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diff --git a/1392.txt b/1392.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..aaff39d --- /dev/null +++ b/1392.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1447 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Seven Poor Travellers, by Charles Dickens + + +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: The Seven Poor Travellers + + +Author: Charles Dickens + +Release Date: April 3, 2005 [eBook #1392] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEVEN POOR TRAVELLERS*** + + + + + +Transcribed from the 1894 Chapman and Hall edition of "Christmas Stories" +by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + + +THE SEVEN POOR TRAVELLERS--IN THREE CHAPTERS + + +CHAPTER I--IN THE OLD CITY OF ROCHESTER + + +Strictly speaking, there were only six Poor Travellers; but, being a +Traveller myself, though an idle one, and being withal as poor as I hope +to be, I brought the number up to seven. This word of explanation is due +at once, for what says the inscription over the quaint old door? + + RICHARD WATTS, Esq. + by his Will, dated 22 Aug. 1579, + founded this Charity + for Six poor Travellers, + who not being ROGUES, or PROCTORS, + May receive gratis for one Night, + Lodging, Entertainment, + and Fourpence each. + +It was in the ancient little city of Rochester in Kent, of all the good +days in the year upon a Christmas-eve, that I stood reading this +inscription over the quaint old door in question. I had been wandering +about the neighbouring Cathedral, and had seen the tomb of Richard Watts, +with the effigy of worthy Master Richard starting out of it like a ship's +figure-head; and I had felt that I could do no less, as I gave the Verger +his fee, than inquire the way to Watts's Charity. The way being very +short and very plain, I had come prosperously to the inscription and the +quaint old door. + +"Now," said I to myself, as I looked at the knocker, "I know I am not a +Proctor; I wonder whether I am a Rogue!" + +Upon the whole, though Conscience reproduced two or three pretty faces +which might have had smaller attraction for a moral Goliath than they had +had for me, who am but a Tom Thumb in that way, I came to the conclusion +that I was not a Rogue. So, beginning to regard the establishment as in +some sort my property, bequeathed to me and divers co-legatees, share and +share alike, by the Worshipful Master Richard Watts, I stepped backward +into the road to survey my inheritance. + +I found it to be a clean white house, of a staid and venerable air, with +the quaint old door already three times mentioned (an arched door), +choice little long low lattice-windows, and a roof of three gables. The +silent High Street of Rochester is full of gables, with old beams and +timbers carved into strange faces. It is oddly garnished with a queer +old clock that projects over the pavement out of a grave red-brick +building, as if Time carried on business there, and hung out his sign. +Sooth to say, he did an active stroke of work in Rochester, in the old +days of the Romans, and the Saxons, and the Normans; and down to the +times of King John, when the rugged castle--I will not undertake to say +how many hundreds of years old then--was abandoned to the centuries of +weather which have so defaced the dark apertures in its walls, that the +ruin looks as if the rooks and daws had pecked its eyes out. + +I was very well pleased, both with my property and its situation. While +I was yet surveying it with growing content, I espied, at one of the +upper lattices which stood open, a decent body, of a wholesome matronly +appearance, whose eyes I caught inquiringly addressed to mine. They said +so plainly, "Do you wish to see the house?" that I answered aloud, "Yes, +if you please." And within a minute the old door opened, and I bent my +head, and went down two steps into the entry. + +"This," said the matronly presence, ushering me into a low room on the +right, "is where the Travellers sit by the fire, and cook what bits of +suppers they buy with their fourpences." + +"O! Then they have no Entertainment?" said I. For the inscription over +the outer door was still running in my head, and I was mentally +repeating, in a kind of tune, "Lodging, entertainment, and fourpence +each." + +"They have a fire provided for 'em," returned the matron--a mighty civil +person, not, as I could make out, overpaid; "and these cooking utensils. +And this what's painted on a board is the rules for their behaviour. They +have their fourpences when they get their tickets from the steward over +the way,--for I don't admit 'em myself, they must get their tickets +first,--and sometimes one buys a rasher of bacon, and another a herring, +and another a pound of potatoes, or what not. Sometimes two or three of +'em will club their fourpences together, and make a supper that way. But +not much of anything is to be got for fourpence, at present, when +provisions is so dear." + +"True indeed," I remarked. I had been looking about the room, admiring +its snug fireside at the upper end, its glimpse of the street through the +low mullioned window, and its beams overhead. "It is very comfortable," +said I. + +"Ill-conwenient," observed the matronly presence. + +I liked to hear her say so; for it showed a commendable anxiety to +execute in no niggardly spirit the intentions of Master Richard Watts. +But the room was really so well adapted to its purpose that I protested, +quite enthusiastically, against her disparagement. + +"Nay, ma'am," said I, "I am sure it is warm in winter and cool in summer. +It has a look of homely welcome and soothing rest. It has a remarkably +cosey fireside, the very blink of which, gleaming out into the street +upon a winter night, is enough to warm all Rochester's heart. And as to +the convenience of the six Poor Travellers--" + +"I don't mean them," returned the presence. "I speak of its being an ill- +conwenience to myself and my daughter, having no other room to sit in of +a night." + +This was true enough, but there was another quaint room of corresponding +dimensions on the opposite side of the entry: so I stepped across to it, +through the open doors of both rooms, and asked what this chamber was +for. + +"This," returned the presence, "is the Board Room. Where the gentlemen +meet when they come here." + +Let me see. I had counted from the street six upper windows besides +these on the ground-story. Making a perplexed calculation in my mind, I +rejoined, "Then the six Poor Travellers sleep upstairs?" + +My new friend shook her head. "They sleep," she answered, "in two little +outer galleries at the back, where their beds has always been, ever since +the Charity was founded. It being so very ill-conwenient to me as things +is at present, the gentlemen are going to take off a bit of the +back-yard, and make a slip of a room for 'em there, to sit in before they +go to bed." + +"And then the six Poor Travellers," said I, "will be entirely out of the +house?" + +"Entirely out of the house," assented the presence, comfortably smoothing +her hands. "Which is considered much better for all parties, and much +more conwenient." + +I had been a little