simon's end.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There!" cries Simon. "What said I? Is that a hand that ever did a day's
+honest work?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis no worse than mine," says Moll, regarding the hand which in truth
+was exceeding smooth and well formed. "Come," adds she, still more
+kindly, "you see I am no harsh judge. I would not deny a fellow-creature
+the pleasure that is not grudged the coney that runs across my lawn.
+Tell me you were there but to gratify a passing caprice, and I'll
+forgive you as freely as I'll believe you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This gentle appeal seemed to move the young man greatly, and he made as
+if he would do more than was demanded of him, and make that free
+confession which he had refused to force. But ere a word could leave his
+parted lips a deadly shade passed over his face, his knees gave under
+him, and staggering to save himself, he fell to the ground in a swoon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, whilst all we men stood fixed in wonderment, Moll, with the quick,
+helpful impulse of her womanhood, ran swiftly from her place to his
+side, and dropping on her knees cried for water to be brought her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Dead of hunger," says Don Sanchez, in my ear. "Fetch a flask of
+brandy."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And then, laying hold of Simon by the shoulder, he pointed significantly
+to the open door. This hint Simon was not slow to take, and when I
+returned from the buttery with a case of strong waters, I found no one
+in the room but Don Sanchez, and Moll with the fainting man's head upon
+her lap, bathing his temples gently. Life had not come back, and the
+young man's face looked very handsome in death, the curls pushed back
+from his brow, and his long features still and colourless like a carved
+marble.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then with a "lack-a-day" and "alas," in bustles Mrs. Butterby with a
+bottle of cordial in one hand and a bunch of burning feathers in the
+other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Fling that rubbish in the chimney," says the Don. "I know this
+malady--well enough," and pouring some hollands in a cup he put it to
+the dead man's parted lips.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In a few moments he breathed again, and hearing Moll's cry of joy, he
+opened his eyes as one waking from a dream and turned his head to learn
+what had happened. Then finding his head in Moll's lap and her small,
+soft, cool hand upon his brow, a smile played over his wasted face. And
+well, indeed, might he smile to see that young figure of justice turned
+to the living image of tender mercy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Perceiving him out of danger, and recovering her own wits at the same
+time, Mrs. Butterby cries: "Lord! Madam, do let me call a maid to take
+your place; for, dear heart! you have quite spoiled your new gown with
+this mess of water, and all for such a paltry fellow as this!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Truly, it must have seemed to her understanding an outrageous thing that
+a lady of her mistress' degree should be nursing such a ragged rascal;
+but to me, knowing Moll's helpful, impulsive disposition, 'twas no such
+extraordinary matter, for she at such a moment could not entertain those
+feelings which might have restrained a lady of more refined breeding.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The pretty speech of Mrs. Butterby, reaching the fallen man's ear,
+seemed instantly to quicken his spirits, and, casting off his lethargic
+humour, he quickly staggered to his feet, while we raised Moll. Then,
+resting one hand upon the table for support, he craved her pardon for
+giving so much trouble, but in a very faint, weak voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I would have done as much for a dog," says Moll. "My friends will
+render you what further services are fit; and, if it appears that you
+have been unjustly used (as I do think you have), be sure you shall have
+reparation."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I ask no more," says he, "than to be treated as I may merit in your
+esteem."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Justice shall be done," says Don Sanchez, in his stern voice, and with
+that he conducts Moll to the door.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Moll was not content with this promise of justice. For the quality
+of mercy begetteth love, so that one cannot moderate one's anger against
+an enemy, but it doth breed greater compassion and leniency by making
+one better content with oneself, and therefore more indulgent to others.
+And so, when she had left the room, she sends in her maid to fetch me,
+and taking me aside says with vivacity:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I will have no punishment made upon that man."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay," says I, "but if 'tis proved that his intent was to rob you--"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What then!" says she. "Hath he not as much right to this estate as we?
+And are we one whit the better than he, save in the more fortunate issue
+of our designs? Understand me," adds she, with passion; "I will have
+nothing added to his unhappiness."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I found the young man seated at the table, and Don Sanchez gravely
+setting food before him. But he would take nothing but bread, and that
+he ate as though it were the sweetest meat in all the world. I lead the
+Don to the window, and there, in an undertone, told him of Moll's
+decision; and, whether her tone of supreme authority amused him or not,
+I cannot say, because of his impassive humour, but he answered me with a
+serious inclination of his head, and then we fell speaking of other
+matters in our usual tone, until the young man, having satisfied the
+cravings of nature, spoke:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"When you are at liberty, gentlemen," says he, "to question my conduct,
+I will answer you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XIX.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Of the business appointed to the painter, and how he set about the
+same.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The young man had risen and was standing by the table when we turned
+from the window; he seemed greatly refreshed, his face had lost its
+livid hue of passion and death, and looked the better for a tinge of
+colour. He met our regard boldly, yet with no braggart, insolent air,
+but the composure of a brave man facing his trial with a consciousness
+of right upon his side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I would ask you," says the Don, seating himself on t'other side the
+table, "why you refused to do that before?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Sir," answers he, "I have lost everything in the world save some small
+modicum of pride, which, being all I have, I do cherish, maybe, unduly.
+And so, when these unmannerly hinds took me by the throat, calling on me
+to tell my name and business, this spirit within me flaring up, I could
+not answer with the humility of a villain seeking to slink out of danger
+by submissive excuses."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be seated," says the Don, accepting this explanation with a bow. "How
+may we call you?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"In Venice," replies the other, with some hesitation, "I was called
+Dario--a name given me by my fellow-scholars because my English name was
+not to their taste."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Enough," says the Don. "I can understand a man of better fortune, as I
+perceive you have been, wishing in such a position as this to retain his
+incognito. There are no parks in Venice, to my knowledge, but surely,
+sir, you would not enter a palazzo there uninvited without some
+reasonable pretext."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It would be sufficient that in such a house as this I thought I might
+find some employment for a painter."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You are a painter?" says I.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A poor one, as you see," replies Dario, with a significant glance at
+his clothes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Don Sanchez turned to me, hunching his shoulders.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis clear," says he, "that Signor Dario has been grossly abused by our
+lady's over-zealous steward. You have but to tell us, sir, what
+reparation we can make you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I'll not refuse it," answers Dario, eagerly. "You shall grant me
+permission to prove the honesty of my story--and something more than
+that. Somewhere here," adds he, glancing around him, "I'd leave a
+tribute to the grace of that dear lady who brought me back to life."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Don Sanchez assents with a bow to this proposal, but with a rueful
+glance at the rich panels of the wall, as fearing this painter might be
+as poor in talent as in his clothes--the latter reflecting discredit on
+the former--and would disfigure the handsome walls with some rude daub.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ah!" cries Dario, casting his eye upon the ceiling, which was plastered
+in the Italian mode and embellished with a poor design of cherubs and
+clouds, "this ceiling is ill done. I could paint a fresco that would
+less disgrace the room."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You will need materials," says the Don, laying his purse upon the
+table. "When you return with them, you may rely upon having our lady's
+consent to your wishes."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The painter took the purse with a bow of acknowledgment, and no more
+hesitation than one gentleman would show in receiving an obligation from
+another, and presently left us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Shall we see him again, think ye, Seņor?" I asked when we were left to
+ourselves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He nodded, but with such a reflective, sombre air, that I was impelled
+to ask him if he lacked confidence in the story told us by the painter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"His story may be true enough, but whether Signor Dario be an honest man
+or not is another matter. A painter's but a man. A ruined gentleman will
+accommodate his principles to circumstances" (with a side glance that
+seemed to say, "I am a ruined gentleman")--"and my mind would be easier
+if I knew by what curious accident a painter in need should find himself
+in the heart of Kent, and why fixing on this house to seek employment he
+should linger to the point of starvation before he can pluck up courage
+to ask a simple question. We must keep our eyes open, Mr. Hopkins, and,"
+adds he, dropping his voice, "our mouths shut."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I could not sleep that night for thinking of house-breakings and bloody
+struggles for dear life; for 'tis a matter of common report that this
+sort of robbers, ere they make attack, do contrive to get one of their
+number into the house that he may learn where good goods are stowed,
+which part is easiest of attack, etc. I know not whether these quakings
+were shared by the Don, but certainly our misgivings never entered
+Moll's little head. Nay, rather, her romantic disposition did lead her
+(when she heard our narration) to conceive that this mysterious Dario
+might be some wandering genius, whose work upon our ceiling would make
+the Court for ever glorious. And while in this humour she bade me go to
+Simon, whose presence she would not tolerate in her house, and make him
+acquainted with her high displeasure, and furthermore, to command that
+he should make satisfactory apology to Dario upon his return. So to him
+I went, and he wringing his hands in anguish deplored that his best
+endeavours to serve his mistress served only to incense her the more
+against him. But for his apology he declared that has been made the
+moment he heard of the gentleman's release, at the same time that he
+restored to him his hat and a pocket-book which had fallen from his
+pocket.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This did somewhat reassure me, knowing full well that Simon would not
+have given up this book without first acquainting himself with its
+contents, and urging that had there been anything in it to incriminate
+him, he had certainly laid it before his mistress for his own
+justification.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A couple of days after this, as Don Sanchez and I were discoursing in
+the great avenue, Dario presents himself, looking all the better for a
+decent suit of clothes and a more prosperous condition, and Moll joining
+us at that moment, he makes her a very handsome obeisance and standing
+uncovered before her, begs to know if it is her will that he should
+paint the ceiling of her dining-hall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As he spoke, the colour rose on his cheek, and a shaft of sunlight
+falling on his curling hair, which shone with the lustre of health, made
+him look as comely a man as ever I did see, and a good five years
+younger than when he stood before us in the extremity of distress.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Sir," says Moll, "were you my debtor as much as I am yours, I could not
+ask for better payment."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Don Sanchez put an end to this pretty exchange of courtesies--which
+maybe he considered overmuch as between a lady of Moll's degree and one
+who might turn out to be no more than an indifferent painter at the
+best--by proposing that Dario should point out what disposition he would
+have made for his convenience in working. So he went within doors, and
+there Dario gave orders to our gardener, who was a handy sort of
+Jack-of-all-trades, what pieces of furniture should be removed, how the
+walls and floor should be protected, and how a scaffold should be set up
+for him to work on. And the gardener promising to carry out all these
+instructions in the course of the day, Dario took his leave of us in a
+very polished style, saying he would begin his business the next morning
+betimes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sure enough, we were awoke next day by a scraping below, and coming
+down, we found our painter in a scull-cap and a smock that covered him
+to his heels, upon his scaffold, preparing the ceiling in a very
+workmanlike manner. And to see him then, with his face and beard thickly
+crusted over with a mess of dry plaster and paint, did I think somewhat
+dispel those fanciful illusions which our Moll had fostered--she,
+doubtless, expecting to find him in a very graceful attitude and
+beautiful to look at, creating a picture as if by inchantment. Her
+mortification was increased later in the day when, we having invited him
+on her insistence to dine at our table, he declined (civilly enough),
+saying he had brought his repast with him, and we presently found him
+seated astride one of his planks with a pocket knife in one hand and a
+thumb-piece of bread and bacon in the other, which he seemed to be
+eating with all the relish in the world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, he is nought but a common labourer," says Moll, disgusted to see
+him regaling himself in this fashion, as we returned to our room. "A
+pretty picture we are like to get for all this mess and inconvenience!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And her idol being broken (as it were), and all her fond fancies dashed,
+she would not as much as look at him again nor go anigh the room, to be
+reminded of her folly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However, on the third day Dario sent to ask if she would survey his
+outlines and decide whether the design pleased her or not. For this
+purpose he had pushed aside his scaffold, and here we saw a perspective
+done on the ceiling in charcoal, representing a vaulted roof with an
+opening to the sky in the middle, surrounded by a little balcony with
+trailing plants running over it, and flowers peeping out betwixt the
+balusters. And this, though very rough, was most artificial, making the
+room look twice its height, and the most admirable, masterly drawing
+that I did ever see.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now Moll, who had prepared a courteous speech to cover the contempt
+she expected to feel for the work, could say nought for astonishment,
+but stood casting her eyes round at the work like one in a maze.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If you would prefer an allegory of figures," says Dario, misconceiving
+her silence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay," answers she, "I would have nothing altered. 'Tis wonderful how
+such effect can be made with mere lines of black. I can scarce believe
+the ceiling is flat." And then she drops her eyes upon Dario, regarding
+him with wonder, as if doubting that such a dirty-looking man could have
+worked this miracle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You must have seen better designs in Rome," says he.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this I took alarm, not thinking for the moment that he might have
+picked up some particulars of Judith Godwin's history from Mrs.
+Butterby, or the curious servants who were ever prying in the room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis so long ago," says Moll, readily.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I think I have seen something like it in the Holy City," observes the
+Don, critically.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Probably. Nothing has been left undone in Rome--I am told. It has not
+been my good fortune to get so far."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was good news; for otherwise he might have put some posers to Moll,
+which she had found it hard to answer without betraying her ignorance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having Moll's approval, Dario set to work forthwith to colour his
+perspective; and this he did with the sure firm hand of one who
+understands his business, and with such nice judgment, that no builder,
+whose design is ordered by fixed rule and line, could accomplish his
+work with greater truth and justice. He made it to appear that the lower
+part of his vaulted roof was wainscoted in the style of the walls, and
+to such perfection that 'twould have puzzled a conjurer to decide where
+the oaken panels ended and the painted ones began.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now Moll suffers her fancies to run wild again, and could not
+sufficiently marvel over this poor painter and his work, of which she
+would discourse to such lengths, that both the Don and I at times had
+some ado to stifle our yawns. She would have it that he was no common
+man, but some great genius, compelled by misfortune or the persecution
+of rivals, to wander abroad in disguise, taking for evidence the very
+facts which had lately led her to condemn him, pointing out that,
+whereas those young gentlemen who courted her so persistently did
+endeavour, on all occasions, to make their estate and natural parts
+appear greater than they were, this Dario did not, proving that he had
+no such need of fictitious advancement, and could well afford to let the
+world judge of his worth by his works, etc. This point we did not
+contest, only we were very well content to observe that he introduced no
+one into the house, had no friends in the village (to our knowledge),
+and that nought was lacking from our store of plate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She never tired of watching him at his work--having the hardihood to
+mount upon the scaffold where he stood, and there she would sit by the
+hour on a little stool, chatting like any magpie, when the nature of his
+occupation allowed his thoughts to wander, silent as a mouse when she
+perceived that his mind was absorbed in travail--ready at any moment to
+fetch this or hold t'other, and seizing every opportunity to serve him.
+Indeed, I believe she would gladly have helped him shift the heavy
+planks, when he would have their position altered, had he permitted her
+this rough usage of her delicate hands. One day, when he was about to
+begin the foliage upon his balcony, he brought in a spray of ivy for a
+model; then Moll told him she knew where much better was to be found,
+and would have him go with her to see it. And she, coming back from this
+expedition, with her arms full of briony and herbage, richly tinted by
+the first frost, I perceived that there was a new kind of beauty in her
+face, a radiance of great happiness and satisfaction which I had never
+seen there before.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here was herbage enough for a week, but she must have fresh the next
+morning, and thenceforth every day they would go out ere the sun was
+high, hunting for new models.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To prepare for these early excursions, Mistress Moll, though commonly
+disposed to lie abed late in the morning, must have been up by daybreak.
+And, despite her admiration of Dario's simplicity in dress, she showed
+no inclination to follow his example in this particular; but, on the
+contrary, took more pains in adorning her person at this time than ever
+she had done before; and as she would dress her hair no two mornings
+alike, so she would change the fashion of her dress with the same
+inconstancy until the sly hussy discovered which did most please Dario's
+taste; then a word of approval from him, nay, a glance, would suffice to
+fix her choice until she found that his admiration needed rekindling.
+And so, as if her own imagination was not sufficiently forcible, she
+would talk of nothing with her friends but the newest fashions at court,
+with the result that her maids were for ever a-brewing some new wash for
+her face (which she considered too brown), compounding charms to remove
+a little mole she had in the nape of her neck, cutting up one gown to
+make another, and so forth. One day she presented herself with a black
+patch at the corner of her lip, and having seen nought of this fashion
+before, I cried out in alarm:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Lord, child! have you injured your face with that mess Betty was
+stewing yesterday?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What an absurd, old-fashioned creature you are!" answers she, testily.
+"Don't you know that 'tis the mode now for ladies to wear spots? Signor
+Dario," adds she, her eyes lighting up, "finds it mighty becoming." When
+I saw her thus disfiguring her pretty face (as I considered it then,
+though I came to admire this embellishment later on) to please Signor
+Dario, I began to ask myself how this business was likely to end.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XX.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Of Moll's ill humour and what befel thereby.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Feeling, in the absence of Dawson, that I stood in the position of a
+guardian to his daughter, and was responsible for her welfare, my mind
+grew very uneasy about the consequences of her extravagant admiration
+for the painter; and, knowing that Don Sanchez, despite his phlegmatic
+humour, loved Moll very sincerely at heart, I took him aside one day,
+and asked him if he had observed nothing particular in Moll's behaviour
+of late.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"One would be blind," says he, "not to see that she is enamoured of
+Dario, if that's what you mean."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I admitted that my suspicions inclined that way, and, explaining my
+concern on her behalf, I asked him what he would do in my place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"In my country," says he, "matters never would have been suffered to go
+so far, and Mistress Judith would have been shut up a prisoner in her
+room these past three weeks. But I doubt if our maidens are any the
+safer or better for such treatment, and I am quite sure that such
+treatment would be worse than useless for an English girl, and
+especially such an one as this. For, guard her how you might, she would
+assuredly find means to break her prison, and then no course is open to
+her but to throw herself in the arms of the man she loves, trusting to
+mere accident whether he abuses her devotion or not. You might as well
+strive to catch the wind and hold it as stay and stem the course of
+youthful passion."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, Seņor," says I, "this may be all very true. But what should you do
+in my place?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nothing," says he.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was a piece of advice which set me scratching my head in
+dubitation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Beware," continues he, "how you suggest the thing you fear to one who
+needs but a hint to act. I have great faith in the natural modesty of
+women (and I do think no child more innocent than Mistress Judith),
+which, though it blind them to their danger, does, at the same time,
+safeguard them against secret and illicit courses of more fatal
+consequences. Let her discourse with him, openly, since it pleases her.
+In another fortnight or so Dario's work will be finished, he will go
+away, our young lady will shed secret tears and be downcast for a week.
+Then another swain will please her, and she'll smile again. That, as I
+take it, will be the natural order of events, unless," adds he, "that
+natural order is disturbed by some external influence."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Maugre this sage advice, my concern being unabated, I would step pretty
+frequently into the room where these young people were, as if to see how
+the work was going forward, and with such a quick step that had any
+interchange of amorous sentiments existed, I must at one time or another
+have discovered it. But I never detected any sign of this--no bashful
+silence, no sudden confusion, or covert interchange of glances.
+Sometimes they would be chatting lightly, at others both would be
+standing silent, she, maybe, holding a bunch of leaves with untiring
+steadfastness, for him to copy. But I observed that she was exceedingly
+jealous of his society, and no matter how glibly she was talking when I
+entered, or how indifferent the subject, she would quickly become
+silent, showing me very plainly by her manner that she would vastly
+prefer my room to my company.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Still, I was not displeased when I perceived this fresco drawing near to
+its completion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You are getting on apace," says I, very cheerfully one day. "I reckon
+you will soon have done."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes," answers he, "in a week I shall have nought to do but to pack up
+my tools and go." There was an accent of sorrow in his voice, despite
+himself, which did not escape me nor Moll neither, for I saw her cast
+her eyes upon his face, as if to read if there were sadness there. But
+she said never a word.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However, in the afternoon she comes to me, and says she:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I am resolved I will have all the rooms in the house plastered, if
+Signor Dario will consent to paint them."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"All the rooms!" says I, in alarm. "Surely you have not counted the cost
+of what you propose."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I suppose I have enough to keep my house in suitable condition."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Without doubt, though I expect such work as Signor Dario's must command
+a high price."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"All I ask of you, then," says she, "is to bid my steward have five
+thousand pounds ready for my uses, and within a week, lest I should need
+it suddenly. Should he raise objections--"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"As assuredly he will," says I, who knew the crafty, subtle character of
+old Simon full well by, this time. "A thousand objections, and not one
+you can pick a hole in."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then show him this and tell him I accept Mr. Goodman's offer unless he
+can find more profitable means of raising money."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With that she puts in my hand a letter she had that morning received
+from one Henry Goodman, a tenant, who having heard that she had disposed
+of a farm to his neighbour, now humbly prayed she would do him the same
+good turn by selling him the land he rented, and for which he was
+prepared to pay down in ready money the sum of five thousand pounds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Armed with this letter, I sought Simon and delivered Moll's message. As
+I expected, the wily old man had good excuses ready for not complying
+with this request, showing me the pains he had taken to get the king's
+seal, his failures to move the king's officers, and the refusal of his
+goldsmith to furnish further supplies before the deed of succession was
+passed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"These objections are all very just," says I, "so I see no way of
+pleasing our lady but by selling Mr. Goodman's farm, which she will have
+done at once if there be no alternative." So I give him the letter,
+which he can scarce read for trembling with anguish.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What," cries he, coming to the end, "I am to sell this land which I
+bought for nine hundred pounds and is now worth six thousand? I would
+rather my mistress had bid me have the last teeth torn from my head."
+
+"We must have money," says I.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thee shalt have it in good time. Evans hath been paid, and thy debt
+shall be discharged; fear not."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I spoke as representing our lady; for ourselves we are content to wait
+her better convenience." And I told him how his mistress would lay out
+her money in embellishing the Court with paintings, which put him to a
+new taking to think so much good money should be wasted in such
+vanities.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But," says he, "this work must take time, and one pays for nothing ere
+'tis done. By quarter day our rents will be coming in again--"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No," says I, cutting him short, "the money must be found at once, or be
+assured that your lady will take the management of her affairs out of
+your hands."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This raised a fresh outcry and more lamentations, but in the end he
+promised to procure the money by collecting his rents in advance, if his
+mistress would refuse Mr. Goodman's offer and wait three weeks; and on
+Moll's behalf I agreed to these terms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A few days after this, we were called into the dining-hall to see the
+finished ceiling, which truly deserved all the praise we could bestow
+upon it, and more. For now that the sky appeared through the opening,
+with a little pearly cloud creeping across it, the verdure and flowers
+falling over the marble coping, and the sunlight falling on one side and
+throwing t'other into shade, the illusion was complete, so that one
+could scarcely have been more astonished had a leaf fallen from the
+hanging flowers or a face looked over the balcony. In short; 'twas
+prodigious.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nevertheless, the painter, looking up at his work with half-closed,
+critical eyes, seemed dissatisfied, and asking us if we found nothing
+lacking, we (not to appear behindhand in judgment) agreed that on one
+side there was a vacant place which might yet be adorned to advantage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes," says he, "I see what is wanted and will supply it. That," adds
+he; gently turning to Moll, "will give me still another day."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, what charm can you add that is not there?" asks she.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Something," says he, in a low voice, "which I must see whenever I do
+cast my eyes heavenwards."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now Moll, big with her purpose, which she had hitherto withheld from
+Dario, begs him to come into her state room, and there she told how she
+would have this ceiling plastered over and painted, like her
+dining-hall, if he would undertake to do it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dario casts his eye round the room and over the ceiling, and then,
+shaking his head, says: "If I were in your place, I would alter nothing
+here."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But I will have it altered," says she, nettled, because he did not leap
+at once at her offer, which was made rather to prolong their communion
+than to obtain a picture. "I detest these old-fashioned beams of wood."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"They are in keeping with the character of the room. I think," adds he,
+looking round him again with renewed admiration, "I think I have never
+seen a more perfect example of English art."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What of that," cries she, "if it pleases me to have it otherwise?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nothing," returns he, calmly. "You have as just a right to stand by
+your opinion as I by mine."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And am I to understand that you will rather hold by your opinion than
+give me pleasure?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I pray you, do not press me to discourtesy," says he.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay, but I would have a plain answer to my question," says she,
+haughtily.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then," says he, angering in his turn, "I must tell you that I would as
+soon chip an antique statue to suit the taste of a French modiste as
+disfigure the work of him who designed this room."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now, whether Moll took this to be a reflection on her own figure, which
+had grown marvellous slim in the waist since she had her new stays from
+London, or not, I will not say; but certainly this response did
+exasperate her beyond all endurance (as we could see by her blanched
+cheek and flashing eye); so, dismissing him with a deep curtsey, she
+turns on her heel without another word.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This foolish business, which was not very creditable to our Moll's good
+sense (though I think she acted no worse than other maids in her
+condition,--for I have observed that young people do usually lose their
+heads at the same time that they lose their hearts), this foolish scene,
+I say, I would gladly omit from my history, but that it completely
+changed our destiny; for had these two parted with fair words, we should
+probably have seen no more of Dario, and Don Sanchez's prognostic had
+been realised. Such trifles as these do influence our career as greatly
+as more serious accidents, our lives being a fabric of events that hang
+together by the slenderest threads.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Unmoved from his design by Moll's displeasure, Dario replaced his
+scaffold before he left that day, and the next morning he came to put
+the last touch upon his work. Moll, being still in dudgeon, would not go
+near him, but sat brooding in a corner of her state room, ready, as I
+perceived, to fly out in passion at any one who gave her the occasion.
+Perceiving this, Don Sanchez prudently went forth for a walk after
+dinner; but I, seeing that some one must settle accounts with the
+painter for his work, stayed at home. And when I observed that he was
+collecting his materials to go, I went in to Moll.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My dear," says I, "I believe Dario is preparing to leave us."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My congratulations to him," says she, "for 'tis evident he is weary of
+being here."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay, won't you come in and see his work now 'tis finished?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No; I have no desire to see it. If I have lost my taste for Italian
+art, 'tis through no fault of his."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You will see him, surely, before he goes."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No; I will not give him another opportunity to presume upon my
+kindness."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, to be sure," says I, like a fool, "you have been a little
+over-familiar."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Indeed," says she, firing up like a cracker. "Then I think 'twould have
+been kinder of you to give me a hint of it beforehand. However, 'tis a
+very good excuse for treating him otherwise now."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, he must be paid for his work, at any rate."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Assuredly. If you have not money enough, I will fetch it from my
+closet."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I have it ready, and here is a purse for the purpose. The question is,
+how much to put in it. I should think such a perspective as that could
+not be handsomely paid under fifty guineas."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then you will give him a hundred, and say that I am exceedingly obliged
+to him."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I put this sum in the purse and went out into the hall where Dario was
+waiting, with his basket of brushes beside him. In a poor, bungling,
+stammering fashion, I delivered Moll's message, and made the best excuse
+I could for delivering it in her stead.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He waited a moment or two after I had spoken, and then, says he, in a
+low voice:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Is that all?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay," says I, offering the purse, "we do beg you to take this as--"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He stopped me, pushing my hand aside.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I have taken a purse from Don Sanchez," says he. "There was more in it
+than I needed--there are still some pieces left. But as I would not
+affront him by offering to return them, so I beg you will equally
+respect my feelings. I undertook the task in gratitude, and it hath been
+a work of love all through, well paid for by the happiness that I have
+found here."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He stood musing a little while, as if he were debating with himself
+whether he should seek to overcome Moll's resentment or not. Then,
+raising his head quickly, he says: "'Tis best so, maybe. Farewell, sir"
+(giving me his hand). "Tell her," adds he, as we stand hand in hand at
+the door, "that I can never forget her kindness, and will ever pray for
+her happiness."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I found the door ajar and Moll pacing the room very white, when I
+returned. She checked me the moment I essayed to deliver Dario's
+message.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You can save your breath," says she, passionately, "I've heard every
+word."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"More shame for you," says I, in a passion, casting my purse on the
+table. "'Tis infamous to treat an honest gentleman thus, and silly
+besides. Come, dear," altering my tone, "do let me run and fetch him
+back."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You forget whom you are speaking to, Mr. Hopkins," cries she.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I saw 'twas impossible to move her whilst she was in this mood, for she
+had something of her father's obstinate, stubborn disposition, and did
+yet hope to bring Dario back to her feet, like a spaniel, by harsh
+treatment. But he came no more, though a palette he had overlooked could
+have given him the excuse, and for very vexation with Moll I was glad he
+did not.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had not removed the scaffold, but when I went upon it to see what
+else he had put into his painting, the fading light only allowed me to
+make out a figure that seemed to be leaning over the balcony.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moll would not go in there, though I warrant she was dying of curiosity;
+and soon after supper, which she could scarce force herself to touch,
+she went up to her own chamber, wishing us a very distant, formal
+good-night, and keeping her passionate, angry countenance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the next morning, ere I was dressed, she knocked at my door, and,
+opening it, I found her with swollen eyes and tears running down her
+cheeks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Come down," says she, betwixt her sobs, and catching my hand in hers.
+"Come down and see."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we went downstairs together,--I wondering what now had happened,--and
+so into the dining-hall. And there I found the scaffold pushed aside,
+and the ceiling open to view. Then looking up, I perceived that the
+figure bending over the balcony bore Moll's own face, with a most sweet,
+compassionate expression in it as she looked down, such as I had
+observed when she bent over Dario, having brought him back to life. And
+this, thinks I, remembering his words, this is what he must ever see
+when he looks heavenwards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XXI.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Of the strange things told us by the wise woman.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Tell me I am wicked; tell me I'm a fool," says Moll, clinging to my
+arm.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But I had no feeling now but pity and forgiveness, and so could only try
+to comfort her, saying we would make amends to Dario when we saw him
+next.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I will go to him," says she. "For nought in the world would I have him
+yield to such a heartless fool as I am. I know where he lodges."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, when we have eaten--"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay; we must go this moment. I cannot be at peace till I have asked him
+to forgive. Come with me, or I must go alone."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yielding to her desire without further ado, I fetched my hat and cloak,
+and, she doing likewise, we sallied out forthwith. Taking the side path
+by which Dario came and went habitually, we reached a little wicket
+gate, opening from the path upon the highway; and here, seeing a man
+mending the road, we asked him where we should find Anne Fitch, as she
+was called, with whom the painter lodged. Pointing to a neat cottage
+that stood by the wayside, within a stone's throw, he told us the "wise
+woman" lived there. We crossed over and knocked at the door, and a voice
+within bidding us come in, we did so.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was a very sweet, pleasant smell in the room from the herbs that
+hung in little parcels from the beams, for this Anne Fitch was greatly
+skilled in the use of simples, and had no equal for curing fevers and
+the like in all the country round. (But, besides this, it was said she
+could look into the future and forecast events truer than any Egyptian.)
+There was a chair by the table, on which was an empty bowl and some
+broken bread; but the wise woman sat in the chimney corner, bending over
+the hearth, though the fire had burnt out, and not an ember glowed. And
+a strange little elf she looked, being very wizen and small, with one
+shoulder higher than the other, and a face full of pain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When I told her our business,--for Moll was too greatly moved to
+speak,--the old woman pointed to the adjoining room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"He is gone!" cries Moll, going to the open door, and peering within.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes," answers Anne Fitch. "Alas!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"When did he go?" asks Moll.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"An hour since," answers the other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Whither is he gone?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I am no witch."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"At least, you know which way he went."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I have not stirred from here since I gave him his last meal."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moll sank into the empty chair, and bowed her head in silence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Anne Fitch, whose keen eyes had never strayed from Moll since she first
+entered the room, seeming as if they would penetrate to the most secret
+recesses of her heart, with that shrewd perception which is common to
+many whose bodily infirmity compels an extraordinary employment of their
+other faculties, rises from her settle in the chimney, and coming to the
+table, beside Moll, says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I am no witch, I say; yet I could tell you things would make you think
+I am."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I want to know nothing further," answers she, dolefully, "save where he
+is."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Would you not know whether you shall ever see him again, or not?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh! If you can tell me that!" cries Moll, quickly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I may." Then, turning to me, the wise woman asks to look at my hand,
+and on my demurring, she says she must know whether I am a friend or an
+enemy, ere she speaks before me. So, on that, I give my hand, and she
+examines it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You call yourself James Hopkins," says she.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, every one within a mile knows that," says I.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye," answers she, fixing her piercing eye on my face; "but every one
+knows not that some call you Kit."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This fairly staggered me for a moment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"How do you answer that?" she asks, observing my confusion. "Why," says
+I, recovering my presence of mind, "'tis most extraordinary, to be sure,
+that you should read this, for save one or two familiars, none know that
+my second name is Christopher."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A fairly honest hand," says she, looking at my hand again. "Weak in
+some things, but a faithful friend. You may be trusted."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And so she drops my hand and takes up Moll's.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis strange," says she. "You call yourself Judith, yet here I see your
+name writ Moll."
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="357.jpg"><img src="357th.jpg" alt="YOU CALL YOURSELF JUDITH, YET HERE I SEE YOUR NAME WRIT MOLL."></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Poor Moll, sick with a night of sorrow and terrified by the wise woman's
+divining powers, could make no answer; but soon Fitch, taking less heed
+of her tremble than of mine, regards her hand again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"How were you called in Barbary?" asks she.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This question betraying a flaw in the wise woman's perception, gave Moll
+courage, and she answered readily enough that she was called "Lala
+Mollah"--which was true, "Lala" being the Moorish for lady, and "Mollah"
+the name her friends in Elche had called her as being more agreeable to
+their ear than the shorter English name.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Mollah--Moll!" says Anne Fitch, as if communing with herself. "That may
+well be." Then, following a line in Moll's hand, she adds, "You will
+love but once, child."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What is my sweetheart's name?" whispers Moll, the colour springing in
+her face.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You have not heard it yet," replies the other, upon which Moll pulls
+her hand away impatiently. "But you have seen him," continues the wise
+woman, "and his is the third hand in which I have read another name."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Tell me now if I shall see him again," cries Moll, eagerly--offering
+her hand again, and as quickly as she had before withdrawn it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That depends upon yourself," returns the other. "The line is a deep
+one. Would you give him all you have?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moll bends her head low in silence, to conceal her hot face.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis nothing to be ashamed of," says the old woman, in a strangely
+gentle tone. "'Tis better to love once than often; better to give your
+whole heart than part. Were I young and handsome and rich, I would give
+body and soul for such a man. For he is good and generous and exceeding
+kind. Look you, he hath lived here but a few weeks, and I feel for him,
+grieve for him, like a mother. Oh, I am no witch," adds she, wiping a
+tear from her cheek, "only a crooked old woman with the gift of seeing
+what is open to all who will read, and a heart that quickens still at a
+kind word or a gentle thought." (Moll's hand had closed upon hers at
+that first sight of her grief.) "For your names," continues she,
+recovering her composure, "I learnt from one of your maids who came
+hither for news of her sweetheart, that the sea captain who was with you
+did sometimes let them slip. I was paid to learn this."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Not by him," says Moll.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No; by your steward Simon."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"<i>He</i> paid for that!" says I, incredulous, knowing Simon's reluctance to
+spend money.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, and a good price, too. It seems you call heavily upon him for
+money, and do threaten to cut up your estate and sell the land he prizes
+as his life."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That is quite true," says I.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Moreover, he greatly fears that he will be cast from his office, when
+your title to it is made good. For that reason he would move heaven and
+earth to stay your succession by casting doubts upon your claim. And to
+this end he has by all the means at his command tried to provoke your
+cousin to contest your right."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My cousin!" cries Moll.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Richard Godwin."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My cousin Richard--why, where is he?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Gone," says the old woman, pointing to the broken bread upon the table.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XXII.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>How Moll and Mr. Godwin come together and declare their hearts'
+passion, and how I carry these tidings to Dawson.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What!" cries Moll, starting to her feet. "He whom I have treated thus
+is--" and here she checked herself, as if recoiling (and for the first
+time) from false pretence in a matter so near her heart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"He is your cousin, Richard Godwin," says the wise woman. "Simon knew
+this from the first; for there were letters showing it in the
+pocket-book he found after the struggle in the park; but for his own
+ends he kept that knowledge secret, until it fitted his ends to speak.
+Why your cousin did not reveal himself to you may be more readily
+conceived by you than 'twas by me."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, 'tis clear enough," says Moll. "Pressed by his necessities, he
+came hither to claim assistance of his kinsman; but finding he was dead
+and none here but me, his pride did shrink from begging of a mere maid
+that which he might with justice have demanded from a man. And then, for
+shame at being handled like a rogue--"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Surely there is something in the blood of a gentleman that tempers his
+spirit to a degree scarcely to be comprehended by men of meaner birth,
+thinks I.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"When did Simon urge him to dispute my rights?" asks Moll.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"On Sunday--in the wood out there. I knew by his look he had some
+treacherous business in hand, and, matching my stealth with his, I found
+means to overhear him, creeping from thicket to thicket, as noiseless as
+a snake, to where they stood; for, be assured, I should not otherwise
+have learnt one word of this."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"How did <i>he</i> receive these hints at my ill doing?" asks Moll.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Patiently, till the tale was told; then, taking your steward by the
+throat with sudden passion, he cries: 'Why should I not strangle you,
+rascal? 'Twould be a service to humanity. What have I done to deserve
+your love, or this lady your hate? Nothing. You would pit us one against
+the other merely to keep your hold upon these lands, and gratify your
+insensate love of possession. Go, get you gone, beast!' cries he,
+flinging him off; ''tis punishment enough for you to live and know
+you've failed. For, had you proved your case to my conviction, I'd not
+stir a hand against this lady, be she who she may. Nay,' adds he, with
+greater fury, 'I will not stay where my loyalty and better judgment may
+be affected by the contagion of a vile suspicion. Away while you may; my
+fingers itch to be revenged on you for sundering me from one who should
+have been my closest, dearest friend.'"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moll claps her hands together with a cry of joy and pain mingled, even
+as the smile played upon her lips whilst tears filled her eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Sunday!" cries she, turning to me and dashing the tears that blinded
+her from her eyes; "Sunday, and it 'twas o' Monday he refused to stay.
+O, the brave heart!" Then, in impetuous haste, "He shall be found--we
+must overtake him."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That may be done if you take horse," says Anne Fitch, "for he travels
+afoot."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But which way shall we turn?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The way that any man would take, seeking to dispel a useless sorrow,"
+answers the wise woman; "the way to London."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God bless you!" cries Moll, clasping the withered old woman to her
+heaving breast and kissing her. Then the next moment she would be gone,
+bidding me get horses for our pursuit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So, as quickly as I might, I procured a couple of nags, and we set out,
+leaving a message for Don Sanchez, who was not yet astir. And we should
+have gone empty, but that while the horses were a-preparing (and Moll,
+despite her mighty haste at this business too), I took the precaution to
+put some store of victuals in a saddle bag.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Reckoning that Mr. Godwin (as I must henceforth call him) had been set
+out two hours or thereabouts, I considered that we might overtake him in
+about three at an easy amble. But Moll was in no mood for ambling, and
+no sooner were we started than she put her nag to a gallop and kept up
+this reckless pace up hill and down dale,--I trailing behind and
+expecting every minute to be cast and get my neck broke,--until her
+horse was spent and would answer no more to the whip. Then I begged her
+for mercy's sake to take the hill we were coming to at a walk, and break
+her fast. "For," says I, "another such half-hour as the last on an empty
+stomach will do my business, and you will have another dead man to bring
+back to life, which will advance your journey nothing, and so more
+haste, less speed." Therewith I opened my saddle bag, and sharing its
+contents, we ate a rare good meal and very merry, and indeed it was a
+pleasure now to look at her as great as the pain had been to see her so
+unhappy a few hours before. For the exercise had brought a flood of rich
+colour into her face, and a lively hope sparkled in her eyes, and the
+sound of her voice was like any peal of marriage bells for gaiety. Yet
+now and then her tongue would falter, and she would strain a wistful
+glance along the road before us as fearing she did hope too much.
+However, coming to an inn, we made enquiry, and learnt that a man such
+as we described had surely passed the house barely an hour gone, and one
+adding that he carried a basket on his stick, we felt this must be our
+painter for certain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thence on again at another tear (as if we were flying from our
+reckoning) until, turning a bend of the road at the foot of a hill, she
+suddenly drew rein with a shrill cry. And coming up, I perceived close
+by our side Mr. Godwin, seated upon the bridge that crossed a stream,
+with his wallet beside him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He sprang to his feet and caught in an instant the rein that had fallen
+from Moll's hand, for the commotion in her heart at seeing him so
+suddenly had stopped the current of her veins, and she was deadly pale.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Take me, take me!" cries she, stretching forth her arms, with a faint
+voice. "Take me, or I must fall," and slipping from her saddle she sank
+into his open, ready arms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Help!" says Mr. Godwin, quickly, and in terror.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay," says she; "I am better--'tis nothing. But," adds she, smiling at
+him, "you may hold me yet a little longer."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fervid look in his eyes, as he gazed down at her sweet pale face,
+seemed to say: "Would I could hold you here for ever, sweetheart."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Rest her here," says I, pointing to the little wall of the bridge, and
+he, complying (not too willingly), withdrew his arm from her waist, with
+a sigh.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now the colour coming back to her cheek, Moll turns to him, and
+says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I thought you would have come again. And since one of us must ask to be
+forgiven, lo! here am I come to ask your pardon."
+
+"Why, what is there to pardon, Madam?" says he.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Only a girl's folly, which unforgiven must seem something worse."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your utmost folly," says he, "is to have been over-kind to a poor
+painter. And if that be an offence, 'tis my misfortune to be no more
+offended."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Have I been over-kind?" says Moll, abashed, as having unwittingly
+passed the bounds of maiden modesty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"As nature will be over-bounteous in one season, strewing so many
+flowers in our path that we do underprize them till they are lost, and
+all the world seems stricken with wintry desolation."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yet, if I have said or done anything unbecoming to my sex--"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nothing womanly is unbecoming to a woman," returns he. "And, praised be
+God, some still live who have not learned to conceal their nature under
+a mask of fashion. If this be due less to your natural free disposition
+than to an ignorance of our enlightened modish arts, then could I find
+it in my heart to rejoice that you have lived a captive in Barbary."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They had been looking into each other's eyes with the delight of reading
+there the love that filled their hearts, but now Moll bent her head as
+if she could no longer bear that searching regard, and unable to make
+response to his pretty speech, sat twining her fingers in her lap,
+silent, with pain and pleasure fluttering over her downcast face. And at
+this time I do think she was as near as may be on the point of
+confessing she had been no Barbary slave, rather than deceive the man
+who loved her, and profit by his faith in her, which had certainly
+undone us all; but in her passion, a woman considered the welfare of her
+father and best friends very lightly; nay, she will not value her own
+body and soul at two straws, but is ready to yield up everything for one
+dear smile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A full minute Mr. Godwin sat gazing at Moll's pretty, blushing, half-hid
+face (as if for his last solace), and then, rising slowly from the
+little parapet, he says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Had I been more generous, I should have spared you this long morning
+ride. So you have something to forgive, and we may cry quits!" Then,
+stretching forth his hand, he adds, "Farewell."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Stay," cries Moll, springing to her feet, as fearing to lose him
+suddenly again, "I have not eased myself of the burden that lay
+uppermost. Oh!" cries she, passionately, casting off all reserve, "I
+know all; who you are, and why you first came hither, and I am here to
+offer you the half of all I have."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Half, sweet cousin?" answers he, taking her two hands in his.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye; for if I had not come to claim it, all would have been yours by
+right. And 'tis no more than fair that, owing so much to Fortune, I
+should offer you the half."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Suppose that half will not suffice me, dear?" says he.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, then I'll give you all," answers she; "houses, gardens,
+everything."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then what will you do, coz?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Go hence, as you were going but just now," answers she, trembling.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, that's as if you took the diamond from its setting, and left me
+nothing but the foil," says he. "Oh, I would order it another way: give
+me the gem, and let who will take what remains. Unless these little
+hands are mine to hold for ever, I will take nothing from them."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"They are thine, dear love," cries she, in a transport, flinging them
+about his neck, "and my heart as well."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this conjuncture I thought it advisable to steal softly away to the
+bend of the road; for surely any one coming this way by accident, and
+finding them locked together thus in tender embrace on the king's
+highway, would have fallen to some gross conclusion, not understanding
+their circumstances, and so might have offended their delicacy by some
+rude jest. And I had not parted myself here a couple of minutes, ere I
+spied a team of four stout horses coming over the brow of the hill,
+drawing the stage waggon behind them which plies betwixt Sevenoaks and
+London. This prompting me to a happy notion, I returned to the happy,
+smiling pair, who were now seated again upon the bridge, hand in hand,
+and says I:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My dear friends,--for so I think I may now count you, sir, as well as
+my Mistress Judith here,--the waggon is coming down the hill, by which I
+had intended to go to London this morning upon some pressing business.
+And so, Madam, if your cousin will take my horse and conduct you back to
+the Court, I will profit by this occasion and bid you farewell for the
+present."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This proposal was received with evident satisfaction on their part, for
+there was clearly no further thought of parting; only Moll, alarmed for
+the proprieties, did beg her lover to lift her on her horse instantly.
+Nevertheless, when she was in her saddle, they must linger yet, he to
+kiss her hands, and she to bend down and yield her cheek to his lips,
+though the sound of the coming waggon was close at hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Scarcely less delighted than they with this surprising strange turn of
+events, I left 'em there with bright, smiling faces, and journeyed on to
+London, and there taking a pair of oars at the Bridge to Greenwich, all
+eagerness to give these joyful tidings to my old friend, Jack Dawson. I
+found him in his workroom, before a lathe, and sprinkled from head to
+toe with chips, mighty proud of a bed-post he was a-turning. And it did
+my heart good to see him looking stout and hearty, profitably occupied
+in this business, instead of soaking in an alehouse (as I feared at one
+time he would) to dull his care; but he was ever a stout, brave fellow,
+who would rather fight than give in any day. A better man never lived,
+nor a more honest--circumstances permitting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His joy at seeing me was past everything; but his first thought after
+our hearty greeting was of his daughter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My Moll," says he, "my dear girl; you han't brought her to add to my
+joy? She's not slinking behind a door to fright me with delight, hey?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No," says I; "but I've brought you great news of her."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And good, I'll swear, Kit, for there's not a sad line in your face.
+Stay, comrade, wait till I've shook these chips off and we are seated in
+my parlour, for I do love to have a pipe of tobacco and a mug of ale
+beside me in times of pleasure. You can talk of indifferent things,
+though, for Lord! I do love to hear the sound of your voice again."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I told him how the ceiling of our dining-hall had been painted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye," says he. "I have heard of that; for my dear girl hath writ about
+that and nought else in her letters; and though I've no great fancy for
+such matters, yet I doubt not it is mighty fine by her long-winded
+praises of it. Come, Kit, let us in here and get to something fresher."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we into his parlour, which was a neat, cheerful room, with a fine
+view of the river, and there being duly furnished with a mighty mug of
+ale and clean pipes, he bids me give him my news, and I tell him how
+Moll had fallen over head and ears in love with the painter, and he with
+her, and how that very morning they had come together and laid open
+their hearts' desire one to the other, with the result (as I believed)
+that they would be married as soon as they could get a parson to do
+their business.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"This is brave news indeed," cries he, "and easeth me beyond
+comprehension, for I could see clearly enough she was smitten with this
+painter, by her writing of nothing else; and seeing she could not get at
+his true name and condition, I felt some qualms as to how the matter
+might end. But do tell me, Kit, is he an honest, wholesome sort of man?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"As honest as the day," says I, "and a nobler, handsomer man never
+breathed."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God be praised for all things," says he, devoutly. "Tell me he's an
+Englishman, Kit--as Moll did seem to think he was, spite his foreign
+name--and my joy's complete."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"As true-born an Englishman as you are," says I.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Lord love him for it!" cries he.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then coming down to particulars, I related the events of the past few
+days pretty much as I have writ them here, showing in the end how Mr.
+Godwin would have gone away, unknown rather than profit by his claim as
+Sir Richard Godwin's kinsman, even though Moll should be no better than
+old Simon would have him believe, upon which he cries, "Lord love him
+for it, say I again! Let us drink to their health. Drink deep, Kit, for
+I've a fancy that no man shall put his lips to this mug after us."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So I drank heartily, and he, emptying the jug, flung it behind the
+chimney, with another fervent ejaculation of gratitude. Then a shade of
+sorrow falling on his face as he lay it in his hand, his elbow resting
+on the table:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I'd give best half of the years I've got to live," says he, "to see 'em
+together, and grasp Mr. Godwin's hand in mine. But I'll not be tempted
+to it, for I perceive clearly enough by what you tell me that my wayward
+tongue and weakness have been undoing us all, and ruining my dear Moll's
+chance of happiness. But tell me, Kit" (straightening himself up), "how
+think you this marriage will touch our affairs?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Only to better them. For henceforth our prosperity is assured, which
+otherwise might have lacked security."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, to be sure, for now shall we be all in one family with these
+Godwins, and this cousin, profiting by the estate as much as Moll, will
+never begrudge her giving us a hundred or two now and then, for
+rendering him such good service."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Twill appease Moll's compunctions into the bargain," says I,
+heedlessly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What compunctions?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The word slipped me unintended," stammers I; "I mean nothing."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But something your word must mean. Come, out with it, Kit."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well," says I, "since this fondness has possessed her, I have observed
+a greater compunction to telling of lies than she was wont to have."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis my fault," answers he, sadly. "She gets this leaning to honesty
+from me."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"This very morning," continues I, "she was, I truly believe, of two
+minds whether she should not confess to her sweetheart that she was not
+his cousin."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"For all the world my case!" cries he, slapping the table. "If I could
+only have five minutes in secret with the dear girl, I would give her a
+hint that should make her profit by my folly." And then he tells me how,
+in the heyday of courtship and the flush of confiding love, he did
+confess to his wife that he had carried gallantry somewhat too far with
+Sukey Taylor, and might have added a good half dozen other names beside
+hers but for her sudden outcry; and how, though she might very well have
+suspected other amours, she did never reproach him therewith, but was
+for ever to her dying day a-flinging Sukey Taylor in his teeth, etc.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Lord, Kit!" cries he, in conclusion; "what would I give to save her
+from such torment! You know how obedient she is to my guiding, for I
+have ever studied to make her respect me; and no one in the world hath
+such empire over her. Could it not be contrived anyhow that we should
+meet for half an hour secretly?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Not secretly," says I. "But there is no reason why you should not visit
+her openly. Nay, it will create less surprise than if you stay away. For
+what could be more natural than your coming to the Court on your return
+from a voyage to see the lady you risked so much to save?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Now God bless you for a good, true friend!" cries he, clasping my hand.
+"I'll come, but to stay no great length. Not a drop will I touch that
+day, and a fool indeed I must be if I can't act my part without bungling
+for a few hours at a stretch, and I a-listening every night in the
+parlour of the 'Spotted Dog' to old seamen swearing and singing their
+songs. And I'll find an opportunity to give--Moll a hint of my past
+folly, and so rescue her from a like pitfall. I'll abide by your advice,
+Kit,--which is the wisest I ever heard from your lips."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But I was not so sure of this, and, remembering the kind of obedience
+Moll had used to yield to her father's commands, my mind misgave me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XXIII.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Don Sanchez proposes a very artful way to make Mr. Godwin a party to
+our knavery, etc.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I returned to Hurst Court the following day in the forenoon, and there I
+found Mr. Godwin, with Moll clinging to his arm, in an upper room
+commanding a view of the northern slopes, discussing their future, and
+Moll told me with glee how this room was to be her husband's workroom,
+where he would paint pictures for the admiration of all the world,
+saying that he would not (nor would she have him) renounce his calling
+to lead the idle life of a country gentleman.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If the world admire my pictures, the world shall pay to have them,"
+says he, with a smile; then turning to her he adds very tenderly: "I
+will owe all my happiness to you, sweetheart; yet guard my independence
+in more material matters. No mercenary question shall ever cast
+suspicion on my love."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Seeing I was not wanted here, I left them to settle their prospectives,
+and sought Don Sanchez, whom I found reading in a room below, seated in
+a comfortable chair before a good fire of apple logs. To please me, he
+shut up his book and agreed to take a stroll in the park while dinner
+was a-dressing. So we clap on our hats and cloaks and set forth, talking
+of indifferent matters till we are come into a fair open glade (which
+sort of place the prudent Don did ever prefer to holes and corners for
+secret conference), and then he told me how Moll and Mr. Godwin had
+already decided they would be married in three weeks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Three weeks?" says I. "I would it were to be done in three days." To
+which desire the Don coincides with sundry grave nods, and then tells me
+how Moll would have herself cried in church, for all to know, and that
+nothing may be wanting to her husband's dignity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"After all," says I, "three weeks is no such great matter. And now,
+Seņor, do tell me what you think of all this."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If you had had the ordering of your own destiny, you could not have
+contrived it better," answers he. "'Tis a most excellent game, and you
+cannot fail to win if" (here he pauses to blow his nose) "if the cards
+are played properly."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This somehow brought Dawson into my thoughts, and I told the Don of my
+visit to him, and how he did purpose to come down to see Moll; whereat
+the Don, stopping short, looked at me very curiously with his eyebrows
+raised, but saying nothing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis no more than natural that a father should want to see what kind of
+man is to be his daughter's husband," says I, in excuse, "and if he
+<i>will</i> come, what are we to do?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I know what I should do in your place, Mr. Hopkins," says he, quietly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Pray, Seņor, what is that?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Squeeze all the money you can out of old Simon before he comes,"
+answers he. "And it wouldn't be amiss to make Mr. Godwin party to this
+business by letting him have a hundred or two for his present
+necessities at once."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Acting on this hint, when Moll left us after supper and we three men
+were seated before the fire, I asked Mr. Godwin if he would permit me to
+speak upon a matter which concerned his happiness no less than his
+cousin Judith's.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay, sir," replies he, "I do pray you to be open with me, for otherwise
+I must consider myself unworthy of your friendship."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, sir," says I, "my mind is somewhat concerned on account of what
+you said this morning; namely, that no pecuniary question shall ever be
+discussed betwixt you and your wife, and that you will owe nothing to
+her but happiness. This, together with your purpose of painting pictures
+to sell, means, I take it, that you will leave your wife absolute
+mistress of her present fortune."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That is the case exactly, Mr. Hopkins," says he. "I am not indifferent
+to the world's esteem, and I would give no one reason to suspect that I
+had married my dear cousin to possess her fortune."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nevertheless, sir, you would not have it thought that she begrudged you
+an equal share of her possessions. Your position will necessitate a
+certain outlay. To maintain your wife's dignity and your own, you must
+dress well, mount a good horse, be liberal in hospitality, give largely
+to those in need, and so forth. With all due respect to your genius in
+painting, I can scarcely think that art will furnish you at once with
+supplies necessary to meet all these demands."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"All this is very true, Mr. Hopkins," says he, after a little
+reflection; "to tell the truth, I have lived so long in want that
+poverty has become my second nature, and so these matters have not
+entered into my calculations. Pray, sir, continue."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your wife, be she never so considerate, may not always anticipate your
+needs; and hence at some future moment this question of supplies must
+arise--unless they are disposed of before your marriage."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If that could be done, Mr. Hopkins," says he, hopefully.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It may be done, sir, very easily. With your cousin's consent and yours,
+I, as her elected guardian, at this time will have a deed drawn up to be
+signed by you and her, settling one-half the estate upon you, and the
+other on your cousin. This will make you not her debtor, but her
+benefactor; for without this deed, all that is now hers becomes yours by
+legal right upon your marriage, and she could not justly give away a
+shilling without your permission. And thus you assure to her the same
+independence that you yourself would maintain."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Very good," says Don Sanchez, in a sonorous voice of approval, as he
+lies back in his high chair, his eyes closed, and a cigarro in the
+corner of his mouth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I thank you with all my heart, Mr. Hopkins," says Mr. Godwin, warmly.
+"I entreat you have this deed drawn up--if it be my wife's wish."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You may count with certainty on that," says I; "for if my arguments
+lacked power, I have but to say 'tis your desire, and 'twould be done
+though it took the last penny from her."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He made no reply to this, but bending forward he gazed into the fire,
+with a rapture in his face, pressing one hand within the other as if it
+were his sweetheart's.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"In the meantime," says I, "if you have necessity for a hundred or two
+in advance, you have but to give me your note of hand."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Can you do me this service?" cries he, eagerly. "Can you let me have
+five hundred by to-morrow?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I believe I can supply you to the extent of six or seven."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"All that you can," says he; "for besides a pressing need that will take
+me to London to-morrow, I owe something to a friend here that I would
+fain discharge."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Don Sanchez waived his hand cavalierly, though I do believe the subtle
+Spaniard had hinted at this business as much for his own ends as for our
+assurance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I will have it ready against we meet in the morning," says I. "You are
+so certain of her sanction?" he asks in delight, as if he could not too
+much assure himself of Moll's devotion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"She has been guided by me in all matters relating to her estate, and
+will be in this, I am convinced. But here's another question, sir,
+which, while we are about business, might be discussed with advantage.
+My rule here is nearly at an end. Have you decided who shall govern the
+estate when I am gone?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Only that when I have authority that rascal Simon shall be turned from
+his office, neck and crop. He loves me as little as he loves his
+mistress, that he would set us by the ears for his own advantage."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"An honest man, nevertheless--in his peculiar way," observes the Don.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Honest!" cries Mr. Godwin, hotly. "He honest who would have suffered
+Judith to die in Barbary! He shall go."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then you will take in your own hands the control of your joint estate?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I? Why, I know no more of such matters than the man in the moon."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"With all respect to your cousin's abilities, I cannot think her
+qualified for this office."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Surely another steward can be found."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Undoubtedly," says I. "But surely, sir, you'd not trust all to him
+without some supervision. Large sums of money must pass through his
+hands, and this must prove a great temptation to dishonest practices.
+'Twould not be fair to any man."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"This is true," says he. "And yet from natural disinclination,
+ignorance, and other reasons, I would keep out of it." Then after some
+reflection he adds, "My cousin has told me how you have lost all your
+fortune in saving her, and that 'tis not yet possible to repay you. May
+I ask, sir, without offence, if you have any occupation for your time
+when you leave us?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I went to London when I left you to see what might be done; but a
+merchant without money is like a carpenter without tools."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then, sir, till your debt is discharged, or you can find some more
+pleasant and profitable engagement, would you not consent to govern
+these affairs? I do not ask you to stay here, though assuredly you will
+ever be a welcome guest; but if you would have one of the houses on the
+estate or come hither from time to time as it might fit your other
+purposes, and take this office as a matter of business, I should regard
+it as a most generous, friendly kindness on your part."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I promised him with some demur, and yet with the civility his offer
+demanded, to consider of this; and so our debate ended, and I went to
+bed, very well content with myself, for thus will vanity blind us to our
+faults.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XXIV.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>I overcome Moll's honest compunctions, lay hold of three thousand
+pounds more, and do otherwise play the part of rascal to perfection.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I got together six hundred pounds (out of the sum left us after paying
+Don Sanchez his ten thousand), and delivered 'em to Mr. Godwin against
+his note of hand, telling him at the same time that, having slept upon
+his proposal, I was resolved to be his steward for three months, with
+freedom on both sides to alter our position, according to our
+convenience, at the end of that time, and would serve him and his lady
+to the best of my power. Thanking me very heartily for my friendly
+service to him (though, God knows, with little reason), he presently
+left us. And Moll, coming back from taking tender leave of him at her
+gates, appeared very downcast and pensive. However, after moping an hour
+in her chamber, she comes to me in her hood, and begs I will take her a
+walk to dispel her vapours. So we out across the common, it being a
+fine, brisk, dry morning and the ground hard with a frost. Here, being
+secure from observation, I showed her how I had settled matters with Mr.
+Godwin, dividing the estate in such a manner as would enable her to draw
+what funds she pleased, without let, hindrance, or any inconvenient
+question.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this she draws a deep sigh, fixing her eyes sadly enough on the
+perspective, as if she were thinking rather of her absent lover than the
+business in hand. Somewhat nettled to find she prized my efforts on her
+behalf so lightly, I proceeded to show her the advantages of this
+arrangement, adding that, to make her property the surer, I had
+consented to manage both her affairs and Mr. Godwin's when they were
+married.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And so," says I, in conclusion, "you may have what money you want, and
+dispose of it as you will, and I'll answer for it Mr. Godwin shall never
+be a penny the wiser."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do what you find is necessary," says she, with passion. "But for
+mercy's sake say no more on this matter to me. For all these hints do
+stab my heart like sharp knives."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not reading rightly the cause of her petulance, I was at first disposed
+to resent it; but, reflecting that a maiden is no more responsible for
+her tongue than a donkey for his heels in this season of life (but both
+must be for ever a-flying out at some one when parted from the object of
+their affections), I held my peace; and so we walked on in sullen
+silence for a space; then, turning suddenly upon me, she cries in a
+trembling voice:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Won't you say something to me? Can't you see that I am unhappy?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now, seeing her eyes full of tears, her lips quivering, and her face
+drawn with pain, my heart melted in a moment; so, taking her arm under
+mine and pressing it to my side, I bade her be of good cheer, for her
+lover would return in a day or two at the outside.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, not of him,--not of him," she entreats. "Talk to me of indifferent
+things."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So, thinking to turn her thoughts to another furrow, I told her how I
+had been to visit her father at Greenwich.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My father," says she, stopping short. "Oh, what a heartless, selfish
+creature am I! I have not thought of him in my happiness. Nay, had he
+been dead I could not have forgot him more. You saw him--is he well?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"As hearty as you could wish, and full of love for you, and rejoiced
+beyond measure to know you are to marry a brave, honest gentleman." Then
+I told how we had drunk to their health, and how her father had smashed
+his mug for a fancy. And this bringing a smile to her cheek, I went on
+to tell how he craved to see Mr. Godwin and grip his hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh, if he could see what a noble, handsome man my Richard is!" cries
+she. "I do think my heart would ache for pride."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, so it shall," says I, "for your father does intend to come hither
+before long."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"He is coming to see my dear husband!" says she, her face aglow with
+joy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, but he does promise to be most circumspect, and appear as if,
+returning from a voyage, he had come but to see how you fare, and will
+stay no longer than is reasonably civil."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Only that," says she, her countenance falling again, "we are to hide
+our love, pretend indifference, behave towards this dear father as if he
+were nought to me but a friend."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My dear," says I, "'tis no new part you have to play."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I know it," she answers hotly, "but that makes it only the worse."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, what would you?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Anything" (with passion). "I would do anything but cheat and cozen the
+man I love." Then, after some moments' silence o' both sides, "Oh, if I
+were really Judith Godwin!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If you were she, you'd be in Barbary now, and have neither father nor
+lover; is that what you want?" says I, with some impatience.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Bear with me," says she, with a humility as strange in her as these
+new-born scruples of conscience.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You may be sure of this, my dear," says I, in a gentler tone, "if you
+were anything but what you are, Mr. Godwin would not marry you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, then, not tell him what I am?" asks she, boldly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That means that you would be to-morrow what you're not to-day."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If he told me he had done wrong, I could forgive him, and love him none
+the less."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your conditions are not the same. He is a gentleman by birth, you but a
+player's daughter. Come, child, be reasonable. Ponder this matter but a
+moment justly, and you shall see that you have all to lose and nought to
+gain by yielding to this idle fancy. Is he lacking in affection, that
+you would seek to stimulate his love by this hazardous experiment?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh, no, no, no!" cries she.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Would he be happier knowing all?" (She shakes her head.) "Happier if
+you force him to give you up and seek another wife?" (She starts as if
+flicked with a whip.) "Would <i>you</i> be happier stripped of your
+possessions, cast out of your house, and forced to fly from justice with
+your father?" (She looks at me in pale terror.) "Why, then, there's
+nothing to be won, and what's to lose? the love of a noble, honest
+gentleman, the joy of raising him from penury."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh, say no more," cries she, in passion. "I know not what madness
+possessed me to overlook such consequences. I kiss you for bringing me
+to my senses" (with that she catches up my hand and presses her lips to
+it again and again). "Look in my face," cries she, "and if you find a
+lurking vestige of irresolution there, I'll tear it out."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Indeed, I could see nothing but set determination in her countenance,--a
+most hard expression of fixed resolve, that seemed to age her by ten
+years, astonishing me not less than those other phases in her rapidly
+developing character.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Now," says she, quickly, and with not a note of her repining tone,
+"what was that you spoke of lately,--you are to be our steward?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes," says I, "for Mr. Godwin has declared most firmly that the moment
+he has authority he will cast Simon out for his disloyalty."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I will not leave that ungrateful duty to him," says she. "Take me to
+this wretch at once, and choose the shortest path."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I led her back across the common, and coming to Simon's lodge, she
+herself knocked loudly at the door.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Seeing who it was through his little grating, Simon quickly opens the
+door, and with fawning humility entreats her to step into his poor room,
+and there he stands, cringing and mopping his eyes, in dreadful
+apprehension, as having doubtless gathered from some about the house how
+matters stood betwixt Moll and Mr. Godwin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Where are your keys?" demands Moll, in a very hard, merciless voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Perceiving how the land lay, and finding himself thus beset, old Simon
+falls to his usual artifices, turning this way and that, like a rat in a
+pit, to find some hole for escape. First he feigns to misunderstand,
+then, clapping his hands in his pockets, he knows not where he can have
+laid them; after that fancies he must have given them to his man Peter,
+who is gone out of an errand, etc.; until Moll, losing patience, cut him
+short by declaring the loss of the keys unimportant, as doubtless a
+locksmith could be found to open his boxes and drawers without 'em.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My chief requirement is," adds she, "that you leave this house
+forthwith, and return no more."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon this, finding further evasion impossible, the old man turns to bay,
+and asks upon what grounds she would dismiss him without writ or
+warrant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis sufficient," returns she, "that this house is mine, and that I
+will not have you a day longer for my tenant or my servant. If you
+dispute my claim,--as I am told you do,--you may take what lawful means
+you please to dispossess me of my estate, and at the same time redress
+what wrong is done you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Seeing his secret treachery discovered, Simon falls now to his whining
+arts, telling once more of his constant toil to enrich her, his thrift
+and self-denial; nay, he even carries it so far as to show that he did
+but incite Mr. Godwin to dispute her title to the estate, that thereby
+her claim should be justified before the law to the obtaining of her
+succession without further delay, and at the expense of her cousin,
+which did surpass anything I had ever heard of for artfulness. But this
+only incensed Moll the more.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What!" cries she, "you would make bad blood between two cousins, to the
+ruin and disgrace of one, merely to save the expense of some beggarly
+fees! I'll hear no more. Go at once, or I will send for my servants to
+carry you out by force."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He stood some moments in deliberation, and then he says, with a certain
+dignity unusual to him, "I will go." Then he casts his eye slowly round
+the room, with a lingering regard for his piles of documents and
+precious boxes of title deeds, as if he were bidding a last farewell to
+all that was dear to him on earth, and grotesque as his appearance might
+be, there was yet something pathetic in it. But even at this moment his
+ruling passion prevailed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There is no need," says he, "to burst these goodly locks by force. I do
+bethink me the keys are here" (opening a drawer, and laying them upon
+the table). Then dropping his head, he goes slowly to the door, but
+there he turns, lifting his head and fixing his rheumy eyes on Moll. "I
+will take nothing from this house, not even the chattels that belong to
+me, bought from the mean wage I have allowed myself. So shalt thou judge
+of my honesty. They shall stand here till I return, for that I shall
+return I am as fully persuaded as that a just God doth dispose of his
+creatures. Thee hast might on thy side, woman, but whether thee hast
+right as well, shall yet be proven--not by the laws of man, which are an
+invention of the devil to fatten rogues upon the substance of fools, but
+by the law of Heaven, to which I do appeal with all my soul" (lifting
+high his shaking hands). "Morning and night I will pray that God shall
+smite with heavy hand which of us two hath most wronged the other. Offer
+the same prayer if thee darest."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I do confess that this parting shot went home to my conscience, and
+troubled my mind considerably; for feeling that he was in the right of
+it as regarded our relative honesty, I was constrained to think that his
+prophecy might come true also to our shame and undoing. But Moll was
+afflicted with no such qualms, her spirit being very combative and high,
+and her conscience (such as it was) being hardened by our late
+discussion to resist sharper slaps than this. Nay, maintaining that
+Simon must be dishonest by the proof we had of his hypocrisy and double
+dealing, she would have me enter upon my office at once by sending
+letters to all her tenants, warning them to pay no rent to any one
+lately in her service, but only to me; and these letters (which kept my
+pen going all that afternoon) she signed with the name of Judith Godwin,
+which seemed to me a very bold, dangerous piece of business; but she
+would have it so, and did her signature with a strong hand and a
+flourish of loops beneath like any queen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor was this all; for the next morning she would have me go to that Mr.
+Goodman, who had offered to buy her farm for ready money, and get what I
+could from him, seeing that she must furnish herself with fresh gowns
+and make other outlay for her coming marriage. So to him I go, and after
+much haggling (having learnt from Simon that the land was worth more
+than he offered for it), I brought him to give six thousand pounds
+instead of five, and this was clearly better business on his side than
+on mine at that, for that the bargain might not slip from his hands he
+would have me take three thousand pounds down as a handsell, leaving the
+rest to be paid when the deed of transference was drawn up.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now as I jogged home with all this gold chinking in my pockets, I
+did feel that I had thrust my head fairly into a halter, and no chance
+left of drawing it out. Look at it how I might, this business wore a
+most curst aspect, to be sure; nor could I regard myself as anything but
+a thoroughpaced rogue.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"For," thinks I, "if old Simon's prayer be answered, what will become of
+this poor Mr. Goodman? His title deeds will be wrested from him, for
+they are but stolen goods he is paying for, and thus an innocent, honest
+man will be utterly ruined. And for doing this villany I may count
+myself lucky if my heels save my neck."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With this weight on my mind, I resolved to be very watchful and careful
+of my safety, and before I fell asleep that night I had devised a dozen
+schemes for making good my escape as soon as I perceived danger;
+nevertheless, I could dream of nothing but prisons, scourgings, etc.,
+and in every vision I perceived old Simon in his leather skull-cap
+sitting on the top of Tyburn tree, with his handkercher a-hanging down
+ready to strangle me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XXV.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>A table of various accidents.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As your guide, showing you an exhibition of paintings, will linger over
+the first room, and then pass the second in hurried review to come the
+quicker to a third of greater interest, so I, having dwelt, may be, at
+undue length upon some secondary passages in this history, must
+economise my space by touching lightly on the events that came
+immediately before Moll's marriage, and so get to those more moving
+accidents which followed. Here, therefore, will I transcribe certain
+notes (forming a brief chronicle) from that secret journal which, for
+the clearer understanding of my position, I began to keep the day I took
+possession of Simon's lodge and entered upon my new office.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>December 8.</i> Very busy all this forenoon setting my new house in order,
+conveying, with the help of the gardener, all those domestic and
+personal goods that belong to Simon into the attick; but Lord! so few
+these things, and they so patched and worn, that altogether they are not
+worth ten shillings of anybody's money. I find the house wondrous neat
+and clean in every part, but so comfortless and prison-like, that I look
+forward with little relish to living here when the time comes for me to
+leave the Court. After this to examining books, papers, etc., and the
+more closely I look into these, the more assured I am that never was any
+servant more scrupulous, exact, and honest in his master's service than
+this old steward, which puts me to the hope that I may be only half as
+faithful to my trust as he, but I do fear I shall not.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Conversing privily with Don Sanchez after dinner, he gave me his opinion
+that we had done a very unwise thing in turning out old Simon, showing
+how by a little skill I might have persuaded Moll to leave this business
+to Mr. Godwin as the proper ruler of her estate; how by such delay Mr.
+Godwin's resentment would have abated and he willing to listen to good
+argument in the steward's favour; how then we should have made Simon
+more eager than ever to serve us in order to condone his late offence,
+and how by abusing our opportunities we had changed this useful servant
+to a dangerous enemy whose sole endeavour must be to undo us and recover
+his former position, etc.... "Why, what have we to fear of this
+miserable old man?" says I. "Unless he fetch Mrs. Godwin from Barbary,
+he cannot disprove Moll's right to the estate, and what else can he do?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There's the mischief of it," answers he. "'Tis because you know not how
+he may attack you that you have no means of defending yourself. 'Tis
+ever the unseen trifle in our path which trips us up." And dismissing
+this part of the subject with a hunch of his shoulders, he advises me
+seriously to sell as many more farms as I may for ready money, and keep
+it in some secret convenient corner where I may lay hands on it at a
+moment's warning.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This discourse coming atop of a night's ill rest, depressed my mind to
+such a degree that I could take no interest in my work, but sat there in
+my naked room with my accounts before me, and no spirit to cast 'em up,
+Nor was I much happier when I gave up work and returned to the Court.
+For, besides having to wait an hour later than usual for dinner, Moll's
+treatment of me was none of the best,--she being particularly perverse
+and contrary, for having dressed herself in her best in expectation of
+her lover's return, and he not coming when at last she permitted supper
+to be dished. We were scarcely seated, however, when she springs up with
+a cry of joy and runs from the room, crying she hears her Richard's
+step, which was indeed true, though we had heard nothing more pleasant
+than the rattle of our plates. Presently they come in, all radiant with
+happiness, hand in hand, and thenceforth nought but sweetness and mirth
+on the part of Mistress Moll, who before had been all frown and pout. At
+supper Mr. Godwin tells us how his sweetheart hath certainly dispelled
+the clouds that have hung so long over him, he having heard in London
+that Sir Peter Lely, on seeing one of his pieces, desires to see him at
+Hatfield (where he is painting) on good business, and to Hatfield he
+will go to discharge this matter before his marriage; which joyeth Moll
+less than me, I being pleased to see he is still of the same, stout
+disposition to live an active life. In the evening he gives Moll a very
+beautiful ring for a troth token, which transports her with joy, so that
+she cannot enough caress her lover or this toy, but falls first to
+kissing one and then t'other in a rapture. In return, she gives him a
+ring from her finger. "'Tis too small for my finger, love," says he;
+"but I will wear it against my heart as long as it beats." After that he
+finds another case and puts it in Moll's hand, and she, opening it,
+fetches her breath quickly and can say nothing for amazement; then,
+turning it in the light, she regards it with winking eyes, as if dazzled
+by some fierce brilliancy. And so closing the case as if it were too
+much for her, she lays her face upon Mr. Godwin's breast, he having his
+arm about her, murmuring some inarticulate words of passionate love.
+Recovering her energies presently, she starts up, and putting the case
+in her lover's hand, she bids him put on his gift, therewith pulling
+down her kerchief to expose her beautiful bare neck, whereupon he draws
+from the box a diamond collar and clasps it about her throat with a
+pretty speech. And truly this was a gift worthy of a princess, the most
+beautiful bauble I have ever seen, and must have cost him all he had of
+me to the last shilling.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>December 10.</i> Finding amongst Simon's quittances a bill for law
+expenses of one John Pearson, attorney, at Maidstone, I concluded this
+must be the most trustworthy man of his kind in the country; and so set
+forth early this morning to seek him,--a tedious, long journey, and the
+roads exceedingly foul. By good luck I found Mr. Pearson at home,--a
+very civil, shrewd man, as I think. Having laid my business before him,
+he tells me there will be no difficulty in dividing the estate according
+to the wish of Mr. Godwin and Moll, which may be done by a simple deed
+of agreement; and this he promises to draw up, and send to us for
+signature in a couple of days. But to get the seal to Moll's succession
+will not be such an easy matter, and, unless we are willing to give
+seven or eight hundred pounds in fees, we may be kept waiting a year,
+with the chance of being put to greater expense to prove our right; for
+he tells me the court and all about it are so corrupt that no minister
+is valued if he do not, by straight or crooked ways, draw money into the
+treasury, and that they will rather impede than aid the course of
+justice if it be to the king's interest, and that none will stir a hand
+to the advantage of any one but the king, unless it be secretly to his
+own, etc. And, though he will say nothing against Simon, save (by way of
+hint) that all men must be counted honest till they are proved guilty,
+yet he do apprehend he will do all in his power to obstruct the granting
+of this seal, which it is only reasonable to suppose he will. So, to
+close this discussion, I agree he shall spend as much as one thousand
+pounds in bribery, and he thinks we may certainly look to have it in a
+month at that price. Home late, and very sore.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>December 11.</i> Much astonished this morning on going to my house to find
+all changed within as if by inchantment--fine hangings to my windows,
+handsome furniture in every room, all arranged in due order (with a pair
+of pictures in my parlour), the linen press stocked with all that is
+needful and more, and even the cellar well garnished with wines, etc.
+And truly thus embellished my house looks no longer like a prison, but
+as cheerful and pleasant a dwelling-place as the heart of man could
+desire (in moderation), and better than any I have yet dreamt of
+possessing. And 'twas easy to guess whose hands had worked this
+transformation, even had I not recognised certain pieces of furniture as
+coming from the Court, for 'twas of a piece with Moll's loving and
+playful spirit to prepare this surprise for me while I was gone
+yesterday to Maidstone. I am resolved I will sleep here
+henceforth,--there being two bedrooms all properly furnished,--as being
+more in keeping with my new position.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>December 13.</i> This day a little before dinner time came Dawson to the
+Court, quite sober and looking as like a rough honest seaman as anything
+could be, but evidently with his best shore-going manners on. And when
+Moll very graciously offers him her hand, he whips out a red handkercher
+and lays it over her hand before kissing it, which was a piece of
+ceremony he must have observed at Greenwich, as also many odd phrases
+and sea expressions with which he garnished his conversation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Captain Evans," says Moll, taking her lover's hand, "this is Mr.
+Godwin, my cousin, and soon to be my husband."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Godwin holds forth his hand, but ere he would take it, Dawson looks
+him full in the face a good minute; then, taking it in his great grimy
+hand, and grasping it firmly, "Master," says Jack, "I see thou art an
+honest man, and none lives who hath ever sold me tar for pitch, be he
+never so double-faced, and so I wish you joy of your sweet wife. As for
+you, Mistress" (turning to Moll) "who have ever been kind to me beyond
+my deserts, I do wish you all the happiness in the world, and I count
+all my hardships well paid in bringing you safely to this anchorage. For
+sure I would sooner you were still Lala Mollah and a slave in Barbary
+than the Queen of Chiney and ill-mated; and so Lord love the both of
+you!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After staying a couple of hours with us, he was for going (but not
+before he had given us the instructive history of the torment he had
+endured, by telling his wife, in an unguarded moment, of his gallantries
+with Sukey Taylor), nor would he be persuaded to sleep at the Court and
+leave next day, maintaining that whilst he had never a penny in the
+world he could very honestly accept Moll's hospitality, but that now
+being well-to-do, thanks to her bounty, he blessed Heaven he had
+sufficient good breeding, and valued himself well enough not to take
+advantage of her beneficence. However, hearing I had a house of my own,
+and could offer him a bed, he willingly agreed to be my guest for the
+night, regarding me as one of his own quality. We stayed to sup at the
+Court, where he entertained us with a lengthy account of his late
+voyage, and how being taken in a tempest, his masts had all been swept
+by the board, and his craft so damaged that 'twas as much as she would
+hold together till he brought her into Falmouth, where she must lie
+a-repairing a good two months ere he could again venture to sea in her.
+And this story he told with such an abundance of detail and so many
+nautical particulars, that no one in the world could have dreamt he was
+lying.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He explained to me later on that he had refused to lie at the Court, for
+fear a glass or two after supper might lead his tongue astray, telling
+me that he had touched nothing but penny ale all his long journey from
+London, for fear of losing his head; and on my asking why he had
+fabricated that long history of shipwreck he vowed I had put him to it
+by saying I had a house of my own where he could lie; "For," says he,
+"my ship being laid up will furnish me with a very good excuse for
+coming to spend a day or two with you now and then. So may I get another
+glimpse of my own dear Moll, and see her in the fulness of her joy."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He could not sufficiently cry up the excellence of Mr. Godwin, his noble
+bearing, his frank, honest countenance, his tenderness for Moll, etc.,
+and he did truly shed tears of gratitude to think that now, whatever
+befell him, her welfare and happiness were assured; but this was when he
+had emptied his bottle and had got to that stage of emotion which
+usually preceded boisterous hilarity when he was in his cups.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And whilst I am speaking of bottles, it will not be amiss to note here,
+for my future warning, a grave imprudence of mine, which I discovered on
+leaving the room to seek more wine. On the flame of my candle blowing
+aside, I perceived that I had left my door unfastened, so that it now
+stood ajar. And, truly, this was as culpable a piece of oversight as I
+could well have committed; for here, had an enemy, or even an idle
+busybody, been passing, he might very well have entered the little
+passage and overheard that which had been our undoing to have made
+known.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XXVI.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>How Moll Dawson was married to Mr. Richard Godwin; brief account of
+attendant circumstances.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>December 14.</i> Dawson left us this morning. In parting, Mr. Godwin
+graciously begged him to come to his wedding feast on Christmas
+day,--they having fixed upon Christmas eve to be married,--and Dawson
+promised he would; but he did assure me afterwards, as we were walking
+along the road to meet the stage waggon, that he would certainly feign
+some reason for not coming. "For," says he, "I am not so foolhardy as to
+jeopardise my Moll's happiness for the pleasure this feast would give
+me. Nay, Kit, I do think 'twould break my heart indeed, if anything of
+my doing should mar my Moll's happiness." And I was very well pleased to
+find him in this humour, promising him that we would make amends for his
+abstinence on this occasion by cracking many a bottle to Moll's joy when
+we could come together again secretly at my house. In the afternoon Mr.
+Pearson's clerk brought the deed of agreement for the settlement of the
+estate upon Moll and Mr. Godwin, which they signed, and so that is
+finished as we would have it. This clerk tells me his master hath
+already gone to London about getting the seal. So all things look mighty
+prosperous.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>December 17.</i> Fearing to displease Sir Peter Lely by longer delay, Mr.
+Godwin set out for Hatfield Tuesday, we--that is, Moll, Don Sanchez, and
+I--going with him as far as the borough, where Moll had a thousand
+things to buy against her wedding. And here we found great activity of
+commerce, and many shops filled with excellent good goods,--more than
+ever there were before the great fire drove out so many tradesmen from
+the city. Here Moll spends her money royally, buying whatever catches
+her eye that is rich and beautiful, not only for her own personal
+adornment, but for the embellishment of her house (as hangings, damasks,
+toys, etc.), yet always with a consideration of Mr. Godwin's taste, so
+that I think she would not buy a pair of stockings but she must ask
+herself whether he would admire 'em. And the more she had, the more
+eager she grew to have, buying by candle-light, which was an imprudence,
+and making no sort of bargain, but giving all the shopkeepers asked for
+their wares, which, to be sure, was another piece of recklessness. This
+business seemed to me the most wearisome in the world, but it served
+only to increase her energies, and she would not be persuaded to desist
+until, the shops closing, she could lay out no more money that night.
+Supped very well (but mighty late) at the Tabard inn, where we lay all
+night. And the next morning, Moll's fever still unabated, we set out
+again a-shopping, and no rest until we caught the stage (and that by a
+miracle) at four; and so home, dead beat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>December 18.</i> Moll mad all day because the carrier hath brought but
+half her purchases, and they not what she wanted. By the evening waggon
+come three seamstresses she engaged yesterday morning, and they are to
+stay in the house till all is finished; but as yet nothing for them to
+do, which is less grievous to them than to poor Moll, who, I believe,
+would set 'em working all night for fear she shall not be fitted against
+her wedding.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>December 19.</i> Thank God, the carrier brought all our packages this
+morning, and they being all undone and laid out, there is no sitting
+down anywhere with comfort, but all confusion, and no regularity
+anywhere, so I was content to get my meals in the kitchen the best I
+could. And here I do perceive the wisdom of Don Sanchez, who did not
+return with us from London, and does intend (he told me) to stay there
+till the wedding eve. <i>December 20.</i> Moll, bit by a new maggot, tells me
+this morning she will have a great feast on Christmas day, and bids me
+order matters accordingly. She will have a whole ox roasted before the
+house by midday, and barrels of strong ale set up, that there may be
+meat and drink for all who choose to take it; and at four she will have
+a supper of geese, turkeys, and plum puddings for all her tenants, their
+wives and sweethearts, with fiddles afterwards for dancing, etc. Lord
+knows how we shall come out of this madness; but I have got the
+innkeeper (a busy, capable man) to help me, and he does assure me all
+will go well enough, and I pray he be right.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>December 21.</i> Sick with fears that all must end ill. For the place is a
+very Babel for tradesmen and workpeople bringing in goods, and knowing
+not where to set them, servants hurrying this way and that, one charged
+with a dozen geese, another with silk petticoats, jostling each other,
+laughing, quarrelling, and no sort of progress, as it seems, anywhere,
+but all tumult and disorder.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>December 22.</i> Could not sleep a wink all last night for casting up
+accounts of all this feasting and finery will cost us, and finding it
+must eat up all that money we had of poor Mr. Goodman, and make a deep
+hole in our quarter's rents besides, I fell a speculating whether our
+tenants would pay me with the same punctuality they have used to pay old
+Simon, with grievous fears to the contrary. For, assuredly, Simon hath
+not been idle these past days, and will do us an ill turn if he can, by
+throwing doubts before these same tenants whether they should pay or not
+before Moll's succession is made sure. And I have good reason to fear
+they will not, for I observed yesterday when I called upon Farmer Giles
+to invite him to our feast, he seemed very jerky and ill at ease, which
+perplexed me greatly, until, on quitting, I perceived through a door
+that stood ajar old Simon seated in a side room. And 'tis but natural
+that if they find prudent excuse for withholding their rents they will
+keep their money in pocket, which will pinch us smartly when our bills
+come to be paid. Yet I conceived that this feast would incline our
+tenants to regard us kindly; but, on the other hand, thinks I, supposing
+they regard this as a snare, and do avoid us altogether! Then shall we
+be nipped another way; for, having no one to eat our feast but a few
+idle rogues, who would get beef and ale for nothing, we shall but lay
+ourselves open to mockery, and get further into discredit. Thus, betwixt
+one fear and another, I lay like a toad under a harrow, all night, in a
+mortal sweat and perturbation of spirit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor has this day done much to allay my apprehension. For at the Court
+all is still at sixes and sevens, none of a very cheerful spirit, but
+all mighty anxious, save Moll, who throughout has kept a high, bold
+spirit. And she does declare they will work all night, but everything
+shall be in its place before her lover comes to-morrow. And, truly, I
+pray they may, but do think they will not. For such a mighty business as
+this should have been begun a full month back. But she will not endure
+me in the house (though God knows I am as willing as any to help),
+saying that I do hinder all, and damp their spirit for work with my
+gloomy countenance, which is no more than the truth, I fear. The sky
+very overcast, with wind in the south and the air very muggy, mild, and
+close, so that I do apprehend our geese will be all stinking before they
+are eat. And if it pour of rain on Christmas day how will the ox be
+roast, and what sort of company can we expect? This puts me to another
+taking for dread of a new fiasco.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>December 23.</i> Going to the Court about midday, I was dumbfounded to
+find no sign of the disorder that prevailed there yesterday, but all
+swept and garnished, and Moll in a brave new gown seated at her
+fireside, reading a book with the utmost tranquillity,--though I suspect
+she did assume something in this to increase my astonishment. She was
+largely diverted by my amazement, and made very light of her
+achievement; but she admitted that all had worked till daybreak, and she
+had slept but two hours since. Nevertheless, no one could have looked
+fresher and brighter than she, so healthy and vigorous are her natural
+parts. About one comes Mr. Godwin to cap her happiness and give fresh
+glory to her beauty. And sure a handsomer or better mated couple never
+was, Mr. Godwin's shapely figure being now set off to advantage by a
+very noble clothing, as becoming his condition. With him came also by
+the morning stage Don Sanchez, mighty fine in a new head, of the latest
+mode, and a figured silk coat and waistcoat. And seeing the brave show
+they made at table, I was much humbled to think I had gone to no expense
+in this particular. But I was yet more mortified when Don Sanchez
+presents Moll with a handsome set of jewels for a wedding gift, to see
+that I had nothing in the world to offer her, having as yet taken not a
+penny of her money, save for the use of others and my bare necessities.
+Moll, however, was too full of happiness to note this omission on my
+part; she could think of no one now but her dear husband, and I counted
+for nothing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However, this little chagrin was no more than a little cloud on a
+summer's day, which harms no one and is quickly dispelled by generous
+heat; and the tender affection of these two for each other did impart a
+glow of happiness to my heart. 'Tis strange to think how all things
+to-night look bright and hopeful, which yesterday were gloomy and
+awesome. Even the weather hath changed to keep in harmony with our
+condition. A fresh wind sprang up from the north this morning, and
+to-night every star shines out sharp and clear through the frosty air,
+promising well for to-morrow and our Christmas feast. And smelling of
+the geese, I do now find them all as sweet as nuts, which contents me
+mightily, and so I shall go to bed this night blessing God for all
+things.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>December 24.</i> Now this blessed day hath ended, and Moll is sure and
+safely bound to Mr. Godwin in wedlock, thanks to Providence. Woke at
+daybreak and joyed to find all white without and covered with rime,
+sparkling like diamonds as the sun rose red and jolly above the firs;
+and so I thought our dear Moll's life must sparkle as she looked out on
+this, which is like to be the brightest, happiest day of her life.
+Dressed in my best with great care, and put on the favour of white
+ribbons given me by Moll's woman last night, and so very well pleased
+with my looks, to the Court, where Moll is still a-dressing, but Mr.
