diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17062-8.txt | 6820 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17062-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 152685 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17062-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 160565 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17062-h/17062-h.htm | 6988 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17062.txt | 6820 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17062.zip | bin | 0 -> 152660 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
9 files changed, 20644 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/17062-8.txt b/17062-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..136ee22 --- /dev/null +++ b/17062-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6820 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Crock of Gold, by Martin Farquhar Tupper + + +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 Crock of Gold + A Rural Novel + + +Author: Martin Farquhar Tupper + + + +Release Date: November 14, 2005 [eBook #17062] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CROCK OF GOLD*** + + +E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Janet Blenkinship, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) + + + +THE CROCK OF GOLD; + +A Rural Novel. + +by + +MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER, ESQ., M.A., + +Author of "Proverbial Philosophy." + + + + + + + +Hartford: +Silas Andrus and Son. + +1851. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE LABOURER; AND HIS DAWNING DISCONTENT. + + +ROGER ACTON woke at five. It was a raw March morning, still +dark, and bitterly cold, while at gusty intervals the rain beat in +against the crazy cottage-window. Nevertheless, from his poor pallet he +must up and rouse himself, for it will be open weather by sunrise, and +his work lies two miles off; Master Jennings is not the man to show him +favour if he be late, and Roger cannot afford to lose an hour: so he +shook off the luxury of sleep, and rose again to toil with weary effort. + +"Honest Roger," as the neighbours called him, was a fair specimen of a +class which has been Britain's boast for ages, and may be still again, +in measure, but at present that glory appears to be departing: a class +much neglected, much enduring; thoroughly English--just, industrious, +and patient; true to the altar, and loyal to the throne; though haply +shaken somewhat now from both those noble faiths--warped in their +principles, and blunted in their feelings, by lying doctrines and harsh +economies; a class--I hate the cold cant term--a race of honourable men, +full of cares, pains, privations--but of pleasures next to none; whose +life at its most prosperous estate is labour, and in death we count him +happy who did not die a pauper. Through them, serfs of the soil, the +earth yields indeed her increase, but it is for others; from the fields +of plenty they glean a scanty pittance, and fill the barns to bursting, +while their children cry for bread. Not that Roger for his part often +wanted work; he was the best hand in the parish, and had earned of his +employers long ago the name of Steady Acton; but the fair wages for a +fair day's labour were quite another thing, and the times went very hard +for him and his. A man himself may starve, while his industry makes +others fat: and a liberal landlord all the winter through may keep his +labourers in work, while a crafty, overbearing bailiff mulcts them in +their wages. + +For the outward man, Acton stood about five feet ten, a gaunt, spare, +and sinewy figure, slightly bent; his head sprinkled with gray; his face +marked with those rigid lines, which tell, if not of positive famine, at +least of too much toil on far too little food; in his eye, patience and +good temper; in his carriage, a mixture of the sturdy bearing, necessary +to the habitual exercise of great muscular strength, together with that +gait of humility--almost humiliation--which is the seal of oppression +upon poverty. He might be about forty, or from that to fifty, for +hunger, toil, and weather had used him the roughest; while, for all +beside, the patched and well-worn smock, the heavily-clouted high-laced +boots, a dingy worsted neck-tie, and an old felt hat, complete the +picture of externals. + +But, for the matter of character within, Roger is quite another man. If +his rank in this world is the lowest, many potentates may envy him his +state elsewhere. His heart is as soft, as his hand is horny; with the +wandering gipsy or the tramping beggar, thrust aside, perhaps +deservedly, as impudent impostors from the rich man's gate, has he +often-times shared his noon-day morsel: upright and sincere himself, he +thinks as well of others: he scarcely ever heard the Gospels read in +church, specially about Eastertide, but the tears would trickle down his +weather-beaten face: he loves children--his neighbour's little ones as +well as his own: he will serve any one for goodness' sake without reward +or thanks, and is kind to the poor dumb cattle: he takes quite a pride +in his little rod or two of garden, and is early and late at it, both +before and after the daily sum of labour: he picks up a bit of knowledge +here and there, and somehow has contrived to amass a fund of information +for which few would give him credit from his common looks; and he joins +to that stock of facts a natural shrewdness to use his knowledge wisely. +Though with little of what is called sentiment, or poetry, or fancy in +his mind (for harsh was the teaching of his childhood, and meagre the +occasions of self-culture ever since), the beauty of creation is by no +means lost upon him, and he notices at times its wisdom too. With a +fixed habit of manly piety ever on his lips and ever in his heart, he +recognises Providence in all things, just, and wise, and good. More than +so; simply as a little child who endures the school-hour for the +prospect of his play-time, Roger Acton bears up with noble meekness +against present suffering, knowing that his work and trials and +troubles are only for a little while, but his rest and his reward remain +a long hereafter. He never questioned this; he knew right well Who had +earned it for him; and he lived grateful and obedient, filling up the +duties of his humble station. This was his faith, and his works followed +it. He believed that God had placed him in his lot, to be a labourer, +and till God's earth, and, when his work is done, to be sent on better +service in some happier sphere: the where, or the how, did not puzzle +him, any more than divers other enigmatical whys and wherefores of his +present state; he only knew this, that it would all come right at last: +and, barring sin (which he didn't comprehend), somehow all was right at +present. What if poverty pinched him? he was a great heir still; what if +oppression bruised him? it would soon be over. He trusted to his Pilot, +like the landsman in a storm; to his Father, as an infant in the dark. +For guilt, he had a Saviour, and he thought of him in penitence; for +trouble, a Guardian, and he looked to him in peace; and as for toil, +back-breaking toil, there was another Master whom he served with spade, +and mattock, and a thankful heart, while he only seemed to be working +for the landlord or his bailiff. + +Such a man then had been Roger Acton from his youth up till now, or, if +sadness must be told, nearly until now; for, to speak truth, his heart +at times would fail him, and of late he had been bitter in repinings and +complaint. For a day or two, in particular, he had murmured loudly. It +was hard, very hard, that an honest, industrious man, as he was, should +so scantily pick a living out of this rich earth: after all said, let +the parson preach as he will, it's a fine thing to have money, and that +his reverence knows right well, or he wouldn't look so closely for his +dues. [N.B. Poor Mr. Evans was struggling as well as he could to bring +up six children, on a hundred and twenty pounds per annum.] Roger, too, +was getting on in years, with a blacker prospect for the future than +when he first stood behind a plough-tail. Then there were many wants +unsatisfied, which a bit of gold might buy; and his wife teased him to +be doing something better. Thus was it come at length to pass, that, +although he had endured so many years, he now got discontented at his +penury;--what human heart can blame him?--and with murmurings came +doubt; with doubt of Providence, desire of lucre; so the sunshine of +religion faded from his path;--what mortal mind can wonder? + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE FAMILY; THE HOME; AND MORE REPININGS. + + +NOW, if Malthus and Martineau be verily the pundits that men +think them, Roger had twice in his life done a very foolish thing: he +had sinned against society, statistics, and common sense, by a two-fold +marriage. The wife of his youth (I am afraid he married early) had once +been kitchen-maid at the Hall; but the sudden change from living +luxuriously in a great house, to the griping poverty of a cotter's +hovel, had changed, in three short years, the buxom country girl into an +emaciated shadow of her former self, and the sorrowing husband buried +her in her second child-bed. The powers of the parish clapped their +hands; political economy was glad; prudence chuckled; and a +coarse-featured farmer (he meant no ill), who occasionally had given +Roger work, heartlessly bade him be thankful that his cares were the +fewer and his incumbrance was removed; "Ay, and Heaven take the babies +also to itself," the Herodian added. But Acton's heart was broken! +scarcely could he lift up his head; and his work, though sturdy as +before, was more mechanical, less high-motived: and many a year of +dreary widowhood he mourned a loss all the greater, though any thing but +bitterer, for the infants so left motherless. To these, now grown into a +strapping youth and a bright-eyed graceful girl, had he been the +tenderest of nurses, and well supplied the place of her whom they had +lost. Neighbours would have helped him gladly--sometimes did; and many +was the hinted offer (disinterested enough, too, for in that match +penury must have been the settlement, and starvation the dower), of +giving them a mother's kindly care; but Roger could not quite so soon +forget the dead: so he would carry his darlings with him to his work, +and feed them with his own hard hands; the farmers winked at it, and +never said a word against the tiny trespassers; their wives and +daughters loved the little dears, bringing them milk and possets; and +holy angels from on high may have oft-times hovered about this rude +nurse, tending his soft innocents a-field, and have wept over the poor +widower and his orphans, tears of happy sorrow and benevolent affection. +Yea, many a good angel has shed blessings on their heads! + +Within the last three years, and sixteen from the date of his first +great grief, Roger had again got married. His daughter was growing into +early womanhood, and his son gave him trouble at times, and the cottage +wanted a ruling hand over it when he was absent, and rheumatism now and +then bade him look out for a nurse before old age, and Mary Alder was a +notable middle-aged careful sort of soul, and so she became Mary Acton. +All went on pretty well, until Mrs. Acton began to have certain little +ones of her own; and then the step-mother would break out (a contingency +poor Roger hadn't thought of), separate interests crept in, and her own +children fared before the others; so it came to pass that, however truly +there was a ruling hand at home, and however well the rheumatism got +nursed (for Mary was a good wife in the main), the grown-up son and +daughter felt themselves a little jostled out. Grace, gentle and +submissive, found all her comforts shrunk within the space of her father +and her Bible; Thomas, self-willed and open-hearted, sought his pleasure +any where but at home, and was like to be taking to wrong courses +through domestic bickering: Grace had the dangerous portion, beauty, +added to her lowly lot, and attracted more admiration than her father +wished, or she could understand; while the frank and bold spirit of +Thomas Acton exposed him to the perilous friendship of Ben Burke the +poacher, and divers other questionable characters. + +Of these elements, then, are our labourer and his family composed; and +before Roger Acton goes abroad at earliest streak of dawn, we will take +a casual peep within his dwelling. It consists of four bare rubble +walls, enclosing a grouted floor, worn unevenly, and here and there in +holes, and puddly. There were but two rooms in the tenement, one on the +ground, and one over-head; which latter is with no small difficulty got +at by scaling a ladder-like stair-case that fronts the cottage-door. +This upper chamber, the common dormitory, for all but Thomas, who sleeps +down stairs, has a thin partition at one end of it, to screen off the +humble truckle-bed where Grace Acton forgets by night the troubles of +the day; and the remainder of the little apartment, sordid enough, and +overhung with the rough thatch, black with cobweb, serves for the father +and mother with their recent nursery. Each room has its shattery +casement, to let in through linchened panes, the doubtful light of +summer, and the much more indubitable wind, and rain, and frost of +wintry nights. A few articles of crockery and some burnished tins +decorate the shelves of the lower apartment; which used to be much +tidier before the children came, and trimmer still when Grace was sole +manager: in a doorless cupboard are apparent sundry coarse edibles, as +the half of a huge unshapely home-made loaf, some white country cheese, +a mass of lumpy pudding, and so forth; beside it, on the window-sill, is +better bread, a well-thumbed Bible, some tracts, and a few odd volumes +picked up cheap at fairs; an old musket (occasionally Ben's companion, +sometimes Tom's) is hooked to the rafters near a double rope of onions; +divers gaudy little prints, tempting spoil of pedlars, in honour of +George Barnwell, the Prodigal Son, the Sailor's Return, and the Death of +Nelson, decorate the walls, and an illuminated Christmas carol is pasted +over the mantel-piece: which, among other chattels and possessions, +conspicuously bears its own burden of Albert and Victoria--two plaster +heads, resplendently coloured, highly varnished, looking with arched +eye-brows of astonishment on their uninviting palace, and royally +contrasting with the sombre hue of poverty on all things else. The +pictures had belonged to Mary, no small portion of her virgin wealth; +and as for the statuary, those two busts had cost loyal Roger far more +in comparison than any corporation has given to P.R.A., for majesty and +consortship in full. There is, moreover, in the room, by way of +household furniture, a ricketty, triangular, and tri-legged table, a +bench, two old chairs with rush-bottoms, and a yard or two of matting +that the sexton gave when the chancel was new laid. I don't know that +there is any thing else to mention, unless it be a gaunt lurcher +belonging to Ben Burke, and with all a dog's resemblance to his master, +who lies stretched before the hearth where the peaty embers never quite +die out, but smoulder away to a heap of white ashes; over these is +hanging a black boiler, the cook of the family; and beside them, on a +substratum of dry heather, and wrapped about with an old blanket, nearly +companioned by his friend, the dog, snores Thomas Acton, still fast +asleep, after his usual extemporaneous fashion. + +As to the up-stairs apartment, it contained little or nothing but its +living inmates, their bedsteads and tattered coverlids, and had an air +of even more penury and discomfort than the room below; so that, what +with squalling children, a scolding wife, and empty stomach, and that +cold and wet March morning, it is little wonder maybe (though no small +blame), that Roger Acton had not enough of religion or philosophy to +rise and thank his Maker for the blessings of existence. + +He had just been dreaming of great good luck. Poor people often do so; +just as Ugolino dreamt of imperial feasts, and Bruce, in his delirious +thirst on the Sahara, could not banish from his mind the cool fountains +of Shiraz, and the luxurious waters of old Nile. Roger had unfortunately +dreamt of having found a crock of gold--I dare say he will tell us his +dream anon--and just as he was counting out his treasure, that blessed +beautiful heap of shining money--cruel habit roused him up before the +dawn, and his wealth faded from his fancy. So he awoke at five, anything +but cheerfully. + +It was Grace's habit, good girl, to read to her father in the morning a +few verses from the volume she best loved: she always woke betimes when +she heard him getting up, and he could hear her easily from her little +flock-bed behind the lath partition; and many a time had her dear +religious tongue, uttering the words of peace, soothed her father's +mind, and strengthened him to meet the day's affliction; many times it +raised his thoughts from the heavy cares of life to the buoyant hopes of +immortality. Hitherto, Roger had owed half his meek contentedness to +those sweet lessons from a daughter's lips, and knew that he was +reaping, as he heard, the harvest of his own paternal care, and +heaven-blest instructions. However, upon this dark morning, he was full +of other thoughts, murmurings, and doubts, and poverty, and riches. So, +when Grace, after her usual affectionate salutations, gently began to +read, + +"The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with +the glory--" + +Her father strangely stopped her on a sudden with-- + +"Enough, enough, my girl! God wot, the sufferings are grievous, and the +glory long a-coming." + +Then he heavily went down stairs, and left Grace crying. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE CONTRAST. + + +THUS, full of carking care, while he pushed aside the proffered +consolation, Roger Acton walked abroad. There was yet but a glimmer of +faint light, and the twittering of birds told more assuringly of morning +than any cheerful symptom on the sky: however, it had pretty well ceased +raining, that was one comfort, and, as Roger, shouldering his spade, and +with the day's provision in a handkerchief, trudged out upon his daily +duty, those good old thoughts of thankfulness came upon his mind, and he +forgot awhile the dream that had unstrung him. Turning for a moment to +look upon his hovel, and bless its inmates with a prayer, he half +resolved to run back, and hear a few more words, if only not to vex his +darling child: but there was now no time to spare; and then, as he gazed +upon her desolate abode--so foul a casket for so fair a jewel--his +bitter thoughts returned to him again, and he strode away, repining. + +Acton's cottage was one of those doubtful domiciles, whose only +recommendation it is, that they are picturesque in summer. At present we +behold a reeking rotting mass of black thatch in a cheerless swamp; but, +as the year wears on, those time-stained walls, though still both damp +and mouldy, will be luxuriantly overspread with creeping +plants--honeysuckle, woodbine, jessamine, and the everblowing monthly +rose. Many was the touring artist it had charmed, and Suffolk-street had +seen it often: spectators looked upon the scene as on an old familiar +friend, whose face they knew full well, but whose name they had +forgotten for the minute. Many were the fair hands that had immortalized +its beauties in their albums, and frequent the notes of admiration +uttered by attending swains: particularly if there chanced to be taken +into the view a feathery elm that now creaked overhead, and dripped on +the thatch like the dropping-well at Knaresborough, and (in the near +distance) a large pond, or rather lake, upon whose sedgy banks, gay--not +now, but soon about to be--with flowering reeds and bright green +willows, the pretty cottage stood. In truth, if man were but an +hibernating animal, invisible as dormice in the winter, and only to be +seen with summer swallows, Acton's cottage at Hurstley might have been a +cantle cut from the Elysian-fields. But there are certain other seasons +in the year, and human nature cannot long exist on the merely +"picturesque in summer." + +Some fifty yards, or so, from the hither shore, we discern a roughly +wooded ait, Pike Island to wit, a famous place for fish, and the grand +rendezvous for woodcocks; which, among other useful and ornamental +purposes, serves to screen out the labourer's hovel, at this the +narrowest part of the lake, from a view of that fine old mansion on the +opposite shore, the seat of Sir John Vincent, a baronet just of age, and +the great landlord of the neighbourhood. Toward this mansion, scarcely +yet revealed in the clear gray eye of morning, our humble hero, having +made the long round of the lake, is now fast trudging; and it may merit +a word or two of plain description, to fill up time and scene, till he +gets nearer. + +A smooth grassy eminence, richly studded with park-like clumps of trees, +slopes up from the water's very edge to--Hurstley Hall; yonder goodly, +if not grand, Elizabethan structure, full of mullioned windows, carved +oak panels, stone-cut coats of arms, pinnacles, and traceries, and +lozenges, and drops; and all this glory crowned by a many-gabled, +high-peaked roof. A grove of evergreens and American shrubs hides the +lower windows from vulgarian gaze--for, in the neighbourly feeling of +our ancestors, a public way leads close along the front; while, behind +the house, and inaccessible to eyes profane, are drawn terraced gardens, +beautifully kept, and blooming with a perpetual succession of the +choicest flowers. The woods and shrubberies around, attempted some half +a century back to be spoilt by the meddlesome bad taste of Capability +Brown, have been somewhat too resolutely robbed of the formal avenues, +clipped hedges, and other topiarian adjuncts which comport so well with +the starch prudery of things Elizabethan; but they are still replete +with grotto, fountain, labyrinth, and alcove--a very paradise for the +more court-bred rank of sylphs, and the gentler elves of Queen Titania. + +However, we have less to do with the gardens than, probably, the elves +have; and as Roger now, just at breaking day, is approaching the windows +somewhat too curiously for a poor man's manners, it may not be amiss if +we bear him company. He had pretty well recovered of his fit of +discontent, for morning air and exercise can soon chase gloom away; so +he cheerily tramped along, thinking as he went, how that, after all, it +is a middling happy world, and how that the raindrops, now that it had +cleared up, hung like diamonds on the laurels, when of a sudden, as he +turned a corner near the house, there broke upon his ear, at that quiet +hour, such a storm of boisterous sounds--voices so loud with oaths and +altercation--such a calling, clattering, and quarrelling, as he had +never heard the like before. So no wonder that he stepped aside to see +it. + +The noise proceeded from a ground-floor window, or rather from three +windows, lighted up, and hung with draperies of crimson and gold: one of +the casements, flaring meretriciously in the modest eye of morn, stood +wide open down to the floor, probably to cool a heated atmosphere; and +when Roger Acton, with a natural curiosity, went on tiptoe, looked in, +and just put aside the curtain for a peep, to know what on earth could +be the matter, he saw a vision of waste and wealth, at which he stood +like one amazed, for a poor man's mind could never have conceived its +equal. + +Evidently, he had intruded on the latter end of a long and luxurious +revel. Wax-lights, guttering down in gilded chandeliers, poured their +mellow radiance round in multiplied profusion--for mirrors made them +infinite; crimson and gold were the rich prevailing tints in that wide +and warm banqueting-room; gayly-coloured pictures, set in frames that +Roger fancied massive gold, hung upon the walls at intervals; a +wagon-load of silver was piled upon the sideboard; there blazed in the +burnished grate such a fire as poverty might imagine on a frozen +winter's night, but never can have thawed its blood beside: fruits, and +wines, and costly glass were scattered in prodigal disorder on the +board--just now deserted of its noisy guests, who had crowded round a +certain green table, where cards and heaps of sovereigns appeared to be +mingled in a mass. Roger had never so much as conceived it possible that +there could be wealth like this: it was a fairy-land of Mammon in his +eyes: he stood gasping like a man enchanted; and in the contemplation of +these little hills of gold--in their covetous longing contemplation, he +forgot the noisy quarrel he had turned aside to see, and thirsted for +that rich store earnestly. + +In an instant, as he looked (after the comparative lull that must +obviously have succeeded to the clamours he had first heard), the roar +and riot broke out worse than ever. There were the stormy revellers, as +the rabble rout of Comus and his crew, filling that luxurious room with +the sounds of noisy execration and half-drunken strife. Young Sir John, +a free and generous fellow, by far the best among them all, has +collected about him those whom he thought friends, to celebrate his +wished majority; they had now kept it up, night after night, hard upon a +week; and, as well became such friends--the gambler, the duellist, the +man of pleasure, and the fool of Fashion--they never yet had separated +for their day-light beds, without a climax to their orgie, something +like the present scene. + +Henry Mynton, high in oath, and dashing down his cards, has charged Sir +Richard Hunt with cheating (it was _sauter la coupe_ or _couper la +saut_, or some such mystery of iniquity, I really cannot tell which): +Sir Richard, a stout dark man, the patriarch of the party, glossily +wigged upon his head, and imperially tufted on his chin, retorts with a +pungent sarcasm, calmly and coolly uttered; that hot-headed fool +Silliphant, clearly quite intoxicated, backs his cousin Mynton's view of +the case by the cogent argument of a dice-box at Sir Richard's head--and +at once all is struggle, strife, and uproar. The other guests, young +fellows of high fashion, now too much warmed with wine to remember their +accustomed Mohican cold-bloodedness--those happy debtors to the prowess +of a Stultz, and walking advertisers of Nugee--take eager part with the +opposed belligerents: more than one decanter is sent hissing through +the air; more than one bloody coxcomb witnesses to the weight of a +candle-stick and its hurler's clever aim: uplifted chairs are made the +weapons of the chivalric combatants; and along with divers other less +distinguished victims in the melée, poor Sir John Vincent, rushing into +the midst, as a well-intentioned host, to quell the drunken brawl, gets +knocked down among them all; the tables are upset, the bright gold runs +about the room in all directions--ha! no one heeds it--no one owns +it--one little piece rolled right up to the window-sill where Roger +still looked on with all his eyes; it is but to put his hand in--the +window is open to the floor--nay a finger is enough: greedily, one +undecided moment, did he gaze upon the gold; he saw the hideous contrast +of his own dim hovel and that radiant chamber--he remembered the pining +faces of his babes, and gentle Grace with all her hardships--he thought +upon his poverty and well deserts--he looked upon wastefulness of wealth +and wantonness of living--these reflections struck him in a moment; no +one saw him, no one cared about the gold; that little blessed morsel, +that could do him so much good; all was confusion, all was opportunity, +and who can wonder that his fingers closed upon the sovereign, and that +he picked it up? + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE LOST THEFT. + + +STEALTHILY and quickly "honest Roger" crept away, for his +conscience smote him on the instant: he felt he had done wrong; at any +rate, the sovereign was not his--and once the thought arose in him to +run back, and put it where he found it: but it was now become too +precious in his sight, that little bit of gold--and they, the rioters +there, could not want it, might not even miss it; and then its righteous +uses--it should be well spent, even if ill-got: and thus, so many +mitigations crowded in to excuse, if not to applaud the action, that +within a little while his warped mind had come to call the theft a +god-send. + +O Roger, Roger! alas for this false thought of that wrong deed! the +poisonous gold has touched thy heart, and left on it a spot of cancer: +the asp has bitten thee already, simple soul. This little seed will grow +into a huge black pine, that shall darken for a while thy heaven, and +dig its evil roots around thy happiness. Put it away, Roger, put it +away: covet not unhallowed gold. + +But Roger felt far otherwise; and this sudden qualm of conscience once +quelled (I will say there seemed much of palliation in the matter), a +kind of inebriate feeling of delight filled his mind, and Steady Acton +plodded on to the meadow yonder, half a mile a-head, in a species of +delirious complacency. Here was luck indeed, filling up the promise of +his dreams. His head was full of thoughts, pleasant holiday thoughts, of +the many little useful things, the many small indulgences, that bit of +gold should buy him. He would change it on the sly, and gradually bring +the shillings home as extra pay for extra work; for, however much his +wife might glory in the chance, and keep his secret, well he knew that +Grace would have a world of things to say about it, and he feared to +tell his daughter of the deed. However, she should have a ribbon, so she +should, good girl, and the pedlar shouldn't pass the door unbidden; +Mary, too, might have a cotton kerchief, and the babes a doll and a +rattle, and poor Thomas a shilling to spend as he liked; and so, in +happy revery, the kind father distributed his ill-got sovereign. + +For a while he held it in his hand, as loth to part from the tangible +possession of his treasure; but manual contact could not last all day, +and, as he neared his scene of labour--he came late after all, by the +by, and lost the quarter-day, but it mattered little now--he began to +cogitate a place of safety; and carefully put it in his fob. Poor +fellow--he had never had enough to stow so well away before: his pockets +had been thought quite trust-worthy enough for any treasures hitherto: +never had he used that fob for watch, or note, or gold--and his +predecessor in the cast-off garment had probably been quite aware how +little that false fob was worthy of the name of savings' bank; it was in +the situation of the Irishman's illimitable rope, with the end cut off. +So while Roger was brewing up vast schemes of nascent wealth, and +prosperous days at last, the filched sovereign, attracted by centripetal +gravity, had found a passage downwards, and had straightway rolled into +a crevice of mother-earth, long before its "brief lord" had commenced +his day's labour. Yes, it had been lost a good hour ere he found it out, +for he had fancied that he had felt it there, and often did he feel, but +his fancy was a button; and when he made the dread discovery, what a +sting of momentary anguish, what a sickening fear, what an eager search! +and, as the grim truth became more evident, that, indeed, beyond all +remedy, his new-got, ill-got, egg of coming wealth was all clean +gone--oh! this was worm-wood, this was bitter as gall, and the strong +man well-nigh fainted. It was something sad to have done the ill--but +misery to have done it all for nothing: the sin was not altogether +pleasant to his taste, but it was aloe itself to lose the reward. And +when, pale and sick, leaning on his spade, he came to his old strength +again, what was the reaction? Compunction at incipient crime, and +gratitude to find its punishment so mercifully speedy, so lenient, so +discriminative? I fear that if ever he had these thoughts at all, he +chased them wilfully away: his disappointment, far from being softened +into patience, was sharpened to a feeling of revenge at fate; and all +his hope now was--such another chance, gold, more gold, never mind how; +more gold, he burnt for gold, he lusted after gold! + +We must leave him for a time to his toil and his reflections, and touch +another topic of our theme. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE INQUEST. + + +JUST a week before the baronet came of age, and a fortnight +from the present time, an awful and mysterious event had happened at the +Hall: the old house-keeper, Mrs. Quarles, had been found dead in her +bed, under circumstances, to say the very least, of a black and +suspicious appearance. The county coroner had got a jury of the +neighbours impanelled together; who, after sitting patiently on the +inquest, and hearing, as well as seeing, the following evidence, could +arrive at no verdict more specific than the obvious fact, that the poor +old creature had been "found dead." The great question lay between +apoplexy and murder; and the evidence tended to a well-matched conflict +of opinions. + +First, there lay the body, quietly in bed, tucked in tidily and +undisturbed, with no marks of struggling, none whatever--the clothes lay +smooth, and the chamber orderly: yet the corpse's face was of a purple +hue, the tongue swollen, the eyes starting from their sockets: it might, +indeed, possibly have been an apoplectic seizure, which took her in her +sleep, and killed her as she lay; _but_ that the gripe of clutching +fingers had left their livid seals upon the throat, and countenanced +the dreadful thought of strangulation! + +Secondly, a surgeon (one Mr. Eager, the Union doctor, a very young +personage, wrong withal and radical) maintained that this actual +strangulation might have been effected by the hands of the deceased +herself, in the paroxysm of a rush of blood to the brain; and he +fortified his wise position by the instance of a late statesman, who, he +averred, cut his throat with a pen-knife, to relieve himself of pressure +on the temples: while another surgeon--Stephen Cramp, he was farrier as +well, and had been, until lately, time out of mind, the village +Æsculapius, who looked with scorn on his pert rival, and opposed him +tooth and nail on all occasions--insisted that it was not only +physically impossible for poor Mrs. Quarles so to have strangled +herself, but more particularly that, if she had done so, she certainly +could not have laid herself out so decently afterwards; therefore, that +as some one else had kindly done the latter office for her, why not the +former too? + +Thirdly, Sarah Stack, the still-room maid, deposed, that Mrs. Quarles +always locked her door before she went to bed, but that when she +(deponent) went to call her as usual on the fatal morning, the door was +just ajar; and so she found her dead: while parallel with this, tending +to implicate some domestic criminal, was to be placed the equally +uncommon fact, that the other door of Mrs. Quarles's room, leading to +the lawn, was open too:--be it known that Mrs. Quarles was a stout +woman, who could'nt abide to sleep up-stairs, for fear of fire; +moreover, that she was a nervous woman, who took extraordinary +precautions for her safety, in case of thieves. Thus, unaccountably +enough, the murderer, if there was any, was as likely to have come from +the outside, as from the in. + +Fourthly, the murderer in this way is commonly a thief, and does the +deed for mammon-sake; but the new house-keeper, lately installed, made +her deposition, that, by inventories duly kept and entered--for her +honoured predecessor, rest her soul! had been a pattern of +regularity--all Mrs. Quarles's goods and personal chattels were found to +be safe and right in her room--some silver spoons among them too--ay, +and a silver tea-pot; while, as to other property in the house, with +every room full of valuables, nothing whatever was missing from the +lists, except, indeed, what was scarce worth mention (unless one must be +very exact), sundry crocks and gallipots of honey, not forthcoming; +these, however, it appeared probable that Mrs. Quarles had herself +consumed in a certain mixture she nightly was accustomed too, of rum, +horehound, and other matters sweetened up with honey, for her +hoarseness. It seemed therefore clear she was not murdered for her +property, nor by any one intending to have robbed the house. + +Against this it was contended, and really with some show of reason, that +as Mrs. Quarles was thought to have a hoard, always set her face against +banks, railway shares, speculations, and investments, and seemed to have +left nothing behind her but her clothes and so forth, it was still +possible that the murderer who took the life, might have also been the +thief to take the money. + +Fifthly, Simon Jennings--butler in doors, bailiff out of doors, and +general factotum every where to the Vincent interest--for he had managed +to monopolize every place worth having, from the agent's book to the +cellar-man's key--the said Simon deposed, that on the night in question, +he heard the house-dog barking furiously, and went out to quiet him; but +found no thieves, nor knew any reason why the dog should have barked so +much. + +Now, the awkward matter in this deposition (if Mr. Jennings had not been +entirely above suspicion--the idea was quite absurd--not to mention that +he was nephew to the deceased, a great favourite with her, and a man +altogether of the very strictest character), the awkward matters were +these: the nearest way out to the dog, indeed the only way but casement +windows on that side of the house, was through Mrs. Quarles's room: she +had had the dog placed there for her special safety, as she slept on the +ground floor; and it was not to be thought that Mr. Jennings could do so +incorrect a thing as to pass through her room after bed-time, locked or +unlocked--indeed, when the question was delicately hinted to him, he was +quite shocked at it--quite shocked. But if he did not go that way, which +way did he go? He deposed, indeed, and his testimony was no ways to be +doubted, that he went through the front door, and so round; which, under +the circumstances, was at once a very brave and a very foolish thing to +do; for it is, first, little wisdom to go round two sides of a square to +quiet a dog, when one might have easily called to him from the +men-servants' window; and secondly, albeit Mr. Jennings was a strict +man, an upright man, shrewd withal, and calculating, no one had ever +thought him capable of that Roman virtue, courage. Still, he had +reluctantly confessed to this one heroic act, and it was a bold one, so +let him take the credit of it--mainly because-- + +Sixthly, Jonathan Floyd, footman, after having heard the dog bark at +intervals, surely for more than a couple of hours, thought he might as +well turn out of his snug berth for a minute, just to see what ailed +the dog, or how many thieves were really breaking in. Well, as he +looked, he fancied he saw a boat moving on the lake, but as there was no +moon, he might have been mistaken. + +_By a Juryman._ It might be a punt. + +_By another._ He did'nt know how many boats there were on the +lake-side: they had a boat-house at the Hall, by the water's edge, and +therefore he concluded something in it; really did'nt know; might be a +boat, might be a punt, might be both--or neither. + +_By the Coroner._ Could not swear which way it was moving; and, really, +if put upon his Bible oath, wouldn't be positive about a boat at all, it +was so dark, and he was so sleepy. + +Not long afterwards, as the dog got still more violent, he turned his +eyes from straining after shadows on the lake, to look at home, and then +all at once noticed Mr. Jennings trying to quiet the noisy animal with +the usual blandishments of "Good dog, good dog--quiet, Don, quiet--down, +good dog--down, Don, down!" + +_By a Juryman._ He would swear to the words. + +But Don would not hear of being quiet. After that, knowing all must be +right if Mr. Jennings was about, he (deponent) turned in again, went to +sleep, and thought no more of it till he heard of Mrs. Quarles's death +in the morning. If he may be so bold as to speak his mind, he thinks the +house-keeper, being fat, died o' the 'plexy in a nateral way, and that +the dog barking so, just as she was a-going off, is proof positive of +it. He'd often heard of dogs doing so; they saw the sperit gliding away, +and barked at it; his (deponent's) own grandmother-- + +At this juncture--for the court was getting fidgetty--the coroner cut +short the opinions of Jonathan Floyd: and when Mr. Crown, summing up, +presented in one focus all this evidence to the misty minds of the +assembled jurymen, it puzzled them entirely; they could not see their +way, fairly addled, did not know at all what to make of it. On the +threshold, there was no proof it was a murder--the Union doctor was loud +and staunch on this; and next, there seemed to be no motive for the +deed, and no one to suspect of it: so they left the matter open, found +her simply "Dead," and troubled their heads no more about the business. + +Good Mr. Evans, the vicar, preached her funeral sermon, only as last +Sunday, amplifying the idea that she "was cut off in the midst of her +days:" and thereby encouraging many of the simpler folks, who knew that +Mrs. Quarles had long passed seventy, in the luminous notion that +house-keepers in great establishments are privileged, among other +undoubted perquisites, to live to a hundred and forty, unless cut off by +apoplexy or murder. + +Mr. Simon Jennings, as nephew and next of kin, followed the body to its +last home in the capacity of chief mourner; to do him justice, he was a +real mourner, bewailed her loudly, and had never been the same man +since. Moreover, although aforetime not much given to indiscriminate +charity, he had now gained no small credit by distributing his aunt's +wardrobe among the poorer families at Hurstley. It was really very kind +of him, and the more so, as being altogether unexpected: he got great +praise for this, did Mr. Jennings; specially, too, because he had gained +nothing whatever from his aunt's death, though her heir and probable +legatee, and clearly was a disappointed man. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE BAILIFF; AND A BITTER TRIAL. + + +JENNINGS--Mr. Simon Jennings--for he prided himself much both +on the Mr. and the Simon, was an upright man, a very upright man indeed, +literally so as well as metaphorically. He was not tall certainly, but +what there was of him stood bolt upright. Many fancied that his neck was +possessed of some natural infirmity, or rather firmity, of +unbendableness, some little-to-be-envied property of being a perpetual +stiff-neck; and they were the more countenanced in this theory, from the +fact that, within a few days past, Mr. Jennings had contracted an ugly +knack of carrying his erect head in the comfortless position of peeping +over his left shoulder; not always so, indeed, but often enough to be +remarkable; and then he would occasionally start it straight again, eyes +right, with a nervous twitch, any thing but pleasant to the marvelling +spectator. It was as if he was momentarily expecting to look upon some +vague object that affrighted him, and sometimes really did see it. Mr. +Jennings had consulted high medical authority (as Hurstley judged), to +wit, the Union doctor of last scene, an enterprising practitioner, glib +in theory, and bold in practice--and it had been mutually agreed between +them that "stomach" was the cause of these unhandsome symptoms; acridity +of the gastric juice, consequent indigestion and spasm, and generally a +hypochondriacal habit of body. Mr. Jennings must take certain draughts +thrice a day, be very careful of his diet, and keep his mind at ease. As +to Simon himself, he was, poor man, much to be pitied in this ideal +visitation; for, though his looks confessed that he saw, or fancied he +saw, a something, he declared himself wholly at a loss to explain what +that something was: moreover, contrary to former habits of an +ostentatious boldness, he seemed meekly to shrink from observation: and, +as he piously acquiesced in the annoyance, would observe that his +unpleasant jerking was "a little matter after all, and that, no doubt, +the will of Providence." + +Independently of these new grimaces, Simon's appearance was little in +his favour: not that his small dimensions signified--Cæsar, and +Buonaparte, and Wellington, and Nelson, all were little men--not that +his dress was other than respectable--black coat and waistcoat, white +stiff cravat, gray trowsers somewhat shrunk in longitude, good +serviceable shoe-leather (of the shape, if not also of the size, of +river barges), and plenty of unbleached cotton stocking about the +gnarled region of his ankles. All this was well enough; nature was +beholden to that charity of art which hides a multitude of failings; but +the face, where native man looks forth in all his unadornment, that it +was which so seldom pre-possessed the many who had never heard of +Jenning's strict character and stern integrity. The face was a sallow +face, peaked towards the nose, with head and chin receding; lit withal +by small protrusive eyes, so constructed, that the whites all round were +generally visible, giving them a strange and staring look; elevated +eye-brows; not an inch of whisker, but all shaved sore right up to the +large and prominent ear; and lank black, hair, not much of it, scantily +thatching all smooth. Then his arms, oscillating as he walked (as if the +pendulum by which that rigid man was made to go his regular routine), +were much too long for symmetry: and altogether, to casual view, Mr. +Jennings must acknowledge to a supercilious, yet sneaking air--which +charity has ere now been kind enough to think a conscious rectitude +towards man, and a soft-going humility with God. + +When the bailiff takes his round about the property, as we see him now, +he is mounted--to say he rides would convey far too equestrian a +notion--he is mounted on a rough-coated, quiet, old, white +shooting-pony; the saddle strangely girded on with many bands about the +belly, the stirrups astonishingly short, and straps never called upon to +diminish that long whity-brown interval between shoe and trowser: Mr. +Jennings sits his steed with nose aloft, and a high perch in the +general, somewhat loosely, and, had the pony been a Bucephalus rather +than a Rozinante, not a little perilously. Simon is jogging hitherwards +toward Roger Acton, as he digs the land-drain across this marshy meadow: +let us see how it fares now with our poor hero. + +Occupation--yes, duteous occupation--has exerted its wholsesome +influences, and, thank God! Roger is himself again. He has been very +sorry half the day, both for the wicked feelings of the morning, and +that still more wicked theft--a bad business altogether, he cannot bear +to think of it; the gold was none of his, whosesoever it might be--he +ought not to have touched it--vexed he did, but cannot help it now; it +is well he lost it too, for ill-got money never came to any good: +though, to be sure, if he could only get it honestly, money would make a +man of him. + +I am not sure of that, Roger, it may be so sometimes; but, in my +judgment, money has unmade more men than made them. + +"How now, Acton, is not this drain dug yet! You have been about it much +too long, sir; I shall fine you for this." + +"Please you, Muster Jennings, I've stuck to it pretty tightly too, +barring that I make to-day three-quarters, being late: but it's heavy +clay, you see, Mr. Simon--wet above and iron-hard below: it shall all be +ready by to-morrow, Mr. Simon." + +Whether the "Mr. Simon" had its softening influence, or any other +considerations lent their soothing aid, we shall see presently; for the +bailiff added, in a tone unusually indulgent, + +"Well, Roger, see it is done, and well done; and now I have just another +word to say to you: his honour is coming round this way, and if he asks +you any questions, remember to be sure and tell him this--you have got a +comfortable cottage, very comfortable, just repaired, you want for +nothing, and are earning twelve shillings a week." + +"God help me, Muster Jennings: why my wages are but eight, and my hovel +scarcely better than a pig-pound." + +"Look you, Acton; tell Sir John what you have told me, and you are a +ruined man. Make it twelve to his honour, as others shall do: who +knows," he added, half-coaxing, half-soliloquizing, "perhaps his honour +may really make it twelve, instead of eight." + +"Oh, Muster Jennings! and who gets the odd four?" + +"What, man! do you dare to ask me that? Remember, sir, at your peril, +that you, and all the rest, _have had_ twelve shillings a-week wages +whenever you have worked on this estate--not a word!--and that, if you +dare speak or even think to the contrary, you never earn a penny here +again. But here comes John Vincent, my master, as I, Simon Jennings, am +yours: be careful what you say to him." + +Sir John Devereux Vincent, after a long minority, had at length shaken +off his guardians, and become master of his own doings, and of Hurstley +Hall. The property was in pretty decent order, and funds had accumulated +vastly: all this notwithstanding a thousand peculations, and the +suspicious incident that one of the guardians was a "highly respectable" +solicitor. Sir John, like most new brooms, had with the best intentions +resolved upon sweeping measures of great good; especially also upon +doing a great deal with his own eyes and ears; but, like as aforesaid, +he was permitted neither to hear nor see any truths at all. Just now, +the usual night's work took him a little off the hooks, and we must make +allowances; really, too, he was by far the soberest of all those choice +spirits, and drank and played as little as he could; and even, under +existing disadvantages, he managed by four o'clock post meridiem to +inspect a certain portion of the estate duly every day, under the +prudential guidance of his bailiff Jennings. There, that good-looking, +tall young fellow on the blood mare just cantering up to us is Sir John; +the other two are a couple of the gallant youths now feasting at the +Hall: ay, two of the fiercest foes in last night's broil. Those heated +little matters are easily got over. + +"Hollo, Jennings! what the devil made you give that start? you couldn't +look more horrified if ghosts were at your elbow: why, your face is the +picture of death; look another way, man, do, or my mare will bolt." + +"I beg your pardon, Sir John, but the spasm took me: it is my infirmity; +forgive it. This meadow, you perceive, Sir John, requires drainage, and +afterwards I propose to dress it with free chalk to sweeten the grass. +Next field, you will take notice, the guano--" + +"Well, well--Jennings--and that poor fellow there up to his knees in +mud, is he pretty tolerably off now?" + +"Oh, your honour," said the bailiff, with a knowing look, "I only wish +that half the little farmers hereabouts were as well to do as he is: a +pretty cottage, Sir John, half an acre of garden, and twelve shillings a +week, is pretty middling for a single man." + +"Aha--is it?--well; but the poor devil looks wretched enough too--I will +just ask him if he wants any thing now." + +"Don't, Sir John, pray don't; pray permit me to advise your honour: +these men are always wanting. 'Acton's cottage' is a proverb; and Roger +there can want for nothing honestly; nevertheless, as I know your +honour's good heart, and wish to make all happy, if you will suffer me +to see to it myself--" + +"Certainly, Jennings, do, do by all means, and thank you: here, just to +make a beginning, as we're all so jolly at the Hall, and that poor +fellow's up to his neck in mud, give him this from me to drink my health +with." + +Acton, who had dutifully held aloof, and kept on digging steadily, was +still quite near enough to hear all this; at the magical word "give," he +looked up hurriedly, and saw Sir John Vincent toss a piece of gold--yes, +on his dying oath, a bright new sovereign--to Simon Jennings. O blessed +vision, and gold was to be his at last! + +"Come along, Mynton; Hunt, now mind you try and lame that big beast of a +raw-boned charger among these gutters, will you? I'm off, Jennings; meet +me, do you hear, at the Croft to-mor--" + +So the three friends galloped away; and John Vincent really felt more +light-hearted and happy than at any time the week past, for having so +properly got rid of a welcome bit of gold. + +"Roger Acton! come up here, sir, out of that ditch: his honour has been +liberal enough to give you a shilling to drink his health with." + +"A shilling, Muster Jennings?" said the poor astonished man; "why I'll +make oath it was a pound; I saw it myself. Come, Muster Jennings, don't +break jokes upon a poor man's back." + +"Jokes, Acton? sticks, sir, if you say another word: take John Vincent's +shilling." + +"Oh, sir!" cried Roger, quite unmanned at this most cruel +disappointment; "be merciful--be generous--give me my gold, my own bit +of gold! I'll swear his honour gave it for me: blessings on his head! +You know he did, Mr. Simon; don't play upon me!" + +"Play upon you?--generous--your gold--what is it you mean, man? We'll +have no madmen about us, I can tell you; take the shilling, or else--" + +"'Rob not the poor, because he is poor, for the Lord shall plead his +cause,'" was the solemn answer. + +"Roger Acton!"--the bailiff gave a scared start, as usual, and, +recovering himself, looked both white and stern: "you have dared to +quote the Bible against me: deeply shall you rue it. Begone, man! your +work on this estate is at an end." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +WRONGS AND RUIN. + + +A VERY miserable man was Roger Acton now, for this last trial +was the worst of all. The vapours of his discontent had almost passed +away--that bright pernicious dream was being rapidly forgotten--the +morning's ill-got coin, "thank the Lord, it was lost as soon as found," +and penitence had washed away that blot upon his soul; but here, an +honest pound, liberally bestowed by his hereditary landlord--his own +bright bit of gold--the only bit but one he ever had (and how different +in innocence from that one!)--a seeming sugar-drop of kindness, shed by +the rich heavens on his cup of poverty--to have this meanly filched away +by a grasping, grinding task-master--oh, was it not a bitter trial? What +affliction as to this world's wealth can a man meet worse than this? + +Acton's first impulse was to run to the Hall, and ask to see Sir +John:--"Out; won't be back till seven, and then can see nobody; the +baronet will be dressing for dinner, and musn't be disturbed." Then he +made a vain effort to speak with Mr. Jennings, and plead with him: yes, +even on his knees, if must be. Mr. Simon could not be so bad; perhaps it +was a long joke after all--the bailiff always had a queer way with him. +Or, if indeed the man meant robbery, loudly to threaten him, that all +might hear, to bring the house about his ears, and force justice, if he +could not fawn it. But both these conflicting expedients were vetoed. +Jonathan Floyd, who took in Acton's meek message of "humbly craved leave +to speak with Master Jennings," came back with the inexplicable mandate, +"Warn Roger Acton from the premises." So, he must needs bide till +to-morrow morning, when, come what might, he resolved to see his honour, +and set some truths before him. + +Acton was not the only man on the estate who knew that he had a +landlord, generous, not to say prodigal--a warm-hearted, +well-intentioned master, whose mere youth a career of sensuality had not +yet hardened, nor a course of dissipation been prolonged enough to +distort his feelings from the right. And Acton, moreover, was not the +only man who wondered how, with such a landlord (ay, and the guardians +before him were always well-spoken gentle-folks, kindly in their +manners, and liberal in their looks), wages could be kept so low, and +rents so high, and indulgences so few, and penalties so many. There +were fines for every thing, and no allowances of hedgebote, or +housebote, or any other time-honoured right; the very peat on the common +must be paid for, and if a child picked a bit of fagot the father was +mulcted in a shilling. Mr. Jennings did all this, and always pleaded his +employers' orders; nay, if any grumbled, as men would now and then, he +would affect to think it strange that the gentlemen guardians, with the +landlord at their head, could be so hard upon the poor: he would not be +so, credit him, if he had been born a gentleman; but the bailiff, men, +must obey orders, like the rest of you; these are hard times for +Hurstley, he would say, and we must all rub over them as best we can. +According to Simon, it was as much as his own place was worth to remit +one single penny of a fine, or make the least indulgence for calamity; +while, as to lowering a cotter's rent, or raising a ditcher's wages, he +dared not do it for his life; folks must not blame him, but look to the +landlord. + +Now, all this, in the long absence of any definite resident master at +the Hall, sounded reasonable, if true; and Mr. Jennings punctually paid, +however bad the terms; so the poor men bode their time, and looked for +better days. And the days long-looked-for now were come; but were they +any better? The baronet, indeed, seemed bent upon inquiry, reform, +redress; but, as he never went without the right-hand man, his +endeavours were always unsuccessful. At first it would appear that the +bailiff had gone upon his old plan, shrugging up his shoulders to the +men at the master's meanness, while he praised to the landlord the +condition of his tenants; but this could not long deceive, so he turned +instanter on another tack; he assumed the despot, issuing authoritative +edicts, which no one dared to disobey; he made the labourer hide his +needs, and intercepted at its source the lord's benevolence; he began to +be found out, so the bolder spirits said, in filching with both hands +from man and master; and, to the mind of more than one shrewd observer, +was playing the unjust steward to admiration. + +But stop: let us hear the other side; it is possible we may have been +mistaken. Bailiffs are never popular, particularly if they are too +honest, and this one is a stern man with a repulsive manner. Who knows +whether his advice to Acton may not have been wise and kind, and would +not have conduced to a general rise of wages? Who can prove, nay, +venture to insinuate, any such systematic roguery against a man hitherto +so strict, so punctual, so sanctimonious? Even in the case of Sir John's +golden gift, Jennings may be right after all; it is quite possible that +Roger was mistaken, and had gilt a piece of silver with his longings; +and the upright man might well take umbrage at so vile an imputation as +that hot and silly speech; it was foolish, very foolish, to have quoted +text against him, and no wonder that the labourer got dismissed for it. +Then again to return to wages--who knows? it might be, all things +considered, the only way of managing a rise; the bailiff must know his +master's mind best, and Acton had been wise to have done as he bade him; +perhaps it really was well-meant, and might have got him twelve +shillings a-week, instead of eight as hitherto; perhaps Simon was a +shrewd man, and arranged it cleverly; perhaps Roger was an honest man, +and couldn't but think others so. + +Any how, though, all was lost now, and he blamed his own rash tongue, +poor fellow, for what he could not help fearing was the ruin of himself +and all he loved. With a melancholy heart, he shouldered his spade, and +slowly plodded homewards. How long should he have a home? How was he to +get bread, to get work, if the bailiff was his enemy? How could he face +his wife, and tell her all the foolish past and dreadful future? How +could he bear to look on Grace, too beautiful Grace, and torture his +heart by fancying her fate? Thomas, too, his own brave boy, whom utter +poverty might drive to desperation? And the poor babes, his little +playful pets, what on earth would become of them? There was the Union +workhouse to be sure, but Acton shuddered at the thought; to be +separated from every thing he loved, to give up his little all, and be +made both a prisoner and a slave, all for the sake of what?--daily +water-gruel, and a pauper's branded livery. Or they might perchance go +beyond the seas, if some Prince Edward's Company would help him and his +to emigrate; ay, thought he, and run new risks, encounter fresh dangers, +lose every thing, get nothing, and all the trouble taken merely to +starve three thousand miles from home. No, no; at his time of life, he +could not be leaving for ever old friends, old habits, old fields, old +home, old neighbourhood--where he had seen the saplings grow up trees, +and the quick toppings change into a ten-foot hedge; where the very +cattle knew his step, and the clods broke kindly to his ploughshare; and +more than all, the dear old church, where his forefathers had worshipped +from the Conquest, and the old mounds where they slept, +and--and--and--that one precious grave of his dear lost Annie--could he +leave it? Oh God, no! he had done no ill, he had committed no crime--why +should he prefer the convict's doom, and seek to be transported for +life? + +A miserable walk home was that, and full of wretched thoughts. Poor +Roger Acton, tossed by much trouble, vexed with sore oppression, I wish +that you had prayed in your distress; stop, he did pray, and that +vehemently; but it was not for help, or guidance, or patience, or +consolation--he only prayed for gold. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE COVETOUS DREAM. + + +ONCE at home, the sad truth soon was told. Roger's look alone +spoke of some calamity, and he had but little heart or hope to keep the +matter secret. True, he said not a word about the early morning's sin; +why should he? he had been punished for it, and he had repented; let him +be humbled before God, but not confess to man. However, all about the +bailiff, and the landlord, and the thieved gift, and the sudden +dismissal, the sure ruin, the dismal wayside plans, and fears, and dark +alternatives, without one hope in any--these did poor Acton fluently +pour forth with broken-hearted eloquence; to these Grace listened +sorrowfully, with a face full of gentle trust in God's blessing on the +morrow's interview; these Mary, the wife, heard to an end, with--no +storm of execration on ill-fortune, no ebullition of unjust rage against +a fool of a husband, no vexing sneers, no selfish apprehensions. Far +from it; there really was one unlooked-for blessing come already to +console poor Roger; and no little compensation for his trouble was the +way his wife received the news. He, unlucky man, had expected something +little short of a virago's talons, and a beldame's curse; he had +experienced on less occasions something of the sort before; but now that +real affliction stood upon the hearth, Mary Acton's character rose with +the emergency, and she greeted her ruined husband with a kindness +towards him, a solemn indignation against those who grind the poor, and +a sober courage to confront evil, which he little had imagined. + +"Bear up, Roger; here, goodman, take the child, and don't look quite so +downcast; come what may, I'll share your cares, and you shall halve my +pleasures; we will fight it out together." + +Moreover, cross, and fidgetty, and scolding, as Mary had been ever +heretofore, to her meek step-daughter Grace, all at once, as if just to +disappoint any preconcerted theory, now that actual calamity was come, +she turned to be a kind good mother to her. Roger and his daughter could +scarcely believe their ears. + +"Grace, dear, I know you're a sensible good girl, try and cheer your +father." And then the step-dame added, + +"There now, just run up, fetch your prayer-book down, and read a little +to us all to do us good."--The fair, affectionate girl, unused to the +accents of kindness, could not forbear flinging her arms round Mary +Acton's neck, and loving her, as Ruth loved Naomi. + +Then with a heavenly smile upon her face, and a happy heart within her +to keep the smile alight, her gentle voice read these words--it will do +us good to read them too: + + "Out of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice. + O let thine ears consider well the voice of my complaint. + If thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss, + O Lord, who may abide it? + Because there is mercy with thee; therefore shall thou be feared. + I look for the Lord, my soul doth wait for him: in his word is my trust. + My soul fleeth unto the Lord, before the morning watch, + before the morning watch. + O Israel, trust in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy: + and with him is plenteous redemption. + And he shall redeem Israel from all his sins." + +"Isn't the last word 'troubles,' child? look again; I think it's +'troubles' either there, or leastways in the Bible-psalm." + +"No, father, sins, 'from all his sins;' and 'iniquities' in the +Bible-version--look, father." + +"Well, girl, well; I wish it had been 'troubles;' 'from all his +troubles' is a better thought to my mind: God wot, I have plenty on 'em, +and a little lot of gold would save us from them all." + +"Gold, father? no, my father--God." + +"I tell you, child," said Roger, ever vacillating in his strong +temptation between habitual religion and the new-caught lust of money, +"if only on a sudden I could get gold by hook or by crook, all my cares +and all your troubles would be over on the instant." + +"Oh, dear father, do not hope so; and do not think of troubles more than +sins; there is no deliverance in Mammon; riches profit not in the day of +evil, and ill-got wealth tends to worse than poverty." + +"Well, any how, I only wish that dream of mine came true." + +"Dream, goodman--what dream?" said his wife. + +"Why, Poll, I dreamt I was a-working in my garden, hard by the celery +trenches in the sedge; and I was moaning at my lot, as well I may: and a +sort of angel came to me, only he looked dark and sorrowful, and kindly +said, 'What would you have, Roger?' I, nothing fearful in my dream, for +all the strangeness of his winged presence, answered boldly, 'Money;' he +pointed with his finger, laughed aloud, and vanished away: and, as for +me, I thought a minute wonderingly, turned to look where he had pointed, +and, O the blessing! found a crock of gold!" + +"Hush, father! that dark angel was the devil; he has dropt ill thoughts +upon your heart: I would I could see you as you used to be, dear father, +till within these two days." + +"Whoever he were, if he brought me gold, he would bring me blessing. +There's meat and drink, and warmth and shelter, in the yellow gold--ay, +and rest from labour, child, and a power of rare good gifts." + +"If God had made them good, and the gold were honest gains, still, +father, even so, you forget righteousness, and happiness, and wisdom. +Money gives us none of these, but it might take them all away: dear +father, let your loving Grace ask you, have you been better, happier, +wiser, even from the wishing it so much?" + +"Daughter, daughter, I tell you plainly, he that gives me gold, gives me +all things: I wish I found the crock the de--the angel, I mean, brought +me." + +"O father," murmured Grace, "do not breathe the wicked wish; even if you +found it without any evil angel's help, would the gold be rightfully +your own?" + +"Tush, girl!" said her mother; "get the gold, feed the children, and +then to think about the right." + +"Ay, Grace, first drive away the toils and troubles of this life," added +Roger, "and then one may try with a free mind to discover the comforts +of religion." + +Poor Grace only looked up mournfully, and answered nothing. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE POACHER. + + +A SUDDEN knock at the door here startled the whole party, and +Mary Acton, bustling up, drew the bolt to let in--first, a lurcher, one +Rover to wit, our gaunt ember-loving friend of Chapter II.; secondly, +Thomas Acton, full flush, who carried the old musket on his shoulder, +and seemed to have something else under his smock; and thirdly, Ben +Burke, a personage of no small consequence to us, and who therefore +deserves some specific introduction. + +Big Ben, otherwise Black Burke, according to the friendship or the +enmity of those who named him, was a huge, rough, loud, good-humoured, +dare-devil sort of an individual, who lived upon what he considered +common rights. His dress was of the mongrel character, a well-imagined +cross between a ploughman's and a sailor's; the bottle-green frock of +the former, pattern-stitched about the neck as ingeniously as if a tribe +of Wisconsin squaws had tailored it--and mighty fishing boots, vast as +any French postillion's, acting as a triton's tail to symbolize the +latter: a red cotton handkerchief (dirty-red of course, as all things +else were dirty, for cleanliness had little part in Ben), occupied just +now the more native region of a halter; and a rusty fur cap crowned the +poacher; I repeat it--crowned the poacher; for in his own estimation, +and that of many others too, Ben was, if not quite an emperor, at least +an Agamemnon, a king of men, a natural human monarch; in truth, he felt +as much pride in the title Burke the Poacher (and with as great justice +too, for aught I know), as Ali-Hamet-Ghee-the-Thug eastwards, or +William-of-Normandy-the-Conqueror westwards, may be thought respectively +to have cherished, on the score of their murderous and thievish +surnames. + +There was no small good, after all, in poor Ben; and a mountain of +allowance must be flung into the scales to counterbalance his +deficiencies. However coarse, and even profane, in his talk (I hope the +gentle reader will excuse me alike for eliding a few elegant extracts +from his common conversation, and also for reminding him +characteristically, now and then, that Ben's language is not entirely +Addisonian), however rough of tongue and dissonant in voice, Ben's heart +will be found much about in the right place; nay, I verily believe it +has more of natural justice, human kindness, and right sympathies in +it, than are to be found in many of those hard and hollow cones that +beat beneath the twenty-guinea waistcoats of a Burghardt or a +Buckmaster. Ay, give me the fluttering inhabitant of Ben Burke's cowskin +vest; it is worth a thousand of those stuffed and artificial denizens, +whose usual nest is figured satin and cut velvet. + +Ben stole--true--he did not deny it; but he stole naught but what he +fancied was wrongfully withheld him: and, if he took from the rich, who +scarcely knew he robbed them, he shared his savoury booty with the poor, +and fed them by his daring. Like Robin Hood of old, he avenged himself +on wanton wealth, and frequently redressed by it the wrongs of penury. +Not that I intend to break a lance for either of them, nor to go any +lengths in excusing; slight extenuation is the limit for prudent +advocacy in these cases. Robin Hood and Benjamin Burke were both of them +thieves; bold men--bad men, if any will insist upon the bad; they sinned +against law, and order, and Providence; they dug rudely at the roots of +social institutions; they spoke and acted in a dangerous fashion about +rights of men and community of things. But set aside the statutes of +Foresting and Venery, disfranchise pheasants, let it be a cogent thing +that poverty and riches approach the golden mean somewhat less +unequally, and we shall not find much of criminality, either in Ben or +Robin. + +For a general idea, then, of our poaching friend:--he is a gigantic, +black-whiskered, humorous, ruddy mortal, full of strange oaths, which we +really must not print, and bearded like the pard, and he tumbles in +amongst our humble family party, with-- + +"Bless your honest heart, Roger! what makes you look so sodden? I'm a +lord, if your eyes a'n't as red as a hedge-hog's; and all the rest o' +you, too; why, you seem to be pretty well merry as mutes. Ha! I see what +it is," added Ben, pouring forth a benediction on their frugal supper; +"it's that precious belly-ache porridge that's a-giving you all the +'flensy. Tip it down the sink, dame, will you now? and trust to me for +better. Your Tom here, Roger, 's a lad o' mettle, that he is; ay, and +that old iron o' yours as true as a compass; and the pheasants would +come to it, all the same as if they'd been loadstoned. Here, dame, pluck +the fowl, will you: drop 'em, Tom."--And Thomas Acton flung upon the +table a couple of fine cock-pheasants. + +Roger, Mary, and Grace, who were well accustomed to Ben Burke's eloquent +tirades, heard the end of this one with anxiety and silence; for Tom +had never done the like before. Grace was first to expostulate, but was +at once cut short by an oath from her brother, whose evident state of +high excitement could not brook the semblance of reproof. Mary Acton's +marketing glance was abstractedly fixed upon the actual _corpus +delicti_; each fine plump bird, full-plumaged, young-spurred; yes, they +were still warm, and would eat tender, so she mechanically began to +pluck them; while, as for poor downcast Roger, he remembered, with a +conscience-sting that almost made him start, his stolen bit of money in +the morning--so, how could he condemn? He only looked pityingly on +Thomas, and sighed from the bottom of his heart. + +"Why, what's the matter now?" roared Ben; "one 'ud think we was bailiffs +come to raise the rent, 'stead of son Tom and friendly Ben; hang it, +mun, we aint here to cheat you out o' summut--no, not out o' peace o' +mind neither; so, if you don't like luck, burn the fowls, or bury 'em, +and let brave Tom risk limbo for nothing." + +"Oh, Ben!" murmured Grace, "why will you lead him astray? Oh, brother! +brother! what have you done?" she said, sorrowfully. + +"Miss Grace,"--her beauty always awed the poacher, and his rugged +Caliban spirit bowed in reverence before her Ariel soul--"I wish I was +as good as you, but can't be: don't condemn us, Grace; leastways, first +hear me, and then say where's the harm or sin on it. Twelve hundred head +o' game--I heard John Gorse, the keeper, tell it at the Jerry--twelve +hundred head were shot at t'other day's battew: Sir John--no blame to +him for it--killed a couple o' hundred to his own gun: and though they +sent away a coachful, and gave to all who asked, and feasted themselves +chuckfull, and fed the cats, and all, still a mound, like a haycock, o' +them fine fat fowl, rotted in a mass, and were flung upon the dungpit. +Now, Miss Grace, that ere salt pea-porridge a'n't nice, a'n't wholesome; +and, bless your pretty mouth, it ought to feed more sweetly. Look at +Acton, isn't he half-starved. Is Tom, brave boy, full o' the fat o' the +land? Who made fowl, I should like to know, and us to eat 'em? And +where's the harm or sin in bringing down a bird? No, Miss, them ere +beaks, dammem (beg humble pardon, Miss, indeed I won't again) them ere +justices, as they call themselves, makes hard laws to hedge about their +own pleasures; and if the poor man starves, he starves; but if he stays +his hunger with the free, wild birds of heaven, they prison him and +punish him, and call him poacher." + +"Ben, those who make the laws, do so under God's permission; and they +who break man's law, break His law." + +"Nonsense, child,"--suddenly said Roger; "hold your silly tongue. Do +you mean to tell us, God's law and man's law are the same thing! No, +Grace, I can't stomach that; God makes right, and man makes +might--riches go one way, and poor men's wrong's another. Money, money's +the great law-maker, and a full purse frees him that has it, while it +turns the jailor's key on the wretch that has it not: one of those +wretches is the hopeless Roger Acton. Well, well," he added, after a +despondent sigh, "say no more about it all; that's right, +good-wife--why, they do look plump. And if I can't stomach Grace's +text-talk there, I'm sure I can the birds; for I know what keeps crying +cupboard lustily." + +It was a faint effort to be gay, and it only showed his gloom the +denser. Truly, he has quite enough to make him sad; but this is an +unhealthy sadness: the mists of mammon-worship, rising up, meet in the +mid æther of his mind, these lowering clouds of discontent: and the +seeming calamity, that should be but a trial to his faith, looks too +likely to wreck it. + +So, then, the embers were raked up, the trivet stuck a-top, the savoury +broil made ready; and (all but Grace, who would not taste a morsel, but +went up straight to bed) never had the Actons yet sate down before so +rich a supper. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +BEN BURKE'S STRANGE ADVENTURE. + + +"TAKE a pull, Roger, and pass the flask," was the cordial +prescription of Ben Burke, intended to cure a dead silence, generated +equally of eager appetites and self-accusing consciences; so saying, he +produced a quart wicker-bottle, which enshrined, according to his +testimony, "summut short, the right stuff, stinging strong, that had +never seen the face of a wishy-washy 'ciseman." But Roger touched it +sparingly, for the vaunted nectar positively burnt his swallow: till +Ben, pulling at it heartily himself, by way of giving moral precept the +full benefit of a good example, taught Roger not to be afraid of it, and +so the flask was drained. + +Under such communicative influence, Acton's tale of sorrows and +oppressions, we may readily believe, was soon made known; and as +readily, that it moved Ben's indignant and gigantic sympathies to an +extent of imprecation on the eyes, timbers, and psychological existence +of Mr. Jennings, very little edifying. One thing, however, made amends +for the license of his tongue; the evident sincerity and warmth with +which his coarse but kindly nature proffered instant aid, both offensive +and defensive. + +"It's a black and burning shame, Honest Roger, and right shall have his +own, somehow, while Big Ben has a heart in the old place, and a hand to +help his friend." And the poacher having dealt his own broad breast a +blow that would have knocked a tailor down, stretched out to Acton the +huge hand that had inflicted it. + +"More than that, Roger--hark to this, man!" and, as he slapped his +breeches pocket, there was the chink as of a mine of money shaken to its +foundations: "hark to this, man! and more than hark, have! Here, good +wife, hold your apron!" And he flung into her lap a handful of silver. + +Roger gave a sudden shout of wonder, joy, and avarice: and then as +instantaneously turning very pale, he slowly muttered, "Hush, Ben! is it +bloody money?" and almost shrieked as he added, "and my poor boy Tom, +too, with you! God-a-mercy, mun! how came ye by it?" + +"Honestly, neighbour, leastways, middling honest: don't damp a good +fellow's heart, when he means to serve you." + +"Tell me only that my boy is innocent!--and the money--yes, yes, I'll +keep the money;" for his wife seemed to be pushing it from her at the +thought. + +"I innocent, father! I never know'd till this minute that Ben had any +blunt at all--did I, Ben?--and I only brought him and Rover here to sup, +because I thought it neighbourly and kind-like." + +Poor Tom had till now been very silent: some how the pheasants lay heavy +on his stomach. + +"Is it true, Ben, is it true? the lad isn't a thief, the lad isn't a +murderer? Oh, God! Burke, tell me the truth! + +"Blockhead!" was the courteous reply, "what, not believe your own son? +Why, neighbour Acton, look at the boy: would that frank-faced, +open-hearted fellow do worse, think you, than Black Burke? And would I, +bad as I be, turn the bloody villain to take a man's life? No, +neighbour; Ben kills game, not keepers: he sets his wire for a hare, but +wouldn't go to pick a dead man's pocket. All that's wrong in me, mun, +the game-laws put there; but I'm neither burglar, murderer, +highwayman--no, nor a mean, sneaking thief; however the quality may +think so, and even wish to drive me to it. Neither, being as I be no +rogue, could I bear to live a fool; but I should be one, neighbour, and +dub myself one too, if I didn't stoop to pick up money that a madman +flings away." + +"Madman? pick up money? tell us how it was, Ben," interposed female +curiosity. + +"Well, neighbours, listen: I was a-setting my night-lines round Pike +Island yonder, more nor a fortnight back; it was a dark night and a +mizzling, or morning rather, 'twixt three and four; by the same token, +I'd caught a power of eels. All at once, while I was fixing a trimmer, a +punt came quietly up: as for me, Roger, you know I always wades it +through the muddy shallow: well, I listens, and a chap creeps ashore--a +mad chap, with never a tile to his head, nor a sole to his feet--and +when I sings out to ax him his business, the lunatic sprung at me like a +tiger: I didn't wish to hurt a little weak wretch like him, specially +being past all sense, poor nat'ral! so I shook him off at once, and held +him straight out in this here wice." [Ben's grasp could have cracked any +cocoa-nut.] "He trembled like a wicked thing; and when I peered close +into his face, blow me but I thought I'd hooked a white devil--no one +ever see such a face: it was horrible too look at. 'What are you arter, +mun?' says I; 'burying a dead babby?' says I. 'Give us hold here--I'm +bless'd if I don't see though what you've got buckled up there.' With +that, the little white fool--it's sartin he was mad--all on a sudden +flings at my head a precious hard bundle, gives a horrid howl, jumps +into the punt, and off again, afore I could wink twice. My head a'n't a +soft un, I suppose; but when a lunatic chap hurls at it with all his +might a barrow-load of crockery at once, it's little wonder that my +right eye flinched a minute, and that my right hand rubbed my right eye; +and so he freed himself, and got clear off. Rum start this, thinks I: +but any how he's flung away a summut, and means to give it me: what can +it be? thinks I. Well, neighbours, if I didn't know the chap was mad +afore, I was sartain of it now; what do you think of a grown man--little +enough, truly, but out of long coats too--sneaking by night to Pike +Island, to count out a little lot of silver, and to guzzle twelve +gallipots o' honey? There it was, all hashed up in an old shawl, a slimy +mesh like birdlime: no wonder my eye was a leetle blackish, when +half-a-dozen earthern crocks were broken against it. I was angered +enough, I tell you, to think any man could be such a fool as to bring +honey there to eat or to hide--when at once I spied summut red among +the mess; and what should it be but a pretty little China house, +red-brick-like, with a split in the roof for droppings, and ticketed +'Savings-bank:' the chink o' that bank you hears now: and the bank +itself is in the pond, now I've cleaned the till out." + +"Wonderful sure! But what did you do with the honey, Ben?--some of the +pots wasn't broke," urged notable Mrs. Acton. + +"Oh, burn the slimy stuff, I warn't going to put my mouth out o' taste +o' bacca, for a whole jawful of tooth-aches: I'll tell you, dame, what I +did with them ere crocks, wholes, and parts. There's never a stone on +Pike Island, it's too swampy, and I'd forgot to bring my pocketful, as +usual. The heaviest fish, look you, always lie among the sedge, +hereabouts and thereabouts, and needs stirring, as your Tom knows well; +so I chucked the gallipots fur from me, right and left, into the +shallows, and thereby druv the pike upon my hooks. A good night's work I +made of it too, say nothing of the Savings-bank; forty pound o' pike and +twelve of eel warn't bad pickings." + +"Dear, it was a pity though to fling away the honey; but what became of +the shawl, Ben?" Perhaps Mrs. Acton thought of looking for it. + +"Oh, as for that, I was minded to have sunk it, with its mess of +sweet-meats and potsherds; but a thought took me, dame, to be +'conomical for once: and I was half sorry too that I'd flung away the +jars, for I began to fancy your little uns might ha' liked the stuff; so +I dipped the clout like any washerwoman, rinshed, and squeezed, and +washed the mess away, and have worn it round my waist ever since; here, +dame, I haven't been this way for a while afore to-night; but I meant to +ask you if you'd like to have it; may be 'tan't the fashion though." + +"Good gracious, Ben! why that's Mrs. Quarles's shawl, I'd swear to it +among a hundred; Sarah Stack, at the Hall, once took and wore it, when +Mrs. Quarles was ill a-bed, and she and our Thomas walked to church +together. Yes--green, edged with red, and--I thought so--a yellow circle +in the middle; here's B.Q., for Bridget Quarles, in black cotton at the +corner. Lackapity! if they'd heard of all this at the Inquest! I tell +you what, Big Ben, it's kindly meant of you, and so thank you heartily, +but that shawl would bring us into trouble; so please take it yourself +to the Hall, and tell 'em fairly how you came by it." + +"I don't know about that Poll Acton; perhaps they might ask me for the +Saving-bank, too--eh, Roger!" + +"No, no, wife; no, it'll never do to lose the money! let a bygone be a +bygone, and don't disturb the old woman in her grave. As to the shawl, +if it's like to be a tell-tale, in my mind, this hearth's the safest +place for it." + +So he flung it on the fire; there was a shrivelling, smouldering, guilty +sort of blaze, and the shawl was burnt. + +Roger Acton, you are falling quickly as a shooting star; already is your +conscience warped to connive, for lucre's sake, at some one's secret +crimes. You had better, for the moral of the matter, have burnt your +right hand, as Scævola did, than that shawl. Beware! your sin will bring +its punishment. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +SLEEP. + + +GRACE, in her humble truckle-bed, lay praying for her father; +not about his trouble, though that was much, but for the spots of sin +she could discern upon his soul. + +Alas! an altered man was Roger Acton; almost since morning light, the +leprosy had changed his very nature. The simple-minded Christian, +toiling in contentment for his daily bread, cheerful for the passing +day, and trustful for the coming morrow, this fair state was well-nigh +faded away; while a bitterness of feeling against (in one word) +GOD--against unequal partialities in providence, against things as they +exist; and this world's inexplicable government--was gnawing at his very +heart-strings, and cankering their roots by unbelief. It is a speedy +process--throw away faith with its trust for the past, love for the +present, hope for the future--and you throw away all that makes sorrow +bearable, or joy lovely; the best of us, if God withheld his help, would +apostatize like Peter, ere the cock crew thrice; and, at times, that +help has wisely been withheld, to check presumptuous thoughts, and teach +how true it is that the creature depends on the Creator. Just so we +suffer a wilful little child, who is tottering about in leading-strings, +to go alone for a minute, and have a gentle fall. And just so Roger +here, deserted for a time of those angelic ministrations whose +efficiency is proved by godliness and meekness, by patience and content, +is harassed in his spirit as by harpies, by selfishness and pride, and +fretful doublings; by a grudging hate of labour, and a fiery lust of +gold. Temptation comes to teach a weak man that he was fitted for his +station, and his station made for him; that fulfilment of his ignorant +desires will only make his case the worse, and that + + Providence alike is wise + In what he gives and what denies. + +Meanwhile, gentle Grace, on her humble truckle-bed, is full of prayers +and tears, uneasily listening to the indistinct and noisy talk, and +hearing, now and then, some louder oath of Ben's that made her shudder. +Yes, she heard, too, the smashing sound, when the poacher flung the +money down, and she feared it was a mug or a plate--no slight domestic +loss; and she heard her father's strange cry, when he gave that +wondering shout of joyous avarice, and she did not know what to fear. +Was he ill? or crazed! or worse--fallen into bad excesses? How she +prayed for him! + +Poor Ben, too, honest-hearted Ben; she thought of him in charity, and +pleaded for his good before the Throne of Mercy. Who knows but Heaven +heard that saintly virgin prayer? There is love in Heaven yet for poor +Ben Burke. + +And if she prayed for Ben, with what an agony of deep-felt intercession +did she plead for Thomas Acton, that own only brother of hers, just a +year the younger to endear him all the more, her playmate, care, and +charge, her friend and boisterous protector. The many sorrowing hours +she had spent for his sake, and the thousand generous actions he had +done for hers! Could she forget how the stripling fought for her that +day, when rude Joseph Green would help her over the style? Could she but +remember how slily he had put aside, for more than half a year, a little +heap of copper earnings--weeding-money, and errand-money, and +harvest-money--and then bounteously spent it all at once in giving her a +Bible on her birth-day? And when, coming across the fields with him +after leasing, years ago now, that fierce black bull of Squire Ryle's +was rushing down upon us both, how bravely did the noble boy attack him +with a stake, as he came up bellowing, and make the dreadful monster +turn away! Ah! I looked death in the face then, but for thee, my +brother! Remember him, my God, for good! + +"Poor father! poor father! Well, I am resolved upon one thing: I'll go, +with Heaven's blessing, to the Hall myself, and see Sir John, to-morrow; +he shall hear the truth, for"--And so Grace fell asleep. + +Roger, when he went to bed, came to similar conclusions. He would speak +up boldly, that he would, without fear or favour. Ben's most seasonable +bounty, however to be questioned on the point of right, made him feel +entirely independent, both of bailiffs and squires, and he had now no +anxieties, but rather hopes, about to-morrow. He was as good as they, +with money in his pocket; so he'd down to the Hall, and face the baronet +himself, and blow his bailiff out o' water: that should be his business +by noon. Another odd idea, too, possessed him, and he could not sleep at +night for thinking of it: it was a foolish fancy, but the dream might +have put it in his head: what if one or other of those honey-jars, so +flung here and there among the rushes, were in fact another sort of +"Savings-bank"--a crock of gold? It was a thrilling thought--his very +dream, too; and the lot of shillings, and the shawl--ay, and the +inquest, and the rumours how that Mrs. Quarles had come to her end +unfairly, and no hoards found--and--and the honey-pots missing. Ha! at +any rate he'd have a search to-morrow. No bugbear now should hinder him; +money's money; he'd ask no questions how it got there. His own bit of +garden lay the nearest to Pike Island, and who knows but Ben might have +slung a crock this way? It wouldn't do to ask him, though--for Burke +might look himself, and get the crock--was Roger's last and selfish +thought, before he fell asleep. + +As to Mrs. Acton, she, poor woman, had her own thoughts, fearful ones, +about that shawl, and Ben's mysterious adventure. No cloudy love of +mammon had overspread her mind, to hide from it the hideousness of +murder; in her eyes, blood was terrible, and not the less so that it +covered gold. She remembered at the inquest--be sure she was there among +the gossips--the facts, so little taken notice of till now, the keys in +the cupboard, where the honey-pots were not, and how Jonathan Floyd had +seen something on the lake, and the marks of a man's hand on the throat; +and, God forgive her for saying so, but Mr. Jennings was a little, +white-faced man. How wrong was it of Roger to have burnt that shawl! how +dull of Ben not to have suspected something! but then the good fellow +suspects nobody, and, I dare say, now doesn't know my thoughts. But +Roger does, more shame for him; or why burn the shawl? Ah! thought she, +with all the gossip rampart in her breast, if I could only have taken it +to the Hall myself, what a stir I should have caused! Yes, she would +have reaped a mighty field of glory by originating such a whirlwind of +inquiries and surmises. Even now, so attractive was the mare's nest, she +would go to the Hall by morning, and tell Sir John himself all about +the burnt shawl, and Pike Island, and the galli--And so she fell fast +asleep. + +With respect to Ben, Tom, and Rover, a well-matched triad, as any Isis, +Horus, and Nepthys, they all flung themselves promiscuously on the hard +floor beside the hearth, "basked at the fire their hairy strength," and +soon were snoring away beautifully in concert, base, tenor, and treble, +like a leash of glee-singers. No thoughts troubled them, either of +mammon or murder: so long before the meditative trio up-stairs, they had +set a good example, and fallen asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +LOVE. + + +WITH the earliest peep of day arose sweet Grace, full of +cheerful hope, and prayer, and happy resignation. She had a great deal +to do that morning; for, innocent girl, she had no notion that it was +quite possible to be too early at the Hall; her only fear was being too +late. Then there were all the household cares to see to, and the dear +babes to dress, and the place to tidy up, and breakfast to get ready, +and, any how, she could not be abroad till half-past eight: so, to her +dismay, it must be past nine before ever she can see Sir John. Let us +follow her a little: for on this important day we shall have to take the +adventures of our labourer's family one at a time. + +By twenty minutes to nine, Grace had contrived to bustle on her things, +give the rest the slip, and be tripping to the Hall. It is nearly two +miles off, as we already know; and Grace is such a pretty creature that +we can clearly do no better than employ our time thitherward by taking a +peep at her. + +Sweet Grace Acton, we will not vex thy blushing maiden modesty by +elaborate details of form, and face, and feature. Perfect womanhood at +fair eighteen: let that fill all the picture up with soft and swelling +charms; no wadding, or padding, or jigot, or jupe--but all those +graceful undulations are herself: no pearl-powder, no carmine, no +borrowed locks, no musk, or ambergris--but all those feeble helps of +meretricious art excelled and superseded by their just originals in +nature. It will not do to talk, as a romancer may, of velvet cheeks and +silken tresses; or invoke, to the aid of our inadequate description, +roses, and swans, and peaches, and lilies. Take the simple village +beauty as she is. Did you ever look on prettier lips or sweeter +eyes--more glossy natural curls upon a whiter neck? And how that little +red-riding-hood cloak, and the simple cottage hat tied down upon her +cheeks, and the homely russet gown, all too short for modern fashions, +and the white, well-turned ankle, and the tidy little leather shoe, and +the bunch of snow drops in her tucker, and the neat mittens contrasting +darkly with her fair, bare arms--pretty Grace, how well all these become +thee! There, trip along, with health upon thy cheek, and hope within thy +heart; who can resist so eloquent a pleader? Haste on, haste on: save +thy father in his trouble, as thou hast blest him in his sin--this +rustic lane is to thee the path of duty--Heaven speed thee on it! + +More slowly now, and with more anxious thoughts, more heart-weakness, +more misgiving--Grace approacheth the stately mansion: and when she +timidly touched the "Servants'" bell, for she felt too lowly for the +"Visiters',"--and when she heard how terribly loud it was, how +long it rung, and what might be the issue of her--wasn't it +ill-considered?--errand--the poor girl almost fainted at the sound. + +As she leaned unconsciously for strength against the door, it opened on +a sudden, and Jonathan Floyd, in mute amazement, caught her in his arms. + +"Why, Grace Acton! what's the matter with you?" Jonathan knew Grace +well; they had been at dame's-school together, and in after years +attended the same Sunday class at church. There had been some talk among +the gossips about Jonathan and Grace, and ere now folks had been kind +enough to say they would make a pretty couple. And folks were right, +too, as well as kind: for a fine young fellow was Jonathan Floyd, as any +duchess's footman; tall, well built, and twenty-five; Antinous in a +livery. Well to do, withal, though his wages don't come straight to him; +for, independently of his place--and the baronet likes him for his good +looks and proper manners--he is Farmer Floyd's only son, on the hill +yonder, as thriving a small tenant as any round abouts; and he is proud +of his master, of his blue and silver uniform, of old Hurstley, and of +all things in general, except himself. + +"But what on earth's the matter, Grace?" he was obliged to repeat, for +the dear girl's agitation was extreme. + +"Jonathan, can I see the baronet?" + +"What, at nine in the morning, Grace Acton! Call again at two, and you +may find him getting up. He hasn't been three hours a-bed yet, and +there's nobody about but Sarah Stack and me. I wish those Lunnun sparks +would but leave the place: they do his honour no good, I'm thinking." + +"Not till two!" was the slow and mournful ejaculation. What a damper to +her buoyant hopes: and Providence had seen fit to give her ill-success. +Is it so? Prosperity may come in other shapes. + +"Why, Grace," suddenly said Floyd, in a very nervous way, "what makes +you call upon my master in this tidy trim?" + +"To save my father," answered Innocence. + +"How? why? Oh don't, Grace, don't! I'll save him--I will indeed--what is +it? Oh, don't, don't!" + +For the poor affectionate fellow conjured on the spot the black vision +of a father saved by a daughter's degradation. + +"Don't, Jonathan?--it's my duty, and God will bless me in it. That cruel +Mr. Jennings has resolved upon our ruin, and I wished to tell Sir John +the truth of it." + +At this hearing, Jonathan brightened up, and glibly said, "Ah, indeed, +Jennings is a trouble to us all: a sad life I've led of it this year +past; and I've paid him pretty handsomely too, to let me keep the place: +while, as for John Page and the grooms, and Mr. Coachman and the +helpers, they don't touch much o' their wages on quarter-day, I know." + +"Oh, but we--we are ruined! ruined! Father is forbidden now to labour +for our bread." And then with many tears she told her tale. + +"Stop, Miss Grace," suddenly said Jonathan, for her beauty and eloquence +transformed the cottager into a lady in his eyes, and no wonder; "pray, +stop a minute, Miss--please to take a seat; I sha'n't be gone an +instant." + +And the good-hearted fellow, whose eyes had long been very red, broke +away at a gallop; but he was back again almost as soon as gone, panting +like a post-horse. "Oh, Grace! don't be angry! do forgive me what I am +going to do." + +"Do, Jonathan?" and the beauty involuntarily started--"I hope it's +nothing wrong," she added, solemnly. + +"Whether right or wrong, Grace, take it kindly; you have often bade me +read my Bible, and I do so many times both for the sake of it and you; +ay, and meet with many pretty sayings in it: forgive me if I act on +one--'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" With that, he +thrust into her hand a brass-topped, red-leather purse, stuffed with +money. Generous fellow! all the little savings, that had heretofore +escaped the prying eye and filching grasp of Simon Jennings. There was +some little gold in it, more silver, and a lot of bulky copper. + +"Dear Jonathan!" exclaimed Grace, quite thrown off her guard of maidenly +reserve, "this is too kind, too good, too much; indeed, indeed it is: I +cannot take the purse." And her bright eyes overflowed again. + +"Well, girl," said Jonathan, gulping down an apple in his throat, "I--I +won't have the money, that's all. Oh, Grace, Grace!" he burst out +earnestly, "let me be the blessed means of helping you in trouble--I +would die to do it, Grace; indeed I would!" + +The dear girl fell upon his neck, and they wept together like two loving +little sisters. + +"Jonathan"--her duteous spirit was the first to speak--"forgive this +weakness of a foolish woman's heart: I will not put away the help which +God provides us at your friendly hands: only this, kind brother--let me +call you brother--keep the purse; if my father pines for want of work, +and the babes at home lack food, pardon my boldness if I take the help +you offer. Meanwhile, God in heaven bless you, Jonathan, as He will!" + +And she turned to go away. + +"Won't you take a keepsake, Grace--one little token? I wish I had any +thing here but money to give you for my sake." + +"It would even be ungenerous in me to refuse you, brother; one little +piece will do." + +Jonathan fumbled up something in a crumpled piece of paper, and said +sobbingly--"Let it be this new half-crown, Grace: I won't say, keep it +always; only when you want to use that and more, I humbly ask you'll +please come to me." + +Now a more delicate, a more unselfish act, was never done by man: along +with the half-crown he had packed up two sovereigns! and thereby not +only escaped thanks, concealed his own beneficence, and robbed his purse +of half its little store; but actually he was, by doing so, depriving +himself for a month, or maybe more, of a visit from Grace Acton. Had it +been only half-a-crown, and want had pinched the family (neither Grace +nor Jonathan could guess of Ben Burke's bounty, and for all they knew +Roger had not enough for the morrow's meals)--had poverty come in like +an armed man, and stood upon their threshold a grim sentinel--doubtless +she must have run to him within a day or two. How sweet would it have +been to have kept her coming day by day, and to a commoner affection how +excusable! but still how selfish, how unlike the liberal and honourable +feeling that filled the manly heart of Jonathan Floyd! It was a noble +act, and worthy of a long parenthesis. + +If Grace Acton had looked back as she hurried down the avenue, she would +have seen poor Jonathan still watching her with all his eyes till she +was out of sight. Perhaps, though, she might have guessed it--there is a +sympathy in these things, the true animal magnetism--and I dare say that +was the very reason why she did not once turn her head. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE DISCOVERY. + + +ROGER ACTON had not slept well; had not slept at all till +nearly break of day, except in the feverish fashion of half dream half +revery. There were thick-coming fancies all night long about what Ben +had said and done: and more than once Roger had thought of the +expediency of getting up, to seek without delay the realization of that +one idea which now possessed him--a crock of gold. When he put together +one thing and another, he considered it almost certain that Ben had +flung away among the lot no mere honey-pot, but perhaps indeed a +money-pot: Burke hadn't half the cunning of a child; more fool he, and +maybe so much the better for me, thought money-bitten, selfish Roger. +Thus, in the night's hot imaginations, he resolved to find the spoil; to +will, was then to do: to do, was then to conquer. However, Nature's +sweet restorer came at last, and, when he woke, the idea had sobered +down--last night's fancies were preposterous. So, it was with a heavy +heart he got up later than his wont--no work before him, nothing to do +till the afternoon, when he might see Sir John, except it be to dig a +bit in his little marshy garden. When Grace ran to the Hall, Roger was +going forth to dig. + +Now, I know quite well that the reader is as fully aware as I am, what +is about to happen; but it is impossible to help the matter. If the +heading of this chapter tells the truth, a "discovery" of some sort is +inevitable. Let us preliminarize a thought or two, if thereby we can +hang some shadowy veil of excuse over a too naked mystery. First and +foremost, truth is strange, stranger, _et-cetera_; and this +_et-cetera_, pregnant as one of Lyttleton's, intends to add the +superlative strangest, to the comparative stranger of that seldom-quoted +sentiment. To every one of us, in the course of our lives, something +quite as extraordinary has befallen more than once. What shall we say of +omens, warnings, forebodings? What of the most curious runs of luck; the +most whimsical freaks of fortune; the unaccountable things that happen +round us daily, and no one marvels at them, till he reads of them in +print? Even as Macpherson, ingenious, if not ingenuous, gathered Ossian +from the lips of Highland hussifs, and made the world with modern Attila +to back it, wonder at the stores that are hived on old wives' tongues; +even so might any other literary, black-smith hammer from the ore of +common gossip a regular Vulcan's net of superstitious "facts." Never yet +was uttered ghost story, that did not breed four others; every one at +table is eager to record his, or his aunt's, experience in that line; +and the mass of queer coincidences, inexplicable incidents, indubitable +seeings, hearings, doings, and sufferings; which you and I have heard of +in this popular vein of talk, would amply excuse the wildest fictionist +for the most extravagant adventure--the more improbable, the nearer +truth. Talk of the devil, said our ancestors--let "&c." save us from the +consequence. Think of any thing vehemently, and it is an even chance it +happens: be confident, you conquer; be obstinate in willing, and events +shall bend humbly to their lord: nay, dream a dream, and if you +recollect it in the morning, and it bother you next day, and you cannot +get it out of your head for a week, and the matter positively haunt you, +ten to one but it finds itself or makes itself fulfilled, some odd day +or other. Just so, doubtless, will it prove to be with Roger's dream: I +really cannot help the matter. + +Again, it is more than likely that the reader is clever, very clever, +and that any attempts at concealment would be merely futile. From the +first page he has discovered who is the villain, and who the victim: the +title alone tells him of the golden hinge on which the story turns: he +can look through stone walls, if need be, or mesmerically see, without +making use of eyes: no peep-holes for him, as for Pyramus and Thisbe: no +initiation requisite for any hidden mysteries; all arcana are revealed +to him, every sanctum is a highway. No art of mortal pen can defeat this +mischief of acuteness: character is character; oaks grow of acorns, and +the plan of a life may be detected in a microscopic speech. The career +of Mr. Jennings is as much predestined by us to iniquity, from the first +intimation that he never makes excuse, as honest Roger is to trouble +and temptation from the weary effort wherewithal he woke. And, even now, +pretty Grace and young Sir John, the reader thinks that he can guess at +nature's consequence; while, with respect to Roger's going forth to dig +this morning, he sees it straight before him, need not ask for the +result. Well, if the shrewd reader has the eye of Lieuenhöeck, and can +discern, cradled in the small triangular beech-mast, a noble +forest-tree, with silvery trunk, branching arms, and dark-green foliage, +he deserves to be complimented indeed, for his own keen skill; but, at +the same time, Nature will not hurry herself for him, but will quietly +educe results which he foreknew--or thought he did--a century ago. And +is there not the highest Art in this unveiled simplicity: to lead the +reader onwards by a straight road, with the setting sun a-blaze at the +end of it, knowing his path, knowing its object, yet still borne on with +spirits unexhausted and unflagging foot? Trust me, there is better +praise in this, than in dazzling the distracted glance with a perpetual +succession of luminous fire-flies, and dragging your fair novel-reader, +harried and excited, through the mazes of a thousand incidents. + +Thirdly, and lastly, in this prefatorial say, there is to be considered +that inevitable defeator of all printed secrets--impatience. Nothing is +easier, nothing commoner (most wise people do it, whose fate is, that +they must keep up with the race of current publication, and therefore +must keep down the still-increasing crowd of authorial creations), +nothing is more venial, more laudable, than to read the last chapter +first; and so, finding out all mysteries at once, to save one's self a +vast deal of unnecessary trouble. And, for mere tale-telling, this may +be sufficient. What need to burden memory with imaginary statements, or +to weary out one's sympathies on trite fictitious woes?--come to the +catastrophe at once: the uncle hanged; the heir righted; the heroine, an +orange-flowered bride; and the white-headed grandmother, after all her +wrongs, winding up the story with a prudent moral. Now, this may all be +very well with histories that merely carry a sting in the tail, whose +moral is the warning of the rattlesnake, and whose hot-exciting interest +is posted with the scorpion's venom. They are the Dragon of Wantley, +with one caudal point--a barbed termination: we, like Moore of Moore +Hall, all point, covered with spikes: every where we boast ourselves an +ethical hedge-hog, all-over-armed with keen morals--a Rumour painted +full of tongues, echoing all around with revealing of secrets. The +feelings of our humble hero, altered Roger Acton, are worthy to be +studied by the great, to be sifted by the rich; and Grace's simple +tongue may teach the sage, for its wisdom cometh from above; and +Jonathan, for all his shoulder-knot and smart cockade, is worthy to give +lessons to his master: that master, also, is far better than you think +him; and poor Burke too, for true humanity's sake: so we get a mint of +morals, set aside the story. It is not raw material, but the +workmanship, that gives its value to the flowered damask; our +grand-dames' sumptuous taffeties and stand-alone brocades are but spun +silk-worms' interiors; the fairest statue is intrinsically but a mass of +clumsy stone, until, indeed, the sculptor has rough-hewn it, and shaped +it, and chiselled it, and finished all the touches with sand-paper. This +story of '_The Crock of Gold_' purports to be a Dutch picture, as +becometh boors, their huts, their short and simple annals; so that, +after its moralities, the mass of minute detail is the only thing that +gives it any value. + +Now, whilst all of you have been yawning through these egotistic +phrases, Roger has been digging in his garden; there he is, pecking away +at what once was the celery-bed, but now are fallow trenches; celery, as +we all know, is a water-loving plant, doing best in marshy-land, so no +wonder the trenches open on the sedge, and the muddy shallow opposite +Pike Island puddles up to them. There needs be no suspense, no mystery +at all; Roger's dream had clearly sent him thither, for he should not +have levelled those trenches yet awhile, it was a little too soon--bad +husbandry; and, barring the appearance of a devil, Roger's dream came +true. Yes, under the roots of a clump of bullrush, he lifted out with +his spade--a pot of Narbonne honey! + +When first he spied the pot, his heart was in his mouth--it must be +gold, and with tottering knees he raised the precious burden. But, woful +disappointment! the word "Honey," with plenty of French and Fortnum on +another pasted label, stared him in the face; it was sweet and slimy too +about the neck; there was no sort of jingle when he shook the crock; +what though it be heavy?--honey's heavy; and it was tied over quite in a +common way with pig's bladder, and his clumsy trembling fingers could +not undo that knot; and thus, with a miserable sense of cheated poverty, +he threw it down beside the path, and would, perhaps, have flung it +right away in sheer disgust, but for the reflection that the little ones +might like it. Once, indeed, the glorious doubt of maybe gold came back +upon his mind, and he lifted up the spade to smash the baffling pot, and +so make sure of what it might contain;--make sure, eh? why, you would +only lose the honey, whispered domestic economy. So he left the jar to +be opened by his wife when he should go in. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +JONATHAN'S STORE. + + +AND where has Mrs. Acton been all this morning? Off to the +Hall, very soon after Grace had got away; and she rung at the side +entrance, hard by the kitchen, most fortunately caught Sarah Stack +about, and had a good long gossip with her; telling her, open-mouthed, +all about Ben Burke having found a shawl of Mrs. Quarles's on the +island; and how, it being very rotten, yes, and smelling foul, Ben had +been fool enough to burn it; what a pity! how could the shawl have got +there? if it only could ha' spoken what it knew! And the bereaved +gossips mourned together over secrets undivulged, and their evidence +destroyed. As to the crockery, for a miraculous once in life, Mrs. Acton +held her tongue about a thing she knew, and said not a syllable +concerning it. Roger would be mad to lose the money. Just at parting +with her friend Mary Acton was going out by the wrong door, through the +hall, but luckily did no more than turn the handle; or she never could +have escaped bouncing in upon the lovers' interview, and thereby +occasioning a chaos of confusion. For, be it whispered, the step-dame +was not a little jealous of her ready-made daughter's beauty, persisted +in calling her a child, and treated her any thing but kindly and +sisterly, as her full-formed woman's loveliness might properly have +looked for. Only imagine, if the Hecate had but seen Jonathan's lit-up +looks, or Grace's down-cast blushes; for it really slipped my +observation to record that there were blushes, and probably some cause +for them when the keep-sake was given and accepted; only conceive if +the step-mother had heard Jonathan's afterward soliloquy, when he was +watching pretty Grace as she tripped away--and how much he seemed to +think of her eyes and eye-lashes! I am reasonably fearful, had she heard +and seen all this--Poll Acton's nails might have possibly drawn blood +from the cheeks of Jonathan Floyd. As it was, the little god of love +kindly warded from his votaries the coming of so crabbed an antagonist. + +Grace has now reached home again, blessing her overruling stars to have +escaped notice so entirely both in going and returning; for the mother +was hard at washing near the well, having got in half an hour before, +and father has not yet left off digging in his garden. So she crept up +stairs quietly, put away her Sunday best, and is just dropping on her +knees beside her truckle-bed, to speak of all her sorrows to her +Heavenly friend, and to thank him for the kindness He had raised her in +an earthly one. She then, with no small trepidation, took out of her +tucker, just below those withered snow-drops, the crumpled bit of paper +that held Jonathan's parting gift. It was surprising how her tucker +heaved; she could hardly get at the parcel. She wanted to look at that +half-crown; not that she feared it was a bad one, or was curious about +coins, or felt any pleasure in possessing such a sum: but there was such +a don't-know-what connected with that new half-crown, which made her +long to look at it; so she opened the paper--and found its golden +fellows! O noble heart! O kind, generous, unselfish--yes, beloved +Jonathan! But what is she to do with the sovereigns? Keep them? No, she +cannot keep them, however precious in her sight as proofs of deep +affection; but she will call as soon as possible, and give them back, +and insist upon his taking them, and keeping them too--for her, if no +otherwise. And the dear innocent girl was little aware herself how glad +she felt of the excuse to call so soon again at Hurstley. + +Meantime, for safety, she put the money in her Bible. + +What hallowed gold was that? Gained by honest industry, saved by +youthful prudence, given liberally and unasked, to those who needed, and +could not pay again; with a delicate consideration, an heroic essay at +concealment, a voluntary sacrifice of self, of present pleasure, +passion, and affection. And there it lies, the little store, hidden up +in Grace's Bible. She has prayed over it, thanked over it, interceded +over it, for herself, for it, for others. How different, indeed, from +ordinary gold, from common sin-bought mammon; how different from that +unblest store, which Roger Acton covets; how purified from meannesses, +and separate from harms! This is of that money, the scarcest coins of +all the world, endued with all good properties in heaven and in earth, +whereof it had been written, "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, +saith the Lord of hosts." + +Such alone are truly riches--well-earned, well-saved, well-sanctified, +well-spent. The wealthiest of European capitalists--the Croesus of +modern civilization--may be but a pauper in that better currency, +whereof a sample has been shown in the store of Jonathan Floyd. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +ANOTHER DISCOVERY, AND THE EARNEST OF GOOD THINGS. + + +"DAME, here's one o' Ben's gallipots he flung away: it's naught +but honey, dame--marked so--no crock of gold; don't expect it; no such +thing; luck like that isn't for such as me: though, being as it is, the +babes may like it, with their dry bread: open it, good-wife: I hope the +water mayn't ha' spoilt it." + +The notable Mary Acton produced certain scissors, hanging from her +pocket by a tape, and cut a knot, which to Roger had been Gordian's. + +"Why, it's bran, Acton, not honey; look here, will you." She tilted it +up, and, along with a cloud of saw-dust, dropped out a heavy hail-storm +of--little bits of leather! + +"Hallo? what's that?" said Roger, eagerly: "it's gold, gold, I'll be +sworn!" It was so. + +Every separate bit of money, whatever kind of coins they were, had been +tidily sewn up in a shred of leather; remnants of old gloves of all +colours; and the Narbonne jar contained six hundred and eighty-seven of +them. These, of course, were hastily picked up from the path whereon +they had first fallen, were counted out at home, and the glittering +contents of most of those little leather bags ripped up were immediately +discovered. Oh dear! oh dear! such a sight! Guineas and half-guineas, +sovereigns and half-sovereigns, quite a little hill of bright, clean, +prettily-figured gold. + +"Hip, hip, hooray!" shouted Roger, in an ecstacy; "Hurrah, hurrah, +hurrah!" and in the madness of his joy, he executed an extravagant pas +seul; up went his hat, round went his heels, and he capered awkwardly +like a lunatic giraffe. + +"Here's an end to all our troubles, Poll: we're as good as gentle-folks +now; catch me a-calling at the Hall, to bother about Jennings and Sir +John: a fig for bailiffs, and baronets, parsons, and prisons, and all," +and again he roared Hooray! "I tell you what though, old 'ooman, we must +just try the taste of our glorious golden luck, before we do any thing +else. Bide a bit, wench, and hide the hoard till I return. I'm off to +the Bacchus's Arms, and I'll bring you some stingo in a minute, old +gal." So off he ran hot-foot, to get an earnest of the blessing of his +crock of gold. + +The minute that was promised to produce the stingo, proved to be rather +of a lengthened character; it might, indeed, have been a minute, or the +fraction of one, in the planet Herschel, whose year is as long as +eighty-five of our Terra's, but according to Greenwich calculation, it +was nearer like two hours. + +The little Tom and Jerry shop, that rejoiced in the classical heraldry +of Bacchus's Arms, had been startled from all conventionalities by the +unwonted event of the demand, "change for a sovereign?" and when it was +made known to the assembled conclave that Roger Acton was the fortunate +possessor, that even assumed an appearance positively miraculous. + +"Why, honest Roger, how in the world could you ha' come by that?" was +the troublesome inquiry of Dick the Tanner. + +"Well, Acton, you're sharper than I took you for, if you can squeeze +gold out of bailiff Jennings," added Solomon Snip; and Roger knew no +better way of silencing their tongues, than by profusely drenching them +in liquor. So he stood treat all round, and was forced to hobanob with +each; and when that was gone, he called for more to keep their curiosity +employed. Now, all this caused delay; and if Mary had been waiting for +the "stingo," she would doubtless have had reasonable cause for anger +and impatience: however, she, for her part, was so pleasantly occupied, +like Prince Arthur's Queen, in counting out the money, that, to say the +truth, both lord and liquor were entirely forgotten. + +But another cause that lengthened out the minute, was the embarrassing +business of where to find the change. Bacchus's didn't chalk up trust, +where hard money was flung upon the counter; but all the accumulated +wealth of Bacchus's high-priest, Tom Swipey, and of the seven +worshippers now drinking in his honour, could not suffice to make up +enough of change: therefore, after two gallons left behind him in +libations as aforesaid, and two more bottled up for a drink-offering at +home, Roger was contented to be owed seven and fourpence; a debt never +likely to be liquidated. Much speculation this afforded to the gossips; +and when the treater's back was turned, they touched their foreheads, +for the man was clearly crazed, and they winked to each other with a +gesture of significance. + +Grace, while musing on her new half-crown--it was strange how long she +looked at it--had heard with real amazement that uproarious huzzaing! +and, just as her father had levanted for the beer, glided down from her +closet, and received the wondrous tidings from her step-mother. She +heard in silence, if not in sadness: intuitive good sense proclaimed to +her that this sudden gush of wealth was a temptation, even if she felt +no secret fears on the score of--shall we call it superstition?--that +dream, this crock, that dark angel--and this so changed spirit of her +once religious father: what could she think? she meekly looked to Heaven +to avert all ill. + +Mary Acton also was less elated and more alarmed than she cared to +confess: not that she, any more than Grace, knew or thought about lords +of manors, or physical troubles on the score of finding the crock: but +Mrs. Quarles's shawl, and sundry fearful fancies tinged with blood, +these worried her exceedingly, and made her look upon the gold with an +uneasy feeling, as if it were an unclean thing, a sort of Achan's wedge. + +At last, here comes Roger back, somewhat unsteadily I fear, with a stone +two-gallon jar of what he was pleased to avouch to be "the down-right +stingo." "Hooray, Poll!" (he had not ceased shouting all the way from +Bacchus's,) "Hooray--here I be again, a gentle-folk, a lord, a king, +Poll: why daughter Grace, what's come to you? I won't have no dull looks +about to-day, girl. Isn't this enough to make a poor man merry? No more +troubles, no more toil, no more 'humble sarvent,' no more a ragged, +plodding ploughman: but a lord, daughter Grace--a great, rich, luxurious +lord--isn't this enough to make a man sing out hooray?--Thank the crock +of gold for this--Oh, blessed crock!" + +"Hush, father, hush! that gold will be no blessing to you; Heaven send +it do not bring a curse. It will be a sore temptation, even if the +rights of it are not in some one else: we know not whom it may belong +to, but at any rate it cannot well be ours." + +"Not ours, child? whose in life is it then?" + +Mary Acton, made quite meek by a superstitious dread of having money of +the murdered, stepped in to Grace's help, whom her father's fierce +manner had appalled, with "Roger, it belonged to Mrs. Quarles, I'm +morally sure on it--and must now be Simon Jennings's, her heir." + +"What?" he almost frantically shrieked, "shall that white hell-hound rob +me yet again? No, dame--I'll hang first! the crock I found, the crock +I'll keep: the money's mine, whoever did the murder." Then, changing his +mad tone into one of reckless inebriate gayety--for he was more than +half-seas over even then from the pot-house toastings and excitement--he +added, "But come, wenches, down with your mugs, and help me to get +through the jar: I never felt so dry in all my life. Here's blessings on +the crock, on him as sent it, him as has it, and on all the joy and +comfort it's to bring us! Come, drink, drink--we must all drink +that--but where's Tom?" + +If Roger had been quite himself, he never would have asked so +superfluous a question: for Tom was always in one and the same company, +albeit never in one and the same place: he and his Pan-like Mentor were +continually together, studying wood-craft, water-craft, and all manner +of other craft connected with the antique trade of picking and stealing. + +"Where's Tom?" + +Grace, glad to have to answer any reasonable question, mildly answered, +"Gone away with Ben, father." + +Alas! that little word, Ben, gave occasion to reveal a depth in Roger's +fall, which few could have expected to behold so soon. To think that the +liberal friend, who only last night had frankly shared his all with him, +whose honest glowing heart would freely shed its blood for him, that he +in recollection should be greeted with a loathing! Ben would come, and +claim some portion of his treasure--he would cry halves--or, who knows? +might want all--all: and take it by strong arm, or by threat to 'peach +against him:--curse that Burke! he hated him. + +Oh, Steady Acton! what has made thee drink and swear? Oh, Honest Roger! +what has planted guile, and suspicion, and malice in thy heart? Are +these the mere first-fruits of coveting and having? Is this the earliest +blessing of that luck which many long for--the finding of a crock of +gold? + +We would not enlarge upon the scene; a painful one at all times, when +man forgets his high prerogative, and drowns his reason in the tankard: +but, in a Roger Acton's case, lately so wise, temperate, and patient, +peculiarly distressing. Its chief features were these. Grace tasted +nothing, but mournfully looked on: once only she attempted to +expostulate, but was met--not with fierce oaths, nor coarse chidings, +nor even with idiotic drivelling--oh no! worse than that she felt: he +replied to her with the maudlin drunken promise, "If she'd only be a +good girl, and let him bide, he'd give her a big Church-bible, bound in +solid gold--that 'ud make the book o' some real value, Grace." Poor +broken-hearted daughter--she rushed to her closet in a torrent of tears. + +As for Mary Acton, she was miraculously meek and dumb; all the scold was +quelled within her; the word "blood" was the Petruchio that tamed that +shrew; she could see a plenty of those crimson spots, which might + + "The multitudinous seas incarnadine, + Making the green, one red," + +dancing in the sun-beams, dotted on the cottage walls, sprinkled as +unholy water, over that foul crock. Would not the money be a curse to +them any how, say nothing of the danger? If things went on as they +began, Mary might indeed have cause for fear: actually, she could not +a-bear to look upon the crock; she quite dreaded it, as if it had +contained a "bottled devil." So there she sat ever so long--silent, +thoughtful, and any thing but comfortable. + +What became of Roger until next day at noon, neither he nor I can tell: +true, his carcase lay upon the floor, and the two-gallon jar was empty. +But, for the real man, who could answer to the name of Roger Acton, the +sensitive and conscious soul--that was some where galloping away for +fifteen hours in the Paradise of fools: the Paradise? no--the Maëlstrom; +tossed about giddily and painfully in one whirl of tumultuous +drunkenness. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +HOW THE HOME WAS BLEST THEREBY. + + +IT will surprise no one to be told that, however truly such an +excess may have been the first, it was by no means the last exploit of +our altered labourer in the same vein of heroism. Bacchus's was quite +close, and he needs must call for his change; he had to call often; +drank all quits; changed another sovereign, and was owed again; but, +trust him, he wasn't going to be cheated out of that: take care of the +pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves. But still it was +ditto repeated; changing, being owed, grudging, grumbling: at last he +found out the famous new plan of owing himself; and as Bacchus's did not +see fit to reject such wealthy customers, Roger soon chalked up a +yard-long score, and grew so niggardly that they could not get a penny +from him. + +It is astonishing how immediately wealth brings in, as its companion, +meanness: they walk together, and stand together, and kneel together, as +the hectoring, prodigal Faulconbridge, the Bastard Plantagenet in _King +John_, does with his white-livered, puny brother, Robert. Wherefore, no +sooner was Roger blest with gold, than he resolved not to be such a fool +as to lose liberally, or to give away one farthing. To give, I say, for +extravagant indulgence is another thing; and it was a fine, proud +pleasure to feast a lot of fellows at his sole expense. If meanness is +brother to wealth, it is at any rate first cousin to extravagance. + +When the dowager collects "her dear five hundred friends" to parade +before the fresh young heirs her wax-light lovely daughters--when all is +glory, gallopade, and Gunter--when Rubini warbles smallest, and +Lablanche is heard as thunder on the stairs--speak, tradesmen, ye who +best can tell, the closeness that has catered for that feast; tell it +out, ye famished milliners, ground down to sixpence on a ball-dress +bill; whisper it, ye footmen, with your wages ever due; let Gath, let +Askelon re-echo with the truth, that extortion is the parent of +extravagance! + +Now, that episode should have been in a foot note; but no one takes the +trouble to read notes; and with justice too; for if a man has any thing +to say, let him put it in his text, as orderly as may be. And, if order +be sometimes out of the question, as seems but clearly suitable at +present to our hero's manner of life, it is wise to go boldly on, +without so prim an usher; to introduce our thoughts as they reveal +themselves, ignorant of "their own degrees," not "standing on the order +of their coming," but, as a pit crowd on a benefit-night, bustling over +one another, helter-skelter, "in most admired disorder." This will well +comport with Roger's daily life: for, notwithstanding the frequent +interference of an Amazon wife--regardless of poor, dear Grace's gentle +voice and melancholy eyes--in spite of a conscience pricking in his +breast, with the spines of a horse-chestnut, that evil crock +appeared from the beginning to have been found for but one sole +purpose--_videlicet_, that of keeping alight in Roger's brain the fire +of mad intoxication. Yes, there were sundry other purposes, too, which +may as well be told directly. + +The utter dislocation of all home comforts occupied the foremost rank. +True--in comparison with the homes of affluence and halls of +luxury--those comforts may have formerly seemed few and far between; yet +still the angel of domestic peace not seldom found a rest within the +cottage. Not seldom? always: if sweet-eyed Grace be such an angel, that +ever-abiding guest, full of love, duty, piety, and cheerfulness. But +now, after long-enduring anguish, vexed in her righteous soul by the +shocking sights and sounds of the drunkard and his parasites (for all +the idle vagabonds about soon flocked around rich Acton, and were freely +welcome to his reckless prodigality), Grace had been forced to steal +away, and seek refuge with a neighbour. Here was one blessing the less. + +Another wretched change was in the wife. Granted, Mary Acton had not +ever been the pink of politeness, the violet of meekness, nor the rose +of entire amiability: but if she were a scold, that scolding was well +meant; and her irate energies were incessantly directed towards +cleanliness, economy, quiet, and other _notabilia_ of a busy house-wife. +She did her best to keep the hovel tidy, to make the bravest show with +their scanty chattels, to administer discreetly the stores of their +frugal larder, and to recompense the good-man returning from his hard +day's work, with much of rude joy and bustling kindness. But now, after +the first stupor of amazement into which the crock and its consequences +threw her, Poll Acton grew to be a fury: she raged and stormed, and well +she might, at filth and discomfort in her home, at nauseous dregs and +noisome fumes, at the orgie still kept up, day by day, and night by +night, through the length of that first foul week, which succeeded the +fortunate discovery. And not in vain she raged and stormed--and fought +too; for she did fight--ay, and conquered: and miserable Roger, now in +full possession of those joys which he had longed for at the casement of +Hurstley Hall, was glad to betake himself to the bench at Bacchus's, +whither he withdrew his ragged regiment. Thus, that crock had spoilt all +there was to spoil in the temper and conduct of the wife. + +Look also at the pretty prattling babes, twin boys of two years old, +whom Roger used to hasten home to see; who had to say their simple +prayers; to be kissed, and comforted, and put to bed; to be made happier +by a wild flower picked up on his path, than if the gift had been a +coral with gold bells: where were they now? neglected, dirty, fretting +in a corner, their red eyes full of wonder at father's altered ways, and +their quick minds watching, with astonished looks, the progress of +domestic discord. How the crock of gold has nipped those early blossoms +as a killing frost! + +Again, there used to be, till this sad week of wealth and riotous +hilarity, that constantly recurring blessing of the morn and evening +prayer which Roger read aloud, and Grace's psalm or chapter; and +afterwards the frugal meal--too scanty, perhaps, and coarse--but still +refreshing, thank the Lord, and seasoned well with health and appetite; +and the heart-felt sense of satisfaction that all around was earned by +honest labour; and there was content, and hope of better times, and +God's good blessing over every thing. + +Now, all these pleasures had departed; gold, unhallowed gold, gotten +hastily in the beginning, broadcast on the rank strong soil of a heart +that coveted it earnestly, had sprung up as a crop of poisonous tares, +and choked the patch of wheat; gold, unhallowed gold, light come, light +gone, had scared or killed the flock of unfledged loves that used to +nestle in the cotter's thatch, as surely as if the cash were stones, +flung wantonly by truants at a dove-cot; and forth from the crock, that +egg of wo, had been hatched a red-eyed vulture, to tyrannize in this sad +home, where but lately the pelican had dwelt, had spread her fostering +wing, and poured out the wealth of her affections. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +CARE. + + +BUT other happy consequences soon became apparent. If Acton in +his tipsy state was mad, in his intervals of soberness he was thoroughly +miserable. And this, not merely on the score of sickness, exhaustion, +prostrated spirits, blue-devils, or other the long catalogue of a +drunkard's joys; not merely from a raging wife, and a wretched home; not +merely from the stings, however sharp, however barbed, of a conscience +ill at ease, that would rise up fiercely like a hissing snake, and +strike the black apostate to the earth: these all, doubtless, had their +pleasant influences, adding to the lucky finder's bliss: but there was +another root of misery most unlooked for, and to the poor who dream of +gold, entirely paradoxical. + +The possession of that crock was the heaviest of cares. Where on earth +was he to hide it? how to keep it safely, secretly? What if he were +robbed of it in some sly way! O, thought of utter wo! it made the +fortunate possessor quiver like an aspen. Or what, if some one or more +of those blustering boon companions were to come by night with a +bludgeon and a knife, and--and cut his throat, and find the treasure? +or, worse still, were to torture him, set him on the fire like a +saucepan (he had heard of Turpin having done so with a rich old woman), +and make him tell them "where" in his extremity of pains, and give up +all, and then--and then murder him at last, outright, and afterwards +burn the hovel over his head, babes and all, that none might live to +tell the tale? These fears set him on the rack, and furnished one +inciting cause to that uninterrupted orgie; he must be either mad or +miserable, this lucky finder. + +Also, even in his tipsy state, he could not cast off care: he might in +his cups reveal the dangerous secret of having found a crock of gold. A +secret still it was: Grace, his wife, and himself, were the only souls +who knew it. Dear Grace feared to say a word about the business: not in +apprehension of the law, for she never thought of that too probable +intrusion on the finder: but simply because her unsophisticated piety +believed that God, for some wise end, had allowed the Evil One to tempt +her father; she, indeed, did not know the epigram, + + The devil now is wiser than of yore: + He tempts by making rich--not making poor: + +but she did not conceive that notion in her mind; she contrasted the +wealthy patriarch Job, tried by poverty and pain, but just and patient +in adversity--with the poor labourer Acton, tried by luxury and wealth, +and proved to be apostate in prosperity: so she held her tongue, and +hitherto had been silent on a matter of so much local wonder as her +father's sudden wealth, in the midst of urgent curiosity and +extraordinary rumours. + +Mary was kept quiet as we know, by superstition of a lower grade, the +dread of having money of the murdered, a thought she never breathed to +any but her husband; and to poor uninitiated Grace (who had not heard a +word of Ben's adventure), her answer about Mrs. Quarles and Mr. Jennings +in the dawn of the crock's first blessing, had been entirely +unintelligible: Mary, then, said never a word, but looked on dreadingly +to see the end. + +As for Roger himself, he was too much in apprehension of a landlord's +claims, and of a task-master's extortions, to breath a syllable about +the business. So he hid his crock as best he could--we shall soon hear +how and where--took out sovereign after sovereign day by day, and made +his flush of instant wealth a mystery, a miracle, a legacy, good luck, +any thing, every thing but the truth: and he would turn fiercely round +to the frequent questioner with a "What's that to you?--Nobody's +business but mine:" and then would coaxingly add the implied bribe to +secresy, in his accustomed invitation--"And now, what'll you take?"--a +magical phrase, which could suffice to quell murmurs for the time, and +postponed curiosity to appetite. Thus the fact was still unknown, and +weighed on Roger's mind as a guilty concealment, an oppressive secret. +What if any found it out? + +For immediate safety--the evening after his memorable first fifteen +hours of joy--he buried the crock deeply in a hole in his garden, +filling all up hard with stones and brick-bats; and when he had +smoothed it straight and workmanlike, remembered that he surely hadn't +kept out enough to last him; so up it had to come again--five more taken +out, and the crock was restored to its unquiet grave. + +Scarcely had he done this, than it became dark, and he began to fancy +some one might have seen him hide it; those low mean tramps (never +before had he refused the wretched wayfarers his sympathy) were always +sneaking about, and would come and dig it up in the night: so he went +out in the dark and the rain, got at it with infinite trouble and a +broken pickaxe, and exultingly brought the crock in-doors; where he +buried it a third time, more securely, underneath the grouted floor, +close beside the fire in the chimney-corner: it was now nearly midnight, +and he went to bed. + +Hardly had he tumbled in, after pulling on a nightcap of the flagon, +than the dread idea overtook him that his treasure might be melted! Was +there ever such a fool as he? Well, well, to think he could fling his +purse on the fire! What a horrid thought! Metallurgy was a science quite +unknown to Roger; he only considered gold as heavy as lead, and +therefore probably as fusible: so down he bustled, made another hole, a +deeper one too this time, in the floor under the dresser, where, +exhausted with his toil and care, he deposited the crock by four in the +morning--and so retired once more. + +All in vain--nobody ever knew when Black Burke might be returning from +his sporting expeditions--and that beast of a lurcher would be sure to +be creeping in this morning, and would scratch it up, and his brute of a +master would get it all! This fancy was the worst possible: and Roger +rose again, quite sick at heart, pale, worn, and trembling with a +miser's haggard joys. Where should he hide that crock--the epithet +"cursed" crock escaped him this time in his vexed impatience. In the +house and in the garden, it was equally unsafe. + +Ha! a bright thought indeed: the hollow in the elm-tree, creaking +overhead, just above the second arm: so the poor, shivering wretch, +almost unclad, swarmed up that slimy elm, and dropped his treasure in +the hollow. Confusion! how deep it was: he never thought of that; here +was indeed something too much of safety: and then those boys of +neighbour Goode's were birds'-nesting continually, specially round the +lake this spring. What an idiot he was not to have remembered this! And +up he climbed again, thrust in his arm to the shoulder, and managed to +repossess himself a fifth time of that blessed crock. + +Would that the elm had been hollow to its root, and beneath the root a +chasm bottomless, and that Plutus in that Narbonne jar had served as a +supper to Pluto in the shades! Better had it been for thee, my Roger. + +But he had not hid it yet; so, that night--or rather that cold morning +about six, the drenched, half-frozen Fortunatus carried it to bed with +him: and a precious warming-pan it made: for nothing would satisfy the +finder of its presence but perpetual bodily contact:--accordingly, he +placed it in his bosom, and it chilled him to the back-bone. + +Yes; that was undoubtedly the safest way; to carry the spoil about with +him; so, next noon--how could he get up till noon after such a woful +night?--next noon he emptied the jar, and tying up its contents in a +handkerchief, proceeded to wear it as a girdle; for an hour he clattered +about the premises, making as much jingle as a wagoner's team of bells; +laden heavily with gold, like the [Greek: ibebusto] genius in Herodotus: +but he soon found out this would not do at all; for, independently of +all concealment at an end, so long as his secret store was rattling as +he walked, louder than military spurs or sabre-tackle, he soberly +reflected that he might--possibly, possibly, though not probably--get a +glass too much again, by some mere accident or other; and then to be +robbed of his golden girdle, this cincture of all joy! O, terrible +thought! as well [this is my fancy, not Rogers's] deprive Venus of her +zone, and see how the beggared Queen of Beauty could exist without her +treasury, the Cestus. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +INVESTMENT. + + +NEXT day, the wealthy Roger had higher aspirations. Why should +not he get interest for his money, like lords and gentlefolk? His gold +had been lying idle too long; more fool he: it ought to breed money +somehow, he knew that; for, like most poor men whose sole experience of +investment is connected with the Lombard's golden balls, he took exalted +views of usury. Was he to be "hiding up his talent in a napkin--?" + +Ah!--he remembered and applied the holy parable, but it smote across his +heart like a flash of frost, a chilling recollection of good things past +and gone. What had he been doing with his talents--for he once +possessed the ten? had he not squandered piety, purity, and patience? +where were now his gratitude to God, his benevolence to man? the +father's duteous care, the husband's industry and kindness, the +labourer's faith, the Christian's hope--who had spent all these?--Till +money's love came in, and money-store to feed it, the poor man had been +rich: but now, rotten to the core, by lust of gold, the rich is poor +indeed. + +However, such considerations did not long afflict him--for we know that +lookers-on see more than players--and if Roger had encouraged half our +wise and sober thoughts, he might have been a better man: but Roger +quelled the thoughts, and silenced them; and thoughts are tender +intonations, shy little buzzing sounds, soon scared by coarser noise: +Roger had no mind to cherish those small fowls; so they flew back again +to Heaven's gate, homeless and uncomforted as weeping peri's. + +The bank--the county bank--Shark, Breakem, and Company--this was the +specious Eldorado, the genuine gold-increaser, the hive where he would +store his wealth (as honey left for the bees in winter), and was to have +it soon returned fourfold. It was indeed a thought to make the rich man +glad, that all his shining heap was just like a sample of seed-corn, and +the pocket-full should next year fill a sack. How grudgingly he now +began to mourn over past extravagance, five pieces gone within the week! +how close and careful he resolved to be in future! how he would scrape +and economize to get and save but one more of those sweet little seeds, +that yield more gold--more gold! And if Roger had been privileged in +youth to have fed upon the wisdom of the Eton Latin grammar, he could +have now quoted with some experimental unction the "_Crescit Amor_" +line, which every body well knows how to finish. Truly, it was growing +with his growth, and rioting in strength above his weakness. + +Swollen with this expanding love, he packed up his money in what were, +though he knew it not, _rouleaux_, but to his plebeian eyes looked more +like golden sausages: and he would take it to the bank, and they should +bow to him, and Sir him, and give him forthwith more than he had +brought; and if those summary gains were middling great--say twice as +much, to be moderate--he thought he might afford himself a chaise coming +back, and return to Hurstley Common like a nabob. Thus, full of wealthy +fancies, after one glass more, off set Roger to the county town, with +his treasure in a bundle. + +Half-way to it, as hospitality has ordained to be the case wherever +there be half-ways, occurred a public-house: and really, +notwithstanding all our monied neophyte's economical resolutions, his +throat was so "uncommon dry," that he needs must stop there to refresh +the muscles of his larynx: so, putting down his bundle on the settle, he +called for a foaming tankard, and thanking the crock, as his evil wont +now was, sat down to drink and think. Here was prosperity indeed, a +flood of astonishing good fortune: that he, but a little week agone, a +dirty ditcher--so was he pleased to designate his former self--a ragged +wretch, little better than a tramp, should be now progressing like a +monarch, with a mighty bag of gold to enrich his county town. To enrich, +and be thereby the richer; for Roger's actions of finance were so +simple, as to run the risk of being called sublimely indistinct: he took +it as an axiom that "money bred money," but in what way to draw forth +its generative properties, whether or not by some new-fangled manure, he +was entirely ignorant; and it clearly was his wisdom to leave all that +mystery of money-making solely to the banker. All he cared about was +this: to come back richer than he came--and, lo! how rich he was +already. Lolling at high noon, on a Wednesday too, in the extremest mode +of rustic beauism, with a bag of gold by his side, and a pot of porter +in his hand--here was an accumulation of magnificence--all the +prepositions pressed into his service. His wildest hopes exceeded, and +almost nothing left to wish. Blown up with the pride and importance of +the moment, and some little oblivious from the potent porter--he had +paid and sallied forth, and marched a mile upon his way, full of golden +fancies, a rich luxurious lord as he was--when all on a sudden the +hallucination crossed his dull pellucid mind, that he had left the store +behind him! O, pungent terror!--O, most exquisite torture! was it clean +gone, stolen, lost, lost, lost for ever? Rushing back in an agony of +fear, that made the ruddy hostess think him crazed, with his hair on +end, and a face as if it had been white-washed, he flew to the tap-room, +and--almost fainted for ecstasy of joy when he found it, where he had +laid it, on the settle! + +Better had you lost it, Roger; better had your ecstasy been sorrow: +there is more trouble yet for you, from that bad crock of gold. But if +your lesson is not learnt, and you still think otherwise, go on a little +while exultingly as now I see you, and hug the treasure to your +heart--the treasure that will bring you yet more misery. + +And now the town is gained, the bank approached. What! that big barred, +guarded place, looking like a mighty mouse-trap? he didn't half like to +venture in. At last he pushed the door ajar, and took a peep; there +were muskets over the mantel-piece, ostentatiously ticketed as "Loaded! +Beware!" there were leather buckets ranged around the walls: he did not +in any degree like it: was he to expose his treasure in this idiot +fashion to all the avowed danger of fire and thieves? However, since he +had come so far, he would get some interest for his money, that he +would--so he'd just make bold to step to the counter and ask a very +obsequious bald-headed gentleman, who sired him quite affably, + +"How much, Master, will you be pleased to give me for my gold?" + +The gentleman looked queerish, as if he did not comprehend the question, +and answered, "Oh! certainly, sir--certainly--we do not object to give +you our notes for it," at the same time producing an extremely dirty +bundle of worn-out bits of paper. + +Roger stroked his chin. + +"But, Master, my meaning is, not how many o' them brown bits o' paper +you'll sell me for my gold here," and he exhibited a greater store than +Mr. Breakem had seen at once upon his counter for a year, "but how much +more gold you'll send me back with than what I've brought? by way of +interest, you know, or some such law: for I don't know much about the +Funds, Master." + +"Indeed, sir," replied the civil banker, who wished by any means to +catch the clodpole's spoil--"you are very obliging; we shall be glad to +allow you two-and-a-half per centum per annum for the deposit you are +good enough to leave in our keeping." + +"Leave in your keeping, Master! no, I didn't say that! by your leave, +I'll keep it myself!" + +"In that case, sir, I really do not see how I can do business with you." + +True enough; and Roger would never have been such a monetary blockhead, +had he not been now so generally tipsy; the fumes of beer had mingled +with his plan, and all his usual shrewdness had been blunted into folly +by greediness of lucre on the one side, and potent liquors on the other. +The moment that the banker's parting speech had reached his ear, the +absurdity of Roger's scheme was evident even to himself, and with a bare +"Good day, Master," he hurriedly took his bundle from the counter, and +scuttled out as quick as he could. + +His feelings, walking homeward, were any thing but pleasant; the bubble +of his ardent hope was burst: he never could have more than the paltry +little sum he carried in that bundle: what a miser he would be of it: +how mean it now seemed in his eyes--a mere sample-bag of seed, instead +of the wide-waving harvest! Ah, well; he would save and scrape--ay, and +go back to toil again--do any thing rather than spend. + +Got home, the difficulty now recurred, where was he to hide it? The +store was a greater care than ever, now those rascally bankers knew of +it. He racked his brain to find a hiding-place, and, at length, really +hit upon a good one. He concealed the crock, now replenished with its +contents, in the thatch just over his bed's head: it was a rescued +darling: so he tore a deep hole, and nested it quite snugly. + +Perhaps it did not matter much, but the rain leaked in by that hole all +night, and fortunate Roger woke in the morning drenched with wet, and +racked by rheumatism. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +CALUMNY. + + +MORE blessings issue from the crock; Pandora's box is set wide +open, and all the sweet inhabitants come forth. If apprehensions for its +safety made the finder full of care, the increased whisperings of the +neighbourhood gave him even deeper reason for anxiety. In vain he told +lie upon lie about a legacy of some old uncle in the clouds; in vain he +stuck to the foolish and transparent falsehood, with a dogged +pertinacity that appealed, not to reason, but to blows; in vain he made +affirmation weaker by his oath, and oaths quite unconvincing by his +cudgel: no one believed him: and the mystery was rendered more +inexplicable from his evidently nervous state and uneasy terror of +discovery. + +He had resolved at the outset, cunningly as he fancied, to change no +more than one piece of gold in the same place; though Bacchus's +undoubtedly proved the rule by furnishing an exception: and the +consequence came to be, that there was not a single shop in the whole +county town, nor a farm-house in all the neighbourhood round, where +Roger Acton had not called to change a sovereign. True, the silver had +seldom been forthcoming; still, he had asked for it; and where in life +could he have got the gold? Many was the rude questioner, whose +curiosity had been quenched in drink; many the insufferable pryer, whom +club-law had been called upon to silence. Meanwhile, Roger steadily kept +on, accumulating silver where he could: for his covetous mind delighted +in the mere semblance of an increase to his store, and took some +untutored numismatic interest in those pretty variations of his +idol--money. + +But if Roger's heap increased, so did the whispers and suspicions of the +country round; they daily grew louder, and more clamorous; and soon the +charitable nature of chagrined wonder assumed a shape more heart-rending +to the wretched finder of that golden hoard, than any other care, or +fear, or sin, that had hitherto torn him. It only was a miracle that the +neighbours had not thought of it before; seldom is the world so +unsuspicious; but then honest Roger's forty years of character were +something--they could scarcely think the man so base; and, above all, +gentle Grace was such a favourite with all, was such a pattern of +purity, and kindliness, and female conduct, that the tongue would have +blistered to its roots, that had uttered scorn of her till now. As +things were, though, could any thing be clearer? Was charity herself to +blame in putting one and one together? Sir John was rich, was young, +gay, and handsome; but Grace was poor--but indisputably beautiful, and +probably had once been innocent: some had seen her going to the Hall at +strange times and seasons--for in truth, she often did go there; +Jonathan and Sarah Stack, of course, were her dearest friends on earth: +and so it came to pass, that, through the blessing of the crock, honest +Roger was believed to live on the golden wages of his daughter's shame! +Oh, coarse and heartless imputation! Oh, bitter price to pay for secresy +and wonderful good fortune! In vain the wretched father stormed, and +swore, and knocked down more than one foul-spoken fellow that had +breathed against dear Grace. None but credited the lie, and many envious +wretches actually gloried in the scandal; I grieve to say that +women--divers venerable virgins--rejoiced that this pert hussey was at +last found out; she was too pretty to be good, too pious to be pure; now +at length they were revenged upon her beauty; now they had their triumph +over one that was righteous over-much. For other people, they would urge +the reasonable question, how else came Roger by the cash? and getting no +answer, or worse than none--a prevaricating, mystifying mere +put-off--they had hardly an alternative in common exercise of judgment: +therefore, "Shame on her," said the neighbours, "and the bitterest shame +on him:" and the gaffers and grand-dames shook their heads virtuously. + +Yet worse: there was another suggestion, by no means contradictory, +though simultaneous: what had become of Tom? ay--that bold young +fellow--Thomas Acton, Ben Burke's friend: why was he away so long, +hiding out of the country? they wondered. + +The suspected Damon and Pythias had gone a county off to certain fens, +and were, during this important week, engaged in a long process of +ensnaring ducks. + +Old Gaffer White had muttered something to Gossip Heartley, which Dick +the Tanner overheard, wherein Tom Acton and a gun, and Burke, and +burglary, and throats cut, and bags of gold, were conspicuous +ingredients: so that Roger Acton's own dear Tom, that eagle-eyed and +handsome better image of himself, stood accused, before his quailing +father's face, of robbery and murder. + +Both--both darlings, dead Annie's little orphaned pets, thus stricken by +one stone to infamy! Grace, scouted as a hussey, an outcast, a bad girl, +a wanton--blessed angel! Thomas--generous boy--keenly looked for, in his +near return, to be seized by rude hands, manacled, and dragged away, and +tried on suspicion as a felon--for what? that crock of gold. Yet Roger +heard it all, knew it all, writhed at it all, as if scorpions were +lashing him; but still he held on grimly, keeping that bad secret. +Should he blab it out, and so be poor again, and lose the crock? + +That our labourer's changed estate influenced his bodily health, under +this accumulated misery and desperate excitement, began to be made +manifest to all. The sturdy husbandman was transformed into a tremulous +drunkard; the contented cottager, into a querulous hypochondriac; the +calm, religious, patient Christian, into a tumultuous blasphemer. Could +all this be, and even Roger's iron frame stand up against the battle! +No, the strength of Samson has been shorn. The crock has poured a +blessing on its finder's very skin, as when the devil covered Job with +boils. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE BAILIFF'S VISIT. + + +ONE day at noon, ere the first week well was over since the +fortunate discovery of gold, as Roger lay upon his bed, recovering from +an overnight's excess, tossed with fever, vexation, and anxiety, he was +at once surprised and frightened by a visit from no less a personage +than Mr. Simon Jennings. And this was the occasion of his presence: + +Directly the gathering storm of rumours had collected to that focus of +all calumny, the destruction of female character and murder charged upon +the innocent, Grace Acton had resolved upon her course; secresy could be +kept no longer; her duty now appeared to be, to publish the story of her +father's lucky find. + +Grace, we may observe, had never been bound to silence, but only imposed +it on herself from motives of tenderness to one, whom she believed to be +taken in the toils of a temptation. She, simple soul, knew nothing of +manorial rights, nor wotted she that any could despoil her father of his +money; but even if such thoughts had ever crossed her mind, she loathed +the gold that had brought so much trouble on them all, and cared not how +soon it was got rid of. Her father's health, honour, happiness, were +obviously at stake; perhaps, also, her brother's very life: and, as for +herself, the martyr of calumny looked piously to heaven, offered up her +outraged heart, and resolved to stem this torrent of misfortune. +Accordingly, with a noble indignation worthy of her, she had gone +straightway to the Hall, to see the baronet, to tell the truth, fling +aside a charge which she could scarcely comprehend, and openly vindicate +her offended honour. She failed--many imagine happily for her own peace, +if Sir John had not been better than his friends--in gaining access to +the Lord of Hurstley; but she did see Mr. Jennings, who serenely +interposed, and listened to all she came to say--"her father had been +unfortunate enough to find a crock of money on the lake side near his +garden." + +When Jennings heard the tale, he started as if stung by a wasp: and +urging Grace to tell it no one else (though the poor girl "must," she +said, "for honour's sake"), he took up his hat, and ran off breathlessly +to Acton's cottage. Roger was at home, in bed, and sick; there was no +escape; and Simon chuckled at the lucky chance. So he crept in, +carefully shut the door, put his finger on his lips to hush Roger's note +of admiration at so little wished a vision; and then, with one of his +accustomed scared and fearful looks behind him, muttered under his +breath, + +"Man, that gold is mine: I have paid its price to the uttermost; give me +the honey-pot." + +Roger's first answer was a vulgar oath; but his tipsy courage faded soon +away before old habits of subserviency, and he faltered out, +"I--I--Muster Jennings! I've got no pot of gold!" + +"Man, you lie! you have got the money! give it me at once--and--" he +added in a low, hoarse voice, "we will not say a word about the murder." + +"Murder!" echoed the astonished man. + +"Ay, murder, Acton:--off! off, I say!" he muttered parenthetically, then +wrestled for a minute violently, as with something in the air; and +recovering as from a spasm, calmly added, + +"Ay, murder for the money." + +"I--I!" gasped Roger; "I did no murder, Muster Jennings!" + +A new light seemed to break upon the bailiff, and he answered with a +tone of fixed determination, + +"Acton, you are the murderer of Bridget Quarles." + +Roger's jaw dropped, dismay was painted on his features, and certainly +he did look guilty enough. But Simon proceeded in a tenderer tone; + +"Notwithstanding, give me the gold, Acton, and none shall know a word +about the murder. We will keep all quiet, Roger Acton, all nice and +quiet, you know;" and he added, coaxingly, "come, Roger, give me up this +crock of gold." + +"Never!" with a fierce anathema, answered our hero, now himself again: +the horrid accusation had entranced him for a while, but this coaxing +strain roused up all the man in him: "Never!" and another oath confirmed +it. + +"Acton, give it up, I say!" was shouted in rejoinder, and Jennings +glared over him with his round and staring eyes as he lay faint upon his +bed--"Give up the crock, or else--" + +"Else what? you whitened villain." + +The bailiff flung himself at Roger's neck, and almost shrieked, "I'll +serve you as I--" + +There was a tremendous struggle; attacked at unawares, for the moment he +was nearly mastered; but Acton's tall and wiry frame soon overpowered +the excited Jennings, and long before you have read what I have +written--he has leaped out of bed--seized--doubled up--and flung the +battered bailiff headlong down the narrow stair-case to the bottom. This +done, Roger, looking like Don Quixote de la Mancha in his penitential +shirt, mounted into bed again, and quietly lay down; wondering, +half-sober, at the strange and sudden squall. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE CAPTURE. + + +HE had not long to wonder. Jennings got up instantly, despite +of bruises, posted to the Hall, took a search-warrant from Sir John's +study, (they were always ready signed, and Jennings filled one up,) and +returned with a brace of constables to search the cottage. + +Then Roger, as he lay musing, fancied he heard men's voices below, and +his wife, who had just come in, talking to them; what could they want? +tramps, perhaps: or Ben? he shuddered at the possibility; with Tom too; +and he felt ashamed to meet his son. So he turned his face to the wall, +and lay musing on--he hadn't been drinking too much over-night--Oh, no! +it was sickness, and rheumatics, and care about the crock; Tom should be +told that he was very ill, poor father! Just as he had planned this, and +resolved to keep his secret from that poaching ruffian Burke, some one +came creeping up the stairs, slided in at the door, and said to him in a +deep whisper from the further end of the room, + +"Acton, give me the gold, and the men shall go away; it is not yet too +late; tell me where to find the crock of gold." + +An oath was the reply; and, at a sign from Jennings, up came the other +two. + +"We have searched every where, Mr. Simon Jennings, both cot and garden; +ground disturbed in two or three places, but nothing under it; in-doors +too, the floor is broken by the hearth and by the dresser, but no signs +of any thing there: now, Master Acton, tell us where it is, man, and +save us all the trouble." + +Roger's newly-learnt vocabulary of oaths was drawn upon again. + +"Did you look in the ash-pit?" asked Jennings. + +"No, sir." + +"Well, while you two search this chamber, I will examine it myself." + +Mr. Jennings apparently entertained a wholesome fear of Acton's powers +of wrestling. + +Up came Simon in a hurry back again, with a lot of little empty leather +bags he had raked out, and--the fragment of a shawl! the edges burnt, it +was a corner bit, and marked B.Q. + +"What do you call this, sir?" asked the exulting bailiff. + +"Curse that Burke!"--thought Roger; but he said nothing. + +And the two men up stairs had searched, and pried, and hunted every +where in vain; the knotty mattress had been ripped up, the chimney +scrutinized, the floor examined, the bed-clothes overhauled, and as for +the thatch, if it hadn't been for Roger Acton's constant glance upwards +at his treasure in the roof, I am sure they never would have found it. +But they did at last: there it was, the crock of gold, full proof of +robbery and murder! + +"Aha!" said Simon, in a complacent triumph, "Mrs. Quarles's identical +honey-pot, full of her clean bright gold, and many pieces still encased +in those tidy leather bags;" and his round eyes glistened again; but all +at once, with a hurried look over his left shoulder, he exclaimed, +involuntarily, in a very different tone, "Ha! away, I say!--" Then he +snatched the crock up eagerly, and nursed it like a child. + +"Come along with us, Master Acton, you're wanted somewhere else; up, +man, look alive, will you?" + +And Roger dressed himself mechanically. It was no manner of use, not in +the least worth while resisting, innocent though he was; his treasure +had been found, and taken from him; he had nothing more to live for; his +gold was gone--his god; where was the wisdom of fighting for any thing +else; let them take him to prison if they would, to the jail, to the +gallows, to any-whither, now his gold was gone. So he put on his +clothes without a murmur, and went with them as quiet as a lamb. + +Never was there a clearer case; the housekeeper's hoard had been found +in his possession, with a fragment of her shawl; and Sir John Vincent +was very well aware of the mystery attending the old woman's death; +besides, he was in a great hurry to be off; for Pointer, and Silliphant, +and Lord George Pypp, were to have a hurdle race with him that day, for +a heavy bet; so he really had not time to go deep into the matter; and +the result of five minutes' talk before the magisterial chairs (Squire +Ryle having been summoned to assist) was, that, on the accusation of +Simon Jennings, Roger Acton was fully committed to the county jail, to +be tried at next assizes, for Bridget Quarles's murder. + +Thank God! poor Roger, it has come to this. What other way than this was +there to save thee from thy sin--to raise thee from thy fall? Where +else, but in a prison, could you get the silent, solitary hours leading +you again to wholesome thought and deep repentance? Where else could you +escape the companionship of all those loose and low associates, sottish +brawlers, ignorant and sensual unbelievers, vagabond radicals, and +other lewd fellows of the baser sort, that had drank themselves drunk at +your expense, and sworn to you as captain! The place, the time, the +means for penitence are here. The crisis of thy destiny is come. + +Honest Roger, Steady Acton, did I not see thy guardian angel--after all +his many tears, aggrieved and broken spirit!--did I not see him lift his +swollen eyes in gratitude to Heaven, and benevolence to thee, and smile +a smile of hopeful joy when that damned crock was found? + +Gladly could he thank his Lord, to behold the temptation at an end. + +Did I not see the devil slink away from thee abashed, issuing like an +adder from thy heart, and then, with a sudden Protean change, driven +from thy hovel as a thunder-cloud dispersing, when Simon Jennings seized +the jar, hugged it as his household-god--and took it home with him--and +counted out the gold--and locked the bloody treasure in his iron-chest? + +Fitly did the murderer lock up curses with his spoil. + +And when God smote thine idol, dashing Dagon to the ground, and thy +heart was sore with disappointment, and tender as a peeled fig--when +hope was dead for earth, and conscience dared not look beyond it--ah! +Roger, did I judge amiss when I saw, or thought I saw, those eyes full +of humble shame, those lips quivering with remorseful sorrow? + +We will leave thee in the cold stone cell--with thy well-named angel +Grace to comfort thee, and pray with thee, and help thee back to God +again, and so repay the debt that a daughter owes her father. + +Happy prison! where the air is sweetened by the frankincense of piety, +and the pavement gemmed with the flowers of hope, and the ceiling arched +with Heaven's bow of mercy, and the walls hung around with the dewy +drapery of penitence! + +Happy prison! where the talents that were lost are being found again, +gathered in humility from this stone floor; where poor-making riches are +banished from the postern, and rich-making poverty streameth in as light +from the grated window; where care vexeth not now the labourer emptied +of his gold, and calumny's black tooth no longer gnaws the heart-strings +of the innocent. + +Hark! it is the turnkey, coming round to leave the pittance for the day: +he is bringing in something in an earthern jar. Speak, Roger Acton, +which will you choose, man--a prisoner's mess of pottage--or a crock of +gold? + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE AUNT AND HER NEPHEW. + + +WHILE we leave Roger Acton in the jail, waiting for the very +near assizes, and wearing every hour away in penitence and prayer, it +will be needful to our story that we take a retrospective glance at +certain events, of no slight importance. + +I must now speak of things, of which there is no human witness; +recording words, and deeds, whereof Heaven alone is cognizant, Heaven +alone--and Hell! For there are secret matters, which the murdered cannot +tell us, and the murderer dare not--let him confess as fully as he will. +Therefore, with some omnipresent sense, some invisible ubiquity, I must +note down scenes as they occurred, whether mortal eye has witnessed them +or not; I must lay bare secret thoughts, unlatch the hidden chambers of +the heart, and duly set out, as they successively arose, the idea which +tongue had not embodied, the feeling which no action had expressed. + +Hitherto, we have pretty well preserved inviolate the three grand +unities--time, place, circumstance; and even now we do not sin against +the first and chiefest, however we may seem so to sin; for, had it +suited my purpose to have begun with the beginning, and to have placed +the present revelations foremost, the strictest stickler for the unities +would have only had to praise my orthodox adherence to them. As it is, I +have chosen, for interest sake, to shuffle my cards a little; and two +knaves happen to have turned up together just at this time and place. +The time is just three weeks ago--a week before the baronet came of age, +and a fortnight antecedent to the finding of the crock; which, as we +know, after blessing Roger for a se'nnight, has at last left him in +jail. The place is the cozy house-keepers room at Hurstley: and the +brace of thorough knaves, to enact then and there as _dramatis personæ_, +includes Mistress Bridget Quarles, a fat, sturdy, bluffy, old woman, of +a jolly laugh withal, and a noisy tongue--and our esteemed acquaintance +Mister Simon Jennings. The aunt, house-keeper, had invited the nephew, +butler, to take a dish of tea with her, and rum-punch had now succeeded +the souchong. + +"Well, Aunt Quarles, is it your meaning to undertake a new master?" + +"Don't know, nephy--can't say yet what he'll be like: if he'll leave us +as we are, won't say wont." + +"Ay, as we are, indeed; comfortable quarters, and some little to put by, +too: a pretty penny you will have laid up all this while, I'll be bound: +I wager you now it is a good five hundred, aunt--come, done for a +shilling." + +"Get along, foolish boy; a'n't you o' the tribe o' wisdom too--ha, ha, +ha!" + +"I will not say," smirked Simon, "that my nest has not a feather." + +"It's easy work for us, Nep; we hunt in couples: you the men, and I the +maids--ha, ha!" + +"Tush, Aunt Bridget! that speech is not quite gallant, I fear." And the +worshipful extortioners giggled jovially. + +"But it's true enough for all that, Simon: how d'ye manage it, eh, boy? +much like me, I s'pose; wages every quarter from the maids, dues from +tradesmen Christmas-tide and Easter, regular as Parson Evans's; pretty +little bits tacked on weekly to the bills, beside presents from every +body; and so, boy, my poor forty pounds a-year soon mounts up to a +hundred." + +"Ay, ay, Aunt Bridget--but I get the start of you, though you probably +were born a week before-hand: talk of parsons, look at me, a regular +grand pluralist monopolist, as any bishop can be; butler in doors, +bailiff out of doors, land-steward, house-steward, cellar-man, and +pay-master. I am not all this for naught, Aunt Quarles: if so much goes +through my fingers, it is but fair that something stick." + +"True, Simon--O certainly; but if you come to boasting, my boy, I don't +carry this big bunch o' keys for nothing neither. Lord love you! why +merely for cribbings in the linen-line for one month, John Draper +swapped me that there shawl: none o' my clothes ever cost me a penny, +and I a'n't quite as bare as a new-born baby neither. Look at them +trunks, bless you!" + +"Ay, ay, aunt, I'll be bound the printer of your prayer-book has left +out a 'not,' before the 'steal,' eh?--ha! ha!" + +"Fie, naughty Simon, fie! them's not stealings, them's parquisites. +Where's the good o' living in a great house else? But come, Si, haven't +you struck out the 'not,' for yourself, though the printer did his duty, +eh, Nep?" + +"Not a bit, aunt--not a bit: all sheer honesty and industry. Look at my +pretty little truck-shop down the village. Wo betide the labourer that +leaves off dealing there! not one that works at Hurstley, but eats my +bread and bacon; besides the 'tea, coffee, tobacco, and snuff.'" + +"Pretty fairish articles, eh? I never dealt with you, Si: no, Nep, +no--you never saw the colour o' my money." + +Jennings gave a start, as if a thought had pricked him; but gayly +recovering himself, said, + +"Oh, as to pretty fairish, I know there is one thing about the bacon +good enough; ay, and the bread too--the very best of prices; ha! ha! is +not that good? And for the other genuine articles, I don't know that +much of the tea comes from China--and the coffee is sold ground, because +it is burnt maize--and there's a plenty of wholesome cabbage leaf cut up +in the tobacco--while as for snuff, I give them a dry, peppery, choky, +sneezy dust, and I dare say that it does its duty." + +It was astonishing how innocently the worthy couple laughed together. + +"My only trouble, Aunt Quarles, is where to keep my gains--what to do +with them. I am quite driven to the strong-box system, interest is so +bad; and as to speculations, they are nervous things, and sicken one. I +invest in the Great Western one day--a tunnel falls in, so I sell my +shares the next, and send the proceeds to Australia; then, looking at +the map, I see the island isn't clean chalked out all round, and +beginning to fear that the sea will get in where it a'n't made +water-tight by the Admiralty, I call the money home again. You see I +don't know what to do with gold when I get it. Where do you keep yours +now, aunt, I wonder?" + +"O, Nep, never mind me; you rattle on so I can't get in never a word. +I'll only tell you where I don't keep it. Not at Breakem's bank, for +they're brewers, and hosiers, and chandlers, and horse-dealers--ay, and +swindlers too, the whole 'company' on 'em; not in mortgages, for I hate +the very smell of a lawyer, with all his pounce and parchment; not in +Gover'me't 'nuities, for I'm an old 'ooman, boy; and not in the Three +per Cents, nor any other per cents, for I've sense enough to know that +my highest interest lies in counting out, as my first principle is +dropping in." And the fat female laughed herself purple at the venerable +joke. + +Simon was a courtier, and laughed too, as immoderately as possible. + +"Ah! I dare say now you have got a Chubb's patent somewhere full of +gold?" he asked somewhat anxiously; "take your punch, aunt, wont you? I +do not see you drink." + +"Simon, mark me; fools who want to be robbed put their money into an +iron chest, that thieves may know exactly where to find it; they might +as well ticket it 'cash,' and advertise to Newgate--come and steal. I +know a little better than to be such a fool." + +"Yes, certainly--I dare say now you keep it in your work-box, or sew it +up in your stays, or hide it in the mattress, or in an old tea-pot, +maybe." And Jennings eyed her narrowly. + +"Nephew, what rhymes to money?" + +"Money?--Well I can't say I am a poet--stony, perhaps. At least," added +the benevolent individual, "when I have raised a wretch's rent to gain a +little more by him, stony is not a bad shield to lift against prayers, +and tears, and orphans, and widows, and starvation, and all such +nonsense." + +"Not bad, neither, Nep: but there's a better rhyme than that." + +"You cannot mean honey, aunt? when I guessed stony, I thought you might +have some snug little cash cellar under the flags. But honey? are you +such a thorough Mrs. Rundle as to pickle and preserve your very guineas, +the same as you do strawberries or apricots in syrup?" + +"Oh, you clever little fool! how prettily you do talk on: your tongue's +as tidy as your cash-book: when you've any money to put by, come to Aunt +Bridget for a crock to hide it in: mayn't one use a honey-pot, as Teddy +Rourke would say, barring the honey?" + +"Ha! and so you hide the hoard up there, aunt, eh? along with the +preserves in a honey-pot, do you?" + +"We'll see--we'll see, some o' these long days; not that the money's to +be yours, Nep--you're rich enough, and don't want it; there's your poor +sister Scott with her fourteen children, and Aunt Bridget must give her +a lift in life: she was a good niece to me, Simon, and never left my +side before she married: maybe she'll have cause to bless the dead." + +Jennings hardly spoke a word more; but drained his glass in silence, got +up a sudden stomach-ache, and wished his aunt good-night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +SCHEMES. + + +WE must follow Simon Jennings to his room. He felt keenly +disappointed. Money was the idol of his heart, as it is of many million +others. He had robbed, lied, extorted, tyrannized; he had earned scorn, +ill-report, and hatred; nay, he had even diligently gone to work, and +lost his own self-love and self-respect in the service of his darling +idol. He was at once, for lucre's sake, the mean, cringing fawner, and +the pitiless, iron despot; to the rich he could play supple parasite, +while the poor man only knew him as an unrelenting persecutor; with the +good, and they were chiefly of the fairer, softer sex, he walked in +meekness, the spiritual hypocrite; the while, it was his boast to +over-reach the worst in low duplicity and crooked dealing. All this he +was for gold. When the eye of the world was on him, and intuition warned +him of the times, he was ever the serene, the correct, with a smooth +tongue and an oily smile; but in the privacy of some poor hovel, where +his debtor sued for indulgence, or some victim of his passions (he had +more depravities than one) threw her wretched self upon his pity, then +could Simon Jennings lash sternness into rage, and heat his brazen heart +with the embers of inveterate malice. It was as if the serpent, that +voluble, insinuating reptile, which had power to fascinate poor Eve, +turned to rend her when she had fallen, erect, with flashing eyes, and +bristling crest, with venomed fangs, and hissing. Behold, +snake-worshippers of Mexico, the prototype of your grim idol, in +Mammon's model slave and specimen disciple! + +Such a man was Simon Jennings, a soul given up to gold--exclusively to +gold; for although, as we have hinted, and as hereafter may appear, he +could sell himself at times to other sins, still these were but as stars +in his evil firmament, while covetousness ruled it like the sun; or, if +the beauteous stars and blessed sun be an image too hallowed for his +wickedness, we may find a fitter in some stagnant pool, where the +pestilential vapour over all is Mammonism, and the dull, fat weeds that +rot beneath, are pride, craftiness, and lechery. In fact, to speak of +passions in a heart such as his, were a palpable misnomer; all was +reduced to calculation; his rage was fostered to intimidate, and where +the wretch seemed kinder, his kindnesses were aimed at power, as an +object, rather than at pleasure--the power to obtain more gold. + +For it is a dreadful truth (which I would not dare to utter if such +crimes had never been), that a reprobate of the bailiff Jennings's stamp +may, by debts, or fines, or kind usurious loans, entrap a beggared +creature in his toils; and then lyingly propose remission at the secret +sacrifice of honour, in some one, over whom that dastard beggar has +control; and having this point gained, the seducer is quite capable of +using, for still more extortion, the power which a threatening of +exposure gives, when the criminally weak has stooped to sin, on promises +of silence and delivery from ruin. I wish there may be no poor yeoman +in this broad land, of honourable name withal, he and his progenitors +for ages, who can tell the tale of his own base fears, a creditor's +exactions, and some dependant victim's degradation: some orphaned niece, +some friendless ward, immolated in her earliest youth at the shrine of +black-hearted Mammon; I wish there may be no sleek middle-man guilty of +the crimes here charged upon Simon Jennings. + +This worthy, then, had been introduced at Hurstley by his aunt, Mrs. +Quarles, on the occurrence of a death vacancy in the lad-of-all-work +department, during the long ungoverned space of young Sir John's +minority. As the precious "lad" grew older, and divers in-door +potentates died off, the house-keeper had power to push her nephew on to +pageship, footmanship, and divers other similar crafts, even to the +final post of butler; while his own endeavours, backed by his aunt's +interest, managed to secure for him the rule out of doors no less than +in, and the closest possible access to guardians and landlords, to the +tenants--and their rent. + +Now, the amiable Mrs. Quarles had contrived the elevation of her nephew, +and connived at his monopolies, mainly to fit in cleverly with her own +worldly weal; for it would never have done to have risked the loss of +innumerable perquisites, and other peculations, by the possible advent +of an honest butler. But, while the worshipful Simon, to do him only +justice, fully answered Mrs. Bridget's purpose, and even added much to +her emoluments; still he was no mere derivative scion, but an +independent plant, and entertained views of his own. He had his own +designs, and laid himself out to entrap his aunt's affections; or +rather, for I cannot say he greatly valued these, to secure her good +graces, and worm himself within the gilded clauses of her will; she was +an old woman, rolling in gold, no doubt had a will; and as for himself, +he was younger by five-and-thirty years, so he could afford to wait a +little, before trying on her shoes. The petty schemes of thievery and +cheating, which he in his Quotem capacities had practised, were to his +eyes but as driblets of wealth in comparison with the mighty stream of +his old aunt's savings. Not that he had done amiss, trust him! but then +he knew the amount of his own hoard to a farthing, while of hers he was +entirely ignorant; so, on the principle of '_omne ignotum pro +mirifico_,' he pondered on its vastness with indefinite amazement, +although probably it might not reach the quarter of his own. For it +should in common charity be stated, that, with all her hiding and hiving +propensities, Mrs. Quarles, however usually a screw, was by fits and +starts an extravagant woman, and besides spending on herself, had +occasionally helped her own kith and kin; poor niece Scott, in +particular, had unconsciously come in for many pleasant pilferings, and +had to thank her good aunt for innumerable filched groceries, and +hosieries, and other largesses, which (the latter in especial) really +had contributed, with sundry other more self indulgent expenses, to make +no small havoc of the store. + +Still, this store was Simon's one main chance, the chief prize in his +hope's lottery; and it was with a pang, indeed, that he found all his +endeavours to compass its possession had been vain. Was that endless +cribbage nothing, and the weary Bible-lessons on a Sunday, and the +constant fetchings and carryings, and the forced smiles, sham +congratulations, and other hypocritical affections--fearing for his dear +aunt's dropsy, and inquiring so much about her bunions--was all this +dull servitude to meet with no reward? With none? worse than none! Fool +that he was! had he schemed, and plotted, and flattered, and +cozened--ay, and given away many pretty little presents, lost decoys, +that had cost hard money, all for nothing--less than nothing--to be +laughed at and postponed to his Methodist sister Scott? The impudence of +deliberately telling him he "didn't want it, and was rich enough!" as if +"enough" could ever be good grammar after such a monosyllable as "rich;" +and "want it" indeed! of course he wanted it; if not, why had he slaved +so many years? want it, indeed! if to hope by day, and to dream by +night--if to leave no means untried of delicately showing how he longed +for it--if to grow sick with care, and thin with coveting--if this were +to want the gold, good sooth, he wanted it. Don't tell him of starving +brats, his own very bowels pined for it; don't thrust in his face the +necessities of others--the necessity is his; he must have it--he will +have it--talk of necessity! + +Wait a bit: is there no way of managing some better end to all this? no +mode of giving the right turn to that wheel of fortune, round which his +cares and calculations have been hovering so long? Is there no +conceivable method of possessing that vast hoard? + +Bless me! how huge it must be! and Simon turned whiter at the thought: +only add up Mother Quarles's income for fifty-five years: she is +seventy-five at least, and came here a girl of twenty. Simon's hair +stood on end, and his heart went like a mill-clapper, as he mentally +figured out the sum. + +Is there no possibility of contriving matters so that I may be the +architect of my own good luck, and no thanks at all to the old witch +there? Dear--what a glorious fancy--let me think a little. Cannot I get +at the huge hoard some how? + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE DEVIL'S COUNSEL. + + +"STEAL it," said the Devil. + +Simon was all of a twitter; for though he fancied his own heart said it, +still his ear-drum rattled, as if somebody had spoken. + +Simon--that ear-drum was to put you off your guard: the deaf can hear +the devil: he needs no tympanum to commune with the spirit: listen +again, Simon; your own thoughts echo every word. + +"Steal it: hide in her room; you know she has a shower-bath there, which +nobody has used for years, standing in a corner; two or three cloaks in +it, nothing else: it locks inside, how lucky! ensconce yourself there, +watch the old woman to sleep--what a fat heavy sleeper she is!--quietly +take her keys, and steal the store: remember, it is a honey-pot. +Nothing's easier--or safer. Who'd suspect you?" + +"Splendid! and as good as done," triumphantly exclaimed the nephew, +snapping his fingers, and prancing with glee;--"a glorious fancy! bless +my lucky star!" + +If there be a planet Lucifer, that was Simon's lucky star. + +And so, Mrs Quarles the biter is going to be bit, eh? It generally is so +in this world's government. You, who brought in your estimable nephew to +aid and abet in your own dishonest ways, are, it seems, going to be +robbed of all your knavish gains by him. This is taking the wise in +their own craftiness, I reckon: and richly you deserve to lose all your +ill-got hoard. At the same time, Mrs. Quarles--I will be just--there are +worse people in the world than you are: in comparison with your nephew, +I consider you a grosser kind of angel; and I really hope no harm may +befall your old bones beyond the loss of your money. However, if you are +to lose this, it is my wish that poor Mrs. Scott, or some other honest +body, may get it, and not Simon; or rather, I should not object that he +may get it first, and get hung for getting it, too, before the sister +has the hoard. + +Our friend, Simon Jennings, could not sleep that night; his reveries and +scheming lasted from the rum-punch's final drop, at ten P.M., to +circiter two A.M., and then, or thenabouts, the devil hinted "steal it;" +and so, not till nearly four, he began to shut his eyes, and dream +again, as his usual fashion was, of adding up receipts in five figures, +and of counting out old Bridget's hoarded gold. + +Next day, notwithstanding nocturnal semi-sleeplessness, he awoke as +brisk as a bee, got up in as exhilarated a state as any gas-balloon, and +was thought to be either surprisingly in spirits, or spirits +surprisingly in him; none knew which, "where each seemed either." That +whole day long, he did the awkwardest things, and acted in the most +absent manner possible; Jonathan thought Mr. Simon was beside himself; +Sarah Stack, foolish thing! said he was in love, and was observed to +look in the glass several times herself; other people did not know what +to think--it was quite a mystery. To recount only a few of his +unprecedented exploits on that day of anticipative bliss: + +First, he asked the porter how his gout was, and gave him a thimble-full +of whiskey from his private store. + +Secondly, he paid Widow Soper one whole week's washing in full, without +the smallest deduction or per centage. + +Thirdly, he ordered of Richard Buckle, commonly called Dick the Tanner, +a lot of cart harness, without haggling for price, or even asking it. + +And, fourthly, he presented old George White, who was coming round with +a subscription paper for a dead pig--actually, he presented old Gaffer +White with the sum of two-pence out of his own pocket! never was such +careless prodigality. + +But the little world of Hurstley did not know what we know. They +possessed no clue to the secret happiness wherewithal Simon Jennings +hugged himself; they had no inkling of the crock of gold; they thought +not he was going to be suddenly so rich; they saw no cause, as we do, +why he should feel to be like a great heir on the eve of his majority; +they wotted not that Sir John Devereux Vincent, Baronet, had scarcely +more agreeable or triumphant feelings when his clock struck twenty-one, +than Simon Jennings, butler, as the hour of his hope drew nigh. + +If a destiny like this man's can ever have a crisis, the hour of his +hope is that; but downward still, into a lower gulf, has been +continually his bad career; there is (unless a miracle intervene) no +stopping in the slope on which he glides, albeit there may be +precipices. He that rushes in his sledge down the artificial ice-hills +of St. Petersburgh, skims along not more swiftly than Jennings, from the +altitude of infant innocence, had sheered into the depths of full-grown +depravity; but even he can fall, and reach, with startling suddenness, a +lower deep. + +As if that Russian mountain, hewn asunder midway, were fitted flush to +a Norwegian cliff, beetling precipitately over the whirlpool; then tilt +the sledge with its furred inmate over the slope, let it skim with +quicker impetus the smoking ice, let it touch that beetling edge, and, +leaping from the tangent, let it dart through the air, let it strike the +eddying waters, be sucked hurriedly down that hoarse black throat, wind +among the roots of the everlasting hills, and split upon the loadstone +of the centre. + +Even such a fate, "down, down to hell," will come to Simon Jennings; +wrapped in the furs of complacency, seated in the sledge of +covetousness, a-down the slippery launch of well-worn evil habit--over +the precipice of crime--into the billows of impenitent remorse--to be +swallowed by the vortex of Gehenna! + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +THE AMBUSCADE. + + +NIGHT came, and with it all black thoughts. Not that they were +black at once, any more than darkness leaps upon the back of noon, +without the intervening cloak of twilight. Oh dear, no! Simon's thoughts +accommodated themselves fitly to the time of day. They had been, for +him, at early morning, pretty middling white, that is whity-brown; +thence they passed, with the passing hour kindly, through the shades of +burnt sienna, raw umber, and bistre; until, just as we may notice in the +case of marking-ink; that which, five minutes ago, was as water only +delicately dirtied, has become a fixed and indelible black. + +Simon was resolved upon the spoil, come what might; although his waking +sensations of buoyancy, his noon-day cogitations of a calmer kind, and +his even-tide determined scheming, had now given way to a nervous and +unpleasant trepidation. So he poured spirits down to keep his spirits +up. Very early after dark, he had watched his opportunity while Mrs. +Quarles was scolding in the kitchen, had slipped shoeless and +unperceived, from his pantry into the housekeeper's room, and locked +himself securely in the shower bath. Hapless wight! it was very little +after six yet, and there he must stand till twelve or so: his foresight +had not calculated this, and the devil had already begun to cheat him. +But he would go through with it now; no flinching, though his rabbit +back is breaking with fatigue, and his knocked knees totter with +exhaustion, and his haggard eyes swim dizzily, and his bad heart is +failing him for fear. + +Yes, fear, and with good reason too for fear; "nothing easier, nothing +safer," said his black adviser; how easily for bodily pains, how safely +for chances of detection, was he getting at the promised crock of gold! + +"Mr. Jennings! Mr. Simon! where in the world was Mr. Jennings?" nobody +knew; he must have gone out somewhere. Strange, too--and left his hat +and great-coat. + +Here's a general for an ambuscade; Oh, Simon, Simon! you have had the +whole day to think of it--how is it that both you and your dark friend +overlooked in your calculations the certainty of search, and the chance +of a discovery? The veriest school-boy, when he hid himself, would hide +his hat. I am half afraid that you are in that demented state, which +befits the wretch ordained to perish. + +But where is Mr. Jennings? that was the continued cry for four agonizing +hours of dread and difficulty. Sarah, the still-room maid, was sitting +at her work, unluckily in Mrs. Quarles's room; she had come in shortly +after Simon's secret entry; there she sat, and he dared not stir. And +they looked every where--except in the right place; to do the devil +justice, it was a capital hiding-corner that; rooms, closets, passages, +cellars, out-houses, gardens, lofts, tenements, and all the "general +words," in a voluminous conveyance, were searched and searched in vain; +more than one groom expected (hoped is a truer word) to find Mr. +Jennings hanging by a halter from the stable-lamp; more than one +exhilarated labourer, hastily summoned for the search, was sounding the +waters with a rake and rope, in no slight excitement at the thought of +fishing up a deceased bailiff. + +It was a terrible time for the ensconced one: sometimes he thought of +coming out, and treating the affair as a bit of pleasantry: but then the +devil had taken off his shoes--as a Glascow captain deals with his cargo +of refractory Irishers; how could he explain that? his abominable old +aunt was shrewd, and he knew how clearly she would guess at the truth; +if he desired to make sure of losing every chance, he could come out +now, and reveal himself; but if he nourished still the hope of counting +out that crock of gold, he'll bide where he is, and trust to--to--to +fate. The wretch had "Providence" on his blistered tongue. + +If, under the circumstances, any thing could be added to Simon's +gratification, such pleasing addition was afforded in overhearing, as +Lord Brougham did, the effect which his rumoured death produced on the +minds of those who best had known him. It so happened, Sarah was sick, +and did not join the universal hunt; accordingly, being the only +audience, divers ambassadors came to tell her constantly the same most +welcome news, that Jennings had not yet been found. + +"Lawk, Sally," said a helper, "what a blessing it'll be, if that mean +old thief's dead; I'll go to town, if 'tis so, get a dozen Guy's-day +rockets, tie 'em round with crape, and spin 'em over the larches: +that'll be funeral fun won't it? and it'll sarve to tell the neighbours +of our luck in getting rid on him." + +"I doan't like your thought, Tom," said another staider youth: "it's +ill-mirth playing leap-frog over tomb-stones, and poor bravery insulting +the dead. Besides, I'm thinking the bad man that's taken from us an't a +going up'ards, so it's no use lending him a light. I wish we may all lie +in a cooler grave than he does, and not have to go quite so deep +down'ard." + +"Gee up for Lady-day!" exclaimed the emancipated coachman; "why, Sall, I +shall touch my whole lump of wages free for the fust time: and I only +wish the gals had our luck." + +"Here, Sarah," interposed a kind and ruddy stable youth, "as we're all +making free with Mr. Simon's own special ale, I've thought to bring you +a nogging on't: come, you're not so sick as you can't drink with all the +rest on us--The bailiff, and may none on us never see his face no more!" + +These, and similar testimonials to the estimation in which Simon's +character was held, must have gratified not a little the hearer of his +own laudations: now and then, he winced so that Sarah might have heard +him move: but her ear was alive to nothing but the news-bringers, and +her eyes appeared to be fixed upon the linen she was darning. That +Jennings vowed vengeance, and wreaked it afterwards too, on the youths +that so had shown their love, was his solitary pleasure in the +shower-bath. But his critics were too numerous for him to punish all: +they numbered every soul in the house, besides the summoned aiders--only +excepting three: Sarah, who really had a head-ache, and made but little +answers to the numerous glad envoys; Jonathan Floyd, whose charity did +not altogether hate the man, and who really felt alarmed at his absence; +and chiefest, Mrs. Quarles, who evinced more affection for her nephew +than any thought him worthy of exciting--she wrung her hands, wept, +offered rewards, bustled about every where, and kept calling +blubberingly for "Simon--poor dear Simon." + +At length, that fearful hue and cry began to subside--the hubbub came +to be quieter: neighbour-folks went home, and inmates went to bed. Sarah +Stack put aside her work, and left the room. + +What a relief to that hidden caitiff! his feet, standing on the cold, +damp iron so many hours, bare of brogues, were mere ice--only that they +ached intolerably: he had not dared to move, to breathe, and was all +over in one cramp: he did not bring the brandy-bottle with him, as he +once had planned; for calculation whispered--"Don't, your head will be +the clearer; you must not muddle your brains;" and so his caution +over-reached itself, as usual; his head was in a fog, and his brains in +a whirlwind, for lack of other stimulants than fear and pain. + +O Simon, how your prudence cheats you! five mortal hours of anguish and +anxiety in one unalterable posture, without a single drop of +creature-comfort; and all this preconcerted too! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +PRELIMINARIES. + + +AT last, just as the nephew was positively fainting from +exhaustion, in came his kind old aunt to bed. She talked a good deal to +herself, did Mrs. Quarles, and Simon heard her say, + +"Poor fellow--poor, dear Simon, he was taken bad last night, and has +seemed queerish in the head all day: pray God nothing's amiss with the +boy!" + +The boy's heart (he was forty) smote him as he heard: yes, even he was +vexed that Aunt Bridget could be so foolishly fond of him. But he would +go on now, and not have all his toil for nothing. "I'm in for it," said +he, "and there's an end." + +Ay, Simon, you are, indeed, in for it; the devil has locked you in--but +as to the end, we shall see, we shall see. + +"I shouldn't wonder now," the good old soul went on to say, "if +Simon's wentured out without his hat to cool a head-ache: his +grand-father--peace be with him! died, poor man, in a Lunacy 'Sylum: +alack, Si, I wish you mayn't be going the same road. No, no, I hope +not--he's always so prudent-like, and wise, and good; so kind, too, to a +poor old fool like me:" and the poor old fool began to cry again. + +"Silly boy--but he'll take cold at any rate: Sarah!" (here Mrs. Quarles +rung her bell, and the still-maid answered it.) "Sarah Stack, sit up +awhile for Mr. Jennings, and when he comes in, send him here to me. Poor +boy," she went on soliloquizing, "he shall have a drop or two to comfort +his stomach, and keep the chill out." + +The poor boy, lying _perdu_, shuddered at the word chill, and really +wished his aunt would hold her tongue. But she didn't. + +"Maybe now," the affectionate old creature proceeded, "maybe Simon was +vexed at what I let drop last night about the money. I know he loves his +sister Scott, as I do: but it'll seem hard, too, to leave him nothing. I +must make my will some day, I 'spose; but don't half like the job: it's +always so nigh death. Yes--yes, dear Si shall have a snug little +corner." + +The real Simon Pure, in his own snug little corner, writhed again. Mrs. +Quarles started at the noise, looked up the chimney, under the bed, +tried the doors and windows, and actually went so near the mark as to +turn the handle of the shower-bath; "Drat it," said she, "Sarah must ha' +took away the key: well, there can't be nothing there but cloaks, that's +one comfort." + +Last of all, a thought struck her--it must have been a mouse at the +preserves. And Mrs. Quarles forthwith opened the important cupboard, +where Jennings now well knew the idol of his heart was shrined. Then +another thought struck Mrs. Quarles, though probably no unusual one, and +she seemed to have mounted on a chair, and to be bringing down some +elevated piece of crockery. Simon could see nothing with his eyes, but +his ears made up for them: if ever Dr. Elliotson produced clairvoyance +in the sisters Okey, the same sharpened apprehensions ministered to the +inner man of Simon Jennings through the instrumental magnet of his +inordinately covetous desires. Therefore, though his retina bore no +picture of the scene, the feelers of his mind went forth, informing him +of every thing that happened. + +Down came a Narbonne honey-pot--Simon saw that first, and it was as the +lamp of Aladdin in his eyes: then the bladder was whipped off, and the +crock set open on the table. Jennings, mad as Darius's horse at the +sight of the object he so longed for, once thought of rushing from his +hiding-place, taking the hoard by a _coup de main_, and running off +straightway to America: but--deary me--that'll never do; I mustn't leave +my own strong-box behind me, say nothing of hat and shoes: and if I stop +for any thing, she'd raise the house. + +While this was passing through the immaculate mind of Simon Jennings, +Bridget had been cutting up an old glove, and had made one of its +fingers into a very tidy little leather sacklet; into this she deposited +a bright half sovereign, spoil of the day, being the douceur of a needy +brush-maker, who wished to keep custom, and, of course, charged all +these vails on the current bill for mops and stable-sponges. + +"Ha!" muttered she, "it's your last bill here, Mr. Scrubb, I can tell +you; so, you were going to put me off with a crown-piece, were you? and +actually that bit of gold might as well have been a drop of blood wrung +from you: yes--yes, Mr. Scrubb, I could see that plainly; and so you've +done for yourself." + +Then, having sewed up the clever little bag, she dropped it into the +crock: there was no jingle, all dumby: prudent that, in his aunt--for +the dear morsels of gold were worth such tender keeping, and leather +would hinder them from wear and tear, set aside the clink being +silenced. So, the nephew secretly thanked Bridget for the wrinkle, and +thought how pleasant it would be to stuff old gloves with his own yellow +store. Ah, yes, he would do that--to-morrow morning. + +Meanwhile, the pig-skin is put on again, and the honey-pot stored away: +and Simon instinctively stood a tip-toe to peep ideally into that +wealthy corner cupboard. His mind's eye seemed to see more honey-pots! +Mammon help us! can they all be full of gold? why, any one of them would +hold a thousand pounds. And Simon scratched the palms of his hands, and +licked his lips at the thought of so much honey. + +But see, Mrs. Quarles has, in her peculiar fashion, undressed herself: +that is to say, she has taken off her outer gown, her cap and wig--and +then has _added_ to the volume of her under garments, divers night +habiliments, flannelled and frilled: while wrappers, manifold as a +turbaned Turk's, protect ear-ache, tooth-ache, head-ache, and face-ache, +from the elves of the night. + +And now, that the bedstead creaks beneath her weight, (as well it may, +for Bridget is a burden like Behemoth,) Simon's heart goes thump so +loud, that it was a wonder the poor woman never heard it. That heart in +its hard pulsations sounded to me like the carpenter hammering on her +coffin-lid: I marvel that she did not take it for a death-watch tapping +to warn her of her end. But no: Simon held his hand against his heart to +keep it quiet: he was so very fearful the pitapating would betray him. +Never mind, Simon; don't be afraid; she is fast asleep already; and her +snore is to thee as it were the challenge of a trumpeter calling to the +conflict. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +ROBBERY. + + +HUSH--hush--hush! + +Stealthily on tiptoe, with finger on his lips, that fore-doomed man +crept out. + +"The key is in the cupboard still--ha! how lucky: saves time that, and +trouble, and--and--risk! Oh, no--there can be no risk now," and the +wretch added, "thank God!" + +The devil loves such piety as this. + +So Simon quietly turned the key, and set the cupboard open: it was to +him a Bluebeard's chamber, a cave of the Forty Thieves, a garden of the +Genius in Aladdin, a mysterious secret treasure-house of wealth +uncounted and unseen. + +What a galaxy of pickle-pots! tier behind tier of undoubted +currant-jelly, ranged like the houses in Algiers! vasty jars of +gooseberry! delicate little cupping-glasses full of syruped fruits! Yet +all these candied joys, which probably enhance a Mrs. Rundle's heaven, +were as nothing in the eyes of Simon--sweet trash, for all he cared +they might be vulgar treacle. His ken saw nothing but the +honey-pots--embarrassing array--a round dozen of them! All alike, all +posted in a brown line, like stout Dutch sentinels with their hands in +their breeches pockets, and set aloft on that same high-reached shelf. +Must he really take them all? impracticable: a positive sack full. +What's to be done?--which is he to leave behind? that old witch +contrived this identity and multitude for safety's sake. But what if he +left the wrong one, and got clear off with the valuable booty of two +dozen pounds of honey? Confusion! that'll never do: he must take them +all, or none; all, all's the word; and forthwith, as tenderly as +possible, the puzzled thief took down eleven pots of honey to his one of +gold--all pig-bladdered, all Fortnumed--all slimy at the string; +"Confound that cunning old aunt of mine," said Simon, aloud; and took no +notice that the snores surceased. + +Then did he spread upon the table a certain shawl, and set the crocks in +order on it: and it was quite impossible to leave behind that pretty +ostentatious "Savings' Bank," which the shrewd hoarder kept as a feint +to lure thieves from her hidden gold, by an open exhibition of her +silver: unluckily, though, the shillings, not being leathered up nor +branned, rattled like a Mandarin toy, as the trembling hand of Jennings +deposited the bank beside the crockeries--and, at the well-known sound, +I observed (though Simon did not, as he was in a trance of addled +triumph) or fancied I observed Mrs. Quarles's head move: but as she said +nothing, perhaps I was mistaken. Thus stood Simon at the table, +surveying his extraordinary spoils. + +And while he looked, the Mercy of God, which never yet hath seen the +soul too guilty for salvation, spake to him kindly, and whispered in his +ear, "Poor, deluded man--there is yet a moment for escape--flee from +this temptation--put all back again--hasten to thy room, to thy prayers, +repent, repent: even thou shalt be forgiven, and none but God, who will +forgive thee, shall know of this bad crime. Turn now from all thy sins; +the gate of bliss is open, if thou wilt but lift the latch." + +It was one moment of irresolute delay; on that hinge hung Eternity. The +gate swung upon its pivot, that should shut out hell, or heaven! + +Simon knit his brow--bit his nails--and answered quite out loud, "What! +and after all to lose the crock of gold?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +MURDER. + + +HE had waked her! + +In an instant the angel form of Mercy melted away--and there stood the +devil with his arms folded. + +"Murder!--fire!--rape!--thieves!--what, Nephew Jennings, is that you, +with all my honey pots? Help! help! help!" + +"Phew-w-w!" whistled the devil: "I tell you what, Master Simon, you must +quiet the old woman, she bellows like a bull, the house'll be about your +ears in a twinkling--she'll hang you for this!" + +Yes--he must quiet her--the game was up; he threatened, he implored, but +she would shriek on; she slept alone on the ground-floor, and knew she +must roar loudly to be heard above the drawing-rooms; she would not be +quieted--she would shriek--and she did. What must he do? she'll raise +the house!--Stop her mouth, stop her mouth, I say, can't you?--No, she's +a powerful, stout, heavy woman, and he cannot hold her: ha! she has +bitten his finger to the bone, like a very tigress! look at the blood! + +"Why can't you touch her throat; no teeth there, bless you! that's the +way the wind comes: bravo! grasp it--tighter! tighter! tighter!" + +She struggled, and writhed, and wrestled, and fought--but all was +strangling silence; they rolled about the floor together, tumbled on the +bed, scuffled round the room, but all in horrid silence; neither uttered +a sound, neither had a shoe on--but all was earnest, wicked, +death-dealing silence. + +Ha! the desperate victim has the best of it; gripe harder, Jennings; she +has twisted her fingers in your neckcloth, and you yourself are choking: +fool! squeeze the swallow, can't you? try to make your fingers meet in +the middle--lower down, lower down, grasp the gullet, not the ears, +man--that's right; I told you so: tighter, tighter, tighter! again; ha, +ha, ha, bravo! bravo!--tighter, tighter, tighter! + +At length the hideous fight was coming to an end--though a hungry +constrictor, battling with the huge rhinoceros, and crushing his mailed +ribs beneath its folds, could not have been so fierce or fearful; fewer +now, and fainter are her struggles; that face is livid blue--the eyes +have started out, and goggle horribly; the tongue protrudes, swollen and +black. Aha! there is another convulsive effort--how strong she is still! +can you hold her, Simon?--can he?--All the fiend possessed him now with +savage exultation: can he?--only look! gripe, gripe still, you are +conquering, strong man! she is getting weaker, weaker; here is your +reward, gold! gold! a mighty store uncounted; one more grasp, and it is +all your own--relent now, she hangs you. Come, make short work of it, +break her neck--gripe harder--back with her, back with here against the +bedstead: keep her down, down I say--she must not rise again. Crack! +went a little something in her neck--did you hear it? There's the +death-rattle, the last smothery complicated gasp--what, didn't you hear +that? + +And the devil congratulated Simon on his victory. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +THE REWARD. + + +TILL the wretch had done the deed, he scarcely knew that it was +doing. It was a horrid, mad excitement, where the soul had spread its +wings upon the whirlwind, and heeded not whither it was hurried. A +terrible necessity had seemed to spur him onwards all the while, and +one thing so succeeded to another, that he scarce could stop at any but +the first. From the moment he had hidden in the shower-bath (but for +God's interposing mercy), his doom appeared to have been +sealed--robbery, murder, false witness, and--damnation! + +Crime is the rushing rapid, which, but for some kind miracle, inevitably +carries on through circling eddies, and a foamy swinging tide, to the +cataract of death and wo: haste, poor fisherman of Erie, paddle hard +back, stem the torrent, cling to the shore, hold on tight by this +friendly bough; know you not whither the headlong current drives? hear +you not the roar of many waters, the maddening rush as of an ocean +disenthralled? feel you not the earth trembling at the thunder--see you +not the heaven clouded o'er with spray? Helpless wretch--thy frail canoe +has leapt that dizzy water-cliff, Niagara! + +But if, in doing that fell deed, madness raged upon the minutes, now +that it was done--all still, all calm, all quiet, Terror held the +hour-glass of Time. There lay the corpse, motionless, though coiled and +cramped in the attitude of struggling agony; and the murderer gazed upon +his victim with a horror most intense. Fly! fly!--he dared not stop to +think: fly! fly! any whither--as you are--wait for nothing; fly! thou +caitiff, for thy life! So he caught up the blood-bought spoils, and was +fumbling with shaky fingers at the handle of the garden-door, when the +unseen tempter whispered in his ear, + +"I say, Simon, did not your aunt die of apoplexy?" + +O, kind and wise suggestion! O, lightsome, tranquillizing thought! +Thanks! thanks! thanks!--And if the arch fiend had revealed himself in +person at the moment, Simon would have worshipped at his feet. + +"But," and as he communed with his own black heart, there needed now no +devil for his prompter--"if this matter is to be believed, I must +contrive a little that it may look likelier. Let me see:--yes, we must +lay all tidy, and the old witch shall have died in her sleep; apoplexy! +capital indeed; no tell-tales either. Well, I must set to work." + +Can mortal mind conceive that sickening office?--To face the strangled +corpse, yet warm; to lift the fearful burden in his arms, and order out +the heavily-yielding limbs in the ease of an innocent sleep? To arrange +the bed, smooth down the tumbled coverlid, set every thing straight +about the room, and erase all tokens of that dread encounter? It needed +nerves of iron, a heart all stone, a cool, clear head, a strong arm, a +mindful, self-protecting spirit; but all these requisites came to +Simon's aid upon the instant; frozen up with fear, his heart-strings +worked that puppet-man rigidly as wires; guilt supplied a reckless +energy, a wild physical power, which actuates no human frame but one +saturate with crime, or madness; and in the midst of those terrific +details, the murderer's judgment was so calm and so collected, that +nothing was forgotten, nothing unconsidered--unless, indeed, it were +that he out-generalled himself by making all too tidy to be natural. +Hence, suspicion at the inquest; for the "apoplexy" thought was really +such a good one, that, but for so exact a laying out, the fat old corpse +might have easily been buried without one surmise of the way she met her +end. Again and again, in the history of crimes, it is seen that a "Judas +hangs himself;" and albeit, as we know, the murderer has hitherto +escaped detection, still his own dark hour shall arrive in its due +place. + +The dreadful office done, he asked himself again, or maybe took counsel +of the devil (for that evil master always cheats his servants), "What +shall I do with my reward, this crock--these crocks of gold? It might be +easy to hide one of them, but not all; and as to leaving any behind, +that I won't do. About opening them to see which is which--" + +"I tell you what," said the tempter, as the clock struck three, +"whatever you do, make haste; by morning's dawn the house and garden +will be searched, no doubt, and the crocks found in your possession. +Listen to me--I'm your friend, bless you! remember the apoplexy. Pike +Island yonder is an unfrequented place; take the punt, hide all there +now, and go at your best leisure to examine afterwards; but whatever you +do, make haste, my man." + +Then Jennings crept out by the lawn-door, thereby rousing the house-dog; +but he skirted the laurels in their shadow, and it was dark and +mizzling, so he reached the punt both quickly and easily. + +The quiet, and the gloom, and the dropping rain, strangely affected him +now, as he plied his punt-pole; once he could have wept in his remorse, +and another time he almost shrieked in fear. How lonesome it seemed! how +dreadful! and that death-dyed face behind him--ha! woman, away I say! +But he neared the island, and, all shoeless as he was, crept up its +muddy bank. + +"Hallo! nybor, who be you a-poaching on my manor, eh? that bean't good +manners, any how." + +Ben Burke has told us all the rest. + +But, when Burke had got his spoils--when the biter had been bitten--the +robber robbed--the murderer stripped of his murdered victim's +money--when the bereaved miscreant, sullenly returning in the dark, +damp night, tracked again the way he came upon that lonely lake--no one +yet has told us, none can rightly tell, the feelings which oppressed +that God-forsaken man. He seemed to feel himself even a sponge which, +the evil one had bloated with his breath, had soaked it then in blood, +had squeezed it dry again, and flung away! He was Satan's broken tool--a +weed pulled up by the roots, and tossed upon the fire; alone--alone in +all the universe, without countenance or sympathy from God, or man, or +devil; he yearned to find, were it but a fiend to back him, but in vain; +they held aloof, he could see them vaguely through the gloom--he could +hear them mocking him aloud among the patter of the rain-drops--ha! ha! +ha--the pilfered fool! + +Bitterly did he rue his crime--fearfully he thought upon its near +discovery--madly did he beat his miserable breast, to find that he had +been baulked of his reward, yet spent his soul to earn it. + +Oh--when the house-dog bayed at him returning, how he wished he was that +dog! he went to him, speaking kindly to him, for he envied that +dog--"Good dog--good dog!" + +But more than envy kept him lingering there: the wretched man did it for +delay--yes, though morn was breaking on the hills--one more--one more +moment of most precious time. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +SECOND THOUGHTS. + + +FOR--again he must go through that room! + +No other entrance is open--not a window, not a door: all close as a +prison: and only by the way he went, by the same must he return. + +He trembled all over, as a palsied man, when he touched the lock: with +stiffening hair, and staring eyes, he peeped in at that well-remembered +chamber: he entered--and crept close up to the corpse, stealthily and +dreadingly--horror! what if she be alive still? + +SHE WAS. + +Not quite dead--not quite dead yet! a gurgling in the bruised throat--a +shadowy gleam of light and life in those protruded eyes--an irregular +convulsive heaving at the chest: she might recover! what a fearful +hope: and, if she did, would hang him--ha! he went nearer; she was +muttering something in a moanful way--it was, "Simon did it--Simon did +it--Simon did it--Si--Si--Simon did--" he should be found out! + +Yet once again, for the last time, the long-suffering Mercy of the Lord +stood like Balaam's angel in the way, pleading with that miserable man +at the bed-side of her whom he had strangled. And even then, that +Guardian Spirit came not with chiding on his tongue, but He uttered +words of hope, while his eyes were streaming with sorrow and with pity. + +"Most wretched of the sinful sons of men, even now there may be mercy +for thee, even now plenteous forgiveness. True, thou must die, and pay +the earthly penalty of crimes like thine: but do my righteous bidding, +and thy soul shall live. Go to that poor, suffocating creature--cherish +the spark of life--bind up the wounds which thou hast rent, pouring in +oil and wine: rouse the house--seek assistance--save her life--confess +thy sin--repent--and though thou diest for this before the tribunal of +thy fellows, God will yet be gracious--he will raise again her whom thou +hadst slain--and will cleanse thy blood-stained soul." + +Thus in Simon's ear spake that better conscience. + +But the reprobate had cast off Faith; he could not pledge the Present +for the Future; he shuddered at the sword of Justice, and would not +touch the ivory sceptre of Forgiveness. No: he meditated horrid +iteration--and again the fiend possessed him! What! not only lose the +crock of gold, but all his own bright store? and give up every thing of +this world's good for some imaginary other, and meekly confess, and +meanly repent--and--and all this to resuscitate that hated old aunt of +his, who would hang him, and divorce him from his gold? + +No! he must do the deed again--see, she is moving--she will recover! her +chest heaves visibly--she breathes--she speaks--she knows me--ha! +down--down, I say! + +Then, with deliberate and damning resolution--to screen off temporal +danger, and count his golden hoards a little longer--that awful criminal +touched the throat again: and he turned his head away not to see that +horrid face, clutched the swollen gullet with his icy hands, and +strangled her once more! + +"This time all is safe," said Simon. And having set all smooth as +before, he stole up to his own chamber. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +MAMMON, AND CONTENTMENT. + + +AY, safe enough: and the murderer went to bed. To bed? No. + +He tumbled about the clothes, to make it seem that he had lain there: +but he dared neither lie down, nor shut his eyes. Then, the darkness +terrified him: the out-door darkness he could have borne, and Mrs. +Quarles's chamber always had a night-lamp burning: but the darkness of +his own room, of his own thoughts, pressed him all around, as with a +thick, murky, suffocating vapour. So, he stood close by the window, +watching the day-break. + +As for sleep, never more did wholesome sleep rëvisit that atrocious +mind: laudanum, an ever-increasing dose of merciless laudanum, that was +the only power which ever seemed to soothe him. For a horrid vision +always accompanied him now: go where he might, do what he would, from +that black morning to eternity, he went a haunted man--a scared, +sleepless, horror-stricken wretch. That livid face with goggling eyes, +stuck to him like a shadow; he always felt its presence, and sometimes, +also, could perceive it as if bodily peeping over his shoulder, next his +cheek; it dogged him by day, and was his incubus by night; and often he +would start and wrestle, for the desperate grasp of the dying appeared +to be clutching at his throat: so, in his ghostly fears, and bloody +conscience, he had girded round his neck a piece of thin sheet-iron in +his cravat, which he wore continually as armour against those clammy +fingers: no wonder that he held his head so stiff. + +O Gold--accursed Mammon! is this the state of those who love thee +deepest? is this their joy, who desire thee with all their heart and +soul--who serve thee with all their might--who toil for thee--plot for +thee--live for thee--dare for thee--die for thee? Hast thou no better +bliss to give thy martyrs--no choicer comfort for thy most consistent +worshippers, no fairer fate for those, whose waking thoughts, and +dreaming hopes, and intricate schemes, and desperate deeds, were only +aimed at gold, more gold? God of this world, if such be thy rewards, let +me ever escape them! idol of the knave, false deity of the fool, if this +be thy blessing on thy votaries--come, curse me, Mammon, curse thou me! + +For, "The love of money is the root of all evil." It groweth up a +little plant of coveting; presently the leaves get rank, the branches +spread, and feed on petty thefts; then in their early season come the +blossoms, black designs, plots, involved and undeveloped yet, of foul +conspiracies, extortions on the weak, rich robbings of the wealthy, the +threatened slander, the rewarded lie, malice, perjury, sacrilege; then +speedily cometh on the climax, the consummate flower, dark-red murder: +and the fruit bearing in itself the seeds that never die, is righteous, +wrathful condemnation. + +Dyed with all manner of iniquity, tinged with many colours like the +Mohawk in his woods, goeth forth in a morning the covetous soul. His +cheek is white with envy, his brow black with jealous rage, his livid +lips are full of lust, his thievish hands spotted over with the crimson +drops of murder. "The poison of asps is under his lips; and his feet are +swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in his ways; and there +is no fear of God before his eyes." + +O, ye thousands--the covetous of this world's good--behold at what a +fire ye do warm yourselves! dread it: even now, ye have imagined many +deaths, whereby your gains may be the greater; ye have caught, in +wishful fancy, many a parting sigh; ye have closed, in a heartless +revery, many a glazing eye--yea, of those your very nearest, whom your +hopes have done to death: and are ye guiltless? God and conscience be +your judges! + +Even now ye have compassed many frauds, connived at many meannesses, +trodden down the good, and set the bad on high--all for gold--hard gold; +and are ye the honest--the upright? Speak out manfully your excuse, if +you can find one, ye respectables of merchandise, ye traders, bartering +all for cash, ye Scribes, ye Pharisees, hypocrites, all honourable men. + +Even now, your dreams are full of money-bags; your cares are how to add +superfluity to wealth; ye fawn upon the rich, ye scorn the poor, ye pine +and toil both night and day for gold, more gold; and are ye happy? +Answer me, ye covetous ones. + +Yet are there righteous gains, God's blessing upon labour: yet is there +rightful hope to get those righteous gains. Who can condemn the poor +man's care, though Faith should make his load the lighter? And who will +extenuate the rich man's coveting, whose appetite grows with what it +feeds on? "Having food and raiment, be therewith content;" that is the +golden mean; to that is limited the philosophy of worldliness: the man +must live, by labour and its earnings; but having wherewithal for him +and his temperately, let him tie the mill-stone of anxiety to the wing +of Faith, and speed that burden to his God. + +If Wealth come, beware of him, the smooth false friend: there is +treachery in his proffered hand, his tongue is eloquent to tempt, lust +of many harms is lurking in his eye, he hath a hollow heart; use him +cautiously. + +If Penury assail, fight against him stoutly, the gaunt grim foe: the +curse of Cain is on his brow, toiling vainly; he creepeth with the worm +by day, to raven with the wolf by night: diseases battle by his side, +and crime followeth his footsteps. Therefore fight against him boldly, +and be of a good courage, for there are many with thee; not alone the +doled alms, the casual aids dropped from compassion, or wrung out by +importunity; these be only temporary helps, and indulgence in them +pampers the improvident; but look thou to a better host of strong +allies, of resolute defenders; turn again to meet thy duties, needy one: +no man ever starved, who even faintly tried to do them. Look to thy God, +O sinner! use reason wisely; cherish honour; shrink not from toil, +though somewhile unrewarded; preserve frank bearing with thy fellows; +and in spite of all thy sins--forgiven; all thy follies--flung away; all +the trickeries of this world--scorned; all competitions--disregarded; +all suspicions--trodden under foot; thou neediest and raggedest of +labourers' labourers--Enough shall be thy portion, ere a week hath +passed away. + +Well did Agur-the-Wise counsel Ithiel and Ucal his disciples, when he +uttered in their ears before his God, this prayerful admonition, "Two +things have I required of Thee; deny me them not before I die: remove +far from me vanity and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches: feed me +with food convenient for me. Lest I be full, and deny Thee, saying, Who +is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and dishonour the name of the +Lord my God." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +NEXT MORNING. + + +DAY dawned apace; and a glorious cavalcade of flaming clouds +heralded the Sun their captain. From far away, round half the wide +horizon, their glittering spears advanced. Heaven's highway rang with +the trampling of their horse-hoofs, and the dust went up from its +jewelled pavement as spray from the bottom of a cataract. Anon, he +came, the chieftain of that on-spurring host! his banner blazed upon the +sky; his golden crest was seen beneath, nodding with its ruddy plumes; +over the south-eastern hills he arose in radiant armour. Fair Nature, +waking at her bridegroom's voice, arrived so early from a distant clime, +smiled upon him sleepily, gladdening him in beauty with her sweet +half-opened eyelids, and kissing him in faithfulness with +dew-besprinkled lips. + +And he looked forth upon the world from his high chariot, holding back +the coursers that must mount the steep of noon: and he heard the morning +hymn of thankfulness to Heaven from the mountains, and the valleys, and +the islands of the sea; the prayer of man and woman, the praise of +lisping tongues, the hum of insect joy upon the air, the sheep-bell +tinkling in the distance, the wild bird's carol, and the lowing kine, +the mute minstrelsy of rising dews, and that stilly scarce-heard +universal melody of wakeful plants and trees, hastening to turn their +spring-buds to the light--this was the anthem he, the Lord of Day, now +listened to--this was the song his influences had raised to bless the +God who made him. + +And he saw, from his bright throne of wide derivative glory, Hope flying +forth upon her morning missions, visiting the lonesome, comforting the +sorrowful, speaking cheerfully to Care, and singing in the ear of +Labour: and he watched that ever-welcome friend, flitting with the +gleams of light to every home, to every heart; none but gladly let her +in; her tapping finger opened the very prison doors; the heavy head of +Sloth rejoiced to hear her call; and every common Folly, every common +Sin--ay, every common Crime--warmed his unconscious soul before her +winning beauty. + +Yet, yet was there one, who cursed that angel's coming; and the holy Eye +of day wept pityingly to see an awful child of man who dared not look on +Hope. + +The murderer stood beside his casement, watching that tranquil scene: +with bloodshot eyes and haggard stare, he gazed upon the waking world; +for one strange minute he forgot, entranced by innocence and beauty; but +when the stunning tide of memory, that had ebbed that one strange +minute, rolled back its mighty flood upon his mind, the murderer swooned +away. + +And he came to himself again all too soon; for when he arose, building +up his weak, weak limbs, as if he were a column of sand, the cruel +giant, Guilt, lifted up his club, and felled the wretch once more. + +How long he lay fainting, he knew not then; if any one had vowed it was +a century, Simon, as he gradually woke, could not have gainsaid the man; +but he only lay four seconds in that white oblivious trance--for Fear, +Fear knocked at his heart:--Up, man, up!--you need have all your wits +about you now;--see, it is broad day--the house will be roused before +you know where you are, and then will be shouted out that awful +name--Simon Jennings! Simon Jennings! + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +THE ALARM. + + +HE arose, held up on either hand that day as if fighting +against Amalek;--despair buttressed him on one side, and secresy shored +him on the other: behind that wall of stone his heart had strength to +beat. + +He arose; and listened at the key-hole anxiously: all silent, quiet, +quiet still; the whole house asleep: nothing found out yet. And he bit +his nails to the quick, that they bled again: but he never felt the +pain. + +Hush!--yes, somebody's about: it is Jonathan's step; and hark, he is +humming merrily, "Hail, smiling morn, that opes the gates of day?" Wo, +wo--what a dismal gulph between Jonathan and me! And he beat his breast +miserably. But, Jonathan cannot find it out--he never goes to Mrs. +Quarles's room. Oh! this suspense is horrible: haste, haste, some kind +soul, to make the dread discovery! And he tore his hair away by +handfulls. + +"Hark!--somebody else--unlatching shutters; it will be Sarah--ha! she is +tapping at the housekeeper's room--yes, yes, and she will make it known, +O terrible joy!--A scream! it is Sarah's voice--she has seen her dead, +dead, dead;--but is she indeed dead?" + +The miscreant quivered with new fears; she might still mutter "Simon did +it!" + +And now the house is thoroughly astir; running about in all directions; +and shouting for help; and many knocking loudly at the murderer's own +door--"Mr. Jennings! Mr. Jennings!--quick--get up--come down--quick, +quick--your aunt's found dead in her bed!" + +What a relief to the trembling wretch!--she _was_ dead. He could have +blessed the voice that told him his dread secret was so safe. But his +parched tongue may never bless again: curses, curses are all its +blessings now. + +And Jennings came out calmly from his chamber, a white, stern, +sanctimonious man, lulling the storm with his wise presence:--"God's +will be done," said he; "what can poor weak mortals answer Him?" And he +played cleverly the pious elder, the dignified official, the +affectionate nephew: "Ah, well, my humble friends, behold what life is: +the best of us must come to this; my poor, dear aunt, the late +house-keeper, rest her soul--I feared it might be this way some night or +other: she was a stout woman, was our dear, deceased Bridget--and, +though a good kind soul, lived much on meat and beer: ah well, ah well!" +And he concealed his sentimental hypocrisy in a cotton pocket-handkerchief. + +"Alas, and well-a-day! that it should have come to this. Apoplexy--you +see, apoplexy caught her as she slept: we may as well get her buried at +once: it is unfortunately too clear a case for any necessity to open the +body; and our young master is coming down on Tuesday, and I could not +allow my aunt's corpse to be so disrespectful as to stop till it became +offensive. I will go to the vicar myself immediately." + +"Begging pardon, Mr. Jennings," urged Jonathan Floyd, "there's a strange +mark here about the throat, poor old 'ooman." + +"Ay," added Sarah, "and now I come to think of it, Mrs. Quarles's +room-door was ajar; and bless me, the lawn-door's not locked neither! +Who could have murdered her?" + +"Murdered? there's no murder here, silly wench," said Jennings, with a +nervous sneer. + +"I don't know that, Mr. Simon," gruffly interposed the coachman; "it's a +case for a coroner, I'll be bail; so here I goes to bring him: let all +bide as it is, fellow-sarvents; murder will out, they say." + +And off he set directly--not without a shrewd remark from Mr. Jennings, +about letting him escape that way; which seemed all very sage and +likely, till the honest man came back within the hour, and a _posse +comitatus_ at his heels. + +We all know the issue of that inquest. + +Now, if any one requests to be informed how Jennings came to be looked +for as usual in his room, after that unavailing search last night, I +reply, this newer, stronger excitement for the minute made the house +oblivious of that mystery; and if people further will persist to know, +how that mystery of his absence was afterwards explained (though I for +my part would gladly have said nothing of the bailiff's own excuse), let +it be enough to hint, that Jennings winked with a knowing and gallant +expression of face; alluded to his private key, and a secret return at +two in the morning from some disreputable society in the neighbourhood; +made the men laugh, and the women blush; and, altogether, as he might +well have other hats and coats, the delicate affair was not unlikely. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +DOUBTS. + + +AND so, this crock of gold--gained through extortion, by the +frauds of every day, the meannesses of every hour--this concrete +oppression to the hireling in his wages--this mass of petty pilferings +from poverty--this continuous obstruction to the charities of +wealth--this cockatrice's egg--this offspring of iniquity--had already +been baptized in blood before poor Acton found it, and slain its earthly +victim ere it wrecked his faith; already had it been perfected by crime, +and destroyed the murderer's soul, before it had endangered the life of +slandered innocence. + +Is there yet more blessing in the crock? more fearful interest still, to +carry on its story to an end? Must another sacrifice bleed before the +shrine of Mammon, and another head lie crushed beneath the heel of that +monster--his disciple? + +Come on with me, and see the end; push further still, there is a +labyrinth ahead to attract and to excite; from mind to mind crackles the +electric spark: and when the heart thrillingly conceives, its +children-thoughts are as arrows from the hand of the giant, flying +through that mental world--the hearts of other men. Fervent still from +its hot internal source, this fountain gushes up; no sluggish +Lethe-stream is here, dull, forgetful, and forgotten; but liker to the +burning waves of Phlegethon, mingling at times (though its fire is still +unquenched), with the pastoral rills of Tempe, and the River from the +Mount of God. + +Lower the sail--let it flap idly on the wind--helm a-port--and so to +smoother waters: return to common life and humbler thoughts. + +It may yet go hard with Roger Acton. Jennings is a man of character, +especially the farther from his home; the county round take him for a +model of propriety, a sample of the strictest conduct. We know the bad +man better; but who dare breathe against the bailiff in his +power--against the caitiff in his sleek hypocrisy--that, while he makes +a show of both humilities, he fears not God nor man? What shall hinder, +that the perjured wretch offer up to the manes of the murdered the +life-blood of the false-accused? May he not live yet many years, heaping +up gold and crime? And may not sweet Grace Acton--her now repentant +father--the kindly Jonathan--his generous master, and if there be any +other of the Hurstley folk we love, may they not all meet destruction at +his hands, as a handful of corn before the reaper's sickle? I say not +that they shall, but that they might. Acton's criminal state of mind, +and his hunger after gold--gold any how--have earned some righteous +retribution, unless Providence in mercy interpose; and young Sir John, +in nowise unblameable himself, with wealth to tempt the spoiler, lives +in the spoiler's very den; and as to Jonathan and Grace, this world has +many martyrs. If Heaven in its wisdom use the wicked as a sword, Heaven +is but just; but if in its vengeance that sword of the wicked is turned +against himself, Heaven showeth mercy all unmerited. To a criminal like +Jennings, let loose upon the world, without the clog of conscience to +retard him, and with the spur of covetousness ever urging on, any thing +in crime is possible--is probable: none can sound those depths: and when +we raise our eyes on high to the Mighty Moral Governor, and note the +clouds of mystery that thunder round his Throne--He may permit, or he +may control; who shall reach those heights? + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +FEARS. + + +MOREOVER, innocent of blood, as we know Roger Acton to be, +appearances are strongly against him: and in such a deed as secret, +midnight murder, which none but God can witness, multiplied appearances +justify the world in condemning one who seems so guilty. + +The first impression against Roger is a bad one, for all the neighbours +know how strangely his character had been changing for the worse of +late: he is not like the same man; sullen and insubordinate, he was +turned away from work for his bold and free demeanor; as to church, +though he had worn that little path these forty years, all at once he +seems to have entirely forgotten the way hither. + +He lives, nobody knows how--on bright, clean gold, nobody knows whence: +his daughter says, indeed, that her father found a crock of gold in his +garden--but she needs not have held her tongue so long, and borne so +many insults, if that were all the truth; and, mark this! even though +she says it, and declares it on her Bible-oath, Acton himself most +strenuously denied all such findings--but went about with impudent tales +of legacy, luck, nobody knows what; the man prevaricated continually, +and got angry when asked about it--cudgelling folks, and swearing +like--like any one but old-time "honest Roger." + +Only look, too, where he lives: in a lone cottage opposite Pike Island, +on the other side of which is Hurstley Hall, the scene of robbery and +murder: was not a boat seen that night upon the lake? and was not the +lawn-door open? How strangely stupid in the coroner and jury not to have +imagined this before! how dull it was of every body round not to have +suspected murder rather more strongly, with those finger-marks about the +throat, and not to have opened their eyes a little wider, when the +murderer's cottage was within five hundred yards of that open lawn-door! + +Then again--when Mr. Jennings, in his strict and searching way, accused +the culprit, he never saw a man so confused in all his life! and on +repeating the charge before those two constables, they all witnessed his +guilty consternation: experienced men, too, they were, and never saw a +felon if Acton wasn't one; the dogged manner in which he went with them +so quietly was quite sufficient; innocent men don't go to jail in that +sort of way, as if they well deserved it. + +But, strongest of all, if any shadow of a doubt remained, the most +fearful proof of Roger's guilt lay in the scrap of shawl--the little +leather bags--and the very identical crock of gold! There it was, +nestled in the thatch within a yard of his head, as he lay in bed at +noon-day guarding it. + +One proof, weaker than the weakest of all these banded together, has ere +now sufficed to hang the guilty; and many, many fears have I that this +multitude of seeming facts, conspiring in a focus against Roger Acton, +will be quite enough to overwhelm the innocent. "Nothing lies like a +fact," said Dr. Johnson: and statistics prove it, at least as well as +circumstantial evidence. + +The matter was as clear as day-light, and long before the trial came +about, our poor labourer had been hanged outright in the just judgment +of Hurstley-cum-Piggesworth. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +PRISON COMFORTS. + + +MANY blessings, more than he had skill to count, had visited +poor Acton in his cell. His gentle daughter Grace, sweet minister of +good thoughts--she, like a loving angel, had been God's instrument of +penitence and peace to him. He had come to himself again, in solitude, +by nights, as a man awakened from a feverish dream; and the hallowing +ministrations of her company by day had blest reflective solitude with +sympathy and counsel. + +Good-wife Mary, too, had been his comforting and cheering friend. +Immediately the crock of gold had been taken from its ambush in the +thatch, it seemed as if the chill which had frozen up her heart had been +melted by a sudden thaw. Roger Acton was no longer the selfish prodigal, +but the guiltless, persecuted penitent; her care was now to soothe his +griefs, not to scold him for excesses; and indignation at the false and +bloody charge made him appear a martyr in her eyes. As to his accuser, +Jennings, Mary had indeed her own vague fancies and suspicions, but +there being no evidence, nor even likelihood to support them, she did +not dare to breathe a word; she might herself accuse him falsely. Ben, +who alone could have thrown a light upon the matter, had always been +comparatively a stranger at Hurstley; he was no native of the place, and +had no ties there beyond wire and whip-cord: he would appear in that +locality now and then in his eccentric orbit, like a comet, and, soon +departing thence, would take away Tom as his tail; but even when there, +he was mainly a night-prowler, seldom seen by day, and so little versed +in village lore, so rarely mingling with its natives, that neither +Jennings nor Burke knew one another by sight. His fame indeed was known, +but not his person. At present, he and Tom were still fowling in some +distant fens, nobody could tell where; so that Roger's only witness, who +might have accounted for the crock and its finding, was as good as dead +to him; to make Ben's absence more unusually prolonged, and his +rëappearance quite incalculable, he had talked of going with his cargo +of wild ducks "either to London or to Liverpool, he didn't rightly know +which." + +Nevertheless, Mary comforted her husband, and more especially herself, +by the hope of his return as a saving witness; though it was always +doubtful how far Burke's numerous peccadilloes against property would +either find him at large, or authorize the poacher in walking straight +before the judges. Still Ben's possible interposition was one source of +hope and cheerful expectation. Then the good wife would leave her babes +at home, safely in a neighbour's charge, and stay and sit many long +hours with poor Roger, taking turns with Grace in talking to him +tenderly, making little of home-troubles past, encouraging him to wear a +stout heart, and filling him with gratitude for all her kindly care. +Thus did she bless, and thus was made a blessing, through the loss and +absence of that crock of gold. + +For Roger himself, he had repented; bitterly and deeply, as became his +headlong fall: no sweet luxuries of grief, no soothing sorrow, no +chastened meditative melancholy--such mild penitence as this, he +thought, could be but a soberer sort of joy for virgins, saints, and +martyrs: no--he, bad man, was unworthy of those melting pleasures, and +in sturdy self-revenge he flung them from him, choosing rather to feel +overwhelmed with shame, contrition, and reproaches. A humbled man with a +broken heart within him--such was our labourer, penitent in prison; and +when he contrasted his peaceful, pure, and Christian course those forty +years of poverty, with his blasphemous and infidel career for the one +bad week of wealth, he had no patience with himself--only felt his fall +the greater; and his judgment of his own guilt, with a natural +exaggeration, went the length of saying--I am scarcely less guilty +before God and man, than if, indeed, my hands were red with murder, and +my casual finding had been robbery. He would make no strong appeals to +the bar of justice, as an innocent condemned; not he--not he: innocent, +indeed? his wicked, wicked courses--(an old man, too--gray-headed, with +no young blood in him to excuse, no inexperience to extenuate), these +deserved--did he say hanging? it was a harsher syllable--hell: and the +contrite sinner gladly would have welcomed all the terrors of the +gibbet, in hope to take full vengeance on himself for his wicked thirst +for gold and all its bitter consequences. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +GOOD COUNSEL. + + +BUT Grace advised him better. "Be humbled as you may before +God, my father, but stand up boldly before man: for in his sight, and by +his law, you are little short of blameless. I would not, dearest father, +speak to you of sins, except for consolation under them; for it ill +becomes a child to see the failings of a parent. But when I know at once +how innocent you are in one sense, and how not quite guiltless in +another, I wish my words may comfort you, if you will hear them, father. +Covetousness, not robbery--excess, not murder--these were your only +sins; and concealment was not wise, neither was a false report +befitting. Money, the idol of millions, was your temptation: its earnest +love, your fault; its possession, your misfortune. Forgive me, father, +if I speak too freely. Good Mr. Evans, who has been so kind to us for +years, (never kinder than since you were in prison,) can speak better +than I may, of sins forgiven, and a Friend to raise the fallen: it is +not for poor Grace to school her dear and honoured father. If you feel +yourself guilty of much evil in the sight of Him before whom the angels +bow in meekness--I need not tell you that your sorrow is most wise, and +well-becoming. But this must not harm your cause with men: though tired +of life, though hopeless in one's self, though bad, and weak, and like +to fall again, we are still God's servants upon earth, bound to guard +the life he gives us. Neither must you lightly allow the guilt of +unrighteous condemnation to fall upon the judge who tries you; nor let +your innocent blood cry to God for vengeance on your native land. +Manfully confront the false accuser, tell openly the truth, plead your +own cause firmly, warmly, wisely:--so, God defend the right!" + +And as Grace Acton said these words, in all the fervour of a daughter's +love, with a flushed cheek, parted lips, and her right hand raised to +Him whom she invoked, she looked like an inspired prophetess, or the +fair maid of Orleans leading on to battle. + +In an instant afterwards, she humbly added, + +"Forgive me any thing I may have said, that seems to chide my father." + +"Bless you, bless you, dearest one!" was Roger's sobbing prayer, who +had listened to her wisdom breathlessly. "Ah, daughter," then exclaimed +the humbled, happy man, "I'll try to do all you ask me, Grace; but it is +a hard thing to feel myself so wicked, and to have to speak up boldly +like a Christian man." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +EXPERIENCE. + + +THEN, with disjointed sentences, suited to the turmoil of his +thoughts, half in a soliloquy, half as talking to his daughter, Roger +Acton gave his hostile testimony to the worth of wealth. + +"Oh, fool, fool that I have been, to set so high a price on gold! To +have hungered and thirsted for it--to have coveted earnestly so bad a +gift--to have longed for Mammon's friendship, which is enmity with God! +What has not money cost me? Happiness:--ay, wasn't it to have given me +happiness? and the little that I had (it was much, Grace, not little, +very much--too much--God be praised for it!) all, all the happiness I +had, gold took away. Look at our dear old home--shattered and scattered, +as now I wish that crock had been. Health, too; were it not for gold, +and all gold gave, I had been sturdy still, and capable; but my nights +maddened with anxieties, my days worried with care, my head feverish +with drink, my heart rent by conscience--ah, my girl, my girl, when I +thought much of poverty and its hardships, of toil, and hunger, and +rheumatics, I little imagined that wealth had heavier cares and pains: I +envied them their wanton life of pleasure at the Hall, and little knew +how hard it was: well are they called hard-livers who drink, and game, +and have nothing to do, except to do wickedness continually. +Religion--can it bide with money, child? I never knew my wicked heart, +till fortune made me rich; not until then did I guess how base, lying, +false, and bad was 'honest Roger;' how sensual, coarse, and brutal, was +that hypocrite 'steady Acton'. Money is a devil, child, or pretty near +akin. Then I complained of toil, too, didn't I?--Ah, what are all the +aches I ever felt--labouring with spade and spud in cold and rain, +hungry belike, and faint withal--what are they all at their worst (and +the worst was very seldom after all), to the gnawing cares, the hideous +fears, the sins--the sins, my girl, that tore your poor old father? +Wasn't it to be an end of troubles, too, this precious crock of gold? +Wo's me, I never knew real trouble till I had it! Look at me, and judge; +what has made me live like a beast, sin like a heathen, and lie down +here like a felon? what has made me curse Ben Burke--kind, hearty, +friendly Ben?--and given my poor good boy an ill-report as having stolen +and slain? all this crock of gold. But O, my Grace, to think that the +crock's curses touched thee, too! didn't it madden me to hear them? +Dear, pure, patient child, my darling, injured daughter, here upon my +knees I pray, forgive that wrong!" And he fell at her feet beseechingly. + +"My father," said the noble girl, lifting up his head, and passionately +kissing it; "when they whispered so against me, and Jonathan heard the +wicked things men said, I would have borne it all, all in silence, and +let them all believe me bad, father, if I could have guessed that by +uttering the truth, I should have seen thee here, in a dungeon, treated +as a--murderer! How was I to tell that men could be so base, as to +charge such crimes upon the innocent, when his only fault, or his +misfortune, was to find a crock of gold? Oh! forgive me, too, this +wrong, my father!" + +And they wept in each other's arms. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +JONATHAN'S TROTH. + + +GRACE had been all but an inmate of the prison, ever since her +father had been placed there on suspicion. Early and late, and often in +the day, was the duteous daughter at his cell, for the governor and the +turn-keys favoured her. Who could resist such beauty and affection, +entreating to stay with a father about to stand on trial for his life, +and making every effort to be allowed only to pray with him? Thus did +Grace spend all the week before those dread assizes. + +As to her daily maintenance, ever since that bitter morning when the +crock was found, her spiritual fears had obliged her to abstain from +touching so much as one penny of that unblest store; and, seeing that +honest pride would not let her be supported by grudged and common +charity, she had thankfully suffered the wages of her now betrothed +Jonathan to serve as means whereon she lived, and (what cost more than +all her humble wants) whereby she could administer many little comforts +to her father in his prison. When she was not in the cell, Grace was +generally at the Hall, to the scandal of more than one Hurstleyan +gossip; but perhaps they did not know how usually kind Sarah Stack was +of the company, to welcome her with Jonathan, and play propriety. Sarah +was a true friend, one for adversity, and though young herself, and not +ill-looking, did not envy Grace her handsome lover; on the contrary, she +did all to make them happy, and had gone the friendly length of +insisting to find Grace and her family in tea and sugar, while all this +lasted. I like that much in Sarah Stack. + +However, the remainder of the virtuous world were not so considerate, +nor so charitable. Many neighbours shunned the poor girl, as if +contaminated by the crimes which Roger had undoubtedly committed: the +more elderly unmarried sisterhood, as we have chronicled already, were +overjoyed at the precious opportunity:--"Here was the pert vixen, whom +all the young fellows so shamelessly followed, turned out, after all, a +murderer's daughter;--they wished her joy of her eyes, and lips, and +curls, and pretty speeches: no good ever came of such naughty ways, that +the men liked so." + +Nay, even the tipsy crew at Bacchus's affected to treat her name with +scorn:--"The girl had made much noise about being called a trull, as if +many a better than she wasn't one; and, after all, what was the prudish +wench? a sort of she-butcher; they had no patience with her proud +looks." + +As to farmer Floyd, he made a great stir about his boy being about to +marry a felon's daughter; and the affectionate mother, with many +elaborate protestations, had "vowed to Master Jonathan, that she would +rather lay him out with her own hands, and a penny on each eye, than see +a Floyd disgrace himself in that 'ere manner." + +And uncles, aunts, and cousins, most disinterestedly exhorted that the +obstinate youth be disinherited--"Ay, Mr. Floyd, I wish your son was a +high-minded man like his father; but there's a difference, Mr. Floyd; I +wish he had your true blue yeoman's honour, and the spirit that becomes +his father's son: if the lad was mine, I'd cut him off with a shilling, +to buy a halter for his drab of a wife. Dang it, Mrs. Floyd, it'll never +do to see so queer a Mrs. Jonathan Junior, a standing in your tidy shoes +beside this kitchen dresser." + +These estimable counsels were, I grieve to say, of too flattering a +nature to displease, and of too lucrative a quality not to be +continually repeated; until, really, Jonathan was threatened with +beggary and the paternal malediction, if he would persist in his +disreputable attachment. + +Nevertheless, Jonathan clung to the right like a hero. + +"Granting poor Acton is the wretch you think--but I do not believe one +word of it--does his crime make his daughter wicked too? No; she is an +angel, a pure and blessed creature, far too good for such a one as I. +And happy is the man that has gained her love; he should not give her up +were she thrice a felon's daughter. My father and mother," Jonathan went +on to say, "never found a fault in her till now. Who was more welcome on +the hill than pretty Grace? who would oftenest come to nurse some sickly +lamb, but gentle Grace? who was wont, from her childhood up, to run home +with me so constantly, when school was over, and pleased my kinsfolk so +entirely with her nice manners and kind ways? Hadn't he fought for her +more than once, and though he came home with bruises on his face, his +mother praised him for it?" Then, with a natural divergence from the +strict subject-matter of objection, vicarious felony, Jonathan went on +to argue about other temporal disadvantages. "Hadn't he heard his father +say, that, if she had but money, she was fit to be a countess? and was +money, then, the only thing, whereof the having, or the not having, +could make her good or bad?--money, the only wealth for soul, and mind, +and body? Are affections nothing, are truth and honour nothing, religion +nothing, good sense nothing, health nothing, beauty nothing--unless +money gild them all? Nonsense!" said Jonathan, indignantly, warmed by +his amatory eloquence; "come weal, come wo, Grace and I go down to the +grave together; for better, if she can be better--for worse, if she +could sin--Grace Acton is my wealth, my treasure, and possession; and +let man do his worst, God himself will bless us!" + +So, all this knit their loves: she knew, and he felt, that he was going +in the road of nobleness and honour; and the fiery ordeal which he had +to struggle through, raised that hearty earthly lover more nearly to a +level with his heavenly-minded mistress. Through misfortune and +mistrust, and evil rumours all around, in spite of opposition from false +friends, and the scorn of slanderous foes, he stood by her more +constantly, perchance more faithfully, than if the course of true-love +had been smoother: he was her escort morning and evening to and from the +prison; his strong arm was the dread of babbling fools that spoke a word +of disrespect against the Actons; and his brave tongue was now making +itself heard, in open vindication of the innocent. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +SUSPICIONS. + + +YES--Jonathan Floyd was beginning to speak out boldly certain +strange suspicions he had entertained of Jennings. It was a courageous, +a rash, a dangerous thing to do: he did not know but what it might have +jeoparded his life, say nothing of his livelihood: but Floyd did it. + +Ever since that inquest, contrived to be so quickly and so quietly got +over, he had noticed Simon's hurried starts, his horrid looks, his +altered mien in all he did and said, his new nervous ways at +nightfall--John Page to sleep in Mr. Jennings's chamber, and a +rush-light perpetually--his shudder whenever he had occasion to call at +the housekeeper's room, and his evident shrinking from the frequent +phrase "Mrs. Quarles's murder." + +Then again, Jonathan would often lie awake at nights, thinking over +divers matters connected with his own evidence before the coroner, which +he began to see might be of great importance. Jennings said, he had gone +out to still the dog by the front door--didn't he?--"How then, Mr. +Jennings, did you contrive to push back the top bolt? The Hall chairs +had not come then, and you are a little fellow, and you know that nobody +in the house could reach, without a lift, that bolt but me. Besides, +before Sir John came down, the hinges of that door creaked, like a +litter o' kittens screaming, and the lock went so hard for want of use +and oil, that I'll be sworn your gouty chalkstone fingers could never +have turned it: now, I lay half awake for two hours, and heard no creak, +no key turned; but I tell you what I did hear though, and I wish now I +had said it at that scanty, hurried inquest; I heard what I now believe +were distant screams (but I was so sleepy), and a kind of muffled +scuffling ever so long: but I fancied it might be a horse in the stable +kicking among the straw in a hunter's loose box. I can guess what it was +now--cannot you, Mr. Simon?--I say, butler, you must have gone out to +quiet Don--who by the way can't abear the sight of you--through Mrs. +Quarles's room: and, for all your threats, I'm not afeard to tell you +what I think. First answer me this, Mr. Simon Jennings:--where were you +all that night, when we were looking for you?--Oh! you choose to forget, +do you? I can help your memory, Mr. Butler; what do you think of the +shower-bath in Mother Quarles's room?" + +As Jonathan, one day at dinner in the servants' hall, took occasion to +direct these queries to the presiding Simon, the man gave such a horrid +start, and exclaimed, "Away, I say!" so strangely, that Jonathan could +doubt no longer--nor, in fact, any other of the household: Jennings gave +them all round a vindictive scowl, left the table, hastened to his own +room, and was seen no more that day. + +Speculation now seemed at an end, it had ripened into probability;--but +what evidence was there to support so grave a charge against this rigid +man? Suspicions are not half enough to go upon--especially since Roger +Acton seemed to have had the money. Therefore, though the folks at +Hurstley, Sir John, his guests, and all the house, could not but think +that Mr. Jennings acted very oddly--still, he had always been a strange +creature, an unpopular bailiff; nobody understood him. So, Floyd, to his +own no small danger, stood alone in accusing the man openly. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +GRACE'S ALTERNATIVE. + + +VERY shortly after that remarkable speech in the servants' +hall, Jonathan found another reason for believing that Mr. Simon +Jennings was equal to any imaginable amount of human wickedness. That +reason will shortly now appear; but we must first of all dig at its +roots somewhat deeper than Jonathan's mental husbandry could manage. + +If any trait of character were wanting to complete the desperate infamy +of Jennings--(really I sometimes hope that his grandfather's madness had +a kind of rëawakening in this accursed man)--it was furnished by a new +and shrewd scheme for feeding to the full his lust of gold. The bailiff +had more than once, as we have hinted, found means to increase his evil +hoard, by having secretly gained power over female innocence and honest +reputation: similarly he now devised a deep-laid plot, nothing short of +diabolical. His plot was this: and I choose to hurry over such foul +treason. Let a touch or two hint its outlines: those who will, may paint +up the picture for themselves. Simon looked at Sir John--young, gay, +wealthy; he coveted his purse, and fancied that the surest bait to catch +that fish was fair Grace Acton: if he could entrap her for his master +(to whom he gave full credit for delighting in the plan), he counted +surely on magnificent rewards. How then to entrap her? Thus:--he, +representing himself as prosecutor of Roger, the accused, held for him, +he averred, the keys of life and death: he would set this idea (whether +true or not little mattered, if it served his purpose) before an +affectionate daughter, who should have it in her power to save her +parent, if, and only if, she would yield herself to Jennings: and he +well knew that, granting she gave herself secretly to him first, on such +a bribe as her father's liberation, he would have no difficulty whatever +in selling her second-hand beauty on his own terms to his master. It was +a foul scheme, and shall not be enlarged upon: but (as will appear) thus +slightly to allude to it was needful to our tale, as well as to the +development of character in Mammon's pattern-slave, and to the fullness +of his due retribution in this world. I may add, that if any thing could +make the plan more heinous--if any shade than blackest can be +blacker--this extra turpitude is seen in the true consideration, that +the promise to Grace of her father's safety would be entirely futile--as +Jennings knew full well; the crown was prosecutor, not he: and +circumstantial evidence alone would be sufficient to condemn. Again, it +really is nothing but bare justice to remark, with reference to Sir +John, that the deep-dyed villain reckoned quite without his host; for +however truly the baronet had oft-times been much less a self-denying +Scipio than a wanton Alcibiades, still the fine young fellow would have +flung Simon piecemeal to his hounds, if ever he had breathed so +atrocious a temptation: the maid was pledged, and Vincent knew it. + +Now, it so happened that one evening at dusk, when Grace as usual was +obliged to leave the prison, there was no Jonathan in waiting to +accompany her all the dreary long way home: this was strange, as his +good-hearted master, privately informed of his noble attachment, never +refused the man permission, but winked, for the time, at his frequent +evening absence. Nevertheless, on this occasion, as would happen now and +then, Floyd could not escape from the dining-room; probably because--Mr. +Jennings had secretly gone forth to escort the girl himself. +Accordingly, instead of loved Jonathan, sidled up to her the loathsome +Simon. + +Let me not soil these pages by recording, in however guarded phrase, the +grossness of this wretch's propositions; it was a long way to Hurstley, +and the reptile never ceased tormenting her every step of it, till the +village was in sight: twice she ran, and he ran too, keeping up with +her, and pouring into her ear a father's cruel fate and his own +detestable alternative. She never once spoke to him, but kept on praying +in her own pure mind for a just acquittal; not for one moment would she +entertain the wicked thought of "doing evil that good might come;" and +so, with flushed cheek, tingling ears, the mien of an insulted empress, +and the dauntless resolution of a heroine, she hastened on to Hurstley. + +Look here! by great good fortune comes Jonathan Floyd to meet her. + +"Save me, Jonathan, save me!" and she fainted in his arms. + +Now, truth to say, though Sir John knew it, Simon did not, that Grace +was Jonathan's beloved and betrothed; and the cause lay simply in this, +that Jonathan had frankly told his master of it, when he found the +dreadful turn things had taken with poor Roger; but as to Simon, no +mortal in the neighbourhood ever communicated with him, further than as +urged by fell necessity. Of course, the lovers' meetings were as private +as all such matters generally are; and Sarah's aid managed them +admirably. Therefore it now came to pass that Simon and Jonathan looked +on each other in mutual astonishment, and needs must wait until Grace +Acton could explain the "save me." Not but that Jennings seemed much as +if he wished to run away; but he did not know how to manage it. + +"Dear Jonathan," she whispered feebly, "save me from Simon Jennings." + +In an instant, Jonathan's grasp was tightly involved in the bailiff's +stiff white neckcloth. And Grace, with much maidenly reserve, told her +lover all she dared to utter of that base bartering for her father's +life. + +"Come straight along with me, you villain, straight to the master!" And +the sturdy Jonathan, administering all the remainder of the way (a +quarter of a mile of avenue made part of it) innumerable kickings and +cuffings, hauled the half-mummied bailiff into the servants' hall. + +"Now then, straight before the master! John Page, be so good as to knock +at the dining-room door, and ask master very respectfully if his honour +will be good enough to suffer me to speak to him." + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +THE DISMISSAL. + + +IT was after dinner. Sir John and his friends had somehow been +less jovial than usual; they were absolutely dull enough to be talking +politics. So, when the boy of many buttons tapped at the door, and +meekly brought in Jonathan's message, recounting also how he had got Mr. +Jennings in tow for some inexplicable crime, the strangeness of the +affair was a very welcome incident: both host and guests hailed it an +adventure. + +"By all means, let Jonathan come in." + +The trio were just outside; and when the blue and silver footman, +hauling in by his unrelinquished throat that scared bailiff, and +followed by the blushing village beauty, stood within the room, Sir John +and his half-dozen friends greeted the _tableau_ with united +acclamations. + +"I say, Pypp, that's a devilish fine creature," metaphorically remarked +the Honorable Lionel Poynter. + +"Yaas." Lord George was a long, sallow, slim young man, with a goatish +beard, like the Duc d'Aumale's; he affected extreme fashion and infinite +_sangfroid_. + +"Well, Jonathan, what is it?" asked the baronet. + +"Why, in one word, my honoured master, this scoundrel here has been +wickedly insulting my own poor dear Grace, by promising to save her +father from the gallows if--if--" + +"If what, man? speak out," said Mr. Poynter. + +"You don't mean to say, Jennings, that you are brute enough to be +seducing that poor man Roger's daughter, just as he's going to be tried +for his life?" asked Sir John. + +Simon uttered nothing in reply; but Grace burst into tears. + +"A fair idea that, 'pon my honour," drawled the chivalrous Pypp, +proceeding to direct his delicate attentions towards the weeping damsel. + +"Simon Jennings," said Sir John, after pausing in vain for his reply, "I +have long wished to get rid of you, sir. Silence! I know you, and have +been finding out your rascally proceedings these ten days past. I have +learnt much, more than you may fancy: and now this crowning villany +[what if he had known of the ulterior designs?] gives me fair occasion +to say once and for ever, begone!" + +Jennings drew himself up with an air of insufferable impudence, and +quietly answered, + +"John Vincent, I am proud to leave your service. I trust I can afford to +live without your help." + +There was a general outcry at this speech, and Jonathan collared him +again; but the baronet calmly set all straight by saying, + +"Perhaps, sir, you may not be aware that your systematic thievings and +extortions have amply justified me in detaining your iron chest and +other valuables, until I find out how you may have come by them." + +This was the _coup de grace_ to Jennings, who looked scared and +terrified:--what! all gone--all, his own beloved hoard, and that +dear-bought crock of gold? Then Sir John added, after one minute of +dignified and indignant silence, + +"Begone!--Jonathan put him out; and if you will kick him out of the +hall-door on your private account, I'll forgive you for it." + +With that, the liveried Antinous raised the little monster by the small +of the back, drew him struggling from the presence, and lifting him up +like a football, inflicted one enormous kick that sent him spinning down +the whole flight of fifteen marble stairs. This exploit accomplished to +the satisfaction of all parties, Jonathan naturally enough returned to +look for Grace; and his master, with a couple of friends who had run to +the door to witness the catastrophe, returned immediately before him. + +"Lord George Pypp, you will oblige me by leaving the young woman alone;" +was Sir John's first angry reproof when he perceived the rustic beauty +radiant with indignation at some mean offence. + +"The worthy baronet wa-ants her for himself," drawled Pypp. + +"Say that again, my lord, and you shall follow Jennings." + +Whilst the noble youth was slowly elaborating a proper answer, +Jonathan's voice was heard once more: he had long looked very white, +kept both hands clenched, and seemed as if, saving his master's +presence, he could, and would have vanquished the whole room of them. + +"Master, have I your honour's permission to speak?" + +"No, Jonathan, I'll speak for you; if, that is to say, Lord George +will--" + +"Paardon me, Sir John Devereux Vincent, your feyllow--and his master, +are not fit company for Lord George Pypp;"--and he leisurely proceeded +to withdraw. + +"Stop a minute, Pypp, I've just one remark to make," hurriedly exclaimed +Mr. Lionel Poynter, "if Sir John will suffer me; Vincent, my good +friend, we are wrong--Pypp's wrong, and so am I. First then, let me beg +pardon of a very pretty girl, for making her look prettier by blushes; +next, as the maid really is engaged to you, my fine fellow, it is not +beneath a gentleman to say, I hope that you'll forgive me for too warmly +admiring your taste; as for George's imputation, Vincent--" + +"I beyg to observe," enunciated the noble scion, "I'm awf, Poynter." + +He gradually drew himself away, and the baronet never saw him more. + +"For shame, Pypp!" shouted after him the warm-hearted Siliphant; "I tell +you what it is, Vincent, you must let me give a toast:--'Grace and her +lover!' here, my man, your master allows you to take a glass of wine +with us; help your beauty too." + +The toast was drank with high applause: and before Jonathan humbly led +away his pleased and blushing Grace, he took an opportunity of saying, + +"If I may be bold enough to speak, kind gentlemen, I wish to thank you: +I oughtn't to be long, for I am nothing but your servant; let it be +enough to say my heart is full. And I'm in hopes it wouldn't be very +wrong in me, kind gentlemen, to propose;--'My noble master--honour and +happiness to him!'" + +"Bravo! Jonathan, bravo-o-o-o!" there was a clatter of glasses;--and the +humble pair of lovers retreated under cover of the toast. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +SIMON ALONE. + + +JENNINGS gathered himself up, from that Jew-of-Malta tumble +down the steps, less damaged by the fall than could have been imagined +possible; the fact being that his cat-like nature had stood him in good +stead--he had lighted on his feet; and nothing but a mighty dorsal +bruise bore witness to the prowess of a Jonathan. + +But, if his body was comparatively sound, the inner man was bruised all +over: he crept back, and retreated to his room, in as broken and +despondent a frame of mind, as any could have wished to bless him +wherewithal. However, he still had one thing left to live for: his +hoard--that precious hoard within his iron box, and then--the crock of +gold. He took Sir John's threat about detaining, and so forth, as +merely future, and calculated on rendering it nugatory, by decamping +forthwith, chattels and all; but he little expected to find that the +idea had already been acted upon! + +On that identical afternoon, when Simon had gone forth to insult Grace +Acton with his villanous proposals, Sir John, on returning from a ride, +had commanded his own seal to be placed on all Mr. Jennings's effects, +and the boxes to be forthwith removed to a place of safety: induced +thereto by innumerable proofs from every quarter that the bailiff had +been cheating him on a most liberal scale, and plundering his tenants +systematically. Therefore, when Jennings hastened to his chamber to +console himself for all things by looking at his gold, and counting out +a bag or two--it was gone, gone, irrevocably gone! safely stored away +for rigid scrutiny in the grated muniment-room of Hurstley. Oh, what a +howl the caitiff gave, when he saw that his treasure had been taken! he +was a wild bull in a net; a crocodile caught upon the hooks; a hyena at +bay. What could he do? which way should he turn? how help himself, or +get his gold again? Unluckily--Oh, confusion, confusion!--his +account-books were along with all his hoard, those tell-tale legers, +wherein he had duly noted down, for his own private and triumphant +glance, the curious difference between his lawful and unlawful gains; +there, was every overcharge recorded, every matter of extortion +systematically ranged, that he might take all the tenants in their turn; +there, were filed the receipts of many honest men, whom the guardians +and Sir John had long believed to be greatly in arrear; there, was +recorded at length the catalogue of dues from tradesmen; there, the list +of bribes for the custom of the Hall. It would amply authorize Sir John +in appropriating the whole store; and Jennings thought of this with +terror. Every thing was now obviously lost, lost! Oh, sickening little +word, all lost! all he had ever lived for--all which had made him live +the life he did--all which made him fear to die. "Fear to die--ha! who +said that? I will not fear to die; yes, there is one escape left, I will +hazard the blind leap; this misery shall have an end--this sleepless, +haunted, cheated, hated wretch shall live no longer--ha! ha! ha! ha! +I'll do it! I'll do it!" + +Then did that wretched man strive in vain to kill himself, for his hour +was not yet come. His first idea was laudanum--that only mean of any +thing like rest to him for many weeks; and pouring out all he had, a +little phial, nearly half a wine-glass full, he quickly drank it off: no +use--no use; the agitation of his mind was too intense, and the habit +of a continually increasing dose had made him proof against the poison; +it would not even lull him, but seemed to stretch and rack his nerves, +exciting him to deeds of bloody daring. Should he rush out, like a Malay +running a muck, with a carving-knife in each hand, and kill right and +left:--vengeance! vengeance! on Jonathan Floyd, and John Vincent? No, +no; for some of them at last would overcome him, think him mad, and, O +terror!--his doom for life, without the means of death, would be +solitary confinement. "Stay! with this knife in my hand--means of +death--yes, it shall be so." And he hurriedly drew the knife across his +throat; no use, nothing done; his cowardly skin shrank away from +cutting--he dared not cut again; a little bloody scratch was all. + +But the heart, the heart--that should be easier! And the miscreant, not +quite a Cato, gave a feeble stab, that made a little puncture. Not yet, +Simon Jennings; no, not yet; you shall not cheat the gallows. "Ha! +hanging, hanging! why had I not thought of that before?" + +He mounted on a chair with a gimlet in his hand, and screwed it tightly +into the wainscotting as high as he could reach; then he took a cord +from the sacking of his bed, secured it to the gimlet, made a noose, put +his head in, kicked the chair away--and swung by his wounded neck; in +vain, all in vain; as he struggled in the agonies of self-protecting +nature, the handle of the gimlet came away, and he fell heavily to the +ground. + +"Bless us!" said Sarah to one of the house-maids, as they were arranging +their curl-papers to go to bed: "what can that noise be in Mr. +Jennings's room? his tall chest of drawers has fallen, I shouldn't +wonder: it was always unsafe to my mind. Listen, Jenny, will you?" + +Jenny crept out, and, as laudable females sometimes do, listened at +Simon's key-hole. + +"Lack-a-daisy, Sall, such a groaning and moaning; p'raps he's a-dying: +put on your cap again, and tell Jonathan to go and see." + +Sarah did as she was bid, and Jonathan did as he was bid; and there was +Mr. Jennings on the floor, blue in the face, with a halter round his +neck. + +The house was soon informed of the interesting event, and the bailiff +was nursed as tenderly as if he had been a sucking babe; fomentations, +applications, hot potations: but he soon came to again, without any hope +or wish to repeat the dread attempt: he was kept in bed, closely +watched, and Stephen Cramp, together with his rival, Eager, remained +continually in alternate attendance: until a day or two recovered him as +strong as ever. I told you, Simon Jennings, that your time was not yet +come. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +THE TRIAL. + + +THE trial now came on, and Roger Acton stood arraigned of +robbery and murder. I must hasten over lengthy legal technicalities, +which would only serve to swell this volume, without adding one iota to +its interest or usefulness. Nothing could be easier, nothing more worth +while, as a matter of mere book-making, than to tear a few pages out of +some musty record of Criminal Court Practice or other Newgate +Calendar-piece of authorship, and wade wearily through the length and +breadth of indictments, speeches, examinations, and all the other +learned clatter of six hours in the judgment-halls of law. If the reader +wishes for all this, let him pore over those unhealthy-looking books, +whose exterior is dove-coloured as the kirtle of innocence, but their +inwards black as the conscience of guilt; whitened sepulchres, all +spotless without; but within them are enshrined the quibbling knavery, +the distorted ingenuity, the mystifying learnedness, the warped and +warping views of truth, the lying, slandering, bad-excusing, +good-condemning principles and practices of those who cater for their +custom at the guiltiest felon's cell, and would glory in defending +Lucifer himself. + +In the case of sheer innocence, indeed, as Roger's was--or in one of +much doubt and secresy, where the client denies all guilt, and the +counsel sees reason to believe him--let the advocate manfully battle out +his cause: but where crime has poured out his confessions in a +counsellor's ear--is not this man bought by gold to be a partaker and +abettor in his sins, when he strives with all his might to clear the +guilty, and not seldom throws the hideous charge on innocence? If the +advocate has no wish to entrap his own conscience, nor to damage the +tissue of his honour, let him reject the client criminal who confesses, +and only plead for those from whom he has had no assurance of their +guilt; or, better far, whose innocence he heartily believes in. + +Such an advocate was Mr. Grantly, a barrister of talents and experience, +who, from motives of the purest benevolence, did all that in him lay for +Roger Acton. In one thing, however, and that of no small import, the +kindly cautious man of law had contrived to do more harm than good: for, +after having secretly made every effort, but in vain, to find Ben Burke +as a witness--and after having heard that the aforesaid Ben was a +notorious poacher, and only intimate at Hurstley with Acton and his +family--he strongly recommended Roger to say nothing about the man or +his adventure, as the acknowledgment of such an intimacy would only +damage his cause: all that need appear was, that he found the crock in +his garden, never mind how he "thought" it got there: poachers are not +much in the habit of flinging away pots of gold, and no jury would +believe but that the ill-reputed personage in question was an accomplice +in the murder, and had shared the spoil with his friend Roger Acton. All +this was very shrewd; and well meant; but was not so wise, for all that, +as simple truth would have been: nevertheless, Roger acquiesced in it, +for a better reason than Mr. Grantly's--namely, this: his feelings +toward poor Ben had undergone an amiable revulsion, and, well aware how +the whole neigbourhood were prejudiced against him for his freebooting +propensities, he feared to get his good rough friend into trouble if he +mentioned his nocturnal fishing at Pike island; especially when he +considered that little red Savings' Bank, which, though innocent as to +the getting, was questionable as to the rights of spending, and that, +really, if he involved the professed poacher in this mysterious affair, +he might put his liberty or life into very serious jeopardy. On this +account, then, which Grace could not entirely find fault with (though +she liked nothing that savoured of concealment), Roger Acton agreed to +abide by Mr. Grantly's advice; and thus he never alluded to his +connexion with the poacher. + +Enlightened as we are, and intimate with all the hidden secrets of the +story, we may be astonished to hear that, notwithstanding all Mr. +Grantly's ingenuity, and all the siftings of cross-questioners, the case +was clear as light against poor Acton. No _alibi_, he lived upon the +spot. No witnesses to character; for Roger's late excesses had wiped +away all former good report: kind Mr. Evans himself, with tears in his +eyes, acknowledged sadly that Acton had once been a regular church-goer, +a frequent communicant: but had fallen off of late, poor fellow! And +then, in spite of protestations to the contrary, behold! the _corpus +delicti_--that unlucky crock of gold, actually in the man's possession, +and the fragment of shawl--was not that sufficient? + +Jonathan Floyd in open court had been base enough to accuse Mr. Jennings +of the murder. Mr. Jennings indeed! a strict man of high character, +lately dismissed, after twenty years' service, in the most arbitrary +manner by young Sir John, who had taken a great liking to the Actons. +People could guess why, when they looked on Grace: and Grace, too, was +sufficient reason to account for Jonathan's wicked suspicions; of +course, it was the lover's interest to throw the charge on other people. +As to Mr. Jennings himself, just recovered from a fit of illness, it was +astonishing how liberally and indulgently he prayed the court to show +the prisoner mercy: his white and placid face looked quite benevolently +at him--and this respectable person was a murderer, eh, Mr. Jonathan? + +So, when the judge summed up, and clearly could neither find nor make a +loop-hole for the prisoner, the matter seemed accomplished; all knew +what the verdict must be--poor Roger Acton had not the shadow of a +chance. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +ROGER'S DEFENCE. + + +THEN, while the jury were consulting--they would not leave the +box, it seemed so clear--Roger broke the death-like silence; and he +said: + +"Judge, I crave your worship's leave to speak: and hearken to me, +countrymen. Many evil things have I done in my time, both against God +and my neighbour: I am ashamed, as well I may be, when I think on 'em: I +have sworn, and drunk, and lied; I have murmured loudly--coveted +wickedly--ay, and once I stole. It was a little theft, I lost it on the +spot, and never stole again: pray God, I never may. Nevertheless, +countrymen, and sinful though I be in the sight of Him who made us, +according to man's judgment and man's innocency, I had lived among you +all blameless, until I found that crock of gold. I did find it, +countrymen, as God is my witness, and, therefore, though a sinner, I +appeal to Him: He knoweth that I found it in the sedge that skirts my +garden, at the end of my own celery trench. I did wickedly and foolishly +to hide my find, worse to deny it, and worst of all to spend it in the +low lewd way I did. But of robbery I am guiltless as you are. And as to +this black charge of murder, till Simon Jennings spoke the word, I never +knew it had been done. Folk of Hurstley, friends and neighbours, you all +know Roger Acton--the old-time honest Roger of these forty years, +before the devil made him mad by giving him much gold--did he ever +maliciously do harm to man or woman, to child or poor dumb brute?--No, +countrymen, I am no murderer. That the seemings are against me, I wot +well; they may excuse your judgment in condemning me to death--and I and +the good gentleman there who took my part (Heaven bless you, sir!) +cannot go against the facts: but they speak falsely, and I truly; Roger +Acton is an innocent man: may God defend the right!" + +"Amen!" earnestly whispered a tremulous female voice, "and God will save +you, father." + +The court was still as death, except for sobbing; the jury were doubting +and confounded; in vain Mr. Jennings, looking at the foreman, shook his +head and stroked his chin in an incredulous and knowing manner; clearly +they must retire, not at all agreed; and the judge himself, that masqued +man in flowing wig and ermine, but still warmed by human sympathies, +struck a tear from his wrinkled cheek; and all seemed to be +involuntarily waiting (for the jury, though unable to decide, had not +yet left their box), to see whether any sudden miracle would happen to +save a man whom evidence made so guilty, and yet he bore upon his open +brow the genuine signature of Innocence. + +"Silence, there, silence! you can't get in; there's no room for'ards!" +But a couple of javelin-men at the door were knocked down right and +left, and through the dense and suffocating crowd, a black-whiskered +fellow, elbowing his way against their faces, spite of all obstruction, +struggled to the front behind the bar. Then, breathless with gigantic +exertion (it was like a mammoth treading down the cedars), he roared +out, + +"Judge, swear me, I'm a witness; huzza! it's not too late." + +And the irreverent gentleman tossed a fur cap right up to the skylight. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +THE WITNESS. + + +MR. GRANTLY brightened up at once, Grace looked happily to +Heaven, and Roger Acton shouted out, + +"Thank God! thank God!--there's Ben Burke!" + +Yes, he had heard miles away of his friend's danger about an old shawl +and a honey-pot full of gold, and he had made all speed, with Tom in his +train, to come and bear witness to the innocence of Roger. The sensation +in court, as may be well conceived, was thrilling; but a vociferous +crier, and the deep anxiety to hear this sturdy witness, soon reduced +all again to silence. + +Then did they swear Benjamin Burke, who, to the scandal of his cause, +would insist upon stating his profession to be "poacher;" and at first, +poor simple fellow, seemed to have a notion that a sworn witness meant +one who swore continually; but he was soon convinced otherwise, and his +whole demeanour gradually became as polite and deferent as his coarse +nature would allow. And Ben told his adventure on Pike island, as we +have heard him tell it, pretty much in the same words, for the judge and +Mr. Grantly let him take his own courses; and then he added (with a +characteristic expletive, which we may as well omit, seeing it +occasioned a cry of "order" in the court), "There, if that there +white-livered little villain warn't the chap that brought the crocks, my +name an't Ben Burke." + +"Good Heavens! Mr. Jennings, what's the matter?" said a briefless one, +starting up: this was Mr. Sharp, a personage on former occasions +distinguished highly as a thieves' advocate, but now, unfortunately, out +of work. "Loosen his cravat, some one there; the gentleman is in fits." + +"Oh, Aunt--Aunt Quarles, don't throttle me; I'll tell all--all; let go, +let go!" and the wretched man slowly recovered, as Ben Burke said, + +"Ay, my lord, ask him yourself, the little wretch can tell you all about +it." + +"I submit, my lurd," interposed the briefless one, "that this +respectable gentleman is taken ill, and that his presence may now be +dispensed with, as a witness in the cause." + +"No, sir, no;" deliberately answered Jennings; "I must stay: the time I +find is come; I have not slept for weeks; I am exhausted utterly; I have +lost my gold; I am haunted by her ghost; I can go no where but that face +follows me--I can do nothing but her fingers clutch my throat. It is +time to end this misery. In hope to lay her spirit, I would have offered +up a victim: but--but she will not have him. Mine was the hand that--" + +"Pardon me," upstarted Mr. Sharp, "this poor gentleman is a mono-maniac; +pray, my lurd, let him be removed while the trial is proceeding." + +"You horse-hair hypocrite, you!" roared Ben, "would you hang the +innocent, and save the guilty?" + +Would he? would Mr. Philip Sharp? Ay, that he would; and glad of such a +famous opportunity. What! would not Newgate rejoice, and Horsemonger be +glad? Would not his bag be filled with briefs from the community of +burglars, and his purse be rich in gold subscribed by the brotherhood of +thieves? Great at once would be his name among the purlieus of iniquity: +and every rogue in London would retain but Philip Sharp. Would he? ask +him again. + +But Jennings quietly proceeded like a speaking statue. + +"I am not mad, most noble--" [the Bible-read villain was from habit +quoting Paul]--"my lord, I mean. My hand did the deed: I throttled her" +(here he gave a scared look over his shoulder): "yes--I did it once and +again: I took the crock of gold. You may hang me now, Aunt Quarles." + +"My lurd, my lurd, this is a most irregular proceeding," urged Mr. +Sharp; "on the part of the prisoner--I, I crave pardon--on behalf of +this most respectable and deluded gentleman, Mr. Simon Jennings, I +contend that no one may criminate himself in this way, without the +shadow of evidence to support such suicidal testimony. Really, my +lurd--" + +"Oh, sir, but my father may go free?" earnestly asked Grace. But Ben +Burke's voice--I had almost written woice--overwhelmed them all: + +"Let me speak, judge, an't it please your honour, and take you notice, +Master Horsehair. You wan't ewidence, do you, beyond the man's +confession: here, I'll give it you. Look at this here wice:" and he +stretched forth his well-known huge and horny hand: + +"When I caught that dridful little reptil by the arm, he wriggled like a +sniggled eel, so I was forced you see, to grasp him something tighter, +and could feel his little arm-bones crack like any chicken's: now then, +if his left elbow an't black and blue, though it's a month a-gone and +more, I'll eat it. Strip him and see." + +No need to struggle with the man, or tear his coat off. Jennings +appeared only too glad to find that there was other evidence than his +own foul tongue, and that he might be hung at last without sacking-rope +or gimlet; so, he quietly bared his arm, and the elbow looked all manner +of colours--a mass of old bruises. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +MR. SHARP'S ADVOCACY. + + +THE whole court trembled with excitement: it was deep, still +silence; and the judge said, + +"Prisoner at the bar, there is now no evidence against you: gentlemen of +the jury, of course you will acquit him." + +The foreman: "All agreed, my lord, not guilty." + +"Roger Acton," said the judge, "to God alone you owe this marvellous, +almost miraculous, interposition: you have had many wrongs innocently to +endure, and I trust that the right feelings of society will requite you +for them in this world, as, if you serve Him, God will in the next. You +are honourably acquitted, and may leave this bar." + +In vain the crier shouted, in vain the javelin-men helped the crier, the +court was in a tumult of joy; Grace sprang to her father's neck, and Sir +John Vincent, who had been in attendance sitting near the judge all the +trial through, came down to him, and shook his hand warmly. + +Roger's eyes ran over, and he could only utter, + +"Thank God! thank God! He does better for me than I deserved." But the +court was hushed at last: the jury rësworn; certain legal forms and +technicalities speedily attended to, as counts of indictment, and so +forth: and the judge then quietly said, + +"Simon Jennings, stand at that bar." + +He stood there like an image. + +"My lurd, I claim to be prisoner's counsel." + +"Mr. Sharp--the prisoner shall have proper assistance by all means; but +I do not see how it will help your case, if you cannot get your client +to plead not guilty." + +While Mr. Philip Sharp converses earnestly with the criminal in +confidential whispers, I will entertain the sagacious reader with a few +admirable lines I have just cut out of a newspaper: they are headed + + "SUPPRESSION OF TRUTH AND EXCLUSION OF EVIDENCE. + +"Lawyers abhor any short cut to the truth. The pursuit is the thing for +their pleasure and profit, and all their rules are framed for making the +most of it. + +"Crime is to them precisely what the fox is to the sportsman: and the +object is not to pounce on it, and capture it at once, but to have a +good run for it, and to exhibit skill and address in the chase. Whether +the culprit or the fox escape or not, is a matter of indifference, the +run being the main thing. + +"The punishment of crime is as foreign to the object of lawyers, as the +extirpation of the fox is to that of sportsmen. The sportsman, because +he hunts the fox, sees in the summary destruction of the fox by the hand +of a clown, an offence foul, strange, and unnatural, little short of +murder. The lawyer treats crime in the same way: his business is the +chase of it; but, that it may exist for the chase, he lays down rules +protecting it against surprises and capture by any methods but those of +the forensic field. + +"One good turn deserves another, and as the lawyer owes his business to +crime, he naturally makes it his business to favour and spare it as much +as possible. To seize and destroy it wherever it can be got at, seems to +him as barbarous as shooting a bird sitting, or a hare in her form, does +to the sportsman. The phrase, to give _law_, for the allowance of a +start, or any chance of escape, expresses the methods of lawyers in the +pursuit of crime, and has doubtless been derived from their practice. + +"Confession is the thing most hateful to law, for this stops its sport +at the outset. It is the surrender of the fox to the hounds. 'We don't +want your stinking body,' says the lawyer; 'we want the run after the +scent. Away with you, be off; retract your admission, take the benefit +of telling a lie, give us employment, and let us take our chance of +hunting out, in our roundabout ways, the truth, which we will not take +when it lies before us.'" + + * * * * * + +As I perceive that Mr. Sharp has not yet made much impression upon the +desponding prisoner, suffer me to recommend to your notice another +sensible leader: the abuse which it would combat calls loudly for +amendment. There is plenty of time to spare, for some preliminaries of +trial have yet to be arranged, and the judge has just stepped out to get +a sandwich, and every body stands at ease; moreover, gentle reader, the +paragraphs following are well worthy of your attention. Let us name +them, + + "MORBID SYMPATHIES. + +"We have often thought that the tenderness shown by our law to presumed +criminals is as injurious as it is inconsistent and excessive. A +miserable beggar, a petty rioter, the wretch who steals a loaf to +satisfy the gnawings of his hunger, is roughly seized, closely examined, +and severely punished; meanwhile, the plain common sense of our mobs, if +not of our magistracy, has pitied the offender, and perhaps acquitted +him. But let some apparent murderer be caught, almost in the flagrant +deed of his atrocity; let him, to the best of all human belief, have +killed, disembowelled, and dismembered; let him have united the coolness +of consummate craft to the boldest daring of iniquity, and straightway +(though the generous crowd may hoot and hunt the wretch with yelling +execration) he finds in law and lawyers, refuge, defenders, and +apologists. Tenderly and considerately is he cautioned on no account to +criminate himself: he is exhorted, even by judges, to withdraw the +honest and truthful plea of 'guilty,' now the only amends which such a +one can make to the outraged laws of God and man: he is defended, even +to the desperate length of malignant accusation of the innocent, by +learned men, whose aim it is to pervert justice and screen the guilty! +he is lodged and tended with more circumstances of outward comfort and +consideration than he probably has ever experienced in all his life +before; and if, notwithstanding the ingenuity of his advocates, and the +merciful glosses of his judge, a simple-minded British jury capitally +convict him, and he is handed over to the executioner, he still finds +pious gentlemen ready to weep over him in his cell, and titled dames to +send him white camellias, to wear upon his heart when he is hanging.[A] + +"Now what is the necessary consequence of this, but a mighty, a +fearfully influential premium on crime? And what is its radical cause, +but the absurd indulgence wherewith our law greets the favoured, +_because_ the atrocious criminal? Upon what principle of propriety, or +of natural justice, should a seeming murderer not be--we will not say +sternly, but even kindly--catechised, and for his very soul's sake +counselled to confess his guilt? Why should the _morale_ of evidence be +so thoroughly lost sight of, and a malefactor, who is ready to +acknowledge crime, or unable, when questioned, to conceal it, on no +account be listened to, lest he may do his precious life irreparable +harm? It is not agonized repentance, or incidental disclosure, that +makes the culprit his own executioner, but his crime that has preceded; +it is not the weak, avowing tongue, but the bold and bloody hand. + +"We are unwilling to allude specifically to the name of any recent +malefactor in connexion with these plain remarks; for, in the absence +alike of hindered voluntary confession and of incomplete legal evidence, +we would not prejudge, that is, prejudice a case. But we do desire to +exclaim against any further exhibition of that morbid tenderness +wherewith all persons are sure to be treated, if only they are accused +of enormities more than usually disgusting; and we specially protest +against that foolish, however ancient, rule in our criminal law, which +discourages and rejects the slenderest approach to a confession, while +it has sacrificed many an innocent victim to the uncertainty of +evidence, supported by nothing more safe than outward circumstantials." + +At length, and after much gesticulation and protestation, Mr. Sharp has +succeeded; he had apparently innoculated the miserable man with hopes; +for the miscreant now said firmly, "I plead not guilty." + + * * * * * + +The briefless one looked happy--nay, triumphant: Jennings was a wealthy +man, all knew; and, any how, he should bag a bouncing fee. How far such +money was likely to do him any good, he never stopped to ask. "Money is +money," said Philip Sharp and the Emperor Vespasian. + +We need not trouble ourselves to print Mr. Sharp's very flashy, flippant +speech. Suffice it to say, that, not content with asserting vehemently +on his conscience as a Christian, on his honour as a man, that Simon +Jennings was an innocent, maligned, persecuted individual; labouring, +perhaps, under mono-mania, but pure and gentle as the babe new-born--not +satisfied with traducing honest Ben Burke as a most suspicious witness, +probably a murderer--ay, _the_ murderer himself, a mere riotous ruffian +[Ben here chucked his cap at him, and thereby countenanced the charge], +a mere scoundrel, not to say scamp, whom no one should believe upon his +oath; he again, with all the semblance of sincerity, accused, however +vainly, Roger Acton: and lastly, to the disgust and astonishment of the +whole court, added, with all acted appearances of fervent zeal for +justice, "And I charge his pious daughter, too, that far too pretty +piece of goods, Grace Acton, with being accessory to this atrocious +crime after the fact!" + +There was a storm of shames and hisses; but the judge allayed it, +quietly saying, + +"Mr. Sharp, be so good as to confine your attention to your client; he +appears to be quite worthy of you." + +Then Mr. Sharp, like the firm just man immortalized by Flaccus, stood +stout against the visage of the judge, sneered at the wrath of citizens +commanding things unjust, turned to Ben Burke minaciously, calling him +"_Dux inquieti turbidus Adriæ_" [as Burke had heard this quotation, he +thought it was about the "ducks" he had been decoying], and altogether +seemed not about to be put down, though the huge globe crack about his +ears. After this, he calmly worded on, seeming to regard the judge's +stinging observation with the same sort of indifference as the lion +would a dew-drop on his mane; and having poured out all manner of +voluminous bombast, he gradually ran down, and came to a conclusion; +then, jumping up refreshed, like the bounding of a tennis-ball, he +proceeded to call witnesses; and, judging from what happened at the +inquest, as well as because he wished to overwhelm a suspected and +suspecting witness, he pounced, somewhat infelicitously, on Jonathan +Floyd. + +"So, my fine young fellow, you are a footman, eh, at Hurstley?" + +"Yes, sir, an' it please you--or rather, an' it please my master." + +"You remember what happened on the night of the late Mrs. Quarles's +decease?" + +"Oh, many things happened; Mr. Jennings was lost, he wasn't to be found, +he was hid somewhere, nobody saw him till next morning." + +"Stop, sirrah! not quite so quick, if you please; you are on your oath, +be careful what you say. I have it in evidence, sirrah, before the +coroner;" and he looked triumphantly about him at this clencher to all +Jonathan's testimony; "that you saw him yourself that night speaking to +the dog; what do you mean by swearing that nobody saw him till next +morning?" + +"Well, mister, I mean this; whether or no poor old Mrs. Quarles saw her +affectionate nephew that night before the clock struck twelve, there's +none alive to tell; but no one else did--for Sarah and I sat up for him +till past midnight. He was hidden away somewhere, snug enough; and as I +verily believe, in the poor old 'ooman's own--" + +"Silence, silence! sir, I say; we want none of your impertinent guesses +here, if you please: to the point, sirrah, to the point; you swore +before the coroner, that you had seen Mr. Jennings, in his courage and +his kindness, quieting the dog that very night, and now--" + +"Oh," interrupted Jonathan in his turn, "for the matter of that, when I +saw him with the dog, it was hard upon five in the morning. And here, +gentlemen," added Floyd, with a promiscuous and comprehensive bow all +round, "if I may speak my mind about the business--" + +"Go down, sir!" said Mr. Sharp, who began to be afraid of truths. + +"Pardon me, this may be of importance," remarked Roger Acton's friend; +"say what you have to say, young man." + +"Well, then, gentlemen and my lord, I mean to say thus much. Jennings +there, the prisoner (and I'm glad to see him standing at the bar), swore +at the inquest that he went to quiet Don, going round through the front +door; now, none could get through that door without my hearing of him; +and certainly a little puny Simon like him could never do so without I +came to help him; for the lock was stiff with rust, and the bolt out of +his reach." + +"Stop, young man; my respected client, Mr. Jennings, got upon a chair." + +"Indeed, sir? then he must ha' created the chair for that special +purpose: there wasn't one in the hall then; no, nor for two days after, +when they came down bran-new from Dowbiggins in London, with the rest o' +the added furnitur' just before my honoured master." + +This was conclusive, certainly; and Floyd proceeded. + +"Now, gentlemen and my lord, if Jennings did not go that way, nor the +kitchen-way neither--for he always was too proud for scullery-door and +kitchen--and if he did not give himself the trouble to unfasten the +dining-room or study windows, or to unscrew the iron bars of his own +pantry, none of which is likely, gentlemen--there was but one other way +out, and that way was through Bridget Quarles's own room. Now--" + +"Ah--that room, that bed, that corpse, that crock!--It is no use, no +use," the wretched miscreant added slowly, after his first hurried +exclamations; "I did the deed, I did it! guilty, guilty." And, +notwithstanding all Mr. Sharp's benevolent interferences, and appeals to +judge and jury on the score of mono-mania, and shruggings-up of +shoulders at his client's folly, and virtuous indignation at the evident +leaning of the court--the murderer detailed what he had done. He spoke +quietly and firmly, in his usually stern and tyrannical style, as if +severe upon himself, for being what?--a man of blood, a thief, a +perjured false accuser? No, no; lower in the scale of Mammon's judgment, +worse in the estimate of him whose god is gold; he was now a pauper, a +mere moneyless forked animal; a beggared, emptied, worthless, penniless +creature: therefore was he stern against his ill-starred soul, and took +vengeance on himself for being poor. + +It was a consistent feeling, and common with the mercantile of this +world; to whom the accidents of fortune are every thing, and the +qualities of mind nothing; whose affections ebb and flow towards +friends, relations--yea, their own flesh and blood, with the varying +tide of wealth: whom a luckless speculation in cotton makes an enemy, +and gambling gains in corn restore a friend; men who fall down mentally +before the golden calf, and offer up their souls to Nebuchadnezzar's +idol: men who never saw harm nor shame in the craftiest usurer or +meanest pimp, provided he has thousands in the three per cents.; and +whose indulgent notions of iniquity reach their climax in the +phrase--the man is poor. + +So then, with unhallowed self-revenge, Simon rigidly detailed his +crimes: he led the whole court step by step, as I have led the reader, +through the length and breadth of that terrible night: of the facts he +concealed nothing, and the crowded hall of judgment shuddered as one +man, when he came to his awful disclosure, hitherto unsuspected, +unimagined, of that second strangulation: as to feelings, he might as +well have been a galvanized mummy, an automaton lay-figure enunciating +all with bellows and clapper, for any sense he seemed to have of shame, +or fear, or pity; he admitted his lie about the door, complimented Burke +on the accuracy of his evidence, and declared Roger Acton not merely +innocent, but ignorant of the murder. + +This done, without any start or trepidation in his manner as formerly, +he turned his head over his left shoulder, and said, in a deep whisper, +heard all over the court, "And now, Aunt Quarles, I am coming; look out, +woman, I will have my revenge for all your hauntings: again shall we +wrestle, again shall we battle, again shall I throttle you, again, +again!" + +O, most fearful thought! who knoweth but it may be true? that spirits of +wickedness and enmity may execute each other's punishment, as those of +righteousness and love minister each other's happiness! that--damned +among the damned--the spirit of a Nero may still delight in torturing, +and that those who in this world were mutual workers of iniquity, may +find themselves in the next, sworn retributors of wrath? No idle threat +was that of the demoniac Simon, and possibly with no vain fears did the +ghost of the murdered speed away. + +When the sensation of horror, which for a minute delayed the +court-business, and has given us occasion to think that fearful thought, +when this had gradually subsided, the foreman of the jury, turning to +the judge, said, + +"My lord, we will not trouble your lordship to sum up; we are all +agreed--Guilty." + +One word about Mr. Sharp: he was entirely chagrined; his fortunes were +at stake; he questioned whether any one in Newgate would think of him +again. To make matters worse, when he whispered for a fee to Mr. +Jennings (for he did whisper, however contrary to professional +etiquette), that worthy gentleman replied by a significant sneer, to the +effect that he had not a penny to give him, and would not if he had: +whereupon Mr. Sharp began to coincide with the rest of the world in +regarding so impoverished a murderer as an atrocious criminal; then, +turning from his client with contempt, he went to the length of +congratulating Roger on his escape, and actually offered his hand to Ben +Burke. The poacher's reply was characteristic: "As you means it kindly, +Master Horsehair, I won't take it for an insult: howsomdever, either +your hand or mine, I won't say which, is too dirty for shaking. Let me +do you a good turn, Master: there's a blue-bottle on your wig; I think +as it's Beelzebub a-whispering in your ear: allow me to drive him away." +And the poacher dealt him such a cuff that this barrister reeled again; +and instantly afterwards took advantage of the cloud of hair-powder to +leave the court unseen. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +SENTENCE AND DEATH. + + +SILENCE, silence! shouted the indignant crier, and the +episodical cause of Burke, _v._ Sharp, was speedily hushed. + +The eyes of all now concentred on the miserable criminal; for the time, +every thing else seemed forgotten. Roger, Grace, and Ben, grouped +together in the midst of many friends, who had crowded round them to +congratulate, leaned forward like the rest of that dense hall, as simply +thralled spectators. Mr. Grantly lifted up a pair of very moistened eyes +behind his spectacles, and looked earnestly on, with his wig, from +agitation, wriggled tails in front. The judge (it was good old Baron +Parker) put on the black cap to pronounce sentence. There was a pause. + +But we have forgotten Simon Jennings--what was he about? did that +"cynosure of neighbouring eyes" appear alarmed at his position, anxious +at his fate, or even attentive to what was going on? No: he not only +appeared, but was, the most unconcerned individual in the whole court: +he even tried to elude utter vacancy of thought by amusing himself with +external things about him: and, on Wordsworth's principle of inducing +sleep by counting + + "A flock of sheep, that leisurely pass by, + One after one," + +he was trying to reckon, for pleasant peace of mind's sake, how many +folks were looking at him. Only see--he is turning his white stareful +face in every direction, and his lips are going a thousand and +forty-one, a thousand and forty-two, a thousand and forty-three; he will +not hurry it over, by leaving out the "thousand:" alas! this holiday of +idiotic occupation is all the respite now his soul can know. + +And the judge broke that awful silence, saying, + +"Prisoner at the bar, you are convicted on your own confession, as well +as upon other evidence, of crimes too horrible to speak of. The +deliberate repetition of that fearful murder, classes you among the +worst of wretches whom it has been my duty to condemn: and when to this +is added your perjured accusation of an innocent man, whom nothing but a +miracle has rescued, your guilt becomes appalling--too hideous for human +contemplation. Miserable man, prepare for death, and after that the +judgment; yet, even for you, if you repent, there may be pardon; it is +my privilege to tell even you, that life and hope are never to be +separated, so long as God is merciful, or man may be contrite. The +Sacrifice of Him who died for us all, for you, poor fellow-creature +[here the good judge wept for a minute like a child]--for you, no less +than for me, is available even to the chief of sinners. It is my duty +and my comfort to direct your blood-stained, but immortal soul, eagerly +to fly to that only refuge from eternal misery. As to this world, your +career of wickedness is at an end: covetousness has conceived and +generated murder; and murder has even over-stept its common bounds, to +repeat the terrible crime, and then to throw its guilt upon the +innocent. Entertain no hope whatever of a respite; mercy in your case +would be sin. + +"The sentence of the court is, that you, Simon Jennings, be taken from +that bar to the county jail, and thence on this day fortnight to be +conveyed to the place of execution within the prison, and there by the +hands of the common hangman be hanged by the neck--" + +At the word "neck," in the slow and solemn enunciation of the judge, +issued a terrific scream from the mouth of Simon Jennings: was he mad +after all--mad indeed? or was he being strangled by some unseen +executioner? Look at him, convulsively doing battle with an invisible +foe! his eyes start; his face gets bluer and bluer; his hands, fixed +like griffin's talons, clutch at vacancy--he wrestles--struggles--falls. + +All was now confusion: even the grave judge, who had necessarily stopped +at that frightful interruption, leaned eagerly over his desk, while +barristers and serjeants learned in the law crowded round the prisoner: +"He is dying! air, there--air! a glass of water, some one!" + +About a thimbleful of water, after fifty spillings, arrived safely in a +tumbler; but as for air, no one in that court had breathed any thing but +nitrogen for four hours. + +He was dying: and three several doctors, hoisted over the heads of an +admiring multitude, rushed to his relief with thirsty lancets: +apoplexy--oh, of course, apoplexy: and they nodded to each other +confidentially. + +Yes, he was dying: they might not move him now: he must die in his sins, +at that dread season, upon that dread spot. Perjury, robbery, and +murder--all had fastened on his soul, and were feeding there like +harpies at a Strophadian feast, or vultures ravening on the liver of +Prometheus. Guilt, vengeance, death had got hold of him, and rent him, +as wild horses tearing him asunder different ways; he lay there +gurgling, strangling, gasping, panting: none could help him, none could +give him ease; he was going on the dark, dull path in the bottom of that +awful valley, where Death's cold shadow overclouds it like a canopy; he +was sinking in that deep black water, that must some day drown us +all--pray Heaven, with hope to cheer us then, and comfort in the fierce +extremity! His eye filmed, his lower jaw relaxed, his head dropped +back--he was dying--dying--dying-- + +On a sudden, he rallied! his blood had rushed back again from head to +heart, and all the doctors were deceived--again he battled, and fought, +and wrestled, and flung them from him; again he howled, and his eyes +glared lightning--mad? Yes, mad--stark mad! quick--quick--we cannot hold +him: save yourselves there! + +But he only broke away from them to stand up free--then he gave one +scream, leaped high into the air, and fell down dead in the dock, with a +crimson stream of blood issuing from his mouth. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +RIGHTEOUS MAMMON. + + +THUS the crock of gold had gained another victim. Is the curse of its +accumulation still unsatisfied? Must more misery be born of that +unhallowed store? Shall the poor man's wrongs, and his little ones' cry +for bread, and the widows' vain appeal for indulgence in necessity, and +the debtor's useless hope for time--more time--and the master's misused +bounty, and the murmuring dependants' ever-extorted dues--must the +frauds, falsehoods, meannesses, and hardnesses of half a century long, +concentrate in that small crock--must these plead still for bloody +judgments from on high against all who touch that gold? + +No! the miasma is dispelled: the curse is gone: the crimes are expiated. +The devil in that jar is dispossessed, and with Simon's last gasp has +returned unto his own place. The murderer is dead, and has thereby laid +the ghost of his mate in sin, the murdered victim; while that victim has +long ago paid by blood for her many years of mean domestic pilfering. + +And now I see a better angel hovering round the crock: it is purified, +sanctified, accepted. It is become a talent from the Lord, instead of a +temptation from the devil; and the same coin, which once has been but +dull, unrighteous mammon, through justice, thankfulness, and piety, +shineth as the shekel of the temple. Gratefully, as from God, the +rightful owner now may take the gift. + +For, gold is a creature of God, representing many excellencies: the +sweat of honest Industry distils to gold; the hot-spring of Genius +congeals to gold; the blessing upon Faithfulness is often showered in +gold; and Charities not seldom are guerdoned back with gold. Let no man +affect to despise what Providence hath set so high in power. None do so +but the man who has it not, and who knows that he covets it in vain. +Sour grapes--sour grapes--for he may not touch the vintage. This is not +the verdict of the wise; the temptation he may fear, the cares he may +confess, the misuse he may condemn: yet will he acknowledge that, +received at God's hand, and spent in his service, there is scarce a +creature in this nether world of higher name than Money. + +Beauty fadeth; Health dieth; Talents--yea, and Graces--go to bloom in +other spheres--but when Benevolence would bless, and bless for ages, +his blessing is vain, but for money--when Wisdom would teach, and teach +for ages, the teacher must be fed, and the school built, and the scholar +helped upon his way by money--righteous money. There is a righteous +money as there is unrighteous mammon; but both have their ministrations +here limited to earth and time; the one, a fruit of heaven--the other, a +fungus from below: yet the fruit will bring no blessing, if the Grower +be forgotten; neither shall the fungus yield a poison, if warmed awhile +beneath the better sun. Like all other gifts, given to us sweet, but +spoilt in the using, gold may turn to good or ill: Health may kick, like +fat Jeshurun in his wantonness; Power may change from beneficence to +tyranny; Learning may grow critical in motes until it overlooks the +sunbeam; Love may be degraded to an instinct; Zaccheus may turn +Pharisee; Religion may cant into the hypocrite, or dogmatize to +theologic hate. Even so it is with money: its power of doing good has no +other equivalent in this world than its power of doing evil: it is like +fire--used for hospitable warmth, or wide-wasting ravages; like air--the +gentle zephyr, or the destroying hurricane. Nevertheless, all is for +this world--this world only; a matter extraneous to the spirit, always +foreign, often-times adversary: let a man beware of lading himself with +that thick clay. + +I see a cygnet on the broad Pactolus, stemming the waters with its downy +breast; and anon, it would rise upon the wing, and soar to other skies; +so, taking down that snow-white sail, it seeks for a moment to rest its +foot on shore, and thence take flight: alas, poor bird! thou art sinking +in those golden sands, the heavy morsels clog thy flapping wing--in +vain--in vain thou triest to rise--Pactolus chains thee down. + +Even such is wealth unto the wisest; wealth at its purest source, +exponent of labour and of mind. But, to the frequent fool, heaped with +foulest dross--for the cygnet of Pactolus and those golden sands, +read--the hippopotamus wallowing in the Niger, and smothered in a bay of +mud. + + + + +CHAPTER L. + +THE CROCK A BLESSING. + + +THERE was no will found: it is likely Mrs. Quarles had never made one; +she feared death too much, and all that put her in mind of it. So the +next of kin, the only one to have the crock of gold, was Susan Scott, a +good, honest, hard-working woman, whom Jennings, by many arts, had kept +away from Hurstley: her husband, a poor thatcher, sadly out of work +except in ricking time, and crippled in both legs by having fallen from +a hay-stack: and as to the family, it was already as long a flight of +steps as would reach to an ordinary first floor, with a prospect (so the +gossips said) of more in the distance. Susan was a Wesleyan +Methodist--many may think, more the pity: but she neither disliked +church, nor called it steeple-house: only, forasmuch as Hagglesfield was +blessed with a sporting parson, the chief reminders of whose presence in +the parish were strifes perpetual about dues and tithes, it is little +blame or wonder, if the starving sheep went anywhither else for +pasturage and water. So, then, Susan was a good mother, a kind +neighbour, a religious, humble-minded Christian: is it not a comfort now +to know that the gold was poured into her lap, and that she hallowed her +good luck by prayers and praises? + +I judge it worth while stepping over to Hagglesfield for a couple of +minutes, to find out how she used that gold, and made the crock a +blessing. Susan first thought of her debts: so, to every village shop +around, I fear they were not a few, which had kindly given her credit, +some for weeks, some for months, and more than one for a year, the happy +house-wife went to pay in full; and not this only, but with many +thanks, to press a little present upon each, for well-timed help in her +adversity. + +The next thought was near akin to it: to take out of pawn divers valued +articles, two or three of which had been her mother's; for Reuben's +lameness, poor man, kept him much out of work, and the childer came so +quick, and ate so fast, and wore out such a sight of shoes, that, but +for an occasional appeal to Mrs. Quarles--it was her one fair feature +this--they must long ago have been upon the parish: now, however, all +the ancestral articles were redeemed, and honour no doubt with them. + +Thirdly, Susan went to her minister in best bib and tucker, and humbly +begged leave to give a guinea to the school; and she hoped his reverence +wouldn't be above accepting a turkey and chine, as a small token of her +gratitude to him for many consolations: it pleased me much to hear that +the good man had insisted upon Susan and her husband coming to eat it +with him the next day at noon. + +Fourthly, Susan prudently set to work, and rigged out the whole family +in tidy clothes, with a touch of mourning upon each for poor Aunt +Bridget, and unhappy brother Simon; while the fifthly, sixthly, and to +conclude, were concerned in a world of notable and useful schemes, with +a strong resolution to save as much as possible for schooling and +getting out the children. + +It was wonderful to see how much good was in that gold, how large a fund +of blessing was hidden in that crock: Reuben Scott gained health, the +family were fed, clad, taught; Susan grew in happiness at least as truly +as in girth; and Hagglesfield beheld the goodness of that store, whose +curse had startled all Hurstley-cum-Piggesworth. + +But also at Hurstley now are found its consequential blessings. + +We must take another peep at Roger and sweet Grace; they, and Ben too, +and Jonathan, and Jonathan's master, may all have cause to thank an +overruling Providence, for blessing on the score of Bridget's crock. +Only before I come to that, I wish to be dull a little hereabouts, and +moralize: the reader may skip it, if he will--but I do not recommend him +so to do. + +For, evermore in the government of God, good groweth out of evil: and, +whether man note the fact or not, Providence, with secret care, doth +vindicate itself. There is justice done continually, even on this stage +of trial, though many pine and murmur: substantial retribution, even in +this poor dislocated world of wrong, not seldom overtakes the sinner, +not seldom encourages the saint. Encourages? yea, and punishes: blessing +him with kind severity; teaching him to know himself a mere bad root, if +he be not grafted on his God; proving that the laws which govern life +are just, and wise, and kind; showing him that a man's own heart's +desire, if fulfilled, would probably tend to nothing short of sin, +sorrow, and calamity; that many seeming goods are withheld, because they +are evils in disguise; and many seeming ills allowed, because they are +masqueraded blessings; and demonstrating, as in this strange tale, that +the unrighteous Mammon is a cruel master, a foul tempter, a pestilent +destroyer of all peace, and a teeming source of both world's misery. + +Listen to the sayings of the Wisest King of men: + +"As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous +is an everlasting foundation." + +"The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his +stead." + +"He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the righteous shall +flourish as a branch." + +"Better is a little with righteousness, than great revenues without +right." + +"The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous, and the transgressor +for the upright." + +"A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the +wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just." + + + + +CHAPTER LI. + +POPULARITY. + + +THE storm is lulled: the billows of temptation have ebbed away +from shore, and the clouds of adversity have flown to other skies. + +"The winter is past; the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear upon +the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of +the turtle is heard in our land: the fig-tree putteth forth his green +figs, and the blossoms of the vine smell sweetly. Arise, and come away." + +Yesterday's trial, and its unlooked-for issue, have raised Roger Acton +to the rank of hero. The town's excitement is intense: and the little +inn, where he and Grace had spent the night in gratitude and prayerful +praise, is besieged by carriages full of lords and gentlemen, eager to +see and speak with Roger. + +Humbly and reverently, yet preserving an air of quiet self-possession, +the labourer received their courteous kindnesses; and acquitted himself +of what may well be called the honours of that levee, with a dignity +native to the true-born Briton, from the time of Caractacus at Rome to +our own. + +But if Roger was a demi-god, Grace was at the least a goddess; she +charmed all hearts with her modest beauty. Back with the shades of +night, and the prison-funeral of Jennings, fled envy, hatred, malice, +and all uncharitableness; the elderly sisterhood of Hurstley, not to be +out of a fashion set by titled dames, hastened to acknowledge her +perfections; Calumny was shamed, and hid his face; the uncles, aunts, +and cousins of the hill-top yonder, were glad to hold their tongues, and +bite their nails in peace: Farmer Floyd and his Mrs. positively came +with peace-offerings--some sausage-meat, elder-wine, jam, and other +dainties, which were to them the choicest sweets of life: and as for +Jonathan, he never felt so proud of Grace in all his life before; the +handsome fellow stood at least a couple of inches taller. + +Honest Ben Burke, too, that most important witness--whose coming was as +Blucher's at Waterloo, and secured the well-earned conquest of the +day--though it must be confessed that his appearance was something of +the satyr, still had he been Phoebus Apollo in person, he would +scarcely have excited sincerer admiration. More than one fair creature +sketched his unkempt head, and loudly wished that its owner was a +bandit; more than one bright eye discovered beauty in his open +countenance--though a little soap and water might have made it more +distinguishable. Well--well--honest Ben--they looked, and wisely looked, +at the frank and friendly mind hidden under that rough carcase, and +little wonder that they loved it. + +Now, to all this stream of hearty English sympathy, the kind and proper +feeling of young Sir John resolved to give a right direction. His +fashionable friends were gone, except Silliphant and Poynter, both good +fellows in the main, and all the better for the absence (among others) +of that padded old debauchee, Sir Richard Hunt, knight of the order of +St. Sapphira--that frivolous inanity, Lord George Pypp--and that +professed gentleman of gallantry, Mr. Harry Mynton. The follies and the +vices had decamped--had scummed off, so to speak--leaving the more +rectified spirits behind them, to recover at leisure, as best they +might, from all that ferment of dissipation. So, then, there was now +neither ridicule, nor interest, to stand in the way of a young and +wealthy heir's well-timed schemes of generosity. + +Well-timed they were, and Sir John knew it, though calculation seldom +had a footing in his warm and heedless heart; but he could not shut his +eyes to the fact, that the state of feeling among his hereditary +labourers was any thing but pleasant. In truth, owing to the desperate +malpractices of Quarles and Jennings, perhaps no property in the kingdom +had got so ill a name as Hurstley: discontent reigned paramount; +incendiary fires had more than once occurred; threatening notices, very +ill-spelt, and signed by one _soi-disant_ Captain Blood, had been +dropped, in dead of winter, at the door-sills of the principal farmers; +and all the other fruits of long-continued penury, extortion, and +mis-government, were hanging ripe upon the bough--a foul and fatal +harvest. + +Therefore, did the kind young landlord, who had come to live among his +own peasantry, resolve, not more nobly than wisely, to seize an +opportunity so good as this, for restoring, by a stroke of generous +policy, peace and content on his domain. No doubt, the baronet rejoiced, +as well he might, at the honourable acquittal of innocence, and the +mysteries of murder now cleared up; he made small secret of his +satisfaction at the doom of Jennings; and, as for Bridget Quarles, by +all he could learn of her from tenants' wives, and other female +dependants, he had no mind to wish her back again, or to think her fate +ill-timed: nevertheless, he was even more glad of an occasion to +vindicate his own good feelings; and prove to the world that bailiff +Simon Jennings was a very opposite character to landlord Sir John +Devereux Vincent. + +To carry out his plan, he determined to redress all wrongs within one +day, and to commence by bringing "honest Roger" in triumph home again to +Hurstley; following the suggestion of Baron Parker, to make some social +compensation for his wrongs. With this view, Sir John took counsel of +the county-town authorities, and it was agreed unanimously, excepting +only one dissenting vote--a rich and radical Quaker, one Isaac Sneak, +grocer, and of the body corporate, who refused to lose one day's service +of his shopmen, and thereby (I rejoice to add) succeeded in getting rid +of fifteen good annual customers--it was agreed, then, and arranged that +the morrow should be a public holiday. All Sir John's own tenantry, as +well as Squire Ryle's, and some of other neighbouring magnates, were to +have a day's wages without work, on the easy conditions of attending the +procession in their smartest trim, and of banqueting at Hurstley +afterwards. So, then, the town-band was ordered to be in attendance next +morning by eleven at the Swan, a lot of old election colours were shaken +from their dust and cobwebs, the bell-ringers engaged, vasty +preparations of ale and beef made at Hurstley Hall--an ox to be roasted +whole upon the terrace, and a plum-pudding already in the cauldron of +two good yards in circumference--and all that every body hoped for that +night, was a fine May-day to-morrow. + + + + +CHAPTER LII. + +ROGER AT THE SWAN. + + +MEANWHILE, eventide came on: the crowd of kindly gentle-folks +had gone their several ways; and Roger Acton found himself (through Sir +John's largess) at free quarters in the parlour of the Swan, with Grace +by his side, and many of his mates in toil and station round him. + +"Grace," said her father on a sudden, "Grace--my dear child--come +hither." She stood in all her loveliness before him. Then he took her +hand, looked up at her affectionately, and leaned back in the old oak +chair. + +"Hear me, mates and neighbours; to my own girl, Grace, under God, I owe +my poor soul's welfare. I have nothing, would I had, to give her in +return:" and the old man (he looked ten years older for his six weeks, +luck, and care, and trouble)--the old man could not get on at all with +what he had to say--something stuck in his throat--but he recovered, and +added cheerily, with an abrupt and rustic archness, "I don't know, +mates, whether after all I can't give the good girl something: I can +give her--away! Come hither, Jonathan Floyd; you are a noble fellow, +that stood by us in adversity, and are almost worthy of my angel Grace." +And he joined their hands. + +"Give us thy blessing too, dear father!" + +They kneeled at his feet on the sanded floor, in the midst of their +kinsfolk and acquaintance, and he, stretching forth his hands like a +patriarch, looked piously up to heaven, and blessed them there. + +"Grace," he added, "and Jonathan my son, I need not part with you--I +could not. I have heard great tidings. To-morrow you shall know how kind +and good Sir John is: God bless him! and send poor England's children of +the soil many masters like him. + +"And now, mates, one last word from Roger Acton; a short word, and a +simple, that you may not forget it. My sin was love of money: my +punishment, its possession. Mates, remember Him who sent you to be +labourers, and love the lot He gives you. Be thankful if His blessing on +your industry keeps you in regular work and fair wages: ask no more from +God of this world's good. Believe things kindly of the gentle-folks, for +many sins are heaped upon their heads, whereof their hearts are +innocent. Never listen to the counsels of a servant, who takes away his +master's character: for of such are the poor man's worst oppressors. Be +satisfied with all your lowliness on earth, and keep your just ambitions +for another world. Flee strong liquors and ill company. Nurse no heated +hopes, no will-o'-the-wisp bright wishes: rather let your warmest hopes +be temperately these--health, work, wages: and as for wishing, mates, +wish any thing you will--sooner than to find a crock of gold." + + + + +CHAPTER LIII. + +ROGER'S TRIUMPH. + + +THE steeples rang out merrily, full chime; High street was gay with +streamers; the town-band busily assembling; a host of happy urchins from +emancipated schools, were shouting in all manner of keys all manner of +gleeful noises: every body seemed a-stir. + +A proud man that day was Roger Acton; not of his deserts--they were +worse than none, he knew it; not of the procession--no silly child was +he, to be caught with toy and tinsel; God wot, he was meek enough in +self--and as for other pride, he knew from old electioneerings, what a +humbling thing is triumph. + +But when he saw from the windows of the Swan, those crowds of new-made +friends trooping up in holiday suits with flags, and wands, and +corporation badges--when the band for a commencement struck up the +heart-stirring hymn 'God save the Queen,'--when the horsemen, and +carriages, and gigs, and carts assembled--when the baronet's own +barouche and four, dashing up to the door, had come from Hurstley Hall +for _him_--when Sir John, the happiest of the happy, alighting with his +two friends, had displaced them for Roger and Grace, while the kind +gentlemen took horse, and headed the procession--when Ben Burke (as +clean as soap could get him, and bedecked in new attire) was ordered to +sit beside Jonathan in the rumble-tumble--when the cheering, and the +merry-going bells, and the quick-march 'British Grenadiers,' rapidly +succeeding the national anthem--when all these tokens of a generous +sympathy smote upon his ears, his eyes, his heart, Roger Acton wept +aloud--he wept for very pride and joy: proud and glad was he that day of +his country, of his countrymen, of his generous landlord, of his gentle +Grace, of his vindicated innocence, and of God, "who had done so great +things for him." + +So, the happy cavalcade moved on, horse and foot, and carts and +carriages, through the noisy town, along the thronged high road, down +the quiet lanes that lead to Hurstley; welcomed at every cottage-door +with boisterous huzzas, and adding to its ranks at every corner. And so +they reached the village, where the band struck up, + + "See the conquering hero comes, + Sound the trumpets, beat the drums!" + +Is not this returning like a nabob, Roger? Hath not God blest thee +through the crock of gold at last, in spite of sin? + +There, at the entrance by the mile-stone, stood Mary and the babes, with +a knot of friends around her, bright with happiness; on the top of it +was perched son Tom, waving the blue and silver flag of Hurstley, and +acting as fugleman to a crowd of uproarious cheerers; and beside it, on +the bank, sat Sarah Stack, overcome with joy, and sobbing like a +gladsome Niobe. + +And the village bells went merrily; every cottage was gay with spring +garlands, and each familiar face lit up with looks of kindness; Hark! +hark!--"Welcome, honest Roger, welcome home again!" they shout: and the +patereroes on the lawn thunder a salute; "welcome, honest +neighbour;"--and up went, at bright noon, Tom Stableboy's dozen of +rockets wrapped around with streamers of glazed calico--"welcome, +welcome!" + +Good Mr. Evans stood at the door of fine old Hurstley, in wig, and band, +and cassock, to receive back his wandering sheep that had been lost: and +the school-children, ranged upon the steps, thrillingly sang out the +beautiful chant, "I will arise, and go to my Father, and will say unto +Him, 'Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before Thee, and am no +more worthy to be called thy son!'" + +Every head was uncovered, and every cheek ran down with tears. + + + + +CHAPTER LIV. + +SIR JOHN'S PARTING SPEECH. + + +THEN Sir John, standing up in the barouche at his own +hall-door, addressed the assembled multitude: + +"Friends, we are gathered here to-day, in the cause of common justice +and brotherly kindness. There are many of you whom I see around me, my +tenants, neighbours, or dependants, who have met with wrongs and +extortions heretofore, but you all shall be righted in your turn; trust +me, men, the old hard times are gone, your landlord lives among you, and +his first care shall be to redress your many grievances, paying back the +gains of your oppressor." + +"God bless you, sir, God bless you!" was the echo from many a gladdened +heart. + +"But before I hear your several claims in turn, which shall be done +to-morrow, our chief duty this day is to recompense an honest man for +all that he has innocently suffered. It is five-and-thirty years, as I +find by my books, on this very first of May, since Roger Acton first +began to work at Hurstley; till within this now past evil month, he has +always been the honest steady fellow that you knew him from his youth: +what say you, men, to having as a bailiff one of yourselves; a kind and +humble man, a good man, the best hand in the parish in all the works of +your vocation--a steady mind, an honest heart--what say ye all to Roger +Acton?" + +There was a whirlwind of tumultuous applause. + +"Moreover, men, though you all, each according to his measure and my +means, shall meet with liberal justice for your lesser ills, yet we must +all remember that Bailiff Acton here had nearly died a felon's death, +through that bad man Jennings and the unlucky crock of gold; in +addition, extortion has gone greater lengths with him, than with any +other on the property; I find that for the last twenty years, Roger +Acton has regularly paid to that monster of oppression who is now dead, +a double rent--four guineas instead of forty shillings. I desire, as a +good master, to make amends for the crimes of my wicked servant; +therefore in this bag, Bailiff Acton, is returned to you all the rent +you ever paid;" [Roger could not speak for tears;]--"and your cottage +repaired and fitted, with an acre round it, is yours and your +children's, rent-free for ever." + +"Huzzah, huzzah!" roared Ben from the dickey, in a gush of disinterested +joy; and then, like an experienced toast-master, he marshalled in due +hip, hip, hip order, the shouts of acclamation that rent the air. In an +interval of silence, Sir John added, + +"As for you, good-hearted fellow, if you will only mend your speech, +I'll make you one of my keepers; you shall call yourself licensed +poacher, if you choose." + +"Blessings on your honour! you've made an honest man o' me." + +"And now, Jonathan Floyd, I have one word to say to you, sir. I hear you +are to marry our Roger's pretty Grace." Jonathan appeared like a sheep +in livery. + +"You must quit my service." Jonathan was quite alarmed. "Do you suppose, +Master Jonathan, that I can house at Hurstley, before a Lady Vincent +comes amongst us to keep the gossips quiet, such a charming little wife +as that, and all her ruddy children?" + +It was Grace's turn to feel confused, so she "looked like a rose in +June," and blushed all over, as Charles Lamb's Astræa did, down to the +ankle. + +"Yes, Jonathan, you and I must part, but we part good friends: you have +been a noble lover: may you make the girl a good and happy husband! +Jennings has been robbing me and those about me for years: it is +impossible to separate specially my rights from his extortions: but all, +as I have said, shall be satisfied: meanwhile, his hoards are mine. I +appropriate one half of them for other claimants; the remaining half I +give to Grace Floyd as dower. Don't be a fool, Jonathan, and blubber; +look to your Grace there, she's fainting--you can set up landlord for +yourself, do you hear?--for I make yours honestly, as much as Roger +found in his now lucky Crock of Gold." + +Poor Roger, quite unmanned, could only wave his hat, and--the curtain +falls amid thunders of applause. + +[Footnote A: It has been stated as a fact, that a certain Lady L---- +S----, in her last interview with a young man, condemned to death for +the brutal murder of his sweetheart, presented him with a white +camellia, as a token of eternal peace, which the gallant gentleman +actually wore at the gallows in his button-hole.] + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CROCK OF GOLD*** + + +******* This file should be named 17062-8.txt or 17062-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/0/6/17062 + + + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/17062-8.zip b/17062-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8e13ee9 --- /dev/null +++ b/17062-8.zip diff --git a/17062-h.zip b/17062-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..414f590 --- /dev/null +++ b/17062-h.zip diff --git a/17062-h/17062-h.htm b/17062-h/17062-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1dedc0c --- /dev/null +++ b/17062-h/17062-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6988 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Crock of Gold, by Martin Farquhar Tupper</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; visibility: hidden; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + hr.full { width: 100%; } + pre {font-size: 75%;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Crock of Gold, by Martin Farquhar Tupper</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: The Crock of Gold</p> +<p> A Rural Novel</p> +<p>Author: Martin Farquhar Tupper</p> +<p>Release Date: November 14, 2005 [eBook #17062]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CROCK OF GOLD***</p> +<p> </p> +<h4>E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Janet Blenkinship,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (https://www.pgdp.net/)</h4> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h1>THE</h1> + +<h1>CROCK OF GOLD;</h1> + +<h3>A RURAL NOVEL.</h3> + + +<h4>BY</h4> + +<h3>MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER, ESQ., M.A.,</h3> + + +<h4>AUTHOR OF</h4> + +<h3>"PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY."</h3> + + +<p class='center'>HARTFORD:<br /> +SILAS ANDRUS AND SON.<br /> +1851.<br /><br /><br /></p> + + + +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="TABLE OF CONTENTS"> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.—THE LABOURER; AND HIS DAWNING DISCONTENT.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.—THE FAMILY; THE HOME; AND MORE REPININGS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.—THE CONTRAST.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.—THE LOST THEFT.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.—THE INQUEST.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.—THE BAILIFF; AND A BITTER TRIAL.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.—WRONGS AND RUIN.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.—THE COVETOUS DREAM.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.—THE POACHER.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.—BEN BURKE'S STRANGE ADVENTURE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.—SLEEP.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.—LOVE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.—THE DISCOVERY.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.—JONATHAN'S STORE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.—ANOTHER DISCOVERY, AND THE EARNEST OF GOOD THINGS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.—HOW THE HOME WAS BLEST THEREBY.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.—CARE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.—INVESTMENT.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.—CALUMNY.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.—THE BAILIFF'S VISIT.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI.—THE CAPTURE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII.—THE AUNT AND HER NEPHEW.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII.—SCHEMES.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV.—THE DEVIL'S COUNSEL.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV.—THE AMBUSCADE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">CHAPTER XXVI.—PRELIMINARIES.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">CHAPTER XXVII.—ROBBERY.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">CHAPTER XXVIII.—MURDER.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">CHAPTER XXIX.—THE REWARD.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">CHAPTER XXX.—SECOND THOUGHTS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">CHAPTER XXXI.—MAMMON, AND CONTENTMENT.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">CHAPTER XXXII.—NEXT MORNING.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">CHAPTER XXXIII.—THE ALARM.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">CHAPTER XXXIV.—DOUBTS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV">CHAPTER XXXV.—FEARS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI">CHAPTER XXXVI.—PRISON COMFORTS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVII">CHAPTER XXXVII.—GOOD COUNSEL.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVIII">CHAPTER XXXVIII.—EXPERIENCE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIX">CHAPTER XXXIX.—JONATHAN'S TROTH.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XL">CHAPTER XL.—SUSPICIONS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XLI">CHAPTER XLI.—GRACE'S ALTERNATIVE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XLII">CHAPTER XLII.—THE DISMISSAL.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIII">CHAPTER XLIII.—SIMON ALONE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIV">CHAPTER XLIV.—THE TRIAL.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XLV">CHAPTER XLV.—ROGER'S DEFENCE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVI">CHAPTER XLVI.—THE WITNESS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVII">CHAPTER XLVII.—MR. SHARP'S ADVOCACY.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVIII">CHAPTER XLVIII.—SENTENCE AND DEATH.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIX">CHAPTER XLIX.—RIGHTEOUS MAMMON.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_L">CHAPTER L.—THE CROCK A BLESSING.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_LI">CHAPTER LI.—POPULARITY.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_LII">CHAPTER LII.—ROGER AT THE SWAN.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_LIII">CHAPTER LIII.—ROGER'S TRIUMPH.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_LIV">CHAPTER LIV.—SIR JOHN'S PARTING SPEECH.</a></td></tr> +</table> + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_010" id="Page_010"></a>[Pg 010]</span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_011" id="Page_011"></a>[Pg 011]</span></p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_012" id="Page_012"></a>[Pg 012]</span><br /></p> +<h2>THE CROCK OF GOLD.<br /><br /></h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a><b>CHAPTER I.</b></h3> + +<h4>THE LABOURER; AND HIS DAWNING DISCONTENT.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Roger Acton</span> woke at five. It was a raw March morning, still +dark, and bitterly cold, while at gusty intervals the rain beat in +against the crazy cottage-window. Nevertheless, from his poor pallet he +must up and rouse himself, for it will be open weather by sunrise, and +his work lies two miles off; Master Jennings is not the man to show him +favour if he be late, and Roger cannot afford to lose an hour: so he +shook off the luxury of sleep, and rose again to toil with weary effort.</p> + +<p>"Honest Roger," as the neighbours called him, was a fair specimen of a +class which has been Britain's boast for ages, and may be still again, +in measure, but at present that glory appears to be departing: a class +much neglected, much enduring; thoroughly English—just, industrious, +and patient; true to the altar, and loyal to the throne; though haply +shaken somewhat now from both those noble faiths—warped in their +principles, and blunted in their feelings, by lying doctrines and harsh +economies; a class—I hate the cold cant term—a race of honourable men, +full of cares, pains, privations—but of pleasures next to none; whose +life at its most prosperous estate is labour, and in death we count him +happy who did not die a pauper. Through them, serfs of the soil, the +earth yields indeed her increase, but it is for others; from the fields +of plenty they glean a scanty pittance, and fill the barns to bursting, +while their children cry for bread. Not that Roger for his part often +wanted work; he was the best hand in the parish, and had earned of his +employers long ago the name of Steady Acton; but the fair wages for a +fair day's labour were quite another thing, and the times went very hard +for him and his. A man himself may starve, while his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_013" id="Page_013"></a>[Pg 013]</span>industry makes +others fat: and a liberal landlord all the winter through may keep his +labourers in work, while a crafty, overbearing bailiff mulcts them in +their wages.</p> + +<p>For the outward man, Acton stood about five feet ten, a gaunt, spare, +and sinewy figure, slightly bent; his head sprinkled with gray; his face +marked with those rigid lines, which tell, if not of positive famine, at +least of too much toil on far too little food; in his eye, patience and +good temper; in his carriage, a mixture of the sturdy bearing, necessary +to the habitual exercise of great muscular strength, together with that +gait of humility—almost humiliation—which is the seal of oppression +upon poverty. He might be about forty, or from that to fifty, for +hunger, toil, and weather had used him the roughest; while, for all +beside, the patched and well-worn smock, the heavily-clouted high-laced +boots, a dingy worsted neck-tie, and an old felt hat, complete the +picture of externals.</p> + +<p>But, for the matter of character within, Roger is quite another man. If +his rank in this world is the lowest, many potentates may envy him his +state elsewhere. His heart is as soft, as his hand is horny; with the +wandering gipsy or the tramping beggar, thrust aside, perhaps +deservedly, as impudent impostors from the rich man's gate, has he +often-times shared his noon-day morsel: upright and sincere himself, he +thinks as well of others: he scarcely ever heard the Gospels read in +church, specially about Eastertide, but the tears would trickle down his +weather-beaten face: he loves children—his neighbour's little ones as +well as his own: he will serve any one for goodness' sake without reward +or thanks, and is kind to the poor dumb cattle: he takes quite a pride +in his little rod or two of garden, and is early and late at it, both +before and after the daily sum of labour: he picks up a bit of knowledge +here and there, and somehow has contrived to amass a fund of information +for which few would give him credit from his common looks; and he joins +to that stock of facts a natural shrewdness to use his knowledge wisely. +Though with little of what is called sentiment, or poetry, or fancy in +his mind (for harsh was the teaching of his childhood, and meagre the +occasions of self-culture ever since), the beauty of creation is by no +means lost upon him, and he notices at times its wisdom too. With a +fixed habit of manly piety ever on his lips and ever in his heart, he +recognises Providence in all things, just, and wise, and good. More than +so; simply as a little child who endures the school-hour for the +prospect of his play-time, Roger Acton bears up with noble meekness +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_014" id="Page_014"></a>[Pg 014]</span>against present suffering, knowing that his work and trials and +troubles are only for a little while, but his rest and his reward remain +a long hereafter. He never questioned this; he knew right well Who had +earned it for him; and he lived grateful and obedient, filling up the +duties of his humble station. This was his faith, and his works followed +it. He believed that God had placed him in his lot, to be a labourer, +and till God's earth, and, when his work is done, to be sent on better +service in some happier sphere: the where, or the how, did not puzzle +him, any more than divers other enigmatical whys and wherefores of his +present state; he only knew this, that it would all come right at last: +and, barring sin (which he didn't comprehend), somehow all was right at +present. What if poverty pinched him? he was a great heir still; what if +oppression bruised him? it would soon be over. He trusted to his Pilot, +like the landsman in a storm; to his Father, as an infant in the dark. +For guilt, he had a Saviour, and he thought of him in penitence; for +trouble, a Guardian, and he looked to him in peace; and as for toil, +back-breaking toil, there was another Master whom he served with spade, +and mattock, and a thankful heart, while he only seemed to be working +for the landlord or his bailiff.</p> + +<p>Such a man then had been Roger Acton from his youth up till now, or, if +sadness must be told, nearly until now; for, to speak truth, his heart +at times would fail him, and of late he had been bitter in repinings and +complaint. For a day or two, in particular, he had murmured loudly. It +was hard, very hard, that an honest, industrious man, as he was, should +so scantily pick a living out of this rich earth: after all said, let +the parson preach as he will, it's a fine thing to have money, and that +his reverence knows right well, or he wouldn't look so closely for his +dues. [N.B. Poor Mr. Evans was struggling as well as he could to bring +up six children, on a hundred and twenty pounds per annum.] Roger, too, +was getting on in years, with a blacker prospect for the future than +when he first stood behind a plough-tail. Then there were many wants +unsatisfied, which a bit of gold might buy; and his wife teased him to +be doing something better. Thus was it come at length to pass, that, +although he had endured so many years, he now got discontented at his +penury;—what human heart can blame him?—and with murmurings came +doubt; with doubt of Providence, desire of lucre; so the sunshine of +religion faded from his path;—what mortal mind can wonder?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_015" id="Page_015"></a>[Pg 015]</span></p> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h3> + +<h4>THE FAMILY; THE HOME; AND MORE REPININGS.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Now</span>, if Malthus and Martineau be verily the pundits that men +think them, Roger had twice in his life done a very foolish thing: he +had sinned against society, statistics, and common sense, by a two-fold +marriage. The wife of his youth (I am afraid he married early) had once +been kitchen-maid at the Hall; but the sudden change from living +luxuriously in a great house, to the griping poverty of a cotter's +hovel, had changed, in three short years, the buxom country girl into an +emaciated shadow of her former self, and the sorrowing husband buried +her in her second child-bed. The powers of the parish clapped their +hands; political economy was glad; prudence chuckled; and a +coarse-featured farmer (he meant no ill), who occasionally had given +Roger work, heartlessly bade him be thankful that his cares were the +fewer and his incumbrance was removed; "Ay, and Heaven take the babies +also to itself," the Herodian added. But Acton's heart was broken! +scarcely could he lift up his head; and his work, though sturdy as +before, was more mechanical, less high-motived: and many a year of +dreary widowhood he mourned a loss all the greater, though any thing but +bitterer, for the infants so left motherless. To these, now grown into a +strapping youth and a bright-eyed graceful girl, had he been the +tenderest of nurses, and well supplied the place of her whom they had +lost. Neighbours would have helped him gladly—sometimes did; and many +was the hinted offer (disinterested enough, too, for in that match +penury must have been the settlement, and starvation the dower), of +giving them a mother's kindly care; but Roger could not quite so soon +forget the dead: so he would carry his darlings with him to his work, +and feed them with his own hard hands; the farmers winked at it, and +never said a word against the tiny trespassers; their wives and +daughters loved the little dears, bringing them milk and possets; and +holy angels from on high may have oft-times hovered about this rude +nurse, tending his soft innocents a-field, and have wept over the poor +widower and his orphans, tears of happy sorrow and benevolent affection. +Yea, many a good angel has shed blessings on their heads!</p> + +<p>Within the last three years, and sixteen from the date of his first +great grief, Roger had again got married. His daughter was growing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_016" id="Page_016"></a>[Pg 016]</span>into +early womanhood, and his son gave him trouble at times, and the cottage +wanted a ruling hand over it when he was absent, and rheumatism now and +then bade him look out for a nurse before old age, and Mary Alder was a +notable middle-aged careful sort of soul, and so she became Mary Acton. +All went on pretty well, until Mrs. Acton began to have certain little +ones of her own; and then the step-mother would break out (a contingency +poor Roger hadn't thought of), separate interests crept in, and her own +children fared before the others; so it came to pass that, however truly +there was a ruling hand at home, and however well the rheumatism got +nursed (for Mary was a good wife in the main), the grown-up son and +daughter felt themselves a little jostled out. Grace, gentle and +submissive, found all her comforts shrunk within the space of her father +and her Bible; Thomas, self-willed and open-hearted, sought his pleasure +any where but at home, and was like to be taking to wrong courses +through domestic bickering: Grace had the dangerous portion, beauty, +added to her lowly lot, and attracted more admiration than her father +wished, or she could understand; while the frank and bold spirit of +Thomas Acton exposed him to the perilous friendship of Ben Burke the +poacher, and divers other questionable characters.</p> + +<p>Of these elements, then, are our labourer and his family composed; and +before Roger Acton goes abroad at earliest streak of dawn, we will take +a casual peep within his dwelling. It consists of four bare rubble +walls, enclosing a grouted floor, worn unevenly, and here and there in +holes, and puddly. There were but two rooms in the tenement, one on the +ground, and one over-head; which latter is with no small difficulty got +at by scaling a ladder-like stair-case that fronts the cottage-door. +This upper chamber, the common dormitory, for all but Thomas, who sleeps +down stairs, has a thin partition at one end of it, to screen off the +humble truckle-bed where Grace Acton forgets by night the troubles of +the day; and the remainder of the little apartment, sordid enough, and +overhung with the rough thatch, black with cobweb, serves for the father +and mother with their recent nursery. Each room has its shattery +casement, to let in through linchened panes, the doubtful light of +summer, and the much more indubitable wind, and rain, and frost of +wintry nights. A few articles of crockery and some burnished tins +decorate the shelves of the lower apartment; which used to be much +tidier before the children came, and trimmer still when Grace was sole +manager: in a doorless cupboard are apparent sundry coarse edibles, as +the half of a huge unshapely home-made loaf, some white country <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_017" id="Page_017"></a>[Pg 017]</span>cheese, +a mass of lumpy pudding, and so forth; beside it, on the window-sill, is +better bread, a well-thumbed Bible, some tracts, and a few odd volumes +picked up cheap at fairs; an old musket (occasionally Ben's companion, +sometimes Tom's) is hooked to the rafters near a double rope of onions; +divers gaudy little prints, tempting spoil of pedlars, in honour of +George Barnwell, the Prodigal Son, the Sailor's Return, and the Death of +Nelson, decorate the walls, and an illuminated Christmas carol is pasted +over the mantel-piece: which, among other chattels and possessions, +conspicuously bears its own burden of Albert and Victoria—two plaster +heads, resplendently coloured, highly varnished, looking with arched +eye-brows of astonishment on their uninviting palace, and royally +contrasting with the sombre hue of poverty on all things else. The +pictures had belonged to Mary, no small portion of her virgin wealth; +and as for the statuary, those two busts had cost loyal Roger far more +in comparison than any corporation has given to P.R.A., for majesty and +consortship in full. There is, moreover, in the room, by way of +household furniture, a ricketty, triangular, and tri-legged table, a +bench, two old chairs with rush-bottoms, and a yard or two of matting +that the sexton gave when the chancel was new laid. I don't know that +there is any thing else to mention, unless it be a gaunt lurcher +belonging to Ben Burke, and with all a dog's resemblance to his master, +who lies stretched before the hearth where the peaty embers never quite +die out, but smoulder away to a heap of white ashes; over these is +hanging a black boiler, the cook of the family; and beside them, on a +substratum of dry heather, and wrapped about with an old blanket, nearly +companioned by his friend, the dog, snores Thomas Acton, still fast +asleep, after his usual extemporaneous fashion.</p> + +<p>As to the up-stairs apartment, it contained little or nothing but its +living inmates, their bedsteads and tattered coverlids, and had an air +of even more penury and discomfort than the room below; so that, what +with squalling children, a scolding wife, and empty stomach, and that +cold and wet March morning, it is little wonder maybe (though no small +blame), that Roger Acton had not enough of religion or philosophy to +rise and thank his Maker for the blessings of existence.</p> + +<p>He had just been dreaming of great good luck. Poor people often do so; +just as Ugolino dreamt of imperial feasts, and Bruce, in his delirious +thirst on the Sahara, could not banish from his mind the cool fountains +of Shiraz, and the luxurious waters of old Nile. Roger had unfortunately +dreamt of having found a crock of gold—I dare say he will tell us his +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_018" id="Page_018"></a>[Pg 018]</span>dream anon—and just as he was counting out his treasure, that blessed +beautiful heap of shining money—cruel habit roused him up before the +dawn, and his wealth faded from his fancy. So he awoke at five, anything +but cheerfully.</p> + +<p>It was Grace's habit, good girl, to read to her father in the morning a +few verses from the volume she best loved: she always woke betimes when +she heard him getting up, and he could hear her easily from her little +flock-bed behind the lath partition; and many a time had her dear +religious tongue, uttering the words of peace, soothed her father's +mind, and strengthened him to meet the day's affliction; many times it +raised his thoughts from the heavy cares of life to the buoyant hopes of +immortality. Hitherto, Roger had owed half his meek contentedness to +those sweet lessons from a daughter's lips, and knew that he was +reaping, as he heard, the harvest of his own paternal care, and +heaven-blest instructions. However, upon this dark morning, he was full +of other thoughts, murmurings, and doubts, and poverty, and riches. So, +when Grace, after her usual affectionate salutations, gently began to +read,</p> + +<p>"The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with +the glory—"</p> + +<p>Her father strangely stopped her on a sudden with—</p> + +<p>"Enough, enough, my girl! God wot, the sufferings are grievous, and the +glory long a-coming."</p> + +<p>Then he heavily went down stairs, and left Grace crying.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h3> + +<h4>THE CONTRAST.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Thus</span>, full of carking care, while he pushed aside the proffered +consolation, Roger Acton walked abroad. There was yet but a glimmer of +faint light, and the twittering of birds told more assuringly of morning +than any cheerful symptom on the sky: however, it had pretty well ceased +raining, that was one comfort, and, as Roger, shouldering his spade, and +with the day's provision in a handkerchief, trudged out upon his daily +duty, those good old thoughts of thankfulness came upon his mind, and he +forgot awhile the dream that had unstrung him. Turning <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_019" id="Page_019"></a>[Pg 019]</span>for a moment to +look upon his hovel, and bless its inmates with a prayer, he half +resolved to run back, and hear a few more words, if only not to vex his +darling child: but there was now no time to spare; and then, as he gazed +upon her desolate abode—so foul a casket for so fair a jewel—his +bitter thoughts returned to him again, and he strode away, repining.</p> + +<p>Acton's cottage was one of those doubtful domiciles, whose only +recommendation it is, that they are picturesque in summer. At present we +behold a reeking rotting mass of black thatch in a cheerless swamp; but, +as the year wears on, those time-stained walls, though still both damp +and mouldy, will be luxuriantly overspread with creeping +plants—honeysuckle, woodbine, jessamine, and the everblowing monthly +rose. Many was the touring artist it had charmed, and Suffolk-street had +seen it often: spectators looked upon the scene as on an old familiar +friend, whose face they knew full well, but whose name they had +forgotten for the minute. Many were the fair hands that had immortalized +its beauties in their albums, and frequent the notes of admiration +uttered by attending swains: particularly if there chanced to be taken +into the view a feathery elm that now creaked overhead, and dripped on +the thatch like the dropping-well at Knaresborough, and (in the near +distance) a large pond, or rather lake, upon whose sedgy banks, gay—not +now, but soon about to be—with flowering reeds and bright green +willows, the pretty cottage stood. In truth, if man were but an +hibernating animal, invisible as dormice in the winter, and only to be +seen with summer swallows, Acton's cottage at Hurstley might have been a +cantle cut from the Elysian-fields. But there are certain other seasons +in the year, and human nature cannot long exist on the merely +"picturesque in summer."</p> + +<p>Some fifty yards, or so, from the hither shore, we discern a roughly +wooded ait, Pike Island to wit, a famous place for fish, and the grand +rendezvous for woodcocks; which, among other useful and ornamental +purposes, serves to screen out the labourer's hovel, at this the +narrowest part of the lake, from a view of that fine old mansion on the +opposite shore, the seat of Sir John Vincent, a baronet just of age, and +the great landlord of the neighbourhood. Toward this mansion, scarcely +yet revealed in the clear gray eye of morning, our humble hero, having +made the long round of the lake, is now fast trudging; and it may merit +a word or two of plain description, to fill up time and scene, till he +gets nearer.</p> + +<p>A smooth grassy eminence, richly studded with park-like clumps of trees, +slopes up from the water's very edge to—Hurstley Hall; yonder <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_020" id="Page_020"></a>[Pg 020]</span>goodly, +if not grand, Elizabethan structure, full of mullioned windows, carved +oak panels, stone-cut coats of arms, pinnacles, and traceries, and +lozenges, and drops; and all this glory crowned by a many-gabled, +high-peaked roof. A grove of evergreens and American shrubs hides the +lower windows from vulgarian gaze—for, in the neighbourly feeling of +our ancestors, a public way leads close along the front; while, behind +the house, and inaccessible to eyes profane, are drawn terraced gardens, +beautifully kept, and blooming with a perpetual succession of the +choicest flowers. The woods and shrubberies around, attempted some half +a century back to be spoilt by the meddlesome bad taste of Capability +Brown, have been somewhat too resolutely robbed of the formal avenues, +clipped hedges, and other topiarian adjuncts which comport so well with +the starch prudery of things Elizabethan; but they are still replete +with grotto, fountain, labyrinth, and alcove—a very paradise for the +more court-bred rank of sylphs, and the gentler elves of Queen Titania.</p> + +<p>However, we have less to do with the gardens than, probably, the elves +have; and as Roger now, just at breaking day, is approaching the windows +somewhat too curiously for a poor man's manners, it may not be amiss if +we bear him company. He had pretty well recovered of his fit of +discontent, for morning air and exercise can soon chase gloom away; so +he cheerily tramped along, thinking as he went, how that, after all, it +is a middling happy world, and how that the raindrops, now that it had +cleared up, hung like diamonds on the laurels, when of a sudden, as he +turned a corner near the house, there broke upon his ear, at that quiet +hour, such a storm of boisterous sounds—voices so loud with oaths and +altercation—such a calling, clattering, and quarrelling, as he had +never heard the like before. So no wonder that he stepped aside to see +it.</p> + +<p>The noise proceeded from a ground-floor window, or rather from three +windows, lighted up, and hung with draperies of crimson and gold: one of +the casements, flaring meretriciously in the modest eye of morn, stood +wide open down to the floor, probably to cool a heated atmosphere; and +when Roger Acton, with a natural curiosity, went on tiptoe, looked in, +and just put aside the curtain for a peep, to know what on earth could +be the matter, he saw a vision of waste and wealth, at which he stood +like one amazed, for a poor man's mind could never have conceived its +equal.</p> + +<p>Evidently, he had intruded on the latter end of a long and luxurious +revel. Wax-lights, guttering down in gilded chandeliers, poured their +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_021" id="Page_021"></a>[Pg 021]</span>mellow radiance round in multiplied profusion—for mirrors made them +infinite; crimson and gold were the rich prevailing tints in that wide +and warm banqueting-room; gayly-coloured pictures, set in frames that +Roger fancied massive gold, hung upon the walls at intervals; a +wagon-load of silver was piled upon the sideboard; there blazed in the +burnished grate such a fire as poverty might imagine on a frozen +winter's night, but never can have thawed its blood beside: fruits, and +wines, and costly glass were scattered in prodigal disorder on the +board—just now deserted of its noisy guests, who had crowded round a +certain green table, where cards and heaps of sovereigns appeared to be +mingled in a mass. Roger had never so much as conceived it possible that +there could be wealth like this: it was a fairy-land of Mammon in his +eyes: he stood gasping like a man enchanted; and in the contemplation of +these little hills of gold—in their covetous longing contemplation, he +forgot the noisy quarrel he had turned aside to see, and thirsted for +that rich store earnestly.</p> + +<p>In an instant, as he looked (after the comparative lull that must +obviously have succeeded to the clamours he had first heard), the roar +and riot broke out worse than ever. There were the stormy revellers, as +the rabble rout of Comus and his crew, filling that luxurious room with +the sounds of noisy execration and half-drunken strife. Young Sir John, +a free and generous fellow, by far the best among them all, has +collected about him those whom he thought friends, to celebrate his +wished majority; they had now kept it up, night after night, hard upon a +week; and, as well became such friends—the gambler, the duellist, the +man of pleasure, and the fool of Fashion—they never yet had separated +for their day-light beds, without a climax to their orgie, something +like the present scene.</p> + +<p>Henry Mynton, high in oath, and dashing down his cards, has charged Sir +Richard Hunt with cheating (it was <i>sauter la coupe</i> or <i>couper la +saut</i>, or some such mystery of iniquity, I really cannot tell which): +Sir Richard, a stout dark man, the patriarch of the party, glossily +wigged upon his head, and imperially tufted on his chin, retorts with a +pungent sarcasm, calmly and coolly uttered; that hot-headed fool +Silliphant, clearly quite intoxicated, backs his cousin Mynton's view of +the case by the cogent argument of a dice-box at Sir Richard's head—and +at once all is struggle, strife, and uproar. The other guests, young +fellows of high fashion, now too much warmed with wine to remember their +accustomed Mohican cold-bloodedness—those happy debtors to the prowess +of a Stultz, and walking advertisers of Nugee—take eager part with the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_022" id="Page_022"></a>[Pg 022]</span>opposed belligerents: more than one decanter is sent hissing through +the air; more than one bloody coxcomb witnesses to the weight of a +candle-stick and its hurler's clever aim: uplifted chairs are made the +weapons of the chivalric combatants; and along with divers other less +distinguished victims in the melée, poor Sir John Vincent, rushing into +the midst, as a well-intentioned host, to quell the drunken brawl, gets +knocked down among them all; the tables are upset, the bright gold runs +about the room in all directions—ha! no one heeds it—no one owns +it—one little piece rolled right up to the window-sill where Roger +still looked on with all his eyes; it is but to put his hand in—the +window is open to the floor—nay a finger is enough: greedily, one +undecided moment, did he gaze upon the gold; he saw the hideous contrast +of his own dim hovel and that radiant chamber—he remembered the pining +faces of his babes, and gentle Grace with all her hardships—he thought +upon his poverty and well deserts—he looked upon wastefulness of wealth +and wantonness of living—these reflections struck him in a moment; no +one saw him, no one cared about the gold; that little blessed morsel, +that could do him so much good; all was confusion, all was opportunity, +and who can wonder that his fingers closed upon the sovereign, and that +he picked it up?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h3> + +<h4>THE LOST THEFT.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Stealthily</span> and quickly "honest Roger" crept away, for his +conscience smote him on the instant: he felt he had done wrong; at any +rate, the sovereign was not his—and once the thought arose in him to +run back, and put it where he found it: but it was now become too +precious in his sight, that little bit of gold—and they, the rioters +there, could not want it, might not even miss it; and then its righteous +uses—it should be well spent, even if ill-got: and thus, so many +mitigations crowded in to excuse, if not to applaud the action, that +within a little while his warped mind had come to call the theft a +god-send.</p> + +<p>O Roger, Roger! alas for this false thought of that wrong deed! the +poisonous gold has touched thy heart, and left on it a spot of cancer: +the asp has bitten thee already, simple soul. This little seed will grow +into <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_023" id="Page_023"></a>[Pg 023]</span>a huge black pine, that shall darken for a while thy heaven, and +dig its evil roots around thy happiness. Put it away, Roger, put it +away: covet not unhallowed gold.</p> + +<p>But Roger felt far otherwise; and this sudden qualm of conscience once +quelled (I will say there seemed much of palliation in the matter), a +kind of inebriate feeling of delight filled his mind, and Steady Acton +plodded on to the meadow yonder, half a mile a-head, in a species of +delirious complacency. Here was luck indeed, filling up the promise of +his dreams. His head was full of thoughts, pleasant holiday thoughts, of +the many little useful things, the many small indulgences, that bit of +gold should buy him. He would change it on the sly, and gradually bring +the shillings home as extra pay for extra work; for, however much his +wife might glory in the chance, and keep his secret, well he knew that +Grace would have a world of things to say about it, and he feared to +tell his daughter of the deed. However, she should have a ribbon, so she +should, good girl, and the pedlar shouldn't pass the door unbidden; +Mary, too, might have a cotton kerchief, and the babes a doll and a +rattle, and poor Thomas a shilling to spend as he liked; and so, in +happy revery, the kind father distributed his ill-got sovereign.</p> + +<p>For a while he held it in his hand, as loth to part from the tangible +possession of his treasure; but manual contact could not last all day, +and, as he neared his scene of labour—he came late after all, by the +by, and lost the quarter-day, but it mattered little now—he began to +cogitate a place of safety; and carefully put it in his fob. Poor +fellow—he had never had enough to stow so well away before: his pockets +had been thought quite trust-worthy enough for any treasures hitherto: +never had he used that fob for watch, or note, or gold—and his +predecessor in the cast-off garment had probably been quite aware how +little that false fob was worthy of the name of savings' bank; it was in +the situation of the Irishman's illimitable rope, with the end cut off. +So while Roger was brewing up vast schemes of nascent wealth, and +prosperous days at last, the filched sovereign, attracted by centripetal +gravity, had found a passage downwards, and had straightway rolled into +a crevice of mother-earth, long before its "brief lord" had commenced +his day's labour. Yes, it had been lost a good hour ere he found it out, +for he had fancied that he had felt it there, and often did he feel, but +his fancy was a button; and when he made the dread discovery, what a +sting of momentary anguish, what a sickening fear, what an eager search! +and, as the grim truth became more evident, that, indeed, beyond all +remedy, his new-got, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_024" id="Page_024"></a>[Pg 024]</span>ill-got, egg of coming wealth was all clean +gone—oh! this was worm-wood, this was bitter as gall, and the strong +man well-nigh fainted. It was something sad to have done the ill—but +misery to have done it all for nothing: the sin was not altogether +pleasant to his taste, but it was aloe itself to lose the reward. And +when, pale and sick, leaning on his spade, he came to his old strength +again, what was the reaction? Compunction at incipient crime, and +gratitude to find its punishment so mercifully speedy, so lenient, so +discriminative? I fear that if ever he had these thoughts at all, he +chased them wilfully away: his disappointment, far from being softened +into patience, was sharpened to a feeling of revenge at fate; and all +his hope now was—such another chance, gold, more gold, never mind how; +more gold, he burnt for gold, he lusted after gold!</p> + +<p>We must leave him for a time to his toil and his reflections, and touch +another topic of our theme.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h3> + +<h4>THE INQUEST.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Just</span> a week before the baronet came of age, and a fortnight +from the present time, an awful and mysterious event had happened at the +Hall: the old house-keeper, Mrs. Quarles, had been found dead in her +bed, under circumstances, to say the very least, of a black and +suspicious appearance. The county coroner had got a jury of the +neighbours impanelled together; who, after sitting patiently on the +inquest, and hearing, as well as seeing, the following evidence, could +arrive at no verdict more specific than the obvious fact, that the poor +old creature had been "found dead." The great question lay between +apoplexy and murder; and the evidence tended to a well-matched conflict +of opinions.</p> + +<p>First, there lay the body, quietly in bed, tucked in tidily and +undisturbed, with no marks of struggling, none whatever—the clothes lay +smooth, and the chamber orderly: yet the corpse's face was of a purple +hue, the tongue swollen, the eyes starting from their sockets: it might, +indeed, possibly have been an apoplectic seizure, which took her in her +sleep, and killed her as she lay; <i>but</i> that the gripe of clutching +fingers <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_025" id="Page_025"></a>[Pg 025]</span>had left their livid seals upon the throat, and countenanced +the dreadful thought of strangulation!</p> + +<p>Secondly, a surgeon (one Mr. Eager, the Union doctor, a very young +personage, wrong withal and radical) maintained that this actual +strangulation might have been effected by the hands of the deceased +herself, in the paroxysm of a rush of blood to the brain; and he +fortified his wise position by the instance of a late statesman, who, he +averred, cut his throat with a pen-knife, to relieve himself of pressure +on the temples: while another surgeon—Stephen Cramp, he was farrier as +well, and had been, until lately, time out of mind, the village +Æsculapius, who looked with scorn on his pert rival, and opposed him +tooth and nail on all occasions—insisted that it was not only +physically impossible for poor Mrs. Quarles so to have strangled +herself, but more particularly that, if she had done so, she certainly +could not have laid herself out so decently afterwards; therefore, that +as some one else had kindly done the latter office for her, why not the +former too?</p> + +<p>Thirdly, Sarah Stack, the still-room maid, deposed, that Mrs. Quarles +always locked her door before she went to bed, but that when she +(deponent) went to call her as usual on the fatal morning, the door was +just ajar; and so she found her dead: while parallel with this, tending +to implicate some domestic criminal, was to be placed the equally +uncommon fact, that the other door of Mrs. Quarles's room, leading to +the lawn, was open too:—be it known that Mrs. Quarles was a stout +woman, who could'nt abide to sleep up-stairs, for fear of fire; +moreover, that she was a nervous woman, who took extraordinary +precautions for her safety, in case of thieves. Thus, unaccountably +enough, the murderer, if there was any, was as likely to have come from +the outside, as from the in.</p> + +<p>Fourthly, the murderer in this way is commonly a thief, and does the +deed for mammon-sake; but the new house-keeper, lately installed, made +her deposition, that, by inventories duly kept and entered—for her +honoured predecessor, rest her soul! had been a pattern of +regularity—all Mrs. Quarles's goods and personal chattels were found to +be safe and right in her room—some silver spoons among them too—ay, +and a silver tea-pot; while, as to other property in the house, with +every room full of valuables, nothing whatever was missing from the +lists, except, indeed, what was scarce worth mention (unless one must be +very exact), sundry crocks and gallipots of honey, not forthcoming; +these, however, it appeared probable that Mrs. Quarles had herself +consumed in a certain mixture she nightly was accustomed too, of rum, +horehound, and other matters <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_026" id="Page_026"></a>[Pg 026]</span>sweetened up with honey, for her +hoarseness. It seemed therefore clear she was not murdered for her +property, nor by any one intending to have robbed the house.</p> + +<p>Against this it was contended, and really with some show of reason, that +as Mrs. Quarles was thought to have a hoard, always set her face against +banks, railway shares, speculations, and investments, and seemed to have +left nothing behind her but her clothes and so forth, it was still +possible that the murderer who took the life, might have also been the +thief to take the money.</p> + +<p>Fifthly, Simon Jennings—butler in doors, bailiff out of doors, and +general factotum every where to the Vincent interest—for he had managed +to monopolize every place worth having, from the agent's book to the +cellar-man's key—the said Simon deposed, that on the night in question, +he heard the house-dog barking furiously, and went out to quiet him; but +found no thieves, nor knew any reason why the dog should have barked so +much.</p> + +<p>Now, the awkward matter in this deposition (if Mr. Jennings had not been +entirely above suspicion—the idea was quite absurd—not to mention that +he was nephew to the deceased, a great favourite with her, and a man +altogether of the very strictest character), the awkward matters were +these: the nearest way out to the dog, indeed the only way but casement +windows on that side of the house, was through Mrs. Quarles's room: she +had had the dog placed there for her special safety, as she slept on the +ground floor; and it was not to be thought that Mr. Jennings could do so +incorrect a thing as to pass through her room after bed-time, locked or +unlocked—indeed, when the question was delicately hinted to him, he was +quite shocked at it—quite shocked. But if he did not go that way, which +way did he go? He deposed, indeed, and his testimony was no ways to be +doubted, that he went through the front door, and so round; which, under +the circumstances, was at once a very brave and a very foolish thing to +do; for it is, first, little wisdom to go round two sides of a square to +quiet a dog, when one might have easily called to him from the +men-servants' window; and secondly, albeit Mr. Jennings was a strict +man, an upright man, shrewd withal, and calculating, no one had ever +thought him capable of that Roman virtue, courage. Still, he had +reluctantly confessed to this one heroic act, and it was a bold one, so +let him take the credit of it—mainly because—</p> + +<p>Sixthly, Jonathan Floyd, footman, after having heard the dog bark at +intervals, surely for more than a couple of hours, thought he might as +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_027" id="Page_027"></a>[Pg 027]</span>well turn out of his snug berth for a minute, just to see what ailed +the dog, or how many thieves were really breaking in. Well, as he +looked, he fancied he saw a boat moving on the lake, but as there was no +moon, he might have been mistaken.</p> + +<p><i>By a Juryman.</i> It might be a punt.</p> + +<p><i>By another.</i> He did'nt know how many boats there were on the +lake-side: they had a boat-house at the Hall, by the water's edge, and +therefore he concluded something in it; really did'nt know; might be a +boat, might be a punt, might be both—or neither.</p> + +<p><i>By the Coroner.</i> Could not swear which way it was moving; and, really, +if put upon his Bible oath, wouldn't be positive about a boat at all, it +was so dark, and he was so sleepy.</p> + +<p>Not long afterwards, as the dog got still more violent, he turned his +eyes from straining after shadows on the lake, to look at home, and then +all at once noticed Mr. Jennings trying to quiet the noisy animal with +the usual blandishments of "Good dog, good dog—quiet, Don, quiet—down, +good dog—down, Don, down!"</p> + +<p><i>By a Juryman.</i> He would swear to the words.</p> + +<p>But Don would not hear of being quiet. After that, knowing all must be +right if Mr. Jennings was about, he (deponent) turned in again, went to +sleep, and thought no more of it till he heard of Mrs. Quarles's death +in the morning. If he may be so bold as to speak his mind, he thinks the +house-keeper, being fat, died o' the 'plexy in a nateral way, and that +the dog barking so, just as she was a-going off, is proof positive of +it. He'd often heard of dogs doing so; they saw the sperit gliding away, +and barked at it; his (deponent's) own grandmother—</p> + +<p>At this juncture—for the court was getting fidgetty—the coroner cut +short the opinions of Jonathan Floyd: and when Mr. Crown, summing up, +presented in one focus all this evidence to the misty minds of the +assembled jurymen, it puzzled them entirely; they could not see their +way, fairly addled, did not know at all what to make of it. On the +threshold, there was no proof it was a murder—the Union doctor was loud +and staunch on this; and next, there seemed to be no motive for the +deed, and no one to suspect of it: so they left the matter open, found +her simply "Dead," and troubled their heads no more about the business.</p> + +<p>Good Mr. Evans, the vicar, preached her funeral sermon, only as last +Sunday, amplifying the idea that she "was cut off in the midst of her +days:" and thereby encouraging many of the simpler folks, who knew that +Mrs. Quarles had long passed seventy, in the luminous notion that +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_028" id="Page_028"></a>[Pg 028]</span>house-keepers in great establishments are privileged, among other +undoubted perquisites, to live to a hundred and forty, unless cut off by +apoplexy or murder.</p> + +<p>Mr. Simon Jennings, as nephew and next of kin, followed the body to its +last home in the capacity of chief mourner; to do him justice, he was a +real mourner, bewailed her loudly, and had never been the same man +since. Moreover, although aforetime not much given to indiscriminate +charity, he had now gained no small credit by distributing his aunt's +wardrobe among the poorer families at Hurstley. It was really very kind +of him, and the more so, as being altogether unexpected: he got great +praise for this, did Mr. Jennings; specially, too, because he had gained +nothing whatever from his aunt's death, though her heir and probable +legatee, and clearly was a disappointed man.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h3> + +<h4>THE BAILIFF; AND A BITTER TRIAL.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Jennings</span>—Mr. Simon Jennings—for he prided himself much both +on the Mr. and the Simon, was an upright man, a very upright man indeed, +literally so as well as metaphorically. He was not tall certainly, but +what there was of him stood bolt upright. Many fancied that his neck was +possessed of some natural infirmity, or rather firmity, of +unbendableness, some little-to-be-envied property of being a perpetual +stiff-neck; and they were the more countenanced in this theory, from the +fact that, within a few days past, Mr. Jennings had contracted an ugly +knack of carrying his erect head in the comfortless position of peeping +over his left shoulder; not always so, indeed, but often enough to be +remarkable; and then he would occasionally start it straight again, eyes +right, with a nervous twitch, any thing but pleasant to the marvelling +spectator. It was as if he was momentarily expecting to look upon some +vague object that affrighted him, and sometimes really did see it. Mr. +Jennings had consulted high medical authority (as Hurstley judged), to +wit, the Union doctor of last scene, an enterprising practitioner, glib +in theory, and bold in practice—and it had been mutually agreed between +them that "stomach" was the cause of these unhandsome symptoms; acridity +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_029" id="Page_029"></a>[Pg 029]</span>of the gastric juice, consequent indigestion and spasm, and generally a +hypochondriacal habit of body. Mr. Jennings must take certain draughts +thrice a day, be very careful of his diet, and keep his mind at ease. As +to Simon himself, he was, poor man, much to be pitied in this ideal +visitation; for, though his looks confessed that he saw, or fancied he +saw, a something, he declared himself wholly at a loss to explain what +that something was: moreover, contrary to former habits of an +ostentatious boldness, he seemed meekly to shrink from observation: and, +as he piously acquiesced in the annoyance, would observe that his +unpleasant jerking was "a little matter after all, and that, no doubt, +the will of Providence."</p> + +<p>Independently of these new grimaces, Simon's appearance was little in +his favour: not that his small dimensions signified—Cæsar, and +Buonaparte, and Wellington, and Nelson, all were little men—not that +his dress was other than respectable—black coat and waistcoat, white +stiff cravat, gray trowsers somewhat shrunk in longitude, good +serviceable shoe-leather (of the shape, if not also of the size, of +river barges), and plenty of unbleached cotton stocking about the +gnarled region of his ankles. All this was well enough; nature was +beholden to that charity of art which hides a multitude of failings; but +the face, where native man looks forth in all his unadornment, that it +was which so seldom pre-possessed the many who had never heard of +Jenning's strict character and stern integrity. The face was a sallow +face, peaked towards the nose, with head and chin receding; lit withal +by small protrusive eyes, so constructed, that the whites all round were +generally visible, giving them a strange and staring look; elevated +eye-brows; not an inch of whisker, but all shaved sore right up to the +large and prominent ear; and lank black, hair, not much of it, scantily +thatching all smooth. Then his arms, oscillating as he walked (as if the +pendulum by which that rigid man was made to go his regular routine), +were much too long for symmetry: and altogether, to casual view, Mr. +Jennings must acknowledge to a supercilious, yet sneaking air—which +charity has ere now been kind enough to think a conscious rectitude +towards man, and a soft-going humility with God.</p> + +<p>When the bailiff takes his round about the property, as we see him now, +he is mounted—to say he rides would convey far too equestrian a +notion—he is mounted on a rough-coated, quiet, old, white +shooting-pony; the saddle strangely girded on with many bands about the +belly, the stirrups astonishingly short, and straps never called upon to +diminish that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_030" id="Page_030"></a>[Pg 030]</span>long whity-brown interval between shoe and trowser: Mr. +Jennings sits his steed with nose aloft, and a high perch in the +general, somewhat loosely, and, had the pony been a Bucephalus rather +than a Rozinante, not a little perilously. Simon is jogging hitherwards +toward Roger Acton, as he digs the land-drain across this marshy meadow: +let us see how it fares now with our poor hero.