startled, in the Cathedral, by the emphasis with +which the effigy of Master Richard Watts was bursting out of his tomb; +but I began to think, now, that it might be expected to come across the +High Street some stormy night, and make a disturbance here. + +Howbeit, I kept my thoughts to myself, and accompanied the presence to +the little galleries at the back. I found them on a tiny scale, like the +galleries in old inn-yards; and they were very clean. + +While I was looking at them, the matron gave me to understand that the +prescribed number of Poor Travellers were forthcoming every night from +year's end to year's end; and that the beds were always occupied. My +questions upon this, and her replies, brought us back to the Board Room +so essential to the dignity of "the gentlemen," where she showed me the +printed accounts of the Charity hanging up by the window. From them I +gathered that the greater part of the property bequeathed by the +Worshipful Master Richard Watts for the maintenance of this foundation +was, at the period of his death, mere marsh-land; but that, in course of +time, it had been reclaimed and built upon, and was very considerably +increased in value. I found, too, that about a thirtieth part of the +annual revenue was now expended on the purposes commemorated in the +inscription over the door; the rest being handsomely laid out in +Chancery, law expenses, collectorship, receivership, poundage, and other +appendages of management, highly complimentary to the importance of the +six Poor Travellers. In short, I made the not entirely new discovery +that it may be said of an establishment like this, in dear old England, +as of the fat oyster in the American story, that it takes a good many men +to swallow it whole. + +"And pray, ma'am," said I, sensible that the blankness of my face began +to brighten as the thought occurred to me, "could one see these +Travellers?" + +"Well!" she returned dubiously, "no!" + +"Not to-night, for instance!" said I. + +"Well!" she returned more positively, "no. Nobody ever asked to see +them, and nobody ever did see them." + +As I am not easily balked in a design when I am set upon it, I urged to +the good lady that this was Christmas-eve; that Christmas comes but once +a year,--which is unhappily too true, for when it begins to stay with us +the whole year round we shall make this earth a very different place; +that I was possessed by the desire to treat the Travellers to a supper +and a temperate glass of hot Wassail; that the voice of Fame had been +heard in that land, declaring my ability to make hot Wassail; that if I +were permitted to hold the feast, I should be found conformable to +reason, sobriety, and good hours; in a word, that I could be merry and +wise myself, and had been even known at a pinch to keep others so, +although I was decorated with no badge or medal, and was not a Brother, +Orator, Apostle, Saint, or Prophet of any denomination whatever. In the +end I prevailed, to my great joy. It was settled that at nine o'clock +that night a Turkey and a piece of Roast Beef should smoke upon the +board; and that I, faint and unworthy minister for once of Master Richard +Watts, should preside as the Christmas-supper host of the six Poor +Travellers. + +I went back to my inn to give the necessary directions for the Turkey and +Roast Beef, and, during the remainder of the day, could settle to nothing +for thinking of the Poor Travellers. When the wind blew hard against the +windows,--it was a cold day, with dark gusts of sleet alternating with +periods of wild brightness, as if the year were dying fitfully,--I +pictured them advancing towards their resting-place along various cold +roads, and felt delighted to think how little they foresaw the supper +that awaited them. I painted their portraits in my mind, and indulged in +little heightening touches. I made them footsore; I made them weary; I +made them carry packs and bundles; I made them stop by finger-posts and +milestones, leaning on their bent sticks, and looking wistfully at what +was written there; I made them lose their way; and filled their five wits +with apprehensions of lying out all night, and being frozen to death. I +took up my hat, and went out, climbed to the top of the Old Castle, and +looked over the windy hills that slope down to the Medway, almost +believing that I could descry some of my Travellers in the distance. +After it fell dark, and the Cathedral bell was heard in the invisible +steeple--quite a bower of frosty rime when I had last seen it--striking +five, six, seven, I became so full of my Travellers that I could eat no +dinner, and felt constrained to watch them still in the red coals of my +fire. They were all arrived by this time, I thought, had got their +tickets, and were gone in.--There my pleasure was dashed by the +reflection that probably some Travellers had come too late and were shut +out. + +After the Cathedral bell had struck eight, I could smell a delicious +savour of Turkey and Roast Beef rising to the window of my adjoining +bedroom, which looked down into the inn-yard just where the lights of the +kitchen reddened a massive fragment of the Castle Wall. It was high time +to make the Wassail now; therefore I had up the materials (which, +together with their proportions and combinations, I must decline to +impart, as the only secret of my own I was ever known to keep), and made +a glorious jorum. Not in a bowl; for a bowl anywhere but on a shelf is a +low superstition, fraught with cooling and slopping; but in a brown +earthenware pitcher, tenderly suffocated, when full, with a coarse cloth. +It being now upon the stroke of nine, I set out for Watts's Charity, +carrying my brown beauty in my arms. I would trust Ben, the waiter, with +untold gold; but there are strings in the human heart which must never be +sounded by another, and drinks that I make myself are those strings in +mine. + +The Travellers were all assembled, the cloth was laid, and Ben had +brought a great billet of wood, and had laid it artfully on the top of +the fire, so that a touch or two of the poker after supper should make a +roaring blaze. Having deposited my brown beauty in a red nook of the +hearth, inside the fender, where she soon began to sing like an ethereal +cricket, diffusing at the same time odours as of ripe vineyards, spice +forests, and orange groves,--I say, having stationed my beauty in a place +of security and improvement, I introduced myself to my guests by shaking +hands all round, and giving them a hearty welcome. + +I found the party to be thus composed. Firstly, myself. Secondly, a +very decent man indeed, with his right arm in a sling, who had a certain +clean agreeable smell of wood about him, from which I judged him to have +something to do with shipbuilding. Thirdly, a little sailor-boy, a mere +child, with a profusion of rich dark brown hair, and deep womanly-looking +eyes. Fourthly, a shabby-genteel personage in a threadbare black suit, +and apparently in very bad circumstances, with a dry suspicious look; the +absent buttons on his waistcoat eked out with red tape; and a bundle of +extraordinarily tattered papers sticking out of an inner breast-pocket. +Fifthly, a