+Godwin and Don Sanchez, nobly arrayed, conversing before the fire. And
+here a great bowpot on the table (which Mr. Godwin had made to come from
+London this morning) of the most wondrous flowers I have ever seen at
+this time of the year, so that I could not believe them real at first,
+but they are indeed living; and Mr. Godwin tells me they are raised in
+houses of glass very artificially heated. Presently comes in Moll with
+her maids, she looking like any pearl, in a shining gown of white satin
+decked with rich lace, the collar of diamonds glittering about her white
+throat, her face suffused with happy blushes and past everything for
+sprightly beauty. Mr. Godwin offers his bowpot and takes her into his
+arms, and there for a moment she lay with closed eyes and a pallor
+spreading over her cheek as if this joy were more than her heart could
+bear; but recovering quickly, she was again all lively smiles and
+radiance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then comes a letter, brought by the night carrier, from her father (a
+most dirty, ill-written scrawl signed Robert Evans with his mark),
+praying he may be excused, as his masts are to be stepped o' Wednesday,
+and he must take the occasion of a ketch leaving Dartford for Falmouth
+this day, and at the same time begging her acceptance of a canister of
+China tea (which is, I learn, become a fashionable dish in London) as a
+marriage offering. Soon after this a maid runs in to say the church
+bells are a-ringing; so out we go into the crisp, fresh air, with not a
+damp place to soil Moll's pretty shoes--she and Mr. Godwin first, her
+maids next, carrying her train, and the Don and I closing the
+procession, very stately. In the churchyard stand two rows of village
+maids with baskets to strew rosemary and sweet herbs in our path, and
+within the church a brave show of gentlefolks, friends and neighbours,
+to honour the wedding.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But here was I put to a most horrid quaking the moment I passed the
+door, to perceive old Simon standing foremost in the throng about the
+altar, in his leather cap (which he would not remove for clerk or
+sexton, but threatened them, as I am told, with the law if they lay a
+finger on him). And seeing him there, I must needs conclude that he
+intended to do us an ill turn, for his face wore the most wicked, cruel,
+malicious look that ever thirst of vengeance could impart. Indeed, I
+expected nothing less than that he would forbid the marriage on such
+grounds as we had too good reason to fear; and with this dread I
+regarded Moll, who also could not fail to see him. Her face whitened as
+she looked at him, but her step never faltered, and this peril seemed
+but to fortify her courage and resolution; and indeed I do think by her
+high bearing and the defiance in her eye as she held her lover's arm
+that she was fully prepared to make good answer if he challenged her
+right to marry Mr. Godwin. But (the Lord be thanked!) he did not put her
+to this trial, only he stood there like a thing of evil omen to mar the
+joy of this day with fearful foreboding.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I can say nothing about the ceremony, for all my attention was fixed
+upon this hideous Simon, and I had no relief until 'twas safely ended
+and Moll's friends pressed forward to kiss the bride and offer their
+good wishes; nor did I feel really at ease until we were back again at
+the Court, and seated to a fine dinner, with all the friends who would
+join us, whereof there were as many as could sit comfortably to the long
+table. This feast was very joyous and merry, and except that the parson
+would be facetious over his bottle, nothing unseemingly or immodest was
+said. So we stayed at table in exceeding good fellowship till the
+candles were lit, and then the parson, being very drunk, we made a
+pretext of carrying him home to break up our company and leave the happy
+couple to their joy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>December 26.</i> Down betimes yesterday morning to find the sky still
+clear, the air brisk and dry, and ample promise of a fair day. To the
+Court, and there perceive the great ox spitted on a stout fir pole, and
+the fire just kindling; John the gardener setting up the barrels of
+beer, and a famous crowd of boys and beggars already standing before the
+gates. And there they might have stayed till their dinner was cooked,
+ere I had let them in, but Moll coming down from the house with her
+husband, and seeing this shivering crew, their pinched cheeks yellow and
+their noses blue with cold, and so famished with hunger they could
+scarce find strength to cry, "God bless you, merry gentlefolks!" she
+would have them taste at once some of that happiness with which her
+heart was overflowing, and so did with her own hands unbolt the gates
+and set them wide, bidding the halting wretches come in and warm
+themselves. Not content with this, she sends up to the house for loaves
+and gives every one a hunch of bread and a mug of ale to stay his empty
+stomach. And Lord, 'twas a pleasure to see these poor folks' joy--how
+they spread their hands out to the flames; how they cockered up the fire
+here and there to brown their ox equally, with all hands now and then to
+turn him on the spit; how they would set their bread to catch the
+dropping gravy; and how they would lift their noses to catch the savoury
+whiffs that came from the roasting beef.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This is all very well, thinks I, but how about our geese and turkeys?
+will our tenants come, or shall we find that Simon hath spoilt their
+appetite, and so be left with nought but starved beggars for our
+company? However, before four o'clock an end was put to these doubts,
+for some in waggons, others on horse, with their wives or sweethearts on
+pillions behind, clasping their men tight, and the rest afoot, all came
+that were asked by me, and more, and pretty jolly already with ale on
+the road, and a great store of mistletoe amongst them for their further
+merriment. And what pleased me as much as anything was to find all
+mighty civil to Moll--nearly all offering her a Christmas box of fresh
+eggs, honey, and such homely produce, which she received with the most
+pretty, winning grace, that went home to every heart, so that the
+hardest faces were softened with a glow of contentment and admiration.
+Then down we sat to table, Moll at one end and her husband beside her;
+Don Sanchez and I at t'other; and all the rest packed as close as sprats
+in a barrel; but every lad squeezing closer to his lass to make room for
+his neighbour, we found room for all and not a sour look anywhere. Dear
+heart! what appetites they had, yet would waste nothing, but picked
+every one his bone properly clean (which did satisfy me nothing was
+amiss with our geese), and great cheering when the puddings and
+flapdragons came in all aflame, and all as merry as grigs--flinging of
+lighted plums at each other, but most mannerly not to fling any at Moll
+or us. Then more shouting for joy when the bowls of wassail and posset
+come in, and all standing to give three times three for their new
+mistress and her husband. Hearing of which, the beggars without (now
+tired of dancing about the embers) troop up to the door and give three
+times three as well, and end with crying joy and long life to the wedded
+pair. When this tumult was ended and the door shut, Mr. Godwin gave a
+short oration, thanking our tenants for their company and good wishes;
+and then he told them how his dear wife and he, wishing others to share
+their joy and remember this day, had resolved to forgive every tenant
+one-half of his quarter's rent. "And so, Mr. Hopkins," says he,
+addressing me, "you will think of this to-morrow."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At first I was disposed to begrudge this munificence--thinking of my
+accounts and the bills I should have to pay ere rent day came again; but
+on second thoughts it rejoiced me much as being a counterblast to
+anything Simon could do against us. For no tenant, thinks I, will be
+fool enough to withold payment when he may get his quittance to-morrow
+for half its value. And herein was I not mistaking; for to-day every
+tenant hath paid with a cheerful countenance. So that this is very good
+business, and I am not in any way astonished to find that our subtle
+Spaniard was at the bottom of it, for indeed it was Don Sanchez who
+(knowing my fears on this head and thinking them well-grounded)
+suggested this act of generosity to Moll, which she, in her fulness of
+heart, seized on at once. (Truly, I believe she would give the clothes
+off her back, no matter what it cost her, to any one in need, so
+reckless is she in love and pity.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>December 27.</i> Don Sanchez took leave of us this day, he setting forth
+for Spain to-morrow, with the hope to reach his friends there, for their
+great feast of the New Year. And we are all mighty sorry to lose him;
+for not only hath he been a rare good friend to us, but also he is a
+most seemly gentleman (to keep us in countenance), and a very good
+staunch and reliable companion. But this comprises not all our loss, he
+having, as I confess, more wit in his little finger than we in all our
+bodies, and being ever ready with an expedient in the hour of need; and
+I know not why, but I look on his going as a sign of coming evil; nor am
+I greatly comforted by his telling me privily that when we want him he
+shall be found by a letter sent to the Albego Puerto del Sole, Toledo,
+in Spain. And I pray Heaven we have no occasion to write to him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To-night at supper I find Moll all cock-a-hoop with a new delight, by
+reason of her dear husband offering to take her to London for a month to
+visit the theatres and other diversions, which put me to a new quirk for
+fear Moll should be known by any of our former playhouse companions. But
+this I now perceive is a very absurd fear; for no one in the world who
+had seen Moll three years ago--a half-starved, long-legged, raw
+child--could recognise her now, a beautiful, well-proportioned young
+woman in her fine clothes; and so my mind is at ease on this head. When
+Moll was retired, Mr. Godwin asked if I could let him have a few
+hundreds upon his account, and I answered very willingly he shall. And
+now setting aside enough to pay all bills and furnish our wants till
+next quarter day, I am resolved to give him every farthing left of the
+rents paid yesterday, and shall be most hearty glad to be rid of it, for
+this money do seem to scar my hands every time I touch it; nor can I
+look at it but my heart is wrung with pity for those poor tenants who
+paid so gleefully yesterday, for surely their quittances will hold good
+for no more than spoilt paper if ever our roguery is discovered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>December 28.</i> This day Moll and Mr. Godwin set out for London, all
+smiles and gladness, and Moll did make me promise to visit them there,
+and share their pleasures. But if I have no more appetite for gaiety
+than I feel at this moment, I shall do better to stay here and mind my
+business; though I do expect to find little pleasure in that, and must
+abide by a month of very dull, gloomy days.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XXVII.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Of the great change in Moll, and the likely explanation thereof.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A week before the promised month was up, Moll and her husband came back
+to the Court, and lest I should imagine that her pleasures had been
+curtailed by his caprice, she was at great pains to convince me that he
+had yielded to her insistence in this matter, declaring she was sick of
+theatres, ridottos, masquerades, and sight-seeing, and had sighed to be
+home ere she had been in London a week. This surprised me exceedingly,
+knowing how passionate fond she had ever been of the playhouse and
+diversions of any kind, and remembering how eager she was to go to town
+with her husband; and I perceived there was more significance in the
+present distaste for diversion than she would have known. And I observed
+further (when the joy of return and ordering her household subsided)
+that she herself had changed in these past three weeks, more than was to
+be expected in so short a time. For, though she seemed to love her
+husband more than ever she had loved him as her lover, and could not be
+happy two minutes out of his company, 'twas not that glad, joyous love
+of the earlier days, but a yearning, clinging passion, that made me sad
+to see, for I could not look upon the strained, anxious tenderness in
+her young face without bethinking me of my poor sister, as she knelt
+praying by her babe's cot for God to spare its frail life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet her husband never looked more hearty and strong, and every look and
+word of his bespoke increasing love. The change in her was not
+unperceived by him, and often he would look down into her wistful,
+craving eyes as if he would ask of her, "What is it, love? tell me all."
+And she, as understanding this appeal, would answer nothing, but only
+shake her head, still gazing into his kind eyes as if she would have him
+believe she had nought to tell.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These things made me very thoughtful and urgent to find some
+satisfactory explanation. To be sure, thinks I, marriage is but the
+beginning of a woman's real life, and so one may not reasonably expect
+her to be what she was as a thoughtless child. And 'tis no less natural
+that a young wife should love to be alone with her husband, rather than
+in the midst of people who must distract his thoughts from her; as also
+it is right and proper she should wish to be in her own home, directing
+her domestic affairs and tending to her husband--showing him withal she
+is a good and thoughtful housewife. But why these pensive tristful
+looks, now she hath her heart's desire? Then, finding I must seek some
+better explanation of her case, I bethought me she must have had a very
+hard, difficult task in London to conceal from one, who was now a part
+of herself, her knowledge of so many things it was unbefitting she
+should reveal. At the playhouse she must feign astonishment at all she
+saw, as having never visited one before, and keep constant guard upon
+herself lest some word slipped her lips to reveal her acquaintance with
+the players and their art. At the ridotto she must equally feign
+ignorance of modish dancing--she whose nimble feet had tripped to every
+measure since she could stand alone. There was scarcely a subject on
+which she would dare to speak without deliberation, and she must check
+her old habit of singing and be silent, lest she fall by hazard to
+humming some known tune. Truly, under such continuous strain (which none
+but such a trained actress could maintain for a single day) her spirit
+must have wearied. And if this part was hard to play in public, where we
+are all, I take it, actors of some sort and on the alert to sustain the
+character we would have our own, how much more difficult must it be in
+private when we drop our disguise and lay our hearts open to those we
+love! And here, as it seemed to me, I did hit rightly at the true cause
+of her present secret distress; for at home as abroad she must still be
+acting a part, weighing her words, guarding her acts--for ever to be
+hiding of something from her dearest friend--ever denying him that
+confidence he appealed for--ever keeping a cruel, biting bond upon the
+most generous impulse of her heart, closing that heart when it was
+bursting to open to her dear mate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Soon after their return Mr. Godwin set to work painting the head of a
+Sybil, which the Lord of Hatfield House had commanded, on the
+recommendation of Sir Peter Lely, taking Anne Fitch for his model, and
+she sitting in that room of the Court house he had prepared for his
+workshop. Here he would be at it every day, as long as there was light
+for his purpose, Moll, near at hand, watching him, ready to chat or hold
+her peace, according to his inclination--just as she had done when he
+was a-painting of the ceiling, only that now her regard was more intent
+upon him than his work, and when he turned to look at her, 'twas with
+interchange of undisguised love in their fond eyes. She ever had a piece
+of work or a book in her lap, but she made not half a dozen stitches or
+turned a single page in the whole day, for he was the sole occupation of
+her mind; the living book, ever yielding her sweet thoughts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This persevering, patient toil on his part did at first engender in my
+mind suspicion that some doubting thoughts urged him to assume his
+independence against any accident that might befall the estate; but now
+I believe 'twas nothing but a love of work and of his art, and that his
+mind was free from any taint of misgiving, as regards his wife's
+honesty. 'Tis likely enough, that spite her caution, many a word and
+sign escaped Moll, which an enemy would have quickly seized on to prove
+her culpable; but we do never see the faults of those we love (or,
+seeing them, have ready at a moment excuse to prove them no faults at
+all), and at this time Mr. Godwin's heart was so full of love, there was
+no place for other feeling. Venom from a rose had seemed to him more
+possible than evil, from one so natural, sweet, and beautiful as Moll.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XXVIII.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Moll plays us a mad prank for the last time in her life.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About once in a fortnight I contrived to go to London for a couple of
+days on some pretext of business, and best part of this time I spent
+with Dawson. And the first visit I paid him after the return of Moll and
+her husband, telling him of their complete happiness, Moll's increasing
+womanly beauty, and the prosperous aspect of our affairs (for I had that
+day positive assurance our seal would be obtained within a month), I
+concluded by asking if his mast might not now be stepped, and he be in a
+position to come to Chislehurst and see her as he had before.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, Kit, thanking ye kindly," says he, after fighting it out with
+himself in silence a minute or two, "better not. I am getting in a
+manner used to this solitude, and bar two or three days a week when I
+feel a bit hangdog and hipped a-thinking there's not much in this world
+for an old fellow to live for when he's lost his child, I am pretty well
+content. It would only undo me. If you had a child--your own flesh and
+blood--part of your life--a child that had been to you what my sweet
+Moll hath been to me, you would comprehend better how I feel. To pretend
+indifference when you're longing to hug her to your heart, to talk of
+fair weather and foul when you're thinking of old times, and then to bow
+and scrape and go away without a single desire of your aching heart
+satisfied,--'tis more than a man with a spark of warmth in his soul can
+bear." And then he proceeded to give a dozen other reasons for declining
+the tempting bait,--the sum of all proving to my conviction that he was
+dying to see Moll, and I feared he would soon be doing by stealth that
+which it were much safer he should do openly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About a week after this I got a letter from him, asking me to come again
+as soon as I might, he having cut his hand with a chisel, "so that I
+cannot work my lathe, and having nothing to occupy my mind, do plague
+myself beyond endurance."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Much concerned for my old friend, I lose no time in repairing to
+Greenwich, where I find him sitting idle before his lathe, with an arm
+hanging in a handkerchief, and his face very yellow; but this, I think,
+was of drinking too much ale. And here he fell speedily discoursing of
+Moll, saying he could not sleep of nights for thinking of the pranks she
+used to play us, our merry vagabond life together in Spain ere we got to
+Elche, etc., and how he missed her now more than ever he did before.
+After that, as I anticipated, he came in a shuffling, roundabout way (as
+one ashamed to own his weakness) to hinting at seeing Moll by stealth,
+declaring he would rather see her for two minutes now and again peering
+through a bush, though she should never cast a glance his way, than have
+her treat him as if she were not his child and ceased to feel any love
+for him. But seeing the peril of such ways, I would by no means consent
+to his hanging about the Court like a thief, and told him plainly that
+unless he would undo us all and ruin Moll, he must come openly as before
+or not at all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Without further demur he consents to be guided by me, and then, very
+eagerly, asks when it will be proper for him to come; and we agree that
+if he come in a week's time, there will be no thought in anybody's mind
+of our having conspired to this end.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As the fates would have it, Mr. Godwin finished his painting on the
+Saturday following (the most wonderful piece of its kind I ever saw, or
+any one else, in my belief), and being justly proud of his work and
+anxious Sir Peter Lely should see it soon, he resolved he would carry it
+to Hatfield on Monday. Moll, who was prouder of her husband's piece than
+if it were of her own doing, was not less eager it should be seen; yet
+the thought that she must lose him for four days (for this journey could
+not well be accomplished in less time) cast down her spirits
+exceedingly. 'Twas painful to see her efforts to be cheerful despite of
+herself. And, seeing how incapable she was of concealing her real
+feeling from him whom she would cheer, she at length confessed to him
+her trouble. "I would have you go, and yet I'd have you stay, love,"
+says she.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis but a little while we shall be parted," says he.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A little while?" says she, trembling and wringing one hand within the
+other. "It seems to me as if we were parting for ever."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, then," returns he, laughing, "we will not part at all. You shall
+come with me, chuck. What should prevent you?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She starts with joy at this, then looks at him incredulous for a moment,
+and so her countenance falling again, she shakes her head as thinking, I
+take it, that if it were advisable she should go with him, he would have
+proposed it before.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No," says she, "'twas an idle fancy, and I'll not yield to it. I shall
+become a burden, rather than a helpmate, if you cannot stir from home
+without me. Nay," adds she, when he would override this objection, "you
+must not tempt me to be weak, but rather aid me to do that which I feel
+right."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And she would not be persuaded from this resolution, but bore herself
+most bravely, even to the moment when she and her husband clasped each
+for the last time in a farewell embrace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She stood where he had left her for some moments after he was gone.
+Suddenly she ran a few paces with parted lips and outstretched hands, as
+if she would call him back; then, as sharply she halts, clasping her
+hands, and so presently turns back, looking across her shoulder, with
+such terror in her white face, that I do think her strong imagination
+figured some accusing spirits, threatening the end of all her joys.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I followed her into the house, but there I learnt from Mrs. Butterby
+that her mistress was gone to her own chamber.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As I was sitting in my office in the afternoon, Jack Dawson came to me
+in his seaman's dress, his hand still wrapped up, but his face more
+healthful for his long ride and cheerful thoughts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, this could not have fallen out better," says I, when we had
+exchanged greetings; "for Moll is all alone, and down in the dumps by
+reason of her husband having left her this morning on business, that
+will hold him absent for three or four days. We will go up presently and
+have supper with her."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, Kit," says he, very resolutely, "I'll not. I am resolved I won't go
+there till to-morrow, for this is no hour to be a-calling on ladies, and
+her husband being away 'twill look as if we had ordered it of purpose.
+Besides, if Moll's in trouble, how am I to pretend I know nothing of the
+matter and care less, and this Mother Butterby and a parcel of sly,
+observant servants about to surprise one at any moment? Say no
+more--'tis useless--for I won't be persuaded against my judgment."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"As you will," says I.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There's another reason, if other's needed," says he, "and that's this
+plaguey thirst of mine, which seizes me when I'm doleful or joyful, with
+a force there's no resisting. And chiefly it seizes me in the later part
+of the day; therefore, I'd have you take me to the Court to-morrow
+morning betimes, ere it's at its worst. My throat's like any limekiln
+for dryness now; so do pray, Kit, fasten the door snug, and give me a
+mug of ale."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This ended our discussion; but, as it was necessary I should give some
+reason for not supping with Moll, I left Dawson with a bottle, and went
+up to the house to find Moll. There I learnt that she was still in her
+chamber, and sleeping, as Mrs. Butterby believed; so I bade the good
+woman tell her mistress when she awoke that Captain Evans had come to
+spend the night with me, and he would call to pay her his devoirs the
+next morning.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here, that nothing may be unaccounted for in the sequence of events, I
+must depart from my train of present observation to speak from
+after-knowledge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have said that when Moll started forward, as if to overtake her
+husband, she suddenly stopped as if confronted by some menacing spectre.
+And this indeed was the case; for at that moment there appeared to her
+heated imagination (for no living soul was there) a little, bent old
+woman, clothed in a single white garment of Moorish fashion, and Moll
+knew that she was Mrs. Godwin (though seeing her now for the first
+time), come from Barbary to claim her own, and separate Moll from the
+husband she had won by fraud.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She stood there (says Moll) within her gates, with raised hand and a
+most bitter, unforgiving look upon her wasted face, barring the way by
+which Moll might regain her husband; and as the poor wife halted,
+trembling in dreadful awe, the old woman advanced with the sure foot of
+right and justice. What reproach she had to make, what malediction to
+pronounce, Moll dared not stay to hear, but turning her back fled to the
+house, where, gaining her chamber, she locked the door, and flung
+herself upon her husband's bed; and in this last dear refuge, shutting
+her eyes, clasping her ears, as if by dulling her senses to escape the
+phantom, she lay in a convulsion of terror for the mere dread that such
+a thing might be.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, at the thought that she might never again be enfolded here in her
+husband's arms, an agony of grief succeeded her fit of maddening fear,
+and she wept till her mind grew calm from sheer exhaustion. And so,
+little by little, as her courage revived, she began to reason with
+herself as how 'twas the least likely thing in the world that if Mrs.
+Godwin were in England, she should come to the Court unattended and in
+her Moorish clothes; and then, seeing the folly of abandoning herself to
+a foolish fancy, she rose, washed the tears from her face, and set
+herself to find some occupation to distract her thoughts. And what
+employment is nearer to her thoughts or dearer to her heart than making
+things straight for her husband; so she goes into the next room where he
+worked, and falls to washing his brushes, cleaning his paint-board, and
+putting all things in order against his return, that he may lose no time
+in setting to work at another picture. And at dinner time, finding her
+face still disfigured with her late emotions and ashamed of her late
+folly, she bids her maid bring a snack to her room, under the pretence
+that she feels unwell. This meal she eats, still working in her
+husband's room; for one improvement prompting another, she finds plenty
+to do there: now bethinking her that the hangings of her own private
+room (being handsomer) will look better on these walls, whereas t'others
+are more fit for hers, where they are less seen; that this corner looks
+naked, and will look better for her little French table standing there,
+with a china image atop, and so forth. Thus, then, did she devote her
+time till sundown, whereabouts Mrs. Butterby raps at her door to know if
+she will have a cup of warm caudle to comfort her, at the same time
+telling her that Mr. Hopkins will not sup with her, as he has Captain
+Evans for his guest at the lodge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now Moll, by that natural succession of extremes which seems to be a
+governing law of nature (as the flow the ebb, the calm the storm, day
+the night, etc.), was not less elated than she had been depressed in the
+early part of the day,--but still, I take it, in a nervous, excitable
+condition. And hearing her father, whom she has not seen so long, is
+here, a thousand mad projects enter her lively imagination. So, when
+Mrs. Butterby, after the refusal of her warm caudle, proposes she shall
+bring Madam a tray of victuals, that she may pick something in bed,
+Moll, stifling a merry thought, asks, in a feeble voice, what there is
+in the larder.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, Madam," says Mrs. Butterby, from the outside, "there's the
+partridges you did not eat at breakfast, there's a cold pigeon pasty and
+a nice fresh ham, and a lovely hasty pudding I made with my own hands,
+in the pot."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Bring 'em all," says Moll, in the same aching voice; "and I'll pick
+what tempts me."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Therewith, she silently slips the bolt back, whips on her nightgown, and
+whips into bed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presently, up comes Mrs. Butterby, carrying a wax candle, followed by a
+couple of maids charged with all the provisions Moll had commanded.
+Having permission to enter, the good woman sets down her candle, puts on
+her glasses, and, coming to the bedside, says she can see very well by
+her poor looks, that her dear mistress has got a disorder of the
+biliaries on her, and prays Heaven it may not turn to something worse.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay," says Moll, very faintly, "I shall be well again when I am
+relieved of this headache, and if I can only fall asleep,--as I feel
+disposed to,--you will see me to-morrow morning in my usual health. I
+shan't attempt to rise this evening" ("For mercy's sake, don't," cries
+Mrs. Butterby), "and so, I pray you, order that no one shall come near
+my room to disturb me" ("I'll see that no one so much as sets a foot on
+your stair, Madam, poor dear!" says t'other), "and you will see that all
+is closed carefully. And so good-night, mother, and good-night to you,
+Jane and Betsy--oh, my poor head!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With a whispered "Good-night, dear madam," Mrs. Butterby and the maids
+leave the room a-tiptoe, closing the door behind them as if 'twere of
+gingerbread; and no sooner are they gone than Moll, big with her mad
+design, nips out of bed, strips off her nightgown, and finding nothing
+more convenient for her purpose, puts the ham, pasty, and partridges in
+a clean pillow-slip. This done, she puts on her cloak and hood, and
+having with great caution set the door open and seen all safe and quiet
+below, she takes up her bag of victuals, blows out the candle, and as
+silent as any mouse makes her way to the little private staircase at the
+end of the stairs. And now, with less fear of encountering Mrs. Godwin
+than Black Bogey, she feels her way down the dark, narrow staircase,
+reaches the lower door, unbolts it, and steps out on the path at the
+back of the house.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is still a faint twilight, and this enables her to find her way to
+the wicket gate opposite Anne Fitch's cottage. Not a soul is to be seen;
+and so, with her hood drawn well over her head, she speeds on, and in
+five minutes reaches my house. Here finding the door fastened, she gives
+a couple of knocks, and on my opening she asks meekly in a feigned
+voice, which for the life of me I should not have known for hers, if I
+am minded to buy a couple of partridges a friend has sent and she has no
+use for.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Partridges!" cries Dawson, from within. "Have 'em, Kit, for your bread
+and cheese is mighty every-day fare."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Let me see 'em, good woman," says I.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, sir," answers she, meekly, putting her pillow-slip in my hand,
+which perplexed me vastly by its weight and bulk.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"They seem to be pretty big birds by the feel of 'em," says I. "You can
+come in and shut the door after you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moll shuts the door and shoots the bolt, then tripping behind me into
+the light she casts back her hood and flings her arms round her father's
+neck with a peal of joyful laughter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What!" cries I. "Why, what can have brought you here?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, I knew you'd have nothing to give my poor old dad but mouldy
+cheese, so I've brought you a brace of partridges, if you please, sir,"
+says she, concluding in her feigned voice, as she emptied the ham,
+pasty, and partridges all higgledy-piggledy out of the slip on to the
+table.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But, Mrs. Godwin--" says I, in alarm.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh, call me Moll," cries she, wildly. "Let me be myself for this one
+night."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XXIX.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Of the subtile means whereby Simon leads Mr. Godwin to doubt his wife.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again must I draw upon matter of after-knowledge to show you how all
+things came to pass on this fatal night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Mr. Godwin reached London, he went to Sir Peter Lely's house in
+Lincoln's Inn, to know if he was still at Hatfield, and there learning
+he was gone hence to Hampton, and no one answering for certainty when he
+would return, Mr. Godwin, seeing that he might linger in London for days
+to no purpose, and bethinking him how pale and sorrowful his dear wife
+was when they parted, concludes to leave his picture at Sir Peter Lely's
+and post back to Chislehurst, counting to give his wife a happy
+surprise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About eight o'clock he reaches the Court, to find all shut and barred by
+the prudent housekeeper, who, on letting him in (with many exclamations
+of joy and wonder), falls presently to sighing and shaking her head, as
+she tells how her mistress has lain abed since dinner, and is sick of
+the biliaries.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In great concern, Mr. Godwin takes the candle from Mrs. Butterby's hand,
+and hastes up to his wife's room. Opening the door softly, he enters, to
+find the bed tumbled, indeed, but empty. He calls her in a soft voice,
+going into the next room, and, getting no reply, nor finding her there,
+he calls again, more loudly, and there is no response. Then, as he
+stands irresolute and amazed, he hears a knock at the door below, and
+concluding that 'tis his wife, who has had occasion to go out, seeking
+fresh air for her comfort maybe, he runs swiftly down and opens, ere a
+servant can answer the call. And there he is faced, not by sweet Moll,
+but the jaundiced, wicked old Simon, gasping and panting for breath.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Dost thee know," says he, fetching his breath at every other word,
+"dost thee know where the woman thy wife is?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Where is she?" cries Mr. Godwin, in quick alarm, thinking by this
+fellow's sweating haste that some accident had befallen his dear wife.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I will show thee where she is; aye, and what she is," gasps the old
+man, and then, clasping his hands, he adds, "Verily, the Lord hath heard
+my prayers and delivered mine enemies into my hand."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Godwin, who had stepped aside to catch up his hat from the table,
+where he had flung it on entering, stopped short, hearing this fervent
+note of praise, and turning about, with misgivings of Simon's purpose,
+cries:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What are your enemies to me?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Everything," cries Simon. "Mine enemies are thine, for as they have
+cheated me so have they cheated thee."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Enough of this," cries Mr. Godwin. "Tell me where my wife is, and be
+done with it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I say I will show thee where she is and what she is."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Tell me where she is," cries Mr. Godwin, with passion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That is my secret, and too precious to throw away."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I comprehend you, now," says Mr. Godwin, bethinking him of the fellow's
+greed. "You shall be paid. Tell me where she is and name your price."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The price is this," returns the other, "thy promise to be secret, to
+catch them in this trap, and give no opening for escape. Oh, I know
+them; they are as serpents, that slip through a man's fingers and turn
+to bite. They shall not serve me so again. Promise--"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nothing. Think you I'm of your own base kind, to deal with you in
+treachery? You had my answer before, when you would poison my mind,
+rascal. But," adds he, with fury, "you shall tell me where my wife is."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I would tear the tongue from my throat ere it should undo the work of
+Providence. If they escape the present vengeance of Heaven, thee shalt
+answer for it, not I. Yet I will give thee a clue to find this woman who
+hath fooled thee. Seek her where there are thieves and drunkards to mock
+at thy simplicity, to jeer at their easy gull, for I say again thy wife
+never was in Barbary, but playing the farded, wanton--"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The patience with which Mr. Godwin had harkened to this tirade, doubting
+by his passion that Simon was stark mad, gave way before this vile
+aspersion on his wife, and clutching the old man by the throat he flung
+him across the threshold and shut the door upon him.
+
+But where was his wife? That question was still uppermost in his
+thoughts. His sole misgiving was that accident had befallen her, and
+that somewhere in the house he should find her lying cold and
+insensible.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With this terror in his mind, he ran again upstairs. On the landing he
+was met by Mrs. Butterby, who (prudent soul), at the first hint of
+misconduct on her mistress's part, had bundled the gaping servants up to
+their rooms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Mercy on us, dear master!" says she. "Where can our dear lady be? For a
+surety she hath not left the house, for I locked all up, as she bade me
+when we carried up her supper, and had the key in my pocket when you
+knocked. 'See the house safe,' says she, poor soul, with a voice could
+scarce be heared, 'and let no one disturb me, for I do feel most heavy
+with sleep.'"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Godwin passed into his wife's room and then into the next, looking
+about him in distraction.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Lord! here's the sweet thing's nightgown," exclaims Mrs. Butterby, from
+the next room, whither she had followed Mr. Godwin. "But dear heart o'
+me, where's the ham gone?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Godwin, entering from the next room, looked at her as doubting
+whether he or all the world had taken leave of their wits.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And the pigeon pasty?" added Mrs. Butterby, regarding the table laid
+out beside her mistress's bed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And the cold partridge," adds she, in redoubled astonishment. "Why,
+here's nought left but my pudding, and that as cold as a stone."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Godwin, with the candle flaring in his hand, passed hastily by her,
+too wrought by fear to regard either the ludicrous or incomprehensible
+side of Mrs. Butterby's consternation; and so, going down the corridor
+away from the stairs, he comes to the door of the little back stairs,
+standing wide open, and seeming to bid him descend. He goes quickly
+down, yet trembling with fear that he may find her at the bottom, broken
+by a fall; but all he discovers is the bolt drawn and the door ajar. As
+he pushes it open a gust of wind blows out the light, and here he stood
+in the darkness, eager to be doing, yet knowing not which way to turn or
+how to act.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Clearly, his wife had gone out by this door, and so far this gave
+support to Simon's statement that he knew where she was; and with this a
+flame was kindled within him that seemed to sear his very soul. If Simon
+spoke truth in one particular, why should he lie in others? Why had his
+wife refused to go with him to Hatfield? Why had she bid no one come
+near her room? Why had she gone forth by this secret stair, alone? Then,
+cursing himself for the unnamed suspicion that could thus, though but
+for a moment, disfigure the fair image that he worshipped, he asked
+himself why his wife should not be free to follow a caprice. But where
+was she? Ever that question surged upwards in the tumult of his
+thoughts. Where should he seek her? Suddenly it struck him that I might
+help him to find her, and acting instantly upon this hope he made his
+way in breathless haste to the road, and so towards my lodge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ere he has gone a hundred yards, Simon steps out of the shadow, and
+stands before him like a shade in the dimness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I crave thy pardon, Master," says he, humbly. "I spoke like a fool in
+my passion."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If you will have my pardon, tell me where to find my wife; if not,
+stand aside," answers Mr. Godwin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Wilt thee hear me speak for two minutes if I promise to tell thee where
+she is and suffer thee to find her how thee willst. 'Twill save thee
+time."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Speak," says Mr. Godwin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thy wife is there," says Simon, under his breath, pointing towards my
+house. "She is revelling with Hopkins and Captain Evans,--men that she
+did tramp the country with as vagabond players, ere the Spaniard taught
+them more profitable wickedness. Knock at the door,--which thee mayst be
+sure is fast,--and while one holds thee in parley the rest will set the
+room in order, and find a plausible tale to hoodwink thee afresh. Be
+guided by me, and thee shalt enter the house unknown to them, as I did
+an hour since, and there thee shalt know, of thine own senses, how thy
+wife doth profit by thy blindness. If this truth be not proved, if thee
+canst then say that I have lied from malice, envy, and evil purpose,
+this knife," says he, showing a blade in his hand, "this knife will I
+thrust into my own heart, though I stand the next instant before the
+Eternal Judge, my hands wet with my own blood, to answer for my crime."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Have you finished?" asks Mr. Godwin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, not yet; I hold thee to thy promise," returns Simon, with eager
+haste. "Why do men lie? for their own profit. What profit have I in
+lying, when I pray thee to put my word to the proof and not take it on
+trust, with the certainty of punishment even if the proof be doubtful.
+Thee believest this woman is what she pretends to be; what does that
+show?--your simplicity, not hers. How would women trick their husbands
+without such skill to blind them by a pretence of love and virtue?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Say no more," cries Mr. Godwin, hoarsely, "or I may strangle you before
+you pass trial. Go your devilish way, I'll follow."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Now God be praised for this!" cries Simon. "Softly, softly!" adds he,
+creeping in the shade of the bank towards the house.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But ere he has gone a dozen paces Mr. Godwin repents him again, with
+shame in his heart, and stopping, says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I'll go no further."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then thee doubtest my word no longer," whispers Simon, quickly. "'Tis
+fear that makest thee halt,--the fear of finding thy wife a wanton and a
+trickster."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, no, by God!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If that be so, then art thee bound to prove her innocent, that I may
+not say to all the world, thee mightest have put her honour to the test
+and dared not--choosing rather to cheat thyself and be cheated by her,
+than know thyself dishonoured. If thee dost truly love this woman and
+believe her guiltless, then for her honour must thee put me--not her--to
+this trial."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No madman could reason like this," says Mr. Godwin. "I accept this
+trial, and Heaven forgive me if I do wrong."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XXX.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>How we are discovered and utterly undone.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What!" cries Dawson, catching his daughter in his arms and hugging her
+to his breast, when the first shock of surprise was past. "My own sweet
+Moll--come hither to warm her old father's heart?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And my own," says she, tenderly, "which I fear hath grown a little
+wanting in love for ye since I have been mated. But, though my dear Dick
+draws so deeply from my well of affection, there is still somewhere down
+here" (clapping her hand upon her heart) "a source that first sprang for
+you and can never dry."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, and 'tis a proof," says he, "your coming here where we may speak
+and act without restraint, though it be but for five minutes."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Five minutes!" cries she, springing up with her natural vivacity, "why,
+I'll not leave you before the morning, unless you weary of me." And then
+with infinite relish and sly humour, she told of her device for leaving
+the Court without suspicion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I do confess I was at first greatly alarmed for the safe issue of this
+escapade; but she assuring me 'twas a dirty night, and she had passed no
+one on the road, I felt a little reassured. To be sure, thinks I, Mr.
+Godwin by some accident may return, but finding her gone, and hearing
+Captain Evans keeps me to my house, he must conclude she has come
+hither, and think no harm of her for that neither--seeing we are old
+friends and sobered with years, for 'tis the most natural thing in the
+world that, feeling lonely and dejected for the loss of her husband, she
+should seek such harmless diversion as may be had in our society.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However, for the sake of appearances I thought it would be wise to get
+this provision of ham and birds out of sight, for fear of misadventure,
+and also I took instant precaution to turn the key in my street door.
+Being but two men, and neither of us over-nice in the formalities, I had
+set a cheese, a loaf, and a bottle betwixt us on the bare table of my
+office room, for each to serve himself as he would; but I now proposed
+that, having a lady in our company, we should pay more regard to the
+decencies by going upstairs to my parlour, and there laying a tablecloth
+and napkins for our repast.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, certainly!" cries Moll, who had grown mighty fastidious in these
+particulars since she had been mistress of Hurst Court; "this dirty
+table would spoil the best appetite in the world."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So I carried a faggot and some apple logs upstairs, and soon had a brave
+fire leaping up the chimney, by which time Moll and her father, with
+abundant mirth, had set forth our victuals on a clean white cloth, and
+to each of us a clean plate, knife, and fork, most proper. Then, all
+things being to our hand, we sat down and made a most hearty meal of
+Mrs. Butterby's good cheer, and all three of us as merry as grigs, with
+not a shadow of misgiving.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There had seemed something piteous to me in that appeal of Moll's, that
+she might be herself for this night; and indeed I marvelled now how she
+could have so trained her natural disposition to an artificial manner,
+and did no longer wonder at the look of fatigue and weariness in her
+face on her return to London. For the old reckless, careless, daredevil
+spirit was still alive in her, as I could plainly see now that she
+abandoned herself entirely to the free sway of impulse; the old twinkle
+of mirth and mischief was in her eyes; she was no longer a fine lady,
+but a merry vagabond again, and when she laughed 'twas with her hands
+clasping her sides, her head thrown back, and all her white teeth
+gleaming in the light.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Now," says I, when at length our meal was finished, "I will clear the
+table."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hoop!" cries she, catching up the corners of the tablecloth, and
+flinging them over the fragments; "'tis done. Let us draw round the
+fire, and tell old tales. Here's a pipe, dear dad; I love the smell of
+tobacco; and you" (to me) "do fetch me a pipkin, that I may brew a good
+drink to keep our tongues going."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the time this drink was brewed, Simon, leading Mr. Godwin by a
+circuitous way, came through the garden to the back of the house, where
+was a door, which I had never opened for lack of a key to fit the lock.
+This key was now in Simon's hand, and putting it with infinite care into
+the hole, he softly turned it in the wards. Then, with the like
+precaution, he lifts the latch and gently thrusts the door open,
+listening at every inch to catch the sounds within. At length 'tis
+opened wide; and so, turning his face to Mr. Godwin, who waits behind,
+sick with mingled shame and creeping dread, he beckons him to follow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Above, Dawson was singing at the top of his voice, a sea-song he had
+learnt of a mariner at the inn he frequented at Greenwich, with a troll
+at the end, taken up by Moll and me. And to hear his wife's voice
+bearing part in this rude song, made Mr. Godwin's heart to sink within
+him. Under cover of this noise, Simon mounted the stairs without
+hesitation, Mr. Godwin following at his heels, in a kind of sick
+bewilderment. 'Twas pitch dark up there, and Simon, stretching forth his
+hands to know if Mr. Godwin was by, touched his hand, which was deadly
+cold and quivering; for here at the door he was seized with a sweating
+faintness, which so sapped his vigour that he was forced to hold by the
+wall to save himself from falling.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Art thee ready?" asks Simon; but he can get no answer, for Mr. Godwin's
+energies, quickened by a word from within like a jaded beast by the
+sting of a whip, is straining his ears to catch what is passing within.
+And what hears he?--The song is ended, and Dawson cries:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You han't lost your old knack of catching a tune, Moll. Come hither,
+wench, and sit upon my knee, for I do love ye more than ever. Give me a
+buss, chuck; this fine husband of thine shall not have all thy sweetness
+to himself."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this moment, Simon, having lifted the latch under his thumb, pushes
+wide open the door, and there through the thick cloud of tobacco smoke
+Mr. Godwin sees the table in disorder, the white cloth flung back over
+the remnants of our repast and stained with a patch of liquor from an
+overturned mug, a smutty pipkin set upon the board beside a dish of
+tobacco, and a broken pipe--me sitting o' one side the hearth heavy and
+drowsy with too much good cheer, and on t'other side his young wife,
+sitting on Dawson's knee, with one arm about his neck, and he in his
+uncouth seaman's garb, with a pipe in one hand, the other about Moll's
+waist, a-kissing her yielded cheek. With a cry of fury, like any wild
+beast, he springs forward and clutches at a knife that lies ready to his
+hand upon the board, and this cry is answered with a shriek from Moll as
+she starts to her feet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Who is this drunken villain?" he cries, stretching the knife in his
+hand towards Dawson.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And Moll, flinging herself betwixt the knife and Dawson, with fear for
+his life, and yet with some dignity in her voice and gesture, answers
+swiftly:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"This drunken villain is my father."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XXXI.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Moll's conscience is quickened by grief and humiliation beyond the
+ordinary.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Stand aside, Moll," cries Dawson, stepping to the fore, and facing Mr.
+Godwin. "This is my crime, and I will answer for it with my blood. Here
+is my breast" (tearing open his jerkin). "Strike, for I alone have done
+you wrong, this child of mine being but an instrument to my purpose."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Godwin's hand fell by his side, and the knife slipped from his
+fingers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Speak," says he, thickly, after a moment of horrible silence broken
+only by the sound of the knife striking the floor. "If this is your
+daughter,--if she has lied to me,--what in God's name is the truth? Who
+are you, I ask?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"John Dawson, a player," answers he, seeing the time is past for lying.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Godwin makes no response, but turns his eyes upon Moll, who stands
+before him with bowed head and clasped hands, wrung to her innermost
+fibre with shame, remorse, and awful dread, and for a terrible space I
+heard nothing but the deep, painful breathing of this poor, overwrought
+man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You are my wife," says he, at length. "Follow me," and with that he
+turns about and goes from the room. Then Moll, without a look at us,
+without a word, her face ghastly pale and drawn with agony, with
+faltering steps, obeys, catching at table and chair, as she passes, for
+support.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dawson made a step forward, as if he would have overtaken her; but I
+withheld him, shaking my head, and himself seeing 'twas in vain, he
+dropped into a chair, and, spreading his arms upon the table, hides his
+face in them with a groan of despair.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moll totters down the dark stairs, and finds her husband standing in the
+doorway, his figure revealed against the patch of grey light beyond, for
+the moon was risen, though veiled by a thick pall of cloud. He sees, as
+she comes to his side, that she has neither cloak nor hood to protect
+her from the winter wind, and in silence he takes off his own cloak and
+lays it on her shoulder. At this act of mercy a ray of hope animates
+Moll's numbed soul, and she catches at her husband's hand to press it to
+her lips, yet can find never a word to express her gratitude. But his
+hand is cold as ice, and he draws it away from her firmly, with obvious
+repugnance. There was no love in this little act of giving her his
+cloak; 'twas but the outcome of that chivalry in gentlemen which doth
+exact lenience even to an enemy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So he goes on his way, she following like a whipped dog at his heels,
+till they reach the Court gates, and these being fast locked, on a
+little further, to the wicket gate. And there, as Mr. Godwin is about to
+enter, there confronts him Peter, that sturdy Puritan hireling of old
+Simon's.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thee canst not enter here, friend," says he, in his canting voice, as
+he sets his foot against the gate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Know you who I am?" asks Mr. Godwin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yea, friend; and I know who thy woman is also. I am bidden by friend
+Simon, the true and faithful steward of Mistress Godwin in Barbary, to
+defend her house and lands against robbers and evil-doers of every kind,
+and without respect of their degree; and, with the Lord's help," adds
+he, showing a stout cudgel, "that will I do, friend."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis true, fellow," returns Mr. Godwin. "I have no right to enter
+here."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And then, turning about, he stands irresolute, as not knowing whither he
+shall go to find shelter for his wife. For very shame, he does not take
+her to the village inn, to be questioned by gaping servants and
+landlord, who, ere long, must catch the flying news of her shameful
+condition and overthrow. A faint light in the lattice of Anne Fitch's
+cottage catches his eye, and he crosses to her door, still humbly
+followed by poor Moll. There he finds the thumb-piece gone from the
+latch, to him a well-known sign that Mother Fitch has gone out
+a-nursing; so, pulling the hidden string he wots of, he lifts the latch
+within, and the door opens to his hand. A rush is burning in a cup of
+oil upon the table, casting a feeble glimmer round the empty room. He
+closes the door when Moll has entered, sets a chair before the hearth,
+and rakes the embers together to give her warmth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Forgive me, oh, forgive me!" cries Moll, casting herself at his feet as
+he turns, and clasping his knees to her stricken heart.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="358.jpg"><img src="358th.jpg" alt="FORGIVE ME, OH, FORGIVE ME!"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Forgive you!" says he, bitterly. "Forgive you for dragging me down to
+the level of rogues and thieves, for making me party to this vile
+conspiracy of plunder. A conspiracy that, if it bring me not beneath the
+lash of Justice, must blast my name and fame for ever. You know not what
+you ask. As well might you bid me take you back to finish the night in
+drunken riot with those others of our gang."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh, no, not now! not now!" cries Moll, in agony. "Do but say that some
+day long hence, you will forgive me. Give me that hope, for I cannot
+live without it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That hope's my fear!" says he. "I have known men who, by mere contact
+with depravity, have so dulled their sense of shame that they could make
+light of sins that once appalled them. Who knows but that one day I may
+forgive you, chat easily upon this villany, maybe, regret I went no
+further in it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh, God forbid that shall be of my doing!" cries Moll, springing to her
+feet. "Broken as I am, I'll not accept forgiveness on such terms. Think
+you I'm like those plague-stricken wretches who, of wanton wickedness,
+ran from their beds to infect the clean with their foul ill? Not I."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I spoke in heat," says Mr. Godwin, quickly. "I repent even now what I
+said."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Am I so steeped in infamy," continues she, "that I am past all cure?
+Think," adds she, piteously, "I am not eighteen yet. I was but a child a
+year ago, with no more judgment of right and wrong than a savage
+creature. Until I loved you, I think I scarcely knew the meaning of
+conscience. The knowledge came when I yearned to keep no secret from
+you. I do remember the first struggle to do right. 'Twas on the little
+bridge; and there I balanced awhile, 'twixt cheating you and robbing
+myself. And then, for fear you would not marry me, I dared not own the
+truth. Oh, had I thought you'd only keep me for your mistress, I'd have
+told you I was not your cousin. Little as this is, there's surely hope
+in't. Is it more impossible that you, a strong man, should lift me, than
+that I, a weak girl,--no more than that,--should drag you down?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I did not weigh my words."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yet, they were true," says she. "'Tis bred in my body--part of my
+nature, this spirit of evil, and 'twill exist as long as I. For, even
+now, I do feel that I would do this wickedness again, and worse, to win
+you once more."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My poor wife," says he, touched with pity; and holding forth his arms,
+she goes to them and lays her cheek against his breast, and there stands
+crying very silently with mingled thoughts--now of the room she had
+prepared with such delight against his return, of her little table in
+the corner, with the chiney image atop, and other trifles with which she
+had dreamed to give him pleasure--all lost! No more would she sit by his
+side there watching, with wonder and pride, the growth of beauty 'neath
+his dexterous hand; and then she feels that 'tis compassion, not love,
+that hath opened his arms to her, that she hath killed his respect for
+her, and with it his love. And so, stifling the sobs that rise in her
+throat, she weeps on, till her tears trickling from her cheek fall upon
+his hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The icy barrier of resentment is melted by the first warm tear,--this
+silent testimony of her smothered grief,--and bursting from the bonds of
+reason, he yields to the passionate impulse of his heart, and clasping
+this poor sorrowing wife to his breast, he seeks to kiss away the tears
+from her cheek, and soothe her with gentle words. She responds to his
+passion, kiss for kiss, as she clasps her hands about his head; but
+still her tears flow on, for with her readier wit she perceives that
+this is but the transport of passion on his side, and not the untaxed
+outcome of enduring love, proving again the truth of his unmeditated
+prophecy; for how can he stand who yields so quickly to the first
+assault, and if he cannot stand, how can he raise her? Surely and more
+surely, little by little, they must sink together to some lower depth,
+and one day, thinks she, repeating his words, "We may chat easily upon
+this villany and regret we went no further in it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Godwin leads her to the adjoining chamber, which had been his, and
+says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Lie down, love. To-morrow we shall see things clearer, and think more
+reasonably."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes," says she, in return, "more reasonably," and with that she does
+his bidding; and he returns to sit before the embers and meditate. And
+here he stays, striving in vain to bring the tumult of his thoughts to
+some coherent shape, until from sheer exhaustion he falls into a kind of
+lethargy of sleep.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile, Moll, lying in the dark, had been thinking also, but (as
+women will at such times) with clearer perception, so that her ideas
+forming in logical sequence, and growing more clear and decisive (as an
+argument becomes more lively and conclusive by successful reasoning)
+served to stimulate her intellect and excite her activity. And the end
+of it was that she rose quickly from her bed and looked into the next
+room, where she saw her husband sitting, with his chin upon his breast
+and his hands folded upon his knee before the dead fire. Then wrapping
+his cloak about her, she steals toward the outer door; but passing him
+she must needs pause at his back to staunch her tears a moment, and look
+down upon him for the last time. The light shines in his brown hair, and
+she bending down till her lips touch a stray curl, they part silently,
+and she breathes upon him from her very soul, a mute "Fare thee well,
+dear love."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But she will wait no longer, fearing her courage may give way, and the
+next minute she is out in the night, softly drawing the door to that
+separates these two for ever.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XXXII.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>How we fought a most bloody battle with Simon, the constable, and
+others.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For some time we spoke never a word, Dawson and I,--he with his head
+lying on his arm, I seated in a chair with my hands hanging down by my
+side, quite stunned by the blow that had fallen upon us. At length,
+raising his head, his eyes puffed, and his face bedaubed with tears, he
+says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Han't you a word of comfort, Kit, for a broken-hearted man?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I stammered a few words that had more sound than sense; but indeed I
+needed consolation myself, seeing my own responsibility for bringing
+this misfortune upon Moll, and being most heartily ashamed of my roguery
+now 'twas discovered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You don't think he'll be too hard on poor Moll, tell me that, Kit?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, he'll forgive her," says I, "sooner than us, or we ourselves."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And you don't think he'll be for ever a-casting it in her teeth that
+her father's a--a drunken vagabond, eh?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay; I believe he is too good a man for that."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then," says he, standing up, "I'll go and tell him the whole story, and
+you shall come with me to bear me out."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"To-morrow will be time enough," says I, flinching from this office;
+"'tis late now."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No matter for that. Time enough to sleep when we've settled this
+business. We'll not leave poor Moll to bear all the punishment of our
+getting. Mr. Godwin shall know what an innocent, simple child she was
+when we pushed her into this knavery, and how we dared not tell her of
+our purpose lest she should draw back. He shall know how she was ever an
+obedient, docile, artless girl, yielding always to my guidance; and you
+can stretch a point, Kit, to say you have ever known me for a
+headstrong, masterful sort of a fellow, who would take denial from none,
+but must have my own way in all things. I'll take all the blame on my
+own shoulders, as I should have done at first, but I was so staggered by
+this fall."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well," says I, "if you will have it so--"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I will," says he, stoutly. "And now give me a bucket of water that I
+may souse my head, and wear a brave look. I would have him think the
+worst of me that he may feel the kinder to poor Moll. And I'll make what
+atonement I can," adds he, as I led him into my bed-chamber. "If he
+desire it, I will promise never to see Moll again; nay, I will offer to
+take the king's bounty, and go a-sailoring; and so, betwixt sickness and
+the Dutch, there'll be an end of Jack Dawson in a very short space."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When he had ducked his head in a bowl of water, and got our cloaks from
+the room below, we went to the door, and there, to my dismay, I found
+the lock fast and the key which I had left in its socket gone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What's amiss, Kit?" asks Dawson, perceiving my consternation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The key, the key!" says I, holding the candle here and there to seek it
+on the floor, then, giving up my search as it struck me that Mr. Godwin
+and Moll could not have left the house had the door been locked on the
+inside; "I do believe we are locked in and made prisoners," says I.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, sure, this is not Mr. Godwin's doing!" cries he.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis Simon," says I, with conviction, seeing him again in my mind,
+standing behind Mr. Godwin, with wicked triumph in his face.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Is there no other door but this one?" asks Dawson.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There is one at the back, but I have never yet opened that, for lack of
+a key." And now setting one thing against another, and recalling how I
+had before found the door open, when I felt sure I had locked it fast,
+the truth appeared to me; namely, that Simon had that key and did get in
+the back way, going out by the front on that former occasion in haste
+upon some sudden alarm.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Is there never a window we can slip through?" asks Jack.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Only those above stairs; the lower are all barred."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A fig for his bars. Does he think we have neither hands nor wits to be
+hindered by this silly woman's trick?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis no silly trick. He's not the man to do an idle thing. There's
+mischief in this."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What mischief can he do us more than he has done?--for I see his hand
+in our misfortune. What mischief, I say?--out with it, man, for your
+looks betray a fear of something worse."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Faith, Jack, I dread he has gone to fetch help and will lodge us in
+gaol for this business."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Gaol!" cries he, in a passion of desperation. "Why, this will undo Moll
+for ever. Her husband can never forgive her putting such shame upon him.
+Rouse yourself, man, from your stupor. Get me something in the shape of
+a hammer, for God's sake, that we may burst our way from this accursed
+trap."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I bethought me of an axe for splitting wood, that lay in the kitchen,
+and fetching it quickly, I put it in his hand. Bidding me stand aside,
+he let fly at the door like a madman. The splinters flew, but the door
+held good; and when he stayed a moment to take a new grip on his axe, I
+heard a clamour of voices outside--Simon's, higher than the rest,
+crying, "My new door, that cost me seven and eightpence!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The lock, the lock!" says I. "Strike that off."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Down came the axe, striking a spark of fire from the lock, which fell
+with a clatter at the next blow; but ere we had time to open the door,
+Simon and his party, entering by the back door, forced us to turn for
+our defence. Perceiving Dawson armed with an axe, however, these fellows
+paused, and the leader, whom I recognised for the constable of our
+parish, carrying a staff in one hand and a lanthorn in t'other, cried to
+us in the king's name to surrender ourselves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Take us, if you can," cries Dawson; "and the Lord have mercy on the
+first who comes within my reach!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Deftly enough, old Simon, snatching the fellow's cap who stood next him,
+flings it at the candle that stands flaring on the floor, and justles
+the constable's lanthorn from his hand, so that in a moment we were all
+in darkness. Taking us at this disadvantage (for Dawson dared not lay
+about him with his axe, for fear of hitting me by misadventure), the
+rascals closed at once; and a most bloody, desperate fight ensued. For,
+after the first onslaught, in which Dawson (dropping his axe, as being
+useless at such close quarters) and I grappled each our man, the rest,
+knowing not friend from foe in the obscurity, and urged on by fear, fell
+upon each other,--this one striking out at the first he met, and that
+giving as good as he had taken,--and so all fell a-mauling and
+belabouring with such lust of vengeance that presently the whole place
+was of an uproar with the din of cursing, howling, and hard blows. For
+my own lot I had old Simon to deal with, as I knew at once by the cold,
+greasy feel of his leathern jerkin, he being enraged to make me his
+prisoner for the ill I had done him. Hooking his horny fingers about my
+throat, he clung to me like any wildcat; but stumbling, shortly, over
+two who were rolling on the floor, we went down both with a crack, and
+with such violence that he, being undermost, was stunned by the fall.
+Then, my blood boiling at this treatment, I got astride of him, and
+roasted his ribs royally, and with more force than ever I had conceived
+myself to be possessed of. And, growing beside myself with this passion
+of war, I do think I should have pounded him into a pulp, but that two
+other combatants, falling across me with their whole weight, knocked all
+the wind out of my body, oppressing me so grievously, that 'twas as much
+as I could do to draw myself out of the fray, and get a gasp of breath
+again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About this time the uproar began to subside, for those who had got the
+worst of the battle thought it advisable to sneak out of the house for
+safety, and those who had fared better, fearing a reverse of fortune,
+counted they had done enough for this bout, and so also withdrew.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Are you living, Kit?" asks Dawson, then.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye," says I, as valiantly as you please, "and ready to fight another
+half-dozen such rascals," but pulling the broken door open, all the
+same, to get out the easier, in case they returned.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, then, let's go," says he, "unless any is minded to have us stay."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No one responding to this challenge, we made ado to find a couple of
+hats and cloaks for our use and sallied out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Which way do we turn?" asks Dawson, as we come into the road.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Whither would you go, Jack?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, to warn Moll of her danger, to be sure."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I apprehended no danger to her, and believed her husband would defend
+her in any case better than we could, but Dawson would have it we should
+warn them, and so we turned towards the Court. And now upon examination
+we found we had come very well out of this fight; for save that the
+wound in Dawson's hand had been opened afresh, we were neither much the
+worse.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But let us set our best foot foremost, Jack," says I, "for I do think
+we have done more mischief to-night than any we have before, and I shall
+not be greatly surprised if we are called to account for the death of
+old Simon or some of his hirelings."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I know not how that may be," says he, "but I must answer for knocking
+of somebody's teeth out."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XXXIII.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>We take Moll to Greenwich; but no great happiness for her there.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the midst of our heroics I was greatly scared by perceiving a cloaked
+figure coming hurriedly towards us in the dim light.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis another, come to succour his friends," whispers I. "Let us step
+into this hedge."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Too late," returns he. "Put on a bold face, 'tis only one."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With a swaggering gait and looking straight before us, we had passed the
+figure, when a voice calls "Father!" and there turning, we find that
+'tis poor Moll in her husband's cloak.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Where is thy husband, child?" asks Dawson, as he recovers from his
+astonishment, taking Moll by the hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I have no husband, father," answers she, piteously.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, sure he hath not turned you out of doors?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, he'd not do that," says she, "were I ten times more wicked than I
+am."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What folly then is this?" asks her father.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis no folly. I have left him of my own free will, and shall never go
+back to him. For he's no more my husband than that house is mine"
+(pointing to the Court), "Both were got by the same means, and both are
+lost."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then briefly she told how they had been turned from the gate by Peter,
+and how Mr. Godwin was now as poor and homeless as we. And this news
+throwing us into a silence with new bewilderment, she asks us simply
+whither we are going.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My poor Moll!" is all the answer Dawson can make, and that in a broken,
+trembling voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis no good to cry," says she, dashing aside her tears that had sprung
+at this word of loving sympathy, and forcing herself to a more cheerful
+tone. "Why, let us think that we are just awake from a long sleep to
+find ourselves no worse off than when we fell a-dreaming. Nay, not so
+ill," adds she, "for you have a home near London. Take me there, dear."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"With all my heart, chuck," answers her father, eagerly. "There, at
+least, I can give you a shelter till your husband can offer better."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She would not dispute this point (though I perceived clearly her mind
+was resolved fully never to claim her right to Mr. Godwin's roof), but
+only begged we should hasten on our way, saying she felt chilled; and in
+passing Mother Fitch's cottage she constrained us to silence and
+caution; then when we were safely past she would have us run, still
+feigning to be cold, but in truth (as I think) to avoid being overtaken
+by Mr. Godwin, fearing, maybe, that he would overrule her will. This way
+we sped till Moll was fain to stop with a little cry of pain, and
+clapping her hand to her heart, being fairly spent and out of breath.
+Then we took her betwixt us, lending her our arms for support, and
+falling into a more regular pace made good progress. We trudged on till
+we reached Croydon without any accident, save that at one point, Moll's
+step faltering and she with a faint sob weighing heavily upon our arms,
+we stopped, as thinking her strength overtaxed, and then glancing about
+me I perceived we were upon that little bridge where we had overtaken
+Mr. Godwin and he had offered to make Moll his wife. Then I knew 'twas
+not fatigue that weighed her down, and gauging her feelings by my own
+remorse, I pitied this poor wife even more than I blamed myself; for had
+she revealed herself to him at that time, though he might have shrunk
+from marriage, he must have loved her still, and so she had been spared
+this shame and hopeless sorrow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At Croydon we overtook a carrier on his way to London for the Saturday
+market, who for a couple of shillings gave us a place in his waggon with
+some good bundles of hay for a seat, and here was rest for our tired
+bodies (though little for our tormented minds) till we reached Marsh
+End, where we were set down; and so, the ground being hard with frost,
+across the Marsh to Greenwich about daybreak. Having the key of his
+workshop with him, Dawson took us into his lodgings without disturbing
+the other inmates of the house (who might well have marvelled to see us
+enter at this hour with a woman in a man's cloak, and no covering but a
+handkerchief to her head), and Moll taking his bed, we disposed
+ourselves on some shavings in his shop to get a little sleep.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dawson was already risen when I awoke, and going into his little
+parlour, I found him mighty busy setting the place in order, which was
+in a sad bachelor's pickle, to be sure--all littered up with odds and
+ends of turning, unwashed plates, broken victuals, etc., just as he had
+left it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"She's asleep," says he, in a whisper. "And I'd have this room like a
+little palace against she comes into it, so do you lend me a hand, Kit,
+and make no more noise than you can help. The kitchen's through that
+door; carry everything in there, and what's of no use fling out of the
+window into the road."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Setting to with a will, we got the parlour and kitchen neat and proper,
+plates washed, tiles wiped, pots and pans hung up, furniture furbished
+up, and everything in its place in no time; then leaving me to light a
+fire in the parlour, Dawson goes forth a-marketing, with a basket on his
+arm, in high glee. And truly to see the pleasure in his face later on,
+making a mess of bread and milk in one pipkin and cooking eggs in
+another (for now we heard Moll stirring in her chamber), one would have
+thought that this was an occasion for rejoicing rather than grief, and
+this was due not to want of kind feeling, but to the fond, simple nature
+of him, he being manly enough in some ways, but a very child in others.
+He did never see further than his nose (as one says), and because it
+gave him joy to have Moll beside him once more, he must needs think
+hopefully, that she will quickly recover from this reverse of fortune,
+and that all will come right again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Our dear Moll did nothing to damp his hopes, but played her part bravely
+and well to spare him the anguish of remorse that secretly wrung her own
+heart. She met us with a cheerful countenance, admired the neatness of
+the parlour, the glowing fire, ate her share of porridge, and finding
+the eggs cooked hard, declared she could not abide them soft. Then she
+would see her father work his lathe (to his great delight), and begged
+he would make her some cups for eggs, as being more to our present
+fashion than eating them from one's hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why," says he, "there's an old bed-post in the corner that will serve
+me to a nicety. But first I must see our landlord and engage a room for
+Kit and me; for I take it, my dear," adds he, "you will be content to
+stay with us here."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes," answers she, "'tis a most cheerful view of the river from the
+windows."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She tucked up her skirt and sleeves to busy herself in household
+matters, and when I would have relieved her of this office, she begged
+me to go and bear her father company, saying with a piteous look in her
+eyes that we must leave her some occupation or she should weary. She was
+pale, there were dark lines beneath her eyes, and she was silent; but I
+saw no outward sign of grief till the afternoon, when, coming from
+Jack's shop unexpected, I spied her sitting by the window, with her face
+in her hands, bowed over a piece of cloth we had bought in the morning,
+which she was about to fashion into a plain gown, as being more suitable
+to her condition than the rich dress in which she had left the Court.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Poor soul!" thinks I; "here is a sad awaking from thy dream of riches
+and joy."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon a seasonable occasion I told Dawson we must soon begin to think of
+doing something for a livelihood--a matter which was as remote from his
+consideration as the day of wrath.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, Kit," says he, "I've as good as fifty pounds yet in a hole at the
+chimney back."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, but when that's gone--" says I.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That's a good way hence, Kit, but there never was such a man as you for
+going forth to meet troubles half way. However, I warrant I shall find
+some jobs of carpentry to keep us from begging our bread when the pinch
+comes."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not content to wait for this pinch, I resolved I would go into the city
+and enquire there if the booksellers could give me any employment
+--thinking I might very well write some good sermons on honesty,
+now I had learnt the folly of roguery. Hearing of my purpose
+the morning I was about to go, Moll takes me aside and asks me in a
+quavering voice if I knew where Mr. Godwin might be found. This question
+staggered me a moment, for her husband's name had not been spoken by any
+of us since the catastrophe, and it came into my mind now that she
+designed to return to him, and I stammered out some foolish hint at
+Hurst Court.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, he is not there," says he, "but I thought maybe that Sir Peter
+Lely--"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye," says I; "he will most likely know where Mr. Godwin may be found."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Can you tell me where Sir Peter lives?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No; but I can learn easily when I am in the city."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If you can, write the address and send him this," says she, drawing a
+letter from her breast. She had writ her husband's name on it, and now
+she pressed her lips to it twice, and putting the warm letter in my
+hand, she turned away, her poor mouth twitching with smothered grief. I
+knew then that there was no thought in her mind of seeing her husband
+again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I carried the letter with me to the city, wondering what was in it. I
+know not now, yet I think it contained but a few words of explanation
+and farewell, with some prayer, maybe, that she might be forgiven and
+forgotten.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Learning where Sir Peter Lely lived, I myself went to his house, and he
+not being at home, I asked his servant if Mr. Godwin did sometimes come
+there.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, yes, sir, he was here but yesterday," answers he. "Indeed, never a
+day passes but he calls to ask if any one hath sought him."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"In that case," says I, slipping a piece in his ready hand, and fetching
+out Moll's letter, "you will give him this when he comes next."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That I will, sir, and without fail. But if you would see him, sir, he
+bids me say he is ever at his lodging in Holborn, from five in the
+evening to eight in the morning."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Twill answer all ends if you give him that letter. He is in good
+health, I hope."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, sir, he is and he isn't, as you may say," answers he, dropping
+into a familiar, confidential tone after casting his eye over me to be
+sure I was no great person. "He ails nothing, to be sure, for I hear he
+is ever afoot from morn till even a-searching hither and thither; but a
+more downhearted, rueful looking gentleman for his age I never see.
+'Twixt you and me, sir, I think he hath lost his sweetheart, seeing I am
+charged, with Sir Peter's permission, to follow and not lose sight of
+any lady who may chance to call here for him."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I walked back to Greenwich across the fields, debating in my mind
+whether I should tell Moll of her husband's distress or not, so
+perplexed with conflicting arguments that I had come to no decision when
+I reached home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moll spying me coming, from her window in the front of the house, met me
+at the door, in her cloak and hood, and begged I would take her a little
+turn over the heath.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What have you to tell me?" asks she, pressing my arm as we walked on.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I have given your letter to Sir Peter Lely's servant, who promises to
+deliver it faithfully to your husband."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well," says she, after a little pause of silence, "that is not all."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You will be glad to know that he is well in health," says I, and then I
+stop again, all hanging in a hedge for not knowing whether it were wiser
+to speak or hold my tongue.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There is something else. I see it in your face. Hide nothing from me
+for love's sake," says she, piteously. Whereupon, my heart getting the
+better of my head (which, to be sure, was no great achievement), I told
+all as I have set it down here.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My dear, dear love! my darling Dick!" says she, in the end. And then
+she would have it told all over again, with a thousand questions, to
+draw forth more; and these being exhausted, she asks why I would have
+concealed so much from her, and if I did fear she would seek him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay, my dear," says I; "'tis t'other way about. For if your husband
+does forgive you, and yearns but to take you back into his arms, it
+would be an unnatural, cruel thing to keep you apart. Therefore, to
+confess the whole truth, I did meditate going to him and showing how we
+and not you are to blame in this matter, and then telling him where he
+might find you, if on reflection he felt that he could honestly hold you
+guiltless. But ere I do that (as I see now), I must know if you are
+willing to this accommodation; for if you are not, then are our wounds
+all opened afresh to no purpose, but to retard their healing."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She made no reply nor any comment for a long time, nor did I seek to
+bias her judgment by a single word (doubting my wisdom). But I perceived
+by the quivering of her arm within mine that a terrible conflict 'twixt
+passion and principle was convulsing every fibre of her being. At the
+top of the hill above Greenwich she stopped, and, throwing back her
+hood, let the keen wind blow upon her face, as she gazed over the grey
+flats beyond the river. And the air seeming to give her strength and a
+clearer perception, she says, presently:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Accommodation!" (And she repeats this unlucky word of mine twice or
+thrice, as if she liked it less each time.) "That means we shall agree
+to let bygones be bygones, and do our best to get along together for the
+rest of our lives as easily as we may."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That's it, my dear," says I, cheerfully.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hush up the past," continues she, in the same calculating tone;
+"conceal it from the world, if possible. Invent some new lie to deceive
+the curious, and hoodwink our decent friends. Chuckle at our success,
+and come in time" (here she paused a moment) "to 'chat so lightly of our
+past knavery, that we could wish we had gone farther in the business.'"
+Then turning about to me, she asks: "If you were writing the story of my
+life for a play, would you end it thus?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My dear," says I, "a play's one thing, real life's another; and believe
+me, as far as my experience goes of real life, the less heroics there
+are in it the better parts are those for the actors in't."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She shook her head fiercely in the wind, and, turning about with a
+brusque vigour, cries, "Come on. I'll have no accommodation. And yet,"
+says she, stopping short after a couple of hasty steps, and with a
+fervent earnestness in her voice, "and yet, if I could wipe out this
+stain, if by any act I could redeem my fault, God knows, I'd do it, cost
+what it might, to be honoured once again by my dear Dick."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"This comes of living in a theatre all her life," thinks I. And indeed,
+in this, as in other matters yet to be told, the teaching of the stage
+was but too evident.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XXXIV.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>All agree to go out to Spain again in search of our old jollity.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another week passed by, and then Dawson, shortsighted as he was in his
+selfishness, began to perceive that things were not coming all right, as
+he had expected. Once or twice when I went into his shop, I caught him
+sitting idle before his lathe, with a most woe-begone look in his face.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What's amiss, Jack?" asks I, one day when I found him thus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He looked to see that the door was shut, and then says he, gloomily:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"She don't sing as she used to, Kit; she don't laugh hearty."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I hunched my shoulders.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"She doesn't play us any of her old pranks," continues he. "She don't
+say one thing and go and do t'other the next moment, as she used to do.
+She's too good."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What could I say to one who was fond enough to think that the summer
+would come back at his wish and last for ever?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"She's not the same, Kit," he goes on. "No, not by twenty years. One
+would say she is older than I am, yet she's scarce the age of woman. And
+I do see she gets more pale and thin each day. D'ye think she's fretting
+for <i>him</i>?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Like enough, Jack," says I. "What would you? He's her husband, and 'tis
+as if he was dead to her. She cannot be a maid again. 'Tis young to be a
+widow, and no hope of being wife ever more."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God forgive me," says he, hanging his head.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We did it for the best," says I. "We could not foresee this."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Twas so natural to think we should be happy again being all together.
+Howsoever," adds he, straightening himself with a more manful vigour,
+"we will do something to chase these black dogs hence."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On his lathe was the egg cup he had been turning for Moll; he snapped it
+off from the chuck and flung it in the litter of chips and shavings, as
+if 'twere the emblem of his past folly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It so happened that night that Moll could eat no supper, pleading for
+her excuse that she felt sick.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What is it, chuck?" says Jack, setting down his knife and drawing his
+chair beside Moll's.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The vapours, I think," says she, with a faint smile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay," says he, slipping his arm about her waist and drawing her to him.
+"My Moll hath no such modish humours. 'Tis something else. I have
+watched ye, and do perceive you eat less and less. Tell us what ails
+you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, dear," says she, "I do believe 'tis idleness is the root of my
+disorder."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Idleness was never wont to have this effect on you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But it does now that I am grown older. There's not enough to do. If I
+could find some occupation for my thoughts, I should not be so silly."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, that's a good thought. What say you, dear, shall we go
+a-play-acting again?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moll shook her head.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"To be sure," says he, scratching his jaw, "we come out of that business
+with no great encouragement to go further in it. But times are mended
+since then, and I do hear the world is more mad for diversion now than
+ever they were before the Plague."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, dear," says Moll, "'tis of no use to think of that I couldn't play
+now."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this we sat silent awhile, looking into the embers; then Jack,
+first to give expression to his thoughts, says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I think you were never so happy in your life, Moll, as that time we
+were in Spain, nor can I recollect ever feeling so free from care
+myself,--after we got out of the hands of that gentleman robber. There's
+a sort of infectious brightness in the sun, and the winds, blow which
+way they may, do chase away dull thoughts and dispose one to jollity;
+eh, sweetheart? Why, we met never a tattered vagabond on the road but he
+was halloing of ditties, and a kinder, more hospitable set of people
+never lived. With a couple of rials in your pocket, you feel as rich and
+independent as with an hundred pounds in your hand elsewhere."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this point Moll, who had hitherto listened in apathy to these
+eulogies, suddenly pushing back her chair, looks at us with a strange
+look in her eyes, and says under her breath, "Elche!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Barcelony for my money," responds Dawson, whose memories of Elche were
+not so cheerful as of those parts where we had led a more vagabond life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Elche!" repeats Moll, twining her fingers, and with a smile gleaming in
+her eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Does it please you, chuck, to talk of these matters?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, yes!" returns she, eagerly. "You know not the joy it gives me"
+(clapping her hand on her heart). "Talk on."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mightily pleased with himself, her father goes over our past
+adventures,--the tricks Moll played us, as buying of her petticoat while
+we were hunting for her, our excellent entertainment in the mountain
+villages, our lying abed all one day, and waking at sundown to think it
+was daybreak, our lazy days and jovial nights, etc., at great length;
+and when his memory began to give out, giving me a kick of the shin, he
+says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Han't you got anything to say? For a dull companion there's nothing in
+the world to equal your man of wit and understanding"; which, as far as
+my observation goes, was a very true estimation on his part.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But, indeed (since I pretend to no great degree of wit or
+understanding), I must say, as an excuse for my silence, that during his
+discourse I had been greatly occupied in observing Moll, and trying to
+discover what was passing in her mind. 'Twas clear this talk of Spain
+animated her spirit beyond ordinary measure, so that at one moment I
+conceived she did share her father's fond fancy that our lost happiness
+might be regained by mere change of scene, and I confess I was persuaded
+somewhat to this opinion by reflecting how much we owe to circumstances
+for our varying moods, how dull, sunless days will cast a gloom upon our
+spirits, and how a bright, breezy day will lift them up, etc. But I
+presently perceived that the stream of her thoughts was divided; for
+though she nodded or shook her head, as occasion required, the strained,
+earnest expression in her tightened lips and knitted brows showed that
+the stronger current of her ideas flowed in another and deeper channel.
+Maybe she only desired her father to talk that she might be left the
+freer to think.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Twas near about this time of the year that we started on our travels,"
+said I, in response to Dawson's reminder.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, I recollect 'twas mighty cold when we set sail, and the fruit
+trees were all bursting into bloom when we came into France. I would we
+were there now; eh, Moll?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What, dear?" asks she, rousing herself at this direct question.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I say, would you be back there now, child?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh, will you take me there if I would go?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"With all my heart, dear Moll. Is there anything in the world I'd not do
+to make you happy?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She took his hand upon her knee, and caressing it, says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Let us go soon, father."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What, will you be dancing of fandangos again?" asks he; and she nods
+for reply, though I believe her thoughts had wandered again to some
+other matter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I warrant I shall fall into the step again the moment I smell garlic;
+but I'll rehearse it an hour to-morrow morning, that we may lose no
+time. Will you have a short petticoat and a waist-cloth again, Moll?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She, with her elbows on her knees now, and her chin in her hands,
+looking into the fire, nodded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And you, Kit," continues he, "you'll get a guitar and play tunes for
+us, as I take it you will keep us company still."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, you may count on me for that," says I.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We shan't have Don Sanchez to play the tambour for us, but I wager I
+shall beat it as well as he; though, seeing he owes us more than we owe
+him, we might in reason call upon him, and--"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, no; only we three," says Moll.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, three's enough, in all conscience, and seeing we know a bit of the
+language, we shall get on well enough without him. I do long, Moll, to
+see you a-flinging over my shoulder, with your clappers going, your
+pretty eye and cheek all aglow with pleasure, and a court full of seņors
+and caballeros crying 'Holé!' and casting their handkerchiefs at your
+feet."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moll fetched a long, fluttering sigh, and, turning to her father, says
+in an absent way: "Yes, dear; yes. When shall we go?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, falling to discussing particulars, Dawson, clasping his hands upon
+his stomach, asked with a long face if at this season we were likely to
+fall in with the equinoxes on our voyage, and also if we could not hit
+some point of Spain so as to avoid crossing the mountains of Pyranee and
+the possibility of falling again into the hands of brigands. To which I
+replied that, knowing nothing of the northern part of Spain and its
+people, we stood a chance of finding a rude climate, unsuitable to
+travelling at this time of year, and an inhospitable reception, and
+that, as our object was to reach, the South as quickly as possible, it
+would be more to our advantage to find a ship going through the straits
+which would carry us as far as Alicante or Valencia. And Moll supporting
+my argument very vigorously, Dawson gave way with much less reluctance
+than I expected at the outset. But, indeed, the good fellow seemed now
+ready to make any sacrifice of himself so that he might see his Moll
+joyous again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When I entered his shop the next morning, I found him with his coat off,
+cutting capers, a wooden platter in his hand for a tambourine, and the
+sweat pouring down his face.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I am a couple of stone or so too heavy for the boleros," gasps he,
+coming to a stand, "but I doubt not, by the time we land at Alicante,
+there'll not be an ounce too much of me."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Learning that a convoy for the Levant was about to set sail with the
+next favourable wind from Chatham, we took horse and rode there that
+afternoon, and by great good luck we found the Faithful Friend, a good
+ship bound for Genoa in Italy, whereof Mr. Dixon, the master, having
+intent to enter and victual at Alicante, undertook to carry us there for
+ten pounds a head, so being we could get all aboard by the next evening
+at sundown.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here was short grace, to be sure; but we did so despatch our affairs
+that we were embarked in due time, and by daybreak the following
+morning, were under weigh.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XXXV.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>How we lost our poor Moll, and our long search for her.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We reached Alicante the 15th March, after a long, tedious voyage. During
+this time I had ample opportunity for observing Moll, but with little
+relief to my gloomy apprehensions. She rarely quitted her father's side,
+being now as sympathetic and considerate of him in his sufferings, as
+before she had been thoughtless and indifferent. She had ever a gentle
+word of encouragement for him; she was ever kind and patient. Only once
+her spirit seemed to weary: that was when we had been beating about in
+the bay of Cadiz four days, for a favourable gale to take us through the
+straits. We were on deck, she and I, the sails flapping the masts idly
+above our heads.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh," says she, laying her hand on my shoulder, and her wasted cheek
+against my arm, "oh, that it were all ended!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She was sweeter with me than ever she had been before; it seemed as if
+the love bred in her heart by marriage must expend itself upon some one.
+But though this tenderness endeared her more to me, it saddened me, and
+I would have had her at her tricks once more, making merry at my
+expense. For I began to see that our happiness comes from within and not
+from without, and so fell despairing that ever this poor stricken heart
+of hers would be healed, which set me a-repenting more sincerely than
+ever the mischief I had helped to do her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dawson also, despite his stubborn disposition to see things as he would
+have them, had, nevertheless, some secret perception of the incurable
+sorrow which she, with all her art, could scarce dissimulate. Yet he
+clung to that fond belief in a return of past happiness, as if 'twere
+his last hope on earth. When at last our wind sprang up, and we were
+cutting through the waters with bending masts and not a crease in the
+bellied sails, he came upon deck, and spreading his hands out, cries in
+joy:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh, this blessed sunlight! There is nought in the world like it--no,
+not the richest wine--to swell one's heart with content."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And then he fell again to recalling our old adventures and mirthful
+escapades. He gave the rascals who fetched us ashore a piece more than
+they demanded, hugely delighted to find they understood his Spanish and
+such quips as he could call to mind. Then being landed, he falls to
+extolling everything he sees and hears, calling upon Moll to justify his
+appreciation; nay, he went so far as to pause in a narrow street where
+was a most unsavoury smell, to sniff the air and declare he could scent
+the oranges in bloom. And Lord! to hear him praise the whiteness of the
+linen, the excellence of the meat and drink set before us at the posada,
+one would have said he had never before seen clean sheets or tasted
+decent victuals.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Seeing that neither Moll nor I could work ourselves up (try as we might)
+to his high pitch of enthusiasm, he was ready with an excuse for us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I perceive," says he, "you are still suffering from your voyage.
+Therefore, we will not quit this town before to-morrow" (otherwise I
+believe he would have started off on our expedition as soon as our meal
+was done). "However," adds he, "do you make enquiry, Kit, if you can get
+yourself understood, if there be ever a bull to be fought to-day or any
+diversion of dancing or play-acting to-night, that the time hang not too
+heavy on our hands."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As no such entertainments were to be had (this being the season of Lent,
+which is observed very strictly in these parts), Dawson contented
+himself with taking Moll out to visit the shops, and here he speedily
+purchased a pair of clappers for her, a tambour for himself, and a
+guitar for me, though we were difficult to please, for no clappers
+pleased Moll as those she had first bought; and it did seem to me that I
+could strike no notes out of any instrument but they had a sad, mournful
+tone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then nothing would satisfy him but to go from one draper's to another,
+seeking a short petticoat, a waist-cloth, and a round hat to Moll's
+taste, which ended to his disappointment, for she could find none like
+the old.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, don't you like this?" he would say, holding up a gown; "to my eyes
+'tis the very spit of t'other, only fresher."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And she demurring, whispers, "To-morrow, dear, to-morrow," with
+plaintive entreaty for delay in her wistful eyes. Disheartened, but not
+yet at the end of his resources, her father at last proposed that she
+should take a turn through the town alone and choose for herself. "For,"
+says he, "I believe we do rather hinder than help you with our advice in
+such matters."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After a moment's reflection, Moll agreed to this, and saying she would
+meet us at the posada for supper, left us, and walked briskly back the
+way we had come.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When she was gone, Dawson had never a word to say, nor I either, for
+dejection, yet, had I been questioned, I could have found no better
+reason for my despondency than that I felt 'twas all a mistake coming
+here for happiness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Strolling aimlessly through the narrow back ways, we came presently to
+the market that stands against the port. And here, almost at the first
+step, Dawson catches my arm and nods towards the opposite side of the
+market-place. Some Moors were seated there in their white clothes, with
+bundles of young palm leaves, plaited up in various forms of crowns,
+crosses, and the like,--which the people of this country do carry to
+church to be blessed on Palm Sunday; and these Moors I knew came from
+Elche, because palms grow nowhere else in such abundance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes," says I, thinking 'twas this queer merchandise he would point out,
+"I noticed these Moors and their ware when we passed here a little while
+back with Moll."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Don't you see her there now--at the corner?" asks he.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, to my surprise, I perceived Moll in very earnest conversation with
+two Moors, who had at first screened her from my sight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Come away," continues he. "She left us to go back and speak to them,
+and would not have us know."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Why should she be secret about this trifling matter, I asked myself.
+'Twas quite natural that, if she recognised in these Moors some old
+acquaintance of Elche, she should desire to speak them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We stole away to the port; and seating ourselves upon some timber, there
+we looked upon the sea nigh upon half an hour without saying a word.
+Then turning to me, Dawson says: "Unless she speak to us upon this
+matter, Kit, we will say nought to her. But, if she say nothing, I shall
+take it for a sign her heart is set upon going back to Elche, and she
+would have it a secret that we may not be disheartened in our other
+project."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That is likely enough," says I, not a little surprised by his
+reasoning. But love sharpens a man's wit, be it never so dull.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nevertheless," continues he, "if she can be happier at Elche than
+elsewhere, then must we abandon our scheme and accept hers with a good
+show of content. We owe her that, Kit."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, and more," says I.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then when we meet to-morrow morning, I will offer to go there, as if
+'twas a happy notion that had come to me in my sleep, and do you back me
+up with all the spirit you can muster."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So after some further discussion we rose, and returned to our posada,
+where we found Moll waiting for us. She told us she had found no clothes
+to her liking (which was significant), and said not a word of her
+speaking to the Moors in the market-place, so we held our peace on these
+matters.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We did not part till late that night, for Moll would sit up with us,
+confessing she felt too feverish for sleep; and indeed this was apparent
+enough by her strange humour, for she kept no constant mood for five
+minutes together. Now, she would sit pensive, paying no heed to us, with
+a dreamy look in her eyes, as if her thoughts were wandering far
+away--to her husband in England maybe; then she would hang her head as
+though she dared not look him in the face even at that distance; and
+anon she would recover herself with a noble exaltation, lifting her head
+with a fearless mien. And so presently her body drooping gradually to a
+reflective posture, she falls dreaming again, to rouse herself suddenly
+at some new prompting of her spirit, and give us all her thoughts, all
+eagerness for two moments, all melting sweetness the next, with her
+pretty manner of clinging to her father's arm, and laying her cheek
+against his shoulder. And when at last we came to say good-night, she
+hangs about his neck as if she would fain sleep there, quitting him with
+a deep sigh and a passionate kiss. Also she kissed me most
+affectionately, but could say never a word of farewell to either of
+us--hurrying to her chamber to weep, as I think.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We knew not what to conclude from these symptoms, save that she might be
+sickening of some disorder; so we to our beds, very down in the mouth
+and faint at heart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About six the next morning I was awoke by the door bursting suddenly
+open, and starting up in my bed, I see Dawson at my side, shaking in
+every limb, and his eyes wide with terror.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Moll's gone!" cries he, and falls a-blubbering.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Gone!" says I, springing out of bed. "'Tis not possible."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"She has not lain in her bed; and one saw her go forth last night as the
+doors were closing, knowing her for a foreigner by her hood. Come with
+me," adds he, laying his hand on a chair for support. "I dare not go
+alone."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, I'll go with ye, Jack; but whither?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Down to the sea," says he, hoarsely.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I stopped in the midst of dressing, overcome by this fearful hint; for,
+knowing Moll's strong nature, the thought had never occurred to me that
+she might do away with herself. Yet now reflecting on her strange manner
+of late, especially her parting with us overnight, it seemed not so
+impossible neither. For here, seeing the folly of our coming hither,
+desponding of any happiness in the future, was the speediest way of
+ending a life that was burdensome to herself and a constant sorrow to
+us. Nay, with her notions of poetic justice drawn from plays, she may
+have regarded this as the only atonement she could make her husband; the
+only means of giving him back freedom to make a happier choice in
+marriage. With these conclusions taking shape, I shuffled on my clothes,
+and then, with shaking fear, we two, hanging to each other's arms for
+strength, made our way through the crooked streets to the sea; and
+there, seeing a group of men and women gathered at the water's edge some
+little distance from us, we dared not go further, conceiving 'twas a
+dead body they were regarding. But 'twas only a company of fishers
+examining their haul of fishes, as we presently perceived. So, somewhat
+cheered, we cast our eyes to the right and left, and, seeing nothing to
+justify our fears, advanced along the mole to the very end, where it
+juts out into the sea, with great stones around to break the surf. Here,
+then, with deadly apprehensions, we peered amongst the rocks, holding
+our breath, clutching tight hold of one another by the hand, in terror
+of finding that we so eagerly searched,--a hood, a woman's skirt
+clinging to the stones, a stiffened hand thrust up from the lapping
+waters. Never may I forget the sickening horror of the moment when,
+creeping out amidst the rocks, Dawson twitches my hand, and points down
+through the clear water to something lying white at the bottom. It
+looked for all the world like a dead face, coloured a greenish white by
+the water; but presently we saw, by one end curling over in the swell of
+a wave, that 'twas only a rag of paper.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then I persuaded Dawson to give up this horrid search, and return to our
+posada, when, if we found not Moll, we might more justly conclude she
+had gone to Elche, than put an end to her life; and though we could
+learn nothing of her at our inn, more than Dawson had already told me,
+yet our hopes were strengthened in the probability of finding her at
+Elche by recollecting her earnest, secret conversation with the Moors,
+who might certainly have returned to Elche in the night, they preferring
+that time for their journey, as we knew. So, having hastily snatched a
+repast, whilst our landlord was procuring mules for our use, we set off
+across the plain, doing our best to cheer each other on the way. But I
+confess one thing damped my spirits exceedingly, and that was, having no
+hint from Moll the night before of this project, which then must have
+been fully matured in her mind, nor any written word of explanation and
+encouragement. For, thinks I, she being no longer a giddy, heedless
+child, ready to play any prank without regard to the consequences, but a
+very considerate, remorseful woman, would not put us to this anxiety
+without cause. Had she resolved to go to her friends at Elche, she
+would, at least, have comforted us with the hope of meeting her again;
+whereas, this utter silence did point to a knowledge on her part that we
+were sundered for ever, and that she could give us no hope, but such as
+we might glean from uncertainty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Arriving at Elche, we made straight for the house of the merchant, Sidi
+ben Ahmed, with whose family Moll had been so intimate previously. Here
+we were met by Sidi himself, who, after laying his fingers across his
+lips, and setting his hand upon his heart, in token of recognition and
+respect, asked us very civilly our business, though without any show of
+surprise at seeing us. But these Moors do pride themselves upon a stoic
+behaviour at all times, and make it a point to conceal any emotion they
+may feel, so that men never can truly judge of their feelings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon explaining our circumstances as well as our small knowledge of the
+tongue allowed us, he makes us a gesture of his open hands, as if he
+would have us examine his house for ourselves, to see that she was not
+hid away there for any reason, and then calling his servants, he bids
+them seek through all the town, promising them a rich reward if they
+bring any tidings of Lala Mollah. And while this search was being made,
+he entertained us at his own table, where we recounted so much of our
+miserable history as we thought it advisable he should know.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One by one the servants came in to tell that they had heard nothing,
+save that some market-men had seen and spoken with Moll at Alicante, but
+had not clapt eyes on her since. Not content with doing us this service,
+the merchant furnished us with fresh mules, to carry us back to
+Alicante, whither we were now all eagerness to return, in the hope of
+finding Moll at the posada. So, travelling all night, we came to our
+starting-place the next morning, to learn no tidings of our poor Moll.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We drew some grain of comfort from this; for, it being now the third day
+since the dear girl had disappeared, her body would certainly have been
+washed ashore, had she cast herself, as we feared, in the sea. It
+occurred to us that if Moll were still living, she had either returned
+to England, or gone to Don Sanchez at Toledo, whose wise counsels she
+had ever held in high respect. The former supposition seemed to me the
+better grounded; for it was easy to understand how, yearning for him
+night and day, she should at length abandon every scruple, and throw
+herself at his feet, reckless of what might follow. 'Twas not
+inconsistent with her impulsive character, and that more reasonable view
+of life she had gained by experience, and the long reflections on her
+voyage hither. And that which supported my belief still more was that a
+fleet of four sail (as I learnt) had set forth for England the morning
+after our arrival. So now finding, on enquiry, that a carrier was to set
+out for Toledo that afternoon, I wrote a letter to Don Sanchez, telling
+him the circumstances of our loss, and begging him to let us know, as
+speedily as possible, if he had heard aught of Moll. And in this letter
+I enclosed a second, addressed to Mr. Godwin, having the same purport,
+which I prayed Don Sanchez to send on with all expedition, if Moll were
+not with him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now, having despatched these letters, we had nothing to do but to
+await a reply, which, at the earliest, we could not expect to get before
+the end of the week--Toledo being a good eighty English leagues distant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We waited in Alicante four days more, making seven in all from the day
+we lost Moll; and then, the suspense and torment of inactivity becoming
+insupportable, we set out again for Elche, the conviction growing strong
+upon us, with reflection, that we had little to hope from Don Sanchez.