</p> + +<p>Occupation—yes, duteous occupation—has exerted its wholsesome +influences, and, thank God! Roger is himself again. He has been very +sorry half the day, both for the wicked feelings of the morning, and +that still more wicked theft—a bad business altogether, he cannot bear +to think of it; the gold was none of his, whosesoever it might be—he +ought not to have touched it—vexed he did, but cannot help it now; it +is well he lost it too, for ill-got money never came to any good: +though, to be sure, if he could only get it honestly, money would make a +man of him.</p> + +<p>I am not sure of that, Roger, it may be so sometimes; but, in my +judgment, money has unmade more men than made them.</p> + +<p>"How now, Acton, is not this drain dug yet! You have been about it much +too long, sir; I shall fine you for this."</p> + +<p>"Please you, Muster Jennings, I've stuck to it pretty tightly too, +barring that I make to-day three-quarters, being late: but it's heavy +clay, you see, Mr. Simon—wet above and iron-hard below: it shall all be +ready by to-morrow, Mr. Simon."</p> + +<p>Whether the "Mr. Simon" had its softening influence, or any other +considerations lent their soothing aid, we shall see presently; for the +bailiff added, in a tone unusually indulgent,</p> + +<p>"Well, Roger, see it is done, and well done; and now I have just another +word to say to you: his honour is coming round this way, and if he asks +you any questions, remember to be sure and tell him this—you have got a +comfortable cottage, very comfortable, just repaired, you want for +nothing, and are earning twelve shillings a week."</p> + +<p>"God help me, Muster Jennings: why my wages are but eight, and my hovel +scarcely better than a pig-pound."</p> + +<p>"Look you, Acton; tell Sir John what you have told me, and you are a +ruined man. Make it twelve to his honour, as others shall do: who +knows," he added, half-coaxing, half-soliloquizing, "perhaps his honour +may really make it twelve, instead of eight."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Muster Jennings! and who gets the odd four?"</p> + +<p>"What, man! do you dare to ask me that? Remember, sir, at your peril, +that you, and all the rest, <i>have had</i> twelve shillings a-week wages +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_031" id="Page_031"></a>[Pg 031]</span>whenever you have worked on this estate—not a word!—and that, if you +dare speak or even think to the contrary, you never earn a penny here +again. But here comes John Vincent, my master, as I, Simon Jennings, am +yours: be careful what you say to him."</p> + +<p>Sir John Devereux Vincent, after a long minority, had at length shaken +off his guardians, and become master of his own doings, and of Hurstley +Hall. The property was in pretty decent order, and funds had accumulated +vastly: all this notwithstanding a thousand peculations, and the +suspicious incident that one of the guardians was a "highly respectable" +solicitor. Sir John, like most new brooms, had with the best intentions +resolved upon sweeping measures of great good; especially also upon +doing a great deal with his own eyes and ears; but, like as aforesaid, +he was permitted neither to hear nor see any truths at all. Just now, +the usual night's work took him a little off the hooks, and we must make +allowances; really, too, he was by far the soberest of all those choice +spirits, and drank and played as little as he could; and even, under +existing disadvantages, he managed by four o'clock post meridiem to +inspect a certain portion of the estate duly every day, under the +prudential guidance of his bailiff Jennings. There, that good-looking, +tall young fellow on the blood mare just cantering up to us is Sir John; +the other two are a couple of the gallant youths now feasting at the +Hall: ay, two of the fiercest foes in last night's broil. Those heated +little matters are easily got over.</p> + +<p>"Hollo, Jennings! what the devil made you give that start? you couldn't +look more horrified if ghosts were at your elbow: why, your face is the +picture of death; look another way, man, do, or my mare will bolt."</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, Sir John, but the spasm took me: it is my infirmity; +forgive it. This meadow, you perceive, Sir John, requires drainage, and +afterwards I propose to dress it with free chalk to sweeten the grass. +Next field, you will take notice, the guano—"</p> + +<p>"Well, well—Jennings—and that poor fellow there up to his knees in +mud, is he pretty tolerably off now?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, your honour," said the bailiff, with a knowing look, "I only wish +that half the little farmers hereabouts were as well to do as he is: a +pretty cottage, Sir John, half an acre of garden, and twelve shillings a +week, is pretty middling for a single man."</p> + +<p>"Aha—is it?—well; but the poor devil looks wretched enough too—I will +just ask him if he wants any thing now."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_032" id="Page_032"></a>[Pg 032]</span>"Don't, Sir John, pray don't; pray permit me to advise your honour: +these men are always wanting. 'Acton's cottage' is a proverb; and Roger +there can want for nothing honestly; nevertheless, as I know your +honour's good heart, and wish to make all happy, if you will suffer me +to see to it myself—"</p> + +<p>"Certainly, Jennings, do, do by all means, and thank you: here, just to +make a beginning, as we're all so jolly at the Hall, and that poor +fellow's up to his neck in mud, give him this from me to drink my health +with."</p> + +<p>Acton, who had dutifully held aloof, and kept on digging steadily, was +still quite near enough to hear all this; at the magical word "give," he +looked up hurriedly, and saw Sir John Vincent toss a piece of gold—yes, +on his dying oath, a bright new sovereign—to Simon Jennings. O blessed +vision, and gold was to be his at last!</p> + +<p>"Come along, Mynton; Hunt, now mind you try and lame that big beast of a +raw-boned charger among these gutters, will you? I'm off, Jennings; meet +me, do you hear, at the Croft to-mor—"</p> + +<p>So the three friends galloped away; and John Vincent really felt more +light-hearted and happy than at any time the week past, for having so +properly got rid of a welcome bit of gold.</p> + +<p>"Roger Acton! come up here, sir, out of that ditch: his honour has been +liberal enough to give you a shilling to drink his health with."</p> + +<p>"A shilling, Muster Jennings?" said the poor astonished man; "why I'll +make oath it was a pound; I saw it myself. Come, Muster Jennings, don't +break jokes upon a poor man's back."</p> + +<p>"Jokes, Acton? sticks, sir, if you say another word: take John Vincent's +shilling."</p> + +<p>"Oh, sir!" cried Roger, quite unmanned at this most cruel +disappointment; "be merciful—be generous—give me my gold, my own bit +of gold! I'll swear his honour gave it for me: blessings on his head! +You know he did, Mr. Simon; don't play upon me!"</p> + +<p>"Play upon you?—generous—your gold—what is it you mean, man? We'll +have no madmen about us, I can tell you; take the shilling, or else—"</p> + +<p>"'Rob not the poor, because he is poor, for the Lord shall plead his +cause,'" was the solemn answer.</p> + +<p>"Roger Acton!"—the bailiff gave a scared start, as usual, and, +recovering himself, looked both white and stern: "you have dared to +quote the Bible against me: deeply shall you rue it. Begone, man! your +work on this estate is at an end."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_033" id="Page_033"></a>[Pg 033]</span></p> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h3> + +<h4>WRONGS AND RUIN.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">A very</span> miserable man was Roger Acton now, for this last trial +was the worst of all. The vapours of his discontent had almost passed +away—that bright pernicious dream was being rapidly forgotten—the +morning's ill-got coin, "thank the Lord, it was lost as soon as found," +and penitence had washed away that blot upon his soul; but here, an +honest pound, liberally bestowed by his hereditary landlord—his own +bright bit of gold—the only bit but one he ever had (and how different +in innocence from that one!)—a seeming sugar-drop of kindness, shed by +the rich heavens on his cup of poverty—to have this meanly filched away +by a grasping, grinding task-master—oh, was it not a bitter trial? What +affliction as to this world's wealth can a man meet worse than this?</p> + +<p>Acton's first impulse was to run to the Hall, and ask to see Sir +John:—"Out; won't be back till seven, and then can see nobody; the +baronet will be dressing for dinner, and musn't be disturbed." Then he +made a vain effort to speak with Mr. Jennings, and plead with him: yes, +even on his knees, if must be. Mr. Simon could not be so bad; perhaps it +was a long joke after all—the bailiff always had a queer way with him. +Or, if indeed the man meant robbery, loudly to threaten him, that all +might hear, to bring the house about his ears, and force justice, if he +could not fawn it. But both these conflicting expedients were vetoed. +Jonathan Floyd, who took in Acton's meek message of "humbly craved leave +to speak with Master Jennings," came back with the inexplicable mandate, +"Warn Roger Acton from the premises." So, he must needs bide till +to-morrow morning, when, come what might, he resolved to see his honour, +and set some truths before him.</p> + +<p>Acton was not the only man on the estate who knew that he had a +landlord, generous, not to say prodigal—a warm-hearted, +well-intentioned master, whose mere youth a career of sensuality had not +yet hardened, nor a course of dissipation been prolonged enough to +distort his feelings from the right. And Acton, moreover, was not the +only man who wondered how, with such a landlord (ay, and the guardians +before him were always well-spoken gentle-folks, kindly in their +manners, and liberal in their looks), wages could be kept so low, and +rents <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_034" id="Page_034"></a>[Pg 034]</span>so high, and indulgences so few, and penalties so many. There +were fines for every thing, and no allowances of hedgebote, or +housebote, or any other time-honoured right; the very peat on the common +must be paid for, and if a child picked a bit of fagot the father was +mulcted in a shilling. Mr. Jennings did all this, and always pleaded his +employers' orders; nay, if any grumbled, as men would now and then, he +would affect to think it strange that the gentlemen guardians, with the +landlord at their head, could be so hard upon the poor: he would not be +so, credit him, if he had been born a gentleman; but the bailiff, men, +must obey orders, like the rest of you; these are hard times for +Hurstley, he would say, and we must all rub over them as best we can. +According to Simon, it was as much as his own place was worth to remit +one single penny of a fine, or make the least indulgence for calamity; +while, as to lowering a cotter's rent, or raising a ditcher's wages, he +dared not do it for his life; folks must not blame him, but look to the +landlord.</p> + +<p>Now, all this, in the long absence of any definite resident master at +the Hall, sounded reasonable, if true; and Mr. Jennings punctually paid, +however bad the terms; so the poor men bode their time, and looked for +better days. And the days long-looked-for now were come; but were they +any better? The baronet, indeed, seemed bent upon inquiry, reform, +redress; but, as he never went without the right-hand man, his +endeavours were always unsuccessful. At first it would appear that the +bailiff had gone upon his old plan, shrugging up his shoulders to the +men at the master's meanness, while he praised to the landlord the +condition of his tenants; but this could not long deceive, so he turned +instanter on another tack; he assumed the despot, issuing authoritative +edicts, which no one dared to disobey; he made the labourer hide his +needs, and intercepted at its source the lord's benevolence; he began to +be found out, so the bolder spirits said, in filching with both hands +from man and master; and, to the mind of more than one shrewd observer, +was playing the unjust steward to admiration.</p> + +<p>But stop: let us hear the other side; it is possible we may have been +mistaken. Bailiffs are never popular, particularly if they are too +honest, and this one is a stern man with a repulsive manner. Who knows +whether his advice to Acton may not have been wise and kind, and would +not have conduced to a general rise of wages? Who can prove, nay, +venture to insinuate, any such systematic roguery against a man hitherto +so strict, so punctual, so sanctimonious? Even in the case of Sir John's +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_035" id="Page_035"></a>[Pg 035]</span>golden gift, Jennings may be right after all; it is quite possible that +Roger was mistaken, and had gilt a piece of silver with his longings; +and the upright man might well take umbrage at so vile an imputation as +that hot and silly speech; it was foolish, very foolish, to have quoted +text against him, and no wonder that the labourer got dismissed for it. +Then again to return to wages—who knows? it might be, all things +considered, the only way of managing a rise; the bailiff must know his +master's mind best, and Acton had been wise to have done as he bade him; +perhaps it really was well-meant, and might have got him twelve +shillings a-week, instead of eight as hitherto; perhaps Simon was a +shrewd man, and arranged it cleverly; perhaps Roger was an honest man, +and couldn't but think others so.</p> + +<p>Any how, though, all was lost now, and he blamed his own rash tongue, +poor fellow, for what he could not help fearing was the ruin of himself +and all he loved. With a melancholy heart, he shouldered his spade, and +slowly plodded homewards. How long should he have a home? How was he to +get bread, to get work, if the bailiff was his enemy? How could he face +his wife, and tell her all the foolish past and dreadful future? How +could he bear to look on Grace, too beautiful Grace, and torture his +heart by fancying her fate? Thomas, too, his own brave boy, whom utter +poverty might drive to desperation? And the poor babes, his little +playful pets, what on earth would become of them? There was the Union +workhouse to be sure, but Acton shuddered at the thought; to be +separated from every thing he loved, to give up his little all, and be +made both a prisoner and a slave, all for the sake of what?—daily +water-gruel, and a pauper's branded livery. Or they might perchance go +beyond the seas, if some Prince Edward's Company would help him and his +to emigrate; ay, thought he, and run new risks, encounter fresh dangers, +lose every thing, get nothing, and all the trouble taken merely to +starve three thousand miles from home. No, no; at his time of life, he +could not be leaving for ever old friends, old habits, old fields, old +home, old neighbourhood—where he had seen the saplings grow up trees, +and the quick toppings change into a ten-foot hedge; where the very +cattle knew his step, and the clods broke kindly to his ploughshare; and +more than all, the dear old church, where his forefathers had worshipped +from the Conquest, and the old mounds where they slept, +and—and—and—that one precious grave of his dear lost Annie—could he +leave it? Oh God, no! he had done no ill, he had committed no crime—why +should he prefer the convict's doom, and seek to be transported for +life?</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_036" id="Page_036"></a>[Pg 036]</span>A miserable walk home was that, and full of wretched thoughts. Poor +Roger Acton, tossed by much trouble, vexed with sore oppression, I wish +that you had prayed in your distress; stop, he did pray, and that +vehemently; but it was not for help, or guidance, or patience, or +consolation—he only prayed for gold.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h3> + +<h4>THE COVETOUS DREAM.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Once</span> at home, the sad truth soon was told. Roger's look alone +spoke of some calamity, and he had but little heart or hope to keep the +matter secret. True, he said not a word about the early morning's sin; +why should he? he had been punished for it, and he had repented; let him +be humbled before God, but not confess to man. However, all about the +bailiff, and the landlord, and the thieved gift, and the sudden +dismissal, the sure ruin, the dismal wayside plans, and fears, and dark +alternatives, without one hope in any—these did poor Acton fluently +pour forth with broken-hearted eloquence; to these Grace listened +sorrowfully, with a face full of gentle trust in God's blessing on the +morrow's interview; these Mary, the wife, heard to an end, with—no +storm of execration on ill-fortune, no ebullition of unjust rage against +a fool of a husband, no vexing sneers, no selfish apprehensions. Far +from it; there really was one unlooked-for blessing come already to +console poor Roger; and no little compensation for his trouble was the +way his wife received the news. He, unlucky man, had expected something +little short of a virago's talons, and a beldame's curse; he had +experienced on less occasions something of the sort before; but now that +real affliction stood upon the hearth, Mary Acton's character rose with +the emergency, and she greeted her ruined husband with a kindness +towards him, a solemn indignation against those who grind the poor, and +a sober courage to confront evil, which he little had imagined.</p> + +<p>"Bear up, Roger; here, goodman, take the child, and don't look quite so +downcast; come what may, I'll share your cares, and you shall halve my +pleasures; we will fight it out together."</p> + +<p>Moreover, cross, and fidgetty, and scolding, as Mary had been ever +heretofore, to her meek step-daughter Grace, all at once, as if just to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_037" id="Page_037"></a>[Pg 037]</span>disappoint any preconcerted theory, now that actual calamity was come, +she turned to be a kind good mother to her. Roger and his daughter could +scarcely believe their ears.</p> + +<p>"Grace, dear, I know you're a sensible good girl, try and cheer your +father." And then the step-dame added,</p> + +<p>"There now, just run up, fetch your prayer-book down, and read a little +to us all to do us good."—The fair, affectionate girl, unused to the +accents of kindness, could not forbear flinging her arms round Mary +Acton's neck, and loving her, as Ruth loved Naomi.</p> + +<p>Then with a heavenly smile upon her face, and a happy heart within her +to keep the smile alight, her gentle voice read these words—it will do +us good to read them too:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Out of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O let thine ears consider well the voice of my complaint.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">If thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord, who may abide it?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Because there is mercy with thee; therefore shall thou be feared.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I look for the Lord, my soul doth wait for him: in his word is my trust.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My soul fleeth unto the Lord, before the morning watch, before the morning watch.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O Israel, trust in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy: and with him is plenteous redemption.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And he shall redeem Israel from all his sins."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Isn't the last word 'troubles,' child? look again; I think it's +'troubles' either there, or leastways in the Bible-psalm."</p> + +<p>"No, father, sins, 'from all his sins;' and 'iniquities' in the +Bible-version—look, father."</p> + +<p>"Well, girl, well; I wish it had been 'troubles;' 'from all his +troubles' is a better thought to my mind: God wot, I have plenty on 'em, +and a little lot of gold would save us from them all."</p> + +<p>"Gold, father? no, my father—God."</p> + +<p>"I tell you, child," said Roger, ever vacillating in his strong +temptation between habitual religion and the new-caught lust of money, +"if only on a sudden I could get gold by hook or by crook, all my cares +and all your troubles would be over on the instant."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear father, do not hope so; and do not think of troubles more than +sins; there is no deliverance in Mammon; riches profit not in the day of +evil, and ill-got wealth tends to worse than poverty."</p> + +<p>"Well, any how, I only wish that dream of mine came true."</p> + +<p>"Dream, goodman—what dream?" said his wife.</p> + +<p>"Why, Poll, I dreamt I was a-working in my garden, hard by the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_038" id="Page_038"></a>[Pg 038]</span>celery +trenches in the sedge; and I was moaning at my lot, as well I may: and a +sort of angel came to me, only he looked dark and sorrowful, and kindly +said, 'What would you have, Roger?' I, nothing fearful in my dream, for +all the strangeness of his winged presence, answered boldly, 'Money;' he +pointed with his finger, laughed aloud, and vanished away: and, as for +me, I thought a minute wonderingly, turned to look where he had pointed, +and, O the blessing! found a crock of gold!"</p> + +<p>"Hush, father! that dark angel was the devil; he has dropt ill thoughts +upon your heart: I would I could see you as you used to be, dear father, +till within these two days."</p> + +<p>"Whoever he were, if he brought me gold, he would bring me blessing. +There's meat and drink, and warmth and shelter, in the yellow gold—ay, +and rest from labour, child, and a power of rare good gifts."</p> + +<p>"If God had made them good, and the gold were honest gains, still, +father, even so, you forget righteousness, and happiness, and wisdom. +Money gives us none of these, but it might take them all away: dear +father, let your loving Grace ask you, have you been better, happier, +wiser, even from the wishing it so much?"</p> + +<p>"Daughter, daughter, I tell you plainly, he that gives me gold, gives me +all things: I wish I found the crock the de—the angel, I mean, brought +me."</p> + +<p>"O father," murmured Grace, "do not breathe the wicked wish; even if you +found it without any evil angel's help, would the gold be rightfully +your own?"</p> + +<p>"Tush, girl!" said her mother; "get the gold, feed the children, and +then to think about the right."</p> + +<p>"Ay, Grace, first drive away the toils and troubles of this life," added +Roger, "and then one may try with a free mind to discover the comforts +of religion."</p> + +<p>Poor Grace only looked up mournfully, and answered nothing.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_039" id="Page_039"></a>[Pg 039]</span></p> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h3> + +<h4>THE POACHER.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">A sudden</span> knock at the door here startled the whole party, and +Mary Acton, bustling up, drew the bolt to let in—first, a lurcher, one +Rover to wit, our gaunt ember-loving friend of Chapter II.; secondly, +Thomas Acton, full flush, who carried the old musket on his shoulder, +and seemed to have something else under his smock; and thirdly, Ben +Burke, a personage of no small consequence to us, and who therefore +deserves some specific introduction.</p> + +<p>Big Ben, otherwise Black Burke, according to the friendship or the +enmity of those who named him, was a huge, rough, loud, good-humoured, +dare-devil sort of an individual, who lived upon what he considered +common rights. His dress was of the mongrel character, a well-imagined +cross between a ploughman's and a sailor's; the bottle-green frock of +the former, pattern-stitched about the neck as ingeniously as if a tribe +of Wisconsin squaws had tailored it—and mighty fishing boots, vast as +any French postillion's, acting as a triton's tail to symbolize the +latter: a red cotton handkerchief (dirty-red of course, as all things +else were dirty, for cleanliness had little part in Ben), occupied just +now the more native region of a halter; and a rusty fur cap crowned the +poacher; I repeat it—crowned the poacher; for in his own estimation, +and that of many others too, Ben was, if not quite an emperor, at least +an Agamemnon, a king of men, a natural human monarch; in truth, he felt +as much pride in the title Burke the Poacher (and with as great justice +too, for aught I know), as Ali-Hamet-Ghee-the-Thug eastwards, or +William-of-Normandy-the-Conqueror westwards, may be thought respectively +to have cherished, on the score of their murderous and thievish +surnames.</p> + +<p>There was no small good, after all, in poor Ben; and a mountain of +allowance must be flung into the scales to counterbalance his +deficiencies. However coarse, and even profane, in his talk (I hope the +gentle reader will excuse me alike for eliding a few elegant extracts +from his common conversation, and also for reminding him +characteristically, now and then, that Ben's language is not entirely +Addisonian), however rough of tongue and dissonant in voice, Ben's heart +will be found much about in the right place; nay, I verily believe it +has more of natural <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_040" id="Page_040"></a>[Pg 040]</span>justice, human kindness, and right sympathies in +it, than are to be found in many of those hard and hollow cones that +beat beneath the twenty-guinea waistcoats of a Burghardt or a +Buckmaster. Ay, give me the fluttering inhabitant of Ben Burke's cowskin +vest; it is worth a thousand of those stuffed and artificial denizens, +whose usual nest is figured satin and cut velvet.</p> + +<p>Ben stole—true—he did not deny it; but he stole naught but what he +fancied was wrongfully withheld him: and, if he took from the rich, who +scarcely knew he robbed them, he shared his savoury booty with the poor, +and fed them by his daring. Like Robin Hood of old, he avenged himself +on wanton wealth, and frequently redressed by it the wrongs of penury. +Not that I intend to break a lance for either of them, nor to go any +lengths in excusing; slight extenuation is the limit for prudent +advocacy in these cases. Robin Hood and Benjamin Burke were both of them +thieves; bold men—bad men, if any will insist upon the bad; they sinned +against law, and order, and Providence; they dug rudely at the roots of +social institutions; they spoke and acted in a dangerous fashion about +rights of men and community of things. But set aside the statutes of +Foresting and Venery, disfranchise pheasants, let it be a cogent thing +that poverty and riches approach the golden mean somewhat less +unequally, and we shall not find much of criminality, either in Ben or +Robin.</p> + +<p>For a general idea, then, of our poaching friend:—he is a gigantic, +black-whiskered, humorous, ruddy mortal, full of strange oaths, which we +really must not print, and bearded like the pard, and he tumbles in +amongst our humble family party, with—</p> + +<p>"Bless your honest heart, Roger! what makes you look so sodden? I'm a +lord, if your eyes a'n't as red as a hedge-hog's; and all the rest o' +you, too; why, you seem to be pretty well merry as mutes. Ha! I see what +it is," added Ben, pouring forth a benediction on their frugal supper; +"it's that precious belly-ache porridge that's a-giving you all the +'flensy. Tip it down the sink, dame, will you now? and trust to me for +better. Your Tom here, Roger, 's a lad o' mettle, that he is; ay, and +that old iron o' yours as true as a compass; and the pheasants would +come to it, all the same as if they'd been loadstoned. Here, dame, pluck +the fowl, will you: drop 'em, Tom."—And Thomas Acton flung upon the +table a couple of fine cock-pheasants.</p> + +<p>Roger, Mary, and Grace, who were well accustomed to Ben Burke's eloquent +tirades, heard the end of this one with anxiety and silence; for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_041" id="Page_041"></a>[Pg 041]</span> Tom +had never done the like before. Grace was first to expostulate, but was +at once cut short by an oath from her brother, whose evident state of +high excitement could not brook the semblance of reproof. Mary Acton's +marketing glance was abstractedly fixed upon the actual <i>corpus +delicti</i>; each fine plump bird, full-plumaged, young-spurred; yes, they +were still warm, and would eat tender, so she mechanically began to +pluck them; while, as for poor downcast Roger, he remembered, with a +conscience-sting that almost made him start, his stolen bit of money in +the morning—so, how could he condemn? He only looked pityingly on +Thomas, and sighed from the bottom of his heart.</p> + +<p>"Why, what's the matter now?" roared Ben; "one 'ud think we was bailiffs +come to raise the rent, 'stead of son Tom and friendly Ben; hang it, +mun, we aint here to cheat you out o' summut—no, not out o' peace o' +mind neither; so, if you don't like luck, burn the fowls, or bury 'em, +and let brave Tom risk limbo for nothing."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Ben!" murmured Grace, "why will you lead him astray? Oh, brother! +brother! what have you done?" she said, sorrowfully.</p> + +<p>"Miss Grace,"—her beauty always awed the poacher, and his rugged +Caliban spirit bowed in reverence before her Ariel soul—"I wish I was +as good as you, but can't be: don't condemn us, Grace; leastways, first +hear me, and then say where's the harm or sin on it. Twelve hundred head +o' game—I heard John Gorse, the keeper, tell it at the Jerry—twelve +hundred head were shot at t' other day's battew: Sir John—no blame to +him for it—killed a couple o' hundred to his own gun: and though they +sent away a coachful, and gave to all who asked, and feasted themselves +chuckfull, and fed the cats, and all, still a mound, like a haycock, o' +them fine fat fowl, rotted in a mass, and were flung upon the dungpit. +Now, Miss Grace, that ere salt pea-porridge a'n't nice, a'n't wholesome; +and, bless your pretty mouth, it ought to feed more sweetly. Look at +Acton, isn't he half-starved. Is Tom, brave boy, full o' the fat o' the +land? Who made fowl, I should like to know, and us to eat 'em? And +where's the harm or sin in bringing down a bird? No, Miss, them ere +beaks, dammem (beg humble pardon, Miss, indeed I won't again) them ere +justices, as they call themselves, makes hard laws to hedge about their +own pleasures; and if the poor man starves, he starves; but if he stays +his hunger with the free, wild birds of heaven, they prison him and +punish him, and call him poacher."</p> + +<p>"Ben, those who make the laws, do so under God's permission; and they +who break man's law, break His law."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_042" id="Page_042"></a>[Pg 042]</span>"Nonsense, child,"—suddenly said Roger; "hold your silly tongue. Do +you mean to tell us, God's law and man's law are the same thing! No, +Grace, I can't stomach that; God makes right, and man makes +might—riches go one way, and poor men's wrong's another. Money, money's +the great law-maker, and a full purse frees him that has it, while it +turns the jailor's key on the wretch that has it not: one of those +wretches is the hopeless Roger Acton. Well, well," he added, after a +despondent sigh, "say no more about it all; that's right, +good-wife—why, they do look plump. And if I can't stomach Grace's +text-talk there, I'm sure I can the birds; for I know what keeps crying +cupboard lustily."</p> + +<p>It was a faint effort to be gay, and it only showed his gloom the +denser. Truly, he has quite enough to make him sad; but this is an +unhealthy sadness: the mists of mammon-worship, rising up, meet in the +mid æther of his mind, these lowering clouds of discontent: and the +seeming calamity, that should be but a trial to his faith, looks too +likely to wreck it.</p> + +<p>So, then, the embers were raked up, the trivet stuck a-top, the savoury +broil made ready; and (all but Grace, who would not taste a morsel, but +went up straight to bed) never had the Actons yet sate down before so +rich a supper.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h3> + +<h4>BEN BURKE'S STRANGE ADVENTURE.</h4> + + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Take</span> a pull, Roger, and pass the flask," was the cordial +prescription of Ben Burke, intended to cure a dead silence, generated +equally of eager appetites and self-accusing consciences; so saying, he +produced a quart wicker-bottle, which enshrined, according to his +testimony, "summut short, the right stuff, stinging strong, that had +never seen the face of a wishy-washy 'ciseman." But Roger touched it +sparingly, for the vaunted nectar positively burnt his swallow: till +Ben, pulling at it heartily himself, by way of giving moral precept the +full benefit of a good example, taught Roger not to be afraid of it, and +so the flask was drained.</p> + +<p>Under such communicative influence, Acton's tale of sorrows and +oppressions, we may readily believe, was soon made known; and as +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_043" id="Page_043"></a>[Pg 043]</span>readily, that it moved Ben's indignant and gigantic sympathies to an +extent of imprecation on the eyes, timbers, and psychological existence +of Mr. Jennings, very little edifying. One thing, however, made amends +for the license of his tongue; the evident sincerity and warmth with +which his coarse but kindly nature proffered instant aid, both offensive +and defensive.</p> + +<p>"It's a black and burning shame, Honest Roger, and right shall have his +own, somehow, while Big Ben has a heart in the old place, and a hand to +help his friend." And the poacher having dealt his own broad breast a +blow that would have knocked a tailor down, stretched out to Acton the +huge hand that had inflicted it.</p> + +<p>"More than that, Roger—hark to this, man!" and, as he slapped his +breeches pocket, there was the chink as of a mine of money shaken to its +foundations: "hark to this, man! and more than hark, have! Here, good +wife, hold your apron!" And he flung into her lap a handful of silver.</p> + +<p>Roger gave a sudden shout of wonder, joy, and avarice: and then as +instantaneously turning very pale, he slowly muttered, "Hush, Ben! is it +bloody money?" and almost shrieked as he added, "and my poor boy Tom, +too, with you! God-a-mercy, mun! how came ye by it?"</p> + +<p>"Honestly, neighbour, leastways, middling honest: don't damp a good +fellow's heart, when he means to serve you."</p> + +<p>"Tell me only that my boy is innocent!—and the money—yes, yes, I'll +keep the money;" for his wife seemed to be pushing it from her at the +thought.</p> + +<p>"I innocent, father! I never know'd till this minute that Ben had any +blunt at all—did I, Ben?—and I only brought him and Rover here to sup, +because I thought it neighbourly and kind-like."</p> + +<p>Poor Tom had till now been very silent: some how the pheasants lay heavy +on his stomach.</p> + +<p>"Is it true, Ben, is it true? the lad isn't a thief, the lad isn't a +murderer? Oh, God! Burke, tell me the truth!</p> + +<p>"Blockhead!" was the courteous reply, "what, not believe your own son? +Why, neighbour Acton, look at the boy: would that frank-faced, +open-hearted fellow do worse, think you, than Black Burke? And would I, +bad as I be, turn the bloody villain to take a man's life? No, +neighbour; Ben kills game, not keepers: he sets his wire for a hare, but +wouldn't go to pick a dead man's pocket. All that's wrong in me, mun, +the game-laws put there; but I'm neither burglar, murderer, +highwayman—no, nor a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_044" id="Page_044"></a>[Pg 044]</span>mean, sneaking thief; however the quality may +think so, and even wish to drive me to it. Neither, being as I be no +rogue, could I bear to live a fool; but I should be one, neighbour, and +dub myself one too, if I didn't stoop to pick up money that a madman +flings away."</p> + +<p>"Madman? pick up money? tell us how it was, Ben," interposed female +curiosity.</p> + +<p>"Well, neighbours, listen: I was a-setting my night-lines round Pike +Island yonder, more nor a fortnight back; it was a dark night and a +mizzling, or morning rather, 'twixt three and four; by the same token, +I'd caught a power of eels. All at once, while I was fixing a trimmer, a +punt came quietly up: as for me, Roger, you know I always wades it +through the muddy shallow: well, I listens, and a chap creeps ashore—a +mad chap, with never a tile to his head, nor a sole to his feet—and +when I sings out to ax him his business, the lunatic sprung at me like a +tiger: I didn't wish to hurt a little weak wretch like him, specially +being past all sense, poor nat'ral! so I shook him off at once, and held +him straight out in this here wice." [Ben's grasp could have cracked any +cocoa-nut.] "He trembled like a wicked thing; and when I peered close +into his face, blow me but I thought I'd hooked a white devil—no one +ever see such a face: it was horrible too look at. 'What are you arter, +mun?' says I; 'burying a dead babby?' says I. 'Give us hold here—I'm +bless'd if I don't see though what you've got buckled up there.' With +that, the little white fool—it's sartin he was mad—all on a sudden +flings at my head a precious hard bundle, gives a horrid howl, jumps +into the punt, and off again, afore I could wink twice. My head a'n't a +soft un, I suppose; but when a lunatic chap hurls at it with all his +might a barrow-load of crockery at once, it's little wonder that my +right eye flinched a minute, and that my right hand rubbed my right eye; +and so he freed himself, and got clear off. Rum start this, thinks I: +but any how he's flung away a summut, and means to give it me: what can +it be? thinks I. Well, neighbours, if I didn't know the chap was mad +afore, I was sartain of it now; what do you think of a grown man—little +enough, truly, but out of long coats too—sneaking by night to Pike +Island, to count out a little lot of silver, and to guzzle twelve +gallipots o' honey? There it was, all hashed up in an old shawl, a slimy +mesh like birdlime: no wonder my eye was a leetle blackish, when +half-a-dozen earthern crocks were broken against it. I was angered +enough, I tell you, to think any man could be such a fool as to bring +honey there to eat or to hide—when at once I spied summut red <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_045" id="Page_045"></a>[Pg 045]</span>among +the mess; and what should it be but a pretty little China house, +red-brick-like, with a split in the roof for droppings, and ticketed +'Savings-bank:' the chink o' that bank you hears now: and the bank +itself is in the pond, now I've cleaned the till out."</p> + +<p>"Wonderful sure! But what did you do with the honey, Ben?—some of the +pots wasn't broke," urged notable Mrs. Acton.</p> + +<p>"Oh, burn the slimy stuff, I warn't going to put my mouth out o' taste +o' bacca, for a whole jawful of tooth-aches: I'll tell you, dame, what I +did with them ere crocks, wholes, and parts. There's never a stone on +Pike Island, it's too swampy, and I'd forgot to bring my pocketful, as +usual. The heaviest fish, look you, always lie among the sedge, +hereabouts and thereabouts, and needs stirring, as your Tom knows well; +so I chucked the gallipots fur from me, right and left, into the +shallows, and thereby druv the pike upon my hooks. A good night's work I +made of it too, say nothing of the Savings-bank; forty pound o' pike and +twelve of eel warn't bad pickings."</p> + +<p>"Dear, it was a pity though to fling away the honey; but what became of +the shawl, Ben?" Perhaps Mrs. Acton thought of looking for it.</p> + +<p>"Oh, as for that, I was minded to have sunk it, with its mess of +sweet-meats and potsherds; but a thought took me, dame, to be +'conomical for once: and I was half sorry too that I'd flung away the +jars, for I began to fancy your little uns might ha' liked the stuff; so +I dipped the clout like any washerwoman, rinshed, and squeezed, and +washed the mess away, and have worn it round my waist ever since; here, +dame, I haven't been this way for a while afore to-night; but I meant to +ask you if you'd like to have it; may be 'tan't the fashion though."</p> + +<p>"Good gracious, Ben! why that's Mrs. Quarles's shawl, I'd swear to it +among a hundred; Sarah Stack, at the Hall, once took and wore it, when +Mrs. Quarles was ill a-bed, and she and our Thomas walked to church +together. Yes—green, edged with red, and—I thought so—a yellow circle +in the middle; here's B.Q., for Bridget Quarles, in black cotton at the +corner. Lackapity! if they'd heard of all this at the Inquest! I tell +you what, Big Ben, it's kindly meant of you, and so thank you heartily, +but that shawl would bring us into trouble; so please take it yourself +to the Hall, and tell 'em fairly how you came by it."</p> + +<p>"I don't know about that Poll Acton; perhaps they might ask me for the +Saving-bank, too—eh, Roger!"</p> + +<p>"No, no, wife; no, it'll never do to lose the money! let a bygone be a +bygone, and don't disturb the old woman in her grave. As to the shawl, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_046" id="Page_046"></a>[Pg 046]</span>if it's like to be a tell-tale, in my mind, this hearth's the safest +place for it."</p> + +<p>So he flung it on the fire; there was a shrivelling, smouldering, guilty +sort of blaze, and the shawl was burnt.</p> + +<p>Roger Acton, you are falling quickly as a shooting star; already is your +conscience warped to connive, for lucre's sake, at some one's secret +crimes. You had better, for the moral of the matter, have burnt your +right hand, as Scævola did, than that shawl. Beware! your sin will bring +its punishment.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h3> + +<h4>SLEEP.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Grace</span>, in her humble truckle-bed, lay praying for her father; +not about his trouble, though that was much, but for the spots of sin +she could discern upon his soul.</p> + +<p>Alas! an altered man was Roger Acton; almost since morning light, the +leprosy had changed his very nature. The simple-minded Christian, +toiling in contentment for his daily bread, cheerful for the passing +day, and trustful for the coming morrow, this fair state was well-nigh +faded away; while a bitterness of feeling against (in one word) +GOD—against unequal partialities in providence, against things as they +exist; and this world's inexplicable government—was gnawing at his very +heart-strings, and cankering their roots by unbelief. It is a speedy +process—throw away faith with its trust for the past, love for the +present, hope for the future—and you throw away all that makes sorrow +bearable, or joy lovely; the best of us, if God withheld his help, would +apostatize like Peter, ere the cock crew thrice; and, at times, that +help has wisely been withheld, to check presumptuous thoughts, and teach +how true it is that the creature depends on the Creator. Just so we +suffer a wilful little child, who is tottering about in leading-strings, +to go alone for a minute, and have a gentle fall. And just so Roger +here, deserted for a time of those angelic ministrations whose +efficiency is proved by godliness and meekness, by patience and content, +is harassed in his spirit as by harpies, by selfishness and pride, and +fretful doublings; by a grudging hate of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_047" id="Page_047"></a>[Pg 047]</span>labour, and a fiery lust of +gold. Temptation comes to teach a weak man that he was fitted for his +station, and his station made for him; that fulfilment of his ignorant +desires will only make his case the worse, and that</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Providence alike is wise</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In what he gives and what denies.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, gentle Grace, on her humble truckle-bed, is full of prayers +and tears, uneasily listening to the indistinct and noisy talk, and +hearing, now and then, some louder oath of Ben's that made her shudder. +Yes, she heard, too, the smashing sound, when the poacher flung the +money down, and she feared it was a mug or a plate—no slight domestic +loss; and she heard her father's strange cry, when he gave that +wondering shout of joyous avarice, and she did not know what to fear. +Was he ill? or crazed! or worse—fallen into bad excesses? How she +prayed for him!</p> + +<p>Poor Ben, too, honest-hearted Ben; she thought of him in charity, and +pleaded for his good before the Throne of Mercy. Who knows but Heaven +heard that saintly virgin prayer? There is love in Heaven yet for poor +Ben Burke.</p> + +<p>And if she prayed for Ben, with what an agony of deep-felt intercession +did she plead for Thomas Acton, that own only brother of hers, just a +year the younger to endear him all the more, her playmate, care, and +charge, her friend and boisterous protector. The many sorrowing hours +she had spent for his sake, and the thousand generous actions he had +done for hers! Could she forget how the stripling fought for her that +day, when rude Joseph Green would help her over the style? Could she but +remember how slily he had put aside, for more than half a year, a little +heap of copper earnings—weeding-money, and errand-money, and +harvest-money—and then bounteously spent it all at once in giving her a +Bible on her birth-day? And when, coming across the fields with him +after leasing, years ago now, that fierce black bull of Squire Ryle's +was rushing down upon us both, how bravely did the noble boy attack him +with a stake, as he came up bellowing, and make the dreadful monster +turn away! Ah! I looked death in the face then, but for thee, my +brother! Remember him, my God, for good!</p> + +<p>"Poor father! poor father! Well, I am resolved upon one thing: I'll go, +with Heaven's blessing, to the Hall myself, and see Sir John, to-morrow; +he shall hear the truth, for"—And so Grace fell asleep.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_048" id="Page_048"></a>[Pg 048]</span>Roger, when he went to bed, came to similar conclusions. He would speak +up boldly, that he would, without fear or favour. Ben's most seasonable +bounty, however to be questioned on the point of right, made him feel +entirely independent, both of bailiffs and squires, and he had now no +anxieties, but rather hopes, about to-morrow. He was as good as they, +with money in his pocket; so he'd down to the Hall, and face the baronet +himself, and blow his bailiff out o' water: that should be his business +by noon. Another odd idea, too, possessed him, and he could not sleep at +night for thinking of it: it was a foolish fancy, but the dream might +have put it in his head: what if one or other of those honey-jars, so +flung here and there among the rushes, were in fact another sort of +"Savings-bank"—a crock of gold? It was a thrilling thought—his very +dream, too; and the lot of shillings, and the shawl—ay, and the +inquest, and the rumours how that Mrs. Quarles had come to her end +unfairly, and no hoards found—and—and the honey-pots missing. Ha! at +any rate he'd have a search to-morrow. No bugbear now should hinder him; +money's money; he'd ask no questions how it got there. His own bit of +garden lay the nearest to Pike Island, and who knows but Ben might have +slung a crock this way? It wouldn't do to ask him, though—for Burke +might look himself, and get the crock—was Roger's last and selfish +thought, before he fell asleep.</p> + +<p>As to Mrs. Acton, she, poor woman, had her own thoughts, fearful ones, +about that shawl, and Ben's mysterious adventure. No cloudy love of +mammon had overspread her mind, to hide from it the hideousness of +murder; in her eyes, blood was terrible, and not the less so that it +covered gold. She remembered at the inquest—be sure she was there among +the gossips—the facts, so little taken notice of till now, the keys in +the cupboard, where the honey-pots were not, and how Jonathan Floyd had +seen something on the lake, and the marks of a man's hand on the throat; +and, God forgive her for saying so, but Mr. Jennings was a little, +white-faced man. How wrong was it of Roger to have burnt that shawl! how +dull of Ben not to have suspected something! but then the good fellow +suspects nobody, and, I dare say, now doesn't know my thoughts. But +Roger does, more shame for him; or why burn the shawl? Ah! thought she, +with all the gossip rampart in her breast, if I could only have taken it +to the Hall myself, what a stir I should have caused! Yes, she would +have reaped a mighty field of glory by originating such a whirlwind of +inquiries and surmises. Even now, so attractive was the mare's nest, she +would go to the Hall by morning, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_049" id="Page_049"></a>[Pg 049]</span>and tell Sir John himself all about +the burnt shawl, and Pike Island, and the galli—And so she fell fast +asleep.</p> + +<p>With respect to Ben, Tom, and Rover, a well-matched triad, as any Isis, +Horus, and Nepthys, they all flung themselves promiscuously on the hard +floor beside the hearth, "basked at the fire their hairy strength," and +soon were snoring away beautifully in concert, base, tenor, and treble, +like a leash of glee-singers. No thoughts troubled them, either of +mammon or murder: so long before the meditative trio up-stairs, they had +set a good example, and fallen asleep.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h3> + +<h4>LOVE.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">With</span> the earliest peep of day arose sweet Grace, full of +cheerful hope, and prayer, and happy resignation. She had a great deal +to do that morning; for, innocent girl, she had no notion that it was +quite possible to be too early at the Hall; her only fear was being too +late. Then there were all the household cares to see to, and the dear +babes to dress, and the place to tidy up, and breakfast to get ready, +and, any how, she could not be abroad till half-past eight: so, to her +dismay, it must be past nine before ever she can see Sir John. Let us +follow her a little: for on this important day we shall have to take the +adventures of our labourer's family one at a time.</p> + +<p>By twenty minutes to nine, Grace had contrived to bustle on her things, +give the rest the slip, and be tripping to the Hall. It is nearly two +miles off, as we already know; and Grace is such a pretty creature that +we can clearly do no better than employ our time thitherward by taking a +peep at her.</p> + +<p>Sweet Grace Acton, we will not vex thy blushing maiden modesty by +elaborate details of form, and face, and feature. Perfect womanhood at +fair eighteen: let that fill all the picture up with soft and swelling +charms; no wadding, or padding, or jigot, or jupe—but all those +graceful undulations are herself: no pearl-powder, no carmine, no +borrowed locks, no musk, or ambergris—but all those feeble helps of +meretricious art excelled and superseded by their just originals in +nature. It will <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_050" id="Page_050"></a>[Pg 050]</span>not do to talk, as a romancer may, of velvet cheeks and +silken tresses; or invoke, to the aid of our inadequate description, +roses, and swans, and peaches, and lilies. Take the simple village +beauty as she is. Did you ever look on prettier lips or sweeter +eyes—more glossy natural curls upon a whiter neck? And how that little +red-riding-hood cloak, and the simple cottage hat tied down upon her +cheeks, and the homely russet gown, all too short for modern fashions, +and the white, well-turned ankle, and the tidy little leather shoe, and +the bunch of snow drops in her tucker, and the neat mittens contrasting +darkly with her fair, bare arms—pretty Grace, how well all these become +thee! There, trip along, with health upon thy cheek, and hope within thy +heart; who can resist so eloquent a pleader? Haste on, haste on: save +thy father in his trouble, as thou hast blest him in his sin—this +rustic lane is to thee the path of duty—Heaven speed thee on it!</p> + +<p>More slowly now, and with more anxious thoughts, more heart-weakness, +more misgiving—Grace approacheth the stately mansion: and when she +timidly touched the "Servants'" bell, for she felt too lowly for the +"Visiters',"—and when she heard how terribly loud it was, how long it +rung, and what might be the issue of her—wasn't it +ill-considered?—errand—the poor girl almost fainted at the sound.</p> + +<p>As she leaned unconsciously for strength against the door, it opened on +a sudden, and Jonathan Floyd, in mute amazement, caught her in his arms.</p> + +<p>"Why, Grace Acton! what's the matter with you?" Jonathan knew Grace +well; they had been at dame's-school together, and in after years +attended the same Sunday class at church. There had been some talk among +the gossips about Jonathan and Grace, and ere now folks had been kind +enough to say they would make a pretty couple. And folks were right, +too, as well as kind: for a fine young fellow was Jonathan Floyd, as any +duchess's footman; tall, well built, and twenty-five; Antinous in a +livery. Well to do, withal, though his wages don't come straight to him; +for, independently of his place—and the baronet likes him for his good +looks and proper manners—he is Farmer Floyd's only son, on the hill +yonder, as thriving a small tenant as any round abouts; and he is proud +of his master, of his blue and silver uniform, of old Hurstley, and of +all things in general, except himself.</p> + +<p>"But what on earth's the matter, Grace?" he was obliged to repeat, for +the dear girl's agitation was extreme.</p> + +<p>"Jonathan, can I see the baronet?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_051" id="Page_051"></a>[Pg 051]</span>"What, at nine in the morning, Grace Acton! Call again at two, and you +may find him getting up. He hasn't been three hours a-bed yet, and +there's nobody about but Sarah Stack and me. I wish those Lunnun sparks +would but leave the place: they do his honour no good, I'm thinking."</p> + +<p>"Not till two!" was the slow and mournful ejaculation. What a damper to +her buoyant hopes: and Providence had seen fit to give her ill-success. +Is it so? Prosperity may come in other shapes.</p> + +<p>"Why, Grace," suddenly said Floyd, in a very nervous way, "what makes +you call upon my master in this tidy trim?"</p> + +<p>"To save my father," answered Innocence.</p> + +<p>"How? why? Oh don't, Grace, don't! I'll save him—I will indeed—what is +it? Oh, don't, don't!"</p> + +<p>For the poor affectionate fellow conjured on the spot the black vision +of a father saved by a daughter's degradation.</p> + +<p>"Don't, Jonathan?—it's my duty, and God will bless me in it. That cruel +Mr. Jennings has resolved upon our ruin, and I wished to tell Sir John +the truth of it."</p> + +<p>At this hearing, Jonathan brightened up, and glibly said, "Ah, indeed, +Jennings is a trouble to us all: a sad life I've led of it this year +past; and I've paid him pretty handsomely too, to let me keep the place: +while, as for John Page and the grooms, and Mr. Coachman and the +helpers, they don't touch much o' their wages on quarter-day, I know."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but we—we are ruined! ruined! Father is forbidden now to labour +for our bread." And then with many tears she told her tale.</p> + +<p>"Stop, Miss Grace," suddenly said Jonathan, for her beauty and eloquence +transformed the cottager into a lady in his eyes, and no wonder; "pray, +stop a minute, Miss—please to take a seat; I sha'n't be gone an +instant."</p> + +<p>And the good-hearted fellow, whose eyes had long been very red, broke +away at a gallop; but he was back again almost as soon as gone, panting +like a post-horse. "Oh, Grace! don't be angry! do forgive me what I am +going to do."</p> + +<p>"Do, Jonathan?" and the beauty involuntarily started—"I hope it's +nothing wrong," she added, solemnly.</p> + +<p>"Whether right or wrong, Grace, take it kindly; you have often bade me +read my Bible, and I do so many times both for the sake of it and you; +ay, and meet with many pretty sayings in it: forgive me if I act on +one—'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" With that, he +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_052" id="Page_052"></a>[Pg 052]</span>thrust into her hand a brass-topped, red-leather purse, stuffed with +money. Generous fellow! all the little savings, that had heretofore +escaped the prying eye and filching grasp of Simon Jennings. There was +some little gold in it, more silver, and a lot of bulky copper.</p> + +<p>"Dear Jonathan!" exclaimed Grace, quite thrown off her guard of maidenly +reserve, "this is too kind, too good, too much; indeed, indeed it is: I +cannot take the purse." And her bright eyes overflowed again.</p> + +<p>"Well, girl," said Jonathan, gulping down an apple in his throat, "I—I +won't have the money, that's all. Oh, Grace, Grace!" he burst out +earnestly, "let me be the blessed means of helping you in trouble—I +would die to do it, Grace; indeed I would!"</p> + +<p>The dear girl fell upon his neck, and they wept together like two loving +little sisters.</p> + +<p>"Jonathan"—her duteous spirit was the first to speak—"forgive this +weakness of a foolish woman's heart: I will not put away the help which +God provides us at your friendly hands: only this, kind brother—let me +call you brother—keep the purse; if my father pines for want of work, +and the babes at home lack food, pardon my boldness if I take the help +you offer. Meanwhile, God in heaven bless you, Jonathan, as He will!"</p> + +<p>And she turned to go away.</p> + +<p>"Won't you take a keepsake, Grace—one little token? I wish I had any +thing here but money to give you for my sake."</p> + +<p>"It would even be ungenerous in me to refuse you, brother; one little +piece will do."</p> + +<p>Jonathan fumbled up something in a crumpled piece of paper, and said +sobbingly—"Let it be this new half-crown, Grace: I won't say, keep it +always; only when you want to use that and more, I humbly ask you'll +please come to me."</p> + +<p>Now a more delicate, a more unselfish act, was never done by man: along +with the half-crown he had packed up two sovereigns! and thereby not +only escaped thanks, concealed his own beneficence, and robbed his purse +of half its little store; but actually he was, by doing so, depriving +himself for a month, or maybe more, of a visit from Grace Acton. Had it +been only half-a-crown, and want had pinched the family (neither Grace +nor Jonathan could guess of Ben Burke's bounty, and for all they knew +Roger had not enough for the morrow's meals)—had poverty come in like +an armed man, and stood upon their threshold a grim sentinel—doubtless +she must have run to him within a day or two. How sweet <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_053" id="Page_053"></a>[Pg 053]</span>would it have +been to have kept her coming day by day, and to a commoner affection how +excusable! but still how selfish, how unlike the liberal and honourable +feeling that filled the manly heart of Jonathan Floyd! It was a noble +act, and worthy of a long parenthesis.</p> + +<p>If Grace Acton had looked back as she hurried down the avenue, she would +have seen poor Jonathan still watching her with all his eyes till she +was out of sight. Perhaps, though, she might have guessed it—there is a +sympathy in these things, the true animal magnetism—and I dare say that +was the very reason why she did not once turn her head.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h3> + +<h4>THE DISCOVERY.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Roger Acton</span> had not slept well; had not slept at all till +nearly break of day, except in the feverish fashion of half dream half +revery. There were thick-coming fancies all night long about what Ben +had said and done: and more than once Roger had thought of the +expediency of getting up, to seek without delay the realization of that +one idea which now possessed him—a crock of gold. When he put together +one thing and another, he considered it almost certain that Ben had +flung away among the lot no mere honey-pot, but perhaps indeed a +money-pot: Burke hadn't half the cunning of a child; more fool he, and +maybe so much the better for me, thought money-bitten, selfish Roger. +Thus, in the night's hot imaginations, he resolved to find the spoil; to +will, was then to do: to do, was then to conquer. However, Nature's +sweet restorer came at last, and, when he woke, the idea had sobered +down—last night's fancies were preposterous. So, it was with a heavy +heart he got up later than his wont—no work before him, nothing to do +till the afternoon, when he might see Sir John, except it be to dig a +bit in his little marshy garden. When Grace ran to the Hall, Roger was +going forth to dig.</p> + +<p>Now, I know quite well that the reader is as fully aware as I am, what +is about to happen; but it is impossible to help the matter. If the +heading of this chapter tells the truth, a "discovery" of some sort is +inevitable. Let us preliminarize a thought or two, if thereby we can +hang some shadowy veil of excuse over a too naked mystery. First and +foremost, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_054" id="Page_054"></a>[Pg 054]</span>truth is strange, stranger, <i>et-cetera</i>; and this +<i>et-cetera</i>, pregnant as one of Lyttleton's, intends to add the +superlative strangest, to the comparative stranger of that seldom-quoted +sentiment. To every one of us, in the course of our lives, something +quite as extraordinary has befallen more than once. What shall we say of +omens, warnings, forebodings? What of the most curious runs of luck; the +most whimsical freaks of fortune; the unaccountable things that happen +round us daily, and no one marvels at them, till he reads of them in +print? Even as Macpherson, ingenious, if not ingenuous, gathered Ossian +from the lips of Highland hussifs, and made the world with modern Attila +to back it, wonder at the stores that are hived on old wives' tongues; +even so might any other literary, black-smith hammer from the ore of +common gossip a regular Vulcan's net of superstitious "facts." Never yet +was uttered ghost story, that did not breed four others; every one at +table is eager to record his, or his aunt's, experience in that line; +and the mass of queer coincidences, inexplicable incidents, indubitable +seeings, hearings, doings, and sufferings; which you and I have heard of +in this popular vein of talk, would amply excuse the wildest fictionist +for the most extravagant adventure—the more improbable, the nearer +truth. Talk of the devil, said our ancestors—let "&c." save us from the +consequence. Think of any thing vehemently, and it is an even chance it +happens: be confident, you conquer; be obstinate in willing, and events +shall bend humbly to their lord: nay, dream a dream, and if you +recollect it in the morning, and it bother you next day, and you cannot +get it out of your head for a week, and the matter positively haunt you, +ten to one but it finds itself or makes itself fulfilled, some odd day +or other. Just so, doubtless, will it prove to be with Roger's dream: I +really cannot help the matter.</p> + +<p>Again, it is more than likely that the reader is clever, very clever, +and that any attempts at concealment would be merely futile. From the +first page he has discovered who is the villain, and who the victim: the +title alone tells him of the golden hinge on which the story turns: he +can look through stone walls, if need be, or mesmerically see, without +making use of eyes: no peep-holes for him, as for Pyramus and Thisbe: no +initiation requisite for any hidden mysteries; all arcana are revealed +to him, every sanctum is a highway. No art of mortal pen can defeat this +mischief of acuteness: character is character; oaks grow of acorns, and +the plan of a life may be detected in a microscopic speech. The career +of Mr. Jennings is as much predestined by us to iniquity, from the first +intimation that he never makes excuse, as honest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_055" id="Page_055"></a>[Pg 055]</span> Roger is to trouble +and temptation from the weary effort wherewithal he woke. And, even now, +pretty Grace and young Sir John, the reader thinks that he can guess at +nature's consequence; while, with respect to Roger's going forth to dig +this morning, he sees it straight before him, need not ask for the +result. Well, if the shrewd reader has the eye of Lieuenhöeck, and can +discern, cradled in the small triangular beech-mast, a noble +forest-tree, with silvery trunk, branching arms, and dark-green foliage, +he deserves to be complimented indeed, for his own keen skill; but, at +the same time, Nature will not hurry herself for him, but will quietly +educe results which he foreknew—or thought he did—a century ago. And +is there not the highest Art in this unveiled simplicity: to lead the +reader onwards by a straight road, with the setting sun a-blaze at the +end of it, knowing his path, knowing its object, yet still borne on with +spirits unexhausted and unflagging foot? Trust me, there is better +praise in this, than in dazzling the distracted glance with a perpetual +succession of luminous fire-flies, and dragging your fair novel-reader, +harried and excited, through the mazes of a thousand incidents.</p> + +<p>Thirdly, and lastly, in this prefatorial say, there is to be considered +that inevitable defeator of all printed secrets—impatience. Nothing is +easier, nothing commoner (most wise people do it, whose fate is, that +they must keep up with the race of current publication, and therefore +must keep down the still-increasing crowd of authorial creations), +nothing is more venial, more laudable, than to read the last chapter +first; and so, finding out all mysteries at once, to save one's self a +vast deal of unnecessary trouble. And, for mere tale-telling, this may +be sufficient. What need to burden memory with imaginary statements, or +to weary out one's sympathies on trite fictitious woes?—come to the +catastrophe at once: the uncle hanged; the heir righted; the heroine, an +orange-flowered bride; and the white-headed grandmother, after all her +wrongs, winding up the story with a prudent moral. Now, this may all be +very well with histories that merely carry a sting in the tail, whose +moral is the warning of the rattlesnake, and whose hot-exciting interest +is posted with the scorpion's venom. They are the Dragon of Wantley, +with one caudal point—a barbed termination: we, like Moore of Moore +Hall, all point, covered with spikes: every where we boast ourselves an +ethical hedge-hog, all-over-armed with keen morals—a Rumour painted +full of tongues, echoing all around with revealing of secrets. The +feelings of our humble hero, altered Roger Acton, are worthy to be +studied by the great, to be sifted by the rich; and Grace's simple +tongue may teach the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_056" id="Page_056"></a>[Pg 056]</span>sage, for its wisdom cometh from above; and +Jonathan, for all his shoulder-knot and smart cockade, is worthy to give +lessons to his master: that master, also, is far better than you think +him; and poor Burke too, for true humanity's sake: so we get a mint of +morals, set aside the story. It is not raw material, but the +workmanship, that gives its value to the flowered damask; our +grand-dames' sumptuous taffeties and stand-alone brocades are but spun +silk-worms' interiors; the fairest statue is intrinsically but a mass of +clumsy stone, until, indeed, the sculptor has rough-hewn it, and shaped +it, and chiselled it, and finished all the touches with sand-paper. This +story of '<i>The Crock of Gold</i>' purports to be a Dutch picture, as +becometh boors, their huts, their short and simple annals; so that, +after its moralities, the mass of minute detail is the only thing that +gives it any value.</p> + +<p>Now, whilst all of you have been yawning through these egotistic +phrases, Roger has been digging in his garden; there he is, pecking away +at what once was the celery-bed, but now are fallow trenches; celery, as +we all know, is a water-loving plant, doing best in marshy-land, so no +wonder the trenches open on the sedge, and the muddy shallow opposite +Pike Island puddles up to them. There needs be no suspense, no mystery +at all; Roger's dream had clearly sent him thither, for he should not +have levelled those trenches yet awhile, it was a little too soon—bad +husbandry; and, barring the appearance of a devil, Roger's dream came +true. Yes, under the roots of a clump of bullrush, he lifted out with +his spade—a pot of Narbonne honey!</p> + +<p>When first he spied the pot, his heart was in his mouth—it must be +gold, and with tottering knees he raised the precious burden. But, woful +disappointment! the word "Honey," with plenty of French and Fortnum on +another pasted label, stared him in the face; it was sweet and slimy too +about the neck; there was no sort of jingle when he shook the crock; +what though it be heavy?—honey's heavy; and it was tied over quite in a +common way with pig's bladder, and his clumsy trembling fingers could +not undo that knot; and thus, with a miserable sense of cheated poverty, +he threw it down beside the path, and would, perhaps, have flung it +right away in sheer disgust, but for the reflection that the little ones +might like it. Once, indeed, the glorious doubt of maybe gold came back +upon his mind, and he lifted up the spade to smash the baffling pot, and +so make sure of what it might contain;—make sure, eh? why, you would +only lose the honey, whispered domestic economy. So he left the jar to +be opened by his wife when he should go in.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_057" id="Page_057"></a>[Pg 057]</span></p> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h3> + +<h4>JONATHAN'S STORE.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">And</span> where has Mrs. Acton been all this morning? Off to the +Hall, very soon after Grace had got away; and she rung at the side +entrance, hard by the kitchen, most fortunately caught Sarah Stack +about, and had a good long gossip with her; telling her, open-mouthed, +all about Ben Burke having found a shawl of Mrs. Quarles's on the +island; and how, it being very rotten, yes, and smelling foul, Ben had +been fool enough to burn it; what a pity! how could the shawl have got +there? if it only could ha' spoken what it knew! And the bereaved +gossips mourned together over secrets undivulged, and their evidence +destroyed. As to the crockery, for a miraculous once in life, Mrs. Acton +held her tongue about a thing she knew, and said not a syllable +concerning it. Roger would be mad to lose the money. Just at parting +with her friend Mary Acton was going out by the wrong door, through the +hall, but luckily did no more than turn the handle; or she never could +have escaped bouncing in upon the lovers' interview, and thereby +occasioning a chaos of confusion. For, be it whispered, the step-dame +was not a little jealous of her ready-made daughter's beauty, persisted +in calling her a child, and treated her any thing but kindly and +sisterly, as her full-formed woman's loveliness might properly have +looked for. Only imagine, if the Hecate had but seen Jonathan's lit-up +looks, or Grace's down-cast blushes; for it really slipped my +observation to record that there were blushes, and probably some cause +for them when the keep-sake was given and accepted; only conceive if +the step-mother had heard Jonathan's afterward soliloquy, when he was +watching pretty Grace as she tripped away—and how much he seemed to +think of her eyes and eye-lashes! I am reasonably fearful, had she heard +and seen all this—Poll Acton's nails might have possibly drawn blood +from the cheeks of Jonathan Floyd. As it was, the little god of love +kindly warded from his votaries the coming of so crabbed an antagonist.</p> + +<p>Grace has now reached home again, blessing her overruling stars to have +escaped notice so entirely both in going and returning; for the mother +was hard at washing near the well, having got in half an hour before, +and father has not yet left off digging in his garden. So she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_058" id="Page_058"></a>[Pg 058]</span>crept up +stairs quietly, put away her Sunday best, and is just dropping on her +knees beside her truckle-bed, to speak of all her sorrows to her +Heavenly friend, and to thank him for the kindness He had raised her in +an earthly one. She then, with no small trepidation, took out of her +tucker, just below those withered snow-drops, the crumpled bit of paper +that held Jonathan's parting gift. It was surprising how her tucker +heaved; she could hardly get at the parcel. She wanted to look at that +half-crown; not that she feared it was a bad one, or was curious about +coins, or felt any pleasure in possessing such a sum: but there was such +a don't-know-what connected with that new half-crown, which made her +long to look at it; so she opened the paper—and found its golden +fellows! O noble heart! O kind, generous, unselfish—yes, beloved +Jonathan! But what is she to do with the sovereigns? Keep them? No, she +cannot keep them, however precious in her sight as proofs of deep +affection; but she will call as soon as possible, and give them back, +and insist upon his taking them, and keeping them too—for her, if no +otherwise. And the dear innocent girl was little aware herself how glad +she felt of the excuse to call so soon again at Hurstley.</p> + +<p>Meantime, for safety, she put the money in her Bible.</p> + +<p>What hallowed gold was that? Gained by honest industry, saved by +youthful prudence, given liberally and unasked, to those who needed, and +could not pay again; with a delicate consideration, an heroic essay at +concealment, a voluntary sacrifice of self, of present pleasure, +passion, and affection. And there it lies, the little store, hidden up +in Grace's Bible. She has prayed over it, thanked over it, interceded +over it, for herself, for it, for others. How different, indeed, from +ordinary gold, from common sin-bought mammon; how different from that +unblest store, which Roger Acton covets; how purified from meannesses, +and separate from harms! This is of that money, the scarcest coins of +all the world, endued with all good properties in heaven and in earth, +whereof it had been written, "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, +saith the Lord of hosts."</p> + +<p>Such alone are truly riches—well-earned, well-saved, well-sanctified, +well-spent. The wealthiest of European capitalists—the Crœsus of +modern civilization—may be but a pauper in that better currency, +whereof a sample has been shown in the store of Jonathan Floyd.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_059" id="Page_059"></a>[Pg 059]</span></p> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h3> + +<h4>ANOTHER DISCOVERY, AND THE EARNEST OF GOOD THINGS.</h4> + + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dame</span>, here's one o' Ben's gallipots he flung away: it's naught +but honey, dame—marked so—no crock of gold; don't expect it; no such +thing; luck like that isn't for such as me: though, being as it is, the +babes may like it, with their dry bread: open it, good-wife: I hope the +water mayn't ha' spoilt it."</p> + +<p>The notable Mary Acton produced certain scissors, hanging from her +pocket by a tape, and cut a knot, which to Roger had been Gordian's.</p> + +<p>"Why, it's bran, Acton, not honey; look here, will you." She tilted it +up, and, along with a cloud of saw-dust, dropped out a heavy hail-storm +of—little bits of leather!</p> + +<p>"Hallo? what's that?" said Roger, eagerly: "it's gold, gold, I'll be +sworn!" It was so.</p> + +<p>Every separate bit of money, whatever kind of coins they were, had been +tidily sewn up in a shred of leather; remnants of old gloves of all +colours; and the Narbonne jar contained six hundred and eighty-seven of +them. These, of course, were hastily picked up from the path whereon +they had first fallen, were counted out at home, and the glittering +contents of most of those little leather bags ripped up were immediately +discovered. Oh dear! oh dear! such a sight! Guineas and half-guineas, +sovereigns and half-sovereigns, quite a little hill of bright, clean, +prettily-figured gold.</p> + +<p>"Hip, hip, hooray!" shouted Roger, in an ecstacy; "Hurrah, hurrah, +hurrah!" and in the madness of his joy, he executed an extravagant pas +seul; up went his hat, round went his heels, and he capered awkwardly +like a lunatic giraffe.</p> + +<p>"Here's an end to all our troubles, Poll: we're as good as gentle-folks +now; catch me a-calling at the Hall, to bother about Jennings and Sir +John: a fig for bailiffs, and baronets, parsons, and prisons, and all," +and again he roared Hooray! "I tell you what though, old 'ooman, we must +just try the taste of our glorious golden luck, before we do any thing +else. Bide a bit, wench, and hide the hoard till I return. I'm off to +the Bacchus's Arms, and I'll bring you some stingo in a minute, old +gal." So off he ran hot-foot, to get an earnest of the blessing of his +crock of gold.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_060" id="Page_060"></a>[Pg 060]</span>The minute that was promised to produce the stingo, proved to be rather +of a lengthened character; it might, indeed, have been a minute, or the +fraction of one, in the planet Herschel, whose year is as long as +eighty-five of our Terra's, but according to Greenwich calculation, it +was nearer like two hours.</p> + +<p>The little Tom and Jerry shop, that rejoiced in the classical heraldry +of Bacchus's Arms, had been startled from all conventionalities by the +unwonted event of the demand, "change for a sovereign?" and when it was +made known to the assembled conclave that Roger Acton was the fortunate +possessor, that even assumed an appearance positively miraculous.</p> + +<p>"Why, honest Roger, how in the world could you ha' come by that?" was +the troublesome inquiry of Dick the Tanner.</p> + +<p>"Well, Acton, you're sharper than I took you for, if you can squeeze +gold out of bailiff Jennings," added Solomon Snip; and Roger knew no +better way of silencing their tongues, than by profusely drenching them +in liquor. So he stood treat all round, and was forced to hobanob with +each; and when that was gone, he called for more to keep their curiosity +employed. Now, all this caused delay; and if Mary had been waiting for +the "stingo," she would doubtless have had reasonable cause for anger +and impatience: however, she, for her part, was so pleasantly occupied, +like Prince Arthur's Queen, in counting out the money, that, to say the +truth, both lord and liquor were entirely forgotten.</p> + +<p>But another cause that lengthened out the minute, was the embarrassing +business of where to find the change. Bacchus's didn't chalk up trust, +where hard money was flung upon the counter; but all the accumulated +wealth of Bacchus's high-priest, Tom Swipey, and of the seven +worshippers now drinking in his honour, could not suffice to make up +enough of change: therefore, after two gallons left behind him in +libations as aforesaid, and two more bottled up for a drink-offering at +home, Roger was contented to be owed seven and fourpence; a debt never +likely to be liquidated. Much speculation this afforded to the gossips; +and when the treater's back was turned, they touched their foreheads, +for the man was clearly crazed, and they winked to each other with a +gesture of significance.</p> + +<p>Grace, while musing on her new half-crown—it was strange how long she +looked at it—had heard with real amazement that uproarious huzzaing! +and, just as her father had levanted for the beer, glided down from her +closet, and received the wondrous tidings from her step-mother. She +heard in silence, if not in sadness: intuitive good sense proclaimed to +her that this sudden gush of wealth was a temptation, even if she felt +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_061" id="Page_061"></a>[Pg 061]</span>no secret fears on the score of—shall we call it superstition?—that +dream, this crock, that dark angel—and this so changed spirit of her +once religious father: what could she think? she meekly looked to Heaven +to avert all ill.</p> + +<p>Mary Acton also was less elated and more alarmed than she cared to +confess: not that she, any more than Grace, knew or thought about lords +of manors, or physical troubles on the score of finding the crock: but +Mrs. Quarles's shawl, and sundry fearful fancies tinged with blood, +these worried her exceedingly, and made her look upon the gold with an +uneasy feeling, as if it were an unclean thing, a sort of Achan's wedge.</p> + +<p>At last, here comes Roger back, somewhat unsteadily I fear, with a stone +two-gallon jar of what he was pleased to avouch to be "the down-right +stingo." "Hooray, Poll!" (he had not ceased shouting all the way from +Bacchus's,) "Hooray—here I be again, a gentle-folk, a lord, a king, +Poll: why daughter Grace, what's come to you? I won't have no dull looks +about to-day, girl. Isn't this enough to make a poor man merry? No more +troubles, no more toil, no more 'humble sarvent,' no more a ragged, +plodding ploughman: but a lord, daughter Grace—a great, rich, luxurious +lord—isn't this enough to make a man sing out hooray?—Thank the crock +of gold for this—Oh, blessed crock!"</p> + +<p>"Hush, father, hush! that gold will be no blessing to you; Heaven send +it do not bring a curse. It will be a sore temptation, even if the +rights of it are not in some one else: we know not whom it may belong +to, but at any rate it cannot well be ours."</p> + +<p>"Not ours, child? whose in life is it then?"</p> + +<p>Mary Acton, made quite meek by a superstitious dread of having money of +the murdered, stepped in to Grace's help, whom her father's fierce +manner had appalled, with "Roger, it belonged to Mrs. Quarles, I'm +morally sure on it—and must now be Simon Jennings's, her heir."</p> + +<p>"What?" he almost frantically shrieked, "shall that white hell-hound rob +me yet again? No, dame—I'll hang first! the crock I found, the crock +I'll keep: the money's mine, whoever did the murder." Then, changing his +mad tone into one of reckless inebriate gayety—for he was more than +half-seas over even then from the pot-house toastings and excitement—he +added, "But come, wenches, down with your mugs, and help me to get +through the jar: I never felt so dry in all my life. Here's blessings on +the crock, on him as sent it, him as has it, and on all the joy and +comfort it's to bring us! Come, drink, drink—we must all drink +that—but where's Tom?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_062" id="Page_062"></a>[Pg 062]</span>If Roger had been quite himself, he never would have asked so +superfluous a question: for Tom was always in one and the same company, +albeit never in one and the same place: he and his Pan-like Mentor were +continually together, studying wood-craft, water-craft, and all manner +of other craft connected with the antique trade of picking and stealing.</p> + +<p>"Where's Tom?"</p> + +<p>Grace, glad to have to answer any reasonable question, mildly answered, +"Gone away with Ben, father."</p> + +<p>Alas! that little word, Ben, gave occasion to reveal a depth in Roger's +fall, which few could have expected to behold so soon. To think that the +liberal friend, who only last night had frankly shared his all with him, +whose honest glowing heart would freely shed its blood for him, that he +in recollection should be greeted with a loathing! Ben would come, and +claim some portion of his treasure—he would cry halves—or, who knows? +might want all—all: and take it by strong arm, or by threat to 'peach +against him:—curse that Burke! he hated him.</p> + +<p>Oh, Steady Acton! what has made thee drink and swear? Oh, Honest Roger! +what has planted guile, and suspicion, and malice in thy heart? Are +these the mere first-fruits of coveting and having? Is this the earliest +blessing of that luck which many long for—the finding of a crock of +gold?</p> + +<p>We would not enlarge upon the scene; a painful one at all times, when +man forgets his high prerogative, and drowns his reason in the tankard: +but, in a Roger Acton's case, lately so wise, temperate, and patient, +peculiarly distressing. Its chief features were these. Grace tasted +nothing, but mournfully looked on: once only she attempted to +expostulate, but was met—not with fierce oaths, nor coarse chidings, +nor even with idiotic drivelling—oh no! worse than that she felt: he +replied to her with the maudlin drunken promise, "If she'd only be a +good girl, and let him bide, he'd give her a big Church-bible, bound in +solid gold—that 'ud make the book o' some real value, Grace." Poor +broken-hearted daughter—she rushed to her closet in a torrent of tears.</p> + +<p>As for Mary Acton, she was miraculously meek and dumb; all the scold was +quelled within her; the word "blood" was the Petruchio that tamed that +shrew; she could see a plenty of those crimson spots, which might</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"The multitudinous seas incarnadine,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Making the green, one red,"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>dancing in the sun-beams, dotted on the cottage walls, sprinkled as +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_063" id="Page_063"></a>[Pg 063]</span>unholy water, over that foul crock. Would not the money be a curse to +them any how, say nothing of the danger? If things went on as they +began, Mary might indeed have cause for fear: actually, she could not +a-bear to look upon the crock; she quite dreaded it, as if it had +contained a "bottled devil." So there she sat ever so long—silent, +thoughtful, and any thing but comfortable.</p> + +<p>What became of Roger until next day at noon, neither he nor I can tell: +true, his carcase lay upon the floor, and the two-gallon jar was empty. +But, for the real man, who could answer to the name of Roger Acton, the +sensitive and conscious soul—that was some where galloping away for +fifteen hours in the Paradise of fools: the Paradise? no—the Maëlstrom; +tossed about giddily and painfully in one whirl of tumultuous +drunkenness.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h3> + +<h4>HOW THE HOME WAS BLEST THEREBY.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> will surprise no one to be told that, however truly such an +excess may have been the first, it was by no means the last exploit of +our altered labourer in the same vein of heroism. Bacchus's was quite +close, and he needs must call for his change; he had to call often; +drank all quits; changed another sovereign, and was owed again; but, +trust him, he wasn't going to be cheated out of that: take care of the +pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves. But still it was +ditto repeated; changing, being owed, grudging, grumbling: at last he +found out the famous new plan of owing himself; and as Bacchus's did not +see fit to reject such wealthy customers, Roger soon chalked up a +yard-long score, and grew so niggardly that they could not get a penny +from him.</p> + +<p>It is astonishing how immediately wealth brings in, as its companion, +meanness: they walk together, and stand together, and kneel together, as +the hectoring, prodigal Faulconbridge, the Bastard Plantagenet in <i>King +John</i>, does with his white-livered, puny brother, Robert. Wherefore, no +sooner was Roger blest with gold, than he resolved not to be such a fool +as to lose liberally, or to give away one farthing. To give, I say, for +extravagant indulgence is another thing; and it was a fine, proud +pleasure <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_064" id="Page_064"></a>[Pg 064]</span>to feast a lot of fellows at his sole expense. If meanness is +brother to wealth, it is at any rate first cousin to extravagance.</p> + +<p>When the dowager collects "her dear five hundred friends" to parade +before the fresh young heirs her wax-light lovely daughters—when all is +glory, gallopade, and Gunter—when Rubini warbles smallest, and +Lablanche is heard as thunder on the stairs—speak, tradesmen, ye who +best can tell, the closeness that has catered for that feast; tell it +out, ye famished milliners, ground down to sixpence on a ball-dress +bill; whisper it, ye footmen, with your wages ever due; let Gath, let +Askelon re-echo with the truth, that extortion is the parent of +extravagance!</p> + +<p>Now, that episode should have been in a foot note; but no one takes the +trouble to read notes; and with justice too; for if a man has any thing +to say, let him put it in his text, as orderly as may be. And, if order +be sometimes out of the question, as seems but clearly suitable at +present to our hero's manner of life, it is wise to go boldly on, +without so prim an usher; to introduce our thoughts as they reveal +themselves, ignorant of "their own degrees," not "standing on the order +of their coming," but, as a pit crowd on a benefit-night, bustling over +one another, helter-skelter, "in most admired disorder." This will well +comport with Roger's daily life: for, notwithstanding the frequent +interference of an Amazon wife—regardless of poor, dear Grace's gentle +voice and melancholy eyes—in spite of a conscience pricking in his +breast, with the spines of a horse-chestnut, that evil crock appeared +from the beginning to have been found for but one sole +purpose—<i>videlicet</i>, that of keeping alight in Roger's brain the fire +of mad intoxication. Yes, there were sundry other purposes, too, which +may as well be told directly.</p> + +<p>The utter dislocation of all home comforts occupied the foremost rank. +True—in comparison with the homes of affluence and halls of +luxury—those comforts may have formerly seemed few and far between; yet +still the angel of domestic peace not seldom found a rest within the +cottage. Not seldom? always: if sweet-eyed Grace be such an angel, that +ever-abiding guest, full of love, duty, piety, and cheerfulness. But +now, after long-enduring anguish, vexed in her righteous soul by the +shocking sights and sounds of the drunkard and his parasites (for all +the idle vagabonds about soon flocked around rich Acton, and were freely +welcome to his reckless prodigality), Grace had been forced to steal +away, and seek refuge with a neighbour. Here was one blessing the less.</p> + +<p>Another wretched change was in the wife. Granted, Mary Acton had not +ever been the pink of politeness, the violet of meekness, nor the rose +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_065" id="Page_065"></a>[Pg 065]</span>of entire amiability: but if she were a scold, that scolding was well +meant; and her irate energies were incessantly directed towards +cleanliness, economy, quiet, and other <i>notabilia</i> of a busy house-wife. +She did her best to keep the hovel tidy, to make the bravest show with +their scanty chattels, to administer discreetly the stores of their +frugal larder, and to recompense the good-man returning from his hard +day's work, with much of rude joy and bustling kindness. But now, after +the first stupor of amazement into which the crock and its consequences +threw her, Poll Acton grew to be a fury: she raged and stormed, and well +she might, at filth and discomfort in her home, at nauseous dregs and +noisome fumes, at the orgie still kept up, day by day, and night by +night, through the length of that first foul week, which succeeded the +fortunate discovery. And not in vain she raged and stormed—and fought +too; for she did fight—ay, and conquered: and miserable Roger, now in +full possession of those joys which he had longed for at the casement of +Hurstley Hall, was glad to betake himself to the bench at Bacchus's, +whither he withdrew his ragged regiment. Thus, that crock had spoilt all +there was to spoil in the temper and conduct of the wife.</p> + +<p>Look also at the pretty prattling babes, twin boys of two years old, +whom Roger used to hasten home to see; who had to say their simple +prayers; to be kissed, and comforted, and put to bed; to be made happier +by a wild flower picked up on his path, than if the gift had been a +coral with gold bells: where were they now? neglected, dirty, fretting +in a corner, their red eyes full of wonder at father's altered ways, and +their quick minds watching, with astonished looks, the progress of +domestic discord. How the crock of gold has nipped those early blossoms +as a killing frost!</p> + +<p>Again, there used to be, till this sad week of wealth and riotous +hilarity, that constantly recurring blessing of the morn and evening +prayer which Roger read aloud, and Grace's psalm or chapter; and +afterwards the frugal meal—too scanty, perhaps, and coarse—but still +refreshing, thank the Lord, and seasoned well with health and appetite; +and the heart-felt sense of satisfaction that all around was earned by +honest labour; and there was content, and hope of better times, and +God's good blessing over every thing.</p> + +<p>Now, all these pleasures had departed; gold, unhallowed gold, gotten +hastily in the beginning, broadcast on the rank strong soil of a heart +that coveted it earnestly, had sprung up as a crop of poisonous tares, +and choked the patch of wheat; gold, unhallowed gold, light come, light +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_066" id="Page_066"></a>[Pg 066]</span>gone, had scared or killed the flock of unfledged loves that used to +nestle in the cotter's thatch, as surely as if the cash were stones, +flung wantonly by truants at a dove-cot; and forth from the crock, that +egg of wo, had been hatched a red-eyed vulture, to tyrannize in this sad +home, where but lately the pelican had dwelt, had spread her fostering +wing, and poured out the wealth of her affections.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h3> + +<h4>CARE.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">But</span> other happy consequences soon became apparent. If Acton in +his tipsy state was mad, in his intervals of soberness he was thoroughly +miserable. And this, not merely on the score of sickness, exhaustion, +prostrated spirits, blue-devils, or other the long catalogue of a +drunkard's joys; not merely from a raging wife, and a wretched home; not +merely from the stings, however sharp, however barbed, of a conscience +ill at ease, that would rise up fiercely like a hissing snake, and +strike the black apostate to the earth: these all, doubtless, had their +pleasant influences, adding to the lucky finder's bliss: but there was +another root of misery most unlooked for, and to the poor who dream of +gold, entirely paradoxical.</p> + +<p>The possession of that crock was the heaviest of cares. Where on earth +was he to hide it? how to keep it safely, secretly? What if he were +robbed of it in some sly way! O, thought of utter wo! it made the +fortunate possessor quiver like an aspen. Or what, if some one or more +of those blustering boon companions were to come by night with a +bludgeon and a knife, and—and cut his throat, and find the treasure? +or, worse still, were to torture him, set him on the fire like a +saucepan (he had heard of Turpin having done so with a rich old woman), +and make him tell them "where" in his extremity of pains, and give up +all, and then—and then murder him at last, outright, and afterwards +burn the hovel over his head, babes and all, that none might live to +tell the tale? These fears set him on the rack, and furnished one +inciting cause to that uninterrupted orgie; he must be either mad or +miserable, this lucky finder.</p> + +<p>Also, even in his tipsy state, he could not cast off care: he might in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_067" id="Page_067"></a>[Pg 067]</span>his cups reveal the dangerous secret of having found a crock of gold. A +secret still it was: Grace, his wife, and himself, were the only souls +who knew it. Dear Grace feared to say a word about the business: not in +apprehension of the law, for she never thought of that too probable +intrusion on the finder: but simply because her unsophisticated piety +believed that God, for some wise end, had allowed the Evil One to tempt +her father; she, indeed, did not know the epigram,</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The devil now is wiser than of yore:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He tempts by making rich—not making poor:</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>but she did not conceive that notion in her mind; she contrasted the +wealthy patriarch Job, tried by poverty and pain, but just and patient +in adversity—with the poor labourer Acton, tried by luxury and wealth, +and proved to be apostate in prosperity: so she held her tongue, and +hitherto had been silent on a matter of so much local wonder as her +father's sudden wealth, in the midst of urgent curiosity and +extraordinary rumours.</p> + +<p>Mary was kept quiet as we know, by superstition of a lower grade, the +dread of having money of the murdered, a thought she never breathed to +any but her husband; and to poor uninitiated Grace (who had not heard a +word of Ben's adventure), her answer about Mrs. Quarles and Mr. Jennings +in the dawn of the crock's first blessing, had been entirely +unintelligible: Mary, then, said never a word, but looked on dreadingly +to see the end.</p> + +<p>As for Roger himself, he was too much in apprehension of a landlord's +claims, and of a task-master's extortions, to breath a syllable about +the business. So he hid his crock as best he could—we shall soon hear +how and where—took out sovereign after sovereign day by day, and made +his flush of instant wealth a mystery, a miracle, a legacy, good luck, +any thing, every thing but the truth: and he would turn fiercely round +to the frequent questioner with a "What's that to you?—Nobody's +business but mine:" and then would coaxingly add the implied bribe to +secresy, in his accustomed invitation—"And now, what'll you take?"—a +magical phrase, which could suffice to quell murmurs for the time, and +postponed curiosity to appetite. Thus the fact was still unknown, and +weighed on Roger's mind as a guilty concealment, an oppressive secret. +What if any found it out?</p> + +<p>For immediate safety—the evening after his memorable first fifteen +hours of joy—he buried the crock deeply in a hole in his garden, +filling <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_068" id="Page_068"></a>[Pg 068]</span>all up hard with stones and brick-bats; and when he had +smoothed it straight and workmanlike, remembered that he surely hadn't +kept out enough to last him; so up it had to come again—five more taken +out, and the crock was restored to its unquiet grave.</p> + +<p>Scarcely had he done this, than it became dark, and he began to fancy +some one might have seen him hide it; those low mean tramps (never +before had he refused the wretched wayfarers his sympathy) were always +sneaking about, and would come and dig it up in the night: so he went +out in the dark and the rain, got at it with infinite trouble and a +broken pickaxe, and exultingly brought the crock in-doors; where he +buried it a third time, more securely, underneath the grouted floor, +close beside the fire in the chimney-corner: it was now nearly midnight, +and he went to bed.</p> + +<p>Hardly had he tumbled in, after pulling on a nightcap of the flagon, +than the dread idea overtook him that his treasure might be melted! Was +there ever such a fool as he? Well, well, to think he could fling his +purse on the fire! What a horrid thought! Metallurgy was a science quite +unknown to Roger; he only considered gold as heavy as lead, and +therefore probably as fusible: so down he bustled, made another hole, a +deeper one too this time, in the floor under the dresser, where, +exhausted with his toil and care, he deposited the crock by four in the +morning—and so retired once more.</p> + +<p>All in vain—nobody ever knew when Black Burke might be returning from +his sporting expeditions—and that beast of a lurcher would be sure to +be creeping in this morning, and would scratch it up, and his brute of a +master would get it all! This fancy was the worst possible: and Roger +rose again, quite sick at heart, pale, worn, and trembling with a +miser's haggard joys. Where should he hide that crock—the epithet +"cursed" crock escaped him this time in his vexed impatience. In the +house and in the garden, it was equally unsafe.</p> + +<p>Ha! a bright thought indeed: the hollow in the elm-tree, creaking +overhead, just above the second arm: so the poor, shivering wretch, +almost unclad, swarmed up that slimy elm, and dropped his treasure in +the hollow. Confusion! how deep it was: he never thought of that; here +was indeed something too much of safety: and then those boys of +neighbour Goode's were birds'-nesting continually, specially round the +lake this spring. What an idiot he was not to have remembered this! And +up he climbed again, thrust in his arm to the shoulder, and managed to +repossess himself a fifth time of that blessed crock.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_069" id="Page_069"></a>[Pg 069]</span>Would that the elm had been hollow to its root, and beneath the root a +chasm bottomless, and that Plutus in that Narbonne jar had served as a +supper to Pluto in the shades! Better had it been for thee, my Roger.</p> + +<p>But he had not hid it yet; so, that night—or rather that cold morning +about six, the drenched, half-frozen Fortunatus carried it to bed with +him: and a precious warming-pan it made: for nothing would satisfy the +finder of its presence but perpetual bodily contact:—accordingly, he +placed it in his bosom, and it chilled him to the back-bone.</p> + +<p>Yes; that was undoubtedly the safest way; to carry the spoil about with +him; so, next noon—how could he get up till noon after such a woful +night?—next noon he emptied the jar, and tying up its contents in a +handkerchief, proceeded to wear it as a girdle; for an hour he clattered +about the premises, making as much jingle as a wagoner's team of bells; +laden heavily with gold, like the ιβἑβυστο genius in Herodotus: +but he soon found out this would not do at all; for, independently of +all concealment at an end, so long as his secret store was rattling as +he walked, louder than military spurs or sabre-tackle, he soberly +reflected that he might—possibly, possibly, though not probably—get a +glass too much again, by some mere accident or other; and then to be +robbed of his golden girdle, this cincture of all joy! O, terrible +thought! as well [this is my fancy, not Rogers's] deprive Venus of her +zone, and see how the beggared Queen of Beauty could exist without her +treasury, the Cestus.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h3> + +<h4>INVESTMENT.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Next</span> day, the wealthy Roger had higher aspirations. Why should +not he get interest for his money, like lords and gentlefolk? His gold +had been lying idle too long; more fool he: it ought to breed money +somehow, he knew that; for, like most poor men whose sole experience of +investment is connected with the Lombard's golden balls, he took exalted +views of usury. Was he to be "hiding up his talent in a napkin—?"</p> + +<p>Ah!—he remembered and applied the holy parable, but it smote across his +heart like a flash of frost, a chilling recollection of good things past +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_070" id="Page_070"></a>[Pg 070]</span>and gone. What had he been doing with his talents—for he once +possessed the ten? had he not squandered piety, purity, and patience? +where were now his gratitude to God, his benevolence to man? the +father's duteous care, the husband's industry and kindness, the +labourer's faith, the Christian's hope—who had spent all these?—Till +money's love came in, and money-store to feed it, the poor man had been +rich: but now, rotten to the core, by lust of gold, the rich is poor +indeed.</p> + +<p>However, such considerations did not long afflict him—for we know that +lookers-on see more than players—and if Roger had encouraged half our +wise and sober thoughts, he might have been a better man: but Roger +quelled the thoughts, and silenced them; and thoughts are tender +intonations, shy little buzzing sounds, soon scared by coarser noise: +Roger had no mind to cherish those small fowls; so they flew back again +to Heaven's gate, homeless and uncomforted as weeping peri's.</p> + +<p>The bank—the county bank—Shark, Breakem, and Company—this was the +specious Eldorado, the genuine gold-increaser, the hive where he would +store his wealth (as honey left for the bees in winter), and was to have +it soon returned fourfold. It was indeed a thought to make the rich man +glad, that all his shining heap was just like a sample of seed-corn, and +the pocket-full should next year fill a sack. How grudgingly he now +began to mourn over past extravagance, five pieces gone within the week! +how close and careful he resolved to be in future! how he would scrape +and economize to get and save but one more of those sweet little seeds, +that yield more gold—more gold! And if Roger had been privileged in +youth to have fed upon the wisdom of the Eton Latin grammar, he could +have now quoted with some experimental unction the "<i>Crescit Amor</i>" +line, which every body well knows how to finish. Truly, it was growing +with his growth, and rioting in strength above his weakness.</p> + +<p>Swollen with this expanding love, he packed up his money in what were, +though he knew it not, <i>rouleaux</i>, but to his plebeian eyes looked more +like golden sausages: and he would take it to the bank, and they should +bow to him, and Sir him, and give him forthwith more than he had +brought; and if those summary gains were middling great—say twice as +much, to be moderate—he thought he might afford himself a chaise coming +back, and return to Hurstley Common like a nabob. Thus, full of wealthy +fancies, after one glass more, off set Roger to the county town, with +his treasure in a bundle.</p> + +<p>Half-way to it, as hospitality has ordained to be the case wherever +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_071" id="Page_071"></a>[Pg 071]</span>there be half-ways, occurred a public-house: and really, +notwithstanding all our monied neophyte's economical resolutions, his +throat was so "uncommon dry," that he needs must stop there to refresh +the muscles of his larynx: so, putting down his bundle on the settle, he +called for a foaming tankard, and thanking the crock, as his evil wont +now was, sat down to drink and think. Here was prosperity indeed, a +flood of astonishing good fortune: that he, but a little week agone, a +dirty ditcher—so was he pleased to designate his former self—a ragged +wretch, little better than a tramp, should be now progressing like a +monarch, with a mighty bag of gold to enrich his county town. To enrich, +and be thereby the richer; for Roger's actions of finance were so +simple, as to run the risk of being called sublimely indistinct: he took +it as an axiom that "money bred money," but in what way to draw forth +its generative properties, whether or not by some new-fangled manure, he +was entirely ignorant; and it clearly was his wisdom to leave all that +mystery of money-making solely to the banker. All he cared about was +this: to come back richer than he came—and, lo! how rich he was +already. Lolling at high noon, on a Wednesday too, in the extremest mode +of rustic beauism, with a bag of gold by his side, and a pot of porter +in his hand—here was an accumulation of magnificence—all the +prepositions pressed into his service. His wildest hopes exceeded, and +almost nothing left to wish. Blown up with the pride and importance of +the moment, and some little oblivious from the potent porter—he had +paid and sallied forth, and marched a mile upon his way, full of golden +fancies, a rich luxurious lord as he was—when all on a sudden the +hallucination crossed his dull pellucid mind, that he had left the store +behind him! O, pungent terror!—O, most exquisite torture! was it clean +gone, stolen, lost, lost, lost for ever? Rushing back in an agony of +fear, that made the ruddy hostess think him crazed, with his hair on +end, and a face as if it had been white-washed, he flew to the tap-room, +and—almost fainted for ecstasy of joy when he found it, where he had +laid it, on the settle!</p> + +<p>Better had you lost it, Roger; better had your ecstasy been sorrow: +there is more trouble yet for you, from that bad crock of gold. But if +your lesson is not learnt, and you still think otherwise, go on a little +while exultingly as now I see you, and hug the treasure to your +heart—the treasure that will bring you yet more misery.</p> + +<p>And now the town is gained, the bank approached. What! that big barred, +guarded place, looking like a mighty mouse-trap? he didn't half like to +venture in. At last he pushed the door ajar, and took a peep; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_072" id="Page_072"></a>[Pg 072]</span>there +were muskets over the mantel-piece, ostentatiously ticketed as "Loaded! +Beware!" there were leather buckets ranged around the walls: he did not +in any degree like it: was he to expose his treasure in this idiot +fashion to all the avowed danger of fire and thieves? However, since he +had come so far, he would get some interest for his money, that he +would—so he'd just make bold to step to the counter and ask a very +obsequious bald-headed gentleman, who sired him quite affably,</p> + +<p>"How much, Master, will you be pleased to give me for my gold?"</p> + +<p>The gentleman looked queerish, as if he did not comprehend the question, +and answered, "Oh! certainly, sir—certainly—we do not object to give +you our notes for it," at the same time producing an extremely dirty +bundle of worn-out bits of paper.</p> + +<p>Roger stroked his chin.</p> + +<p>"But, Master, my meaning is, not how many o' them brown bits o' paper +you'll sell me for my gold here," and he exhibited a greater store than +Mr. Breakem had seen at once upon his counter for a year, "but how much +more gold you'll send me back with than what I've brought? by way of +interest, you know, or some such law: for I don't know much about the +Funds, Master."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, sir," replied the civil banker, who wished by any means to +catch the clodpole's spoil—"you are very obliging; we shall be glad to +allow you two-and-a-half per centum per annum for the deposit you are +good enough to leave in our keeping."</p> + +<p>"Leave in your keeping, Master! no, I didn't say that! by your leave, +I'll keep it myself!"</p> + +<p>"In that case, sir, I really do not see how I can do business with you."</p> + +<p>True enough; and Roger would never have been such a monetary blockhead, +had he not been now so generally tipsy; the fumes of beer had mingled +with his plan, and all his usual shrewdness had been blunted into folly +by greediness of lucre on the one side, and potent liquors on the other. +The moment that the banker's parting speech had reached his ear, the +absurdity of Roger's scheme was evident even to himself, and with a bare +"Good day, Master," he hurriedly took his bundle from the counter, and +scuttled out as quick as he could.</p> + +<p>His feelings, walking homeward, were any thing but pleasant; the bubble +of his ardent hope was burst: he never could have more than the paltry +little sum he carried in that bundle: what a miser he would be of it: +how mean it now seemed in his eyes—a mere sample-bag of seed, instead +of the wide-waving harvest! Ah, well; he would save <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_073" id="Page_073"></a>[Pg 073]</span>and scrape—ay, and +go back to toil again—do any thing rather than spend.</p> + +<p>Got home, the difficulty now recurred, where was he to hide it? The +store was a greater care than ever, now those rascally bankers knew of +it. He racked his brain to find a hiding-place, and, at length, really +hit upon a good one. He concealed the crock, now replenished with its +contents, in the thatch just over his bed's head: it was a rescued +darling: so he tore a deep hole, and nested it quite snugly.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it did not matter much, but the rain leaked in by that hole all +night, and fortunate Roger woke in the morning drenched with wet, and +racked by rheumatism.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h3> + +<h4>CALUMNY.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">More</span> blessings issue from the crock; Pandora's box is set wide +open, and all the sweet inhabitants come forth. If apprehensions for its +safety made the finder full of care, the increased whisperings of the +neighbourhood gave him even deeper reason for anxiety. In vain he told +lie upon lie about a legacy of some old uncle in the clouds; in vain he +stuck to the foolish and transparent falsehood, with a dogged +pertinacity that appealed, not to reason, but to blows; in vain he made +affirmation weaker by his oath, and oaths quite unconvincing by his +cudgel: no one believed him: and the mystery was rendered more +inexplicable from his evidently nervous state and uneasy terror of +discovery.</p> + +<p>He had resolved at the outset, cunningly as he fancied, to change no +more than one piece of gold in the same place; though Bacchus's +undoubtedly proved the rule by furnishing an exception: and the +consequence came to be, that there was not a single shop in the whole +county town, nor a farm-house in all the neighbourhood round, where +Roger Acton had not called to change a sovereign. True, the silver had +seldom been forthcoming; still, he had asked for it; and where in life +could he have got the gold? Many was the rude questioner, whose +curiosity had been quenched in drink; many the insufferable pryer, whom +club-law had been called upon to silence. Meanwhile, Roger steadily kept +on, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_074" id="Page_074"></a>[Pg 074]</span>accumulating silver where he could: for his covetous mind delighted +in the mere semblance of an increase to his store, and took some +untutored numismatic interest in those pretty variations of his +idol—money.</p> + +<p>But if Roger's heap increased, so did the whispers and suspicions of the +country round; they daily grew louder, and more clamorous; and soon the +charitable nature of chagrined wonder assumed a shape more heart-rending +to the wretched finder of that golden hoard, than any other care, or +fear, or sin, that had hitherto torn him. It only was a miracle that the +neighbours had not thought of it before; seldom is the world so +unsuspicious; but then honest Roger's forty years of character were +something—they could scarcely think the man so base; and, above all, +gentle Grace was such a favourite with all, was such a pattern of +purity, and kindliness, and female conduct, that the tongue would have +blistered to its roots, that had uttered scorn of her till now. As +things were, though, could any thing be clearer? Was charity herself to +blame in putting one and one together? Sir John was rich, was young, +gay, and handsome; but Grace was poor—but indisputably beautiful, and +probably had once been innocent: some had seen her going to the Hall at +strange times and seasons—for in truth, she often did go there; +Jonathan and Sarah Stack, of course, were her dearest friends on earth: +and so it came to pass, that, through the blessing of the crock, honest +Roger was believed to live on the golden wages of his daughter's shame! +Oh, coarse and heartless imputation! Oh, bitter price to pay for secresy +and wonderful good fortune! In vain the wretched father stormed, and +swore, and knocked down more than one foul-spoken fellow that had +breathed against dear Grace. None but credited the lie, and many envious +wretches actually gloried in the scandal; I grieve to say that +women—divers venerable virgins—rejoiced that this pert hussey was at +last found out; she was too pretty to be good, too pious to be pure; now +at length they were revenged upon her beauty; now they had their triumph +over one that was righteous over-much. For other people, they would urge +the reasonable question, how else came Roger by the cash? and getting no +answer, or worse than none—a prevaricating, mystifying mere +put-off—they had hardly an alternative in common exercise of judgment: +therefore, "Shame on her," said the neighbours, "and the bitterest shame +on him:" and the gaffers and grand-dames shook their heads virtuously.</p> + +<p>Yet worse: there was another suggestion, by no means contradictory, +though simultaneous: what had become of Tom? ay—that bold young +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_075" id="Page_075"></a>[Pg 075]</span>fellow—Thomas Acton, Ben Burke's friend: why was he away so long, +hiding out of the country? they wondered.</p> + +<p>The suspected Damon and Pythias had gone a county off to certain fens, +and were, during this important week, engaged in a long process of +ensnaring ducks.</p> + +<p>Old Gaffer White had muttered something to Gossip Heartley, which Dick +the Tanner overheard, wherein Tom Acton and a gun, and Burke, and +burglary, and throats cut, and bags of gold, were conspicuous +ingredients: so that Roger Acton's own dear Tom, that eagle-eyed and +handsome better image of himself, stood accused, before his quailing +father's face, of robbery and murder.</p> + +<p>Both—both darlings, dead Annie's little orphaned pets, thus stricken by +one stone to infamy! Grace, scouted as a hussey, an outcast, a bad girl, +a wanton—blessed angel! Thomas—generous boy—keenly looked for, in his +near return, to be seized by rude hands, manacled, and dragged away, and +tried on suspicion as a felon—for what? that crock of gold. Yet Roger +heard it all, knew it all, writhed at it all, as if scorpions were +lashing him; but still he held on grimly, keeping that bad secret. +Should he blab it out, and so be poor again, and lose the crock?</p> + +<p>That our labourer's changed estate influenced his bodily health, under +this accumulated misery and desperate excitement, began to be made +manifest to all. The sturdy husbandman was transformed into a tremulous +drunkard; the contented cottager, into a querulous hypochondriac; the +calm, religious, patient Christian, into a tumultuous blasphemer. Could +all this be, and even Roger's iron frame stand up against the battle! +No, the strength of Samson has been shorn. The crock has poured a +blessing on its finder's very skin, as when the devil covered Job with +boils.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h3> + +<h4>THE BAILIFF'S VISIT.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">One</span> day at noon, ere the first week well was over since the +fortunate discovery of gold, as Roger lay upon his bed, recovering from +an overnight's excess, tossed with fever, vexation, and anxiety, he was +at once <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_076" id="Page_076"></a>[Pg 076]</span>surprised and frightened by a visit from no less a personage +than Mr. Simon Jennings. And this was the occasion of his presence:</p> + +<p>Directly the gathering storm of rumours had collected to that focus of +all calumny, the destruction of female character and murder charged upon +the innocent, Grace Acton had resolved upon her course; secresy could be +kept no longer; her duty now appeared to be, to publish the story of her +father's lucky find.</p> + +<p>Grace, we may observe, had never been bound to silence, but only imposed +it on herself from motives of tenderness to one, whom she believed to be +taken in the toils of a temptation. She, simple soul, knew nothing of +manorial rights, nor wotted she that any could despoil her father of his +money; but even if such thoughts had ever crossed her mind, she loathed +the gold that had brought so much trouble on them all, and cared not how +soon it was got rid of. Her father's health, honour, happiness, were +obviously at stake; perhaps, also, her brother's very life: and, as for +herself, the martyr of calumny looked piously to heaven, offered up her +outraged heart, and resolved to stem this torrent of misfortune. +Accordingly, with a noble indignation worthy of her, she had gone +straightway to the Hall, to see the baronet, to tell the truth, fling +aside a charge which she could scarcely comprehend, and openly vindicate +her offended honour. She failed—many imagine happily for her own peace, +if Sir John had not been better than his friends—in gaining access to +the Lord of Hurstley; but she did see Mr. Jennings, who serenely +interposed, and listened to all she came to say—"her father had been +unfortunate enough to find a crock of money on the lake side near his +garden."</p> + +<p>When Jennings heard the tale, he started as if stung by a wasp: and +urging Grace to tell it no one else (though the poor girl "must," she +said, "for honour's sake"), he took up his hat, and ran off breathlessly +to Acton's cottage. Roger was at home, in bed, and sick; there was no +escape; and Simon chuckled at the lucky chance. So he crept in, +carefully shut the door, put his finger on his lips to hush Roger's note +of admiration at so little wished a vision; and then, with one of his +accustomed scared and fearful looks behind him, muttered under his +breath,</p> + +<p>"Man, that gold is mine: I have paid its price to the uttermost; give me +the honey-pot."</p> + +<p>Roger's first answer was a vulgar oath; but his tipsy courage faded soon +away before old habits of subserviency, and he faltered out,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_077" id="Page_077"></a>[Pg 077]</span> +"I—I—Muster Jennings! I've got no pot of gold!"</p> + +<p>"Man, you lie! you have got the money! give it me at once—and—" he +added in a low, hoarse voice, "we will not say a word about the murder."</p> + +<p>"Murder!" echoed the astonished man.</p> + +<p>"Ay, murder, Acton:—off! off, I say!" he muttered parenthetically, then +wrestled for a minute violently, as with something in the air; and +recovering as from a spasm, calmly added,</p> + +<p>"Ay, murder for the money."</p> + +<p>"I—I!" gasped Roger; "I did no murder, Muster Jennings!"</p> + +<p>A new light seemed to break upon the bailiff, and he answered with a +tone of fixed determination,</p> + +<p>"Acton, you are the murderer of Bridget Quarles."</p> + +<p>Roger's jaw dropped, dismay was painted on his features, and certainly +he did look guilty enough. But Simon proceeded in a tenderer tone;</p> + +<p>"Notwithstanding, give me the gold, Acton, and none shall know a word +about the murder. We will keep all quiet, Roger Acton, all nice and +quiet, you know;" and he added, coaxingly, "come, Roger, give me up this +crock of gold."</p> + +<p>"Never!" with a fierce anathema, answered our hero, now himself again: +the horrid accusation had entranced him for a while, but this coaxing +strain roused up all the man in him: "Never!" and another oath confirmed +it.</p> + +<p>"Acton, give it up, I say!" was shouted in rejoinder, and Jennings +glared over him with his round and staring eyes as he lay faint upon his +bed—"Give up the crock, or else—"</p> + +<p>"Else what? you whitened villain."</p> + +<p>The bailiff flung himself at Roger's neck, and almost shrieked, "I'll +serve you as I—"</p> + +<p>There was a tremendous struggle; attacked at unawares, for the moment he +was nearly mastered; but Acton's tall and wiry frame soon overpowered +the excited Jennings, and long before you have read what I have +written—he has leaped out of bed—seized—doubled up—and flung the +battered bailiff headlong down the narrow stair-case to the bottom. This +done, Roger, looking like Don Quixote de la Mancha in his penitential +shirt, mounted into bed again, and quietly lay down; wondering, +half-sober, at the strange and sudden squall.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_078" id="Page_078"></a>[Pg 078]</span></p> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h3> + +<h4>THE CAPTURE.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">He</span> had not long to wonder. Jennings got up instantly, despite +of bruises, posted to the Hall, took a search-warrant from Sir John's +study, (they were always ready signed, and Jennings filled one up,) and +returned with a brace of constables to search the cottage.</p> + +<p>Then Roger, as he lay musing, fancied he heard men's voices below, and +his wife, who had just come in, talking to them; what could they want? +tramps, perhaps: or Ben? he shuddered at the possibility; with Tom too; +and he felt ashamed to meet his son. So he turned his face to the wall, +and lay musing on—he hadn't been drinking too much over-night—Oh, no! +it was sickness, and rheumatics, and care about the crock; Tom should be +told that he was very ill, poor father! Just as he had planned this, and +resolved to keep his secret from that poaching ruffian Burke, some one +came creeping up the stairs, slided in at the door, and said to him in a +deep whisper from the further end of the room,</p> + +<p>"Acton, give me the gold, and the men shall go away; it is not yet too +late; tell me where to find the crock of gold."</p> + +<p>An oath was the reply; and, at a sign from Jennings, up came the other +two.</p> + +<p>"We have searched every where, Mr. Simon Jennings, both cot and garden; +ground disturbed in two or three places, but nothing under it; in-doors +too, the floor is broken by the hearth and by the dresser, but no signs +of any thing there: now, Master Acton, tell us where it is, man, and +save us all the trouble."</p> + +<p>Roger's newly-learnt vocabulary of oaths was drawn upon again.</p> + +<p>"Did you look in the ash-pit?" asked Jennings.</p> + +<p>"No, sir."</p> + +<p>"Well, while you two search this chamber, I will examine it myself."</p> + +<p>Mr. Jennings apparently entertained a wholesome fear of Acton's powers +of wrestling.</p> + +<p>Up came Simon in a hurry back again, with a lot of little empty leather +bags he had raked out, and—the fragment of a shawl! the edges burnt, it +was a corner bit, and marked B.Q.</p> + +<p>"What do you call this, sir?" asked the exulting bailiff.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_079" id="Page_079"></a>[Pg 079]</span>"Curse that Burke!"—thought Roger; but he said nothing.</p> + +<p>And the two men up stairs had searched, and pried, and hunted every +where in vain; the knotty mattress had been ripped up, the chimney +scrutinized, the floor examined, the bed-clothes overhauled, and as for +the thatch, if it hadn't been for Roger Acton's constant glance upwards +at his treasure in the roof, I am sure they never would have found it. +But they did at last: there it was, the crock of gold, full proof of +robbery and murder!</p> + +<p>"Aha!" said Simon, in a complacent triumph, "Mrs. Quarles's identical +honey-pot, full of her clean bright gold, and many pieces still encased +in those tidy leather bags;" and his round eyes glistened again; but all +at once, with a hurried look over his left shoulder, he exclaimed, +involuntarily, in a very different tone, "Ha! away, I say!—" Then he +snatched the crock up eagerly, and nursed it like a child.</p> + +<p>"Come along with us, Master Acton, you're wanted somewhere else; up, +man, look alive, will you?"</p> + +<p>And Roger dressed himself mechanically. It was no manner of use, not in +the least worth while resisting, innocent though he was; his treasure +had been found, and taken from him; he had nothing more to live for; his +gold was gone—his god; where was the wisdom of fighting for any thing +else; let them take him to prison if they would, to the jail, to the +gallows, to any-whither, now his gold was gone. So he put on his +clothes without a murmur, and went with them as quiet as a lamb.</p> + +<p>Never was there a clearer case; the housekeeper's hoard had been found +in his possession, with a fragment of her shawl; and Sir John Vincent +was very well aware of the mystery attending the old woman's death; +besides, he was in a great hurry to be off; for Pointer, and Silliphant, +and Lord George Pypp, were to have a hurdle race with him that day, for +a heavy bet; so he really had not time to go deep into the matter; and +the result of five minutes' talk before the magisterial chairs (Squire +Ryle having been summoned to assist) was, that, on the accusation of +Simon Jennings, Roger Acton was fully committed to the county jail, to +be tried at next assizes, for Bridget Quarles's murder.</p> + +<p>Thank God! poor Roger, it has come to this. What other way than this was +there to save thee from thy sin—to raise thee from thy fall? Where +else, but in a prison, could you get the silent, solitary hours leading +you again to wholesome thought and deep repentance? Where else could you +escape the companionship of all those loose and low associates, sottish +brawlers, ignorant and sensual unbelievers, vagabond <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_080" id="Page_080"></a>[Pg 080]</span>radicals, and +other lewd fellows of the baser sort, that had drank themselves drunk at +your expense, and sworn to you as captain! The place, the time, the +means for penitence are here. The crisis of thy destiny is come.</p> + +<p>Honest Roger, Steady Acton, did I not see thy guardian angel—after all +his many tears, aggrieved and broken spirit!—did I not see him lift his +swollen eyes in gratitude to Heaven, and benevolence to thee, and smile +a smile of hopeful joy when that damned crock was found?</p> + +<p>Gladly could he thank his Lord, to behold the temptation at an end.</p> + +<p>Did I not see the devil slink away from thee abashed, issuing like an +adder from thy heart, and then, with a sudden Protean change, driven +from thy hovel as a thunder-cloud dispersing, when Simon Jennings seized +the jar, hugged it as his household-god—and took it home with him—and +counted out the gold—and locked the bloody treasure in his iron-chest?</p> + +<p>Fitly did the murderer lock up curses with his spoil.</p> + +<p>And when God smote thine idol, dashing Dagon to the ground, and thy +heart was sore with disappointment, and tender as a peeled fig—when +hope was dead for earth, and conscience dared not look beyond it—ah! +Roger, did I judge amiss when I saw, or thought I saw, those eyes full +of humble shame, those lips quivering with remorseful sorrow?</p> + +<p>We will leave thee in the cold stone cell—with thy well-named angel +Grace to comfort thee, and pray with thee, and help thee back to God +again, and so repay the debt that a daughter owes her father.</p> + +<p>Happy prison! where the air is sweetened by the frankincense of piety, +and the pavement gemmed with the flowers of hope, and the ceiling arched +with Heaven's bow of mercy, and the walls hung around with the dewy +drapery of penitence!</p> + +<p>Happy prison! where the talents that were lost are being found again, +gathered in humility from this stone floor; where poor-making riches are +banished from the postern, and rich-making poverty streameth in as light +from the grated window; where care vexeth not now the labourer emptied +of his gold, and calumny's black tooth no longer gnaws the heart-strings +of the innocent.</p> + +<p>Hark! it is the turnkey, coming round to leave the pittance for the day: +he is bringing in something in an earthern jar. Speak, Roger Acton, +which will you choose, man—a prisoner's mess of pottage—or a crock of +gold?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_081" id="Page_081"></a>[Pg 081]</span></p> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h3> + +<h4>THE AUNT AND HER NEPHEW.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">While</span> we leave Roger Acton in the jail, waiting for the very +near assizes, and wearing every hour away in penitence and prayer, it +will be needful to our story that we take a retrospective glance at +certain events, of no slight importance.</p> + +<p>I must now speak of things, of which there is no human witness; +recording words, and deeds, whereof Heaven alone is cognizant, Heaven +alone—and Hell! For there are secret matters, which the murdered cannot +tell us, and the murderer dare not—let him confess as fully as he will. +Therefore, with some omnipresent sense, some invisible ubiquity, I must +note down scenes as they occurred, whether mortal eye has witnessed them +or not; I must lay bare secret thoughts, unlatch the hidden chambers of +the heart, and duly set out, as they successively arose, the idea which +tongue had not embodied, the feeling which no action had expressed.