foreigner by birth, but an Englishman in speech, who carried +his pipe in the band of his hat, and lost no time in telling me, in an +easy, simple, engaging way, that he was a watchmaker from Geneva, and +travelled all about the Continent, mostly on foot, working as a +journeyman, and seeing new countries,--possibly (I thought) also +smuggling a watch or so, now and then. Sixthly, a little widow, who had +been very pretty and was still very young, but whose beauty had been +wrecked in some great misfortune, and whose manner was remarkably timid, +scared, and solitary. Seventhly and lastly, a Traveller of a kind +familiar to my boyhood, but now almost obsolete,--a Book-Pedler, who had +a quantity of Pamphlets and Numbers with him, and who presently boasted +that he could repeat more verses in an evening than he could sell in a +twelvemonth. + +All these I have mentioned in the order in which they sat at table. I +presided, and the matronly presence faced me. We were not long in taking +our places, for the supper had arrived with me, in the following +procession: + + Myself with the pitcher. + Ben with Beer. + Inattentive Boy with hot plates. Inattentive Boy with hot plates. + THE TURKEY. + Female carrying sauces to be heated on the spot. + THE BEEF. + Man with Tray on his head, containing Vegetables and Sundries. + Volunteer Hostler from Hotel, grinning, + And rendering no assistance. + +As we passed along the High Street, comet-like, we left a long tail of +fragrance behind us which caused the public to stop, sniffing in wonder. +We had previously left at the corner of the inn-yard a wall-eyed young +man connected with the Fly department, and well accustomed to the sound +of a railway whistle which Ben always carries in his pocket, whose +instructions were, so soon as he should hear the whistle blown, to dash +into the kitchen, seize the hot plum-pudding and mince-pies, and speed +with them to Watts's Charity, where they would be received (he was +further instructed) by the sauce-female, who would be provided with +brandy in a blue state of combustion. + +All these arrangements were executed in the most exact and punctual +manner. I never saw a finer turkey, finer beef, or greater prodigality +of sauce and gravy;--and my Travellers did wonderful justice to +everything set before them. It made my heart rejoice to observe how +their wind and frost hardened faces softened in the clatter of plates and +knives and forks, and mellowed in the fire and supper heat. While their +hats and caps and wrappers, hanging up, a few small bundles on the ground +in a corner, and in another corner three or four old walking-sticks, worn +down at the end to mere fringe, linked this smug interior with the bleak +outside in a golden chain. + +When supper was done, and my brown beauty had been elevated on the table, +there was a general requisition to me to "take the corner;" which +suggested to me comfortably enough how much my friends here made of a +fire,--for when had _I_ ever thought so highly of the corner, since the +days when I connected it with Jack Horner? However, as I declined, Ben, +whose touch on all convivial instruments is perfect, drew the table +apart, and instructing my Travellers to open right and left on either +side of me, and form round the fire, closed up the centre with myself and +my chair, and preserved the order we had kept at table. He had already, +in a tranquil manner, boxed the ears of the inattentive boys until they +had been by imperceptible degrees boxed out of the room; and he now +rapidly skirmished the sauce-female into the High Street, disappeared, +and softly closed the door. + +This was the time for bringing the poker to bear on the billet of wood. I +tapped it three times, like an enchanted talisman, and a brilliant host +of merry-makers burst out of it, and sported off by the chimney,--rushing +up the middle in a fiery country dance, and never coming down again. +Meanwhile, by their sparkling light, which threw our lamp into the shade, +I filled the glasses, and gave my Travellers, CHRISTMAS!--CHRISTMAS-EVE, +my friends, when the shepherds, who were Poor Travellers, too, in their +way, heard the Angels sing, "On earth, peace. Good-will towards men!" + +I don't know who was the first among us to think that we ought to take +hands as we sat, in deference to the toast, or whether any one of us +anticipated the others, but at any rate we all did it. We then drank to +the memory of the good Master Richard Watts. And I wish his Ghost may +never have had worse usage under that roof than it had from us. + +It was the witching time for Story-telling. "Our whole life, +Travellers," said I, "is a story more or less intelligible,--generally +less; but we shall read it by a clearer light when it is ended. I, for +one, am so divided this night between fact and fiction, that I scarce +know which is which. Shall I beguile the time by telling you a story as +we sit here?" + +They all answered, yes. I had little to tell them, but I was bound by my +own proposal. Therefore, after looking for awhile at the spiral column +of smoke wreathing up from my brown beauty, through which I could have +almost sworn I saw the effigy of Master Richard Watts less startled than +usual, I fired away. + + + + +CHAPTER II--THE STORY OF RICHARD DOUBLEDICK + + +In the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine, a relative of +mine came limping down, on foot, to this town of Chatham. I call it this +town, because if anybody present knows to a nicety where Rochester ends +and Chatham begins, it is more than I do. He was a poor traveller, with +not a farthing in his pocket. He sat by the fire in this very room, and +he slept one night in a bed that will be occupied to-night by some one +here. + +My relative came down to Chatham to enlist in a cavalry regiment, if a +cavalry regiment would have him; if not, to take King George's shilling +from any corporal or sergeant who would put a bunch of ribbons in his +hat. His object was to get shot; but he thought he might as well ride to +death as be at the trouble of walking. + +My relative's Christian name was Richard, but he was better known as +Dick. He dropped his own surname on the road down, and took up that of +Doubledick. He was passed as Richard Doubledick; age, twenty-two; +height, five foot ten; native place, Exmouth, which he had never been +near in his life. There was no cavalry in Chatham when he limped over +the bridge here with half a shoe to his dusty feet, so he enlisted into a +regiment of the line, and was glad to get drunk and forget all about it. + +You are to know that this relative of mine had gone wrong, and run wild. +His heart was in the right place, but it was sealed up. He had been +betrothed to a good and beautiful girl, whom he had loved better than +she--or perhaps even he--believed; but in an evil hour he had given her +cause to say to him solemnly, "Richard, I will never marry another man. I +will live single for your sake, but Mary Marshall's lips"--her name was +Mary Marshall--"never address another word to you on earth. Go, Richard! +Heaven forgive you!" This finished him. This brought him down to +Chatham. This made him Private Richard