+And we resolved we would not go this time to Sidi ben Ahmed, but rather
+seek to take him unawares, and make enquiry by more subtle means, we
+having our doubts of his veracity. For these Moors are not honest liars
+like plain Englishmen, who do generally give you some hint of their
+business by shifting of their eyes this way and that, hawking,
+stammering, etc., but they will ever look you calmly and straight in the
+face, never at a loss for the right word, or over-anxious to convince
+you, so that 'twill plague a conjurer to tell if they speak truth or
+falsehood. And here I would remark, that in all my observations of men
+and manners, there is no nation in the world to equal the English, for a
+straightforward, pious, horse-racing sort of people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well, then, we went about our search in Elche with all the slyness
+possible, prying here and there like a couple of thieves a-robbing a
+hen-roost, and putting cross-questions to every simple fellow we
+met,--the best we could with our small knowledge of their tongue,--but
+all to no purpose, and so another day was wasted. We lay under the palms
+that night, and in the morning began our perquisition afresh; now
+hunting up and down the narrow lanes and alleys of the town, as we had
+scoured those of Alicante, in vain, until, persuaded of the uselessness
+of our quest, we agreed to return to Alicante, in the hope of finding
+there a letter from Don Sanchez. But (not to leave a single stone
+unturned), we settled we would call once again on Sidi ben Ahmed, and
+ask if he had any tidings to give us, but, openly, feeling we were no
+match for him at subterfuge. So, to his house we went, where we were
+received very graciously by the old merchant, who, chiding us gently for
+being in the neighbourhood a whole day without giving him a call, prayed
+us to enter his unworthy parlour, adding that we should find there a
+friend who would be very pleased to see us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this, my heart bounded to such an extent that I could utter never a
+word (nor could Dawson either), for I expected nothing less than to find
+this friend was our dear Moll; and so, silent and shaking with feverish
+anticipation, we followed him down the tiled passage and round the inner
+garden of his house by the arcade, till we reached a doorway, and there,
+lifting aside the heavy hangings, he bade us enter. We pushed by him in
+rude haste, and then stopped of a sudden, in blank amazement; for, in
+place of Moll, whom we fully thought to find, we discovered only Don
+Sanchez, sitting on some pillows gravely smoking a Moorish chibouk.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My daughter--my Moll!" cries Dawson, in despair. "Where is she?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"By this time," replies Don Sanchez, rising, "your daughter should be in
+Barbary."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XXXVI.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>We learn what hath become of Moll; and how she nobly atoned for our
+sins.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Barbary--Barbary!" gasps Dawson, thunderstruck by this discovery. "My
+Moll in Barbary?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"She sailed three days ago," says the Don, laying down his pipe, and
+rising.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dawson regards him for a moment or two in a kind of stupor, and then his
+ideas taking definite shape, he cries in a fury of passion and clenching
+his fists:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Spanish dog! you shall answer this. And you" (turning in fury upon
+Sidi), "you--I know your cursed traffic--you've sold her to the Turk!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though Sidi may have failed to comprehend his words, he could not
+misunderstand his menacing attitude, yet he faced him with an unmoved
+countenance, not a muscle of his body betraying the slightest fear, his
+stoic calm doing more than any argument of words to overthrow Dawson's
+mad suspicion. But his passion unabated, Dawson turns again upon Don
+Sanchez, crying:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Han't you won enough by your villany, but you must rob me of my
+daughter? Are you not satisfied with bringing us to shame and ruin, but
+this poor girl of mine must be cast to the Turk? Speak, rascal!" adds
+he, advancing a step, and seeking to provoke a conflict. "Speak, if you
+have any reason to show why I shouldn't strangle you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You'll not strangle me," answers the Don, calmly, "and here's my reason
+if you would see it." And with that he tilts his elbow, and with a turn
+of the wrist displays a long knife that lay concealed under his forearm.
+"I know no other defence against the attack of a madman."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If I be mad," says Dawson, "and mad indeed I may be, and no
+wonder,--why, then, put your knife to merciful use and end my misery
+here."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay, take it in your own hand," answers the Don, offering the knife.
+"And use it as you will--on yourself if you are a fool, or on me if,
+being not a fool, you can hold me guilty of such villany as you charged
+me with in your passion."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dawson looks upon the offered knife an instant with distraction in his
+eyes, and the Don (not to carry this risky business too far), taking his
+hesitation for refusal, claps up the blade in his waist-cloth, where it
+lay mighty convenient to his hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You are wise," says he, "for if that noble woman is to be served, 'tis
+not by spilling the blood of her best friends."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You, her friend!" says Dawson.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, her best friend!" replies the other, with dignity, "for he is best
+who can best serve her."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then must I be her worst," says Jack, humbly, "having no power to undo
+the mischief I have wrought."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Tell me, Seņor," says I, "who hath kidnapped poor Moll?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nobody. She went of her free will, knowing full well the risk she
+ran--the possible end of her noble adventure--against the dissuasions
+and the prayers of all her friends here. She stood in the doorway there,
+and saw you cross the garden when you first came to seek her--saw you,
+her father, distracted with grief and fear, and she suffered you to go
+away. As you may know, nothing is more sacred to a Moor than the laws of
+hospitality, and by those laws Sidi was bound to respect the wishes of
+one who had claimed his protection. He could not betray her secret, but
+he and his family did their utmost to persuade her from her purpose.
+While you were yet in the town, they implored her to let them call you
+back, and she refused. Failing in their entreaties, they despatched a
+messenger to me; alas! when I arrived, she was gone. She went with a
+company of merchants bound for Alger, and all that her friends here
+could do was to provide her with a servant and letters, which will
+ensure her safe conduct to Thadviir."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But why has she gone there, Seņor?" says I, having heard him in a maze
+of wonderment to the end.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Cannot you guess? Surely she must have given you some hint of her
+purposes, for 'twas in her mind, as I learn, when she agreed to leave
+England and come hither."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nothing--we know nothing," falters Dawson. "'Tis all mystery and
+darkness. Only we did suppose to find happiness a-wandering about the
+country, dancing and idling, as we did before."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That dream was never hers," answers the Don. "She never thought to find
+happiness in idling pleasure. 'Tis the joy of martyrdom she's gone to
+find, seeking redemption in self-sacrifice."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be more explicit, sir, I pray," says I.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"In a word, then, she has gone to offer herself as a ransom for the real
+Judith Godwin."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We were too overwrought for great astonishment; indeed, my chief
+surprise was that I had not foreseen this event in Moll's desire to
+return to Elche, or hit upon the truth in seeking an explanation of her
+disappearance. 'Twas of a piece with her natural romantic disposition
+and her newly awaked sense of poetic justice,--for here at one stroke
+she makes all human atonement for her fault and ours,--earning her
+husband's forgiveness by this proof of dearest love, and winning back
+for ever an honoured place in his remembrance. And I bethought me of our
+Lord's saying that greater love is there none than this: that one shall
+lay down his life for another.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For some time Dawson stood silent, his arms folded upon his breast, and
+his head bent in meditation, his lips pressed together, and every muscle
+in his face contracted with pain and labouring thought. Then, raising
+his head and fixing his eyes on the Don, he says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If I understand aright, my Moll hath gone to give herself up for a
+slave, in the place of her whose name she took."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Don assents with a grave inclination of his head, and Dawson
+continues:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I ask your pardon for that injustice I did you in my passion; but now
+that I am cool I cannot hold you blameless for what has befallen my poor
+child, and I call upon you as a man of honour to repair the wrong you've
+done me."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again the Don bows very gravely, and then asks what we would have him
+do.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I ask you," says Dawson, "as we have no means for such an expedition,
+to send me across the sea there to my Moll."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I cannot ensure your return," says the Don, "and I warn you that once
+in Barbary you may never leave it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I do not want to return if she is there; nay," adds he, "if I may move
+them to any mercy, they shall do what they will with this body of mine,
+so that they suffer my child to be free."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Don turns to Sidi, and tells him what Dawson has offered to do;
+whereupon the Moor lays his finger across his lips, then his hand on
+Dawson's breast, and afterwards upon his own, with a reverence, to show
+his respect. And so he and the Don fall to discussing the feasibility of
+this project (as I discovered by picking up a word here and there); and,
+this ended, the Don turns to Dawson, and tells him there is no vessel to
+convey him at present, wherefore he must of force wait patiently till
+one comes in from Barbary.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But," says he, "we may expect one in a few days, and rest you assured
+that your wish shall be gratified if it be possible."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We went down, Dawson and I, to the sea that afternoon; and, sitting on
+the shore at that point where we had formerly embarked aboard the
+Algerine galley, we scanned the waters for a sail that might be coming
+hither, and Dawson with the eagerness of one who looked to escape from
+slavery rather than one seeking it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As we sat watching the sea, he fell a-regretting he had no especial gift
+of nature, by which he might more readily purchase Moll's freedom of her
+captors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"However," says he, "if I can show 'em the use of chairs and benches,
+for lack of which they are now compelled, as we see, to squat on mats
+and benches, I may do pretty well with Turks of the better sort who can
+afford luxuries, and so in time gain my end."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You shall teach me this business, Jack," says I, "for at present I'm
+more helpless than you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Kit," says he, laying hold of my hand, "let us have no misunderstanding
+on this matter. You go not to Barbary with me."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What!" cries I, protesting. "You would have the heart to break from me
+after we have shared good and ill fortune together like two brothers all
+these years?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God knows we shall part with sore hearts o' both sides, and I shall
+miss you sadly enough, with no Christian to speak to out there. But 'tis
+not of ourselves we must think now. Some one must be here to be a father
+to my Moll when she returns, and I'll trust Don Sanchez no farther than
+I can see him, for all his wisdom. So, as you love the dear girl, you
+will stay here, Kit, to be her watch and ward, and as you love me you
+will spare me any further discussion on this head. For I am resolved."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I would say nothing then to contrary him, but my judgment and feeling
+both revolted against his decision. For, thinks I, if one Christian is
+worth but a groat to the Turk, two must be worth eightpence, therefore
+we together stand a better chance of buying Moll's freedom than either
+singly. And, for my own happiness, I would easier be a slave in Barbary
+with Jack than free elsewhere and friendless. Nowhere can a man be free
+from toil and pain of some sort or another, and there is no such solace
+in the world for one's discomforts as the company of a true man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But I was not regardless of Moll's welfare when she returned, neither.
+For I argued with myself that Mr. Godwin had but to know of her
+condition to find means of coming hither for her succour. So the next
+time I met Don Sanchez, I took him aside and told him of my concern,
+asking him the speediest manner of sending a letter to England (that I
+had enclosed in mine to the Don having missed him through his leaving
+Toledo before it arrived).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There is no occasion to write," says he. "For the moment I learnt your
+history from Sidi I sent a letter, apprising him of his wife's innocence
+in this business, and the noble reparation she had made for the fault of
+others. Also, I took the liberty to enclose a sum of money to meet his
+requirements, and I'll answer for it he is now on his way hither. For no
+man living could be dull to the charms of his wife, or bear resentment
+to her for an act that was prompted by love rather than avarice, and
+with no calculation on her part."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This cheered me considerably, and did somewhat return my faith in Don
+Sanchez, who certainly was the most extraordinary gentlemanly rascal
+that ever lived.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Day after day Dawson and I went down to the sea, and on the fifth day of
+our watching (after many false hopes and disappointments) we spied a
+ship, which we knew to be of the Algerine sort by the cross-set of its
+lateen sails,--making it to look like some great bird with spread wings
+on the water,--bearing down upon the shore.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We watched the approach of this ship in a fever of joy and expectation,
+for though we dared not breathe our hopes one to another, we both
+thought that maybe Moll was there. And this was not impossible. For,
+supposing Judith was married happily, she would refuse to leave her
+husband, and her mother, having lived so long in that country, might not
+care to leave it now and quit her daughter; so might they refuse their
+ransom and Moll be sent back to us. And, besides this reasoning, we had
+that clinging belief of the unfortunate that some unforeseen accident
+might turn to our advantage and overthrow our fears.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Algerine came nearer and nearer, until at length we could make out
+certain figures moving upon the deck; then Dawson, laying a trembling
+hand on my sleeve, asked if I did not think 'twas a woman standing in
+the fore part; but I couldn't truly answer yes, which vexed him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But, indeed, when the galley was close enough to drop anchor, being at
+some distance from the shore because of the shoals, I could not
+distinguish any women, and my heart sank, for I knew well that if Moll
+were there, she, seeing us, would have given us some signal of waving a
+handkerchief or the like. As soon as the anchor was cast, a boat was
+lowered, and being manned, drew in towards us; then, truly, we perceived
+a bent figure sitting idle in the stern, but even Dawson dared not
+venture to think it might be Moll.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The boat running on a shallow, a couple of Moors stepped into the water,
+and lifting the figure in their arms carried it ashore to where we
+stood. And now we perceived 'twas a woman muffled up in the Moorish
+fashion, a little, wizen old creature, who, casting back her head
+clothes, showed us a wrinkled face, very pale and worn with care and
+age. Regarding us, she says in plain English:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You are my countrymen. Is one of you named Dawson?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My name is Dawson," says Jack.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She takes his hand in hers, and holding it in hers looks in his face
+with great pity, and then at last, as if loath to tell the news she sees
+he fears to hear, she says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I am Elizabeth Godwin."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What need of more to let us know that Moll had paid her ransom?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XXXVII.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Don Sanchez again proves himself the most mannerly rascal in the
+world.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In silence we led Mrs. Godwin to the seat we had occupied, and seating
+ourselves we said not a word for some time. For my own part, the
+realisation of our loss threw my spirits into a strange apathy; 'twas as
+if some actual blow had stunned my senses. Yet I remember observing the
+Moors about their business,--despatching one to Elche for a train of
+mules, charging a second boat with merchandise while the first returned,
+etc.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I can feel for you," says Mrs. Godwin at length, addressing Dawson,
+"for I also have lost an only child."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your daughter Judith, Madam?" says I.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"She died two years ago. Yours still lives," says she, again turning to
+Dawson, who sat with a haggard face, rocking himself like one nursing a
+great pain. "And while there is life, there's hope, as one says."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, to be sure," says Jack, rousing himself. "This is no more, Kit,
+than we bargained for. Tell me, Madam, you who know that country, do you
+think a carpenter would be held in esteem there? I'm yet a strong man,
+as you see, with some good serviceable years of life before me. D'ye
+think they'd take me in exchange for my Moll, who is but a bit of a
+girl?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"She is beautiful, and beauty counts for more than strength and
+abilities there, poor man," says she.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I'll make 'em the offer," says he, "and though they do not agree to
+give her freedom, they may yet suffer me to see her time and again, if I
+work well."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis strange," says she. "Your child has told me all your history. Had
+I learnt it from other lips, I might have set you down for rogues,
+destitute of heart or conscience; yet, with this evidence before me, I
+must needs regard you and your dear daughter as more noble than many
+whose deeds are writ in gold. 'Tis a lesson to teach me faith in the
+goodness of God, who redeems his creatures' follies, with one touch of
+love. Be of good cheer, my friend," adds she, laying her thin hand on
+his arm. "There <i>is</i> hope. I would not have accepted this ransom--no,
+not for all your daughter's tears and entreaties--without good assurance
+that I, in my turn, might deliver her."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I asked the old gentlewoman how this might be accomplished.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My niece," says she, dwelling on the word with a smile, as if happy in
+the alliance, "my niece, coming to Barbary of her free will, is not a
+slave like those captured in warfare and carried there by force. She
+remains there as a hostage for me, and will be free to return when I
+send the price of my ransom."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Is that a great sum?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Three thousand gold ducats,--about one thousand pounds English."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, Madam," says Dawson, "we have nothing, being now reduced to our
+last pieces. And if you have the goodness to raise this money, Heaven
+only knows how long it may be ere you succeed. 'Tis a fortnight's
+journey, at the least, to England, and then you have to deal with your
+steward, who will seek only to put obstacles in your way, so that six
+weeks may pass ere Moll is redeemed, and what may befall her in the
+meantime?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"She is safe. Ali Oukadi is a good man. She has nought to fear while she
+is under his protection. Do not misjudge the Moors. They have many
+estimable qualities."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yet, Madam," says I, "by your saying there is hope, I gather there must
+be also danger."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There is," answers she, at which Jack nods with conviction. "A
+beautiful young woman is never free from danger" (Jack assents again).
+"There are good and bad men amongst the Moors as amongst other people."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, to be sure," says Dawson.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I say she is safe under the protection of Ali Oukadi, but when the
+ransom is paid and she leaves Thadviir, she may stand in peril."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, that's natural enough," cries Dawson, "be she amongst Moors or no
+Moors; 'tis then she will most need a friend to serve her, and one that
+knows the ins and outs of the place and how to deal with these Turks
+must surely be better than any half-dozen fresh landed and raw to their
+business." Then he fell questioning Mrs. Godwin as to how Moll was
+lodged, the distance of Thadviir from Alger, the way to get there, and
+divers other particulars, which, together with his eager, cheerful
+vivacity, showed clearly enough that he was more firmly resolved than
+ever to go into Barbary and be near Moll without delay. And presently,
+leaving me with Mrs. Godwin, he goes down to the captain of the galley,
+who is directing the landing of goods from the play-boat, and, with such
+small store of words as he possessed, aided by plentiful gesture, he
+enters into a very lively debate with him, the upshot of which was that
+the captain tells him he shall start the next morning at daybreak if
+there be but a puff of air, and agrees to carry him to Alger for a
+couple of pieces (upon which they clap hands), as Dawson, in high glee,
+informs us on his return.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And now, Kit," says he, "I must go back to Elche to borrow those same
+two pieces of Don Sanchez, so I pray you, Madam, excuse me."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But just then the train of mules from Elche appears, and with them Sidi
+ben Ahmed, who, having information of Mrs. Godwin coming, brings a
+litter for her carriage, at the same time begging her to accept his
+hospitality as the true friend of her niece Moll. So we all return to
+Elche together, and none so downcast as I at the thought of losing my
+friend, and speculating on the mischances that might befall him; for I
+did now begin to regard him as an ill-fated man, whose best intentions
+brought him nothing but evil and misfortune.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Being come to Elche, Don Sanchez presented himself to Mrs. Godwin with
+all the dignity and calm assurance in the world, and though she received
+him with a very cold, distant demeanour, as being the deepest rascal of
+us all and the one most to blame, yet it ruffled him never a bit, but he
+carried himself as if he had never benefited himself a penny by his
+roguery and at her expense.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On Dawson asking him for the loan of a couple of pieces and telling his
+project, the Don drew a very long serious face and tried his utmost to
+dissuade him from it, so that at first I suspected him of being loath to
+part with this petty sum; but herein I did him injustice, for, finding
+Dawson was by no means to be turned from his purpose, he handed him his
+purse, advising him the first thing he did on arriving at Alger to
+present himself to the Dey and purchase a firman, giving him protection
+during his stay in Barbary (which he said might be done for a few silver
+ducats). Then, after discussing apart with Sidi, he comes to Mrs.
+Godwin, and says he:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Madam, with your sanction my friend Sidi ben Ahmed will charge Mr.
+Dawson with a letter to Ali Oukadi, promising to pay him the sum of
+three thousand gold ducats upon your niece being safely conducted hither
+within the space of three weeks."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Seņor," answers she, "I thank Sidi ben Ahmed very deeply--and you
+also," adds she, overcoming her compunctions, "for this offer. But
+unhappily, I cannot hope to have this sum of money in so short a time."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It is needless to say, Madam," returns he, with a scrape, "that in
+making this proposal I have considered of that difficulty; my friend has
+agreed to take my bond for the payment of this sum when it shall be
+convenient to you to discharge it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mrs. Godwin accepted this arrangement with a profound bow, which
+concealed the astonishment it occasioned her. But she drew a long
+breath, and I perceived she cast a curious glance at all three of us, as
+if she were marvelling at the change that must have taken place in
+civilised countries since her absence, which should account for a pack
+of thieves nowadays being so very unlike what a pack of thieves was in
+her young days.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XXXVIII.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>How we hear Moll's sweet voice through the walls of her prison, and
+speak two words with her though almost to our undoing.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having written his letter, Sidi ben Ahmed proposed that Mrs. Godwin
+should await the return of Moll before setting out for England, very
+graciously offering her the hospitality of his house meanwhile, and this
+offer she willingly accepted. And now, there being no reason for my
+staying in Elche, Dawson gladly agreed I should accompany him, the more
+so as I knew more of the Moors' language than he. Going down with us to
+the water side, Don Sanchez gave us some very good hints for our
+behaviour in Barbary, bidding us, above everything, be very careful not
+to break any of the laws of that country. "For," says he, "I have seen
+three men hanged there for merely casting a Turk into the sea in a
+drunken frolic."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be assured, I'll touch nothing but water for my drink," says Dawson,
+taking this warning to his share.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be careful," continues the Don, "to pay for all you have, and take not
+so much as an orange from a tree by the wayside without first laying a
+fleece or two on the ground. I warn you that they, though upright enough
+amongst themselves, are crafty and treacherous towards strangers, whom
+they regard as their natural enemies; and they will tempt you to break
+the law either by provoking a quarrel, or putting you to some unlawful
+practice, that they may annul your firman and claim you as convicted
+outlaws for their slaves. For stealing a pullet I have seen the flesh
+beaten off the soles of an English sailor's feet, and he and his
+companions condemned to slavery for life."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I'll lay a dozen fleeces on the ground for every sour orange I may
+take," says Dawson. "And as for quarrelling, a Turk shall pull my nose
+before ever a curse shall pass my lips."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With these and other exhortations and promises, we parted, and lying
+aboard that night, we set sail by daybreak the next morning, having a
+very fair gale off the land; and no ships in the world being better than
+these galleys for swiftness, we made an excellent good passage, so that
+ere we conceived ourselves half over the voyage, we sighted Alger
+looking like nothing but a great chalk quarry for the white houses built
+up the side of the hill.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We landed at the mole, which is a splendid construction some fifteen
+hundred feet or thereabouts in length (with the forts), forming a
+beautiful terrace walk supported by arches, beneath which large,
+splendid magazines, all the most handsome in the world, I think. Thence
+our captain led us to the Cassanabah, a huge, heavy, square, brick
+building, surrounded by high, massive walls and defended by a hundred
+pieces of ordnance, cannons, and mortars, all told. Here the Dey or
+Bashaw lives with his family, and below are many roomy offices for the
+discharge of business. Our captain takes us into a vast waiting-hall
+where over a hundred Moors were patiently attending an audience of the
+Dey's minister, and there we also might have lingered the whole day and
+gone away at night unsatisfied (as many of these Moors do, day after
+day, but that counts for nothing with these enduring people), but having
+a hint from our friend we found occasion to slip a ducat in the hand of
+a go-between officer, who straightway led us to his master. Our captain
+having presented us, with all the usual ceremonies, the grandee takes
+our letter from Sidi ben Ahmed, reads it, and without further ado signs
+and seals us a trader's pass for twenty-eight days, to end at sunset the
+day after the festival of Ranadal. With this paper we went off in high
+glee, thinking that twenty-eight hours of safe-conduct would have
+sufficed us. And so to an eating-house, where we treated our friendly
+captain to the best, and greasing his palm also for his good services,
+parted in mighty good humour on both sides.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By this time it was getting pretty late in the day; nevertheless, we
+burnt with such impatience to be near our dear Moll that we set forth
+for Thadviir, which lies upon the seacoast about seven English leagues
+east of Alger. But a cool, refreshing air from the sea and the great joy
+in our hearts made this journey seem to us the most delightful of our
+lives. And indeed, after passing through the suburbs richly planted with
+gardens, and crossing the river, on which are many mills, and so coming
+into the plain of Mettegia, there is such an abundance of sweet odours
+and lovely fertile views to enchant the senses, that a dull man would be
+inspirited to a happy, cheerful mood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Twas close upon nine o'clock when we reached the little town, and not a
+soul to be seen anywhere nor a light in any window, but that troubled us
+not at all (having provided ourselves with a good store of victuals
+before quitting Alger), for here 'tis as sweet to lie of nights in the
+open air as in the finest palace elsewhere. Late as it was, however, we
+could not dispose ourselves to sleep before we had gone all round the
+town to satisfy our curiosity. At the further extremity we spied a
+building looking very majestic in the moonlight, with a large garden
+about it enclosed with high walls, and deciding that this must be the
+residence of Ali Oukadi, who, we had learnt, was the most important
+merchant of these parts, we lay us down against the wall, and fell
+asleep, thinking of our dear Moll, who perchance, all unconscious, was
+lying within.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Rising at daybreak, for Dawson was mightily uneasy unless we might be
+breaking the law by sleeping out-of-doors (but there is no cruel law of
+this sort in Barbary), we washed ourselves very properly at a
+neighbouring stream, made a meal of dry bread and dates, then, laying
+our bundles in a secret place whence we might conveniently fetch them,
+if Ali Oukadi insisted on entertaining us a day or two, we went into the
+town, and finding, upon enquiry, that this was indeed his palace, as we
+had surmised, bethought us what to say and how to behave the most civil
+possible, and so presented ourselves at his gate, stating our business.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presently, we were admitted to an outer office, and there received by a
+very bent, venerable old Moor, who, having greeted us with much
+ceremony, says, "I am Ali Oukadi. What would you have of me?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My daughter Moll," answers Jack, in an eager, choking voice, offering
+his letter. The Moor regarded him keenly, and, taking the letter, sits
+down to study it; and while he is at this business a young Moor enters,
+whose name, as we shortly learnt, was Mohand ou Mohand. He was, I take
+it, about twenty-five or thirty years of age, and as handsome a man of
+his kind as ever I saw, with wondrous soft dark eyes, but a cruel mouth
+and a most high, imperious bearing which, together with his rich clothes
+and jewels, betokened him a man of quality. Hearing who we were, he
+saluted us civilly enough; but there was a flash of enmity in his eyes
+and a tightening of his lips, which liked me not at all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the elder man had finished the letter, he hands it to the younger,
+and he having read it in his turn, they fall to discussing it in a low
+tone, and in a dialect of which not one word was intelligible to us.
+Finally, Ali Oukadi, rising from his cushions, says gravely, addressing
+Dawson:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I will write without delay to Sidi ben Ahmed in answer to his letter."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But my daughter," says Dawson, aghast, and as well as he could in the
+Moorish tongue. "Am I not to have her?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My friend says nothing here," answers the old man, regarding the
+letter, "nothing that would justify my giving her up to you. He says the
+money shall be paid upon her being brought safe to Elche."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, your Excellency, I and my comrade here will undertake to carry her
+safely there. What better guard should a daughter have than her father?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Are you more powerful than the elements? Can you command the tempest?
+Have you sufficient armament to combat all the enemies that scour the
+seas? If any accident befall you, what is this promise of
+payment?--Nothing."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"At least, you will suffer me to make this voyage with my child."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I do not purpose to send her to Elche," returned the old man, calmly.
+"'Tis a risk I will not undertake. I have said that when I am paid three
+thousand ducats, I will give Lala Mollah freedom, and I will keep my
+word. To send her to Elche is a charge that does not touch my compact.
+This I will write and tell my friend, Sidi ben Ahmed, and upon his
+payment and expressed agreement I will render you your daughter. Not
+before."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We could say nothing for a while, being so foundered by this reverse;
+but at length Dawson says in a piteous voice:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"At least you will suffer me to see my daughter. Think, if she were
+yours and you had lost her--believing her a while dead--"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mohand ou Mohand muttered a few words that seemed to fix the old Moor's
+wavering resolution.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I cannot agree to that," says he. "Your daughter is becoming reconciled
+to her position. To see you would open her wounds afresh to the danger
+of her life, maybe. Reflect," adds he, laying his hand on the letter,
+"if this business should come to nought, what could recompense your
+daughter for the disappointment of those false hopes your meeting would
+inspire? It cannot be."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With this he claps his hands, and a servant, entering at a nod from his
+master, lifts the hangings for us to go.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dawson stammered a few broken words of passionate protest, and then
+breaking down as he perceived the folly of resisting, he dropped his
+head and suffered me to lead him out. As I saluted the Moors in going, I
+caught, as I fancied, a gleam of triumphant gladness in the dark eyes of
+Mohand ou Mohand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Coming back to the place where we had hid our bundles, Dawson cast
+himself on the ground and gave vent to his passion, declaring he would
+see his Moll though he should tear the walls down to get at her, and
+other follies; but after a time he came to his senses again so that he
+could reason, and then I persuaded him to have patience, and forbear
+from any outburst of violence such as we had been warned against,
+showing him that certainly Don Sanchez, hearing of our condition, would
+send the money speedily, and so we should get Moll by fair means instead
+of losing her (and ourselves) by foul; that after all, 'twas but the
+delay of a week or so that we had to put up with, and so forth. Then,
+discussing what we should do next, I offered that we should return to
+Elche and make our case known rather than trust entirely to Ali Oukadi's
+promise of writing; for I did suspect some treacherous design on the
+part of Mohand ou Mohand, by which Mrs. Godwin failing of her agreement,
+he might possess himself of Moll; and this falling in with Dawson's
+wishes, we set out to return to Alger forthwith. But getting to Alger
+half-dead with the fatigue of trudging all that distance in the full
+heat of the day, we learnt to our chagrin that no ship would be sailing
+to Elche for a fortnight at the least, and all the money we had would
+not tempt any captain to carry us there; so here were we cast down again
+beyond everything for miserable, gloomy apprehensions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After spending another day in fruitless endeavour to obtain a passage,
+nothing would satisfy Dawson's painful, restless spirit but we must
+return to Thadviir; so thither we went once more to linger about the
+palace of Ali Oukadi, in the poor hope that we might see Moll come out
+to take the air.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One day as we were standing in the shade of the garden wall, sick and
+weary with dejection and disappointment, Dawson, of a sudden, starts me
+from my lethargy by clutching my arm and raising his finger to bid me
+listen and be silent. Then straining my ear, I caught the distant sound
+of female voices, but I could distinguish not one from another, though
+by Dawson's joyous, eager look I perceived he recognised Moll's voice
+amongst them. They came nearer and nearer, seeking, as I think, the
+shade of those palm trees which sheltered us. And presently, quite close
+to us, as if but on the other side of the wall, one struck a lute and
+began to sing a Moorish song; when she had concluded her melancholy air
+a voice, as if saddened by the melody, sighed:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ah me! ah me!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was no misdoubting that sweet voice: 'twas Moll's.
+
+Then very softly Dawson begins to whistle her old favourite ditty
+"Hearts will break." Scarce had he finished the refrain when Moll within
+took it up in a faint trembling voice, but only a bar, to let us know we
+were heard; then she fell a-laughing at her maids, who were whispering
+in alarm, to disguise her purpose; and so they left that part, as we
+knew by their voices dying away in the distance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"She'll come again," whispers Dawson, feverishly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And he was in the right; for, after we had stood there best part of an
+hour, we hear Moll again gently humming "Hearts will break," but so low,
+for fear of being heard by others, that only we who strained so hard to
+catch a sound could be aware of it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Moll, my love!" whispers Dawson, as she comes to an end.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Dear father!" answers she, as low.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We are here--Kit and I. Be comforted, sweet chuck,--you shall be free
+ere long."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Shall I climb the wall?" asks she.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, no,--for God's sake, refrain!" says I, seeing that Jack was half
+minded to bid her come to him. "You will undo all--have patience."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this moment other voices came to us from within, calling Lala Mollah;
+and presently the quick witch answers them from a distance, with a
+laugh, as if she had been playing at catch-who-can.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Dawson and I, turning about, discovered to our consternation Ali
+Oukadi standing quite close beside us, with folded arms and bent brows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You are unwise," says he, in a calm tone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay, master," says Jack, piteously. "I did but speak a word to my
+child."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If you understand our tongue," adds I, "you will know that we did but
+bid her have patience, and wait."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Possibly," says he. "Nevertheless, you compel me henceforth to keep her
+a close prisoner, when I would give her all the liberty possible."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Master," says Jack, imploring, "I do pray you not to punish her for my
+fault. Let her still have the freedom of your garden, and I promise you
+we will go away this day and return no more until we can purchase her
+liberty for ever."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Good," says the old man, "but mark you keep your promise. Know that
+'tis an offence against the law to incite a slave to revolt. I tell you
+this, not as a threat, for I bear you no ill will, but as a warning to
+save you from consequences which I may be powerless to avert."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This did seem to me a hint at some sinister design of Mohand ou
+Mohand--a wild suspicion, maybe, on my part, and yet, as I think,
+justified by evils yet to come.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XXXIX.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Of our bargaining with a Moorish seaman; and of an English slave.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We lost no time, be sure, in going back to Alger, blessing God on the
+way for our escape, and vowing most heartily that we would be led into
+no future folly, no matter how simple and innocent the temptation might
+seem.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now began again a tedious season of watching on the mole of Alger;
+but not to make this business as wearisome to others, I will pass that
+over and come at once to that joyful, happy morning, when, with but
+scant hope, looking down upon the deck of a galley entering the port, to
+our infinite delight and amazement we perceived Richard Godwin waving
+his hand to us in sign of recognition. Then sure, mad with joy, we would
+have cast ourselves in the sea had we thereby been able to get to him
+more quickly. Nor was he much less moved with affection to meet us, and
+springing on the quai he took us both in his open arms and embraced us.
+But his first word was of Moll. "My beloved wife?" says he, and could
+question us no further.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We told him she was safe, whereat he thanks God most fervently, and how
+we had spoken with her; and then he tells us of his adventures--how on
+getting Don Sanchez's letter he had started forth at once with such help
+as Sir Peter Lely generously placed at his disposition, and how coming
+to Elche, he found Mrs. Godwin there in great anxiety because we had not
+returned, and how Don Sanchez, guessing at our case, had procured money
+from Toledo to pay Moll's ransom, and did further charter a neutral
+galley to bring him to Alger--which was truly as handsome a thing as any
+man could do, be he thief or no thief. All these matters we discussed on
+our way to the Cassanabah, where Mr. Godwin furnished himself as we had
+with a trader's permit for twenty-eight days.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="359.jpg"><img src="359th.jpg" alt="ONLY IN THE MIDST OF OUR JOY I PERCEIVED THAT MOHAND OU MOHAND HAD ENTERED THE ROOM."></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This done, we set out with a team of good mules, and reaching Thadviir
+about an hour before sundown, we repaired at once to Ali Oukadi's, who
+received us with much civility, although 'twas clear to see he was yet
+loath to give up Moll; but the sight of the gold Mr. Godwin laid before
+him did smooth the creases from his brow (for these Moors love money
+before anything on earth), and having told it carefully he writes an
+acknowledgment and fills up a formal sheet of parchment bearing the
+Dey's seal, which attested that Moll was henceforth a free subject and
+entitled to safe-conduct within the confines of the Dey's
+administration. And having delivered these precious documents into Mr.
+Godwin's hands, he leaves us for a little space and then returns leading
+dear Moll by the hand. And she, not yet apprised of her circumstances,
+seeing her husband with us, gives a shrill cry, and like to faint with
+happiness totters forward and falls in his ready arms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I will not attempt to tell further of this meeting and our passionate,
+fond embraces, for 'twas past all description; only in the midst of our
+joy I perceived that Mohand ou Mohand had entered the room and stood
+there, a silent spectator of Moll's tender yielding to her husband's
+caresses, his nostrils pinched, and his jaundiced face overcast with a
+wicked look of mortification and envy. And Moll seeing him, paled a
+little, drawing closer to her husband; for, as I learnt later on, and
+'twas no more than I had guessed, he had paid her most assiduous
+attentions from the first moment he saw her, and had gone so far as to
+swear by Mahomet that death alone should end his burning passion to
+possess her. And I observed that when we parted, and Moll in common
+civility offered him her hand, he muttered some oath as he raised it to
+his lips.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Declining as civilly as we might Ali Oukadi's tender of hospitality, we
+rested that night at the large inn or caravansary, and I do think that
+the joy of Moll and her husband lying once more within each other's arms
+was scarcely less than we felt, Dawson and I, at this happy ending of
+our long tribulations; but one thing it is safe to say, we slept as
+sound as they.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And how gay were we when we set forth the next morning for Alger--Moll's
+eyes twinkling like stars for happiness, and her cheeks all pink with
+blushes like any new bride, her husband with not less pride than passion
+in his noble countenance, and Dawson and I as blithe and jolly as
+schoolboys on a holiday. For now had Moll by this act of heroism and
+devotion redeemed not only herself, but us also, and there was no
+further reason for concealment or deceit, but all might be themselves
+and fear no man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus did joy beguile us into a false sense of security.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Coming to Alger about midday, we were greatly surprised to find that the
+sail chartered by Don Sanchez was no longer in the port, and the reason
+of this we presently learnt was that the Dey, having information of a
+descent being about to be made upon the town by the British fleet at
+Tangier, he had commanded, the night before, all alien ships to be gone
+from the port by daybreak. This put us to a quake, for in view of this
+descent not one single Algerine would venture to put to sea for all the
+money Mr. Godwin could offer or promise. So here we were forced to stay
+in trepidation and doubt as to how we, being English, might fare if the
+town should be bombarded as we expected, and never did we wish our own
+countrymen further. Only our Moll and her husband did seem careless in
+their happiness; for so they might die in each other's arms, I do think
+they would have faced death with a smile upon their faces.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However, a week passing, and no sign of any English flag upon the seas,
+the public apprehension subsided; and now we began very seriously to
+compass our return to Elche, our trader's passes (that is, Dawson's and
+mine) being run out within a week, and we knowing full well that we
+should not get them renewed after this late menace of an English attack
+upon the town. So, one after the other, we tried every captain in the
+port, but all to no purpose. And one of these did openly tell me the Dey
+had forbidden any stranger to be carried out of the town, on pain of
+having his vessel confiscated and being bastinadoed to his last
+endurance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And so," says he, lifting his voice, "if you offered me all the gold in
+the world, I would not carry you a furlong hence." But at the same time,
+turning his back on a janizary who stood hard by, he gave me a most
+significant wink and a little beck, as if I were to follow him
+presently.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And this I did as soon as the janizary was gone, following him at a
+distance through the town and out into the suburbs, at an idle,
+sauntering gait. When we had got out beyond the houses, to the side of
+the river I have mentioned, he sits him down on the bank, and I, coming
+up, sit down beside him as if for a passing chat. Then he, having
+glanced to the right and left, to make sure we were not observed, asks
+me what we would give to be taken to Elche; and I answered that we would
+give him his price so we could be conveyed shortly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"When would you go?" asks he.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why," says I, "our passes expire at sundown after the day of Ramadah,
+so we must get hence, by hook or by crook, before that."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That falls as pat as I would have it," returns he (but not in these
+words), "for all the world will be up at the Cassanabah on that day, to
+the feast the Dey gives to honour his son's coming of age. Moreover, the
+moon by then will not rise before two in the morning. So all being in
+our favour, I'm minded to venture on this business. But you must
+understand that I dare not take you aboard in the port, where I must
+make a pretence of going out a-fishing with my three sons, and give the
+janizaries good assurance that no one else is aboard, that I may not
+fall into trouble on my return."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That's reasonable enough," says I, "but where will you take us aboard?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I'll show you," returns he, "if you will stroll down this bank with me,
+for my sons and I have discussed this matter ever since we heard you
+were seeking a ship for this project, and we have it all cut and dried
+properly."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So up we get and saunter along the bank leisurely, till we reached a
+part where the river spreads out very broad and shallow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You see that rock," says he, nodding at a huge boulder lapped by the
+incoming sea. "There shall you be at midnight. We shall lie about a half
+a mile out to sea, and two of my sons will pull to the shore and take
+you up; so may all go well and nought be known, if you are commonly
+secret, for never a soul is seen here after sundown." I told him I would
+consult with my friends and give him our decision the next day, meeting
+him at this spot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Good," says he, "and ere you decide, you may cast an eye at my ship,
+which you shall know by a white moon painted on her beam; 'tis as fast a
+ship as any that sails from Alger, though she carry but one mast, and so
+be we agree to this venture, you shall find the cabin fitted for your
+lady and everything for your comfort."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On this we separated presently, and I, joining my friends at our inn,
+laid the matter before them. There being still some light, we then went
+forth on the mole, and there we quickly spied the White Moon, which,
+though a small craft, looked very clean, and with a fair cabin house,
+built up in the Moorish fashion upon the stern. And here, sitting down,
+we all agreed to accept this offer, Mr. Godwin being not less eager for
+the venture than we, who had so much more to dread by letting it slip,
+though his pass had yet a fortnight to run.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So the next day I repaired to the rock, and meeting Haroun (as he was
+called), I closed with him, and put a couple of ducats in his hand for
+earnest money.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis well," says he, pocketing the money, after kissing it and looking
+up to heaven with a "Dill an," which means "It is from God." "We will
+not meet again till the day of Ramadah at midnight, lest we fall under
+suspicion. Farewell."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We parted as we did before, he going his way, and I mine; but, looking
+back by accident before I had gone a couple of hundred yards, I
+perceived a fellow stealing forth from a thicket of canes that stood in
+the marshy ground near the spot where I had lately stood with Haroun,
+and turning again presently, I perceived this man following in my steps.
+Then, fairly alarmed, I gradually hastened my pace (but not so quick
+neither as to seem to fly), making for the town, where I hoped to escape
+pursuit in the labyrinth of little, crooked, winding alleys. As I
+rounded a corner, I perceived him out of the tail of my eye, still
+following, but now within fifty yards of me, he having run to thus
+overreach me; and ere I had turned up a couple of alleys he was on my
+heels and twitching me by the sleeve.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Lord love you, Master," says he, in very good English, but gasping for
+breath. "Hold hard a moment, for I've a thing or two to say to you as is
+worth your hearing."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So I, mightily surprised by these words, stop; and he seeing the alley
+quite empty and deserted, sits down on a doorstep, and I do likewise,
+both of us being spent with our exertions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Was that man you were talking with a little while back named Haroun?"
+asks he, when he could fetch his breath. I nodded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Did he offer to take you and three others to Elche, aboard a craft
+called the White Moon?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I nodded again, astonished at his information, for we had not discussed
+our design to-day, Haroun and I.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Did he offer to carry you off in a boat to his craft from the rock on
+the mouth?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Once more I nodded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Can you guess what will happen if you agree to this?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I shook my head.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The villain," says he, "will run you on a shoal, and there will he be
+overhauled by the janizaries, and you be carried prisoners back to
+Alger. Your freedom will be forfeited, and you will be sold for slaves.
+And that's not all," adds he; "the lass you have with you will be taken
+from you and given to Mohand ou Mohand, who has laid this trap for your
+destruction and the gratification of his lust."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I fell a-shaking only to think of this crowning calamity, and could only
+utter broken, unintelligible sounds to express my gratitude for this
+warning.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Listen, Master, if you cannot speak," said he; "for I must quit you in
+a few minutes, or get my soles thrashed when I return home. What I have
+told you is true, as there is a God in heaven; 'twas overheard by my
+comrade, who is a slave in Mohand's household. If you escape this trap,
+you will fall in another, for there is no bounds to Mohand's devilish
+cunning. I say, if you stay here you are doomed to share our miserable
+lot, by one device or another. But I will show you how you may turn the
+tables on this villain, and get to a Christian country ere you are a
+week older, if you have but one spark of courage amongst you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XL.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Of our escape from Barbary, of the pursuit and horrid, fearful
+slaughter that followed, together with other moving circumstances.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So Groves, as my man was named, told me how he and eight other poor
+Englishmen, sharing the same bagnio, had endured the hardships and
+misery of slavery, some for thirteen, and none less than seven, years;
+how for three years they had been working a secret tunnel by which they
+could escape from their bagnio (in which they were locked up every night
+at sundown) at any moment; how for six months, since the completion of
+their tunnel, they had been watching a favourable opportunity to seize a
+ship and make good their escape (seven of them being mariners); and how
+now they were, by tedious suspense, wrought to such a pitch of
+desperation that they were ripe for any means of winning their freedom.
+"And here," says he, in conclusion, "hath merciful Providence given us
+the power to save not only ourselves from this accursed bondage, but
+you, also, if you are minded to join us."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Asking him how he proposed to accomplish this end, he replies:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis as easy as kiss your hand. First, do you accept Haroun's offer?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I have," says I.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Good!" says he, rubbing his hands, and speaking thick with joy. "You
+may be sure that Mohand will suffer no one to interfere with your
+getting aboard, to the achievement of his design. When is it to be?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I hesitated a moment, lest I should fall into another trap, trying to
+escape from the first; but, seeing he was an Englishman, I would not
+believe him capable of playing into the Turks' hands for our undoing,
+and so I told him our business was for midnight on the feast of Ramadah.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Sure, nought but Providence could have ordered matters so well," says
+he, doubling himself up, as if unable to control his joy. "We shall be
+there, we nine sturdy men. Some shall hide in the canes, and others
+behind the rock; and when Haroun rows to shore, four of us will get into
+his boat (muffled up as you would be to escape detection), and as soon
+as they lay themselves to their oars, their business shall be settled."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"As how?" asks I, shrinking (as ever) from deeds of violence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Leave that to us; but be assured they shall not raise a cry that shall
+fright your lady. Oh, we know the use of a bow-string as well as any
+Turk amongst them. We have that to thank 'em for. Well, these two being
+despatched, we return to shore, and two more of our men will get in;
+then we four to the felucca, and there boarding, we serve the others as
+we served the first two; so back comes one of us to fetch off our other
+comrades and you four. Then, all being aboard, we cut our cable, up with
+our sail, and by the time Mohand comes, in the morning, to seek his game
+on the sand-bank, we shall be half way to Elche, and farther, if
+Providence do keep pace with this happy beginning. What say you,
+friend?" adds he, noting my reflective mood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then I frankly confessed that I would have some assurance of his
+honesty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I can give you none, Master," says he, "but the word of a good
+Yorkshireman. Surely, you may trust me as I trust you; for 'tis in your
+power to reveal all to Haroun, and so bring us all to the galleys. Have
+you no faith in a poor broken Englishman?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes," says I; "I'll trust you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then we rose, clapping hands, and he left me, with tears of gratitude
+and joy in his eyes. Telling my friends I had something of a secret
+nature to impart, we went out to the end of the mole, where we were
+secure from eavesdroppers, and there I laid the whole story before them,
+whereupon we fell debating what we should do, looking at this matter
+from every side, with a view to our security; but, slavery lying before
+us, and no better means of escaping it coming to our minds, we did at
+last unanimously agree to trust Joe Groves rather than Haroun.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next day there fell a great deluge of rain, and the morrow being the
+feast of Ramadah, we regarded this as highly favourable to our escape;
+for here when rain falls it ceases not for forty-eight hours, and thus
+might we count upon the aid of darkness. And that evening as we were
+regarding some merchandise in a bazaar, a fellow sidles up to me, and
+whispers (fingering a piece of cloth as if he were minded to buy it):
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Does all go well?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then perceiving this was Joe Groves, I answered in the same manner:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"All goes well."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"To-morrow at midnight?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"To-morrow at midnight," I return. Upon which, casting down the cloth,
+he goes away without further sign.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now comes in the feast of Ramadah with a heavy, steady downpour of
+rain all day, and no sign of ceasing at sundown, which greatly contented
+us. About ten, the house we lodged in being quite still, and our fear of
+accident pressing us to depart, we crept silently out into the street
+without let or hindrance (though I warrant some spy of Mohand's was
+watching to carry information of our flight to his master), and so
+through the narrow deserted alleys to the outskirts of the town, and
+thence by the river side to the great rock, with only just so much light
+as enabled us to hang together, and no more. And I do believe we should
+have floundered into the river o' one side of the marsh of canes or
+t'other, but that having gone over this road the last time with the
+thought that it might lead us to liberty, every object by the way
+impressed itself upon my mind most astonishingly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here under this rock stood we above an hour with no sound but the
+beating of the rain, and the lap of the water running in from the sea.
+Then, as it might be about half-past eleven, a voice close beside us
+(which I knew for Joe Groves, though I could see no one but us four,
+Jack by my side, and Moll bound close to her husband) says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"All goes well?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, all goes well," says I; whereupon he gives a cry like the croak of
+a frog, and his comrades steal up almost unseen and unheard, save that
+each as he came whispered his name, as Spinks, Davis, Lee, Best, etc.,
+till their number was all told. Then Groves, who was clearly chosen
+their captain, calls Spinks, Lee, and Best to stand with him, and bids
+the others and us to stand back against the canes till we are called. So
+we do his bidding, and fall back to the growth of canes, whence we could
+but dimly make out the mass of the rock for the darkness, and there
+waited breathless, listening for the sound of oars. But these Moors, for
+a better pretence of secrecy, had muffled their oars, so that we knew
+not they were at hand until we heard Haroun's voice speaking low.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Englishmen, are you there?" asks he.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, we four," whispers Groves, in reply.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then we hear them wade into the water and get into the boat with
+whispering of Haroun where they are to dispose themselves, and so forth.
+After that silence for about ten minutes, and no sound but the ceaseless
+rain until we next hear Groves' voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Davis, Negus," whispers he, on which two of our number leave us and go
+out to the boat to replace Haroun and that other Moor, who, in the
+manner of the Turks, had been strangled and cast overboard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now follows a much longer period of silence, but at length that
+comes to an end, and we hear Groves' voice again whispering us to come.
+At the first sound of his voice his three comrades rush forward; but
+Groves, recognising them, says hoarsely, "Back, every one of you but
+those I called, or I'll brain you! There's room but for six in the boat,
+and those who helped us shall go first, as I ordered. The rest must wait
+their time."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So these fellows, who would have ousted us, give way, grumbling, and Mr.
+Godwin carrying Moll to the boat, Dawson and I wade in after him, and
+so, with great gratitude, take our places as Groves directs. We being
+in, he and his mate lay to their oars, and pull out to the felucca,
+guided by the lanthorn on her bulwarks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having put us aboard safely, Groves and his mate fetch the three fellows
+that remained ashore, and now all being embarked, they abandon the small
+boat, slip the anchor, and get out their long sweeps, all in desperate
+haste; for that absence of wind, which I at first took to be a blessing,
+appeared now to be a curse, and our main hope of escape lay in pulling
+far out to sea before Mohand discovered the trick put upon him, and gave
+chase. All night long we toiled with most savage energy, dividing our
+number into two batches, so that one might go to the oars as the other
+tired, turn and turn about. Not one of us but did his utmost--nay, even
+Moll would stand by her husband, and strain like any man at this work.
+But for all our labour, Alger was yet in sight when the break of day
+gave us light to see it. Then was every eye searching the waters for
+sign of a sail, be it to save or to undo us. Sail saw we none, but about
+nine o'clock Groves, scanning the waters over against Alger, perceived
+something which he took to be a galley; nor were we kept long in
+uncertainty, for by ten it was obvious to us all, showing that it had
+gained considerably upon us in spite of our frantic exertions, which
+convinced us that this was Mohand, and that he had discovered us with
+the help of a spy-glass, maybe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the prospect of being overtaken and carried back to slavery, a sort
+of madness possessed those at the oars, the first oar pulling with such
+a fury of violence that it snapped at the rowlock, and was of no further
+use. Still we made good progress, but what could we with three oars do
+against the galley which maybe was mounted with a dozen? Some were for
+cutting down the mast and throwing spars, sails, and every useless thing
+overboard to lighten our ship, but Groves would not hear of this, seeing
+by a slant in the rain that a breeze was to be expected; and surely
+enough, the rain presently smote us on the cheek smartly, whereupon
+Groves ran up our sail, which, to our infinite delight, did presently
+swell out fairly, careening us so that the oar on t'other side was
+useless.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But that which favoured us favoured also our enemies, and shortly after
+we saw two sails go up to match our one. Then Groves called a council of
+us and his fellows, and his advice was this: that ere the galley drew
+nigh enough for our number to be sighted, he and his fellows should
+bestow themselves away in the stern cabin, and lie there with such arms
+of knives and spikes as they had brought with them ready to their hands,
+and that, on Mohand boarding us with his men, we four should retire
+towards the cabin, when he and his comrades would spring forth and fight
+every man to the death for freedom. And he held out good promise of a
+successful issue. "For," says he, "knowing you four" (meaning us) "are
+unarmed, 'tis not likely he will have furnished himself with any great
+force; and as his main purpose is to possess this lady, he will not
+suffer his men to use their firepieces to the risk of her destruction;
+therefore," adds he, "if you have the stomach for your part of this
+business, which is but to hold the helm as I direct, all must go well.
+But for the lady, if she hath any fear, we may find a place in the cabin
+for her."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This proposal was accepted by all with gladness, except Moll, who would
+on no account leave her husband's side; but had he not been there, I
+believe she would have been the last aboard to feel fear, or play a
+cowardly part.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So without further parley, the fellows crept into the little cabin, each
+fingering his naked weapon, which made me feel very sick with
+apprehension of bloodshed. The air of wind freshening, we kept on at a
+spanking rate for another hour, Groves lying on the deck with his eyes
+just over the bulwarks and giving orders to Dawson and me, who kept the
+helm; then the galley, being within a quarter of a mile of us, fired a
+shot as a signal to us to haul down our sail, and this having no effect,
+he soon after fires another, which, striking us in the stern, sent great
+splinters flying up from the bulwarks there.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hold her helm, stiff," whispers Groves, and then he backs cautiously
+into the cabin without rising from his belly, for the men aboard the
+galley were now clearly distinguishable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presently bang goes another gun, and the same moment, its shot taking
+our mast a yard or so above the deck, our lateen falls over upon the
+water with a great slap, and so are we brought to at once.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dropping her sail, the galley sweeps up alongside us, and casting out
+divers hooks and tackle they held ready for their purpose, they grappled
+us securely. My heart sank within me as I perceived the number of our
+enemies, thirty or forty, as I reckon (but happily not above half a
+dozen armed men), and Mohand ou Mohand amongst them with a scimitar in
+his hand; for now I foresaw the carnage which must ensue when we were
+boarded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mohand ou Mohand was the first to spring upon our deck, and behind came
+his janizaries and half a score of seamen. We four, Mr. Godwin holding
+Moll's hand in his, stood in a group betwixt Mohand and his men and the
+cabin where Joe Groves lay with his fellows, biding his time. One of the
+janizaries was drawing his scimitar, but Mohand bade him put it up, and
+making an obeisance to Moll, he told us we should suffer no hurt if we
+surrendered peaceably.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Never, you Turkish thief!" cries Dawson, shaking his fist at him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mohand makes a gesture of regret, and turning to his men tells them to
+take us, but to use no weapons, since we had none. Then, he himself
+leading, with his eyes fixed hungrily upon Moll, the rest came on, and
+we fell back towards the cabin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next instant, with a wild yell of fury, the hidden men burst out of
+the cabin, and then followed a scene of butchery which I pray Heaven it
+may nevermore be my fate to witness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Groves was the first to spill blood. Leaping upon Mohand, he buried a
+long curved knife right up to the hilt in his neck striking downwards
+just over the collar bone, and he fell, the blood spurting from his
+mouth upon the deck. At the same time our men, falling upon the
+janizaries, did most horrid battle--nay, 'twas no battle, but sheer
+butchery; for these men, being taken so suddenly, had no time to draw
+their weapons, and could only fly to the fore end of the boat for
+escape, where, by reason of their number and the narrow confines of the
+deck, they were so packed and huddled together that none could raise his
+hand to ward a blow even, and so stood, a writhing, shrieking mass of
+humanity, to be hacked and stabbed and ripped and cut down to their
+death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And their butchers had no mercy. They could think only of their past
+wrongs, and of satiating the thirst for vengeance, which had grown to a
+madness by previous restraint.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There's for thirteen years of misery," cries one, driving his spike
+into the heart of one. "Take that for hanging of my brother," screams a
+second, cleaving a Moor's skull with his hatchet. "Quits for turning an
+honest lad into a devil," calls a third, drawing his knife across the
+throat of a shrieking wretch, and so forth, till not one of all the
+crowd was left to murder.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then still devoured by their lust for blood, they swarmed over the side
+of the galley to finish this massacre--Groves leading with a shout of
+"No quarter," and all echoing these words with a roar of joy. But here
+they were met with some sort of resistance, for the Moors aboard, seeing
+the fate of their comrades, forewarning them of theirs, had turned their
+swivel gun about and now fired--the ball carrying off the head of Joe
+Groves, the best man of all that crew, if one were better than another.
+But this only served to incense the rest the more, and so they went at
+their cruel work again, and ceased not till the last of their enemies
+was dead. Then, with a wild hurrah, they signal their triumph, and one
+fellow, holding up his bloody hands, smears them over his face with a
+devilish scream of laughter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now, caring no more for us or what might befall us, than for the
+Turks who lay all mangled on our deck, one cuts away the tackle that
+lashes their galley to us, while the rest haul up the sail, and so they
+go their way, leaving us to shift for ourselves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CHAPTER XLI.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>How Dawson counts himself an unlucky man who were best dead; and so he
+quits us, and I, the reader.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The galley bent over to the wind and sped away, and I watched her go
+without regret, not thinking of our own hapless condition, but only of
+the brutal ferocity of that mad crew aboard her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Their shouts of joy and diabolical laughter died away, and there was no
+sound but the lapping of the waves against the felucca's side. They had
+done their work thoroughly; not a moan arose from the heaps of butchered
+men, not a limb moved, but all were rigid, some lying in grotesque
+postures as the death agony had drawn them. And after the tumult that
+had prevailed this stillness of death was terrific. From looking over
+this ghastly picture I turned and clutched at Dawson's hand for some
+comforting sense of life and humanity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We were startled at this moment by a light laugh from the cabin, whither
+Mr. Godwin had carried Moll, fainting with the horror of this bloody
+business, and going in there we found her now lying in a little crib,
+light-headed,--clean out of her wits indeed, for she fancied herself on
+the dusty road to Valencia, taking her first lesson in the fandango from
+Don Sanchez. Mr. Godwin knelt by the cot side, with his arm supporting
+her head, and soothing her the best he could. We found a little cask of
+water and a cup, that he might give her drink, and then, seeing we could
+be of no further service, Dawson and I went from the cabin, our thoughts
+awaking now to the peril of our position, without sail in mid-sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And first we cast our eyes all round about the sea, but we could descry
+no sail save the galley (and that at a great distance), nor any sign of
+land. Next, casting our eyes upon the deck, we perceived that the thick
+stream of blood that lay along that side bent over by the broken mast,
+was greatly spread, and not so black, but redder, which was only to be
+explained by the mingling of water; and this was our first notice that
+the felucca was filling and we going down.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Recovering presently from the stupor into which this suspicion threw us,
+we pulled up a hatch, and looking down into the hold perceived that this
+was indeed true, a puncheon floating on the water there within arms'
+reach. Thence, making our way quickly over the dead bodies, which failed
+now to terrify us, to the fore part of our felucca, we discovered that
+the shot which had hit us had started a plank, and that the water leaked
+in with every lap of a wave. So now, our wits quickened by our peril, we
+took a scimitar and a dirk from a dead janizary, to cut away the cordage
+that lashed us to the fallen mast, to free us of that burden and right
+the ship if we might. But ere we did this, Dawson, spying the great sail
+lying out on the water, bethought him to hack out a great sheet as far
+as we could reach, and this he took to lay over the started plank and
+staunch the leakage, while I severed the tackle and freed us from the
+great weight of the hanging mast and long spar. And certainly we thought
+ourselves safe when this was done, for the hull lifted at once and
+righted itself upon the water. Nevertheless, we were not easy, for we
+knew not what other planks below the water line were injured, nor how to
+sink our sheet or bind it over the faulty part. So, still further to
+lighten us, we mastered our qualms and set to work casting the dead
+bodies overboard. This horrid business, at another time, would have made
+me sick as any dog, but there was no time to yield to mawkish
+susceptibilities in the face of such danger as menaced us. Only when all
+was done, I did feel very weakened and shaky, and my gorge rising at the
+look of my jerkin, all filthy with clotted blood, I tore it off and cast
+it in the sea, as also did Dawson; and so, to turn our thoughts (after
+washing of our hands and cleaning our feet), we looked over the side,
+and agreed that we were no lower than we were, but rather higher for
+having lightened our burden. But no sail anywhere on the wide sea to add
+to our comfort.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Going into the cabin, we found that our dear Moll had fallen into a
+sleep, but was yet very feverish, as we could see by her frequent
+turning, her sudden starts, and the dreamy, vacant look in her eyes,
+when she opened them and begged for water. We would not add to Mr.
+Godwin's trouble by telling him of ours (our minds being still restless
+with apprehensions of the leak), but searching about, and discovering
+two small, dry loaves, we gave him one, and took the other to divide
+betwixt us, Dawson and I. And truly we needed this refreshment (as our
+feeble, shaking limbs testified), after all our exertions of the night
+and day (it being now high noon), having eaten nothing since supper the
+night before. But, famished as we were, we must needs steal to the side
+and look over to mark where the water rose; and neither of us dared say
+the hull was no lower, for we perceived full well it had sunk somewhat
+in the last hour.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Jack took a bite of his loaf, and offered me the rest, saying he had no
+stomach for food; but I could not eat my own, and so we thrust the bread
+in our breeches pockets and set to work, heaving everything overboard
+that might lighten us, and for ever a-straining our eyes to sight a
+ship. Then we set to devising means to make the sheet cling over the
+damaged planks, but to little purpose, and so Dawson essayed to get at
+it from the inside by going below, but the water was risen so high there
+was no room between it and the deck to breathe, and so again to wedging
+the canvas in from the outside till the sun sank. And by that time the
+water was beginning to lap up through the hatchway. Then no longer able
+to blink the truth, Jack turns to me and asks:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"How long shall we last?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why," says I, "we have sunk no more than a foot these last six hours,
+and at this slow pace we may well last out eight or nine more ere the
+water comes over the bulwarks."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He shook his head ruefully, and, pointing to a sluice hole in the side,
+said he judged it must be all over with us when the water entered there.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, in that case," says I, "let us find something to fill the sluice
+hole."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So having nothing left on deck, we went into the cabin on a pretence of
+seeing how Moll fared, and Jack sneaked away an old jacket and I a stone
+bottle, and with these we stopped the sluice hole the best we could.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By the time we had made a job of this 'twas quite dark, and having
+nothing more to do but to await the end, we stood side by side, too
+dejected to speak for some time, thinking of the cruelty of fate which
+rescued us from one evil only to plunge us in a worse. At length, Jack
+fell to talking in a low tone of his past life, showing how things had
+ever gone ill with him and those he loved.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I think," says he in conclusion, "I am an unlucky man, Kit. One of
+those who are born to be a curse against their will to others rather
+than a blessing."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Fie, Jack," says I, "'tis an idle superstition."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay," says he, "I am convinced 'tis the truth. Not one of us here but
+would have been the happier had I died a dozen years ago. 'Tis all
+through me that we drown to-night."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay, 'tis a blessing that we die all together, and none left to mourn."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That may be for you and me who have lived the best years of our life,
+but for those in there but just tasting the sweets of life, with years
+of joy unspent, 'tis another matter."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then we were silent for a while, till feeling the water laving my feet,
+I asked if we should not now tell Mr. Godwin of our condition.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Twas in my mind, Kit," answers he; "I will send him out to you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He went into the cabin, and Mr. Godwin coming out, I showed him our
+state. But 'twas no surprise to him. Only, it being now about three in
+the morning, and the moon risen fair and full in the heavens, he casts
+his eyes along the silver path on the water in the hope of rescue, and
+finding none, he grasps my hand and says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God's will be done! 'Tis a mercy that my dear love is spared this last
+terror. Our pain will not be long."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A shaft of moonlight entered the cabin, and there we perceived Dawson
+kneeling by the crib, with his head laid upon the pillow beside his
+daughter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He rose and came out without again turning to look on Moll, and Mr.
+Godwin took his place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I feel more happy, Kit," says Jack, laying his hand upon my shoulder.
+"I do think God will be merciful to us."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, surely," says I, wilfully mistaking his meaning. "I think the
+water hath risen no higher this last hour."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I'll see how our sheet hangs; do you look if the water comes in yet at
+the sluice hole."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And so, giving my arm a squeeze as he slips his hand from my shoulder,
+he went to the fore part of the vessel, while I crossed to the sluice
+hole, where the water was spurting through a chink.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I rose after jamming the jacket to staunch the leak, and turning towards
+Jack I perceived him standing by the bulwark, with the moon beyond. And
+the next moment he was gone. And so ended the life of this poor, loving,
+unlucky man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I know not whether it was this lightening of our burden, or whether at
+that time some accident of a fold in the sail sucking into the leaking
+planks, stayed the further ingress of waters, but certain it is that
+after this we sank no deeper to any perceptible degree; and so it came
+about that we were sighted by a fishing-boat from Carthagena, a little
+after daybreak, and were saved--we three who were left.
+</p>
+
+<hr>
+
+<p>
+I have spent the last week at Hurst Court, where Moll and her husband
+have lived ever since Lady Godwin's death. They are making of hay in the
+meadows there; and 'twas sweet to see Moll and her husband, with their
+two boys, cocking the sweet grass. And all very merry at supper; only
+one sad memory cast me down as I thought of poor Jack, sorrowing to
+think he could not see the happiness which, as much as our past
+troubles, was due to him.
+</p>
+
+<h2>THE END.</h2>
+
+<hr class="full">
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Set of Rogues, by Frank Barrett
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: A Set of Rogues
+
+Author: Frank Barrett
+
+Release Date: January 16, 2004  [eBook #10727]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: US-ASCII
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SET OF ROGUES***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Linda Cantoni, Tonya Allen, and
+Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+A SET OF ROGUES
+
+NAMELY
+
+CHRISTOPHER SUTTON, JOHN DAWSON, THE SENOR DON SANCHEZ DEL CASTILLO DE
+CASTELANA AND MOLL DAWSON
+
+
+Their Wicked Conspiracy, and a True Account of their Travels and
+Adventures
+
+
+THE MARRIAGE OF MOLL DAWSON BY SINFUL MEANS TO A WORTHY GENTLEMAN OF
+MERIT; HER FALL, REMORSE AND GREAT SORROW; HER SECOND EXPEDITION WITH
+HER FORMER ROGUISH COMPANIONS INTO STRANGE PLACES
+
+
+HER ATONEMENT TO MR. RICHARD GODWIN (WHEREBY SHE RENDERS UP ALL SHE EVER
+HAD OF HIM AND MORE) AND SELLING OF HERSELF TO ALGERINE PIRATES AND
+GOING INTO BARBARY A SLAVE; TOGETHER WITH THE TRIBULATIONS OF THOSE WHO
+LED HER TO WRONG DOING, AND MANY OTHER SURPRISING THINGS NOW DISCLOSED
+FOR THE FIRST TIME AS THE FAITHFUL CONFESSION OF CHRISTOPHER SUTTON
+
+BY
+
+FRANK BARRETT
+
+1895
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "'GIVE ME THY HAND, CHILD,' SAYS HE."]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+_Of my companions and our adversities, and in particular from our
+getting into the stocks at Tottenham Cross to our being robbed at
+Edmonton._
+
+
+There being no plays to be acted at the "Red Bull," because of the
+Plague, and the players all cast adrift for want of employment, certain
+of us, to wit, Jack Dawson and his daughter Moll, Ned Herring, and
+myself, clubbed our monies together to buy a store of dresses, painted
+cloths, and the like, with a cart and horse to carry them, and thus
+provided set forth to travel the country and turn an honest penny, in
+those parts where the terror of pestilence had not yet turned men's
+stomachs against the pleasures of life. And here, at our setting out,
+let me show what kind of company we were. First, then, for our master,
+Jack Dawson, who on no occasion was to be given a second place; he was a
+hale, jolly fellow, who would eat a pound of beef for his breakfast
+(when he could get it), and make nothing of half a gallon of ale
+therewith,--a very masterful man, but kindly withal, and pleasant to
+look at when not contraried, with never a line of care in his face,
+though turned of fifty. He played our humorous parts, but he had a sweet
+voice for singing of ditties, and could fetch a tear as readily as a
+laugh, and he was also exceeding nimble at a dance, which was the
+strangest thing in the world, considering his great girth. Wife he had
+none, but Moll Dawson was his daughter, who was a most sprightly, merry
+little wench, but no miracle for beauty, being neither child nor woman
+at this time; surprisingly thin, as if her frame had grown out of
+proportion with her flesh, so that her body looked all arms and legs,
+and her head all mouth and eyes, with a great towzled mass of chestnut
+hair, which (off the stage) was as often as not half tumbled over her
+shoulder. But a quicker little baggage at mimicry (she would play any
+part, from an urchin of ten to a crone of fourscore), or a livelier at
+dancing of Brantles or the single Coranto never was, I do think, and as
+merry as a grig. Of Ned Herring I need only here say that he was the
+most tearing villain imaginable on the stage, and off it the most
+civil-spoken, honest-seeming young gentleman. Nor need I trouble to give
+a very lengthy description of myself; what my character was will appear
+hereafter, and as for my looks, the less I say about them, the better.
+Being something of a scholar and a poet, I had nearly died of
+starvation, when Jack Dawson gave me a footing on the stage, where I
+would play the part of a hero in one act, a lacquey in the second, and a
+merry Andrew in the third, scraping a tune on my fiddle to fill up the
+intermedios.
+
+We had designed to return to London as soon as the Plague abated, unless
+we were favoured with extraordinary good fortune, and so, when we heard
+that the sickness was certainly past, and the citizens recovering of
+their panic, we (being by this time heartily sick of our venture, which
+at the best gave us but beggarly recompense) set about to retrace our
+steps with cheerful expectations of better times. But coming to Oxford,
+we there learned that a prodigious fire had burnt all London down, from
+the Tower to Ludgate, so that if we were there, we should find no house
+to play in. This lay us flat in our hopes, and set us again to our
+vagabond enterprise; and so for six months more we scoured the country
+in a most miserable plight, the roads being exceedingly foul, and folks
+more humoured of nights to drowse in their chimnies than to sit in a
+draughty barn and witness our performances; and then, about the middle
+of February we, in a kind of desperation, got back again to London, only
+to find that we must go forth again, the town still lying in ruins, and
+no one disposed to any kind of amusement, except in high places, where
+such actors as we were held in contempt. So we, with our hearts in our
+boots, as one may say, set out again to seek our fortunes on the
+Cambridge road, and here, with no better luck than elsewhere, for at
+Tottenham Cross we had the mischance to set fire to the barn wherein we
+were playing, by a candle falling in some loose straw, whereby we did
+injury to the extent of some shilling or two, for which the farmer would
+have us pay a pound, and Jack Dawson stoutly refusing to satisfy his
+demand he sends for the constable, who locks us all up in the cage that
+night, to take us before the magistrate in the morning. And we found to
+our cost that this magistrate had as little justice as mercy in his
+composition; for though he lent a patient ear to the farmer's case, he
+would not listen to Jack Dawson's argument, which was good enough, being
+to the effect that we had not as much as a pound amongst us, and that he
+would rather be hanged than pay it if he had; and when Ned Herring
+(seeing the kind of Puritanical fellow he was) urged that, since the
+damage was not done by any design of ours, it must be regarded as a
+visitation of Providence, he says: "Very good. If it be the will of
+Providence that one should be scourged, I take it as the Divine purpose
+that I should finish the business by scourging the other"; and therewith
+he orders the constable to take what money we have from our pockets and
+clap us in the stocks till sundown for payment of the difference. So in
+the stocks we three poor men were stuck for six mortal hours, which was
+a wicked, cruel thing indeed, with the wind blowing a sort of rainy snow
+about our ears; and there I do think we must have perished of cold and
+vexation but that our little Moll brought us a sheet for a cover, and
+tired not in giving us kind words of comfort.
+
+At five o'clock the constable unlocked us from our vile confinement, and
+I do believe we should have fallen upon him and done him a mischief for
+his pains there and then, but that we were all frozen as stiff as stones
+with sitting in the cold so long, and indeed it was some time ere we
+could move our limbs at all. However, with much ado, we hobbled on at
+the tail of our cart, all three very bitter, but especially Ned Herring,
+who cursed most horridly and as I had never heard him curse off the
+stage, saying he would rather have stayed in London to carry links for
+the gentry than join us again in this damnable adventure, etc. And that
+which incensed him the more was the merriment of our Moll, who, seated
+on the side of the cart, could do nothing better than make sport of our
+discontent. But there was no malice in her laughter, which, if it sprang
+not from sheer love of mischief, arose maybe from overflowing joy at our
+release.
+
+Coming at dusk to Edmonton, and finding a fine new inn there, called the
+"Bell," Jack Dawson leads the cart into the yard, we following without a
+word of demur, and, after putting up our trap, into the warm parlour we
+go, and call for supper as boldly as you please. Then, when we had eaten
+and drunk till we could no more, all to bed like princes, which, after a
+night in the cage and a day in the stocks, did seem like a very
+paradise. But how we were to pay for this entertainment not one of us
+knew, nor did we greatly care, being made quite reckless by our
+necessities. It was the next morning, when we met together at breakfast,
+that our faces betrayed some compunctions; but these did not prevent us
+eating prodigiously. "For," whispers Ned Herring, "if we are to be
+hanged, it may as well be for a sheep as a lamb." However, Jack Dawson,
+getting on the right side of the landlord, who seemed a very honest,
+decent man for an innkeeper, agreed with him that we should give a
+performance that night in a cart-shed very proper to our purpose, giving
+him half of our taking in payment of our entertainment. This did Jack,
+thinking from our late ill-luck we should get at the most a dozen people
+in the sixpenny benches, and a score standing at twopence a head. But it
+turned out, as the cunning landlord had foreseen, that our hanger was
+packed close to the very door, in consequence of great numbers coming to
+the town in the afternoon to see a bull baited, so that when Jack Dawson
+closed the doors and came behind our scene to dress for his part, he
+told us he had as good as five pounds in his pocket. With that to cheer
+us we played our tragedy of "The Broken Heart" very merrily, and after
+that, changing our dresses in a twinkling, Jack Dawson, disguised as a
+wild man, and Moll as a wood nymph, came on to the stage to dance a
+pastoral, whilst I, in the fashion of a satyr, stood on one side plying
+the fiddle to their footing. Then, all being done, Jack thanks the
+company for their indulgence, and bids 'em good-night.
+
+And now, before all the company are yet out of the place, and while Jack
+Dawson is wiping the sweat from his face, comes the landlord, and asks
+pretty bluntly to be paid his share of our earnings.
+
+"Well," says Jack, in a huff, "I see no reason for any such haste; but
+if you will give me time to put on my breeches, you shall be paid all
+the same." And therewith he takes down his trunks from the nail where
+they hung. And first giving them a doubtful shake, as seeming lighter
+than he expected, and hearing no chink of money, he thrusts his hand
+into one pocket, and then into the other, and cries in dismay: "Heaven's
+mercy upon us; we are robbed! Every penny of our money is gone!"
+
+"Can you think of nothing better than such an idle story as that?" says
+the landlord. "There hath been none behind this sheet but yourselves all
+the night."
+
+We could make no reply to this, but stood gaping at each other in a maze
+for some seconds; then Jack Dawson, recovering his wits, turns him
+round, and looking about, cries: "Why, where's Ned Herring?"
+
+"If you mean him as was killed in your play," says the landlord, "I'll
+answer for it he's not far off; for, to my knowledge, he was in the
+house drinking with a man while you were a-dancing of your antics like a
+fool. And I only hope you may be as honest a man as he, for he paid for
+his liquor like a gentleman."
+
+That settled the question, for we knew the constable had left never a
+penny in his pocket when he clapt us in the stocks.
+
+"Well," says Jack, "he has our money, as you may prove by searching us,
+and if you have faith in him 'tis all as one, and you may rest easy for
+your reckoning being paid against his return."
+
+The landlord went off, vowing he would take the law of us if he were not
+paid by the morning; and we, as soon as we had shuffled on our clothes,
+away to hunt for Ned, thinking that maybe he had made off with the money
+to avoid paying half to the landlord, and hoping always that, though he
+might play the rogue with him, he would deal honestly by us. But we
+could find no trace of him, though we visited every alehouse in the
+town, and so back we go, crestfallen, to the Bell, to beg the innkeeper
+to give us a night's lodging and a crust of bread on the speculation
+that Ned would come back and settle our accounts; but he would not
+listen to our prayers, and so, hungry and thirsty, and miserable beyond
+expression, we were fain to make up with a loft over the stables, where,
+thanks to a good store of sweet hay, we soon forgot our troubles in
+sleep, but not before we had concerted to get away in the morning
+betimes to escape another day in the stocks.
+
+Accordingly, before the break of day, we were afoot, and after
+noiselessly packing our effects in the cart in the misty grey light,
+Jack Dawson goes in the stable to harness our nag, while I as silently
+take down the heavy bar that fastened the yard gate. But while I was yet
+fumbling at the bolts, and all of a shake for fear of being caught in
+the act, Jack Dawson comes to me, with Moll holding of his hand, as she
+would when our troubles were great, and says in a tone of despair:
+
+"Give over, Kit. We are all undone again. For our harness is stole, and
+there's never another I can take in its place."
+
+While we were at this stumble, out comes our landlord to make sport of
+us. "Have you found your money yet, friends?" says he, with a sneer.
+
+"No," says Jack, savagely, "and our money is not all that we have lost,
+for some villain has filched our nag's harness, and I warrant you know
+who he is."
+
+"Why, to be sure," returns the other, "the same friend may have taken it
+who has gone astray with your other belongings; but, be that as it may,
+I'll answer for it when your money is found your harness will be
+forthcoming, and not before."
+
+"Come, Master," says I, "have you no more heart than to make merry at
+the mischances of three poor wretches such as we?"
+
+"Aye," says he, "when you can show that you deserve better treatment."
+
+"Done," says Jack. "I'll show you that as quickly as you please." With
+that he whips off his cap, and flinging it on the ground, cries: "Off
+with your jacket, man, and let us prove by such means as Heaven has
+given all which is the honester of us two." And so he squares himself up
+to fight; but the innkeeper, though as big a man as he, being of a
+spongy constitution, showed no relish for this mode of argument, and
+turning his back on us with a shake of the head, said he was very well
+satisfied of his own honesty, and if we doubted it we could seek what
+satisfaction the law would give us, adding slyly, as he turned at the
+door, that he could recommend us a magistrate of his acquaintance,
+naming him who had set us in the stocks at Tottenham Cross.
+
+The very hint of this put us again in a quake, and now, the snow
+beginning to fall pretty heavily, we went into the shed to cast about as
+to what on earth we should do next. There we sat, glum and silent,
+watching idly the big flakes of snow fluttering down from the leaden
+sky, for not one of us could imagine a way out of this hobble.
+
+"Holy Mother!" cries Jack at length, springing up in a passion, "we
+cannot sit here and starve of cold and hunger. Cuddle up to my arm,
+Moll, and do you bring your fiddle, Kit, and let us try our luck
+a-begging in alehouses."
+
+And so we trudged out into the driving snow, that blinded us as we
+walked, bow our heads as we might, and tried one alehouse after the
+other, but all to no purpose, the parlours being empty because of the
+early hour, and the snow keeping folks within doors; only, about midday,
+some carters, who had pulled up at an inn, took pity on us, and gave us
+a mug of penny ale and half a loaf, and that was all the food we had the
+whole miserable day. Then at dusk, wet-footed and fagged out in mind and
+body, we trudged back to the Bell, thinking to get back into the loft
+and bury ourselves in the sweet hay for warmth and comfort. But coming
+hither, we found our nag turned out of the stable and the door locked,
+so that we were thrown quite into despair by the loss of this last poor
+hope, and poor Moll, turning her face away from us, burst out
+a-crying--she who all day had set us a brave example by her cheerful
+merry spirit.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+_Of our first acquaintance with the Senor Don Sanchez del Castillo de
+Castelana, and his brave entertaining of us._
+
+
+I was taking a turn or two outside the shed,--for the sight of Jack
+Dawson hugging poor Moll to his breast and trying to soothe her bodily
+misery with gentle words was more than I could bear,--when a drawer
+coming across from the inn told me that a gentleman in the Cherry room
+would have us come to him. I gave him a civil answer and carried this
+message to my friends. Moll, who had staunched her tears and was smiling
+piteously, though her sobs, like those of a child, still shook her thin
+frame, and her father both looked at me in blank doubt as fearing some
+trap for our further discomfiture.
+
+"Nay," says Jack, stoutly. "Fate can serve us no worse within doors than
+without, so let us in and face this gentleman, whoever he is."
+
+So in we go, and all sodden and bedrabbled as we were, went to follow
+the drawer upstairs, when the landlady cried out she would not have us
+go into her Cherry room in that pickle, to soil her best furniture and
+disgrace her house, and bade the fellow carry us into the kitchen to
+take off our cloaks and change our boots for slip-shoes, adding that if
+we had any respect for ourselves, we should trim our hair and wash the
+grime off our faces. So we enter the kitchen, nothing loath, where a
+couple of pullets browning on the spit, kettles bubbling on the fire,
+and a pasty drawing from the oven, filled the air with delicious odours
+that nearly drove us mad for envy; and to think that these good things
+were to tempt the appetite of some one who never hungered, while we,
+famishing for want, had not even a crust to appease our cravings! But it
+was some comfort to plunge our blue, numbed fingers into a tub of hot
+water and feel the life blood creeping back into our hearts. The paint
+we had put on our cheeks the night before was streaked all over our
+faces by the snow, so that we did look the veriest scarecrows
+imaginable; but after washing our heads well and stroking our hair into
+order with a comb Mistress Cook lent us, we looked not so bad. And thus
+changed, and with dry shoes to our feet, we at length went upstairs, all
+full of wondering expectation, and were led into the Cherry room, which
+seemed to us a very palace, being lit with half a dozen candles (and
+they of wax) and filled with a warm glow by the blazing logs on the
+hearth reflected in the cherry hangings. And there in the midst was a
+table laid for supper with a wondrous white cloth, glasses to drink
+from, and silver forks all set out most bravely.
+
+"His worship will be down ere long," says the drawer, and with that he
+makes a pretence of building up the fire, being warned thereto very like
+by the landlady, with an eye to the safety of her silver.
+
+"Can you tell me his worship's name, friend?" I whispered, my mind
+turning at once to his worship of Tottenham Cross.
+
+"Not I, were you to pay me," says he. "'Tis that outlandish and
+uncommon. But for sure he is some great foreign grandee."
+
+He could tell us no more, so we stood there all together, wondering,
+till presently the door opens, and a tall, lean gentleman enters, with a
+high front, very finely dressed in linen stockings, a long-waisted coat,
+and embroidered waistcoat, and rich lace at his cuffs and throat. He
+wore no peruke, but his own hair, cut quite close to his head, with a
+pointed beard and a pair of long moustachios twisting up almost to his
+ears; but his appearance was the more striking by reason of his beard
+and moustachios being quite black, while the hair on his head was white
+as silver. He had dark brows also, that overhung very rich black eyes;
+his nose was long and hooked, and his skin, which was of a very dark
+complexion, was closely lined with wrinkles about the eyes, while a deep
+furrow lay betwixt his brows. He carried his head very high, and was
+majestic and gracious in all his movements, not one of which (as it
+seemed to me) was made but of forethought and purpose. I should say his
+age was about sixty, though his step and carriage were of a younger man.
+To my eyes he appeared a very handsome and a pleasing, amiable
+gentleman. But, Lord, what can you conclude of a man at a single glance,
+when every line in his face (of which he had a score and more) has each
+its history of varying passions, known only to himself, and secret
+phases of his life!
+
+He saluted us with a most noble bow, and dismissed the drawer with a
+word in an undertone. Then turning again to us, he said: "I had the
+pleasure of seeing you act last night, and dance," he adds with a slight
+inclination of his head to Moll. "Naturally, I wish to be better
+acquainted with you. Will it please you to dine with me?"
+
+I could not have been more dumbfounded had an angel asked me to step
+into heaven; but Dawson was quick enough to say something.
+
+"That will we," cries he, "and God bless your worship for taking pity on
+us, for I doubt not you have heard of our troubles."
+
+The other bowed his head and set a chair at the end of the table for
+Moll, which she took with a pretty curtsey, but saying never a word, for
+glee did seem to choke us all. And being seated, she cast her eyes on
+the bread hungrily, as if she would fain begin at once, but she had the
+good manners to restrain herself. Then his worship (as we called him),
+having shown us the chairs on either side, seated himself last of all,
+at the head of the table, facing our Moll, whom whenever he might
+without discourtesy, he regarded with most scrutinising glances from
+first to last. Then the door flinging open, two drawers brought in those
+same fat pullets we had seen browning before the fire, and also the
+pasty, with abundance of other good cheer, at which Moll, with a little
+cry of delight, whispers to me:
+
+"'Tis like a dream. Do speak to me, Kit, or I must think 'twill all fade
+away presently and leave us in the snow."
+
+Then I, finding my tongue, begged his worship would pardon us if our
+manners were more uncouth than the society to which he was accustomed.
+
+"Nay," says Dawson, "Your worship will like us none the worse, I
+warrant, for seeing what we are and aping none."
+
+Finding himself thus beworshipped on both hands, our good friend says:
+
+"You may call me Senor. I am a Spaniard. Don Sanchez del Castillo de
+Castelana." And then to turn the subject, he adds: "I have seen you play
+twice."
+
+"Aye, Senor, and I should have known you again if by nothing but this
+piece of generosity," replies Dawson, with his cheek full of pasty, "for
+I remember both times you set down a piece and would take no change."
+
+Don Sanchez hunched his shoulders cavalierly, as if such trifles were
+nought to him; but indeed throughout his manner was most high and noble.
+
+And now, being fairly settled down to our repast, we said no more of any
+moment that I can recall to mind till we had done (which was not until
+nought remained of the pullets and the pasty but a few bones and the
+bare dish), and we were drawn round the fire at Don Sanchez's
+invitation. Then the drawers, having cleared the tables, brought up a
+huge bowl of hot spiced wine, a dish of tobacco, and some pipes. The Don
+then offered us to smoke some cigarros, but we, not understanding them,
+took instead our homely pipes, and each with a beaker of hot wine to his
+hand sat roasting before the fire, scarce saying a word, the Don being
+silent because his humour was of the reflective grave kind (with all his
+courtesies he never smiled, as if such demonstrations were unbecoming to
+his dignity), and we from repletion and a feeling of wondrous
+contentment and repose. And another thing served to keep us still, which
+was that our Moll, sitting beside her father, almost at once fell
+asleep, her head lying against his shoulder as he sat with his arm about
+her waist. As at the table, Don Sanchez had seated himself where he
+could best observe her, and now he scarcely once took his eyes off her,
+which were half closed as if in speculation. At length, taking the
+cigarro from his lips, he says softly to Jack Dawson, so as not to
+arouse Moll:
+
+"Your daughter."
+
+Jack nods for an answer, and looking down on her face with pride and
+tenderness, he put back with the stem of his pipe a little curl that had
+strayed over her eyes. She was not amiss for looks thus, with her long
+eyelashes lying like a fringe upon her cheeks, her lips open, showing
+her good white teeth, and the glow of the firelight upon her face; but
+her attitude and the innocent, happy expression of her features made up
+a picture which seemed to me mighty pretty.
+
+"Where is her mother?" asks Don Sanchez, presently; and Dawson, without
+taking his eyes from Moll's face, lifts his pipe upwards, while his big
+thick lips fell a-trembling. Maybe, he was thinking of his poor Betty as
+he looked at the child's face.
+
+"Has she no other relatives?" asks the Don, in the same quiet tone; and
+Jack shakes his head, still looking down, and answers lowly:
+
+"Only me."
+
+Then after another pause the Don asks:
+
+"What will become of her?"