</p> + +<p>Hitherto, we have pretty well preserved inviolate the three grand +unities—time, place, circumstance; and even now we do not sin against +the first and chiefest, however we may seem so to sin; for, had it +suited my purpose to have begun with the beginning, and to have placed +the present revelations foremost, the strictest stickler for the unities +would have only had to praise my orthodox adherence to them. As it is, I +have chosen, for interest sake, to shuffle my cards a little; and two +knaves happen to have turned up together just at this time and place. +The time is just three weeks ago—a week before the baronet came of age, +and a fortnight antecedent to the finding of the crock; which, as we +know, after blessing Roger for a se'nnight, has at last left him in +jail. The place is the cozy house-keepers room at Hurstley: and the +brace of thorough knaves, to enact then and there as <i>dramatis personæ</i>, +includes Mistress Bridget Quarles, a fat, sturdy, bluffy, old woman, of +a jolly laugh withal, and a noisy tongue—and our esteemed acquaintance +Mister Simon Jennings. The aunt, house-keeper, had invited the nephew, +butler, to take a dish of tea with her, and rum-punch had now succeeded +the souchong.</p> + +<p>"Well, Aunt Quarles, is it your meaning to undertake a new master?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_082" id="Page_082"></a>[Pg 082]</span>"Don't know, nephy—can't say yet what he'll be like: if he'll leave us +as we are, won't say wont."</p> + +<p>"Ay, as we are, indeed; comfortable quarters, and some little to put by, +too: a pretty penny you will have laid up all this while, I'll be bound: +I wager you now it is a good five hundred, aunt—come, done for a +shilling."</p> + +<p>"Get along, foolish boy; a'n't you o' the tribe o' wisdom too—ha, ha, +ha!"</p> + +<p>"I will not say," smirked Simon, "that my nest has not a feather."</p> + +<p>"It's easy work for us, Nep; we hunt in couples: you the men, and I the +maids—ha, ha!"</p> + +<p>"Tush, Aunt Bridget! that speech is not quite gallant, I fear." And the +worshipful extortioners giggled jovially.</p> + +<p>"But it's true enough for all that, Simon: how d'ye manage it, eh, boy? +much like me, I s'pose; wages every quarter from the maids, dues from +tradesmen Christmas-tide and Easter, regular as Parson Evans's; pretty +little bits tacked on weekly to the bills, beside presents from every +body; and so, boy, my poor forty pounds a-year soon mounts up to a +hundred."</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay, Aunt Bridget—but I get the start of you, though you probably +were born a week before-hand: talk of parsons, look at me, a regular +grand pluralist monopolist, as any bishop can be; butler in doors, +bailiff out of doors, land-steward, house-steward, cellar-man, and +pay-master. I am not all this for naught, Aunt Quarles: if so much goes +through my fingers, it is but fair that something stick."</p> + +<p>"True, Simon—O certainly; but if you come to boasting, my boy, I don't +carry this big bunch o' keys for nothing neither. Lord love you! why +merely for cribbings in the linen-line for one month, John Draper +swapped me that there shawl: none o' my clothes ever cost me a penny, +and I a'n't quite as bare as a new-born baby neither. Look at them +trunks, bless you!"</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay, aunt, I'll be bound the printer of your prayer-book has left +out a 'not,' before the 'steal,' eh?—ha! ha!"</p> + +<p>"Fie, naughty Simon, fie! them's not stealings, them's parquisites. +Where's the good o' living in a great house else? But come, Si, haven't +you struck out the 'not,' for yourself, though the printer did his duty, +eh, Nep?"</p> + +<p>"Not a bit, aunt—not a bit: all sheer honesty and industry. Look at my +pretty little truck-shop down the village. Wo betide the labourer <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_083" id="Page_083"></a>[Pg 083]</span>that +leaves off dealing there! not one that works at Hurstley, but eats my +bread and bacon; besides the 'tea, coffee, tobacco, and snuff.'"</p> + +<p>"Pretty fairish articles, eh? I never dealt with you, Si: no, Nep, +no—you never saw the colour o' my money."</p> + +<p>Jennings gave a start, as if a thought had pricked him; but gayly +recovering himself, said,</p> + +<p>"Oh, as to pretty fairish, I know there is one thing about the bacon +good enough; ay, and the bread too—the very best of prices; ha! ha! is +not that good? And for the other genuine articles, I don't know that +much of the tea comes from China—and the coffee is sold ground, because +it is burnt maize—and there's a plenty of wholesome cabbage leaf cut up +in the tobacco—while as for snuff, I give them a dry, peppery, choky, +sneezy dust, and I dare say that it does its duty."</p> + +<p>It was astonishing how innocently the worthy couple laughed together.</p> + +<p>"My only trouble, Aunt Quarles, is where to keep my gains—what to do +with them. I am quite driven to the strong-box system, interest is so +bad; and as to speculations, they are nervous things, and sicken one. I +invest in the Great Western one day—a tunnel falls in, so I sell my +shares the next, and send the proceeds to Australia; then, looking at +the map, I see the island isn't clean chalked out all round, and +beginning to fear that the sea will get in where it a'n't made +water-tight by the Admiralty, I call the money home again. You see I +don't know what to do with gold when I get it. Where do you keep yours +now, aunt, I wonder?"</p> + +<p>"O, Nep, never mind me; you rattle on so I can't get in never a word. +I'll only tell you where I don't keep it. Not at Breakem's bank, for +they're brewers, and hosiers, and chandlers, and horse-dealers—ay, and +swindlers too, the whole 'company' on 'em; not in mortgages, for I hate +the very smell of a lawyer, with all his pounce and parchment; not in +Gover'me't 'nuities, for I'm an old 'ooman, boy; and not in the Three +per Cents, nor any other per cents, for I've sense enough to know that +my highest interest lies in counting out, as my first principle is +dropping in." And the fat female laughed herself purple at the venerable +joke.</p> + +<p>Simon was a courtier, and laughed too, as immoderately as possible.</p> + +<p>"Ah! I dare say now you have got a Chubb's patent somewhere full of +gold?" he asked somewhat anxiously; "take your punch, aunt, wont you? I +do not see you drink."</p> + +<p>"Simon, mark me; fools who want to be robbed put their money into an +iron chest, that thieves may know exactly where to find it; they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_084" id="Page_084"></a>[Pg 084]</span>might +as well ticket it 'cash,' and advertise to Newgate—come and steal. I +know a little better than to be such a fool."</p> + +<p>"Yes, certainly—I dare say now you keep it in your work-box, or sew it +up in your stays, or hide it in the mattress, or in an old tea-pot, +maybe." And Jennings eyed her narrowly.</p> + +<p>"Nephew, what rhymes to money?"</p> + +<p>"Money?—Well I can't say I am a poet—stony, perhaps. At least," added +the benevolent individual, "when I have raised a wretch's rent to gain a +little more by him, stony is not a bad shield to lift against prayers, +and tears, and orphans, and widows, and starvation, and all such +nonsense."</p> + +<p>"Not bad, neither, Nep: but there's a better rhyme than that."</p> + +<p>"You cannot mean honey, aunt? when I guessed stony, I thought you might +have some snug little cash cellar under the flags. But honey? are you +such a thorough Mrs. Rundle as to pickle and preserve your very guineas, +the same as you do strawberries or apricots in syrup?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you clever little fool! how prettily you do talk on: your tongue's +as tidy as your cash-book: when you've any money to put by, come to Aunt +Bridget for a crock to hide it in: mayn't one use a honey-pot, as Teddy +Rourke would say, barring the honey?"</p> + +<p>"Ha! and so you hide the hoard up there, aunt, eh? along with the +preserves in a honey-pot, do you?"</p> + +<p>"We'll see—we'll see, some o' these long days; not that the money's to +be yours, Nep—you're rich enough, and don't want it; there's your poor +sister Scott with her fourteen children, and Aunt Bridget must give her +a lift in life: she was a good niece to me, Simon, and never left my +side before she married: maybe she'll have cause to bless the dead."</p> + +<p>Jennings hardly spoke a word more; but drained his glass in silence, got +up a sudden stomach-ache, and wished his aunt good-night.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h3> + +<h4>SCHEMES.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">We</span> must follow Simon Jennings to his room. He felt keenly +disappointed. Money was the idol of his heart, as it is of many million +others. He had robbed, lied, extorted, tyrannized; he had earned scorn, +ill-report, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_085" id="Page_085"></a>[Pg 085]</span>and hatred; nay, he had even diligently gone to work, and +lost his own self-love and self-respect in the service of his darling +idol. He was at once, for lucre's sake, the mean, cringing fawner, and +the pitiless, iron despot; to the rich he could play supple parasite, +while the poor man only knew him as an unrelenting persecutor; with the +good, and they were chiefly of the fairer, softer sex, he walked in +meekness, the spiritual hypocrite; the while, it was his boast to +over-reach the worst in low duplicity and crooked dealing. All this he +was for gold. When the eye of the world was on him, and intuition warned +him of the times, he was ever the serene, the correct, with a smooth +tongue and an oily smile; but in the privacy of some poor hovel, where +his debtor sued for indulgence, or some victim of his passions (he had +more depravities than one) threw her wretched self upon his pity, then +could Simon Jennings lash sternness into rage, and heat his brazen heart +with the embers of inveterate malice. It was as if the serpent, that +voluble, insinuating reptile, which had power to fascinate poor Eve, +turned to rend her when she had fallen, erect, with flashing eyes, and +bristling crest, with venomed fangs, and hissing. Behold, +snake-worshippers of Mexico, the prototype of your grim idol, in +Mammon's model slave and specimen disciple!</p> + +<p>Such a man was Simon Jennings, a soul given up to gold—exclusively to +gold; for although, as we have hinted, and as hereafter may appear, he +could sell himself at times to other sins, still these were but as stars +in his evil firmament, while covetousness ruled it like the sun; or, if +the beauteous stars and blessed sun be an image too hallowed for his +wickedness, we may find a fitter in some stagnant pool, where the +pestilential vapour over all is Mammonism, and the dull, fat weeds that +rot beneath, are pride, craftiness, and lechery. In fact, to speak of +passions in a heart such as his, were a palpable misnomer; all was +reduced to calculation; his rage was fostered to intimidate, and where +the wretch seemed kinder, his kindnesses were aimed at power, as an +object, rather than at pleasure—the power to obtain more gold.</p> + +<p>For it is a dreadful truth (which I would not dare to utter if such +crimes had never been), that a reprobate of the bailiff Jennings's stamp +may, by debts, or fines, or kind usurious loans, entrap a beggared +creature in his toils; and then lyingly propose remission at the secret +sacrifice of honour, in some one, over whom that dastard beggar has +control; and having this point gained, the seducer is quite capable of +using, for still more extortion, the power which a threatening of +exposure gives, when the criminally weak has stooped to sin, on promises +of silence and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_086" id="Page_086"></a>[Pg 086]</span>delivery from ruin. I wish there may be no poor yeoman +in this broad land, of honourable name withal, he and his progenitors +for ages, who can tell the tale of his own base fears, a creditor's +exactions, and some dependant victim's degradation: some orphaned niece, +some friendless ward, immolated in her earliest youth at the shrine of +black-hearted Mammon; I wish there may be no sleek middle-man guilty of +the crimes here charged upon Simon Jennings.</p> + +<p>This worthy, then, had been introduced at Hurstley by his aunt, Mrs. +Quarles, on the occurrence of a death vacancy in the lad-of-all-work +department, during the long ungoverned space of young Sir John's +minority. As the precious "lad" grew older, and divers in-door +potentates died off, the house-keeper had power to push her nephew on to +pageship, footmanship, and divers other similar crafts, even to the +final post of butler; while his own endeavours, backed by his aunt's +interest, managed to secure for him the rule out of doors no less than +in, and the closest possible access to guardians and landlords, to the +tenants—and their rent.</p> + +<p>Now, the amiable Mrs. Quarles had contrived the elevation of her nephew, +and connived at his monopolies, mainly to fit in cleverly with her own +worldly weal; for it would never have done to have risked the loss of +innumerable perquisites, and other peculations, by the possible advent +of an honest butler. But, while the worshipful Simon, to do him only +justice, fully answered Mrs. Bridget's purpose, and even added much to +her emoluments; still he was no mere derivative scion, but an +independent plant, and entertained views of his own. He had his own +designs, and laid himself out to entrap his aunt's affections; or +rather, for I cannot say he greatly valued these, to secure her good +graces, and worm himself within the gilded clauses of her will; she was +an old woman, rolling in gold, no doubt had a will; and as for himself, +he was younger by five-and-thirty years, so he could afford to wait a +little, before trying on her shoes. The petty schemes of thievery and +cheating, which he in his Quotem capacities had practised, were to his +eyes but as driblets of wealth in comparison with the mighty stream of +his old aunt's savings. Not that he had done amiss, trust him! but then +he knew the amount of his own hoard to a farthing, while of hers he was +entirely ignorant; so, on the principle of '<i>omne ignotum pro +mirifico</i>,' he pondered on its vastness with indefinite amazement, +although probably it might not reach the quarter of his own. For it +should in common charity be stated, that, with all her hiding and hiving +propensities, Mrs. Quarles, however usually a screw, was by fits and +starts an extravagant woman, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_087" id="Page_087"></a>[Pg 087]</span>besides spending on herself, had +occasionally helped her own kith and kin; poor niece Scott, in +particular, had unconsciously come in for many pleasant pilferings, and +had to thank her good aunt for innumerable filched groceries, and +hosieries, and other largesses, which (the latter in especial) really +had contributed, with sundry other more self indulgent expenses, to make +no small havoc of the store.</p> + +<p>Still, this store was Simon's one main chance, the chief prize in his +hope's lottery; and it was with a pang, indeed, that he found all his +endeavours to compass its possession had been vain. Was that endless +cribbage nothing, and the weary Bible-lessons on a Sunday, and the +constant fetchings and carryings, and the forced smiles, sham +congratulations, and other hypocritical affections—fearing for his dear +aunt's dropsy, and inquiring so much about her bunions—was all this +dull servitude to meet with no reward? With none? worse than none! Fool +that he was! had he schemed, and plotted, and flattered, and +cozened—ay, and given away many pretty little presents, lost decoys, +that had cost hard money, all for nothing—less than nothing—to be +laughed at and postponed to his Methodist sister Scott? The impudence of +deliberately telling him he "didn't want it, and was rich enough!" as if +"enough" could ever be good grammar after such a monosyllable as "rich;" +and "want it" indeed! of course he wanted it; if not, why had he slaved +so many years? want it, indeed! if to hope by day, and to dream by +night—if to leave no means untried of delicately showing how he longed +for it—if to grow sick with care, and thin with coveting—if this were +to want the gold, good sooth, he wanted it. Don't tell him of starving +brats, his own very bowels pined for it; don't thrust in his face the +necessities of others—the necessity is his; he must have it—he will +have it—talk of necessity!</p> + +<p>Wait a bit: is there no way of managing some better end to all this? no +mode of giving the right turn to that wheel of fortune, round which his +cares and calculations have been hovering so long? Is there no +conceivable method of possessing that vast hoard?</p> + +<p>Bless me! how huge it must be! and Simon turned whiter at the thought: +only add up Mother Quarles's income for fifty-five years: she is +seventy-five at least, and came here a girl of twenty. Simon's hair +stood on end, and his heart went like a mill-clapper, as he mentally +figured out the sum.</p> + +<p>Is there no possibility of contriving matters so that I may be the +architect of my own good luck, and no thanks at all to the old witch +there? Dear—what a glorious fancy—let me think a little. Cannot I get +at the huge hoard some how?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_088" id="Page_088"></a>[Pg 088]</span></p> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h3> + +<h4>THE DEVIL'S COUNSEL.</h4> + + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Steal</span> it," said the Devil.</p> + +<p>Simon was all of a twitter; for though he fancied his own heart said it, +still his ear-drum rattled, as if somebody had spoken.</p> + +<p>Simon—that ear-drum was to put you off your guard: the deaf can hear +the devil: he needs no tympanum to commune with the spirit: listen +again, Simon; your own thoughts echo every word.</p> + +<p>"Steal it: hide in her room; you know she has a shower-bath there, which +nobody has used for years, standing in a corner; two or three cloaks in +it, nothing else: it locks inside, how lucky! ensconce yourself there, +watch the old woman to sleep—what a fat heavy sleeper she is!—quietly +take her keys, and steal the store: remember, it is a honey-pot. +Nothing's easier—or safer. Who'd suspect you?"</p> + +<p>"Splendid! and as good as done," triumphantly exclaimed the nephew, +snapping his fingers, and prancing with glee;—"a glorious fancy! bless +my lucky star!"</p> + +<p>If there be a planet Lucifer, that was Simon's lucky star.</p> + +<p>And so, Mrs Quarles the biter is going to be bit, eh? It generally is so +in this world's government. You, who brought in your estimable nephew to +aid and abet in your own dishonest ways, are, it seems, going to be +robbed of all your knavish gains by him. This is taking the wise in +their own craftiness, I reckon: and richly you deserve to lose all your +ill-got hoard. At the same time, Mrs. Quarles—I will be just—there are +worse people in the world than you are: in comparison with your nephew, +I consider you a grosser kind of angel; and I really hope no harm may +befall your old bones beyond the loss of your money. However, if you are +to lose this, it is my wish that poor Mrs. Scott, or some other honest +body, may get it, and not Simon; or rather, I should not object that he +may get it first, and get hung for getting it, too, before the sister +has the hoard.</p> + +<p>Our friend, Simon Jennings, could not sleep that night; his reveries and +scheming lasted from the rum-punch's final drop, at ten P.M., to +circiter two A.M., and then, or thenabouts, the devil hinted "steal it;" +and so, not till nearly four, he began to shut his eyes, and dream +again, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_089" id="Page_089"></a>[Pg 089]</span>as his usual fashion was, of adding up receipts in five figures, +and of counting out old Bridget's hoarded gold.</p> + +<p>Next day, notwithstanding nocturnal semi-sleeplessness, he awoke as +brisk as a bee, got up in as exhilarated a state as any gas-balloon, and +was thought to be either surprisingly in spirits, or spirits +surprisingly in him; none knew which, "where each seemed either." That +whole day long, he did the awkwardest things, and acted in the most +absent manner possible; Jonathan thought Mr. Simon was beside himself; +Sarah Stack, foolish thing! said he was in love, and was observed to +look in the glass several times herself; other people did not know what +to think—it was quite a mystery. To recount only a few of his +unprecedented exploits on that day of anticipative bliss:</p> + +<p>First, he asked the porter how his gout was, and gave him a thimble-full +of whiskey from his private store.</p> + +<p>Secondly, he paid Widow Soper one whole week's washing in full, without +the smallest deduction or per centage.</p> + +<p>Thirdly, he ordered of Richard Buckle, commonly called Dick the Tanner, +a lot of cart harness, without haggling for price, or even asking it.</p> + +<p>And, fourthly, he presented old George White, who was coming round with +a subscription paper for a dead pig—actually, he presented old Gaffer +White with the sum of two-pence out of his own pocket! never was such +careless prodigality.</p> + +<p>But the little world of Hurstley did not know what we know. They +possessed no clue to the secret happiness wherewithal Simon Jennings +hugged himself; they had no inkling of the crock of gold; they thought +not he was going to be suddenly so rich; they saw no cause, as we do, +why he should feel to be like a great heir on the eve of his majority; +they wotted not that Sir John Devereux Vincent, Baronet, had scarcely +more agreeable or triumphant feelings when his clock struck twenty-one, +than Simon Jennings, butler, as the hour of his hope drew nigh.</p> + +<p>If a destiny like this man's can ever have a crisis, the hour of his +hope is that; but downward still, into a lower gulf, has been +continually his bad career; there is (unless a miracle intervene) no +stopping in the slope on which he glides, albeit there may be +precipices. He that rushes in his sledge down the artificial ice-hills +of St. Petersburgh, skims along not more swiftly than Jennings, from the +altitude of infant innocence, had sheered into the depths of full-grown +depravity; but even he can fall, and reach, with startling suddenness, a +lower deep.</p> + +<p>As if that Russian mountain, hewn asunder midway, were fitted flush <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_090" id="Page_090"></a>[Pg 090]</span>to +a Norwegian cliff, beetling precipitately over the whirlpool; then tilt +the sledge with its furred inmate over the slope, let it skim with +quicker impetus the smoking ice, let it touch that beetling edge, and, +leaping from the tangent, let it dart through the air, let it strike the +eddying waters, be sucked hurriedly down that hoarse black throat, wind +among the roots of the everlasting hills, and split upon the loadstone +of the centre.</p> + +<p>Even such a fate, "down, down to hell," will come to Simon Jennings; +wrapped in the furs of complacency, seated in the sledge of +covetousness, a-down the slippery launch of well-worn evil habit—over +the precipice of crime—into the billows of impenitent remorse—to be +swallowed by the vortex of Gehenna!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h3> + +<h4>THE AMBUSCADE.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Night</span> came, and with it all black thoughts. Not that they were +black at once, any more than darkness leaps upon the back of noon, +without the intervening cloak of twilight. Oh dear, no! Simon's thoughts +accommodated themselves fitly to the time of day. They had been, for +him, at early morning, pretty middling white, that is whity-brown; +thence they passed, with the passing hour kindly, through the shades of +burnt sienna, raw umber, and bistre; until, just as we may notice in the +case of marking-ink; that which, five minutes ago, was as water only +delicately dirtied, has become a fixed and indelible black.</p> + +<p>Simon was resolved upon the spoil, come what might; although his waking +sensations of buoyancy, his noon-day cogitations of a calmer kind, and +his even-tide determined scheming, had now given way to a nervous and +unpleasant trepidation. So he poured spirits down to keep his spirits +up. Very early after dark, he had watched his opportunity while Mrs. +Quarles was scolding in the kitchen, had slipped shoeless and +unperceived, from his pantry into the housekeeper's room, and locked +himself securely in the shower bath. Hapless wight! it was very little +after six yet, and there he must stand till twelve or so: his foresight +had not calculated this, and the devil had already begun to cheat him. +But he would go through with it now; no flinching, though <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_091" id="Page_091"></a>[Pg 091]</span>his rabbit +back is breaking with fatigue, and his knocked knees totter with +exhaustion, and his haggard eyes swim dizzily, and his bad heart is +failing him for fear.</p> + +<p>Yes, fear, and with good reason too for fear; "nothing easier, nothing +safer," said his black adviser; how easily for bodily pains, how safely +for chances of detection, was he getting at the promised crock of gold!</p> + +<p>"Mr. Jennings! Mr. Simon! where in the world was Mr. Jennings?" nobody +knew; he must have gone out somewhere. Strange, too—and left his hat +and great-coat.</p> + +<p>Here's a general for an ambuscade; Oh, Simon, Simon! you have had the +whole day to think of it—how is it that both you and your dark friend +overlooked in your calculations the certainty of search, and the chance +of a discovery? The veriest school-boy, when he hid himself, would hide +his hat. I am half afraid that you are in that demented state, which +befits the wretch ordained to perish.</p> + +<p>But where is Mr. Jennings? that was the continued cry for four agonizing +hours of dread and difficulty. Sarah, the still-room maid, was sitting +at her work, unluckily in Mrs. Quarles's room; she had come in shortly +after Simon's secret entry; there she sat, and he dared not stir. And +they looked every where—except in the right place; to do the devil +justice, it was a capital hiding-corner that; rooms, closets, passages, +cellars, out-houses, gardens, lofts, tenements, and all the "general +words," in a voluminous conveyance, were searched and searched in vain; +more than one groom expected (hoped is a truer word) to find Mr. +Jennings hanging by a halter from the stable-lamp; more than one +exhilarated labourer, hastily summoned for the search, was sounding the +waters with a rake and rope, in no slight excitement at the thought of +fishing up a deceased bailiff.</p> + +<p>It was a terrible time for the ensconced one: sometimes he thought of +coming out, and treating the affair as a bit of pleasantry: but then the +devil had taken off his shoes—as a Glascow captain deals with his cargo +of refractory Irishers; how could he explain that? his abominable old +aunt was shrewd, and he knew how clearly she would guess at the truth; +if he desired to make sure of losing every chance, he could come out +now, and reveal himself; but if he nourished still the hope of counting +out that crock of gold, he'll bide where he is, and trust to—to—to +fate. The wretch had "Providence" on his blistered tongue.</p> + +<p>If, under the circumstances, any thing could be added to Simon's +gratification, such pleasing addition was afforded in overhearing, as +Lord<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_092" id="Page_092"></a>[Pg 092]</span> Brougham did, the effect which his rumoured death produced on the +minds of those who best had known him. It so happened, Sarah was sick, +and did not join the universal hunt; accordingly, being the only +audience, divers ambassadors came to tell her constantly the same most +welcome news, that Jennings had not yet been found.</p> + +<p>"Lawk, Sally," said a helper, "what a blessing it'll be, if that mean +old thief's dead; I'll go to town, if 'tis so, get a dozen Guy's-day +rockets, tie 'em round with crape, and spin 'em over the larches: +that'll be funeral fun won't it? and it'll sarve to tell the neighbours +of our luck in getting rid on him."</p> + +<p>"I doan't like your thought, Tom," said another staider youth: "it's +ill-mirth playing leap-frog over tomb-stones, and poor bravery insulting +the dead. Besides, I'm thinking the bad man that's taken from us an't a +going up'ards, so it's no use lending him a light. I wish we may all lie +in a cooler grave than he does, and not have to go quite so deep +down'ard."</p> + +<p>"Gee up for Lady-day!" exclaimed the emancipated coachman; "why, Sall, I +shall touch my whole lump of wages free for the fust time: and I only +wish the gals had our luck."</p> + +<p>"Here, Sarah," interposed a kind and ruddy stable youth, "as we're all +making free with Mr. Simon's own special ale, I've thought to bring you +a nogging on't: come, you're not so sick as you can't drink with all the +rest on us—The bailiff, and may none on us never see his face no more!"</p> + +<p>These, and similar testimonials to the estimation in which Simon's +character was held, must have gratified not a little the hearer of his +own laudations: now and then, he winced so that Sarah might have heard +him move: but her ear was alive to nothing but the news-bringers, and +her eyes appeared to be fixed upon the linen she was darning. That +Jennings vowed vengeance, and wreaked it afterwards too, on the youths +that so had shown their love, was his solitary pleasure in the +shower-bath. But his critics were too numerous for him to punish all: +they numbered every soul in the house, besides the summoned aiders—only +excepting three: Sarah, who really had a head-ache, and made but little +answers to the numerous glad envoys; Jonathan Floyd, whose charity did +not altogether hate the man, and who really felt alarmed at his absence; +and chiefest, Mrs. Quarles, who evinced more affection for her nephew +than any thought him worthy of exciting—she wrung her hands, wept, +offered rewards, bustled about every where, and kept calling +blubberingly for "Simon—poor dear Simon."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_093" id="Page_093"></a>[Pg 093]</span>At length, that fearful hue and cry began to subside—the hubbub came +to be quieter: neighbour-folks went home, and inmates went to bed. Sarah +Stack put aside her work, and left the room.</p> + +<p>What a relief to that hidden caitiff! his feet, standing on the cold, +damp iron so many hours, bare of brogues, were mere ice—only that they +ached intolerably: he had not dared to move, to breathe, and was all +over in one cramp: he did not bring the brandy-bottle with him, as he +once had planned; for calculation whispered—"Don't, your head will be +the clearer; you must not muddle your brains;" and so his caution +over-reached itself, as usual; his head was in a fog, and his brains in +a whirlwind, for lack of other stimulants than fear and pain.</p> + +<p>O Simon, how your prudence cheats you! five mortal hours of anguish and +anxiety in one unalterable posture, without a single drop of +creature-comfort; and all this preconcerted too!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h3> + +<h4>PRELIMINARIES.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">At</span> last, just as the nephew was positively fainting from +exhaustion, in came his kind old aunt to bed. She talked a good deal to +herself, did Mrs. Quarles, and Simon heard her say,</p> + +<p>"Poor fellow—poor, dear Simon, he was taken bad last night, and has +seemed queerish in the head all day: pray God nothing's amiss with the +boy!"</p> + +<p>The boy's heart (he was forty) smote him as he heard: yes, even he was +vexed that Aunt Bridget could be so foolishly fond of him. But he would +go on now, and not have all his toil for nothing. "I'm in for it," said +he, "and there's an end."</p> + +<p>Ay, Simon, you are, indeed, in for it; the devil has locked you in—but +as to the end, we shall see, we shall see.</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't wonder now," the good old soul went on to say, "if Simon's +wentured out without his hat to cool a head-ache: his +grand-father—peace be with him! died, poor man, in a Lunacy 'Sylum: +alack, Si, I wish you mayn't be going the same road. No, no, I hope +not—he's always so prudent-like, and wise, and good; so kind, too, to a +poor old fool like me:" and the poor old fool began to cry again.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_094" id="Page_094"></a>[Pg 094]</span>"Silly boy—but he'll take cold at any rate: Sarah!" (here Mrs. Quarles +rung her bell, and the still-maid answered it.) "Sarah Stack, sit up +awhile for Mr. Jennings, and when he comes in, send him here to me. Poor +boy," she went on soliloquizing, "he shall have a drop or two to comfort +his stomach, and keep the chill out."</p> + +<p>The poor boy, lying <i>perdu</i>, shuddered at the word chill, and really +wished his aunt would hold her tongue. But she didn't.</p> + +<p>"Maybe now," the affectionate old creature proceeded, "maybe Simon was +vexed at what I let drop last night about the money. I know he loves his +sister Scott, as I do: but it'll seem hard, too, to leave him nothing. I +must make my will some day, I 'spose; but don't half like the job: it's +always so nigh death. Yes—yes, dear Si shall have a snug little +corner."</p> + +<p>The real Simon Pure, in his own snug little corner, writhed again. Mrs. +Quarles started at the noise, looked up the chimney, under the bed, +tried the doors and windows, and actually went so near the mark as to +turn the handle of the shower-bath; "Drat it," said she, "Sarah must ha' +took away the key: well, there can't be nothing there but cloaks, that's +one comfort."</p> + +<p>Last of all, a thought struck her—it must have been a mouse at the +preserves. And Mrs. Quarles forthwith opened the important cupboard, +where Jennings now well knew the idol of his heart was shrined. Then +another thought struck Mrs. Quarles, though probably no unusual one, and +she seemed to have mounted on a chair, and to be bringing down some +elevated piece of crockery. Simon could see nothing with his eyes, but +his ears made up for them: if ever Dr. Elliotson produced clairvoyance +in the sisters Okey, the same sharpened apprehensions ministered to the +inner man of Simon Jennings through the instrumental magnet of his +inordinately covetous desires. Therefore, though his retina bore no +picture of the scene, the feelers of his mind went forth, informing him +of every thing that happened.</p> + +<p>Down came a Narbonne honey-pot—Simon saw that first, and it was as the +lamp of Aladdin in his eyes: then the bladder was whipped off, and the +crock set open on the table. Jennings, mad as Darius's horse at the +sight of the object he so longed for, once thought of rushing from his +hiding-place, taking the hoard by a <i>coup de main</i>, and running off +straightway to America: but—deary me—that'll never do; I mustn't leave +my own strong-box behind me, say nothing of hat and shoes: and if I stop +for any thing, she'd raise the house.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_095" id="Page_095"></a>[Pg 095]</span>While this was passing through the immaculate mind of Simon Jennings, +Bridget had been cutting up an old glove, and had made one of its +fingers into a very tidy little leather sacklet; into this she deposited +a bright half sovereign, spoil of the day, being the douceur of a needy +brush-maker, who wished to keep custom, and, of course, charged all +these vails on the current bill for mops and stable-sponges.</p> + +<p>"Ha!" muttered she, "it's your last bill here, Mr. Scrubb, I can tell +you; so, you were going to put me off with a crown-piece, were you? and +actually that bit of gold might as well have been a drop of blood wrung +from you: yes—yes, Mr. Scrubb, I could see that plainly; and so you've +done for yourself."</p> + +<p>Then, having sewed up the clever little bag, she dropped it into the +crock: there was no jingle, all dumby: prudent that, in his aunt—for +the dear morsels of gold were worth such tender keeping, and leather +would hinder them from wear and tear, set aside the clink being +silenced. So, the nephew secretly thanked Bridget for the wrinkle, and +thought how pleasant it would be to stuff old gloves with his own yellow +store. Ah, yes, he would do that—to-morrow morning.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the pig-skin is put on again, and the honey-pot stored away: +and Simon instinctively stood a tip-toe to peep ideally into that +wealthy corner cupboard. His mind's eye seemed to see more honey-pots! +Mammon help us! can they all be full of gold? why, any one of them would +hold a thousand pounds. And Simon scratched the palms of his hands, and +licked his lips at the thought of so much honey.</p> + +<p>But see, Mrs. Quarles has, in her peculiar fashion, undressed herself: +that is to say, she has taken off her outer gown, her cap and wig—and +then has <i>added</i> to the volume of her under garments, divers night +habiliments, flannelled and frilled: while wrappers, manifold as a +turbaned Turk's, protect ear-ache, tooth-ache, head-ache, and face-ache, +from the elves of the night.</p> + +<p>And now, that the bedstead creaks beneath her weight, (as well it may, +for Bridget is a burden like Behemoth,) Simon's heart goes thump so +loud, that it was a wonder the poor woman never heard it. That heart in +its hard pulsations sounded to me like the carpenter hammering on her +coffin-lid: I marvel that she did not take it for a death-watch tapping +to warn her of her end. But no: Simon held his hand against his heart to +keep it quiet: he was so very fearful the pitapating would betray him. +Never mind, Simon; don't be afraid; she is fast asleep already; and her +snore is to thee as it were the challenge of a trumpeter calling to the +conflict.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_096" id="Page_096"></a>[Pg 096]</span></p> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.</h3> + +<h4>ROBBERY.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Hush</span>—hush—hush!</p> + +<p>Stealthily on tiptoe, with finger on his lips, that fore-doomed man +crept out.</p> + +<p>"The key is in the cupboard still—ha! how lucky: saves time that, and +trouble, and—and—risk! Oh, no—there can be no risk now," and the +wretch added, "thank God!"</p> + +<p>The devil loves such piety as this.</p> + +<p>So Simon quietly turned the key, and set the cupboard open: it was to +him a Bluebeard's chamber, a cave of the Forty Thieves, a garden of the +Genius in Aladdin, a mysterious secret treasure-house of wealth +uncounted and unseen.</p> + +<p>What a galaxy of pickle-pots! tier behind tier of undoubted +currant-jelly, ranged like the houses in Algiers! vasty jars of +gooseberry! delicate little cupping-glasses full of syruped fruits! Yet +all these candied joys, which probably enhance a Mrs. Rundle's heaven, +were as nothing in the eyes of Simon—sweet trash, for all he cared they +might be vulgar treacle. His ken saw nothing but the +honey-pots—embarrassing array—a round dozen of them! All alike, all +posted in a brown line, like stout Dutch sentinels with their hands in +their breeches pockets, and set aloft on that same high-reached shelf. +Must he really take them all? impracticable: a positive sack full. +What's to be done?—which is he to leave behind? that old witch +contrived this identity and multitude for safety's sake. But what if he +left the wrong one, and got clear off with the valuable booty of two +dozen pounds of honey? Confusion! that'll never do: he must take them +all, or none; all, all's the word; and forthwith, as tenderly as +possible, the puzzled thief took down eleven pots of honey to his one of +gold—all pig-bladdered, all Fortnumed—all slimy at the string; +"Confound that cunning old aunt of mine," said Simon, aloud; and took no +notice that the snores surceased.</p> + +<p>Then did he spread upon the table a certain shawl, and set the crocks in +order on it: and it was quite impossible to leave behind that pretty +ostentatious "Savings' Bank," which the shrewd hoarder kept as a feint +to lure thieves from her hidden gold, by an open exhibition of her +silver: unluckily, though, the shillings, not being leathered up nor +branned, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_097" id="Page_097"></a>[Pg 097]</span>rattled like a Mandarin toy, as the trembling hand of Jennings +deposited the bank beside the crockeries—and, at the well-known sound, +I observed (though Simon did not, as he was in a trance of addled +triumph) or fancied I observed Mrs. Quarles's head move: but as she said +nothing, perhaps I was mistaken. Thus stood Simon at the table, +surveying his extraordinary spoils.</p> + +<p>And while he looked, the Mercy of God, which never yet hath seen the +soul too guilty for salvation, spake to him kindly, and whispered in his +ear, "Poor, deluded man—there is yet a moment for escape—flee from +this temptation—put all back again—hasten to thy room, to thy prayers, +repent, repent: even thou shalt be forgiven, and none but God, who will +forgive thee, shall know of this bad crime. Turn now from all thy sins; +the gate of bliss is open, if thou wilt but lift the latch."</p> + +<p>It was one moment of irresolute delay; on that hinge hung Eternity. The +gate swung upon its pivot, that should shut out hell, or heaven!</p> + +<p>Simon knit his brow—bit his nails—and answered quite out loud, "What! +and after all to lose the crock of gold?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h3> + +<h4>MURDER.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">He</span> had waked her!</p> + +<p>In an instant the angel form of Mercy melted away—and there stood the +devil with his arms folded.</p> + +<p>"Murder!—fire!—rape!—thieves!—what, Nephew Jennings, is that you, +with all my honey pots? Help! help! help!"</p> + +<p>"Phew-w-w!" whistled the devil: "I tell you what, Master Simon, you must +quiet the old woman, she bellows like a bull, the house'll be about your +ears in a twinkling—she'll hang you for this!"</p> + +<p>Yes—he must quiet her—the game was up; he threatened, he implored, but +she would shriek on; she slept alone on the ground-floor, and knew she +must roar loudly to be heard above the drawing-rooms; she would not be +quieted—she would shriek—and she did. What must he do? she'll raise +the house!—Stop her mouth, stop her mouth, I say, can't you?—No, she's +a powerful, stout, heavy woman, and he cannot hold her: ha! she has +bitten his finger to the bone, like a very tigress! look at the blood!</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_098" id="Page_098"></a>[Pg 098]</span>"Why can't you touch her throat; no teeth there, bless you! that's the +way the wind comes: bravo! grasp it—tighter! tighter! tighter!"</p> + +<p>She struggled, and writhed, and wrestled, and fought—but all was +strangling silence; they rolled about the floor together, tumbled on the +bed, scuffled round the room, but all in horrid silence; neither uttered +a sound, neither had a shoe on—but all was earnest, wicked, +death-dealing silence.</p> + +<p>Ha! the desperate victim has the best of it; gripe harder, Jennings; she +has twisted her fingers in your neckcloth, and you yourself are choking: +fool! squeeze the swallow, can't you? try to make your fingers meet in +the middle—lower down, lower down, grasp the gullet, not the ears, +man—that's right; I told you so: tighter, tighter, tighter! again; ha, +ha, ha, bravo! bravo!—tighter, tighter, tighter!</p> + +<p>At length the hideous fight was coming to an end—though a hungry +constrictor, battling with the huge rhinoceros, and crushing his mailed +ribs beneath its folds, could not have been so fierce or fearful; fewer +now, and fainter are her struggles; that face is livid blue—the eyes +have started out, and goggle horribly; the tongue protrudes, swollen and +black. Aha! there is another convulsive effort—how strong she is still! +can you hold her, Simon?—can he?—All the fiend possessed him now with +savage exultation: can he?—only look! gripe, gripe still, you are +conquering, strong man! she is getting weaker, weaker; here is your +reward, gold! gold! a mighty store uncounted; one more grasp, and it is +all your own—relent now, she hangs you. Come, make short work of it, +break her neck—gripe harder—back with her, back with here against the +bedstead: keep her down, down I say—she must not rise again. Crack! +went a little something in her neck—did you hear it? There's the +death-rattle, the last smothery complicated gasp—what, didn't you hear +that?</p> + +<p>And the devil congratulated Simon on his victory.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX.</h3> + +<h4>THE REWARD.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Till</span> the wretch had done the deed, he scarcely knew that it was +doing. It was a horrid, mad excitement, where the soul had spread its +wings upon the whirlwind, and heeded not whither it was hurried. A +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_099" id="Page_099"></a>[Pg 099]</span>terrible necessity had seemed to spur him onwards all the while, and +one thing so succeeded to another, that he scarce could stop at any but +the first. From the moment he had hidden in the shower-bath (but for +God's interposing mercy), his doom appeared to have been +sealed—robbery, murder, false witness, and—damnation!</p> + +<p>Crime is the rushing rapid, which, but for some kind miracle, inevitably +carries on through circling eddies, and a foamy swinging tide, to the +cataract of death and wo: haste, poor fisherman of Erie, paddle hard +back, stem the torrent, cling to the shore, hold on tight by this +friendly bough; know you not whither the headlong current drives? hear +you not the roar of many waters, the maddening rush as of an ocean +disenthralled? feel you not the earth trembling at the thunder—see you +not the heaven clouded o'er with spray? Helpless wretch—thy frail canoe +has leapt that dizzy water-cliff, Niagara!</p> + +<p>But if, in doing that fell deed, madness raged upon the minutes, now +that it was done—all still, all calm, all quiet, Terror held the +hour-glass of Time. There lay the corpse, motionless, though coiled and +cramped in the attitude of struggling agony; and the murderer gazed upon +his victim with a horror most intense. Fly! fly!—he dared not stop to +think: fly! fly! any whither—as you are—wait for nothing; fly! thou +caitiff, for thy life! So he caught up the blood-bought spoils, and was +fumbling with shaky fingers at the handle of the garden-door, when the +unseen tempter whispered in his ear,</p> + +<p>"I say, Simon, did not your aunt die of apoplexy?"</p> + +<p>O, kind and wise suggestion! O, lightsome, tranquillizing thought! +Thanks! thanks! thanks!—And if the arch fiend had revealed himself in +person at the moment, Simon would have worshipped at his feet.</p> + +<p>"But," and as he communed with his own black heart, there needed now no +devil for his prompter—"if this matter is to be believed, I must +contrive a little that it may look likelier. Let me see:—yes, we must +lay all tidy, and the old witch shall have died in her sleep; apoplexy! +capital indeed; no tell-tales either. Well, I must set to work."</p> + +<p>Can mortal mind conceive that sickening office?—To face the strangled +corpse, yet warm; to lift the fearful burden in his arms, and order out +the heavily-yielding limbs in the ease of an innocent sleep? To arrange +the bed, smooth down the tumbled coverlid, set every thing straight +about the room, and erase all tokens of that dread encounter? It needed +nerves of iron, a heart all stone, a cool, clear head, a strong arm, a +mindful, self-protecting spirit; but all these requisites came to +Simon's aid upon the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>[Pg 100]</span>instant; frozen up with fear, his heart-strings +worked that puppet-man rigidly as wires; guilt supplied a reckless +energy, a wild physical power, which actuates no human frame but one +saturate with crime, or madness; and in the midst of those terrific +details, the murderer's judgment was so calm and so collected, that +nothing was forgotten, nothing unconsidered—unless, indeed, it were +that he out-generalled himself by making all too tidy to be natural. +Hence, suspicion at the inquest; for the "apoplexy" thought was really +such a good one, that, but for so exact a laying out, the fat old corpse +might have easily been buried without one surmise of the way she met her +end. Again and again, in the history of crimes, it is seen that a "Judas +hangs himself;" and albeit, as we know, the murderer has hitherto +escaped detection, still his own dark hour shall arrive in its due +place.</p> + +<p>The dreadful office done, he asked himself again, or maybe took counsel +of the devil (for that evil master always cheats his servants), "What +shall I do with my reward, this crock—these crocks of gold? It might be +easy to hide one of them, but not all; and as to leaving any behind, +that I won't do. About opening them to see which is which—"</p> + +<p>"I tell you what," said the tempter, as the clock struck three, +"whatever you do, make haste; by morning's dawn the house and garden +will be searched, no doubt, and the crocks found in your possession. +Listen to me—I'm your friend, bless you! remember the apoplexy. Pike +Island yonder is an unfrequented place; take the punt, hide all there +now, and go at your best leisure to examine afterwards; but whatever you +do, make haste, my man."</p> + +<p>Then Jennings crept out by the lawn-door, thereby rousing the house-dog; +but he skirted the laurels in their shadow, and it was dark and +mizzling, so he reached the punt both quickly and easily.</p> + +<p>The quiet, and the gloom, and the dropping rain, strangely affected him +now, as he plied his punt-pole; once he could have wept in his remorse, +and another time he almost shrieked in fear. How lonesome it seemed! how +dreadful! and that death-dyed face behind him—ha! woman, away I say! +But he neared the island, and, all shoeless as he was, crept up its +muddy bank.</p> + +<p>"Hallo! nybor, who be you a-poaching on my manor, eh? that bean't good +manners, any how."</p> + +<p>Ben Burke has told us all the rest.</p> + +<p>But, when Burke had got his spoils—when the biter had been bitten—the +robber robbed—the murderer stripped of his murdered victim's +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>[Pg 101]</span>money—when the bereaved miscreant, sullenly returning in the dark, +damp night, tracked again the way he came upon that lonely lake—no one +yet has told us, none can rightly tell, the feelings which oppressed +that God-forsaken man. He seemed to feel himself even a sponge which, +the evil one had bloated with his breath, had soaked it then in blood, +had squeezed it dry again, and flung away! He was Satan's broken tool—a +weed pulled up by the roots, and tossed upon the fire; alone—alone in +all the universe, without countenance or sympathy from God, or man, or +devil; he yearned to find, were it but a fiend to back him, but in vain; +they held aloof, he could see them vaguely through the gloom—he could +hear them mocking him aloud among the patter of the rain-drops—ha! ha! +ha—the pilfered fool!</p> + +<p>Bitterly did he rue his crime—fearfully he thought upon its near +discovery—madly did he beat his miserable breast, to find that he had +been baulked of his reward, yet spent his soul to earn it.</p> + +<p>Oh—when the house-dog bayed at him returning, how he wished he was that +dog! he went to him, speaking kindly to him, for he envied that +dog—"Good dog—good dog!"</p> + +<p>But more than envy kept him lingering there: the wretched man did it for +delay—yes, though morn was breaking on the hills—one more—one more +moment of most precious time.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX.</h3> + +<h4>SECOND THOUGHTS.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">For</span>—again he must go through that room!</p> + +<p>No other entrance is open—not a window, not a door: all close as a +prison: and only by the way he went, by the same must he return.</p> + +<p>He trembled all over, as a palsied man, when he touched the lock: with +stiffening hair, and staring eyes, he peeped in at that well-remembered +chamber: he entered—and crept close up to the corpse, stealthily and +dreadingly—horror! what if she be alive still?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">She was.</span></p> + +<p>Not quite dead—not quite dead yet! a gurgling in the bruised throat—a +shadowy gleam of light and life in those protruded eyes—an irregular +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>[Pg 102]</span>convulsive heaving at the chest: she might recover! what a fearful +hope: and, if she did, would hang him—ha! he went nearer; she was +muttering something in a moanful way—it was, "Simon did it—Simon did +it—Simon did it—Si—Si—Simon did—" he should be found out!</p> + +<p>Yet once again, for the last time, the long-suffering Mercy of the Lord +stood like Balaam's angel in the way, pleading with that miserable man +at the bed-side of her whom he had strangled. And even then, that +Guardian Spirit came not with chiding on his tongue, but He uttered +words of hope, while his eyes were streaming with sorrow and with pity.</p> + +<p>"Most wretched of the sinful sons of men, even now there may be mercy +for thee, even now plenteous forgiveness. True, thou must die, and pay +the earthly penalty of crimes like thine: but do my righteous bidding, +and thy soul shall live. Go to that poor, suffocating creature—cherish +the spark of life—bind up the wounds which thou hast rent, pouring in +oil and wine: rouse the house—seek assistance—save her life—confess +thy sin—repent—and though thou diest for this before the tribunal of +thy fellows, God will yet be gracious—he will raise again her whom thou +hadst slain—and will cleanse thy blood-stained soul."</p> + +<p>Thus in Simon's ear spake that better conscience.</p> + +<p>But the reprobate had cast off Faith; he could not pledge the Present +for the Future; he shuddered at the sword of Justice, and would not +touch the ivory sceptre of Forgiveness. No: he meditated horrid +iteration—and again the fiend possessed him! What! not only lose the +crock of gold, but all his own bright store? and give up every thing of +this world's good for some imaginary other, and meekly confess, and +meanly repent—and—and all this to resuscitate that hated old aunt of +his, who would hang him, and divorce him from his gold?</p> + +<p>No! he must do the deed again—see, she is moving—she will recover! her +chest heaves visibly—she breathes—she speaks—she knows me—ha! +down—down, I say!</p> + +<p>Then, with deliberate and damning resolution—to screen off temporal +danger, and count his golden hoards a little longer—that awful criminal +touched the throat again: and he turned his head away not to see that +horrid face, clutched the swollen gullet with his icy hands, and +strangled her once more!</p> + +<p>"This time all is safe," said Simon. And having set all smooth as +before, he stole up to his own chamber.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>[Pg 103]</span></p> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI.</h3> + +<h4>MAMMON, AND CONTENTMENT.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Ay</span>, safe enough: and the murderer went to bed. To bed? No.</p> + +<p>He tumbled about the clothes, to make it seem that he had lain there: +but he dared neither lie down, nor shut his eyes. Then, the darkness +terrified him: the out-door darkness he could have borne, and Mrs. +Quarles's chamber always had a night-lamp burning: but the darkness of +his own room, of his own thoughts, pressed him all around, as with a +thick, murky, suffocating vapour. So, he stood close by the window, +watching the day-break.</p> + +<p>As for sleep, never more did wholesome sleep rëvisit that atrocious +mind: laudanum, an ever-increasing dose of merciless laudanum, that was +the only power which ever seemed to soothe him. For a horrid vision +always accompanied him now: go where he might, do what he would, from +that black morning to eternity, he went a haunted man—a scared, +sleepless, horror-stricken wretch. That livid face with goggling eyes, +stuck to him like a shadow; he always felt its presence, and sometimes, +also, could perceive it as if bodily peeping over his shoulder, next his +cheek; it dogged him by day, and was his incubus by night; and often he +would start and wrestle, for the desperate grasp of the dying appeared +to be clutching at his throat: so, in his ghostly fears, and bloody +conscience, he had girded round his neck a piece of thin sheet-iron in +his cravat, which he wore continually as armour against those clammy +fingers: no wonder that he held his head so stiff.</p> + +<p>O Gold—accursed Mammon! is this the state of those who love thee +deepest? is this their joy, who desire thee with all their heart and +soul—who serve thee with all their might—who toil for thee—plot for +thee—live for thee—dare for thee—die for thee? Hast thou no better +bliss to give thy martyrs—no choicer comfort for thy most consistent +worshippers, no fairer fate for those, whose waking thoughts, and +dreaming hopes, and intricate schemes, and desperate deeds, were only +aimed at gold, more gold? God of this world, if such be thy rewards, let +me ever escape them! idol of the knave, false deity of the fool, if this +be thy blessing on thy votaries—come, curse me, Mammon, curse thou me!</p> + +<p>For, "The love of money is the root of all evil." It groweth up a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a>[Pg 104]</span>little plant of coveting; presently the leaves get rank, the branches +spread, and feed on petty thefts; then in their early season come the +blossoms, black designs, plots, involved and undeveloped yet, of foul +conspiracies, extortions on the weak, rich robbings of the wealthy, the +threatened slander, the rewarded lie, malice, perjury, sacrilege; then +speedily cometh on the climax, the consummate flower, dark-red murder: +and the fruit bearing in itself the seeds that never die, is righteous, +wrathful condemnation.</p> + +<p>Dyed with all manner of iniquity, tinged with many colours like the +Mohawk in his woods, goeth forth in a morning the covetous soul. His +cheek is white with envy, his brow black with jealous rage, his livid +lips are full of lust, his thievish hands spotted over with the crimson +drops of murder. "The poison of asps is under his lips; and his feet are +swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in his ways; and there +is no fear of God before his eyes."</p> + +<p>O, ye thousands—the covetous of this world's good—behold at what a +fire ye do warm yourselves! dread it: even now, ye have imagined many +deaths, whereby your gains may be the greater; ye have caught, in +wishful fancy, many a parting sigh; ye have closed, in a heartless +revery, many a glazing eye—yea, of those your very nearest, whom your +hopes have done to death: and are ye guiltless? God and conscience be +your judges!</p> + +<p>Even now ye have compassed many frauds, connived at many meannesses, +trodden down the good, and set the bad on high—all for gold—hard gold; +and are ye the honest—the upright? Speak out manfully your excuse, if +you can find one, ye respectables of merchandise, ye traders, bartering +all for cash, ye Scribes, ye Pharisees, hypocrites, all honourable men.</p> + +<p>Even now, your dreams are full of money-bags; your cares are how to add +superfluity to wealth; ye fawn upon the rich, ye scorn the poor, ye pine +and toil both night and day for gold, more gold; and are ye happy? +Answer me, ye covetous ones.</p> + +<p>Yet are there righteous gains, God's blessing upon labour: yet is there +rightful hope to get those righteous gains. Who can condemn the poor +man's care, though Faith should make his load the lighter? And who will +extenuate the rich man's coveting, whose appetite grows with what it +feeds on? "Having food and raiment, be therewith content;" that is the +golden mean; to that is limited the philosophy of worldliness: the man +must live, by labour and its earnings; but having wherewithal for him +and his temperately, let him tie the mill-stone of anxiety to the wing +of Faith, and speed that burden to his God.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a>[Pg 105]</span>If Wealth come, beware of him, the smooth false friend: there is +treachery in his proffered hand, his tongue is eloquent to tempt, lust +of many harms is lurking in his eye, he hath a hollow heart; use him +cautiously.</p> + +<p>If Penury assail, fight against him stoutly, the gaunt grim foe: the +curse of Cain is on his brow, toiling vainly; he creepeth with the worm +by day, to raven with the wolf by night: diseases battle by his side, +and crime followeth his footsteps. Therefore fight against him boldly, +and be of a good courage, for there are many with thee; not alone the +doled alms, the casual aids dropped from compassion, or wrung out by +importunity; these be only temporary helps, and indulgence in them +pampers the improvident; but look thou to a better host of strong +allies, of resolute defenders; turn again to meet thy duties, needy one: +no man ever starved, who even faintly tried to do them. Look to thy God, +O sinner! use reason wisely; cherish honour; shrink not from toil, +though somewhile unrewarded; preserve frank bearing with thy fellows; +and in spite of all thy sins—forgiven; all thy follies—flung away; all +the trickeries of this world—scorned; all competitions—disregarded; +all suspicions—trodden under foot; thou neediest and raggedest of +labourers' labourers—Enough shall be thy portion, ere a week hath +passed away.</p> + +<p>Well did Agur-the-Wise counsel Ithiel and Ucal his disciples, when he +uttered in their ears before his God, this prayerful admonition, "Two +things have I required of Thee; deny me them not before I die: remove +far from me vanity and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches: feed me +with food convenient for me. Lest I be full, and deny Thee, saying, Who +is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and dishonour the name of the +Lord my God."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII.</h3> + +<h4>NEXT MORNING.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Day</span> dawned apace; and a glorious cavalcade of flaming clouds +heralded the Sun their captain. From far away, round half the wide +horizon, their glittering spears advanced. Heaven's highway rang with +the trampling of their horse-hoofs, and the dust went up from its +jewelled <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a>[Pg 106]</span>pavement as spray from the bottom of a cataract. Anon, he +came, the chieftain of that on-spurring host! his banner blazed upon the +sky; his golden crest was seen beneath, nodding with its ruddy plumes; +over the south-eastern hills he arose in radiant armour. Fair Nature, +waking at her bridegroom's voice, arrived so early from a distant clime, +smiled upon him sleepily, gladdening him in beauty with her sweet +half-opened eyelids, and kissing him in faithfulness with +dew-besprinkled lips.</p> + +<p>And he looked forth upon the world from his high chariot, holding back +the coursers that must mount the steep of noon: and he heard the morning +hymn of thankfulness to Heaven from the mountains, and the valleys, and +the islands of the sea; the prayer of man and woman, the praise of +lisping tongues, the hum of insect joy upon the air, the sheep-bell +tinkling in the distance, the wild bird's carol, and the lowing kine, +the mute minstrelsy of rising dews, and that stilly scarce-heard +universal melody of wakeful plants and trees, hastening to turn their +spring-buds to the light—this was the anthem he, the Lord of Day, now +listened to—this was the song his influences had raised to bless the +God who made him.</p> + +<p>And he saw, from his bright throne of wide derivative glory, Hope flying +forth upon her morning missions, visiting the lonesome, comforting the +sorrowful, speaking cheerfully to Care, and singing in the ear of +Labour: and he watched that ever-welcome friend, flitting with the +gleams of light to every home, to every heart; none but gladly let her +in; her tapping finger opened the very prison doors; the heavy head of +Sloth rejoiced to hear her call; and every common Folly, every common +Sin—ay, every common Crime—warmed his unconscious soul before her +winning beauty.</p> + +<p>Yet, yet was there one, who cursed that angel's coming; and the holy Eye +of day wept pityingly to see an awful child of man who dared not look on +Hope.</p> + +<p>The murderer stood beside his casement, watching that tranquil scene: +with bloodshot eyes and haggard stare, he gazed upon the waking world; +for one strange minute he forgot, entranced by innocence and beauty; but +when the stunning tide of memory, that had ebbed that one strange +minute, rolled back its mighty flood upon his mind, the murderer swooned +away.</p> + +<p>And he came to himself again all too soon; for when he arose, building +up his weak, weak limbs, as if he were a column of sand, the cruel +giant, Guilt, lifted up his club, and felled the wretch once more.</p> + +<p>How long he lay fainting, he knew not then; if any one had vowed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a>[Pg 107]</span>it was +a century, Simon, as he gradually woke, could not have gainsaid the man; +but he only lay four seconds in that white oblivious trance—for Fear, +Fear knocked at his heart:—Up, man, up!—you need have all your wits +about you now;—see, it is broad day—the house will be roused before +you know where you are, and then will be shouted out that awful +name—Simon Jennings! Simon Jennings!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h3> + +<h4>THE ALARM.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">He</span> arose, held up on either hand that day as if fighting +against Amalek;—despair buttressed him on one side, and secresy shored +him on the other: behind that wall of stone his heart had strength to +beat.</p> + +<p>He arose; and listened at the key-hole anxiously: all silent, quiet, +quiet still; the whole house asleep: nothing found out yet. And he bit +his nails to the quick, that they bled again: but he never felt the +pain.</p> + +<p>Hush!—yes, somebody's about: it is Jonathan's step; and hark, he is +humming merrily, "Hail, smiling morn, that opes the gates of day?" Wo, +wo—what a dismal gulph between Jonathan and me! And he beat his breast +miserably. But, Jonathan cannot find it out—he never goes to Mrs. +Quarles's room. Oh! this suspense is horrible: haste, haste, some kind +soul, to make the dread discovery! And he tore his hair away by +handfulls.</p> + +<p>"Hark!—somebody else—unlatching shutters; it will be Sarah—ha! she is +tapping at the housekeeper's room—yes, yes, and she will make it known, +O terrible joy!—A scream! it is Sarah's voice—she has seen her dead, +dead, dead;—but is she indeed dead?"</p> + +<p>The miscreant quivered with new fears; she might still mutter "Simon did +it!"</p> + +<p>And now the house is thoroughly astir; running about in all directions; +and shouting for help; and many knocking loudly at the murderer's own +door—"Mr. Jennings! Mr. Jennings!—quick—get up—come down—quick, +quick—your aunt's found dead in her bed!"</p> + +<p>What a relief to the trembling wretch!—she <i>was</i> dead. He could have +blessed the voice that told him his dread secret was so safe. But <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>[Pg 108]</span>his +parched tongue may never bless again: curses, curses are all its +blessings now.</p> + +<p>And Jennings came out calmly from his chamber, a white, stern, +sanctimonious man, lulling the storm with his wise presence:—"God's +will be done," said he; "what can poor weak mortals answer Him?" And he +played cleverly the pious elder, the dignified official, the +affectionate nephew: "Ah, well, my humble friends, behold what life is: +the best of us must come to this; my poor, dear aunt, the late +house-keeper, rest her soul—I feared it might be this way some night or +other: she was a stout woman, was our dear, deceased Bridget—and, +though a good kind soul, lived much on meat and beer: ah well, ah well!" +And he concealed his sentimental hypocrisy in a cotton pocket-handkerchief.</p> + +<p>"Alas, and well-a-day! that it should have come to this. Apoplexy—you +see, apoplexy caught her as she slept: we may as well get her buried at +once: it is unfortunately too clear a case for any necessity to open the +body; and our young master is coming down on Tuesday, and I could not +allow my aunt's corpse to be so disrespectful as to stop till it became +offensive. I will go to the vicar myself immediately."</p> + +<p>"Begging pardon, Mr. Jennings," urged Jonathan Floyd, "there's a strange +mark here about the throat, poor old 'ooman."</p> + +<p>"Ay," added Sarah, "and now I come to think of it, Mrs. Quarles's +room-door was ajar; and bless me, the lawn-door's not locked neither! +Who could have murdered her?"</p> + +<p>"Murdered? there's no murder here, silly wench," said Jennings, with a +nervous sneer.</p> + +<p>"I don't know that, Mr. Simon," gruffly interposed the coachman; "it's a +case for a coroner, I'll be bail; so here I goes to bring him: let all +bide as it is, fellow-sarvents; murder will out, they say."</p> + +<p>And off he set directly—not without a shrewd remark from Mr. Jennings, +about letting him escape that way; which seemed all very sage and +likely, till the honest man came back within the hour, and a <i>posse +comitatus</i> at his heels.</p> + +<p>We all know the issue of that inquest.</p> + +<p>Now, if any one requests to be informed how Jennings came to be looked +for as usual in his room, after that unavailing search last night, I +reply, this newer, stronger excitement for the minute made the house +oblivious of that mystery; and if people further will persist to know, +how that mystery of his absence was afterwards explained (though I for +my part would gladly have said nothing of the bailiff's own excuse), let +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a>[Pg 109]</span>it be enough to hint, that Jennings winked with a knowing and gallant +expression of face; alluded to his private key, and a secret return at +two in the morning from some disreputable society in the neighbourhood; +made the men laugh, and the women blush; and, altogether, as he might +well have other hats and coats, the delicate affair was not unlikely.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV.</h3> + +<h4>DOUBTS.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">And</span> so, this crock of gold—gained through extortion, by the +frauds of every day, the meannesses of every hour—this concrete +oppression to the hireling in his wages—this mass of petty pilferings +from poverty—this continuous obstruction to the charities of +wealth—this cockatrice's egg—this offspring of iniquity—had already +been baptized in blood before poor Acton found it, and slain its earthly +victim ere it wrecked his faith; already had it been perfected by crime, +and destroyed the murderer's soul, before it had endangered the life of +slandered innocence.</p> + +<p>Is there yet more blessing in the crock? more fearful interest still, to +carry on its story to an end? Must another sacrifice bleed before the +shrine of Mammon, and another head lie crushed beneath the heel of that +monster—his disciple?</p> + +<p>Come on with me, and see the end; push further still, there is a +labyrinth ahead to attract and to excite; from mind to mind crackles the +electric spark: and when the heart thrillingly conceives, its +children-thoughts are as arrows from the hand of the giant, flying +through that mental world—the hearts of other men. Fervent still from +its hot internal source, this fountain gushes up; no sluggish +Lethe-stream is here, dull, forgetful, and forgotten; but liker to the +burning waves of Phlegethon, mingling at times (though its fire is still +unquenched), with the pastoral rills of Tempe, and the River from the +Mount of God.</p> + +<p>Lower the sail—let it flap idly on the wind—helm a-port—and so to +smoother waters: return to common life and humbler thoughts.</p> + +<p>It may yet go hard with Roger Acton. Jennings is a man of character, +especially the farther from his home; the county round take him for a +model of propriety, a sample of the strictest conduct. We know <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a>[Pg 110]</span>the bad +man better; but who dare breathe against the bailiff in his +power—against the caitiff in his sleek hypocrisy—that, while he makes +a show of both humilities, he fears not God nor man? What shall hinder, +that the perjured wretch offer up to the manes of the murdered the +life-blood of the false-accused? May he not live yet many years, heaping +up gold and crime? And may not sweet Grace Acton—her now repentant +father—the kindly Jonathan—his generous master, and if there be any +other of the Hurstley folk we love, may they not all meet destruction at +his hands, as a handful of corn before the reaper's sickle? I say not +that they shall, but that they might. Acton's criminal state of mind, +and his hunger after gold—gold any how—have earned some righteous +retribution, unless Providence in mercy interpose; and young Sir John, +in nowise unblameable himself, with wealth to tempt the spoiler, lives +in the spoiler's very den; and as to Jonathan and Grace, this world has +many martyrs. If Heaven in its wisdom use the wicked as a sword, Heaven +is but just; but if in its vengeance that sword of the wicked is turned +against himself, Heaven showeth mercy all unmerited. To a criminal like +Jennings, let loose upon the world, without the clog of conscience to +retard him, and with the spur of covetousness ever urging on, any thing +in crime is possible—is probable: none can sound those depths: and when +we raise our eyes on high to the Mighty Moral Governor, and note the +clouds of mystery that thunder round his Throne—He may permit, or he +may control; who shall reach those heights?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV" id="CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>CHAPTER XXXV.</h3> + +<h4>FEARS.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Moreover</span>, innocent of blood, as we know Roger Acton to be, +appearances are strongly against him: and in such a deed as secret, +midnight murder, which none but God can witness, multiplied appearances +justify the world in condemning one who seems so guilty.</p> + +<p>The first impression against Roger is a bad one, for all the neighbours +know how strangely his character had been changing for the worse of +late: he is not like the same man; sullen and insubordinate, he was +turned away from work for his bold and free demeanor; as to church, +though <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a>[Pg 111]</span>he had worn that little path these forty years, all at once he +seems to have entirely forgotten the way hither.</p> + +<p>He lives, nobody knows how—on bright, clean gold, nobody knows whence: +his daughter says, indeed, that her father found a crock of gold in his +garden—but she needs not have held her tongue so long, and borne so +many insults, if that were all the truth; and, mark this! even though +she says it, and declares it on her Bible-oath, Acton himself most +strenuously denied all such findings—but went about with impudent tales +of legacy, luck, nobody knows what; the man prevaricated continually, +and got angry when asked about it—cudgelling folks, and swearing +like—like any one but old-time "honest Roger."</p> + +<p>Only look, too, where he lives: in a lone cottage opposite Pike Island, +on the other side of which is Hurstley Hall, the scene of robbery and +murder: was not a boat seen that night upon the lake? and was not the +lawn-door open? How strangely stupid in the coroner and jury not to have +imagined this before! how dull it was of every body round not to have +suspected murder rather more strongly, with those finger-marks about the +throat, and not to have opened their eyes a little wider, when the +murderer's cottage was within five hundred yards of that open lawn-door!</p> + +<p>Then again—when Mr. Jennings, in his strict and searching way, accused +the culprit, he never saw a man so confused in all his life! and on +repeating the charge before those two constables, they all witnessed his +guilty consternation: experienced men, too, they were, and never saw a +felon if Acton wasn't one; the dogged manner in which he went with them +so quietly was quite sufficient; innocent men don't go to jail in that +sort of way, as if they well deserved it.</p> + +<p>But, strongest of all, if any shadow of a doubt remained, the most +fearful proof of Roger's guilt lay in the scrap of shawl—the little +leather bags—and the very identical crock of gold! There it was, +nestled in the thatch within a yard of his head, as he lay in bed at +noon-day guarding it.</p> + +<p>One proof, weaker than the weakest of all these banded together, has ere +now sufficed to hang the guilty; and many, many fears have I that this +multitude of seeming facts, conspiring in a focus against Roger Acton, +will be quite enough to overwhelm the innocent. "Nothing lies like a +fact," said Dr. Johnson: and statistics prove it, at least as well as +circumstantial evidence.</p> + +<p>The matter was as clear as day-light, and long before the trial came +about, our poor labourer had been hanged outright in the just judgment +of Hurstley-cum-Piggesworth.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a>[Pg 112]</span></p> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI.</h3> + +<h4>PRISON COMFORTS.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Many</span> blessings, more than he had skill to count, had visited +poor Acton in his cell. His gentle daughter Grace, sweet minister of +good thoughts—she, like a loving angel, had been God's instrument of +penitence and peace to him. He had come to himself again, in solitude, +by nights, as a man awakened from a feverish dream; and the hallowing +ministrations of her company by day had blest reflective solitude with +sympathy and counsel.</p> + +<p>Good-wife Mary, too, had been his comforting and cheering friend. +Immediately the crock of gold had been taken from its ambush in the +thatch, it seemed as if the chill which had frozen up her heart had been +melted by a sudden thaw. Roger Acton was no longer the selfish prodigal, +but the guiltless, persecuted penitent; her care was now to soothe his +griefs, not to scold him for excesses; and indignation at the false and +bloody charge made him appear a martyr in her eyes. As to his accuser, +Jennings, Mary had indeed her own vague fancies and suspicions, but +there being no evidence, nor even likelihood to support them, she did +not dare to breathe a word; she might herself accuse him falsely. Ben, +who alone could have thrown a light upon the matter, had always been +comparatively a stranger at Hurstley; he was no native of the place, and +had no ties there beyond wire and whip-cord: he would appear in that +locality now and then in his eccentric orbit, like a comet, and, soon +departing thence, would take away Tom as his tail; but even when there, +he was mainly a night-prowler, seldom seen by day, and so little versed +in village lore, so rarely mingling with its natives, that neither +Jennings nor Burke knew one another by sight. His fame indeed was known, +but not his person. At present, he and Tom were still fowling in some +distant fens, nobody could tell where; so that Roger's only witness, who +might have accounted for the crock and its finding, was as good as dead +to him; to make Ben's absence more unusually prolonged, and his +rëappearance quite incalculable, he had talked of going with his cargo +of wild ducks "either to London or to Liverpool, he didn't rightly know +which."</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Mary comforted her husband, and more especially herself, +by the hope of his return as a saving witness; though it was always +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>[Pg 113]</span>doubtful how far Burke's numerous peccadilloes against property would +either find him at large, or authorize the poacher in walking straight +before the judges. Still Ben's possible interposition was one source of +hope and cheerful expectation. Then the good wife would leave her babes +at home, safely in a neighbour's charge, and stay and sit many long +hours with poor Roger, taking turns with Grace in talking to him +tenderly, making little of home-troubles past, encouraging him to wear a +stout heart, and filling him with gratitude for all her kindly care. +Thus did she bless, and thus was made a blessing, through the loss and +absence of that crock of gold.</p> + +<p>For Roger himself, he had repented; bitterly and deeply, as became his +headlong fall: no sweet luxuries of grief, no soothing sorrow, no +chastened meditative melancholy—such mild penitence as this, he +thought, could be but a soberer sort of joy for virgins, saints, and +martyrs: no—he, bad man, was unworthy of those melting pleasures, and +in sturdy self-revenge he flung them from him, choosing rather to feel +overwhelmed with shame, contrition, and reproaches. A humbled man with a +broken heart within him—such was our labourer, penitent in prison; and +when he contrasted his peaceful, pure, and Christian course those forty +years of poverty, with his blasphemous and infidel career for the one +bad week of wealth, he had no patience with himself—only felt his fall +the greater; and his judgment of his own guilt, with a natural +exaggeration, went the length of saying—I am scarcely less guilty +before God and man, than if, indeed, my hands were red with murder, and +my casual finding had been robbery. He would make no strong appeals to +the bar of justice, as an innocent condemned; not he—not he: innocent, +indeed? his wicked, wicked courses—(an old man, too—gray-headed, with +no young blood in him to excuse, no inexperience to extenuate), these +deserved—did he say hanging? it was a harsher syllable—hell: and the +contrite sinner gladly would have welcomed all the terrors of the +gibbet, in hope to take full vengeance on himself for his wicked thirst +for gold and all its bitter consequences.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a>[Pg 114]</span></p> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVII.</h3> + +<h4>GOOD COUNSEL.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">But</span> Grace advised him better. "Be humbled as you may before +God, my father, but stand up boldly before man: for in his sight, and by +his law, you are little short of blameless. I would not, dearest father, +speak to you of sins, except for consolation under them; for it ill +becomes a child to see the failings of a parent. But when I know at once +how innocent you are in one sense, and how not quite guiltless in +another, I wish my words may comfort you, if you will hear them, father. +Covetousness, not robbery—excess, not murder—these were your only +sins; and concealment was not wise, neither was a false report +befitting. Money, the idol of millions, was your temptation: its earnest +love, your fault; its possession, your misfortune. Forgive me, father, +if I speak too freely. Good Mr. Evans, who has been so kind to us for +years, (never kinder than since you were in prison,) can speak better +than I may, of sins forgiven, and a Friend to raise the fallen: it is +not for poor Grace to school her dear and honoured father. If you feel +yourself guilty of much evil in the sight of Him before whom the angels +bow in meekness—I need not tell you that your sorrow is most wise, and +well-becoming. But this must not harm your cause with men: though tired +of life, though hopeless in one's self, though bad, and weak, and like +to fall again, we are still God's servants upon earth, bound to guard +the life he gives us. Neither must you lightly allow the guilt of +unrighteous condemnation to fall upon the judge who tries you; nor let +your innocent blood cry to God for vengeance on your native land. +Manfully confront the false accuser, tell openly the truth, plead your +own cause firmly, warmly, wisely:—so, God defend the right!"</p> + +<p>And as Grace Acton said these words, in all the fervour of a daughter's +love, with a flushed cheek, parted lips, and her right hand raised to +Him whom she invoked, she looked like an inspired prophetess, or the +fair maid of Orleans leading on to battle.</p> + +<p>In an instant afterwards, she humbly added,</p> + +<p>"Forgive me any thing I may have said, that seems to chide my father."</p> + +<p>"Bless you, bless you, dearest one!" was Roger's sobbing prayer, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a>[Pg 115]</span>who +had listened to her wisdom breathlessly. "Ah, daughter," then exclaimed +the humbled, happy man, "I'll try to do all you ask me, Grace; but it is +a hard thing to feel myself so wicked, and to have to speak up boldly +like a Christian man."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVIII.</h3> + +<h4>EXPERIENCE.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Then</span>, with disjointed sentences, suited to the turmoil of his +thoughts, half in a soliloquy, half as talking to his daughter, Roger +Acton gave his hostile testimony to the worth of wealth.</p> + +<p>"Oh, fool, fool that I have been, to set so high a price on gold! To +have hungered and thirsted for it—to have coveted earnestly so bad a +gift—to have longed for Mammon's friendship, which is enmity with God! +What has not money cost me? Happiness:—ay, wasn't it to have given me +happiness? and the little that I had (it was much, Grace, not little, +very much—too much—God be praised for it!) all, all the happiness I +had, gold took away. Look at our dear old home—shattered and scattered, +as now I wish that crock had been. Health, too; were it not for gold, +and all gold gave, I had been sturdy still, and capable; but my nights +maddened with anxieties, my days worried with care, my head feverish +with drink, my heart rent by conscience—ah, my girl, my girl, when I +thought much of poverty and its hardships, of toil, and hunger, and +rheumatics, I little imagined that wealth had heavier cares and pains: I +envied them their wanton life of pleasure at the Hall, and little knew +how hard it was: well are they called hard-livers who drink, and game, +and have nothing to do, except to do wickedness continually. +Religion—can it bide with money, child? I never knew my wicked heart, +till fortune made me rich; not until then did I guess how base, lying, +false, and bad was 'honest Roger;' how sensual, coarse, and brutal, was +that hypocrite 'steady Acton'. Money is a devil, child, or pretty near +akin. Then I complained of toil, too, didn't I?—Ah, what are all the +aches I ever felt—labouring with spade and spud in cold and rain, +hungry belike, and faint withal—what are they all at their worst (and +the worst was very seldom after all), to the gnawing cares, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a>[Pg 116]</span>hideous +fears, the sins—the sins, my girl, that tore your poor old father? +Wasn't it to be an end of troubles, too, this precious crock of gold? +Wo's me, I never knew real trouble till I had it! Look at me, and judge; +what has made me live like a beast, sin like a heathen, and lie down +here like a felon? what has made me curse Ben Burke—kind, hearty, +friendly Ben?—and given my poor good boy an ill-report as having stolen +and slain? all this crock of gold. But O, my Grace, to think that the +crock's curses touched thee, too! didn't it madden me to hear them? +Dear, pure, patient child, my darling, injured daughter, here upon my +knees I pray, forgive that wrong!" And he fell at her feet beseechingly.</p> + +<p>"My father," said the noble girl, lifting up his head, and passionately +kissing it; "when they whispered so against me, and Jonathan heard the +wicked things men said, I would have borne it all, all in silence, and +let them all believe me bad, father, if I could have guessed that by +uttering the truth, I should have seen thee here, in a dungeon, treated +as a—murderer! How was I to tell that men could be so base, as to +charge such crimes upon the innocent, when his only fault, or his +misfortune, was to find a crock of gold? Oh! forgive me, too, this +wrong, my father!"</p> + +<p>And they wept in each other's arms.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXXIX.</h3> + +<h4>JONATHAN'S TROTH.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Grace</span> had been all but an inmate of the prison, ever since her +father had been placed there on suspicion. Early and late, and often in +the day, was the duteous daughter at his cell, for the governor and the +turn-keys favoured her. Who could resist such beauty and affection, +entreating to stay with a father about to stand on trial for his life, +and making every effort to be allowed only to pray with him? Thus did +Grace spend all the week before those dread assizes.</p> + +<p>As to her daily maintenance, ever since that bitter morning when the +crock was found, her spiritual fears had obliged her to abstain from +touching so much as one penny of that unblest store; and, seeing that +honest pride would not let her be supported by grudged and common +charity, she had thankfully suffered the wages of her now betrothed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a>[Pg 117]</span> +Jonathan to serve as means whereon she lived, and (what cost more than +all her humble wants) whereby she could administer many little comforts +to her father in his prison. When she was not in the cell, Grace was +generally at the Hall, to the scandal of more than one Hurstleyan +gossip; but perhaps they did not know how usually kind Sarah Stack was +of the company, to welcome her with Jonathan, and play propriety. Sarah +was a true friend, one for adversity, and though young herself, and not +ill-looking, did not envy Grace her handsome lover; on the contrary, she +did all to make them happy, and had gone the friendly length of +insisting to find Grace and her family in tea and sugar, while all this +lasted. I like that much in Sarah Stack.</p> + +<p>However, the remainder of the virtuous world were not so considerate, +nor so charitable. Many neighbours shunned the poor girl, as if +contaminated by the crimes which Roger had undoubtedly committed: the +more elderly unmarried sisterhood, as we have chronicled already, were +overjoyed at the precious opportunity:—"Here was the pert vixen, whom +all the young fellows so shamelessly followed, turned out, after all, a +murderer's daughter;—they wished her joy of her eyes, and lips, and +curls, and pretty speeches: no good ever came of such naughty ways, that +the men liked so."</p> + +<p>Nay, even the tipsy crew at Bacchus's affected to treat her name with +scorn:—"The girl had made much noise about being called a trull, as if +many a better than she wasn't one; and, after all, what was the prudish +wench? a sort of she-butcher; they had no patience with her proud +looks."</p> + +<p>As to farmer Floyd, he made a great stir about his boy being about to +marry a felon's daughter; and the affectionate mother, with many +elaborate protestations, had "vowed to Master Jonathan, that she would +rather lay him out with her own hands, and a penny on each eye, than see +a Floyd disgrace himself in that 'ere manner."</p> + +<p>And uncles, aunts, and cousins, most disinterestedly exhorted that the +obstinate youth be disinherited—"Ay, Mr. Floyd, I wish your son was a +high-minded man like his father; but there's a difference, Mr. Floyd; I +wish he had your true blue yeoman's honour, and the spirit that becomes +his father's son: if the lad was mine, I'd cut him off with a shilling, +to buy a halter for his drab of a wife. Dang it, Mrs. Floyd, it'll never +do to see so queer a Mrs. Jonathan Junior, a standing in your tidy shoes +beside this kitchen dresser."</p> + +<p>These estimable counsels were, I grieve to say, of too flattering a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a>[Pg 118]</span>nature to displease, and of too lucrative a quality not to be +continually repeated; until, really, Jonathan was threatened with +beggary and the paternal malediction, if he would persist in his +disreputable attachment.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Jonathan clung to the right like a hero.</p> + +<p>"Granting poor Acton is the wretch you think—but I do not believe one +word of it—does his crime make his daughter wicked too? No; she is an +angel, a pure and blessed creature, far too good for such a one as I. +And happy is the man that has gained her love; he should not give her up +were she thrice a felon's daughter. My father and mother," Jonathan went +on to say, "never found a fault in her till now. Who was more welcome on +the hill than pretty Grace? who would oftenest come to nurse some sickly +lamb, but gentle Grace? who was wont, from her childhood up, to run home +with me so constantly, when school was over, and pleased my kinsfolk so +entirely with her nice manners and kind ways? Hadn't he fought for her +more than once, and though he came home with bruises on his face, his +mother praised him for it?" Then, with a natural divergence from the +strict subject-matter of objection, vicarious felony, Jonathan went on +to argue about other temporal disadvantages. "Hadn't he heard his father +say, that, if she had but money, she was fit to be a countess? and was +money, then, the only thing, whereof the having, or the not having, +could make her good or bad?—money, the only wealth for soul, and mind, +and body? Are affections nothing, are truth and honour nothing, religion +nothing, good sense nothing, health nothing, beauty nothing—unless +money gild them all? Nonsense!" said Jonathan, indignantly, warmed by +his amatory eloquence; "come weal, come wo, Grace and I go down to the +grave together; for better, if she can be better—for worse, if she +could sin—Grace Acton is my wealth, my treasure, and possession; and +let man do his worst, God himself will bless us!"</p> + +<p>So, all this knit their loves: she knew, and he felt, that he was going +in the road of nobleness and honour; and the fiery ordeal which he had +to struggle through, raised that hearty earthly lover more nearly to a +level with his heavenly-minded mistress. Through misfortune and +mistrust, and evil rumours all around, in spite of opposition from false +friends, and the scorn of slanderous foes, he stood by her more +constantly, perchance more faithfully, than if the course of true-love +had been smoother: he was her escort morning and evening to and from the +prison; his strong arm was the dread of babbling fools that spoke a word +of disrespect against the Actons; and his brave tongue was now making +itself heard, in open vindication of the innocent.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a>[Pg 119]</span></p> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XL" id="CHAPTER_XL"></a>CHAPTER XL.</h3> + +<h4>SUSPICIONS.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Yes</span>—Jonathan Floyd was beginning to speak out boldly certain +strange suspicions he had entertained of Jennings. It was a courageous, +a rash, a dangerous thing to do: he did not know but what it might have +jeoparded his life, say nothing of his livelihood: but Floyd did it.</p> + +<p>Ever since that inquest, contrived to be so quickly and so quietly got +over, he had noticed Simon's hurried starts, his horrid looks, his +altered mien in all he did and said, his new nervous ways at +nightfall—John Page to sleep in Mr. Jennings's chamber, and a +rush-light perpetually—his shudder whenever he had occasion to call at +the housekeeper's room, and his evident shrinking from the frequent +phrase "Mrs. Quarles's murder."</p> + +<p>Then again, Jonathan would often lie awake at nights, thinking over +divers matters connected with his own evidence before the coroner, which +he began to see might be of great importance. Jennings said, he had gone +out to still the dog by the front door—didn't he?—"How then, Mr. +Jennings, did you contrive to push back the top bolt? The Hall chairs +had not come then, and you are a little fellow, and you know that nobody +in the house could reach, without a lift, that bolt but me. Besides, +before Sir John came down, the hinges of that door creaked, like a +litter o' kittens screaming, and the lock went so hard for want of use +and oil, that I'll be sworn your gouty chalkstone fingers could never +have turned it: now, I lay half awake for two hours, and heard no creak, +no key turned; but I tell you what I did hear though, and I wish now I +had said it at that scanty, hurried inquest; I heard what I now believe +were distant screams (but I was so sleepy), and a kind of muffled +scuffling ever so long: but I fancied it might be a horse in the stable +kicking among the straw in a hunter's loose box. I can guess what it was +now—cannot you, Mr. Simon?—I say, butler, you must have gone out to +quiet Don—who by the way can't abear the sight of you—through Mrs. +Quarles's room: and, for all your threats, I'm not afeard to tell you +what I think. First answer me this, Mr. Simon Jennings:—where were you +all that night, when we were looking for you?—Oh! you choose to forget, +do you? I can help your memory, Mr. Butler; what do you think of the +shower-bath in Mother Quarles's room?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>[Pg 120]</span>As Jonathan, one day at dinner in the servants' hall, took occasion to +direct these queries to the presiding Simon, the man gave such a horrid +start, and exclaimed, "Away, I say!" so strangely, that Jonathan could +doubt no longer—nor, in fact, any other of the household: Jennings gave +them all round a vindictive scowl, left the table, hastened to his own +room, and was seen no more that day.</p> + +<p>Speculation now seemed at an end, it had ripened into probability;—but +what evidence was there to support so grave a charge against this rigid +man? Suspicions are not half enough to go upon—especially since Roger +Acton seemed to have had the money. Therefore, though the folks at +Hurstley, Sir John, his guests, and all the house, could not but think +that Mr. Jennings acted very oddly—still, he had always been a strange +creature, an unpopular bailiff; nobody understood him. So, Floyd, to his +own no small danger, stood alone in accusing the man openly.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XLI" id="CHAPTER_XLI"></a>CHAPTER XLI.</h3> + +<h4>GRACE'S ALTERNATIVE.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Very</span> shortly after that remarkable speech in the servants' +hall, Jonathan found another reason for believing that Mr. Simon +Jennings was equal to any imaginable amount of human wickedness. That +reason will shortly now appear; but we must first of all dig at its +roots somewhat deeper than Jonathan's mental husbandry could manage.</p> + +<p>If any trait of character were wanting to complete the desperate infamy +of Jennings—(really I sometimes hope that his grandfather's madness had +a kind of rëawakening in this accursed man)—it was furnished by a new +and shrewd scheme for feeding to the full his lust of gold. The bailiff +had more than once, as we have hinted, found means to increase his evil +hoard, by having secretly gained power over female innocence and honest +reputation: similarly he now devised a deep-laid plot, nothing short of +diabolical. His plot was this: and I choose to hurry over such foul +treason. Let a touch or two hint its outlines: those who will, may paint +up the picture for themselves. Simon looked at Sir John—young, gay, +wealthy; he coveted his purse, and fancied that the surest bait to catch +that fish was fair Grace Acton: if he could <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>[Pg 121]</span>entrap her for his master +(to whom he gave full credit for delighting in the plan), he counted +surely on magnificent rewards. How then to entrap her? Thus:—he, +representing himself as prosecutor of Roger, the accused, held for him, +he averred, the keys of life and death: he would set this idea (whether +true or not little mattered, if it served his purpose) before an +affectionate daughter, who should have it in her power to save her +parent, if, and only if, she would yield herself to Jennings: and he +well knew that, granting she gave herself secretly to him first, on such +a bribe as her father's liberation, he would have no difficulty whatever +in selling her second-hand beauty on his own terms to his master. It was +a foul scheme, and shall not be enlarged upon: but (as will appear) thus +slightly to allude to it was needful to our tale, as well as to the +development of character in Mammon's pattern-slave, and to the fullness +of his due retribution in this world. I may add, that if any thing could +make the plan more heinous—if any shade than blackest can be +blacker—this extra turpitude is seen in the true consideration, that +the promise to Grace of her father's safety would be entirely futile—as +Jennings knew full well; the crown was prosecutor, not he: and +circumstantial evidence alone would be sufficient to condemn. Again, it +really is nothing but bare justice to remark, with reference to Sir +John, that the deep-dyed villain reckoned quite without his host; for +however truly the baronet had oft-times been much less a self-denying +Scipio than a wanton Alcibiades, still the fine young fellow would have +flung Simon piecemeal to his hounds, if ever he had breathed so +atrocious a temptation: the maid was pledged, and Vincent knew it.</p> + +<p>Now, it so happened that one evening at dusk, when Grace as usual was +obliged to leave the prison, there was no Jonathan in waiting to +accompany her all the dreary long way home: this was strange, as his +good-hearted master, privately informed of his noble attachment, never +refused the man permission, but winked, for the time, at his frequent +evening absence. Nevertheless, on this occasion, as would happen now and +then, Floyd could not escape from the dining-room; probably because—Mr. +Jennings had secretly gone forth to escort the girl himself. +Accordingly, instead of loved Jonathan, sidled up to her the loathsome +Simon.</p> + +<p>Let me not soil these pages by recording, in however guarded phrase, the +grossness of this wretch's propositions; it was a long way to Hurstley, +and the reptile never ceased tormenting her every step of it, till the +village was in sight: twice she ran, and he ran too, keeping up with +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a>[Pg 122]</span>her, and pouring into her ear a father's cruel fate and his own +detestable alternative. She never once spoke to him, but kept on praying +in her own pure mind for a just acquittal; not for one moment would she +entertain the wicked thought of "doing evil that good might come;" and +so, with flushed cheek, tingling ears, the mien of an insulted empress, +and the dauntless resolution of a heroine, she hastened on to Hurstley.</p> + +<p>Look here! by great good fortune comes Jonathan Floyd to meet her.</p> + +<p>"Save me, Jonathan, save me!" and she fainted in his arms.</p> + +<p>Now, truth to say, though Sir John knew it, Simon did not, that Grace +was Jonathan's beloved and betrothed; and the cause lay simply in this, +that Jonathan had frankly told his master of it, when he found the +dreadful turn things had taken with poor Roger; but as to Simon, no +mortal in the neighbourhood ever communicated with him, further than as +urged by fell necessity. Of course, the lovers' meetings were as private +as all such matters generally are; and Sarah's aid managed them +admirably. Therefore it now came to pass that Simon and Jonathan looked +on each other in mutual astonishment, and needs must wait until Grace +Acton could explain the "save me." Not but that Jennings seemed much as +if he wished to run away; but he did not know how to manage it.</p> + +<p>"Dear Jonathan," she whispered feebly, "save me from Simon Jennings."</p> + +<p>In an instant, Jonathan's grasp was tightly involved in the bailiff's +stiff white neckcloth. And Grace, with much maidenly reserve, told her +lover all she dared to utter of that base bartering for her father's +life.</p> + +<p>"Come straight along with me, you villain, straight to the master!" And +the sturdy Jonathan, administering all the remainder of the way (a +quarter of a mile of avenue made part of it) innumerable kickings and +cuffings, hauled the half-mummied bailiff into the servants' hall.</p> + +<p>"Now then, straight before the master! John Page, be so good as to knock +at the dining-room door, and ask master very respectfully if his honour +will be good enough to suffer me to speak to him."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>[Pg 123]</span></p> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XLII" id="CHAPTER_XLII"></a>CHAPTER XLII.</h3> + +<h4>THE DISMISSAL.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was after dinner. Sir John and his friends had somehow been +less jovial than usual; they were absolutely dull enough to be talking +politics. So, when the boy of many buttons tapped at the door, and +meekly brought in Jonathan's message, recounting also how he had got Mr. +Jennings in tow for some inexplicable crime, the strangeness of the +affair was a very welcome incident: both host and guests hailed it an +adventure.</p> + +<p>"By all means, let Jonathan come in."</p> + +<p>The trio were just outside; and when the blue and silver footman, +hauling in by his unrelinquished throat that scared bailiff, and +followed by the blushing village beauty, stood within the room, Sir John +and his half-dozen friends greeted the <i>tableau</i> with united +acclamations.</p> + +<p>"I say, Pypp, that's a devilish fine creature," metaphorically remarked +the Honorable Lionel Poynter.</p> + +<p>"Yaas." Lord George was a long, sallow, slim young man, with a goatish +beard, like the Duc d'Aumale's; he affected extreme fashion and infinite +<i>sangfroid</i>.</p> + +<p>"Well, Jonathan, what is it?" asked the baronet.</p> + +<p>"Why, in one word, my honoured master, this scoundrel here has been +wickedly insulting my own poor dear Grace, by promising to save her +father from the gallows if—if—"</p> + +<p>"If what, man? speak out," said Mr. Poynter.</p> + +<p>"You don't mean to say, Jennings, that you are brute enough to be +seducing that poor man Roger's daughter, just as he's going to be tried +for his life?" asked Sir John.</p> + +<p>Simon uttered nothing in reply; but Grace burst into tears.</p> + +<p>"A fair idea that, 'pon my honour," drawled the chivalrous Pypp, +proceeding to direct his delicate attentions towards the weeping damsel.</p> + +<p>"Simon Jennings," said Sir John, after pausing in vain for his reply, "I +have long wished to get rid of you, sir. Silence! I know you, and have +been finding out your rascally proceedings these ten days past. I have +learnt much, more than you may fancy: and now this crowning villany +[what if he had known of the ulterior designs?] gives me fair occasion +to say once and for ever, begone!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a>[Pg 124]</span>Jennings drew himself up with an air of insufferable impudence, and +quietly answered,</p> + +<p>"John Vincent, I am proud to leave your service. I trust I can afford to +live without your help."</p> + +<p>There was a general outcry at this speech, and Jonathan collared him +again; but the baronet calmly set all straight by saying,</p> + +<p>"Perhaps, sir, you may not be aware that your systematic thievings and +extortions have amply justified me in detaining your iron chest and +other valuables, until I find out how you may have come by them."</p> + +<p>This was the <i>coup de grace</i> to Jennings, who looked scared and +terrified:—what! all gone—all, his own beloved hoard, and that +dear-bought crock of gold? Then Sir John added, after one minute of +dignified and indignant silence,</p> + +<p>"Begone!—Jonathan put him out; and if you will kick him out of the +hall-door on your private account, I'll forgive you for it."</p> + +<p>With that, the liveried Antinous raised the little monster by the small +of the back, drew him struggling from the presence, and lifting him up +like a football, inflicted one enormous kick that sent him spinning down +the whole flight of fifteen marble stairs. This exploit accomplished to +the satisfaction of all parties, Jonathan naturally enough returned to +look for Grace; and his master, with a couple of friends who had run to +the door to witness the catastrophe, returned immediately before him.</p> + +<p>"Lord George Pypp, you will oblige me by leaving the young woman alone;" +was Sir John's first angry reproof when he perceived the rustic beauty +radiant with indignation at some mean offence.</p> + +<p>"The worthy baronet wa-ants her for himself," drawled Pypp.</p> + +<p>"Say that again, my lord, and you shall follow Jennings."</p> + +<p>Whilst the noble youth was slowly elaborating a proper answer, +Jonathan's voice was heard once more: he had long looked very white, +kept both hands clenched, and seemed as if, saving his master's +presence, he could, and would have vanquished the whole room of them.</p> + +<p>"Master, have I your honour's permission to speak?"</p> + +<p>"No, Jonathan, I'll speak for you; if, that is to say, Lord George +will—"</p> + +<p>"Paardon me, Sir John Devereux Vincent, your feyllow—and his master, +are not fit company for Lord George Pypp;"—and he leisurely proceeded +to withdraw.</p> + +<p>"Stop a minute, Pypp, I've just one remark to make," hurriedly exclaimed +Mr. Lionel Poynter, "if Sir John will suffer me; Vincent, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>[Pg 125]</span>my good +friend, we are wrong—Pypp's wrong, and so am I. First then, let me beg +pardon of a very pretty girl, for making her look prettier by blushes; +next, as the maid really is engaged to you, my fine fellow, it is not +beneath a gentleman to say, I hope that you'll forgive me for too warmly +admiring your taste; as for George's imputation, Vincent—"</p> + +<p>"I beyg to observe," enunciated the noble scion, "I'm awf, Poynter."</p> + +<p>He gradually drew himself away, and the baronet never saw him more.</p> + +<p>"For shame, Pypp!" shouted after him the warm-hearted Siliphant; "I tell +you what it is, Vincent, you must let me give a toast:—'Grace and her +lover!' here, my man, your master allows you to take a glass of wine +with us; help your beauty too."</p> + +<p>The toast was drank with high applause: and before Jonathan humbly led +away his pleased and blushing Grace, he took an opportunity of saying,</p> + +<p>"If I may be bold enough to speak, kind gentlemen, I wish to thank you: +I oughtn't to be long, for I am nothing but your servant; let it be +enough to say my heart is full. And I'm in hopes it wouldn't be very +wrong in me, kind gentlemen, to propose;—'My noble master—honour and +happiness to him!'"</p> + +<p>"Bravo! Jonathan, bravo-o-o-o!" there was a clatter of glasses;—and the +humble pair of lovers retreated under cover of the toast.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XLIII" id="CHAPTER_XLIII"></a>CHAPTER XLIII.</h3> + +<h4>SIMON ALONE.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Jennings</span> gathered himself up, from that Jew-of-Malta tumble +down the steps, less damaged by the fall than could have been imagined +possible; the fact being that his cat-like nature had stood him in good +stead—he had lighted on his feet; and nothing but a mighty dorsal +bruise bore witness to the prowess of a Jonathan.</p> + +<p>But, if his body was comparatively sound, the inner man was bruised all +over: he crept back, and retreated to his room, in as broken and +despondent a frame of mind, as any could have wished to bless him +wherewithal. However, he still had one thing left to live for: his +hoard—that precious hoard within his iron box, and then—the crock of +gold.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a>[Pg 126]</span> He took Sir John's threat about detaining, and so forth, as +merely future, and calculated on rendering it nugatory, by decamping +forthwith, chattels and all; but he little expected to find that the +idea had already been acted upon!</p> + +<p>On that identical afternoon, when Simon had gone forth to insult Grace +Acton with his villanous proposals, Sir John, on returning from a ride, +had commanded his own seal to be placed on all Mr. Jennings's effects, +and the boxes to be forthwith removed to a place of safety: induced +thereto by innumerable proofs from every quarter that the bailiff had +been cheating him on a most liberal scale, and plundering his tenants +systematically. Therefore, when Jennings hastened to his chamber to +console himself for all things by looking at his gold, and counting out +a bag or two—it was gone, gone, irrevocably gone! safely stored away +for rigid scrutiny in the grated muniment-room of Hurstley. Oh, what a +howl the caitiff gave, when he saw that his treasure had been taken! he +was a wild bull in a net; a crocodile caught upon the hooks; a hyena at +bay. What could he do? which way should he turn? how help himself, or +get his gold again? Unluckily—Oh, confusion, confusion!—his +account-books were along with all his hoard, those tell-tale legers, +wherein he had duly noted down, for his own private and triumphant +glance, the curious difference between his lawful and unlawful gains; +there, was every overcharge recorded, every matter of extortion +systematically ranged, that he might take all the tenants in their turn; +there, were filed the receipts of many honest men, whom the guardians +and Sir John had long believed to be greatly in arrear; there, was +recorded at length the catalogue of dues from tradesmen; there, the list +of bribes for the custom of the Hall. It would amply authorize Sir John +in appropriating the whole store; and Jennings thought of this with +terror. Every thing was now obviously lost, lost! Oh, sickening little +word, all lost! all he had ever lived for—all which had made him live +the life he did—all which made him fear to die. "Fear to die—ha! who +said that? I will not fear to die; yes, there is one escape left, I will +hazard the blind leap; this misery shall have an end—this sleepless, +haunted, cheated, hated wretch shall live no longer—ha! ha! ha! ha! +I'll do it! I'll do it!"</p> + +<p>Then did that wretched man strive in vain to kill himself, for his hour +was not yet come. His first idea was laudanum—that only mean of any +thing like rest to him for many weeks; and pouring out all he had, a +little phial, nearly half a wine-glass full, he quickly drank it off: no +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a>[Pg 127]</span>use—no use; the agitation of his mind was too intense, and the habit +of a continually increasing dose had made him proof against the poison; +it would not even lull him, but seemed to stretch and rack his nerves, +exciting him to deeds of bloody daring. Should he rush out, like a Malay +running a muck, with a carving-knife in each hand, and kill right and +left:—vengeance! vengeance! on Jonathan Floyd, and John Vincent? No, +no; for some of them at last would overcome him, think him mad, and, O +terror!—his doom for life, without the means of death, would be +solitary confinement. "Stay! with this knife in my hand—means of +death—yes, it shall be so." And he hurriedly drew the knife across his +throat; no use, nothing done; his cowardly skin shrank away from +cutting—he dared not cut again; a little bloody scratch was all.</p> + +<p>But the heart, the heart—that should be easier! And the miscreant, not +quite a Cato, gave a feeble stab, that made a little puncture. Not yet, +Simon Jennings; no, not yet; you shall not cheat the gallows. "Ha! +hanging, hanging! why had I not thought of that before?"</p> + +<p>He mounted on a chair with a gimlet in his hand, and screwed it tightly +into the wainscotting as high as he could reach; then he took a cord +from the sacking of his bed, secured it to the gimlet, made a noose, put +his head in, kicked the chair away—and swung by his wounded neck; in +vain, all in vain; as he struggled in the agonies of self-protecting +nature, the handle of the gimlet came away, and he fell heavily to the +ground.</p> + +<p>"Bless us!" said Sarah to one of the house-maids, as they were arranging +their curl-papers to go to bed: "what can that noise be in Mr. +Jennings's room? his tall chest of drawers has fallen, I shouldn't +wonder: it was always unsafe to my mind. Listen, Jenny, will you?"</p> + +<p>Jenny crept out, and, as laudable females sometimes do, listened at +Simon's key-hole.</p> + +<p>"Lack-a-daisy, Sall, such a groaning and moaning; p'raps he's a-dying: +put on your cap again, and tell Jonathan to go and see."</p> + +<p>Sarah did as she was bid, and Jonathan did as he was bid; and there was +Mr. Jennings on the floor, blue in the face, with a halter round his +neck.</p> + +<p>The house was soon informed of the interesting event, and the bailiff +was nursed as tenderly as if he had been a sucking babe; fomentations, +applications, hot potations: but he soon came to again, without any hope +or wish to repeat the dread attempt: he was kept in bed, closely +watched, and Stephen Cramp, together with his rival, Eager, remained +continually in alternate attendance: until a day or two recovered him as +strong as ever. I told you, Simon Jennings, that your time was not yet +come.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a>[Pg 128]</span></p> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XLIV" id="CHAPTER_XLIV"></a>CHAPTER XLIV.</h3> + +<h4>THE TRIAL.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> trial now came on, and Roger Acton stood arraigned of +robbery and murder. I must hasten over lengthy legal technicalities, +which would only serve to swell this volume, without adding one iota to +its interest or usefulness. Nothing could be easier, nothing more worth +while, as a matter of mere book-making, than to tear a few pages out of +some musty record of Criminal Court Practice or other Newgate +Calendar-piece of authorship, and wade wearily through the length and +breadth of indictments, speeches, examinations, and all the other +learned clatter of six hours in the judgment-halls of law. If the reader +wishes for all this, let him pore over those unhealthy-looking books, +whose exterior is dove-coloured as the kirtle of innocence, but their +inwards black as the conscience of guilt; whitened sepulchres, all +spotless without; but within them are enshrined the quibbling knavery, +the distorted ingenuity, the mystifying learnedness, the warped and +warping views of truth, the lying, slandering, bad-excusing, +good-condemning principles and practices of those who cater for their +custom at the guiltiest felon's cell, and would glory in defending +Lucifer himself.</p> + +<p>In the case of sheer innocence, indeed, as Roger's was—or in one of +much doubt and secresy, where the client denies all guilt, and the +counsel sees reason to believe him—let the advocate manfully battle out +his cause: but where crime has poured out his confessions in a +counsellor's ear—is not this man bought by gold to be a partaker and +abettor in his sins, when he strives with all his might to clear the +guilty, and not seldom throws the hideous charge on innocence? If the +advocate has no wish to entrap his own conscience, nor to damage the +tissue of his honour, let him reject the client criminal who confesses, +and only plead for those from whom he has had no assurance of their +guilt; or, better far, whose innocence he heartily believes in.</p> + +<p>Such an advocate was Mr. Grantly, a barrister of talents and experience, +who, from motives of the purest benevolence, did all that in him lay for +Roger Acton. In one thing, however, and that of no small import, the +kindly cautious man of law had contrived to do more harm than good: for, +after having secretly made every effort, but in vain, to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a>[Pg 129]</span>find Ben Burke +as a witness—and after having heard that the aforesaid Ben was a +notorious poacher, and only intimate at Hurstley with Acton and his +family—he strongly recommended Roger to say nothing about the man or +his adventure, as the acknowledgment of such an intimacy would only +damage his cause: all that need appear was, that he found the crock in +his garden, never mind how he "thought" it got there: poachers are not +much in the habit of flinging away pots of gold, and no jury would +believe but that the ill-reputed personage in question was an accomplice +in the murder, and had shared the spoil with his friend Roger Acton. All +this was very shrewd; and well meant; but was not so wise, for all that, +as simple truth would have been: nevertheless, Roger acquiesced in it, +for a better reason than Mr. Grantly's—namely, this: his feelings +toward poor Ben had undergone an amiable revulsion, and, well aware how +the whole neigbourhood were prejudiced against him for his freebooting +propensities, he feared to get his good rough friend into trouble if he +mentioned his nocturnal fishing at Pike island; especially when he +considered that little red Savings' Bank, which, though innocent as to +the getting, was questionable as to the rights of spending, and that, +really, if he involved the professed poacher in this mysterious affair, +he might put his liberty or life into very serious jeopardy. On this +account, then, which Grace could not entirely find fault with (though +she liked nothing that savoured of concealment), Roger Acton agreed to +abide by Mr. Grantly's advice; and thus he never alluded to his +connexion with the poacher.</p> + +<p>Enlightened as we are, and intimate with all the hidden secrets of the +story, we may be astonished to hear that, notwithstanding all Mr. +Grantly's ingenuity, and all the siftings of cross-questioners, the case +was clear as light against poor Acton. No <i>alibi</i>, he lived upon the +spot. No witnesses to character; for Roger's late excesses had wiped +away all former good report: kind Mr. Evans himself, with tears in his +eyes, acknowledged sadly that Acton had once been a regular church-goer, +a frequent communicant: but had fallen off of late, poor fellow! And +then, in spite of protestations to the contrary, behold! the <i>corpus +delicti</i>—that unlucky crock of gold, actually in the man's possession, +and the fragment of shawl—was not that sufficient?</p> + +<p>Jonathan Floyd in open court had been base enough to accuse Mr. Jennings +of the murder. Mr. Jennings indeed! a strict man of high character, +lately dismissed, after twenty years' service, in the most arbitrary +manner by young Sir John, who had taken a great liking to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a>[Pg 130]</span> Actons. +People could guess why, when they looked on Grace: and Grace, too, was +sufficient reason to account for Jonathan's wicked suspicions; of +course, it was the lover's interest to throw the charge on other people. +As to Mr. Jennings himself, just recovered from a fit of illness, it was +astonishing how liberally and indulgently he prayed the court to show +the prisoner mercy: his white and placid face looked quite benevolently +at him—and this respectable person was a murderer, eh, Mr. Jonathan?</p> + +<p>So, when the judge summed up, and clearly could neither find nor make a +loop-hole for the prisoner, the matter seemed accomplished; all knew +what the verdict must be—poor Roger Acton had not the shadow of a +chance.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XLV" id="CHAPTER_XLV"></a>CHAPTER XLV.</h3> + +<h4>ROGER'S DEFENCE.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Then</span>, while the jury were consulting—they would not leave the +box, it seemed so clear—Roger broke the death-like silence; and he +said:</p> + +<p>"Judge, I crave your worship's leave to speak: and hearken to me, +countrymen. Many evil things have I done in my time, both against God +and my neighbour: I am ashamed, as well I may be, when I think on 'em: I +have sworn, and drunk, and lied; I have murmured loudly—coveted +wickedly—ay, and once I stole. It was a little theft, I lost it on the +spot, and never stole again: pray God, I never may. Nevertheless, +countrymen, and sinful though I be in the sight of Him who made us, +according to man's judgment and man's innocency, I had lived among you +all blameless, until I found that crock of gold. I did find it, +countrymen, as God is my witness, and, therefore, though a sinner, I +appeal to Him: He knoweth that I found it in the sedge that skirts my +garden, at the end of my own celery trench. I did wickedly and foolishly +to hide my find, worse to deny it, and worst of all to spend it in the +low lewd way I did. But of robbery I am guiltless as you are. And as to +this black charge of murder, till Simon Jennings spoke the word, I never +knew it had been done. Folk of Hurstley, friends and neighbours, you all +know Roger Acton—the old-time honest Roger of these forty years, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a>[Pg 131]</span>before the devil made him mad by giving him much gold—did he ever +maliciously do harm to man or woman, to child or poor dumb brute?—No, +countrymen, I am no murderer. That the seemings are against me, I wot +well; they may excuse your judgment in condemning me to death—and I and +the good gentleman there who took my part (Heaven bless you, sir!) +cannot go against the facts: but they speak falsely, and I truly; Roger +Acton is an innocent man: may God defend the right!"</p> + +<p>"Amen!" earnestly whispered a tremulous female voice, "and God will save +you, father."</p> + +<p>The court was still as death, except for sobbing; the jury were doubting +and confounded; in vain Mr. Jennings, looking at the foreman, shook his +head and stroked his chin in an incredulous and knowing manner; clearly +they must retire, not at all agreed; and the judge himself, that masqued +man in flowing wig and ermine, but still warmed by human sympathies, +struck a tear from his wrinkled cheek; and all seemed to be +involuntarily waiting (for the jury, though unable to decide, had not +yet left their box), to see whether any sudden miracle would happen to +save a man whom evidence made so guilty, and yet he bore upon his open +brow the genuine signature of Innocence.</p> + +<p>"Silence, there, silence! you can't get in; there's no room for'ards!" +But a couple of javelin-men at the door were knocked down right and +left, and through the dense and suffocating crowd, a black-whiskered +fellow, elbowing his way against their faces, spite of all obstruction, +struggled to the front behind the bar. Then, breathless with gigantic +exertion (it was like a mammoth treading down the cedars), he roared +out,</p> + +<p>"Judge, swear me, I'm a witness; huzza! it's not too late."</p> + +<p>And the irreverent gentleman tossed a fur cap right up to the skylight.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XLVI" id="CHAPTER_XLVI"></a>CHAPTER XLVI.</h3> + +<h4>THE WITNESS.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Grantly</span> brightened up at once, Grace looked happily to +Heaven, and Roger Acton shouted out,</p> + +<p>"Thank God! thank God!—there's Ben Burke!"</p> + +<p>Yes, he had heard miles away of his friend's danger about an old <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a>[Pg 132]</span>shawl +and a honey-pot full of gold, and he had made all speed, with Tom in his +train, to come and bear witness to the innocence of Roger. The sensation +in court, as may be well conceived, was thrilling; but a vociferous +crier, and the deep anxiety to hear this sturdy witness, soon reduced +all again to silence.</p> + +<p>Then did they swear Benjamin Burke, who, to the scandal of his cause, +would insist upon stating his profession to be "poacher;" and at first, +poor simple fellow, seemed to have a notion that a sworn witness meant +one who swore continually; but he was soon convinced otherwise, and his +whole demeanour gradually became as polite and deferent as his coarse +nature would allow. And Ben told his adventure on Pike island, as we +have heard him tell it, pretty much in the same words, for the judge and +Mr. Grantly let him take his own courses; and then he added (with a +characteristic expletive, which we may as well omit, seeing it +occasioned a cry of "order" in the court), "There, if that there +white-livered little villain warn't the chap that brought the crocks, my +name an't Ben Burke."</p> + +<p>"Good Heavens! Mr. Jennings, what's the matter?" said a briefless one, +starting up: this was Mr. Sharp, a personage on former occasions +distinguished highly as a thieves' advocate, but now, unfortunately, out +of work. "Loosen his cravat, some one there; the gentleman is in fits."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Aunt—Aunt Quarles, don't throttle me; I'll tell all—all; let go, +let go!" and the wretched man slowly recovered, as Ben Burke said,</p> + +<p>"Ay, my lord, ask him yourself, the little wretch can tell you all about +it."</p> + +<p>"I submit, my lurd," interposed the briefless one, "that this +respectable gentleman is taken ill, and that his presence may now be +dispensed with, as a witness in the cause."</p> + +<p>"No, sir, no;" deliberately answered Jennings; "I must stay: the time I +find is come; I have not slept for weeks; I am exhausted utterly; I have +lost my gold; I am haunted by her ghost; I can go no where but that face +follows me—I can do nothing but her fingers clutch my throat. It is +time to end this misery. In hope to lay her spirit, I would have offered +up a victim: but—but she will not have him. Mine was the hand that—"</p> + +<p>"Pardon me," upstarted Mr. Sharp, "this poor gentleman is a mono-maniac; +pray, my lurd, let him be removed while the trial is proceeding."</p> + +<p>"You horse-hair hypocrite, you!" roared Ben, "would you hang the +innocent, and save the guilty?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a>[Pg 133]</span>Would he? would Mr. Philip Sharp? Ay, that he would; and glad of such a +famous opportunity. What! would not Newgate rejoice, and Horsemonger be +glad? Would not his bag be filled with briefs from the community of +burglars, and his purse be rich in gold subscribed by the brotherhood of +thieves? Great at once would be his name among the purlieus of iniquity: +and every rogue in London would retain but Philip Sharp. Would he? ask +him again.</p> + +<p>But Jennings quietly proceeded like a speaking statue.</p> + +<p>"I am not mad, most noble—" [the Bible-read villain was from habit +quoting Paul]—"my lord, I mean. My hand did the deed: I throttled her" +(here he gave a scared look over his shoulder): "yes—I did it once and +again: I took the crock of gold. You may hang me now, Aunt Quarles."</p> + +<p>"My lurd, my lurd, this is a most irregular proceeding," urged Mr. +Sharp; "on the part of the prisoner—I, I crave pardon—on behalf of +this most respectable and deluded gentleman, Mr. Simon Jennings, I +contend that no one may criminate himself in this way, without the +shadow of evidence to support such suicidal testimony. Really, my +lurd—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, sir, but my father may go free?" earnestly asked Grace. But Ben +Burke's voice—I had almost written woice—overwhelmed them all:</p> + +<p>"Let me speak, judge, an't it please your honour, and take you notice, +Master Horsehair. You wan't ewidence, do you, beyond the man's +confession: here, I'll give it you. Look at this here wice:" and he +stretched forth his well-known huge and horny hand:</p> + +<p>"When I caught that dridful little reptil by the arm, he wriggled like a +sniggled eel, so I was forced you see, to grasp him something tighter, +and could feel his little arm-bones crack like any chicken's: now then, +if his left elbow an't black and blue, though it's a month a-gone and +more, I'll eat it. Strip him and see."</p> + +<p>No need to struggle with the man, or tear his coat off. Jennings +appeared only too glad to find that there was other evidence than his +own foul tongue, and that he might be hung at last without sacking-rope +or gimlet; so, he quietly bared his arm, and the elbow looked all manner +of colours—a mass of old bruises.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a>[Pg 134]</span></p> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XLVII" id="CHAPTER_XLVII"></a>CHAPTER XLVII.</h3> + +<h4>MR. SHARP'S ADVOCACY.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> whole court trembled with excitement: it was deep, still +silence; and the judge said,</p> + +<p>"Prisoner at the bar, there is now no evidence against you: gentlemen of +the jury, of course you will acquit him."</p> + +<p>The foreman: "All agreed, my lord, not guilty."</p> + +<p>"Roger Acton," said the judge, "to God alone you owe this marvellous, +almost miraculous, interposition: you have had many wrongs innocently to +endure, and I trust that the right feelings of society will requite you +for them in this world, as, if you serve Him, God will in the next. You +are honourably acquitted, and may leave this bar."</p> + +<p>In vain the crier shouted, in vain the javelin-men helped the crier, the +court was in a tumult of joy; Grace sprang to her father's neck, and Sir +John Vincent, who had been in attendance sitting near the judge all the +trial through, came down to him, and shook his hand warmly.</p> + +<p>Roger's eyes ran over, and he could only utter,</p> + +<p>"Thank God! thank God! He does better for me than I deserved." But the +court was hushed at last: the jury rësworn; certain legal forms and +technicalities speedily attended to, as counts of indictment, and so +forth: and the judge then quietly said,</p> + +<p>"Simon Jennings, stand at that bar."</p> + +<p>He stood there like an image.</p> + +<p>"My lurd, I claim to be prisoner's counsel."