Doubledick, with a determination +to be shot. + +There was not a more dissipated and reckless soldier in Chatham barracks, +in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine, than Private +Richard Doubledick. He associated with the dregs of every regiment; he +was as seldom sober as he could be, and was constantly under punishment. +It became clear to the whole barracks that Private Richard Doubledick +would very soon be flogged. + +Now the Captain of Richard Doubledick's company was a young gentleman not +above five years his senior, whose eyes had an expression in them which +affected Private Richard Doubledick in a very remarkable way. They were +bright, handsome, dark eyes,--what are called laughing eyes generally, +and, when serious, rather steady than severe,--but they were the only +eyes now left in his narrowed world that Private Richard Doubledick could +not stand. Unabashed by evil report and punishment, defiant of +everything else and everybody else, he had but to know that those eyes +looked at him for a moment, and he felt ashamed. He could not so much as +salute Captain Taunton in the street like any other officer. He was +reproached and confused,--troubled by the mere possibility of the +captain's looking at him. In his worst moments, he would rather turn +back, and go any distance out of his way, than encounter those two +handsome, dark, bright eyes. + +One day, when Private Richard Doubledick came out of the Black hole, +where he had been passing the last eight-and-forty hours, and in which +retreat he spent a good deal of his time, he was ordered to betake +himself to Captain Taunton's quarters. In the stale and squalid state of +a man just out of the Black hole, he had less fancy than ever for being +seen by the captain; but he was not so mad yet as to disobey orders, and +consequently went up to the terrace overlooking the parade-ground, where +the officers' quarters were; twisting and breaking in his hands, as he +went along, a bit of the straw that had formed the decorative furniture +of the Black hole. + +"Come in!" cried the Captain, when he had knocked with his knuckles at +the door. Private Richard Doubledick pulled off his cap, took a stride +forward, and felt very conscious that he stood in the light of the dark, +bright eyes. + +There was a silent pause. Private Richard Doubledick had put the straw +in his mouth, and was gradually doubling it up into his windpipe and +choking himself. + +"Doubledick," said the Captain, "do you know where you are going to?" + +"To the Devil, sir?" faltered Doubledick. + +"Yes," returned the Captain. "And very fast." + +Private Richard Doubledick turned the straw of the Black hole in his +month, and made a miserable salute of acquiescence. + +"Doubledick," said the Captain, "since I entered his Majesty's service, a +boy of seventeen, I have been pained to see many men of promise going +that road; but I have never been so pained to see a man make the shameful +journey as I have been, ever since you joined the regiment, to see you." + +Private Richard Doubledick began to find a film stealing over the floor +at which he looked; also to find the legs of the Captain's +breakfast-table turning crooked, as if he saw them through water. + +"I am only a common soldier, sir," said he. "It signifies very little +what such a poor brute comes to." + +"You are a man," returned the Captain, with grave indignation, "of +education and superior advantages; and if you say that, meaning what you +say, you have sunk lower than I had believed. How low that must be, I +leave you to consider, knowing what I know of your disgrace, and seeing +what I see." + +"I hope to get shot soon, sir," said Private Richard Doubledick; "and +then the regiment and the world together will be rid of me." + +The legs of the table were becoming very crooked. Doubledick, looking up +to steady his vision, met the eyes that had so strong an influence over +him. He put his hand before his own eyes, and the breast of his disgrace- +jacket swelled as if it would fly asunder. + +"I would rather," said the young Captain, "see this in you, Doubledick, +than I would see five thousand guineas counted out upon this table for a +gift to my good mother. Have you a mother?" + +"I am thankful to say she is dead, sir." + +"If your praises," returned the Captain, "were sounded from mouth to +mouth through the whole regiment, through the whole army, through the +whole country, you would wish she had lived to say, with pride and joy, +'He is my son!'" + +"Spare me, sir," said Doubledick. "She would never have heard any good +of me. She would never have had any pride and joy in owning herself my +mother. Love and compassion she might have had, and would have always +had, I know but not--Spare me, sir! I am a broken wretch, quite at your +mercy!" And he turned his face to the wall, and stretched out his +imploring hand. + +"My friend--" began the Captain. + +"God bless you, sir!" sobbed Private Richard Doubledick. + +"You are at the crisis of your fate. Hold your course unchanged a little +longer, and you know what must happen. _I_ know even better than you can +imagine, that, after that has happened, you are lost. No man who could +shed those tears could bear those marks." + +"I fully believe it, sir," in a low, shivering voice said Private Richard +Doubledick. + +"But a man in any station can do his duty," said the young Captain, "and, +in doing it, can earn his own respect, even if his case should be so very +unfortunate and so very rare that he can earn no other man's. A common +soldier, poor brute though you called him just now, has this advantage in +the stormy times we live in, that he always does his duty before a host +of sympathising witnesses. Do you doubt that he may so do it as to be +extolled through a whole regiment, through a whole army, through a whole +country? Turn while you may yet retrieve the past, and try." + +"I will! I ask for only one witness, sir," cried Richard, with a +bursting heart. + +"I understand you. I will be a watchful and a faithful one." + +I have heard from Private Richard Doubledick's own lips, that he dropped +down upon his knee, kissed that officer's hand, arose, and went out of +the light of the dark, bright eyes, an altered man. + +In that year, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine, the French were +in Egypt, in Italy, in Germany, where not? Napoleon Bonaparte had +likewise begun to stir against us in India, and most men could read the +signs of the great troubles that were coming on. In the very next year, +when we formed an alliance with Austria against him, Captain Taunton's +regiment was on service in India. And there was not a finer +non-commissioned officer in it,--no, nor in the whole line--than Corporal +Richard Doubledick. + +In eighteen hundred and one, the Indian army were on the coast of Egypt. +Next year was the year of the proclamation of the short peace, and they +were recalled. It had then become well known to thousands of men, that +wherever Captain Taunton, with the dark, bright eyes, led, there, close +to him, ever at his side, firm as a rock, true as the sun, and brave as +Mars, would be certain to be found, while life beat