+
+And that thought also must have been in Jack Dawson's mind; for without
+seeming surprised by the question, which appeared a strange one, he
+answers reverently, but with a shake in his hoarse voice, "Almighty God
+knows."
+
+This stilled us all for the moment, and then Don Sanchez, seeing that
+these reflections threw a gloom upon us, turned to me, sitting next him,
+and asked if I would give him some account of my history, whereupon I
+briefly told him how three years ago Jack Dawson had lifted me out of
+the mire, and how since then we had lived in brotherhood. "And," says I
+in conclusion, "we will continue with the favour of Providence to live
+so, sharing good and ill fortune alike to the end, so much we do love
+one another."
+
+To this Jack Dawson nods assent.
+
+"And your other fellow,--what of him?" asked Don Sanchez.
+
+I replied that Ned Herring was but a fair-weather friend, who had joined
+fortunes with us to get out of London and escape the Plague, and how
+having robbed us, we were like never to see his face again.
+
+"And well for him if we do not," cries Dawson, rousing up; "for by the
+Lord, if I clap eyes on him, though it be a score of years hence, he
+shan't escape the most horrid beating ever man outlived!"
+
+The Don nodded his satisfaction at this, and then Moll, awaking with the
+sudden outburst of her father's voice, gives first a gape, then a
+shiver, and looking about her with an air of wonder, smiles as her eye
+fell on the Don. Whereon, still as solemn as any judge, he pulls the
+bell, and the maid, coming to the room with a rushlight, he bids her
+take the poor weary child to bed, and the best there is in the house,
+which I think did delight Dawson not less than his Moll to hear.
+
+Then Moll gives her father a kiss, and me another according to her wont,
+and drops a civil curtsey to Don Sanchez.
+
+"Give me thy hand, child," says he; and having it, he lifts it to his
+lips and kisses it as if she had been the finest lady in the land.
+
+She being gone, the Don calls for a second bowl of spiced wine, and we,
+mightily pleased at the prospect of another half-hour of comfort,
+stretch our legs out afresh before the fire. Then Don Sanchez, lighting
+another cigarro, and setting his chair towards us, says as he takes his
+knee up betwixt his long, thin fingers:
+
+"Now let us come to the heart of this business and understand one
+another clearly."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+_Of that design which Don Sanchez opened to us at the Bell._
+
+
+We pulled our pipes from our mouths, Dawson and I, and stretched our
+ears very eager to know what this business was the Don had to propound,
+and he, after drawing two or three mouthfuls of smoke, which he expelled
+through his nostrils in a most surprising unnatural manner, says in
+excellent good English, but speaking mighty slow and giving every letter
+its worth:
+
+"What do you go to do to-morrow?"
+
+"The Lord only knows," answers Jack, and Don Sanchez, lifting his
+eyebrows as if he considers this no answer at all, he continues: "We
+cannot go hence with none of our stage things; and if we could, I see
+not how we are to act our play, now that our villain is gone, with a
+plague to him! I doubt but we must sell all that we have for the few
+shillings they will fetch to get us out of this hobble."
+
+"With our landlord's permission," remarks Don Sanchez, dryly.
+
+"Permission!" cries Dawson, in a passion. "I ask no man's permission to
+do what I please with my own."
+
+"Suppose he claims these things in payment of the money you owe him.
+What then?" asks the Don.
+
+"We never thought of that, Kit," says Dawson, turning to me in a pucker.
+"But 'tis likely enough he has, for I observed he was mighty careless
+whether we found our thief or not. That's it, sure enough. We have
+nought to hope. All's lost!"
+
+With that he drops his elbows on his knees, and stares into the fire
+with a most desponding countenance, being in that stage of liquor when a
+man must either laugh or weep.
+
+"Come, Jack," says I. "You are not used to yield like this. Let us make
+the best of a bad lot, and face the worst like men. Though we trudge
+hence with nothing but the rags on our backs, we shall be no worse off
+to-morrow than we were this morning."
+
+"Why, that's true enough!" cries he, plucking up his courage. "Let the
+thieving rascal take our poor nag and our things for his payment, and
+much good may they do him. We will wipe this out of our memory the
+moment we leave his cursed inn behind us."
+
+It seemed to me that this would not greatly advance us, and maybe Don
+Sanchez thought the same, for he presently asks:
+
+"And what then?"
+
+"Why, Senor," replies Dawson, "we will face each new buffet as it comes,
+and make a good fight of it till we're beat. A man may die but once."
+
+"You think only of yourselves," says the Don, very quietly.
+
+"And pray, saving your Senor's presence, who else should we think of?"
+
+"The child above," answers the Don, a little more sternly than he had
+yet spoken. "Is a young creature like that to bear the buffets you are
+so bold to meet? Can you offer her no shelter from the wind and rain but
+such as chance offers? make no provision for the time when she is left
+alone, to protect her against the evils that lie in the path of
+friendless maids?"
+
+"God forgive me," says Jack, humbly. And then we could say nothing, for
+thinking what might befall Moll if we should be parted, but sat there
+under the keen eye of Don Sanchez, looking helplessly into the fire. And
+there was no sound until Jack's pipe, slipping from his hand, fell and
+broke in pieces upon the hearth. Then rousing himself up and turning to
+Don Sanchez, he says:
+
+"The Lord help her, Senor, if we find no good friend to lend us a few
+shillings for our present wants."
+
+"Good friends are few," says the Don, "and they who lend need some
+better security for repayment than chance. For my own part, I would as
+soon fling straws to a drowning man as attempt to save you and that
+child from ruin by setting you on your feet to-day only to fall again
+to-morrow."
+
+"If that be so, Senor," says I, "you had some larger view in mind than
+that of offering temporary relief to our misery when you gave us a
+supper and Moll a bed for the night."
+
+Don Sanchez assented with a grave inclination of his head, and going to
+the door opened it sharply, listened awhile, and then closing it softly,
+returned and stood before us with folded arms. Then, in a low voice, not
+to be heard beyond the room, he questioned us very particularly as to
+our relations with other men, the length of time we had been wandering
+about the country, and especially about the tractability of Moll. And,
+being satisfied with our replies,--above all, with Jack's saying that
+Moll would jump out of window at his bidding, without a thought to the
+consequences,--he says:
+
+"There's a comedy we might play to some advantage if you were minded to
+take the parts I give you and act them as I direct."
+
+"With all my heart," cries Dawson. "I'll play any part you choose; and
+as to the directing, you're welcome to that, for I've had my fill of it.
+If you can make terms with our landlord, those things in the yard shall
+be yours, and for our payment I'm willing to trust to your honour's
+generosity."
+
+"As regards payment," says the Don, "I can speak precisely. We shall
+gain fifty thousand pounds by our performance."
+
+"Fifty thousand pounds," says Jack, as if in doubt whether he had heard
+aright. Don Sanchez bent his head, without stirring a line in his face.
+
+Dawson took up his beaker slowly, and looked in it, to make sure that he
+was none the worse for drink, then, after emptying it, to steady his
+wits, he says again:
+
+"Fifty thousand pounds."
+
+"Fifty thousand pounds, if not more; and that there be no jealousies one
+of the other, it shall be divided fairly amongst us,--as much for your
+friend as for you, for the child as for me."
+
+"Pray God, this part be no more than I can compass," says Jack,
+devoutly.
+
+"You may learn it in a few hours--at least, your first act."
+
+"And mine?" says I, entering for the first time into the dialogue.
+
+The Don hunched his shoulders, lifting his eyebrows, and sending two
+streams of smoke from his nose.
+
+"I scarce know what part to give you, yet," says he. "To be honest, you
+are not wanted at all in the play."
+
+"Nay, but you must write him a part," says Dawson, stoutly; "if it be
+but to bring in a letter--that I am determined on. Kit stood by us in
+ill fortune, and he shall share better, or I'll have none of it, nor
+Moll neither. I'll answer for her."
+
+"There must be no discontent among us," says the Don, meaning thereby,
+as I think, that he had included me in his stratagem for fear I might
+mar it from envy. "The girl's part is that which gives me most
+concern--and had I not faith in my own judgment--"
+
+"Set your mind at ease on that score," cried Jack. "I warrant our Moll
+shall learn her part in a couple of days or so."
+
+"If she learn it in a twelvemonth, 'twill be time enough."
+
+"A twelvemonth," said Jack, going to his beaker again, for
+understanding. "Well, all's as one, so that we can get something in
+advance of our payment, to keep us through such a prodigious study."
+
+"I will charge myself with your expenses," says Don Sanchez; and then,
+turning to me, he asks if I have any objection to urge.
+
+"I take it, Senor, that you speak in metaphor," says I; "and that this
+'comedy' is nought but a stratagem for getting hold of a fortune that
+doesn't belong to us."
+
+Don Sanchez calmly assented, as if this had been the most innocent
+design in the world.
+
+"Hang me," cries Dawson, "if I thought it was anything but a whimsey of
+your honour's."
+
+"I should like to know if we may carry out this stratagem honestly,"
+says I.
+
+"Aye," cries Jack. "I'll not agree for cutting of throats or breaking of
+bones, for any money."
+
+"I can tell you no more than this," says the Don. "The fortune we may
+take is now in the hands of a man who has no more right to it than we
+have."
+
+"If that's so," says Jack, "I'm with you, Senor. For I'd as lief bustle
+a thief out of his gains as say my prayers, any day, and liefer."
+
+"Still," says I, "the money must of right belong to some one."
+
+"We will say that the money belongs to a child of the same age as Moll."
+
+"Then it comes to this, Senor," says I, bluntly. "We are to rob that
+child of fifty thousand pounds."
+
+"When you speak of robbing," says the Don, drawing himself up with much
+dignity, "you forget that I am to play a part in this stratagem--I, Don
+Sanchez del Castillo de Castelana."
+
+"Fie, Kit, han't you any manners?" cries Dick. "What's all this talk of
+a child? Hasn't the Senor told us we are but to bustle a cheat?"
+
+"But I would know what is to become of this child, if we take her
+fortune, though it be withheld from her by another," says I, being
+exceeding obstinate and persistent in my liquor.
+
+"I shall prove to your conviction," says the Don, "that the child will
+be no worse off, if we take this money, than if we leave it in the hands
+of that rascally steward. But I see," adds he, contemptuously, "that for
+all your brotherly love, 'tis no such matter to you whether poor little
+Molly comes to her ruin, as every maid must who goes to the stage, or is
+set beyond the reach of temptation and the goading of want."
+
+"Aye, and be hanged to you, Kit!" cries Dawson.
+
+"Tell me, Mr. Poet," continues Don Sanchez, "do you consider this
+steward who defrauds that child of a fortune is more unfeeling than you
+who, for a sickly qualm of conscience, would let slip this chance of
+making Molly an honest woman?"
+
+"Aye, answer that, Kit," adds Jack, striking his mug on the table.
+
+"I'll answer you to-morrow morning, Senor," says I. "And whether I fall
+in with the scheme or not is all as one, since my help is not needed;
+for if it be to Moll's good, I'll bid you farewell, and you shall see me
+never again."
+
+"Spoken like a man!" says Don Sanchez, "and a wise one to boot. An
+enterprise of this nature is not to be undertaken without reflection,
+like the smoking of a pipe. If you put your foot forward, it must be
+with the understanding that you cannot go back. I must have that
+assurance, for I shall be hundreds of pounds out of pocket ere I can get
+any return for my venture."
+
+"Have no fear of me or of Moll turning tail at a scarecrow," says Jack,
+adding with a sneer, "we are no poets."
+
+"Reflect upon it. Argue it out with your friend here, whose scruples do
+not displease me, and let me know your determination when the last word
+is said. Business carries me to London to-morrow; but you shall meet me
+at night, and we will close the business--aye or nay--ere supper."
+
+With that he opens the door and gives us our congee, the most noble in
+the world; but not offering to give us a bed, we are forced to go out of
+doors and grope our way through the snow to the cart-shed, and seek a
+shelter there from the wind, which was all the keener and more bitter
+for our leaving a good fire. And I believe the shrewd Spaniard had put
+us to this pinch as a foretaste of the misery we must endure if we
+rejected his design, and so to shape our inclinations to his.
+
+Happily, the landlord, coming out with a lantern, and finding us by the
+chattering of our teeth, was moved by the consideration shown us by Don
+Sanchez to relax his severity; and so, unlocking the stable door, he
+bade us get up into the loft, which we did, blessing him as if he had
+been the best Christian in the world. And then, having buried ourselves
+in hay, Jack Dawson and I fell to arguing the matter in question, I
+sticking to my scruples (partly from vanity), and he stoutly holding
+t'other side; and I, being warmed by my own eloquence, and he not less
+heated by liquor (having taken best part of the last bowl to his share),
+we ran it pretty high, so that at one point Jack was for lighting a
+candle end he had in his pocket and fighting it out like men. But,
+little by little, we cooled down, and towards morning, each giving way
+something, we came to the conclusion that we would have Don Sanchez show
+us the steward, that we might know the truth of his story (which I
+misdoubted, seeing that it was but a roguish kind of game at best that
+he would have us take part in), and that if we found all things as he
+represented them, then we would accept his offer. And also we resolved
+to be down betimes and let him know our determination before he set out
+for London, to the end that we might not be left fasting all the day.
+But herein we miscalculated the potency of liquor and a comfortable bed
+of hay, for 'twas nine o'clock before either of us winked an eye, and
+when we got down, we learnt that Don Sanchez had been gone a full hour,
+and so no prospect of breaking our fast till nightfall.
+
+Presently comes Moll, all fresh and pink from the house, and falls to
+exclaiming upon the joy of sleeping betwixt clean sheets in a feather
+bed, and could speak of nothing else, saying she would give all the
+world to sleep so well every day of her life.
+
+"Eh," whispers her father in my ear, "you see how luxuries do tempt the
+poor child, and what kind of a bed she is like to lie in if our hopes
+miscarry."
+
+On which, still holding to my scruples, I says to Moll:
+
+"'Tis easy to say you would give the world, Moll, but I know full well
+you would give nothing for all the comfort possible that was not your
+own."
+
+"Nay," says she, crossing her hands on her breast, and casting up her
+eyes with the look of a saint, "what are all the fruits of the earth to
+her who cannot take them with an easy conscience? Honesty is dearer to
+me than the bread of life."
+
+Then, as Jack and I are looking at each other ruefully in the face at
+this dash to our knavish project, she bursts into a merry peal of
+laughter, like a set of Christmas bells chiming, whereupon we, turning
+about to find the cause of her merriment, she pulls another demure face,
+and, slowly lifting her skirt, shows us a white napkin tied about her
+waist, stuffed with a dozen delicacies she had filched from Don
+Sanchez's table in coming down from her room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+_Of the several parts that we are appointed to play._
+
+
+Finding a sheltered secret corner, we made a very hasty breakfast of
+these stolen dainties, and since we had not the heart to restore them to
+our innkeeper, so we had not the face to chide Moll for her larceny, but
+made light of the business and ate with great content and some mirth.
+
+A drizzly rain falling and turning the snow into slush, we kept under
+the shelter of the shed, and this giving us scope for the reflection Don
+Sanchez had counselled, my compunctions were greatly shaken by the
+consideration of our present position and the prospect of worse. When I
+thought of our breakfast that Moll had stolen, and how willingly we
+would all have eaten a dinner got by the same means, I had to
+acknowledge that certainly we were all thieves at heart; and this
+conclusion, together with sitting all day doing nothing in the raw cold,
+did make the design of Don Sanchez seem much less heinous to me than it
+appeared the night before, when I was warm and not exceedingly sober,
+and indeed towards dusk I came to regard it as no bad thing at all.
+
+About six comes back our Don on a fine horse, and receives our
+salutations with a cool nod--we standing there of a row, looking our
+sweetest, like hungry dogs in expectation of a bone. Then in he goes to
+the house without a word, and now my worst fear was that he had thought
+better of his offer and would abandon it. So there we hang about the
+best part of an hour, now thinking the Don would presently send for us,
+and then growing to despair of everything but to be left in the cold
+forgotten; but in the end comes Master Landlord to tell us his worship
+in the Cherry room would see us. So, after the same formalities of
+cleansing ourselves as the night afore, upstairs we go at the heels of a
+drawer, carrying a roast pig, which to our senses was more delightful
+than any bunch of flowers.
+
+With a gesture of his hands, after saluting us with great dignity, Don
+Sanchez bade us take our places at the table and with never a word of
+question as to our decision; but that was scarce necessary, for it
+needed no subtle observation to perceive that we would accept any
+conditions to get our share of that roast pig. This supper differed not
+greatly from the former, save that our Moll was taken with a kind of
+tickling at the throat which presently attracted our notice.
+
+"What ails you, Molly, my dear?" asks Jack. "Has a bit of crackling gone
+down the wrong way?"
+
+She put it off as if she would have us take no notice of it, but it grew
+worse and worse towards the end of the meal, and became a most horrid,
+tearing cough, which she did so natural as to deceive us all and put us
+in great concern, and especially Don Sanchez, who declared she must have
+taken a cold by being exposed all day to the damp weather.
+
+"If I have," says she, very prettily, after wiping the tears from her
+eyes upon another fit, "'tis surely a most ungrateful return for the
+kindness with which you sheltered me last night, Senor."
+
+"I shall take better care to shelter you in the future, my poor child,"
+replies the Don, ringing the bell. Then, the maid coming, he bids her
+warm a bed and prepare a hot posset against Moll was tucked up in the
+blankets. "And," says he, turning to Moll, "you shall not rise till
+noon, my dear; your breakfast shall be brought to you in your room,
+where a fire shall be made, and such treatment shown you as if you were
+my own child."
+
+"Oh! what have I done that you should be so gentle to me?" exclaims
+Moll, smothering another cough. And with that she reaches out her leg
+under the table and fetches me a kick of the shin, looking all the while
+as pitiful and innocent as any painted picture. "Would it be well to
+fetch in a doctor?" says Don Sanchez, when Moll was gone barking
+upstairs. "The child looks delicate, though she eats with a fairly good
+appetite."
+
+"'Tis nothing serious," replies Jack, who had doubtless received the
+same hint from Moll she had given me. "I warrant she will be mended in a
+day or so, with proper care. 'Tis a kind of family complaint. I am taken
+that way at times," and with that he rasps his throat as a hint that he
+would be none the worse for sleeping a night between sheets.
+
+This was carrying the matter too far, and I thought it had certainly
+undone us; for stopping short, with a start, in crossing the room, he
+turns and looks first at Dawson, then at me, with anything but a
+pleasant look in his eyes as finding his dignity hurt, to be thus
+bustled by a mere child. Then his dark eyebrows unbending with the
+reflection, maybe, that it was so much the better to his purpose that
+Moll could so act as to deceive him, he seats himself gravely, and
+replies to Jack:
+
+"Your family wit may get you a night's lodging, but I doubt if you will
+ever merit it so well as your daughter."
+
+"Well," says Jack, with a laugh, "what wit we have amongst us we are
+resolved to employ in your honour's service, so that you show us this
+steward-fellow is a rascal that deserves to be bounced, and we do no
+great injury to any one else."
+
+"Good," says Don Sanchez. "We will proceed to that without delay. And
+now, as we have no matter to discuss, and must be afoot early to-morrow,
+I will ring for a light to take you to bed."
+
+So we up presently to a good snug room with a bed to each of us fit for
+a prince. And there, with the blankets drawn up to our ears, we fell
+blessing our stars that we were now fairly out of our straits, and after
+that to discussing whether we should consult Moll's inclination to this
+business. First, Dawson was for telling her plump out all about our
+project, saying that being so young she had no conscience to speak of,
+and would like nothing better than to take part in any piece of
+mischief. But against this I protested, seeing that it would be
+dangerous to our design to let her know so much (she having a woman's
+tongue in her head), and also of a bad tendency to make her, as it were,
+at the very beginning of her life, a knowing active party to what looked
+like nothing more nor less than a piece of knavery. Therefore I proposed
+we should, when necessary, tell her just so much of our plan as was
+expedient, and no more. And this agreeing mightily with Jack's natural
+turn for taking of short cuts out of difficulties, he fell in with my
+views at once, and so, bidding God bless me, he lays the clothes over
+his head and was snoring the next minute.
+
+In the morning we found the Don just as kind to us as the day before he
+had been careless, and so made us eat breakfast with him, to our great
+content. Also, he sent a maid up to Moll to enquire of her health, and
+if she could eat anything from our table, to which the baggage sends
+reply that she feels a little easier this morning and could fancy a dish
+of black puddings. These delicacies her father carried to her, being
+charged by the Don to tell her that we should be gone for a couple of
+days, and that in our absence she might command whatever she felt was
+necessary to her complete recovery against our return. Then I told Don
+Sanchez how we had resolved to tell Moll no more of our purpose than was
+necessary for the moment, which pleased him, I thought, mightily, he
+saying that our success or failure depended upon secrecy as much as
+anything, for which reason he had kept us in the dark as much as ever it
+was possible.
+
+About eight o'clock three saddle nags were brought to the door, and we,
+mounting, set out for London, where we arrived about ten, the roads
+being fairly passable save in the marshy parts about Shoreditch, where
+the mire was knee-deep; so to Gracious Street, and there leaving our
+nags at the Turk inn, we walked down to the Bridge stairs, and thence
+with a pair of oars to Greenwich. Here, after our tedious chilly voyage,
+we were not ill-pleased to see the inside of an inn once more, and Don
+Sanchez, taking us to the King's posting-house, orders a fire to be
+lighted in a private room, and the best there was in the larder to be
+served us in the warm parlour. While we were at our trenchers Don
+Sanchez says:
+
+"At two o'clock two men are coming hither to see me. One is a master
+mariner named Robert Evans, the other a merchant adventurer of his
+acquaintance whom I have not yet seen. Now you are to mark these two men
+well, note all they say and their manner of speaking, for to-morrow you
+will have to personate these characters before one who would be only too
+glad to find you at fault."
+
+"Very good, Senor," says Dawson; "but which of these parts am I to
+play?"
+
+"That you may decide when you have seen the men, but I should say from
+my knowledge of Robert Evans that you may best represent his character.
+For in your parts to-day you are to be John and Christopher Knight, two
+needy cousins of Lady Godwin, whose husband, Sir Richard Godwin, was
+lost at sea seven years ago. I doubt if you will have to do anything in
+these characters beyond looking eager and answering merely yes and no to
+such questions as I may put."
+
+Thus primed, we went presently to the sitting-room above, and the drawer
+shortly after coming to say that two gentlemen desired to see Don
+Sanchez, Jack and I seated ourselves side by side at a becoming distance
+from the Don, holding our hats on our knees as humbly as may be. Then in
+comes a rude, dirty fellow with a patch over one eye and a most peculiar
+bearish gait, dressed in a tarred coat, with a wool shawl about his
+neck, followed by a shrewd-visaged little gentleman in a plain cloth
+suit, but of very good substance, he looking just as trim and
+well-mannered as t'other was uncouth and rude.
+
+"Well, here am I," says Evans (whom we knew at once for the master
+mariner), flinging his hat and shawl in a corner. "There's his
+excellency Don Sanchez, and here's Mr. Hopkins, the merchant I spoke on
+yesterday; and who be these?" turning about to fix us with his one blue
+eye.
+
+"Two gentlemen related to Mrs. Godwin, and very anxious for her return,"
+replies the Don.
+
+"Then we being met friends all, let's have up a bottle and heave off on
+this here business without more ado," says Evans; and with that he seats
+himself in the Don's chair, pokes up the fire with his boots, and spits
+on the hearth.
+
+The Don graciously places a chair for Mr. Hopkins, rings the bell, and
+seats himself. Then after a few civilities while the bottle was being
+opened and our glasses filled, he says:
+
+"You have doubtless heard from Robert Evans the purpose of our coming
+hither, Mr. Hopkins."
+
+"Roughly," replies Mr. Hopkins, with a dry little cough. "But I should
+be glad to have the particulars from you, that I may judge more clearly
+of my responsibilities in this undertaking."
+
+"Oh, Lord!" exclaims Evans, in disgust. "Here give us a pipe of tobacco
+if we're to warp out half a day ere we get a capful of wind."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+_Don Sanchez puts us in the way of robbing with an easy conscience._
+
+
+Promising to make his story as short as he possibly could, Don Sanchez
+began:
+
+"On the coming of our present king to his throne, Sir Richard Godwin was
+recalled from Italy, whither he had been sent as embassador by the
+Protector. He sailed from Livorno with his wife and his daughter Judith,
+a child of nine years old at that time, in the Seahawk."
+
+"I remember her," says Evans, "as stout a ship as ever was put to sea."
+
+"On the second night of her voyage the Seahawk became parted from her
+convoy, and the next day she was pursued and overtaken by a pair of
+Barbary pirates, to whom she gave battle."
+
+"Aye, and I'd have done the same," cries Evans, "though they had been a
+score."
+
+"After a long and bloody fight," continues Don Sanchez, "the corsairs
+succeeded in boarding the Seahawk and overcoming the remnant of her
+company."
+
+"Poor hearts! would I had been there to help 'em," says Evans.
+
+"Exasperated by the obstinate resistance of these English and their own
+losses, the pirates would grant no mercy, but tying the living to the
+dead they cast all overboard save Mrs. Godwin and her daughter. Her lot
+was even worse; for her wounded husband, Sir Richard, was snatched from
+her arms and flung into the sea before her eyes, and he sank crying
+farewell to her."
+
+"These Turks have no hearts in their bellies, you must understand,"
+explains Evans. "And nought but venom in their veins."
+
+"The Seahawk was taken to Alger, and there Mrs. Godwin and her daughter
+were sold for slaves in the public market-place."
+
+"I have seen 'em sold by the score there," says Evans, "and fetch but an
+onion a head."
+
+"By good fortune the mother and daughter were bought by Sidi ben Moula,
+a rich old merchant who was smitten by the pretty, delicate looks of
+Judith, whom he thenceforth treated as if she had been his own child. In
+this condition they lived with greater happiness than falls to the lot
+of most slaves, until the beginning of last year, when Sidi died, and
+his possessions fell to his brother, Bare ben Moula. Then Mrs. Godwin
+appeals to Bare for her liberty and to be sent home to her country,
+saying that what price (in reason) he chooses to set upon their heads
+she will pay from her estate in England--a thing which she had proposed
+before to Sidi, but he would not hear of it because of his love for
+Judith and his needing no greater fortune than he had. But this Bare,
+though he would be very well content, being also an old man, to have his
+household managed by Mrs. Godwin and to adopt Judith as his child, being
+of a more avaricious turn than his brother, at length consents to it, on
+condition that her ransoms be paid before she quits Barbary. And so,
+casting about how this may be done, Mrs. Godwin finds a captive whose
+price has been paid, about to be taken to Palma in the Baleares, and to
+him she entrusts two letters." Here Don Sanchez pulls two folded sheets
+of vellum from his pocket, and presenting one to me, he says:
+
+"Mayhap you recognise this hand, Mr. Knight."
+
+And I, seeing the signature Elizabeth Godwin, answers quickly enough:
+"Aye, 'tis my dear cousin Bess, her own hand."
+
+"This," says the Don, handing the other to Evans, "you may understand."
+
+"I can make out 'tis writ in the Moorish style," says Evans, "but the
+meaning of it I know not, for I can't tell great A from a bull's foot
+though it be in printed English."
+
+"'Tis an undertaking on the part of Bare ben Moula," says the Don, "to
+deliver up at Dellys in Barbary the persons of Mrs. Godwin and her
+daughter against the payment of five thousand gold ducats within one
+year. The other writing tells its own story."
+
+Mr. Hopkins took the first sheet from me and read it aloud. It was
+addressed to Mr. Richard Godwin, Hurst Court, Chislehurst in Kent, and
+after giving such particulars of her past as we had already heard from
+Don Sanchez, she writes thus: "And now, my dear nephew, as I doubt not
+you (as the nearest of my kindred to my dear husband after us two poor
+relicts) have taken possession of his estate in the belief we were all
+lost in our voyage from Italy, I do pray you for the love of God and of
+mercy to deliver us from our bondage by sending hither a ship with the
+money for our ransoms forthwith, and be assured by this that I shall not
+dispossess you of your fortune (more than my bitter circumstances do now
+require), so that I but come home to die in a Christian country and have
+my sweet Judith where she may be less exposed to harm than in this
+infidel country. I count upon your love,--being ever a dear nephew,--and
+am your most hopeful, trusting, and loving aunt, Elizabeth Godwin."
+
+"Very well, sir," says Mr. Hopkins, returning the letter. "You have been
+to Chislehurst."
+
+"I have," answers the Don, "and there I find the estate in the hands of
+a most curious Puritanical steward, whose honesty is rather in the
+letter than the spirit. For though I have reason to believe that not one
+penny's value of the estate has been misemployed since it has been in
+his hands, yet will he give nothing--no, not a maravedi to the
+redemption of his mistress, saying that the letter is addressed to
+Richard Godwin and not to him, etc., and that he hath no power to pay
+out monies for this purpose, even though he believed the facts I have
+laid before him--which for his own ends doubtless he fains to misdoubt."
+
+"As a trader, sir," says Mr. Hopkins, "I cannot blame his conduct in
+that respect. For should the venture fall through, the next heir might
+call upon him to repay out of his own pocket all that he had put into
+this enterprise. But this Mr. Richard Godwin, what of him?"
+
+"He is nowhere to be found. The only relatives I have been able to
+discover are these two gentlemen."
+
+"Who," remarks Mr. Hopkins, with a shrewd glance at our soiled clothes,
+"are not, I venture to think, in a position to pay their cousin's
+ransom."
+
+"Alas, no, sir," says Jack. "We are but two poor shopkeepers of London
+undone by the great fire."
+
+"Well now, sir," says Mr. Hopkins, fetching an inkpot, a pen, and a
+piece of paper from his pocket. "I may conclude that you wish me to
+adventure upon the redemption of these two ladies in Barbary, upon the
+hazard of being repaid by Mrs. Godwin when she recovers her estate." And
+the Don making him a reverence, he continues, "We must first learn the
+extent of our liabilities. What sum is to be paid to Bare ben Moula?"
+
+"Five thousand gold ducats--about two thousand pounds English."
+
+"Two thousand," says Mr. Hopkins, writing. "Then, Robert Evans, what
+charge is yours for fetching the ladies from Dellys?"
+
+"Master Hopkins, I have said fifteen hundred pounds," says he, "and I
+won't go from my word though all laugh at me for a madman."
+
+"That seems a great deal of money," says Mr. Hopkins.
+
+"Well, if you think fifteen hundred pounds too much for my carcase and a
+ship of twenty men, you can go seek a cheaper market elsewhere."
+
+"You think there is very small likelihood of coming back alive?"
+
+"Why, comrade, 'tis as if you should go into a den of lions and hope to
+get out whole; for though I have the Duke's pass, these Moors are no
+fitter to be trusted than a sackful of serpents. 'Tis ten to one our
+ship be taken, and we fools all sold into slavery."
+
+"Ten to one," says Mr. Hopkins; "that is to say, you would make this
+voyage for the tenth part of what you ask were you sure of returning
+safe."
+
+"I would go as far anywhere outside the straits for an hundred pounds
+with a lighter heart."
+
+Mr. Hopkins nods his head, and setting down some figures on his paper,
+says:
+
+"The bare outlay in hard money amounts to thirty-five hundred pounds.
+Reckoning the risk at Robert Evans' own valuation (which I take to be a
+very low one), I must see reasonable prospect of winning thirty-five
+thousand pounds by my hazard."
+
+"Mrs. Godwin's estate I know to be worth double that amount."
+
+"But who will promise me that return?" asks Mr. Hopkins. "Not you?" (The
+Don shook his head.) "Not you?" (turning to us, with the same result).
+"Not Mrs. Godwin, for we have no means of communicating with her. Not
+the steward--you have shown me that. Who then remains but this Richard
+Godwin who cannot be found? If," adds he, getting up from his seat, "you
+can find Richard Godwin, put him in possession of the estate, and obtain
+from him a reasonable promise that this sum shall be paid on the return
+of Mrs. Godwin, I may feel disposed to consider your proposal more
+seriously. But till then I can do nothing."
+
+"Likewise, masters all," says Evans, fetching his hat and shawl from the
+corner, "I can't wait for a blue moon; and if so be we don't sign
+articles in a week, I'm off of my bargain, and mighty glad to get out of
+it so cheap."
+
+"You see," says Don Sanchez, when they were gone out of the room, "how
+impossible it is that Mrs. Godwin and her daughter shall be redeemed
+from captivity. To-morrow I shall show you what kind of a fellow the
+steward is that he should have the handling of this fortune rather than
+we."
+
+Then presently, with an indifferent, careless air, as if 'twas nought,
+he gives us a purse and bids us go out in the town to furnish ourselves
+with what disguise was necessary to our purpose. Therewith Dawson gets
+him some seaman's old clothes at a Jew's, and I a very neat, presentable
+suit of cloth, etc., and the rest of the money we take back to Don
+Sanchez without taking so much as a penny for our other uses; but he,
+doing all things very magnificent, would have none of it, but bade us
+keep it against our other necessities. And now having his money in our
+pockets, we felt 'twould be more dishonest to go back from this business
+than to go forward with it, lead us whither it might.
+
+Next morning off we go betimes, Jack more like Robert Evans than his
+mother's son, and I a most seeming substantial man (so that the very
+stable lad took off his hat to me), and on very good horses a long ride
+to Chislehurst And there coming to a monstrous fine park, Don Sanchez
+stayed us before the gates, and bidding us look up a broad avenue of
+great oaks to a most surprising brave house, he told us this was Hurst
+Court, and we might have it for our own within a year if we were so
+minded.
+
+Hence, at no great distance we reach a square plain house, the windows
+all barred with stout iron, and the most like a prison I did ever see.
+Here Don Sanchez ringing a bell, a little grating in the door is opened,
+and after some parley we are admitted by a sturdy fellow carrying a
+cudgel in his hand. So we into a cold room, with not a spark of fire on
+the hearth but a few ashes, no hangings to the windows, nor any ornament
+or comfort at all, but only a table and half a dozen wooden stools, and
+a number of shelves against the wall full of account books and papers
+protected by a grating of stout wire secured with sundry padlocks. And
+here, behind a tableful of papers, sat our steward, Simon
+Stout-in-faith, a most withered, lean old man, clothed all in leather,
+wearing no wig but his own rusty grey hair falling lank on his
+shoulders, with a sour face of a very jaundiced complexion, and pale
+eyes that seemed to swim in a yellowish rheum, which he was for ever
+a-mopping with a rag.
+
+"I am come, Mr. Steward," says Don Sanchez, "to conclude the business we
+were upon last week."
+
+"Aye," cries Dawson, for all the world in the manner of Evans, "but ere
+we get to this dry matter let's have a bottle to ease the way, for this
+riding of horseback has parched up my vitals confoundedly."
+
+"If thou art athirst," says Simon, "Peter shall fetch thee a jug of
+water from the well; but other liquor have we none in this house."
+
+"Let Peter drown in your well," says Dawson, with an oath; "I'll have
+none of it. Let's get this matter done and away, for I'd as lief sit in
+a leaky hold as in this here place for comfort."
+
+"Here," says Don Sanchez, "is a master mariner who is prepared to risk
+his life, and here a merchant adventurer of London who will hazard his
+money, to redeem your mistress and her daughter from slavery."
+
+"Praise the Lord, Peter," says the steward. Whereupon the sturdy fellow
+with the cudgel fell upon his knees, as likewise did Simon, and both in
+a snuffling voice render thanks to Heaven in words which I do not think
+it proper to write here. Then, being done, they get up, and the steward,
+having dried his eyes, says:
+
+"So far our prayers have been answered. Put me in mind, friend Peter,
+that to-night we pray these worthy men prosper in their design."
+
+"If they succeed," says Don Sanchez, "it will cost your mistress
+five-and-thirty thousand pounds."
+
+The steward clutched at the table as if at the fortune about to turn
+from him; his jaw fell, and he stared at Don Sanchez in bewilderment,
+then getting the face to speak, he gasps out, "Thirty-five thousand
+pounds!" and still in a maze asks: "Art thou in thy right senses,
+friend?"
+
+The Don hunches his shoulders and turns to me. Whereupon I lay forth in
+pretty much the same words as Mr. Hopkins used, the risk of the venture,
+etc., to all which this Simon listened with starting eyes and gaping
+mouth.
+
+"Thirty-five thousand pounds!" he says again; "why, friend, 'tis half of
+all I have made of the estate by a life of thrift and care and earnest
+seeking."
+
+"'Tis in your power, Simon," says Don Sanchez, "to spare your mistress
+this terrible charge, for which your fine park must be felled, your
+farms cut up, and your economies be scattered. The master here will
+fetch your mistress home for fifteen hundred pounds."
+
+"Why, even that is an extortion."
+
+"Nay," says Jack, "if you think fifteen hundred pounds too much for my
+carcase and a ship of twenty men, you may seek a cheaper market and
+welcome, for I've no stomach to risk my life and property for less."
+
+"To the fifteen hundred pounds you must add the ransom of two thousand
+pounds. Thus Mrs. Godwin and her daughter may be redeemed for
+thirty-five hundred pounds to her saving of thirty-one thousand five
+hundred pounds," says the Don.
+
+And here Dawson and I were secretly struck by his honesty in not seeking
+to affright the steward from an honest course, but rather tempting him
+to it by playing upon his parsimony and avarice.
+
+"Three thousand five hundred," says Simon, putting it down in writing,
+that he might the better realise his position. "But you say, friend
+merchant, that the risk is as ten to one against seeing thy money
+again."
+
+"I will run the risk for thirty-one thousand pounds, and no less," says
+I.
+
+"But if it may be done for a tenth part, how then?"
+
+"Why, 'tis your risk, sir, and not mine," says I.
+
+"Yea, yea, my risk. And you tell me, friend sailor, that you stand in
+danger of being plundered by these infidels."
+
+"Aye, more like than not."
+
+"Why, then we may count half the estate gone; and the peril is to be run
+again, and thus all cast away for nought."
+
+In this manner did Simon halt betwixt two ways like one distracted, but
+only he did mingle a mass of sacred words with his arguments which
+seemed to me nought but profanity, his sole concern being the gain of
+money. Then he falls to the old excuses Don Sanchez had told us of,
+saying he had no money of his own, and offering to show his books that
+we might see he had taken not one penny beyond his bare expenses from
+the estate, save his yearly wage, and that no more than Sir Richard had
+given him in his lifetime. And on Don Sanchez showing Mrs. Godwin's
+letter as a fitting authority to draw out this money for her use, he
+first feigns to doubt her hand, and then says he: "If an accident
+befalls these two women ere they return to justify me, how shall I
+answer to the next heir for this outlay? Verily" (clasping his hands) "I
+am as one standing in darkness, and I dare not move until I am better
+enlightened; so prithee, friend, give me time to commune with my
+conscience."
+
+Don Sanchez hunches up his shoulders and turns to us.
+
+"Why, look here, Master," says Dawson. "I can't see as you need much
+enlightenment to answer yes or no to a fair offer, and as for me, I'm
+not going to hang in a hedge for a blue moon. So if you won't clap hands
+on the bargain without more ado, I throw this business overboard and
+shall count I've done the best day's work of my life in getting out of
+the affair."
+
+Then I made as if I would willingly draw out of my share in the project.
+
+"My friends," says Simon, "there can be scarce any hope at all if thou
+wilt not hazard thy money for such a prodigious advantage." Then turning
+to Peter as his last hope, he asks in despair, "What shall we do, my
+brother?"
+
+"We can keep on a-praying, friend Simon," replies Peter, in a snivelling
+voice.
+
+"A blessed thought!" exclaims the steward in glee. "Surely that is more
+righteous than to lay faith in our own vain effort. So do thou, friend"
+(turning to me), "put thy money to this use, for I will none."
+
+"I cannot do that, sir," says I, "without an assurance that Mrs.
+Godwin's estate will bear this charge."
+
+With wondrous alacrity Simon fetches a book with a plan of the estate,
+whereby he showed us that not a holding on the estate was untenanted,
+not a single tenant in arrear with his rent, and that the value of the
+property with all deductions made was sixty-five thousand pounds.
+
+"Very good sir," says I. "Now you must give me a written note, stating
+what you have shown, with your sanction to my making this venture on
+Mrs. Godwin's behalf, that I may justify my claim hereafter."
+
+But this Simon stoutly refused to do, saying his conscience would not
+allow him to sign any bond (clearly with the hope that he might in the
+end shuffle out of paying anything at all), until Don Sanchez, losing
+patience, declared he would certainly hunt all London through to find
+that Mr. Richard Godwin, who was the next of kin, hinting that he would
+certainly give us such sanction as we required if only to prove his
+right to the succession should our venture fail.
+
+This put the steward to a new taking; but the Don holding firm, he at
+length agreed to give us this note, upon Don Sanchez writing another
+affirming that he had seen Mrs. Godwin and her daughter in Barbary, and
+was going forth to fetch them, that should Mr. Richard Godwin come to
+claim the estate he might be justly put off.
+
+And so this business ended to our great satisfaction, we saying to
+ourselves that we had done all that man could to redeem the captives,
+and that it would be no harm at all to put a cheat upon the miserly
+steward. Whether we were any way more honest than he in shaping our
+conduct according to our inclinations is a question which troubled us
+then very little.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+_Moll is cast to play the part of a fine lady; doubtful promise for this
+undertaking._
+
+
+On our way back to Greenwich we stayed at an inn by the road to refresh
+ourselves, and there, having a snug parlour to ourselves, and being
+seated about a fine cheese with each a full measure of ale, Don Sanchez
+asks us if we are satisfied with our undertaking.
+
+"Aye, that we are," replies Dawson, mightily pleased as usual to be
+a-feasting. "We desire nothing better than to serve your honour
+faithfully in all ways, and are ready to put our hands to any bond you
+may choose to draw up."
+
+"Can you show me the man," asks the Don, lifting his eyebrows
+contemptuously, "who ever kept a treaty he was minded to break? Men are
+honest enough when nought's to be gained by breaking faith. Are you both
+agreed to this course?"
+
+"Yes, Senor," says I, "and my only compunction now is that I can do so
+little to forward this business."
+
+"Why, so far as I can see into it," says Dawson, "one of us must be cast
+for old Mrs. Godwin, if Moll is to be her daughter, and you're fitter to
+play the part than I, for I take it this old gentlewoman should be of a
+more delicate, sickly composition than mine."
+
+"We will suppose that Mrs. Godwin is dead," says the Don, gravely.
+
+"Aye, to be sure; that simplifies the thing mightily. But pray, Senor,
+what parts are we to play?"
+
+"The parts you have played to-day. You go with me to fetch Judith Godwin
+from Barbary."
+
+"This hangs together and ought to play well; eh, Kit?"
+
+I asked Don Sanchez how long, in the ordinary course of things an
+expedition of this kind would take.
+
+"That depends upon accidents of many kinds," answers he. "We may very
+well stretch it out best part of a year."
+
+"A year," says Jack, scratching his ear ruefully, for I believe he had
+counted upon coming to live like a lord in a few weeks. "And what on
+earth are we to do in the meanwhile?"
+
+"Teach Moll," answers the Don.
+
+"She can read anything print or scrip," says Jack, proudly, "and write
+her own name."
+
+"Judith Godwin," says the Don, reflectively, "lived two years in Italy.
+She would certainly remember some words of Italian. Consider this: it is
+not sufficient merely to obtain possession of the Godwin estate; it must
+be held against the jealous opposition of that shrewd steward and of the
+presumptive heir, Mr. Richard Godwin, who may come forward at any time."
+
+"You're in the right, Senor. Well, there's Kit knows the language and
+can teach her a smattering of the Italian, I warrant, in no time."
+
+"Judith would probably know something of music," pursues the Don.
+
+"Why, Moll can play Kit's fiddle as well as he."
+
+"But, above all," continues the Don, as taking no heed of this tribute
+to Moll's abilities, "Judith Godwin must be able to read and write the
+Moorish character and speak the tongue readily, answer aptly as to their
+ways and habits, and to do these things beyond suspect. Moll must live
+with these people for some months."
+
+"God have mercy on us!" cries Jack. "Your honour is not for taking us to
+Barbary."
+
+"No," answers the Don, dryly, passing his long fingers with some
+significance over the many seams in his long face, "but we must go where
+the Moors are to be found, on the hither side of the straits."
+
+"Well," says Dawson, "all's as one whither we go in safety if we're to
+be out of our fortune for a year. There's nothing more for our Moll to
+learn, I suppose, senor."
+
+"It will not be amiss to teach her the manners of a lady," replies the
+Don, rising and knitting his brows together unpleasantly, "and
+especially to keep her feet under her chair at table."
+
+With this he rings the bell for our reckoning, and so ends our
+discussion, neither Dawson nor I having a word to say in answer to this
+last hit, which showed us pretty plainly that in reaching round with her
+long leg for our shins, Moll had caught the Don's shanks a kick that
+night she was seized with a cough.
+
+So to horse again and a long jog back to Greenwich, where Dawson and I
+would fain have rested the night (being unused to the saddle and very
+raw with our journey), but the Don would not for prudence, and
+therefore, after changing our clothes, we make a shift to mount once
+more, and thence another long horrid jolt to Edmonton very painfully.
+
+Coming to the Bell (more dead than alive) about eight, and pitch dark,
+we were greatly surprised that we could make no one hear to take our
+horses, and further, having turned the brutes into the stable ourselves,
+to find never a soul in the common room or parlour, so that the place
+seemed quite forsaken. But hearing a loud guffaw of laughter from below,
+we go downstairs to the kitchen, which we could scarce enter for the
+crowd in the doorway. And here all darkness, save for a sheet hung at
+the further end, and lit from behind, on which a kind of phantasmagory
+play of Jack and the Giant was being acted by shadow characters cut out
+of paper, the performer being hid by a board that served as a stage for
+the puppets. And who should this performer be but our Moll, as we knew
+by her voice, and most admirably she did it, setting all in a roar one
+minute with some merry joke, and enchanting 'em the next with a pretty
+song for the maid in distress.
+
+We learnt afterwards that Moll, who could never rest still two minutes
+together, but must for ever be a-doing something new, had cut out her
+images and devised the show to entertain the servants in the kitchen,
+and that the guests above hearing their merriment had come down in time
+to get the fag end, which pleased them so vastly that they would have
+her play it all over again.
+
+"This may undo us," says Don Sanchez, in a low voice of displeasure,
+drawing us away. "Here are a dozen visitors who will presently be
+examining Moll as a marvel. Who can say but that one of them may know
+her again hereafter to our confusion? We must be seen together no more
+than is necessary, until we are out of this country. I shall leave here
+in the morning, and you will meet me next at the Turk, in Gracious
+Street, to-morrow afternoon." Therewith he goes up to his room, leaving
+us to shift for ourselves; and we into the parlour to warm our feet at
+the fire till we may be served with some victuals, both very silent and
+surly, being still sore, and as tired as any dogs with our day's
+jolting.
+
+While we are in this mood, Moll, having finished her play, comes to us
+in amazing high spirits, and all aglow with pleasure shows us a handful
+of silver given her by the gentry; then, pulling up a chair betwixt us,
+she asks us a dozen questions of a string as to where we have been, what
+we have done, etc., since we left her. Getting no answer, she presently
+stops, looks first at one, then at the other, and bursting into a fit of
+laughter, cries: "Why, what ails you both to be so grumpy?"
+
+"In the first place, Moll," says Jack, "I'll have you to know that I am
+your father, and will not be spoken to save with becoming respect."
+
+"Why, I did but ask you where you have been."
+
+"Children of your age should not ask questions, but do as they're bid,
+and there's an end of it."
+
+"La, I'm not to ask any questions. Is there nothing else I am not to
+do?"
+
+"Yes; I'll not have you playing of Galimaufray to cook wenches and such
+stuff. I'll have you behave with more decency. Take your feet off the
+hearth, and put 'em under your chair. Let me have no more of these
+galanty-shows. Why, 'twill be said I cannot give you a basin of
+porridge, that you must go a-begging of sixpences like this!"
+
+"Oh, if you begrudge me a little pocket-money," cries she, springing up
+with the tears in her eyes, "I'll have none of it."
+
+And with that she empties her pocket on the chair, and out roll her
+sixpences together with a couple of silver spoons.
+
+"What," cries Jack, after glancing round to see we were alone. "You have
+filched a couple of spoons, Moll?"
+
+"And why not?" asks she, her little nose turning quite white with
+passion. "If I am to ask no questions, how shall I know but we may have
+never a spoon to-morrow for your precious basin of porridge?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+_Of our journey through France to a very horrid pass in the Pyraneans._
+
+
+Skipping over many unimportant particulars of our leaving Edmonton, of
+our finding Don Sanchez at the Turk in Gracious Street, of our going
+thence (the next day) to Gravesend, of our preparation there for voyage,
+I come now to our embarking, the 10th March, in the Rose, for Bordeaux
+in France. Nor shall I dwell long on that journey, neither, which was
+exceedingly long and painful, by reason of our nearing the equinoctials,
+which dashed us from our course to that degree that it was the 26th
+before we reached our port and cast anchor in still water. And all those
+days we were prostrated with sickness, and especially Jack Dawson,
+because of his full habit, so that he declared he would rather ride
+a-horseback to the end of the earth than go another mile on sea.
+
+We stayed in Bordeaux, which is a noble town, but dirty, four days to
+refresh ourselves, and here the Don lodged us in a fine inn and fed us
+on the best; and also he made us buy new clothes and linen (which we
+sadly needed after the pickle we had lain in a fortnight) and cast away
+our old; but no more than was necessary, saying 'twould be better to
+furnish ourselves with fresh linen as we needed it, than carry baggage,
+etc. "And let all you buy be good goods," says he, "for in this country
+a man is valued at what he seems, and the innkeepers do go in such fear
+of their seigneurs that they will charge him less for entertainment than
+if he were a mean fellow who could ill afford to pay."
+
+So not to displease him we dressed ourselves in the French fashion, more
+richly than ever we had been clad in our lives, and especially Moll did
+profit by this occasion to furnish herself like any duchess; so that
+Dawson and I drew lots to decide which of us should present the bill to
+Don Sanchez, thinking he would certainly take exception to our
+extravagance; but he did not so much as raise his eyebrows at the total,
+but paid it without ever a glance at the items. Nay, when Moll presents
+herself in her new equipment, he makes her a low reverence and pays her
+a most handsome compliment, but in his serious humour and without a
+smile. He himself wore a new suit all of black, not so fine as ours, but
+very noble and becoming, by reason of his easy, graceful manner and his
+majestic, high carriage.
+
+On the last day of March we set forth for Toulouse. At our starting Don
+Sanchez bade Moll ride by his side, and so we, not being bid, fell
+behind; and, feeling awkward in our new clothes, we might very well have
+been taken for their servants, or a pair of ill-bred friends at the
+best, for our Moll carried herself not a whit less magnificent than the
+Don, to the admiration of all who looked at her.
+
+To see these grand airs of hers charmed Jack Dawson.
+
+"You see, Kit," whispers he, "what an apt scholar the minx is, and what
+an obedient, dutiful, good girl. One word from me is as good as six
+months' schooling, for all this comes of that lecture I gave her the
+last night we were at Edmonton."
+
+I would not deny him the satisfaction of this belief, but I felt pretty
+sure that had she been riding betwixt us in her old gown, instead of
+beside the Don as his daughter, all her father's preaching would not
+have stayed her from behaving herself like an orange wench.
+
+We journey by easy stages ten days through Toulouse, on the road to
+Perpignan, and being favoured with remarkably fine weather, a blue sky,
+and a bright sun above us, and at every turn something strange or
+beautiful to admire, no pleasure jaunt in the world could have been more
+delightful. At every inn (which here they call hotels) we found good
+beds, good food, excellent wine, and were treated like princes, so that
+Dawson and I would gladly have given up our promise of a fortune to have
+lived in this manner to the end of our days. But Don Sanchez professed
+to hold all on this side of the Pyrenese Mountains in great contempt,
+saying these hotels were as nothing to the Spanish posadas, that the
+people here would rob you if they dared, whereas, on t'other side, not a
+Spaniard would take so much as the hair of your horse's tail, though he
+were at the last extremity, that the food was not fit for aught but a
+Frenchman, and so forth. And our Moll, catching this humour, did also
+turn up her nose at everything she was offered, and would send away a
+bottle of wine from the table because 'twas not ripe enough, though but
+a few weeks before she had been drinking penny ale with a relish, and
+that as sour as verjuice. And, indeed, she did carry it mighty high and
+artificial, wherever respect and humility were to be commanded. But it
+was pretty to see how she would unbend and become her natural self where
+her heart was touched by some tender sentiment. How she would empty her
+pockets to give to any one with a piteous tale, how she would get from
+her horse to pluck wild-flowers by the roadside, and how, one day,
+overtaking a poor woman carrying a child painfully on her back, she must
+have the little one up on her lap and carry it till we reached the
+hamlet where the woman lived, etc. On the fifteenth day we stayed at St.
+Denys, and going thence the next morning, had travelled but a couple of
+hours when we were caught in a violent storm of hailstones as big as
+peas, that was swept with incredible force by a wind rushing through a
+deep ravine in the mountains, so that 'twas as much as we could make
+headway through it and gain a village which lay but a little distance
+from us. And here we were forced to stay all day by another storm of
+rain, that followed the hail and continued till nightfall. Many others
+besides ourselves were compelled to seek refuge at our inn, and amongst
+them a company of Spanish muleteers, for it seems we were come to a pass
+leading through the mountains into Spain. These were the first Spaniards
+we had yet seen (save the Don), and for all we had heard to their
+credit, we could not admire them greatly, being a low-browed,
+coarse-featured, ragged crew, and more picturesque than cleanly, besides
+stinking intolerably of garlic. By nightfall there was more company than
+the inn could accommodate; nevertheless, in respect to our quality, we
+were given the best rooms in the house to ourselves.
+
+About eight o'clock, as we were about to sit down to supper, our
+innkeeper's wife comes in to tell us that a Spanish grandee is below,
+who has been travelling for hours in the storm, and then she asked very
+humbly if our excellencies will permit her to lay him a bed in our room
+when we have done with it, as she can bestow him nowhere else (the
+muleteers filling her house to the very cock loft), and has not the
+heart to send him on to St. Denys in this pitiless driving rain. To this
+Don Sanchez replies, that a Spanish gentleman is welcome to all we can
+offer him, and therewith sends down a mighty civil message, begging his
+company at our table.
+
+Moll has just time to whip on a piece of finery, and we to put on our
+best manners, when the landlady returns, followed by a stout, robust
+Spaniard, in an old coat several times too small for him, whom she
+introduced as Senor Don Lopez de Calvados.
+
+Don Lopez makes us a reverence, and then, with his shoulders up to his
+ears and like gestures, gives us an harangue at some length, but this
+being in Spanish, is as heathen Greek to our ears. However, Don Sanchez
+explains that our visitor is excusing his appearance as being forced to
+change his wet clothes for what the innkeeper can lend him, and so we,
+grinning to express our amiability, all sit down to table and set
+to--Moll with her most finicking, delicate airs and graces, and Dawson
+and I silent as frogs, with understanding nothing of the Dons'
+conversation. This, we learn from Don Sanchez after supper, has turned
+chiefly on the best means of crossing into Spain, from which it appears
+there are two passes through the mountains, both leading to the same
+town, but one more circuitous than the other. Don Lopez has come by the
+latter, because the former is used by the muleteers, who are not always
+the most pleasant companions one can have in a dangerous road; and for
+this reason he recommends us to take his way, especially as we have a
+young lady with us, which will be the more practicable, as the same
+guides who conducted him will be only too glad to serve us on their
+return the next morning. To this proposition we very readily agree, and
+supper being ended, Don Sanchez sends for the guides, two hardy
+mountaineers, who very readily agree to take us this way the next
+morning, if the weather permits. And so we all, wishing Don Lopez a
+good-night, to our several chambers.
+
+I was awoke in the middle of the night, as it seemed to me, by a great
+commotion below of Spanish shouting and roaring with much jingling of
+bells; and looking out of window I perceived lanterns hanging here and
+there in the courtyard, and the muleteers packing their goods to depart,
+with a fine clear sky full of stars overhead. And scarce had I turned
+into my warm bed again, thanking God I was no muleteer, when in comes
+the Don with a candle, to say the guide will have us moving at once if
+we would reach Ravellos (our Spanish town) before night. So I to
+Dawson's chamber, and he to Moll's, and in a little while we all
+shivering down to the great kitchen, where is never a muleteer left, but
+only a great stench of garlic, to eat a mess of soup, very hot and
+comforting. And after that out into the dark (there being as yet but a
+faint flush of green and primrose colour over towards the east), where
+four fresh mules (which Don Sanchez overnight had bargained to exchange
+against our horses, as being the only kind of cattle fit for this
+service) are waiting for us with other two mules, belonging to our
+guides, all very curiously trapped out with a network of wool and little
+jingling bells. Then when Don Sanchez had solemnly debated whether we
+should not awake Don Lopez to say farewell, and we had persuaded him
+that it would be kinder to let him sleep on, we mounted into our high,
+fantastic saddles, and set out towards the mountains, our guides
+leading, and we following close upon their heels as our mules could get,
+but by no guidance of ours, though we held the reins, for these
+creatures are very sagacious and so pertinacious and opiniastre that I
+believe though you pulled their heads off they would yet go their own
+way.
+
+Our road at first lay across a rising plain, very wild and scrubby, as I
+imagine, by the frequent deviations of our beast, and then through a
+forest of cork oaks, which keep their leaves all the year through, and
+here, by reason of the great shade, we went, not knowing whither, as if
+blindfold, only we were conscious of being on rough, rising ground, by
+the jolting of our mules and the clatter of their hoofs upon stones; but
+after a wearisome, long spell of this business, the trees growing more
+scattered and a thin grey light creeping through, we could make out that
+we were all together, which was some comfort. From these oaks, we passed
+into a wood of chestnuts, and still going up and up, but by such
+devious, unseen ways, that I think no man, stranger to these parts,
+could pick it out for himself in broad daylight, we came thence into a
+great stretch of pine trees, with great rocks scattered amongst them, as
+if some mountain had been blown up and fallen in a huge shower of
+fragments.
+
+And so, still for ever toiling and scambling upwards, we found ourselves
+about seven o'clock, as I should judge by the light beyond the trees and
+upon the side of the mountain, with the whole champaign laid out like a
+carpet under us on one side, prodigious slopes of rock on either hand,
+with only a shrub or a twisted fir here and there, and on the further
+side a horrid stark ravine with a cascade of water thundering down in
+its midst, and a peak rising beyond, covered with snow, which glittered
+in the sunlight like a monstrous heap of white salt.
+
+After resting at this point half an hour to breathe our mules, the
+guides got into their saddles, and we did likewise, and so on again
+along the side of the ravine, only not of a cluster as heretofore, but
+one behind the other in a long line, the mules falling into this order
+of themselves as if they had travelled the path an hundred times; but
+there was no means of going otherwise, the path being atrociously narrow
+and steep, and only fit for wild goats, there being no landrail, coping,
+or anything in the world to stay one from being hurled down a thousand
+feet, and the mountain sides so inclined that 'twas a miracle the mules
+could find foothold and keep their balance. From the bottom of the
+ravine came a constant roar of falling water, though we could spy it
+only now and then leaping down from one chasm to another; and more than
+once our guides would cry to us to stop (and that where our mules had to
+keep shifting their feet to get a hold) while some huge boulder,
+loosened by the night's rain, flew down across our path in terrific
+bounds from the heights above, making the very mountain tremble with the
+shock. Not a word spoke we; nay, we had scarce courage at times to draw
+breath, for two hours and more of this fearful passage, with no
+encouragement from our guides save that one of them did coolly take out
+a knife and peel an onion as though he had been on a level, broad road;
+and then, reaching a flat space, we came to a stand again before an
+ascent that promised to be worse than that we had done. Here we got
+down, Moll clinging to our hands and looking around her with large,
+frighted eyes.
+
+"Shall we soon be there?" she asked.
+
+And the Don, putting this question in Spanish to the guides, they
+pointed upwards to a gap filled with snow, and answered that was the
+highest point. This was some consolation, though we could not regard the
+rugged way that lay betwixt us and that without quaking. Indeed, I
+thought that even Don Sanchez, despite the calm, unmoved countenance he
+ever kept, did look about him with a certain kind of uneasiness.
+However, taking example from our guides, we unloosed our saddle bags,
+and laid out our store of victuals with a hogskin of wine which
+rekindled our spirits prodigiously.
+
+While we were at this repast, our guides, starting as if they had caught
+a sound (though we heard none save the horrid bursting of water), looked
+down, and one of them, clapping two dirty fingers in his mouth, made a
+shrill whistle. Then we, looking down, presently spied two mules far
+below on the path we had come, but at such a distance that we could
+scarce make out whether they were mounted or not.
+
+"Who are they?" asks Don Sanchez, sternly, as I managed to understand.
+
+"Friends," replies one of the fellows, with a grin that seemed to lay
+his face in two halves.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+_How we were entertained in the mountains, and stand in a fair way to
+have our throats cut._
+
+
+"We will go on when you are ready," says Don Sanchez, turning to us.
+
+"Aye," growled Jack in my ear, "with all my heart. For if these friends
+be of the same kidney as Don Lopez, we may be persuaded to take a better
+road, which God forbid if this be a sample of their preference."
+
+So being in our saddles forth we set once more and on a path no easier
+than before, but worse--like a very housetop for steepness, without a
+tinge of any living thing for succour if one fell, but only sharp,
+jagged rocks, and that which now added to our peril was here and there a
+patch of snow, so that the mules must cock their ears and feel their way
+before advancing a step, now halting for dread, and now scuttling on
+with their tails betwixt their legs as the stones rolled under them.
+
+But the longest road hath an end, and so at length reaching that gap we
+had seen from below, to our great content we beheld through an angle in
+the mountain a tract of open country below, looking mighty green and
+sweet in the distance. And at the sight of this, Moll clapt her hands
+and cried out with joy; indeed, we were all as mad as children with the
+thought that our task was half done. Only the Don kept his gravity. But
+turning to Moll, he stretches out his hand towards the plain and says
+with prodigious pride, "My country!"
+
+And now we began the descent, which was actually more perilous than the
+ascent, but we made light of it, being very much enlivened by the high
+mountain air and the relief from dread uncertainty, shouting out our
+reflections one to another as we jolted down the rugged path.
+
+"After all, Jack," says I to him at the top of my voice, being in
+advance and next to Don Sanchez; "after all, Don Lopez was not such a
+bad friend to us."
+
+Upon which, the Don, stopping his mule at the risk of being cast down
+the abyss, turns in his saddle, and says:
+
+"Fellow, Don Lopez is a Spaniard. A Castilian of noble birth--" but here
+his mule deciding that this was no fit place for halting, bundled onward
+at a trot to overtake the guides, and obliged his rider to turn his
+attention to other matters.
+
+By the look of the sun it must have been about two in the afternoon
+when, rounding a great bluff of rock, we came upon a kind of tableland
+which commanded a wide view of the plain below, most dazzling to our
+eyes after the gloomy recesses of the pass; and here we found trees
+growing and some rude attempt at cultivation, but all very poor and
+stunted, being still very high and exposed to the bleak winds issuing
+from the gorges.
+
+Our guides, throwing themselves on the ground, repaired once more to
+their store of onions, and we, nothing loath to follow their examples,
+opened our saddle bags, and with our cold meat and the hogskin of wine
+made another good repast and very merry. And the Don, falling into
+discourse with the guides, pointed out to us a little white patch on the
+plain below, and told us that was Ravellos, where we should find one of
+the best posadas in the world, which added to our satisfaction. "But"
+says he, "'tis yet four hours' march ere we reach it, so we had best be
+packing quickly."
+
+Thereupon we finished our meal in haste, the guides still lying on the
+ground eating onions, and when we were prepared to start they still lay
+there and would not budge. On this ensued another discussion, very
+indignant and passionate on the part of Don Sanchez, and as cool and
+phlegmatic on the side of the guides, the upshot of which was, as we
+learned from Don, that these rascals maintained they had fulfilled their
+bargain in bringing us over into Spain, but as to carrying us to
+Ravellos they would by no means do that without the permission of their
+zefe, who was one of those they had whistled to from our last halting
+place, and whom they were now staying for.
+
+Then, beginning to quake a bit at the strangeness of this treatment, we
+looked about us to see if we might venture to continue our journey
+alone. But Lord! one might as easily have found a needle in a bundle of
+hay as a path amidst this labyrinth of rocks and horrid fissures that
+environed us; and this was so obvious that the guides, though not yet
+paid for their service, made no attempt to follow or to stay us, as
+knowing full well we must come back in despair. So there was no choice
+but to wait the coming up of the zefe, the Don standing with his legs
+astride and his arms folded, with a very storm of passion in his face,
+in readiness to confront the tardy zefe with his reproaches for this
+delay and the affront offered to himself, we casting our eye longingly
+down at Ravellos, and the guides silently munching their onions. Thus we
+waited until the fine ear of our guides catching a sound, they rose to
+their feet muttering the word "zefe," and pull off their hats as two men
+mounted on mules tricked out like our own, came round the corner and
+pulled up before us. But what was our surprise to see that the foremost
+of these fellows was none other than the Don Lopez de Calvados we had
+entertained to supper the night before, and of whose noble family Don
+Sanchez had been prating so highly, and not a thread better dressed than
+when we saw him last, and full as dirty. That which gave us most
+uneasiness, however, was to observe that each of these "friends" carried
+an ugly kind of musket slung across his back, and a most unpleasant long
+sheath knife in his waist cloth.
+
+Not a word says our Don Sanchez, but feigning still to believe him a man
+of quality, he returns the other Don's salutation with all the ceremony
+possible. Then Don Lopez, smiling from ear to ear, begs us (as I learnt
+afterwards) to pardon him for keeping us waiting, which had not
+happened, he assures us, if we had not suffered him to oversleep
+himself. He then informs us that we are now upon his domain, and begs us
+to accept such hospitality as his Castillo will furnish, in return for
+our entertainment of last night. To this Don Sanchez replies with a
+thousand thanks that we are anxious to reach Ravellos before nightfall,
+and that, therefore, we will be going at once if it is all the same to
+him. With more bowing and scraping Don Lopez amiably but firmly declines
+to accept any refusal of his offer or to talk of business before his
+debt of gratitude is paid. With that he gives a sign to our guides, who
+at once lead off our mules at a brisk trot, leaving us to follow on foot
+with Don Lopez and his companion, whom he introduces as Don Ruiz del
+Puerto,--as arrant a cut-throat rascal to look at as ever I clapt eyes
+on.
+
+
+So we with very dismal forebodings trudge on, having no other course to
+take, Don Sanchez, to make the best of it, warranting that no harm shall
+come to us while we are under the hospitable protection of a Spaniard,
+but to no great effect--our faith being already shaken in his valuation
+of Spaniards.
+
+Quitting the tableland, ten minutes of leaping and scrambling brought us
+to a collection of miserable huts built all higgledy-piggledy along the
+edge of a torrent, overtopped by a square building of more consequence,
+built of grey stone and roofed with slate shingles, but with nothing but
+ill-shaped holes for windows; and this, Don Lopez with some pride told
+us was his castillo. A ragged crew of women and children, apprised of
+our coming by the guide, maybe, trooped out of the village to meet us
+and hailed our approach with shouts of joy, "for all the world like a
+pack of hounds at the sight of their keeper with a dish of bones,"
+whispers Jack Dawson in my ear ominously. But it was curious to see how
+they did all fall back in two lines, those that had hats taking them off
+as Don Lopez passed, he bowing to them right and left, like any prince
+in his progress.
+
+So we up to the castillo, where all the men of the village are assembled
+and all armed like Don Lopez, and they greet us with cries of "Hola!"
+and throwing up of hats. They making way for us with salutations on both
+sides, we enter the castillo, where we find one great ill-paved room
+with a step-ladder on one side leading to the floor above, but no
+furniture save a table and some benches of wood, all black and shining
+with grease and dirt. But indeed the walls, the ceiling, and all else
+about us was beyond everything for blackness, and this was easily to be
+understood, for a wench coming in with a cauldron lights a faggot of
+wood in a corner, where was no chimney to carry off the smoke, but only
+a hole in the wall with a kind of eaves over it, so that presently the
+place was so filled with the fumes 'twas difficult to see across it.
+
+Don Lopez (always as gracious as a cat with a milkmaid) asks Moll
+through Don Sanchez if she would like to make her toilette, while dinner
+is preparing, and at this offer all of us jump--choosing anything for a
+change; so he takes us up the step-ladder to the floor above, which
+differs from that below in being cut up into half a dozen pieces by some
+low partition of planks nailed loosely together like cribs for cattle,
+with some litter of dry leaves and hay in each, but in other respects
+being just as naked and grimy, with a cloud of smoke coming up through
+the chinks in the floor.
+
+"You will have the sole use of these chambers during your stay," says
+Don Lopez, "and for your better assurance you can draw the ladder up
+after you on retiring for the night."
+
+But for the gravity of our situation and prospects I could have burst
+out laughing when Don Sanchez gave us the translation of this promise,
+for the idea of regarding these pens as chambers was not less ludicrous
+than the air of pride with which Don Lopez bestowed the privilege of
+using 'em upon us.
+
+Don Lopez left us, promising to send a maid with the necessary
+appointments for Moll's toilette.
+
+"A plague of all this finery!" growled Dawson. "How long may it be,
+think you, Senor, ere we can quit this palace and get to one of those
+posadas you promised us?"
+
+Don Sanchez hunched his shoulders for all reply and turned away to hide
+his mortification. And now a girl comes up with a biggin of water on her
+head, a broken comb in her hand, and a ragged cloth on her arm that
+looked as if it had never been washed since it left the loom, and sets
+them down on a bench, with a grin at Moll; but she, though not
+over-nice, turns away with a pout of disgust, and then we to get a
+breath of fresh air to a hole in the wall on the windward side, where we
+stand all dumb with disappointment and dread until we are called down to
+dinner. But before going down Don Sanchez warns us to stand on our best
+behaviour, as these Spaniards, for all their rude seeming, were of a
+particularly punctilious, ticklish disposition, and that we might come
+badly out of this business if we happened to displease them.
+
+"I cannot see reason in that, Senor," says Dawson; "for the less we
+please 'em, the sooner they are likely to send us hence, and so the
+better for us."
+
+"As you please," replies the Don, "but my warning is to your advantage."
+
+Down we go, and there stands Don Lopez with a dozen choice friends, all
+the raggedest, dirty villains in the world; and they saluting us, we
+return their civility with a very fair pretence and take the seats
+offered us--they standing until we are set. Then they sit down, and each
+man lugs out a knife from his waist-cloth. The cauldron, filled with a
+mess of kid stewed in a multitude of onions, is fetched from the fire,
+and, being set upon a smooth board, is slid down the table to our host,
+who, after picking out some titbits for us, serves himself, and so
+slides it back, each man in turn picking out a morsel on the end of his
+knife. Bearing in mind Don Sanchez's warning, we do our best to eat of
+this dish; but, Heaven knows! with little relish, and mighty glad when
+the cauldron is empty and that part of the performance ended. Then the
+bones being swept from the table, a huge skin of wine is set before Don
+Lopez, and he serves us each with about a quart in an odd-shaped vessel
+with a spout, which Don Sanchez and his countrymen use by holding it
+above their heads and letting the wine spurt into their mouths; but we,
+being unused to this fashion, preferred rather to suck it out of the
+spout, which seemed to them as odd a mode as theirs was to us. However,
+better wine, drink it how you may, there is none than the wine of these
+parts, and this reconciling us considerably to our condition, we
+listened with content to their singing of ditties, which they did very
+well for such rude fellows, to the music of a guitar and a tambourine.
+And so when our pots came to be replenished a second time, we were all
+mighty merry and agreeable save Jack Dawson, who never could take his
+liquor like any other man, but must fall into some extravagant humour,
+and he, I perceived, regarded some of the company with a very sour,
+jealous eye because, being warmed with drink, they fell to casting
+glances at Moll with a certain degree of familiarity. Especially there
+was one fellow with a hook nose, who stirred his bile exceedingly,
+sitting with his elbows on the table and his jaws in his hands, and
+would scarcely shift his eyes from Moll. And since he could not make his
+displeasure understood in words, and so give vent to it and be done,
+Jack sat there in sullen silence watching for an opportunity to show his
+resentment in some other fashion. The other saw this well enough, but
+would not desist, and so these two sat fronting each other like two dogs
+ready to fly at each other's throats. At length, the hook-nosed rascal,
+growing bolder with his liquor, rises as if to reach for his wine pot,
+and stretching across the table, chucks Moll under the chin with his
+grimy fingers. At this Jack flinging out his great fist with all the
+force of contained passion, catches the other right in the middle of the
+face, with such effect that the fellow flies clean back over his bench,
+his head striking the pavement with a crash. Then, in an instant, all
+his fellows spring to their feet, and a dozen long knives flash out from
+their sheaths.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+_Of the manner in which we escaped pretty fairly out of the hands of
+Senor Don Lopez and his brigands._
+
+
+Up starts Jack Dawson, catching Moll by the arm and his joint stool by
+the leg, and stepping back a pace or two not to be taken in the flank,
+he swings his stool ready to dash the brains out of the first that nears
+him. And I do likewise, making the same show of valour with my stool,
+but cutting a poor figure beside Dawson's mighty presence.
+
+Seeing their fellow laid out for dead on the floor, with his hook nose
+smashed most horridly into his face, the others had no stomach to meet
+the same fate, but with their Spanish cunning began to spread out that
+so they might attack us on all sides; and surely this had done our
+business but that Don Lopez, flinging himself before us with his knife
+raised high, cries out at the top of his voice, "Rekbah!"--a word of
+their own language, I am told, taken from the Moorish, and signifying
+that whosoever shall outrage the laws of hospitality under his roof
+shall be his enemy to the death. And at this word every man stood still
+as if by inchantment, and let fall his weapon. Then in the same high
+voice he gives them an harangue, showing them that Dawson was in the
+right to avenge an insult offered his daughter, and the other justly
+served for his offence to us. "For his offence to me as the host of
+these strangers," adds he, "Jose shall answer to me hereafter if he
+live; if he be dead, his body shall be flung to the vultures of the
+gorge, and his name be never uttered again beneath this roof."
+
+"I bear no grudges, not I," says Dawson, when Don Sanchez gave him the
+English of this. "If he live, let his nose be set; and if dead, let him
+be buried decently in a churchyard. But hark ye, Senor, lest we fall out
+again and come out worse the next bout, do pray ask his worship if we
+may not be accommodated with a guide to take us on our way at once. We
+have yet two hours of daylight before us, there's not a cloud in the
+sky, and with such a moon as we had the night before last, we may get on
+well enough."
+
+Poor Moll, who was all of a shake with the terror of another
+catastrophe, added her prayers to Dawson's, and Don Sanchez with a
+profusion of civilities laid the proposal before Don Lopez, who, though
+professing the utmost regret to lose us so soon, consented to gratify
+our wish, adding that his mules were so well accustomed to the road that
+they could make the journey as well in the dark as in broad day.
+
+"Well, then," says Dawson, when this was told us, "let us settle the
+business at once, and be off."
+
+And now, when Don Sanchez proposed to pay for the service of our guides,
+it was curious to see how every rascal at the table craned forward to
+watch the upshot. Don Lopez makes a pretence of leaving the payment to
+Don Sanchez's generosity; and he, not behindhand in courtesy, lugs out
+his purse and begs the other to pay himself. Whereupon, with more
+apologies, Don Lopez empties the money on the table and carefully counts
+it, and there being but about a score of gold pieces and some silver, he
+shakes his head and says a few words to Don Sanchez in a very
+reproachful tone of remonstrance, to which our Don replies by turning
+all the trifles out of his pocket, one after the other, to prove that he
+has no money.
+
+"I thought as much," growls Jack in my ear. "A pretty nest of hornets
+we're fallen into."
+
+The company, seeing there was no more to be got out of Don Sanchez,
+began to murmur and cast their eyes at us; whereupon Dawson, seeing how
+the land lay, stands up and empties his pockets on the table, and I
+likewise; but betwixt us there was no more than some French pennies and
+a few odds and ends of no value at all. Fetching a deep sigh, Don Lopez
+takes all these possessions into a heap before him, and tells Don
+Sanchez that he cannot believe persons of our quality could travel with
+so little, that he feels convinced Don Sanchez must have dropped a purse
+on the way, and that until it is found he can on no account allow us to
+leave the neighbourhood.
+
+"This comes of being so mighty fine!" says Dawson, when Don Sanchez had
+explained matters. "Had we travelled as became our condition, this
+brigand would never have ensnared us hither. And if they won't believe
+your story, Senor, I can't blame 'em; for I would have sworn you had a
+thousand pounds to your hand."
+
+"Do you reproach me for my generosity?" asks the Don.
+
+"Nay, Master, I love you for being free with your money while you have
+it, but 'tis a queer kind of generosity to bring us into these parts
+with no means of taking us back again. Hows'ever, we'll say no more
+about that if we get out of this cursed smoke-hole; and as we are like
+to come off ill if these Jack-thieves keep us here a week or so and get
+nothing by it, 'twill be best to tell 'em the honest truth, and acquaint
+them that we are no gentle folk, but only three poor English mountebanks
+brought hither on a wild goose chase."
+
+This was a bitter pill for Don Sanchez to swallow; however, seeing no
+other cure for our ills, he gulped it down with the best face he could
+put on it. But from the mockery and laughter of all who heard him, 'twas
+plain to see they would not believe a word of his story.
+
+"What would you have me do now?" asks the Don, turning to us when the
+clamour had subsided, and he told us how he had tried to persuade them
+we were dancers he was taking for a show to the fair at Barcelona, which
+they, by our looks, would not believe, and especially that a man of such
+build as Jack Dawson could foot it, even to please such heavy people as
+the English.
+
+"What!" cries Jack. "I can't dance! We will pretty soon put them to
+another complexion if they do but give us space and a fair trial. You
+can strum a guitar, Kit, for I've heard you. And Moll, my chick, do you
+dash the tears from your cheek and pluck up courage to show these
+Portugals what an English lass can do."
+
+The brigands agreeing to this trial, the table is shoved back to give us
+a space in the best light, and our judges seat themselves conveniently.
+Moll brushes her eyes (to a little murmur of sympathy, as I thought),
+and I, striking out the tune, Jack, with all the magnificence of a king,
+takes her hand and leads her out to a French pavan; and sure no one in
+the world ever stepped it more gracefully than our poor little Moll (now
+put upon her mettle), nor more lightly than Dawson, so that every rascal
+in our audience was won to admiration, clapping hands and shouting
+"Hola!" when it was done. And this warming us, we gave 'em next an
+Italian coranto, and after that, an English pillow dance; and, in good
+faith, had they all been our dearest friends, these dirty fellows could
+not have gone more mad with delight. And then Moll and her father
+sitting down to fetch their breath, a dispute arose among the brigands
+which we were at a loss to understand, until Don Sanchez explained that
+a certain number would have it we were real dancers, but that another
+party, with Don Lopez, maintained these were but court dances, which
+only proved the more we were of high quality to be thus accomplished.
+
+"We'll convince 'em yet, Moll, with a pox of their doubts," cries
+Dawson, starting to his feet again. "Tell 'em we will give 'em a stage
+dance of a nymph and a wild man, Senor, with an excuse for our having no
+costume but this. Play us our pastoral, Kit. And sing you your ditty of
+'Broken Heart,' Moll, in the right place, that I may get my wind for the
+last caper."
+
+Moll nods, and with ready wit takes the ribbon from her head, letting
+her pretty hair tumble all about her shoulders, and then whipping up her
+long skirt, tucks one end under her girdle, thereby making a very dainty
+show of pink lining against the dark stuff, and also giving more play
+for her feet. And so thus they dance their pastoral, Don Sanchez taking
+a tambourine and tapping it lightly to the measure, up to Moll's song,
+which so ravished these hardy, stony men by the pathetic sweetness of
+her voice,--for they could understand nothing save by her
+expression,--that they would not let the dance go on until she had sung
+it through again. To conclude, Jack springs up as one enamoured to
+madness and flings out his last steps with such vigour and agility as to
+quite astound all.
+
+[Illustration: "MOLL AND HER FATHER DANCE A PASTORAL."]
+
+And now the show being ended, and not one but is a-crying of "Hola!" and
+"Animo!" Moll snatches the tambourine from Don Sanchez's hand, and
+stepping before Don Lopez drops him a curtsey, and offers it for her
+reward. At this Don Lopez, glancing at the money on the table by his
+side, and looking round for sanction to his company (which they did give
+him without one voice of opposition), he takes up two of the gold pieces
+and drops them on the parchment. Thus did our Moll, by one clever hit,
+draw an acknowledgment from them that we were indeed no fine folks, but
+mere players, which point they might have stumbled over in their cooler
+moments.
+
+But we were not quit yet; for on Don Sanchez's begging that we should
+now be set upon our road to Ravellos, the other replies that though he
+will do us this service with great pleasure, yet he cannot permit us to
+encounter the danger again of being taken for persons of quality. "Fine
+dress," says he, "may be necessary to the Senor and his daughter for
+their court dances, and they are heartily welcome to them for the
+pleasure they have given us, but for you and the musician who plays but
+indifferent well, meaner garb is more suitable; and so you will be good
+enough to step upstairs, the pair of you, and change your clothing for
+such as we can furnish from our store."
+
+And upstairs we were forced to go, Don Sanchez and I, and there being
+stripped we were given such dirty foul rags and so grotesque, that when
+we came down, Jack Dawson and Moll fell a-laughing at us, as though they
+would burst. And, in truth, we made a most ludicrous spectacle,
+--especially the Don, whom hitherto we had seen only in the
+neatest and most noble of clothes,--looking more like a couple of
+scarecrows than living men.
+
+Don Sanchez neither smiled nor frowned at this treatment, taking this
+misfortune with the resignation of a philosopher; only to quiet Dawson's
+merriment he told him that in the clothes taken from him was sewed up a
+bond for two hundred pounds, but whether this was true or not I cannot
+tell.
+
+And now, to bring an end to this adventure, we were taken down the
+intricate passes of the mountain in the moonlight, as many of the gang
+as could find mules coming with us for escort, and brought at last to
+the main road, where we were left with nought but what we stood in (save
+Moll's two pieces), the robbers bidding us their adios with all the
+courtesy imaginable. But even then, robbed of all he had even to the
+clothes of his back, Don Sanchez's pride was unshaken, for he bade us
+note that the very thieves in Spain were gentlemen.
+
+As we trudged along the road toward Ravellos, we fell debating on our
+case, as what we should do next, etc., Don Sanchez promising that we
+should have redress for our ill-treatment, that his name alone would
+procure us a supply of money for our requirements, etc., to my great
+content. But Dawson was of another mind.
+
+"As for seeking redress," says he, "I would as soon kick at a hive for
+being stung by a bee, and the wisest course when you've been once bit by
+a dog is to keep out of his way for the future. With respect of getting
+money by your honour's name, you may do as you please, and so may you,
+Kit, if you're so minded. But for my part, henceforth I'll pretend to be
+no better than I am, and the first suit of rags I can get will I wear in
+the fashion of this country. And so shall you, Moll, my dear; so make up
+your mind to lay aside your fine airs and hold up your nose no longer as
+if you were too good for your father."
+
+"Why, surely, Jack," says I, "you would not quit us and go from your
+bargain."
+
+"Not I, and you should know me well enough, Kit, to have no doubt on
+that score. But 'tis no part of our bargain that we should bustle
+anybody but Simon the steward."
+
+"We have four hundred miles to go ere we reach Elche," says Don Sanchez.
+"Can you tell me how we are to get there without money?"
+
+"Aye, that I can, and I warrant my plan as good as your honour's. How
+many tens are there in four hundred, Kit?"
+
+"Forty."
+
+"Well, we can walk ten miles a day on level ground, and so may do this
+journey in six weeks or thereabouts, which is no such great matter,
+seeing we are not to be back in England afore next year. We can buy a
+guitar and a tabor out of Moll's pieces; with them we can give a show
+wherever we stay for the night, and if honest men do but pay us half as
+much as the thieves of this country, we may fare pretty well."
+
+"I confess," says Don Sanchez, "your scheme is the best, and I would
+myself have proposed it but that I can do so little for my share."
+
+"Why, what odds does that make, Senor?" cries Jack. "You gave us of the
+best while you had aught to give, and 'tis but fair we should do the
+same now. Besides which, how could we get along without you for a
+spokesman, and I marked that you drummed to our dance very tunefully.
+Come, is it a bargain, friend?"
+
+And on Don Sanchez's consenting, Jack would have us all shake hands on
+it for a sign of faith and good fellowship. Then, perceiving that we
+were arrived at the outskirts of the town, we ended our discussion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+_Of our merry journeying to Alicante._
+
+
+We turned into the first posada we came to--a poor, mean sort of an inn
+and general shop, to be sure, but we were in no condition to cavil about
+trifles, being fagged out with our journey and the adventures of the
+day, and only too happy to find a house of entertainment still open. So
+after a dish of sausages with very good wine, we to our beds and an end
+to the torment of fleas I had endured from the moment I changed my
+French habit for Spanish rags.
+
+The next morning, when we had eaten a meal of goats' milk and bread and
+paid our reckoning, which amounted to a few rials and no more, Don
+Sanchez and I, taking what rested of Moll's two pieces, went forth into
+the town and there bought two plain suits of clothes for ourselves in
+the mode of the country, and (according to his desire) another of the
+same cut for Dawson, together with a little jacket and petticoat for
+Moll. And these expenditures left us but just enough to buy a good
+guitar and a tambourine--indeed, we should not have got them at all but
+that Don Sanchez higgled and bargained like any Jew, which he could do
+with a very good face now that he was dressed so beggarly. Then back to
+our posada, where in our room Jack and I were mighty merry in putting on
+our new clothes; but going below we find Moll still dressed in her
+finery, and sulking before the petticoat and jacket we had bought for
+her, which she would not put on by any persuasion until her father fell
+into a passion of anger. And the sight of him fuming in a short jacket
+barely covering his loins, and a pair of breeches so tight the seams
+would scarce hold together, so tickled her sense of humour that she fell
+into a long fit of laughter, and this ending her sulks she went upstairs
+with a good grace and returned in her hated petticoat, carrying her fine
+dress in a bundle. But I never yet knew the time when this sly baggage
+would not please herself for all her seeming yielding to others, and we
+were yet to have more pain from her than she from us in respect of that
+skirt. For ere we had got half way through the town she, dawdling behind
+to look first in this shop and then in that, gave us the slip, so that
+we were best part of an hour hunting the streets up and down in the
+utmost anxiety. Then as we were sweating with our exercise and trouble,
+lo! she steps out of a shop as calm as you please in a petticoat and
+jacket of her own fancy (and ten times more handsome than our purchase),
+a red shawl tied about her waist, and a little round hat with a bright
+red bob in it, set on one side of her head, and all as smart as a
+carrot.
+
+"Da!" says she, "where have you been running all this time?"
+
+And we, betwixt joy at finding her and anger at her impudence, could say
+nothing; and yet we were fain to admire her audacity too. But how, not
+knowing one word of the language, she had made her wants known was a
+mystery, and how she had obtained this finery was another, seeing that
+we had spent all there was of her two pieces. Certainly she had not
+changed her French gown and things for them, for these in a cumbrous
+bundle had her father been carrying up and down the town since we lost
+the minx.
+
+"If you han't stole 'em," says Dawson, finding his tongue at last,
+"where did you find the money to pay for those trappings, slut?"
+
+"In my pocket, sir," says she, with a curtsey, "where you might have
+found yours had you not emptied it so readily for the robbers yesterday.
+And I fancy," adds she slyly, "I may still find some left to offer you a
+dinner at midday if you will accept of it."
+
+This hint disposed us to make light of our grievance against her, and we
+went out of Ravellos very well satisfied to know that our next meal
+depended not solely upon chance. And this, together with the bright
+sunlight and the sweet invigorating morning air, did beget in us a
+spirit of happy carelessness, in keeping with the smiling gay aspect of
+the country about us.
+
+It was strange to see how easily Moll fell into our happy-go-lucky
+humour, she, who had been as stately as any Roman queen in her long
+gown, being now, in her short coloured petticoat, as frolicsome and
+familiar as a country wench at a fair; but indeed she was a born actress
+and could accommodate herself as well to one condition as another with
+the mere change of clothes. But I think this state was more to her real
+taste than the other, as putting no restraint upon her impulses and
+giving free play to her healthy, exuberant mirth. Her very step was a
+kind of dance, and she must needs fall a-carolling of songs like a lark
+when it flies. Then she would have us rehearse our old songs to our new
+music. So, slinging my guitar in front of me, I put it in tune, and Jack
+ties his bundle to his back that he may try his hand at the tambourine.
+And so we march along singing and playing as if to a feast, and stopping
+only to laugh prodigiously when one or other fell out of tune,--the most
+mad, light-hearted fools in the world;--but I speak not of Don Sanchez,
+who, feel what he might, never relaxed his high bearing or unbent his
+serious countenance.
+
+One thing I remember of him on this journey. Having gone about five
+miles, we sat us down on a bridge to rest a while, and there the Don
+left us to go a little way up the course of the stream that flowed
+beneath, and he came back with a posey of sweet jonquils set off with a
+delicate kind of fern very pretty, and this he presents to Moll with a
+gracious little speech, which act, it seemed to me, was to let her know
+that he respected her still as a young gentlewoman in spite of her short
+petticoat, and Moll was not dull to the compliment neither; for, after
+the first cry of delight in seeing these natural dainty flowers (she
+loving such things beyond all else in the world), she bethought her to
+make him a curtsey and reply to his speech with another as good and well
+turned, as she set them in her waist scarf. Also I remember on this road
+we saw oranges and lemons growing for the first time, but full a mile
+after Moll had first caught their wondrous perfume in the air. And these
+trees, which are about the size of a crab tree, grew in close groves on
+either side of the road, with no manner of fence to protect them, so
+that any one is lief to pluck what he may without let, so plentiful are
+they, and curious to see how fruit and blossom grow together on the same
+bush, the lemons, as I hear, giving four crops in the year, and more
+delicious, full, and juicy than any to be bought in England at six to
+the groat.