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Sharp—the prisoner shall have proper assistance by all means; but +I do not see how it will help your case, if you cannot get your client +to plead not guilty."</p> + +<p>While Mr. Philip Sharp converses earnestly with the criminal in +confidential whispers, I will entertain the sagacious reader with a few +admirable lines I have just cut out of a newspaper: they are headed</p> + +<p class='center'> +"<span class="smcap">suppression of truth and exclusion of evidence.</span> +</p> + +<p>"Lawyers abhor any short cut to the truth. The pursuit is the thing for +their pleasure and profit, and all their rules are framed for making the +most of it.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a>[Pg 135]</span>"Crime is to them precisely what the fox is to the sportsman: and the +object is not to pounce on it, and capture it at once, but to have a +good run for it, and to exhibit skill and address in the chase. Whether +the culprit or the fox escape or not, is a matter of indifference, the +run being the main thing.</p> + +<p>"The punishment of crime is as foreign to the object of lawyers, as the +extirpation of the fox is to that of sportsmen. The sportsman, because +he hunts the fox, sees in the summary destruction of the fox by the hand +of a clown, an offence foul, strange, and unnatural, little short of +murder. The lawyer treats crime in the same way: his business is the +chase of it; but, that it may exist for the chase, he lays down rules +protecting it against surprises and capture by any methods but those of +the forensic field.</p> + +<p>"One good turn deserves another, and as the lawyer owes his business to +crime, he naturally makes it his business to favour and spare it as much +as possible. To seize and destroy it wherever it can be got at, seems to +him as barbarous as shooting a bird sitting, or a hare in her form, does +to the sportsman. The phrase, to give <i>law</i>, for the allowance of a +start, or any chance of escape, expresses the methods of lawyers in the +pursuit of crime, and has doubtless been derived from their practice.</p> + +<p>"Confession is the thing most hateful to law, for this stops its sport +at the outset. It is the surrender of the fox to the hounds. 'We don't +want your stinking body,' says the lawyer; 'we want the run after the +scent. Away with you, be off; retract your admission, take the benefit +of telling a lie, give us employment, and let us take our chance of +hunting out, in our roundabout ways, the truth, which we will not take +when it lies before us.'"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>As I perceive that Mr. Sharp has not yet made much impression upon the +desponding prisoner, suffer me to recommend to your notice another +sensible leader: the abuse which it would combat calls loudly for +amendment. There is plenty of time to spare, for some preliminaries of +trial have yet to be arranged, and the judge has just stepped out to get +a sandwich, and every body stands at ease; moreover, gentle reader, the +paragraphs following are well worthy of your attention. Let us name +them,</p> + +<p class='center'> +"<span class="smcap">morbid sympathies</span>. +</p> + +<p>"We have often thought that the tenderness shown by our law to presumed +criminals is as injurious as it is inconsistent and excessive. A +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a>[Pg 136]</span>miserable beggar, a petty rioter, the wretch who steals a loaf to +satisfy the gnawings of his hunger, is roughly seized, closely examined, +and severely punished; meanwhile, the plain common sense of our mobs, if +not of our magistracy, has pitied the offender, and perhaps acquitted +him. But let some apparent murderer be caught, almost in the flagrant +deed of his atrocity; let him, to the best of all human belief, have +killed, disembowelled, and dismembered; let him have united the coolness +of consummate craft to the boldest daring of iniquity, and straightway +(though the generous crowd may hoot and hunt the wretch with yelling +execration) he finds in law and lawyers, refuge, defenders, and +apologists. Tenderly and considerately is he cautioned on no account to +criminate himself: he is exhorted, even by judges, to withdraw the +honest and truthful plea of 'guilty,' now the only amends which such a +one can make to the outraged laws of God and man: he is defended, even +to the desperate length of malignant accusation of the innocent, by +learned men, whose aim it is to pervert justice and screen the guilty! +he is lodged and tended with more circumstances of outward comfort and +consideration than he probably has ever experienced in all his life +before; and if, notwithstanding the ingenuity of his advocates, and the +merciful glosses of his judge, a simple-minded British jury capitally +convict him, and he is handed over to the executioner, he still finds +pious gentlemen ready to weep over him in his cell, and titled dames to +send him white camellias, to wear upon his heart when he is hanging.<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p> + +<p>"Now what is the necessary consequence of this, but a mighty, a +fearfully influential premium on crime? And what is its radical cause, +but the absurd indulgence wherewith our law greets the favoured, +<i>because</i> the atrocious criminal? Upon what principle of propriety, or +of natural justice, should a seeming murderer not be—we will not say +sternly, but even kindly—catechised, and for his very soul's sake +counselled to confess his guilt? Why should the <i>morale</i> of evidence be +so thoroughly lost sight of, and a malefactor, who is ready to +acknowledge crime, or unable, when questioned, to conceal it, on no +account be listened to, lest he may do his precious life irreparable +harm? It is not agonized repentance, or incidental disclosure, that +makes the culprit his own executioner, but his crime that has preceded; +it is not the weak, avowing tongue, but the bold and bloody hand.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a>[Pg 137]</span>"We are unwilling to allude specifically to the name of any recent +malefactor in connexion with these plain remarks; for, in the absence +alike of hindered voluntary confession and of incomplete legal evidence, +we would not prejudge, that is, prejudice a case. But we do desire to +exclaim against any further exhibition of that morbid tenderness +wherewith all persons are sure to be treated, if only they are accused +of enormities more than usually disgusting; and we specially protest +against that foolish, however ancient, rule in our criminal law, which +discourages and rejects the slenderest approach to a confession, while +it has sacrificed many an innocent victim to the uncertainty of +evidence, supported by nothing more safe than outward circumstantials."</p> + +<p>At length, and after much gesticulation and protestation, Mr. Sharp has +succeeded; he had apparently innoculated the miserable man with hopes; +for the miscreant now said firmly, "I plead not guilty."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The briefless one looked happy—nay, triumphant: Jennings was a wealthy +man, all knew; and, any how, he should bag a bouncing fee. How far such +money was likely to do him any good, he never stopped to ask. "Money is +money," said Philip Sharp and the Emperor Vespasian.</p> + +<p>We need not trouble ourselves to print Mr. Sharp's very flashy, flippant +speech. Suffice it to say, that, not content with asserting vehemently +on his conscience as a Christian, on his honour as a man, that Simon +Jennings was an innocent, maligned, persecuted individual; labouring, +perhaps, under mono-mania, but pure and gentle as the babe new-born—not +satisfied with traducing honest Ben Burke as a most suspicious witness, +probably a murderer—ay, <i>the</i> murderer himself, a mere riotous ruffian +[Ben here chucked his cap at him, and thereby countenanced the charge], +a mere scoundrel, not to say scamp, whom no one should believe upon his +oath; he again, with all the semblance of sincerity, accused, however +vainly, Roger Acton: and lastly, to the disgust and astonishment of the +whole court, added, with all acted appearances of fervent zeal for +justice, "And I charge his pious daughter, too, that far too pretty +piece of goods, Grace Acton, with being accessory to this atrocious +crime after the fact!"</p> + +<p>There was a storm of shames and hisses; but the judge allayed it, +quietly saying,</p> + +<p>"Mr. Sharp, be so good as to confine your attention to your client; he +appears to be quite worthy of you."</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Sharp, like the firm just man immortalized by Flaccus, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a>[Pg 138]</span>stood +stout against the visage of the judge, sneered at the wrath of citizens +commanding things unjust, turned to Ben Burke minaciously, calling him +"<i>Dux inquieti turbidus Adriæ</i>" [as Burke had heard this quotation, he +thought it was about the "ducks" he had been decoying], and altogether +seemed not about to be put down, though the huge globe crack about his +ears. After this, he calmly worded on, seeming to regard the judge's +stinging observation with the same sort of indifference as the lion +would a dew-drop on his mane; and having poured out all manner of +voluminous bombast, he gradually ran down, and came to a conclusion; +then, jumping up refreshed, like the bounding of a tennis-ball, he +proceeded to call witnesses; and, judging from what happened at the +inquest, as well as because he wished to overwhelm a suspected and +suspecting witness, he pounced, somewhat infelicitously, on Jonathan +Floyd.</p> + +<p>"So, my fine young fellow, you are a footman, eh, at Hurstley?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, an' it please you—or rather, an' it please my master."</p> + +<p>"You remember what happened on the night of the late Mrs. Quarles's +decease?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, many things happened; Mr. Jennings was lost, he wasn't to be found, +he was hid somewhere, nobody saw him till next morning."</p> + +<p>"Stop, sirrah! not quite so quick, if you please; you are on your oath, +be careful what you say. I have it in evidence, sirrah, before the +coroner;" and he looked triumphantly about him at this clencher to all +Jonathan's testimony; "that you saw him yourself that night speaking to +the dog; what do you mean by swearing that nobody saw him till next +morning?"</p> + +<p>"Well, mister, I mean this; whether or no poor old Mrs. Quarles saw her +affectionate nephew that night before the clock struck twelve, there's +none alive to tell; but no one else did—for Sarah and I sat up for him +till past midnight. He was hidden away somewhere, snug enough; and as I +verily believe, in the poor old 'ooman's own—"</p> + +<p>"Silence, silence! sir, I say; we want none of your impertinent guesses +here, if you please: to the point, sirrah, to the point; you swore +before the coroner, that you had seen Mr. Jennings, in his courage and +his kindness, quieting the dog that very night, and now—"</p> + +<p>"Oh," interrupted Jonathan in his turn, "for the matter of that, when I +saw him with the dog, it was hard upon five in the morning. And here, +gentlemen," added Floyd, with a promiscuous and comprehensive bow all +round, "if I may speak my mind about the business—"</p> + +<p>"Go down, sir!" said Mr. Sharp, who began to be afraid of truths.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a>[Pg 139]</span>"Pardon me, this may be of importance," remarked Roger Acton's friend; +"say what you have to say, young man."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, gentlemen and my lord, I mean to say thus much. Jennings +there, the prisoner (and I'm glad to see him standing at the bar), swore +at the inquest that he went to quiet Don, going round through the front +door; now, none could get through that door without my hearing of him; +and certainly a little puny Simon like him could never do so without I +came to help him; for the lock was stiff with rust, and the bolt out of +his reach."</p> + +<p>"Stop, young man; my respected client, Mr. Jennings, got upon a chair."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, sir? then he must ha' created the chair for that special +purpose: there wasn't one in the hall then; no, nor for two days after, +when they came down bran-new from Dowbiggins in London, with the rest o' +the added furnitur' just before my honoured master."</p> + +<p>This was conclusive, certainly; and Floyd proceeded.</p> + +<p>"Now, gentlemen and my lord, if Jennings did not go that way, nor the +kitchen-way neither—for he always was too proud for scullery-door and +kitchen—and if he did not give himself the trouble to unfasten the +dining-room or study windows, or to unscrew the iron bars of his own +pantry, none of which is likely, gentlemen—there was but one other way +out, and that way was through Bridget Quarles's own room. Now—"</p> + +<p>"Ah—that room, that bed, that corpse, that crock!—It is no use, no +use," the wretched miscreant added slowly, after his first hurried +exclamations; "I did the deed, I did it! guilty, guilty." And, +notwithstanding all Mr. Sharp's benevolent interferences, and appeals to +judge and jury on the score of mono-mania, and shruggings-up of +shoulders at his client's folly, and virtuous indignation at the evident +leaning of the court—the murderer detailed what he had done. He spoke +quietly and firmly, in his usually stern and tyrannical style, as if +severe upon himself, for being what?—a man of blood, a thief, a +perjured false accuser? No, no; lower in the scale of Mammon's judgment, +worse in the estimate of him whose god is gold; he was now a pauper, a +mere moneyless forked animal; a beggared, emptied, worthless, penniless +creature: therefore was he stern against his ill-starred soul, and took +vengeance on himself for being poor.</p> + +<p>It was a consistent feeling, and common with the mercantile of this +world; to whom the accidents of fortune are every thing, and the +qualities of mind nothing; whose affections ebb and flow towards +friends, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a>[Pg 140]</span>relations—yea, their own flesh and blood, with the varying +tide of wealth: whom a luckless speculation in cotton makes an enemy, +and gambling gains in corn restore a friend; men who fall down mentally +before the golden calf, and offer up their souls to Nebuchadnezzar's +idol: men who never saw harm nor shame in the craftiest usurer or +meanest pimp, provided he has thousands in the three per cents.; and +whose indulgent notions of iniquity reach their climax in the +phrase—the man is poor.</p> + +<p>So then, with unhallowed self-revenge, Simon rigidly detailed his +crimes: he led the whole court step by step, as I have led the reader, +through the length and breadth of that terrible night: of the facts he +concealed nothing, and the crowded hall of judgment shuddered as one +man, when he came to his awful disclosure, hitherto unsuspected, +unimagined, of that second strangulation: as to feelings, he might as +well have been a galvanized mummy, an automaton lay-figure enunciating +all with bellows and clapper, for any sense he seemed to have of shame, +or fear, or pity; he admitted his lie about the door, complimented Burke +on the accuracy of his evidence, and declared Roger Acton not merely +innocent, but ignorant of the murder.</p> + +<p>This done, without any start or trepidation in his manner as formerly, +he turned his head over his left shoulder, and said, in a deep whisper, +heard all over the court, "And now, Aunt Quarles, I am coming; look out, +woman, I will have my revenge for all your hauntings: again shall we +wrestle, again shall we battle, again shall I throttle you, again, +again!"</p> + +<p>O, most fearful thought! who knoweth but it may be true? that spirits of +wickedness and enmity may execute each other's punishment, as those of +righteousness and love minister each other's happiness! that—damned +among the damned—the spirit of a Nero may still delight in torturing, +and that those who in this world were mutual workers of iniquity, may +find themselves in the next, sworn retributors of wrath? No idle threat +was that of the demoniac Simon, and possibly with no vain fears did the +ghost of the murdered speed away.</p> + +<p>When the sensation of horror, which for a minute delayed the +court-business, and has given us occasion to think that fearful thought, +when this had gradually subsided, the foreman of the jury, turning to +the judge, said,</p> + +<p>"My lord, we will not trouble your lordship to sum up; we are all +agreed—Guilty."</p> + +<p>One word about Mr. Sharp: he was entirely chagrined; his fortunes were +at stake; he questioned whether any one in Newgate would think <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a>[Pg 141]</span>of him +again. To make matters worse, when he whispered for a fee to Mr. +Jennings (for he did whisper, however contrary to professional +etiquette), that worthy gentleman replied by a significant sneer, to the +effect that he had not a penny to give him, and would not if he had: +whereupon Mr. Sharp began to coincide with the rest of the world in +regarding so impoverished a murderer as an atrocious criminal; then, +turning from his client with contempt, he went to the length of +congratulating Roger on his escape, and actually offered his hand to Ben +Burke. The poacher's reply was characteristic: "As you means it kindly, +Master Horsehair, I won't take it for an insult: howsomdever, either +your hand or mine, I won't say which, is too dirty for shaking. Let me +do you a good turn, Master: there's a blue-bottle on your wig; I think +as it's Beelzebub a-whispering in your ear: allow me to drive him away." +And the poacher dealt him such a cuff that this barrister reeled again; +and instantly afterwards took advantage of the cloud of hair-powder to +leave the court unseen.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XLVIII" id="CHAPTER_XLVIII"></a>CHAPTER XLVIII.</h3> + +<h4>SENTENCE AND DEATH.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Silence</span>, silence! shouted the indignant crier, and the +episodical cause of Burke, <i>v.</i> Sharp, was speedily hushed.</p> + +<p>The eyes of all now concentred on the miserable criminal; for the time, +every thing else seemed forgotten. Roger, Grace, and Ben, grouped +together in the midst of many friends, who had crowded round them to +congratulate, leaned forward like the rest of that dense hall, as simply +thralled spectators. Mr. Grantly lifted up a pair of very moistened eyes +behind his spectacles, and looked earnestly on, with his wig, from +agitation, wriggled tails in front. The judge (it was good old Baron +Parker) put on the black cap to pronounce sentence. There was a pause.</p> + +<p>But we have forgotten Simon Jennings—what was he about? did that +"cynosure of neighbouring eyes" appear alarmed at his position, anxious +at his fate, or even attentive to what was going on? No: he not only +appeared, but was, the most unconcerned individual in the whole court: +he even tried to elude utter vacancy of thought by amusing himself <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></a>[Pg 142]</span>with +external things about him: and, on Wordsworth's principle of inducing +sleep by counting</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"A flock of sheep, that leisurely pass by,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">One after one,"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>he was trying to reckon, for pleasant peace of mind's sake, how many +folks were looking at him. Only see—he is turning his white stareful +face in every direction, and his lips are going a thousand and +forty-one, a thousand and forty-two, a thousand and forty-three; he will +not hurry it over, by leaving out the "thousand:" alas! this holiday of +idiotic occupation is all the respite now his soul can know.</p> + +<p>And the judge broke that awful silence, saying,</p> + +<p>"Prisoner at the bar, you are convicted on your own confession, as well +as upon other evidence, of crimes too horrible to speak of. The +deliberate repetition of that fearful murder, classes you among the +worst of wretches whom it has been my duty to condemn: and when to this +is added your perjured accusation of an innocent man, whom nothing but a +miracle has rescued, your guilt becomes appalling—too hideous for human +contemplation. Miserable man, prepare for death, and after that the +judgment; yet, even for you, if you repent, there may be pardon; it is +my privilege to tell even you, that life and hope are never to be +separated, so long as God is merciful, or man may be contrite. The +Sacrifice of Him who died for us all, for you, poor fellow-creature +[here the good judge wept for a minute like a child]—for you, no less +than for me, is available even to the chief of sinners. It is my duty +and my comfort to direct your blood-stained, but immortal soul, eagerly +to fly to that only refuge from eternal misery. As to this world, your +career of wickedness is at an end: covetousness has conceived and +generated murder; and murder has even over-stept its common bounds, to +repeat the terrible crime, and then to throw its guilt upon the +innocent. Entertain no hope whatever of a respite; mercy in your case +would be sin.</p> + +<p>"The sentence of the court is, that you, Simon Jennings, be taken from +that bar to the county jail, and thence on this day fortnight to be +conveyed to the place of execution within the prison, and there by the +hands of the common hangman be hanged by the neck—"</p> + +<p>At the word "neck," in the slow and solemn enunciation of the judge, +issued a terrific scream from the mouth of Simon Jennings: was he mad +after all—mad indeed? or was he being strangled by some unseen +executioner? Look at him, convulsively doing battle with an invisible +foe! his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"></a>[Pg 143]</span>eyes start; his face gets bluer and bluer; his hands, fixed +like griffin's talons, clutch at vacancy—he wrestles—struggles—falls.</p> + +<p>All was now confusion: even the grave judge, who had necessarily stopped +at that frightful interruption, leaned eagerly over his desk, while +barristers and serjeants learned in the law crowded round the prisoner: +"He is dying! air, there—air! a glass of water, some one!"</p> + +<p>About a thimbleful of water, after fifty spillings, arrived safely in a +tumbler; but as for air, no one in that court had breathed any thing but +nitrogen for four hours.</p> + +<p>He was dying: and three several doctors, hoisted over the heads of an +admiring multitude, rushed to his relief with thirsty lancets: +apoplexy—oh, of course, apoplexy: and they nodded to each other +confidentially.</p> + +<p>Yes, he was dying: they might not move him now: he must die in his sins, +at that dread season, upon that dread spot. Perjury, robbery, and +murder—all had fastened on his soul, and were feeding there like +harpies at a Strophadian feast, or vultures ravening on the liver of +Prometheus. Guilt, vengeance, death had got hold of him, and rent him, +as wild horses tearing him asunder different ways; he lay there +gurgling, strangling, gasping, panting: none could help him, none could +give him ease; he was going on the dark, dull path in the bottom of that +awful valley, where Death's cold shadow overclouds it like a canopy; he +was sinking in that deep black water, that must some day drown us +all—pray Heaven, with hope to cheer us then, and comfort in the fierce +extremity! His eye filmed, his lower jaw relaxed, his head dropped +back—he was dying—dying—dying—</p> + +<p>On a sudden, he rallied! his blood had rushed back again from head to +heart, and all the doctors were deceived—again he battled, and fought, +and wrestled, and flung them from him; again he howled, and his eyes +glared lightning—mad? Yes, mad—stark mad! quick—quick—we cannot hold +him: save yourselves there!</p> + +<p>But he only broke away from them to stand up free—then he gave one +scream, leaped high into the air, and fell down dead in the dock, with a +crimson stream of blood issuing from his mouth.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a>[Pg 144]</span></p> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XLIX" id="CHAPTER_XLIX"></a>CHAPTER XLIX.</h3> + +<h4>RIGHTEOUS MAMMON.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Thus</span> the crock of gold had gained another victim. Is the curse of its +accumulation still unsatisfied? Must more misery be born of that +unhallowed store? Shall the poor man's wrongs, and his little ones' cry +for bread, and the widows' vain appeal for indulgence in necessity, and +the debtor's useless hope for time—more time—and the master's misused +bounty, and the murmuring dependants' ever-extorted dues—must the +frauds, falsehoods, meannesses, and hardnesses of half a century long, +concentrate in that small crock—must these plead still for bloody +judgments from on high against all who touch that gold?</p> + +<p>No! the miasma is dispelled: the curse is gone: the crimes are expiated. +The devil in that jar is dispossessed, and with Simon's last gasp has +returned unto his own place. The murderer is dead, and has thereby laid +the ghost of his mate in sin, the murdered victim; while that victim has +long ago paid by blood for her many years of mean domestic pilfering.</p> + +<p>And now I see a better angel hovering round the crock: it is purified, +sanctified, accepted. It is become a talent from the Lord, instead of a +temptation from the devil; and the same coin, which once has been but +dull, unrighteous mammon, through justice, thankfulness, and piety, +shineth as the shekel of the temple. Gratefully, as from God, the +rightful owner now may take the gift.</p> + +<p>For, gold is a creature of God, representing many excellencies: the +sweat of honest Industry distils to gold; the hot-spring of Genius +congeals to gold; the blessing upon Faithfulness is often showered in +gold; and Charities not seldom are guerdoned back with gold. Let no man +affect to despise what Providence hath set so high in power. None do so +but the man who has it not, and who knows that he covets it in vain. +Sour grapes—sour grapes—for he may not touch the vintage. This is not +the verdict of the wise; the temptation he may fear, the cares he may +confess, the misuse he may condemn: yet will he acknowledge that, +received at God's hand, and spent in his service, there is scarce a +creature in this nether world of higher name than Money.</p> + +<p>Beauty fadeth; Health dieth; Talents—yea, and Graces—go to bloom in +other spheres—but when Benevolence would bless, and bless for ages, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145"></a>[Pg 145]</span>his blessing is vain, but for money—when Wisdom would teach, and teach +for ages, the teacher must be fed, and the school built, and the scholar +helped upon his way by money—righteous money. There is a righteous +money as there is unrighteous mammon; but both have their ministrations +here limited to earth and time; the one, a fruit of heaven—the other, a +fungus from below: yet the fruit will bring no blessing, if the Grower +be forgotten; neither shall the fungus yield a poison, if warmed awhile +beneath the better sun. Like all other gifts, given to us sweet, but +spoilt in the using, gold may turn to good or ill: Health may kick, like +fat Jeshurun in his wantonness; Power may change from beneficence to +tyranny; Learning may grow critical in motes until it overlooks the +sunbeam; Love may be degraded to an instinct; Zaccheus may turn +Pharisee; Religion may cant into the hypocrite, or dogmatize to +theologic hate. Even so it is with money: its power of doing good has no +other equivalent in this world than its power of doing evil: it is like +fire—used for hospitable warmth, or wide-wasting ravages; like air—the +gentle zephyr, or the destroying hurricane. Nevertheless, all is for +this world—this world only; a matter extraneous to the spirit, always +foreign, often-times adversary: let a man beware of lading himself with +that thick clay.</p> + +<p>I see a cygnet on the broad Pactolus, stemming the waters with its downy +breast; and anon, it would rise upon the wing, and soar to other skies; +so, taking down that snow-white sail, it seeks for a moment to rest its +foot on shore, and thence take flight: alas, poor bird! thou art sinking +in those golden sands, the heavy morsels clog thy flapping wing—in +vain—in vain thou triest to rise—Pactolus chains thee down.</p> + +<p>Even such is wealth unto the wisest; wealth at its purest source, +exponent of labour and of mind. But, to the frequent fool, heaped with +foulest dross—for the cygnet of Pactolus and those golden sands, +read—the hippopotamus wallowing in the Niger, and smothered in a bay of +mud.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_L" id="CHAPTER_L"></a>CHAPTER L.</h3> + +<h4>THE CROCK A BLESSING.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">There</span> was no will found: it is likely Mrs. Quarles had never made one; +she feared death too much, and all that put her in mind of it. So the +next of kin, the only one to have the crock of gold, was Susan Scott, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a>[Pg 146]</span>a +good, honest, hard-working woman, whom Jennings, by many arts, had kept +away from Hurstley: her husband, a poor thatcher, sadly out of work +except in ricking time, and crippled in both legs by having fallen from +a hay-stack: and as to the family, it was already as long a flight of +steps as would reach to an ordinary first floor, with a prospect (so the +gossips said) of more in the distance. Susan was a Wesleyan +Methodist—many may think, more the pity: but she neither disliked +church, nor called it steeple-house: only, forasmuch as Hagglesfield was +blessed with a sporting parson, the chief reminders of whose presence in +the parish were strifes perpetual about dues and tithes, it is little +blame or wonder, if the starving sheep went anywhither else for +pasturage and water. So, then, Susan was a good mother, a kind +neighbour, a religious, humble-minded Christian: is it not a comfort now +to know that the gold was poured into her lap, and that she hallowed her +good luck by prayers and praises?</p> + +<p>I judge it worth while stepping over to Hagglesfield for a couple of +minutes, to find out how she used that gold, and made the crock a +blessing. Susan first thought of her debts: so, to every village shop +around, I fear they were not a few, which had kindly given her credit, +some for weeks, some for months, and more than one for a year, the happy +house-wife went to pay in full; and not this only, but with many +thanks, to press a little present upon each, for well-timed help in her +adversity.</p> + +<p>The next thought was near akin to it: to take out of pawn divers valued +articles, two or three of which had been her mother's; for Reuben's +lameness, poor man, kept him much out of work, and the childer came so +quick, and ate so fast, and wore out such a sight of shoes, that, but +for an occasional appeal to Mrs. Quarles—it was her one fair feature +this—they must long ago have been upon the parish: now, however, all +the ancestral articles were redeemed, and honour no doubt with them.</p> + +<p>Thirdly, Susan went to her minister in best bib and tucker, and humbly +begged leave to give a guinea to the school; and she hoped his reverence +wouldn't be above accepting a turkey and chine, as a small token of her +gratitude to him for many consolations: it pleased me much to hear that +the good man had insisted upon Susan and her husband coming to eat it +with him the next day at noon.</p> + +<p>Fourthly, Susan prudently set to work, and rigged out the whole family +in tidy clothes, with a touch of mourning upon each for poor Aunt +Bridget, and unhappy brother Simon; while the fifthly, sixthly, and to +conclude, were concerned in a world of notable and useful schemes, with +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a>[Pg 147]</span>a strong resolution to save as much as possible for schooling and +getting out the children.</p> + +<p>It was wonderful to see how much good was in that gold, how large a fund +of blessing was hidden in that crock: Reuben Scott gained health, the +family were fed, clad, taught; Susan grew in happiness at least as truly +as in girth; and Hagglesfield beheld the goodness of that store, whose +curse had startled all Hurstley-cum-Piggesworth.</p> + +<p>But also at Hurstley now are found its consequential blessings.</p> + +<p>We must take another peep at Roger and sweet Grace; they, and Ben too, +and Jonathan, and Jonathan's master, may all have cause to thank an +overruling Providence, for blessing on the score of Bridget's crock. +Only before I come to that, I wish to be dull a little hereabouts, and +moralize: the reader may skip it, if he will—but I do not recommend him +so to do.</p> + +<p>For, evermore in the government of God, good groweth out of evil: and, +whether man note the fact or not, Providence, with secret care, doth +vindicate itself. There is justice done continually, even on this stage +of trial, though many pine and murmur: substantial retribution, even in +this poor dislocated world of wrong, not seldom overtakes the sinner, +not seldom encourages the saint. Encourages? yea, and punishes: blessing +him with kind severity; teaching him to know himself a mere bad root, if +he be not grafted on his God; proving that the laws which govern life +are just, and wise, and kind; showing him that a man's own heart's +desire, if fulfilled, would probably tend to nothing short of sin, +sorrow, and calamity; that many seeming goods are withheld, because they +are evils in disguise; and many seeming ills allowed, because they are +masqueraded blessings; and demonstrating, as in this strange tale, that +the unrighteous Mammon is a cruel master, a foul tempter, a pestilent +destroyer of all peace, and a teeming source of both world's misery.</p> + +<p>Listen to the sayings of the Wisest King of men:</p> + +<p>"As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous +is an everlasting foundation."</p> + +<p>"The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his +stead."</p> + +<p>"He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the righteous shall +flourish as a branch."</p> + +<p>"Better is a little with righteousness, than great revenues without +right."</p> + +<p>"The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous, and the transgressor +for the upright."</p> + +<p>"A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the +wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a>[Pg 148]</span></p> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_LI" id="CHAPTER_LI"></a>CHAPTER LI.</h3> + +<h4>POPULARITY.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> storm is lulled: the billows of temptation have ebbed away +from shore, and the clouds of adversity have flown to other skies.</p> + +<p>"The winter is past; the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear upon +the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of +the turtle is heard in our land: the fig-tree putteth forth his green +figs, and the blossoms of the vine smell sweetly. Arise, and come away."</p> + +<p>Yesterday's trial, and its unlooked-for issue, have raised Roger Acton +to the rank of hero. The town's excitement is intense: and the little +inn, where he and Grace had spent the night in gratitude and prayerful +praise, is besieged by carriages full of lords and gentlemen, eager to +see and speak with Roger.</p> + +<p>Humbly and reverently, yet preserving an air of quiet self-possession, +the labourer received their courteous kindnesses; and acquitted himself +of what may well be called the honours of that levee, with a dignity +native to the true-born Briton, from the time of Caractacus at Rome to +our own.</p> + +<p>But if Roger was a demi-god, Grace was at the least a goddess; she +charmed all hearts with her modest beauty. Back with the shades of +night, and the prison-funeral of Jennings, fled envy, hatred, malice, +and all uncharitableness; the elderly sisterhood of Hurstley, not to be +out of a fashion set by titled dames, hastened to acknowledge her +perfections; Calumny was shamed, and hid his face; the uncles, aunts, +and cousins of the hill-top yonder, were glad to hold their tongues, and +bite their nails in peace: Farmer Floyd and his Mrs. positively came +with peace-offerings—some sausage-meat, elder-wine, jam, and other +dainties, which were to them the choicest sweets of life: and as for +Jonathan, he never felt so proud of Grace in all his life before; the +handsome fellow stood at least a couple of inches taller.</p> + +<p>Honest Ben Burke, too, that most important witness—whose coming was as +Blucher's at Waterloo, and secured the well-earned conquest of the +day—though it must be confessed that his appearance was something of +the satyr, still had he been Phœbus Apollo in person, he would +scarcely have excited sincerer admiration. More than one fair creature +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a>[Pg 149]</span>sketched his unkempt head, and loudly wished that its owner was a +bandit; more than one bright eye discovered beauty in his open +countenance—though a little soap and water might have made it more +distinguishable. Well—well—honest Ben—they looked, and wisely looked, +at the frank and friendly mind hidden under that rough carcase, and +little wonder that they loved it.</p> + +<p>Now, to all this stream of hearty English sympathy, the kind and proper +feeling of young Sir John resolved to give a right direction. His +fashionable friends were gone, except Silliphant and Poynter, both good +fellows in the main, and all the better for the absence (among others) +of that padded old debauchee, Sir Richard Hunt, knight of the order of +St. Sapphira—that frivolous inanity, Lord George Pypp—and that +professed gentleman of gallantry, Mr. Harry Mynton. The follies and the +vices had decamped—had scummed off, so to speak—leaving the more +rectified spirits behind them, to recover at leisure, as best they +might, from all that ferment of dissipation. So, then, there was now +neither ridicule, nor interest, to stand in the way of a young and +wealthy heir's well-timed schemes of generosity.</p> + +<p>Well-timed they were, and Sir John knew it, though calculation seldom +had a footing in his warm and heedless heart; but he could not shut his +eyes to the fact, that the state of feeling among his hereditary +labourers was any thing but pleasant. In truth, owing to the desperate +malpractices of Quarles and Jennings, perhaps no property in the kingdom +had got so ill a name as Hurstley: discontent reigned paramount; +incendiary fires had more than once occurred; threatening notices, very +ill-spelt, and signed by one <i>soi-disant</i> Captain Blood, had been +dropped, in dead of winter, at the door-sills of the principal farmers; +and all the other fruits of long-continued penury, extortion, and +mis-government, were hanging ripe upon the bough—a foul and fatal +harvest.</p> + +<p>Therefore, did the kind young landlord, who had come to live among his +own peasantry, resolve, not more nobly than wisely, to seize an +opportunity so good as this, for restoring, by a stroke of generous +policy, peace and content on his domain. No doubt, the baronet rejoiced, +as well he might, at the honourable acquittal of innocence, and the +mysteries of murder now cleared up; he made small secret of his +satisfaction at the doom of Jennings; and, as for Bridget Quarles, by +all he could learn of her from tenants' wives, and other female +dependants, he had no mind to wish her back again, or to think her fate +ill-timed: nevertheless, he was even more glad of an occasion to +vindicate his own good <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></a>[Pg 150]</span>feelings; and prove to the world that bailiff +Simon Jennings was a very opposite character to landlord Sir John +Devereux Vincent.</p> + +<p>To carry out his plan, he determined to redress all wrongs within one +day, and to commence by bringing "honest Roger" in triumph home again to +Hurstley; following the suggestion of Baron Parker, to make some social +compensation for his wrongs. With this view, Sir John took counsel of +the county-town authorities, and it was agreed unanimously, excepting +only one dissenting vote—a rich and radical Quaker, one Isaac Sneak, +grocer, and of the body corporate, who refused to lose one day's service +of his shopmen, and thereby (I rejoice to add) succeeded in getting rid +of fifteen good annual customers—it was agreed, then, and arranged that +the morrow should be a public holiday. All Sir John's own tenantry, as +well as Squire Ryle's, and some of other neighbouring magnates, were to +have a day's wages without work, on the easy conditions of attending the +procession in their smartest trim, and of banqueting at Hurstley +afterwards. So, then, the town-band was ordered to be in attendance next +morning by eleven at the Swan, a lot of old election colours were shaken +from their dust and cobwebs, the bell-ringers engaged, vasty +preparations of ale and beef made at Hurstley Hall—an ox to be roasted +whole upon the terrace, and a plum-pudding already in the cauldron of +two good yards in circumference—and all that every body hoped for that +night, was a fine May-day to-morrow.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_LII" id="CHAPTER_LII"></a>CHAPTER LII.</h3> + +<h4>ROGER AT THE SWAN.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Meanwhile</span>, eventide came on: the crowd of kindly gentle-folks +had gone their several ways; and Roger Acton found himself (through Sir +John's largess) at free quarters in the parlour of the Swan, with Grace +by his side, and many of his mates in toil and station round him.</p> + +<p>"Grace," said her father on a sudden, "Grace—my dear child—come +hither." She stood in all her loveliness before him. Then he took her +hand, looked up at her affectionately, and leaned back in the old oak +chair.</p> + +<p>"Hear me, mates and neighbours; to my own girl, Grace, under God, I owe +my poor soul's welfare. I have nothing, would I had, to give her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151"></a>[Pg 151]</span>in +return:" and the old man (he looked ten years older for his six weeks, +luck, and care, and trouble)—the old man could not get on at all with +what he had to say—something stuck in his throat—but he recovered, and +added cheerily, with an abrupt and rustic archness, "I don't know, +mates, whether after all I can't give the good girl something: I can +give her—away! Come hither, Jonathan Floyd; you are a noble fellow, +that stood by us in adversity, and are almost worthy of my angel Grace." +And he joined their hands.</p> + +<p>"Give us thy blessing too, dear father!"</p> + +<p>They kneeled at his feet on the sanded floor, in the midst of their +kinsfolk and acquaintance, and he, stretching forth his hands like a +patriarch, looked piously up to heaven, and blessed them there.</p> + +<p>"Grace," he added, "and Jonathan my son, I need not part with you—I +could not. I have heard great tidings. To-morrow you shall know how kind +and good Sir John is: God bless him! and send poor England's children of +the soil many masters like him.</p> + +<p>"And now, mates, one last word from Roger Acton; a short word, and a +simple, that you may not forget it. My sin was love of money: my +punishment, its possession. Mates, remember Him who sent you to be +labourers, and love the lot He gives you. Be thankful if His blessing on +your industry keeps you in regular work and fair wages: ask no more from +God of this world's good. Believe things kindly of the gentle-folks, for +many sins are heaped upon their heads, whereof their hearts are +innocent. Never listen to the counsels of a servant, who takes away his +master's character: for of such are the poor man's worst oppressors. Be +satisfied with all your lowliness on earth, and keep your just ambitions +for another world. Flee strong liquors and ill company. Nurse no heated +hopes, no will-o'-the-wisp bright wishes: rather let your warmest hopes +be temperately these—health, work, wages: and as for wishing, mates, +wish any thing you will—sooner than to find a crock of gold."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a>[Pg 152]</span></p> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_LIII" id="CHAPTER_LIII"></a>CHAPTER LIII.</h3> + +<h4>ROGER'S TRIUMPH.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> steeples rang out merrily, full chime; High street was gay with +streamers; the town-band busily assembling; a host of happy urchins from +emancipated schools, were shouting in all manner of keys all manner of +gleeful noises: every body seemed a-stir.</p> + +<p>A proud man that day was Roger Acton; not of his deserts—they were +worse than none, he knew it; not of the procession—no silly child was +he, to be caught with toy and tinsel; God wot, he was meek enough in +self—and as for other pride, he knew from old electioneerings, what a +humbling thing is triumph.</p> + +<p>But when he saw from the windows of the Swan, those crowds of new-made +friends trooping up in holiday suits with flags, and wands, and +corporation badges—when the band for a commencement struck up the +heart-stirring hymn 'God save the Queen,'—when the horsemen, and +carriages, and gigs, and carts assembled—when the baronet's own +barouche and four, dashing up to the door, had come from Hurstley Hall +for <i>him</i>—when Sir John, the happiest of the happy, alighting with his +two friends, had displaced them for Roger and Grace, while the kind +gentlemen took horse, and headed the procession—when Ben Burke (as +clean as soap could get him, and bedecked in new attire) was ordered to +sit beside Jonathan in the rumble-tumble—when the cheering, and the +merry-going bells, and the quick-march 'British Grenadiers,' rapidly +succeeding the national anthem—when all these tokens of a generous +sympathy smote upon his ears, his eyes, his heart, Roger Acton wept +aloud—he wept for very pride and joy: proud and glad was he that day of +his country, of his countrymen, of his generous landlord, of his gentle +Grace, of his vindicated innocence, and of God, "who had done so great +things for him."</p> + +<p>So, the happy cavalcade moved on, horse and foot, and carts and +carriages, through the noisy town, along the thronged high road, down +the quiet lanes that lead to Hurstley; welcomed at every cottage-door +with boisterous huzzas, and adding to its ranks at every corner. And so +they reached the village, where the band struck up,</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"See the conquering hero comes,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sound the trumpets, beat the drums!"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></a>[Pg 153]</span>Is not this returning like a nabob, Roger? Hath not God blest thee +through the crock of gold at last, in spite of sin?</p> + +<p>There, at the entrance by the mile-stone, stood Mary and the babes, with +a knot of friends around her, bright with happiness; on the top of it +was perched son Tom, waving the blue and silver flag of Hurstley, and +acting as fugleman to a crowd of uproarious cheerers; and beside it, on +the bank, sat Sarah Stack, overcome with joy, and sobbing like a +gladsome Niobe.</p> + +<p>And the village bells went merrily; every cottage was gay with spring +garlands, and each familiar face lit up with looks of kindness; Hark! +hark!—"Welcome, honest Roger, welcome home again!" they shout: and the +patereroes on the lawn thunder a salute; "welcome, honest +neighbour;"—and up went, at bright noon, Tom Stableboy's dozen of +rockets wrapped around with streamers of glazed calico—"welcome, +welcome!"</p> + +<p>Good Mr. Evans stood at the door of fine old Hurstley, in wig, and band, +and cassock, to receive back his wandering sheep that had been lost: and +the school-children, ranged upon the steps, thrillingly sang out the +beautiful chant, "I will arise, and go to my Father, and will say unto +Him, 'Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before Thee, and am no +more worthy to be called thy son!'"</p> + +<p>Every head was uncovered, and every cheek ran down with tears.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_LIV" id="CHAPTER_LIV"></a>CHAPTER LIV.</h3> + +<h4>SIR JOHN'S PARTING SPEECH.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Then</span> Sir John, standing up in the barouche at his own +hall-door, addressed the assembled multitude:</p> + +<p>"Friends, we are gathered here to-day, in the cause of common justice +and brotherly kindness. There are many of you whom I see around me, my +tenants, neighbours, or dependants, who have met with wrongs and +extortions heretofore, but you all shall be righted in your turn; trust +me, men, the old hard times are gone, your landlord lives among you, and +his first care shall be to redress your many grievances, paying back the +gains of your oppressor."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a>[Pg 154]</span>"God bless you, sir, God bless you!" was the echo from many a gladdened +heart.</p> + +<p>"But before I hear your several claims in turn, which shall be done +to-morrow, our chief duty this day is to recompense an honest man for +all that he has innocently suffered. It is five-and-thirty years, as I +find by my books, on this very first of May, since Roger Acton first +began to work at Hurstley; till within this now past evil month, he has +always been the honest steady fellow that you knew him from his youth: +what say you, men, to having as a bailiff one of yourselves; a kind and +humble man, a good man, the best hand in the parish in all the works of +your vocation—a steady mind, an honest heart—what say ye all to Roger +Acton?"</p> + +<p>There was a whirlwind of tumultuous applause.</p> + +<p>"Moreover, men, though you all, each according to his measure and my +means, shall meet with liberal justice for your lesser ills, yet we must +all remember that Bailiff Acton here had nearly died a felon's death, +through that bad man Jennings and the unlucky crock of gold; in +addition, extortion has gone greater lengths with him, than with any +other on the property; I find that for the last twenty years, Roger +Acton has regularly paid to that monster of oppression who is now dead, +a double rent—four guineas instead of forty shillings. I desire, as a +good master, to make amends for the crimes of my wicked servant; +therefore in this bag, Bailiff Acton, is returned to you all the rent +you ever paid;" [Roger could not speak for tears;]—"and your cottage +repaired and fitted, with an acre round it, is yours and your +children's, rent-free for ever."</p> + +<p>"Huzzah, huzzah!" roared Ben from the dickey, in a gush of disinterested +joy; and then, like an experienced toast-master, he marshalled in due +hip, hip, hip order, the shouts of acclamation that rent the air. In an +interval of silence, Sir John added,</p> + +<p>"As for you, good-hearted fellow, if you will only mend your speech, +I'll make you one of my keepers; you shall call yourself licensed +poacher, if you choose."</p> + +<p>"Blessings on your honour! you've made an honest man o' me."</p> + +<p>"And now, Jonathan Floyd, I have one word to say to you, sir. I hear you +are to marry our Roger's pretty Grace." Jonathan appeared like a sheep +in livery.</p> + +<p>"You must quit my service." Jonathan was quite alarmed. "Do you suppose, +Master Jonathan, that I can house at Hurstley, before a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></a>[Pg 155]</span> Lady Vincent +comes amongst us to keep the gossips quiet, such a charming little wife +as that, and all her ruddy children?"</p> + +<p>It was Grace's turn to feel confused, so she "looked like a rose in +June," and blushed all over, as Charles Lamb's Astræa did, down to the +ankle.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Jonathan, you and I must part, but we part good friends: you have +been a noble lover: may you make the girl a good and happy husband! +Jennings has been robbing me and those about me for years: it is +impossible to separate specially my rights from his extortions: but all, +as I have said, shall be satisfied: meanwhile, his hoards are mine. I +appropriate one half of them for other claimants; the remaining half I +give to Grace Floyd as dower. Don't be a fool, Jonathan, and blubber; +look to your Grace there, she's fainting—you can set up landlord for +yourself, do you hear?—for I make yours honestly, as much as Roger +found in his now lucky Crock of Gold."</p> + +<p>Poor Roger, quite unmanned, could only wave his hat, and—the curtain +falls amid thunders of applause.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTE</h4> + +<div class='footnotes'> +<div class="footnote"> + <p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> + It has been stated as a fact, that a certain Lady L—— S——, + in her last interview with a young man, condemned to death for the brutal + murder of his sweetheart, presented him with a white camellia, as a token + of eternal peace, which the gallant gentleman actually wore at the gallows + in his button-hole.</p> + </div></div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CROCK OF GOLD***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 17062-h.txt or 17062-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/0/6/17062">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/0/6/17062</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution.</p> + + + +<pre> +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +<a href="https://gutenberg.org/license">https://gutenberg.org/license)</a>. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">https://www.gutenberg.org</a> + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/">https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/</a> + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/17062.txt b/17062.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a1a07a5 --- /dev/null +++ b/17062.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6820 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Crock of Gold, by Martin Farquhar Tupper + + +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 Crock of Gold + A Rural Novel + + +Author: Martin Farquhar Tupper + + + +Release Date: November 14, 2005 [eBook #17062] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CROCK OF GOLD*** + + +E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Janet Blenkinship, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) + + + +THE CROCK OF GOLD; + +A Rural Novel. + +by + +MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER, ESQ., M.A., + +Author of "Proverbial Philosophy." + + + + + + + +Hartford: +Silas Andrus and Son. + +1851. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE LABOURER; AND HIS DAWNING DISCONTENT. + + +ROGER ACTON woke at five. It was a raw March morning, still +dark, and bitterly cold, while at gusty intervals the rain beat in +against the crazy cottage-window. Nevertheless, from his poor pallet he +must up and rouse himself, for it will be open weather by sunrise, and +his work lies two miles off; Master Jennings is not the man to show him +favour if he be late, and Roger cannot afford to lose an hour: so he +shook off the luxury of sleep, and rose again to toil with weary effort. + +"Honest Roger," as the neighbours called him, was a fair specimen of a +class which has been Britain's boast for ages, and may be still again, +in measure, but at present that glory appears to be departing: a class +much neglected, much enduring; thoroughly English--just, industrious, +and patient; true to the altar, and loyal to the throne; though haply +shaken somewhat now from both those noble faiths--warped in their +principles, and blunted in their feelings, by lying doctrines and harsh +economies; a class--I hate the cold cant term--a race of honourable men, +full of cares, pains, privations--but of pleasures next to none; whose +life at its most prosperous estate is labour, and in death we count him +happy who did not die a pauper. Through them, serfs of the soil, the +earth yields indeed her increase, but it is for others; from the fields +of plenty they glean a scanty pittance, and fill the barns to bursting, +while their children cry for bread. Not that Roger for his part often +wanted work; he was the best hand in the parish, and had earned of his +employers long ago the name of Steady Acton; but the fair wages for a +fair day's labour were quite another thing, and the times went very hard +for him and his. A man himself may starve, while his industry makes +others fat: and a liberal landlord all the winter through may keep his +labourers in work, while a crafty, overbearing bailiff mulcts them in +their wages. + +For the outward man, Acton stood about five feet ten, a gaunt, spare, +and sinewy figure, slightly bent; his head sprinkled with gray; his face +marked with those rigid lines, which tell, if not of positive famine, at +least of too much toil on far too little food; in his eye, patience and +good temper; in his carriage, a mixture of the sturdy bearing, necessary +to the habitual exercise of great muscular strength, together with that +gait of humility--almost humiliation--which is the seal of oppression +upon poverty. He might be about forty, or from that to fifty, for +hunger, toil, and weather had used him the roughest; while, for all +beside, the patched and well-worn smock, the heavily-clouted high-laced +boots, a dingy worsted neck-tie, and an old felt hat, complete the +picture of externals. + +But, for the matter of character within, Roger is quite another man. If +his rank in this world is the lowest, many potentates may envy him his +state elsewhere. His heart is as soft, as his hand is horny; with the +wandering gipsy or the tramping beggar, thrust aside, perhaps +deservedly, as impudent impostors from the rich man's gate, has he +often-times shared his noon-day morsel: upright and sincere himself, he +thinks as well of others: he scarcely ever heard the Gospels read in +church, specially about Eastertide, but the tears would trickle down his +weather-beaten face: he loves children--his neighbour's little ones as +well as his own: he will serve any one for goodness' sake without reward +or thanks, and is kind to the poor dumb cattle: he takes quite a pride +in his little rod or two of garden, and is early and late at it, both +before and after the daily sum of labour: he picks up a bit of knowledge +here and there, and somehow has contrived to amass a fund of information +for which few would give him credit from his common looks; and he joins +to that stock of facts a natural shrewdness to use his knowledge wisely. +Though with little of what is called sentiment, or poetry, or fancy in +his mind (for harsh was the teaching of his childhood, and meagre the +occasions of self-culture ever since), the beauty of creation is by no +means lost upon him, and he notices at times its wisdom too. With a +fixed habit of manly piety ever on his lips and ever in his heart, he +recognises Providence in all things, just, and wise, and good. More than +so; simply as a little child who endures the school-hour for the +prospect of his play-time, Roger Acton bears up with noble meekness +against present suffering, knowing that his work and trials and +troubles are only for a little while, but his rest and his reward remain +a long hereafter. He never questioned this; he knew right well Who had +earned it for him; and he lived grateful and obedient, filling up the +duties of his humble station. This was his faith, and his works followed +it. He believed that God had placed him in his lot, to be a labourer, +and till God's earth, and, when his work is done, to be sent on better +service in some happier sphere: the where, or the how, did not puzzle +him, any more than divers other enigmatical whys and wherefores of his +present state; he only knew this, that it would all come right at last: +and, barring sin (which he didn't comprehend), somehow all was right at +present. What if poverty pinched him? he was a great heir still; what if +oppression bruised him? it would soon be over. He trusted to his Pilot, +like the landsman in a storm; to his Father, as an infant in the dark. +For guilt, he had a Saviour, and he thought of him in penitence; for +trouble, a Guardian, and he looked to him in peace; and as for toil, +back-breaking toil, there was another Master whom he served with spade, +and mattock, and a thankful heart, while he only seemed to be working +for the landlord or his bailiff. + +Such a man then had been Roger Acton from his youth up till now, or, if +sadness must be told, nearly until now; for, to speak truth, his heart +at times would fail him, and of late he had been bitter in repinings and +complaint. For a day or two, in particular, he had murmured loudly. It +was hard, very hard, that an honest, industrious man, as he was, should +so scantily pick a living out of this rich earth: after all said, let +the parson preach as he will, it's a fine thing to have money, and that +his reverence knows right well, or he wouldn't look so closely for his +dues. [N.B. Poor Mr. Evans was struggling as well as he could to bring +up six children, on a hundred and twenty pounds per annum.] Roger, too, +was getting on in years, with a blacker prospect for the future than +when he first stood behind a plough-tail. Then there were many wants +unsatisfied, which a bit of gold might buy; and his wife teased him to +be doing something better. Thus was it come at length to pass, that, +although he had endured so many years, he now got discontented at his +penury;--what human heart can blame him?--and with murmurings came +doubt; with doubt of Providence, desire of lucre; so the sunshine of +religion faded from his path;--what mortal mind can wonder? + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE FAMILY; THE HOME; AND MORE REPININGS. + + +NOW, if Malthus and Martineau be verily the pundits that men +think them, Roger had twice in his life done a very foolish thing: he +had sinned against society, statistics, and common sense, by a two-fold +marriage. The wife of his youth (I am afraid he married early) had once +been kitchen-maid at the Hall; but the sudden change from living +luxuriously in a great house, to the griping poverty of a cotter's +hovel, had changed, in three short years, the buxom country girl into an +emaciated shadow of her former self, and the sorrowing husband buried +her in her second child-bed. The powers of the parish clapped their +hands; political economy was glad; prudence chuckled; and a +coarse-featured farmer (he meant no ill), who occasionally had given +Roger work, heartlessly bade him be thankful that his cares were the +fewer and his incumbrance was removed; "Ay, and Heaven take the babies +also to itself," the Herodian added. But Acton's heart was broken! +scarcely could he lift up his head; and his work, though sturdy as +before, was more mechanical, less high-motived: and many a year of +dreary widowhood he mourned a loss all the greater, though any thing but +bitterer, for the infants so left motherless. To these, now grown into a +strapping youth and a bright-eyed graceful girl, had he been the +tenderest of nurses, and well supplied the place of her whom they had +lost. Neighbours would have helped him gladly--sometimes did; and many +was the hinted offer (disinterested enough, too, for in that match +penury must have been the settlement, and starvation the dower), of +giving them a mother's kindly care; but Roger could not quite so soon +forget the dead: so he would carry his darlings with him to his work, +and feed them with his own hard hands; the farmers winked at it, and +never said a word against the tiny trespassers; their wives and +daughters loved the little dears, bringing them milk and possets; and +holy angels from on high may have oft-times hovered about this rude +nurse, tending his soft innocents a-field, and have wept over the poor +widower and his orphans, tears of happy sorrow and benevolent affection. +Yea, many a good angel has shed blessings on their heads! + +Within the last three years, and sixteen from the date of his first +great grief, Roger had again got married. His daughter was growing into +early womanhood, and his son gave him trouble at times, and the cottage +wanted a ruling hand over it when he was absent, and rheumatism now and +then bade him look out for a nurse before old age, and Mary Alder was a +notable middle-aged careful sort of soul, and so she became Mary Acton. +All went on pretty well, until Mrs. Acton began to have certain little +ones of her own; and then the step-mother would break out (a contingency +poor Roger hadn't thought of), separate interests crept in, and her own +children fared before the others; so it came to pass that, however truly +there was a ruling hand at home, and however well the rheumatism got +nursed (for Mary was a good wife in the main), the grown-up son and +daughter felt themselves a little jostled out. Grace, gentle and +submissive, found all her comforts shrunk within the space of her father +and her Bible; Thomas, self-willed and open-hearted, sought his pleasure +any where but at home, and was like to be taking to wrong courses +through domestic bickering: Grace had the dangerous portion, beauty, +added to her lowly lot, and attracted more admiration than her father +wished, or she could understand; while the frank and bold spirit of +Thomas Acton exposed him to the perilous friendship of Ben Burke the +poacher, and divers other questionable characters. + +Of these elements, then, are our labourer and his family composed; and +before Roger Acton goes abroad at earliest streak of dawn, we will take +a casual peep within his dwelling. It consists of four bare rubble +walls, enclosing a grouted floor, worn unevenly, and here and there in +holes, and puddly. There were but two rooms in the tenement, one on the +ground, and one over-head; which latter is with no small difficulty got +at by scaling a ladder-like stair-case that fronts the cottage-door. +This upper chamber, the common dormitory, for all but Thomas, who sleeps +down stairs, has a thin partition at one end of it, to screen off the +humble truckle-bed where Grace Acton forgets by night the troubles of +the day; and the remainder of the little apartment, sordid enough, and +overhung with the rough thatch, black with cobweb, serves for the father +and mother with their recent nursery. Each room has its shattery +casement, to let in through linchened panes, the doubtful light of +summer, and the much more indubitable wind, and rain, and frost of +wintry nights. A few articles of crockery and some burnished tins +decorate the shelves of the lower apartment; which used to be much +tidier before the children came, and trimmer still when Grace was sole +manager: in a doorless cupboard are apparent sundry coarse edibles, as +the half of a huge unshapely home-made loaf, some white country cheese, +a mass of lumpy pudding, and so forth; beside it, on the window-sill, is +better bread, a well-thumbed Bible, some tracts, and a few odd volumes +picked up cheap at fairs; an old musket (occasionally Ben's companion, +sometimes Tom's) is hooked to the rafters near a double rope of onions; +divers gaudy little prints, tempting spoil of pedlars, in honour of +George Barnwell, the Prodigal Son, the Sailor's Return, and the Death of +Nelson, decorate the walls, and an illuminated Christmas carol is pasted +over the mantel-piece: which, among other chattels and possessions, +conspicuously bears its own burden of Albert and Victoria--two plaster +heads, resplendently coloured, highly varnished, looking with arched +eye-brows of astonishment on their uninviting palace, and royally +contrasting with the sombre hue of poverty on all things else. The +pictures had belonged to Mary, no small portion of her virgin wealth; +and as for the statuary, those two busts had cost loyal Roger far more +in comparison than any corporation has given to P.R.A., for majesty and +consortship in full. There is, moreover, in the room, by way of +household furniture, a ricketty, triangular, and tri-legged table, a +bench, two old chairs with rush-bottoms, and a yard or two of matting +that the sexton gave when the chancel was new laid. I don't know that +there is any thing else to mention, unless it be a gaunt lurcher +belonging to Ben Burke, and with all a dog's resemblance to his master, +who lies stretched before the hearth where the peaty embers never quite +die out, but smoulder away to a heap of white ashes; over these is +hanging a black boiler, the cook of the family; and beside them, on a +substratum of dry heather, and wrapped about with an old blanket, nearly +companioned by his friend, the dog, snores Thomas Acton, still fast +asleep, after his usual extemporaneous fashion. + +As to the up-stairs apartment, it contained little or nothing but its +living inmates, their bedsteads and tattered coverlids, and had an air +of even more penury and discomfort than the room below; so that, what +with squalling children, a scolding wife, and empty stomach, and that +cold and wet March morning, it is little wonder maybe (though no small +blame), that Roger Acton had not enough of religion or philosophy to +rise and thank his Maker for the blessings of existence. + +He had just been dreaming of great good luck. Poor people often do so; +just as Ugolino dreamt of imperial feasts, and Bruce, in his delirious +thirst on the Sahara, could not banish from his mind the cool fountains +of Shiraz, and the luxurious waters of old Nile. Roger had unfortunately +dreamt of having found a crock of gold--I dare say he will tell us his +dream anon--and just as he was counting out his treasure, that blessed +beautiful heap of shining money--cruel habit roused him up before the +dawn, and his wealth faded from his fancy. So he awoke at five, anything +but cheerfully. + +It was Grace's habit, good girl, to read to her father in the morning a +few verses from the volume she best loved: she always woke betimes when +she heard him getting up, and he could hear her easily from her little +flock-bed behind the lath partition; and many a time had her dear +religious tongue, uttering the words of peace, soothed her father's +mind, and strengthened him to meet the day's affliction; many times it +raised his thoughts from the heavy cares of life to the buoyant hopes of +immortality. Hitherto, Roger had owed half his meek contentedness to +those sweet lessons from a daughter's lips, and knew that he was +reaping, as he heard, the harvest of his own paternal care, and +heaven-blest instructions. However, upon this dark morning, he was full +of other thoughts, murmurings, and doubts, and poverty, and riches. So, +when Grace, after her usual affectionate salutations, gently began to +read, + +"The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with +the glory--" + +Her father strangely stopped her on a sudden with-- + +"Enough, enough, my girl! God wot, the sufferings are grievous, and the +glory long a-coming." + +Then he heavily went down stairs, and left Grace crying. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE CONTRAST. + + +THUS, full of carking care, while he pushed aside the proffered +consolation, Roger Acton walked abroad. There was yet but a glimmer of +faint light, and the twittering of birds told more assuringly of morning +than any cheerful symptom on the sky: however, it had pretty well ceased +raining, that was one comfort, and, as Roger, shouldering his spade, and +with the day's provision in a handkerchief, trudged out upon his daily +duty, those good old thoughts of thankfulness came upon his mind, and he +forgot awhile the dream that had unstrung him. Turning for a moment to +look upon his hovel, and bless its inmates with a prayer, he half +resolved to run back, and hear a few more words, if only not to vex his +darling child: but there was now no time to spare; and then, as he gazed +upon her desolate abode--so foul a casket for so fair a jewel--his +bitter thoughts returned to him again, and he strode away, repining. + +Acton's cottage was one of those doubtful domiciles, whose only +recommendation it is, that they are picturesque in summer. At present we +behold a reeking rotting mass of black thatch in a cheerless swamp; but, +as the year wears on, those time-stained walls, though still both damp +and mouldy, will be luxuriantly overspread with creeping +plants--honeysuckle, woodbine, jessamine, and the everblowing monthly +rose. Many was the touring artist it had charmed, and Suffolk-street had +seen it often: spectators looked upon the scene as on an old familiar +friend, whose face they knew full well, but whose name they had +forgotten for the minute. Many were the fair hands that had immortalized +its beauties in their albums, and frequent the notes of admiration +uttered by attending swains: particularly if there chanced to be taken +into the view a feathery elm that now creaked overhead, and dripped on +the thatch like the dropping-well at Knaresborough, and (in the near +distance) a large pond, or rather lake, upon whose sedgy banks, gay--not +now, but soon about to be--with flowering reeds and bright green +willows, the pretty cottage stood. In truth, if man were but an +hibernating animal, invisible as dormice in the winter, and only to be +seen with summer swallows, Acton's cottage at Hurstley might have been a +cantle cut from the Elysian-fields. But there are certain other seasons +in the year, and human nature cannot long exist on the merely +"picturesque in summer." + +Some fifty yards, or so, from the hither shore, we discern a roughly +wooded ait, Pike Island to wit, a famous place for fish, and the grand +rendezvous for woodcocks; which, among other useful and ornamental +purposes, serves to screen out the labourer's hovel, at this the +narrowest part of the lake, from a view of that fine old mansion on the +opposite shore, the seat of Sir John Vincent, a baronet just of age, and +the great landlord of the neighbourhood. Toward this mansion, scarcely +yet revealed in the clear gray eye of morning, our humble hero, having +made the long round of the lake, is now fast trudging; and it may merit +a word or two of plain description, to fill up time and scene, till he +gets nearer. + +A smooth grassy eminence, richly studded with park-like clumps of trees, +slopes up from the water's very edge to--Hurstley Hall; yonder goodly, +if not grand, Elizabethan structure, full of mullioned windows, carved +oak panels, stone-cut coats of arms, pinnacles, and traceries, and +lozenges, and drops; and all this glory crowned by a many-gabled, +high-peaked roof. A grove of evergreens and American shrubs hides the +lower windows from vulgarian gaze--for, in the neighbourly feeling of +our ancestors, a public way leads close along the front; while, behind +the house, and inaccessible to eyes profane, are drawn terraced gardens, +beautifully kept, and blooming with a perpetual succession of the +choicest flowers. The woods and shrubberies around, attempted some half +a century back to be spoilt by the meddlesome bad taste of Capability +Brown, have been somewhat too resolutely robbed of the formal avenues, +clipped hedges, and other topiarian adjuncts which comport so well with +the starch prudery of things Elizabethan; but they are still replete +with grotto, fountain, labyrinth, and alcove--a very paradise for the +more court-bred rank of sylphs, and the gentler elves of Queen Titania. + +However, we have less to do with the gardens than, probably, the elves +have; and as Roger now, just at breaking day, is approaching the windows +somewhat too curiously for a poor man's manners, it may not be amiss if +we bear him company. He had pretty well recovered of his fit of +discontent, for morning air and exercise can soon chase gloom away; so +he cheerily tramped along, thinking as he went, how that, after all, it +is a middling happy world, and how that the raindrops, now that it had +cleared up, hung like diamonds on the laurels, when of a sudden, as he +turned a corner near the house, there broke upon his ear, at that quiet +hour, such a storm of boisterous sounds--voices so loud with oaths and +altercation--such a calling, clattering, and quarrelling, as he had +never heard the like before. So no wonder that he stepped aside to see +it. + +The noise proceeded from a ground-floor window, or rather from three +windows, lighted up, and hung with draperies of crimson and gold: one of +the casements, flaring meretriciously in the modest eye of morn, stood +wide open down to the floor, probably to cool a heated atmosphere; and +when Roger Acton, with a natural curiosity, went on tiptoe, looked in, +and just put aside the curtain for a peep, to know what on earth could +be the matter, he saw a vision of waste and wealth, at which he stood +like one amazed, for a poor man's mind could never have conceived its +equal. + +Evidently, he had intruded on the latter end of a long and luxurious +revel. Wax-lights, guttering down in gilded chandeliers, poured their +mellow radiance round in multiplied profusion--for mirrors made them +infinite; crimson and gold were the rich prevailing tints in that wide +and warm banqueting-room; gayly-coloured pictures, set in frames that +Roger fancied massive gold, hung upon the walls at intervals; a +wagon-load of silver was piled upon the sideboard; there blazed in the +burnished grate such a fire as poverty might imagine on a frozen +winter's night, but never can have thawed its blood beside: fruits, and +wines, and costly glass were scattered in prodigal disorder on the +board--just now deserted of its noisy guests, who had crowded round a +certain green table, where cards and heaps of sovereigns appeared to be +mingled in a mass. Roger had never so much as conceived it possible that +there could be wealth like this: it was a fairy-land of Mammon in his +eyes: he stood gasping like a man enchanted; and in the contemplation of +these little hills of gold--in their covetous longing contemplation, he +forgot the noisy quarrel he had turned aside to see, and thirsted for +that rich store earnestly. + +In an instant, as he looked (after the comparative lull that must +obviously have succeeded to the clamours he had first heard), the roar +and riot broke out worse than ever. There were the stormy revellers, as +the rabble rout of Comus and his crew, filling that luxurious room with +the sounds of noisy execration and half-drunken strife. Young Sir John, +a free and generous fellow, by far the best among them all, has +collected about him those whom he thought friends, to celebrate his +wished majority; they had now kept it up, night after night, hard upon a +week; and, as well became such friends--the gambler, the duellist, the +man of pleasure, and the fool of Fashion--they never yet had separated +for their day-light beds, without a climax to their orgie, something +like the present scene. + +Henry Mynton, high in oath, and dashing down his cards, has charged Sir +Richard Hunt with cheating (it was _sauter la coupe_ or _couper la +saut_, or some such mystery of iniquity, I really cannot tell which): +Sir Richard, a stout dark man, the patriarch of the party, glossily +wigged upon his head, and imperially tufted on his chin, retorts with a +pungent sarcasm, calmly and coolly uttered; that hot-headed fool +Silliphant, clearly quite intoxicated, backs his cousin Mynton's view of +the case by the cogent argument of a dice-box at Sir Richard's head--and +at once all is struggle, strife, and uproar. The other guests, young +fellows of high fashion, now too much warmed with wine to remember their +accustomed Mohican cold-bloodedness--those happy debtors to the prowess +of a Stultz, and walking advertisers of Nugee--take eager part with the +opposed belligerents: more than one decanter is sent hissing through +the air; more than one bloody coxcomb witnesses to the weight of a +candle-stick and its hurler's clever aim: uplifted chairs are made the +weapons of the chivalric combatants; and along with divers other less +distinguished victims in the melee, poor Sir John Vincent, rushing into +the midst, as a well-intentioned host, to quell the drunken brawl, gets +knocked down among them all; the tables are upset, the bright gold runs +about the room in all directions--ha! no one heeds it--no one owns +it--one little piece rolled right up to the window-sill where Roger +still looked on with all his eyes; it is but to put his hand in--the +window is open to the floor--nay a finger is enough: greedily, one +undecided moment, did he gaze upon the gold; he saw the hideous contrast +of his own dim hovel and that radiant chamber--he remembered the pining +faces of his babes, and gentle Grace with all her hardships--he thought +upon his poverty and well deserts--he looked upon wastefulness of wealth +and wantonness of living--these reflections struck him in a moment; no +one saw him, no one cared about the gold; that little blessed morsel, +that could do him so much good; all was confusion, all was opportunity, +and who can wonder that his fingers closed upon the sovereign, and that +he picked it up? + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE LOST THEFT. + + +STEALTHILY and quickly "honest Roger" crept away, for his +conscience smote him on the instant: he felt he had done wrong; at any +rate, the sovereign was not his--and once the thought arose in him to +run back, and put it where he found it: but it was now become too +precious in his sight, that little bit of gold--and they, the rioters +there, could not want it, might not even miss it; and then its righteous +uses--it should be well spent, even if ill-got: and thus, so many +mitigations crowded in to excuse, if not to applaud the action, that +within a little while his warped mind had come to call the theft a +god-send. + +O Roger, Roger! alas for this false thought of that wrong deed! the +poisonous gold has touched thy heart, and left on it a spot of cancer: +the asp has bitten thee already, simple soul. This little seed will grow +into a huge black pine, that shall darken for a while thy heaven, and +dig its evil roots around thy happiness. Put it away, Roger, put it +away: covet not unhallowed gold. + +But Roger felt far otherwise; and this sudden qualm of conscience once +quelled (I will say there seemed much of palliation in the matter), a +kind of inebriate feeling of delight filled his mind, and Steady Acton +plodded on to the meadow yonder, half a mile a-head, in a species of +delirious complacency. Here was luck indeed, filling up the promise of +his dreams. His head was full of thoughts, pleasant holiday thoughts, of +the many little useful things, the many small indulgences, that bit of +gold should buy him. He would change it on the sly, and gradually bring +the shillings home as extra pay for extra work; for, however much his +wife might glory in the chance, and keep his secret, well he knew that +Grace would have a world of things to say about it, and he feared to +tell his daughter of the deed. However, she should have a ribbon, so she +should, good girl, and the pedlar shouldn't pass the door unbidden; +Mary, too, might have a cotton kerchief, and the babes a doll and a +rattle, and poor Thomas a shilling to spend as he liked; and so, in +happy revery, the kind father distributed his ill-got sovereign. + +For a while he held it in his hand, as loth to part from the tangible +possession of his treasure; but manual contact could not last all day, +and, as he neared his scene of labour--he came late after all, by the +by, and lost the quarter-day, but it mattered little now--he began to +cogitate a place of safety; and carefully put it in his fob. Poor +fellow--he had never had enough to stow so well away before: his pockets +had been thought quite trust-worthy enough for any treasures hitherto: +never had he used that fob for watch, or note, or gold--and his +predecessor in the cast-off garment had probably been quite aware how +little that false fob was worthy of the name of savings' bank; it was in +the situation of the Irishman's illimitable rope, with the end cut off. +So while Roger was brewing up vast schemes of nascent wealth, and +prosperous days at last, the filched sovereign, attracted by centripetal +gravity, had found a passage downwards, and had straightway rolled into +a crevice of mother-earth, long before its "brief lord" had commenced +his day's labour. Yes, it had been lost a good hour ere he found it out, +for he had fancied that he had felt it there, and often did he feel, but +his fancy was a button; and when he made the dread discovery, what a +sting of momentary anguish, what a sickening fear, what an eager search! +and, as the grim truth became more evident, that, indeed, beyond all +remedy, his new-got, ill-got, egg of coming wealth was all clean +gone--oh! this was worm-wood, this was bitter as gall, and the strong +man well-nigh fainted. It was something sad to have done the ill--but +misery to have done it all for nothing: the sin was not altogether +pleasant to his taste, but it was aloe itself to lose the reward. And +when, pale and sick, leaning on his spade, he came to his old strength +again, what was the reaction? Compunction at incipient crime, and +gratitude to find its punishment so mercifully speedy, so lenient, so +discriminative? I fear that if ever he had these thoughts at all, he +chased them wilfully away: his disappointment, far from being softened +into patience, was sharpened to a feeling of revenge at fate; and all +his hope now was--such another chance, gold, more gold, never mind how; +more gold, he burnt for gold, he lusted after gold! + +We must leave him for a time to his toil and his reflections, and touch +another topic of our theme. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE INQUEST. + + +JUST a week before the baronet came of age, and a fortnight +from the present time, an awful and mysterious event had happened at the +Hall: the old house-keeper, Mrs. Quarles, had been found dead in her +bed, under circumstances, to say the very least, of a black and +suspicious appearance. The county coroner had got a jury of the +neighbours impanelled together; who, after sitting patiently on the +inquest, and hearing, as well as seeing, the following evidence, could +arrive at no verdict more specific than the obvious fact, that the poor +old creature had been "found dead." The great question lay between +apoplexy and murder; and the evidence tended to a well-matched conflict +of opinions. + +First, there lay the body, quietly in bed, tucked in tidily and +undisturbed, with no marks of struggling, none whatever--the clothes lay +smooth, and the chamber orderly: yet the corpse's face was of a purple +hue, the tongue swollen, the eyes starting from their sockets: it might, +indeed, possibly have been an apoplectic seizure, which took her in her +sleep, and killed her as she lay; _but_ that the gripe of clutching +fingers had left their livid seals upon the throat, and countenanced +the dreadful thought of strangulation! + +Secondly, a surgeon (one Mr. Eager, the Union doctor, a very young +personage, wrong withal and radical) maintained that this actual +strangulation might have been effected by the hands of the deceased +herself, in the paroxysm of a rush of blood to the brain; and he +fortified his wise position by the instance of a late statesman, who, he +averred, cut his throat with a pen-knife, to relieve himself of pressure +on the temples: while another surgeon--Stephen Cramp, he was farrier as +well, and had been, until lately, time out of mind, the village +AEsculapius, who looked with scorn on his pert rival, and opposed him +tooth and nail on all occasions--insisted that it was not only +physically impossible for poor Mrs. Quarles so to have strangled +herself, but more particularly that, if she had done so, she certainly +could not have laid herself out so decently afterwards; therefore, that +as some one else had kindly done the latter office for her, why not the +former too? + +Thirdly, Sarah Stack, the still-room maid, deposed, that Mrs. Quarles +always locked her door before she went to bed, but that when she +(deponent) went to call her as usual on the fatal morning, the door was +just ajar; and so she found her dead: while parallel with this, tending +to implicate some domestic criminal, was to be placed the equally +uncommon fact, that the other door of Mrs. Quarles's room, leading to +the lawn, was open too:--be it known that Mrs. Quarles was a stout +woman, who could'nt abide to sleep up-stairs, for fear of fire; +moreover, that she was a nervous woman, who took extraordinary +precautions for her safety, in case of thieves. Thus, unaccountably +enough, the murderer, if there was any, was as likely to have come from +the outside, as from the in. + +Fourthly, the murderer in this way is commonly a thief, and does the +deed for mammon-sake; but the new house-keeper, lately installed, made +her deposition, that, by inventories duly kept and entered--for her +honoured predecessor, rest her soul! had been a pattern of +regularity--all Mrs. Quarles's goods and personal chattels were found to +be safe and right in her room--some silver spoons among them too--ay, +and a silver tea-pot; while, as to other property in the house, with +every room full of valuables, nothing whatever was missing from the +lists, except, indeed, what was scarce worth mention (unless one must be +very exact), sundry crocks and gallipots of honey, not forthcoming; +these, however, it appeared probable that Mrs. Quarles had herself +consumed in a certain mixture she nightly was accustomed too, of rum, +horehound, and other matters sweetened up with honey, for her +hoarseness. It seemed therefore clear she was not murdered for her +property, nor by any one intending to have robbed the house. + +Against this it was contended, and really with some show of reason, that +as Mrs. Quarles was thought to have a hoard, always set her face against +banks, railway shares, speculations, and investments, and seemed to have +left nothing behind her but her clothes and so forth, it was still +possible that the murderer who took the life, might have also been the +thief to take the money. + +Fifthly, Simon Jennings--butler in doors, bailiff out of doors, and +general factotum every where to the Vincent interest--for he had managed +to monopolize every place worth having, from the agent's book to the +cellar-man's key--the said Simon deposed, that on the night in question, +he heard the house-dog barking furiously, and went out to quiet him; but +found no thieves, nor knew any reason why the dog should have barked so +much. + +Now, the awkward matter in this deposition (if Mr. Jennings had not been +entirely above suspicion--the idea was quite absurd--not to mention that +he was nephew to the deceased, a great favourite with her, and a man +altogether of the very strictest character), the awkward matters were +these: the nearest way out to the dog, indeed the only way but casement +windows on that side of the house, was through Mrs. Quarles's room: she +had had the dog placed there for her special safety, as she slept on the +ground floor; and it was not to be thought that Mr. Jennings could do so +incorrect a thing as to pass through her room after bed-time, locked or +unlocked--indeed, when the question was delicately hinted to him, he was +quite shocked at it--quite shocked. But if he did not go that way, which +way did he go? He deposed, indeed, and his testimony was no ways to be +doubted, that he went through the front door, and so round; which, under +the circumstances, was at once a very brave and a very foolish thing to +do; for it is, first, little wisdom to go round two sides of a square to +quiet a dog, when one might have easily called to him from the +men-servants' window; and secondly, albeit Mr. Jennings was a strict +man, an upright man, shrewd withal, and calculating, no one had ever +thought him capable of that Roman virtue, courage. Still, he had +reluctantly confessed to this one heroic act, and it was a bold one, so +let him take the credit of it--mainly because-- + +Sixthly, Jonathan Floyd, footman, after having heard the dog bark at +intervals, surely for more than a couple of hours, thought he might as +well turn out of his snug berth for a minute, just to see what ailed +the dog, or how many thieves were really breaking in. Well, as he +looked, he fancied he saw a boat moving on the lake, but as there was no +moon, he might have been mistaken. + +_By a Juryman._ It might be a punt. + +_By another._ He did'nt know how many boats there were on the +lake-side: they had a boat-house at the Hall, by the water's edge, and +therefore he concluded something in it; really did'nt know; might be a +boat, might be a punt, might be both--or neither. + +_By the Coroner._ Could not swear which way it was moving; and, really, +if put upon his Bible oath, wouldn't be positive about a boat at all, it +was so dark, and he was so sleepy. + +Not long afterwards, as the dog got still more violent, he turned his +eyes from straining after shadows on the lake, to look at home, and then +all at once noticed Mr. Jennings trying to quiet the noisy animal with +the usual blandishments of "Good dog, good dog--quiet, Don, quiet--down, +good dog--down, Don, down!" + +_By a Juryman._ He would swear to the words. + +But Don would not hear of being quiet. After that, knowing all must be +right if Mr. Jennings was about, he (deponent) turned in again, went to +sleep, and thought no more of it till he heard of Mrs. Quarles's death +in the morning. If he may be so bold as to speak his mind, he thinks the +house-keeper, being fat, died o' the 'plexy in a nateral way, and that +the dog barking so, just as she was a-going off, is proof positive of +it. He'd often heard of dogs doing so; they saw the sperit gliding away, +and barked at it; his (deponent's) own grandmother-- + +At this juncture--for the court was getting fidgetty--the coroner cut +short the opinions of Jonathan Floyd: and when Mr. Crown, summing up, +presented in one focus all this evidence to the misty minds of the +assembled jurymen, it puzzled them entirely; they could not see their +way, fairly addled, did not know at all what to make of it. On the +threshold, there was no proof it was a murder--the Union doctor was loud +and staunch on this; and next, there seemed to be no motive for the +deed, and no one to suspect of it: so they left the matter open, found +her simply "Dead," and troubled their heads no more about the business. + +Good Mr. Evans, the vicar, preached her funeral sermon, only as last +Sunday, amplifying the idea that she "was cut off in the midst of her +days:" and thereby encouraging many of the simpler folks, who knew that +Mrs. Quarles had long passed seventy, in the luminous notion that +house-keepers in great establishments are privileged, among other +undoubted perquisites, to live to a hundred and forty, unless cut off by +apoplexy or murder. + +Mr. Simon Jennings, as nephew and next of kin, followed the body to its +last home in the capacity of chief mourner; to do him justice, he was a +real mourner, bewailed her loudly, and had never been the same man +since. Moreover, although aforetime not much given to indiscriminate +charity, he had now gained no small credit by distributing his aunt's +wardrobe among the poorer families at Hurstley. It was really very kind +of him, and the more so, as being altogether unexpected: he got great +praise for this, did Mr. Jennings; specially, too, because he had gained +nothing whatever from his aunt's death, though her heir and probable +legatee, and clearly was a disappointed man. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE BAILIFF; AND A BITTER TRIAL. + + +JENNINGS--Mr. Simon Jennings--for he prided himself much both +on the Mr. and the Simon, was an upright man, a very upright man indeed, +literally so as well as metaphorically. He was not tall certainly, but +what there was of him stood bolt upright. Many fancied that his neck was +possessed of some natural infirmity, or rather firmity, of +unbendableness, some little-to-be-envied property of being a perpetual +stiff-neck; and they were the more countenanced in this theory, from the +fact that, within a few days past, Mr. Jennings had contracted an ugly +knack of carrying his erect head in the comfortless position of peeping +over his left shoulder; not always so, indeed, but often enough to be +remarkable; and then he would occasionally start it straight again, eyes +right, with a nervous twitch, any thing but pleasant to the marvelling +spectator. It was as if he was momentarily expecting to look upon some +vague object that affrighted him, and sometimes really did see it. Mr. +Jennings had consulted high medical authority (as Hurstley judged), to +wit, the Union doctor of last scene, an enterprising practitioner, glib +in theory, and bold in practice--and it had been mutually agreed between +them that "stomach" was the cause of these unhandsome symptoms; acridity +of the gastric juice, consequent indigestion and spasm, and generally a +hypochondriacal habit of body. Mr. Jennings must take certain draughts +thrice a day, be very careful of his diet, and keep his mind at ease. As +to Simon himself, he was, poor man, much to be pitied in this ideal +visitation; for, though his looks confessed that he saw, or fancied he +saw, a something, he declared himself wholly at a loss to explain what +that something was: moreover, contrary to former habits of an +ostentatious boldness, he seemed meekly to shrink from observation: and, +as he piously acquiesced in the annoyance, would observe that his +unpleasant jerking was "a little matter after all, and that, no doubt, +the will of Providence." + +Independently of these new grimaces, Simon's appearance was little in +his favour: not that his small dimensions signified--Caesar, and +Buonaparte, and Wellington, and Nelson, all were little men--not that +his dress was other than respectable--black coat and waistcoat, white +stiff cravat, gray trowsers somewhat shrunk in longitude, good +serviceable shoe-leather (of the shape, if not also of the size, of +river barges), and plenty of unbleached cotton stocking about the +gnarled region of his ankles. All this was well enough; nature was +beholden to that charity of art which hides a multitude of failings; but +the face, where native man looks forth in all his unadornment, that it +was which so seldom pre-possessed the many who had never heard of +Jenning's strict character and stern integrity. The face was a sallow +face, peaked towards the nose, with head and chin receding; lit withal +by small protrusive eyes, so constructed, that the whites all round were +generally visible, giving them a strange and staring look; elevated +eye-brows; not an inch of whisker, but all shaved sore right up to the +large and prominent ear; and lank black, hair, not much of it, scantily +thatching all smooth. Then his arms, oscillating as he walked (as if the +pendulum by which that rigid man was made to go his regular routine), +were much too long for symmetry: and altogether, to casual view, Mr. +Jennings must acknowledge to a supercilious, yet sneaking air--which +charity has ere now been kind enough to think a conscious rectitude +towards man, and a soft-going humility with God. + +When the bailiff takes his round about the property, as we see him now, +he is mounted--to say he rides would convey far too equestrian a +notion--he is mounted on a rough-coated, quiet, old, white +shooting-pony; the saddle strangely girded on with many bands about the +belly, the stirrups astonishingly short, and straps never called upon to +diminish that long whity-brown interval between shoe and trowser: Mr. +Jennings sits his steed with nose aloft, and a high perch in the +general, somewhat loosely, and, had the pony been a Bucephalus rather +than a Rozinante, not a little perilously. Simon is jogging hitherwards +toward Roger Acton, as he digs the land-drain across this marshy meadow: +let us see how it fares now with our poor hero. + +Occupation--yes, duteous occupation--has exerted its wholsesome +influences, and, thank God! Roger is himself again. He has been very +sorry half the day, both for the wicked feelings of the morning, and +that still more wicked theft--a bad business altogether, he cannot bear +to think of it; the gold was none of his, whosesoever it might be--he +ought not to have touched it--vexed he did, but cannot help it now; it +is well he lost it too, for ill-got money never came to any good: +though, to be sure, if he could only get it honestly, money would make a +man of him. + +I am not sure of that, Roger, it may be so sometimes; but, in my +judgment, money has unmade more men than made them. + +"How now, Acton, is not this drain dug yet! You have been about it much +too long, sir; I shall fine you for this." + +"Please you, Muster Jennings, I've stuck to it pretty tightly too, +barring that I make to-day three-quarters, being late: but it's heavy +clay, you see, Mr. Simon--wet above and iron-hard below: it shall all be +ready by to-morrow, Mr. Simon." + +Whether the "Mr. Simon" had its softening influence, or any other +considerations lent their soothing aid, we shall see presently; for the +bailiff added, in a tone unusually indulgent, + +"Well, Roger, see it is done, and well done; and now I have just another +word to say to you: his honour is coming round this way, and if he asks +you any questions, remember to be sure and tell him this--you have got a +comfortable cottage, very comfortable, just repaired, you want for +nothing, and are earning twelve shillings a week." + +"God help me, Muster Jennings: why my wages are but eight, and my hovel +scarcely better than a pig-pound." + +"Look you, Acton; tell Sir John what you have told me, and you are a +ruined man. Make it twelve to his honour, as others shall do: who +knows," he added, half-coaxing, half-soliloquizing, "perhaps his honour +may really make it twelve, instead of eight." + +"Oh, Muster Jennings! and who gets the odd four?" + +"What, man! do you dare to ask me that? Remember, sir, at your peril, +that you, and all the rest, _have had_ twelve shillings a-week wages +whenever you have worked on this estate--not a word!--and that, if you +dare speak or even think to the contrary, you never earn a penny here +again. But here comes John Vincent, my master, as I, Simon Jennings, am +yours: be careful what you say to him." + +Sir John Devereux Vincent, after a long minority, had at length shaken +off his guardians, and become master of his own doings, and of Hurstley +Hall. The property was in pretty decent order, and funds had accumulated +vastly: all this notwithstanding a thousand peculations, and the +suspicious incident that one of the guardians was a "highly respectable" +solicitor. Sir John, like most new brooms, had with the best intentions +resolved upon sweeping measures of great good; especially also upon +doing a great deal with his own eyes and ears; but, like as aforesaid, +he was permitted neither to hear nor see any truths at all. Just now, +the usual night's work took him a little off the hooks, and we must make +allowances; really, too, he was by far the soberest of all those choice +spirits, and drank and played as little as he could; and even, under +existing disadvantages, he managed by four o'clock post meridiem to +inspect a certain portion of the estate duly every day, under the +prudential guidance of his bailiff Jennings. There, that good-looking, +tall young fellow on the blood mare just cantering up to us is Sir John; +the other two are a couple of the gallant youths now feasting at the +Hall: ay, two of the fiercest foes in last night's broil. Those heated +little matters are easily got over. + +"Hollo, Jennings! what the devil made you give that start? you couldn't +look more horrified if ghosts were at your elbow: why, your face is the +picture of death; look another way, man, do, or my mare will bolt." + +"I beg your pardon, Sir John, but the spasm took me: it is my infirmity; +forgive it. This meadow, you perceive, Sir John, requires drainage, and +afterwards I propose to dress it with free chalk to sweeten the grass. +Next field, you will take notice, the guano--" + +"Well, well--Jennings--and that poor fellow there up to his knees in +mud, is he pretty tolerably off now?" + +"Oh, your honour," said the bailiff, with a knowing look, "I only wish +that half the little farmers hereabouts were as well to do as he is: a +pretty cottage, Sir John, half an acre of garden, and twelve shillings a +week, is pretty middling for a single man." + +"Aha--is it?--well; but the poor devil looks wretched enough too--I will +just ask him if he wants any thing now." + +"Don't, Sir John, pray don't; pray permit me to advise your honour: +these men are always wanting. 'Acton's cottage' is a proverb; and Roger +there can want for nothing honestly; nevertheless, as I know your +honour's good heart, and wish to make all happy, if you will suffer me +to see to it myself--" + +"Certainly, Jennings, do, do by all means, and thank you: here, just to +make a beginning, as we're all so jolly at the Hall, and that poor +fellow's up to his neck in mud, give him this from me to drink my health +with." + +Acton, who had dutifully held aloof, and kept on digging steadily, was +still quite near enough to hear all this; at the magical word "give," he +looked up hurriedly, and saw Sir John Vincent toss a piece of gold--yes, +on his dying oath, a bright new sovereign--to Simon Jennings. O blessed +vision, and gold was to be his at last! + +"Come along, Mynton; Hunt, now mind you try and lame that big beast of a +raw-boned charger among these gutters, will you? I'm off, Jennings; meet +me, do you hear, at the Croft to-mor--" + +So the three friends galloped away; and John Vincent really felt more +light-hearted and happy than at any time the week past, for having so +properly got rid of a welcome bit of gold. + +"Roger Acton! come up here, sir, out of that ditch: his honour has been +liberal enough to give you a shilling to drink his health with." + +"A shilling, Muster Jennings?" said the poor astonished man; "why I'll +make oath it was a pound; I saw it myself. Come, Muster Jennings, don't +break jokes upon a poor man's back." + +"Jokes, Acton? sticks, sir, if you say another word: take John Vincent's +shilling." + +"Oh, sir!" cried Roger, quite unmanned at this most cruel +disappointment; "be merciful--be generous--give me my gold, my own bit +of gold! I'll swear his honour gave it for me: blessings on his head! +You know he did, Mr. Simon; don't play upon me!" + +"Play upon you?--generous--your gold--what is it you mean, man? We'll +have no madmen about us, I can tell you; take the shilling, or else--" + +"'Rob not the poor, because he is poor, for the Lord shall plead his +cause,'" was the solemn answer. + +"Roger Acton!"--the bailiff gave a scared start, as usual, and, +recovering himself, looked both white and stern: "you have dared to +quote the Bible against me: deeply shall you rue it. Begone, man! your +work on this estate is at an end." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +WRONGS AND RUIN. + + +A VERY miserable man was Roger Acton now, for this last trial +was the worst of all. The vapours of his discontent had almost passed +away--that bright pernicious dream was being rapidly forgotten--the +morning's ill-got coin, "thank the Lord, it was lost as soon as found," +and penitence had washed away that blot upon his soul; but here, an +honest pound, liberally bestowed by his hereditary landlord--his own +bright bit of gold--the only bit but one he ever had (and how different +in innocence from that one!)--a seeming sugar-drop of kindness, shed by +the rich heavens on his cup of poverty--to have this meanly filched away +by a grasping, grinding task-master--oh, was it not a bitter trial? What +affliction as to this world's wealth can a man meet worse than this? + +Acton's first impulse was to run to the Hall, and ask to see Sir +John:--"Out; won't be back till seven, and then can see nobody; the +baronet will be dressing for dinner, and musn't be disturbed." Then he +made a vain effort to speak with Mr. Jennings, and plead with him: yes, +even on his knees, if must be. Mr. Simon could not be so bad; perhaps it +was a long joke after all--the bailiff always had a queer way with him. +Or, if indeed the man meant robbery, loudly to threaten him, that all +might hear, to bring the house about his ears, and force justice, if he +could not fawn it. But both these conflicting expedients were vetoed. +Jonathan Floyd, who took in Acton's meek message of "humbly craved leave +to speak with Master Jennings," came back with the inexplicable mandate, +"Warn Roger Acton from the premises." So, he must needs bide till +to-morrow morning, when, come what might, he resolved to see his honour, +and set some truths before him. + +Acton was not the only man on the estate who knew that he had a +landlord, generous, not to say prodigal--a warm-hearted, +well-intentioned master, whose mere youth a career of sensuality had not +yet hardened, nor a course of dissipation been prolonged enough to +distort his feelings from the right. And Acton, moreover, was not the +only man who wondered how, with such a landlord (ay, and the guardians +before him were always well-spoken gentle-folks, kindly in their +manners, and liberal in their looks), wages could be kept so low, and +rents so high, and indulgences so few, and penalties so many. There +were fines for every thing, and no allowances of hedgebote, or +housebote, or any other time-honoured right; the very peat on the common +must be paid for, and if a child picked a bit of fagot the father was +mulcted in a shilling. Mr. Jennings did all this, and always pleaded his +employers' orders; nay, if any grumbled, as men would now and then, he +would affect to think it strange that the gentlemen guardians, with the +landlord at their head, could be so hard upon the poor: he would not be +so, credit him, if he had been born a gentleman; but the bailiff, men, +must obey orders, like the rest of you; these are hard times for +Hurstley, he would say, and we must all rub over them as best we can. +According to Simon, it was as much as his own place was worth to remit +one single penny of a fine, or make the least indulgence for calamity; +while, as to lowering a cotter's rent, or raising a ditcher's wages, he +dared not do it for his life; folks must not blame him, but look to the +landlord. + +Now, all this, in the long absence of any definite resident master at +the Hall, sounded reasonable, if true; and Mr. Jennings punctually paid, +however bad the terms; so the poor men bode their time, and looked for +better days. And the days long-looked-for now were come; but were they +any better? The baronet, indeed, seemed bent upon inquiry, reform, +redress; but, as he never went without the right-hand man, his +endeavours were always unsuccessful. At first it would appear that the +bailiff had gone upon his old plan, shrugging up his shoulders to the +men at the master's meanness, while he praised to the landlord the +condition of his tenants; but this could not long deceive, so he turned +instanter on another tack; he assumed the despot, issuing authoritative +edicts, which no one dared to disobey; he made the labourer hide his +needs, and intercepted at its source the lord's benevolence; he began to +be found out, so the bolder spirits said, in filching with both hands +from man and master; and, to the mind of more than one shrewd observer, +was playing the unjust steward to admiration. + +But stop: let us hear the other side; it is possible we may have been +mistaken. Bailiffs are never popular, particularly if they are too +honest, and this one is a stern man with a repulsive manner. Who knows +whether his advice to Acton may not have been wise and kind, and would +not have conduced to a general rise of wages? Who can prove, nay, +venture to insinuate, any such systematic roguery against a man hitherto +so strict, so punctual, so sanctimonious? Even in the case of Sir John's +golden gift, Jennings may be right after all; it is quite possible that +Roger was mistaken, and had gilt a piece of silver with his longings; +and the upright man might well take umbrage at so vile an imputation as +that hot and silly speech; it was foolish, very foolish, to have quoted +text against him, and no wonder that the labourer got dismissed for it. +Then again to return to wages--who knows? it might be, all things +considered, the only way of managing a rise; the bailiff must know his +master's mind best, and Acton had been wise to have done as he bade him; +perhaps it really was well-meant, and might have got him twelve +shillings a-week, instead of eight as hitherto; perhaps Simon was a +shrewd man, and arranged it cleverly; perhaps Roger was an honest man, +and couldn't but think others so. + +Any how, though, all was lost now, and he blamed his own rash tongue, +poor fellow, for what he could not help fearing was the ruin of himself +and all he loved. With a melancholy heart, he shouldered his spade, and +slowly plodded homewards. How long should he have a home? How was he to +get bread, to get work, if the bailiff was his enemy? How could he face +his wife, and tell her all the foolish past and dreadful future? How +could he bear to look on Grace, too beautiful Grace, and torture his +heart by fancying her fate? Thomas, too, his own brave boy, whom utter +poverty might drive to desperation? And the poor babes, his little +playful pets, what on earth would become of them? There was the Union +workhouse to be sure, but Acton shuddered at the thought; to be +separated from every thing he loved, to give up his little all, and be +made both a prisoner and a slave, all for the sake of what?--daily +water-gruel, and a pauper's branded livery. Or they might perchance go +beyond the seas, if some Prince Edward's Company would help him and his +to emigrate; ay, thought he, and run new risks, encounter fresh dangers, +lose every thing, get nothing, and all the trouble taken merely to +starve three thousand miles from home. No, no; at his time of life, he +could not be leaving for ever old friends, old habits, old fields, old +home, old neighbourhood--where he had seen the saplings grow up trees, +and the quick toppings change into a ten-foot hedge; where the very +cattle knew his step, and the clods broke kindly to his ploughshare; and +more than all, the dear old church, where his forefathers had worshipped +from the Conquest, and the old mounds where they slept, +and--and--and--that one precious grave of his dear lost Annie--could he +leave it? Oh God, no! he had done no ill, he had committed no crime--why +should he prefer the convict's doom, and seek to be transported for +life? + +A miserable walk home was that, and full of wretched thoughts. Poor +Roger Acton, tossed by much trouble, vexed with sore oppression, I wish +that you had prayed in your distress; stop, he did pray, and that +vehemently; but it was not for help, or guidance, or patience, or +consolation--he only prayed for gold. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE COVETOUS DREAM. + + +ONCE at home, the sad truth soon was told. Roger's look alone +spoke of some calamity, and he had but little heart or hope to keep the +matter secret. True, he said not a word about the early morning's sin; +why should he? he had been punished for it, and he had repented; let him +be humbled before God, but not confess to man. However, all about the +bailiff, and the landlord, and the thieved gift, and the sudden +dismissal, the sure ruin, the dismal wayside plans, and fears, and dark +alternatives, without one hope in any--these did poor Acton fluently +pour forth with broken-hearted eloquence; to these Grace listened +sorrowfully, with a face full of gentle trust in God's blessing on the +morrow's interview; these Mary, the wife, heard to an end, with--no +storm of execration on ill-fortune, no ebullition of unjust rage against +a fool of a husband, no vexing sneers, no selfish apprehensions. Far +from it; there really was one unlooked-for blessing come already to +console poor Roger; and no little compensation for his trouble was the +way his wife received the news. He, unlucky man, had expected something +little short of a virago's talons, and a beldame's curse; he had +experienced on less occasions something of the sort before; but now that +real affliction stood upon the hearth, Mary Acton's character rose with +the emergency, and she greeted her ruined husband with a kindness +towards him, a solemn indignation against those who grind the poor, and +a sober courage to confront evil, which he little had imagined. + +"Bear up, Roger; here, goodman, take the child, and don't look quite so +downcast; come what may, I'll share your cares, and you shall halve my +pleasures; we will fight it out together." + +Moreover, cross, and fidgetty, and scolding, as Mary had been ever +heretofore, to her meek step-daughter Grace, all at once, as if just to +disappoint any preconcerted theory, now that actual calamity was come, +she turned to be a kind good mother to her. Roger and his daughter could +scarcely believe their ears. + +"Grace, dear, I know you're a sensible good girl, try and cheer your +father." And then the step-dame added, + +"There now, just run up, fetch your prayer-book down, and read a little +to us all to do us good."--The fair, affectionate girl, unused to the +accents of kindness, could not forbear flinging her arms round Mary +Acton's neck, and loving her, as Ruth loved Naomi. + +Then with a heavenly smile upon her face, and a happy heart within her +to keep the smile alight, her gentle voice read these words--it will do +us good to read them too: + + "Out of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice. + O let thine ears consider well the voice of my complaint. + If thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss, + O Lord, who may abide it? + Because there is mercy with thee; therefore shall thou be feared. + I look for the Lord, my soul doth wait for him: in his word is my trust. + My soul fleeth unto the Lord, before the morning watch, + before the morning watch. + O Israel, trust in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy: + and with him is plenteous redemption. + And he shall redeem Israel from all his sins." + +"Isn't the last word 'troubles,' child? look again; I think it's +'troubles' either there, or leastways in the Bible-psalm." + +"No, father, sins, 'from all his sins;' and 'iniquities' in the +Bible-version--look, father." + +"Well, girl, well; I wish it had been 'troubles;' 'from all his +troubles' is a better thought to my mind: God wot, I have plenty on 'em, +and a little lot of gold would save us from them all." + +"Gold, father? no, my father--God." + +"I tell you, child," said Roger, ever vacillating in his strong +temptation between habitual religion and the new-caught lust of money, +"if only on a sudden I could get gold by hook or by crook, all my cares +and all your troubles would be over on the instant." + +"Oh, dear father, do not hope so; and do not think of troubles more than +sins; there is no deliverance in Mammon; riches profit not in the day of +evil, and ill-got wealth tends to worse than poverty." + +"Well, any how, I only wish that dream of mine came true." + +"Dream, goodman--what dream?" said his wife. + +"Why, Poll, I dreamt I was a-working in my garden, hard by the celery +trenches in the sedge; and I was moaning at my lot, as well I may: and a +sort of angel came to me, only he looked dark and sorrowful, and kindly +said, 'What would you have, Roger?' I, nothing fearful in my dream, for +all the strangeness of his winged presence, answered boldly, 'Money;' he +pointed with his finger, laughed aloud, and vanished away: and, as for +me, I thought a minute wonderingly, turned to look where he had pointed, +and, O the blessing! found a crock of gold!" + +"Hush, father! that dark angel was the devil; he has dropt ill thoughts +upon your heart: I would I could see you as you used to be, dear father, +till within these two days." + +"Whoever he were, if he brought me gold, he would bring me blessing. +There's meat and drink, and warmth and shelter, in the yellow gold--ay, +and rest from labour, child, and a power of rare good gifts." + +"If God had made them good, and the gold were honest gains, still, +father, even so, you forget righteousness, and happiness, and wisdom. +Money gives us none of these, but it might take them all away: dear +father, let your loving Grace ask you, have you been better, happier, +wiser, even from the wishing it so much?" + +"Daughter, daughter, I tell you plainly, he that gives me gold, gives me +all things: I wish I found the crock the de--the angel, I mean, brought +me." + +"O father," murmured Grace, "do not breathe the wicked wish; even if you +found it without any evil angel's help, would the gold be rightfully +your own?" + +"Tush, girl!" said her mother; "get the gold, feed the children, and +then to think about the right." + +"Ay, Grace, first drive away the toils and troubles of this life," added +Roger, "and then one may try with a free mind to discover the comforts +of religion." + +Poor Grace only looked up mournfully, and answered nothing. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE POACHER. + + +A SUDDEN knock at the door here startled the whole party, and +Mary Acton, bustling up, drew the bolt to let in--first, a lurcher, one +Rover to wit, our gaunt ember-loving friend of Chapter II.; secondly, +Thomas Acton, full flush, who carried the old musket on his shoulder, +and seemed to have something else under his smock; and thirdly, Ben +Burke, a personage of no small consequence to us, and who therefore +deserves some specific introduction. + +Big Ben, otherwise Black Burke, according to the friendship or the +enmity of those who named him, was a huge, rough, loud, good-humoured, +dare-devil sort of an individual, who lived upon what he considered +common rights. His dress was of the mongrel character, a well-imagined +cross between a ploughman's and a sailor's; the bottle-green frock of +the former, pattern-stitched about the neck as ingeniously as if a tribe +of Wisconsin squaws had tailored it--and mighty fishing boots, vast as +any French postillion's, acting as a triton's tail to symbolize the +latter: a red cotton handkerchief (dirty-red of course, as all things +else were dirty, for cleanliness had little part in Ben), occupied just +now the more native region of a halter; and a rusty fur cap crowned the +poacher; I repeat it--crowned the poacher; for in his own estimation, +and that of many others too, Ben was, if not quite an emperor, at least +an Agamemnon, a king of men, a natural human monarch; in truth, he felt +as much pride in the title Burke the Poacher (and with as great justice +too, for aught I know), as Ali-Hamet-Ghee-the-Thug eastwards, or +William-of-Normandy-the-Conqueror westwards, may be thought respectively +to have cherished, on the score of their murderous and thievish +surnames. + +There was no small good, after all, in poor Ben; and a mountain of +allowance must be flung into the scales to counterbalance his +deficiencies. However coarse, and even profane, in his talk (I hope the +gentle reader will excuse me alike for eliding a few elegant extracts +from his common conversation, and also for reminding him +characteristically, now and then, that Ben's language is not entirely +Addisonian), however rough of tongue and dissonant in voice, Ben's heart +will be found much about in the right place; nay, I verily believe it +has more of natural justice, human kindness, and right sympathies in +it, than are to be found in many of those hard and hollow cones that +beat beneath the twenty-guinea waistcoats of a Burghardt or a +Buckmaster. Ay, give me the fluttering inhabitant of Ben Burke's cowskin +vest; it is worth a thousand of those stuffed and artificial denizens, +whose usual nest is figured satin and cut velvet. + +Ben stole--true--he did not deny it; but he stole naught but what he +fancied was wrongfully withheld him: and, if he took from the rich, who +scarcely knew he robbed them, he shared his savoury booty with the poor, +and fed them by his daring. Like Robin Hood of old, he avenged himself +on wanton wealth, and frequently redressed by it the wrongs of penury. +Not that I intend to break a lance for either of them, nor to go any +lengths in excusing; slight extenuation is the limit for prudent +advocacy in these cases. Robin Hood and Benjamin Burke were both of them +thieves; bold men--bad men, if any will insist upon the bad; they sinned +against law, and order, and Providence; they dug rudely at the roots of +social institutions; they spoke and acted in a dangerous fashion about +rights of men and community of things. But set aside the statutes of +Foresting and Venery, disfranchise pheasants, let it be a cogent thing +that poverty and riches approach the golden mean somewhat less +unequally, and we shall not find much of criminality, either in Ben or +Robin. + +For a general idea, then, of our poaching friend:--he is a gigantic, +black-whiskered, humorous, ruddy mortal, full of strange oaths, which we +really must not print, and bearded like the pard, and he tumbles in +amongst our humble family party, with-- + +"Bless your honest heart, Roger! what makes you look so sodden? I'm a +lord, if your eyes a'n't as red as a hedge-hog's; and all the rest o' +you, too; why, you seem to be pretty well merry as mutes. Ha! I see what +it is," added Ben, pouring forth a benediction on their frugal supper; +"it's that precious belly-ache porridge that's a-giving you all the +'flensy. Tip it down the sink, dame, will you now? and trust to me for +better. Your Tom here, Roger, 's a lad o' mettle, that he is; ay, and +that old iron o' yours as true as a compass; and the pheasants would +come to it, all the same as if they'd been loadstoned. Here, dame, pluck +the fowl, will you: drop 'em, Tom."--And Thomas Acton flung upon the +table a couple of fine cock-pheasants. + +Roger, Mary, and Grace, who were well accustomed to Ben Burke's eloquent +tirades, heard the end of this one with anxiety and silence; for Tom +had never done the like before. Grace was first to expostulate, but was +at once cut short by an oath from her brother, whose evident state of +high excitement could not brook the semblance of reproof. Mary Acton's +marketing glance was abstractedly fixed upon the actual _corpus +delicti_; each fine plump bird, full-plumaged, young-spurred; yes, they +were still warm, and would eat tender, so she mechanically began to +pluck them; while, as for poor downcast Roger, he remembered, with a +conscience-sting that almost made him start, his stolen bit of money in +the morning--so, how could he condemn? He only looked pityingly on +Thomas, and sighed from the bottom of his heart. + +"Why, what's the matter now?" roared Ben; "one 'ud think we was bailiffs +come to raise the rent, 'stead of son Tom and friendly Ben; hang it, +mun, we aint here to cheat you out o' summut--no, not out o' peace o' +mind neither; so, if you don't like luck, burn the fowls, or bury 'em, +and let brave Tom risk limbo for nothing." + +"Oh, Ben!" murmured Grace, "why will you lead him astray? Oh, brother! +brother! what have you done?" she said, sorrowfully. + +"Miss Grace,"--her beauty always awed the poacher, and his rugged +Caliban spirit bowed in reverence before her Ariel soul--"I wish I was +as good as you, but can't be: don't condemn us, Grace; leastways, first +hear me, and then say where's the harm or sin on it. Twelve hundred head +o' game--I heard John Gorse, the keeper, tell it at the Jerry--twelve +hundred head were shot at t'other day's battew: Sir John--no blame to +him for it--killed a couple o' hundred to his own gun: and though they +sent away a coachful, and gave to all who asked, and feasted themselves +chuckfull, and fed the cats, and all, still a mound, like a haycock, o' +them fine fat fowl, rotted in a mass, and were flung upon the dungpit. +Now, Miss Grace, that ere salt pea-porridge a'n't nice, a'n't wholesome; +and, bless your pretty mouth, it ought to feed more sweetly. Look at +Acton, isn't he half-starved. Is Tom, brave boy, full o' the fat o' the +land? Who made fowl, I should like to know, and us to eat 'em? And +where's the harm or sin in bringing down a bird? No, Miss, them ere +beaks, dammem (beg humble pardon, Miss, indeed I won't again) them ere +justices, as they call themselves, makes hard laws to hedge about their +own pleasures; and if the poor man starves, he starves; but if he stays +his hunger with the free, wild birds of heaven, they prison him and +punish him, and call him poacher." + +"Ben, those who make the laws, do so under God's permission; and they +who break man's law, break His law." + +"Nonsense, child,"--suddenly said Roger; "hold your silly tongue. Do +you mean to tell us, God's law and man's law are the same thing! No, +Grace, I can't stomach that; God makes right, and man makes +might--riches go one way, and poor men's wrong's another. Money, money's +the great law-maker, and a full purse frees him that has it, while it +turns the jailor's key on the wretch that has it not: one of those +wretches is the hopeless Roger Acton. Well, well," he added, after a +despondent sigh, "say no more about it all; that's right, +good-wife--why, they do look plump. And if I can't stomach Grace's +text-talk there, I'm sure I can the birds; for I know what keeps crying +cupboard lustily." + +It was a faint effort to be gay, and it only showed his gloom the +denser. Truly, he has quite enough to make him sad; but this is an +unhealthy sadness: the mists of mammon-worship, rising up, meet in the +mid aether of his mind, these lowering clouds of discontent: and the +seeming calamity, that should be but a trial to his faith, looks too +likely to wreck it. + +So, then, the embers were raked up, the trivet stuck a-top, the savoury +broil made ready; and (all but Grace, who would not taste a morsel, but +went up straight to bed) never had the Actons yet sate down before so +rich a supper. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +BEN BURKE'S STRANGE ADVENTURE. + + +"TAKE a pull, Roger, and pass the flask," was the cordial +prescription of Ben Burke, intended to cure a dead silence, generated +equally of eager appetites and self-accusing consciences; so saying, he +produced a quart wicker-bottle, which enshrined, according to his +testimony, "summut short, the right stuff, stinging strong, that had +never seen the face of a wishy-washy 'ciseman." But Roger touched it +sparingly, for the vaunted nectar positively burnt his swallow: till +Ben, pulling at it heartily himself, by way of giving moral precept the +full benefit of a good example, taught Roger not to be afraid of it, and +so the flask was drained. + +Under such communicative influence, Acton's tale of sorrows and +oppressions, we may readily believe, was soon made known; and as +readily, that it moved Ben's indignant and gigantic sympathies to an +extent of imprecation on the eyes, timbers, and psychological existence +of Mr. Jennings, very little edifying. One thing, however, made amends +for the license of his tongue; the evident sincerity and warmth with +which his coarse but kindly nature proffered instant aid, both offensive +and defensive. + +"It's a black and burning shame, Honest Roger, and right shall have his +own, somehow, while Big Ben has a heart in the old place, and a hand to +help his friend." And the poacher having dealt his own broad breast a +blow that would have knocked a tailor down, stretched out to Acton the +huge hand that had inflicted it. + +"More than that, Roger--hark to this, man!" and, as he slapped his +breeches pocket, there was the chink as of a mine of money shaken to its +foundations: "hark to this, man! and more than hark, have! Here, good +wife, hold your apron!" And he flung into her lap a handful of silver. + +Roger gave a sudden shout of wonder, joy, and avarice: and then as +instantaneously turning very pale, he slowly muttered, "Hush, Ben! is it +bloody money?" and almost shrieked as he added, "and my poor boy Tom, +too, with you! God-a-mercy, mun! how came ye by it?" + +"Honestly, neighbour, leastways, middling honest: don't damp a good +fellow's heart, when he means to serve you." + +"Tell me only that my boy is innocent!--and the money--yes, yes, I'll +keep the money;" for his wife seemed to be pushing it from her at the +thought. + +"I innocent, father! I never know'd till this minute that Ben had any +blunt at all--did I, Ben?