in their hearts, that +famous soldier, Sergeant Richard Doubledick. + +Eighteen hundred and five, besides being the great year of Trafalgar, was +a year of hard fighting in India. That year saw such wonders done by a +Sergeant-Major, who cut his way single-handed through a solid mass of +men, recovered the colours of his regiment, which had been seized from +the hand of a poor boy shot through the heart, and rescued his wounded +Captain, who was down, and in a very jungle of horses' hoofs and +sabres,--saw such wonders done, I say, by this brave Sergeant-Major, that +he was specially made the bearer of the colours he had won; and Ensign +Richard Doubledick had risen from the ranks. + +Sorely cut up in every battle, but always reinforced by the bravest of +men,--for the fame of following the old colours, shot through and +through, which Ensign Richard Doubledick had saved, inspired all +breasts,--this regiment fought its way through the Peninsular war, up to +the investment of Badajos in eighteen hundred and twelve. Again and +again it had been cheered through the British ranks until the tears had +sprung into men's eyes at the mere hearing of the mighty British voice, +so exultant in their valour; and there was not a drummer-boy but knew the +legend, that wherever the two friends, Major Taunton, with the dark, +bright eyes, and Ensign Richard Doubledick, who was devoted to him, were +seen to go, there the boldest spirits in the English army became wild to +follow. + +One day, at Badajos,--not in the great storming, but in repelling a hot +sally of the besieged upon our men at work in the trenches, who had given +way,--the two officers found themselves hurrying forward, face to face, +against a party of French infantry, who made a stand. There was an +officer at their head, encouraging his men,--a courageous, handsome, +gallant officer of five-and-thirty, whom Doubledick saw hurriedly, almost +momentarily, but saw well. He particularly noticed this officer waving +his sword, and rallying his men with an eager and excited cry, when they +fired in obedience to his gesture, and Major Taunton dropped. + +It was over in ten minutes more, and Doubledick returned to the spot +where he had laid the best friend man ever had on a coat spread upon the +wet clay. Major Taunton's uniform was opened at the breast, and on his +shirt were three little spots of blood. + +"Dear Doubledick," said he, "I am dying." + +"For the love of Heaven, no!" exclaimed the other, kneeling down beside +him, and passing his arm round his neck to raise his head. "Taunton! My +preserver, my guardian angel, my witness! Dearest, truest, kindest of +human beings! Taunton! For God's sake!" + +The bright, dark eyes--so very, very dark now, in the pale face--smiled +upon him; and the hand he had kissed thirteen years ago laid itself +fondly on his breast. + +"Write to my mother. You will see Home again. Tell her how we became +friends. It will comfort her, as it comforts me." + +He spoke no more, but faintly signed for a moment towards his hair as it +fluttered in the wind. The Ensign understood him. He smiled again when +he saw that, and, gently turning his face over on the supporting arm as +if for rest, died, with his hand upon the breast in which he had revived +a soul. + +No dry eye looked on Ensign Richard Doubledick that melancholy day. He +buried his friend on the field, and became a lone, bereaved man. Beyond +his duty he appeared to have but two remaining cares in life,--one, to +preserve the little packet of hair he was to give to Taunton's mother; +the other, to encounter that French officer who had rallied the men under +whose fire Taunton fell. A new legend now began to circulate among our +troops; and it was, that when he and the French officer came face to face +once more, there would be weeping in France. + +The war went on--and through it went the exact picture of the French +officer on the one side, and the bodily reality upon the other--until the +Battle of Toulouse was fought. In the returns sent home appeared these +words: "Severely wounded, but not dangerously, Lieutenant Richard +Doubledick." + +At Midsummer-time, in the year eighteen hundred and fourteen, Lieutenant +Richard Doubledick, now a browned soldier, seven-and-thirty years of age, +came home to England invalided. He brought the hair with him, near his +heart. Many a French officer had he seen since that day; many a dreadful +night, in searching with men and lanterns for his wounded, had he +relieved French officers lying disabled; but the mental picture and the +reality had never come together. + +Though he was weak and suffered pain, he lost not an hour in getting down +to Frome in Somersetshire, where Taunton's mother lived. In the sweet, +compassionate words that naturally present themselves to the mind +to-night, "he was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow." + +It was a Sunday evening, and the lady sat at her quiet garden-window, +reading the Bible; reading to herself, in a trembling voice, that very +passage in it, as I have heard him tell. He heard the words: "Young man, +I say unto thee, arise!" + +He had to pass the window; and the bright, dark eyes of his debased time +seemed to look at him. Her heart told her who he was; she came to the +door quickly, and fell upon his neck. + +"He saved me from ruin, made me a human creature, won me from infamy and +shame. O, God for ever bless him! As He will, He Will!" + +"He will!" the lady answered. "I know he is in heaven!" Then she +piteously cried, "But O, my darling boy, my darling boy!" + +Never from the hour when Private Richard Doubledick enlisted at Chatham +had the Private, Corporal, Sergeant, Sergeant-Major, Ensign, or +Lieutenant breathed his right name, or the name of Mary Marshall, or a +word of the story of his life, into any ear except his reclaimer's. That +previous scene in his existence was closed. He had firmly resolved that +his expiation should be to live unknown; to disturb no more the peace +that had long grown over his old offences; to let it be revealed, when he +was dead, that he had striven and suffered, and had never forgotten; and +then, if they could forgive him and believe him--well, it would be time +enough--time enough! + +But that night, remembering the words he had cherished for two years, +"Tell her how we became friends. It will comfort her, as it comforts +me," he related everything. It gradually seemed to him as if in his +maturity he had recovered a mother; it gradually seemed to her as if in +her bereavement she had found a son. During his stay in England, the +quiet garden into which he had slowly and painfully crept, a stranger, +became the boundary of his home; when he was able to rejoin his regiment +in the spring, he left the garden, thinking was this indeed the first +time he had ever turned his face towards the old colours with a woman's +blessing! + +He followed them--so ragged, so scarred and pierced now, that they would +scarcely hold together--to Quatre Bras and Ligny. He stood beside them, +in an awful stillness of many men, shadowy through the mist and drizzle +of a wet June forenoon, on the field of Waterloo. And down to that hour +the picture in