+
+We got a dinner of bread and cheese (very high) at a roadside house, and
+glad to have that, only no meat of any kind, but excellent good wine
+with dried figs and walnuts, which is the natural food of this country,
+where one may go a week without touching flesh and yet feel as strong
+and hearty at the end. And here very merry, Jack in his pertinacious,
+stubborn spirit declaring he would drink his wine in the custom of the
+country or none at all, and so lifting up the spouted mug at arm's
+length he squirts the liquor all over his face, down his new clothes and
+everywhere but into his mouth, before he could arrive to do it like Don
+Sanchez; but getting into the trick of it, he so mighty proud of his
+achievement that he must drink pot after pot until he got as drunk as
+any lord. So after that, finding a retired place,--it being midday and
+prodigious hot (though only now in mid-April),--we lay down under the
+orange trees and slept a long hour, to our great refreshment. Dawson on
+waking remembered nothing of his being drunk, and felt not one penny the
+worse for it. And so on another long stretch through sweet country, with
+here and there a glimpse of the Mediterranean, in the distance, of a
+surprising blueness, before we reached another town, and that on the top
+of a high hill. But it seems that all the towns in these parts (save
+those armed with fortresses) are thus built for security against the
+pirates, who ravage the seaboard of this continent incessantly from end
+to end. And for this reason the roads leading up to the town are made
+very narrow, tortuous, and difficult, with watch-towers in places, and
+many points where a few armed men lying in ambush may overwhelm an enemy
+ten times as strong. The towns themselves are fortified with gates, the
+streets extremely narrow and crooked, and the houses massed all together
+with secret passages one to another, and a network of little alleys
+leading whither only the inhabitants knew, so that if an enemy do get
+into them 'tis ten to one he will never come out alive.
+
+It being market day in this town, here Jack and his daughter gave a show
+of dancing, first in their French suits, which were vastly admired, and
+after in their Spanish clothes; but then they were asked to dance a
+fandango, which they could not. However, we fared very well, getting the
+value of five shillings in little moneys, and the innkeepers would take
+nothing for our entertainment, because of the custom we had brought his
+house, which we considered very handsome on his part.
+
+We set out again the next morning, but having shown how we passed the
+first day I need not dwell upon those which followed before we reached
+Barcelona, there being nothing of any great importance to tell. Only
+Moll was now all agog to learn the Spanish dances, and I cannot easily
+forget how, after much coaxing and wheedling on her part, she at length
+persuaded Don Sanchez to show her a fandango; for, surely, nothing in
+the world was ever more comic than this stately Don, without any music,
+and in the middle of the high road, cutting capers, with a countenance
+as solemn as any person at a burying. No one could be more quick to
+observe the ludicrous than he, nor more careful to avoid ridicule;
+therefore it said much for Moll's cajolery, or for the love he bore her
+even at this time, to thus expose himself to Dawson's rude mirth and
+mine in order to please her.
+
+We reached Barcelona the 25th of April, and there we stayed till the 1st
+of May, for Moll would go no further before she had learnt a bolero and
+a fandango--which dances we saw danced at a little theatre excellently
+well, but in a style quite different to ours, and the women very fat and
+plain. And though Moll, being but a slight slip of a lass, in whom the
+warmer passions were unbegotten, could not give the bolero the
+voluptuous fervour of the Spanish dancers, yet in agility and in pretty
+innocent grace she did surpass them all to nought, which was abundantly
+proved when she danced it in our posada before a court full of
+Spaniards, for there they were like mad over her, casting their silk
+handkerchiefs at her feet in homage, and filling Jack's tambourine three
+times over with cigarros and a plentiful scattering of rials. And I
+believe, had we stayed there, we might have made more money than ever we
+wanted at that time--though not so much as Don Sanchez had set his mind
+on; wherefore he would have us jogging again as soon as Moll could be
+brought to it.
+
+From Barcelona, we journeyed a month to Valencia, growing more indolent
+with our easier circumstances, and sometimes trudging no more than five
+or six miles in a day. And we were, I think, the happiest, idlest set of
+vagabonds in existence. But, indeed, in this country there is not that
+spur to exertion which is for ever goading us in this. The sun fills
+one's heart with content, and for one's other wants a few halfpence a
+day will suffice, and if you have them not 'tis no such great matter.
+For these people are exceeding kind and hospitable; they will give you a
+measure of wine if you are thirsty, as we would give a mug of water, and
+the poorest man will not sit down to table without making you an offer
+to share what he has. Wherever we went we were well received, and in
+those poor villages where they had no money to give they would pay us
+for our show in kind, one giving us bed, another board, and filling our
+wallets ere we left 'em with the best they could afford.
+
+'Twas our habit to walk a few miles before dinner, to sleep in the shade
+during the heat of the day, and to reach a town (if possible) by the
+fall of the sun. There would we spend half the night in jollity, and lie
+abed late in the morning. The inns and big houses in these parts are
+built in the form of squares, enclosing an open court with a sort of
+arcade all round, and mostly with a grape-vine running over the sunnier
+side, and in this space we used to give our performance, by the light of
+oil lamps hung here and there conveniently, with the addition, maybe, of
+moonlight reflected from one of the white walls. Here any one was free
+to enter, we making no charge, but taking only what they would freely
+give. And this treatment engenders a feeling of kindness on both sides
+(very different to our sentiment at home, where we players as often as
+not dread the audience as a kind of enemy, ready to tear us to pieces if
+we fail to please), and ours was as great a pleasure to amuse as theirs
+to be amused. I can recall to mind nothing of any moment occurring on
+this journey, save that we spent some time every day in perfecting our
+Spanish dances, I getting to play the tunes correctly, which at first I
+made sad bungling of, and Dawson in learning of his steps. Also, he and
+Moll acquired the use of a kind of clappers, called costagnettes, which
+they play with their hands in these fandangos and boleros, with a very
+pleasing effect.
+
+At Valencia we stayed a week and three days, lingering more than was
+necessary, in order to see a bull-fight. And this pastime they do not as
+we with dogs, but with men, and the bull quite free, and, save for the
+needless killing of horses, I think this a very noble exercise, being a
+fair trial of human address against brute force. And 'tis not nearly so
+beastly as seeing a prize fought by men, and not more cruel, I take it,
+than the shooting of birds and hares for sport, seeing that the agony of
+death is no greater for a sturdy bull than for a timid coney, and hath
+this advantage, that the bull, when exhausted, is despatched quickly,
+whereas the bird or hare may just escape capture, to die a miserable
+long death with a shattered limb.
+
+From Valencia we travelled five weeks (growing, I think, more lazy every
+day), over very hilly country to Alicante, a seaport town very strongly
+protected by a castle on a great rock, armed with guns of brass and
+iron, so that the pirates dare never venture near. And here I fully
+thought we were to dawdle away another week at the least, this being a
+very populous and lively city, promising much entertainment. For Moll,
+when not playing herself, was mad to see others play, and she did really
+govern, with her subtle wiles and winning smiles, more than her father,
+for all his masterful spirit, or Don Sanchez with his stern authority.
+But seeing two or three English ships in the port, the Don deemed it
+advisable that we should push on at once for Elche, and, to our great
+astonishment, Moll consented to our speedy going without demur, though
+why, we could not then discover, but did soon after, as I shall
+presently show.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+_Of our first coming to Elche and the strangeness of that city._
+
+
+Being resolved to our purpose overnight, we set out fairly early in the
+morning for Elche, which lies half a dozen leagues or thereabouts to the
+west of Alicante. Our way lay through gardens of oranges and spreading
+vineyards, which flourish exceedingly in this part, being protected from
+unkind winds by high mountains against the north and east; and here you
+shall picture us on the white, dusty road, Moll leading the way a dozen
+yards in advance, a tambourine slung on her back with streaming ribbons
+of many colours, taking two or three steps on one foot, and then two or
+three steps on t'other, with a Spanish twist of her hips at each turn,
+swinging her arms as she claps her costagnettes to the air of a song she
+had picked up at Barcelona, and we three men plodding behind, the Don
+with a guitar across his back, Dawson with our bundle of clothes, and I
+with a wallet of provisions hanging o' one side and a skin of wine on
+the other--and all as white as any millers with the dust of Moll's
+dancing.
+
+"It might be as well," says Don Sanchez, in his solemn, deliberate
+manner, "if Mistress Moll were advised to practise her steps in our
+rear."
+
+"Aye, Senor," replied Dawson, "I've been of the same mind these last ten
+minutes. But with your consent, Don Sanchez, I'll put her to a more
+serious exercise."
+
+The Don consenting with a bow, Jack continues:
+
+"You may have observed that I haven't opened my lips since we left the
+town, and the reason thereof is that I've been turning over in my mind
+whether, having come thus far, it would not be advisable to let my Moll
+know of our project. Because, if she should refuse, the sooner we
+consider some other plan, the better, seeing that now she is in good
+case and as careless as a bird on the bough, and she is less tractable
+to our purposes than when she felt the pinch of hunger and cold and
+would have jumped at anything for a bit of comfort."
+
+"Does she not know of our design?" asks the Don, lifting his eyebrows.
+
+"No more than the man in the moon, Senor," answers Jack. "For, though
+Kit and I may have discoursed of it at odd times, we have been mighty
+careful to shut our mouths or talk of a fine day at her approach."
+
+"Very good," says Don Sanchez. "You are her father."
+
+"And she shall know it," says Jack, with resolution, and taking a stride
+or two in advance he calls to her to give over dancing and come to him.
+
+"Have you forgot your breeding," he asks as she turns and waits for him,
+"that you have no more respect for your elders than to choke 'em with
+dust along of your shuffling?"
+
+"What a thoughtless thing am I!" cries she, in a voice of contrition.
+"Why, you're floured as white as a shade!"
+
+Then taking up a corner of her waist-shawl, she gently rubs away the
+dust from the tip of his nose, so that it stood out glowing red from his
+face like a cherry through a hole in a pie-crust, at which she claps her
+hands and rings out a peal of laughter.
+
+"I counted to make a lady of you, Moll," says Jack, in sorrow, "but I
+see plainly you will ever be a fool, and so 'tis to no purpose to speak
+seriously."
+
+"Surely, father, I have ever been what you wish me to be," answers she,
+demurely, curious now to know what he would be telling her.
+
+"Then do you put them plaguy clappers away, and listen to me patiently,"
+says he.
+
+Moll puts her hands behind her, and drawing a long lip and casting round
+eyes at us over her shoulder, walks along very slowly by her father's
+side, while he broaches the matter to her. And this he did with some
+difficulty (for 'tis no easy thing to make a roguish plot look
+innocent), as we could see by his shifting his bundle from one shoulder
+to the other now and again, scratching his ear and the like; but what he
+said, we, walking a pace or two behind, could not catch, he dropping to
+a very low tone as if ashamed to hear his own voice. To all he has to
+tell she listens very attentively, but in the end she says something
+which causes him to stop dead short and turn upon her gaping like a pig.
+
+"What!" he cries as we came up. "You knew all this two months ago?"
+
+"Yes, father," answers she, primly, "quite two months."
+
+"And pray who told you?" he asks.
+
+"No one, father, since you forbade me to ask questions. But though I may
+be dumb to oblige you, I can't be deaf. Kit and you are for ever
+a-talking of it."
+
+"Maybe, child," says Dawson, mightily nettled. "Maybe you know why we
+left Alicante this morning."
+
+"I should be dull indeed if I didn't," answers she. "And if you hadn't
+said when we saw the ships that we might meet more Englishmen in the
+town than we might care to know hereafter, why,--well, maybe we should
+have been in Alicante now."
+
+"By denying yourself that satisfaction," says Don Sanchez, "we may
+conclude that the future we are making for you is not unacceptable."
+
+Moll stopped and says with some passion:
+
+"I would turn back now and go over those mountains the way we came to
+ride through France in my fine gown like a lady."
+
+"Brava! bravamente!" says the Don, in a low voice, as she steps on in
+front of us, holding her head high with the recollection of her former
+state.
+
+"She was ever like that," whispers Dawson, with pride. "We could never
+get her to play a mean part willingly; could we, Kit? She was for ever
+wanting the part of a queen writ for her."
+
+The next day about sundown, coming to a little eminence, Don Sanchez
+points out a dark patch of forest lying betwixt us and the mountains,
+and says:
+
+"That is Elche, the place where we are to stay some months."
+
+We could make out no houses at all, but he told us the town lay in the
+middle of the forest, and added some curious particulars as how, lying
+on flat ground and within easy access of the sea, it could not exist at
+all but for the sufferance of the Spaniards on one side and of the
+Barbary pirates on the other, how both for their own convenience
+respected it as neutral ground on which each could exchange his
+merchandise without let or hindrance from the other, how the sort of
+sanctuary thus provided was never violated either by Algerine or
+Spaniard, but each was free to come and go as he pleased, etc., and this
+did somewhat reassure us, though we had all been more content to see our
+destination on the crest of a high hill.
+
+From this point we came in less than half an hour to Santa Pola, a small
+village, but very bustling, for here the cart-road from Alicante ends,
+all transport of commodities betwixt this and Elche being done on mules;
+so here great commotion of carriers setting down and taking up
+merchandise, and the way choked with carts and mules and a very babel of
+tongues, there being Moors here as well as Spaniards, and all shouting
+their highest to be the better understood of each other. These were the
+first Moors we had seen, but they did not encourage us with great hopes
+of more intimate acquaintance, wearing nothing but a kind of long,
+ragged shirt to their heels, with a hood for their heads in place of a
+hat, and all mighty foul with grease and dirt.
+
+Being astir betimes the next morning, we reached Elche before midday,
+and here we seemed to be in another world, for this region is no more
+like Spain than Spain is like our own country. Entering the forest, we
+found ourselves encompassed on all sides by prodigious high palm trees,
+which hitherto we had seen only singly here and there, cultivated as
+curiosities. And noble trees they are, standing eighty to a hundred feet
+high, with never a branch, but only a great spreading crown of leaves,
+with strings of dates hanging down from their midst. Beneath, in marshy
+places, grew sugar-canes as high as any haystack; and elsewhere were
+patches of rice, which grows like corn with us, but thrives well in the
+shade, curiously watered by artificial streams of water. And for hedges
+to their property, these Moors have agaves, with great spiky leaves
+which no man can penetrate, and other strange plants, whereof I will
+mention only one, they call the fig of Barbary, which is no fig at all,
+but a thing having large, fleshy leaves, growing one out of the other,
+with fruit and flower sprouting out of the edges, and all monstrous
+prickly. To garnish and beautify this formidable defence, nature had
+cast over all a network of creeping herbs with most extraordinary
+flowers, delightful both to see and smell, but why so prickly, no man
+can say.
+
+"Surely, this must be paradise," cries Moll, staying to look around her.
+
+And we were of the same thinking, until we came to the town, which, as I
+have said, lies in the midst of this forest, and then all our hopes and
+expectations were dashed to the ground. For we had looked to find a city
+in keeping with these surroundings,--of fairy palaces and stately
+mansions; in place whereof was nought but a wilderness of mean, low,
+squalid houses, with meandering, ill-paved alleys, and all past
+everything for unsavoury smells,--heaps of refuse lying before every
+door, stark naked brats of children screaming everywhere, and a pack of
+famished dogs snapping at our heels.
+
+Don Sanchez leads the way, we following, with rueful looks one at the
+other, till we reach the market-place, and there he takes us into a
+house of entertainment, where a dozen Moors are squatting on their
+haunches in groups about sundry bowls of a smoking mess, called
+cuscusson, which is a kind of paste with a little butter in it and a
+store of spices. Their manner of eating it is simple enough: each man
+dips his hand in the pot, takes out a handful, and dances it about till
+it is fashioned into a ball, and then he eats it with all the gusto in
+the world. For our repast we were served with a joint of roast mutton,
+and this being cut up, we had to take up in our hands and eat like any
+savages,--their religion denying these Moors anything but the bare
+necessities of life. Also, their law forbids the drinking of wine, which
+did most upset Jack Dawson, he having for drink with his meat nothing
+but the choice of water and sour milk; but which he liked least I know
+not, for he would touch neither, saying he would rather go dry any day
+than be poisoned with such liquor.
+
+Whilst we were at our meal, a good many Moors came in to stare at us, as
+at a raree show, and especially at Moll, whose bright clothes and loose
+hair excited their curiosity, for their women do rarely go abroad,
+except they be old, and wear only long dirty white robes, muffling the
+lower part of their faces. None of them smiled, and it is noticeable
+that these people, like our own Don, do never laugh, taking such
+demonstration as a sign of weak understanding and foolishness, but
+watching all our actions very intently. And presently an old Moor, with
+a white beard and more cleanly dressed than the rest, pushing the crowd
+aside to see what was forward, recognised Don Sanchez, who at once rose
+to his feet; we, not to be behind him in good manners, rising also.
+
+"May Baba," says the old Moor; and repeating this phrase thrice (which
+is a sure sign of hearty welcome), he claps the Don's hand, without
+shaking it, and lays his own upon his breast, the Don doing likewise.
+Then Don Sanchez, introducing us as we understood by his gestures, the
+old Moor bends his head gravely, putting his right hand first to his
+heart, next to his forehead, and then kissing the two foremost fingers
+laid across his lips, we replying as best we could with a bowing and
+scraping. These formalities concluded, the Don and the old Moor walk
+apart, and we squat down again to our mutton bones.
+
+After a lengthy discussion the old Moor goes, and Don Sanchez, having
+paid the reckoning, leads us out of the town by many crooked alleys and
+cross-passages; he speaking never a word, and we asking no questions,
+but marvelling exceedingly what is to happen next. And, following a wall
+overhung by great palms, we turn a corner, and find there our old Moor
+standing beside an open door with a key in his hand. The old Moor gives
+the key into Don Sanchez's hand, and with a very formal salutation,
+leaves us.
+
+Then following the Don through the doorway, we find ourselves in a
+spacious garden, but quite wild for neglect; flower and weed and fruit
+all mingling madly together, but very beautiful to my eye, nevertheless,
+for the abundance of colour, the richness of the vegetables, and the
+graceful forms of the adjacent palms.
+
+A house stood in the midst of this wilderness, and thither Don Sanchez
+picked his way, we at his heels still too amazed to speak. Beside the
+house was a well with a little wall about it, and seating himself on
+this, Don Sanchez opens his lips for the first time.
+
+"My friend, Sidi ben Ahmed, has offered me the use of this place as long
+as we choose to stay here," says he. "Go look in the house and tell me
+if you care to live in it for a year."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+_How Don Sanchez very honestly offers to free us of our bargain if we
+will; but we will not._
+
+
+The house, like nearly all Moorish houses of this class, was simply one
+large and lofty room, with a domed ceiling built of very thick masonry,
+to resist the heat of the sun. There was neither window nor chimney, the
+door serving to admit light and air, and let out the smoke if a fire
+were lighted within. One half of this chamber was dug out to a depth of
+a couple of feet, for the accommodation of cattle (the litter being
+thrown into the hollow as it is needed, and nought removed till it
+reaches the level of the other floor), and above this, about eight feet
+from the ground and four from the roof, was a kind of shelf (the breadth
+and length of that half), for the storage of fodder and a sleeping-place
+for the inhabitants, with no kind of partition, or any issue for the
+foul air from the cattle below.
+
+"Are we to live a year in this hutch?" asks Moll, in affright.
+
+"Have done with your chatter, Moll!" answers Jack, testily. "Don't you
+see I'm a-thinking? Heaven knows there's enough to swallow without any
+bugbears of your raising."
+
+With that, having finished his inspection of the interior, he goes out
+and looks at it outside.
+
+"Well," says Don Sanchez, "what think you of the house?"
+
+"Why, Senor, 'tis no worse as I can see than any other in these parts,
+and hath this advantage, which they have not, of being in a sweet air.
+With a bit of contrivance we could make a shift to live here well
+enough. We should not do amiss neither for furniture, seeing that 'tis
+the custom of the country to eat off the floor and sit upon nothing. A
+pot to cook victuals in is about all we need in that way. But how we are
+to get anything to cook in it is one mystery, and" (clacking his tongue)
+"what we are going to drink is another, neither of which I can fathom.
+For, look you, Senor, if one may judge of men's characters by their
+faces or of their means by their habitations, we may dance our legs off
+ere ever these Moors will bestow a penny piece upon us, and as for their
+sour milk, I'd as lief drink hemlock, and liefer. Now, if this town had
+been as we counted on, like Barcelona, all had gone as merry as a
+marriage bell, for then might we have gained enough to keep us in
+jollity as long as you please; but here, if we die not of the colicks in
+a week, 'twill be to perish of starvation in a fortnight. What say you,
+Kit?"
+
+I was forced to admit that I had never seen a town less likely to afford
+a subsistence than this.
+
+Then Don Sanchez, having heard us with great patience, and waited a
+minute to see if we could raise any further objections, answers us in
+measured tones.
+
+"I doubt not," says he, "that with a little ingenuity you may make the
+house habitable and this wilderness agreeable. My friend, Sidi ben
+Ahmed, has offered to provide us with what commodities are necessary to
+that end. I agree with you that it would be impossible to earn the
+meanest livelihood here by dancing; it would not be advisable if we
+could. For that reason, my knowledge of various tongues making me very
+serviceable to Sidi ben Ahmed (who is the most considerable merchant of
+this town), I have accepted an office in his house. This will enable me
+to keep my engagement with you. You will live at my charge, as I
+promised, and you shall want for nothing in reason. If the Moors drink
+no wine themselves, they make excellent for those who will, and you
+shall not be stinted in that particular."
+
+"Come, this sounds fair enough," cries Dawson. "But pray, Senor, are we
+to do nothing for our keep?"
+
+"Nothing beyond what we came here to do," replies he, with a meaning
+glance at Moll.
+
+"What!" cries poor Moll, in pain. "We are to dance no more!"
+
+The Don shook his head gravely; and, remembering the jolly, vagabond,
+careless, adventurous life we had led these past two months and more,
+with a thousand pleasant incidents of our happy junketings, we were all
+downcast at the prospect of living in this place--though a paradise--for
+a year without change.
+
+"Though I promised you no more than I offer," says the Don, "yet if this
+prospect displease you, we will cry quits and part here. Nay," adds he,
+taking a purse from his pocket, "I will give you the means to return to
+Alicante, where you may live as better pleases you."
+
+It seemed to me that there was an unfeigned carelessness in his manner,
+as if he would as lief as not throw up this hazardous enterprise for
+some other more sure undertaking. And, indeed, I believe he was then
+balancing another alternative in his mind.
+
+At this generous offer Moll dashed away the tears that had sprung to her
+eyes, brightening up wonderfully, but then, casting her eyes upon the
+Don, her face fell again as at the thought of leaving him. For we all
+admired him, and she prodigiously, for his great reserve and many good
+qualities which commanded respect, and this feeling was tinged in her
+case, I believe, with a kind of growing affection.
+
+Seeing this sentiment in her eyes, the Don was clearly touched by it,
+and so, laying his hand gently on her shoulder, he says:
+
+"My poor child, remember you the ugly old women we saw dancing at
+Barcelona? They were not more than forty; what will they be like in a
+few years? Who will tolerate them? who love them? Is that the end you
+choose for your own life--that the estate to which our little princess
+shall fall?"
+
+"No, no, no!" cries she, in a passion, clenching her little hands and
+throwing up her head in disdain.
+
+"And no, no, no, say I," cries Dawson. "Were our case ten times as bad,
+I'd not go back from my word. As it is, we are not to be pitied, and I
+warrant ere long we make ourselves to be envied. Come, Kit, rouse you
+out of your lethargies, and let us consult how we may improve our
+condition here; and do you, Senor, pray order us a little of that same
+excellent wine you spoke of, if it be but a pint, when you feel disposed
+that way."
+
+The Don inclined his head, but lingered, talking to Moll very gravely,
+and yet tenderly, for some while, Dawson and I going into the house to
+see what we could make of it; and then, telling us we should see him no
+more till the next day, he left us. But for some time after he was gone
+Moll sat on the side of the well, very pensive and wistful, as one to
+whom the future was opened for the first time.
+
+Anon comes a banging at our garden gate, which Moll had closed behind
+the Don; and, going to it, we find a Moorish boy with a barrow charged
+with many things. We could not understand a word he said, but Dawson
+decided these chattels were sent us by the Don, by perceiving a huge
+hogskin of wine, for which he thanked God and Don Sanchez an hundred
+times over. So these commodities we carried up to the house, marvelling
+greatly at the Don's forethought and generosity, for here were a score
+of things over and above those we had already found ourselves lacking;
+namely, earthen pipkins and wooden vessels, a bag of charcoal, a box of
+carpenters' tools (which did greatly like Dawson, he having been bred a
+carpenter in his youth), instruments for gardening (to my pleasure, as I
+have ever had a taste for such employment), some very fine Moorish
+blankets, etc. So when the barrow was discharged, Dawson gives the lad
+some rials out of his pocket, which pleased him also mightily.
+
+Then, first of all, Dawson unties the leg of the hogskin, and draws off
+a quart of wine, very carefully securing the leg after, and this we
+drank to our great refreshment; and next Moll, being awoke from her
+dreams and eager to be doing, sets herself to sort out our goods, such
+as belong to us (as tools, etc.), on one side, and such as belong to her
+(as pipkins and the rest) on the other. Leaving her to this employment,
+Dawson and I, armed with a knife and bagging hook, betake ourselves to a
+great store of canes stacked in one corner of the garden, and sorting
+out those most proper to our purpose, we lopped them all of an equal
+length, and shouldering as many as we could carried them up to our
+house. Here we found Moll mighty jubilant in having got her work done,
+and admirably she had done it, to be sure. For, having found a long
+recess in the wall, she had brushed it out clean with a whisp of herbs,
+and stored up her crocks according to their size, very artificial, with
+a dish of oranges plucked from the tree at our door on one side, and a
+dish of almonds on the other, a pipkin standing betwixt 'em with a
+handsome posey of roses in it. She had spread a mat on the floor, and
+folded up our fine blankets to serve for cushions; and all that did not
+belong to her she had bundled out of sight into that hollowed side I
+have mentioned as being intended for cattle.
+
+After we had sufficiently admired the performance, she told us she had a
+mind to give us a supper of broth. "But," says she, "the Don has
+forgotten that we must eat, and hath sent us neither bread nor flesh nor
+salt."
+
+This put us to a stumble, for how to get these things we knew not; but
+Moll declared she would get all she needed if we could only find the
+money.
+
+"Why, how?" asks Jack. "You know not their gibberish."
+
+"That may be," answers she, "but I warrant the same language that bought
+me this petticoat will get us a supper."
+
+So we gave her what money we had, and she went off a-marketing, with as
+much confidence as if she were a born Barbary Moor. Then Jack falls to
+thanking God for blessing him with such a daughter, at the same time
+taking no small credit to himself for having bred her to such
+perfection, and in the midst of his encomiums, being down in the hollow
+searching for his hammer, he cries:
+
+"Plague take the careless baggage! she has spilled all our nails, and
+here's an hour's work to pick 'em up!"
+
+This accident was repaired, however, and Moll's transgression forgotten
+when she returned with an old woman carrying her purchases. Then were we
+forced to admire her skill in this business, for she had bought all that
+was needful for a couple of meals, and yet had spent but half our money.
+Now arose the difficult question how to make a fire, and this Jack left
+us to settle by our own devices, he returning to his own occupation.
+Moll resolved we should do our cooking outside the house, so here we
+built up a kind of grate with stones; and, contriving to strike a spark
+with the back of a jack-knife and a stone, upon a heap of dried leaves,
+we presently blew up a fine flame, and feeding this with the ends of
+cane we had cut and some charcoal, we at last got a royal fire on which
+to set our pot of mutton. And into this pot we put rice and a multitude
+of herbs from the garden, which by the taste we thought might serve to
+make a savoury mess. And, indeed, when it began to boil, the odour was
+so agreeable that we would have Jack come out to smell it. And he having
+praised it very highly, we in return went in to look at his handiwork
+and praise that. This we could do very heartily and without hypocrisy,
+for he had worked well and made a rare good job, having built a very
+seemly partition across the room, by nailing of the canes
+perpendicularly to that kind of floor that hung over the hollowed
+portion, thus making us now three rooms out of one. At one end he had
+left an opening to enter the cavity below and the floor above by the
+little ladder that stood there, and these canes were set not so close
+together but that air and light could pass betwixt them, and yet from
+the outer side no eye could see within, which was very commodious. Also
+upon the floor above, he had found sundry bundles of soft dried leaves,
+and these, opened out upon the surface of both chambers, made a very
+sweet, convenient bed upon which to lie. Then Dawson offering Moll her
+choice, she took the upper floor for her chamber, leaving us two the
+lower; and so, it being near sundown by this time, we to our supper in
+the sweet, cool air of evening, all mightily content with one another,
+and not less satisfied with our stew, which was indeed most savoury and
+palatable. This done, we took a turn round our little domain, admiring
+the many strange and wonderful things that grew there (especially the
+figs, which, though yet green, were wondrous pleasant to eat); and I
+laying out my plans for the morrow, how to get this wilderness into
+order, tear out the worthless herbs, dig the soil, etc., Dawson's
+thoughts running on the building of an outhouse for the accommodation of
+our wine, tools, and such like, and Moll meditating on dishes to give us
+for our repasts. And at length, when these divers subjects were no more
+to be discussed, we turned into our dormitories, and fell asleep mighty
+tired, but as happy as princes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+_A brief summary of those twelve months we spent at Elche._
+
+
+The surprising activity with which we attacked our domestic business at
+Elche lasted about two days and a half,--Dawson labouring at his shed, I
+at the cultivation of the garden, and Moll quitting her cooking and
+household affairs, as occasion permitted, to lend a helping hand first
+to her father and then to me. And as man, when this fever of enterprise
+is upon him, must for ever be seeking to add to his cares, we persuaded
+Don Sanchez to let us have two she-goats to stall in the shed and
+consume our waste herbage, that we might have milk and get butter, which
+they do in these parts by shaking the cream in a skin bag (a method that
+seems simple enough till you have been shaking the bag for twenty
+minutes in vain on a sultry morning) without cost. But the novelty of
+the thing wearing off, our eagerness rapidly subsided, and so about the
+third day (as I say), the heat being prodigious, we toiled with no
+spirit at all.
+
+Dawson was the first to speak his mind. Says he, coming to me whilst I
+was still sweating over my shovel:
+
+"I've done it, but hang me if I do more. There's a good piece of work
+worth thirty shillings of any man's money, but who'll give me a thank ye
+for it when we leave here next year?"
+
+And then he can find nothing better to do than fall a-commenting on my
+labours, saying there was but precious little to show for my efforts,
+that had he been in my place he would have ordered matters otherwise,
+and begun digging t'other end, wagering that I should give up my job
+before it was quarter done, etc., all which was mighty discouraging and
+the more unpleasant because I felt there was a good deal of truth in
+what he said.
+
+Consequently, I felt a certain malicious enjoyment the next morning upon
+finding that the goats had burst out one side of his famous shed, and
+got loose into the garden, which enabled me to wonder that two such
+feeble creatures could undo such a good thirty shillings' worth of work,
+etc. But ere I was done galling him, I myself was mortified exceedingly
+to find these mischievous brutes had torn up all the plants I had set by
+the trees in the shade as worthy of cultivation, which gave Jack a
+chance for jibing at me. But that which embittered us as much as
+anything was to have Moll holding her sides for laughter at our attempts
+to catch these two devilish goats, which to our cost we found were not
+so feeble, after all; for getting one up in a corner, she raises herself
+up on her hind legs and brings her skull down with such a smack on my
+knee that I truly thought she had broke my cramp-bone, whilst t'other,
+taking Dawson in the ankles with her horns, as he was reaching forward
+to lay hold of her, lay him sprawling in our little stream of water. Nor
+do I think we should ever have captured them, but that, giving over our
+endeavours from sheer fatigue, they of their own accord sauntered into
+the shed for shelter from the sun, where Moll clapt to the door upon
+them, and set her back against the gap in the side, until her father
+came with a hammer and some stout nails to secure the planks. So for the
+rest of that day Jack and I lay on our backs in the shade, doing
+nothing, but exceedingly sore one against the other for these
+mischances.
+
+But our heart burnings ended not there; for coming in to supper at
+sundown, Moll has nothing to offer us but dry bread and a dish of dates,
+which, though it be the common supper of the Moors in this place, was
+little enough to our satisfaction, as Dawson told her in pretty round
+terms, asking her what she was good for if not to give us a meal fit for
+Christians, etc., and stating very explicitly what he would have her
+prepare for our dinner next day. Moll takes her upbraiding very humbly
+(which was ever a bad sign), and promises to be more careful of our
+comfort in the future. And so ended that day.
+
+The next morning Dawson and I make no attempt at work, but after
+breakfast, by common accord, stretch us out under the palms to meditate;
+and there about half past ten, Don Sanchez, coming round to pay us a
+visit, finds us both sound asleep. A sudden exclamation from him aroused
+us, and as we stumbled to our feet, staring about us, we perceived Moll
+coming from the house, but so disfigured with smuts of charcoal all over
+her face and hands, we scarce knew her.
+
+"God's mercy!" cries the Don. "What on earth have you been doing,
+child?"
+
+To which Moll replies with a curtsey:
+
+"I am learning to be a cook-wench, Senor, at my father's desire."
+
+"You are here," answers the Don, with a frown, "to learn to be a lady.
+If a cook-wench is necessary, you shall have one" (this to us), "and
+anything else that my means may afford. You will do well to write me a
+list of your requirements; but observe," adds he, turning on his heel,
+"we may have to stay here another twelvemonth, if my economies are not
+sufficient by the end of the first year to take us hence."
+
+This hint brought us to our senses very quickly, and overtaking him ere
+he reached our garden gate, Dawson and I assured the Don we had no need
+of any servant, and would be careful that Moll henceforth did no menial
+office; that we would tax his generosity no more than we could help,
+etc., to our great humiliation when we came to reflect on our conduct.
+
+Thenceforth Dawson charged himself with the internal economy of the
+house, and I with that part which concerned the custody and care of the
+goats, the cultivation of pot-herbs and with such instruction of Moll in
+the Italian tongue as I could command. But to tell the truth, we neither
+of us did one stroke of work beyond what was absolutely necessary, and
+especially Dawson, being past everything for indolence, did so order his
+part that from having two dishes of flesh a day, we came, ere long, to
+getting but one mess a week; he forcing himself and us to be content
+with dates and bread for our repasts, rather than give himself the
+trouble of boiling a pot. Beyond browsing my goats, drawing their milk
+(the making of butter I quickly renounced), and watering my garden night
+and morn (which is done by throwing water from the little stream
+broadcast with a shovel on either side), I did no more than Dawson, but
+joined him in yawning the day away, for which my sole excuse is the
+great heat of this region, which doth beget most slothful humours in
+those matured in cooler climes.
+
+With Moll, however, the case was otherwise; for she, being young and of
+an exceeding vivacious, active disposition, must for ever be doing of
+something, and lucky for us when it was not some mischievous trick at
+our expense--as letting the goats loose, shaking lemons down on our
+heads as we lay asleep beneath it, and the like. Being greatly smitten
+with the appearance of the Moorish women (who, though they are not
+permitted to wander about at will like our women, are yet suffered to
+fetch water from the public fountains), she surprised us one morning by
+coming forth dressed in their mode. And this dress, which seems to be
+nought but a long sheet wound loosely twice or thrice about the body,
+buckled on the shoulder, with holes for the arms to be put through in
+the manner of the old Greeks, became her surprisingly; and we noticed
+then for the first time that her arms were rounder and fuller than when
+we had last seen them bare. Then, to get the graceful, noble bearing of
+the Moors, she practised day after day carrying a pitcher of water on
+her head as they do, until she could do this with perfect ease and
+sureness. In this habit the Don, who was mightily pleased with her
+looks, took her to the house of his friend and employer, Sidi ben Ahmed,
+where she ingratiated herself so greatly with the women of his household
+that they would have her come to them again the next day, and after that
+the next,--indeed, thenceforth she spent far more of her time with these
+new friends than with us. And here, from the necessity of making herself
+understood, together with an excellent memory and a natural aptitude,
+she learned to speak the Moorish tongue in a marvellously short space of
+time. Dawson and I were frequently asked to accompany Moll, and we went
+twice to this house, which, though nothing at all to look at outside,
+was very magnificently furnished within, and the entertainment most
+noble. But Lord! 'twas the most tedious, wearisome business for us, who
+could make out never a word of the civil speeches offered us without the
+aid of Don Sanchez and Moll, and then could think of no witty response,
+but could only sit there grinning like Gog and Magog. Still, it gave us
+vast pleasure to see how Moll carried herself with this company, talking
+as freely as they, yet holding herself with the dignity of an equal, and
+delighting all by her vivacity and sly, pretty ways.
+
+[Illustration: "SHE PRACTISED DAY AFTER DAY BY CARRYING A PITCHER OF
+WATER ON HER HEAD."]
+
+I think no country in Europe can be richer than this Elche in fruits and
+vegetation, more beautiful in its surrounding aspects of plain and
+mountain, more blessed with constant, glorious sunlight; and the effect
+of these charms upon the quick, receptive spirit of our Molly was like a
+gentle May upon a nightingale, so that the days were all too short for
+her enjoyment, and she must need vent her happiness in song; but on us
+they made no more impression than on two owls in a tower, nay, if
+anything they did add to that weariness which arose from our lack of
+occupation. For here was no contrast in our lives, one day being as like
+another as two peas in a pod, and having no sort of adversities to give
+savour to our ease, we found existence the most flat, insipid, dull
+thing possible. I remember how, on Christmas day, Dawson did cry out
+against the warm sunshine as a thing contrary to nature, wishing he
+might stand up to his knees in snow in a whistling wind, and taking up
+the crock Moll had filled with roses (which here bloom more fully in the
+depth of winter than with us in the height of summer), he flung it out
+of the door with a curse for an unchristian thing to have in the house
+on such a day.
+
+As soon as the year had turned, we began to count the days to our
+departure, and thenceforth we could think of nought but what we would do
+with our fortune when we got it; and, the evenings being long, we would
+set the bag of wine betwixt us after our supper of dates, and sit there
+for hours discussing our several projects. Moll being with us (for in
+these parts no womankind may be abroad after sundown), she would take
+part in these debates with as much gusto as we. For though she was not
+wearied of her life here as we were, yet she was possessed of a very
+stirring spirit of adventure, and her quick imagination furnished
+endless visions of lively pleasures and sumptuous living. We agreed that
+we would live together, and share everything in common as one family,
+but not in such an outlandish spot as Chislehurst. That estate we would
+have nothing to do with; but, selling it at once, have in its place two
+houses,--one city house in the Cheap, and a country house not further
+from town than Bednal Green, or Clerkenwell at the outside, to the end
+that when we were fatigued with the pleasures of the town, we might, by
+an easy journey, resort to the tranquillity of rural life, Dawson
+declaring what wines he would have laid down in our cellars, I what
+books should furnish our library, and Moll what dresses she would wear
+(not less than one for every month of the year), what coaches and horses
+we should keep, what liveries our servants should wear, what
+entertainments we would give, and so forth. Don Sanchez was not excluded
+from our deliberations; indeed, he encouraged us greatly by approving of
+all our plans, only stipulating that we would guard one room for him in
+each of our houses, that he might feel at home in our society whenever
+he chanced to be in our neighbourhood. In all these arguments, there was
+never one word of question from any of us as to the honesty of our
+design. We had settled that, once and for all, before starting on this
+expedition; and since then, little by little, we had come to regard the
+Godwin estate as a natural gift, as freely to be taken as a blackberry
+from the hedge. Nay, I believe Dawson and I would have contested our
+right to it by reason of the pains we were taking to possess it.
+
+And now, being in the month of June, and our year of exile (as it liked
+us to call it) nigh at an end, Dawson one night put the question to Don
+Sanchez, which had kept us fluttering in painful suspense these past six
+months, whether he had saved sufficient by his labours, to enable us to
+return to England ere long.
+
+"Yes," says he, gravely, at which we did all heave one long sigh of
+relief, "I learn that a convoy of English ships is about to sail from
+Alicante in the beginning of July, and if we are happy enough to find a
+favourable opportunity, we will certainly embark in one of them."
+
+"Pray, Senor," says I, "what may that opportunity be; for 'tis but two
+days' march hence to Alicante, and we may do it with a light foot in
+one."
+
+"The opportunity I speak of," answers he, "is the arrival, from Algeria,
+of a company of pirates, whose good service I hope to engage in putting
+us aboard an English ship under a flag of truce as redeemed slaves from
+Barbary."
+
+"Pirates!" cry we, in a low breath.
+
+"What, Senor!" adds Dawson, "are we to trust ourselves to the mercy and
+honesty of Barbary pirates on the open sea?"
+
+"I would rather trust to their honesty," answers the Don, dropping his
+voice that he might not be heard by Moll, who was leading home the
+goats, "than to the mercy of an English judge, if we should be brought
+to trial with insufficient evidence to support our story."
+
+Jack and I stared at each other aghast at this talk of trial, which had
+never once entered into our reckoning of probabilities.
+
+"If I know aught of my fellow-men," continues the Don, surely and slow,
+"that grasping steward will not yield up his trust before he has made
+searching enquiry into Moll's claim, act she her part never so well. We
+cannot refuse to give him the name of the ship that brought us home,
+and, learning that we embarked at Alicante, jealous suspicion may lead
+him to seek further information there; with what result?"
+
+"Why, we may be blown with a vengeance, if he come ferreting so nigh as
+that," says Dawson, "and we are like to rot in gaol for our pains."
+
+"You may choose to run that risk; I will not," says the Don.
+
+"Nor I either," says Dawson, "and God forgive me for overlooking such a
+peril to my Moll. But, do tell me plainly, Senor, granting these pirates
+be the most honest thieves in the world, is there no other risk to
+fear?"
+
+The Don hunched his shoulders.
+
+"Life itself is a game," says he, "in which the meanest stroke may not
+be won without some risk; but, played as I direct, the odds are in our
+favour. Picked up at sea from an Algerine boat, who shall deny our story
+when the evidence against us lies there" (laying his hand out towards
+the south), "where no man in England dare venture to seek it?"
+
+"Why, to be sure," says Dawson; "that way all hangs together to a
+nicety. For only a wizard could dream of coming hither for our undoing."
+
+"For the rest," continues the Don, thoughtfully, "there is little to
+fear. Judith Godwin has eyes the colour of Moll's, and in all else Simon
+must expect to find a change since he last saw his master's daughter.
+They were in Italy three years. That would make Judith a lisping child
+when she left England. He must look to find her altered. Why," adds he,
+in a more gentle voice, as if moved by some inner feeling of affection
+and admiration, nodding towards Moll, "see how she has changed in this
+little while. I should not know her for the raw, half-starved spindle of
+a thing she was when I saw her first playing in the barn at Tottenham
+Cross."
+
+Looking at her now (browsing the goats amongst my most cherished herbs),
+I was struck also by this fact, which, living with her day by day, had
+slipped my observation somewhat. She was no longer a gaunt, ungainly
+child, but a young woman, well proportioned, with a rounded cheek and
+chin, brown tinted by the sun, and, to my mind, more beautiful than any
+of their vaunted Moorish women. But, indeed, in this country all things
+do mature quickly; and 'twas less surprising in her case because her
+growth had been checked before by privation and hardship, whereas since
+our coming hither it had been aided by easy circumstances and good
+living.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+_Of our coming to London (with incidents by the way), and of the great
+address whereby Moll confounds Simon, the steward._
+
+
+On the third day of July, all things falling in pat with the Don's
+design, we bade farewell to Elche, Dawson and I with no sort of regret,
+but Moll in tears at parting from those friends she had grown to love
+very heartily. And these friends would each have her take away something
+for a keepsake, such as rings to wear on her arms and on her ankles (as
+is the Moorish fashion), silk shawls, etc., so that she had quite a
+large present of finery to carry away; but we had nothing whatever but
+the clothes we stood in, and they of the scantiest, being simply long
+shirts and "bernouses" such as common Moors wear. For the wise Don would
+let us take nought that might betray our sojourn in Spain, making us
+even change our boots for wooden sandals, he himself being arrayed no
+better than we. Nor was this the only change insisted on by our
+governor; for on Dawson bidding Moll in a surly tone to give over a
+shedding of tears, Don Sanchez turns upon him, and says he:
+
+"It is time to rehearse the parts we are to play. From this day forth
+your daughter is Mistress Judith Godwin, you are Captain Robert Evans,
+and you" (to me), "Mr. Hopkins, the merchant. Let us each play our part
+with care, that we do not betray ourselves by a slip in a moment of
+unforeseen danger."
+
+"You are in the right, Senor," answers Jack, "for I doubt it must be a
+hard task to forget that Mistress Judith is my daughter, as it is for a
+loving father to hold from chiding of his own flesh and blood; so I pray
+you, Madam" (to Moll), "bear that in mind and vex me no more."
+
+We lay this lesson seriously to heart, Dawson and I, for the Don's hint
+that we might end our career in gaol did still rankle woundily in our
+minds. And so very soberly we went out of the forest of Elche in the
+night on mules lent us by Sidi ben Ahmed, with a long cavalcade of mules
+charged with merchandise for embarking on board the pirates' vessel, and
+an escort of some half-dozen fierce-looking corsairs armed with long
+firelocks and a great store of awesome crooked knives stuck in their
+waist-cloths.
+
+After journeying across the plain, we came about midday to the seaboard,
+and there we spied, lying in a sheltered bay, a long galley with three
+masts, each dressed with a single cross-spar for carrying a
+leg-of-mutton sail, and on the shore a couple of ship's boats with a
+company of men waiting to transport our goods and us aboard. And here
+our hearts quaked a bit at the thought of trusting ourselves in the
+hands of these same murderous-looking pirates. Nevertheless, when our
+time came we got us into their boat, recommending ourselves very
+heartily to God's mercy, and so were rowed out to the galley, where we
+were very civilly received by an old Moor with a white beard, who seemed
+well acquainted with Don Sanchez. Then the merchandise being all aboard,
+and the anchor up, the men went to their oars, a dozen of each side, and
+rowed us out of the bay until, catching a little wind of air, the sails
+were run up, and we put out to sea very bravely.
+
+"Senor," says Dawson, "I know not how I am to play this part of a
+sea-captain when we are sent on board an English ship, for if they ask
+me any questions on this business of navigating, I am done for a
+certainty."
+
+"Rest easy on that score, Evans," replies the Don. "I will answer for
+you, for I see very clearly by your complexion that you will soon be
+past answering them yourself."
+
+And this forecast was quickly verified; for ere the galley had dipped a
+dozen times to the waves, poor Dawson was laid low with a most horrid
+sickness like any dying man.
+
+By sundown we sighted the island of Maggiore, and in the roads there we
+cast anchor for the night, setting sail again at daybreak; and in this
+latitude we beat up and down a day and a night without seeing any sail,
+but on the morning of the third day a fleet of five big ships appeared
+to the eastward, and shifting our course we bore down upon them with
+amazing swiftness. Then when we were near enough to the foremast to see
+her English flag and the men aboard standing to their deck guns for a
+defence, our old Moor fires a gun in the air, takes in his sails, and
+runs up a great white flag for a sign of peace. And now with shrewd
+haste a boat was lowered, and we were set in it with a pair of oars, and
+the old pirate bidding us farewell in his tongue, clapt on all sail and
+stood out before the wind, leaving us there to shift for ourselves. Don
+Sanchez took one oar, and I t'other,--Dawson lying in the bottom and not
+able to move a hand to save his life,--and Moll held the tiller, and so
+we pulled with all our force, crying out now and then for fear we should
+not be seen, till by God's providence we came alongside the Talbot of
+London, and were presently hoisted aboard without mishap. Then the
+captain of the Talbot and his officers gathering about us were mighty
+curious to know our story, and Don Sanchez very briefly told how we had
+gone in the Red Rose of Bristol to redeem two ladies from slavery; how
+we had found but one of these ladies living (at this Moll buries her
+face in her hands as if stricken with grief); how, on the eve of our
+departure, some of our crew in a drunken frolic had drowned a Turk of
+Alger, for which we were condemned by their court to pay an indemnity
+far and away beyond our means; how they then made this a pretext to
+seize our things, though we were properly furnished with the Duke's
+pass, and hold our men in bond; and how having plundered us of all we
+had, and seeing there was no more to be got, they did offer us our
+freedom for a written quittance of all they had taken for their
+justification if ever they should be brought to court; and finally, how,
+accepting of these conditions, we were shipped aboard their galley with
+nothing in the world but a few trifles, begged by Mistress Judith in
+remembrance of her mother.
+
+This story was accepted without any demur; nay, Captain Ballcock, being
+one of those men who must ever appear to know all things, supported it
+in many doubtful particulars, saying that he remembered the Rose of
+Bristol quite well; that he himself had seen a whole ship's crew sold
+into slavery for no greater offence than breaking a mosque window; that
+the Duke's pass counted for nothing with these Turks; that he knew the
+galley we were brought in as well as he knew Paul's Church, having
+chased it a dozen times, yet never got within gunshot for her swift
+sailing, etc., which did much content us to hear.
+
+But the officers were mighty curious to know what ailed Captain Robert
+Evans (meaning Dawson), fearing he might be ill of the plague; however,
+on the Don's vowing that he was only sick of a surfeit, Captain Ballcock
+declared he had guessed it the moment he clapt eyes on him, as he
+himself had been taken of the same complaint with only eating a dish of
+pease pudding. Nevertheless, he ordered the sick man to be laid in a
+part of the ship furthest from his quarters, and so great was the dread
+of pestilence aboard that (as his sickness continued) not a soul would
+venture near him during the whole voyage except ourselves, which also
+fell in very well with our wishes. And so after a fairly prosperous
+voyage we came up the Thames to Chatham, the third day of August.
+
+We had been provided with some rough seamen's clothes for our better
+covering on the voyage; but now, being landed, and lodged in the Crown
+inn at Chatham, Don Sanchez would have the captain take them all back.
+
+"But," says he, "if you will do us yet another favour, Captain, will you
+suffer one of your men to carry a letter to Mistress Godwin's steward at
+Chislehurst, that he may come hither to relieve us from our present
+straits?"
+
+"Aye," answers he, "I will take the letter gladly, myself; for nothing
+pleases me better than a ramble in the country where I was born and
+bred."
+
+So Moll writes a letter at once to Simon, bidding him come at once to
+her relief; and Captain Ballcock, after carefully enquiring his way to
+this place he knew so well (as he would have us believe), starts off
+with it, accompanied by his boatswain, a good-natured kind of
+lick-spittle, who never failed to back up his captain's assertions,
+which again was to our great advantage; for Simon would thus learn our
+story from his lips, and find no room to doubt its veracity.
+
+As soon as these two were out of the house, Dawson, who had been carried
+from the ship and laid in bed, though as hale since we passed the
+Godwins as ever he was in his life before, sprang up, and declared he
+would go to bed no more, for all the fortunes in the world, till he had
+supped on roast pork and onions,--this being a dish he greatly loved,
+but not to be had at Elche, because the Moors by their religion forbid
+the use of swine's flesh,--and seeing him very determined on this head,
+Don Sanchez ordered a leg of pork to be served in our chamber, whereof
+Dawson did eat such a prodigious quantity, and drank therewith such a
+vast quantity of strong ale (which he protested was the only liquor an
+Englishman could drink with any satisfaction), that in the night he was
+seized with most severe cramp in his stomach. This gave us the occasion
+to send for a doctor in the morning, who, learning that Jack had been
+ill ever since we left Barbary, and not understanding his present
+complaint, pulled a very long face, and, declaring his case was very
+critical, bled him copiously, forbade him to leave his bed for another
+fortnight, and sent him in half a dozen bottles of physic. About midday
+he returns, and, finding his patient no better, administers a bolus; and
+while we are all standing about the bed, and Dawson the colour of death,
+and groaning, betwixt the nausea of the drug he had swallowed and the
+cramp in his inwards, in comes our Captain Ballcock and the little
+steward.
+
+"There!" cries he, turning on Simon, "did not I tell you that my old
+friend Evans lay at death's door with the treatment he hath received of
+these Barbary pirates? Now will you be putting us off with your doubts
+and your questionings? Shall I have up my ship's company to testify to
+the truth of my history? Look you, Madam," (to Moll), "we had all the
+trouble in the world to make this steward of yours do your bidding; but
+he should have come though we had to bring him by the neck and heels,
+and a pox to him--saving your presence."
+
+"But this is not Simon," says Moll, with a pretty air of innocence. "I
+seem to remember Simon a bigger man than he."
+
+"You must consider, Madam," says Don Sanchez, "that then you were very
+small, scarce higher than his waist, maybe, and so you would have to
+look up into his face."
+
+"I did not think of that. And are you really Simon, who used to scold me
+for plucking fruit?"
+
+"Yea, verily," answers he. "Doubt it not, for thou also hast changed
+beyond conception. And so it hath come to pass!" he adds, staring round
+at us in our Moorish garb like one bewildered. "And thou art my mistress
+now" (turning again to Moll).
+
+"Alas!" says she, bowing her head and covering her eyes with her hand.
+
+"Han't I told you so, unbelieving Jew Quaker!" growls Captain Ballcock,
+in exasperation. "Why will you plague the unhappy lady with her loss?"
+
+"We will leave Evans to repose," says Moll, brushing her eyes and
+turning to the door. "You will save his life, Doctor, for he has given
+me mine."
+
+The doctor vowed he would, if bleeding and boluses could make him whole,
+and so, leaving him with poor groaning Dawson, we went into the next
+chamber. And there Captain Ballcock was for taking his leave; but Moll,
+detaining him, says:
+
+"We owe you something more than gratitude--we have put you to much
+expense."
+
+"Nay," cries he. "I will take nought for doing a common act of mercy."
+
+"You shall not be denied the joy of generosity," says she, with a sweet
+grace. "But you must suffer me to give your ship's company some token of
+my gratitude." Then turning to Simon with an air of authority, she says,
+"Simon, I have no money."
+
+The poor man fumbled in his pocket, and bringing out a purse, laid it
+open, showing some four or five pieces of silver and one of gold, which
+he hastily covered with his hand.
+
+"I see you have not enough," says Moll, and taking up a pen she quickly
+wrote some words on a piece of paper, signing it "Judith Godwin." Then
+showing it to Simon, she says, "You will pay this when it is presented
+to you," and therewith she folds it and places it in the captain's hand,
+bidding him farewell in a pretty speech.
+
+"A hundred pounds! a hundred pounds!" gasps Simon, under his breath, in
+an agony and clutching up his purse to his breast.
+
+"I am astonished," says Moll, returning from the door, and addressing
+Simon, with a frown upon her brow, "that you are not better furnished to
+supply my wants, knowing by my letter how I stand."
+
+"Mistress," replies he, humbly, "here is all I could raise upon such
+sudden notice"--laying his purse before her.
+
+"What is this?" cries she, emptying the contents upon the table. "'Tis
+nothing. Here is barely sufficient to pay for our accommodation in this
+inn. Where is the money to discharge my debt to these friends who have
+lost all in saving me? You were given timely notice of their purpose."
+
+"Prithee, be patient with me, gentle mistress. 'Tis true, I knew of
+their intent, but they were to have returned in six months, and when
+they came not at the end of the year I did truly give up all for lost;
+and so I made a fresh investment of thy fortune, laying it out all in
+life bonds and houses, to great worldly advantage, as thou shalt see in
+good time. Ere long I may get in some rents--"
+
+"And in the meanwhile are we to stay in this plight--to beg for
+charity?" asks Moll, indignantly. "Nay, mistress. Doubtless for your
+present wants this kind merchant friend--"
+
+"We have lost all," says I, "Evans his ship, and I the lading in which
+all my capital was embarked."
+
+"And I every maravedi I possessed," adds the Don.
+
+"And had they not," cries Moll, "were they possessed now of all they
+had, think you that I with an estate, as I am told, of sixty thousand
+pounds would add to the debt I owe them by one single penny!"
+
+"If I may speak in your steward's defence, Madam," says I, humbly, "I
+would point out that the richest estate is not always readily converted
+into money. 'Tis like a rich jewel which the owner, though he be
+starving, must hold till he find a market."
+
+"Thee hearest him, mistress," cries Simon, in delight. "A man of
+business--a merchant who knows these things. Explain it further, friend,
+for thine are words of precious wisdom."
+
+"With landed property the case is even more difficult. Tenants cannot be
+forced to pay rent before it is due, nor can their messuages be sold
+over their heads. And possibly all your capital is invested in land--"
+
+"Every farthing that could be scraped together," says Simon, "and not a
+rood of it but is leased to substantial men. Oh! what excellent
+discourse! Proceed further, friend."
+
+"Nevertheless," says I, "there are means of raising money upon credit.
+If he live there still, there is a worthy Jew in St. Mary Axe, who upon
+certain considerations of interest--"
+
+"Hold, friend," cries Simon. "What art thee thinking of? Wouldst deliver
+my simple mistress into the hands of Jew usurers?"
+
+"Not without proper covenants made out by lawyers and attorneys."
+
+"Lawyers, attorneys, and usurers! Heaven have mercy upon us! Verily,
+thee wouldst infest us with a pest, and bleed us to death for our cure."
+
+"I will have such relief as I may," says Moll; "so pray, sir, do send
+for these lawyers and Jews at once, and the quicker, since my servant
+seems more disposed to hinder than to help me."
+
+"Forbear, mistress; for the love of God, forbear!" cries Simon, in an
+agony, clasping his hands. "Be not misguided by this foolish merchant,
+who hath all to gain and nought to lose by this proceeding. Give me but
+a little space, and their claims shall be met, thy desires shall be
+satisfied, and yet half of thy estate be saved, which else must be all
+devoured betwixt these ruthless money-lenders and lawyers. I can make a
+covenant more binding than any attorney, as I have proved again and
+again, and" (with a gulp) "if money must be raised at once, I know an
+honest, a fairly honest, goldsmith in Lombard Street who will lend at
+the market rate."
+
+"These gentlemen," answers Moll, turning to us, "may not choose to wait,
+and I will not incommode them for my own convenience."
+
+"Something for our present need we must have, Madam," says the Don, with
+a significant glance at his outlandish dress; "but those wants supplied,
+_I_ am content to wait."
+
+"And you, sir?" says Moll to me.
+
+"With a hundred or two," says I, taking Don Sanchez's hint, "we may do
+very well till Michaelmas."
+
+"Be reasonable, gentlemen," implores Simon, mopping his eyes, which ran
+afresh at this demand. "'Tis but some five or six weeks to Michaelmas;
+surely fifty pounds--"
+
+"Silence!" cries Moll, with an angry tap of her foot. "Will three
+hundred content you, gentlemen? Consider, the wants of our good friend,
+Captain Evans, may be more pressing than yours."
+
+"He is a good, honest, simple man, and I think we may answer for his
+accepting the conditions we make for ourselves. Then, with some
+reasonable guarantee for our future payment--"
+
+"That may be contrived to our common satisfaction, I hope," says Moll,
+with a gracious smile. "I owe you half my estate; share my house at
+Chislehurst with me till the rest is forthcoming. That will give me yet
+a little longer the pleasure of your company. And there, sir," turning
+to me, "you can examine my steward's accounts for your own satisfaction,
+and counsel me, mayhap, upon the conduct of my affairs, knowing so much
+upon matters of business that are incomprehensible to a simple,
+inexperienced maid. Then, should you find aught amiss in my steward's
+books, anything to shake your confidence in his management, you will, in
+justice to your friends, in kindness to me, speak your mind openly, that
+instant reformation may be made."
+
+Don Sanchez and I expressed our agreement to this proposal, and Moll,
+turning to the poor, unhappy steward, says in her high tone of
+authority:
+
+"You hear how this matter is ordered, Simon. Take up that purse for your
+own uses. Go into the town and send such tradesmen hither as may supply
+us with proper clothing. Then to your goldsmith in Lombard Street and
+bring me back six hundred pounds."
+
+"Six--hundred--pounds!" cries he, hardly above his breath, and with a
+pause between each word as if to gain strength to speak 'em.
+
+"Six hundred. Three for these gentlemen and three for my own needs; when
+that is done, hasten to Chislehurst and prepare my house; and, as you
+value my favour, see that nothing is wanting when I come there."
+
+
+And here, lest it should be thought that Moll could not possibly play
+her part so admirably in this business, despite the many secret
+instructions given by the longheaded Don, I do protest that I have set
+down no more than I recollect, and that without exaggeration. Further,
+it must be observed that in our common experience many things happen
+which would seem incredible but for the evidence of our senses, and
+which no poet would have the hardihood to represent. 'Tis true that in
+this, as in other more surprising particulars to follow, Moll did
+surpass all common women; but 'tis only such extraordinary persons that
+furnish material for any history. And I will add that anything is
+possible to one who hath the element of greatness in her composition,
+and that it depends merely on the accident of circumstances whether a
+Moll Dawson becomes a great saint or a great sinner--a blessing or a
+curse to humanity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+_Lay our hands on six hundred pounds and quarter ourselves in Hurst
+Court, but stand in a fair way to be undone by Dawson, his folly._
+
+
+The next day comes Simon with a bag of six hundred pounds, which he
+tells over with infinite care, groaning and mopping his eyes betwixt
+each four or five pieces with a most rueful visage, so that it seemed he
+was weeping over this great expenditure, and then he goes to prepare the
+Court and get servants against Moll's arrival. By the end of the week,
+being furnished with suitable clothing and equipment, Moll and Don
+Sanchez leave us, though Dawson was now as hale and hearty as ever he
+had been, we being persuaded to rest at Chatham yet another week, to
+give countenance to Jack's late distemper, and also that we might appear
+less like a gang of thieves.
+
+Before going, Don Sanchez warned us that very likely Simon would pay us
+a visit suddenly, to satisfy any doubts that might yet crop up in his
+suspicious mind; and so, to be prepared for him, I got in a good store
+of paper and books, such as a merchant might require in seeking to
+reestablish himself in business, and Dawson held himself in readiness to
+do his share of this knavish business.
+
+Sure enough, about three days after this, the drawer, who had been
+instructed to admit no one to my chamber without my consent, comes up to
+say that the little old man in leather, with the weak eyes, would see
+me; so I bade him in a high voice bid Mr. Simon step up, and setting
+myself before my table of paper, engage in writing a letter (already
+half writ), while Dawson slips out into the next room.
+
+"Take a seat, Mr. Steward," says I, when Simon entered, cap in hand, and
+casting a very prying, curious look around. "I must keep you a minute or
+two"; and so I feign to be mighty busy, and give him scope for
+observation.
+
+"Well, sir," says I, finishing my letter with a flourish, and setting it
+aside. "How do you fare?"
+
+He raised his hands, and dropped them like so much lead on his knees,
+casting up his eyes and giving a doleful shake of his head for a reply.
+
+"Nothing is amiss at the Court, I pray--your lady Mistress Godwin is
+well?"
+
+"I know not, friend," says he. "She hath taken my keys, denied me
+entrance to her house, and left me no privilege of my office save the
+use of the lodge house. Thus am I treated like a faithless servant,
+after toiling night and day all these years, and for her advantage,
+rather than mine own."
+
+"That has to be proved, Mr. Steward," says I, severely; "for you must
+admit that up to this present she has had no reason to love you, seeing
+that, had her fate been left in your hands, she would now be in Barbary,
+and like to end her days there. How, then, can she think but that you
+had some selfish, wicked end in denying her the service we, who are
+strangers, have rendered her?"
+
+"Thee speakest truth, friend, and yet thee knowest that I observed only
+the righteous prudence of an honest servant."
+
+"We will say no more on that head, but you may rest assured on my
+promise--knowing as I do the noble, generous nature of your
+mistress--that if she has done you wrong in suspecting you of base
+purpose, she will be the first to admit her fault and offer you
+reparation."
+
+"I seek no reparation, no reward, nothing in the world but the right to
+cherish this estate," cries he, in passion; and, upon my looking at him
+very curiously, as not understanding the motive of such devotion, he
+continues: "Thee canst not believe me, and yet truly I am neither a liar
+nor a madman. What do others toil for? A wife--children--friends--the
+gratification of ambition or lust! I have no kith or kin, no ambition,
+no lust; but this estate is wife, child, everything, to me. 'Tis like
+some work of vanity,--a carved image that a man may give his whole life
+to making, and yet die content if he achieves but some approach to the
+creation of his soul. I have made this estate out of nothing; it hath
+grown larger and larger, richer and more rich, in answer to my skill;
+why should I not love it, and put my whole heart in the accomplishment
+of my design, with the same devotion that you admire in the maker of
+graven images?"
+
+Despite his natural infirmities, Simon delivered this astonishing
+rhapsody with a certain sort of vehemence that made it eloquent; and
+indeed, strange as his passion was, I could not deny that it was as
+reasonable in its way as any nobler act of self-sacrifice.
+
+"I begin to understand you, Mr. Steward," says I.
+
+"Then, good friend, as thee wouldst help the man in peril of being torn
+from his child, render me this estate to govern; save it from the hands
+of usurers and lawyers, men of no conscience, to whom this Spanish Don
+would deliver it for the speedy satisfaction of his greed."
+
+"Nay, my claim's as great as his," says I, "and my affairs more
+pressing" (with a glance at my papers), "I am undone, my credit lost, my
+occupation gone."
+
+"Thee shalt be paid to the last farthing. Examine my books, enquire into
+the value of my securities, and thee wilt find full assurance."
+
+"Well, one of these days mayhap," says I, as if to put him off.
+
+"Nay, come at once, I implore thee; for until I am justified to my
+mistress, I stand like one betwixt life and death."
+
+"For one thing," says I, still shuffling, "I can do nothing, nor you
+either, to the payment of our just claim, before the inheritance is
+safely settled upon Mistress Godwin."
+
+"That shall be done forthwith. I understand the intricacies of the law,
+and know my way" (tapping his head and then his pocket), "to get a seal,
+with ten times the despatch of any attorney. I promise by Saturday thee
+shalt have assurance to thy utmost requirement. Say, good friend, thee
+wilt be at my lodge house on that day."
+
+"I'll promise nothing," says I. "Our poor Captain Evans is still a
+prisoner in his room."
+
+"Aye," says Dawson, coming in from the next room, in his nightgown,
+seeming very feeble and weak despite his blustering voice, "and I'm like
+to be no better till I can get a ship of my own and be to sea again.
+Have you brought my money, Mr. Quaker?"
+
+"Thee shalt have it truly; wait but a little while, good friend, a
+little while."
+
+"Wait a little while and founder altogether, eh? I know you land sharks,
+and would I'd been born with a smack of your cunning; then had I never
+gone of this venture, and lost my ship and twoscore men, that money'll
+ne'er replace. Look at me, a sheer hulk and no more, and all through
+lending ear to one prayer and another. I doubt you're minded to turn
+your back on poor old Bob Evans, as t'others have, Mr. Hopkins,--and why
+not? The poor old man's worth nothing, and cannot help himself." With
+this he fell a-snivelling like any girl.
+
+"I vow I'll not quit you, Evans, till you're hale again."
+
+"Bring him with thee o' Saturday," urged Simon. "Surely, my mistress can
+never have the heart to refuse you shelter at the Court, who owes her
+life to ye. Come and stay there till thy wage be paid, friend Evans."
+
+"What! would ye make an honest sailor play bum-bailiff, and stick in a
+house, willy nilly, till money's found? Plague of your dry land! Give me
+a pitching ship and a rolling sea, and a gale whistling in my shrouds.
+Oh, my reins, my reins! give me a paper of tobacco, Mr. Hopkins, and a
+pipe to soothe this agony, or I shall grow desperate!"
+
+I left the room as if to satisfy this desire, and Simon followed,
+imploring me still to come on Saturday to Chislehurst; and I at length
+got rid of him by promising to come as soon as Evans could be left or
+induced to accompany me.
+
+I persuaded Dawson, very much against his gree, to delay our going until
+Monday, the better to hoodwink old Simon; and on that day we set out for
+Chislehurst, both clad according to our condition,--he in rough frieze,
+and I in a very proper, seemly sort of cloth,--and with more guineas in
+our pockets than ever before we had possessed shillings. And a very
+merry journey this was; for Dawson, finding himself once more at
+liberty, and hearty as a lark after his long confinement and under no
+constraint, was like a boy let loose from school. Carolling at the top
+of his voice, playing mad pranks with all who passed us on the road, and
+staying at every inn to drink twopenny ale, so that I feared he would
+certainly fall ill of drinking, as he had before of eating; but the
+exercise of riding, the fresh, wholesome air, and half an hour's doze in
+a spinney, did settle his liquor, and so he reached Hurst Court quite
+sober, thanks be to Heaven, though very gay. And there we had need of
+all our self-command, to conceal our joy in finding those gates open to
+us, which we had looked through so fondly when we were last here, and to
+spy Moll, in a stately gown, on the fine terrace before this noble
+house, carrying herself as if she had lived here all her life, and Don
+Sanchez walking very deferential by her side. Especially Dawson could
+scarce bring himself to speak to her in an uncouth, surly manner, as
+befitted his character, and no sooner were we entered the house but he
+whips Moll behind a door, and falls a-hugging and kissing her like any
+sly young lover.
+
+Whilst he was giving way to these extravagances, which Moll had not the
+heart to rebuff,--for in her full, warm heart she was as overjoyed to
+see him there as he her,--Don Sanchez and I paced up and down the
+spacious hall, I all of a twitter lest one or other of the servants
+might discover the familiarity of these two (which must have been a fine
+matter for curious gossip in the household and elsewhere), and the Don
+mighty sombre and grave (as foreseeing an evil outcome of this
+business), so that he would make no answer to my civilities save by dumb
+gestures, showing he was highly displeased. But truly 'twas enough to
+set us all crazy, but he, with joy, to be in possession of all these
+riches and think that we had landed at Chatham scarce a fortnight before
+without decent clothes to our backs, and now, but for the success of our
+design, might be the penniless strolling vagabonds we were when Don
+Sanchez lighted on us.
+
+Presently Moll came out from the side room with her father, her hair all
+tumbled, and as rosy as a peach, and she would have us visit the house
+from top to bottom, showing us the rooms set apart for us, her own
+chamber, the state room, the dining-hall, the store closets for plate
+and linen, etc., all prodigious fine and in most excellent condition;
+for the scrupulous minute care of old Simon had suffered nothing to fall
+out of repair, the rooms being kept well aired, the pictures,
+tapestries, and magnificent furniture all preserved fresh with linen
+covers and the like. From the hall she led us out on to the terrace to
+survey the park and the gardens about the house, and here, as within
+doors, all was in most admirable keeping, with no wild growth or
+runaweeds anywhere, nor any sign of neglect. But I observed, as an
+indication of the steward's thrifty, unpoetic mind, that the garden beds
+were planted with onions and such marketable produce, in place of
+flowers, and that instead of deer grazing upon the green slopes of the
+park there was only such profitable cattle as sheep, cows, etc. And at
+the sight of all this abundance of good things (and especially the
+well-stored buttery), Dawson declared he could live here all his life
+and never worry. And with that, all unthinkingly, he lays his arm about
+Moll's waist.
+
+Then the Don, who had followed us up and down stairs, speaking never one
+word till this, says, "We may count ourselves lucky, Captain Evans, if
+we are suffered to stay here another week."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+_Prosper as well as any thieves may; but Dawson greatly tormented._
+
+
+The next morning I went to Simon at his lodge house, having writ him a
+note overnight to prepare him for my visit, and there I found him, with
+all his books and papers ready for my examination. So to it we set,
+casting up figures, comparing accounts, and so forth, best part of the
+day, and in the end I came away convinced that he was the most
+scrupulous, honest steward ever man had. And, truly, it appeared that by
+his prudent investments and careful management he had trebled the value
+of the estate, and more, in the last ten years. He showed me, also, that
+in all his valuations he had set off a large sum for loss by accident of
+fire, war, etc., so that actually at the present moment the estate,
+which he reckoned at seventy-five thousand pounds, was worth at the
+least one hundred and twenty-five thousand. But for better assurance on
+this head, I spent the remainder of the week in visiting the farms,
+messuages, etc., on his rent roll, and found them all in excellent
+condition, and held by good substantial men, nothing in any particular
+but what he represented it.
+
+Reporting on these matters privily to Don Sanchez and Dawson, I asked
+the Don what we should now be doing.
+
+"Two ways lie before us," says he, lighting a cigarro. "Put Simon out of
+his house--and make an enemy of him," adds he, betwixt two puffs of
+smoke, "seize his securities, sell them for what they will fetch, and
+get out of the country as quickly as possible. If the securities be
+worth one hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds, we may" (puff)
+"possibly" (puff) "get forty thousand for them" (puff), "about a third
+of their value--not more. That yields us ten thousand apiece. On ten
+thousand pounds a man may live like a prince--in Spain. The other way is
+to make a friend of Simon by restoring him to his office, suffer him to
+treble the worth of the estate again in the next ten years, and live
+like kings" (puff) "in England."
+
+"Pray, which way do you incline, Senor?" says I.
+
+"Being a Spaniard," answers he, gravely, "I should prefer to live like a
+prince in Spain."
+
+"That would not I," says Dawson, stoutly. "A year and a half of Elche
+have cured me of all fondness for foreign parts. Besides, 'tis a
+beggarly, scurvy thing to fly one's country, as if we had done some
+unhandsome, dishonest trick. If I faced an Englishman, I should never
+dare look him straight in the eyes again. What say you, Mr. Hopkins?"
+
+"Why, Evans," says I, "you know my will without telling. I will not, of
+my own accord, go from your choice, which way you will."
+
+"Since we owe everything to Mistress Judith," observes the Don, "and as
+she is no longer a child, ought not her wishes to be consulted?"
+
+"No," says Jack, very decidedly, and then, lowering his voice, he adds,
+"for was she Judith Godwin ten times told, and as old as my grandmother
+into the bargain, she is still my daughter, and shall do as I choose her
+to do. And if, as you say, we owe her everything, then I count 'twould
+be a mean, dirty return to make her live out of England and feel she has
+a sneaking coward for a father."
+
+"As you please," says the Don. "Give me ten thousand of the sum you are
+to be paid at Michaelmas, and you are welcome to all the rest."
+
+"You mean that, Senor," cries Jack, seizing the Don's hand and raising
+his left.
+
+"By the Holy Mother," answers Don Sanchez, in Spanish.
+
+"Done!" cries Dawson, bringing his hand down with a smack on the Don's
+palm. "Nay, I always believed you was the most generous man living. Ten
+from t'other. Master Hopkins," says he, turning to me, "what does that
+leave us?"
+
+"More than a hundred thousand!"
+
+"The Lord be praised for evermore!" cries Jack.
+
+Upon this, Moll, by the advice of Don Sanchez, sends for Simon, and
+telling him she is satisfied with the account I have given of his
+stewardship, offers him the further control of her affairs, subject at
+all times to her decision on any question concerning her convenience,
+and reserving to herself the sole government of her household, the
+ordering of her home, lands, etc. And Simon grasping eagerly at this
+proposal, she then gives him the promise of one thousand pounds for his
+past services, and doubles the wages due to him under his contract with
+Sir R. Godwin.
+
+"Give me what it may please thee to bestow that way," cries he. "All
+shall be laid out to enrich this property. I have no other use for
+money, no other worldly end in life but that."
+
+And when he saw me next he was most slavish in his thanks for my good
+offices, vowing I should be paid my claim by Michaelmas, if it were in
+the power of man to raise so vast a sum in such short space. Surely,
+thinks I, there was never a more strange, original creature than this,
+yet it do seem to me that there is no man but his passion must appear a
+madness to others.
+
+I must speak now of Moll, her admirable carriage and sober conduct in
+these new circumstances, which would have turned the heads of most
+others. Never once to my knowledge did she lose her self-possession, on
+the most trying occasion, and this was due, not alone to her own shrewd
+wit and understanding, but to the subtle intelligence of Don Sanchez,
+who in the character of an old and trusty friend was ever by her side,
+watchful of her interest (and his own), ready at any moment to drop in
+her ear a quiet word of warning or counsel. By his advice she had taken
+into her service a most commendable, proper old gentlewoman, one Mrs.
+Margery Butterby, who, as being the widow of a country parson, was very
+orderly in all things, and particularly nice in the proprieties. This
+notable good soul was of a cheery, chatty disposition, of very pleasing
+manners, and a genteel appearance, and so, though holding but the part
+of housekeeper, she served as an agreeable companion and a respectable
+guardian, whose mere presence in the house silenced any question that
+might have arisen from the fact of three men living under the same roof
+with the young and beautiful mistress of Hurst Court. Moreover, she
+served us as a very useful kind of mouthpiece; for all those marvellous
+stories of her life in Barbary, of the pirates we had encountered in
+redeeming her from the Turk, etc., with which Moll would beguile away
+any tedious half-hour, for the mere amusement of creating Mrs.
+Butterby's wonder and surprise,--as one will tell stories of fairies to
+children,--this good woman repeated with many additions of her own
+concerning ourselves, which, to reflect credit on herself, were all to
+our advantage. This was the more fitting, because the news spreading
+that the lost heiress had returned to Hurst Court excited curiosity far
+and wide, and it was not long before families in the surrounding seats,
+who had known Sir R. Godwin in bygone times, called to see his daughter.
+And here Moll's wit was taxed to the utmost, for those who had known
+Judith Godwin as an infant expected that she should remember some
+incident stored in their recollection; but she was ever equal to the
+occasion, feigning a pretty doubting innocence at first, then suddenly
+asking this lady if she had not worn a cherry dress with a beautiful
+stomacher at the time, or that gentleman if he had not given her a gold
+piece for a token, and it generally happened these shrewd shafts hit
+their mark: the lady, though she might have forgotten her gown,
+remembering she had a very becoming stomacher; the gentleman believing
+that he did give her a lucky penny, and so forth, from very vanity. Then
+Moll's lofty carriage and her beauty would remind them of their dear
+lost friend, Mrs. Godwin, in the heyday of her youth, and all agreed in
+admiring her beyond anything. And though Moll, from her lack of
+knowledge, made many slips, and would now and then say things
+uncustomary to women of breeding, yet these were easily attributed to
+her living so long in a barbarous country, and were as readily glanced
+over. Indeed, nothing could surpass Moll's artificial conduct on these
+occasions. She would lard her conversation with those scraps of Italian
+she learnt from me, and sometimes, affecting to have forgot her own
+tongue, she would stumble at a word, and turning to Don Sanchez, ask him
+the English of some Moorish phrase. Then one day, there being quite a
+dozen visitors in her state room, she brings down her Moorish dress and
+those baubles given her by friends at Elche, to show the ladies, much to
+the general astonishment and wonder; then, being prayed to dress herself
+in these clothes, she with some hesitation of modesty consents, and
+after a short absence from the room returns in this costume, looking
+lovelier than ever I had before seen, with the rings about her shapely
+bare arms and on her ankles, and thus arrayed she brings me a guitar,
+and to my strumming sings a Moorish song, swaying her arms above her
+head and turning gracefully in their fashion, so that all were in an
+ecstasy with this strange performance. And the talk spreading, the
+number of visitors grew apace,--as bees will flock to honey,--and
+yielding to their urgent entreaties, she would often repeat this piece
+of business, and always with a most winning grace, that charmed every
+one. But she was most a favourite of gentlemen and elderly ladies; for
+the younger ones she did certainly put their noses out of joint, since
+none could at all compare with her in beauty nor in manner, either, for
+she had neither the awkward shyness of some nor the boldness of others,
+but contrived ever to steer neatly betwixt the two extremes by her
+natural self-possession and fearlessness.
+
+Of all her new friends, the most eager in courting her were Sir Harry
+Upton and his lady (living in the Crays); and they, being about to go to
+London for the winter, did press Moll very hard to go with them, that
+she might be presented to the king; and, truth to tell, they would not
+have had to ask her twice had she been governed only by her own
+inclination. For she was mad to go,--that audacious spirit of adventure
+still working very strong in her,--and she, like a winning gamester,
+must for ever be playing for higher and higher stakes. But we, who had
+heard enough of his excellent but lawless Majesty's court to fear the
+fate of any impulsive, beauteous young woman that came within his sway,
+were quite against this. Even Don Sanchez, who was no innocent, did
+persuade her from it with good strong argument,--showing that, despite
+his worldliness, he did really love her as much as 'twas in his withered
+heart to love any one. As for Dawson, he declared he would sooner see
+his Moll in her winding-sheet than in the king's company, adding that
+'twould be time enough for her to think of going to court when she had a
+husband to keep her out of mischief. And so she refused this offer (but
+with secret tears, I believe). "But," says she to her father, "if I'm
+not to have my own way till I'm married, I shall get me a husband as
+soon as I can."
+
+And it seemed that she would not have to look far nor wait long for one
+neither. Before a month was passed, at least half a dozen young sparks
+were courting her, they being attracted, not only by her wit and beauty,
+but by the report of her wealth, it being known to all how Simon had
+enriched the estate. And 'twas this abundance of suitors which prevented
+Moll from choosing any one in particular, else had there been but one, I
+believe the business would have been settled very quickly. For now she
+was in the very flush of life, and the blood that flowed in her veins
+was of no lukewarm kind.
+
+But here (that I may keep all my strings in harmony) I must quit Moll
+for a space to tell of her father. That first hint of the Don's bringing
+him to his senses somewhat (like a dash of cold water), and the
+exuberance of his joy subsiding, he quickly became more circumspect in
+his behaviour, and fell into the part he had to play. And the hard,
+trying, sorrowful part that was, neither he nor I had foreseen. For now
+was he compelled for the first time in his life, at any length, to live
+apart from his daughter, to refrain from embracing her when they met in
+the morning, to speak to her in a rough, churlish sort when his heart,
+maybe, was overflowing with love, and to reconcile himself to a cool,
+indifferent behaviour on her side, when his very soul was yearning for
+gentle, tender warmth. And these natural cravings of affection were
+rather strengthened than stilled by repression, as one's hunger by
+starving. To add to this, he now saw his Moll more bewitching than ever
+she was before, the evidence of her wit and understanding stimulating
+that admiration which he dared not express. He beheld her loved and
+courted openly by all, whilst he who had deeper feeling for her than
+any, and more right to caress her, must at each moment stifle his
+desires and lay fetters on his inclinations, which constraint, like
+chains binding down a stout, thriving oak, did eat and corrode into his
+being, so that he did live most of these days in a veritable torment.
+Yet, for Moll's sake, was he very stubborn in his resolution; and, when
+he could no longer endure to stand indifferently by while others were
+enjoying her sprightly conversation, he would go up to his chamber and
+pace to and fro, like some she-lion parted from her cub.
+
+These sufferings were not unperceived by Moll, who also had strong
+feeling to repress, and therefore could comprehend her father's torture,
+and she would often seize an opportunity, nay, run great risk of
+discovery, to hie her secretly to his room, there to throw herself in
+his arms and strain him to her heart, covering his great face with
+tender kisses, and whispering words of hope and good cheer (with the
+tears on her cheek). And one day when Jack seemed more than usual
+downhearted, she offered him to give up everything and return to her old
+ways, if he would. But this spurring his courage, he declared he would
+live in hell rather than she should fall from her high estate, and
+become a mere vagabond wench again, adding that 'twas but the first
+effort gave him so much pain, that with practice 'twould all be as
+nothing; that such sweet kisses as hers once a week did amply compensate
+him for his fast, etc. Then her tears being brushed away, she would quit
+him with noiseless step and all precautions, and maybe five minutes
+afterwards, whilst Jack was sitting pensive at his window pondering her
+sweetness and love, he would hear her laughing lightly below, as if he
+were already forgotten.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+_How Dawson for Moll's good parts company with us, and goes away a
+lonely man._
+
+
+On the eve of Michaelmas day old Simon returned from London, whither he
+had gone two days before, to raise the money he had promised; and
+calling upon him in the afternoon I found him seated at his table, with
+a most woe-begone look in his face, and his eyes streaming more
+copiously than usual. And with most abject humility he told me that
+doing the utmost that lay in his power, he had not been able to persuade
+his goldsmith to lend more than ten thousand pounds on the title deeds.
+Nor had he got that, he declared, but that the goldsmith knew him for an
+honest and trustworthy man whom he would credit beyond any other in the
+world; for the seal not yet being given to Judith Godwin's succession,
+there was always peril of dispute and lawsuits which might make these
+papers of no value at all (the king's ministers vying one with another
+to please their master by bringing money rightly or wrongly into the
+treasury), and this, indeed, may have been true enough.
+
+"But," says he, "all will go well if thee wilt have but a little
+patience for a while. To-morrow my rents will come in, and I will exact
+to the last farthing; and there is a parcel of land I may sell, mayhap,
+for instant payment, though 'twill be at a fearsome loss" (mopping his
+eyes), "yet I will do it rather than put thee to greater incommodity;
+and so, ere the end of the week, thee mayst safely count on having yet
+another three thousand, which together makes nigh upon half the sum
+promised. And this, dear good friend," adds he, slyly, "thee mayst well
+take on account of thine own share,--and none dispute thy right, for
+'tis thy money hath done all. And from what I see of him, smoking of
+pipes in the public way and drinking with any low fellows in alehouses,
+this Captain Evans is but a paltry, mean man who may be easily put off
+with a pound or two to squander in his pleasures; and as for the Spanish
+grandee, he do seem so content to be with our mistress that I doubt he
+needs no pretext for quitting her, added to which, being of a haughty,
+proud nature, he should scorn to claim his own, to the prejudice of a
+merchant who hath nought but his capital to live upon. And I do implore
+thee, good friend, to lay this matter before my mistress in such a way
+that she may not be wroth with me."
+
+I told him I would do all he could expect of me in reason, but bade him
+understand that his chance of forgiveness for having broke his first
+engagement depended greatly upon his exactitude in keeping the second,
+and that he might count on little mercy from us if the other three
+thousand were not forthcoming as he promised. So I took the money and
+gave him a quittance for it, signing it with my false name, James
+Hopkins, but, reflecting on this when I left him, I wished I had not.
+For I clearly perceived that by this forgery I laid myself open to very
+grievous consequences; moreover, taking of this solid money, disguise it
+how I would, appeared to me nothing short of downright robbery, be it
+whose it might. In short, being now plunged up to my neck in this
+business, I felt like a foolish lad who hath waded beyond his depth in a
+rapid current, hoping I might somehow get out of it safely, but with
+very little expectation. However, the sight of all this gold told up in
+scores upon the table in our closed room served to quiet these qualms
+considerably. Nevertheless, I was not displeased to remember our bargain
+with Don Sanchez, feeling that I should breathe more freely when he had
+taken this store of gold out of my hands, etc. Thus did my mind waver
+this way and that, like a weather-cock to the blowing of contrary winds.
+
+'Twas this day that Moll (as I have said) dressed herself in her Moorish
+clothes for the entertainment of her new friends, and Dawson, hearing
+her voice, yet not daring to go into the state room where she was, must
+needs linger on the stairs listening to her song, and craning his neck
+to catch a glimpse of her through the open door below. Here he stands in
+a sort of ravishment, sucking in her sweet voice, and the sounds of
+delight with which her guests paid tribute to her performance, feeding
+his passion which, like some fire, grew more fierce by feeding, till he
+was well-nigh beside himself. Presently, out comes Moll from her state
+room, all glowing with exercise, flushed with pleasure, a rich colour in
+her cheek, and wild fire in her eyes, looking more witching than any
+siren. Swiftly she crosses the hall, and runs up the stairs to gain her
+chamber and reclothe herself, but half way up Dawson stops her, and
+clasping her about, cries hoarsely in a transport:
+
+"Thou art my own Moll--my own sweet Moll!" adding, as she would break
+from him to go her way, "Nay, chick. You shall not go till you have
+bussed your old dad."
+
+Then she, hesitating a moment betwixt prudence and her warmer feelings,
+suddenly yields to the impulse of her heart (her head also being turned
+maybe with success and delight), and flinging her arms about his neck
+gives him a hearty kiss, and then bursts away with a light laugh.
+
+Jack watches her out of sight, and then, when the moment of escape is
+past, he looks below to see if there be any danger, and there he spies
+Don Sanchez, regarding him from the open door, where he stands, as if to
+guard it. Without a sign the Don turns on his heel and goes back into
+the room, while Dawson, with a miserable hangdog look, comes to me in my
+chamber, where I am counting the gold, and confesses his folly with a
+shamed face, cursing himself freely for his indiscretion, which at this
+rate must ruin all ere long.
+
+This was no great surprise to me, for I myself had seen him many a time
+clip his dear daughter's hand, when he thought no one was by, and, more
+than once, the name of Moll had slipped out when he should have spoken
+of Mistress Judith.
+
+These accidents threw us both into a very grave humour, and especially I
+was tormented with the reflection that a forgery could be proved against
+me, if things came to the worst. The danger thereof was not slight; for
+though all in the house loved Moll dearly and would willingly do her no
+hurt, yet the servants, should they notice how Mistress Judith stood
+with Captain Evans, must needs be prating, and there a mischief would
+begin, to end only the Lord knows where! Thereupon, I thought it as well
+to preach Jack a sermon, and caution him to greater prudence; and this
+he took in amazing good part--not bidding me tend my own business as he
+might at another time, but assenting very submissively to all my hints
+of disaster, and thanking me in the end for speaking my mind so freely.