--and I only brought him and Rover here to sup, +because I thought it neighbourly and kind-like." + +Poor Tom had till now been very silent: some how the pheasants lay heavy +on his stomach. + +"Is it true, Ben, is it true? the lad isn't a thief, the lad isn't a +murderer? Oh, God! Burke, tell me the truth! + +"Blockhead!" was the courteous reply, "what, not believe your own son? +Why, neighbour Acton, look at the boy: would that frank-faced, +open-hearted fellow do worse, think you, than Black Burke? And would I, +bad as I be, turn the bloody villain to take a man's life? No, +neighbour; Ben kills game, not keepers: he sets his wire for a hare, but +wouldn't go to pick a dead man's pocket. All that's wrong in me, mun, +the game-laws put there; but I'm neither burglar, murderer, +highwayman--no, nor a mean, sneaking thief; however the quality may +think so, and even wish to drive me to it. Neither, being as I be no +rogue, could I bear to live a fool; but I should be one, neighbour, and +dub myself one too, if I didn't stoop to pick up money that a madman +flings away." + +"Madman? pick up money? tell us how it was, Ben," interposed female +curiosity. + +"Well, neighbours, listen: I was a-setting my night-lines round Pike +Island yonder, more nor a fortnight back; it was a dark night and a +mizzling, or morning rather, 'twixt three and four; by the same token, +I'd caught a power of eels. All at once, while I was fixing a trimmer, a +punt came quietly up: as for me, Roger, you know I always wades it +through the muddy shallow: well, I listens, and a chap creeps ashore--a +mad chap, with never a tile to his head, nor a sole to his feet--and +when I sings out to ax him his business, the lunatic sprung at me like a +tiger: I didn't wish to hurt a little weak wretch like him, specially +being past all sense, poor nat'ral! so I shook him off at once, and held +him straight out in this here wice." [Ben's grasp could have cracked any +cocoa-nut.] "He trembled like a wicked thing; and when I peered close +into his face, blow me but I thought I'd hooked a white devil--no one +ever see such a face: it was horrible too look at. 'What are you arter, +mun?' says I; 'burying a dead babby?' says I. 'Give us hold here--I'm +bless'd if I don't see though what you've got buckled up there.' With +that, the little white fool--it's sartin he was mad--all on a sudden +flings at my head a precious hard bundle, gives a horrid howl, jumps +into the punt, and off again, afore I could wink twice. My head a'n't a +soft un, I suppose; but when a lunatic chap hurls at it with all his +might a barrow-load of crockery at once, it's little wonder that my +right eye flinched a minute, and that my right hand rubbed my right eye; +and so he freed himself, and got clear off. Rum start this, thinks I: +but any how he's flung away a summut, and means to give it me: what can +it be? thinks I. Well, neighbours, if I didn't know the chap was mad +afore, I was sartain of it now; what do you think of a grown man--little +enough, truly, but out of long coats too--sneaking by night to Pike +Island, to count out a little lot of silver, and to guzzle twelve +gallipots o' honey? There it was, all hashed up in an old shawl, a slimy +mesh like birdlime: no wonder my eye was a leetle blackish, when +half-a-dozen earthern crocks were broken against it. I was angered +enough, I tell you, to think any man could be such a fool as to bring +honey there to eat or to hide--when at once I spied summut red among +the mess; and what should it be but a pretty little China house, +red-brick-like, with a split in the roof for droppings, and ticketed +'Savings-bank:' the chink o' that bank you hears now: and the bank +itself is in the pond, now I've cleaned the till out." + +"Wonderful sure! But what did you do with the honey, Ben?--some of the +pots wasn't broke," urged notable Mrs. Acton. + +"Oh, burn the slimy stuff, I warn't going to put my mouth out o' taste +o' bacca, for a whole jawful of tooth-aches: I'll tell you, dame, what I +did with them ere crocks, wholes, and parts. There's never a stone on +Pike Island, it's too swampy, and I'd forgot to bring my pocketful, as +usual. The heaviest fish, look you, always lie among the sedge, +hereabouts and thereabouts, and needs stirring, as your Tom knows well; +so I chucked the gallipots fur from me, right and left, into the +shallows, and thereby druv the pike upon my hooks. A good night's work I +made of it too, say nothing of the Savings-bank; forty pound o' pike and +twelve of eel warn't bad pickings." + +"Dear, it was a pity though to fling away the honey; but what became of +the shawl, Ben?" Perhaps Mrs. Acton thought of looking for it. + +"Oh, as for that, I was minded to have sunk it, with its mess of +sweet-meats and potsherds; but a thought took me, dame, to be +'conomical for once: and I was half sorry too that I'd flung away the +jars, for I began to fancy your little uns might ha' liked the stuff; so +I dipped the clout like any washerwoman, rinshed, and squeezed, and +washed the mess away, and have worn it round my waist ever since; here, +dame, I haven't been this way for a while afore to-night; but I meant to +ask you if you'd like to have it; may be 'tan't the fashion though." + +"Good gracious, Ben! why that's Mrs. Quarles's shawl, I'd swear to it +among a hundred; Sarah Stack, at the Hall, once took and wore it, when +Mrs. Quarles was ill a-bed, and she and our Thomas walked to church +together. Yes--green, edged with red, and--I thought so--a yellow circle +in the middle; here's B.Q., for Bridget Quarles, in black cotton at the +corner. Lackapity! if they'd heard of all this at the Inquest! I tell +you what, Big Ben, it's kindly meant of you, and so thank you heartily, +but that shawl would bring us into trouble; so please take it yourself +to the Hall, and tell 'em fairly how you came by it." + +"I don't know about that Poll Acton; perhaps they might ask me for the +Saving-bank, too--eh, Roger!" + +"No, no, wife; no, it'll never do to lose the money! let a bygone be a +bygone, and don't disturb the old woman in her grave. As to the shawl, +if it's like to be a tell-tale, in my mind, this hearth's the safest +place for it." + +So he flung it on the fire; there was a shrivelling, smouldering, guilty +sort of blaze, and the shawl was burnt. + +Roger Acton, you are falling quickly as a shooting star; already is your +conscience warped to connive, for lucre's sake, at some one's secret +crimes. You had better, for the moral of the matter, have burnt your +right hand, as Scaevola did, than that shawl. Beware! your sin will bring +its punishment. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +SLEEP. + + +GRACE, in her humble truckle-bed, lay praying for her father; +not about his trouble, though that was much, but for the spots of sin +she could discern upon his soul. + +Alas! an altered man was Roger Acton; almost since morning light, the +leprosy had changed his very nature. The simple-minded Christian, +toiling in contentment for his daily bread, cheerful for the passing +day, and trustful for the coming morrow, this fair state was well-nigh +faded away; while a bitterness of feeling against (in one word) +GOD--against unequal partialities in providence, against things as they +exist; and this world's inexplicable government--was gnawing at his very +heart-strings, and cankering their roots by unbelief. It is a speedy +process--throw away faith with its trust for the past, love for the +present, hope for the future--and you throw away all that makes sorrow +bearable, or joy lovely; the best of us, if God withheld his help, would +apostatize like Peter, ere the cock crew thrice; and, at times, that +help has wisely been withheld, to check presumptuous thoughts, and teach +how true it is that the creature depends on the Creator. Just so we +suffer a wilful little child, who is tottering about in leading-strings, +to go alone for a minute, and have a gentle fall. And just so Roger +here, deserted for a time of those angelic ministrations whose +efficiency is proved by godliness and meekness, by patience and content, +is harassed in his spirit as by harpies, by selfishness and pride, and +fretful doublings; by a grudging hate of labour, and a fiery lust of +gold. Temptation comes to teach a weak man that he was fitted for his +station, and his station made for him; that fulfilment of his ignorant +desires will only make his case the worse, and that + + Providence alike is wise + In what he gives and what denies. + +Meanwhile, gentle Grace, on her humble truckle-bed, is full of prayers +and tears, uneasily listening to the indistinct and noisy talk, and +hearing, now and then, some louder oath of Ben's that made her shudder. +Yes, she heard, too, the smashing sound, when the poacher flung the +money down, and she feared it was a mug or a plate--no slight domestic +loss; and she heard her father's strange cry, when he gave that +wondering shout of joyous avarice, and she did not know what to fear. +Was he ill? or crazed! or worse--fallen into bad excesses? How she +prayed for him! + +Poor Ben, too, honest-hearted Ben; she thought of him in charity, and +pleaded for his good before the Throne of Mercy. Who knows but Heaven +heard that saintly virgin prayer? There is love in Heaven yet for poor +Ben Burke. + +And if she prayed for Ben, with what an agony of deep-felt intercession +did she plead for Thomas Acton, that own only brother of hers, just a +year the younger to endear him all the more, her playmate, care, and +charge, her friend and boisterous protector. The many sorrowing hours +she had spent for his sake, and the thousand generous actions he had +done for hers! Could she forget how the stripling fought for her that +day, when rude Joseph Green would help her over the style? Could she but +remember how slily he had put aside, for more than half a year, a little +heap of copper earnings--weeding-money, and errand-money, and +harvest-money--and then bounteously spent it all at once in giving her a +Bible on her birth-day? And when, coming across the fields with him +after leasing, years ago now, that fierce black bull of Squire Ryle's +was rushing down upon us both, how bravely did the noble boy attack him +with a stake, as he came up bellowing, and make the dreadful monster +turn away! Ah! I looked death in the face then, but for thee, my +brother! Remember him, my God, for good! + +"Poor father! poor father! Well, I am resolved upon one thing: I'll go, +with Heaven's blessing, to the Hall myself, and see Sir John, to-morrow; +he shall hear the truth, for"--And so Grace fell asleep. + +Roger, when he went to bed, came to similar conclusions. He would speak +up boldly, that he would, without fear or favour. Ben's most seasonable +bounty, however to be questioned on the point of right, made him feel +entirely independent, both of bailiffs and squires, and he had now no +anxieties, but rather hopes, about to-morrow. He was as good as they, +with money in his pocket; so he'd down to the Hall, and face the baronet +himself, and blow his bailiff out o' water: that should be his business +by noon. Another odd idea, too, possessed him, and he could not sleep at +night for thinking of it: it was a foolish fancy, but the dream might +have put it in his head: what if one or other of those honey-jars, so +flung here and there among the rushes, were in fact another sort of +"Savings-bank"--a crock of gold? It was a thrilling thought--his very +dream, too; and the lot of shillings, and the shawl--ay, and the +inquest, and the rumours how that Mrs. Quarles had come to her end +unfairly, and no hoards found--and--and the honey-pots missing. Ha! at +any rate he'd have a search to-morrow. No bugbear now should hinder him; +money's money; he'd ask no questions how it got there. His own bit of +garden lay the nearest to Pike Island, and who knows but Ben might have +slung a crock this way? It wouldn't do to ask him, though--for Burke +might look himself, and get the crock--was Roger's last and selfish +thought, before he fell asleep. + +As to Mrs. Acton, she, poor woman, had her own thoughts, fearful ones, +about that shawl, and Ben's mysterious adventure. No cloudy love of +mammon had overspread her mind, to hide from it the hideousness of +murder; in her eyes, blood was terrible, and not the less so that it +covered gold. She remembered at the inquest--be sure she was there among +the gossips--the facts, so little taken notice of till now, the keys in +the cupboard, where the honey-pots were not, and how Jonathan Floyd had +seen something on the lake, and the marks of a man's hand on the throat; +and, God forgive her for saying so, but Mr. Jennings was a little, +white-faced man. How wrong was it of Roger to have burnt that shawl! how +dull of Ben not to have suspected something! but then the good fellow +suspects nobody, and, I dare say, now doesn't know my thoughts. But +Roger does, more shame for him; or why burn the shawl? Ah! thought she, +with all the gossip rampart in her breast, if I could only have taken it +to the Hall myself, what a stir I should have caused! Yes, she would +have reaped a mighty field of glory by originating such a whirlwind of +inquiries and surmises. Even now, so attractive was the mare's nest, she +would go to the Hall by morning, and tell Sir John himself all about +the burnt shawl, and Pike Island, and the galli--And so she fell fast +asleep. + +With respect to Ben, Tom, and Rover, a well-matched triad, as any Isis, +Horus, and Nepthys, they all flung themselves promiscuously on the hard +floor beside the hearth, "basked at the fire their hairy strength," and +soon were snoring away beautifully in concert, base, tenor, and treble, +like a leash of glee-singers. No thoughts troubled them, either of +mammon or murder: so long before the meditative trio up-stairs, they had +set a good example, and fallen asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +LOVE. + + +WITH the earliest peep of day arose sweet Grace, full of +cheerful hope, and prayer, and happy resignation. She had a great deal +to do that morning; for, innocent girl, she had no notion that it was +quite possible to be too early at the Hall; her only fear was being too +late. Then there were all the household cares to see to, and the dear +babes to dress, and the place to tidy up, and breakfast to get ready, +and, any how, she could not be abroad till half-past eight: so, to her +dismay, it must be past nine before ever she can see Sir John. Let us +follow her a little: for on this important day we shall have to take the +adventures of our labourer's family one at a time. + +By twenty minutes to nine, Grace had contrived to bustle on her things, +give the rest the slip, and be tripping to the Hall. It is nearly two +miles off, as we already know; and Grace is such a pretty creature that +we can clearly do no better than employ our time thitherward by taking a +peep at her. + +Sweet Grace Acton, we will not vex thy blushing maiden modesty by +elaborate details of form, and face, and feature. Perfect womanhood at +fair eighteen: let that fill all the picture up with soft and swelling +charms; no wadding, or padding, or jigot, or jupe--but all those +graceful undulations are herself: no pearl-powder, no carmine, no +borrowed locks, no musk, or ambergris--but all those feeble helps of +meretricious art excelled and superseded by their just originals in +nature. It will not do to talk, as a romancer may, of velvet cheeks and +silken tresses; or invoke, to the aid of our inadequate description, +roses, and swans, and peaches, and lilies. Take the simple village +beauty as she is. Did you ever look on prettier lips or sweeter +eyes--more glossy natural curls upon a whiter neck? And how that little +red-riding-hood cloak, and the simple cottage hat tied down upon her +cheeks, and the homely russet gown, all too short for modern fashions, +and the white, well-turned ankle, and the tidy little leather shoe, and +the bunch of snow drops in her tucker, and the neat mittens contrasting +darkly with her fair, bare arms--pretty Grace, how well all these become +thee! There, trip along, with health upon thy cheek, and hope within thy +heart; who can resist so eloquent a pleader? Haste on, haste on: save +thy father in his trouble, as thou hast blest him in his sin--this +rustic lane is to thee the path of duty--Heaven speed thee on it! + +More slowly now, and with more anxious thoughts, more heart-weakness, +more misgiving--Grace approacheth the stately mansion: and when she +timidly touched the "Servants'" bell, for she felt too lowly for the +"Visiters',"--and when she heard how terribly loud it was, how +long it rung, and what might be the issue of her--wasn't it +ill-considered?--errand--the poor girl almost fainted at the sound. + +As she leaned unconsciously for strength against the door, it opened on +a sudden, and Jonathan Floyd, in mute amazement, caught her in his arms. + +"Why, Grace Acton! what's the matter with you?" Jonathan knew Grace +well; they had been at dame's-school together, and in after years +attended the same Sunday class at church. There had been some talk among +the gossips about Jonathan and Grace, and ere now folks had been kind +enough to say they would make a pretty couple. And folks were right, +too, as well as kind: for a fine young fellow was Jonathan Floyd, as any +duchess's footman; tall, well built, and twenty-five; Antinous in a +livery. Well to do, withal, though his wages don't come straight to him; +for, independently of his place--and the baronet likes him for his good +looks and proper manners--he is Farmer Floyd's only son, on the hill +yonder, as thriving a small tenant as any round abouts; and he is proud +of his master, of his blue and silver uniform, of old Hurstley, and of +all things in general, except himself. + +"But what on earth's the matter, Grace?" he was obliged to repeat, for +the dear girl's agitation was extreme. + +"Jonathan, can I see the baronet?" + +"What, at nine in the morning, Grace Acton! Call again at two, and you +may find him getting up. He hasn't been three hours a-bed yet, and +there's nobody about but Sarah Stack and me. I wish those Lunnun sparks +would but leave the place: they do his honour no good, I'm thinking." + +"Not till two!" was the slow and mournful ejaculation. What a damper to +her buoyant hopes: and Providence had seen fit to give her ill-success. +Is it so? Prosperity may come in other shapes. + +"Why, Grace," suddenly said Floyd, in a very nervous way, "what makes +you call upon my master in this tidy trim?" + +"To save my father," answered Innocence. + +"How? why? Oh don't, Grace, don't! I'll save him--I will indeed--what is +it? Oh, don't, don't!" + +For the poor affectionate fellow conjured on the spot the black vision +of a father saved by a daughter's degradation. + +"Don't, Jonathan?--it's my duty, and God will bless me in it. That cruel +Mr. Jennings has resolved upon our ruin, and I wished to tell Sir John +the truth of it." + +At this hearing, Jonathan brightened up, and glibly said, "Ah, indeed, +Jennings is a trouble to us all: a sad life I've led of it this year +past; and I've paid him pretty handsomely too, to let me keep the place: +while, as for John Page and the grooms, and Mr. Coachman and the +helpers, they don't touch much o' their wages on quarter-day, I know." + +"Oh, but we--we are ruined! ruined! Father is forbidden now to labour +for our bread." And then with many tears she told her tale. + +"Stop, Miss Grace," suddenly said Jonathan, for her beauty and eloquence +transformed the cottager into a lady in his eyes, and no wonder; "pray, +stop a minute, Miss--please to take a seat; I sha'n't be gone an +instant." + +And the good-hearted fellow, whose eyes had long been very red, broke +away at a gallop; but he was back again almost as soon as gone, panting +like a post-horse. "Oh, Grace! don't be angry! do forgive me what I am +going to do." + +"Do, Jonathan?" and the beauty involuntarily started--"I hope it's +nothing wrong," she added, solemnly. + +"Whether right or wrong, Grace, take it kindly; you have often bade me +read my Bible, and I do so many times both for the sake of it and you; +ay, and meet with many pretty sayings in it: forgive me if I act on +one--'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" With that, he +thrust into her hand a brass-topped, red-leather purse, stuffed with +money. Generous fellow! all the little savings, that had heretofore +escaped the prying eye and filching grasp of Simon Jennings. There was +some little gold in it, more silver, and a lot of bulky copper. + +"Dear Jonathan!" exclaimed Grace, quite thrown off her guard of maidenly +reserve, "this is too kind, too good, too much; indeed, indeed it is: I +cannot take the purse." And her bright eyes overflowed again. + +"Well, girl," said Jonathan, gulping down an apple in his throat, "I--I +won't have the money, that's all. Oh, Grace, Grace!" he burst out +earnestly, "let me be the blessed means of helping you in trouble--I +would die to do it, Grace; indeed I would!" + +The dear girl fell upon his neck, and they wept together like two loving +little sisters. + +"Jonathan"--her duteous spirit was the first to speak--"forgive this +weakness of a foolish woman's heart: I will not put away the help which +God provides us at your friendly hands: only this, kind brother--let me +call you brother--keep the purse; if my father pines for want of work, +and the babes at home lack food, pardon my boldness if I take the help +you offer. Meanwhile, God in heaven bless you, Jonathan, as He will!" + +And she turned to go away. + +"Won't you take a keepsake, Grace--one little token? I wish I had any +thing here but money to give you for my sake." + +"It would even be ungenerous in me to refuse you, brother; one little +piece will do." + +Jonathan fumbled up something in a crumpled piece of paper, and said +sobbingly--"Let it be this new half-crown, Grace: I won't say, keep it +always; only when you want to use that and more, I humbly ask you'll +please come to me." + +Now a more delicate, a more unselfish act, was never done by man: along +with the half-crown he had packed up two sovereigns! and thereby not +only escaped thanks, concealed his own beneficence, and robbed his purse +of half its little store; but actually he was, by doing so, depriving +himself for a month, or maybe more, of a visit from Grace Acton. Had it +been only half-a-crown, and want had pinched the family (neither Grace +nor Jonathan could guess of Ben Burke's bounty, and for all they knew +Roger had not enough for the morrow's meals)--had poverty come in like +an armed man, and stood upon their threshold a grim sentinel--doubtless +she must have run to him within a day or two. How sweet would it have +been to have kept her coming day by day, and to a commoner affection how +excusable! but still how selfish, how unlike the liberal and honourable +feeling that filled the manly heart of Jonathan Floyd! It was a noble +act, and worthy of a long parenthesis. + +If Grace Acton had looked back as she hurried down the avenue, she would +have seen poor Jonathan still watching her with all his eyes till she +was out of sight. Perhaps, though, she might have guessed it--there is a +sympathy in these things, the true animal magnetism--and I dare say that +was the very reason why she did not once turn her head. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE DISCOVERY. + + +ROGER ACTON had not slept well; had not slept at all till +nearly break of day, except in the feverish fashion of half dream half +revery. There were thick-coming fancies all night long about what Ben +had said and done: and more than once Roger had thought of the +expediency of getting up, to seek without delay the realization of that +one idea which now possessed him--a crock of gold. When he put together +one thing and another, he considered it almost certain that Ben had +flung away among the lot no mere honey-pot, but perhaps indeed a +money-pot: Burke hadn't half the cunning of a child; more fool he, and +maybe so much the better for me, thought money-bitten, selfish Roger. +Thus, in the night's hot imaginations, he resolved to find the spoil; to +will, was then to do: to do, was then to conquer. However, Nature's +sweet restorer came at last, and, when he woke, the idea had sobered +down--last night's fancies were preposterous. So, it was with a heavy +heart he got up later than his wont--no work before him, nothing to do +till the afternoon, when he might see Sir John, except it be to dig a +bit in his little marshy garden. When Grace ran to the Hall, Roger was +going forth to dig. + +Now, I know quite well that the reader is as fully aware as I am, what +is about to happen; but it is impossible to help the matter. If the +heading of this chapter tells the truth, a "discovery" of some sort is +inevitable. Let us preliminarize a thought or two, if thereby we can +hang some shadowy veil of excuse over a too naked mystery. First and +foremost, truth is strange, stranger, _et-cetera_; and this +_et-cetera_, pregnant as one of Lyttleton's, intends to add the +superlative strangest, to the comparative stranger of that seldom-quoted +sentiment. To every one of us, in the course of our lives, something +quite as extraordinary has befallen more than once. What shall we say of +omens, warnings, forebodings? What of the most curious runs of luck; the +most whimsical freaks of fortune; the unaccountable things that happen +round us daily, and no one marvels at them, till he reads of them in +print? Even as Macpherson, ingenious, if not ingenuous, gathered Ossian +from the lips of Highland hussifs, and made the world with modern Attila +to back it, wonder at the stores that are hived on old wives' tongues; +even so might any other literary, black-smith hammer from the ore of +common gossip a regular Vulcan's net of superstitious "facts." Never yet +was uttered ghost story, that did not breed four others; every one at +table is eager to record his, or his aunt's, experience in that line; +and the mass of queer coincidences, inexplicable incidents, indubitable +seeings, hearings, doings, and sufferings; which you and I have heard of +in this popular vein of talk, would amply excuse the wildest fictionist +for the most extravagant adventure--the more improbable, the nearer +truth. Talk of the devil, said our ancestors--let "&c." save us from the +consequence. Think of any thing vehemently, and it is an even chance it +happens: be confident, you conquer; be obstinate in willing, and events +shall bend humbly to their lord: nay, dream a dream, and if you +recollect it in the morning, and it bother you next day, and you cannot +get it out of your head for a week, and the matter positively haunt you, +ten to one but it finds itself or makes itself fulfilled, some odd day +or other. Just so, doubtless, will it prove to be with Roger's dream: I +really cannot help the matter. + +Again, it is more than likely that the reader is clever, very clever, +and that any attempts at concealment would be merely futile. From the +first page he has discovered who is the villain, and who the victim: the +title alone tells him of the golden hinge on which the story turns: he +can look through stone walls, if need be, or mesmerically see, without +making use of eyes: no peep-holes for him, as for Pyramus and Thisbe: no +initiation requisite for any hidden mysteries; all arcana are revealed +to him, every sanctum is a highway. No art of mortal pen can defeat this +mischief of acuteness: character is character; oaks grow of acorns, and +the plan of a life may be detected in a microscopic speech. The career +of Mr. Jennings is as much predestined by us to iniquity, from the first +intimation that he never makes excuse, as honest Roger is to trouble +and temptation from the weary effort wherewithal he woke. And, even now, +pretty Grace and young Sir John, the reader thinks that he can guess at +nature's consequence; while, with respect to Roger's going forth to dig +this morning, he sees it straight before him, need not ask for the +result. Well, if the shrewd reader has the eye of Lieuenhoeeck, and can +discern, cradled in the small triangular beech-mast, a noble +forest-tree, with silvery trunk, branching arms, and dark-green foliage, +he deserves to be complimented indeed, for his own keen skill; but, at +the same time, Nature will not hurry herself for him, but will quietly +educe results which he foreknew--or thought he did--a century ago. And +is there not the highest Art in this unveiled simplicity: to lead the +reader onwards by a straight road, with the setting sun a-blaze at the +end of it, knowing his path, knowing its object, yet still borne on with +spirits unexhausted and unflagging foot? Trust me, there is better +praise in this, than in dazzling the distracted glance with a perpetual +succession of luminous fire-flies, and dragging your fair novel-reader, +harried and excited, through the mazes of a thousand incidents. + +Thirdly, and lastly, in this prefatorial say, there is to be considered +that inevitable defeator of all printed secrets--impatience. Nothing is +easier, nothing commoner (most wise people do it, whose fate is, that +they must keep up with the race of current publication, and therefore +must keep down the still-increasing crowd of authorial creations), +nothing is more venial, more laudable, than to read the last chapter +first; and so, finding out all mysteries at once, to save one's self a +vast deal of unnecessary trouble. And, for mere tale-telling, this may +be sufficient. What need to burden memory with imaginary statements, or +to weary out one's sympathies on trite fictitious woes?--come to the +catastrophe at once: the uncle hanged; the heir righted; the heroine, an +orange-flowered bride; and the white-headed grandmother, after all her +wrongs, winding up the story with a prudent moral. Now, this may all be +very well with histories that merely carry a sting in the tail, whose +moral is the warning of the rattlesnake, and whose hot-exciting interest +is posted with the scorpion's venom. They are the Dragon of Wantley, +with one caudal point--a barbed termination: we, like Moore of Moore +Hall, all point, covered with spikes: every where we boast ourselves an +ethical hedge-hog, all-over-armed with keen morals--a Rumour painted +full of tongues, echoing all around with revealing of secrets. The +feelings of our humble hero, altered Roger Acton, are worthy to be +studied by the great, to be sifted by the rich; and Grace's simple +tongue may teach the sage, for its wisdom cometh from above; and +Jonathan, for all his shoulder-knot and smart cockade, is worthy to give +lessons to his master: that master, also, is far better than you think +him; and poor Burke too, for true humanity's sake: so we get a mint of +morals, set aside the story. It is not raw material, but the +workmanship, that gives its value to the flowered damask; our +grand-dames' sumptuous taffeties and stand-alone brocades are but spun +silk-worms' interiors; the fairest statue is intrinsically but a mass of +clumsy stone, until, indeed, the sculptor has rough-hewn it, and shaped +it, and chiselled it, and finished all the touches with sand-paper. This +story of '_The Crock of Gold_' purports to be a Dutch picture, as +becometh boors, their huts, their short and simple annals; so that, +after its moralities, the mass of minute detail is the only thing that +gives it any value. + +Now, whilst all of you have been yawning through these egotistic +phrases, Roger has been digging in his garden; there he is, pecking away +at what once was the celery-bed, but now are fallow trenches; celery, as +we all know, is a water-loving plant, doing best in marshy-land, so no +wonder the trenches open on the sedge, and the muddy shallow opposite +Pike Island puddles up to them. There needs be no suspense, no mystery +at all; Roger's dream had clearly sent him thither, for he should not +have levelled those trenches yet awhile, it was a little too soon--bad +husbandry; and, barring the appearance of a devil, Roger's dream came +true. Yes, under the roots of a clump of bullrush, he lifted out with +his spade--a pot of Narbonne honey! + +When first he spied the pot, his heart was in his mouth--it must be +gold, and with tottering knees he raised the precious burden. But, woful +disappointment! the word "Honey," with plenty of French and Fortnum on +another pasted label, stared him in the face; it was sweet and slimy too +about the neck; there was no sort of jingle when he shook the crock; +what though it be heavy?--honey's heavy; and it was tied over quite in a +common way with pig's bladder, and his clumsy trembling fingers could +not undo that knot; and thus, with a miserable sense of cheated poverty, +he threw it down beside the path, and would, perhaps, have flung it +right away in sheer disgust, but for the reflection that the little ones +might like it. Once, indeed, the glorious doubt of maybe gold came back +upon his mind, and he lifted up the spade to smash the baffling pot, and +so make sure of what it might contain;--make sure, eh? why, you would +only lose the honey, whispered domestic economy. So he left the jar to +be opened by his wife when he should go in. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +JONATHAN'S STORE. + + +AND where has Mrs. Acton been all this morning? Off to the +Hall, very soon after Grace had got away; and she rung at the side +entrance, hard by the kitchen, most fortunately caught Sarah Stack +about, and had a good long gossip with her; telling her, open-mouthed, +all about Ben Burke having found a shawl of Mrs. Quarles's on the +island; and how, it being very rotten, yes, and smelling foul, Ben had +been fool enough to burn it; what a pity! how could the shawl have got +there? if it only could ha' spoken what it knew! And the bereaved +gossips mourned together over secrets undivulged, and their evidence +destroyed. As to the crockery, for a miraculous once in life, Mrs. Acton +held her tongue about a thing she knew, and said not a syllable +concerning it. Roger would be mad to lose the money. Just at parting +with her friend Mary Acton was going out by the wrong door, through the +hall, but luckily did no more than turn the handle; or she never could +have escaped bouncing in upon the lovers' interview, and thereby +occasioning a chaos of confusion. For, be it whispered, the step-dame +was not a little jealous of her ready-made daughter's beauty, persisted +in calling her a child, and treated her any thing but kindly and +sisterly, as her full-formed woman's loveliness might properly have +looked for. Only imagine, if the Hecate had but seen Jonathan's lit-up +looks, or Grace's down-cast blushes; for it really slipped my +observation to record that there were blushes, and probably some cause +for them when the keep-sake was given and accepted; only conceive if +the step-mother had heard Jonathan's afterward soliloquy, when he was +watching pretty Grace as she tripped away--and how much he seemed to +think of her eyes and eye-lashes! I am reasonably fearful, had she heard +and seen all this--Poll Acton's nails might have possibly drawn blood +from the cheeks of Jonathan Floyd. As it was, the little god of love +kindly warded from his votaries the coming of so crabbed an antagonist. + +Grace has now reached home again, blessing her overruling stars to have +escaped notice so entirely both in going and returning; for the mother +was hard at washing near the well, having got in half an hour before, +and father has not yet left off digging in his garden. So she crept up +stairs quietly, put away her Sunday best, and is just dropping on her +knees beside her truckle-bed, to speak of all her sorrows to her +Heavenly friend, and to thank him for the kindness He had raised her in +an earthly one. She then, with no small trepidation, took out of her +tucker, just below those withered snow-drops, the crumpled bit of paper +that held Jonathan's parting gift. It was surprising how her tucker +heaved; she could hardly get at the parcel. She wanted to look at that +half-crown; not that she feared it was a bad one, or was curious about +coins, or felt any pleasure in possessing such a sum: but there was such +a don't-know-what connected with that new half-crown, which made her +long to look at it; so she opened the paper--and found its golden +fellows! O noble heart! O kind, generous, unselfish--yes, beloved +Jonathan! But what is she to do with the sovereigns? Keep them? No, she +cannot keep them, however precious in her sight as proofs of deep +affection; but she will call as soon as possible, and give them back, +and insist upon his taking them, and keeping them too--for her, if no +otherwise. And the dear innocent girl was little aware herself how glad +she felt of the excuse to call so soon again at Hurstley. + +Meantime, for safety, she put the money in her Bible. + +What hallowed gold was that? Gained by honest industry, saved by +youthful prudence, given liberally and unasked, to those who needed, and +could not pay again; with a delicate consideration, an heroic essay at +concealment, a voluntary sacrifice of self, of present pleasure, +passion, and affection. And there it lies, the little store, hidden up +in Grace's Bible. She has prayed over it, thanked over it, interceded +over it, for herself, for it, for others. How different, indeed, from +ordinary gold, from common sin-bought mammon; how different from that +unblest store, which Roger Acton covets; how purified from meannesses, +and separate from harms! This is of that money, the scarcest coins of +all the world, endued with all good properties in heaven and in earth, +whereof it had been written, "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, +saith the Lord of hosts." + +Such alone are truly riches--well-earned, well-saved, well-sanctified, +well-spent. The wealthiest of European capitalists--the Croesus of +modern civilization--may be but a pauper in that better currency, +whereof a sample has been shown in the store of Jonathan Floyd. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +ANOTHER DISCOVERY, AND THE EARNEST OF GOOD THINGS. + + +"DAME, here's one o' Ben's gallipots he flung away: it's naught +but honey, dame--marked so--no crock of gold; don't expect it; no such +thing; luck like that isn't for such as me: though, being as it is, the +babes may like it, with their dry bread: open it, good-wife: I hope the +water mayn't ha' spoilt it." + +The notable Mary Acton produced certain scissors, hanging from her +pocket by a tape, and cut a knot, which to Roger had been Gordian's. + +"Why, it's bran, Acton, not honey; look here, will you." She tilted it +up, and, along with a cloud of saw-dust, dropped out a heavy hail-storm +of--little bits of leather! + +"Hallo? what's that?" said Roger, eagerly: "it's gold, gold, I'll be +sworn!" It was so. + +Every separate bit of money, whatever kind of coins they were, had been +tidily sewn up in a shred of leather; remnants of old gloves of all +colours; and the Narbonne jar contained six hundred and eighty-seven of +them. These, of course, were hastily picked up from the path whereon +they had first fallen, were counted out at home, and the glittering +contents of most of those little leather bags ripped up were immediately +discovered. Oh dear! oh dear! such a sight! Guineas and half-guineas, +sovereigns and half-sovereigns, quite a little hill of bright, clean, +prettily-figured gold. + +"Hip, hip, hooray!" shouted Roger, in an ecstacy; "Hurrah, hurrah, +hurrah!" and in the madness of his joy, he executed an extravagant pas +seul; up went his hat, round went his heels, and he capered awkwardly +like a lunatic giraffe. + +"Here's an end to all our troubles, Poll: we're as good as gentle-folks +now; catch me a-calling at the Hall, to bother about Jennings and Sir +John: a fig for bailiffs, and baronets, parsons, and prisons, and all," +and again he roared Hooray! "I tell you what though, old 'ooman, we must +just try the taste of our glorious golden luck, before we do any thing +else. Bide a bit, wench, and hide the hoard till I return. I'm off to +the Bacchus's Arms, and I'll bring you some stingo in a minute, old +gal." So off he ran hot-foot, to get an earnest of the blessing of his +crock of gold. + +The minute that was promised to produce the stingo, proved to be rather +of a lengthened character; it might, indeed, have been a minute, or the +fraction of one, in the planet Herschel, whose year is as long as +eighty-five of our Terra's, but according to Greenwich calculation, it +was nearer like two hours. + +The little Tom and Jerry shop, that rejoiced in the classical heraldry +of Bacchus's Arms, had been startled from all conventionalities by the +unwonted event of the demand, "change for a sovereign?" and when it was +made known to the assembled conclave that Roger Acton was the fortunate +possessor, that even assumed an appearance positively miraculous. + +"Why, honest Roger, how in the world could you ha' come by that?" was +the troublesome inquiry of Dick the Tanner. + +"Well, Acton, you're sharper than I took you for, if you can squeeze +gold out of bailiff Jennings," added Solomon Snip; and Roger knew no +better way of silencing their tongues, than by profusely drenching them +in liquor. So he stood treat all round, and was forced to hobanob with +each; and when that was gone, he called for more to keep their curiosity +employed. Now, all this caused delay; and if Mary had been waiting for +the "stingo," she would doubtless have had reasonable cause for anger +and impatience: however, she, for her part, was so pleasantly occupied, +like Prince Arthur's Queen, in counting out the money, that, to say the +truth, both lord and liquor were entirely forgotten. + +But another cause that lengthened out the minute, was the embarrassing +business of where to find the change. Bacchus's didn't chalk up trust, +where hard money was flung upon the counter; but all the accumulated +wealth of Bacchus's high-priest, Tom Swipey, and of the seven +worshippers now drinking in his honour, could not suffice to make up +enough of change: therefore, after two gallons left behind him in +libations as aforesaid, and two more bottled up for a drink-offering at +home, Roger was contented to be owed seven and fourpence; a debt never +likely to be liquidated. Much speculation this afforded to the gossips; +and when the treater's back was turned, they touched their foreheads, +for the man was clearly crazed, and they winked to each other with a +gesture of significance. + +Grace, while musing on her new half-crown--it was strange how long she +looked at it--had heard with real amazement that uproarious huzzaing! +and, just as her father had levanted for the beer, glided down from her +closet, and received the wondrous tidings from her step-mother. She +heard in silence, if not in sadness: intuitive good sense proclaimed to +her that this sudden gush of wealth was a temptation, even if she felt +no secret fears on the score of--shall we call it superstition?--that +dream, this crock, that dark angel--and this so changed spirit of her +once religious father: what could she think? she meekly looked to Heaven +to avert all ill. + +Mary Acton also was less elated and more alarmed than she cared to +confess: not that she, any more than Grace, knew or thought about lords +of manors, or physical troubles on the score of finding the crock: but +Mrs. Quarles's shawl, and sundry fearful fancies tinged with blood, +these worried her exceedingly, and made her look upon the gold with an +uneasy feeling, as if it were an unclean thing, a sort of Achan's wedge. + +At last, here comes Roger back, somewhat unsteadily I fear, with a stone +two-gallon jar of what he was pleased to avouch to be "the down-right +stingo." "Hooray, Poll!" (he had not ceased shouting all the way from +Bacchus's,) "Hooray--here I be again, a gentle-folk, a lord, a king, +Poll: why daughter Grace, what's come to you? I won't have no dull looks +about to-day, girl. Isn't this enough to make a poor man merry? No more +troubles, no more toil, no more 'humble sarvent,' no more a ragged, +plodding ploughman: but a lord, daughter Grace--a great, rich, luxurious +lord--isn't this enough to make a man sing out hooray?--Thank the crock +of gold for this--Oh, blessed crock!" + +"Hush, father, hush! that gold will be no blessing to you; Heaven send +it do not bring a curse. It will be a sore temptation, even if the +rights of it are not in some one else: we know not whom it may belong +to, but at any rate it cannot well be ours." + +"Not ours, child? whose in life is it then?" + +Mary Acton, made quite meek by a superstitious dread of having money of +the murdered, stepped in to Grace's help, whom her father's fierce +manner had appalled, with "Roger, it belonged to Mrs. Quarles, I'm +morally sure on it--and must now be Simon Jennings's, her heir." + +"What?" he almost frantically shrieked, "shall that white hell-hound rob +me yet again? No, dame--I'll hang first! the crock I found, the crock +I'll keep: the money's mine, whoever did the murder." Then, changing his +mad tone into one of reckless inebriate gayety--for he was more than +half-seas over even then from the pot-house toastings and excitement--he +added, "But come, wenches, down with your mugs, and help me to get +through the jar: I never felt so dry in all my life. Here's blessings on +the crock, on him as sent it, him as has it, and on all the joy and +comfort it's to bring us! Come, drink, drink--we must all drink +that--but where's Tom?" + +If Roger had been quite himself, he never would have asked so +superfluous a question: for Tom was always in one and the same company, +albeit never in one and the same place: he and his Pan-like Mentor were +continually together, studying wood-craft, water-craft, and all manner +of other craft connected with the antique trade of picking and stealing. + +"Where's Tom?" + +Grace, glad to have to answer any reasonable question, mildly answered, +"Gone away with Ben, father." + +Alas! that little word, Ben, gave occasion to reveal a depth in Roger's +fall, which few could have expected to behold so soon. To think that the +liberal friend, who only last night had frankly shared his all with him, +whose honest glowing heart would freely shed its blood for him, that he +in recollection should be greeted with a loathing! Ben would come, and +claim some portion of his treasure--he would cry halves--or, who knows? +might want all--all: and take it by strong arm, or by threat to 'peach +against him:--curse that Burke! he hated him. + +Oh, Steady Acton! what has made thee drink and swear? Oh, Honest Roger! +what has planted guile, and suspicion, and malice in thy heart? Are +these the mere first-fruits of coveting and having? Is this the earliest +blessing of that luck which many long for--the finding of a crock of +gold? + +We would not enlarge upon the scene; a painful one at all times, when +man forgets his high prerogative, and drowns his reason in the tankard: +but, in a Roger Acton's case, lately so wise, temperate, and patient, +peculiarly distressing. Its chief features were these. Grace tasted +nothing, but mournfully looked on: once only she attempted to +expostulate, but was met--not with fierce oaths, nor coarse chidings, +nor even with idiotic drivelling--oh no! worse than that she felt: he +replied to her with the maudlin drunken promise, "If she'd only be a +good girl, and let him bide, he'd give her a big Church-bible, bound in +solid gold--that 'ud make the book o' some real value, Grace." Poor +broken-hearted daughter--she rushed to her closet in a torrent of tears. + +As for Mary Acton, she was miraculously meek and dumb; all the scold was +quelled within her; the word "blood" was the Petruchio that tamed that +shrew; she could see a plenty of those crimson spots, which might + + "The multitudinous seas incarnadine, + Making the green, one red," + +dancing in the sun-beams, dotted on the cottage walls, sprinkled as +unholy water, over that foul crock. Would not the money be a curse to +them any how, say nothing of the danger? If things went on as they +began, Mary might indeed have cause for fear: actually, she could not +a-bear to look upon the crock; she quite dreaded it, as if it had +contained a "bottled devil." So there she sat ever so long--silent, +thoughtful, and any thing but comfortable. + +What became of Roger until next day at noon, neither he nor I can tell: +true, his carcase lay upon the floor, and the two-gallon jar was empty. +But, for the real man, who could answer to the name of Roger Acton, the +sensitive and conscious soul--that was some where galloping away for +fifteen hours in the Paradise of fools: the Paradise? no--the Maelstrom; +tossed about giddily and painfully in one whirl of tumultuous +drunkenness. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +HOW THE HOME WAS BLEST THEREBY. + + +IT will surprise no one to be told that, however truly such an +excess may have been the first, it was by no means the last exploit of +our altered labourer in the same vein of heroism. Bacchus's was quite +close, and he needs must call for his change; he had to call often; +drank all quits; changed another sovereign, and was owed again; but, +trust him, he wasn't going to be cheated out of that: take care of the +pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves. But still it was +ditto repeated; changing, being owed, grudging, grumbling: at last he +found out the famous new plan of owing himself; and as Bacchus's did not +see fit to reject such wealthy customers, Roger soon chalked up a +yard-long score, and grew so niggardly that they could not get a penny +from him. + +It is astonishing how immediately wealth brings in, as its companion, +meanness: they walk together, and stand together, and kneel together, as +the hectoring, prodigal Faulconbridge, the Bastard Plantagenet in _King +John_, does with his white-livered, puny brother, Robert. Wherefore, no +sooner was Roger blest with gold, than he resolved not to be such a fool +as to lose liberally, or to give away one farthing. To give, I say, for +extravagant indulgence is another thing; and it was a fine, proud +pleasure to feast a lot of fellows at his sole expense. If meanness is +brother to wealth, it is at any rate first cousin to extravagance. + +When the dowager collects "her dear five hundred friends" to parade +before the fresh young heirs her wax-light lovely daughters--when all is +glory, gallopade, and Gunter--when Rubini warbles smallest, and +Lablanche is heard as thunder on the stairs--speak, tradesmen, ye who +best can tell, the closeness that has catered for that feast; tell it +out, ye famished milliners, ground down to sixpence on a ball-dress +bill; whisper it, ye footmen, with your wages ever due; let Gath, let +Askelon re-echo with the truth, that extortion is the parent of +extravagance! + +Now, that episode should have been in a foot note; but no one takes the +trouble to read notes; and with justice too; for if a man has any thing +to say, let him put it in his text, as orderly as may be. And, if order +be sometimes out of the question, as seems but clearly suitable at +present to our hero's manner of life, it is wise to go boldly on, +without so prim an usher; to introduce our thoughts as they reveal +themselves, ignorant of "their own degrees," not "standing on the order +of their coming," but, as a pit crowd on a benefit-night, bustling over +one another, helter-skelter, "in most admired disorder." This will well +comport with Roger's daily life: for, notwithstanding the frequent +interference of an Amazon wife--regardless of poor, dear Grace's gentle +voice and melancholy eyes--in spite of a conscience pricking in his +breast, with the spines of a horse-chestnut, that evil crock +appeared from the beginning to have been found for but one sole +purpose--_videlicet_, that of keeping alight in Roger's brain the fire +of mad intoxication. Yes, there were sundry other purposes, too, which +may as well be told directly. + +The utter dislocation of all home comforts occupied the foremost rank. +True--in comparison with the homes of affluence and halls of +luxury--those comforts may have formerly seemed few and far between; yet +still the angel of domestic peace not seldom found a rest within the +cottage. Not seldom? always: if sweet-eyed Grace be such an angel, that +ever-abiding guest, full of love, duty, piety, and cheerfulness. But +now, after long-enduring anguish, vexed in her righteous soul by the +shocking sights and sounds of the drunkard and his parasites (for all +the idle vagabonds about soon flocked around rich Acton, and were freely +welcome to his reckless prodigality), Grace had been forced to steal +away, and seek refuge with a neighbour. Here was one blessing the less. + +Another wretched change was in the wife. Granted, Mary Acton had not +ever been the pink of politeness, the violet of meekness, nor the rose +of entire amiability: but if she were a scold, that scolding was well +meant; and her irate energies were incessantly directed towards +cleanliness, economy, quiet, and other _notabilia_ of a busy house-wife. +She did her best to keep the hovel tidy, to make the bravest show with +their scanty chattels, to administer discreetly the stores of their +frugal larder, and to recompense the good-man returning from his hard +day's work, with much of rude joy and bustling kindness. But now, after +the first stupor of amazement into which the crock and its consequences +threw her, Poll Acton grew to be a fury: she raged and stormed, and well +she might, at filth and discomfort in her home, at nauseous dregs and +noisome fumes, at the orgie still kept up, day by day, and night by +night, through the length of that first foul week, which succeeded the +fortunate discovery. And not in vain she raged and stormed--and fought +too; for she did fight--ay, and conquered: and miserable Roger, now in +full possession of those joys which he had longed for at the casement of +Hurstley Hall, was glad to betake himself to the bench at Bacchus's, +whither he withdrew his ragged regiment. Thus, that crock had spoilt all +there was to spoil in the temper and conduct of the wife. + +Look also at the pretty prattling babes, twin boys of two years old, +whom Roger used to hasten home to see; who had to say their simple +prayers; to be kissed, and comforted, and put to bed; to be made happier +by a wild flower picked up on his path, than if the gift had been a +coral with gold bells: where were they now? neglected, dirty, fretting +in a corner, their red eyes full of wonder at father's altered ways, and +their quick minds watching, with astonished looks, the progress of +domestic discord. How the crock of gold has nipped those early blossoms +as a killing frost! + +Again, there used to be, till this sad week of wealth and riotous +hilarity, that constantly recurring blessing of the morn and evening +prayer which Roger read aloud, and Grace's psalm or chapter; and +afterwards the frugal meal--too scanty, perhaps, and coarse--but still +refreshing, thank the Lord, and seasoned well with health and appetite; +and the heart-felt sense of satisfaction that all around was earned by +honest labour; and there was content, and hope of better times, and +God's good blessing over every thing. + +Now, all these pleasures had departed; gold, unhallowed gold, gotten +hastily in the beginning, broadcast on the rank strong soil of a heart +that coveted it earnestly, had sprung up as a crop of poisonous tares, +and choked the patch of wheat; gold, unhallowed gold, light come, light +gone, had scared or killed the flock of unfledged loves that used to +nestle in the cotter's thatch, as surely as if the cash were stones, +flung wantonly by truants at a dove-cot; and forth from the crock, that +egg of wo, had been hatched a red-eyed vulture, to tyrannize in this sad +home, where but lately the pelican had dwelt, had spread her fostering +wing, and poured out the wealth of her affections. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +CARE. + + +BUT other happy consequences soon became apparent. If Acton in +his tipsy state was mad, in his intervals of soberness he was thoroughly +miserable. And this, not merely on the score of sickness, exhaustion, +prostrated spirits, blue-devils, or other the long catalogue of a +drunkard's joys; not merely from a raging wife, and a wretched home; not +merely from the stings, however sharp, however barbed, of a conscience +ill at ease, that would rise up fiercely like a hissing snake, and +strike the black apostate to the earth: these all, doubtless, had their +pleasant influences, adding to the lucky finder's bliss: but there was +another root of misery most unlooked for, and to the poor who dream of +gold, entirely paradoxical. + +The possession of that crock was the heaviest of cares. Where on earth +was he to hide it? how to keep it safely, secretly? What if he were +robbed of it in some sly way! O, thought of utter wo! it made the +fortunate possessor quiver like an aspen. Or what, if some one or more +of those blustering boon companions were to come by night with a +bludgeon and a knife, and--and cut his throat, and find the treasure? +or, worse still, were to torture him, set him on the fire like a +saucepan (he had heard of Turpin having done so with a rich old woman), +and make him tell them "where" in his extremity of pains, and give up +all, and then--and then murder him at last, outright, and afterwards +burn the hovel over his head, babes and all, that none might live to +tell the tale? These fears set him on the rack, and furnished one +inciting cause to that uninterrupted orgie; he must be either mad or +miserable, this lucky finder. + +Also, even in his tipsy state, he could not cast off care: he might in +his cups reveal the dangerous secret of having found a crock of gold. A +secret still it was: Grace, his wife, and himself, were the only souls +who knew it. Dear Grace feared to say a word about the business: not in +apprehension of the law, for she never thought of that too probable +intrusion on the finder: but simply because her unsophisticated piety +believed that God, for some wise end, had allowed the Evil One to tempt +her father; she, indeed, did not know the epigram, + + The devil now is wiser than of yore: + He tempts by making rich--not making poor: + +but she did not conceive that notion in her mind; she contrasted the +wealthy patriarch Job, tried by poverty and pain, but just and patient +in adversity--with the poor labourer Acton, tried by luxury and wealth, +and proved to be apostate in prosperity: so she held her tongue, and +hitherto had been silent on a matter of so much local wonder as her +father's sudden wealth, in the midst of urgent curiosity and +extraordinary rumours. + +Mary was kept quiet as we know, by superstition of a lower grade, the +dread of having money of the murdered, a thought she never breathed to +any but her husband; and to poor uninitiated Grace (who had not heard a +word of Ben's adventure), her answer about Mrs. Quarles and Mr. Jennings +in the dawn of the crock's first blessing, had been entirely +unintelligible: Mary, then, said never a word, but looked on dreadingly +to see the end. + +As for Roger himself, he was too much in apprehension of a landlord's +claims, and of a task-master's extortions, to breath a syllable about +the business. So he hid his crock as best he could--we shall soon hear +how and where--took out sovereign after sovereign day by day, and made +his flush of instant wealth a mystery, a miracle, a legacy, good luck, +any thing, every thing but the truth: and he would turn fiercely round +to the frequent questioner with a "What's that to you?--Nobody's +business but mine:" and then would coaxingly add the implied bribe to +secresy, in his accustomed invitation--"And now, what'll you take?"--a +magical phrase, which could suffice to quell murmurs for the time, and +postponed curiosity to appetite. Thus the fact was still unknown, and +weighed on Roger's mind as a guilty concealment, an oppressive secret. +What if any found it out? + +For immediate safety--the evening after his memorable first fifteen +hours of joy--he buried the crock deeply in a hole in his garden, +filling all up hard with stones and brick-bats; and when he had +smoothed it straight and workmanlike, remembered that he surely hadn't +kept out enough to last him; so up it had to come again--five more taken +out, and the crock was restored to its unquiet grave. + +Scarcely had he done this, than it became dark, and he began to fancy +some one might have seen him hide it; those low mean tramps (never +before had he refused the wretched wayfarers his sympathy) were always +sneaking about, and would come and dig it up in the night: so he went +out in the dark and the rain, got at it with infinite trouble and a +broken pickaxe, and exultingly brought the crock in-doors; where he +buried it a third time, more securely, underneath the grouted floor, +close beside the fire in the chimney-corner: it was now nearly midnight, +and he went to bed. + +Hardly had he tumbled in, after pulling on a nightcap of the flagon, +than the dread idea overtook him that his treasure might be melted! Was +there ever such a fool as he? Well, well, to think he could fling his +purse on the fire! What a horrid thought! Metallurgy was a science quite +unknown to Roger; he only considered gold as heavy as lead, and +therefore probably as fusible: so down he bustled, made another hole, a +deeper one too this time, in the floor under the dresser, where, +exhausted with his toil and care, he deposited the crock by four in the +morning--and so retired once more. + +All in vain--nobody ever knew when Black Burke might be returning from +his sporting expeditions--and that beast of a lurcher would be sure to +be creeping in this morning, and would scratch it up, and his brute of a +master would get it all! This fancy was the worst possible: and Roger +rose again, quite sick at heart, pale, worn, and trembling with a +miser's haggard joys. Where should he hide that crock--the epithet +"cursed" crock escaped him this time in his vexed impatience. In the +house and in the garden, it was equally unsafe. + +Ha! a bright thought indeed: the hollow in the elm-tree, creaking +overhead, just above the second arm: so the poor, shivering wretch, +almost unclad, swarmed up that slimy elm, and dropped his treasure in +the hollow. Confusion! how deep it was: he never thought of that; here +was indeed something too much of safety: and then those boys of +neighbour Goode's were birds'-nesting continually, specially round the +lake this spring. What an idiot he was not to have remembered this! And +up he climbed again, thrust in his arm to the shoulder, and managed to +repossess himself a fifth time of that blessed crock. + +Would that the elm had been hollow to its root, and beneath the root a +chasm bottomless, and that Plutus in that Narbonne jar had served as a +supper to Pluto in the shades! Better had it been for thee, my Roger. + +But he had not hid it yet; so, that night--or rather that cold morning +about six, the drenched, half-frozen Fortunatus carried it to bed with +him: and a precious warming-pan it made: for nothing would satisfy the +finder of its presence but perpetual bodily contact:--accordingly, he +placed it in his bosom, and it chilled him to the back-bone. + +Yes; that was undoubtedly the safest way; to carry the spoil about with +him; so, next noon--how could he get up till noon after such a woful +night?--next noon he emptied the jar, and tying up its contents in a +handkerchief, proceeded to wear it as a girdle; for an hour he clattered +about the premises, making as much jingle as a wagoner's team of bells; +laden heavily with gold, like the [Greek: ibebusto] genius in Herodotus: +but he soon found out this would not do at all; for, independently of +all concealment at an end, so long as his secret store was rattling as +he walked, louder than military spurs or sabre-tackle, he soberly +reflected that he might--possibly, possibly, though not probably--get a +glass too much again, by some mere accident or other; and then to be +robbed of his golden girdle, this cincture of all joy! O, terrible +thought! as well [this is my fancy, not Rogers's] deprive Venus of her +zone, and see how the beggared Queen of Beauty could exist without her +treasury, the Cestus. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +INVESTMENT. + + +NEXT day, the wealthy Roger had higher aspirations. Why should +not he get interest for his money, like lords and gentlefolk? His gold +had been lying idle too long; more fool he: it ought to breed money +somehow, he knew that; for, like most poor men whose sole experience of +investment is connected with the Lombard's golden balls, he took exalted +views of usury. Was he to be "hiding up his talent in a napkin--?" + +Ah!--he remembered and applied the holy parable, but it smote across his +heart like a flash of frost, a chilling recollection of good things past +and gone. What had he been doing with his talents--for he once +possessed the ten? had he not squandered piety, purity, and patience? +where were now his gratitude to God, his benevolence to man? the +father's duteous care, the husband's industry and kindness, the +labourer's faith, the Christian's hope--who had spent all these?--Till +money's love came in, and money-store to feed it, the poor man had been +rich: but now, rotten to the core, by lust of gold, the rich is poor +indeed. + +However, such considerations did not long afflict him--for we know that +lookers-on see more than players--and if Roger had encouraged half our +wise and sober thoughts, he might have been a better man: but Roger +quelled the thoughts, and silenced them; and thoughts are tender +intonations, shy little buzzing sounds, soon scared by coarser noise: +Roger had no mind to cherish those small fowls; so they flew back again +to Heaven's gate, homeless and uncomforted as weeping peri's. + +The bank--the county bank--Shark, Breakem, and Company--this was the +specious Eldorado, the genuine gold-increaser, the hive where he would +store his wealth (as honey left for the bees in winter), and was to have +it soon returned fourfold. It was indeed a thought to make the rich man +glad, that all his shining heap was just like a sample of seed-corn, and +the pocket-full should next year fill a sack. How grudgingly he now +began to mourn over past extravagance, five pieces gone within the week! +how close and careful he resolved to be in future! how he would scrape +and economize to get and save but one more of those sweet little seeds, +that yield more gold--more gold! And if Roger had been privileged in +youth to have fed upon the wisdom of the Eton Latin grammar, he could +have now quoted with some experimental unction the "_Crescit Amor_" +line, which every body well knows how to finish. Truly, it was growing +with his growth, and rioting in strength above his weakness. + +Swollen with this expanding love, he packed up his money in what were, +though he knew it not, _rouleaux_, but to his plebeian eyes looked more +like golden sausages: and he would take it to the bank, and they should +bow to him, and Sir him, and give him forthwith more than he had +brought; and if those summary gains were middling great--say twice as +much, to be moderate--he thought he might afford himself a chaise coming +back, and return to Hurstley Common like a nabob. Thus, full of wealthy +fancies, after one glass more, off set Roger to the county town, with +his treasure in a bundle. + +Half-way to it, as hospitality has ordained to be the case wherever +there be half-ways, occurred a public-house: and really, +notwithstanding all our monied neophyte's economical resolutions, his +throat was so "uncommon dry," that he needs must stop there to refresh +the muscles of his larynx: so, putting down his bundle on the settle, he +called for a foaming tankard, and thanking the crock, as his evil wont +now was, sat down to drink and think. Here was prosperity indeed, a +flood of astonishing good fortune: that he, but a little week agone, a +dirty ditcher--so was he pleased to designate his former self--a ragged +wretch, little better than a tramp, should be now progressing like a +monarch, with a mighty bag of gold to enrich his county town. To enrich, +and be thereby the richer; for Roger's actions of finance were so +simple, as to run the risk of being called sublimely indistinct: he took +it as an axiom that "money bred money," but in what way to draw forth +its generative properties, whether or not by some new-fangled manure, he +was entirely ignorant; and it clearly was his wisdom to leave all that +mystery of money-making solely to the banker. All he cared about was +this: to come back richer than he came--and, lo! how rich he was +already. Lolling at high noon, on a Wednesday too, in the extremest mode +of rustic beauism, with a bag of gold by his side, and a pot of porter +in his hand--here was an accumulation of magnificence--all the +prepositions pressed into his service. His wildest hopes exceeded, and +almost nothing left to wish. Blown up with the pride and importance of +the moment, and some little oblivious from the potent porter--he had +paid and sallied forth, and marched a mile upon his way, full of golden +fancies, a rich luxurious lord as he was--when all on a sudden the +hallucination crossed his dull pellucid mind, that he had left the store +behind him! O, pungent terror!--O, most exquisite torture! was it clean +gone, stolen, lost, lost, lost for ever? Rushing back in an agony of +fear, that made the ruddy hostess think him crazed, with his hair on +end, and a face as if it had been white-washed, he flew to the tap-room, +and--almost fainted for ecstasy of joy when he found it, where he had +laid it, on the settle! + +Better had you lost it, Roger; better had your ecstasy been sorrow: +there is more trouble yet for you, from that bad crock of gold. But if +your lesson is not learnt, and you still think otherwise, go on a little +while exultingly as now I see you, and hug the treasure to your +heart--the treasure that will bring you yet more misery. + +And now the town is gained, the bank approached. What! that big barred, +guarded place, looking like a mighty mouse-trap? he didn't half like to +venture in. At last he pushed the door ajar, and took a peep; there +were muskets over the mantel-piece, ostentatiously ticketed as "Loaded! +Beware!" there were leather buckets ranged around the walls: he did not +in any degree like it: was he to expose his treasure in this idiot +fashion to all the avowed danger of fire and thieves? However, since he +had come so far, he would get some interest for his money, that he +would--so he'd just make bold to step to the counter and ask a very +obsequious bald-headed gentleman, who sired him quite affably, + +"How much, Master, will you be pleased to give me for my gold?" + +The gentleman looked queerish, as if he did not comprehend the question, +and answered, "Oh! certainly, sir--certainly--we do not object to give +you our notes for it," at the same time producing an extremely dirty +bundle of worn-out bits of paper. + +Roger stroked his chin. + +"But, Master, my meaning is, not how many o' them brown bits o' paper +you'll sell me for my gold here," and he exhibited a greater store than +Mr. Breakem had seen at once upon his counter for a year, "but how much +more gold you'll send me back with than what I've brought? by way of +interest, you know, or some such law: for I don't know much about the +Funds, Master." + +"Indeed, sir," replied the civil banker, who wished by any means to +catch the clodpole's spoil--"you are very obliging; we shall be glad to +allow you two-and-a-half per centum per annum for the deposit you are +good enough to leave in our keeping." + +"Leave in your keeping, Master! no, I didn't say that! by your leave, +I'll keep it myself!" + +"In that case, sir, I really do not see how I can do business with you." + +True enough; and Roger would never have been such a monetary blockhead, +had he not been now so generally tipsy; the fumes of beer had mingled +with his plan, and all his usual shrewdness had been blunted into folly +by greediness of lucre on the one side, and potent liquors on the other. +The moment that the banker's parting speech had reached his ear, the +absurdity of Roger's scheme was evident even to himself, and with a bare +"Good day, Master," he hurriedly took his bundle from the counter, and +scuttled out as quick as he could. + +His feelings, walking homeward, were any thing but pleasant; the bubble +of his ardent hope was burst: he never could have more than the paltry +little sum he carried in that bundle: what a miser he would be of it: +how mean it now seemed in his eyes--a mere sample-bag of seed, instead +of the wide-waving harvest! Ah, well; he would save and scrape--ay, and +go back to toil again--do any thing rather than spend. + +Got home, the difficulty now recurred, where was he to hide it? The +store was a greater care than ever, now those rascally bankers knew of +it. He racked his brain to find a hiding-place, and, at length, really +hit upon a good one. He concealed the crock, now replenished with its +contents, in the thatch just over his bed's head: it was a rescued +darling: so he tore a deep hole, and nested it quite snugly. + +Perhaps it did not matter much, but the rain leaked in by that hole all +night, and fortunate Roger woke in the morning drenched with wet, and +racked by rheumatism. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +CALUMNY. + + +MORE blessings issue from the crock; Pandora's box is set wide +open, and all the sweet inhabitants come forth. If apprehensions for its +safety made the finder full of care, the increased whisperings of the +neighbourhood gave him even deeper reason for anxiety. In vain he told +lie upon lie about a legacy of some old uncle in the clouds; in vain he +stuck to the foolish and transparent falsehood, with a dogged +pertinacity that appealed, not to reason, but to blows; in vain he made +affirmation weaker by his oath, and oaths quite unconvincing by his +cudgel: no one believed him: and the mystery was rendered more +inexplicable from his evidently nervous state and uneasy terror of +discovery. + +He had resolved at the outset, cunningly as he fancied, to change no +more than one piece of gold in the same place; though Bacchus's +undoubtedly proved the rule by furnishing an exception: and the +consequence came to be, that there was not a single shop in the whole +county town, nor a farm-house in all the neighbourhood round, where +Roger Acton had not called to change a sovereign. True, the silver had +seldom been forthcoming; still, he had asked for it; and where in life +could he have got the gold? Many was the rude questioner, whose +curiosity had been quenched in drink; many the insufferable pryer, whom +club-law had been called upon to silence. Meanwhile, Roger steadily kept +on, accumulating silver where he could: for his covetous mind delighted +in the mere semblance of an increase to his store, and took some +untutored numismatic interest in those pretty variations of his +idol--money. + +But if Roger's heap increased, so did the whispers and suspicions of the +country round; they daily grew louder, and more clamorous; and soon the +charitable nature of chagrined wonder assumed a shape more heart-rending +to the wretched finder of that golden hoard, than any other care, or +fear, or sin, that had hitherto torn him. It only was a miracle that the +neighbours had not thought of it before; seldom is the world so +unsuspicious; but then honest Roger's forty years of character were +something--they could scarcely think the man so base; and, above all, +gentle Grace was such a favourite with all, was such a pattern of +purity, and kindliness, and female conduct, that the tongue would have +blistered to its roots, that had uttered scorn of her till now. As +things were, though, could any thing be clearer? Was charity herself to +blame in putting one and one together? Sir John was rich, was young, +gay, and handsome; but Grace was poor--but indisputably beautiful, and +probably had once been innocent: some had seen her going to the Hall at +strange times and seasons--for in truth, she often did go there; +Jonathan and Sarah Stack, of course, were her dearest friends on earth: +and so it came to pass, that, through the blessing of the crock, honest +Roger was believed to live on the golden wages of his daughter's shame! +Oh, coarse and heartless imputation! Oh, bitter price to pay for secresy +and wonderful good fortune! In vain the wretched father stormed, and +swore, and knocked down more than one foul-spoken fellow that had +breathed against dear Grace. None but credited the lie, and many envious +wretches actually gloried in the scandal; I grieve to say that +women--divers venerable virgins--rejoiced that this pert hussey was at +last found out; she was too pretty to be good, too pious to be pure; now +at length they were revenged upon her beauty; now they had their triumph +over one that was righteous over-much. For other people, they would urge +the reasonable question, how else came Roger by the cash? and getting no +answer, or worse than none--a prevaricating, mystifying mere +put-off--they had hardly an alternative in common exercise of judgment: +therefore, "Shame on her," said the neighbours, "and the bitterest shame +on him:" and the gaffers and grand-dames shook their heads virtuously. + +Yet worse: there was another suggestion, by no means contradictory, +though simultaneous: what had become of Tom? ay--that bold young +fellow--Thomas Acton, Ben Burke's friend: why was he away so long, +hiding out of the country? they wondered. + +The suspected Damon and Pythias had gone a county off to certain fens, +and were, during this important week, engaged in a long process of +ensnaring ducks. + +Old Gaffer White had muttered something to Gossip Heartley, which Dick +the Tanner overheard, wherein Tom Acton and a gun, and Burke, and +burglary, and throats cut, and bags of gold, were conspicuous +ingredients: so that Roger Acton's own dear Tom, that eagle-eyed and +handsome better image of himself, stood accused, before his quailing +father's face, of robbery and murder. + +Both--both darlings, dead Annie's little orphaned pets, thus stricken by +one stone to infamy! Grace, scouted as a hussey, an outcast, a bad girl, +a wanton--blessed angel! Thomas--generous boy--keenly looked for, in his +near return, to be seized by rude hands, manacled, and dragged away, and +tried on suspicion as a felon--for what? that crock of gold. Yet Roger +heard it all, knew it all, writhed at it all, as if scorpions were +lashing him; but still he held on grimly, keeping that bad secret. +Should he blab it out, and so be poor again, and lose the crock? + +That our labourer's changed estate influenced his bodily health, under +this accumulated misery and desperate excitement, began to be made +manifest to all. The sturdy husbandman was transformed into a tremulous +drunkard; the contented cottager, into a querulous hypochondriac; the +calm, religious, patient Christian, into a tumultuous blasphemer. Could +all this be, and even Roger's iron frame stand up against the battle! +No, the strength of Samson has been shorn. The crock has poured a +blessing on its finder's very skin, as when the devil covered Job with +boils. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE BAILIFF'S VISIT. + + +ONE day at noon, ere the first week well was over since the +fortunate discovery of gold, as Roger lay upon his bed, recovering from +an overnight's excess, tossed with fever, vexation, and anxiety, he was +at once surprised and frightened by a visit from no less a personage +than Mr. Simon Jennings. And this was the occasion of his presence: + +Directly the gathering storm of rumours had collected to that focus of +all calumny, the destruction of female character and murder charged upon +the innocent, Grace Acton had resolved upon her course; secresy could be +kept no longer; her duty now appeared to be, to publish the story of her +father's lucky find. + +Grace, we may observe, had never been bound to silence, but only imposed +it on herself from motives of tenderness to one, whom she believed to be +taken in the toils of a temptation. She, simple soul, knew nothing of +manorial rights, nor wotted she that any could despoil her father of his +money; but even if such thoughts had ever crossed her mind, she loathed +the gold that had brought so much trouble on them all, and cared not how +soon it was got rid of. Her father's health, honour, happiness, were +obviously at stake; perhaps, also, her brother's very life: and, as for +herself, the martyr of calumny looked piously to heaven, offered up her +outraged heart, and resolved to stem this torrent of misfortune. +Accordingly, with a noble indignation worthy of her, she had gone +straightway to the Hall, to see the baronet, to tell the truth, fling +aside a charge which she could scarcely comprehend, and openly vindicate +her offended honour. She failed--many imagine happily for her own peace, +if Sir John had not been better than his friends--in gaining access to +the Lord of Hurstley; but she did see Mr. Jennings, who serenely +interposed, and listened to all she came to say--"her father had been +unfortunate enough to find a crock of money on the lake side near his +garden." + +When Jennings heard the tale, he started as if stung by a wasp: and +urging Grace to tell it no one else (though the poor girl "must," she +said, "for honour's sake"), he took up his hat, and ran off breathlessly +to Acton's cottage. Roger was at home, in bed, and sick; there was no +escape; and Simon chuckled at the lucky chance. So he crept in, +carefully shut the door, put his finger on his lips to hush Roger's note +of admiration at so little wished a vision; and then, with one of his +accustomed scared and fearful looks behind him, muttered under his +breath, + +"Man, that gold is mine: I have paid its price to the uttermost; give me +the honey-pot." + +Roger's first answer was a vulgar oath; but his tipsy courage faded soon +away before old habits of subserviency, and he faltered out, +"I--I--Muster Jennings! I've got no pot of gold!" + +"Man, you lie! you have got the money! give it me at once--and--" he +added in a low, hoarse voice, "we will not say a word about the murder." + +"Murder!" echoed the astonished man. + +"Ay, murder, Acton:--off! off, I say!" he muttered parenthetically, then +wrestled for a minute violently, as with something in the air; and +recovering as from a spasm, calmly added, + +"Ay, murder for the money." + +"I--I!" gasped Roger; "I did no murder, Muster Jennings!" + +A new light seemed to break upon the bailiff, and he answered with a +tone of fixed determination, + +"Acton, you are the murderer of Bridget Quarles." + +Roger's jaw dropped, dismay was painted on his features, and certainly +he did look guilty enough. But Simon proceeded in a tenderer tone; + +"Notwithstanding, give me the gold, Acton, and none shall know a word +about the murder. We will keep all quiet, Roger Acton, all nice and +quiet, you know;" and he added, coaxingly, "come, Roger, give me up this +crock of gold." + +"Never!" with a fierce anathema, answered our hero, now himself again: +the horrid accusation had entranced him for a while, but this coaxing +strain roused up all the man in him: "Never!" and another oath confirmed +it. + +"Acton, give it up, I say!" was shouted in rejoinder, and Jennings +glared over him with his round and staring eyes as he lay faint upon his +bed--"Give up the crock, or else--" + +"Else what? you whitened villain." + +The bailiff flung himself at Roger's neck, and almost shrieked, "I'll +serve you as I--" + +There was a tremendous struggle; attacked at unawares, for the moment he +was nearly mastered; but Acton's tall and wiry frame soon overpowered +the excited Jennings, and long before you have read what I have +written--he has leaped out of bed--seized--doubled up--and flung the +battered bailiff headlong down the narrow stair-case to the bottom. This +done, Roger, looking like Don Quixote de la Mancha in his penitential +shirt, mounted into bed again, and quietly lay down; wondering, +half-sober, at the strange and sudden squall. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE CAPTURE. + + +HE had not long to wonder. Jennings got up instantly, despite +of bruises, posted to the Hall, took a search-warrant from Sir John's +study, (they were always ready signed, and Jennings filled one up,) and +returned with a brace of constables to search the cottage. + +Then Roger, as he lay musing, fancied he heard men's voices below, and +his wife, who had just come in, talking to them; what could they want? +tramps, perhaps: or Ben? he shuddered at the possibility; with Tom too; +and he felt ashamed to meet his son. So he turned his face to the wall, +and lay musing on--he hadn't been drinking too much over-night--Oh, no! +it was sickness, and rheumatics, and care about the crock; Tom should be +told that he was very ill, poor father! Just as he had planned this, and +resolved to keep his secret from that poaching ruffian Burke, some one +came creeping up the stairs, slided in at the door, and said to him in a +deep whisper from the further end of the room, + +"Acton, give me the gold, and the men shall go away; it is not yet too +late; tell me where to find the crock of gold." + +An oath was the reply; and, at a sign from Jennings, up came the other +two. + +"We have searched every where, Mr. Simon Jennings, both cot and garden; +ground disturbed in two or three places, but nothing under it; in-doors +too, the floor is broken by the hearth and by the dresser, but no signs +of any thing there: now, Master Acton, tell us where it is, man, and +save us all the trouble." + +Roger's newly-learnt vocabulary of oaths was drawn upon again. + +"Did you look in the ash-pit?" asked Jennings. + +"No, sir." + +"Well, while you two search this chamber, I will examine it myself." + +Mr. Jennings apparently entertained a wholesome fear of Acton's powers +of wrestling. + +Up came Simon in a hurry back again, with a lot of little empty leather +bags he had raked out, and--the fragment of a shawl! the edges burnt, it +was a corner bit, and marked B.Q. + +"What do you call this, sir?" asked the exulting bailiff. + +"Curse that Burke!"--thought Roger; but he said nothing. + +And the two men up stairs had searched, and pried, and hunted every +where in vain; the knotty mattress had been ripped up, the chimney +scrutinized, the floor examined, the bed-clothes overhauled, and as for +the thatch, if it hadn't been for Roger Acton's constant glance upwards +at his treasure in the roof, I am sure they never would have found it. +But they did at last: there it was, the crock of gold, full proof of +robbery and murder! + +"Aha!" said Simon, in a complacent triumph, "Mrs. Quarles's identical +honey-pot, full of her clean bright gold, and many pieces still encased +in those tidy leather bags;" and his round eyes glistened again; but all +at once, with a hurried look over his left shoulder, he exclaimed, +involuntarily, in a very different tone, "Ha! away, I say!--" Then he +snatched the crock up eagerly, and nursed it like a child. + +"Come along with us, Master Acton, you're wanted somewhere else; up, +man, look alive, will you?" + +And Roger dressed himself mechanically. It was no manner of use, not in +the least worth while resisting, innocent though he was; his treasure +had been found, and taken from him; he had nothing more to live for; his +gold was gone--his god; where was the wisdom of fighting for any thing +else; let them take him to prison if they would, to the jail, to the +gallows, to any-whither, now his gold was gone. So he put on his +clothes without a murmur, and went with them as quiet as a lamb. + +Never was there a clearer case; the housekeeper's hoard had been found +in his possession, with a fragment of her shawl; and Sir John Vincent +was very well aware of the mystery attending the old woman's death; +besides, he was in a great hurry to be off; for Pointer, and Silliphant, +and Lord George Pypp, were to have a hurdle race with him that day, for +a heavy bet; so he really had not time to go deep into the matter; and +the result of five minutes' talk before the magisterial chairs (Squire +Ryle having been summoned to assist) was, that, on the accusation of +Simon Jennings, Roger Acton was fully committed to the county jail, to +be tried at next assizes, for Bridget Quarles's murder. + +Thank God! poor Roger, it has come to this. What other way than this was +there to save thee from thy sin--to raise thee from thy fall? Where +else, but in a prison, could you get the silent, solitary hours leading +you again to wholesome thought and deep repentance? Where else could you +escape the companionship of all those loose and low associates, sottish +brawlers, ignorant and sensual unbelievers, vagabond radicals, and +other lewd fellows of the baser sort, that had drank themselves drunk at +your expense, and sworn to you as captain! The place, the time, the +means for penitence are here. The crisis of thy destiny is come. + +Honest Roger, Steady Acton, did I not see thy guardian angel--after all +his many tears, aggrieved and broken spirit!--did I not see him lift his +swollen eyes in gratitude to Heaven, and benevolence to thee, and smile +a smile of hopeful joy when that damned crock was found? + +Gladly could he thank his Lord, to behold the temptation at an end. + +Did I not see the devil slink away from thee abashed, issuing like an +adder from thy heart, and then, with a sudden Protean change, driven +from thy hovel as a thunder-cloud dispersing, when Simon Jennings seized +the jar, hugged it as his household-god--and took it home with him--and +counted out the gold--and locked the bloody treasure in his iron-chest? + +Fitly did the murderer lock up curses with his spoil. + +And when God smote thine idol, dashing Dagon to the ground, and thy +heart was sore with disappointment, and tender as a peeled fig--when +hope was dead for earth, and conscience dared not look beyond it--ah! +Roger, did I judge amiss when I saw, or thought I saw, those eyes full +of humble shame, those lips quivering with remorseful sorrow? + +We will leave thee in the cold stone cell--with thy well-named angel +Grace to comfort thee, and pray with thee, and help thee back to God +again, and so repay the debt that a daughter owes her father. + +Happy prison! where the air is sweetened by the frankincense of piety, +and the pavement gemmed with the flowers of hope, and the ceiling arched +with Heaven's bow of mercy, and the walls hung around with the dewy +drapery of penitence! + +Happy prison! where the talents that were lost are being found again, +gathered in humility from this stone floor; where poor-making riches are +banished from the postern, and rich-making poverty streameth in as light +from the grated window; where care vexeth not now the labourer emptied +of his gold, and calumny's black tooth no longer gnaws the heart-strings +of the innocent. + +Hark! it is the turnkey, coming round to leave the pittance for the day: +he is bringing in something in an earthern jar. Speak, Roger Acton, +which will you choose, man--a prisoner's mess of pottage--or a crock of +gold? + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE AUNT AND HER NEPHEW. + + +WHILE we leave Roger Acton in the jail, waiting for the very +near assizes, and wearing every hour away in penitence and prayer, it +will be needful to our story that we take a retrospective glance at +certain events, of no slight importance. + +I must now speak of things, of which there is no human witness; +recording words, and deeds, whereof Heaven alone is cognizant, Heaven +alone--and Hell! For there are secret matters, which the murdered cannot +tell us, and the murderer dare not--let him confess as fully as he will. +Therefore, with some omnipresent sense, some invisible ubiquity, I must +note down scenes as they occurred, whether mortal eye has witnessed them +or not; I must lay bare secret thoughts, unlatch the hidden chambers of +the heart, and duly set out, as they successively arose, the idea which +tongue had not embodied, the feeling which no action had expressed. + +Hitherto, we have pretty well preserved inviolate the three grand +unities--time, place, circumstance; and even now we do not sin against +the first and chiefest, however we may seem so to sin; for, had it +suited my purpose to have begun with the beginning, and to have placed +the present revelations foremost, the strictest stickler for the unities +would have only had to praise my orthodox adherence to them. As it is, I +have chosen, for interest sake, to shuffle my cards a little; and two +knaves happen to have turned up together just at this time and place. +The time is just three weeks ago--a week before the baronet came of age, +and a fortnight antecedent to the finding of the crock; which, as we +know, after blessing Roger for a se'nnight, has at last left him in +jail. The place is the cozy house-keepers room at Hurstley: and the +brace of thorough knaves, to enact then and there as _dramatis personae_, +includes Mistress Bridget Quarles, a fat, sturdy, bluffy, old woman, of +a jolly laugh withal, and a noisy tongue--and our esteemed acquaintance +Mister Simon Jennings. The aunt, house-keeper, had invited the nephew, +butler, to take a dish of tea with her, and rum-punch had now succeeded +the souchong. + +"Well, Aunt Quarles, is it your meaning to undertake a new master?" + +"Don't know, nephy--can't say yet what he'll be like: if he'll leave us +as we are, won't say wont." + +"Ay, as we are, indeed; comfortable quarters, and some little to put by, +too: a pretty penny you will have laid up all this while, I'll be bound: +I wager you now it is a good five hundred, aunt--come, done for a +shilling." + +"Get along, foolish boy; a'n't you o' the tribe o' wisdom too--ha, ha, +ha!" + +"I will not say," smirked Simon, "that my nest has not a feather." + +"It's easy work for us, Nep; we hunt in couples: you the men, and I the +maids--ha, ha!" + +"Tush, Aunt Bridget! that speech is not quite gallant, I fear." And the +worshipful extortioners giggled jovially. + +"But it's true enough for all that, Simon: how d'ye manage it, eh, boy? +much like me, I s'pose; wages every quarter from the maids, dues from +tradesmen Christmas-tide and Easter, regular as Parson Evans's; pretty +little bits tacked on weekly to the bills, beside presents from every +body; and so, boy, my poor forty pounds a-year soon mounts up to a +hundred." + +"Ay, ay, Aunt Bridget--but I get the start of you, though you probably +were born a week before-hand: talk of parsons, look at me, a regular +grand pluralist monopolist, as any bishop can be; butler in doors, +bailiff out of doors, land-steward, house-steward, cellar-man, and +pay-master. I am not all this for naught, Aunt Quarles: if so much goes +through my fingers, it is but fair that something stick." + +"True, Simon--O certainly; but if you come to boasting, my boy, I don't +carry this big bunch o' keys for nothing neither. Lord love you! why +merely for cribbings in the linen-line for one month, John Draper +swapped me that there shawl: none o' my clothes ever cost me a penny, +and I a'n't quite as bare as a new-born baby neither. Look at them +trunks, bless you!" + +"Ay, ay, aunt, I'll be bound the printer of your prayer-book has left +out a 'not,' before the 'steal,' eh?--ha! ha!" + +"Fie, naughty Simon, fie! them's not stealings, them's parquisites. +Where's the good o' living in a great house else? But come, Si, haven't +you struck out the 'not,' for yourself, though the printer did his duty, +eh, Nep?" + +"Not a bit, aunt--not a bit: all sheer honesty and industry. Look at my +pretty little truck-shop down the village. Wo betide the labourer that +leaves off dealing there! not one that works at Hurstley, but eats my +bread and bacon; besides the 'tea, coffee, tobacco, and snuff.'" + +"Pretty fairish articles, eh? I never dealt with you, Si: no, Nep, +no--you never saw the colour o' my money." + +Jennings gave a start, as if a thought had pricked him; but gayly +recovering himself, said, + +"Oh, as to pretty fairish, I know there is one thing about the bacon +good enough; ay, and the bread too--the very best of prices; ha! ha! is +not that good? And for the other genuine articles, I don't know that +much of the tea comes from China--and the coffee is sold ground, because +it is burnt maize--and there's a plenty of wholesome cabbage leaf cut up +in the tobacco--while as for snuff, I give them a dry, peppery, choky, +sneezy dust, and I dare say that it does its duty." + +It was astonishing how innocently the worthy couple laughed together. + +"My only trouble, Aunt Quarles, is where to keep my gains--what to do +with them. I am quite driven to the strong-box system, interest is so +bad; and as to speculations, they are nervous things, and sicken one. I +invest in the Great Western one day--a tunnel falls in, so I sell my +shares the next, and send the proceeds to Australia; then, looking at +the map, I see the island isn't clean chalked out all round, and +beginning to fear that the sea will get in where it a'n't made +water-tight by the Admiralty, I call the money home again. You see I +don't know what to do with gold when I get it. Where do you keep yours +now, aunt, I wonder?" + +"O, Nep, never mind me; you rattle on so I can't get in never a word. +I'll only tell you where I don't keep it. Not at Breakem's bank, for +they're brewers, and hosiers, and chandlers, and horse-dealers--ay, and +swindlers too, the whole 'company' on 'em; not in mortgages, for I hate +the very smell of a lawyer, with all his pounce and parchment; not in +Gover'me't 'nuities, for I'm an old 'ooman, boy; and not in the Three +per Cents, nor any other per cents, for I've sense enough to know that +my highest interest lies in counting out, as my first principle is +dropping in." And the fat female laughed herself purple at the venerable +joke. + +Simon was a courtier, and laughed too, as immoderately as possible. + +"Ah! I dare say now you have got a Chubb's patent somewhere full of +gold?" he asked somewhat anxiously; "take your punch, aunt, wont you? I +do not see you drink." + +"Simon, mark me; fools who want to be robbed put their money into an +iron chest, that thieves may know exactly where to find it; they might +as well ticket it 'cash,' and advertise to Newgate--come and steal. I +know a little better than to be such a fool." + +"Yes, certainly--I dare say now you keep it in your work-box, or sew it +up in your stays, or hide it in the mattress, or in an old tea-pot, +maybe." And Jennings eyed her narrowly. + +"Nephew, what rhymes to money?" + +"Money?--Well I can't say I am a poet--stony, perhaps. At least," added +the benevolent individual, "when I have raised a wretch's rent to gain a +little more by him, stony is not a bad shield to lift against prayers, +and tears, and orphans, and widows, and starvation, and all such +nonsense." + +"Not bad, neither, Nep: but there's a better rhyme than that." + +"You cannot mean honey, aunt? when I guessed stony, I thought you might +have some snug little cash cellar under the flags. But honey? are you +such a thorough Mrs. Rundle as to pickle and preserve your very guineas, +the same as you do strawberries or apricots in syrup?" + +"Oh, you clever little fool! how prettily you do talk on: your tongue's +as tidy as your cash-book: when you've any money to put by, come to Aunt +Bridget for a crock to hide it in: mayn't one use a honey-pot, as Teddy +Rourke would say, barring the honey?" + +"Ha! and so you hide the hoard up there, aunt, eh? along with the +preserves in a honey-pot, do you?" + +"We'll see--we'll see, some o' these long days; not that the money's to +be yours, Nep--you're rich enough, and don't want it; there's your poor +sister Scott with her fourteen children, and Aunt Bridget must give her +a lift in life: she was a good niece to me, Simon, and never left my +side before she married: maybe she'll have cause to bless the dead." + +Jennings hardly spoke a word more; but drained his glass in silence, got +up a sudden stomach-ache, and wished his aunt good-night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +SCHEMES. + + +WE must follow Simon Jennings to his room. He felt keenly +disappointed. Money was the idol of his heart, as it is of many million +others. He had robbed, lied, extorted, tyrannized; he had earned scorn, +ill-report, and hatred; nay, he had even diligently gone to work, and +lost his own self-love and self-respect in the service of his darling +idol. He was at once, for lucre's sake, the mean, cringing fawner, and +the pitiless, iron despot; to the rich he could play supple parasite, +while the poor man only knew him as an unrelenting persecutor; with the +good, and they were chiefly of the fairer, softer sex, he walked in +meekness, the spiritual hypocrite; the while, it was his boast to +over-reach the worst in low duplicity and crooked dealing. All this he +was for gold. When the eye of the world was on him, and intuition warned +him of the times, he was ever the serene, the correct, with a smooth +tongue and an oily smile; but in the privacy of some poor hovel, where +his debtor sued for indulgence, or some victim of his passions (he had +more depravities than one) threw her wretched self upon his pity, then +could Simon Jennings lash sternness into rage, and heat his brazen heart +with the embers of inveterate malice. It was as if the serpent, that +voluble, insinuating reptile, which had power to fascinate poor Eve, +turned to rend her when she had fallen, erect, with flashing eyes, and +bristling crest, with venomed fangs, and hissing. Behold, +snake-worshippers of Mexico, the prototype of your grim idol, in +Mammon's model slave and specimen disciple! + +Such a man was Simon Jennings, a soul given up to gold--exclusively to +gold; for although, as we have hinted, and as hereafter may appear, he +could sell himself at times to other sins, still these were but as stars +in his evil firmament, while covetousness ruled it like the sun; or, if +the beauteous stars and blessed sun be an image too hallowed for his +wickedness, we may find a fitter in some stagnant pool, where the +pestilential vapour over all is Mammonism, and the dull, fat weeds that +rot beneath, are pride, craftiness, and lechery. In fact, to speak of +passions in a heart such as his, were a palpable misnomer; all was +reduced to calculation; his rage was fostered to intimidate, and where +the wretch seemed kinder, his kindnesses were aimed at power, as an +object, rather than at pleasure--the power to obtain more gold. + +For it is a dreadful truth (which I would not dare to utter if such +crimes had never been), that a reprobate of the bailiff Jennings's stamp +may, by debts, or fines, or kind usurious loans, entrap a beggared +creature in his toils; and then lyingly propose remission at the secret +sacrifice of honour, in some one, over whom that dastard beggar has +control; and having this point gained, the seducer is quite capable of +using, for still more extortion, the power which a threatening of +exposure gives, when the criminally weak has stooped to sin, on promises +of silence and delivery from ruin. I wish there may be no poor yeoman +in this broad land, of honourable name withal, he and his progenitors +for ages, who can tell the tale of his own base fears, a creditor's +exactions, and some dependant victim's degradation: some orphaned niece, +some friendless ward, immolated in her earliest youth at the shrine of +black-hearted Mammon; I wish there may be no sleek middle-man guilty of +the crimes here charged upon Simon Jennings. + +This worthy, then, had been introduced at Hurstley by his aunt, Mrs. +Quarles, on the occurrence of a death vacancy in the lad-of-all-work +department, during the long ungoverned space of young Sir John's +minority. As the precious "lad" grew older, and divers in-door +potentates died off, the house-keeper had power to push her nephew on to +pageship, footmanship, and divers other similar crafts, even to the +final post of butler; while his own endeavours, backed by his aunt's +interest, managed to secure for him the rule out of doors no less than +in, and the closest possible access to guardians and landlords, to the +tenants--and their rent. + +Now, the amiable Mrs. Quarles had contrived the elevation of her nephew, +and connived at his monopolies, mainly to fit in cleverly with her own +worldly weal; for it would never have done to have risked the loss of +innumerable perquisites, and other peculations, by the possible advent +of an honest butler. But, while the worshipful Simon, to do him only +justice, fully answered Mrs. Bridget's purpose, and even added much to +her emoluments; still he was no mere derivative scion, but an +independent plant, and entertained views of his own. He had his own +designs, and laid himself out to entrap his aunt's affections; or +rather, for I cannot say he greatly valued these, to secure her good +graces, and worm himself within the gilded clauses of her will; she was +an old woman, rolling in gold, no doubt had a will; and as for himself, +he was younger by five-and-thirty years, so he could afford to wait a +little, before trying on her shoes. The petty schemes of thievery and +cheating, which he in his Quotem capacities had practised, were to his +eyes but as driblets of wealth in comparison with the mighty stream of +his old aunt's savings. Not that he had done amiss, trust him! but then +he knew the amount of his own hoard to a farthing, while of hers he was +entirely ignorant; so, on the principle of '_omne ignotum pro +mirifico_,' he pondered on its vastness with indefinite amazement, +although probably it might not reach the quarter of his own. For it +should in common charity be stated, that, with all her hiding and hiving +propensities, Mrs. Quarles, however usually a screw, was by fits and +starts an extravagant woman, and besides spending on herself, had +occasionally helped her own kith and kin; poor niece Scott, in +particular, had unconsciously come in for many pleasant pilferings, and +had to thank her good aunt for innumerable filched groceries, and +hosieries, and other largesses, which (the latter in especial) really +had contributed, with sundry other more self indulgent expenses, to make +no small havoc of the store. + +Still, this store was Simon's one main chance, the chief prize in his +hope's lottery; and it was with a pang, indeed, that he found all his +endeavours to compass its possession had been vain. Was that endless +cribbage nothing, and the weary Bible-lessons on a Sunday, and the +constant fetchings and carryings, and the forced smiles, sham +congratulations, and other hypocritical affections--fearing for his dear +aunt's dropsy, and inquiring so much about her bunions--was all this +dull servitude to meet with no reward? With none? worse than none! Fool +that he was! had he schemed, and plotted, and flattered, and +cozened--ay, and given away many pretty little presents, lost decoys, +that had cost hard money, all for nothing--less than nothing--to be +laughed at and postponed to his Methodist sister Scott? The impudence of +deliberately telling him he "didn't want it, and was rich enough!" as if +"enough" could ever be good grammar after such a monosyllable as "rich;" +and "want it" indeed! of course he wanted it; if not, why had he slaved +so many years? want it, indeed! if to hope by day, and to dream by +night--if to leave no means untried of delicately showing how he longed +for it--if to grow sick with care, and thin with coveting--if this were +to want the gold, good sooth, he wanted it. Don't tell him of starving +brats, his own very bowels pined for it; don't thrust in his face the +necessities of others--the necessity is his; he must have it--he will +have it--talk of necessity! + +Wait a bit: is there no way of managing some better end to all this? no +mode of giving the right turn to that wheel of fortune, round which his +cares and calculations have been hovering so long? Is there no +conceivable method of possessing that vast hoard? + +Bless me! how huge it must be! and Simon turned whiter at the thought: +only add up Mother Quarles's income for fifty-five years: she is +seventy-five at least, and came here a girl of twenty. Simon's hair +stood on end, and his heart went like a mill-clapper, as he mentally +figured out the sum. + +Is there no possibility of contriving matters so that I may be the +architect of my own good luck, and no thanks at all to the old witch +there? Dear--what a glorious fancy--let me think a little. Cannot I get +at the huge hoard some how? + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE DEVIL'S COUNSEL. + + +"STEAL it," said the Devil. + +Simon was all of a twitter; for though he fancied his own heart said it, +still his ear-drum rattled, as if somebody had spoken. + +Simon--that ear-drum was to put you off your guard: the deaf can hear +the devil: he needs no tympanum to commune with the spirit: listen +again, Simon; your own thoughts echo every word. + +"Steal it: hide in her room; you know she has a shower-bath there, which +nobody has used for years, standing in a corner; two or three cloaks in +it, nothing else: it locks inside, how lucky! ensconce yourself there, +watch the old woman to sleep--what a fat heavy sleeper she is!--quietly +take her keys, and steal the store: remember, it is a honey-pot. +Nothing's easier--or safer. Who'd suspect you?" + +"Splendid! and as good as done," triumphantly exclaimed the nephew, +snapping his fingers, and prancing with glee;--"a glorious fancy! bless +my lucky star!" + +If there be a planet Lucifer, that was Simon's lucky star. + +And so, Mrs Quarles the biter is going to be bit, eh? It generally is so +in this world's government. You, who brought in your estimable nephew to +aid and abet in your own dishonest ways, are, it seems, going to be +robbed of all your knavish gains by him. This is taking the wise in +their own craftiness, I reckon: and richly you deserve to lose all your +ill-got hoard. At the same time, Mrs. Quarles--I will be just--there are +worse people in the world than you are: in comparison with your nephew, +I consider you a grosser kind of angel; and I really hope no harm may +befall your old bones beyond the loss of your money. However, if you are +to lose this, it is my wish that poor Mrs. Scott, or some other honest +body, may get it, and not Simon; or rather, I should not object that he +may get it first, and get hung for getting it, too, before the sister +has the hoard. + +Our friend, Simon Jennings, could not sleep that night; his reveries and +scheming lasted from the rum-punch's final drop, at ten P.M., to +circiter two A.M., and then, or thenabouts, the devil hinted "steal it;" +and so, not till nearly four, he began to shut his eyes, and dream +again, as his usual fashion was, of adding up receipts in five figures, +and of counting out old Bridget's hoarded gold. + +Next day, notwithstanding nocturnal semi-sleeplessness, he awoke as +brisk as a bee, got up in as exhilarated a state as any gas-balloon, and +was thought to be either surprisingly in spirits, or spirits +surprisingly in him; none knew which, "where each seemed either." That +whole day long, he did the awkwardest things, and acted in the most +absent manner possible; Jonathan thought Mr. Simon was beside himself; +Sarah Stack, foolish thing! said he was in love, and was observed to +look in the glass several times herself; other people did not know what +to think--it was quite a mystery. To recount only a few of his +unprecedented exploits on that day of anticipative bliss: + +First, he asked the porter how his gout was, and gave him a thimble-full +of whiskey from his private store. + +Secondly, he paid Widow Soper one whole week's washing in full, without +the smallest deduction or per centage. + +Thirdly, he ordered of Richard Buckle, commonly called Dick the Tanner, +a lot of cart harness, without haggling for price, or even asking it. + +And, fourthly, he presented old George White, who was coming round with +a subscription paper for a dead pig--actually, he presented old Gaffer +White with the sum of two-pence out of his own pocket! never was such +careless prodigality. + +But the little world of Hurstley did not know what we know. They +possessed no clue to the secret happiness wherewithal Simon Jennings +hugged himself; they had no inkling of the crock of gold; they thought +not he was going to be suddenly so rich; they saw no cause, as we do, +why he should feel to be like a great heir on the eve of his majority; +they wotted not that Sir John Devereux Vincent, Baronet, had scarcely +more agreeable or triumphant feelings when his clock struck twenty-one, +than Simon Jennings, butler, as the hour of his hope drew nigh. + +If a destiny like this man's can ever have a crisis, the hour of his +hope is that; but downward still, into a lower gulf, has been +continually his bad career; there is (unless a miracle intervene) no +stopping in the slope on which he glides, albeit there may be +precipices. He that rushes in his sledge down the artificial ice-hills +of St. Petersburgh, skims along not more swiftly than Jennings, from the +altitude of infant innocence, had sheered into the depths of full-grown +depravity; but even he can fall, and reach, with startling suddenness, a +lower deep. + +As if that Russian mountain, hewn asunder midway, were fitted flush to +a Norwegian cliff, beetling precipitately over the whirlpool; then tilt +the sledge with its furred inmate over the slope, let it skim with +quicker impetus the smoking ice, let it touch that beetling edge, and, +leaping from the tangent, let it dart through the air, let it strike the +eddying waters, be sucked hurriedly down that hoarse black throat, wind +among the roots of the everlasting hills, and split upon the loadstone +of the centre. + +Even such a fate, "down, down to hell," will come to Simon Jennings; +wrapped in the furs of complacency, seated in the sledge of +covetousness, a-down the slippery launch of well-worn evil habit--over +the precipice of crime--into the billows of impenitent remorse--to be +swallowed by the vortex of Gehenna! + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +THE AMBUSCADE. + + +NIGHT came, and with it all black thoughts. Not that they were +black at once, any more than darkness leaps upon the back of noon, +without the intervening cloak of twilight. Oh dear, no! Simon's thoughts +accommodated themselves fitly to the time of day. They had been, for +him, at early morning, pretty middling white, that is whity-brown; +thence they passed, with the passing hour kindly, through the shades of +burnt sienna, raw umber, and bistre; until, just as we may notice in the +case of marking-ink; that which, five minutes ago, was as water only +delicately dirtied, has become a fixed and indelible black. + +Simon was resolved upon the spoil, come what might; although his waking +sensations of buoyancy, his noon-day cogitations of a calmer kind, and +his even-tide determined scheming, had now given way to a nervous and +unpleasant trepidation. So he poured spirits down to keep his spirits +up. Very early after dark, he had watched his opportunity while Mrs. +Quarles was scolding in the kitchen, had slipped shoeless and +unperceived, from his pantry into the housekeeper's room, and locked +himself securely in the shower bath. Hapless wight! it was very little +after six yet, and there he must stand till twelve or so: his foresight +had not calculated this, and the devil had already begun to cheat him. +But he would go through with it now; no flinching, though his rabbit +back is breaking with fatigue, and his knocked knees totter with +exhaustion, and his haggard eyes swim dizzily, and his bad heart is +failing him for fear. + +Yes, fear, and with good reason too for fear; "nothing easier, nothing +safer," said his black adviser; how easily for bodily pains, how safely +for chances of detection, was he getting at the promised crock of gold! + +"Mr. Jennings! Mr. Simon! where in the world was Mr. Jennings?" nobody +knew; he must have gone out somewhere. Strange, too--and left his hat +and great-coat. + +Here's a general for an ambuscade; Oh, Simon, Simon! you have had the +whole day to think of it--how is it that both you and your dark friend +overlooked in your calculations the certainty of search, and the chance +of a discovery? The veriest school-boy, when he hid himself, would hide +his hat. I am half afraid that you are in that demented state, which +befits the wretch ordained to perish. + +But where is Mr. Jennings? that was the continued cry for four agonizing +hours of dread and difficulty. Sarah, the still-room maid, was sitting +at her work, unluckily in Mrs. Quarles's room; she had come in shortly +after Simon's secret entry; there she sat, and he dared not stir. And +they looked every where--except in the right place; to do the devil +justice, it was a capital hiding-corner that; rooms, closets, passages, +cellars, out-houses, gardens, lofts, tenements, and all the "general +words," in a voluminous conveyance, were searched and searched in vain; +more than one groom expected (hoped is a truer word) to find Mr. +Jennings hanging by a halter from the stable-lamp; more than one +exhilarated labourer, hastily summoned for the search, was sounding the +waters with a rake and rope, in no slight excitement at the thought of +fishing up a deceased bailiff. + +It was a terrible time for the ensconced one: sometimes he thought of +coming out, and treating the affair as a bit of pleasantry: but then the +devil had taken off his shoes--as a Glascow captain deals with his cargo +of refractory Irishers; how could he explain that? his abominable old +aunt was shrewd, and he knew how clearly she would guess at the truth; +if he desired to make sure of losing every chance, he could come out +now, and reveal himself; but if he nourished still the hope of counting +out that crock of gold, he'll bide where he is, and trust to--to--to +fate. The wretch had "Providence" on his blistered tongue. + +If, under the circumstances, any thing could be added to Simon's +gratification, such pleasing addition was afforded in overhearing, as +Lord Brougham did, the effect which his rumoured death produced on the +minds of those who best had known him. It so happened, Sarah was sick, +and did not join the universal hunt; accordingly, being the only +audience, divers ambassadors came to tell her constantly the same most +welcome news, that Jennings had not yet been found. + +"Lawk, Sally," said a helper, "what a blessing it'll be, if that mean +old thief's dead; I'll go to town, if 'tis so, get a dozen Guy's-day +rockets, tie 'em round with crape, and spin 'em over the larches: +that'll be funeral fun won't it? and it'll sarve to tell the neighbours +of our luck in getting rid on him." + +"I doan't like your thought, Tom," said another staider youth: "it's +ill-mirth playing leap-frog over tomb-stones, and poor bravery insulting +the dead. Besides, I'm thinking the bad man that's taken from us an't a +going up'ards, so it's no use lending him a light. I wish we may all lie +in a cooler grave than he does, and not have to go quite so deep +down'ard." + +"Gee up for Lady-day!" exclaimed the emancipated coachman; "why, Sall, I +shall touch my whole lump of wages free for the fust time: and I only +wish the gals had our luck." + +"Here, Sarah," interposed a kind and ruddy stable youth, "as we're all +making free with Mr. Simon's own special ale, I've thought to bring you +a nogging on't: come, you're not so sick as you can't drink with all the +rest on us--The bailiff, and may none on us never see his face no more!" + +These, and similar testimonials to the estimation in which Simon's +character was held, must have gratified not a little the hearer of his +own laudations: now and then, he winced so that Sarah might have heard +him move: but her ear was alive to nothing but the news-bringers, and +her eyes appeared to be fixed upon the linen she was darning. That +Jennings vowed vengeance, and wreaked it afterwards too, on the youths +that so had shown their love, was his solitary pleasure in the +shower-bath. But his critics were too numerous for him to punish all: +they numbered every soul in the house, besides the summoned aiders--only +excepting three: Sarah, who really had a head-ache, and made but little +answers to the numerous glad envoys; Jonathan Floyd, whose charity did +not altogether hate the man, and who really felt alarmed at his absence; +and chiefest, Mrs. Quarles, who evinced more affection for her nephew +than any thought him worthy of exciting--she wrung her hands, wept, +offered rewards, bustled about every where, and kept calling +blubberingly for "Simon--poor dear Simon." + +At length, that fearful hue and cry began to subside--the hubbub came +to be quieter: neighbour-folks went home, and inmates went to bed. Sarah +Stack put aside her work, and left the room. + +What a relief to that hidden caitiff! his feet, standing on the cold, +damp iron so many hours, bare of brogues, were mere ice--only that they +ached intolerably: he had not dared to move, to breathe, and was all +over in one cramp: he did not bring the brandy-bottle with him, as he +once had planned; for calculation whispered--"Don't, your head will be +the clearer; you must not muddle your brains;" and so his caution +over-reached itself, as usual; his head was in a fog, and his brains in +a whirlwind, for lack of other stimulants than fear and pain. + +O Simon, how your prudence cheats you! five mortal hours of anguish and +anxiety in one unalterable posture, without a single drop of +creature-comfort; and all this preconcerted too! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +PRELIMINARIES. + + +AT last, just as the nephew was positively fainting from +exhaustion, in came his kind old aunt to bed. She talked a good deal to +herself, did Mrs. Quarles, and Simon heard her say, + +"Poor fellow--poor, dear Simon, he was taken bad last night, and has +seemed queerish in the head all day: pray God nothing's amiss with the +boy!" + +The boy's heart (he was forty) smote him as he heard: yes, even he was +vexed that Aunt Bridget could be so foolishly fond of him. But he would +go on now, and not have all his toil for nothing. "I'm in for it," said +he, "and there's an end." + +Ay, Simon, you are, indeed, in for it; the devil has locked you in--but +as to the end, we shall see, we shall see. + +"I shouldn't wonder now," the good old soul went on to say, "if +Simon's wentured out without his hat to cool a head-ache: his +grand-father--peace be with him! died, poor man, in a Lunacy 'Sylum: +alack, Si, I wish you mayn't be going the same road. No, no, I hope +not--he's always so prudent-like, and wise, and good; so kind, too, to a +poor old fool like me:" and the poor old fool began to cry again. + +"Silly boy--but he'll take cold at any rate: Sarah!" (here Mrs. Quarles +rung her bell, and the still-maid answered it.) "Sarah Stack, sit up +awhile for Mr. Jennings, and when he comes in, send him here to me. Poor +boy," she went on soliloquizing, "he shall have a drop or two to comfort +his stomach, and keep the chill out." + +The poor boy, lying _perdu_, shuddered at the word chill, and really +wished his aunt would hold her tongue. But she didn't. + +"Maybe now," the affectionate old creature proceeded, "maybe Simon was +vexed at what I let drop last night about the money. I know he loves his +sister Scott, as I do: but it'll seem hard, too, to leave him nothing. I +must make my will some day, I 'spose; but don't half like the job: it's +always so nigh death. Yes--yes, dear Si shall have a snug little +corner." + +The real Simon Pure, in his own snug little corner, writhed again. Mrs. +Quarles started at the noise, looked up the chimney, under the bed, +tried the doors and windows, and actually went so near the mark as to +turn the handle of the shower-bath; "Drat it," said she, "Sarah must ha' +took away the key: well, there can't be nothing there but cloaks, that's +one comfort." + +Last of all, a thought struck her--it must have been a mouse at the +preserves. And Mrs. Quarles forthwith opened the important cupboard, +where Jennings now well knew the idol of his heart was shrined. Then +another thought struck Mrs. Quarles, though probably no unusual one, and +she seemed to have mounted on a chair, and to be bringing down some +elevated piece of crockery. Simon could see nothing with his eyes, but +his ears made up for them: if ever Dr. Elliotson produced clairvoyance +in the sisters Okey, the same sharpened apprehensions ministered to the +inner man of Simon Jennings through the instrumental magnet of his +inordinately covetous desires. Therefore, though his retina bore no +picture of the scene, the feelers of his mind went forth, informing him +of every thing that happened. + +Down came a Narbonne honey-pot--Simon saw that first, and it was as the +lamp of Aladdin in his eyes: then the bladder was whipped off, and the +crock set open on the table. Jennings, mad as Darius's horse at the +sight of the object he so longed for, once thought of rushing from his +hiding-place, taking the hoard by a _coup de main_, and running off +straightway to America: but--deary me--that'll never do; I mustn't leave +my own strong-box behind me, say nothing of hat and shoes: and if I stop +for any thing, she'd raise the house. + +While this was passing through the immaculate mind of Simon Jennings, +Bridget had been cutting up an old glove, and had made one of its +fingers into a very tidy little leather sacklet; into this she deposited +a bright half sovereign, spoil of the day, being the douceur of a needy +brush-maker, who wished to keep custom, and, of course, charged all +these vails on the current bill for mops and stable-sponges. + +"Ha!" muttered she, "it's your last bill here, Mr. Scrubb, I can tell +you; so, you were going to put me off with a crown-piece, were you? and +actually that bit of gold might as well have been a drop of blood wrung +from you: yes--yes, Mr. Scrubb, I could see that plainly; and so you've +done for yourself." + +Then, having sewed up the clever little bag, she dropped it into the +crock: there was no jingle, all dumby: prudent that, in his aunt--for +the dear morsels of gold were worth such tender keeping, and leather +would hinder them from wear and tear, set aside the clink being +silenced. So, the nephew secretly thanked Bridget for the wrinkle, and +thought how pleasant it would be to stuff old gloves with his own yellow +store. Ah, yes, he would do that--to-morrow morning. + +Meanwhile, the pig-skin is put on again, and the honey-pot stored away: +and Simon instinctively stood a tip-toe to peep ideally into that +wealthy corner cupboard. His mind's eye seemed to see more honey-pots! +Mammon help us! can they all be full of gold? why, any one of them would +hold a thousand pounds. And Simon scratched the palms of his hands, and +licked his lips at the thought of so much honey. + +But see, Mrs. Quarles has, in her peculiar fashion, undressed herself: +that is to say, she has taken off her outer gown, her cap and wig--and +then has _added_ to the volume of her under garments, divers night +habiliments, flannelled and frilled: while wrappers, manifold as a +turbaned Turk's, protect ear-ache, tooth-ache, head-ache, and face-ache, +from the elves of the night. + +And now, that the bedstead creaks beneath her weight, (as well it may, +for Bridget is a burden like Behemoth,) Simon's heart goes thump so +loud, that it was a wonder the poor woman never heard it. That heart in +its hard pulsations sounded to me like the carpenter hammering on her +coffin-lid: I marvel that she did not take it for a death-watch tapping +to warn her of her end. But no: Simon held his hand against his heart to +keep it quiet: he was so very fearful the pitapating would betray him. +Never mind, Simon; don't be afraid; she is fast asleep already; and her +snore is to thee as it were the challenge of a trumpeter calling to the +conflict. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +ROBBERY. + + +HUSH--hush--hush! + +Stealthily on tiptoe, with finger on his lips, that fore-doomed man +crept out. + +"The key is in the cupboard still--ha! how lucky: saves time that, and +trouble, and--and--risk! Oh, no--there can be no risk now," and the +wretch added, "thank God!" + +The devil loves such piety as this. + +So Simon quietly turned the key, and set the cupboard open: it was to +him a Bluebeard's chamber, a cave of the Forty Thieves, a garden of the +Genius in Aladdin, a mysterious secret treasure-house of wealth +uncounted and unseen. + +What a galaxy of pickle-pots! tier behind tier of undoubted +currant-jelly, ranged like the houses in Algiers! vasty jars of +gooseberry! delicate little cupping-glasses full of syruped fruits! Yet +all these candied joys, which probably enhance a Mrs. Rundle's heaven, +were as nothing in the eyes of Simon--sweet trash, for all he cared +they might be vulgar treacle. His ken saw nothing but the +honey-pots--embarrassing array--a round dozen of them! All alike, all +posted in a brown line, like stout Dutch sentinels with their hands in +their breeches pockets, and set aloft on that same high-reached shelf. +Must he really take them all? impracticable: a positive sack full. +What's to be done?--which is he to leave behind? that old witch +contrived this identity and multitude for safety's sake. But what if he +left the wrong one, and got clear off with the valuable booty of two +dozen pounds of honey? Confusion! that'll never do: he must take them +all, or none; all, all's the word; and forthwith, as tenderly as +possible, the puzzled thief took down eleven pots of honey to his one of +gold--all pig-bladdered, all Fortnumed--all slimy at the string; +"Confound that cunning old aunt of mine," said Simon, aloud; and took no +notice that the snores surceased. + +Then did he spread upon the table a certain shawl, and set the crocks in +order on it: and it was quite impossible to leave behind that pretty +ostentatious "Savings' Bank," which the shrewd hoarder kept as a feint +to lure thieves from her hidden gold, by an open exhibition of her +silver: unluckily, though, the shillings, not being leathered up nor +branned, rattled like a Mandarin toy, as the trembling hand of Jennings +deposited the bank beside the crockeries--and, at the well-known sound, +I observed (though Simon did not, as he was in a trance of addled +triumph) or fancied I observed Mrs. Quarles's head move: but as she said +nothing, perhaps I was mistaken. Thus stood Simon at the table, +surveying his extraordinary spoils. + +And while he looked, the Mercy of God, which never yet hath seen the +soul too guilty for salvation, spake to him kindly, and whispered in his +ear, "Poor, deluded man--there is yet a moment for escape--flee from +this temptation--put all back again--hasten to thy room, to thy prayers, +repent, repent: even thou shalt be forgiven, and none but God, who will +forgive thee, shall know of this bad crime. Turn now from all thy sins; +the gate of bliss is open, if thou wilt but lift the latch." + +It was one moment of irresolute delay; on that hinge hung Eternity. The +gate swung upon its pivot, that should shut out hell, or heaven! + +Simon knit his brow--bit his nails--and answered quite out loud, "What! +and after all to lose the crock of gold?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +MURDER. + + +HE had waked her! + +In an instant the angel form of Mercy melted away--and there stood the +devil with his arms folded. + +"Murder!--fire!--rape!--thieves!--what, Nephew Jennings, is that you, +with all my honey pots? Help! help! help!" + +"Phew-w-w!" whistled the devil: "I tell you what, Master Simon, you must +quiet the old woman, she bellows like a bull, the house'll be about your +ears in a twinkling--she'll hang you for this!" + +Yes--he must quiet her--the game was up; he threatened, he implored, but +she would shriek on; she slept alone on the ground-floor, and knew she +must roar loudly to be heard above the drawing-rooms; she would not be +quieted--she would shriek--and she did. What must he do? she'll raise +the house!--Stop her mouth, stop her mouth, I say, can't you?--No, she's +a powerful, stout, heavy woman, and he cannot hold her: ha! she has +bitten his finger to the bone, like a very tigress! look at the blood! + +"Why can't you touch her throat; no teeth there, bless you! that's the +way the wind comes: bravo! grasp it--tighter! tighter! tighter!" + +She struggled, and writhed, and wrestled, and fought--but all was +strangling silence; they rolled about the floor together, tumbled on the +bed, scuffled round the room, but all in horrid silence; neither uttered +a sound, neither had a shoe on--but all was earnest, wicked, +death-dealing silence. + +Ha! the desperate victim has the best of it; gripe harder, Jennings; she +has twisted her fingers in your neckcloth, and you yourself are choking: +fool! squeeze the swallow, can't you? try to make your fingers meet in +the middle--lower down, lower down, grasp the gullet, not the ears, +man--that's right; I told you so: tighter, tighter, tighter! again; ha, +ha, ha, bravo! bravo!--tighter, tighter, tighter! + +At length the hideous fight was coming to an end--though a hungry +constrictor, battling with the huge rhinoceros, and crushing his mailed +ribs beneath its folds, could not have been so fierce or fearful; fewer +now, and fainter are her struggles; that face is livid blue--the eyes +have started out, and goggle horribly; the tongue protrudes, swollen and +black. Aha! there is another convulsive effort--how strong she is still! +can you hold her, Simon?--can he?--All the fiend possessed him now with +savage exultation: can he?--only look! gripe, gripe still, you are +conquering, strong man! she is getting weaker, weaker; here is your +reward, gold! gold! a mighty store uncounted; one more grasp, and it is +all your own--relent now, she hangs you. Come, make short work of it, +break her neck--gripe harder--back with her, back with here against the +bedstead: keep her down, down I say--she must not rise again. Crack! +went a little something in her neck--did you hear it? There's the +death-rattle, the last smothery complicated gasp--what, didn't you hear +that? + +And the devil congratulated Simon on his victory. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +THE REWARD. + + +TILL the wretch had done the deed, he scarcely knew that it was +doing. It was a horrid, mad excitement, where the soul had spread its +wings upon the whirlwind, and heeded not whither it was hurried. A +terrible necessity had seemed to spur him onwards all the while, and +one thing so succeeded to another, that he scarce could stop at any but +the first. From the moment he had hidden in the shower-bath (but for +God's interposing mercy), his doom appeared to have been +sealed--robbery, murder, false witness, and--damnation! + +Crime is the rushing rapid, which, but for some kind miracle, inevitably +carries on through circling eddies, and a foamy swinging tide, to the +cataract of death and wo: haste, poor fisherman of Erie, paddle hard +back, stem the torrent, cling to the shore, hold on tight by this +friendly bough; know you not whither the headlong current drives? hear +you not the roar of many waters, the maddening rush as of an ocean +disenthralled? feel you not the earth trembling at the thunder--see you +not the heaven clouded o'er with spray? Helpless wretch--thy frail canoe +has leapt that dizzy water-cliff, Niagara! + +But if, in doing that fell deed, madness raged upon the minutes, now +that it was done--all still, all calm, all quiet, Terror held the +hour-glass of Time. There lay the corpse, motionless, though coiled and +cramped in the attitude of struggling agony; and the murderer gazed upon +his victim with a horror most intense. Fly! fly!--he dared not stop to +think: fly! fly! any whither--as you are--wait for nothing; fly! thou +caitiff, for thy life! So he caught up the blood-bought spoils, and was +fumbling with shaky fingers at the handle of the garden-door, when the +unseen tempter whispered in his ear, + +"I say, Simon, did not your aunt die of apoplexy?" + +O, kind and wise suggestion! O, lightsome, tranquillizing thought! +Thanks! thanks! thanks!--And if the arch fiend had revealed himself in +person at the moment, Simon would have worshipped at his feet. + +"But," and as he communed with his own black heart, there needed now no +devil for his prompter--"if this matter is to be believed, I must +contrive a little that it may look likelier. Let me see:--yes, we must +lay all tidy, and the old witch shall have died in her sleep; apoplexy! +capital indeed; no tell-tales either. Well, I must set to work." + +Can mortal mind conceive that sickening office?--To face the strangled +corpse, yet warm; to lift the fearful burden in his arms, and order out +the heavily-yielding limbs in the ease of an innocent sleep? To arrange +the bed, smooth down the tumbled coverlid, set every thing straight +about the room, and erase all tokens of that dread encounter? It needed +nerves of iron, a heart all stone, a cool, clear head, a strong arm, a +mindful, self-protecting spirit; but all these requisites came to +Simon's aid upon the instant; frozen up with fear, his heart-strings +worked that puppet-man rigidly as wires; guilt supplied a reckless +energy, a wild physical power, which actuates no human frame but one +saturate with crime, or madness; and in the midst of those terrific +details, the murderer's judgment was so calm and so collected, that +nothing was forgotten, nothing unconsidered--unless, indeed, it were +that he out-generalled himself by making all too tidy to be natural. +Hence, suspicion at the inquest; for the "apoplexy" thought was really +such a good one, that, but for so exact a laying out, the fat old corpse +might have easily been buried without one surmise of the way she met her +end. Again and again, in the history of crimes, it is seen that a "Judas +hangs himself;" and albeit, as we know, the murderer has hitherto +escaped detection, still his own dark hour shall arrive in its due +place. + +The dreadful office done, he asked himself again, or maybe took counsel +of the devil (for that evil master always cheats his servants), "What +shall I do with my reward, this crock--these crocks of gold? It might be +easy to hide one of them, but not all; and as to leaving any behind, +that I won't do. About opening them to see which is which--" + +"I tell you what," said the tempter, as the clock struck three, +"whatever you do, make haste; by morning's dawn the house and garden +will be searched, no doubt, and the crocks found in your possession. +Listen to me--I'm your friend, bless you! remember the apoplexy. Pike +Island yonder is an unfrequented place; take the punt, hide all there +now, and go at your best leisure to examine afterwards; but whatever you +do, make haste, my man." + +Then Jennings crept out by the lawn-door, thereby rousing the house-dog; +but he skirted the laurels in their shadow, and it was dark and +mizzling, so he reached the punt both quickly and easily. + +The quiet, and the gloom, and the dropping rain, strangely affected him +now, as he plied his punt-pole; once he could have wept in his remorse, +and another time he almost shrieked in fear. How lonesome it seemed! how +dreadful! and that death-dyed face behind him--ha! woman, away I say! +But he neared the island, and, all shoeless as he was, crept up its +muddy bank. + +"Hallo! nybor, who be you a-poaching on my manor, eh? that bean't good +manners, any how." + +Ben Burke has told us all the rest. + +But, when Burke had got his spoils--when the biter had been bitten--the +robber robbed--the murderer stripped of his murdered victim's +money--when the bereaved miscreant, sullenly returning in the dark, +damp night, tracked again the way he came upon that lonely lake--no one +yet has told us, none can rightly tell, the feelings which oppressed +that God-forsaken man. He seemed to feel himself even a sponge which, +the evil one had bloated with his breath, had soaked it then in blood, +had squeezed it dry again, and flung away! He was Satan's broken tool--a +weed pulled up by the roots, and tossed upon the fire; alone--alone in +all the universe, without countenance or sympathy from God, or man, or +devil; he yearned to find, were it but a fiend to back him, but in vain; +they held aloof, he could see them vaguely through the gloom--he could +hear them mocking him aloud among the patter of the rain-drops--ha! ha! +ha--the pilfered fool! + +Bitterly did he rue his crime--fearfully he thought upon its near +discovery--madly did he beat his miserable breast, to find that he had +been baulked of his reward, yet spent his soul to earn it. + +Oh--when the house-dog bayed at him returning, how he wished he was that +dog! he went to him, speaking kindly to him, for he envied that +dog--"Good dog--good dog!" + +But more than envy kept him lingering there: the wretched man did it for +delay--yes, though morn was breaking on the hills--one more--one more +moment of most precious time. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +SECOND THOUGHTS. + + +FOR--again he must go through that room! + +No other entrance is open--not a window, not a door: all close as a +prison: and only by the way he went, by the same must he return. + +He trembled all over, as a palsied man, when he touched the lock: with +stiffening hair, and staring eyes, he peeped in at that well-remembered +chamber: he entered--and crept close up to the corpse, stealthily and +dreadingly--horror! what if she be alive still? + +SHE WAS. + +Not quite dead--not quite dead yet! a gurgling in the bruised throat--a +shadowy gleam of light and life in those protruded eyes--an irregular +convulsive heaving at the chest: she might recover! what a fearful +hope: and, if she did, would hang him--ha! he went nearer; she was +muttering something in a moanful way--it was, "Simon did it--Simon did +it--Simon did it--Si--Si--Simon did--" he should be found out! + +Yet once again, for the last time, the long-suffering Mercy of the Lord +stood like Balaam's angel in the way, pleading with that miserable man +at the bed-side of her whom he had strangled. And even then, that +Guardian Spirit came not with chiding on his tongue, but He uttered +words of hope, while his eyes were streaming with sorrow and with pity. + +"Most wretched of the sinful sons of men, even now there may be mercy +for thee, even now plenteous forgiveness. True, thou must die, and pay +the earthly penalty of crimes like thine: but do my righteous bidding, +and thy soul shall live. Go to that poor, suffocating creature--cherish +the spark of life--bind up the wounds which thou hast rent, pouring in +oil and wine: rouse the house--seek assistance--save her life--confess +thy sin--repent--and though thou diest for this before the tribunal of +thy fellows, God will yet be gracious--he will raise again her whom thou +hadst slain--and will cleanse thy blood-stained soul." + +Thus in Simon's ear spake that better conscience. + +But the reprobate had cast off Faith; he could not pledge the Present +for the Future; he shuddered at the sword of Justice, and would not +touch the ivory sceptre of Forgiveness. No: he meditated horrid +iteration--and again the fiend possessed him! What! not only lose the +crock of gold, but all his own bright store? and give up every thing of +this world's good for some imaginary other, and meekly confess, and +meanly repent--and--and all this to resuscitate that hated old aunt of +his, who would hang him, and divorce him from his gold? + +No! he must do the deed again--see, she is moving--she will recover! her +chest heaves visibly--she breathes--she speaks--she knows me--ha! +down--down, I say! + +Then, with deliberate and damning resolution--to screen off temporal +danger, and count his golden hoards a little longer--that awful criminal +touched the throat again: and he turned his head away not to see that +horrid face, clutched the swollen gullet with his icy hands, and +strangled her once more! + +"This time all is safe," said Simon. And having set all smooth as +before, he stole up to his own chamber. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +MAMMON, AND CONTENTMENT. + + +AY, safe enough: and the murderer went to bed. To bed? No. + +He tumbled about the clothes, to make it seem that he had lain there: +but he dared neither lie down, nor shut his eyes. Then, the darkness +terrified him: the out-door darkness he could have borne, and Mrs. +Quarles's chamber always had a night-lamp burning: but the darkness of +his own room, of his own thoughts, pressed him all around, as with a +thick, murky, suffocating vapour. So, he stood close by the window, +watching the day-break. + +As for sleep, never more did wholesome sleep revisit that atrocious +mind: laudanum, an ever-increasing dose of merciless laudanum, that was +the only power which ever seemed to soothe him. For a horrid vision +always accompanied him now: go where he might, do what he would, from +that black morning to eternity, he went a haunted man--a scared, +sleepless, horror-stricken wretch. That livid face with goggling eyes, +stuck to him like a shadow; he always felt its presence, and sometimes, +also, could perceive it as if bodily peeping over his shoulder, next his +cheek; it dogged him by day, and was his incubus by night; and often he +would start and wrestle, for the desperate grasp of the dying appeared +to be clutching at his throat: so, in his ghostly fears, and bloody +conscience, he had girded round his neck a piece of thin sheet-iron in +his cravat, which he wore continually as armour against those clammy +fingers: no wonder that he held his head so stiff. + +O Gold--accursed Mammon! is this the state of those who love thee +deepest? is this their joy, who desire thee with all their heart and +soul--who serve thee with all their might--who toil for thee--plot for +thee--live for thee--dare for thee--die for thee? Hast thou no better +bliss to give thy martyrs--no choicer comfort for thy most consistent +worshippers, no fairer fate for those, whose waking thoughts, and +dreaming hopes, and intricate schemes, and desperate deeds, were only +aimed at gold, more gold? God of this world, if such be thy rewards, let +me ever escape them! idol of the knave, false deity of the fool, if this +be thy blessing on thy votaries--come, curse me, Mammon, curse thou me! + +For, "The love of money is the root of all evil." It groweth up a +little plant of coveting; presently the leaves get rank, the branches +spread, and feed on petty thefts; then in their early season come the +blossoms, black designs, plots, involved and undeveloped yet, of foul +conspiracies, extortions on the weak, rich robbings of the wealthy, the +threatened slander, the rewarded lie, malice, perjury, sacrilege; then +speedily cometh on the climax, the consummate flower, dark-red murder: +and the fruit bearing in itself the seeds that never die, is righteous, +wrathful condemnation. + +Dyed with all manner of iniquity, tinged with many colours like the +Mohawk in his woods, goeth forth in a morning the covetous soul. His +cheek is white with envy, his brow black with jealous rage, his livid +lips are full of lust, his thievish hands spotted over with the crimson +drops of murder. "The poison of asps is under his lips; and his feet are +swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in his ways; and there +is no fear of God before his eyes." + +O, ye thousands--the covetous of this world's good--behold at what a +fire ye do warm yourselves! dread it: even now, ye have imagined many +deaths, whereby your gains may be the greater; ye have caught, in +wishful fancy, many a parting sigh; ye have closed, in a heartless +revery, many a glazing eye--yea, of those your very nearest, whom your +hopes have done to death: and are ye guiltless? God and conscience be +your judges! + +Even now ye have compassed many frauds, connived at many meannesses, +trodden down the good, and set the bad on high--all for gold--hard gold; +and are ye the honest--the upright? Speak out manfully your excuse, if +you can find one, ye respectables of merchandise, ye traders, bartering +all for cash, ye Scribes, ye Pharisees, hypocrites, all honourable men. + +Even now, your dreams are full of money-bags; your cares are how to add +superfluity to wealth; ye fawn upon the rich, ye scorn the poor, ye pine +and toil both night and day for gold, more gold; and are ye happy? +Answer me, ye covetous ones. + +Yet are there righteous gains, God's blessing upon labour: yet is there +rightful hope to get those righteous gains. Who can condemn the poor +man's care, though Faith should make his load the lighter? And who will +extenuate the rich man's coveting, whose appetite grows with what it +feeds on? "Having food and raiment, be therewith content;" that is the +golden mean; to that is limited the philosophy of worldliness: the man +must live, by labour and its earnings; but having wherewithal for him +and his temperately, let him tie the mill-stone of anxiety to the wing +of Faith, and speed that burden to his God. + +If Wealth come, beware of him, the smooth false friend: there is +treachery in his proffered hand, his tongue is eloquent to tempt, lust +of many harms is lurking in his eye, he hath a hollow heart; use him +cautiously. + +If Penury assail, fight against him stoutly, the gaunt grim foe: the +curse of Cain is on his brow, toiling vainly; he creepeth with the worm +by day, to raven with the wolf by night: diseases battle by his side, +and crime followeth his footsteps. Therefore fight against him boldly, +and be of a good courage, for there are many with thee; not alone the +doled alms, the casual aids dropped from compassion, or wrung out by +importunity; these be only temporary helps, and indulgence in them +pampers the improvident; but look thou to a better host of strong +allies, of resolute defenders; turn again to meet thy duties, needy one: +no man ever starved, who even faintly tried to do them. Look to thy God, +O sinner! use reason wisely; cherish honour; shrink not from toil, +though somewhile unrewarded; preserve frank bearing with thy fellows; +and in spite of all thy sins--forgiven; all thy follies--flung away; all +the trickeries of this world--scorned; all competitions--disregarded; +all suspicions--trodden under foot; thou neediest and raggedest of +labourers' labourers--Enough shall be thy portion, ere a week hath +passed away. + +Well did Agur-the-Wise counsel Ithiel and Ucal his disciples, when he +uttered in their ears before his God, this prayerful admonition, "Two +things have I required of Thee; deny me them not before I die: remove +far from me vanity and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches: feed me +with food convenient for me. Lest I be full, and deny Thee, saying, Who +is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and dishonour the name of the +Lord my God." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +NEXT MORNING. + + +DAY dawned apace; and a glorious cavalcade of flaming clouds +heralded the Sun their captain. From far away, round half the wide +horizon, their glittering spears advanced. Heaven's highway rang with +the trampling of their horse-hoofs, and the dust went up from its +jewelled pavement as spray from the bottom of a cataract. Anon, he +came, the chieftain of that on-spurring host! his banner blazed upon the +sky; his golden crest was seen beneath, nodding with its ruddy plumes; +over the south-eastern hills he arose in radiant armour. Fair Nature, +waking at her bridegroom's voice, arrived so early from a distant clime, +smiled upon him sleepily, gladdening him in beauty with her sweet +half-opened eyelids, and kissing him in faithfulness with +dew-besprinkled lips. + +And he looked forth upon the world from his high chariot, holding back +the coursers that must mount the steep of noon: and he heard the morning +hymn of thankfulness to Heaven from the mountains, and the valleys, and +the islands of the sea; the prayer of man and woman, the praise of +lisping tongues, the hum of insect joy upon the air, the sheep-bell +tinkling in the distance, the wild bird's carol, and the lowing kine, +the mute minstrelsy of rising dews, and that stilly scarce-heard +universal melody of wakeful plants and trees, hastening to turn their +spring-buds to the light--this was the anthem he, the Lord of Day, now +listened to--this was the song his influences had raised to bless the +God who made him. + +And he saw, from his bright throne of wide derivative glory, Hope flying +forth upon her morning missions, visiting the lonesome, comforting the +sorrowful, speaking cheerfully to Care, and singing in the ear of +Labour: and he watched that ever-welcome friend, flitting with the +gleams of light to every home, to every heart; none but gladly let her +in; her tapping finger opened the very prison doors; the heavy head of +Sloth rejoiced to hear her call; and every common Folly, every common +Sin--ay, every common Crime--warmed his unconscious soul before her +winning beauty. + +Yet, yet was there one, who cursed that angel's coming; and the holy Eye +of day wept pityingly to see an awful child of man who dared not look on +Hope. + +The murderer stood beside his casement, watching that tranquil scene: +with bloodshot eyes and haggard stare, he gazed upon the waking world; +for one strange minute he forgot, entranced by innocence and beauty; but +when the stunning tide of memory, that had ebbed that one strange +minute, rolled back its mighty flood upon his mind, the murderer swooned +away. + +And he came to himself again all too soon; for when he arose, building +up his weak, weak limbs, as if he were a column of sand, the cruel +giant, Guilt, lifted up his club, and felled the wretch once more. + +How long he lay fainting, he knew not then; if any one had vowed it was +a century, Simon, as he gradually woke, could not have gainsaid the man; +but he only lay four seconds in that white oblivious trance--for Fear, +Fear knocked at his heart:--Up, man, up!--you need have all your wits +about you now;--see, it is broad day--the house will be roused before +you know where you are, and then will be shouted out that awful +name--Simon Jennings! Simon Jennings! + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +THE ALARM. + + +HE arose, held up on either hand that day as if fighting +against Amalek;--despair buttressed him on one side, and secresy shored +him on the other: behind that wall of stone his heart had strength to +beat. + +He arose; and listened at the key-hole anxiously: all silent, quiet, +quiet still; the whole house asleep: nothing found out yet. And he bit +his nails to the quick, that they bled again: but he never felt the +pain. + +Hush!--yes, somebody's about: it is Jonathan's step; and hark, he is +humming merrily, "Hail, smiling morn, that opes the gates of day?" Wo, +wo--what a dismal gulph between Jonathan and me! And he beat his breast +miserably. But, Jonathan cannot find it out--he never goes to Mrs. +Quarles's room. Oh! this suspense is horrible: haste, haste, some kind +soul, to make the dread discovery! And he tore his hair away by +handfulls. + +"Hark!--somebody else--unlatching shutters; it will be Sarah--ha! she is +tapping at the housekeeper's room--yes, yes, and she will make it known, +O terrible joy!--A scream! it is Sarah's voice--she has seen her dead, +dead, dead;--but is she indeed dead?" + +The miscreant quivered with new fears; she might still mutter "Simon did +it!" + +And now the house is thoroughly astir; running about in all directions; +and shouting for help; and many knocking loudly at the murderer's own +door--"Mr. Jennings! Mr. Jennings!--quick--get up--come down--quick, +quick--your aunt's found dead in her bed!" + +What a relief to the trembling wretch!--she _was_ dead. He could have +blessed the voice that told him his dread secret was so safe. But his +parched tongue may never bless again: curses, curses are all its +blessings now. + +And Jennings came out calmly from his chamber, a white, stern, +sanctimonious man, lulling the storm with his wise presence:--"God's +will be done," said he; "what can poor weak mortals answer Him?" And he +played cleverly the pious elder, the dignified official, the +affectionate nephew: "Ah, well, my humble friends, behold what life is: +the best of us must come to this; my poor, dear aunt, the late +house-keeper, rest her soul--I feared it might be this way some night or +other: she was a stout woman, was our dear, deceased Bridget--and, +though a good kind soul, lived much on meat and beer: ah well, ah well!" +And he concealed his sentimental hypocrisy in a cotton pocket-handkerchief. + +"Alas, and well-a-day! that it should have come to this. Apoplexy--you +see, apoplexy caught her as she slept: we may as well get her buried at +once: it is unfortunately too clear a case for any necessity to open the +body; and our young master is coming down on Tuesday, and I could not +allow my aunt's corpse to be so disrespectful as to stop till it became +offensive. I will go to the vicar myself immediately." + +"Begging pardon, Mr. Jennings," urged Jonathan Floyd, "there's a strange +mark here about the throat, poor old 'ooman." + +"Ay," added Sarah, "and now I come to think of it, Mrs. Quarles's +room-door was ajar; and bless me, the lawn-door's not locked neither! +Who could have murdered her?" + +"Murdered? there's no murder here, silly wench," said Jennings, with a +nervous sneer. + +"I don't know that, Mr. Simon," gruffly interposed the coachman; "it's a +case for a coroner, I'll be bail; so here I goes to bring him: let all +bide as it is, fellow-sarvents; murder will out, they say." + +And off he set directly--not without a shrewd remark from Mr. Jennings, +about letting him escape that way; which seemed all very sage and +likely, till the honest man came back within the hour, and a _posse +comitatus_ at his heels. + +We all know the issue of that inquest. + +Now, if any one requests to be informed how Jennings came to be looked +for as usual in his room, after that unavailing search last night, I +reply, this newer, stronger excitement for the minute made the house +oblivious of that mystery; and if people further will persist to know, +how that mystery of his absence was afterwards explained (though I for +my part would gladly have said nothing of the bailiff's own excuse), let +it be enough to hint, that Jennings winked with a knowing and gallant +expression of face; alluded to his private key, and a secret return at +two in the morning from some disreputable society in the neighbourhood; +made the men laugh, and the women blush; and, altogether, as he might +well have other hats and coats, the delicate affair was not unlikely. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +DOUBTS. + + +AND so, this crock of gold--gained through extortion, by the +frauds of every day, the meannesses of every hour--this concrete +oppression to the hireling in his wages--this mass of petty pilferings +from poverty--this continuous obstruction to the charities of +wealth--this cockatrice's egg--this offspring of iniquity--had already +been baptized in blood before poor Acton found it, and slain its earthly +victim ere it wrecked his faith; already had it been perfected by crime, +and destroyed the murderer's soul, before it had endangered the life of +slandered innocence. + +Is there yet more blessing in the crock? more fearful interest still, to +carry on its story to an end? Must another sacrifice bleed before the +shrine of Mammon, and another head lie crushed beneath the heel of that +monster--his disciple? + +Come on with me, and see the end; push further still, there is a +labyrinth ahead to attract and to excite; from mind to mind crackles the +electric spark: and when the heart thrillingly conceives, its +children-thoughts are as arrows from the hand of the giant, flying +through that mental world--the hearts of other men. Fervent still from +its hot internal source, this fountain gushes up; no sluggish +Lethe-stream is here, dull, forgetful, and forgotten; but liker to the +burning waves of Phlegethon, mingling at times (though its fire is still +unquenched), with the pastoral rills of Tempe, and the River from the +Mount of God. + +Lower the sail--let it flap idly on the wind--helm a-port--and so to +smoother waters: return to common life and humbler thoughts. + +It may yet go hard with Roger Acton. Jennings is a man of character, +especially the farther from his home; the county round take him for a +model of propriety, a sample of the strictest conduct. We know the bad +man better; but who dare breathe against the bailiff in his +power--against the caitiff in his sleek hypocrisy--that, while he makes +a show of both humilities, he fears not God nor man? What shall hinder, +that the perjured wretch offer up to the manes of the murdered the +life-blood of the false-accused? May he not live yet many years, heaping +up gold and crime? And may not sweet Grace Acton--her now repentant +father--the kindly Jonathan--his generous master, and if there be any +other of the Hurstley folk we love, may they not all meet destruction at +his hands, as a handful of corn before the reaper's sickle? I say not +that they shall, but that they might. Acton's criminal state of mind, +and his hunger after gold--gold any how--have earned some righteous +retribution, unless Providence in mercy interpose; and young Sir John, +in nowise unblameable himself, with wealth to tempt the spoiler, lives +in the spoiler's very den; and as to Jonathan and Grace, this world has +many martyrs. If Heaven in its wisdom use the wicked as a sword, Heaven +is but just; but if in its vengeance that sword of the wicked is turned +against himself, Heaven showeth mercy all unmerited. To a criminal like +Jennings, let loose upon the world, without the clog of conscience to +retard him, and with the spur of covetousness ever urging on, any thing +in crime is possible--is probable: none can sound those depths: and when +we raise our eyes on high to the Mighty Moral Governor, and note the +clouds of mystery that thunder round his Throne--He may permit, or he +may control; who shall reach those heights? + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +FEARS. + + +MOREOVER, innocent of blood, as we know Roger Acton to be, +appearances are strongly against him: and in such a deed as secret, +midnight murder, which none but God can witness, multiplied appearances +justify the world in condemning one who seems so guilty. + +The first impression against Roger is a bad one, for all the neighbours +know how strangely his character had been changing for the worse of +late: he is not like the same man; sullen and insubordinate, he was +turned away from work for his bold and free demeanor; as to church, +though he had worn that little path these forty years, all at once he +seems to have entirely forgotten the way hither. + +He lives, nobody knows how--on bright, clean gold, nobody knows whence: +his daughter says, indeed, that her father found a crock of gold in his +garden--but she needs not have held her tongue so long, and borne so +many insults, if that were all the truth; and, mark this! even though +she says it, and declares it on her Bible-oath, Acton himself most +strenuously denied all such findings--but went about with impudent tales +of legacy, luck, nobody knows what; the man prevaricated continually, +and got angry when asked about it--cudgelling folks, and swearing +like--like any one but old-time "honest Roger." + +Only look, too, where he lives: in a lone cottage opposite Pike Island, +on the other side of which is Hurstley Hall, the scene of robbery and +murder: was not a boat seen that night upon the lake? and was not the +lawn-door open? How strangely stupid in the coroner and jury not to have +imagined this before! how dull it was of every body round not to have +suspected murder rather more strongly, with those finger-marks about the +throat, and not to have opened their eyes a little wider, when the +murderer's cottage was within five hundred yards of that open lawn-door! + +Then again--when Mr. Jennings, in his strict and searching way, accused +the culprit, he never saw a man so confused in all his life! and on +repeating the charge before those two constables, they all witnessed his +guilty consternation: experienced men, too, they were, and never saw a +felon if Acton wasn't one; the dogged manner in which he went with them +so quietly was quite sufficient; innocent men don't go to jail in that +sort of way, as if they well deserved it. + +But, strongest of all, if any shadow of a doubt remained, the most +fearful proof of Roger's guilt lay in the scrap of shawl--the little +leather bags--and the very identical crock of gold! There it was, +nestled in the thatch within a yard of his head, as he lay in bed at +noon-day guarding it. + +One proof, weaker than the weakest of all these banded together, has ere +now sufficed to hang the guilty; and many, many fears have I that this +multitude of seeming facts, conspiring in a focus against Roger Acton, +will be quite enough to overwhelm the innocent. "Nothing lies like a +fact," said Dr. Johnson: and statistics prove it, at least as well as +circumstantial evidence. + +The matter was as clear as day-light, and long before the trial came +about, our poor labourer had been hanged outright in the just judgment +of Hurstley-cum-Piggesworth. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +PRISON COMFORTS. + + +MANY blessings, more than he had skill to count, had visited +poor Acton in his cell. His gentle daughter Grace, sweet minister of +good thoughts--she, like a loving angel, had been God's instrument of +penitence and peace to him. He had come to himself again, in solitude, +by nights, as a man awakened from a feverish dream; and the hallowing +ministrations of her company by day had blest reflective solitude with +sympathy and counsel. + +Good-wife Mary, too, had been his comforting and cheering friend. +Immediately the crock of gold had been taken from its ambush in the +thatch, it seemed as if the chill which had frozen up her heart had been +melted by a sudden thaw. Roger Acton was no longer the selfish prodigal, +but the guiltless, persecuted penitent; her care was now to soothe his +griefs, not to scold him for excesses; and indignation at the false and +bloody charge made him appear a martyr in her eyes. As to his accuser, +Jennings, Mary had indeed her own vague fancies and suspicions, but +there being no evidence, nor even likelihood to support them, she did +not dare to breathe a word; she might herself accuse him falsely. Ben, +who alone could have thrown a light upon the matter, had always been +comparatively a stranger at Hurstley; he was no native of the place, and +had no ties there beyond wire and whip-cord: he would appear in that +locality now and then in his eccentric orbit, like a comet, and, soon +departing thence, would take away Tom as his tail; but even when there, +he was mainly a night-prowler, seldom seen by day, and so little versed +in village lore, so rarely mingling with its natives, that neither +Jennings nor Burke knew one another by sight. His fame indeed was known, +but not his person. At present, he and Tom were still fowling in some +distant fens, nobody could tell where; so that Roger's only witness, who +might have accounted for the crock and its finding, was as good as dead +to him; to make Ben's absence more unusually prolonged, and his +reappearance quite incalculable, he had talked of going with his cargo +of wild ducks "either to London or to Liverpool, he didn't rightly know +which." + +Nevertheless, Mary comforted her husband, and more especially herself, +by the hope of his return as a saving witness; though it was always +doubtful how far Burke's numerous peccadilloes against property would +either find him at large, or authorize the poacher in walking straight +before the judges. Still Ben's possible interposition was one source of +hope and cheerful expectation. Then the good wife would leave her babes +at home, safely in a neighbour's charge, and stay and sit many long +hours with poor Roger, taking turns with Grace in talking to him +tenderly, making little of home-troubles past, encouraging him to wear a +stout heart, and filling him with gratitude for all her kindly care. +Thus did she bless, and thus was made a blessing, through the loss and +absence of that crock of gold. + +For Roger himself, he had repented; bitterly and deeply, as became his +headlong fall: no sweet luxuries of grief, no soothing sorrow, no +chastened meditative melancholy--such mild penitence as this, he +thought, could be but a soberer sort of joy for virgins, saints, and +martyrs: no--he, bad man, was unworthy of those melting pleasures, and +in sturdy self-revenge he flung them from him, choosing rather to feel +overwhelmed with shame, contrition, and reproaches. A humbled man with a +broken heart within him--such was our labourer, penitent in prison; and +when he contrasted his peaceful, pure, and Christian course those forty +years of poverty, with his blasphemous and infidel career for the one +bad week of wealth, he had no patience with himself--only felt his fall +the greater; and his judgment of his own guilt, with a natural +exaggeration, went the length of saying--I am scarcely less guilty +before God and man, than if, indeed, my hands were red with murder, and +my casual finding had been robbery. He would make no strong appeals to +the bar of justice, as an innocent condemned; not he--not he: innocent, +indeed? his wicked, wicked courses--(an old man, too--gray-headed, with +no young blood in him to excuse, no inexperience to extenuate), these +deserved--did he say hanging? it was a harsher syllable--hell: and the +contrite sinner gladly would have welcomed all the terrors of the +gibbet, in hope to take full vengeance on himself for his wicked thirst +for gold and all its bitter consequences. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +GOOD COUNSEL. + + +BUT Grace advised him better. "Be humbled as you may before +God, my father, but stand up boldly before man: for in his sight, and by +his law, you are little short of blameless. I would not, dearest father, +speak to you of sins, except for consolation under them; for it ill +becomes a child to see the failings of a parent. But when I know at once +how innocent you are in one sense, and how not quite guiltless in +another, I wish my words may comfort you, if you will hear them, father. +Covetousness, not robbery--excess, not murder--these were your only +sins; and concealment was not wise, neither was a false report +befitting. Money, the idol of millions, was your temptation: its earnest +love, your fault; its possession, your misfortune. Forgive me, father, +if I speak too freely. Good Mr. Evans, who has been so kind to us for +years, (never kinder than since you were in prison,) can speak better +than I may, of sins forgiven, and a Friend to raise the fallen: it is +not for poor Grace to school her dear and honoured father. If you feel +yourself guilty of much evil in the sight of Him before whom the angels +bow in meekness--I need not tell you that your sorrow is most wise, and +well-becoming. But this must not harm your cause with men: though tired +of life, though hopeless in one's self, though bad, and weak, and like +to fall again, we are still God's servants upon earth, bound to guard +the life he gives us. Neither must you lightly allow the guilt of +unrighteous condemnation to fall upon the judge who tries you; nor let +your innocent blood cry to God for vengeance on your native land. +Manfully confront the false accuser, tell openly the truth, plead your +own cause firmly, warmly, wisely:--so, God defend the right!" + +And as Grace Acton said these words, in all the fervour of a daughter's +love, with a flushed cheek, parted lips, and her right hand raised to +Him whom she invoked, she looked like an inspired prophetess, or the +fair maid of Orleans leading on to battle. + +In an instant afterwards, she humbly added, + +"Forgive me any thing I may have said, that seems to chide my father." + +"Bless you, bless you, dearest one!" was Roger's sobbing prayer, who +had listened to her wisdom breathlessly. "Ah, daughter," then exclaimed +the humbled, happy man, "I'll try to do all you ask me, Grace; but it is +a hard thing to feel myself so wicked, and to have to speak up boldly +like a Christian man." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +EXPERIENCE. + + +THEN, with disjointed sentences, suited to the turmoil of his +thoughts, half in a soliloquy, half as talking to his daughter, Roger +Acton gave his hostile testimony to the worth of wealth. + +"Oh, fool, fool that I have been, to set so high a price on gold! To +have hungered and thirsted for it--to have coveted earnestly so bad a +gift--to have longed for Mammon's friendship, which is enmity with God! +What has not money cost me? Happiness:--ay, wasn't it to have given me +happiness? and the little that I had (it was much, Grace, not little, +very much--too much--God be praised for it!) all, all the happiness I +had, gold took away. Look at our dear old home--shattered and scattered, +as now I wish that crock had been. Health, too; were it not for gold, +and all gold gave, I had been sturdy still, and capable; but my nights +maddened with anxieties, my days worried with care, my head feverish +with drink, my heart rent by conscience--ah, my girl, my girl, when I +thought much of poverty and its hardships, of toil, and hunger, and +rheumatics, I little imagined that wealth had heavier cares and pains: I +envied them their wanton life of pleasure at the Hall, and little knew +how hard it was: well are they called hard-livers who drink, and game, +and have nothing to do, except to do wickedness continually. +Religion--can it bide with money, child? I never knew my wicked heart, +till fortune made me rich; not until then did I guess how base, lying, +false, and bad was 'honest Roger;' how sensual, coarse, and brutal, was +that hypocrite 'steady Acton'. Money is a devil, child, or pretty near +akin. Then I complained of toil, too, didn't I?--Ah, what are all the +aches I ever felt--labouring with spade and spud in cold and rain, +hungry belike, and faint withal--what are they all at their worst (and +the worst was very seldom after all), to the gnawing cares, the hideous +fears, the sins--the sins, my girl, that tore your poor old father? +Wasn't it to be an end of troubles, too, this precious crock of gold? +Wo's me, I never knew real trouble till I had it! Look at me, and judge; +what has made me live like a beast, sin like a heathen, and lie down +here like a felon? what has made me curse Ben Burke--kind, hearty, +friendly Ben?--and given my poor good boy an ill-report as having stolen +and slain? all this crock of gold. But O, my Grace, to think that the +crock's curses touched thee, too! didn't it madden me to hear them? +Dear, pure, patient child, my darling, injured daughter, here upon my +knees I pray, forgive that wrong!" And he fell at her feet beseechingly. + +"My father," said the noble girl, lifting up his head, and passionately +kissing it; "when they whispered so against me, and Jonathan heard the +wicked things men said, I would have borne it all, all in silence, and +let them all believe me bad, father, if I could have guessed that by +uttering the truth, I should have seen thee here, in a dungeon, treated +as a--murderer! How was I to tell that men could be so base, as to +charge such crimes upon the innocent, when his only fault, or his +misfortune, was to find a crock of gold? Oh! forgive me, too, this +wrong, my father!" + +And they wept in each other's arms. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +JONATHAN'S TROTH. + + +GRACE had been all but an inmate of the prison, ever since her +father had been placed there on suspicion. Early and late, and often in +the day, was the duteous daughter at his cell, for the governor and the +turn-keys favoured her. Who could resist such beauty and affection, +entreating to stay with a father about to stand on trial for his life, +and making every effort to be allowed only to pray with him? Thus did +Grace spend all the week before those dread assizes. + +As to her daily maintenance, ever since that bitter morning when the +crock was found, her spiritual fears had obliged her to abstain from +touching so much as one penny of that unblest store; and, seeing that +honest pride would not let her be supported by grudged and common +charity, she had thankfully suffered the wages of her now betrothed +Jonathan to serve as means whereon she lived, and (what cost more than +all her humble wants) whereby she could administer many little comforts +to her father in his prison. When she was not in the cell, Grace was +generally at the Hall, to the scandal of more than one Hurstleyan +gossip; but perhaps they did not know how usually kind Sarah Stack was +of the company, to welcome her with Jonathan, and play propriety. Sarah +was a true friend, one for adversity, and though young herself, and not +ill-looking, did not envy Grace her handsome lover; on the contrary, she +did all to make them happy, and had gone the friendly length of +insisting to find Grace and her family in tea and sugar, while all this +lasted. I like that much in Sarah Stack. + +However, the remainder of the virtuous world were not so considerate, +nor so charitable. Many neighbours shunned the poor girl, as if +contaminated by the crimes which Roger had undoubtedly committed: the +more elderly unmarried sisterhood, as we have chronicled already, were +overjoyed at the precious opportunity:--"Here was the pert vixen, whom +all the young fellows so shamelessly followed, turned out, after all, a +murderer's daughter;--they wished her joy of her eyes, and lips, and +curls, and pretty speeches: no good ever came of such naughty ways, that +the men liked so." + +Nay, even the tipsy crew at Bacchus's affected to treat her name with +scorn:--"The girl had made much noise about being called a trull, as if +many a better than she wasn't one; and, after all, what was the prudish +wench? a sort of she-butcher; they had no patience with her proud +looks." + +As to farmer Floyd, he made a great stir about his boy being about to +marry a felon's daughter; and the affectionate mother, with many +elaborate protestations, had "vowed to Master Jonathan, that she would +rather lay him out with her own hands, and a penny on each eye, than see +a Floyd disgrace himself in that 'ere manner." + +And uncles, aunts, and cousins, most disinterestedly exhorted that the +obstinate youth be disinherited--"Ay, Mr. Floyd, I wish your son was a +high-minded man like his father; but there's a difference, Mr. Floyd; I +wish he had your true blue yeoman's honour, and the spirit that becomes +his father's son: if the lad was mine, I'd cut him off with a shilling, +to buy a halter for his drab of a wife. Dang it, Mrs. Floyd, it'll never +do to see so queer a Mrs. Jonathan Junior, a standing in your tidy shoes +beside this kitchen dresser." + +These estimable counsels were, I grieve to say, of too flattering a +nature to displease, and of too lucrative a quality not to be +continually repeated; until, really, Jonathan was threatened with +beggary and the paternal malediction, if he would persist in his +disreputable attachment. + +Nevertheless, Jonathan clung to the right like a hero. + +"Granting poor Acton is the wretch you think--but I do not believe one +word of it--does his crime make his daughter wicked too? No; she is an +angel, a pure and blessed creature, far too good for such a one as I. +And happy is the man that has gained her love; he should not give her up +were she thrice a felon's daughter. My father and mother," Jonathan went +on to say, "never found a fault in her till now. Who was more welcome on +the hill than pretty Grace? who would oftenest come to nurse some sickly +lamb, but gentle Grace? who was wont, from her childhood up, to run home +with me so constantly, when school was over, and pleased my kinsfolk so +entirely with her nice manners and kind ways? Hadn't he fought for her +more than once, and though he came home with bruises on his face, his +mother praised him for it?" Then, with a natural divergence from the +strict subject-matter of objection, vicarious felony, Jonathan went on +to argue about other temporal disadvantages. "Hadn't he heard his father +say, that, if she had but money, she was fit to be a countess? and was +money, then, the only thing, whereof the having, or the not having, +could make her good or bad?--money, the only wealth for soul, and mind, +and body? Are affections nothing, are truth and honour nothing, religion +nothing, good sense nothing, health nothing, beauty nothing--unless +money gild them all? Nonsense!" said Jonathan, indignantly, warmed by +his amatory eloquence; "come weal, come wo, Grace and I go down to the +grave together; for better, if she can be better--for worse, if she +could sin--Grace Acton is my wealth, my treasure, and possession; and +let man do his worst, God himself will bless us!" + +So, all this knit their loves: she knew, and he felt, that he was going +in the road of nobleness and honour; and the fiery ordeal which he had +to struggle through, raised that hearty earthly lover more nearly to a +level with his heavenly-minded mistress. Through misfortune and +mistrust, and evil rumours all around, in spite of opposition from false +friends, and the scorn of slanderous foes, he stood by her more +constantly, perchance more faithfully, than if the course of true-love +had been smoother: he was her escort morning and evening to and from the +prison; his strong arm was the dread of babbling fools that spoke a word +of disrespect against the Actons; and his brave tongue was now making +itself heard, in open vindication of the innocent. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +SUSPICIONS. + + +YES--Jonathan Floyd was beginning to speak out boldly certain +strange suspicions he had entertained of Jennings. It was a courageous, +a rash, a dangerous thing to do: he did not know but what it might have +jeoparded his life, say nothing of his livelihood: but Floyd did it. + +Ever since that inquest, contrived to be so quickly and so quietly got +over, he had noticed Simon's hurried starts, his horrid looks, his +altered mien in all he did and said, his new nervous ways at +nightfall--John Page to sleep in Mr. Jennings's chamber, and a +rush-light perpetually--his shudder whenever he had occasion to call at +the housekeeper's room, and his evident shrinking from the frequent +phrase "Mrs. Quarles's murder." + +Then again, Jonathan would often lie awake at nights, thinking over +divers matters connected with his own evidence before the coroner, which +he began to see might be of great importance. Jennings said, he had gone +out to still the dog by the front door--didn't he?--"How then, Mr. +Jennings, did you contrive to push back the top bolt? The Hall chairs +had not come then, and you are a little fellow, and you know that nobody +in the house could reach, without a lift, that bolt but me. Besides, +before Sir John came down, the hinges of that door creaked, like a +litter o' kittens screaming, and the lock went so hard for want of use +and oil, that I'll be sworn your gouty chalkstone fingers could never +have turned it: now, I lay half awake for two hours, and heard no creak, +no key turned; but I tell you what I did hear though, and I wish now I +had said it at that scanty, hurried inquest; I heard what I now believe +were distant screams (but I was so sleepy), and a kind of muffled +scuffling ever so long: but I fancied it might be a horse in the stable +kicking among the straw in a hunter's loose box. I can guess what it was +now--cannot you, Mr. Simon?--I say, butler, you must have gone out to +quiet Don--who by the way can't abear the sight of you--through Mrs. +Quarles's room: and, for all your threats, I'm not afeard to tell you +what I think. First answer me this, Mr. Simon Jennings:--where were you +all that night, when we were looking for you?--Oh! you choose to forget, +do you? I can help your memory, Mr. Butler; what do you think of the +shower-bath in Mother Quarles's room?" + +As Jonathan, one day at dinner in the servants' hall, took occasion to +direct these queries to the presiding Simon, the man gave such a horrid +start, and exclaimed, "Away, I say!" so strangely, that Jonathan could +doubt no longer--nor, in fact, any other of the household: Jennings gave +them all round a vindictive scowl, left the table, hastened to his own +room, and was seen no more that day. + +Speculation now seemed at an end, it had ripened into probability;--but +what evidence was there to support so grave a charge against this rigid +man? Suspicions are not half enough to go upon--especially since Roger +Acton seemed to have had the money. Therefore, though the folks at +Hurstley, Sir John, his guests, and all the house, could not but think +that Mr. Jennings acted very oddly--still, he had always been a strange +creature, an unpopular bailiff; nobody understood him. So, Floyd, to his +own no small danger, stood alone in accusing the man openly. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +GRACE'S ALTERNATIVE. + + +VERY shortly after that remarkable speech in the servants' +hall, Jonathan found another reason for believing that Mr. Simon +Jennings was equal to any imaginable amount of human wickedness. That +reason will shortly now appear; but we must first of all dig at its +roots somewhat deeper than Jonathan's mental husbandry could manage. + +If any trait of character were wanting to complete the desperate infamy +of Jennings--(really I sometimes hope that his grandfather's madness had +a kind of reawakening in this accursed man)--it was furnished by a new +and shrewd scheme for feeding to the full his lust of gold. The bailiff +had more than once, as we have hinted, found means to increase his evil +hoard, by having secretly gained power over female innocence and honest +reputation: similarly he now devised a deep-laid plot, nothing short of +diabolical. His plot was this: and I choose to hurry over such foul +treason. Let a touch or two hint its outlines: those who will, may paint +up the picture for themselves. Simon looked at Sir John--young, gay, +wealthy; he coveted his purse, and fancied that the surest bait to catch +that fish was fair Grace Acton: if he could entrap her for his master +(to whom he gave full credit for delighting in the plan), he counted +surely on magnificent rewards. How then to entrap her? Thus:--he, +representing himself as prosecutor of Roger, the accused, held for him, +he averred, the keys of life and death: he would set this idea (whether +true or not little mattered, if it served his purpose) before an +affectionate daughter, who should have it in her power to save her +parent, if, and only if, she would yield herself to Jennings: and he +well knew that, granting she gave herself secretly to him first, on such +a bribe as her father's liberation, he would have no difficulty whatever +in selling her second-hand beauty on his own terms to his master. It was +a foul scheme, and shall not be enlarged upon: but (as will appear) thus +slightly to allude to it was needful to our tale, as well as to the +development of character in Mammon's pattern-slave, and to the fullness +of his due retribution in this world. I may add, that if any thing could +make the plan more heinous--if any shade than blackest can be +blacker--this extra turpitude is seen in the true consideration, that +the promise to Grace of her father's safety would be entirely futile--as +Jennings knew full well; the crown was prosecutor, not he: and +circumstantial evidence alone would be sufficient to condemn. Again, it +really is nothing but bare justice to remark, with reference to Sir +John, that the deep-dyed villain reckoned quite without his host; for +however truly the baronet had oft-times been much less a self-denying +Scipio than a wanton Alcibiades, still the fine young fellow would have +flung Simon piecemeal to his hounds, if ever he had breathed so +atrocious a temptation: the maid was pledged, and Vincent knew it. + +Now, it so happened that one evening at dusk, when Grace as usual was +obliged to leave the prison, there was no Jonathan in waiting to +accompany her all the dreary long way home: this was strange, as his +good-hearted master, privately informed of his noble attachment, never +refused the man permission, but winked, for the time, at his frequent +evening absence. Nevertheless, on this occasion, as would happen now and +then, Floyd could not escape from the dining-room; probably because--Mr. +Jennings had secretly gone forth to escort the girl himself. +Accordingly, instead of loved Jonathan, sidled up to her the loathsome +Simon. + +Let me not soil these pages by recording, in however guarded phrase, the +grossness of this wretch's propositions; it was a long way to Hurstley, +and the reptile never ceased tormenting her every step of it, till the +village was in sight: twice she ran, and he ran too, keeping up with +her, and pouring into her ear a father's cruel fate and his own +detestable alternative. She never once spoke to him, but kept on praying +in her own pure mind for a just acquittal; not for one moment would she +entertain the wicked thought of "doing evil that good might come;" and +so, with flushed cheek, tingling ears, the mien of an insulted empress, +and the dauntless resolution of a heroine, she hastened on to Hurstley. + +Look here! by great good fortune comes Jonathan Floyd to meet her. + +"Save me, Jonathan, save me!" and she fainted in his arms. + +Now, truth to say, though Sir John knew it, Simon did not, that Grace +was Jonathan's beloved and betrothed; and the cause lay simply in this, +that Jonathan had frankly told his master of it, when he found the +dreadful turn things had taken with poor Roger; but as to Simon, no +mortal in the neighbourhood ever communicated with him, further than as +urged by fell necessity. Of course, the lovers' meetings were as private +as all such matters generally are; and Sarah's aid managed them +admirably. Therefore it now came to pass that Simon and Jonathan looked +on each other in mutual astonishment, and needs must wait until Grace +Acton could explain the "save me." Not but that Jennings seemed much as +if he wished to run away; but he did not know how to manage it. + +"Dear Jonathan," she whispered feebly, "save me from Simon Jennings." + +In an instant, Jonathan's grasp was tightly involved in the bailiff's +stiff white neckcloth. And Grace, with much maidenly reserve, told her +lover all she dared to utter of that base bartering for her father's +life. + +"Come straight along with me, you villain, straight to the master!" And +the sturdy Jonathan, administering all the remainder of the way (a +quarter of a mile of avenue made part of it) innumerable kickings and +cuffings, hauled the half-mummied bailiff into the servants' hall. + +"Now then, straight before the master! John Page, be so good as to knock +at the dining-room door, and ask master very respectfully if his honour +will be good enough to suffer me to speak to him." + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +THE DISMISSAL. + + +IT was after dinner. Sir John and his friends had somehow been +less jovial than usual; they were absolutely dull enough to be talking +politics. So, when the boy of many buttons tapped at the door, and +meekly brought in Jonathan's message, recounting also how he had got Mr. +Jennings in tow for some inexplicable crime, the strangeness of the +affair was a very welcome incident: both host and guests hailed it an +adventure. + +"By all means, let Jonathan come in." + +The trio were just outside; and when the blue and silver footman, +hauling in by his unrelinquished throat that scared bailiff, and +followed by the blushing village beauty, stood within the room, Sir John +and his half-dozen friends greeted the _tableau_ with united +acclamations. + +"I say, Pypp, that's a devilish fine creature," metaphorically remarked +the Honorable Lionel Poynter. + +"Yaas." Lord George was a long, sallow, slim young man, with a goatish +beard, like the Duc d'Aumale's; he affected extreme fashion and infinite +_sangfroid_. + +"Well, Jonathan, what is it?" asked the baronet. + +"Why, in one word, my honoured master, this scoundrel here has been +wickedly insulting my own poor dear Grace, by promising to save her +father from the gallows if--if--" + +"If what, man? speak out," said Mr. Poynter. + +"You don't mean to say, Jennings, that you are brute enough to be +seducing that poor man Roger's daughter, just as he's going to be tried +for his life?" asked Sir John. + +Simon uttered nothing in reply; but Grace burst into tears. + +"A fair idea that, 'pon my honour," drawled the chivalrous Pypp, +proceeding to direct his delicate attentions towards the weeping damsel. + +"Simon Jennings," said Sir John, after pausing in vain for his reply, "I +have long wished to get rid of you, sir. Silence! I know you, and have +been finding out your rascally proceedings these ten days past. I have +learnt much, more than you may fancy: and now this crowning villany +[what if he had known of the ulterior designs?] gives me fair occasion +to say once and for ever, begone!" + +Jennings drew himself up with an air of insufferable impudence, and +quietly answered, + +"John Vincent, I am proud to leave your service. I trust I can afford to +live without your help." + +There was a general outcry at this speech, and Jonathan collared him +again; but the baronet calmly set all straight by saying, + +"Perhaps, sir, you may not be aware that your systematic thievings and +extortions have amply justified me in detaining your iron chest and +other valuables, until I find out how you may have come by them." + +This was the _coup de grace_ to Jennings, who looked scared and +terrified:--what! all gone--all, his own beloved hoard, and that +dear-bought crock of gold? Then Sir John added, after one minute of +dignified and indignant silence, + +"Begone!--Jonathan put him out; and if you will kick him out of the +hall-door on your private account, I'll forgive you for it." + +With that, the liveried Antinous raised the little monster by the small +of the back, drew him struggling from the presence, and lifting him up +like a football, inflicted one enormous kick that sent him spinning down +the whole flight of fifteen marble stairs. This exploit accomplished to +the satisfaction of all parties, Jonathan naturally enough returned to +look for Grace; and his master, with a couple of friends who had run to +the door to witness the catastrophe, returned immediately before him. + +"Lord George Pypp, you will oblige me by leaving the young woman alone;" +was Sir John's first angry reproof when he perceived the rustic beauty +radiant with indignation at some mean offence. + +"The worthy baronet wa-ants her for himself," drawled Pypp. + +"Say that again, my lord, and you shall follow Jennings." + +Whilst the noble youth was slowly elaborating a proper answer, +Jonathan's voice was heard once more: he had long looked very white, +kept both hands clenched, and seemed as if, saving his master's +presence, he could, and would have vanquished the whole room of them. + +"Master, have I your honour's permission to speak?" + +"No, Jonathan, I'll speak for you; if, that is to say, Lord George +will--" + +"Paardon me, Sir John Devereux Vincent, your feyllow--and his master, +are not fit company for Lord George Pypp;"--and he leisurely proceeded +to withdraw. + +"Stop a minute, Pypp, I've just one remark to make," hurriedly exclaimed +Mr. Lionel Poynter, "if Sir John will suffer me; Vincent, my good +friend, we are wrong--Pypp's wrong, and so am I. First then, let me beg +pardon of a very pretty girl, for making her look prettier by blushes; +next, as the maid really is engaged to you, my fine fellow, it is not +beneath a gentleman to say, I hope that you'll forgive me for too warmly +admiring your taste; as for George's imputation, Vincent--" + +"I beyg to observe," enunciated the noble scion, "I'm awf, Poynter." + +He gradually drew himself away, and the baronet never saw him more. + +"For shame, Pypp!" shouted after him the warm-hearted Siliphant; "I tell +you what it is, Vincent, you must let me give a toast:--'Grace and her +lover!' here, my man, your master allows you to take a glass of wine +with us; help your beauty too." + +The toast was drank with high applause: and before Jonathan humbly led +away his pleased and blushing Grace, he took an opportunity of saying, + +"If I may be bold enough to speak, kind gentlemen, I wish to thank you: +I oughtn't to be long, for I am nothing but your servant; let it be +enough to say my heart is full. And I'm in hopes it wouldn't be very +wrong in me, kind gentlemen, to propose;--'My noble master--honour and +happiness to him!'" + +"Bravo! Jonathan, bravo-o-o-o!" there was a clatter of glasses;--and the +humble pair of lovers retreated under cover of the toast. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +SIMON ALONE. + + +JENNINGS gathered himself up, from that Jew-of-Malta tumble +down the steps, less damaged by the fall than could have been imagined +possible; the fact being that his cat-like nature had stood him in good +stead--he had lighted on his feet; and nothing but a mighty dorsal +bruise bore witness to the prowess of a Jonathan. + +But, if his body was comparatively sound, the inner man was bruised all +over: he crept back, and retreated to his room, in as broken and +despondent a frame of mind, as any could have wished to bless him +wherewithal. However, he still had one thing left to live for: his +hoard--that precious hoard within his iron box, and then--the crock of +gold. He took Sir John's threat about detaining, and so forth, as +merely future, and calculated on rendering it nugatory, by decamping +forthwith, chattels and all; but he little expected to find that the +idea had already been acted upon! + +On that identical afternoon, when Simon had gone forth to insult Grace +Acton with his villanous proposals, Sir John, on returning from a ride, +had commanded his own seal to be placed on all Mr. Jennings's effects, +and the boxes to be forthwith removed to a place of safety: induced +thereto by innumerable proofs from every quarter that the bailiff had +been cheating him on a most liberal scale, and plundering his tenants +systematically. Therefore, when Jennings hastened to his chamber to +console himself for all things by looking at his gold, and counting out +a bag or two--it was gone, gone, irrevocably gone! safely stored away +for rigid scrutiny in the grated muniment-room of Hurstley. Oh, what a +howl the caitiff gave, when he saw that his treasure had been taken! he +was a wild bull in a net; a crocodile caught upon the hooks; a hyena at +bay. What could he do? which way should he turn? how help himself, or +get his gold again? Unluckily--Oh, confusion, confusion!--his +account-books were along with all his hoard, those tell-tale legers, +wherein he had duly noted down, for his own private and triumphant +glance, the curious difference between his lawful and unlawful gains; +there, was every overcharge recorded, every matter of extortion +systematically ranged, that he might take all the tenants in their turn; +there, were filed the receipts of many honest men, whom the guardians +and Sir John had long believed to be greatly in arrear; there, was +recorded at length the catalogue of dues from tradesmen; there, the list +of bribes for the custom of the Hall. It would amply authorize Sir John +in appropriating the whole store; and Jennings thought of this with +terror. Every thing was now obviously lost, lost! Oh, sickening little +word, all lost! all he had ever lived for--all which had made him live +the life he did--all which made him fear to die. "Fear to die--ha! who +said that? I will not fear to die; yes, there is one escape left, I will +hazard the blind leap; this misery shall have an end--this sleepless, +haunted, cheated, hated wretch shall live no longer--ha! ha! ha! ha! +I'll do it! I'll do it!" + +Then did that wretched man strive in vain to kill himself, for his hour +was not yet come. His first idea was laudanum--that only mean of any +thing like rest to him for many weeks; and pouring out all he had, a +little phial, nearly half a wine-glass full, he quickly drank it off: no +use--no use; the agitation of his mind was too intense, and the habit +of a continually increasing dose had made him proof against the poison; +it would not even lull him, but seemed to stretch and rack his nerves, +exciting him to deeds of bloody daring. Should he rush out, like a Malay +running a muck, with a carving-knife in each hand, and kill right and +left:--vengeance! vengeance! on Jonathan Floyd, and John Vincent? No, +no; for some of them at last would overcome him, think him mad, and, O +terror!--his doom for life, without the means of death, would be +solitary confinement. "Stay! with this knife in my hand--means of +death--yes, it shall be so." And he hurriedly drew the knife across his +throat; no use, nothing done; his cowardly skin shrank away from +cutting--he dared not cut again; a little bloody scratch was all. + +But the heart, the heart--that should be easier! And the miscreant, not +quite a Cato, gave a feeble stab, that made a little puncture. Not yet, +Simon Jennings; no, not yet; you shall not cheat the gallows. "Ha! +hanging, hanging! why had I not thought of that before?" + +He mounted on a chair with a gimlet in his hand, and screwed it tightly +into the wainscotting as high as he could reach; then he took a cord +from the sacking of his bed, secured it to the gimlet, made a noose, put +his head in, kicked the chair away--and swung by his wounded neck; in +vain, all in vain; as he struggled in the agonies of self-protecting +nature, the handle of the gimlet came away, and he fell heavily to the +ground. + +"Bless us!" said Sarah to one of the house-maids, as they were arranging +their curl-papers to go to bed: "what can that noise be in Mr. +Jennings's room? his tall chest of drawers has fallen, I shouldn't +wonder: it was always unsafe to my mind. Listen, Jenny, will you?" + +Jenny crept out, and, as laudable females sometimes do, listened at +Simon's key-hole. + +"Lack-a-daisy, Sall, such a groaning and moaning; p'raps he's a-dying: +put on your cap again, and tell Jonathan to go and see." + +Sarah did as she was bid, and Jonathan did as he was bid; and there was +Mr. Jennings on the floor, blue in the face, with a halter round his +neck. + +The house was soon informed of the interesting event, and the bailiff +was nursed as tenderly as if he had been a sucking babe; fomentations, +applications, hot potations: but he soon came to again, without any hope +or wish to repeat the dread attempt: he was kept in bed, closely +watched, and Stephen Cramp, together with his rival, Eager, remained +continually in alternate attendance: until a day or two recovered him as +strong as ever. I told you, Simon Jennings, that your time was not yet +come. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +THE TRIAL. + + +THE trial now came on, and Roger Acton stood arraigned of +robbery and murder. I must hasten over lengthy legal technicalities, +which would only serve to swell this volume, without adding one iota to +its interest or usefulness. Nothing could be easier, nothing more worth +while, as a matter of mere book-making, than to tear a few pages out of +some musty record of Criminal Court Practice or other Newgate +Calendar-piece of authorship, and wade wearily through the length and +breadth of indictments, speeches, examinations, and all the other +learned clatter of six hours in the judgment-halls of law. If the reader +wishes for all this, let him pore over those unhealthy-looking books, +whose exterior is dove-coloured as the kirtle of innocence, but their +inwards black as the conscience of guilt; whitened sepulchres, all +spotless without; but within them are enshrined the quibbling knavery, +the distorted ingenuity, the mystifying learnedness, the warped and +warping views of truth, the lying, slandering, bad-excusing, +good-condemning principles and practices of those who cater for their +custom at the guiltiest felon's cell, and would glory in defending +Lucifer himself. + +In the case of sheer innocence, indeed, as Roger's was--or in one of +much doubt and secresy, where the client denies all guilt, and the +counsel sees reason to believe him--let the advocate manfully battle out +his cause: but where crime has poured out his confessions in a +counsellor's ear--is not this man bought by gold to be a partaker and +abettor in his sins, when he strives with all his might to clear the +guilty, and not seldom throws the hideous charge on innocence? If the +advocate has no wish to entrap his own conscience, nor to damage the +tissue of his honour, let him reject the client criminal who confesses, +and only plead for those from whom he has had no assurance of their +guilt; or, better far, whose innocence he heartily believes in. + +Such an advocate was Mr. Grantly, a barrister of talents and experience, +who, from motives of the purest benevolence, did all that in him lay for +Roger Acton. In one thing, however, and that of no small import, the +kindly cautious man of law had contrived to do more harm than good: for, +after having secretly made every effort, but in vain, to find Ben Burke +as a witness--and after having heard that the aforesaid Ben was a +notorious poacher, and only intimate at Hurstley with Acton and his +family--he strongly recommended Roger to say nothing about the man or +his adventure, as the acknowledgment of such an intimacy would only +damage his cause: all that need appear was, that he found the crock in +his garden, never mind how he "thought" it got there: poachers are not +much in the habit of flinging away pots of gold, and no jury would +believe but that the ill-reputed personage in question was an accomplice +in the murder, and had shared the spoil with his friend Roger Acton. All +this was very shrewd; and well meant; but was not so wise, for all that, +as simple truth would have been: nevertheless, Roger acquiesced in it, +for a better reason than Mr. Grantly's--namely, this: his feelings +toward poor Ben had undergone an amiable revulsion, and, well aware how +the whole neigbourhood were prejudiced against him for his freebooting +propensities, he feared to get his good rough friend into trouble if he +mentioned his nocturnal fishing at Pike island; especially when he +considered that little red Savings' Bank, which, though innocent as to +the getting, was questionable as to the rights of spending, and that, +really, if he involved the professed poacher in this mysterious affair, +he might put his liberty or life into very serious jeopardy. On this +account, then, which Grace could not entirely find fault with (though +she liked nothing that savoured of concealment), Roger Acton agreed to +abide by Mr. Grantly's advice; and thus he never alluded to his +connexion with the poacher. + +Enlightened as we are, and intimate with all the hidden secrets of the +story, we may be astonished to hear that, notwithstanding all Mr. +Grantly's ingenuity, and all the siftings of cross-questioners, the case +was clear as light against poor Acton. No _alibi_, he lived upon the +spot. No witnesses to character; for Roger's late excesses had wiped +away all former good report: kind Mr. Evans himself, with tears in his +eyes, acknowledged sadly that Acton had once been a regular church-goer, +a frequent communicant: but had fallen off of late, poor fellow! And +then, in spite of protestations to the contrary, behold! the _corpus +delicti_--that unlucky crock of gold, actually in the man's possession, +and the fragment of shawl--was not that sufficient? + +Jonathan Floyd in open court had been base enough to accuse Mr. Jennings +of the murder. Mr. Jennings indeed! a strict man of high character, +lately dismissed, after twenty years' service, in the most arbitrary +manner by young Sir John, who had taken a great liking to the Actons. +People could guess why, when they looked on Grace: and Grace, too, was +sufficient reason to account for Jonathan's wicked suspicions; of +course, it was the lover's interest to throw the charge on other people. +As to Mr. Jennings himself, just recovered from a fit of illness, it was +astonishing how liberally and indulgently he prayed the court to show +the prisoner mercy: his white and placid face looked quite benevolently +at him--and this respectable person was a murderer, eh, Mr. Jonathan? + +So, when the judge summed up, and clearly could neither find nor make a +loop-hole for the prisoner, the matter seemed accomplished; all knew +what the verdict must be--poor Roger Acton had not the shadow of a +chance. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +ROGER'S DEFENCE. + + +THEN, while the jury were consulting--they would not leave the +box, it seemed so clear--Roger broke the death-like silence; and he +said: + +"Judge, I crave your worship's leave to speak: and hearken to me, +countrymen. Many evil things have I done in my time, both against God +and my neighbour: I am ashamed, as well I may be, when I think on 'em: I +have sworn, and drunk, and lied; I have murmured loudly--coveted +wickedly--ay, and once I stole. It was a little theft, I lost it on the +spot, and never stole again: pray God, I never may. Nevertheless, +countrymen, and sinful though I be in the sight of Him who made us, +according to man's judgment and man's innocency, I had lived among you +all blameless, until I found that crock of gold. I did find it, +countrymen, as God is my witness, and, therefore, though a sinner, I +appeal to Him: He knoweth that I found it in the sedge that skirts my +garden, at the end of my own celery trench. I did wickedly and foolishly +to hide my find, worse to deny it, and worst of all to spend it in the +low lewd way I did. But of robbery I am guiltless as you are. And as to +this black charge of murder, till Simon Jennings spoke the word, I never +knew it had been done. Folk of Hurstley, friends and neighbours, you all +know Roger Acton--the old-time honest Roger of these forty years, +before the devil made him mad by giving him much gold--did he ever +maliciously do harm to man or woman, to child or poor dumb brute?--No, +countrymen, I am no murderer. That the seemings are against me, I wot +well; they may excuse your judgment in condemning me to death--and I and +the good gentleman there who took my part (Heaven bless you, sir!) +cannot go against the facts: but they speak falsely, and I truly; Roger +Acton is an innocent man: may God defend the right!" + +"Amen!" earnestly whispered a tremulous female voice, "and God will save +you, father." + +The court was still as death, except for sobbing; the jury were doubting +and confounded; in vain Mr. Jennings, looking at the foreman, shook his +head and stroked his chin in an incredulous and knowing manner; clearly +they must retire, not at all agreed; and the judge himself, that masqued +man in flowing wig and ermine, but still warmed by human sympathies, +struck a tear from his wrinkled cheek; and all seemed to be +involuntarily waiting (for the jury, though unable to decide, had not +yet left their box), to see whether any sudden miracle would happen to +save a man whom evidence made so guilty, and yet he bore upon his open +brow the genuine signature of Innocence. + +"Silence, there, silence! you can't get in; there's no room for'ards!" +But a couple of javelin-men at the door were knocked down right and +left, and through the dense and suffocating crowd, a black-whiskered +fellow, elbowing his way against their faces, spite of all obstruction, +struggled to the front behind the bar. Then, breathless with gigantic +exertion (it was like a mammoth treading down the cedars), he roared +out, + +"Judge, swear me, I'm a witness; huzza! it's not too late." + +And the irreverent gentleman tossed a fur cap right up to the skylight. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +THE WITNESS. + + +MR. GRANTLY brightened up at once, Grace looked happily to +Heaven, and Roger Acton shouted out, + +"Thank God! thank God!--there's Ben Burke!" + +Yes, he had heard miles away of his friend's danger about an old shawl +and a honey-pot full of gold, and he had made all speed, with Tom in his +train, to come and bear witness to the innocence of Roger. The sensation +in court, as may be well conceived, was thrilling; but a vociferous +crier, and the deep anxiety to hear this sturdy witness, soon reduced +all again to silence. + +Then did they swear Benjamin Burke, who, to the scandal of his cause, +would insist upon stating his profession to be "poacher;" and at first, +poor simple fellow, seemed to have a notion that a sworn witness meant +one who swore continually; but he was soon convinced otherwise, and his +whole demeanour gradually became as polite and deferent as his coarse +nature would allow. And Ben told his adventure on Pike island, as we +have heard him tell it, pretty much in the same words, for the judge and +Mr. Grantly let him take his own courses; and then he added (with a +characteristic expletive, which we may as well omit, seeing it +occasioned a cry of "order" in the court), "There, if that there +white-livered little villain warn't the chap that brought the crocks, my +name an't Ben Burke." + +"Good Heavens! Mr. Jennings, what's the matter?" said a briefless one, +starting up: this was Mr. Sharp, a personage on former occasions +distinguished highly as a thieves' advocate, but now, unfortunately, out +of work. "Loosen his cravat, some one there; the gentleman is in fits." + +"Oh, Aunt--Aunt Quarles, don't throttle me; I'll tell all--all; let go, +let go!" and the wretched man slowly recovered, as Ben Burke said, + +"Ay, my lord, ask him yourself, the little wretch can tell you all about +it." + +"I submit, my lurd," interposed the briefless one, "that this +respectable gentleman is taken ill, and that his presence may now be +dispensed with, as a witness in the cause." + +"No, sir, no;" deliberately answered Jennings; "I must stay: the time I +find is come; I have not slept for weeks; I am exhausted utterly; I have +lost my gold; I am haunted by her ghost; I can go no where but that face +follows me--I can do nothing but her fingers clutch my throat. It is +time to end this misery. In hope to lay her spirit, I would have offered +up a victim: but--but she will not have him. Mine was the hand that--" + +"Pardon me," upstarted Mr. Sharp, "this poor gentleman is a mono-maniac; +pray, my lurd, let him be removed while the trial is proceeding." + +"You horse-hair hypocrite, you!" roared Ben, "would you hang the +innocent, and save the guilty?" + +Would he? would Mr. Philip Sharp? Ay, that he would; and glad of such a +famous opportunity. What! would not Newgate rejoice, and Horsemonger be +glad? Would not his bag be filled with briefs from the community of +burglars, and his purse be rich in gold subscribed by the brotherhood of +thieves? Great at once would be his name among the purlieus of iniquity: +and every rogue in London would retain but Philip Sharp. Would he? ask +him again. + +But Jennings quietly proceeded like a speaking statue. + +"I am not mad, most noble--" [the Bible-read villain was from habit +quoting Paul]--"my lord, I mean. My hand did the deed: I throttled her" +(here he gave a scared look over his shoulder): "yes--I did it once and +again: I took the crock of gold. You may hang me now, Aunt Quarles." + +"My lurd, my lurd, this is a most irregular proceeding," urged Mr. +Sharp; "on the part of the prisoner--I, I crave pardon--on behalf of +this most respectable and deluded gentleman, Mr. Simon Jennings, I +contend that no one may criminate himself in this way, without the +shadow of evidence to support such suicidal testimony. Really, my +lurd--" + +"Oh, sir, but my father may go free?" earnestly asked Grace. But Ben +Burke's voice--I had almost written woice--overwhelmed them all: + +"Let me speak, judge, an't it please your honour, and take you notice, +Master Horsehair. You wan't ewidence, do you, beyond the man's +confession: here, I'll give it you. Look at this here wice:" and he +stretched forth his well-known huge and horny hand: + +"When I caught that dridful little reptil by the arm, he wriggled like a +sniggled eel, so I was forced you see, to grasp him something tighter, +and could feel his little arm-bones crack like any chicken's: now then, +if his left elbow an't black and blue, though it's a month a-gone and +more, I'll eat it. Strip him and see." + +No need to struggle with the man, or tear his coat off. Jennings +appeared only too glad to find that there was other evidence than his +own foul tongue, and that he might be hung at last without sacking-rope +or gimlet; so, he quietly bared his arm, and the elbow looked all manner +of colours--a mass of old bruises. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +MR. SHARP'S ADVOCACY. + + +THE whole court trembled with excitement: it was deep, still +silence; and the judge said, + +"Prisoner at the bar, there is now no evidence against you: gentlemen of +the jury, of course you will acquit him." + +The foreman: "All agreed, my lord, not guilty." + +"Roger Acton," said the judge, "to God alone you owe this marvellous, +almost miraculous, interposition: you have had many wrongs innocently to +endure, and I trust that the right feelings of society will requite you +for them in this world, as, if you serve Him, God will in the next. You +are honourably acquitted, and may leave this bar." + +In vain the crier shouted, in vain the javelin-men helped the crier, the +court was in a tumult of joy; Grace sprang to her father's neck, and Sir +John Vincent, who had been in attendance sitting near the judge all the +trial through, came down to him, and shook his hand warmly. + +Roger's eyes ran over, and he could only utter, + +"Thank God! thank God! He does better for me than I deserved." But the +court was hushed at last: the jury resworn; certain legal forms and +technicalities speedily attended to, as counts of indictment, and so +forth: and the judge then quietly said, + +"Simon Jennings, stand at that bar." + +He stood there like an image. + +"My lurd, I claim to be prisoner's counsel." + +"Mr. Sharp--the prisoner shall have proper assistance by all means; but +I do not see how it will help your case, if you cannot get your client +to plead not guilty." + +While Mr. Philip Sharp converses earnestly with the criminal in +confidential whispers, I will entertain the sagacious reader with a few +admirable lines I have just cut out of a newspaper: they are headed + + "SUPPRESSION OF TRUTH AND EXCLUSION OF EVIDENCE. + +"Lawyers abhor any short cut to the truth. The pursuit is the thing for +their pleasure and profit, and all their rules are framed for making the +most of it. + +"Crime is to them precisely what the fox is to the sportsman: and the +object is not to pounce on it, and capture it at once, but to have a +good run for it, and to exhibit skill and address in the chase. Whether +the culprit or the fox escape or not, is a matter of indifference, the +run being the main thing. + +"The punishment of crime is as foreign to the object of lawyers, as the +extirpation of the fox is to that of sportsmen. The sportsman, because +he hunts the fox, sees in the summary destruction of the fox by the hand +of a clown, an offence foul, strange, and unnatural, little short of +murder. The lawyer treats crime in the same way: his business is the +chase of it; but, that it may exist for the chase, he lays down rules +protecting it against surprises and capture by any methods but those of +the forensic field. + +"One good turn deserves another, and as the lawyer owes his business to +crime, he naturally makes it his business to favour and spare it as much +as possible. To seize and destroy it wherever it can be got at, seems to +him as barbarous as shooting a bird sitting, or a hare in her form, does +to the sportsman. The phrase, to give _law_, for the allowance of a +start, or any chance of escape, expresses the methods of lawyers in the +pursuit of crime, and has doubtless been derived from their practice. + +"Confession is the thing most hateful to law, for this stops its sport +at the outset. It is the surrender of the fox to the hounds. 'We don't +want your stinking body,' says the lawyer; 'we want the run after the +scent. Away with you, be off; retract your admission, take the benefit +of telling a lie, give us employment, and let us take our chance of +hunting out, in our roundabout ways, the truth, which we will not take +when it lies before us.'" + + * * * * * + +As I perceive that Mr. Sharp has not yet made much impression upon the +desponding prisoner, suffer me to recommend to your notice another +sensible leader: the abuse which it would combat calls loudly for +amendment. There is plenty of time to spare, for some preliminaries of +trial have yet to be arranged, and the judge has just stepped out to get +a sandwich, and every body stands at ease; moreover, gentle reader, the +paragraphs following are well worthy of your attention. Let us name +them, + + "MORBID SYMPATHIES. + +"We have often thought that the tenderness shown by our law to presumed +criminals is as injurious as it is inconsistent and excessive. A +miserable beggar, a petty rioter, the wretch who steals a loaf to +satisfy the gnawings of his hunger, is roughly seized, closely examined, +and severely punished; meanwhile, the plain common sense of our mobs, if +not of our magistracy, has pitied the offender, and perhaps acquitted +him. But let some apparent murderer be caught, almost in the flagrant +deed of his atrocity; let him, to the best of all human belief, have +killed, disembowelled, and dismembered; let him have united the coolness +of consummate craft to the boldest daring of iniquity, and straightway +(though the generous crowd may hoot and hunt the wretch with yelling +execration) he finds in law and lawyers, refuge, defenders, and +apologists. Tenderly and considerately is he cautioned on no account to +criminate himself: he is exhorted, even by judges, to withdraw the +honest and truthful plea of 'guilty,' now the only amends which such a +one can make to the outraged laws of God and man: he is defended, even +to the desperate length of malignant accusation of the innocent, by +learned men, whose aim it is to pervert justice and screen the guilty! +he is lodged and tended with more circumstances of outward comfort and +consideration than he probably has ever experienced in all his life +before; and if, notwithstanding the ingenuity of his advocates, and the +merciful glosses of his judge, a simple-minded British jury capitally +convict him, and he is handed over to the executioner, he still finds +pious gentlemen ready to weep over him in his cell, and titled dames to +send him white camellias, to wear upon his heart when he is hanging.[A] + +"Now what is the necessary consequence of this, but a mighty, a +fearfully influential premium on crime? And what is its radical cause, +but the absurd indulgence wherewith our law greets the favoured, +_because_ the atrocious criminal? Upon what principle of propriety, or +of natural justice, should a seeming murderer not be--we will not say +sternly, but even kindly--catechised, and for his very soul's sake +counselled to confess his guilt? Why should the _morale_ of evidence be +so thoroughly lost sight of, and a malefactor, who is ready to +acknowledge crime, or unable, when questioned, to conceal it, on no +account be listened to, lest he may do his precious life irreparable +harm? It is not agonized repentance, or incidental disclosure, that +makes the culprit his own executioner, but his crime that has preceded; +it is not the weak, avowing tongue, but the bold and bloody hand. + +"We are unwilling to allude specifically to the name of any recent +malefactor in connexion with these plain remarks; for, in the absence +alike of hindered voluntary confession and of incomplete legal evidence, +we would not prejudge, that is, prejudice a case. But we do desire to +exclaim against any further exhibition of that morbid tenderness +wherewith all persons are sure to be treated, if only they are accused +of enormities more than usually disgusting; and we specially protest +against that foolish, however ancient, rule in our criminal law, which +discourages and rejects the slenderest approach to a confession, while +it has sacrificed many an innocent victim to the uncertainty of +evidence, supported by nothing more safe than outward circumstantials." + +At length, and after much gesticulation and protestation, Mr. Sharp has +succeeded; he had apparently innoculated the miserable man with hopes; +for the miscreant now said firmly, "I plead not guilty." + + * * * * * + +The briefless one looked happy--nay, triumphant: Jennings was a wealthy +man, all knew; and, any how, he should bag a bouncing fee. How far such +money was likely to do him any good, he never stopped to ask. "Money is +money," said Philip Sharp and the Emperor Vespasian. + +We need not trouble ourselves to print Mr. Sharp's very flashy, flippant +speech. Suffice it to say, that, not content with asserting vehemently +on his conscience as a Christian, on his honour as a man, that Simon +Jennings was an innocent, maligned, persecuted individual; labouring, +perhaps, under mono-mania, but pure and gentle as the babe new-born--not +satisfied with traducing honest Ben Burke as a most suspicious witness, +probably a murderer--ay, _the_ murderer himself, a mere riotous ruffian +[Ben here chucked his cap at him, and thereby countenanced the charge], +a mere scoundrel, not to say scamp, whom no one should believe upon his +oath; he again, with all the semblance of sincerity, accused, however +vainly, Roger Acton: and lastly, to the disgust and astonishment of the +whole court, added, with all acted appearances of fervent zeal for +justice, "And I charge his pious daughter, too, that far too pretty +piece of goods, Grace Acton, with being accessory to this atrocious +crime after the fact!" + +There was a storm of shames and hisses; but the judge allayed it, +quietly saying, + +"Mr. Sharp, be so good as to confine your attention to your client; he +appears to be quite worthy of you." + +Then Mr. Sharp, like the firm just man immortalized by Flaccus, stood +stout against the visage of the judge, sneered at the wrath of citizens +commanding things unjust, turned to Ben Burke minaciously, calling him +"_Dux inquieti turbidus Adriae_" [as Burke had heard this quotation, he +thought it was about the "ducks" he had been decoying], and altogether +seemed not about to be put down, though the huge globe crack about his +ears. After this, he calmly worded on, seeming to regard the judge's +stinging observation with the same sort of indifference as the lion +would a dew-drop on his mane; and having poured out all manner of +voluminous bombast, he gradually ran down, and came to a conclusion; +then, jumping up refreshed, like the bounding of a tennis-ball, he +proceeded to call witnesses; and, judging from what happened at the +inquest, as well as because he wished to overwhelm a suspected and +suspecting witness, he pounced, somewhat infelicitously, on Jonathan +Floyd. + +"So, my fine young fellow, you are a footman, eh, at Hurstley?" + +"Yes, sir, an' it please you--or rather, an' it please my master." + +"You remember what happened on the night of the late Mrs. Quarles's +decease?" + +"Oh, many things happened; Mr. Jennings was lost, he wasn't to be found, +he was hid somewhere, nobody saw him till next morning." + +"Stop, sirrah! not quite so quick, if you please; you are on your oath, +be careful what you say. I have it in evidence, sirrah, before the +coroner;" and he looked triumphantly about him at this clencher to all +Jonathan's testimony; "that you saw him yourself that night speaking to +the dog; what do you mean by swearing that nobody saw him till next +morning?" + +"Well, mister, I mean this; whether or no poor old Mrs. Quarles saw her +affectionate nephew that night before the clock struck twelve, there's +none alive to tell; but no one else did--for Sarah and I sat up for him +till past midnight. He was hidden away somewhere, snug enough; and as I +verily believe, in the poor old 'ooman's own--" + +"Silence, silence! sir, I say; we want none of your impertinent guesses +here, if you please: to the point, sirrah, to the point; you swore +before the coroner, that you had seen Mr. Jennings, in his courage and +his kindness, quieting the dog that very night, and now--" + +"Oh," interrupted Jonathan in his turn, "for the matter of that, when I +saw him with the dog, it was hard upon five in the morning. And here, +gentlemen," added Floyd, with a promiscuous and comprehensive bow all +round, "if I may speak my mind about the business--" + +"Go down, sir!" said Mr. Sharp, who began to be afraid of truths. + +"Pardon me, this may be of importance," remarked Roger Acton's friend; +"say what you have to say, young man." + +"Well, then, gentlemen and my lord, I mean to say thus much. Jennings +there, the prisoner (and I'm glad to see him standing at the bar), swore +at the inquest that he went to quiet Don, going round through the front +door; now, none could get through that door without my hearing of him; +and certainly a little puny Simon like him could never do so without I +came to help him; for the lock was stiff with rust, and the bolt out of +his reach." + +"Stop, young man; my respected client, Mr. Jennings, got upon a chair." + +"Indeed, sir? then he must ha' created the chair for that special +purpose: there wasn't one in the hall then; no, nor for two days after, +when they came down bran-new from Dowbiggins in London, with the rest o' +the added furnitur' just before my honoured master." + +This was conclusive, certainly; and Floyd proceeded. + +"Now, gentlemen and my lord, if Jennings did not go that way, nor the +kitchen-way neither--for he always was too proud for scullery-door and +kitchen--and if he did not give himself the trouble to unfasten the +dining-room or study windows, or to unscrew the iron bars of his own +pantry, none of which is likely, gentlemen--there was but one other way +out, and that way was through Bridget Quarles's own room. Now--" + +"Ah--that room, that bed, that corpse, that crock!--It is no use, no +use," the wretched miscreant added slowly, after his first hurried +exclamations; "I did the deed, I did it! guilty, guilty." And, +notwithstanding all Mr. Sharp's benevolent interferences, and appeals to +judge and jury on the score of mono-mania, and shruggings-up of +shoulders at his client's folly, and virtuous indignation at the evident +leaning of the court--the murderer detailed what he had done. He spoke +quietly and firmly, in his usually stern and tyrannical style, as if +severe upon himself, for being what?--a man of blood, a thief, a +perjured false accuser? No, no; lower in the scale of Mammon's judgment, +worse in the estimate of him whose god is gold; he was now a pauper, a +mere moneyless forked animal; a beggared, emptied, worthless, penniless +creature: therefore was he stern against his ill-starred soul, and took +vengeance on himself for being poor. + +It was a consistent feeling, and common with the mercantile of this +world; to whom the accidents of fortune are every thing, and the +qualities of mind nothing; whose affections ebb and flow towards +friends, relations--yea, their own flesh and blood, with the varying +tide of wealth: whom a luckless speculation in cotton makes an enemy, +and gambling gains in corn restore a friend; men who fall down mentally +before the golden calf, and offer up their souls to Nebuchadnezzar's +idol: men who never saw harm nor shame in the craftiest usurer or +meanest pimp, provided he has thousands in the three per cents.; and +whose indulgent notions of iniquity reach their climax in the +phrase--the man is poor. + +So then, with unhallowed self-revenge, Simon rigidly detailed his +crimes: he led the whole court step by step, as I have led the reader, +through the length and breadth of that terrible night: of the facts he +concealed nothing, and the crowded hall of judgment shuddered as one +man, when he came to his awful disclosure, hitherto unsuspected, +unimagined, of that second strangulation: as to feelings, he might as +well have been a galvanized mummy, an automaton lay-figure enunciating +all with bellows and clapper, for any sense he seemed to have of shame, +or fear, or pity; he admitted his lie about the door, complimented Burke +on the accuracy of his evidence, and declared Roger Acton not merely +innocent, but ignorant of the murder. + +This done, without any start or trepidation in his manner as formerly, +he turned his head over his left shoulder, and said, in a deep whisper, +heard all over the court, "And now, Aunt Quarles, I am coming; look out, +woman, I will have my revenge for all your hauntings: again shall we +wrestle, again shall we battle, again shall I throttle you, again, +again!" + +O, most fearful thought! who knoweth but it may be true? that spirits of +wickedness and enmity may execute each other's punishment, as those of +righteousness and love minister each other's happiness! that--damned +among the damned--the spirit of a Nero may still delight in torturing, +and that those who in this world were mutual workers of iniquity, may +find themselves in the next, sworn retributors of wrath? No idle threat +was that of the demoniac Simon, and possibly with no vain fears did the +ghost of the murdered speed away. + +When the sensation of horror, which for a minute delayed the +court-business, and has given us occasion to think that fearful thought, +when this had gradually subsided, the foreman of the jury, turning to +the judge, said, + +"My lord, we will not trouble your lordship to sum up; we are all +agreed--Guilty." + +One word about Mr. Sharp: he was entirely chagrined; his fortunes were +at stake; he questioned whether any one in Newgate would think of him +again. To make matters worse, when he whispered for a fee to Mr. +Jennings (for he did whisper, however contrary to professional +etiquette), that worthy gentleman replied by a significant sneer, to the +effect that he had not a penny to give him, and would not if he had: +whereupon Mr. Sharp began to coincide with the rest of the world in +regarding so impoverished a murderer as an atrocious criminal; then, +turning from his client with contempt, he went to the length of +congratulating Roger on his escape, and actually offered his hand to Ben +Burke. The poacher's reply was characteristic: "As you means it kindly, +Master Horsehair, I won't take it for an insult: howsomdever, either +your hand or mine, I won't say which, is too dirty for shaking. Let me +do you a good turn, Master: there's a blue-bottle on your wig; I think +as it's Beelzebub a-whispering in your ear: allow me to drive him away." +And the poacher dealt him such a cuff that this barrister reeled again; +and instantly afterwards took advantage of the cloud of hair-powder to +leave the court unseen. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +SENTENCE AND DEATH. + + +SILENCE, silence! shouted the indignant crier, and the +episodical cause of Burke, _v._ Sharp, was speedily hushed. + +The eyes of all now concentred on the miserable criminal; for the time, +every thing else seemed forgotten. Roger, Grace, and Ben, grouped +together in the midst of many friends, who had crowded round them to +congratulate, leaned forward like the rest of that dense hall, as simply +thralled spectators. Mr. Grantly lifted up a pair of very moistened eyes +behind his spectacles, and looked earnestly on, with his wig, from +agitation, wriggled tails in front. The judge (it was good old Baron +Parker) put on the black cap to pronounce sentence. There was a pause. + +But we have forgotten Simon Jennings--what was he about? did that +"cynosure of neighbouring eyes" appear alarmed at his position, anxious +at his fate, or even attentive to what was going on? No: he not only +appeared, but was, the most unconcerned individual in the whole court: +he even tried to elude utter vacancy of thought by amusing himself with +external things about him: and, on Wordsworth's principle of inducing +sleep by counting + + "A flock of sheep, that leisurely pass by, + One after one," + +he was trying to reckon, for pleasant peace of mind's sake, how many +folks were looking at him. Only see--he is turning his white stareful +face in every direction, and his lips are going a thousand and +forty-one, a thousand and forty-two, a thousand and forty-three; he will +not hurry it over, by leaving out the "thousand:" alas! this holiday of +idiotic occupation is all the respite now his soul can know. + +And the judge broke that awful silence, saying, + +"Prisoner at the bar, you are convicted on your own confession, as well +as upon other evidence, of crimes too horrible to speak of. The +deliberate repetition of that fearful murder, classes you among the +worst of wretches whom it has been my duty to condemn: and when to this +is added your perjured accusation of an innocent man, whom nothing but a +miracle has rescued, your guilt becomes appalling--too hideous for human +contemplation. Miserable man, prepare for death, and after that the +judgment; yet, even for you, if you repent, there may be pardon; it is +my privilege to tell even you, that life and hope are never to be +separated, so long as God is merciful, or man may be contrite. The +Sacrifice of Him who died for us all, for you, poor fellow-creature +[here the good judge wept for a minute like a child]--for you, no less +than for me, is available even to the chief of sinners. It is my duty +and my comfort to direct your blood-stained, but immortal soul, eagerly +to fly to that only refuge from eternal misery. As to this world, your +career of wickedness is at an end: covetousness has conceived and +generated murder; and murder has even over-stept its common bounds, to +repeat the terrible crime, and then to throw its guilt upon the +innocent. Entertain no hope whatever of a respite; mercy in your case +would be sin. + +"The sentence of the court is, that you, Simon Jennings, be taken from +that bar to the county jail, and thence on this day fortnight to be +conveyed to the place of execution within the prison, and there by the +hands of the common hangman be hanged by the neck--" + +At the word "neck," in the slow and solemn enunciation of the judge, +issued a terrific scream from the mouth of Simon Jennings: was he mad +after all--mad indeed? or was he being strangled by some unseen +executioner? Look at him, convulsively doing battle with an invisible +foe! his eyes start; his face gets bluer and bluer; his hands, fixed +like griffin's talons, clutch at vacancy--he wrestles--struggles--falls. + +All was now confusion: even the grave judge, who had necessarily stopped +at that frightful interruption, leaned eagerly over his desk, while +barristers and serjeants learned in the law crowded round the prisoner: +"He is dying! air, there--air! a glass of water, some one!" + +About a thimbleful of water, after fifty spillings, arrived safely in a +tumbler; but as for air, no one in that court had breathed any thing but +nitrogen for four hours. + +He was dying: and three several doctors, hoisted over the heads of an +admiring multitude, rushed to his relief with thirsty lancets: +apoplexy--oh, of course, apoplexy: and they nodded to each other +confidentially. + +Yes, he was dying: they might not move him now: he must die in his sins, +at that dread season, upon that dread spot. Perjury, robbery, and +murder--all had fastened on his soul, and were feeding there like +harpies at a Strophadian feast, or vultures ravening on the liver of +Prometheus. Guilt, vengeance, death had got hold of him, and rent him, +as wild horses tearing him asunder different ways; he lay there +gurgling, strangling, gasping, panting: none could help him, none could +give him ease; he was going on the dark, dull path in the bottom of that +awful valley, where Death's cold shadow overclouds it like a canopy; he +was sinking in that deep black water, that must some day drown us +all--pray Heaven, with hope to cheer us then, and comfort in the fierce +extremity! His eye filmed, his lower jaw relaxed, his head dropped +back--he was dying--dying--dying-- + +On a sudden, he rallied! his blood had rushed back again from head to +heart, and all the doctors were deceived--again he battled, and fought, +and wrestled, and flung them from him; again he howled, and his eyes +glared lightning--mad? Yes, mad--stark mad! quick--quick--we cannot hold +him: save yourselves there! + +But he only broke away from them to stand up free--then he gave one +scream, leaped high into the air, and fell down dead in the dock, with a +crimson stream of blood issuing from his mouth. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +RIGHTEOUS MAMMON. + + +THUS the crock of gold had gained another victim. Is the curse of its +accumulation still unsatisfied? Must more misery be born of that +unhallowed store? Shall the poor man's wrongs, and his little ones' cry +for bread, and the widows' vain appeal for indulgence in necessity, and +the debtor's useless hope for time--more time--and the master's misused +bounty, and the murmuring dependants' ever-extorted dues--must the +frauds, falsehoods, meannesses, and hardnesses of half a century long, +concentrate in that small crock--must these plead still for bloody +judgments from on high against all who touch that gold? + +No! the miasma is dispelled: the curse is gone: the crimes are expiated. +The devil in that jar is dispossessed, and with Simon's last gasp has +returned unto his own place. The murderer is dead, and has thereby laid +the ghost of his mate in sin, the murdered victim; while that victim has +long ago paid by blood for her many years of mean domestic pilfering. + +And now I see a better angel hovering round the crock: it is purified, +sanctified, accepted. It is become a talent from the Lord, instead of a +temptation from the devil; and the same coin, which once has been but +dull, unrighteous mammon, through justice, thankfulness, and piety, +shineth as the shekel of the temple. Gratefully, as from God, the +rightful owner now may take the gift. + +For, gold is a creature of God, representing many excellencies: the +sweat of honest Industry distils to gold; the hot-spring of Genius +congeals to gold; the blessing upon Faithfulness is often showered in +gold; and Charities not seldom are guerdoned back with gold. Let no man +affect to despise what Providence hath set so high in power. None do so +but the man who has it not, and who knows that he covets it in vain. +Sour grapes--sour grapes--for he may not touch the vintage. This is not +the verdict of the wise; the temptation he may fear, the cares he may +confess, the misuse he may condemn: yet will he acknowledge that, +received at God's hand, and spent in his service, there is scarce a +creature in this nether world of higher name than Money. + +Beauty fadeth; Health dieth; Talents--yea, and Graces--go to bloom in +other spheres--but when Benevolence would bless, and bless for ages, +his blessing is vain, but for money--when Wisdom would teach, and teach +for ages, the teacher must be fed, and the school built, and the scholar +helped upon his way by money--righteous money. There is a righteous +money as there is unrighteous mammon; but both have their ministrations +here limited to earth and time; the one, a fruit of heaven--the other, a +fungus from below: yet the fruit will bring no blessing, if the Grower +be forgotten; neither shall the fungus yield a poison, if warmed awhile +beneath the better sun. Like all other gifts, given to us sweet, but +spoilt in the using, gold may turn to good or ill: Health may kick, like +fat Jeshurun in his wantonness; Power may change from beneficence to +tyranny; Learning may grow critical in motes until it overlooks the +sunbeam; Love may be degraded to an instinct; Zaccheus may turn +Pharisee; Religion may cant into the hypocrite, or dogmatize to +theologic hate. Even so it is with money: its power of doing good has no +other equivalent in this world than its power of doing evil: it is like +fire--used for hospitable warmth, or wide-wasting ravages; like air--the +gentle zephyr, or the destroying hurricane. Nevertheless, all is for +this world--this world only; a matter extraneous to the spirit, always +foreign, often-times adversary: let a man beware of lading himself with +that thick clay. + +I see a cygnet on the broad Pactolus, stemming the waters with its downy +breast; and anon, it would rise upon the wing, and soar to other skies; +so, taking down that snow-white sail, it seeks for a moment to rest its +foot on shore, and thence take flight: alas, poor bird! thou art sinking +in those golden sands, the heavy morsels clog thy flapping wing--in +vain--in vain thou triest to rise--Pactolus chains thee down. + +Even such is wealth unto the wisest; wealth at its purest source, +exponent of labour and of mind. But, to the frequent fool, heaped with +foulest dross--for the cygnet of Pactolus and those golden sands, +read--the hippopotamus wallowing in the Niger, and smothered in a bay of +mud. + + + + +CHAPTER L. + +THE CROCK A BLESSING. + + +THERE was no will found: it is likely Mrs. Quarles had never made one; +she feared death too much, and all that put her in mind of it. So the +next of kin, the only one to have the crock of gold, was Susan Scott, a +good, honest, hard-working woman, whom Jennings, by many arts, had kept +away from Hurstley: her husband, a poor thatcher, sadly out of work +except in ricking time, and crippled in both legs by having fallen from +a hay-stack: and as to the family, it was already as long a flight of +steps as would reach to an ordinary first floor, with a prospect (so the +gossips said) of more in the distance. Susan was a Wesleyan +Methodist--many may think, more the pity: but she neither disliked +church, nor called it steeple-house: only, forasmuch as Hagglesfield was +blessed with a sporting parson, the chief reminders of whose presence in +the parish were strifes perpetual about dues and tithes, it is little +blame or wonder, if the starving sheep went anywhither else for +pasturage and water. So, then, Susan was a good mother, a kind +neighbour, a religious, humble-minded Christian: is it not a comfort now +to know that the gold was poured into her lap, and that she hallowed her +good luck by prayers and praises? + +I judge it worth while stepping over to Hagglesfield for a couple of +minutes, to find out how she used that gold, and made the crock a +blessing. Susan first thought of her debts: so, to every village shop +around, I fear they were not a few, which had kindly given her credit, +some for weeks, some for months, and more than one for a year, the happy +house-wife went to pay in full; and not this only, but with many +thanks, to press a little present upon each, for well-timed help in her +adversity. + +The next thought was near akin to it: to take out of pawn divers valued +articles, two or three of which had been her mother's; for Reuben's +lameness, poor man, kept him much out of work, and the childer came so +quick, and ate so fast, and wore out such a sight of shoes, that, but +for an occasional appeal to Mrs. Quarles--it was her one fair feature +this--they must long ago have been upon the parish: now, however, all +the ancestral articles were redeemed, and honour no doubt with them. + +Thirdly, Susan went to her minister in best bib and tucker, and humbly +begged leave to give a guinea to the school; and she hoped his reverence +wouldn't be above accepting a turkey and chine, as a small token of her +gratitude to him for many consolations: it pleased me much to hear that +the good man had insisted upon Susan and her husband coming to eat it +with him the next day at noon. + +Fourthly, Susan prudently set to work, and rigged out the whole family +in tidy clothes, with a touch of mourning upon each for poor Aunt +Bridget, and unhappy brother Simon; while the fifthly, sixthly, and to +conclude, were concerned in a world of notable and useful schemes, with +a strong resolution to save as much as possible for schooling and +getting out the children. + +It was wonderful to see how much good was in that gold, how large a fund +of blessing was hidden in that crock: Reuben Scott gained health, the +family were fed, clad, taught; Susan grew in happiness at least as truly +as in girth; and Hagglesfield beheld the goodness of that store, whose +curse had startled all Hurstley-cum-Piggesworth. + +But also at Hurstley now are found its consequential blessings. + +We must take another peep at Roger and sweet Grace; they, and Ben too, +and Jonathan, and Jonathan's master, may all have cause to thank an +overruling Providence, for blessing on the score of Bridget's crock. +Only before I come to that, I wish to be dull a little hereabouts, and +moralize: the reader may skip it, if he will--but I do not recommend him +so to do. + +For, evermore in the government of God, good groweth out of evil: and, +whether man note the fact or not, Providence, with secret care, doth +vindicate itself. There is justice done continually, even on this stage +of trial, though many pine and murmur: substantial retribution, even in +this poor dislocated world of wrong, not seldom overtakes the sinner, +not seldom encourages the saint. Encourages? yea, and punishes: blessing +him with kind severity; teaching him to know himself a mere bad root, if +he be not grafted on his God; proving that the laws which govern life +are just, and wise, and kind; showing him that a man's own heart's +desire, if fulfilled, would probably tend to nothing short of sin, +sorrow, and calamity; that many seeming goods are withheld, because they +are evils in disguise; and many seeming ills allowed, because they are +masqueraded blessings; and demonstrating, as in this strange tale, that +the unrighteous Mammon is a cruel master, a foul tempter, a pestilent +destroyer of all peace, and a teeming source of both world's misery. + +Listen to the sayings of the Wisest King of men: + +"As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous +is an everlasting foundation." + +"The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his +stead." + +"He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the righteous shall +flourish as a branch." + +"Better is a little with righteousness, than great revenues without +right." + +"The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous, and the transgressor +for the upright." + +"A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the +wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just." + + + + +CHAPTER LI. + +POPULARITY. + + +THE storm is lulled: the billows of temptation have ebbed away +from shore, and the clouds of adversity have flown to other skies. + +"The winter is past; the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear upon +the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of +the turtle is heard in our land: the fig-tree putteth forth his green +figs, and the blossoms of the vine smell sweetly. Arise, and come away." + +Yesterday's trial, and its unlooked-for issue, have raised Roger Acton +to the rank of hero. The town's excitement is intense: and the little +inn, where he and Grace had spent the night in gratitude and prayerful +praise, is besieged by carriages full of lords and gentlemen, eager to +see and speak with Roger. + +Humbly and reverently, yet preserving an air of quiet self-possession, +the labourer received their courteous kindnesses; and acquitted himself +of what may well be called the honours of that levee, with a dignity +native to the true-born Briton, from the time of Caractacus at Rome to +our own. + +But if Roger was a demi-god, Grace was at the least a goddess; she +charmed all hearts with her modest beauty. Back with the shades of +night, and the prison-funeral of Jennings, fled envy, hatred, malice, +and all uncharitableness; the elderly sisterhood of Hurstley, not to be +out of a fashion set by titled dames, hastened to acknowledge her +perfections; Calumny was shamed, and hid his face; the uncles, aunts, +and cousins of the hill-top yonder, were glad to hold their tongues, and +bite their nails in peace: Farmer Floyd and his Mrs. positively came +with peace-offerings--some sausage-meat, elder-wine, jam, and other +dainties, which were to them the choicest sweets of life: and as for +Jonathan, he never felt so proud of Grace in all his life before; the +handsome fellow stood at least a couple of inches taller. + +Honest Ben Burke, too, that most important witness--whose coming was as +Blucher's at Waterloo, and secured the well-earned conquest of the +day--though it must be confessed that his appearance was something of +the satyr, still had he been Phoebus Apollo in person, he would +scarcely have excited sincerer admiration. More than one fair creature +sketched his unkempt head, and loudly wished that its owner was a +bandit; more than one bright eye discovered beauty in his open +countenance--though a little soap and water might have made it more +distinguishable. Well--well--honest Ben--they looked, and wisely looked, +at the frank and friendly mind hidden under that rough carcase, and +little wonder that they loved it. + +Now, to all this stream of hearty English sympathy, the kind and proper +feeling of young Sir John resolved to give a right direction. His +fashionable friends were gone, except Silliphant and Poynter, both good +fellows in the main, and all the better for the absence (among others) +of that padded old debauchee, Sir Richard Hunt, knight of the order of +St. Sapphira--that frivolous inanity, Lord George Pypp--and that +professed gentleman of gallantry, Mr. Harry Mynton. The follies and the +vices had decamped--had scummed off, so to speak--leaving the more +rectified spirits behind them, to recover at leisure, as best they +might, from all that ferment of dissipation. So, then, there was now +neither ridicule, nor interest, to stand in the way of a young and +wealthy heir's well-timed schemes of generosity. + +Well-timed they were, and Sir John knew it, though calculation seldom +had a footing in his warm and heedless heart; but he could not shut his +eyes to the fact, that the state of feeling among his hereditary +labourers was any thing but pleasant. In truth, owing to the desperate +malpractices of Quarles and Jennings, perhaps no property in the kingdom +had got so ill a name as Hurstley: discontent reigned paramount; +incendiary fires had more than once occurred; threatening notices, very +ill-spelt, and signed by one _soi-disant_ Captain Blood, had been +dropped, in dead of winter, at the door-sills of the principal farmers; +and all the other fruits of long-continued penury, extortion, and +mis-government, were hanging ripe upon the bough--a foul and fatal +harvest. + +Therefore, did the kind young landlord, who had come to live among his +own peasantry, resolve, not more nobly than wisely, to seize an +opportunity so good as this, for restoring, by a stroke of generous +policy, peace and content on his domain. No doubt, the baronet rejoiced, +as well he might, at the honourable acquittal of innocence, and the +mysteries of murder now cleared up; he made small secret of his +satisfaction at the doom of Jennings; and, as for Bridget Quarles, by +all he could learn of her from tenants' wives, and other female +dependants, he had no mind to wish her back again, or to think her fate +ill-timed: nevertheless, he was even more glad of an occasion to +vindicate his own good feelings; and prove to the world that bailiff +Simon Jennings was a very opposite character to landlord Sir John +Devereux Vincent. + +To carry out his plan, he determined to redress all wrongs within one +day, and to commence by bringing "honest Roger" in triumph home again to +Hurstley; following the suggestion of Baron Parker, to make some social +compensation for his wrongs. With this view, Sir John took counsel of +the county-town authorities, and it was agreed unanimously, excepting +only one dissenting vote--a rich and radical Quaker, one Isaac Sneak, +grocer, and of the body corporate, who refused to lose one day's service +of his shopmen, and thereby (I rejoice to add) succeeded in getting rid +of fifteen good annual customers--it was agreed, then, and arranged that +the morrow should be a public holiday. All Sir John's own tenantry, as +well as Squire Ryle's, and some of other neighbouring magnates, were to +have a day's wages without work, on the easy conditions of attending the +procession in their smartest trim, and of banqueting at Hurstley +afterwards. So, then, the town-band was ordered to be in attendance next +morning by eleven at the Swan, a lot of old election colours were shaken +from their dust and cobwebs, the bell-ringers engaged, vasty +preparations of ale and beef made at Hurstley Hall--an ox to be roasted +whole upon the terrace, and a plum-pudding already in the cauldron of +two good yards in circumference--and all that every body hoped for that +night, was a fine May-day to-morrow. + + + + +CHAPTER LII. + +ROGER AT THE SWAN. + + +MEANWHILE, eventide came on: the crowd of kindly gentle-folks +had gone their several ways; and Roger Acton found himself (through Sir +John's largess) at free quarters in the parlour of the Swan, with Grace +by his side, and many of his mates in toil and station round him. + +"Grace," said her father on a sudden, "Grace--my dear child--come +hither." She stood in all her loveliness before him. Then he took her +hand, looked up at her affectionately, and leaned back in the old oak +chair. + +"Hear me, mates and neighbours; to my own girl, Grace, under God, I owe +my poor soul's welfare. I have nothing, would I had, to give her in +return:" and the old man (he looked ten years older for his six weeks, +luck, and care, and trouble)--the old man could not get on at all with +what he had to say--something stuck in his throat--but he recovered, and +added cheerily, with an abrupt and rustic archness, "I don't know, +mates, whether after all I can't give the good girl something: I can +give her--away! Come hither, Jonathan Floyd; you are a noble fellow, +that stood by us in adversity, and are almost worthy of my angel Grace." +And he joined their hands. + +"Give us thy blessing too, dear father!" + +They kneeled at his feet on the sanded floor, in the midst of their +kinsfolk and acquaintance, and he, stretching forth his hands like a +patriarch, looked piously up to heaven, and blessed them there. + +"Grace," he added, "and Jonathan my son, I need not part with you--I +could not. I have heard great tidings. To-morrow you shall know how kind +and good Sir John is: God bless him! and send poor England's children of +the soil many masters like him. + +"And now, mates, one last word from Roger Acton; a short word, and a +simple, that you may not forget it. My sin was love of money: my +punishment, its possession. Mates, remember Him who sent you to be +labourers, and love the lot He gives you. Be thankful if His blessing on +your industry keeps you in regular work and fair wages: ask no more from +God of this world's good. Believe things kindly of the gentle-folks, for +many sins are heaped upon their heads, whereof their hearts are +innocent. Never listen to the counsels of a servant, who takes away his +master's character: for of such are the poor man's worst oppressors. Be +satisfied with all your lowliness on earth, and keep your just ambitions +for another world. Flee strong liquors and ill company. Nurse no heated +hopes, no will-o'-the-wisp bright wishes: rather let your warmest hopes +be temperately these--health, work, wages: and as for wishing, mates, +wish any thing you will--sooner than to find a crock of gold." + + + + +CHAPTER LIII. + +ROGER'S TRIUMPH. + + +THE steeples rang out merrily, full chime; High street was gay with +streamers; the town-band busily assembling; a host of happy urchins from +emancipated schools, were shouting in all manner of keys all manner of +gleeful noises: every body seemed a-stir. + +A proud man that day was Roger Acton; not of his deserts--they were +worse than none, he knew it; not of the procession--no silly child was +he, to be caught with toy and tinsel; God wot, he was meek enough in +self--and as for other pride, he knew from old electioneerings, what a +humbling thing is triumph. + +But when he saw from the windows of the Swan, those crowds of new-made +friends trooping up in holiday suits with flags, and wands, and +corporation badges--when the band for a commencement struck up the +heart-stirring hymn 'God save the Queen,'--when the horsemen, and +carriages, and gigs, and carts assembled--when the baronet's own +barouche and four, dashing up to the door, had come from Hurstley Hall +for _him_--when Sir John, the happiest of the happy, alighting with his +two friends, had displaced them for Roger and Grace, while the kind +gentlemen took horse, and headed the procession--when Ben Burke (as +clean as soap could get him, and bedecked in new attire) was ordered to +sit beside Jonathan in the rumble-tumble--when the cheering, and the +merry-going bells, and the quick-march 'British Grenadiers,' rapidly +succeeding the national anthem--when all these tokens of a generous +sympathy smote upon his ears, his eyes, his heart, Roger Acton wept +aloud--he wept for very pride and joy: proud and glad was he that day of +his country, of his countrymen, of his generous landlord, of his gentle +Grace, of his vindicated innocence, and of God, "who had done so great +things for him." + +So, the happy cavalcade moved on, horse and foot, and carts and +carriages, through the noisy town, along the thronged high road, down +the quiet lanes that lead to Hurstley; welcomed at every cottage-door +with boisterous huzzas, and adding to its ranks at every corner. And so +they reached the village, where the band struck up, + + "See the conquering hero comes, + Sound the trumpets, beat the drums!" + +Is not this returning like a nabob, Roger? Hath not God blest thee +through the crock of gold at last, in spite of sin? + +There, at the entrance by the mile-stone, stood Mary and the babes, with +a knot of friends around her, bright with happiness; on the top of it +was perched son Tom, waving the blue and silver flag of Hurstley, and +acting as fugleman to a crowd of uproarious cheerers; and beside it, on +the bank, sat Sarah Stack, overcome with joy, and sobbing like a +gladsome Niobe. + +And the village bells went merrily; every cottage was gay with spring +garlands, and each familiar face lit up with looks of kindness; Hark! +hark!--"Welcome, honest Roger, welcome home again!" they shout: and the +patereroes on the lawn thunder a salute; "welcome, honest +neighbour;"--and up went, at bright noon, Tom Stableboy's dozen of +rockets wrapped around with streamers of glazed calico--"welcome, +welcome!" + +Good Mr. Evans stood at the door of fine old Hurstley, in wig, and band, +and cassock, to receive back his wandering sheep that had been lost: and +the school-children, ranged upon the steps, thrillingly sang out the +beautiful chant, "I will arise, and go to my Father, and will say unto +Him, 'Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before Thee, and am no +more worthy to be called thy son!'" + +Every head was uncovered, and every cheek ran down with tears. + + + + +CHAPTER LIV. + +SIR JOHN'S PARTING SPEECH. + + +THEN Sir John, standing up in the barouche at his own +hall-door, addressed the assembled multitude: + +"Friends, we are gathered here to-day, in the cause of common justice +and brotherly kindness. There are many of you whom I see around me, my +tenants, neighbours, or dependants, who have met with wrongs and +extortions heretofore, but you all shall be righted in your turn; trust +me, men, the old hard times are gone, your landlord lives among you, and +his first care shall be to redress your many grievances, paying back the +gains of your oppressor." + +"God bless you, sir, God bless you!" was the echo from many a gladdened +heart. + +"But before I hear your several claims in turn, which shall be done +to-morrow, our chief duty this day is to recompense an honest man for +all that he has innocently suffered. It is five-and-thirty years, as I +find by my books, on this very first of May, since Roger Acton first +began to work at Hurstley; till within this now past evil month, he has +always been the honest steady fellow that you knew him from his youth: +what say you, men, to having as a bailiff one of yourselves; a kind and +humble man, a good man, the best hand in the parish in all the works of +your vocation--a steady mind, an honest heart--what say ye all to Roger +Acton?" + +There was a whirlwind of tumultuous applause. + +"Moreover, men, though you all, each according to his measure and my +means, shall meet with liberal justice for your lesser ills, yet we must +all remember that Bailiff Acton here had nearly died a felon's death, +through that bad man Jennings and the unlucky crock of gold; in +addition, extortion has gone greater lengths with him, than with any +other on the property; I find that for the last twenty years, Roger +Acton has regularly paid to that monster of oppression who is now dead, +a double rent--four guineas instead of forty shillings. I desire, as a +good master, to make amends for the crimes of my wicked servant; +therefore in this bag, Bailiff Acton, is returned to you all the rent +you ever paid;" [Roger could not speak for tears;]--"and your cottage +repaired and fitted, with an acre round it, is yours and your +children's, rent-free for ever." + +"Huzzah, huzzah!" roared Ben from the dickey, in a gush of disinterested +joy; and then, like an experienced toast-master, he marshalled in due +hip, hip, hip order, the shouts of acclamation that rent the air. In an +interval of silence, Sir John added, + +"As for you, good-hearted fellow, if you will only mend your speech, +I'll make you one of my keepers; you shall call yourself licensed +poacher, if you choose." + +"Blessings on your honour! you've made an honest man o' me." + +"And now, Jonathan Floyd, I have one word to say to you, sir. I hear you +are to marry our Roger's pretty Grace." Jonathan appeared like a sheep +in livery. + +"You must quit my service." Jonathan was quite alarmed. "Do you suppose, +Master Jonathan, that I can house at Hurstley, before a Lady Vincent +comes amongst us to keep the gossips quiet, such a charming little wife +as that, and all her ruddy children?" + +It was Grace's turn to feel confused, so she "looked like a rose in +June," and blushed all over, as Charles Lamb's Astraea did, down to the +ankle. + +"Yes, Jonathan, you and I must part, but we part good friends: you have +been a noble lover: may you make the girl a good and happy husband! +Jennings has been robbing me and those about me for years: it is +impossible to separate specially my rights from his extortions: but all, +as I have said, shall be satisfied: meanwhile, his hoards are mine. I +appropriate one half of them for other claimants; the remaining half I +give to Grace Floyd as dower. Don't be a fool, Jonathan, and blubber; +look to your Grace there, she's fainting--you can set up landlord for +yourself, do you hear?--for I make yours honestly, as much as Roger +found in his now lucky Crock of Gold." + +Poor Roger, quite unmanned, could only wave his hat, and--the curtain +falls amid thunders of applause. + +[Footnote A: It has been stated as a fact, that a certain Lady L---- +S----, in her last interview with a young man, condemned to death for +the brutal murder of his sweetheart, presented him with a white +camellia, as a token of eternal peace, which the gallant gentleman +actually wore at the gallows in his button-hole.] + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CROCK OF GOLD*** + + +******* This file should be named 17062.txt or 17062.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/0/6/17062 + + + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/17062.zip b/17062.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4481e61 --- /dev/null +++ b/17062.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..83fd0b4 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #17062 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17062) |