his mind of the French officer had never been compared +with the reality. + +The famous regiment was in action early in the battle, and received its +first check in many an eventful year, when he was seen to fall. But it +swept on to avenge him, and left behind it no such creature in the world +of consciousness as Lieutenant Richard Doubledick. + +Through pits of mire, and pools of rain; along deep ditches, once roads, +that were pounded and ploughed to pieces by artillery, heavy waggons, +tramp of men and horses, and the struggle of every wheeled thing that +could carry wounded soldiers; jolted among the dying and the dead, so +disfigured by blood and mud as to be hardly recognisable for humanity; +undisturbed by the moaning of men and the shrieking of horses, which, +newly taken from the peaceful pursuits of life, could not endure the +sight of the stragglers lying by the wayside, never to resume their +toilsome journey; dead, as to any sentient life that was in it, and yet +alive,--the form that had been Lieutenant Richard Doubledick, with whose +praises England rang, was conveyed to Brussels. There it was tenderly +laid down in hospital; and there it lay, week after week, through the +long bright summer days, until the harvest, spared by war, had ripened +and was gathered in. + +Over and over again the sun rose and set upon the crowded city; over and +over again the moonlight nights were quiet on the plains of Waterloo: and +all that time was a blank to what had been Lieutenant Richard Doubledick. +Rejoicing troops marched into Brussels, and marched out; brothers and +fathers, sisters, mothers, and wives, came thronging thither, drew their +lots of joy or agony, and departed; so many times a day the bells rang; +so many times the shadows of the great buildings changed; so many lights +sprang up at dusk; so many feet passed here and there upon the pavements; +so many hours of sleep and cooler air of night succeeded: indifferent to +all, a marble face lay on a bed, like the face of a recumbent statue on +the tomb of Lieutenant Richard Doubledick. + +Slowly labouring, at last, through a long heavy dream of confused time +and place, presenting faint glimpses of army surgeons whom he knew, and +of faces that had been familiar to his youth,--dearest and kindest among +them, Mary Marshall's, with a solicitude upon it more like reality than +anything he could discern,--Lieutenant Richard Doubledick came back to +life. To the beautiful life of a calm autumn evening sunset, to the +peaceful life of a fresh quiet room with a large window standing open; a +balcony beyond, in which were moving leaves and sweet-smelling flowers; +beyond, again, the clear sky, with the sun full in his sight, pouring its +golden radiance on his bed. + +It was so tranquil and so lovely that he thought he had passed into +another world. And he said in a faint voice, "Taunton, are you near me?" + +A face bent over him. Not his, his mother's. + +"I came to nurse you. We have nursed you many weeks. You were moved +here long ago. Do you remember nothing?" + +"Nothing." + +The lady kissed his cheek, and held his hand, soothing him. + +"Where is the regiment? What has happened? Let me call you mother. What +has happened, mother?" + +"A great victory, dear. The war is over, and the regiment was the +bravest in the field." + +His eyes kindled, his lips trembled, he sobbed, and the tears ran down +his face. He was very weak, too weak to move his hand. + +"Was it dark just now?" he asked presently. + +"No." + +"It was only dark to me? Something passed away, like a black shadow. But +as it went, and the sun--O the blessed sun, how beautiful it is!--touched +my face, I thought I saw a light white cloud pass out at the door. Was +there nothing that went out?" + +She shook her head, and in a little while he fell asleep, she still +holding his hand, and soothing him. + +From that time, he recovered. Slowly, for he had been desperately +wounded in the head, and had been shot in the body, but making some +little advance every day. When he had gained sufficient strength to +converse as he lay in bed, he soon began to remark that Mrs. Taunton +always brought him back to his own history. Then he recalled his +preserver's dying words, and thought, "It comforts her." + +One day he awoke out of a sleep, refreshed, and asked her to read to him. +But the curtain of the bed, softening the light, which she always drew +back when he awoke, that she might see him from her table at the bedside +where she sat at work, was held undrawn; and a woman's voice spoke, which +was not hers. + +"Can you bear to see a stranger?" it said softly. "Will you like to see +a stranger?" + +"Stranger!" he repeated. The voice awoke old memories, before the days +of Private Richard Doubledick. + +"A stranger now, but not a stranger once," it said in tones that thrilled +him. "Richard, dear Richard, lost through so many years, my name--" + +He cried out her name, "Mary," and she held him in her arms, and his head +lay on her bosom. + +"I am not breaking a rash vow, Richard. These are not Mary Marshall's +lips that speak. I have another name." + +She was married. + +"I have another name, Richard. Did you ever hear it?" + +"Never!" + +He looked into her face, so pensively beautiful, and wondered at the +smile upon it through her tears. + +"Think again, Richard. Are you sure you never heard my altered name?" + +"Never!" + +"Don't move your head to look at me, dear Richard. Let it lie here, +while I tell my story. I loved a generous, noble man; loved him with my +whole heart; loved him for years and years; loved him faithfully, +devotedly; loved him without hope of return; loved him, knowing nothing +of his highest qualities--not even knowing that he was alive. He was a +brave soldier. He was honoured and beloved by thousands of thousands, +when the mother of his dear friend found me, and showed me that in all +his triumphs he had never forgotten me. He was wounded in a great +battle. He was brought, dying, here, into Brussels. I came to watch and +tend him, as I would have joyfully gone, with such a purpose, to the +dreariest ends of the earth. When he knew no one else, he knew me. When +he suffered most, he bore his sufferings barely murmuring, content to +rest his head where your rests now. When he lay at the point of death, +he married me, that he might call me Wife before he died. And the name, +my dear love, that I took on that forgotten night--" + +"I know it now!" he sobbed. "The shadowy remembrance strengthens. It is +come back. I thank Heaven that my mind is quite restored! My Mary, kiss +me; lull this weary head to rest, or I shall die of gratitude. His +parting words were fulfilled. I see Home again!" + +Well! They were happy. It was a long recovery, but they were happy +through it all. The snow had melted on the ground, and the birds were +singing in the leafless thickets of the early spring, when those three +were first able to ride out together, and when people flocked about the +open carriage to cheer and congratulate Captain Richard Doubledick. + +But even then it became necessary for the Captain, instead of returning +to England, to complete his recovery in the climate of Southern