+Then, seeing him so sadly downcast, I (to give a sweetmeat after a
+bitter draught) bade him take the matter not too much to heart,
+promising that, with a little practice, he would soon acquire a habit of
+self-restraint, and so all would go well. But he made no response, save
+by shaking of his head sorrowfully, and would not be comforted. When all
+were abed that night, we three men met in my chamber, where I had set
+the bags of money on the table, together with a dish of tobacco and a
+bottle of wine for our refreshment, and then the Don, having lit him a
+cigarro, and we our pipes, with full glasses beside us, I proposed we
+should talk of our affairs, to which Don Sanchez consented with a solemn
+inclination of his head. But ere I began, I observed with a pang of
+foreboding, that Jack, who usually had emptied his glass ere others had
+sipped theirs, did now leave his untouched, and after the first pull or
+two at his pipe, he cast it on the hearth as though it were foul to his
+taste. Taking no open notice of this, I showed Don Sanchez the gold, and
+related all that had passed between Simon and me.
+
+"Happily, Senor," says I, in conclusion, "here is just the sum you
+generously offered to accept for your share, and we give it you with a
+free heart, Evans and I being willing to wait for what may be
+forthcoming."
+
+"Is it your wish both, that I take this?" says he, laying his hand on
+the money and looking from me to Dawson.
+
+"Aye," says he, "'tis but a tithe of what is left to us, and not an
+hundredth part of what we owe to you."
+
+"Very good," says the Don. "I will carry it to London to-morrow."
+
+"But surely, Senor," says I, "you will not quit us so soon."
+
+Don Sanchez rolls his cigarro in his lips, looking me straight in the
+face and somewhat sternly, and asks me quietly if I have ever found him
+lacking in loyalty and friendship.
+
+"In truth, never, Senor."
+
+"Then why should you imagine I mean to quit you now when you have more
+need of a friend in this house" (with a sideward glance as towards
+Moll's chamber) "than ever you before had?" Then, turning towards Jack,
+he says, "What are you going to do, Captain Evans?"
+
+Dawson pauses, as if to snatch one last moment for consideration, and
+then, nodding at me, "You'll not leave my--Moll, Kit?" says he, with no
+attempt to disguise names.
+
+"Why should I leave her; are we not as brothers, you and I?"
+
+"Aye, I'd trust you with my life," answers he, "and more than that, with
+my--Moll! If you were her uncle, she couldn't love you more, Kit. And
+you will stand by her, too, Senor?"
+
+The Don bowed his head.
+
+"Then when you leave, to-morrow, I'll go with you to London," says Jack.
+
+"I shall return the next day," says Don Sanchez, with significance.
+
+"And I shall not, God help me!" says Jack, bitterly.
+
+"Give me your hand," says the Don; but I could speak never a word, and
+sat staring at Jack, in a maze.
+
+"We'll say nought of this to her," continues Jack; "there must be no
+farewells, I could never endure that. But it shall seem that I have gone
+with you for company, and have fallen in with old comrades who would
+keep me for a carousing."
+
+"But without friends--alone--what shall you do there in London?" says I,
+heart-stricken at the thought of his desolation. The Don answers for
+Jack.
+
+"Make the best of his lot with a stout heart, like any other brave man,"
+says he. "There are natural hardships which every man must bear in his
+time, and this is one of them." Then lowering his voice, he adds,
+"Unless you would have her die an old maid, she and her father must part
+sooner or later."
+
+"Why, that's true, and yet, Master," says Jack, "I would have you know
+that I'm not so brave but I would see her now and then."
+
+"That may be ordered readily enough," says the Don.
+
+"Then do you tell her, Senor, I have but gone a-junketing, and she may
+look to see me again when my frolic's over."
+
+The Don closed his eyes as one in dubitation, and then says, lifting his
+eyebrows: "She is a clever woman--shrewd beyond any I have ever known;
+then why treat her as you would a foolish child? You must let me tell
+her the truth when I come back, and I warrant it will not break her
+heart, much as she loves you."
+
+"As you will," says t'other. "'Twill be all as one to me," with a sigh.
+
+"This falls out well in all ways," continues the Don, turning to me.
+"You will tell Simon, whose suspicion we have most to fear, that we have
+handed over four thousand of those pieces to Captain Evans as being most
+in need, we ourselves choosing to stay here till the rest of our claim
+is paid. That will account for Evans going away, and give us a pretext
+for staying here."
+
+"I'll visit him myself, if you will," says Jack, "and wring his hand to
+show my gratitude. I warrant I'll make him wince, such a grip will I
+give him. And I'll talk of nothing else but seas and winds, and the
+manner of ship I'll have for his money."
+
+
+The following morning before Moll was stirring, Don Sanchez and Dawson
+set forth on their journey, and I going with them beyond the park gates
+to the bend of the road, we took leave of each other with a great show
+of cheerfulness on both sides. But Lord! my heart lay in my breast like
+any lump of lead, and when Jack turned his back on me, the tears sprang
+up in my eyes as though indeed this was my brother and I was never to
+see him more. And long after he was out of sight I sat on the bank by
+the roadside, sick with pain to think of his sorrow in going forth like
+this, without one last loving word of parting from his dear Moll, to
+find no home in London, no friend to cheer him, and he the most
+companionable man in the world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+_Of our getting a painter into the Court, with whom our Moll falls
+straightway in love._
+
+
+Being somewhat of a coward, I essayed to put Moll off with a story of
+her father having gone a-frolicking with Don Sanchez, leaving it to the
+Don to break the truth to her on his return. And a sorry, bungling
+business I made of it, to be sure. For, looking me straight in the eyes,
+whenever I dared lift them, she did seem to perceive that I was lying,
+from the very first, which so disconcerted me, though she interrupted me
+by never a word, that I could scarce stammer to the end of my tale.
+Then, without asking a single question, or once breaking her painful
+silence, she laid her face in her hands, her shoulders shook, and the
+tears ran out between her fingers, and fell upon her lap.
+
+"I know, I know," says she, putting me away, when I attempted to speak.
+"He has gone away for my sake, and will come back no more; and 'tis all
+my fault, that I could not play my part better."
+
+Then, what words of comfort I could find, I offered her; but she would
+not be consoled, and shut herself up in her room all that morning.
+Nevertheless, she ate more heartily than I at dinner, and fresh visitors
+coming in the afternoon, she entertained them as though no grief lay at
+her heart. Indeed, she recovered of this cruel blow much easier than I
+looked for; and but that she would at times sit pensive, with
+melancholy, wistful eyes, and rise from her seat with a troubled sigh,
+one would have said, at the end of the week, that she had ceased to feel
+for her father. But this was not so (albeit wounds heal quickly in the
+young and healthful), for I believe that they who weep the least do ache
+the most.
+
+Then, for her further excuse (if it be needed), Don Sanchez brought back
+good tidings of her father,--how he was neatly lodged near the Cherry
+garden, where he could hear the birds all day and the fiddles all night,
+with abundance of good entertainment, etc. To confirm which, she got a
+letter from him, three days later, very loving and cheerful, telling
+how, his landlord being a carpenter, he did amuse himself mightily at
+his old trade in the workshop, and was all agog for learning to turn
+wood in a lathe, promising that he would make her a set of egg-cups
+against her birthday, please God. Added to this, the number of her
+friends multiplying apace, every day brought some new occupation to her
+thoughts; also, having now those three thousand pounds old Simon had
+promised us, Moll set herself to spending of them as quickly as
+possible, by furnishing herself with all sorts of rich gowns and
+appointments, which is as pretty a diversion of melancholy from a young
+woman's thoughts as any. And so I think I need dwell no longer on this
+head.
+
+About the beginning of October, Simon comes, cap in hand, and very
+humble, to the Court to crave Moll's consent to his setting some men
+with guns in her park at night, to lie in ambush for poachers, telling
+how they had shot one man in the act last spring, and had hanged another
+the year before for stealing of a sheep; adding that a stranger had been
+seen loitering in the neighbourhood, who, he doubted not, was of their
+thieving crew.
+
+"What makes you think that?" asks Moll. "He has been seen lingering
+about here these three days," answers Simon. "Yet to my knowledge he
+hath not slept at either of the village inns. Moreover, he hath the look
+of a desperate, starving rascal, ripe for such work."
+
+"I will have no man killed for his misfortunes."
+
+"Gentle mistress, suffer me to point out that if thee lets one man steal
+with impunity, others, now innocent, are thereby encouraged to sin, and
+thus thy mercy tends to greater cruelty."
+
+"No man shall be killed on my land,--there is my answer," says Moll,
+with passion. "If you take this poor, starved creature, it shall be
+without doing him bodily hurt. You shall answer for it else."
+
+"Not a bone shall be broken, mistress. 'Tis enough if we carry him
+before Justice Martin, a godly, upright man, and a scourge to
+evil-doers."
+
+"Nay, you shall not do that, neither, till I have heard his case," says
+Moll. "'Tis for me to decide whether he has injured me or not, and I'll
+suffer none to take my place."
+
+Promising obedience, Simon withdrew before any further restrictions
+might be put upon him; but Moll's mind was much disturbed all day by
+fear of mischief being done despite her commands, and at night she would
+have me take her round the park to see all well. Maybe, she thought that
+her own father, stealing hither to see her privily, might fall a victim
+to Simon's ambushed hirelings. But we found no one, though Simon had
+certainly hidden these fellows somewhere in the thickets.
+
+Whilst we were at table next morning, we heard a great commotion in the
+hall; and Mrs. Butterby coming in a mighty pucker, told how the robber
+had been taken in the park, and how Simon had brought him to the house
+in obedience to her lady's command. "But do, pray, have a care of
+yourself, my dear lady," says she; "for this hardy villain hath struck
+Mr. Simon in the face and made most desperate resistance; and Heaven
+protect us from such wicked outlaws as have the villany to show
+themselves in broad daylight!"
+
+Moll, smiling, said she would rather face a lion in the day than a mouse
+by night, and so bade the captive to be brought before her.
+
+Then in comes Simon, with a stout band over one eye, followed by two
+sturdy fellows holding their prisoner betwixt them. And this was a very
+passionate man, as was evidenced by the looks of fury he cast from side
+to side upon his captors as they dragged him this way and that to make a
+show of their power, but not ill-looking. In his struggles he had lost
+his hat, and his threadbare coat and shirt were torn open, laying bare
+his neck and showing a very fair white skin and a good beard of light
+curling hair. There was nought mean or vile in his face, but rather it
+seemed to me a noble countenance, though woefully wasted, so that at a
+glance one might perceive he was no born rascal, but likely enough some
+ruined man of better sort driven to unlawful ways by his distress. He
+was of a fair height, but gaunt beyond everything, and so feeble that
+after one effort to free his arms his chin sank upon his breast as if
+his forces were all spent.
+
+Seeing this, Moll bade the fellows unbind him, telling them sharply they
+might see there was no need of such rigour.
+
+Being freed, our prisoner lifts his head and makes a slight reverence to
+Moll, but with little gratitude in his look, and places himself at the
+end of the table facing us, who are at the other end, Moll sitting
+betwixt Don Sanchez and me. And there, setting his hands for support
+upon the board, he holds his head up pretty proudly, waiting for what
+might come.
+
+"Who are you?" asks Moll, in a tone of authority.
+
+He waits a moment, as if deliberating with himself whether to speak
+fairly or not, then, being still sore with his ill-treatment, and
+angered to be questioned thus by a mere girl (he, as I take it, being a
+man of thirty or thereabouts), he answers:
+
+"I do not choose to tell. Who I am, what I am, concerns you no more than
+who and what you are concerns me, and less since I may justly demand by
+what right these fellows, whom I take to be your servants, have thus
+laid hands on me."
+
+"How do you answer this?" asks Moll, turning to Simon.
+
+Then Simon told very precisely, as if he were before a magistrate, how
+this man, having been seen lingering about the Court several days, and
+being without home or occupation, had been suspected of felonious
+purposes; how, therefore, he had set a watch to lay wait for him; how
+that morning they had entrapped him standing within a covert of the park
+regarding the house; how he had refused to give his name or any excuse
+for his being there, and how he had made most desperate attempt to
+escape when they had lain hands on him.
+
+"Is this true?" asks Moll of the prisoner.
+
+"Yes," says he.
+
+Moll regards him with incredulous eyes a moment, then, turning to Simon,
+"What arms had he for this purpose that you speak of?" says she.
+
+"None, mistress; but 'twould be a dread villain verily who would carry
+the engines of his trade abroad in daylight to betray him." And then he
+told how 'tis the habit of these poachers to reconnoitre their ground by
+day, and keep their nets, guns, etc., concealed in some thicket or
+hollow tree convenient for their purpose. "But," adds he, "we may
+clearly prove a trespass against him, which is a punishable offence, and
+this assault upon me, whereof I have evidence, shall also count for
+something with Justice Martin, and so the wicked shall yet come by their
+deserts." And with that he gives his fellows a wink with his one eye to
+carry off their quarry.
+
+"Stay," says Moll, "I would be further convinced--"
+
+"If he be an honest man, let him show thee his hand," says Simon.
+
+The man innocently enough stretches out his palm towards us, not
+perceiving Simon's end.
+
+"There!" cries Simon. "What said I? Is that a hand that ever did a day's
+honest work?"
+
+"'Tis no worse than mine," says Moll, regarding the hand which in truth
+was exceeding smooth and well formed. "Come," adds she, still more
+kindly, "you see I am no harsh judge. I would not deny a fellow-creature
+the pleasure that is not grudged the coney that runs across my lawn.
+Tell me you were there but to gratify a passing caprice, and I'll
+forgive you as freely as I'll believe you."
+
+This gentle appeal seemed to move the young man greatly, and he made as
+if he would do more than was demanded of him, and make that free
+confession which he had refused to force. But ere a word could leave his
+parted lips a deadly shade passed over his face, his knees gave under
+him, and staggering to save himself, he fell to the ground in a swoon.
+
+Then, whilst all we men stood fixed in wonderment, Moll, with the quick,
+helpful impulse of her womanhood, ran swiftly from her place to his
+side, and dropping on her knees cried for water to be brought her.
+
+"Dead of hunger," says Don Sanchez, in my ear. "Fetch a flask of
+brandy."
+
+And then, laying hold of Simon by the shoulder, he pointed significantly
+to the open door. This hint Simon was not slow to take, and when I
+returned from the buttery with a case of strong waters, I found no one
+in the room but Don Sanchez, and Moll with the fainting man's head upon
+her lap, bathing his temples gently. Life had not come back, and the
+young man's face looked very handsome in death, the curls pushed back
+from his brow, and his long features still and colourless like a carved
+marble.
+
+Then with a "lack-a-day" and "alas," in bustles Mrs. Butterby with a
+bottle of cordial in one hand and a bunch of burning feathers in the
+other.
+
+"Fling that rubbish in the chimney," says the Don. "I know this
+malady--well enough," and pouring some hollands in a cup he put it to
+the dead man's parted lips.
+
+In a few moments he breathed again, and hearing Moll's cry of joy, he
+opened his eyes as one waking from a dream and turned his head to learn
+what had happened. Then finding his head in Moll's lap and her small,
+soft, cool hand upon his brow, a smile played over his wasted face. And
+well, indeed, might he smile to see that young figure of justice turned
+to the living image of tender mercy.
+
+Perceiving him out of danger, and recovering her own wits at the same
+time, Mrs. Butterby cries: "Lord! Madam, do let me call a maid to take
+your place; for, dear heart! you have quite spoiled your new gown with
+this mess of water, and all for such a paltry fellow as this!"
+
+Truly, it must have seemed to her understanding an outrageous thing that
+a lady of her mistress' degree should be nursing such a ragged rascal;
+but to me, knowing Moll's helpful, impulsive disposition, 'twas no such
+extraordinary matter, for she at such a moment could not entertain those
+feelings which might have restrained a lady of more refined breeding.
+
+The pretty speech of Mrs. Butterby, reaching the fallen man's ear,
+seemed instantly to quicken his spirits, and, casting off his lethargic
+humour, he quickly staggered to his feet, while we raised Moll. Then,
+resting one hand upon the table for support, he craved her pardon for
+giving so much trouble, but in a very faint, weak voice.
+
+"I would have done as much for a dog," says Moll. "My friends will
+render you what further services are fit; and, if it appears that you
+have been unjustly used (as I do think you have), be sure you shall have
+reparation."
+
+"I ask no more," says he, "than to be treated as I may merit in your
+esteem."
+
+"Justice shall be done," says Don Sanchez, in his stern voice, and with
+that he conducts Moll to the door.
+
+But Moll was not content with this promise of justice. For the quality
+of mercy begetteth love, so that one cannot moderate one's anger against
+an enemy, but it doth breed greater compassion and leniency by making
+one better content with oneself, and therefore more indulgent to others.
+And so, when she had left the room, she sends in her maid to fetch me,
+and taking me aside says with vivacity:
+
+"I will have no punishment made upon that man."
+
+"Nay," says I, "but if 'tis proved that his intent was to rob you--"
+
+"What then!" says she. "Hath he not as much right to this estate as we?
+And are we one whit the better than he, save in the more fortunate issue
+of our designs? Understand me," adds she, with passion; "I will have
+nothing added to his unhappiness."
+
+I found the young man seated at the table, and Don Sanchez gravely
+setting food before him. But he would take nothing but bread, and that
+he ate as though it were the sweetest meat in all the world. I lead the
+Don to the window, and there, in an undertone, told him of Moll's
+decision; and, whether her tone of supreme authority amused him or not,
+I cannot say, because of his impassive humour, but he answered me with a
+serious inclination of his head, and then we fell speaking of other
+matters in our usual tone, until the young man, having satisfied the
+cravings of nature, spoke:
+
+"When you are at liberty, gentlemen," says he, "to question my conduct,
+I will answer you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+
+_Of the business appointed to the painter, and how he set about the
+same._
+
+
+The young man had risen and was standing by the table when we turned
+from the window; he seemed greatly refreshed, his face had lost its
+livid hue of passion and death, and looked the better for a tinge of
+colour. He met our regard boldly, yet with no braggart, insolent air,
+but the composure of a brave man facing his trial with a consciousness
+of right upon his side.
+
+"I would ask you," says the Don, seating himself on t'other side the
+table, "why you refused to do that before?"
+
+"Sir," answers he, "I have lost everything in the world save some small
+modicum of pride, which, being all I have, I do cherish, maybe, unduly.
+And so, when these unmannerly hinds took me by the throat, calling on me
+to tell my name and business, this spirit within me flaring up, I could
+not answer with the humility of a villain seeking to slink out of danger
+by submissive excuses."
+
+"Be seated," says the Don, accepting this explanation with a bow. "How
+may we call you?"
+
+"In Venice," replies the other, with some hesitation, "I was called
+Dario--a name given me by my fellow-scholars because my English name was
+not to their taste."
+
+"Enough," says the Don. "I can understand a man of better fortune, as I
+perceive you have been, wishing in such a position as this to retain his
+incognito. There are no parks in Venice, to my knowledge, but surely,
+sir, you would not enter a palazzo there uninvited without some
+reasonable pretext."
+
+"It would be sufficient that in such a house as this I thought I might
+find some employment for a painter."
+
+"You are a painter?" says I.
+
+"A poor one, as you see," replies Dario, with a significant glance at
+his clothes.
+
+Don Sanchez turned to me, hunching his shoulders.
+
+"'Tis clear," says he, "that Signor Dario has been grossly abused by our
+lady's over-zealous steward. You have but to tell us, sir, what
+reparation we can make you."
+
+"I'll not refuse it," answers Dario, eagerly. "You shall grant me
+permission to prove the honesty of my story--and something more than
+that. Somewhere here," adds he, glancing around him, "I'd leave a
+tribute to the grace of that dear lady who brought me back to life."
+
+Don Sanchez assents with a bow to this proposal, but with a rueful
+glance at the rich panels of the wall, as fearing this painter might be
+as poor in talent as in his clothes--the latter reflecting discredit on
+the former--and would disfigure the handsome walls with some rude daub.
+
+"Ah!" cries Dario, casting his eye upon the ceiling, which was plastered
+in the Italian mode and embellished with a poor design of cherubs and
+clouds, "this ceiling is ill done. I could paint a fresco that would
+less disgrace the room."
+
+"You will need materials," says the Don, laying his purse upon the
+table. "When you return with them, you may rely upon having our lady's
+consent to your wishes."
+
+The painter took the purse with a bow of acknowledgment, and no more
+hesitation than one gentleman would show in receiving an obligation from
+another, and presently left us.
+
+"Shall we see him again, think ye, Senor?" I asked when we were left to
+ourselves.
+
+He nodded, but with such a reflective, sombre air, that I was impelled
+to ask him if he lacked confidence in the story told us by the painter.
+
+"His story may be true enough, but whether Signor Dario be an honest man
+or not is another matter. A painter's but a man. A ruined gentleman will
+accommodate his principles to circumstances" (with a side glance that
+seemed to say, "I am a ruined gentleman")--"and my mind would be easier
+if I knew by what curious accident a painter in need should find himself
+in the heart of Kent, and why fixing on this house to seek employment he
+should linger to the point of starvation before he can pluck up courage
+to ask a simple question. We must keep our eyes open, Mr. Hopkins, and,"
+adds he, dropping his voice, "our mouths shut."
+
+I could not sleep that night for thinking of house-breakings and bloody
+struggles for dear life; for 'tis a matter of common report that this
+sort of robbers, ere they make attack, do contrive to get one of their
+number into the house that he may learn where good goods are stowed,
+which part is easiest of attack, etc. I know not whether these quakings
+were shared by the Don, but certainly our misgivings never entered
+Moll's little head. Nay, rather, her romantic disposition did lead her
+(when she heard our narration) to conceive that this mysterious Dario
+might be some wandering genius, whose work upon our ceiling would make
+the Court for ever glorious. And while in this humour she bade me go to
+Simon, whose presence she would not tolerate in her house, and make him
+acquainted with her high displeasure, and furthermore, to command that
+he should make satisfactory apology to Dario upon his return. So to him
+I went, and he wringing his hands in anguish deplored that his best
+endeavours to serve his mistress served only to incense her the more
+against him. But for his apology he declared that has been made the
+moment he heard of the gentleman's release, at the same time that he
+restored to him his hat and a pocket-book which had fallen from his
+pocket.
+
+This did somewhat reassure me, knowing full well that Simon would not
+have given up this book without first acquainting himself with its
+contents, and urging that had there been anything in it to incriminate
+him, he had certainly laid it before his mistress for his own
+justification.
+
+A couple of days after this, as Don Sanchez and I were discoursing in
+the great avenue, Dario presents himself, looking all the better for a
+decent suit of clothes and a more prosperous condition, and Moll joining
+us at that moment, he makes her a very handsome obeisance and standing
+uncovered before her, begs to know if it is her will that he should
+paint the ceiling of her dining-hall.
+
+As he spoke, the colour rose on his cheek, and a shaft of sunlight
+falling on his curling hair, which shone with the lustre of health, made
+him look as comely a man as ever I did see, and a good five years
+younger than when he stood before us in the extremity of distress.
+
+"Sir," says Moll, "were you my debtor as much as I am yours, I could not
+ask for better payment."
+
+Don Sanchez put an end to this pretty exchange of courtesies--which
+maybe he considered overmuch as between a lady of Moll's degree and one
+who might turn out to be no more than an indifferent painter at the
+best--by proposing that Dario should point out what disposition he would
+have made for his convenience in working. So he went within doors, and
+there Dario gave orders to our gardener, who was a handy sort of
+Jack-of-all-trades, what pieces of furniture should be removed, how the
+walls and floor should be protected, and how a scaffold should be set up
+for him to work on. And the gardener promising to carry out all these
+instructions in the course of the day, Dario took his leave of us in a
+very polished style, saying he would begin his business the next morning
+betimes.
+
+Sure enough, we were awoke next day by a scraping below, and coming
+down, we found our painter in a scull-cap and a smock that covered him
+to his heels, upon his scaffold, preparing the ceiling in a very
+workmanlike manner. And to see him then, with his face and beard thickly
+crusted over with a mess of dry plaster and paint, did I think somewhat
+dispel those fanciful illusions which our Moll had fostered--she,
+doubtless, expecting to find him in a very graceful attitude and
+beautiful to look at, creating a picture as if by inchantment. Her
+mortification was increased later in the day when, we having invited him
+on her insistence to dine at our table, he declined (civilly enough),
+saying he had brought his repast with him, and we presently found him
+seated astride one of his planks with a pocket knife in one hand and a
+thumb-piece of bread and bacon in the other, which he seemed to be
+eating with all the relish in the world.
+
+"Why, he is nought but a common labourer," says Moll, disgusted to see
+him regaling himself in this fashion, as we returned to our room. "A
+pretty picture we are like to get for all this mess and inconvenience!"
+
+And her idol being broken (as it were), and all her fond fancies dashed,
+she would not as much as look at him again nor go anigh the room, to be
+reminded of her folly.
+
+However, on the third day Dario sent to ask if she would survey his
+outlines and decide whether the design pleased her or not. For this
+purpose he had pushed aside his scaffold, and here we saw a perspective
+done on the ceiling in charcoal, representing a vaulted roof with an
+opening to the sky in the middle, surrounded by a little balcony with
+trailing plants running over it, and flowers peeping out betwixt the
+balusters. And this, though very rough, was most artificial, making the
+room look twice its height, and the most admirable, masterly drawing
+that I did ever see.
+
+And now Moll, who had prepared a courteous speech to cover the contempt
+she expected to feel for the work, could say nought for astonishment,
+but stood casting her eyes round at the work like one in a maze.
+
+"If you would prefer an allegory of figures," says Dario, misconceiving
+her silence.
+
+"Nay," answers she, "I would have nothing altered. 'Tis wonderful how
+such effect can be made with mere lines of black. I can scarce believe
+the ceiling is flat." And then she drops her eyes upon Dario, regarding
+him with wonder, as if doubting that such a dirty-looking man could have
+worked this miracle.
+
+"You must have seen better designs in Rome," says he.
+
+At this I took alarm, not thinking for the moment that he might have
+picked up some particulars of Judith Godwin's history from Mrs.
+Butterby, or the curious servants who were ever prying in the room.
+
+"'Tis so long ago," says Moll, readily.
+
+"I think I have seen something like it in the Holy City," observes the
+Don, critically.
+
+"Probably. Nothing has been left undone in Rome--I am told. It has not
+been my good fortune to get so far."
+
+This was good news; for otherwise he might have put some posers to Moll,
+which she had found it hard to answer without betraying her ignorance.
+
+Having Moll's approval, Dario set to work forthwith to colour his
+perspective; and this he did with the sure firm hand of one who
+understands his business, and with such nice judgment, that no builder,
+whose design is ordered by fixed rule and line, could accomplish his
+work with greater truth and justice. He made it to appear that the lower
+part of his vaulted roof was wainscoted in the style of the walls, and
+to such perfection that 'twould have puzzled a conjurer to decide where
+the oaken panels ended and the painted ones began.
+
+And now Moll suffers her fancies to run wild again, and could not
+sufficiently marvel over this poor painter and his work, of which she
+would discourse to such lengths, that both the Don and I at times had
+some ado to stifle our yawns. She would have it that he was no common
+man, but some great genius, compelled by misfortune or the persecution
+of rivals, to wander abroad in disguise, taking for evidence the very
+facts which had lately led her to condemn him, pointing out that,
+whereas those young gentlemen who courted her so persistently did
+endeavour, on all occasions, to make their estate and natural parts
+appear greater than they were, this Dario did not, proving that he had
+no such need of fictitious advancement, and could well afford to let the
+world judge of his worth by his works, etc. This point we did not
+contest, only we were very well content to observe that he introduced no
+one into the house, had no friends in the village (to our knowledge),
+and that nought was lacking from our store of plate.
+
+She never tired of watching him at his work--having the hardihood to
+mount upon the scaffold where he stood, and there she would sit by the
+hour on a little stool, chatting like any magpie, when the nature of his
+occupation allowed his thoughts to wander, silent as a mouse when she
+perceived that his mind was absorbed in travail--ready at any moment to
+fetch this or hold t'other, and seizing every opportunity to serve him.
+Indeed, I believe she would gladly have helped him shift the heavy
+planks, when he would have their position altered, had he permitted her
+this rough usage of her delicate hands. One day, when he was about to
+begin the foliage upon his balcony, he brought in a spray of ivy for a
+model; then Moll told him she knew where much better was to be found,
+and would have him go with her to see it. And she, coming back from this
+expedition, with her arms full of briony and herbage, richly tinted by
+the first frost, I perceived that there was a new kind of beauty in her
+face, a radiance of great happiness and satisfaction which I had never
+seen there before.
+
+Here was herbage enough for a week, but she must have fresh the next
+morning, and thenceforth every day they would go out ere the sun was
+high, hunting for new models.
+
+To prepare for these early excursions, Mistress Moll, though commonly
+disposed to lie abed late in the morning, must have been up by daybreak.
+And, despite her admiration of Dario's simplicity in dress, she showed
+no inclination to follow his example in this particular; but, on the
+contrary, took more pains in adorning her person at this time than ever
+she had done before; and as she would dress her hair no two mornings
+alike, so she would change the fashion of her dress with the same
+inconstancy until the sly hussy discovered which did most please Dario's
+taste; then a word of approval from him, nay, a glance, would suffice to
+fix her choice until she found that his admiration needed rekindling.
+And so, as if her own imagination was not sufficiently forcible, she
+would talk of nothing with her friends but the newest fashions at court,
+with the result that her maids were for ever a-brewing some new wash for
+her face (which she considered too brown), compounding charms to remove
+a little mole she had in the nape of her neck, cutting up one gown to
+make another, and so forth. One day she presented herself with a black
+patch at the corner of her lip, and having seen nought of this fashion
+before, I cried out in alarm:
+
+"Lord, child! have you injured your face with that mess Betty was
+stewing yesterday?"
+
+"What an absurd, old-fashioned creature you are!" answers she, testily.
+"Don't you know that 'tis the mode now for ladies to wear spots? Signor
+Dario," adds she, her eyes lighting up, "finds it mighty becoming." When
+I saw her thus disfiguring her pretty face (as I considered it then,
+though I came to admire this embellishment later on) to please Signor
+Dario, I began to ask myself how this business was likely to end.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+
+_Of Moll's ill humour and what befel thereby._
+
+
+Feeling, in the absence of Dawson, that I stood in the position of a
+guardian to his daughter, and was responsible for her welfare, my mind
+grew very uneasy about the consequences of her extravagant admiration
+for the painter; and, knowing that Don Sanchez, despite his phlegmatic
+humour, loved Moll very sincerely at heart, I took him aside one day,
+and asked him if he had observed nothing particular in Moll's behaviour
+of late.
+
+"One would be blind," says he, "not to see that she is enamoured of
+Dario, if that's what you mean."
+
+I admitted that my suspicions inclined that way, and, explaining my
+concern on her behalf, I asked him what he would do in my place.
+
+"In my country," says he, "matters never would have been suffered to go
+so far, and Mistress Judith would have been shut up a prisoner in her
+room these past three weeks. But I doubt if our maidens are any the
+safer or better for such treatment, and I am quite sure that such
+treatment would be worse than useless for an English girl, and
+especially such an one as this. For, guard her how you might, she would
+assuredly find means to break her prison, and then no course is open to
+her but to throw herself in the arms of the man she loves, trusting to
+mere accident whether he abuses her devotion or not. You might as well
+strive to catch the wind and hold it as stay and stem the course of
+youthful passion."
+
+"Aye, Senor," says I, "this may be all very true. But what should you do
+in my place?"
+
+"Nothing," says he.
+
+This was a piece of advice which set me scratching my head in
+dubitation.
+
+"Beware," continues he, "how you suggest the thing you fear to one who
+needs but a hint to act. I have great faith in the natural modesty of
+women (and I do think no child more innocent than Mistress Judith),
+which, though it blind them to their danger, does, at the same time,
+safeguard them against secret and illicit courses of more fatal
+consequences. Let her discourse with him, openly, since it pleases her.
+In another fortnight or so Dario's work will be finished, he will go
+away, our young lady will shed secret tears and be downcast for a week.
+Then another swain will please her, and she'll smile again. That, as I
+take it, will be the natural order of events, unless," adds he, "that
+natural order is disturbed by some external influence."
+
+Maugre this sage advice, my concern being unabated, I would step pretty
+frequently into the room where these young people were, as if to see how
+the work was going forward, and with such a quick step that had any
+interchange of amorous sentiments existed, I must at one time or another
+have discovered it. But I never detected any sign of this--no bashful
+silence, no sudden confusion, or covert interchange of glances.
+Sometimes they would be chatting lightly, at others both would be
+standing silent, she, maybe, holding a bunch of leaves with untiring
+steadfastness, for him to copy. But I observed that she was exceedingly
+jealous of his society, and no matter how glibly she was talking when I
+entered, or how indifferent the subject, she would quickly become
+silent, showing me very plainly by her manner that she would vastly
+prefer my room to my company.
+
+Still, I was not displeased when I perceived this fresco drawing near to
+its completion.
+
+"You are getting on apace," says I, very cheerfully one day. "I reckon
+you will soon have done."
+
+"Yes," answers he, "in a week I shall have nought to do but to pack up
+my tools and go." There was an accent of sorrow in his voice, despite
+himself, which did not escape me nor Moll neither, for I saw her cast
+her eyes upon his face, as if to read if there were sadness there. But
+she said never a word.
+
+However, in the afternoon she comes to me, and says she:
+
+"I am resolved I will have all the rooms in the house plastered, if
+Signor Dario will consent to paint them."
+
+"All the rooms!" says I, in alarm. "Surely you have not counted the cost
+of what you propose."
+
+"I suppose I have enough to keep my house in suitable condition."
+
+"Without doubt, though I expect such work as Signor Dario's must command
+a high price."
+
+"All I ask of you, then," says she, "is to bid my steward have five
+thousand pounds ready for my uses, and within a week, lest I should need
+it suddenly. Should he raise objections--"
+
+"As assuredly he will," says I, who knew the crafty, subtle character of
+old Simon full well by, this time. "A thousand objections, and not one
+you can pick a hole in."
+
+"Then show him this and tell him I accept Mr. Goodman's offer unless he
+can find more profitable means of raising money."
+
+With that she puts in my hand a letter she had that morning received
+from one Henry Goodman, a tenant, who having heard that she had disposed
+of a farm to his neighbour, now humbly prayed she would do him the same
+good turn by selling him the land he rented, and for which he was
+prepared to pay down in ready money the sum of five thousand pounds.
+
+Armed with this letter, I sought Simon and delivered Moll's message. As
+I expected, the wily old man had good excuses ready for not complying
+with this request, showing me the pains he had taken to get the king's
+seal, his failures to move the king's officers, and the refusal of his
+goldsmith to furnish further supplies before the deed of succession was
+passed.
+
+"These objections are all very just," says I, "so I see no way of
+pleasing our lady but by selling Mr. Goodman's farm, which she will have
+done at once if there be no alternative." So I give him the letter,
+which he can scarce read for trembling with anguish.
+
+"What," cries he, coming to the end, "I am to sell this land which I
+bought for nine hundred pounds and is now worth six thousand? I would
+rather my mistress had bid me have the last teeth torn from my head."
+
+"We must have money," says I.
+
+"Thee shalt have it in good time. Evans hath been paid, and thy debt
+shall be discharged; fear not."
+
+"I spoke as representing our lady; for ourselves we are content to wait
+her better convenience." And I told him how his mistress would lay out
+her money in embellishing the Court with paintings, which put him to a
+new taking to think so much good money should be wasted in such
+vanities.
+
+"But," says he, "this work must take time, and one pays for nothing ere
+'tis done. By quarter day our rents will be coming in again--"
+
+"No," says I, cutting him short, "the money must be found at once, or be
+assured that your lady will take the management of her affairs out of
+your hands."
+
+This raised a fresh outcry and more lamentations, but in the end he
+promised to procure the money by collecting his rents in advance, if his
+mistress would refuse Mr. Goodman's offer and wait three weeks; and on
+Moll's behalf I agreed to these terms.
+
+A few days after this, we were called into the dining-hall to see the
+finished ceiling, which truly deserved all the praise we could bestow
+upon it, and more. For now that the sky appeared through the opening,
+with a little pearly cloud creeping across it, the verdure and flowers
+falling over the marble coping, and the sunlight falling on one side and
+throwing t'other into shade, the illusion was complete, so that one
+could scarcely have been more astonished had a leaf fallen from the
+hanging flowers or a face looked over the balcony. In short; 'twas
+prodigious.
+
+Nevertheless, the painter, looking up at his work with half-closed,
+critical eyes, seemed dissatisfied, and asking us if we found nothing
+lacking, we (not to appear behindhand in judgment) agreed that on one
+side there was a vacant place which might yet be adorned to advantage.
+
+"Yes," says he, "I see what is wanted and will supply it. That," adds
+he; gently turning to Moll, "will give me still another day."
+
+"Why, what charm can you add that is not there?" asks she.
+
+"Something," says he, in a low voice, "which I must see whenever I do
+cast my eyes heavenwards."
+
+And now Moll, big with her purpose, which she had hitherto withheld from
+Dario, begs him to come into her state room, and there she told how she
+would have this ceiling plastered over and painted, like her
+dining-hall, if he would undertake to do it.
+
+Dario casts his eye round the room and over the ceiling, and then,
+shaking his head, says: "If I were in your place, I would alter nothing
+here."
+
+"But I will have it altered," says she, nettled, because he did not leap
+at once at her offer, which was made rather to prolong their communion
+than to obtain a picture. "I detest these old-fashioned beams of wood."
+
+"They are in keeping with the character of the room. I think," adds he,
+looking round him again with renewed admiration, "I think I have never
+seen a more perfect example of English art."
+
+"What of that," cries she, "if it pleases me to have it otherwise?"
+
+"Nothing," returns he, calmly. "You have as just a right to stand by
+your opinion as I by mine."
+
+"And am I to understand that you will rather hold by your opinion than
+give me pleasure?"
+
+"I pray you, do not press me to discourtesy," says he.
+
+"Nay, but I would have a plain answer to my question," says she,
+haughtily.
+
+"Then," says he, angering in his turn, "I must tell you that I would as
+soon chip an antique statue to suit the taste of a French modiste as
+disfigure the work of him who designed this room."
+
+Now, whether Moll took this to be a reflection on her own figure, which
+had grown marvellous slim in the waist since she had her new stays from
+London, or not, I will not say; but certainly this response did
+exasperate her beyond all endurance (as we could see by her blanched
+cheek and flashing eye); so, dismissing him with a deep curtsey, she
+turns on her heel without another word.
+
+This foolish business, which was not very creditable to our Moll's good
+sense (though I think she acted no worse than other maids in her
+condition,--for I have observed that young people do usually lose their
+heads at the same time that they lose their hearts), this foolish scene,
+I say, I would gladly omit from my history, but that it completely
+changed our destiny; for had these two parted with fair words, we should
+probably have seen no more of Dario, and Don Sanchez's prognostic had
+been realised. Such trifles as these do influence our career as greatly
+as more serious accidents, our lives being a fabric of events that hang
+together by the slenderest threads.
+
+Unmoved from his design by Moll's displeasure, Dario replaced his
+scaffold before he left that day, and the next morning he came to put
+the last touch upon his work. Moll, being still in dudgeon, would not go
+near him, but sat brooding in a corner of her state room, ready, as I
+perceived, to fly out in passion at any one who gave her the occasion.
+Perceiving this, Don Sanchez prudently went forth for a walk after
+dinner; but I, seeing that some one must settle accounts with the
+painter for his work, stayed at home. And when I observed that he was
+collecting his materials to go, I went in to Moll.
+
+"My dear," says I, "I believe Dario is preparing to leave us."
+
+"My congratulations to him," says she, "for 'tis evident he is weary of
+being here."
+
+"Nay, won't you come in and see his work now 'tis finished?"
+
+"No; I have no desire to see it. If I have lost my taste for Italian
+art, 'tis through no fault of his."
+
+"You will see him, surely, before he goes."
+
+"No; I will not give him another opportunity to presume upon my
+kindness."
+
+"Why, to be sure," says I, like a fool, "you have been a little
+over-familiar."
+
+"Indeed," says she, firing up like a cracker. "Then I think 'twould have
+been kinder of you to give me a hint of it beforehand. However, 'tis a
+very good excuse for treating him otherwise now."
+
+"Well, he must be paid for his work, at any rate."
+
+"Assuredly. If you have not money enough, I will fetch it from my
+closet."
+
+"I have it ready, and here is a purse for the purpose. The question is,
+how much to put in it. I should think such a perspective as that could
+not be handsomely paid under fifty guineas."
+
+"Then you will give him a hundred, and say that I am exceedingly obliged
+to him."
+
+I put this sum in the purse and went out into the hall where Dario was
+waiting, with his basket of brushes beside him. In a poor, bungling,
+stammering fashion, I delivered Moll's message, and made the best excuse
+I could for delivering it in her stead.
+
+He waited a moment or two after I had spoken, and then, says he, in a
+low voice:
+
+"Is that all?"
+
+"Nay," says I, offering the purse, "we do beg you to take this as--"
+
+He stopped me, pushing my hand aside.
+
+"I have taken a purse from Don Sanchez," says he. "There was more in it
+than I needed--there are still some pieces left. But as I would not
+affront him by offering to return them, so I beg you will equally
+respect my feelings. I undertook the task in gratitude, and it hath been
+a work of love all through, well paid for by the happiness that I have
+found here."
+
+He stood musing a little while, as if he were debating with himself
+whether he should seek to overcome Moll's resentment or not. Then,
+raising his head quickly, he says: "'Tis best so, maybe. Farewell, sir"
+(giving me his hand). "Tell her," adds he, as we stand hand in hand at
+the door, "that I can never forget her kindness, and will ever pray for
+her happiness."
+
+I found the door ajar and Moll pacing the room very white, when I
+returned. She checked me the moment I essayed to deliver Dario's
+message.
+
+"You can save your breath," says she, passionately, "I've heard every
+word."
+
+"More shame for you," says I, in a passion, casting my purse on the
+table. "'Tis infamous to treat an honest gentleman thus, and silly
+besides. Come, dear," altering my tone, "do let me run and fetch him
+back."
+
+"You forget whom you are speaking to, Mr. Hopkins," cries she.
+
+I saw 'twas impossible to move her whilst she was in this mood, for she
+had something of her father's obstinate, stubborn disposition, and did
+yet hope to bring Dario back to her feet, like a spaniel, by harsh
+treatment. But he came no more, though a palette he had overlooked could
+have given him the excuse, and for very vexation with Moll I was glad he
+did not.
+
+He had not removed the scaffold, but when I went upon it to see what
+else he had put into his painting, the fading light only allowed me to
+make out a figure that seemed to be leaning over the balcony.
+
+Moll would not go in there, though I warrant she was dying of curiosity;
+and soon after supper, which she could scarce force herself to touch,
+she went up to her own chamber, wishing us a very distant, formal
+good-night, and keeping her passionate, angry countenance.
+
+But the next morning, ere I was dressed, she knocked at my door, and,
+opening it, I found her with swollen eyes and tears running down her
+cheeks.
+
+"Come down," says she, betwixt her sobs, and catching my hand in hers.
+"Come down and see."
+
+So we went downstairs together,--I wondering what now had happened,--and
+so into the dining-hall. And there I found the scaffold pushed aside,
+and the ceiling open to view. Then looking up, I perceived that the
+figure bending over the balcony bore Moll's own face, with a most sweet,
+compassionate expression in it as she looked down, such as I had
+observed when she bent over Dario, having brought him back to life. And
+this, thinks I, remembering his words, this is what he must ever see
+when he looks heavenwards.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+
+_Of the strange things told us by the wise woman._
+
+
+"Tell me I am wicked; tell me I'm a fool," says Moll, clinging to my
+arm.
+
+But I had no feeling now but pity and forgiveness, and so could only try
+to comfort her, saying we would make amends to Dario when we saw him
+next.
+
+"I will go to him," says she. "For nought in the world would I have him
+yield to such a heartless fool as I am. I know where he lodges."
+
+"Well, when we have eaten--"
+
+"Nay; we must go this moment. I cannot be at peace till I have asked him
+to forgive. Come with me, or I must go alone."
+
+Yielding to her desire without further ado, I fetched my hat and cloak,
+and, she doing likewise, we sallied out forthwith. Taking the side path
+by which Dario came and went habitually, we reached a little wicket
+gate, opening from the path upon the highway; and here, seeing a man
+mending the road, we asked him where we should find Anne Fitch, as she
+was called, with whom the painter lodged. Pointing to a neat cottage
+that stood by the wayside, within a stone's throw, he told us the "wise
+woman" lived there. We crossed over and knocked at the door, and a voice
+within bidding us come in, we did so.
+
+There was a very sweet, pleasant smell in the room from the herbs that
+hung in little parcels from the beams, for this Anne Fitch was greatly
+skilled in the use of simples, and had no equal for curing fevers and
+the like in all the country round. (But, besides this, it was said she
+could look into the future and forecast events truer than any Egyptian.)
+There was a chair by the table, on which was an empty bowl and some
+broken bread; but the wise woman sat in the chimney corner, bending over
+the hearth, though the fire had burnt out, and not an ember glowed. And
+a strange little elf she looked, being very wizen and small, with one
+shoulder higher than the other, and a face full of pain.
+
+When I told her our business,--for Moll was too greatly moved to
+speak,--the old woman pointed to the adjoining room.
+
+"He is gone!" cries Moll, going to the open door, and peering within.
+
+"Yes," answers Anne Fitch. "Alas!"
+
+"When did he go?" asks Moll.
+
+"An hour since," answers the other.
+
+"Whither is he gone?"
+
+"I am no witch."
+
+"At least, you know which way he went."
+
+"I have not stirred from here since I gave him his last meal."
+
+Moll sank into the empty chair, and bowed her head in silence.
+
+Anne Fitch, whose keen eyes had never strayed from Moll since she first
+entered the room, seeming as if they would penetrate to the most secret
+recesses of her heart, with that shrewd perception which is common to
+many whose bodily infirmity compels an extraordinary employment of their
+other faculties, rises from her settle in the chimney, and coming to the
+table, beside Moll, says:
+
+"I am no witch, I say; yet I could tell you things would make you think
+I am."
+
+"I want to know nothing further," answers she, dolefully, "save where he
+is."
+
+"Would you not know whether you shall ever see him again, or not?"
+
+"Oh! If you can tell me that!" cries Moll, quickly.
+
+"I may." Then, turning to me, the wise woman asks to look at my hand,
+and on my demurring, she says she must know whether I am a friend or an
+enemy, ere she speaks before me. So, on that, I give my hand, and she
+examines it.
+
+"You call yourself James Hopkins," says she.
+
+"Why, every one within a mile knows that," says I.
+
+"Aye," answers she, fixing her piercing eye on my face; "but every one
+knows not that some call you Kit."
+
+This fairly staggered me for a moment.
+
+"How do you answer that?" she asks, observing my confusion. "Why," says
+I, recovering my presence of mind, "'tis most extraordinary, to be sure,
+that you should read this, for save one or two familiars, none know that
+my second name is Christopher."
+
+"A fairly honest hand," says she, looking at my hand again. "Weak in
+some things, but a faithful friend. You may be trusted."
+
+And so she drops my hand and takes up Moll's.
+
+"'Tis strange," says she. "You call yourself Judith, yet here I see your
+name writ Moll."
+
+[Illustration: "YOU CALL YOURSELF JUDITH, YET HERE I SEE YOUR NAME WRIT
+MOLL."]
+
+Poor Moll, sick with a night of sorrow and terrified by the wise woman's
+divining powers, could make no answer; but soon Fitch, taking less heed
+of her tremble than of mine, regards her hand again.
+
+"How were you called in Barbary?" asks she.
+
+This question betraying a flaw in the wise woman's perception, gave Moll
+courage, and she answered readily enough that she was called "Lala
+Mollah"--which was true, "Lala" being the Moorish for lady, and "Mollah"
+the name her friends in Elche had called her as being more agreeable to
+their ear than the shorter English name.
+
+"Mollah--Moll!" says Anne Fitch, as if communing with herself. "That may
+well be." Then, following a line in Moll's hand, she adds, "You will
+love but once, child."
+
+"What is my sweetheart's name?" whispers Moll, the colour springing in
+her face.
+
+"You have not heard it yet," replies the other, upon which Moll pulls
+her hand away impatiently. "But you have seen him," continues the wise
+woman, "and his is the third hand in which I have read another name."
+
+"Tell me now if I shall see him again," cries Moll, eagerly--offering
+her hand again, and as quickly as she had before withdrawn it.
+
+"That depends upon yourself," returns the other. "The line is a deep
+one. Would you give him all you have?"
+
+Moll bends her head low in silence, to conceal her hot face.
+
+"'Tis nothing to be ashamed of," says the old woman, in a strangely
+gentle tone. "'Tis better to love once than often; better to give your
+whole heart than part. Were I young and handsome and rich, I would give
+body and soul for such a man. For he is good and generous and exceeding
+kind. Look you, he hath lived here but a few weeks, and I feel for him,
+grieve for him, like a mother. Oh, I am no witch," adds she, wiping a
+tear from her cheek, "only a crooked old woman with the gift of seeing
+what is open to all who will read, and a heart that quickens still at a
+kind word or a gentle thought." (Moll's hand had closed upon hers at
+that first sight of her grief.) "For your names," continues she,
+recovering her composure, "I learnt from one of your maids who came
+hither for news of her sweetheart, that the sea captain who was with you
+did sometimes let them slip. I was paid to learn this."
+
+"Not by him," says Moll.
+
+"No; by your steward Simon."
+
+"_He_ paid for that!" says I, incredulous, knowing Simon's reluctance to
+spend money.
+
+"Aye, and a good price, too. It seems you call heavily upon him for
+money, and do threaten to cut up your estate and sell the land he prizes
+as his life."
+
+"That is quite true," says I.
+
+"Moreover, he greatly fears that he will be cast from his office, when
+your title to it is made good. For that reason he would move heaven and
+earth to stay your succession by casting doubts upon your claim. And to
+this end he has by all the means at his command tried to provoke your
+cousin to contest your right."
+
+"My cousin!" cries Moll.
+
+"Richard Godwin."
+
+"My cousin Richard--why, where is he?"
+
+"Gone," says the old woman, pointing to the broken bread upon the table.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+
+_How Moll and Mr. Godwin come together and declare their hearts'
+passion, and how I carry these tidings to Dawson._
+
+
+"What!" cries Moll, starting to her feet. "He whom I have treated thus
+is--" and here she checked herself, as if recoiling (and for the first
+time) from false pretence in a matter so near her heart.
+
+"He is your cousin, Richard Godwin," says the wise woman. "Simon knew
+this from the first; for there were letters showing it in the
+pocket-book he found after the struggle in the park; but for his own
+ends he kept that knowledge secret, until it fitted his ends to speak.
+Why your cousin did not reveal himself to you may be more readily
+conceived by you than 'twas by me."
+
+"Why, 'tis clear enough," says Moll. "Pressed by his necessities, he
+came hither to claim assistance of his kinsman; but finding he was dead
+and none here but me, his pride did shrink from begging of a mere maid
+that which he might with justice have demanded from a man. And then, for
+shame at being handled like a rogue--"
+
+Surely there is something in the blood of a gentleman that tempers his
+spirit to a degree scarcely to be comprehended by men of meaner birth,
+thinks I.
+
+"When did Simon urge him to dispute my rights?" asks Moll.
+
+"On Sunday--in the wood out there. I knew by his look he had some
+treacherous business in hand, and, matching my stealth with his, I found
+means to overhear him, creeping from thicket to thicket, as noiseless as
+a snake, to where they stood; for, be assured, I should not otherwise
+have learnt one word of this."
+
+"How did _he_ receive these hints at my ill doing?" asks Moll.
+
+"Patiently, till the tale was told; then, taking your steward by the
+throat with sudden passion, he cries: 'Why should I not strangle you,
+rascal? 'Twould be a service to humanity. What have I done to deserve
+your love, or this lady your hate? Nothing. You would pit us one against
+the other merely to keep your hold upon these lands, and gratify your
+insensate love of possession. Go, get you gone, beast!' cries he,
+flinging him off; ''tis punishment enough for you to live and know
+you've failed. For, had you proved your case to my conviction, I'd not
+stir a hand against this lady, be she who she may. Nay,' adds he, with
+greater fury, 'I will not stay where my loyalty and better judgment may
+be affected by the contagion of a vile suspicion. Away while you may; my
+fingers itch to be revenged on you for sundering me from one who should
+have been my closest, dearest friend.'"
+
+Moll claps her hands together with a cry of joy and pain mingled, even
+as the smile played upon her lips whilst tears filled her eyes.
+
+"Sunday!" cries she, turning to me and dashing the tears that blinded
+her from her eyes; "Sunday, and it 'twas o' Monday he refused to stay.
+O, the brave heart!" Then, in impetuous haste, "He shall be found--we
+must overtake him."
+
+"That may be done if you take horse," says Anne Fitch, "for he travels
+afoot."
+
+"But which way shall we turn?"
+
+"The way that any man would take, seeking to dispel a useless sorrow,"
+answers the wise woman; "the way to London."
+
+"God bless you!" cries Moll, clasping the withered old woman to her
+heaving breast and kissing her. Then the next moment she would be gone,
+bidding me get horses for our pursuit.
+
+So, as quickly as I might, I procured a couple of nags, and we set out,
+leaving a message for Don Sanchez, who was not yet astir. And we should
+have gone empty, but that while the horses were a-preparing (and Moll,
+despite her mighty haste at this business too), I took the precaution to
+put some store of victuals in a saddle bag.
+
+Reckoning that Mr. Godwin (as I must henceforth call him) had been set
+out two hours or thereabouts, I considered that we might overtake him in
+about three at an easy amble. But Moll was in no mood for ambling, and
+no sooner were we started than she put her nag to a gallop and kept up
+this reckless pace up hill and down dale,--I trailing behind and
+expecting every minute to be cast and get my neck broke,--until her
+horse was spent and would answer no more to the whip. Then I begged her
+for mercy's sake to take the hill we were coming to at a walk, and break
+her fast. "For," says I, "another such half-hour as the last on an empty
+stomach will do my business, and you will have another dead man to bring
+back to life, which will advance your journey nothing, and so more
+haste, less speed." Therewith I opened my saddle bag, and sharing its
+contents, we ate a rare good meal and very merry, and indeed it was a
+pleasure now to look at her as great as the pain had been to see her so
+unhappy a few hours before. For the exercise had brought a flood of rich
+colour into her face, and a lively hope sparkled in her eyes, and the
+sound of her voice was like any peal of marriage bells for gaiety. Yet
+now and then her tongue would falter, and she would strain a wistful
+glance along the road before us as fearing she did hope too much.
+However, coming to an inn, we made enquiry, and learnt that a man such
+as we described had surely passed the house barely an hour gone, and one
+adding that he carried a basket on his stick, we felt this must be our
+painter for certain.
+
+Thence on again at another tear (as if we were flying from our
+reckoning) until, turning a bend of the road at the foot of a hill, she
+suddenly drew rein with a shrill cry. And coming up, I perceived close
+by our side Mr. Godwin, seated upon the bridge that crossed a stream,
+with his wallet beside him.
+
+He sprang to his feet and caught in an instant the rein that had fallen
+from Moll's hand, for the commotion in her heart at seeing him so
+suddenly had stopped the current of her veins, and she was deadly pale.
+
+"Take me, take me!" cries she, stretching forth her arms, with a faint
+voice. "Take me, or I must fall," and slipping from her saddle she sank
+into his open, ready arms.
+
+"Help!" says Mr. Godwin, quickly, and in terror.
+
+"Nay," says she; "I am better--'tis nothing. But," adds she, smiling at
+him, "you may hold me yet a little longer."
+
+The fervid look in his eyes, as he gazed down at her sweet pale face,
+seemed to say: "Would I could hold you here for ever, sweetheart."
+
+"Rest her here," says I, pointing to the little wall of the bridge, and
+he, complying (not too willingly), withdrew his arm from her waist, with
+a sigh.
+
+And now the colour coming back to her cheek, Moll turns to him, and
+says:
+
+"I thought you would have come again. And since one of us must ask to be
+forgiven, lo! here am I come to ask your pardon."
+
+"Why, what is there to pardon, Madam?" says he.
+
+"Only a girl's folly, which unforgiven must seem something worse."
+
+"Your utmost folly," says he, "is to have been over-kind to a poor
+painter. And if that be an offence, 'tis my misfortune to be no more
+offended."
+
+"Have I been over-kind?" says Moll, abashed, as having unwittingly
+passed the bounds of maiden modesty.
+
+"As nature will be over-bounteous in one season, strewing so many
+flowers in our path that we do underprize them till they are lost, and
+all the world seems stricken with wintry desolation."
+
+"Yet, if I have said or done anything unbecoming to my sex--"
+
+"Nothing womanly is unbecoming to a woman," returns he. "And, praised be
+God, some still live who have not learned to conceal their nature under
+a mask of fashion. If this be due less to your natural free disposition
+than to an ignorance of our enlightened modish arts, then could I find
+it in my heart to rejoice that you have lived a captive in Barbary."
+
+They had been looking into each other's eyes with the delight of reading
+there the love that filled their hearts, but now Moll bent her head as
+if she could no longer bear that searching regard, and unable to make
+response to his pretty speech, sat twining her fingers in her lap,
+silent, with pain and pleasure fluttering over her downcast face. And at
+this time I do think she was as near as may be on the point of
+confessing she had been no Barbary slave, rather than deceive the man
+who loved her, and profit by his faith in her, which had certainly
+undone us all; but in her passion, a woman considered the welfare of her
+father and best friends very lightly; nay, she will not value her own
+body and soul at two straws, but is ready to yield up everything for one
+dear smile.
+
+A full minute Mr. Godwin sat gazing at Moll's pretty, blushing, half-hid
+face (as if for his last solace), and then, rising slowly from the
+little parapet, he says:
+
+"Had I been more generous, I should have spared you this long morning
+ride. So you have something to forgive, and we may cry quits!" Then,
+stretching forth his hand, he adds, "Farewell."
+
+"Stay," cries Moll, springing to her feet, as fearing to lose him
+suddenly again, "I have not eased myself of the burden that lay
+uppermost. Oh!" cries she, passionately, casting off all reserve, "I
+know all; who you are, and why you first came hither, and I am here to
+offer you the half of all I have."
+
+"Half, sweet cousin?" answers he, taking her two hands in his.
+
+"Aye; for if I had not come to claim it, all would have been yours by
+right. And 'tis no more than fair that, owing so much to Fortune, I
+should offer you the half."
+
+"Suppose that half will not suffice me, dear?" says he.
+
+"Why, then I'll give you all," answers she; "houses, gardens,
+everything."
+
+"Then what will you do, coz?"
+
+"Go hence, as you were going but just now," answers she, trembling.
+
+"Why, that's as if you took the diamond from its setting, and left me
+nothing but the foil," says he. "Oh, I would order it another way: give
+me the gem, and let who will take what remains. Unless these little
+hands are mine to hold for ever, I will take nothing from them."
+
+"They are thine, dear love," cries she, in a transport, flinging them
+about his neck, "and my heart as well."
+
+At this conjuncture I thought it advisable to steal softly away to the
+bend of the road; for surely any one coming this way by accident, and
+finding them locked together thus in tender embrace on the king's
+highway, would have fallen to some gross conclusion, not understanding
+their circumstances, and so might have offended their delicacy by some
+rude jest. And I had not parted myself here a couple of minutes, ere I
+spied a team of four stout horses coming over the brow of the hill,
+drawing the stage waggon behind them which plies betwixt Sevenoaks and
+London. This prompting me to a happy notion, I returned to the happy,
+smiling pair, who were now seated again upon the bridge, hand in hand,
+and says I:
+
+"My dear friends,--for so I think I may now count you, sir, as well as
+my Mistress Judith here,--the waggon is coming down the hill, by which I
+had intended to go to London this morning upon some pressing business.
+And so, Madam, if your cousin will take my horse and conduct you back to
+the Court, I will profit by this occasion and bid you farewell for the
+present."
+
+This proposal was received with evident satisfaction on their part, for
+there was clearly no further thought of parting; only Moll, alarmed for
+the proprieties, did beg her lover to lift her on her horse instantly.
+Nevertheless, when she was in her saddle, they must linger yet, he to
+kiss her hands, and she to bend down and yield her cheek to his lips,
+though the sound of the coming waggon was close at hand.
+
+Scarcely less delighted than they with this surprising strange turn of
+events, I left 'em there with bright, smiling faces, and journeyed on to
+London, and there taking a pair of oars at the Bridge to Greenwich, all
+eagerness to give these joyful tidings to my old friend, Jack Dawson. I
+found him in his workroom, before a lathe, and sprinkled from head to
+toe with chips, mighty proud of a bed-post he was a-turning. And it did
+my heart good to see him looking stout and hearty, profitably occupied
+in this business, instead of soaking in an alehouse (as I feared at one
+time he would) to dull his care; but he was ever a stout, brave fellow,
+who would rather fight than give in any day. A better man never lived,
+nor a more honest--circumstances permitting.
+
+His joy at seeing me was past everything; but his first thought after
+our hearty greeting was of his daughter.
+
+"My Moll," says he, "my dear girl; you han't brought her to add to my
+joy? She's not slinking behind a door to fright me with delight, hey?"
+
+"No," says I; "but I've brought you great news of her."
+
+"And good, I'll swear, Kit, for there's not a sad line in your face.
+Stay, comrade, wait till I've shook these chips off and we are seated in
+my parlour, for I do love to have a pipe of tobacco and a mug of ale
+beside me in times of pleasure. You can talk of indifferent things,
+though, for Lord! I do love to hear the sound of your voice again."
+
+I told him how the ceiling of our dining-hall had been painted.
+
+"Aye," says he. "I have heard of that; for my dear girl hath writ about
+that and nought else in her letters; and though I've no great fancy for
+such matters, yet I doubt not it is mighty fine by her long-winded
+praises of it. Come, Kit, let us in here and get to something fresher."
+
+So we into his parlour, which was a neat, cheerful room, with a fine
+view of the river, and there being duly furnished with a mighty mug of
+ale and clean pipes, he bids me give him my news, and I tell him how
+Moll had fallen over head and ears in love with the painter, and he with
+her, and how that very morning they had come together and laid open
+their hearts' desire one to the other, with the result (as I believed)
+that they would be married as soon as they could get a parson to do
+their business.
+
+"This is brave news indeed," cries he, "and easeth me beyond
+comprehension, for I could see clearly enough she was smitten with this
+painter, by her writing of nothing else; and seeing she could not get at
+his true name and condition, I felt some qualms as to how the matter
+might end. But do tell me, Kit, is he an honest, wholesome sort of man?"
+
+"As honest as the day," says I, "and a nobler, handsomer man never
+breathed."
+
+"God be praised for all things," says he, devoutly. "Tell me he's an
+Englishman, Kit--as Moll did seem to think he was, spite his foreign
+name--and my joy's complete."
+
+"As true-born an Englishman as you are," says I.
+
+"Lord love him for it!" cries he.
+
+Then coming down to particulars, I related the events of the past few
+days pretty much as I have writ them here, showing in the end how Mr.
+Godwin would have gone away, unknown rather than profit by his claim as
+Sir Richard Godwin's kinsman, even though Moll should be no better than
+old Simon would have him believe, upon which he cries, "Lord love him
+for it, say I again! Let us drink to their health. Drink deep, Kit, for
+I've a fancy that no man shall put his lips to this mug after us."
+
+So I drank heartily, and he, emptying the jug, flung it behind the
+chimney, with another fervent ejaculation of gratitude. Then a shade of
+sorrow falling on his face as he lay it in his hand, his elbow resting
+on the table:
+
+"I'd give best half of the years I've got to live," says he, "to see 'em
+together, and grasp Mr. Godwin's hand in mine. But I'll not be tempted
+to it, for I perceive clearly enough by what you tell me that my wayward
+tongue and weakness have been undoing us all, and ruining my dear Moll's
+chance of happiness. But tell me, Kit" (straightening himself up), "how
+think you this marriage will touch our affairs?"
+
+"Only to better them. For henceforth our prosperity is assured, which
+otherwise might have lacked security."
+
+"Aye, to be sure, for now shall we be all in one family with these
+Godwins, and this cousin, profiting by the estate as much as Moll, will
+never begrudge her giving us a hundred or two now and then, for
+rendering him such good service."
+
+"'Twill appease Moll's compunctions into the bargain," says I,
+heedlessly.
+
+"What compunctions?"
+
+"The word slipped me unintended," stammers I; "I mean nothing."
+
+"But something your word must mean. Come, out with it, Kit."
+
+"Well," says I, "since this fondness has possessed her, I have observed
+a greater compunction to telling of lies than she was wont to have."
+
+"'Tis my fault," answers he, sadly. "She gets this leaning to honesty
+from me."
+
+"This very morning," continues I, "she was, I truly believe, of two
+minds whether she should not confess to her sweetheart that she was not
+his cousin."
+
+"For all the world my case!" cries he, slapping the table. "If I could
+only have five minutes in secret with the dear girl, I would give her a
+hint that should make her profit by my folly." And then he tells me how,
+in the heyday of courtship and the flush of confiding love, he did
+confess to his wife that he had carried gallantry somewhat too far with
+Sukey Taylor, and might have added a good half dozen other names beside
+hers but for her sudden outcry; and how, though she might very well have
+suspected other amours, she did never reproach him therewith, but was
+for ever to her dying day a-flinging Sukey Taylor in his teeth, etc.
+
+"Lord, Kit!" cries he, in conclusion; "what would I give to save her
+from such torment! You know how obedient she is to my guiding, for I
+have ever studied to make her respect me; and no one in the world hath
+such empire over her. Could it not be contrived anyhow that we should
+meet for half an hour secretly?"
+
+"Not secretly," says I. "But there is no reason why you should not visit
+her openly. Nay, it will create less surprise than if you stay away. For
+what could be more natural than your coming to the Court on your return
+from a voyage to see the lady you risked so much to save?"
+
+"Now God bless you for a good, true friend!" cries he, clasping my hand.
+"I'll come, but to stay no great length. Not a drop will I touch that
+day, and a fool indeed I must be if I can't act my part without bungling
+for a few hours at a stretch, and I a-listening every night in the
+parlour of the 'Spotted Dog' to old seamen swearing and singing their
+songs. And I'll find an opportunity to give--Moll a hint of my past
+folly, and so rescue her from a like pitfall. I'll abide by your advice,
+Kit,--which is the wisest I ever heard from your lips."
+
+But I was not so sure of this, and, remembering the kind of obedience
+Moll had used to yield to her father's commands, my mind misgave me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+
+_Don Sanchez proposes a very artful way to make Mr. Godwin a party to
+our knavery, etc._
+
+
+I returned to Hurst Court the following day in the forenoon, and there I
+found Mr. Godwin, with Moll clinging to his arm, in an upper room
+commanding a view of the northern slopes, discussing their future, and
+Moll told me with glee how this room was to be her husband's workroom,
+where he would paint pictures for the admiration of all the world,
+saying that he would not (nor would she have him) renounce his calling
+to lead the idle life of a country gentleman.
+
+"If the world admire my pictures, the world shall pay to have them,"
+says he, with a smile; then turning to her he adds very tenderly: "I
+will owe all my happiness to you, sweetheart; yet guard my independence
+in more material matters. No mercenary question shall ever cast
+suspicion on my love."
+
+Seeing I was not wanted here, I left them to settle their prospectives,
+and sought Don Sanchez, whom I found reading in a room below, seated in
+a comfortable chair before a good fire of apple logs. To please me, he
+shut up his book and agreed to take a stroll in the park while dinner
+was a-dressing. So we clap on our hats and cloaks and set forth, talking
+of indifferent matters till we are come into a fair open glade (which
+sort of place the prudent Don did ever prefer to holes and corners for
+secret conference), and then he told me how Moll and Mr. Godwin had
+already decided they would be married in three weeks.
+
+"Three weeks?" says I. "I would it were to be done in three days." To
+which desire the Don coincides with sundry grave nods, and then tells me
+how Moll would have herself cried in church, for all to know, and that
+nothing may be wanting to her husband's dignity.
+
+"After all," says I, "three weeks is no such great matter. And now,
+Senor, do tell me what you think of all this."
+
+"If you had had the ordering of your own destiny, you could not have
+contrived it better," answers he. "'Tis a most excellent game, and you
+cannot fail to win if" (here he pauses to blow his nose) "if the cards
+are played properly."
+
+This somehow brought Dawson into my thoughts, and I told the Don of my
+visit to him, and how he did purpose to come down to see Moll; whereat
+the Don, stopping short, looked at me very curiously with his eyebrows
+raised, but saying nothing.
+
+"'Tis no more than natural that a father should want to see what kind of
+man is to be his daughter's husband," says I, in excuse, "and if he
+_will_ come, what are we to do?"
+
+"I know what I should do in your place, Mr. Hopkins," says he, quietly.
+
+"Pray, Senor, what is that?"
+
+"Squeeze all the money you can out of old Simon before he comes,"
+answers he. "And it wouldn't be amiss to make Mr. Godwin party to this
+business by letting him have a hundred or two for his present
+necessities at once."
+
+Acting on this hint, when Moll left us after supper and we three men
+were seated before the fire, I asked Mr. Godwin if he would permit me to
+speak upon a matter which concerned his happiness no less than his
+cousin Judith's.
+
+"Nay, sir," replies he, "I do pray you to be open with me, for otherwise
+I must consider myself unworthy of your friendship."
+
+"Well, sir," says I, "my mind is somewhat concerned on account of what
+you said this morning; namely, that no pecuniary question shall ever be
+discussed betwixt you and your wife, and that you will owe nothing to
+her but happiness. This, together with your purpose of painting pictures
+to sell, means, I take it, that you will leave your wife absolute
+mistress of her present fortune."
+
+"That is the case exactly, Mr. Hopkins," says he. "I am not indifferent
+to the world's esteem, and I would give no one reason to suspect that I
+had married my dear cousin to possess her fortune."
+
+"Nevertheless, sir, you would not have it thought that she begrudged you
+an equal share of her possessions. Your position will necessitate a
+certain outlay. To maintain your wife's dignity and your own, you must
+dress well, mount a good horse, be liberal in hospitality, give largely
+to those in need, and so forth. With all due respect to your genius in
+painting, I can scarcely think that art will furnish you at once with
+supplies necessary to meet all these demands."
+
+"All this is very true, Mr. Hopkins," says he, after a little
+reflection; "to tell the truth, I have lived so long in want that
+poverty has become my second nature, and so these matters have not
+entered into my calculations. Pray, sir, continue."
+
+"Your wife, be she never so considerate, may not always anticipate your
+needs; and hence at some future moment this question of supplies must
+arise--unless they are disposed of before your marriage."
+
+"If that could be done, Mr. Hopkins," says he, hopefully.
+
+"It may be done, sir, very easily. With your cousin's consent and yours,
+I, as her elected guardian, at this time will have a deed drawn up to be
+signed by you and her, settling one-half the estate upon you, and the
+other on your cousin. This will make you not her debtor, but her
+benefactor; for without this deed, all that is now hers becomes yours by
+legal right upon your marriage, and she could not justly give away a
+shilling without your permission. And thus you assure to her the same
+independence that you yourself would maintain."
+
+"Very good," says Don Sanchez, in a sonorous voice of approval, as he
+lies back in his high chair, his eyes closed, and a cigarro in the
+corner of his mouth.
+
+"I thank you with all my heart, Mr. Hopkins," says Mr. Godwin, warmly.
+"I entreat you have this deed drawn up--if it be my wife's wish."
+
+"You may count with certainty on that," says I; "for if my arguments
+lacked power, I have but to say 'tis your desire, and 'twould be done
+though it took the last penny from her."
+
+He made no reply to this, but bending forward he gazed into the fire,
+with a rapture in his face, pressing one hand within the other as if it
+were his sweetheart's.
+
+"In the meantime," says I, "if you have necessity for a hundred or two
+in advance, you have but to give me your note of hand."
+
+"Can you do me this service?" cries he, eagerly. "Can you let me have
+five hundred by to-morrow?"
+
+"I believe I can supply you to the extent of six or seven."
+
+"All that you can," says he; "for besides a pressing need that will take
+me to London to-morrow, I owe something to a friend here that I would
+fain discharge."
+
+Don Sanchez waived his hand cavalierly, though I do believe the subtle
+Spaniard had hinted at this business as much for his own ends as for our
+assurance.
+
+"I will have it ready against we meet in the morning," says I. "You are
+so certain of her sanction?" he asks in delight, as if he could not too
+much assure himself of Moll's devotion.
+
+"She has been guided by me in all matters relating to her estate, and
+will be in this, I am convinced. But here's another question, sir,
+which, while we are about business, might be discussed with advantage.
+My rule here is nearly at an end. Have you decided who shall govern the
+estate when I am gone?"
+
+"Only that when I have authority that rascal Simon shall be turned from
+his office, neck and crop. He loves me as little as he loves his
+mistress, that he would set us by the ears for his own advantage."
+
+"An honest man, nevertheless--in his peculiar way," observes the Don.
+
+"Honest!" cries Mr. Godwin, hotly. "He honest who would have suffered
+Judith to die in Barbary! He shall go."
+
+"Then you will take in your own hands the control of your joint estate?"
+
+"I? Why, I know no more of such matters than the man in the moon."
+
+"With all respect to your cousin's abilities, I cannot think her
+qualified for this office."
+
+"Surely another steward can be found."
+
+"Undoubtedly," says I. "But surely, sir, you'd not trust all to him
+without some supervision. Large sums of money must pass through his
+hands, and this must prove a great temptation to dishonest practices.
+'Twould not be fair to any man."
+
+"This is true," says he. "And yet from natural disinclination,
+ignorance, and other reasons, I would keep out of it." Then after some
+reflection he adds, "My cousin has told me how you have lost all your
+fortune in saving her, and that 'tis not yet possible to repay you. May
+I ask, sir, without offence, if you have any occupation for your time
+when you leave us?"
+
+"I went to London when I left you to see what might be done; but a
+merchant without money is like a carpenter without tools."
+
+"Then, sir, till your debt is discharged, or you can find some more
+pleasant and profitable engagement, would you not consent to govern
+these affairs? I do not ask you to stay here, though assuredly you will
+ever be a welcome guest; but if you would have one of the houses on the
+estate or come hither from time to time as it might fit your other
+purposes, and take this office as a matter of business, I should regard
+it as a most generous, friendly kindness on your part."
+
+I promised him with some demur, and yet with the civility his offer
+demanded, to consider of this; and so our debate ended, and I went to
+bed, very well content with myself, for thus will vanity blind us to our
+faults.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+
+_I overcome Moll's honest compunctions, lay hold of three thousand
+pounds more, and do otherwise play the part of rascal to perfection._
+
+
+I got together six hundred pounds (out of the sum left us after paying
+Don Sanchez his ten thousand), and delivered 'em to Mr. Godwin against
+his note of hand, telling him at the same time that, having slept upon
+his proposal, I was resolved to be his steward for three months, with
+freedom on both sides to alter our position, according to our
+convenience, at the end of that time, and would serve him and his lady
+to the best of my power. Thanking me very heartily for my friendly
+service to him (though, God knows, with little reason), he presently
+left us. And Moll, coming back from taking tender leave of him at her
+gates, appeared very downcast and pensive. However, after moping an hour
+in her chamber, she comes to me in her hood, and begs I will take her a
+walk to dispel her vapours. So we out across the common, it being a
+fine, brisk, dry morning and the ground hard with a frost. Here, being
+secure from observation, I showed her how I had settled matters with Mr.
+Godwin, dividing the estate in such a manner as would enable her to draw
+what funds she pleased, without let, hindrance, or any inconvenient
+question.
+
+At this she draws a deep sigh, fixing her eyes sadly enough on the
+perspective, as if she were thinking rather of her absent lover than the
+business in hand. Somewhat nettled to find she prized my efforts on her
+behalf so lightly, I proceeded to show her the advantages of this
+arrangement, adding that, to make her property the surer, I had
+consented to manage both her affairs and Mr. Godwin's when they were
+married.
+
+"And so," says I, in conclusion, "you may have what money you want, and
+dispose of it as you will, and I'll answer for it Mr. Godwin shall never
+be a penny the wiser."
+
+"Do what you find is necessary," says she, with passion. "But for
+mercy's sake say no more on this matter to me. For all these hints do
+stab my heart like sharp knives."
+
+Not reading rightly the cause of her petulance, I was at first disposed
+to resent it; but, reflecting that a maiden is no more responsible for
+her tongue than a donkey for his heels in this season of life (but both
+must be for ever a-flying out at some one when parted from the object of
+their affections), I held my peace; and so we walked on in sullen
+silence for a space; then, turning suddenly upon me, she cries in a
+trembling voice:
+
+"Won't you say something to me? Can't you see that I am unhappy?"
+
+And now, seeing her eyes full of tears, her lips quivering, and her face
+drawn with pain, my heart melted in a moment; so, taking her arm under
+mine and pressing it to my side, I bade her be of good cheer, for her
+lover would return in a day or two at the outside.
+
+"No, not of him,--not of him," she entreats. "Talk to me of indifferent
+things."
+
+So, thinking to turn her thoughts to another furrow, I told her how I
+had been to visit her father at Greenwich.
+
+"My father," says she, stopping short. "Oh, what a heartless, selfish
+creature am I! I have not thought of him in my happiness. Nay, had he
+been dead I could not have forgot him more. You saw him--is he well?"
+
+"As hearty as you could wish, and full of love for you, and rejoiced
+beyond measure to know you are to marry a brave, honest gentleman." Then
+I told how we had drunk to their health, and how her father had smashed
+his mug for a fancy. And this bringing a smile to her cheek, I went on
+to tell how he craved to see Mr. Godwin and grip his hand.
+
+"Oh, if he could see what a noble, handsome man my Richard is!" cries
+she. "I do think my heart would ache for pride."
+
+"Why, so it shall," says I, "for your father does intend to come hither
+before long."
+
+"He is coming to see my dear husband!" says she, her face aglow with
+joy.
+
+"Aye, but he does promise to be most circumspect, and appear as if,
+returning from a voyage, he had come but to see how you fare, and will
+stay no longer than is reasonably civil."
+
+"Only that," says she, her countenance falling again, "we are to hide
+our love, pretend indifference, behave towards this dear father as if he
+were nought to me but a friend."
+
+"My dear," says I, "'tis no new part you have to play."
+
+"I know it," she answers hotly, "but that makes it only the worse."
+
+"Well, what would you?"
+
+"Anything" (with passion). "I would do anything but cheat and cozen the
+man I love." Then, after some moments' silence o' both sides, "Oh, if I
+were really Judith Godwin!"
+
+"If you were she, you'd be in Barbary now, and have neither father nor
+lover; is that what you want?" says I, with some impatience.
+
+"Bear with me," says she, with a humility as strange in her as these
+new-born scruples of conscience.
+
+"You may be sure of this, my dear," says I, in a gentler tone, "if you
+were anything but what you are, Mr. Godwin would not marry you."
+
+"Why, then, not tell him what I am?" asks she, boldly.
+
+"That means that you would be to-morrow what you're not to-day."
+
+"If he told me he had done wrong, I could forgive him, and love him none
+the less."
+
+"Your conditions are not the same. He is a gentleman by birth, you but a
+player's daughter. Come, child, be reasonable. Ponder this matter but a
+moment justly, and you shall see that you have all to lose and nought to
+gain by yielding to this idle fancy. Is he lacking in affection, that
+you would seek to stimulate his love by this hazardous experiment?"
+
+"Oh, no, no, no!" cries she.
+
+"Would he be happier knowing all?" (She shakes her head.) "Happier if
+you force him to give you up and seek another wife?" (She starts as if
+flicked with a whip.) "Would _you_ be happier stripped of your
+possessions, cast out of your house, and forced to fly from justice with
+your father?" (She looks at me in pale terror.) "Why, then, there's
+nothing to be won, and what's to lose? the love of a noble, honest
+gentleman, the joy of raising him from penury."
+
+"Oh, say no more," cries she, in passion. "I know not what madness
+possessed me to overlook such consequences. I kiss you for bringing me
+to my senses" (with that she catches up my hand and presses her lips to
+it again and again). "Look in my face," cries she, "and if you find a
+lurking vestige of irresolution there, I'll tear it out."
+
+Indeed, I could see nothing but set determination in her countenance,--a
+most hard expression of fixed resolve, that seemed to age her by ten
+years, astonishing me not less than those other phases in her rapidly
+developing character.
+
+"Now," says she, quickly, and with not a note of her repining tone,
+"what was that you spoke of lately,--you are to be our steward?"
+
+"Yes," says I, "for Mr. Godwin has declared most firmly that the moment
+he has authority he will cast Simon out for his disloyalty."
+
+"I will not leave that ungrateful duty to him," says she. "Take me to
+this wretch at once, and choose the shortest path."
+
+I led her back across the common, and coming to Simon's lodge, she
+herself knocked loudly at the door.
+
+Seeing who it was through his little grating, Simon quickly opens the
+door, and with fawning humility entreats her to step into his poor room,
+and there he stands, cringing and mopping his eyes, in dreadful
+apprehension, as having doubtless gathered from some about the house how
+matters stood betwixt Moll and Mr. Godwin.
+
+"Where are your keys?" demands Moll, in a very hard, merciless voice.
+
+Perceiving how the land lay, and finding himself thus beset, old Simon
+falls to his usual artifices, turning this way and that, like a rat in a
+pit, to find some hole for escape. First he feigns to misunderstand,
+then, clapping his hands in his pockets, he knows not where he can have
+laid them; after that fancies he must have given them to his man Peter,
+who is gone out of an errand, etc.; until Moll, losing patience, cut him
+short by declaring the loss of the keys unimportant, as doubtless a
+locksmith could be found to open his boxes and drawers without 'em.
+
+"My chief requirement is," adds she, "that you leave this house
+forthwith, and return no more."
+
+Upon this, finding further evasion impossible, the old man turns to bay,
+and asks upon what grounds she would dismiss him without writ or
+warrant.
+
+"'Tis sufficient," returns she, "that this house is mine, and that I
+will not have you a day longer for my tenant or my servant. If you
+dispute my claim,--as I am told you do,--you may take what lawful means
+you please to dispossess me of my estate, and at the same time redress
+what wrong is done you."
+
+Seeing his secret treachery discovered, Simon falls now to his whining
+arts, telling once more of his constant toil to enrich her, his thrift
+and self-denial; nay, he even carries it so far as to show that he did
+but incite Mr. Godwin to dispute her title to the estate, that thereby
+her claim should be justified before the law to the obtaining of her
+succession without further delay, and at the expense of her cousin,
+which did surpass anything I had ever heard of for artfulness. But this
+only incensed Moll the more.
+
+"What!" cries she, "you would make bad blood between two cousins, to the
+ruin and disgrace of one, merely to save the expense of some beggarly
+fees! I'll hear no more. Go at once, or I will send for my servants to
+carry you out by force."
+
+He stood some moments in deliberation, and then he says, with a certain
+dignity unusual to him, "I will go." Then he casts his eye slowly round
+the room, with a lingering regard for his piles of documents and
+precious boxes of title deeds, as if he were bidding a last farewell to
+all that was dear to him on earth, and grotesque as his appearance might
+be, there was yet something pathetic in it. But even at this moment his
+ruling passion prevailed.
+
+"There is no need," says he, "to burst these goodly locks by force. I do
+bethink me the keys are here" (opening a drawer, and laying them upon
+the table). Then dropping his head, he goes slowly to the door, but
+there he turns, lifting his head and fixing his rheumy eyes on Moll. "I
+will take nothing from this house, not even the chattels that belong to
+me, bought from the mean wage I have allowed myself. So shalt thou judge
+of my honesty. They shall stand here till I return, for that I shall
+return I am as fully persuaded as that a just God doth dispose of his
+creatures. Thee hast might on thy side, woman, but whether thee hast
+right as well, shall yet be proven--not by the laws of man, which are an
+invention of the devil to fatten rogues upon the substance of fools, but
+by the law of Heaven, to which I do appeal with all my soul" (lifting
+high his shaking hands). "Morning and night I will pray that God shall
+smite with heavy hand which of us two hath most wronged the other. Offer
+the same prayer if thee darest."
+
+I do confess that this parting shot went home to my conscience, and
+troubled my mind considerably; for feeling that he was in the right of
+it as regarded our relative honesty, I was constrained to think that his
+prophecy might come true also to our shame and undoing. But Moll was
+afflicted with no such qualms, her spirit being very combative and high,
+and her conscience (such as it was) being hardened by our late
+discussion to resist sharper slaps than this. Nay, maintaining that
+Simon must be dishonest by the proof we had of his hypocrisy and double
+dealing, she would have me enter upon my office at once by sending
+letters to all her tenants, warning them to pay no rent to any one
+lately in her service, but only to me; and these letters (which kept my
+pen going all that afternoon) she signed with the name of Judith Godwin,
+which seemed to me a very bold, dangerous piece of business; but she
+would have it so, and did her signature with a strong hand and a
+flourish of loops beneath like any queen.
+
+Nor was this all; for the next morning she would have me go to that Mr.
+Goodman, who had offered to buy her farm for ready money, and get what I
+could from him, seeing that she must furnish herself with fresh gowns
+and make other outlay for her coming marriage. So to him I go, and after
+much haggling (having learnt from Simon that the land was worth more
+than he offered for it), I brought him to give six thousand pounds
+instead of five, and this was clearly better business on his side than
+on mine at that, for that the bargain might not slip from his hands he
+would have me take three thousand pounds down as a handsell, leaving the
+rest to be paid when the deed of transference was drawn up.
+
+And now as I jogged home with all this gold chinking in my pockets, I
+did feel that I had thrust my head fairly into a halter, and no chance
+left of drawing it out. Look at it how I might, this business wore a
+most curst aspect, to be sure; nor could I regard myself as anything but
+a thoroughpaced rogue.
+
+"For," thinks I, "if old Simon's prayer be answered, what will become of
+this poor Mr. Goodman? His title deeds will be wrested from him, for
+they are but stolen goods he is paying for, and thus an innocent, honest
+man will be utterly ruined. And for doing this villany I may count
+myself lucky if my heels save my neck."
+
+With this weight on my mind, I resolved to be very watchful and careful
+of my safety, and before I fell asleep that night I had devised a dozen
+schemes for making good my escape as soon as I perceived danger;
+nevertheless, I could dream of nothing but prisons, scourgings, etc.,
+and in every vision I perceived old Simon in his leather skull-cap
+sitting on the top of Tyburn tree, with his handkercher a-hanging down
+ready to strangle me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+
+_A table of various accidents._
+
+
+As your guide, showing you an exhibition of paintings, will linger over
+the first room, and then pass the second in hurried review to come the
+quicker to a third of greater interest, so I, having dwelt, may be, at
+undue length upon some secondary passages in this history, must
+economise my space by touching lightly on the events that came
+immediately before Moll's marriage, and so get to those more moving
+accidents which followed. Here, therefore, will I transcribe certain
+notes (forming a brief chronicle) from that secret journal which, for
+the clearer understanding of my position, I began to keep the day I took
+possession of Simon's lodge and entered upon my new office.
+
+_December 8._ Very busy all this forenoon setting my new house in order,
+conveying, with the help of the gardener, all those domestic and
+personal goods that belong to Simon into the attick; but Lord! so few
+these things, and they so patched and worn, that altogether they are not
+worth ten shillings of anybody's money. I find the house wondrous neat
+and clean in every part, but so comfortless and prison-like, that I look
+forward with little relish to living here when the time comes for me to
+leave the Court. After this to examining books, papers, etc., and the
+more closely I look into these, the more assured I am that never was any
+servant more scrupulous, exact, and honest in his master's service than
+this old steward, which puts me to the hope that I may be only half as
+faithful to my trust as he, but I do fear I shall not.
+
+Conversing privily with Don Sanchez after dinner, he gave me his opinion
+that we had done a very unwise thing in turning out old Simon, showing
+how by a little skill I might have persuaded Moll to leave this business
+to Mr. Godwin as the proper ruler of her estate; how by such delay Mr.
+Godwin's resentment would have abated and he willing to listen to good
+argument in the steward's favour; how then we should have made Simon
+more eager than ever to serve us in order to condone his late offence,
+and how by abusing our opportunities we had changed this useful servant
+to a dangerous enemy whose sole endeavour must be to undo us and recover
+his former position, etc.... "Why, what have we to fear of this
+miserable old man?" says I. "Unless he fetch Mrs. Godwin from Barbary,
+he cannot disprove Moll's right to the estate, and what else can he do?"
+
+"There's the mischief of it," answers he. "'Tis because you know not how
+he may attack you that you have no means of defending yourself. 'Tis
+ever the unseen trifle in our path which trips us up." And dismissing
+this part of the subject with a hunch of his shoulders, he advises me
+seriously to sell as many more farms as I may for ready money, and keep
+it in some secret convenient corner where I may lay hands on it at a
+moment's warning.
+
+This discourse coming atop of a night's ill rest, depressed my mind to
+such a degree that I could take no interest in my work, but sat there in
+my naked room with my accounts before me, and no spirit to cast 'em up,
+Nor was I much happier when I gave up work and returned to the Court.
+For, besides having to wait an hour later than usual for dinner, Moll's
+treatment of me was none of the best,--she being particularly perverse
+and contrary, for having dressed herself in her best in expectation of
+her lover's return, and he not coming when at last she permitted supper
+to be dished. We were scarcely seated, however, when she springs up with
+a cry of joy and runs from the room, crying she hears her Richard's
+step, which was indeed true, though we had heard nothing more pleasant
+than the rattle of our plates. Presently they come in, all radiant with
+happiness, hand in hand, and thenceforth nought but sweetness and mirth
+on the part of Mistress Moll, who before had been all frown and pout. At
+supper Mr. Godwin tells us how his sweetheart hath certainly dispelled
+the clouds that have hung so long over him, he having heard in London
+that Sir Peter Lely, on seeing one of his pieces, desires to see him at
+Hatfield (where he is painting) on good business, and to Hatfield he
+will go to discharge this matter before his marriage; which joyeth Moll
+less than me, I being pleased to see he is still of the same, stout
+disposition to live an active life. In the evening he gives Moll a very
+beautiful ring for a troth token, which transports her with joy, so that
+she cannot enough caress her lover or this toy, but falls first to
+kissing one and then t'other in a rapture. In return, she gives him a
+ring from her finger. "'Tis too small for my finger, love," says he;
+"but I will wear it against my heart as long as it beats." After that he
+finds another case and puts it in Moll's hand, and she, opening it,
+fetches her breath quickly and can say nothing for amazement; then,
+turning it in the light, she regards it with winking eyes, as if dazzled
+by some fierce brilliancy. And so closing the case as if it were too
+much for her, she lays her face upon Mr. Godwin's breast, he having his
+arm about her, murmuring some inarticulate words of passionate love.
+Recovering her energies presently, she starts up, and putting the case
+in her lover's hand, she bids him put on his gift, therewith pulling
+down her kerchief to expose her beautiful bare neck, whereupon he draws
+from the box a diamond collar and clasps it about her throat with a
+pretty speech. And truly this was a gift worthy of a princess, the most
+beautiful bauble I have ever seen, and must have cost him all he had of
+me to the last shilling.
+
+_December 10._ Finding amongst Simon's quittances a bill for law
+expenses of one John Pearson, attorney, at Maidstone, I concluded this
+must be the most trustworthy man of his kind in the country; and so set
+forth early this morning to seek him,--a tedious, long journey, and the
+roads exceedingly foul. By good luck I found Mr. Pearson at home,--a
+very civil, shrewd man, as I think. Having laid my business before him,
+he tells me there will be no difficulty in dividing the estate according
+to the wish of Mr. Godwin and Moll, which may be done by a simple deed
+of agreement; and this he promises to draw up, and send to us for
+signature in a couple of days. But to get the seal to Moll's succession
+will not be such an easy matter, and, unless we are willing to give
+seven or eight hundred pounds in fees, we may be kept waiting a year,
+with the chance of being put to greater expense to prove our right; for
+he tells me the court and all about it are so corrupt that no minister
+is valued if he do not, by straight or crooked ways, draw money into the
+treasury, and that they will rather impede than aid the course of
+justice if it be to the king's interest, and that none will stir a hand
+to the advantage of any one but the king, unless it be secretly to his
+own, etc. And, though he will say nothing against Simon, save (by way of
+hint) that all men must be counted honest till they are proved guilty,
+yet he do apprehend he will do all in his power to obstruct the granting
+of this seal, which it is only reasonable to suppose he will. So, to
+close this discussion, I agree he shall spend as much as one thousand
+pounds in bribery, and he thinks we may certainly look to have it in a
+month at that price. Home late, and very sore.
+
+_December 11._ Much astonished this morning on going to my house to find
+all changed within as if by inchantment--fine hangings to my windows,
+handsome furniture in every room, all arranged in due order (with a pair
+of pictures in my parlour), the linen press stocked with all that is
+needful and more, and even the cellar well garnished with wines, etc.
+And truly thus embellished my house looks no longer like a prison, but
+as cheerful and pleasant a dwelling-place as the heart of man could
+desire (in moderation), and better than any I have yet dreamt of
+possessing. And 'twas easy to guess whose hands had worked this
+transformation, even had I not recognised certain pieces of furniture as
+coming from the Court, for 'twas of a piece with Moll's loving and
+playful spirit to prepare this surprise for me while I was gone
+yesterday to Maidstone. I am resolved I will sleep here
+henceforth,--there being two bedrooms all properly furnished,--as being
+more in keeping with my new position.
+
+_December 13._ This day a little before dinner time came Dawson to the
+Court, quite sober and looking as like a rough honest seaman as anything
+could be, but evidently with his best shore-going manners on. And when
+Moll very graciously offers him her hand, he whips out a red handkercher
+and lays it over her hand before kissing it, which was a piece of
+ceremony he must have observed at Greenwich, as also many odd phrases
+and sea expressions with which he garnished his conversation.
+
+"Captain Evans," says Moll, taking her lover's hand, "this is Mr.
+Godwin, my cousin, and soon to be my husband."
+
+Mr. Godwin holds forth his hand, but ere he would take it, Dawson looks
+him full in the face a good minute; then, taking it in his great grimy
+hand, and grasping it firmly, "Master," says Jack, "I see thou art an
+honest man, and none lives who hath ever sold me tar for pitch, be he
+never so double-faced, and so I wish you joy of your sweet wife. As for
+you, Mistress" (turning to Moll) "who have ever been kind to me beyond
+my deserts, I do wish you all the happiness in the world, and I count
+all my hardships well paid in bringing you safely to this anchorage. For
+sure I would sooner you were still Lala Mollah and a slave in Barbary
+than the Queen of Chiney and ill-mated; and so Lord love the both of
+you!"
+
+After staying a couple of hours with us, he was for going (but not
+before he had given us the instructive history of the torment he had
+endured, by telling his wife, in an unguarded moment, of his gallantries
+with Sukey Taylor), nor would he be persuaded to sleep at the Court and
+leave next day, maintaining that whilst he had never a penny in the
+world he could very honestly accept Moll's hospitality, but that now
+being well-to-do, thanks to her bounty, he blessed Heaven he had
+sufficient good breeding, and valued himself well enough not to take
+advantage of her beneficence. However, hearing I had a house of my own,
+and could offer him a bed, he willingly agreed to be my guest for the
+night, regarding me as one of his own quality. We stayed to sup at the
+Court, where he entertained us with a lengthy account of his late
+voyage, and how being taken in a tempest, his masts had all been swept
+by the board, and his craft so damaged that 'twas as much as she would
+hold together till he brought her into Falmouth, where she must lie
+a-repairing a good two months ere he could again venture to sea in her.
+And this story he told with such an abundance of detail and so many
+nautical particulars, that no one in the world could have dreamt he was
+lying.
+
+He explained to me later on that he had refused to lie at the Court, for
+fear a glass or two after supper might lead his tongue astray, telling
+me that he had touched nothing but penny ale all his long journey from
+London, for fear of losing his head; and on my asking why he had
+fabricated that long history of shipwreck he vowed I had put him to it
+by saying I had a house of my own where he could lie; "For," says he,
+"my ship being laid up will furnish me with a very good excuse for
+coming to spend a day or two with you now and then. So may I get another
+glimpse of my own dear Moll, and see her in the fulness of her joy."
+
+He could not sufficiently cry up the excellence of Mr. Godwin, his noble
+bearing, his frank, honest countenance, his tenderness for Moll, etc.,
+and he did truly shed tears of gratitude to think that now, whatever
+befell him, her welfare and happiness were assured; but this was when he
+had emptied his bottle and had got to that stage of emotion which
+usually preceded boisterous hilarity when he was in his cups.
+
+And whilst I am speaking of bottles, it will not be amiss to note here,
+for my future warning, a grave imprudence of mine, which I discovered on
+leaving the room to seek more wine. On the flame of my candle blowing
+aside, I perceived that I had left my door unfastened, so that it now
+stood ajar. And, truly, this was as culpable a piece of oversight as I
+could well have committed; for here, had an enemy, or even an idle
+busybody, been passing, he might very well have entered the little
+passage and overheard that which had been our undoing to have made
+known.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+
+_How Moll Dawson was married to Mr. Richard Godwin; brief account of
+attendant circumstances._
+
+
+_December 14._ Dawson left us this morning. In parting, Mr. Godwin
+graciously begged him to come to his wedding feast on Christmas
+day,--they having fixed upon Christmas eve to be married,--and Dawson
+promised he would; but he did assure me afterwards, as we were walking
+along the road to meet the stage waggon, that he would certainly feign
+some reason for not coming. "For," says he, "I am not so foolhardy as to
+jeopardise my Moll's happiness for the pleasure this feast would give
+me. Nay, Kit, I do think 'twould break my heart indeed, if anything of
+my doing should mar my Moll's happiness." And I was very well pleased to
+find him in this humour, promising him that we would make amends for his
+abstinence on this occasion by cracking many a bottle to Moll's joy when
+we could come together again secretly at my house. In the afternoon Mr.
+Pearson's clerk brought the deed of agreement for the settlement of the
+estate upon Moll and Mr. Godwin, which they signed, and so that is
+finished as we would have it. This clerk tells me his master hath
+already gone to London about getting the seal. So all things look mighty
+prosperous.
+
+_December 17._ Fearing to displease Sir Peter Lely by longer delay, Mr.
+Godwin set out for Hatfield Tuesday, we--that is, Moll, Don Sanchez, and
+I--going with him as far as the borough, where Moll had a thousand
+things to buy against her wedding. And here we found great activity of
+commerce, and many shops filled with excellent good goods,--more than
+ever there were before the great fire drove out so many tradesmen from
+the city. Here Moll spends her money royally, buying whatever catches
+her eye that is rich and beautiful, not only for her own personal
+adornment, but for the embellishment of her house (as hangings, damasks,
+toys, etc.), yet always with a consideration of Mr. Godwin's taste, so
+that I think she would not buy a pair of stockings but she must ask
+herself whether he would admire 'em. And the more she had, the more
+eager she grew to have, buying by candle-light, which was an imprudence,
+and making no sort of bargain, but giving all the shopkeepers asked for
+their wares, which, to be sure, was another piece of recklessness. This
+business seemed to me the most wearisome in the world, but it served
+only to increase her energies, and she would not be persuaded to desist
+until, the shops closing, she could lay out no more money that night.
+Supped very well (but mighty late) at the Tabard inn, where we lay all
+night. And the next morning, Moll's fever still unabated, we set out
+again a-shopping, and no rest until we caught the stage (and that by a
+miracle) at four; and so home, dead beat.
+
+_December 18._ Moll mad all day because the carrier hath brought but
+half her purchases, and they not what she wanted. By the evening waggon
+come three seamstresses she engaged yesterday morning, and they are to
+stay in the house till all is finished; but as yet nothing for them to
+do, which is less grievous to them than to poor Moll, who, I believe,
+would set 'em working all night for fear she shall not be fitted against
+her wedding.
+
+_December 19._ Thank God, the carrier brought all our packages this
+morning, and they being all undone and laid out, there is no sitting
+down anywhere with comfort, but all confusion, and no regularity
+anywhere, so I was content to get my meals in the kitchen the best I
+could. And here I do perceive the wisdom of Don Sanchez, who did not
+return with us from London, and does intend (he told me) to stay there
+till the wedding eve. _December 20._ Moll, bit by a new maggot, tells me
+this morning she will have a great feast on Christmas day, and bids me
+order matters accordingly. She will have a whole ox roasted before the
+house by midday, and barrels of strong ale set up, that there may be
+meat and drink for all who choose to take it; and at four she will have
+a supper of geese, turkeys, and plum puddings for all her tenants, their
+wives and sweethearts, with fiddles afterwards for dancing, etc. Lord
+knows how we shall come out of this madness; but I have got the
+innkeeper (a busy, capable man) to help me, and he does assure me all
+will go well enough, and I pray he be right.
+
+_December 21._ Sick with fears that all must end ill. For the place is a
+very Babel for tradesmen and workpeople bringing in goods, and knowing
+not where to set them, servants hurrying this way and that, one charged
+with a dozen geese, another with silk petticoats, jostling each other,
+laughing, quarrelling, and no sort of progress, as it seems, anywhere,
+but all tumult and disorder.
+
+_December 22._ Could not sleep a wink all last night for casting up
+accounts of all this feasting and finery will cost us, and finding it
+must eat up all that money we had of poor Mr. Goodman, and make a deep
+hole in our quarter's rents besides, I fell a speculating whether our
+tenants would pay me with the same punctuality they have used to pay old
+Simon, with grievous fears to the contrary. For, assuredly, Simon hath
+not been idle these past days, and will do us an ill turn if he can, by
+throwing doubts before these same tenants whether they should pay or not
+before Moll's succession is made sure. And I have good reason to fear
+they will not, for I observed yesterday when I called upon Farmer Giles
+to invite him to our feast, he seemed very jerky and ill at ease, which
+perplexed me greatly, until, on quitting, I perceived through a door
+that stood ajar old Simon seated in a side room. And 'tis but natural
+that if they find prudent excuse for withholding their rents they will
+keep their money in pocket, which will pinch us smartly when our bills
+come to be paid. Yet I conceived that this feast would incline our
+tenants to regard us kindly; but, on the other hand, thinks I, supposing
+they regard this as a snare, and do avoid us altogether! Then shall we
+be nipped another way; for, having no one to eat our feast but a few
+idle rogues, who would get beef and ale for nothing, we shall but lay
+ourselves open to mockery, and get further into discredit. Thus, betwixt
+one fear and another, I lay like a toad under a harrow, all night, in a
+mortal sweat and perturbation of spirit.
+
+Nor has this day done much to allay my apprehension. For at the Court
+all is still at sixes and sevens, none of a very cheerful spirit, but
+all mighty anxious, save Moll, who throughout has kept a high, bold
+spirit. And she does declare they will work all night, but everything
+shall be in its place before her lover comes to-morrow. And, truly, I
+pray they may, but do think they will not. For such a mighty business as
+this should have been begun a full month back. But she will not endure
+me in the house (though God knows I am as willing as any to help),
+saying that I do hinder all, and damp their spirit for work with my
+gloomy countenance, which is no more than the truth, I fear. The sky
+very overcast, with wind in the south and the air very muggy, mild, and
+close, so that I do apprehend our geese will be all stinking before they
+are eat. And if it pour of rain on Christmas day how will the ox be
+roast, and what sort of company can we expect? This puts me to another
+taking for dread of a new fiasco.
+
+_December 23._ Going to the Court about midday, I was dumbfounded to
+find no sign of the disorder that prevailed there yesterday, but all
+swept and garnished, and Moll in a brave new gown seated at her
+fireside, reading a book with the utmost tranquillity,--though I suspect
+she did assume something in this to increase my astonishment. She was
+largely diverted by my amazement, and made very light of her
+achievement; but she admitted that all had worked till daybreak, and she
+had slept but two hours since. Nevertheless, no one could have looked
+fresher and brighter than she, so healthy and vigorous are her natural
+parts. About one comes Mr. Godwin to cap her happiness and give fresh
+glory to her beauty. And sure a handsomer or better mated couple never
+was, Mr. Godwin's shapely figure being now set off to advantage by a
+very noble clothing, as becoming his condition. With him came also by
+the morning stage Don Sanchez, mighty fine in a new head, of the latest
+mode, and a figured silk coat and waistcoat. And seeing the brave show
+they made at table, I was much humbled to think I had gone to no expense
+in this particular. But I was yet more mortified when Don Sanchez
+presents Moll with a handsome set of jewels for a wedding gift, to see
+that I had nothing in the world to offer her, having as yet taken not a
+penny of her money, save for the use of others and my bare necessities.
+Moll, however, was too full of happiness to note this omission on my
+part; she could think of no one now but her dear husband, and I counted
+for nothing.
+
+However, this little chagrin was no more than a little cloud on a
+summer's day, which harms no one and is quickly dispelled by generous
+heat; and the tender affection of these two for each other did impart a
+glow of happiness to my heart. 'Tis strange to think how all things
+to-night look bright and hopeful, which yesterday were gloomy and
+awesome. Even the weather hath changed to keep in harmony with our
+condition. A fresh wind sprang up from the north this morning, and
+to-night every star shines out sharp and clear through the frosty air,
+promising well for to-morrow and our Christmas feast. And smelling of
+the geese, I do now find them all as sweet as nuts, which contents me
+mightily, and so I shall go to bed this night blessing God for all
+things.
+
+_December 24._ Now this blessed day hath ended, and Moll is sure and
+safely bound to Mr. Godwin in wedlock, thanks to Providence. Woke at
+daybreak and joyed to find all white without and covered with rime,
+sparkling like diamonds as the sun rose red and jolly above the firs;
+and so I thought our dear Moll's life must sparkle as she looked out on
+this, which is like to be the brightest, happiest day of her life.
+Dressed in my best with great care, and put on the favour of white
+ribbons given me by Moll's woman last night, and so very well pleased
+with my looks, to the Court, where Moll is still a-dressing, but Mr.
+Godwin and Don Sanchez, nobly arrayed, conversing before the fire. And
+here a great bowpot on the table (which Mr. Godwin had made to come from
+London this morning) of the most wondrous flowers I have ever seen at
+this time of the year, so that I could not believe them real at first,
+but they are indeed living; and Mr. Godwin tells me they are raised in
+houses of glass very artificially heated. Presently comes in Moll with
+her maids, she looking like any pearl, in a shining gown of white satin
+decked with rich lace, the collar of diamonds glittering about her white
+throat, her face suffused with happy blushes and past everything for
+sprightly beauty. Mr. Godwin offers his bowpot and takes her into his
+arms, and there for a moment she lay with closed eyes and a pallor
+spreading over her cheek as if this joy were more than her heart could
+bear; but recovering quickly, she was again all lively smiles and
+radiance.
+
+Then comes a letter, brought by the night carrier, from her father (a
+most dirty, ill-written scrawl signed Robert Evans with his mark),
+praying he may be excused, as his masts are to be stepped o' Wednesday,
+and he must take the occasion of a ketch leaving Dartford for Falmouth
+this day, and at the same time begging her acceptance of a canister of
+China tea (which is, I learn, become a fashionable dish in London) as a
+marriage offering. Soon after this a maid runs in to say the church
+bells are a-ringing; so out we go into the crisp, fresh air, with not a
+damp place to soil Moll's pretty shoes--she and Mr. Godwin first, her
+maids next, carrying her train, and the Don and I closing the
+procession, very stately. In the churchyard stand two rows of village
+maids with baskets to strew rosemary and sweet herbs in our path, and
+within the church a brave show of gentlefolks, friends and neighbours,
+to honour the wedding.
+
+But here was I put to a most horrid quaking the moment I passed the
+door, to perceive old Simon standing foremost in the throng about the
+altar, in his leather cap (which he would not remove for clerk or
+sexton, but threatened them, as I am told, with the law if they lay a
+finger on him). And seeing him there, I must needs conclude that he
+intended to do us an ill turn, for his face wore the most wicked, cruel,
+malicious look that ever thirst of vengeance could impart. Indeed, I
+expected nothing less than that he would forbid the marriage on such
+grounds as we had too good reason to fear; and with this dread I
+regarded Moll, who also could not fail to see him. Her face whitened as
+she looked at him, but her step never faltered, and this peril seemed
+but to fortify her courage and resolution; and indeed I do think by her
+high bearing and the defiance in her eye as she held her lover's arm
+that she was fully prepared to make good answer if he challenged her
+right to marry Mr. Godwin. But (the Lord be thanked!) he did not put her
+to this trial, only he stood there like a thing of evil omen to mar the
+joy of this day with fearful foreboding.
+
+I can say nothing about the ceremony, for all my attention was fixed
+upon this hideous Simon, and I had no relief until 'twas safely ended
+and Moll's friends pressed forward to kiss the bride and offer their
+good wishes; nor did I feel really at ease until we were back again at
+the Court, and seated to a fine dinner, with all the friends who would
+join us, whereof there were as many as could sit comfortably to the long
+table. This feast was very joyous and merry, and except that the parson
+would be facetious over his bottle, nothing unseemingly or immodest was
+said. So we stayed at table in exceeding good fellowship till the
+candles were lit, and then the parson, being very drunk, we made a
+pretext of carrying him home to break up our company and leave the happy
+couple to their joy.
+
+_December 26._ Down betimes yesterday morning to find the sky still
+clear, the air brisk and dry, and ample promise of a fair day. To the
+Court, and there perceive the great ox spitted on a stout fir pole, and
+the fire just kindling; John the gardener setting up the barrels of
+beer, and a famous crowd of boys and beggars already standing before the
+gates. And there they might have stayed till their dinner was cooked,
+ere I had let them in, but Moll coming down from the house with her
+husband, and seeing this shivering crew, their pinched cheeks yellow and
+their noses blue with cold, and so famished with hunger they could
+scarce find strength to cry, "God bless you, merry gentlefolks!" she
+would have them taste at once some of that happiness with which her
+heart was overflowing, and so did with her own hands unbolt the gates
+and set them wide, bidding the halting wretches come in and warm
+themselves. Not content with this, she sends up to the house for loaves
+and gives every one a hunch of bread and a mug of ale to stay his empty
+stomach. And Lord, 'twas a pleasure to see these poor folks' joy--how
+they spread their hands out to the flames; how they cockered up the fire
+here and there to brown their ox equally, with all hands now and then to
+turn him on the spit; how they would set their bread to catch the
+dropping gravy; and how they would lift their noses to catch the savoury
+whiffs that came from the roasting beef.
+
+This is all very well, thinks I, but how about our geese and turkeys?
+will our tenants come, or shall we find that Simon hath spoilt their
+appetite, and so be left with nought but starved beggars for our
+company? However, before four o'clock an end was put to these doubts,
+for some in waggons, others on horse, with their wives or sweethearts on
+pillions behind, clasping their men tight, and the rest afoot, all came
+that were asked by me, and more, and pretty jolly already with ale on
+the road, and a great store of mistletoe amongst them for their further
+merriment. And what pleased me as much as anything was to find all
+mighty civil to Moll--nearly all offering her a Christmas box of fresh
+eggs, honey, and such homely produce, which she received with the most
+pretty, winning grace, that went home to every heart, so that the
+hardest faces were softened with a glow of contentment and admiration.
+Then down we sat to table, Moll at one end and her husband beside her;
+Don Sanchez and I at t'other; and all the rest packed as close as sprats
+in a barrel; but every lad squeezing closer to his lass to make room for
+his neighbour, we found room for all and not a sour look anywhere. Dear
+heart! what appetites they had, yet would waste nothing, but picked
+every one his bone properly clean (which did satisfy me nothing was
+amiss with our geese), and great cheering when the puddings and
+flapdragons came in all aflame, and all as merry as grigs--flinging of
+lighted plums at each other, but most mannerly not to fling any at Moll
+or us. Then more shouting for joy when the bowls of wassail and posset
+come in, and all standing to give three times three for their new
+mistress and her husband. Hearing of which, the beggars without (now
+tired of dancing about the embers) troop up to the door and give three
+times three as well, and end with crying joy and long life to the wedded
+pair. When this tumult was ended and the door shut, Mr. Godwin gave a
+short oration, thanking our tenants for their company and good wishes;
+and then he told them how his dear wife and he, wishing others to share
+their joy and remember this day, had resolved to forgive every tenant
+one-half of his quarter's rent. "And so, Mr. Hopkins," says he,
+addressing me, "you will think of this to-morrow."
+
+At first I was disposed to begrudge this munificence--thinking of my
+accounts and the bills I should have to pay ere rent day came again; but
+on second thoughts it rejoiced me much as being a counterblast to
+anything Simon could do against us. For no tenant, thinks I, will be
+fool enough to withold payment when he may get his quittance to-morrow
+for half its value. And herein was I not mistaking; for to-day every
+tenant hath paid with a cheerful countenance. So that this is very good
+business, and I am not in any way astonished to find that our subtle
+Spaniard was at the bottom of it, for indeed it was Don Sanchez who
+(knowing my fears on this head and thinking them well-grounded)
+suggested this act of generosity to Moll, which she, in her fulness of
+heart, seized on at once. (Truly, I believe she would give the clothes
+off her back, no matter what it cost her, to any one in need, so
+reckless is she in love and pity.)
+
+_December 27._ Don Sanchez took leave of us this day, he setting forth
+for Spain to-morrow, with the hope to reach his friends there, for their
+great feast of the New Year. And we are all mighty sorry to lose him;
+for not only hath he been a rare good friend to us, but also he is a
+most seemly gentleman (to keep us in countenance), and a very good
+staunch and reliable companion. But this comprises not all our loss, he
+having, as I confess, more wit in his little finger than we in all our
+bodies, and being ever ready with an expedient in the hour of need; and
+I know not why, but I look on his going as a sign of coming evil; nor am
+I greatly comforted by his telling me privily that when we want him he
+shall be found by a letter sent to the Albego Puerto del Sole, Toledo,
+in Spain. And I pray Heaven we have no occasion to write to him.
+
+To-night at supper I find Moll all cock-a-hoop with a new delight, by
+reason of her dear husband offering to take her to London for a month to
+visit the theatres and other diversions, which put me to a new quirk for
+fear Moll should be known by any of our former playhouse companions. But
+this I now perceive is a very absurd fear; for no one in the world who
+had seen Moll three years ago--a half-starved, long-legged, raw
+child--could recognise her now, a beautiful, well-proportioned young
+woman in her fine clothes; and so my mind is at ease on this head. When
+Moll was retired, Mr. Godwin asked if I could let him have a few
+hundreds upon his account, and I answered very willingly he shall. And
+now setting aside enough to pay all bills and furnish our wants till
+next quarter day, I am resolved to give him every farthing left of the
+rents paid yesterday, and shall be most hearty glad to be rid of it, for
+this money do seem to scar my hands every time I touch it; nor can I
+look at it but my heart is wrung with pity for those poor tenants who
+paid so gleefully yesterday, for surely their quittances will hold good
+for no more than spoilt paper if ever our roguery is discovered.
+
+_December 28._ This day Moll and Mr. Godwin set out for London, all
+smiles and gladness, and Moll did make me promise to visit them there,
+and share their pleasures. But if I have no more appetite for gaiety
+than I feel at this moment, I shall do better to stay here and mind my
+business; though I do expect to find little pleasure in that, and must
+abide by a month of very dull, gloomy days.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+
+_Of the great change in Moll, and the likely explanation thereof._
+
+
+A week before the promised month was up, Moll and her husband came back
+to the Court, and lest I should imagine that her pleasures had been
+curtailed by his caprice, she was at great pains to convince me that he
+had yielded to her insistence in this matter, declaring she was sick of
+theatres, ridottos, masquerades, and sight-seeing, and had sighed to be
+home ere she had been in London a week. This surprised me exceedingly,
+knowing how passionate fond she had ever been of the playhouse and
+diversions of any kind, and remembering how eager she was to go to town
+with her husband; and I perceived there was more significance in the
+present distaste for diversion than she would have known. And I observed
+further (when the joy of return and ordering her household subsided)
+that she herself had changed in these past three weeks, more than was to
+be expected in so short a time. For, though she seemed to love her
+husband more than ever she had loved him as her lover, and could not be
+happy two minutes out of his company, 'twas not that glad, joyous love
+of the earlier days, but a yearning, clinging passion, that made me sad
+to see, for I could not look upon the strained, anxious tenderness in
+her young face without bethinking me of my poor sister, as she knelt
+praying by her babe's cot for God to spare its frail life.
+
+Yet her husband never looked more hearty and strong, and every look and
+word of his bespoke increasing love. The change in her was not
+unperceived by him, and often he would look down into her wistful,
+craving eyes as if he would ask of her, "What is it, love? tell me all."
+And she, as understanding this appeal, would answer nothing, but only
+shake her head, still gazing into his kind eyes as if she would have him
+believe she had nought to tell.
+
+These things made me very thoughtful and urgent to find some
+satisfactory explanation. To be sure, thinks I, marriage is but the
+beginning of a woman's real life, and so one may not reasonably expect
+her to be what she was as a thoughtless child. And 'tis no less natural
+that a young wife should love to be alone with her husband, rather than
+in the midst of people who must distract his thoughts from her; as also
+it is right and proper she should wish to be in her own home, directing
+her domestic affairs and tending to her husband--showing him withal she
+is a good and thoughtful housewife. But why these pensive tristful
+looks, now she hath her heart's desire? Then, finding I must seek some
+better explanation of her case, I bethought me she must have had a very
+hard, difficult task in London to conceal from one, who was now a part
+of herself, her knowledge of so many things it was unbefitting she
+should reveal. At the playhouse she must feign astonishment at all she
+saw, as having never visited one before, and keep constant guard upon
+herself lest some word slipped her lips to reveal her acquaintance with
+the players and their art. At the ridotto she must equally feign
+ignorance of modish dancing--she whose nimble feet had tripped to every
+measure since she could stand alone. There was scarcely a subject on
+which she would dare to speak without deliberation, and she must check
+her old habit of singing and be silent, lest she fall by hazard to
+humming some known tune. Truly, under such continuous strain (which none
+but such a trained actress could maintain for a single day) her spirit
+must have wearied. And if this part was hard to play in public, where we
+are all, I take it, actors of some sort and on the alert to sustain the
+character we would have our own, how much more difficult must it be in
+private when we drop our disguise and lay our hearts open to those we
+love! And here, as it seemed to me, I did hit rightly at the true cause
+of her present secret distress; for at home as abroad she must still be
+acting a part, weighing her words, guarding her acts--for ever to be
+hiding of something from her dearest friend--ever denying him that
+confidence he appealed for--ever keeping a cruel, biting bond upon the
+most generous impulse of her heart, closing that heart when it was
+bursting to open to her dear mate.
+
+Soon after their return Mr. Godwin set to work painting the head of a
+Sybil, which the Lord of Hatfield House had commanded, on the
+recommendation of Sir Peter Lely, taking Anne Fitch for his model, and
+she sitting in that room of the Court house he had prepared for his
+workshop. Here he would be at it every day, as long as there was light
+for his purpose, Moll, near at hand, watching him, ready to chat or hold
+her peace, according to his inclination--just as she had done when he
+was a-painting of the ceiling, only that now her regard was more intent
+upon him than his work, and when he turned to look at her, 'twas with
+interchange of undisguised love in their fond eyes. She ever had a piece
+of work or a book in her lap, but she made not half a dozen stitches or
+turned a single page in the whole day, for he was the sole occupation of
+her mind; the living book, ever yielding her sweet thoughts.
+
+This persevering, patient toil on his part did at first engender in my
+mind suspicion that some doubting thoughts urged him to assume his
+independence against any accident that might befall the estate; but now
+I believe 'twas nothing but a love of work and of his art, and that his
+mind was free from any taint of misgiving, as regards his wife's
+honesty. 'Tis likely enough, that spite her caution, many a word and
+sign escaped Moll, which an enemy would have quickly seized on to prove
+her culpable; but we do never see the faults of those we love (or,
+seeing them, have ready at a moment excuse to prove them no faults at
+all), and at this time Mr. Godwin's heart was so full of love, there was
+no place for other feeling. Venom from a rose had seemed to him more
+possible than evil, from one so natural, sweet, and beautiful as Moll.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+
+_Moll plays us a mad prank for the last time in her life._
+
+
+About once in a fortnight I contrived to go to London for a couple of
+days on some pretext of business, and best part of this time I spent
+with Dawson. And the first visit I paid him after the return of Moll and
+her husband, telling him of their complete happiness, Moll's increasing
+womanly beauty, and the prosperous aspect of our affairs (for I had that
+day positive assurance our seal would be obtained within a month), I
+concluded by asking if his mast might not now be stepped, and he be in a
+position to come to Chislehurst and see her as he had before.
+
+"No, Kit, thanking ye kindly," says he, after fighting it out with
+himself in silence a minute or two, "better not. I am getting in a
+manner used to this solitude, and bar two or three days a week when I
+feel a bit hangdog and hipped a-thinking there's not much in this world
+for an old fellow to live for when he's lost his child, I am pretty well
+content. It would only undo me. If you had a child--your own flesh and
+blood--part of your life--a child that had been to you what my sweet
+Moll hath been to me, you would comprehend better how I feel. To pretend
+indifference when you're longing to hug her to your heart, to talk of
+fair weather and foul when you're thinking of old times, and then to bow
+and scrape and go away without a single desire of your aching heart
+satisfied,--'tis more than a man with a spark of warmth in his soul can
+bear." And then he proceeded to give a dozen other reasons for declining
+the tempting bait,--the sum of all proving to my conviction that he was
+dying to see Moll, and I feared he would soon be doing by stealth that
+which it were much safer he should do openly.
+
+About a week after this I got a letter from him, asking me to come again
+as soon as I might, he having cut his hand with a chisel, "so that I
+cannot work my lathe, and having nothing to occupy my mind, do plague
+myself beyond endurance."
+
+Much concerned for my old friend, I lose no time in repairing to
+Greenwich, where I find him sitting idle before his lathe, with an arm
+hanging in a handkerchief, and his face very yellow; but this, I think,
+was of drinking too much ale. And here he fell speedily discoursing of
+Moll, saying he could not sleep of nights for thinking of the pranks she
+used to play us, our merry vagabond life together in Spain ere we got to
+Elche, etc., and how he missed her now more than ever he did before.
+After that, as I anticipated, he came in a shuffling, roundabout way (as
+one ashamed to own his weakness) to hinting at seeing Moll by stealth,
+declaring he would rather see her for two minutes now and again peering
+through a bush, though she should never cast a glance his way, than have
+her treat him as if she were not his child and ceased to feel any love
+for him. But seeing the peril of such ways, I would by no means consent
+to his hanging about the Court like a thief, and told him plainly that
+unless he would undo us all and ruin Moll, he must come openly as before
+or not at all.
+
+Without further demur he consents to be guided by me, and then, very
+eagerly, asks when it will be proper for him to come; and we agree that
+if he come in a week's time, there will be no thought in anybody's mind
+of our having conspired to this end.
+
+As the fates would have it, Mr. Godwin finished his painting on the
+Saturday following (the most wonderful piece of its kind I ever saw, or
+any one else, in my belief), and being justly proud of his work and
+anxious Sir Peter Lely should see it soon, he resolved he would carry it
+to Hatfield on Monday. Moll, who was prouder of her husband's piece than
+if it were of her own doing, was not less eager it should be seen; yet
+the thought that she must lose him for four days (for this journey could
+not well be accomplished in less time) cast down her spirits
+exceedingly. 'Twas painful to see her efforts to be cheerful despite of
+herself. And, seeing how incapable she was of concealing her real
+feeling from him whom she would cheer, she at length confessed to him
+her trouble. "I would have you go, and yet I'd have you stay, love,"
+says she.
+
+"'Tis but a little while we shall be parted," says he.
+
+"A little while?" says she, trembling and wringing one hand within the
+other. "It seems to me as if we were parting for ever."
+
+"Why, then," returns he, laughing, "we will not part at all. You shall
+come with me, chuck. What should prevent you?"
+
+She starts with joy at this, then looks at him incredulous for a moment,
+and so her countenance falling again, she shakes her head as thinking, I
+take it, that if it were advisable she should go with him, he would have
+proposed it before.
+
+"No," says she, "'twas an idle fancy, and I'll not yield to it. I shall
+become a burden, rather than a helpmate, if you cannot stir from home
+without me. Nay," adds she, when he would override this objection, "you
+must not tempt me to be weak, but rather aid me to do that which I feel
+right."
+
+And she would not be persuaded from this resolution, but bore herself
+most bravely, even to the moment when she and her husband clasped each
+for the last time in a farewell embrace.
+
+She stood where he had left her for some moments after he was gone.
+Suddenly she ran a few paces with parted lips and outstretched hands, as
+if she would call him back; then, as sharply she halts, clasping her
+hands, and so presently turns back, looking across her shoulder, with
+such terror in her white face, that I do think her strong imagination
+figured some accusing spirits, threatening the end of all her joys.
+
+I followed her into the house, but there I learnt from Mrs. Butterby
+that her mistress was gone to her own chamber.
+
+As I was sitting in my office in the afternoon, Jack Dawson came to me
+in his seaman's dress, his hand still wrapped up, but his face more
+healthful for his long ride and cheerful thoughts.
+
+"Why, this could not have fallen out better," says I, when we had
+exchanged greetings; "for Moll is all alone, and down in the dumps by
+reason of her husband having left her this morning on business, that
+will hold him absent for three or four days. We will go up presently and
+have supper with her."
+
+"No, Kit," says he, very resolutely, "I'll not. I am resolved I won't go
+there till to-morrow, for this is no hour to be a-calling on ladies, and
+her husband being away 'twill look as if we had ordered it of purpose.
+Besides, if Moll's in trouble, how am I to pretend I know nothing of the
+matter and care less, and this Mother Butterby and a parcel of sly,
+observant servants about to surprise one at any moment? Say no
+more--'tis useless--for I won't be persuaded against my judgment."
+
+"As you will," says I.
+
+"There's another reason, if other's needed," says he, "and that's this
+plaguey thirst of mine, which seizes me when I'm doleful or joyful, with
+a force there's no resisting. And chiefly it seizes me in the later part
+of the day; therefore, I'd have you take me to the Court to-morrow
+morning betimes, ere it's at its worst. My throat's like any limekiln
+for dryness now; so do pray, Kit, fasten the door snug, and give me a
+mug of ale."
+
+This ended our discussion; but, as it was necessary I should give some
+reason for not supping with Moll, I left Dawson with a bottle, and went
+up to the house to find Moll. There I learnt that she was still in her
+chamber, and sleeping, as Mrs. Butterby believed; so I bade the good
+woman tell her mistress when she awoke that Captain Evans had come to
+spend the night with me, and he would call to pay her his devoirs the
+next morning.
+
+Here, that nothing may be unaccounted for in the sequence of events, I
+must depart from my train of present observation to speak from
+after-knowledge.
+
+I have said that when Moll started forward, as if to overtake her
+husband, she suddenly stopped as if confronted by some menacing spectre.
+And this indeed was the case; for at that moment there appeared to her
+heated imagination (for no living soul was there) a little, bent old
+woman, clothed in a single white garment of Moorish fashion, and Moll
+knew that she was Mrs. Godwin (though seeing her now for the first
+time), come from Barbary to claim her own, and separate Moll from the
+husband she had won by fraud.
+
+She stood there (says Moll) within her gates, with raised hand and a
+most bitter, unforgiving look upon her wasted face, barring the way by
+which Moll might regain her husband; and as the poor wife halted,
+trembling in dreadful awe, the old woman advanced with the sure foot of
+right and justice. What reproach she had to make, what malediction to
+pronounce, Moll dared not stay to hear, but turning her back fled to the
+house, where, gaining her chamber, she locked the door, and flung
+herself upon her husband's bed; and in this last dear refuge, shutting
+her eyes, clasping her ears, as if by dulling her senses to escape the
+phantom, she lay in a convulsion of terror for the mere dread that such
+a thing might be.
+
+Then, at the thought that she might never again be enfolded here in her
+husband's arms, an agony of grief succeeded her fit of maddening fear,
+and she wept till her mind grew calm from sheer exhaustion. And so,
+little by little, as her courage revived, she began to reason with
+herself as how 'twas the least likely thing in the world that if Mrs.
+Godwin were in England, she should come to the Court unattended and in
+her Moorish clothes; and then, seeing the folly of abandoning herself to
+a foolish fancy, she rose, washed the tears from her face, and set
+herself to find some occupation to distract her thoughts. And what
+employment is nearer to her thoughts or dearer to her heart than making
+things straight for her husband; so she goes into the next room where he
+worked, and falls to washing his brushes, cleaning his paint-board, and
+putting all things in order against his return, that he may lose no time
+in setting to work at another picture. And at dinner time, finding her
+face still disfigured with her late emotions and ashamed of her late
+folly, she bids her maid bring a snack to her room, under the pretence
+that she feels unwell. This meal she eats, still working in her
+husband's room; for one improvement prompting another, she finds plenty
+to do there: now bethinking her that the hangings of her own private
+room (being handsomer) will look better on these walls, whereas t'others
+are more fit for hers, where they are less seen; that this corner looks
+naked, and will look better for her little French table standing there,
+with a china image atop, and so forth. Thus, then, did she devote her
+time till sundown, whereabouts Mrs. Butterby raps at her door to know if
+she will have a cup of warm caudle to comfort her, at the same time
+telling her that Mr. Hopkins will not sup with her, as he has Captain
+Evans for his guest at the lodge.
+
+And now Moll, by that natural succession of extremes which seems to be a
+governing law of nature (as the flow the ebb, the calm the storm, day
+the night, etc.), was not less elated than she had been depressed in the
+early part of the day,--but still, I take it, in a nervous, excitable
+condition. And hearing her father, whom she has not seen so long, is
+here, a thousand mad projects enter her lively imagination. So, when
+Mrs. Butterby, after the refusal of her warm caudle, proposes she shall
+bring Madam a tray of victuals, that she may pick something in bed,
+Moll, stifling a merry thought, asks, in a feeble voice, what there is
+in the larder.
+
+"Why, Madam," says Mrs. Butterby, from the outside, "there's the
+partridges you did not eat at breakfast, there's a cold pigeon pasty and
+a nice fresh ham, and a lovely hasty pudding I made with my own hands,
+in the pot."
+
+"Bring 'em all," says Moll, in the same aching voice; "and I'll pick
+what tempts me."
+
+Therewith, she silently slips the bolt back, whips on her nightgown, and
+whips into bed.
+
+Presently, up comes Mrs. Butterby, carrying a wax candle, followed by a
+couple of maids charged with all the provisions Moll had commanded.
+Having permission to enter, the good woman sets down her candle, puts on
+her glasses, and, coming to the bedside, says she can see very well by
+her poor looks, that her dear mistress has got a disorder of the
+biliaries on her, and prays Heaven it may not turn to something worse.
+
+"Nay," says Moll, very faintly, "I shall be well again when I am
+relieved of this headache, and if I can only fall asleep,--as I feel
+disposed to,--you will see me to-morrow morning in my usual health. I
+shan't attempt to rise this evening" ("For mercy's sake, don't," cries
+Mrs. Butterby), "and so, I pray you, order that no one shall come near
+my room to disturb me" ("I'll see that no one so much as sets a foot on
+your stair, Madam, poor dear!" says t'other), "and you will see that all
+is closed carefully. And so good-night, mother, and good-night to you,
+Jane and Betsy--oh, my poor head!"
+
+With a whispered "Good-night, dear madam," Mrs. Butterby and the maids
+leave the room a-tiptoe, closing the door behind them as if 'twere of
+gingerbread; and no sooner are they gone than Moll, big with her mad
+design, nips out of bed, strips off her nightgown, and finding nothing
+more convenient for her purpose, puts the ham, pasty, and partridges in
+a clean pillow-slip. This done, she puts on her cloak and hood, and
+having with great caution set the door open and seen all safe and quiet
+below, she takes up her bag of victuals, blows out the candle, and as
+silent as any mouse makes her way to the little private staircase at the
+end of the stairs. And now, with less fear of encountering Mrs. Godwin
+than Black Bogey, she feels her way down the dark, narrow staircase,
+reaches the lower door, unbolts it, and steps out on the path at the
+back of the house.
+
+There is still a faint twilight, and this enables her to find her way to
+the wicket gate opposite Anne Fitch's cottage. Not a soul is to be seen;
+and so, with her hood drawn well over her head, she speeds on, and in
+five minutes reaches my house. Here finding the door fastened, she gives
+a couple of knocks, and on my opening she asks meekly in a feigned
+voice, which for the life of me I should not have known for hers, if I
+am minded to buy a couple of partridges a friend has sent and she has no
+use for.
+
+"Partridges!" cries Dawson, from within. "Have 'em, Kit, for your bread
+and cheese is mighty every-day fare."
+
+"Let me see 'em, good woman," says I.
+
+"Yes, sir," answers she, meekly, putting her pillow-slip in my hand,
+which perplexed me vastly by its weight and bulk.
+
+"They seem to be pretty big birds by the feel of 'em," says I. "You can
+come in and shut the door after you."
+
+Moll shuts the door and shoots the bolt, then tripping behind me into
+the light she casts back her hood and flings her arms round her father's
+neck with a peal of joyful laughter.
+
+"What!" cries I. "Why, what can have brought you here?"
+
+"Why, I knew you'd have nothing to give my poor old dad but mouldy
+cheese, so I've brought you a brace of partridges, if you please, sir,"
+says she, concluding in her feigned voice, as she emptied the ham,
+pasty, and partridges all higgledy-piggledy out of the slip on to the
+table.
+
+"But, Mrs. Godwin--" says I, in alarm.
+
+"Oh, call me Moll," cries she, wildly. "Let me be myself for this one
+night."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+
+_Of the subtile means whereby Simon leads Mr. Godwin to doubt his wife._
+
+
+Again must I draw upon matter of after-knowledge to show you how all
+things came to pass on this fatal night.
+
+When Mr. Godwin reached London, he went to Sir Peter Lely's house in
+Lincoln's Inn, to know if he was still at Hatfield, and there learning
+he was gone hence to Hampton, and no one answering for certainty when he
+would return, Mr. Godwin, seeing that he might linger in London for days
+to no purpose, and bethinking him how pale and sorrowful his dear wife
+was when they parted, concludes to leave his picture at Sir Peter Lely's
+and post back to Chislehurst, counting to give his wife a happy
+surprise.
+
+About eight o'clock he reaches the Court, to find all shut and barred by
+the prudent housekeeper, who, on letting him in (with many exclamations
+of joy and wonder), falls presently to sighing and shaking her head, as
+she tells how her mistress has lain abed since dinner, and is sick of
+the biliaries.
+
+In great concern, Mr. Godwin takes the candle from Mrs. Butterby's hand,
+and hastes up to his wife's room. Opening the door softly, he enters, to
+find the bed tumbled, indeed, but empty. He calls her in a soft voice,
+going into the next room, and, getting no reply, nor finding her there,
+he calls again, more loudly, and there is no response. Then, as he
+stands irresolute and amazed, he hears a knock at the door below, and
+concluding that 'tis his wife, who has had occasion to go out, seeking
+fresh air for her comfort maybe, he runs swiftly down and opens, ere a
+servant can answer the call. And there he is faced, not by sweet Moll,
+but the jaundiced, wicked old Simon, gasping and panting for breath.
+
+"Dost thee know," says he, fetching his breath at every other word,
+"dost thee know where the woman thy wife is?"
+
+"Where is she?" cries Mr. Godwin, in quick alarm, thinking by this
+fellow's sweating haste that some accident had befallen his dear wife.
+
+"I will show thee where she is; aye, and what she is," gasps the old
+man, and then, clasping his hands, he adds, "Verily, the Lord hath heard
+my prayers and delivered mine enemies into my hand."
+
+Mr. Godwin, who had stepped aside to catch up his hat from the table,
+where he had flung it on entering, stopped short, hearing this fervent
+note of praise, and turning about, with misgivings of Simon's purpose,
+cries:
+
+"What are your enemies to me?"
+
+"Everything," cries Simon. "Mine enemies are thine, for as they have
+cheated me so have they cheated thee."
+
+"Enough of this," cries Mr. Godwin. "Tell me where my wife is, and be
+done with it."
+
+"I say I will show thee where she is and what she is."
+
+"Tell me where she is," cries Mr. Godwin, with passion.
+
+"That is my secret, and too precious to throw away."
+
+"I comprehend you, now," says Mr. Godwin, bethinking him of the fellow's
+greed. "You shall be paid. Tell me where she is and name your price."
+
+"The price is this," returns the other, "thy promise to be secret, to
+catch them in this trap, and give no opening for escape. Oh, I know
+them; they are as serpents, that slip through a man's fingers and turn
+to bite. They shall not serve me so again. Promise--"
+
+"Nothing. Think you I'm of your own base kind, to deal with you in
+treachery? You had my answer before, when you would poison my mind,
+rascal. But," adds he, with fury, "you shall tell me where my wife is."
+
+"I would tear the tongue from my throat ere it should undo the work of
+Providence. If they escape the present vengeance of Heaven, thee shalt
+answer for it, not I. Yet I will give thee a clue to find this woman who
+hath fooled thee. Seek her where there are thieves and drunkards to mock
+at thy simplicity, to jeer at their easy gull, for I say again thy wife
+never was in Barbary, but playing the farded, wanton--"
+
+The patience with which Mr. Godwin had harkened to this tirade, doubting
+by his passion that Simon was stark mad, gave way before this vile
+aspersion on his wife, and clutching the old man by the throat he flung
+him across the threshold and shut the door upon him.
+
+But where was his wife? That question was still uppermost in his
+thoughts. His sole misgiving was that accident had befallen her, and
+that somewhere in the house he should find her lying cold and
+insensible.
+
+With this terror in his mind, he ran again upstairs. On the landing he
+was met by Mrs. Butterby, who (prudent soul), at the first hint of
+misconduct on her mistress's part, had bundled the gaping servants up to
+their rooms.
+
+"Mercy on us, dear master!" says she. "Where can our dear lady be? For a
+surety she hath not left the house, for I locked all up, as she bade me
+when we carried up her supper, and had the key in my pocket when you
+knocked. 'See the house safe,' says she, poor soul, with a voice could
+scarce be heared, 'and let no one disturb me, for I do feel most heavy
+with sleep.'"
+
+Mr. Godwin passed into his wife's room and then into the next, looking
+about him in distraction.
+
+"Lord! here's the sweet thing's nightgown," exclaims Mrs. Butterby, from
+the next room, whither she had followed Mr. Godwin. "But dear heart o'
+me, where's the ham gone?"
+
+Mr. Godwin, entering from the next room, looked at her as doubting
+whether he or all the world had taken leave of their wits.
+
+"And the pigeon pasty?" added Mrs. Butterby, regarding the table laid
+out beside her mistress's bed.
+
+"And the cold partridge," adds she, in redoubled astonishment. "Why,
+here's nought left but my pudding, and that as cold as a stone."
+
+Mr. Godwin, with the candle flaring in his hand, passed hastily by her,
+too wrought by fear to regard either the ludicrous or incomprehensible
+side of Mrs. Butterby's consternation; and so, going down the corridor
+away from the stairs, he comes to the door of the little back stairs,
+standing wide open, and seeming to bid him descend. He goes quickly
+down, yet trembling with fear that he may find her at the bottom, broken
+by a fall; but all he discovers is the bolt drawn and the door ajar. As
+he pushes it open a gust of wind blows out the light, and here he stood
+in the darkness, eager to be doing, yet knowing not which way to turn or
+how to act.
+
+Clearly, his wife had gone out by this door, and so far this gave
+support to Simon's statement that he knew where she was; and with this a
+flame was kindled within him that seemed to sear his very soul. If Simon
+spoke truth in one particular, why should he lie in others? Why had his
+wife refused to go with him to Hatfield? Why had she bid no one come
+near her room? Why had she gone forth by this secret stair, alone? Then,
+cursing himself for the unnamed suspicion that could thus, though but
+for a moment, disfigure the fair image that he worshipped, he asked
+himself why his wife should not be free to follow a caprice. But where
+was she? Ever that question surged upwards in the tumult of his
+thoughts. Where should he seek her? Suddenly it struck him that I might
+help him to find her, and acting instantly upon this hope he made his
+way in breathless haste to the road, and so towards my lodge.
+
+Ere he has gone a hundred yards, Simon steps out of the shadow, and
+stands before him like a shade in the dimness.
+
+"I crave thy pardon, Master," says he, humbly. "I spoke like a fool in
+my passion."
+
+"If you will have my pardon, tell me where to find my wife; if not,
+stand aside," answers Mr. Godwin.
+
+"Wilt thee hear me speak for two minutes if I promise to tell thee where
+she is and suffer thee to find her how thee willst. 'Twill save thee
+time."
+
+"Speak," says Mr. Godwin.
+
+"Thy wife is there," says Simon, under his breath, pointing towards my
+house. "She is revelling with Hopkins and Captain Evans,--men that she
+did tramp the country with as vagabond players, ere the Spaniard taught
+them more profitable wickedness. Knock at the door,--which thee mayst be
+sure is fast,--and while one holds thee in parley the rest will set the
+room in order, and find a plausible tale to hoodwink thee afresh. Be
+guided by me, and thee shalt enter the house unknown to them, as I did
+an hour since, and there thee shalt know, of thine own senses, how thy
+wife doth profit by thy blindness. If this truth be not proved, if thee
+canst then say that I have lied from malice, envy, and evil purpose,
+this knife," says he, showing a blade in his hand, "this knife will I
+thrust into my own heart, though I stand the next instant before the
+Eternal Judge, my hands wet with my own blood, to answer for my crime."
+
+"Have you finished?" asks Mr. Godwin.
+
+"No, not yet; I hold thee to thy promise," returns Simon, with eager
+haste. "Why do men lie? for their own profit. What profit have I in
+lying, when I pray thee to put my word to the proof and not take it on
+trust, with the certainty of punishment even if the proof be doubtful.
+Thee believest this woman is what she pretends to be; what does that
+show?--your simplicity, not hers. How would women trick their husbands
+without such skill to blind them by a pretence of love and virtue?"
+
+"Say no more," cries Mr. Godwin, hoarsely, "or I may strangle you before
+you pass trial. Go your devilish way, I'll follow."
+
+"Now God be praised for this!" cries Simon. "Softly, softly!" adds he,
+creeping in the shade of the bank towards the house.
+
+But ere he has gone a dozen paces Mr. Godwin repents him again, with
+shame in his heart, and stopping, says:
+
+"I'll go no further."
+
+"Then thee doubtest my word no longer," whispers Simon, quickly. "'Tis
+fear that makest thee halt,--the fear of finding thy wife a wanton and a
+trickster."
+
+"No, no, by God!"
+
+"If that be so, then art thee bound to prove her innocent, that I may
+not say to all the world, thee mightest have put her honour to the test
+and dared not--choosing rather to cheat thyself and be cheated by her,
+than know thyself dishonoured. If thee dost truly love this woman and
+believe her guiltless, then for her honour must thee put me--not her--to
+this trial."
+
+"No madman could reason like this," says Mr. Godwin. "I accept this
+trial, and Heaven forgive me if I do wrong."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+
+_How we are discovered and utterly undone._
+
+
+"What!" cries Dawson, catching his daughter in his arms and hugging her
+to his breast, when the first shock of surprise was past. "My own sweet
+Moll--come hither to warm her old father's heart?"
+
+"And my own," says she, tenderly, "which I fear hath grown a little
+wanting in love for ye since I have been mated. But, though my dear Dick
+draws so deeply from my well of affection, there is still somewhere down
+here" (clapping her hand upon her heart) "a source that first sprang for
+you and can never dry."
+
+"Aye, and 'tis a proof," says he, "your coming here where we may speak
+and act without restraint, though it be but for five minutes."
+
+"Five minutes!" cries she, springing up with her natural vivacity, "why,
+I'll not leave you before the morning, unless you weary of me." And then
+with infinite relish and sly humour, she told of her device for leaving
+the Court without suspicion.
+
+I do confess I was at first greatly alarmed for the safe issue of this
+escapade; but she assuring me 'twas a dirty night, and she had passed no
+one on the road, I felt a little reassured. To be sure, thinks I, Mr.
+Godwin by some accident may return, but finding her gone, and hearing
+Captain Evans keeps me to my house, he must conclude she has come
+hither, and think no harm of her for that neither--seeing we are old
+friends and sobered with years, for 'tis the most natural thing in the
+world that, feeling lonely and dejected for the loss of her husband, she
+should seek such harmless diversion as may be had in our society.
+
+However, for the sake of appearances I thought it would be wise to get
+this provision of ham and birds out of sight, for fear of misadventure,
+and also I took instant precaution to turn the key in my street door.
+Being but two men, and neither of us over-nice in the formalities, I had
+set a cheese, a loaf, and a bottle betwixt us on the bare table of my
+office room, for each to serve himself as he would; but I now proposed
+that, having a lady in our company, we should pay more regard to the
+decencies by going upstairs to my parlour, and there laying a tablecloth
+and napkins for our repast.
+
+"Aye, certainly!" cries Moll, who had grown mighty fastidious in these
+particulars since she had been mistress of Hurst Court; "this dirty
+table would spoil the best appetite in the world."
+
+So I carried a faggot and some apple logs upstairs, and soon had a brave
+fire leaping up the chimney, by which time Moll and her father, with
+abundant mirth, had set forth our victuals on a clean white cloth, and
+to each of us a clean plate, knife, and fork, most proper. Then, all
+things being to our hand, we sat down and made a most hearty meal of
+Mrs. Butterby's good cheer, and all three of us as merry as grigs, with
+not a shadow of misgiving.
+
+There had seemed something piteous to me in that appeal of Moll's, that
+she might be herself for this night; and indeed I marvelled now how she
+could have so trained her natural disposition to an artificial manner,
+and did no longer wonder at the look of fatigue and weariness in her
+face on her return to London. For the old reckless, careless, daredevil
+spirit was still alive in her, as I could plainly see now that she
+abandoned herself entirely to the free sway of impulse; the old twinkle
+of mirth and mischief was in her eyes; she was no longer a fine lady,
+but a merry vagabond again, and when she laughed 'twas with her hands
+clasping her sides, her head thrown back, and all her white teeth
+gleaming in the light.
+
+"Now," says I, when at length our meal was finished, "I will clear the
+table."
+
+"Hoop!" cries she, catching up the corners of the tablecloth, and
+flinging them over the fragments; "'tis done. Let us draw round the
+fire, and tell old tales. Here's a pipe, dear dad; I love the smell of
+tobacco; and you" (to me) "do fetch me a pipkin, that I may brew a good
+drink to keep our tongues going."
+
+About the time this drink was brewed, Simon, leading Mr. Godwin by a
+circuitous way, came through the garden to the back of the house, where
+was a door, which I had never opened for lack of a key to fit the lock.
+This key was now in Simon's hand, and putting it with infinite care into
+the hole, he softly turned it in the wards. Then, with the like
+precaution, he lifts the latch and gently thrusts the door open,
+listening at every inch to catch the sounds within. At length 'tis
+opened wide; and so, turning his face to Mr. Godwin, who waits behind,
+sick with mingled shame and creeping dread, he beckons him to follow.
+
+Above, Dawson was singing at the top of his voice, a sea-song he had
+learnt of a mariner at the inn he frequented at Greenwich, with a troll
+at the end, taken up by Moll and me. And to hear his wife's voice
+bearing part in this rude song, made Mr. Godwin's heart to sink within
+him. Under cover of this noise, Simon mounted the stairs without
+hesitation, Mr. Godwin following at his heels, in a kind of sick
+bewilderment. 'Twas pitch dark up there, and Simon, stretching forth his
+hands to know if Mr. Godwin was by, touched his hand, which was deadly
+cold and quivering; for here at the door he was seized with a sweating
+faintness, which so sapped his vigour that he was forced to hold by the
+wall to save himself from falling.
+
+"Art thee ready?" asks Simon; but he can get no answer, for Mr. Godwin's
+energies, quickened by a word from within like a jaded beast by the
+sting of a whip, is straining his ears to catch what is passing within.
+And what hears he?--The song is ended, and Dawson cries:
+
+"You han't lost your old knack of catching a tune, Moll. Come hither,
+wench, and sit upon my knee, for I do love ye more than ever. Give me a
+buss, chuck; this fine husband of thine shall not have all thy sweetness
+to himself."
+
+At this moment, Simon, having lifted the latch under his thumb, pushes
+wide open the door, and there through the thick cloud of tobacco smoke
+Mr. Godwin sees the table in disorder, the white cloth flung back over
+the remnants of our repast and stained with a patch of liquor from an
+overturned mug, a smutty pipkin set upon the board beside a dish of
+tobacco, and a broken pipe--me sitting o' one side the hearth heavy and
+drowsy with too much good cheer, and on t'other side his young wife,
+sitting on Dawson's knee, with one arm about his neck, and he in his
+uncouth seaman's garb, with a pipe in one hand, the other about Moll's
+waist, a-kissing her yielded cheek. With a cry of fury, like any wild
+beast, he springs forward and clutches at a knife that lies ready to his
+hand upon the board, and this cry is answered with a shriek from Moll as
+she starts to her feet.
+
+"Who is this drunken villain?" he cries, stretching the knife in his
+hand towards Dawson.
+
+And Moll, flinging herself betwixt the knife and Dawson, with fear for
+his life, and yet with some dignity in her voice and gesture, answers
+swiftly:
+
+"This drunken villain is my father."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+
+_Moll's conscience is quickened by grief and humiliation beyond the
+ordinary._
+
+
+"Stand aside, Moll," cries Dawson, stepping to the fore, and facing Mr.
+Godwin. "This is my crime, and I will answer for it with my blood. Here
+is my breast" (tearing open his jerkin). "Strike, for I alone have done
+you wrong, this child of mine being but an instrument to my purpose."
+
+Mr. Godwin's hand fell by his side, and the knife slipped from his
+fingers.
+
+"Speak," says he, thickly, after a moment of horrible silence broken
+only by the sound of the knife striking the floor. "If this is your
+daughter,--if she has lied to me,--what in God's name is the truth? Who
+are you, I ask?"
+
+"John Dawson, a player," answers he, seeing the time is past for lying.
+
+Mr. Godwin makes no response, but turns his eyes upon Moll, who stands
+before him with bowed head and clasped hands, wrung to her innermost
+fibre with shame, remorse, and awful dread, and for a terrible space I
+heard nothing but the deep, painful breathing of this poor, overwrought
+man.
+
+"You are my wife," says he, at length. "Follow me," and with that he
+turns about and goes from the room. Then Moll, without a look at us,
+without a word, her face ghastly pale and drawn with agony, with
+faltering steps, obeys, catching at table and chair, as she passes, for
+support.
+
+Dawson made a step forward, as if he would have overtaken her; but I
+withheld him, shaking my head, and himself seeing 'twas in vain, he
+dropped into a chair, and, spreading his arms upon the table, hides his
+face in them with a groan of despair.
+
+Moll totters down the dark stairs, and finds her husband standing in the
+doorway, his figure revealed against the patch of grey light beyond, for
+the moon was risen, though veiled by a thick pall of cloud. He sees, as
+she comes to his side, that she has neither cloak nor hood to protect
+her from the winter wind, and in silence he takes off his own cloak and
+lays it on her shoulder. At this act of mercy a ray of hope animates
+Moll's numbed soul, and she catches at her husband's hand to press it to
+her lips, yet can find never a word to express her gratitude. But his
+hand is cold as ice, and he draws it away from her firmly, with obvious
+repugnance. There was no love in this little act of giving her his
+cloak; 'twas but the outcome of that chivalry in gentlemen which doth
+exact lenience even to an enemy.
+
+So he goes on his way, she following like a whipped dog at his heels,
+till they reach the Court gates, and these being fast locked, on a
+little further, to the wicket gate. And there, as Mr. Godwin is about to
+enter, there confronts him Peter, that sturdy Puritan hireling of old
+Simon's.
+
+"Thee canst not enter here, friend," says he, in his canting voice, as
+he sets his foot against the gate.
+
+"Know you who I am?" asks Mr. Godwin.
+
+"Yea, friend; and I know who thy woman is also. I am bidden by friend
+Simon, the true and faithful steward of Mistress Godwin in Barbary, to
+defend her house and lands against robbers and evil-doers of every kind,
+and without respect of their degree; and, with the Lord's help," adds
+he, showing a stout cudgel, "that will I do, friend."
+
+"'Tis true, fellow," returns Mr. Godwin. "I have no right to enter
+here."
+
+And then, turning about, he stands irresolute, as not knowing whither he
+shall go to find shelter for his wife. For very shame, he does not take
+her to the village inn, to be questioned by gaping servants and
+landlord, who, ere long, must catch the flying news of her shameful
+condition and overthrow. A faint light in the lattice of Anne Fitch's
+cottage catches his eye, and he crosses to her door, still humbly
+followed by poor Moll. There he finds the thumb-piece gone from the
+latch, to him a well-known sign that Mother Fitch has gone out
+a-nursing; so, pulling the hidden string he wots of, he lifts the latch
+within, and the door opens to his hand. A rush is burning in a cup of
+oil upon the table, casting a feeble glimmer round the empty room. He
+closes the door when Moll has entered, sets a chair before the hearth,
+and rakes the embers together to give her warmth.
+
+"Forgive me, oh, forgive me!" cries Moll, casting herself at his feet as
+he turns, and clasping his knees to her stricken heart.
+
+[Illustration: "FORGIVE ME, OH, FORGIVE ME!"]
+
+"Forgive you!" says he, bitterly. "Forgive you for dragging me down to
+the level of rogues and thieves, for making me party to this vile
+conspiracy of plunder. A conspiracy that, if it bring me not beneath the
+lash of Justice, must blast my name and fame for ever. You know not what
+you ask. As well might you bid me take you back to finish the night in
+drunken riot with those others of our gang."
+
+"Oh, no, not now! not now!" cries Moll, in agony. "Do but say that some
+day long hence, you will forgive me. Give me that hope, for I cannot
+live without it."
+
+"That hope's my fear!" says he. "I have known men who, by mere contact
+with depravity, have so dulled their sense of shame that they could make
+light of sins that once appalled them. Who knows but that one day I may
+forgive you, chat easily upon this villany, maybe, regret I went no
+further in it."
+
+"Oh, God forbid that shall be of my doing!" cries Moll, springing to her
+feet. "Broken as I am, I'll not accept forgiveness on such terms. Think
+you I'm like those plague-stricken wretches who, of wanton wickedness,
+ran from their beds to infect the clean with their foul ill? Not I."
+
+"I spoke in heat," says Mr. Godwin, quickly. "I repent even now what I
+said."
+
+"Am I so steeped in infamy," continues she, "that I am past all cure?
+Think," adds she, piteously, "I am not eighteen yet. I was but a child a
+year ago, with no more judgment of right and wrong than a savage
+creature. Until I loved you, I think I scarcely knew the meaning of
+conscience. The knowledge came when I yearned to keep no secret from
+you. I do remember the first struggle to do right. 'Twas on the little
+bridge; and there I balanced awhile, 'twixt cheating you and robbing
+myself. And then, for fear you would not marry me, I dared not own the
+truth. Oh, had I thought you'd only keep me for your mistress, I'd have
+told you I was not your cousin. Little as this is, there's surely hope
+in't. Is it more impossible that you, a strong man, should lift me, than
+that I, a weak girl,--no more than that,--should drag you down?"
+
+"I did not weigh my words."
+
+"Yet, they were true," says she. "'Tis bred in my body--part of my
+nature, this spirit of evil, and 'twill exist as long as I. For, even
+now, I do feel that I would do this wickedness again, and worse, to win
+you once more."
+
+"My poor wife," says he, touched with pity; and holding forth his arms,
+she goes to them and lays her cheek against his breast, and there stands
+crying very silently with mingled thoughts--now of the room she had
+prepared with such delight against his return, of her little table in
+the corner, with the chiney image atop, and other trifles with which she
+had dreamed to give him pleasure--all lost! No more would she sit by his
+side there watching, with wonder and pride, the growth of beauty 'neath
+his dexterous hand; and then she feels that 'tis compassion, not love,
+that hath opened his arms to her, that she hath killed his respect for
+her, and with it his love. And so, stifling the sobs that rise in her
+throat, she weeps on, till her tears trickling from her cheek fall upon
+his hand.
+
+The icy barrier of resentment is melted by the first warm tear,--this
+silent testimony of her smothered grief,--and bursting from the bonds of
+reason, he yields to the passionate impulse of his heart, and clasping
+this poor sorrowing wife to his breast, he seeks to kiss away the tears
+from her cheek, and soothe her with gentle words. She responds to his
+passion, kiss for kiss, as she clasps her hands about his head; but
+still her tears flow on, for with her readier wit she perceives that
+this is but the transport of passion on his side, and not the untaxed
+outcome of enduring love, proving again the truth of his unmeditated
+prophecy; for how can he stand who yields so quickly to the first
+assault, and if he cannot stand, how can he raise her? Surely and more
+surely, little by little, they must sink together to some lower depth,
+and one day, thinks she, repeating his words, "We may chat easily upon
+this villany and regret we went no further in it."
+
+Mr. Godwin leads her to the adjoining chamber, which had been his, and
+says:
+
+"Lie down, love. To-morrow we shall see things clearer, and think more
+reasonably."
+
+"Yes," says she, in return, "more reasonably," and with that she does
+his bidding; and he returns to sit before the embers and meditate. And
+here he stays, striving in vain to bring the tumult of his thoughts to
+some coherent shape, until from sheer exhaustion he falls into a kind of
+lethargy of sleep.
+
+Meanwhile, Moll, lying in the dark, had been thinking also, but (as
+women will at such times) with clearer perception, so that her ideas
+forming in logical sequence, and growing more clear and decisive (as an
+argument becomes more lively and conclusive by successful reasoning)
+served to stimulate her intellect and excite her activity. And the end
+of it was that she rose quickly from her bed and looked into the next
+room, where she saw her husband sitting, with his chin upon his breast
+and his hands folded upon his knee before the dead fire. Then wrapping
+his cloak about her, she steals toward the outer door; but passing him
+she must needs pause at his back to staunch her tears a moment, and look
+down upon him for the last time. The light shines in his brown hair, and
+she bending down till her lips touch a stray curl, they part silently,
+and she breathes upon him from her very soul, a mute "Fare thee well,
+dear love."
+
+But she will wait no longer, fearing her courage may give way, and the
+next minute she is out in the night, softly drawing the door to that
+separates these two for ever.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+
+_How we fought a most bloody battle with Simon, the constable, and
+others._
+
+
+For some time we spoke never a word, Dawson and I,--he with his head
+lying on his arm, I seated in a chair with my hands hanging down by my
+side, quite stunned by the blow that had fallen upon us. At length,
+raising his head, his eyes puffed, and his face bedaubed with tears, he
+says:
+
+"Han't you a word of comfort, Kit, for a broken-hearted man?"
+
+I stammered a few words that had more sound than sense; but indeed I
+needed consolation myself, seeing my own responsibility for bringing
+this misfortune upon Moll, and being most heartily ashamed of my roguery
+now 'twas discovered.
+
+"You don't think he'll be too hard on poor Moll, tell me that, Kit?"
+
+"Aye, he'll forgive her," says I, "sooner than us, or we ourselves."
+
+"And you don't think he'll be for ever a-casting it in her teeth that
+her father's a--a drunken vagabond, eh?"
+
+"Nay; I believe he is too good a man for that."
+
+"Then," says he, standing up, "I'll go and tell him the whole story, and
+you shall come with me to bear me out."
+
+"To-morrow will be time enough," says I, flinching from this office;
+"'tis late now."
+
+"No matter for that. Time enough to sleep when we've settled this
+business. We'll not leave poor Moll to bear all the punishment of our
+getting. Mr. Godwin shall know what an innocent, simple child she was
+when we pushed her into this knavery, and how we dared not tell her of
+our purpose lest she should draw back. He shall know how she was ever an
+obedient, docile, artless girl, yielding always to my guidance; and you
+can stretch a point, Kit, to say you have ever known me for a
+headstrong, masterful sort of a fellow, who would take denial from none,
+but must have my own way in all things. I'll take all the blame on my
+own shoulders, as I should have done at first, but I was so staggered by
+this fall."
+
+"Well," says I, "if you will have it so--"
+
+"I will," says he, stoutly. "And now give me a bucket of water that I
+may souse my head, and wear a brave look. I would have him think the
+worst of me that he may feel the kinder to poor Moll. And I'll make what
+atonement I can," adds he, as I led him into my bed-chamber. "If he
+desire it, I will promise never to see Moll again; nay, I will offer to
+take the king's bounty, and go a-sailoring; and so, betwixt sickness and
+the Dutch, there'll be an end of Jack Dawson in a very short space."
+
+When he had ducked his head in a bowl of water, and got our cloaks from
+the room below, we went to the door, and there, to my dismay, I found
+the lock fast and the key which I had left in its socket gone.
+
+"What's amiss, Kit?" asks Dawson, perceiving my consternation.
+
+"The key, the key!" says I, holding the candle here and there to seek it
+on the floor, then, giving up my search as it struck me that Mr. Godwin
+and Moll could not have left the house had the door been locked on the
+inside; "I do believe we are locked in and made prisoners," says I.
+
+"Why, sure, this is not Mr. Godwin's doing!" cries he.
+
+"'Tis Simon," says I, with conviction, seeing him again in my mind,
+standing behind Mr. Godwin, with wicked triumph in his face.
+
+"Is there no other door but this one?" asks Dawson.
+
+"There is one at the back, but I have never yet opened that, for lack of
+a key." And now setting one thing against another, and recalling how I
+had before found the door open, when I felt sure I had locked it fast,
+the truth appeared to me; namely, that Simon had that key and did get in
+the back way, going out by the front on that former occasion in haste
+upon some sudden alarm.
+
+"Is there never a window we can slip through?" asks Jack.
+
+"Only those above stairs; the lower are all barred."
+
+"A fig for his bars. Does he think we have neither hands nor wits to be
+hindered by this silly woman's trick?"
+
+"'Tis no silly trick. He's not the man to do an idle thing. There's
+mischief in this."
+
+"What mischief can he do us more than he has done?--for I see his hand
+in our misfortune. What mischief, I say?--out with it, man, for your
+looks betray a fear of something worse."
+
+"Faith, Jack, I dread he has gone to fetch help and will lodge us in
+gaol for this business."
+
+"Gaol!" cries he, in a passion of desperation. "Why, this will undo Moll
+for ever. Her husband can never forgive her putting such shame upon him.
+Rouse yourself, man, from your stupor. Get me something in the shape of
+a hammer, for God's sake, that we may burst our way from this accursed
+trap."
+
+I bethought me of an axe for splitting wood, that lay in the kitchen,
+and fetching it quickly, I put it in his hand. Bidding me stand aside,
+he let fly at the door like a madman. The splinters flew, but the door
+held good; and when he stayed a moment to take a new grip on his axe, I
+heard a clamour of voices outside--Simon's, higher than the rest,
+crying, "My new door, that cost me seven and eightpence!"
+
+"The lock, the lock!" says I. "Strike that off."
+
+Down came the axe, striking a spark of fire from the lock, which fell
+with a clatter at the next blow; but ere we had time to open the door,
+Simon and his party, entering by the back door, forced us to turn for
+our defence. Perceiving Dawson armed with an axe, however, these fellows
+paused, and the leader, whom I recognised for the constable of our
+parish, carrying a staff in one hand and a lanthorn in t'other, cried to
+us in the king's name to surrender ourselves.
+
+"Take us, if you can," cries Dawson; "and the Lord have mercy on the
+first who comes within my reach!"
+
+Deftly enough, old Simon, snatching the fellow's cap who stood next him,
+flings it at the candle that stands flaring on the floor, and justles
+the constable's lanthorn from his hand, so that in a moment we were all
+in darkness. Taking us at this disadvantage (for Dawson dared not lay
+about him with his axe, for fear of hitting me by misadventure), the
+rascals closed at once; and a most bloody, desperate fight ensued. For,
+after the first onslaught, in which Dawson (dropping his axe, as being
+useless at such close quarters) and I grappled each our man, the rest,
+knowing not friend from foe in the obscurity, and urged on by fear, fell
+upon each other,--this one striking out at the first he met, and that
+giving as good as he had taken,--and so all fell a-mauling and
+belabouring with such lust of vengeance that presently the whole place
+was of an uproar with the din of cursing, howling, and hard blows. For
+my own lot I had old Simon to deal with, as I knew at once by the cold,
+greasy feel of his leathern jerkin, he being enraged to make me his
+prisoner for the ill I had done him. Hooking his horny fingers about my
+throat, he clung to me like any wildcat; but stumbling, shortly, over
+two who were rolling on the floor, we went down both with a crack, and
+with such violence that he, being undermost, was stunned by the fall.
+Then, my blood boiling at this treatment, I got astride of him, and
+roasted his ribs royally, and with more force than ever I had conceived
+myself to be possessed of. And, growing beside myself with this passion
+of war, I do think I should have pounded him into a pulp, but that two
+other combatants, falling across me with their whole weight, knocked all
+the wind out of my body, oppressing me so grievously, that 'twas as much
+as I could do to draw myself out of the fray, and get a gasp of breath
+again.
+
+About this time the uproar began to subside, for those who had got the
+worst of the battle thought it advisable to sneak out of the house for
+safety, and those who had fared better, fearing a reverse of fortune,
+counted they had done enough for this bout, and so also withdrew.
+
+"Are you living, Kit?" asks Dawson, then.
+
+"Aye," says I, as valiantly as you please, "and ready to fight another
+half-dozen such rascals," but pulling the broken door open, all the
+same, to get out the easier, in case they returned.
+
+"Why, then, let's go," says he, "unless any is minded to have us stay."
+
+No one responding to this challenge, we made ado to find a couple of
+hats and cloaks for our use and sallied out.
+
+"Which way do we turn?" asks Dawson, as we come into the road.
+
+"Whither would you go, Jack?"
+
+"Why, to warn Moll of her danger, to be sure."
+
+I apprehended no danger to her, and believed her husband would defend
+her in any case better than we could, but Dawson would have it we should
+warn them, and so we turned towards the Court. And now upon examination
+we found we had come very well out of this fight; for save that the
+wound in Dawson's hand had been opened afresh, we were neither much the
+worse.
+
+"But let us set our best foot foremost, Jack," says I, "for I do think
+we have done more mischief to-night than any we have before, and I shall
+not be greatly surprised if we are called to account for the death of
+old Simon or some of his hirelings."
+
+"I know not how that may be," says he, "but I must answer for knocking
+of somebody's teeth out."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+
+_We take Moll to Greenwich; but no great happiness for her there._
+
+
+In the midst of our heroics I was greatly scared by perceiving a cloaked
+figure coming hurriedly towards us in the dim light.
+
+"'Tis another, come to succour his friends," whispers I. "Let us step
+into this hedge."
+
+"Too late," returns he. "Put on a bold face, 'tis only one."
+
+With a swaggering gait and looking straight before us, we had passed the
+figure, when a voice calls "Father!" and there turning, we find that
+'tis poor Moll in her husband's cloak.
+
+"Where is thy husband, child?" asks Dawson, as he recovers from his
+astonishment, taking Moll by the hand.
+
+"I have no husband, father," answers she, piteously.
+
+"Why, sure he hath not turned you out of doors?"
+
+"No, he'd not do that," says she, "were I ten times more wicked than I
+am."
+
+"What folly then is this?" asks her father.
+
+"'Tis no folly. I have left him of my own free will, and shall never go
+back to him. For he's no more my husband than that house is mine"
+(pointing to the Court), "Both were got by the same means, and both are
+lost."
+
+Then briefly she told how they had been turned from the gate by Peter,
+and how Mr. Godwin was now as poor and homeless as we. And this news
+throwing us into a silence with new bewilderment, she asks us simply
+whither we are going.
+
+"My poor Moll!" is all the answer Dawson can make, and that in a broken,
+trembling voice.
+
+"'Tis no good to cry," says she, dashing aside her tears that had sprung
+at this word of loving sympathy, and forcing herself to a more cheerful
+tone. "Why, let us think that we are just awake from a long sleep to
+find ourselves no worse off than when we fell a-dreaming. Nay, not so
+ill," adds she, "for you have a home near London. Take me there, dear."
+
+"With all my heart, chuck," answers her father, eagerly. "There, at
+least, I can give you a shelter till your husband can offer better."
+
+She would not dispute this point (though I perceived clearly her mind
+was resolved fully never to claim her right to Mr. Godwin's roof), but
+only begged we should hasten on our way, saying she felt chilled; and in
+passing Mother Fitch's cottage she constrained us to silence and
+caution; then when we were safely past she would have us run, still
+feigning to be cold, but in truth (as I think) to avoid being overtaken
+by Mr. Godwin, fearing, maybe, that he would overrule her will. This way
+we sped till Moll was fain to stop with a little cry of pain, and
+clapping her hand to her heart, being fairly spent and out of breath.
+Then we took her betwixt us, lending her our arms for support, and
+falling into a more regular pace made good progress. We trudged on till
+we reached Croydon without any accident, save that at one point, Moll's
+step faltering and she with a faint sob weighing heavily upon our arms,
+we stopped, as thinking her strength overtaxed, and then glancing about
+me I perceived we were upon that little bridge where we had overtaken
+Mr. Godwin and he had offered to make Moll his wife. Then I knew 'twas
+not fatigue that weighed her down, and gauging her feelings by my own
+remorse, I pitied this poor wife even more than I blamed myself; for had
+she revealed herself to him at that time, though he might have shrunk
+from marriage, he must have loved her still, and so she had been spared
+this shame and hopeless sorrow.
+
+At Croydon we overtook a carrier on his way to London for the Saturday
+market, who for a couple of shillings gave us a place in his waggon with
+some good bundles of hay for a seat, and here was rest for our tired
+bodies (though little for our tormented minds) till we reached Marsh
+End, where we were set down; and so, the ground being hard with frost,
+across the Marsh to Greenwich about daybreak. Having the key of his
+workshop with him, Dawson took us into his lodgings without disturbing
+the other inmates of the house (who might well have marvelled to see us
+enter at this hour with a woman in a man's cloak, and no covering but a
+handkerchief to her head), and Moll taking his bed, we disposed
+ourselves on some shavings in his shop to get a little sleep.
+
+Dawson was already risen when I awoke, and going into his little
+parlour, I found him mighty busy setting the place in order, which was
+in a sad bachelor's pickle, to be sure--all littered up with odds and
+ends of turning, unwashed plates, broken victuals, etc., just as he had
+left it.
+
+"She's asleep," says he, in a whisper. "And I'd have this room like a
+little palace against she comes into it, so do you lend me a hand, Kit,
+and make no more noise than you can help. The kitchen's through that
+door; carry everything in there, and what's of no use fling out of the
+window into the road."
+
+Setting to with a will, we got the parlour and kitchen neat and proper,
+plates washed, tiles wiped, pots and pans hung up, furniture furbished
+up, and everything in its place in no time; then leaving me to light a
+fire in the parlour, Dawson goes forth a-marketing, with a basket on his
+arm, in high glee. And truly to see the pleasure in his face later on,
+making a mess of bread and milk in one pipkin and cooking eggs in
+another (for now we heard Moll stirring in her chamber), one would have
+thought that this was an occasion for rejoicing rather than grief, and
+this was due not to want of kind feeling, but to the fond, simple nature
+of him, he being manly enough in some ways, but a very child in others.
+He did never see further than his nose (as one says), and because it
+gave him joy to have Moll beside him once more, he must needs think
+hopefully, that she will quickly recover from this reverse of fortune,
+and that all will come right again.
+
+Our dear Moll did nothing to damp his hopes, but played her part bravely
+and well to spare him the anguish of remorse that secretly wrung her own
+heart. She met us with a cheerful countenance, admired the neatness of
+the parlour, the glowing fire, ate her share of porridge, and finding
+the eggs cooked hard, declared she could not abide them soft. Then she
+would see her father work his lathe (to his great delight), and begged
+he would make her some cups for eggs, as being more to our present
+fashion than eating them from one's hand.
+
+"Why," says he, "there's an old bed-post in the corner that will serve
+me to a nicety. But first I must see our landlord and engage a room for
+Kit and me; for I take it, my dear," adds he, "you will be content to
+stay with us here."
+
+"Yes," answers she, "'tis a most cheerful view of the river from the
+windows."
+
+She tucked up her skirt and sleeves to busy herself in household
+matters, and when I would have relieved her of this office, she begged
+me to go and bear her father company, saying with a piteous look in her
+eyes that we must leave her some occupation or she should weary. She was
+pale, there were dark lines beneath her eyes, and she was silent; but I
+saw no outward sign of grief till the afternoon, when, coming from
+Jack's shop unexpected, I spied her sitting by the window, with her face
+in her hands, bowed over a piece of cloth we had bought in the morning,
+which she was about to fashion into a plain gown, as being more suitable
+to her condition than the rich dress in which she had left the Court.
+
+"Poor soul!" thinks I; "here is a sad awaking from thy dream of riches
+and joy."
+
+Upon a seasonable occasion I told Dawson we must soon begin to think of
+doing something for a livelihood--a matter which was as remote from his
+consideration as the day of wrath.
+
+"Why, Kit," says he, "I've as good as fifty pounds yet in a hole at the
+chimney back."
+
+"Aye, but when that's gone--" says I.
+
+"That's a good way hence, Kit, but there never was such a man as you for
+going forth to meet troubles half way. However, I warrant I shall find
+some jobs of carpentry to keep us from begging our bread when the pinch
+comes."
+
+Not content to wait for this pinch, I resolved I would go into the city
+and enquire there if the booksellers could give me any employment
+--thinking I might very well write some good sermons on honesty,
+now I had learnt the folly of roguery. Hearing of my purpose
+the morning I was about to go, Moll takes me aside and asks me in a
+quavering voice if I knew where Mr. Godwin might be found. This question
+staggered me a moment, for her husband's name had not been spoken by any
+of us since the catastrophe, and it came into my mind now that she
+designed to return to him, and I stammered out some foolish hint at
+Hurst Court.
+
+"No, he is not there," says he, "but I thought maybe that Sir Peter
+Lely--"
+
+"Aye," says I; "he will most likely know where Mr. Godwin may be found."
+
+"Can you tell me where Sir Peter lives?"
+
+"No; but I can learn easily when I am in the city."
+
+"If you can, write the address and send him this," says she, drawing a
+letter from her breast. She had writ her husband's name on it, and now
+she pressed her lips to it twice, and putting the warm letter in my
+hand, she turned away, her poor mouth twitching with smothered grief. I
+knew then that there was no thought in her mind of seeing her husband
+again.
+
+I carried the letter with me to the city, wondering what was in it. I
+know not now, yet I think it contained but a few words of explanation
+and farewell, with some prayer, maybe, that she might be forgiven and
+forgotten.
+
+Learning where Sir Peter Lely lived, I myself went to his house, and he
+not being at home, I asked his servant if Mr. Godwin did sometimes come
+there.
+
+"Why, yes, sir, he was here but yesterday," answers he. "Indeed, never a
+day passes but he calls to ask if any one hath sought him."
+
+"In that case," says I, slipping a piece in his ready hand, and fetching
+out Moll's letter, "you will give him this when he comes next."
+
+"That I will, sir, and without fail. But if you would see him, sir, he
+bids me say he is ever at his lodging in Holborn, from five in the
+evening to eight in the morning."
+
+"'Twill answer all ends if you give him that letter. He is in good
+health, I hope."
+
+"Well, sir, he is and he isn't, as you may say," answers he, dropping
+into a familiar, confidential tone after casting his eye over me to be
+sure I was no great person. "He ails nothing, to be sure, for I hear he
+is ever afoot from morn till even a-searching hither and thither; but a
+more downhearted, rueful looking gentleman for his age I never see.
+'Twixt you and me, sir, I think he hath lost his sweetheart, seeing I am
+charged, with Sir Peter's permission, to follow and not lose sight of
+any lady who may chance to call here for him."
+
+
+I walked back to Greenwich across the fields, debating in my mind
+whether I should tell Moll of her husband's distress or not, so
+perplexed with conflicting arguments that I had come to no decision when
+I reached home.
+
+Moll spying me coming, from her window in the front of the house, met me
+at the door, in her cloak and hood, and begged I would take her a little
+turn over the heath.
+
+"What have you to tell me?" asks she, pressing my arm as we walked on.
+
+"I have given your letter to Sir Peter Lely's servant, who promises to
+deliver it faithfully to your husband."
+
+"Well," says she, after a little pause of silence, "that is not all."
+
+"You will be glad to know that he is well in health," says I, and then I
+stop again, all hanging in a hedge for not knowing whether it were wiser
+to speak or hold my tongue.
+
+"There is something else. I see it in your face. Hide nothing from me
+for love's sake," says she, piteously. Whereupon, my heart getting the
+better of my head (which, to be sure, was no great achievement), I told
+all as I have set it down here.
+
+"My dear, dear love! my darling Dick!" says she, in the end. And then
+she would have it told all over again, with a thousand questions, to
+draw forth more; and these being exhausted, she asks why I would have
+concealed so much from her, and if I did fear she would seek him.
+
+"Nay, my dear," says I; "'tis t'other way about. For if your husband
+does forgive you, and yearns but to take you back into his arms, it
+would be an unnatural, cruel thing to keep you apart. Therefore, to
+confess the whole truth, I did meditate going to him and showing how we
+and not you are to blame in this matter, and then telling him where he
+might find you, if on reflection he felt that he could honestly hold you
+guiltless. But ere I do that (as I see now), I must know if you are
+willing to this accommodation; for if you are not, then are our wounds
+all opened afresh to no purpose, but to retard their healing."
+
+She made no reply nor any comment for a long time, nor did I seek to
+bias her judgment by a single word (doubting my wisdom). But I perceived
+by the quivering of her arm within mine that a terrible conflict 'twixt
+passion and principle was convulsing every fibre of her being. At the
+top of the hill above Greenwich she stopped, and, throwing back her
+hood, let the keen wind blow upon her face, as she gazed over the grey
+flats beyond the river. And the air seeming to give her strength and a
+clearer perception, she says, presently:
+
+"Accommodation!" (And she repeats this unlucky word of mine twice or
+thrice, as if she liked it less each time.) "That means we shall agree
+to let bygones be bygones, and do our best to get along together for the
+rest of our lives as easily as we may."
+
+"That's it, my dear," says I, cheerfully.
+
+"Hush up the past," continues she, in the same calculating tone;
+"conceal it from the world, if possible. Invent some new lie to deceive
+the curious, and hoodwink our decent friends. Chuckle at our success,
+and come in time" (here she paused a moment) "to 'chat so lightly of our
+past knavery, that we could wish we had gone farther in the business.'"
+Then turning about to me, she asks: "If you were writing the story of my
+life for a play, would you end it thus?"
+
+"My dear," says I, "a play's one thing, real life's another; and believe
+me, as far as my experience goes of real life, the less heroics there
+are in it the better parts are those for the actors in't."
+
+She shook her head fiercely in the wind, and, turning about with a
+brusque vigour, cries, "Come on. I'll have no accommodation. And yet,"
+says she, stopping short after a couple of hasty steps, and with a
+fervent earnestness in her voice, "and yet, if I could wipe out this
+stain, if by any act I could redeem my fault, God knows, I'd do it, cost
+what it might, to be honoured once again by my dear Dick."
+
+
+"This comes of living in a theatre all her life," thinks I. And indeed,
+in this, as in other matters yet to be told, the teaching of the stage
+was but too evident.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+
+_All agree to go out to Spain again in search of our old jollity._
+
+
+Another week passed by, and then Dawson, shortsighted as he was in his
+selfishness, began to perceive that things were not coming all right, as
+he had expected. Once or twice when I went into his shop, I caught him
+sitting idle before his lathe, with a most woe-begone look in his face.
+
+"What's amiss, Jack?" asks I, one day when I found him thus.
+
+He looked to see that the door was shut, and then says he, gloomily:
+
+"She don't sing as she used to, Kit; she don't laugh hearty."
+
+I hunched my shoulders.