France. +They found a spot upon the Rhone, within a ride of the old town of +Avignon, and within view of its broken bridge, which was all they could +desire; they lived there, together, six months; then returned to England. +Mrs. Taunton, growing old after three years--though not so old as that +her bright, dark eyes were dimmed--and remembering that her strength had +been benefited by the change resolved to go back for a year to those +parts. So she went with a faithful servant, who had often carried her +son in his arms; and she was to be rejoined and escorted home, at the +year's end, by Captain Richard Doubledick. + +She wrote regularly to her children (as she called them now), and they to +her. She went to the neighbourhood of Aix; and there, in their own +chateau near the farmer's house she rented, she grew into intimacy with a +family belonging to that part of France. The intimacy began in her often +meeting among the vineyards a pretty child, a girl with a most +compassionate heart, who was never tired of listening to the solitary +English lady's stories of her poor son and the cruel wars. The family +were as gentle as the child, and at length she came to know them so well +that she accepted their invitation to pass the last month of her +residence abroad under their roof. All this intelligence she wrote home, +piecemeal as it came about, from time to time; and at last enclosed a +polite note, from the head of the chateau, soliciting, on the occasion of +his approaching mission to that neighbourhood, the honour of the company +of cet homme si justement celebre, Monsieur le Capitaine Richard +Doubledick. + +Captain Doubledick, now a hardy, handsome man in the full vigour of life, +broader across the chest and shoulders than he had ever been before, +dispatched a courteous reply, and followed it in person. Travelling +through all that extent of country after three years of Peace, he blessed +the better days on which the world had fallen. The corn was golden, not +drenched in unnatural red; was bound in sheaves for food, not trodden +underfoot by men in mortal fight. The smoke rose up from peaceful +hearths, not blazing ruins. The carts were laden with the fair fruits of +the earth, not with wounds and death. To him who had so often seen the +terrible reverse, these things were beautiful indeed; and they brought +him in a softened spirit to the old chateau near Aix upon a deep blue +evening. + +It was a large chateau of the genuine old ghostly kind, with round +towers, and extinguishers, and a high leaden roof, and more windows than +Aladdin's Palace. The lattice blinds were all thrown open after the heat +of the day, and there were glimpses of rambling walls and corridors +within. Then there were immense out-buildings fallen into partial decay, +masses of dark trees, terrace-gardens, balustrades; tanks of water, too +weak to play and too dirty to work; statues, weeds, and thickets of iron +railing that seemed to have overgrown themselves like the shrubberies, +and to have branched out in all manner of wild shapes. The entrance +doors stood open, as doors often do in that country when the heat of the +day is past; and the Captain saw no bell or knocker, and walked in. + +He walked into a lofty stone hall, refreshingly cool and gloomy after the +glare of a Southern day's travel. Extending along the four sides of this +hall was a gallery, leading to suites of rooms; and it was lighted from +the top. Still no bell was to be seen. + +"Faith," said the Captain halting, ashamed of the clanking of his boots, +"this is a ghostly beginning!" + +He started back, and felt his face turn white. In the gallery, looking +down at him, stood the French officer--the officer whose picture he had +carried in his mind so long and so far. Compared with the original, at +last--in every lineament how like it was! + +He moved, and disappeared, and Captain Richard Doubledick heard his steps +coming quickly down own into the hall. He entered through an archway. +There was a bright, sudden look upon his face, much such a look as it had +worn in that fatal moment. + +Monsieur le Capitaine Richard Doubledick? Enchanted to receive him! A +thousand apologies! The servants were all out in the air. There was a +little fete among them in the garden. In effect, it was the fete day of +my daughter, the little cherished and protected of Madame Taunton. + +He was so gracious and so frank that Monsieur le Capitaine Richard +Doubledick could not withhold his hand. "It is the hand of a brave +Englishman," said the French officer, retaining it while he spoke. "I +could respect a brave Englishman, even as my foe, how much more as my +friend! I also am a soldier." + +"He has not remembered me, as I have remembered him; he did not take such +note of my face, that day, as I took of his," thought Captain Richard +Doubledick. "How shall I tell him?" + +The French officer conducted his guest into a garden and presented him to +his wife, an engaging and beautiful woman, sitting with Mrs. Taunton in a +whimsical old-fashioned pavilion. His daughter, her fair young face +beaming with joy, came running to embrace him; and there was a boy-baby +to tumble down among the orange trees on the broad steps, in making for +his father's legs. A multitude of children visitors were dancing to +sprightly music; and all the servants and peasants about the chateau were +dancing too. It was a scene of innocent happiness that might have been +invented for the climax of the scenes of peace which had soothed the +Captain's journey. + +He looked on, greatly troubled in his mind, until a resounding bell rang, +and the French officer begged to show him his rooms. They went upstairs +into the gallery from which the officer had looked down; and Monsieur le +Capitaine Richard Doubledick was cordially welcomed to a grand outer +chamber, and a smaller one within, all clocks and draperies, and hearths, +and brazen dogs, and tiles, and cool devices, and elegance, and vastness. + +"You were at Waterloo," said the French officer. + +"I was," said Captain Richard Doubledick. "And at Badajos." + +Left alone with the sound of his own stern voice in his ears, he sat down +to consider, What shall I do, and how shall I tell him? At that time, +unhappily, many deplorable duels had been fought between English and +French officers, arising out of the recent war; and these duels, and how +to avoid this officer's hospitality, were the uppermost thought in +Captain Richard Doubledick's mind. + +He was thinking, and letting the time run out in which he should have +dressed for dinner, when Mrs. Taunton spoke to him outside the door, +asking if he could give her the letter he had brought from Mary. "His +mother, above all," the Captain thought. "How shall I tell _her_?" + +"You will form a friendship with your host, I hope," said Mrs. Taunton, +whom he hurriedly admitted, "that will last for life. He is so +true-hearted and so generous, Richard, that you can hardly fail to esteem +one another. If He had been spared," she kissed (not without tears) the +locket in which she wore his hair, "he would have appreciated him with +his own magnanimity, and would have been truly happy that the evil days +were