+
+"She doesn't play us any of her old pranks," continues he. "She don't
+say one thing and go and do t'other the next moment, as she used to do.
+She's too good."
+
+What could I say to one who was fond enough to think that the summer
+would come back at his wish and last for ever?
+
+"She's not the same, Kit," he goes on. "No, not by twenty years. One
+would say she is older than I am, yet she's scarce the age of woman. And
+I do see she gets more pale and thin each day. D'ye think she's fretting
+for _him_?"
+
+"Like enough, Jack," says I. "What would you? He's her husband, and 'tis
+as if he was dead to her. She cannot be a maid again. 'Tis young to be a
+widow, and no hope of being wife ever more."
+
+"God forgive me," says he, hanging his head.
+
+"We did it for the best," says I. "We could not foresee this."
+
+"'Twas so natural to think we should be happy again being all together.
+Howsoever," adds he, straightening himself with a more manful vigour,
+"we will do something to chase these black dogs hence."
+
+On his lathe was the egg cup he had been turning for Moll; he snapped it
+off from the chuck and flung it in the litter of chips and shavings, as
+if 'twere the emblem of his past folly.
+
+It so happened that night that Moll could eat no supper, pleading for
+her excuse that she felt sick.
+
+"What is it, chuck?" says Jack, setting down his knife and drawing his
+chair beside Moll's.
+
+"The vapours, I think," says she, with a faint smile.
+
+"Nay," says he, slipping his arm about her waist and drawing her to him.
+"My Moll hath no such modish humours. 'Tis something else. I have
+watched ye, and do perceive you eat less and less. Tell us what ails
+you."
+
+"Well, dear," says she, "I do believe 'tis idleness is the root of my
+disorder."
+
+"Idleness was never wont to have this effect on you."
+
+"But it does now that I am grown older. There's not enough to do. If I
+could find some occupation for my thoughts, I should not be so silly."
+
+"Why, that's a good thought. What say you, dear, shall we go
+a-play-acting again?"
+
+Moll shook her head.
+
+"To be sure," says he, scratching his jaw, "we come out of that business
+with no great encouragement to go further in it. But times are mended
+since then, and I do hear the world is more mad for diversion now than
+ever they were before the Plague."
+
+"No, dear," says Moll, "'tis of no use to think of that I couldn't play
+now."
+
+After this we sat silent awhile, looking into the embers; then Jack,
+first to give expression to his thoughts, says:
+
+"I think you were never so happy in your life, Moll, as that time we
+were in Spain, nor can I recollect ever feeling so free from care
+myself,--after we got out of the hands of that gentleman robber. There's
+a sort of infectious brightness in the sun, and the winds, blow which
+way they may, do chase away dull thoughts and dispose one to jollity;
+eh, sweetheart? Why, we met never a tattered vagabond on the road but he
+was halloing of ditties, and a kinder, more hospitable set of people
+never lived. With a couple of rials in your pocket, you feel as rich and
+independent as with an hundred pounds in your hand elsewhere."
+
+At this point Moll, who had hitherto listened in apathy to these
+eulogies, suddenly pushing back her chair, looks at us with a strange
+look in her eyes, and says under her breath, "Elche!"
+
+"Barcelony for my money," responds Dawson, whose memories of Elche were
+not so cheerful as of those parts where we had led a more vagabond life.
+
+"Elche!" repeats Moll, twining her fingers, and with a smile gleaming in
+her eyes.
+
+"Does it please you, chuck, to talk of these matters?"
+
+"Yes, yes!" returns she, eagerly. "You know not the joy it gives me"
+(clapping her hand on her heart). "Talk on."
+
+Mightily pleased with himself, her father goes over our past
+adventures,--the tricks Moll played us, as buying of her petticoat while
+we were hunting for her, our excellent entertainment in the mountain
+villages, our lying abed all one day, and waking at sundown to think it
+was daybreak, our lazy days and jovial nights, etc., at great length;
+and when his memory began to give out, giving me a kick of the shin, he
+says:
+
+"Han't you got anything to say? For a dull companion there's nothing in
+the world to equal your man of wit and understanding"; which, as far as
+my observation goes, was a very true estimation on his part.
+
+But, indeed (since I pretend to no great degree of wit or
+understanding), I must say, as an excuse for my silence, that during his
+discourse I had been greatly occupied in observing Moll, and trying to
+discover what was passing in her mind. 'Twas clear this talk of Spain
+animated her spirit beyond ordinary measure, so that at one moment I
+conceived she did share her father's fond fancy that our lost happiness
+might be regained by mere change of scene, and I confess I was persuaded
+somewhat to this opinion by reflecting how much we owe to circumstances
+for our varying moods, how dull, sunless days will cast a gloom upon our
+spirits, and how a bright, breezy day will lift them up, etc. But I
+presently perceived that the stream of her thoughts was divided; for
+though she nodded or shook her head, as occasion required, the strained,
+earnest expression in her tightened lips and knitted brows showed that
+the stronger current of her ideas flowed in another and deeper channel.
+Maybe she only desired her father to talk that she might be left the
+freer to think.
+
+"'Twas near about this time of the year that we started on our travels,"
+said I, in response to Dawson's reminder.
+
+"Aye, I recollect 'twas mighty cold when we set sail, and the fruit
+trees were all bursting into bloom when we came into France. I would we
+were there now; eh, Moll?"
+
+"What, dear?" asks she, rousing herself at this direct question.
+
+"I say, would you be back there now, child?"
+
+"Oh, will you take me there if I would go?"
+
+"With all my heart, dear Moll. Is there anything in the world I'd not do
+to make you happy?"
+
+She took his hand upon her knee, and caressing it, says:
+
+"Let us go soon, father."
+
+"What, will you be dancing of fandangos again?" asks he; and she nods
+for reply, though I believe her thoughts had wandered again to some
+other matter.
+
+"I warrant I shall fall into the step again the moment I smell garlic;
+but I'll rehearse it an hour to-morrow morning, that we may lose no
+time. Will you have a short petticoat and a waist-cloth again, Moll?"
+
+She, with her elbows on her knees now, and her chin in her hands,
+looking into the fire, nodded.
+
+"And you, Kit," continues he, "you'll get a guitar and play tunes for
+us, as I take it you will keep us company still."
+
+"Yes, you may count on me for that," says I.
+
+"We shan't have Don Sanchez to play the tambour for us, but I wager I
+shall beat it as well as he; though, seeing he owes us more than we owe
+him, we might in reason call upon him, and--"
+
+"No, no; only we three," says Moll.
+
+"Aye, three's enough, in all conscience, and seeing we know a bit of the
+language, we shall get on well enough without him. I do long, Moll, to
+see you a-flinging over my shoulder, with your clappers going, your
+pretty eye and cheek all aglow with pleasure, and a court full of senors
+and caballeros crying 'Hole!' and casting their handkerchiefs at your
+feet."
+
+Moll fetched a long, fluttering sigh, and, turning to her father, says
+in an absent way: "Yes, dear; yes. When shall we go?"
+
+Then, falling to discussing particulars, Dawson, clasping his hands upon
+his stomach, asked with a long face if at this season we were likely to
+fall in with the equinoxes on our voyage, and also if we could not hit
+some point of Spain so as to avoid crossing the mountains of Pyranee and
+the possibility of falling again into the hands of brigands. To which I
+replied that, knowing nothing of the northern part of Spain and its
+people, we stood a chance of finding a rude climate, unsuitable to
+travelling at this time of year, and an inhospitable reception, and
+that, as our object was to reach, the South as quickly as possible, it
+would be more to our advantage to find a ship going through the straits
+which would carry us as far as Alicante or Valencia. And Moll supporting
+my argument very vigorously, Dawson gave way with much less reluctance
+than I expected at the outset. But, indeed, the good fellow seemed now
+ready to make any sacrifice of himself so that he might see his Moll
+joyous again.
+
+When I entered his shop the next morning, I found him with his coat off,
+cutting capers, a wooden platter in his hand for a tambourine, and the
+sweat pouring down his face.
+
+"I am a couple of stone or so too heavy for the boleros," gasps he,
+coming to a stand, "but I doubt not, by the time we land at Alicante,
+there'll not be an ounce too much of me."
+
+Learning that a convoy for the Levant was about to set sail with the
+next favourable wind from Chatham, we took horse and rode there that
+afternoon, and by great good luck we found the Faithful Friend, a good
+ship bound for Genoa in Italy, whereof Mr. Dixon, the master, having
+intent to enter and victual at Alicante, undertook to carry us there for
+ten pounds a head, so being we could get all aboard by the next evening
+at sundown.
+
+Here was short grace, to be sure; but we did so despatch our affairs
+that we were embarked in due time, and by daybreak the following
+morning, were under weigh.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+
+_How we lost our poor Moll, and our long search for her._
+
+
+We reached Alicante the 15th March, after a long, tedious voyage. During
+this time I had ample opportunity for observing Moll, but with little
+relief to my gloomy apprehensions. She rarely quitted her father's side,
+being now as sympathetic and considerate of him in his sufferings, as
+before she had been thoughtless and indifferent. She had ever a gentle
+word of encouragement for him; she was ever kind and patient. Only once
+her spirit seemed to weary: that was when we had been beating about in
+the bay of Cadiz four days, for a favourable gale to take us through the
+straits. We were on deck, she and I, the sails flapping the masts idly
+above our heads.
+
+"Oh," says she, laying her hand on my shoulder, and her wasted cheek
+against my arm, "oh, that it were all ended!"
+
+She was sweeter with me than ever she had been before; it seemed as if
+the love bred in her heart by marriage must expend itself upon some one.
+But though this tenderness endeared her more to me, it saddened me, and
+I would have had her at her tricks once more, making merry at my
+expense. For I began to see that our happiness comes from within and not
+from without, and so fell despairing that ever this poor stricken heart
+of hers would be healed, which set me a-repenting more sincerely than
+ever the mischief I had helped to do her.
+
+Dawson also, despite his stubborn disposition to see things as he would
+have them, had, nevertheless, some secret perception of the incurable
+sorrow which she, with all her art, could scarce dissimulate. Yet he
+clung to that fond belief in a return of past happiness, as if 'twere
+his last hope on earth. When at last our wind sprang up, and we were
+cutting through the waters with bending masts and not a crease in the
+bellied sails, he came upon deck, and spreading his hands out, cries in
+joy:
+
+"Oh, this blessed sunlight! There is nought in the world like it--no,
+not the richest wine--to swell one's heart with content."
+
+And then he fell again to recalling our old adventures and mirthful
+escapades. He gave the rascals who fetched us ashore a piece more than
+they demanded, hugely delighted to find they understood his Spanish and
+such quips as he could call to mind. Then being landed, he falls to
+extolling everything he sees and hears, calling upon Moll to justify his
+appreciation; nay, he went so far as to pause in a narrow street where
+was a most unsavoury smell, to sniff the air and declare he could scent
+the oranges in bloom. And Lord! to hear him praise the whiteness of the
+linen, the excellence of the meat and drink set before us at the posada,
+one would have said he had never before seen clean sheets or tasted
+decent victuals.
+
+Seeing that neither Moll nor I could work ourselves up (try as we might)
+to his high pitch of enthusiasm, he was ready with an excuse for us.
+
+"I perceive," says he, "you are still suffering from your voyage.
+Therefore, we will not quit this town before to-morrow" (otherwise I
+believe he would have started off on our expedition as soon as our meal
+was done). "However," adds he, "do you make enquiry, Kit, if you can get
+yourself understood, if there be ever a bull to be fought to-day or any
+diversion of dancing or play-acting to-night, that the time hang not too
+heavy on our hands."
+
+As no such entertainments were to be had (this being the season of Lent,
+which is observed very strictly in these parts), Dawson contented
+himself with taking Moll out to visit the shops, and here he speedily
+purchased a pair of clappers for her, a tambour for himself, and a
+guitar for me, though we were difficult to please, for no clappers
+pleased Moll as those she had first bought; and it did seem to me that I
+could strike no notes out of any instrument but they had a sad, mournful
+tone.
+
+Then nothing would satisfy him but to go from one draper's to another,
+seeking a short petticoat, a waist-cloth, and a round hat to Moll's
+taste, which ended to his disappointment, for she could find none like
+the old.
+
+"Why, don't you like this?" he would say, holding up a gown; "to my eyes
+'tis the very spit of t'other, only fresher."
+
+And she demurring, whispers, "To-morrow, dear, to-morrow," with
+plaintive entreaty for delay in her wistful eyes. Disheartened, but not
+yet at the end of his resources, her father at last proposed that she
+should take a turn through the town alone and choose for herself. "For,"
+says he, "I believe we do rather hinder than help you with our advice in
+such matters."
+
+After a moment's reflection, Moll agreed to this, and saying she would
+meet us at the posada for supper, left us, and walked briskly back the
+way we had come.
+
+When she was gone, Dawson had never a word to say, nor I either, for
+dejection, yet, had I been questioned, I could have found no better
+reason for my despondency than that I felt 'twas all a mistake coming
+here for happiness.
+
+Strolling aimlessly through the narrow back ways, we came presently to
+the market that stands against the port. And here, almost at the first
+step, Dawson catches my arm and nods towards the opposite side of the
+market-place. Some Moors were seated there in their white clothes, with
+bundles of young palm leaves, plaited up in various forms of crowns,
+crosses, and the like,--which the people of this country do carry to
+church to be blessed on Palm Sunday; and these Moors I knew came from
+Elche, because palms grow nowhere else in such abundance.
+
+"Yes," says I, thinking 'twas this queer merchandise he would point out,
+"I noticed these Moors and their ware when we passed here a little while
+back with Moll."
+
+"Don't you see her there now--at the corner?" asks he.
+
+Then, to my surprise, I perceived Moll in very earnest conversation with
+two Moors, who had at first screened her from my sight.
+
+"Come away," continues he. "She left us to go back and speak to them,
+and would not have us know."
+
+Why should she be secret about this trifling matter, I asked myself.
+'Twas quite natural that, if she recognised in these Moors some old
+acquaintance of Elche, she should desire to speak them.
+
+We stole away to the port; and seating ourselves upon some timber, there
+we looked upon the sea nigh upon half an hour without saying a word.
+Then turning to me, Dawson says: "Unless she speak to us upon this
+matter, Kit, we will say nought to her. But, if she say nothing, I shall
+take it for a sign her heart is set upon going back to Elche, and she
+would have it a secret that we may not be disheartened in our other
+project."
+
+"That is likely enough," says I, not a little surprised by his
+reasoning. But love sharpens a man's wit, be it never so dull.
+
+"Nevertheless," continues he, "if she can be happier at Elche than
+elsewhere, then must we abandon our scheme and accept hers with a good
+show of content. We owe her that, Kit."
+
+"Aye, and more," says I.
+
+"Then when we meet to-morrow morning, I will offer to go there, as if
+'twas a happy notion that had come to me in my sleep, and do you back me
+up with all the spirit you can muster."
+
+So after some further discussion we rose, and returned to our posada,
+where we found Moll waiting for us. She told us she had found no clothes
+to her liking (which was significant), and said not a word of her
+speaking to the Moors in the market-place, so we held our peace on these
+matters.
+
+We did not part till late that night, for Moll would sit up with us,
+confessing she felt too feverish for sleep; and indeed this was apparent
+enough by her strange humour, for she kept no constant mood for five
+minutes together. Now, she would sit pensive, paying no heed to us, with
+a dreamy look in her eyes, as if her thoughts were wandering far
+away--to her husband in England maybe; then she would hang her head as
+though she dared not look him in the face even at that distance; and
+anon she would recover herself with a noble exaltation, lifting her head
+with a fearless mien. And so presently her body drooping gradually to a
+reflective posture, she falls dreaming again, to rouse herself suddenly
+at some new prompting of her spirit, and give us all her thoughts, all
+eagerness for two moments, all melting sweetness the next, with her
+pretty manner of clinging to her father's arm, and laying her cheek
+against his shoulder. And when at last we came to say good-night, she
+hangs about his neck as if she would fain sleep there, quitting him with
+a deep sigh and a passionate kiss. Also she kissed me most
+affectionately, but could say never a word of farewell to either of
+us--hurrying to her chamber to weep, as I think.
+
+We knew not what to conclude from these symptoms, save that she might be
+sickening of some disorder; so we to our beds, very down in the mouth
+and faint at heart.
+
+About six the next morning I was awoke by the door bursting suddenly
+open, and starting up in my bed, I see Dawson at my side, shaking in
+every limb, and his eyes wide with terror.
+
+"Moll's gone!" cries he, and falls a-blubbering.
+
+"Gone!" says I, springing out of bed. "'Tis not possible."
+
+"She has not lain in her bed; and one saw her go forth last night as the
+doors were closing, knowing her for a foreigner by her hood. Come with
+me," adds he, laying his hand on a chair for support. "I dare not go
+alone."
+
+"Aye, I'll go with ye, Jack; but whither?"
+
+"Down to the sea," says he, hoarsely.
+
+I stopped in the midst of dressing, overcome by this fearful hint; for,
+knowing Moll's strong nature, the thought had never occurred to me that
+she might do away with herself. Yet now reflecting on her strange manner
+of late, especially her parting with us overnight, it seemed not so
+impossible neither. For here, seeing the folly of our coming hither,
+desponding of any happiness in the future, was the speediest way of
+ending a life that was burdensome to herself and a constant sorrow to
+us. Nay, with her notions of poetic justice drawn from plays, she may
+have regarded this as the only atonement she could make her husband; the
+only means of giving him back freedom to make a happier choice in
+marriage. With these conclusions taking shape, I shuffled on my clothes,
+and then, with shaking fear, we two, hanging to each other's arms for
+strength, made our way through the crooked streets to the sea; and
+there, seeing a group of men and women gathered at the water's edge some
+little distance from us, we dared not go further, conceiving 'twas a
+dead body they were regarding. But 'twas only a company of fishers
+examining their haul of fishes, as we presently perceived. So, somewhat
+cheered, we cast our eyes to the right and left, and, seeing nothing to
+justify our fears, advanced along the mole to the very end, where it
+juts out into the sea, with great stones around to break the surf. Here,
+then, with deadly apprehensions, we peered amongst the rocks, holding
+our breath, clutching tight hold of one another by the hand, in terror
+of finding that we so eagerly searched,--a hood, a woman's skirt
+clinging to the stones, a stiffened hand thrust up from the lapping
+waters. Never may I forget the sickening horror of the moment when,
+creeping out amidst the rocks, Dawson twitches my hand, and points down
+through the clear water to something lying white at the bottom. It
+looked for all the world like a dead face, coloured a greenish white by
+the water; but presently we saw, by one end curling over in the swell of
+a wave, that 'twas only a rag of paper.
+
+Then I persuaded Dawson to give up this horrid search, and return to our
+posada, when, if we found not Moll, we might more justly conclude she
+had gone to Elche, than put an end to her life; and though we could
+learn nothing of her at our inn, more than Dawson had already told me,
+yet our hopes were strengthened in the probability of finding her at
+Elche by recollecting her earnest, secret conversation with the Moors,
+who might certainly have returned to Elche in the night, they preferring
+that time for their journey, as we knew. So, having hastily snatched a
+repast, whilst our landlord was procuring mules for our use, we set off
+across the plain, doing our best to cheer each other on the way. But I
+confess one thing damped my spirits exceedingly, and that was, having no
+hint from Moll the night before of this project, which then must have
+been fully matured in her mind, nor any written word of explanation and
+encouragement. For, thinks I, she being no longer a giddy, heedless
+child, ready to play any prank without regard to the consequences, but a
+very considerate, remorseful woman, would not put us to this anxiety
+without cause. Had she resolved to go to her friends at Elche, she
+would, at least, have comforted us with the hope of meeting her again;
+whereas, this utter silence did point to a knowledge on her part that we
+were sundered for ever, and that she could give us no hope, but such as
+we might glean from uncertainty.
+
+Arriving at Elche, we made straight for the house of the merchant, Sidi
+ben Ahmed, with whose family Moll had been so intimate previously. Here
+we were met by Sidi himself, who, after laying his fingers across his
+lips, and setting his hand upon his heart, in token of recognition and
+respect, asked us very civilly our business, though without any show of
+surprise at seeing us. But these Moors do pride themselves upon a stoic
+behaviour at all times, and make it a point to conceal any emotion they
+may feel, so that men never can truly judge of their feelings.
+
+Upon explaining our circumstances as well as our small knowledge of the
+tongue allowed us, he makes us a gesture of his open hands, as if he
+would have us examine his house for ourselves, to see that she was not
+hid away there for any reason, and then calling his servants, he bids
+them seek through all the town, promising them a rich reward if they
+bring any tidings of Lala Mollah. And while this search was being made,
+he entertained us at his own table, where we recounted so much of our
+miserable history as we thought it advisable he should know.
+
+One by one the servants came in to tell that they had heard nothing,
+save that some market-men had seen and spoken with Moll at Alicante, but
+had not clapt eyes on her since. Not content with doing us this service,
+the merchant furnished us with fresh mules, to carry us back to
+Alicante, whither we were now all eagerness to return, in the hope of
+finding Moll at the posada. So, travelling all night, we came to our
+starting-place the next morning, to learn no tidings of our poor Moll.
+
+We drew some grain of comfort from this; for, it being now the third day
+since the dear girl had disappeared, her body would certainly have been
+washed ashore, had she cast herself, as we feared, in the sea. It
+occurred to us that if Moll were still living, she had either returned
+to England, or gone to Don Sanchez at Toledo, whose wise counsels she
+had ever held in high respect. The former supposition seemed to me the
+better grounded; for it was easy to understand how, yearning for him
+night and day, she should at length abandon every scruple, and throw
+herself at his feet, reckless of what might follow. 'Twas not
+inconsistent with her impulsive character, and that more reasonable view
+of life she had gained by experience, and the long reflections on her
+voyage hither. And that which supported my belief still more was that a
+fleet of four sail (as I learnt) had set forth for England the morning
+after our arrival. So now finding, on enquiry, that a carrier was to set
+out for Toledo that afternoon, I wrote a letter to Don Sanchez, telling
+him the circumstances of our loss, and begging him to let us know, as
+speedily as possible, if he had heard aught of Moll. And in this letter
+I enclosed a second, addressed to Mr. Godwin, having the same purport,
+which I prayed Don Sanchez to send on with all expedition, if Moll were
+not with him.
+
+And now, having despatched these letters, we had nothing to do but to
+await a reply, which, at the earliest, we could not expect to get before
+the end of the week--Toledo being a good eighty English leagues distant.
+
+We waited in Alicante four days more, making seven in all from the day
+we lost Moll; and then, the suspense and torment of inactivity becoming
+insupportable, we set out again for Elche, the conviction growing strong
+upon us, with reflection, that we had little to hope from Don Sanchez.
+And we resolved we would not go this time to Sidi ben Ahmed, but rather
+seek to take him unawares, and make enquiry by more subtle means, we
+having our doubts of his veracity. For these Moors are not honest liars
+like plain Englishmen, who do generally give you some hint of their
+business by shifting of their eyes this way and that, hawking,
+stammering, etc., but they will ever look you calmly and straight in the
+face, never at a loss for the right word, or over-anxious to convince
+you, so that 'twill plague a conjurer to tell if they speak truth or
+falsehood. And here I would remark, that in all my observations of men
+and manners, there is no nation in the world to equal the English, for a
+straightforward, pious, horse-racing sort of people.
+
+Well, then, we went about our search in Elche with all the slyness
+possible, prying here and there like a couple of thieves a-robbing a
+hen-roost, and putting cross-questions to every simple fellow we
+met,--the best we could with our small knowledge of their tongue,--but
+all to no purpose, and so another day was wasted. We lay under the palms
+that night, and in the morning began our perquisition afresh; now
+hunting up and down the narrow lanes and alleys of the town, as we had
+scoured those of Alicante, in vain, until, persuaded of the uselessness
+of our quest, we agreed to return to Alicante, in the hope of finding
+there a letter from Don Sanchez. But (not to leave a single stone
+unturned), we settled we would call once again on Sidi ben Ahmed, and
+ask if he had any tidings to give us, but, openly, feeling we were no
+match for him at subterfuge. So, to his house we went, where we were
+received very graciously by the old merchant, who, chiding us gently for
+being in the neighbourhood a whole day without giving him a call, prayed
+us to enter his unworthy parlour, adding that we should find there a
+friend who would be very pleased to see us.
+
+At this, my heart bounded to such an extent that I could utter never a
+word (nor could Dawson either), for I expected nothing less than to find
+this friend was our dear Moll; and so, silent and shaking with feverish
+anticipation, we followed him down the tiled passage and round the inner
+garden of his house by the arcade, till we reached a doorway, and there,
+lifting aside the heavy hangings, he bade us enter. We pushed by him in
+rude haste, and then stopped of a sudden, in blank amazement; for, in
+place of Moll, whom we fully thought to find, we discovered only Don
+Sanchez, sitting on some pillows gravely smoking a Moorish chibouk.
+
+"My daughter--my Moll!" cries Dawson, in despair. "Where is she?"
+
+"By this time," replies Don Sanchez, rising, "your daughter should be in
+Barbary."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+
+_We learn what hath become of Moll; and how she nobly atoned for our
+sins._
+
+
+"Barbary--Barbary!" gasps Dawson, thunderstruck by this discovery. "My
+Moll in Barbary?"
+
+"She sailed three days ago," says the Don, laying down his pipe, and
+rising.
+
+Dawson regards him for a moment or two in a kind of stupor, and then his
+ideas taking definite shape, he cries in a fury of passion and clenching
+his fists:
+
+"Spanish dog! you shall answer this. And you" (turning in fury upon
+Sidi), "you--I know your cursed traffic--you've sold her to the Turk!"
+
+Though Sidi may have failed to comprehend his words, he could not
+misunderstand his menacing attitude, yet he faced him with an unmoved
+countenance, not a muscle of his body betraying the slightest fear, his
+stoic calm doing more than any argument of words to overthrow Dawson's
+mad suspicion. But his passion unabated, Dawson turns again upon Don
+Sanchez, crying:
+
+"Han't you won enough by your villany, but you must rob me of my
+daughter? Are you not satisfied with bringing us to shame and ruin, but
+this poor girl of mine must be cast to the Turk? Speak, rascal!" adds
+he, advancing a step, and seeking to provoke a conflict. "Speak, if you
+have any reason to show why I shouldn't strangle you."
+
+"You'll not strangle me," answers the Don, calmly, "and here's my reason
+if you would see it." And with that he tilts his elbow, and with a turn
+of the wrist displays a long knife that lay concealed under his forearm.
+"I know no other defence against the attack of a madman."
+
+"If I be mad," says Dawson, "and mad indeed I may be, and no
+wonder,--why, then, put your knife to merciful use and end my misery
+here."
+
+"Nay, take it in your own hand," answers the Don, offering the knife.
+"And use it as you will--on yourself if you are a fool, or on me if,
+being not a fool, you can hold me guilty of such villany as you charged
+me with in your passion."
+
+Dawson looks upon the offered knife an instant with distraction in his
+eyes, and the Don (not to carry this risky business too far), taking his
+hesitation for refusal, claps up the blade in his waist-cloth, where it
+lay mighty convenient to his hand.
+
+"You are wise," says he, "for if that noble woman is to be served, 'tis
+not by spilling the blood of her best friends."
+
+"You, her friend!" says Dawson.
+
+"Aye, her best friend!" replies the other, with dignity, "for he is best
+who can best serve her."
+
+"Then must I be her worst," says Jack, humbly, "having no power to undo
+the mischief I have wrought."
+
+"Tell me, Senor," says I, "who hath kidnapped poor Moll?"
+
+"Nobody. She went of her free will, knowing full well the risk she
+ran--the possible end of her noble adventure--against the dissuasions
+and the prayers of all her friends here. She stood in the doorway there,
+and saw you cross the garden when you first came to seek her--saw you,
+her father, distracted with grief and fear, and she suffered you to go
+away. As you may know, nothing is more sacred to a Moor than the laws of
+hospitality, and by those laws Sidi was bound to respect the wishes of
+one who had claimed his protection. He could not betray her secret, but
+he and his family did their utmost to persuade her from her purpose.
+While you were yet in the town, they implored her to let them call you
+back, and she refused. Failing in their entreaties, they despatched a
+messenger to me; alas! when I arrived, she was gone. She went with a
+company of merchants bound for Alger, and all that her friends here
+could do was to provide her with a servant and letters, which will
+ensure her safe conduct to Thadviir."
+
+"But why has she gone there, Senor?" says I, having heard him in a maze
+of wonderment to the end.
+
+"Cannot you guess? Surely she must have given you some hint of her
+purposes, for 'twas in her mind, as I learn, when she agreed to leave
+England and come hither."
+
+"Nothing--we know nothing," falters Dawson. "'Tis all mystery and
+darkness. Only we did suppose to find happiness a-wandering about the
+country, dancing and idling, as we did before."
+
+"That dream was never hers," answers the Don. "She never thought to find
+happiness in idling pleasure. 'Tis the joy of martyrdom she's gone to
+find, seeking redemption in self-sacrifice."
+
+"Be more explicit, sir, I pray," says I.
+
+"In a word, then, she has gone to offer herself as a ransom for the real
+Judith Godwin."
+
+We were too overwrought for great astonishment; indeed, my chief
+surprise was that I had not foreseen this event in Moll's desire to
+return to Elche, or hit upon the truth in seeking an explanation of her
+disappearance. 'Twas of a piece with her natural romantic disposition
+and her newly awaked sense of poetic justice,--for here at one stroke
+she makes all human atonement for her fault and ours,--earning her
+husband's forgiveness by this proof of dearest love, and winning back
+for ever an honoured place in his remembrance. And I bethought me of our
+Lord's saying that greater love is there none than this: that one shall
+lay down his life for another.
+
+For some time Dawson stood silent, his arms folded upon his breast, and
+his head bent in meditation, his lips pressed together, and every muscle
+in his face contracted with pain and labouring thought. Then, raising
+his head and fixing his eyes on the Don, he says:
+
+"If I understand aright, my Moll hath gone to give herself up for a
+slave, in the place of her whose name she took."
+
+The Don assents with a grave inclination of his head, and Dawson
+continues:
+
+"I ask your pardon for that injustice I did you in my passion; but now
+that I am cool I cannot hold you blameless for what has befallen my poor
+child, and I call upon you as a man of honour to repair the wrong you've
+done me."
+
+Again the Don bows very gravely, and then asks what we would have him
+do.
+
+"I ask you," says Dawson, "as we have no means for such an expedition,
+to send me across the sea there to my Moll."
+
+"I cannot ensure your return," says the Don, "and I warn you that once
+in Barbary you may never leave it."
+
+"I do not want to return if she is there; nay," adds he, "if I may move
+them to any mercy, they shall do what they will with this body of mine,
+so that they suffer my child to be free."
+
+The Don turns to Sidi, and tells him what Dawson has offered to do;
+whereupon the Moor lays his finger across his lips, then his hand on
+Dawson's breast, and afterwards upon his own, with a reverence, to show
+his respect. And so he and the Don fall to discussing the feasibility of
+this project (as I discovered by picking up a word here and there); and,
+this ended, the Don turns to Dawson, and tells him there is no vessel to
+convey him at present, wherefore he must of force wait patiently till
+one comes in from Barbary.
+
+"But," says he, "we may expect one in a few days, and rest you assured
+that your wish shall be gratified if it be possible."
+
+We went down, Dawson and I, to the sea that afternoon; and, sitting on
+the shore at that point where we had formerly embarked aboard the
+Algerine galley, we scanned the waters for a sail that might be coming
+hither, and Dawson with the eagerness of one who looked to escape from
+slavery rather than one seeking it.
+
+As we sat watching the sea, he fell a-regretting he had no especial gift
+of nature, by which he might more readily purchase Moll's freedom of her
+captors.
+
+"However," says he, "if I can show 'em the use of chairs and benches,
+for lack of which they are now compelled, as we see, to squat on mats
+and benches, I may do pretty well with Turks of the better sort who can
+afford luxuries, and so in time gain my end."
+
+"You shall teach me this business, Jack," says I, "for at present I'm
+more helpless than you."
+
+"Kit," says he, laying hold of my hand, "let us have no misunderstanding
+on this matter. You go not to Barbary with me."
+
+"What!" cries I, protesting. "You would have the heart to break from me
+after we have shared good and ill fortune together like two brothers all
+these years?"
+
+"God knows we shall part with sore hearts o' both sides, and I shall
+miss you sadly enough, with no Christian to speak to out there. But 'tis
+not of ourselves we must think now. Some one must be here to be a father
+to my Moll when she returns, and I'll trust Don Sanchez no farther than
+I can see him, for all his wisdom. So, as you love the dear girl, you
+will stay here, Kit, to be her watch and ward, and as you love me you
+will spare me any further discussion on this head. For I am resolved."
+
+I would say nothing then to contrary him, but my judgment and feeling
+both revolted against his decision. For, thinks I, if one Christian is
+worth but a groat to the Turk, two must be worth eightpence, therefore
+we together stand a better chance of buying Moll's freedom than either
+singly. And, for my own happiness, I would easier be a slave in Barbary
+with Jack than free elsewhere and friendless. Nowhere can a man be free
+from toil and pain of some sort or another, and there is no such solace
+in the world for one's discomforts as the company of a true man.
+
+But I was not regardless of Moll's welfare when she returned, neither.
+For I argued with myself that Mr. Godwin had but to know of her
+condition to find means of coming hither for her succour. So the next
+time I met Don Sanchez, I took him aside and told him of my concern,
+asking him the speediest manner of sending a letter to England (that I
+had enclosed in mine to the Don having missed him through his leaving
+Toledo before it arrived).
+
+"There is no occasion to write," says he. "For the moment I learnt your
+history from Sidi I sent a letter, apprising him of his wife's innocence
+in this business, and the noble reparation she had made for the fault of
+others. Also, I took the liberty to enclose a sum of money to meet his
+requirements, and I'll answer for it he is now on his way hither. For no
+man living could be dull to the charms of his wife, or bear resentment
+to her for an act that was prompted by love rather than avarice, and
+with no calculation on her part."
+
+This cheered me considerably, and did somewhat return my faith in Don
+Sanchez, who certainly was the most extraordinary gentlemanly rascal
+that ever lived.
+
+Day after day Dawson and I went down to the sea, and on the fifth day of
+our watching (after many false hopes and disappointments) we spied a
+ship, which we knew to be of the Algerine sort by the cross-set of its
+lateen sails,--making it to look like some great bird with spread wings
+on the water,--bearing down upon the shore.
+
+We watched the approach of this ship in a fever of joy and expectation,
+for though we dared not breathe our hopes one to another, we both
+thought that maybe Moll was there. And this was not impossible. For,
+supposing Judith was married happily, she would refuse to leave her
+husband, and her mother, having lived so long in that country, might not
+care to leave it now and quit her daughter; so might they refuse their
+ransom and Moll be sent back to us. And, besides this reasoning, we had
+that clinging belief of the unfortunate that some unforeseen accident
+might turn to our advantage and overthrow our fears.
+
+The Algerine came nearer and nearer, until at length we could make out
+certain figures moving upon the deck; then Dawson, laying a trembling
+hand on my sleeve, asked if I did not think 'twas a woman standing in
+the fore part; but I couldn't truly answer yes, which vexed him.
+
+But, indeed, when the galley was close enough to drop anchor, being at
+some distance from the shore because of the shoals, I could not
+distinguish any women, and my heart sank, for I knew well that if Moll
+were there, she, seeing us, would have given us some signal of waving a
+handkerchief or the like. As soon as the anchor was cast, a boat was
+lowered, and being manned, drew in towards us; then, truly, we perceived
+a bent figure sitting idle in the stern, but even Dawson dared not
+venture to think it might be Moll.
+
+The boat running on a shallow, a couple of Moors stepped into the water,
+and lifting the figure in their arms carried it ashore to where we
+stood. And now we perceived 'twas a woman muffled up in the Moorish
+fashion, a little, wizen old creature, who, casting back her head
+clothes, showed us a wrinkled face, very pale and worn with care and
+age. Regarding us, she says in plain English:
+
+"You are my countrymen. Is one of you named Dawson?"
+
+"My name is Dawson," says Jack.
+
+She takes his hand in hers, and holding it in hers looks in his face
+with great pity, and then at last, as if loath to tell the news she sees
+he fears to hear, she says:
+
+"I am Elizabeth Godwin."
+
+What need of more to let us know that Moll had paid her ransom?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+
+_Don Sanchez again proves himself the most mannerly rascal in the
+world._
+
+
+In silence we led Mrs. Godwin to the seat we had occupied, and seating
+ourselves we said not a word for some time. For my own part, the
+realisation of our loss threw my spirits into a strange apathy; 'twas as
+if some actual blow had stunned my senses. Yet I remember observing the
+Moors about their business,--despatching one to Elche for a train of
+mules, charging a second boat with merchandise while the first returned,
+etc.
+
+"I can feel for you," says Mrs. Godwin at length, addressing Dawson,
+"for I also have lost an only child."
+
+"Your daughter Judith, Madam?" says I.
+
+"She died two years ago. Yours still lives," says she, again turning to
+Dawson, who sat with a haggard face, rocking himself like one nursing a
+great pain. "And while there is life, there's hope, as one says."
+
+"Why, to be sure," says Jack, rousing himself. "This is no more, Kit,
+than we bargained for. Tell me, Madam, you who know that country, do you
+think a carpenter would be held in esteem there? I'm yet a strong man,
+as you see, with some good serviceable years of life before me. D'ye
+think they'd take me in exchange for my Moll, who is but a bit of a
+girl?"
+
+"She is beautiful, and beauty counts for more than strength and
+abilities there, poor man," says she.
+
+"I'll make 'em the offer," says he, "and though they do not agree to
+give her freedom, they may yet suffer me to see her time and again, if I
+work well."
+
+"'Tis strange," says she. "Your child has told me all your history. Had
+I learnt it from other lips, I might have set you down for rogues,
+destitute of heart or conscience; yet, with this evidence before me, I
+must needs regard you and your dear daughter as more noble than many
+whose deeds are writ in gold. 'Tis a lesson to teach me faith in the
+goodness of God, who redeems his creatures' follies, with one touch of
+love. Be of good cheer, my friend," adds she, laying her thin hand on
+his arm. "There _is_ hope. I would not have accepted this ransom--no,
+not for all your daughter's tears and entreaties--without good assurance
+that I, in my turn, might deliver her."
+
+I asked the old gentlewoman how this might be accomplished.
+
+"My niece," says she, dwelling on the word with a smile, as if happy in
+the alliance, "my niece, coming to Barbary of her free will, is not a
+slave like those captured in warfare and carried there by force. She
+remains there as a hostage for me, and will be free to return when I
+send the price of my ransom."
+
+"Is that a great sum?"
+
+"Three thousand gold ducats,--about one thousand pounds English."
+
+"Why, Madam," says Dawson, "we have nothing, being now reduced to our
+last pieces. And if you have the goodness to raise this money, Heaven
+only knows how long it may be ere you succeed. 'Tis a fortnight's
+journey, at the least, to England, and then you have to deal with your
+steward, who will seek only to put obstacles in your way, so that six
+weeks may pass ere Moll is redeemed, and what may befall her in the
+meantime?"
+
+"She is safe. Ali Oukadi is a good man. She has nought to fear while she
+is under his protection. Do not misjudge the Moors. They have many
+estimable qualities."
+
+"Yet, Madam," says I, "by your saying there is hope, I gather there must
+be also danger."
+
+"There is," answers she, at which Jack nods with conviction. "A
+beautiful young woman is never free from danger" (Jack assents again).
+"There are good and bad men amongst the Moors as amongst other people."
+
+"Aye, to be sure," says Dawson.
+
+"I say she is safe under the protection of Ali Oukadi, but when the
+ransom is paid and she leaves Thadviir, she may stand in peril."
+
+"Why, that's natural enough," cries Dawson, "be she amongst Moors or no
+Moors; 'tis then she will most need a friend to serve her, and one that
+knows the ins and outs of the place and how to deal with these Turks
+must surely be better than any half-dozen fresh landed and raw to their
+business." Then he fell questioning Mrs. Godwin as to how Moll was
+lodged, the distance of Thadviir from Alger, the way to get there, and
+divers other particulars, which, together with his eager, cheerful
+vivacity, showed clearly enough that he was more firmly resolved than
+ever to go into Barbary and be near Moll without delay. And presently,
+leaving me with Mrs. Godwin, he goes down to the captain of the galley,
+who is directing the landing of goods from the play-boat, and, with such
+small store of words as he possessed, aided by plentiful gesture, he
+enters into a very lively debate with him, the upshot of which was that
+the captain tells him he shall start the next morning at daybreak if
+there be but a puff of air, and agrees to carry him to Alger for a
+couple of pieces (upon which they clap hands), as Dawson, in high glee,
+informs us on his return.
+
+"And now, Kit," says he, "I must go back to Elche to borrow those same
+two pieces of Don Sanchez, so I pray you, Madam, excuse me."
+
+But just then the train of mules from Elche appears, and with them Sidi
+ben Ahmed, who, having information of Mrs. Godwin coming, brings a
+litter for her carriage, at the same time begging her to accept his
+hospitality as the true friend of her niece Moll. So we all return to
+Elche together, and none so downcast as I at the thought of losing my
+friend, and speculating on the mischances that might befall him; for I
+did now begin to regard him as an ill-fated man, whose best intentions
+brought him nothing but evil and misfortune.
+
+Being come to Elche, Don Sanchez presented himself to Mrs. Godwin with
+all the dignity and calm assurance in the world, and though she received
+him with a very cold, distant demeanour, as being the deepest rascal of
+us all and the one most to blame, yet it ruffled him never a bit, but he
+carried himself as if he had never benefited himself a penny by his
+roguery and at her expense.
+
+On Dawson asking him for the loan of a couple of pieces and telling his
+project, the Don drew a very long serious face and tried his utmost to
+dissuade him from it, so that at first I suspected him of being loath to
+part with this petty sum; but herein I did him injustice, for, finding
+Dawson was by no means to be turned from his purpose, he handed him his
+purse, advising him the first thing he did on arriving at Alger to
+present himself to the Dey and purchase a firman, giving him protection
+during his stay in Barbary (which he said might be done for a few silver
+ducats). Then, after discussing apart with Sidi, he comes to Mrs.
+Godwin, and says he:
+
+"Madam, with your sanction my friend Sidi ben Ahmed will charge Mr.
+Dawson with a letter to Ali Oukadi, promising to pay him the sum of
+three thousand gold ducats upon your niece being safely conducted hither
+within the space of three weeks."
+
+"Senor," answers she, "I thank Sidi ben Ahmed very deeply--and you
+also," adds she, overcoming her compunctions, "for this offer. But
+unhappily, I cannot hope to have this sum of money in so short a time."
+
+"It is needless to say, Madam," returns he, with a scrape, "that in
+making this proposal I have considered of that difficulty; my friend has
+agreed to take my bond for the payment of this sum when it shall be
+convenient to you to discharge it."
+
+Mrs. Godwin accepted this arrangement with a profound bow, which
+concealed the astonishment it occasioned her. But she drew a long
+breath, and I perceived she cast a curious glance at all three of us, as
+if she were marvelling at the change that must have taken place in
+civilised countries since her absence, which should account for a pack
+of thieves nowadays being so very unlike what a pack of thieves was in
+her young days.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+
+_How we hear Moll's sweet voice through the walls of her prison, and
+speak two words with her though almost to our undoing._
+
+
+Having written his letter, Sidi ben Ahmed proposed that Mrs. Godwin
+should await the return of Moll before setting out for England, very
+graciously offering her the hospitality of his house meanwhile, and this
+offer she willingly accepted. And now, there being no reason for my
+staying in Elche, Dawson gladly agreed I should accompany him, the more
+so as I knew more of the Moors' language than he. Going down with us to
+the water side, Don Sanchez gave us some very good hints for our
+behaviour in Barbary, bidding us, above everything, be very careful not
+to break any of the laws of that country. "For," says he, "I have seen
+three men hanged there for merely casting a Turk into the sea in a
+drunken frolic."
+
+"Be assured, I'll touch nothing but water for my drink," says Dawson,
+taking this warning to his share.
+
+"Be careful," continues the Don, "to pay for all you have, and take not
+so much as an orange from a tree by the wayside without first laying a
+fleece or two on the ground. I warn you that they, though upright enough
+amongst themselves, are crafty and treacherous towards strangers, whom
+they regard as their natural enemies; and they will tempt you to break
+the law either by provoking a quarrel, or putting you to some unlawful
+practice, that they may annul your firman and claim you as convicted
+outlaws for their slaves. For stealing a pullet I have seen the flesh
+beaten off the soles of an English sailor's feet, and he and his
+companions condemned to slavery for life."
+
+"I'll lay a dozen fleeces on the ground for every sour orange I may
+take," says Dawson. "And as for quarrelling, a Turk shall pull my nose
+before ever a curse shall pass my lips."
+
+With these and other exhortations and promises, we parted, and lying
+aboard that night, we set sail by daybreak the next morning, having a
+very fair gale off the land; and no ships in the world being better than
+these galleys for swiftness, we made an excellent good passage, so that
+ere we conceived ourselves half over the voyage, we sighted Alger
+looking like nothing but a great chalk quarry for the white houses built
+up the side of the hill.
+
+We landed at the mole, which is a splendid construction some fifteen
+hundred feet or thereabouts in length (with the forts), forming a
+beautiful terrace walk supported by arches, beneath which large,
+splendid magazines, all the most handsome in the world, I think. Thence
+our captain led us to the Cassanabah, a huge, heavy, square, brick
+building, surrounded by high, massive walls and defended by a hundred
+pieces of ordnance, cannons, and mortars, all told. Here the Dey or
+Bashaw lives with his family, and below are many roomy offices for the
+discharge of business. Our captain takes us into a vast waiting-hall
+where over a hundred Moors were patiently attending an audience of the
+Dey's minister, and there we also might have lingered the whole day and
+gone away at night unsatisfied (as many of these Moors do, day after
+day, but that counts for nothing with these enduring people), but having
+a hint from our friend we found occasion to slip a ducat in the hand of
+a go-between officer, who straightway led us to his master. Our captain
+having presented us, with all the usual ceremonies, the grandee takes
+our letter from Sidi ben Ahmed, reads it, and without further ado signs
+and seals us a trader's pass for twenty-eight days, to end at sunset the
+day after the festival of Ranadal. With this paper we went off in high
+glee, thinking that twenty-eight hours of safe-conduct would have
+sufficed us. And so to an eating-house, where we treated our friendly
+captain to the best, and greasing his palm also for his good services,
+parted in mighty good humour on both sides.
+
+By this time it was getting pretty late in the day; nevertheless, we
+burnt with such impatience to be near our dear Moll that we set forth
+for Thadviir, which lies upon the seacoast about seven English leagues
+east of Alger. But a cool, refreshing air from the sea and the great joy
+in our hearts made this journey seem to us the most delightful of our
+lives. And indeed, after passing through the suburbs richly planted with
+gardens, and crossing the river, on which are many mills, and so coming
+into the plain of Mettegia, there is such an abundance of sweet odours
+and lovely fertile views to enchant the senses, that a dull man would be
+inspirited to a happy, cheerful mood.
+
+'Twas close upon nine o'clock when we reached the little town, and not a
+soul to be seen anywhere nor a light in any window, but that troubled us
+not at all (having provided ourselves with a good store of victuals
+before quitting Alger), for here 'tis as sweet to lie of nights in the
+open air as in the finest palace elsewhere. Late as it was, however, we
+could not dispose ourselves to sleep before we had gone all round the
+town to satisfy our curiosity. At the further extremity we spied a
+building looking very majestic in the moonlight, with a large garden
+about it enclosed with high walls, and deciding that this must be the
+residence of Ali Oukadi, who, we had learnt, was the most important
+merchant of these parts, we lay us down against the wall, and fell
+asleep, thinking of our dear Moll, who perchance, all unconscious, was
+lying within.
+
+Rising at daybreak, for Dawson was mightily uneasy unless we might be
+breaking the law by sleeping out-of-doors (but there is no cruel law of
+this sort in Barbary), we washed ourselves very properly at a
+neighbouring stream, made a meal of dry bread and dates, then, laying
+our bundles in a secret place whence we might conveniently fetch them,
+if Ali Oukadi insisted on entertaining us a day or two, we went into the
+town, and finding, upon enquiry, that this was indeed his palace, as we
+had surmised, bethought us what to say and how to behave the most civil
+possible, and so presented ourselves at his gate, stating our business.
+
+Presently, we were admitted to an outer office, and there received by a
+very bent, venerable old Moor, who, having greeted us with much
+ceremony, says, "I am Ali Oukadi. What would you have of me?"
+
+"My daughter Moll," answers Jack, in an eager, choking voice, offering
+his letter. The Moor regarded him keenly, and, taking the letter, sits
+down to study it; and while he is at this business a young Moor enters,
+whose name, as we shortly learnt, was Mohand ou Mohand. He was, I take
+it, about twenty-five or thirty years of age, and as handsome a man of
+his kind as ever I saw, with wondrous soft dark eyes, but a cruel mouth
+and a most high, imperious bearing which, together with his rich clothes
+and jewels, betokened him a man of quality. Hearing who we were, he
+saluted us civilly enough; but there was a flash of enmity in his eyes
+and a tightening of his lips, which liked me not at all.
+
+When the elder man had finished the letter, he hands it to the younger,
+and he having read it in his turn, they fall to discussing it in a low
+tone, and in a dialect of which not one word was intelligible to us.
+Finally, Ali Oukadi, rising from his cushions, says gravely, addressing
+Dawson:
+
+"I will write without delay to Sidi ben Ahmed in answer to his letter."
+
+"But my daughter," says Dawson, aghast, and as well as he could in the
+Moorish tongue. "Am I not to have her?"
+
+"My friend says nothing here," answers the old man, regarding the
+letter, "nothing that would justify my giving her up to you. He says the
+money shall be paid upon her being brought safe to Elche."
+
+"Why, your Excellency, I and my comrade here will undertake to carry her
+safely there. What better guard should a daughter have than her father?"
+
+"Are you more powerful than the elements? Can you command the tempest?
+Have you sufficient armament to combat all the enemies that scour the
+seas? If any accident befall you, what is this promise of
+payment?--Nothing."
+
+"At least, you will suffer me to make this voyage with my child."
+
+"I do not purpose to send her to Elche," returned the old man, calmly.
+"'Tis a risk I will not undertake. I have said that when I am paid three
+thousand ducats, I will give Lala Mollah freedom, and I will keep my
+word. To send her to Elche is a charge that does not touch my compact.
+This I will write and tell my friend, Sidi ben Ahmed, and upon his
+payment and expressed agreement I will render you your daughter. Not
+before."
+
+We could say nothing for a while, being so foundered by this reverse;
+but at length Dawson says in a piteous voice:
+
+"At least you will suffer me to see my daughter. Think, if she were
+yours and you had lost her--believing her a while dead--"
+
+Mohand ou Mohand muttered a few words that seemed to fix the old Moor's
+wavering resolution.
+
+"I cannot agree to that," says he. "Your daughter is becoming reconciled
+to her position. To see you would open her wounds afresh to the danger
+of her life, maybe. Reflect," adds he, laying his hand on the letter,
+"if this business should come to nought, what could recompense your
+daughter for the disappointment of those false hopes your meeting would
+inspire? It cannot be."
+
+With this he claps his hands, and a servant, entering at a nod from his
+master, lifts the hangings for us to go.
+
+Dawson stammered a few broken words of passionate protest, and then
+breaking down as he perceived the folly of resisting, he dropped his
+head and suffered me to lead him out. As I saluted the Moors in going, I
+caught, as I fancied, a gleam of triumphant gladness in the dark eyes of
+Mohand ou Mohand.
+
+Coming back to the place where we had hid our bundles, Dawson cast
+himself on the ground and gave vent to his passion, declaring he would
+see his Moll though he should tear the walls down to get at her, and
+other follies; but after a time he came to his senses again so that he
+could reason, and then I persuaded him to have patience, and forbear
+from any outburst of violence such as we had been warned against,
+showing him that certainly Don Sanchez, hearing of our condition, would
+send the money speedily, and so we should get Moll by fair means instead
+of losing her (and ourselves) by foul; that after all, 'twas but the
+delay of a week or so that we had to put up with, and so forth. Then,
+discussing what we should do next, I offered that we should return to
+Elche and make our case known rather than trust entirely to Ali Oukadi's
+promise of writing; for I did suspect some treacherous design on the
+part of Mohand ou Mohand, by which Mrs. Godwin failing of her agreement,
+he might possess himself of Moll; and this falling in with Dawson's
+wishes, we set out to return to Alger forthwith. But getting to Alger
+half-dead with the fatigue of trudging all that distance in the full
+heat of the day, we learnt to our chagrin that no ship would be sailing
+to Elche for a fortnight at the least, and all the money we had would
+not tempt any captain to carry us there; so here were we cast down again
+beyond everything for miserable, gloomy apprehensions.
+
+After spending another day in fruitless endeavour to obtain a passage,
+nothing would satisfy Dawson's painful, restless spirit but we must
+return to Thadviir; so thither we went once more to linger about the
+palace of Ali Oukadi, in the poor hope that we might see Moll come out
+to take the air.
+
+One day as we were standing in the shade of the garden wall, sick and
+weary with dejection and disappointment, Dawson, of a sudden, starts me
+from my lethargy by clutching my arm and raising his finger to bid me
+listen and be silent. Then straining my ear, I caught the distant sound
+of female voices, but I could distinguish not one from another, though
+by Dawson's joyous, eager look I perceived he recognised Moll's voice
+amongst them. They came nearer and nearer, seeking, as I think, the
+shade of those palm trees which sheltered us. And presently, quite close
+to us, as if but on the other side of the wall, one struck a lute and
+began to sing a Moorish song; when she had concluded her melancholy air
+a voice, as if saddened by the melody, sighed:
+
+"Ah me! ah me!"
+
+There was no misdoubting that sweet voice: 'twas Moll's.
+
+Then very softly Dawson begins to whistle her old favourite ditty
+"Hearts will break." Scarce had he finished the refrain when Moll within
+took it up in a faint trembling voice, but only a bar, to let us know we
+were heard; then she fell a-laughing at her maids, who were whispering
+in alarm, to disguise her purpose; and so they left that part, as we
+knew by their voices dying away in the distance.
+
+"She'll come again," whispers Dawson, feverishly.
+
+And he was in the right; for, after we had stood there best part of an
+hour, we hear Moll again gently humming "Hearts will break," but so low,
+for fear of being heard by others, that only we who strained so hard to
+catch a sound could be aware of it.
+
+"Moll, my love!" whispers Dawson, as she comes to an end.
+
+"Dear father!" answers she, as low.
+
+"We are here--Kit and I. Be comforted, sweet chuck,--you shall be free
+ere long."
+
+"Shall I climb the wall?" asks she.
+
+"No, no,--for God's sake, refrain!" says I, seeing that Jack was half
+minded to bid her come to him. "You will undo all--have patience."
+
+At this moment other voices came to us from within, calling Lala Mollah;
+and presently the quick witch answers them from a distance, with a
+laugh, as if she had been playing at catch-who-can.
+
+Then Dawson and I, turning about, discovered to our consternation Ali
+Oukadi standing quite close beside us, with folded arms and bent brows.
+
+"You are unwise," says he, in a calm tone.
+
+"Nay, master," says Jack, piteously. "I did but speak a word to my
+child."
+
+"If you understand our tongue," adds I, "you will know that we did but
+bid her have patience, and wait."
+
+"Possibly," says he. "Nevertheless, you compel me henceforth to keep her
+a close prisoner, when I would give her all the liberty possible."
+
+"Master," says Jack, imploring, "I do pray you not to punish her for my
+fault. Let her still have the freedom of your garden, and I promise you
+we will go away this day and return no more until we can purchase her
+liberty for ever."
+
+"Good," says the old man, "but mark you keep your promise. Know that
+'tis an offence against the law to incite a slave to revolt. I tell you
+this, not as a threat, for I bear you no ill will, but as a warning to
+save you from consequences which I may be powerless to avert."
+
+This did seem to me a hint at some sinister design of Mohand ou
+Mohand--a wild suspicion, maybe, on my part, and yet, as I think,
+justified by evils yet to come.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+
+_Of our bargaining with a Moorish seaman; and of an English slave._
+
+
+We lost no time, be sure, in going back to Alger, blessing God on the
+way for our escape, and vowing most heartily that we would be led into
+no future folly, no matter how simple and innocent the temptation might
+seem.
+
+And now began again a tedious season of watching on the mole of Alger;
+but not to make this business as wearisome to others, I will pass that
+over and come at once to that joyful, happy morning, when, with but
+scant hope, looking down upon the deck of a galley entering the port, to
+our infinite delight and amazement we perceived Richard Godwin waving
+his hand to us in sign of recognition. Then sure, mad with joy, we would
+have cast ourselves in the sea had we thereby been able to get to him
+more quickly. Nor was he much less moved with affection to meet us, and
+springing on the quai he took us both in his open arms and embraced us.
+But his first word was of Moll. "My beloved wife?" says he, and could
+question us no further.
+
+We told him she was safe, whereat he thanks God most fervently, and how
+we had spoken with her; and then he tells us of his adventures--how on
+getting Don Sanchez's letter he had started forth at once with such help
+as Sir Peter Lely generously placed at his disposition, and how coming
+to Elche, he found Mrs. Godwin there in great anxiety because we had not
+returned, and how Don Sanchez, guessing at our case, had procured money
+from Toledo to pay Moll's ransom, and did further charter a neutral
+galley to bring him to Alger--which was truly as handsome a thing as any
+man could do, be he thief or no thief. All these matters we discussed on
+our way to the Cassanabah, where Mr. Godwin furnished himself as we had
+with a trader's permit for twenty-eight days.
+
+[Illustration: "ONLY IN THE MIDST OF OUR JOY I PERCEIVED THAT MOHAND OU
+MOHAND HAD ENTERED THE ROOM."]
+
+This done, we set out with a team of good mules, and reaching Thadviir
+about an hour before sundown, we repaired at once to Ali Oukadi's, who
+received us with much civility, although 'twas clear to see he was yet
+loath to give up Moll; but the sight of the gold Mr. Godwin laid before
+him did smooth the creases from his brow (for these Moors love money
+before anything on earth), and having told it carefully he writes an
+acknowledgment and fills up a formal sheet of parchment bearing the
+Dey's seal, which attested that Moll was henceforth a free subject and
+entitled to safe-conduct within the confines of the Dey's
+administration. And having delivered these precious documents into Mr.
+Godwin's hands, he leaves us for a little space and then returns leading
+dear Moll by the hand. And she, not yet apprised of her circumstances,
+seeing her husband with us, gives a shrill cry, and like to faint with
+happiness totters forward and falls in his ready arms.
+
+I will not attempt to tell further of this meeting and our passionate,
+fond embraces, for 'twas past all description; only in the midst of our
+joy I perceived that Mohand ou Mohand had entered the room and stood
+there, a silent spectator of Moll's tender yielding to her husband's
+caresses, his nostrils pinched, and his jaundiced face overcast with a
+wicked look of mortification and envy. And Moll seeing him, paled a
+little, drawing closer to her husband; for, as I learnt later on, and
+'twas no more than I had guessed, he had paid her most assiduous
+attentions from the first moment he saw her, and had gone so far as to
+swear by Mahomet that death alone should end his burning passion to
+possess her. And I observed that when we parted, and Moll in common
+civility offered him her hand, he muttered some oath as he raised it to
+his lips.
+
+Declining as civilly as we might Ali Oukadi's tender of hospitality, we
+rested that night at the large inn or caravansary, and I do think that
+the joy of Moll and her husband lying once more within each other's arms
+was scarcely less than we felt, Dawson and I, at this happy ending of
+our long tribulations; but one thing it is safe to say, we slept as
+sound as they.
+
+And how gay were we when we set forth the next morning for Alger--Moll's
+eyes twinkling like stars for happiness, and her cheeks all pink with
+blushes like any new bride, her husband with not less pride than passion
+in his noble countenance, and Dawson and I as blithe and jolly as
+schoolboys on a holiday. For now had Moll by this act of heroism and
+devotion redeemed not only herself, but us also, and there was no
+further reason for concealment or deceit, but all might be themselves
+and fear no man.
+
+Thus did joy beguile us into a false sense of security.
+
+Coming to Alger about midday, we were greatly surprised to find that the
+sail chartered by Don Sanchez was no longer in the port, and the reason
+of this we presently learnt was that the Dey, having information of a
+descent being about to be made upon the town by the British fleet at
+Tangier, he had commanded, the night before, all alien ships to be gone
+from the port by daybreak. This put us to a quake, for in view of this
+descent not one single Algerine would venture to put to sea for all the
+money Mr. Godwin could offer or promise. So here we were forced to stay
+in trepidation and doubt as to how we, being English, might fare if the
+town should be bombarded as we expected, and never did we wish our own
+countrymen further. Only our Moll and her husband did seem careless in
+their happiness; for so they might die in each other's arms, I do think
+they would have faced death with a smile upon their faces.
+
+However, a week passing, and no sign of any English flag upon the seas,
+the public apprehension subsided; and now we began very seriously to
+compass our return to Elche, our trader's passes (that is, Dawson's and
+mine) being run out within a week, and we knowing full well that we
+should not get them renewed after this late menace of an English attack
+upon the town. So, one after the other, we tried every captain in the
+port, but all to no purpose. And one of these did openly tell me the Dey
+had forbidden any stranger to be carried out of the town, on pain of
+having his vessel confiscated and being bastinadoed to his last
+endurance.
+
+"And so," says he, lifting his voice, "if you offered me all the gold in
+the world, I would not carry you a furlong hence." But at the same time,
+turning his back on a janizary who stood hard by, he gave me a most
+significant wink and a little beck, as if I were to follow him
+presently.
+
+And this I did as soon as the janizary was gone, following him at a
+distance through the town and out into the suburbs, at an idle,
+sauntering gait. When we had got out beyond the houses, to the side of
+the river I have mentioned, he sits him down on the bank, and I, coming
+up, sit down beside him as if for a passing chat. Then he, having
+glanced to the right and left, to make sure we were not observed, asks
+me what we would give to be taken to Elche; and I answered that we would
+give him his price so we could be conveyed shortly.
+
+"When would you go?" asks he.
+
+"Why," says I, "our passes expire at sundown after the day of Ramadah,
+so we must get hence, by hook or by crook, before that."
+
+"That falls as pat as I would have it," returns he (but not in these
+words), "for all the world will be up at the Cassanabah on that day, to
+the feast the Dey gives to honour his son's coming of age. Moreover, the
+moon by then will not rise before two in the morning. So all being in
+our favour, I'm minded to venture on this business. But you must
+understand that I dare not take you aboard in the port, where I must
+make a pretence of going out a-fishing with my three sons, and give the
+janizaries good assurance that no one else is aboard, that I may not
+fall into trouble on my return."
+
+"That's reasonable enough," says I, "but where will you take us aboard?"
+
+"I'll show you," returns he, "if you will stroll down this bank with me,
+for my sons and I have discussed this matter ever since we heard you
+were seeking a ship for this project, and we have it all cut and dried
+properly."
+
+So up we get and saunter along the bank leisurely, till we reached a
+part where the river spreads out very broad and shallow.
+
+"You see that rock," says he, nodding at a huge boulder lapped by the
+incoming sea. "There shall you be at midnight. We shall lie about a half
+a mile out to sea, and two of my sons will pull to the shore and take
+you up; so may all go well and nought be known, if you are commonly
+secret, for never a soul is seen here after sundown." I told him I would
+consult with my friends and give him our decision the next day, meeting
+him at this spot.
+
+"Good," says he, "and ere you decide, you may cast an eye at my ship,
+which you shall know by a white moon painted on her beam; 'tis as fast a
+ship as any that sails from Alger, though she carry but one mast, and so
+be we agree to this venture, you shall find the cabin fitted for your
+lady and everything for your comfort."
+
+On this we separated presently, and I, joining my friends at our inn,
+laid the matter before them. There being still some light, we then went
+forth on the mole, and there we quickly spied the White Moon, which,
+though a small craft, looked very clean, and with a fair cabin house,
+built up in the Moorish fashion upon the stern. And here, sitting down,
+we all agreed to accept this offer, Mr. Godwin being not less eager for
+the venture than we, who had so much more to dread by letting it slip,
+though his pass had yet a fortnight to run.
+
+So the next day I repaired to the rock, and meeting Haroun (as he was
+called), I closed with him, and put a couple of ducats in his hand for
+earnest money.
+
+"'Tis well," says he, pocketing the money, after kissing it and looking
+up to heaven with a "Dill an," which means "It is from God." "We will
+not meet again till the day of Ramadah at midnight, lest we fall under
+suspicion. Farewell."
+
+We parted as we did before, he going his way, and I mine; but, looking
+back by accident before I had gone a couple of hundred yards, I
+perceived a fellow stealing forth from a thicket of canes that stood in
+the marshy ground near the spot where I had lately stood with Haroun,
+and turning again presently, I perceived this man following in my steps.
+Then, fairly alarmed, I gradually hastened my pace (but not so quick
+neither as to seem to fly), making for the town, where I hoped to escape
+pursuit in the labyrinth of little, crooked, winding alleys. As I
+rounded a corner, I perceived him out of the tail of my eye, still
+following, but now within fifty yards of me, he having run to thus
+overreach me; and ere I had turned up a couple of alleys he was on my
+heels and twitching me by the sleeve.
+
+"Lord love you, Master," says he, in very good English, but gasping for
+breath. "Hold hard a moment, for I've a thing or two to say to you as is
+worth your hearing."
+
+So I, mightily surprised by these words, stop; and he seeing the alley
+quite empty and deserted, sits down on a doorstep, and I do likewise,
+both of us being spent with our exertions.
+
+"Was that man you were talking with a little while back named Haroun?"
+asks he, when he could fetch his breath. I nodded.
+
+"Did he offer to take you and three others to Elche, aboard a craft
+called the White Moon?"
+
+I nodded again, astonished at his information, for we had not discussed
+our design to-day, Haroun and I.
+
+"Did he offer to carry you off in a boat to his craft from the rock on
+the mouth?"
+
+Once more I nodded.
+
+"Can you guess what will happen if you agree to this?"
+
+Now I shook my head.
+
+"The villain," says he, "will run you on a shoal, and there will he be
+overhauled by the janizaries, and you be carried prisoners back to
+Alger. Your freedom will be forfeited, and you will be sold for slaves.
+And that's not all," adds he; "the lass you have with you will be taken
+from you and given to Mohand ou Mohand, who has laid this trap for your
+destruction and the gratification of his lust."
+
+I fell a-shaking only to think of this crowning calamity, and could only
+utter broken, unintelligible sounds to express my gratitude for this
+warning.
+
+"Listen, Master, if you cannot speak," said he; "for I must quit you in
+a few minutes, or get my soles thrashed when I return home. What I have
+told you is true, as there is a God in heaven; 'twas overheard by my
+comrade, who is a slave in Mohand's household. If you escape this trap,
+you will fall in another, for there is no bounds to Mohand's devilish
+cunning. I say, if you stay here you are doomed to share our miserable
+lot, by one device or another. But I will show you how you may turn the
+tables on this villain, and get to a Christian country ere you are a
+week older, if you have but one spark of courage amongst you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+
+_Of our escape from Barbary, of the pursuit and horrid, fearful
+slaughter that followed, together with other moving circumstances._
+
+
+So Groves, as my man was named, told me how he and eight other poor
+Englishmen, sharing the same bagnio, had endured the hardships and
+misery of slavery, some for thirteen, and none less than seven, years;
+how for three years they had been working a secret tunnel by which they
+could escape from their bagnio (in which they were locked up every night
+at sundown) at any moment; how for six months, since the completion of
+their tunnel, they had been watching a favourable opportunity to seize a
+ship and make good their escape (seven of them being mariners); and how
+now they were, by tedious suspense, wrought to such a pitch of
+desperation that they were ripe for any means of winning their freedom.
+"And here," says he, in conclusion, "hath merciful Providence given us
+the power to save not only ourselves from this accursed bondage, but
+you, also, if you are minded to join us."
+
+Asking him how he proposed to accomplish this end, he replies:
+
+"'Tis as easy as kiss your hand. First, do you accept Haroun's offer?"
+
+"I have," says I.
+
+"Good!" says he, rubbing his hands, and speaking thick with joy. "You
+may be sure that Mohand will suffer no one to interfere with your
+getting aboard, to the achievement of his design. When is it to be?"
+
+I hesitated a moment, lest I should fall into another trap, trying to
+escape from the first; but, seeing he was an Englishman, I would not
+believe him capable of playing into the Turks' hands for our undoing,
+and so I told him our business was for midnight on the feast of Ramadah.
+
+"Sure, nought but Providence could have ordered matters so well," says
+he, doubling himself up, as if unable to control his joy. "We shall be
+there, we nine sturdy men. Some shall hide in the canes, and others
+behind the rock; and when Haroun rows to shore, four of us will get into
+his boat (muffled up as you would be to escape detection), and as soon
+as they lay themselves to their oars, their business shall be settled."
+
+"As how?" asks I, shrinking (as ever) from deeds of violence.
+
+"Leave that to us; but be assured they shall not raise a cry that shall
+fright your lady. Oh, we know the use of a bow-string as well as any
+Turk amongst them. We have that to thank 'em for. Well, these two being
+despatched, we return to shore, and two more of our men will get in;
+then we four to the felucca, and there boarding, we serve the others as
+we served the first two; so back comes one of us to fetch off our other
+comrades and you four. Then, all being aboard, we cut our cable, up with
+our sail, and by the time Mohand comes, in the morning, to seek his game
+on the sand-bank, we shall be half way to Elche, and farther, if
+Providence do keep pace with this happy beginning. What say you,
+friend?" adds he, noting my reflective mood.
+
+Then I frankly confessed that I would have some assurance of his
+honesty.
+
+"I can give you none, Master," says he, "but the word of a good
+Yorkshireman. Surely, you may trust me as I trust you; for 'tis in your
+power to reveal all to Haroun, and so bring us all to the galleys. Have
+you no faith in a poor broken Englishman?"
+
+"Yes," says I; "I'll trust you."
+
+Then we rose, clapping hands, and he left me, with tears of gratitude
+and joy in his eyes. Telling my friends I had something of a secret
+nature to impart, we went out to the end of the mole, where we were
+secure from eavesdroppers, and there I laid the whole story before them,
+whereupon we fell debating what we should do, looking at this matter
+from every side, with a view to our security; but, slavery lying before
+us, and no better means of escaping it coming to our minds, we did at
+last unanimously agree to trust Joe Groves rather than Haroun.
+
+The next day there fell a great deluge of rain, and the morrow being the
+feast of Ramadah, we regarded this as highly favourable to our escape;
+for here when rain falls it ceases not for forty-eight hours, and thus
+might we count upon the aid of darkness. And that evening as we were
+regarding some merchandise in a bazaar, a fellow sidles up to me, and
+whispers (fingering a piece of cloth as if he were minded to buy it):
+
+"Does all go well?"
+
+Then perceiving this was Joe Groves, I answered in the same manner:
+
+"All goes well."
+
+"To-morrow at midnight?"
+
+"To-morrow at midnight," I return. Upon which, casting down the cloth,
+he goes away without further sign.
+
+And now comes in the feast of Ramadah with a heavy, steady downpour of
+rain all day, and no sign of ceasing at sundown, which greatly contented
+us. About ten, the house we lodged in being quite still, and our fear of
+accident pressing us to depart, we crept silently out into the street
+without let or hindrance (though I warrant some spy of Mohand's was
+watching to carry information of our flight to his master), and so
+through the narrow deserted alleys to the outskirts of the town, and
+thence by the river side to the great rock, with only just so much light
+as enabled us to hang together, and no more. And I do believe we should
+have floundered into the river o' one side of the marsh of canes or
+t'other, but that having gone over this road the last time with the
+thought that it might lead us to liberty, every object by the way
+impressed itself upon my mind most astonishingly.
+
+Here under this rock stood we above an hour with no sound but the
+beating of the rain, and the lap of the water running in from the sea.
+Then, as it might be about half-past eleven, a voice close beside us
+(which I knew for Joe Groves, though I could see no one but us four,
+Jack by my side, and Moll bound close to her husband) says:
+
+"All goes well?"
+
+"Yes, all goes well," says I; whereupon he gives a cry like the croak of
+a frog, and his comrades steal up almost unseen and unheard, save that
+each as he came whispered his name, as Spinks, Davis, Lee, Best, etc.,
+till their number was all told. Then Groves, who was clearly chosen
+their captain, calls Spinks, Lee, and Best to stand with him, and bids
+the others and us to stand back against the canes till we are called. So
+we do his bidding, and fall back to the growth of canes, whence we could
+but dimly make out the mass of the rock for the darkness, and there
+waited breathless, listening for the sound of oars. But these Moors, for
+a better pretence of secrecy, had muffled their oars, so that we knew
+not they were at hand until we heard Haroun's voice speaking low.
+
+"Englishmen, are you there?" asks he.
+
+"Aye, we four," whispers Groves, in reply.
+
+Then we hear them wade into the water and get into the boat with
+whispering of Haroun where they are to dispose themselves, and so forth.
+After that silence for about ten minutes, and no sound but the ceaseless
+rain until we next hear Groves' voice.
+
+"Davis, Negus," whispers he, on which two of our number leave us and go
+out to the boat to replace Haroun and that other Moor, who, in the
+manner of the Turks, had been strangled and cast overboard.
+
+And now follows a much longer period of silence, but at length that
+comes to an end, and we hear Groves' voice again whispering us to come.
+At the first sound of his voice his three comrades rush forward; but
+Groves, recognising them, says hoarsely, "Back, every one of you but
+those I called, or I'll brain you! There's room but for six in the boat,
+and those who helped us shall go first, as I ordered. The rest must wait
+their time."
+
+So these fellows, who would have ousted us, give way, grumbling, and Mr.
+Godwin carrying Moll to the boat, Dawson and I wade in after him, and
+so, with great gratitude, take our places as Groves directs. We being
+in, he and his mate lay to their oars, and pull out to the felucca,
+guided by the lanthorn on her bulwarks.
+
+Having put us aboard safely, Groves and his mate fetch the three fellows
+that remained ashore, and now all being embarked, they abandon the small
+boat, slip the anchor, and get out their long sweeps, all in desperate
+haste; for that absence of wind, which I at first took to be a blessing,
+appeared now to be a curse, and our main hope of escape lay in pulling
+far out to sea before Mohand discovered the trick put upon him, and gave
+chase. All night long we toiled with most savage energy, dividing our
+number into two batches, so that one might go to the oars as the other
+tired, turn and turn about. Not one of us but did his utmost--nay, even
+Moll would stand by her husband, and strain like any man at this work.
+But for all our labour, Alger was yet in sight when the break of day
+gave us light to see it. Then was every eye searching the waters for
+sign of a sail, be it to save or to undo us. Sail saw we none, but about
+nine o'clock Groves, scanning the waters over against Alger, perceived
+something which he took to be a galley; nor were we kept long in
+uncertainty, for by ten it was obvious to us all, showing that it had
+gained considerably upon us in spite of our frantic exertions, which
+convinced us that this was Mohand, and that he had discovered us with
+the help of a spy-glass, maybe.
+
+At the prospect of being overtaken and carried back to slavery, a sort
+of madness possessed those at the oars, the first oar pulling with such
+a fury of violence that it snapped at the rowlock, and was of no further
+use. Still we made good progress, but what could we with three oars do
+against the galley which maybe was mounted with a dozen? Some were for
+cutting down the mast and throwing spars, sails, and every useless thing
+overboard to lighten our ship, but Groves would not hear of this, seeing
+by a slant in the rain that a breeze was to be expected; and surely
+enough, the rain presently smote us on the cheek smartly, whereupon
+Groves ran up our sail, which, to our infinite delight, did presently
+swell out fairly, careening us so that the oar on t'other side was
+useless.
+
+But that which favoured us favoured also our enemies, and shortly after
+we saw two sails go up to match our one. Then Groves called a council of
+us and his fellows, and his advice was this: that ere the galley drew
+nigh enough for our number to be sighted, he and his fellows should
+bestow themselves away in the stern cabin, and lie there with such arms
+of knives and spikes as they had brought with them ready to their hands,
+and that, on Mohand boarding us with his men, we four should retire
+towards the cabin, when he and his comrades would spring forth and fight
+every man to the death for freedom. And he held out good promise of a
+successful issue. "For," says he, "knowing you four" (meaning us) "are
+unarmed, 'tis not likely he will have furnished himself with any great
+force; and as his main purpose is to possess this lady, he will not
+suffer his men to use their firepieces to the risk of her destruction;
+therefore," adds he, "if you have the stomach for your part of this
+business, which is but to hold the helm as I direct, all must go well.
+But for the lady, if she hath any fear, we may find a place in the cabin
+for her."
+
+This proposal was accepted by all with gladness, except Moll, who would
+on no account leave her husband's side; but had he not been there, I
+believe she would have been the last aboard to feel fear, or play a
+cowardly part.
+
+So without further parley, the fellows crept into the little cabin, each
+fingering his naked weapon, which made me feel very sick with
+apprehension of bloodshed. The air of wind freshening, we kept on at a
+spanking rate for another hour, Groves lying on the deck with his eyes
+just over the bulwarks and giving orders to Dawson and me, who kept the
+helm; then the galley, being within a quarter of a mile of us, fired a
+shot as a signal to us to haul down our sail, and this having no effect,
+he soon after fires another, which, striking us in the stern, sent great
+splinters flying up from the bulwarks there.
+
+"Hold her helm, stiff," whispers Groves, and then he backs cautiously
+into the cabin without rising from his belly, for the men aboard the
+galley were now clearly distinguishable.
+
+Presently bang goes another gun, and the same moment, its shot taking
+our mast a yard or so above the deck, our lateen falls over upon the
+water with a great slap, and so are we brought to at once.
+
+Dropping her sail, the galley sweeps up alongside us, and casting out
+divers hooks and tackle they held ready for their purpose, they grappled
+us securely. My heart sank within me as I perceived the number of our
+enemies, thirty or forty, as I reckon (but happily not above half a
+dozen armed men), and Mohand ou Mohand amongst them with a scimitar in
+his hand; for now I foresaw the carnage which must ensue when we were
+boarded.
+
+Mohand ou Mohand was the first to spring upon our deck, and behind came
+his janizaries and half a score of seamen. We four, Mr. Godwin holding
+Moll's hand in his, stood in a group betwixt Mohand and his men and the
+cabin where Joe Groves lay with his fellows, biding his time. One of the
+janizaries was drawing his scimitar, but Mohand bade him put it up, and
+making an obeisance to Moll, he told us we should suffer no hurt if we
+surrendered peaceably.
+
+"Never, you Turkish thief!" cries Dawson, shaking his fist at him.
+
+Mohand makes a gesture of regret, and turning to his men tells them to
+take us, but to use no weapons, since we had none. Then, he himself
+leading, with his eyes fixed hungrily upon Moll, the rest came on, and
+we fell back towards the cabin.
+
+The next instant, with a wild yell of fury, the hidden men burst out of
+the cabin, and then followed a scene of butchery which I pray Heaven it
+may nevermore be my fate to witness.
+
+Groves was the first to spill blood. Leaping upon Mohand, he buried a
+long curved knife right up to the hilt in his neck striking downwards
+just over the collar bone, and he fell, the blood spurting from his
+mouth upon the deck. At the same time our men, falling upon the
+janizaries, did most horrid battle--nay, 'twas no battle, but sheer
+butchery; for these men, being taken so suddenly, had no time to draw
+their weapons, and could only fly to the fore end of the boat for
+escape, where, by reason of their number and the narrow confines of the
+deck, they were so packed and huddled together that none could raise his
+hand to ward a blow even, and so stood, a writhing, shrieking mass of
+humanity, to be hacked and stabbed and ripped and cut down to their
+death.
+
+And their butchers had no mercy. They could think only of their past
+wrongs, and of satiating the thirst for vengeance, which had grown to a
+madness by previous restraint.
+
+"There's for thirteen years of misery," cries one, driving his spike
+into the heart of one. "Take that for hanging of my brother," screams a
+second, cleaving a Moor's skull with his hatchet. "Quits for turning an
+honest lad into a devil," calls a third, drawing his knife across the
+throat of a shrieking wretch, and so forth, till not one of all the
+crowd was left to murder.
+
+Then still devoured by their lust for blood, they swarmed over the side
+of the galley to finish this massacre--Groves leading with a shout of
+"No quarter," and all echoing these words with a roar of joy. But here
+they were met with some sort of resistance, for the Moors aboard, seeing
+the fate of their comrades, forewarning them of theirs, had turned their
+swivel gun about and now fired--the ball carrying off the head of Joe
+Groves, the best man of all that crew, if one were better than another.
+But this only served to incense the rest the more, and so they went at
+their cruel work again, and ceased not till the last of their enemies
+was dead. Then, with a wild hurrah, they signal their triumph, and one
+fellow, holding up his bloody hands, smears them over his face with a
+devilish scream of laughter.
+
+And now, caring no more for us or what might befall us, than for the
+Turks who lay all mangled on our deck, one cuts away the tackle that
+lashes their galley to us, while the rest haul up the sail, and so they
+go their way, leaving us to shift for ourselves.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+
+_How Dawson counts himself an unlucky man who were best dead; and so he
+quits us, and I, the reader._
+
+
+The galley bent over to the wind and sped away, and I watched her go
+without regret, not thinking of our own hapless condition, but only of
+the brutal ferocity of that mad crew aboard her.
+
+Their shouts of joy and diabolical laughter died away, and there was no
+sound but the lapping of the waves against the felucca's side. They had
+done their work thoroughly; not a moan arose from the heaps of butchered
+men, not a limb moved, but all were rigid, some lying in grotesque
+postures as the death agony had drawn them. And after the tumult that
+had prevailed this stillness of death was terrific. From looking over
+this ghastly picture I turned and clutched at Dawson's hand for some
+comforting sense of life and humanity.
+
+We were startled at this moment by a light laugh from the cabin, whither
+Mr. Godwin had carried Moll, fainting with the horror of this bloody
+business, and going in there we found her now lying in a little crib,
+light-headed,--clean out of her wits indeed, for she fancied herself on
+the dusty road to Valencia, taking her first lesson in the fandango from
+Don Sanchez. Mr. Godwin knelt by the cot side, with his arm supporting
+her head, and soothing her the best he could. We found a little cask of
+water and a cup, that he might give her drink, and then, seeing we could
+be of no further service, Dawson and I went from the cabin, our thoughts
+awaking now to the peril of our position, without sail in mid-sea.
+
+And first we cast our eyes all round about the sea, but we could descry
+no sail save the galley (and that at a great distance), nor any sign of
+land. Next, casting our eyes upon the deck, we perceived that the thick
+stream of blood that lay along that side bent over by the broken mast,
+was greatly spread, and not so black, but redder, which was only to be
+explained by the mingling of water; and this was our first notice that
+the felucca was filling and we going down.
+
+Recovering presently from the stupor into which this suspicion threw us,
+we pulled up a hatch, and looking down into the hold perceived that this
+was indeed true, a puncheon floating on the water there within arms'
+reach. Thence, making our way quickly over the dead bodies, which failed
+now to terrify us, to the fore part of our felucca, we discovered that
+the shot which had hit us had started a plank, and that the water leaked
+in with every lap of a wave. So now, our wits quickened by our peril, we
+took a scimitar and a dirk from a dead janizary, to cut away the cordage
+that lashed us to the fallen mast, to free us of that burden and right
+the ship if we might. But ere we did this, Dawson, spying the great sail
+lying out on the water, bethought him to hack out a great sheet as far
+as we could reach, and this he took to lay over the started plank and
+staunch the leakage, while I severed the tackle and freed us from the
+great weight of the hanging mast and long spar. And certainly we thought
+ourselves safe when this was done, for the hull lifted at once and
+righted itself upon the water. Nevertheless, we were not easy, for we
+knew not what other planks below the water line were injured, nor how to
+sink our sheet or bind it over the faulty part. So, still further to
+lighten us, we mastered our qualms and set to work casting the dead
+bodies overboard. This horrid business, at another time, would have made
+me sick as any dog, but there was no time to yield to mawkish
+susceptibilities in the face of such danger as menaced us. Only when all
+was done, I did feel very weakened and shaky, and my gorge rising at the
+look of my jerkin, all filthy with clotted blood, I tore it off and cast
+it in the sea, as also did Dawson; and so, to turn our thoughts (after
+washing of our hands and cleaning our feet), we looked over the side,
+and agreed that we were no lower than we were, but rather higher for
+having lightened our burden. But no sail anywhere on the wide sea to add
+to our comfort.
+
+Going into the cabin, we found that our dear Moll had fallen into a
+sleep, but was yet very feverish, as we could see by her frequent
+turning, her sudden starts, and the dreamy, vacant look in her eyes,
+when she opened them and begged for water. We would not add to Mr.
+Godwin's trouble by telling him of ours (our minds being still restless
+with apprehensions of the leak), but searching about, and discovering
+two small, dry loaves, we gave him one, and took the other to divide
+betwixt us, Dawson and I. And truly we needed this refreshment (as our
+feeble, shaking limbs testified), after all our exertions of the night
+and day (it being now high noon), having eaten nothing since supper the
+night before. But, famished as we were, we must needs steal to the side
+and look over to mark where the water rose; and neither of us dared say
+the hull was no lower, for we perceived full well it had sunk somewhat
+in the last hour.
+
+Jack took a bite of his loaf, and offered me the rest, saying he had no
+stomach for food; but I could not eat my own, and so we thrust the bread
+in our breeches pockets and set to work, heaving everything overboard
+that might lighten us, and for ever a-straining our eyes to sight a
+ship. Then we set to devising means to make the sheet cling over the
+damaged planks, but to little purpose, and so Dawson essayed to get at
+it from the inside by going below, but the water was risen so high there
+was no room between it and the deck to breathe, and so again to wedging
+the canvas in from the outside till the sun sank. And by that time the
+water was beginning to lap up through the hatchway. Then no longer able
+to blink the truth, Jack turns to me and asks:
+
+"How long shall we last?"
+
+"Why," says I, "we have sunk no more than a foot these last six hours,
+and at this slow pace we may well last out eight or nine more ere the
+water comes over the bulwarks."
+
+He shook his head ruefully, and, pointing to a sluice hole in the side,
+said he judged it must be all over with us when the water entered there.
+
+"Why, in that case," says I, "let us find something to fill the sluice
+hole."
+
+So having nothing left on deck, we went into the cabin on a pretence of
+seeing how Moll fared, and Jack sneaked away an old jacket and I a stone
+bottle, and with these we stopped the sluice hole the best we could.
+
+By the time we had made a job of this 'twas quite dark, and having
+nothing more to do but to await the end, we stood side by side, too
+dejected to speak for some time, thinking of the cruelty of fate which
+rescued us from one evil only to plunge us in a worse. At length, Jack
+fell to talking in a low tone of his past life, showing how things had
+ever gone ill with him and those he loved.
+
+"I think," says he in conclusion, "I am an unlucky man, Kit. One of
+those who are born to be a curse against their will to others rather
+than a blessing."
+
+"Fie, Jack," says I, "'tis an idle superstition."
+
+"Nay," says he, "I am convinced 'tis the truth. Not one of us here but
+would have been the happier had I died a dozen years ago. 'Tis all
+through me that we drown to-night."
+
+"Nay, 'tis a blessing that we die all together, and none left to mourn."
+
+"That may be for you and me who have lived the best years of our life,
+but for those in there but just tasting the sweets of life, with years
+of joy unspent, 'tis another matter."
+
+Then we were silent for a while, till feeling the water laving my feet,
+I asked if we should not now tell Mr. Godwin of our condition.
+
+"'Twas in my mind, Kit," answers he; "I will send him out to you."
+
+He went into the cabin, and Mr. Godwin coming out, I showed him our
+state. But 'twas no surprise to him. Only, it being now about three in
+the morning, and the moon risen fair and full in the heavens, he casts
+his eyes along the silver path on the water in the hope of rescue, and
+finding none, he grasps my hand and says:
+
+"God's will be done! 'Tis a mercy that my dear love is spared this last
+terror. Our pain will not be long."
+
+A shaft of moonlight entered the cabin, and there we perceived Dawson
+kneeling by the crib, with his head laid upon the pillow beside his
+daughter.
+
+He rose and came out without again turning to look on Moll, and Mr.
+Godwin took his place.
+
+"I feel more happy, Kit," says Jack, laying his hand upon my shoulder.
+"I do think God will be merciful to us."
+
+"Aye, surely," says I, wilfully mistaking his meaning. "I think the
+water hath risen no higher this last hour."
+
+"I'll see how our sheet hangs; do you look if the water comes in yet at
+the sluice hole."
+
+And so, giving my arm a squeeze as he slips his hand from my shoulder,
+he went to the fore part of the vessel, while I crossed to the sluice
+hole, where the water was spurting through a chink.
+
+I rose after jamming the jacket to staunch the leak, and turning towards
+Jack I perceived him standing by the bulwark, with the moon beyond. And
+the next moment he was gone. And so ended the life of this poor, loving,
+unlucky man.
+
+
+I know not whether it was this lightening of our burden, or whether at
+that time some accident of a fold in the sail sucking into the leaking
+planks, stayed the further ingress of waters, but certain it is that
+after this we sank no deeper to any perceptible degree; and so it came
+about that we were sighted by a fishing-boat from Carthagena, a little
+after daybreak, and were saved--we three who were left.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I have spent the last week at Hurst Court, where Moll and her husband
+have lived ever since Lady Godwin's death. They are making of hay in the
+meadows there; and 'twas sweet to see Moll and her husband, with their
+two boys, cocking the sweet grass. And all very merry at supper; only
+one sad memory cast me down as I thought of poor Jack, sorrowing to
+think he could not see the happiness which, as much as our past
+troubles, was due to him.
+
+
+
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