past which made such a man his enemy." + +She left the room; and the Captain walked, first to one window, whence he +could see the dancing in the garden, then to another window, whence he +could see the smiling prospect and the peaceful vineyards. + +"Spirit of my departed friend," said he, "is it through thee these better +thoughts are rising in my mind? Is it thou who hast shown me, all the +way I have been drawn to meet this man, the blessings of the altered +time? Is it thou who hast sent thy stricken mother to me, to stay my +angry hand? Is it from thee the whisper comes, that this man did his +duty as thou didst,--and as I did, through thy guidance, which has wholly +saved me here on earth,--and that he did no more?" + +He sat down, with his head buried in his hands, and, when he rose up, +made the second strong resolution of his life,--that neither to the +French officer, nor to the mother of his departed friend, nor to any +soul, while either of the two was living, would he breathe what only he +knew. And when he touched that French officer's glass with his own, that +day at dinner, he secretly forgave him in the name of the Divine Forgiver +of injuries. + +* * * * * + +Here I ended my story as the first Poor Traveller. But, if I had told it +now, I could have added that the time has since come when the son of +Major Richard Doubledick, and the son of that French officer, friends as +their fathers were before them, fought side by side in one cause, with +their respective nations, like long-divided brothers whom the better +times have brought together, fast united. + + + + +CHAPTER III--THE ROAD + + +My story being finished, and the Wassail too, we broke up as the +Cathedral bell struck Twelve. I did not take leave of my travellers that +night; for it had come into my head to reappear, in conjunction with some +hot coffee, at seven in the morning. + +As I passed along the High Street, I heard the Waits at a distance, and +struck off to find them. They were playing near one of the old gates of +the City, at the corner of a wonderfully quaint row of red-brick +tenements, which the clarionet obligingly informed me were inhabited by +the Minor-Canons. They had odd little porches over the doors, like +sounding-boards over old pulpits; and I thought I should like to see one +of the Minor-Canons come out upon his top stop, and favour us with a +little Christmas discourse about the poor scholars of Rochester; taking +for his text the words of his Master relative to the devouring of Widows' +houses. + +The clarionet was so communicative, and my inclinations were (as they +generally are) of so vagabond a tendency, that I accompanied the Waits +across an open green called the Vines, and assisted--in the French +sense--at the performance of two waltzes, two polkas, and three Irish +melodies, before I thought of my inn any more. However, I returned to it +then, and found a fiddle in the kitchen, and Ben, the wall-eyed young +man, and two chambermaids, circling round the great deal table with the +utmost animation. + +I had a very bad night. It cannot have been owing to the turkey or the +beef,--and the Wassail is out of the question--but in every endeavour +that I made to get to sleep I failed most dismally. I was never asleep; +and in whatsoever unreasonable direction my mind rambled, the effigy of +Master Richard Watts perpetually embarrassed it. + +In a word, I only got out of the Worshipful Master Richard Watts's way by +getting out of bed in the dark at six o'clock, and tumbling, as my custom +is, into all the cold water that could be accumulated for the purpose. +The outer air was dull and cold enough in the street, when I came down +there; and the one candle in our supper-room at Watts's Charity looked as +pale in the burning as if it had had a bad night too. But my Travellers +had all slept soundly, and they took to the hot coffee, and the piles of +bread-and-butter, which Ben had arranged like deals in a timber-yard, as +kindly as I could desire. + +While it was yet scarcely daylight, we all came out into the street +together, and there shook hands. The widow took the little sailor +towards Chatham, where he was to find a steamboat for Sheerness; the +lawyer, with an extremely knowing look, went his own way, without +committing himself by announcing his intentions; two more struck off by +the cathedral and old castle for Maidstone; and the book-pedler +accompanied me over the bridge. As for me, I was going to walk by Cobham +Woods, as far upon my way to London as I fancied. + +When I came to the stile and footpath by which I was to diverge from the +main road, I bade farewell to my last remaining Poor Traveller, and +pursued my way alone. And now the mists began to rise in the most +beautiful manner, and the sun to shine; and as I went on through the +bracing air, seeing the hoarfrost sparkle everywhere, I felt as if all +Nature shared in the joy of the great Birthday. + +Going through the woods, the softness of my tread upon the mossy ground +and among the brown leaves enhanced the Christmas sacredness by which I +felt surrounded. As the whitened stems environed me, I thought how the +Founder of the time had never raised his benignant hand, save to bless +and heal, except in the case of one unconscious tree. By Cobham Hall, I +came to the village, and the churchyard where the dead had been quietly +buried, "in the sure and certain hope" which Christmas time inspired. +What children could I see at play, and not be loving of, recalling who +had loved them! No garden that I passed was out of unison with the day, +for I remembered that the tomb was in a garden, and that "she, supposing +him to be the gardener," had said, "Sir, if thou have borne him hence, +tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away." In time, +the distant river with the ships came full in view, and with it pictures +of the poor fishermen, mending their nets, who arose and followed him,--of +the teaching of the people from a ship pushed off a little way from +shore, by reason of the multitude,--of a majestic figure walking on the +water, in the loneliness of night. My very shadow on the ground was +eloquent of Christmas; for did not the people lay their sick where the +more shadows of the men who had heard and seen him might fall as they +passed along? + +Thus Christmas begirt me, far and near, until I had come to Blackheath, +and had walked down the long vista of gnarled old trees in Greenwich +Park, and was being steam-rattled through the mists now closing in once +more, towards the lights of London. Brightly they shone, but not so +brightly as my own fire, and the brighter faces around it, when we came +together to celebrate the day. And there I told of worthy Master Richard +Watts, and of my supper with the Six Poor Travellers who were neither +Rogues nor Proctors, and from that hour to this I have never seen one of +them again. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEVEN POOR TRAVELLERS*** + + +******* This file should be named 1392.txt or 1392.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/9/1392 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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